gobert wrote:


In any case the new evil cat is looking good, the claws sound like they’ll be a challenge! Will your toothbrush bristle technique work?

Well I wasn't going to go for it but my creative director liked your suggestion so I went ahead and started snipping the toothbrush.

I'll trim his class when the greenstuff hardens up.

I forgot to chime in earlier about how wonderfully Smirking turned out so here it is now! He turned out wonderfully.

Keep it up!

Thanks AT, I'm hoping to add some more friendly green faces to the lineup soon.

In the meantime....

The Mog has been to the nail bar and had a coat of primer. All ready to paint.

Looking sweet

Thanks mate.

And of course new sculpts are beginning hot on Mog's tail.

This little fella is going to a miniature version of my eldest son. He's shown me the pose and the costume he wants.

And then this guy

Has been requested at the behest of my younger son (who will get his own miniature version in due course). Introducing Maser the Eraser.

Nice work. The claws turned out pretty good!

Very fun and inspiring work, Crowe.

Your sculpting capabilities seemed like a natural skillset right from the start of this thread.

Will Maser the Eraser get some kind of creative paint job or will it just remain as-is? I can't think of much one would be able to do with a model that is intended to literally portray an eraser.

Thanks frag I've been pleasantly surprised myself but I am learning lots with all this practice.

He draws Maser as a two-tone eraser with the blue on the bottom and pink at the top. So that's colour scheme sorted. For basing I might take a bit of squared paper out of one of his old school jotters and maybe even have him doodle in pencil on it and half rub it out.

Progress continues on the boy. I've had to do more more mid-sculpt snipping and bending of wires on this one than any other to date and I can see that the head is still too big! Good bulk of the body complete now though. Just hands feet and head to do now.

Mogs claws came out well, sorry for unduly influencing your process! . I love the idea of Masers base being a notebook with a half rubbed out drawing, your plog continues to amaze! The Boy looks cool, is he tipping his hat?

Oh yes, gobert he tips the hat. The much too large hat as it turns out.



I've shrunk the head down and sculpted the face (Yikes that was hard!) and then I tried the old hat on top but it was like a Stetson. So he'll need a new hat next. And hands and feet of course.

Nicely done. Good cloth folds going on there.

Gotta admit.. the shirt and pants are looking pretty on point.
I've never sculpted an entire body, yet this thread is steadily becoming a source of inspiration.

Nice job, he’ll be looking very dapper with the hat! Hands and feet would be good too!

Thanks for the comments folks. It's very encouraging.
Update for tonight.


A new wireframe for my next mini. This will be a miniature of my younger son. He likes to do his happy dance.

And I like to bulk out my sculpts with tissue paper and PVA.

In other news, my first casts of Sniffy and Cheesy came out like this.

I gave them a quick brown wash to help see some of the detail but as you can see I had some issues with bubbling. Both noses were lost to big fat bubbles as well as Cheesy's pepper mill and a bit of his hat.

So I did a bit of fixing on the mould and had another go.

Much better noses this time and more pepper mill though there's still a big bubble on the bottom of it. Also Sniffy's wrench has bubble issues and their feet are a bit hit and miss. And Cheesy's hat this time around is even worse.

So there you go. Kinda bubbly, not great but pretty easy fixed I suppose. I know people use pressure chamber's to reduce bubbles down but I'm not about to get into all of that. Just yet.

Update


Maser is done, apparently. No arms no mouth. Thats just the way he's drawn so that's it got sculpting on this guy.

My boys are coming on well too.

First one done and progress on the second.

When casting at home the process becomes more of an art. I'd recommend looking for a silicone gum, fast curing mass that is mixed and applied much like a greenstuff - You measure out equal amounts of colored "plasticine", mix them by kneading and then wrap them around one part of sculpture, the one with more intricate or weak detail. After it hardens You spray or smother everything with lubricant such as vaseline and then put into a a box to pour liquid mold onto them. This makes separation of mould halves easier, preventing damage. Plus - You can control how and where mold will separate, not always "at the waterline".

With pressure (or vacuum) casting - it is a beast in and of itself. Judging by Your British flag icon, I'd recommend getting in touch with some local sculptors and casters. Midlam Miniatures, Oathsworn Miniatures, Bad Squiddo Games - they all have experience in making small things (mostly in metal, though) and are quite friendly.

Wow, your boys get toys and miniatures of themselves from dad as well.

CB

Thanks for the advice Wirecat. I could really benefit from that kind of expertise and just making some connections in the industry would be a significant step forward. Not sure I'm quite ready to take the plunge just yet. A bit more practice and development for now until I really feel I have something of a high enough standard to offer.

It's a bit tricky though, I'm in Northern Ireland so all those UK folks and the events and communities tend to be in GB just that bit further away. Certainly I could get in contact by email and phone though.

The sculpt looks great.

Unfortunately I just started with making molds myself, so I might not be able to give the best advice
I've had great success with one part molds and these might work for you too, depending on the sculpt. Otherwise I think you need some kind of mold release for the entire bottom (first poured) half. Silicone sticks to itself like crazy, so much so that you could pour the cast in multiple sessions and you would not see a line for each layer.

I hope this helps at least a little bit, but as always, practice makes perfect. It's all a learning curve

Thanks Pneumo, my silicone moulding experiments continue with varying success but they're not all related to Svulpting for the kids so I havnt been recording those. Mostly recasting useful things like wheels and simple miniatures just to experiment with casting. Not to sell recasts of course but to see what works and get better at it for such a time as my own sculpts are ready for casting. I'm planning on a run of grots first.

Anyway, update on boy number 2

All sculpted and ready for paint. Not so convinced with that face but it'll have to do. Need practice at human faces, badly.

Its a solid, readible face, maybe a little exaggerated looking, but not outside the realm of say, characture exaggeration. I imagine trying to work from a kid's face where the proportions are a bit off compared to adults didn't help. Looks good!

Yeah, it's an expressive face, and that's good for miniatures! Proportions are tricky at this size i imagine, and i think you're doing well with them.

Thanks folks. I remain to be convinced on that one face though. I'll give it some paint and see if it's redeemable. If not I may snip it off and re-do it. He looks like a crazy old man, not my super cutie six-year-old. Anyway...

Here's another couple of minis to add to our box of completed creations tonight.

Nobber the Robber out of jail and up to no good.


And Maser the Eraser ready to rub out your doodles. What a rascal!

Nober and Maser are looking good all painted up and ready for gaming! I think the face on your youngests representative looks good, but I can kinda see the old man vibe. Paint might bring it back to cutie 6-year old, or maybe it could be reused as a wizard alter ego? Seems a shame to let a perfectly good head go to waste

Nice one Crowe!

 theCrowe wrote:
It's a bit tricky though, I'm in Northern Ireland so all those UK folks and the events and communities tend to be in GB just that bit further away. Certainly I could get in contact by email and phone though.

I hear ya.

Faces are tricky if you're just starting to figure them out. If you're looking to improve, first place I'd point to is Proko on youtube - an art instruction channel with a ridiculous amount of professional and expert knowledge. His first few videos (and a few others later on) involve the construction of the head. This one goes into child proportions a bit, at 16:20.

https://youtu.be/JC2ZppKHCqU

'Loomis' is Andrew Loomis, illustrator and art teacher from the early 20thC, and his method is from his book 'Figure Drawing For All It's Worth'. Often highly recommended to beginners. This site has pdfs from when his books were OOP. Looks like it's still functional, though I'd prompt you to buy the book if you find it useful. NSFW links.

https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/
https://titanbooks.com/5205-figure-drawing-for-all-its-worth/

Thanks vermis. Nice to find a local lad on Dakka. I'm in the Costa Del Carrick (for my sins). I had a digital flick through the Loomis figure drawing title and while I've never made a real attempt at drawing properly proportioned people (just grot cartoons!) I can clearly see the application to sculpting. I'll definitely look into those proportions a bit more closely when doing human figure in the future. Though I think sometimes my paperclip wire dictates the shapes I end up with at this scale. I need slightly thinner armature wire I think.
The drawing faces video was very interesting. Though at 28mm scale I'd need a magnifying light and much finer tools to really make a serious attempt at it. But hey, maybe I've practiced at this level for long enough and I need to invest in improvement. I do all my hobbying on the fly though, on my lunch breaks in work or squeezed in when I can between wrangling the kids. I havnt had a permanent hobby desk set up for years let alone a lamp to paint by!

Anyway, enough of my sad sad stories. More completed minis!

One Evil Mog. I'll maybe make his little more more pinky pink.


And one happy child.

Thanks gobert. He's next up in the painting que so I hope you're right. If I have to redo the head I'm sure I'll use that noggin for something sometime.

And that's both boys painted. Don't think I really nailed it with the faces but the lads are pleased so I'm just going to leave it be.
As far as moulding and casting goes I've had mixed results but I'm not giving up yet. Snipped Mallow to bits and drowned him in a silicone bath. So hopefully we'll be able to cast a whole bag of marshmallows soon. I'll paint some pink, I'll paint some white. If I smell burning I'll know the boys are trying to toast them over a camp fire... It'll be great craic.

I'm also going to do some big group shots. Might even get the real camera out for those, so that'll be fun.

No wonder your lads are pleased, they look great in miniature! And yes please, crack out the real camera for some glamour and group shots!

theCrowe wrote:
Thanks vermis. Nice to find a local lad on Dakka. I'm in the Costa Del Carrick (for my sins).

Tyrone among the bushes.

Though at 28mm scale I'd need a magnifying light and much finer tools to really make a serious attempt at it. But hey, maybe I've practiced at this level for long enough and I need to invest in improvement. I do all my hobbying on the fly though, on my lunch breaks in work or squeezed in when I can between wrangling the kids. I havnt had a permanent hobby desk set up for years let alone a lamp to paint by!

Fair enough. I can't help much with time but I think the outlay can be pretty minimal. For me the most essential equipment is a £9 Ikea desk lamp and a metal tool that I do 95% of my sculpting with. In my case lighting trumps magnification, though I can't see through others' eyes and magnifying lights are tempting!

theCrowe wrote:the lads are pleased

That's the important bit. They do look good, painted up.

As promised I got out the big camera.

This is the first of the shots. The whole shebang. (Minus the butterfly!)

AWESOME!!! The whole gang looks fantastic! Great sculpting and painting

So here's the rest of the album.

Hedgee's Heroes unite for a family photo. Sniffy and Cheesy are along for the action as they're a bit of a cross-over.


They also feature in Super-Cat stories along with the Evil Mog.

Then of course we can't forget these guys.

R-mour Dog and his faithful doggie henchmen.

Meanwhile over in Squreville...

Nop and Dop are taking Nober back to jail.

And over in the Monster's castle

The boys are taking on the Monster, his witchy friend and their spooks.

Then the only question that remains is what do a slug a marshmallow and an eraser have in common?

They all spark the creative story writing imagination of a six year old.

