Mikes Wargaming & Modelling Blog

Not posted in a while so heres some FoW bits

2011-11-21T21:06:00.006Z

US WW2 101st airborne by Forged In Battle, very nice, clean castings.

More of the same, note the eagle badge and US flags

Very pleased with these, Vallejo paints all the way, I shrunk JPEGs of the Flags and screaming eagle motiffs and printed em then cut em out and glued em on....

Battlefront Waffen SS, castings are a bit tired compared to FiB...

Cant see em to well on the photos but theres a pile of spent cases next to the MG42 gunner, did a combination of autumn and summer pattern camo too for versatility.

Thats all for now folks.

2011-10-05T00:15:00.000+01:00

Saxon Warlord

2011-10-02T15:58:00.001+01:00

Crusader Miniatures King Harod Godwinson

2011-09-28T12:21:00.002+01:00

SAGA Warlords

2011-09-12T17:59:00.003+01:00

SAGA Welsh

2011-09-12T17:07:00.004+01:00

Welsh Warlord (Gripping Beast Pict Actually)

I really like the pose on this GB figure.

Did about half these warriors as skirmisher/light infantry.

This is another Pict, excellent pose....

Another Warrior...

Another excellent miniature, the plaid is done with 3 colour foundry paints, the shadows with Devlan mud.

Here are some pics of my first 3 points of a Welsh SAGA warband, 2 x 4 hearthguard, 1 x 8 warriors and a warlord.

Foundry Vikings and Normans for SAGA Rules

2011-08-20T15:23:00.006+01:00

Viking Warlord with two four man Hearthguard units, 2 points for SAGA I will add an 8 man unit od warriors with spears and a 12 man unit of levies with bows to make my 4 point warband.

This is a huge foundry figure, excellent casting, had to scratch build the shield for him as a normal shield looked tiny!

Here he is again, real monster, the Normans better get some iron into this bastard fast!

Foundry Normans on Conquest plastic horses, legs didnt fit so I used a pen wrapped in sandpaper in a drill to round them out, quick and easy, these make a great mounted knight, the guy on the right is Duke WIlliam, the one on the left is bishop Odo.

Odo on his grey.

William the Bastard, riding one of the four horses he lost at Hastings?

Half a 1 point warrior band, the Norman warband will be more of a combined arms deal, 2 units of 4 mounted knights (Hearthguard) Mounted Warlord, 1 unit of 8 warriors with spears and 12 levies with bows.

Close up of a spearman.

Another spearman, hand painted shields these, more time but nice effect.

Another close up. Took the photos with my iphone4 great tool that, easy digital zoom. I bought these at the Foundry factory shop in Nottingham just after the riots, they where not damaged but had cancelled an open day as they felt people where unlikely to travel, very friendly and gave me a generous discount worht about 25% so well worth the visit. SAGA now has a release date, check gripping beasts website, they also have some sample warbands to give you an idea for army preperation, not sure if the number of hearthguard units will be limited but suspect so as armour would have been quite expensive so Im going for majoity unarmoured in my warbands.

Foundry 28mm Vikings

2011-08-10T14:44:00.002+01:00

Group shot, these are for SAGA when they are published! A Warlord and most of 2 four man Hearthguard units, lovely castings.

The Warlord, mounted on 40mm round base to make him stand out..

Banner bearer, Jomsviking banner from LBMS, shield transfers also LBMS but the shields are GB plastic ones.

Nice spectacle helm, very norse...

A close up of an amoured Viking, very nice figures from Foundry but very dear, so, buy them from Stuart Armstrong at www.colonelbills.com I found him through Ebay, fast and friendly service and mint figures cheaper than from Foundry. Thanks Stu.

Gripping Beast Vikings

2011-08-10T14:38:00.005+01:00

Further shots of OG Casualties

2011-07-26T18:57:00.003+01:00

Gripping Beast plastic Saxon standing over two Vikings, one holding his mates head together.

Close up of these Old Glory figures which come as a single miniature with two figures.

Aerial view showing the composition of the 40mm base, I think it worked well.

