Margahrah's Bane - a Halloween Special

Orcs in the Webbe have once again published a Flintloque/Halloween short story and gaming scenario featuring Margahrah and is band of Elf brothers. The tradition of writing a tale for Halloween has been a feature of the OITW site for some years with Margahrah stories being included in the last couple. For details see this link. Craig has once again allowed one of my articles/stories to be the featured tale.

This years story features the retreating Ferach and a sinister She-Vampire called Ludmilla Scorce, for details go to this link.

Halloween Specails;
2013 Mortuary Structure
2012 Were Chickens of Beesdone
2011 Headless Zombies
2010 The Relics of St. Labyrinthus

Happy Halloween

Tony

Orctober Fest - The Flintloque Orcs - part six

A final image of the five painted Orc Redcoats alongside a Flintloque Cannon.

The cannon is a highly converted Witchlands Cannon from the Undead Artillery box set. The image was taken outdoors in natural light (but in the shade) on my simple gaming board. I was photographing some diorama or vignettes for Craig Andrews (he of Orcs in the Webbe) - The Advent Calendar 2014 is currently being prepared.

Tony

Orctober Fest - The Flintloque Orcs - part five

My group of five Flintloque Orcs is now complete; painted, varnished and flocked.

I have 'touched-up' some of the detail on these figures, tried to lighted the Blues and give the Reds a final layer as well as painting in all the metallics - I tend to paint my metallic colours as the last step before varnishing. I know others for example Kevin Dallimore like to paint their metallics first.

I painted the bases in my usual Snakebite Leather mix and highlighted with Snakebite and Skull White drybrushing, before picking out the odd stone with a Skull White and Chaos Black mix. The miniatures were then varnished with Gloss and then Matt varnish before the flock was added over spots of uPVA glue.

This group has been a bit of a distraction, a nice one. The Orctober Fest idea has certainly prompted me to paint up these Orcs which would otherwise have laid un-loved in my too-do box. Now what about a gun to go with them?

Tony

Abaddon On-Line Build - part five

In an attempt to finish some long-term projects, I have finally finished painting Abaddon the Despoiler a Chaos Space marine from Games Workshop that has been patiently sitting on my too-do shelf for over four years!

To read earlier posts, you will have to trawl back through the Blog to August 2010 or click on this link.

I've not spent a great deal of time on this model - as I wanted to see it finished quickly. I'm sure it will never win any award, but at least it is now painted, varnished and based.

Like all my Games Workshop display pieces I have mounted the miniature onto a Pog plastic slammer disc (remember that game?) The groundwork includes some resin castings as well as sieved stones. This Pog is then mounted onto a wooden display plinth that at one time held a little resin owl.

I have kept most of the figure Gloss Varnished as I felt this was more in keeping with this particular model.

I am seriously thinking of painting up another GW Space Marine/Terminator so 'watch this space' for details.

The GW models were originally based and painted as desk ornaments for my son to display on his works desk. But are now locked away in a glass fronted display cabinet in my hallway.

Tony

Orctober Fest - The Flintloque Orcs - part four

Once again the painting has progressed quickly, I find that by challenging myself to paint a small group of figures each month (The Pledge) that the build or builds move along apace.

As you can see I have painted all of the detailing and it is only a matter of painting the groundwork and varnishing before the minis will be finished.

I have purposely painted this group in a miss-match of colours and uniforms to make best use of the available miniatures and show that the gun was undermanned.

Throughout this build I have noticed that my eyesight is not what it used to be and although I regularly wear spectacles - I do not wear them when painting minis (or for that matter reading). I'm sure this situation will change and because of this I am less happy with the painting of these figures than usual. In addition I feel the blue is a little too dark and the yellow a little too weak; a problem more to do with the available paints and using a black undercoat to paint over than anything else.

My view may change once the bases are finished.

However the Orctober Fest theme has prompted me into painting up another group, a group that would have otherwise remained in my 'too-do' box.

Tony

Wargames Illustrated - issue 324

I received a WH Smiths gift voucher for my birthday - a present from my Mother earlier this year. The voucher allows me to purchase magazines and/or books whenever I see a product that I would like to buy and as such gives me an excuse to regularly browse the shelves at WH Smith's stores.

