Heroic Hares and Holy Mice (Burrows and Badgers)

My latest effort to get more of my unpainted mountain done, I managed to get five more of my Burrows and Barrows collection painted up, three Hares and a pair of Mice. All minis are by the creator of the game, Oathsworn Miniatures and were as always a pleasure to paint.

First up is the leader of my recently previewed Village Militia warband, Torvin Estermon one time Captain-of-the-Guard to the local Baron's father until the untimely loss of his foot in a dastardly ambush by Clansbeasts from the north. With a decent severance he bought a rundown Inn and quickly becoming a leadership figure within the village. Once the Red Toothe bandits reared their ugly head and threatened his new home, he knew the village would need a militia so it could try to protect itself and using his veteran's knowledge, hope to repel the predacious efforts of the bandits.

Kept his color scheme for his clothing to be similar to the previously posted town guard. Love the medals that were sculpted onto him, they add that extra "grizzled vet" look to him.

Tried to paint his face and ears to show his advanced age. I think it works out okay.

You might notice that the bases shown here are a bit bland... That's due to my not realising that my basing materials supplies are much lower than I had thought! With Xmas here, that's not going to change any time soon. LOL

Next up is Ruth Pendergast, Hare druidess. A recluse, she rarely comes into settlements unless called upon to apply her natural remedies to their maladies and skills as midwife for those who required it. 

I felt the pink dress would add to her more feminine character.  Also went with pale green eyes for no reason than I feel those with green eyes are suspicious, much like a practitioner of witchcraft!

Added a very simple and subtle edging pattern to her pink dress for some extra interest and because I felt a bit lazy just painting her in plain colours.

Grey cloak on the other hand I left plain as I can't imagine Ruth being wealthy at all and so would have a functional well used cloak.

Last of the trio and final Hare in my collection is the new warrior sculpt just released by Oathsworn, I loved the pose so much I had to add him to my collection. 

This is Martigan, warrior hero of the people. Known for his famously vicious and unpredictable temper, some might call him "mad", though few have done so and survived the experience without injury or worse.

Icy blue eye for a more crazy look. I think he looks like he'll  mess up anyone who steps up, regardless of their size or reputation.

The official paint job on the Oathsworn website has chequers on his shoulder pauldrons and I thought I'd do similar. Mine are a bit shitty in comparison though.

Last for this post are a pair of Mice, both friars or monks. Tobias and Terrence are brothers, in the cloth and also by blood. They care for the local Church, using the holy magics of their faith to protect it from the evils of the world. (There will be one more member of the church denizens coming up, but she'll be in the next post.)

Tobias the elder brother is a scribe and tasks himself with putting down the histories of the area so that others in the future might know what has transpired.

Terrance the younger brother is somewhat of a simpleton, but no-one can  argue his devotion to his religion. When he is not offering words and moments of prayer, he tasks himself to keep the church and it's grounds clean and in good order.

Really? Building this chapel on a cardboard box? 

And that's it for this post. Next up my Burrows and Badgers focus continues. I'm having so much fun painting these, it'd be silly to stop. 

Stay safe and well out there,

- Dai

Scarponi, Keith and Molly (Burrows and Badgers)

 More additions to my Burrows and Badgers collection painted up in te last couple of days, a Cat duelist, Mole Blacksmith and Shrew baker. All minis are produced by the game’s creators Oathsworn Miniatures and are white metal with no or extremely few mild lines. As always, I’m very happy with the quality and design of this lot.  I think all three are from the last Kickstarter I backed.

Photos in this post are a little dark, which is rubbish. I’ll make sure to post up the full team in better lighting once completed.

Along with Kirt and McRadish from my previous post, these characters will comprise a new warband for my Burrows and Badgers setting representing the “Village Militia” for the settlement in question. (I thought that would be a fun concept?)

Up first is Giacomo Scarponi, duelist from a foreign land and former Church agent. Originally tasked by the cardinals to hunt down and assassinate a high profile enemy of the Pope, Scarponi soon realized he was to be the fall-guy in that situation and so disappeared into the setting’s village and fast becoming the local Inn Keeper’s closest friend. 

