Roll out the Barrel!

A while ago I picked up the TTCombat Wooden Barrels pack of resin scatter terrain.  I figured these would be useful for Carnevale but also lots of others like Dragon Rampant, Frostgrave, Mordheim, Dracula's America and Burrows & Badgers (and no doubt many many others!).

The pack from TTCombat includes 12 barrels - but I had 15... I think the extras came from the Halfling Kickstarter resin scatter pack, but were dropped from the retail release.  Either way it's a useful mix of barrel sizes.

First, the big 'uns - 29mm tall:

The middle ones - measuring in at 20mm:

The multi-banded middle ones (these are the ones I suspect came from the Halfling KS) - 21mm, but a bit less wide across:

The small ones are 19mm tall:

And the tiddliest ones - one at about 14mm and two at 12mm:

A very versatile pack that will find use in many games as cover, dressing or even as an objective.

Halfling Produce

Ages ago I mentioned I'd ordered some resin scatter as part of the TTCombat Halfling Kickstarter.  Well, I finally got round to working on them!

Now, the retail release - Halfling Produce - has a bit more stuff, and a little more variety, so this is based on what was part of the Kickstarter.

First, and arguably the main piece, is the cart:

This is nicely details with a couple of barrells and some sacks of produce.  It's a single piece casting so quick and easy to prep.

Next, and possibly my favourites, a couple of barrells of cabbages!

Keeping with the produce, some crates - one with cabbages, one with apples and one closed:

The pack also included a trough, complete with feed:

There were also three hay bales - whilst painting them I decided that I'll stick them together to make a little pile so they are less fiddly on the tabletop.

Finally, there was this cute beehive:

Whilst I got these to use for my Halfling Dragon Rampant project, most (if not all) will find use in other games too - I'm thinking Burrows & Badgers, Dracula's America and even Carnevale.

A really fun pack of scatter/detailing pieces - and even better value in its current guise from TTCombat's retail pack!

Fenris Games - Drystone Walls

I've been in a bit of a painting funk recently - I'd been painting a lot of bases mud/sand to keep going but I wasn't in a painting mode.  I looked at my primed stash and thought the rather excellent Drystone Walls from Fenris Games would make for a good way back into the swing of things.  The incredible textures in these pieces would lend themselves to washes and drybrushes and help give me a sense of accomplishment when they were all done.  Here they are:

I had primed them with some cheap sandstone/beige, so just used a wash and a half of diluted Soft Tone Army Painter wash and then drybrushed with Skeleton Bone (again Army Painter).  Really simple, but really effective (I think) to get these table-ready.  They are really verstaile pieces which will find use in a lot of games - I was so happy with them I thought I'd have a bit of fun!

Irish Rebels take shelter

 Shadowpaw's Company await their next victim...

 I really recommend Fenris Games - and these walls are the best I've seen; they make even novice painters like me look a lot better than I am!

Bear's Wood Town Watch

Oathsworn Miniatures held a Great and Small Kickstarter campaign a little while ago and I picked up the really rather awesome Bulldog Knight sculpt:

It's a big 'un - single-piece, cast in resin - there wasn't much tidy-up needed on this chap; no bubbles to fill.

I didn't really have a specific use for it, but when I had it in hand I decided to get him some friends to form a Town Watch for the Bear's Wood - kind of like a neutral NPC warband in between my band of rogues and my wife's sisterhood.

So, with that in mind I hit up the Oathsworn shop and this is what I got!

I'd admired the Weasel Soldier with his crossbow and thought he'd fit right in with the theme of this band:

I also added the two Town Watch-Mouse minis - one with crossbow and one with halberd:

I also added a Shrew Heroine - purely because I liked the mini and thought she'd make a cool second-in-command to the Bulldog Knight!

I wanted to add a little bit of spiritual support (well, magickal no doubt) - so chose the Mole Friar to join the Bear's Wood Town Watch:

Finally, I wanted to include the family pet somehow - the Cat Duellist looked like he could fit in (maybe he's the local Baron's right hand beast making sure the Town Watch are up to scratch!):

As with all Oathsworn minis these are really characterful and needed almost no clean-up at all to prep.  The only problem with looking at the Oathsworn shop is that it makes me want all the things!

Homes for Beasts

I have a few kits and bits to use with Burrows & Badgers, but I couldn't resist a couple of the more unique Sarissa kits released specifically for that game.

First,'Prickly' Jane's Cottage:

I think this should work well alongside a house or two from the TTCombat Halflings range for a beast-village.

A must for me was Salvor's Burrow:

I'm going to add lots of static grass and hopefully some flower tufts to the roof.

TTCombat Streets of Venice

I picked up a really good deal on a Carnevale starter set (with extras) and while it comes with street/canal tiles and lots of awesome buildings - and even a gondola! - I knew I'd want some additional scatter terrain to add some life to the table.

Well, it's no surprise that TTCombat have a range dedicated to support their re-release of Carnevale, so I picked up some of their resin packs to add to the collection.

First up, a set of 3 Round Wells:

Two are whole and capped off, the third is broken (asking for a little water effect I guess!).  I think I can probably use these in Gangs of Rome and Broken Legions too.

