“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!”

In January, we had the Jabberwocky, February came the Jubjub Bird and in March the Bandersnatch made it to the monster ball. I think it’s time for some cavalry to come to the rescue during April. It also fits in with the need for a lockdown Spring Clean.

So to continue the theme of some young gung-ho knights on a quest to duel with these monsters, I’ve found in my bottomless ‘bag of holding’ (D&D legacy – it’s that bottomless!) four part-customised Bretonnian plastic knight errants. Add to the group Tristan Le Troubadour, La Repanse, Belladonna from the Dogs of War range and a metal knight errant musician and you get a decent sized mounted squad to charge to the rescue.

I’m going to stick with the rectangular bases in part because I don’t have any spare oval ones but also because I actually prefer to see the knights line up in close formation next to each other. I’ve also got a mix of resin scenic bases mainly from micro arts that can be customised to mount the mounts on (hopefully this won’t exclude me from GW’s Armies on Parade if I get that far on expanding the project!). I will use the GW old Bretonnian supplements (1996 & 2003) for paint colour inspiration as I try to make each knight a unique character.

Hopefully, a couple of knights or so per week and we’ll get through April because we need to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives and this hobby allows us some form of escape and distraction from this real world and current wall-to-wall, dark news coverage.

UPDATE: (that was quick!) Reading about Tristan in the 1996 book, he needs to be accompanied by Jules Le Jongleur. So as Tristan can be the musician for the troupe out goes the metal knight errant musician and in comes Jules (having hunted high and low for him in my bottomless ‘bag of holding’ – see earlier in post!) to cram onto Tristan’s base some how and I will customise a standard bearer to act as a bodyguard for Repanse so that there will still be eight mounted guys to paint up plus Jules.

So, 31-03-20 and just in time, the third monster in the tale of the Jabberwocky has been completed. A great distraction from the hell going on around us… I’m dedicating this one to all those people on the front line helping us stay alive.

One oval base leftover from a 40K Storm Talon kit, a load of large slate, a  massive wadge of Polyfilla and a generous amount of Citadel small slate basing material and I had the makings of a scene in which the Bandersnatch (glistening after a couple of coats of gloss ‘ardcoat) is clambering over the shipwreck on the pebble beach towards lunch…

As with the Jabberslythe and Cockatrice, real dried lichen was used as part of the plant life in the scene.

White polyfilla was painted black with some shading with Drakenhof Nightshade and highlights. The pebbles were covered in a mix of PVA glue, water and Drakenhof Nightshade and the water was painted using various shades of blue topped by three coats of ‘ardcoat to give a gloss finish.

The Paladin was simply painted in the same colours as the other Paladins and with his base tab clipped off and perched on an outcrop ready to meet his foe.

I’ve continued to use the same palette as with the Jabberwocky and Jubjub bird and will mount the Merwyrm on an oval base akin to the Jabberwocky. An F5 Citadel Oldhammer Paladin will finish off this duel… although I think I know who will be the winner!

I wanted to keep the Merwyrm paint job simple so applied Drachenhof Nightshade three times all over the body and once dry started to build up the highlights using increasing brighter light blues until I reached the claws and teeth which were painted bleached bone and highlighted white with a thin Blood Red wash to suggest this guy’s hungry.

Okay, it’s been a bit of a weird month what with relocating offices twice, becoming a home school teacher, mothballing my company because we can’t go out and shifting training to online. Still nothing beats a bit of modelling!

The Merwyrm kit is fantastic in detail but didn’t fit together as nicely as I’d liked. There was a fair amount of spring loaded tension when trying to pose the mini on the shipwreck base. I got there in the end and filled in minor gaps with liquid green stuff so that it was ready for base coat of chaos black spray.

Cometh the new month, cometh the next monster! So… “Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the fruminous Bandersnatch” let’s look at the next monster in the story of the Jabberwocky.

Images on the internet for inspiration suggest the Bandersnatch is a huge creature that lollops along and has a pushed-in face akin to a Bulldog or Pug. Enter Forge World’s Merwyrm. Sadly like other Forge World fantasy models this one has disappeared from the catalogue and website only to appear on ebay at hugely inflated prices. Fortunately I had my model for some time, indeed before square based were ditched for round ones in AoS and I was just waiting for the right project. Yes, I could flog it on eBay and yes I could get more than I paid for it, but I’m no dealer trying to exploit the true fans and collector. It’s a great model with fantastic detail and I’m going make it and paint it to the best of my ability as my March model.

Ok, so the Merwyrm is not furry and more like a large lizard due to its scales, but it has the huge presence of the inspirational images and I can always attempt to replicate the colour pattern and palette from the web images.

The Forge World kit is really detailed as you would expect and comes in 12 resin parts that look fairly straightforward to construct and the instructions that are included are detailed enough to ensure the build should be enjoyable rather than puzzling or frustrating!

I will build a watery base to suit the Merwyrm and its shipwreck but also to keep with the theme I’ve created for the Jabberwocky and Jubjub bird. I’ll also look through my pile of unpainted minis to find another Citadel Miniatures F5 Paladin to challenge the Bandersnatch to a duel!

The paint job took around five hours non-stop (apart from paint drying). I’ve used a fair amount of washes and blending as well as dry-brush highlights. I opted for a brown rattlesnake pattern for the tail in the end but I think it’s close to the inspirational art work.

The base is built up with slate and polyfilla and the water pool is created again with blended techniques and multiple gloss varnish toppings. I added another Citadel Miniatures F5 Paladin, but as the stare of a Cockatrice can petrify a victim, I’ve painted him as if he was turning to stone.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! Next up will be the Bandersnatch…