Terrain pieces and recycling

This will be a slightly odd post, all I'll be posting has been seen on the blog before, but very long ago and in different shape. 

This is a collection of terrain pieces or tabletop accessories that I put together with previously discarded items or broken models. As some might remember, I moved back to Italy last summer and, although the move was fairly smooth, there were some casualties.

Whatever could be salvaged in some way was repurposed and turned into terrain pieces. I also have more old banners from our very early days as hobbyists that became baggage train decors and a few very very old fences that my brother built in the early 90s that after laying around and broken for over thirty years, were finally restored and painted, the principle being that anything that involved some work should not be wasted and turned into tabletop usable items.

Following you can see the eclectic mix of pieces that I repaired and painted for a whole different set of settings and games.

One of the casualties of the move, one of my beloved three winter Panzer IVs. The turret was caved in, it lost a few roadwheels and the tracks were broken in a couple spots, it was definitely not fixable, so I decided to put a ton of snow on it and use it as a piece of terrain in a winter setting of WWII.

 

These are the fences that IlVJ built circa 1993, there were actually more, but after traveling through different boxes, shelves and cabinets, this is what I could salvage. I based them and gave them a quick paintjob and they are ready for the table.

These are the banners from the first incarnation of my dwarf army, built between 1989 and the end of the 90s. Around 2000 I decided to strip them all down and repaint them (I still have 2 units and a catapult to complete). These were the banners that proudly flew over some of the units, now they will serve as a reminder of the old glories of Warhammer third edition on the background of future battles.

This was a 3D printed Daedalus industrial mech that someone from my Canadian gaming group printed for me for a campaign, its loading arm and a leg snapped during the shipping, it now sits as a wreck on the field of battle.

All these were completed on the side, while painting other stuff, so just came along as I was doing something else.

I enjoy giving a second life to little bits and stuff that would otherwise end up in the garbage, with a bit of work anything can be reused and serve a new purpose.

Dragonlance, Huma on Silver Dragon

 This model is part of a trade that IlVJ did with one of his co-workers years ago.

 It is a quite old Ral Partha model that we got already painted and I just wanted to touch it up, unfortunately one of the wings broke and it sat there waiting for almost fifteen years. I finally decided to repair and restore it.

I touched up the dragon itself and repainted the rider, the famous Huma Dragonbane from the Dragonlance saga. 

I also mounted it on a base that I decorated with rocks. I'm pretty pleased with the result, it turned out to be way more work than expected, but it was worth the effort.

Huma Dragonbane on Silver Dragon. 25mm, Ral Partha, refurbished by Ginzio

Terrain pieces

 This has been a slightly unproductive week, I've been busy with other stuff and I got stuck on restoring a model that is almost done and you will see next week that took quite a bit of time.

What I have this week is a set of hedges that come form some boardgame, I can't remember which (maybe Battlemasters?). They are basically 2D pieces with some shallow details, it took literally no time to finish them, not the greatest, but they are decent enough and, as per my usual policy, anything with some paint on is worth of a gaming table, so they'll add to the terrain collection which is never big enough.

The second thing I'm posting is an old banner that used to be IlVJ's wood elf army standard. When he stripped that army, we saved it, mostly out of a nostalgic feel and now, after many years, I had the idea to put it on a base with some rocks and use it in a baggage train setup (if we'll ever use one in a game).

Following this I am currently doing the same with the banners from the first incarnation of my dwarf army, it is a small thing, but brings my memory back to 30+ years ago when we were young and had that kind of enthusiasm that gets lost (or better changes) over the years.

Field hedges. 28mm, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio.

Wood elf army standard. 28mm, built and painted by IlVJ in the mid 90s

Orcs get command

 I managed to finish three more stands of Tom Meyer's orcs, two of which are command stands with very peculiar standards.

Three regular orcs. 25mm, Ral Partha, painted by Ginzio

Command groups with Motorhead standards. 25mm, Ral Partha, painted by Ginzio

The unit so far, at the moment it is 33 models strong, I still have 15 or 16 to paint, so I should be anle to field 2 units of 24 or one giant unit of 48-49 orcs.

More of Tom Meyer's orcs

 I managed to finish some more of Tom Meyer's orc unit, I usually work on these as a side project, but I recently decided to focus on them a bit to move the unit along, this is where I got so far.

I still have about 30 to paint, I guess it will take me a few more weeks to finish them up, the unit should look pretty spectacular once done.

Orc infantry. The shields without the central spike have an "Ace of spades" motif, I plan to use it on the banners as well. 25mm, Tal Partha, painted by Ginzio

Japanese terrain

 This week I have three small pieces of Japanese themed terrain.

They were given to me by IlVJ who got them cheaply in Japan, they are rubbery plastic pre painted collectibles that are very popular there.

I spray painted them with a clear varnish, then gave them an oil wash and finally drybrushed them. The result is pretty good and after basing they look good on the tabletop.

I plan to use them with my Samurai in 1/72 scale, or with the few 28mm Rpg pieces I have, I'm not too worried about the scale, on the table they will just do.

Temple and stone lanters. unknown scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

Bretonnian kinghts unit complete

 I finally managed to complete the unit I've been working on (with a lot of distractions) recently.

As seen in the previous posts, it is a unit of "Noblesse d'epée", nobility of the sword, one of the more basic types of knights in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd edition Armies book.

They are a mix of Ral Partha models with a couple of historical crusaders from an unknown manufacturer that I added to bulk up the unit.

Noblesse d'epée. 28mm, Ral Partha, painted by Ginzio

The completed unit, ready to charge into combat.

More slow progress

 The unit is slowly coming along, I hope to finish it this week, for now this is one more knight I completed, with the remaining three well on their way to be done.

There is also a partial unit picture.

Noblesse d'epèe, Bretonnian knight. 28mm, Ral Partha, painted by Ginzio

Unit of Noblesse d'epèe so far, the last three members of the unit should be completed soon.

Slow progress

 This week I only have a single knight for the unit I posted last week.

There are another 4 on the go, one being painted by my fiancée, the other three I just started, but I was then distracted by other stuff and some real life events.

This one is the standard bearer, same model as one of the previous post, but with an added flag to lead the unit into charges.

Noblesse d'epèe standard bearer, Bretonnian knight. 25mm, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

New unit on the go

 This week we have a small and late post, I'm working on a new unit, a small cavalry unit made up of old Ral Partha knights with the addition of a couple of extra pieces that I got in a trade, they are crusader like knights of some unknown manufacturers, but they fit with the Ral Partha ones.

The unit will be used in my Warhammer Bretonnian army 3rd edition "Noblesse d'epèe", basic human knights. There are a total of eight models in the unit, but I might be able to add a couple of older Grenadier models that should fit in as well.

These are the first three I completed so far, they are surprisingly long to finish, so I'm taking my time.

Noblesse d'epèe, Bretonnian knights. 25mm, Ral Partha and unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio