BOYL 25 Showcases and Aquisitions

Last post I showed some of the great games being played.  Now here's some photos of the lovely minis in the showcases. 

I won't mention everything in the photos, please just enjoy them.

I've never seen these Discworld minis before,  they look great.  

The 2000AD stuff is fun too

More 2000AD, loving the Gronk 

Classic Chaos beastmen, or are they Broo?

More Chaos 

Space Orks aplenty. I prefer the look of the Rogue Trader Orks, but these are very nice 

Classic Runtbots 

Eldar; I think the warrior in lime green armour is from the initial Rogue Trader releases, the Aspect Warriors date to the Codex days

More Aspect Warriors 

The best Space Marine chapter; classic RBT01 plastic 'beaky marines'

Chaos dwarves on the top row, proper dwarves down below. The group on the right are Bob Olley sculpts

More of the Dwarven diaspora. There are a couple of Regiments of Renown, Prince Ulthar's Imperial Dwarves and Bugman's Rangers 

Empire and villagers, to the right are the lovely Travelling Players 

Of course I managed to buy a few bits and pieces. Disappointingly, I couldn't find the chap giving out the Show Mini, but I did pick up some Foundry stuff for my various Old School projects.

These Armed Peasants complete the Linden Way Militia pike block. Last year I got a couple of packs of the Lowly Foot, four of those poses appear here on the left. There are also four other sculpts, including a pipe and tabor chap on the right with a rather short pipe*. This gives me plenty of options for including command in the various human troops I've assembled.

These archers may end up as the Linden Way archers, though I've got something else in mind for them as well.

That's also why I got a pack of Zombies. Note that the chap carrying his lunch is missing his lower right arm; a miscast. Never mind, I'm sure it happens to zombies on a regular basis.

Foundry cast up a few specials from the past for BOYL, including this lovely dwarf wizard. Apparently he's a variant of a previously unreleased mini, and was also available in a rather splendid tall hat. 

There were quite a few other temptations that I managed to resist, such as a pack of Bretonian spearmen (complete with slotta bases and a bargain at 8 for £16) and a random pack of elves that I can find no reference to anywhere. 

Still, I'm happy with my haul, and it's pretty much all got a place in my future plans.

And finally, perhaps the most important purchase of the day...

Unlimited hot drinks for the day, though since they didn't have any punch or mulled wine this was limited to tea and coffee.

*I'm sure I'll go on at length about how inaccurate the mini is when I get round to painting him.

Bring Out Your Lead 2025

Last year was my first BOYL and I enjoyed it so much that I was back for more this year. 

Still just a day visitor,  maybe one day I'll pluck up the courage to join in something. 

There seemed to be more games running this time, and a greater variety too.

There was a lovely looking game of Man 'o War, a favourite of mine back in the 1980s. 

I was particularly impressed by the islands and the seascape,  and the fleets were very nicely painted. 

I must get my copy out sometime. 

The fleets assemble

The dwarf fleet, complete with aerial support 

Chaos dwarves, with funnels to match their hats, and orcs

The Empire 

There were also games of Heroquest, with a marvellous 3D board; Talisman 3rd Edition; Necromunda; Armagedon; Mordheim; Bomerz Over Da Sulpha River, and even a game of Hordes of the Things.

Necromunda, I think they were even using the original card terrain

Warhammer Fantasy Battles 

Unsurprisingly,  there were many games of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40K.  

Classic style Warhammer board just before the battle starts

High Elves vs Orcs and Goblins 

This was even a game of second edition WFB (my favourite edition). A battle from the classic Tragedy of McDeath scenario pack

This table (previous two pictures) was great for playing 'spot the building'. There are versions of buildings from Orc's Drift and Terror of the Lichemaster. Even the Monastery of La Maisontaal.

The main marquee had two huge tables. One featured this awesome mega battle. There was an amazing mix of stuff, including whole regiments of repurposed Lord of the Rings minis, giants, Empire and allies and the fantastic airship 

The other large table was shared by this ruined city, which I think was Praag? and the Bomberz game (the sandy coloured bit at the back)

Warhammer 40 000

There were nearly as many games of 40K going on, with a good mix of armies and styles of terrain. I missed getting photos of the great looking Tyranid terrain on one table.

