LOCKDOWN CHALLENGE 1 - THE LAST GUBBINS

In answer to Geoff's clarion call mentioned in my last post to paint a shonky figure from your lead pile. I present the last member of the Gubbins clan, Cousin Scruton. Not sure if he was the worst figure I have but he is pretty flaky. An Irregular chap I think which is a shame as they do produce some good figures and the service is excellent.

SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE COMPLETED...er 8 months late,

We are living in surreal and frightening times, although there is a sense among my younger boys of battening down the hatches, turning the house into a fortress and I suspect a feeling of cosiness and safety as the world collapses outside... can't say I feel it myself (more abject terror and worry) , such is the burden of adulthood, but I can remember the feeling from when I was a child and either being snowed in or having the power cut off frequently.

Last summer, Sprinks issued a challenge to complete an army for £30, which I have finally done hurrah. In fact I have spent about £40, but remove the extra tenners worth and you still have a playable army. The final piece was one of these fellows below, but as I had 2 beetle kits I had to make them both up. I had £4.99 left to spend and I picked these Heller kits up from the now deceased Wells Model Centre about 15 years ago for £4.50 each. The howdahs and crossbows are scratchbuilt and the 3 crew are from EM4 and were about 15p each (in fact I've just ordered another 50 of each pose), so I think I scrape in at £29.95... trumpet fanfare dwindling off discordantly as I realise I am 8 months too late.

Giant Beetles from the mossy gorges of Shatford

When I saw these WOLDLICE from Oakbound Studios, I had to grab some, and I thought they would fit in with the army but not as part of the challenge. The army is lacking in quick moving units as wolves don't really fit in with the narrative of the Gubbins Tribe. I have renamed them Mossfleas and imagine they can jump unnerving distances.

Here's the army as it stands, with a unit of extra archers. Wilderness and wood dwelling orcs should have loads of bowmen I think. The trees came from the pet department of the local garden centre and were in a sale. They have a real Roger Dean look about them, and I hope to base them and tart them up a bit... in fact the whole clan could do with some bespoke terrain when time allows.

There is one more figure to come which I have to get done as part of the Lockdown Challenge issued by Geoff of Oakbound. Paint up the most minging badly sculpted figure you have in a week! Hmmm.. well I have quite a few that could fit the bill but I'll show you the polished turd in a few days with some luck.

TOYHAMMER... THE KING, THE PELICAN AND THE FORESTERS

I managed to get King Lodwick and his trusty steed finished . The king is a figure from the Lionheart game and the dragon is a Russian Tehnolog model from eBay.

Here is Merkin's familiar, a pelican called Valise. He's a re-painted Britain's toy.

and a unit of foresters. Mainly Citadel 90's plastics, od which I only had 11. The twelfth figure is a Blue Moon Robin Hood chap. 

MORE SHINY TOYS

I managed to get a few more units done for the Toyhammer army.

The Knights of the Purple Pim. I started these about 10 years ago, Citadel Bretonnian knights converted to become Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, and they languished unfinished in a box until a couple of weeks ago. I hope they have a successful career in King Lodwick's Toyhammer army.

Some spearmen. These are playing pieces from an old board game called Lionheart. I bought 3 copies at next to nothing (check European ebay sites for good deals). Very basic detail which suits the feel of the army.

More Lionheart pieces. Some serfs to act as a speedbump.

I hope to introduce King Lodwick himself soon.

TOYHAMMER AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

Another sort of " ... hammer" to get me sidetracked, but this has been a fairly swift (for me) , force to get this far. Inspiration comes from the wonderful Sword in the Sprue blog, so much, that I have even copied a lot of the paint schemes shown there. I wanted to do a small army with minimal expense, effort and planning, simple painting and GLOSSY.

 First we have  The Plum Pudding Gnomes, finished in time for Christmas.

Next up some archers, painted in the same colour schemes as Britains Deetail Longbowmen.

The Royal Griffin Martin

2 units of Sky Dwarves (just realised I forgot the second coat of Ironbreaker on the weapons).

