(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Forgotten Heroes" June 2022

Howling Commandos Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Three previously 'kit-bashed' Forgotten Heroes 

This month's endeavour to shrink my somewhat overwhelming plastic backlog will be strongly influenced by the annual “Forgotten Heroes” challenge over on the “Carrion Crow’s Buffet” website. In the past I’ve attempted a number of different projects ranging from simple paint-jobs through to the odd “Heroclix” kit-bash. However, on this occasion I thought I’d actually sculpt my painting subjects myself, and base the figures upon three comic book characters which I actually created for the “Time’s Rambler” graphic novel series.

Admittedly, I’ve relied upon the excellent “online character design application” “Hero Forge” to help me make the Rambler, Beekman and the despicable Van Dijk recognisable likeliness’s of their printed page counterparts. But everything else about the 3D printed hard plastic models stems from my time travellers’ digitally-drawn escapades, right down to a nautical telescope, a pick-axe and a cluster of uranium crystals.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

In addition, I plan to finally finish a number of miniatures which have been sat ‘forgotten’ on my hobby table for well over a year, and have already completed a 28mm scale metal model of a wizard sat atop a dice which used to be produced by “Lucid Eye Publications”. This particular magic-user was given to me as a free gift with one of my orders, and is one of five identical figures I have slowly been progressing to help populate my fantasy-flavoured tabletop with some suitable statue/objective markers.

The long-bearded conjurer was initially super-glued upon a 28mm “Games Workshop” circular base, and then permanently attached to one of the 40mm thin-lipped circular bases I use for all my objective markers. The model was primed using an initial coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, before being layered in a double-helping of Bronze and enthusiastically drenched in “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade.

May 2022 - A number of "7TV" figures have pushed "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" into the Top Five

My ‘freebie’ was next dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Bronze, and subsequently given an application of “Citadel” Nihilakh Oxide in both its numerous joints and ridges, as well as its dice’s pips. Finally the entire miniature was treated to another (lighter) dry-brush of “Vallejo” Bronze in an attempt to tie the entire paint-job together.

Happily, this past month’s productivity has definitely seen an upturn for the better, predominantly due to the number of large-sized creatures by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” I managed to complete for the Monster May(hem) challenge. I still have one final Titan to complete as part of this four-week long event, and may well continue to add to my growing collection of “7TV” figures now I’ve dipped my toe back into the second edition of the “cinematic style skirmish” rule-set.

"Removed Surgically Before Embryo Implantation.”

“They killed him getting it off.”

This horde of ten 10mm scale metal Manumala noxhydria are produced by “Pendraken Miniatures” as part of their Science Fiction range, and are available either as code SFC8 Face Huggers, or as part of code SFC-AP Alien Creatures Army Pack. The parasitoid models are clearly strongly influenced by Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror flick “Alien” but are arguably much too large in size compared to the rest of the extra-terrestrial creatures manufactured by the Middlesbrough-based company. Indeed, despite me personally using the xenomorphs alongside a number of 15mm scale aliens made by “Ground Zero Games”, I’d argue they’d work very well alongside 28mm models as well.

The single-pose models were attached in pairs to a small sized “Flames Of War” base by “Battlefront Miniatures” and primed using “Citadel” Abaddon Black. Each figure was then treated to a double application of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre, followed by an initial wash of "The Army Painter" Quickshade Ink Strong Tone and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"Terrain Tiles" WIPs - The Quarter Cliff Outside Corner has been assembled

I had actually hoped that these Face Huggers would prove super-quick to complete. However, the rather flat sculpts required a lot of patience to be properly ‘picked out’, especially as the “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre was a little too runny when taken straight from the pot, so tended to simply spill down the model’s sides if not allowed to congeal a little on my mixing plate first.

With another of my Weekly Challenges finished, I took the opportunity to assemble a 6” x 6” MDF Quarter Cliff Outside Corner by “Anomalia Games” which was freely handed to me to try out during my recent trip to “Warfare” 2021. The multi-part kit was reasonably straightforward to build, although due to its very precise engineering I’d strongly recommend assembling it all at once as opposed to waiting for parts of it to dry separately, that way it is much easier to juggle some of the parts together so they properly fit inside a few of its holes.

"Lucid Eye Publications" WIPs - Two primed 'Hype Nifty Gifty Fifty Give Away' figures

Overall I was very impressed with the wooden board piece (valued at £4), and, should my plans to grit, flock and appropriately decorate the corner satisfactorily prove successful, intend to purchase at least a few more of the “Terrain Tiles” kits so as to build a small 2’ x 2’ skirmish board in the New Year. Of particular note is the fact that the company’s website has an excellent 3D builder on it which not only allows you to assemble a board from scratch, but then both orders and costs all the pieces required to build it.

