Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM99 centaur with bow and FM100 centaur with spear

And a final update of the figures I've been working on this month. Again, these were originally part of a Centaur HOTT army that got too large, and these guys didn't make the final cut - but I've kept them as separate figures for D&D purposes. 

The one with the spear is what I would call a "traditional" Asgard sculpt - a bit coarse and lacking in detail (especially around the face!) but still with a lot of energy. The one with the bow is a reworking by Asgard of a figure from their Barbarian Personalities range - if you look at this picture of BP7 Arflane the Archer, you can see that they've taken the upper body, attached it to a horse torso and then modelled a cloak and belt to conceal the join. Whilst I can admire the re-use, IMHO the figure does feel very static compared to the "traditional" sculpt.

Both figures were a pleasure to deal with - mostly woodland shades as base colours then Army Painter soft tone for a wash, followed by highlighting. The bow centaur is a more detailed figure, and benefitted most from this, whilst the spear figure didn't come up as well as I would have liked - the lack of detail on the figure really didn't help. The bases are simply flock and artificial grass.

Pleased with both paint jobs on the whole, but to be honest I can't see the archer getting too much table top time - but his friend with the spear will!

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM44 Djinn

Next out of the Lead Mountain  was Asgard's take on a Djinn, emerging from a bottle.

Initially I was not enthused - the figure is quite flat, and the base of it emerging from the bottle is very thin. I can imagine that a lot of these snapped and were discarded. As with all Asgard figures, detail on things like the hands is very poor, and the base is far too small for the rest of the figure, causing it fall over with alarming regularity. With that in mind, the first job was to fix it to a plastic base to give it stability, and then use Milliput to make the base look like a rough stone floor.

The Quran says that the Djinn are made of a smokeless and "scorching fire", which guided the paint job - a base coat of yellow, graduating up through orange to red, and then a wash of dark red, followed by dry brushing. This really brought out the detail of the figure, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it brushed up! The stone floor was simply base gray, a wash of Army Painter Dark tone, and then highlighting.

It turned out quite well, considering I had low expectations of it - it is certainly a very dramatic figure, as if someone has inadvertently removed the stopper from the bottle and the Djinn has just burst out, stretching his arms after a couple of centuries confinement. He certainly looks pleased about something, and perhaps it is that lack of malevolence in the sculpting that is missing. Still, I can see this getting quite a bit of table top time, especially now that he doesn't fall over every time someone bumps the table!

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM13 Owl Bear and Ral Partha Personalities & Things... 01-040 v1 Were Bear

I’ve not posted as much as I’d like to – pressures of work, ferrying kids around and Christmas in general has put paid to that – but I have been painting, so over the next couple of days I’ll be posting shots of what I’ve been working on.

These two were originally part of a Wood Elf HOTT army, which spiralled dreadfully out of control. I ended up with enough figures for 3 armies (!) and eventually had to cull some units to make up 2 very distinct armies. Unfortunately these guys didn’t make the final cut, but I thought they’d hold up really well as standalone figures for wilderness encounters.

The Owl Bear is an early Asgard figure, and as a consequence the sculpting is VERY coarse – the claws in particular were just stalks protruding from the paws, and what is going on with the eyes?!? Still, it definitely has a lot of naïve charm, and invariably provokes a “WTF is THAT” response every time it hits the table – not bad for a figure that is nearly 40 years old!

The Ral Partha Were bear is a wonderful sculpt – really well detailed, with a terrific pose, full of energy. If I had a criticism, it is that it would be all too easy for the base to snap – Ral Partha metal was on the soft side.

Both of these figures were a pleasure to paint – a simple base coat of brown, then a dark wash, then dry brushing for the highlights. The Were Bear in particular benefitted from this. The Owl Bear needed a bit more work around the eyes, which are REALLY crudely sculptured – just holes poked into the figure! The bases are simply flock and a few stones and artificial grass.

Pleased with both of these!