Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: lilljonas on October 20, 2023, 02:39:26 PM
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Two years ago, I started working on a set of duck adventurers, which eventually turned into these ducks (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135539.msg1725305#msg1725305). It was so much fun that I wanted to do more with the ducks, but something bigger. I wanted a lot of ducks. I wanted enough to field an army.
Now, sculpting an entire army on your spare time, especially with a small baby arriving, is tricky. But I could do it in steps. So this is step one, where I set out to make the core infantry. With my local club looking at doing a mix of renaissance and fantasy renaissance style battles some day, a landsknecht style pikeduck core sounded like exactly what I wanted.
First out where the basic rank and file. I made these without weapons attached, so that they can easily carry spears, halberds or pikes. A lot of them could easily be given crossbows or arquebuses too if you don't sweat it about quivers and powder bags (or add those afterwards).
I quickly decided on making two versions of each group, one with breastplates and a higher ratio of helmets, and one lighter armoured with jackets.
(https://i.imgur.com/zptCAZw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lKVrer3.jpg)
First sets holding weapons straight up
(https://i.imgur.com/tBZTrgH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/T64NPH5.jpg)
Second sets holding weapons somewhat lowered
(https://i.imgur.com/VjqG1eq.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/v40lTJj.jpg)
Third sets holding weapons straight forward
(https://i.imgur.com/L0KFApT.jpg)
Examples with various weapons
The pike/spear ducks of course need support.
(https://i.imgur.com/ahO2RyN.jpg)
Two handed sword ducks
(https://i.imgur.com/llSv6Wl.jpg)
Arquebus ducks. I plan to expand the ranged part of the army later, but I just wanted enough done to at least form a minimum of shooting.
(https://i.imgur.com/0B41WGL.jpg)
To do this I also made a small artillery crew. I plan to get to making actual cannon later, but I need to learn how to sculpt those first.
Now it's starting to look like an army. But I needed someone to lead them:
(https://i.imgur.com/gMO8UZA.jpg)
Three command groups with flag bearer, champion and musician.
(https://i.imgur.com/cdo1oa9.jpg)
A paymaster, it's bodyguard and trusted bagpipe player
(https://i.imgur.com/nQqsBda.jpg)
A wealthy conduckttieri, ready to marshall the mercenaries
This nascent warhost has even started to attract all manners of ducks. In the baggage train you can find:
(https://i.imgur.com/vo74oM1.jpg)
Civilians following along
(https://i.imgur.com/wa0kmfn.jpg)
Weird egg cultists?!
(https://i.imgur.com/AJMlBy3.jpg)
Upset wounded mercenaries
So, it's quite a gaggle of soldiers! Let's get a group shot:
(https://i.imgur.com/ifq1LwO.jpg)
Hopefully I will be able to get these done with my caster. I'm really looking forward to making a small army with them. I plan to add more "waves" to these as I go, as I definitely want to add some more varieties of infantry, but especially a small cavalry force (learning to sculpt horses is scary!) as well as more shooty ducks, including both small arms and cannon.
If you also like the ideas of a duck army, I'd love to hear if you have ideas for stuff that would belong in it. :)
Cheers!
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Totally quackers! 😉
But I love the idea! I’d be tempted to forgo horses for say Geese mounts. You can clearly do fowl so geese would be easy…..
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This is brilliant, can't wait to see them all painted.
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Some great looking billmen there!
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Marvellous!! :-* :-* :-*
Looking forward to see the next waves too!
P.S: I can totally relate with the fear of having to learn to sculpt horses! Mi advice: after looking at some horse anatomy, don't think too much, treat them as regular humans (or ducks) on four legs and simply try. The worst part is one's mind ;)
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Be careful, you're starting to develop a quack habit.
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Well done. What I wonder is who will be their opponents?
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Totally quackers! 😉
But I love the idea! I’d be tempted to forgo horses for say Geese mounts. You can clearly do fowl so geese would be easy…..
Thanks! A clubmate is vehemently pushing for ostriches to be included in some way, I'll see how long I can resist it. :P
This is brilliant, can't wait to see them all painted.
