There is Darkness there that never sleeps 2

The second unit for Gondor Rampant is now finished - the Axemen of Lossarnach led by Forlong the Fat or Forlong the Old

Tolkien describes these men as below:

Leading the line there came walking a big thick-limbed horse, and on it sat a man of wide shoulders and huge girth, but old and grey-bearded, yet mail-clad and black-helmed and bearing a long heavy spear. Behind him marched proudly a dusty line of men, well-armed and bearing great battle-axes; grim-faced they were, and shorter and somewhat swarthier than any men that Pippin had yet seen in Gondor.

'Forlong!' men shouted. 'True heart, true friend! Forlong!' But when the men of Lossarnach had passed they muttered: 'So few! Two hundreds, what are they?

Opted for grays on this unit to tie it into the colour scheme of Gondor but also to set it apart as it is not black. When placed against the Gondor swordsmen that have already been completed these fit in well with their own distinctive identity. 

The inspiration for the floral image on the standard and shield comes from two sources, firstly the Vale of Flowers is another name for Lossarnach and the Wood Lily or Trillium  Both were hand painted in the finishing stages of this unit. 

So far this year, these are the favourite of all that has been painted. Truly great figures and far more fitting for this unit in Dragon Rampant than the GW versions that are still available.

Hope that you found this interesting. 

Cheers for now

30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge

Starting another 30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge tonight, 1st July. Opting not to have a theme in this challenge as the free flowing approach suits better at present

The outline of the challenge is detailed below, however the main point being to have fun with your hobby.

• To paint 30 figures of all shapes and sizes in 30 days
• The figures can be partly painted at the start as the main point is to complete figures that have been forgotten
• Basing is not necessary to count as completed
• Any scale is good
• Too have fun
• The end date is set by your start date - 30th July will be the end date of this challenge
• To post updates as often as possible
• Lastly to show a round up post with a group picture of everything.

Here is the starting point as the painting table currently sits, so lots to be getting on with. 

Hope that you find this interesting. 

Cheers for now

Fantasy Hero 22

Started a few years back after a conversation at Claymore by the Dixon Miniatures stand these Ninja are finally complete and can join the rest of their clan. 

The trouble with these figures is there is not a lot to paint.  You would think that all black is the easiest colour scheme to paint, however, aside with achieving a good tonal representation of black; it is the little details that really make these figures work. 

Without adding in really mad colours to lift the black hopefully the small details on bags, ropes and weapons will provide enough to highlight that there is more to painting black than actually painting black. 

Hope that was of interest to you and there will be more completed figures in the near future. 

Cheers for now

Fantasy Hero 20

The last of the Hordes of the Things 15mm Undead army are now finished. The figures are from Alternative Armies range of 15mm Fantasy and have been enjoyable to paint over the last couple of years. 

The mono pose with these figures does cause a little issue when basing as you need to consider both side of the base when positioning the figures or they won't line up correctly. 

It is not the end of the world just a slight pain when gaming with the figures; whenever that maybe will be decided by the powers that be.

There has been a slight issue with the numbering of the "Fantasy Hero" posts and as such this is out of sequence from the previous post in this series. Again, not the end of the world and will revert back to order in the next post. 

Hope that this has been of interest to you. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 265

In the previous Back to the Brushes post, Hun cavalry were mention being found underneath the Late Roman cavalry. 

To say that there were surprised expletives used when the figures were counted would be an understatement.

The basis of a 1500 point WAB army was there, horses glued to stands, prepped and primed. Forty one cavalry in all plus sixteen skirmishers; there were tears in the corner of both eyes. 

So what to do with them? Store, paint or sell are the main options. Storing takes no effort but achieves nothing. Painting takes the most effort and is the most rewarding once completed. Selling, is easy enough and can be financially rewarding if not tinged with regret. 

So, painting it is and as it is well known that horses are my bete noire; then how to do it? 

As one very large protect split into 8 colour sections. The Trello cards are drawn up and each colour has a variety of steps until based and completed sans rider. Why? Because painting horses is a bugbear here so deciding to take the stallion by the main and go for it. End date? Have notionally set the end of September for the horses and basing; the riders will be a separate project in their own right later in the year. 

Will post updates on this as the project progresses. 

Cheers for now. 

Reconquista 8

The recently completed Analogue Hobbies Quarantine Challenge 2020 saw some progress being made with the Almohads and Moors in general.

First is a unit of heavy infantry that will form the basis of the centre line of the painted army with this being the first of either four or six stands for this. 

The figures are from Gripping Beast and are still some of my favourites for this period. 

A common theme throughout the project is the use of a dark gray headdress to tie the units together. There is no other reason for this than artistic licence and it adds to the unity of all the units as well as the individuals on each stand. 

Next for this period is another command stand, the second of three needed for the army if used at 200 points. The figures again are from Gripping Beast and the standard from Little Big Men transfers. 

The drummer behind the left shoulder of the Iman was painted for this challenge, whilst the other two figures have been painted previously.

Here are both stands side by side.

There will be some more from the last Challenge shortly before starting the first Thirty Days, Thirty Miniatures Challenges for the summer months. 

Hope that you like these. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 264

To quote Bilbo Baggins "Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story" Fairly sure that we can all relate to this in many different ways and 28mm Late Romans would be an example of this here.

When looking through army lists the other day for ADLG realised that the cataphracts from the previous Late Roman incarnation, that is Impetus and WAB had never been rebased. 

A trip to the loft was in order and behold the original unit of cataphracts from WAB partially painted and partially rebased on 60mm fronts. There were ten in the original unit only four of which have been completed, the others languish in states of un-readiness for gaming. 

Imagine the surprize that raised the roof when another 14 cataphracts were found in the drawer below the above. Followed by the stunned silence that there were almost another thirty Late Roman and Romano British cavalry in the same drawer. 

God knows why there are so many and god also knows how much painting cavalry is a chore to me. However, that said over the summer months there will be progress on the Late Roman cavalry as well as their ally and foe: the Huns. 

Some armies are never truly finished painting and like Bilbo's adventure there are always more to carry on the story. Rest in peace, Sir Ian Holm, may the road go ever on. 

Cheers for now.