Affun's lead-pile - 24/6-22 - Northerners of many ilk!

[affun]

Another guy got done today:



Presenting, Fingol the Fell. A dark elf with a penchant for murdering humans. He is reknowned for his uncanny ability to manipulate the animosities between the different factions of the land to his own gain.

Here we a have a villain for the poor humans to battle. Ive always really liked this miniature. He's got a really menacing pose, complimented nicely by his scale-cloak obscuring the bottom half of his face. And that axe sure looks dangerous!
I managed to grab this cheaply off of ebay, from a command blister which had been packaged wrong, with two musicians instead of a single one. Honestly, this guy alone was worth it. Not sure Ill ever use the musicians for anything.

Im not entirely sure what happened to the highlights on the scale cloak; they dont look that blue to me in real life. Propably some combination of iPhone Cam and bad lighting.

Here is a picture of what I have comming up (and a bit of my workspace):


 - As well as a load of things Ive ordered today.

[DeafNala]

Both the Knight & the Evil Elf (aren't they all?) are BEAUTIFUL additions...GREAT brushwork & a FINE eye for colors work their magic. VERY WELL DONE!

[PatrickWR]

I agree, that dark-garbed chap will make an excellent villain! Great work!

[affun]

the Evil Elf (aren't they all?)

All elves are evil, but this one is decidedly nasty!


***

I've gotten tired of my home-games looking like this:



and thus decided that it was time to build a proper table.

So I went out to the local builders market, and brought back a bit of wood, as well as some cheap acrylics and nails. All in all it cost me around 12£:



First things first, I cut the corners to shape, and glued the wood strips on around the edge (to prevent chipping and give it a nice framed look. Like a painting.)

After cutting, I of course discovered that none of the edges fit, so I sanded the corners down a bit.



Its a good thing I study Litterature, else I would not have had the heavy books necessary for this: (Shakespeare again proves his worth)




After the glue had had a bit of time to dry, I took the table outside and nailed the edges, to strengthen the bond of the glue:



I then filled in the corners with Polyfiller, to make it look a bit smoother:



 - and thats where I am at now. Next steps will be Gesso, Sand and paint, and then it'll be done.

Here's a little bonus shot (The little guys imediately started warring, even though the table isnt even finnished):

[affun]

A minor skirmish in a ruin in the middle of the forests; cityguard officer Fredric finds himself in for a hard fight against a fierce ambusher.



So the table is done. It ended up looking like the paint and flock:



This is the largest hobby project Ive yet undertaken, and subsecuently overcome, and I am imensely proud. Can't wait to have some games on it. Now, of course, I'll need to make quite a bit of terrain to fill it out. No rest for the wicked, as they say, and such is the nature of this hobby

***

I also managed to paint this guy:



Jorn hails from the northen lands. He is the chieftain of a small tribe of marauders and raiders, who travel the milder climates where they plunder the soft villages of the kingdoms.

I challenged myself to not use any red on this miniature (if you don't count the red tint of the skin, though it is a tad bit more bronzen than my usual formula), and I think it turned out pretty well. The idea came from me wanting to paint his cloak blue, as blue denotes wealth (since blue dye used to be a rather rare and costly thing) and me then wanting to avoid red pants, so he stood out from the uniform of the city watch.
Since I try to avoid putting all three primaries on a single piece, the rest of the colours fell into place pretty naturally:
Yellow, as a second primary, and green as the aggregate of those two. His "white" linen shirt again is meant to denote a certain wealth, as even though it isnt died, theres a certain kind of decadence to wearing white linens into battle. A single shirt wouldn't stay white for long  

***

I did take pictures of the rest of the tablebuilding process, and will finish my "tutorial" of it later/at another time, so look out for that (Or other blogposts, if you enjoy reading it, that is)

Thanks for reading so far
~Affun

[magokiron]

A pretty colection of minis.

I really like the striped pants and the armour, helmet and facer of the mirliton knight.

And the gaming board turned out pretty good.

Seems like it will be covered in blood pretty soon.

Thanks for sharing.

[doctor_ocks]

The neatest part about gaming with Skirmish size forces is the natural desire to create little back stories for each member. Not that it matters for the game play, but when you're painting one unique figure instead of 250 of the same figure, it just kind of happens that you ask "I wonder what this guy's deal is."

Edit: forgot to say great job!

[DeafNala]

CONGRATULATIONS! Having a gaming table, particularly the first one, is a special moment in a gamer's life. It looks SPLENDID!

