Fighting for Focus

 As you might guess from my posts in the month of August, I've been kind of scattershot. I haven't really been focused on any projects lately, just painting a few odd figures here and there - painting for the sake of putting paint on figures, versus having any sort of goal in mind. And while painting for the sake of painting is laudable in its own way, I would like to feel like I'm finishing something and moving towards playing a game with something. So it's time to set some goals.

I've got figures on the way for Mayans, to go with the "Forest of Kings" figures Chris gave me last week (I also ordered a few officer figures from Paymaster Games here in the US to round out a pair of small armies). 

I think I want to commit to putting on a game with them (maybe requiring some allied forces) at next spring's Wargames Among the Warplanes show. That gives me about 9 months to paint...let's call it 70 figures overall to cover four players, plus terrain, and playtest and master a set of rules well enough to feel confident refereeing it for strangers. About five of those months are going to be too cold and wet to do any priming or varnishing outside. 

Once the figures arrive, I'll probably spend a week cleaning the first 40 of them, gluing them to bases and getting them primed. Anything I can have prepped before the weather turns in November, I intend to. 

In the meantime...

A couple months back I painted a dozen cavemen with the intent to use them in Mana Press' "Tribal." This is also the ruleset I intend to use my Mayans with, so I think it behooves me to get them finished and on the table so I can practice the ruleset! 

I think it's fair to require myself to finish these before I can work on the shiny new Mayans, right? 

This week I've circled around and started painting their opponents, a band of Neanderthals from Northstar. I took the opportunity to use a friend's collection of Army Painter speed paints this past Monday, and got 10 warriors almost fully painted in the span of two hours. 

Pretty much just fine details, especially in the faces, and touch ups left to go on these, and bases. And boy do they need some touch ups! Unfortunately I'm the new guy in the group I paint with on Monday nights, and my spot at the painting table has less-than-ideal lighting - not an intentional thing, it's just something they never noticed when it was just three people at the table. Under my workbench lamp at home, I'm finding tons of spots I missed! 

Fortunately I made a list of the speed paints I used, and I'll be picking some up this weekend to do the touch ups that need doing under good lighting. 

I've also been working away at a warlord figure for the Cro-Magnons; Tribal calls for leaders to be based on larger bases, and given the Frazetta-esque posture of this figure, I decided building things up with cork was called for.

The top of the rock shelves will be flocked, tufted and given some snow to match the rest of the Cro-Magnons; I still have some detailing and highlighting (and again, touch ups) to go on him before I start flocking though. 

So what's left to paint for the paleolithic warbands? 

• Five Cro-Magnon Warriors
• Five Neanderthal Marksmen
• Two Neanderthal Heroes
• Neanderthal Warlord
• Two Neanderthal Civilians (objective marker)

Fifteen figures isn't too bad. With the aid of speed paints, I'm confident I can knock those out within the month after finishing these. 

Finally, I'm finishing off the last two figures I need for the Fall 2025 Wargames Among the Warplanes show which is...in just over a week. I feel like it snuck up on me a bit. 

These adorable little moppets are from Midlam Miniatures, and will be Innocents in games of Devilry Afoot - especially a scenario involving rescuing a couple of kids from a pair of hungry Bogeymen. 

So that's where I'm at. Finish these two kids, finish two warbands of cavemen, and then I can start working on armies and terrain for next spring's wargaming event. 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 158

Figures Painted in 2025: 138

More Modern Terrain and Some Early Modern Monsters

 I made my way to the print shop tonight after work, and printed our some floors and a sheet of posters I'd made by resizing images off the web, which means this weekend I can make some serious progress on terrain. To begin with, tonight I finished off a piece that's been sitting *mostly* done for a few weeks.

This is a construction office made from a shipping container, produced by Things From The Basement, who I highly recommend checking out if you're in the United States. This is my first kit from them, though I have my eyes on a few more; they use a thinner sheet of MDF than I'm used to from companies like Sarissa or Atomic Laser Cut Designs, but everything was really cleanly cut and fit beautifully. Each side of the shipping container is built up in layers to allow more depth to the detailing. 

