28 December 2017

There's (un)life in Deadcember yet!

Good morning, gamers, and a belated happy Christmas to you all. I've had a very deliberate few days away from the internet to try and be totally present (no, not that sort of "present", although theat's been fun, too) with family as I'm so easily distracted. I'm back now, though, and shall be scurrying round FB and G+ and the Oldhammer forum to pull in the last few entries for Deadcember that I know must be lurking out there just waiting for a quick photo against a plain background, and an email to deadcember2017@gmail.com, preferably including a "before" picture too.

Unlike me, some of you have been busy, and in Alex's case really really busy! Here are glimpses to lead you to the gallery to see them alongside the other entries:

By inchmurrin

By Alex Howarth. Yes, it's a video entry - of a whole freakin' army!

19 December 2017

Deadcember update

The end of term has been squeezing so much life from me I'm practically undead myself at the moment!

Fortunately for the Deadcember challenge, some of you are far more in control of your time and there are now a whole bunch more entries in the gallery (see tab at top of page). They were submitted as per the guidelines in this post.

Here's one by Thomas "Zero Twentythree" to whet your appetite that doesn't quite make it in because they were started last month - don't worry, though, Thomas has several other entries that do qualify. Check out that rust!


12 December 2017

Prizes and WIP

I may have mentioned that I was rather unexpectedly voted the winner of the Golden Gobbo this year over on the Oldhammer forum. Not only was that a bit of an ego boost, but Geoff also very generously provided a trophy:


10 December 2017

Deadcember - the horde grows

Rather gratifyingly a flurry of new entries to match the flurries of snow that are making Britain feel more festive have arrived. Bigger pictures in the gallery tab at the top, but here's a sneak preview:

Another from Iain Harrison


An undead unicorn and rider from Chris Kellahan


And an undead champion from Roger Duthie


Good, aren't they? Still plenty of time for more of you to add your own to the horde...

8 December 2017

Deadcember - more entries shuffling in

A couple more undead-ish monstrosities have been submitted to deadcember2017@gmail.com and they're great!

One from Gaz Shaw (check out his Forgotten Dungeons blog)


And one from Stuart Bannister (of The Lost and the Very Damned blog fame)


Both added to the Deadcember 17 gallery. Any more entries out there?

6 December 2017

Deadcember - the first

The first entry for this year's challenge has been submitted, hopefully the first of many! Well done to Iain Harrison whose Nick Lund Grenadier skeleton with mace now graces the gallery accessible via the Deadcember 17 tab at the top of the page.



Remember, submissions to deadcember2017{at}gmail{dot}com.

5 December 2017

Arthurian illustrations

A large part of my interest in the medieval fantasy that can be found in the games I mostly play (WFB, Dragon Rampant, my Averaigne Basic Fantasy/D&D campaign, Knights' Quest and various other dungeon-crawling games) is the combination of folkloric and chivalric legends. In some ways I'm quite Victorian in my enthusiasm for chivalry and its modern incarnations of gentlemanly conduct, while recognising the sometimes restrictive gendering aspects that don't sit well with some. I'm also a big fan of the works of painters such as Burne-Jones and other pre-Raphaelites, with their medievalism. When the two combine, I'm a happy man - and I've discovered a new artist that hits the spot that I wanted to share.

Katharine Cameron, a member of the Glasgow Art School in the late 1890s, worked as a book illustrator (among other things) and for me captures that slightly naive, watercolour/stained glass effect (I'm sure there's a proper artistic term for that). What caught my eye were these illustrations she did for Mary MacGregor's 1907 Stories of King Arthur's Knights that formed part of the Told to the Children series.


2 December 2017

My Deadcember

Obviously I won't be "entering" Deadcember17 as I'm judging it; even by the standards of the sneakiest greenskin, that would seem a little underhand. And anyway, orctober is over.

As I'm sure is quite a widespread issue, I find myself in need of a liche. This fellow will be what I attempt to paint in around the slightly overambitious list of homemade books and journals I've planned for various nearest and dearest. He's a Chaz Elliot sculpt for Rl Partha Europe, 5028 Undead Lord with Sword and he's pretty tall - that's a 25mm base he's on!