This post marks the end of my first, successful, army project! Not too unexpected, since it was a small and easy little project. Still, it paves the way for future projects! I look forward to doing more... Not sure what the next one will be though... In any case, I have finished the Mongol Project article, updated the Mongol Conquest gallery, and put together my standard army showcase article... Really, it's a lot of redundancy, but that's how it goes ;) Actually, I short change myself; the project article has all original pictures, none of which are in the army gallery or the showcase article... However, the showcase and the gallery have redundancy... Oh well! Here are the links:

• Mongol DBA Army Project - complete!
• Mongol Conquest Army Showcase
• 15mm Mongol Gallery

There it is, done! It's nice to complete a project, and it's great that it's more than a month early! This gives me the chance to finish off a third(!?!) army for the upcoming convention!

Next up... not sure really. I have some reenactment action to prepare for in a week that will likely take up all my free time and more, so I am not sure if I will even have a painting update next week... I will have some articles though. I have a few things brewing on that front. I might paint some figures though, finish that HotT-Hammer elf army or some 15mm figs...

It took me a bit longer than I'd hoped to get this out this week, but it's been a busy week. I had planned to have this done earlier in the week to let everyone else chronicling their projects have some more inspiration (or opportunity to scoff at my slow progress!). It's here now though, check out the narrative for week two of the Mongol Project here.

Week three is well under way, and it's turning out to be more work than I had hoped :) As I sat down to do the first highlight I realized it was going to be trouble... It took me back to last year at this time when I was working on my Islamic Persian DBA project... So many barded horses... The Mongols have the same armour as the Persians did, thankfully there are only three elements (nine figures) for the Mongol army, instead of eight elements (24 figures) for the Persians. Still, I should be able to finish by Monday... I also have to write up some other articles. The most important one is an event report that I will put together for the tournament that I am running in October. It will involve maps and other work-intensive stuff, so don't expect that too soon... In any case, until next time.

Given that I have been documenting the Mongol DBA project that I am currently working on, I thought I should make the effort to document the construction of the camp that I built for the army. The camp was displayed in my previous update, and here's the how-to article on the ins and outs, and ups and downs of actually building one for yourself! Check out the Building a 15mm Mongol ger article here, or simply go to the articles section of the site and click on the 15mm Mongol Ger article link.

After last week I didn't have it in me to paint too many miniatures. It was on to some terrain instead. After listening to Conn Iggulden's first Mongol empire book I was ready to build a camp's worth of gers; Ger being the Mongolian word for the round tents with conical roofs. They tend to be called yurts, but yurt is the Turkic term for the structure, and wholly inappropriate to use in the Mongolian context ;) Check out the Mongol gers in the DBA Terrain gallery.

I also managed to paint a few figs as well, finishing off the nine light horse elements by painting the last three I needed. Now I only need to finish the three heavy cavalry elements and the army is complete! Check out the latest three light horse elements in the Mongol army gallery. Three weeks for a start-to-finish army is still pretty good for me, but I am a little behind again, since the three light horse plus the camps took me a bit longer to finish... and I thought I was taking it easy this past week ;) Next up I will be updating the Mongol Project article and also I will likely publish a how-to article on the construction of a Mongol ger for those interested. Stay tuned!

I saw a couple of 'challenges' recently. People would start an army challenge, stating that they would paint a nice army over a certain period of time, hoping to get watchers to start armies and follow along with them. They typically came in video format outlining their progress as they put the army together. Unfortunately I found that more often than not they would die in their infancy, leaving me feeling empty and depressed... Okay, well not that depressed ;) So, naturally I figured I would try it out, but with articles instead of videos... I'm far too shy for videos... I figured it might be fun for me to look back at certain projects and have a closer looks into how they went together... closer that is than the usual images of miniatures that I post of every project. Also it might be interesting to others to follow along as well. Of course I realize that starting something like project articles might very well show me following the footsteps of the others, and I'd fail to finish the project at all... but it's a risk I must take! So, check out the first article in the set of project articles that I hope to do: The Mongol Conquest DBA project. I will store these in the articles section going forward, so see it there as well.

Admittedly it's an easy one for sure. A relatively small DBA project, and since DBA armies are relatively small in the first place it's especially small. But hey, start small and then grow. Also perhaps this will inspire some people to start DBA projects for themselves! Who knows, it's a great game for people with low attention spans like myself! I will update the article as the project progresses, and I'll drop update notices here!

I also added a recent image to the Desk Shots gallery so check that out if you're interested in that kind of thing... Until next tine...

In a flurry of activity, I finished the first six elements of my DBA Mongol Conquest army for the up coming Fallcon convention. Why is it that I always insist on painting new armies for conventions? Why not use one of the ones I already have finished? Not sure, but likely it has something to do with that short attention span that all gamers suffer from... In any case, I have been gearing up for this Mongol project for a while, researching and whatnot. I grabbed an audio book titled 'Genghis: Birth of an Empire' to listen to and finally got around to watching the Mongol movie. From all of this, check out my first installment of Mongol riders in my 15mm Mongol gallery. The army is six out of twelve elements on its way to being finished!

As for Temugin's story (the birth name of the infamous khan), particularly the Mongol movie, it almost sapped my will for the project. All I saw was a guy who basically went crazy after having such and adverse life, who then went on to spread that adversity all over the world. There is a lot of reverance for crazy empire builders, but I am not sure why... In any case, I remembered that I was a mini gamer and all about the role-playing of evil empire builders, and so managed to finish the first six elements. I did bite off a bit more than I could handle with twelve figures; I try to split my projects into week-long chunks, and this one was a bit large for that. As such, I will likely do only three more elements of light horse for the next batch, and then finally finish with the armoured Mongolian nobility in a couple of weeks.

On the topic of the project planning, I am still planning to do a project report on this army; I just have to put together the article, as all the pictures are ready to go, so stay tuned for that later. Also, I might take a break from painting and do some camps as a break. So, expect more Mongols or some DBA camps in the next little while!

This is an idea I've been working on for a while now, that I've finally brought together. It has taken more work than I had thought, but now I have a process and it should be speedy from here on out! Basically, I have made some of the banners and shields that I have painted available for download and printing for use with your miniature figures! They are all my own hand painted work, and they are of high enough resolution to print and use! I know there are a lot of great decals and flags out there already, but none of them are hand-painted, so I figured I would offer some of my stuff to fill that apparent gap. I've made jpegs as well as PDFs available for them, so you can use them however you like. At this point though, they're for personal use only. Check them out in the Decals & Flags section of the site, which has it's own link on the left now as well!

The idea for this project started with my 28mm Romans. I wanted to hand paint all the shields for them personally, not wanting to use the decals that came with the figs. Of course, this meant a lot of work, and a lot of repetitive work on top of that. In trying to figure out how to speed it up, I figured that I could paint a few, take pics of them, print them on decal sheets and use them in the future! I'd have genuine hand-painted shields with much less work! It's a hack, sure, but whatever. So, I figured I would do the same with flags and banners and so I set to work.

Currently they are availabe only as PDFs and jpegs. You will have to print them yourself. For the banners all you have to do is print, cut and attach. For the shields, you will have to print them on transfer or decal sheets, cut them, and apply them. Alternatively you could print them on normal paper and apply them with glue in a similar way that wallpaper is applied. Finally, you could just print some of them onto thin card and use them as stand-alone shields! For the round shields, I suggest getting a multi-size hole punch to make the cutting easier... I will be adding more as I finish more projects as well. Also, if you have seen a shield design you like on my site but don't see it in the decals & flags section, feel free to contact me and make a request. If I can manage it, I will render the images into decal format :)

Looking at the 24 auxilliary figures that I had to paint for this army, I figured it would take forever to do! But it turned out to be really fast! Partly because I had time to paint, but also because I spent no real time trying to decide on a paint scheme! Since the shields and outfits a terribly well documented, it was trivial to simply jump into the painting. In two weeks I finished the army from start to finish! It's a record for me :) Check out the entire army in the Patrician Roman army showcase article or just check out the latest figures in the Patrician Romans gallery! Overall, I am pretty happy with how it turned out!

Next up for painting projects are the Mongolians! It will be a 15mm Mongol Conquest DBA army, which is number two of three DBA armies I needed to finish for Fallcon. The Romans are done, and the Scots-Irish army I need to do is about half done, so I figured I'd start on the Mongolians, since they need the most work. I have gotten a good start on that army...

But as for content, I am starting a few different things on the site. The first is an 'Army Project Challenge' set of articles. The idea is that I will do an article on the timeline and process of building an army. My first one will be on the Mongols. The article will be ongoing, updated often as I work through the army, and outline the timeline and progress of the army. I saw a few video versions of these things, and noted that a lot of people start them and never finish them! I plan to finish them :) And also I hope to be of inspiration to others who are painting armies for events!

The other section of the site that I am going to start is a Decals & Flags section. It will be a whole new part of the site with its own link in the menu to the left, and it will feature images of my freehand shield designs transformed into images designed to be printed and used on your (or my) figures! The images will be free to use, but you will have to print them yourself (I can't do everything!). Shields could be printed on transfer/decal paper, or maybe on normal paper and glued on in the same way that wallpaper is put on walls... The flags and banners can be printed and cut out. All of them will be based on my hand-painted flags and shields, and I plan to support multiple scales and whatnot... Stay tuned for that! Until next time...

Another DBA army on An Hour of Wolves: Patrician Romans! This is the Roman army from late Rome to the bitter end of the empire. I have had these figs for about three-quarters of a year and I am finally getting them together. The army is the first 15mm army I've done since the Kushans I did late last year, and so I am re-learning the process of 15mm army painting. I cut some corners here and there it seems, and so I will likely try to tighten that up a bit going forward. So far, the first five elements are done! Check out the new Patrician Romans gallery for images of the figures!

Next up are some more Patrician Romans, and I will likely stick with this project until it's done. That means that for the next couple of weeks it will be all Patrician Romans all the time! Well... at least for the painting update content. I might get some battle reports or other articles out inbetween time as well. I also need some camps for the Romans, as well as extra camps to be used for tournament prizes, so keep an eye out for them. I might fit in some 28mm fantasy in there as well if I can... I am quite excited about the Mantic Games Kings of War upcoming rules... It likely mean more fantasy action for me in the future and finally getting some of the snazzy Mantic plastics...

It's been about a month and a half since the last battle report I posted, so I figured I would get another one together! I am looking to add content other than painted miniatures to the site a bit more often than I have been, with about one battle report per calendar month if possible! This time it's a closely fought battle pitting some Bretonnians against some raiding orcs in The Battle of Brionne! It was a great little battle, and it really makes me appreciate the Hordes of the Things rule set; they really give you all of the charm of a Wargammer game in about an hour and a half from arrival to departure (including set up and take down time!) with half (or less than half) the figures! Warhammer 8th edition? Nay I say! HotT all the way!

But enough with poor rhymes! What's next on the article front? Not sure really. Perhaps another HotT battle report or an build or paint article... I have had a few projects in mind, so maybe I will finally get around to getting them together!

It feels like it's been ages since I started on these Chinese Warring States Qin figures... But it's only been just about three months! I am happy to say that it went pretty fast considering the work that was required. After washing all of the figures, converting the chariots, and painting everything, the Qin army is ready for war! Well, at least the DBA army. Thanks to Tim in Saskatoon I have a couple of fantastic figures that I will throw in to make this into the Hordes of the Things fantasy army, but the DBA historical army is done! Check out the Chinese Warring States gallery for the latest pictures. I've also thrown together and army showcase article for this army as well, which can be seen in the articles section under II/4a Qin Chinese.

Of course, that's not the end of the Chinese Warring States project, as I have another warring state to complete: The Yueh! However, I have to set it aside for now. Fallcon is quickly approaching and I have one or three armies that I have to complete before then! So it's back to 15mm, finally getting around to my Patrician Romans for my Teenage Visigoth inspired tournament named A Visigothic Romance, where the barbarians will teach the Romans the real meaning of Romance! Of course, I don't have any barbarian armies... so my Patrician Romans will have to do! I also have a (new) Mongol Conquest army to paint for a Samurai themed event entitled Samurai Night Fever II! I played in the first one with post-Mongol Samurai, and so I figured I should play in this one with some Mongols and see how they do! I can hardly wait to have them shot up by all the early Samurai armies out there :)

Also, I have plans to start posting free images of my banners and shields for public use (but not public distribution!). My plan is to make available all of my shields and banners for people to print and use. The banners of course would be simple to use by printing and gluing. The shields will be for those who are willing to print them on decal paper or transfer sheets... so yeah... perhaps some hassle, but they'll be free to use! Stay tuned for the first of those as I get around to making them up!

It's been some time since I got my hands on both the Wargames Factory and Gripping Beast plastic vikings, and it's about time I got around to doing a review and comparison for them! Being a viking enthusiast, I couldn't keep myself from getting some of both, and I am happy I did. Overall, I think the sets are quite similar, and both have their qualities! However, check out the Plastic Vikings Review and Comparison article in the reviews section for the long winded and detailed opinion!

Doing this review also got my Reviews section up to date! It hadn't been added to in almost exactly four (!!) years! Back then all my articles were presented as lists with long-winded summaries; that was before I switched everything to thumbnails... Now everything except the campaigns section is a thumbnail type design... In any case, I plan to make better use of the review section, and I might even include some novels reviewed in the context of miniature gaming! Of course, I might not add to it for another four years... who knows ;)

It's also worth mentioning that I have joined my first online organization... I mean, I have signed my site up to the first hobby-related organization... I have been a long-time reader of Tabletop Gaming News, so naturally I wanted to jump onto their blog network, which is basically a twitter-like set up that offers a single place to watch for updates on your favourite tabletop gaming blogs! Check it out by following the new link in the menu on the left!

Next up are some snazzy Qin Chinese... They have been tough to finish off, but they are almost there... Until then!

Well, it's not quite done as I'd hoped. I technically only need the general's chariot to have a finished army, but I want to finish the light horse option as well, so two more elements. Unfortunately they total six horses and five figures... But I should have them done next week! Until then though, check out the cavalry and skirmisher elements that are ready in the Chinese Warring States gallery.

After the Qin are done I am off to some 15mm DBA action. I am running and event at Fallcon as well as playing in one or two, so I need three armies! Chances are I'll only finish two though... In any case, until next time!

Along with the vikings I painted up some figures for my Dungeons and Dragons action as well. Those pesky druids keep me busy with their animal companions, and soon with their wilderness forms! In order to keep them in painted figures, I needed to produce a mounted version of one and a number of hounds for the other. Check those out in the Dungeons and Dragons gallery! I also painted up the hound handlers that came with the hounds; although they are supposed to be ancient Irish types, they will play the role of D&D NPCs very well I am sure :)

Up next are the last few elements of those pesky Chinese Warring States Qin warriors. I only have four more elements to do, and they should come together easily I think! I have already begun converting the Qin general character and building his chariot. It should be a good time! After that, it's going to be time for some 15mm DBA armies for the Fallcon event :) In any case, until next time!

I finally got around to building and painting up a handful of those Gripping Beast plastic vikings! They were a joy to put together and a pleasure to paint! I am in the process of putting together a detailed review of the Gripping Beast and Wargames Factory plastic Vikings, along with comparisons for anyone interested. Stay tuned for that! But in the mean time, check out the Swedish Viking Gallery for some pictures of the GB figs and comparison shots!

Back to the Qin (Chin) for my 28mm Chinese Warring States DBA army. I can't believe that the chariot was finished 20 days ago! Time flies... In any case, this brings me to the 2/3 mark for the number of elements I need to finish the army! All I need now is another chariot, three cavalry figures (3Cv element) and four skirmishing figures (2x2Ps). I'm almost ready to invade Chu now; I'm looking forward to bring the battle to Sean! Check out the latest Qin action in the Chinese Warring States gallery.

I also updated my Painted and Unpainted sections. I have painted a whopping 100 28mm foot (don't mock me Tim! I know you've painted four times that! Just kidding of course, I know Tim's too nice of a guy to actually mock anyone, so I have no intention of marring you to the public :) In truth, I mock myself... Damn that inner voice! but I digress!), which is more than I painted last year :) Despite that, my unpainted pile is still above 1000...

Next up, more Qin, but first some D&D figs. One of my characters has taken a mount! Thus I have to convert up a mounted version of the figure... Should be fun! Not only that, but another druid character has dedicated himself to accruing a hound for every level... So, I need another few hounds... Also, I really want to do a comparison article between GB and WF plastic vikings, so I'll likely throw some of those together as well! Until then...

I am going to finish an army of these figs sooner rather than later and I swear, they are going to conquer ancient Ireland! When they do, they will kill all the Christian priests that come, and ensure a free Ireland throughout history! Well, in my imagination anyway... Still, the Irish women are fun to paint, and I look forward to actually building and army of them! I painted a single one recently, check out the Scots-Irish Gallery for the image.

Next up are some more Chinese Warring States figures. I am just finishing off three elements of crossbows, which will bring the number of elements ready for the Qin army to eight! That's two thirds the way to completion! The last few elements are a heavy chariot general, an element of cavalry and two elements of psiloi... So, most of the work is already done! The chariot is likely going to be the biggest job, and I plan to build the Qin chariot at the same time as I build the Yueh chariot; the Yueh are the next Chinese Warring States faction that I am building an army for. I am happy with the progress on this stuff so far!

Aside from that I have some Gripping Beast plastic vikings on the go, some Perry French Napoleonics as well. Both of them are likely going to be part of a review... I want to compare the Wargames Factory and Gripping Beast plastic vikings, as well as the Perry and HaT Napoleonics! Finally, I have a few miniatures to paint for the D&D gaming action as well. So, we'll see what shakes out over the next while!

I recently had the pleasure of painting this ship from Khurasan miniatures. It's a cool figure for sure, and quite large. It could certainly be used in 28mm gaming, which is my eventual plan. I have some Starship Troopers figures that I would like to use it with. Images of this ship have already hit the net, as Khurasan put it up for sale last week, but I figured I would post all of the pics I took here! Check them out in the 15mm Sci-Fi Gallery. Good stuff!

This one has been on my painting desk for months, and finally it's done! I have been working my way through it for the last little while, and the Chinese Warring States chariot, along with some inspiration from Tim I decided to just polish it off. I'm happy with how it turned out! All I need for the high elf army to be fieldable is a hero and a wizard... which will unfortunately be a lot more humming and hawing over paint schemes, so we'll see how long those take for me to get around to! In any case, check out the chariot in the High Elf gallery. Until next time!

I went through my old images of my painting desk... I had been un-motivated to post them... but thanks for the guys over on Fanaticus I decided to get them going. So, check out a few images of my painting desk that I took over the last year... it makes me want to take more though, so don't be surprised if I do in the near future! Check out the Desk Shots gallery for the action!

Indeed the latest Chinese Warring States element for my DBA army is heavy... I just finished the first of three chariots that I need for my two Chinese Warring States DBA armies. Since I'm using Renegade miniature's figures for this project, and since Renegade doesn't make chariots, I have to scratch build them. This one is the plain old heavy chariot element, while the other two will be the general's chariot elements, so I started with the easy, not-so-fancy one! It came together pretty easily for sure... And it gave me some opinions on chariots in general, as well as Chinese Warring States period chariots specifically. The one I made is based on a bronze version found with the terracotta warriors, and I am pretty happy with it! Check it out in the Chinese Warring States gallery. I think I will put together am article on how to make these as well, just for my own reference when I get to the last two chariots that I need.

I have a couple more chariots to make, but I won't start them right away. They are a lot of work, and I'm just not in to mood :) But not to worry! Next up are some Qin crossbowmen... I am liking the Warring States stuff at the moment, so I might as well stick to it! However, I do have some pictures waiting to be published of Khurasan miniature's latest 15mm vehicle. Check out the Khurasan miniatures blog for some small images of it for now! Perhaps I'll post them later this week! Also, I am half done a high elf chariot as well, which has been languishing on my desk for months... Perhaps I'll finish that soon, just for the sake of my cluttered painting desk and Tim's promise of finishing some plastic elves as well! Until next time...

It's been some time since I wrote a battle report... It seemed to me like it was just yesterday, but then I checked and it's been almost a year! Well, since last August anyway. I couldn't believe it because I had been playing quite a bit still. So, I had a look at the pictures of various battles that I had been collecting and decided to put together this report. It was a great battle that represented the battle between the Muzaffarid dynasty in medieval Persia and the Timurids, which were a Mongolian tribe of the line of Genghis himself, although much later. In reality, this battle saw the end of the Muzaffarid dynasty with Tamerlane the Timurid's victory. The table-top battle saw much the same outcome! Check out Tamerlane's Revenge battle report here! I went all out with the images for this... I hope it was worth it :)

It is possible that I will be doing more battle back fill in the near future. This site has become a miniature painting blog lately, and so I want to keep adding new content besides just expanding the army galleries. I am also toying with the idea of reviving the reviews section of the site... Not just with wargames, but with fiction that I use to inspire wargaming, miniatures, etc. etc. But who knows. I often find that life is whimsical, and so is my attention span! Until next time...

... Dryad of the trees! Unfortunately for my HotT elves, summer is long over, and the long defeat is almost fought to the end as autumn is upon them! I finished a couple more elements of HotT elves this past week, although not the elvish types actually, but their super-natural allies the dryads of the woods! These beasts will wait in the trees, lurking, until the enemy bumbles into their borders and is torn asunder! Or maybe not, it remains to be seen! Anyway, check out the two elements of dryad lurkers in the High Elves gallery.

What's next... Not really sure. I have more than a few projects on the go, and I haven't really commited to any specific one for this next week... I know, it's already Tuesday and I have yet to commit! Despite that though, I will definitely have an update for next week. But, here's a list for myself and anyone interested, of what I am planning on this summer:

• Qin Warring States Chinese for 28mm DBA
• Yueh Warring States Chinese for 28mm DBA
• Spanish Civil War Anarchists in 20mm
• Russian Civil War Anarchists in 28mm
• HotT-Hammer High Elves in 28mm
• Napoleonics for DBN or Black Powder in 28mm
• ...

As you can see, it's pretty standard; I have a million projects, no real focus on any of them, and so we'll see where things are in a couple months :) In any case, stay tuned!

I am quite excited about these Trey Corbies figures these days... The reality of having my own line of figs to paint is finally starting to sink in :) How often does one get the opportunity to sculpt and paint their own figs? On top of that, it's a line and a subject matter that I close to my heart! In any case, I am really looking forward to doing an entire army of them and waging war on the male-dominated figures from other lines!

But I digress. I have recently finished off a handful more of the Irish women, and it was a fun job to paint them up! Check them out in the 15mm Irish gallery. I have a few more of them to paint up, but this is the bulk of the line painted now! Good times!

I am just finishing off a top-secret piece from Khurasan miniatures, which I had planned posting pictures of later this week, however I will wait until the piece is actually released to post pics of it, so that likely won't be the next update! It's possible that I will have more Trey Corbies figures next, as there are two more to do before I have put paint to the entire line! But I also have a desire to get back to those HotT-Hammer elves that I was working on, so I might put in some lurkers inbetween... Or a chariot or whatever. I am so close to finishing 24AP (the number of points I need to field and entire HotT army) of that army that I might just finish that up first before I do anything else... In any case, stay tuned!

It has been a couple of years since I've done really detailed terrain. The Prancing Pony was the last one really. I had the idea to do a medieval tower for about a year or more now, and I got started on it a few weeks ago, and now it's finally done! It was a lot of fun to do. It will also be pretty useful, since I plan to use it to generate some D&D encounters, for skirmish in Middle-earth, and for Hordes of the Things... So, check out the Medieval Tower gallery for all of the details! In the future I have plans to expand it a bit, with a palisade surrounding the gate on the ground, and perhaps some stables. But not in the near future anyway!

Next up are some more Trey Corbies figures. The ones that I have yet to paint for the site. After that I have a very interesting 15mm sci-fi piece from Khurasan miniatures that I am eager to get to as well! So, until then...

Will the purchasing ever end? Well, in fairness, my recent increase in unpainted figures is at least half from freebie figures, given to me by people who are getting rid of old figs they know they will never paint! Still, it was after I got rid of a couple of DBA armies that I figured I coul buy some more... but I was wrong!

In any case, it's all from a large purchase of plastic Gripping Beast vikings (44 figs), Perry Napoleonic Line Infantry (42 figs), Chinese Warring States figs (98+), and some free Warhammer figures for the HotT action (55+). That's enough to put me up over 1000 unpainted miniatures again... In any case, check out the Painted and Unpainted sections for the details.

Finally, a big figure update! After working on other stuff for the last few weeks, I finally sat down to the Chinese Warring States figures. Over all, it was a fun time... Listening to Sally Lockhard mysteries and painting these figures up. They came together pretty well, and I'm quite happy with how they turned out. Interestingly though, these are the first figures I'd ever had to wash! There was so much mould release on them that the cyano acrylate (super glue) wouldn't hold at all, not to mention the base coat. Anyway, check them out in the Chinese Warring States gallery.

What's next? The big terrain project should wrap up soon enough... But I might sneak in some Perry Miniatures Napoleon French to compare with the HaT figures... Or maybe some more DBA camps... or who knows :) Ultimately though, I will focus on the Chinese Warring States stuff for the next little while until I at least have one army finished :) Until then!

I finished one of the projects I was working on! I typically consider a number of DBA camps a single project, since they are pretty small on their own. I reproduced a camp that I'd made and sold already, as well as a few new ones. One of which, the Skythian camp, is for an army that I have that is still unpaitned! It's a first for me to have a camp before having the army... But it was initiated by a commission, so I built one for myself and one for the commission! Check them out in the DBA Terrain gallery. I am also selling one of these camps! Check out the for sale forum post over on fanaticus to get in on that action!

I am still also working on a couple of projects: the bigish terrain project and the Chinese Warring States (CWS) figs. I had a good time the last little while painting those Warring States figs for sure... It was nice to get back to just painting after doing terrain for a while. But I imagine I won't stick to the CWS stuff exclusively. I am quite a ways along on the terrain project, and it is only a matter of finishing off some detailing and painting to actually bring the project to a conclusion! Also, I got some Perry Napoleonics in the mail and I want to paint up an element to compare to the HaT Voltigeur that I painted up already for scale and quality purposes... but just a quick bit of info: the Perry and HaT figs are almost identical sizes! Also there's some female Irish warriors I need to paint up soon... Too many projects :)

Finally... The Medieval DBA campaign comes to an end! It was great fun, but I have organizer's burn out! I am looking forward to some relaxing, organization free DBA weekends this summer :) Overall, I thought it was a resounding success. Everyone made efforts to come out and play and enjoy themselves and lend to the campaign narrative, and I appreciate it, thanks guys! Check out the last report on the Cry Havoc! page.

So what's next? Well, in the way of DBA, I am already planning my next campaign. This one won't be the same as the standard DBA campaign though; I know a few people have wanted some narrative campaign action, not simply attrition city capturing deals... And I appreciate that they stuck with me until I could get over my fixation with pure map campaigns :) The next one will be more a co-op sorta deal, where there will be one major goal, and a smattering of minor goals (which may be nation specific). There is only one possible result in the campaign: success or failure. If the overall goal isn't reached, the players fail. If it is, then they succeed! More on that later...

But what about the painting/scratch building content this week? Well, I have been plagued with multiple miniature project syndrom (MMPS) this week even more so than previous weeks! I have a major terrain project half done, a huge 28mm DBA army project under way, and some 15mm DBA camp action on the go as well. It promises to be a slow few weeks, and my painting totals are feeling the pressure... Especially since I went through an insane buying spree lately!

100+ figs for the Chinese Warring States project, another 43 Napoleonic French, a packload of plastics from Tim, most of which I managed to pass on to others, thank the universe... Okay, I guess it wasn't that insane, but it puts me back where I was before I got rid of all those figs over the past month and a half :) Oh well! Anyway, back to my original point, I can't really say what's next!

I'm told by the World Wide Web the above is an Irish saying! So yeah, check out my latest finished D&D figure in the D&D Army Gallery! I am glad I didn't stop at the clean skin and blue tunic, as I might have been inclined to do otherwise. Overall, I think the character is grand, and the concept is fantastic!

I spent more than a few hours over the past month creating a concept for my next big terrain piece. I realize that I haven't really done any terrain since I did the Prancing Pony, as I mentioned earlier this month, and I want to get back to it. This weekend I finally got to work: I cut the base, cut the foam pieces, and started assembling the beast! It isn't quite to the scope of the Prancing Pony, but it's certainly got the same spirit, and will have more applications on the miniature battlefeild as well... It also could be used to fill out a medievalish town at some point...

This project brings me back to another issue I have been thinking about for a while. Generic terrain is good because it can be used for so many different things. Generic terrain sucks because it's so generic it doesn't have any of the cool details of period specific terrain... So where's the middle point? The real question is, what's worse, having to use generic terrain for Lord of the Rings Orgiliath and WWII Russia, or having to use destroyed Russian buildings as Osgiliath? It's a tough question! But those WWI Soviet propaganda posters add so much to the terrain... Anyway, I digress...

