"A Chance For Faramir, Captain Of Gondor, To Show His Quality."

"There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North!"

This "cartoon scale" white metal figure of the Game Kastle Knight Mascot is produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range as a single casting. Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have sanded off the prominent letters 'GK' on the warrior's shield, and painted him so he can be used to proxy the second son of Denethor II as a Gondorian Heavy Foot Character for “Dragon Rampant” by "Osprey Games".

Initially primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, the Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien was layered in "Citadel" Ironbreaker, enthusiastically washed with Nuln Oil, and eventually dry-brushed using some (more) Ironbreaker. The “the younger brother of Boromir” then had his belt, sheath, straps and tuft of hair 'picked out' with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, whilst his belt buckle and sword-hilt were spotted in Gold. All of these areas were subsequently washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

MSM-07 'Z-GOK' WIPs - The giant robot's feet and ankles have been primed. shaded and dry-brushed

Finally, the future Lord of Emyn Arnen had his 'bruised' shield pigmented with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and his face painted using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. The captain's nose, cheeks and lips were highlighted with a few additional lines of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone.

Stepping away from fantasy wargaming, and focusing upon the somewhat new genre of Gundam, at least for me, I have been slowly working my way up the MSM-07 'Z-GOK' 1/144th scale "Bandai" model kit I recently purchased from "MCM London Comic Con". "The most successful amphibious mobile suit line produced by the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War" I thought it actually best to start painting this robot from the feet up, and resultantly have been working on a few sub-assemblies.

"Wizkids" WIPs - The Scourge, Firefall and the Black Panther

Disconcertingly, this "HG Universal Century" figure is clearly designed to be repeatedly re-positioned, courtesy of numerous articulation points, so has proved a tricky painting subject with some of the flex in its joints. Indeed, even having super-glued the feet to its ankles, the two parts still provide plenty of movement due to some internal rubberised 'ball and socket' fittings which are rather difficult to permanently fix in position.

Lastly, I've made some significant progress on three "Heroclix" models I recently restored to my painting queue having partially-pigmented them some moons ago. The "Wizkids" Spaceknight Firefall has unsurprisingly taken up the majority of my attention, owing to Tarn's flame-covered shoulders, but the entire trio now just need some washes, a little dry-brushing and tidying up before they'll be ready for the tabletop...

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Blood Bowl" June 2019

"Blood Bowl" WIPs - These Greenfield Grasshuggers have been assembled and primed

This month's themed attempt to desperately diminish my mountain of unpainted metal, plastic and resin models will see hopefully me progressing a number of "Games Workshop" plastic figures from their fantasy football game "Blood Bowl" range. Currently I'm working on a number of partially-painted Chaos Chosen players for the Doom Lords, but in addition to finishing some of these Beastmen off, I am also determined to pigment a number of figures from the newly-released Greenfield Grasshuggers Halfling Team.

Indeed, my aim is to actually try and complete a half-dozen miniatures from the two opposing clubs, so as to start a small-scale league which will ultimately feature representatives from the Champions Of Death, Reikland Reavers, Nurgle's Rotters and Gouged Eye. To begin with though, I have merely assembled and primed a pint-sized Hopeful, a Catcher and a Hefty from "one of the most esteemed teams in the game", with the aspiration that an additional three more Hopefuls will join my painting queue once the initial trio are completed. 

"Bandai" WIP - The 'Z-GOK' has been assembled and had its feet primed with "Vallejo" Turquoise

An element of this hobby which has never really captured my imagination before has to the science fiction media franchise known as Gundam, and its almost fanatical obsession with giant robots. As a result, no-one was arguably more surprised than myself when I walked out of the latest "MCM London Comic Con" carrying a 1/144th scale "HG Universal Century" model kit of the MSM-07 'Z-GOK' amphibious mobile suit.

This Principality of Zeon mass produced robot by "Bandai" will potentially be one of a 'handful' of miniatures I would like to build and paint over the next few months, in the hope that I can eventually field a couple of small forces to battle across a 15mm scale tabletop. Astonishingly, considering the sheer number of components which the figure comes in, I have already assembled the brute and super-glued its feet on a plastic 120mm oval stand produced by "Games Workshop".

"Toon Realms" WIPs - Grunt the Boar, the Frog Prince and Grimm the Wolf have been under-coated

However, my problems have actually only really now started, as the 'Z-GOK' is clearly multi-pose toy with numerous points of articulation. So I am clearly going to have to permanently fix its joints together whilst I apply a brush to its numerous sub-assemblies; two things I have very little experience of at this present moment in time. Plus, it'll be interesting to see how its pre-coloured plastic will take to "Vallejo" and "Citadel" paints... 

Lastly, I have managed to prime a few more "Toon Realms" models by "Lucid Eye Publications" with the emphasis being on some of the range's large(ish) animal-based characters. Grunt the Boar, the Frog Prince and Grimm the Wolf are absolutely packed full of detail, with the formidably-sized Canis lupus potentially being the first of a Warg pack scouring Middle Earth.