Tales of The Brummie Dwarf: Recent Episodes
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Saturday 7th June marked the 11th annual Operation Market Larden event—a dedicated Lardy Day celebrating the wargames published by Too Fat Lardies. Held once again at the Northwick Hotel in Evesham, the day brought together over 40 like-minded enthusiasts for a fantastic day of gaming, camaraderie, and hobby inspiration. As always, the range of games on offer was impressive, with multiple tables showcasing beautifully crafted terrain and engaging scenarios across a variety of Too Fat Lardies rulesets. Chain Of Command 2 – Italy Chain Of Command 2 – Italy Chain Of Command 2 – Normandy Chain Of Command 2 – Normandy Sharp Practice – AWI Sharp Practice – AWI Midgard Heroic Battles – Middle Earth Midgard Heroic Battles – Middle Earth Chain of Command 2 – Russia Chain of Command 2 – Russia I Ain’t Been Shot Mum – Russia I Ain’t Been Shot Mum What A Cowboy – Aliens What A Cowboy – Aliens Sharp Practice – Texan War of Independence Sharp Practice – Texan War of Independence Dux Britaniarum Dux Britaniarum Sharpe Practice Sharpe Practice General D’Armee As per the event’s well-established format, the day was split into two sessions—one in the morning and one in the afternoon—with [...]
My recent hobby purchases seem to have followed a distinct theme: revisiting old favourites through their new editions. First up is the second edition of Burrows & Badgers, lovingly crafted by the ever-reliable team at Oathsworn Miniatures. This charming skirmish game, set in a world of anthropomorphic animals and rich storytelling, continues to impress with its blend of elegant rules and characterful miniatures The second edition was officially launched at Salute this year—and by all accounts, it was a resounding success. So much so, in fact, that Oathsworn Miniatures sold out of almost everything on the day. The demand was so high, their webstore had to close temporarily while they restocked, leaving eager fans watching and waiting. Since I wasn’t at Salute, I was one of those left chomping at the bit for the online store to reopen. And when it finally did—lo and behold—I managed to snag both of the new Starter Warbands just before they sold out again within a few short hours. That’s 14 brand-new figures, six objective tokens, and (rather unexpectedly) a couple of polyhedral dice sets thrown in for good measure. Now all I need to do is get them onto the painting table! Fast [...]
The painting table has been fairly quiet recently due to me being away on holiday, but I’ve managed to make some progress since I’ve got home. I have pretty much finished my second Elven Cavalry unit (although I still have the shield decals and the banner to attach). This unit done, I have immediately moved to my third unit of Cavalry, which I am about one third of the way through. All being well, I should get these close to completion by the end of the weekend.
Having just wrapped up Star Wars: Rebels and Season 2 of Andor, I found myself in the mood for more adventures from a galaxy far, far away – not letting the fact that my current collection has yet to encounter either glue or paint curb my enthusiasm! I turned to some of the latest releases from Atomic Mass Games to see what new Star Wars content was available. I already have more than enough Star Wars: Legion miniatures to keep my painting table busy, so I haven’t been closely following the release schedule. That said, a few recent box sets really stood out — and they were simply too good to pass up. Firstly, two unit expansions for the Imperials. Andor has certainly showcased just how intimidating the KX-Series Security Droids are – whether it’s pinning Cassian to a wall, being released to mercilessly put down the Ghorman protests, or having our favourite sarcastic droid single-handedly dismantle an ISB Tactical unit – so having a couple available for Imperial forces during any sort of Rebel covert or infiltration mission would seem prudent. These recently became available in Star Wars: Legion thanks to the Imperial Riot Control Squad expansion. Whilst I’m [...]
Saturday 26th April saw the inaugural ‘Migard Moot‘ gaming event, held at Boards & Swords Hobbies in Derby. The event, organised by rules author James Morris, was dedicated to playing games of his recent Midgard: Heroic Battles rules. There were a number of options for the day – firstly there were 5 hosted games, where player could just arrive an play games provided by game organisers. These ranged from historical clashes during the Italian Wars, the battles of Teutoberger Wald and Degsastan to fantasy clashes at the Battle of Kislev and an encounter during the 3rd Age of Middle Earth. There were also two campaigns to play – one based in Arthurian England and the other Middle Earth, where players could bring their own model forces to play a series of themed battles throughout the day. I took part in two hosted games during the day. Morning Game – The Battle of Kislev This game was hosted by Jeremy Short, using his collection of older Warhammer models. The game depicted a clash between a Chaos Army consisting of Chaos Warriors and Beastmen, and a Dwarven force. I, perhaps unsurprisingly, played the dwarves, accompanied by Theo, whilst Tony and Dave we [...]
