A Forest of Kings - Warriors, Characters and Peasants

 It took me a little longer than expected due to how cold my basement got over the past week, but I've finished the next two formations of Warriors for my Maya Tribal project, along with a couple of heroes and some peasants. 

First up, the Warriors. These ones are armed with Short Weapons per Tribal's rules, gaining a bonus when performing straightforward bashing attacks on their opponents. Again, like with the spearmen I finished last month, these are more or less color-coded into formations. Figures again by Lucid Eye.

Next up, two heroes - a "Mayan General" from Paymaster Games here in the US, and a second Mayan Shaman from Gringo40s.

And finally, four Mayan Peasants carrying cotton bundles from Gringo40s - these have been based two to a 40mm round to serve as objective markers in games of Tribal.

What's left to go with this project? Well, I've got four characters primed and awaiting paint, and ten figures with bows and atlatls waiting to be assembled and primed. And shields for all these warriors to batch-paint. I also have a dozen buildings awaiting cleaning, assembly, and painting but that's going to be a warm weather project. I think I'm unlikely at this point to buy more figures for this project unless something really spectacular releases. 

Going through my spreadsheet and tallying everything I've painted (including some things I can't post here yet because they haven't gone live on the Challenge blog), and everything I've bought...I'm actually all tied up for the moment. For the moment, because I've got another dozen figures almost done being painted that will shift the needle properly into the green. 

Miniatures Acquired: 47

Miniatures Painted: 47

Terrain Acquired: 0

Terrain Painted: 0

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 0

Cro-Magnon Boss finished

 I'm pleased to say my Cro-Magnon warlord, for use in paleolithic games of Mana Press' Tribal, has been completed as of tonight. This is "Sterm Stonelund, Cro-Magnon Boss," from Lucid Eye Publications, intended for their "Savage Core" skirmish game - which I still haven't tried out; I managed to buy the first edition of the rules a week before the second edition was announced -- and the announcement went out a week before the book released! This is one of three Cro-Magnon Bosses Lucid Eye makes, more than they offer for any other faction in the game, incidentally.

I'm really pleased with how the base turned out; some torn corkboard pieces built up to form the rock outcropping, some Woodland Scenics fine "earth" flock, a few different colors and lengths of Gamer's Grass brand tufts and then some Army Painter snow over the top after everything else had fully dried. 

Here's where the Wolf Clan, my Cro-Magnon warband, stands now:

A unit of Warriors, a unit of Marksmen, two Heroes and a Warlord. One unit of Warriors left to assemble, base and paint up, and I should do a couple objective markers for them as well. 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 158

Figures Painted in 2025: 139

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

Lord Shield Jaguar and Lady Xoc in 28mm

 On Friday, I had the opportunity to meet up with Chris Regan, a local gamer who I'd interacted with on social media quite a bit over the past couple of years, but this was the first time we'd gotten the chance to meet up; we weren't able to get a game in, but he picked up a copy of one of my RPG scenarios and was generous enough to gift me copies of a pair of miniatures he'd commissioned. Chris runs a Facebook group called "A Forest of Kings - a Maya Wargaming Project", and he'd had these sculpted and cast up to commemorate the group reaching 500 members. 

These figures are based on Yaxchilan Lintel 24, currently in the British Museum. Lintel 24 depicts King Itzamnaaj Bahlam III, aka Lord Shield Jaguar, and his wife, Queen Consort K'abal Xoc; he is holding a torch aloft, illuminating her as she performs a bloodletting ritual. She's pulled a rope studded with obsidian shards through her tongue (AH!), allowing blood to spill on to a codex in front of her, which will be burned as part of the ritual. 

So, now I'm contemplating a Classical Maya project. And by "contemplating," I mean I just pulled the trigger on an order over at Badger Games. Since they carry Lucid Eye Publications' miniatures, I picked up nine packs of their "Maxzan" figures, slightly fantastical Mesoamerican-style figures that work well as Mayans. I bought enough to assemble 10 spearmen, 10 warriors with hand weapons, and six "Hornet Throwers," men armed with wasps' nests! I believe I've got another six that I'd bought a few years ago as well. Mana Press' Tribal would be a perfect ruleset for this, and 32 infantry gives me a total of six units (two armies of three!) with a couple figures leftover. 

