Wot? No post?

Two months without a word?

Dearie me, I'm sorry about that.

I have been very busy. As soon as everyone got back from their Christmas break my work announced a big restructure of Technical Services which, on the face of it at least, looks like a bunch of redundancies looming. At last count there are 9 other people in the running for my job, so let's say it's not been the most fun time. Added to other bollocks that's ongoing, it's not been the best start to a year. BUT! I have been putting the final touches to something cool. Behold!

Shivershield!

This is the new iteration of The Woods skirmish game. Think of it as Woods 3rd Edition, but without the RPG stuff (which got expanded and went into Deepwood Shadows, released before Christmas) and the Battle bits. We all know 3rd editions of things are the best ones, right? My mate and former housemate Roderick and I have been working on this for the last 2 years so it's amazing to see it finally come to fruition. With the successes of two advent calendars and Thunder Under Mount Silence, I have been able to invest in cardstock and go all-out on a boxed starter set. Something Oakbound could only dream of when 2nd Ed came out in 2019. It's packed full of tokens, templates, dice, screens, trackers and, of course, miniatures! 20 of them, all new sculpts, enough for two full warbands to start slugging it out. And if you've already got your warbands ready you can just pick up the rulebook, a glorious full-colour hardback full of lovely, glossy pictures.

Release is scheduled for Salute, with pre-orders now live and a big ol' article in Wargames Illustrated (probably the April edition). Over the coming months I will be posting some videos on Oakbound's channel about how the game plays, but for now let's just take a look at some scenes from the world. Amazingly enough we now have at least one of every miniature covered by the book, so plenty to pick from when setting up some shots. If you're interested in how these photos were taken that'll be the subject of March's members video over on YouTube. Enjoy!

Tuatha defend their home from a bucca assault. 

This is the terrain board I'll be taking to Salute for demo games this year.

A gnawloch scout creeps up on an armoured fae warrior.

A pixie battle bard summons elemental spirits to join the warband.

Leprechauns and a spriggan ally ambush unwanted goblins in the hill country.

Bucca emerge from a coastal tunnel to find their way back to sea blocked.

A myeri warrior shows you how to run around in the mountains.

Fenfolk on the march.

A cludbur militiaman tries his luck with a sling against the armoured carapace of a woldlouse.

A nuckelavee charges out of the marsh to confront the guardian.

Fae hounds break from the cover of the trees.

Wot? No post?

Under Mount Silence

It's been a long time in the pipeline, but finally Thunder Under Mount Silence, the first Oakbound boxed game (if you don't count Tripods!) is on the doorstep. I've cut 98 sheets of nice, thick, glossy dungeon tiles, just two left to do! The artwork on the tiles was produced by photographing 3-dimensional pieces I had made, so I thought it would be fun to photograph some scenes on them. The walls aren't very high and in places the perspective has been forced in order to read better from above, but I think they're quite fun little vignettes.

 

Under Mount Silence

Clan Meerie rides again

It's been a looooong time since my Fimir came off the shelf. And they were never really organised into a proper fighting force. I'm taking some steps to rectify that by sorting out some main units for them to operate in. Some of these didn't exist last time I used these guys in a game, some are very recent paint jobs, but there are some older classics here. My Bibby Fianna Fimm (along with a Krakon Meargh and three of Diego's warlord (converted) also now available from Krakon). 

These are also quite aged now. Reaper Bones, Chronopia and the 5th/6th (?) edition Rugluds miniatures with resculpted heads. Intended to represent sons of nobles on their way to growing to full size.

Regular Bibby Fimm with the recent Oakbound Myeri. All on 25mm bases. I have actually rebased the older models three times now... hopefully this will be the last iteration!

The best Fimir (Jes Goodwin Ltd Ed) and an Impact Miniatures chappie leading some armoured Fimm warriors (Oakbound Myeri).

 And lastly the most recent addition to the clan. These are the Satyr Art Studio Fomorians. I had hoped to mix them in with the others as command groups, but sadly they're too puny even by HQ/Jes Goodwin standards so they're sticking together. I'd treat them as Shearls, but their armour's a bit too fancy for that.

