Wednesday 30 May 2018

"Tiny Sparrows Are One Of The Most Common Birds In Northymbra..."

"...And can be found in towns and cities as well as the wild places."
This 28mm metal model of a Sparrow Warrior is produced by “Oathsworn Miniatures", and along with its "integral metal base" can be purchased as Code BB28 from their "Burrows And Badgers" range. Originally part of the County Durham-based company's 'Short But Deadly' pledge for their Free Lances kickstarter, Angus Quickbeak comes equipped with a one-handed weapon and light shield, as well as a sporran.

The "small passerine bird" was super-glued onto a 30mm plastic circular lipped base, and primed using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown. His beautifully sculpted feathers were then washed using some Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter" and later dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Brown.
"Imperial Assault" WIPs - A Rebel Trooper, IG-88 and Dengar have had their bases layered
Primarily a seed-eater, the fearsome-looking fighter had its shield and sword pigmented with "Citadel" Ironbreaker and subsequently shaded with Nuln Oil. These areas were later dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker, whilst his toes were 'picked out' using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

Evidently a Scottish sparrow, I was momentarily tempted to tackle the short-tailed scavenger's Highland attire with a tartan of some kind, but soon opted for an all-red costume as I feared for my sasanach sanity. Resultantly, I painted his attire with some "Vallejo" Heavy Red and then washed it with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. In addition, I applied a tiny amount of both "Vallejo" Dead White and Pale Grey to the "generally social" bird's tassels.
"Imperial Assault" WIPs - A Stormtrooper, Gaarkhan and Chewbacca have had their bases layered
As a last step I originally painted the anthropomorphic animal's beak and tongue with "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre and Heavy Red. However, I felt the yellow actually made the figure somewhat resemble a duck, in my mind at least, so re-painted the area using some Charred Brown and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

In total contrast to "Burrows And Badgers" I have found myself rather taken by a series of "Star Wars" postings over on the "28mm Victorian Warfare" blog by Michael Awdry. I've previously started working on some "Imperial Assault" models myself, hoping to game a few 'scum & villainy' tabletop skirmishes, so it didn't take much to encourage me to dig out a half-dozen partially-painted plastic figures and get to work on them...

32 comments:

  1. Nice job on the sparrow Simon, nice to see some more imperial assault minis around

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    1. Thanks Dave. I didn’t get as far on the “Imperial Assault” minis as I would have liked this week, simply managing to properly layer their bases and get a bit of work done on the Wookiees.

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  2. Great work Simon, good call on the beak I think though.

    That is a great selection of Star Wars mini's too, IG88 was always a favourite of mine.

    Cheers Roger.

    Oh for some reason I can't use my wordpress account to comment on you blog at the moment (strange).

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    1. It is probably to do with the recent GDPR fiasco, Roger. Since it was implanted, I and countless others, no longer receive e-mail notifications of comments left on our blogs which is incredibly frustrating. So far Blogger has refused to acknowledge there is a problem. Typical! :-(

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    2. Cheers Roger. I certainly prefer the ‘new’ beak over the old. Early days on a lot of the “Star Wars” minis tbh, as most were simply dusted down and had their bases started. Still progress is progress.

      There’s a lot of weird things happening with Blogger currently... :-/

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    3. I must confess Bryan to momentarily considering stopping my postings when I first read the Blogger warning about information retained by my blog. I was pretty sure it was going to mean contacting anyone who’d ever left a comment on my blog etc and informing them my site maintained their comments. That seems to have died a death now. But I’m a bit nervous Blogger might suddenly update everything and delete the past...

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    4. Yep seems to work on Wordpress sites but blogger doesn't want to paly at all, not sure if it works the other way round as well.

      Couldn't come at a worse time either, with FH starting tomorrow, Bl**dy internet!

      Cheers Roger.

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    5. Hmmm... how odd, and worrying. Looking forward to “Forgotten Heroes” on Friday (my monthly musing) and your entries - your self-created models always score highly in my Top Tens for your annual outpoint :-)

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  3. Excellent job on the Sparrow mate. I am working myself up to some of the birds now. Can't wait!

    Nice progress with the SW figs as well dude.

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    1. Thanks Simon. The Sparrow Warrior was great fun to paint, and I’m hoping to get a few of the “Imperial Assault” minis finished over the next few weeks...

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  4. I'm still liking you B&B figures, Simon. I would have liked to see you give him a tartan pattern on his clothing. ;-)
    Those Star Wars are great figures and they look very well sculpted. I'm sure you'll do a first class job of painting them.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I’d have liked to have seen a tartan on the Sparrow too. But I’m painting for fun and tabletop standard currently, which means simple choices and ‘some’ shortcuts :-)

      It’d certainly be nice to have a few bounty hunters with which to play some “Star Wars” skirmish at some point, and “Imperial Assault” appears to be maintaining its releases despite “SW: Legion” now being out.