April was a more restrained month for hobby purchases, with the main items being the new Oathmark Elf Heavy Infantry box set and the associated characters. In addition, I purchased another sprue of Elven horses, with the idea that these might be used to help scratch build a couple of Tiranoc Chariots. The only other purchase (other than some replacement paint brushes) were a couple of miniatures for my Human army – the Saga character model of a mounted ‘William the Bastard’ – I’ve got a couple of William I models, but this is my favourite due to the dynamic pose of the figure – and a human wizard/druid figure from North Star, one of a number of models representations of Merlin available in 28mm – this figure is called ‘Bodach’, and i believe that it’s only available during limited times.
A number of different projects had additions during the course of the last month. First was one of the biggest scenic additions, but one that that had been on my radar for quite some time, in that I got hold of the medium-sized Renedra Castle. Next up was the result of a visit to the Hammerhead show: A set of flexible roads (courtesy of Early War Miniatures), a couple of medieval carts along with horses from Warbases and a collection of walls from Tree Fellas. North Star enticed me again with their bargains, as I picked up a pack of Dark Age Breton skirmishers – they might come in useful for my Human Midgard army – along with a selection of their new Giant Wolves. I was looking at my next armies to paint after my Elves are finished, and Dwarves are near the top of the queue. However, which one of several figure ranges that I own has been a question for a while. I’ve finally settled on the Dark Age Dwarves from Conqueror Models, sculpted by Colin Patten. These will make a fitting addition to my armies alongside my Human Normans, given that the army has a distinct [...]
March saw some good progress on my Elven army, as I added 51 painted models to the existing collection – all from various Oathmark boxes or blisters. Right at the start of the month, 11 Elven Spearmen were completed (10 Infantry plus a Champion). Following on from that, I added a further 5 Light Infantry Bowmen (which could be used as Shadow Hunters in a WFB army) Next up were 20 Light Infantry, all armed with sword and shield. In addition were 5 metal character models. Finally, I finished the first of what will be several units of Elven Cavalry. All these units do still need banners and shield transfers adding as final details, but are essentially done. April should see some more cavalry completed (I do have another 40 to paint!), although this month also sees the release of the Elf Heavy Infantry box set, which will spawn two units wielding double-handed swords and axes. It is a shame that this box didn’t include Halberds, so that proxies of Phoenix Guard could be created. Overall, very pleased by my progress – If i manage to keep to this schedule, my Elven Army should be nearing completion before the end [...]
I’ve finished painting my latest unit for my large plastic Orc & Goblin army. This is a unit of 30 Orc Heavy Infantry with hand weapon and shield, from the plastic box set for Oathmark, plus a couple of metal character models. The intention is to use the figures as a unit of Orc ‘Big Uns’ for games of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, or as heavy infantry in other games, such as Midgard Heroic Battles.
I have been looking at creating several armies for Midgard Heroic Battles recently, using my existing collection of models. One of the armies I have is a large Norman/Breton warband for Saga, which consists of lots of Norman cavalry along with some armoured archers and crossbowmen, plus some unarmoured archers. However, it’s somewhat lacking in infantry. I do own a box of plastic Norman Infantry from Conquest Games, and whilst their plastic cavalry are really good, I think their infantry leave something to be desired. I am a big fan of Crusader Miniatures, so when their Norman range was on sale as part of the North Star January sale, I decided that it was an ideal time to complete my army. I think I might have overdone it a little… All these models are not just for a Norman / Human army (I have another project also in mind), but I’m looking forward to putting these together – at least they should be easy to paint as the majority of them are in full chainmail. As well as miniatures, I have also purchased several pieces of scenery. First off we have some Tabletop Workshop plastic houses – specifically a Stable, [...]
So, I’ve managed to get rid of the annoying extra widget column that was being displayed… …not by doing anything particularly creative, but by simply amending the width of the theme so that the widget bar in question no longer appears. I’m really not sure what caused this glitch – maybe the theme I am using has been updated by WordPress? Anyway, the website looks better than it did, despite the fact that I have lost some functionality. Hopefully that won’t affect your use of the site too much.
