Lead shouldn't be magnetic, but these two figures somehow emerged from the lead pile and was part of the painting line-up for the Mos Eisley Cantina boxed set I mentioned for #StarWarsDay.
Oola (x2) SW96
Like most of the West End, Oola was packaged in two way: the Jabba's Palace boxed set (40310) as well as in the 3-figure blister labelled as Jabba's Servants (40445).
I still haven't gotten around to the Mos Eisley cantina game I referenced when I painted up that box set, so perhaps I'll attempt to integrate these two into the scenario to introduce all of them into my Death Planet Iota game using Fistful of Lead.
Next: More Death Planet Iota buildings and a my Macrocosm Kickstarter arrived, so they're already based, primed, and pushed to the front of the line.
Project 350: Staying steady at 452 (289 draft/163 scheduled) from 452 posts (289/163) two weeks ago. My work schedule and pending projects are slowing me down.
It happens that Star Wars Day corresponds with my recent trip to Mepacon 50, trying to figure out events to run for Mepacon 51 (complete with survey!), and my attempt to start painting minis after a three month hiatus.
The theme continues as my first project I started in April was the Mos Eisley Cantina boxed set for West End's Star Wars minis line that I happened to pick up for retail at the... Mepacon 49 Auction.
WEG 40309
I've picked up a lot of Star Wars blisters over the years, and more recently, I've been picking up loose figures at the HMGS convention flea markets. I do not remember ever picking up a boxed set... did I mention the cantina set I grabbed from the auction was still in the original shrink wrap.
The set is ten different figures featured in the classic cantina scene from the original Star Wars. We're not building armies here, we're developing characters for your RPG/skirmish game.
And I'm more surprised that I finished them before May 4th.
I've probably previously painted up half this figs. none are perfect, but since I made the last bartender look like Uncle Own, it's nice to have some variety.
The most amusing thing about the boxed set literally fell in my lap when I opened up the shrinkwrap.
The back of the box, including the the product bar code, pictures of the figures of the figures and the logos for both West End Games and Grenadier Miniatures.
Flipping the paper to the other side, West End has provided Star Wars d6 stats for each figure!
All in all, it's an effective boxed set, although the figures were also available in the three-figure blister packs.
Kabe (SW86) and Hem Dazon (SW81)
In the spirit of #StarWarsDay, I plan on using the boxed set for a standalone game... of Galactic Heroes for the Fistful of Lead rules.
Muftak (SW87) Kerru (SW84) and Sivrak (SW85)
Garindan (SW83) and Labria (SW82)
Bartender (SW90), flanked by Cantina Musicians (SW 88 and SW89)
In the Queue - A number of Death Planet Iota buildings to kitbash and get off my painting bench, some more Star Wars figures that weren't part of the boxed, then some Reaper Bones fantasy, and then maybe, just maybe, the Great War Teddy Bears.
Project: 350 - This is my self-actualization that I'll never get around to all the stuff I've stowed away as a draft in the back of Blogspot. My initial goal years ago was to have 350 or fewer blog drafts and long-term scheduled posts.
That number still makes me laugh.
As of this post, I'm currently at 452 posts (289 drafts /163 scheduled posts). That number is up from 451 (284/167) from the last time I reported when I last painted in February.I would have made headway, but I have set up some placeholders for about a dozen ideas for next year's #CharacterCreationChallenge in January. Outside of my weekly Gamma World episodes, there's not much coming off of the scheduled posts through Historicon, and let's be realistic, I'm more likely to run games off on the fly, rather than the saved ideas, but with little prepping necessary for Historicon, there's always hope.
I myself love the Back of Beyond, and must give proper shoutout to Over Open Sights for their work on a command base featuring the man himself, the Mad Baron, Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg!
I'm prepping another session of our Egypt game, wrapping up the prep encounters for Tomb of the Serpent.
The next scenario is a searching for another artifact in a cemetery, and although I have a wide variety of gravestones, to make obvious objective markers, the description puts them as more bases for statues.
Without spending way to much on part of some Reaper Bones packs, I simply perused the dollar store.
I honestly can't remember if they're shot glasses or with votive candle holders, and I know some more drybrushing might generate a better result, but they work.
I've previously painted up some the "Vellori Cult" Troopers from Battle Valor in the style of a somewhat popular movie franchise. I realized during the process that the figures bear a closer resemblance to the Dinkfrom Spaceballs!