It's been another slow week of painting for me, but I did finish my first viking shoe! I have been working on a few different figs, but lately I've focused on this figure I am doing for D&D. It's a druid hunter type character with a special ability to use a bow. It's not done, but I am about to put some pictish/celtic tattoos on it, and I want to remember what it looked like before the detailing! Check it out in the D&D Army Gallery. Until next time!

I have been looking seriously at musket warfare ever since my copy of Black Powder arrived. I couldn't justify doing any of the colonial action for political reasons... And I didn't want to get into any of the more obscure wars for the sake of figure availability, so Napoleonic warfare was what I decided to go with! My plan was not to pick anything up until my Chinese Warring States project was done though... What happened? Well, I saw the HaT French Voltiguer and they were so cheap and so plentiful that I just couldn't resist. Also I figured they'd be a good reset for me, given that they are colourful and terribly detailed, they would help me appreciate all of the other projects that I am working on!

Overall, the figures are pretty good. Some soft detail is certainly an issue. For example, waist coat pockets pretty much disappear under the primer+first colour coat. Their production method is similar to GW's: they make large scale masters and pantograph them down. These sculpts have been used for their 1/32 scale figures as well it seems. The masters are done to a true scale as well, and as a consequence of that, they are true 1/56th scale when scaled down to 28mm height. It's very interesting to see true 1/56th scale, as there have been few such figures that I am aware of to date. They are 28mm tall, but very slight compared to their 28mm brethren. It finally proves my point that 1/56th scale vehicles don't work for 28mm scale figs though ;) But I digress... check out the latest figs in the Napoleon's Army gallery!

What's next I wonder... The Chinese Warring States figures are going to be the focus for at least a few months once they're received, but they haven't come yet. In the mean time I think it's a choice between finishing of the HotT-Hammer elves or the Spanish Civil War 20mm figures. For the elves I have about four or five elements to do only, which translates to about 15 figures. For the SCW project I have 19 20mm figures left until I finish all of my unpainted lead. Each project is about the same size, so it's tough to say which way things will go...

It's been a long time since I've done any real 28mm terrain. I think the Prancing Pony was the last thing I did... I have a plan to do another piece on the scale and scope of the Prancing Pony in the near future, but I needed some small buildings for some D&D I've been playing. So... to warm myself up for the next big project, I figured the D&D terrain would be perfect! Check out the two simple buildings in the new Generic Medieval Building gallery.

So, over the past year I have been contemplating my miniature gaming hobby overall... How much time and money I spend on it, how much I get out of it and whatnot. I have to say that I do enjoy it a lot, and in general it's a good time. But lately, I have been convinced that there are more things out there for me than just 15mm, 20mm, and 28mm miniature games of all genres and periods...

So, I've decided to take the plunge! I am going full throttle into a fantastic little game called Rocketmen. The rules are mediocre, and the figures are made from plastic punch-out cards. The game offers little in the way of tactical complexity, and nothing in the way of hobby building, modeling, and playing, but despite that, I'm sold! Sure, the game was only in active development for about a year and a half, but that won't stop me... Name me one reasonable miniature gamer ;)

The other thing about the game that is cool is its overall concept! The thing that really got me into this game is the political background. It features a daring entrepreneur rebel Nick Sion who fights an axis of evil! How could anyone deny a storyline that is so relevant to our lives today?

So, to finance this project I am likely going to get rid of everything! That's right, everything. No need for 28mm/20mm/15mm figures, painted or not, when all I want are plastic printed punch-out cards! Unfortunately this also means that all of my upcoming planned projects are going to have to go as well, including that Chinese Warring States project that I am about to receive miniatures for, sorry Sean! Did someone say eBay action? Stay tuned!

The campaign page is updated again! This has to be a record for me lately, it's been only two weeks since the action was actually played! Check out all of the various tumultuous developments on the Cry Havoc! medieval DBA campaign page in the timeline and turns sections.

Also, I'm happy to report that I'm back at painting. It will still be a small update next week, but I had some fun last night blocking in some of those HaT Napoleonic Voltigeur figs. I have heard people say they are more like 25mm rather than 28mm figs, but I think they are wrong! No, I'm not trying to be a jerk, honestly :)

What I think is that they are actually 1/56th scale. Truly, they have 1/56th scale height (which is about 28mm) and proportions! So, although they stand as tall as most figures (even Warhammer human figures), they are very thin, with tiny hands and heads! I'll use them though. Also, the details are soft. When I say soft, I mean that they are either smeared and rounded, or have been lost all together. The reason for this is that HaT shrunk their 1/32 scale figures to make these; they must be using CAD for shrinking in the same way GW shrinks their three-ups for their plastic lines. The problem is that the detail level on the 1/32 scale figures didn't translate all that well into 1/56 scale... Or maybe it wasn't there in the first place... But I will chat more about this when I post the finished figs, which won't be until next week! Until then...

This week was a very slow week for me... I find that when I'm painting I have a lot of time to think. If I manage to get a good audio book or movie to distract me, I don't have to think while I paint, but if I don't have a distraction... It's nice to have time to contemplate the meaning of life and the quality of various miniature related things... But, this week was pretty stressful for me. As a consequence, every time I sat down to paint my stress and anxiety levels went up as I went through a million iterations of possibilities related to the source of my various stresses... So, I ended up playing a lot of video games instead of painting... Well, one game. Lord of the Rings Return of the King for PS2. I have to say, that game sucks. All you do is kill orcs. The background changes. Sometimes you have to shoot a mumakil, but otherwise it's the same thing over and over and over.... But I digress.

This week, only a couple of elements of the HotT-Hammer elves: another element of spearmen and an element of bowmen. That's it. Surprise surprise, they look pretty much exactly like the other elven bow and spear that I painted. So, it's not much of an update really in the end! Still, I'm happy with them, and they mark the end of painting spearmen and bowmen for now, since the HotT army list I am working on only requires a couple of elements of each. So, the army is half done now. Check out the latest pictures in the HotT-Hammer High Elf gallery.

I have no idea what will be next since there's literally so much on the painting desk at the moment, and none of it is really started. I got some more bits to finish off the elf chariot, so I could paint that. I have one colour undercoat on Prince Tyrion the elven hero as well. The thing is now the elves have been associated in my mind with stress, so it's unlikely they will see any paint this week. I picked up some HaT 28mm French Napoleonic Voltigeurs as well. My plan was to paint some Napoleonics to reset my appreciation of elves... The thing about these HaT figures though is that they have very soft details... Play-doh level details I would say, making me less than keen. Those SCW and RCW figures are still staring at me, and I also have some primed and ready Empire figures for HotT-Hammer on my desk... Time to put away some things I think.

Finally, I am having some trouble with Renegade miniatures at the moment. I sent in an order about 3.5 weeks ago, and no news yet. I asked for an update after two weeks and they said they might be able to get to my order in about a week! Three weeks before they can even fill an order! Then, they announce their latest sale, so I email and ask that since my order hadn't shipped perhaps I could take advantage of the sale and get a free regiment pack? No response! I'm quite unhappy at the moment, and would warn gamers to think twice before buying from Renegade miniatures, despite their latest sale!

I finished up the entire remaining set of figs I had for the Siculo-Norman or early Sicilians that I was working on! With the addition of these figs, I have pretty much everything I need for all of the Frankish armies from the period! West Frank/Norman, East Franks, early Crusaders, early Sicilians, and even early Feudal French and Anglo-Normans! The figs are pretty spiffy as well, all from Khurasan miniatures line of Franks. Check them out in the 15mm Norman gallery.

Also this week I updated the painted and unpainted sections of the site again! My unpainted pile is on the decline and I'm happy to post it! Stil... 771 figures unpainted... It's pretty daunting, but I look at it as an investment in the future for hobby action, as I am pretty sure I will get around to them all eventually ;)

Next up I am trying to finish off those 28mm HotT-Hammer elves that I've been working on. I have four elements painted now, and I only six or seven more, so I want to polish them off before I take the plunge into the Warring States Chinese 28mm DBA project! I also want to finish off those Spanish Civil War and Russian Civil War figs that I bought into late last year! So... stay tuned :)

Yes, I finally took the plunge into the micro blogging world. I didn't want to, and I still might not fully commit, so don't join up just for me! But, if you're already there, feel free to follow me on Twitter. My user name is hour_of_wolves, which is not to be confused with hourofwolves, another Twitterer... Oh well! Incidentally, I wonder how long Twitter will be around... It's very popular, but there's no business case there, no way to generate revenue from it! Perhaps one day it will be translated into a protocol, like RSS... Oh well. Until next time!

Also today I got around to uploading some pictures of my latest elven element for Hordes of the Things! This one is a giant eagle. It's an old GW figure, and I think it's pretty snazzy. The only thing about this elven project is that all the figs are already painted... which means that painting them doesn't reduce my unpainted figure pile! I know, I should care about that, but by keeping track of it I have become fixated on reducing it! It drives me crazy! On that topic though, I should update those sections.... the painted and unpainted sections... oh well, but I digress. Check out the giant eagle in the High Elves gallery.

So, what's next? Droves of 15mm Siculo-Normans, that's what! After that, tough to say, but likely I will bite the bullet and paint some more HotT Elves even though it won't reduce the unpainted figure pile! Until then...

Another couple of elements to morph those ubiquitous Normans! This time the morph is to Siculo-Normans, or Norman-dominated Sicily during the 11th and 12th century. The figs fit the bill for skirmishers during the period, and could play the role of skirmishers from various European locals during the period! Check them out in the 15mm Norman gallery!

Well, three weeks later... It's been a long three weeks for me, but here's the DBA campaign update! We are officially nearing the end of the campaign! Only four seasons left! Things have really shaped up to turn out in a crazy way as well, as it looks like there are two 'spheres' of power in the campaign: the east and the west. In the east it looks like that sphere of power is held by Sicily and Naples, who are now at war, so that should be resolved soon I am sure! Then to the west there's Aragon and Granada, which will also come to blows come autumn I think.

However, there's also France and Mali, who are not at full strength, but are in a perfect position to snatch up the victory from the fallout of the Sicily-Naples and the Granada-Spanish wars! It's pretty crazy all around! So, seven months into the campaign and it's been a lot of fun, but it's been a lot of work for me to run... So, I am looking forward to concluding it, despite how enjoyable it's been! So, check out the latest developments in the Cry Havoc! campaign reporting section!

The second update for today! This one is from Khurasan miniatures, and it's been under way for a few weeks. It was big, and it was also tough to figure out the paint scheme... I know, I know, it's all gray, so how hard can that be to figure out? Well, it is, okay! Sheesh! It typically takes me a while to get to being able to get comfortable with a paint scheme... even a simple one sometimes. Overall though, I am pretty happy with the model itself and the paint job I ended up with! Check it out in the 15mm Sci-Fi gallery, which was recently renamed from the 15mm monster gallery.

So, I still have a crapload of different projects I want to get to... SCW, RCW, more High Elves, some 15mm Sicilians, 15mm Skythians... etc. etc. So much to do, so little time! And indeed, less time these days as I have been sleeping much more :) Yes, no more late nights at the painting table, so I expect my updates will be smaller in the near future... Still though, I have a desire to do some really cool terrain as well. Well, we'll see!

I can't believe it's been three and a half months since I finished those High Elf spearmen! Well, now they're not so lonely, as I just finished another couple elements that have been sitting on my desk half painted for the whole time! A bolt thrower and an element of bows. Overall, I am still quite excited about this high elf project, so expect to see more of these in the near future! Check them out in the High Elves gallery.

Not too big this update, but something fun anyway! Thanks to a really busy schedule last week, I got basically nothing done... Except this one ninja adventurer type! Well, I guess it's not so much a ninja as an assassin. It was to be all dressed in black, but I added some extra highlights in there! Check it out in the D&D gallery.

What's next? Not sure... I am sorta poorly motivated at this point. Too many commissions lately! They always sap the initiative from me when I do too many projects that I don't choose for myself... But they do help me with the costs of the hobby :) Anyway, until next time!

Yes, I am back to 15mm figures for a bit! I have a couple of miniature projects for the scale on the go at the moment, but I have recently finished up with some DBA terrain projects. I needed to generate some cash for the Website hosting fees (a hobby that pays for itself!) as well as fill out some camps for some of my armies, and so I present them here! Check out the DBA Terrain gallery for all the pictures. The commission was for another Polish castle and a Hebrew tent camp. I built a Kushan camp for myself as well as a camp for my L.A. Persians, which was long overdue!

As for the future, it's back to those 15mm miniature painting projects I mentioned last week! Also, I have some 28mm projects that I really want to get to, so stay tuned!

A small but significant update this week! I am finally working away at my D&D character figs again! These always take so long for me to paint, as I am obsessed with them being perfect! None of this mass-production style that I use for my armies, everything has to be perfect from the colour scheme on down to the execution... Of course, they never are perfect, but I am pretty happy with them for the most part. Check out the mere five new characters in the D&D gallery for a view of the action!

Also I finally update the painted and unpainted sections of the site again. Check those out for the painting/purchasing details... Incidentally, keeping track of unpainted figs isn't all that hard once you've done the initial cataloguing! All you have to do is add in stuff that you receive and subtract out stuff that you paint! So, what's next? Some more 15mm types some time in the nearish future, including a very large sci-fi vehicle from one of my favourite manufacturers! Until next week!

I decided to finish up the remaining Vikings and Germans I had from Wargames Factory... Yes, that's it, I only had eight Vikings and six Germans... So, here are the remaining four Vikings, as well as three Germans easily converted with the Viking detail spru extras into berzerkers to fill the warband slot of the DBA army. Fun to paint, and now I am looking forward to getting a whole whak more of these to finish off the army! Check them out in the Swedish Vikings Gallery.

Next up are some D&D characters, so stay tuned for that next week! After that, likely some figs from Khurasan miniatures, including their snazzy new L-HAC figure and some of their new early Sicilians! Should be fun!.

So, this should just about do it for my Marian Romans for some time I think. With the addition of this ancient German auxiliary element, I can put that army in the *completed* list! This also finishes off the last of my unpainted ancient Germans! Check them out in the Marian Roman Gallery.

Just a note on historical accuracy for these... Although German tribes did fight with the Romans during this period, they typically wore Roman kit. I guess I should have used left over bits of Romans to equip them, but alas I didn't. As such, they will be hastily recruited German types, and so are allowed to look warbandish even though they will be Roman auxiliaries!

I got around to wipping some old skeletons into shape! These round out a total of nine skeletons that I have that are painted well enough to use and are on skirmish bases... I have hundreds left over that were painted in the early 90s, but these nine should carry me for a while I think... But maybe I should paint up one more and make it an even ten... Anyway, check out the bone-madness in the Dungeons and Dragons gallery.

Next up, the last of the elements for my Marian Roman army as well as a few more elements of Vikings! Until then... Oh yeah, the title of this post is a quote from Army of Darkness. No one should ever paint skeletons without having it on in the background!

Well, I always wanted to paint up some anarchists, and it looks like the Spanish Civil War (SCW) will be my first opportunity! Some local 20mm SCW action got me interested in this, and despite my lack or entusiasm for 20mm typically, I decided to jump in. Some fun stuff likely in the future, and hopefully this time around the anarchists won't get wiped out by the damn communists and be able to turn the fascists away from Madrid! Check out the anarchist militia in the 20mm Spanish Civil War Anarchists gallery.

So, what's next? Well, I am working on some Vikings and Ancient Germans at the moment, so you'll likely see those next week. Those are for my Viking and Roman 28mm DBA armies. I have some skeletons to paint for D&D... Some elves for Hordes of the things to keep that one element of spearmen company... More Spanish Civil War Anarchists... Some Russian Civil War Anarchists.... On top of that, it's time to get to some of the terrain projects that I really need to get to! So, who knows :) Until next time!

A couple of things that I have been working on lately here... The one thing that has taken up most of my slack time over the past month was the landscape painting that I was working on... It was done as a gift and I am pretty happy with it, but I find that I am harder on myself when working on things for other people... Still, it was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about painting in general, and that I have a lot more work to do yet! Check out the landscape in the Other gallery.

Also, I finished off a couple of one-off test type figs for D&D. I think I am going to get back to 28mm, characterful stuff a bit more, and so here are the first couple... A skeleton and an ogre. Check them out in the D&D gallery.

I wanted some more fantasy for my Romans to nudge them that much further into the fantasy realm. The Minerva goddess figure was cool, but quite enough. So, I opted to add some centaurs. I looked around for 28mm centaurs, but I could only find Greek dressed centaurs. So, since I have droves of extra plastic Romans, and also many extra riders of Rohan, I figured I would I would make a couple. Overall, I am very happy with how they turned out! Check out the painted Hordes of the Things element/unit in the Roman DBA Gallery.

I also put together a quick article on how I did it. It's not a sculpting article, so it glosses over that part somewhat, but it does go through the steps of converting them! Check out the Converting Roman Centaurs article here. Until next time!

Well, the first half of the campaign that I am running is over! That's the DBA campaign that I am running that's centered around Southern Europe and North Africa, that will run for six whole years between 1300 and 1305. It's been a great time so far, attendance is excellent, and everyone is into it! The narrative that has been produced by it is just killer, and I am happy to have everyone involved!

So, check out all the narrative and actions that took place in the last three turns (well, 2.5 turns...) over on the Cry 'Havoc!' - Medieval Southern Europe campaign page. Running this campaign has been a lot different than running the Viking campaign that I ran early last year. More people, more caution, and more experienced players has really made the latest campaign completely different from the previous. Good times!

After a super busy, non-painting type week, I finally have more of the Scots-Irish female line that I have been working on for the last few years :) Well, I started painting these a couple of weeks ago, but I sculpted them last year or in late 2008... The ones I am painting are the master casts for pre-release showcasing :) In any case, check out the latest chariot, chief, driver and dog figure in the 15mm Scots-Irish gallery.

What's next you might ask? Well, I will be going slowly for the next couple of weeks yet, but I have started on some more fantasy elements for my Roman Hordes of the Things army... Well, one element anyway. I will get that together and painted up for next week! I am also working slowly on some DBA camps for commission as well as for myself. After that though, it's likely that I will switch over to some skirmishing action... Stay tuned!

Minerva, Roman goddess! This excellent figure from germes1968 over on eBay was a pleasure to paint! I picked it up to slide my recently finished Roman DBA army into the fantasy realm since nobody around me has 28mm DBA armies, and there are a few 28mm Hordes of the Things armies. The figure itself was a pleasure to paint, and I will likely do something similar for my other, future DBA armies... such as the Vikings. A few 54mm figures of Vikings could easily stand in for Thor and Odin and so on... Check out the figure in the Marian Roman gallery.

This past week was a slow one for painting for me to be honest. I have a few other non-miniature related projects on the go at the moment... Some Viking reenactment stuff, some other non-miniature painting projects. Those will continue to take up time for a few weeks at least. That being said, I will be painting up stuff still, and I have some terrain projects on the go as well! So stay tuned!

Finally, the 28mm Wargames Factory Marian Roman DBA army is complete! Great stuff, and I think I might be ready to start a second one!... er... actually... No :) But I do plan to expand this army into a fantasy version by adding a god and perhaps some other fantasy elements. Still, the DBA version of it is complete and ready to go! Of course, there are no opponents within 600km of me, but that's fine for now; the afore mention fantasification of these guys will give them some great HotT opponents! So, check them out in the Marian Roman gallery. Until next time!

As the title suggests, I have done the work to wrap up the 2009 unpainted and painted totals. Overall, I was impressed with myself for the most part... I managed to paint 423 miniatures last year, which is more than one a day on average! And, I only purchased 80 more miniatures than I painted! Well, that's not so great, but oh well! It's hard not to purchase new stuff... Perhaps instead of keeping myself from purchasing new stuff, I should work on selling old stuff! In any case, check out the Unpainted and Painted sections for that stuff!

Back on July 28^th, 2008 I announced the start of a new 28mm Viking project that was going to be based on Swedish vikings. I had intended to do a WAB army, and my ultimate goal was to pit the vikings I had already painted against a new WAB army's worth of vikings using my longships! Open ocean battle, that would be awesome, and thanks to the Warhammer campaign supplement, it would also be easy enough! However, I have since sold the painted and unpainted vikings I was planning to use for that project...

However, in light of my 28mm DBA Marian Romans, I figured I would finally put together a 28mm Viking DBA army. This, along with the fact that Wargames Factory recently released their 28mm plastic vikings, I was all over it! So, here is the first element; the figures donated by a good friend (thanks man!), or rather loaned until I buy my very own set :)

Overall, I really like the WF vikings. They are fantastic figures. A couple of things to note though; because they are made with a harder plastic than the Romans, they are a little more difficult to convert! Although, compared to lead, the difference is pretty negligible. Another thing about the figs is that the arms don't have ball joints. It isn't too much of a problem, but ball joints make it easy to get the arm in the right place, whereas the flat joins make it easy for the arms to slip a few milimeters and make the arms look wrong... It also makes it a lot more difficult to reposition the arms than it should be. I am not asking for huge ball joints, but shallow ones would make my life a lot easier! I should point out though that with lead figs, repositioning the arms is very impratical, and impossible to do convincingly unless one has some skill with the knife and putty!

On that topic, people that claim Wargames Factory figs suck and that 'metal' miniatures are better are starting to drive me nuts! I mean, they don't even compare them to a specific 'metal' range typically, but *all* metal figures. That is poorly considered though. Honestly, Old Glory figs are not that nice, let's face it. Sure, they're heavier than the plastics, and they aren't terrible, but some of the poses are attrocious, and impossible to 'fix' easily. The OG sculpting style varies considerably, as does the quality of the figs. Early Gripping Beast stuff is similar, with very basic poses without a lot of character (I don't have any of the later GB figs, so I can't comment). Furthermore, both OG and GB figures are often poorly cast (sorry, but it's true, I've painted hundreds of them!). How easy is it to fix a bad metal cast? I would rather trim plastic seam lines :)

Getting down to it though, I think the reason why people dump on WF figs is very simple and has nothing to do with the quality of the figs themselves: with the availability of nice, cheap figures their complete collection of highly priced lead loses some of its value; why would anyone buy your painted Foundry Viking army for a million dollars when they could buy a painted Wargames Factory army for $500? I sympathize with them though, so I can't be too scathing! Anyway, check out the latest vikings in the Swedish Viking gallery!

Okay, so another thing... You might be wondering how I only painted four figures over the last two weeks? Well, I am almost done a number of Romans! But the truth is I have been spending a lot of time on the reenactment project... I am making pretty much everything myself (except forging metal... that's where I draw the line!). So, it's taking some time away from painting! But, I am doing fun stuff! for example, I have done a number of tablet weaving projects, which are great! Check out my latest on in my Other Stuff gallery. Until next time!

I know it's the 29th, and that being this close to the end of the year, this will be the last time I update the paunted and unpainted sections, but alas, it isn't! Or at least I hope it isn't! I am trying to works through another legion of Marian Romans before the end of the year to get my numbers up that little bit more before 2010. Still, it's pretty close, but I wanted to update anyway. So, check out the Unpainted and Painted sections!

Going forward I might change the format of the unpainted section to match that of the painted section. That is, it will be regularly updated, but not with blog-type entries as it is now... Just a running total for the year, with a graph at various intervals showing the changes in volume and whatnot... But we'll see :)

I finally got around to updating the DBA campaign! With all the breaks and holidays and whatnot it's been a lot of time away from the computer, which I won't complain about! However, now that I'm back to the grind, I managed to get the campaign update together.

Overall it went well, although this time around there were two people who failed to show up without letting me know, but it's a hard time of year for sure, and it didn't cause too much trouble. However, I do hope that this doesn't mean that the interest in the campaign is waning yet! Check out the updated Timeline and Turns sections of the Cry Havone Medieval campaign page.

It's back to 28mm figures again! It is nice to be back to it. This time it is the Numidian allies for my Marian Romans. They were fun to convert and paint, and I am pretty happy with them. It's interesting though, using these along with the earlier Romans. There are quite a few design differences. In any case, check out the Numidian cavalry and skirmishers in the Marian Roman gallery. After these, only four more elements to go until the Romans are table ready! I might eventually do an auxiliary element for them using the Germans that I have down the road, but it's tough to say at this point when that will happen :)

Not really sure what's up next. I am building the rest of the Roman Legionaries for the 28mm DBA Roman action right now, but I have some built and half painted Wargames Factory vikings on my desk. Along with that are some half painted HotT-Hammer elves. On top of that... some 15mm Lombards and some 15mm Irish women from the range I sculpted! Not sure where I will commit my time at the moment, so stay tuned!

Not a content update yet... blurry photos are to blame! Tomorrow though! However, I did want to point out that I fixed the contact page! I am not sure exactly when it stopped working, but I think it was a while ago! In any case, i realized there was a bug and fixed it. Sorry for all who tried to contact me during the last little while... It is fixed now though so feel free!

When Wargames Factory had their $9.99 Roman Legion sale, I realized that if I was going to make a Roman Legion box into an army, it would have to have some light horse, skirmishers, and possibly even cavalry. So, I decided to go with the Numidian light horse option, and then use Numidian skirmishers, that way I could get away with a couple of sprus of Numidians, some horses, and the legion box set. Of course, that would mean converting some Numidians into Light Horse riding types, and so I have done them! They went together pretty easily, check them out in the Greens Gallery!

As for what's next up, it will be the Numidians for my Marian Roman army. They are already all blocked out pretty much, just need highlighting and basing! After that I am not sure... It will either be more 28mm Wargames Factory Romans to finish the DBA Roman army up, or perhaps some more 15mm Medieval Spanish to accompany Jaime into battle... Or perhaps a new project all together? I have recently picked up some Russian Civil War stuff for some skirmish action, so maybe I will do that... And I also have a desire to do more terrain... On top of all of that, I have to spend some time on my Viking reenactment stuff as well... I need to finish up my fight gloves, tunic, pants... etc. etc. And tablet weaving! I will post some pictures of that stuff in the 'other' gallery over the next few days. Until then!

So, after doing a commission and selling some terrain to Xavi, a DBA enthusiast over in Barcelona, a package turned up in the mail for me unexpectedly! Thanks to him I managed to get my hands on an exclusive figure that will be available only to those who attend DBArcelona's gaming event in Barcelona! I was pretty happy, because this figure is very nice, not only in sculpting and casting quality, but also in concept.

It is specifically Jaime I (or James for those of a more english influence) King of Aragon between 1213 and 1276. Aragon being one of the kingdoms of Medieval Spain. The figure is based on a statue of great King Jaime I that resides in Valencia, Spain. Great stuff! I will eventually use it to lead my medieval Spanish DBA army when it comes together! Check it out in the 15mm Medieval Spain Gallery.

After just under a month, the 15mm Kushans are done! A nice army, and now I look forward to painting their Parthian and Sassanid enemies :) Should be a good time in the future, as there are more than a couple classical Indian armies in my local group (at least I think so... Hope they're not all Hindu Indian armies!). Check out the latest figs in the 15mm Kushan gallery. To see the army showcase, check out the 15mm II/46 Kushan DBA Army Showcase.

So, what's next? Well I have some 28mm plastic vikings blocked out, ready for highlighting... I also have just finished converting two Numidian light horse cavalry along with building four Numidian skirmishing types... So, we'll see what comes together first! Until then...

I forgot to mention in my posts yesterday that I did indeed update the Unpainted and Painted sections of the site as well. It seems that I can't get away from buying more and more miniatures, and fail to paint them! I know, I know, I have been through this time and again... I have to accept that the water will evaporate (read 'good stuff will get painted') and the salt will remain (read 'not so desirable stuff gets stored') until I have the Dead Sea (read: 'I am swimming in figs I will never paint!'). It isn't really a problem unless I think about it, but when I update the unpainted section of the site I am forced to think about it... which is why I axed the whole thing back in June 2009.

I found that I simply obsessed about painting figures and failed to actually enjoy the hobby... Or do other stuff besides painting figures! I mean, it's been ages since I built a real terrain piece! I think the last one (aside from the quick and dirty DBA related terrain, which isn't really designed to be played on but only take up space on the battlefield) I did was the Prancing Pony back in autumn 2007! Two years! I also have some more sculpting I want to do! So, I am going to have to do something about this unpainted section... Not sure what at the moment, but I'll think of something!

Second update in one day! I think that from now on I will split my updates by content... So, the first update for today was the campaign update, and this one is the painting update! So, I finished off four element of Kushan light horse, leaving me only two elements to go before I finish the army! It promises to be a fun army to field, given the variety of element types, although I am happy it wasn't my first army :) Check out the latest Kushans in the 15mm Kushan gallery.

On the painting table right now I have the last eight figs from thie Kushan army almost done! They are covered in metal, and so I find them harder to do! It seems like they are taking a long time as a consequence... Still, I am excited to see them all based up together four to a 40mm wide base!

A bit long in coming, but it's finally here: Cry Havoc Campaign update! The update is a big one, as we've fought the end of autumn 1300 as well as spring and summer 1301! The update consisted of an updated Autumn 1300 to reflect the outcome of Leon's battle with Castile, as well as the discussion around Spring 1301 Deployment, Spring 1301 turn, and the Summer 1301 turn! It took me a bit to get it together, but now it is, so enjoy!