So adding 28 (2 for the figures from Chris, 26 Lucid Eye figures) to the Acquired side of things.

Figures Acquired in 2025: 155

Figures Painted in 2025: 138

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

Continuing the Wolf Clan

 The last figures I needed for the Wolf Clan, my Cro-Magnon warband for Mana Press' game Tribal arrived today! With my miniatures and terrain all finished for Wargames Among the Warplanes, I'm ready to take a break from modern stuff and spend some time in another era - in this case, the Paleolithic. I paused work on the Wolf Clan while getting things ready for Saturday, but I resumed work on the two units I'd started last month tonight.

They're an exercise in earth-tones, that's for sure. 

At this point, it's pouches, shoes, wrist- and leg-wraps and weapons left to go on these 12. One or two more sessions should be all I need to finish them up. Maybe a third session for bases. 

After this, I've got another unit of five warriors to clean up, base and get primed, along with my new warlord:

Doesn't that just scream "I am MAN! Pointy tip of the food chain!" to you? Tribal calls for characters to be on larger bases, so he's on a 40mm round built up with cork. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today's my birthday, and while I took the day off work, I never made it down to my hobby bench - too busy running errands and getting the house ready to have guests tomorrow. I did receive some lovely gifts from my wife however!

Two more modern buildings from Atomic Laser Cut Designs - an Urgent Care and a blank storefront that has a really nice brick pattern over the entire exterior walls - as well as some 3D printed scatter from Bad Goblin Games - some disheveled cinderblock walls, an above-ground swimming pool and most charmingly, an on-fire dumpster that comes with a little flickering LED light and battery, so that the flames actually light up. That is going to be an absolute must to have ready for my game in 3 weeks!

And I think I want to recreate what the Bad Goblin team did for the product image on their site, and put an alligator and some scummy "water" in that swimming pool...

I have to thank Mike over at Lead Legionaries for turning me on to Bad Goblin's goodies. He's painted a lot of their scenic pieces, including a variety of ruined and armored trailers and a stunning water tower, over recent months, and has been putting on some amazing games showcasing them. If you're not following his blog you should definitely check it out. 

Gina was also kind enough to hand me her card and tell me to use it to buy myself some miniatures. By coincidence, Lucid Eye Publications put out a call on their Facebook group for what miniatures people would like to see go on sale this week. I requested their Cro-Magnons, and they were kind enough to do it, so I bought another Tribal formation's worth of warriors, as well as another few characters. 

Since I've ordered more figures, it's time to update the tracker:

Figures Purchased in 2025: 66

Figures Painted in 2025: 85

WIP: The Wolf Clan

 I've gotten a little work in on my first warband for Mana Press' Tribal. These are Lucid Eye Cro-Magnons and Amazons from their "Savage Core" line, all pretty similarly dressed for cold weather (more or less). I do still need to order some more Cro-Magnons to add a third formation to this warband, and since I didn't put my warlord on a larger base as the rules recommended, I'll probably get another warlord figure for a 40mm diorama base and downgrade my current warlord to a Hero. 

Funny how this was supposed to be a no-expenditure side project just using figures already in my leadpile...

So far I've base-coated their exposed skin with Reaper "Dark Flesh," washed all the clothing with GW "Seraphim Sepia" to make sure there's no exposed white primer in the recesses, and went over pants and leggings with GW "Gore-Grunta Brown" contrast paint.

I chose dark skin because I'm a big fan of Bjorn Kurten's 1978 novel "Dance of the Tiger," which deals with one possible way contact between Neanderthals and anatomically modern ("Cro-Magnon") humans could have gone; Kurten's Cro-Magnons are dark-skinned, having only relatively recently expanded out of Africa and not having had time to lose their ancestral melanin in northern latitudes. 

Here we have "The Wolf Mother," a shamanic sort of figure dressed in a wolfskin cloak; underneath it she's dressed like a Frazetta painting, but maybe she's high on hallucinogenics and not feeling the Ice Age chill. Next to her is Menhir Five-Tusks, my current warlord. The raised arm gives him an orator vibe, and I can see him standing on a tall rock shouting encouragement to his followers. Maybe give him the skill "Boast" in games to reflect this?

