Rangers of Shadowdeep

After another long hiatus, with not very much happening hobby-wise, I thought I would put up the few things that I have been working on for my son's Dark Age army and my Rangers of Shadowdeep collection.

Today, I will talk about my Rangers collection. I had already cleaned them up and glued them to their bases last time I spoke about them back in April, but they have moved on a tad since then. I decided to photograph them where they are currently in the painting process so I can keep a journal of how slow I have been in getting them to the table in a fit state to game with.

Here are the first five Rangers as they stand today...

As you can see, the hollows in the lipped bases have been built up a little with wall filler to make a ground surface upon which the Rangers now appear to stand, and then they have been given a matt grey undercoat (courtesy of Halfords - a local UK car parts company). I may begin to use this spray undercoat more in the future as it server two major purposes for me: firstly, it is a lot cheaper than Games Workshop's spray cans and thus saves me some cash (which is always a good thing), and secondly, unlike with black undercoat, I can actually still make out the detail on the miniatures in order to paint them.

Here is the second set of five Rangers...

These ones seem to be a little more dynamic than the first set of five, so added together with the first five, there is a good range of activity going on. I can already see the specialist skills many of them have that they can take to the Shadowdeep.

I know this is going to be a slow burn project, but the idea is that I will kind of follow the story set out in the rulebook and scenarios. These ten Rangers are an elite force known as The Grey Cloaks (yeah, original I know - there are other units and teams which I may flesh out at a later date). Each Ranger has a small band of loyal, specialist companions from whom they can guarantee support when they go adventuring into the Shadowdeep, plus the city has its militia and standing army from which to draw extra volunteers (I will need to think of a paint scheme for the militia's and army units' uniforms, as well as a brand of miniatures from whom I will purchase said figures).

Real life (mostly work and illness) has got in the way of gaming quite a bit this year, and therefore my output both painting/hobbying and playing wise has diminished considerably; as a knock-on, my blogging has suffered too. I am hoping to rectify this situation next year by attempting to put aside a few hours each week, on a regular basis, to get something done. I have so many ideas and unfinished projects that I really do need to crack on with some of them.

Next post will feature some of my youngest son's latest army - he is collecting a Dark Ages "Celtic" army. I have already shown you the Welsh archers in a previous post, but this weekend saw me working on his Irish warriors - a Wargames Atlantic plastic box set that will form the backbone of his army.