HOTT Project Update III

More progress to report which is always a pleasure to do. I've finished everything I have available now so I'm waiting on the post before continuing. Here's the first 20AP completed. Remember to click for larger images...

Necromancer (Wizard - 4AP)

Ghosts (Hordes 4 x 1AP)

Skeletons (Spears 4 x 2AP)

Skeletons (Blades / General 2AP, Blades 2AP)

I've somehow (typically!) bought far more than I need. As I said the rest is in the post and includes a Vampire (Hero), Skeletons (Archers x 4), Bats / Skeletal Vultures (Fliers x 2), Spiders (Beasts x 2) and a Devil (why did I buy that???) so in the end I'm going to have 40AP+. Hmmm....

The project will be on hold now for a while which is probably a good thing. ;-)

Cheers,
Millsy

HOTT Project Update II

More progress made tonight on my current project - speed painting Undead for Hordes of the Things.

Tonight has seen the Ghosts (Hordes) finished off with a couple of rounds of dry brushing and the Necromancer (Wizard) completed too. Apologies for the image quality. These are a bit flash burnt, mainly due to tiredness and not setting up decent lighting. Remember to click for larger versions...

All that remains of my original 20AP is two bases of Skeletons (Blades and General / Blades). I picked up enough bits to make 4 bases of Skeleton Archers (Shooters) today on eBay. I'm also digging about for some more bits to make some more Skeletons (Blades) and also some Fliers. No sign of my Spiders (Beasts) as yet but hopefully they will arrive soon too.

I'm pretty happy with how this is progressing. Fast enough to justify the speed label but still of a high enough quality that I'll be happy with them over time. Til next time...

Cheers,
Millsy

HOTT Undead Project Update

It seems the speed painting thing is working for me! I've just about finished the four bases of Skeleton Spears I talked about in my first post. All that remains is a little highlighting and dry brushing. I'm not sure what colour scheme I want for the bases yet - some sort of brown or perhaps a black / dry brushed in grey. Comments, suggestions etc. gratefully accepted...

I'm also about a third done with the remaining Skeletons and the Necromancer. The Zombie Horde and I experienced some "creative differences of opinion". They thought the they were detailed enough to warrant an extensive paint job and I didn't. Consequently they're now base coated and inked in a variety of blues, greys and greens in preparation for lighter and lighter shades of dry brushes until they are reinvented as a Ghost Horde.

Stay tuned...

Cheers,
Millsy

HOTT Undead Project

I've been painting a lot of detailed, complicated miniatures of late and I need a break. I was looking about for something simple on t'Internet and came across the perfect thing. Other people's blogs are a fabulous motivator for me and Tim the Super Blogger has inspired me to get my finger out and paint my HOTT Undead after seeing this post on his blog.

I'm going to try and "speed paint" (whatever that means to you vs. me) this army just to see how fast I can get them onto the table. I don't normally paint this way as I hate fiddling my way between figs already based in groups. Given these are undead and most work will be washes and dry brushing I figure I can get away with it in this case.

Here's the first 20 points of the army in their ready-to-go state. These are a combination of old Essex Miniatures (Necromancer / Wizard, Skeleton Blades General and Skeleton Blades) with a few GW tombstones...

Plus GW Skeletons (Spears), some with home-made shields including coffin lids...

And finally Zombies (Hordes) from a loooong defunct manufacturer (which I can't remember the name of) and yes, one of the bases is facing backwards but hey, they're Hordes ;-)...

That gives me 20 points so far. I've got a pile of GW Spiders from the Arachnarok Spider kit in the post already and these will be two bases of Beasts. I'm also bidding on some GW Skeleton Archers and a couple of GW Tomb King Skeleton Vulture thingies (Fliers) which will get me up to about 32 points.

So here I go. Let's see how fast I can knock these out...

PS. If anyone can remember the name of the company that made the zombies let me know. It's doing my head in not being able to remember!

Cheers,
Millsy

Saving Private Lurtz

I'm not a massive fan of the Games Workshop Lord of the Rings miniatures in general but I DO like the Uruk-hai. They're nasty looking, wear plenty of very "functional" armour and just generally seem very much like I always imagined them to look.

Having finished a "good" army for Hordes of the Things I decided I'd give the Uruk-hai a go for my first "bad" army. I picked up a good number of the Fighting Uruk-hai off eBay for a nice cheap price, all pike. Unfortunately "a couple" with snapped pikes turned out to be almost a quarter of the miniatures and the majority of the broken pikes (present in the picture and therefore fixable) turned out to be just one when they arrived. Hmmm....

