Ours is the FURY!!!!

Ready to claim the Iron Throne and invoke crotch demons, Stannis Baratheon and his aids lead the Baratheon army (gang) to greatness. As I said in my last post, my local gaming group are running a Game of Thrones skirmish campaign and it's starting to look great.

 I'm really local forward to this and since most of the other players are doing multiple forces, I think I'll try it too. Not sure who else I'd look at yet, but there is plenty of choice obviously. For now though here's a few pictures of Westeros' finest.

Stannis leads the front line infantry with his personal standard.

 Ser Davos Seaworth takes command of the archers.

...And the Lady Melisandre just turns up and persuades people to burn others at the stake for fun.

I plan to add a few more footmen and maybe some cavalry in the future or perhaps build a Brotherhood Without Banners gang as Melisandre is able to ally with them. Until then, keep waiting for Season 7.

Long Silence

Been a while since my last post and I've been busy.

First off, big thanks to the guys who ran Cardiff Indy Comic Expo last month. As ever it was great to meet new people and to catch up with old friends. It was also a good time to shift my own artwork, but that's more of a personal brag than a review.

Since then I've been working on several projects in a variety of materials, so this post will be a tad random and will feature a lot of "work in progress" stuff. Starting with some more Winter of the World art for Cakebread and Walton  their finished RPG book for the series is entering it's final stages and should see release later this summer. Below are a few rough sketches of scenes and places from the novels...

...and a finished piece from the same set.

Sticking to the theme of novels and fantasy, my local gaming group has decided to carry on the Game of Thrones themselves following the end of Season 6. We've all jumped in with home built gangs for a bit of skirmish level fisty-kuffs but there will also be plenty of "behind the scenes" stuff going on to keep things flavourful. I've decided to run a Baratheon force led by Stanis Baratheon and backed up with his loyal Captain Ser Davos and his adviser The Red Woman (currently in the post)

All converted from GW Lord of the Rings figures and soon to be painted. More picture later this week of hopefully some finished troops and some photos of what the rest of my gaming group have been up to.

A Greener Shade of Pink?

A few things to cover this week as I've been rather busy, but unable to get time to sit and post about it all. First thing of note; this weekend is Cardiff Independent Comic Expo. I shall be in attendance once more under the banner for New Wasteland Fairy Tales, peddling the self-published stories of Beki and Nigel on their adventures through the post-apocalyptic world. If you're in Cardiff or close enough to get here, come and say hello and spend the day checking out some awesome indy comics form a selection of Cardiff's local talent.

Also available will be the last few Beki and Nigel Miniature kits. These were sculpted by Phil Hynes, who since has gone on to sculpt greater things for a friend of mine and her business. I don't have many of these kits left and once they're gone I'm likely to discontinue them.

Speaking of sculpting, I've been continuing work on my own sculpting project and I must say, I'm rather pleased with the results so far. The bodies are being sent off soon to be cast and then I'll get to repose and alter the cast to get some more poses for the final range of miniatures, but right now there isn't likely to be much else done.

Here's the original concept I did for the project. A few alterations as I went, but pretty spot on.

And finally, a quick shout out to Shed Games, who were kind enough to let me post these pictures from their site. A far higher quality of photography at work here. These were some of the miniatures I painted for their release of the The Book of Nox.

Until next time....

Little Green Dudes

Hello everyone! In addition to painting pictures, miniatures and scenery, this month I've taken on a new challenge; sculpting. A few months back I tried my hand and a bunch of spare parts and then later a full miniature (shown below)

And the finished casts painted up! (Grey model just for scale)

I was happy with the results and had a casting run done for personal use before selling the the original green to someone who could get more out of it.

Now, time has passed and it appears my original efforts have warranted a sequel. This time around I'm doing an unarmoured goblin and a chunky orc buddy to go with him. Although chain mail is a pain to sculpt, I'm really enjoying the project. Here are photos from the first few sessions. I'll post more photos when I get a chance.

Tales From Firestorm

Something a bit different today. A short Frostgrave battle report showcasing my newly finished Wizard's Band and that of my regular punching bag, Joe. This has been part of an ongoing story campaign for the last 2 weeks as a bit of an experiment on rules, but mostly fun.

The Story So Far

Last week, The Rev. Don Magic Wand faced off against the hobbits of the Westerland in a fact finding mission. The 2 Parties had stumbled on a scene of carnage amongst the ruins that suggested something more sinister at work, but important stuff first, there were corpses to loot. With The Rev. taking the lion's share of the treasure and a decent helping of  abuse from foulmouthed on-lookers   it was time to learn the truth of the encountered destruction.

A golem of unknown size and construction, but possessing incredible strength and no small amount of rage, was on the loose in the ruined city of Frostgrave. Seeing this as an opportunity to learn some new tricks (and wizards ultimately being nerdy academic types) The Rev. set off to study the Golem in action.

First Siting

It didn't take long to pick up  the Golem's trail, but by now news had spread and The Rev. was not alone in his hunt for the monster. Eventually, The Golem was tracked to an area of park land. Now little more than a wasteland due to the 1000 years of being frozen over, the Golem still seems intent on causing more property damage and is found trashing statues and monuments.

