Weekly Round-up #007

So I'm in a happy place having just watched my football team win (a rare occurrence this season!), whilst recording my weekly progress.  And I've just realised, this is a new high bar for the week!  What in?  Well read on:

A)    Games Workshop 6th Ed Bretonnian Archers:

Unit #1 - Baldemar's Peasant Archer retinue

Side view showing Baldemar's Coat of Arms on the standard

The archers from Baldemar's peasant levy ... 20 archers, and 4 models across the front to make-up the full 10 person frontage.  Of course the original GW unit was designed to have a frontage of 8 or 16 so the spikes cover multiples of 4, so I've added in the dog, and a coal brazier (to allow for flaming arrows) as the fillers.  So that 24 "things" painted.

B)    More Games Workshop 6th Ed Bretonnian Archers(!):

Unit #2 - Unit bearing the heraldry of xxx of Mousillion.

I like the guy on the corner with the mini-shrine!

A second unit of 20 finished this week, with another 4 additional bases across the front.  The heraldry is that of Maldred of Mousillion (deceased), the cursed Duchy.  However, in the 6th Ed rulebook in the timeline, there is a little nugget of fluff in the "A Tale of Years" section:

2517 / Year 1539 - Rumours speak of an army gathering within Mousillion, led by a mysterious knight.

So, these are the peasants from that army, following a their Lord (to be a Mounted Hero painted up using the heraldry of Mousillion, but with black armour rather than silver).  Whether he is a long lost scion turning up to redeem the Dukedom, or something altogether darker will be decided by how well he performs on the field of battle!

C)    Willy Miniatures Orc Blood Bowl Team:

Kickstarter's are like buses.  You wait ages for one to turn up, and then two turn up at once!

Ooooo ... exciting and shiny new!

This time, randomly (no shipping notice or anything!) my Orc team pledge from Kickstarter arrived.  The standard team/box comes with a Troll, 4 Black Orcs, 4 Blitzers, 4 Lineman and 2 Throwers:

Team box with the core 15 players inside

However, the allure of Kickstarter is that stuff often comes with the stretch goals, extras thrown in for helping get the project off the ground.  In this case there were 6 extra figures added:  Kickstarter exclusive extra lineman, goblin, cheerleader, drummer, wizard and Star Player:

Hence the extra plain box!

Then, I paid to add an additional 2 Black Orcs, and 2 sets of 4 goblins to my basic team box, so that I have the option to run the team either as "regular" orcs, or the new Black Orc team introduced in Season 2:

Extra purchases, but allows the team to double-up!

So that was all a pleasant surprise!  They're cast in resin, and I must say I'm very impressed with the quality of the miniatures so far. Very limited mould lines as far as I can see, and no noticeable bubbles (the same can't be said of the Desert of the Dead mummies I received last week, but then the price point per model is also quite different!).

However, it's only fair to add these to the totals, as although the project was funded last year, they have only just arrived.  So, 15 + 6 + 10 = 31 extra to be added to the "purchased" column.

D)    Year-to-date:

Painted : = 49 + 24 + 24 = 97.  2 units of 20 archers, plus 4 bases of spikes / filler for 24 per unit, for a new high-tide mark of 48 completed in the week, and nearly doubling my year to date total!

Printed = 17 + 0 = 17.  So I have been printing stuff this week, just not miniatures.  In fact the printer has been going pretty much every day printing bases for the Desert of the Dead mummies.  And I still haven't got halfway through the amount I'm gonna need ... !

Purchased = 97 + 31 = 128.  I hadn't expected this to change this week, but it was a nice surprise that it did!

Still, even with the unexpected delivery, I still managed to close the gap between painted and purchased from last week.  128 - 97 = + 31 on the year so far.  My aim is to see if I can get that back to zero next week.  It'll be a push, but I'm hopeful!

Until next time ...

-    Bsking

Weekly Round-up #006

So, after the lord mayor's show, the week that was.  Not as much progress here as I'd like, but partly because most of my hobby time was taken up by the Desert of the Dead Mummies.  However I've promised myself not to give up on the Bretonnians just yet (especially when I have so much still to paint!).  As such:

A)    Games Workshop 6th Ed Bretonnian Archers

Some of you chaps are looking awfully pale!

A couple of WIP archers, showing the colour progression

Started to paint up a unit of Archers (more peasants - I do have knights, promise!).  This is actually the second unit getting painted up using this scheme - the first unit was mostly painted during the first lockdown in the UK, back in the spring of 2020 (feels so long ago!).  However, like other units it got left part finished, as I was in need of waterslide transfers and basing motivation.  However this blog is doing exactly what I hoped it would do, and pushing me to get stuff completed.  As such keep an eye out (hopefully!) for both units of Archers next week ...

B)    Highlands Miniatures Pegasus Knight

See, I do have knights too ...

The second target for some paint this week has been one of my Highland's Miniatures Pegasus Knights.  I have a set of 3 printed from Xmas (so they haven't counted towards the 2021 printing column).  I really like this one because of his base, but I also think he's one of the less practical ones, as he is a bit top-heavy.

