The Gateway

Everyone should have a ruined gateway in their terrain collection. They are just a great piece of scatter terrain. I ‘encouraged’ Frostgrave players to have one by making it a ‘red-herring’ in the Ulterior Motives expansion. Recently, when writing scenarios for the Frostgrave Immersion Tour, I wrote a scenario that requires every player to bring one.   

Of course, then I realized I didn’t have a gateway that fit well with my own Frostgrave terrain – so I set out to fix that. Rummaging through my stuff, I found a gateway that was sent to me by the guy who ran the Frost Collection Kickstarter a couple of years ago. I liked the piece, but the paint job didn’t fit with the rest of my terrain.

Having decided to repaint it, I thought I might also ‘spruce it up’ a little bit, by which I mean, make it creepier. I found a random animal skull and a bit of old chain in my bits box and glued them both on.

The painting process wasn’t the most exciting, except for the chain which is free hanging and flopped about as I applied the paint. There is actually something strange about having a terrain piece with a loosely moving piece! Anyway, after the paint, I applied a little bit of snow flocking and called it done. It is a simple piece, but I think its really evocative.

And, while I promise I won’t keep harping on about this, this is another result of the miniature clear out. As my miniature backlog kept growing and growing, I felt less inclined to do side-projects like this as they didn’t bring down the pile. That’s a real shame because little items like this serve as a nice break from the more intense concentration of miniature painting and make a real difference to the look and feel of a table.

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Note 1: I have no idea if the items from the Frost Collection are currently available, but it includes some neat stuff, so might be worth dropping an email if interested.

Note 2: Looking at the photo above makes me think I should have painted all of the base-rims for my Frostgrave warband grey instead of brown...

Knight of Dol Amroth

I wanted to show off this recently-finished figure because it is such a beautiful illustration of the point I was trying to make yesterday with my Deliberate Purchasing post.

This figure is one of the original, all-metal, Knights of Dol Amroth miniatures sculpted by the Perry’s for Games Workshop’s The Lord of the Rings game, and I think it is a stunning piece of sculpture. Despite the small role played by the Swan Knights in the book (and their disappointing absence from the movie), they have always been one of my favourite parts of the story. In a tale filled with heroes, these guys are the literal ‘Knights in Shining Armour’. They are the most elite warriors in all of Gondor’s army

And yet, despite all of that, this figure languished for years in my lead pile, gathering dust in its blister pack. Why? Basically, I was too scared to paint it. I knew it would be hard to assemble and difficult to paint. More importantly, I knew it would take a lot of time, and I didn’t have a lot of time. I had hundreds of miniatures to paint, I couldn’t afford to spend a great deal of time on any one…

Well, with the huge backlog of miniatures gone, this guy quickly joined the queue of miniatures waiting to be painted. Without the pressure to ‘get things done’, I was able to take my time, trying to enjoy every step. That’s not to say it was a complete blast (note to self, when painting a horse with caparison – paint the legs before gluing it together!), but instead of getting frustrated, I just took my time, savouring every little win.

I completely painted the horse first. I tried a couple of different decorative edges for the caparison before I was happy. Then I painted half of the rider before gluing him on to the horse to finish him up. I added the shield last, after many, many corrections to the white paint.

All-and-all it took me about 4 ‘sessions’, maybe 6 – 8 hours to get it from blister to finished model. If I was just going for numbers, I probably could have finished 3 or 4 other figures in that time, but I wouldn’t be near as pleased with myself.

I am proud that I have given it my all and tried to do justice to this incredible sculpt and to my love of the Knights of the Dol Amroth. I’m not saying that I’m ready to paint up four or five more right now, but I think there is a strong possibility that I’ll pick up another one down the line, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll have a unit. Or maybe not. I’m not going to worry about it. I’m just going to appreciate what I’ve got.

Deliberate Purchasing of Miniatures

For several years now, I’ve struggled when it came to miniature painting. I found it harder and harder to motivate myself, and it seemed that too many of my painting sessions were ending in frustration. Don’t get me wrong, I was still pleased with a lot of my output, but I just wasn’t enjoying it as much as I knew was possible.

The problem was, I couldn’t figure out why.

The last time this happened, it was because I needed glasses, but I didn’t believe there was any physical issue this time around. So, I pondered. I do a lot of pondering. It’s practically a hobby in itself. I thought back to the times when I was happiest painting miniatures.

