Birds of Prey: 'Lesser Warbeasts' for my Elven Army

    Birds of prey as 'Lesser Warbeasts' for my 28mm Elven army -- from a variety of sources

I have to be honest and upfront -- I am unable to identify where most of these figures came from. Most are likely from "Companion packs" by various manufacturers. Some are metal, though, and some are plastic. I believe the one of the elf with a hawk on her arm is a game piece from some board game that I've never played. I think a friend gave it to me because I definitely don't remember buying it! I did have to convert that figure, lopping off her rifle-carrying hand and substituting one carrying a sword. So, if anyone recognizes these miniatures (other than the Bad Squiddo Ravens, which I know), please speak up in the comments!

    Bird whisperer? Bird mistress? Plastic fig from a board game - I cut off her rifle & gave her a sword

 As I sat down to base these birds (or as Gollum would say, "birdses..."), my first thought was that I wanted to elevate them off the ground. For some I took wooden dowels and sliced them to a height I liked. Next, I shaved their sides with a hobby knife to look more like a wooden trunk. I used my pin vice to drill a couple holes and then inserted bent pieces of brass wire to become scraggly branches. For others, I used a large rock and epoxied the bird directly onto that. The clever among you may have noticed that Lesser Warbeasts in Dragon Rampant require six figures, but I am painting up seven. I was hedging against being less than thrilled with how one came out. The unlucky one will be relegated it to my box of animals!

    Left hand hawk is a raven from Bad Squiddo, but I have no idea of the metal bird on right

All were based on normal sized circular bases from Litko with heavy duty magnetic material underneath. Well, the elf bird-whisperer was on her own plastic base, so all I needed to do was put a magnet beneath her. Once all of the feathered Elf friends were securely epoxied to their base or perch, I primed everything with white Liquitex Gesso. Then they sat there for several days while I pondered how to paint them. On a day trip my friend Tom had organized, we stopped by Cedar Bog -- a wetlands nature park in Ohio. In their gift shop, they had laminated plastic cards of birds of prey that can be found in Ohio. I took a quick photo of it and then did Google Image searches on the species whose coloring I liked best. I chose only six because the seventh miniature was obviously a vulture of some sort. So, I picked the breeds with a color combinations that I liked. I numbered each base #1 - #7 so I could keep track of them. Perhaps I will mark on the underside of the base which each one is...? Or maybe not. Keith will likely look at them and say, "That's not a Northern Goshawk...!" Sigh. Some gaming groups have uniform experts who may critique every miniature. We have Keith who...well, according to him, knows everything! Ha, ha!!

    Right hand fig is another soft plastic fig, while left on the skull is metal, once again unsure of origin

From that point on, I would go down the list, pull up the table I'd saved with images of that species, and paint a color or two on it. I would then move on to the next, then the next, and so on. Of course, I was painting the Elven bird mistress at the same time. Why did I choose a green dress when all of the other figures in the army are pretty much green? Well, would YOU wear a different color if everyone else was wearing the one color? Ha, ha! I figured she would want concealment, too, as she stalked through the woodlands with her flock of attack birds. It took me a couple days to get the various plumage heads, beaks, eyes, and feet for all seven birds completed. One most of the birds, I did a brown wash to blend all the various brush strokes together. 

    Vulture (yes, not a bird of prey) perched across scratch-built tree stump & another Squiddo raven

I flocked the bases to match the rest of the army, with the exception of adding some clump foliage to the dead tree stumps. We are in the time of the year here in Ohio when the weather can make me wait several days or more to get a chance to spray coat my figures once they're painted. Some days, the humidity is too high even if the temperature isn't too hot. Other days, the humidity is too much even if the temperature is within the recommended rage for the Krylon matte clear coat that I use. I know, I know. My gaming buddy Mike S tells me at least once every couple months, "Why haven't you built a spray box for your house? It's easy!" Well, if I did, what would I have left to gripe about??

    Final look at the birds -- I like how the tree stump perches turned out...which one is odd bird out??

