The Halloween Display

Most of last week and all of the weekend, our living room, hallway, and conservatory (used as main entrance) has been decorated for Halloween (our daughters both had several parties to attend, and some of the friends of the oldest one were coming here to prepare).

When entering the conservatory, this was the sight that met the eye:

Our living room (that dark thing in the corner of the first pic is a clàrsach).

On the sideboard, I had placed a lot of my horror-related painted minis:

A lot of those headstones were painted tyhe last week, and I shall take a separate photo with those for my 'October Output Post' one of the next days.

Hampton Rebased

Another Chaos in Cairo mini painted a long time ago has now gotten a shiny new base.

He is not currently starring in other projects than The Secrets of the Hidden Temple (he met an untimely demise as part of my Strange Aeons Treshold team), but I shall soon find other purposes for him.

It just struck me that I can easily shoehorn some of my Pulp minis into Congo, which means that I am already on the path to having a White Man's Expedition, as well as I have started on my Jungle Tribes, for which I intend to use most of the Zulu warriors I paint for In Her Majesty's Name.

As I have mentioned on (undoubtedly uncountable) earlier occations multi-purposing is the Code I work by in this hobby, and now I begin to feel the effect of de facto working on several projects in one go!

Prtofessor Perrywinkle Rebased

I decided to re-base the last minis I originally painted for The Secrets of the Hidden Temple.

Back in 2014/15 I did not intend to rebase slotta minis onto washers, but I have since been swayed completely by the much better looks of minis on washer bases, and, well, consistency is also a big thing for me.

I give you this old Chaos in Cairo mini, which I named Professor Perrywinkle for my Strange Aeons Treshold team (I have forgotten his original, French name).

He is, of course, also going to appear in my Christmas Wars project - and I think I need to get some evil character models ready for that purpose, as I seem to have an overweight of good people reporting for duty, as it stands right now.

Another one of my reasons for revisiting this model is that I am planning to play some Solo Strange Aeons games, as soon as I have made a 2x3' mat out of painter felt (I saw and played on one used for Congo at Horisont VIII), as I think I need some easily transportable playing surfaces (chipboards with saand are fine for playing games at your home, not so much for bringing to other locations). The Professor is the Character/Leader of my Treshold team, which I have just been re-working to fit with the 2nd Ed. rules, so it is now quite ready for some more blood-curdling action in the Mythos universe.

Last West Wind Brotherhood Minis - For Now...

I got the last 2 Brotherhood minis cleaned up and  glued onto 20mm steel washers today.

I am going to clean up the 8 Killer Scarecrows I have, too, before adding filler to the bases on all 21 models (13 Brotherhood and 8 Scarecrows). As soon as I have finished cleaning up the Scarecrows, I am going to order some minis from Crooked Dice, as they have a deal of 4 'Corn Dolls' that will bring up my Scarecrows to a total of 12 - the number probably needed for using them as a unit in Dragon Rampant, and, if adding some command models, enough for a God of Battles unit, too.

In addition, they have a couple of NOT Doctor Who minis I want to add to my collection, and with Warlord Games bringing out their new licensed Doctor Who Miniatures Game, I'd better get them before they are being C&D'd.

West Wind Brotherhood Minis.

Hobby-wise, I have been cleaning up mot of my recently acquired West wind Brotherhood models.

I have a couple to do, before I break out the 2 packs of Scarecrows I bought on the same occation.

Originally, I intended to use the models for Frostgrave, but I don't think that I am going to play that game at all, as I simply dislike the  combat system too much.

Instead, I intend to make a unit useable for Lion/Dragon Rampant, maybe SAGA Crescent and Cross, and, of course, a warband for Chaos in Carpathia, which I have had on hold for some years.

The Scarecrows will be supplemented with a few more, to bring them up to strength to use as a unit for God of Battles, and again, also for Lion/Dragon Rampant, and Chaos in Carpathia.

Well, so much for the plans. Now, let's see if I see them through...

Frostgrave: Angry Monks and Scarecrows

Got this parcel from West Wind Productions in the mail while being sound asleep today:

Four packs of Vampire Wars Brotherhood, for my Thaumaturge Frostgrave warband (and Chaos in Carpathia), and two different packs of Killer Scarecrows, to use as constructs in Frostgrave (and probably also Chaos in Carpathia, and other horror themed settings, such as Strange Aeons).

SotHT: Mission Accomplished!

So, 8 years and almost 5 months (short of 3 days) after the first posting about this on the LAF, I have now finally finished this project according to the original plans (and then some).

This was originally intended to be used with the .45 Adventure rules, and the factions have been fleshed out according to that.

In the meantime, I have decided to instead use the Pulp Alley rules, and I shall have to make some changes to build the factions as 'Leagues' - but that is a project for later this year.

Below you will find pictures of a set-up of both the archaelogical site and the sub-terranean Hidden Temple with all the minis I currently plan to use for the scenario.

SotHT: Rebasing the Last Mini!

All I need to do to accomplish what I pledged to do, is getting the Grave Robber's base finished, and I can lay out the entire project for a photo.

