Concerning Hobbits

Every self respecting Tolkien gamer wants hobbits in their collection. I mean, Elves and Dwarves are cool and very well armed, but Hobbits know what's really important. 

But getting halfling figures that look like how I imagine the characters in the books is problematic. 

The Games Workshop hobbits are pretty good, but awfully dear. Although maybe that's my age. Is Cdn$5/ figure that bad anymore for metal? Yes, really it is. Conqueror Model dwarves are half that price even without the bundle discounts. Also the poses are terribly repetitive.

Mantic halfings are well, just odd. Plus you've got to buy them in sets with different units and I don't want dog riding hobbits, thank you.

Copplestone Castings are excellent, but pack assortment makes unit building problematic. They would mix well with the Games Workshop hobbits I think. Although there is a very nice option to buy unit packs through Northstar Games.

Wargames Atlantic plastic halfling militia are a good price, but suffer from Big Heads and are, in my opinion, very well equipped for how I imagine a Shire levy would look. I got a sample sprue through Wargames Soldiers & Strategy magazine a few years back.

Patrick remembered me musing about using 1/72 scale/ 20mm figures and gifted me a box of the Airfix Robin Hood figures as a late Christmas present. I was happy to notice that they are the same height as my Merry figure, and very similar builds too. Although getting more of this Out of Print set would frankly be impossible unless I wanted to pay stupidly high eBay Collector prices.

L-R: Wargames Atlantic halfling militia, Airfix Robin Hood figure, GW Merry. See what I mean about Big Heads?

A lot of figures have very exaggerated feet too. In 3d printing land there is the Halfling Modular Bundle from Minihoarder. The poses are kind of stiff and have rather ridiculous feet. Costuming is on point though.

For now I can get a couple of units of skirmishers and a unit of light infantry out of the Robin Hood set. Perhaps once I've finished painting Dwarves I'll splash out on some Copplestone figures. Perhaps this is all just an excuse to build some hobbitholes?

All That Jazz

 

Velma honked at the coal truck that cut her off. "Hey, watch it buster!"

She pulled to a stop in front of Cohen's Deli. Roxie was waiting out front, looking like she was ready for a golf date and checking her face in a compact. She put a big bag holding her 12 gauge pump in the back seat and climbed in the front. She held a paper sack on her lap.

"What's in the bag?"

"Lenny made us a couple of Reubens. We should eat them before they go cold." The bag clinked.

"Pickles?"

"Uh huh. And some sodas."

Lenny always packed the girls a nice lunch ever since they helped his cousin out of a jam.

Velma pulled back into traffic,  getting honked at by a delivery van.

"Sure thing. We can park by the river and watch the ducks. Lester the Lecher ain't goin' anywhere."

Roxie looked in the back seat. "Bring your gat?"

Velma smiled and flicked her cigarette out the window. "You bet your bippy. Les ain't gonna be a lech for much longer."

These are a couple of figures from the Pulp Figures Gangland Gals set that a good friend gave me last summer. I painted Velma, the fedora wearing one, pretty quickly but was stumped by shotgun wielding Roxie. The definition on her clothing was soft and I wasn't sure how to approach her outfit. I didn't want to do a plain solid dress and trying to paint a floral pattern was intimidating.

Velma

Then inspiration struck and I gave her a sweater vest. I'd wanted to give her ironic knitted hearts, but Mrs Rabbitman says knit patterns like that weren't a thing in the 30s, however Argyle was the height of fashion. So this is my attempt at a pink and white Argyle sweater vest. The fashionable knitwear and the yellow blouse also tie her in with Velma.

Roxie

With all these bright, possibly anachronistic, colours I decided that they should have a bright yellow car with whitewall tires too.

I've named them Velma and Roxie because I quite like Chicago and their hair reminds me of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zelwinger from the movie.

The thunderous roar of Velma's Tommy gun stopped suddenly when the breech block sat open on an empty magazine. Roxie ejected a spent shell from her 12 gauge. Velma tossed her cigarette on the bloodied heaps that had, until a few moments ago, been Lester and his four heavies.

"C'mon Roxie, I need a drink."

Roxie looked down. "Gosh darn it! I got a run in my stocking!"

Holy Mary, Queen of Shepherds

As I said about last week's Sharp Practice game, my German church wasn't finished, so we went to Russia instead.

In fact, the Mad Padre had only just delivered the final piece to finish the steeple. The steeple, as sold by Sarissa Precision, is made from mdf discs stacked up. Which is OK, but really I could do better.

Church parade, or the Sergeant is steering his flock away from the Communion wine. The door is a bit small but won't really be noticed during the game.

I had been talking on Twitter about perhaps using a foam craft ball, or drawer knob to replace the steeple when Paul Edwards of www.sabotag3d.com emailed me an .stl file for a lovely steeple cupola which the Padre printed out for me. 

Soon after Mike left on Thursday I had it glued in place and continued painting.

While painting, I was looking at a lot of Google images of "German Rural Church" and I decided that I really did not like the board effect on the steeple or the pronounced gap created by the mdf meeting the roof angle. So with some careful measuring and cutting I made a paper skin and glued that over top.

Offending details

Reskinned

You will notice that while I was at it, I also decided to redo the roof s as grey slate. Many pictures show church spires a dark grey, but I didn't want to lose the detail of the arches on the cupola, so I went with the creamy mocha that I did the walls in and made the dome a bright Vallejo bronze.

So now my Austrians and Bavarians have a tiny little Catholic church to attend, or loot, or fight over. I should build 'Our Lady of Goats' a church yard wall too.

I'm now trying to source appropriate clergy.