Keeping the wolf from the door!

What I love about this most wholesome of hobbies that we all share is the sense of community that pervades around our cosy corner of the infoweb.   This will often manifest itself through the generosity of others, whether it is in the time devoted to leaving comments or perhaps in a more physical, tangible sense with items freely given away in order to celebrate any number of impressive milestones.  I, myself have been a grateful recipient of a good many treasures and this odd couple is one such case. 

David Docherty Esq. of ‘One man and his brushes’ fame, is one of these splendid generous types, for when he is not giving freely of his time in the case of running the much lauded Serenity games at ‘Blog-Con’ he is putting random miniatures in the post to lucky and yet unsuspecting recipients. 

I say random, but Dave knows only too well of my penchant for weird and wonderful miniatures and so this mixed bag of Weird West miniatures from ‘Ainsty Castings’ was only ever going to be favourably received.  That said, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, that I had all but forgotten them until just the other day when flicking through the ‘Witchfinder General’ rules, I realised that I would need to get my hands on some werewolves; faster than a speeding silver bullet, I went in search of Dave’s gift that I knew contained a likely lycanthrope.   

It is always the way with such things that the last place you look is exactly where you will find what you are searching for, but finally after covering the entire dining room table in lead* I stumbled upon the elusive packet.  Although it was the Werewolf that I was after, it seemed churlish not to paint his companion, who is a good likeness for a certain American President and wielding a fearsome looking axe, not unlike the title character in the wonderfully absurd, 'Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'. 

*I sensibly waited until the Saintly Mrs. Awdry had left the building!

This is a hugely enjoyable romp through the life of, arguable, America's greatest President and reveals just how the battle of Gettysburg was really won!  Dressed in his overcoat and resplendent with his bow tie and waistcoat, Abe may well find himself pressed into action with my other Victorian misfits, perhaps even in the somewhat stalled, 'secret project'.  The werewolf, however will certainly see service in the new ruleset of choice or might even inspire me to take a closer look at the Gothic supplement for 'In Her Majesty's Name'.  He has a wonderful, Big, Bad, Wolf feel to him, but I'm not overly sure about the tail; even so he is based on a 'Warbases' 30mm MDF disc, decorated to match those of the Noctelinger.

Gypsy Caravan

In a bid to try and make a submission for each of  the '4th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge' bonus rounds, I offered up this splendid 'Victorian era' Gypsy caravan for the 'Vehicle' category.  From the outset, I think that it is important to stress that this is in fact a 'Sarrissa Precision' MDF model from their Gaslamp Alley, Victorian Science Fiction range, scaled to meet the needs of the 28mm scale gamer, and not some scandalous attempt to amass additional points to add to my other side challenge!

This is the first time that, I've done something like this and was initially quite daunted, after all how was this scorched piece of 2mm MDF going to transform into something even remotely resembling the accompanying diagram?

My fears regarding the construction soon evaporated as the pieces, once delicately prised from the sprue, slotted together perfectly requiring only the smallest amount of PVA glue.  When it came to the barrelled roof, I did use some elastic bands to hold it in place overnight, but everything else seemed to fit together rather well.

The painting was kept deliberately simple, although I did indulge in a little decorative work.  Most of the work went into the base that included the gypsy cat tormenting a hedgehog (both Reaper 'Familiars') at the rear of the caravan.

I have to say that I really enjoyed working on this, the quality of the design is just superb and even allows you to have the top lift off to place miniatures inside.  With removable steps and even a work front mechanism it is an absolute joy and makes a great terrain piece.  Possibly one day, I might get round to creating a Gypsy faction for 'In Her Majesty's Name'!

Victorian Gypsies

With the addition of the bonus rounds to this year's '4th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge' I found myself in a bit of a spin - in a good way I should add!  These are the sorts of distractions that seem to punctuate my hobby, that bring the variety to the painting table and I am determined to try and get an entry into all seven of them, starting with these 'Victorian Gypsies', entered in the non-combatant round!

  This trio of lovely ladies are made up of a mixture of makes with a metal 'Westwind' tambourine player, a 'Reaper' metal in the flowing orange dress and a 'Reaper Bones' with an alluring digit!  This was my first experience of the 'bones' material and I have to confess that I am a little unsure of it.  I had read that giving them a good wash and prime was essential, but the painting experience was a little odd given the subtle movement of the plastic. That said the detail is ok, but obviously not as crisp as the metal counterpart and the final result is of a par with the other two so I may yet try a couple more pieces.

There were one or two raised eyebrows over at the challenge regarding my the blatant labelling of them  as 'Victorian', some ne'er-do-wells even suggesting that birth certificates be produced in support of my historic claims - of course being a Gentlemen I couldn't possibly do that to them, but to my mind they were obviously Victorian characters.

