Market Hall WIP 2

First two floors almost done. Haven’t settled on the stairs yet. I want to do a courtroom and have the mezzanine as a viewing gallery. If I do an accused box, it won’t be able to take a 25mm base, that would be too big. I’m thinking of just a judges chair and table and a clerks desk. But waiting on that to arrive before committing. Still need to hit the balsa with a wire brush as well.

 

the Da Vinci tank…

 I realised I’d not taken pictures of the Da Vinci tank since I’d finished it, so as Leonardo was out…

The ship’s doctor…

 So, The Silver Bayonet rules came out and it’s perfectly what I’ve been looking for… black powder, gothic horror and solo play (on account of me being so antisocial). Plus it can move to my ECW Folk Horror setting perfectly (just remove the vampires - there is no vampire in English folklore at that time, very much a European thing), and vice versa a lot of what I have already fits the Napoleonic setting.

With that in mind there was no harm in getting some splendid chaps to form my unit of British monster hunters (6 nations are covered in the rules, with scope to adapt those lists to any nation of the period, but I already had some Nappy Highlanders for an abandoned project). Plus an excuse to have some excellent Perry sculpts again.

This is from the Perry Royal Navy Landing Party set, which gave me some nice options for the more specialist troop types. This chap will do duty as a doctor, so can stay in A Roysl Navy uniform. 

Mostly in contrasts, which are helping me overcome a severe loss of mojo…

Mud, mud, glorious mud...

 I’m not normally one for blood splatter or mud (Angel’s demon had a dry brush around the base of his cloak and that’s about it), but the bulk and weight of the daVinci tank did call for it...

I wasn’t going to buy anything just for this, so just stippled on Vallejo earth texture and gave it a dark wash. Probably better ways to do it, but worked and serves to hide the sins of wonky handmade wheels...

Almost there...

Some awful quick photos, but I’m plodding along... 

So, rear doors done, although I started undercoating before realising I'd not shown it. The roof could have been detachable allowing a figure to be placed, but the roof has a solid cross beam in it that is just to painful to remove and I'd have to sink the platform i made as well. It will get a crew man permantly attached and the roof glued in place.

 

Heavy duty wheels

 So the wheels on the tank are wagon wheel thin and I wanted something a little more heavy duty to roll over the zombie corpses... now the fact this was a clockwork model also means the original wheels have lovely medieval cog teeth on them (which would have been very handy when I did the Watermill interior) and the model has a lovely wide slot for the wheels to allow for the teeth. So, inspired by trench gun wheels I went thick...

Because the interior (at least that bit) won’t be visible, I don’t need full replacement wheels which meant less work. I cut two circles about the size of the original wheels from 5mm foam pvc, then added another 3mm just to fill it out more. Carved some wood/plank texture and smoothed off the outer curve with some thin card. I then cut a series of plates to give the heavy duty feel. In my head the wheel itself doesn’t need to be solid and the plates (if damaged) can be replaced from inside the vehicle.

And a dry fit, the extra width and the plates fill the gap nicely. A lot of effort for something not really visible, but it works for me...

The Water Carrier

So this is a thing and I love it... no idea if it will be playable as it would be way over powered I assume, but it’ll make a fun project... may just end up as scenery.

This is weird kit, snap fit and clockwork apparently, but I’m leaving all the gubbins out as they are handy medieval cogs that would have been cool with the water mill, but hey... I’ve removed the outer lettering for the on/off switch (to be filled) and some arrows on the cap (the purpose of which is beyond me), the cap itself rests on the clockwork mechanism inside, so that will need raising a little to allow for the view slot. Not sure how I’ll have them get in and out, will need to think of a hatch on the main shell or have the cap hinged somehow. In my head there is a horse or something in there, so that would need to be a factor. It’s smaller than the real thing would be, but looks ok alongside minis. I’m seriously thinking of an interior... 

Size Comparisons

 Ok, so I do love the Bloody Miniatures range. Lovely sculpts. But... I’m torn on the size. They work with some figures, not so much with others... they make Angel Blake look more childlike which I like, but she’s nude which is wrong on sooo many levels. The old woman is minute and looks odd, but the blacksmith just looks stout and solid. The bishop looks small, but he did against the Mantic ghouls anyway. The Cardinal is shortish, but not terribly so... but the Warlord cavalry men are tiny, even against a Warlord plastic infantry (which is the witch hunter base figure.

Decisions, decisions... sigh...

The Red Right Hand

A completion of an old thought... started these guys years ago as additional hunters - my thinking was a  rival government group to the more freelance hunters. They are all Warlord Games minis with varying degrees of green stuff to vary the single pose soldiers. The leader is the Warlord Games Cardinal Richelieu with extra hair. They are a bit quick and sloppy admittedly with an overall dark colour scheme, but the pictures aren’t doing them any favours...

EDIT: And some better pics:

the Apostle WIP

A little WIP, undecided on hair (again), also need to get some different heads...

As I had the idea for him, he became affectionately known as John Wootton in my head, although I quite like the nickname The Apostle as well... I had thought of Red Right Hand as well, but that fits more of a organisation, so will save that for my Church hunters.

