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