Often romanticised in literature, the Romani people have brought mystery, intrigue and colour to some of the Victorian era's most influential texts.  Think of the English Romanies that visit Thornfield Hall as fortune tellers in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Stoker's Dracula  features a group of Romanies working for the Count and then there are the demonised Gypsies accused of the murder in The Adventure of the Speckled Band, a Sherlock Holmes mystery by the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  These just a flavour of what I was thinking when referring to them as 'Victorian'.

Painting wise they were great fun to do and this time I tried to be a little more even with my brush strokes to give a softer look to the skin - the finished result is better than I had managed with 'Hildy', but there is still more to learn when it comes to the painting of the fairer sex.  The palettes are fairly generic, although Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame should be credited as the inspiration for Esmeralda's purple dress with green corset. 

Daphne & Velma...

...the return of the 'secret project'!

Miss Daphne Hudson, the spirited niece of Holmes' former housekeeper was privately educated  at Roedean  thanks, in no small measure, to the generous stipend that the consulting detective had set aside for her.  Always meticulous in her appearance, Daphne was due to take the social scene by storm, but tragedy struck when a ferocious bout Dengue fever claimed the lives of her parents whilst travelling abroad.   Grief stricken, Daphne missed her Debutantes' ball  and her opportunity to shine on the glittering social circuit.  With few options left open to her she has reluctantly chosen to follow her  'adopted'  uncle on his lecture tour of the United States armed only with her late father's umbrella.

'By Jinkies!'  Velma, Dr Watson's wayward ward, has a reputation for being a hellion.  Although awarded a place to read the relatively new social science of  anthropology at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, Velma quickly became frustrated by the inequality between the sexes at British educational establishments at the time.  As a result this wildcat has shunned academia for a chance to explore the grand old U.S. of A. enjoying the relative freedom from the restrains of polite society and the stifling dress code that goes with it.  A veteran of her father's grouse moor, Velma is an expert shot!

Now as departures go this one is a little left field, even by my standards.  The self indulgent folly that is the 'secret project' is simply an excuse that allows yours truly to meld together all manner of unholy combinations from mythology, folklore, popular culture and of course earlier episodes of 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'

This ridiculous construct allows me to collect pretty much anything that grabs my fancy without ever having to worry about gaming it and today I'm proud to reveal the latest characters, Daphne and Velma erstwhile travelling companies of our heroes, S. Holmes Esq., Shaggy Watson and Baskerville.  This ludicrous piece of frippery has been sitting on the back burning for a while now, whilst suitable characters were tracked down, but it wasn't until 'Salute 2013' that inspiration struck.  My curiosity was piqued by the swarm of customers around the 'Black Scorpion' stand.  The release of their new cowgirls set was certainly causing quite a stir; nothing at all to do with the delightful young lady that was serving behind the counter!  It was from this new cowgirl set that Velma was born, the resin of the 'Black Scorpion' piece allowing for a simple head swop from a 'Hasslefree Miniatures', 'Louise' (what will I do with that body!) I did try to file the angular glasses frames to something more rounded, but conscious that one slip would result in an unplanned nose job, I bottled the job!  As for Daphne, she came from 'Black Scorpion's' Civilians 1 group, with both ladies adopting a colour palette inspired from the original Scooby Doo cartoon.

So there we have it, the travelling companions finally reunited and ready for more adventures, but sadly these will have to wait for the moment as the St. Trinians zombie hunters are calling!

Who let the dogs out?

When ordering up the wonderfully grotesque additions to the ever expanding zombie hoard from 'Tengu Miniatures' (see 'Everyday, I'm shuffling') my eyes fell upon these additions to their range.

 Entitled ‘Hell Hounds’ they include ‘Scube’ a Great Dane, ‘Toby’ the Rottweiler and ‘Zeus’ the Bull Terrier; I have absolute no idea why, but for some inexplicable reason my mouse hovered for far too long over the ‘add to basket’ button and in a moment of insanity/weakness they were in! 

All very Charlie's Angels!

Great sculpts in all their goriness and quite satisfying to paint up. Once again I went for a fairly predictable colour palette with the possible exception of the Great Dane who just had to be painted up as the rotting alter ego to ‘Baskerville’ from the ‘secret project’ collection.

"Scooby-dooby-ghoul!"

I may have done a bad thing!

 

 

 

 

Everywhere you look there is always something new and shiny to catch your eye and distract one from going about their normal projects and it would appear that I am as susceptible as the next man.  Whilst the rest of the world is jumping on board the new 'Empire of the Dead' Kickstarter it would appear that yours truly, in his inevitable style is backing the 'also ran'! 

 

Osprey Publishing's new steam punk rules, 'In Her Majesty's Name' are due for release on the 18th April along with the accompanying miniatures that just seemed to resonate to me and carry many of the attributes that I was playing around with in the characters destined for the 'Secret Project'; to that end I've gone and pledged far too much of my pocket money on them! 

