Old Skool Goodies, Baddies and Whatever

As an aside from the 15mm Dwarves I completed during my long Xmas break, I also finished off this really old Citadel Dwarf Bombard from the 1980’s! It has only been sitting on the painting table for a little over 18 months in a part painted condition. So following a good dusting I got back to it! As I’m trying to get things done to a fair tabletop condition I didn’t go overboard with the fine detailing as I usual do, but I’m pleased with the look all the same!

Despite finishing these in July, work/life issues and getting a new PC (damn you Total War in all your incarnations!) have prevented me from uploading these picture since then!

The completed army for Fantastic Battles comes to just over 850 points with some wiggle room provided by a couple of extra captains and extra mage. but for normal use will consist of:

Warlord on Dragon

Mage

3 captains

3  x knights

3 x Outriders

3 x City guard spearmen

4 x City guard archers

Immediately after completing the Elves I started on some opposition, though as previously stated I only finished these yesterday (14 Jan). So here they are, Dwarves!

As with the Elves these were painted with Army Painter Speed Paints over a white highlighted grey undercoat. Unlike with the Elves I did encounter considerable re-activation of earlier layers but this was solved by a quick spray of matt varnish.

Again the army gomes to just over 850 points and consists of:

Warlord

Mage

Rogue

3 x Captains

4 x Elite, with 2 hand axes

3 x Spear Shield wall

2 x hand weapon shield wall

3 x crossbow

Big cannon

“steam” tank

I also have a couple of spare character models for additional captains if required,

I am now looking forward to finally trying out the game!

I was debating whether to Start a new project for this topic as the majority of the minis are hardly traditional Old Skool ones but as a few are from the AD&D Battlesystem range I think it’s close enough!

I recently purchased the new Army Painter Speed paints and was looking for a new project to test them out. At the same time I re-discovered a box file, shoe box and a large photograpic paper box all full of 15mm fantasy dating back many moons, so decided that I’d get an army sorted for Fantastic Battles.

The majority of the figures used come from the Chariot Minis range but also include some old Grenadier 15mm and I have recently started work on a Demonworld Elf Hero on Dragon, but this will not be covered in this update.

All the minis were given an undercoat of Halfords grey primer followed by a drybrush with white to give a rough Zenith effect. I then applied the speed paint as follows straight from the bottles.

Crusader Skin… All flesh.

Grim black … All armour, some hair

Dark wood… Belts, boots , some hair, some horses.

Zealot yellow….some hair, horse detailing.

Highlord Blue… Uniforms, feathers part shilds

Orc Skin…Horse archer uniforms

Fire Giant Orange…. Trim to quivers

Blood Red … Spear hafts

Other colours were used on the captains but too many to mention.

I was pleased with all the colours used except the Black for the armour which didn;t give the right feel for Elf armour so I highlighted this with silver. I then gave them a coat of matt varnish before tidying up any over paint on the grey/white primer layer and then highlighted this up with some Citadel Skull white. I had done a test with Holy White but this gave less tone than just leaving the original base layer ! I guess this is due to the scale of the minis as it does seem a lot better on 28mm!

As I wanted the characters to stand out I also gave them all a slight highlight just adding a little Skull White to the original base colour. I then used some Demonworld Elf transfers on the shields and banners.

I still have to complete the basing but I think you get a good idea of how well AP Speed Paints work.

As a foot note I completed the foot Archers and characters in just over 2 hours! A similar number of 15mm figs would normally take me twice that at least!

Its been a while since my last update, well one that worked anyway! I did write out a long update last night but it failed to upload ! So try again !

I have completed another unit of 25mm Citadel DA range Byzantine foot, only another 80 or so to go! Painting method as previously discussed.

Those of you who have been following my project may have noticed the Goblin Wolf Riders in the background of many of my pictures! Following the removal of almost 1 years worth of dust I have also completed these! Not too much work was needed, a few highlights and the addition of some old 40K Wolf head transfers to the shields. I generally free hand things like this but decided that as I had the transfers they may as well be used!

