Forgotten Heroes Challenge 2 - Mina Converted

This was never going to be a massive conversion project. In fact, as you'll see, I've got as far as the base colours. 

Back to Basics

First job was that solid base. I started with a razor saw, but either it's getting blunt, the metal was particularly tough, or I'm getting weaker in my old age. I switched to a small saw from a Parkside set from Lidl, which did a reasonable job. It's quite a wide set* though, so I had to be careful with positioning so as not to lose any detail. 

Lost her Bottle?

I wanted to remove the bottle, and found a suitable right hand holding a knife on the Frostgrave Soldiers 2 sprue**.

The original hand plus bottle was easily removed, the donor hand trimmed and holes drilled for pinning. 

I have to admit that the hand is a bit large, even though the sprue is of female soldiers, but the Westwind mini is quite petite. I trimmed the hand so pretty much just the knuckles show,  hopefully it won't be too noticeable. 

The Scarf

I had a couple of goes with the scarf; I tried tissue paper with the intention of soaking it in PVA once I was happy with the shape.  But I struggled with the tissue, it kept tearing, and I didn't like the shape.  Then I tried newsprint, a material I'm much more familiar with.

I cut a long thin strip and creased it laterally.  I wrapped it round her neck,  then soaked it in water to make it easier to 'sculpt'. Once I was happy with the shape,  I dripped liquid superglue on it, which hardened and set it in place. 

After doing all this I found some nice strong foil that would have been even better, ah well.  I'll save it for future projects.

Base Colours

On to painting, and I needed to decide what colours to use. There's plenty of options in the source material, so I wasn't short of inspiration.

In the end I went for fairly plain colours. If I ever get the Irene Adler mini and convert that, I'll choose something brighter and fancier, but this is Mina being covert (rather as she is when investigating the Rotherhithe tunnel in volume 1), not Mina mixing in high society.

Still some shading and highlights to go,  but I'm confident that I can hit the deadline on the challenge. 

*The 'set' of a saw is the distance between the outer edge of the teeth.  The teeth are bent out slightly to help smooth cutting,  but this does mean that quite a bit of material is removed.

** I considered using an arm from the Frostgrave Wizards 2 set holding a book, as a nod to the cover of the volume 2 collection, but it looked far too large. 

Artefacts From My Gaming Past; Early Miniatures on Film

This old photograph turned up the other day.  I'm pretty sure it dates from the mid 80's.  At the time I was experimenting with photographing my painted minis, and this is one of the results, perhaps the only surviving picture.  At the time I was getting a lot of Photography help from a good friend (the owner of Kerwyn) and also from one of the photographers at work.  We tried all sorts; extension tubes, filters (actual physical things, not software effects).  The main limiting factor was the cost of having the film developed.

Horde of Goblins and Orcs

The minis are a mixed bunch.  The wargs and goblin rider are from the old Minifigs Mythical Earth range, the grey skinned orc on the left is a Citadel Fantasy Tribes orc, and I think the tall yellow skinned goblin might be Ral Partha, as is the standard bearer.

There's a Minifigs Dungeons and Dragons goblin just peeping out on the right, and a couple more of his friends behind the front rows.  Just visible at the back is the head and scimitar of a Mythical Earth orc.

The background looks like artwork of Sauron, probably taken from a calendar.  The minis are resting on a copy of The Silmarillion.

Wallowing in Nostalgia

Whilst there's not a lot to say about this, it tugs the nostalgia strings for me.  It's a good example of my painting from around 40 years ago, and it shows that I was experimenting with different skin colours for my various orcs and goblins.  In fact, not a single bit of green skin anywhere!  There's even an attempt at shading on the chap front right.

Also, a pleasing mix of manufacturers, something I've gone back to recently, but once I started playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles, I pretty much side-lined all the non Citadel stuff.

Well I hope you enjoyed this little dip into my old memories.  Perhaps you also have something to remind you of your gaming youth.

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.

Forgotten Heroes Challenge - Mina Murray

Another Distraction

Here I am, working my way through the Hobhounds for Ashak Ri... Ooo squirrel!!

In other words I've found another distraction. 

I first heard about the Forgotten Heroes challenge on Dave Stone's blog. It's run by Jez of Carrion Crow's Buffet and it looks great fun.

Given the amount of stuff I'm in the middle of doing, I thought I'd keep this low key, one mini, and I already have plans.

But what to do?

I've long enjoyed Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels*, and some of Westwind Productions' Empire of the Dead minis are obviously meant to represent the League members; Alan Quartermain, Nemo, Griffin and both Jekyll and Hyde. 

But there's one glaring omission; Mina Murray. I already have a potential base mini for her, (actually a 'harlot' from West Wind's Vampire Wars range), essentially just a Victorian lady. 

Throughout the series Mina wears different outfits, so I'm not trying to match any particular costume, but to make it properly Mina, she needs a long red scarf. (If you don't know why, I won't spoil the surprise).

This should be easy to add, putty or possibly tissue. She also needs something other than a bottle in her right hand.  In the stories, Mina doesn't use weapons often, but in an early appearance we see her with a knife, so I'm sure I can find something suitable.

Mina Murray

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, from the cover of book two (Artist Kevin O'Neil)

Mina goes undercover (Artist Kevin O'Neil)

The Westwind harlot

Rear view of the mini

This harlot mini is the best dressed of the pack, long dress, coat and a hat that reminds me of Eliza Dolittle. Mina certainly does dress in a similar manner, as shown in the second picture of her above.  

If I want a classier version,  Westwind also do a great mini in the form of Irene Adler, but I don't have that mini (or if I do, I can't find her).

This should be a fairly quick distraction,  just one mini with a little bit of light conversion. 

If I like the result,  I've got the rest of the League to paint. 

Deeper Motivations

But why this sudden shift to Steampunk? Well, T'Other One's foray into 7TV got me thinking about a cast for myself.  I toyed with various ideas, such as the kids from the old D&D cartoon, but nothing quite hit the mark. Then, while sorting through more from the Attic of Shame, I found a box of minis from the Westwind Kickstarter.  I got a lot of the stuff, but never got around to doing anything with it. This might be my excuse to finally paint some of them. 

I suppose they'd make a cast for 7TV,  but since they are all major characters,  I'm not experienced enough with the system to see how that would work. 

I also have the Empire of the Dead 'Nemo and the Crew of the Nautilus' pack, which would probably make a better 7TV cast. They are easier to stat up as a Star (Nemo), Co-star (Broad Arrow Jack) and various cast members.  

And a random thought.  'Heart of Ice' details Jani, Nemo's daughter, following her dad's account of a voyage to the Antarctic. T'Other One is currently building Antarctic terrain for Beneath the Mountains of Madness, so I'm sure we could do something based around that. 

* There's a lot of information in the Wikipedia article about the League (I couldn't find a web page directly connected to the creators - the books are available in the usual place you'd expect to find them).

I really enjoyed them, especially the multiple references to other works of fiction, something I first came across in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (incidentally, he wrote Warhammer fiction under the name Jack Yeovil).

Be aware though, that the League stories are definitely 18 rated and NSFW.

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!