Tossing this in here because I didn't want to do a post just about measuring sticks. My friend Rich from RRB Minis & More handed these four sticks after I bought my last buildings. They are literally made to look like sticks (or branches? Trunks?) with wood grain and all. He asked if I preferred the 6" or 8" measuring stick, and of course I responded bigger is better! Rich 3-D printed them in a brown filament, but you know me -- I had to fancy them up! I spray painted them black and then brushed my premised 50/50 water and acrylic black paint over them. After that, it was my normal wood style recipe. Dark brown wet brush, Camo Brown dry brush, then Khaki highlight on alternating sections so it would be easier to see. I liked the alternating lighter and darker brown shades on the sticks. The final step was to paint the recessed notches between each one inch section black again to cover up stray dry brushing. So, now I have four measuring stick sticks...ha, ha!

    Measuring sticks painted as...sticks! Or branches or trunks, whichever you prefer. From RRB Minis

So, what else is on my painting desk? Right now, two 3-D printed medieval houses are racing the birds to be completed first. Yes, quite a sight to see a bird racing a house! Anyway, after that, I have nothing primed up, believe it or not. I guess I'd better get cracking! Since this was a batch of "old" figures, the next batch can be new, so that means another batch for my Elven army. I have the six mounted figures, six spearmen, and three (or so) wizards. Sayyy...I could be really clever and put together three of those Frostgrave wizards from the sprue I bought from Fireland Games. And combine the batch into a three of new and three of old? That sounds like a genius plan to me -- otherwise a batch of three figures may not seem like much. As for terrain, I don't know what is next for that, either. I could do another of the 3-D printed medieval houses -- maybe a two story, medium sized one? We'll see...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 125

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

 

 

Last of the Elven Archers

    Final batch of 28mm Warhost Elven archers -- still have more Elves to go, but the archers all done!

After being a bit disappointed at how long it took me to finish the previous batch, I set out to get this group of 28mm Warhost Elves done more quickly. Thankfully, I was successful in cranking them out in just over a week or so. These are the final archers for the army, which means I'm close to getting the whole army completed -- yay! I have honestly enjoyed painting these elves...and the orcs and goblins before them. I am planning on taking a breather before I do another army for Dragon Rampant, though. Wait...what was that advertisement? Warhost is making 28mm metal dwarves...? Nooooooo!!!

    Close up of two of the metal archers -- I like how the greens look as if they'll blend into the woods

Anyway, I have painting these guys down to a routine, by now. Weirdly, though, I tend to do the steps in a slightly different order with each batch. Luckily, with the archers, I get to skip the "assembly" step! After cleaning up the minimal flash on these Hobday and Hicks sculpts, I primed them, did their flesh, and then lined all eight of them up on my desk. I plopped a bottle of green paint behind each one to note which color their lighter, inner tunics would be. After painting that on, I did the armor base coat. I remembered to use the craft paint Gun Metal this time instead of Iron Wind Steel. These two packs of four had fewer guys with helmets or leg greaves, so that step went faster. Then, I realized I'd forgotten to dry brush the tunics before going on to the armor. No biggie, since I would be following that up with the bright gold color for the armor, which would likely cover up any stray swipes.

    These two packs of four had considerably more bare-headed as opposed to helmet wearing Elves

After the armor and tunics were complete, they were put back on parade. I picked out which darker green shade I would do the long vests in and placed the bottle behind the figure. Typically, this takes a bit time since I want the two greens to go together well. The vests were painted, and the next day I highlighted them. I stuck the elves back on parade and picked out a border color for each one's vest. I don't stick with green here, but I am hoping for the color combinations to be more muted and less contrasting than my first batch or two. Then it was time for the dots! My go-to for making a border or item of clothing look like it has a pattern or decoration is usually dots. These can be in a row or a pattern, giving the effect of an intricate design without actually having to do it. My friend Eric is a big proponent of all things dotted. Check out his blog here, which he has begun to update more often now that he has finally retired from teaching. 