I have already written, that I am not a regular buyer of any one gaming or model making magazine, but prefer to check-out the content month-to-month to see what is on offer and more importantly what appeals to me. October 2014, was, in my view a bumper month. I have already posted a review of Wargame Soldiers & Strategy (see my earlier post). This was my second gaming purchase this month.

Wargames Illustrated issue 324 - October 2014.

For me the highlight was an eight page spread by Nick Buxey entitled Four Churches and a Meeting House in which Nick details some of his scratch-built models. As a keen model maker (a terrain maker) this one article was enough to justify the cover price alone. A truly fantastic array of wargame terrain built by a true artist. I would recommend this tutorial to anyone looking to build centre piece gaming terrain for their gaming table. A great article which has some stunning pictures of both work-in-progress and finished models.

The article has inspired me to build a large church, centre piece model, usually I try to limit my tutorials to smaller models which have a nominal foot print of 6 inches x 6 inches but I really must try to make a larger model.

The magazine is another one that likes to produce themed issues. I have my doubts about the logic of doing this, as should the theme NOT be something you are interested in, then the magazine could be rejected as a purchase. However many publications are now doing this, so who am I to criticise. The theme this month was Modern Warfare.

The magazine has very high production values, a good stock of glossy paper and colour illustrations throughout, but I found content a little light. Apart from the terrain building article already detailed above my favourite was another model making article - Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks, by Phil Lewis in which the author details the steps necessary to convert a 15mm Flames of War Vietnam-Era M113 into the M113A3 or more modern derivative.

The remainder of the magazine contains loads of gaming 'eye-candy'. But WI and the earlier WS&S both featured La Haye Sainte. In fact WS&S featured two models of this iconic Napoleonic terrain piece - one from Warlord Games and the second from 4Ground. "You wait years and two come along together!"

Tony

Wargames Soldiers & Strategy - issue 74

I recently picked up this magazine and thought some quick comments were in order.  The magazine Wargames Soldiers & Strategy is not a regular purchase of mine, mainly because of it's themes issues. However this months diorama cover and the article on building the display was enough to tempt me into buying the magazine.

This months theme (if it is not already obvious) is Operation Market Garden - the World War Two attempts by the Allies to secure bridgeheads in their advance into Germany. In truth, not a period or genre style that is one of my main modelling or gaming interests. There were however a couple of articles that I felt were well worth the cover price.

The first is Defending Hell's Highway an article on building the diorama display featured on the front cover. The three page article was just the sort of feature that I enjoy, a step-by-step tutorial on how Ruben Torregrosa planned and built the display piece. The model is built to 15mm scale, but the superb painting and attention to detail, fools the viewer into thinking it is in a larger scale. As you can tell. I enjoyed the article,

Later in the magazine is a second article on terrain building - this time by Stephen Tunmore. Another three page tutorial on how to build better terrain. Once again I found the article to be very well planned, written and I gained a lot from the hints and tips.

The articles and gaming scenarios based on Market Garden were a great read, and although I have little interest in gaming this period, I found them interesting and very well illustrated. Apart from the two terrain articles my favourite was the four page article by Richard Lloyd 'A Song of Plastic and Poly Cement' or converting miniatures to A Game of Thrones.

Production values are very good and remind me of the format and layout of older publications, this is not a criticism, more of a comment on the style of the magazine - I happen to like it.

Overall, I am pleased with this purchase, but realise that with themed issues, the content can be a little hit-and-miss. Wargames Soldiers & Strategy remains one of those gaming magazines that is/will be picked up on an add-hock basis rather than a regular purchase.

Tony

Orctober Fest - The Flintloque Orcs - part three

The painting continued with picking out details of the uniform decorations and colours. I am not too happy with the Blue and Yellow on these miniatures, believing the blue to be too dark and the yellow not intense enough. This is a regular issue with my figure painting and something that I have experienced on previous occasions/models.

I find that I have difficulty in painting blue - either making it too dark (as in these figures) or to light, (a sky blue colour). I was wondering if any follower/reader had some advice as to which brands and colours I should be choosing?

