Tales of Mirth

Finieous Fingers and Friends

2011-05-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some very old miniatures from the days of the comic strip in the Dragon magazine, painted long ago. I have a comic book of the collected strips from that time, too.

Dwarf Captain

2011-04-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a dwarf pirate/seafaring captain from Black Scorpion Miniatures I painted recently.

"concept drawings" (aka "doodles")

2010-01-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

As requested, here are a couple of sketches from my unfinished (barely started!) comic. Something I just started for fun many years ago, but haven't done much with for quite a while. (I scanned the original pencil sketches and then "enhanced" them in PhotoShop Elements so you can see them better)

A Few Assorted Minis, Newly Painted

2010-01-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dwarf lord celebrating the New Year. This is a GW miniature representing another take on their dwarf brewmeister Bugman. Apparently someone knocked his beer over!

Some kids from Hasslefree minis. I don't know if they have anything to do with large felines, magic-using females, or bedroom furniture (not being familiar with stories where such things are mentioned...).

A couple of views of another Hasslefree mini. This is "Libby". I tried to paint a semi-realistic tiger, but I'm not sure I got the body stripes quite right.

More Greens

2009-11-01T18:01:00.001-08:00

Some sci-fi minis I sculpted many moons ago. These are all characters from a half-finished comic I was trying to draw. The unpainted greens are fungoid pirates, the scum of the galaxy (actually, they're not so bad, just a little rotten). The big furry guy is Louie (or Loupacca).

A Few Odds and Ends

2009-11-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

You ever come across old minis you had lying around somewhere half-forgotten?

In honor of Halloween here are some old GW skeletons and orc archer.
And another band of heroes. I think they're all GW/Citadel minis.

From the back, mostly so you can see the shields of the 2 warrior women.

Next, some old greens I sculpted quite some time ago. Practice pieces, not sure I'll ever do anything with them.

Goblin with sword, he'd be holding a shield with the other arm/hand.

Some halfling archers. Terrible faces! ha ha

And a couple more. I think the one with the horn isn't so bad, but I need a LOT more practice!

A halfling hiker, mayor, and an Alice in Wonderland walrus.

Encounter in the Ruins

2009-10-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Heroes fighting assorted orcs and goblins among some old overgrown ruins. I made the ruins a few years ago using the round tower mold from HirstArts.
A female barbarian and female fighter, manufacturers unknown. I've had these a long time time, painted ages ago.

Old GW orcs and gobbos, also painted ages ago.

A Few Bad Orcs (and others)

2009-07-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Some orc arrer boys - there are another 4 who didn't make it for the picture.
Swamp trolls

Stone trolls. The second one from the left, with spiky helmet and bits of armor is a Blood Bowl character, but in my games he just represents a tougher troll (take basic troll and increase some stat).Skeleton - I think this is the only skeleton in my collection. He's an old Citadel metal miniature.

Wild boar, badger and sabretooth tiger. I think these are all old Reaper minis.

ROUS's - rodents of unusual size. Also Reaper minis, if I remember correctly.

I think that's the full collection up to this point. I don't paint fantasy minis so often these days, so it will likely be few and far between postings of more minis (unless I come across any I haven't posted yet).

I've been considering rebasing some of my fantasy minis for HOTT games (Hordes of the Things). Tim and his players make it look like such fun! I'd want to see if it can be played solo.

The other thing I may do one of these days is try a Mythic campaign using some of my fantasy minis. If I do HOTT or Mythic I'll post reports on this blog.

Orcs and Goblins, part 3

2009-07-05T14:39:00.001-07:00

Well, just orcs this time.

First up, new model Ruglud's Armored Orcs. This was a newer version of the old Ruglud's Armored Orcs Regiment of Renown. Armed with crossbows and "borrowed" armor.
So-called Black Orcs.

Orc Boar Riders.

Orcs and Goblins, part 2

2009-06-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

A few more wolfriders, with spears and hand weapons.
And a few more, showing the shield designs - hand-drawn with a technical pen.

Some Bonehead orc boyz

Old school Ruglud's armored orcs (one of the old Regiments of Renown)

Orc and goblin spear chuckers and crew.

Orc trebuchet.

A few goblin archers and snotling archer and slingshotters. Not likely to do much damage, but they can be annoying.

Some Redeye big'uns.

Assorted goblin "heroes".

Orcs and Goblins, part 1

2009-06-21T16:47:00.001-07:00

Now we begin to become acquainted with some of the less savory denizens of Mirth.

First an orc shaman and a goblin musician.

