Robot Legion for Pulp Sci-Fi Game

    I love the Retro Raygun line from Hydra Miniatures, including these five from the 'Robot Legion'

Now that Advance the Colors 2026 is over, I'm cranking projects out! As part of that, I continue to work on my "next year's" project of a Pulp Sci-Fi game set in a City in the Clouds. The third of six planned forces for the game are from Hydra Miniatures' Robot Legion figure line. I bought these a few years back, and have been looking for an excuse to paint them up. Part of Hydra's "Retro Raygun" line, they have that 1950s aesthetic that really makes them stand out. They'll work great on my game above the surface of gas giant...um, however I manage to pull that terrain board off!

    Tall, angular, & fearsome - the Robot Legion are the dread enforcers of....Who? Haven't decided!

I picked out five of the large 28mm (32mm?) figures -- three troopers, a heavy weapons specialist, and a leader figure. My favorite is undoubtedly the leader figure, with the single eye in the center of his head, radio antenna backpack, and upraised pistol-type weapon. All of them are incredibly cool. The power plant on the back of the heavy weapons robot is very retro looking, and all of their weapons have a very 50's "Buck Rogers" vibe.

    These are two great poses -- a single-eyed leader figure & powered up heavy weapons trooper

I tried to play off of that as best I could with the color scheme. Unlike the earlier Robot Legion figure I'd painted up for my Star Wars skirmish campaign, these robots had a dark look to them. I brushed prime the entire figure in Iron Wind Steel, an almost black metallic that I often use as a base coat for metallic objects. I decided not to do the usual Liquitext brush prime. I was worried about covering all those white spots in the recesses. I guess I could have bought a bottle of their black Gesso, but didn't think about that until afterwards. Come to think of it, that might be a good investment for miniatures that are going to be black or dark colored.

    I had fun painting these robots, & have wanted to field in a game since first seeing them years ago

I highlighted the dark steel color with a brush on dab of Pewter here and there for the parts that light might be shining off. Also, I wanted the accent color on these to be a metallic red craft paint that is one of my favorite tones I picked up at the local hobby store. It is an almost burgundy red and I love using it on terrain and minis. I pretty much followed the pattern of what would be colored metallic that I'd done with the earlier Robot Legion figure, using the red instead of the lighter metallic turquoise. I decided a copper accent would accentuate the red even more, so went with that on various rivets and other spots. 

The weapons were also painted similarly, with a Brown metallic handle (what might be the wood stock on firearms), and red gold and copper accents. The glowing tips of the weapons were painted in a metallic pink to match the eyes on the robots. The leader and heavy weapons trooper were the only robots that had equipment other than their weapons. The leader has what appears to be a radio while the heavy weapons trooper has some sort of backpack that likely powers his weapon. I was actually surprised how quickly these figures painted up. The most time consuming part was the metallic red -- there were lots of spots to paint up. Otherwise, the figures had little extraneous equipment. Plus, there were only five of them -- not one of my usual batches of 6-8 figures!

    Robot Legion squad searches a spaceship for their prey, ready to identify & eliminate them!

I finished the robots off with a black vehicle wash, which I think has a good effect on metallics. Finally, I pulled them off of the cardboard bases I'd glued them onto when I trimmed them off of their metal bases they were cast on. I touched up their feet and then they were ready to epoxy onto their clear bases. Once the epoxy dried, I brushed on clear gloss from Vallejo. It seemed only a few days of work from priming to finishing, but another Pulp Sci-Fi faction is complete!

What else is on my painting desk? I have those five Viet Cong emerging from spider holes that have their base coat completed, but no other figures ready to go, currently. Instead, I'm going to work more on the 3-D printed mangrove trees that I need for a particular Surviving 'Nam scenario. Doubtless, I imagine that I will slot in another batch of figures soon, and get them cleaned and based up. Not sure what they will be yet, though! In the meantime, you'll notice that I am only 10 miniatures away from evening up my Painted vs. Acquired. So, whatever I do decide to get ready to be painted next will be the batch that puts me over the top! Finally -- it took till late October, but I finally caught up!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 224

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Werewolves for Devilry Afoot

    8 Werewolves from Wargames Atlantic plastic kits for my frontier America Devilry Afoot games

As I am getting ready to restart my Devilry Afoot campaign set in frontier America, I figured these werewolves from Wargames Atlantic would be a good fit. I picked up two sprues from Firelands Games back at DayCon earlier this year, which would make eight miniatures. Typically, I am not a big fan of plastic kits because I dislike the "assembly stage" -- and am not good at it! Despite having only two arms and a head to attach (simple, right?), these figs did not change my opinion of assembly your own kits. I struggle to figure out which arms will look good on which body, and even some of the heads looked a little awkward on their necks.

