Taking it to the Bridge

Recently, I've got quite interested in using different heights in my fantasy town. For one thing, having buildings on platforms and the like adds to the messy, unplanned feel of the town and makes it more visually interesting. For another, different levels have special effects in Mordheim: you could use them to leap onto your enemies, and to help marksmen choose their targets.

So, I decided that I needed a bridge. I bought an MDF kit from TT Combat, from its Venice range, and got to work. The basic model went together very easily, and was very good value, as a lot of their kits are. It was quite big for Warhammer scale models, but what the heck.

The out-facing parts of the bridge were well-detailed, but I felt that the inside of the railing could do with a bit "more", so I added a rail along the inside top and some pillars, made from thin plasticard. I also used DAS clay to hide some of the more obvious MDF joins.

I felt that it needed to look a bit more "twiddly". I've not gone for the classic Mordheim terrain look, of adding skulls and corpses to everything, as this is meant to be a city in daily use, rather than a cursed ruin. That said, I stuck four spikes onto the railing for extra gothicness (they're cake decorations). A couple of gargoyles were added to the front of the bridge. They came from an ancient terrain kit from back in the good old days.

Then I painted it grey, highlighted with light grey and bone, and washed it with browns and greens, to suggest dirt.

It looks fine, but I felt that it could do with a bit "more". I thought it might be cool to give it a guard post or toll booth halfway along its length. I made one from scratch out of plasticard and wooden coffee stirrers.

The booth got a little stove, also made from plasticard and a bit of plastic rod, to keep the watchman warm at night. This was probably a bit excessive, as I then hid most of the stove with a Mantic armchair. It's anachronistic, but then I'm not exactly striving for historical accuracy here after all.

The shed was roofed with cardboard tiles, as usual (I wonder how many cardboard tiles I've cut out over the years?). I gave it a sign from the terrain bits box, which I painted in what seems to be the heraldry of this town.

Here is the finished bridge, together with its guard post.

Not the best pictures I've ever taken, but you get the idea!

Here is the bridge in its natural environment. 

Carnevale Noble Lady

The Christmas holiday is approaching, and I've been thinking about a new, small project to go alongside the ongoing Eldar repaint. I dug out some of my unpainted Carnevale figures, and chose an impoverished noble lady (a barnabotti, apparently).

I got this figure free with a copy of Miniature Wargames. She was really enjoyable to paint and much easier than I'd expected: the cloth was actually quite easy to shade. Some of the casting around her gun hand was a bit "soft" but I think I figured it out eventually. I'm not sure if she's pulling her skirt up to make it easier to move, or whether she's just whipped a pistol out from under there, but the fabric is really nicely sculpted and the whole thing was a pleasure to paint. Nice one TT Combat!

More Watery Adventure

 As part of my plan to paint some of the backlog, I had a go at one of the resin Carnevale models. This one is a female wizard of the Rashaar (ie fishmen). In terms of concept, it's fairly similar to the Lady in the Lake that I made a few weeks back. As with almost all of TT Combat's Carnevale models, she's a really good sculpt and was much easier to paint than I'd expected.

I actually stuck her trident on wrong (it's meant to be in front of her body) but what the heck, I like it this way.

Here are the rest of her crew, which I painted a while ago. They're all TT Combat models apart from the big chap, who was an old Vesper On miniature mounted on a Malifaux base:

Vampires of Venice, Part 2

This week, more of the undead have flocked to the Serene Republic of Venice, thirsting for blood and Conettos. First up, we have a "standard" vampire.

I really like the movement in this model, although I'm slightly puzzled as to why she's only got one sleeve. The miniature originally had the coat partly open, to reveal enormous cleavage. Now, I've no problem with Ingrid Pitt and all that, but if your principal weakness is in your chest, it seems foolish to give people a really good shot at it. So, I closed the coat up with a bit of green stuff, prude that I am.

It's hard to see, but her coat was painted with a stippling technique to suggest old, cracked leather. I like the technique, invisible as it is!

The next guy is a slightly drab thrall with a crossbow. He came with the Kickstarter. As with all these models, he's nice, but I've painted him in rather muted colours to show his low ranking in the vampiric hierarchy. Lucky him.

And finally, some terrain. For the first time in about six months, I went to the local gaming shop, where they have a lot of the Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures models for Dungeons & Dragons. These are cheap and pretty decent, and the terrain they make is very nice. I bought, among other things, a very nice fountain. It had a few mould lines, and I had to cut off the trident of the man on top (Neptune?) because it was so bent, but overall I really like the model and think it will do well for both Frostgrave and Carnevale.

Vampires of Venice, Part 1

 Magical Venice is a dangerous place. As well as violent criminals, deranged aristocrats and hungry fishmen, there are vampires and their minions. I painted up four of the vampires as the start of a new gang. I've had most of the models for a very long time.

This is a "standard" vampire. She's a really nice model. For the reddish-purple of the dress, I used a black undercoat and successive thin layers of a Privateer Press paint called Malevolent Magenta (seriously). For the very top highlight, I mixed a little red into the colour. I'm not sure what the model is doing: perhaps shrugging. 

"Yeah, I'm a vampire. So what?"

Next up is a human minion called a thrall, who the vampires can drain for additional hit points in the game. This one has a crossbow for a bit of ranged support.

Like all the others, she has rather unwholesome, sickly skin. I mixed a medium-level grey into the base flesh colour, and added a lighter flesh tone for highlighting. 

The next model is one of the three brides of Dracula. In Carnivale's background, the three brides explored the world, learning magic from different places, and this is the one who went to the mysterious East. She's called Miriam, which doesn't really suggest being a vampire or from the East, but what the heck. She's equipped for combat with, er, a robe that she's only just wearing and some flip flops. 

And finally, I painted one of the very old metal models left over from when Carnivale was owned by Vesper-On games (the others are resin). This little guy (at least compared to the others) is a Newborn Strigoi, a vampire who has only recently turned undead and has gone somewhat feral. It's a nice sculpt, but was hard to assemble and paint. He should provide some additional cheap punch to the gang.

So that's where we are with the Venetian vampires. More to follow soon!

Six Citizens From A Sick City

About three years ago, I signed up for the Kickstarter of TT Combat's skirmish game, Carnevale. A while later, I was sent a large amount of miniatures and, well, I suppose you can probably guess what happened next. That's right: I didn't paint them. 

Well, I decided to paint a group of Venetian Citizens. They're low-ranking minions of The Guild, the organised crime syndicate / "normal people" faction of the game. The citizens aren't much good on their own, but they're cheap in terms of points and they have a rule that improves them a bit if they're acting in a mob.

TT Combat's models for Carnevale are consistently excellent sculpts. They're resin, and a tad brittle, but the detailing is great. Also, because of the setting, one model can easily be used to proxy another.

I decided to use a limited set of colours on them, to tie the group together. Looking back, I think some of the colours, especially the dark blue, are a tad drab, but it does unite them as a unified furious mob instead of a, er, messy one.

These two seem to be a sailor and a fairly prosperous-looking gent.

Here we have two ladies, who look like what happens when you cross Jane Austen. I really like the sculpting of the folds in their dresses.

The man in this picture was a freebie in the Kickstarter and is very angry about it. The girl is actually a metal model from the game Bushido, and was an animal tamer. I cut her whip off: I think the remaining handle would work as a cosh. My detailed research (ie playing Assassin's Creed 2) tells me that her outfit isn't that different from some European peasant gear. She's slightly smaller than the others, so I expect that she's a teenager who picks pockets and runs errands. Because the model is so spindly, I added a rock to give her a bit more support. (I've also noticed that I've forgotten to paint a flask on her belt. Damn.

I've still got the leopard that the Bushido lady came with, and sometime I'll get around to painting it. But for now, they are a small horde, who will hopefully one day come in useful on the canalside.

Serelia of Zimmendell (and some wells)

This week I repainted an old model that I've had since I was 15, when my friend Tim gave it to me (thanks Tim). It's another of the Heroes For Dungeonquest miniatures (I'd really like to get all of these one day) called Serelia of Zimmendell. I really like this model. It's sculpted in a pretty old-fashioned style, but I really like the dragon curled around her legs and the way that she's looking into a crystal ball. I've painted her twice before, and I'll probably end up doing it again one day!