More Kushans, light horse this time, and then I am two elements away from finishing the army! Two elements seems like only a few, but really since each element consists of four figures, it's the same amount of painting as four elements of light horse! Still, the army is almost done, and then it's back to some Wargames Factory stuff... but maybe not Romans right away... I got some Vikings...

On that topic, I am selling some of my unpainted lead! I want to get rid of my lead Vikings from Old Glory (unless noted) in 28mm and replace them with the plastics from Wargames Factory! So, I have 20 hirdmen with two-handed axe, 20 hirdmen with mixed weapons, 6 command figs (from Gripping Beast), 4 bondi spearmen, 10 archers, and 7 berzerkers(Gripping Beast). That's 67 figures. I'm asking $45 plus shipping! Anyone interested? Email me, or if you don't have my email, message 'neldoreth' over on Fanaticus! Until next time!

I have secretly wanted to do a high elf army since I first split a Warhammer starter set in 1994 with my buddy Rob... He got the elves and I got the goblins... So many little goblins... He used to walk all over my poor goblins with these plastic elven automotons! Good ol' Rob... But I digress! Thanks to a more current gaming buddy (thanks Neil!!!), who was getting rid of his old Warhammer figures, I managed to snag enough and more for another HotT-Hammer army: High Elves! I have been keen to do it, and so in a break from the 15mm Kushans I was doing, I whipped up a little test element. Check them out in the High Elves gallery!

I am also finishing up some more Kushans, this time light horse! I also have some campaign updates to do for the Cry Havoc! DBA campaign that I am running, so stay tuned later this week for that stuff!

I was inspired by all the nice elephants being released lately to get the the 15mm Kushan elephant that makes up part of my current Kushan DBA project finished! I wanted to do something crazy with it, and so I thin I did... It was fun to do, and thankfully it is the only elephant I need to paint for this army, or it would take me ages to finish it ;) In any case, check out the elephant in the 15mm Kushan gallery.

What's up next? Well, I have almost all of the rest of the Kushans on sticks and ready for paint, but first I think I will paint a few 28mm figs to break up the 15mm action. Elves? Romans? Or Vikings? We'll see!

Some 15mm projects have called me back to the scale, and so I have put the Romans down for a little bit here. First up are some of the figures that I sculpted, fresh with paint this time! From the celtic female line, I did three slingers. I wa pretty happy with the sculpts, and I am pretty hapy with the paint as well! Check them out in the 15mm Scots-Irish gallery.

I also finished painting five bases of Kushan Indians for my Kushan army from Khurasan Miniatures. These figures are very nice, a lot of character, and paint up extremely well! Check them out in the 15mm Kushan gallery. What's next? I haven't decided exactly, I have a few projects on the go at the moment, but stay tuned! It could be more Kushans, Romans, or maybe even some elves...

Well, I am finally uploading some images of greens that I sculpted for my 15mm celtic women line... A line of figures that will be releasing soon, but that has been in the works with myself and a couple of buddies for the past year++! A hero and some extra bits that will be availabe with the line can be viewed in the Greens gallery. Exciting stuff! I will be painting some of these later this week!

Also, I updated my Unpainted and Painted sections of the site... Things are moving along well there :)

Finally, I have to add another gripe to the collective ether that we call the World Wide Web about the eBay-PayPal scam... What scam you say? Well, eBay now owns PayPal, and are using it to increase their control over their customer's money and day to day transactions...

PayPal has held the funds from my latest auctions... For 21 days they will sit there, collecting interest for PayPal, while my Vikings make their meandering way over to France (6-10 business days)! I can't do anything to free them up, except wait for positive feedback from eBay. It certainly protects the buyer, but not the seller... What recourse do I have if there is an unjust complaint? While the buyer can always fall back on the protections of their credit cards (which are separate from PayPal, but apply to transactions that take place through PayPal), the seller is left to be controlled by the whims of PayPal, and has no recourse on any of PayPal's choices... It's a common concern, and has me looking to other options for recieving payment!

I finished off some more figures/elements for my 28mm Romans DBA army this week! It's hard to believe that 12 figures only makes up three bases worth of figures for DBA! It's like painting up half a DBA army in 15mm for only 1/4 of the army... Oh well, it's a lot of fun, and I am enjoying putting this project together! It's very fun! Check out the Romans in the Marian Roman Gallery.

Also, the auction that I had up for the bulk of my Warhammer Ancient Battles viking army, which was posted last week has ended. Thanks to everyone who made that a resounding success, with an ending bid of $610. Honestly, I thought it would sell for around $200, so I am very pleased! Of course, it turns out that a large WAB army goes for more than a DBA army, which is what I based my initial estimate on ;) Aside from that, I also have been working on some reenactment gear! It's been a lot of fun, and I figured I would post some pictures here to catalogue what I have been up to that has been slowing my progress on recent projects! Check out the Other Projects gallery for a picture of my shield and saex knife handle! Until next time: 15mm ancient Kushans from Khurasan!

The late Republican Roman 28mm DBA project is well underway! The first two elements are painted, and I have another three elements on the go! The army will be themed around the many civil wars of the period... Julius Ceasar vs. Pompey, Mark Antony vs. Octavian, Mark Anthony and Octavian vs. Brutus and Cassius... So, it will be fun depicting Romans killing Romans! Anyway, the first two elements include the general element, which includes the painted conversion that I posted last week! Check out the Marian Roman gallery for the pics!

I also finished painting the first from a new 15mm line of figures... sculpted by yours truly! It's been about a year since I sculpted them, so painting them was nice... Check out the first of the figures in my Scots-Irish 15mm gallery.

Finally, I updated the Medieval Campaign page! We managed to get nearly two seasons/turns done this past meetup day, which is great! It has a lot to do with the simultaneous turn sequence, which I have to thank Tim in Saskatoon for the inspiration on. Check out the campaigns section for all the gory details! Until next time!

No update, but my site has moved to a new server, and so it had to be moved to a new domain name server. After a few days, the whole world should know about the change and everything should be back to normal. Until then, sit tight :)

Actually though, if you are seeing this, then everything is set already, and this post is more for me to see when everything is resolved and working properly! Anyway, until next time!

It's been a busy week! I just finished another element to finish all the options for my Anglo-Danish DBA army: the Psiloi! It will certainly help the Anglo-Danes defeat the Warbands of the Welsh and the Knights of the Normans! Check out the Anglo-Danish gallery to see it!

I also finished two camps for DBA as well. Both of them are 15mm Dark-Age camps designed after an Anglo-Danish fort in the late 11th century. But they are versatile enough to work for pretty much any Dark-age type army! Check them out in the DBA Terrain gallery to see those two!

Finally, I am selling the Anglo-Danes, along with one of the Anglo-Danish camps mentioned above on eBay. Check out the Auctions section for a link or simply Follow this link to the auction itself! On top of that, I am selling the other Dark-age camp as well! Check out my post on the Fanaticus Bazaar for details on how to buy it! But, it's first come first served! Until next time!

Finished those Bretonnians finally! Although I have a few knights left, and I might paint up some of them in the distant future for extra options, the Hordes of the Things Bretonnian army is complete! Check it out in the Bretonnian Gallery.

I also painted a few extra revolting women and children peasant types. See those in the Civilians(?) gallery. Finally, I put some time into sculpting some bits for a Roman general conversion that I needed to do for my 28mm Roman DBA project. I needed a personality fig for some Marian Roman civil war action that seems to be in the works around here... After seeing some options, I decided to save some money and make my own! Check out my take on Pompeii in the Greens gallery. Until next time!

This is likely the fastest army I have ever finished for any set of rules. It took almost exactly two weeks from start to finished with the Anglo-Danish army! And it wasn't all that small, although there were far fewer mounted figs than most armies (that being none!). It was fun to paint up though, and because everyone and their dog has an Anglo army of some kind, it took basically no research, which saves time as well. Check the figs out in the Anglo-Danish Army Gallery or the dedicated III/71 Anglo Danish DBA Army article in the articles section. Next up I will be finishing those Bretonnians!

It was in 1066 that the farmers of Crowhurst and all over England were mustered to fight off the Viking and Norman invaders. It was that year that inspired my first group of 15mm Anglo-Danes for some DBA action. Five elements down, six or seven to go. The first batch are the 'greater fyrd', which is a bit misleading... They are 'greater' not because they are great, but that they come from the greater population of farmers and free peasants; they have little armour and are lucky to have a shield and spear! Fun to paint though!

I also had the chance to paint up some monsters set to be released by Khurasan miniatures in the near future. These figures are inspired by some fun films and are pretty cool and scale-unrestricted. Check out the monsters in my new 15mm Monsters gallery. Next up are the rest of those Anglo-Danes. After that I really have to get back to sculpting for a few different projects that I'm working on...

I need some cash, and some room in the storage, so the DBA Samurai go to auction! It's my first miniature figure auction since October 2008! This time, it's a whole entire DBA army, my first one sold at auction... I have done a commission or two in the mean time, but no auctions! So, check out the 15mm DBA Pro Painted Post-Mongol Samurai Army!

I finished the first three (and likely last three?) elements of Bretonnian knights for my Bretonnian HotT-Hammer army. I wanted to go with an early Hundred Years War theme, having mostly archers and a few foot and knights. I will likely stick with only these three knight elements, but who knows... So, the army is almost ready for the field... I had planned to go with an optional aerial hero or paladin+horde to finish it off. I am done the paladin fig, so all I need to paint are the aerial hero and the horde element... So close... Anyway, check out the new figures in the Bretonnian gallery.

But I am switching gears for the next set of figures I am painting: Khurasan 15mm Anglo-Danes. Some nice figs for re-fighting the battles of the 11th century in Britain, including Stamford Bridge and Hastings... So far, I am painting up the greater fyrd...

On the topic of Khurasan miniatures, last week the Khurasan Frankish releases that I had the privilege to paint up made #4 on Meeples & Miniatures Incoming, top 10 releases for the week! It's nice to see Khurasan up there for releases, and it's nice to see my painting featured as well :) Check out the episode here.

And so it begins... The second DBA campaign that I am running is underway. Unlike my first campaign, the first season of the first turn in this one was fairly bloodless; there was only a single field battle, and one successful siege! That's actually especially true considering that there are three more people in this campaign than there were in the previous. Still, there were a number of interesting developments and the intrigues of realist politics certainly came out during the spring of 1300! Check out the updated campaign information on the Cry 'Havoc!' Campaign Turns page. If you want a brief outline of what happened check out the timeline. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check the Cry 'Havoc'! main campaign page for all the details!

This past weekend I also ran my first tournament, which wasn't a complete failure but was still pretty fun. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as cool as the themed DBA tournament that I played in after mine wrapped up... Thankfully though I can take inspiration from that one for the next tournament I run (no, I won't promise that I'll run one again ;). My tournament kicked off the above mentioned campaign and was a lot of fun, and the tournament that I played in was fantastic... The theme was built into the scoring and the presentation of the scoring, including little stacks of skulls earned for various battlefield exploits! Thanks to Paul Hannah for that event! I would post some pictures, but unfortunately I took very few that were of any consequence! Oh well, I am looking forward to next year :) For a quick overview of the tournament detail, check out Paul's post over on the Fanaticus forum. It even includes a picture of me!

I got a shipment of some of the latest Khurasan miniaures' Frankish/Norman/Crusader line. Some light horse, cavalry, German knights, and crossbowmen. With a couple of pilgrims thrown in for good measure! Check them out in the 15mm Norman gallery.

Next week's update is in the air, but I have those Bretonnians on the go, and I also have to finish off some camp followers for my Islamic Persian DBA army. On top of the painting update, I also updated both the Painted and Unpainted sections of the site!

Or so the Paladins say! I finally got around to some more 28mm action, this time another figure for the Bretonnians. I haven't come up with a concept for her, but she was inspired by the Bretonnian Repanse de Leonesse character that is no longer supported in the current version of Warhammer. The figure is based on Joan of Arc from Perry miniatures, and resembles the Bretonnian character, which isn't a coincidence! Check her out in the Bretonnian army gallery.

Also, I got around to taking some pictures of another DBA camp that I made. This time it's not a full-edge camp, but your standard sized one. It's a prize for a tournament I am running next weekend, and so I figured I should take some pictures before I give it away :) Check it out in the DBA Terrain gallery. So, currently I am working on some Khurasan Miniatures Normans/Early crusaders to round out my Norman army into a Feudal French and Early Crusader army, so expect to see them pretty soon :)

As promised, I posted a picture of my first painting today! Not another painted miniature, but a landscape painting. It was a lot of fun to do, and I learned a lot from it. I have plans to do more as well! Check out the painting in the Other Stuff gallery.

I also got a shipment of miniatures from Khurasan the other day (and finally inventoried some stuff I had from them before), and so I updated the unpainted section of the site. My total went from 881 to 943 miniatures! Damn! That gives me a 10% increase from the beginning of the year! Time to get to work I guess ;) That being said, I ordered yet another 15mm DBA army last month that should be in my paint-stained hands in a couple of weeks... Also, I got sucked in to the 09/09/09 sale over at Wargames Factory and bought enough Romans and Numideans to make a 28mm Marian Roman DBA army... Oh well!

This week I managed to finish off all of the full-edge DBA camps that I had been working on. I started these some time ago... Well, most of them anyway. What is a full edge camp? Well, it's a way to make in-scale terrain that can legally be used with DBA... With this resolved, my one major pet-peeve with DBA is now resolved! I wrote a brief article about the concept, check out the Full-Edge Camps for DBA.

To see all of the four full-edge camps that I finished recently, check out the 15mm Full Edge Camps gallery. These camps were fun to build, and they may have even inspired me to throw together some DBA siege rules... I can only imagine how they would be received by the community ;)

Currently I am working on a few different projects, so don't expect a large update in the near future; whenever I work on more than one project, the progress is slow :) I also recently finished my first painting... Yeah, it's a stylized landscape painting. For a first painting, I learned quite a bit. The most crazy thing I learned was the fact that I don't really know how to mix colours... I mean, I know how to tint and shade (adding white and black respectively) to do highlights, but I don't know a lot about colour theory... In any case, I learned a lot... But, I will post that later, until then!

I have updated my Painted and Unpainted sections of the site! In total, I've painted 250 figures this year, averaging 31 figures per month. For unpainted figs I have a whopping 881 still, which is a 2.9% increase from the beginning of the year! E-gads, what am I going to do? Anyway, until next time!

Finished, the Islamic Medieval Persians are ready to ride to war! And not a moment too soon! Well, actually I don't need them until the end of September, but I have a lot of other stuff to do before now and then so I'm glad they're done! It was a lot of fun, and I am really happy with the outcome. Check the remaining three elements of them in the Medieval Persian army gallery, or check out the IV/42 Medieval Persian army showcase article, and see them all together!

So, at this point I feel I should mention that I have been making extensive use of books on CD lately while painting miniatures... Originally I would *watch* movies... More precisely, I would have movies playing and listen to them while I painted. Of course, movies are not really meant to be only listened to... Then I starting listening to music, but I couldn't find good music fast enough... So finally, I picked up some books on CD. For the Islamic Persians I went through 6.5 young adult books... That's a lot of books! So, I can recommend some good ones if anyone is interest: The Thief Lord, Igraine the Brave, and the Dragon Rider, all by Cornelia Funke. Also, I listened to the first two boosk in the Chronicles of Prydain, which were quite entertaining.

So, next up are some camps that I need to make for the armies that I have yet to mak camps for, as well as some camps as prizes for my up coming Medieval Southern Europe campaign, which I will need ready for the end of September! So, stay tuned for those, likely next week.

... and the latest additions to the Medieval Persians are ready to march! Now, only three more elements left in the army! I finished the general's element, another element of 3-cavalry, and a couple of elements of bowmen. Check them out in the Medieval Persian gallery. Only two more elements of 3-cavalry are left, along with one element of a horde of foot warriors! So close, yet still so far ;)

I also updated the Painted and Unpainted sections of the site. I have painted a total of 237 figures and only have 893 left unpainted! By this rate, I will have painted all of my unpainted figures within the next three years!

It's been over a year since I did my last 'army notes' article. For the most part, the backgrounds of armies are pretty well known... I mean, most historical armies are very well understood already... Vikings, Samurai, Romans, etc. But sometimes, thanks to the DBA army lists, you can find armies that have relatively little to go on... So, I had to do some research. For these armies, I think it's a good idea to collect my research into an article for others to use if they might need it. So, along with the Andalusian and Early Russian notes that I did before, I give you Islamic Persia. These were of course inspired by my latest DBA army project :) Until next time!

Finally, a figure update! These figs have taken me a lot of time to put together... Only 9 15mm mounted figs and it took me two weeks to paint them up! Damn! Oh well, they're done now and I am hoping the rest of the army will come together a lot more quickly despite the 4 more of these cavalry elements I need to paint! Check out my latest Medieval Persians here.

I also update the Painted and Unpainted section of the site accordingly... Of course, I only painted 9 figures, so not much has changed :)

More battle reports! I can't get enough of these it seems... More DBA action! I think the reason why I have so many DBA battle reports is that it is such a quick game, one can play three or more in a single few hour gaming time! I have a number of them yet to write up, an I plan on playing more in the very near future as well... Lots of fun, but I am also feeling the need to get back to some more 28mm skirmishy type games soon. Perhaps in the late fall? Everything hobby-related that I am doing until the end of September will be focused on the DBA tournaments I am running and participating in at Fallcon. Anyway, check out the battle reports in the battles section here: The First Battle of Almeria pitting Feudal Spain against the Granadines and the Alternate History - Islamic Expansion to England! pitting the English civil war armies against the armies of Nasrid Granada! Until next time!

I finally got my first Hordes of the Things (HotT) games this week! A good buddy is in from out of town and so we broke out the undead HotT army that I put together earlier this years for some action. Unfortunately my Bretonnians weren't done yet though, so I did some quick re-basing and collecting of some 28mm viking DBA elements that I had done a while ago and put together a rag-tag HotT army to use as Estallians in the Warhammer world. It turned out pretty well I think: instant army! Check out the Estallian army of Rodrigo 'The Battler' Diazo here.

I added a little Warhammer context to the battles as well, so check out the battle reports here: Battle of Vizeaya and the Battle of the Vaults. A lot of fun. HotT is a pretty good game, but I like the DBA specifics a bit better, and so I might go with a DBA 2.2 based game with HotT elements added in... Or not... It might be better to stick with the standard rules so that I can play others who know them as well :)

Also, I took some pictures of some old vikings I painted circa 2005 for the Estallian army article (linked above), so I figured I would add them to my Norwegian Viking Gallery for completeness. They are so poorly painted I can't see using them for any current projects; they are doomed to fill in for HotT armies in emergencies until I repaint and rebase them... which I will do as soon as I finish painting all of the figs that I have not painted yet ;)

Unfortunately no new figs today... But I have brought back the Unpainted section of the site. I got an email from Tim in Saskatoon with a little regret at my having trashed it, so I thought about it a bit. Sure, it was draining my will to enjoy painting, but it was still cool! So, I won't update it all that often, but once in a while anyway! To be honest, it's all because of Tim that I did it in the first place; he has some great stats on his site that reveal him for the painting machine that he is!

To go along with the unpainted section of the site, I also put together a Painted section of the site, which will keep track of what I have been doing for a one year period before it gets a new post... So, unlike the unpainted stuff, which has a post every once in a while, the totals will be updated semi-regularly, and will have a new post at the beginning of each year :) Anyway, until next time!

The image of Medieval Persia is the sun rising over the lion. I will definitely put that image on the banner that I do for my latest DBA project: Medieval Persia. So far a single test element (three figs) are done; I will do the rest of the army based on those. Should be fun! The figs for this army are from a company called Navwar Miniatures, and they have no images of anything on their site... So how did I come to purchase these? Who in their right mind would buy figs on spec these days? Well, thanks to Martin over at The Waving Flag I got a pleasing preview of what they looked like and decided to jump in!

What's next? Not sure... So many projects. I have a con in the fall (Fallcon) that I have to finish a whole schwack of stuff for, but I really need some soothing 28mm to sink my teeth into as well... We'll see :)

Finally done, this army was great fun to paint! I really enjoyed painting the characterful horses and their well posed riders; not the usual lance upright poses, but fighting poses! Excellent stuff. Check out the final army article here in the articles section, or check out the here in the armies gallery.

I have a few different projects on the go, but I have a couple of armies to paint for the autumn DBA madness at Fallcon... Likely some 15mm Islamic Persians or 28mm HotT-Hammer Bretonnians next... Until next time!

Oksana the Viking Shield maiden that I posted a WIP picture of last week is done! As an anecdote, Oksana is an alternate spelling of Oxana, which is Greek (but predominantly used in Russia) and is a variation of Xena, which is likely not coincidental. Oksana however is certainly not a viking name though! But I digress... Check her out in the Dungeons and Dragons gallery.

I also noticed that this update is back to the old style before I got into the whole DBA thing... Back then I would post a handful of figs or something like that... Not half an army! It's kinda nice. I am planning to get back to 28mm in the future. I like 15mm figs, and they have really helped me improve my painting skills, but I prefer 28s. Of course, I have no less than five 15mm DBA armies on hand, and another on the way... Four of which need to be painted by the end of September; a gaming conference and a commission of sorts are putting me into high gear! but maybe I will take a break after September and do a couple of exclusively 28mm projects... I have a couple hundred vikings in 28mm that I had planned to paint for skirmish games. I might use them for some 28mm DBA action though. But that's it for my rambling...

I also shot a desk shot this morning for my desk shot gallery. Check it out here.

It seems like it has been ages since I have updated... I guess it has! This week I finished off some Normans for my swanky new Norman DBA army in 15mm. The figures are from Khurasan and are very nice. Check out the Normans in the 15mm Norman gallery.

I have also done some functionality updates to the site... Well, one. A while ago I crafted a programmatic solution to creating the Army Showcases and Backgrounds articles. A buddy pointed out inadvertently that I could use it to add 'view all' functionality to each gallery. So, I got to work. Some refactoring and code updating and now things are running better on the site and in each gallery one can view the full gallery of pictures on one page.

Aside from that, I need a little break from 15mm again, and so I am finishing off a 28mm shield maiden from Reaper miniatures that has been sitting on the desk for about a month (but was purchased ages ago). The WIP pic to the right is actually a few days old; the current figure has the shield design done! Until next time.

A rather extensive update today! Thanks to the fact that my camera was AWOL for a while there, and that I finished three projects within that time, I have not two but three different projects to showcase! Along with that a new article.

Firstly, I finished everything I plan on doing for the II/7 Later Achaemenid Persian DBA army that I was working on! What a long haul that was with crazy clothing and shield and banner designs. It was fun, but I'm glad it's done! See the army in its entirety in the Complete Persian Army Article Showcase that I did for it, or just check out the ones you want to check out in the Persian Army Gallery. Keep in mind that no decals were harmed (or used at all) in the composition of that army! It's all freehand!

The second project that I finished was a medieval camp for DBA. I made it as one of the prizes for a tournament that I am running in the autumn of this year... It was intended to be given to the last-place person... Either that or the person who lost the most elements in total. Either way, it explains the concept behind the camp! Now that it is done though, I might keep it and build another for the tournament; it's one of my favourites! Check it out in the DBA Terrain Gallery.

Last but certainly not least, I finished a couple of spearmen elements for my Hordes of the Things Bretonnian army (fondly referred to as HotT-Hammer). They were a pleasure to paint; I used Perry Miniatures 'Aigencourt to Orleans' Hundred Years War figures and they worked out better than the Games Workship figures in my opinion! Check them out in the Bretonnia Gallery.

I should also mention that I changed the format of the articles page. I split up the Army Showcase articles from the DBA Army Notes articles and gave them there own little section. I did this because I added a new army showcase article to the list: Ramona's Undead . Basically it shows off all of the HotT undead elements that I did for the army as well as providing the army background. The background is the same background I dreamed up back in the early 1990s when I originally started to put that Warhammer Undead (pre-dating the split between Vampire Counts and Khemri undead) army together. It also fits in well with the Bretonnians that I am doing... So that's it. Three gallery updates and a new article to boot!

It doesn't look like there will be any painting updates this week... Those Persians are just killing me! Far too much detail for 15mm figures, and to be honest, painting 15mm figures isn't much easier than 28mm figures. The same number of strokes and colour changes. The only thing different is the size of the strokes and the volume of paint... So, that should be done some time next week.

But for this week I have done a couple of sculpting articles. I have been pushing putty around for fun over the last year (has it been that long already?), and I put together a few articles to help beginner 15mm sculpters like myself. Not one but two! The first is one on Sculpting 15mm Women. I did this because if you can sculpt women, then sculpting men is easy-peasy; it's not true in the opposite. The second article outlines how to Sculpt Faces in 15mm because I figured sculpting faces needed more attention. Together they walk you through *more-or-less* the sculpting of an entire figure! Until next time!

A couple of little updates. The first is a top view of the Persian scythed chariot that I posted pictures of today. Someone asked for a top view and it made me realize that it's kinda odd that there aren't more top views of miniatures in general... I mean, on the gaming table that's the standard view. Check out the top view of the Persian chariot in the Persian gallery.

Also, I posted the outline and beginning of the next DBA campaign that I am running! This one is based around medieval southern Europe some time around 1303. The campaign starts in September, but I wanted to get things rolling. So, check out the details around the Cry 'Havoc!' - Medieval Southern Europe in the campaigns section. Note that I am adding additional alternate rules to this one.

Finally getting on with those Late Achaemenid Persians. They are fun to paint, but there's nothing like a deadline to take the enjoyment out of something ;) I have craploads of figures to paint in the next few months, so we'll see if they all make it, or if I chop some to save the hobby for myself (that is, if it's too much like work, it won't be a hobby anymore). Still, the Persians are nice to see come together, and the first three (of six) cavalry elements are done, and there's only three more to go! Check out the latest in the Late Achaemenid Persia Gallery.

I also dropped a new picture of my painting desk in the desk gallery. Funny, it was taken in late May, and my desk in the pic is relatively tidy... Now it is chaos! No time to clean up after myself :) Oh well, there's always tomorow ;) Check out the picture in the Desk gallery.

Another DBA battle report! This one is the last battle that I fought for the Circa 800 Viking campaign. It was quite the tense battle for sure, but it was fun. Check out the action in the Skuld Darkhair invades Ireland in the Battle of Dublin battle report.

At the moment I am painting some 15mm LA Persians; all mounted now, as the foot are all done (see them in the Late Achaemenid Persia Gallery). I spent an hour this morning on some Skythian horse archers, but it didn't work out! Another hour lost... Oh well. Likely Persian cavalry next, but I just got my Perry miniatures Hundred Years War (HYW) miniatures in the mail for my Bretonnian HotT project, so we'll see...

More archers to darken the skies over Bretonnia! So far, 12 archers in total, making up four bases for my Hordes of the Things Bretonnian army (HotT-Hammer for short!). This time around I decided to go with the peasant idea; no brightly colour tunics as with the mercenaries, but a group of somewhat mis-matched servants of a selfish lord. These peasants march into battle for some foolish reason having something to do with who's cousin should serve as Duke of Somethingorother... Overall, they'd rather be at home. I really like these figs more and more as I paint them. They are simple to paint, not too detailed, but very realistic... So contrary to most GW stuff these days... This is likely it for archers for this army for a while; I want more knights and I have some Perry spearmen with pavise on the way as well, so there's no more room for more archers! In any case, check out the new figs in the Bretonnia Gallery.

I just finished a commission I was working on... Likely the last commission for a while as I had said before... In any case, the hoplite shield redux is done. Overall the shields turned out pretty much the same as the first iteration. Some are different, but of the same quality. Others are better... I was tempted to keep some of the new ones and send some of the old ones in their place :) But alas, no. It is nice to be done, and getting those done makes me realize that I could do another Greek hoplite army pretty easily... but why would I? I still have a Skythian army waiting for paint! Anyway, I didn't put the shields in either the Aitolian or Persian gallery as they weren't really part of those projects, so instead they are in the Other gallery. I started on some Bretonnian archers last night.

After a month I finally got back to my Persians! I can't believe it has been a month since I posted the Persian spearmen. Oh well. After painting four spear elements, four auxalia elements, and two psiloi elements, in total 10 elements, I am only half done the army! Next up is the cavalry and the chariots. Should be a lot of fun, so stay tuned to that. In the mean time, check out the Late Achaemenid Persia Gallery for the latest figs!

What's next? I am working on a commission at the moment... Too many commissions lately; I am going to have to take a break from commissions for a while I think. It is basically a redux of all of the different hoplite shields that I have done for the Aitolians and Persians. Once that's done, I will likely do some more Bretonnian archers... Or maybe I will drive on with the Persians and try to get them finished. I also have to paint a single fig for D&D... We'll see.

