"St. James Infirmary"

With the timely release of Eureka Miniatures Jazz Band, I put together a little display piece as a gift for my Dad's 84th Birthday.

The video below will show all of the pictures set to music or you can just scroll down and click on just those you wish to see enlarged.

The figures are nicely cast and well sculpted. I primed everything but the piano white and added paint on top of that, then inked them and etc.

The lovely ensemble worn by Bessie Smith was "painted" with ink only with a bit of ink/white paint mix.

The paints were a mix of Army Painter and Vallejo. The inks were from Vallejo.

The figures represent the following greats of the Jazz Age:

Trumpet - Louis Armstrong (holding instrument and singing)

Clarinet - Johnny Dodds

Trombone - Kid Ory

Piano - Jelly Roll Morton

Drums - Baby Dodds

Double Bass – John Lindsay

Banjo (six strings) - Johnny St Cyr

Singer - Bessie Smith

However I "converted" Jelly Roll into Earl Hines by straightening his hair and slicking it back.

Mind you it is impossible to tell at viewing distance!

The backdrop for the piece is the floor of TVAG's excellent Mean Sets Night Club.

>I simply cut out the parquet dance floor and stuck the rest to a mirror to give the piece some depth.

Love the set and one day hope to actually build the night club but that is a ways off yet given the figures lined up on my painting table.

So here are a few shots of it almost complete in the shadow box.

My friend Patrick Wilson, aka The Virtual Armchair General offered a few quite good suggestions.

One was to add a brass plate to the piece.

It says, surprisingly enough given the title of this post, "St. JamesInfirmary"

Another suggestion was to insert a voice chip that could play the song. However I left it to too late and could only find 10 second chips which I found unsuitable.

However a nice double CD of Louis Armstrong music, including "St. James Inirmary" was included in the gift box.

Dad seemed to really enjoy the gift.

Hope you have enjoyed reading about it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Troopship from Scotland!

Received an order of painted figures from Alternative Armies yesterday!

"Skinner's Gnolls"

10 mounted and 10 corresponding foot Othari Gnoll Riders painted to my specifications led by a gnoll mounted highland rat again with corresponding figure on foot.

Been looking forward to adding this unit to my forces for use in Inji!

In the background you can also see four rabbit standard bearers who will be used to carry United Provinzes of Fruit and Veg banners. This way by simply swapping out flag bearers the rabbits can fight for either the Ferach Elves or the rest of Urop.

Ten mounted KGL (King's Giant Legion) Ogre heavy dragoons. They are riding rhinos and look quite fierce.

20 Burrovian Guard infantry, resplendent in bearskins.

Adding these "Dutch" guards to my elf grenadiers gives me three battalions of Guard Grenadiers and two battalions of Guard Voltigeurs. .

Note the pioneers with their imposing beards to either side of the officer. These fellahs will look splendid chopping away at the gates of Le Hey Lady (yes that is a Jerry Lewis reference).

Once again I must say that I am well pleased with the quality of  the AA studio painters. 

Recommended without hesitation!

Scary Statues

Well the Easter Truce is lasting longer than I expected.

Due to some time sensitive painting, the Guinalean campaign is on hold.

On the plus side I did get to these lovely-if-creepy models.

Crooked Dice's Scary Statues.

Those of you who know what they are, know what they are.

Those who do not may sleep better at night.

Painting these was dead simple. 

Dark grey base coat. 

Green-black ink wash.

Dry brushing successively lighter shades of grey-white.

Wonderful figures and my thanks to the good folks at Crooked Dice for sending a fourth figure gratis.

My little lead adventurers must tread carefully around these ladies.

One more photo. This one cropped from the last one above. It is a bit blurry, but it shows what's left of the green-black wash after the dry brushing.

Don't. Even. Blink.

A Gentledog's Gentledog For The League

...Or "Variations On A Theme"

Three versions of  the Footorc, Le Beau Sabre Gauche and his alter ego

Good things come in threes, or so they say.

With that in mind while working on Geoffrey, I also worked on yet another version of the Footorc. 

It had always been my intention to create a dog servant for that esteemed diplomat and leader of the League of Extraordinary Mentalmen, the Duke of Yippstatte, aka Le Beau Sabre Gauche.

Edward Woofnagle

Meet Edward Woofnagle.

Edward is modelled on my favorite neighborhood dog, a standard poodle named Eddie. He's a fine companion and utterly fearless. Just the sort of dog Le Beau Sabre Gauche needs to back him up in a tight spot.

The View from Behind

The orc in green is the original item from Alternative Armies. He arrived painted but I have since gone back to add some details with ink. 

So there you have it, one body, three heads (one stock, two sculpted from green stuff by yours truly) and  the result...well best left  to you to judge.

The Risotter

...And finally, a shot of the mounted version of the Risotter.

That's it for now, do hope you enjoy the photos.

Geoffrey. Fetch Me My Blunderbuss!

Used the Easter weekend to paint a few figures:

In the immortal words of Professor Elemental:

"If there's rumpus, you're able to run I trust?

Geoffery - fetch me my blunderbuss! " 

Geoffrey! Been wanting to work on this project for a long time. He started out as a footman, well, foot-orc from Alternative Armies' Londinium Coach.  Took off his head and replaced it with one sculpted from green stuff.  

Haven't decided how he should be based just yet.

As we all know a Gentleman's Gentleape is an indispensable companion for any adventure. 

In the center above are two officers of the Royal Regiment of Orang. They started life as Orc foot officers from Alternative Armies. I used some green stuff to augment their faces and did hand swaps so they could hold the wire banner poles.

The Other Ranks either side are bog orcs studio painted by the good folks at Alternative Armies to my faux orangutan specifications.

The rabbit is a standard Burrovian, uhh, standard bearer. Painted him to carry Sir Kev Blynge's banner as he trudges through the Heart of Darkness gathering carrots.

Some of you will remember Sir Kev as the renegade colonel of the Chavchesters. In the photo he can be seen in dismounted form as provided by the staff of Alternative Armies. I painted the traditional Burberry tartan on Kev's trews and headband.

Finally here is the Riosotter. He will be running afoul of Giglamps in the future in "The Wind and the Otter".

Mrs. Petiteorcus Alive, or Risotter Dead!