In addition, I have based and undercoated the last two ‘Hyper Nifty Gifty Fifty Give Away’ figures I have previously been given by “Lucid Eye Publications” for the upcoming “Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.” The 28mm metal models were freebies to anyone who made a large enough order, and is now sadly out of production (OOP) having been replaced by an updated sculpt of a wizard sat upon a dice. However, I was lucky enough to get five in total before they were withdrawn, and resultantly have been painting them as objective markers.

Top Ten Manufacturers Of 2020 - A "Fantorical" Viewpoint

Despite being a rather disappointing year, productivity wise, 2020 certainly seemed to demonstrate that I was finally starting to move away from such mainstays of my past hobby-time as "Games Workshop" and "Warlord Games", and instead turning towards some of the new companies like "Atomic Mass Games", "Precinct Omega" and "Kitbash Games". Indeed, neither of those aforementioned 'big' Nottingham-based manufacturers even feature in this Top Ten for the first time in half a decade.

In addition, my obsession for all things science-fiction was definitely diluted by a growing fascination with a number of fantasy ranges, most notably those of "Lucid Eye Publications", "Alternative Armies", and rather surprisingly "Wizkids". This disconnect was especially felt in my lack of finishing much to do with my favourite time-travelling television programme "Doctor Who", as well as any "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" miniatures either; all three of which had had very strong showings during the previous year...

No. 10 - "West Wind Productions" - "Secrets Of The Third Reich

I've painted a significant number of models from this range over the past decade, but never with any real intention of actually playing the official "Secrets Of The Third Reich" rule-set. Instead, I've adopted them as my 'go to' miniatures for "Konflikt '47" by "Warlord Games", and as a result ended up painting a handful more during the last twelve months so as to allow me to field both a British and German force of 500 points apiece. Disappointingly, after just a few visits to Weird World Two, I ended up once again boxing away these great figures, quickly ending an aspiration to pigment a 250 point American faction to add to my Allies.

No. 10 - "Kitbash Games" - "Supers Unlimited"

With super-heroes always being one of my most popular genres to paint, it was perhaps no surprise to anyone that I backed "Kitbash Games" highly successful Kickstarter so as to get my greedy paws on some of their excellent resin "Supers Unlimited" miniatures. Indeed, I was so enthused with the likes of Tox, Granite and the Blue Scarab that I even purchased some more of the characterful crime-fighters from the company afterwards. Sadly however, I never did manage to complete as many of the colourful vigilantes as I had originally intended, and rather embarrassingly have a drawer full of them only partially-painted.

No. 9 - "Black Tree Design" - "Doctor Who"

One of the biggest disappointments of the year was just how few "Doctor Who" models I painted from my extensive "Black Tree Design" backlog based upon the BBC science fiction television series. Plans to complete a sizeable force of armoured Sea Devils ("Warriors Of The Deep"), original Autons ("Spearhead From Space") and Swampies from Delta Magna ("The Power Of Kroll") were all sadly side-lined just as soon as I had primed the miniatures in question, and eventually lead to me frustratingly only finishing less than half a dozen Zygons overall.

No. 7 - "Atomic Mass Games" - "Marvel Crisis Protocol"

Despite owning an astonishing amount of "Heroclix" figures by "Wizkids", many of which are already fully painted, there was probably little doubt that I would start down the rabbit hole of "Marvel Crisis Protocol". Luckily however, after something of a slow start, my enthusiasm for this 40mm scale range gained some noticeable traction towards the end of the year, and as a result I not only made some in-roads into the models found within the Core Starter Set. But also managed to finish pigmenting a few of the figures from some of the super-hero skirmish game's already numerous expansion boxes too.

No. 7 - "North Star Military Figures" - "Frostgrave"

The highly-anticipated release of "Frostgrave" Second Edition by Joseph A. McCullough undeniably helped fuel my fire to finally finish off some of my long-languishing inhabitants of Felstad. However, rather than nudge me to complete a second much-needed warband for my Witch and his Apprentice using the hard plastic sculpts from the Nottingham-based manufacturer's Tribals boxed set, I instead ended up predominantly focusing my efforts upon the over-sized vermin scurrying through the underground sewers of the frozen city.

No. 6 - "Alternative Armies" - "Hordes Of The Things"

Painted entirely for the HOTT'ember Challenge with Dick Garrison of "Rantings From Under The Wargames Table" fame, these 15mm scaled models were a real test of both my eye-sight and patience due to many of the miniatures being 'rather old and uninspiring sculpts'. Indeed, I've rarely been as tempted to consign an army to a soon-to-be-forgotten drawer as I was with this mixture of water, earth, wind and fire elementals. Luckily though, I did eventually managed to find the strength to finish all but the force's wizard, and resultantly pigmented a sizeable number of figures.

No. 5 - "Precinct Omega" - "Ballmonsters!"

