Halflings and Weird Lil Guys

 

The Halfling team is finally assembled. Since this photo was taken, I've undercoated both them and the tokens and balls that come with them, but I failed to take a photo and I can't face venturing to the conservatory to take another one. 

Next up are the two Treemen who make the team actually viable to play with. I'll probably look to get something else painted first, just so I've had a bit of a break from Halflings being the main thing on my hobby table!

I got this Krakon Games Shieldkin at "Nottingham Gaming Fayre" last year. Not quite "done over Christmas", but I'm definitely feeling a bit more on the horse.

Also undercoated and ready for paint: Bad Squiddo Guinea Pig Witches. Sculpted by Kinsfolk Miniatures, I'm very excited to get some paint on these.

Finally, I've undercoated this dragon by Mammoth Miniatures. As a bit of an experiment, I gave her a blast of Midwinter Blue as a zenithal over a black undercoat to create some interesting vibes for when I start adding paint with a brush. There's no intent for her to end up blue, but it was sitting there in my box of spray cans and I wondered what would happen.

Next up on the assembly table is a big chunk of metal miniatures I've picked up at various things I've been to - the Gaming Fayre, Lead & Steel, and Salute. As my dearly beloved is allergic to nickel, I'm going to try and get a batch of these assembled and undercoated on a weekend she's away. Pictured are a couple of a "Big Mr Tong" Sample pack from Lead and Steel.

I'm also side eyeing these two critters from Dungeons and Lasers because I got them in the Kickstarter and they don't pack well into my storage boxes, which makes them very tempting as a little side project while I have the plastic glue out for the Treemen.

Game Demo Report: Buff This 2141

 

While I was at Lead and Steel, I had a demo game of "Buff This 2141". I hadn't quite gotten around to writing up the game yet, and I just realised that their Kickstarter is currently live and I should probably mention it!

The way the game works is that you have one miniature with a stat sheet, and they run around trying to grab buffs that you can apply to your different stats.

We had a three person demo game, and I was playing this cool gunslinger type.

I climbed onto a roof to grab a buff token.

... and then I discovered that you can be spartan kicked off a roof. Oops. This was the beginning of the end, and I was out when Annie from Bad Squiddo gunned my character down to finish me off.

The miniatures are available in the Kickstarter as well, and I really like the sculpts. Take a nose, as it's a fun quick game that I really enjoyed.

A little bit of hobbying

 

I've started making a little time for the miniature hobby again, and am back on sorting out the Halfling Blood Bowl team. They're the big project at the moment and I am very ready for them to be assembled! I suspect I may set them aside for a little bit once they're ready to paint as I'll want to look at something else!

I'm now up to eight Halflings done, with four left to go. There's also the Treemen and other bits and bobs, but once the core team is assembled it'll really feel like things are moving along.

I got this plinth by Fenris Games undercoated. I went black first, and it ended up really quite tacky - I suspect the weather wasn't quite undercoating weather. Once things dried out a bit, I gave it a spray of Mechanicus Grey and that seems to have gotten it back to normal. So this is now ready to paint.

While I was undercoating, I also undercoated a 3D printed dragon skull plant pot that my wife picked up at a craft fair. That's now done and in a box ready for her to paint.

Finally, I based up a few bits ready for undercoating. Miniatures here from Mammoth Miniatures, Krakon Games and Bad Squiddo. I used Krautcover for these ones as that's what I could find lying around. It's quite powdery so I want to put a light coating of glue over the top and let that dry before I undercoat them.

Salute 2026

 

Saturday was Salute at the Excel Centre in London. It was a busy day where I caught up with a lot of folk I've not seen in too long. I'm now back up in Nottingham but have a few work commitments which means I don't really have the time to write a long blog post right now - hopefully it won't be too long before I write a few more words about what I got up to.

Lead and Steel 2026 - Acquisitions

So, what did I get at Lead and Steel? A late addition to the show was Four A miniatures, and I picked up a few adventurers, some weird little critters and a cloud of faces that will make an excellent monster.

The goodie bag had a whole ton of stuff from an assortment of manufacturers. For a free show, this is a whole ton of stuff!

The organiser also gave me a couple of other free bits and pieces as we were about to finish, so I’ve also got a drunken master monk and some orcs. Despite having a criminal number of goblins I am very short on orcs for RPG purposes.

Due to the pick and mix results (below) I ended up splashing out on an old Citadel Bretonnian cannon to use as a Border Princes Bombard.

I also picked up an Advanced Fighting Fantasy book to relive my childhood and a pre-coloured ALEPH shipping container- I think by Antenocitis Workshop originally?

And finally, the results of the Pick n Mix for charity. For £10, I got the Bombard and crew, then four cool minis I can paint up to add to D&D warbands and such like.

This is a bit more than I intended to get, but it’s fine. I can just be more restrained at Salute tomorrow, right?

