Goblin Grunts

The poor huddled masses of many a fantasy setting, I've devoted some attention to my goblin grunts. These are from the Splintered Light Goblin Warband. They will provide the rank and file for my Goblin war party.

The Yellow-bellies have survived in their ancestoral region while their larger brethren and rival tribes have been hunted to extinction by adhering by their most sacred code: A good run beats a bad stand.

Nothing new to report here, the sculpts are as the others I painted previously, slightly smaller than other sculpts but detailed and free of any blemishes. I tried painting them in the traditional dress of their people (brownish rags) but the dirty yellow is more appealing.

The Dwarves of Delveholme (Part IV)

I present more Splintered Light dwarves. The first three are from Dwarf Adventurers, the last two are from Dwarf Treasure Hunting Party.

I find the first model slightly amusing as he's clearly skinned a teddy bear at some point and now wears its fur with unjustified pride. The second model had a cultist vibe about him so I went with a sun-worshipper icon on his chest. The third model has a face that screams drunken oaf. The nice bronze age helmet, ragged cloak, exposed belly and pose combine very nicely. All three are easy to paint and rich in detail.

The last two are the standard hewers and carriers. I enjoyed the mix of colours across all the dwarves. I think the fifth model is a little too garish but as usual, good enough is enough for me.

The Ancient and Dusty Dead

These are from my increasingly depleted Greater Undead set. I've got a few vampires/wights and necromancers left but the common archetypes have all been used up.

Not an overly difficult bit of painting, splash some yellows and browns on, wait, then a quick and dirty wash sees them finished. My only regret is not going with a desert base on at least one of the models. I'll keep an eye out for a Egyptian style necromancer to add to the group.

Disclaimer: The central figure might actually just be a severely wounded, heavily bandaged man desperately seeking assistance rather than an ancient, undead ruler.

Ghoulish Zombies

I've mixed manufacturers here. The third, fourth and sixth are Ral Parthas. I went back to the Southern Death Cult pack and plucked out the zombies. The rest are Splintered Light ghouls from the Greater Undead which could work reasonably well as zombies. The respective styles of both manufacturers is pretty apparent here.

I have to say that these battered undead have the best effort to reward ratio when painting. Green tinting over grey on the skin, brown on the scraps of cloth and some blood effect here and there.

I must say that I prefer the Ral Parthas to the Splintered Lights but your mileage may vary. The central figure is my absolute favourite. Look at him! Lurching forward, axe jammed in skull, gripping his precious handful of flesh.

A Random Assortment

The first model is my work and was a leftover from a previous Dark Ages project. He's a Celtic farmer from Corvus Belli's Celtic Civilians pack which, as far as I can tell, is no longer in production. I had the old Asterix comics in mind as I worked. 

My girlfriend took an interest in painting so I handed over some models into her tender care. The four models on the right are hers. The first pair are from the Splintered Light Greater Undead set and the last two are from Ral Partha's Wood Elf Warband.

The second and third will see action as witches of some kind. I've worked up stats for Wailing Hags below but they are subject to change. I really liked the garish colour scheme on her elven warriors. It would never have occurred to me to go with blue hair and green robes or red hair and blue armour but the colour choice really works well.

The Howling Pack

These are actually the wolf mounts from the Splintered Light Goblin Warband. The goblin wolf riders didn't really call to me so I skipped them for the time being.

I was going to go with a plain grey but thought a little research couldn't hurt. It turns out that wolves have very distinct patterns of colouration with dark backs and shoulders being extremely widespread. I did my best to give them that natural colouring and I think it came out well. The mouths have been painted but as the pictures show, the details don't pop. I'll leave them for now and see if inspiration strikes later.

Slimes

So... let's quickly gloss over this joke of a post. Both models are from the Splintered Light Dungeon Encounters 3 set.

The problem with fighting slimes and oozes is that you're never quite sure if they're dead or playing dead.

Goblin Hunters

These three chappies come from Splintered Light's Goblin Warband. Nice mix of foot goblins, characters and cavalry. There's also an ogre in there as heavy support.

The bushes rustled as the beast stepped carefully into the clearing. Its nostrils flared as it took in the air. As it lifted its right forehoof to step over the rocks, three barbed black arrows appeared along its flank. It stumbled once and fell dead.

They're a lot better equipped than some of the goblins in the pack and I chose to view them as elite troops. Their clothes are thicker with a few more furred ruffs, they're carrying more pouches, belts and equipment than the grunts and the fancy bows mark them out as a cut above the norm. These guys are a bit chunkier than I've come to expect from Splintered Light.

I went with a yellow colour scheme for the goblins as I quite like the old hooded Bad Moon look and drab browns combined with my painting would really stifle the sculpts. The grunts and commanders will be painted up soon.

The Dwarves of Delveholme (Part II)

A second batch of dwarves from Splintered Light. The fifth dwarf is from the Dwarf Treasure Hunting Party, the rest are all from the Dwarf Adventurers set.

I find the pose on the first model to be a little bizarre, it's as if he wants to show off all his weapons at once. Paintjob is acceptable. I am very proud indeed, of the second model. I even managed to paint the eyes and the tip of his cigar. The eyes were... very difficult.

The third model is a female dwarf bringing some badly needed gender balancing to the group. She gives off a Valkyrie vibe. Similarly, the fifth model is somewhat unisex. She came out very well and can serve as anything from Ranger to Assassin.

I was less happy with the fourth model and he looks even worse in the photo with some manner of strange waxy finish visible. Boo.

The Ice Heart Cultists

"Hans... uh... are we the baddies?" - Guy wearing a skull as a mask.

