Search
Review of Halfling Wizard, mtd & foot on amoured rooster
Introduction: The Assault Group's "HLM037: Halfling Wizard, mtd & foot on amoured rooster" is a multipiece 3-miniature set, of a halfling wizard, his mounted version, and his mount, an armored rooster. Each miniature consists of two pieces, a head and a body. The halfling wizard miniature set of two heads are of a wizard with a wizard's hat, and one with a cap. You can use either head with either body, and, with a less permanent glue, even swap heads. The mount has a separate head and a body.
This miniature set is part of The Assault Group's "Halfling Militia" miniatures line, and was originally Kickstarted in 2019. And, yes, The Assault Group has un-armored roosters as mounts, itself Kickstarted in 2015. The Assault Group also has Halflings on Ponies, as well as Dwarves on Land Griffons and armored ponies. You can buy these as individual sets, or entire units. You can find them on The Assault Group's website, under Shop > Fantasy > Dwarf Empire / Halfling Militia / Unit Builder Sets.
The painting level for these miniatures I'd say would be beginner to intermediate. You should have some experience with painting eyes. The roosters have feathers, and feathers can be tricky to paint because realistic features tend to be more difficult to paint. This review includes some painting tips, so that you can more easily paint these miniatures, including the feathers.
The miniatures themselves have a creative amount of detail. Despite the ludicrousness of halflings charging on irate chickens, the determination on the little lads and their feathered mounts is quite dedicated. The wizard not only carries a gnarled staff with orb at the end, but has a scroll tucked in his belt, and a small sack, perhaps of delicious seasonings in case his mount isn't up to par during lunchtime.
I do like the functionality of the miniatures for roleplaying and tabletop warfare. The standing and mounted bodies are different versions of each other, so you can use both versions for the same character. Similarly, if you paint the models with the same color scheme, they can still be played as wizards in the same regiment. The heads, though, are different. One has a wizard's hat and long sideburns. The other has a cap and goatee. If both bodies are for the same character, just swap heads between the two bodies and use a non-permanent adhesive, such as poster putty, to stick the heads to the bodies. Or maybe that wizard's wearing a magic cap of facial hair swapping.
Painting Guide: Since this miniature set is part of a military unit of several similar models, I went for a faster painting method, rather than a display-level one. You can speed up painting time by using colored primers followed by a wash. Washes I recommend are from the Army Painter Quickshade Ink Set, and Secret Weapon Miniature's grey Concrete and black Armor washes. (Buy the Secret Weapon Miniatures Stone wash at the same time if you have dungeon tiles that need to be quickly painted!) For the cloaks, I went with red because it's a striking color (and matched the rooster crown), and blue because blue is an easy color to paint, while still a color associated with wizards and magic. Pretty obviously, you can choose which colors you want for the clothing.
Primer and Wash: As said, colored primers followed by a wash can speed up painting. For the flesh (and you can use flesh as a primer coat for red areas), I used a flesh-colored primer, followed by Army Painter's Flesh Wash (you can also use brown Soft Tone). For the blue clothing, I used a blue-colored primer, followed by Army Painter's Blue Ink. For the cloak and belt-tie, I used a red-colored primer, followed by Army Painter's Red Ink. For white areas, such as the staff orb, I used a white-colored primer. For the armor and sword, I used a metallic primer, followed by Secret Weapon Miniatures Armor Wash. For the staff and other brown areas, as well as areas I would paint ochre, such as the scroll, I used a brown colored primer, followed by Army Painter's brown Soft Tone Ink (you can also use Strong Tone).
Heads and Hands: Eyes, Faces, and Hats: Eyes are quite known to be the most difficult part of the miniature to paint. Familiarize yourself with as many eye-painting techniques as possible, since one technique may be better to use in a certain situation (eg. repainting the eyes) than another. For the faces, I went with a lighter flesh tone, since halflings typically don't see battle combat like generic adventurers do. For the sideburns and goatee, use whatever colors you would like. I painted the hat blue, with blue highlights, and the cap brown. After cutting the heads from the metal sprue, the cap still needed to be filed down. But, instead of filing it down, I used plastic putty to build up little "peaks" (like meringue, if you ever made it), in the shape of a chicken head and painted it. It's the same idea as those knight you may have seen with helmets with lions or other crest animals on them. At the same time I painted the faces, I painted the hands, with Army Painter brown Soft Tone Ink as a controlled wash (pin washing) between the fingers, and additional flesh paint to highlight the fingers themselves.