[affun]

The neatest part about gaming with Skirmish size forces is the natural desire to create little back stories for each member. Not that it matters for the game play, but when you're painting one unique figure instead of 250 of the same figure, it just kind of happens that you ask "I wonder what this guy's deal is."

Edit: forgot to say great job!

I am having a lot of fun making up background stories for both the miniatures and the setting they will be battling in. This, and being able to actually spend a bit of time and enjoy painting the miniatures are some of the main reasons I prefer skirmish. (I also find the narratives of the games themselves both stronger and more interesting)

Seems like it will be covered in blood pretty soon.

Thanks for sharing.

Ive allready begun hassling one of my friends to make time for a game. Hopefully it'll be possible to have some bloodletting soon enough.


An overly courageus goblin attacks Jorn out in the woods

Yesterday was the only day the mail went out during the easter. Luckily, though, some of my ordered miniatures arrived. Namely, a set of lesser goblins from alternative-armies.com. I've got to say that I am extremely impressed with this order. The miniatures are lovely, if a bit smaller than I had anticipated. The shipping was blindingly fast, and they even put in a bonus miniature!

I eagerly set about putting the goblins together, and got stuck in with the paint on the first one of them:




Lovely sculpts. Full of character. And both fun and fast to paint!

Ive also been working on building a prototype base for my trees, but it isn't quite ready to show off yet.
Thats for tomorrow. As well as more Gobbers.

Thanks for reading!  
~Affun

[affun]

Here's some horrid pics of an old old Dwarven Thief Ive just finished:



Ill get some, hopefully, better pictures tomorrow in the daylight, and do a proper post on it, as well. I just wanted to share for now, as I am quite happy with how he turned out.

[eilif]

Really nice work on these.  I'm also a fan of the old Grenadier Fantasy (now owned by Merliton) figures.  I've got a bunch of projects in the works, but your blog is making me want to dig them out and get painting. Nice mini table too.

Keep it up!

[affun]

Really nice work on these.  I'm also a fan of the old Grenadier Fantasy (now owned by Merliton) figures.  I've got a bunch of projects in the works, but your blog is making me want to dig them out and get painting. Nice mini table too.

Keep it up!

I can only recommend getting out a couple of them. They paint up really well, and are a ton of fun to work on

***


Goblins apear from the woods, drawing courage from their numbers.

Ive got quite a bit of stuff done in the last couple of days. First off, Ive painted anoter 5 of these lovely little goblins. That leaves 5 more to go, and 6 done in total. They are still quite fun to paint; I am afraid I might be falling in love with Kev Adams greenskins.
I tried to vary the skintones a bit, to give the impression of a mottled and diverse group, as well as a little bit of painted on battle-damage where appropriate.


All lined up, ready for some mischief.

Ive also finished, as might be evident from the pictures, my first forest. The trees are based seperately, with slots that they fit in on the forest base. I prefer this kind of "modular" woods for the playability. I am quite pleased with how it turned out in the end, and have allready started work on another two stands.

I also managed to get a slightly better shot of the dwarven Thief:


Humans and dwarf stand together to ward of the raiding goblins.

Ive tried to keep his cloak and hat bleak, almost black, to emphasise the "thief" bit of the miniature, but just couldn't resist putting some bright red in there. I figure he'll be wrapped in his cloak if he's doing any sneaking. That, and his diminutive stature should help him on any shady buisiness


Ive also got some more terrain on the workbench:



... all of which I aim to have done by wednesday next week, as I have a playdate then. Phew, with my painting speed, that might turn into a bit of an ordeal.

Thanks for reading
~Affun

[DeafNala]

Although I sometimes fail to comment, I do enjoy your updates. The new Dwarf & his Goblin Adversaries painted up WONDERFULLY; you captured all the character the Little Lads possess. The action scenes are SPLENDID & the W.I.P. pieces look interesting. GREAT WORK!

[affun]

Although I sometimes fail to comment, I do enjoy your updates. The new Dwarf & his Goblin Adversaries painted up WONDERFULLY; you captured all the character the Little Lads possess. The action scenes are SPLENDID & the W.I.P. pieces look interesting. GREAT WORK!

Thanks. I try my best to make it enjoyable Your comments are always so nice, too.

Here's a lil' dude I am working on tonight:



Well, technically, he's done, except for flock, but its evening and the light is kinda terrible, so better pictures will have to wait until tomorrow Hopefully I'll have a couple more guys done as well.

[DeafNala]

The Little Green Rogue looks SPLENDID, especially the  shield. GREAT WORK!
I'll keep an eye open for the additional photos...OH BABY!