Thank you, I'll see when there's a slot for master molds at the caster, might be sometimes later this Winter. Very exciting!
Some great looking billmen there!
Billducks will be an obligatory addition later on, yes. :P
Marvellous!! :-* :-* :-*
Looking forward to see the next waves too!
P.S: I can totally relate with the fear of having to learn to sculpt horses! Mi advice: after looking at some horse anatomy, don't think too much, treat them as regular humans (or ducks) on four legs and simply try. The worst part is one's mind ;)
Thanks for the tip. I think hiding the worst mistakes under some kind of armour is always an available solution too. ;)
Be careful, you're starting to develop a quack habit.
It's too late, after 70 ducks I realize that I am now a duck sculptor. :P
Well done. What I wonder is who will be their opponents?
That's a big question. I got into fantasy as a wee lad collecting goblins in the 90's, so early 90's style greenskins have always had a special place in my heart. But I've also been thinking of a salamander-style lizard people, with much softer features than your typical lizardman. That might be fun to do too.
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Well duck me. ;)
That is some amazing sculpting. Very unique.
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This is brilliant! Looking forward to following your progress.
And hats off to everyone else for all the duck puns. Eggscellent stuff.
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Great project, your sense of the spectduckular is very evident.
Will enjoy the upquacks as and when, wish I had similar levels of inspiration.
Obviously if horse-mounted War Ducks are not possible, then Ostrich mounted ones would do in a pinch
:)
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Never thought I’d see a bagpipe playing renaissance duck when perusing Lead Adventure today. They look great.
What about giant snails for the duck cavalry? Easy to sculpt, has that weird medieval vibe and can double as emergency rations for the ducks.
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I like ducks. I did some Hellenic conversions of the Rebel Minis ducks.
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Fabulous.
The Cavalry should be gun dogs, the Ducks getting their own back!
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Ok so 2024 kicked my ass but the greens are FINALLY off to the caster! They were joined by a few new additions, including cavalry:
(https://i.imgur.com/EZe5BmT.jpg)
And more missile troops:
(https://i.imgur.com/3nTvVfj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/I9icSAQ.jpg)
I even squeezed in a few odds and ends, including more command sets and some rodeleros.
(https://i.imgur.com/5c7w5dx.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bvIZ5o7.jpeg)
The ponies turned out better than I dared to hope for my first attempt at mounts.
The whole gang before I packed them up for the caster:
(https://i.imgur.com/k6jCJZz.jpeg)
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there is a Donald Duck magazine that is popular in Holland, a couple of months ago they had an issue with DD and his three nephews at the siege of Grolle.
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I literally pushed a button blindly and ended up on this thread :o!
I really enjoyed perusing your creations and they looked so characterful. I especially liked those Weird Egg Cultists lol.
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I literally pushed a button blindly and ended up on this thread :o!
I really enjoyed perusing your creations and they looked so characterful. I especially liked those Weird Egg Cultists lol.
Haha yeah that’s a very random page I guess. I’m happy you enjoyed them!
there is a Donald Duck magazine that is popular in Holland, a couple of months ago they had an issue with DD and his three nephews at the siege of Grolle.
We have those Donald magazines in Sweden too! Here he’s wayyy more popular than Mickey Mouse. Grolle is a tad later than what I’m aiming for, but maybe an ancestor of him fought at Pavia? :P
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What an amazing project.
I think you made the right decision to stick with horses. They look more 'proper' that way
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I fear that this will be a Vampire Counts army led by Count Duckula!
This whole project is great, and I am envious of your skill with the GS! A real feather in your cap.
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Okay, first, I love the project. I have a bunch of "historical" animal figures for various conflicts.
Second, just curious, who will be this army's opponents?
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Woha, impressive work !
Ducks aren't my favourites beasts but they look really cool together.
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What an amazing project.
I think you made the right decision to stick with horses. They look more 'proper' that way
Thank you! I agree, looking back I think ponies were a good option to match the smaller size but still keep it looking similar to their historical inspiration. Might do alternative mounts later one, but keep ponies as the "regular" option.