Similarly, yellow has never had the coverage of other acrylic paints, for these minis I have used Leaprous Brown mixed with Badmoon Yellow as the base and Yellow from Rackhams for the first highlight. I am sure that I will go over these colours before the group are finished.

Apart from the issues stated above - the figures are moving along and I can see no issue with having them finished by the end of Orctober.

Tony

Roger Willcox

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Uncle Rogipoos one of the most prolific contributors to The Notables Flintloque Yahoo Site. link

You will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.

Huzzah!

Tony

Kronan Stone Man for Flash Gordon

Here is the latest addition to my 40mm Flash Gordon miniatures collection - a Kronan Stone Man from the Marvel Plastic Collection. The model stands a whopping 60mm tall and dwarves my 40mm Graven Images Flash Gordon/Cliffhanger figures.

Photo Three - Shows the basic miniature, still on it's original Clix base.

And here you can see the gaming card/stats. The model was bought from e-bay for less than £4.00.

Photo Four - I cut the figure from the original base and mounted him on to a 50mm round, plastic base with the groundwork built up from broken cork and Milliput Fine White. I sprinkled some sand and sieved stones over uPVA glue to add texture to the base.

Photos Five, Six and Seven - Show the finished model. Most of the painting was done with washes, however I did have fun painting the glowing eyes. This is a real brute of a figure and given the lack of any futuristic weaponry, could be used in a number of settings/genres.

I hope you enjoy reading about this latest FG figure that featured in the recent Blast-Tastic display (see earlier posts).

Tony

Orctober Fest - The Flintloque Orcs - part two

This image shows the first real colours added to this group of 5 Flintloque miniatures. I wanted a miss-match of uniform colours to show just how run-down this particular batch of Albion Orc Artillery are and have used different Blues for the main batch and Red for one of the soldiers who has obviously been brought in to supplement the crew. The final figure is working in shirt-sleeves.

I have painted the trousers in various Greys and Grey/Blues.

My usual painting style is to layer the colours from dark to light, for example the figure in shirt-sleeves has his shirt painted in a Snakebite Leather and Skull White colour, which is then highlighted with more Skull White and then pure Skull White on the highest sculpted detail.

At this stage of painting there is little to see, but the image does show the technique that I use to paint my miniatures. It should also be noted that I tend to exaggerate both the colours and highlighting on my Flintloque figures. I feel that this works well with the 'cartoony' sculpting style of these models.

If you have any questions, please post them here and I will try to answer them.

Tony

Orctober Fest - The Flintloque Orcs

Happy Orctober. I have already had one post celebrating this great idea - see the previous post for details of my Olde Skool Orc Army, but this is my actual entry for Orctober Fest, a group of five Flintloque Orcs. Three from 54022 1st Artillery Crew and two from 54029 Royal Albion Engineers.

For details of Orctober Fest go to this link. And for details of the miniatures go to this link.

The figures have been patiently sat on my 'to-do' list for some time and the Orctorber Fest was a great catalyst to finally get them down off the shelf and start painting.

I have mounted all five Orcs on to 2p coins and built up the bases with Milliput before adding sieved stones and sand over uPVA glue. In this image you can see that they have been undercoated black with a cheap spray-can paint and then touched up with Chaos Black from Games Workshop.

For anyone familiar with my Blog this process will be very familiar as this is my preferred technique for basing and painting miniatures - a technique that I personally find better than a white undercoat and basing the figures after they are painted. I realise that it is (as my Father might have said) a bit ass-about-tit but it works for me. I also prefer working on smaller groups - 5 to 10 miniatures at a time rather than larger regiments.

Prior to undercoating the minis, I have modified/converted three of the group. The most obvious is the figure on the right, who has lost his 'peg-leg' and has grown trousers but there are added Green Stuff buttons and Shako decorations. I find that I am a addicted to pushing GS around and usually add some detail or other to my Flintloque figures.

The flesh areas have been built up over Snakebite Leather from GW and highlighted with Snakebite and Skull White before being 'washed' with Sepia and Flesh Wash again from GW.

