Shamblers and Stirges

Shambling mounds and swarm of stirges, all from Toad King Castings. Acquired through kickstarter projects. The shamblers are resin; there are 2 regular shamblers, the little guy, and the guy with the staff and a bag over one shoulder. The swarm of stirges (shown here with another stirge I had painted previously; possibly demonstrating a way to deal with stirges?) are base in two groups of 3, and one group each of 2 figures and 1 figure, so casualties can be removed as needed. They are metal miniatures.

The tallest shamblers are about 2 inches or 50 mm tall. The stirges' bodies are smaller than a 28mm human figure's head.

Of Knights and Bunnies

The following figures were a stretch goal from the Dwarves at Arms kickstarter from Microcosm. The knights were a bit fiddly to put together, with separate heads, legs, arms, and shields. For added strength/stability I pinned a lot of the pieces, which made it even more fiddly.

First up, King Arthur, the killer bunny (with nasty pointy teeth), and the Black Knight (I did consider adding magnets to make the limbs removable, but see comments above about "fiddliness").

Of course, King Arthur needs his trusted Knights of the Round Table.

Sounds of sawing and hammering and construction off in the distance behind the trees...

I built the rabbit out of foamcore, clad with bamboo skewers, round wood craft pieces, parchment paper covering the head of foamcore, and cardboard ears. The wheels actually turn, although they are a bit wonky.

More Fancy Orcs

More "landsknecht" orcs from Foundry's Casting Room line. Changed to better photos that show the colors more accurately.

Stepping Stones

After much experimentation, watching video tutorials, etc., I have finally figured out one way to do stonework that I find works well for me. I glued pieces of "dollar store" foamcore (the advantage it has is the paper on either side of the foam is easy to peel off) to some of my basic building structures. Then I cut in the stonework with a sharp hobby knife. Then I traced over all of the cut lines with a ballpoint pen to deepen them and to separate the individual stones more. I used the scrunched up ball of aluminum foil trick to imprint some texture on the stones. Then painted the stonework with gray gesso, followed by a light wash of black ink mixed with water. Then painted some of the stones in various shades of gray. And finished off by sponging on a light gray.

I made 2 low stone staircases, and small archway, a building "riser"/foundation, and a full stone building.

More Construction

I finished some more building pieces - I did some with wood paneling on the lower portions, a couple of stair pieces, a "riser" to lift the ground floor off the ground a little (one of the stair pieces can be placed next to this to give access to the building), a sort of lean-to addition (can be a market stall, too), and some longer upper story pieces that overhang the standard buildings, as well as making it so I can use a couple of narrow pieces with a wider piece on top to create a sort of opening or pass-thru.

Here is an overview of the completed pieces along with the ones I did previously:

And a closer shot of most of the new pieces, with a better look at the wood paneled sections and the stair pieces:

You can see how the riser lifts the one building a bit higher than its neighbor.

As far as construction goes, I am making them starting with a shell made from foamcore; with balsa wood added for the timbers and wood panels and doors; leaded glass windows made from cross-stitching plastic grating cut at a 45 degree angle; roofs made from chipboard/cardboard with cereal box cardboard shingles and various bits of wood and cardboard for the chimneys and chimney pots. The plastering between the timbers is foam putty/hobbilite filler (basically the same lightweight filler/putty from different manufacturers - it's made for working with foam and sets up lightweight but sturdy enough).

Next on the building plan, I hope to add some stonework pieces.

Under Construction

I have been working on some buildings to use with my dwarf musketeers and other figures. They are still under construction, and more are planned, but I wanted to show what I've done so far. I have made them in pieces so they can be arranged in various ways. Here are the pieces that are nearly finished:

And here is a street scene with a dwarf musketeer dueling with a Foundry Casting Room fancy orc.

And a wider shot showing more of the buildings.

I have more of the "fancy orcs" in progress on the painting table. They are fun to paint and I'm going wild with the colors, making them as bright and clashing as I can. More buildings are planned as well, including some with stonework (once I work out how I want to do that), and some with more wood siding and/or a mix of wood siding and half-timbering.

Latest Miniatures

My latest batch of minis. My painting output is very slow these days!

A scout and an infantry soldier from Venus Women at War kickstarter

A Reaper aardvark, a couple of dodos from Bombshell Miniatures, and a stirge from Toad King Castings kickstarter getting into someone's ale.

And some dwarf musketeer cavalry from Iron Mask Miniatures, also a kickstarter project.