Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

April has been and gone and a third of 2025 with it.  It's been quite a busy hobby month with Salute in the middle, which I've always seen as the start of my hobby year  As much as possible I’ve tried to clear any bits and pieces that have been hanging about for awhile. Completed I finished off the figures I'd started on before going away at the end of March: Six 28mm Victrix Armoured Rus warriors.  That's the last of the Dark Age figures for now and you can see more  here . 28mm Oathsworn Miniatures Burrows & Badgers Kingfisher Warrior and Badger Mage.  The last of my Oathsworn, you can see more here . I also started on the revamp of the 16th C collection.  I rebased some of the figures and added magnets to these and a few others that were already on round 15mm bases.  I've got a fair number to do so I'll just do a few as and when between other jobs over the next couple of months.  On the terrain front I finished: Two 6mm wooded areas.  ...

Here's my latest completed Burrows and Badgers figures, a Badger Mage and a  Kingfisher Warrior.  Not wanting to spoil such splendid sculpts, I thought long and hard before applying any paint.  I started with the Badger, using multiple thin washes of thinned down Vallejo Model Colour (VMC) Matt Black over an undercoat of Citadel Base Wraithbone, until I got the look I envisaged, which was that of a grizzled old boar.  I varied the depth of washes on different areas to get the right look, with the paws and legs being darker. This went surprisingly well and with a few highlights of Wraithbone, all the fur was done.   The clothing wasn't quite so straightforward and it took three attempts to get his robes right.  I'd worked out a rough colour palette but couldn't get a green shade that worked with the scarf, cuffs and bag colours I wanted to use.  Then in the words of the much missed Bob Ross,  I had a happy accident.  I was painting some 6...

Well darn me that's a quarter of the year gone.  What happened there?  It was a short hobby month as I was away for a week.  With Salute now almost upon us, I wanted to complete as much as possible before the show, but what with being busy work and otherwise before my week away it just didn't happen.  Overall though, I'm pleased with how much I've done or at least is in progress and if not completed by the big day will be completed shortly after. Completed During March I seemed to do a lot of fiddling about and only completed a few bits: First off I completed six Victrix Rus warriors.  Lovely miniatures to work on, I'm very pleased with how they've turned out.  You can see more here . I then based the sample 6mm Heroics & Ros Second World War BEF that I painted the other month, finally finishing them off.  I stuck them on a 2p which I think works well for 6mm, giving them a bit of heft.  I quite like how they've turned out but I'm not sure if ...

Well February has come and gone.  Apart from a week where I'd picked up a nasty cold (from having to sit with daft people at work that shouldn't have been in), it's been quite a good month with more hobby progress. Completed I've completed: A trio of Victrix Ancient Germans that I did as generic Dark Age warriors.  More of these here . Seven 20mm Second World War Red Army Assault Engineers.  These were really great Sgt.Major Miniatures figures that I completed quite quickly  Four 20mm Second World War German Grenadiers.  More Sgt.Major Miniatures sculpts you can see more of these and the Red Army here .  That's all my 20mm completed. Two 28mm Burrows & Badgers squirrels.  A lovely pair of miniatures, you can see more of them here . As I did in January, once I'd completed some figures I turned to terrain: I completed a couple of wooded areas for smaller scale games.  I'll post a step by step guide for these next month. In progress On the table ...

As part of clearing last year's Salute acquisitions before this year's show and inevitable acquisitions, I've completed this pair of squirrels from the marvellous Burrows and Badgers range by Oathsworn Miniatures.  As with all the Burrows and Badgers miniatures they are a joy to paint.  Once I start I finish them relatively quickly and I'm not a quick painter by any means. I've been collecting and painting these miniatures since 2016 and thought a lot about them over the years.  There's something deceptively clever about them.  They're chunky, quite simple but they're really elegantly designed.  I find them really therapeutic to paint, like colouring in.  And I mean that as the greatest compliment to Michael Lovejoy. One of my Salute rituals is to buy a handful of B&B figures that I'll paint over the rest of the year.  I use them as a little treat or break between other projects.   I'm looking forward to picking up some more at this year'...