Some civilians... with a bear!

Time for something a little different.  I decided to paint up some civilians.  In this case I made a begging troupe with a dancing bear.  The bear and the pipe player are from Pro Gloria Miniatures and the beggar and guitar player are from Lead Adventure Miniatures. I would like to think of them as a ragtag group of washed up entertainers.  Perhaps the poor legless chap used to be the pipe player for the bear, but one day the bear got hungry and/or tired of dancing.  They were quite fun to paint up, and I must say the Pro Gloria figures are a pleasure to paint up, along with the always-entertaining LAM stuff.

Here is the group, along with them performing in front of the Merchant's House:

Here are a few more closeups on the group as well:

I should add that Pro Gloria is planning on eventually running a kickstarter for hard plastic landsknecht soldiers.  Based on the quality of their metal figures, I think this is something that will be a very nice product for both historical gamers, and human fantasy gamers as well - they will likely be great alternate troops for warhammer empire players.

Hope you like the Bear Beggars.

Lead Adventure Halberds Finished

After a few hours in the painting room I have finally finished my unit of 20 Lead Adventure Halberdiers.  Wonderful models to paint, but I think I need a bit of time off from the intense puff and slash!  These will go along nicely with my other Oldhammer models, all they need now is a coat of varnish (which will probably wait until the warmer weather of Spring) and a banner.

The final colour scheme of green and yellow was quite nice to paint, as I find they work well together.  Its also much easier to clean up one or the other when you don't stay in the lines compared to the blue and yellow scheme.  Here is the whole group together:

Quite a colourful gathering!  I am quite fond of the colourful palettes of the landsknecht at this point.  I gathered my painted Oldhammer Empire and put it on my table for a group shot.  The force is starting to come together (just ignore the bedsheet in the background - I figure it looks better than the couch).

I have a few more units to complete before my 1000 point 3rd edition empire army is finished.  My armylist consists of:

Painted:
- 1 Wizard on foot (Old GW)
- 20 Reiksguard inc hero (Old GW fighters)
- 20 Halberdiers inc hero (LAM halberdiers)
- 1 Cannon (LAM Death Bell Cannon)

Unpainted:
- General on Warhorse (LAM Wilhelm von Shakespeare)
- 10 Handgunners (LAM handgunners)
- 10 Halfling archers (Old GW)
- 5 Knights (Old GW)

I will probably paint some goblins for a while, but my next project for this army will likely be the cavalry.  I got a bits lot a while back which had a bunch of torsos for some of the old GW high helm cavalry.  They are in pretty rough shape as you can see here:

My plan is to get some Perry plastic mounted men at arms and use the bits to fix them up and give them some horses.  Any other suggestions?

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 "Death Bell" Cannon

I have a nice little surprise for you!  No, it is not pictures of the completed reiksguard unit (don't worry, its finished, just actually need to take the pictures).  I finished a cannon for my Oldhammer army.  This is no ordinary cannon, however.

Lead Adventure Miniatures  recently released a new cannon for their Bruegelburg range.  This one, however, was built by the revolting peasants of Schweinstein.  It is a repurposed bell, and it absolutely fantastic.  Here is a nice picture of the sculpts:

Now here is my take on it with a lick of paint:

A total blast to paint, the bell was beautifully detailed and took to some verdigris staining very well.  These minatures look so nice, I decided they also needed a scenic base:

The base was from 4ground, and I used some miscellaneous Hirst Arts blocks, a GW fence, and then the usual sand, flock, tufts, and flowers.  It really brings the piece to life and helps show off the immense character of these figures.

My only criticism of LAM is that some of the faces lack a certain amount of character, with somewhat sharp defining lines.  Though that is not all of them, and much of the time you can make up for it with a good paintjob.  Hope you like the cannon, I would recommend it to anyone.