Still got the chariots etc. to rebase, but that's almost 3000pts as it is from the 3rd Ed Armies list, them Fimir are pretty pricey! I also need to rescue the original Oakbound Myeri models, tidy up the painting and decide how to base them up. Things for the future.

Clan Meerie rides again

Dwarfing again

I had a dual need recently to cleanse my palate (and palette!) of goblins and to paint up some new gnomes for Oakbound so I got the last two units of my dwarf army done. Until the Infamous JT's infamous Kickstarter goes through of course!

The first is my new Oakbound gnomes with a couple of Harlequin extras. These were the guys I was playing around with sculpting as 3-ups, scanning and printing but you'll be pleased to hear they're proper metal casts. The idea was to get a little injection mould setup in place, but that might have to wait until summer. There are three different models, though really just weapon swaps (sword, axe and mace). They're based on the style of those lovely Marauder Longbeards and will be part of a special set coming out around the end of the year. Of course if you're going to be at Salute this weekend I just may be able to sort you out some advanced castings...

The second unit I worked on whilst I had the paints out are these lovely fellas I got from Theoc Games' Landsknechte Mercenary Dwarf Kickstarter last year. Their numbers padded out to an even 15 with a couple of Harlequin drunks whose attire looked like it fitted in nicely.

I went for the pikes as I was missing a solid 'regular' infantry core to the army and these guys have that Marauder vibe at a fraction of the price. I tried and failed to count how many variants (head and beard) there are, I think 4? Maybe 5? Anyhow, they make a nice block that will stand firm in the face of their enemies.

The pikes are quite thin and the top of one had snapped in the post, but this was easily swapped for a halberd head to give a good sergeant model. I haven't got any banners in the rest of the army and was going to keep them banner-less but I thought I would try this one. I'm thinking it's actually made of brass since they're an artillery company. Still undecided, but now it's painted it will probably stay. If you like 'em you can get these guys through Macrocosm now.

 

Dwarfing again

Leprechaun Love

 

Sometimes projects just roll, sometimes they need a little push. Tableaus from Talamhlar, the new book for The Woods, is something that has been in the works for a few years now and falls in the latter category. It needed some impetus to get finished. That was provided in part by booking a table to do demo games at Beachhead this coming weekend. I wanted to take the opportunity to do another table rather than recycling the same Woods terrain again. A fantasy Necromunda setup based on the lost boys' hideout in Hook and Lothlorien has been on my to-do list for a while and with Tableaus featuring rules for scenic woodland elements this seemed like a good crossover to give me the kick to finish writing.

I know everyone will say "oh, Endor", but really the Ewoks were far from my mind in creating it. My influences are (as I said) Hook and Lorien, plus the woodland adventure trail I used to love playing on as a kid and Puzzlewood (used for parts of the Endor shoot, so there is a connection after all) in the Forest of Dean. This is a 3' square table with the intention that all elements can be used in a modular way in conjunction with my other terrain pieces.

A part of the setup was on show at Reveille in November, so you may already have seen the trees in person. If you're in the south coast area and can get to Bournemouth for Beachhead this weekend hopefully you'll get to see more and maybe have a play on it. If not it should be featured in an article for Miniature Wargames Magazine in the coming months.

The Acorn (Oakbound's newsletter) has been running a short series on making the forest. There's also some video footage of it along with my ramblings on the YouTube channel.

I wanted to try and include all the terrain features mentioned in Tableaus on this board- Ropes, ladders and rope ladders, rope bridges, walkways, railings, slides, swings, ziplines, wasps' nests... Actually the only thing I have left to fit is the zipline. I had planned something magnetised, we'll have to see what I have time for before the weekend!

Yes, that is my latest Bob Ross imitation lurking in the background... I like it more with subject matter in front of it!

The subject for the weekend's scenario (as featured in Tableaus) is Cuda's Well, a magical spring that the Leprechauns hold sacred and are guarding against intruders. Their opponents are trying to snatch a wineskin of the water and make it out of the trees alive. For their part the Leprechauns are forbidden to kill in their sacred grove, so they either have to wait and attack in the scowles (Gloucestershire word, look it up, it's worth the effort) or try their tricksy pranks to deprive the enemy of its prize. 

Leprechaun Love

The first Oakbound Patreon draws to a close

 

Yes, somehow it's been a whole year since the launch of the Oakbound Patreon Warbands project!

