Warriors of Alladore

Gearing up for the release of Rangers of Shadow Deep (hopefully a matter of days), I have painted up a couple more warriors of Alladore. I don’t need these guys for my ranger’s companions, but there are a couple of scenarios where you essentially have allies.

Plus, I just wanted to finish off my first sprue of Oathmark humans. Sometimes, it is nice to paint understated fantasy figures, wearing simple armour without too may accoutrements or detail.

[Blogger really doesn't like my spelling of 'accoutrements', but I can't figure out why. Usually, its because I've used a British spelling, but I think this is the only spelling of accoutrements. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.]

That time Little John killed me

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to Oxford for Osprey Publishing's 50^th anniversary party. The company has been such a major part of my life over the last decade-plus, that I didn't want to miss it.

I arrived in Oxford in the morning. This gave me the chance to meet up with Phil Smith (Head of Osprey Games), Nick Eyre (owner of North Star Military Figures) and Dan Falconbridge (owner/editor of Wargames Illustrated). We had a drink in the Eagle & Child, lunch at another pub, and the went over to the Bodleian Library for their temporary Tolkien exhibit. It’s was a great little exhibit, especially for the cost (free). The highlights were seeing a few pages of Tolkien’s scrawled Middle-earth writings, lots of his original artworks, and, of course, his recently discovered annotated map of Middle-earth. The exhibit has now closed, but considering its popularity, I suspect it will be back. 

At the party that evening, I got to catch-up with lots of old friends, Osprey colleagues both past and present. I also chatted with some of the authors and illustrators that have helped make Osprey great. Most notably, I got to speak to two artists that I’ve had the chance to work with closely in the past. I had a long chat with Mark Stacey who illustrated the Steampunk Soldiers and Steampunk Soldiers: The American Frontier books that I wrote with Phil Smith. I also got the chance to speak with my old buddy, Peter Dennis. I’ve worked with Peter Dennis on a lot of projects, including my books Dragonslayers and The Story of Santa Claus.

At the party, Peter asked me if people ever recognized me from the Perry Miniatures' ‘American Civil War Infantry Box’. I said ‘no’, but that I did get the occasional comment about appearing in Robin Hood…

Several years ago, when I was the commissioning editor for Osprey’s Myths and Legend series, I commissioned Peter to illustrate the book we were doing on Robin Hood. In one of the stories, Little John infiltrates Nottingham castle and ends up in a fight with the cook and a porter. When Peter came to illustrate the piece, I discovered that I had been cast in the role of the cook and that Phil Smith had become the porter. Little John seems to be played by Peter himself!

It’s not the most flattering depiction of either Phil or myself, but it is all the more wonderful for that.

A few days after the party, I received a package from Peter containing the original artwork! (It's not the first time I've seen Peter's generous nature.) There is not a lot of open wall space in my little office to hang paintings, but something else is going to have to give way! (Especially since my wife has already made it clear that it will not be going up in the lounge – for reasons not clearly expressed).

Thanks Peter. It’s a great memory of a fun time. I hope that we have the chance to work together again some day!

Weequay

If the title of this blog has any meaning to you, then you are at least a level 2 Star Wars geek. For example, my sisters are both level 1. They have seen all of the movies, know all of the main characters, and are ready and willing to jump into a debate about the Force or if Han fired first. However, their knowledge, and their interest, ends with the movies.

Unlike them, my interest in the Star Wars universe has, at times, branched out into the books, comic books, games, cartoons, etc. Through this, I have gained a lot more knowledge of the universe, including a lot of ‘race names’. I’m still far from an expert, but I can tell my Weequays from my Trandoshans.

For those that don’t know – Weequays appear in Return of the Jedi, most notably in the Sarlacc’s Pit sequence. They are the prune-faced guys with dreadlocks and heavy looking halberds that are apparently tasked with pushing prisoners off of the plank. As we all know, it doesn’t end well for these Weequays.