I think this was a game using the original Rogue Trader rules, though it includes some more modern minis 

Proper 40K spikey cacti 

An impromptu game set up on one of the tables in the courtyard. Great Battlewagon.

There was more, but I didn't get pictures of everything. Apologies if I missed your game here, but I certainly enjoyed everything I saw.

Next time I'll show you what I got, along with some photos of the cabinets.

Citadel Giant Restoration: Part2

Following on from part 1, the giant has had a bath in Dettol. I found a good sized tub, actually a Haribo sweet tub picked up from the local newsagents when empty, and a full bottle of Dettol. The remaining leg came off while being fitted in the tub, so now everything more or less fit in a large takeaway tub, placed inside the sweetie tub in case of spills.

Bathtime for the Citadel Giant 

Taking Time

I left the giant in the bath for a week, then gave all the bits a good scrub. This didn't quite remove all the paint, but it did loosen most of the glue joints, so I was able to dismantle the giant further. 

Then it was back into the Dettol again for another week. For a big job like this, it pays to be patient. 

Even this didn't get everything cleaned,  so he got one final Dettol bath.

The giant disassembled

Here's the giant, still with some traces of white primer. The gloopy texture made me wonder if it might even be white emulsion paint as this was quite commonly used at one time, especially before dedicated model primers were readily available. I've been guilty of this myself, but it's really not recommended.  At all.  Seriously, just don't do it, you're better off using standard acrylic paint if you can't find any primer.

One thing that's puzzling me is the glue. That brownish rubbery substance is what's left.  It's still stubbornly stuck around the joints, but all the components have now separated pretty much on their own. 

I'm not aware that two part epoxy glues behave like this, could it be some sort of contact adhesive?

Regardless, it peels off pretty easily. 

Once out of the Dettol,  there's still a bit of cleaning required. Orlyyg, in his excellent blog article, warns against just washing off the paint/Dettol gunge as it just congeals. He suggests neat washing up liquid before using water. 

My current method is to wipe everything as clean as possible with paper towels, then give everything another bath, this time in Isopropanol.  I've had this recommended as a paint stripper as well,  but have had no success (see my final post on my experiments).

Once thoroughly cleaned in Iso, it can be washed if required. 

The giant is now stripped and cleaned, but there's still that broken ankle to fix. That's the task next time. 

Hobhounds for Ashak Rise Complete

Ashak Rise Minis Finally Finished*

I've finally finished the remaining Hobhounds for Ashak Rise.  I'd got six of the Ral Partha Karmanthi Demons left to bring the pack up to ten; with the two proper Hobhounds and the other two Demons already painted,  this finishes off the orc forces for the battle. 

The remaining six hobhounds

The Paint Scheme

I tried to match the painting to the earlier mini, though actually I think they look better.  Briefly,  they are painted all over with Vallejo Model Color Orange Brown, followed by a stripe of Vallejo Game Color Charred Brown along the spine.  Before this was completely dry, I used watered down VGC Charred Brown to extend the dark colour down the flanks, becoming less intense away from the spine.  Then a drybrush of VMC Sunny Skin Tone, especially on the undersides. To add shade, I gave them a good coat of  'Marine Juice/Sonic Tonic', then finished off by painting the various spikes etc in VGC Khaki, then highlight with VGC Bonewhite.  Eyes and nose are just Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Charcoal. 

The Finished Unit

So here's Hobhound handler Grashak Kra of the Severed Hand tribe, with his pack of beasts. 

I'll admit to being a little intimidated by six models all requiring similar paint jobs, but when I got round to it they were fast and fun to do.

So that's all the minis for Ashak Rise finished; Dwarves, Pack Beasts, Orcs and Hobhounds.

Of course, I still need to look at the terrain, but perhaps not quite yet?

* Yes, finished, really!

Though as I've mentioned before, I'll return to the Severed Hand and add more models, just not anything required for this scenario.

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.