    I painted these werewolves in a variety of 'wolf-like' colors using my 28mm wolves as guides

I got through it, though, with some assemblies looking fairly good while others looked like the werewolf was having a seizure. There were some fragile parts such as the fingers and ears, so I decided to strengthen them with a spray coat of Krylon Acrylic Black paint. Following that up with a 50/50 water and black paint brushed on made them feel a bit sturdier in my fingers. Next, I had to decide what color to paint them. I chose to mirror my 28mm wolves I painted up for this project (and my Dragon Rampant Orc & Goblin army). I pulled out half a dozen wolves of different shades and lined them up. The unpainted figures were lined up next to each wolf that I would try to match the coloring. 

    I am not the best at matching up arms, heads, & such - not to mention assembling - in plastic kits

Each miniature got a base coat that I think I used for his wolf twin. When the paint had fully dried and "shrink wrapped" onto the figure, I did a darker dry brush for each. Once that was done, I used black as a final highlight dry brush in certain spots, trying to imitate the black hairs that often stand out on the coats and the coloring of wolves. The main body of the werewolf was now done. 

    The plastic kit werewolves turned out okay - I think a well-sculpted metal figure would look better!

Next, I picked out details in black -- the dark eye sockets, nose, mouth, and claws. Once dry, I added a Blood Red inside the black area for the mouth and a yellow slit for the eyes. Next, the pupils got a black spot for the eyes. The last step was to take my tiniest brush and paint their teeth in a off-white color. I really like how this made them look more ferocious.

    If nothing else, they painted up VERY quickly and will add some enemies for my monster hunters

Only a few of the lighter colored figures got a wash -- the grayish-white one a black and the lighter tan or yellowish ones brown. With that, I was done except for flocking the base. These eight werewolves painted up VERY quickly, which I guess makes sense with no clothes, equipment, or weapons to do. I am fairly happy with how they turned out, though still not crazy about some of the poses I created. I guess that is another reason I don't like plastic "kit figures" as much as metal. I am not a figure designer, and would rather leave the creation of dynamic poses to the sculptors. However, everyone once in awhile I get lucky with these, and in general I feel my werewolves will look fine on the tabletop.

    Final look at my 8 plastic werewolves that I picked up from Firelands Games by the sprue

There are a lot of other things on my tabletop, too, at the moment. I have begun painting another force for my City in the Clouds Pulp Sci-Fi game. These are the Robot Legion figures from Hydra Miniatures. I had painted one up previously as a droid for one of the rebel factions for my Star Wars skirmish campaign, and love the way they look. Primed on the tabletop are three waterfowl from Miniature Building Authority as eye candy for my Vietnam games, and five bases with a 3-D printed figure emerging from a "spider hole" for my Surviving 'Nam games. In addition, I have the painting done on seven mangrove trees that my friend Mike W printed for me. Next up is the trickiest part -- attaching their vegetation. More on all of these coming up on Lead Legionaries!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 219

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Two Medieval Buildings - One to Go, One to Stay

    Stretching 4 stories tall, the Blue Crab Tavern is a 3-D printed building that I painted for RRB Minis

When I stopped by the Hubbard Ohio Gaming Guild last month, Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More had an offer for me. He knew that I wanted two of his 4'x4' cloth mats (he had been out of stock at the last show). He said he would give me two free if I would paint one of his 3-D printed buildings for him. It was a large, 4-story one, but I agreed. Since I would be painting that one up for him, I decided to work on a 2-story one I bought from him awhile back at the same time.