The body is from the Warlord Pike & Shotte infantry sprue, arms and boots from the command sprue (Warlord is currently offering the sprues for half price if anyone is interested - or were last time I looked anyway). The head is of course another Hasslefree one.

brotherhood of the erm... capelthwaite

 or something... Conquest Mini's do some lovely Native American figures for the French-Indian Wars (as luck would have shortly available from Warlord Games), including some cracking Last of the Mohicans figures, of which this is Magua...

I've loved this mini for years and finally picked one up a few months ago and in the best tradition of stealing (partly from White Knight over on LAF - but mainly from the film Brotherhood of the Wolf) and not a million miles away from my original Solomon Kane inspiration, I decided that a strange and dark-skinned companion would not go amiss... no doubt converted by some zealous missionary and brought back to amuse the King, he's now found a higher purpose...

now, that isn't his original musket (which would have been 100 years too advanced, but probably get awayable), as he was sadly bent in transit and it couldn't be repositioned without snapping, so off it came, I took the musket from the Warlord ECW weapons sprue (think it may actually be a matchlock) and tried to pin that in place... sadly, I couldn't get the barrel drilled and pinned, so instead pinned in the stock and built up the barrel with g/s around a very long pin - it may not be the best looking musket in the world, but by god it's all pin and damned sturdy... 

I did him in basic skins and buff leathers - no doubt his more traditional clothing would have long since gone the way of his old gods, so he made his own when called upon to fight...

so, the Witchhunter warband so far... rather character driven admittedly, need some musket fodder....

oh... and a capelthwaite is a large shape-shifting black hound from Westmorland if you were wondering... and yes, I have plans...

release the hounds...

finally got around to finishing the houndmaster and his pack... annoyingly this was a pain - firstly I needed a head... after considering the Bearded Tweedy head from Crooked Dice, I found some GW Empire soldier heads on ebay - on the whole they are too large for the Warlord plastics, but this one in a hat managed to hide that fact enough and he looks comparable to the Hasslefree head on the Witchhunter...

then I couldn't quite decide on what colour to paint his clothes, I didn't want him all in black, I knew the dogs would be tan, so another buff coat seemed silly... I had tried a faded red, but that didn't work... in the end I figured, he probably once worked for a lord or squire, someone with land who would need dogs, his family has probably been in service for generations, hence the older style hat, so some faded hand me downs seemed appropriate... the base colour is Vallejo violet brown (or brown violet)...
 

it was during the storytelling in my head (I can't be the only one can I?) that I had trouble picturing him running through hedges and ditches after his dogs on the chase in shoes and hose... so - and I hate doing this mid paint job - cut his legs off, which left him flopping about by his chain... with the boots from one of the Warlord command figures, he was reattached and all seemed well...

then the chain broke... and his hand came off... so I had to replace the chain, and getting a new loop was a pain in the arse, so it become a leather strap instead of an iron chain, the hand was repaired, the chain reattached.. and everything patched up... I hope... sadly, this may rank as one of my better conversion jobs but thanks to the hell of painting it, not my best figure overall, I can see lots of niggles everywhere... not least of which is that he's still damn shiny, so will need to touch him up with Dullcote again...

release the hounds WIP

some shockingly poor photos, but it's a gloomy day today... conversion of the Warlord ECW command sprue musician (again oddly - strange that I find that the most workable of the 3) to be in charge of the hunting dogs that any witch hunt needs...

I haven't decided on a head yet, but will be adding several heads to my head bag this weekend at Salute - am currently thinking the not-Colonel Tigh from Crooked Dice... the base is a normal cavalry slotta with ends replaced with bits from a 25mm slotta... originally it was just the front I did like that to allow the other hounds (on their own 25mm slottas) to cluster together more easily for a pack feel when they are all on the leash, the end of the cavalry base was about level with the back of the handler, but the sword projected too much and was getting twanged and bent, so I added one that end as well to take the pressure off the plastic sword... the g/s hides lots of bracing above and below and it's quite sturdy... I tried to replicate the pose from the Warlord Ancient Briton pack handler, so cut off one leg and repositioned it and it's ankle... little bit of g/s to move hands, arms and what have you...



of course, it does occur to me that I may now need to do one without the dog, so will need another command sprue... sigh...

Witch Hunter

painted my converted Witch Hunter for my vaguely planned ECW Horror skirmish project... Witchfinder General meets Blood on Satans Claw meets Solomon Kane... details on the conversion are in the earlier post... quite happy with the blacks, tried for slightly different shades, boots have a hint of light brown from the black for a worn leather look, and the rest of the leatherwork is a very dark brown... I had planned black hair as well, but it needed a lighter colour to bring it all out a bit more... the angry shouty head has a nice crease in his brow, but now I look at it, it's all gone a bit Cromwell warty - which all things considered isn't a bad thing...

I didn't shade the white collar, just slapped on the brightest white I had just so it stood out more, the other bits of white have been shaded though...

Witch Hunter WIP

post-Salute-build, pre-Salute motivation means he now has hair...

after several attempts since January, I quite like that... gave up on windblown and went with long and a bit of chin hair... quite a relief to get the Library out of the way... sigh