Not too sure how I have done this, but my website has updated to use a different type of Widget maintenance, which has managed to break one of my widget areas, and every time I try to restore it, it breaks again…which is why you see a ‘Home 12’ area on the right of my main menu page. At this point, I may have to consider changing the theme of my website to try and sort it all out – not something I am looking forward to doing… Image by BiZkettE1 on Freepik
I wanted to give a quick shout out to MGSMiniaturesEtsy for some excellent service. I was looking for some artillery to add to my Fireforge Dwarf Army – it’s the only one of my Dwarf armies I am going to allow to use black powder weapons – and was searching through Etsy for some ideas. These models seem to be generally available from many places – they are STLs from Highland Miniatures, and come complete with crew and barricades. I went with those being sold by MGSMiniaturesEtsy because they were a very competitive price, and they are local to where I live. Figures were delivered in a couple of days. They were well packed and had been cleaned up very well. I’m not intending on using the crew members of these weapons as they don’t fit the rest of the army, but I am sure I can find a place for them in one of my forces. As for the cannon and organ gun? These will be coming to a Dwarf force soon…
You may remember, some time ago, there was a concern that Mr Musk would start charging for the use of Twitter, and there was a search for another, similar, platform to replace it. Many in the gaming hobby went to Bluesky, though still maintained their ‘X’ accounts. Well, with all the recent events, it seems that an increasing number of the hobby community are leaving X permanently, and I have decided to do the same, so will no longer be using my ‘X’ account and will be removing my profile there. Whilst I haven’t been posting a huge amount of hobby content, should you wish to find me on Bluesky my profile is as follows: A huge ‘Thank You’ to everyone who has followed me on Twitter/X over the years, and I look forward to seeing people on this new platform.
A trip up t’North was made this weekend, into the heart of Yorkshire for the annual Ebor Lard event. This was my first time attending this event, but I had heard very good reports, so was looking forward to it immensely. I arrived around 6.30 on Friday afternoon to find Ebor Eve events in full swing – two games of ‘Circus Shiteous’ – or Chariot racing with some somewhat comedic rules. I’d missed out on the Ebor Eve Eve Napoleonic game and the Ebor Eve morning game of 2nd Edition W40K – both of which sounded very good indeed (Tales of an Eldar Farseer being sucked off into the Warp were many and varied in their lurid details). Following the end of the Chariots racing, everyone migrated to the local public house for food and drinking into the night. (For those unfamiliar with Lard events, most tend to consist of much food and drink, with sporadic gaming). Saturday dawned, and Ebor was upon us (following a hearty breakfast) and we walked to the local village hall for the gaming day itself. There were nine games on offer, including Infamy, Infamy, Sharp Practice (in several different periods), Chain of Command, Midgard [...]
I decided to wait to post a WIP update this week, as I was close to finishing my Elf Infantry units. I managed to finish the basing last night, so thought that I would post the results. The Spearmen are 95% complete – I just need to add the shield transfers and the banners. The Archers and Shadow Hunters are finished. I’m pretty pleased with these, as they were only primed on the 16th August, so I’ve managed to paint 55 figures in two weeks. I’m usually quite slow at painting, so I think I’ve surprised myself. I did the basing for these slightly different from my usual formula as I used Vallejo Earth Texture (Dark Earth) for the base rather than using my usual filler/sharp sand/paint method. It has the advantage of being much quicker to apply, as it completes the first three steps at once, rather than over the course of two or three days (as you have to wait for the filler to dry, glue the sand using PVA and allow that to dry before applying the base colour paint) but I’m not 100% convinced about the final colour of the base – Vallejo Dark Earth is [...]
Thought that I would share progress on my Elf army. I made a good start over the last few days, and have managed to paint two units of Archers. The basing still needs to be done of course, but it’s a start. Having finished those, I’ve also applied the base colour to the armour of the two Spearmen units. Much in the same way as metallic silvers look better over a black base colour, yellow metallics such as gold and bronze look better when applied over a brown base – Vallejo Flat Brown in this instance. With the Bank Holiday weekend approaching, I’m hoping that I can make good progress on these two units over the next few days.
…You’ve got your sums wrong. You may remember that I recently started a new project – an Elven Army, which was largely going to be a cavalry force? Well, having subsequently looked in the High Elves 6th Edition army book for Warhammer, I discovered that 50 Elven Cavalry was going to leave me short of 2000 points. Well Short. So, it was time to go back to the box and grab some more models, especially as I needed core units. 2 Oathmark Elven Infantry Boxes later, plus a sprue of Elven Light Infantry: 30 Elven Spearmen, 20 Elven Archers and 5 Shadow Warriors. So, rather than 50 models to paint before the middle of October, I now have just over 100. I mean, I didn’t want this to be easy, did I?