Purchased on the spur of the moment during the Bournemouth-based wargaming show "Beachhead", these bizarre-looking creatures surprisingly fascinated me from the moment I first laid eyes on them, and somehow repeatedly found their way at the forefront of my painting queue throughout the year. In fact, I actually ended up successfully putting my brush-tip upon every single Ballmonster I bought, even though I still have absolutely no idea what I shall do with them on the tabletop.

No. 4 - "Otherworld Miniatures" - "Dungeon Monsters"

Initially starting as a simple trip to Greg Gillespie's "Barrowmaze" role-playing game setting and its animated stone Barrow Guardians, my collection of high-quality miniatures from this Hertfordshire company took on a life all of its own once I encountered its range of slimes, oozes and jellies. Spurred on by the discovery that I already owned a fair few of their finest moulds, I ended up painting all manner of dungeon denizens, including both a Black and White Pudding. 

No. 3 - "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" - "7TV

Buoyed along throughout the second half of the year by three semi-successful painting projects, and a smattering of skeleton warriors, my obsession with "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" saw a number of Simians, ARC astronauts, alien pets, security guards and FedSec Troopers getting a lick of paint. Disconcertingly though, this was actually only the 'tip of the tentacle' as far as my planned out-put was concerned following Karl Perrotton running some more triumphant Kickstarters during the period which only added to my mountain of unfinished miniatures.

No. 2 - "Lucid Eye Publications" - "Toon Realms"

In many ways the completion of a small-sized Gondor/Fangorn army for "Dragon Rampant" was my most successful project of the year, and certainly saw me churn out a number of cute-looking armoured figures from the "Toon Realms" range. However, I never did manage to actually play a game using the "Osprey Publishing" rule-set, and quite bizarrely totally stopped painting any more knights, Ents or unfriendly ghosts by the end of January.

No. 1 - "Wizkids" - "Heroclix"

Whenever I am in a painting funk I usually find myself turning to my collection of plastic "Heroclix" figures for inspiration, and this pre-painted range's ability to put me back in the mood for hobbying was probably never as important to my productivity as it was during 2020. In fact, not only did the American manufacturer cause me to pigment an impressive number of super-heroes, space-knights and villains. But it also seemingly lead me down the Swords & Sorcery path as well, persuading me to complete golems, Rolling Oil, and the largest miniature I have ever attempted - the 300mm tall Walking Statue of Waterdeep: The Honourable Knight.

Top Ten Miniatures Of 2020 - A "Rantings From Under The Wargames Table" Viewpoint

As we draw to the close of what can only be described as a rather unusual year, at least some things are still familiar - the weather is awful, I’ve eaten too much and Simon and myself are back (after a year away) to writing our annual “What I think you painted best this year” posts. Oh, and no doubt as usual we’ll disagree with what we each picked! We both had gaps in the year where our output dropped quite a bit - well in my case I didn’t even start till March - but luckily for me Simon has completed more than enough figures to fill out this post. In fact whittling it down to just ten has been more of an issue for me!

No. 10 - Zygons by "Black Tree Design" – October 3rd

I’m a big “Classic” Doctor Who fan so I was delighted when these wonderfully pigmented Zygon’s appeared on Simon's blog. Though they have been resurrected into the new series a couple of times, these “Black Tree Design” figures are firmly based upon their original appearance in 1975, alongside the Loch Ness Monster. As always, Simon has lovingly recreated the colour scheme of the shape-changing aliens to perfection. A great little trip down memory lane for us “true Who” fans.

No. 9 - Ballmonster by "Precinct Omega" – March 10th

Though a relatively simple sculpt, and I don’t doubt Simon would say also a reasonably simple paintjob too, this “gas filled” antidote to fantasy sports games, was a real surprise when he first appeared. So much so that I immediately had to go to the company web-site and find out more. Luckily, as I was just venturing back into the hobby after a break away, I was able to restrain myself from parting with some hard earned cash right there and then, However Simon’s wonderful work on this and the other later featured “Bad balls” has tested my resolve on more than one occasion throughout this year.

No. 8 - Mole In A Hole by "Oathsworn Miniatures" – August 7th

I love it when Simon’s posts include one of his lovingly painted “Burrows and Badgers” figures, as they are all wonderful sculpts that show off the attention to detail and character that is evident in everything Simon paints. Indeed, I actually picked one as my number one figure from Simon’s painted fig’s the other year! I think this mole is a perfect example of this, and maybe I’m just a big softy at heart but I just find him so dammed cute! And it’s perhaps a good thing that he is apparently no longer available to buy!

