From the workbench of the esteemed Horati0nosebl0wer

I got to thinking about the recent sale by Gripping Beast for their 30th anniversary and their 30% off sale for plastics. I imagined how I might build and sell starter armies for games of SAGA. This, of course, lead me to look at starter armies and then the stroke of creativity. Rest assured the left side of my face is fine, my mental faculties are intact (sanity check passed) and my anorexic bank account is still where I left it. I started down the track of the metal starter sets and saw the Huns and was inspired to match it with Conan the Barbarian. The army of Thulsa Doom and his snake cult was something to play with in my head.

The entire starter army is mounted. Yes, all 25 men are on horses and the sculpts are fully disheveled in a manner appropriate for a 1980s film that has barbarian raids taking place. I’m sure that if one wanted to keep to the historical side that would work fine. As much as I hate to put forth Games Workshop product I feel that the addition of their Chaos Knights from Slaves to Darkness would be a great fit for mounted Hearthguard should the Gripping Beast ones be too plain for this fantasy. It could also lend the fifth rider to be open to convert to a proper screen innacurate Thulsa Doom. You might go about scraping away all the Chaos star crap as the Snake Cult needs none of that. Painting, applying custom waterside transfers or handsculpting the double headed snake motif would work , though the digital kitbash of the emblem is an option with a bannerpole topper available.

Of course any rabbithole deep dive isn’t complete without going off the deep end. Here is a file for your very own Snake Cult amulet

To keep the theme of evil cult Myminifactory has some additions that could be of use for sorcerers.

• Male 1
• Male 2
• Female

Depending on if you want to make the leader of this Chaotic army a figure larger than life you could print a Thulsa Doom of your very own for monster scale.

Then again if you want a figure that is better suited to play at 28mm you can get a copy of the man in smaller versions.

• Helmeted 1
• Helmeted 2
• Unhelmeted

If you wanted to create some variance to the army then the stl for a helmet by itself is available as well.

With that all out of my head I think this has been a fun romp into barbarian adjacent thought that lovers of the Cimmerians can make an appropriate foe for their forces.

So I’ve sat for a bit and mulled the thoughts on how to build this army. I’ve pulled together the crazy idea of mechanized natives and magic to build a list as follows.

Pull the following from Foundry’s catalog:

• INC014 Inca Spearmen
• INC016 Inca Warriors
• INC011 Atahaulpa Inca Command

This will give two units of eight Warriors ( two figures from the command to each of the other units of six) and a Warlord command

Playing with the idea of super technology, an addition of Mechanical Close Combat Weapon arms and Mechanical Legs would fill in nicely.

If one wanted to 3D print and get more versatility from positioning Liber Daemonica on Myminifactory has great files (arms and legs) at a reasonable price to get that.

The Mythic Americas Sapa Warlord and Spirit Jaguar can get you a couple of units but it depends on what box you buy. If you get one from Warlord Games it provides a Warlord on Beast and four mounted Hearthguard (5 figures). If you purchase the box from Mythicos Studios you can field the Warlord on Beast and two Quadroped Creatures (3 figures). You’ll pay for your figures and it will all boil down to what you wish to build.

Not to forget flying units, there are Condor Riders available as well

In a completely different direction, since the Inca held hummingbirds in high regard, I found Tallulah and Tulip (a hummingbird gryphon and rider) from Dragon Trapper’s Lodge that could make for a fun addition for a unique model.

Finding archers/slingers for missile weapons is pretty much a bust so it could be done with using Wargames Atlantic Inca Warrior stls and throw on some bare arms with bows/slings.

To add any other options I found a list of unique Inca weapons

As far as a monster Paymaster has that covered with Cherufe Lava Monster of the Andes

I didn’t want to explore the silliness of the Ducktales episode of using a feathered dinosaur and putting a toothy goose head on it (find it yourself).

I need a reason to keep my collection of paint. So many of my models are no longer grey and I have more armies than I can play with regularly. I am still inspired to see fantastic armies built and imagine what else can grace the tabletop with some effort. I just know that I’m not the one to keep future finished work. I think its like what I realized during the last Giftmas exchange that I cannot keep all the best stuff for myself. I also came to think that if I want to keep any minis dearly then it’s best to pass them on.

I look forward to the opportunity to do unique builds that are new to me and then let them go. Perhaps this is the way of all painters at a certain age or level of experience. All in all, this is where I am and I will do all I can to share the joy of this miniature world.

It’s the letting go that is hard but the most rewarding thing now as I pore over the many things I’ve collected. I cannot think of a better way than to share these silly little figures as a transfer of our wargame culture. I have nothing more than to look at the completed work as reward because I’m not playing as much as I want. I can’t go out to game because SAGA isn’t very popular other than with the historical gamers who are all old men as well. Perhaps my next mission to Snag-A-Normie will be getting young people onto this game. It would’ve been fun to share it with children but that time and place is long gone. If attention spans were long enough to divert from CCGs, videogames and social media and on a tabletop game there might be hope yet but I don’t have much left.

Meh, I think I’ll aim to finish the armies on my shelf and get more display stuff out there. On a similar note which is relevant to the Spring Clean and our general procrastination I found this video.

60/30/10% an interior design concept of how to work with room elements. I’ve tried it for color and I think there is some truth to the concept but it doesn’t always hold up. I did put some thought into army composition and I believe that is where the idea has merit.

In a generic army build you’ll have a set figure line you’ll work from. A company says “Play our game and use our models” which is fine if you stay within that ecology. Kick that right in the face or smash the mould with a hammer as you branch into miniature ambivalent games and you have a brand new issue of model cohesion. This is where I think the concept can shine when the mix and match of model ranges to suit a trope starts.