    I have been consistently happy with these Warhost sculpts -- especially the variety of poses

I pulled out the same four shades of yellow I've been using for Elven hair next. I set two figures next to each bottle, hoping to give as much variety as possible. I dry brushed them the next day -- lighter yellow for the medium blonds, white for the lightest, and dun for the darkest. Moving on, I decided this time to do all the various sheaths, quivers, and pouches at once. Since I am going with a brown or tan tone for the equipment, I hoped it might save time. I pulled out five different brownish colors, unscrewed the caps, and laid them out before me. I know some say you shouldn't do it, but I usually shake my paint and use the paint inside the caps to dip my brush into. I've heard this causes the paint to dry up more quickly, but I honestly have never noticed that in my decades of painting this way. So, I continue to do it. Once that step was done, I went back the next day and applied a quick dry brush to each color I used. 

     Not sure why, but I wasn't as happy with my photos this time -- I feel the figs looks better in person

The figs were getting close, but still had some details to do. Next, was their waist sash or belts, shoes, arrows inside the quivers, feather fletching on the arrows, and so on. Eventually, they were done. With virtually ever color applied getting its own highlighting in a lighter shade, it does take longer to paint "my way" than some who have mastered the new breed of Contrast Paints. I would be interested in trying them out some day, but probably for a specific project. I don't want to have to re-purchase all of my paints. As you've probably noticed with this Elven project, I have more than a dozen greens alone!

    Sunlight through the trees -- final look at the final batch of Elven archers

So, what's next? Of course, my 2026 rules is for it to be a batch of figures acquired last year or earlier. Luckily, they will still be for my Elven army. I have seven birds of prey sitting on my desk which I have begun work on. They came from various source -- Fantasy Familiars or other packs from different manufacturers. They're mostly metal figs, but there are some plastic or Reaper Bones ones. I'm getting some more scenery ready to go, too. This includes not only two more medieval houses (smaller homes this time), but also a 28mm 3-D printed Huey helicopter. I would like the chopper (or all four) to be ready to use in a "Hot LZ" scenario when I run my Vietnam game at Origins Game Fair this June 17-21 here in Columbus. Lots more in the works, so stay tuned!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 118

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

 

Surviving 'Nam Layout is Underway! Check out these Photos!!

    I fell in love with this atmospheric river village scene from the moment I saw it -- great job, David F!

The layout phase has begun for my Vietnam cooperative & solo miniatures game, Surviving 'Nam: An Infantryman's Year 'In Country." All 12 scenarios have been written, most of the proofreading is completed, and the rule book is now being laid out in the publishing program. Part of that process was gathering awesome photos of Vietnam miniatures and scenery to illustrate it. 

    You can almost hear the waterfowl and slap the mosquitos in this sampan scene set up by Jenny T

I'm lucky in that three of my prolific play testers, Bob F, Pete S, and David F, have an amazing collection of terrain and miniatures and were willing to stage photos for the rules. Coupled that with my own collection, and Jenny and myself staging photos, I ended up with more than enough photos to fill the rule book with excellent artwork. Surviving 'Nam is being published by Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games. He is giving me sorely-needed graphics and layout advice and will be making the final call on what photos make it in the book. However, I thought I would do this post to share some of my favorites. 

    NVA insurgents stalk through the elephant grass in this excellently posed vignette by Jenny T

The fact that the rule book will be in full color is something I am looking forward to, as well. Andrea suggested it, and said that it really won't drive up the costs that much. The wargaming rule book standards for publishing have gone up and up in recent years, so this will make my rules look a bit more like they belong on the shelf...ha, ha! So, enjoy these pictures, and I will keep you posted on its progress.

    Pete S's Buddha scene has wonderful warm colors & hope it makes the rule book!

    I love David F's green river water in this village scene the set up - definitely publication worthy!