No. 7 - The Squirrel Man Of Sevastopol  by "Hero Forge Custom Miniatures" – October 25th

Well now what does it say about you, when you want to create a figure of yourself? Well in my case it would mean I didn’t have sense enough not to horrify other people. But in Simon’s case it means you want to know if you could survive a Zombie apocalypse with a squirrel on your hand - I still don’t get the squirrel? Built upon a website, 3D printed and sent to his door, this rather “macho” version of our “blogging” hero has been very nicely painted with his usual attention to black - I’m starting to think Simon is a bit of a closet goth! Albeit a squirrel loving one. The bushy beard is a good likeness too apparently.

No. 6 - FedSec Heavy Trooper  by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" – December 14th

Simon has been churning out these FedSec troopers for so long now that I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t! All of them are great examples of his wonderful brushwork and any of them could make this list, But what sets this chap apart from the rest for me is his weapon, I don’t know if this ever appeared in the “Blakes 7” television series, but if it didn’t it should have. As always Simon's treatment of predominantly black clothing is perfection and puts my daubed efforts to shame. Then add to this the “spot-on” colour of his helmet's banding - Heck! It even looks translucent, and you can see why he is here amongst such vaulted company.

No. 5 - Simian Minion by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" – August 26th

Simon has painted quite a few characters from the original “Planet of the Apes” movies this year, and though I knew I wanted to include at least one of them in my list it was a real struggle to pick the one I thought was the best. But after very careful deliberation and a lot of back and forth, I finally decided that his painting of “Kira” - the female chimpanzee, who appeared in a couple of the films, had a slightly lighter touch to her features, and I felt the colour of her costume was a touch closer to the original than some of the others. This is though just personal choice, and the margins between this and his other “Simians” is very small.

No. 4 - Black Widow Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.  by "Atomic Mass Games" – December 7th

I’ve already mentioned Simon is the master of “black”, and this wonderfully dynamic rendition of Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of “Natasha Romanoff” is just yet another example of his skill with realistically “noir” clothing. Also worth a mention is the skill and patience needed to assemble the sixteen pieces this figure consisted of! In fact he’s such a fan of Marvel Comics' Russian “Femme Fatale”, that he now owns three versions from this range alone (not to mention his Wizkids ones!). They say practice makes perfect, so perhaps it’s no wonder he did such a good job here.

No. 3 - Sterling The Wandering Knight by "Lucid Eye Publications" – January 20th

We go all the way back to the start of the year for my number three choice. This lovely little (and he is fairly little) figure by "Lucid Eye Publications". As I mentioned before with “Mister Mole” and the “Ballmonsters”, things have a knack of appearing on Simon’s blog that you have never heard of before and yet instantly want! I have been back to Lucid Eye’s website on numerous occasions since they first started “popping up” here. Though of all the figures from said company none impressed me more than Sterling here. At first glance he looks pretty simply painted - Black, and a dry-brush of silver. But there is so much more going on here, and when you really look you can pick out all the detail that really brings this little hero to life! No wonder Simon is using him as a stand in for “Boromir” in his “Lord of the Rings” games. The temptation is still strong!

No. 2 - Zzax by "Wizkids" – February 22nd

It wouldn’t be a “Top ten” of Simon’s output without at least one of his excellent “Heroclix” repaints, and this one is a “doosey!”. The stunning layered effect has been built up from heavy ochre through Carroburg Crimson up to final high lights of white (with many combinations of these and other colours in-between!), Even a professional “make up brush” was used in the production of this top notch paint effect. To my eye this is one of the very best re-paints I’ve seen either here or anywhere on the net.

No. 1 - The Blue Scarab by "Kitbash Games" – July 24th

Well, after a long and difficult bout of deliberation with myself - who am I kidding, I knew this lovely lady in blue was going to be my number one from the moment I set eyes upon her back in July. “No goon with a handgun”, was going to beat her and it seems neither was anyone else in my top ten! I could go through all the great details in her costume, and the excellent way Simon has picked them out, but quite frankly it would be a lot easier to point out what I don’t like about her, frankly nothing. A truly awesome piece of work and one that in my humble opinion is the pinnacle of Simon’s continuous top notch painting efforts for “twenty, twenty”.

So there you go - another year over and another fine body of work displayed on one of my favourite blogs. There have of course been several “just missed out” figures that made the short list but failed to make my final cut, and I have to give an honourable mention to all the various stomach turning, pudding’s, jellies and oozes that appeared with startling regularity in Simon’s posts during the year. But rather than list some of my other favourites here, my advice would be to make yourself a cup of tea and look back through the “Finished Figures” category under the header above and revel in some of the magnificent figures on show - from Rats to Robots, Prime Minister’s to Alien Pets, or even Tommie’s to Tomb Guardians, Simon has tackled everything with his usual enthusiasm and aplomb, if you are short of inspiration for 2021, you’ll find plenty there.

I’ll finish as usual, by thanking Simon for allowing me to run roughshod across his excellent blog, as well as taking on the arduous task of finding ten decent figures over on my own humble blog. Roll on 2021, I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Cheers Roger.