View of the front of the Bakery, which I was painting up simultaneously with the Blue Crab Tavern

The thought was that doing buildings is kind of an assembly line process. Base coat the walls, dry brush the walls, base coat the trim, highlight the trim, etc. Perhaps it would go faster if I did both at once? That meant six levels of building with two roofs, though. Now, I'm not 100% sure it was a good idea to do them side by side. Not only did they take up a LOT of area on my occasionally crowded painting desk, they also shoved aside other projects I was working on for a couple weeks. I think it would be a good idea to do two buildings simultaneously, but only if they smaller buildings. This was quite the undertaking!

    Although it is a very cool building, I agreed to paint it for Rich because the exterior was fairly simple

Rich's 4-story "commission," of sorts, is the Blue Crab Tavern from the Ferisia line of 3-D printed buildings which I have done so many of in the last couple years. They are quality prints, go together well (especially since Rich adds in pyramid shaped notches for the underside of one layer to slot into the one below).  Rich said he didn't have any big preferences for colors, but I still verified with him what my plan would be. I decided on a tan or off-white stucco for the interior walls and a faded, light blue for the outer walls. The stone trim, corners, balcony, and such would be shades of gray. The roof would be a typical red-brown/orange Terra Cotta. In fact, Rich's building was relatively simple, with fewer decorative flourishes. It was much easier to paint than the one I had chosen to do alongside it, the Ferisia Bakery. 

    Rear of the Bakery - the exterior was considerably more involved with wood trim & lattice work

Rich knew I like to start with a black prime, so had already completed that stage for me. I decided to do the stucco interiors first, with tan walls and a white highlight. I used a dark charcoal gray for the stone trim, dry brushing it with a medium gray then a lighter one. The floors were depicted as wood with nice, deep grooves in the grain. I did a dark brown wet brush, followed by Camo Brown then Khaki highlights. The roof portions were wet brushed red brown with a Middle East Flesh highlight. The wood trim around the roofs were also done in the wood recipe above.

    I was pretty happy with the sign and thought my little crab and lettering came out fairly well

There is a tavern sign attached to the side of the second level. I like how it is nice and sturdy and should not come off unless it is dropped from height. I went back and forth over what to do for the sign after I had done my usual wood recipe on it. I ended up texting Rich to see if he had any ideas. He said that the name of the Ferisia tavern was the "Blue Crab," so maybe I could paint one of those? I did a Google Image search with "Crab" and "Clipart." I've found if you put the word clipart in your image searches, the results tend to be more simple. I practiced drawing the crab with my Sharpie on cardstock before undertaking it on the sign itself with my Micron pens. I even practiced spacing the letters out before adding them to the sign. I used my smallest diameter black micron pen (.005) to draw outline of the crab, then painted it in with a fine brush. I'm very happy with how it came out, and so were Rich and Gwen (his wife).

    Interior floors to the Blue Crab Tavern - also a bit simpler in decorations than the Bakery

My own building was the Ferisia Bakery. I liked its "corner of two streets" layout and picked it up from Rich sometime in the last year. The building got its usual black base with spraying and brushing. I looked at my other buildings in my growing medieval town to see what pastel color I hadn't used yet. I had light blue, light green, pale yellow, and light orange varieties already. I did not have a pale lavender one yet, so decided to go with that. The interior would be a light orange. There was a LOT of wood trim on the Bakery! Several wall faces that had a diagonal lattice design on both the inside and outside. That would be fun...ha, ha! What was I thinking when I picked this building out? 

    Interior floors of the Bakery - the built in shelf was easier to paint than I thought it would be

Once again, I started on the inside. Rich had also printed up and included a lot of bakery scatter pieces, which I set aside to do later. Still, the Bakery's interior was also fancy, including a shelf with various containers on it, stone half wall dividers on one level, and plenty of windows. I did my best to parallel work on it with Rich's building, doing the Terra Cotta wall color first, then dry brushing it khaki, etc. I went with the wood trim next, doing my usual recipe. However, there were extensive stone elements inside as well. So, that was the next step, as well. Same three-color recipe as above. I tackled the shelving unit and the doors last. 

