Lawmen posse, ASSEMBLE!

So my Black Scorpion figures did indeed arrive before the holidays. I managed to get them cleaned up straight away, but then getting drunk and scoffing food in Jesus' name got in the way. Now that's over, I assembled and based them!

I'm pretty happy to have got this done in just one afternoon,  especially since the Black Scorpion resin is a pain in the ass (more on that soon). 

To make my Sheriff and 2 deputies stand out alittle, I wanted to have them fully or partially standing on wooden planks, to resemble the decking around an old west building. Luckily I had some balsa strips lying around (intended for my Cryx pirates) that was a good size. The scale might not be accurate, but it looks pretty good to the eye. I made a frame and filled it partially with green stuff so the figures would have something sturdy to pin into.

For the ground work,  I wanted it to be fairly flat, like a well used town would be. I may ad tufts after painting to add a bit of texture and colour.

Now onto my gripes (personal opinion follows): The new resin Black Scorpion is using is scheiße haus. Most of the gun barrels were snapped, one in 2 places. It took forever to clean up, and bubbles needed to be filled. One of the barrels was bent. Etc, etc. I hope resin isn't the new thing, 'cause in terms of the customer, it's worse quality and no cheaper. They say the detail is better but I haven't seen it. Games Worshops Fail-cast does seem to have very crisp detail, but I'd still take a metal figure any day, unless I was planning to enter Golden Demon and willing to put in the effort to fix the flaws.

Despite that, I'm really looking forward to painting this posse and getting some games in. I'll need to decide which Cowboy hat to wear…

-V-

Brandenburgers: Part 2

Long time no post. FlamesCon has been and gone. I've been meaning to post how my painting went but it didn't happen, and the Flames of War website has covered it pretty well. So instead, I'll just post some links.

The lead up to the event:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=2972

After the event:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3021

A neat video about FlamesCon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqs3_YpvHdg

And another specifically about the Iron Painter event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dARQiFmLngI&list=UUh8SouwQ46VGBbvTursaitA&index=3&feature=plcp

And lastly, the studio having a go at Raiding Aces:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=3080

Now to finish the trucks and the support options!

With X-mas almost here chances of posting again in 2011 are slim, but I'll still hopefully be getting some modelling done. There's my Cryx, Skorne, Han Solo, Brandenburgers, and maybe even some new US Shermans if they arrive from Malaysia.

But I'm most excited to start working on a posse for Legends of the Old West!

Chris ran me through a game a couple weeks ago, and I've since given his rule book a decent read, and ordered some figures from Black Scorpion miniatures, which should arrive this week.

Yee haw!

-V-

Rhulic 25 points

Finished the last 4 models to bring my Rhulic force up to 25 points. Really happy seeing the whole force done, and I'm gonna stick with 25 points for quite a while. Some time next year I'll buy 2 unitts to jump up to 35 points, but for now, I need a break from red.

Ogrun Bokur

  

Thor

Brun Cragback

Lug! (My favourite Warbeast in Privateers range I think.)

The completed force.

And I even managed to make a wall to use for Gortens Rock wall spell.

-V-

Brandenburgers: Part 1

This years Flames of War Late-war GT is going to be like a mini-convention, with display games, painting competitions, and events running into the evening on the Saturday. One of these events is a display painting challlenge involving some of the Battlefront staff.

We're all going to paint a small 500 point raiding force from Burning Empires in preparation for raiding aces. The challenge is to finish the force in 24 hours. The figures can be assembled and undercoated before hand (Luckily!).

I've chosen to do a German Brandenburger force, mostly because I think the DAK figures are some of our nicest but I won't find the time to do a full DAK force. And they get captured Crusaders! The enemy disguises rule could also be fun to play, but I'll find that out later.

This is everything I have to get ready before the event (19 Nov).

HQ, and 2 combat platoons (one with disguises) all with trucks gives me 500 points. I'm also going to paint some HMGs at the same time since it's only a few more things and I'll need them for the next point level. The crusaders and some AA half tracks will get done later.

I'll post pics in the week before the event once they're all assembled and undercoated, and then after the event weekend to show off my speed painting skills... hmmm.

-V-

Guardcon

GuardCon was this weekend, and it was pretty damn fun. Was very relaxed, not super competitive, and met some cool people. I even managed to get 2nd place! Out of 9 players though. Also got the fastest assassination with 15 minutes on turn 2. 

Being just Battleboxes really kept the playing field even, and players old and new to the tournament scene could have just as much success.

I went in aiming for 2 wins, but after day 1 when I realized Chris and I were both on 3 wins, It became my goal to beat him. Quite fittingly, we both won all our games on day 2 before facing off against each other in the last game. The decider!