N.B. You can visit Roger's excellent wargaming blog and see both his excellent output, as well as my own Top Ten of his 'best in show' here: "Rantings From Under The Wargames Table".

"The Hyper Nifty Gifty Fifty Give Away."

"Caution! This is not a toy."

This 28mm scale model of a wizard sat atop a dice whilst smoking a pipe is produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and is actually sent out as a free gift with any orders over fifty pounds. The figure is arguably not quite as cartoonish in style as the manufacturer’s other “Toon Realms” sculpts, but this is now the third such identical miniature I've painted so as to populate my tabletop with some fantasy-flavoured statue/objective markers.

In addition, I wanted the opportunity to refresh my memory as to how I usually paint bare rusty metal before I start applying the technique to several pieces of 8mm terrain from the "Games Workshop" Imperialis scenery set for "Adeptus Titanicus". With this in mind I therefore super-glued the marvellous-looking magic-user upon a 28mm “Games Workshop” circular base, and then permanently attached the ensemble to one of the 40mm thin-lipped circular bases I use for all my objective markers.

"Lucid Eye Publications" WIPs - The wizard has been dry-brushed, shaded and dry-brushed again

The model was primed using an initial coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, before being heavily dry-brushed in "Citadel" Ironbreaker. The "Abody" make-up brush I used for this stage actually did too good a job of covering over many of the figure's inner details, so I ended up dabbing some extra "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna into some of the sculpt's nooks and crannies; especially the dice dots.

The entire miniature was then drenched in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before being given a second, significantly lighter, dry-brush of Ironbreaker. In order to provide both the wizard and his dice with some weathering I sporadically applied a combination "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade" over them, and finally attempted to tie the entire paint-job together with a third (even lighter) dry-brush of "Citadel" Ironbreaker.

"Heroclix" WIPs - The all-white Moon Knight (a.k.a. Mister Knight) has been primed and shaded

With the metal statue itself finished I undercoated its 'stone' plinth using two coats of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, and later washed it with a mixture of “Citadel” Nuln Oil, Biel-Tan Green and Agrax Earthshade. This area was subsequently dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey in the hope I could catch enough of the plastic circular base's raised surface detail with my brush-tip....

Having completed my third "Nifty Gifty" objective marker, I have spent a little time working with "Vallejo" White and Pale Grey on one of my super-hero figures by "Wizkids". This "Heroclix" model of Moon Knight (or rather his split persona Mister Knight) has been knocking around my painting table for quite a while, so I thought he'd make a nice contrasting subject to work on following my dabble with metallics and rust washes.

Top Ten Manufacturers Of 2019 - A "Fantorical" Viewpoint

There can be little doubt that 2019 was a wonderfully surprising year for my painting, with the sudden emergence of several new miniature ranges which somewhat shockingly overshadowed my usual mainstay manufacturers. “Lucid Eye Publications”, “Modiphius Entertainment”, “Fantasy Flight Games”, “Knight Models”, and “Kitbash Games” all arguably came out of nowhere to challenge the annual dominancy of my traditional Big Four - “Warlord Games”, “Wizkids”, “Black Tree Design” and “Games Workshop”, and as a result made this period my most productive ever.

In addition, there was a noticeable increase in the amount of Fantasy-based models I pigmented that weren’t from the Mortal Realms of “Age Of Sigmar”. Science Fiction and super-hero figures have repeatedly governed my hobby-time over the past decade, yet due in large to the characterful sculpts of the “Toon Realms” range, Skeletons, Treemen, Spiders, Knights and assorted forest-bred wildlife increasingly ‘cropped up’ on my online shopping trolley too…

No.10 - "Wizards Of The Coast" - "Star Wars Miniatures Game"

There can be absolutely no doubt that I would never have painted anything concerning either the "Star Wars Miniatures Game" or "Wizards Of The Coast" during this year if it wasn't for the generosity of Phil Curran, who along with a formidable array of other science-fiction based miniatures, kindly gifted me an enormous Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid and four Super Battle Droids. Indeed, despite owning a significant box full of models from the collectable miniatures tabletop game, I have predominantly focused on simply re-basing the figures in the past, not re-painting them. However, I felt it was only right to put my brush-tip to these lovely sculpts as soon as possible, and score some much needed points during the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge as well.

No.9 - "Crooked Dice Games Design Studio" - "7TV"

Despite having played numerous games of "7TV" by "Crooked Dice Games Design Studio" when the "cinematic style" skirmish game first came out several years ago, it wasn't until the end of 2019, with the release of "7TV: Apocalypse", that I finally became enamoured with its second edition. As a result, except for a quartet of Gabriel Hounds, I barely picked away at the Lincolnshire-based company's range until the very end of the year, when I finally finished a partially-painted female X-Commando who had been lurking in my queue for months, as well as their excellent Protoplasmic Terrors.

