"This Viscous Heap Slides Like An Inky Spill."

"It's the colour of a starless night sky, and a thick odour permeates the air around it."

This 45mm tall pre-painted plastic model of some Rolling Oil is produced by “Wizkids” and is miniature number 029 from their Ruins of Lastwall range of "Pathfinder Battles" figures. "A magical compound of pitch and alchemist’s fire", the "volatile and dangerous ooze... hunts in subterranean tunnels and even city sewer systems and waterways for animal and vegetable material to consume."

"Thick, viscous, and resembling a glistening spread of black wax" the mutable creature was re-based upon a "Games Workshop" 50mm circular base and primed using a double layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black. The Rolling Oil was then enthusiastically dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal, before being drenched with "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

"Otherworld Miniatures" WIPs - This Barrow Guardian has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

With my latest ooze completed, I have been rummaging around for more models by "Otherworld Miniatures" to use with a possible "Warlock Of Firetop Mountain" flavoured tabletop campaign I have in mind. Russ Nicholson's excellent illustrations for this particular "Fighting Fantasy" gaming novel by "Puffin Books" made a lasting impact upon me when I was a young hobbyist, so ideally I have been scouring through my "Dungeons & Dragons" backlog to see what figures captured the look of the Glasgow-born artist's pencilling.

One such model is a Barrow Guardian from Greg Gillespie’s ‘Barrowmaze’ RPG setting. This particular sculpt would appear to be 'out of production' these days, and I only managed to 'bag one' myself because "Otherworld Miniatures" very kindly sent me for free when I ordered their heavily discounted Barrow Guardian II (Code DM30b). The metal figure was actually a bit of a pain to assemble, as its shield is (understandably) separate, so had to be pinned in place due its minimal surface contact with the monster's wrist.

"Sally 4th" Elite Paint Storage Shelving Unit

I have also spent some time assembling one of three Elite Paint Storage shelves produced by "Sally 4th" to try and help 'tidy up' my painting area. I'm very much aware that I've not played anywhere near as many games as I had hoped to by this stage of the year, and a large part of this is because my considerable painting queue, along with my numerous paints, brushes, glues and varnishes have significantly encroached upon my table space.

Assembled using copious amounts of Titebond Original Wood Glue by "Franklin International", this multi-piece MDF painting accessory can accommodate fifteen "Vallejo"-sized dropper bottles of paint and comes with two clear fronted drawers as well. The wooden kit also comes supplied with some "ultra strong rare earth magnets" with which to securely hold any adjoining shelves in place. I won't be attaching mine yet until I've built the other two storage units, to ensure their polarity matches the next rack...

"Warfare" Loot 2018

Able Company WIPs - These "Sally 4th" 28mm miniatures have been based and primed

This past Saturday I made the annual trip to the Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading and attended the opening day of the Wargames Association of Reading's weekend long show "Warfare". I've actually been regularly attending this event for well over a decade, but having bought just a few 'bits & bobs' this time round, disappointingly felt that it has probably seen far better days than it does in its current format. Indeed, a handful of the usual faces, such as "Hysterical Games", were noticeably not there, whilst the likes of "Warlord Games" and "Mantic Games" arguably presented some disconcertingly underwhelming stalls...

Fortunately, I did still manage to rummage around and purchase a few pieces of interest, with "Sally 4th" in particular providing a fine display of their wares, including some of the miniatures which form part of the Albedo Combat Patrol ACP164 Anthropomorphic "Kickstarter". Based upon "the unique comic book art of Steve Gallacci" I was sorely tempted to buy a few automatic-rifle carrying rabbits, foxes, dogs and cats, yet in the end actually decided to 'pick up' four of the manufacturer's 28mm metal figures from their Classic Movie Miniatures range.

US Lunar Force Rover WIP - The huge 15mm vehicle has been superglued together and partially primed

I'm not currently convinced as to what rule-set I plan to use these somewhat chunky Able Company characters with, albeit "Sally 4th" would seem to be targeting them towards those who play the Game of Extraordinary Action and Adventure entitled "Pulp Alley". So for now I have based them all on the lipped circular stands I use for my "Bolt Action" models, just in case I decide to utilise them as characters for "Konflikt '47" at some point in the future. In addition, I have had to do some restoration work to the barrel of the not-Jim Morita miniature's firearm, after the soft metal muzzle came away whilst basing him. Hopefully, once painted, the piece of metal wire I have employed as a replacement will look good enough...