    Look at the Terra Cotta roofs of the Blue Crab Tavern & the cool 4th floor balcony

I also worked in each building's roof while I was doing the interiors. Rich's one was Terra Cotta, as I mentioned, but the Bakery had wood shingle. I did it in a lighter wood, starting with a medium to light wood color, dry brushing it khaki, and then doing a very light lavender highlight. The idea is that the shingles for the bakery's roof were once solid purple, but faded from sun bleaching over the years. I hope the effect came out subtle. This roof also had extensive wood trim receiving the usual treatment, color-wise.

    Bakery's wood tile roofs - I wanted the lavender paint to look like it had faded and mostly chipped off

The exterior was essentially a repeat of the interior, except less cramped for my brush and quicker to do. Here is where the Bakery really began to lag behind the Tavern. I had a deadline looming, and needed to deliver Rich's building to him by Advance the Colors, Oct. 9-10. So, I intentionally set is aside on some mornings, knowing if my own building didn't get done by the con then no biggie! All in all, I am happy with the Bakery, too. I like that it doesn't have to be a bakery and can be any two story medieval building I desire. I think sometime in late October I want to pull out all of my Medieval buildings and set up photo shoot for them. Look forward to that soon!

    2nd Story balcony of the Blue Crab Tavern - for rent to private parties, perhaps?

What else is on my painting table? Once all the ATC projects were cleared off, I had zero miniatures primed and ready to go. The Knights and Priests had been "old" miniatures, so it was time for something new. I glanced through my list on my iPhone and chose the two sprues of 8 Werewolves I'd purchased from Firelands Games at Daycon earlier this year. They are from Wargames Atlantic, I believe. I also have primed up and ready to paint the five spider hole Viet Cong I got from Discount Hobbies 3-D printing. Bringing up the rear are five Robot Legion figures from Hydra Miniatures. I have already trimmed them off their metal bases and glued them to cardboard for painting. Terrain-wise, I have started on the 3-D printed mangrove trees that my Sunday Night Gaming friend Mike W created for me. Lots to keep me busy over the next couple weeks!

    I liked the odd 'corner of the block' shape of the Ferisia Bakery, and apparently so do these citizens!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 211

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

 

    Final look at the entrance to the Blue Crab Tavern, with its bronze door and horse hitching rings

Purchases from Advance the Colors 2026

    My biggest purchase (in terms of cost) was this Misty Hollow stable I bought painted from MBA

I was feeling kind of flush in my budget this year, so my purchases were a bit less restrained than they have been in more recent convention trips. Plus, as vendor coordinator for Advance the Colors 2026, I like to take care of them both logistically and with my own purchases when possible. I did not buy something from EVERY vendor, but I did my best to pick up something from a lot of them. My apologies to those that I did not buy from. I was still restraining myself to picking up things I actually plan on using -- not just buying for the sake of buying...ha, ha!

    Kirk's painter did an amazing job on the building with colorful wood tiles & excellent details

Why not start off with the one painted item that I bought at the show. My friend Kirk from Miniature Building Authority carries the fantasy/medieval Misty Hollow line of 3-D printed buildings. He labels them on his site with the keyword "Mayhem" buildings, so if you are looking for them, type in that name. It appears they 3-D printed medieval buildings were designed by Antigone Miniatures. I had picked up "The Cottage" from that line at Little Wars from a different dealer and really liked how it turned out.

    Next time you see this you will likely see little horsey heads sticking of the stables

I had done some researching of that line after I painted up the cottage, and the next building that I wanted from the line was the Village Stables (Mayem Stable on Kirk's site). Lo and behold, there was a display stable all painted up in his booth. I asked him for one, only to find that he carries them pre-painted. He said he has a good artist who paints them up for him, and I certainly agreed. The stable looked great. With trepidation, I asked how much it was painted (the display one was his only copy he'd brought). I gulped a bit when he answered, but told him that I would buy it. I offered to allow him to keep it on his table throughout the rest of the con for others to maybe order one, and he agreed. If you're curious how much I paid for it, check out his link here.

    A very cool resin fishing boat that will work great for my 28mm Vietnam games of Surviving 'Nam!