I've even been progressing beyond Contrast on these guys ...

He's been left as 3 different pieces for the purposes of painting, and so far I have mostly been focusing on the Pegasus itself.  I need to decide how to paint the Knight's robes.  Any suggestions?!

I've also been branching out from the contrast paint style (as can be seen on the caparison of the Pegasus), and actually trying to layer up the colours "properly".  It does look better on the bigger surface areas.

I'm expecting this to take a bit longer to finish (not next week for example), but it is getting done as it's not just for this, but also for: 

C)    3D Printing

Yep ... I finally managed to actually get to printing some stuff out for myself:

Some test prints from some of the "Not Bretonnian" Kickstarters I've backed recently ...

... and some Men-at-Arms pavisse for an ongoing painting project.

The majority of this (in-fact all of this stuff except for the guy on his knees in the first picture) are from the Tartessos Miniatures "Armies of the Old Age" Kickstarter.  The final miniature on his knees is from Lost Kingdom Miniature's Kingdom of Mercia Kickstarter.  

I've been using these guys as some scale tests.  In fact, looking at the Pegasus Knight at the back of the first photo, leads me onto this:

Pegasus Scale Comparison - Left to Right: GW 6th Ed, Raven Twin Miniatures, Highland Miniatures, Tartessos Miniatures

As mentioned before, I'm interested in using these both in WHFB, and The Ninth Age, so looking at the scale differences between each of these gives me a decent basis to work from!

I'm hoping to expand this blog with some more permanent articles going forwards, with useful information I've gleaned from this kind of test as well as pictures of my completed armies!

So, onto the last section for this week ...

D)    Year-to-date:

Painted : = 49 + 0 = 49 - The first week with nothing officially finished, but that will change next week, and it's not like I didn't do any painting, I did quite a lot, just didn't finish anything!

Printed = 13 + 4 = 17 - Four full(ish - minus weapons, but I'll fix that soon enought) miniatures - praying knight, riderless horse, mounted knight, pegasus knight).  If/when I use the extra bits, I'll add them to the count then! 

Purchased = -140 + 237 = + 97 miniatures (Desert of the Dead Kickstarter creating a big swing here, lets see what we can do about this ...)

So what does the big swings in numbers mean?  I've decided what I want to try to achieve this year is a reduction of the grey pile of shame ... and not in terms of % unpainted, but an actual, real reduction.  Last year (before the 3d printer) this was an easy equation:

Miniatures In - Miniatures Painted = 97 - 49 = + 48 extra on the pile.

However, with the 3d printer I think I need to rethink this, as I'm beginning to have to think about miniatures "in potentia" ... I shall contemplate this over the next 7 days, and discuss further in the future.  However it's late now, and I need to get to bed!

Until next time ...

-    Bsking

Desert of the Dead Kickstarter - Order and Unboxing Photos

 So it's arrived! - The Desert of the Dead Kickstarter from TTcombat - with miniatures for WHFB Tomb Kings / Ninth Age Undying Dynasties ... I've been looking forwards to this day for nearly a year and a half, as it's the kickstarter I've spent the most on from a miniatures perspective of the approximately 80 I've done!

Unfortunately, a Brown box on a mdf table isn't massively photogenic!

However, before I open it up, I'm just gonna remind myself what I ordered:

I'm a massive fan of TTcombat, and their kickstarters seem to offer great value for money.  Their excellent Halfling Kickstarter from 2018 I backed at a lower lever, just going for a battalion, and I wished I had gone further (I have purchased a whole bunch of additional stuff since!) so I was less cautious this time.

Couple that to the fact that alongside Bretonnians, Tomb Kings was the other army in WHFB 6th Ed that a much younger me was going to purchase and get into (although at the time funds prevented this from happening) and this was always going to be a winner in my eyes!

So after much debate, I jumped right in at the Dead Army level:

Yep - that's a lot of mummies! - Enough for a decent army at least!

Not content with just the army, when the pledge manager came out (by which time I had started looking in more depth and with more interest at the Ninth Age rules) I added the following to ensure I had covered as many of the unit options as possible:

And then a couple of extras that just looked like fun:

... and finally enough round slotta bases to see me good for at least the next couple of years!

So, that's what I was expecting to be in the package, lets take a look at what turned up:

Well packaged with plenty of protection!

That's a lot of resin - nearly 2.5kg!

Firstly Characters & Heroes & Single Figures ...

Then Mummies, lots of Mummies of various persuasions - ~150 in total!

Cavalry (Mummy Centaurs), Swarms, Scorpions, Chariots & Anubti

Various Giants / Titans, War Machines and Crypt Serpents

Sphinxes (or apparently Sphinges - who knew?!) - these are some BIG beasties!

And the rest - Giant Buzzards, Rumbleslam, a lot of bases, and some freebies!

Wow - that is a lot of resin! I've worked it out as 237 miniatures (must remember to add that to the tally this week). Admittedly they currently aren't the most photogenic as they're still all bagged up, but over the coming weeks and months I'm going to start mixing these into the paint queue with the Bretonnians, so they'll start to appear!  

