My new project is a set of skirmish games based on Robin Hood. Crooked Dice recently released a Robin Hood supplement for their 7TV rules and also has a line of miniatures for the personalities. While I waited for them to arrive, I started brainstorming possible scenarios. I also made a list of what I already had & what I would need.
First on my 'need' list were archery targets. There are several Robin Hood stories which include an archery contest. I found some on Etsy from Majestic Miniatures that looked right to me. I had gotten part of my Stargate from them and was happy with the quality. I saw an item that would really add to the atmosphere of a town scenario, a Prisoner in Stocks. This poor man is being unjustly punished by the Sheriff of Nottingham. The base and posts were one piece and the prisoner and stocks another. It has some nice wood grain that I primed Black, then drybrushed Howard Hues Wood, HH Colonial Khaki, & Ral Partha Gray.
They were having a Black Friday sale so I browsed Majestic's product list and found a Pig Sty. The 3d-printed building came in three pieces: stone section, wooden crossbeam/post, & the roof. Each of the three fence sections and four posts came in two halves. Everything superglued together easily. Then I based it on a piece of styrene and primed it black. Painting the wood sections was the same as the stocks and the stones received two coats of gray. The pigs are a separate piece and are painted as the English heritage breed Gloucester Old Spot.
I already have a few Saxon & Viking buildings and a large church that I could use, but wanted a couple of larger buildings for Nottingham. During Sarissa's Black Friday sale I found some that I really liked and ordered them. It has been a long time since I assembled any mdf buildings, but as with all the Sarissa products I've bought they assembled easily.
The Norman Manor House will be the Sheriff's headquarters. I painted the outside with Vallejo Yellow Ochre, added patches of brown, then drybrushed with several coats of Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The inside uses several old Polly S colors, British Dark Earth and Panzer Red-Brown, wbile the wood is AP Hardened Wood. I still have a fair number of Polly S paints and am trying to use them up.
The Market Hall is painted simiilarly to the manor. The hardest part was painting all the timber framing at the end. I plan on having some market stalls around it
As soon as I saw this Gibbet I wanted it. Who will be the Sheriff of Nottingham's next victim? The wood is painted the same as the stocks, while the cage got a coat of Ral Partha Steel, a coat of Army Painter Gunmetal, and a black wash.
What is coming next in this project? I already have 18 Merry Men about half painted, a dozen character miniatures primed, and some soldiers for the Sheriff are being assembled. More updates to follow.
