The Knight

The last knight for a while, the player character from the Expansion set.

And the chivalric group shots:

Taxation

An event from the Expansion Set, the king's taxman going about his rounds.

More Foundry minis.

The Merchant

A Player Character from the Talisman Expansion, representing the bourgeoisie.

He is built on Perry Mini's plastic War of the Roses infantry with the head from the cavalry set of the same line. He is my first real attempt at sculpting. Earlier I have used green stuff just for filling gaps and the odd moustache.

The Patrol

An event from the expansion set, the Patrol. 

I seem to be going for units again, there is a definitive risk of this expanding into an army. These guys are from Perry miniatures, except for the leader with a sword is from Wargames Foundry.

Year One

It has now been one year since I took up painting again. Looking back, I'm surprised how much I've done.

I usually get about a half hour of painting done every day. Hopping from one project to another I work on 1-20 minis simultaneously which means a lot of half-dones lying around.

With these guys laid out, the funny thing is, I don't know if I've gotten a lot better at painting during this past year but I've definitely gotten a lot faster. And maybe I'm now getting more hits compared to the misses..

Anyway, as a hooray to myself, my top five pieces of the past year IMHO:

This arthropod. I'm happy with getting decent paint job onto the plastic I was having trouble with earlier. And I'm pleased with the way the light source effect turned out. I also think the pose turned out fine; the spider rearing back from the torch, probably thrown by some startled dungeon explorer who has just noticed a spider the size of a cow sneaking up on them.

This pirate. I always wanted to paint a classic pirate, but never got around to it before. Also, he was one of the early ones I did after picking up a brush again after taking a break for a decade. With him I felt like I was really getting my painting groove back on again, painting was starting to feel fast and easy, and I like the result.

These marines. Finishing a full squad was very satisfying. Also, the droids had been taunting me from my "to-paint" pile for almost 20 years. Finally done!

These watchmen. The second time a did a whole unit, and finding inspiration in classic art was surprisingly much fun.

This fellow. The paint job is crap, but he is the mini that broke the decade long hiatus!

The Golem

This unholy mockery of life, stiched together is the Golem, enemy from the expansion set.

Plastic Reaper by James van Schaik. It's hard to see, but he does have bolts in his neck!

The Pilgrim

The Pilgrim player character from the Expansion Set. Keeping it very simple, as should fit a humble pilgrim.

The mini is from Reaper by Bobby Jackson

The Third Hobgoblin

Talisman contains three hobgoblins, two enemies from the basic game and the player character from the Talisman Expansion Set. This guy is the third one.

I have four of these 1984 Citadel hobgoblins by Aly Morrison. I'll get around to painting the fourth some day, even though I now have enough for the Project.

Going Rogue

The Rogue player character from the Talisman Expansion Set is kind of odd. The artwork makes him seems like some petty criminal involved in a barfight, but his special abilities involve stealing spells from other players. Grand theft hex? I went with the "mugging someone in the back alley" image.

 The mini is from Reaper by Matt Gubser.

Springtime For Vikings, Or The Amazon

The Amazon from the Talisman Expansion Set is quite a nice character with an extra movement die and the ability to re-roll lost physical combat rolls.

The mini is from Reaper by Bobby Jackson. For the painting style, I used the three colour -approach. Dark base, medium and highlights. It is a very fast way to produce results good enough for the tabletop.

I also left quite a lot of the black priming showing. My opinions about the results are mixed. On one hand, up close she looks kind of messy, but viewed a meter away the stark contrasts lend character and make her stand out from other figures.

And she was VERY quick to paint. So, if I were painting an army, I would be very tempted to go with this style.

I also hope you noticed the (rather gigantic) coltsfoot, one of the first flowers among the melting spring snow, at her feet.

It's Greek To Me, Or The Cyclops

Stranger cards in Talisman usually occupy a space and offer assistance to visiting player characters. The Cyclops from the Talisman Expansion Set just comes along, eats one of your followers or steals some of your stuff and then trots off to the discard pile. A sympathetic fellow.

The mini is an old Ral Partha cyclops-kin.

Goblins!

Talisman contains a total of 5 goblin enemy cards. 2 in the basic game, 1 in the Expansion Set and 2 in the Dungeon expansion.

I have now finished 4. They are Ral Partha orcs propably from the late 80's. Once again, I didn't have the heart to change my old colour scheme, I just added the hand emblem on the shields.

A Half-hearted Effort, Or The Halfling

The Halfling player character from the Talisman Expansion.

The little guy is plastic from Reaper by Derek Schubert. I have to say, I am disappointed with the way he turned out. I was still having trouble with the plastic. The paint is glossy and uneven and the yellow is just too bright.

But if you never make mistakes, then your doing too little. Applies to everything in life, in my opinion.

A Forest Or Some Trees Or The Satyr?

The Satyr player character from the Expansion Set.

Here I think I've gone a bit too far with the base. The Reaper mini by Tim Prow is getting lost next to the big tree.

I had also thought of adding several butterflies, but they ended up being so large I just used one and it's probably better that way.