Silver Bayonet 1850

Local Gendarmerie in the Habsburg uniform of the late 1800s.  The tunics are Speedpaint 2.0 Absolution Green.

A swordsman ready to join your party and the local blacksmith.  I just love his fez.  It can’t be practical but no doubting his origins.

I bought some of the recent releases of Silver Bayonet minis from North Star.  I particularly liked the pir of vampires who have a very Ancien Regieme look to them, clearly they fled the Revolution but kept the look of Versailles.  I was a bit stuck on colours but then found very similar looking vampires in the new Castlevania: Nocturne series on Netflix.  Their vamps are all in pastels and that decided things for these two.

They head a cult who honour a mysterious being known as “The Count”.  Their household staff are enthusiastic converts, North Star minis again.

The cult has also attracted a small unit of soldiers who were billeted on the estate.  They seem to have lost their connection to sanity in the process.  Still they look happy enough about it.

These are Warlord Games Crimean Russian bodies from a free sprue on the front of WI.  They have been given Frostgrave cultist heads.  A simple but effective conversion that is directly copied from someone doing a Grimdark 40K force on Insta.  I’d like to credit them but can’t find their posts at the moment.  They did a great job and the unsettling head tilts on these are directly copied from their work.

Here they are together.  This faction is nearly done.  There are some West Wind Production Empire Dead cultists that I’d like to add but that will wait until after Christmas when I start buying minis again.

The Baroness and her Landsknecht, inseparable in death as they were in life.  Beautiful sculpts from Bad Squiddo that already start to tell their own story.  They will lead the skeleton horde who appear in the catacombs of the ruined keep on the edge of the great forest.

Gripping Beast do a lovely litle range of witch hunters which Ben reminded me about when he was giving the Blood- Maw a Golden Button.  I had to have them so here they are, ready to go.

In this scenario they form the Hexenjaeger.  Allied to the Church factions but even the fanatics or the Ordo find their mode of devotion distasteful and their methods shocking.  Whilst they outwardly respect the Church’s objectives they are also operating to their own unknowable agenda.  They are prepared to go to any lengths to achieve their goals and innocence is no defense if witchcraft is suspected.

Firstly the Grand Master, his Confessor and the Sergeant-at-Arms.  Painting wise I’ve gone with Grim Black and Murder Scene (the dark purple shade).  Everything else is the usual Speedpaints except the metailics where I went for Vallejo Model Air Black metallic with a highlight of Vallejo Metal Colour Pale Burnt Metal.  To finish, I tried a new matt varnish product on these.  Mr Super Clear Matt from Mr Hobby.  The can is twice the size of the Mr Hobby Matt Topcoat I’ve been using and results seems similarly flat  Looks good.

The soldiers who come in two packs from GB.  The torches are a bit bendy as the connection between hand and firey bit is quite thin but a least they bend back again easily.  Flame effect follows the directions I gave in the earlier Villagers Mob post and are based on the instructions from North Star Magazine here.

Executioners.  I love the equipment details on these models.

Order Militant Fanatics.  Clearly their solution to living in a scary world is to be the scariest thing in it.

And finally a group shot.  Good luck dealing with all of this lot.

I had a vampire knocking about that I think is also a West Wind sculpt.  I rebased him for this game.  I also ordered some Silver Bayonet cultists and a couple of Bad Squiddo skeletons and popped this nice bat swarm onto the order from North Star.

The vampire is basic acrylics in layers with couple of dots of red ink in the eyes for the blood glow effect.  The bats are speedpaints over zenithed undercoat, Grim Black on the bats and Dark Wood on the stump.  Light drybrush with Citadel Foundation Dhneb Stone to finish.

Frankenstein’s Monster is from Monolith Designs, part of the Graven Images line of 1/48th scale (36-38mm) Jim Bowen sculpted minis.  This one is from the range called Cliffhanger.  Be prepared to wait if you order, this is very much a side interest business.

The torturer/executioner is regular 25/28mm size so provides a good idea of the size of the flesh golem.  I can’t recall where he comes from, so if you know a comment would be welcome.  I think he might be an early Hasslefree but he isn’t still in their range seemingly if he is.

Technique (an painting quality) are a little older as these were exisiting paints just rebased for this game.  Simple single acrylics for the torturer, layered acrylics for the Monster.

A few “ordinary” werewolves finishes Loup Garou’s faction.  Same technique as before, greys blended to give a variety of colours for this group.

Then their mortal enemies the Wulfen Jaeger.  Lovely sculps here and their equipment and additional wolf trophy laden garb is very evocative.

