Burrows & Badgers – Painting & Gaming

As we did in the days of old I sat down with two mates and we got to painting more of our models for Burrows & Badgers yesterday. I was able to finish one of the models (bar the basing) during the time we spent tinkering away.

Here is the Ferret Clansman…

I think he came out very well indeed. I wish I had the nerve to try and do tartan but I just couldn’t get it to work and so flaked out and just did him in a bright green design instead.

I also got some work done on the other two models that I picked up this week including the Otter Ranger and Drunken Weasel…

I got a little further this the Drunken Weasel by the end of the night and below you’ll see the model with some more paint on him and the wash over the top.

He needs highlighting back up from the wash but otherwise, I think he has come out very well.

I wanted the fur to be a bit lighter, but I got working on his red tunic and couldn’t stand the idea of drybrushing back over his fur…so grey is the way it stays.

Overall it was a lovely night spent hobbying away and getting the brush down on another couple of models that I can use when expanding out the array of characters I have to pick from in Burrows & Badgers.

Jack and Shaun had a good time too…

I promise (he says) that I will try and do a step-by-step of the Otter Ranger as this is going to be a very bright model if I can get it to work.

So…with that, it’s back to fur reference images and trying to come up with a tavern brawl scenario for downtime in between games!

So, this weekend I was down in Rushden in Northamptonshire playing in the first ever Burrows & Badgers tournament with 20+ other wargamers as we got stuck into the game with a very friendly series of four games.

This was the warband that I took which had to include a spellcaster. So, I have Hooper The Badger, Hood The Hare, Red The Mouse Archer, Lagertha The Mouse Shieldmaiden, Yarrow The Mouse Thief and Old Wart The Toad Mage.

My poor mouse, Lagertha, took a bit of a battering on the journey there. Note to self, make sure to wrap them all up in tissue if you’re going to transport them in takeaway containers! Will be buying some foam to store them in next time I think – maybe something from KR.

Game One

But, with that, we got into the first game. The first one was all about finding Diamonds on the other side of the board, hidden away by enterprising rogues and vagabonds.

It was a fun game and I came away with a minor loss. I was playing on Shroomton…which features some rather suspect looking buildings I’m sure Warren would enjoy.

I managed to get one diamond off the board thanks to the use of Stag’s Leap which proved to be a very good spell indeed. My Badger squished a poor fellow inside his armour which is always good to see happen!

Game Two

Game Two then rocked around which was a straight sprint off the other end of the board for your warband.

In hindsight I should have kept everyone together I think, especially with my hefty Badger around…

Hood and Lagertha sacrificed themselves to the Fox and Rat attack on one flank, trying to waylay them for a little while – which let Hooper leap ahead on the other as my most expensive model.

It was all going well and he was able to really badly wound the Rat who attacked him in the forest…but was then killed in an amazing display of perfect rolls and low rolls from me…leaving him wounded in the woods!

Only Yarrow and Old Wart got off the board at the end which meant I came away with a Major Loss there I believe.

Game Three

Next up was an interesting scenario for Game Three where you had to kill the opposing warband but you got double points for taking out their leader in melee combat.

I did rather well out of this one, getting a Minor Win because my poor Badger got stabbed by lucky little mice again!

I was able to get an early shot on the Wild Cat leader of the opposing warband and then slow him down with a Tangleweed spell which meant that my Badger could charge out of the undergrowth and take him out.

There was a pesky Cat Gunsmith though who was popping some of my poor followers! The last mouse just kept rolling Perfect as well which meant it was tough to take her out…but we managed it in the end.

Game Four

Game Four was a full on just kill the enemy and if you do it with at least four members of your warband left on the table, you got extra points.

I was utterly crushed in this game by Royalist Hares, the Long Patrol, who ran through and cut me down like wheat. I think I was only able to take out one of the Hares in combat and then the rest swarmed me.

I walked away with a Major Loss for the last game BUT it was still a lot of fun and my opponent was very good to play against.

In saying that, all of my opponents were great fun to game with, really getting into the spirit of it. So, thank you to Peter, Mike, Lindsey and Michael!

Of course, big thanks also to Carl King for putting on the event which featured some wonderful tables packed with interesting terrain that worked for a skirmish game.

I can’t wait for the next event!

Here is a little snapshot of the finished miniatures I’ve worked on this week. I did promise more WiP but I might leave that for the next crop of models that I work on.

So, first off I have Tilly The Wild Cat Warrior painted for my girlfriend as a little present…

Next up I have one of the models I popped together just last night. Here is the Marmot Warrior that came together very quickly overnight.

I think Boris sounded like a good name for him!

Next up I finished up the basing for two models you have already seen a lot of already. Here we have Ajid, the Fennec Fox Wanderer…

…and finally, I have Pip the Bird Warrior in some nice bright primary colours. Love how he turned out.

With one model left to paint, the Mouse Thief (Alt) I will have done ALL of my Burrows & Badgers for the time being.

I look forward to finding out how things work at the tournament this weekend, but I can’t wait to play more of the game…and maybe even work on some new models in the coming weeks.

New sculpts are on the way from Michael and Jo…so I can’t wait 😀

So work is progressing on Tilly The Wildcat Warrior for my extended family of Burrows & Badgers models.

This lunchtime I worked on the metal plates and the bronze/gold that serves as the secondary metallic on the model.

I have been trying ever so hard not to ruin the fur which I spent a while trying to get right. I always hate going back over parts of a model like that.

The model will start to come to life a lot more once I get the leather work done, washes, and the final level of highlighting done to the model.

She is turning out very well indeed and I can’t wait to get to work on the various different stages of making her pop.

Marmot and Mouse Thief waiting in the wings too haha.

So I’ve been painting more this week and worked on finishing off the Bird Warrior last night. There are just a few subtle things that are different about the piece but I’m happy with him/her.

This then led me on to starting another of the animals for the collection, the Wild Cat Warrior.

I have done a scheme for the fur based on a friend’s cats and I think it’s come across very nicely indeed – there is obviously a lot more to do, but I think the fur has worked!

After this, I have an Armoured Marmot to paint as well as the second Mouse Thief and then my work on the current set of Burrows & Badgers is done.

Will obviously show off the range once they’ve been finished and based!

So I’ve been painting the Sparrow Knight or Bird Warrior today and just thought I’d show off the base scheme and wash stages.

This fellow has gone through another stage right now but I will show off a more finished version of the bird soon!

I still need to work on the basing for this fellow but the ultra colourful Fennec Fox has come to life rather nicely I think now.

I will tie him in with the others using a similar tundra-esque basing scheme, but I might add a flower or two to his base, as if the exotic climes of his homeland have come with him on his journey.

So I picked up loads of Burrows & Badgers miniatures from UKGE and I’m starting work on the Fennec Fox with some nice bright Arabic colours…

More to come…