What I've been up to in September

 

My September has mostly been taken up with LARPing, so I don't have a huge amount to report right now. I did buy a couple of painted figures cheaply on eBay which have now arrived.

These are kit bashes by Ricki on BlueSky. I put in some low bids and was lucky enough to win them. I've grabbed them to use as antagonists in RPGs, so they'll be packed away for a bit until I have an in person campaign.

I had another game of Infinity down at Dice Cup. We're trying to have regular Nottingham meet ups every first Sunday, so if you're into Infinity and in the area, please do get in touch and pop down.

I wanted to get some bases for the Fenris KoFi models, so ordered some cobblestone bases from, unsurprisingly, Fenris Games.

As I was already ordering something, I also picked up another couple of bits. First were these resin Rubble City barricades. They're lovely, detailed resin casts. The large stakes mean that they're probably an "at home" only bit of terrain as they're quite challenging to transport, but I still love them.

There was also this lovely dwarf hero going, and I like a nice dwarf miniature. He'll go into the "to do" pile for now, as I need to finish painting a few more things before I assemble anything new.

Remembering how to actually paint

 

I finally got my paint set up sorted. Due to it being a dining table rather than a dedicated painting table I've taped a bin bag to it to protect it from paint spillages! It isn't perfect - in particular I haven't sorted out the relevant extension cables to have a dedicated painting lamp on it, so it gets a little too dark to use during the evenings.

The original plan was to paint this Fenris Games plinth. It's a chunky bit of resin that I was planning to use for miniature photography once it's done. It's been undercoated black, then grey.

Unfortunately, I undercoated it while it was very damp out. As a result, it was quite sticky to touch, and I realised that the paint was coming off when I held it tightly. This is deeply annoying, but down to my own mediocre short cutting and impatience rather than the quality of the piece!

After a little bit of research online, the two recommendations I saw were to either strip it and redo the undercoat, or to varnish it. I decided to go with varnishing first, because it was the easier option. After a pass of spray varnish, and leaving it a few days, the problem seems to be fixed. There's a couple of spots around the sides which are still a little sticky - but I reckon one more pass should solve it.

But, this means the plinth needs to move down the painting list while it gets fixed - so what have I picked up instead?

Here's what I'm pai . . . ooh, that's a lot of back lighting. I definitely need to sort out that extension cable soon. Lets break down what we've got.

First up is a Gray Maiden by Reaper Miniatures. This is a Pathfinder figure with a "canon" paint scheme. I think I originally bought her to be a Slaanesh chaos champion, but now I play Pathfinder, she's getting returned to her original setting. The Gray Maidens were bodyguards to a particular queen in Pathfinder 1st edition who has since been deposed. I like having a Gray Maiden miniature available as the idea of a former bodyguard who's been hired by some new employer is an interesting option for a henchwoman level antagonist.

I started off painting her with contrast paints, but it got quite patchy in places. I'm going to go back in with some layering and drybrushing to try and fix this.

I got a free Krakon Games Shieldkin at an event last year, so I've used contrast paint to drop in some base colours. He's a nice simple sculpt so should be nice and quick to finish.

And finally, we have these three Guinea Pig Witches by Bad Squiddo. Again, these will be for Pathfinder, and I picked three fur colours to get started, and am just happily dropping in some basic colours with contrast paints to start off.

It's good to be back painting again. There is an itch in the back of my brain that I want to finish painting something. With quite a few models lined up that need painting, I'm really keen to get a feeling of progress. But that's for another day.

A bit of a late Salute post

 

Oh. It's, um, June now, and I still haven't written about Salute in April. In my defence, I got distracted LARPing. It was a bit of an odd one - with money being a bit tight and a huge pile of miniatures I'm working through eBaying, it was never going to be a huge shopping trip. I also ended up being an extra pair of hands on the Friday helping Bad Squiddo set up as I'd taken the day off. Seeing the hall empty was very weird. But I wasn't working the stall Saturday - I was a punter with a ticket and everything! 

My old club, HATE (now Hobby and Tabletop Enthusiasts after it was accepted we haven't been in Hackney for years) was running a participation game "Mayhem at the Castle of Choas". The idea was that you made a character out of our club bits box, then joined in the assault on the deadly and chaotic Castle of Choas. As I'm not in London any more I hadn't committed to doing anything to help with this, but I did at one point buy a few sprues to add some extra bits to the rapidly diminishing pile.