No.8 - "Reaper Miniatures" - "Chronoscope"

Whilst my plans to host a campaign loosely set in James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet's mid-25th century “Gamma World” never materialised, the science fantasy world did encourage me to pigment a plethora of models from "Reaper Miniatures" Chronoscope range. These varied from some distinctly "Dungeons And Dragons" stalwarts, such as the Gelatinous Cube, Stone Golem and Mind-Eater, through to some surreal adventurers, like Sherlock Holmes and a Deep Sea Diver, as well as the formidable "Bones" sculpt of Ape-X.

No.7 - "Warlord Games" - "Doctor Who: Exterminate!"

Quite possibly the biggest disappointment of 2019 was the utter lack of new releases by "Warlord Games" for their "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" Miniatures Game. Admittedly, this absence of fresh sculpts did offer the opportunity for me to pigment my quite considerable backlog of time travelling figures, but without the persistent 'buzz' of new foes to fight I soon found my enthusiasm dwindling for what is a somewhat overly-clunky rule-set. As a result, perhaps my most notable success was completely painting the range's "Tomb Of The Cybermen" set, complete with its Cyber-Leader for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Challenge.

No.6 - "Fantasy Flight Games" - "Star Wars: Legion"

Undoubtedly one of the biggest surprises of the year, especially considering how poorly my attempt to paint the Minnesota-based company's previous "Star Wars" game had gone, was the sheer number of figures I completed for "Star Wars: Legion" by "Fantasy Flight Games". Initially wowed by the attention to detail on the range's dynamically-posed Wookie Warriors, I soon transferred my attention over to the Dark Side of the Force, by applying my brush-tip to the likes of General Maximilian Veers, some Imperial Royal Guards, a complete squad of Imperial Death Troopers and Emperor Palpatine himself.

No.5 - "Games Workshop" - "Age Of Sigmar"

Two significant-sized projects lead to me pushing through a considerable number of "Games Workshop" models for "Age Of Sigmar". On the one hand I added enough Bloodletters and Heralds of Khorne to allow me to field a 1,000-point strong Blades Of Khorne army for the miniature game's second edition, and on the other I stubbornly forced myself to complete enough of the Nottingham-based manufacturer's overly-complicated plastic figures to deploy an Iron Golem warband for "Warcry".

No.4 - "Wizkids" - "Heroclix"

Ever a stable part of my annual output, my interest in super-hero based gaming surprisingly didn’t really ‘take off’ until somewhat late in the year, with my sudden determination in October to clear my painting queue of eight old(ish) Ultron Drone figures. Before that point I had simply been 'picking away' at the pre-painted plastic figures, momentarily fixating upon the Spaceknight Firefall's fearsome battle against a clutch of Dire Wraiths, before flitting over to the odd "HorrorClix" miniature such as the Reaper of Souls and a Carnage Bot.

No.3 - "Modiphius Entertainment" - "Star Trek Adventures"

Having become increasingly frustrated by the extraordinarily long delays affecting their Robert E. Howard’s Conan Role-Playing Game Kickstarter, which was supposedly meant to deliver in June 2016, I actually once swore I would never buy another “Modiphius Entertainment” product again. But then the London-based manufacturer released their “Star Trek Adventures” miniatures and I quickly found myself neck deep in Borg drones. Two fully-painted boxes of the Collective later, as well as a half-strength raiding party of Romulans, and even I must admit that the 32mm scale resin figures had an enormously positive impact upon my productivity during 2019.

No.2 - "Black Tree Design" - "Doctor Who"

Enthused by a lengthy series of battles using some homemade rules and my desire to potentially field numerous opposing factions, as well as an increasingly nostalgic love of classic “Doctor Who”, it was perhaps inevitable that I would continue to steadily work my way through this ageing company’s (back) catalogue. A formidable force of Sharaz Jek Androids, Silurians and Monoids all helped motivate me throughout the year, and even kept my passion going when the delivery service of “Black Tree Design” left a lot to be desired, courtesy of some incredibly poor communications and month-long delays.

No.1 - "Lucid Eye Publications" - "Toon Realms"

Perhaps my biggest success of 2019 was the completion of a small-sized Undead army for my “Lord Of The Toons” project using the “Dragon Rampant” rule-set. Produced by “Lucid Eye Publications”, a company I was initially utterly oblivious to, this force of skeletons and spiders greatly contributed to my success during the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and maintained much of its momentum for almost the entirety of the year due to a positively frantic release schedule. A genuine surprise genre, this particular range also got me as close to doing batch-painting as I have been in almost a decade of hobbying…

"Nine He Gave To Mortal Men..."

"...Proud and great, and so ensnared them."

