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...

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.  ...

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 ...

February's first finished figures (try saying that when drunk), are this trio of Dark Ages warriors.   They're from the Victrix Ancient Germans kit.  I bought a sprue of these in 2023 with an entirely different purpose for them.  When that project was swiftly abandoned, I initially didn't know what to do with them.  However, I've managed to shoehorn six of the eight figures into my Dark Ages forces where they'll be serving as Late-Romans, Goths or Norse. All the parts are from the Ancient Germans, except for the heads.  The bare heads are from the Unarmoured late-Romans set. The helmeted head is from the Vikings.  I think all three could serve in most Dark Age armies, although I suppose if you were being picky you'd only use the helmeted warrior in a Norse force. The left hands of the javelin throwers are cut and shut jobs, with a tiny joint at the wrist.  I’m amazed they’re still attached and will have to be very careful using these in a game. ...

A new year and the first monthly hobby update.  After some family dramas to start the year, thankfully things have settled down and January has proved to be a very productive month.  Completed I'm continuing on where I left off from last year in getting stuff done: First of all I polished off a baker's dozen of 20mm Second World War Red Army infantry.  These are now sold by Battlezone Miniatures but they are Sgt. Major Miniatures sculpts.  Bread and butter work for me and a nice early success for the year. You can see more of them here .  While I was working on the above, I was also painting my last four 28mm Victrix Vikings with heads swapped  with ones from other Victrix sets.  There's more of these here . With some figures off the table, I went on to a bit of terrain work.  One of my aims for 2025 is to produce or improve at least one piece of terrain per month: I made some multiple tree bases out of a miniature Christmas tree.  You  ...