LOYAL HALF ELVES

Here we have 20 Loyal Half Elves fighting for King Amias.  I like this Garrison figure so much I bought 40 for use in future Lord of the Rings games.

BARON GALEN'S CAVALRY

Thirty heavy cavalry ready to ride down Lord Vassago's minions. I was hoping to use Minifigs Knights of the Silver Rose with spears, as shown in Joe Dever's armies from the early 1980's, but they are unavailable at the moment, so I've pressed some of my Hyborian collection into service. In another universe some of these are Aquilonian and Nemedian knights.

I've also painted 10 mounted Swan Knights to use in LOTR games too. 

THE KING'S INFANTRY MUSTER FOR BATTLE AT THISTLEWOOD

At last, I had some time off today to take some pictures of the King's army as it stands so far. Pretty much finished, but with a few extras to do (such as a catapult), which aren't mentioned in the army list but appear in the pictures illustrating the article.

Here we have the human infantry, the king's Pikemen, macemen and swordsmen. Each standard is emblazoned with the image of the lost Chalice of Landemar which the small but elite force is charged with recovering.

The pikemen (interpreting "pike" in the Victorian sense, as a halberd)

Knights of the Chalky Goose

These fellows are cunningly painted to be used as Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth in OS Middle Earth games. The swan crest decided that straight away. The LOTR idea is still embryonic but I have done a few figures.

Next up the macemen

Knights of the Purple Pim (the Purple Pim is a rare type of widgeon that nests on the holy Mere of Landemar)

and finally the swordsmen, Knights of the Scarlet Auk

As the small part of the army mobilised by the king consists of elite troops, I thought it best to use well armoured knight figures, trusted chevaliers who will not spill the beans about the missing chalice.

The standard bearers are Minifigs, and all the knights are Garrison figures,all finished with yacht varnish for that extra goody two shoes gleam. Cavalry coming next!!

MERRY CROM-MAS FROM THE FROST GIANT JARL

I didn't have time to paint a Christmas figure this year, so had to plunder one from the collection. This great old Ral Partha figure is a giant in my Warmaster Chaos Marauder army where he towers pleasingly over the 10mm warriors.  I've got a few more of this chap waiting to be painted for my Pre-Hammer armies.

Wishing you a Splendid Winter Solstice

and a Merry Christmas

DRAGON RAMPANT

I have high hopes for these rules which arrived today

I've only had time to look at the pictures, and the bespoke artwork is excellent (I won't show any here as a spoiler to those of you planning to get a copy), but  it gets off to a good start with the frontispiece picture

Some Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds Orcs!!

1978 figures in a 2015 rulebook....huzzah!!

BATHING HOBGOBLINS

I've been a bit busy to post recently, but thought I would show a WIP on the Thistlewood front. Below are the remaining figures to finish - 20 elves (there are 40 here for future LOTR games) and the villagers. (plus a couple of vintage trolls which sneaked into the picture)

I recently bought a pile of 80 Minifigs hobgoblins (for my future re-creations of some of Joe Dever's early fantasy battles) which were encrusted in gloopy paint. I haven't had much luck with the Dettol procedure, finding the paint gets even more tacky and tar like as I curse and am overcome by the toxic fumes. I thought I would try immersing the first 10 of these chaps in a jam jar bath of Mr Muscle oven cleaner. In 2 days the paint just dissolved and the figures looked almost as good as new....huzzah! 

Before and after

BTW, I saw some late 70's fantasy figures on ebay, described as "Bronze Age" meaning 1975-1980ish..... does anyone else know about this categorization?

Finally a shot of my lamentably untidy painting desk. Bottom right is a Hinchliffe catapult to be an extra for the King's army.

THE TOWER OF WIZARD POLIAS

Although not clearly visible in any of the pictures of the original Thistlewood article, the outline of the tower in the right background of this picture

looks similar to the tower from Gary Chalk and Joe Dever's collection which appeared in White Dwarf 53, 8 issues later

I would have happily had a go at building something similar if time allowed (maybe I will in the future) but in the meantime, to fit in with the other Hovels cottages I am using I have decided to use this piece

from the hovels European range. It will be on top of a hill to make it a bit more imposing, and has quite a wizardy feel about it. I can imagine to good Polias, beavering away in his study on the top floor, little knowing the fate that awaits him at the hands of the thief Foro Malas.