Queue some Deco Art Rich Espresso Metallic Paint, and I didn't have to break out glitter....
Now, how they got from the moon of Vega to Death Planet Iota is anyone's guess....
In the Queue - Mummies, Teddy Bears, and a full cantina of characters I'll paint and present collectively.
Project: 350 - Post #CharacterCreationChallenge swelling, up to 451 (284/167) from 439 (283/156). I finally added some holiday filler, a few entries into next year's #CCC.
After a month of fooling around with role-playing characters, I'm still cleaning things off the painting bench.
The Werewolf is from the original Reaper Bones line (77009). It's honestly one of the better Original Bones sculpts, and at $3.99, was quite affordable. It looks like they've transitioned it to the Bones USA grey plastic and the price has doubled.
And after a thorough cleaning, I finally recovered the road cone from the Reaper Modern Accessories pack that I dropped off the painting bench and it vanished.
In fun news, I finally found employment. It's a step up from entry level, I like my coworkers, and I shouldn't have any issues coming forward with Mepacon or Historicon. Being a single guy on a limited budget means my evenings are getting focused on RPG sessions, painting sessions, and working through the back catalog of games, particularly Gnome skirmish, Mousling campaign, and prepping for more Egypt games with the girls.
In the Queue - Teddy Bears (and another "fun with paint colors"), Death Planet Iota characters
I'll be honest, December has been a large pile of suck. A handful of job interviews, a larger pile of rejections for mostly "filler" positions, and a LOT of driving to see the kids up in Albany. There's a moment in those drives where the Spotify playlist just soothes my black heart and fractured soul.
Additional bummers?
No children around this year helping me make my Kjottbollar (Swedish Meathballs) and Limpa and other breads.
Nobody coming over Christmas Eve for dinner (Christmas Eve is always the superior holiday to Christmas Day), then me transporting them back to their Mother after pancakes Christmas.
Christmas Eve: With my sister visiting her in-laws in the Great White North this year, I packed up the food and drove down to Easton to visit my mother. I took care of stuff around the house, ran her errands, including a trip to Wal-Mart I never thought I'd return from, and we ate. Basic. Simple. She enjoyed the food but did NOT have a good day. Sixty years of smoking have caught up like gangbusters.
We didn't exchange gifts, but one arrived when I got home on the perfect day to count it as one.
Palladium had a Kickstarter for a new, expanded edition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. Two years later, eight months late, and a $25 flat shipping charge for the core book, my copy of the rules arrived two days earlier than projected. Trust me, I'm well aware of Palladium as a whole, and their Kickstarter history, so I'm not surprised, just miffed enough. But it's in my hands, and if that's not a Christmas miracle, nothing is.
Early Christmas morning, I recovered from a night of full-strength egg nog, and trekked the three and a half hour drive to see the kids, with a cooler full of bread and meatballs, two stockings, and a single wrapped gift.
I almost miss those early days of K-Mart/Wal-Mart Layaway, paying off the balance, and figuring out the logistics of it all. Most of it nowadays is Ulta, Sephora, and Barnes & Noble, so most of it fits in the stocking.
Paints. I had specifically requested Citadel Seraphim Sepia wash, since I recently had an accident with one of the older, big bottles, and could not find it in stock at the last four stores I frequented. They actually have a Warhammer store within twenty minutes, and every was on stock (and allegedly on sale... although thirty-five years of history might bias be on believing that claim from the girls.
Not one for just getting an $8 jar of paint, they also got me
Zandri Dust - A Desert-y Tomb Kings color. I'm half-tempted to use it on my American Teddy Bears.
Mournfang Brown (Air-brush sized pot) - Brown is my favorite painting color, in all its shades, so I'll try it out. A little miffed the GW guys didn't question them (a simple "Do you have an airbrush machine?") but perhaps that is gatekeeping... from the hobby or the profit margin.
Nihilakh Oxide - A Necron corrosion color. All of the paints I can certainly use. (Michael's has been rubbish this past year, and they are strongly anti-Hobby Lobby, so I can't expect other sources.)