These four 28mm scale "white metal figures" of Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range. Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have painted them to represent the "dreaded ring-servants of the Dark Lord Sauron in Middle-earth" so as to field them as a 'Lord Of The Toons' Bellicose Foot unit (Reduced Model Unit) for “Dragon Rampant” by "Osprey Games".

Originally I had planned to simply paint these figures in exactly the same way as I've pigmented all my ghosts, using a white undercoat with plenty of green shading and simple white dry-brush. But having seen the 'official' paint-job on the now OOP Twilight Ringwraiths manufactured by "Games Workshop", I thought I'd try a distinctly bluer palette, so therefore primed the quartet with two layers of "Vallejo" Steel Grey.

'Lord of the Toons' - Faramir and Boromir face four of the Nazgul

The Fallen Kings were then 'muddied down' with a wash of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, before being dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Steel Grey, and an even lighter touch of Heavy Bluegrey. With the bulk of the spectres finished, I subsequently 'picked out' their grotty gloves with a combination of "Vallejo" White and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and their eyes with a dab of  "Citadel" Abaddon Black.

I also layered their teeth with a dash of "Vallejo" White, and decided to imply a haunting look in their somewhat softly-detailed faces by adding a splash of "Citadel" Druchii Violet just beneath their eyes. This colour sort of replicated the facial make-up I spotted the actors wearing when they appeared in Peter Jackson's 2001 epic fantasy adventure film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".

"Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures" WIPs - The Bone Golem has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Despite still having another four of Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths left to finish, I've momentarily turned my attention towards a considerably larger-sized figure from “Wizkids” impressive Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures range. This Bone Golem is absolutely packed with detail with all its skulls, ribs, leg bones and grisly cartilage, but should look pretty impressive on the tabletop once I've found the time to pigment all its fleshy areas.

In addition, this latest "Dungeons & Dragons" model has encouraged me to dust down the five adventurers I planed to use for an "Expedition To The Barrier Peaks" campaign a few years ago. Consisting of such notable treasure-seekers as a Gnome Infiltrator (with repeating crossbow), a Half-Elf Sorcerer, and a Lizardman Warrior, these 'Out Of Production' miniatures were all made by "Wizards Of The Coast", and predominantly came from the company's discontinued "Chainmail" range...

"Do Not Meddle In The Affairs Of Wizards..."

"...For they are subtle and quick to anger."

This 28mm scale model of a wizard sat atop a dice whilst smoking a pipe is produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and was actually sent to me as a free "Gifty" with one of my recent orders. The figure is arguably not quite as cartoonish in style as the manufacturer’s other “Toon Realms” sculpts, but I thought it would still make an excellent statue/objective marker for “Dragon Rampant”.

In addition, I wanted the opportunity to try my hand at a somewhat waterlogged stone figure, in order to test out a possible palette for a much larger figure I plan on submitting to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. As a result the miniature was super-glued upon a 28mm “Games Workshop” circular base, before subsequently being permanently attached to one of the 40mm thin-lipped circular bases I use for all my objective markers.

"Toon Realms" WIPs - Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths are slowly having their gloves, eyes and teeth painted

The magic user, along with his 'stone' plinth, was initially primed using two coats of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, washed with a mixture of “Citadel” Nuln Oil, Biel-Tan Green and Agrax Earthshade, and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. I then went back with some extra "Citadel" Nuln Oil and 'picked out' some of the dice spots which weren't quite as visible as I wanted.

Significantly more time-consuming a mini-project has been the eight Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths by "Lucid Eye Publications" I have slowly been progressing. Having primed, washed and dry-brushed the "Toon Realms" spectres, I foolishly thought that the bulk of my work was done, but have since discovered just how hard it is to 'grind out' sixteen "Vallejo" White gloves and assorted teeth. As a result I've split the work down into two groups of four figures, with the first lot now rapidly approaching completion. 

"Marvel Crisis Protocol" WIPs - The Black Panther needs all his suit's Vibranium to be 'picked out'

Long time sufferers of this blog will undoubtedly know of my love for all-things super-hero based, so will probably appreciate the dilemma "Atomic Mass Games" have caused me with their release of the "Marvel Crisis Protocol" miniatures game. For a while I have managed to stay reasonably strong, and keep my painting queue clear of the Minnesota-based company's multi-piece hard plastic figures, yet that has now changed with the recent arrival of their Black Panther character pack...

In fact, I've become so enthused with the sculpt that I have additionally assembled the expansion set's Killmonger miniature too, and hope to slowly paint my way through two forces where each side has a clear arch-nemesis on the opposing team. I'm also rather keen to pigment a few of the range's models which I don't own as either OOP "Knight Models" or "Heroclix", such as Venom, Okoye and Shuri...

"One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor."

 "It's Black Gates are guarded by more than just Orcs."

