GW Grave Guard WIP 1

Well I picked up these plastic grave guard from the local game store today. Got em for about $22.00 with a bit of a discount. They are really nice figures but not for the novice. They are quite fiddly to put together but the results are quite a bit nicer than most of GWs plastic sets. I got these guys for my B.M.A.P. pulp adventure game but I'm doing them up so I can use them later in a Vampire Counts army.

It took me a few hours to assemble them although I was watching movies and even playing World of Warcraft at the time. I need to have these guys and a few other minis done by the end of this week for a B.M.A.P. game so I'm going to use the combination basecote/wash/drybrush/highlight technique I used on the cultist from Pulp Figures that I posted in my last post. With any luck I'll be done with them by Monday night at the latest.

Just another note. The blue stuff on their bases is light card stock I cut from a 12 pack of soda. I often use it for making a broken tile floor.

La Confrérie de La Mort Rouge

Well I actually did a project in the last few days pretty much start to finish. I painted up 10 Cultist from Bob Murch's Pulp Figures line as La Confrérie de La Mort Rouge (The Brotherhood of the Red Death) for my B.M.A.P. pulp game. These are pretty rushed paint jobs but I like the way they came out.

No Battle Reports?

Well there has been a distinct lack of battle reports on my blog of late. In fact the last actual battle report I wrote was way back in March. This is mostly due to the fact that I've not been playing a lot of miniature games. I've been playing quite a few role playing games and using miniatures for them but I haven't been playing many miniature games. It's harder to write rpg reports than miniature game reports because there is usually much more information and not as much miniature use. I tend to use miniatures for combat in RPGs but I don't always have combat in my game sessions and also we sometimes use battle maps or dry erase maps instead of terrain and while that's ok for gameing it hardly seems worth taking pictures and posting them.

Hopefully that will change soon. I'm going to start running some Pulp miniature adventure games using the Savage Worlds rules and nice terrain. I'm pretty well adjusted to my new home and I have most of my miniature and terrain stuff unpacked and sorted out so hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of making terrain for nice battle reports.

With any luck I'll have some kind of game report up in the next week.

Freikorps Squad 2

Well I started working on my 2nd squad for my German Freikorps army. I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out. I'm about 89% done with the base colors and I should have the wash on by the end of the day. I think they will look good next to my finished unit. After this I have a light assault unit and a Maxim machine gun unit to finish. I'd like to have one more regular squad and one or two more machine gun squads then I'd like to get some armored cars and tanks together for them as well as some trucks and light artilery. I think I'm going to go with mostly captured Mark IVs and Whippits for tanks and some captured armored cars as well.

Sister Sisters.

Well I'm trying to get my Sisters of Battle.... er.... um..... Witch Hunters army done to play 40k at the local shops and such because that's pretty much all anyone plays. I've had most of these models for years but I've added a few recently. These Sisters are from the Order of the Iron Rose my own custom convent. So far they are comming along. At the rate I'm going I'll have about 1000 points done in a couple weeks. Now if I could only get that motivated on my other projects. Sadly it's a lot easier to stay motivated when you know you can actually find people to play the game with than when your trying to get people interested in something new or different.

Here's the Cannoness. She's nearly done. I'm going for a character leve table top look on this fig. Nothing special. In fact I'm trying to paint my army too a "good" standard and intentionally trying not to spend too much time on them. I need to scale back on the quality for bigger projects.

Here's my old Mark I Immolater. I decided to use the green that I'm using on the inside of the sister's tabbards as my main tank color. I think it looks snazzy. This tank will get a umber wash and highlights and details of course.

Squad Alpha is tabletop ready. I think I did an ok job matching the armor though it's not perfect. The new models are what most of my army will look like anyway. They are the ones with the static grass. Eventually I'll re-work the bases on the older models and give them a bit more highlighting but for now that's going to have to wait.

Squad Beta is comming along. I've only got a few hours in them so far. When painting squads I try to start with the big areas then work to the smaller areas that way the steps get shorter and shorter.

Oops!

