Marauder Landsknecht Halfling

I like to think he is patting his stomach either in appreciation of something he has just eaten, or something he will soon tuck into!

Last Friday, I posted my thoughts about how hobbywise I'd become stuck in a rut. One of my solutions (apart from focusing on blogging once again, I hope you are appreciating my efforts!) was to plunge my hand into my foot deep stash of old minis and paint the first thing my fingers clasp hold of. I was hoping for a beastman or chaos warrior but instead I ended up with this tiny figure. It being a Marauder fig, initially I considered dropping him back in and repeating the process but I stuck to my guns and painted him up. 

I am jolly well glad that I did too. As he was great fun to work on and took practically no time at all to complete. He comes from the Halfling Militia set circa that wonderful year, 1989. There were a small number of models in the set and I am sure Marauder did a second group of halfling figures a little later on, but I am no expert in their ranges. 

Obviously, he has shades of the landsknecht about him so I went for a myriad of colours on his outfit. Looking back, I feel that my shading was a little too heavy handed on the folds of the clothing and look too black. But he is the first model I have painted in this scale for many months. 

I hope you like him.

Sammy Shortsausage feared a long wait for the nearest loo!

A Warhammer Bestiary: Halfling

I have been rather poorly of late. Tonsillitus in fact. The bacterial type. Its not an illness that I have had before and it is far, far from serious but why is it so bloody awful? Swollen throat, very painful swallowing and insomnia. I did my usual thing when ill, I just took to my bed, took my medicine and got on with it. Still, its taken just under two weeks to feel well enough to get get back to work on the blog. Why cannot there be a nice cosy disease like old Arkwright from Open All Hours pines for? Something that sees you signed off from work for a week or two, now real pain of discomfort and you are still able to get lots of nice miniature type stuff done! Nurgle, are you listening?

Thankfully, I have been able to work on finishing off a series of models I was painting for my Warhammer Bestiary project. The first of these was this plucky little halfing. Brave, honest and always hungry these ruddy souls bravely defend the Moot (and their considerable vegetable patches) with determination. 

I didn't have any of these models in my collection so it was a quick trip to eBay to source one. There were plenty about at reasonable prices. Sadly, halflings are another one of those lost races that used to be part of Warhammer, though they are still mentioned in the fluff occasionally no new models have been produced for some years, which is a real shame as they are so full of character. And are perfect for creating fun little scenarios around them. A bit like gnomes. 

I started this one using my usual method. White undercoat. Base colours over the top. Then the whole model was washed with my special ink wash: 1:2:1 black/brown/chestnut ink (with a drop or two of water) and allowed to dry. This is essentially a homemade Devlan Mud that dries a little darker and is used to help create the depth that these models need to look satisfying. 

Then it was a simple case of layering up colours and applying them to the model. I chose rural colours and messed around with orange ink to try and create an interesting tone for the halfling's hat. A little bit of highlighting here and there as well as a drybrush with Chainmail and Mithril Silver to get that mail popping out nicely. 

I really enjoyed painting this little chap. It was possible to get him finished in two sittings which is always rather satisfying as you feel that you have accomplished something. I hadn't really painted for a couple of weeks before tackling this little chap and its incredible how my technique tends to drop if I stop work on the miniatures for a week of two. Hopefully, over the next few evenings I can get some of the other models I started before I was ill finished and get back up into good form before tackling some more challenging models. 

Orlygg.