And so it was that the armies of Scandanavia and the Isles put and end to their devastating war that raged for two long years! The DBA campaign that I had been running has finally come to and end. Six turns later, the campaign that started in January of this year has ended, and a month early in fact! I had originally intended for there to be one turn per month for six months, but one weekend we managed to play two turns/seasons. Overall I quite enjoyed the campaign; adding that extra geo-political element to battles made things a lot more involved, and game me something to ponder over for the time inbetween games. I greatly enjoyed all of the politics as well as the battles, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be involved! Thanks everyone for taking the time to take part! So, without further ado, check out the We All Go A'Viking Campaign section for the last turn and the end of the campaign! PS. Stay tuned for a battle report between my Vikings and the beleaguered Irish later this week!

The title of this post is inspired by a poem by Robert E. Howard titled "The Song of the Bosonian Archers". Why? Well, it's inspired by my new fantasy gallery: Bretonnia! It's a small one soe far, just six figures, which make up two elements for my HotT-Hammer Bretonnia army. HotT-Hammer is basically a Hordes of the Things rules and armies based on Warhammer armies... I finished off my Undead HotT-Hammer army and wanted to have an enemy for them, and decided on Bretonnia. For this army I am going to go with a very early Hundred Years War sorta concept: Mostly archers behind stakes, and handful of infantry, and a good amount of knights. In HotT (and DBA) archers are the bane of cavalry, so it will be an excellent army against other HotT-Hammer Bretonnian armies :) I wonder how well it will fare against the undead? Check out the gallery of the figs here: Bretonnia Gallery.

So, lately my youngest has been sleeping the 9pm to 5am shift. As a consequence, when I am not with the kido, I am sleeping... I have barely been able to have a half an hour a day to paint, so expect things to slow down a bit over the next little while... Also, I am doing more than a few projects lately as well... A commission for some shields, those 15mm Persians for DBA, a landscape painting, some sculpting, and the Bretonnians... So, we'll see if I can keep my weekly updates together at all ;) That being said, stay tuned for the last turn of the DBA campaign I have been running; it should be ready in the next couple days or so...

I had a few comments since yesterday about the figure painting article. Basically the problem was that the blending discussion was poorly written and difficult to follow. As difficult as the DBA rule book apparently! Yes, naturally I had to re-write it; I have no desire to emulate the Phil Barker's (the DBA author) unreadable style ;) So, check out the expanded and better presented Painting Miniature Figures in 28mm and 15mm article.

A few people were asking me to do some painting articles, and this is the second in the set of articles that I am doing... It might be the last one. The only other one would be painting details on figs, but I think with the shield painting article, that is mostly covered already. However, the figure painting stuff is worth its own article, and so here it is: Painting Miniature Figures in 28mm and 15mm . Mostly 15s and 28s are the same; the minor differences are discussed. Until next time!

This week, a Polish castle for DBA that I recently finished. A pretty cool model made to be both a camp and a built up area, it was done as a commission for someone who wanted some Polish medieval action. There are more than a few Polish castles to choose from, but I really liked Ciechanow as a model for this project. It has a very classical castle look that appealed to me. Overall, I am very happy with the way it turned out, and it almost makes me want to build another for myself, as well as build a medieval Polish army. Of course, thanks to all the backlogged figs I have, I may never get around to it... Anyway, check out the latest castle in the DBA Terrain Gallery. Until next time!

Also, I had some complaints about the previous DBA marker images that I put up in the related article last week. Apparently there was a problem with the images for some people, while others could read them. Not sure if it was a Firefox/IE issue, of an issue with some corruption of the colour mode... I uploaded new versions of the images, so check out the article DBA Game Battle Report Markers and let me know if there is still a problem...

A small update today. After seeind little markers used by the ' Fighting Farrows', I decided to make and use my own versions. They are great for keeping track of outcome moves and destroyed elements; I no longer have to try to remember and guess at what I don't remember. Seeing how useful they could be, a few people asked me if I could post them up, so I threw together a quick article. Check them out and download them: DBA Game Battle Report Markers. Until next time!

I have finished my Granada DBA army after receiving the figures. It was a quick army to put together, taking less than a month from start to finish with a number of other projects inbetween. Overall I am very happy with the look of the collected army, and the way it turned out. The only thing that I am not super happy about is the colour scheme. I went with the red, black, blue and off-white that I used for my Andalusians because originally I was going to do this army as a morph of that army... In the end I decided to do an entire army, but the scheme of colours was already chosen. Still, the colours do work well together, so I am not unhappy with it! Anyway, check it out in the 15mm Granada gallery. Also, as with all of my DBA armies, I did a separate page that contains pictures of the entire army. It is in the Articles section of the site in the IV/38 Granada article. Working on some terrain for 15mm DBA action for next week. Stay tuned!

... when subtlety will serve. Or so said Darius I of Persia anyway. Certainly haste will produce a poor miniature in the case of Achaemenid Persia! So much detail, so many patterns and designs to paint, it almost kills me! But it was very enjoyable to paint. So, check out the first four elements for my Late Achaemenid Persian DBA army in the 15mm Persians gallery. I have to put the Persians down for a bit and get back to those Granadines, as they arrived in the mail late last week!

Also, by request I put together a quick guide or tutorial on how I paint my 15mm Hoplite shields. Although the guide is specifically designed to illustrate painting a hoplite shield, it works suitably for not only hoplites, but any shield design from any period really. Check out Painting Shields in the articles section! Look for more painting articles in the future!

Another campaign update this week! This time the group was able to get through two whole seasons in one gaming day. It was a lot faster than is typical, but I think there are a couple of obvious reasons at the speed. Firstly, more than a few of the armies were reduced well below their initial 12 elements, making it less likely for them to want to fight; biding your time until your enemies are weakened is always a good option. The other reason is likely that two of the six players didn't show up, and so their decisions were made by the others based on what they had said they would do... Less deliberation time? Maybe, perhaps there was more deliberation time... In any case, there were two turns as I said before, so be sure to read both the events of the Spring and Summer of 847. Also, the Spring and Summer 847 galleries were created and populated as well, along with the timeline. Check it all out on the We all go a'Viking! - Circa 800CE campaign page.

Along with the campaign update, and indeed part of it, is a battle report of the Battle of Lindifarn. The DBA battle that was fought for the campaign where my Norwegian Vikings, lead by Skuld Islandtaker, managed to take Lindisfarn from the Scots-Saxons! That battle also precipitated the tributary relationship between the Scots-Saxons and my Norwegians! To be honest, it is a relief to have an assured peace in the north! Now I can focus my efforts on the south, where it belongs :) Anyway, check out the Battle of Lindifarn here.

Thanks to a buddy of mine coming into town with a whole schwack of Necromunda figs I got some paint on a few more of those Escher figs that I have. I kept with the Mad Max wasteland theme, as well as figures with weapons that are near-future believable. Again, I can't believe how nice those figs are. I think they must be about 15 or 20 years old and they are still some of the nicest figs that I have ever put paint to. Anyway, check them out in the Escher gallery.

On the 15mm front, I have started my Late Achaemenid Persians from Xyston; I had to put off finishing the Granadines because I haven't received the figs yet... But one of the spearmen figs as a work in progress can be seen in the blurry picture to the left there... Something that I noticed about my camera lately is that it seems to be having trouble focusing on figs. I am wondering if all those times carrying it around in my bag have begun to take their toll. The camera is only four years old though! Funny thing is, it can only handle SD cards up to 512MB :) Maybe there should be an "electronics years" in the same way as there are "dogs years". I think a factor of twenty would work, which would make my camera about 80 years old :) Anyway, until next time!

Progress always slows when I am split between a couple of projects... I spent last night working incrementally on three different projects... All of which I don't have all that well planned, and so they take time. Still, I managed to paint a few new figs!

The first is another element for my HotT-Hammer undead army. This one is a collection of ghouls from the Games Workshop line. I was inspired to go back to this army because I wanted to paint some more ghouls (weird war ghouls were done ages ago!), and thanks to Tim in Saskatoon's recent email campaign play-test that I was fortunate enough to take part in! It was a blast, and very nice to have one turn a day, thanks to all the work that Tim put in. So, I pulled out some more figs and painted them up for my HotT-Hammer (Hordes of the Things rules with Warhammer figs and army concepts) army. Check them out in the Undead Gallery.

I also finished another element of figs for my Granadine DBA army. Some North African spearmen to swell their ranks. Check them out in the 15mm Granada Gallery. So what's next? Well, I have some Persians on popsicle sticks that I am itching to get into. I also have a few more DBA camp ideas... I also want to put some paint on more HotT-Hammer figs; either more undead or get a start on those Bretonnians. I really want to paint more of those Wargames Factory zombies, as well as some Necromunda figs... Too much to paint, not enough time!

Another DBA battle report hits the Battles sections! This one pits the III/78 Early Russians against the III/62b Early Polish. This is actually the second battle that I fought against the Polish and this particular player. In the first battle I was introduced to the wonderful world of bows vs. horses. In that battle I lost two elements of light horse as they fled off the board and two elements of cavalry who were foolish enough to chase the bowmen into the forests. I didn't get pictures of it or I would have done a report :)

In this battle, I was a litte more careful with the bow, but still managed to lose two elements to them... In any case, I managed to win, and thus recaptured that part of Russia that they claimed in the previous battle! Check out the report: Polish Defeated!

I finished the first half of my 15mm Granadine force for some DBA campaign action this coming fall... Granada was the last Taifa (city-state realm) of the Islamic Andalusians in Spain. Originally I had planned to simply add a few stands/elements to my 15mm Andalusian army to make a Granadine army, but in the end I decided to do a whole new army instead... This way they could easily be pressed into service together (the Andalusian and Granadine forces) for Big-Battle DBA action! Check them out in the Armies section in the Granada gallery.

I also decided to do up a little picture of my set up for taking pictures again. The above picture was actually used to generate the image of the first half of my Granada force, but includes the extra view of the surrounding desk... With commentary! Check out the full size image here.

... and leads the Vikings to victory! I painted up a couple of raven banners for the top of the masts of the 15mm longships I recently completed. I know, it's barely an update, but I figured I might as well update today, and make that five updates in a row! It has to be a record... And one that will likely never be broken :) In any case, check out the ships and their new banners in the DBA terrain gallery.

So, not the problem is that I have nothing to update with for next week :) I have some stuff on the go sure, but will it be done by Monday? I guess we will have to wait and see.... but don't count on it!

I received my modern plastic 1/56th scale zombies from Wargames Factory a week or so ago and I had to put aside my current stuff to get a start on them... Of course, it still took a week or two to get to them :) After building them the night I got them, I finally put paint to plastic over the last couple of days. Overall I like the Wargames Factory figures a lot, and I think all the hype around these zombies and the other WF stuff to come is justified.

There are a couple of issues though that I want to point out. Firstly is the way the details are executed. It seems that they are true 1/56 scale in their depth. Most miniatures have very deep details. That is, the folds in their clothes are deeper than they would be in 1/56 scale, as are their facial features (typically done by making the face/head proportionally larger than 1/56 scale). What it comes down to is that painting the details on one of these figs is like painting a 15mm scale figure in terms of detail, so you would have to use stronger highlights that more rapidly vary... That being said, the scale makes the figures look much more realistic than your average 28mm scale fig, which is a good thing! Aside from the scale issue, some detail isn't there at all, like the hair. In 1/56 scale, hair would simply appear textureless. Unfortunately this leaves it to the painter to paint the texture on. Thankfully this issue only seems to be present on the one head I chose for the scientist fig, so that is good! Overall, these little issues can be chalked up to a new sculptor and a new company. All that being said, I am still really happy with the figs. The variation possible with the alternate heads/arms/torsos/legs makes them rival even some of GW's stuff! So, without further blathering, check out the figs in the Modern Zombie gallery.

In our longships to and fro! No, this isn't an April fools update. And no, conflicker didn't destroy the Internet*. Last night I finished a couple of longships in 15mm that I have been working on for a while... A very long while if you count the three years from the time that I first decided to do them! Check out droves of pictures of them in the DBA Terrain gallery.

That's three real content updates in as many days! I think that might be a record for me! I have no intention of attempting to keep it up though :) It's been a very busy last little while for me, and hobby time is the first thing to be lost. But, I am still working on some stuff. I have only a couple of those snazzy WargamesFactor Zombies on the go at the moment... I have some other stuff to get done but I wanted to paint at least a couple right away. I also have more Andalusian types on sticks being painted up as well for my Andalusian to Granadine DBA morph... Stay tuned!

* I know, famous last words! Although April 1st isn't over yet, I think that it was all hype!

... where the gangers roam! More Mad Max era Escher gangers from the Necromunda line. These figs are some of the best figs I have ever seen. From such an old line it is pretty cool to find such a gem. I also enjoyed creating the background for these figs in my head during the painting process... I imagined a great crisis, not unlike our current one (or the one that lead to Mad Max's situation), that saw the rise of city states, where everything outside of their walls was subject to the whims of the gangers. Some great potential for gaming, now I just need a great skirmish rule set... As well as some near-future terrain and a few Mad Max type vehicles for these girls! But that is a different story :) Anyway, check out the latest line of Escher gangers in the Clan Escher gallery.

I finished the second camp that I was working on, which were copies of my previous Andalusians camps that I have been doing for a commission. It was really nice to go back and re-do these, as I was able to refine things and make them quite a bit more 'perfect'. I am happy with how they turned out. Check the latest church raiding camp in the DBA Terrain gallery.

I also have a handful of Clan Escher figs ready for photos, I will get to them later this week... Maybe tomorrow! Stay tuned!

We managed to finish off the summer and autumn turns of the campaign this last weekend, and I have finally got all the stuff together! It is a lot more work than I thought it would be :) Still, it's a lot of fun and totally worth it! Check out all the action of both Summer, Autumn and start of 847 in the Turn Details section of the campaign! To all who read the first part of Summer, make sure you read the last part as well! Also, the timeline and galleries have been updated, so check those out as well!

It seems that I am saying *it has been a slow week for painting* an awful lot lately. As it turns out, some schedule changes along with a change in the kid's sleeping habits has forced me to slow down quite a bit... That and I have dedicated myself to getting a reasonable amount of sleep as well; no more up until 11pm and then up at 5am crap for me ;) On top of that, I am working on about four different projects at the moment, which never helps. In any case... I have four vikings done today! A vikings DBA command elements that I am doing for comission. It was a lot of fun getting back to the viking action! I am looking forward to painting my Early Lombards now, as they are pretty much a group of mounted vikings :) Check out the vikings in the 15mm Viking Gallery.

One of the projects I have been working on are the rest of the Escher Necromunda figs that I was painting before. They are super nice figs. Very cool with the potential exception of the overly large, oddly positioned breasts... Still, I am enjoying painting those figs for sure! Check out the WIP of one of them to the right there. I also received my pack of plastic zombies from Wargames Factory. Of course, I had to build a couple. I noticed that they are definitely smaller in terms of detail; their hands are small, their faces are fine, and their relativel arm/leg/neck/chest thicknesses are closer to the 1/56th scale than the standard chunky 28mm figs. Because of their size I found that they were kinda hard to put together... That being said, I was in a hurry when I did it.. I will do a review of the figs when I put some together.

Even more DBA camps this week! As I said before, I was pretty far behind on the camp action for a few of my DBA armies. So, this week I finished off most of the ones I was working on, although there is another one I am waiting for figs to finish off, and another one I want to make... But we'll see on those! For now, I have finished my Russian camp, an Ancient British camp, as well as an Andalusian camp that I am doing for a commission! Check them all out in the DBA terrain gallery. Note that I plan on selling the Ancient British camp. Please contanct me for details or check the Fanaticus Forum *Bazarre* sub forum! Until next time!

Another short campaign update for the DBA campaign that I am running. I think after the chaos of the first turn, most players are a little shocked that they are having to deal with armies greatly reduced in size, and so the motivation is a little less than it had been for the first turn. Being that this is the first campaign of this nature that has been run around here in a very long time (ever?), it's understandable. Nobody really knew how things would work, and just by reading the rules it's impossible to tell... Anyway, my Danish player was ready to go pillaging and invaded the British during the summer turn! Pretty exciting stuff, check out the links on the We all go a'Viking! - Circa 800CE campaign page for the timeline, blow-by-blow turn description, as well as the small (as of yet) summer campaign turn gallery. Until next time!

I have really been letting the DBA camps slide... I had not made a camp for any of my armies after the Samurai back in September! Well, I did make a camp for the Ancient British, but that was for someone else so doesn't exactly count! I needed a camp for my Russians, Scots-Irish and Aitolians, and so I got to work. So check out the Scots-Irish and Aitolian camps in the DBA Terrain gallery. The Russian camp isn't done yet though... I picked up some commission work to build some DBA camps, and so did some work on those as well. The Russian camp is almost done though, and so are the commissioned camps! I will post pictures when they are done, hopefully tomorrow!

I also finished that Escher fig that I was working on. At first I wasn't happy with it, but after letting it sit completed for a few days, I think it works. I will likely use less of the red-brown colour that I used in the future though. Anyway, check out the new Escher fig in the new Escher Army Gallery. Until next time, have fun!

Another update! First, two DBA battle reports from games that I played back in February... Ever since I got back into DBA, I have been playing a lot more games. Not just DBA games either, but mostly :) So, officially, I have more DBA battle reports than any other games... But since DBA games are so fast, being able to play two or three liesurely games in an evening, I say that each report counts as only 1/2 a report compared to any other games :) Anyway, check out the DBA part of the Battles section for the action... Or, simply see the two new battle reports: Samurai Defeated!, and Irish vs. Spain.

I also posted a new gallery in the armies section. Nothing new painted, so it is kinda cheating, but it is a handful of modern cars for modern wargaming. I wanted to have some photo reference available for the various scales of toy cars out there, and so that is why I put the gallery together. I will add cars as I get them, but for now there are six vehicles all together: a couple of cop cars, a prosche, a truck, a semi, and a firetruck. Check them out with some modern cops in 28mm in the Modern Cars gallery. Until next time!

The Aitolians are complete! For a small army, it sure took a lot of time to paint! Or at least is seemed that way to me. I am glad though that I didn't go for a more hoplite spearman heavy army... They were relatively simply to paint, but their shields were a lot of work... On top of the designs themselves, I had to highlight and blend each shield background colour (as you can see in the picture to the right). It was a lot of work, but worth it I think! And, I find skin more difficult to paint than clothing for some reason... Oh well, they're done now, and so I can move on to other projects! Check out the last three elements (the spearmen) in the Aitolian Gallery.

If you want to see the whole army together, check out the 15mm II/5e Aitolian Hoplite Greek article in the Article's section. That's it for 15mm for a while I think... I have a few more 15mm projects in the wings, but I am not sure when I will get to them. I have gone back to the Necromunda Escher figs again... well, that specific fig anyway. It will be a test fig I think, as I am not sure exactly where I want to go with the colour scheme! I also have a lot of terrain backlog... I need camps for three DBA armies, and I have this scheme to do some more grand 28mm terrain... more on that if it comes together :)

Finally, after nearly two years, I have another Lord of the Rings Battle report. It has been a long dry spell on Lord of the Rings gaming, but it's over now! Check out one of my latest Lord of the Rings games in the battles section, where me and a couple buddies battled it out for the Mines of Moria! Well, to get out of Moria... Well, for the dwarves anyway... But I digress. Check out the Escape Moria battle report here! There's more yet to come as well, so stay tuned!

I have been looking forward to doing hoplites for some time... Although I never intended to do an entire Greek hoplite army... I got sucked in to the Aitolians though because an entire army cost me less than two packs of Hoplites would have cost me! Anyway, I am finally done all the psiloi for that army (light skirmishing troops) and I am getting into the Hoplites now. The First element of spear I've done is the general's element. It's only barely a hoplite spear element, as it is filled with hero types with swords and musicians, but there was one hoplite shield I got to paint! Anyway, check out the one 4 figure spear element and the remaining three psiloi elements in the Aitolian Gallery.

So, for my next 28mm project, I am planning to do some Mad Max type female figs. The entire line will be from the Necromunda Escher line, as the figs are excellent for the post-apocalypse wasteland genre... I know, they should be in neon colours and as pale as ghosts from living in the underhive, but I don't think the figs really fit that... I mean, look at the WIP shot to the right there. She's got all the Mad Max Road Warrior bling, and the custom shot gun, and the hair! I also painted her skin with the essential sun tan as well :) Anyway, stay tuned for more of these women, and maybe a few urban raids on the city states of 2050! Until next time!

Well, that top-secret project that I was working on is finally done... for now. It might very well be permanently ongoing... Stay tuned here for news on it though, as it will be announced in the next month or two :) In any case, being done for now has freed up some time for me to paint! Thus, another update already!

This time, some modern cops. I got a gift certificate a couple of weeks ago to the local game store, so naturally I bought some figs that I wanted but would likely never buy for myself :) Modern Cops! They are fron West Wind games, but are quite exception compared to the other WW stuff I've had :) Check them out in the new Modern Cops gallery. Cops in general are so versatile for modern gaming... I can see using at them for zombie games, insurrection type games, robberies, etc.. etc...

I also finally threw up a gallery of pics of my painting desk. It's been a while coming... I put a handful of shots in there, some of them are old and were previously featured as pics in news posts. Most of them are new, of my current desk state and setup :) Check out that gallery in the armies section under Misc in the Desk Shots gallery. I am currently trying to do some of those pesky Aitolians, so next update will likely be them!

More elements/bases for my 15mm Aitolian DBA army are ready. Four psiloi elements this time around, so I am done five out of 12 of the elements I need to do. They were fun to paint and this is the first time I modeled anything else on the base besides just rocks and grass.

Based on an invasion of Aitolia by Athens in 426BCE, I modeled on some burnt trees to some of the psiloi. Apparently, when the Athenians invaded, their rank and form spear units were no match for the sparse, skirmishing rock-throwing psiloi. So, the Athenians fled to the forest to hide. If that isn't funny enough, the Aitolians figured they wouldn't leave hundreds of Athenian spearmen in their forests, and so they lit them on fire... Out come the caughing, choking Athenian spearmen into the loving hail of Aitolian stones and javelin! It was a party! Anyway, check out the figs in the 15mm Ancient Greek Aitolians gallery.

I am finally done the undead army! Well, done as far as I am willing to do it at this point. There were a few more elements I was thinking of painting up, but since I have all the figs I need, I will leave it for now. When I start playing the game, and get some incentive to add options, it is likely that I will (I know, famous last words... it might be another 14 years until I get back to the undead). So, check out the last element, which is an undead hero knight in the Undead gallery. Until next time!

It has been a slow week for miniatures projects... Very busy, and fighting illness doesn't help! No motivation really, as well as little time :) In any case, I managed to scratch out some 15mm Aitolians for some DBA Ancient Greek action. Ancient Greece has been something I have been thinking of getting into for a while, and there is a plan for the local group to do something in Ancient Greece in the next little while... So, I figured I would start these Aitolians. I also have Persians and Skythians yet to do; the Aitolians were quicker though, so they're first :) Check them out in the 15mm Ancient Greek Aitolians gallery.

I am almost finished some more undead as well, so stay tuned for those. This last element is a hero element, and will bring the undead project to an end... At least until I play and find more inspiration to paint more of the monotonous skeletons :)

More undead roll out of the pipes. Not much more though, it's been a slow week for me for mini painting. I spent most of last week on my other, more secret project :) More on that some time down the road. For now though, the Vampire General! To be honest, it was hard to pick which fig I would use for the general, but in the end I decided to keep to the original theme of the army and field one of the more characterful female figures I used to use. In the GW Warhammer rules she was originally a vampire thrall, so it's quite the promotion for her! Check her out in the Undead Gallery.

I am currently painting up some 15mm Xyston Greeks, which are coming along very well so far. They are nice figs, those Xyston figs. But I can't figure out why they put saddles on ancient greek cavalry :)

And it's a nearly completed undead horde! This time I painted up my general element as well as a couple of elements of spears. More nice, big shields and long, rusty weapons! This army is really looking good to me, although my partner took a look and said to me "If I was facing this army I wouldn't know if I should be afraid or laugh." Some of the jack-o-lanterns look a little goofy, but that's what halloween is all about anyway :) So, check out the general and the two elements of spears in the Undead Gallery.

What's next? Well, I have four more elements for the undead left until I am done with it. I am having trouble though, as all this repainting isn't putting a dent in my Unpainted miniatures count! Oh well, I guess I shouldn't fret. I might finish off the undead, or I might paint some more 15mm for DBA. I currently have three complete unpainted 15mm DBA armies, one DBA half-army that will upgrade my Scots-Irish to Norse-Irish that I want to put paint on... We'll see :)

A small green update today :) I have been pushing a lot of putty lately, and so I have made some fun extras with left over green stuff. My favourite extras that I have done to date are a hand full of jack-o-lanterns. You can never really have too many jack-o-lanterns! Check out two of them in the greens gallery. I am a good way through a number of skeletons at the moment, so next week stay tuned for more undead mayhem! Until then!

Another DBA We All Go A'Viking! - Circa 800CE campaign related update today! Well, a few updates to be precise! Firstly, I added a hobby section to the campaign web page. Nothing too special, just some pics and a wordy discussion on how I through the simple campaign terrain maps and army markers together to facilitate the in-person play. Check that out in the Campaign Hobby Stuff - pictures and discussion on making the board section.

Also I added a gallery, or rather as section of galleries that will follow the campaign. There will be a single gallery per season! I posted a number of pictures and what could be called mini battle reports in there. Check that out in the Campaign Galleries - images of the events and turns section. Some good stuff in there!

And last but certainly not least, I posted a battle report of the first battle that was fought in the campaign: the Danish invasion of Norway! It was a lot of fun to play that battle, the whole time I was worried about losing the city of Storholmen! But I should have been more worried about losing elements from my army! Anyway, check out the battle report in the Skuld Darkhair challenges a Danish invasion! battle report write up!

I should also mention that An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields has a new URL! Please update your bookmarks to point to http://www.hourofwolves.org! I finally figured that I had this site long enough to get it its very own domain name! Until next time!

Today's update is a campaign report! The Circa 800 Viking Campaign was kicked off this weekend, resulting in much miniature blood spilled! Everyone in the campaign acted very aggressively on the first turn (spring 846), and so everyone was more than a little shocked to realize what it means to have to field an army at less than full strength! Also, every battle fought was quite a bit more tense than those one-off DBA battles; when you add context to losing a battle, you realize that your well being will be effected! Crazy stuff! Anyway, check out the Campaign Turns - Details of events with maps and prestige totals section for a more detailed look at what happened in the spring of 846, as well as the current campaign standings. For a more brief overview, check out the Campaign Timeline - Summary of Events section!

As for hobby stuff, I don't have any today unfortunately. I put together a few figs and a campaign map terrain board for the DBA campaign though, and I will post images of them as well as an outline of how they were done later this week! Until then, enjoy!

In digging up all of those old undead figs, I came across a couple of goblins that I got way back in 1994 when I started with Warhammer. It was a lot of fun to do, but at the time I was broke, so painted it with mt enamel model paints... It's terribly glossy, and not highlighted at all... But for the most part I stayed in the lines! The colours are pretty bright, but that was the style of the day... The only thing that is missing really is a base... But I wasn't all that concerned about that in those days, I was more concerned about getting run over by those damn high elves!

So, this week I finished the Ancient British DBA army finally! I also threw together a camp for the army. So, it is actually completely complete :) Check out the new pictures in the Ancient British gallery, or check out the whole army compiled together in the II/53 Ancient British army article. Until next time!

Just a quick update to announce another auction. This time it isn't a miniature though, it's my set of Field of Glory rule books. I am selling it now because nobody around my area is into it and I know that I will never have the chance to play it... The books will glare at me for the rest of my days, angry that I barely opened them! So, I will pass them on for a good deal to someone else who can use them.

The books are quite excellent really. Along with the fantastic Osprey pictures and production quality, they basically bring historical gaming up to the level of fantasy gaming (their books are a historical version of warhammer army books basically) with pictures and army backgrounds. Snazzy stuff. Check out the auction in the auctions section or follow the link here: Field of Glory Main Rules and Legions Triumphant Lot. Good luck bidding!

... all the evil things in the world will have full sway! It's true at least this week, as my newly completed vampire bats are ravaging all the unpainted miniatures on my painting desk... And these bats are so evil that they wouldn't even give me a clear picture! Okay, I managed to squeek a few out of them, but seriously, I couldn't get my camera to focus on them no matter what I did! They must be undead! Check out my latest two elements - Vampire Bats - for my undead HotT army in the Undead Gallery. What's next? I am so almost done those Ancient British, and then on to some campaign hobbying! Until next time...

Another Ancient British update this week. The entire army is almost done, and I was going to save this update until it was entirely finished... But alas, here it is! Two light horse and two chariot elements are done! That leaves only two chariots left to finish until the army is done! It has been a lot of fun to paint... And I am even considering doing a 28mm version of this with Wargames Factory plastic figs! In any case, check out the 15mm figs in the Ancient British gallery!

Also this week, I have posted another campaign! This one a DBA campaign based on the campaign rules in the DBA version 2.2 rulebook! It was fun throwing this stuff together and I am looking forward to seeing the campaign progress! I will keep posting updates as they come in! Check out the campaign page in the campaigns section or jump directly to We all go a'Viking! - Circa 800CE. More undead and Ancient British are on the horizon! Until next time!