I think maybe I'm done here folks. Feeling a bit burned out on this project so I'll maybe take a break for a bit and focus on something new. No doubt I'll be back with the odd new character from these lads but for now it feels like a good time to take a breather.

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement. We've all enjoyed your enthusiasm and support for our funny little world of Hedgee's Heroes. A big thanks from all of us.

No, thank you guys for the fun ideas and great execution! It’s been a fun journey and the gang all look fantastic together. I for one will keep my eyes open for whatever is to come next!

That's some body of work. Well done Crowee. Now take it easy.

Thank You for the art, fun and group shots, the Crowe. Your creations are amazing and inspiring!

A great conclusion to a great project. I hope you and your family have lots of fun with the models in the coming years.

Thanks guys. And thanks for all the sculpting knowledge and pointers along the way. I'll definitely be applying all that I've learned here in future projects hopefully some time soon. I want to get better at this and really make some professional looking products in the future.

Great stuff Crowe.

CB

 theCrowe wrote:

I think sometimes my paperclip wire dictates the shapes I end up with at this scale. I need slightly thinner armature wire I think.

The drawing faces video was very interesting. Though at 28mm scale I'd need a magnifying light and much finer tools to really make a serious attempt at it. But hey, maybe I've practiced at this level for long enough and I need to invest in improvement. I do all my hobbying on the fly though, on my lunch breaks in work or squeezed in when I can between wrangling the kids. I haven't had a permanent hobby desk set up for years let alone a lamp to paint by!

Floral wire is a thinner grade that you can get in relatively decent quantity for relatively cheap.

Also, I bought a magnifying light off amazon for what seemed reasonable. My set up in the garage was worth every minute of hauling out and sorting through old boxes, bins, bikes, and other bull- .

Hi everyone. I was drawing some pictures for The Grotlife Sketchbook- see my drawings of happy Orks and Grots when this happened.


Pirate Captain Nedgee


And Mystical Magical Wedgee.

I just thought you might get a kick out of seeing these so I thought I'd post them here as they don't really fit in the Grotlife zone. I haven't any plans to draw more of the Hedgees Heroes but you never know...

In a surprise return to Sculpting for the kids I give you...


Square Dog! And a resin cast I made of Mallow. This one will be a white marshmallow called Marshy.

A nice theCrowe bonus! Square dog looks cool, he also looks to be playing the flute!

 gobert wrote:
A nice theCrowe bonus! Square dog looks cool, he also looks to be playing the flute!

Or doing these classic movie Hawaiian dance moves.

Adventure time!

Wirecat wrote:

 gobert wrote:
A nice theCrowe bonus! Square dog looks cool, he also looks to be playing the flute!

Or doing these classic movie Hawaiian dance moves.

Adventure time!

yeah, that too!

Well, having spent most of the morning filing little blocks of milliput I think it's safe to say that I'm back on the wagon of sculpting for the kids.


Watch this space for more fun "square" (not a single one of them has been an actual square) characters.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And also, These fellas got a paintup.


Mr Marshy has seen some action already and lost an arm. I'll have to replace that at some point. We can't find it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Almost forgot,

Introducing Andy the Ant.

This is one of the best projects on this site. It just is.

I love andy's expression, it's neat what you can get across with just a mouth and eyes! (and antennae)

Thanks AT. I'm glad it makes other people smile too.

The wee man is a bit obsessed with elephants and has been asking me to make him one for some time. So...

Here I go.

Andy the Ant is quite small and detailed for his size.

Ms. Captain Brown also has decided that she really wants to paint and elephant as well. Must be something on the TV.

Cheers,

CB

Oooh! An Elephant, from the bases it looks like it’ll be about Ogre sized?

What will the semi-circle bits be? They kinda look like a paracetamol tablet to me at the moment! I’m guessing sweety based given the kids friendliness of this plog!

That pic of Mr Marshy introducing Andy is gold! Really excited to see the elephant developing.

Thanks everyone. Sculpts for smiles is the name of the game over on Sculpting for the kids. Sculpting for all your inner kids too.

Gobert you'll have to wait and see what the semi circles become. For now all I can tell you is I've magnetised them together to form two circles which can be interchanged as the story requires.

Elephant progress today.

The wire I got 0.8mm tin is just so much softer than I'm used to. It's easy to shape but doesn't hold steady under any pressure at all. So I started in with the milliput forming the general body shape and the head.

But I found the soft wire did really help to allow me to position the trunk and head as I wanted it when I had the milliput on. So then I let that harden up so I wouldn't have to be too careful of the ears etc when setting the pose for the legs.

Once that was set I got to work again.

Legs built and pose set he's ready for whatever comes next.

Honestly I don't really know. I'll maybe have at him with a file and try to smooth out some of the bumps and get him a little more into shape. I'm hoping not to have to use an unholy amount of greenstuff and time on this fella. But honestly there may be no other way.

For now he's the Yellowphant!

Wow! Elephant is so cool already, good luck not using up loads of GS on him. Colour me intrigued at the interchangeable semi circle Pieces!

Certainly looks like an elephant.

Cheers,

CB

No elephant progress, just this.


Having too much fun in Squareville.
Captain Circle, Square Chief and Super Square.

I vote Mr. Mustaches. They add authority and trustworthiness. Neat trio, theCrowe!

Yet more characterful shapes! Your creative director is doing a good job here. Did you say the semi circles are magnetised?

Thanks guys. Glad you're into the shapes be use there seems no end in sight right now. But first...
Elephant progress. Got tusks, got eyes, got that articulate bit at the end of the trunk

and that's it folks. The wee man says its done. No more details, not even toenails. He wants it painted now! So that's fine by me.

On to the other stuff.

Super Square and his sidekick (an alien from the planet circle) known as Captain Circle. What a pair of good lookin heroes!

But wait, who's this?

It's a crazy killer robot! With a laser arm and a deadly slasher claw!

Here's the rear view of both circular minis.

And yes, they both come apart and are magnetised to be interchangeable because...

As the story goes, the evil Triangle Alien (we'll meet him soon) hacked into the robot and sent him berserk. In the ensuing battle both Captain Circle and the robot got sliced in half and the mad roboticist Doc Zok determined that one half of his robot was no longer under the control of the Triangle Code and could be used to save Captain Circle's life. But the evil Triangle Alien made off with the other half of Captain Circle and fused it to the robot half he still controlled to create the evil Super Villain cyborg, Robo-Disk.


Mad fun with magnets! Love it.

Looking good theCrowe! I think the circle aliens are my new favourites!

Your ideas and the execution are just amazing!

gobert wrote:Looking good theCrowe! I think the circle aliens are my new favourites!

Thanks gobert. Mine too!

Viterbi wrote:Your ideas and the execution are just amazing!

Can't take credit for the ideas. My kids are the inspired ones. I'll claim credit for the execution though. Thanks very much. You're very kind.

Super excited to show what I've been working on tonight! Squareville just got a whole lot more colourful.


The Square Cops got a nice shiny new Square Chief. Look at Square Dog, he's delighted. The lads are sneaking off before they get any more assignments from the boss.

Then next up and fully painted we have the brand new heroes of geometry...

Super Square and Captain Circle. Proper comic book colours for these fellas.

And of course every hero story needs its villains.

Nober the Robber, the Rampaging Robot and the Triangle Alien could team up any time for an all action show down. I totally forgot to take a WIP shot of the little triangle guy but you get the idea by now. Milliput triangle, wire and greenstuff legs and arms, greenstuff facial features. It's the miniature sculpting equivalent of a stickman.

And then of course there's this part of the plan.

The old slice and swap to create the evil Super Villain Robo-Disk and the upgraded Cyborg version of Captain Circle! Honestly had so much fun with colour scheme and sculpting to make the boy's bonkers plan come together.

And of course what project post would be complete without the obligatory group shot?


Thanks for looking folks. Always a few more things to share on Sculpting for the Kids. Painted Elephant soon and I'll have to get Andy the Ant painted up too.

Nice work theCrowe.

However, I am not going to show this to Ms. Captain Brown or she will demand I made some.

Cheers,

CB

Amazing as always, but it’s the little details that I love. Like how Captain Circles eye and mouth on his left are slightly grumpy/evil so he fits in with Super Villain Robo-disk. Oh and it’s good to see that the Chief is getting in on Movember!

Thanks guys.

Quick update for today.

One elephant and one ant painted as instructed. Classic blue cartoon elephant and a cool rainbow burst for Andy.

Your lad was right, elephant was done, he looks good all in blue. Not as awesome as Andy the rainbow ant! Awesome sauce!

Absolutely brilliant, just an inspiration!

Rainbow Andy is gorgeous and of course a children's elephant has to be blue Love the ears on him, pink contrasts nicely with the blue.

Cute theCrowe.

Cheers,

CB

Rainbow ant! How could anyone say no to that

Thanks everyone. Glad the cute and the kiddie friendly still has a place in the gaming world. It just makes the grimdark all the grimmer and darker afterall.

Anyway. I'm back at it with another order from the boss baby.


Why have only one fire spook when your dad can make loads of fire spooks? More kitchen roll, anti-chip paint and greenstuff to come for these soon.

A bit of putty later.



Now all I need is a good tutorial for how to paint fire.

Man, they look cool!

I’m afraid I can’t claim the recipe as my own, and it takes a long time compared to some. The recipe is from Darren Latham’s YouTube Flames tutorial. I’ve written up the recipe in the spoiler
I did the flames on Pious Vorne this way and then I adapted it for the green flames the Chaos Cultist Firebrand. Like I say, it takes a while, but I’ve been really happy with the results

Thanks gobert, though that sounds a few stages beyond my painting chops. I'm not nearly as dedicated a painter as you. I'm a bit more of a base, wash, drybrush kind of a painter. Quick and tabletop effective. Not to mention I haven't bought a GW paint in over a decade. I'm like Yriel Yellow, I guess that's more or less yellowish than sunburst yellow... I'll maybe watch the video tutorial and translate it into my own bucket of colours.

Yeah, have a watch, the principles translate to pretty much any colour; brightest in recesses and nearest to the source, fading to black at the furthest/highest points. Admittedly it’s a lot more steps than I’d normally do. It would probably work well as a base of yellow, dry brush orange, red then black in reducing amounts

I thought it important to show this stage.



it's the first coat of yellow over gray primer. But it looks horrible, it's disheartening and I wanted any painter out there who's ever achieved this level of a beginning to know that they mostly start this way and not to give up. Persevere and have a bit of faith in yourself, it will get better. At least I'm aiming for better, fingers crossed. They can't get much worse than this anyway.

Yellow over grey would probably need a couple more coats to get decent coverage. If you’ve only got old citadel yellows you might be better off putting a layer of white or maybe bleached bone down first before going back to the yellow. My old Bad Moon yellow was so watery it would take about 5 coats for decent coverage. Sunburst Yellow would need at least 3 and Golden Yellow minimum of 2. Alternatively you could go for an orange first and then water down the yellow to act as a wash

Well here they are.


Don't know how many layers but after a while I just had to call it. Painting fire is not my strongest suit but there you go.

