3rd Awr-Range Wardens (Quar Fidwogs - Part 2)

With Stew's impending game-day visit fast approaching (May 24th), I declared to the good wife that I would be sequestering myself in a secluded spot and getting stuck in to paint some more Quar so I'd be that much closer to being prepared for my introduction to the Clash of Rhyfles rules set this upcoming Sunday. 

Any regular reader of this blog might recall I am no fan of batch painting. At all. But (!), I sat my grumpy backside down and I managed to bash out 5 more Quar for my 3rd Awr-Range Wardens project. So here presented for your delectation, is the han-Gaefyn (like a squad Corporal.) and 4 Gaefyn (Regular Rhyfler troopers.) for my little force of these colourful anteater people. 

I also recently picked up a cheap lightbox off Amazon to try and get better pics of my minis. Let me know if you think these pics are an improvement.

It wasn't until I published this post that I realised that I hadn't painted the lenses on the orange fellah that I'd so carefully added with Greenstuff... (I know, barely seeable here, but I know they are!) Back to the painting table he will go.

Because of the nature of the Clash of Rhyfles rules being such a low model-count, it gives players the opportunity to personalize and name one's team members. I do like to dive a little deeper into my games so for the sake of recording details: 

This is han-Gaefyn Toofys, wielding his Bensa F6 Light Machinegun. Toofys is known as being cool as a Quarcumber in the face of the enemy. He does seem to have a problem keeping his head down in a scrap though, so mayhap in a future engagement his "coolness" might cause him to come a cropper? 

Gaefyn Craeb is a relatively new addition to the 3rd ' Wardens. Being a lowlander, he's had a hard time adjusting to the extreme elevations of the posting.

Gaefyn Fask likes to act as though he's in charge, often attempting to give orders to the other Gaefyn, but when Yawdryl Geraynt got wind of this he shut Fask down quicksmart and gave him latrine duty. Fask has been plotting against the Yawdryl for months now but seems to never quite "follow through", clearly all bark, but no bite. 

Gaefyn Werr has been with the 3rd ' Wardens for only one season. He volunteers for nightly patrol duty seemingly every day. The other Gaefyn think he's rather strange. 

Gaefyn Waelgi is the eldest Quar currently serving in the unit and takes new recruits under his wing eagerly. He's seen too many brave Fidwog enlistee's fall to rookie mistakes in the fight against the Crusaders. As can be seen, Waelgi eschews regulation protective headgear. Yawdryl Geraynt has given up trying to convince the elder Quar otherwise.

Here's a snapshot of all the painted Quar so far including the previously previewed Yawdryl Geraynt from my last post. 

Not a bad looking lot I think. These 6 can be a playable force for a learning game, but there's still some more to come so I can fill out and play a full 300 point force (Standard game size)!

Here's a preview of the remaining figs I hope to get painted in time for May24th. 

I am blessed enough to be having an extra long, 5-day-weekend for this coming Memorial Day weekend starting Thursday, so I am dearly hoping real life (And my wife) will allow me time enough to get all of this finished. Keep fingers crossed for me!

As always, hope all are well and safe out there,

- Dai

3rd Awr-Range Wardens (Quar Fidwogs - Part 1)

 And just like that, the classic "Dai Butterfly Attention Span" kicks in and leads my hobby off in a totally different and unexpected direction. 

The estimable (Don't tell him I described him so.) Stew, author of the most excellent and entertaining "Terrible Loss of Lead and Wealth" blog (Currently on a blog-hiatus for sanity reasons) somehow managed to convince me to dip my toe into the very well fleshed out, whimsical and somewhat grim setting of Zombiesmith's skirmish wargame, Clash of Rhyfles. Other than the general Aesthetics of the game's setting, I was also drawn in by the fact that one needs only 8-12 miniatures each side to play. With time to game in general at such a premium these days, skirmish gaming rules supreme - at least for now. 

Stew's very kind donation of the Fidwog Infantry plastic box kit got me started. Wargames Atlantic manufactures all the plastic Quar options for this game and I have to say I'm very impressed with the quality of their kits that have lots of fun options to personalise your Rhyflers (Name for basic infantry) and also that there are few to no obvious mold lines to contend with! The creator of the game also makes lots of 3D print files on his MyMiniFactory page to offer even more options for conversions and also special characters to flesh out your collection.

For those unaware, Quar are colourful anteater people who are stuck in a perpetual conflict across many nations with a technology level set somewhere between WW1 and the Inter-War period if real-life parallels are to be made. The Fidwog in the Quar setting are shorter cousins to the rest of the Quar (about 10% shorter than the average Quar, so think, Quar-not-dwarves) from the far-off east of their continent called Alwyd. The Fidwog are doughty folk known for their plentiful mines and fierce military who make the best use of makeshift hardware to get the job done.

This pic shows the standard squad makeup of a Fidwog unit. A Yawdryl (Squad Leader or Sergeant - The fellow in center with the green-stuffed pipe.), 4x Gaefyns (Regular troopers - Far left and the 3 to the right of the Yawdryl), a han-Gaefyn (a Corporal level) with a Squad Support Bensa LMG (To the immediate left of the tank) and closing out the squad is a Fyrnrydhad "Squad Tractor" armed with a MMG. 

Official art of the Squad make-up. Reminds me of the style of art I'd scrawl all over my school books and desks as a kid. (And be berated for my graffitiing thereafter)

Highlight of this post (At least I think it's the highlight.) is the first painted member of this squad, the Yawdryl, Geraynt. I tried to sculpt a tiny crude smoking pipe so he'd stand out more and perhaps make him seem more of a veteran or older presence to enhance his image as the squad leader. 

Yawdryl Geraynt is armed with the standard Rifle utilized by the Fidwog forces, the Sketych. 

This rear view shows his pack with bedroll and hanging from the underneath, a barrel from a Crusader Bogen gun that the Fidwog are known to contain water or spirits within.

I'm still considering if I can source a tiny bit of teddy bear stuffing or some such to create a smoke effect to better help the pipe stick out, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how this little creature turned out. The basing is done to match the background I've come up for my homebrewed regiment, a unit assigned to the highest mountain range along a contested border, the *3rd Awr-Range Wardens. So appropriately rocky-looking and a little spruce on vegetation with some very simple snow effects merely sponged on. Let me know if you think it works? In-game, the Fidwog are kinda the BEF of the setting and their 1st Army is the main subject when mentioned and shown in the fluff texts, seen in their standard uniforms of long red overcoats with blue piping. The 3 ARW were only just shipped out to the front in their standard home uniforms of red with yellow piping. They are proud of this differentiation as they feel it illustrates their (assumed) elite status amongst the FOD forces as only the toughest Quar are deployed to man the high passes of the Awr Range.

*More on the 3rd Awr-Range Wardens in a later post.

Stew is due to come by for a visit on the 24th of this month, so I'm aiming to get more of these boys painted up in time, we'll see. As always, hobby moments are sadly not abundant right now what with family events taking over my precious spare time, but we'll see if things go to plan.

Hope all are well out there,

- Dai