Anybody there? Well, yes, technically...

Man, time sure flies! For the casual reader of this blog, one might imagine that I have not done any hobbying this year.  Well, not quite. The past few months have seen sparse action, but the first few months of 2016 were so busy... I just did not get a chance to post!

Why?  Because I participated in my first Lead Painters League! For the uninformed among you, this is a fun painting competition held over on the Lead Adventure Forum which consists of 10 (this year was 11) rounds of painted miniatures.  Each round you must paint 5 new figures, photograph them, and then users get to vote on which ones they like the best. I am going to take a few entries to post up each of my 11 rounds in turn, and discuss some of my experiences.  It was a lot of work for me, what with the rest of my real-life commitments, but I genuinely feel I came out a better hobbyist at the end.

Without further ado, here was my first entry, entitled "Camp Life"

This being my first entry, I learned a couple things... I think my photo was a tad over-exposed, and my background was a little too busy.  It might have looked better against a white background, and using some foliage to mask the base edges may have made it look more natural.  It was fun to paint though. The figures are from the Pro Gloria range (now owned by Warlord Games). They have a delightful range of Landksnecht civilians and I was happy to paint up a few of them.

Next up, my round 2 entry...

Lead Adventure Halberdiers

Finally, the long-promised halberdiers.  I have finished 13 out of a planned unit of 20. Six of them were painted back in July, and I just never posted pictures of them.  The rest were finished this week.

First, we will start out with a group shot so far:

I have opted for a more mercenary approach with this unit, combining several different colour schemes for a nice bit of variety in the unit.  It helps to keep the painting interesting, rather than using the same colours all the time, and it makes for a very characterful unit.  The main schemes for this unit are red and blue, yellow and blue, red and green, and green and yellow (still to come).  Now for the individual pictures:

These guys are a heck of a lot of fun to paint as are all the other LAM figures I have seen.  The casting quality is great, and the details are very crisp and easy to pick out.  They are quite detailed, which adds a bit to the painting time, but the end result is worth it.  Hope you enjoy them.

A good start to 2014...

Happy New Year's, everyone!  It has been a little busy the past few months, and while I did get some painting done, very little was photographed.  I am in the process of remedying that, so in the meantime I will share a figure which I finished during December.  This miniature was painted for a miniature-exchange on the Warhammer Empire forum.  It is the Lead Adventure Miniatures 'Wilhelm von Shakespeare' figure from their Bruegelburg range.  A spectacular figure, there is really nothing to say other than that.  Brilliantly sculpted, a true joy to paint, and delightfully unique.  Luckily, I got two so I can paint one up for myself.  Mine will be painted in a very similar way, with a few colour switches here and there.  I gave him a nice little scenic base using a chunk of pine bark.

My recipient has safely received the miniature (unlike my recipient from last year), so I am pleased that he will have a nice home in the future.  One more parting shot from the pig!

Next up, a bunch of the long-anticipated and promised LAM halberdiers!

Lead Adventure Miniatures

So, I was browsing the lead adventure forum: link and came across an update to their Bruegelburg range.  In case you have not heard, LAF has been producing some of the most detailed fantasy miniatures I have come across in a while.  The sculpting is crisp and clean, and the models are fantastically over-the-top, but in a good, original kinda way.  So, they have finished the sculpting of a unit of crossbowmen, based on the legend of William Tell.  These are an addition to their fantastic Bruegelburg range.  I haven't gotten any yet, but with these crossbowmen coming out this summer, you can bet I will be ordering a few packs!  They will be tough to paint well as the detail is amazing, but I would hope I can handle the challenge - just might have to work at a glacial pace!

Without further ado, here are some pics of the finished sculpts, which apparently are off to the caster:

Seriously... some of the best fantasy landsknechts ever!  I will definitely put these on my wishlist, along with the rest of their Bruegelburg range...

Oh yes, they are also making a cannon, in the same typical awesomeness:

Not much else I can say... more pictures can be seen in their progress threads here and here.