Diehard Minatures. A Kickstarter worthy of note.

Since I was turned on to this by someone else,and since I'm a backer I would be remiss not to spread the word. Fans of old school citadel miniatures should rejoice as these figures pay homage to the classic Citadel figures from the 83-87 era.  If you're a fan of Old School Warhammer or "Oldhammer" as they say these days or of course the classic Mordheim. then this is for you!

There are options for just a solo figure all the way the whole thing for the so inclined. Now they arent the cheapest figures, being  high quality pewter and akin to "hero" models not rank and file troops for large wargames. The sweet spot is the 30 quid pledge about (46 usd) which gets 5 figures plus a bonus figure from the pledge so that's about $7.50 a figure...which is, trust me!,  a way better deal then you will normally find on ebay for comparable vintage figures of the era.

Check it out  HERE

Please give it a thought, I really want to see this hit the 10K mark so it unlocks that level of figures!
8 Days to go!

LPL 7, Round 3 begins!

Round 3 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 7

Above is my 2 round entry, "It's got two heads! (old lead)"  Which again, lost in a just about a 60/40 spread to some GW eldar of all things, Not the the best photo I submitted with the guy front and center being slightly out of focus. The photo's here are so very important in peoples perceptions this thing ends up a miniatures photography contest all most as much as painting contest.  I didnt have alot of time for photos with my initial submission with my Adepticon prep. Things get tough from here out as I am basically working a submission a week..my round 4 entry should be submitted today, giving me until May 11th to work on the Historical Civil War bonus round which is minimum 10 figures if I want all the bonus points. I'm torn as I am ready to dive into painting my new Bolt Action stuff, but the 20 bonus points is tempting with going 0-2 so far, with me being only 13 points down from the top leader board is pretty tempting.  Anyway this week is more of recent figures I did in preparation for Adepticon, familiar faces in "Heroes of Helm's Deep"  check it out and go vote!

LPL 7, Round 2 is on!

Round 2 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 7

Above is my 1 round entry, "For the Riddermark"  Which unfortunately lost by a 2 to1 margin but to an excellent entry by one of my favorite painters on the LAF user: Blackwolf  My follow up entry, "It's got two heads! (old lead) features some more old school grenadier stuff I have had around basically since I was a kid, I've been trying to get thru those old gold boxes for nostalgia purposes over the last few years but the going is slow, this weeks photo is up against some pretty nice 40K Eldar., not seeing the usual anti-GW sentiment on forum rearing its head yet as I currently down about dozen votes, so go check them out and see what you like better, honestly I had a tough time getting a good picture on this one. With Adepticon out of the way, I can crack down the next couple months and see if knock out some real winners here, we'll see, even with small pool and some huge names absent this year, my first two draws have been tough!

Speaking of Adepticon, had a great weekend, played 8 great games, saw all kinds of awesome work, snagged a pair of best appearance awards, along with the usual great swag....I'll get on a full write up with pic during the week.

January's Efforts

 

January's was a decent month on the hobby front for me, nowhere near as prolific as I was 3-4 years or so ago but the ball is moving in the right direction. First up are some Lord of the Rings figures (what else?)  My Riders of Rohan dismounted troops for my Adepticon Team Army. The entire is force is Cavalry so despite it being 20 Cav models, I need dismounts for about everyone in case they lose their mount. So that 20 becomes 40 or in this case 35, as I am only doing 8 dismount rank and file troops figuring the odds of more than 8 of 12 men being off their horses at one time is slim., I am also only doing 1 dismounted Outrider.. everyone else gets two models.  I am almost 2 with my other 2 Royal Guard, so I can get into the Cavalry now.  With just some display base work and my other two armies for Adepticon completely done, I am at a comfortable pace to finish by April. I plan on hitting some of the Rohirim Cav first just to keep my current color schemes going then get into the heroes which for this army are Theoden, Eowyn, Legolas and Gimli

Standard Bearer on Foot, its too much of risk only doing the mounted one so Two Standards it is, minor conversion on the Standard Bearer , weapon, shield, banner top, I'm doing my Royal Guard in a somewhat non traditional color scheme.

All the older metal AoD for me thanks.

