Happy New Year!

There’s lots about 2020 that I would rather not remember but happily, once again, my hobby has provided a welcome distraction and refuge from some of the more challenging times. I suspect that 2021 will be much the same as 2020, certainly for the first part of the year. Which means that I will have plenty of time for more modelling!

The year started off with two threads to my hobby. Finishing some of my Napoleonic figures and getting ready for the launch of ‘Nevermind the Bill Hooks’ and expanding my War of the Roses Army.

Royal Scots Command

Royal Scots Command

The Royal Scots 3/1 Battalion was completed to finish off Pictons division at Waterloo and I also had a go at the Perry’s vignette, ‘A Hard Contest’.

A Hard Contest

For some reason, I also felt the need to add yet another model of Wellington to my collection!

Wellington and Wellington and Picton

Wellington and Wellington and Picton

Meanwhile, my WOTR army was growing quite quickly, with the addition of two units of light cavalry, some artillery and some personality figures I thought that I had completed the army.

The completed unit of light Cavalry

The completed unit of light Cavalry

The Artillery section of my army.

The Artillery section of my army.

Salisbury, Richard of York and Warwick

Salisbury, Richard of York and Warwick

With the various lockdowns in place, my gaming time was much reduced. I think that I managed just four ‘Bill Hooks’ games and a couple of Napoleonic ‘Black Powder’ games this year. This led me to be less focused on gaming, more so on the modelling and painting side of the hobby. I started by painting the Dad’s Army set that I had had tucked away in the lead pile for some time.

Dads Army on Display Base

Dads Army on Display Base

This in turn encouraged me to paint a small BEF force. I have no idea if I will ever use them, I just fancied painting them.

BEF section in their 'movement tray'.

BEF section in their ‘movement tray’.

I have actually painted a full platoon of BEF, as well as the support weapons and a couple of tanks.

Matilda Mk1 and Vickers MkVIb

Matilda Mk1 and Vickers MkVIb

I also managed to be distracted into building and painting a couple of model ships:

HMS VIctory and Mary Rose

HMS Victory and Mary Rose

and at last finished a 1/48th scale V1 flying Bomb.

Tamiya 1/48th Scale V1

Tamiya 1/48th Scale V1

The launch of ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ rules set, written by my good friend Andy Callan, brought me back to the Wars of the Roses and as well as adding a few more figures to my army, I also produced some scenery to go with the rules.

Hidden Ditch!

Hidden Ditch!

Wagon and Arrow barrow completed!

Wagon and Arrow barrow completed!

New gaming pieces fr NMTBH's

New gaming pieces for NMTBH’s.

Lord Callan with the first of his retinue.

Lord Callan with the first of his retinue.

I was distracted, yet again, by a conversation with Andy regarding producing a Fantasy version of Never mind the Bill Hooks – Never mind the Balrogs! This planted a seed in my mind and I find myself finishing the year painting Lord of The Rings Figures!

goblins!

goblins!

High Elves and Men of Gondor

High Elves and Men of Gondor

Although I haven’t covered everything that I have produced this year, I am pleased with my output. My general plan for next year is to produce a bit more scenery for my collection and to build a few more models rather than churning out more units. I may even get some more tanks added to the collection!

Matilda and Maus, undercoated and ready for finishing!

Matilda and Maus, undercoated and ready for finishing!

In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year and of course Happy Modelling!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

Should you wish to see more details of the projects above, just click into my blog using the link at the top of the page or just explore a section using the category headers down the side bar. You can also follow my activities in the hobby by  ‘liking’ the Arcane Scenery facebook page. As well as updates on my various projects, you will find information and news of new releases and products as well as our ‘On this day in History’ feature.

If you need help in completing a project of your own we have a massive range of stock in the Arcane Scenery shop. Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available from my shop here:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

Lord Callan’s Retinue

A blog is a great tool for keeping me motivated and recording  my various hobby projects. It can be a bit of a double edged sword. Two weeks after my last ‘Workbench update’ and I have very little progress to record!

Lord Callan's Retinue

Lord Callan’s Retinue – first three figures

My main focus has been to start on Lord Callan’s retinue. I did have the retinue assembled and they are now primed and painting has started.

Before I write any more of this blog,  I must acknowledge the influence of a certain ‘Captain Blood’, AKA Richard Lloyd. You can see most of Richards work over on the Lead Adventure Forum and I provide a link below. Richard combines some very clever conversion and modelling work with superb brush work and a choice of colour and livery that is simply sublime. Add to the clever way he has blended actual historical retinues to some of his own and it’s fair to say that he has produced the best units that I have seen. Oh and his basing work is pretty damned good as well.

Lord Callan with the first of his retinue.

Lord Callan with the first of his retinue.

So having painted the ‘Lord Callan’ model from the Wargames Illustrated Giants in Miniature collection, I thought that I would give him a small retinue of Bills and Bows to lead into battle. Having seen the way Richard has produced his units, I have done my best to take some of his ideas to give Lord Callan’s units a slightly different feel from the rest of my army.

The next three figures on the bench!

The next three figures on the bench!

Lord Callan’s Colours are black on red and his main Coat of Arms being a white lion over a golden wheatsheaf. In case anyone is interested in the provenance of this Livery, it is based on the two best pubs in Bingham, The White Lion and the Wheatsheaf! I decided that I would give Lord Callan the White Lion as his main Sigil and just use the Wheat sheaf on the Banner when I get to it.

Rear view of the W.I P.

Rear view of the W.I P.

The three figures above are very much a work in progress with their faces and bases still needing to be finished! You can see that I have stolen some of Richard’s ideas, with the pole of the halberd in House colours and the helmet and buckler also painted. I’ve also done quite a bit of swapping of heads and arms from the various Perry sets to get a ‘Veteran’ look to the unit, allowing me to claim an upgrade in the Bill Hooks game.

More of the retinue in progress

More of the retinue in progress

And the final three makes twelve!

And the final three makes twelve!

Once the Billmen are completed, the plan is to add a unit of Veteran archers and at least one more banner man to stand along side Lord Callan, although I may use the horn blower below…

The next batch on the work bench

The next batch on the work bench

As you can see, I also have some other distractions that I am working on. The sharp eyed reader may have spotted three genestealers….

Gene Stealers!

Gene Stealers!

They wont be making the retinue! I found them half completed in the loft when getting down the Christmas decorations, so decided to finish them ready for the next time we play Space Hulk….but that’s another entirely different subject!

If you would like to have a look at Captain Bloods original work on the Lead Adventure forum, here’s the Link:

CAPTAIN BLOODS LEAD ADVENTURE FORUM THREAD

If you are not on the Nevermind the Bill Hooks face book page you can see some very inspiring work here as well:

NEVER MIND THE BILLHOOKS FACEBOOK PAGE

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE at the time of writing, from my shop. The Links will open in another tab on your device.

ARCANE SCENERY

Perry’s WOTR plastic range are here, including some nice army deals!

PERRY MINIATURES

You can see our Woodlands scenics range, including water effects, here:

WOODLAND SCENICS

Gamers grass tufts can be found here:

GAMERS GRASS

Vallejo plastic filler and Milliput is available here:

FILLERS

MDF bases can be found here:

MDF BASES

You can find all the Vallejo Model colour paints here. If you don’t want to browse, just enter the paint number into the shop search bar;

VALLEJO PAINTS

The full Sarissa range can be found here.

SARISSA PRECISION

 

Happy Modelling!