dispatches from terra incognita

Category: Vintage

Catching Up: Empires

While immersed in my 15mm craze years ago, the Demonworld line of fantasy miniatures were customarily extolled. In researching them, I also discovered the Hobby Products campaign game Empires (a knockoff of GWs Mighty Empires). Anyway, I have yet to acquire any Demonworld miniatures, but I did get the Empires box set, from eBay, I think.

The box set comes with two “starter” miniatures, a human and orc capital city.


The included game board is heavy cardstock and there are card “counters” one could use for minis. At some point in my research on the game, and acquiring resources for campaign games, I downloaded pdfs of this and a few other Empires boards. They are somewhat modular, and thus can be combined.

As with Armada, and as will become a running theme, I haven’t played these rules either. The book is a dry read; perhaps the game would be fun. I am planning soon to begin collecting Demonworld minis before they get discontinued.

At Long Last …

Whoops! There went a year.

I was busy painting but not posting for the entire duration of 2022. I do hope to motivate myself to share some of my progress in 2023.

I shall begin with a major accomplishment — Warhammer 7th edition Battle for Skull Pass. I got this one when it came out in 2006 or so. It sat in my closet for years, until I underwent a conversion in mid-2019 and began painting.

At long last, I have finished it all! Here is the back of the box, which has served as my painting guide for all these years:

And, here are my armies. Forgive the photos; the tabletop seems to have washed out all of the colors.

I somehow acquired one extra Night Goblin spearman and an unfortunate fellow who couldn’t dodge the cannonball. I don’t recall if they came with the set, or I got them from another source.

As the goblins are my favorite, I’ve augmented their forces through the years. Here’s an additional regiment of Stabbas:

some Fanatics:

Squigs and their herders

Forest Goblins of varying provenance

And orcs from the 6th Edition starter set I bought on eBay, in early 2020

I’ve been endeavoring to complete some of my innumerable projects — it does feel good to have the Skull Pass set finished.

Beefing Up the Band

Your Humble Correspondent has been suitably prolific on the hobby front, but not sufficiently strict about documentation. I have much to share.

Whilst in quest of identification of my Royal Marine Band, I found an Ebay listing for a quite reasonably priced partial set — specifically, trumpets and a bass drum, which would complement my fellows nicely. Purchased!

Well, even I could tell they were not from the exact band as mine, but my eyes weren’t yet keen enough to notice those bases …

These fellows, it turns out, are of a much later vintage — circa the 1990’s, apparently. Here they are with pre-war counterparts:

These modern kids are more static — their arms are cast in position, rather than (more-or-less uselessly) articulated. I haven’t as yet had an occasion to parade them ensemble; I’m sure they’ll know many of the same tunes.

On a subsequent visit to the same vintage shop where I found my original band, I fulfilled a long-standing quest for a type case.

I’ve passed on many of these, but this one was in especially excellent condition. My initial thought was to display it turned vertically with 28mm figures. The slots proved too short, alas, so Plan B was for my VSF 15s. Suddenly, however, inspiration struck!

I had been wondering how to best display my marching Britain’s. I would leave the case horizontal (it already had handy hangers on the back to mount it on the wall this way) and give the band — and the rest of my nascent collection — the pride of place they deserve.

In time, I look forward to completing this case and purchasing a second to fill …

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