I still think of the Lizardmen as “the new Warhammer army”, though ironically, the lore paints them as the oldest race in the Warhammer world. I’ll admit, I didn’t know anything about the old Slann armies, prior to Warhammer 5th edition’s release in 1996.

Back in the mid 90s, a friend of a friend had picked up 5th edition and I was fascinated with these “new guys”. I was a big Orc/Ork fan back then too. I obviously had a bit of a thing for green skin. I swiftly drew up plans to start collecting my own Lizardmen army.

This force was pulled out of a box in the attic recently, along with my Warhammer 40k Space Wolves. It took a good few years to build it, from what I can remember. One thing that sticks in my mind is how much fun I had painting them. Above is a Salamander and his ‘keepers’. I still love this mini.

The Lizardmen Saurus regiment were mainly made up of the plastic minis you got in 5th edition. I bought a box or two of them over time, and added in the metal command figures. It always used to frustrate me that command figures would sit more diagonally on the bases, like they were heading in a different direction from the rest of the gang.

Two or three of the plastic troops are missing their shields. Life’s tough in the attic.

The Kroxigors were two other minis I relished painting. I spent a bit of time on the bases, too. I used a varnish designed for Fimo clay, which made minis very shiny. But I figured this worked well on Lizardmen anyway. It certainly saved them from chipping when they spent a good couple of decades piled into a box.

This Lizardman Champion was a little damaged when I found the army. He had a snapped off arm (which I found, and fixed), and his base was missing too.

The Temple Guard were minis I enjoyed back in the day. These metal regiments you had to assemble by buying 2-3 in blister packs at a time were incredibly expensive to build. That’s probably why there’s only 8 of them here.

More of the Kroxigors, with some skink archers skulking in the background.

The bases were some form of clay (potentially Fimo, but possibly even window putty) with pieces of roughcasting stones pressed into them. I used to pick the stones off the wall of the house and get in trouble for it. What a bloody martyr.

These skink archers had a metal command group. The standard bearer is very top heavy. I never considered putting weights in the bases back then. He always fell over back then, and it turns out, he still does.

More Temple Guard. Looks like I used to enjoy painting colourful feathers.

Another fully metal regiment, Lizardmen skink javelin throwers. I painted the hero as an albino because I saw a few in White Dwarf. It probably could’ve gone another coat or three. The standard bearer here is one of the casualties of life in a box. His little standard is broken off and missing. At least it stops him falling over.

The Lizardmen army in all its glory – complete with one of the original pieces of terrain I made for them, courtesy of my Monster in My Pocket collection.

Lots of fond memories here, and the army is bigger than I remembered. I must give a respectful nod to childhood me for another fully painted force. The trade-off was an abject performance at school, but who needs school when you can play fully painted?

Despite this being an enjoyable trip down memory lane, much of this Lizardmen army was surplus to requirements. I stuck the majority of it on Ebay, and it looks like they’ve found a loving new general who’ll get them back on the battlefield!

Next up: My Childhood Warhammer Undead Warband

Nothing quite defeats the purpose of an attic clearout than a return to collecting and painting miniatures. I’d completely forgot about my old Space Wolves army until I unearthed them in a box beside some Commodore 64 games, and a bunch of Monster in My Pocket figures. Surely the most 90s find of all time!

These Space Wolves never got much game time back in the day, from what I can remember. As armies go, it’s more of a skirmish level force. But proudly fully painted, and all patiently bought with birthday and Christmas money over the span of a few years.

The paint job was a bit rough and ready, but worked fine enough when they were all lined up together, and not viewed too closely. Though they fought few battles, these Space Wolves sport one or two injuries from years of living in a box. A few weapons have been snapped off, and the banner pole of one of the Captains is broken too.

I used Space Wolves Grey for the coats on the marines themselves. The two Rhino tanks were done with a spray paint my friends dad had lying around. It saved precious paint, as well as time. Well done, childhood me!

I attempted some light kitbashing with the Rhinos, adding a skeleton on the front of one, and a wolves head on the front of the other. I’m not sure where I got the wolves head, but it was potentially one of my old Battlemasters miniatures.

I built the Rhinos a little wonky. The tracks on either side aren’t quite flush on the ground, so they rock a little. Almost like there’s a couple of Space Wolves having sex inside. You’d never catch the Ultramarines behaving in such a degenerate manner.

The Space Wolves “command” are an eclectic bunch. The Redemptor Kyrinov guy was a late edition to the force, if I remember correctly. The big terminator with the prosthetic leg, and the marine in very retro armour were mail order purchases from the back pages of White Dwarf.

As nostalgic a find as they were, these Space Wolves have now been moved on to pastures new. I stuck them up on Ebay and I was glad to see them find a new home for themselves. I’m sure they’re thirsty for battle after a long period cooling their heels in a dusty box!

Next up – My Warhammer Childood Lizardmen Army

I “played” Warhammer 4th edition as a kid. The one with the High Elf and Goblin armies. The box provided enough miniatures to form up several units, and I’m sure there were a few plastic green movement trays that came with it too.

For some reason though, we never seemed to use them. I’d play on my pal’s bedroom floor, and we’d move units one miniature at a time. I think the reason was essentially that we’d created loads of very small units in order to make the game seem “bigger”. Or for the armies to look like they had a bit more variety.

Anyway, fast forward 25 years, and a recent return to the hobby. Two games I’ve discovered and have really enjoyed are Open Combat and Kings of War.