Yesterday (Saturday 10th August) I attended the 3rd Lard Workshop – a day of gaming using rulesets from Too Fat Lardies, held during the Britcon event in Nottingham. This a really great day of gaming, and has become a ‘must go to’ fixture in my diary – helped by the fact that it’s pretty local to where I live. These gaming days offer a great way to experience different sets of rules from Too Fat Lardies – You don’t have to have any previous experience in playing the game. You can simply turn up, play a game with wonderfully painted miniatures and terrain, being run by someone who is fully knowledgeable in the rules, so you can concentrate on having a fun experience. The games on offer this year included Chain Of Command, What A Cowboy, Sharp Practice, Kiss Me Hardy, Midgard, General de Brigade & When The Last Sword is Drawn, and were presented on some truly impressive tables. oplus_0 oplus_0 oplus_2 oplus_2 oplus_2 oplus_2 oplus_0 oplus_0 oplus_0 oplus_0 oplus_0 I played two games during the day. The first was a game of Chain of Command, but with a different setting, as John Savage, who ran the game, used [...]
No sooner have I finished my Orc & Goblins (although I do now have to add a box of Orc Heavies, now that they have been announced by North Star), I have to start my next project. For our Warhammer day in October, I decided to paint a different army. The day is themed around the an alliance of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings fighting the hordes of chaos, with each force being around 2000 points. I decided to bring a fully mounted force of Elves to this battle – they may not last long, but their battle will be glorious… So, lots of cavalry. Three full boxes of Oathmark Elven Cavalry, equating to 3 units of Silver Helms and 3 units of Reivers, plus the associated champions, standard bearers, musicians and heroes. They’ve taken a couple of weeks or so to assemble, but will hopefully look impressive once painted. Still haven’t fully sorted out the points, so these units might need a little amendment, plus I also plan to add either Chariots or Giant Eagles if needed. 10 weeks until the day of battle… …and nobody mention anything about Normans…
…or at least, that’s what it seems. Having finished painting my Goblin Slaves & Orc Infantry earlier this year, I thought that I had pretty much come to the end of painting my Orc & Goblin Army. However, from the battle I fought last year, it seemed that I had a glaring omission from Goblin Wolf Rider unit, in that I didn’t have a musician. I wanted to add one, so one visit to the North Star website later… Whilst I was assembling it, I looked at the box of Wolf Riders that I had used to kit bash for my chariots and thought that I might as well assemble and paint those at the same time. The result is another 9 wolf riders to add to my Orc & Goblin horde. Not sure if I will ever use them, but it does give a lot of options now for this army.
the 10th ‘Operation Market Larden’ gaming day was held over the weekend of the 1st/2nd June. I decided to run a game on the day – a scenario based on the Warg Attack from ‘The Two Tower’ film adaption, where the column of refugees fleeing Edoras for Helm’s Deep are ambushed by Wargs from Isengard – using the ‘Dux Arda’ Lord of the Rings variant of the Dux Britanniarum rules. However, in order to run this scenario, I needed a number of refugees – much more than I currently have (I painted a couple of packs of Dark Age villagers from Gripping Beast a few years ago). Luckily, last year I had picked the ‘Northmen Folk Rabble’ plastic box set from Fireforge games (Part of their Forgotten World range) and these seemed to be ideal for what I needed. Add to that the ‘Baggage’ pack from the Gripping Beast Saga range, and we have our refugees. Great figures for the scenario in particular, but actually a number of villager models that are useful for all sorts of games – Rangers of Shadow Deep, Baron’s War, Saga amongst others.
Over the spring I’ve been painting sporadically. The first order of the day has been to finish the last of my Orc & Goblin army miniatures – the last, that is, until North Star finally release the Orc Heavy Infantry box. The Character figures from the Goblin Slave and Orc Infantry boxes have actually been painted for a while, I just haven’t had chance to base them, not until a few weeks ago, when I based some other figures (more of which on another post). Completing these just leaves 9 wolf riders remaining – these are currently undercoated on my painting table, but are in competition with my Frostgrave warband and my newest project, which may take precedence as it needs to be done before October.