I sprayed everything but the roof with "Sahara Beige" from Montana Gold spray paints, and did the roof in a flat red paint and primer combo I got at the hardware store. The door was picked out in "Deep Red" from Reaper Miniatures' paint line; I'm not sure why it cracked like that but I think it ended up looking good. 

I tried using some Green Stuff World weathering pigments my wife got me as a gift along the bottom of the container, but it just went on like paint and didn't dry to the texture the packaging promised. I tried to salvage it with a heavy drybrushing of tan craft paint, which I think will remain my default method of weathering model buildings.

Inside, I've glued a table stacked with cash and a money-counting machine that I got from Miniature Building Authority; could it be that there's something illicit going on in here? Money laundering? Drug dealing? Or is this just the payroll office for a junkyard or chop shop? I'm really pleased with how perfectly the table fit. 

Finally, I added a pinup of Tanya Roberts from her time on the TV show Charlie's Angels; I like having my "Modern" games seem to be a blend of everything over the past 40-odd years, with smart phones, CRT TVs, classic TV shows and the like all appearing side by side. I'm planning to put some old "Joe Camel" cigarette ads on some model billboards in the not too distant future. 

In other news...

I'll be returning to Wargames Among the Warplanes for their fall show next month, bringing Devilry Afoot with me; I've planned my gaming around having to paint as few figures between now and the day of the event as possible. I've finished off the last couple figures I wanted to use as monsters in games on that day.

On the left is a Black Dog/Hellhound/Dire Wolf type, intended as Dracula's wolf form, from Crooked Dice's relatively recently released Dracula set of figures, and accompanying it are a pair of animated scarecrows from Crooked Dice's Folk Horror line. These will be appearing as a Barghest and a pair of Bogeymen in the games I'll be running in about 4 weeks' time. All that's left to do for these three is a good coat of varnish, and all that's left to paint for Wargames Among the Warplanes are a pair of Innocents for the Bogeymen to menace. 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 127

One Horse Cart

 I'd started this "One-Horse Cart with Open Sides" from Wargames Foundry about a month ago, and it had been sitting on my workbench waiting to be either finished or accidentally knocked off onto the cement floor of the basement. I decided I better err on the side of finishing it. 

I've never been a big fan of painting horses (I come by it honestly; when talking with my father about his time painting Airfix figures in the 1970s, he's commented on how much he hated painting horses), but I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. 

I think I maybe erred too far into pale gray in painting the cart as aged and weatherbeaten wood, but I'm not going to go back and change it now. I've got another cart, from 1st Corps, that I'll lean more brown with to make it less aged. 

This will be a piece of scatter terrain and/or a scenario objective in games of Devilry Afoot and historical skirmishes. 

I'm counting this as two figures for the purposes of the counter.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 123

Devilry Afoot: The Beast in the Fog

 Well, I'd had every intention of going to Harlequin and playing Warhammer: The Old World tonight, but I slept really poorly last night and just didn't have the energy to fight rush hour traffic, play a 2 1/2 hour game and then drive home and need to sit up awhile to relax enough to try sleeping. I did still want to get some gaming in, however, so I cleared the dining room table and set up for a game of Devilry Afoot.

I couldn't find my roster sheets from last game, so I wrote up some new ones:

• Captain Tennille, a Soldier armed with a sword and musket, with the dark secret Gambler.
• Squire Root, a Gentleman with a sword and lantern, accompanied by his Follower Robert the Musketeer. Root is also a Gambler.
• "Frother" Martin, a Religious hunter armed with a sword, Bible and Hound, with the dark secret Drunkard.
• Goodwife Patience, a Goodwife with a pistol and lantern, with the dark secret Slovenly.

I used the scenario "The Beast in the Fog" from the rulebook, replacing hellhound the scenario calls for with a Werewolf. The scenario would open with four tokens at the corners of the board, each potentially representing the Werewolf; the hunters would be scattered across the board, and a heavy fog would restrict visibility to 4". 

During the first turn, the tokens all moved closer to the hunters, with three of them revealing themselves as decoys. Squire Root and Goodwife Patience moved towards the bridge to rendezvous with their companions; Martin rolled a "1" on his first activation, resulting in his drinking habit leaving him hungover for the duration of the game. Captain Tennille became disoriented in the fog, wandering past the bridge until meeting with Martin. 