I fear that this will be a Vampire Counts army led by Count Duckula!
This whole project is great, and I am envious of your skill with the GS! A real feather in your cap.
Thank you! I'm also working on a set of HeroQuest alternative duck sculpts as a later set, so might end up working in some spooky undead Ducks! :)
Okay, first, I love the project. I have a bunch of "historical" animal figures for various conflicts.
Second, just curious, who will be this army's opponents?
Thanks! We have had a few suitable armies on a slooooow backburner at the club, aiming at a "low fantasy Italian Wars" setting.
We have an undead Renaissance army that is mostly painted and need some basing, using the excellent Triump of Death range from Skull & Crown: https://www.skullncrown.com/collections/triumph-of-death
We also have a landsknecht greenskin army in the works, using the old Foundry and now currently Warmonger Orcs.
On top of that we have a growing set of Renaissance Ogres from various brands and some converted halflings that can fill out as mercenaries.
Finally we have regular humans, either straight up historical or Renaissance/late Medieval style fantasy.
So in a distant future we might have a big ol' Fantasy Italian Wars going. :P
Woha, impressive work !
Ducks aren't my favourites beasts but they look really cool together.
Thank you! Yeah I kinda grew into loving them as I sculpted them, I didn't set out to be "that Duck Guy", I thought I'd mainly sculpt goblins and halflings. :P
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What a fabulous collection of sculpts, really characterful.
With you sending them for casting, is that so you can look to selling them or is it just for your own use?
If the latter, couldn't you just paint the ones you sculpted?
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What a fabulous collection of sculpts, really characterful.
With you sending them for casting, is that so you can look to selling them or is it just for your own use?
If the latter, couldn't you just paint the ones you sculpted?
Thank you! The plan is to make them available for sale. First through a kickstarter later this year (to afford the production molds) and then through my caster's website, like my first set of duck miniatures:
https://www.hagen-miniatures.de/Testkategorie-17/figuren-20/fantasy-und-sf/
I'll also want a bunch of copies myself, to make bigger units than just these. :P
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OUTSTANDING! Your creations are beautifully crafted & very imaginative. GREAT WORK!
Who their opponents might be is an interesting question. Elmer Fudd & ergo humans was my first thought. As far as anthropomorphic foes, Wikipedia suggested alligators, snapping turtle, & peregrine falcons.
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Brilliant 8) 8)
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OUTSTANDING! Your creations are beautifully crafted & very imaginative. GREAT WORK!
Who their opponents might be is an interesting question. Elmer Fudd & ergo humans was my first thought. As far as anthropomorphic foes, Wikipedia suggested alligators, snapping turtle, & peregrine falcons.
Thank you! Maybe some noble French ferrets coming to cause problems for the ducks? :P
Brilliant 8) 8)
Thank you :)
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So the sculpts are away at the caster, so I've been fiddling with a sidequest, so to speak. My entry point to miniature wargames as a wee lad in the 90's was, like for many, board games like HeroQuest and Siege of the Citadel. So it was fun to revisit some old memories:
(https://i.imgur.com/iXhp3OO.jpeg)
Now I'm not sure what would be more fun - to remake the monsters "properly".... or reinterpret them as ducks! :P Maybe an evil duck necromancer and its cult minions need to be weeded out?
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Got the master molds from the caster, so now I?m working on painting a set for pics before releasing them. It?s nice to paint something really colourful!
(https://i.imgur.com/vjskONC.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/rub4pgM.jpeg)
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This is fantastic! Love the painted examples :)
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Ducks bellorum, those look great!
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Wow! Just, wow. You must really love ducks. The painted examples are great, too. So, is this just a personal project or will you release those to the market? Either way, very inspirational project.
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Ducks bellorum
:D lol lol
Mike Demana
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This is fantastic! Love the painted examples :)
Thanks! Slow progress due to work and family, but I want to try to smash out a "starter set" in a month at least, so I can get started with the kickstarter campaign.