As previously reported, I’ve painted a sizeable Orc & Goblin army. Whilst I’m keen to move onto other projects, at the same time, I’m conscious that I still had quite a number of Orc & Goblin figures unbuilt and unpainted. So, in an effort to finally ‘finish’ the army, I’ve been assembling and painting the remaining figures since the start of the year. I finished the basing on three units during the past weekend: Goblin Slave Slingers Goblin Slaves with Hand Weapons Orc Infantry with Sword & Shield Without really thinking about it, I’ve actually painted 60 figures since the start of the year, which I’m quite pleased with. ‘All’ that remains are 9 wolf riders and 13 character figures, and the army is complete. Well, that is until the Oathmark Orc Heavy Infantry are released. And there is also a Mantic Giant model lying in a box that might be a useful addition…
What on earth is Arsehammer you ask? Well, it’s the title that has been adopted by our group for our Warhammer Fantasy Battle day, which is being held this weekend at Boards & Swords Hobbies in Derby. Why Arsehammer? Well, the ‘Hammer’ part is easy, as it comes from the game we will be playing – Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 3rd Edition. “Arse”? That’s from the name of our WhatsApp group – Arsebiscuits – which is named in honour and memory of the wonderful Mike Hobbs, who was a great friend to us all on the group. It will be the sort of day he would have enjoyed – playing a big, not too serious, game with a bunch of friends, followed by a meal and a few beers – plus we are taking the opportunity to make a full weekend of it by attending ‘The Other Partizan’ show in Newark on the Sunday. A great weekend of friendship and gaming is in store. Which, on a personal note, has been made better by the fact that I have managed to get my army painted in time – a task which I was not convinced about 3 weeks ago. The Goblin [...]
A group of us are getting together in Derby this coming weekend to play a large game of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (3rd Edition). This is an event we started last year, and are hoping to continue into the future. Whilst we are playing 3rd Ed. Warhammer, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are all using Games Workshop models (The Horror!) – it was more the case that those rules enable us to get our toys out on the table. I used a Goblin Army last year, and whilst it was quite a large in model count, it was not big in points and so I ended up adding two Level 25 Wizards to the army. I wasn’t the only one to do this, and it was generally agreed that magic dominated the game last year (the biggest complaint coming from my opponent, whose poncy elves were on the receiving end of a well-deserved thrashing, with my wizards playing a starring role) so this year Wizards are restricted to Level 15, with only one being available. This left me with a big points gap to fill. As previously noted, I had painted two units of Trolls for the army, but I [...]
Managed to get the paints out again over the weekend… With our Warhammer 3rd Edition battle day fast approaching, I really needed to get some work done on additional units for my Goblin army. Whilst the main aim is to get a couple of units of Orcs to bolster my forces, I’m doubtful whether I can manage to get the 40-60 figures painted in time, given my recent low output. I decided instead to prioritise some larger point value units – namely Trolls and Goblin Chariots. An unusually productive weekend has seen the addition of two Troll units for my army, using the Oathmark Troll figures. When painting these, I used a couple of variant colour schemes, whilst maintaining a basic greenish skin/black hair overall look. This first unit was painted with a skin colour of Citadel Contrast Plaguebearer Flesh, with an Army Painter Soft Tone wash. This gives a more yellow/brown final skin colour. The Second unit has a skin colour of Citadel Contrast Gutrippa Flesh, again with an Army Painter Soft Tone wash, which results in a more ‘traditional’ greener coloured Troll (if you believe the D&D Monster Manual, that is!) The loin cloths are painted with Snakebite [...]
Other than Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar, the biggest property that Games Workshop has had the rights to produce models for is the Lord of the Rings (Or at least models based on the films). I’m a huge fan of the films, so I was looking forward to seeing some of the dioramas that the GW Studio had put together. To be honest, the original intention of our visit to Warhammer World was to look at the display that was created to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the release of The Two Towers, but I think we managed to miss that. Even so, there were a large number of the LOTR range on display, along with several small and large dioramas, which are well worth seeing. Whilst the sequence in The Desolation of Smaug is certainly not one of my favourites (I often refer to it as LOTR meets Donkey Kong – and not in a good way) the Dwarf escape from the Realm of the Wood Elves in barrels does make for a good modelling subject: As you walk into the centre, one of the first sights that greets you is the charge of the Rohirrim against the [...]
