“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!”

A couple of weeks ago our family greyhound Ollie passed away peacefully at nearly 13 years of age (roughly 88 in human terms). He had a good life and gave us much love and affection. He and I had a favourite walk through lockdown (more of a shuffle due to his age and arthritis) through our nearby woods.

As with my Mubraxis Dustdogs project I have decided to pay tribute to my loyal companion who would interrupt me working from home and my hobby time… I never minded! So here is the nearest model I can get to represent Ollie – a black and white greyhound, dearly loved and missed.

It’s been a bit of a period since the last update. In part this is due to finishing the Commander Glofski’s 40K Tank Squadron for the Spring Challenge and then starting a new 40K Armoured Division – The Mubraxis Dustdogs who have been requisitioned for service under the Ordo Xenos. Also the loss of my 13year old faithful, family dog shifted priorities.

None-the-less, I’m still keen to get the 2’ square display board completed. So, today I painted up some resin boats (not sure of the manufacturer, and indeed not quite sure of the scale as the oats are a little large – maybe 1:32 scale?). After undercoating with Chaos Black spray I dry brushed with Mournfang Brown, followed by Zandri Dust and then a wash of Gryphon Sienna to bring the colours together. Metalwork was highlighted with Chainmail. I don’t want the boats to overpower the scene, hence the earthy and muted palette.

Next up was to repair the roof of the tower structure. I think when I first made this I either ran out of materials to make roof tiles, got bored or simply couldn’t be bothered and slapped red-brown paint on a plain surface.

Having selected to save these two building for the display board, I was left with discarded buildings and homemaker card roofs. So it was not difficult to cannibalise roof material to finish the tower in the same palette as already existed. I also added a wooden balcony from my bits box to the hexagonal building and next up will to build the missing ‘conservatory’ roof out of balsa wood and clear plastic and then a repaint of the black edging and further fine detailing before moving back to the Jabberwocky Tale miniatures next month.

Having completed the water effects in the ‘sea’, I’ve moved on to re-flocking the grass areas with new grass powder and grass flock as well as dark green leaf foliage. I applied a generous coat of PVA glue and liberally sprinkled the grass mix on. In a similar manner, I applied model railway ballast for the stones beach. I also mixed a liquid PVA:water 1:3 ratio and used that to soak into the scatter stuff.

Another hot day and the opportunity to crack on with the water effects. Using two different shades of blue of Citadel blue paints, white paint for highlights and a blue wash for recesses, I had to work quite fast due to the heat 32 degrees outside! The plus side was that within 10-15 minutes the water base colours were dry. This meant the start of three coats of industrial gloss varnish – again large coverage means that this is the cheapest option. After each coat of varnish I was able to add small amounts of sand and slate rocks to embed within the water. Each coat looks white when applied, but don’t panic it goes transparent and dry within 2 hours. Next up will be reflocking the ‘land’ areas.

Returning to the display board today and to take advantage of the fine weather, I painted the areas of water using a blue Cuprinol wood paint. Now, this is normally used for external sheds, etc, but I used it because I had it left over from a garden job and it was far cheaper to use than Citadel 2.5ml pots for the area coverage I needed to do. The paint will also dry much darker than when it is applied. I can then use lighter blue Citadel paints to get colour variations in the water before applying gloss varnish.

I’ve also decided that I could probably get may be one or two more units of knights on to the display board, but they will need some striking heroes. Out of the bottomless bag of holding emerges the Grail Knight Standard Bearer and Baron Odo. I’ve also got a couple of 50mm square Micro Arts based for them as well. So, these two are going to head to the painting table next.

As you may be aware, it’s not wise or recommended to use spray can paint on polystyrene as it will react and dissolve the polystyrene. So, to start the repairs I used Polyfilla to smooth off the exposed polystyrene side (this would have been hidden when its sister board was next to it) NB THIS WAS THE POLYFILLA I WAS WAITING FOR TO MAKE THE BASES FOR THE 13th Armoured Division Sable Knights! Once dry, this could be base painted and for that I used artists’ acrylic black paint mixed with water to get suitable coverage on all bare wood and plastered surfaces. It will probably require a second coat later.

I’ve decided that before I paint any more monsters or knights, I thought it may be best to see how the two factions could interact over a display board and that would also help me to decide how they would be specifically arranged and what free space would allow for more models.

For this display board I’m going to repurpose an old gaming board into a 2’x2’ display board. Now I made the gaming board for Mordheim back in 2002 (this is one of a pair) and for the last 10 years has been stored in the rafters of my garage. Time to get it down and see what I can make of it…

The Borogroves and the Beastmaster gather forces. The three Citadel C22 Scorpion Dragons have come up nicely with glossed-up wings and fiery beaks. Lichen has been added to the rocks to add a continuity element with the other beast bases. The Beastmaster has had a chaos emblem attached to the hilt of black sword to give a clue to where his loyalties lie.