Looks like they’ve got one.  Not sure they would be so confident tackling Loup Garou himself though.

The game uses D10s and a deck of cards.  I like my games to have an immersive feel so that means getting accessories to match.  First though is a slight bugbear of mine when using D10s; in this game the 10s are high (i.e. the numbers run from 1-10) but most dice only show 0-9, so I tried to track down some with the correct 1-10 instead.  I needed red (skill) and blue (power) and managed to find some.  No luck with the monster dice which are suggested as black so I went for a blend of black and dried blood colours.  Finally I also needed some cards.  This set is a reproduction of a set from 1858 (close enough for me).

Loup Garou is French for werewolf.  In this game he is the biggest werewolf and leader of the wolf-kin in the region.  He is always accompanied by his loyal dire wolves.

Painting is largely Gravelord Grey with some Grim Black wet blended on the big guy.  Red ink for the eye glow and some orange fluro paint to highlight the eye.  Claws and teeth in Pallid Bone with a Bonewhite highlight.

Again with the mob – still not fancying their chances.

Mierce make a big bear so that was sent for in the last sale too.  These Mierce castings are great.  Loot at how well they fitted together and how little greenstuff was needed – head, jaw,and all four legs were separate to start off with.

Once here it got the usual zenith undercoat and then on with the wet blending.  I started with Dark Wood on the low lights and Dusk Red on the highlights but this was a bit too pinky so swithched to Satchel Brown.  Blending with more medium allows the brighter zenith to come through more, even against the dark brown.  The muzzle and mouth were left and Howling Sand was used on the muzzle and blended back into the brown on the face.  Murder Scene is the colour in the mouth.  Teeth were Pallid Bone.  Then out came the standard acrylics with black for the nose and lips, Ivory on the teeth to highlight and finally a light and rather patchy drybrush of Dheneb Stone on the fur.  Basing sceme as previous.

You’ve got to give it to the mob – those chaps have got some pluck.  Don’t rate their chances in this one either though.

The mysterious librarian is a font of arcane knowledge and parties of adventurers seek his council when faced with the strange and unknown.  Perhaps they should be careful of the knowledge he shares for who knows what his agenda really is, or indeed who actually owns the library that he is the guardian of.

Ral Partha did 3 part character minis for Call of Cthulhu with your character starting out as their sane self and then descending into first a deranged and then a fully insane stage.  I only had the Doctor.  I’ve never been able to figure out which of the two more troubled stages is which for this character.  I always assumed that the one in the hat was the deranged/paranoid stage and the surgeon stage was fully insane, maybe someone can enlighten me?

They are truer 25mm scale but come on a very thick puddle base so look fine next to the 28mm minis I’m using in this project.  Again largely Speedpaints 2.0.  Tyrian Navy featuring here with the apron being Thunderbird Blue.

I bought these on eBay when someone else was selling off all of their Frostgrave.  If that was you – thanks very much, I’m very happy with them.

I have added a bit of my snow scatter to their exisitng snow bases and reapinted the rims in Astronomican Grey.

If you are interested in the history of these sculpts which are back in production on the North Star site again, check it out on their Facebook.

There was a post in the Forums about Heresy miniatures needing a bit of support.  I’d admired their Ghouls for some time and knew that they were now in Siocast after a Kickstarter some time ago.  I like the quality of Siocast minis after seeing so many from the Warlord Slaine range so was very happy to order some from Heresy finally.

Needless to say very happy.  A bit of cleaup on a couple but the sculpting is great.  New Speedpaints again and this time we went with Brownish Decay with intermittent splashes of Maggot Skin or other skintones to add a bit of variety.  Lighter dead fleshtone from Rigor Mortis which is perfect.  Some dark purple in mouths and cut meat ends from Murder Scene, bones were Pallid Bone.  I’ve changed base edges to Citadel Foundation Astronomicon Grey as I was fed up with the time taken to get a dense enough tone using white.

A couple of others added to this group.  First is a big ghoul from Mierce.  He is probably twice the size of a regular one and will add a bit of extra punch to this group in combat.  Same paint scheme.

NSFW alert here as this is the Gripping Beast Grendel mini who will also be a ghoul character.  Same paint scheme again.

Finished the big bad.  Dry brushed the skin with IDF Sand Grey over the brown bits, Citadel Foundation Astronomicon Grey over the grey bits and a blend of the two over the greener or intermediate bits.  Then the mouth got a dry brush of Vallejo Model Colour Beige Red with some stippled highlights along the edge of the tongue.

