Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

Introduction The Rus of Jarl Magnus have been laying waste Jarl Arne's land, while he himself has been raiding over the whale road.  Such an affront to his honour cannot go unpunished and when he arrives back to find a raiding party still active, he sets out to punish them.  This scenario is based on the Back to the Boats scenario in the Ravenfeast rules.  I have adjusted the points values to give the Rus an extra 50 points, as I felt 200 point difference was too much. Norse  -  Jarl Arne, Huskarls x3, Berserker x1, Hirdmen x6, Bondi Archers x3, Bondi x10, Thralls x2.  25 figures total of 500 points. Rus  -   Jarl Magnus, Huskarls x2, Hirdmen x4, Bondi Archers x2, Bondi x9.  18 figures total of 350 points.  Starting positions Turn One  The Rus win the Movement initiative and they all move their maximum allowance. With the exception of their missile armed warriors (the Thralls and Bondi Archers) the Nors...

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.  ...

Following on from the half dozen unarmoured warriors I finished last month ( here ), I completed their armoured comrades at the beginning of April. As with the unarmoured figures, these went together very well.  I was wary of a couple of the figures as they had separate legs and torsos, but they're very cleverly designed with a little nub that helps to secure the parts just right.  These figures look really dynamic.  If you've made other Victrix Dark Age kits, you'll recognise a couple of the bodies and arms.  Victrix are very good at taking what they've done before and tweaking it for each kit.  It's basically the dolly technique that the likes of Artizan, Empress and Perry Miniatures et al. have been using for years.  I'd like to see some more unique sculpts in each kit but there you go As ever there's plenty of head and arm options.  I chose the most Eastern looking to differentiate them as much as possible from the Norse they'll be fighting.  ...

The latest figures I’ve completed were half a dozen Rus from Victrix. These are all from the unarmoured frame.  In a full set you get equal numbers of unarmoured and armoured/command frames.  I bought one of each from The Sprue Shop last year.  These were lovely to work on.  The instruction/guide sheet was clear, all the parts went together well and they make excellent animated figures.  I always like to do the bulk of my Dark Age figures with spears and shields.  Victrix provide plenty of sword arms and although this might make pretty figures, it's not really  accurate.  The scarcity of Norse Age sword finds shows that they were rare items.  It's the equivalent of giving all your Second World War Germans STG44s.  It may look "cool" but it's nonsense.  I did give a couple of the figures axes.  These look good and are more historically plausible.   These will join the small Rus force I'm putting together for Ravenfeast...