Wood Troll by Eureka Miniatures

 

Been making some painted test examples for my force of Woodling Creatures for role playing. This dude comes from Eureka Miniatures and is a Wood Troll from their 10mm fantasy range. I think it works pretty well for role playing as the image above should show.

Pretty simple to paint too. I went with a black base coat spray. Followed by a dark brown wet brush. When dry, this was followed by with a dry brush of light grey. I then washed it in Agrax Earthshade wash. Easy!

I used flock on the foliage areas of the miniature, but you could just paint that green if you prefer.

Time to paint some more of them.

Red Box War Trolls

Red Box from the Ukraine do some nice 1/72 scale fantasy plastic soldiers. I've shown in a previous post some of their Isengard style Uruk's before. Recently however they released some War Trolls.

Red Box War Trolls set 1

Putting on my thinking cap I decided that these may be useful as Olog-hai (Black Trolls) or as Half-Trolls. Olog's were, if I remember correctly, described by Tolkien as smaller than regular trolls but more cunning and dangerous. So I thought I would take a gamble and get some and see how they fair size-wise and also whether they could fit on a 40mm base for use in WotR cavalry movement trays.

So firstly, what do they look like? There are eight in a box and they come in four different molds (2 of each obviously).

They are pretty detailed for a softer plastic miniature. There is a bit of plastic "flashing" along to mold lines, but nothing too bad as to ruin the miniature. The plastic is thick enough to prevent too much bending. So they should be robust enough for the gaming table. They aren't as strong as the GW plastic miniatures, but will stand a little rough and tumble. So that's a bonus. They are also cheap if you look around on eBay, so that's a second bonus. Finally, the four types you can see above are also rather nice. So another bonus in my book.

OK, so far so good. So how do they compare to the GW LotR / WotR size miniatures. Well, as you can see below, not too bad. They are taller than the average human / elf / orc. So that's excellent news. They would certainly tower above the 1/72 scale miniatures that Reb Box also produce.

One elf vs. four trolls. My money is on the elf!

So how do they compare to the GW Trolls. They are roughly the size of a GW Cave Troll, but smaller than GW's other trolls. Which is fine by me, especially considering that I will be using them for the smaller Olog-hai / Half-troll troops.

I haven't painted them yet. So no idea how well the paint will hold. But I will be toning them in the Army Painter shader Strong Tone and that tends to hold the paint on well with more flexible plastic miniatures.

I may even use these guys in a kit bash fashion for some Blood Bowl varieties. More on that idea in the future!

Warmaster Tomb Kings Hierotitan

I've begun a process of revamping my Warmaster Tomb Kings army. No small feat and one of many projects I start and then end up doing piecemeal between a bunch of other projects. More on this project in the coming months!

Anyway, back at MOAB last October I picked up the Reaper Miniatures Avatar of Sokar from Reapers Bones range (ie plastic version, not the metal one), and over this Easter break I decided to paint it up. I though that this mini would make an excellent Tomb Kinds Hierotitan for my Warmaster army.

This bad boy is based on a 40x40mm base due to the base the plastic miniature is bound too. It towers menacingly over the battlefield and looks suitably nasty and bound to intimidate those puny 10mm figures.

Run, puny ones...RUUUNNNNN!!!!

I'm telling you lads, the fish was this big.. honest...

To paint it, I used the following method.

• Basecoat in Chaos Black
• Paint 'lightning style' flecks on the stone skin with Shadow Grey (i.e. a blue grey colour).
• Highlight these flecks with Space Wolves Grey (i.e. light blue grey colour).

See below for example of what I mean by 'lightning style' flecks

'lightning style' flecks over the stone skin of the miniature

• Next paint the robe cloth in Pallid Wych Flesh.
• Highlight the cloth with White Scar
• Paint leg bands, arm bands belt and base of rob, chest piece and headband in Sycorax Bronze
• Paint cod-piece in Shinning Gold.
• Paint the head dress in the same way as for the robe (Pallid Wych Flesh, then highlight in White Scar).
• Paint the mace in Sycorax Bronze.

•  Highlight metal in Shining Gold and Chainmail as you desire (see for example the cod piece and the mace below)

• Paint the detail on the necklace with an alternate blue, red, green arrangement. Got this idea from a fantastic paint job done for the metal version of this miniature on the Reaper website.
• I used Teclis Blue base highlighted by Temple Guard Blue for the blue colour,
• Mephiston Red base highlighted by Evil Sunz Scarlet for the red colour, and
• Warpstone Glow base highlighted by Goblin Green (Snott Green?) for the green colour.

• The base edge I painted in Rakarth Flesh and then just used sand from my local beach to cover the base.

•  I highlighted the eye guards with Chainmail as well.

I was tempted to wash the miniature in either black or brown wash but decided against it as I thought it would drown out the colours.

I want to do another one of these for my 1/72 Kings of War project. However I think I will buy the metal version of this miniature for that project as their is a lot of detail that only faintly can be seen in the plastic version. The metal version keeps those details and so can makes this lad a real centre piece for an army.

Hope you are having a blessed, safe and wonderful Easter!

Ral Partha Chaos Wars Kickstarter has arrived!

Well a new year and the first post for it. Happy (belated) New Year everyone!

My Ral Partha Chaos Wars Kickstarter arrived during the week and I'm stocked! Ral Partha's fantasy range of miniatures was one of the first set of miniature collections I ever bought for wargaming. And that was about when I was in my early teens. I loved (and still love) these miniatures. Beautifully sculpted and roughly fitting into the 20-25mm category.

When Iron Wind Metals announced this kickstarter, I was like a big kid again. I just had to get in on it even though I was staying true to 10mm wargaming and massive battles. As it turns out, I was not being frivolous doing so. As I'll show below.