Hot sauce! They’re a fun looking bunch! Fire looks pretty decent

I second that the fire guys look neat.
The one with what appears to be ski goggles is my favorite.

Thanks guys. I'm not super fond of them: the goggles I agree look the best. I might just do the eyes of the other two a more flat white comic book style to try and tidy up their faces a bit.

No more plans for sculpting for the kids just yet but you never know. There are always more square folks and no shortage of ideas.
Though I have made a couple of sculpts of other soft toys in the boys collection. They've all been shared on my Burrows and Badgers project but I'll post a shot of Hedgee riding on Hooter on here some time. I need to find/fix Hedgee's sword.

Wow theCrowe! I don't know how I never stumbled upon any of your blogs before, but I just finished an amazing read through every post of this one. You are amazing, and a real inspiration for when I become a parent. I love the Hedgee's Heroes figures and how the game around them evolved. I'm very impressed with your sculptures and the speed you create them. I wish my cerberus had as good looking dog heads as R-mour dog. All the dog henchmen were so much fun too, as were the very hungry caterpillar sculpts.

I'll be checking out your other blogs soon too.

Thanks Syro_ I'm glad you enjoyed it and took the time to go through my bonkerz year of fakily fun.

My only other sculpting blog is the burrows and badgers one, everything else is scattered around dakka in either showcase or historical or fiction. Some 1:300 scale WW2 planes and Red Cross vehicles, some Goblins and maybe some Necromunda and 40k. It might test your dakka-fu to find it all but I hope you enjoy whatever you stumble upon. Thanks for your interest.

Thanks theCrowe, I only visit the P&M section, which is maybe why I missed seeing so much of your stuff, but it still confuses me about this blog and Badgers & Burrows (both of which I have now read through). I hope you have a great 2021 full of more great sculpts

Well I finally replaced Hedgee's lost sword. (I just haven't painted it yet)

And can happily share a pic of Hooter (an IKEA owl hand puppet) making good use of the magnet I hid in his back to give Hedgee a ride.

And also magnet related,

Slimon has abandoned his detritus base for pastures new, (and mosty metallic or magnet.) As I was requested to stick a little magnet in him too, because slugs can climb walls so why not, right. The other bugs are jealous.

I love it! It's great that you can use you skill to support your children's imaginations like this. It makes sense about Slimon being able to climb, I agree. The owl is cool looking too.

That is definitely fun with magnets and if you have seen Flushed away, it's essential that slugs can climb walls

Hedgee looks very heroic perched upon Hooter, great magnetising! Listen out for Simon providing a backing song or two!

Hi folks. Here's an update on what's going on in the Hedgeeverse.

Hedgee in Spaaaaaaaace!

Saturday has been spent bodging these together out of card and junk as directed by the kids. Hedgee's Heroes have their own little speeder while Rmour Dog and his doggie henchmen (including Sneaky Dog) have built a diabolical grabber ship with detachable Doggie-Pods on each wing and plenty of room in the back for large robot creations, captured kitties or whatever his bad doggie schemes require. Looking forward to throwing some colour on these soon.

Most story lines (not involving the capture of Kitty Mitty) revolve around this, the Big Bug Bus.

It's got a lovely caterpillar themed paint scheme with rainbow wings and has plenty of room inside for civilians in peril.

And then we have these guys. A new addition to the Hedgeeverse,The Green Brigade.

Eddie, Turtley and Croaks (who I haven't painted green yet) are a dedicated space adventuring rescue service. These guys required a vehicle and so were the first to be built and of course it didn't stop there.

And lastly, because we're in Spaaaace!

The Evil Triangle Alien got his very own U.T.O. (Unidentified Triangular Object.)

I love it! It's really fun seeing the ships you built with your kids. Hedgee and co. can have quite far ranging adventures now. See these reminds me a lot of when I taught a few of my students how to play and build stuff for GorkaMorka.

Hedgee never ceases to amaze! Your kids are great designers, it’s good to see they can turn your hand to spacecraft

Great stuff theCrowe.

Cheers,

CB

It's always nice to know Hedgee's Heroes still have such a fond following.

Here's an in game snap having painted the ships.

Hedgee has opted for a superhero red white and blue classic look with thunderbolt motif while Rmour Dog has gone for the old bad guy classic red and black. Let the laser war commence!

I think the Necromunda floor and coffee cup lid gun turret deserves a Exalt! So much creativity from you and the little Crowes

Have we seen the evil triangle alien before? It has a very Plankton vibe to it. And great work on those spaceships.

Just been through your blog with my eldest, she absolutely loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar bit.

gobert wrote:I think the Necromunda floor and coffee cup lid gun turret deserves a Exalt! So much creativity from you and the little Crowes

Zero effort made to hide the making of that particular hobby sausage! Yes we have three of them as r-mour dog's space laser battery. I'll have to hit them with some cheap silver spray paint some day. Thanks for the exalt.

Viterbi wrote:Have we seen the evil triangle alien before? It has a very Plankton vibe to it. And great work on those spaceships.

Thanks V. We had a lot of fun putting them together. Triangle Alien appeared at the top of the previous page. He was in there with his evil robot and henchman Nober the Robber.

gobert wrote:Just been through your blog with my eldest, she absolutely loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar bit.

Feeling like a new and entirely random project at the whim of the little gobertesses? I very much hope so. I anticipate some wire frames and putty appearing in gobert's gubbins some time in the near future.

This thread makes me so very happy :-)

Thanks Skin. Glad you get a kick out of it all too.

Hi folks, thanks for checking in with Hedgee's Heroes. Today Hedgee and Noodles have been out on the water having a boat ride adventure down the river in this lovely little boat from Reaper Miniatures.

They were fishing when something nasty came out of the water and attacked their boat!

An elf appeared and told them the river had been cursed by evil magic and he gave Noodles a staff with his Lady's blessing.

The elf said if Noodles touched the water with the magic staff it would purify the water and any evil creatures in the water would be vanquished.
Also up ahead was a stone statue (also known as a classic chaos warrior in grey primer) that had been doing the whole "None shall pass" thing.

Once they got past that guy the river took them into the deep park woods where they found Caterpillee being chased by some squigs.

They caught some fish and threw them to the squigs to distract them and Caterpillee was saved. He joined hem on their journey.

Further down the river they came upon a dolphin (another mini from Reaper) in distress. He was very sad about the evil curse on his river and was relieved when Noodles used his staff to bless the water. They followed the dolphin down the river where an evil looking fella and some jacko-lantern headed goons were ransacking a grave yard.

Loving a good vegetable Caterpillee got stuck in with some help from Hedgee's sword. Noodles and Mr Dolphin teamed up to blast the denizens of wickedness with blessed river water breaking the evil magic.

And that's all the photos I took of the game. There were a few more trials along the way with a marauding Orc, the wizard and the monster showed up with some spooks in tow at one point and there was a troll on a bridge too.
Lots of fun on the water with Hedgee's Heroes.

I love hearing the adventures of Hedgee and his crew. So pure, a very simple adventure. Reminds me of reading the Hobbit when I was a kid. And to see it on beautifully-built boards just raises the experience

A great wee adventure down the river. Great imagination from theCrowe and family as ever

Glad you both enjoyed the river adventure. The boy's first book was about him and his brother having a boat adventure on the river so when I saw that boat by Reaper I knew he'd love it.

Tonight's battle was another Hedgee in Space game.

Hedgee and friends got stuck in the middle of an Eldar vs Tau fire fight!

A staff with his lady's blessing. Excellent. An intrepid hero can always use one of those.
A lovely adventure for Hedgee & Co.
Hope they make it through the firefight unscathed.

Nice adventures Hedgee and his friends are having, that sci-fi pic is amazing

Just wanted to show some sculpting BY the kids here, my youngest who will be 8 this weekend made this anteater a few months ago

And then painted him tonight

As you can see he must have eaten quite a lot of rainbow ants.
Look out Andy!

Great seeing this thread back again, loving it :-D

Cheers Skin, I’m anticipating another Hedgee battle report soon as I’ve got a partially complete box game of DarkWorld incoming. Can’t wait!

In the meantime the wee man got his anteater based but still thought he needed something...

A top hat of course. so I helped him make it with some greenstuff.

Definitely looks like the top hat sort. Very nice!

Nice to see this thread back and even nicer to see your son following in your footsteps. He’s done a cracking job with the sculpt that’s a good anteater representation which was obviously missing a top hat!

I too am a fan of Hedgee's Heroes. Thanks for the update on their adventures, that river adventure is very cute. It's great that you can help the creativity of their stories come to life in 3D.

The world would be a better place with more rainbow anteaters!

Thanks folks. Glad there’s still interest in games with the kids. They’re my main opponents these days, in fact I’d do no gaming at all without them.

Spent most the weekend on this


It’s Kitty-Mitty’s house. Getting close to complete on the build. Looking forward to the painting and flocking etc lots of nice garden for butterflies at Kitty-Mitty’s house.

And what would any self-respecting cat's house be without butterfly gardens?

Cool house, you must’ve had to eat a few ice lollies for that roof!

All balsa wood thankfully. Can’t imagine trying to do that with harder wood though I can imagine the ice lollies it would require.

Casa del Kitty got some paint

Next it’ll be onto the flock and likely some door details.

Casa del kitty looks fabulous! Great work

Casa del Kitty...nice name.

Cheers,

CB

Kitty keeps a very tidy house!

Cool kitty house! But needs a laserpointer on top

Casa del Kitty is complete.

Maybe not the tidiest garden but she does have a little coal bunker out the back to hide in or on top of.

Great job on finishing the house. Love the slabs leading to the coal bunker at the back!

I just wanted to tell you all about another Hedgee adventure we’ve begun. This time Hedgee, Noodles, Kitty-Mitty, Nedgee and Ortis are a band of ghost hunting Vampire slayers on a quest to rid the world of a deadly menace, the evil Count Venom.



Tracking the vampire snake and his minions to their haunted headquarters was the easy part. Now they’ve got to get in there, battle their way through his house of terror, find the vile creature and strike him down. But it won’t be easy. Spooks, rat henchmen and snake acolytes are just a few of the dangers they will face.

Will their hearts quail in fear of the unquiet dead? Will their bodies succumb to the poisons of the rat-kin? Will their minds be broken by the hypnotic power of the snakes? Or will they enjoy a right rollicking romp through a treasure filled dungeon of fun, gaining upgrades and bonuses along the way to the point of near invincibility just in time to face the big evil and triumph before bedtime?

Join us again soon to find out!

Sounds like an exciting and creative adventure is happening. Keep us posted

Sounds awesome! Hopefully the latter ends up happening and bed time is easy afterwards!

So here’s the line up.

Hedgee- best fighter, but weak against magic. gets re-rolls for disarming traps and picking locks.

Kitty-Mitty- ranged magic attacks but not strong in combat unless against rats. Re-roll for finding traps.

Ortis- tough shell for defence, good at magic, especially against ghosts, gets re-roll for scroll searches.