Look out for more updates in my Orctober Fest.

Tony

Orctober Fest 2014

To celebrate Orctober 2014, I present my Orc Army.

The miniatures were collected and painted while I lived and worked in Swansea - that's over twenty-eight years ago. Boy does that make me feel old! The majority are pre-slotta base Games Workshop and feature the Orc Regiment of renown RR5 Harboth and the Black Mountain Boys. Most of these miniatures were purchased via Games Workshop mail order - remember the Mail Order Trolls?

Of note is the way in which the figures were painted - in most cases the chainmail is bare metal washed with Citadel inks before being varnished with artists fixative. The bases are card (which is now showing it's age) with Pollyfilla groundwork and broken cork boulders. The vegetation is dried flowers.

As was usual back then, each regiment featured troops of one style of casting with a different standard bearer, leader and in some cases a musician. I have used Milliput as the conversion material and paper for the banners. The shield device - a white quartered moon over a red background was further defined with a black drawing pen.

I never got around to naming the Army and each regiment was just marked with a simple Reg 1, Reg 2 etc. on the underside of the bases. Seeing the recent Orctober Fest post on Steve Blease's Blog prompted me to clean the figures up and photograph them on my gaming board.

I hope that you enjoy seeing them.

Tony

Blast-Tastic - Sci-Fi Wargame Show

Will I be the first with a show report?

Earlier today Sue and I visited the very first Blast-Tastic, a Sci-Fi Wargame show organised by Angel Barracks and held at the Filton Community Centre, Bristol. We arrived just after 9.15am after a horrendous journey down the M5 from Droitwich - it was raining cats and dogs and the numerous road works didn't help.

This was the first time I had exhibited my 40mm Flash Gordon collection and I was intrigued to see what the reaction would be, after all this is a very personal collection in a rather unusual scale. I set the display up with The Crashed Rocket Ship to the left and The Rock Kings Throne Room to the right. The figure display in the centre was built by me out of off-cuts of 18mm MDF board, the construction of which will no doubt feature in a future post.

I used a Flash Gordon LP cover (the iconic Queen soundtrack) which was bought from a second-hand record shop in Cheltenham. It proved to be the ideal backdrop and I then situated the miniatures over the table. I will tell you that when I told the record shop owner what I intended to do with the LP cover, he called over all his staff and asked me to repeat what I had just told him. I think they found it quite amusing.

I was not able to display all of my miniatures - too little room and a fair number remained in the storage box under the table. Similarly my Flash Gordon gaming folder and various books had to be displayed on a chair to the side.

Details of The Crashed Rocketship gaming board can be found here.

Here you can see The Rock Kings Throne Room gaming board, details of which can be found here.

The remaining images were taken by me at the show - I apologise for the quality of the photos, as the lighting wasn't that good and flash was far too severe.

Just look at the size of this box! I originally thought it was a display prop, but NO this is the box that the game comes in. It's HUGE.

Sue and I had a great day out and were on our way back up the M5 (this time in glorious sunshine) by 4.15pm. I would say that the show was a little quieter that I had hoped for, but the lack of paying customers was more than made up for by the friendly atmosphere and the ability to browse the other games and chat to the gamers and organisers.

I would have liked to have played some of the games, but felt that it was only proper that I stayed manning the display and answering questions. I did however pick up some much needed pots of paint.

Tony

Orctober Fest

Image 'borrowed' from Erny's Place

While browsing the Internet, I came across a post detailing this great idea; Orctober Fest. For full details see this link.

I am planning on two groups of posts for Orctober, The first will be in keeping with the main theme of Olde Skool Orcs so expect some images of my old pre-slotta base Games Workshop Orc army. I now have to get it down from the attic and take some photographs!

Secondly; I'll try to paint up a small group of Flintloque Orcs (an Orctober On-Line Build), Lord knows I have enough of them sitting about. Details to follow over the next couple of days.

I'd recommend that others try their hand at painting up some of their old lead (Orcs of course). this might just be the kick-start to your painting mojo that you have been looking for.

Finally, thanks to Steve Blease who's Blog post was the catalyst for this particular post.

Tony