Lonkelo’s Burrows and Badgers

So, it happens that I ordered some more minis from Oathsworn. And then I backed the recent kickstarter and got enough minis to keep me occupied for this year. Anyway, here are three new painted minis. I’m quite happy with them, except that the matt varnish didn’t do much matting… A well, I might touch that up at a later time.

This time I tried making a bit more scenic photos. I guess everything is better than the dirty window sills from the previous entries ?

I haven’t found a good name for the Magpie and the Witchhunter Spaniel yet, although the magpie has informed me that he is a ‘legitimate businessman’.

empty (accidentally uploaded twice…)

Done! For the first time in, I think, seventeen years I have completed minis to this degree. Very proud of myself and the finished product. Painting these has really got me back into hobbying and I actually managed to get my wife interested as well (#snaganormy)! We are into our second game of Burrows and Badgers at the moment and have just started a campaign.

My warband is obviously Loyalist and belongs to the Order of the Crown (blue with white fleur-de-lys, cf. Sternpaw’s Almanack, pt 1). My wife’s warband is aligned with the Rogues and represents a group of outcasts. We started with 250 pennies, which amounts to four minis each.

My warband:

• Snuffles the Boss Hare (Dutch: Snuf de Baashaas, lost in translation…), the leader
• Sir Squeak (Dutch: Heer Piep), his trusty second
• Ed the Adder (Dutch: Ad onder’t Gras), the Noble mage
• Ronald Weasel (Dutch: Ron Wezel), the soldier

This leaves the Mouse Shieldmaiden and Squirrel Witch for now, who are both still unnamed. The Mouse Shieldmaiden looks more like the traveling kind to me, with her brown cloak. I thought that she could be from an order allied to the Order of the Crown and therefore with a similar coat of arms, but with an added bend sinister argent (please correct my heraldic terminology, if I’m wrong…). I still have to think of a background for the Squirrel Witch.

Very proud of this Gold button. Definitely came as a surprise, but all the happier for it!

So, it’s been a while since my last update. I have been painting, but every time I found some time to take pictures, it was already too dark. I know my pictures are far from the class you might see elsewhere here among other projects, but I do try to get some good natural light on them.

So, I finished the first paint job for each of the mini’s in my warband and I dipped them earlier this week. I used Strong Tone dip, with some white spirit added (about 1 white spirit to 4 or 5 dip?). I’m quite pleased with the result, but do notice some dip buildup in some places. Also, the fleur-de-lys on especially the hare knight miniature looks a bit too dirty now, so my next step will be applying a matt varnish over which I can start adding some finishing touches.

After that, basing time! I need to get something to even out the bases and some flock (I seem to have misplaced the bag I’ve had for ages) from my friendly local game store.

So, the Adder Mage is now more or less done as well. Not too sure about dipping this mini. I think it would probably ruin the details on the top of the staff and the eyes. I’m planning to thin down the dip, so I might just try it and redo those details afterwards, if necessary.

I have to say that I’m very pleased with the result for now.

Note to self: the next mini must have a different skin/fur colour…

The Mouse Knight is done for now. That is, until it is dipped.

As you can see, I’ve started painting the Adder Mage. I’ve been trying experimenting a bit with the skin, using the above adder image as a reference. I started off with some light brown (Basilisk Brown, I think?) for the body as a whole. I found that a brown ink worked quite well for the darker tone on the side of the adder’s body.

For the pattern on the top of the adders body I went for a dark brown mix of my own, with some water added. I tried to zigzag at first, like on the adder in the reference image. But it just looked messy. Instead, I decided to make a more or less straight line with the dark brown down its back. The patterning on its head worked out as intended. I’m not displeased with the result, even though it differs from my initial plan.

Originally I wanted to give the added a more sinister skin tone. I think because I (and I suspect many others like me) tend to think of snakes as malevolent creatures. Then, I noticed all the seals (the emblem, not the animal…) on its staff and it suddenly came to me that it would be much more interesting if the adder were not evil.

The core of my Royalist group was at first intended to consist of the Hare and Mouse Knights, the Weasel Soldier and the Mouse Shieldmaiden. The Adder Mage and Squirrel Witch didn’t feel like they fit in as much with the rest, so for me they were more loosely attached to the warband. I now have come to think of the Adder Mage as a more or less regular member of magical society. I think Noble magic is a bit too much for it. Instead, I’m thinking of giving it Unbound magic, which is the academic approach to magic in Burrows and Badgers. The seals and attached parchments make more sense to me like that (perhaps containing notes!) and I love to idea of the adder lounging in a big chair by the fire, warming its scales while peering over an arcane tome.

So again, I find myself drawn to the dichotomy of an animal with its profession. I have also started to notice that the colours of the hare, mouse and adder are very similar. I’d like to think that this is because these are just the camouflage colours nature has for animals inhabiting the same region. Another (and more likely?) possibility is that I’ve been using the same paints, without noticing.

I went with the Starter Warband A from Oathsworn, which lends itself as a good starting force for Royalists. I decided to go with trying to build an Order of the Crown force. I haven’t found much additional information on this faction, except for the short description in Sternpaw’s Almanack, issue 1. They did give a few colours that are normally associated with them, and among those is the blue scheme, that I picked.

I started off with painting the two knights. The first is the Hare Knight. What I really like about this miniature is that it has a nice contrast between the  hare as a feral animal and a role in society that is defined by a code of honour and duty. I’ve been trying to represent this by the clean blue/white theme of the livery and the wild colours of the hare’s fur. My main reference can also be seen in the image galery above.

The idea is to use a dip to finish the mini’s off. It has worked out nicely in the past for me, especially since I’m a bit of a lazy painter. I’m going to dip them all at the same time, I think, once I’ve finished painting them. After that I’ll do a matt varnish spray and maybe pep up a few highlights. That’s the plan anyway.

This is the Mouse Knight; the smaller equivalent of the hare. I’m still working on painting this one, as you can see. For the livery I’m sticking with the same blue and white. Note that, like with the hare, that the sword’s crossguard is the same colour as the blade. Until now I would usually paint it gold or bronze, but it didn’t seem right to me this time. A knight would want a crossguard just as sturdy as the rest of the blade. I think/hope the dip will accentuate their being different parts of the sword in the end.

For the mouse’s I’ve tried to go with a standard brownish colour (see the third image). It turned out a bit more wild-looking, which I think I like. I hope it contrasts enough with the hare in the end and won’t look too much like a ‘Mini Me’.