Eventually, I discovered the problem. I owned too many unpainted miniatures.

In this hobby we have an unfortunate tendency to glorify our hoard. Sure, we laugh it off, with jokes about ‘The Lead Mountain’ or the ‘Shelf of Shame (or Opportunity!)’, and yet we also revel in it, like Smaug on his pile of gold. We post photographs on social media, showing off our shelf that has more unopened boxes of miniatures than the local gaming store. We back Kickstarters that contain more miniatures than it is possible to paint before we die. And then we back another one. We spend more time lusting after the new and shiny than we do concentrating on and appreciating the miniature in our hands…

And that, I realized, was the root of the problem. I wasn’t concentrating on the miniature in my hands. Every time I picked up a miniature to paint, I would feel the weight of all of the unpainted ones behind it. I would paint fast, so I could get this miniature done and move onto the next one. I wasn’t an artist enjoying his craft; I was a human treadmill attempting to pump out painted miniatures as fast as I could. I wasn’t even painting the miniatures so I could play with them anymore. I was painting to remove the weight. 

In my pondering, I realized that I have been happiest painting miniatures when I had the least miniatures to paint. If I only owned a handful, then I would take my time on each one. I would savour them, doing my best to paint each one to my highest standard. When I finished, I would feel proud of my work, instead of relieved to tick another one off the list.

So I took drastic action. I counted the number of unpainted miniatures I owned. It was many hundreds. I then chose the 50 I most wanted to paint. I didn’t worry about what game they were from, what I would use them for, or even how much they cost. The only criteria was how much I desired to sit and paint them. Then I got rid of the rest of them. Sold or given away.

I’ve come up with a new system. I only buy miniatures if I plan to paint those miniatures RIGHT NOW. Seriously, if they aren’t going to be the next miniatures to come across my painting desk, then I’m not going to buy them. I’ll pick them up later, or not. In addition, I’m not going to buy more than 6 miniatures at a time (or one box if the box contains more than 6), and I am not allowed to buy any more until I finish painting those.

Does this sound like a harsh regime? It’s really not. Since I now buy miniatures in such small batches, I actually get to buy miniatures more often! Does it mean I spend a bit more on shipping? Sure, I guess, on a per-miniature basis – but actually since it so severely cuts down on miniatures I buy and never paint, I suspect I’m saving money in the long run. Am I missing opportunities for limited-edition miniatures? I guess, if that miniature is part of some huge kickstarter that comes with 100 other miniatures… but how much of an opportunity is that? Besides, there are so many new miniatures coming out, there is always something new and cool available.

I’m now down to thirty-something unpainted miniatures. My plan is get it below twenty and keep it there. I think twenty is a good number to keep in reserve, in case of a long winter storm (seriously, that’s about the only reason I can think of to keep any in reserve at all), especially if those twenty are all thoughtfully chosen so that I know I really want to paint them.

I am currently enjoying painting miniature more than I have in years, and I think my output on this blog kind of speaks for itself. In fact, ironically, since I'm painting more, I'm actually buying more.

Look, I make my living in the wargaming industry, and a small, but important part of my income comes from the sale of miniatures. People buying miniatures is good for me financially, both directly and indirectly. But I don’t believe that binge-buying miniatures is ultimately good for anyone. The cost in money is obvious, the other costs are harder to see, but just as real.

Each of us gamers needs to work out our own appropriate level of miniature buying. I mean, obviously, if you enjoy ‘Big Battle’ wargames, you are going to need to buy more, also if you want to play more games that have required miniatures. But, if you are spending more time thinking about which minis to buy, than you are enjoying the ones you have, then there is unhealthy disconnect, and it is probably time to step back and re-examine your hobby.

Most of us got into this hobby because we love the sight of painted miniatures on the table. Maybe it was a lone warrior holding a bridge against some orcs, or maybe it was a massive army of rat men and their associated death machines. These are the things that fire our imaginations!

None of us got into this hobby because we admired a shelf-full of unpainted, unassembled piles of plastic or lead. So why should we hold such things in value now?

Werewolf III

Seriously, I didn’t need another werewolf. I mean, I’ve got a couple already and how often do you need more than two? But then I saw this gem-of-a-sculpt by Tre Manor, and I just couldn’t help myself. It’s just got such an awesome look of ferocity and power.