That wasn't my only purchase from MBA. I also picked up this resin Asian boat for my Vietnam games. It will join my other two MBA sampans in the waters in front of villages that the U.S. soldiers have to search. I really like its graceful lines, and also appreciate the fishing baskets and such that come with it. The boat is a bit longer than my other two sampans which I painted up awhile back. Still, I look forward to seeing it all painted up and on the tabletop.

And if you have a fishing boat, you'll need fishermen (and women), right? Kirk was selling this pack of resin "Fishfolk," so I snapped it up, too. Typically, I don't like resin or 3-D printed miniatures (but LOVE 3-D printed buildings). However, I figure they won't get the same wear and tear the soldiers get, so hopefully they will be survivable. The picture comes from Kirk's website at I didn't feel like popping open the pack and them cramming them back in the blister. 

Continuing with the water theme, I decided to pick up a couple water birds. Kirk was selling a metal Pelican on a Post and a resin Swan and Goose. I may do some Google searching to see if there are equivalent waterfowl in Vietnam and paint them up that way. Failing that, they'll be standard looking pelican, goose, and swan. They are already on my desk, honking impatiently for their turn to move up in line. This picture is also from the MBA website.

    What miniature gamer doesn't need a Police HQ? I grabbed this in Ron's 'Swedish Death Cleaning'

My biggest purchases in terms of number size (and number of items, I think) were the 3-D printed buildings from Diabolical Terrain. Ron -- who NEVER has sales -- was instead holding something called a "Swedish Death Cleaning." This is something many gamers reaching an advanced age practice as well. It is a process of de-cluttering and organizing to be considerate of your family when you die. I have been doing this (without knowing the rather bizarre name) for several years, selling things I won't use in flea markets. Anyway, part of this sale...oops, cleaning, was a 50% off sticker on a lot of things at his booth. 

    This 3-D printed broken down bus was one of the first things I picked up from Diabolical Terrain

Ron had been waiting for me to swing by and check on his during Thursday's Early Vendor Setup. He pulled out half a table's worth of buildings he said would go great with my post-apocalyptic or modern skirmishes. I had to admit he was right! Looking them over, I could imagine them on my tabletop -- especially the broken down bus! What better spawn point to ask for than a dilapidated bus on the tabletop? The roof comes off, the tires are flat, and I could easily envision it painted up. At the Swedish prices, I couldn't resist!

    This narrow 2-story building would also fit in on just about any miniature modern street scene

Although I wasn't thinking I needed modern buildings, having a fairly large collection already, Ron made the Swedish equivalent of an "offer I couldn't resist...!" The 3-story Police HQ immediately caught my eye. It could be used in just about any game from the 1900s on -- gangsters, superheros, post-apocalyptic...anything! It was a towering building that makes me wonder how I will squeeze it in to my unpainted closet AND my painted terrain closet...ha, ha! To make matters worse, he shoved another 2-story downtown building next to the Police HQ and bus and did a bundle offer. Yep, I picked this one up, too. Who knows? Maybe I will be able to clear out a MDF building or two to make room for these?  

    I was drawn to the fortified look of this small stone church that I picked up from Diabolical, too

I promised Ron I'd be back, but waited till Saturday to return to shop at his booth. I'd been eyeing two of his other Swedish-priced buildings, but more in keeping with what I am currently working on. The stone fortified chapel will fit in perfectly with my project. It looks more medieval than the more cathedral like one I use from time to time, and certainly easier to carrier around than my Saxon church on its own little hillock. It is a relatively small church but has a very gamer-friendly tower with turret on one end that I can see archers or crossbowmen manning in a skirmish. The roof comes off, which is something I insist on nowadays when buying buildings. It should be a snap to paint up compared to the other more elaborate medieval buildings I've been working on.

    This 3-D printed ruined bridge will make a great entry/exit point for exploring my abandoned town

Along the same lines, this ruined bridge could easily work with must about any fantasy or medieval game.  Although I picture my imaginary abandoned city, Moonrest -- a setting for my Four Delvers games -- as having a wider river than this one can span, it would still be fun to have an actual bridge on the table for the explorers to dash back across to safety. Like the stone church, it should go super-quick, so I could see it working its way on to the tabletop soon. Am I done yet with my Diabolical purchases? Considering Ron's diabolically low prices, NO!