Well I've decided to try and get back into 40K and since I already had a lot of Sisters of Battle I decided to start painting them up. My sisters are the army I collected but never painted up during 2nd edition so I still had a lot of them left over. I did have a convent name "Order of the Iron Rose" and I had painted a five sister squad and had half painted a squad of Seraphim. Now back in the day I used a lot of craft paints and these days I use mostly miniature paints. Anyway now the minimum squad size for battle sisters is 10 figs and not 5 so I needed to finish up this squad and paint another battle sister squad to get my army started. Problem is I decided to paint the spares while the five I had painted were sitting on the shelf in the other room. Well of course with no refference I got the armour way too bright.


Oops! Well I didn't expect an exact match but these are a full shade brighter. I use to make medieval armour with a guy who would say that the difference between a master and everyone else was that the master could fix his fuck ups. Now I wonder if I can fix this fuck up. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a wash. Hopefully that will get them close enough.

Pegasus Hobbies Gothic Church

Well I went down to my local FLGS today and picked up a Pegasus Hobbies Gothic City Buildings small set #2 or the Gothic Church as I like to call it. The retail price was $30.00 which is very good for a building of this size. As you can see Gordon got the box open right away and there are several parts.

Straight out of the box the most disappointing thing is the lack of instructions. In fact the instructions were a one side one sheet affair. Gordon can't understand it either.

The first thing we did was put together the parts that did have instructions. The flying buttresses, rose window, and roof arches. These went together easily. There are some chunky flash areas and some other bits that need to be trimmed up a bit but a big exacto is the only tool I used in the basic assembly.

Oddly enough the hardest bit to assemble were the doors although they were not all that hard. You want to set them up to swing out like this.

Here are the doors and walls. They go together fairly easily I wouldn't personally recommend gluing these parts until you at least dry fit the entire structure together first.

It's actually a bit tricky to put all the parts together and I strongly suggest you dry fit everything before you use any glue. Make sure everything is snug and take your time putting the thing together. The walls fit together via a tab and slot system which is really quite ingenious and there is some play in the whole structure which makes it easier to assemble. The tabs that show on the outside can be filled with the decorative elements that come with the kit or filled with putty or something. The only loose parts I had at this point were the flying buttresses. I'm going to be gluing mine together on the final assembly.

Anyway that's basic assemble of this kit. I'm really happy with it so far. I think I have fewer than three hours on the assemble and I was bumbling around a bit. I would say that this kit could go together in less than an hour if someone was really in a rush or they had some experiences with the other kits like it. I'll follow this up with final assembly and painting. With any luck I'll have a new building for my table by the end of the week!

Another New Studio

Well our last landlords here in Warrensburg apparently fell off the face of the planet so we had to move house unexpectedly. We managed to find a much larger rental property for only about $150.00 more than we were paying a month and we were paying very low rent there. It's a three bedroom house with a separate garage and a really big yard. Still moving cuts into painting and terrain making time not to mention game time. The studio is about 50% larger than the old studio but I couldn't get as much shelving into it as I could the last one due to the layout so I put a lot of my model kits and long term WIPs on my other two shelves out in the laundry room. I think it's going to work out pretty well and I don't feel so crowded in this room.

Here is the left side wall from the door. I managed to get two five tier shelves up. I still need to rearrange my shelves to get the most important projects in each room. There is quite a bit of finished terrain on these two shelves. Eventually I want to have only WIPs on these shelves but I don't have enough nice shelving in the living room to display it.

Here's my painting desk in the right wall. I've got a smaller five tier shelf in the corner because that's all that would fit there. My paint desk is still not in order but it is in place.

Here's a shot of the left hand corner behind the door. I have some more short shelves and as you can see there is a small closet in this room as well.

Ah yes and here's Gordon the studio gorilla reading my copy of Savage Worlds a game I haven't played yet but am dying to try. Gordon seems to like it anyway.

I've shown you what is and now you get to see what could be. This is the garage. The last people who rented this place apparently stole the garage door. They also stole the refrigerator and stove. I'm not sure why. Anyway we're trying to get the door replaced and I hope to get the garage re-wired since the old wiring has been cut. Pretty soon I hope to turn this into the uber terrain studio.