More SAGA miniatures

2011-07-26T18:37:00.002+01:00

Not updated for a while so here is some of my recent work, primarily Im focusing on Gripping Beasts upcoming SAGA skirmish rules, from what I can glean the Warlord in each force is quite critical and Darre at the beast tells me they are mouting them on larger bases to make them stand out. Ive focussed on making a round 40mm base into a little diorama to depict the warlords, and maybe cos Im a bit bloodthirsty they feature casualties, the ones below are Old Glory 25mm "The slain" casualty pack miniatures which I think are excellent figures and good value.

Above is a Black Tree Design Viking, these are great figures but sadly this company's customer service is very poor, I ordered some Late Romans from them and waited so long I cancelled the order and got a refund, shame cos they have some nice miniatures.

This is a close up of one of the OG casualties, love his helmet which is knocked sideways.

Here he is again with a West Wind Productions Arthurian as my Saxon champion roaring "Whose next!"

Not the best shot but here is a Gripping Beast Saxon with a head tilt and arm coversion standing over an OG set of two Vikings, one kneeling holding his mates brains in! Will add another close up ate the end of post.

A GB Viking with a Little big man Banner, excellent products from LBMS.

Space Wolves Army Building Blog Update 6

2011-04-25T14:19:00.005+01:00

4 man Thunderwolf Squad with Attached Wolf Lord.

Thunderwolf Cavalry, Power Weapon and Storm Shield.

Thunderwolf cavalry, Plasma Pistol & CCW with Melta Bombs.

Thuderwolf Cavalry, Bolt Pistol & CCW with Melta Bombs.

Thunderwolf Cavalry, Plasma Pistol & CCW.

Finished my Thunderwolf Cavalry squad, added loads of bits from my bits box like pouches, grenades and melta bombs. Im really pleased with this unit it really looks awesome in the flesh, very nasty too with the 12" charge and fleet, planning to bombburst the wolf lord out of the unit on the chargs to make a double attack on two units or vehicles, they will certainly draw fire, but, the army also has Nigel bunkered in a 5 man wolf guard unit in terminator armour, covering fire from long fangs and 4 x 5 man squads of marines all coming forward at a run, the plan is for this army to fight fast and nasty and leave the opponent feeling mauled by turn 3. LOL Ill probably lose though! Second game tonight, so far ive lost 1 from 1 (Tabled by Col Corbanes armour heavy guard list, but, I forgot the melta bombs!).

Just finished my second game with this army, an anihilation game with dawn of war deployment, won 10 - 4 on kill points against Imperial Guard, very enjoyable game, a 5 man Ogryn squad creamed the remains of my TWC and wolf lord in combat though it was only the lord and one other TWC after they had rolled up the guards right flank killing a couple of large guard units includig their commisar, good stuff, all good for the learning curve with these wolves...

Space Wolves Army Building Blog Update 5

2011-04-23T08:50:00.005+01:00

Thunderwolf Progress

All 4 ready for finishing

Number 1

Number 2 (No Pun Intended)

Number 3 (Bet the Neighbours Love Him)

Yep, Number 4....

I got a flash of inspiration yesterday, a miracle considering the restless pack of german shepherds here wanting to go for long walks in the sun but I did break the painting up with walks!

I used Halfords grey primer initially here than an airbrush to add a large area of Fortress grey on the back and flanks, then a smaller area of codex grey within it moving up the back, again through airbrush, lastly I added black and continued up the back on two, and scorched brown for the other two, this was mixed with the codex grey.

Then I airbrushed the whole model with a 50% / 50% mix of Gryphone sepia and devlan mud, when dry I started at the bottom and drybrushed up with Bleached Bone, Fortress Grey, codex grey then codex grey/black on two and codex grey scorched brown on the other two (Wanted some variation within the pack and looked at the variations in my Alsations, 4 in case you're curious, oh and two Rottweiler/Alsation crosses).

Finally a fine airbrushed line down the back with neat devlan mud on the brownish ones and neat badab black on the others, then paint in the teeth and gums, wash the mouth with devlan mud and highlight em, I also used a bit more devlan mud to emphasise the areas around eyes and ears and creases on the muzzle of the growling ones this was added by brush. The eyes are 50%/50% yellow and darksun foundation.

