Jes Goodwin Goodness

A while ago I treated myself to a copy of the 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle rule book as a bit of a nostalgia trip, and to replace the one I used to own many moons ago. Owning as I do a load of old orcs, ranging from the original Ruglud's Armoured Orcs to some of the early 90s Night Goblins, an idea was slowly beginning to form as I seemed to keep opening the book and gaze wistfully at the old Jes Goodwin Wood Elf minis pictured staving off Goblinoid  and chaotic hordes.

So I got on ebay and a few?! quid later I had assembled a respectable force of Wood Elves, including the original "old duffer" treeman, a Zoat, most of Skarlocs archers (still need Skarloc and his mad, two sword wielding champion) and some wild cat animal handlers. I really wanted the old Elf Kin spearmen but had to settle with some reasonably priced 90s Glade Guard with spears as they were proving rarer than hen's teeth. So all I have to do now is paint them all up, retouch and reassemble the old orcs and convince someone to join me in a nostalgic and probably very slow game of 3rd edition WFB, with all its mad rules!

Here's the first of many - an old Jes Goodwin sculpt of a Wardancer.

Ooh aah a little bit more...

After lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention some excellent advice on how to achieve a shiny black pvc style effect (ta very much to all those who contributed!) I've finished the rest of the supposedly diminutive ones. Having turned them all sorts of shades of grey in an effort to get the right highlights I washed the lot in a mix of black paint, ink and water. Quite chuffed with the effect as they actually look black now and the highlights still show through - just waiting for some varnish now to get them real shiny!

Heres some piccies anyway - I'm sure they never really indulged in close combat but I couldn't let two mortal enemies lie!

And the rest of the squad -

Damn now I have to paint German Paratroopers - I may be some time!

Blobular Fever

Another fantastic mini from Black Tree Designs - the Rutan - enough to strike terror into the heart of... well nevermind. I do actually really like this mini for some reason - very 50s B movie, even if the colour scheme was inspired in part by my current cold! Thought I'd go for a Horror of Fang Rock vibe with the piccies, although this little fella is intended as the quarry for a Sontaran man/blob hunt in a WW2 Eastern Front scenario...

Ooh aah, just a little bit...

Seems like I've been away a while - anyway the Sontarans finally came from BTD - hooray! However, now I've got to paint them, the Rutan and the 40 or so WW2 Russians and Fallschirmjagers... might have come up with a scenario for them by the time I've finished! The thought of German WW2 splinter pattern camouflage made me begin to twitch a bit so I thought I'd ease myself in gently with a Sontaran trooper - now I've figured out what I'm doing with him I'll have the four other troopers, the Heavy Weapons trooper, Field Major and thee SSSS troopers done in a jiffy!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.

Love these minis - they seem a little more Sea Devilish than the ones you can get individually from Black Tree, if that makes sense, and also lend some much needed variation to my growing Silurian force.

I seem to have gone a little darker in colour than the last batch so may have to go back to them to make less dayglo orange... definitely prefer this more naturalistic duller tan colour.

The string vests came up nicely too, with a few pure white highlights suggesting a pearlescent, metallic sheen to the Sea Devils' garb.

Next up - I'll leave my barbed wire fencing project to concentrate on some windbreakers!

Tried going for a balance with the bases - sand and a bit of static - doesn't look to bad on the beach - could imagine the green is seaweed... Tried for a dune grass look with some longer straw coloured stuff but it didn't look right. Don't think they'll look too bad on a grassy battlefield either.

Now I need a bunch of the armoured fellows to act as squad leaders and shock troops and I'll almost be there...

... apart from the T Rex and Pteranodon riding Silurian hunters I'd like to have a go at converting!

Hopefully my order of Sontarans will arrive before then and give me something slightly easier to get stuck into!

Tobias or not Tobias

Finally finished Tobias, Packer and his IE cronies. Decided to use resin scenic bases as a change to the usual static grass and I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out.

The minis are pictured standing in the ruins of a row of terraces, or factory, or whatever else that might happen to get blown up in the course of a scenario. This piece of terrain seems to be taking ages -  must get round to finishing off painting it before the Sontarans I've ordered from BTD arrive!

Vaughn ponders as to whether unfeeling, remorseless invaders from space are really a good choice of ally as Packer (left) and the gang advance through the ruins...

The Four Doctors

So far I have the first four Doctors as they're my favourites - the Seventh Doctor and Ace are on the wish list...

The First Doctor with Ian and Barbara (never got round to getting hold of Susan)



The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe encounter some trouble with the locals...



The Third Doctor with Sarah Jane and Jo Grant



The Fourth Doctor introduces an old friend to K9 and Leela



and not forgetting the Doctor's oldest friend - the Tardis