Last Saturday I visited Warhammer World for the very first time, which in some ways is perhaps a little bizarre given that it’s the HQ of the biggest company in the hobby that I engage in, and only 30 miles away from where I live. However, with the odd exception, I’ve not really played Games Workshop games for over 20 years, so maybe it’s not that strange after all. Anyway, my son Josh is currently collecting a Space Wolves army for Warhammer 40K, and since it was his birthday last weekend, we decided that it was about time we paid a visit to this mini-mecca of gaming. Whilist Warhammer World does contain an impressively sized store, if you haven’t been before, the main attraction is the Exhibition Centre, which contains a number of galleries filled with thousands of painted miniatures arrayed in display cases – either as part of individual model or army displays, small dioramas or vignettes, or as huge sweeping battle displays. Upon inquiry, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were happy for visitors to take photos and to share them on social media, just as long as you don’t use them for commercial gain – [...]
Saturday 3rd June 2023 saw the ninth gathering of gamers for Operation Market Larden – a gaming day dedicated to having fun gaming with good friends using various versions of rules published by Too Fat Lardies. As ever, a large and varied array of beautiful looking games were available for play during the day, with rules including Chain of Command, I Ain’t Been Shot Mum, Sharp Practice, What A Cowboy, Kiss Me Hardy, Infamy Infamy, Strength & Honour & Midgard. This year I was participating in games rather than umpiring, and was fortunate to participate in two epic encounters – epic being the active word as it’s not often you get to play both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings in a single day! The morning saw a battle between the glorious forces of the Empire and the Rebel Scum as we played a game of Chain of Command with the Star Wars variant rules – hosted by Jeremy Short, based during the period of the Galactic Civil War. As well as the usual task of reducing your opponent’s Force Morale to zero, each faction had a number of objectives to complete. The total victory points achieved during the [...]
After a break of some 2 years, I’m finally back to the painting table. These models have been sat on my painting bench since Mike passed – it was about time that I finished them and moved on to other things. So, finally finished another five Goblins Wolf Riders, and a further five Giant Wolves for my Goblin Army. These are added to my army that actually saw battle last year in a huge Warhammer 3rd Edition game he had at Board & Swords Hobbies in Derby. We are planning on repeating this later this year, and I need to add a number of new units to my Goblin Army – Orc Infantry, Goblin Slaves, Trolls, Goblin Chariots…and maybe even a Giant! It feels good to get back into painting again. My Goblin Army deployed for battle our Warhammer 3rd Edition game in 2022
After a break of over three years, I recently found myself back in the podcasting chair alongside my good friend, podcast partner and ex-editor – Henry Hyde. The occasion? Well, Henry’s own Podcast – Battlechat – has reached the laudable milestone of 100 episodes, and, when given the option, Henry’s Patreon supporters made the extraordinary choice of myself as the guest for this episode – a very kind and appreciated gesture. So, if you fancy a trip down memory lane – invoking the spirit of ‘View from the Veranda’ – and catch up on what I’ve been up to since I last hung up my earphones and mic, follow the link below… https://www.patreon.com/posts/battlechat-100-82415957
It was Mike’s funeral today. Due to COVID restrictions, attendance at the service was strictly limited, and I know so many people would have wanted to pay their respects. The service was recorded and is available to watch for the next week. Should you wish to watch please use the link and login details below: https://www.wesleymedia.co.uk/webcast-view Login: 93899 Password: khmtgpqr Book of Condolence Don’t forget, if you wish to sign the book of condolence for Mike, you can find it here: https://rememberancebook.net/book/mike-hobbs/
Following the outpouring of messages from the community following the passing of Mike Hobbs, I thought it would be nice to have a permanent record of these to pass on to his wife, Mandy. I have created a Book of Condolence for Mike – you can find it at the following link: https://rememberancebook.net/book/mike-hobbs/ Instructions for use At a Condolence Book title page select Add New Condolence Message. It is not necessary to register to submit a condolence message. Messages may be textual, handwritten, photoed and uploaded, videoed or submitted as an audio recording. When you have completed your message press SUBMIT. Messages can be left using any web enabled device such as a desktop computer, tablet computer or smartphone. Messages can be left from anywhere in the world 24 hrs/day, 7 days/week. There is no charge to leave a message. If you have any problems at all, just let me know and I will do my best to sort it out asap.
