Saturday, 15 February 2025

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

 


It's Canadian Flag Day. 

It's snowing.

It's cold...

  ... and I'm not going outside if I can help it.

   It's Winter in Canada and as the man said "What else is new?

   Well a few things. Since I'm now retired from the ministry (save a few agreed-upon services at my old parish and some supply work) and I've been painting miniatures and building scale buildings. Here are a few examples.

For The Silver Bayonet, a supernatural investigator 
from the American listing.


A very useful figure... the Coachman from the Austrian listing for The Silver
Bayonet. This appears to be a really useful figure in a number of ways. I like him!

 

A very nautical ghostly figure. A gift from my eldest's partner, I attempted to make him very ghostly and almost glowing. The different shades of green with dry brushings in yellows gives the figure character. The tentacle rising from the sea just gives goosebumps. 

From Trent Miniatures' Wars of the Vendee range, a character I'm calling
a female demon hunter. Trent minis make some wonderful figures usable 
for The Silver Bayonet, well worth looking into. 

A fire wizard from Reaper Bones. I often use inks for final detailings. To the eye, they 
                              look fine, but on camera they make things look dirty.
                                                        I need to work this out. 

A Zombie master or a necromancer from North Star's Horror range. He has a "Baron Samedi" vibe of sorts. He might be quite handy for any number of evil plots in The Silver Bayonet.

"Kein Kreuzer, Kein Schweizer"
"No money, no Swiss" is the old saying. Here is a Swiss Guardsman for my Vatican team for The Silver Bayonet. I realized I had bought a pack of Landsknecht pikemen and had some left. I dug up the figure, added a musket from the "bits box", and had another Swiss guard for the team.

 

North Star Miniatures offering of an "occultist" for the Prussian unit in The Silver Bayonet. I liked idea of another female character for the use of any group, especially on in civilian clothes.
 
The Cardinal
I think this is a Essex figure I've had for years and years. I'll find a use for him. 

Toxic stuff in barrels. Available at your local tavern.

Meanwhile, my wonderful wife had begun to paint again. She had been painting for a long time but took a hiatus for a long number of years. I turned over to her all my "Wild West" Saloon figures and she had a few of her own to paint as well. With her permission, I'm posting them. 

"Don't shoot me! I'm only the piano player!"

Not ready for the San Francisco Symphony,
but good enough for Deadwood!

Beth does the best painting of faces!

"Who's light? Ante up!"
 The cards were small pieces of paper added to the table and the coins were dabs of glue. 

"Who dealt this mess?"

The Saloon Band
The red vested banjo player came with the set. The other three are "Wild-Westernized" version of ZZ Top and "Girls go crazy for a sharp dressed man!" 

Live and in person

The backside of the music business

The Saloonkeeper

The Saloonkeeper - "Time to lean? Time to clean!"

The Saloon Girl

The Saloon girl - delivering the goods.

The caption card for the Saloon figures

The other side of the caption card

I've been building buildings. Often it's a creative paint job on Christmas village buildings from places like Michael's craft stores. The most fun has been building log cabins found at Dollarama and building onto them in some way or another. I posted the blockhouse I made from two log cabin kits before, but here it is again.

Rather crude, but workable for some scenarios in North America

I've since touched up the places I'd missed.

   I saw what was called a "grain barn" in a recent Skytrex track-side building advert. I said to myself "I think I could do something like that from left-over cabin parts and other things in my parts box." Here we go!

The Grain Barn with a sandy floor and hand-made shingles, done in strips

There's a little shed at the back of the building to cover whatever needs covering.

I can see this as a stand-alone structure or as a covered walkway with a cabin on either side. If we do another gangster scenario with the Wiley Games rules, this might be the shipping/loading area of the brewery.

Last but not least, Beth's offering on a small dragon with lots of dry-brush work.

Beth has really taken to many "advanced" techniques. More than I really.

More to come later... 'cause I'm still painting!

