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

Back to the Brushes 251

Last session preparing for this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge with everything laid out waiting to be primed or already primed. Not planning on painting everything here in the challenge, just hoping to make a good start on it.

Not shown here are the Samurai or the 6mm Greeks and 15mm Arabs as they are already prepped and gathering dust elsewhere.

The first figure to be painted has still to be decided however, looks like it will be something for the Challenge Island in 28mm.

More of this and other things later.

Cheers for now.

Rounding up 2013

As 2013 draws to a close in sunny Scotland its a time to reflect before the Hogmanay celebrations start. The year started with the 3rd Painting challenge and progressed  from there.  A new Impetus army has been started and hopefully early next year will see the finish of another one. Several warbands have been completed and a few others started.

In summary the total of figures finished is detailed below:

• 28mm Infantry - 88 figures
• 28mm Cavalry - 6 figures
• 28mm Chariot - 1 set
• 28mm Elephant - 1 set
• 20mm Infantry - 6 figures
• 20mm Vehicles - 4
• 15mm Vehicles - 17

Overall not a bad tally and hopefully something that will be improved on next year. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 77

As promised here are few work in progress pictures of a variety of different figures on the painting table at present.

Above are Sassanid Light Infantry to be armed with javelins. Gripping Beast figures for the ongoing Sassanid Impetus army.

Below are two test Orcs for Songs of Blades and Heroes. These are being painted to try and work the colouring on the flesh for the up and coming Analogue Painting Competition. These figures will not be presented in the competition.

A Warlord for the planned Dux Brittanniarum warband. The blue was painted in the other day but not much progress on this figure in a while.

Another Elf for Songs of Blades and Heroes is shown below. Happy with the colouring on the flesh here, but unfortunately the eyes let the face down and will need some reworking.

Lastly, another two figures from Claymore Castings shown here after the armour has been block painted and washed. This is the first stage on the armour for these gents and there will be another three layers of paint added:

• Base coat
• Base coat mixed with highlight 
• Highlight only

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 75

A few more work in progress pictures are below:

The first four picture show Claymore Casting's figures after a white under coat and a wash of Agrax Earthshade. This really brings the detail out on the figures and may spark a project of its own, but more of that later.

Next there is a Citadel High Elf from the early eighties. Very early stages with this figure but the face just doesn't look right so it may be back to black for this one.

Faces is a part of the miniature that really makes the figure and is an area of work that requires more attention and in my case more research. If anybody has some good tips on painting faces please feel free to pass them on. They will be gladly received.

Lastly, there is a Gripping Beast Germanic Tribes Archer that will used in an ongoing roleplaying game as a human Woodsman.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 74

Pictured below are the two figures that will make up the skirmisher stand for the Sassanids armed with slings.

These are very nearly completed and will be finished and based over the next few days all being well.

There was also meant to be a few pictures of the Daylami work in progress but due to very poor pictures these will have to wait a few more days. Some more work in progress pictures to follow shortly showing Claymore Castings and a retro High Elf from Citadel.

Cheers for now

Lions of the North

This is a new title to show the finished figures that are being painted from the fabulous Claymore Castings Medieval Scots.  Here is the first completed figure painted using David Imrie of Saxon Dog's painting tutorials.

The tutorials provided some great new ideas on the use of washes over a white undercoat and just the general approach to painting the figure shown. These techniques will be used for future figures from this range and a few other projects as well

The figures will all be singly based for skirmish gaming including knights, men-at-arms and regular foot, but more these later.

Lastly a warm welcome to:

• Free Wessex

Cheers for now

And Now For Something Completely Different 13

Now finally based and pictured below is the first Elf for Songs of Blades and Heroes. There will be between five and eight figures in the war band and the second figure has been prepared and undercoated for painting.

The theme for this warband is going to be woodland, so the colours will be mid greens and greys as the elves are to represent the Elves of Mirkwood. 

A future warband will represent the Noldor or High Elves and the colours for them will be more in line with their heritage. These figures will also come from the same early eighties Citadel range.

More to follow shortly including Sassanids, Huns and Claymore Castings.

Lastly, a warm welcome to:

• Tomsche
• RazarOne223

Hope that you both find something interesting in these pages

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 73

Spending a bit time trying to finish up some loose ends on the painting table at present as well as working on the Sassanids. Below are some pictures of a figure from Claymore Castings that is being painted to the instructions of David Imrie from Saxon Dog - an excellent blog if you haven't already seen it. The painting style is different from my current style especially with the white undercoat but gives excellent results. Everything apart from the armour is directly from David's tutorials; the armour has had additional layers added to make it stand out more.

There is still a bit of work needed to finish this figure off and when completed it will used for a Songs of Blades and Heroes warband.

Sassanids to follow over the next few days.

Cheers for now.

Claymore 2012

Went to Claymore yesterday for the first time in a couple of years and really enjoyed the show. There was no emphasis on buying anything and this gave plenty of time to chat with traders and fellow gamers.

First a few pictures of David Imrie's excellent Claymore Castings display for the Battle of Otterburn, 1388. The pictures don't really do the figures justice as there was too much light. That said the table always seemed to be busy when passed and you can see more pictures here.

The next main stop was at Gripping Beast where Darren chatted on the future plans for SAGA, all of which sound excellent and will give the game more interest and longevity. There was talk also of a favoured range being completed in the near future so generally all good. Even better as the chat and visit to their stall didn't involve parting with large sums of cash.

Chatting with a few fellow gamers showed the interest in the forth coming Impetus event at Dunfermline Wargames Club. As co-organiser for the event, this excellent new and everybody seems to be looking forward to an entertaining day's gaming. On that subject there was also talk of a SAGA event been planned in Kirkcaldy in the near future.

On the purchases front, this was kept to the bear minimum with a few bases from Warbases and some Ninja from Dixon Miniatures. The Ninja are for Songs of Blades and Heroes as there are a few too many Perry Samurai in a friend's collection that need thinning down.

Lastly, a warm welcome to:

• Commisarmoody
• Anibal invictus

Hope that you both find something of use and interest here.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 25

Unfortunately, work and real life have taken over so far in June and as a result hobbies and blogging have been pushed to the side lines. Hopefully, as this week progresses there will be a few pictures to show the ongoing work on the final stand of the Seniores Menappi and there Foederati Allies, as well as a few pictures of a Claymore casting that is slowly, very slowly being painted at the side of the painting table.

Before signing off to go and do some of the above mentioned painting, here is a warm welcome to the following:

• TamsinP
• Lalebrasil
• Derek Robertson

Apologies, for the delay in your welcome and hopefully there will be something in these pages that interests you in the future.

Cheers for now.

Comparatively Speaking 2

Have recently received some new figures from Claymore Castings and have to say that they are really top quality. The sculpts themselves are highly detailed and very clean. A great start to a new range. Here are a few pictures showing the command set and a comparison picture with a Perry War of the Roses man-at-arms:

The Perry figure is on the right as viewed just in case you aren't familiar with either range.

As can be seen here the two ranges are a suitable mix in terms of both quality and scale. The timescales of both ranges are slightly different though.

Fairly certain that this range will be successful and grace a great many painting and gaming tables in the future. Wishing Dave Imrie and Co all the best in their new venture.

Thats all for now.

Cheers