I also picked up a set of Barrels:

Containing 12 barrels of various sizes, this will come in handy for all sorts of games - pretty much anything fantasy (Burrows & Badgers, Dragon Rampant, Mordheim, Frostgrave), historical (En Garde!, Outremer, TPL, Gangs of Rome) or both (Broken Legions) can make use of these versatile little pieces.

I thought it would be good to add to the Gondola that came in the Carnevale pack for some water-based scenery.  I got the Noble Gondola:

As well as an ornate Gondola (including cushions!) the pack includes three gondola poles to add to the canals for games of Carnevale.

I spotted the Floating Detritus pack and couldn't resist:

The pack includes 14 pieces - from small barrels to collections of wooden junk.  They are all sculpted to look as thought they are floating on the canals of Venice (or the waters of Port Royal).

While finalising my order I came across the Wood Scaffolding MDF kit:

These will help provide routes up to building roof tops in Carnevale, but will also work well for Gangs of Rome in particular.

Windmill and Houses

Long-time readers might remember that I backed teh TTCombat Halflings KS - to complement the models I pledged for I added for some MDF scenery kits.  I figure they can also work well for Burrows & Badgers (after all, if a halfling can fit in a house, I'm sure a mouse can!).

First up are the houses (catchily named Halfling House Set A):

The set includes four houses - they are quite small (as they should be for Halflings!) but will be spot on for my intended purpose!

I also got a set of walls (marked up Kickstarter so not sure if these will enter retail from TTCombat):

Eight walls - four long and four short - so useful to provide some cover on the table.  They are rather short - perfect for the TTCombat Halflings I'll be using for Dragon Rampant, but might be just a touch too short for the Burrows & Badgers minis.  Still, extra scenery is never a bad thing so I'll be glad to have them in the collection - plus they look like quite a gentle introduction to MDF scenery kits!

Finally we have the Halfling Windmill set:

It looks like this also includes a granary-type building, which is a bonus as I was only counting on a Windmill to use as a cool centrepiece structure for both Dragon Rampant and Burrows & Badgers.

Really pleased with these kits and think they'll look great all made up and painted!

Shadowpaw's Company completed!

You may remember a previous post where I introduced the miniatures I'd picked up for my warband for Burrows and Badgers.  Well, I've finally finished them and thought they deserved to be introduced a little more formally here!

My leader is Hildeth Shadowpaw, an ill-tempered ferret with a reputation for using all sorts of cunning and chicanery to secure a victory.  Some have asked her about her purple dagger sheaths, but they get only silence and a look as sharp and deadly as the blades she carries.

Her second is Kennard of Myrce - one of the fox folk that control that land.  He brings a strength of arm that is much needed by Hildeth's company, although he's as wily as the rest of the band to boot.

Hildeth has secured the services of a sorceress of fell repute - Hextilda the Grey.  Hextilda, despite her reputation and that of her kin, is actually a friendly woman who is fiercely loyal to her comrades.

Otho Sharpeye was the first beast to join Hildeth - they formed an unlikely partnership with Otho acting as a look-out for Shadowpaw for whatever nefarious activity she was engaged in that day.  Otho, and his bow, have proven invaluable to the Company on many occasions.

Deryk Redpelt was a footpad long before joining up with Shadowpaw's Company - he was known as the Scourge of the Thimble Mill before he swore his loyalty to Hildeth.

Arnet the Fierce is considered by the other members of the company to be unhinged - unlike most of his folk, Arnet revels in combat; a trait which has made him a welcome fighter amongst Hildeth's band.

Probably the most affable of Shadowpaw's Company, Chatterbox Jenkin is the one most often met by strangers.  He tends to be sent to visit merchants and find out about potential marks - his likeable nature means beasts will open up to him easily.

All of the models were from Oathsworn - while they are really nice sculpts I found them a bit of a slog for some reason.  I'm really happy with how they've turned out though!

Looking forward to sorting some scenery for Burrows and Badgers ready to take on my wife's band soon!

Autumn... well, at least in The Bear's Wood

I decided upon an autumnal theme for the basing for our Burrows and Badgers warbands.  Of course, that meant needing to source some suitable scatters and details.

My absolute must was some fallen leaves - nothing says autumn quite like leaf litter.  I looked around and found some suitable options from Javis. I decided upon the Autumn Fine Leaf Scatter, which I found at Hobbies 24/7.  Their service was super smooth - I'll definitely check them out as one of my options for future hobby material needs.

It comes in its own baggie which is helpful and there's plenty in the bag for both warbands and then some.

Of course, you may know that Serious-Play is one of my go-tos for basing stuff so I searched their extensive catalogue for autumn-themed elements and picked out a few.  First up is their Orange Flowers and Bushes Tufts - I already know how great their tufts are so knew I wanted some to give some pops of colour and texture:

This is what they call a taster sheet - which is perfect for skirmish gamers as it has 52 tufts.  You can buy them in greater volumes if you are a large-army kind of gamer.

I also decided to try some of their lichen - of course it had to be their Autumn Mix:

Just look at those colours! These'll look great on the bases of larger models like my wife's Badger or my Fox.

Finally I picked up a bag of their Creeping Undergrowth in dark red:

This will look great to represent roots, brambles and the like. It's a packed bag too - there's loads in it!

Serious-Play never disappoints, the service was great as always - although I had to get these from their eBay shop as they didn't have the Creeping Undergrowth seperately on their own site for some reason.

These will really help our warbands tie thematically together and to our favourite season!