a Load of Old Toby

Akendorf Greatswords Empire of Sigmar This week is perhaps my favourite unit of the whole army, my Akendorf Greatswords.  Unit front - JH backdrop The unit is an ecliptic mix of manufactures this time, and I absolutely love the character it has created. I have both new and old the Games Workshop empire Greatswords plus a limited edition Mordeim Mercenary Captain, very apt to lead the unit and a posh looking lady noble from Hersey I think. However, I also liked the metal champion too so they both stay in a four man command. There are a ton of Foundry  Landsknecht  making up the unit. Finally an 80s Citadel Orge just nails the menacing feel. Mordheim Mercenary Captain & Command  Akendorf  is situated near the southern entrance of   Black Fire Pass , a critical narrow passage through the Black Mountains.   It is often depicted as a "Free Imperial Town" that pays taxes directly to the Emperor of the Empire.   The town is known for its   Coppe...

Empire - Standards Hello everyone, just wanted to let you all know I’m still plodding along with painting, but due to work and home workload having been significantly busy my painting has slowed down. So really this is just a litte update post!  Akendorf Great Swords - Freehand Own Design In addition I often suffer from depression well…. the can’t be assed state of mind…..which means some weeks I might not have anything to post. However looking back through my empire photos there are still lots of units to showcase that I havn't got around to. I did see some of my work in progress snaps of my battle standards though. Let me know what you think? WiP Empire Standards So a big thank you to those of you that drop by looking for updates it’s appreciated. Have a great weekend everyone. Alternative standard    

Armée du Nord Cavalry Corps - 15mm Napoleon Bonaparte Waterloo Campaign IV Reserves Corps Here we go again, it’s Friday and it’s time for another post. We have moved onto French 15mm epics last week. At 1:10 ratio, this is an army of over 4000 miniatures across 4 separate Corps, making up roughly half the French that were present at the Battle of Waterloo. 1st Cuirassiers Regiment 1st Cuirassiers - red cuffs As you might of noticed with most of my posts army’s I paint take on a little story all of their own when I create them. These posts end up reflecting elements of that story. In this instance my French started off focused on the opening attack on Le Haye Sainte, but then slowly this expanded into 1st Corps massed infantry attack.  4th Cuirassiers - orange cuffs This happened naturally because I had worked out the most efficient painting regime with these is to paint a sprue at a time, this comes from experience of the ACW. Less than a sprue means you end up going back to paint ...

Armée du Nord 15mm Napoleon Bonaparte Waterloo Campaign  1er and 2e Bataillons, 54e Régiment de Ligne This week we move onto my next army, following on from ACW, these are also mainly 15mm Warlord Epics. Though we will see some 3D printed resin in later posts, in the main I just varied painting styles for different units as required.  d'Erlon's Corps - 11am 18th June 1815 I brought the French starter box set sometime in 2021 I think, and decided to paint just line regiments, I was focusing on the opening parts of the Battle of Waterloo around  La Haye Sainte . But as I got into painting these, it quickly escalated into painting all for the 1st Corps for its massed attack at 11am. Above is my first Regiment 54th Line. 1er and 2e Bataillons, 55e Régiment de Ligne This also further led to painting the whole of the Imperial Guard Corps because I wanted to paint some of the later Imperial Guard released models by Warlord Games, and was looking forward to some of the doody unif...

King Richard I Lard Magazine 2023 - PartTwo Keeping it Simple My next dose of inspiration was reading about Richard I, marching his army through the desert at Arsuf in 1191. For this crusading army I obviously wanted to create the feel of marching through the Desert. But I was acutely aware that as with most deserts they can be plain sand. I could have just literally used sand and gone for the natural tone of light changes to make do, and there would be nothing wrong with that simple approach. But I wanted to give Richard and his army some real subtle elegance to his frame. In this instance I opted for trying to create small undulations in the land with the odd rock and tuft of grass to break up the flatness, while concentrating on letting inks do the majority of the painting for me. Coeur de lion For this style of base, I used household polly-filler to create small uneven surface over roughly 50% of the base. Then I superglued some small stones in place to break up the remaining fl...

Lard Magazine 2023 - Part One It’s all in the Base Chaos Regiment Tray & Bases The base upon which a miniature sit, for me is like the frame in which a canvas painting sits. It can be plain and simple, or even non-existent, and it won’t detract from the perceived quality of the picture however, a quality apt frame can add to the majesty of the work of art it supports. To that end, I aim to ensure my ‘frame’ is right for complimenting the art I want to create. Through learning from 30 years of experience I now start literally, from the ground up, by creating bases for my miniatures before I even paint one miniature.       My first major army I did this for was a Warhammer fantasy Chaos army. I needed a centre piece for this army to sit around and something I could apply the full extent of out painting abilities to. In this instance I wanted the look and feel a battlefield for the unit in question to stand upon, this was to give the added feel of devastation achieved by...