Technical Difficulties.

I've been having computer problems lately so I haven't been able to update anything. I think I've got things figured out so I should be able to add some new post soon. Stay Tuned.

Longest "Speed Paint" project ever.

So I've decided to do a Warhammer 40K army and the only I still have enough figures for is my Sister's of Battle army. I started collecting this army several years ago. I'm thinking at least nine years ago and perhaps longer. I painted up a five sister battle squad straight away because in their first incarnation the minimum squad size was five then I started painting these seraphim. I got everything done on them other than their hair, weapons, and other small details then let them sit on my shelf collecting dust because I decided I hated 3rd edition. So Wednesday night I pulled them out dusted them off and finished them up. My painting style has changed over the years but I think these gals came out as a good table top squad. They arn't very heavily highlighted or tightly detailed but they they do have enough contrast for army figs. For instance their armor is just one layer of drybrushing over black but it gave me the exact look I wanted for them. They are from the Order of the Iron Rose my own order and I wanted their armor to look like brushed iron. Now I need to try to keep the rest of the troops painted to this level and try not to over work them. Of course I plan to paint the characters to a higher level but I'm pretty happy with this level as a squad.

Gamer ADD

Howdy folks. Sorry about the lack of quality updates. I have been working on things. Too many things. In fact it's starting to look like a case of Gamer Attention Deficit Disorder. I have just way too many ideas and not enough time to work them all out. No amount of organization or planning seems to be helping me. As soon as I get stuck in on one project I get another "great idea" that diverts my attention and resources away from projects I should be working on. I hate it when this happens as it usually just causes me to have a lot of unfinished stuff laying around.

Games I'm currently involved in:

Shadowrun: Fortunately as a player and we aren't real miniatures heavy on the Shadowrun game. The GM has a bunch of the old Ral Partha Shadowrun minis in various stages of somewhat painted. I'm glad at least he's doing miniatures in some form because SR combat can get "interesting".

Serenity: I'm running this game and doing a ton of miniature projects for it but I'm starting to waver. I've only finished minis for about half the party and one of the PCs doesn't have a mini at all finished or not. I've still got a half painted fed squad and a pack of reavers that are still in their blisters. I have finished several NPC types but I'd say I still have 50-100 minis to finish for this project. The game is currently on hold until September due to schedule conflicts among the players.

BMAP: This is my family pulp adventure game and it's stalled due to the fact that I'm not ready to continue to the next scenario due to not having all the minis or terrain done yet. Moving house really hurt this campaign and our one non family member player now lives like 90 miles away. Hopefully I'll get back on this "soon"

Games I'm suppose to be working on:

Blackfeather: Another pulp adventure game set in the U.S. Only played one session of this game so far.

Star Wars Star Destroyer Liberty: I was suppose to start this Clone Wars era campaign over a month ago but I just can't get it together.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles: I'm suppose to be helping get a Warhammer league going at one of the local game shops but I'm not up on the current rules yet and my armies are still half packed up from the move.

Warhammer 40k: Never tell anyone you have enough minis to make an army for this game. They will immediately start pressuring you to join their 40k game group.

Games I really, really, really, want to play:

Sky Pirates: Still working slowly on a campaign that I plan to run spanning both "Weird Wars". I have planes and some minis but can't get a group interested yet. Probably a good thing due to other projects. This one will have to simmer on the back burner for a while I'm afraid. I'll certainly work on it but only a little at a time.

Santa Carlito Zombie Republic: A recent idea for a Zombie outbreak game I plan to set on the fictitious Caribbean island of Santa Carlito. I may even do this as a multi group campaign where each "team" can affect the story line.

Other game project ideas:

The Adventures of Jack Harrison: A pulp adventure featuring the Jack Harrison model by Reaper Miniatures. I plan to use only Reaper miniatures for this game and their RAGE engine for the rules. I plan to make it a convention game and hope to run it at Recruits Convention in Lee's Summit Missouri some time in the future.