This 28mm scale "white metal figure" of Sterling The Wandering Knight is produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range as an adventurer "for use with The Caverns of The Frog King Adventure Module." Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have painted him as Boromir, the eldest son of Denethor II, so as to be able to field him as a 'Lord Of The Toons' Hero (Single Model Unit) for “Dragon Rampant” by "Osprey Games".

Originally primed with two layers of "Citadel" Abaddon Black,  the older brother of Faramir was treated to two coats of Ironbreaker before being drenched in Nuln Oil and dry-brushed using (more) Ironbreaker. I then 'cleaned up' his shield with some additional "Abaddon Black" and treated his sword hilt and helmet to a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Gold and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

The Thing and Black Panther make short work of an alien warrior and some stalkers

The High Warden of the White Tower had his face initially 'picked out' with some "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, and was subsequently washed with "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade before receiving some "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone highlights. Finally, his belt was given a lick of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter", whilst his feathered plume was pigmented "Vallejo" White and later splashed with Pale Grey.

I'm hoping to attend the LVL Up Gaming Store in Bournemouth at least once a month this year, and took advantage of my most recent visit to trial some quickly thought homemade rules for H.R. Giger's aliens. Initially I had panned for the slavering extra-terrestrials to face off against an increasing number of "Marvel Comics" most famous superheroes, but rather embarrassingly forget to bring the Avengers statistics with me.

The Human Torch lights up the alien menace with a series of fireballs

As a result, we had to settle for a series of smaller-sized skirmish games across an industrial furnace complex which arguably far better suited the super-powered long range abilities of the Fantastic Four (and Black Panther) than it did the somewhat faster, but vulnerable at a distance Xenomorphs. Fortunately, such disadvantages didn't stop some 'stand out' moments occurring within our games, such as The Thing charging straight into the nearest alien warrior and relying solely upon his thick brick hide to protect him from the creature's acid blood, or the Black Panther dispatching a gaggle of nightmarish stalkers only to then later succumb to his close combat injuries.

Perhaps the evening's biggest star though was Johnny Storm, whose 'untouchable' flight ability definitely helped Mister Fantastic's super-group keep the aliens at bay whenever they seemed likely to break through the line of heroes through sheer weight of numbers. Able to fly almost within touching distance of the Xenomorphs, the Human Torch repeatedly whittled down the fast-approaching warrior drones with a hail of fire-balls, and certainly gave me food-for-thought as to how I could better balance flying units within my homemade rule-set "M.I.S.S."...

"Theoretically, The Corpse Of Any Living Creature Can Be Turned Into A Zombie."

"But, for whatever reason, most necromancers find humanoid subjects to be far easier to reanimate."

This 63mm tall metal model of a Zombie Snow Troll is manufactured by “North Star Military Figures” and can be bought as code FGV316 from their “Frostgrave" Range. According to Joseph A. McCullough's lore for the Frozen City these undead monsters are “a popular choice for a death mage looking to add a little strength to his forces”, and whilst zombie trolls are “not quite as tough as their living counterparts”, they “are still creatures to be feared.”

Although I’m a big fan of Mark Copplestone’s official paint scheme for the miniature, I actually thought the palette chosen was a little too dark-skinned for my taste, so I primed my model “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey in the hope of becoming reacquainted with my preferred zombie colour scheme from six years ago.  The living corpse was then drenched in “Citadel” Biel-Tan Green and dry-brushed using some (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey.

"Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures" WIPs - The Earth Elemental has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

I also decided that I wanted the troll's shaggy fur to be brown, so applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to the large clump of hair partially covering its back. For the rotting behemoth's visible intestines, I first applied a layer of "Vallejo" Squid Pink and then washed its guts with "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. Some of this Shade spilt onto the monster's rancid flesh, so I used a piece of sponge to dapple the area around the gash in the creature's side with even more Carroburg Crimson.

This technique seemed to work well to suggest the skin was mottled and bruised, so I extended my sponge-work across the figure where appropriate. I then tackled the beast's huge partially-exposed skull by layering it with "Vallejo" White, shading it using some Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter", and finally dry-brushing it with (more) "Vallejo" White. Once dry, I similarly treated parts of the bone to some "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

"Toon Realms" WIPs - Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths are ready for a series of lighter dry-brushes

Finally, I 'picked out' the troll's eye socket with a dollop of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and then sponged on plenty of "Citadel" Bloodletter across areas of its decomposing body, head and matted fur. With the gore finished, I glued a double helping of "Citadel" Snow around the plastic 40mm circular base in order for the hulking zombie to fit in alongside the rest of my "Frostgrave" collection.

Working on such a considerably-sized figure has momentarily given me a real taste for pigmenting large models, so with some gusto I have also been working on a plastic Earth Elemental from “Wizkids” increasingly impressive Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures range. In addition, I have taken receipt of eight Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths by "Lucid Eye Publications", and immediately primed, washed and dry-brushed the "Toon Realms" ghosts...