Die Hard Miniatures Eru-Kin based to Midgard rules: part 2.

More Eru-Kin, this time blowpipes.

These are based four to a base as per the Midgard basing for Skirmishers (Shooters). I have given each set of Eru-Kin a different skin pattern to suggest different tribes, and based the schemes loosely on poison dart frog colours. I have also added a few little resin frogs and toads to the bases to give them a slightly more scouting in the wild feel.

I am pleased with how these turned out. They are quite simple to paint, Midgard doesn't have rules for blowpipes so I shall use the rules for javelins or maybe short bows. Like the rest of the Eru-Kin I am using them as a test for when I return to painting my Warhammer 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition Slann armies, testing and trying out ideas. However, as a range the Eru-Kin are lovely and fully worthy of care and attention in their own right.

In addition,  I am busy basing lots of evil things from Mithril Miniatures, mainly Orcs, as well as some other nasties as well. Also, I am re/basing some old pre-slotta and Fantasy Tribes range Goblins, Giants, and Dwarves. One of the things which I am doing is basing up some of the old Book of Battalions armies according to the Midgard multi basing. I have already based up the Glune's Trek army, but more of that later. 

Enjoy :)

Four bases of skirmishers.

Red skirmishing blowpipes.

Orange skirmishing blowpipes.

Blue skirmishing blowpipes.

Yellow skirmishing blowpipes.

Despite my basing of other things, the next update will be on some core troops for the Eru-Kin.

Die Hard Miniatures Eru-Kin based to Midgard rules: part 1.

 Now I quite like the new Midgard rules, and had been fairly busy basing my Mithril Orc army in accordance to their basing. I like the multiple basing, and the idea of having hero miniatures on individual, but more heroic, almost scenic, bases. As a personal rule of thumb I have decided to base Army Commanders (and mounted heroes) on 50mm round bases (when I base some goblins and dwarves I shall add standard bearers, musicians, etc to the bases as well), and dismounted heroes on 40mm bases. I like the room it gives the miniatures. If anyone is unfamiliar with Midgard (which I am still yet to play) a useful link can be found here.

https://mogsymakes.net/midgard/

Anyway, back to the Orcs. Lots of orcs, all being based. Then I take a break, think 'I wonder what else I could base for Midgard?' Then I recall my Eru-Kin army from Diehard Miniatures which had been sitting in a box for years. The Eru-Kin are fantasy/sci-fi amphibians with a passing nod to Citadels pre slotta C32 Slann range, with some interesting additions. So, I got distracted. In fairness I have finished basing the orcs! I have however found myself happily painting a Midgard Eru-Kin army. 

Painting wise I have gone for the 1980s Slann look, with lots of gold and a dash of Aztec. As there are more sci-fi elements than the old Slann range, I have tried to create an army which is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy. I like to think of them as perhaps an Old Slann army, a few generations after the collapse of the Warp Gates and the decline of their civilisation, that is still technological to some extent, but things are starting to fall apart. I have not gone for a very precise paint scheme, but for one more suited to the tabletop, although I am still taking care in painting. The miniatures are great fun to paint, and I am also regarding them as a prelude to when I tackle my 1980s Slann army later.

Here is a link to the Eru-kin range, sculpted by Tim Prow:

https://diehardminiatures.com/product-category/eru-kin/

Enjoy :)

Army commander.

As mentioned above he is on a 50mm base. I like the old tech weapon. He would be a Level 3 hero, with the traits: Army Commander, Amphibious, Legendary Missile, and armed with a crossbow (equivalent).

Side view of the shield. 

Mage.
Although sold as a sci-fi Tech Mage, he does fit the fantasy aspect of the army nicely. He also has a bit of an Ancient Egyptian or Stargate Goa'uld feel about the sculpt.

Eru-Kin warriors.
These would be classed as Warriors (Heavy Infantry) and are eight to a base. I love how on the multiple basing you can have a lots more differing poses and a more dynamic look. The shields are great too.

Eru-Kin Mag staff unit.
These very much have a Stargate feel to them with the staff weapons. As a Midgard unit, these would count as a Skirmishers (Shooters) unit, armed with (equivalent) crossbows.

I converted (head-swapped) one of the Eru-Kin, the on second in (second from the right in the previous photograph).

