Some scatter

Some lovely scatter terrain from Etsy - really nice 3D prints, no layer lines, highly recommended: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1550656901

FYI I added the tap to the big barrel with some plastic rod.

There’s a lot of fennel in the set, but I’m happy with how the painting ended up.

This is the complete set painted (less the wooden half barrel which is currently the slop bucket in the market hall gaol).

The seller was very helpful and did a custom order for me if mainly empty baskets as I can add my own veg down the line. For the second set of carrots, I went with parsnips (adding an extra one from greenstuff to mix it up) and got the fennel I cut off the stalks, added another with greenstuff and went with red onions.

And some barrels, again from Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1678320358

Father Shandor

For some reason, after the Van Helsing heavy and Dracula absent sequel Brides of Dracula, Hammer decided to bring back Lee but not Cushing for the second sequel - Dracula Prince of Darkness. They still needed a vampire hunter and so came forth the character of Father Shandor (annoyingly called Sandor in the credits), a wandering gun-toting father that knew exactly what evils exist and what is just paranoid superstition wonderfully brought to life by Andrew Keir.

Well, just as I brought forward the introduction of pagan beliefs on Summerisle for my Silver Bayonet unit, I’ve done a bit of a smaller shift and brought the good father into the available roster. Passable as a Veteran Hunter, Supernatural Investigator, Occultist or Champion of Faith, I’ll see what fits best.

The character went on to live beyond the single cinematic outing and appeared in a regular comic strip as Father Shandor: Demon Stalker, in the House of Hammer magazine and then reprinted and continued in Warrior. Here, banished from his Abbey by a less understanding Abbot, he roamed Eastern Europe armed with the Talisman of Megistus and the Sword of Archimelsus fighting demons and evil, even running into the Brotherhood of Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing in Twins of Evil) before ending up in Hell.

I hadn’t given it much thought until I stumbled across a Celtic Priest from Gripping Beast’s Saga range who bore a more than passing resemblance. I extended his cassock bits, replace both hands and added a suitably heavy sword. I didn’t go full great sword as that was too ungainly for the pose I wanted. My greenstuff isn’t the freshest, but I’m happy with the end result.

Ah, and just have to throw in the ever brilliant Barbara Shelley.

A source of fan cobblestone…

 Right, I’ve found a decent textured wallpaper that has a 28mm passable fan cobblestone pattern (the larger end of acceptable that works for me):

This was a quick paint job and drybrush and is serviceable with a bit of dressing. This is the original finish:

I found more sandstone colours as well with the same pattern. This was from here: https://wallpapersales.co.uk/acatalog/gb6175-mosaic-berkeley-seriano-wallpaper.html - which did samples for £1.20 and what arrived is A2 folded. So I only painted half of an A4ish after folding as supplied. A roll is £13.

Here: https://www.homeflairdecor.co.uk/berkeley-mosaic-arch-texture-pewter-wallpaper-by-seriano-gb-6174-p2982 - is the beige one which has a nice picture that convinced me the texture was good. But is now out of stock.

I think this works. Sadly I don’t think it will work for me as it’s very European and/or fantasy and I’m more Tudor England at the moment and they don’t quite work. But, anyone doing Three Musketeers, WW2, Frostgrave, etc. I highly recommend it. Even the sample size (if you can stretch out the creases) would be enough for a posh square or plaza. Hope it’s of use to someone…

Market Hall WIP 6

The Market Hall gaol gets some straw and a slop bucket. The straw is bristles cut from an old toothbrush, the bucket from a very handy set of market goods from Etsy.

Mainly baskets , barrels and sacks of grain and veg, a couple of empty baskets and half barrels allowed for dressing both the gaol and also the base of the orange trees I did, complete with some oranges that came off the Temu trees.

This is the rest of the set in progress. That’s a lot of fennel…

 

Market Hall - a splash of colour

I needed to paint some colour… and the plan was always to have some decorative bits.

 

Market Hall WIP 5

And timbers and plaster done - well barring a bit of a dry brush and any touch ups. It doesn’t match the older buildings, but then none of those paints exist anymore so I had to try closest matches. But then some variety doesn’t hurt either.

Tiles to do, but for now think I may change tack a bit and do something a bit different. Quite happy with this though, the doors work well.