Cult of the All Seeing Hand

 

Producing rifle armed Arabic type figures in robes allows me to produce Cultists quickly, cheaply and in large numbers... and could mean the early appearance of figures with both black and brown robes.

Quality of the Rose rifles conversions aren't all that good - the head swap is pretty dire.

Looking around for a standard design I thought about all those horror movies where people have an eye in the palm of the hand. Rough picture of a clawed left hand with an eye in the centre and a cult is born! Have to admit, I like the symbology of this figure!

Newhaven park update

 

The basic model of Newhaven Park is finished with a few touches still to add. I keep thinking some of these tiles are a bit too bright for Newhaven.

I've still got a playground to paint and other items are subject to change, but it's mostly there. I'm calling it Peabody Park - on the one hand, it's a Lovecraftian name, on the other hand it's reminiscent of the name 'Peasholme', a park in Scarborough. Peasholme Park has a definite wargames link... 'Naval Warefare Battle The park is home to the oldest continuously simulated battle in the country - a unique miniature sea battle named 'The Naval Warfare'. Taking place July and August each year this popular event has been a unique family holiday tradition since 1927' Seen it a couple of times - spectacular and well worth the visit.

We usually spend a few days in Brighton every year - it's easy to get to and we like it. This year we stayed in an apartment next to the Royal Pavilion. The Pavilion has a cafe called The Pavilion Garden Cafe - which gave me the idea to put one in Peabody Park. The model itself virtually built itself - I got some thin card, tried fittied some balsa into the structure, then realised I just about finished making the thing! So I painted it up and finished it. Easy to make, gives me a good template for things like fairground/circus/Christmas Fair stalls etc. The other groundkeeper's shed isn't glued in - it's higher than the height of the wall finials so would make stacking difficult for storage. That shed is one I already had lying around and just repurposed.

Gates are an issue. I would have liked using decorative gates for all of the entrances but they aren't cheap! So I used ones I had as part of bought wall set ups and just used plain balsa for others - I did the same with the church and cemetary.

This finishes the original plan but I'll be doing a lot more. I like the idea of  set boards and the use of balsa walls, so expect to do a lot more of this kind of thing in future. Next 'project' probably needs to be the waterfront area.

20/25mm Miskatonic U (Newhaven campus) finished!

 Took a while and I'm sick of cutting out windows and sticking them on buildings!

So this is the finished set. I did break one self imposed rule - actually bought the walls and side gate!. They are Busch set HO 6014, Wall and Gate.

I confess - didn't allow for the saw blade width and cut the walls a few mils too small!

Side view with a few 20mm figures for comparison. The smaller scale allowed for a much grander building setup. Didn't always get the windows right... main building has an attic and slightly lower ceilings!

Another side view  showing the size of the building. Looks really solid. 

Back view. Probably shouldn't have put windows over the joint but...

Courtyard is very much compressed for use in city sized use. If I do scenarios based on just the university I would add a few more wall sections and possibly also do a separate wall not connected to the buildings. The roof wasn't painted, just had a couple of layers of PVA glue covering it - I thought it looked more realistic than paint. Must do something about the camera date staming pictures. Possibly set the right date and time on it?

Size comparison with the Sarissa manor house and gate house- haven't got an annex for the Sarissa version, beginning to regret that!

The 20/25mm version allows a much more believeable size building to be made.

The gate house comparison really gives the game away! 

Overall I'm really pleased with this set of buildings. I can see them being very useful in the future.

28mm LK II

 

At the moment I seem to be working very slowly on several different things. This is the German WW1/Interwar LK II by  Empress Miniatures I bought at Partizan.

As usual I've just gone for a straight block colours paint job, no fancy shading or weathering...

The Pz1A is in the (long) queue...

Yet more...