Christmas Playing Cards - When we played our Christmas Game this year, I mentioned my displeasure with the Gilded/Pulp style playing cards we were using for Fistful of Lead. Millie took that to heart and got me "Home for the Holidays" Bicycle deck. Very clean, gently themed... and guaranteed to be used for the Christmas games in the future, and hopefully more.
Glitter Ducks - We certainly had a bit of a duck theme this year (with one more discovered and added t other painting queue, see one of next year's posts for that one. Apparently I missed the Glitter Quacks at Five Below, but Millie did not. They're cute, plentiful, and after discovering Fishing28, I'm certain we can make a Duckin' 28 game. Worst case I'll collaborate with the young lady running a larger scale duck game at HMGS/Historicon.
Oh, and despite me packing a tote-full of games, we kept ourselves busy (and bruised) playing Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizaa repeatedly.
Outside of grabbing another copy of A Place for All My Books for my sister and husband after their return to Canada, I'm satisfied with my haul....
Scratch that, despite the distance and irregularity of my visits, my Dad Christmas List has never changed.
Underwear
Gold Toe Socks
Undershirts
My undershirts have held up, I just got replacement socks last year (and not moment too soon, as the older pairs are disintegrating.
I did not get my underwear (and I wanted a smaller size to boot after all these years! Huzzah!). Time to venture forth into the retail wasteland after our ice storm is finally cleared up for a pack of two.
(They did through a gift card in my stocking for said underwear... I just felt like ranting).
I did need to brave Wal-Mart this past week for large round bases, because Hobby Lobby and Michael's were barren... I grabbed the last one there to boot!
The one displayed on Brigade Games uses a 2 inch base and separate 25mm bases for the loader, spotter, and double pineapples. I did try to ram them into a near 3-inch base... and of course I stuck the plant there first and was too stubborn to move it.
My attempts at a vine slingshot were pretty abysmal, so the closest color I had to a traditional rubber band was Craftsmart Cafe au Lait.
In the Queue - Teddy Bears (and another "fun with paint colors", Death Planet Iota characters, and a possible new convention project.
Project: 350 - We finally officially end 2025 at 466 (282 /184) another decline from 469 (281/188 scheduled posts). I am behind on Gamma World actual plays and a few other things, but with the #CharacterCreationChallenge coming up, we'll see a good number peel off until the next Project 350 update should be 2/6/26.
In my journey to clean off the painting bench, one more figure to finally give my Green German Gnome unit (Die Leinenkugels), the Bier Doktor they deserve!
In the Queue - Teddy Bears, Christmas minis, and looking into new projects for the new year.
Project: 350 - We are almost at the end of 2025 with a backlog of 469 (281 drafts/188 scheduled posts in the queue, a tip down from last week 470 (281/189). Everything January (#CharacterCreationChallenge) and August (#RPGaDay) I stop my obsession with everything cluttering behind the scenes on the blog, just so I can participate in the RPG challenges. I always post some painting and AARs during the month, but the focus is on the 31 challenge posts.
Well within the Christmas season, time for another holiday figure!
Last year I got a stack of Reaper holiday themed minis, and I continue to knock them out. This fella, the Gnome Tinkerer, is definitely in the snow blue holiday blister, but I can't find him anywhere on the Reaper website. (Edit: Good old Tinker the Gnome is listed as one of the options for the 2025 12days of Reaper).
Besides the smattering of figures I've been clearing off the painting bench, there has been some literal junk cluttering up the paint racks.
It's been six weeks since I discovered Bill Making Stuff, and I have been hoarding the bits, pieces, and discount items I've been looking out for. But before that, I was already expanding my town of Carf for Death Planet Iota with cheap plastic food packaging.
There's nothing crazy about this. Packaging for cookies, a drink bottle cap, a cap for a squeezable apple sauce, and a safety guard for a disposable razor for the door.
We continue my end of 2025 clean-up of the painting bench with a random figure.
This is a personal sculpt by friend of the blog, Award Winning GM Mike Lung. This is well over a decade old, and one of two of his early attempts at sculpting and casting in resin(Edit: I found mention of the wizard on Jim Stanton's Stout Smurf blog circa 2017, making resin copies of the wizard and Mike's infamous Tequila Worms). I remember the other figure a bit more, a terrier dog in the same garb, and with the paw-like hands of this one, I kept with a brown/black fur under those robes. The wand is just a toothpick added after the fact.
In the Queue - Teddy Bears, Christmas minis, and looking into new projects for the new year.