The Kickstarter came with a free set of the old Chaos Wars Rules and Army List booklets, which was a really nice addition.

Chaos Wars rulebook and Army List booklet

I purchased the Goblin starter set as I loved the Ral Partha Goblin Imps, cherishing them over the years and not finding the will to part with them as I delved into building my 10mm armies.

The Goblin Imp starter set

When compared to my original Ral Partha goblin mini's, you can see that they are identical in size and are not made of pewter.

Same size as the originals from years ago!

The great thing is that these guys will go with my amassing 1/72 Kings of War troops. As you can see below, the goblins will fit nicely in the 1/72 scale. The skeletons below are Caesar 1/72 Undead. Ral Partha miniatures were basically 25mm scale. But the variety of models permits size creep between 20mm (1/72 scale) and 28mm in my view.

So they may also fit in to a 28mm context, but only as very small goblin-imps. The image below shows a GW LotR Uruk-hai along with the Caesar 1/72 Skeletons and the Ral Partha goblin-imps in the front. So judge for yourself if this works for you.

My plan is to use them in my Kings of War armies applying two infantry, one cavalry and one archer per 25mm round base. You can see my intent below with both the old and new miniatures of Ral Partha Goblin-imps.

Believe it or not, the very smallest goblins (i.e the true Ral Partha goblin-imps) even work fairly nicely as a type of Ogre or Troll for 10mm. Below you can see the goblin-imps right in front of some GW Skeletons I got cheaply off eBay and am repainting. So if you are after some alternative sculpts for an Ogre / Troll beasty for 10mm, this may work for you also.

Useful for 10mm also?

The lads at Ral Partha / Iron Wind Metals were nice enough to include a sample of some of their other proposed future range. A note that came with the Kickstarter said that the Dwarf and Skeleton models in the image below were part of the armies proposed for their next Kickstarter coming in February this year. Something I definitely will be supporting.

Again, you get an idea of their size when you look at the 1/72 Caesar Skeletons flanking these miniatures below.

Now my most favourite Ral Partha goblin was a goblin-imp dressed in a wolves pelt and carrying a sword and shield. Sadly this little fella below didn't make it to the first Kickstarter. I emailed the lads and offered a model or two to them if they needed some originals to make moulds off, but it turns out that they already have the mould for this little beauty and will likely be offering it as an add-on with their next Kickstarter. So fingers crossed that this lad makes a comeback because its one of their best sculpts in my view.

One last thing was that the Dwarf miniature supplied is exactly the same height as the Caesar 1/72 Dwarf set. Its a little more robust compared to the Caesar model, as you can see below. But this is great as it will be a core army set of the 2nd Ral Partha Kickstarter and so will fill a niche for my Kings of War proposed armies.

So Happy Days! This was a really pleasant surprise when I opened my package from the Ral Partha Kickstarter. I purchased these guys out of nostalgia with no expectation of them being able to be used in any of my armies. Turns out they will slot in fairly well with my Kings of War 1/72 scale (20mm) armies. Only problem now is that I need to buy more miniatures :)

BRAAAIIIINNNSSS... 1/72 scale Zombies for Kings of War

Given that its that time of the year again, thought I would paint something in keeping with the 31st of October...Halloween (cue thunder, sound of screaming woman nearby and wolves howling in the distance). Yes folks its Halloween and, although I don't celebrate it, it did seem like a good time to paint something frightful. Plus I like Undead Armies. Can't have a fantasy setting without undead roaming around in it somewhere!

So, given I have been on a 1/72 fantasy painting spree of late, what better than to show off my just completed (on Halloween too, spooky!) Caesar Miniatures 1/72 Zombie Camp Followers. Caesar make some great 1/72 plastic fantasy sets and no self respecting necromancer would be seen dead without a cadre or two of fresh Zombies to show off to his mates.

Team Z!

Painting Guide?

• Fist up, basecoat the blighters in Army Painter Skeleton Bone
• Then, dry brush them all over in Citadel paints White Scar,
• Paint the metals (weapons and armour) in Boltgun Metal,
• Paint the weapon shafts and back of shields with Scorched Brown.
• By this time, they should look like the lads in the image below: 

Next:

• Paint the clothing in a variety of colours. Whatever you choose will look great once they have been washed and sealed (more on that later).
• You may want to include some interesting features, such as a grave stone, or Zomb's rising from the grave.
• Right now, the painting looks like it was done in a kindergarten. But this is all about to change!

Shading and Sealing:

• Now dip the miniatures in Army Painter Strong Tone and allow to dry. This will give it a deep shade and also seal the miniatures.

Looking better already!

Post-op:

• Once dry, spray with Army Painter Anti-shine Matt Varnish. Make sure that its not too humid when you do this or the spray coat will look ugly.
• Next, dry brush very lightly with White Scar over the skin and clothing.
• Paint blood on the appropriate locations with Blood for the Blood god Citadel technical paint.
• Now they should look like the below group of images... 

Once properly based, these Zombies look like a shuffling hoard.

I've put this lot into a War of the Ring movement tray to show them off as a unit. However, I will be getting some larger movement trays from eBay with five circular bases across and two rows deep for Kings of War. So I've done a total of ten bases worth so far, with two zombies per base. Ten bases equals ten 28mm Kings of War models for a Troop. So I will be using one movement tray for a Troop, two movement trays for a Regiment, and three for a Hoard.

More images of Team Z below. They still require grass to be added to the base. So not really finished yet but I like how they turned out, especially after how they looked before dipping in Army Painter Strong Tome. Brrraaaiiiinnnnsssss....