25mm Ral Partha (Iron Wind Metals) - Scarecrows

Shoot, I just realized I have at least two others from this former Ral Partha set of Scarecrows, These two came in an Iron Wind Metals blister pack and I hadn't connected that they were from the original RP range. Had I known, I would have done them all at the same time. 

Instead, these were painted at the same time I did the Wargames Foundry Animated Scarecrows. A misapplied zenithal highlight nearly ruined these too but I corrected as best I could from the slap chop debacle that ensued. 

Everyone know Khaby Lame? He's the TikToker who effortlessly simplifies those over complicated life hack videos from other creators. Anyway, I think he'd appreciate my glowy eyes attempt here. Simply a bright red cavity, followed by a smaller orange dot in the middle finalized by a yellow pin point. I've watched all these air brush guys put in glows and reflected light for OSL techniques, but sometimes a simple three layer sequence works out just fine. The black, hollow eyes were bugging me and needed some dark magic. 

Formally, this is the "Scarecrow with Hooked Polearm" at left and of course, "Scarecrow with Scythe Raised" on the right. Both sculpted by Dave Summers.

These will be sub-bosses of some kind for the more rank and file scarecrow figures.

 As always, thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm doing more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858

25mm Wargames Foundry - Animated Scarecrows

 That's right, Wargames Foundry. I own a bunch of this stuff for my Sleepy Hollow and witch hunting stuff. Hard to believe what was once state-of-the-art are now simply, quaint. Anyway, painted up, they are perfectly serviceable. 

The minions of the Pumpkin King, or the Headless Horsmean (or whoever), are divided along two styles: first, all the pumpkin headed things from the Wars of Ozz range, Reaper, West Wind, and other odds and ends. I still have the Headless Horseman - several different models, and the mounted pumpkin heads. The latter are the animated Scarecrows: I've not yet decided what effects or abilities they will have, or even if they will differ appreciably, but this is the second tranche of scarecrows with some from West Wind comprising the third.

Followers of this blog, know I make a ton of mistakes and then try to fix them without redoing the whole thing. Sometimes this works, other times, my ministrations are marginal.Here I was trying out a zenithal prime for a slap-chop and left way too much black on the front of the models. Some additional dry brushing helped but again, I have to paint over speed paints because the results just looks terrible. 

Here's the result: 

I spent some time and energy this year punching out leaves in construction paper from Green Stuff Games and was relatively happy with them. Bur when applied, I find some of them, in particular the yellow and orange are so candy colored that they stood out in very unrealistic ways. 

So I glue down a patch of real leaf material - the material has no actual leaf shapes in it but are cut, or crumbled, from real dried leaves of some kind. On top of these I glue down the distinctive leaf shaped parts. But as you can see they appear to be standing in bowls of Fruity Pebbles. Delicious, but quite inappropriate. 

The fix is to apply Citadel Contrast Ratling Grime over the colored ones to help them blend in, which has been done above.

Group shot! These were all painted at the same time - the second tranche of scarecrow minis: the six Foundry, two from Ral Partha, and a Reaper, (Fellclaw, the Scarecrow Guardian, posted here.) The first tranche were the Harvesters from the Wars of Ozz range seen here.

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1/72 Pegasus Hobbies - Russian Farm Houses

 Along with the Hovels and the Old Glory Russian buildings I also have some from Pegasus Hobbies, the two model kits seen here as well as the pre-painted Russian and Ukranian houses. They're a tad small but perfectly representative. These had been mostly finished for a few years now but doing the recent Rendra Timvbered Outbuildings made me want to revisit the thatched roof which was quite dark and lighten them up to be more in accord with the Renedra ones. After futzing with that, it was a small step to finish the chimneys, doors, windows and some weathering and la! Complete.  

A very angry Perry Peasant seen here for scale. The life of a serf is hard enough, but especially so with these one room dwellings you have to stoop to enter!

Front or back door?

 Sometime my "Hey Squirrel" approach can pay off. As I said, these were 80% done, and had been for many years, so just needed a little push to take them over the line. Had I to start them from assembly I likely wouldn't have bothered in 2024. Like this one, I have countless projects in varying levels of completion for when my motivation is something less than peak, I can reap the benefit of finishing a project without having to also start it in the same session. I'm sure I'm not alone here. 

The Renedra ones are in the same shape as these were a few weeks ago so it'll be nice to do the apertures, roofs, and chimneys and be done with them. For 2025! 

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25mm Old Glory - Russian Storage Shed

More battlefield litter in the shape of outbuildings for the 1812 campaign. This one is part of the "Early Russian Buildings" range, but appears to have a metal roof which seems unlikely until maybe a WW2 setting. In any event, this was a quick and satisfying project. 