Ducks bellorum, those look great!
OMG I've heard tons of puns since I started this, but this is too great to let it slide. I think I'll stick with Ducks of War for this range, but would be an awesome name for a future Roman/Medieval themed range. :O
Wow! Just, wow. You must really love ducks. The painted examples are great, too. So, is this just a personal project or will you release those to the market? Either way, very inspirational project.
Thanks! I will make the minis available through a set of kickstarters, and they will be available for sale after that through my caster. The long term plan is to make a comprehensive range that will be both useful for smaller skirmish games and for larger, rank-and-flank, games.
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Working on painting up some more minis for pics for the kickstarter. Rodeleros (shields painted separately) and crossbowducks.
(https://i.imgur.com/0eWhYMo.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Q4xrdSd.jpeg)
With these done I have five minis left to paint for what I think will be the "starter pack".
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The whole idea and execution are just great, very good luck with it!
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I finally got around to paint the entire starter warband, six sets of three minis each.
(https://i.imgur.com/1IrBaVm.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pxOm92Q.jpeg)
The paymaster with bodyguard and personal bard.
(https://i.imgur.com/CmkUdHo.jpeg)
Shortswords and bucklers (rodeleros)
(https://i.imgur.com/ffm89N0.jpeg)
Examples of spear/pike/halberd, as the weapons are not sculpted on.
(https://i.imgur.com/4sQakeu.jpeg)
Greatswords
(https://i.imgur.com/1vg3Q3L.jpeg)
Crossbows
(https://i.imgur.com/En0BpeX.jpeg)
Command group
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3 pages (and lots of awesome figures) later and still no mention of Glorantha or Runequest. Surprising.
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3 pages (and lots of awesome figures) later and still no mention of Glorantha or Runequest. Surprising.
Honestly, as a Swede, the TTRPG ”drakar och demoner” is a bigger thing for me. Long story short, it has the same DNA as Runequest but was the blockbuster RPG here, as D&D never got big. So I grew up playing it in the 90’s, and ducks were very much a big part of it! That said, the glorious duck illustrations of King of Dragon Pass were some of the big inspirations when I started sculpting these.
That said, I posted my earlier ducks in the Glorantha miniatures facebook group and got roasted pretty much for not being ”bronze age enough” so… lol
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That said, I posted my earlier ducks in the Glorantha miniatures facebook group and got roasted pretty much for not being ”bronze age enough” so… lol
Hilarious and unsurprising. Anyways, great work here.
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That said, I posted my earlier ducks in the Glorantha miniatures facebook group and got roasted pretty much for not being ”bronze age enough” so… lol
Which is why I love the Lead Adventure Forum. Such a positive place... :-* :)
Mike Demana
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Those look great! :)
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Thanks guys. :)
Next up I want to make some cannon and mounted gendarmes, will be a fun Summer sculpting project.
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These are super awesome, so exciting to see them going from greens all the way to painted examples! Strong work!
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I have zero use for thes. So, of course, I will be keeping an eye out for your Kickstarters :D
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My caster has some delays that means I need to wait longer than expected to release the first ducks. So I've been working more on future sets!
I am planning to have various kinds of cavalry, and I made some medium cavalry before. Next up I'm working on heavy cavalry (based on early 16th century Gendarmes) and mounted crossbowmen. Both sets are still WIP, and I'm going to add a musician to the Gendarmes too. Not sure if I'll make an additional set of crossbowmen or if three is enough. I'm also planning on making barded ponies for the Gendarmes.
(https://i.imgur.com/dzLXlyy.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/u4sJmrY.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mw98Ayb.jpeg)
Future cavalry sets I'm planning are based on Stradioti (mercenary mounted archers with spears/swords originating in the Balkans, who saw extensive deployments in Italy) and Jinetes (Spanish light cavalry with javelins). Not sure if I need more cavalry than that, though pistol armed cavalry started to be used towards the end of the period...
I also started to lay down the armatures for two sets of archers. I'm thinking of making them strongly influenced by French ordonnance archers.