Chicken: Feathers, Feet, and Armor: The most difficult objects to paint are ones that we unconsciously have a real-life comparison available to compare against. Eyes are a common example. For animals, fur and feathers are such items as well. The roosters are based on bantam roosters, so I recommend searching for images of bantam roosters to use as reference. Black, white, blonde, orange, and red, are common colors. For black, I washed in Army Painter Blue Ink (you may not really need it), then gently drybrushed in gray to show texture. White and blonde (painted with ochre), I washed in Secret Weapon Miniatures grey Concrete. Orange and red I washed with Army Painter Red Ink. The feathers look a little dirty, but acceptable enough for battle. (Washing with brown washes made the feathers too dirty, in my opinion.) For the beak and legs, I painted the claws in ochre, and beak and legs in dark yellow (eg. sand yellow), then washed with Army Painter brown Soft Tone ink. For the armor, I primed in a metallic primer, then washed with Secret Weapon Miniatures Armor Wash. On flat surfaces, the wash looks on the dirty side, but this is fine with battle-hardened roosters. I would imagine. Alternately, you can look up painting tutorials for metal (lighter shade on reflected surfaces, darker on not) if you want a cleaner look.
Staff: Paint the wooden part as you would paint wood. I used a brown primer washed with Army Painter brown Strong Tone. You can paint the gnarled part of the staff as you wish, such as wrapped with ochre straps. But I went with gold, starting with brown primer as an underpaint, Army Painter's Greedy Gold, Army Painter's Bright Gold, then a wash of Army Painter's brown Soft Tone. For the claw around the orb, I primed in white then painted the claws ochre, and outlined them with Army Painter Blue Ink. For the orb itself, I primed in white, painted in metallic white, then painted it with Tamiya Clear Blue. This suggests the orb to be a crystal ball or something like that. (I actually painted the orb first, but I think that was a mistake, since I used too much blue ink to outline the claws. Were I to paint the orb after inking, I could cover up the excess ink.)
Clothing and Miscellaneous: As said, for the clothing, I used a colored primer, followed by a wash of the same color. I then held the miniature next to a light source, and painted the lit areas with a lighter color and further shaded the darker areas with wash. (I use this trick when painting metallic areas, though not with these miniatures.) For brown items, such as the pouch, I used a brown primer then an Army Painter brown wash. For the ochre items, such as the scroll, I used a brown primer, then Army Painter ochre Skeletal Bone,
Conclusion: While generic fantasy adventures are pretty common miniatures, I've found humorous halfling mounts for an army quite difficult to find, much less ones with both standing and seated versions of their riders. The Assault Group's Halfling Militia, including its Halfling Wizard, should fill this admittedly niche void, at least assuming the chickens can survive lunch.
This miniature set is part of The Assault Group's "Halfling Militia" miniatures line, and was originally Kickstarted in 2019. And, yes, The Assault Group has un-armored roosters as mounts, itself Kickstarted in 2015. The Assault Group also has Halflings on Ponies, as well as Dwarves on Land Griffons and armored ponies. You can buy these as individual sets, or entire units. You can find them on The Assault Group's website, under Shop > Fantasy > Dwarf Empire / Halfling Militia / Unit Builder Sets.
The painting level for these miniatures I'd say would be beginner to intermediate. You should have some experience with painting eyes. The roosters have feathers, and feathers can be tricky to paint because realistic features tend to be more difficult to paint. This review includes some painting tips, so that you can more easily paint these miniatures, including the feathers.
The miniatures themselves have a creative amount of detail. Despite the ludicrousness of halflings charging on irate chickens, the determination on the little lads and their feathered mounts is quite dedicated. The wizard not only carries a gnarled staff with orb at the end, but has a scroll tucked in his belt, and a small sack, perhaps of delicious seasonings in case his mount isn't up to par during lunchtime.
I do like the functionality of the miniatures for roleplaying and tabletop warfare. The standing and mounted bodies are different versions of each other, so you can use both versions for the same character. Similarly, if you paint the models with the same color scheme, they can still be played as wizards in the same regiment. The heads, though, are different. One has a wizard's hat and long sideburns. The other has a cap and goatee. If both bodies are for the same character, just swap heads between the two bodies and use a non-permanent adhesive, such as poster putty, to stick the heads to the bodies. Or maybe that wizard's wearing a magic cap of facial hair swapping.
Painting Guide: Since this miniature set is part of a military unit of several similar models, I went for a faster painting method, rather than a display-level one. You can speed up painting time by using colored primers followed by a wash. Washes I recommend are from the Army Painter Quickshade Ink Set, and Secret Weapon Miniature's grey Concrete and black Armor washes. (Buy the Secret Weapon Miniatures Stone wash at the same time if you have dungeon tiles that need to be quickly painted!) For the cloaks, I went with red because it's a striking color (and matched the rooster crown), and blue because blue is an easy color to paint, while still a color associated with wizards and magic. Pretty obviously, you can choose which colors you want for the clothing.