Nedgee- all rounder- gets re-rolls for treasure searches and can loot beaten enemies.

Noodles- fast and agile, can jump over a square and out of combat. Good against snakes and gets 5 lucky re-rolls for anything.

We’re using the Dark World wand thingy to decide turn order.



My active bad guys get the red ball and then the boy has an active player on each of the other colours. So he has three of the five characters on the board at any time and can only swap them out at the front door.

The boy chose Hedgee Ortis and Nedgee for his starting line up. So busting through the door into room 1 the Library (Who has a library in their entrance hall? Dark World what were you thinking?) they find a snake and a rat in the room. And lots of books of course. Our heroes immediately went to work and even though they were basic level starting off they took out the snake reasonably quickly thanks to Hedgee’s strong swordsmanship. The rat took a little longer though and Nedgee got bored so went to search the shelves for scrolls. But all he found was a shopping list.



Once the rat was dealt with Ortis came to show Nedgee how it was done, finding that the shopping list was written on the back of a Fire Scroll! (can be used as a fire spell or to protect against fire)

Hedgee in the meantime decided to open the next door and found himself face to face with a spook. Hedgee having no magic weapon and a poor Magic stat did not fare well on his own and was spooked out. He ran for his prickly life. Leaving the spook to go after Ortis.



Ortis must have been surprised though because even though he’s supposed to be good against ghosts he rolled terribly and fled after Hedgee leaving Nedgee alone with the spook.

They both went out the front door and tagged Kitty-Mitty and Noodles into the fray.
Nedgee roughed it out and didn’t flee allowing the magical Kitty-Mitty to deal with the spook in short order while Noodles headed for the next room.

Noodles found another spook in there but having no magic weapon (spooks can only be combated with magic) he wisely opted to search for traps instead finding one right in the middle of the room before the spook made its move. But Noodles didn’t run. He knew Kitty-Mitty was right behind him.



While they battled the spook, Nedgee, done looting corpses in the last room decided he’d search for treasure in this room. He found some thanks to his re-roll. Cha-ching cha-ching.

With one more spook banished to the nether-realm they discovered a locked chest. Once they managed to pick the lock they found loads of goodies inside.



The magic cat bagged herself a magic sword, Noodles got a healing potion and Nedgee got a piece of armour, which combined with a piece he pulled off a dead rat was starting to boost his defence rolls considerably.

They took stock of their situation, and the boy took a look at his roster and thought it was time for Hedgee their heroic leader to get back into the action. So Noodles tagged him back in and together the two hedgehogs and their magic kitty friend headed for room 3.

Wham! Hedgee kicked open the door and immediately received a hit from a rat in the corner with a crossbow. But worse than that they had found this was the room of a rat sorcerer who was up to no good. Hedgee wasted no time and immediately attacked the rat mage reducing him down to his last wound, while Nedgee dealt with the shooter. The magic rat fled for the next room but not before turning and blasting Hedgee with a fireball. Ouch! It was a big hit.



Meanwhile Kitty-Mitty was raiding the rat’s magic table scoring a handy potion. Nedgee was struggling to finish off the other rat so Kitty-Mitty our natural ratter gave him a hand. But both rolled badly giving the rat a chance to get a sneaky poison blade in. Me-ouch!

Hedgee was burned but not deterred. He chased the rat sorcerer down despite the fact that there was clearly also a King Fire Spook in the next room. The rat went down but the king spook gave the already burned hedgehog another blast at close quarters. It was too much for Hedgee and he ran from the flaming spook with only 2 hearts to spare.



The King Fire Spook joined the fray next door. He must like the smell of barbecued hedgehog because he hit Nedgee with a fire ball. Kitty-Mitty, magic sword in hand was having none of it, so our remaining two heroes stood back to back as they fought desperately to survive.



The boy picked his fastest runner to come to their aid and Noodles sprinted into action. But Kitty-Mitty cleaned up like only a magical kitten with a magic sword can and Noodles arrived to find the last spook vanquished and Nedgee merrily looting the corpses of a couple of dead rats. (and getting quite rich in the process) though none too healthy.



With all enemies gone things quieted down in the room. Then they heard the sound of flapping wings and a bat appeared. His name was Shifty and he had a shop. (Because what’s the point of treasure if you can’t spend the cash right?)



The adventurers turned out their pockets and sold off a few items they didn’t want massing enough gold to buy a magic boomerang and a bottle of Heroic Brew. That oughta sort the spooks out.

And that’s where we’ll leave it for now folks. Join us again soon for more spooky haunted house action.

What a great batrep! Loved the shopping list Good thing, they decided to turn it around And nice way of keeping track with the boxes and the filled out hearts.

This was quite an enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing it with us. This seems like a lot of fun.

Excuse me while I giggle uncontrollably. Totally and thoroughly enjoyable stuff! Thank You!

Super fun adventure time!!

Cool batrep, game seemed a lot of fun, and always good to see the Heroes in action.

Looks like Hedgee and co had a great time looting the dungeon. Are you using your own rules or playing a specific system? The game rooms and tiles look great, where are they from?

Glad everyone’s enjoying the game so far. Before I pick up again where we left off I’ll explain some of what’s going on.
It’s a “system” of my own design using the board from Wadingtons Dark World which i picked up an old box of at Christmas after being introduced to the game right here https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/798388.page

Our version is playing like some kind of home brew Hero Quest. I’ve got a plan of the map on paper with traps, chests, treasure, enemies etc all marked which I’ve largely been able to stick to.

We’re using an opposed dice mechanic with each character/ enemy having a specific Dice to represent their ability level. (Very much like Burrows and Badgers style) So for example Hedgee uses a D8 when he attacks because he’s dead good with a sword but he’s not a magical hedgehog at all so he only has a D4 for his magic stat. That’s why he tends to run when he gets attacked by a magic enemy like a spook. The spook rolls a D6 to attack and he only has a D4 to defend.

This keeps it simple for the boy. I just tell him what dice he needs to roll. If his dice beats mine by a difference of say 2 I take two wounds. Easy dynamic to follow.

Initiative order each turn is decided by the random wand as I’d mentioned before which has been effective enough.

Anything the boy comes up with along the way that’s somewhat outside of my plan I’ll try to accommodate with a “4+ you succeed” roll but so far it’s been largely per the plan.

So that said, let’s get back to the adventure!



All geared up and ready to spank some spooks, Noodles, Nedgee and Ortis kick open the door and enter the next room. A dungeon filled with spooks!



Noodles got the first one with his new magic boomerang. That must have shocked the old spooks because for some reason they didn’t move in on the attack but instead moved back. Nedgee wasn’t concerned in the least. He ran forward in his haste to get stuck in but then something clicked underfoot. Did anyone check for traps? Nope! There was a great whoosh as the remaining two spooks suddenly burst into flames.



Now Nedgee was a little more concerned. But despite the flaming magical assault, to his credit he didn’t run scared.

Ortis their dedicated ghost hunter stepped in hammers flailing and smooshed a flaming spook easily, his shell providing more than adequate protection from the flames. Nedgee, whose magic weapon was an ice dagger stepped up to the fight and put out the flames of the last remaining spook before Noodles boomeranged it out of the fight.

With no bodies to loot Nedgee searched for treasure. Nothing

They all searched. Nothing.
It was the dungeon room after all.

Then Noodles peeked through the next door and saw a great big chest! With a huge weapon wrack sitting next to it. So that’s where all the good stuff was at. Excited he booted the door in and stepped inside.

But this is Noodles we’re talking about and apparently no matter how many enemies are in the room he’s checking for traps first. He spotted one over at the back wall, a pit trap.
Ortis stepped up to take on the first snake but
Nedgee wasn’t too bothered about the enemies. There was a treasure chest to be opened after all!



But it turned out the treasure was cursed! As soon as he opened the lid two spooks came out! As if they didn’t have enough enemies to deal with already!

Ortis left Noodles to deal with the snake and went to rescue Nedgee, who’d heroically held his nerve against the fearful spooks and an attacking rat.



With Ortis on the job Nedgee turned his attention and his Hypno-Ring (which he’d looted from a snake in room 1) onto the Rat. It proved very impressionable and immediately turned to attack the second snake. Pushing it back and into the pit trap! (This was one of those “4+ you succeed” moments)

But one of the spooks saw his chance and while Nedgee was distracted he spooked the hedgehog good and proper, causing his nerves of steel to finally break. (We totally forgot about the heroic brew!) Nedgee ran for it leaving Ortis to banish the spooks while Noodles handled the snake, each making the most of their specialities.



But the lure of treasure was too much to resist. So while the others dealt with the remaining spook and the rat (who by now had recovered his wits) Nedgee snuck back in and grabbed the loot scoring 13gp, a large gem and a couple of unmarked bottles of... something.



With the room finally cleared of enemies they proceeded to loot the weapons wrack and rummage through the book case scoring a hypno scroll a hand weapon and some magic silver arrows. They had a peek through the peep-hole into the next room where they saw a kitchen filled with a bunch of filthy rats. They might need Kitty-Mitty.

Noodles gathered an armful of gear and ran back to the door. Kitty-Mitty and Hedgee were waiting and helped to toss a few choice items in the magic pool.



Did I tell you about the magic pool at the front door? You can toss an item in and roll an upgrade. On this occasion the spare hand weapon gained “magical”-ness, and the gem became an amulet of protection that would half all wounds taken by the wearer. So Kitty-Mitty geared up and headed back to the ransacked armoury where together with Ortis and Nedgee they prepared to enter the Kitchen.



Hopefully we’ll get a chance to play again soon. Just two more rooms to clear before it’s big boss time! Probably two more sessions in that. Thanks for following along with the adventure.

Looks like fun, and getting them hooked young. :-)

And they're learning to always check for traps!

Cool second writeup and the Panda charging looks so adorable. Such joy in its face thinking about killing spooks

Another great Hedgee and friends adventure! The kids must be having a riot.

Great ideas on the game system, keeps it challenging but simple. I like it!

We interrupt this battle report to bring you a completely different battle report… well no actually it’s not a battle. It was more like a… tabletop commerce simulation… ?

See my youngest lad (8) has no interest in combat games. His characters are insects and animals and animals with insect friends and erasers and marshmallows, nary a weapon or I’ll feeling amongst them. So when given the opportunity to design and run his own game his mind goes toward a market where you can spend money and make money. Explore to gather resources and expand your knowledge and opportunities.

We had a chat over dinner about what such a game might require, then we gathered the gear and set up the table.



It involves a section where we can “explore” or “build” or whatever using a whiteboard marker to draw whatever we’re doing. My house is on the bottom left there, and my eldest is also playing (as Sledgee) his house is on the right.



We’ve each began to dig our own mine workings to gather minerals to sell at market.

Then the nice bright colourful part of the board is the market.


Here I am “Mr Suano”(the dour looking fella with a lamp) at my market stall selling a coconut and banana smoothie which I made from foraged fruit. The local bookseller, in part exchange has agreed to give me a good deal on a book of cake recipes. (If I gather the right ingredients I can sell cakes!)