Tried to give the idea of whiskers on his  muzzle by painting stripes. Am hoping the colours chosen make him look a little seasoned!

Feathers in his hat we’re going to be white, but I felt a more tropical look would fit better to add to his look of veterancy?

Next up is Keith. No one really knows much about Keith other than the fact that he’s a damned fine blacksmith and a mole who doesn’t idly waste words and keeps very much to himself. The fact that he stepped up to join the village militia with large hammer in hand was a surprise to all. 

Really this image of a dark and broody character fits Keith perfectly, so with this mini at least I’m not worried about the lighting in the pic too much! Lol

Gratuitous mole bootie shot. Seems he needs to do more mole-squats to fill out those lime-green mole-trousers

Molly is a fiery shrewess and the village baker. It’s common knowledge that she’s a little on the… shall we say, nutty side?  With a reputation for a personality that exists in extremes, Molly is both the most fearsome friend of any who call her such and an absolute headcase when facing those who don’t match her ideas of “decent folk”.

Molly is a bit shouty. I imagine all Shrews in my setting have aggressive Northern Ireland accents and furry personalities! 

To show better her unpredictable outbursts, I felt tiny pupils in all white eyes was best.

That dress has some sort of floral pattern. So small, really only will offend folks if they look too closely, but on the tabletop it’ll work fine.

Last to add in for this warband is the “Captain”. I’ll hopefully have this mini painted up and posted in the next couple days.

Hope all are well and safe,

- Dai 

Kirt and McRadish (Burrows and Badgers)

 Some more finished pieces for my Burrows and Badgers collection, this time a couple of town guards to protect my village that I’ve created for the setting of my campaigns, along with a signpost and bulletin board. 

Kirt is a native of the village in question (a village name still a work in progress) who helps keep the peace from both outside and internal threats to the peace and quiet order found there. Somewhat skilled with his spear, young Kirt can often be seen hopping about poking at the air, practicing against shadow enemies like a kit or cub at play. Most in the village question if the rabbit’s level of maturity is up to the task of providing protection the to the village’s population.

Tried to give this chap amber eyes. The interwebs says rabbits can have them, so why not eh?

The blue uniform was taken from online pics of a medieval Knight of Antioch. Thought the colours and diagonal stripe were kinda cool.

This is Tavish McRadish, formerly a clans-mouse from the wilder lands of Strath Clota across the northern border. No one knows why this former tartan wearing mouse decided to settle in the village, but they are very thankful that he has been willing to step in to help protect the settlement from any threats that might arise. 

Same colours worn as Kirt. Was very tempted to hack off the polearm head and replace with a spearhead to match Kirt but decided to keep it as is. I mean, he’s a cool sculpt already, no need to mess with a good thing.

It is no secret that Tavish is a great fan of the local strong spirits and he often suffers from sour smelling breath becaus of it. (Nose and cheeks made rosy to show this)

Unlike Kirt, Tavish wears trousers. And thank goodness! How indecent otherwise! Lol

These two scatter pieces are actually Oathsworn Miniatures scatter terrain efforts from their Burrows and Badgers range. I got them as freebies for backing a past Kickstarter campaign of theirs. Nice sculpts to add a little flavor to my tabletops and painted pretty simply.

And that’s it for this post. Lots more Burrows and Badgers figs from the unpainted mountain on my paint table including some more civilian denizens of my soon-to-be-named village! 

Stay well all,

- Dai

More furry additions (Burrows and Badgers)

 This past week I was able to work on some Oathsworn Miniatures figures from their Burrows and Badgers range to add to my existing collection. A rabbit archer, medium hound clansbeast and a weasel brigand. Per usual with Oathsworn’s sculpts, they pretty much painted themselves. These hand-sculpted designs were completely flash free metals with loads of character and I continue be in love with each and every sculpt they produce. 

I still hope to run my first game (solo) in the coming weeks if everything goes to plan, tho with holidays coming up that might be a bit of a task. We will see.