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Love the mounted crossbows.
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Love the mounted crossbows.
Thanks! I might end up doing three more, not sure if three is enough for my needs.
Work on ranged troops continue, this time archers. First four archers done, will add two more and then a three figure command to lead them. Not sure what is next, either I'll make a cannon or I might start making more milita troops, both with improvised weapons like farming tools and arquebuses/crossbows.
(https://i.imgur.com/JEBDUAV.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/zq3PlBI.jpeg)
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WIP on a unit of light cavalry. I tried making pennons using green stuff instead of paper this time, I see pros and cons with it. It feels quite resilent, will probably survive a long time.
(https://i.imgur.com/31rbXXJ.jpeg)
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Great looking minis
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Work has been killing me lately, but I've managed to squeeze in time to paint up some more pike and halberd ducks. I'm aiming for two units first, probably will do one of 6x5 and one of 6x4. The pike unit will, obviously, need a huge placeholder in front, as to not completely skewer any minis facing them in combat! Those pointy sticks are long!
After that I'll paint up some more missile troops, as a club mate wants to meet them using Saga: Age of Chivalry. So these ducks might pretend to be Swiss or something quite soon!
(https://i.imgur.com/dHmLrCt.jpeg)
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Really impressive work on this army! Congrats!
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After that I'll paint up some more missile troops, as a club mate wants to meet them using Saga: Age of Chivalry.
As I mentioned to you some time ago, I would be using these for Sage: Age of Magic and perhaps as a "Human" mercenary troop in Oathmark
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Really impressive work on this army! Congrats!
Thank you!
As I mentioned to you some time ago, I would be using these for Sage: Age of Magic and perhaps as a "Human" mercenary troop in Oathmark
That should work pretty well. I ran a halfing-based Great Kingdom list for Age of Magic, and I have much of the army list covered already. What I don't have anything for are single monsters, winged mounts or creatures. I've made war machine crews, so those should be able to be used for converting up something cool.
I've never played Oathmark, so I have no experience of the army lists for that game unfortunately.
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> I've never played Oathmark, so I have no experience of the army lists for that game unfortunately.
No excuses! (: Well, unless you're doing this for fun and aren't up for this marketing nonsense. Now that you have painted pics, I'd post them on various game system forums and ask for feedback, particularly what units are "missing" and what armies you can build. Sell "starter" bundles for various miniature wargames or suggest warbands in your updates for engagement. For games you're already familiar, maybe contact their author and ask them for feedback as well. Nothing worse than a potential customer who doesn't buy your mini's because you're missing a unit you could have sculpted!
One Page Rules
Song of Blades and Heroes and expansions
Dragon Rampant
Five Leagues from the Bordelands (ducks as halflings or that furry race...)
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> I've never played Oathmark, so I have no experience of the army lists for that game unfortunately.
No excuses! (: Well, unless you're doing this for fun and aren't up for this marketing nonsense. Now that you have painted pics, I'd post them on various game system forums and ask for feedback, particularly what units are "missing" and what armies you can build. Sell "starter" bundles for various miniature wargames or suggest warbands in your updates for engagement. For games you're already familiar, maybe contact their author and ask them for feedback as well. Nothing worse than a potential customer who doesn't buy your mini's because you're missing a unit you could have sculpted!
One Page Rules
Song of Blades and Heroes and expansions
Dragon Rampant
Five Leagues from the Bordelands (ducks as halflings or that furry race...)
That's a really good idea. I could give some examples of what you can proxy with them. For example, they pretty easily work as a Dogs of War or Empire army for Old World, and a clubmate is going to paint up the first kickstarter for a Frostgrave campaign whenever we get back into that game. I'd be very happy to hear what gaps there are in the range that would help people out if they are doing some game that I'm less familiar with. I've been mulling over setting up a website with my own, generic, background that I've been working on, and then I can add how to slot these in into other games.
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can I throw Burrows & Badgers into the mix as well - https://burrowsandbadgers.com/
I'm painting up some Reaper Mouselings at the moment, but a duck warband would be a useful group to add