I had also advertised a job in the local paper (via the post ghost) to find someone who would work my mine for me for 2 gold coins per turn to try and keep some cash coming in while I do other stuff.

Meanwhile my eldest has gotten bored of mining and has instead made a deal with the local strongman. Sledgee will pay him 5 gold coins to participate in a boxing match. He has advertised the tickets at 2 gold coins a piece in the local paper (paying the post ghost 1g) and a crowd has gathered for the event.



The local mushroom farmer has agreed to sponsor the event, being the referee and even putting up a prize for the winner!

I see a golden opportunity and purchase 4g worth of meat from the butcher and a 2g BBQ from the blacksmith.



Then I head to the boxing match and start selling burgers (optional fried mushrooms!) at 1g a piece making an easy 10g profit and I even had a couple of burgers left over for the brave boxers.

Sledgee won the match of course and made a tidy profit of 18g for his efforts into the bargain.

Lots of fun was had (and cash was made) all round!

Thanks again for stopping by.
More Nedgee in the Haunted Mansion soon… I hope.

I love the creativity and how this combat free game developed. It reminds me of games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon.

Just remembered I hadn’t written up the end to this dungeon crawling haunted house smash and grab! So here we go, hold on to your hedgehogs it’s the final episode of Hedgee’s Heroes in the Haunted House.

So when we left off our heroes were gearing up for the final push.
Kitty-Mitty, Nedgee and Ortis booted the door down and rushed into a kitchen full of rats!

Outnumbered but not deterred the lads rushed a couple of likely rodents. Ortis’s tough shell turning a bolt from the crossbow with ease.



The other two rats wasted no time. Uninterested in lending their mates a hand the instead teamed up to take on the magic kitten.



Their mistake! The tooled up mistress of magic ate them up and spat them out in short order while the boys were still trading blows.



But soon enough the room was clear and the looting could begin. Ortis made for the treasure chest, Nedgee looted the corpses and Kitty-Mitty, being a witch took a keen interest in the kitchen cauldron.



And a good thing she did because inside she found THE KEY!

The way was open!



The rest of the party could now enter and the secret passageways of the house were opened to go both ways (they were only able to be used to go back before.)

So now all we’re gathered, and what was more Shifty the bat appeared once more with a pop-up shop to allow our heroes to cash in their gold and tool up for the final room.



Once all was prepared Nedgee, by now the defacto leader of the adventure gave an impromptu speech.



“Attention everyone, before we go on I want to make a speech. Now we’ve all been scared on this adventure, many times, including me. But we didn’t give up. At least I didn’t. We kept fighting! Now I believe we will be able to defeat Count Venom and his forces! Are you with me?

Everyone cheered, (including Shifty the Shop bat who was making a tidy profit from this conflict)
With that it was time to run the final gambit. They plunged inside.



The Monster was waiting for them flanked by spooks, two of whom appeared behind the party. They were surrounded!

Hedgee braved the flaming fire breath of the monster while Noodles and Kitty-Mitty took on the spooks. Ortis and Nedgee went back through the door to stop the spooks in the rear.



Kitty-Mitty banished her spook with the help of her imps (she has violent impish butterflies who protect her) while Hedgee battled on. Noodles made use of his magic boomerang and the pair in the other room traded blows with the spooks, handling their magical weapons like seasoned pros. This time around not one of the adventurers was spooked.

But no sooner was the monster bested than a swarm of rats fell upon the embattled band.



Ortis joined Noodles in the breach while Kitty-Mitty warded off the assailants clambering in through cracks in the walls.
Even shifty the shop-bat weighed in to help Nedgee fend off an assailant in the other room.



Fur flew as the smack down was laid on the hapless vermin but the fight wasn’t over yet and the enemy were wasting no time. The final boss Count Venom arrived with his nasty snake bodyguards including a monstrous undead snake-skelly!



Our embattled heroes were surprised when the door to the next room flew open. It wasn’t Nedgee, it was the rat he had been fighting!



Did Nedgee lie defeated in the next room?



No way! He was still counting his money and doing more deals with Shifty the Shop Bat. He hadn’t defeated the rat but hypnotised him with his hypno-ring. The rat was on our side!

The snakes drove forward.



Kitty-Mitty, though disgusted to be fighting alongside a rat was none the less happy to have some help with the first snake.

Noodles on the other hand was on his own, while Hedgee and Ortis, our two big hitters took on the reanimated dead snake goon.
(This was the part when I was like “Bwa Ha ha! Let’s see how you little punks handle my massive OP double D8 rolling mega snake with 14HP! And then this happened. )



So that statistically jaw dropping roll busted the skelly snake down to just 2 HP left. But he wasn’t beaten yet!

The Vampire Snake stood unchallenged, his goons doing all his dirty work. (If somewhat ineffectually)
But look! Here comes Nedgee, late but not without a plan.



Unfurling a Hypno-Scroll (backed up by a hefty handful of bonuses and re-rolls) he laid the wammy on the snake-boss. Dazzled and confused the vampire was utterly defenceless as our brave and valiant heroes piled in and stuck the boot in doing a fair bit of damage to the defenceless fiend.



With the power of the necromancer broken the skelly was now less-than-animated. Ortis took the opportunity to pound it down making sure it was now properly dead-dead.

The enemy wasn’t defeated yet, but failing to break the hedgehog pirate’s control over his vampiric mind with a woeful roll Count Venom had to suffer yet another round under Nedgee’s less than benevolent power.

However in a startling display of Showing the boss how it’s done, the rat managed to shake it off no problem, rejoining his snake buddies as they looked on in horror at the unfolding madness.

Nedgee rubbed his hands together with glee. Maybe the count could do more under his power than just stand there and take a pounding. There were goons to pound after all.



The vampire advanced upon his own minions and unleashed a great fireball slaying two and injuring the third before finally shaking off the hypnotic trance. What was he doing? He was toasting his own minions instead of enslaving these intruders!



Hedgee, noodles and Kitty-Mitty wasted no time in stepping in to finish the fight.



Ortis cleaned up the last of the goons and Nedgee cleaned out their pockets.

The battle was won! The Vampire defeated! And the day was saved.



And perhaps most importantly the band of intrepid adventurers were tooled up to the max and loaded with a good few treasures to boot on their way out of the old haunted house. A resounding victory for Hedgee (or rather his cousin Nedgee as it turned out) and the gang.

Thanks to anyone still reading along. Really hope you enjoyed this battle report and I hope you’ll join us again for another adventure soon.

Sounds like an exciting time!

Sounds like an awesome adventure, and great to be all tooled up come the end. Can’t wait for the next episode!

Very cool finish to the adventure, that bone snake roll had me laughing The hypnosis skill came in very handy at the end.

Cheers folks. Glad you all enjoyed coming along for the ride on our haunted house adventure.

Since this is meant to be Sculpting For the Kids I think we’re due some new characters.

Here’s the first one.

Zum is an imp. He has shadow power, (being from the shadow realm) He can slip in and out of shadows like a portal and has shadowy hands that can reach out and trap his enemies dragging them into the shadow realm!

And then we have Kitty-Mama.



(Or Kitty-Muma, apparently) She’s Kitty-Mitty’s mum, she’s a witch, she hangs out with Zum and has a whole tragic backstory of villainy and the quest redemption. Zum saved her from Count Venom by hiding her in the shadow realm.

Count Who? Count Venom, of course. This guy!


The evil Vampire Count who is hell-bent on raising the long-dead sire of his Vampire Snake race, the one they called Lord Vagnar! His magic is powerful, his schemes are cunning and his wicked goals are most deadly.

Awesome new characters! It's always fun to see what's happening for the kids on this blog

More amazing sculpts! Kitty-Muma is really cool, I always love a story where the bad guy turns out to be a main characters parent!

Extension time!!! Great to see where the game is going and can't wait for more quest reports here.

So cool mate, I'm going to use this to wean my lad off minecraft!

 Skinflint Games wrote:
So cool mate, I'm going to use this to wean my lad off minecraft!

Great to hear. So is the plan to use your excellent scratch building skills to create the miniatures of his limitless imagination? To make a game based on the basic mechanic that anything can be achieved with a D6 roll of 4+ no matter how stupid? Where almost any of daddy’s toys are fair game (else what’s the point in having them?) Where you don’t necessarily have to have the whole thing planned out in a cohesive way beforehand (though sometimes it helps) Where your years of gaming experience becomes the shorthand inspiration to build his tabletop world upon?

This, my friend is the stuff of legend that relegates Minecraft to the bin of tired neglect.
I salute you and hope it goes down a treat.

Forgot to share this one painted.

Zum the Shadow Imp is all painted up. Simple dark purple scheme. Proper shadowy.

I see where you get your inspiration theCrowe.

Cheers,

CB

Kitty-Muma wins and makes a day for me. Thank You for all Your most imaginative work!

Agreed. She’s definitely been the star of the show in the most recent book we’ve been writing.

Taking the Hedgeeverse a few steps beyond kids story and into a bit more grown up territory.

We’ve been discussing the nature of power and deception, justice, mercy, redemption.

Kitty-muma and her back-story has been a huge world-building opportunity.

Well the kids are at it again and Daddy Crowe must comply.



This is Pelly. He wants a fish.

...you know, with that big flat topped beak, I'm wondering how hard it'd be to leave space to magnet or flop in a nice fish when he finds one.

Excited to see another one of your guys take shape.

I know. I was planning just a solid mini with a magnet inside the beak to carry stuff but then I’m curious how possible it’d be to have a hinged beak with a pouch that stuff could go in.

But then it’d be easier to break and get stuff stuck in… prob best just keep it simple with a magnet inside.

I'd lean towards the magnet yeah, though I suppose if you altered the beak support wire to be a loop parallel to the base, and then a vertical support under, it might hold up...

Milliput Base progress.

I was still undecided about beak options and didn’t have a magnet to hand last night.

But then, see the line on the picture that goes across Pelly’s neck… I wonder could I cut the whole head off and hinge it to flip up with a big hollow space inside. That’d be fun. But would most likely break quickly.

 theCrowe wrote:

 Skinflint Games wrote:
So cool mate, I'm going to use this to wean my lad off minecraft!

Great to hear. So is the plan to use your excellent scratch building skills to create the miniatures of his limitless imagination? To make a game based on the basic mechanic that anything can be achieved with a D6 roll of 4+ no matter how stupid? Where almost any of daddy’s toys are fair game (else what’s the point in having them?) Where you don’t necessarily have to have the whole thing planned out in a cohesive way beforehand (though sometimes it helps) Where your years of gaming experience becomes the shorthand inspiration to build his tabletop world upon?

This, my friend is the stuff of legend that relegates Minecraft to the bin of tired neglect.
I salute you and hope it goes down a treat.

Brilliant.

Always a pleasure to see more sculpt for your kids. Pelly has some cool ideas coming already, though I was hoping for a floating fish in a thought bubble! sorry if little Crowe reads this and wants that to happen

* giggles while slowly sinking under the table *

This will be a new great hit!

