(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Toon Realms" January 2019

Yewan Grove The Treeman WIPS - The Ent has been primed, shaded, dry-brushed (twice) and detailed

This month's themed attempt to try and reduce my overwhelming bevy of metal, plastic and resin miniatures will see me painting up a number of "Lucid Eye Publications" figures from their "Toon Realms", "Toon Supers" and "Toon Terrors" ranges. I've actually only recently discovered these extremely characterful creatures, so having purchased the odd few... ahem, dozen or three, I thought I would try and pigment them all during the current Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

My plan is to actually complete enough models in order to run a series of "Dragon Rampant" skirmishes as part of a "Lord Of The Toons" campaign, so to that end I have begun earnestly working away on Yewan Grove The Treeman and four of his marvellously grumpy-looking Shrubs. These figures will allow me to field the 45mm tall Ent as a Greater Warbeast, and use his more diminutive-sized Entlings as part of his Reduced Model Unit.

Skeleton Swordsman WIPs - The Undead warrior has been primed, washed and repeatedly dry-brushed

Of course, I also plan on fielding some opposition for my Forces of Good to battle on the tabletop, and decided upon a Graveyard Dwellers army packed full of Skeleton Soldiers and lead by a Necromancer no less. The "Toon Realms" range carries a rather nice selection of Undead warriors, so to begin with I have bought and based eight of Lord Rascal's Skeleton Swordsmen to use as a Light Foot unit.

Ultimately, I will need to purchase a third blister so as to properly field a full-strength, twelve miniature strong unit. But for now I have simply started pigmenting a pilot piece to see whether my usual technique for painting bleached bone, which includes multiple dry-brushes of "Vallejo" Dark Sand and Dead White, is suitable for so cartoony a sculpt...

"Star Wars: Legion" WIPs - Chewbacca and two Wookie Warriors have been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Lastly, I recently stumbled across a box of miniatures which I simply couldn't resist ordering, despite my best intentions not to 'get into' yet another "Star Wars" rule-set by "Fantasy Flight Games". However, having recently spent a little hobby time pottering over a partially-painted figure of Chewbacca for the Minnesota-based manufacturer's "Imperial Assault" "strategy board game of tactical combat", I was immediately taken with the sheer size and dynamic posing of their Wookiee Warriors Unit Expansion for "Star War: Legion".

Needless to say, I additionally succumbed to also buying the Kashyyyk killers' Chewbacca Operative Expansion as well, and have already assembled, primed and dry-brushed all five wookies. Whether this will be the start of a slippery slope into wargaming "thrilling infantry battles in the Star Wars universe" I cannot say. It would though, seem silly not to at least pick up a box or two of Imperial opposition at some point in the near future...