I am not going to take the 'completed' picture until after Anna's birthday party, as I don't want to de forced to put it aside immediately after the photo session, Thus, it will have to be postponed to June 20th, as the party is the 19th.

But, in the meantime I shall get this little bugger ready for the table - as you can see, removing the old base has resulted in some of the paint chipping off the feet, so I shall probably have to experiment a bit to find the colours I used (unless I have actually recorded them somewhere in these pages).

I did not use artificial light for the photo, that, combined with 'indoor' setting ogf the camrea is the reason for the pale colours - I shall try taking this kind of pics with another setting.

Well, all for now - as I am writing this, the sand is drying on the base, and should be ready for painting tomorrow!

SotHT: Rebasing the Mad Grave Robber

I realized that I had yet another mini for the project that needed something done to its base, and, yes, I rebased another slotta mini onto a washer (I am making a habit of it, it seems...)

I have yet  to finish painting the stairs, and then flesh out the leagues, and figure out whether I need to paint additional models. At least the 'good guys' will need a few extra members, but I have plenty of models to use to that end.

Next week should see another burst of concentrated work done on this project (Monday-Wednesday), and I hope to be able to draw up the final plans for it, as almost half the time designated to this Painting Club has expired.

SotHT: Rebasing the Germans, All Done!

Did the finishing touches (added leaves) this afternoon.

Next up are some Mummies, and a Black Cobra. And THEN work should commence on the subterranean temple interiors!

Armed, Dangerous, and Very, VERY Angry!

SotHT: Rebasing the Germans, WIP 4.

A little bit of progress.

I hope to get the bases highlighted later this evening, but no promises, as I didn't sleep well after working last night, so am rather tired.

Afternthis batch is re-based, I need to do some mummies and a couple of snakes, and then it is time to build some stairs to lead down to the Hidden Temple from the surface.

As soon as I have done that, and sorted out the various floor plans, markers, and other features to be found in the sjub-terranean corridors and rooms, I shall start fleshing out the leagues to figure out if I need to paint additional minis to add to the factions.

SotHT: Rebasing the Germans, WIP 3.

A bit more work done on the Ahnenerbe.

I roughed up the edges on the washers, and added some more filler to the bases.

The extra filler makes sure there is no gap between filler and integral bases, and creates some uneven-ness for a more naturalistic look to the finished bases.


Then I applied PVA-glue, and put the minis in some beach sand.

SotHT: Rebasing the Germans, WIP 2.

Got a bit of filler added to the bases today.

Not a big deal, but progress, never the less. I had hoped to run over them a second time before going to work late this evening, but I need to rest a bit in order to stay awake all night.

I still have to remember to rough up the edges on the washers...

SotHT: Rebasing the Germans, WIP 1.

I allowed a sneak peek on these yesterday, but I think I better show the 'before' picture again, for reference.












As you can see, the basing was almost done (just some flock wanting), but as these have integral bases, there is no need to place them on plastic plinths, and steel washers can be used instead (and should be, according to my current standards).

I got the slottas removed earlier today (I even had to apply my Dremel to remove some plastic that had been superglued too well to two of the minis).

I then glued the minis to some washers (and forgot to rough up the edges before doing so, dang!) and left too dry until tomorrow.

The remainder of my hobby time for today was spent on trying to paint a DreadBall core to look as if lit up from the inside. I failed. I am not sure if I shall leave the core as is and just paint the blasted thing polished steel/silver, or if I shall give it another try. I went for a green core, btw, to mimick the X-Box logo, but it really did not turn out as planned...

If I finish the ball tomorrow, I shall of course show off the result, but in the meantime, stay tuned for progress on the German 'archaeologists'.

SotHT: Rebasing the Diggers, Finally Done!

So, after 2 weeks of hardly any progress, I sat down at the painting desk with a firm resolve to get this batch put aside.

I'm not quite sure if the bases are a wee tad too yellow (highlight is Coat d'Arms Buff), I'll have to see them on one of my desert tables before deciding whether I should add white to the buff and do a final light drybrush highlight.

Next up for the Secrets of the Hidden Temple project is rebasing of the German 'archaeologists': another matter of removing slottas from integral bases, and glue the minis onto steel washers.

The rebased diggers.

The Germans are going to get the same type of 'all-round' bases as the Turks, as they are likely to appear anywhere between Berlin, Nigeria, Borneo, and the Amazonas.

Before surgery.

SotHT: Rebasing the Diggers, WIP 3.

Sand added to the bases. Next up some basecoat - still wondering how the transisition between new and old sand is going to look...

I spent most of the day working in the shed and in the garden (in between all the very wet show, suddenly the sun shone through and made the day bright, so I thought I should better take advantage of it to get something done), so this is all the hobby progress I made today.

Tomorrow I shall try real hard to get the last DreadBall player finished, so I can move the paint queue along...

SotHT: Rebasing the Diggers, WIP 2.

Doing some progress.

I wonder if I'll manage to get the new layer of sand to fluctuate with the remainder of the old...