Okay, so I missed last week's update... It was a busy one, and I just didn't have time to put it together :) In any case, this is the same holiday-specific update that I promised, and the holiday is Halloween! It all started when someone in my local DBA group suggested people pull out their old Warhammer figs and base them up for the Hordes of the Things (HotT) rules. HotT is a fantasy rule set based on the DBA historical rules. So, I figured I should support the 28mm wargaming action (my favourite scale!) and break out my old Undead army.

This army pre-dates the time when Warhammer's undead armies were split between Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings and goes back to a time when one could field a unit of mummies beside a unit of wraiths lead by a vampire... Those were the days... Anyway, I wasn't too eager to get into it again to be honest because it meant re-painting! Re-painting is often trouble, as it means putting paint to already painted figs while those hordes of unpainted figs tucked away in various drawers scream obsenities at you (yes, I ate far too much crap over the last few weeks, and so I am hallucinating). In the end I decided go ahead and re-paint because this project would add value to figs that I had given up for worthless... Now I am totally into it. My old Warhammer army used to be around 9000 points (your average game is played between 1000 and 2000 points these days), so I have all the figs I will need for the project ready, just waiting for paint! Back when I put this army together originally I always wanted to do a halloween theme, but I was limited by what was available as well as my then meager modeling skills. This time around, it's all about the halloween action! Three elements are already done, and without further ado, check them out in the Undead Gallery! Until next time!

So, I took another commission. It all started with those six ancient Brit figs that came in the Essex Scots-Irish army pack... I really wanted to paint those figs, figured I would sell them when I was done. Turns out, nobody wants six ancient Brit figs :) So, I took a commission from one of the good guys over at Fanaticus to do twelve elements. As such, now I have done half the army! Six elements, all the foot warband/psiloi types. All that's left are two light horse and four chariots! Ah, you say that most of the work is in front of me? Well, those foot soldiers are the hardest, as they have the most detail! Anyway, check out the latest four elements from the army in the Ancient Brits Gallery.

What's next? Well, it's holiday related, but not the holiday you're expecting! Still, I won't spoil the surprise more than I already have! Until next time!

It's been a while since I last put paint to a Lord of the Rings fig, and to be honest, it's nice to be back in Middle-earth! This time it was Rohan again. They are in all honesty one of my favourites. Something about the viking look on horses (I know they are supposed to be inspired by Anglo-Saxons, but let's face it, the Saxons were poor copies of the vikings anyway ;) I finally put paint to four figs that have been sitting on my painting queue for two and a half years. I actually had to wash the dust off :) So, check them out in the Rohan gallery! Until next time!

A couple of battle reports for this week's update! As much as I would like to have some more figs painted, it has been a busy couple weeks that haven't given me a lot of time to paint... But I did have some extra time in front of the computer! Also, I want to get back to the gaming side a bit more as well, as over the last couple of years I have focused more on painting and building than on actually playing, which is a shame really... But I digress :)

The first battle is my first battle with the 15mm Russians that I painted in August. One of the most horse-heavy armies I have (aside from maybe my Rohirrim...) I was looking forward to a fast dynamic battle. Of course, the battle saw them pitted against another Russian army, meaning droves of forests. So, although not really dynamic, it was a very good game. Check out the Novgorod Falls! battle report for all the action!

The second battle is the latest in the Steinvor viking DBA pseudo campaign that I am currently narating. This battle sees Steinvor Steinthorsson face off against a Norse Irish warlord by the name of Cahan the Swedeslayer. The battle is a characterful one that features an aamazing escape by Steinvor's karls that ultimately allows Steinvor to come away with victory. Check out the Steinvor makes a name for himself in Ireland battle report for a blow by blow of the action!

As for what's next, well, I have some Rohirrim on the work bench. It's been nice to get back to Lord of the Rings, but the armour on those Rohan Royal Guard and Characters is killer! Also, that super secret project that I talked about before is coming to a finish, and will be released in within the next month or two, so that is something to look for as well! Until next time!

In an effort to break the 15mm madness that has taken me for nearly the last six months, I decided to dig out one of those fantasy figs that I traded all of my 40k figs away for (last year! I can't believe I did that trade in Nov 2007!). I chose a true 25mm giant from Ral Partha circa 1979 (almost as old as I am!). A fantaastic fig really, very well sculpted, and the design is very pleasing to the eye. I am surprised these figs aren't more popular, of course they were made of like 90% lead and most have likely rotted away by now... In any case, check out the giant in the D&D miniatures gallery!

Also this week I managed to get a battle report written! It's been some time since I've done one, and I want to get back to them, so here is the first of many (hopefully ;). This one is a continuation of the Steinthor Saga, which has also been updated in the Raid, Pillage, Loot: Battles of Steinthor Strongarm campaign! In this battle, things don't exactly go Steinthor's way! Check out the action in the battle itself in the Steinthor returns to the Dane's Land to avenge raids on his brother's hold in Sweden! battle report. I have a couple more DBA battle reports waiting in the wings that should be ready by next week, so stay tuned!

The Scots-Irish project is done! Cool to build and paint a chariot for once, and I think I may have to build and paint quite a few more! I am quite happy with the way it turned out overall, and I will morph it into an early Scots-Irish army as well as a Norse-Irish army in the near or not so near future :) Another highlight of this army is that the general in the chariot is the female Irish warrior I sculpted (that can be seen in the greens gallery in the armies section). Going forward though I think I might take a break from 15mm for a bit now though. Time to paint some 28mm+ figs! I have a giant primed and ready to go, so it's likely I'll put that together! Anyway, check out the Irish in the Scots-Irish Gallery. Until next time!

Some 15mm paint brush finesse this week with the polishing off of those two elements of ancient British, making for a totaly of six 15mm figs! They went pretty slow because of the detail as well as the fact that they were all basically test figs; being the first ancient Brits, I took some time deliberating over exactly how they should be done. In any case, they are done now. I am looking to sell them, but there isn't much of market for two lone DBA elements, or so I hear. I may end up having to paint up 12 elements to do an army and sell that... We'll see :) In any case, check out the Ancient British gallery for the pictures! Until next time!

The Irish continue their march to glory! Four more elements down, and five more to go if I want to cover all options, which I likely will. It is a fast army to paint, as mostly it is made up of four colours (black, yellow, off white, and skin). But the little design features make it fun as well. All four elements are the 3Ax variety, meaning three figs on 40x20mm bases. This army has nine (or ten, if you count the 3Ax/Wb option) of the Ax elements, which makes it a fast army to paint... The only faster army might be the Libyans, who are all psiloi apparently, which means two figs on a 40x20mm base :) Anyway, check out the Irish in the Scots-Irish gallery.

Helena also sold this Saturday for $56.33, which isn't as much as I would have liked to sell it for, but certainly a respectable amount! Congrats to the winner of that auction! I also started painting a couple of elements of Ancient British in 15mm as well... I know, you are thinking I should finish the Scots-Irish first! But nay! These figs actually came with the packaged Scots-Irish army that I got, apparently they were to stand in for the 3Ax and 3Wb general's elements for the Irish... Of course, since they are actually ancient British I might be flogged and drown in a bog if I actually used them to lead the Irish, so I am going to paint them up and sell them. They are currently a work in progress as you can see (the pic above to the right), but I started with the funnest part first: the shields! All freehand painted, no decals here :) Also it is worth noting that I updated the Unpainted Miniatures blog as well... Still, I hover around 750 unpainted figs!

One last thing, I realized that I totally didn't do a halloween update... Ever. And I realized that I should! So, I am going to plan a year long off and on project for next halloween... Maybe something with electrical motors that the kids can play with! I know, I've started projects before that have dwindled into nothingness (those Swedish vikings for example, although I am planning to get back to them soon!!! Four months really flies doesn't it?), but hopefully this one won't.... Anyway, until next time!

A little update for a small terrain project I helped my 5 year old kido do. It was a blast to do this little map for school. And it really let me know how much my kido aspires to do and show off terrain! Check out the piece in the Map Project gallery. Until next time!

Helena of Troy is now up for auction! I decided to put her up along with a piece of display terrain that I built for her. A nice little piece that showcases her rising to the defence of some Greek ruins. Anyway, check out the auction over on eBay. You can also get there through the Auctions section. Check out the fig on its display base in the D&D Gallery. Good luck bidders! Until next time, enjoy!!

I had my eye on this Helena of Troy Reaper fig for a long time, and I finally got around to picking it up and painting it up. I sorta just went through painting the fig itself with my mind half on deciding what to do for the shield freehand, and the other half trying to get the highlights on the fig to look good... My half-notice seemed to work out though, as I am very happy with the fig itself, along with the shield.

But the shield design is the highlight for me. I have never really done something like this before, and I am extremely happy with the way it turned out. To the right you can see the trial version and then the finished version. I used to avoid doing trial versions of freehand, thinking that if i got it right the first time, I might never get it right again! But then I did the Eorl fig for Lord of the Rings, which had both standing and mounted versions. So, I had to do the shield twice on that, and when the second one turned out better than the first, I never looked back. But the above shield puts poor Eorl's to shame... Anyway, I painted this fig to sell it, but now that it is done, I may decide not to... Although, I may simply list it for such a high price that nobody will buy it, and that way I can at least lie to myself and say that I had no choice but to keep it ;) If I do list it, it will go up on eBay this Saturday. In the mean time, check out ths entire fig in the D&D gallery.

Back to 15mm armies again! This time, a Scots-Irish DBA army. It is odd really. My plan was to do Persians after finishing those Early Russians for DBA... Of course, the best laid plans never seem to work out. Since the Russians I have done the Samurai and now started on the Scots-Irish. Anyway, it is an Irish focused army for a little campaign that is in the planning phase. The army is done with Essex figs, which makes it the first non-Old Glory army I have done. I did use some Essex figs for my Andalusian Camp, and they were pretty good, so I decided to give them a try for the Scots-Irish. I am happy I did so, as the Essex figs feature fewer of the wicker shields, which apparently have dubious historical accuracy. Anyway, without further delay, check out the Scots-Irish Gallery for the four completed stands. Given that there are fewer figs to paint for this army, hopefully it will go together fast :)

Also, thanks to the bidders who bid on my latest auction! Greatly appreciated and I am sure you won't be dissappointed! The fig ended up selling for $39 US, which is a respectable amount! I am currently painting up Helena of Troy... Or Helena the Gladiator, depending on who you believe, for sale. It will be put up for auction this coming Saturday if all goes well, and look forward to some really solid freehand on the shield and non-metallic metal armour! Until then!

Today, after about three months hiatus from doing figs for auction, I bring you my latest painted Reaper miniature! Elori Ebonscythe! It was a pleasure to paint this one, with the billowing cloak and the striking facial features. You can check out the pictures of the figure in the Dungeons and Dragons gallery and you can check out the eBay auction in the Auctions section. This fig starts at $30, and it features some of my best non-metallic metal of the sky-earth variety. Also, the cloak patterns turned out very well and was a pleasure to do. Hopefully it will lead the way in interesting cloak designs for me, as I went through a period there where I couldn't bring myself to put a pattern on my cloaks... But anyway, until next time!

All of the figs I have for the US invasion of Viet Nam are done! It's kind of gratifying to be finished a prject, but I realized something. With a project like this, it is never really done. I mean, I could always add a couple more squads to make a platoon, and then a couple more platoons to make a company... It could go on forever... and ever... until I have a 1:1 representation of the conflict itself... And now I feel a strange sense of emptiness at not having a squad of US soldiers to paint, and I have the urge to pick up that well priced $13 US squad that is hanging on the rack at my local hobby store... NO! I must stop!!!

Anyway, I found these figs difficult to paint... I think I have become used to the bold, high contrast highlights of the 15mm figs, and so these were harder to do well for me. I am going to have to alternate better from now on :) Also, these figs were a lazy attempt to switch from my straight highlight method of painting to a highlights with glazing method that I think will make a better blend effect... Those two issues together made this a challenging project for me... Anyway, without further ado, check out the Imperialist Aggressors - US Forces Vietnam gallery for all of the new pics (6 figs in total). Until next time!

I find that I will make something, or build something and be very happy with the way I did it, then I will come back to a similar project a few months or years later and say 'How did I do that again?'. Then I will have to re-learn the whole process! So, in truth, that is the primary inspiration for my Articles section! And my latest article is no exception! After re-learning how to make a good armature no less than three times, I decided to document it! Check out my latest article: Building simple armatures for sculpting people.... It's fun, informative, and easy to follow! Naturally, I will be writing a slew of articles* on sculpting in the coming months, so stay tuned!

* I make no promises as I am lead by my poor attention span ;)

A little update today... I finished off a conversion for one of my remaining US marine/army figs from Viet Nam. I didn't want to fork over for a pack of 15 soldiers with M60 machine guns when I only needed one, so I simply snipped the M16 from one and slapped some putty on there. It is a little sloppy, but it will do the trick! Check out the conversion in the Greens gallery.

I also update my Links section, adding in a couple of great blogs! Tabletop-hdr and Unfinished Armies are the blogs, thanks for the heads up from Tankred on those, and thanks as well for posting a link to my US Forces Vietnam gallery! Check out the links section for links to those sites.

Finally, I updated my unpainted figures sub-blog... or mini blog... After finishing those Samurai, I was all out of 15mm DBA armies to paint... Yep, you guessed it... Anyway, check out the Unpainted section for the details. Until next time.

More action from Viet Nam! This time, four more US forces! Although the West Wind figs are a bit rough around the edges, they do have character, and so they were fun to paint! After these four, I am only six figs away from finishing all of the figs I have for this project.... Of course, Odin only knows whether or not I will pick up another pack of 20 figs for Viet Nam tomorrow ;) Anyway, to see the new figs, check out the Imerialist Aggressors AKA: US Forces Vietnam gallery. Until next time!!!

After finishing two 15mm DBA armies over a couple of months, I really needed a short* break from 15mm stuff... I was trying to figure out what to do that would be much different from 15mm Samurai, and I decided to go with US invasion era Viet Nam. It's still in Asia, but it's a whole different ballgame...

I had wanted to pick up a 1/48th scale** huey for a long time, so the other week I finally did. I also figured out that if I put it in a place where I always see it, I will actually remember it and want to paint it up! So, sure enough, here it is.... I will likely finish painting the remaining ten US army figs that I have for this era as well over the next few weeks... But we'll see ;) Check out the huey slick in the Imerialist Aggressors AKA: US Forces Vietnam gallery. Until next time!!!

* short is relative, and I make no promises either way!
** 1/48th scale is the best scale for 28mm figs!

Polished off the 15mm samurai by finishing a camp! Now it is already to get filled full of arrows this coming Friday! Check out the new camp in the 15mm Samurai gallery.

Also, my buddy painted up 3+ loaner armies for the tournament this Friday... Crazy amount of work, so I figured I would put in my share and make camps to go with his armies! Check those camps out (as well as my samurai camp) in the DBA Terrain Gallery. Until next time!

The Samurai are finally finished! Finally you say? Weren't they only just half done? That's correct. It took three weeks to paint the first half of the army, and then one to paint the second half! The truth is, the first half was all pretty much test fig action. When I got to the second half, they were all pretty much figs I had painted. Also, the paint scheme for the Samurai is pretty uniform, and so there were only really four colours per fig (black, red, skin, and then either yellow or beige, but not both). Anyway, check out the 15mm Samurai gallery to see them all. I also put a one-stop shop type of gallery that includes all of the pictures up in the DBA section of the Articles section, so check that out if you like!

What's next? Well, I need to take a break from 15mm figs I think. Maybe some Vietnam era stuff... A helicoptor or some US troops or something... You know though, I went for three days without an unpainted 15mm DBA army! Then, alas, I recieved an army in the mail today... But it will have to wait! Until next time!

Plodding ahead with the DBA Samurai action! At this point I am half way through the army, now that I finished the two cavalry elements! And it isn't the easy part of the army. This time I decided the do the more labourious elements first. So, six cavalry figs for the general and other cavalry elements. That leaves two elements of 5 warband figs, three elements of 4 samurai figs, and a single element of three spearmen! Anyway, check out the latest figs in the 15mm Samurai gallery. Until next time!

Things seem pretty slow to me... Only two 15mm DBA elements in a one week period? What's the deal you might be wondering? Well, I am working on another project that is top secret at the moment... And unfortuntely it will be for more than a few months to come I think... But stay tuned, I will post more on that in the months to come.

For now, check out my latest addition to my 15mm DBA Samurai army! This time it is a couple elements of monks. The Samurai army lets you choose either four elements of monk warbands, four elements of ashigaru spearmen, or four elements of peasants hordes. Out of character for me, I chose monks because they have a knack of beating the snot out of samurai (blade) elements... Given my restricted time frame (getting these ready for an event at the end of September) I should have gone with the spearmen! Far fewer figs (3 per elements, as opposed to 5 for monk warband elements)!! Politically, I should really have gone with the peasant horde, but those elements require 7 figs!! But I am blathering... Check out the new monk warband figs in the 15mm Samurai gallery. Until next time!

Yet another new 15mm DBA army! When will it ever stop I wonder? Maybe never! This time it is 15mm Samurai. Not my primary interest, but a buddy of mine is running a 'for fun' tournament based on Samurai called 'Samurai Night Fever' and I couldn't resist getting involved. As a consequence, my samurai are pretty generic, lacking all of the complex armour and clothing designs that one might see in a Samurai army. But I am happy with them none-the-less! Check them out in the new 15mm Samurai gallery. Until next time!

I just finished my second viking 'away' camp for my 15mm viking DBA army! This is the one that i have been hinting at! It is likely the most work I have put into a DBA camp simply because I sculpted two figs for it! Other than the figs, it was a pretty straight forward camp. I used insulation styro-foam for the tower itself, and the rest was MDF, woodland scenics, and tooth picks. Anyway, check out the camp from more than a few angles in the DBA Terrain gallery.

Also, for completeness, I put a picture of the second monk from the scene into the 15mm Civilians Gallery. I imagine that the 15mm civilians gallery is going to be made up primarily with civilians that hang out in DBA camps ;) Until next time!

Last week I bought a reaper miniature for my D&D campaign! This week it is painted! At least though I bought it recently, I ended up painting it recently as well! It is odd really, I had a 9000 point Games Workshop Undead army (that's right, I built it when the army was called 'undead', and you could field mummies, mounted skeletons, and skull chuckers all in the same army!), I didn't really have all that many vampires... So I bought a new one. Even though it is for the D&D action I put it in the undead gallery. I have also been looking at the new GW Vampire Counts book... Since I have hundreds of skeletons and zombies, I may well be enticed one day to put this guy at the head of an undead army... One day as in *possibly in the next 20 years, if I live that long*... Anyway, check the fig out in the Undead gallery! Until next time!

The Russians are done!!! I am very happy to finally be finished these figs. Now, all of my backlogged DBA figs are done... That is, all of the figs that I had been sitting on for two years anyway. I have a couple more armies that I have purchased in the last few months that aren't done yet, but still! Anyway, check out the last two elements of cavalry as well as a picture of the army all together and a collection of the notable shields in the Early Russians gallery! Also, I put the army all together in a single, linkable collection for Fanaticus.org, check that out in the articles section under III/78 Russian Army.

I also did some more work on the miniatures I have been sculpting. I finished the female warrior I was working on. I bulked out the hips, put on some hair and fixed the hands up. I am pretty happy with it overall. I have also been working on getting the female form right on a couple of armatures, not an easy task, especially in 15mm. I have had to exaggerate the proportions a little, making some question the skinny waist and the wide hips. I don't want to portray females in a negative way, so I will fix up the waits when I put clothes on the figs... Anyway, check out all of those new greens in the greens gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

More greens this week. Both of these are WIP pics of the figs I am currently working on. Two figs, another monk and a female Irish warrior. The monk is for my Viking DBA camp project, the Irish warrior is a test fig for a line of female Irish warriors I am planning on doing.

Overall I am pretty happy with both, but not super happy with either. My faces aren't bad but they are flat... I have to shape the face before I put on the detail I think. The hands need work, it's because I am trying to do them all at once... I need to put up a greenstuff armature first, let that cure, and then add details. Laziness just won't cut it I'm afraid... Anyway, check them out in the greens gallery. I also updated my unpainted section recently. My current total of unpainted figs is 817. Not too, too bad :) Until next time!

... or so this Early Russian army seems to me. Five cavalry elements and two light horse elements and I am dying. Too many horses! But, it is all in my mind, as these figs still go together pretty quickly... Especially once I get the highlighting scheme all set. Of course, I know there are armies with many more cavalry/knight elements (Thematic Byzantines for example) so I shouldn't complain too loudly!

In any case, I have completed two more elements of cavalry, and I have only four more figs to paint to finish the army! So, I am debating whether or not to take some time to sculpt that other monk I have been planning, or to just finish this army and pack it away! But anyway, check out the new Russian cavalry figs in the 15mm Early Russians Gallery!

Also, I decided to put a contact page on this site for all of those people with questions or comments regarding the site or its content. Check out the Contact link in the link menu to the left there. Send me an email if you like! No spamming or soliciting please! Until next time!

Since I painted the monk yesterday night, I figured I would post a picture today; more than a few people were curious to see how it would paint up. To be honest (and not to sound too cocky) it was one of the easiest 15mm figures I have ever painted. Not exactly sure why, except that the folds in the fabric, the details, and the facial features were very well defined. Sure, it makes me sound like a good sculptor, but it might very well have a lot to do with the difference between painting a green and painting a fig cast from a mould. Tough to say.

Anyway, I figured I would take a pic of an Essex dark age camp dude napping that I painted up a while ago as well and create a 15mm civilian gallery. Therefor this update wouldn't be such a small one ;) Check out the painted monk and the sleeping (or dead?) camp follower in the 15mm Civilians gallery. Until next time!

Another update already! I was going to hold out on this one until I had finished all of the figs I was going to do for the project, but I was so excited to post it that I couldn't wait. I finished my first green in over two years! This one is a 15mm monk that I am planning to use for a DBA camp terrain piece that I have cooking; I won't say anything more about it yet! The sculpt isn't perfect, but I am happy with it! Check it out in the greens gallery. Next update will still be 15mm Russians... I hope ;)

This week marks the start of a new project... Since I have recently decided that the only thing better than one Viking army is two Viking armies, I started a second Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) Viking army in 28mm, this one is a Swedish army. Why? Well, I have a boatload of unpainted Vikings in lead. I also have a 1500 point Norwegian viking army already, so the Swedes have an enemy! Finally, I read 'Sword Song' by Rosemary Sutcliff recently and had the urge to do some longship sea battles!

I also wanted to do a Swedish army for some time, but the WAB Shieldwall supplement doesn't include one! I got my hands on the WAB Byzamtium supplement though, and in there there are two options for Swedes: either the early Rus list (which includes rules for the swine array and shieldwall), or the Danes (they imply the Swedes fought like the Danes, the Danes have +1 toughness as well!). I can decide later which list I will use, but for now, I have dreams of 28mm vikings! For this project I will also need to build three more viking ships; I currently have two longships and a knorr boat. I want at least two more longships and maybe another knorr or longship on top of that to do justice to the viking sea battles! It's a big project, and I currently don't have anyone else interested in it, so we'll see how far it gets ;) So far I have 11 Swedish viking figs ready for it, that means I only have 79 more to go!

As a consequence of this, I have changed the name of the old 28mm viking gallery the the "Norwegian Vikings". The new Swedish vikings can be viewed in the Swedish Viking gallery! Next week it is back to those 15mm Russians, but I will be painting more vikings soon! I hope at least ;) Until next time, enjoy!

More work on my 15mm Early Russian army for DBA, this time the two elements of spears. I love painting figures with armour... They go together pretty quickly, as metallics I find easier to paint; they are much more forgiving, so highlighting them doesn't require the same level of meticulousness. Also, since the armour covers up the fabrics, I don't have to paint fabric patterns! With these done that puts me at eight out of twelve elements, and so I am over half way! Of course, all I have left are the four units of 3Cv elements, which is a lot of painting :) Anyway, check out the 15mm Early Russians Gallery for those two elements of spears!

... to us will die from that sword! A famous quote from the 1938 Alexander Nevski movie! It fits with this update, which is an army notes article for the III/78 Early Russian DBA army. Check it out in the DBA section of the articles section of the site and get ready to build an Early Russian army so you can fight with other Early Russian armies for the rights to kiss up to the Mongols! (thanks to the infamous Spanikopetes for that one!).

With my latest D&D character, I think old Shakespeare had it wrong... Certainly this player of players, bard of bards isn't shy about bringing it all to blows! Just watch out for the instrument! Anyway, before I go on and on anymore, check out the D&D gallery for my latest D&D fig. I needed these two this week, so now the bard and the orc are done! I still need an entire multi-racial (elf, human, dwarf.. etc) crew, but I don't even have the figs for it so I guess it will have to wait :) Anyway, until next time!

A couple of updated galleries today! The first is the D&D gallery again. My players happened to capture a ship and free a crew, lead by a half-orc barbarian. So, I painted up the barbarian. Now I just have to paint up the rest of the crew! Anyway, until then, check out the half-orc in the D&D gallery for pictures of that fig.

Some more elements for my 15mm Early Russian DBA army are done as well. A couple of Light Horse elements to be exact. These I had been looking forward to doing for some time just so that I could put the horses on the base at an angle. That is how light horse troops typically fought anyway, but running up and down the enemy lines, strafing all the way. Check out those two elements in the 15mm Early Russians Gallery.

Also, I finally decided to put in support for RSS! All of you who were tired of randomly checking to see if the site was updated can now simply subscribe to the RSS feed and have the feed automatically let you know when there is new content! Check out the RSS link in the menu bar! Until next time!

I put Hyrekia up on eBay! Check out the Auctions section for a link to the action! Until next time!

I had some time recently to paint up Hyrekia. She is a Reaper figure sculpted by Werner Klocke that is very nice! I deliberated over colour schemes endlessly until finally I just decided to paint it. I am pretty happy with how it turned out! This one is going to auction tomorrow, so, stay tuned for that! In the mean time, check her out in the Dungeons & Dragons gallery!

I also managed to paint up three elements/bases of Early Russians for my Early Russian 15mm DBA army project! That army is really coming along now! 1/3 the way done! Of course, I just painted the 2 Psiloi and 3 Auxalia elements, which are the fastest to paint... So it should slow doen from here... Some people have mentioned that they look a little like Santa or Santa's elves, but I stick to my guns: Santa looks like them! They are fairly accurate, at least according to Osprey :) See for yourself in the picture to the right! Anyway, check out the figs in the 15mm Early Russians Gallery. Until next time!

Back to some 15mm action! This time I decided to get those Early Russians underway for some DBA action! Actually, I don't intend to play with them all that much as I don't know too many people with armies that match up against them... except the vikings of course :) I am painting them mostly because I want to paint DBA stuff and I have had these figs for almost two years... So, check out the new 15mm Early Russians Gallery in the armies sections.

I also took some time to count up the unpainted figs that i had! Why? I was inspired by Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog. The guy 'takes stock' of his figs once in a while and puts together projects and whatnot, so I figured I would do the same... Like most gamers I have more figs than I need. But my goal is to get to a point where I have no backlog, where I buy and paint the figs that I want before I buy more! A pipe dream? Likely! But hey, I might as well keep track of my inevitable failure! So, check out the Unpainted link in the menu to the left there and see exactly what I have left to paint! I might not update it perfectly, but I will update it from time to time :) Until then though, my total number of unpainted figs is at a mere 855! Until next time, enjoy!

I finally finished all of the raiders that I plan to do! Initially it was going to be a small raiding party, but now it has grown into an entire ship's crew! It is a skirmish army in its own right! I am sure that fleets of raiders will grace the shores of Middle-earth as well as England and Ireland in the next little while during game play! Check out the remaining raiders, as well as some shots of them raiding and English village in the Sea Raiders gallery. Until next time!

A few updates today! Firstly, I painted up a fig for myD&D and auction action! This one is Strohm the elemental sorcerer monk from Reaper. It was fun to paint and it is the first fig I ever painted that had a white base coat! I ended up mostly just painting black over the white, but hey, it was worth a try! Check out the fig in the D&D miniatures gallery! This one will be up for auction tomorrow! Along with this fig I put together a new section on my site called the Characters section and added a link to the menu on the left. There I will have little character blurbs about the miniatures that I fancy or sell! So, check out Strohm's character background there!

I also finished off a camp follower element/unit for my dark age DBA armies. I will use it for my current viking army, as well as my Early Russian army that is currently in production. I am sure I will put together more than a few more DBA armies from that period as well, so it will see a lot of use. For now, check it out in the 15mm Viking gallery.

Finally, I am almost done my raiders from the sea! I finally got my Viking Shield Maidens from Wargames Foundry. Unfortunately they were mostly half naked, so it took some work to get them into realistic clothes! I figured I would take some pics, but they didn't all turn out and the figs are already base coated! Thus the blurry image above! For the other two who had minor alterations, check out the greens gallery. That's it for now, until next time, enjoy!

