In places deep, where dark things sleep,...

...In hollow halls beneath the fells.

But no Hobbit miniatures, oh no! I'm talking about the murderous hobo lifestyle; adventuring and dungeoneering!
But since both mini's I want to show have something to do with the subterranean realms the lyric quoted seemed apt.

So, here is number one, a Rhulic (aka Dwarf) Rifleman for the Iron Kingdoms RPG:

As the miniature is not of a character I am currently playing, he's as yet unnamed. 
He's is a conversion of a Heresy Miniatures Dwarf Miner/Inventor. I remodelled the original shotgun into a Iron Kingdoms style Repeater Rifle and added a greatcoat.
 I started this conversion some years ago, back in Iron Kingdom's D20 days, to represent a friend's Rhulic Ranger. But I couldn't get a decent greatcoat sculpted on. We have since moved on to the IKRPG 2nd edition with all new characters, so he was no longer immediately necessary. I came across him when sorting through my mini's for Iron Kingdoms and decided to give him another go.
I'm quite happy with him now he is finally finished.

And dungeoneering related miniature number 2:

A nice big barbarian warrior from the tribes around the Seas of Sand in the eastern lands.
He is Hasslefree Miniatures' Wolf (b) with a braided mohawk/topknot added in greenstuff. I've painted him with a darker, more bronzed skintone to appear like someone from the Middle East. He's a big brute of a mini, over 35mm tall, excluding his base.

With him finished, it means two companions are finally together again:

The moment I pulled these out of the parcel, I knew they had to go together, they're just such a characterful duo.
Two adventuring companions, having shared many adventures and perils over the years. Despite, or maybe because of, their obvious and significant differences, they only truly seem to be at ease when the other is near. Rumors have it they may even be lovers, but no-one has yet had the courage, or deathwish, to ask...

There is a third member to this little adventuring outfit, a mutual friend who joins them from time to time, but he resides still in his little plastic baggie... A grizzled older warrior, also from Hasslefree.

Oh, and the prop for my son's costume is finished, but still needs final fitting and pictures taken, it will get a post all of its own later this weekend.

A Costume for my son.

In the part of the world/country where I live, it is just a little under two weeks until Carnival*.
Since my wife sews with some skill, and I have my modelling and wargaming skills, my son is utterly convinced anything is achievable costume-wise...
 This year he initially wanted to go dressed as a Space Marine. In the interest of my mental health, our household budget and his comfort during the day (hardshell costumes suck!) I managed to convince him this wouldn't be feasible.
So he decided to be a character from his favorite video game instead...
...with all the props.

The moment my wife heard his choice she firmly declared: YOU are going to do all the other stuff, I'm only doing the clothing!

So there I was...
Anyway, here is the main prop, as it stands now:

 Can you guess who my son will be dressed as?
Some more clues: His more popular brother is a plumber. They both love spaghetti and facial hair.

See you again when this contraption is done!

*: Carnival around here is a big costumed festival with parades, parties, for the adults lots of booze and idiocy, and lots of loud music of generally abysmal taste and quality made just for the event. It was traditionally a big party before the start of fasting and abstinence until Easter. These days, the majority of the populace, regardless of faith (or lack thereof) unite in celebrating the feast in a big way before totally ignoring everything about the fasting and abstaining...

Taking selfies...

Self bows that is!

The archers that will accompany my brave Knight are done:

Once again, hackjob painting table photography....

Good fun to paint, though I got a bit hasty with their hosen at the end. But then again, they're only mooks, they can't expect to get the same star treatment the shining hero leading the retinue got.
These are old late-90's GW Bretonnian figures, to which I've added nylon thread bowstrings (attached with superglue and plentiful cursing!) and styrene nocked arrows on the two aiming figures.
I really wish the Perry twins would sculpt and release some more figures to match this style and era. Their Agincourt range is close, but just a few decades later.

To complete the Knight-with-no-name(-yet)'s retinue, I still have 5 spearmen (including a bannerman) and a squire to paint. That will have to wait for the time being as the bannerman is only holding a long stick at the moment, and the squire needs greenstuff shenanigans to make the foot version match the mounted more closely.

But more importantly, this means there will be two single figures on the painting roster next! I'm already looking forward to it. It's just nice to be able to mess around with paints and odd mixes without having to worry about consistency or repeatability. Just go with the flow.

One place has already been claimed by a tough looking dwarf in greatcoat carrying a repeater rifle. (Yes, a figure for use in IKRPG. I'll tell you more about him once I start painting him.) No pics yet as figure in nothing but black primer is no fun to see (or photograph).

This is my boomstick!

You all were expecting Ash, weren't you?

Well, these guys take the expression "boomstick" a little more literally:

Yesterday I finished my first batch of Iron Fang Pikemen, but I din't have the right light to photograph them anymore. They were a bit of hard work to get painted, I had to go back and fix a white haze that turned up on the red. No idea where it came from, I think the weather somehow affected the way the paint dried (My painting room has become a bit chilly this winter, so I paint in the living room, but I store my painting gear, including half-painted mini's in the painting room...)
Plus, they are basically 3 colours, red, brown and metal. It took some perseverance to keep going at such large and repetitive expanses of similar shapes and colours.
But I made it through. Now to gather the courage to start on the next batch of six, including the unit leader, bannerman and officer. I'm not sure if I'll keep them as one painting batch, or split them up in 3 grunts and 3 "specials". Right now I'm leaning towards painting them as a group of six; it means I only have one more batch of pikemen to get through, I can hopefully maintain some painting interest by alternating grunts and specials in the assembly line, and I reduce the risk of getting stuck with a painted unit that has unpainted officers....

