RIVER PROGRESS

 I just need to add the gloss varnish to the water, and then add the flock promised from The Last Valley, and it's finished.

The reeds are pieces of doormat dipped in Citadel Ork flesh contrast paint,
then drybrushed. I painted in a few lily leaves as well.

Next project will hopefully be this tower from White Dwarf 53 , which I aim to have ready by September, the 40th anniversary of the Thistlewood battle in WD45.

THE RIVER TEST

I'm just trying out a sample stretch of river. I'm looking to recreate a slow flowing English lowland river, so was looking for a browny green effect ( notto represent all the sewage being pumped into it😡 but I daresay it could).

A quick test piece with a wood next to it to give me an idea of what the banks will look like when flocked.

MORE VILLAGERS MILLING ABOUT

 Progress on the mill so far, painting has commenced. I'm not sure about the wood lining the river bank which was washed with Agrax Earthshade....it might look better when everything else is finished.

I managed to get a few more villagers and personalities done as well.

Dickon of Barnsley (one of Robin's original band who dies at the end of the second episode).

Tom the Fletcher (Dickon's friend who also dies at Castle Belleme).

Adam the Carter, one of the contestants at the competition for the Silver Arrow.

Hedger of Castleton (Robin in disguise).

John Barley, another competitor. These Conquest Games figures look just like the characters on the screen, so I've tried to copy the colour scheme they are wearing.

A random villager.

Another peasant, Foundry miniatures.

I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment, although the paint on the pallet is drying quickly in the warm weather.

THE BARON DE BELLEME

 I've been rising at sparrows to try and get painting done first thing, and I've managed to knock out a few figures for my Robin of Sherwood project.

The Baron de Belleme is the devil worshipping antagonist in the first series of Robin of Sherwood, and he is attended by a couple of slinky witches ( one of the perks of the job).

The Baron de Belleme by Conquest Games.

Witch one, who comes to a sticky end in a later episode.

Witch 2, Lilith (original eh?), who later enchants Robin and resurrects the dead baron.

a bewitched Little John as servant of the Baron

a random villager, very old Citadel model, much smaller than modern figures, he'll do as a teenager.

A pig rustler... possibly 1st Corps figures, but I cant remember.

A Foundry peasant.

An abject groveller, no doubt a victim of Gisburne or the sherriff (Midlam Minaitures?)

I'll add flock to them all when I have a big enough batch to make it worth while getting the flock pots out.

I'm enjoying painting random figures, doing the skintones first in batches of 4, and then each moidel individually. I can get a couple a day finished.

The mill and river project is progressing, but I'm tring to get hold of flock dfrom The Last Valley who don't answer their messages sadly.

The mill so far.

RIVER SECTIONS UNDERWAY

 I cracked open my only pack of DAS clay yesterday morning, and finally started making some river sections for my Robin of Sherwood project. Needless to say I didn't have enough, but another 3 packs are arriving today, so I should be able to finish the bank's, before starting adding texture and details. 

The sections are jigsawed out of 3mm MDF. I aim to make a section with a built in watermill . The resin mill building is on the far right, but I'll be changing the roof to a thatched affair with either DAS or milliput.

Having an hour spare, due to DAS shortages, I dusted off some primed figures and started on some flesh tones.

A few villagers, and the Baron de Belleme plus servants.

 With luck, I'll crack on with these this morning before everyone else gets up .

Outlaws and Villages

 This project has been simmering away for years now, but I found time yesterday to get out the buildings I have finished and take stock of what I still need to do.

I  was finishing off the bases of my Robin Hood figures and decided to try and blend the trees I have from The Last Valley to match the figure basing. Plenty of Vallejo brown mud texture was added, and then dry brushed lighter brown to look like Mendip soil where Robin of Sherwood was primarily filmed.

The sheriff arrives to terrorise Wickham.

The outlaws and Herne the hunter lurking in the woods.

I need to add more items to the village scene, including a stream, road, vegetable patch etc.

Basing

 I'm making some progress with the landsknechts, although not as fast as I would like...

and of course I've been sidetracked into finishing off some other figures. Recently Crooked Dice Miniatures released some more Robin of Sherwood figures, and this galvanised me getting out the figures I had painted so far and finishing the bases off.

