The Remaining Wizards - Gavin's minis and WIPs

Thought I'd share some of what I'm working on at the moment. Most of these guys will be miscellaneous mercenaries. My thinking is that while warbands might start out with a core group, when they hire new men, they can't necessarily get people from the same place. Therefore, these guys will mostly be painted in an assortment of state colours.


A dwarf from Altdorf (finished, just need to touch up the edge of the base).


Three mercenaries.


Another mercenary. As you can see, a few of these guys suffer from Bumpy Spraypaint Syndrome.


A couple more dwarves. Like pretty much everything else, they're WIP. I got all these dwarves as part of an eBay bits lot.


Three more.


Another three.


The three on the left are meant to be sort of brigands, ruffians or maybe scoundrels, three excellent words.

Awesome conversion work! Srsly inspiring! Not too shabby of a paint job either, and yeah bumpy spraypaint. That dusty finish? I can' tell you how many models I have destroyed (their lives are cheap) over that mess. That's why I have switched to an airgrun for all my undercoating purposes or just brushing it on if its not a whole lot of them.

Please though share some of the bitz sources! More notabley:


how did you construct the body on the archer on the far left? I have been trying to figure out ways to make my archers not all in the huntsman garb (the tunics) from the archer kit. Just a couple guys in the classic planteloon garb would be great. The only way I can see it is by chopping bodies in half. Please share your secret here! Also what into the body of the pikemen in the middle. I am trying to break the static uniform look of my empire mercs but giving them a more realistic rag-tag look, off colors and mismatched uniforms.


same as above- what are the pieces used? I know the greatsword axe, but the rest is new to me!

and finally:

that bow brigand on the far left is seriously, SERIOUSLY the coolest conversion I've seen using simple part swaps. He looks perfect as some sort of bandit. I am going to steal your idea BLANTANTLY, tell me how you whipped up this piece of pure genius, OR ELSE! This is a must have for me.

all in all keep it up and keep sharing! you're a talented guy.

Haha thanks for your post man. I'm pretty proud of my conversions. Making interesting characters is to me the most fascinating part of the hobby.

A big part of my secret is eBay bits sellers. That and the fantastic (not a word I just toss around) Perry European Mercenaries kit.



As you can see, the legs and torsos are one piece. They have a round base moulded on, but I've got around this by carving the base to look like stones on a 20mm square base. They're about the same height as GW humans, but more realistically proportioned, so their bodies are thinner and their arms are smaller. I find they look fine with most GW arms, but their arms look too small on GW bodies.

So the first three you quoted are a mixture of Perry and GW. The fellow with the red sleeves is the same, plus a head from the Wargames Factory Saxon Fyrd kit. The bow brigand has a head from the same kit, and legs from the Persian infantry by the same company. The ruffian and scoundrel next to him have torsos from Wargames Factory's orcs kit.

Here are a few more:


Three more mercenaries.


A heavy landschneckt with a voulge and pavise. He is made from the old school plastic Chaos Warriors with the iconography carved off. He has two comrades who I'll post later.

Brillant stuff, and way to be break free from the Evil Empire, our very own Games Workshop.

edit: and thanks!

I try to keep an open mind when it comes to choosing miniatures. While I do think that Games Workshop has hands down the best miniatures range on the market, the Perry brothers are well known GW sculptors who have been around forever. A box of 40 mercenaries ran me just over $30 CAD on eBay, including shipping. They also have a new kit of 12 mounted men at arms or knights for the same price.

There are a lot of great things about shopping on eBay. All the competition keeps shipping low, whereas I can easily spend $25+ on shipping alone on an order from the WarStore or some other retailer. There are lots of steals on bits that might not sell as well as others. Lots of stores (like this one for example) part out single figures from the plastic kits, awesome for making warbands.

You're certainly making the most of the various plastic goodies available...some very creative & imaginative pieces there. Keep up the GOOD WORK!

As a Canadian, the War Store would be a bit expensive on the shipping, but, if you're in the States, it's a flat $5.95 no matter how large an order you place.

great conversions, like the heavy " landsknecht " ,schneckt is snail in german. Hope to see him painted soon!
Thumbs up man!

The Landsknect reminds me of the huge armor types in the Demon' s Souls and Dark Souls videogames. I like how he looks, and can't wait to see his mates!