A little bit more time has passed since my last update that I would have liked... Spring cleaning has taken a bit of my miniature painting time, but I assure you, it was worth it! Still, I managed to get back to some 15mm figs this time. Although the 15mm DBA Andalusian army itself is done, the complete army isn't done until the camp, or in this case 'camps' are finished as well; how can you field a DBA army without a camp?

Putting into motion my idea of having a home and away camps I painted up some arab civilians that I ordered from Essex while I was painting the army itself and built some little terrain scenes. This was my first 'home and away' camp design, and I am pretty happy with myself for these two pieces! Check them out in the DBA Terrain Gallery. I also put the pictures in the 15mm Andalusian gallery for ease and consistency.

So what's next... I guess I still have to put together an Andalusian BUA for those 15mm figs. I also have a 15mm Early Russian DBA army waiting for some attention. More sea raiders are also on the table, and I have some females coming as well (Wargames Foundry Shield Maidens). But who knows, I might just do something completely different... Anyway, until next time!

More sea raiders. This time a handful of archers, a ship's kid, and a few more fighters. I am enjoying the raiders project. It gives me an excuse to paint more vikings, and I may very well actually use them as vikings some day. Skattered among the others I have, they won't look out of place for their uniformity. Check out the latest batch in the Sea Raiders gallery.

I also sold that Shaedra figure that went up for auction a second time. I always waffle between setting a higher price for the auction, or simply setting it at $0.99. I mean, for the time I put into that fig, and the costs to buy it and list it, $30 isn't really all that much. That being said, I am happy that it sold and I hope the buyer enjoys it! It is well worth the money! In any case, I have a few more figs being painted to sell, which should be done shortly. Until then, enjoy!

I have been taking a little break from painting for a couple weeks... Well, painting miniatures anyway :) I painted my house though! Anyway, I finally have another content update! This time, some generic raiders. These raiders are meant to play a number of roles: Dark Age viking sailors, sailors for my D&D campaign, sailors for my Gondorian fleets, as well as simply generic raiders inspired by Robin Hobb's Assassin's trilogy. Check them out in the Sea Raiders gallery. Until next time!

Well, that fig didn't sell... I relisted it at 99 cents, so hopefully it will sell this time :) Check out the relisted auction in the Auctions section. Until next time!

I left the 15mm scene for some more 28mm action... Needed to give my eyes a break for a bit. Also, even though those DBA armies are small armies, they are still entire armies! But yeah, decided to paint a one-off fig to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and paint a Reaper Paladin nameds Shaedra by Werner Klocke. A challenging but rewarding fig to paint for sure! This one is going straight to the auction block. Check out the fig in the D&D Gallery. Check out the auction in the Auctions section. Until next time, enjoy!

So, I just realized that five days ago marked the three year anniversary of the first post I made on this Website! The very first post was on May 3^rd, 2005, and just introduced the site. At the time there were no army galleries up! It's been a good three years for the site though. It went from basically nothing to a host for over 20 articles, over 10 battle reports, 40 army galleries, and 20 terrain galleries... But that's not nearly enough for three years of work! I promise to try to get my but in gear over the next three years!

Anyway, I finally finished my Andalusian DBA (III/34) army! Finally! I blame the patterned clothing for the month and a half long process. It was great though. I liked it so much that I am scheming on building a Feudal Spanish army (III/35) just so that I can paint some more Andalusians as allies! So, check out the finished army in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Also, I wrapped the army up into a single page presentation for Fanaticus. Check that one out here. I also cleaned up the viking army single DBA army page and rolled it into the website. Previously it was just a random page... Nothing has really changed other than the added headers and links, but check out the old viking army wrap up page here. Until next time, enjoy! the next litt

A pretty big update today! First, I uploaded pictures of all of my DBA terrain to the DBA Terrain Gallery, check that out in the galleries section! Some good stuff in there! I also finished off an element of light horse for my Andalusians! Now I am ready to field that army! Check that unit out in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. I also put together a quick article on how to paint fabric patterns, check it out as well!

Last but not least I finally put up some more battle reports! After deciding to write them up I also decided to do another campaign report! This campaign report isn't exactly like the Lord of the Rings campaign that I ran, but more a following of all of the DBA battles I have had with my DBA viking army! I have named the army leader Steinthor, and so, the campaign follows him and his warriors! So, you guessed it, the two new battle reports are for my DBA viking army! So, check out the Raid! Pillage! loot! campaign in the Campaigns section of the site. It gives a general overview of all of the battles as well as links to the battle reports! The battles can be viewed in the Battles section of the site, the battles are: Steinthor vs. Fionnlagh and Steinthor goes to Wales. Until next time, enjoy!

No, not an Andalusian update yet! I put that project aside to finish off my DBA terrain. I still needed the linear terrain pieces! So, after doing a search of the Fanaticus forum I found Paul Hannah's brief description of how he put together his waterway and decided to morph that into a river, a waterway, and a road. So, I put together the terrain and some articles. Check out the Waterway and River building article, the Road building article, and the Viking Fort BUA articles!

I also threw together a DBA terrain gallery. Currently there is only the Viking camp and the recently completed BUA, but soon I will post my whole DBA terrain collections... I realized while doing this stuff that DBA is almost a board game... It certainly is on the cusp of board game and miniature game... Anyway, check out the terrain gallery here. Finally, I also updated the thatch roof article with the twine thatch method! Until next time, have fun!

More Andalusians for my 15mm DBA project! This time I polished off the foot required to field the 'B' version of the army. Now, to field the entire 'B' version of the army all I need to paint is a single element of light horse (two figs!). To finish both the 'A' and 'B' list I still have to paint the previously mentioned light horse as well as a unit of cavalry (3 figs) and another two units of psiloi (4 figs). So, since I have painted 8 cavalry figs and 20 foots figs, I am way, way over half way!

So, I broke out the old soviet chess clock that I have for this one so that I could actually see how long it took to paint the figs. It was quite an enlightening endeavor, here's what I found:

• 15 minutes: Prepping and gluing the figs down to the painting surface
• 3 hours, 5 minutes: Basic painting - painting and highlighting all colours
• 35 minutes: Painting four shields
• 2 hours, 30 minutes: Painting cloth patterns!

So, looking at those numbers, here are the interesting averages to come out of it all:

• 23 minutes, 7 seconds per basic fig
• 18 minutes, 45 seconds to put cloth details on each fig
• 8 minutes, 45 seconds per shield design

Pretty interesting for me :) Anyway, check out the three new elements: One unit of four spear and two units of two psiloi in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Until next time!

Up until this morning I have been splitting my time between three different projects, and it has slowed productivity a bit... I started on some light horse figs for my Andalusians, as well as more foot troops for that army, and then I started on another fantasy adventurer type fig... This morning I finished off the light horse for my Andalusians, and so I finally have an update! I am liking the way these figs are turning out, but the mounted elements are starting to look pretty similar to each other. I will have to switch up the next one I think :) Anyway, check out the latest element in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Until next time!

More elements for my 15mm Andalusian DBA army! This time bow-armed skirmishers! They are great to put together because each element is made up of only two figs! I really put some effort into details into their clothing this time. It seems the more ideas I try, the more ideas I come up with! Anway, check out the new elements in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Until next time!

I have finished my third stand of cavalry for my DBA Andalusian army! I am pretty happy with it to be sure. I figured I would take a bit more initiative and put some more 'stuff' on the base. Don't get me wrong, I love the simple bases, but I also like character! So, I sculpted a dead viking (vikings are my other DBA army) and skewered it with a little paperclip piece (same stuff I used for the javelins held by the Andalusians) and viola! Dead viking action! Anyway, check out the latest element for my Andalusians in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Until next time!

A little something I have been working on in my head for a while. I figured, after seeing the Army Notes section on the Fanaticus DBA Website, that I would put one together for the Andalusians. I figured I could use it myself in the future, and maybe others could use it as well. Check out the articles section for the Andalusian - DBA article and get your DBA Andalusian army underway! As for the miniatures, I am still putting them together. But, for your reference, my DBA andalusians can be found in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Until next time!

I finished the 3 cavalry general's element for the 15mm DBA al-Andalus army that I started recently! I really wanted to do a good job on it and I happened across some very well painted 15mm Demonworld figures. That inspired me to paint these even better than the spears that I recently painted for this army. It also inspired me to go back to fix up those spears a bit as well ;) Check the 3Cv general's element in the 15mm Andalusian gallery.

I also put the female pirate, Vandora Waverunner, up for sale! Check out the Auctions section for the relevant link! Something is wrong with CMON's parsing of eBay auctions though now, so I am not sure if it will sell! Anyway, until next time!

A couple of projects finished this week. First, a camp follower stand for my Viking DBA army. It is also going to double for a Warmaster general base if I ever play that game, which I don't plan on playing :) Anyway, I did it primarily to practice painting horses before I start on those 15mm Andalusian light horse and cavalry units! Check it out in the Viking DBA Gallery.

I also finished a fig that I am putting up for auction. This one is Reaper Miniature's Vandora Waverunner. It is an excellently sculpted and cast fig that was a pleasure to paint. I also built a ship's fore deck under her as a scenic base! I did it for a couple of reasons... Primarily to try my hand at ship building again... I like the ship action, and so I might build another one after the success of Vandora's scenic base! Anyway, check it out in the D&D miniatures gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

... or so they say in Andalusia. I finally decided to get around to those 15mm Andalusians that I had bought... oh, a year and a half ago for DBA. I greatly enjoyed putting together my 15mm Vikings for DBA back then, but the game itself sorta turned me off. The people that play it in my town are great, but I find the game itself difficult because of the rules. Written by someone who seems to me to be arrogant, and of the attitude that 'if you can't figure out the poor grammar and sentence complexity in the rules, you don't deserve to know them', I was turned off. To be honest, I was also turned off because I didn't want to have to live up to the work I did on those Vikings...

But, because the people that play in town are such great people to play with, and because it is so easy to amass armies quickly, I was drawn back in. I also wanted to pick up a project that would allow me to paint some pretty nice figs really well. After the Camelot project, I wanted to get back to a real set of historical figs! So, it was to be the Andalusians. One of my favourite dark age cultures, I decided to start with spears. This was simply because I had already done some Andalusians spears in 28mm and so I could just paint them without worrying about spending time researching. Anyway, the army is mostly cavalry and skirmishing archers (also known as psiloi in DBA terminology...), so it should be fun and fast to paint! Anyway, check out the first stand of 15mm Andalusians in the 15mm Andalusian gallery. Next up, I have some figs to paint and sell, but then I will be back to this DBA project! Stay tuned!

More Shadows over Camelot figures. The figures are driving me nuts! My favourite of the latest bunch were probably the catapults. The knights are tough to do because the sculpts are poor. As a consequence, I am going to have to walk away from these figs for a while. I will paint something a bit more interesting for me and (hopefully) come back to these figs later ;)

In the mean time, check out the pieces that I have done so far in the Shadows over Camelot Gallery. The latest are Gawain, Galahad, Lancelot's Armour, excalibur, the grail, and the siege engines! Only four more figs to go, but I can't bring myself to finish them! Anyway, until next time, enjoy!

I am still struggling to find time to paint. With the paintball season starting, along with the daunting task of painting the Shadows over Camelot figs I have been hard pressed to sit down and paint as much as I had been in the past. The Shadows figs aren't terrible, but almost! They were made as game pieces, and not as quality miniatures unlike some other board games on the market. As such, it has been hard to find the initiative.

But I did get a couple painted, one of which was the figure I chose for Guinevere; she is a druidess from Fenryll miniatures. She was a pleasure to paint, and it made me wonder why Fenryll isn't more popular these days... But I digress. Check out Guinevere and Sir Tristan in the Shadows over Camelot Gallery. I am almost done the twelve tiny catapaults as well, and so will post pictures of them soon!

Also this week I relisted Bailey Silverbell, the dwarf scout fig. The price has been reduced, so hopefully someone will scoop up that beautiful sculpt with a great paintjob. Check out the Auctions section for a link to the latest auction! Until next time, enjoy!

I have been super busy this week. There were a couple days in there where I didn't even look at a brush or a fig... Much to my chagrin. That on top of a complex, first time type of project and I wasn't very productive. But I did paint up the next four figs from Shadows over Camelot. This time, a few Picts! The figs weren't terrible, and it was cool to paint some tattoos! Check out those figs in the Shadows over Camelot Gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

After reading a great book by Alfie Kohn titled NO CONTEST: The Case Against Competition, I was impressed. It really showed me the issues with the competitive construct, and that it wasn't something that I wanted to spend much more time on... So I started look for cooperative games. I found there were more than a few, but I wanted something with miniatures...

Enter Shadows over Camelot. I thought it was the answer to all of my hopes. Sure, I don't really like the monarchist slant to the game, nor the rampant sexism... but hey it is a cooperative war game, how much could I expect? Anyway, it turned out to be pretty good, but I didn't appreciate the competitive back door built into the game with the whole traitor thing... Still, I enjoyed it even if my close-minded 'friends' didn't. Anyway, I decided to paint up the figs that were included in the game because, hey, why not? So, check the first four figs in the Shadows over Camelot Gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

The dwarves are done! I think this is truly the first 28mm army that I have completed... I don't have a sinlge unpainted dwarf in my collection now! It feels kinda strange, but in a good way... Now I can store those dwarves away and forget about them! Or maybe I will truck them down to the local GW store and get a game or two out of them...

So, the army itself is made up of 59 figs, adding up to just over 1000 points. That should give me a lot of options... Well, as many as there are with this army anyway. I am happy with it and I think I will try to stick with this 'one army at a time' methodology for painting and maybe I can start eating through that 1000+ miniature backlog! Anyway, check out the five dwarf army pictures, the new banner, and the two new sets of warriors in the Iron Hills Gallery. Until next time!

The Airship is painted and detailed and mounted on a non-telescopic base. I thought about putting it on a telescopic base, but I figured it wasn't worth the time and energy, as, ultimately, I will be lucky to use this ship in any sort of gaming capacity more than once! Anyway, check out the finished airship in the Airships gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

As promised, I built a ship. Nope, not a ship of the waters, but a 1/285th scale airship for my Hetwah D&D campaign. To be honest I can't believe how easily and quickly this ship came together. I have the Prancing Pony project to thank ultimately. For that project I sculpted some insulation foam to make the windows dressings of the front right window. Previous to that I had only ever used an exacto knife on that foam. But for that project I sanded, cut, melted... and so on.

So, once I cut the hull shape and then sculpted it into the exact shape I needed it, I was past the hardest part. Everything else just fell together. It reminded me of a joke I read in a joke book when I was a kid. The joke went something like this: How do you carve an elephant from a giant stone? You chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant. Anyway, I digress. Check out the unpainted ship in the Airships gallery. Until next time!

Dain is painted! Along with Dain I finished five more plastic warriors. Those plastic warriors sure paint up fast, and they look good on the battlefield as well. I am quite happy with them. I am also quite happy with Dain. Check out Dain, two more two handed axe warriors, and three more archers in the Iron Hills Gallery!

I have the urge to build some ships now... The culmination of of me turing to pirates, my airship based D&D campaign, and the release of the corsairs from GW's Lord of the Rings line of figs has me itchin' for the salty spray. I might build some ships... Air ships, corsair ships... Or maybe I will start a whole new genre and just build a pirate ship of the barbary coast! Of course, it's all speculation at this point ;)

Another quick update. I have decided to sell my Bailey Silverbell female dwarf fig. This one is a Werner Klocke fig from Reaper Miniatures. A very nice fig, but just not right for the scale of my Lord of the Rings dwarf collection. Check that out in the Auctions section.

Also, don't forget that my latest Tiriel is already up for auction and it ends tomorrow! Thanks for looking everyone! Until next time!

Back to the dwarves... I really want to finish this army... The Dain conversion is done, the fig is half painted (or more than half?). Five more of the dwarf warrior plastics I have are half painted... That leaves only the standard bearer repaint and five more dwarf warriors! I am so close I can smell it! Unfortunately I am also losing steam for this project... This always seems to happen to me. I think I might need to play a game or two with them to spur me on a little... Who knows, maybe I will write a battle report! Check out the Dain conversion in the Greens Gallery. Until next time!

I recently painted up another (and possibly last) Tiriel figure. This one is of her kneeling on a rather fancy-schmancy rug in some wooden building. A little different from my usual style, but I am still happy with it. Check it out in the D&D Figs gallery. It is also up for auction currently. Check out the auction in the Auctions section. Until next time, enjoy!

I finished and took some pictures of the dwarf ballista finally. I posted the new picture in the Iron Hills Gallery, so check it out in the Armies section. I also updated and completed the Converting a Dwarf Ballista Team article, so check that one out in the Articles section of the site! Until next time, enjoy!

A change in gears this week. I put together this modular terrain board a few weeks ago and have been waffling on putting it up because it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. It just goes to show me really that there is a lot of stuff I have yet to learn about terrain, and in this case, creating appealing ground cover! Anyway, check out the modular terrain in the new, reorganized terrain section! The gallery is in the Battlefields and Natural Terrain sub section of the terrain section in the Modular Terrain gallery.

I am losing steam on those dwarves... So I am starting to paint my last Tiriel from Hasslefree miniatures. I have painted more than a few of these and this will likely be my last one. Of course, I will never say never because who knows ;) After that I will go back to dwarves though, only ten more to paint and then I am done my entire dwarf army! Until next time...

I finally got around to painting those dwarves for my ballista project as well as three archers! I am pretty happy with the way things are going as I only have ten more of those plastic dwarves to paint! Woo! Anyway, check out the ballista engineer and captian as well as the three archers in the Iron Hills Gallery!

I also built that ballista from scratch. All that is left of it is to paint it! Then I am done the ballista conversion! I also updated the converting article as well. Check out the latest progress I have made on it in the Converting a Dwarf Ballista Team article in the articles section! Until next time, enjoy!

After the success of my Converting Vault Warden Teams article I decided to do a dwarf ballista team. I like the siege equipment, and I always felt that the equipment itself was easy to build. The only problem I used ot have were the crew. I used to just use standard warriors (with my trebuchets and catapaults for example). But, this time around, I figured I would try to convert some figs, and so another article was born! Currently it is a WIP, but check out the Converting a Dwarf Ballista Team article in the articles section under Miniature Painting & Converting. I also took some close up pics of the figs and put them in the Greens Gallery. If everything goes well, the ballista and crew should be done this week! Until next time!

I have finished the vault wardens completely! As such, I also finished the article, now it is comeplete! Check out the Converting Vault Warden Teams article in the articles section! I am very happy with how they turned out, and I am looking forward to seeing how they perform on the battlefield!

I also updated my Iron Hills Gallery with the vault wardens and also a group of three dwarves with two handed axes. Those dwarves really paint up quickly, and they are excellent. I had my reservations initially about the plastics, but now I am liking them more than the matals... I mean, there are fewer unnecessary details on the plastics and they look great beside the metal figs... Anyway, next week I will likely post some pics of the modular terrain board that I finished a couple of weeks ago, along with a tutorial on how I did it. It was so simple... until then!

I have finished the vault warden shield bearers! They turned out very well and I am quite happy with them. So, I updated the Converting Vault Warden Teams article with the latest details. All that is left is for the vault warden teams are the spear bearers. I will likely do some chain mail add-ons on those figs... I need to practice some chain mail sculpting for my Dain conversion...

I also updated my Iron Hills Gallery with some bigger pictures of the vault warden shield bearers as well as a couple of plastic dwarves that I painted. Initially I was really disappointed with the plastic figs... Compared to the metal figs there is a lot of detail missing around the sides where the moulds come together. Also, around the shield-bearing hands they are pretty poorly detailed to to restrictions with the plastic moulds. However, after I painted them, and put the shields on, it wasn't really an issue at all. The figs look great! And, since the metal dwarves are $5 each and the plastics are $1.25 each, I can't complain! Anyway, check those out in the Iron Hills Gallery. Until next time...

Another article already? Well, yeah, that Prancing Pony article was on the back burner for a while, so after I finally put it together, I figured I would put the work-in-progress Vault Warden conversion article together was well. It isn't done, but why not get it up there as a WIP for now anyway? So, check it out in the Miniature Painting and converting section of the Articles section under the Converting Vault Warden Teams header. Until next time!

A lot of work has kept me from my hobby lately... but I managed to get this article written. I changed the format of the article from my usual overly-verbose essay to a simple, step by step, you-don't-even-need-to-read-it-just-look-at-the-pictures format! Hope you enjoy! The Building the Pony article can be found in the articles section. Until next time!

The terrain project is on hold... but I did finish that dwarf captain conversion! The picture of the green bits can now only be viewed in the Greens Gallery, while the fully painted dwarf captain can now be viewed in the Iron Hills Gallery. Check it out.

Next is the modular terrain... or maybe I will leave that on hold and build some vault wardens or balistas from the plastic dwarf warriors that I have 24 of now... We'll see, but until next time...

So my time is currently split between a pesty modular terrain board project and these dwarves. I am pretty happy with myself because I still have the desire to paint dwarves even though I have painted handfulls lately! Hopefully I will be able to keep it up... Now I just have to decide what kind of units I want to convert out of the plastic warriors I have... Should I make some ballistas? Or perhaps some vault warden teams?

In the meantime, I finished another dwarf king and all the sculpting required to convert that dwarf captain. I am pretty happy with it, especially since I haven't sculpted anything for a year and half (since the corsair captain green). Anyway, check out the dwarves in the Iron Hills gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last updated, and I hope everyone made it into 2008 in one piece! So, I finally finished the dwarves I was working on. I polished those metals that I had with the exception of two dwarf kings left! I was so looking forward to finally finishing and entire army off (that is, finishing painting all of the figs I had), then I broke down and bought some more. A whole box of plastic warriors which puts me 24 figures out of reach of finishing the army off :/ Oh well, the plastics are nice! Check out Balin, another three Khazad Guard and another three archers in the Iron Hills gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

I had a chance to finish off some figs that I had already painted... either poorly or had them ruined for some reason. First was the dwarf king holding his axe in a combat ready position. I had to bring that fig up to my current standard. Check that one out in the Iron Hills gallery.

The second figure I finally got around to was that goblin king that I converted ages ago (2003 - five years ago!). The paintjob was ruined by a poor can of GW top coat of some flavour... Anyway, I repainted it and left the old picture in for posterity. Check that out in the Moria gallery for that one! Until next time, enjoy!

Working on a couple projects over the last week has slowed things down, but I finally finished both projects... Well, not entirely, but mostly. I have been painting some Khazad Guard in order to try to finish off my Iron Hills army. I have been having fun putting my dwarven army together and I am so close to finishing it off I can taste it! Check out the dwarves in the Iron Hills gallery. All I have left are three more archers, three more khazad guard, three dwarf Kings, and Balin. Woo!

I have also been working on a modular terrain set made up of 60x60cm (2x2') pieces. It has been pretty easy, except for the damn vinyl grass mat. I even have the specific vinyl mat adhesive, but it doesn't work. Nothing works. And since I am gluing it to foam, my glue choices are limited! Oh well. I will post pictures when they are nearer to completion along with a quick tutorial. Until next time, enjoy!

I am going to try to burn through some figs. Hopefully I can paint a number of them before I feel compelled to buy more! Anyway, I just finished a dwarf scout from Reaper the other day. It is a Werner Klocke fig, and very nice, if somewhat strangely proportioned. Check it on in the Dungeons & Dragons gallery. Until next time...

Nice to get back to painting again! I painted up the wonderful female dwarf from Hasslfree Miniatures that recently came out. Great fig, top notch. The fig has so much character that I based a D&D character entirely around it! A former slave who has anger management issues... She loses it and goes into a berzerker rage, and then, when it's all over and the dust has settled she laments her actions (well... sometimes) and adjusts her helmet! It's great! Check her out in the Dungeons & Dragons gallery. She also fits pretty well with my Lord of the Rings dwarves, so hopefully she will see some action against the goblins of Moria as well! Until next time, enjoy!

It is finally done! It's done! I am extremely happy that the project has come to completion, and not a moment too soon. Five weeks is pretty much the maximum amount of time I like to spend on any one project... But it was worth it. Anyway, enough talk, go check out the finished pictures in the Prancing Pony galley. Until next time, enjoy!

Another content update! I am so close to finishing the Prancing Pony that it hangs like a scent under my nose... just out of the reach of my hands... Enough poetry though. In my mad dash to finish the project I managed to take a single picture of the first window I put it. Adding windows is really cool and it really enhances the look of the place. The big windows are the most important of course... I will post a picture of those when I get the chance. Hopefully, if the universe wills it, this will be done tomorrow! Check out the latest picture in the Prancing Pony galley. Until next time, enjoy!

Finally, a content update! I have finished painting the Pony (finally!). It was a long road but thankfully it is done! Now I am detailing. The tables are painted, the doors are under assembly, and then it is on to the windows. I still have some beds to paint, but this project is on the brink of completion! Woo! Anyway, only a single picture this time of a swinging door prototype. Check it out in the Prancing Pony galley. Until next time, enjoy!

I built that steamship as part of a group effort on a miniature forum. I claimed that a scratch built steamship would be better than any resin one available! So, myself and a few others built our own, and this steamship up for auction was what I came up with. I never intended to sail her myself, and to give her a better home than my dusty shelf I have desided to sell her! I am proud of this piece, so I hope she fares well on many a miniature battlefield! Check out the Auctions section of the site for the link to the auction! Good luck!

It's been a while since there has been a functionality update on the site! I finally got around to properly implementing my image gallery... I had been meaning to do real thumb galleries for some time, but just didn't want to be bothered to take time away from painting miniatures to do it. But now, since I am trying to work through the crazy Prancing Pony project, I find myself wanting to be away from miniatures more and more! Just kidding! But still, now there are real thumb galleries in the Armies and Terrain gallery sections. Hope you enjoy!.

Another quick update. I finished shingling and tiling the Prancing Pony! Woo! And now I am on to more interesting detail work. Currently, I just want to put everything in that will be glued down so that I can paint it all nicely. Once painted I will add all of the extra details like tables and chairs and such :) Check out one of the fine rooms available in the Prancing Pony galley. Until next time, enjoy!

Another update already! I decided to trade away almost all of my Warhammer 40,000 armies today. I kept the Sisters of Battle, but I am getting rid of the Tyranids that I have as well as the Eldar! Yay! To be free of that stuff is nice actually, one less thing to worry about. Of course, since I am trading, I will end up with a few different figs to worry about, but oh well :) Anyway, I took some pics of the painted Tyranids that I wanted to have record of at least. Check them out in the Tyranids gallery.

I also uploaded another picture from the Prancing Pony work in progress action. The roof shingling has come a long way. It takes almost as much effort and time to shingle the roof than to build the entire structure including the roof! It is unbelievable! Anyway, check that out in the Prancing Pony galley. Until next time, enjoy!

I am still struggling with that Prancing Pony project, and so have no new material to show yet. Shingling... Tiling... Can there ever be too much of it? Anyway, I didn have the chance while away from my hobby desk to write up another article in the Lothlorien series of articles derived from my work on the Caras Galadhon project. The latest article outlines detailing the tree and describes how I attached stairs, flets, and bridges. It also talks briefly about detailing the base. Check out the Detailing your Lothlorien Mallorn Tree article in the Articles section of the site. Until next time, enjoy!

As promised, some work in progress shots of the Prancing Pony. Things have come a long way in the last few days and the project is really starting to take shape. Although the end may not be in sight, it is certainly conceivable now :) Check out the new pictures in the Prancing Pony gallery. Until next time, enjoy :)

Not much of an update today... I have been working on the Prancing Pony lately and it has been taking more time than I thought it would! I mean, the thing was estimated to take a couple of weeks! Two weeks later I still haven't made the roof yet! Oh well, I will post some new progress pictures tomorrow. I am also working on a battle report as well as another article in the Lothlorien thread of articles, this one detailing. Stay tuned!

I did update the links page though. Having neglected it for long enough, I decided to put some stuff in there that has inspired me. First, I added some links to the Tengwar Beacon and the Ports of Pelargir. Those are both Lord of the Rings community sites put together by Grimhelm of Snowbourn as well as others. Great stuff for Lord of the Rings fans. Also, I put up a link to Jeff Clapham's Terrain Galleries. This guy does some wonderfully detailed stuff! Go to the Links Page and check those out!

A quick update this week. I managed to get quite a ways on my Prancing Pony project... I wanted a generic pub and inn for D&D, and I also wanted to get back into the Lord of the Rings. So naturally, the Inn of the Prancing Pony it had to be! Check out the bottom floor work in progress shots in the Prancing Pony gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Happy Halloween! No, no Halloween themed figs unfortunately... maybe next year... I finally got around to the last two stands for my Viking DBA army in 15mm. I had been looking at these unpainted figs for over a year... The last two stands to provide all of the options for the army are finally done! I haven't played for a year either, so I am not even sure what they are, but they look nice, so who cares! Anyway, check them out in the 15mm Viking gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

I took some time over the last few days to build some quick terrain for D&D. A couple of years ago I used to be happy with vinyl mats for D&D. My miniature hobby and my D&D hobby were completely seperate in my mind... But lately I was thinking that, since I don't really play a lot of miniature games, and I do a lot of miniature-related stuff, I should start doing D&D stuff! So I put together a stone tile board for D&D as well as some removable pieces. Good for usability, and also likely good for some miniature game action as well! Check out all the pieces in the D&D Modular Terrain gallery! Until next time, enjoy!