    Vietnamese insurgents arrive in a friendly village and immediately set up base there in Bob F's photo

    You've seen these guys once or twice! One of my photos of a US patrol passing through a village

    Perfect for my "Downed Airmen" scenario -- Pete S's crew being taken prisoner by the Vietnamese

 

    Bob F set up a Vietnamese floating market with civilians and took pictures of it for my rules

 

    "Don't shoot my water buffalo, sir!" My 28mm Vietnam figs I set up in a vignette for the rulebook

Surviving 'Nam will also feature a deck of cards, which control the actions of the enemy Vietnamese troops. This will be my first time using Drivethrucards, so I thought I should go out and find an artist to do some simple illustrations for each one. I saw the artwork of Uriah Groves on Facebook, and reached out to him. We made a deal for him to supply a number of Vietnam-themed black and white images to match the cards and their effects. Check out his work on Instagram!

    Likely, this image drawn by Uriah will be on the back of each card in the deck

So, with the flurry of work on Surviving 'Nam's publication, my painting has slowed to a halt over the last couple days. Still, it was important to get this out while Andrea had time to help me through the process. It has been since Mean Streets that I published a set of rules and my skills had gone rusty in the intervening years. Thanks to Andrea for his expertise, and hopefully the production will keep scooting along! 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59 

Paleolithic Play Test Using Wiley Games Rules

    Jenny's tribe chases some megafauna in Keith's Paleolithic hunting game with Wiley Games rules

My friend Keith is a big fan of all things prehistoric. Over the years, he has run a number of Dinosaur Hunt games for us using a variety of rules sets. When our friend Andy bought some 28mm cavemen recently, it got us talking about a series of games set in that distant time period. Each player could control a band of hunter-gatherers vying to survive in the dangerous and wild Paleolithic era. I mentioned to Keith that I thought the Wiley Games rules, aka Fistful of Lead series, would work great. Players could receive an extra card each turn that they could use to activate any of the animals on the tabletop, whether predators or prey.

A crew of cavemen and women and Keith's tabletop filled with 54mm hunters and Stone Age creatures

As I hoped it might, that intrigued Keith. He said he would begin working on it. My interest had been piqued by the recent activity and painted miniatures folks were posting on the Prehistoric Facebook page. Also, a number of bloggers, were posting battle reports of their games. One good example is Vagabond's Wargaming Blog and the adventures of the Shell Clan. You can check these out on his Stone Age themed posts. Keith worked quickly and said he was ready to run a game this past Sunday, tossing in a twist in declaring that we'd be using 54mm miniatures.

    How hungry is my hunter? My 1st hunter advances towards the big & smaller creatures on the plain

Honestly, I have no idea where he got all of the plastic figures in this admittedly obscure scale. I'm sure they were from a toy set sold somewhere, but there they were -- painted up and based. Each of us took control of four hunters with various weapons including spears, hafted stone weapons, clubs, and even a big, honking, old rock! Keith kept the "traits" to an absolute minimum. In Wiley Games' various rules, you can personalize a figure giving it various traits that make it quicker, more accurate, able to ignore effects of wounds it has suffered, and many, many more abilities. One figure was designated a Leader, but he was pretty much equal to all of the others in fighting power. 

    Uh-oh, 3 apparently VERY angry prehistoric giant penguins waddle onto the board near my band

The tabletop was populated with various prey animals, from lumbering, elephant like Deinotherium, thick-skinned Megacerops, and several smaller animals including large, Stone Age era capybera and wombat-like mammals. My apologies to Keith if I am giving the wrong names! Anyway, there was also a chance predators might appear based on our actions. I began moving my band of hunters off the board edge and towards the megafauna that was grazing in the middle of the table. We hadn't gone far when a trio of man-sized prehistoric penguins -- apparently called "Palaeeudyptes klekowskii" -- waddled onto the board very near us. My crew wasn't sure how they'd taste, but figure it might be something like chicken...ha, ha! Before you laugh, apparently these were twice the size of a modern day Emperor Penguin. My remaining two band members who hadn't moved yet sprang into action and darted forward to the attack.

