And Now For Something Totally Different

 While I didn't do any painting today, what I did do was get sent four 9 litre capacity Really Useful Boxes, 400 5x2mm magnets, and five sheets of Warmag A4 sticky-backed ferrous material. Then I spent a good few hours supergluing 398 magnets to my Night Goblin and Skaven armies, and putting them in their new homes:

Top - 2,000 point Skaven army; middle and bottom - 2,000 point Night Goblin army

The Skaven army fits in nicely, but there's not any room for expansion really

 This method is great - secure, easily stored, protected from dust, simple to carry around. The main downsides are that it takes a lot of time to add magnets to a given army, and that it takes at least two magnets for a metal miniature to hold them securely enough that, when turned upside down, they don't fall off. I ended up putting ten on the all-metal Snotling Pump Wagon, and four on the resin Giant. Some of the metals got three magnets if I felt they were heavier than usual.

So now I guess I need to buy some more of everything, especially magnets, as I have an empty 9l box sitting there waiting for toy soldiers...

Easy Does It

After some time today I managed to finish off Ser Geraint Blondel's retainers, who are remarkably restrained in terms of the clothes they're wearing compared to all the other retainers in both Renly-aligned and Joffrey-aligned warbands:

A slightly fuzzy photo irritatingly, but it shows them all quite nicely. Ser Blondel's actually not got a full suit of plate; his lower legs and back legs are quite exposed. Perhaps House Blondel is on hard times...

I really like the little wooly grey cap the longbowman's wearing

I had to call someone Simple Simon, even if he isn't a pie-man, and the way his face turned out meant the longbowman was the perfect candidate. Jon of Loxby and Careful Tom are the billmen

The padded leather jerkins worn by the billmen, combined with their matching leather satchels and bills, suggests that the House has something resembling a uniform for their men-at-arms

I decided against painting livery badges for the billmen in the end, with just Simple Simon wearing the House's livery on his surcoat. The three golden discs are perhaps coins, or maybe apples. I'm not sure yet. With these chaps done, all that's left now are Dexter Hill's retainers. Dexter Hill is a bastard child (hence the lack of noble title) hoping to use the war to either make his own name or convince his father to grant him title and name. I think his retainers will be dressed in his father's livery, so I need to have a think about what House they're actually from.

Painting Points:
Today: 3
This Week: 3
2025: 392

Time Flies When You're Busy

So I've been AWOL for uhhhh two weeks? or thereabouts. Apologies, mea culpa, etc etc. Life happened, as it often does, and I had a combination of small holidays (a long weekend in Ynys Mon, and another around Abertawe) as well as various Stuff that meant I didn't get any painting done really. On the plus side, I popped into the Games Workshop in Abertawe, and got some paints to help me with the ECW Parliamentarian cavalry commission, which I started to do again. Today I looked at the rather folorn Song of Ice and Fire Here's The Ruckus warband that I'd been doing what seems like years ago, and started working on Ser Geraint Blondel's retainers. These fellows are interesting in that the billmen aren't wearing livery coats, so the only model with the House livery on is the longbowman. I might put some little badges on the billmen though.

The billmen look rather uniform, don't they? I quite like it

I also took some time to use a nice new Contrast paint (Aggaros Dunes) on the second regiment of ECW horse:

24 of the 36 cavalry troopers have had their buff coats and gloves done now

The ECW commission has a deadline (October) so I'm really going to try to focus on them as much as I can over the next few weeks. I'd like to get them done and sent back to the commissioner as soon as I can now that it's cooled down enough to paint again.

In other news I also spent a little money and got some Really Useful Boxes, Warmag sticky-backed ferrous sheet, and several hundred 5x2mm magnets which will be arriving on Saturday - I sense a few pleasant hours gluing magnets to bases in order to safely store an army or two. If this works the way I hope it will, I'll be doing that to everything, painted or not, so that I can have a properly, safely, sensibly, stored collection.