On turn 2, the werewolf revealed itself, immediately catching a pistol shot from Goodwife Patience. She rolled phenomenally well for damage, putting three wounds on the monster immediately. It only had 5 wounds to begin with, so it was well on its way to being defeated.

Maddened by its injury, the werewolf charged Patience, but failed to successfully hit her and turned and fled back towards the shadows. Recovering its composure, the werewolf turned back around and leapt at Squire Root, killing the gentleman instantly and sending Robert the Musketeer fleeing off the board.

Captain Tennille charged on to the bridge, firing his musket from the top of the arch (mea culpa - I forgot about the 4" visibility limit) and putting a fourth wound on the werewolf. The beast towards the nearest shadows it could hide in, and then leapt on to the bridge, attacking Martin, who had just staggered up level with the Captain. Wounding the preacher, the werewolf then changed its tactics; it gave voice to a devilish howl, intimidating Martin into fleeing while the Captain struck at the werewolf ineffectively with his sword. 

The werewolf used its intimidating howl again, sending the Captain running. Patience was less than impressed, and shot the werewolf in the back at point blank range, killing the beast. 

The surviving hunters divided up the 60 shilling reward for killing a werewolf between the three of them. Martin, having been wounded but survived, is now infected with lycanthropy. Fortunately, for the low, low price of 20 shillings and a handful of hair off the werewolf that bit him, a cure can be brewed! 

This was a great way to spend the evening, and I'm really glad I was able to get some gaming in after all. I've also submitted to run demos of Devilry Afoot at the next Wargames Among the Warplanes show in September, so this was good practice for that as well. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Works in Progress

 I've had a couple things moving at various speeds on my workbench this week.

First things first, I've finished a 3D-printed raised pumpkin patch that my wife Gina got me as an early anniversary present:

This will be a nice piece of scatter terrain, adding a pop of color to various skirmish games. 

I received an order of villagers from Midlam Miniatures, to provide Innocents for my hunters in Devilry Afoot to protect. I also got a plague doctor to serve as an additional hunter, and a trio of gnomes who will be sinister "Red Caps" in game. These have all been cleaned up and based. 

I started painting a horse and cart I got from Wargames Foundry as a Christmas gift in 2023; this will be a piece of scatter terrain most likely in Devilry Afoot.

Words fail to convey the thrillingness of this photo.

Finally, I have, well...gotten distracted. I blame Merijn over at Another Wargaming Blog: His recent goblin posts have drawn my attention back to my long-neglected Orcs & Goblins. I've got a fair amount of infantry, a few Wolf Riders, plenty of Chariots and a few big character models that are awaiting paint. And I've bitten the bullet and started looking at advice for list-building. I'd like to play a few games where my loss isn't a foregone conclusion before the end of the first turn, you know? 

One of the pieces of advice I was given, at least for Warhammer: The Old World, was putting my general on a big monster. That, I can do! Going into my project box, the first thing that came to hand was my Orc Shaman on Wyvern. This was a Marauder kit from the 1992 that Games Workshop reissued last year as a brief made-to-order offering. I snapped it up pretty quickly, and then had to scramble to change the delivery address when it took longer to produce than expected and was arriving after our move. It was a huge relief when it arrived! 

Assembly was a bit tough, and I hope I can get away with only one pinned joint, in the neck. I know this figure is prone to drooping due to all that weight being concentrated in the left ankle, so I dug into my bits box and fished out a tomb stone from Reaper Miniatures (it had come packaged with a zombie I bought probably 7 years ago). It ended up being the perfect height to rest the raised right leg on, so hopefully that will help stabilize it. 

After this photo was taken, I finished assembling the Wyvern as well as the two pieces that make up the saddle, keeping the saddle and rider separate to paint individually before final assembly. I'm going to probably scatter a few snotlings around the base as well for added visual interest. 

