Where did July go?

Well I have literally a few hours to get a blog post in to keep up my 'atleast once a month' streak. This wasn't intentional from the start, but I might aswell keep it going. If this was a blog about getting schmammered at bars though, we may have had more posts in the last month.

I haven't got much painting done since finishing the Skorne (which still isn't quite finished), but I've done lots of thinking about painting. And a bit of buying things to paint…

Dystopian Wars is creeping slowly towards the painting table. I've been doing research into Imperial Japanese Navy ships, printing out some blazing sun flags, and buying a couple last pieces to give me a 1500point force (including an awesome squid). Maybe by the end of the year I'll put base colours on…

I bought some Farrow, bringing my Warmahordes faction total to 7, and my painted ratio down. But, they're bad-ass mechanical pigs, so it's a win. Again it'll be awhile before these see paint, as I'll be buying the units slowly.

I 'spose the next painting table inductees will be some more Dwarfs! I finally bought some units for them (Max Highshields and Forgeguard) and with the release General Ossrum in the new Warmachine book, it should provide some cool new dynamics to the dwarves play style I'm used to. I should be able to pick up the General while I'm at PAX, along with the Iron Kingdoms RPG rulebook. Looking forward to campaign of that, and looks like I might be Dungeon/Game mastering it.

Oh yea, I'm going to PAX in a month, so there'll be a post about that at some point after.

I've also joined a rock band. Static Era. Had two jams so far and it's been pretty fun. Getting straight into things and recording a music video this weekend. Will be a learning experience for me.

That's all 'till next month. To the bar!!! *Ehem* I mean, to the painting table!… yeah…

-V-

Jade Skorne: Part 2

This past weekend was NiCon, the annual Warmachine Teams event. Chris, Sean and myself teamed up once again under a new name (Sticks, Stones & Bones) and with Hordes this time. 

It was pretty fun. Played 5 good games, met some new players and faced off against some return customers. I went 2/5 for the weekend, but with 2 of the loses being really close it felt better than the score reflects. I was generously awarded best painted, but there were a number of armies it could have gone too. Was nice to get some acknowledgement for all the effort though.

No sleep + Thinking = Hand must be on chin alot.

I spent just over 2 weeks getting these guys done. I really needed to start 2 weeks earlier so I could've got the Immortals and Guardians done too, and not had to have got lest than 6 hours sleep most nights (2.5 on the night before the tourney, but who's counting?…) The scheme went through a few revisions, but I think I got it right in the end. I think I'll go back and improve the Gems at some point, kinda phoned those in at 5am…

Zaal

And his girlfriends. Looking forward to punishing some Gargantuans...

Titan Gladiator

Cyclops Brute

Praetorian Swordsmen

Swordsmen UA

Next week I'll try have the statues done and do a nice big army photo.

Next project? Hmmm...

-V-

Jade Skorne: Part 1

I've slowly been amassing a 35point Skorne army. A tier 3 Zaal list to be exact. The lists debut will be Nicon, a teams tournament in June.

This past weekend I decided it was high time to settle on a colour scheme. My colour scheme was always gonna be based on what would look good on the Immortals. I toyed with the idea of many different stone colours; Obsidian, Sandstone, Concrete, Terracotta, etc. But I think I've finally decided on Jade. Or rather, a 'green stone', 'cause turns out Jade has a distinct colour that I haven't managed to acheive. None the less, I'm happy with the green I have found and it's quick to paint.

(Yes, he has no arms. They were used to convert another swordsmen.)

That part that isn't quick is the gold. 4 layers going on there, so I may have to revise that method. Or just suck it up and do it. There is only 2 months-ish...

C&C welcome. Not too late to change stuff. Still have to base and undercoat the whole lot before I commit.

-V-

P.S. Congrats to the Haught family on their new addition!

Equinox 2012

This past weekend was Equinox 2012, a tournament with all the major systems. I of course entered the Warmachine 35point event. You can head over to http://www.thrallblacks.com/ to check out all the details and some photos. The only photo I bothered to take was Gorten getting munched by a Carnivean...

Chris Baker ran a great event with awesome terrain and prizes. Had 7 really fun games and even managed to win 3 of them. Obviously not the best result but better than I was hoping! I walked away with some tokens, some foam trays and a sweet Thrallblacks beer glass!

As you can see we did indeed get my t-shirt design printed. A few of the other entrants now have them as well as Chris, Sean and I.

Before the event (literally just before the event...) I got these dudes finished for my list.

Gun Mages with Captain

And my Reinholdt proxy (from Malifaux) which people really liked.

James and I tried out using printed backgrounds for photos and they seemed to have turned out better than just plain white. I retook photos of Riardon Immerfel and entered him into the Steve Dean painting competition (www.steve-dean.co.uk)

Now it's onto planning what to take to NatCon in a few weeks. I need to come up with a fun 25point Highlander list using stuff I already own. It'll no doubt involve some painting. MacBain perhaps? Oh sorry... MACBAIN! perhaps?

-V-

Iron Sports

Inspired by this:

And all the other ones I've seen, I decided to whip up one for the Iron Kingdoms/Warmachine.

Undecided on the font, or if it should say Warmachine instead, or nothing at all. Could make a cool t-shirt some day...

No copyright infringement intended. Don't sue me PP...

-V-

Lawman Posse

My starting posse is complete!

Introducing:

Deputy Hank Stubbs

Deputy Tommy Schumacher

And the Vigilantes:

Bill Masterson

Charlie Starr

and Fred Dalton a.k.a Fire Belly Fred!

And you've already met Sheriff Edel Wilhelm.

We got some MDF laser cut old west buildings from Gamecraft miniatures, so I'll take WIP shots when I start on those. We're gonna have quite the town when we're finished.

Next painting project is a unit of Gun-mages for Warmachine, in prep for Equinox in march. More on that later.

-V-

New Sheriff in town

Finished this dude last night, in prep for some Old West games this afternoon.

I think I wanted my Sheriff and 2 deputies to be quite bright in their colour schemes, to stand out from the rest of the old west rabble. The scarf provided a chance to add some colour to the mostly blue and grey.

The deputies have suits on, so will probably go for a Pinkerton men look. Maybe one in dark purple, and the other in pale turquoise. Might even try pinstripes. The Vigilantes will be mostly brown and blacks.

Only 8 more to go!

-V-

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-