Fun Guys

I had a bit of a super glue issue over last couple of days. I used a rather large amount of it securely sticking together a rather chunky miniature that's in the pipeline and I ran out.

This, and the fact that not one but two gaming stores had also run out forced me, at least for a day or two, to turn my attention to something that did not require sticking together.

Which all led to these chaps...

These are three Reaper Bones Mushroom Men that I bought a few years ago to be part of a 7TV: Fantasy cast for an event.

I ended up changing my mind about the cast and taking He-Man and chums instead, but not before I had base coated them and slathered all three in Agrax Earthshade.

I suspect that this might have been the cause of the change of heart as the Agrax Earthshade had dried shiny and dulled the colours.

Therefore, my first order of business was to sort that out by giving the models a coat of matt varnish, dry brushing the bodies and redoing the red on the caps. I also used some Snakebite Leather contrast paint to pick out the fungal growths on their backs.

Can fungus grow on fungus?

The leader, a Mushroom King apparently, took a bit more work, mainly because he's bigger.

However, I did need to pick out moss on his cap, along with vibes and other fungal growths on his staff.

I suppose I could have been a bit more varied and imaginative with the colours I used for this, but as I'm not really painting these chaps for any real reason, I didn't feel the need to go to town on him.

Personally, I think he's turned out fine for whatever I end up using him for.

The original plan was to add these three as stars and co-stars to the Mushroom-Folk I'd painted as a proxy Halfling Blood Bowl team (the Mushington Redcaps) and use them as a 7TV cast, and in fact I took the opportunity to brighten up the rest of the models.

I could still use them as a Blood Bowl team, with the new models as a wiizard and couple of cheerleaders. Alternatively, they could easily feature in a game of Five Leagues from the Borderlands, or they might come in handy if I ever DM some D&D again.

Whatever happens, you'll be delighted to hear that I now have more super glue.

Acquired: -124

Painted: 466

Lead Mountain: 251

Gnome Alone

I had a package arrive this week which encouraged me to take a short break from trudging through my War of 1812 backlog and prompted me to make a bit of progress on some other overlooked projects.

For those with aging eyes, that's a Gnome on a fishing boat by a jetty.

This is a rendition of my character in a D&D campaign I've been participating in for a couple of months: a Gnome Rogue called Waldo 'Nimblefingers' Redcap.

The miniature is a Garden Gnome Assassin from 3DResinprintstore on Etsy - a seller I highly recommend you check out as they have an eclectic range of reasonably priced miniatures available, delivery was really fast (and free in the UK) and the print quality is excellent.

The sculpt is really charismatic and simply done, without lots of extraneous detail to faff about with. This is exactly how I like miniatures as it leads to a more chilled out experience and I put a bit more time into highlighting than usual.

This is the first resin 3D printed miniature I've bought and I'll be honest, considering the price and quality of this I can for the first time see the existential threat 3D printing potentially represents to traditional miniature manufacturers.

I'm not sure I'll ever start printing for myself, but my head has definitely been turned towards Etsy when hunting for something specific.

Having said that, there will always be a place for tradition shopping in my heart as I stumbled on this Wizkids Deep Cut boat whilst browsing in Patriot Games, one of several FLGS in Sheffield (we are really well served here).

I've been wanting a boat as a piece of terrain for the second scenario for Lurkers from the Deep for 7TV and the larger Wizkids pieces are hard-wearing and easy to paint.

I figure this won't look out of place in Carnevale or other 7TV Fantasy games either.

Painting the boat also nudged me into getting these MDF jetties from Warbases done at the same time. I've had them a while, bought specifically for Lurkers from the Deep, and I think I might actually get that game played soon.

Easy to build, easy to paint, lots of potential uses. Winner.

Another healthy bit of progress made, and I haven't totally ignored the War of 1812 project either, but as Napoleonics are the very definition of extraneous detail on miniatures, things are moving somewhat slower.

Acquired: 116

Painted: 184

The Boba Fett of D&D

Warduke - from the D&D cartoon and toy line. 

Why do I say he's the Boba Fett of D&D? Because he looks so damn cool!

And you thought I'd exhausted every Saturday morning cartoon of the 80s?

Sorry to disappoint.

I hadn't intended to start a D&D project, but, well, look at the guy!

I had the toy version of Warduke, along with several others of the line, and was utterly bemused as a kid when only a few of them (Warduke, Strongheart and Kelek) turned up a maximum of once each in the cartoon series, and some (Elkhorn, Melf and Ringlerun) didn't show up at all. Instead it focused on a bunch of snivelling kids!

When the opportunity came to grab a fantastic custom sculpt of Warduke, I jumped at the chance.

The model is excellent and was a joy to paint (even though I forgot to wash it and was battling mould release agent all the way). I missed the only noticeable mould line on the bare leg, but the shield covers it perfectly.

I love this model.

I'm also really pleased with how I've painted it. It's definitely improved my approach to painting blue.

He's destined to be part of my 7TV: Fantasy cast, when it's released. I have lots of other fantasy models, as you know, but the whole point of 7TV is recreating nostalgic TV and film, and so it's nice to do something specifically for it.

The only question that remains is whether to build a cast that evoke the cartoon episode Warduke is in: Venger, Orcs and Bullywugs (Antedilluvian Miniatures will help here), or to go hunting for proxies for the others in the action figure range.

Acquired: 25

Painted: 13