Next update will be more Eru-Kin as I have already painted more. 

The return of the Ral Partha Phoggs!

This blog update is a bit of cheat really. I painted the Phroggs a few months ago, and started a draft blog update about them, but put the update on the back burner for later.

It's now later and things haven't quite gone to plan. I had been finishing off the prep work for my 3rd Edition Chaos Dwarves, and had started a major basing project for my Mithril Miniatures Orc army in line with the new Midgard rules. However, I am very ill. I was very, very busy over Xmas, and then for the last three weeks I have had flu (been in bed for a lot of the time, not eating, sleeping erratically, etc) which then developed a seperate chest infection, and which now has moved into a serious throat infection. All this has of course lead to a total stop in anything miniature related (and most other things really).

So I have fallen back on my old (only from about September 2024) Phroggs draft. But don't get me wrong, I am pleased to blog about them. The Phroggs are a 'Space Slann' style range of miniatures sculpted and produced in the UK by Pal Partha Europe. I originally purchased a few back in 2016 and painted them, and then kind of forgot about them. I then randomly saw John Blanche's 'Slaani' artwork somewhere from 40k 4th Edition (included at the end of this update) and thought that that the Phroggs would look good in that style. So I paint stripped the ones I had and purchased a few more and got started.

I wanted keep the paint scheme simple, as per the artwork. So I only used four main colours, orange for the skin, gold for the weapons/equipment, white for the clothing, and red for feathers. The only other colours where yellow/black for the eyes, a dark red for depth for the feathers, and sliver for highlighting the gold. A Nuln Oil wash was also used.

They were quick to paint, and lots of fun. I really like the miniatures, although be warned, they aren't too miniature as they are 40mm tall, more ogre sized, but not badly priced at £3.95 each. I love the new simple look, although I'm not sure on the bases. I based them up to match the Iron Claw Squats in a slightly camp sci-fi look, but might re-base them in a more jungle look. I might just have to buy some more at that time too!

Here is a link to the range:
http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/phroggs-scifi-frogs-c-193/


Enjoy :)

Phroggs!
I now have two squads of five, one Mage, and one overall Warleader. 

Remember that these boys (and probably girls too, I'm not a Xenos-biologist!) are mounted on 40mm round lipped bases.

Warleader.
He is actually listed as a PH011 Phrogg Science Officer, but I wanted him as a hero leader.

Tech-Mage.
Listed as a PH012 Phrogg Psychic Tech-Mage, his power/force axe is supplied in several pieces, and didn't really fit very well. So a bit of cutting down and drilling created a sturdier weapon.

This was the only miniature to use a unique colour than the other Phroggs. I used a pale wash of Citadels Tesseract Glow on the eyes to give a magical warp infused aspect.

PH002 Phrogg Trooper #2 advancing.

PH004 Phrogg Trooper #4 advancing.

PH009 Phroggs Flamer support.
I particularly like this Phrogg as he has a flame thrower in the same manner as John Blanches artwork. 

PH010 Phrogg Sergeant.
Good, generic squad leader miniature. My old one of these weapon broke whilst paint stripping (I dropped it!) and so it became weak and I just cut it off. I left him bare handed, but this model could easily be converted to carry all manner of space Aztec/Mayan sorts of weapons, or even be replaced with a power fist!

Phroggs in a firefight with Iron Claw Squats.It gives you an idea of scale.

Tech-Mage communing with ancient ruins.

John Blanche's Slaani artwork.
(all rights reserved to John Blanche).

Next update should be Mithril miniatures Orcs. 

 

A few Iron Claw Goblins.

Finally I have got around to painting some goblins!

I chose some Iron Claw range goblins from 1987/8  because I really love the detailing on them, and they are really fun to paint. Like all of Bob Olley's sculpts, the detailing is awesome, although I do acknowledge that some of his ranges don't always seem to work, nor is his sculpting to everyone's taste. Still, I love the goblins he sculpted for Citadel, although at the time I didn't really like them. However, it's the detailing, and something about the goblin mischief in the faces which I love. 