Will complete the riders today and bases and post finished pics of the whole squad soon.

Gaming wise they are very very threatenning, added melta bombs makes them dangerous to vehicles too (Assuming that I remember them and dont let Col Corbane off the hook again!) and they are swift!, fleet plus 12" charge, their job will be as glorious bullet magets lancing into the heart of the enemy while my other units manouver up. Fingers crossed!

Preperation for SAGA rules launch.

2011-04-20T16:00:00.006+01:00

Im really quite excited about Gripping Beasts new SAGA rules!

A GB Plastic Viking Warlord, based on 40mm round base.

Same dude different view.

A GBP Saxon Warlord with an unfortunate scot!

A small Saxon Warband.

ANother Viking Warlord, a GBP/Warlord Games Hybrid.

Part of one of my Viking Warbands

Conquest Games, Plastic Normans

Really like the way this Grey turned out.

Another Conquest Norman Knight.

So, Gripping Beast and Tomahawk studios are producing a dark age skirmish game called SAGA, also GB ad Conquest games are producing excellent plastic miniatures so dark age gaming has pretty much never had it so good! Ive re based my Saxons and Vikings in preperation and have even finished my gaming table, I love skirmish games and due to the nature of warfare in the dark ages smaller skirmishes where much more common than larger battles so personally I cant wait. I know very little about the mechanics at this stage except they seem to have some intriguing special dice, figures are indiviually mounted on reound bases and warlords/Leaders/Heroes are on larger bases, so Ive hit about 30 figures, Viking and Saxons and have some unarmoured welshmen from West Wind in the wings, so Im wishing my life away again waiting for the rules! anyone who played at SALUTE and can give us a run down on the mechanics please comment!

Space Wolf Progress

2011-03-25T18:10:00.002Z

Wolf Guard In Terminator Armour

Back Of Cloak.

Three Blood Claws

Another Blood Claw, different squad.

Been a while since I updated due to the pressures of real life, but, I didnt sell any wolves through ebay and have now signed up for "Blog Wars" a tournament for the blogging community so am feverishly working on completing my wolf army, even played a game, a loss, probably due to the dice gods being unimpressed by a partially painted army. Learned a few things though, Njal is hard as nails, wolf guard even in terminator armour are fragile and Thunderwolves are lethal and fast but need to select targets carefully!

Space Wolves Army Building Blog Update 4

2011-02-06T21:32:00.005Z

Whose Afraid Of The Big Bad Wooluf?

Wolf Lord On Thunderwolf

Close Up.

Rear View.

Right 45 View.

So here is the first of my Mythicast Thunderwolves, very impressed with the models, beautiful sculpts, casting slightly rough in areas and needed lots of cleaning but overall for the price they are superb. Good service from Mythicast too, responded quickly to my emails and the tracking number allowed me to watch their progress accross the globe. The only real problem I had was that my excitement made me build the rider torsos in advance, dont, you need to make sure they fit the legs well so build them when you can refer to the wolf models and avoid having to re build them! The Space wolf torso fronts from GW all have bits hanging down which interfere with fitting on the legs so you need to use normal marine torso fronts from your bit box. Overall, I love these models, I did the wolf fur the same was as the pelts mentioned earlier in the blog and in the hand the model looks great the pics dont do him justice! Let me know what you think of him. 1 down 4 to go. PS in response to a previous comment I agree the wolfen is pointless in TWC as you risk having fewer attacks and have rending anyway so the wolfen will get legs and become a grey hunter.

237 new visits in one day?

2011-02-02T11:46:00.001Z

Yesterday I had a record 237 hits from new visitors, anyone know why? If the blog has been mentioned somewhere could someone drop me a line to say where so I ca link it on the blog please? Cheers.

Space Wolves Army Building Blog Update 3

2011-02-02T00:20:00.002Z

Wolf Lord

Rear View

The good news for me is that Im tracking the progress of my Mythicast Thunder Wolves accross the world and know that they are in the UK now so hopefully will be here this week. With the Wolfen I have two rider torsos ready to go so will probably knock out the first two complete models PDQ. Fingers crossed, more soon.