Lead and Steel 2026 - Painting Competition

I took a few photos of the Lead and Steel painting competition early in the day. That did mean that I didn't catch all the entries as some arrived later, and I didn't take any sensible notes about who won what, either.

This unit entry of a pirate crew is a mix of manufacturers. I can identify the Foundry fish-men, but who made the frog man and the human?

My photo doesn't do justice to this undead Blood Bowl team's colour scheme.

I love this sort of desaturated look on these ork boys, but I've never been able to work out the art of getting this sort of look.

A good pun name for a Blood Bowl team is essential.

Another great frogman, and the colours were really vibrant.

I believe this Technobarbarian was one of the previous year's show miniatures.

Another lovely desaturated paint scheme. Does anyone know who this Nurgle inspired miniature is made by?

A nod from Lord of the Rings with this Radagast.

This old goblin boss really evokes his era. Not only is it beautifully painted, but the details on the base manage to add to the whole impression without drowning out the miniature.

An excellent weird lil guy.

A classic Ghazghkull, painted up really nicely.

This is an Ontos space dwarf biker, painted in a slightly more modern scheme than the box art ones.

A really clean old school Evil Sun Ork Warbike.

An ?Alpha Legion? Rhino with all the weathering...

I think this big lad is a Warmachine sculpt?

Lead and Steel 2026 - Event Report

 

Saturday was "Lead and Steel 2026", a small Oldhammer focused convention in Sheffield. It's held in the hall of a social club, and had a good mix of vendors, participation games, demos, and people playing their own games. The event was free and came with a pretty substantial goodie bag.

I've split out the painting competition, the bits and bobs I picked up and a demo game I had for separate posts so this doesn't run too long.

As I walked through the door, I was immediately directed to the "Oldhammer Pick N Mix" - a fund-raiser for Cancer Research UK. You could pick up five models for £5. I had failed to bring any cash, but a friend who will stay anonymous so other people don't hit them up for money chipped in for the bits I was after. I've since been told this effort raised £741 for charity, which is excellent going.

I went around early on and took a few photographs of some of the games going on. This is Far Corfe, a huge participation game which uses original Necromunda rules as the basis for its rules. You could make a gang and turn up on the day. It was a big, chaotic event with loads of random things happening. It looked like everyone involved was having a blast.

The Warmachine demo table that was at Chillcon also made a return appearance. It's not quite Oldhammer, but its rules haven't changed much since it started, so it gets an honorary mention. I meant to get a demo of this and failed to manage my time properly. I really must not mess this up a third time if I see this demo table again!

One of the games where some folk were just playing each other was a game of Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition. Seeing the old models, books and cards gave me a major shot of nostalgia.

Also being played was a game of Warhammer Fantasy. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere between fourth and sixth edition, but I didn't want to interrupt to ask.

Meanwhile, on the participation side of things, someone had brought along Man O' War along with a few squadrons that people could play with. I'd absolutely intended to give this a go, as I hadn't played since my childhood, but time got away from me. I did walk past someone trying to explain the wind direction rules at one point.

Also available for participation was this game of the original Adeptus Titanicus. This is way before my time, but it looked really nice.

All in all, this was probably my favourite wargaming event I've been to in years. It was very relaxed, with a good mix of playing and shopping. There was a nice goodie bag, the charity pick n mix was amazing, the vendors were all small indie folk who are great, and there were several games I'd be up for trying next year now I know what to expect. I believe it's happening again in 2027, and its probably my top priority for planning events next year.

Cleanliness is next to...

 

Sunday is a travel day for me, so I just had Saturday to put some time into hobbying. And it turned out that what that really turned into was a big ol' tidy. It seems the reason I've not been hobbying is that I'd let the hobby room get into a bit of a state so it wasn't easy to pick up and do a little.

Some of my club mentioned spending 45 minutes each morning doing a little painting, and that's something I might try after I spend the Easter weekend setting up so that's possible. Pictured, by the way, is my new Infinity mat that I picked up from Deep Cut Studios, via Wayland Games. It took a little while to get in, but I got it and a nice carry bag for it that made me do a little happy dance around the room when I put it all away.

I did get a little hobby done, in that I washed a few resin bits and pieces I had lying around. The idea had been to get some of them undercoated once they'd dried, but it was really windy where we live, so that ended up not happening just yet.

Here we have a bit of Rubble City from Fenris Games, and a critter and some scenery from Mammoth Miniatures. The Fenris Games piece I bought to use to put models on for miniature photography, while the Mammoth Games models were bought at a little show as a nice easy project.

Then, the smaller pieces. On the right, a Krakon Games miniature from the same show as the Mammoth Miniatures pieces. On the right, three Guinea Pig Witches from Bad Squiddo Games. As a note, Pathfinder 2nd edition has rules for both a Witch class and an ancestry called Awakened Animal, so they could be a legitimate player character with no homebrewing at all. It's very tempting...