Starfarers of Sol: A sci-fi setting based entirely on our own solar system without aliens.

Deadlands: I'd really like to play a Deadlands campaign.

Pirates: Yeah pirates.

Arthurian: I've had a number of abortative attempts at doing a rpg set in Arthurian England.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying: I keep buying the books but can't get people interested.

Mordheim/Necromunda: Yeah the two GW games I actually want to play but everyone else wants to play the money pit games.

Dry Brushing Update

I have started a unit of Dwarf Clansmen from the Warhammer Fantasy "Battle for Skull Pass" boxed set. I'll try to add some pics tonight but it's been a really busy week. I think they are going pretty well though.

August painting project "Speed Techniques"

Alright my July miniature a day project was a bit of a bust but I still finished quite a few more minis than I have on several previous months so it wasn't a total loss. Now I've decided to do another speed oriented project exploring the usefulness of various speed techniques I've encountered over the years. I'll try a different technique each week and I'll try for about five models per technique.

Dry Brushing
First up will be dry brushing. Now dry brushing is considered a very basic technique and it's often looked down on by contest and display painters but it can be a very good way to achieve quick and dramatic results. I will try to paint five models using entirely dry brushing as a means of highlighting and I will try to get the best results I can as quickly as possible.

Minwax Dip
I've never actually tried this technique but I've seen it used in several tutorials. Basically you block in the colors on a miniature then dip the mini in a pot of Minwax finish and shake off the excess paint. I think the trick to this technique is to use colors a shade or two brighter than you normally would to get the best results. I'm gonna give it a try anyway.

Emphasised Washes
This is a new technique I've never seen but it makes sense. I first heard of it on the Reaper forums in the speed painting section but the origional article was posted on Cool Mini or Not. I've not tried this one either so it will be a first. Here is the article.

Tanks and Trolls Wash and Highlight technique
I've been using this technique a lot lately although I think I've been taking it a bit further than the origional article. Still it's faster than doing different color washes for each color. I'm going to see if I can't cut back a bit and do some more like the origional article.

Miniature or more a day update.

Well sadly all good things must come to an end. I just can't keep up. I'm now four days behind and I had better quit before I burn myself out. I still managed to get quite a few minis done than I did last month and I may paint a few more by the 31st but I'm not going to push myself to get 31 done. I've just got too much going on between working full time and running a weekly game not to mention family time. Perhaps some day I'll be able to do it again and do better but right now is not the time.

Miniature or more a day 18

Well now I'm two days behind. Weekends are in reality the worst days to get minis done. I run my Serenity Campaign on Saturday and Sunday is usually housework day. Today however I went to a birthday party 15 miles out of town then make a 120 mile trip to take my mother, who was staying the weekend with us back home. I just managed to finish one mini over the entire weekend. Another Copplestone babe.

Miniature a day update

Well tonight things just didn't work out. I just had too many things to do after I got off work. I only managed to get to the wash stage but I'm going to go ahead and finish this mini up tonight and if I can finish it and another by tomorrow night then that's just going to have to do. I think I'm just going to see if I can manage to get 31 done by the end of the month.

Miniature a Day 17

Well I'm getting a bit burned out on the project which is ironic because my speed is getting better. Getting myself to sit down and paint every night is getting harder and there are other things I need and want to do. I'm still trying to stick with it until the end of the month but after that I'm going to have to do some terrain or something totally different for a couple weeks.

Here's a scavenger from Copplestone Castings Future Wars. He's begging to get written into a zombie game sometime in the future but for now he'll probably play the part of random gun toating NPC in my Serenity RPG.

Miniature a Day 16

Here's number 16. Another one barely under the wire. Couldn't quite manage to get it posted until after midnight. Sorry the photo is not so hot on this one. I don't have time to re-shoot it at this time though.

Miniature a Day 15

So here is my July 15th 11:59 pm miniature. Another Copplestone Casting Babe with Gun from my paint table with love.

Miniature a day update

I just finished tonights litterally at 11:59 on my clock. I'm still clear coating the mini and I won't be able to post it until later but I'm still on target even if only just barely.