Space Wolf Army Building Blog Update 2

2011-01-31T23:41:00.002Z

Woof

Foow

Quick update, this is my Wolfen marked Thuderwolf rider, the hands as mentioned are GW Ghoul hands, the head is from a Polish company that make conversion parts, Maxmini, check them out at www.maxmini.eu great stuff. More soon.

Space Wolves Army Building Blog Update 1

2011-01-29T22:39:00.004Z

My First Three Scouts

Close up 1

Close Up 2

Close Up 3

Thuderwolf rider torso/Wolfen Conversion

Thunderwolf Rider heads

So Im gradually working on my space wolves. My Mate Col Corbane gave me some scouts a couple of years ago and I finally built them. I added lots of bits like heads, rune stones and other bits from the space wolf sprues. There will be a squad of 9 in the army, Im now settled on 2000 points and am going for models I like rather than balance so will have to practice hard to get anywhere with these in battle. Ive also added some pics of parts of my thunderwolf riders, I always paint heads seperately as its easier to detail them and paint the main figure in bits. I have a rider with the mark of wolfen in the army list and converted the torso by removing the hands from some arms, boring out the ends with a 1.5mm drill then inserting plastic ghoul hands, looks good to me. This dude will have d6+2 rending attacks on the chargs and is cheap in points so cheap and nasty! My Wolf lord will have eternal warrior, belt of russ, frost blade so 7 initiative 5 rending attacks on the charge, 6 in normal combat a real monster!

More soon.

Space Wolf Army Building Blog

2011-01-26T22:39:00.004Z

Njal Stormcaller and Blood Claw.

Njal Again

Wolf Pelts.

Close up of the old bugger.

Blood Claw with Plasma Pistol and Power sword.

So here I go again with another change of direction. This came about from happening accross a discussion on Dakka Dakka or somewhere about thunderwolf cavalry models, which in turn led me to seeing the Mythicast thunderwolves, these are superb sculpts check them out at this site

http://www.mythicast.com/. They are a Phillipines based model company and make some sci fi wolf mounts and giant wolves ideal for thunder wolves and fenrisian wolves. Now personally I hate the huge GW pugdog wolf rider figure to the extent where it put me off space wolves, but, these mythicast wolves look great and will form my command squad of 4 thunderwolves and mounted wolf lord in the army I am building. While I am waiting for them to arrive from the Phillipines Ive started painting and have done Nigel and a Blood Claw to test the scheme, here is what I did.

Main Figure. These I build and leave the weapons off because painting chest details is easier with no weapon I paint them seperately on coctail sticks inserted into drilled barrels, I black undercoat the models and use an airbrush to apply 50% shadow grey and 50% space wolf grey just like the GW site suggests. Then I make a wash from Adeptus battlegrey foundation paint, washing up detergent and water to make a very dilute wash, apply this to the creases between the armour with a fine brush, the washing up liquid helps it run so does warm water so I always use warm washes. Finally an extreme highlite on the edges with space wolves grey and the armour is done.

Equipment. Any equipment on the figure I block paint the main colours then wash it with a 70/30 mix of Gryphonne sepia and devlan mud. This makes an excellent wash very like army builder dark tone, BUT, its matt so no pissing about with varnishes. Then I highlight with the original colour and add some bleached bone to super highlight. I always prefer bleached bone to white as it gives a gentler dustier highlight.

Wolf Pelts. These I love and its simple, base coat a mid grey like GW codex grey, paint the underside anything from pale brown to nearly white your choice. Wash with the same mix as above then drybrush the original grey over the whole pelt then work towards the edge with lighter greys like GW Fortress grey and finally bleached bone. The reason for this is that wolves have a light inderside and when skinned this will form the edges of the pelt. Lastly go back to the pelt and wash several coats of devlan mud or black (Your choice and wolves vary greatly in colour so experiment) with this wash I do 3 or 4 coats making it narrower each time so only the very narrow centre strip gets all the washes, this gives an excellent effect. Lastly highlite the underside with the original colour and superhighlight with added bleached bone, done.

Thats all for now, more will follow as I intend to do a blow by blow blog of the Mythicast wolves as a review of the models. TTFN.

