Miniatures pt103 – More monsters
I had painted these two beasties from the HOT range of Alternative Armies some time ago, but had forgotten about them and didn’t post it.
They’re a dragonet and a cadaver monster.


I had painted these two beasties from the HOT range of Alternative Armies some time ago, but had forgotten about them and didn’t post it.
They’re a dragonet and a cadaver monster.


A while ago I had gotten the Orc Horde from the Hordes of Things range of Alternative Armies. I loved these miniatures, which I had painted in a different scheme than my usual deep green orcs. Later on Alternative Armies released some more orcs, in resin sprue sets, further expanding the range. I had my eyes on them and their archers, and eventually got them and, after a (long) paint queue, I eventually painted them. Tried to remember the paint scheme I had used back then, and thankfully I had some notes in my previous blog post. I love how they turned out, and as you can see in the group shot, they fit with the metal miniatures perfectly.









Took me a while to paint this Savage Lizardmen warband using Sampler Packs (1 of each pose) from each type of Savage Lizardmen infantry from the Hordes of Things range of Alternative Armies.
I wasn’t sure about the paint scheme, but since I’ve already painted some blue Lizardmen from Blighthaven, I went with a classic green colour scheme and earth tones altogether. Sandy base with brown sand and brown grass.
These took a while to be painted because I batch painted the entire score of them to ensure that I use the same colours and they look uniform. There are warriors, blades, pole arms, spears, with shields and archers, four of each type.
Ps. Now that I look them all together I can see that there is a double pose of a spearman and I’m missing one pose from the sampler pack. I realised it too late though, maybe I’ll have to order a new pack in my next order.





















Here’s some Naga Swords and Naga Archers from the Alternative Armies Hordes of Things range.
I tried making my own DIY sand using Acrylic Matt Medium, Yellow Ochre Paint and Baking Soda. The texture came out nice but I wasn’t a huge fan of the colour since coverage wasn’t great and I had to apply wash and drybrush on top. Came out a bit darker than I’d like. The texture is right though. Next time I’ll apply it over a light brown undercoat and it should be fine.








Here’s a Cockatrice and a Chimera from Alternative Armies Hordes of Things range that I got a while ago and had them sketch primed waiting to be painted.
I finally finished them, and what I really enjoyed this time around was basing. I got me some packs of sand from the local dollar store, very cheap, in three different colours/shapes. There’s brown sand, gray sand and dark gravel. This means I no longer have to worry about painting, washing and drybrushing my bases. It’s brown paint -> glue -> carefully placed gravel -> sand spots -> grass -> let dry. That’s way faster than before. I always found basing boring (especially after going through the entire mini painting stage) but very important to have a nice looking mini. With this technique I get nice results in a single gluing step.


To expand my wraiths miniatures, here are 8 Wraiths from the Hordes of Things range by Alternative Armies.








Got me some Alternative Armies orcs from the Hordes of Things range to try out. These are a bit smaller and less chunky than my Demonworld orcs, almost like goblins. So I went with a very pale green skin using a white base and the Army Painter Military Shader wash which gives a green tone. I went with a red tones (Karmin, Vermillion, Burnt Sienna) for their clothing and even used lots of bronze for metal parts as they have an Ancient Greece/Rome feel.




Your blog and mini painting have got me investing in 15mm scale miniatures. Do you know of any particular vendor that has decent 15mm soldiers in plate mail? Something that could pass for a knight or paladin? Struggling to find, especially in US. Thanks
I think your best best would be Khurasan miniatures, particularly their Historicals range at 13th-15th century. Just take care to read any information regarding the scale as it’s common for historicals to be “true 15mm” and there’s only a few historical ranges on the Khurasan website that are towards “heroic 15mm aka 1:100 or 18mm”.
For heroic 15mm these spring to mind: https://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/late-fourteenth-century.html
You could also take a look at old glory 15s/20s but I haven’t tried these so I can’t say.
At true 15mm you could take a look at splintered light miniatures player character sets.
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Here are three winged monsters. A Manticore and a Griffon from Alternative Armies Hordes of Things range, and a Forest Dragon from Ral Partha Europe The Dark Eye range. The last one is a 28mm range but this is a small dragon and would fit my 15mm range with no issue.
I painted the Manticore in a quite classic colour scheme. For the Griffon I went with a bald eagle inspiration for the eagle part. For the dragon I went with a Black Dragon colour scheme, by painting it mostly black and washing it with Military Shader to give it a more acid/slimy look.



Here are the 8 Elf Heroes from Alternative Armies Hordes of Things range, which I explained in a previous post how I had a serious case of varnish frosting. Linseed oil seems to have solved the problem. So since it’s dry, they can be used. I’ll wait a few months before proceeding with my solvent based varnish if required.








With the summer becomes increasingly more difficult to focus on the hobby, with it’s heat waves and mental burnout after months of lockdown, I managed to get down and paint a couple miniatures. An Elf Thief with crossbow from Alternative Armies Hordes of the Things range and a Minibits (now Pendraken – odd that they don’t redirect the hyperlink) 15mm Troll (Which is actually a big orc compared to my Demonworld miniatures).
Unfortunately with the new EU customs scheme, I can no longer afford to purchase miniatures from non-EU vendors unless they have applied for the IOSS VAT scheme. To my understanding with this scheme I get to prepay VAT during ordering and the package will pass free through customs.
Thankfully Eureka miniatures has applied for IOSS and there are a few EU based vendors on 15mm that I can try out. Also I picked up a nice lead pile of shame beforehand, in order to be ready for the changes.


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