Also, I made three wells that came free with the Carnivale kickstarter. They're made of MDF with greyboard details. I don't usually like greyboard, as it feels a bit flimsy and is slightly nasty to the touch (not sure why, though, as it's basically card). However, these went together easily and have good details.

The only problem was that I lost a couple of side pieces from one of them, so I improvised and made it into a ruined well. I used bits of cork for the rubble.

More Fishmen For Carnivale!

This week, I finished off one of the models from the Carnivale pile. This guy is an Officiant of Dagon, the Lovecraftian fish-god whose minions seek to overrun the city of Venice from below. I'm not sure if this chap is meant to be part-fish, or whether he's just a crazy human who works with the cultists of Dagon, so I've painted him in the usual skin tones and given him a very slight glaze of green.

This photo was taken largely to show that he has two legs.

And here is the entire sordid family. I'm sure they would click their fingers like the Addams Family, except that probably doesn't work underwater.

L-R: Sirena, Eric, Fishgar the Bloody, Steve, Junior, and Barney.

Apart from the Slaves of Dagon, who I don't really like, I've got two fishmen left to do: a massive chap who looks very fat and blubbery, and a human/Deep One hybrid who looks strangely like an aquatic Terry Gilliam.

Two Wizards For The Fish-God

I've continued to paint the Carnevale models, and have got two more fish-people done for the Deep One faction. As you don't get many models in your team, I've taken quite a lot of time on these guys.

First up is Sirena, a siren/mermaid person who actually seems to be half-woman, half-octopus. She is a wizard and has a magical effect that weakens the morale of anyone around her.

I did a lot of blending on this model while the paint was still wet. I'm pleased with the gradual transition from human skin tones to grey-purple on the tentacles. I used a Vallejo colour called Luftwaffe Uniform as the basis for the grey, mixing it in with flesh tones and purple.

The second model is a Magi-Rashaar, a wizardly chap. In the big game of Carnevale that I played a while back, he was a right nuisance to everyone, so he's probably worth having in a team. I used a similar colour scheme of dark green, grey and purple to tie him into the rest of the crew, but added some new colours to mark him out and suggest his importance.

Interestingly, the skin colour - green mixed with flesh tones - hasn't come out all that well on either of my two cameras for this model. Nor does it come out well on my ork commandos, which are some of my favourite models. I think it must just not show up very well.

And here's the inevitable (?) rear view.

Overall, I think these are two of the best models that I've done for a long time. The Deep Ones are shaping up well (or hideously), and I've got a pair of semi-human henchmen to do next.

Deep Ones for Carnevale

I've not really been in the mood for painting anything complex for a while, and doing the old chaos marines and the tank have been a nice break from having to colour inside the lines. However, I did want to have a go at something that required a bit more subtlety, just something without too much detail.

Two Deep Ones from the Carnevale starter set seemed like a good idea. They come with the basic game, and are rather nice sculpts. The Rashaar faction (the Deep Ones and other sea creatures) is rather odd: instead of cultists, you get some slaves, who are good sculpts but don't really look right with the big monsters. However, the monsters themselves are good, and you can make a team out of them.

These models, like all the newer Carnevale releases, are resin, and a real sod to undercoat. However, the detail is good, and I like the poses.

I'm particularly pleased with the eyes, which were a pale blue highlighted with white, and washed with a lurid purple. They were then given a going-over with varnish, to give them an unwholesome, fishy wetness.

Overall, quite quick to paint, and the results are pretty good. Maybe I'll paint some of the others now!

Never Get Off The Boat - My First Carnivale Game

Yesterday, I headed down to Southampton to finally give the new version of Carnivale a trial. James F hosted and ran the games, and Chris, Andy, James P and I were the players.