    1st hunter vs. megafauna meetup did not go well for the hunter...oh, the names? Keith being funny!

The first player vs. prey animal encounter had occurred moments earlier when one of Tom's hunters attacked one of the huge Deinotherium (I believe, it could have been one of the other species -- but it was big!).  The hunter ended up splattered and out of action when the enraged creature defeated him in Close Combat and then rolled an "Out of Action" wound result. Ouch! This prehistoric hunting thing could be dangerous! My duo of hungry hunters duly discovered that themselves. We felt perhaps the penguins should be renamed "Beaks of Fury," as both penguins wounded and knocked down the hunter who had attacked them. Yikes! Half of my force was prostrate and bleeding on turn 1!

    My own encounters did not go well, either -- two hunters Wounded & Down to one pissed off penguin

Others were having a slightly easier time of it. Allen's continued his amazing string of rolls which he started last week when his orcs stomped mine in a Dragon Rampant game. Seeing his early success, I decided to give him something tougher to chew on. One of the random predators showed up, a giant, long snouted wolf-like creature called a Andrewsarchus. To me, that sounds like somewhat you might meet at a work conference ("Hi! I'm Andrew Sarchus, but you can call me Andy...").  One of Allen's hunters was trailing behind the other three, and I used my highest card to send "Andy" off to take a bite out of him. Lo and behold, Allen continued to be an unstoppable, dice-rolling machine. He rolled a "10" on 1d10 in combat to beat it, then a "9" to knock it out of action with his big, honking rock.

    Always the clever, thinking gamer, I sent the first predator that arrived to attack one of Allen's men

In revenge, Allen's brother Joel (they were on the same side or "tribe," activated Beaks of Fury again, giving my two Down hunters another wound each. Long ago, I learned not sit between the Sams brothers in any board game featuring conquest (lest you end up in a "Sams-wich"!). Apparently, that bond extended all the way back to the savannas of the Stone Age. I sent both of my two upright hunters back to gang up on one of the frenzied penguins. The first also was knocked down and wounded, and it took my final guy to take out one of those dynamite birds. However, both of my downed guys were skewered by the long beaks when they attempted to get up off the ground. My rolls were lackluster to say the least, and pretty much anyone rolling against me -- Keith as GM, Joel, or Allen -- had nearly unbeatable high dice. Extinction loomed as a definite possibility for my small band of hunters.

    Allen was on a dice rolling tear! Here, 3 of his hunters bring down a Megacerops -- plenty of meat!

My fellow tribe-mates, Mike S and Jenny, were having poor luck, as well. Jenny was hitting the Megacerops, but kept rolling lower on the Wound table. She was unable to deal a knock-out blow, and was resolved to chasing along behind it poking it in the back side, inflicting another shock marker. It would then flee and she would have to chase it down again. Despite being ostensible allies, Mike and Jenny nearly came to blows when he "poached" one of her heavily wounded mammals, finally killing it. 

    Two megafauna with their own collection of wound & shock markers, courtesy of Jenny's band

My two surviving hunters finally got their act together and killed off the rest of the penguins. Oh, I forgot to mention: all that time they were beating me they were rolling d8's and I was rolling d10's! Our shell-shocked women and children broke from their stunned disbelief and darted forward to drag their bodies back to our camp, hoping there was some meat under all those feathers!

    For sending the Andrewsarchus ("Andy") after Allen, Joel sent the penguins on a follow up attack

For an encore, we managed to ambush and kill a giant, prehistoric capybara. At that point, my duo were willing to call it the hunting trip concluded. We were dragging four, hopefully meaty bodies back to camp. No use trying to down one of those huge elephant or rhino like creatures! And the other tribe's warriors seemed to be too scary and efficient of killing machines for us to take on. The Ancestors obviously weren't with us today. Maybe, on another day, their spirits would favor us and we would be more fortunate in our hunting.

    My entire band had to combine to kill our 1st penguin...then my 2 guys died trying to get up!