Really excited to see where you will take the pelican's beak (a sentence I never thought I would write, lest on a miniature wargaming forum ).

Here’s a quick holiday snap from up in the mourne mountains.



Pelly’s nearly done.

Looking good so far!

Pelly is done. Just needs a base and some paint. And a fish with some steel wire in it.

He looks amazing, terrific work!

Good to see Pelly is getting some fresh air and that you’re maintaining progress on your hols. I’ve not been a million miles away; boating on Lough Erne. The Mournes are great place too, hope you had good weather and dodged the rain.

Dodged the rain? In this country? You obviously didn’t spend long out and about on Lough Erne. That would’ve been odd to bump into you and somehow incredibly be able to figure out that we kinda knew each other. You might have recognised the boy’s Hedgee t-shirt. Unlikely though. I would’ve spotted your black, gold and purple landspeeder jetting around on the lough!

Anywho.

Cheers Skinflint. If you liked that, check this out!


More outdoor photography action in the garden. Cricket ball for scale?

Yeah, we were incredibly lucky with the rain, only 10mins driving inside the boat. The rest of the time was lovely, just raining overnight. Almost unheard of in all my years visiting! Would’ve been a crazy coincidence to meet up, I’ll keep my eyes open for kids in Hedgee T-shirts next time I’m over

Pelly turned out fantastically, does he balance the fish on his beak well?

Not really… I put a load of steal wire in it and it can sit on the side of his beak ok with the magnet in there but it looks a bit daft and falls off easily. Not terribly successful but still a feature to play with. He hasn’t seen any table-top gaming action yet.

Next up I think we’re looking into a full putty production of Kitty-Mitty’s imps.

(The butterfly’s who surround and befriend the magical kitten are in fact magical beings from another dimension hiding in Hedgee’s world to try and protect it from an evil imp overlord of ancient times.)

This thing is epic. The butterflies are tiny epic imps.

Still sounds pretty cool to me, even if it falls off easily. The imps sound intriguing, always good to see the Hedgee-verse expanding

Imps are in the works.
This was just the wires.


And with some milliput bases and greenstuff bodies and heads.

Still haven’t figured out the wings yet. Or the antennae. Might be staple wire if it’s not too brittle.

I like how Pelly turned out, and wow those mini butterflies sound hard to make.

Another fine addition theCrowe.

Cheers,

CB

I finally made some progress on the Imps.



Now for painting!

I'm always fascinated by the work you do for the Hedgee-verse. The haunted house batreps were glorious!

Cheers Kid. Always glad to be sharing the creative fun.

Tonight I’m kicking off the production of another little animal critter.


A little lamb called Lambert.

Here’s the days progress on Lambert.


I am given to understand that Lambert is a Green Sheep.
This might mean I can cover it with greenstuff and then won’t have to paint him at all!

(Not really.) (he is reallly going to be green though)

I'm already getting an Aardman Animations vibe.

Oh yes, a big influence for sure.


Still trying to stay true to the brief without straying too much into Sean the Sheep territory.

One sheep complete. Now for paint! Green paint.

I love the little winter hat!

Cheers Syro_. I think maybe this guy needs some explanation.


Once upon a time an evil wizard (Zen from page 8) was cultivating some enchanted mushrooms in a field when a lamb broke in and started grazing there. The magic had a strange effect on the lamb who turned green and developed a devilishly devious temperament. Lambert as he began calling himself proved very difficult to catch and has continued grazing Zen’s magical herb garden regardless of the hapless wizards attempts to catch and shave him.

That's a fun story, I'm glad you explained it.

Love lamb Lambert! And the backstory is great, always fun to see your creativity at work.

Thanks guys. Glad there’s still so much enthusiasm for our mad creations.

And speaking of more madness.

Nothing says “more than you can chew” quite as well as 4 new wire frames at once. Going back to the origins of this project with a request for more Doggie Henchmen for the RDI payroll (R-mour Dog Industries) And because RDI is an equal opportunities employer they will be sculpted in a variety of doggie shapes and sizes.

Just tuning in to this other blog now, absolutely love it. Great sculpting and such a canny idea for your bairns.

Ooh, more doggies!

Right one gives me borzoi or wiener dog vibes, not sure why...

I love all the models you sculpt from scratch. Can't wait to see these new doggies.

Cheers Olthannon, welcome aboard the crazy train. Plenty more where this lot came from if you’re interested.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/790728.page

Thanks Kid, I’ll try to keep the standard up.

Cheers Vej. A big floppy borzoi would be great for that guy. Still trying to decide if I want him to have a laser or a fire hose. Who am I kidding? I don’t get to decide these things. I expect I’ll be told.


Putty progress and bases. If I can double up the big fella to be suitable for burrows and badgers too I’ll be winning.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again - this thread makes me SO happy. Love ALL of this

Cheers Skin. How’s the Minecraft weening going? I mean if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em. Just grab some materials that are blocky enough (miniature crafting clothes pegs comes to mind for some reason) and build a tonne of Minecraft miniatures. Make a bunch of creepers, and spiders, villagers, endermen, blocky looking trees and hills and huts. Grab a set of Montessori sticks for all those sweet blocky resources and get crafting diamond armour out of coloured card and portals out of jenga bricks. It’s a world the kids know and love so you may as well embrace the madness but in tabletop form. Glue a mini on a base upside down and call it “dinnerbone” he’ll love it.

Doggie one (designed to be cross-over playable as a large hound in Burrows and Badgers) is taking shape.

Always a delight to see more of the Hedgee-verse being fleshee out in epoxy as it were. The fur details on the first doggo are great alrewdy

That hound is coming out fantastic!

Lovely sculpt, I really like the crossed bones on the belt.

Doggie progress. I didn’t like the proportions on the big guy’s legs so he’s had an extension. The party pup has his classic RDI high-vis tabard on. Laser dog has been up-gunned with an OP double-barrel laser blaster. And the little guy’s giant remote control with big red button is coming together too.

Coming along nicely, Crowe.

Cheers kid, thanks too Olthannon and gobert. Glad you’re all enjoying the slow progress. Slow is to be expected when there are four on the go at once but it also comes with the benefit of throwing a bit in here and a bit in there as the mood takes me and if I’ve got extra putty already mixed and I don’t want to keep working on one because I’ll squash the bits I’ve just sculpted I can move on to another one easy enough. I thought the crossed soggy bones would be a fun look without being too cartoonish. Lots of fun to be had with this lot in fact.

So Progress report,

The big fella now has a kilt. Not looking forward to painting tartan.
The laser guy is mostly done. Just needs his face.
Multi-pup magnet guy now has a bomb, a key (not pictured) a remote and a tray for party refreshments. (I make what I’m told to!)
And then disco dog, on the theme of goblin fanatics is still awaiting some more attention to get his disco ball up and swinging.

No faces done yet. Always a tricky part that needs some good light and no distractions.

Tartan Hound is going to be amazing when you're done! Laser Dog is coming along quite nicely too.

Thanks Kid. Just sculpted his sporran tonight.

But more importantly.


Two pups completed!

I think I might need to give the chain a bit more of a dynamic bend to get some swing into that disco ball.

Nice! You should glue rhinestones all over the discoball for maximum effect...

We introduced our new pups to the pup pack today.



Not too dissimilar in scale though I’d say scale creep has most definitely been an issue.
The little guy in the middle with the magnet on his chest has lots of magnetic options. He can carry a bomb, a refreshments tray, a key, a remote control, a lasgun or The Master Bone!

And armour dog’s recruitment hasn’t ended there.


He’s at work on another pup for the pack already.

Afterall, the aim as I’ve been set by the creative director of this ongoing project is to fill a whole movement tray with a pack of 20 dogs!


Nearly half way there already.

We also had a repair session fixing some of the broken ears and paws and legs that have come loose over the years. And Doberman Maggie who has lost a paw is going to get an upgrade.

And if I can make a barrel on a square base she’ll be able to join the pack of 20 too.

So here it is- (merry Christmas?) the statement of intent.

Just an absolute pack of dogs. With plenty left to be sculpted and a couple of cheats thrown in.

And would you believe it, my creative director isn’t happy with the new and improved style of the recent batch of doggie henchmen and has required that all further sculpts be old and crummy like they used to be. I was trying to get back to the old style but obviously didn’t succeed so here’s the plan.


I’m recreating the exact method I used to use. Steel paper clip wire. One paper clip one doggie with tissue paper and glue to bulk.
I’m already seeing those old style stumpy legs and globular bodies. I think I’m back on track.

Work so far.

We have one grenade chucking pooch and a picket protester. I really should finish the big guy next. He’s one head short of complete. But then the boy isn’t convinced by the square base that he’s anything other than a massive hound for Burrows & Badgers. (The boy is clearly right)

The relentless quest for an army of doggie henchmen continues!

Again, your sculpting continues to amaze. Also, there is something to be said about the squat & round style for the doggos.

Great sculpts Crowe! Super characterful.

Been proper busy with this lot over the last few days.


Boomer, the grenade pup. Barx with one of his pocket protest signs. And Fetch has been given a proper weapon option. Well… a lasgun at least.

And that’s not all.

There are 5 more doggy henchmen on the workbench, tantalisingly close to complete.

The fun part of bringing these pups to life is about to begin.

Charmingly goofy set of doggos! Always fun to see what comes off of your table.

Excellent use of IG flamer and 2nd Ed Ork Chainsword!

R-mour Dog's pack is getting even more wonderfully large and characterful. Keep us posted.

Thanks guys. Lots of fun pulling some classic plastic from the bits box for a worthy cause.

So here’s the gallery of fresh faces down at Doggy HQ.



The flamer dog still needs a welding mask,( a functional moveable one is required) but that’ll be him.

Then there’s only four more to do for the full no-cheating unit of 20 doggos.

Those last 4 will be a band. Elvis on vocals, Nicco on drums, Bones on trombone and Rory on guitar.

Great job! Keep them doggies comin'!

Blooming heck the Crowe! You’ve been very busy building up the doggo ranks, the creative director must be pleased with your efforts.

Cheers Kid C, thanks gobert. Yes it’s been a productive month but something has stalled production slightly. (And it’s not just the end of the holidays)

It’s this,

Arrived yesterday and gaming did ensue.

Expect another full-on Hedgee’s Heroes battle report as they dive in to Doggie HQ to rescue their friend Kitty-Mitty and her Imps who are being used to power R-Mour Dog’s robots!

I better get those doggies painted!

Ooh! Just googled that and it looks dangerously useful... be interesting to see how you get on with it

Looks cool! If you're able to get more gaming in, I think we're all willing to make the sacrifice of not getting to see as many cool sculpts.

Your Hedgee-verse batreps are always fascinating. Can't wait!

 Skinflint Games wrote:
Ooh! Just googled that and it looks dangerously useful... be interesting to see how you get on with it

Tell you what, I’m loving this book. Tonight my youngest had a flick through the pages and liked the look of this double spaceship spread.