Put together another figure for my D&D campaign. A new player joined the group so that meant a new miniature! This one is a chaotic neutral gnome cleric. A very interesting combination that should produce interesting results during the game! Check out the gnome cleric in the D&D gallery.

I also listed the Reaper elf warrior on eBay. Check out the Auctions section of the site for the link! Next up? Not sure actually... Definitely some D&D terrain, but we will have to wait and see :) Until next time, enjoy!

This fig took a lot longer than I had planned. Some serious freehand on this one, and then a late decision to try my hand at sky-earth non-metallic metal made it run a bit long. Although, I must say it was a pleasure to paint. There was almost too much detail on this fig, but it is very well executed. Anyway, enough jabbering, check it out in the D&D gallery. This fig will be on the eBay auction block next week, so stay tuned until then!

Next week I should have another D&D fig as well as some D&D specific terrain... Yeah, I know, I am focusing a lot on the RPG action, but it is the one game that I can find dedicated players for :) Anyway, until next time, enjoy!

Looking forward to some modern zombie action, I decided to paint up the Alyx. I decided to go with the hard core zombie survivor looks for the fig, and I am pretty happy with it! She is so good that she isn't even splattered! Check her out in the Adventurers gallery! Until next time, enjoy!

Finished that giant skeleton! I am very happy with it. It wasn't as hard or as much work as I thought it was going to be... I mean, ever since I painted that Cave Troll I have been keeping clear of large figs as they take so much time. But now it seems it isn't as much work as I had thought... Maybe I will paint that Balrog next afterall! But I digress. Check out the giant skeleton in the D&D gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Dwarves are fun to paint, and it was nice to get back to the Lord of the Rings world. These figs were a pleasure to paint, and they turned out really well. It has been a while since I painted more than a couple of figs at once, and it was tough going back to it. I felt like I would never finish! But, now that they are done I am pretty happy about it! Only about 18 more to go! Check them out in the Iron Hills gallery.

I also started a giant skeleton for my dungeons and dragons group. It should be a lot of fun putting that thing down onto the table :) Being a DM can be so hard... Absolute power is somewhat corrupting, but at least I give my players a chance >:) Anyway, check the WIP of the giant skeleton out in the D&D gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Finally got back to those Andalusians I started working on about two years ago! Two more down and four more to go! This was a ten pack from Gripping Beast that was going to be the beginning of my 1500 point Warhammer Ancient Battles army. I swore at the time that I would buy one pack at a time, paint, base and get it ready before buying another pack. Shortly after that my WAB group fell apart and I haven't played since! Good thing I didn't buy the entire army all in one go! In any case, check the Andalus gallery for the latest two figs! Until next time, enjoy!

I had a chance to paint a one-off cleric fig for myself this past weekend. I took a break from non-metallic metals, and I must say it was strange. Metals are a lot more forgiving in terms of highlighting because they practically highlight themselves! Still, I managed to put two highlights on each. Even so, I was happy that it took so little time because blending simply isn't an issue For them! Anyway, check out the fig in the D&D gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

I just finished a figure that I agreed to paint for a buddy in my D&D group! This one is a dashing Hasslefree martial artist. It was a joy to paint, as all Hasslefree miniatures tend to be. Good cast, good sculpt, easy to paint. I am pretty happy with it. Check it out in the Adventurers gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Had some time to paint up another Tiriel! I love this fig, so simple, yet so much can be done with it! I think this is my best one to date. Check the fig out in my D&D gallery in the armies section. I am also selling this fig on eBay. Check out the Auctions section for all the info! Next I have another single Hasslfree fig to do and then on to some dwarves or something... Until next time, enjoy!

Finally I have finished construction on the tramp steamer! All that is left is to paint the beast, which might be fun... But not likely to happen until I start collecting the period a bit more... The CoC genre is calling me, so it could be sooner than I had planned :) In any case, check out the finished ship in the Tramp Steamer gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Work and progress on the tramp steamer continues. At this point, it is basically done. Of course, that doesn't mean that there is no more work to do, as I will continue to add details until the 15th of September, when the deadline for this project arrives. The structure as well as many of the details (such as doors and portholes) are done. All that is left is actually putting the little details in place like the crane, the engines, and so on... Check out some WIP shots in the Tramp Steamer gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

I have been working on the tramp steamer this week primarily. Taking a little break from painting miniatures at the moment. The steamer is coming along very well at the moment. After a few hours it is already recognizable as something boat-like at least! Check it out in it's very own new Tramp Steamer gallery! I imagine it will take me at least another week to finish this off, so stay tuned for more updates later. Until next time, enjoy!

Already another update! I picked up the Sadie vampire hunter fig from Hasslefree and before I knew it, it was done! So, check it out in the Adventurers Gallery in the armies section. It was pretty fun to paint for sure, and I decided to go with the simple graveyard for the scenic base. This one is also up for auction on eBay. Check out the Auctions section of the site for all the info and a link to the auction itself!

Next I think I will finally sit down and build the tramp steamer that I have been talking about doing. Over on the Lead Adventure Forum there is a friendly contest surrounding the building of a trampt steamer! I like building ships for some reason, so I am going to try my hand :) Until next time, enjoy!

I finally got back to my starship troopers project; I am planning to play some SST this week so I needed to round out my Arachnid Warriors unit. Only six more, but since these figs are so big, six more is a lot of arachnid warrior action! Check those out in the Arachnids gallery. That's it for this week, but soon I plan to build a tramp steamer, and then perhaps paint a few more adventurers :) Until next time, enjoy!

Put some time into Lord of the Rings this week. I liked getting back to Lord of the Rings I must say... Especially back to Lothlorien! In any case, I painted Celeborn using non-metallic metals. I am pretty happy with it. I am not sure I like non-metallic metals though. I don't think I will do my elves in that style anymore, but who knows. In any case, I am going to sell this figure. The auction will be up on Sunday or Monday, so check back for that! Until then, check out the Lothlorien Army Gallery for a couple of pictures of the fig and its accompanying terrain! Until next time, enjoy!

I also just realized that I didn't properly link the Underworld Selene auction! I hope you all found it anyway if you were interested. The problem has been fixed now and I promise to try not to do it again!

Took some time to rebuild my workbench, which is partly why I have been slow to update over the past little while. Still, I have also been quite busy with other stuff, which has kept me away from the hobby... But I am back now :) Anyway, check out my new paint bottle shelves! They are all done and basically barren! Seriously, that is all the paint I have!

I also finished up my rendition of Selene from Underworld. It is based on Dionne from Hasslfree miniatures, a great fig in itself. But I figured I would put it into the Underworld, and tried to match the movie scene where Selene shoots through the floor. It works perfectly as an excuse to allow the miniature to be removed from the terrain. Check her out in the new Sci-fi Adventurers galery. It will be up for auction tomorrow. Until next time, enjoy!

A quick update to let everyone know that I have listed the Undead Lady on eBay. I built some terrain to go with it, which can be viewed in its entirety both on the eBay auction and in the D&D gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

As promised, I have finished the undead lady! What a fig, very well produced: amazing design, excellent sculpt, fantastic cast. The detail that Freebooter can put onto these things is almost unbelievable! In any case, check out the fig in the D&D gallery. I will put a scenic base together for this fig, and then it is off to the auction block. I did buy a second for myself, as I like this fig a lot. Until next time, enjoy!

I finished a second bug hole for my Startship Troopers project. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be the last one I need, as I explained in mylast update (below). But I wish I had an excuse to make more because I have so many extra bug legs and feet to use up! Oh well, I guess that is a great excuse to buy more bugs! Check out the latest bug hole in the Starship Troopers Terrain gallery.

I also put together a quick little article on how I made the bug holes. It was fun and there were a few people asking how I did it, so I figured it would be useful! Check out the See a bug hole? Nuke it! - Building bug holes article here. What's next for me? Likely the Undead Lady from Freebooter that just arrived in the mail! Until next time, enjoy!

Finished a quick bug hole for my Starship Troopers project. Check out the new Starship Troopers Terrain gallery in the terrain section to check out the pics. According to the rules, you can use at most two in a game between 1-999 points. I doub't I will ever have more than 999 points, so it may be a small terrain gallery :) Until next time, enjoy!

Finished the last character fig for my Hetwah D&D campaign! This one is Langdon the Paladin. The fig that I used wasn't the best cast (OMG GW Strikes again!), but it turned out okay anyway :) Check it out in the D&D gallery.

I also finished a couple of MI figs for my SST project! I was going to wait to paint these until I was done all of my bugs, but I got tired of using GW Imperial Guard for bug food in the pics. So check out the new Mobile Infantry gallery. I did a female and an officer so far. I took special care to match the colours and do some badges, so enjoy! What's next? Well, there is nothing on my table right now at all... No half finished projects... So, likely more bugs, but who knows :)

Since a D&D session looms on the horizon for me (I am the DM, so it requires some work from me still) I decided to get those last couple D&D figs painted up. The first is an elven monk. I decided to go with the Dark Ages feel, and so I used an Old Glory Viking bondi with spear as the base. I shaved off the shield peg and put in a staff instead of a spear and blamo! Check it out in the D&D Gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Another update! Well, I finished the tanker bug I had been working on for some time... The painting was quick, but the converting was crazy extensive! Anyway, check out the images in the Arachnids gallery in the Armies section. What's next? Maybe some bug hole terrain pieces, or some D&D miniatures... Not sure yet :) Until then, enjoy!

Thanks to overwhelming support for my dry brushing of arachnid warriors over at The Lead Adventure Forum, I managed to finish off a couple more. At this point, I think it is possible that I may actually finish 20 of the beasts in my lifetime! Check out the new ones in the the Arachnids gallery!

I am currently working on a tanker bug. So far it is going well... but I realized that it is entirely black! Easy to paint, but not all that exciting, and I already finished the only part of the bug with colour: the eyes. Still, it is a pretty impressive piece and I think the effort I put in to put it in a somewhat natural bug-like pose was totally worth it! I am itching for some terrain though, so stay tuned for something or other soon around here :) Until next time, enjoy!

Man those arachnid warriors are huge! And they are only worth 15 points, which means that you have to paint at least 20! But seriously, I totally want to paint 500+ so that I can recreate the battle at the outpost on planet P! Fortunately for me, Mongoose built in a rule that allows your arachnids to respawn! So maybe I can get away with only 20! Anyway, check out my two warrior bugs in the Arachnids gallery!

I also took a picture of an old vindicare assassin from my Sisters of Battle days... It was quite terrifying actually... I mean Lovecraft terror here! When I opened that ancient Cyclopean metal case, my hands being able to manipulate it only through some arcane dream-like memory, my heart was filled with utter terror as I looked at these ancient figures, painted in my style.... but with no highlighting at all!!!! AAAAAAHHHH! The terror! I scrambled back out of the ancient abyss and told my family that I had passed out and had a terrible dream... But I decided to write this down, lest it wasn't actually a dream....

I have had five elves half painted on my painting table for about four months... I finally put the effort in to finish them. After dreading having to do them (and their 30+ counterparts still in a box somewhere) for so long, I was pleasantly surprised that they went together so quickly! I did reduce the number of highlights from four to two in order to make finishing the army plausible. But honestly, you can't really tell all that much! Check the new elves out in the Lothlorien Army gallery.

I am currently working on some arachnids, so they will likely be my next update... Although, to be honest, when I am sorta at the end of a major project my fancy is typically quite dynamic... And since the Lothlorien terrain is likely the biggest project that I have done to date, you can imagine that all of the terrain projects that I had thought of but couldn't act on while building it have come flooding to the forefront... In any case, until the next update, enjoy!

So the Lothlorien project is finally done. Yes, I cut some corners here and there, but ultimately it is one of the finest pieces of terrain I have built to date. I started in late December and so the project ran for just over six months! Check out all of the images that you could possibly want to look at in the Lothlorien - Caras Galadhon gallery in the terrain section.

I also wrote another article on this project: Building Lothlorien Elven Structures. This article outlines the basics behind building a structure for the tree. I plan to write two more articles on this project. One that outlines how to make more complex structures such as Galadriel's house as well as some of the other more complicated ones. The final article will be about bringing the project together: detailing the base, attaching the stairs and flet floors and so on. Stay tuned for those! Until then enjoy!

I recently painted another Aradia figure. This one though was purely painted for sale on eBay and so will not be making an appearance in my D&D Campaign. It was fun to paint and this time I completely left the metallic paints closed. It wasn't too tough to paint the sword/sheath and tiny bit of chain with non-metallic silver, and it was kinda fun. This one is up for sale as well, check out the Auctions section for info.

I also posted some picture of some of the figs that I recently won. There were a couple of Lord of the Rings best army competitions at the two GW Hobby Centres in my city recently. In a rush of dissorganization I managed to enter both. I also won both :) So I walked away with 2000 points of painted GW figs from their display cases. I took a number of Khand figs, but I think that they will never be repainted and will sit in a box for 20+ years if I keep them, so I am selling them. Hopefully someone will buy them and put them to good use! Check out all the pics in the Khand gallery and check out the Auctions section for links to the auctions! Until next time, enjoy!

I finshed another 11 jungle bases this week! I love these things, and they go together so damn fast I just couldn't stop myself! Now I already have a pretty dense and large jungle and I haven't even thrown in my existing deciduous trees to fill it out! Check out the jungle action in the Jungle gallery.

I also finally got around to picking up one of the wonderful McFarlane's dragons for miniature gaming. I was prompted to actually get off my butt and do it with the release of the Lord of the Rings miniature dragon. I wasn't too happy with the design, the sculpt, or the price, so I decided to finally buy one of these McFarlane's dragons. Glad I waited though because the series five and six both out do all of the previous series in my opinion. Anyway, check out some shots of the pre-painted, $20CAN beauty in the D&D Gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Another update! That samurai woman fig sold on eBay! Gives me some cash to fund my new miniature project: Starship Troopers: Arachnids. I know, I know, I have a thing for dead miniature games based on movies ;) In any case, check out the three bugs I built in the Starship Troopers: Arachnids gallery in the armies section. And no, I have no intention of buying a single prepainted miniature! Hey, since I don't play, what would I have left to do if I didn't have to paint?

I also finished a couple of Guncannons for the Gundam action. They turned out pretty well, except for the grey parts. I used Privateer's new P3 line of paints for it and I hate the glossyness of those paints... It makes it hard to highlight properly when the paint shines! Anyway, check out the Guncannons in the Gundam gallery in the armies section. I also built a quick jungle base in less than five minutes! I am still thinking about that Vietnam conflict action :) Check that out in the Jungle gallery in the terrain section. Until next time, enjoy!

Finally finished the female samurai from Hassle Free Miniatures! It was a lot of fun to paint for sure. This one is going up for auction as well, so if you like it, feel free to bid :) Check out the images in the D&D Gallery. Also, check out the auction info in the Auctions section. Until next time, enjoy!

Been a slow while for painting over the last few weeks. Still working on the tree of Lorien, as well as some other figs. I have one WIP to show for now though. This is one of the finest figs from hassle free miniatures. Trying to figure out if I should put a pattern on the dress or just leave it plain red... To be honest, I have yet to find a Japanese dress that appeals to me. The colour combinations seem to be a bit unorthodox for my tastes :) Anyway, until next time, enjoy!

Some more work on the elven tree project! I am almost done this, but the closer I get to finishing, the harder it is to motivate myself... I think that is the key to projects such as this; it isn't the work that is all that hard, it is keeping ones self interested long enough to actually finish it! Anyway, check out the Lothlorien Terrain Gallery for the new images!

Next I will have to paint a few more D&D figs (two more characters to paint up!). After that though, I am going to finish that damn tree if it is the last thing I do! Until next time, enjoy!

Another figurine finished for D&D. This time it's Enid the Witch or Aradia. I like clerics, what can I say. I also like witches! So it is indeed the perfect fit. Check out Enid in the D&D gallery.

I am going to paint another figure or two for D&D and then I promise I will work on the tree. I just bought a whole bunch of paint for the project, and so after I finish off the little final bits of detail on the structures I will be ready to go! Stay tuned! Until next time, enjoy!

Some more figs for my Gundam project! I love the Gundam genre, it is like the original giant robot genre and it is just so cool :) Something about giant robots that gets me all hot and bothered! Anyway, enough about me. Check out the new GM Command Space type and the two new GM ground suits in the Gundam army gallery.

Next I am going to try to polish that tree off once and for all, so stay tuned for that. Also, I have been wasting time doing a Web comic for my D&D campaign. Check out the comic and the world info page in the Hetwah D&D Page. Until next time, enjoy!

Some more D&D figs roll off the line! Fun to make and paint, there is another of the flying red heads. I love those things! And who would have realized that they like to swarm! Woo!

I also painted up Aradia, cleric of... check the gallery :) You can see both Aradia and the new flying red head in the D&D Gallery in the armies section of the site. I am also selling Aradia, check out the auctions section of the site for the details and the link to the auction itself. Until next time, enjoy!

Back to the tree again. Man, that tree... What a tree... Oh that tree... Damn that tree! I wonder about that tree? It is driving me crazy :) A little more work on Galadriel's house there, as well as the finishing touches on one more little structure, and the tree from the bottom up will be done. All I will have to do is paint the structures and detail the base! Check out the latest shot here.

Also, finished building and painting a fig for my D&D action. It is one of the many flying monsters that I have to build for this mostly air-ship type campaign! Oh well, isn't that what we're all in this hobby for anyway? Check it out here. Until next time, enjoy!

I had to take a break from the tree again... Actually, not a complete break, I have been adding foiliage, but since that isn't all that interesting, I decided to paint some figs to keep myself interested in the hobby. Two figs that are outside of the Lord of the Rings universe. The first is a US army/marine soldier from the Vietnam era. Check out that fig in the all-new Imperialists Vietnam galery.

I also painted a fig for my latest D&D campaign... It should be a summer of fun, D&D, paintball, and miniature gaming! 300% more activities than last summer! In any case, this D&D fig is actually a Lord of the Rings dwarf king painted as a dwarfen navigator! Check it out in the D&D Figs gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

The action continues on the tree of Lothlorien. It seems that I have reached the middle line an passed it as the project seems to look a lot more complete. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done yet (like at least two sculpts, wiring the lights, and painting the structures!), but still, I think the worst is behind me... The platforms are all fixed in place and now the project seems to have begun to come to life as a realm of Middle-earth, which is very important for providing the required inspiration to see the project to the finish... Anyway, check out the single picture update in the Tree of Lorien gallery in the terrain section. Until next time, enjoy!

After a couple of weeks, I decided to update with some of my old stuff. Unfortunately the tree is not really at a stage where it is ready to be photographed again... It is just such a volume of work that I haven't really done all that much even though I have been working non-stop for two months! Anyway, I digress

First, my very first fig for D&D. She was a very impatient dwarf rogue. Check her out in the D&D Gallery. Also, I put up a pic of my rats from GW's rat swarm and a better picture of the spiders from GW's spider swarm. They are in the Horror gallery. Why these figs? Well I am starting a horror-based D&D campaign shortly, so out come all the old figs for some of that action! Until next time, enjoy!

So far it looks like most of the work on the Tree of Lorien is going to be the structures. I have been working on them for what seems like ages, and apparently getting nowhere! I mean, I finish one, and there are three more waiting in line to be done up! Anyway, before I go crazy I am going to move on to something else and come back to the structures (only two small ones and Galadriel and Celeborn's structures left!) later when I can look at them with fresh eyes. In the mean time, check out my latest completed structure in the Lorien Terrain Gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Work on the tree continues... After taking some time to paint I have gone back to the tree with a new vigour! I finished shingleing the majority of structures, including Galadriel's house. Now there are only a couple of small ones to finish off! The end of my shingleing days are in sight! And I promise not to shingle again for an age! Anyway, check out my latest gallery picture in the Lothlorien terrain gallery.

I also finished the first of a hand full of hobby articles outlining how I went about creating this project. The first is a look at building the tree structure itself! Everything you need to make your very own gigantic tree is in the Building a Mallorn Tree article. Now everyone can get started on their very own Lothlorien project! Until next time, enjoy!

I have finished those four elves that I had been working on. Two captains and two regular Lorien elves with swords. Check them out in the Lothlorien Army gallery! Since I only need one Lorien elf captain, the other is going to eBay! Check out the Auctions section for details. Now it is time to return to the tree... To the tree! To the tree!

UPDATE: Feb 1, 2006. I added a picture to the Lorien gallery as I just finished another structure; it went faster than I thought it would! Check out the Lothlorien terrain gallery for the image!

Work keeps getting in the way with my miniatures action... Still, the Lothlorien project progresses. I have finished one house completely and figured out an easy way to get the stairs up the tree together... despite a false start already. I had time to take one pic and put it up, check that out in the Caras Galadhon gallery.

I needed a break from the Caras Galadhon action though. It has been a month and still not completed... So I needed to change gears and do some painting as I promised I would weeks ago. Working on two wood elves in armour and two wood elf captains. Going well so far, check back next week for more progress! Until then, enjoy!

Busy busy busy... Story of my life. The work on the tree in Lothlorien continues! Holey Schamoley. This project is at least as big as the Umbar project. It is actually more work though because building those simple structures in Umbar was a lot easier than building the tree houses. Furthermore, there is a lot more detail to add to the houses in Caras Galadhon that to Umbar... Wow, hopefully this project will be done soon though! Check out the updated images in the Caras Galadhon gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

What a couple of weeks it has been. I have been too busy to do to much unfortunately. I did however get a chance to finish plastering and painting up that mallorn tree. It is now ready to have its base detailed. Now if only I could finish building the buildings that I need to put in the tree I would be pretty much done ;) Check out the images here.

So yes, I realize that I promised a few painted elves as well, but that project was side tracked. I was prompted to drive forward with Caras Galadhon and so I have four half-painted elves leering at me from my painting table... But there is one of them on top of the tree in the Caras Galadhon gallery, so at least they are getting some picture time :) Anyway, hopefully I will have more to show next week, until then, enjoy.

And so a new year begins! Still chugging away on that Caras Galadhon project. It started out going very quickly, but when it came time for the detail to be added things got a bit crazy; the amout of work to finish one small structure for the tree was incredible. Considering that I will be doing about nine more, I am going to have to come up with a different method I think... But perhaps not, there were more than a couple of times where I backtracked and started over on certain parts so the next few will go faster...Check out some sneek peeks of the project in the Lothlorien - Caras Galadhon gallery. UPDATE: I added another pic to the Lothlorien gallery!

I think though that I am going to take a short break from this piece and paint a couple of Lothlorien elves. I have a number of them calling to me from my painting table so I think I will oblige them! First up, a couple of captains, one of which will likely find its way onto eBay! Until next time, enjoy!

I hope everyone had a great break! Mine was quite exciting with lots of things to do, places to go, and people to see... Still, Soltice is over and the days are growing in length again, so that is wonderful! This week my first eBay auction featuring a Lord of the Rings fig ended in success as well! Haldir is making his way to his new home as I type!

This week unfortunately I haven't finished any projects, but it isn't for lack of effort. I have been working on my Lothlorien - Caras Galadhon terrain project exclusively. Although I am a long way off, I have come a long way. Stay tuned over the next few weeks, as I hope to continue posting sneek peek pictures! Check out what I have so far in the gallery here. When the piece is done I will also be providing an article for all those interested! That being said, I am sure I will paint some miniatures while I am working on the Caras Galadhon stuff, so stay tuned for that as well. Until next time, enjoy!

A small update this week! I managed to get my armoured Haldir painted! This one can be seen in the Lothlorien gallery. This fig I am selling on eBay as well. Check out the Auctions section for all the details on that! Until next week, enjoy!

After a busy week I finally had the chance to polish off my VC! Check out the Viet Cong gallery for all of the pics! Hopefully I will have tonnes of time to work on my next project, which will be based on elvendom in Middle-earth! I will be posting updates, so stay tuned! Until then, enjoy!

This week I polished off a couple of figs that were loitering on my desk for more than a few weeks. I think these two PanzerKampfSoldat should polish off my section (didn't you know that a section of PanzerKampfSoldat is made up of only four?). Still not done my Weird Wehrmacht though... Anyway, check out the latest PanzerKampfSoldat here.

In the coming weeks I will be posting a few more Viet Cong, perhaps some imperialist Americans from that era, and plans for some Lord of the Rings Elven terrain for them to fight over... What? Until next time, enjoy!

Finally done... The Eorl the Young fig has been taunting me from a primed black face for about six months... I had planned to have it done in June, but there just wasn't enough time. Done now though, and up in the Rohan gallery in the Armies section. Check it out here.

No time to paint and indeed no time to tidy, thus the state of my painting table. What can I say, I have always liked to be tidy but had a hard time translating that into practice :/ Still, it seems to work okay anyway, as I still get stuff done in spite of the mess :) Anyway, until next time, enjoy!

This week I am releasing my article on how I built Umbar. The construction of the walled city was actually quite simple, and this just outlines in detail the stuff that I actually either came up with myself or used for the first time. Check out the article in the Articles section here.

I have also listed the last of my early World War II German figures on eBay. I was thinking about just keeping it, but I really have no use for it! Check out the auction details in the Auctions section. My current project has me painting up Eorl the Young, but it is a ways off until completion; I am doing both the mounted and foot version concurrently. I will update when it is done! Until then, enjoy!

This week I am releasing my article on the Harad Themed Terrain that I built back in March! This article follows the development of the project and sheds light on how it was constructed, from the very beginning research and design phase right down to painting. Check it out in the Articles section here. Until next time, enjoy!

I finally had the chance to get to a project that I have been pining to do for at least a year: The Vietnam Conflict. I really wanted to paint up some Vietcong to help push the imperialist aggressors from the US out of Vietnam, and so I finally have! Check out the Vietcong in their very own gallery in the modern historical section of the Armies page!

To accompany that I have added FNG to the games section. FNG is built from the CR 2.0 set of rules that were used in NUTS!, and it works perfectly for the Vietnm conflict. Although the characterization of the conflict isn't perfect, the rules make perfection possible. Still, check out the game description here. Next week will likely have no updates, so don't worry if you arrive here to nothing new, but not too long after that I will be at it again, so don't fret! Until next time, enjoy!

Just finished a Death Cult Assassin! I like the fig, but I think that it doesn't fit in with my collection, so it is up for auction! Check out some pics of the fig in the CS Sisters gallery. Or, check out the auction information and link in the Auctions section! Until next time, enjoy!

Just finished a couple more mobile suits for the Mobile Suit Gundam Battle System action! This time two more GMs, but these are the GM Kai version of the lovely and often expendable mobile suit. In any case, check out the finished product here. Until next time, enjoy!

I have listed my second WWII early war German Obergefreiter on eBay! This one is starting at a mere $0.99 USD! Check out all of the details in the Auctions section! Happy bidding!

Finished up a miniature that has long been staring at me undercoated on the corner of my desk... An old Reaper Scarecrow, but definitely an amazing sculpt. I put it into the old 'creepy crawly' gallery that I have changed into the Horror gallery. Check it out here. Just finishing some DBA stuff up, along with some more mobile suits! Until next time, enjoy!

A couple of updates today. First is a finish (for now anyway) of my Weird World War II project! I have released the Weird War expansion for the NUTS! WWII skirmish rules! The expansion covers everything from Vampires to Rocket Troopers, Werewolves to Walkers, Armoured Troopers to Monsters, and of course, Zombies! Some nifty art work and miniatures are in there also, so check it out here.

For my latest project I finished a GM Command Space Type mobile suit from the Gundam franchise. It was a lot of fun to paint, and it really got me up to speed on my white painting skills! The picture isn't all that great but it gives you the general idea! Check out that fig in the Gundam army gallery. Until next week, enjoy!

This week was the first week that paintball cut into my painting time! Oh my, what am I going to do? How can I keep to obsessions on the go with equal attention? Oh well :) Anyway, I finished those Soviet wolfmen. check them out in the Weird Soviets gallery. Next up some giant robots! Until then, enjoy!

So, my Bolt Action Obergefreiter didn't sell on eBay. Over 200 views and a number of watchers but nobody interested. I relisted it as of today for much less. I guess we will see how that goes :) I guess I will try to sell it one more time, if that doesn't work I think maybe I will just have to start an early war force ;) Check the auctions section for the fresh link. See you next week!

Feels like it has been a while since I have updated, although I guess it has only been a week :) So much paintball I have lost track of time. I picked up a BT-4 and indeed took it out for some action. My cheap goggles were so fogged the night was kinda touch and go, but I still managed to score a kill on my first shot in the first game I played! But I digress, back to some miniature action!

I have updated the Weird Wehrmacht gallery with some vampires, or should I say wampires? I decided to go with something a little different on their skin and do an all grey sorta thing. I think it turned out a little too zombie-looking. Still, I am pretty happy with it. I also updated my WWII Wehrmacht gallery to include an early war German Obergefreiter. It was fun to paint, but since I don't plan on doing any early war projects I am selling it on eBay, as well as another one a little later.