It seemed to be popular all day, and I think it helped get the word out a bit that we do have regular club nights, and that we are looking for new members. If you can get to North London easily on week nights, please do check us out.

I stopped by Edinburgh University History and Games Lab, to see my friend Dr James Holloway, who has co-authored a Lion Rampant expansion called "Viking Blood Feud".  They were demoing the game on a part finished table that is eventually going to be displayed in a museum in Iceland. I didn't stay around for the game itself, but helped by rolling up some names and personality traits for the characters in the warbands.

The personalities and names really matter when you're playing a campaign around Viking blood feuds, because it really matters if that unit leader you cut down while he fled is actually the second cousin of the force leader and now he feels honour bound to seek revenge. Historicals are not usually my thing, but I loved the idea of such a narrative campaign.

I also spotted a table who was running a Discworld inspired broomstick racing game. I think this was a promotion for Rapier Miniatures, who have a range of witches on broomsticks. It looked like absolute chaos in the best sense as I was wandering past.

Opposite the Bad Squiddo stand, which was never quiet enough for me to get a photo of, was a table advertising SPRU Convention. This is a new convention starting up in Nottingham, in September 2026. I'm unsure if I can make it yet - it's the week of my dearly beloved's birthday and we have to make those plans before fitting wargaming conventions around them. SPRU is intended to be very indie focused, with the idea being that the small businesses won't pay for tables there - everything is covered in the cost of the tickets - so I really hope it takes off.

This gaming table really caught my eye. It's a demo table for Fractured Sphere by Ludus Vulpes. It's still in development at the moment but they're going to crowdfunding soon. The concept is a set of skirmish rules that can be used for any kind of setting. They had a very normal sci fi skirmish board, and this to prove the flexibility. It's a wild look for a table, and I love the weirdness.

 

I got very excited by these very bougie, very clever modular lights that you can use for painting and crafting. I nearly slipped and bought some but was gently brought down to earth by my dearly beloved. They're produced by GloForce and maybe once the hobby area is fully set up, I may upgrade my lighting set up.

I'm not really a bust kind of person, but Carlo's Miniatures stuff jumped out at me. Didn't get one in the end, but loved some of these.

I also dropped by Fenris Games. These Bronze Age "Great Orcs" have since had a successful Kickstarter campaign. They're not up on the Fenris Games shop just yet, so you may have to display some patience if they're your sort of thing.

Fenris has also picked up a bunch of the old Fogou Models range - particularly the stone huts and this amazing ring fort. (If you liked the corrugated iron shacks Fogou did, I think you'll need to go to Crooked Dice.) The ex-Fogou stuff is up on the Fenris site now, should that be your thing.

All in all, Salute turned out mostly to be a day of catching up with people, seeing what was going on in my hobby and a lot of walking. I keep thinking at these shows I'll take some time to play a demo game or something, and I always seem to run out of time.

Hedge Witches, Goblins, and a Plinth

 

This week, I finished up the Hedge Witches from Conquest Games. They were a good couple of miniatures to get my vibe back for painting. They're good options for Frostgrave, too.

I've also been plugging on with the Aenor Miniatures goblins. I got started on them ages ago with a sepia wash over off white, and they've been sitting for absolutely ages. I was very pleased with how a little drybrush really brought out the details on the cloak.

Three of the five are now finished and waiting for photography. I'm going to finish the last two before I count them all as "done". I'm also pondering the Steel Legion Drab base rim - maybe I should change it to black?

My big purchase that arrived this week was this 5" x 5" plinth from Fenris Games. I've picked it up for miniature photography so I've got an alternative way of raising miniatures up to the hills I'm currently using. It'll need washing and cleaning up before I get started on painting it, but I'm going to finish a few bits and pieces first.

End of February Hobby Review

 

While I kept on plugging through fixing the Mantic scatter terrain and painting the Oathsworn dwarfs I have, I quickly knocked out this Fenris Games urn I got sent as a freebie with another order. It wasn't exactly hard to paint, but I just needed something to be done for the sake of my ongoing enthusiasm.

The monster nest from Oathsworn Miniatures was what made me realise that finishing stuff was what was giving me enthusiasm to keep painting while I slogged through a bigger project. I keep learning and forgetting this over and over, but maybe one day it will stick...