The game played well, though doubtless Keith will do some tweaking to how the animals appear and act. I liked the ability to send a predator after another player's hunters, though most players used the card to move a prey animal closer to themselves, instead. Maybe next time let prey animals be moved only one move distance to represent the herd's wanderings? Or have herds move in a random direction? Otherwise, it almost seems like we were whistling and calling them over, only to bonk them on the head and kill them. That didn't seem very natural or realistic behavior. 

    Meanwhile, other bands were taking down bigger prey -- a Deinotherium succumbs to their blows

Either way, I hope Keith continues running these hunts, but allow us to create our own hunter band and keep track of our hunts in a continuing series of games. There are campaign rules which allow characters to improve or giving them a chance of dying when they were wounded or put out of action. It could be similar my post-apocalyptic campaign that I ran for the Sunday Night gamers using Wiley Games rules. Anyway, despite my struggles, I had fun and look forward to more games telling the story of the deadly life of early hunters on the savanna! 

    Hey look! One of my hunters actually took out one of the prehistoric capybaras without dying...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

    I suppose we won't starve, dragging this meat back to our camp -- but we lost half our hunters!!

Devilry Afoot Monsters: Can You Say 'Kanontsistóntie'?

    Five 28mm Supernatural monsters for my games of Devilry Afoot set in frontier America

I know that it has been since last Halloween that I ran my first game of Devilry Afoot for the Sunday Night gaming crew. I haven't abandoned my idea for the campaign set in Frontier America. Nope, it is just a case of Dragon Rampant army painting taking over my schedule. First, I painted my Bonefish Band of orcs and goblins, and now I'm finishing up my second army, Wood Elves. However, I still plan to take up this series of games set in Franklinton, OH (early precursor of my city, Columbus). 

    Unpronounceable Iroquoian specter, Kanontsistóntie - a creepy but cool fig from Crucible Crush

As proof, here are five monsters for that campaign. I went through the bestiary in Devilry Afoot rules and researched which Native American mythological creature would make a good stand in. For example, the giant, disembodied head is the Kanontsistóntie. It is supposed to be a ravenously hungry spirit that drove the Iroquois from the Adirondack region of upstate New York. Since it is so terrifying -- and you have to admit that is one creepy looking creature -- I will be using it in place of a specter. I love the way the sculptor used the creatures long hair to support the model and lift it off of the ground. It is quite off-balance, though, which I remedied by placing it to one side of its round base so the head (where most the weight was) is more centered. 

The 28mm model is from Crucible Crush (think Pulp Miniatures) and is called, appropriately, The Flying Head. It is part of a group of Native American mythological monsters they sculpted for their beautiful Flint & Feather line of miniatures. It is not cheap -- none of their creatures are -- clocking in at $20 for one fig. I bought it awhile back, though, and knew it would be one of the first monsters I painted from that line. It is just so freaking cool! On their website, they give it a Wicked Witch of the East green skin look. I went with a pale and dead look to it, adding some tattoos and warpaint so folks got the Native American connection. I am looking forward to getting it into a game and see my friends react to it...ha, ha!

    A gray werewolf -- skinwalker in Native American mythology -- prowls the forests near Franklinton

The next biggest dude in the batch is a werewolf from North Star's Dracula's America line. I bought mine last Historicon from Lon at Brigade Games. You see so many "Wolfmen" done in brown, that I decided to copy one of the wolf fur patterns that I did earlier in gray/white/black. I began with a medium gray all over for the fur, dry brushing it a light gray. Next, I dry brushed the white areas fairly heavily to mimic the pattern I'd seen online in images of wolves. After that, it was black -- either dry brushed or painted directly on for the eyes, claws, snout, and mouth. I gave him yellow eyes and really like his fierce look. This werewolf and the Coyote Skinwalker I painted earlier from the same pack will be substituted in when scenarios call for either Werewolves, the Naked Bear, or perhaps Revenants. I like how the tribal myths of skinwalkers almost directly translate to werewolves in this case.