As I write this, I am still reeling from the shocking news of the sudden death of Mike Hobbs, only a few days after his 55th birthday. I first met Mike on the UK show circuit as he used to help on the trade stand for Musketeer Miniatures with his long time friend Bill Thornhill. I was introduced to him by our mutual friend Rich Jones, who was co-presenting the Meeples & Miniatures Podcast with me at the time. I really got to know him after he was our guest on the show, discussing all things Saga, as Mike was a part of the playtesting team for that game. We quickly hit it off and became friends – even as I invited him to join the podcast as a presenter. He had a keen enthusiasm for the hobby, as well as a huge amount of knowledge and experience. His contribution as a co-host on Meeples & Miniatures is there for all to hear from episode 85 until it’s end. Though he was always too modest to admit it, I maintained that he was the major factor in the success of the show. For many people, this is the Mike Hobbs [...]
A decent month for painting, but not on a par with last month. Some would argue that it may appear better than I think it was as cavalry count as two models… Anyway, two-thirds of the month was spent painting wolf riders – I added a further 25 to existing models, including these: These models mean that I have finished my Goblin Army – at least for now. Will get a picture of them on the table soon, but this gives you some idea… The rest of the month has been spent preparing for my next army – Oathmark Dwarfs. I ended up taking a couple of days break during this, as it has reminded me of how much I hate assembling plastic models. But we are getting there. 60 down, 60 to go… Total Models Painted in March: 25 Total Models Painted in 2021 YTD: 135
Michael and Jo at Oathsworn Miniatures have launched their biggest ever Kickstarter project for Burrows & Badgers, with a whopping 30 new miniatures being added to the range. The Dark, The Devout and The Heroic brings the undead into the realm of Northymbra, and those which fight them. The Kickstarter is running until Friday 2nd April 2021, so you need to get in quick! They’ve been working really hard to be prepared for this miniature launch, with most of the models already being cast – delivery is due in June of this year, which is a fantastic turn-around speed, and Oathsworn are known for always meeting their deadlines (no pressure guys!) The link is above – go and check them out!
Almost exactly a month after starting them, the Goblin Wolf Rider host has been finished and is ready to join the rest of the army… There are ten scouts… Fourteen riders with hand weapons… Six characters… And five wolves…
A fairly productive weekend has seen a group of Goblin Wolf Riders finished and another about 80% complete. This latest group is armed with spears and shields. 20 down, 15 to go…
I have been a fan of Colin Patten’s Dark Age sculpting for some time – especially his twist on fantasy miniatures, right back to the days of the original Vendel Miniatures ranges. A few years ago he sculpted an new range of Dwarfs for Conqueror Models, and is now following these up with his first Kickstarter project, creating a range of Dvergr Dwarves. Whilst the Conqueror Dwarf have something of a Saxon feel to them, these Dvergr err more towards a Viking look, with a few different twists. An altogether stunning looking range of models – certainly a ‘must have’ addition to my growing collection of fantasy armies. The full range has 117 new models – the project is already funded, and the Kickstarter is running until the 9th April, with delivery due in October 2021. You can find full details of the project here
February has been a hugely productive month for me – I’ve probably painted more models in a month than at any other time, even if I have slowed down a little in the past few days. I have spent the month concentrating on painting my Goblin army, finishing the infantry and starting on the Wolf Riders. 20 Goblin Archers20 Goblins with hand weapons & shield5 Goblins with 2 weapons5 Goblin Standard Bearers7 Goblin Characters5 Wolves5 Goblin Scouts riding Wolves Total Models Painted in February: 67 Total Models Painted in 2021 YTD: 110
With the Goblin Infantry finished (at least for now) the last few days have been spent building and priming Goblin Wolf Riders. I started painting them over the past weekend. I started with a unit of wolves without riders in order to figure out how to paint them. The plan was to paint them with Contrast paints – Black Templar and Basilicanum Grey. Unfortunately even after two coats of paint the coverage looked patchy and a bit patchy – at which point any advantage of using this method was lost and I decided to use a more conventional approach. I used a basecoat of Revell Aqua Color Anthracite (a couple of thinned coats) followed by successive drybrush applications of Dark Grey, Mid Grey and Light Grey from Coat d’Arms. A final wash of Army Painter Dark Tone mixed 50/50 with GW Lahmium Medium helped to bring everything together and smooth off the dusty appearance of the drybrushing. Details around the mouth and claws were picked out before the figures were based. Happy enough with the finish, especially since I have so many to paint. Time to crack on with the next unit…