 

This lot are all RAFM. The crazed cultist looking types are Tcho Tcho people; the others from various sets including Lovecraft Country - farmer with staff and pink shirt, policeman and zombie lady with the baby. The man in black type is an investigator from set 2910, the one wearing a hat and has his coat over his arm is a journalist from set 2906, and the Egyptian carrying the box is from the M.U. Expedition to Egypt, set 2970.

With the exception of the cigar smoking Copplestone Bolshevik heroine from set BC17 I haven't identified any of this lot...

More of the Scottish figures - RAFM and EM4

 

Thought it was about time I started  to record some of the latest figures from Mike. Some of this lot are all 90s RAFM figures from the Call of Cthulhu range, others are EM4 from the Dunwich Detectives range.. 

A couple of these are from set 2970, Expedition to Egypt. The central figure isn't quite a Pharaoh, but would still serve very well as Nyarlathotep in human form. Mr Muscle is from the Lovecraft Country set.

The guy in the white shirt is from set 2902 'Professor (male). The man with the scroll is another one from the Expedition to Egypt set. One in the middle is EM4.

Not sure where these ladies are from... one may be from 2905 Parapsychologist  (female).  Must check out the online RAFM catalogue instead of the 1994 paper version. (Doing it!) They have more figures listed but no codes and not always in the 'original' sets. For example 'Nyarlathotep' is in the 'Adventurers (assorted) set, and also in the Expedition to Egypt set! (Recheck: All are EM4 Dunwich Detectives)

Not sure what sets these two are from... Update, EM4!

Again few different sets. Back right is from the Police set online. Not sure of the scientist, other 4 are EM4.

What I really need to do is gather all my RAFM figures and the ones from Mike and sort them into their sets. On the other, perhaps not - Mike's are painted to a far higher standard than mine!

There's nothing there...

I'm seeing things. It's a mirage...

There's nothing there...

There's nothing...

There...

A few of the other figures I got from Mike. They're painted better than I paint them.

Some of the other figures from the RAFM Dunwich Horror set. Gives an idea of the size of the Horror! Again, all figures were painted when Mike sent them.

From Scotland...

For the last few months regular packages have criss-crossed the UK, some heading North, others heading South... the latest one to arrive today includes a load of 28mm Very British Civil War figures; haven't got round to sorting them yet. Meanwhile, couple of figures from previous arrivals...

A couple of the more spectacular figures from previous parcels. RAFM Dunwich Horror and Byakhee.

The Dunwich Horror. It arrived painted and just needed a couple of patches of bare metal to touch up.

The Byakhee. Arrived with a grey undercoat - I only spent about ten minutes painting it!

Photos never look the same as the original - the purple isn't as obvious on the figure, the red stands out a lot more!

Thanks Mike.

An eclectic bunch...

 

Another batch, mainly 25/28mm. Really must be getting towards time for painting some more Greeks or Persians.

Some servants. I've retouched the maid's hair since this photo - missed some out. Must get more sitting figures sorted.

Minifigs succubus? Looks like a variant of the one in the Minifigs catalogue so not certain. No idea where or when I got it.

Additions to mad scientist and just plain mad section. In the pulp world, no such thing as too many mad scientists.

Just random investgator types. Must think of how to do that monocle better.

And finally some generic victim types...

Still a few more to get through yet!

Lizardmen and Froggies

 

A few more reinforcements for the Cult of Dagon.

25mm rather than 20mm but still fit in with the 20mm figures - well, lizards are bigger than people. Generally goes with the US conspiracy theory about Repotilian Overlords.

And a small band of Batrachrian foot soldiers from the reef. 

No doubt I'll be adding to these - still got a few more lying around.

Anyscale fleet

 Still on a 'go back and finish off' phase.

Getting on with the Anyscale  fleet I bought last year.

Includes a few fishing boats. Painted for wargames, including just one coat of paint so colours aren't just a single shade.

FP stands for Fair Port, their home harbour. The numbers have no significance that I am aware of!

I like these vessels.

The various sail boats will have their number increased.

Likewise the rest of the boats. The range seems to have expanded since I bought these.