    The hulking Buffalo Man is a miniature from North Star's 'Dracula's America' line of figs

Speaking of skinwalkers, I saw the Buffalo Man at Brigade Games, as well, and picked him up. Although we don't think of bison when we think of the Eastern Woodlands Indians in the Ohio area, their herds actually spread fairly far into the Midwest before being driven further west by the arrival of settlers. So, he will definitely work as another skinwalker. Looking at images of bison, there really isn't a whole lot you can do with this figure. I began with a dark brown, dry brushing it a Camo Brown to try to bring out the fur. I also added in some even lighter brown in streaks here and there, particularly on its wispy beard. I painted the face and hands darker to give more contrast. Unfortunately, it is still a very dark figure. I think I made a mistake putting him on a normal figure base. He's pretty tall, so I can see him toppling over in games from time to time. D'oh!

    Settler collapses in fear after being pursued through the woods by these animated Living Scarecrows

The next pair of figures are called Living Scarecrows and are not from the Dracula's America's line. These are actually North Star figures from a line for a different game -- Silver Bayonet. If you're looking for 28mm horror figures, we're actually very fortunate to have both these games being somewhat popular. Between the two, you will have quite a few creepy monsters you can pick up. Some of my horror miniatures are also from Bad Squiddo games, but they tend to be very pricey. Dracula's American and Silver Bayonet lines are much more reasonably priced. I got mine last year at Historicon, too, when I made my big Devilry Afoot purchase. Why not play one of those two games, you may ask? Well, both are set up as "versus" games, with each player having their own band of hunters of the supernatural fighting against each other. Devilry Afoot is cooperative, which is what I wanted. All of my players will control one Character and one Follower in my games. Players will be fighting the supernatural creatures called forth by native shamans -- not each other!

    These man-sized Living Scarecrows were the smallest figs, but they took the most time to paint up

Anyway, I loved the look of these miniatures! And it made sense for frontier America, too. Settlers might put a scarecrow out in their fields to frighten birds away, but Native American shamans could animate them. These will likely take the place of Bogeymen in the Devilry Afoot's bestiary. Yes, sorry to tell you, children. There is indeed a bogeyman -- or at least two in my painted lead collection! These are the smallest of this batch of five monsters, but took the longest to paint. They wear torn and ragged clothes, so there were a lot more colors to do, along with leather belt, patches, buttons, and so on. I went back and forth on what color to paint their hands and feet. I decided to go with a light brown rather than a straw yellow. The way they were sculpted their limbs looked more like tree branches than straw stuffing. I really like how these came out, though, and will likely pick up more scarecrow figures at Historicon, if I can find them. 

    Final look at the horrors that will be haunting the new settlement of Franklinton in early Ohio

So, you see that my Franklinton campaign is not dead. If you haven't read my posts about it, check out my previous entries for it on this blog. There's only one game report but lots about my background, the player's characters, what I'm using as monsters, and so on. I look forward to starting up games of this again, soon. Especially since my Star Wars campaign using Space Weirdos came to a crashing end on a dark street. Whaaat?? Yes, for Sunday Night gaming I had brought along the box with all of the player's factions in it because I thought we might play the Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps board game. The box also had my 3-D printed aliens and my marines in it. One of my friends accidentally dropped the box helping me take my stuff out to the car. The figure box flipped over onto the asphalt, smashing open, and the figures went tumbling all over the street. About a dozen figures were missing in the dark (or rolled under our vehicles), and another dozen were shattered plastic or 3-D printed figures. Yeah. That happened. It certainly sours me on painting anymore 3-D printed figures, least of all redoing all of the player's forces. Easier to call the campaign dead and not think about the countless hours lost on a dark street or smashed to smithereens.

