Bootleg Bring Out Your Lead

 

Last Saturday was Bootleg BOYL - an event put on by War Dollies Collective and Lead and Steel after Bring Out Your Lead at Foundry was unfortunately cancelled. Due to the unusual circumstances, they were able to arrange a few vendors in addition to the usual games.

I rocked up early to help with set up. The tables at the venue need a little work to assemble each time, and it's a much quicker and easier job to achieve with more pairs of hands. The venue was split over two floors, with vendors and the café on the ground floor, and the games on the first floor.

There were plenty of different games going on. There was a game of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles with two huge armies of period figures with lovely paint jobs. I sadly didn't manage to watch any of the actual play of this.

Someone had brought the old "Battle for Armageddon" board game and played a game of it. I have memories of reading about this in White Dwarf, but never actually managed to play it.

Someone had set up a participation game of Rogue Trader, replaying an old White Dwarf scenario. I played in this game, and may write more on it later.

On the next table over from the Rogue Trader game, Bobbi from Arbitor Ian's "Tale of Four Gamers" and a friend played a game of 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000. It was an Imperial Guard vs Imperial Guard game which definitely hit me right in the nostalgia as this was the edition of Warhammer 40,000 I started with.

Curtis from Ramshackle Games was running his Helsreach game, which is a homebrew conversion of earlier editions of Necromunda. I definitely want to play in this game in the future, but need to come up with some miniatures for it.

One of the most modern games being played was a game of Pulp Alley. I didn't see much of what was going on with it, but folks seemed to be having fun.

And finally, there was a four player game of Blood Bowl going on.

I picked up the Bootleg Boyle, the show miniature as I turned up early enough. He's a Ramshackle Games casting, with the sculpt supplied by Jon Boyce. MEP Miniatures were also giving away some free heads, and I do like free things.

Also trading at Bootleg BOYL was Satyr Art Studio. I've sometimes picked up their limited run sculpts, but have held off on ordering their "day to day" range because of the challenges of shipping from the US. But with Drew present, I grabbed a blister of assorted heroic types for running RPGs with.

Slightly different from the usual miniature traders, Side Quest Comics were trading at the event as well. I picked up all three comics available. As well as being comics, you can use the little card pieces that come with them to play a sort of mini RPG dice game to see if you survive the fights portrayed in the game. The comics themselves are mostly wordless pen ink comics showing events in the world of Def, with a short text epilogue that puts them into context.

It was a big day out, and I was due to be up early the following day to go to PeachCon. I ended up having a very early night, which meant I was merely tired at PeachCon the following day. It was a great day out, but I do need to remember how tiring these sort of events can be and pace myself accordingly.

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.

A busy hobby week - Battletech, Acquisitions, and an Infinity tournament

 

It's been a busy week! During the week nights I managed to get started on one of my Urbanmechs, getting a base colour down. The idea is to keep doing a little on the evenings I'm not role-playing or having practice games down the club so it becomes more of a habit.

I had a couple of bits and pieces arrive in the post. Firstly, the KR cases I ordered for that big pile of miniatures that need putting away showed up, so that's likely to be a very unphotogenic bit of hobby I'll be plugging away at this week. Secondly, I got these lovely space pirates from a a Facebook hobby group exclusive thing. I'm a bit torn as to what to do with them, as I deeply love them, but there's also 22 of them and I have other projects that I have a more immediate use for that I could do before them instead. They kind of feel like a project in need of a purpose...

I also attended Steel City Insurrection, a 2 day, 6 game Infinity tournament in Sheffield. It was hosted at Patriot Games, which is a really nice gaming shop with a ton of gaming space and a really good café. I would absolutely be a regular there if I lived further north!

I had a ton of fun at the event but it will take me a good bit of time to write up, and I'm off to Norwich this weekend for . . . another Infinity event. So, I promise thoughts will be transferred to blog at some point, but I cannot for certain say when . . .

Work in Progress Wednesdays: Oldhammer, Heresy Miniatures and an Out of Production Mini

 

I've been finishing up the prep on an assortment of models I sent off a while back, and it's a bit of an eclectic mix. First up is Aenur, the Sword of Twilight. He was an Elf Ranger for Mordheim who came free with White Dwarf many years ago. He's a lovely sculpt, and I need to look at what he could be in Age of Sigmar before I decide on his paint scheme.

This dwarf berserker was originally made by a small company I found online called The Miniatures Apprentice. I think they're now out of business, sadly. They mostly did sci fi things, but this dwarf was their (only?) fantasy offering. He's a bit chunky, but I love him.

I've had this liche from Heresy Miniatures sitting around for a while. I've had a few miniatures by Heresy assembled over the years but rarely finished them. It doesn't help that a bunch of the older ones I had done on square bases, and I now much, much prefer rounds. I'll probably sell off the square based models and buy a new one from Heresy in those cases. In the meantime, I want to get paint on this creepy boy!

Goblins!

Yet more miniatures painted by someone who isn't me! Here's my first batch of goblins by Brushchewer Inc. Once I've found the light box I'll take some better photographs.

This definitely proves my idea that a bundle of goblins from different miniatures from different manufacturers painted in a unified scheme really do look excellent as a motley horde of troublemakers.

I just need to have a serious think if I want to go through with an entire army of them given my current priorities.

I've just received notification that my copy of the Infinity book Third Offensive has arrived, complete with a complementary Libertos Freedom Fighter, so that's a twentieth model purchased, but 20 painted goblins is definitely starting to catch up!

Hopefully the weekend will allow me to get some painting done myself...

Models Painted: 30
Models Purchased: -20

Fomori Witch finished!

Pottered through some hobby this weekend. I finished up this Fomori Witch. I've probably mentioned that it's done by Krakon Games before. You can also get it from Bad Squiddo Games. It was part of a "clearing the decks" exercise I did over the weekend, for . . . reasons.

This little Starship Generator from the Reaper Bones line got a basic tabletop job for a bit more scatter terrain when I need it.

Remember I was working on a Chaos Spawn? This one now has all it's limbs attached. I just need to add its back tentacles, and then it will be ready for undercoating. I'm feeling really good about the number of things I'm getting ready for undercoat and thus off the painting desk.

Random back-lit photo because I forgot to take a proper one! The other "Made to Order" Inquisitor got based and undercoated. In order to stop the base toppling over, there's a lot of fisherman's shot weighting down the the bottom of the stairs... I also totally forgot to take a photo of a Jokaero I assembled and undercoated, but given that's a stock model, there's nothing interesting or different to see there.

 So, why the effort to clear the desk? Well, it seems Mike Marshall is running another Malifaux event. It's called Spring Showdown III and it's on 7 May. I haven't got a ticket yet, but I'm "moderately tempted" to go...

I'm not confirming yet, as I'm setting myself some targets to do so.

1. Not being completely dead from all the other stuff I'm doing.

2. At least one new Malifaux model assembled and painted for the event.

3. Having actually played some Malifaux this year in a practice game so I remember how these rules things play.

I will keep my loyal readers (both of you) up to date this progresses!