Two More Knights and a Lot of Men at Arms

 Well, it's nearly the new year, so I guess this is probably going to be my final post of 2025. I know it's customary to do a yearly round-up of the things I've made, and from a purely painting point of view it's been a very good year, but I can't really be bothered right now. So instead, here are some more Bretonnians. For some reason, I associate knights with Christmas. I think it's because King Arthur met his knights then, as seen in the very weird recently film of The Green Knight. 

First up, two more plastic knights from the Battlemasters game. Pretty!

I bought a few more men at arms to round off my unit, including some musicians from the 1996 army book. One model, a halberdier, had a broken weapon that was going to be difficult to mend. I carefully cut away what was left of it and replaced it with a pole, made from the ramrod of an Empire cannon crew. It has a nice bobble at one end.

I'm not really a fan of paper banners. They seem to look very tatty very quickly, and I prefer the sculpted plastic ones that you get with modern boxed sets. So I made this guy a banner out of plasticard and green stuff. It's rather small, but I reckon that (a) men at arms aren't important to get big banners; (ii) this guy is tired out and is holding it lower down instead of waving it around; and (3) I want to be able to fit him into my miniatures case.

I also painted some friends for him, including a drummer. They take up the front row of the picture below. And that's the unit finished, painted in the colours of Les Hommes de Renault from White Dwarf 137 all those years ago (May 1991, to be precise). They're a bit grottier-looking than I'd first intended, and I'll need to get a movement tray for them, but overall I'm really pleased with the results.

On to the next models, and the next year! Happy New Year everyone!

A Load of Conversions

 It's nearly Christmas Day, and what could be more festive than some random models I've made out of various sprues? The answer is "almost anything", but that's not going to stop me.

First up, a couple of jolly fellows from the merry land of Blognia. On the left is a peasant girl, made from the ever-reliable Perry Miniatures Afghan sprue. To make her smaller, and turn the model's coat/shirt into a skirt, I cut the feet off above the ankles (as high as possible), and cut off the bottom of the model's baggy trousers. I then drilled two small holes and glued the legs back into them. Her gun is from the Afghans and her head is from Frostgrave with green stuff hair and a shawl-type thing on her waist. 

The satyr is simply a Frostgrave demon. The demons aren't my favourite Frostgrave models, to be honest. They're a too bulky to mix well with other plastics, and they feel a bit cartoony. I get that Frostgrave isn't a horrific game, but they still look rather goofy to me. Anyhow, he's a satyr.

Then, moving to space, we've got a maniac and a sniper. The maniac is a Wargames Atlantic Chinese Boxer soldier body with Frostgrave Cultists 2 head and arms. The Cultists 2 sprue is great, by the way. The sniper has a Bolt Action USMC body, a Stargrave head, and Perry Afghan arms. 

These next two are female soldiers from the Stargrave Mercenaries 2 frame, with arms from the Bolt Action USMC sprue. I really like how they've come out, especially on the random authority figure on the right.

Here are two noir-style private eyes, who I have named Laura Norder and Polly Sofficer. The bodies are Wargames Atlantic Gorgnards, with GW arms. I think the hats came from a Civil War sprue.

And finally, we've got a mystic leader for a Stargrave crew. This guy is an old metal Gates of Antares miniature, with a Stargrave Scavenger head. While Antares never seemed to take off, and the models weren't very exciting, a few of them are really nice. 

And that's it for now! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and get all the models you hoped for. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

A (Konflikt 47) Walker for House Escher

Here's a model that I've had lying around for ages. I think I got it in a sale. It's a Warlord Games Coyote walker from their Konflikt 47 game. Oddly, when I bought it, Warlord sent me an entire resin kit and then a spare pair of arms and legs which were exactly the same, but metal. This miniature has the resin torso and metal limbs, for what it's worth.

I decided to use it as a support unit for my Escher gang. In new Necromunda, gangs can take robots called Ambots to support them. I'm not sure what they are or do, but I thought that this model might make a good equivalent.

The Coyote is a pretty nice model and a lot bigger than I'd anticipated. It also has a lot of blank space that you can use for interesting colours. I decided to paint mine to reflect the rest of my Escher crew, and used the tank from the 1990s film of Tank Girl as a basis. Much jollier than the standard olive green! The only modification was the addition of a little aerial to the top. I left off the guns, as I don't think that ambots carry them.

He's a happy little (big) guy!

The (Grail) Pilgrim's Progress

 It's time for a quick update on the Bretonnian project. I've reached the first milestone, in that I've painted ten soldiers from each of the main groups.

There will be three principal infantry units: archers, foot knights and men at arms. I'm expecting to end up with about 20 archers, 15 knights and 20 men at arms, which should provide some solid and nice-looking blocks of troops. I'm also hoping to do some squires (which I plan to paint green, in a homage to the old Bowmen of Bergerac unit from the Stillman codex) and maybe even some mounted yeomen, but that remains very much to be seen. 

Anyway, for now I've made 10 of each of the main groups. My main thought is how good these ancient metal models are. I think they were sculpted by the Perry twins, and they're full of excellent details. I think the men at arms are particularly varied and dramatic, with loads of good poses and as much of a sense of movement that old models in a packed-in unit could be expected to provide.

So, here are the men at arms:

And here are the knights:

And, finally, here are the archers:

To be honest, I don't think these photos do them all that much justice, but you get the idea. We're slowly getting there. I really like them as units.

Also, as a bonus, here is the first model that I have sculpted from scratch. He started off as an alien egg, but at the last minute I turned him into a Ghibli-type creature. Sculpting is difficult!