Oh, here is the rear of this batch:

 Hardcore nutters in heavy plate, wielding bombs on long sticks, what's not to like about them?

Oh, to maintain sanity, and enthousiasm as the painting of the pikemen ground on, I also sidestepped into these guys:

The first part of Sir Yet Nameless his retinue. These are his archers. Sire Nameless and his retinue-to-be are part of my larger Warhammer Quest/Chanson de Geste/Dungeoneering/Fantasy Skirmish project.
At this point the wash on their cowls was drying, livery, leathers, faces, bows and grey metals are done. I still need to paint their hose, arrows and fletching, and copper/brassware bits and paint the bases before they are finished.
The two metal ones (sword raised and the guy with the horn) are lovely sculpts by the Perries, from GW's old (and by me, much missed) Bretonnian range. Accounting for their age, and single piece nature, even the three plastic ones aren't all that bad.

I find batch-painting the less enjoyable aspect of painting for wargaming. To keep myself enthousiastic about painting,  with every batch finished, I  "reward" myself with getting to paint a single individual miniature. Recharge the batteries, as it were.
So, once the archers are finished, I'll have two batches achieved, which means....TWO individual figures to paint!
Not sure yet, what those will be, but I'm already eyeing a few of my primed figures. Good chance they'll be figures that can be used for the Iron Kingdoms RPG, or maybe a Warmachine solo as these have all passed my converting and prep bench lately... Then again, I may just rip something out of a blister at the last moment.
Gotta keep things interesting...

Propping things up....

I'm working on a little something.... ;-)

I've been watching a fair bit of videos by/with Adam Savage this weekend. And his unabashed nerdyness and love/need of making is just infectious. It inspired me and reminded me just how much I neglect my own desire to build stuff. What joy can be found in the process of making and, at the end, hold a piece of a universe, a setting in your hands. How something you make is yours, like nothing else can never be.
So, I've decided to try and build something. Here's a pic of it in progress:

It's lying on the piece of paper I worked out some quick ideas/proportions on.
Can you guess what it will be?
(Hint: It's from my current favorite RPG setting...)

It's actually version 2, on version 1 the glue set before I could properly align something and it cracked as I tried to fix it. So version 1 is now  officially the guinea pig...

Hopefully I can show and tell you all more next time!

Man of ill repute

No, I'm not talking about myself (well, not directly..) but about my character for the Iron Kingdoms: Full Metal Fantasy Roleplaying Game (IKRPG for short).

Meet mr. Bastian Rathleagh:

Mr. Rathleagh is an, ahem, "Asset Redistribution Engineer", who recently acquired a certain Orgoth relic, causing a dramatic shift in his career prospects... He is now feeling the need to leave his crowded home city of Five Fingers and explore the countryside, where there are decidedly less potential witnesses in case he needs to employ his newfound armament.
He has fallen in with a group of adventurers, they are currently thinking about going pro and establishing a mercenary charter for themselves. He hopes they will be able to establish themselves as professional adventurers or explorers of the dark places on the map of Immoren. Whatever takes him away from populated areas and keeps him from getting hunted down like a monster is good in his book, really.

Normally, he keeps his Fellblade hidden inside a rifle case and wields a Caspian battle blade instead. When there are no witnesses he will gladly use his Fellblade and if things get really hairy, he'll be swinging both blades at the same time, one in each hand. His thieving skills should come in handy when exploring old ruins and such and his stealth, he hopes, will minimise the number of witnesses when he cuts loose with his "special darling".

See you next time!

Winter is coming...

Yeah, I know, tacky, overused title, but the alternative was  "Guards, guards!" .

You see, I've (finally) finished my basic unit of Winterguard:

(The photo isn't the greatest, crappy light today....)

I actually started on this unit several years(!) ago, back in the days of Mk1, it has lingered in the to-do pile far longer than it deserved.
I've still got my Rocketeers and UA in blister, they're the next batch of Winter Guard. Not next up on the painting table though. I have other units already based and ready for primer. Which those are? You'll see eventually, I haven't yet decided where to start myself...
Plus I've promised myself a solo or other single model as a reward for finishing a unit. (I find painting units a bit of a chore. A relaxing chore mind you, but still lower on the fun-o-meter than spending some time with a single figure. Apparently I'm no good with repetitive work.)

So, what else have I been up lately, now that Zomtober has passed?
I've played the Halloween zombie game I had planned. A little less turnout that I had hoped for, but we still had fun.  No AAR, as we all forgot to take regular pictures... Like some sort of Morbid Martha Steward I baked cookies... Zombie finger shortbread to be precise, which got a laugh from folk and were nommed with some enthusiasm. :-)
As far as the Great Garage Purge goes; I worked up the nerve to sort out and re-organise my collection of stuff (raw materials and models) for the Space Hulk 3D/Howling Griffons/Genestealer Cult conjoined-hybrid project. That stuff is now properly organised, neatly tucked away and I have a clearer view of what I already own. Hopefully that should lower the hurdle for actually starting on that again. The former sprawl of disorganised crap was rather, erm, dissuasive to actually, well, even going near it...
Which means that the garage is nearly done, just some minor stuff still to sort and then the final organising and stowing of stuff.

I've played a game of  Warmachine Mk2, a nice little introductory 15 point affair with a good mate of mine. I got solidly trounced (He's got at least double my years of wargaming under his belt and a keen mind for nasty tricks...), but it was a blast!
Hence my renewed painting of Warmachine stuff.

See you next time!