A very small army

This evening is the last chance I'll get before BOYL to do anything other than pack figures, rulebooks and scenery, so what you see in the photos is what I'll be bringing to the defence of Avalone and I couldn't resist sharing. I shall have time to put some thought into a back story like those included for the sample armies from Ravening Hordes so I should be all narratively equipped for some oldhammering.

The force at arms of Baron Gilbert de Corbin is as follows:

The Baron his-self, and his loyal standard bearer

Chico Challenge - Heraldry

I love a multi-use miniature. In fact, I love any kind of multi-purpose thing that I make or have to spend time on, maximum return for expended effort etc. Which is why, when I saw that the theme for this week's Chico Challenge was Heraldry, it seemed daft not to, especially as the preparations I still need to make for BOYL14 are:

1. Drybrush bases and add "grass"
2. Paint three banners

I need a banner for my foot knights, my unit of billmen, and for my nascent force as its army standard (even if "army" is a touch out of scale with the reality!). The army standard seemed the most urgent, and would involve two different heraldic designs, one for the standard bearer and a different one for the banner. The (as yet unnamed) banner bearer has a simple coat of arms (per pale, azure and argent), but he carries the banner of his liege lord, the Duke de Corbin (paly of four, vert and or, a chief sable with three bezants, argent). Check out that spirally striped lance! Everything is freehand (as if it's not blatantly obvious...).

"We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune"

Fantasy tropes of the 80s (book and film), cod-medievalism and Monty Python's Holy Grail form the backbone of the way this project is developing. And how can there be such a project without some self-opinionated peasants?



Impossible! So here they are:

The Baron himself

Every army needs a commander, even an army as small as mine will be in August, and no-one takes a knight seriously unless he's on a horse. So here's my first horse, with his lordship proudly astride.

This is my boomstick

Got a castle wall that needs knocking down? Horde of enemies you need to whittle down to size? Got a city or narrow valley to secure? Then recruit Alexandre Sauveur, Master Gunner to the Baron Gilbert de Corbin. 

His two sons, Eric and Xavier, are twins but totally different in character. Eric is bright but lazy, Xavier is more than a touch simple but labours day and night. Only Eric is allowed to mock Xavier, though - anyone else is likely to face the combined wrath of the pair of brothers, formidable bar-room brawlers both!

One more little group ready for BOYL. I've already accepted that my modest plans are being scaled back a little, but this lot (apart from a drybrush and some grass on the bases) are ready for action.

Rab

A spot more recruitment

Blimey it's quiet around here! Almost as though every single waking moment recently has been filled with work (boo!) and family things (yay!)...

Still, I put the finishing touches to my unit of handgunners for Whiskey Priest's "How to do Oldhammer" challenge, the Muster challenge, and the "oh dear, I need some painted figures for BOYL" challenge. Triple use, so I reckon that makes them worth thirty figures, right? Suit yourself.

Here's a pretty crappy phone photo as proof:

Fetchez le vache!

Apparently I have to have plenty of stock phrases ready for maximum geekage at Bring Out Your Lead 2014 (BOYL14 from now on) at Foundry's new HQ in August. I shall therefore have this on loop while I'm painting and practise my pronunciation of "elderrrrrbehreeeez"

Les arquebusiers de Thierry

If you're a nobleman, you can do as you like as long as you can afford it and it's not treason. Even then, if you've got the money you can probably get away with treason as well. For most, though, it means indulging one's whims. Les arquebusiers de Thierry is one such whim. Inspired by the troubadours' tales of Thierry l'Arquebus, the minor noble Vicomte Lincolne raised a band of skirmishers armed and dressed as the literary figure; an arquebus and the green cloth for which the area of Lincolne is famed. The Vicomte seems to have missed the point that, although green is a good colour for a woodsman, poacher or skirmisher, as soon as they start shooting the noise and smoke will give them away instantly. Nevertheless, the greencoats are good shots and (for peasants) fairly stalwart.