Both take place in a medieval/fantasy setting, but one is a small scale skirmish, whilst the other is a grand, sweeping ‘rank and flank’ experience. KoW has all the elements that attracted me to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, back in the day.

I’ve been keen to base the figures I’ll use in Open Combat on round bases (I simply think it looks better, when viewed in isolation). However, I wanted to form up these same units into regiments, for Kings of War. The bottom line? I needed movement trays.

I thought I’d have a bash at making my own movement trays, because the regiments I wanted to form were all different shapes and sizes. To do this, I took a thick piece of card, some little wooden dowels cut to size, and (randomly), some wall filler to stick them down with. Use whatever you have to-hand, right?

I ended up making quite a few of these over the past few months.

I’ll then paint them green as a base layer, then coat with sand, then paint a second coat of green.

Some movement trays I’ve coated with flock, but the flock tends to be a bit messy and sheds like a permanently moulting dog.

These minis are far from finished, but here’s one of my movement trays, with the sand-based coating.

I did actually base a lot of miniatures on square bases before I got into Open Combat. The above units (GW chaos warriors, and Perry Miniatures knights) I glued down permanently onto these movement trays.

I did the same with these Perry Miniatures crossbowmen. You might see that I’ve filled them out a little too, using the wooden stake pieces from the box on every second base. On hindsight, I could’ve gone without the individual bases all together and just created a mini diorama on the movement tray.

So I tried it with these bowmen…

I was quite pleased with the result here.

However, I recently discovered that the simplest solution to getting movement trays of any shape or size was right here on my doorstep the whole time.

Warbases are a company who’re located very local to me, and I was fortunate to be invited over for a look round after reaching out to them.

There’s nothing movement tray-related that they don’t seem to do. The above photo shows five of their trays (all in various stages of completion), alongside my own home-made effort on the front right.

The ‘Infamy Mob’ one on the left is great for less organised regiments, like goblins, or zombies. The single line movement tray with the bowmen on it is perfect for archers of any type too.

The large tray at the back can be used to house square-based miniatures, or you could just chuck a load of round-based troops on there to create a mass mob.

Warbases movement trays are excellent, and ultra-cheap. The prices for these trays are all in the single figures.

They just need a lick of paint, and some sort of base (sand or flock), and they are table ready.

I’m happy enough with the movement trays I made myself, but to be honest, it simply isn’t worth my time, when you look at the cost and quality of the Warbases stuff. I’d much rather focus on painting miniatures, and actually getting a game in now and then!

September 2020 Update: Warbases Movement Trays

I’ve been working on my latest batch of Infamy Mob movement trays and wanted to share a few pictures.

The above shows 2 movement trays in different stages of completion.

Here’s one of my village militia units.

And here’s the other village militia.

I’m also using an Infamy Mob movement tray for Krell and some modern GW skeletons.

And for a gang of GW Chaos Marauders.

Next up, snotlings!

More snotlings, with a few goblins thrown in for good measure.

And finally, my goblin archer warband on a one row, six miniature movement tray.

As I said before, the Infamy Mob movement trays are perfect for units that wouldn’t look right being formed up into neat and organised rows. You can pick them up from Warbases. If you do – tell them Bedroom Battlefields sent you!*

So that’s my chat on movement trays, for the time being. Feel free to drop your own hot takes into the comments section, below.

*No affiliation at all here, incidentally. I just really like their stuff!

Next up: 8 Tips to Rekindle Your Miniature Painting Motivation

Oathsworn Miniatures are a company who produce wonderful anthropomorphic animal characters. These are sculpted predominantly for their flagship game Burrows & Badgers, but they fit nicely into any game with a fantasy setting. The miniatures work particularly well for skirmish games – I’m currently painting up a rabbit and hare warband for Open Combat.

In my post about recently returning to the tabletop miniature hobby, I talked about only being aware of Citadel Miniatures back in the day. And as much as I’m still fond of the Games Workshop range, it’s been a joy to discover companies like Oathsworn.

There’s a real charm to these little creatures. They have everything from Raven Mages and Shrew Pirates, to Mouse Burglars and Wildcat Hustlers.

As a kid, I was a massive fan of Brian Jacques’ Redwall novels, and the Oathsworn range reminds me a lot of that legendary series.

The company also has a great looking range of buildings and scenery available on their site. I’m a lover of tabletop terrain, and will definitely be looking to pick up some of this kit myself.

Furry Fanbase

Oathsworn Miniatures is based in the North East of England, and was started in 2013 by professional sculptors Michael and Jo Lovejoy. They initially launched the Burrows & Badgers range via Kickstarter in 2015. Recently, they returned to the platform securing over £36,000 to fund a new range of miniatures, including mice, cats, hares, ferrets, dogs.

The latest Kickstarter had 559 backers, and the Oathsworn Miniatures Facebook page has over 3000 fans. It’s clear to see that they’ve build a dedicated and enthusiastic fanbase around their beautiful sculpts. That’s not at all surprising, and I expect they’ll continue to grow from strength to strength.

Oathsworn Miniatures

I’ve not had the opportunity to dive into the ruleset of Burrows & Badgers yet, but it’s definitely on my radar.

As I’ve said already though, the miniatures can work in virtually any fantasy game setting. And building a warband of little animalfolk is a lot of fun.

If you’re purely into the painting and collecting too, then I’d urge you to treat yourself to a handful of Oathsworn miniatures. I’m not a confident or experienced painter, but I’ve been happy with what I’ve achieved so far with my hare and rabbit warriors. They’re extremely satisfying to paint, and I’ll certainly be getting more in the near future!