A goblin shaman, jester and snotling. (I got these all ages ago, but I think the last 2 are from a WarhammerQuest adventure)

A few wolfriders (with the leaders, command figures and shaman I have a total of 28 wolfriders; my largest single unit. They can be split into smaller units as needed.)

A couple of goblin chariots

"Grom the Paunch" and his chariot (notice the snake scrambling to get out of the way).

The whole mobile horde. Imagine facing this charging at you! (I also have some orc boarriders, to make for an even more fearsome mobile arm of the combined orc and goblin army.)

In some of these pictures you can see some new road pieces I have been working on. I cut them from mdf board and painted them with hobby paints. The green paint is rather translucent and lets the "particles" show through, which gives it some texture. They could work fine as is, but I'm going to experiment with a bit more painting and possibly some flocking, just to see how that might look.

Elf and Dwarf

2009-06-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Another wood elf character/hero. I painted this long ago, but missed it when I was taking pictures of the rest of the wood elves.
A dwarf lord I just finished painting.

Wood Elves, part 4

2009-06-13T22:32:00.001-07:00

Wood elves and allies.
A hawkmaster (I used wire and greenstuff to create the "streamers" from the hawks to the elf's glove - this makes for a strong resilient attachment), and a female magic-user.
A heavy duty unicorn.

GW Dryads

Treeman

Wood Elves, part 3

2009-06-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Glade Guards
Waywatchers

Wardancers, including a leader (from a WarhammerQuest Hero pack)

Characters/leaders

Wood Elves, part 2

2009-06-07T17:24:00.001-07:00

The cavalry. I had always intended to do horse archers, too, but never got around to them.

A magician and the cavalry commander.

Wood Elves, part 1

2009-05-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Some basic wood elf spearmen and archers. Most of these are GW/Citadel metal minis from the "old days". I have flagbearers for most of the units, but few with flags currently attached, so I left those out of the pictures.
One of the few flagbearers actually carrying a flag at this time.

The hooded figure leaning on the sword is not from GW. I think it is a Reaper Mini...

This unit has a "standardbearer", but rather than a flag he carries a sort of icon.

More archers (because you can never have too many archers, right?).

A view from the back to show their shields. The heart and thorns are based on old GW decals, but hand-drawn/painted by me using a technical pen for the black parts and red paint for the hearts.

Brettonians

2009-05-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

This week - "old-school" Brettonians. I have a few more more, but these are all I have painted so far. Not really enough for a balanced force, these would probably have to appear as an allied contingent for another army. (note: as with almost all of the minis I am posting pics of in this blog these were all painted ages ago)

A unit of archers
Bertrand the Brigand, Hugo le Petit, Gui le Gros and the Bowmen of Bergerac (aka Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck and a couple of the merry men)

A knight from Gunderland (sort of my version of Scotland)

Grail Knights

Repanse de Lyonesse (aka Joan of Arc)

Tristran le Troubador and Jules le Jongleur

Baron Odo d'Outremer and Suliman le Saracen

Morgiana le Fay and a grail damsel

The Green Knight

The Halfling Contingent

2009-05-17T18:51:00.001-07:00

Enter the halfling contingent. The halflings have an enclave within the human kingdom of Hardwicke. In addition many halflings can be found living in human towns within that kingdom.
Except for the knight on the pony these are all GW miniatures. I don't remember where the knight came from.
Archers

Spears

Rangers - these are another GW "Regiment of Renown" (whose name escapes me at the moment)

Firestone Dwarves

2009-05-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Firestone dwarves are from a different region from the Beerstone dwarves, off in a range of mountains to the southeast, and there are fewer of them. They are more "modern", making greater use of gunpowder weapons and often dressing in more Renaissance-like garments and armor, adopted from their closest human neighbors.

Firestone Pikes - old GW or Citadel minis
The Dragonfire Guard, armed with axes and a pair of pistols - I think these are an old GW "Regiment of Renown"

The artillery - an organ gun and a cannon - more GW/Citadel minis

Assorted characters and leaders - the pair on the left is a single Foundry mini. Most of the others are GW or Citadel. Not sure about the second and third from the left. On the fourth one I swapped out a hand holding a brand to fire a cannon with a hand holding a sword. The last 2 I added moustaches and "beefed up" the nose of the wizard as it got overwhelmed by the whiskers!)

Some more Foundry dwarves.

Beerstone Dwarves, Part 5

2009-05-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

A unit of Thunderers - old GW minis
An engineer and 2 versions of Bugman (GW's famous dwarf brewer) - I need to come up with a new banner for the one on the right...