Project: 350 - from 470 (281 drafts /189 scheduled) from 470 (279 /191).
In the Gnome Wars universe, there is no great French colonization effort in North America. The aggressive British expansion worldwide was a steady, but brittle crawl across Canada, which forced the independence of O'Canada even before the Americans below. and by the time of the American Uncivil War, the British were more focused on trying to retain British Columbia than its closer possessions that were truly in name only.
Quebec had just naturally developed from a collection of French gnomes travelling to avoid war... or just subject to the whims of The Wanderlust. They had set up shop in region, while a host of other gnomish and animal group settled the Maritime Region.
Largely ignored by the British, the Quebecois simply installed their own French-speaking governor was the British one passed away. It was entirely bloodless.
The current government of Quebec was established in 1850, after a group of angry Union veteran Leprechauns marched up to Quebec on a whim. The "Fed-Up-Ians" managed to sack the capital of Montreal (forcing it to move to the city of Quebec). The new government formed as the Leprechauns marched back, was freer Republic, with a dedication to Liberty and what they considered French culture. Rights were created and bestowed upon everyone with its borders...
... except the Hated Irish.
In the modern years leading up the German-American War, the Quebecois have formally reconnected with their original French brethren, gladly trading for advanced weapons and uniforms, although it's not surprising to see Canadian equipment at Quebec bases, with everything rewritten in French.
Another Reaper coming off the painting bench, although it's not holdiay... but it is a gnome.
Balazar, Iconic Summoner Gnome Sorcerer is a figure I painted up while at Mepacon last month. With a large and medium brush, I was satisfied with the subtle detail (and to be honest, it's barely acceptable for a figure I don't think I'll use).
Having finally seen the original Reaper Pathfinder Metal figure, I continue with the degradation of the molds that transferred over to Reaper Bones. Details, such as a dagger, are marred, and things are so smoothed over along the face that I thought a feature was a tiny brim to Balazar's headpiece, when in the metal version they are very distinct and giant eyebrows.
Just to prove the point, I wasn't able to determine what exactly the head of the gnome's staff was. On the metal figure, it's easily two pieces of metal curving away. There's so much odd flash and trim on the figure, that I originally interpreted it as a gnome-equivalent of a 10-foot pole with a cartoon gloved hand pointing.
Still alternating between random figures on my painting bench, and figures fitting for Christmas... (or Christmas in July).
Today is one of the Gnome Pirates for Gnome Wars from Brigade Games, the useful Undead Gnome Pirate! Somebody needs to retrieve Lucky Lon when he's shot off, spinning like a top, across the board.
As of the time of this posting, the Pirates are not currently available.
Although they were never properly statted out, did you know Brigade Games actually produced Princess Gnomes for a short time?
They were produced a bit after the Americans were released. My only point of reference is that when Maja was around three, we were using the female medic/nun/Florence Nightingale as a stand-in princess for our games.
We'll be integrating them in to the Historicon Mega-Game. Helpless captives, or royalty gone feral, leading their own tribe?
In the Queue - It's beginning to look like Reaper Christmas minis, a few more Gnomes, and continuing to work on the Soviet females... and Tomb of the Serpent filler figures.
Project: 350 - Not tracking during the holiday week cures my fragile ego, as the backlog drops significantly to 470 (279 drafts/191 scheduled) from 482 (283/199) way back on the 21st of November. Probably will follow up right before the holiday post deluge, which is followed up by the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January, one of the months (along with August) that I don't track my productivity.
It's been a good long while since I've added any Gnomish History to the page. As a reminder, please consider all this positive fluff to add to your game, but it's certainly unofficial.
And all this is inspired by a lone Union Gnome figure left in a box that needed to be painted... differently.
Cascadia and the Dual Histories: 1836-1910
The 1830's brought expansion to the Pacific Northwest. At the beginning of the American Uncivil War, there was a well-timed onset of the Gnomish Wanderlust that brought thousands from American soil across the continent to peace, independence, and prosperity in a land called Columbia. Around the same time, the British mercantile expansion finally hit the Canadian side of the Pacific, establishing some largely self-supporting trading posts and an independent navy. As the German-American War drained assets across everyone's empires, the British Columbia politely snubbed their colonial ties from of any remaining tax revenue, and formally gained their own independence from Britain in 1900
Columbia: Its settlers emphasized industry, trade, and exploration, establishing a network of interior river towns and forest outposts. Columbia’s culture reflected a rugged but kind practicality, with towns clustered along rivers and fertile valleys, and its society influenced by a mixture of the Northern and Southern practicalities. Columbia units prior to 1907 should be Northern American Gnomes with a mixture of Midnight Blue and even Black uniforms.