 

So why do I mention it here?  Well although not a Kickstarter in its own right, the idea is a very simple one - pay up front and if certain goals are reached then new and exclusive miniatures will be sent to you - for free!  It would appear that the minimum pledge of £37 would entitle you to all the forthcoming spend goals, so the more of you that join in, then the more lead I'll have to sneak past the Saintly Mrs. Awdry on my return from Salute!

 

To get a more in depth breakdown as to what 'In Her Majesty's Name' is all about then click here; go on you know you want to!

 

 

 

 

 

I just couldn't resist!

Mycroft Holmes

With the day job demanding much of my time and the prospect of very little 'let up' for the foreseeable future, many of the great plans have been scaled back at present. That said it is important to have an outlet and this chap proved to be just the tonic! Originally sculpted as part of the ‘Gentlemen’s Club Faction’ for the very tempting ‘Empire of the Dead’ rule set this characterful chap made his way to ‘Awdry Towers’ via Dave Docherty of ‘One Man and his brushes’ fame. Clearly destined for the annals of the ‘secret project’, it has taken until know to flesh out his character in both words and paint.

It was said that Mycroft Holmes’ deductive powers were even greater than those of his younger brother and although it was never clear as to what role he held in the Government of the day, Sherlock once spoke of his brother thus,

“Occasionally he is the British government... the most indispensable man in the country.” *

It would appear that Mycroft’s ability to take the merest sinew of an idea or the whisper of a secret from the far flung corners of the Empire and bind them together to form a clear narrative forged what we now take for granted as the work of the Intelligence Community. 

“The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearinghouse, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience.”*

The relationship between the two brothers was not always as harmonious as it is now with Mycroft spending most of his time at the Diogenes Club, which he co-founded and was perceived by many as been apathetic at best. In Sherlock’s own words,

“...he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right. Again and again I have taken a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one. And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points...”**

However with retirement from the higher echelons of Public Office, Mycroft was left with an unquenchable desire to combat those forces of evil that were beyond explanation. Shunned by many as an unbalanced eccentric, Mycroft has become the world’s foremost expert of all things paranormal and supernatural; not surprising then that the term ‘Spook’ is now used to describe the very person that Mycroft helped to establish. When Sherlock was faced with a problem beyond all reasonable explanation then there was only one person he was going to call – Mycroft Holmes.

My first thoughts, when I started this miniature, were that it was a little on the slender side and overly intricate and ‘fussy’, but how wrong I was! This was a joy to paint and just what I wanted after working with the larger, more robust miniatures of ‘Redoubt Enterprises’. If the others in the series are the same then this might become a temptation too far! Regardless of whether or not I capitulate to ‘Empire of the Dead’ I must once again thank Dave for his generosity and encourage all to visit his rather splendid blog, ‘One Man and his brushes’.

* "The Bruce-Partington Plans" – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

** "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter" – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Dong & Dim...

a Chinese Warlord and his Bodyguard.

These two gentlemen are from the wonderful 'Black Hat Miniatures', the wizard from their 'Tales of the Dragon Kings' range and the human tank from the 'Mutants and Madmen' collection.  I can't claim any creativity with regards to colour palette as they are pretty much as illustrated on the company's web site, that said there are some rather lovely examples of the range over at Auton's, 'The Lead Mountain'; well worth a look.  Both are been used as characters in the 'secret project':

Din Dong, is the self proclaimed leader of the international smuggling ring that operates from the comparative, and sweetly scented, safety of the laundry.  A calligrapher by trade, Mr. Dong was famed for his incredibly long...

scroll work back home and blessed with a good education has found it easy to maintain the charade of International Crime Lord.  This has been made somewhat easier by Dim, his bodyguard, a giant of a man who can crush the skull of a man with his bare hands!   For Dong the real problems started to arise when during the routine pillage of long lost treasures he stumbled across an ancient manuscript containing a fragment of a reanimation spell...

The gang outside the 'still yet to be completed' laundry!

 A two for one offer!

Now in a bid to justify another purchase along historical lines, it just so happens that this miniature can also represent another Dong - it's a small world!

Dong Fuxiang was a Han Chinese General who commanded Muslim soldiers during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The Chinese Muslim armies of Dong Fuxiang were known as the Kansu Braves and formed the rear division, picking up the unfortunate title of the '10,000 Islamic rabble'.

They proved to be an effective and ferocious force, striking fear into the minds of the westerners who considered Dong to be an ogre.

I also need to apologise for the apparent lack of presence around the blogosphere at the moment, Im afraid the work/life balance seems a little out of kilter and with no apparent let up until the end of the month.  I am hopeful that I can get some bits and pieces painted in the coming weeks and rest assured that I am still lurking around your blogs, even if the comments fall off for a week or two.