Hellenika Spartan 300 Girl

I was doing a search of the web for Spartan miniatures and stumbled upon this beauty on ebay.

Its from Kabuki Models, click here for website. They seem to be a new company with a small range, I am very impressed.

This is a 35mm miniature from the 21st Century Pin-ups range, the model is sculpter by Gael Goumon and casted in finest white metal. It comes unassembled and unpainted. The model is painted by Angel Giraldez.

Other work from this company can be found on Cool Mini or Not click here for the website.













After spending a year painting Ogre Kingdom miniatures I wanted to paint a single figure and something completely different, this one will do very nicely.

I will post pictures when I have assembled and painted this miniature.

The Leicester Squiggle

I have entered my first tournament the "The Leicester Squiggle" being held in Leicester and hosted by the Leicester S.Q.U.I.G gaming club on the 26th September. Its a one day, three game, 1999 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament.

I will be taking my Ogre Kingdoms, I just need to whittle down my existing 2500 points to 1999 points. The maximum number of tournament point available is 50, so I am giving myself a target of 17. I will probably end the tournament in last place, but with being a novice and using probably one of the weakest armies in the Warhammer world at the moment I will be happy with that.

The tournament is 14 weeks away so had better get some practice, haven't yet played a game this year (too busy painting, working). I will post a tournament report on how I got on after the tournament.

A link to the post on The Warhammer Form can be found here.

Fathers Days 2009

My kids, with the help from my wife bought me some new brushes for Fathers day.

I had hinted that I quite liked the look of some Pure Kolinsky Sable brushes, from a company I found on the web Rosemary & Co Quality Artist Brushes.

Snippet taken from their website on these Pure Kolinsky Sable brushes...

This is the top grade of hair for holding capacity due to the perfect ‘belly’, excellent snap and spring. Selected and made by hand enabling the brushmaker to ‘feel’ the belly and thus form a brush head which is symmetrical and tapered to perfection. The high cost of the hair being the only major drawback (usually weight for weight three times the price of gold). Once used however the difference compared to others is well worth the difference in price. Consider Kolinsky Sable a long term investment. Personally as a brushmaker this is my absolute favourite hair to work with, indeed a privilege.

I will be using these brushes on my next project, which is probably going to be the Chaos Lord on Juggernaut, or some Chaos Knights.

These brushes look and feel excellent, I will post a review once I have used these.

Lord of the Rings - Mines or Moria

I bought myself the Lord of the Rings Mines of Moria box set for my birthday back in 2007.

I wanted to include pictures of all my painted miniatures on this blog so have included these miniatures as well, still need to photograph the goblins.

May be one day I will get more involved with Lord of the Rings and the new War of the Ring games. But at the moment my focus is purely on my Warhammer Fantasy miniatures.

Lord of the Rings - Gandalf

Gandalf

As explained in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf spent the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings travelling Middle-earth in search of information on Sauron's resurgence and Bilbo's mysterious ring, spurred particularly by Bilbo's initial misleading story of how he had obtained it as a "present" from Gollum. During this period he befriended Aragorn and first became suspicious of Saruman. He spent as much time as he could in the Shire, strengthening his friendship with Bilbo and Frodo, Bilbo's heir.

Lord of the Rings - Gimli

Gimli

Gimli was introduced in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, at the Council of Elrond Half-elven, which he attended together with his father to bring news of his home, Erebor (the Lonely Mountain). There they learned that Bilbo's kinsman Frodo now owned the One Ring, a Ring of Power forged and then lost by the Dark Lord Sauron. The Council decided to have it destroyed by casting it into the volcanic Mount Doom in Sauron's domain of Mordor. Frodo volunteered for the task, and Elrond chose eight people of varying races to aid him in his task — including Gimli. Thus, the Fellowship of the Ring was formed.

Lord of the Rings - Aragorn

Aragorn

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn joined Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's adopted heir, and three of his friends at the Inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree. These four had set out from the Shire to bring the One Ring to Rivendell. Aragorn, going by the nickname Strider, was aged 87 at that time, nearing the prime of life for one of royal Númenórean descent. With Aragorn's help the Hobbits escaped the pursuing Nazgûl and reached Rivendell. There, Aragorn was chosen to join the Fellowship of the Ring that was formed to guard Frodo, who was charged with destroying the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. Besides Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo, the company included Frodo's cousins Pippin and Merry, Frodo's faithful gardener Samwise Gamgee, Legolas the Elf, Gimli the Dwarf, and Boromir of Gondor. Before the group set out, the shards of Narsil were reforged, and the restored blade was named Andúril.