Next up we have a formation of Cro-Magnon Warriors; they're armed with short spears, almost assegai-like, along with atlatls. In Tribal, they'll be Warriors with Short Weapons and the skill "Throwing Weapons" to represent this.

Finally the Amazons:

These are the most fantastical of the bunch; one is carrying a long stone blade and another has a big bird skull strapped over her shoulder. Second from the left is technically a character model, "Seratra the Foundling" but she's pulling double-duty as a regular archer since I misplaced the other two I had. In Tribal, these would be Marksmen. 

So that's where I'm at with these for now. Work is continuing slowly and not particularly photogenically on terrain for Wargames Among the Warplanes. We've had a bunch of wet days which has stopped me from spraying the last stuff I need to spray. Probably only one or two more sessions to finish off the pizza parlor and then I'll focus on the video store. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 58

Figures Painted in 2025: 85

Side Project: TRIBAL as a palate-cleanser

 So I'm winding down somewhat with the stuff I need to paint for Wargames Among the Warplanes - a couple buildings that are more or less at the wash and drybrush stages, and a couple of trucks that I need to pick up more spray paint for. And as I'm working on it...I'm starting to get tired of the project, and eager for it to just be done. But with that tiredness, my energy to keep working on it is flagging. 

I think a little bit of a side project might be in order just to reenergize myself. To that end, I pulled my copy of Mana Press' "Tribal" down off my shelf, and pulled out my box of cavemen purchased last year. I'd posted back in March 2024 about the Wolf Tribe, comprised of Lucid Eye Cro-Magnons and Amazons; well, I finally got them into the priming box. 

I probably should have popped my Chieftain off the 25mm base and put him on a 40mm...maybe we'll figure that out later. 

This gives me two formations - Warriors with Short Weapons (and we'll give them the Throwing Weapons skill to represent the atlatls they're sculpted with) and Marksmen - plus a Chieftain and Hero. That's a perfectly fine starter army for me to begin solo-playing with for practice. Dressed in buckskin, leather and furs I'm anticipating them being a fairly fast paint up as well. 

The hero is a shamanic figure, sold on the Lucid Eye site as "The Wolf Mother," and while her face is a little obscured by the wolfskin she wears, I'm kind of thinking I could maybe recreate Darryl Hannah's makeup from CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR on her...

Beginning the Wolf Tribe

 So, I know I said I wasn't sure when I'd start on painting more prehistoric figures, aaaaaand...I've started. Well, getting them cleaned up and glued to bases at least. I've been struggling through a hobby slump - I've only managed to actually get paint on a single piece of scatter terrain this month. Insomnia's been a big issue for me, and that combined with day job and being a caregiver for my wife, who has an autoimmune condition...I don't have a lot of energy left at the end of the day so just sitting down at the hobby desk has felt a bit like scaling Everest lately. 

I've been really fixated on the prehistoric stuff lately - reading through rulesets, examining different companies' offerings in terms of mammoths and mastodons, watching "Quest for Fire" and "Clan of the Cave Bear" - and I'm hoping I can re-invigorate myself by getting work done towards playing more prehistoric games. 

 

Over the past two days, I've gotten 15 figures cleaned (even filing mold lines!) and glued to bases. These are all from Lucid Eye Publications' Savage Core line, and comprise two packs of Cro-Magnon warriors with javelins and atlatls, two packs of "Age of Ice" Amazons with bows (and one blowgun!) and some heroic leader-types. They're all anatomically modern humans (no Neanderthal brow ridges here) dressed warmly in tanned hides and fur cloaks so should mesh together fairly well. I'm calling them the Wolf Tribe, since one of the heroes is the shamanic-looking "Wolf Mother" clad in a wolf pelt. 

The goal is to have a pool of figures I can draw from for any prehistoric wargame I please; I can split these up into two opposing forces for Lucid Eye's "Savage Core" game, for example, or I can treat them as a pool to pull from when building a hunting party for "Tusk" or "Palaeo Diet." And what I've got right here can be a Warlord, two Heroes, and two Formations for Mana Press' skirmish game "Tribal." I've got an eye towards picking up another two packs of Savage Core Cro-Magnons for a more robust Tribal warband.

I'm also considering converting one Cro-Magnon and one Amazon to be holding torches; both Tusk and Palaeo Diet offer rules for starting fires to drive game, and I'd like to be able to play with those rules.