A WEIRD FORT

In the picture of the Joe Dever battle I am re-creating is a very strange little fort.

I have no idea if it's meant to be a permanent  construction, or a temporary battlefield fortification. I suspect the latter. Either way it's pleasingly asymmetrical , with odd walkways and bits sticking out here and there . I had a crack at building it with mounting card and tetrion. Here is the result.

The statues in front in the original picture are soapstone chess pieces. I guessed they might be, and after a year or so or scouring ebay for the right chess set I came up trumps with a seller about 30 miles from where I live. I had to buy the whole set, but of course now have 30 other suitable statues. It looks as if one of the pieces has had it's head knocked off, but, stickler though I am for trying to get it right, I can't bring myself to do that to my statues.

Here they are ready to be stippled with tetrion, and then painted. I've added some milliput eyebrows to make them a bit more fierce. 

THE DUNGHILL JESTERS

There are 9 of these Fantasy Tribe orcs in the picture of the Joe Dever fantasy battle I am re-building. I scraped together about 10 from the first release (about 1982?) and another 10 from later 1984 releases. I hated these figures when they came out, with their grotesque lantern jaws and tusks, and am still pretty ambivalent towards them now. Still, needs must, and they painted up pretty quickly. I wanted them to look as if they lived in some old cavern filled with midden, hardly ever venturing out unless summoned by their Overlord, the Crimson King. They are in mi-parti uniforms of red and yellow, as the Crimson King finds their antics moderately diverting.

The banner shows the Crimson King ascendant over his enemy the Sun Child. In the corner is The Vile Rune, showing the Dunghill Jesters are members of the Vile Rune Co-operative of various orc tribes. Most (but not all) of my goblinoids sport this Rune. The banner top is an old Citadel Broo head.

TIMOTHY BUBOE

As dusk falls on Trompenburg, and candles gleam through leaded panes, mothers hurry their children into bed with the words "If you don't get into bed now, Timothy Buboe will come and get you."

Timothy Buboe , the terror of naughty children, lives in the well or pond nearest to the village. He is slithy and green, covered in suppurating pustules and has iron teeth which he grinds bones to dust before using them as snuff (after having consumed the remaining disjecta membra once the victim has been torn in pieces).

What the good people of Trompenburg don't realise is that the Timothies are plural. Each village may have one lurking in a stagnant mere or murky tarn, and at times, they hunt in packs!

More figures for my Dever Wars project, these are great old Ral Partha True Trolls from 1977. If I remember they came in a bag of 2, one of each weapon. I painted them up with a green base coat and simple green wash, then painted the boils using bone and a red wash. I was pleased with the result, the shading being quite subtle. Then I gloss varnished them, and they look pretty mediocre now. Hey ho. I still prefer a gloss finish, although sometimes it can alter the paint job drastically. There seem to be a lot of these on ebay at the moment at a good price. I think they may be back in production from Iron Wind.

CLAN OF THE JADE BAT

I finished these a while ago, but have been waiting for some free daylight time in which to photograph them. Middle son, whom we home educate, was feeling ropy today, so we scrapped lessons, and while he chilled out with Return of the Jedi, I snuck up to the attic to take some pics. These Minifigs Hobgoblins were surprisingly quick to paint, but as usual, I prevaricated about the bases for weeks. First they were painted green, to fit in with other Prehammer figures in the army, then brown, then I decided I might want to use them for old school Dungeon games (when this might happen I have no idea) so changed them to grey, which I'm not entirely happy with. I suspect they might change again. I'm not fussed about bases matching in an army, so long as they suit the figures.

To re-cap, these guys are for a reconstruction of part of an early 80's Joe Dever battle you can see here . Airfix dinosaurs, Airfix Sherwood castle parts, Minifigs and Tin Soldier crew. All available in the early 80's (pre '83 is generally my goal). 

Citadel Fantasy Tribe skeletons.

The Banner of The Crimson King, a recurring character in the odd world from inside my head.The Jade Bat Clan are in his service.  The piled heads are from the top of an old Broo standard I think. 

The Horned Skull is an Asgard ogre skull with added horns. Dave Wood  helped me out with this piece.

The badge (or mon) of the Jade Bat Clan

The Daimyo of the Jade Bat Clan, Ichiboti Tadanoi 

He carries a shield coated in dragon hide.

These are Tin Soldier samurai. The left hand standard bearer has had a head swap, but the others look quite Hobgoblinish. I think they are wearing masked helmets, but I've painted them up as faces.

The cavalry contingent. Garrison figures.

The lizards were going to be yellow, but somehow ended up orange.

Their shields sport the Jade Bat too.

Another Tin Soldier dude, mounted on a Ral Partha land dragon. This is Saiko Madasakoi

The rank and file...good old Minifigs Hobgoblins from the late 1970's. 

I painted them following the description in the Monster Manual, but also following the lead of Spooktalker, over at Belched from the Depths . I don't think I've seen figures better painted than his. Mine are pale shadows of his amazing work, but I appreciate the inspiration he gives me.

The mace warrior on the right is my favourite pose.

The entire clan in array. 

AGRIPPA AND CROW - MORDHEIM WITCHUNTERS

During the game of Frostgrave we had the other night we used my old Mordheim warbandas cultists. Originally they were witchfinders, but seem to have gone over to the dark side.

They were Agrippa and Crow, Witchsmellers Pursuivant.

The witch hunter's transport. Note the Asgard rat creeping underneath. Citadel pony and Essex cart.

The hands are from a suspected witch they forgot to unchain. Old Citadel iron maiden in the back, and Minifigs books.

Agrippa and Crow

A flagellant.

More fanatics.

Theses guys are very odd.... I'm not sure what I was thinking about when I made them.

I painted these when Mordheim first came out, but only had a couple of games. Great idea for a game, which Frostgrave has carried on from.