The first games were quick skirmishes to learn the basic rules, using a smaller table and the models and cards from the 2-player starter set. Everything was surprisingly simple to understand, with the exception of the jumping rules, which require models to jump onto a small obstacle to "chain-jump" onto a larger one. I can see why this is encouraged: getting a height advantage is very useful in Carnivale, and the leaping around helps distinguish it from other skirmish games. However, it takes a bit of getting used to.

That said, I tend to find new rulesets hard to grasp at first, and I was surprised how quickly I took to the Carnivale system. Everything seemed to make logical sense. Once we'd all had a go - and Chris had had to go home and had been replaced by Andy - we played a three-way battle on a lavish 3' by 3' board.

The field of "honour", noted for its giant vats of tea

The aim of the mission was to capture boxes of military supplies left around the area. Being in the vicinity of a box gave models an advantage in combat to represent the quality of the looted gear. The Guild (Andy), the Rashaar (James P) and the Patricians (me) approached from different table edges and chaos broke out.

Andy sent a gang of enraged citizens to grab the first box.

"Nick it, lads!"

The Patricians, enraged by drink and the existence of poor people, advanced to meet them.

The sewer comes with them!

Meanwhile, a noble lady and her butler tried to outflank the battle in a gondola.

"Stop singing about Cornettos and row, you horrid little pauper!"

The two human groups met in the centre of the board and shots were exchanged. But they hadn't expected the deadly frog-people. Nobody expects the deadly frog-people.

A clash of classes as a mob of citizens rushes towards the Patricians

Pretty soon all the sides were being thinned down. Highlights included James P's continual attempts to throw everyone into the canal, Andy's Capodecime leaping across the rooftops like a cross between Batman and a kangaroo, and the maid of my noble house wading in armed with a frying pan, which turned out to be the most effective weapon in the game, thanks to its ability to stun opponents (clang!).

James' Rashaar mage takes a swim

At the end of the day, the Patricians won, thanks to some last-minute objective-snatching. The various combatants retired to their lairs to enjoy their stolen consignments of military-specification frying pans.

All in all, I really enjoyed the game and was impressed by the system. All three sides have good solid rules, and subtle aspects that it will take a while for the players to master. Carnivale manages to be both complex and pretty intuitive, and I'm looking forward to doing battle in Venice again (but not in the canal).


Suggestions:

- Cards for all factions, not just the Guild and Rashaar
- An expansion dealing with the canals of Birmingham.

More Yokels, More Venice!

This week, I finished off a few more yokels for the yokel horde. The man on the far right is called "agitator", and I think the other two are "militia". It's not often that models remind me of real people, but from left to right, they look rather like Yul Brynner, Toby from The West Wing, and the bloke from The Big Lebowski.

Moving forward a few years in miniature sculpting, I painted the Foreign Spy model from the old lead Carnivale miniatures. I did a small conversion, cutting and turning her head so that she was looking the same direction as her gun was pointing. I can see why the original model looks in a different direction (for added shiftiness), but I prefer the current pose. I had to resculpt some of her hair, which wasn't easy, but I'm glad I did it.

And here's the entire crew, ready to do battle. I think they've come out well and I really like the colour scheme. Hmm, now I look closer, I really want to touch up that man's britches, but isn't that always the way?

A Cavalcade of Carnivale

It's been a bit of a while since I posted here: the real world reared its ugly head and I had to eat a ton of mince pies and drink several gallons of mulled stuff. Anyway, I've been trying to make a dent in the huge number of lead Carnivale models I've got to paint before I can start on the huge number of resin Carnivale models I've got to paint.

Frankly, I've got more chance of photographing Nessie than I have of getting a decent picture of a Carnivale model, but I've tried my best.

Here are the nobles, which I painted a while ago:

And here is a Deep One:

And here are two peasants. I painted them to match the nobles that I did a while ago, so that they could function as a gang. In the rules, the Patrician faction can take maids and butlers, and I think these two would fit that role.

And finally, here's one I'm really proud of. He's called "The creature" in Carnivale, but he's clearly Frankenstein's monster. He was a really nice model to put together and paint. I put him on another Wyrd scenic base.

That's my Carnivale people for now. I've still got a fair heap of lead to work through, but I fancy a bit of a change for now.