WMM '20 - Spears (Part 1)

Lots of minis with spears (broadly defined to fit all the figures together with a theme) this time...

First up, some To-Tanem Spearmen conversions. This guy was the hammerer standard bearer. I took off the standard and added a plastic GW spear bit from skeletons, I think. His shield is one from Forge of Ice, because I got a bunch of them and wanted some variation for the spearman unit.

This next To-Tanem got another plastic spear bit added to the handle of his hammer. His shield is one of the blanks from Crocodile games. To make him look a little less like the hammer-wielding guy I've already got a couple of in the Hammer unit, I gave him a poorly sculpted hat. His chest strap thing blends into his skin too much in these pictures.

Below we've got a couple other To-Tanem spear conversions- these were all started roughly the same time (far too long ago!) and since have been joined by some actual To-Tanem spearmen sculpts from Crocodile Games.

Here we've got a Copplestone cavewoman who got a polearm and a shield from Crocodiel Games. She's been partially painted for far too long so I knew I had to finish her now or melt her down for scrap.

Above we have the Spearwoman with a Dark Fable mini and a converted Crocodile Games priestess. Below the Spearwoman is meeting with the Sleazy Merchant from Forge of Ice and his little Goblinoid friend from Dark Fable.

This guy is from West Wind's Lucifer's War range of minis. I liked the look of him to be used in my stalled out Babylonian Warband project.

Even though the wings for these figures from West Wind all seem to be the same piece, I like them.

Below we've got the latest Babylonian Sorcerer next to the first one for he Babylonian Warband.

Finally we've got the Battlescythe Asar Blade Dancer from Crocodile Games. Another great sculpt by Chris Fitzpatrick...

Below we've got the Battlescythe Blade Dancer with the Double-Sword Blade Dancer. I feel like the older painted one may need a touch up with some more color for the cloth- but maybe not.

WMM '20 - Some Pygmy Zombies!

One of the top 3 reasons I like various undead factions in various wargames is that they're usually quick and easy to paint and make look pretty good. These last few Pygmy Zombie Archers (now OOP) were some fun quick paints that complete a unit. And I think these guys turned out better than the ones that were painted over 10 years ago....

First up, above shows the quick touch-up I did for this guy. I noticed some slight damage when he was presented as part of the Eater of the Dead Archive series back in this blogpost and this seemed a good time to get him fixed up.

I did not write down the paint recipe I used on these guys so long ago (I don't often write down paint recipes nowadays either, except for larger projects where I know I'm going to want the colors to be pretty close for a unit) so I went at it to get hem close enough to the originals they'd be sharing a unit with...

The guy above is my favorite sculpt of the archers, though I do like all the sculpts. I think they were done by Ben Siens who also sculpted some of the WarGods miniatures for Crocodile Games. He's pretty good.

I should have gone more detailed on the mask for this shaman/musician character, but he came out pretty okay.

Above we've got a possible version of the archer unit. Despite the different base styles (the new guys were simply painted over the texture to build up the bases around their integral bases instead of flocked like the previous batch) they look good together.

Below we've got a more skirmish-style situation with these Pygmy Zombies protecting their Nekharu master....

WMM '20 - Magnetizing Amazon Riders

Crocodile Games Mounted Amazons are really nice- except for the storage and transport dilemma. I didn't get these ladies finished for GenCon 2019's WarGods event, but they still took part in it in all their partially painted glory...

When I returned and unpacked them a couple had fallen off the horses (I had only pinned 3 of the 5) and so it was decided that they'd all come off the horses and get rare earth magnets so they could be swapped amongst the different horses and storage would not lead to tears.

The Amazon Raider above was more stubborn and just would not come loose from her horse, so I've left her alone- she's going to be the captain of the unit.

The tools I used for the magnetization process (aside from the tiny magnets and Gorilla Superglue Gel) were: clicky hobby knife, 3 needle files, and my beloved pin vise to drill the holes.

Above we've got the first horse to get a magnet. Below is one in progress. I'd make sure the holes for the magnets on rider and horse were lined up just right so the rider would be in a good stable seated position. That's when I'd make a tiny notch with the knife to start a hole for the drilling.

Next, I'd widen the hole so a magnet would be able to fit in snugly by using the needle files.

Below we can see where the magnets go for the riders. To help strengthen the hold of the magnets on both horse and rider I would put a little of the glue over top of the magnets to make a little hard barrier that would still allow the magnetic magic to happen.

After the first horse and rider were finished I used them to help speed up the process in a sort of assembly line. For the riders, I would put them over the magnet in the horse and then drill out the rider. To make sure that the polarities were all the same I'd mount a loose magnet onto the horse with a dab of glue...

...then the rider would carefully be fit into place onto the magnet and left for ten minutes or so to make sure the glue had dried. Then the rider would come off and the magnet would get a coat of superglue to help ensure it would stay in place.

The process was simply reversed for the other horses to get their magnets (the extra magnet would be stacked on the rider's magnet with a tiny dab of glue and then put into place onto the horse).

Here's a rider getting gently set into place with the awesome power of magnetism!

In the above pictures, the horse have not switched places but the riders have been distributed amongst them randomly. This is just a fun bonus feature of this project.

The stubborn captain of the unit will be the first to get fully painted. She's coming along nicely.

Now that the Raiders are done I'm going to need to do the same with the mounted archers- not sure if they should have the polarity switched or the same, though...

WMM '20 - Egyptian Adventuress, Medea, Seated Statues

WarGods Minis Month continues to flow like paint from the magical brushes used on these miniatures... This time we've got a mixed bag- 2 resin seated Egyptian statues (I'm not sure where they came from), a Dark Hable Egyptian Adventuress, and Medea from the Mythic Battles Pantheon miniatures boardgame.

These simple resin statues were pretty quick paintjobs, but the detail is such that they look pretty good for their purpose. The backs are simply flat so they can fit up against other terrain so I just painted them with successively lighter drybrushes of greys.

Below we see the Crocodile Games Helen miniature strolling between the statues.

Hijet the Adventuress is armed with a fancy kopesh that was painted with a color-shifting metallic paint so it looks kinda magical. Her eye makeup is passable. 

Below Hijet confronts a wicked Nekharu anti-hero (from Crocodile Games).

When I was looking for a figure to use as a Demigoddess of Dionysus I came across figures from the Mythic Battles Pantheon game and thought this Medea or this Circe figure would do. The Circe figure won out and took part in the GenCon 2019 WarGods of Olympus event. That left this equally nice mini languishing around the painting table. I removed her integral round base and put her on a 20mm square so she can take part in any WarGods gaming that might come up. She could be a sorceress of some sort.

I knew she'd have to have some clingy see-through parts on her dress because it just seemed like a shame not to do something like that. I think it turned out okay. Her magical swirling energy bits turned out pretty good too.

Below we have Medea showing off for the evil mastermind Tebbi the Priest (a converted Crocodile Games mini).