 Next up, My Army of the Dead who are making there appearance Thursday night at Adepticon in the March to Mount Doom Event..which is 500 points, 15 model maximum. I'm running Aragorn and 13 of these guys, The King plus 12.  Its themed as the scene at Pelenor when Aragon shows up in the Corsair Ship and charges off with the AoD...I have cool little display in mind that should hit all the bells and whistles from that classic scene.

These guys are WIP, but I painted a up a couple of new Goblins from the Hobbit Box set, and I wanted to show how good they can look with very little effort. . I still stand by earlier comments that these models are great, All I have done to these guys was a spray base coat of  Reaper Fair Skin, block paint the hair, loin cloth and weapons and then give then give them a wash of Ogryn Flesh.
that's it..the look great already with zero additional detailing...yeah mounting them on Dragon Forge bases is a luxury but I bought a bunch of stuff from him when he had the buy two , get one free sale in December.  Anyway 36 of these models is the deal in the Hobbit Box, as these guys have a multiple uses for me from a Moria army Idea I am kicking around for next fall, to just an nice horde of generic fantasy guys, Goblins, Mutants, Morlocks, whatever.

Finally a blast from the past,  This Two headed Giant is in the "Old School Miniatures" category
This Grenadier  Ettin is from 1986.  Thats past the window of  my initial collecting as youth which was 80% Grenadier stuff from 1979-1983  (the rest being Heritage).  I picked this guy a year or so go on ebay when I found a guy selling about 10 boxes from this Dragon Lords line still shrink wrapped uncovered from some long forgotten cache..the bidding was fast and furious..I think all the Giants from this "Giants Club" where there, I managed to score this one and some cool armored goblins.  Anyway this was a experiment in some glazing techniques I wanted to try..not quite done yet, he's close...he'll make his final appearance this year once the LAF LPL & gets rolling, Then he'll be living in my slowly growing Skirmish Dungeon,

I'll  be back soon with more HC Campaign results and more painted figures ASAP.

More on Escape from Goblin Town.

Seems like my "review" of the new Hobbit Starter set has generated some interest. with almost 700 views in the last few days, people are interested. Mainly thanks to a link over The Miniatures Page

Based on this I gave the review a bit editing and some clarity based on comments. so feel free to give it another read if you're so inclined.

If you recall I didn't post any pics of Radagast whom I assembled this weekend. I didn't use the included base as I wanted consistently with my other models..but he is clearly the best model in the set. The single character sprue is a great idea by GW..I wish all models where this way instead of this finecast nonsense if they were moving away from metals. For whatever reason the plastic/ detail
seems a different quality than the other sprues..that could rightly be my imagination but for whatever reason it just looks better.

I also thought Gandalf's hat was too short compared to previous sculpts so I extended it with some green stuff to where I think its right compared to my other models. I put him on a wooden plank, "goblin town" style base and he is now definitely the second best model in the set.
go wizards!..I am going to paint these guys up with an older Saurman Model I have very soon.

I am also doing some research on dwarf models, the will scale in with this Gandalf model. we all know there is no shortage of Dwarf Models out there, however finding the proper ones for Thorins company is surprisingly tough..The Old Citadel Imperial Dwarf line is perfect with the exception that the models go for like $20 each and I think they are too large, reaper has a bunch of great dwarfs..but again I a fear they are too big...I'll have to check the Bob Olley sculpts (probably my favorite old school sculptor after the Perry's) as his reapers are sometimes smaller...anyway Any ideas I be obliged.

LPL Season 6, Rnd 8 Redux

Round 8 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6.


Above is my entry for last round, *Green Magic* which somehow pulled out of vote by vote dead heat to squeak out winning by ONE vote...a margin of 1-5 votes is a draw and I finished 6 votes ahead. Due to Adepticon, I had to re-run my round 2 Entry "The Hunt for Rex Eleven" one of my better entries
it lost to the fellow who is going to win the whole thing probably going 10-0. so I wanted to re run it at some point. I got a very solid draw this week from a very good painter and "Rex" is cruising with a comfortable lead, let that not discourage your voting however as there is still alot of great new stuff posted. Still shooting for finishing in the top ten in this thing...and I just might be able to do it, as lady luck has smiled on me of late as I will talk about in my next post!

LPL Season 6, Round 2!!