Knowing that I'd better raise some troops (read: paint!) fairly sharpish, I knocked these first six out this week. They still need their bases finishing but I'll do them all in one go at the end. Here they are bravely hiding in the lee of a village headman's house. I was going to pick a francophone rendering of "Robin" but found that there's been a 1960s French series called "Thierry le Fronde" about a Loxley-esque character who used a sling rather than a bow. Fun fact!

"Look busy, mes braves, here comes the Vicomte!"

A few little things simmering away

Ok, so nothing actually complete, but I've been pootling about with a couple of bits and pieces over the last few days.

First up, some paint starting to appear on that converted centaur:

Muster project - month 01

Bertrand l'enchantier

Normally to be found at the centre of foul smelling vapours in his chambers, or atop the tallest tower on a clear night, Bertrand can always be relied upon to assist his lord Baron Gilbert de Corbin if battle should come to disturb his thaumatalurgical studies.

Level 15 wizard wearing level 2 magic ring - 255pts

This is my entry for October in the Oldhammer forum muster project and is, I guess, a bit of a cheat as it's only one miniature even if it hits the required number of points. Regardless, I really like this figure. He's from the early Citadel Fantasy Adventurers range and is code FA2-2, published in 1982. It's my first specifically 3rd edition figure I've painted and, apart from not being happy with the base (must read Orlygg's basing tutorial again) and needing to hit it with some matt varnish, I'm fairly content. I enjoyed using inks to thin paint to get a wider range of subtly differing shades in the blue (sacre bleu, of course) robe. I added a smidge of blue ink to the grey for his cloak and hat to tie it together a bit.

One figure down, about seventy to go!

Rab

There once was an ugly duckling...

...who was the terrifying giant servant of a vengeful chaos god!

Welcome to post 150, dear readers (cue cheering, balloons, party poppers, cake and fizzy pop!), in which I once again try to persuade you that I have been doing some geeking, honest and truly. Specifically, I've been organising my workbench to undertake not one, not two, but three painting challenges. Now, you might think from recent months that the greatest challenge would be me actually picking up a paint brush (and you'd be right), but all of these tie in with my intended projects.

Challenge the first: The army muster

This is from over on the Oldhammer website and is meant to produce, by October 2014, a playable army. You are supposed to paint a tenth of your army each month, with two wild cards to allow for things like Christmas and going on holiday which rudely interrupts one's painting ambitions. This is my starting point:

There's a bunch of peasants back left, a unit of foot knights and the start of a second at the front, a cannon and crew, and, at the back, my mercenary dwarf contingent. Still in packets, or undercoated but elsewhere, I have a unit and a half of mounted knights, another cannon, more peasants etc. I plan to order more cavalry to complete the second unit of knights, crossbowmen, archers, spearmen and a third cannon. We'll see how far I get...


Challenge the second: The group Knight challenge

Another Oldhammer project, but just a single figure and one that I can shoehorn into challenge 3 to boot! Started by Asslessman on this thread, the basic idea is to choose a creature representative of your home region and to make a knight from it. Living near Bedford, the swan seemed an obvious choice, especially as I've always liked the idea of knights riding giant birds (I blame that old arcade game, Joust). This is why there was the slightly random opening to this post; behold the chaos swan!

He's behind you!

That classic chaos warrior will be the rider of the beasty

Now, obviously I need to add a putty swan beak, saddle, reins etc. but I don't think that making him/it should take more than an evening. Painting it? We'll see...


Challenge the third: Chaos narrative campaign

Up on that first picture, you might just be able to make out a chaos knight and a lovely old beastman. They are the first two members of the Tzeentch warband I rolled up for a little narrative campaign that Chris, Malc and I hope to start playing over Christmas. I have a chaos warrior and four beastmen to paint up. Surely I can manage that?

Play nicely, children.
Rab