It's been another hard week in the studio, but that's not a complaint; simply the reason why I've been quiet for a few days. In the last two weeks, as I noted a couple of posts back, the Memsahib and I have taken to a daily swim before work. This means that I don't get my first coffee of the day until 2 hours later than normal, but it does mean that I am getting exercise which is also beneficial as I spend my days hunched over my desk painting, and it goes some way to countering the effects of doing so on my neck and spine, without any high impact which would not be good at all for my arthritis. I'd recommend swimming for any of you who have desk jobs or who spend a lot of time painting figures. It'll make a hell of a difference, and after several of my contemporaries have checked out from planet Earth in the last two years, I'll try anything that might balance the scales in my favour somewhat. The premature loss of my Mum to undiagnosed heart problems i

As I start to overhaul the online presence of Screaming Mob Miniatures and to launch the Satanic Panic sub-brand, I thought I'd share the new S.M.M logos with you...

This week has been a murderous one, work-wise, so imagine my pleasure to be able to sit at a table yesterday and plan my final project for this year, in the form of 1200 Italian Wars figures, using the Venexia range. I am not one for set army lists for the period, but rather I like to have a big cache of models with all the right troop types for the various antagonists in approximately correct numbers. This means a lot of Swiss and Landsknechts but obviously a wedge of generic infantry and cavalry with a few nation specific touches for flavour. I spent 3 hours with my regular opponent Dave yesterday putting together a list, and then 6 hours last night and this morning, turning those notes into lists of castings, with basing instructions and painting guides, before sending them off along with a 4 figure some to be painted. As usual I'll paint the commanders myself as therapy, but also as usual, I am not spending my weekends painting hordes of troops, when I've spent the pr

Just a note to say that I've brought forward the sculpting of the Gnoll cavalry, Hobgoblin hounds and hobgoblin rocket teams. Martin Buck is doing the sculpting and the project has been paid for this morning.  This will allow you to field complete armies in the old school manner from the outset. The Gnolls are of course on boars.  The Hobgoblin rocket team will be a portable weapons platform as befits fast moving, nomadic types, rather than a cumbersome wooden frame.  All of the models have separate heads, so you can have a lot of variety in those armies.

Greetings! Firstly, I'd like to share with you all, the logo for the sub-brand of Screaming Mob Miniatures, that of Satanic Panic Miniatures. All of the 80s retro-themed models will be released under this label, and those of you who remember what the Satanic Panic of the 80s was and it's effect on the gaming hobby, will probably 'dig the vibe'. These models are after all based on the ones your Mother tried to discourage you from buying! Next up is the news that veteran gamer and participation game organiser par excellence, Paul Clarke has taken a shine to the concepts for the Gnolls and has found an place for them in his Oakenheart project, which is something I am really stoked about. Paul's been busy creating a map of Grouen, a major settlement in the city-state of G'Normandy and has asked me to do a thumbnail background write-up to go with it. Paul will be uploading it in the very near future. It's a brilliant way for me to flesh ou

The Great Gnolls were bred from the brightest and largest Goblin bloodlines by the Great Wizard (nobody knows his true name because as everyone knows, true names have power). They were schooled in the ways of men and were taught the values of discipline, and order as well as the arts of metal working and armouring in imitation of the men of the Western Lands, whose proto-chivalric existence was well suited these disciplined folk. Over time the Great Wizard expanded his lands and created the city-state of G'Normandy (well, that’s what you do when you’ve spent a life studying diabolic magicks) and, being less affected by daylight than their more ‘natural’ cousins, the Great Gnolls populated that land, building human style keeps of wood over the networks of tunnels in which they lived. A few human warlords got quite a surprise when they assaulted what they thought was a keep containing a few dozen defenders, only to find that there were hundreds of well trained and well equip

I am easy pleased to be able to share with you, the concept sketches by sculpting supremo Martin Buck for the first of my 'Fantastic Tribes' range which will be produced by 'Screaming Mob Miniatures' under the 'Satanic Panic' label which will bring you ranges of miniatures just like those your parents believed would lead you into demonic black masses. In short, a range of truly retro-looking miniatures for your favourite wargames and RPGs. As I have mentioned before, all of the bodies will be available with every head variant. All the models, with the exception of the missile troops will be open handed, to accept a wide range of weapons. This means that you can have an army in which no two models have to be identical. First up, I present the Great Gnolls Of G'Normandy in all their glory... I really hope that you are as excited as I am about this truly old school range. Personally, I think Martin has truly captured the style and fee

Lordy, it's been a while since I posted, but Roger has been prodding me, and thus I feel it's time to put arthritic and painful hands to the keyboard... I have been doing savagely long days (but of course that means that the coffers are filling and bills are being paid, and so that's not a complaint, just a statement) which is the main reason I've not been blogging. Firstly, I'd like to speak of giant robots and the like... Back in the 80s, a mutual friend of both I and the aforementioned Roger one Darren (now Professor) Ashmore chanced upon the Macross model kits based on the Japanese anime series. Now back in the mid 80s these were not well known as they are today, and the models were 'something else, man'. We bought them, we built them, we bought more and more, and soon wrote a set of rudimentary rules which often saw games being played on 12 x4 boards at Sheffield Wargames society... These were often 1/72 scale models so you can imaging just how