Lord of the Rings - Boromir

Boromir

Boromir first appears in The Lord of the Rings arriving at Rivendell just as the Council of Elrond was commencing. There he tells of Gondor's attempts to keep the power of Mordor at bay. He attempted to persuade the Council to let him take the One Ring to Gondor so that it could be used in the defence of the realm, but he was told that it could not be used without corrupting its user and alerting Sauron to its presence. He accepted this for the moment, and pledged as part of the Fellowship of the Ring to keep Frodo safe.

Lord of the Rings - Legolas

Legolas

Legolas was introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring, at the council of Elrond of Rivendell, where he came as a messenger from his father to discuss the escape of Gollum from their guard. Legolas was chosen to be a member of the Fellowship that intended to destroy the One Ring. He accompanied the other members in their travels from Rivendell to Amon Hen, serving as the group's archer.

Lord of the Rings - Sam

Sam (Samwise Gamgee)

Samwise Gamgee is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring. Sam is Frodo Baggins' gardener, having inherited the position as Bag End's gardener from his father, Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee. At the time of the War of the Ring, Sam was living in Number 3, Bagshot Row with his father.

Lord of the Rings - Pippin

Pippin (Peregrin Took)

Pippin was the only hobbit who had not yet reached his 'coming of age' when the Fellowship set out (being eight years younger than Merry, while Frodo himself was 50 years of age) and was therefore still in his 'tweens'. He was a worthy accomplice to Merry's plans, but showed his youth as well; he was still a cheerful, if occasionally thoughtless Hobbit, and was first to miss the comforts of Hobbit life. At Rivendell, Elrond almost denied Pippin the chance to accompany Frodo, nearly deciding to send Pippin and Merry as messengers to the Shire. Gandalf, however, supported his and Merry's claims of friendship and loyalty, and they were chosen as the last members of the Fellowship.

Lord of the Rings - Merry

Merry (Meriadoc Brandybuck)

In The Lord of the Rings, Merry was often considered, and was described by Tolkien as, the most perceptive and intelligent of the hobbits: for example, even before Bilbo Baggins left The Shire, he knew of the One Ring and its power of invisibility. He guarded Bag End after Bilbo's party, protecting Frodo from the various and often unwanted guests. He has a knowing manner and a teasing sense of humour so obviously innocent and well-meaning that they are impossible to resent. (In one incident, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins accuses Frodo of being a Brandybuck and no true Baggins; Merry assures Frodo "It was a compliment; and so, of course, not true".)

Lord of the Rings - Frodo

Frodo (Frodo Baggins)

The Fellowship of the Ring opens as Frodo came of age and Bilbo left the Shire for good on his one hundred and eleventh birthday. Frodo inherited Bag End and Bilbo's magic ring that was introduced in The Hobbit. Gandalf, at this time, was not certain about the origin of the Ring, so he warned Frodo to avoid using it and to keep it secret. Frodo kept the Ring hidden for seventeen years, until Gandalf returned to tell him that it was the One Ring of the Dark Lord, Sauron, who lacked only this to become all-powerful again and to be able to establish a virtually unending rule of darkness over Middle-earth.

TabStudio.com

I found these 5 video painting tutorial episodes on the web from Tracy Brady of tabstudio.com. The last episode was posted November 12th, 2007. Its a real shame there arn't any more episodes posted, these are really informative and helpful.

The tutorials are hosted here http://brushordie.blip.tv, or click on the episode links.

Episode 1 - Priming A Miniature
Episode 2 - Attack Of The Colors
Episode 3 - Pinning
Episode 4 - Base Coating Metallics
Episode 5 - 35mm Face Painting

Tracy Brady has a more recent blog here, the episodes can also be found on this site.

Bell of Lost Souls Alliance

My blog has been accepted into the Bell of Lost Soul Alliance. The Bell of Lost Soul Alliance is a group of war gaming bloggers. Click on the image above or in my side bar to access the site.

Bell of Lost Soul has the most upto date information regarding Warhammer Fantasy and 40K anywhere I have found on the web.

Blood for the Blood God

This was my second Back Library Warhammer Fantasy novel. A novel about a champion of Khorne who roams the Chaos Wastes slaying all who stand between him and his destiny.

Again another excellent read from the Back Library. The story line had a interesting twist at the end, leaving the story line open for a sequel.

This novel gave a great insight into the infighting and synergies between chaos tribes. How Khorne worshipping tribes despise Tzeentch and vica versa. Each of the four god worshipping tribes were involved, as well as a beast tribe, and plenty of daemons.

Now I need another novel, definitely going for another Warhammer Fantasy novel from the Back Library.

My Battalion Gaming Network

I have recently joined a new web site My Battalion It is a new social networking site for table top wargaming.

Joining is free. You can create and manage groups, clubs, and friends, upload pictures of your latest miniatures, blog about your battles, or argue tactics and painting tips on the forums. Also they are currently working on modifying the current system to allow for tournament hosting, record and stat tracking, and army list construction and storage, all of which will be free.