The roof was some done via wet blending with a dark gray and rust to give it a nice weathered patina. Then I spotted on some unmodified silver to show the roof was beautiful metal at one point. The touches that make it really come alive to me is some thinned down Algae Green Speedpaint in the crevasses, then thinned Brownish Decay Speedpaint along the foundations and in other spots here and there. 

A very angry Perry Peasant (for scale) rushes out to meet the invaders.

 

Here it is betwixt the two Renedra Timbered Outbuildings bringing the uninhabitable structures up to three.

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28mm Renedra - Timber Outbuilding (Updated 12/31/24)

 A quick idea, that actually was relatively quick! I borrowed some techniques from YouTuber's Sword & Brushes for this one.

I started from a different spot as this was primed in dark brown. I just painted the wood in a cream color followed by Speedpaint Gravelord Gray. Highlights were just drybrushed grays.

I then used Speedpaint, a diluted Algae Green to suggest light mossy patches in the likely spots. Then I darkened the bottom edges with thinned down Speedpaint Brownish Decay.

For the roof - I basecoated in another cream color followed by Speedpaint Pallid Bone. To define the tiered structure I thinned down Army Painter Bootstrap Brown and dabbed that between each later. In the deeper spots I used thinned down Army Painter Brigadine Brown- just enough to stain some of the straw patches. Then the entire roof was drybrushed with Army Painter Ancient Stone. A final highlight of Army Painter Ice Yellow was drybrushed over the edges and ends.

All in all, it came out nicely. It doesn't really match my other wooden structures for Russia but it is an "outbuilding." It could also be used for Medieval/Fantasy stuff on its own though it is a little bit small. Still, lovely piece.

 12/31/24 Edit - I found the other one, then assembled, primed and painted it to join it's companion. 

Erm, assembly could have gone better, but one will likely never notice the gap here. In any event, I wanted to capture the base coats - this was over a black prime.

I employed the same techniques as above. The outcomes were so close, even I can't tell them apart!

At the same time I did an Old Glory Russian Storage Shed in the center. That's two Russian Farm Buildings from Pegasus Hobbies in the background.

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28mm Reaper Miniatures - Cave Goblins - Breakers, Warriors & Archers

As I often do, I thought I'd whip these out quickly. About five long days later they are finished: 

This is actually all three packs of Cave Goblins (I keep calling them "Goblins of the Cave" - a nod to bats, that are called "Chicken of the Cave" in one of the Anchorman sequels.)

 

I used a mix of Contrast/Speed paints as well as my usual layering techniques. For the skin, I actually started with a blue wash over a light gray basecoat to give them a cold tone. Lotta drab colors though make them blend in a bit with the cavern background.

I also used a lot more washes and glazes over this and that - reddened up the noses, knees, knuckles. I also tried another glowing eye effect as the sculpted eyes were not much bigger than a brush point. Most of the pupils are sculpted well enough but they are so tiny, I decided not to bother and risk screwing up the skin with he inevetable errant strokes.

Hard to tell from the pics but I put in little piles of gold coins using glitter suitable for that purpose. Under the lights they are quite sparkly.

Monkeying around with the lighting here.

They really disappear into the background here.

This was supposed to be a quick side project (they are all side projects), but probably more scarecrows, Frostgrave Wizards II or Silver Bayonet Austrians coming up next.

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28mm Reaper Miniatures - Fellclaw, Scarecrow Guardian

Though Halloween is in the rear view, we are still in Fall so I'm gonna finish and post more scarecrows that are near completion. The villains, as you may have noticed, almost neatly divide between pumpkin headed monstrosities and regular ol' scarecrow types. The last of the pumpkin headed ones are the cavalry from the Wars of Ozz range; I'll get to them soon. Before I get to that though I have a murder of scarecrows from Foundry that are almost done.

But first, this monster from Reaper:

I started with a black undercoat, gray zenithal, then Speed and Contrast paints. But again for me, it looked awful. So I just used those layers as a base and built up and shaded from there depending on the piece. Boots and the claws and "skin"  I mostly left the speed paint but added a highlight.

First time using fluorescent paints in the eyes to get a glowing effect. They came out ok.

I used a bunch of the leaves I punched out with the Green Stuff World punches. They are too bright - but a thin coat of Contrast browns worked great to make them appear more natural. The skull on the base got lost among the same leaves necessitating this overhead shot.

  You can see this entire collection painted up so far by clicking "Sleepy Hollow" in the cloud at left or click here.

Austrians for Silver Bayonet are also nearing completion.

 As always, thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm doing more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858

 

15mm Minifigs -Taureg Camelry

 Time for some Old School colonials!

My Legion forces can use more mounted opponents, and the camels suggested to me that they would readily take some speed paints. There may well be photos of these out there somewhere to provide ideas about the colors these warriors would have worn but I never found anything of much use. The models themselves also turned out to be quite fiddly and I'd be surprised if many of these enjoy active combat theses days.

