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The dwarf is an Eureka 15mm figure (maybe 18mm, can't remember right now). I brought him with other 15mm figures to see if they would fit as brownies, gnomes or dwarves. He fits all of the roles, so now I know where to get some small folk. I actually enjoyed painting him and the 15mm landsknechts (didn't photograph them) a lot more than I expected. The monk is an old Grenadier Figure, I think you can get him at Mirliton now. I speed painted him using a Zorn Pallet. It works well for anyone who is somber or drab, it can also work well for NMM. The figures on both sides are from Ground Zero Games, i think they are from the goth set. They can work as cultists, lords or even vampires. The maid and the butler are from Wargames Foundry. I really like the sets. The rest is still being painted. With the maid I experimented in painting an impression of some lace or embroidery on her pink skirt. I tried to make the cup she holds look like bone china. Everyone Back of the Servants This picture is closer to the real colour than the one above (thought it is still not perfect, with the monks robes not being as distinct in sections as they are) Feedback and Critiques are welcome and appreciated.

Howdy, I like him more as as snake oil salesman... Step right up, Kev!

Howdy, I failed at painting this so it would not look like some kind of indentured servant... Will tote bales for food and lodging, Kev!

Howdy, Wargames Foundry Mexican Villager Constanza Kev!

In my usual flighty way I never stay on one project for long, so fantasy is on the back burner and I'm painting up a few historical figures that have been knocking around in my cupboards since forever. The Lancaster gun was a very, very early attempt to make rifled artillery. It was like earlier smooth-bore muzzle loaded guns, but the bore was re-heated and given an oval cross-section as the barrel was manufactured. This made the cannon-ball spin a bit as it was launched and (hopefully) got it a bit closer to its intended target. The design was soon superseded, but a couple were sent out to the British Army in the Crimea and were used in the Battle of Inkerman.

Howdy, OW166 is supposed to have a model "Modesta", but this guy came instead... Villagers, what you gonna do, Kev!

Howdy, Some InMiPaMo production... Kev!

Howdy, A strict disciplinarian... Stay after class, Kev! P.S. Really day 8

Howdy, International Mini Painting Month - Day 4 Kev! P.S. That'll be about t'ree fiddy... EDIT: Day 4, not day 3 as originally posted

Howdy, Not everyone is the energizer bunny... Kev!

Howdy, Step right up! Get your fresh... What IS that? Kev! P.S. Fish, Veggies, and ???

Last week I finished Downstairs Staff from Wargames Foundry. I have to say that I am happier with the details on these models, but not so much my photography.

This week I finished another set from Wargames Foundry. This time ne'er do wells without weapons, for the most part. I am actually quite pleased how this lot turned out. And I am not sweating the gloss coat this time.

Unfortunately I used a gloss clear coat on these.

I continued my Victorian figures from Wargames Foundry. This time it is the police sergeants and inspectors from VC013. I am using them in the Zeitgeist Pathfinder campaign. In a nod to that world, I decided to make 2 out of 5 figures non-white. I am curious to see what adding this diversity will do to my figure collection.

It has been over a year since I painted anything. When I sat back down to paint again, I realized I could not see the details. Weird. Then my wife suggested I try her reading glasses. Aaagh! Here are some police constables with capes from Wargames Foundry VC010. This is my first effort since I started wearing glasses while painting.

The second unit for the Mythical Greek army is the one shown below - made up of Reaper Bones Skeletal Spearmen and the starts of the show - the other half of the Wargames Foundry Greek Mythology Skeletons range. "Children of the Hydra." Unfortunately, the whole range is made up of only 10 models across two blisters - 4 with spears and 6 with swords. Within that only a few of them look distinctly Greek, so with 6 models needed to fill out the regiment, I decided to look elsewhere rather than order another pack from Foundry (I prefer fewer doubled-up figures, anyway). Their sister unit, armed with swords was finished some time ago, as was most of this unit, but some recruiting issues drew finishing this lot out for longer than I'd hoped. The metals from Foundry worked out well. I just wish more of them had more explicitly Greek gear. I replaced their metal spears in the end with plastic ones from the Wargames Factory skeleton set. The shield on this guy comes from Little Big Men, and was a real bear to apply. Apparently it may have come from a faulty batch, since the plastic film would just not come off, and destroyed two other transfers in the process/attempts... In the end to fill out the missing two in the ranks, I again turned to the Wargames Factory plastic skeletons. They're already Greek-themed to an extent, which is great. My only concern was how fine they are, and as such are very susceptible to breakage as wargaming figures - especially with spears sticking up everywhere. Still, with these guys towards the middle it should be fine. Again WGF comes to the rescue of the WGF-dominated unit. In the end, I decided against adding shields to the skeletons bracing their spears - mostly because there was no easy and effective way to attach them that would still look good. A bit of a shame, but c'est la vie. I went with the one skeleton coming out of the ground to help invoke the whole Jason and the Argonauts thing. A classic from our youth, (even if it was made before many of us were born, it was often shown late on Saturday Mornings here, as well as when VHS arrived. And now, The obligatory Finished Unit shot: And finally, an army shot of the Mythological Greeks so far. Not a whole lot yet, but it shows the two units of Skeletons along with the Foundry Bronze Bull painted earlier this year. The Mythical Greek Army begins to take shape.