Friday, 17 January 2025

Long Time Coming

 Long Time Coming


Due to a number of factors - not least of which was my actual retirement - I haven't blogged in a while. I've been what some folks would call busy about a number of things. I tell people that I find retirement both weird and confusing.

In any event, I also have been painting and building small buildings for various gaming systems. For instance...

Fencing of a good sort - made of cereal box type cardboard and sticks


A North American Colonial blockhouse -
made from two Dollar Store log cabin kits

The Hut of the Baba Yaga, large size
My friend, Ralph supplied the feet and the figure,
made with his 3D printer.

The smaller Hut of the Baba Yaga with more feet provided by Ralph

Two resin-cast houses gifted to me by my wife,
who also provided the flowers.

A large log cabin again from two Dollar Store kits with a balcony added.

Log cabins and other such things at the Hamilton Road Games Group's Christmas holiday gathering,

Another Dollar Store purchase - the Arc de Whatzit

Some figures of all types as well.
A drummer although I'm unsure of what period.

Handgunners! Again from Ralph

Napoleonic Austrian Hussar, Hesse-Homberg regiment
I always called them the "Glow-in-the-dark Hussars."

Something I called the "Strange Agent"
A Viking body with head and arms from some sort of Sylvan creature.

British NCO and officer for 
Seven Years War or French & Indian War

British infantry "Hatmen" for the same period as above,

A cultured gentleman of the late 1700s.

A noble woman of the late 1700s... and her dog.

A well-to-do woman in "riding habit" of the late 1700s.
I have since touched up the face. I use inks to pick out details,
and sometimes it goes awry.

A Gatling Gun from RAFM's Wild West range,

A Fomorian giant of Irish myth and legend.

Your basic stone golem

Some sort of Grave Guardian
which I'll use in my Silver Bayonet games.

Some bats atop a tombstone

The MOST terrifying monsters in any campaign set in Canada -
CANADA GEESE
I have some home-spun rules for these things for The Silver Bayonet.
Are they evil? Oh, yes, they are!

                                             

Guess who. Cthulu! I liked the look of this idol-ish thing.

A demon I cobbled together from various parts.
He'd scare me if I met him for real!

A Catholic priest from Trent Miniatures.

A Canadian Militia officer from Knuckleduster Miniatures

Dogs.
I've often added dogs to Silver Bayonet teams just for laughs.

A Trent Miniatures figure I use as a female demon hunter.

Irish rebel leader - Trent Miniatures

Little Turtle of the Miami - Trent Minis

Either a wizard-y type or a martial arts master
from Marvel Crisis Protocol

Royal Marine officer - Knuckleduster minis

Lady with broom - Wargames Atlantic

Older woman carrying stuff - Wargames Atlantic

Woman with two buckets - Wargames Atlantic

Thanks to my friend, David, some Egyptian folk for Silver Bayonet
A Dervish and an Imam with the Holy Quran.

A deserter from an East India Company regiment

Egyptian irregulars

More irregulars with firearms

Egyptian irregulars with bladed weapons and shields

A Janissary officer and soldier
REALLY ancient Hinchliffe figures 

An Austrian Grenze Regiment "Serizaner"
armed irregular guides for the Grenz or Border regiments
Called "Red Capes" although the regiments had red cloaks 
as part of their uniforms rather than greatcoats.

Rifleman of the 5th Battalion, 60th Foot.
I believe these guys garrisoned the state of Maine
during the War of 1812 since Maine surrendered
to the Crown forces. (I could be wrong.)
In any event, they make a nice different piece for 
North American Silver Bayonet games.

Back by popular demand!
Mothman!

The Infamous Cheese Golem
Don't go out in the hot weather lest you become
a Grilled Cheese Golem!

There's quite a bit here and I'm sure I've missed some items or doubled some items. Still, I'm enjoying the painting and building. I also hope to be more active with this blog.

So what do you think? Let me know.