First, I bought these decades ago and, as you can see, they are quite a mess our of the blister. The lead in the lances is very, very soft. So soft, I'm not even sure the little wrists and hands would satisfactorily accept drilling and then the pins for replacement. Also, nearly every camel had those big chunks of flash and evidence of mold shifting were evident on most of them. Still, the figures are very cool, but I don't expect them to endure a lot of play without problems. They are doomed to die you might say.

The other issue is that they don't sit right at all in the saddle and lean way back. Absolutely unusable in that pose. Just a mess in the execution of figure design. I could kind of get them to work if I cut the pommels off but they still needed propping up in the back. In the end, I left the pommels alone and put a pillow of epoxy for them to sit upon. It bled around the outsides here and there so I just painted them as if it was more robes. Many would have just said these are not worth the effort. And for many years I felt the same.

 

 

I used Contrast or Speed Paints for nearly everything but the bases and some freehand work on the shields and flags. Here I did them with a dark blue with black turbans, saddle cloths and decorations, all in red. There's a common image of a shield pattern but it is on a trapezoidal shaped shield. I intend to use these for Sword in the Desert so I will have to mark casualties on the spearmen. I don't track wounds on natives because I use these rules for engagements far larger than they are intended for. I also don't intend to use this mat for any of these games.

One thing about the difficulty in finding information about the "uniforms," it often means no one can prove I did them wrong very easily.

For these, I did the turbans and the saddle blankets in Ratling Grime, some Murder Scene for the decoration on the reigns and camel necks, then a mix of reds, purples, and tans for the robes.

As pictured, these 12 man units are comprised of 6 spears, 3 rifles and a musician, flag and officer. I could easily make a 15 man unit of 12 spears and command along with a 9 man unit of rifles and they interchange easily. I don't particularly bother with trying to strictly build units to the rules. These tribes, and the legion itself, used what they could get. 

 
All in all, and once based, I think they are a nice, colorful entry to the collection and will force the Legion to either race to their objectives are take some turns to drive them off. The delicate lances bend like a bread tie so not sure how long they will last but it's easy enough to grab these without touching them if one is careful. 

I still have 2 more platoons of Legion and some Spahis to do for the French as well as horse mounted Tauregs and the Bedouin half of the camelry so there'll be many more mounted figs to come at some point. I do enjoy doing 15mm because they paint up very quickly. I'm continually disappointed in how speed paints look on some of these but my earliest Bedouins were done all in washes so they kind of match. 

You can see all of French Foreign Legion pieces here.

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Fall In 2024 - Saturday, November 2

I was curious how Fall In would roll out this year as is it seemed like it had a late start, though I wasn't paying particularly close attention. Fortunately, it seemed fine on Saturday morning when Number 2 and I made the rounds in Pennsylvania's Wyndham Lancaster Resort and Convention Center. 

I like the more suburban Highway 30 vibes. It's a smaller con, more spread out than downtown Hyatt allows, but overall, it seemed like the ratio of great to bad tables was very good this year as the pictures below illustrate.

Best in show for me was this grand Isandlwana set up!

First, let's see what's set up in the tournament room. It was a little after 9 am but folks were already at it, though the WWII area was quiet.

Not too far from the front desk was this spectacular Poland 1939 game which enjoyed a room nearly all to itself.

You know me - a sucker for cemeteries.

I love these 3d printed buildings in the foreground. They like Hovels. but are not Hovels.

Across from the Zulu game was this big 54mm FIW skirmish and siege. 54mm is increasingly a staple at HMGS cons.

This table rounded out the entries before one can enter the main Distelfink Ballroom:

Lovely collection of Crescent Root buildings!

Mark's and the lads from his Game Room had a large corner of the space - with this being the most arresting - a  colofrul and lively Plancenoit refight!

Note to self - pick up this Cigar Box battle mats one of these days.

Then we headed to the HAWKS room

Where Wars of Ozzz remains a hit with the kiddos.

In the Dealer Hall was an attractive Learn How to Play Saga set up - love the shields!

After the dealer hall and a short walk through Wally's basement we went to see what came up at the Ballroom again. Another lovely Crescent Root Studios Peninsular/Mediterranean building at left.

Some tables are hard to access at times because of the crowds of players. I was glad to circle back to this D-Day game.

Beautiful buildings and details abound!

There were also some new (to me) faces in the Vendor Hall that helped freshen things up a bit: notably, Recreational Conflict and also AK Interactive, who had a huge booth of paint and modeling supplies on hand. I'd love to see more paint vendors like Monument (ProAcryl) or even Vallejo who could make a big splash with their new offerings this year. I also miss seeing Scenic Express. They've come to a HMGS con at least once before. 

As always, thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm doing more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858