In truth, this is one of those miniatures that does most of the painting for you. The fur is so detailed and crisply cast that a few layers of dry-brushing and you are most of the way there. I then painted up the details to match my other wolves and werewolves so he’d fit right in. Well, not quite. This guys is obviously ‘the boss’.

One of these days I’m going to have to write a scenario set in Tol-in-Gaurhoth (The Isle of Werewolves from Tolkien’s First Age stories), just so I can use them all at the same time.

Legolas!

You may be forgiven, dear reader, if you think this figures comes from Games Workshop’s official Middle-Earth line of miniatures. In fact, it is an old Reaper figure sculpted by Sandra Garrity, and it almost exactly fits my mental image of Legolas.

He’s armed with bow and knife, just like in the books. He is dressed in practical, travel clothes, but still has something of the prince about him. Perhaps most tellingly, he is wearing a leaf-shaped cloak clasp.

So, with apologies to Orlando Bloom and WETA, who I really do think did a great job of bringing him to life in the films, this is going to be my go-to Legolas for wargaming.

Wanting him to fit in with my other LOTR minis presented an initial problem. The miniature comes on an integral base. In truth, this is right about the size of a GW base anyway, but not close enough for my liking. So, I started by painstakingly cutting him off his base. I managed to lose just a little bit of one of his boots doing this, but sculpted it back with green stuff. Thankfully the flocking covers this up anyway.

I based the colours of his tunic and shirt on the original Orlando Bloom outfit, though adding in the gold tunic edging to give him that princely touch. For the most part, it was an extremely fun and easy miniature to paint. I painted the cloak grey, since this is obviously the one given to him in Lothlorien. The only real challenge was the ‘Lorien Leaf’ at his throat. This is a very detailed little piece, and I wanted to see if I could match the colours used in the movie. So, I did something I rarely ever do. I put on a pair of heavy-magnification reading glasses and painted a bit of emerald between the silver outlines on the leaf, which worked out really well.

Thanks to photographing the mini for this blog, I can see just a few bits I’d like to tidy up, but overall, I’m extremely satisfied with the figure, and hope to work him into some games in the future. As you can see below, he’s a very good fit with the GW Middle-Earth Range.

Back in the Mags (with Ghost Archipelago!)

My summer of writing magazines articles continues to pay off in this month’s Wargames Illustrated, Issue 385. In fact, I’ve got two pieces in this issue.

The first is a new Ghost Archipelago scenario I wrote at the express request of the magazine’s owner and editor, Dan Faulconbridge. WI is releasing a cool new ‘Captain Flint’ miniature and were looking to place him in a scenario. As a huge fan of Treasure Island, I just couldn’t resist, even though the character doesn’t really belong in my fantasy world. So, in this scenario, the Heritors come across Captain Flint just after he’s buried his treasure and killed the crew that helped him. Of course, the crew aren’t quite as dead as the players might want…

As part of the article, I also allowed WI to reprint my black powder rules for Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago that first appeared in Spellcaster: The Frostgrave Magazine #1.

My second piece in the issue is a discussion of ‘new editions’ of games. Having spent over a decade working in the industry, in several different capacities, I have completely changed how I think about new editions, and I thought other people might enjoy an insider’s take.

There are lots of other interesting items in the issue, especially if you have any love for Judge Dredd…

You can get your copy directly from Wargames Illustrated or from North Star. 

Tracker

A half-dozen miniatures stare down accusingly from my bookshelf. They are all painted, but none are varnished. It’s not my fault this time, or even an unhappiness with varnish, but simply the weather. It has rained, on-and-off for the past week here in Kent. There have been a few periods of calm and sun, but they have been notable as the exceptions. I know most American’s think that it is always raining in Britain (why else would Englishmen always carry umbrellas?), but it’s not true. The summers are glorious and generally dry, but come Autumn…well, the plants love it.

Anyway, thankfully I still had a few minis primed and ready to paint, including this tracker who’ll be joining my new Frostgrave warband. She’s an official Frostgrave miniature, sculpted by the legendary Mark Copplestone. If you’ve never painted a Copplestone, give it a try, they just have detail that is designed to be painted.

In order to give the figure some extra colour, I tried painting some simple flower patterns on her skirt. I wanted to hint at the same kind of colours often seen in Native America dress. My free-hand skills are not great, and limited to simple patterns like this. Even then, it is far from perfect, but when viewed from a couple of feet, as it usually will on the table (or my bookshelf) it looks really good.

Six members of the warband down. Four to go!