Adventure party

 An old school adventure party delve deeper into an ancient ruin in search of treasure, much to the dislike of the claustrophobic Elf. The Dwarf curses under his breath, "who's idea was it to bring an Elf on such a venture? Not mine!"

Longfoot Curly Toes just wants to go home too, but his loyalty to the others always gets the better of him.

Dwarves!

Here are some of those fine old models my friend gave me all those years ago. I thought they were too good to leave unpainted. I really enjoyed painting these and although they are old, they still have loads of character. I prefer these old sculpts to many of the new models of today, these old 1980'S sculpts are more realistic in appearance, before weapons and armour started to grow out of all proportions.

I have based these six Dwarfs on a 60mmx40mm base and have been influenced by reading 'Hordes Of The Things' rule set.

I have also been won over by Tim's blog site http://saskminigamer.blogspot.co.uk/p/basing.html. Infact it was this website that really got me thinking about Fantasy again...thanks Tim. For me an army has to look like an army and Tim's approach of doubling the numbers of figures recommended really appealed to me. HotT recommends bases of three figures very similar to DBA, but an army of thirty figures was never going to sit well with me. Tim's idea of doubling these figure amounts and base depth won me over after looking through his amazing blog. Now an army can look like an army with 60 + figures.

Also In 'HotT' I like the way that each base or 'Element' can become a little diorama in its own right. I have read mixed reviews about this game but for me the main thing is the painting and I can always bend rules to match my basing at the end of the day.

 These bases could even fit the LOTR rules with a pinch, with each base being counted as a company.The imagination behind HotT as really got my brain juices flowing and I love the idea of coming up with your own troop types and stands to fit with the army type. On such idea is a 'sneaker' base for the Dwarf army being a Dwarven adventure party. I loved this idea and so have started to put one together complete with Hobbit.

It's early days yet but I have really enjoyed my little foray into Fantasy again and plan to paint some more when I have time.

The Great eBay Gamble

Wood Elf and Dark Elf

Just thought I'd mock up a quick Elfy drawing and try out some colours. I haven't time to paint at the moment but my head is still buzzing with ideas. Anyway here they are, the light and the dark.

Off to Salute tomorrow and looking forward to meeting fellow Bloggers. It's a long journey to get there but it should be worth it. See you all soon.

Dark Elf

A Dark elf swordsman taken from designs by the Perry Twins back in 1984.

Bed and Breakfast in Isenguard!

This has to be my favourite part in the LOTR, where the two different factions of Orcs argue over which way to take the Hobbits. Trying out a new pen today and the scene was the first thing that came to my mind.

Fantasy Rules?

I've really enjoyed myself painting up those old Citadel miniatures and It's got me thinking about painting up a few more.
I have been rather struck by Tim's miniature war gaming blog and the way he has based his figures for HotT (Hordes of the Things).
http://saskminigamer.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/hordes-of-things-game-1.html
I've never really been a huge fan of DBA, coming from the Warhammer school of throwing masses of dice.
Is HotT any good and does anybody know of any other good rules out there. I have to admit I haven't really looked at any Fantasy rules for years.

I'm getting kind of hooked on the idea of painting up my ancient dark Elf figures and basing them on a 60x40 bases. These 60 x 40 bases would be companies. I like the look of HotT but not so keen on all the different sized bases, I would probably take a leaf out of Tim's book and mount all my figures on the same size base.
The rules I could tweak.
A friend of mine is a big fan of the GW Lotr rule set but I think I would rather collect the actual Lotr figures for that If I went down that route.

Dain II VS Azog

A young Dain ironfoot kills the mighty orc chieftain Azog.

Azog's son, Bolg would later lead a mighty goblin host to the Battle of the five armies to claim Smaug's treasure. He would not return. The size of Azog and latter his son, Bolg, points to them being large Uruks from Mordor.

Charles II

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The English Civil War

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Fantasy Island

Two years ago a good friend of mine gave me his box of old Citadel and Grenadier miniatures.

I dug it out last night and had a good look at what was inside. Most of the figures were produced in 1987.

This Goblin figure is a very early sculpt indeed, early Eighties I would say.

I have always loved Dwarves, because of their characterful faces and equipment. I would love to paint these guys up and find more (in my loft) to make a forty man warband. The only thing is I hate the slotta bases and would cut them off and mount the figure on a flat base with four other Dwarves. I would like to put the unit together as if it were a historical unit with four figures on 40mmx40mm bases.

However, the collector in me screams at the idea of cutting up such old and valued mini's.

GW Gimli (1985)

Grenadier 1989 troll.

I love this fighter from Grenadier (1987)

A heavily armoured Halfling fighter, a true heroe of his Shire.

Norse Dwarf (1987)

Blade of Mordor

Make it Ocky with this attractive Mordor Goblin knife. Be the envy of you friends with this one time deal of a life time. Watch them laugh as you tickle maggot holes in them with this priceless relict of a forgotten Third age!

Poison sound separately.

I found this great looking Orc blade the other day in a mates garage and thought I'd better take a picture for reference.

I haven't painted any fantasy figures for over twenty years, but the the new plastic Orcs from Wargames Factory have tempted me.

The reason being they remind me of the old Angus McBride illustrations for MERP back in the Eighties.

Anyway I quite fancy painting some Orcs and as I'm listening to LOTR at the mo, I'm fully juiced up and raring to go.

Lord of The Rings

XIV Legion WIP

Almost done now, the shields are painted and everything has two coats of Matt varnish (very important with Army Painter). I just need to flock them now and they're ready to go.

Two Cohorts of the fighting 14th in double quick time. Soon they will join the third cohort in the Army of Britannia.

Edgehill Battle site.

Well I finally made it to Edgehill and driving along the top of the sheer drop you can see how the hill got its name.

I was a little disappointed to find I couldn't go down onto the battlefield as It is owned by the M.O.D and restricted to the public. However there is a good vantage point from the castle pub on top of the hill.

Stowe House.

At the weekend I took a drive up into Warickshire to find the Battle site of Edge Hill, on the way I passed the grand house and grounds of Stowe in Buckinghamshire.

Battle Of Nantwich