Transporting it to play games with is going to be a risky endeavor, I'm sure.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

Devilry Afoot: First Playthrough

With everything I needed to play out the first scenario in the Devilry Afoot book - "A Discovery of Witches" - painted and varnished, I was eager to get the game on the table today. Even more excitingly, I've got a couple friends coming into town next weekend for a day of skirmish gaming, and they're both interested in giving this a go as well. So I definitely needed to get the game on the table and get a feel for it! What follows is a slightly simplified and condensed version of how the game went: 

"A Discovery of Witches" finds us on the outskirts of the sleepy village of Dunny-on-the-Wold; a coven of three witches has gathered for nefarious purposes, and a heavy storm is rolling in. The Dunny-on-the-Wold Neighborhood Watch has mustered to try and eliminate these witches before the storm hits. 

Today's heroes:

• "Frother" Martin, a Religious hunter with a sword, Bible and dog. He has the skill Theologian, giving him a bonus to quoting scripture at the forces of Darkness, and his dark secret is that he is a Sadist. 
• Goodwife Patience, a Goodwife hunter with a pistol and torch. She has the Devout and Swift traits, and her dark secret is that she is Doubting her faith. 
• Dr. Hessalius, a Scholar hunter with an axe, torch and three vials of Holy Water. He has the Academic skill, giving him extra funds between games, and his dark secret is that he is Wolf-Bitten, and secretly a werewolf. 

Things were off to a rough start for the hunters - Martin advanced towards the witches and was attacked, dying instantly to a witch's dagger. 

His dog sat by his body, barking at every witch that got close, for the rest of the game.

Patience tried repeatedly to shoot the witches, but missed every shot. Dr. Hessalius was charmed repeatedly, having to spend actions slapping himself out of it over and over again. 

Patience shoots at a witch disguised as a wolf.

Things started to get real messy when the witches began summoning Imps. Rules as written, you can have a maximum of twice as many imps as there are witches remaining on the table; I only have three imps painted, so I capped it at one imp per witch. 

One of the witches made it into the farmhouse, killing the inhabitant; once finished, he turned his attention to Dr. Hessalius - and again, rolled well enough to strike him down instantly with a mortal wound.

To her credit, Patience did manage to overcome her doubts long enough to quote scripture with enough vehemence to send an imp scampering away for a few moments, but ultimately she was overwhelmed, succumbing to the fangs and claws of swarming imps just as the rain began to fall.

So that was a big fat loss for the Dunny-on-the-Wold Neighborhood Watch! The witches emerged completely unscathed, quickly stripping off their robes for a celebratory nude dance-off in the Dark One's name. 

Overall, I liked the game, even if I didn't win; I felt like after turn 2 or 3 I didn't need to look things up in the rulebook as much, and was getting by with just the quick reference sheet and the bestiary entry for the witches. 

Monsters in Devilry Afoot are guided by a simple "AI" - for each witch, roll on a chart divided into columns for "A human is within 6"" "monster has been shot at since their last activation" and "all other situations." As the author is careful to note, monsters are irrational and act in irrational ways; I think I had two instances where a witch attacked, failed to wound, and then fled rather than press the attack. It may not have been the logical action, but it did give the heroes some breathing room. If the witches behaved rationally, the game might have been over in three turns instead of six. 

I liked the mechanism for determining initiative as well; tokens drawn from a bag is a pretty common one (Bolt Action and Sharp Practice both come to mind) but this is the first game I've played that uses it. I had a turn or two in this game where the witches activated twice back to back before any hunters activated and that was a challenge for sure. 

I'm looking forward to getting another game in soon; I may change up my selection of hunters (maybe some muskets would help even things up) or bump it up to add a fourth hunter to the group and see how things go then. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

Devilry Afoot: Witches and Hills

 A few more figures finished for Devilry Afoot, and starting on some terrain pieces. I should be able to get my first game in this weekend to get a feel for it!

First up are a trio of Witches - these are Cultist miniatures, sculpted by Kev Adams for a company called Dark Fable, which is sadly no longer around, its founder Mike Burns having passed away a few years ago. They are now available through Dragon Bait Miniatures in the US, along with Dark Fable's incredible line of Egyptian miniatures. I went with a simple scheme of grimy slightly-grayish brown robes and black hoods. 