Equally as enjoyable to visit was "Ground Zero Games" which was located in exactly the "same location as the last few years - first aisle on the left of the main trade hall." I've been tremedously impressed by their 15mm "Moongrunt" range in recent weeks, so treated myself to a second of their US Lunar Marine Starter Force boxes. These 'reinforcements' should enable me to hopefully build both variants of their US Lunar Force Rover, which is a truly formidable-looking and heavy combination of resin and metal, as well as give me a surplus of astronauts to potentiall paint up in the orange and yellow of Moonbase Alpha from "Space 1999".

Cave Troll WIPs - The two metal "The Lord Of The Rings" monsters have been reassembled and primed

Perhaps the show's highight for me however, was it's Bring & Buy sale, which whilst seemingly dominated by discarded "Flames Of War" forces and unwanted partially-painted "Warhammer 40K" warriors, did contain a tidy little collection of old "Lord Of The Rings" miniatures by "Games Workshop". Admittedly, some of the Nottingham-based company's early plastic sculpts for their Strategy Battle Game are still reasonably accessible in today's second-hand market, despite being released to co-incide with the 2001 film "The Fellowship Of The Ring". But I can't remember seeing two of its early metal Troll models sold together as a pair before.

Incredibly, the box was handled by at least a couple of (dis)interested parties before I could 'nab it', and I was particularly pleased to see that both the monsters' arms were already pinned in place and that they came with a small horde of Moria Goblins too. Of course, I have subsequently cleaned up the enormous cave dwellers' joints up and re-attached the limbs before gritting their bases with gravel. I'm hoping to get these finished reasonably quickly, as I've already assembled a sizeable collection of 'half-done' Middle Earth-based models ready for the start of next month's Second Partially-Painted Pledge challenge.

Sally 4th Wargames Figure Warchests

Despite my best intentions the size of my model collection, be it lead, plastic, resin or MDF mountain, continues to grow. As a result storage space has increasingly become a problem so I’ve invested some time, and a little money over the past couple of weeks trying to remedy my shortage of shelf space. Having decided to abandon my current practice of simply using plastic bead craft storage boxes for my miniatures, I’ve taken the plunge and bought some precision laser cut MDF Wargames Figure Chests from the “Sally 4^th” website found here: http://wargamesbuildings.co.uk.

I only purchased five of their MDF boxes, including lids and appropriate inserts, in order to see just how well they’d accommodate all the 6mm and 15mm models I’ve been painting recently. Currently these figures are stored in a variety of brightly coloured plastic craft containers, which despite their considerable size, are unable to hold many of my miniature bases due to the odd sizing of their compartments; doubtless though they’re ideal for keeping beads and suchlike safely housed.

When the package from “Sally 4^th” arrived, I must confess to being a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of pieces confronting me, and as a result was somewhat concerned that I had made an expensive mistake; especially as each Chest costs approximately £12 with the lid and insert.

Fortunately my package included an excellent ‘Assembling your Warchest’ guide, and having identified which MDF parts made up a single lid I was able to set to work with my PVA glue. I’d actually strongly recommend that you build the lids first as they come together far easier than the warchests and once dry make a useful housing structure to sit your warchest inside whilst you wait for its glue to harden. It also ensures that the lid will fit over the warchest when you’re ready to start stacking them up.

The 40mm square slot inlay has proved ideal to accommodate most of my 6mm “GHQ” miniatures as I can snuggly fit two of their 40mm x 20mm stands in each space, allowing me to house 40 bases of “Micro Armour” infantry and (small) vehicles per tray.

I must also extend a big thanks to Chris Abbey at “Sally 4^th” for specially cutting two 30mm x 40mm inserts out for me. These will allow me to not only store my larger “Micro Armour” vehicles but also a large part of my ever increasing “Pendraken Miniatures” 10mm Second World War Eastern Front collection.

Finally I bought a couple of inserts specifically designed to hold both the small and medium “Flames of War” rounded-corner bases by “Battlefront Miniatures”. I actually plan to use them to help store both my “Ground Zero Games” Xenomorph models and my Prydian Army by “The Ion Age”.