The Beard Bunker

Birds of prey have complicated plumage, and that's why I've had an unpainted griffon in my cabinet for more years than I care to remember. At last, I found a solution: take it on a family holiday to Wales, where it's the only miniature I own for hundreds of miles. My family may have been politely baffled, but it got the job done. Crucially, I made the decision early on to just relax about the painting standard. To get each feather painted to a high standard would break the average human brain, which is why even the 'Eavy Metal team never bother to paint realistic markings, and why as their griffons always look subtly wrong to me. I decided I'd rather have looser, sloppier brush work in exchange for real markings. Choosing the right plumage The official Empire Griffon kit is very clearly an eagle, but my griffon is a hand-me-down from Maisey, a remnant of his abortive Wissenland project. This griffon is from 8th edition's  Island of Blood starter set, and it'...

It's been five years since I invested in some tiny resin real estate from Tabletop World (the guard tower , thanks for remembering). Their kits remain a joy to paint. So long as one is familiar with a drybrush, one is in for an easy ride. Today's post is really just a few photos of the finished thing, with a few tips on the most interesting elements of the painting. Using a brown primer The one change I made to the usual "prime black and start drybrushing" method was to prime with TT Combat's Laser Cut Brown spray. Arguably it's too rich and red a brown to serve as a universal undercoat, and one can tone it down by slapping a quick bodge-brushed layer of Vallejo's burnt umber over the top, but overall that brown tone really added some warmth to the stone. I'll definitely repeat this with the next building but it's a bit intense on the wood, so next time I'll hit all the wood areas with the burnt umber before proceeding to the drybrushing. Paint...

There are times when you have the very, very best intentions but get sidetracked. My Empire have very much fitted into this catagory. Way back in 2015 I started this army. Five flamin' years ago. I got a couple of units painted (more on them later) and then got somewhat Dwarf distracted... Well, all that is over now. Averland rides to war and we ride with them!

The Northern Border Princes map: normal style Credit: Charlie/Beard Bunker. Software used: Wonderdraft Would you like a map campaign supplement for Warhammer Fantasy Battle? Set in the Border Princes? For free? Because that's what's in this post. Of course, you could probably adapt these rules to a different game system with relative ease, so if nothing else it might be a source of ideas for those of you keen to play campaigns in 40K or some other system.

Roughly *some* years ago now plans were announced for a new Beard Bunker fantasy campaign to be set in a brand new location, namely the Border Princes. As I already had a ginormous Chaos/Beastmen army I decided to dip my toe into something completely different and got hold of a Wood Elves codex. My Chaos army was a little slap dash painting wise so for these dainty little pixies I decided to try and slow myself down a bit and spend more time on details.  I started out with some Mirkwood Rangers from the Games Workshop Middle Earth range. Yes I know the scale police should probably lock me up for this heinous crime but, to be honest, it doesn't bother me how petite they are compared to the other Elves. As they are a scouting unit, being small and lithe kinda makes sense and they'll usually be out of the way of the main army bulk. Also the sculpts are JUST SO PRETTY I couldn't leave them out of my wood elf army once I'd clapped eyes on them.  I spent a long ...