Old Games Workshop Figures bought cheaply

Hi Chaps,

The current run on my household pound continues so I have had to get creative and expand my horizons-or is that lose some of my prejudices? At one time (which lasted more than a quarter of a century!) I would never have considered a fantasy game, although I did try D+D. Then we got Frostgrave and Dragon Rampant and I learned to relax a bit. (If this goes on I will be a tree hugging hippie in 150 years or so).

Anyway as I like painting but have very little disposable income I searched for fantasy figures and found some 4th or 5th edition Elves. It turns out that these are great sculpts but unfortunately they seem to have been painted more than once and then undercoated again. As I was a "real" wargamer I missed these the first time around and how I regret that missed opportunity! Did you know that a "bad" elf army has dudes riding dinosaurs!?

Here are a few pics of the Elves as they were painted, they are currently awaiting their bases being completed-the command will be undercoated tomorrow and hopefully join the oddball rank and file. The figures cost 40P each...at this rate I will have an army to fight my Templars in a few weeks and they may just scrape passable in my cabinet.

The Goblins have been in a drawer for around forever and they seem to have painted up OK, there are lots of them, (did they breed?). The units are small but can be expanded now at my leisure though I am definitely going to purchase some witches and the cool dino riders who may well get some female heads just to add to the craziness.

Take a bow Games Workshop, I will use Age of Sigmar rules and war scrolls to get stats for the elves-thank goodness the codex thing is dead. I do hope that 40K gets the Sigmar treatment next-it means that I could afford to play it.

Sorry about the long post, keep blogging Chaps!

Reaper Miniatures Mage

Hi Chaps,

Another early start before dawn saw this little guy finished off, I have to say that he was really irritating to paint as there was too much detail. Reaper miniatures (I buy mine off ebay UK) are a really good source of figures for the financially challenged such as myself,

So now I have some sort of magician, possibly for Frostgrave (never played it yet though the rules are seem very good) or maybe Sigmar....

Thanks for looking.

A Horus Boss

Hi Chaps,

I had some free time this morning and finished this figure which has been lurking on my desk for months. I have no idea who or what he does-he is from the Betrayal at Calth set that my eldest kindly bought me. There are enough figures on my shelves for an army now....I just need a walkthrough of the rules to start playing 40K. I have several rulesets dating back to the 80s but have always been put off playing against others because I am not paying for codex X,Y and Z just to know what my opponent can do!

Time GW took 40K down the Age of Sigmar route I think.

There are 10 more marines on their sprues waiting to be assembled to be honest I can't look them in their little plastic lenses just yet. I have been hunting for plastic Bretonnians on ebay but I would have to sell a body part to afford some of them....rarity really does seem to be driving the prices of these figures.

Keep blogging Chaps!

Mounted Serjeants

As you can see the last six figures of my recently acquired medieval s are almost complete. This little side project crept up on me so it is back to saving my meagre sheckles for a boxed set from GW. With 30 infantry and 6 cavalry painted and based I still need another 12 cavalry to complete a Lion Rampant crusader army so it will be a while before that purchase is made.

To be going on with I have 16 Israeli infantry to paint in 20mm and a few bad guys. Possibly more middle east modern terrain will be made but the internet and its wonderful photo's of amazing figures is proving a huge distraction.

Keep blogging Chaps and keep sharing your hints and tips I literally feed off them!

Chapel for Templars out of a pizza tray

Hi Chaps,

You may have noticed over the years that I am on a budget-though my miniature defense budget should increase soon, So in an attempt to keep down my spending I fashioned a chapel for my 28mm Templars using a pizza base and some pics from my local church.

The photo is of the chancel of St Andrews in Leyland, the land was granted to the Templars in 1218 and they began building soon after....the inside of this earliest part of the church is very interesting-sadly it was locked when I visited but one day I will find it open with camera in hand. The gothis windows are a later addition, possibly as early as 1485 when a new tower was added-the earliest windows would (I think) have been arched.

These are the grave markers of what must be some of the first Templars around my home town....

Which brings me to my 28mm Chapel made from the bottom of an old drawer, a pizza box and the inevitable cereal packet for the roof tiles!

So here iot is, maybe a couple of pounds at most....budget intact. Maybe next my mini Templars will be asking for a hospital or even a keep? As I have just purchased a couple more units of little plastic men I may consider an expansion for them.

Keep blogging Chaps I need your ideas...

Oh and err ignore the desk it is now clear again.

A Good Wife and an improving Games Workshop.

Hi Chaps,

I have been busy on the hobby front mopping up bits and pieces before embarking on any new projects. There are still a few zombies left to fill a few painting hours but the last of the Space Marines and 20mm Taliban have been completed (actually that is a lie I have around 20 left but they are not undercoated).

This led me to begin thinking about my next project and to my own shock I am thinking of buying the Age of Sigmar handbook. Games Workshop impressed me earlier this year by providing free online rules and army lists and the book now makes this whole "thing" seem even more attractive. Indeed the starter set may follow the book purchase-Games Workshop have really upped their game as far as I am concerned......

....which also led to me buying some Conquest Normans and infantry (hence the Good Wife) just to fill out my medievals -these will be OK for Lion Rampant and Age of Sigmar. Playing solo has the advantage that no one cares what a Bretonnian in my house will look like!

As you can see my desk is a bit random at the moment-the Marines are just odds that someone had painted very thick black-in future any of these odd figures will be painted in this colour scheme to remind me where they started from. It is odd but I seem to end up with a few GW Marines every year?

The motorcyclist is from Grubby Tanks which is a fantastic company-their products are instantly recognisable and full of character.

Well, I hope that Second City (from whom I ordered the plastics on ebay) have just as good a delivery schedule as Mr Grubby.........if so next week will be better than expected.

Keep blogging Chaps!

Moving Home!

Hi Chaps,

It seems I may well be moving home (again), offer accepted, surveys and solicitors etc you know the drill. Hopefully this will be the last time before retirement. Of course the new spot has a larger room just waiting for a war games table....

In the meantime I have been painting the medieval troops that I bought last week....always try to have spare figures to paint Chaps as running out is almost physically painful.

Whilst basing the crossbows my friendly postie arrived with a couple of parcels, one from the amazing Grubby tanks containing some 20mm bad guys and a technical and the other a box of Orion Israeli troops. Such a relief that they arrived as I can now crack on with something modern. Too many bows and shields drives me mad I want to paint something that I can make a bang noise to as I roll the dice!

Thanks for looking, keep blogging Chaps.