Saxons On Ebay

2011-01-10T21:05:00.001Z

All the Saxons, leaders and warband are on Ebay at the moment, if interested in private sale email me.

Saxon Leaders finished and based

2010-09-30T18:30:00.005+01:00

Two Finished WAB Leaders, one will be army General one a character

Gripping Beasts Penda

Penda from the front, he has just butchered the guy at his feet, not pretty when someone has their head smashed in and back chopped open with an axe!

This is Musketeers Saxon General again now based.

Same figure from the front with a slain champion at his feet.

This is the test base I did, I felt all the Saxon bases looked a bit garish with the flock, so I toned em down using airbrushed devlan mud, nice effect, tones down the flock and cos it also hits the lower part of the miniature it blends it into the base and subtly makes it look like it belongs in the terrain on the base.

Musketeer Miniatures Saxon General

2010-09-19T15:57:00.003+01:00

Front View

Close up

Cloak and rear view

Shield

This miniature is going to be the general for my Saxon Age of Arthur army, Ive seen one superbly painted on the banner of the WAB forum, but have been unable to pin down the painters blog for a closer look, check out the forum and have a look, superb painting and I love the colour scheme so have shamelessly copied the style from memory and I'm really pleased with this guy, Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I will mount him on a 40mm square base with a slain enemy champion at his feet from Gripping beasts early saxons.

Aventine Sassanid Elephant & LBMS Transfers for Ebay sale

2010-09-17T21:44:00.003+01:00

Side view WIP Shot

Front showing "De pigmentation"

Full side view

I thought I would post about this model because I think the combination of LBMS transfers and the Aventine model is excellent, the model fits together well with minimal mould lines and on the website you can buy alternative trunks including one throwing someone! The transfers fit perfectly but remember that when you peel off the backing they apply face down so what you think is te left side is the right and visa versa. I spent some time in India a few years back and following my habit of preoccupation with wargaming was able to photo some Elephants up close with a view to painting them, interesting colouration, especially the de pigmentation that occurs making them look pink around the eyes ears and mouth this is dark dots in areas of pale pik rather than pink dots. Anyway I will finish this model and Ebay him this weekend, anyone interested in buying him directly and saving me ebay fees email me at harpo6780@hotmail.co.uk

Standard Bearer.

2010-09-12T22:44:00.002+01:00

Ive altered the standard this guy carried, will go with hand painted baners throughout the army.

West Wind Productions Saxons

2010-09-12T15:35:00.003+01:00

First Unit of 15 Gedriht for WAB

Close up of right flank

(The guy with Bull skull covered in blood will eventually be my ASB)

Left Flank

Centre ( The Guy in the Sutton Hoo Helm will be a Cyning and army general)

Ive had these miniatures for some time and only recently got some paint on them, I used Army builder quickshade and their Matt varish then super highlighted them and muddied the cloaks etc. Ive Hand painted the shields and will probably do the banners too for this army (Ill do away with the LBMS banner at the back ad replace it with a boar or similar). Nice figures and Im a fan of the seperate head system as it allows quite a lot of variation in the units, more soon.

The Crusade continues

2010-09-05T20:34:00.003+01:00

Teutonic Magister By Gripping Beast

The other side, shield transfer by LBMS

The Grand master and the Magister

Really enjoying painting these figures and basing them in snow for a Baltic Campaign against the Rus, or whoever is maneuvered into a conflict with the Teutonic order, remember "GOD WILLS IT!"

More Gripping Beast 28mm Teutonic Knights

2010-09-03T18:41:00.003+01:00

Gripping Beast Teutonic Colonist Spearmen

First 5 of 24 inc Command and musician

Close up

More close ups

Rear View.

I want these guys to look nice and Grubby, although its snowing they have either been in the field for a while or the tracks have been churned to slush by horses and wagons.

For the muddy clothing I used GW Devla Mud (Excellent product) and washed several times, gradually reducig the coverage and moving towards the feet this gives a graded muddy effect.

The snow is from "Woodland scenics" I paint the bases noemally and finish them with some winter grass (I used GW Glade grass) then mix a paste of the scenics snow and add lots of water, apply it to the base in blobs and when still wet sprinkle on more snow from the shaker. It sets like concrete, I demonstrated this to my wife by sandpapering her nose with he dried left overs. Hmm, cold back for me for a few nights!