Add in the fact that  between ordering these and now I've also backed two Eygptian / Tomb Kings themed 3D printing kickstarters (Armies of the Sand by Txalri Factory and Desert Adventures by Iain Lovecraft, both of which I'm really super impressed with!), I'm now all set with that Tomb Kings Army that younger me always wanted!

So, I've got plenty of stuff to be getting on with - not least of which is printing out suitable bases for these guys on my 3d printer - I'm going to try thr square bases from the Txalri Kickstarter for the first lot!  Given that I calculated that I could build an ~8000pt force (before magic items) of Undying Dynasties for The-Ninth-Age with just these alone, I've got plenty here to keep me busy - lets see if I can get some of them are ready in time for the Weekly Round-up ...

Until next time ...

- Bsking

Weekly Round-up #005

This week ... more Bretonnians!

So I'm getting very enthused by the progress on the Bretonnians at the moment, spurred on by the promise of actual games later in the year!!  As such, as well as painting up the new units coming from various Patreons etc..., I'm also going back and re-visiting and finishing some stuff that I had progressed and then stopped previously ...

A)    Monstrous Encounters Bombard

Front on - 4 crew, weapon and base complete

Side view - mini diorama finished!

Monstrous Encounters Bombard fully painted and based ... finishing off the WIP miniatures from last week.  Which can be added too:

B)    Monstrous Encounters Squires

The second unit finished up this week - a 10 man unit of squires.  Never had the GW models for these, but to be honest I think these sculpts by Monstrous Encounters are awesome, and fit in really well with the overall look of the 6th ed sculpts.   One thing I'm particularly happy with is the water-slide transfer used for the banner ... first time I've used these home-made transfers.  I've linked each unit to a Lord or Paladin colour scheme, and will share that as a specific "Bretonnian Army" page soon.

This specific Heraldry signifies that this is a unit raised by Baldemar of Bastonne - a Heraldry taken from the last Bretonnian WHFB book.  I am painting up the 6th Edition "Bretonnian Lord 1" using this heraldry, as it was sculpted on his shield!  (I think nominally to use as Bohemond of Bastonne, but I wasn't a fan of the red and yellow, and preferred the black and yellow!)

Baldemar's retinue is then complimented further with:

C)    Games Workshop 6th Ed Men-at-Arms

A unit of 20 halberdiers - all from the retinue of Baldemar

One last unit for the week, this one had been semi-progressed for some time, but had no heraldry or basing (just standing on a bunch of undercoated bases.  However, Sunday night and the Superbowl (well played Buc's!) provided the perfect opportunity to finish these guys off!  This shows them as they are drying from their final coat of matt varnish (as indeed do most of my photos).  However, now that the Bretonnians are starting to form quite a little force, I might have to do a group-photo shortly to show them all off together!

D)    Year-to-date:

I feel like great progress was this week!  In fact my best so far!

Painted : = 18 + 1 (Bombard base) + 10 (Squires) + 20 (Men-at-Arms) = 49 

Printed = 13 + 0 (I promised this would change last week, but I didn't have the time last week ... however as I'm writing this on Tuesday morning, I'm looking at Monday night's print on the bed - will show this next week)

Purchased = -140 + 0 (again no change, but Tuesday is a big day, with a BIG delivery that I'll do a specific post for - and I'm super excited!).

Until next time ...

- Bsking

Weekly Round-up #004

 So, what was I up to last week?

A)    Monstrous Encounters Pot-de-Fer

An actually 'finished' war-machine?!  Painted, based, sealed, everything? Crazy!

So, I added a fourth crew member, and managed to take it right the way through to this finished state.  This will then sit alongside the second piece:

B)    Monstrous Encounters Bombard

Bombard - it's not 'quite' this shiny in real life ... !

Once again I've added a fourth crew member, and got all of the miniatures painted up.  Both these unit's have then been sealed with matt varnish, but the Bombard is still awaiting it's base.

However, despite that it's the most basing I've done for ages!  Lastly ...

C)    Monstrous Encounters Squires

WIP - Line before command as I'm not quite sure what colour I'm going to do the banner

Started to paint these up in order to have a unit of 10 squires.  They are coming together, with the first 6 mostly painted so far.  Unit to be finished up this week.  Which leads us on to the final item:

D)    eBay

So I've successfully sold a whole bunch of stuff, and I already have a plan for investing the proceeds!  It was so successful in fact that it's moved the purchase up, so hopefully might have something to share in the next couple of weeks!

However, with all of this the tally now stands at:

Painted : 11 + 1 extra pot-au-fer crew + 1 scenic base + 4 bombard crew + 1 bombard = 18

Printed = 11 + 2 (extra war-machine crew) = 13

Purchased = 8 - 54 Fireforge Games medieval knights & bowmen - 78 Tau - 16 bases of Epic 40K eldar (going to count each base as 1 miniature!) = -140 miniatures.

Interesting position to be in ... but I think the numbers are going to change next week.  

Until next time ...

- Bsking