Brother Clavicle and Merkin the Magician

That's the army so far, although I have almost finished a unit of mounted knights. All these figures were dirt cheap and the 2 characters were metal chaps I've had for a long time. As I mentioned before I hated the chunky Citadel plastics when they came out, but now I love them. Easy to paint with no deep undercuts, they lend themselves well to block painting. All these were primed white first and were fairly quick to do, although each colour had to have about 3 coats to be completely solid which was rather annoying. I have a few more units planned.

It's been a busy year with toy soldiers taking if not a back seat, at least a passenger seat. Family duties and a new hobby have been filling up a lot of spare time. Hopefully next year I will find more time and energy to post more on this blog.

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.

F

SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE... Shot my blot

Frenetic work continues to get this army completed by the end of the month. Once the attic had cooled down last night I started on these 2 bolt shooters and finished building them this morning.

They are made of bits of dowel , balsa and foil  I had  knocking about on the bench. Coated with plastic putty they look a bit messy at the moment but will paint up to match the catapult in the last post. I splashed out on the bases which are pennies. Starting on the crew next. 

SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE.... Old Knopper the catapult

Yes, 2 posts in a day!! It's simply too hot in the attic to do anything, so most of us have been lounging in the sitting room which is the coolest room in the house. An upside of this is the family actually sit down together and talk to each other.... not something that tends to happen much. Oldest boy passed his 9 GCSE's with flying colours so is bound for my Alma Mater to study Countryside Conservation and Management for a year and then forestry. Middle son also passed his Grade 4 Folk Violin with distiction, so there is a certain sense of jubilation (and relief) reigning here at the moment.

Old Knopper started off as a battered ELC toy catapult picked up in a charity shop for 10p, that looked like this.....

I cut the side shields off and covered up the damage with garden string. More garden string was added to the firing arm and round an added dowel roller. A firing lever was added to the dowel as well. 

I added a cross brace at the front, and then a Green Man pendant I picked up in Glastonbury a while back. Some green stuff knots and burrs were added and them copious amounts of Vallejo plastic putty to make the whole model look more organic. Then I covered the whole thing with 2 coats of the brilliant Citadel Typhus Corrosion which softened the plastic edges even more and gave the smooth plastic a bark like natural texture.

The missiles are acorns believe it or not , from a garden I work in. They have been been infected by the splendidly named Knopper Gall Wasp which lays it's eggs in the acorn causing the gall. The acorns warp into a wonderfully Froudian shape. I just gave the dried acorns a wash with Seraphim Sepia. The plan is that each missile houses a nasty little Gubbins which will hatch out and start attacking the nearest enemy.

The crew below were finds from the comic book convention. From left to right a citadel Orc, the middle porcine chap is an unknown make (I am calling him Roly) and the whipmaster is Uncle Frank we have met already.

Total cost of Old Knopper and 2 of the crew was £3.10 bring the total to £25.01p. £4.99 to spend on something rather fun.

SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE... Beware of Lambkin

Lambkin is Mother Gubbins' first born and the apple of her bloodshot eye. He tends not to live with the rest of the clan, but burrows deep into the moss found on the moors close to the Gubbins' lair. From there he raids nearby villages,  using his great height and long extendable arms to open and lean in through bedroom windows to seize the sleeping occupant.

Lambkin is a plastic figure from Caesar's box of 1/72 Fantasy Adventurers, and as I pinched him out of the kids toybox he was technically free. Sorry about the terrible photos... combination of rushing using my phone, and not being able to see the picture very well on the small screen. Once I upload it to the laptop, I can see the blurring and other mishaps.

Total spent so far £21.91p 

SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE... The Lungwort Brothers and Standard Bearers completed

The Lungwort Brothers are sentient collections of lichen animated by Mother Gubbins who dotes on them. More cheap boardgame figures, painted in a trice. I may go back and redo them at some stage as I wasn't too happy with them.

The Gubbins infantry standard bearers came out a bit better

I was pleased with the standard poles...my first ever bit of sculpting with green stuff and Vallejo plastic putty (I really like the latter) over a copper wire. More stuff in the pipeline to be finished by the end of the month!!

SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE.... The Aunts

Another cheapo/skinflint unit painted for the aforementioned Sprinks Challenge. The Aunts of the Gubbins family.

These will count as Savage Orcs in 3rd ed. Warhammer. They are pieces from a boardgame purchased at Devizes Attack 30p each, bringing the total spent so far to an eye watering £20.11p

Very quick blocking, drybrush and wash, followed by spattering (which I enjoy).

SPRINKS' SKINTHAMMER CHALLENGE so far

Some time ago , the noble and erudite Sprinks of Wronghammer fame issued the following challenge

naturally this appealed to my parsimonious nature and I plucked up the tattered fingerless mitten from the dust and accepted the challenge. This of course is as far as it went until I uncovered another bag of cheapo plastic orcs at the Lincombe Barn Wargames club tabletop sale. Progress has been glacial to say the least, but this is the story so far. I decided to use standard Warhammer figures, but the cheapest I could find

presenting The Gubbinses of Shatford Lea

This little lot I picked up a year ago at the same show... 17 figures for a £4. Some had been painted by Blind Pew using an industrial paint roller, but I just undercoated straight over that without stripping. 

The grunt and bile of the army cost a tenner for about 56 figures, some of which were broken. I sifted out the best and added shields bought at the same show

The gaps in the front ranks are for the standard bearers, WIP

The chap on the right was one of the broken figures, and the metal dude was from a rummage bin at last weekends show, Attack at Devizes. He cost 50p and was missing a hand. Happily I have had one of the kid's old goblins riding around in the glove box of the car for about 2 years, and he willingly sacrificed his hand for the greater good. I might use him and add a hook later. (note newly tidied workbench for this photoshoot).

A couple of personalities. Uncle Frank on the left will be crewing the catapult when it is painted (a 10p plastic ELC job from a charity sale). Uncle Frank was gleaned from a comic book show last year where I was helping Geoff from Oakbound man his stall. We didn't sell much, but were pitched next to a chap with a huge dumpbin of old figures. I bought a bundle and they worked out at 32p each.

Mother Gubbins, the matriach of the clan and mother of them all is a Runequest figure I have had since the early 80's. She comes from a set of 10 figures which were (I recall) £4.99, so she cost err ...(counts on fingers) 49p. 

Here is Uncle Frank's pet porker Trotter

Trotter came from Devizes Attack a couple of years ago when EM4 Miniatures had rummage bin of old game pieces. I missed all the Deep Ones which the git in front of me showed me as he skipped off with them gloating, but there were a few odds and sods worth buying for 30p each. I also bagged a bundle of goblin types from the same bin which should be painted very soon.

So £15.61 spent so far (I think) of the £30 limit. Lets hope I can interpret the challenge flexibly and get the whole of August to paint in too.

ON THE WORKBENCH

A flying post as my mojo arrived back last night after a long excursion. For some reason I was seized with the idea to paint up some cheapo orcs and start a "traditional" Warhammer army. I have picked up plastic orcs very cheaply here and there with a vague idea of doing something with them and splashed some paint onto a test figure

all in all he took about 40 minutes following the suggestions on the excellent blog HOBGOBLINRY. The author JC (?) is a master painter with a great attitude to speed painting, which end in stunning results, and I have tried following his sage advice. The main aim was to bang through the figure using block painting, a drybrush and washes. I allowed myself one highlight on the eyes and skin. I am still undecided on how to do the bases, but this fellow has some excellent. premixed scatter from OAKBOUND STUDIOS. 

This orc is the first of The Gubbins Family, a tribe on cannibal orcs who dwell Grimstock Wood. The rest of his regiment awaits undercoating. The premise is to do the force as cheaply as possible and these guys cost £4 for 17 at Reveille last year.

Also being painted for son 3 is this 40K abomination, a Slaaneshi Noise Marine he got for his birthday. Having found this plastic figure cost £20!!!! I feel under some pressure to at least try and do a decent job. I do quite like the glam rock stacked heels and the gun mounted in the guitar.