Gripping Beast 28mm Teutonic Knights

2010-08-29T00:53:00.000+01:00

Grand Master

Another view

One more shot

Finally got around to painting some of my own stuff. These are the first shots of my Gripping Beast Teutonic order WAB army, I have 1500 points worth and these came as one of GB's £100 army deals which I used the profit from selling my Ultramarines to finance.

Im basing them on snow bases to represent the order during their various Baltic campaigns, its interesting to read about the orders history, I do this for most of my projects to gain insight and generate enthusiasm, the order originated in the middle east during the crusades then moved to North Eastern Europe and from what I can gather had a habit of getting their arses kicked in battle, they lost almost all the major engagements they where involved in but still gained a reputation for being very arrogant in dealing with locals and other organisations. Hmm........ very German. But, they looked cool and field a lot of cavalry so make an iteresting WAB army with a lot of punch.

Ill post details of the army list with ore photos later.

Immortal Plastic Hoplites

2010-06-01T19:20:00.000+01:00

Left side of figure including shield Transfer.

Right side of model including inside of shield.

Ive rabbited on in here a bit about being a pro painter yadda yadda yadda, here is one of the advantages, I contacted Stephen May of Immortal miniatures a while back offering to paint some of his new Plastic Hoplites in exchange for a few boxes to make my own army and he agreed hopefully impressed with some pics of my painting. The models arrived last week and here are the first pics of one painted, so I also thought I would do a review of the models while I was at it.

The box contains enough sprues to build 34 Hoplites with a mixture of tunics, linen and Bronze armour and predominantly spears but some swords too. The shields are in 2 designs with the more common Hoplon types being in 2 sizes and are attached to the arms with excelent detail inside the shield rim. The quality of the casting is superb, there was no flash to remove on any of my models and the box also contains enough bases for all the models in 20mm square which is a godsend and saves procuring seperate bases at extra expense.

The helmets represent several designs and the modeller can choose the crest style depending on the era he is representing, excellent.

The box also contains shield transfers, waterslide type, with a number of historically accurate designs which have been very well researched and produced and are of a very high quality.

Lastly the box cotains an unexpected Gem, a reference book with descriptions of hoplite equipment including their colours and designs and a description of the historical periods in which they featured, this is clearly a labour of love from someone who is an expert in the period and who has looked carefully at the archeological and historical evidence when preparing his product and then released something for the love of the period rather than as a money making venture.

Overall I am very impressed with these, they represent excelent value for money at the price and I'm glad to paint for Immortal and proud to be associated with them.

The muster continues

2010-05-14T17:49:00.000+01:00

Slowly getting there, having to prioritise some commision work for Warlord but WAB wise I have 160 points here....

WAB version 2

2010-05-12T22:08:00.000+01:00

Ive just received a free copy of WAB Version 2 from Warhammer Historical as they have pictured some of my models in the book and gave me a free copy as a contributor, dead proud of this, some of the Hussites on page page 13 are mine (All the rear rank) and the half page pic of three Warlord Games Celtic Chariots on Page 114 are mine too, dead proud of this as its more enduring than the front cover of Wargames Illustrated I had, plus "Mike Collington" is listed as one of the miniature painters in the front along with such exalted company as Alan and Michael Perry, Dave Andrews and Dave Woodward who I greatly admire and take inspiration from, Woohoo!

First multiple stand

2010-05-09T22:34:00.000+01:00

This is the first time Ive done multiple stands like the ones shown in Shieldwall, I like the idea of being able to build little diorama's on a larger base and its also easier to position the figures carefully so their shields and weapon positions look right, I'm pleased with the way this has turned out and am planning another 20 bases of 4 or so with about 20 single figure incliding banner bearers and leaders.

Warlord Celt/GBP Viking Berserker conversion

2010-05-09T16:42:00.000+01:00

This is a hybrid Berserker using a Warlord Plastic Celt and spare weapons and head from the Gripping Beast viking sprue.

Planning a few of these for my growing WAB Viking army.