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  5. I do like the Burrows and Badgers minis, and that sparrow is just lovely, really great job. It is also great to see some Star Wars stuff getting painted too, especially after seeing the Solo movie and loving it! Don't let the bad press put you off it is very entertaining and who can resist anything with Chewbacca in it! My favourites out of your in progress shots are the two wookies. I have a soft spot for the noble creatures of Kashyyyk as you can tell, so I can't wait to see more.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I’ve got the Green Lizard to post up next week and by then the Toad Mage should be finished too. I might try and squeeze a few of the “Star Wars” minis in from time to time as they’re a bit more fun to paint than the Boromites I’m currently progressing. Time will tell...

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  6. Nice work Simon, but the twitcher in me forces me to say that "Angus" might actually be "Agnes" judging by her overall brown hue ;-)
    Excellent looking Star Wars minis too and I look forward to seeing them progress :-)

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    1. Cheers Greg. Twitch away, as I didn’t come up with the name, it was “Oathsworn Miniatures” ;-) Hopefully a couple of “Star Wars” minis will get finished during the next month...

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  7. What a noble and brave bird the sparrow is, smashing job Simon. Good to hear that I have led you astray for once and looking forward to seeing the scum and villainy hit the tabletop.

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    1. Thanks Michael. I’m really enjoying the “Burrows & Badgers” minis - and Simon Quinton’s marvellous postings are helping to maintain the momentum too.

      Yes... curse you Sir Awdry, I was trying to stay strong whilst you painted models I had already done myself, but then you went and showed me Green Greedo!! How could I resist!?! :-)

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  8. Lovely looking sparrow and the star wars figures are coming along nicely!
    Best Iain

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    1. Cheers Iain, much appreciated. Lots of work left to do on the “Star Wars” minis though.

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  9. Brrr, we must be on Hoth with a rather good mix of SW figures!

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    1. Ha Hah! Good one, Joe :-) I’m only halfway through my “Burrows & Badgers” postings though, so are you going to remain frosty to all of them ;-)

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    2. re B&B, probably (it's an age thing) whilst I think the sculpts are great andyour painting, as always, beautiful, for the love of me I really don't see the point in it all. The concept is obviously based on soe form of reality (like most fantasy) so I don't see why not stick to reality!

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    3. Yes... I was very much of the same opinion until I saw these minis in the flesh (as it were). There is though definitely something to be said for painting a single piece mini with lots of simple detail as opposed to the multi-piece “GW” plastics with too much detail, which I’ve recently been painting.

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  10. Another nicely done bunch. I'm thinking of getting the Star Wars set just so my grandson can play with the toys.
    A good call on avoiding the tartan, I threw a 54mm Black Watch figure across the room once in a wobbly tartan painted for the 20th time hissy fit.

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    1. Thanks Phil. I can just imagine your tartan temper - which I why I try and avoid any sort of patterns these days - simply for my sanity’s sake and to keep the painting fun.

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  11. Nice, there seems to be a lot of people doing Imoerial Assault at the minute, it's giving me a hankering to get mine out!

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    1. Cheers Myincubliss. Personally I entirely blame Michael and his series of “Star Wars” postings on the subject :-)

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  12. I thought I had already posted a comment..... Oh well perhaps not.

    I cannot get on board with Badgers and Burrows despite the excellent figures and no matter how well you paint them (my hang up not yours).

    Likewise Ja Ja Binks ruined Star wars for me, I am still traumatised and have not watched a film since (Ok not exactly Traumatised, but the inclusion of that character has put me off Star Wars!)

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    1. Thanks Clint. I must confess to not being a Jar Jar Binks fan myself, and simply an original trilogy follower. As one I can one I assure you this will be a Jar Jar free blog. For now at least... ;-)

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  13. Tartan is a pattern I'd hesitate to attempt also. Cos if it's not done right, it looks.... well, shite. Good call mate.

    After seeing Solo last weekend (And being blown away by how flippin good it was!), I am tempted to set aside my current project and instead work on a nice load of the old West End Games figs I have had sat in my collection for a while. Good to see Dengar in yours!

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    1. Cheers Dai. I'm rather particular about patterns on my minis, so if I don't feel I can't do them justice. I simply don't try them these days.

      I'm hoping to crank out a few "Star Wars" bounty hunters etc over the next few weeks, and Solo will be there too - its just a question of juggling painting projects :-)

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