Back to the Brushes 271

It's the final day of the 30 Days 30 Miniatures Challenge set at the beginning of this month. 

Here are the last two pictures for the last figures to complete the target. 

First are two Prussian Landwehr from Warlord Games. 

There should be yellow piping on the hats however after repainting one hat twice thought bollocks to that. At the rule of 3 foot who will notice? 

Next are eight Late Roman Cataphracts of which six have been painted over the last 30 days. The back two at the left hand side were painted prior to this. 

These Cataphracts have been ongoing for about ten years in different ways with the command stand and one other figure seeing use in Impetus last decade. Finally decided to get them finished although there are more to be painted in the future. 

So how does this leave things standing? Well here is the breakdown:

28mm Infantry: 22 figures

28mm Cavalry: 6 figures

15mm Cavalry: 2 figures

Thirty figures in thirty days and will be looking to do the same again next month. 

Hope that you have found this interesting

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 270

With only one painting session to go until the end of this 30 Days and 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge to go; how close to the finish line are things looking?

Close, very close...

First up is a command stand from Warlord Games Caesarian Roman range. This is the final command stand for this army in ADLG if played at 200 points; not so sure that will happen in 28mm however, never say never.

Next is another command stand from another Roman army; The Late Roman army this time. The standard bearer and the poor bloody infantry man have been painted for this stand, the commander was painted about 18 years ago.

Keeping with the theme of command stands here is another one finished in this challenge; this time for the Wars of the Roses in 15mm.



Whilst on the subject of wars on this fair land, here are two Norman from Wargames Foundry. After over 35 years in production these are still great figures for the Dark Ages in general. There will be more from this range later in the year.



The Anglo Saxons were a Dark Age culture that lived in Middengeard (Old English) which translates to Midgard (Old Norse) and Tolkien adapted this to Middle Earth. Tall and proud in Middle Earth are the Men of Gondor, descendants of the Numenoreans who fought in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Now as their strength fades the Men of Gondor fight for survival and here is one of their veterans ready to defend his homeland.



Normally, these pics would be centred on the page however Blogger is having one of its little moods and obviously knows what is required better than I do. Such is life. 

This means that the current total now sits at 22 figures completed in this challenge detailed as below

28mm Infantry: 19 figures
28mm Cavalry: 1 figure
15mm Cavalry: 2 figures

All to paint for now.

Hope that you found this interesting.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 269

One day, don't know when but one day, am going to regret ever opening this door. Always said that it would never happen and yet here it is. 

The first line of Prussian Landwehr from Warlord Games and will be a part of a force for Black Powder and suitable skirmish games for this period. 

In retrospect should have gone for Brunswick as once undercoated black they are a third of the way to painted. Hey ho, hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 268

A short up date this evening and more work in progress for the Thirty Days Thirty Miniatures Painting Challenge. Nearly there with these cavalry riders and the 28mm Late Romans all have finished horses waiting on them. 

Not so much with the 15mm War of the Roses Men at arms. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 267

A quick update on the 30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge with the first batch of figures now at the ready stage for this challenge. 

At almost two thirds of the way through its time to up the ante and get figures finished off. Here are the first thirteen figures all from Games Workshops Gondor range. 

These are for the Gondor Rampant retinue that is currently being painted with a view to taking on Mordor, Harad, Khand or Umbar in the future. Thankfully the only figures from the nations mentioned above that are liked from Games Workshop are the Mordor Orcs and there are more than enough of these in the lead mountain. 

There are thirteen here and if you notice there are also a few bent spear shafts here and there. Plastic doesn't suit this weapon type. 

 There will be more completed figures shortly. 

Day 20 - 13 x 28 mm infantry completed. 

Hope that this was of interest to you 

Cheers for now

Scourge of God

A new series of posts starts with these pictures of recently based Huns from Gripping Beast's Steppe Nomads range.

This series will plot the progress of two armies in two different scales linked by the common theme of horse archers.

The first army is the Huns for DBA and ADLG in 28mm with figures entirely from Gripping Beast. The second army is the Mongols for both DBA and ADLG in 15mm with figures from Museum Miniatures. Both very similar in nature although the Huns offer more detail and basing opportunities due to the larger scale.

Currently working on the horses for the Huns as a separate project broken down into different categories by horse colour as below:

The list is from a Trello card and finding this app very useful in tracking larger projects like the Huns and Gondor Rampant. 

After the horse-flesh tones are completed it will be on to the trappings for the horses and then basing and finishing. The riders will follow as a separate project split by light, medium, heavy and command stands. Hoping to complete the entire army for spring 2021 or earlier if at all possible. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 266

Since the start of this month's 30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge not a lot has happened and no figures have actually been completed yet. That said there are a lot of things nearing completion so fairly certain that will be able to finish enough figures to meet the challenge. 

A couple of work in progress pictures below show the progress on some Late Romans, the Army that is never really finished. 

In the command stand above it is the standard bearer and line trooper that have been painted recently with both require a little extra to finish off. The officer has been painted for sometime now and this will be his third and final base. All figures are Wargames Foundry.

Three cataphract horses now await their riders. The horses are from Gripping Beast and are the older style of cataphract horses. The horse at the very back was painted before this challenge started so only the rider would count. 

On the subject of horses; there are now five horses for the Huns moved to the awaiting trappings stage of painting. Only another thirty-six to go...

Back to the 30 Day Challenge:

Day 12 - figures completed: zero

Hope to change this shortly. 

Cheers for now

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 July 2020

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