GREAT DANES by GBP

2010-05-05T20:32:00.000+01:00

My gradually expanding warband...

Same guys after a reshuffle, the Sea King/Jarl at the right hand side....

Love the hammers of Thor on these miniatures

Another shot of the same time travelling arrow, it was fired 700 years in the future by a

Perry WoTR plastic Archer and travelled through time to just miss Rolf's right foot by 2 inches!

The spear arms give loads of options, including as shown on the GB website by lopping

the top off to add the head of one of the 2 two handed great axes on each sprue to give a standing great axeman....

Best thing when facing this guy is to avoid the downward stroke - obviously - but remember he will not just swing wildly, he has probably been killing the likes of you half his life and is just as likely to use the lower edge of the axe to hook you legs from under you or to hook down the upper edge of your shield for the spearman in his second line - previously not noticed due to the roaring lunatic with this axe - to lunge a spear through your throat.....

This is an accidental conversion, the shield did not fit due to where I had positioned the arm, so he got a knife, taught me to blu tac shields to the arms when gluing them on though!

You should have seen the udders on the cow this horn came from!

These are all shots of the Gripping beast plastic Vikings, these are superb value, incredibly flexible and have loads of spares... thereby hangs a tail, I did some painting for Paul at Warlord games a while back and took castings and models in lieu of payment, I had loads of Warlord 28mm plastic celts left over and have combined some of the half naked guys with the GBP heads and weapons to make some Viking Berserkers, will post em soon but they really look cool, the scale matches and the sculpting is equally crisp, also try swapping back the extra celt heads from Warlord with the Vikings, a great bald head on the celt sprue, watch the blog for some shots of these......

In the meantime head over to Gripping Beast for a gander (Interesting fact here, a Gripping Beast is an animal depicted in a loop biting its own tail and featured heavily in Norse artwork while the painting and carving styles where heavily influenced by eastern styles because the Scandanavians traded lots with them) any way go here... www.grippingbeast.com

This Blog Entry is now entitled "Up Yours Mel" :-)

2010-05-03T11:21:00.000+01:00

Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Front.

(Clic Pic to enlarge)

Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Rear.

These are shots of the first of my Gripping Beast vikings, these are outstanding kits, better than any other plastic Danes on the market by a long way, the casting is so good you can read the runes on the sword, loads of spare parts, limitless conversion possibilities and dynamic poses, can't wait to get my hands on the Saxons that are planned, really very well done to Darren and the team at Gripping Beast!

WIP Banner and Vehicles, you guessed it Ultramarines

2010-04-27T18:29:00.001+01:00

More Ebay Ultramarine Pics

2010-04-27T18:20:00.000+01:00

Ultramarines on Ebay

2010-04-27T18:17:00.000+01:00

Arthurians from West Wind Productions

2010-04-23T18:04:00.000+01:00

Mounted Commander - My Arthur...

Standard Bearer with LBMS Banner of course.

Mounted Spearman

Excellent figures, hands can be a bit small and fine like some of the Old Glory Line - same sculptor I believe now runs West Wind. But overall the seperate head system makes these very versatile and they are cleanly cast on the whole, awaiting an order of some armoured spearmen, these are very much in the style of Bernard Cornwells Warlord Chronicles and among my favouite miniatures along with Crusader. Any criticisms? Yes the horses could be better some of the tails are a bit "Sticky onny" and the muscles too "slabular". Anyone needing a translation of my text probably works with me so ask in person!

Crusader Dark age Scots

2010-04-23T17:54:00.000+01:00

One of the newer lines from Crusader Miniatures is their Dark Age Scots, very nice miniatures like all of the Crusader castings, kinda solid and characterful, very nice really rate their mounted figures too as their horses are better than most. More to follow....

More Randon pics of my work

2010-04-21T19:41:00.000+01:00

I think this is Gripping Beast, a mounted Welsh Cheiftain.

BTD saxon noblemen.

Left to right are a Renegade Saxon, a BTD Saxon King and a Crusader Norman with a Renegade shield.