Upon entering the park, The Rev. spots movement across the grounds, past the Golem, another wizard.....

Field Research

The wizard's are attempting to study the Golem, not kill it. For that reason we were encouraged to engage the critter, but attacking directly could end the who'll adventure prematurely.... like that ever stopped us. Control of the Golem went to our mutual friend Alfredo who was completely impartial, but also open to persuasion into attacking certain players.

The warband of Lady Weaver (controled by myself) Summoner extraordinaire and high society beauty.

The Rev. Don Magic Wand, Elementalist supreme and a dirty, old lech.

...And we're off! Here's how things looked to start with. The Golem in the centre and the 2 wizards and their mooks on opposite board edges.

"Jim, dear, go over to the horrible brute and see if it is friendly. I'll stay here and watch what happens"
Lady Weaver's research technique on Golem mood swings and combat doctrine.

 A previous game had given The Rev. an electric construct to act as fodder. The little blighter did nothing more than make the Golem's hair stand on end before getting battered with a shovel.

 "Conan like pretty lady." Honestly, this plan could have gone better, but injuries were rolled after the game and Lady Weaver's head has yet to be found. Let this be a lesson to all, The barbarin swings the axe, the wizard MOVES!

 Deciding to cut their losses (If the boss is dead we aren't getting paid) the remaining members of Lady Weaver's gang grab what loot they can and scarpper.

The Rev. having learned all he needs decides to leg it before the Golem can take a swing at him. Thankfully a selection of meat-shields- I mean henchmen are available to cover his escape. Though fleeing the wrath of the Golem's shovel, The Rev did take a brick to the skull as the Golem took one last pot shot at him.

Conclusion

With Lady Weaver dead and the Golem still at large, The Rev. once again claims victory. The knowledge gained from his encounter has provided interesting insights into the Golem's construction. The Wizards have found it, studied it, even had a shot at blowing it up by accident, but next mission.... into the House of the Gollem

The Book of Nox

A few of you may remember, a little while a go I was showing off some moody Victorian paintings...

Well, with the UK gaming expo finished this weekend, I've had my gagging order removed and I'm aloud to start showing off again. Commissioned by Chris at Shed Games for his new Victorian themed dungeon crawler, The Book of Nox.

I've been very busy getting everything done, but I can't even imagine the amount of effort and headaches Chris has had to deal with boxing everything up and ready for show, so best of luck to the man and here's hoping for a strong release.

First up, the minis. A nice set of heroes and cultists to start everything off and not too bad as sculpts, either. The poses feel a bit rigid for my taste, but the intention for these was to fit entirely within the 25mm squares that make up the board sections.

I really liked the possessed beasty.

 Finally, the main chunk of the commission. I worked on this with every spare minute I had for what felt like a month, but was in truth only about 2 weeks. Between work and this I was pretty sure I was going to lose either my job, my mind or my site. (I would have also said "social life", but that went years ago) Loosely based on the characters from a popular Victorian horror themed TV show, I've been told the art has been used for the cover of the game's rulebook and the original now has pride of place in Chris's house. If anything here takes your fancy or if you want a cool set of dungeon floor tiles, check out Chris's stuff HERE.

Old school theme painted in traditional methods. Acrylic on paper about A3 big.

Until next time...

Winter is Coming....Again

OK I admit that I couldn't think of a suitable title outside of the obvious, but this post is not about Game of Thrones. It is in fact about another series of novels that Cakebread & Walton are working hard to transform into a classy RPG.

 Winter of the World is a series written by Michael Scott Rohan (No relation to LOTR) that was brought to my attention by the boys at C&W for their upcoming release. I was lucky enough to find a set of the original printed versions and now I'm hooked. I am a slow reader so I've only covered book 1, Anvil of Ice, but it has all the marks of a good old fashioned fantasy story set in a rich and detailed land filled with monsters, magic and strange folk.

 If you've never heard of the series I recommend giving them a read. Regrettably the changing times has made the series into an ebook only format, so any hard copies, you know... actual books, will generally be second hand. Thankfully the internet does provide that option too with a little bit of searching. For anyone that enjoyed reading Lord of the Rings, Winter of the World has that Tolkienesque style of writing. Everything is spoken in proper English and even in the heat of battle a character's dialogue seems more eloquent than a 20 year old meeting his girlfriend's Ex-Cage fighter father for the first time. This is by know means a bad thing and just like Tolkien, the series also boasts a sizeable Appendix to flush out the world a bit further. As I said, I'm only through the first book so far, but I can't wait to finish the series and find out what happens.

Now, on to the arty bit. Book reviews were never my strong point. I was always doodling in English class and inevitably getting in trouble for it. Times have changed in that regards however, now I get to draw what ever I want and my English don't suffer none for it.

Below is a few spot illustrations from the upcoming RPG's bestiary. As Winter of the World is set in a fantasy ice age, a lot of the critters have been set around pre-historic animals. Beasts like giant beavers and mammoths are a feature, but so are the classic fantasy monsters like dragons.

 This is a taster of things to come. I'll be working on a series of illustrations from the books themselves next, but they aren't likely to be seen for a while. Until next time......