This is Hailey Landers, a member of my Rogue warband called the Red Toothe. Hailey was the original founder of the group of brigands when they were originally named the Red Hoods and were a far less violent outfit. With Ma Tuppence and Hickory arriving and consequently taking over things became far more violent. Hailey is now stuck in her life of violent crime and forced to obey Ma Tuppence’s orders.

I bought this fig after I re-read the small fluff in the rule book for the game and realized rabbits featured a lot and I didn’t own any. Including Hailey, I now have two. 

Simple paint scheme and I tried to make her look like a wild British rabbit.

This West Highland Terrier is Angus McRuff, a clansbeast of Strath Cloda to the North of Northymbria in the Burrows and Badgers setting. Now I have my Rogue and Royalist warbands painted I have chosen to work on some angry Scottish themed critters as my third warband.

I went with crazy eyes on Angus, cos otherwise he’d be too cute to be taken seriously! 

This is my first time attempting a tartan paintjob. I followed the guide Michael Lovejoy posted on a previous Oathsworn  

Miniatures Kickstarter page. Not over the moon with how it turned out but not bad for a first go. Next one will be with different colours and will hopefully look better too.

This final mini is Rufus, a disreputable weasel wielding a scary blunderbuss! He’s just a random mini I pulled out to paint and as I hadn’t painted any weasels or stoats yet, it worked. So far he hasn’t gotten a backstory but once he makes it into a warband somehow he will. 

British weasels are tiny things and dead nasty too. Whilst researching them I had no idea they had white paws!

As a fun spot colour I decided his neckerchief would be poke-a-dotted. Then after finishing him I realized that all three of these minis had red as a prominent colour! Doh! 

On the paint station are more Burrows and Badgers figs - some more clansbeasts and a could of town guards and an old veteran to boot!

Stay safe out there one and all,

- Dai

 M

Warhammer Chapel

 Being off work for these past weeks has finally allowed me to set up the temporary hobby station and get some painting going.

With my wish to try to get a solo game of Burrows and Badgers played sometime soon, I knew my fantasy terrain needed a few additions to help have some choices for different scenarios. (And also for other rules sets games in the future.)

That meant that this little building moved to the front of the queue. It’s a now out of print Games Workshop fantasy Chapel that I’ve had sat primed since I first received it maybe 8 or so years ago. About time it got some colour really!

Decided turquoise tiles and off-white walls were my primary scheme. The wife suggested darker masonry to complete the scheme and I feel she was right!

The kit had so many typical GW overthetop skulls EVERYWHERE! So I remember pulling out the green stuff to fill in all sorts of alcoves, etc to tone that silliness down.

Here’s cleric Horace pointing out that this chapel is heresy as it’s dedicated to the wrong god, which of course is not his god. 

Dunno where the leafy vine came from but it makes for a nice spot colour.

Still a few skulls about the building including the one on the door painted red, but a few are acceptable.  

Currently working on a Burrows and Badgers mini to add to my Rogues team and then on to something else, maybe even more Burrows and Badgers? 

Milestones

 More than a month has passed since I’ve posted, apologies for those keeping track. All is well my end, life just got WAY more busy in general and so hobby opportunities have been next to none outside of an online purchase for my Burrows and Badgers project (cos I really needed more minis, honest!) and managing to find an in-scale taxi for my Zombie Apocalypse project at Target. 

October is a month for a few milestones for me in general and for this blog:

On the first of the month, this humble little blog turned 10! So very many thanks to those who stop by on any basis, regular or not, to see my posts and extra thanks to those who leave comments too. In this new age of social media venues for our hobby progress, blogging seems to be a dying art in lieu of an all too easy alternative, so it’s very much appreciated that you readers still stop by and regularly too. It all remains an encouraging aspect to my hobby and truly keeps me going. 

On the eleventh I celebrated my twentieth anniversary since I left the UK to emigrate to California. A LOT of adventures and misadventures have occurred during those two decades and I regret none of it. Moving here had me meet the best friends I’ve ever had and find and marry the love of my life. 