Wargames Foundry is a well-known maker of Historical Miniatures. At one stage in its history a sister company to Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop when all three were owned/controlled by Bryan Ansell, their paths have diverged wildly over the years. While it's generally well-known that Bryan took a lot of Citadel's earlier very-historical-inspired ranges with him to Foundry. What's less well known is the fact that they have some ranges like the Greek Mythology range, which features models like Harpies, Satyrs, Centaurs, Pegasi, our old friend The Bronze Bull, and our topic of the day - Skeletons! As part of the Mythic Greek force, the (two, probably) units I'll be making of these guys are going to be referred to as The Hydra's Teeth. Apparently they should be more correctly referred to as Dragon's Teeth, but to me "dragon's teeth" mean tank traps, and I've got more than a soft spot for Ray Harryhausen's seminal animation work of decades gone by. Since the 2 packs of 5 Foundry figures come to have 6 figures with blade, and 4 with spear out of the 10, I've split them for Kings of War purposes. I've combined the 6 blade figures with the 6 Bones skeleton figures that I finished off a couple of weeks ago to make a KoW Regiment of 12 (20). The other day I saw a gallery of someone's commissioned figures that featured some masterfully-painted figures, amongst the (hundreds?) of models were some with battle-scarred and scratched up shields. While I've added a small amount of verdigris to these, I mulled over trying something similar. While I have confidence that I could do a good job, I decided against it based on a couple of reasons - 1) While I like my bone technique, the shields are very much the focus points of these figures, and I wanted to keep them looking neater to draw the eye. 2) The Bones figures are really not very good at all, and I really wanted to avoid anything that would potentially dull those shields from drawing the eye away. The linen curiass on the figure I decided should probably be a "leader" (at least as far as mindless skeletons go) was lacking a bit of detail, so with the help of the talented artists who work for Osprey and a quick Google Image Search, I worked out a way to add some more interest to the unit commander by adding some geometric patterns across his chest and under his arms. It's a little unfortunate that out of the 10 sculpts by Foundry, only two of them wear torso armour - the linen curiass in both cases. One blade, and one spear. Similarly, only two are helmeted, both of whom are amongst the four spear-wielding sculpts. Most of the sculpts are pretty much plain skeletons with perhaps an armband - not even bronze greaves! The only positive of all this is that it would make it relatively easy to swap in any other brand's undead models armed with sword or spear, glue a Greek shield on, and bump up the numbers. Now all I need to do is find a source of decently-sculpted, unarmoured metal undead - preferably inexpensive and one-piece casts that are armed predominantly with swords or spears. Not as easy as you'd think as I'm finding. Otherworld's models are beautiful sculpts, but have separate arms that look like fragile attachments, and aren't really priced for making regiments. The Wargames Factory (not Foundry) plastic box are very much Greek-themed - in fact it's where I sourced the larger Hoplons and Dipylon-style shield that I mixed in to the Foundry models but I still have concerns about their potential fragility on the wargames table. Anyway, here's the first unit of The Hydra's Teeth, ready for action! I think the combination of large, bright Greek shields and keeping the Bones models to the mid-centre and rear ranks does a good job of minimising the visibility of the multiple boring monopose figures well enough in static photos like these, and will do even moreso once they're all on the table amongst scenery and an active battle. Now I just need to sort out two more spearmen somehow, and I can call both initial units done and dusted.

In between all the minis come from Kickstarter, I managed to get some work done on pieces already in the collection. First up we have some more historically accurate Barbarians; Vikings from Wargames Foundry.

After the arrival of Eastern Front Studios Dwarf Gladiators, I was inspired to do more of a fantasy Ludus. First off: Dwarves.