Next, an incredibly sinister goat from Pulp Figures; part of an occult accessory pack I got a while back as part of Bob's "Arcane Academics" Kickstarter. This was a very simple paint job, spray black, drybrush dark gray, pick out horns and eyes. It will serve as a Pact Devil in game. 

Next up is going to be terrain. I've got STLs for a few Tudor-style cottages as well as a blacksmith's and watermill that I need to take to my friend Dave for printing. My wife got me a few pieces of scatter terrain - a pumpkin patch, pigsty and village well - as an early anniversary present that need assembly and painting, and I bought a "Battlefield in a Box" hill a few weeks ago after watching Big Lee's video on the subject, which needs flocking.

My wife is astonishingly good to me.

I've gotten the pumpkin patch and the pieces of the well primed (though the well does seem a bit overly large), and I want to get a piece of MDF to glue the pigsty to to keep it secure and in one piece once assembled. I've even got pigs for it! 

Tonight, however, I stopped procrastinating and started flocking the hill. 

 The hill arrives as just a brown-painted resin lump with some dirt texture that's been drybrushed, with the idea being that you flock it to match your home table. This is a mix of two different shades and coarsenesses of railroad flock from Woodland Scenics - $15 a bottle, which will last me years and years at the rate I go through it. This is the same mix I use on all my miniatures' bases these days, applied in patches over a "dirt" layer of flock. 

I have placed a couple orders to round out my bestiary for Devilry Afoot - zombies, bogeymen, a barghest and some redcaps, as well as a collection of innocents for them to threaten. So between that and the figures finished, it's time to update the tracker again. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

Devilry Afoot: The Dunny-On-The-Wold Neighborhood Watch

 I've finished my first batch of ECW figures for Devilry Afoot, painted (except for the dog) 90% with speed paints as part of an effort to try and get myself more comfortable with them. I may have to give "slap chop" a try; I think just speed paints over white primer doesn't give me the look I'm used to and like. The human figures are by Bloody Miniatures, while the dog is from Dunkeldorf. 

In game, these will make up a good percentage of the pool of heroes available; I've decided that my games of Devilry Afoot will primary take place around a small, ignored village on the Suffolk marshes called Dunny-on-the-Wold, which makes this bunch the D-o-t-W Neighborhood Watch. I haven't given everyone names yet, but intend to.

Left to right: Innocent bystander, Squire Root, faithful hound Snuffles, and Goodwife Patience

Left to right: "Frother" Martin, Captain Tennille, unnamed musketeer, Dr. Pimpel-Poppere

Figures Purchased in 2025: 90

Figures Painted in 2025: 120

More Figures For Devilry Afoot

 I've done some digging to pull figures out of my leadpile that can work for Irregular Wars' Devilry Afoot, and here's the first batch of them finished. I've started experimenting again with speed/contrast paints to move things along, with I think decent results. 

Farmer by Wargames Foundry, Andre the Giant-sized thug from Dunkeldorf

"Dulcima, Mooning Peasant" from Lucid Eye. She'll be a Pact Devil in Devilry Afoot, luring in the unwary with her charms.

Imps from Reaper Miniatures

Ghouls from Heresy Miniatures

I've also received an order of Hunters from Bloody Miniatures - beautiful ECW sculpts that arrived with barely a whisper of flash on them, and even more impressive, every sword and musket arrived ramrod straight, nothing needed to be bent back into place despite a very speedy trip across the Atlantic to my doorstep. 

Look at that - that helmet is cast completely hollow. I didn't have to clean any excess material around the nasal bar. I didn't know casting something that complex that cleanly was possible! 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 90

Figures Painted in 2025: 109

Unexpected Acquisitions

My wife and I stopped in at Harlequin Hobbies, my friendly local game store (there's something like 40+ game stores of various stripes in my county, including two that are, on a cool day, within walking distance of my house. Due to niche partitioning amongst game stores in order to not overly compete in a limited ecosystem, not every store is going to stock things I want to buy, but Harlequin is very much a wargamer's game store) on our way to try a new Vietnamese restaurant today.