Using SAGA (for example) there is no holding a gamer or hobbyist back from chaotic creativity to go running naked and free in the wilds of unspoilt savanna sunshine, as we’ve been told by Phil and Kaja Foglio (just watch out for bees). The drawback is that in doing so, the random shiny of one moment may not very well make for a group of collected things later. For there to be cohesion the 6/3/1 breaks sequentially for focus and allows the unique character of different units to shine.

Let’s use the lowly ratmen as they seem at first glance a rather simple looking army. Pull up a little more than half of your force from anybody’s GW collection to bulk out a standard motif in Warriors and/or Levy (you can probably do more but hold off, trust me). Spice it up with some larger brutish cavalry Warriors of rat riding rats from Punga miniatures (metarodents?) or a Hearthguard unit using Ral Partha sword carrying rats. Then, top it off with a huge model from the likes of Meirce Miniatures that makes your opponent just want to run to the shower and clean the unnatural sense of grime and stop that creepy crawly sensation when your monster takes the field. Perhaps you can also kitbash something to drop a huge Cheezchukka siege engine or Wheel of Goudadoom to flatten your opponent. All of this keeps the army uniquely flavored to being your own collection instead of Skaven army #385 in your FLGS.

Find a unique trope you want to play and build inside that visual sandbox. Tie the different parts together with color and basing material so it will never be repeated. With that done, the army you drop is customized with bits and bobs lacking any bland regurgitation. Good luck in your own endeavors.

I sat and did some reading to indulge in some quality use of my brain. “Armies, Legions and Hordes” is something I’ve had on my shelf and never got around to. I wholly regret not cracking the spine earlier to pore over it.

I could gush about the book but it would be a wasted effort other than praise for others to not experience it. I will recommend it and share some thought from a take away experience I am having in self reflection.

Why do I like my method of hobbying?

• I get to build an army all of my own from the disparate parts around me offered by various people around the world.
• I build from abstract vision a concrete reality that I admire and handle regularly.
• My random twists and turns through flights of fancy become a cohesive whole that I show off and get response for good or ill.

What sometimes feels like a lonely, random ass, quixotic journey is not so much because there are others with the same, or atleast highly similar, penchants that drive them. I feel that my primary driver in life has been from a young age that I would do what I wanted creatively. I was told as a child in elementary school that I was to color pictures. I refused. I responded, as I sat drawing, that if other people wanted the pictures colored they would have done it themselves. From drawing to expand to LEGOs, the fundamental mental exercises of my impressionable youth have become expressed as a full grown man. Now, I do that here with all the toys I can find use for. The Island of Misfit Toys doesn’t exist; poor Moonracer holds no power in his crown, because all toys could find a place if you build it even if it is an army of coherent misfits.

So I dug into my collection of figures for the April painting competition theme of “weird”. I found my entry and did it justice because I had no intention of putting this out for display prior to this. I’m glad to give this otherwise dead model life even after the stripping of layered enamel paint. It feels good to see this oddity despite my previous misgivings about it.

What is good material hygiene? With a desire to use better paint pigments and get better results from our effort do we overlook the material? I believe that we as mini painters do from a lack of general exposure to the inherent risks. As consumers of products generally screened for toxicity we don’t deal with the underlying potential for harm as paint producers hold the responsibility under regulation. Our ignorance under protection has made us, by and large, dumb to a health risk. Now, as some of us move into wanting more from materials outside of a general paint/hobby ecosystem it should be considered.

Personally, I’m looking at the warm colors. I want to paint an army with orange which catches the eye. I took that to heart and purchased an artist paint which apparently has cadmium in it. I know from working artist paint in a studio setting this is a nuanced issue. Unlike other paint for the hobby, I will exercise caution in my practice of making my tiny fighting men look good. The risk I perceive will be mostly in cleanup. Thankfully I live just down the road from a solid waste collection facility so my garbage will be easily taken care after I get done.

I think the “paint” part of painting with all its chemistry is something we all should appreciate more outside of how the product binders make pigments settle on figures.

Going full throttle down a rabbit hole I found this channel which has interesting and terrifying paint information. I have a new respect for chemistry and the paint industry.

https://m.youtube.com/@bekahart/videos

Typically the love for shortness falls on the shoulders of dwarves and halflings. Here I think the overlooked collection of goblins and kobolds should be seen and proudly walk tall in the limelight. Beetles also get a hard time so I think they should be given tender treatment too.

A proper short king, or atleast warlord, starts off the list of silliness. Considering the SAGA Lords of the Underearth list this violates the idea of a subterranean flying unit. As you can be crazy with list mix and match, a Great Kingdoms list would allow the figure if you truly needed WYSIWYG.

Thinking back to Age of Wonders on pc with its Giant Beetles unit and crossing it with the goblin Knights from the movie Labyrinth I believe there is enough brain food to kick off some good paint. This, in my mind, is a good alternative to overly prevelant spider riders.

Oh the goodness of nostalgic videogames. I go back to the Monster Rancher series and present Beaclon. Its a monster you can raise or gain through random cd/DVD reading. Enter now this uber-mega-chonky boy not related to overpriced GW plastic.

Having watched Starship Troopers I thought this addition of an insect like the Tanker Bug was appropriate. On a smaller scale, relatively, there are also other huge beetles available on MMF.

As SAGA Age of Magic isn’t complete without magic I proffer this handsome fellow and his trusty mount. I guess it can also be used as an alternate to the Warlord if qualified as a mount on a 60mm base.

Now, the army isn’t quite complete without regular troops so a mix and match assembly of goblins and kobolds can be put together for a full force. I guess the only real issue might be any flying units you might want to chuck in, you know, for funsies. (And since there’s a limit of 12 slots for entries I write this here)