'Tis the season!

We take a break from miniature painting to bring you my latest foray into holiday decorations: snowflakes shaped like the Game of Thrones houses!  Guess which are which ;)  More to come later.

Want to make your own?  The pattern is here.  Enjoy!

Hear Us Roar!

Sorry for the delay in new updates, folks.  Life has been rather busy.  However, I recently completed the bulk of my Lannister warband and figured I would give you all some shots.  Without further ado, here they are!

First the bowmen in their red and gold livery:

 

Next, some doughty spearmen:

Next, some men-at-arms, ready to bring the pain to the foes of Casterly Rock!

And lastly, some Lannister guardsmen, in their lion-crested helms, minus cloaks.  After all, after a few months in the field, I can't imagine most of them would have retained their court finery!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.  I deliberately made the colors more vibrant and gave the men a greener, more fertile base than I used for the Stark men to better represent their greater wealth, as well as the fact that they come from a more fertile and pleasant land.  The figures, as previously mentioned, were mostly torsos, heads, and bodies from Perry Brothers, as well as some GW heads and some Fireforge arms and shields.  The lions on the shields came out all right.

Next up, Tyrion, Jamie, and an additional spearman.  After that, I will run a battle scenario using a Song of Arthur and Merlin rules from Ganesha Games.  I will keep you all posted!

In Other News

We will get back to your scheduled post regarding the Others/White Walkers in a little while here.  In the meantime, it's time to get to work on the Lannisters.

I actually assembled these guys a while ago, and have only just gotten to uploading the photos.  Life's been rather busy and as a result I haven't had as much time to dedicate to modeling as I'd like.  I actually put together about a dozen of these fellows, but only put up the most interesting ones and a sample of the others.  Here goes.

 First up, Jamie Lannister.  According to the novels, up to the point of his capture at the battle of Whispering Wood, he was armed in a suit of enameled white scale and a red Lannister cloak.  I believe he may have worn a lion-crested helmet as well, but don't recall.  In any case, the body is a scale-covered torso from the Fireforge Games foot-sergeants set.  The legs and arms are the white harness wearing men from the Perry Brothers' War of the Roses Infantry set, and the helmet and cloak are from the Games Workshop Knights Panther sprue.  I recently bought a pot of "pearlized white" paint from the craft store, so I'm interested in seeing how that will take.

 

Next up, his brother.  Tyrion, hand of the king, and generally known as "the imp" by those who do not like him.  He consists of an entirely chopped-up set of bits from the Perry Bros' box.  I think he came out rather well.  If I do choose to do him in armour, he's likely going to be replaced by Bilbo or Sam from the LORT game set where they are disguised in Goblin armour, and just do a head swap (or damn, that seems to be out of print.  Maybe a Reaper halfling champion?).  As it is, he's ready to go whoring in King's Landing, lay a smack-down in the throne room, or generally get Bronn to do his dirty work for him, as he is clearly not prepared for combat.  Which is about right, when he faces the Starks.

Next up, some champion-ish Lannister men.  Possibly house guards who have dumped their cloaks.  Overall, I'm not sure how well the Knights Panther heads worked.  They seem a little big, but I'm not sure the difference is massive.  Again, Perry Bros bodies and, with the sword and shield, Fireforge arms. 

 And lastly, some men at arms (or at least, a representative sample).  I used some archers without modifications from Perry Bros, but the rest are generally Perry bodies and heads with Fireforge arms.  I hope you enjoy!

The Others, Part I: The White Walkers

Having recently completed an 11-12 man Winterfell warband, it's time to move on to other projects.  Right now the Lannisters are in the hopper, but I'm currently in the midst of brainstorming some ideas for a force of White Walkers/Others.  Part of this is due to the fact that WWs will add some more of a horror/fantasy element to the game, while Stark-Lannister conflicts are more or less straight-up medieval skirmish wargames due in large part to the understated fantasy elements within the series.  So, while I get on with the task of starting up my Lannister conversions, here goes.

White Walkers are, in the world of GRRM, divided into several distinct categories.  These are, specifically, White Walkers (WW), wights, and what I shall refer to as "fell beasties" of all sorts, specifically reanimated creatures

* White Walkers/Others themselves.  As put in an interview with Martin, "They are strange, beautiful...think, oh...the Sidhe made of ice, something like that...a different sort of life...inhuman, elegant, dangerous." As per other sources, "Martin also confirmed that the White Walkers are not 'dead', just an inhuman kind of life."

So, in other words, WWs themselves occupy a leadership position within any "Others" warband.  They are lithe and sinuous, but also inseparably linked to things cold and malevolent.  They may be magic users and are adept in combat, but other than that, little is known.  Based on these observations, here are a few potential models to use with regards to the field of battle.

Privateer Press has an few excellent model that would work from their Legion of Everblight range of Hordes.

While I would normally prefer these guys to have less clothing on, the figure in the middle looks particularly suitable for a White Walker captain.

Annyssa Ryvaal is also an excellent choice for a mounted Walker, as she not only has the right look, but is riding a reindeer, while I feel really captures the spirit of the race.

Brigade Models' line of Sidhe from their Celtos line also has a few decent options for WW solos and characters.  For example, Nuada of the Silver Hand:

As well as Irdil of the Silent Arrow:

Games Workshop also has a few suitable options, such as the Twilight Ringwraiths from their Lord of the Rings series:

All in all, not a terribly bad selection for White Walkers, especially since I imagine most skirmish-level warbands wouldn't need more than one or two (or perhaps three in the event of a massed battle).

More to come in Part II: The Wights.  Stay tuned!

Stark Warband Complete!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently.  I was waiting on some static grass to finish my lads and, what do you know?  It was cheaper and easier to order the damn stuff from England on Amazon than it was find it at my local suppliers or via my usual go-to place, thewarstore.com.

In retrospect, I probably should have had the men wearing white with grey wolves, as that is the "official" heraldry for the Starks of Winterfell.  However, it should be noted that the household guards of the Starks are consistently referred to as "greycloaks" and at one point, Arya is almost fooled by Goldcloaks disguised as her father's men in grey cloaks.  Of course, it really has ended up as more of a blue, but I'm generally content with the overall scheme.  Plus, give the massive influx of recruits at the beginning of the War of the Four(/Five) Monarchs, it is certainly reasonable to expect that in a pre-industrial society, there would be plenty of variation.  The winter effects were made with GF9 snow effects, as well as MIG weathering powder (white).  Overall, I'm pleased.

Ah well.  This is what happens when you get a historical gamer modeling fantasy figures.  Enjoy!

Stark Captain

And here is the captain of my Stark/Winterfell band.  The body is from the Perry Bros war of the roses officer, the head from a Warlord Games Dacian chieftain, and a green stuff cloak and mantle.

With this fellow, I used some Martha Stewart liquid silver gilding as a bit of an experiment.  Since this guy was a hero and going to be mostly in metal, I didn't want him to be too boring, but "pop" a bit.  I think the bright, shiny silver paint helps.  We'll have to see how it holds up when I clearcoat it.  In any case, here you are.

Linky!

The Stark battle group is done!  Well, at least, the painting is.  I still need to base them.  Patience, friends, pictures to follow soon.

In the meantime, check out this awesome example of a Game of Thrones conversion based on the TV show for Lannister guards using Lord of the Rings figures from games workshop.  The creator did an awesome job, although I personally am not a fan of the TV show "look," so I will most likely continue on my own path with those as my next project.  After the Lannisters have their own battle group, it will be time to take them for a spin!