British Columbia: Very quickly, this colony shed it's direct allegiance to, if not the name. Their interior was largely untouched, focusing only on lumber to fuel the shipbuilding industry, to support the powerful fishing concerns, and continue to grow a sizable navy. British Columbian units should use British Marines with a darker red for land forces, and a powder blue for naval marines.
The Columbia Civil War (1905)
Despite peacefully coexisting for decades with the lack of any formal treaties, or even basic acknowledgement of each other, things came to a head in 1905. Tensions around trade routes, both water and land, resource control (particularly a "Gem Rush" around the border), and long competing visions of the region led to the brief but intense Columbia Civil War.
Lasting only 18 months, it largely consisting of skirmishes along contested areas. Neither side wanted to levy an army from an unwilling populace, and general malaise and exhaustion quickly led to the both sides meeting and accomplishing far more than a cease fire or a peace treaty.
The Cascadian Public Safety Force 1907-1910 (present)
Neither side could see any reasons not to benefit from both sides of Greater Columbia. They formed the Cascadian Confederation to secure their borders with crazy Californians and Mormons to the south, Russian aggression from Alaska, and to maintain a steady influence to avoid native incursions from the east.
The Cascadian Confederation adopted the more efficient bureaucratic systems of British Columbia to the confederate towns and regions of Columbia. It's not perfect solution, but neither was fighting nearly identical gnomes in the same area.
Former military units for both sides were reorganized into the Cascadia Public Safety Force (CPSF). Their domestic visibility was highlighted in bright orange uniforms to promote them as Keepers of the Public Trust & Health. While not properly documented, it would not be surprising if the CPSF forces in fortresses along the California border also have an all-black Columbia uniform in their lockers, just in case their forces are required to cross the border.
I bemoan the general decline at Michael's. Everything I normally go there for is out of stock, no longer carried, or expensive as hell. I begrudgingly go down another block to Hobby Lobby (six days a week). In one of my forays this fall, I fell upon this lovable guys as Christmas ornaments (and 50% off). The kids approve and now I just need to make rules for them... just enough energy and apathy at the same time.
These last few weeks of 2025 are a scramble to just get out as much miscellaneous stuff as possible. While there are a bunch of Christmas figures and loose gnomes desiring my attention, the junk hoarder in me has had two containers balancing precariously on the top rack of my paint, and it was fine time to get another building for the town of Carf for Death Planet Iota.
Jayne and a Killer Rabbit.
Just a few layers of drybrushing, and some metal and rust around the crinkle zones.
I'm slightly proud of myself, as the radar/tech pieces on top are part of the miscellaneous pile of stuff I grabbed at the Mepacon auction. That other pieces came from a bag of pieces/debris I snagged up cheaply from Historicon a few years back.
Last month I had begun the process of doing more than just futilely straightening up the painting bench and shelves: A complete reorganization of the paints and bits that are strewn here and there. I'll eventually post about the new arrangement and it's efficiency, but one of the bits I uncovered was a wind-up key, something you would use for a wind-up toy.
And the the last piece of my Swiss Park Ranger Bicycle Tank that I "finished" back in 2010.
First ever picture with the wind-up key (and new lower gun)
Let's be honest, the Eureka Miniatures Hartlebepanzerhochrad has always been the default Bicycle Tank for Gnome Wars. I had painted mine up for the Swiss Park Rangers so they had some vehicle just in case some of the park visitors were a bit stubborn.
I first mention the completed model in October 2010, but the first picture of it doesn't appear until I finally finished the entire Swiss Park Ranger unit back in July, 2011!
Of course, after 15 years and countless conventions, the Bicycle Tank has seen better days. I had removed the Picklehaube from the original model, of course, but over the years I lost the lower gun. Every part I hard was either way too big or way to thin, so I simply clipped off some of the metal guard of a ruined paint brush. Not pretty at all, but better than the hole.
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