Anyway, trying not to let that annoy me I set about what I like to call Saving Private X, or in this case Saving Private Lurtz. By that I mean picking up some badly painted or bashed about miniatures and "saving" them. Sometimes that means surgery, replacements or whatever. In this case an armless guy will appear later as a crossbow wielding chap, several more have changed pose slightly and had replacement pike installed. The whole lot then got a blast of matt black spray. Even at that point the neglect of the previous owner seemed miles away.

A few hours and lots of dry brushing and inking later and I now have 22 quite useful pike, ready to be based up in sixes as Spears for HotT. Tim, aka Saskminigamer, has done a very similar force to what I'm working on but didn't use the levelled pike figs as they might catch on opposing stands when ranking up. I'm going to give it a try. Madness? We'll see...

So here they are in all their as yet unbased glory. Remember to click for bigger pics...

I've got a couple more pikes in the post along with a shed load more Fighting Uruks with hand weapons, plus Scouts of various flavours too, a Cave Troll and of course Saruman. Once all are complete I should have about 36 points worth. Stay tuned...

Cheers,
Millsy

HOTT Elven Archers

These are a bunch of plastic elves I picked up for a song on eBay - GBP4.99 including shipping to be precise. I bought them to finish off my HOTT "Friends of the Wild Wood", as metal halfling miniatures are proving more than a little difficult to acquire.

Here's how they looked when they arrived. Fortunately there was not much in the way of existing paintwork. I've not seen white(ish) plastics from GW before? Were there ever that many made?

A couple of afternoons later and here is how they look now. Four stands of shooters, 2AP each.

I really must make myself a light box for taking photos as the lamp I use to paint is a very ordinary photographic tool indeed.

Anyway, that pretty much finishes this army off for the time being - 28 points or so now. I really enjoyed painting these and have been lurking about on eBay looking for more stuff to do a full Wood Elf army. This is almost certainly a BAD THING as I have two other HOTT armies sitting ready to go, one of which is High Elves anyway.

Part of what is tempting me is the fact I've finally managed to get my hands of a big bottle of Simple Green, sworn by many as the primo plastic mini paint stripping drop of choice. The thought of being able to pick up any old tat and give it new life is almost too much to be resisted. Will I manage to restrain myself? Only time will tell...

Cheers,

Millsy

HOTT "Friends of the Wild Wood"

Wow! Almost 4 months since my last post. I do have a pretty decent excuse though - I took the family on a 5 week UK holiday and had an absolutely brilliant time.

Since I've been back I've been doing a lot of clearing up and planning projects. All that is more or less completed for the time being, meaning can get back to actually turning out some stuff. I'm almost finished my first HOTT army - Friends of the Wild Wood. This will be a force of humans, hobbits, elves and hangers on, all dedicated to protecting the wild wood from nasty folks.

The starting list will be a full 24AP:
General (spears) x 1 - 2AP
Forestal (hero) x 1 - 4AP
Wizard (hero) x 1 - 4AP
Hobbit horse (riders) x 2 - 4AP
Elven bow (shooters) x 2 - 4AP
Satyrs (beasts) x 1 - 2AP
Ent (behemoth) x 1 - 4AP

I'm currently bidding on a cheap lot of plastic Wood Elf bows which will give me enough for 3 bases with a couple of extras. Today I finished off everything apart from the elven bow. Here's the army so far...

General
A bunch of very old Essex 25mm hobbits I bought when I was in my teens. These are amongst the first miniatures I ever bought and I've stripped and repainted them at least 3 times now including this time.

Forestal

Another old Essex fig from the same batch. He's meant to be a ranger but does well enough as a forestal, taking "gentle care" of the wood with his massive axe!

Wizard

Essex again, and much improved. He originally had a hideous grimacing disc-shaped top to his wand. Fortunately that "fell off" at some point. I've replaced it with a flame from my Mordheim bits box.

Hobbit horse

Some cheeky Essex hobbit riders and accompanying dog handlers.

Satyrs

Eureka Miniatures satyrs, bought recently to bring some variety to the army. Lovely miniatures and a doddle to paint up.

Ent

Finally my ent. Eureka Miniatures again and a really nice miniature, not to mention about the only half-decent priced ent I was able to find! He has a bit of an affro going on, maybe it's spring?

That's it for now. I'm keen to get these guys squared away so the elven bow will be straight onto the table assuming I win the auction. I've already started a second army - Eureka Miniatures Conquistadores - more of that later.

Cheers,
Millsy