I've been prevaricating for years on how to do them, but recently Geoff at Oakbound kindly gave me a mix of the flocks he uses, and they work really well.

Basing underway... complete with appropriate soundtrack.

Some of the villagers of Wickham. A mix of 4 flocks, and I've added the odd subdued tuft.

More to follow soon

SOME PAINTING

 One of the issues I've struggled with in the past few years is having too many projects on the go and not enough time. When I do get the chance to do any hobby stuff, I'm overwhelmed by the list of things I'd like to get on with, so usually end up not  doing anything at all. Added to which my painting room is so untidy and disorganized, I find it a bit depressing to be in sometimes. A good hour long tidy up uses up valuable painting time, and invariably the room reverts to chaos again very quickly.

However, I'm often inspired by other bloggers, not least Secundus at IRON MITTEN blog. This guy always has several inspiring projects on the go at once, remembers to take pictures of work in progress and posts regularly. Well worth a look if by chance you haven't seen it.

I'm going to try and take a leaf out of his book and post figures even before they are finished and more general hobby stuff. 

I grabbed the nearest lithic from the foothills of the lead mountain, which turned out to be some primed minis I prepared last year for part of my Robin of Sherwood project. I've been painting for a few years to build this collection up , but never posted any of them...that is going to change and I'll hopefully show what I've done so far over the next few weeks.

These minis are going to represent Owen of Club and his hairy rabble.

They appear in the first two episodes ( Herne's Son parts one and two) of series 3 of Robin of Sherwood, and are kitted up for battle towards the end of part two 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qnyVAUOI6kQ&t=2782s

from around 44.50

 Standard 80's  barbarian attire, rags, fur, studded leather and backbrushed mullets, as seen in Highlander and Braveheart. Owen himself is played by the lupine Oliver Cotton, shown here surrounded by Sherwood outlaws.

Happily , there was a figure available of Owen. I can't remember the name of the manufacturer ( Loaded Gun Miniatures?) and I snapped him up. I added a shield and a proper Roman groin protector/cingulum as the original mini was lacking a proper one. Owen and his nobles wear a sort of leather lorica segmentata and plaid to distinguish themselves from the grunts so I made a few up using Warlord legionary sprues and Gripping Beast Viking parts, with green stuff fur here and there. The circular chestplates are 15mm shields. Green stuff fur was then added.

The grunts were constructed either using the plastic sprues mentioned, or were Scythians? from Black Tree, which happily were clad in fur and had bowl like helmets just like Owen's men. Shields from EM4 match the cowhide shields or targets used. More green stuff fur was added.

Work in progress. Lots of dull muddy colours drybrushed cream. They will then be washed with Agrax Earthshade.

More to come soon hopefully. In the meantime a shot of the painting table in all its unholy chaos.

and the foothills of the lead mountain are creeping ever closer.

WHAT'S AFOOT?

 Sorry about the hiatus in posts.... So much going on at the moment. Youngest lad starting secondary school, purchase and testing of a campervan, my other hobby of metal detecting kicking in because it's harvest time, and sundry other excuses. Here follow some hasty shots of what's going on in Broadsword Towers.

First off, I have taken delivery of 10kg of preliminary Hinchliffe fantasy castings courtesy of Oakbound Studios... thanks Geoff, that must have taken some time to spin. I now need to check through them to make sure the moulds are behaving.

I've also started painting one of each Hinchliffe Fantasy figure for display and advertising purposes. I'm doing my best and trying to create a mid 80s Oldhammer look. Probably a bit darker than I'd do them for my own collection.

 Over the past few weeks I've also been trying to get some terrain finished for my Robin of Sherwood figures. Something I've been meaning to do for ages. I bought some excellent trees from The Last Valley, and managed to get a grubby early mediaeval village finished. I'll do a proper set up shot soon, but just to prove I've done it...

As a palette cleanser, I also cracked open the Toyhammer box, and prepared some baddies for painting. Here they are underway.... I so enjoy block painting over a white undercoat.

There is more Toyhammer goodness coming in the form of a lovely Wooden castle my Dad made back in the early 60s. Just right for these fellows to attack.

Next post will hopefully be very soon.