    Although labeled as an 'Atlantis' line by its designers, this shrine has an obvious Byzantine look

The final item I picked up from Ron's booth at ATC 2026 was this beautiful Byzantine-looking shrine. It reminded me a lot of the ones I've seen in the Balkans -- especially on my recent trip to North Macedonia. Ron said it is from the Atlantis line of 3-D printed buildings, where it is imaginatively called Atlantic Building 2. They Atlantis line was designed by Dark Realms Forge, and can be found by clicking the Atlantic side tab on Ron's site. All of the buildings on there have a similar Byzantine look, with round tiled domes with lots of archways. Technically, this doesn't match my medieval Moonrest buildings, so far. Then again, neither did the Diabolical minaret I painted up awhile back! If I rationalized the minaret as a wizard's observatory, this could easily be a temple or church, right? I couldn't pass up on its lovely Byzantine lines, and the price was unbeatable. So, I snagged it to put in the painting queue...somewhere!

    My haul from RRB Minis included the above items & 2 green linen, 4'x4' mats pictured on this post

I told you my budget was kind of flush! On to another of my dealer friends -- Rich Brown's RRB Minis & More. The first thing I picked up from him were the two linen, 4'x4' mats created by his wife Gwen. They were payment for my painting up a 4-story, medieval tavern for him -- the Blue Crab (coming soon on a Lead Legionaries post near you!). The mats are intended to make my life easier when setting up three, side by side games of Dragon Rampant on my 12' table in the basement. I will center a 6'x4' mat on the table and partially overlap it with these on either side. Much easier than taping up my oversized fleece mats and spending a half hour engineering three battle boards. Otherwise, I picked up some odds and ends from him, including more of the 6" measuring "Sticks," a primitive looking Lean To, two Buddha statues/heads, and a gratis elephant that Rich gave to me in appreciation.

   'Half size' shipping container from Bad Goblin Games (pics from their website)

A new vendor at ATC this year, but ones I consider friends, too, was Brian & Liz from Bad Goblin Games. They were hugely popular this year and said it was more profitable than many of the other shows they attend (barring Historicon, of course!). I saw folks carrying around their white paper bags with their logo on it all convention long. I always buy things from their booth when I see them -- even if I haven't painted what I bought from them last time...ha, ha! I absolutely LOVE their scatter terrain, and the ones that light up with colorful LED lighting even more.

    This is the damaged version of the above shipping container, designed with holes & dents

Since Ron's bus had made me reconsider doing zombie apocalypse games, I decided to pick up two of their 28mm Shipping Containers. I think the full size ones are bigger than I want with all the other cool terrain and scatter I have (mostly from them). So, I picked up two of the "half size" crates. I bought one that was modeled as undamaged and another that was shown as designed to be damaged. They would fit well on the tabletop without dominating it. I will likely put a lot of rust and graffiti and such on them when I get around to painting them -- hopefully before I see them next!

    Piles of 3-D printed cinder blocks from Bad Goblin Games -- great scatter & cover for skirmishes!

The final item I picked up from Bad Goblin was a bag of Cinder Block Stuff. I felt it would be easy to paint these pieces up and they would really help clutter up my table with good cover for characters in a skirmish. When I got them home and added them to my list of unpainted terrain and scatter that I keep on my iPhone, I let out a sigh. I had already purchased this bag...whoops! Oh well, it is just MORE scatter. Plus, with two bags worth it could easily work as the tumbled ruins of a center block building, right? 

   3-D printed clumps of bamboo from Discount Hobbies -- MUCH faster than my scratch-build ones

Another new vendor to ATC 2026, and one who carries my Surviving 'Nam rules (like RRB Minis & More) is Discount Hobbies 3-D Printing. He has been enthusiastically printing 3-D figures and terrain for my game and advertising it on the Surviving 'Nam FB page. I had seen his clumps of bamboo and was planning on picking some up. I like my scratch-built bamboo, but boy it takes a LONG time to make! These would be simple to paint up, and I particularly like how he created different sizes of clumps. I know that means if I use them in a game I will have two different looks of bamboo on the table. Will anal-retentive Mike be able to handle that? Hmm...we'll have to see! I will paint them up so I can post some pictures of them in thanks for his support of my rules.