But what IS on my painting desk? I have the final eight Elven archers begun. I am piecing together 7 birds of prey to use as flying Lesser Warbeasts in my army list. And I have primed another medieval building and one of my Vietnam helicopters I picked up from Ted at Drums. So, lots of stuff to do (and keep my mind off of my Rogue One-style loss of Star Wars factions...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59 

Viking Rune Stones

    Floki (from the Vikings series) stands in front of two of the rune stones that I painted up

I always try to buy things from the dealers who come to our HMGS chapter's flagship convention, which is Advance the Colors. It is held every October in Springfield, OH, by HMGS Great Lakes' more than 200 members. I've been the vendor coordinator for it for a number of years, so I have developed a (hopefully good) relationship with the dealers. I want each of them to be successful and have a good show. I try to help that with my own purchases, making a goal to buy at least something from each of them. I bought two bags of these rune stones a couple years back from my friend Scott at Sword and Scabbard Games.

    Here are half of the 14 rune stones that I painted up in various shades of gray, from light to dark

The result of that is a closet full of unpainted terrain and scatter -- all of which I swear that I will get to eventually! This is why I began tracking Acquired vs. Painted for both Terrain and Scatter this year, in addition to Miniatures. Although I am doing much better in those two categories (see the chart on the bottom) than I am on Miniatures, so far, I still have a LOT of in that closet. Two items in that collection were bags of 3-D printed Viking rune stones. The week before heading to Drums at the Rapids, I decided to grab those bags and prep up the rune stones for painting.

    Here are the ones in various brown hues -- my favorite is the pink granite one next to Lagertha

There are five different shapes and sizes of rune stones in each bag of seven or eight pieces. I did Google Image searches on existing rune stones, finding that they were in a variety of colors. Not all are stone "gray" or "tan." So, I picked out a variety of grays, tans, and browns to do them in (after I primed them with White Liquitex Gesso). I decided that the runes carved into the surface would be darker than the surface face, which would be made lighter by dry brushing. I also did a black or brown wash over the stones, doing my best to have the color sink into the tiny crevices of the carved runes. I thought this process worked out really well, with the darker base coat also being the rune color. The runes are incised deep enough a flat dry brush misses them and gets only the stone surface, as intended.

    Shield maiden Lagertha (Ragnar's wife) contemplates the Norns of Fate in front of three rune stones

Once each stone was done, thought, I thought they looked a little bare on their bases. I decided to add other medium and smaller stones grouped around or slightly apart from the rune stone. After gluing the stones in place, I painted them roughly the same base coat color as the stone. Once they'd dried, I highlighted them like the rune stone. I also did the same wash as on the stone proper. Next up, I did my normal flocking method on the stones' bases. First, I painted them with a mix of white glue and earth brown craft paint and sprinkled on fine brown ballast while wet. After it dried, I dabbed on a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water. I sprinkled that with Woodland Scenics Turf, and finally applied patches of Blended Green with full strength white glue. I added a couple of grass or flower tufts, and they were done! 

    Three of the rune stones had a very cool Viking longship inscribed on them with a sun stone's rays??

I think my favorite one in the bunch was an experiment to replicate pink granite. I painted it in a salmon color and dry brushed it khaki. The brown wash really made the runes stand out, as well as gave the stone a natural look. I like how all of them look, actually. Probably my least favorite are the darkest gray ones. I think the runes don't show up as well and they look just like jagged stones. The ones I painted in the lighter colors look them best, in my opinion. Of course, since I painted up both bags at the same time, it is kind of academic information. Unless, of course, someone reading this blog entry and is looking for inspiration to paint their own rune stones!

    Ragnar's brother Rollo in front of the three largest of the rune stones - I like their rounded shape!

So, what else is on my painting desk? The five monster miniatures for Devilry foot are coming along very nicely. I have spray primed one of the smaller medieval houses I picked up at Drums at the Rapids last weekend. So, progress has picked back up after a slow period in April. Look for more entries on here soon, and thanks for reading my blog! 

    Ragnar & pooch with 3 jagged, triangular stones -- Ragnar and family figs are from Brigade Games

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 105

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59