Round 2 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6
My round 2 entry ("The hunt for Rex Eleven") will be familar territory for those of you who follow this blog, its 28mm Sci Fi figs on my Hirst "Hulk" Terrain.
 
Above here is my Round 1 entry. "Wizards Circle" from the Old Grenadier Gold Box AD&D line circa 1980, I still remember buying these guys when I was 13.. These guys won by wide margin in Round with 363 votes to my opponents 73..so if you bothered to vote either way thanks!

I could use your input again, I got an insane tough draw this round against one of last year finalists and clearly one of the best painters on the forum and with "Rex Eleven" being one of my best entries, its too bad it's most likely going to lose as it currently being beaten by an over 2 to 1 margin on day one . There are not alot of come from behind victories in this thing as the first days voting usually dictates the initial impression. Win or lose the more votes you get is good for the overall score, so do me a favor and yourself a favor by not missing out on all the awesomeness of LPL6 and go check it out!

Skirmish Gaming

I've been somewhat obsessing about Skirmish gaming of late outside my Legends of the High Seas and Lord of Rings SBG interests. While I really enjoy the rules for these games, they occasionally get a little "busy" and I started thinking about other rules sets for other genres of gaming. Initially I intended to just modify the core skirmish rules that both LotHS and LotR use.
Early this summer I built my "Skirmish Dungeon" , built primarily with High Seas in mind, however I knew it would be fun setting for any kind of generic skirmish games. I've been wanting to do a "low fantasy" (think 1st ed D&D) warband type game that incorporated characters that could advance..without too many pre determined stats.I like to stay away from too many RPG elements but wanted enough to reflect the setting and a limited resource type game that I love.



An atypical Dark Elves warband for SoBH as I will run it, the Drider will probably just be a dungeon monster there are 6 other Drow still being painted. Dungeon Games will run around 500 points, Dark Elves a bit more expensive than most average 30 points for a Soldier to 80+ for a Hero type.

Some quick research and back link to the great "lead adventure forums" turned me on to Ganesha games and its Songs of Blades and Heroes rulesets. simple, with an interesting mechanic it still only uses a D6 and was about perfect for what I looking for. Essentially each figure has only 2 statistics with a variety of special rules are either inherent or learned, its open ended enough that its very adaptable to be used how you like it.


my WotC Umber Hulk from 1999, I love this model.

Given I have a pretty substantial fantasy miniature collection going way back to when I was kid, I figure I'd put all this together and do something fun. Since I have ton of terrain already, I've started going thru old sets of figures and picking out figures for various types warbands and Dungeon monsters, the last month or so I have been painting a bunch of them up. I have a couple of two player scenarios laid out that involve using the skirmish dungeon, where you play against each other and the dungeon simultaneously. there is a certain board game element to it
where I'll have some cards you draw that trigger events or dungeon residents, not unlike the new FFG release of Dungeon Quest which I have and will also be talking about eventually anyway, I'll continue to post photos of some recent works here as well as some narratives from the playtesting..hopefully all this month.


L to R, Drow Ranger, Drow Soldier..."City of the Spider Queen" by WotC 2002
Drider, by Grenadier, 1980,- Drow Cleric, "City of Spider Queen by WotC 2002 and Drow Soldier by Citadel 1985. Note the scale on these stands up pretty well, all the figures work together. This is a rarity.

Having run a day long Legend of High Seas Campaign last year and In order to facilitate the planned Legend of the High Seas event at Adepticon 2011, I know some changes have to happen to make a 4-5 hour event run smoother, the campaign systems of LotHs while great, doesnt lend it self well to a 4- 5 hours event with maybe 30 mins between rounds reconciling increasing stats per round over 8-10 teams and redistributing the stats each round is hell on the T.O., so some modification is in order, potentially increasing the gold to buy your team and/or picking one advance per round or submitting pre selected advancements that you can check off should you live and qualify for them or just running the same (but more advanced team) over 4 games. I don't know exactly where I am going yet, but I want to use play testing with other skirmish gaming to solidify how I want to run this High Seas event and to most of all make it fun. Sort of using "B" to get to "A" if you will I'll of course update this all as it happens


The Chainmail era figures by WotC are great and still available at reasonable prices, the last decent miniatures WotC made before moving over to low quality pre painted plastics.