    I know I had sworn off 3-D printed figs, but these Spider Holes for Surviving 'Nam were perfect!

One thing I definitely will use are his 3-D printed figures emerging or firing from Spider Holes. These one-man concealed fighting positions are a feature of my rules. There are two 'Spider Hole' cards in the deck, which allow a Viet Cong rifleman to pop up behind or anywhere around the U.S. soldiers. I had been thinking of purchasing plastic Viet Cong figure and chopping them up to scratch-build my own. However, this is simply too easy to pass up. I bought five of them (hopefully for the American's sake, more than I need) and they are already waiting in line on my painting desk.

    I picked up more tufts because I was running out...and not so satisfied with Army Painter ones

Finally, I bought a number of tuft packets from various vendors. I believe they were from Discover Games, who tagged along with Miniature Building Authority, RRB, and Discount Hobbies. I am becoming less enthusiastic about Army Painter tufts. They've become more and more scraggly and unkempt, and require trimming up after gluing onto the figure's base. So, yes, that was a LOT of purchases...way more than I have for any recent convention (including Historicon). I hope that I can get a lot of these items slotted in and painted up soon, though. Stay tuned here and see how quickly it happens...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 211

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 37

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Prizes for ATC 2026 Saga Tourney - 3 Knights, 3 Priests

    Here are the prizes that I painted up for this year's ATC Saga Tournaments - 3 Knights & 3 Priests

I have been painting up miniatures for prizes for the Advance the Colors Saga tournaments for a number of years, now. Even though I don't run or play in them anymore, I like to give back to the local Saga Ohio community because they're a great set of guys. Plus, I feel a wee bit guilty for helping building up the community, being "all in," then dropping the game a couple years ago. 

    Here are the 3 Priests (a type of mercenary hero in Saga) that they will be giving away as prizes

Anyway, one of the usual tourney directors, James T of Firelands Games, asked me if I would be willing to paint up some special figures instead of the usual pair of command stands. He wanted three priests and three mounted knights for use in the tourney and also to give away as prizes. I checked to make sure I had sufficient 28mm miniatures that could pass as these. I did, though my knights are earlier than the full plate armor era, being from the Gripping Beast Spanish Knights army box that I never painted up. The three priests are from a variety of sources. The one clutching the holy book to his chest has been in my unpainted lead for more than a decade. He's actually a Ral Partha figure. The priest reading from the book is a Reaper Bones miniature (Cultist with Circle). Finally, the one with the conical hat is a colonial or Pulp Egyptian. All of them looked like they'd pass the "close enough" test, so I told James I would do six individual miniatures this year instead of the usual two command stands.

    This priest is a Reaper Bones 'Cultist figure -- I tried to do an illuminated letter in his Bible

First, I made sure there were no special basing requirements. You know how those tournament games are picky about things like that! Anyway, I gave two of the knights swords (one from the box another from my unpainted lead collection). The third got a brass wire spear. Otherwise, none of these required any conversion other than with the paint brush. They sat on my desk brush primed with Liquitex White Gesso until recently when I had a "Holy crap -- the convention is next week!" moment...ha, ha! I was also painting a very large 3-D printed building for my friend Rich B of RRB Minis & More that also had to be done in time for the convention. Add that to getting my first batch of Mycenaeans done in time for this past Sunday, the deadline pressure was intensifying!

    This pose goes way back -- a Ral Partha figure I had in my unpainted drawer for years!

I painted the knights in a weird order for me. First, I did the chainmail (Iron Wind Steel with silver drybrush), then I switched to the mounts. I did their coloring and manes, reins, bridles, and straps before switching back to the riders. I was painting the fancy details (shield pattern and cloak) way earlier than I normally do. Usually, I save those things for last. For these three, who were being painted the same time as the priests, the boots or shoes were last! I had their eyes done before their footwear...ha, ha! I don't know if the deadline was making me panic or what, but the order that I painted their equipment was odd compared to the way I usually do.

