Sunday 2 July 2017

Small animals and tall tales, or new beginnings part 2

Time goes fast when one's having fun and I'm currently having a ton of fun building terrain for a game I want to play with my two eldest sons.
I've also been painting as if in a frenzy on the miniatures. Not as a chore, but because I really enjoy painting them.
Another reason why I want it to be as perfect as I can manage is of course the fact I'm playing with children and for kids the visual aspect is a very important element in getting their attention.
The game is called 'Burrows and Badgers', published by Oathsworn games.
 
Why I find the mini's so interesting to paint is easily summed up in three parts:
1. The fact they are all one piece. However, this hasn't stopped the sculpter to put them in interesting poses.
2. I really liked to do some research before starting to paint, it;s a bit like wetting my appetite before a meal. Trying to get the fur of the anthropomorphic animals right was a huge part of the painting experience. Not one is alike as mother nature has provided them with such a wide range of patterns and colours. How dull we humans look, ...
3. For some reason these miniatures seem to suit my painting style almost perfectly.
They reminded me so much of the 'Redwall' and 'Wind in the Willows' books.
After 20 years I even started buying and rereading the Redwall books.
 
As I painted, I also started picturing them in various landscapes and before reason popped in, I bought a bunch of trees and plundered my rather large 'terrain project locker'.
This locker had been unopened for years and was still filled with a large number of items I once had plans/ideas for, time to finally put them to use.
It's all work in progress, but here's a start.
 
 Looks almost cosy, doesn't it :).

The Rogues, ...

 My Shrew/Wildcat (still to add) Wild Beast horde from the far North. These are the only faction I created a story for in my mind, so I hope none of my sons picks them
 One of the miniatures I like very much is this bat necromancer. The sculpter made her so she looks a bit like a female vampire (though she's obviously a western bat) with the gown and all. Even while being a bat she has a sense of sexiness.


 
 
The gaming mat I'm posing everything on is one I bought especially for the game.
In the past I was very pleased on the folding gaming table and mats I bought from gamemat.eu, and their Forgotten Realm mat looked almost exactly what I wanted. That and the fact it looks a bit like a scene from Elder scrolls: Oblivion.
 
Thanks a lot for reading!
 
 

4 comments:

  1. The minis are great, but the first scenery element, the camp with the bonfire, is inspiring, I love that!! You are forcing me to steal the idea!

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    1. Please, feel free to do so. All I did was search for some campsites on Google. It's very easy to make too, just delve in your bitsbox for some scatter terrain and get some branches.
      The campfire is part of the campsite set from Renedra, but it is easy enough to create with a few twigs and some pebbles.

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  2. What a fabulous post! It all looks sublime, the miniatures and the terrain perfectly at one and I have no doubt that the boys are going to love this. All wonderful, but if I had to pick a favourite then Badger really caught my eye.

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    1. Thanks a lot Michael.
      Yeah, the badger is a fantastic figure. It shows how one piece models don't necessarily need to be static, but can be sculpted in action poses too.

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