Start Of The Week - The Weird Wild West

When I started blogging I was all about 15mm miniatures. Most of what I had done over the years has been 28mm but I was finding that I liked 15mm minis better. Then I started painting 28mm again for some games I was playing in or running myself. Which I how I got into painting stuff for the Wild West, specifically for Deadlands: Reloaded.

Back then I painted about a dozen of the figures I had before the game fell through. Since then they have mostly been sat around. Now I have the urge to paint some more oddball stuff again so why not cowboys and zombies. Oh and Mexicans and Indians and eventually everything else. Maybe at some point they could be a project in the future.

So now for a painting plan. On top of the twenty wild west figures I have already done I have another twenty to do.They are a mixture of Artisan Designs and Wargames Foundry I think. I am going to look at doing them in batches of ten with the Indians and the few remaining western types to do. Then the next batch in some Mexicans and some harrowed/cowboy zombies. The plan is to stick with the first batch in the main, maybe work on the second batch a bit. If in doubt I have a background project which is a pretty mixed bag but mainly Wargames Foundry Street Violence stuff.

I will happy if I get ten figures done this week but I would hope to get more done which would be a bonus

End Of The Week - And I Am Reasonably Pleased (35)

This week I am more than happy with my painting performance. Thirty five figures done and dusted so I am quite content. Admittedly the majority were relatively simple and most were on the small side but a fair amount of work has gone into them so I am not counting them as a half figure.

I have a figure that I used as a black elf leader but when I saw these I thought they would do what I wanted. A king queen and a couple of palace guards. The touch of purple is possibly too much but I thought it gave them a nice imperial feel.

Every king and queen need a few hench elves. I am not sure about the pointy hats. I did think about doing a christmas game featuring black elves so maybe it will work.

Three more of the black tree designs high elves painted as black elves. I have already done a set of these last year but a few more can't hurt.

 This is not really a black elf but a mage from thr Frostgrave Nickstarter. I could think of no really useful purpose for him before but he seems to fit with the bad guys.

I have done two batches of lizardmen skinks. The onl small one in a mix of plastic and metal. The first batch was almost all metal. These were quite well detailed figures.

The second batch of this week's skinks. These are almost all plastic and relatively simple models to paint so a very quick job. I really didn't put that much effort into them.

Finally a group shot of all of what I have done. So I now have 36 in total. I have some of the newer plastic skinks too. I might get them done in the not to distant future. I have to say that I think the older figures are much nicer even if they are mono-pose.

An Elf Problem - Open To Suggestions

At the moment all I do is think. It’s becoming a bit of a problem for me. At the moment, as well as all the other stuff, I have a bit of an elf problem.

As I am in the process of finishing off the black elves (svartalfar) I have been doing this week I have had a cause to think about what I am doing with elves over all. When I was originally thinking about the first batch of these a few years ago I was pretty certain that I didn’t want them to look like D&D dark elves. One of the big things was that I didn’t want them to be all purple and silver. What I wanted was something a bit more along the lines of the dark elves in Thor: The Dark World. This time around I have relaxed the no purple rule, well at least a little but only for the court characters. I still need a shield type and I haven’t really worked it out although flat rectangular shields and those of the Norman type might do.

Still this has caused me to think about some of the stuff that is missing from my figures collection. Some would say I have a bit of a problem but I like to be able to cover most eventualities. When it comes to RPGs this means that I like to have at least one of each character class in both genders and a bunch of warrior types. A task that I have just about managed with humans but that is about it.

I need more elves. I have been running and designing a RPG based on dark age Norse myths and a changed version of Viking and world history. My plan is to run a new campaign featuring white elves. My games are mainly role playing but feature big battles so a range of RPG types, enough for a small army (at least thirty figures) and it would be nice if there were some civilian figures. Some sort of kings court figures would be nice. I have some wood elves which I think at one point were going to do double duty. After some thought they just don’t have the right vibe. I want something more majestic.

So I am looking for some appropriate 28mm figures for the white elves. In the myths these are not very well described but the words white luminous seems to crop up. I am thinking something more like Galadriel than Arwen. Given that Nordic elves are not referenced as having pointy ears (damn you Tolkien although some people say different) I could actually get away with human figures.

They need to be relatively in keeping with the dark ages and less D&D. So far I am thinking early Saxons with a strong Romano-British vibe but maybe late late Romans might do it but I doubt it (but I am willing to be convince). I like the more ornate style of armour that they have which looks a bit more advanced than that used in the dark ages (simple chain mail or padded clothing). The Oathmark elves are not bad but their just isn’t the variety. The GW style does not really do it fo me Some even have wolf tail helmets which I think I could make work. I would be looking at very pail if not white (or almost white) skin tone. I wouldn’t want the traditional round shield or kite shield either. In the game the Romans were a thing (some time in the past) and I was thinking using a Roman type shield, either the large oval or the more rectangular, indicating that they have been around a while.

So I don’t know if anyone has any ideas about figures to use. If you could think of anything that is stylistically white elf that would be great too. On the off chance that you do I would really like to hear from you.

Borak The Despoiler

Blood Bowl is still a game I love and there are some teams I love more than others. In most games I play I generally want to be a good guy. I am of the side of the light, right, the force and occasionally even the law. I don't do bad guys. I might pick a team that is a little less close to home if I think I am going to lose a lot. IT IS A RULE THAT I FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT SIDE. Except when I play Blood Bowl. Then I am just nasty.

My favourite teams for Blood Bowl are basically the evil ones. Except elves. I don't like them either. What I do like in the game is chaos and death. Anything undead, skaven, nurgle and specifically chaos. Chaos is the right mix of violence and, well, more violence. Nurgle has its moments too

Both have been a bit light on star players and there is only the one, the only one is Borak The Despoiler. I have plans to use one of the spare figures I have as a proxy but it looks like that might not be necessary.

In truth, despite being an iconic character in the game, he is not the most skilled star player out there. Skill is not what he, or the teams he plays for is about (did I mention the thing about the violence). He is however a tough and strong SOB. Knocking him down is a tough prospect.