I got four plastic Weequays in the Jabba’sRealm expansion for Star Wars: Imperial Assault and just finished painting up my first one. Once again, the figure is excellently sculpted and cast. Even in somewhat bendy plastic, it was a joy to paint. I went with a muted paint scheme as befits a desert-waste pirate, methinks.

I’ve got three more of these guys, and while I like the pose, I’m thinking I might try converting some of the others. I’d like at least one to be holding a pistol (as one does very briefly before Luke chucks him in the pit). Not sure if I’ve got the bits I need, but I’ll see what I can do.

Having finished this guy – I’m struck by the resemblance between him and the Klingons as showed in Star Trek: Discovery.

Rangers of Shadow Deep: Conjuror

This is another companion for my ranger in Rangers of Shadow Deep. Conjurors are great utility companions. Before every scenario, they get to pick 2 or 3 spells – unlike rangers who know certain spells, but cannot change them. The only problem, once they’ve cast their spells, they are very weak fighters, so use those spells wisely!

The figure is actually the Elementalist apprentice from the Frostgrave line. I painted him in the same green that I’m using for all of my ranger’s companions/soldiers of Alladore. I was a bit worried that he might look too ‘cold weather’ to fit in the with the rest of the band, but I don’t think that is the case.

My favourite bit about this figure is that he basically only has one hand. The other is Just a little ball of flame – perfect for someone about to throw a fireball! (And yes, you can take fireball in Rangers). Otherwise, though, he doesn't look terribly 'wizardly'. I am quite pleased with my ‘fire effect’, which is just yellow layered up to red.

Just need to paint up a dog and my ranger’s initial companion set is complete!

[Eagle-eyed readers might remember that I already had a ‘conjuror’ when I did my last post about my ranger’s companions. Looking over the figures I had, I decided I would make that other figure the arcanist – since she’s reading a book – and go with this figure for the conjuror since he has an obvious magical effect going on.]

Battletech: Shadow Hawk

I have just finish painting my third mech from the new Battletech box set. This time, it’s a Shadow Hawk. This has always been one of my favourite mechs for several reasons. First ‘Shadow Hawk’ is just an awesome name. Two, the Shadow Hawk was depicted on the cover of the City Tech rulebook – the first Battletech book I actually owned. And, finally, even before I was aware of the existence of Battletech I owned a little plastic Shadow Hawk toy. It wasn’t a miniature, but came, I think, in a bag of cheap plastic robots. I think the original Shadow Hawk was based on a robot in an old anime, and I guess that little toy was based on the same thing.

I have no idea what happened to that little plastic toy, but now I’ve got this shiny new little plastic toy! Like his brothers, he’s painted up in the red and blue of the Fire Hawks Legion (which makes him a Shadow Fire Hawk…which is starting to sound like a balrog).

Interestingly, in the group shot above, you can see how much shinier the Thunderbolt is than the other two – a result of me still learning to use the ‘Anti-Shine Matt Varnish’. I fear I put much to thick a coat on the Thunderbolt. Oh well, I’m learning.

Also just visible in the photos is the new hexed battlemat I got from Cigar BoxBattles, perfect for Battletech and Ogre. I’ll be showing it off and talking a bit more about it in future posts.

Rangers of Shadow Deep - Cover Revealed!

I know a lot of people are patiently waiting for the release of Rangers of Shadow Deep, and I can report that a lot of progress has been made. In fact, we now have an official cover! Many thanks to Barrett Stanley for providing the cover art and Steve Meyer-Rassow for the graphic design!

The internal layouts for the book are now underway. This is the last major step towards completion. (There are a couple of minor ones, but they should take no more than a day or two once layouts are completed). So, when in the book going to be available? Not this week, I'm afraid, but next week is looking possible...

I will, of course, keep you updated!

Pursued by Wolves

Yesterday afternoon I was cycling along, enjoying the autumnal sunshine, when I glanced over my shoulder and saw... a pack of wolves running after me! Despite the heavy fence, I must admit, it was a little unnerving...