The only other thing I got finished this month were these two crow "dolls" from Statuesque Miniatures. As February last year was when I managed to finish a bunch of Shasvastii paint jobs for Smackdown, my twelve month rolling total for projects is now flashing as "overcommitted". With a massive Dungeons & Lasers Kickstarter arriving, I'm definitely not able to justify starting a new project that involves buying things any time soon.

I'm getting this "Miko the Vampire Hunter" by Bad Squiddo Games painted up as my current "stop myself losing all interest in painting from plugging through a bunch of scatter terrain" (which is now 12 out of 16 done, so nearly there!).

To stop my painting numbers "getting worse" I could do with getting three little things painted, along with one "project" item. Ideally, I'd like to get the last of this batch of Terrain Crate finished. If I can get a little more project stuff done, it would be good to get the Militia Urbanmech done. I do still have the Horus Heresy test paints to do, but trying to do two big painting projects at once has proven roundly miserable. I'll get back to the Heresy models when the Terrain Crate is done.

I'm not really planning the "little things" beyond grabbing a nearby model I fancy and getting it painted. The Oathsworn dwarfs will continue to get paint every time I sit down at the desk, but four miniatures at once are too much for "quick wins".

Actually.

I've literally just gone and broken the dwarfs down into four separate little things. If something isn't working for you, change it! I'll try and get one or two of them finished, and maybe something new, and that should keep me on track painting wise this month.

Work in Progress Wednesday: New Year Metals

 

Over the New Year, I got a whole pile of metal miniatures assembled. First up is this undead Ogre, which I bought over Facebook years ago. I believe that sadly the sculptor passed on since. His pose is reminiscent of a classic Games Workshop Ogre sculpt from way back when.

Next up is this mystery figure. I got it free in an order with some other models, possibly from Fenris Games? I don't know who or what he's meant to be, but he's got a nice grumpy feel to him. He, and the rest of the miniatures from here on, were undercoated in "PHR Bone" by TT Combat. I'm pretty sure I got it during my pandemic panic buying, and I wanted to use it up on models that weren't needing to match anything else...

This Reaper Human Fighter, Brigette was acquired from the Fenris clearance section, and will be joining the ranks of sensibly armoured women fighters and adventurers I've been amassing.

Miko the Vampire Hunter is a Bad Squiddo figure from the Feudal Japan range (though you may find her under the Horror section on the shop). Unlike many other Bad Squiddo figures, she doesn't have a puddle base, so I pinned her to one of the Archon Studio bases I had stashed away to try those out.

Next up are a couple of North Star miniatures for Frostgrave - an apothecary and Markswoman. I'm pretty sure this was a Bad Squiddo Bargain Bin special. Its worth having a regular nose through, as there's often bits and pieces where Annie has found some end of range bits and pieces, or ex show stock.

More Bad Squiddo miniatures next - this time a pair of Tiefling pirates. They do make me realise that with a bit of prep, characterful models like this can make much more interesting D&D encounters if you stat up monsters or characters to match random models you have. A Tiefling rapier fighter backed up by a second with a glaive and a breastplate isn't necessarily a combat encounter you'd have thought of if not prompted by the miniatures.

A lot of small miniature companies include random samples in with orders. In this case, Fenris Games sent me an urn. I've decided to throw it on a base for stability and paint it up to be a bit of dungeon scatter that might be an empty pot or might contain some loot.

Next up is a Dwarf Watchman by Bears Head Miniatures. Sadly, Bears Head are no longer trading - I believe the sculptor has moved on to producing stuff for other companies full time without having to deal with the general public.

Someone was selling an old Warzone Trencher for peanuts and I decided he'd make an excellent heavy baddy for Stargrave. Are they called pirates? Either way, its a good example of how the miniature agnostic nature of games like Stargrave give you opportunities to do non standard stuff.

Maximillian and Madelaine are sculpts that were made for members of the Rogue Emporium Facebook group some time ago. I think they're likely going to be joining the ranks of Stargrave pirates.

Finally we have the terrain pieces from the Mutant Marches Kickstarter, by WilhelMiniatures. These will be excellent scatter terrain for Terrible Places. Every time you look at them you find new awful things.

Indie Winter

A group of small hobby companies have put together a promotion over November. If you use the code INDIEWINTER10 at Bad Squiddo Games, Exit 23 Games, Fenris Games, Fogou Models or Second Thunder, you can get 10% off.