We though I had it in the bag, until we realized we hadn't read the scenario properly. Then it was looking worse for me, having lost 2 Gunners already and being far from scoring my 3rd control point. So I had to move my Dwarfs stumpy legs and rush towards Chris's Khador, expecting to get charged by Sorsha but maybe not the Juggy. Turns out they both could charge Gorten (note to self: never forget Rock Wall!) and Gorten miraculously survived with 2 health boxes left, leaving me free to move a Gunner to score the final control point. A fitting end I'd say. 

Forgot to take my camera the first day but here are a couple poorly taken shots.

The hall, with WH Fantasy left, FOW middle stage, and WH40K right. Warmachine was out in the foyer, far less cramped.

Gorten and co. get attacked by rampant 2-headed wolves before pushing them away.

Lined up against Cygnar.

The final battle against Chris's Khador. (thanks to Brad for my bullet casing focus tokens.)

And A couple photos T.O. Chris B. managed to take.

First game of the day.

Trolls in the woods, tough to get to.

And I got a fancy coin!

In other news, Tampa Bay have made the playoffs, and the Warriors suck.

-V-

R. Immerfell

Another figure for our DnD campaign. The group doesn't know who he is yet so I'll add character details later.

I used the Epic Vlad figure from the Warmachine range. Had to do away with the crazy shoulder pads and sculpt some more fur around his neck, which gives him more of a wintery feel anyway. First time painting snow. Could improve it next time but it does make me want to do a winter army of sorts, especially with all the winter shots I've been taking at work.

-V-

Rhulic Battlegroup

Finally getting around to posting these. Finished them in preparation for a tournament, Battlebox only (but did and extra blaster at the same time). I'm really liking how the red came out, and already thinking how cool 2 units of Forge Guard would look in these colours...

The Battlegroup.

Gorten.

Driller.

Gunner 1.

Gunner 2.

Blaster 3.

Blaster 4.

The tournament is in a weeks time so will try post something about how I do. 2 wins across the weekend is my goal.

-V-

Morituri

A group of us at work started playing D&D 4E earlier this year. We started out with pre-written adventures with Sean as DM. After a while Sean decided to create his own world (as he does) for us to start new characters in, with more chance for character development.

I really got into making a character. Not just the stats, but a history and image. He's goes by the name Morituri (although the others have appropriately been calling him 'The Shadow') and he's an Assassin. I can't reveal his history yet, as it is still a mystery to the other characters in our campaign. I can reveal aesthetics though!

I had fun drawing this. Have to point out that I cheated and used some existing D&D art as a base. It was just too perfect for my character.

And here's the figure I found and painted for him. It's from the Malifaux range.

We've just reached level 7 now, so it's time to start thinking about Paragon paths, and I've got some good ideas. I do enjoy having a secretive character. What is his real name? Why does he cover his face and use disguises? What was his life like before? What's with the purple sash around his thigh? What race is he?! All things the other characters will have to find out.

-V-

Dystopian colour tests

A while ago I ordered a Dystopian Wars fleet, along with 3 friends from work. We've only recently got around to having some games, and so far it's pretty fun. Just roll losts of dice and stuff blows up. Still working on learning the finer details but that'll come with time.

Anyway, it's about time I painted some ships! Or atleast think about it... I came up with this test scheme:

I haven't really done this type of planning before. Normally I just think of the colours in my head and dive right in. Since Spartan Games release images of thier new toys as 3D models, it's easy to overlay colours.

The downside to doing this is I spent ages changing colours back and forth, adding blazing suns all over it, purples, reds, browns, and then didn't like any of it. I'm still not completely happy with this scheme, but I'll think on it for a while. Definately liking the Khaki/Beige but can't work out how to get a secondary colour on there. My original thoughts of Khaki and Purple were based on the Blazing Sun uniform which has purple accents/sashes on it:

I could also go with red to match their flag. Maybe I should just paint them and live with how they turn out?

-V-

First post!

Hi all (Isn't it strange to type to everyone and no one at the same time?)

I've been meaning to get a blog going for a while, mostly to record my life; things I see, make and hear. Like most blogs out there I don't expect many people to view it, but it still should be good motivation to get some productive things done. I will try post semi-frequently but with no strict schedule, and if there's nothing interesting happening in my life for weeks, so be it.

I guess I should start on a high with something creative, although from someone else. A week or so ago I was searching the term 'Bad-ass Wallpaper' to find a new desktop background. I stumbled upon this guys work:

Olly Moss

His stuff is great. Often simple but super clever. And he seems to be a Robocop fan; what a winner. It's been too long since I've worked on stuff like his. I should find some t-shirt sites that are looking for designs. Although I need ideas first...

I'll try get something creative of my own up this week, but who knows, I'm new at this.

-V-