If you missed it the idea is simple- every year we start off in January with an idea chosen by the patrons. In monthly reports we follow the idea through research, development, concept art, sculpting, moulding, casting and painting to a finished set of models which are then sent to every patron. These are exclusive to Patreon supporters and won't be available generally, though if you'd like a set you can jump on the 2023 Patreon project and receive them instead or as well as next year's set.

The theme for this year was "The druid's last stand", inspired by accounts of the fight between Roman Legions and the remnants of British resistance holding out with the druids on Anglesey. A mish-mash rabble of bedraggled warriors are whipped into a frenzy by the 'furies' and supported by howled curses from the druids themselves.

The miniatures were based on concept art by Christian Schwager. Each supporter will have received their metal miniatures in a custom display/storage box along with a colour print of the artwork. 

Discussion is ongoing as to what next year's warband will be. A poll will be appearing next week for supporters to cast their vote so if you're interested in being involved in the 2023 warband project head on over and check out the conversation so far on THE OAKBOUND PATREON PAGE.

The first Oakbound Patreon draws to a close

Empire in Flames

 Well it has felt like it the last couple of days...

One of my favourite things is batch painting the same uniform over and over again.... um, no. I am a skirmish/single figure painting man so why on earth do I always challenge myself to big armies? No more I tell you... well, after the Night Goblins anyway. As well as doing my Chaos bits over the last couple of months I have been adding to my Empire Army. 160 figures in 60 days isn't bad going, especially as my actual time available for painting has been severely limited. 

The new additions are 20 spearmen, 25 crossbows, 20 halberdiers, 22 longbowmen, 22 swordsmen, 21 longswords, 20 hand cannon and 6 banner bearers with attached colour parties. The army is unique among my armies in that over three-quarters of the miniatures in it are my own sculpts. I started Oakbound with the original intention of sculpting alternatives to figures I couldn't afford or find and casting them up to create armies. What actually happened was I sculpted and cast them but then sold them to buy the original figures I wanted... not a bad business model but I did want to realise an army with the original plan.

30 heavily armoured Halberdiers (Fae Martial figures from Oakbound, now available in bulk packs if you're interested...)

30 Heroquest men at arms and a Microarts Nobby Nobbs. 

30 Lunn Spearmen and 15 Lunn Swordsmen made up of leftover leaders from spearman sets.

15 Advanced Heroquest Henchmen and some Perry sculpts. These crossbowmen are original Citadel ones with slotta tabs, at BOYL last weekend I picked up a pack of 7 more of the Foundry release to make the unit up to 10 so still need to get those painted now the weather has cooled off a bit.

Colour parties (command squads from the Lunn Spearmen), ECW leaders on unicorns (because why not?) and a YeAlchemist war altar. All the heraldry is taken from family names connected with mine and places I have lived. The ECW models scattered throughout this army also have some significance as 'pro-painted' collectables I bought from various ECW re-enactments and museums I visited as a kid now stripped and getting more attention than they ever did.

Some requisite Empire firepower, another ECW set I 'rescued' from being display pieces. I purchased two more cannon from Foundry that will be added to the battery once painted up.

And on to most of the recent additions. These are all units made up of four body sculpts with 7 interchangeable weapons in the manner of the plug-in HQ plastics and their Citadel counterparts. If you'd like some they are going to be available from Friday through the Myrcipean Mercenaries Kickstarter. The aim is to create figures that can very easily supply the large units needed by an Empire force without the hefty price tag of vintage GW models or resorting to non-plumed historical alternatives. First up, 20 Hand Cannon.

20 Great Swords.

20 Crossbows.

20 Halberds.

20 Bows.

20 Swordsmen.

20 Spearmen. The plan is to give me decent choice of every type of weapon available to Empire footsoldiers in 4th edition, even if there are some types that are significantly less 'effective'. After all effectiveness has never really been behind my choice of troops and isn't the Oldhammer way. :D

Swordsmen showing off their fancy shields.

So just a final reminder that if you'd like to build your own mighty Empire force on the cheap you can! All metal and traditionally sculpted of course.

MYRICPEAN MERCENARIES

Empire in Flames