When painting I wanted an unusual look to the skin rather than the traditional  'Goblin Green' or a more human flesh colour. I opted to paint the flesh Citadel's Fenrisian Grey, highlight it with a mix of Fenrisian Grey and white, then wash it with green ink, then highlight again with a mix of Fenrisian Grey and white. As for the armour and clothing, I wanted a coherent look without being too uniform. So I opted for only using red or brown for cloth, and the same shade of metal for the armour. I didn't use any Citadel plastic shields as I wanted a different look to match their non-conventional Citadel sculpting, so I used a mix of Foundry Viking shields, and some old Hasslefree miniatures shields.

Enjoy :)

Goblins!

Goblin with axe.
This is one of my favourite miniatures in all of my collections. The face, the great face sculpted shoulder armour, the mean looking axe, and the ridiculously impractical pointed helmet all come together to make a lovey, quirky, miniature. He will be my army general. He also got a different colour helmet to show his status!

Swordsman and halberdier.

A pair of armoured spearmen, obviously planning mischief!

Double-handed axe and sword/cutlass and shield.

A Warhammer warhammer! and halberdier.

Another sword and shield, and a double handed flail. The flail has a lovely head detailed head on the end of the pole, which is holding the flail in its mouth.

Another pair of double-handed axes.

Swordsman and axeman.

A goblin wielding a ball-headed mace and short sword, and another sword and shield goblin.

Standard bearer and a double handed mace wielding goblin in a rather fetching pointed helmet.

Rear view of the standard. The standard top is double faced, and they both, to me anyway, have a Green Man feel about them.

Another double-handed mace goblin, and another double-handed axe goblin.

Spearman and swordsman.
The hilt of the sword is sculpted into a (goblin?) face.

A troublesome trio of goblins.

Archers!
The one on the left has a bladed/serrated bow, a common feature on some of Bob Olley's goblins.

Rear view of the above goblins showing the detailing on the quivers.

More archers.

Another two archers.

Rear view of the archers above.
The one on the left has a face shaped quiver, the other has a space dagger on his.

Archers again! I love the mean looking face of the one on the left.

Rear view of the quiver of the above archers.

A pair of helmeted goblin archers.

Next update may be some Mithril Miniatures Orcs. I am basing them on scenic bases in line with the new Midgard rules, and I am painting some at the moment. At some point I want to get back to painting some more of these goblins though!

Ironclad Miniatures War of the Martian War Machine (Tripod).

 Something a little more unusual.

I have always liked H G Well's 'War of the Worlds' and the iconic Martian Tripods, as well as having a passing interest in the Steampunk genre. Now in my idle curiosity I searched for a Martian Tripod miniatures, and whilst there were all sorts of smaller scale versions or 1950's/ Tom Cruise War of the Worlds/Justin Hayward versions, I chanced across another, older styled version.

This older version is based partly on HG wells own sketch, and was then illustrated more formally later (1902) by Alvim Correa The model kit can be found for sale at Ironclad Miniatures at the link below:

https://www.ironcladminiatures.com/ourshop/prod_3335727-Steam20.html

The miniature itself is mainly good quality hard resin, with metal legs, feet, 'tentacle arms' and heat ray. Assembly was easy. There are holes on the underside of the body in which to insert the metal parts, which require a minimal amount of drilling to made the holes a little more of a snug fit. The body was also easy to assemble. I mounted the whole on a 150mm circular plastic base for extra stability.

Painting was interesting. Conventionally Martian War Machines are usually painted silver/metal in colour. However reading the description of the War Machine it noted it was metallic with a brazen hood. So I went for a mid metal look, with a brass looking hood. It also gives a slightly more steampunk look, suitable for a late Victorian aesthetic. I did how ever opt for a for Justin Hayward approach for the 'eyes'/portholes, painting them an alien looking green, rather than the big googly eyes present in Alvim Correa's artwork.

For the base I added a little rural fence to give the idea of it wondering around the Southern English countryside. The tufts on the muddy base also give that impression as well. Overall I am very happy with how it turned out, and it made a nice change to do something novel. I have a back-burner project to buy another eight more and have three groups of three, but this one is enough for now. So Victorian Surrey and England is reprieved.
                                                  For now!...

Enjoy :)

The kit parts.

Assembled.

Painted and based.

Rear view.

Close up of the tentacled arms and heat ray.

Alvim Correa's illustrations.

Another of Alvim Correa's illustrations.

Next update will be Iron Claw goblins. Yes, goblins!!!