    I figured I would paint one of the three so that he didn't necessarily have to be Christian priest

Part of the reason may have been that I wanted their cloaks to be done in their Heraldric colors. So, until I had a shield design -- or at least a color combination -- I couldn't get too far. Heraldry is fairly simple, as I taught my 7th graders many years in my History classes. You have two "metal" colors (Yellow and White), and five "colors (Red, Blue, Black, Purple, Green). The rule is you can't put a metal on a metal or a color on a color. So, a black hawk on a read shield would be "illegal" and wouldn't follow the rules of Heraldry. So, I chose my colors first, one would be yellow and black, another blue and white, and the final one purple and yellow. I ended up choosing a checkered pattern for the yellow/black one with a black cross inside the yellow fields. And as you can see, I chose not to go with madness and give him an entirely checkered cloak -- just the shield!

    Three 28mm Gripping Beast Spanish knights were my figure of choice for the Knight prizes

I "quartered" the blue and white one, with a white moon inside the blue field and a blue fish on the white field. Like the yellow/black knight, I went with a fancy border for the cloak rather than trying to do something decorative on the entire billowing cloak. The purple/yellow's shield turned out very nicely, probably my favorite. I divided it in half with a purple seahorse on the yellow field and two yellow crowns on the purple field. I gave in to the voice telling me to paint his cloak with horizontal purple and yellow stripes. All in all, he's probably my favorite of the three and I think he came out the best.

    I really like how the purple seahorse & 2 crowns came out on this knight's shield

Without horses, the priests went much faster. The Egyptian one was almost completely done before I got past the base coat of the Reaper cultist figure. He was probably the simplest to do, with nothing in his hands and no equipment. I made sure to give him a nicely decorated robe with intricate hem designs along the bottom and cuffs. I think his face is the best of all six. I jokingly called him Father Fistbump while I was painting them for his raised hand...ha, ha! Of course, once I said that I couldn't "unsee" him raising his fist in a hipster greeting!

    I really like how the banner sets the figure off and compliments how I painted his heraldry

The Reaper cultist looked like a relatively boring figure until I got done with the robe and hood. After the medium gray dry brush to make the folds stand out against the black robe, I noticed all of the other detail. He ended up becoming the most elaborate of the three. Yes, the circular badges with crosses inside obscure skulls and other occult symbols that the figure was designed with. I really liked how his book was turning out, so I decided to go one step further. I painted black scribbles for the lines of text and gave a large, boxed illuminated letter like you see in medieval bibles to start off one page. His face is a little odd, seeming to being caught in mid-snarl. Makes sense for a cultist, of course, but for a priest? Well, maybe he is calling down God's curses on his enemies!

    I tried to give a fancy cloak & shield design for each knight -- hope whoever wins them likes them!

The final figure is amazingly a very old Ral Partha one -- probably at least three decades or more old. I'm sure I picked him up in a flea market. I had in a bag labeled "Bizarre Religious Figures" or something like that. I never noticed his bible had a raised Christian Chi-Rho symbol on it -- a pre-cross symbol used by early Christian communities. So, he ended up being even more appropriate of a choice of figures than I initially thought! His size is a bit slighter than the more modern figures, but not ridiculously so. I own some Ral Partha 25mm figures that look like 20mm minis next to today's figs, but this one I think fits in well.  

In the rush to get everything done, including the building, I fell down on my attempt to paint my own two-story building step for step alongside Rich's larger one. The interior got finished, and about a third of the exterior, but finally I had to give up on it to focus on getting the "commissions" done. Just because I did these two things for others, though, doesn't mean I'm going to go back to my college days and paint commissions. Heck no! I have PLENTY of my own stuff to paint to keep me busy!! And thankfully, even though I am retired, I am not short on funds. So, I don't need to earn extra money to pay for my hobby.

So, what will be next, then? I think I will do some of the newer miniatures I bought for my Devilry Afoot campaign set in frontier America. Since these three knights and priests were all "old" miniatures, I need to do something "new" to maintain my system. I am also getting closer and closer to evening up my Miniatures Painted to equal or exceed my "Acquired." Stay tuned, though, and see what's next!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 217
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 211

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75