Lastly on the twentieth I had my forty-fifth birthday!  I am older, not much more to say about that. It was a quiet affair, just me and my wife and girls. Seems as we get older, our birthdays end up being less and less about us somehow. Lol

Any actual hobby in this post Dai? (I hear you ask) actually no. None whatsoever. Recall in the first paragraph that I have had no time? :) I promise tho there will be in the next post - the weather has gotten decidedly cooler down here in the California Central Valley so I am able to set up a game table and so will hopefully have a fun battle report to share as I fumble through the Burrows and Badgers rules set for my first game. I might even paint something new by then also! 

Watch this space! 

45 means it’s time to grow a manly and wizened beard! Where the hell did all that silver come from???

Horace, Knud and the Jacob Sheep

A few random mini's cleared off the Mountain this weekend, painted to a table top standard. 

The first is an old early 80's Dungeons and Dragons Cleric by TSR. A lovely little sculpt, though somewhat smaller than current larger sculpts, being 25mm rather than 28/32mm. Regardless, he/she will be added to the rpg collection for the next game I run. (Whenever that will be.) I call him Horace - that seems to be a good name for a do-gooder cleric type.

No eyes painted on this one, that cowl hangs down too much to make it worth my while in attempting. Also, the sculpted detail about the neck of the tabard I think is supposed to be a necklace(?), but the detail is so soft I elected to just keep it the same colour as the tabard. 

Wasn't going to struggle to clip the integral base off so it looks like this cleric is on a step of sorts. Which works for me and will help it match better with the other fantasy figs in my collection height wise.

Next up is a little Kobold mini by Ral Partha from the mid 90's. I owned this mini for almost 30 years before I put paint to him - Shame on me. Kobolds seem to have gone through a transformation in design from their early iteration in Dungeons and Dragons, turning from little large-headed underground "men" to now, flat-out tiny dragon people. This fellow seems to be in the middle of that transformation, part little man, part scaly thing with a tail. I named him Knud, though gawds know why, in game Kobolds tend to die if a player even breathes on them so naming one could seem pointless!

If he has an eyepatch, it must mean he's "Dead 'ard" and survived a battle or two right!? 

More likely he just cut himself shaving!
I have another 2 or 3 of this style kobold sculpts in the paint queue.

Last up for this post is a nice small flock of Jacob Sheep. These fleecy fellows are by an unknown producer (Feel free to shout out if you recognise them in the comments as I'd love to give credit where it's due.) and are a bit soft in detail, but for "sheep" they'll do nicely. I chose this breed of sheep primarily for my Dark Ages project, but they'll do just fine for fantasy and other historical periods. Kept the paint jobs very simple on these as essentially the base is just a scenic element or at best an objective. The pics are a bit naff, but they'll do and I'm happy to see this little flock off the Mountain.

Hoping to get another couple figs painted and posted in the next week or so so watch this space!

Stay safe out there all. It's a nasty time of life.

- Dai

1942 Ww2 Canadian Regulars (Dieppe Landing project compete!)

 Today’s post brings my Dieppe Landing project officially to a close. I’m very pleased to see these boys finished as it’s been a bit since I’ve actually completed a project! 

*Please note the terms “finished and completed” are loosely used here are already I have additions to this army on the plastic & lead mountain…. It never ends, right? 

This ten man Section represent Canada’s finest army regulars, very well trained and poorly prepared for the landings August 19th 1942. 

The sculpts are older Commonwealth infantry plastic kits by Warlord Games. I think the uniforms and helmets are a little more suitable for later war actions but for their price point I felt they’d make do. Not the biggest fan of this kit as they were dead fiddly to put together but they look decent enough painted up and I have a second section primed along with a PIAT team for paint to be done at a later date.

Next up is my last entry for Dave Stone’s Summer of Scenery challenge, a resin Humvee from Warlord Games (no longer supported) Project Z zombie survival game. It’s an okay sculpt but is seriously small for a 28mm game - more like 1:60 really. Regardless, it’ll be fine for the tabletop and hopefully offer a fun gaming option. Left the painting to a passable tabletop effort, the colour scheme was taken from a National Guard Humvees that we’re parked outside my workplace summer 2020 when the riots were going on all over the country. 

As alway, stay safe and healthy out there!

- Dai