Happy Halloween time!

Hello and welcome back,

It is almost Halloween and the Spooky season is upon us. What better way to celebrate the season than some seasonally themed miniatures? 

Those fans of Halloween films reading may recognise the Anderson Sisters. A trio of witches from the film Hocus Pocus. I like these figures because they can be used in a variety of settings either as witches or as civilians. They will fit happily into fantasy, The Silver Bayonet games, historical or as people found around the independent frontiers worlds of Firefly’s verse & my own Wild Galaxy setting. 

The Anderson sisters are by Northumbrian Tin Solider. 

Yet more witches….Introducing Toil and Trouble. These two witches are more comedic looking.  

I feel sorry for the toad in the pot. These Toil and Trouble and the cauldron are from the Northumbrian Tin Solider’s Nitefolk line. 

And there’s more….

Say hello to Ardwick the fluffy toed bat. 

Yet another figure from the Northumbrian Tin Solider’s Nitefolk line. I thought he looked a little different and he was a fun figure to paint. 

That is my Halloween figures for this year. It was nice to change pace and paint something a little different. I think it’s important for the old hobby mojo to change things up once in a while. All these figures will be used as decorations this year and who knows they may take part in some Halloween themed games at some point (I hope!). 

Thanks for looking. Stay safe out there and Happy Halloween. 

Bad Moon Loonshrine

Hello and welcome back,

Travelling through the mountains and you get caught in a wild storm. Seeking shelter you wander into a cave. Curiosity grabs you and you follow the cave. Deeper and deeper. The walls become cold and slimey. You step into what feels like a open chamber. Something crunches under foot. 

Baffled you reach into your pack and produce your only torch. After a few attempts with a tinderbox you light the torch the flickering light illuminates the cave. You stand in a vast chamber. Bones are strewn across the ground. Human bones. At the edge of the circle of light cast by your torch you see this….

The Badmoon loon shrine is a kit by Games Workshop. While not my usual vibe I liked it enough for my wife to remember it and buy if for me as a gift last Christmas. 

The kit has a lot of detail. Loads of mushrooms at add too. The prisoner cages are particularly fiddley to assemble and can be quite delicate. 

The amount of detail has meant it has taken ages to paint. It might have been easier if I pre-painted the parts before assembly. The green slime at the base of the rock is done by Dirty Down moss effects. I have used a Posca paint marker to paint the spots on the toad stools. 

A fun project for my fantasy table which I have enjoyed.

Thanks for looking. Take care out there.

Happy Orktober time

Hello and welcome back,

As it’s Orktober….it’s time to show off what I have been working on this month. Working on the hobby helps distract me from recent family events. Before I press on I have to say thank you to everyone for their kind comments on my last blog post about the  recent passing of my Dad. They mean a lot, sadly for some reason I cannot reply to your comments on Blogger. It keeps saying I am logged out when I attempt it. Thank you all again.

Right on with the Orktober posts. First up is this old metal 40K RT02 Ork. 

He is painted in a Deathskull’s colour scheme which is my favourite Ork Clan. I like that they loot the battlefield and beyond (waits for all the old scouser jokes). This gives the clan a great opportunity of converted “looted” vehicles and equipment which greatly appeals to me. He will be joining my RT02 Ork Deathskulls mob. 

As we all know Orks get bigger, tougher and meaner the more they fight and win. It’s why the Ork Boss is usually the largest and hardest (‘arrdest, sorry) Ork in the warband. I don’t know how many fights this Ork has won…..but I think we are going to need a bigger gun! A much bigger gun! 

This figure is a Grimbatul Giant-Eater a Kickstarter only resin figure by Ramshackle Games. Old Grimbatul is intended for Fantasy games rather than the wastelands of Mattblackgod’s world or the infinite expanses of the Wild Galaxy. But as I of yet have no Fantasy Orcs (I do but they are from the 80’s and in much need of some TLC) he will be a Ork Warboss. A real Mega Boss and I guess he would be a real bullet magnet on the tabletop. 

I chose a paint scheme that would suit the style of the figure which is along the lines of the Snakebite Clan. Plus plenty of rusty metal. It’s not a proper Ork without rusty metal. The Snakebites have a feral old world look to them allowing fantasy figures to be used on the tabletop. 

Grimbatul has a dark elf witch on his shoulder pad which his believes gives him protection in battle. In my settings it will be a psychic Fay Genetically Engineered Life Form (GELF). I like to think of the Fay Wytch as biding her time until Grimbatul is weakened to free herself and exact her revenge. 

That’s my Orktober post done. Onto other seasonal postings. Stay tuned. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there. 

In Memorandum RIP Ted Stevenson

I have some sad news. My Dad passed away on Sunday. Normally I wouldn’t post this to my hobby blog but there is a good reason. 

My Dad loved his scale models and he got me into it when I was 4. I still recall the kit, a 1/72 Airfix Curtis Hawk. It started a love of model making. In the mid 80s he bought a wargames magazine as he was planning a battle of Arnhem diorama and there was a article in the magazine. I saw the magazines and realised there was something more I could do with my models other than just display them. It made me think and wonder. 

Being a huge Lord of the Rings fan he turned up one day with the original metal Citadel Fellowship of the ring set (which I still have) and told me of a new shop selling them in Liverpool city centre. A shiny new Games Workshop store. I had to check it out and with my paper round money bought my first blister pack of metal dwarves and fell in love with a new aspect of my hobby. A hobby he inspired in me. The rest is history.

Without my Dad’s inspiration there is a good chance this Blog and the Post Apocalyptic Wargames Forum would not exist. 

RIP Ted Stevenson 29-11-1945 to 09-10-2022 - thank you for everything Dad. You will never be forgotten.

Thanks for reading. Take care out there.