After a brief hiatus, the Osprey Games hobby update is back. Lets see what the team have been up to recently!

Phil Smith - Head of Osprey Games

Following on from the previous batch of three cavalry, I have just finished the final two in this little unit of five. As the 20-day gap between the batches shows, I really don't like painting cavalry. Halfway through painting these last two, I got frustrated and built, based, and primed ten light infantrymen to accompany The Nameless Army (more on those later). Still, the horsemen are done now, and I can't see myself adding any more any time soon. Well... maybe a commander...

Trooper (L) and Officer (R)

Here, then, are the final mounted trooper and the officer for the unit. The officer has the now-familiar shoulderpad on his right arm. In the absence of sufficient 'reins-holding' arms (per my previous post about the cavalry kit), the left arms are those I snagged from the other kits. None of the options I had came even vaguely close to looking like they were holding the reins, so this was the pick of a poor bunch. I'm not entirely displeased with them, however - again, I think happiness at having completed this unit is trumping my usual fussiness!

Paint-wise, I opted for two dark brown horses to accompany the various greys I'd done previously. Nothing special, really - dark socks/stockings on one, and a grey/white on the other.

Much as I moan about cavalry, I have to admit that they do look pretty impressive when all is said and done.

Right. Enough horse nonsense... back to the footsloggers! While painting may have paused, productivity did not, and I put this bunch together over a lazy Sunday.

The bodies and arms are from Fireforge's Folk Rabble kit, while the helmets and shields are spares from the various other kits in the range. While the clothing shows slight variation, the helmets are distinct and really tie the unit together (plus, I'll likely give them a more uniform paintjob). The one exception is the unit's officer, who was built entirely from spare parts from the more military-looking kits. He does seem a good bit taller than the rabble he leads, which I kind of like. Unlike the existing officers, he did not get a shoulderpad - I figured that, amongst the light infantry, simply having the armour of a regular infantryman was enough distinction.

25 models painted, 10 more built... and I'm not sick of painting them yet!

Christopher Cook - Games Editorial Assistant

 

This figure was painted as a leader (or possibly dismounted king?) for my C13/14th medieval fantasy army. It’s still not quite finished, the charge needs to be added to the shield on the figure’s back, as well as the snow texture/flock added to the base so that it matches the rest of the army. However, due to the lock down I have run out and been unable to resupply! The figure is by Footsore Miniatures.

Pete Ward - Games Marketer

 

After umming and aah-ing over it for many, many months, and watching various videos about the game (such as this review from No Pun Included and these battle reports from Guerrilla Miniature Games and Little Wars TV) I finally bit the bullet and bought my first box of Star Wars: Legion figures - some Fleet Troopers ordered online fromThirsty Meeples, our beloved board game café in Oxford. I started with this expansion box rather than the core set as I know there is no way I'll be playing it any time soon, and also because after everything I've read and watched about the game I know that I'll need the expansions anyway. If for whatever reason I decide not to go for the core set, I can at least have a nice little Star Wars scene set up somewhere to look at.

These first figures were a lot of fun to paint - they are larger than 28mm but I found that the increased size made painting them easier, even if it does mean I won't be able to use them alongside my other sci-fi miniatures. As you can see from the background there, I also bought a second expansion, some Wookies, who are an absolute doddle to paint as you can drybrush 80% of the model!

 

I've also been trying out The Quiet Year, an RPG recently reviewed by Shut Up and Sit Down. I'm always on the lookout for games that my wife will be interested in playing, and this one definitely fit the bill. We've played it a few times now, creating strange maps and even stranger stories to go with them. In this case, our small community faced threats from pirates and sea-monsters, but for some reason our attention turned to putting a stop to the damn kids who were using the abandoned lighthouse for their all-night raves. 

 

What have you been up to? Let us know in the comments below!