The Mules Of Ashak Rise

(Almost) The final Minis for Ashak Rise

Apart from orcs, hobhounds and dwarves, there are three mules at Ashak Rise.  Their job is to help the dwarves escape with the gold.  Thus they have an important role in this game, so I can't ignore them.

Mule Train!

When I played the game back in the nineties,  I used plastic toy donkeys made for farm sets.  These are now hard to find (I believe Britains are no longer in business) so I need another alternative

The 1999 playthrough with plastic farm donkeys

This time I wanted to find some suitable minis and paint them up. After all they'll make great objective markers in other games as well. 

Searching through my various piles of minis turned up one donkey. I believe it is still made by Wargames Foundry, along with other suitable beasts of burden.  But I was sure I had other minis. Among them an old Citadel Bill the Pony*.

Well I found a very mangled horse and another one laden with equipment.  They did look very much like small riding horses though, not beasts of burden. 

Two small horses

But a bit of putty later, and I think they'll do.  I sculpted various sacks, bags and blanket rolls, and even had a go at a wooden box**. To finish them off I added some bits from my bits box (mostly stuff from the ever useful North Star Frostgrave sprues).

Painting was straightforward though I took a long time trying to decide how to paint the various bits of baggage. 

The completed baggage section

Plus One Dwarf 

When I showed the last four dwarves I did mention that for Warlords of Erehwon I'd need an extra. When I found this chap in the lead pile I knew it had to be him. After all, the dwarves at Ashak Rise are panning for gold.

He's a D7 Dwarf Villager (Prospector, 86 - 12) sculpted by Trish Carden.  A small range that, like the human and orc villagers I appreciate a lot more now than back in the day when I had a lot more of them.  I think he's a great mini, his eager expression (I deliberately tried to give him a wide eyed look) as he gazes at his golden nugget and his buck teeth really give him character.

As with the beasts of burden, he took longer than I expected.  But this time it was because I was enjoying painting him so much that I didn't want to stop.

"Gold, its all mine I tell you"

So that's the dwarves for Ashak Rise actually finished***. 

What's Next?

Well there's the hobhounds to complete the Severed Hands.  They are all based and primed, so they shouldn't take long.

Then there's the terrain to look at.  I've already repaired the bridge, but there's a hut plus a river, road, hills and woods.

And perhaps even a better playing surface?
Fortunately, Dave Stone runs a terrain challenge over summer, so I think some of this will be done for that.

Beyond that, I've already started looking at the next scenario, Linden Way, and my favourite of the preliminary games.

*Sadly,  my memory was faulty. The equine in question was actually a mount, possibly for Tom Bombadil?  What's more, it's an imperfect cast, missing the end of it's nose. 

** Why not go all out with the bits or model things, eg with tissue and thread? Well I wanted to see what I could sculpt.

There are some things that didn't work, which is why the wooden box is mostly covered with a shield and some rope, but I'm generally pleased with the results. 

*** I'm prone to getting side-tracked, as the prospector shows, but I might actually be able to stop for the Dwarves of Ashak Rise now.

Orc's Drift Terrain: Bridge and Outhouse Restoration

I've struggled to get any painting done recently. Lots of real world stuff getting in the way, and what hobby time I can grab seems to have coincided with the hottest part of the day, and paint just dries too quickly. 

But I am sorting through terrain for Orc's Drift, and recently found my original bridge model. 

As with most of my stuff,  it's suffered over the years, but it's easily fixed. 

I've also got the outhouse, which needs a few bits sorting and updating. 

Painting may be off the table, but this kind of terrain work is fine, in fact, the faster drying time helps when gluing tiles on rooves.

Dwarves test out the new facilities

The Bridge Over the River Canis

Bridges are always useful.  They can be objectives and they provide interesting movement choices. Quite apart from it's place in the Orc's Drift campaign,  it's a very useful terrain piece to have in the collection. 

The underside of the bridge, showing construction and damage

The top of the bridge

I originally built the bridge from a card photocopy of the original, reinforced underneath with the thick card that I used to get from my job in printing.  Thinner card (about 1mm) forms the coping stones and filler gives the rest of the surfaces some texture. 

Over the years one side has broken and is hanging off, help in place only by some of the coping stones. 

To repair it I ran a bead of hot glue underneath to hold together and strengthen the internal joints. PVA glue was then used to repair the broken pieces of card coping.  

A quick touch up of paint brought the bridge back to full working condition, although I'm not sure if I should add a base.  I'm waiting until I've made some river sections before deciding what to do.

The fixed bridge from below

and as seen on the battlefield

The Outhouse 

Although an outhouse isn't really appropriate for a humano-centric pseudo-Medieval setting, it plays an important role in the inspiration material for Orc's Drift, so it's a must for the game. 

The Outhouse, currently vacant

That tired looking tiled roof

The model was built on a core of that lovely thick card again.  The walls were clad in wooden spills. These were the 80s hobbyist's equivalent of coffee stir sticks, sold in tobacconists (the 80s equivalent of Vape Shops) for lighting pipes (the 80s equivalent of... sorry, I'll stop now). 

The roof was tiled with thin card, and looks a bit tired. So I replaced it, using slightly thicker card (mail order card envelopes) this time around. To match the wooden construction I tried to give the effect of wooden shingles by scribing lines to texture the card like wood.  You can be the judge of how effective it is.

The updated outhouse, engaged

The Outhouse definitely needs a small base but I'll probably base a number of the buildings at once to keep them consistent. 

Both models got a bit of ink staining, Vallejo Game Ink Dark Green, to give an aged look and accentuate some of the textures.

So that's a couple of my old models renovated, and more terrain for the Orc's Drift project, and beyond that, for gaming in general.  I'm going to have to build some of the Orc's Drift terrain again, but I've at least one more building that I might be able to restore, though it's in far worse condition than the bridge.

Citadel Giant Restoration: Part 1

I was recently given a commission to strip and repair the old Citadel Giant ready for it's new owner.

The giant in it's current damaged state and wearing it's old paint job.

The repair work in question is fixing the broken ankle, the stripping is partly to check the condition; there's no obvious lead rot, but we want to be sure, and partly to give the new owner a blank canvas to work on. There's nothing wrong with the original paint job, but I completely understand the new owner wanting to put their stamp on it.

If you don't know the Citadel Giant, it's a truly stunning mini. There are some great pictures on Stuff of Legends.

Standing nearly 200mm tall, and coming with a selection of heads and optional hands and weapons and weighs in around 1700g (not including the extra components). 

The optional pieces

Unfortunately, some of the accessories are missing; the captives (snacks?) and the sword that the giant uses as a knife. I have seen a set of captives plus a spare head on eBay, but at close to £200, I'm not tempted.

Stripping the paint should be fairly straightforward. The procedure is the same as I used for the Rogue Trader Orks back in 2021, the only issue is the sheer  size. A larger tub and a full bottle of Dettol should do the trick.

The repair needs a bit more thought, but I've already got some ideas, please comment if you've got any suggestions. 

And please note, the giant is not for sale!