There's a good range there, between the miniatures from Bad Squiddo and Fenris Games, scenery from Fogou Models or Fenris Games, paints from Exit 23 Games, or rules from Second Thunder. They're all good people, so I'd recommend giving their websites a browse and picking something up.

Fenris Games Rats

 

I managed to get some painting in on some of my weekday evenings this week, and managed to quickly finish up these Fenris Games Rats. They're just a simple contrast job with some drybrushing, but that will do fine for models like these. You may notice if you click through to the Fenris site that a couple of them lost their tales over the course of getting them assembled and painted - rat tails are tiny thin things, so its easy to do!

I also took a photo of them ambushing a magic user and her porter. I might do a few more photos like this if people like them.

It's been nice getting back to painting post Empire LRP. Getting a routine going is useful to getting more done. I've signed up to a trainer with the local gym for the first time to try and get more regular with that fitness malarky too, as I was feeling like I'm starting to get a reasonable pace with the painting.

We changed internet providers this week too, and moving lots of boxes of things out of the way to let them install the cable definitely made me feel like I have too much stuff I'm just never going to get to, so expect to see a few more things listed on my eBay as well...

Fenris Games: Toadstool Brownies

 

I backed the Fenris Games Toadstool Brownies campaign and picked up some Kobolds. They're not on general release just yet. I asked Brushchewer Inc to get them painted, and she's done an amazing job.

I also grabbed some Dire Marmots. I am unsure what I'll end up using them for just yet!

There were also some wolf cubs, who are delightfully adorable.

I couldn't resist setting up a little battle scene as some Kobolds fend off a marauding Dire Marmot...

Salute 2021: Fenris Games

 

As we near the end of the photos I took at Salute, we're on to all the photos I took of the Fenris Games display cabinets . . . Because of the low light in that corner of the hall,  I've made the photos a little larger than I usually do to help you see all the cool and interesting stuff there. Hopefully it won't break your viewer!

First up we have a bunch of models from the Cauldron Warband, a disease ridden bunch of humanoids well suited to fantasy skirmish games or similar.

Here you can see some more members of the Cauldron warband. Surprisingly, the two dwarfs in the bottom left are also listed there... The big lad in the back is the Troll King, who's really rather a hefty model!

Next up we have the lovely Toadstool Brownies. You may recall I painted a few of these when the crowdfunder to produce them was on last year.

I'm not sure if they're in normal production just yet, but if you check in with Fenris Ian he'll let you know if you can order them. I mean, you already follow Fenris on social media and are subscribed to their newsletter, right?

Fenris were also showing off their Wyrdworld Recreated models, which just last week finished a second wave of crowdfunding.

They're a really nice range of assorted anthropomorphic animals. I recently got my pledge and I'm pretty excited to get to them!

Fenris also produce a range of ruins called Rubble City. These are a really clever set of modular resin terrain that will suit a huge range of historical periods due to being large stone buildings that are mostly rubble. I picked up a set of them at Salute and while they're a pretty big modelling project by my standards, I'm hoping to get to them this year so I can show them off on the blog . . .

The Lost Shores Oracle is a huge centrepiece terrain kit that you could happily put on a battlefield or use for a finale battle in a roleplaying game. I literally need to buy a bigger house before I can get one.

Sadly, the druid with the staff in the centre of this photo is only just back on the Fenris website. I dearly love him and do need to get him soon. The Rubble City Adventurers page is where the two folk on his right (our left) are.

You've already seen that I've got the Fenris Ducks. I love them. You should get them too, they're great.

I've also got this Serpentman with two of his buddies in my paint queue. I'm very excited.

Fenris also produce some undead Draugar.

I have a set of the Plague Cultists undercoated and ready to paint. I'm thinking about trying out some weathering powders with them...

Fenris have a really big range of animals, such as these Giant Rats.

Meanwhile, these wolves were part of the Toadstool Brownies crowd funder.

The animal options also include zebras and wild dogs...

There's a wide range of Cthulu monsters... The Fenris range just keeps going on and on!

As any good varied supplier of miniatures, Fenris also have an assortment of zombies.

There's also an assorted range of modern adventurers branded APEX investigators.

Hopefully, this has given you an idea of the wide range of miniatures that Fenris produce. It's worth giving their shop a look!