Primer and Wash: As said, colored primers followed by a wash can speed up painting. For the flesh (and you can use flesh as a primer coat for red areas), I used a flesh-colored primer, followed by Army Painter's Flesh Wash (you can also use brown Soft Tone). For the blue clothing, I used a blue-colored primer, followed by Army Painter's Blue Ink. For the cloak and belt-tie, I used a red-colored primer, followed by Army Painter's Red Ink. For white areas, such as the staff orb, I used a white-colored primer. For the armor and sword, I used a metallic primer, followed by Secret Weapon Miniatures Armor Wash. For the staff and other brown areas, as well as areas I would paint ochre, such as the scroll, I used a brown colored primer, followed by Army Painter's brown Soft Tone Ink (you can also use Strong Tone).
Heads and Hands: Eyes, Faces, and Hats: Eyes are quite known to be the most difficult part of the miniature to paint. Familiarize yourself with as many eye-painting techniques as possible, since one technique may be better to use in a certain situation (eg. repainting the eyes) than another. For the faces, I went with a lighter flesh tone, since halflings typically don't see battle combat like generic adventurers do. For the sideburns and goatee, use whatever colors you would like. I painted the hat blue, with blue highlights, and the cap brown. After cutting the heads from the metal sprue, the cap still needed to be filed down. But, instead of filing it down, I used plastic putty to build up little "peaks" (like meringue, if you ever made it), in the shape of a chicken head and painted it. It's the same idea as those knight you may have seen with helmets with lions or other crest animals on them. At the same time I painted the faces, I painted the hands, with Army Painter brown Soft Tone Ink as a controlled wash (pin washing) between the fingers, and additional flesh paint to highlight the fingers themselves.
Chicken: Feathers, Feet, and Armor: The most difficult objects to paint are ones that we unconsciously have a real-life comparison available to compare against. Eyes are a common example. For animals, fur and feathers are such items as well. The roosters are based on bantam roosters, so I recommend searching for images of bantam roosters to use as reference. Black, white, blonde, orange, and red, are common colors. For black, I washed in Army Painter Blue Ink (you may not really need it), then gently drybrushed in gray to show texture. White and blonde (painted with ochre), I washed in Secret Weapon Miniatures grey Concrete. Orange and red I washed with Army Painter Red Ink. The feathers look a little dirty, but acceptable enough for battle. (Washing with brown washes made the feathers too dirty, in my opinion.) For the beak and legs, I painted the claws in ochre, and beak and legs in dark yellow (eg. sand yellow), then washed with Army Painter brown Soft Tone ink. For the armor, I primed in a metallic primer, then washed with Secret Weapon Miniatures Armor Wash. On flat surfaces, the wash looks on the dirty side, but this is fine with battle-hardened roosters. I would imagine. Alternately, you can look up painting tutorials for metal (lighter shade on reflected surfaces, darker on not) if you want a cleaner look.
Staff: Paint the wooden part as you would paint wood. I used a brown primer washed with Army Painter brown Strong Tone. You can paint the gnarled part of the staff as you wish, such as wrapped with ochre straps. But I went with gold, starting with brown primer as an underpaint, Army Painter's Greedy Gold, Army Painter's Bright Gold, then a wash of Army Painter's brown Soft Tone. For the claw around the orb, I primed in white then painted the claws ochre, and outlined them with Army Painter Blue Ink. For the orb itself, I primed in white, painted in metallic white, then painted it with Tamiya Clear Blue. This suggests the orb to be a crystal ball or something like that. (I actually painted the orb first, but I think that was a mistake, since I used too much blue ink to outline the claws. Were I to paint the orb after inking, I could cover up the excess ink.)
Clothing and Miscellaneous: As said, for the clothing, I used a colored primer, followed by a wash of the same color. I then held the miniature next to a light source, and painted the lit areas with a lighter color and further shaded the darker areas with wash. (I use this trick when painting metallic areas, though not with these miniatures.) For brown items, such as the pouch, I used a brown primer then an Army Painter brown wash. For the ochre items, such as the scroll, I used a brown primer, then Army Painter ochre Skeletal Bone,
Conclusion: While generic fantasy adventures are pretty common miniatures, I've found humorous halfling mounts for an army quite difficult to find, much less ones with both standing and seated versions of their riders. The Assault Group's Halfling Militia, including its Halfling Wizard, should fill this admittedly niche void, at least assuming the chickens can survive lunch.
