Copplestone Archaeologists

Ages ago, back in 2017, I painted the female archaeologists from Mark Copplestone's excellent Back of Beyond range. Now, much later, here are the male ones, available from North Star;

These guys are quite well tooled-up compared with their female counterparts and I see the two outer figures being more as adventurers and minders than actual academics. Still, all that firepower should come in handy when the inevitable nasties and horrors turn up.

Unlike the female ones, who I gave detailed biographies, I've only got as far as giving these chaps names.  From left to right they are; Giorgi Dolidze, a Georgian soldier of fortune, Giles Andover-Fiste, a member of the MCC and a gentleman amateur archaeologist, Doctor Petros Sarkisian, a famous Armenian archaeologist working at the Sorbonne and Hans Jansson, a Swedish explorer.

They seem a suitable bunch to pitch up almost anywhere looking for rare and arcane artefacts, scruples optional, no doubt.

Clearly, these are highly suitable for Pulp, Cthulhu Mythos, eldritch horror and other similar settings. They were huge fun to paint, because they are such nice figures. 

Hurrah! Back to painting figure.

No more scenics for a while. It will be figures for the next few weeks, I think. First up, some characters for What A Cowboy;

I think that these are all Wargames Foundry minis. I was kindly given them by someone at the club because I'd mentioned that my Mexicans were a little bit outgunned. Anyway, these two have what appear to be single shot rifles or carbines, so that is an improvement.

The guy in the middle is clearly a military sort, maybe a former French officer who's wandered north to get away from the madness of the Habsburg Maximilian I imperial experiment.

I hope to see them in action on the table at some point.
 

Renedra fencing

Still doing scenics. Now it is Renedra 28mm scale fencing. First two lengths of ordinary wooden fencing;

I think that this is pretty nice fencing, but I think the wattle fencing below with the gate sections is even nicer;

OK, fencing isn't the most exciting thing ever, but it is very useful on a gaming table.

I'm pretty happy with how they have turned out and I think I'll probably get more of the first set at some point, because I'd like to have some shorter lengths and maybe some corners too.

Sci fi trees

Well, to pilfer from Radiohead, Fake Plastic Trees, loads of 'em (27 actually). The Bad Squiddo Ghost of Gaia is for scale purposes.

There isn't much to say about them. They are disassembled IKEA plastic plants stuck onto MDF bases with blobs of green stuff, coated in ballast and given a blast of varnish to fix the ballast in place.

I think I may have to weigh the bases down, probably with metal washers or something, but I think they'll do for science fiction landscapes on distant planets.

The backdrop is one of the Jon Hodgson Handiwork Games sci fi ones.

Another little diorama

 Strange lights had been seen in the ruins of the old abbey on the hill. A woman from the government and a group of armed ATS women went to investigate. German agents were suspected.

No one expected alien beings. The big questions now were "Why are they here?" and "Were they allies of the UK or Germany?"

The ATS group all all by Bad Squiddo and the aliens are Radon Zombies of the Ionosphere by Bob Murch, available via North Star.

This was a fun idea and I think it came out OK. 

The Ruins are from Renedra and the background is by Jon Hodgson.

The technical (ha!) details are the same as in previous posts of my dioramas, i.e. the camera was a Pentax K-70 DSLR and Pentax  DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL WR standard zoom lens, mounted on a tripod. The picture was shot using aperture priority with an aperture of f25 and an ISO 400 film speed. I used a JJC TM electronic remote shutter release to prevent any camera shake. I staged the picture in my lightbox, which has variable brightness LED lights.

Four Renedra plastic 28mm huts (scroll down to see them all)

I've had these kits lying around for a couple of years, maybe longer. I thought it was time to get them put together and painted.

First, a simple wooden hut;

Next a stone hut;

A wattle and daub one. I think that this might be my favourite;

And finally, a Norse hut on a larger base. I added a few Gamer's Grass tufts on this base.;

Behind every hut is a nice Jon Hodgson backdrop (books available from the Bad Squiddo website).

These are very simple kits, generally three roof pieces and four walls, the Norse one being a little bit more complicated. It also comes with various accessories like truckle beds, a fire and various pots. I haven't made the beds and pots up yet, though. I'll find a use for them, I expect.

I did have to fill in a few areas with green stuff, no doubt my faulty construction techniques. They are absolute simplicity to paint too. I think that they look pretty good. All I need to do now is get them onto a gaming table.

My next task is some Renedra fencing to assemble and paint.

The perils of adventuring in the Badlands

Here's another little diorama I shot using my Renedra ruins;

I think that all the minis here were from North Star, including the plastic Ghouls and Zombies who are part of the Frostgrave "Undead Encounters" set of originally Mantic figures. The Grey Wizard is a Copplestone figure, the Elf warrior an Oathmark one and the rest are all Frostgrave minis. The evil Necromancer is a resin cast that was the subject of a North Star painting competition a couple of years ago (I took part, but didn't win).

Clearly, the Necromancer is a powerful spellcaster, seeing as he is able to unleash his foul underlings in daylight. Let's hope that the mysterious Grey Wizard has a few useful spells up his voluminous sleeve.

The camera and other details are the same as in my previous diorama post, in case you are interested.

I shot a few more similar scenes that I'll post every now and again.