That brings me to my final update for today. The new Auctions link in the menu bar will list all of my auctions as I put them up. So please take a look! So far only the Obergefreiter is up, but soon there will be some more! Until next time, enjoy!

***UPDATE: I added one more early war German Obergefreiter to the WWII Wehrmacht gallery!***

Damn that Ebob and his wonderful miniatures! After seeing his soon-to-be-released paintball miniatures I was reminded of my paintball days from years ago! Naturally I have already decided to purchase a paintball marker, field kit, goggles, and some paint and head out with a buddy to shoot each other up! Oh well, I will still have time for miniatures :)

Two updates today in the Weird War and WWII galleries. The first of the new updates are in the WWII Soviet Gallery. I put a sniper, one more DPM light machine gun team, and the last three of my TAG rifles. Also I finished off the last two ghouls for my Weird Soviets. Check out that gallery for all the pics! Next up is learning to field strip my BT4 combat paintball marker... But after that I have some She Wolves from Bob Murch's Pulp Miniatures (beautiful figs!) and some more Soviet monsters, these ones from Brigade games! Until next time, enjoy!

Two new battle reports today! They are playtest games of a few scenarios from the Weird World War II supplement expansion that I am putting together for the NUTS! game system. In any case the supplement just needs some final playtesting and then layout and then it's ready, but I decided to do a couple of battle reports in anticipation of its release.

Check out Act 1 - The Undead Hordes of the Sinister Science of the German Warmachine which sees some farm women and children battle their way accross a road and through their undead husbands, brothers, and fathers to get to safety. Once you get through that check out Act 2 - The Rescue that sees the Red Army soldiers attemtp to rescue the women and children from Act 1. I have painted some figs as well over the past week and will post pictures soon! Until then, enjoy!

A new gallery graces the pages of An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields today. The Wierd Wehrmacht arrive on the scene to do battle with their Wierd Soviet counterparts. A PanzerKampfLaufer and a couple of PanzerKampfSoldat are ready to make war. This along with some old GW zombies means that I am actually ready to start play testing my NUTS! WWII rules :) In any case, check out the Wierd Wehrmacht gallery for the new stuff. Hopefully a wierd WII battle report will be coming soon! Until next time, enjoy!

A couple of new updates today! After all that painting I was doing I decided to do some terrain! I like to get a lot out of my terrain as well, so I went for a couple of WWII era Russian farm houses. With a few tweeks they could easily be used for Middle Earth and Dark Age Europe also! Anyway, check out the pics in the Thatch Roof gallery of the terrain section.

I also put together an article on making thatch roofs. It also outlines all of the ways I have made thatch, along with a couple other methods. Hopefully it will help all of you thatch builders out there to build up your thatch towns! Check that article out in the Thatch Roofs article in the articles section. Until nest time, enjoy!

Finished the easterling commission! It is somewhat a relief really, but it has motivated me to want to work on my Soviets again :) I am pretty happy with the way Khamul turned out, so check him (her?) out in the Rhun gallery.

Next up, I still have six Soviets including a converted sniper ready to paint. But, in between painting those Easterlings and Khamul I scratched together a Wierd WWII German light walker (sorta like the Loki from the Gear Krieg universe). I may have to paint that first :) Until next time, enjoy!

Took some special effort to finish off some Easterling Kataphrakts for a commission... A lot of work it was, but the finished product is very nice I think! Likely my best work to date, and heads and bounds over my Suladan model! Check out the Easterling action in the Easterling gallery in the Armies section.

For my next project I will finish the commission with Khamul. I will stick with the GW scheme for that, so it shouldn't take too long (fingers crossed). So far I am unhappy with the requirement to greenstuff the legs! Talk about gaps! Until next time, enjoy!

Small update today... It seems that I have had less time to paint this week than last! In any case, I poslished off half a squad of Soviet rifles with fixed bayonets from The Assault Group Miniatures. Nice figs, but some have no thumbs! Also a West Wind/Old Glory DP light machine gun team. Check them out in the Soviet gallery in the armies section.

I am planning to finish off the WWII skirmish project in the next couple of weeks. Only half a soviet squad left to paint of figs that I have. One command squad on the way and I am done my Soviets. Some German LMG teams and a couple of one offs and I am done the Germans! Man, it has been some time since I played a game where I was nearly finished painting all of the figs for it! Of course, aside from those, I plan to do a single German walker as well... Anyway, until next time, enjoy!

Another update! I actually had very little time to paint over the last week, so it is lucky that i managed to paint anything. Luckily, the Soviet walker was pretty easy and I managed to finish it. This project is one that has been on my desk for months (since about November) waiting for its turn in the queue... In any case, it is done! Check it out in the old Gear Krieg section, which has now been renamed Wierd WWII. The renaming was simply because I will never actually play GK, and I plan to use the universe in the NUTS! system with some walker rules I dreamed up.

That Gear Krieg game from DreamPod9 was really ahead of its time... Now with all the pulp interest it is actually having a limited comeback. Too bad for the DP9 people that they couldn't hold out just a little longer. Mind you, the figs were all in 15mm, which isn't the popular pulp scale, and the game itself wasn't the pulp skirmish that is now en vogue. But still, a cool concept and hats of to those DP9 types for coming up with it! Until next time, enjoy!

Finished off the section of Germans in greatcoats from Westwind. These figs were really a joy to paint, and now all I need is a sniper, some anti-tank weapons and a couple machine guns and those Germans will be ready to go! Still, I got in a small skirmish with the first five facing off against a squad of Soviets... It was bloody. Three Soviets killed to nine Germans killed. Although I didn't have the rules perfect, but it was still fun. I will post some reports sometime in August.

I also picked up some Vietcong, also from Westwind/Old Glory, although I will likely finish my WWII project first! Still, look forward to seeing some VC coming down the line. But still to come are a few Soviet MGs, another Soviet squad, and perhaps even a Soviet walker for some wierd WWII action! Anyway, until next time, enjoy!

Just a small update for today. I finished the first of a set of five Easterling Kataphrakts I am doing as a commission. My first commission and I am a litte nervous that it will live up to expectations :/ That being said, I am pretty happy with it! It turned out swell! Check it out in the Rhun Gallery in the Armies section.

I also added a link to the Witchhunter's Website in the Links section. Very much inspirational material there for sure. Also, be sure to check out the Lead Adventure forum and blog for the site! Until next time, enjoy!

Already another update! I finished that modern ruin and thought I should get some pics up sooner rather than later, so here they are! Check out all of the action in the Modern Ruins gallery in the terrain section. As for next time, I am in between projects, so who knows what it will be. Likely though it will be some Easterling Kataphracts along with Khamul their leader! Until next time, enjoy!

I finished the first five of my ten man squad of WWII Wehrmacht Germans! Some of my best figs to date to be sure and a great fun to paint! Those West Wind figs are very characterful! I would say that upon having a closer look, I like them better than the Artizan Designs figs! In any case check them out in the WWII Wehrmacht gallery in the armies section.

The modern ruin that I built for WWII is almost done, so there should be some pics coming later this week! I have only to drybrush some wood and paint some metal and it is pretty much done... Mind you, that will forever be a WIP because there is so much that could be put in as far as details go... Anyway, to see the old pics, check out the Modern Ruins gallery in the terrain section. But actually, there is a sneek preview of it now that I think of it, in the last picture in the WWII Wehrmacht gallery! Until next time, enjoy!

A battle report hits the site today! Actually two battle reports. Both played with my latest Viking army using the DBA ruleset. It was a great day, a lot of fun and a nice little set of rules... Of course, I am not really all that knowledgeable of the rules still, but it was fun none-the-less! Check out all the action here.

I also added battle reports to all of the games in the Games section for ease of finding all of my battle reports for each game system that I play... Finally, I am oh so close to finishing that modern ruined building in the terrain galleries. So far there is only the first floor in the gallery. The three more floors are nearly done, so hopefully I will have some pics next week! Until then, enjoy!

A big update today. I am breathing a sigh of relief as I finally finished my Viking DBA army. Man, that was quite the job really, but I am pretty happy with the outcome. Note that I took all the old images and flushed them, the gallery is all new! Check it out!

I also wrote up a quick article on my adventure at Conflict 2006 this year. Sure it was the worst attended Conflict ever, but it wasn't a complete waste of time! Check out all the action in the articles section. Until next time, enjoy!

I am getting late and far between with these updates :/ I have been super busy in painting-frenzy mode so have had little time to take pics unfortunately... I have been finishing off the final touches of my Rohirrim and Haradrim for the GW Conflict that is quickly approaching. I have posted a couple of pics surrounding that project today, both of which are objective markers. The first is in the Harad gallery and is a painted dead haradrim warrior. The second is that scarecrow green that has been loitering on my desk for some time. It is in the terrain section in the Battlefield gallery.

I have also been painting up a storm on my 15mm DBA viking project. I have only three stands left to do. I will post pics of the whole army along with the camp when it is finally completed. The event for that army is the 15th, so it is a busy, busy time for me and miniatures... Why do I always get myself into these situations?

A few new updates today! A couple in the army galleries and a new gallery in the terrain section. Mini trees, they took a lot of work but they look pretty snazzy. Although they were done for 15mm and the 1/400 Gundam, they will work to fill out those area terrain markers for 20s and 28s as well! Check out the trees in the Trees gallery of the Terrain section.

I also added some pics to some army galleries. The first is the Haradrim, which I am doing for my Conflict army this summer! I love the haradrim because for five points they are better than orcs (who are also five points)! The other army updates is the 15mm Vikings. That DBA army is coming along and starting to look better than my 28s! Until next time, enjoy!

I had the chance to finish off a section of the site I have been working on for a while: Games. It basically gives some contacts and some info on each of the games that I actually play. Some of the figs on the site are for games that I haven't played in over a year, and those ones are not included in the Games section.

As with every long-term gamer, this section will certainly expand, so keep your eyes peeled here for all of the latest and greates fads in gaming! Okay, well not really... but the latest and greatest fads in my gaming anyway ;) Until next time, enjoy!

I had a chance to fight a small battle using the Mobile Suit Gundam Battle System this past week. The game was fun and the action was great! This game is definitely a winner! Check out all the action in the Battles section! Until next time, enjoy!

I finished the Gray Gundam. Not too bad a fig, but it was tough to go from painting 15mm vikings to 1/400th scale Gundam figs and it shows... Still, it was a good lesson for me as it made me realize that scales are meaningless! Everything is all about surfaces! Anyway, it also made me realize that the cheap copies of these Gundam 1/400th scale figs are fine for gaming, especially since they give me an excuse to paint them! Check out the fig in the Gundam gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Recently I got into 15mm DBA... I swore never to go smaller than 28s, then 20s and now I am at 15s... I am sure 10s are just around the corner, but I will never do 6s or 2s! Anyway, check out those cute little vikings in my 15mm Vikings gallery in the armies section.

I also axed the pics of the 1/144th scale Gundam figs in my Gundam gallery. They weren't really miniatures, they weren't painted, and I am not even going to game with them anymore! I decided to go with the 1/400th scale figs for that game as they are cheaper and easier to get! I replaced the 1/144th pics with a work in progress of the Gray Gundam, so check that out in the Gundam gallery of the armies section. Until next time, enjoy!

I had the chance to paint up some more 20mm Commonwealth this past week. I Like these 20mm figs as they paint up so fast and easily... I put a little extra effort into these ones. After deciding I wasn't all too happy with the level of detail on my previous ones I decided to paint these like 28mm figs and it worked out well. Still, only two highlights instead of the usual three... The eyes weren't even all that hard, although they didn't turn out as well either. Anyway, check them out in the Commonwealth gallery in the armies section. Until next time, enjoy!

So, rather than dig up some old stuff to put up here, I decided to finish off my review of the Fall of the Necromancer supplement and put it up. I should have gotten it out earlier, but hey. Unfortunately it was not my favourite supplement (actually, it was my least favourite), but it is still worth a read. Check out the review here.

I also recently began watching the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam series, which lit the fire in my heart for some Gundam tabletop action... This sparked my memory about a Gundam ruleset that was a plug-in for Warhammer 40k that I saw a while back. Over at Nick Davis' Alt World is where I originally saw it when I went there to have a look at his All at Sea rules for Lord of the Rings ship combat (which is a fantastic rule set by the way!). Anyway, when I went back there to have another look I was extremely happy to see that version 2.0 had just been released, and the plug-in was changed from 40k to Lord of the Rings! Woo hoo!

So, I began to start building some old Gundam LG kits that I had lying around and another gallery was born. Check out my Gundams in the Gundam gallery of the Armies section here. Currently I am planning to use the 1/144th scale Gundam models to fight battles because that is what I have. In the future I may switch to the 1/400th scale collectable figs to allow for more suits. Stay tuned for more developments with this, and until next time, enjoy!

It has been a slow period for projects this week for me. I haven't really been painting or building, only casting... Casting really saps the will to do miniatures stuff for me because my casts always turn out poorly... Every cast I pull out takes about a half an hour worth of greenstuff fixes to be usable... Oh well, I guess it is still better than sculpting a single fig over and over from scratch!

Anyway, I did add a single link to the links section. Steve Dean is a great painter! Check out his WWII 20mm figs, superb! I will also upload some pics of my older stuff too... Stay tuned!

Celebrating my one year online, I decided to go back to the old days and dig out some figs that haven't seen light in years. My first large miniatures army was a Warhammer Undead 9000 point skeleton fest! It was painted somewhere between 1996 and 1997, somewhere around the time the first Vampire Counts book came out.

The army was lead by Ramona the Revenge Seeker, who saught out vampirism so that she could awaken all the women who died at the hands of violent and sexist men. Her goal was to create a world that had no sexism! A land where the dead walked the earth in harmony with the non-sexist people that lived there (after Ramona's Revenge seekers dispatched all the sexist types anyway!). Peace and equality through undeath! It was loads of fun and contained only a couple of GW figs among the hundreds of skeletens that swelled its ranks. Check out a few pics in the Undead gallery in the Sci-Fi & Alternative History stuff in the armies section! Until next time, enjoy!

So May marks the one year anniversary of this site! Happy birthday to An Hour of Wolves! Anyway, I added a Lothlorien gallery to the Armies section. So far there are only a handful of elven captains in there. Expect that one to grow for sure ;) Also, I added another picture of mounted Suladan in the Haradrim gallery. Why? Well, I am experimenting with my camera now to get better images out of it. Not sure I am there yet, but definitely in the right direction... Until next time, enjoy!

This is a little late, but late is always better than never :) As promised, the Closing Battles of the War of the Ring campaign has been updated, and indeed this will be the last update. Yes, the outcome has been decided! But don't sit here an ponder who could have won, follow the link and find out for yourself!

I also added some pictures of my older stuff to some of the galleries. The Iron Hills gallery sees a few more pics of my dwarves. I was never happy with the pictures that were in there, so I thought I would take some more... But I am currently experimenting with taking pictures, so I am still not sure if I am happy with the new ones... Oh well, check out the Iron Hills gallery for those pics.

I also put some good pictures of my scratch-built warmachines up. Two trebuchets were put up in the Gondor gallery, two catapaults were put up in the Mordor gallery, and a pic of my three balistas was put up in my Isengard gallery. Until next week, enjoy!

I finished a little Japan WWII project that I was doing for the guys over at Sentry Box. It is a tiny little 1/56th scale Type 95 Ha-Go tank. I am not sure if I am sold on the 1/56th scale, but it is a nice little tank none-the-less. Anyway, check out the action in the WWII Japan gallery in the Armies section.

Next week should see the next couple of Lord of the Rings campaign turns as well, so remember to drop by then and check it out. That crazy campaign could still go either way at this point I think! Until next time, enjoy!

I just finished painting the converted Mounted Suladan. It was kinda up and down as far as being happy with it went, but it turned out pretty well in the end and I am happy with it :) Check out the fig in the Harad army gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

The Corsair Captain is finally done. Check out all the action here. Until next time, enjoy

More pictures of the Corsair Captain work in progress. I may finish this project by April 30th afterall ;) Anyway, it was up and down there for a bit today with this project, but I am not too unhappy with it now. It may well work out yet, but check it out for yourself here. Until next time, enjoy!

Again, a little late, but it has been a busy few days for me :) Still, I managed to put in some time on the Corsair captain sculpt. It is looking pretty good I think, but check it out for yourself here and draw your own conclusions :)

There are also a couple more dead figs in the greens army gallery. This time Haradrim, one finished and one nearly. I find it is always great to work on a couple (at least) different sculpting projects at once to ensure that you don't burn through too much greenstuff ;) Until next time, enjoy!

A small update this evening :) I am in the process of putting together a Corsair sculpt to help fill up Umbar and my Corsair ship! Check out a work in progress picture of the green here. Until next time, enjoy!

Another army of Lord Guinness update today. This time I have two mounted nobles! That also wraps it up for this project! That is, of course, until I inherit a larger army by the Two Hour Wargames Montjoui (spelling?) rules... Well, hopefully I will not do well enough to get too many more figs to paint ;) Anyway, check out all of the figs here. Until next time, enjoy!

A little late, but better than never ;) A few pictures of my growing army of Lord Guinness. Three more men at arms as well as Lord Guinness himself. Check out those picture in the Armies section.

Also, new to the terrain section is Lord Guinness' Castle! When I found out I needed a castle I was considering leaving this project (well, not really ;), but then I realized how much extra bits I could use up by making one! Anyway, check out the castle in the Terrain section. Until next time, enjoy!

The game ended less than an hour ago, and already I am updating. What a nail biter that siege battle was! Yes, the final battle in Play Phase turn 4 has been fought for the Closing Battles campaign and the outcome decided. Go to the Play Phase Turn 4 link in the campaign section for all the details! Also, look for the battle report, and the subsequent Event Phase details next week!

No campaign update yet. The game is scheduled to go Thursday night, and I promise to work hard to turn it around by some time on Friday, so stay tuned! But the update for now involves my 20mm projects. I painted up a knight for Lord Guinness, and completed another eight Commonwealth figs to finish off my Crossfire army. Should be interesting to play that game, as I haven't even seen the rules, but it is quite unorthodox. I may start on that General Grant that has been on my shelf for some time, give something to the Falschirmjager to open up with their Panzer-knackers :) Anyway, check out the Armies for all the pics. Until next time, enjoy!

Well, unfortunately the campaign battle for Minas Tirith has yet to be completed. It is a big battle and it really holds the outcome of the campaign itself, so the players are reluctant to go into it without the proper mental preparation. It should be done by Friday at the latest, so watch for an update then.

As for other updates, it has been a slow week for me thanks to work, so I only have a couple of figs done. These are two more Andalusians, and they are probably my best painted figs to date. Unfortunately my photography doesn't quite live up to the painting, but oh well :) Check out those figs in the Andalus gallery in the Armies section. Until next time, enjoy!

This week we have another campaign update! Unfortunately there were two battles and the players did not have the opportunity to play both battles yet, but they assure me they will be played by next week! Check out the Closing Battles campaign report for all the latest details on how the War of the Rings is going!

Some more 20mm figs rolled off the line as well. A couple more of Lord Guinness' men are ready for battle. This time a knight on foot and a banner bearer. Also, a single picture of the basing scheme for my 20mm Commonwealth figs. Check out Lord Guinness' men in the Sci Fi & Alternate Histories section of the Armies gallery, and the Commonwealth in their gallery here. Thats it for now, until the next update, enjoy!

Umbar is done and already I am off onto something else! A quick update with some more Commonwealth 20mm figs. These paint up really fast! Certainly they are fun to paint, and hopefully I will have a Crossfire force in no time! I also started a new game based on the skirmish rule set from Two Hour Wargames... The idea behind this project was to remove the need for historical pedantism. So, we decided to create some medieval forces and base them around European beers. I picked Guinness, as it is one of my favorites (although I don't really drink, but it looks nice!). Anyway, check it out in the Sci Fi & Alternate Histories section of the Armies gallery.

So, what happened to the Monday only updates you ask? Well, I decided to trash that idea. Forget it. I will update whenever from now on, but will gaurontee an upate at least once a week. I should also mention that you should check out my recently finished Umbar city terrain! I know I already mentioned it, but I am quite happy with it so I think it is worth mentioning again! Check it out here. Until next time, enjoy!

A bit early with this, but that is fine with me :) Umbar is done. Please go to the Umbar gallery and check out all of the action in the city... Fifty eight images of pure bliss! At least I hope.

My next update will be on Monday. I hope to have the next turn of the campaign done by then, so stay tuned for that! Until then, enjoy!

First the bad news... no campaign update. I promise next week there will be another campaign update and it will totally be worth the wait! Some great and fearful things have happened, and it certainly won't disappoint!

I did add some more pictures of Umbar however that will hopefully fulfill all desires! Some pictures of the detail that I have added so far. Check out the terrain galleries for that stuff. Just as a note, I will be putting up a special update on Thursday with the completed Umbar. This is the date of the close of the terrain competition, and I will need all the time to pull the Umbar project together! So check back Thursday for the action!

I also added a single dead orc to the Mordor gallery. This is the first to come off the line. I will likely do a couple more different poses at least. Finally I completed my review of the A Shadow in the East supplement. It can be viewed in the Review section. Late, but late is better than never. Anyway, until Thursday, enjoy!

A pretty big update today! Firstly the campaign play phase turn three is up in the Closing Battles Campaign that is currently being waged! It was another exciting turn... It really shows how important each game becomes when battles are fought for a campaign... Go to the Turn 3 report now and see for yourself what happened!

I also updated and added a number of galleries. The update is for my 20mm WWII Commonwealth army that is currently coming together. I added four figs to that gallery. At this rate I should have and army ready for some Rapid Fire action in about a year ;) I created a couple new galleries as well: the Irish Citizen Army in the historical Armies section and the Umbar gallery in the Terrain section. The ICA figs are casts of my sculpts; I had some trouble with the mould silicone, so they didn't really turn out as I had hoped... The Umbar stuff is only a sneak peek, it isn't done yet! Check out those galleries and see for yourself!

Just as a note, the Play Phase turn four has been played and there are two battles to be fought this time! I won't update the campaign until both battles are fought, which may be a couple of weeks. So, if there is no campaign update next week you will know why. Also, I need to steal the time away from that stuff to finish Umbar! Less that two weeks to go! Until next week, enjoy!

Today is the first day of the 'Monday Uptate' action! So, check back bevery Monday for updates :) I added the fighting retreat battle report to the battles section. This battle is the latest one fought for the Closing Battles campaign. Although it wasn't originally intended to be written up, because it was such a nail-biter I decided to throw something together... That fighting retreat scenario can really go either way...

I also threw up a couple of new galleries in the Armies section. I added a gallery containing the first of my 20mm WWII Commonwealth figs. This is yet another new miniature project that I am starting... After painting these I realized that it is harder (for me at least) to switch scales (from 28mm) than I had hoped... I also added a gallery to the Misc armies section. This is a gallery of some figs that I painted up for my Dungeons & Dragons group before it fell apart... Anyway, that is it for this week, until next Monday, enjoy!

The second turn of the Closing Battles campaign has been revealed. Only a single battle was fought, and what a battle it was! The battle report will be coming out on Monday, March 14th (and there will be no updates before then) so come back and check it out. It was probably one of the most intense battles I have ever seen played!

I will also be posting my work in progress on the City of Umbar that I am currently building. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for that! Also, I have decided to faithfully update the site once (and only once) a week starting now. This update will come every Monday! So please check back on Mondays for the update! Until then, enjoy!

A quick little update today for my Haradrim Army Gallery. I finished Suladan on foot and thought I would throw it up there. I will be bringing out the next campaign turn details likely this Friday, but until then, enjoy!

I finally finished and entered my Haradrim-themed terrain for the terrain contest over at The Palantir. You can check it out in the Haradrim Terrain Gallery or on the official entry page, which includes some text explaining the terrain itself.

The second turn of the By the Will of Our People... campaign based around the Closing Battles of the War of the Ring has also been played and all battles fought. Check back later in the week for those details! Until then, enjoy!

Getting a bit ahead of myself, but here is a sneek peek of my Haradrim terrain for a terrain making contest! The stuff in there right now is just some of the details of Saladin's palatial tent. Stay tuned for more!

And of course, please check out the By the Will of Our People... campaign supplement. It is a great resource for gamers of all genres! Also check out the Campaigns section for a running play-by-play of a campaign in action! Until next time, enjoy!

By the Will of Our People..., a campaign supplement desinged for use with the Lord of the Rings strategy battle game has finally released! It has been a long time coming, but I think it has been worth it. Rewritten a few times, being the cause of many a headache, it is finally here for all to enjoy! Download the PDF in the Articles section.

Along with the supplement itself, the Campaigns section has been added. This section details a campaign itself. The first one in there is the Closing Battles of the War of the Ring, which happens to be the example campaign outlined the the By the Will of Our People... campaign supplement. So far there are hobby articles there, the campaign set-up, the first campaign turn, and even a battle report around the Siege of Osgiliath, which was the first battle fought during the campaign! Stay tuned as well, as the campaign section will be updated as the campaign progresses! Until next time, Enjoy!

Er... I still have yet to finish my current projects. I guess that will teach me to work on too many things at once! That being said, each of them are so near to completion it is killing me! So, although I have no real update to offer you, I will give you a sneek peak! Here are a couple of models I recently too photos of. They are both on 25mm bases:



Until next week when I promise to have some real updates, enjoy!

Well, I have been very busy with projects this past week... The modern ruin is currently on hold (although I do steal moments for painting here and there) thanks to the terrain contest going on over at The Palantir. I am putting something together for it, and I will also put together an article on how to build it, once the contest is over :)

I have also begun working on the Lord of the Rings campaign system again... It has been completely rewritten and I am in the process of playtesting currently... Lets just put it this way, so far things are going poorly for the free peoples. Anyway, as none of the projects I am currently working on are quite ready, I have taken some pics of my forces of Saruman and posted them in the new Isengard gallery. I also put a picture of Gandalf the White up in the Fellowship gallery. Until next week, enjoy!

Still trying to finish that damn building... But in the meantime I have been working on my dead Gondorians, and they have turned out extremely well! Check them out in the Gondor gallery!

I have also put a few pics of my old Tyranids up in the sci-fi section... This was an army project that never was. After purchasing the figs over two years ago, they sat on my painting desk for a year until I finally put them away... Perhaps in the future :) Check them out in the Tyranids gallery.

During the monotony of working on that crazy building I decided to paint some Andalusians; The North African Muslims who invaded Spain in the 7th century. They could read, kept themselves clean, and even recorded history, unlike everyone else in Europe at the time! Their clothes were characterized by bright silks and they were quite civilized... Anyway, check out the couple that I painted up so far in the al-Andalus gallery.

I also got some pictures of those Gondorian Rangers that I had painted up not too long ago. Thankfully a good can of Testor's dull coat brought them back from the dead. See them in the Gondor gallery. Until next time, enjoy!

Spurned by an opportunity to save some money on miniatures I decided to take pictures of some of the many (and I mean many... about 200) Old Glory vikings that terrorize my collection (those pretty elves just hate vikings, and the rohirrim are afraid of them ;). Anyway, check out the Vikings section for all the details. Until next time, enjoy.

I finished some The Assault Group miniatures for my Soviet WWII project. I am pretty happy with them, and they work well with my previous Battle Honours figs so that works perfectly. Check out a number of shots (and some new shots of the Battle honours figs) in the Soviets gallery. Until next week, enjoy :)

Finally finished the first floor of the damn modern ruined building that I have been working on. It certainly has apartments with rooms, including bathrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms... The most extensive terrain project I have worked on to date. I am not entirely unhappy with it, but it isn't as good as it could be (no bath tubs...). Anyway, you can check it out in the Modern Ruins section of the Terrain gallery. Enjoy!

Next I am going to do some painting... It has been too long what with all of the sculpting and terrain projects going on around here :) I am not decided whether to paint my TAG soviets, or some GB Andalusians... Anyway, until later :)

I have been frightfully busy and had to fight off a bout of the flu as well... I am feeling much better, but still have failed to gain much headway on my current projects... I am working on a building. No, not another ruin of Osgiliath, but an actual building with rooms, beds, bathrooms, and everything else that would be in a real building! Of course it is a lot of work, but we shall see how it goes anyway...

Still, here are a few new pics for your enjoyment. I uploaded a new army to the Lord of the Rings section: Goblins. These were painted a while ago, and so were not really one of my more displayable armies. Still, some nice stuff there anyway. Also I finished the headless ICA sculpt that I had up earlier, check that one out in the Greens gallery! Until next week, enjoy!

I have been busy working on more sculpts for the Irish Citizen Army. I have now nearly completed three... I plan to do a couple more, but probably they will be women fighting with the Cumann na mBan (League of Women). I guess we will see though, as I am going to take a break from sculpting for a while :) Anyway, check out the Greens gallery for the new pics of my latest creations :)

I also decided to put up some pics of the figs I used for my old Sisters of Battle army. Although I haven't played in some time I dug these out to proxy some Gear Krieg soviet walkers, so I decided to take some pics. Check them out in the new CS Sisters gallery! Until next week, enjoy!