Roadside Shrine

When I ordered the drinking trough for the Blue Wolf Inn from the2legends a couple of months ago, I also ordered this roadside shrine. Now I finally got around to assembling and painting it.

The shrine is a nicely designed four piece resin kit:

The kit unassembled and assembled

There are two issues I have with the model, though. Firstly, the back of the shrine isn't modelled, it's just a blank back (like what you usually see on the bottom of a resin base/model). This wouldn't be that bad, if it weren't for the bricks on the right side of the shrine, which are touching the back and creating an unnatural looking edge. It's just a minor critique but a shame nonetheless.

Far more annoying are the bubbles in the resin. Funnily there are no bubbles in the shrine or in the huge stones. But the small stones on the ground have suffered heavily from the bubbles. You can see it in the photo below.

Close up on the air bubbles

Honestly, I don't mind the bubbles that much. Of all possible parts the small stones are definaltey the best for them. On the table you will hardly take notice of them unless you know they are there.

Aside from these two things I am pretty happy with the model. It paints up very nicely and I am rather satisfied with how the weathering on the shrine turned out. All in all a recommendable model. Well worth the investment if you enjoy painting small models on a late evening with quick rewarding results.


And now, last but not least, for some photos of the painted model:

The Sea Dragons Part 2: Painted Pirates

After part 1 about collecting the Foundry/Crusader figures for my Chinese pirate crew, the Sea Dragons, let's have a look at a few painted ones now.

I actually wanted to post these earlier (a lot earlier!) but I recently focused on painting terrain and scenery for my Gierburg project so these fellows were pushed back over and over again.

The Mates (Foundry)

Pirate Rogues (Curteys Miniatures)

For some reason I'm having problems painting the Foundry pirates while the Curteys on the other hand paint up rather nicely. Maybe I just forgot to paint minis after all the recent scenery.

Below you can see a few photos of some of the Sea Dragons in my first ship, the "Sea Dog" by Games of War. This ship is more apropriate for Redbeard's Sea Dogs and I hope I will get to purchase a proper Chinese vessel for this crew soon. I will talk about my entire shipyard in more detail in a future post.

All's Well that Hath Well

As the post title's little alteration of Shakespeare's classic phrase suggests, a well is a sort of must-have item for a medieval/fantasy gaming table. I ordered the Warhammer Well from Forge World along with some other scenery.

Just as with the recent bloomery there is not much to say about the well. It is a nice model that was fun to paint - absolutely recommendable. Personally, I would have loved to see the well itself being removable from the base so that it could be placed on a flagstone area or something. But that's not really a big disadvantage and to most other gamers this will probably not matter - on the contrary, they might be grateful for the additional modelled ground.

In full Bloom

I have finished another piece of scenery for my Gierburg table: the Warhammer Bloomery from Forge World. This review is rather short because there is very little to say other than that this is a fine detailed piece that I like a lot. It's a huge plus for me that this is a rather unconventional piece. You'll see houses from dozens of manufacturers, but a bloomery, that's really something special. And as usual Forge World live up to the quality that they are known for.

My only critique is that in the model I got, a tiny part of the hinge joint of the lever was missing/broken off (the bit left of the lever's anchor which is meant to hold the axis). I only realised this when I wanted to glue the lever on. It was no big deal as I could easily model the piece with Green Stuff, but still it was a bit disappointing and people who are completely unfamiliar with modelling putty would have probably been quite frustrated. I don't believe this to be a common deficiency, yet I found it noteworthy.

Aside from that I am totally happy with the model and I can fully recommend it. It's a great stylish addition to any medieval fantasy/historical gaming table.




And now for some pictures of the finished piece. I used the same foliage and flowers as for the Blue Wolf Inn and the Stable. I hope you like it. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)