Assorted Dwarves

2009-04-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

This post contains assorted dwarves, mostly GW, some Citadel, and maybe 1 or 2 from other manufacturers. Most of these guys have been in my collection for a while (some from the late 70's or early 80's).
First up a couple of adventurers, a Norse dwarf, and a dwarf commander
More Norse dwarves and adventurers

An adventurer, a Freestone dwarf, and a dwarf ranger/woodsman (I think the first one is a Foundry miniature)

The Dwarf with No Name, a crazed old trollslayer, and a dwarf pirate.

A dwarven fort I build quite a while ago when I first started making stuff with HirstArts blocks. The top comes off. The "join" is obvious. If I built this again today I would probably do the top a bit differently to make the join less obvious.

Beerstone Dwarves, part 4

2009-04-17T21:44:00.001-07:00

Slayers
Slayer king (the flag is a GW flag on sticky paper)

Pirates - these guys are Freestone dwarves, roaming the high seas, fighting sea-going orcs, exploring new lands, etc.

Beerstone Dwarves, part 3

2009-04-17T21:31:00.001-07:00

Crusader dwarves (very old Citadel minis)
Regular dwarven army, armed with crossbows and hand axes, troop B (the minis are original Bugman's Rangers from the olden days)

Hammerers

Ironbreakers

Miners

More Miners

Beerstone Dwarves, part 2

2009-04-17T21:21:00.001-07:00

Engineer in charge of artillery
Cannon

Organ gun

Pair of bolt throwers

Draft pony - a very old mini (I think it was a Citadel pony from a set of Middle Earth figures). I sculpted on the harness with "greenstuff".

Mule and cart, because sometimes you need to transport stuff!

Beerstone Dwarves, part 1

2009-04-05T16:39:00.001-07:00

The next several posts will show my existing dwarves, starting with those of the Beerstone kingdom.

This first picture shows some of my older dwarf miniatures. I'm not even sure of the manufacturer of some of these. From left to right, the king's fool, a bear, King Zurik Frostbeard himself, Mrs. Frostbeard?, and the royal wizard (he is an old Citadel dwarf from back in the day when there were dwarf wizards in the GW "world").
The rest of the dwarves is this post are from Games Workshop, unless otherwise noted.

Longbeards, these are old veteran dwarves. I made the shield bosses from various plastic bits from GW's boxed set of plastic dwarves. I also changed the heads of some of the weapons, using weapon heads from the plastics. I find the plastic miniatures too fiddly to assemble, but the sets are a great source of bits for conversions.
They are standing on a dwarven throne room I made from HirstArts blocks.
Various dwarven heroes and heroines. I haven't named most of them, but the fourth one from the left, the white-bearded fellow with the huge axe, is GW's White Dwarf (at least one of the incarnations in metal of the dwarf who represents GW's magazine, also called "White Dwarf"). I'm not sure if the female dwarf next to him is a GW miniature (I suspect she isn't, but can't remember where I got her). The female dwarf on the far right is Goldilocks, daughter of King Zurik Frostbeard.
Assorted dwarf master engineers and runesmiths.

Celts, part 3

2009-03-28T21:36:00.001-07:00

Princess of the Sacred Isles

Druidesses

Spear-weilding hero and High Druid

More heroes

Celts, part 2

2009-03-28T21:24:00.001-07:00

Cavalry, a chariot, and a big cat

Celts, part 1

2009-03-28T21:06:00.001-07:00

Forces of the sacred Isles of Toora and Loora, off the west coast of Murfy.
Swords, spears and axes

Dwarf Command

2009-03-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of GW Dwarf command figures I just finished painting

Prelude to Mirth

2009-03-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

This will be a sort of catalog of my fantasy miniatures. I call my world "Mirth" (a contraction of Middle Earth and a pun).

The main "good guys" are
The human kingdom of Hardwicke
The Wood Elves
The dwarven kingdom of Beerstone

There are also other smaller or more distant "good guys", such as
The dwarven island of Smorgasbergen (Norse dwarves)
The dwarven kingdom of Firestone (gunpowder-using dwarves)
The Freestone dwarves

The main "bad guys" are various groups of orcs and goblins, with the occasional monster
One major concentration of these "baddies" are the often feuding groups who dwell in various parts of the Desert of Skorch

Most of the miniatures I'll be showing here have been collected and painted over years (decades, even) past. They are mostly GW (Games Workshop) miniatures, with some Celtos miniatures (reperesenting the small forces of the sacred islands of Toora and Loora off the west coast of Murfy - part of the Kingdom of Hardwicke), and the odd miniature from other manufacturers, such as Foundry.