We grabbed a handful of Tau and Nid crew for each and drew up a few ship stats on a page to play a little boarding action game. It’s a really wonderful resource for sparking the imagination and using your minis in creative new ways.

They also have smaller books and big double-book packs with dungeons, castles, and steampunk themes. Highly recommended for all your tabletop RPG needs

These look fab mate, such a cool little book. I think I've seen one similar for Fantasy which I was meaning to pick up for D&D.

Looks like a cool book. I like your little rules sheet too, looks like a simple mechanism for the littles to follow

Sculpting for the kids just took a turn for the 40k!


The boy has decided he wants to build a Bad Moon Orks army!

*plotting fingers* (All is proceeding as I have foreseen)

That was an unexpected turn! I just hope the Hedgee-verse doesn't fade away now...

That is a sweet dred, BTW.

That's awesome! I hope you two are able to get a lot of battles in together
I also approve of his choice, I think ork armies are the best for encouraging creativity and scratch building.

Thanks guys. We played the boy’s first game of proper 40k today.

I say proper…

It was 5th edition, I allowed him to drive his trukk full of Tankbustas up a ramp onto a gantry. (Good driving from the squigs there) from where, perhaps predictably they succeeded in busting my tank which spectacularly exploded. Hooray!

Yes, KidC I’m a little worried about that too. Normal Hedgee service should be resumed soon, I hope, I may have to be creative in what I propose for our next game.

Nice work getting the kids on the plastic crack! Bad moons are a good choice, best get buildin so the ladz can get crumpin! That dred is massive, will he be getting a snazzy yellow paint job? And loadsa teef?

Wonderful theCrowe.

Cheers,

CB

The big fella got his BadMoons Yellow paint job. My first and no doubt won’t be my last.

I love the way your dread turned out My favorite part is probably the big 'ol sword. Looking back, looks like you scratch built the sword from card?

Thanks Sy, yeah it was a just a slab of plastic sliced into the right shape and filed down to an edge, with some more pieces added on top to make the guard. I wish I’d made the handle longer but it turned out alright.

Here’s some more pictures.

Vintage BadMoons stylings and a questionable Rokkit launcher.


Grot rigger with shoota on top.


Smasha choppa arm, because made for the kids has 3 points of articulation for Smashy smashy fun!

Lovely looking dread that is. I like the rather well defined eyelashes. Must have gone to L'Orkeal for that.

Terrific dread, although the missiles look almost too whimsical for Orks/Grots- someone read them bedtime stories as kids? Nice colorful touch on a great job!

Dread looks great! Good scratch build.

That’s one awesome dread! Looks like it’ll do some damage too. The rokkits are superb, classical stylings indeed!

The Dreadmob is taking shape at an alarming rate.

Looking like pretty good fun!

That middle one has a very nice smile.

The middle one is on roller skates!

Well, no wonder they’re smiling !

Awesome mob! I need to see those roller skates on the middle dread!

Early paint skates pics.





Very excited for this big fella.

I probably should start a separate thread for the boy’s Dreadmob.

Certainly looks like fun skates!

So you should be he’s proper cool! And red skates to help him go fasta too!

Getting back on track with this project here with some long-awaited painting.


Kitty-Mitty’s imps from left to right we have Changling, Polly, Sparky, Exorbi and Digitz.

And not to be outdone, the opposition is still on the increase with the last four Doggy Henchmen getting greener by the day.


These will be the pups’ favourite band, “Bad Doggyz” Rory, Bones, Howler and Nicco

And another rank of Doggy Henchmen has been painted.


More to come soon.

Fearsome! Especially like the hound with the chainsword, he looks enthusiastic!

Always a pleasure to see Hedgee and co getting some love. The latest pups look great with their mix of weapons

Four more pups make the paint-completed pup pack.



Fetch is magnetised for multiple magnetic accessories such as this handy Remote Control McGuffin.


Or these tasty party snacks, or the giant bone being carried by Boomer over there. He also has a lasgun option and a large Danger Mouse-style bomb option too.

And then there’s Yip Yip the protesting pup who has an assortment of vociferous picket line options.


Pups like to party afterall.

Would that I could exalt this more than once

Always fun to see Hedgee stuff, love the signs, and the disco wrecking ball!

Excellent job! I love all the magnetized bits. I've been toying a bit with that myself lately.

These are such a joy! Nice work! I've also been thinking of magnetising stuff, meant to do that for both my armies but never did do you just buy them online?

Great work as ever! The disco wrecking ball is just perfect! Love the signs too, and it’s perfect that the smallest is the gobby-est!

Skinflint Games wrote:Would that I could exalt this more than once

Thank you again. Thank you more than once.

Vejut wrote:Always fun to see Hedgee stuff, love the signs, and the disco wrecking ball!

Very on-theme for this month. Shame I had him painted ages ago.

KidCthulhu wrote:Excellent job! I love all the magnetized bits. I've been toying a bit with that myself lately.

Cheers KidC. It always makes for fun and very playable scenario items. But it helps that many of the minis have steel wire in them for a magnetised item to stick to.

Olthannon wrote:These are such a joy! Nice work! I've also been thinking of magnetising stuff, meant to do that for both my armies but never did do you just buy them online?

Yeah, neodinum magnets off eBay or occasionally salvaged from a broken magnetic tile toy.

gobert wrote:Great work as ever! The disco wrecking ball is just perfect! Love the signs too, and it’s perfect that the smallest is the gobby-est!

Yes, YipYip is a classic small dog with a big mouth. I’m glad the disco ball worked out so well too. Handy application of multicoloured glitter.

Now that we have access to an army of pups it was time for a quick game to see what Hedgee and friends can do when faced with a whole pack of doggies.

This time I am the player and the boy is the GM Coming up with the adventurous twists and turns. So here goes!

Welcome to the story of
Hedgee & the Temple of Dogs

The Wizard Zen had been asked to do something about a gigantic beast that was living in the tunnels beneath the town and guzzling all the food and causing mayhem. So he recruited two of the toughest hedgehogs around Hedgee and Sledgee and they headed underground.



They soon found the beast’s lair in an old basement cavern under the fish market but the Beast wasn’t home. There were barrels and boxes and the whole place smelled of old fish guts.



They searched the crates and found some bombs. (Strange, was someone making making bombs down here?) A little milliasaur pointed them in the direction the monster went and they set off again in the hunt.

They found an underground river with stepping stones leading away into the darkness. Hedgee bravely led the way.



But the passage was blocked by a locked door. Zen summoned a water spook who told them they needed to find the password to pass through the Water Gate.


So back they went over the stepping stones.

But then they heard the beast. Roaring and crashing his way towards them.

Hedgee and Sledgee geared up for a fight but Zen told them.
“This for is beyond any of you. RUN!”



They legged it down the passage way until they came to a door. Sledgee slammed it off its hinges and they all passed through before the beast could reach them. Zen sealed the door behind them with a spell to stop the beast from coming through.

The slimy stone slabs of the tunnels had given way to a packed earth floor in a rough hewn burrow. There were giant mushrooms growing down here and Hedgee filled his pockets.



Two imps appeared and Sledgee told them about their mission to rid the town of the beast and that they needed the password to the water gate. The imps told they party that if they could prove themselves worthy in a trial of strength they would win the password.

“Trial of Strength!” Sledgee liked the sound of that. “Bring it on!”

The imps conjured a fearsome monster and the darkness of the burrow was immediately lit up by a fireball catching the boastful boxer unawares.



Hedgee sprang to the attack but he needed some magical support from Zen before the Monster was finally defeated. (There was some seriously Bad rolling going on in this section) The password was “Holy Water”.

The party find another way back to the beast’s lair and found that it was gone again. So they crept as quietly as they could back to the Water Gate and used the password to get inside.
They had entered some kind of ancient underground temple but the walkway inside was filled with fuel drums.



Then they heard a load clang. It was a doggy henchman! What was he doing down here?

There was a blaze of light and a Yelp. That pup was in trouble! He had accidentally released a fire spook from one of those barrels.



Sledgee stepped up and gave it a One-Two punch with his well insulated boxing gloves, before Zen finished it off with a wind spell.



“Phew thanks!” Said the pup. “Any more of that and l would have been a hotdog.”
His name was Ruff and he was running late for a big mission. R-mour Dog had some big brand new weapon he was dying to try out and had heard there was a big beast down here that he wanted to try it on.
“Here they come right now!”

Our heroes ducked into cover and watched in horror as a whole pack of dogs came trooping by, tooled up to the teeth with lasers and other weapons. R-mour Dog followed behind the biggest weapon of all.



“Maybe we should go with them? Hedgee suggested. “It looks like they’ve got the hardware to stop the beast, and if they try anything bad we’ll be there to keep an eye on them.”

But the dogs were stuck at the Water Gate and R-mour Dog was yelling in frustration. Hedgee saw his chance. He offered to help them with the password if they’d let him tag along. R-mour Dog was in a hurry so he reluctantly agreed.



Soon Hedgee was leading an army of Doggy henchmen down the stepping stones to the Beast’s Lair. And this time the Beast was home!

While it was still sniffing around a crate of old fish guts the dogs took up positions. The beast looked up to find an army of pups in yellow tabards and hard hats pointing a battery of lasers at it. It roared and threw a crate at them.



Hedgee and his friends took up some cover and watched as R-mour dog set up his big gun.
“Keep his attention, you lot! This will only take a moment.” R-mour Dog flipped a big lever and the thing started to hum. But there wasn’t any big blast just a low throbbing pulse.

“What’s going on?” Hedgee asked Ruff.

“Oh, the Boss is just getting the Hypno-Ray fired up so he can hypnotise the Beast and then we’ll probably all go wreak havoc or something.”

“He’s gonna do what!”

This was a disaster, R-mour dog wasn’t trying to blast the beast at all!

“You will obey me, now.” R-mour dog woofed into a big loud-speaker, “I am the master.”

Hedgee had to do something! Thinking quick the hero hedgehog grabbed a bomb and lobbed it into the back of his armoured adversary. The big dog’s armour protected him from the blast but the Hypno-Ray took a pounding and stopped working.
“Hey! You sneaky little prickle-butt!” barked R-mour Dog. “Pups! Get them!”

The place descended into madness as the fight was on.

The beast shook loose the hypnotic waves and roared in confusion. It tore a swathe through the pup-pack and retreated deeper into the the temple, leaving its lair floor strewn with bodies. (Alive ones)



“After it, you lot! It’s getting away!” Yelped R-mour dog.

Hedgee used the opportunity to grab R-mour Dog’s megaphone and tried to rally the pups against their armoured master.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s a Bad Doggie!“ Hedgee urged, “He only wants to use you to do bad stuff.”

But some of the loyal pups were already leaving to go after their master.

Hedgee promised play time.

Sledgee promised walkies.

Zen promised ice cream!