Extremely cool kitbashing and nice pantjobs too. The last guy is just awesome which is a word I don't toss around often

Maybe I've found a use for that little snail from the Men-at-Arms kit. Might have to start a warband led by Sir Horace Landschneckt the heavy landsknecht, known by his troops as "The Land Snail" for his slow but inexorable assault.

Thanks everyone for the comments. Got a few more photos to show while i'm here.


Dreg from my undead warband.


Small ruined building.


Three more.


Rear view of Horace.


Part of another warband I'm working on.

VERY COOL ADDITIONS! The Dreg is an OUTSTANDING piece...good color choices, fine brushwork, & a nicely done base; PLUS he gives us a good idea just how TERRIFIC all the yet-to-be-painted minis will look...definitely something to look forward to. The corner ruin is a sharp little piece. Keep 'em coming!

The chipped sword is a really great addition to the piece. Evokes robbing a grave for weapons. Also the axe stuck in the wall from your corner piece- also great.

Thanks for the kind words guys.


This guy's pretty much finished now except for the belt. I didn't spend as much time on him as I might have if he didn't have the bumps.


The Baron with his archers. In game terms the Baron is a youngblood, to represent his lack of combat experience.


The warband is led in battle by the Baron's captain of the guard, show here with his standard bearer.


The man in the middle is the Baron's personal bodyguard, flanked by the two swordsmen.


Couple more chill brehs.

VERY FINE WORK! The Bretonnian pieces give them more of a Medieval/Early Renaissance feel than the usual G.W. Empire stuff. They all look TERRIFIC...I'll have to rummage through my friend's Brettonians for that Mustachioed Head. Keep 'em coming!

Here are a couple guys I put together today.


Warrior Priest.



Another one.


Another mercenary.




Some of my bits.

Your bits are WAY more organized than mine... just some ziploc bags in a drawer.

I'm not usually an organized person, but I need to be able to find the bits I need. I appreciate being able to start with legs and torsos, add left and right arms and a head, then whatever extra bits I feel like, and knowing where everything is. I have left arms, right arms with swords, right arms with misc weapons, greatsword right arms, greatsword left arms, guns, bows, crossbows, pistols, polearms, loose or sheathed weapons, accessories, feathers, etc etc etc.

I should also probably point out that those aren't all extra bits. There are pieces for dozens of complete miniatures in there.

I also have a mechanized company tucked away in my parents' basement, with some pretty radical Chimera conversions, as well as the usual mountain of old, unpainted, or abandoned projects.

PS. The whole top row of drawers is just heads, by the way. And that's not quite all of them.

Great way of organising your bits. And such lovely conversions! Awesome work on the warrior priests!!

Joao

Thanks buddy! I've got a few more pics to post.



The cannon is mostly from a bits lot I got on eBay. Improvised a little. I'm pretty happy with the engineer. I cut a Perry Mercenaries body in half for the legs. The rest is all Empire bits. As for the little guy with the goofy helmet, I'm actually not sure whether to paint his arms flesh coloured or green. The other two dwarves have Perry arms. They're a perfect fit for dwarves, and in my opinion look way better than the GW monkey hands. The pike will likely get turned into a spear, halberd, great weapon or even a staff.




You can see the new version of the guy on the right in the photos above.

Paint the little guy knight (funny head) flesh. Halfling Crusader! So cheesy

edit: your workbench reminds of me mine- well used, and cluttered!

Wow! You're a prolific modeller! All those minis look great, and the ones you've painted are really good. Very inspiring (now you've got me modelling instead of grading my students essays - oh well, it's their loss)!

You certainly are knocking out the pieces..don't forget to drill out the gun barrels. You have a real flair for positioning the minis. AND the Ghoul(?) looks GREAT all painted up...nice brushwork. Keep up the FINE WORK!

I use the same compartment trays for storing my parts...Great Minds eh?. They work quite nicely keeping things orderly/organized; & it's much easier finding things with the trays than the drawer cases.

Superb kit bashing and some nice painting to boot.

Great conversion and kit bashing!
Just received a big box from Perry miniatures and I am looking forward to mixing and matching stuff. I really like how you make them blend in nicely thanks for the inspiration.
Also I've been toying with the idea of using the bret' birdhead for possessed beastmen for a while now, looking good

Hey guys, thanks for all the kind comments. I went down and painted at the local GW store today, a first for me. Managed to paint this guy up.



Obviously the base still needs to be done.