2010-04-21T19:26:00.000+01:00

Die Waffenkammer 28mm Panther

An American compant that produces superb 1/56th scale or 28mm WW2 Armour, really crisp detail on these models, check them out at www.diewaffenkammer.com

GW Fantasy Dragon Conversion

2010-04-21T19:22:00.000+01:00

Lovely model, hated the cliff launch pad so cut her off and re modelled the legs and feet so she was free flying, sold her on ebay for about £100 when I decided WFB was not right for me at the time.

2010-04-21T19:19:00.000+01:00

Warlord Games 25mm Celtic Chariot

Very proud of this chariot, one of three I painted for Warlord that featured on the cover of Wargames Illustrated, great advert for my painting service, just in time for me to knock pro painting on the head and return to Nursing. Great timing Mike!

25mm Napoleonics

2010-04-21T19:06:00.001+01:00

25mm Old Glory Imperial Guard Chasseurs with Standard, Officer, Colonel and Bugler

Colonel and NCO

Standard and Bugler

Mounted Officer.

Nice miniatures with good poses and character but the castings are a bit dated, have lots of flash on them and need re mastered now, or better still 2 years back!

Some Modern Armour from Peter Pig

2010-01-13T15:01:00.000Z

Just for a change of pace, a Peter Pig 15mm T54 in Syrian colours.

Another Peter Pig, an Israeli M113.

AN Israeli SHOT Centurian Platoon with the bolt on ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) designed to disrupt the formation of the Jet in HEAT Rounds and shaped charges.
For those intersted the chevron on the side of the vehicle denotes the platoon within a company and rotates 45 degrees, clockwise, from verticle for each platoon, the stripes on the barrel denotes the vehicle number Side Elevation, these are superb miniatures, by far the best 15mm IDF Stuff on the market bar none. They are also all lead so feel really chunky, I love Peter Pig and will post some of his 15mm Vietnam Infantry soon.

SS Pak 40 75mm Anti Tank Platoon

2010-01-13T14:34:00.001Z

First off we have a sniper in a concealed position with a scoped Kar98k in Peadot camouflage.

A Platoon of Pak40 75mm anti tank guns in cover. Battlefront miniatures, these come with extra ammo cases and shells which can be cut down to look like empty cases as shown, grass and bushes are woodland scenics.

Side shot of the same guns, these are like little dioramas and therefore fragile so choose respectful gamers to play against or make em less fragile!

Front shot of the Pak 40's.

SS Panzergrenadiers - Normandy 44

2010-01-13T14:26:00.000Z

SS Tank hunter groups with Panzerfaust & Panzerschreck, some in Peadot camo smocks and some in field dress to add a little variety (It could be hot in the summer of 44!)

Another shot of my Tank hunters.

Officers and NCO's, will do some runners soo too.

Another shot of the Leaders figures. "Overlord" rules make great use of command and control so leader figures are important in the game.

British Forces

2009-12-28T17:37:00.001Z

British Bren Gun Group

British Infantry Squad

Sherman Firefly Rear (Guards Armoured Division)

Sherman Firefly (GAD)

Some Finished Miniatures

2009-12-28T13:44:00.001Z

US Airborne Squad with NCO and Runner

US Airborne Rifle Group (15mm Battlefront miniatures)

Same Rifle Group Different view

All these miniatures where painted with Vallejo Paints, if you are thinking of trying them get the flames of war pait sets, excellent paints and colours are spot on, highly reccomended.

2009-12-28T13:01:00.000Z

This blog is being created to follow my return to 15mm WW2 gaming which started in the early 90's at Shrewsbury Wargaming club playing a game written by a club member, Barrie Lovell, who had a wargames company called Firebase Games. Barrie wrote an excelent set of rules called "Overlord". Over the years my copy dissapeared and the rights where sold to an American Company called Brookhurst Hobbies, the game is now very diffacult to get hold of from them but I was lucky enough to get a copy on Ebay which I am transcribing verbatim due to the condition into a word document so I can re prit it for personal use.

Miniature wise I am using Battlefront 15mm "Flames of War" because they are the best on the market for many reasons.

I was lucky enough to be able to support myself through Pro painting for a couple of years and can paint to a good standard so much of the blog will be pictures of my miniatures and terrain as the project develops.

Wish me luck.