From the workbench of the esteemed Horati0nosebl0wer

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)

So I started on the track to find more Shadowforge Miniatures from Australia and went down a rabbit hole. I checked out Eureka Miniatures that I had last purchased them from in Australia but found that they were no longer on the site. This made me sad. During my search I saw they still had their fezzed monkeys with some even flying. Since Australia is also known affectionately as Oz, I went onto the Sally 4th site for the Wars of Ozz.

I kicked myself into research of the background of Oz and found the land of Winkies in the literature. As a sucker for some American fantasy fiction I proceeded to look for files to begin reading and wasted quite a bit of time when I should probablyhave been sleeping.

This ended up with the consideration of adding a figure from Reaper Miniatures as Dita, Steampunk Witch (50236) or Wild West Oz Wicked Witch (50315). They’re available in materials other than metal but I think there’s a little loss in the detail. Not to forget the 3D printing crowd there is a model from Gametee 3d Miniatures that resembles the 1939 Wicked Witch of the West very well. They just seem to fit better visually for a standout unit.

I am stopping myself from getting involved with Napoleonics. I am staunchly telling myself “No” in the same way I am not working on Turnip28. I am staying strong as I continue to paint armies I have already collected and WILL play with. I will not be playing with any Winkies.

I refuse to play Napoleonics. The matter is settled. The clunky dynamics of rank and flank on rectangular bases is what does me in. I just can’t bring myself to it or the minutiae of shoulder boards, piping and button counting. The flow of skirmish is much more to my taste. I admit admiration to the pageantry of scale and how the grand assembly draws the eye when drawn together en masse. I also enjoy some of the minis for the sheer notion of Baron Munchausen. Yes, it is one of my favorite films ever. For this reason it has one of the highrise penthouse apartments in my head rent free. Because of this and my recent work on an upcoming project I’ve turned my attention to balloons and the armies that would accompany in general. It might be fun to see this as a SAGA set piece game as Gerry has Rourke’s Drift.

I can look at the armies for Austrians and Janissaries and easily come up with models. The difficult and most interesting thing would be the airship built in the theater. The balloon I’m working on has been difficult for assembly and atleast is uniform. The idea I have in my head for the Munchausen version is, to be like that one in the film, a patchwork of ladies underthings. I just don’t want to spend the same money I did for the cyclops of my Arabian Knights. In the meantime I can dream it and plant the seeds in other people’s heads.

First of the two armies I will finish this year is done. I got this last weekend from a friend at my FLGS as a painting commission where I keep promoting SAGA.

We played a game. I lost. I don’t care much. I played and it was good. Now, time to paint more minis and keep the enthusiasm alive.