Then basing.  I’m sticking to the snow scatter which I’ve got.  I put some pieces of slate down first for a bit of texture and painted the base white and the tops of the stones where the snow was going to go.  Base rim also in white, several coats – coverage is rubbish.

Varnished with Mr Hobby Flat Matt spraycan and then gloss varnish in the mouth and over the gums.  Done.

And for those of you wondering about size it is listed as 101mm tall, that is a 100mm base it’s on.  Lunch has arrived.

I invested in some Mierce miniatures in the recent sale.  They really are as beautiful as they look on the webstore.  Looking for a big bad for a final encounter I spotted this chap and though – that’s the one.

First the build.  As you can see went together easily with minimal filling required.  Heres were a couple of hours got us to on Saturday:

On Sunday I did the zenithed undercoat.  This needed to dry so no more work until the next night.

Tonight I’ve been painting the front room so only had about an hour and a half.  Decided to pick out some of the new Speedpaints and go for a wet blend.  Started with a base of Mummified Grime with lowlights in Noble Skin and highlights in Burnt Moss.  Once this was on blended in some Brownish Decay to give his skin some variety and make him a bit more dirty green/brown.  Then on to the mouth with a couple of drops of Slaughter Red thinned out with mediumfor the gums and then darkened down with Noble Skin and the Brownish Decay for some variety.  Finally on to the teeth which started with a blend of Ruddy Fur, Bony Matter and a drop of Sand Golem.  I then separately had some Pallid Bone with a drop of medium.  Heavy coats of the darker tone were applied at at the base of teeth.  Palid bone went on the other ends and then blended towards the darker tone to maintain the steep colour gradient.  Finally claws were very similar but the darker tone was supplemented with a drop of Brownish Decay.  A wipe with the finger across the highlight areas on teeth and claws, a dot or two of thinned Warrior Skin onto the body for tone variety and a couple of very thin splashes of Slaughter Red for dried blood and this is where we got to.

Gotta say for the time taken I’m pretty happy with it so far.  Needs a look in the light and a careful drybrushed highlight in some places and a bit of fleshtone in the mouth but I’m nearly done.  Gotta love Speedpaints.  This is the original paintwork from Mierce.  I think I’m getting there.

Cue the torches and pitchforks.  These Westwind sculpts don’t disappoint and although they certainly have an identifiable style to them they aren’t as poorly proportioned as I was expecting from their photos on the website.  Westwind could do with some better photos for sure.

I zenithed the primer and then Speedpainted the rest.  Still using 1.0 except for the metallics which are 2.0.  The flaming torches are following the recipe from the North Star magazine here.  I’ve added some osl effect with a drybrush of Macharius Solar Orange.  I did try overlayering with speedpaints but some things just don’t work and that technique needs quite dry and very opaque paint.

Not long after Christmas I was looking through eBay for a bargain and happened upon someone selling off their collection of Gothic Wars miniatures by Westwind Productions.  I have some of these minis already and couldn’t resist getting more.  That did leave me with a big pile of figures and nothing specific to do with them.  That was until The Carpathians supplement came out for Silver Bayonet.  I like the game but the setting was a bit meh for me as I have a more historical focus for my Napoleonics.  Then my brain put one and one together and I have my latest project – Silver Bayonet, ported to 1850 and set in Transylvania.

Historic context:  The year 1848 saw a number of revolutions and popular uprisings across Europe with revolutions or government overthrows occuring in France, Germany, Poland and Hungary amongst others.  Transylvania was a part of the Hapsburg Empire and when Hungary revolted in 1848 it became a hotly contested area which saw a number of massacres of civilians as the native Romanians fought the Hungarian minority who had taken over the country to remain in the Hapsburg Empire rather than be subsumed into the new Kingdom of Hungary.

The Hungarian army was defeated in 1849 and the Hapsburgs retook control but the simmering resentment lasted up to, and indeed contributed directly to, the start of WWI.

Now to the minis.  I got about 130 Gothic Horror minis from eBay.  I already had some others that would be suitable.  Here you can see one of the Westwind blisters as well as one of my existing collection – this one is the Doctors set for Call of Cthulhu by RAFM.

I’ve divided them up into sets of 15-20 models and have: Frankenstein and his servants and creatures, Dracula and his allies, Zendarian military, Transylvanian mob, various vampire hunters, werewolves and hunters.  To that I’m going to add some pulp minis and have the Tzar and his Siberian guards to make up one group and I’ll also have the ghouls from Heresy as another group.

I’ve decided to start on the Transylvanian mob.