Finally after another extended life break I have gotten back to painting again. The spur to this was courtesy of a couple of Facebook pages hosting 30 in 30 painting challenges. For the uninitiated that is 30 minutes of painting for every day of the month of November.  I decided this was just the sort of thing I needed to do to get my painting mojo back, however the Facebook challenges were for Oathmark armies and Frostgrave warbands,  so as I hadn’t got anything set up for those I decided to go my own way!

Despite the lack of painting over the summer I had managed to get a large number of old 1980’s Citadel Historicals into  Dettol baths so as the start of November approached it was time to get to work on them.

I give you Citadel Miniatures 25mm Dark Age Byzantines!

The first completed batch are 10 Cataphract Cavalry, 12 staff slingers and 12 javelin skirmishers (Later Mark 2 style). As survivors of a Dettol bath and many years of gaming abuse I have had to replace spears and make other repairs so they are not quite 100% authentic 1980’s! As they are only the tip of the iceberg for this army I decided to give them a simple no fuss paint scheme, base colours, dip and highlights otherwise I would never get them done! However I think this simple paint scheme suits these classic lead men.

Going with the 80’s theme these are based up for good old WRG 6th Ed, but will still work for many more recent games systems.

Impressive as this might seem for 30 minutes of painting for a month its not actually everything I have done! Still to be based are another 12 Javelin skirmishers, of Mark 1 style and 12 bow skirmishers have yet to be given a post dip highlight as can be seen below.

So overall a very productive month, all I have to do now is follow it through to next month!

Till next time ….

Life in general has a way of ruining the best laid plans, as it’s been in my case these last couple of months! However some painting progress has been made with the first of my classic Dwarves. First up a “later” period cannon (1990’s)

As with almost all my figures I undercoated grey, just Halfords primer. The wood was my first real experiment with contrast paint which looked ok following application but was highlighted up slightly. The metal was then blacked in and highlighted up with firstly chainmail plus a bit more black, chainmail, chainmail + silver and finally a few dots of pure silver.

The barrel, black undercoat, then tin bitz, glittering gold/dwarf bronze mix and a nuln oil wash, the gold details were then further highlighted with more glittering gold and glittering gold/silver for a final accent.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the crew at different stages, but as there are plenty of other detailed painting guides out on the net I’ll pass on the detail.

The keen eyed among you, may also have spotted the other 1980’s gun in the back ground! Stay tuned for developments for that!

I’ve been a bit sidelined for the last couple of weeks, firstly by hectic times at work and then by sorting out new storage for the man cave. This could have been turned into a project on its own after everything that has happened! In short the complete set I was after from Ikea was not available, so I had to substitute with individual items, this meant having to settle for 2 “half” height 40cm units rather than a full height one! I will get a replacement once it is available again. After getting the units delivered and fitting them together and to the wall, I turned to fixing the doors, lo and behold the first box I opened had a broken door! Cue 1 hour waiting on the phone to the soothing tones of Abba!!! I like the odd song (don’t we all in secret?) but an hour of it was torture! I am now waiting for a replacement to arrive, the middle of this week, but have started populating the shelves. Still a lot of stuff to go on and I will need additional glass shelves but here it is so far!

I’ve been a bit sidelined for the last couple of weeks, firstly by work and then by finally getting another section of the man cave sorted out with new shelves. This in itself turned into a quest in itself as the full kit I wanted from Ikea was not available! So I had to substitute a 40cm full sized Billy with 2 half sized oned. After delivery I spent quite a bit if time building the carcasses, fixing them to the walls then attaching the doors, only to find the glass on one of them had shattered! Cue an hour hanging on the phone to the gentle tones of Abba, I may like the odd tune (don’t we all secretly?) but an hour of it is excessive, I finally got through and a replacement is on its way! In the meantime I have started populating the shelves. Will need more glass shelves but they will have to wait till next payday!