I swear, I had every intention of only going in to buy a few paints and maybe a new brush. 

We walked down the aisle that has all the non-Games Workshop terrain kits and prepainted sets (I wanted to see if they had more hills for when payday comes around later this week), and Gina pulls a box off the shelf.

"Would these work for you for Devilry Afoot?" she asked.

Why yes, yes I do believe they would. 

I balked a little bit at the $40 price tag, but Gina waved off any such objections, announcing she'd buy it for me, and insisted she cover my paints as well this trip. 

Yes, you're right, I am a very lucky man who married out of his league. You best believe I'm always deeply mindful of that fact. 

Our anniversary is coming up, and I'd already put some scatter terrain for Devilry Afoot on my Wishlist for her to shop from; and knowing her, this isn't going to detract from what else she plans to get me gift-wise. With figures for the game already on their way, I think my next step is going to be sourcing some actual buildings! 

Do I count the cows and farmer towards my tracker for the year? 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 90

Figures Painted in 2025: 98

The Wolf Clan Complete (For Now)

 My wife says she heard my satisfied exclamation of "Done!" from the living room above my painting bench as I dipped the last figure's base into Army Painter snow flock. These Cro-Magnons and Amazons from Lucid Eye definitely became a slog as I worked on them, and there were days where I was doing more touch up than actual moving forward, so I'm very happy to call them finished...for now.

I have another five Cro-Magnon males to paint at some point, but for now I'm real tired of painting earth-tones. So I'll take a break before I paint any more cavemen. 

I did finish basing the ghost I showed the other day while I was at it:

So what's next? I've got five Ghouls from Heresy Miniatures about half finished on my workbench, and I've had a dig through my leadpile and pulled out a few things I can use for Devilry Afoot - a couple of innocent civilians, a bloodhound with his nose to the ground, a Bogeyman, a couple of imps, a witch or two. I've got a suspicious looking goat that might serve as a "Pact Devil" in Devilry Afoot - wouldst thou like to live deliciously? 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 90

Figures Painted in 2025: 98

Boo!

 I've been progressing very, very slowly on the Wolf Tribe, with a lot of time spent going back and doing touch-ups or finding recessed areas I've missed. Between that and the "15 different shades of brown" color palette, I felt like I needed a quick and easy win at the hobby table. 

I think my second Tribal warband, my Northstar Neanderthals, are going to be done almost entirely in speed paints just to make the process faster. 

A dip into my Pile of Opportunity later, I pulled out "Borley, Male Ghost" from Reaper Miniatures' Dark Heavens Legends line of metal figures. Sculpted by Bob Ridolfi (my absolute favorite sculptor for undead figures), I reckoned it would be a fast and easy paint job.

Over a coat of white primer, I painted the entire figure with GW "Nilakh Oxide.". This is a fairly thin blue-green, intended for creating verdigris effects on metals. Over white, it functions like a wash, pooling pigment in the recesses. Once that had dried, I gave the whole figure a light drybrush of Reaper "Misty Gray" before giving the eye sockets a light glaze of GW "Bloodletter" (an out of production glaze). I picked out the eyes themselves with Reaper "Phoenix Red" and finally dotted the pupils with my old bottle of Vallejo "Golden Yellow." 

I think overall he looks like a glowing spectral figure, with extra-glowy red eyes, and I'm really happy with how he turned out. 

So what's next? 

I've got a few games of Fistful of Lead on the schedule at my local game store in the coming weeks, and I think I'll need to paint 2 or 3 figures for those. 

I've also picked up the PDF of "Devilry Afoot," a solo/co-op folk horror game from Nic Wright at Irregular Wars. The 17th century setting grabbed me more than The Silver Bayonet's Napoleonic era, and I do love my solo games. The ghost I've painted above join the bestiary for this game; I've got Ghouls, Vampires and Werewolves already, so I don't need much more than just Witches, Revenants and Innocents (NPC villagers for the player-characters to rescue) to add. 

Despite not intending to order anything until next payday, I had a bad day at work yesterday and responded by ordering a couple packs from Bloody Miniatures to represent my Hunters. C'est la vie. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 90

Figures Painted in 2025: 86