Horns and Cloven Feet
When the flowery hands of spring
C. S. Lewis, The Satyr, 1919
Forth their woodland riches fling,
Through the meadows, through the valleys
Goes the satyr carolling.
While rearranging some shelves last week, I realised that I’d painted quite a few miniatures last year (and indeed, done some other arts and crafts) that I’d never uploaded anywhere. I’ll aim to start putting that right over the next few days, starting with a handful of Citadel ‘Beastmen’ from the ’80s and ’90s. I’m not sure at what point I picked these up, or where, or whether I was planning anything specific.
Read MoreNecron-omicon
“Beyond life there are” – his face grew ashen with terror -“things that I cannot distinguish. They move slowly through angles. They have no bodies, and they move slowly through outrageous angles…God, they are breaking through! They are breaking through! “
Frank Belknap Long, The Hounds Of Tindalos
There’s more than a few Lovecraftian allusions in Rogue Trader and the wider Warhammer 40K universe, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before my xenofauna side project spawned its own side project. A few models that I’ve picked up over the past few weeks don’t quite fit in either my growing genestealer cult or my alien bestiary. But what if I was to start a small collection of space age horror mininatures…?
Read MoreNew Members in the Cult
I’m on something of a roll painting genestealers (and their proxies) for the Cult of the Third Party Emperor. I think the last two posts were a bit too photo-heavy, so here’s a third with just a few new (and old) miniatures from the last couple of weeks.
Read MoreHive Fleet Mastodon / Xenofauna
It was inevitable, I suppose, that when I began collecting and painting genestealers and genestealer-like miniatures I’d also get sucked into some tyranids. It started with re-basing my ambull (mostly because I’d become dissatisfied with the base). Then I got fear of missing out on some very limited edition castings of fan sculpts on Facebook. Then I realised that the “alien” lists at the back of Rogue Trader were intended to use repurposed fantasy miniatures…
Read MoreTertii Imperatoris Cultus
I’m not sure if I’m so much back after another long absence, or if this is just another in an emerging pattern of long, image-heavy posts with months between them. Let’s get straight into it. about a year ago my friend Owen asked if I wanted to play Necromunda. “No”, I replied, “it fills me with fear to think about handling my miniatures after I’ve painted them”.
But whether it’s because I’m quite keen on the ‘new’ Games Workshop genestealer models, or because I’ve rather liked them since the early ’90s, or just because if I’m not going to play a game I’d rather it be by choice than necessity, I started to collect a small gang. And to make that more complicated, I decided that, in keeping with the model-agnostic ethos of the old genestealer army, they’d be a mix of third-party, old, and modern models: Tertii Imperatoris Cultus, the Cult of the Third-Party Emperor.
Read MoreNominus Malus
After taking first place in an (admittedly somewhat niche) art competition on the Oldhammer Forum with my entry “Characters of Chaos“, the sculptor Sjoerd Trouwee contacted me to commission a drawing for his project ‘Nominus Malus’. Sjoerd has sculpted a series of eight miniatures, inspired by Marauder Miniatures’ MM90 Chaos Dwarf range. They’re available to buy online on Sjoerd’s dedicated Evil Little Buggers website and you can read more about the project on his blog.
Read MoreEnter the Otherworld
I’ve written about my love for Otherworld Miniatures a few times before. They produce “28mm fantasy gaming miniatures for ‘old school’ roleplayers, wargamers and collectors”, inspired by artwork in early D&D publications by some of my favourite illustrators. Some of their recent releases are fantastic, and one of my objectives for 2021 has been to paint enough of my collection to justify buying a few.
Read MoreBack from the Dead
After last month’s return to blogging (and last year’s efforts at terrain making) it is at long last time to post some painted miniatures. And what better way to celebrate my return from the dead that with a couple of undead – Heinrich Kemmler (the Lichemaster), and the Devil himself?
Read MoreModelling Workshop
I’ve been away for a long while. Between working overseas, polishing off my master’s degree, and COVID-19 I’ve not had much time for creativity, other than a couple of posts to mop up the last miniatures I painted in mid-2018 and a few drawings in early 2020. If there was an upside to all that, it’s that I was able to think about what I’d do next. Taking inspiration from Mel ‘The Terrain Tutor‘ on YouTube, and old ‘Modelling Workshop’ guides in White Dwarf issues 130, 132, 137, and 140, in the second half of 2020 I set to work building some terrain.
Read MoreCreatures of the Night
I painted these in 2018 and uploaded the photos almost exactly a year ago – but seemingly forgot to write the post until now. What follows may not be suitable for work. Firstly because the creatures are horrifying, monstrous creatures from Citadel’s Night Horrors range (continuing from my earlier post here). And also because one of them is naked.
Shin High Terror! 