Soon they had a fun little pack of rebels on their side ready to party. Their war cry held proudly aloft by YipYip the new company standard bearer read “R-mour Dog needs a BATH”



But this wasn’t R-mour Dog’s first rodeo. He deployed the doggie treats!



Tempting most of Hedgee’s rebel pups away to rejoin the pack. They sneakily locked the Water Gate behind them and changed the password leaving our heroes locked out.

There wasn’t a moment to lose. They had to get back to the imps to get a new password before it was too late.

Meanwhile back in the temple, R-mour Dog and his Doggy Henchmen were taking up positions for the fight, taking cover behind a barricade of barrels and junk while the maintenance pups fixed the damaged Hypno-Ray.



The imps agreed there was no time for formalities so they just let Hedgee and his friends (including Ruff and Yip Yip the only two remaining rebel pups) use the back door into the Water Temple. Sledgee slammed another door off its hinges and they used it as a makeshift bridge to get over to the action.



The beast was enduring a battery of lasers and had turned the place upside down throwing back at the pups the wreckage of their former base of operations. Even the milliasaurs were getting in on the action in support of their giant beast friend.



But R-mour Dog’s repair crew had fixed his hypnotic machine and he was readying to try his plan one more time.

But Hedgee had other plans. “Zen! Use a flame spell on those fuel barrels we need a distraction!”



With an Alakazam there were flame spooks loosed on the unsuspecting Doggy Henchmen. R-mour Dog had to wade in used his big robo-fist to handle the hot horrors. In the confusion Hedgee grabbed the Hypno-Ray.

“You don’t like to go up to the town!” He told the beast, directing the beams of hypnotic waves toward it. “You’re happy just to stay here where you can eat fish with your friends.” The beast put down the barrel it was wielding and looked around for a tasty fish or a friendly milliasaur. Hedgee’s plan was working.

“Yeah! And R-mour Dog needs a bath!” added YipYip.

The impressionable beast apparently agreed and it picked up the armoured hound and dumped him unceremoniously into the water.



Sinking under the weight of his heavy armour the miserable mutt scrambled up onto a floating door and bobbed slowly down the stream past all his assembled pups who all howled with laughter.

The Beast wasn’t so angry any more, if anything it seemed much happier and just wanted to collect fish from the stream that had been stunned in the blast when the barrels blew up.

“That looks like a job well done to me.” Concluded Hedgee. “Just one more thing, Sledgee if you please?”

He presented the big Hypno-Ray as a choice punching bag and Sledgee gave the device a great OneTwo punch right off the pavement and into the water. That would put an end to it.

The only thing left to do was party with the pups!



~: The End :~

Crowe, that was a pure delight!

Thanks for taking us along for Hedgee, Sledgee, and Zen's adventures. It's great that one of your kids wanted to DM.

What a fun quest. Hedgie and Sledgie for the win!

Loved it, absolutely brilliant fun!

Awesome quest! Full of twists and turns!

Glad everyone enjoyed the adventure. It was a great wee game and very encouraging that Hedgee hasn’t been forgotten about while the Orks and the 40k universe is starting to edge their way in.

Next few games will be over on our Tonk blog where we’re hoping to kick off an 8 Tonk Knockout Tournament

8 Contenders will battle it out to be crowned the King of the Tonks.


(As soon as we get enough sponsors that is)

Great stuff theCrowe.

Cheers,

CB

If anyone Is playing TACTICUS we’d love you to join our guild named Hungry Hedgeehogs.

Hello once again folks. This summer my creative director and I have an ambitious project planned. A skirmish game of our own making called MINECARTS & MOLETROLLS.

Where treasure hunting dwarves battle hoards of thieving goblins in a subterranean playground of speeding Minecarts and terrifying Moletrolls.

The collection of minis is growing. With a rather large influx of green skins thanks to our very own gobert.


And work on the board has begun.



As well as production of the Minecarts themselves.


With sooooo much work still to undertake not the least of which will be a rule-set and some wild scenarios I hope you’ll all join us as we delve deep on this one and make it a game to remember.

Color me intrigued!

And of course Minecarts need wheels. I used one of the old wheels from gobert the Tonk engine and am setting about casting 24 of them in resin.



Amongst other things.


And while those set, we’ve been busy in the garage bulking out the board with some sticks.


Looks like garbage but you’ll just have to trust me for now.

Love this thread. Can't wait to see what you put together!

Cheers Skinf, you too KC.

Production has ramped up as the boy’s exams are done and the homework/revision load is off for the time being.

We have been casting wheels galore and gems to mine.



And with expanding foam as my rocky underground cavernous texture of choice the board is progressing too.

Oh wow, that terrain is going to be a lot more detailed than I anticipated! Lookin' good!

This already looks like it’s going to be amazing!

That is serious progress on the mines.
Makes me want to dust off and resume work on my dawrf project.
Can't wait to see it all painted up.

Wow, impressive progress already. And I agree with KidCthulhu about the board. It's looking like a diorama rather than a typical board game board

Thanks guys, I’m keen to see it all painted up too. Mostly because that means it’ll be largely built by then.

It feels like Slow progress because there’s so much still to do.

I’ve been casting loads of objective items. Emeralds are the aim of the game so this big crystal formations are the main objective. And the smaller rock stacks are secondary gem mining opportunities. There will also be gear stashes. That in the latex mould is an old Mordheim ladder. Gonna need lots of those.


Also needing lots of Minecart rail sleepers. Finally using up my 25 year old stash of balsa wood.

And with a third can of expanding foam on the rip the board is really starting to come together.

I’m only realising now that the lower left quadrant is upside down. I was in a hurry to snap this one earlier. Nevermind, you get the idea.

I’m mixing up some grey paint with a bit of grout and tile cement and crushed slate for a thick layer of rocky rubble to cover the lot. But I need to maybe mark out some bonus spots and other features first. It’s a bit of a faff, this.

Resin casting! That's like seeing a unicorn these days.
Nice work.

Yeah TG, it’s 2024 and I haven’t invested in a 3D printer yet. I’m like the dad-rock of hobby gaming.

Anywho, the products of my resin casting labours.

A bunch of objectives on little hex-bases ready for priming. Some “Emerald crystals” some Mining Points and some Equipment caches.

Then I’ve also been working on these tonight.

Loads but sadly probably not enough balsa wood sleepers to track out the whole board, but I’ll see how far we get. Think I need to order more wood in. And then the tracks themselves… I need flat steel wire or maybe silver cable ties would do the trick. Not sure yet.

Quite a spread! Going to be impressive when its finished!

Thanks Vej, I certainly hope so.

Todays progress has been a painty one.

The whole board got a liberal slathering of grey wall paint with a heap of tile cement and gravel in for good measure. Took ages and the wife is not impressed.

Here’s an idea of what I have in mind.
River cuts through the thing with waterfall and plunge pool at the top and a little dock down at the bottom on the other side of the platform. Minecart tracks with a draw bridge and a stone bridge over the river. A tunnel goes right through the back part joining up the two low l-road tracks. There’s a couple of turn-tables too. Some goblin caves, a rickety bridge and a watchtower.
And I also made a start on the stone bridge.

This sounds like a fun project! The board is coming together nicely, and it looks to be quite sizeable. Glad to see the Orcs made it over and have settled in nicely with the rest of the horde!

Progress over the weekend included painting up all the objective markers.

And work has begun on our first Mole Troll.

This sad old Skull Pass troll will be getting the putty treatment to turn him Moley.

An early sculpt on this guy has me a bit concerned.

I don’t really like where he’s going but we’ll see where another layer of putty ends up.

Obviously, its' your mini, but I kinda like him. Very "Fantastic Mr Fox" or tim burton styled. Granted, harder to see how the fur blends with the color difference. Either way look forward to seeing it!

Thanks Vejut, I’ll come back to him soon. (I have to for the monthly challenge!)

In the meantime I’ve been busy building terrain bits.

An improvised “Goblin watchtower”, the stone bridge got some blending in stone paint and the goblins built a rickety wooden ropey log bridge.

It’s starting to come together nicely now. We set up a bit of the board with the new bridge and some objectives for a bit of a “proof of concept” shoot.




It’s starting to look really exciting! I just really need to get to work on the railway tracks.

Definitely looking interesting so far!

Tonight’s additions have included a launching point for the ball of death which can be trundled down after luckless minecarts, a goblin pit ‘o deff, for tossing unfortunate bearded victims into, and two highly engineered minetrack turntables (sans track because I haven’t got the wire for it yet)

Wow, you've been busy. Minecarts and Moletrolls is looking amazing!

Cheers Syro_ we certainly hope it will be. Still lots of work to do but it’s great to see it all coming together and starting to look like a real gaming table.

Especially after we got all the railway sleepers laid.

Just about had enough of them too!

This looks brilliant. I want to buy it already!

Wonderful theCrowe

Cheers,

CB

Thanks guys. It’s getting really close to complete now and really looking exciting. What we need is rules though. And some more painted dwarf minis.

It’s been a busy week and progress has been continuing apace.

The waterfall has been constructed with cling film and glue. I still need to paint up the river a bit but already it’s looking very nice.


Then I’ve made a stone ruin, a wooden watchtower and “The Fools Well”

And getting back to the name of the game, sculpting on this one is done.



Then one of the last builds on this project was the draw bridge.


Which has a nice bit of civic art on the underside for when it gets hoisted.


And in other news I’ve finally ordered some silver craft wire for the rails and that’ll be the next thing. Until that arrives I need to get this Mole Troll painted up.

It’s starting to look a lot more like Sculpting for the Kids around here now.


And it wouldn’t be a finished and painted sculpt around here if I didn’t have another one on the cork ready for putty.

Looking good! Is the new guy quadruped, or jist crouching? Looking forward to finding out!

It’s a mole on all fours this time.

The idea being that the goblins sometimes ride on these giant moles but when they feed them the magic emeralds it turns them into mole trolls.


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And very excitingly, the flat wire Minecart tracks are going on.

Just need to get some more superglue to do the rest.

Oh my fiery Goddess, this is AMAZING. I am beyond jealous as I can barely get BFE stuff painting in time!

That is looking awesome! So much imagination it’s unreal. The Mole Troll seems to have turned out well and his cousin is looking good already too.

Thanks so much both of you.
I’m excited that it’s all come together so well. And I’ve finally gotten all the tracks down so tonight I thought it was time for some showcase photos!


A top down view.


And the creative director sneaking into this one at the side there.



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Laden with treasures they emerge from the deep pursued by a mole-troll.


Upon the high rope bridge a fearsome Slayer takes on all comers.


The dwarf Minecart train rattles at speed through the steep gauntlet.



Loading up the pony wagon after a hard tour in the mines.


Dori the Bold dares the falls as the denizens of evil close in.



Snori keeps watch with his flintlock as the precious emeralds are mined.


The tricksters release a great boulder down the rickety rails as the dwarves flee with the bounty of the mountain.


There is one dwarf yet under the mountain who still draws breath!

Looks quite the adventure! Excellent work!

Looking great! I'm certain the creative director will seek a sequel!