FANTASY BACKDROP FINISHED

I've just finished painting a new backdrop for my forthcoming Conan and Lord of the Rings projects  on the reverse of my more rural 18c countryside backdrop.

A distant mountain range with a lilac sky (many good fantasy skies appear to be this colour)

Frazetta's Conan in battle with Frost Giants

Safe and Sound on the Sundial by Rodney Matthews (I have this poster on the attic door)

I also did a couple of desert backdrops too, as I hope to start painting some Stygians soon.

Here's how the backdrops stay up. They are made of 3mm MDF

the other more rural side

they come apart for easy storage (or at least are meant too, but the feet get a bit stuck sometimes).

I need to make some fantasy terrain now in a Swords and Sorcery style.

BEAR RIDERS OF THE DRIFTS

About time I posted here, and I have managed to find time to re-photograph my Chaos stuff (I lost the last lot of pics with a computer crash or something)

All GW figures I think, marauder bodies on Kislev horse archer legs. The bears are from the old Wood Elf range.  Banner design shows influence of Ronnie James Dio album cover (glad I managed to catch one of his last tours, still a cracking singer into his sixties and with stomach cancer).

PROBLEMS WITH BLOGGER

Hoping someone might have an answer. None of the scroll bars seem to work on my Blogger template although the arrow keys seem to do the trick. However it doesn't seem willing to save gadgets/pictures etc so I can't change any of my gadget pics ...... any ideas?

(here's a nice Rodney Matthews picture to make the post more interesting)

THE END OF AN ERA ( or another money spinning exercise)

Well it was on the cards something would happen to White Dwarf, the recent issues have been complete rubbish (the review from my 11 year old son, no doubt he is influenced by my own cynicism, but even so...) . According to the newsflash here White Dwarf is going to become a weekly (ye Gods I remember when it was bi-monthly) pamphlet, presumably like the hitherto free fliers GW have had on the counter ) and then if you require photos of the same old models painted in different colours month after month you can invest in the new Warhammer Visions. I can't see either publication lasting long.

THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (or what have I let myself in for now)

It's safe to say that I don't need any more projects on the go at the moment, not having enough time to concentrate on one, let alone nine  or ten , so I was astounded to hear myself saying to my 2 older sons (Thing 1 and Thing 2)"Why don't we collect the armies to re-fight the battle in The Hobbit?" Needless to say they thought it would be a good idea (particularly as I would be stumping up for the figures).

The Battle of The Five Armies by John Blanche

in A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day

We decided on 1/72 scale mainly for cheapness and there are a couple of companies producing really nice boxes of figures at about £6 for 40 odd figures. I need to sit down and work out exactly what we need to get, but I reckon we should be able to do the battle on a scale of 1:20 for under £100. Thing 1 already had some Light Alliance Dwarves on the go so these will form the basis for Dain Ironfoot's 500 grim warriors, and we have been sent a bundle of Caesar Dwarves by a kind fellow blogger (thanks Douglas).

Great figures based heavily (or copied) on the Lord of the Rings films. 

Not bad painting for a 10 year old (he's now 11, but did these last year for a Moria game).

I am thinking of doing the elves first using Caesar figures, and then there are an awful lot of goblins to do..

MONSTER MANUAL MONDAY 15

One of the benefits of  Christmas /New Year  is that I get to come home from work earlier than normal  most evenings in the week between  the two and get a spot more painting done.

This is one of the first figures I ever had, the Fiend Factory Zombie. I have since collected a few more

shown here doing an Egyptian walk (or perhaps a Larry Grayson impression)

A ROUNDUP OF THE YEARS FIGURE FUN

As the year draws to a close, I darted into the attic tonight to lay out the years painting and was pleasantly surprised by the amount I had completed. The latest and probably most useful project was the completion of a backdrop for my gaming table as I have been casting covetous eyes at other folks railway backdrops. I decided to have a bash at doing my own, constructing free standing boards  of 3mm mdf  to go round 3 sides of my 6'x 4' table. The scene is primarily for Imagi-nation use but looks suitably English to double as an ECW backdrop too (it is in fact based on the skyline of Stourhead Gardens , Wiltshire). On the reverse I plan to paint a more rugged fantasy scene for my Oldhammer and Conan figures.

Here are the figures completed in 2013 for various projects and in different styles and scales

From the left, Old school 25mm Aquilonians

25mm Nemedians

54mm Imagi-nation characters

D and D figures

Lord Vassago's Oldhammer Army (Thistlewood)

King Amias' Oldhammer Army (Thistlewood) (must get the last few figures finished and based)

In the background left, some Old school Conan characters and 2 x 28mm Imagi-nation follies

and the backdrop itself, just finished

A total of 

43 25mm Cavalry

42 25mm Monsters

424 25mm Infantry

12 54mm Figures 

Huzzah!!

Some more pics of the backdrop from my new blog Mars in Arcadia

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL READERS!!!!!!!!!!!