I wanted to paint a little group of baddies so went a-digging through the stockpile. These are taken from Ral Partha's Southern Death Cult, a mix of robed cultists and undead. I pulled out all the models with skull masks for the project. Again, very solid sculpts, very detailed with an old-school 80s aesthetic. Exactly the style I like. The leader, on the far left, has a nice series of glyphs running along the seams of his cloak which reminded me of painting Teclis and Tyrion, back in the day.

The Cult of the Ice Heart are a group of ritualists obsessed with the destruction of the world as we know it. Their goal is to plunge the world into an eternal winter and earn the favour of some manner of eldritch elemental force. Despite the name, they can generally be found in temperate climates.

These actually flew straight off the painting table. After basing and washing, I used blue ink on the swords to give a magical effect which looks good but leaves me a bit nervous about messing with the glyphs on the blades as any paint applied is unlikely to blend well into the shading of the sword. The wash is too heavy but we'll come back to them at some future point. They'll certainly serve as they are.

Spectre, Spirit and Spook

Whether improperly buried, having had their resting place disturbed, unfinished business or plain old stubborness, these folks have not passed on.

This is probably my laziest paintjob yet. These are taken from the Splintered Light Greater Undead set. I had played around with a variety of greys and greens on a test model (now awaiting stripping) but the GW Nihilakh Oxide is perfect for the ghostly blue. Three ghosts done, in about as many minutes.

Looking at the pictures, I'm trying to remember if I did anything different with the central ghost as he looks a little better than the others.

The Dwarves of Delveholme (Part I)

Among the stockpile, there's about twenty-odd dwarves awaiting some attention, between warriors and civilians. The first and fourth models are from Splintered Light's Dwarf Treasure Hunting Party. This is a great little pack which seems to draw a bit of inspiration from The Hobbit, note the mini-Gandalf above.

The second and third models are from the same company's Dwarf Adventurer set, which cover all the roleplaying classes.

The last dwarf is from Ral Partha's Questing Heroes. The scale mismatch is actually disguised by his armour and he blends in perfectly.

The "Gandalf" looked a bit plain in his initial plain grey robes so I gave him some orange trim. I had Rincewind in mind as I did. Must keep an eye out for a suitable wizard mini for that particular gentleman.

The armoured dwarves are quite straightforward. Paint metal, wash metal, great success. The photo has highlighted some little areas that need retouching though.

The civilian with the torch really let me happily mess around with colours as there were a lot of little details to pick out. There's something very satisfying about the Treasure Hunter sculpts, more of those on the way.

The Dead Don't Rest

These are both from Splintered Light's Greater Undead set. Their minis tend to be a little smaller than the Ral Parthas but beautifully detailed all the same. They do classify the various types of undead found in the pack on their website but a fair amount look like vampires to my untutored eye. I pulled the two that best suited my purposes.

Brought to an untimely and unjust end, the revenant has been granted a single year in which to take its revenge on all foes. This include those which ended its mortal span and those who get in its way.

On the left, I've adapted one of the better-dressed bloodsuckers as a revenant, a ghostly spectre of righteous vengeance. While the face came out well, the clothes were a bit bland. In fact, the blues and grays were so drab that I had to give him bright red gloves to stop the eye sliding right off him. Still, it's a neat paintjob and I really like the final product. The pose also has a quality about it that appeals to me.

The children of the night are often credited with a certain courtly demeanour but some argue that the feral vampire is a more accurate depiction of their true nature. On the right, we have one of these bestial vampires. A fair-minded man could probably argue that he's a ghoul. I chose to use this particular model for the simple reason that he appears to be scratching his unmentionables and his hair reminds me of the Aliens! guy of meme-related fame. He also brings up images of a dirt-encrusted feral vampire about to start loping towards its prey.

The Wandering Heroes

Do you know of any treasure around here? *slap* Where are the rest of your tribe? *slap* Who is your leader? *slap* Are there traps ahead? *slap* Do you have any information that will advance the plot? *slap* - Every adventuring party's initial contact with the local goblinoids.

Where better to begin the great work than with an adventuring party, the wandering band of looters, vandals and murderers that sit at the heart of the genre. The models are all Ral Partha from the Questing Heroes set. They're nice and chunky with crisp, deep detail and paint up very easily.

The first model is a Paladin, Sir Quintus. His silly little goatee and dramatic posing really manage to imbue him with a sense of pompousness which fits perfectly with those god-bothering moralists.

Secondly, we have the Elven warrior, Darin Gentleleaf whose various ornamental gems nicely echo the High Elf army of my youth. She could be any of the martial classes. I regret that the eyes are left untouched but my skills are not quite there yet. It's not quite as noticeable/off-putting in the flesh, I swear.

The third is a messianic wizard, The Mighty Glot, with a suitably glorious mane and beard. My shoddy work on his eyebrows makes his brow look a bit off in the picture but it's a good mould, I assure you. There were some ill-advised efforts to tint the staff, hair and hands here but otherwise, I'm happy to field him. 

The last mini is, by far, my favourite of the batch. He looks like the archetypical hard-bitten warrior, veteran of a hundred grubby wars. I went with a Gaelic-esque colour scheme and it came out very well.

Introduction

Slightly too much time spent reading Oldhammer blogs, the fifth edition D&D monster manuals, Dragon Rampant battle reports and the Dungeon Scum series has left me with the burning desire to paint up a lot of fantasy models. However, the small mountain of unpainted Warhammer regiments in my attic have put me off 28mm for the foreseeable future. 

With painting time, my skills, terrain requirements, monetary cost and figure storage in mind, I'm going smaller. To my joy, it turns out that the 15mm fantasy market is actually quite well served.