Skeletons by Otherworld


The torturer fellow is the "harvey psycho" chronoscope model
by Reaper, Reapers GW+ scale prevent too much mixing with older
figs but I have lots of Reaper stuff.


Anyway, you all get the idea...I'll update when we throw down with an actual game.
oh and all minatures bases seen here are by Back 2 Base-ix

Old School Miniatures, A History.

Saying hello from 1980, no Hot Tub Time Machine here, just fresh paint

Something new and different here I have been putting together for awhile now. While I primarly consider myself a wargamer, I am also a miniature collector. I collect a variety of things relating to different aspects of my life, and somehow I have managed to hold onto alot of stuff precious to me as kid. Which hasnt exactly been easy when you were a kid 30 years ago. While I wish I still had all my mid 70's Airfix plastic toy soldiers, Model Planes and Tanks (sold -garage sale, thanks mom) . I did manage to hang on to my Fantasy miniature collection. IF you have ever wondered or maybe just aren't aware how the fantasy/Sci-Fi side of this hobby developed over the years here is good start, from my personal perspective.

Back in 1978, when the greatest thing to us kids were Comic Books, Star Wars and the Lord of The Rings animated movie (that we must have seen 10 times each in the summers of 77' and 78', One day we accidentally discovered the Dungeon and Dragons Blue Box in the back of the Comic Shop and it was all over from there. I don't think I did much else in my free time between 1978 and 1981 other than sniff model glue (LOL!), Listen to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and play D&D, Traveler, Dark Tower, Fedual and other assorted games with my brother and the kids in the neighborhood. Once we saw all the lead miniatures and box sets..we where hooked...it was like plastic soldiers all over again but these we metal and you could paint them and use them in a narrative game..we bought tons of them..and tried to learn to paint them decently.

Eventually, High School, girls and guitars took over and gaming every weekend was a distant memory...occasionally I'd pick something up to read or a cool figure here or there..but never did anything much with it. Fortunately the box I had packed it all away in survived the sale of the house I grew up in and my parents eventual relocation while I was off at college. Once I got married and settled down/ I started trying to take stock of my miniatures and my itch to start gaming again. I didn't start collecting again until the 2000's but most of my original collection survives unscathed..I've been slowing trying to replace the few missing pieces that were traded away or lost in the void..This is my original collection of Fantasy Miniatures purchased during the 1st Edition of D&D..the nostalgia here is pretty epic if you were born in the 60's like me. Recently I've started basing and painting these for display..what I'll do with them I'll save for another post...but here's some great lead from the early early days of the fantasy miniatures hobby, without this stuff there be no Warhammer, no 40k, etc..so I am glad I still have it, a little bit of gaming history.


I'll start out with some of the most recognizable stuff, The Advanced Dungeon and Dragons, "gold" box sets from Grenadier. manufactured in 1980 thru 1982 this followed up the Heritage line of Fantasy Miniatures, ( that I also have lots of)..I currently own 11 of the 19 box sets Grenadier produced and only 6 are complete..the rest missing various pieces that slipped into the void along the way..



The Wizards Box was always one my favorites, I am missing 1 model from this box, Letter "G"
the Sage..if you have this and want to sell it me, I will be very grateful..like paint you a Standard Bearer, grateful...I've been looking on ebay so far no luck.



I spent some time last weekend cleaning up, priming and basing these guys. I painted up two of them so you can what 30 year old miniatures can look like, My wife, was even like
"wow, those are cool"







I am definitely going to paint up the rest of these guys for display..I wont do it will all of them
but a few select boxes for nostaliga purposes is mandatory. The guy throwing "Bigby's Crushing Hand" is pretty awesome.





"Warning, don't eat the lead", that always cracked me up..not sure why.

I'm going to make this monthly series. Going thru the various boxes and painting some of these, and talk my lengths to locate some of the missing pieces, eventually the photos will all be galleried under a link on the left hand side bar. Next up I'll go thru the highly sought after "Tomb of Spells box, and some Heritage Dungeon Dwellers, that are even more "old school" than these!

I need to thank and point out www.dndlead.com, for some background material here. If you have some interest in this. dndlead is a well researched archive of all the old miniatures I'll be talking about here.