I Got Some Stuff

I just had to delete a number of identical bot postings about something in Spanish, I don't speak/read Spanish beyond a very rudimentary level, so I am not quite sure what it was about, but I think it was something about luring peeps to a porn site.

Well. I'¨ve been hollowing out my account as I needed some stuff to get things moving,  so here it is.

OK, I did not need every part of this mainly the paint, I want to malke it easier to paint ghosts and snow/ice, so I purchased Aeldari Emerald, Briar Queen Chill. Hexwraith Flame, Nightghaunt Gloom, and Pylar Glacier to try them out. Apart from that, I bought Steel Legion Drab to try out how close it is to Khemri Brown and the other 'earth' colours I use for bases.

The lichen speaks for itself, and the trees are cheap x-mas deco stuff from Harald Nyborg, a builders merchant store in Odense.

I actually purchased ten more yellow 'stones' at an earlier occation, but they are put away with the rest. The new ones are plasitc, btw, not glass as the old ones, which annoys me bit.

I also got some seasonal necessikties, amd Stanley moved in with us.

And, of course, the Santa Balloon. Not cheap, bujt kinda must.

 

This post was approved by Billy.

Christmas and Other Wars: A Restless Spirit

This is primarily for the Bodyguard of my WoE Undead Warlord (The Defiler), but it fits nicely in my Christmas Display Story, so it will feature there very soon.

I t took me longer to paint than it looks, as at first the Gryph-Charger Grey Contrast Paint did not create as much cntrast as I wished for, so I figured out that the ancient Citadel paint 'Elf Grey' would be a nice fit for some highlighs. It was but not quite as light as I hoped, so I mixed up some Elf Grey and White for an even lighter drybrush. It turns out that Elf Grey - and the lighter mix - looks lighter when wet, and the mix did not turn out as light as I thought. I still used it though, and I'm not going to do more about it this time around (except, maybe have a look at the weird 'highlight' near the point of the scythe), but I think I'll mix some of the lighter tone up with some more white to create a more striking highlight hue.

During the process I noticed several 'bubble damage', casting artifacts, and dust specks in the surface, and I had to mend those, which meant using blade and needle files, and consequently some repainting.

The next one I shall examine more thoroughly prior tp painting, as it is very annoying to have to do the same work several times, but, well, lesson learned, I guess ...

I am going to try out other Contrast hues for the next Oldhammer Ethereals (a lot of new colurs have been issued since I purchased the original release, and I hope to find one that matches the colour of the Army of the Dead from LotR: Return of the King, but for now I shall have to try out some of the colours I already own.

Frodo's Quest: The Silent Watch, Dúnadan #2

Finished another one of these, Soon, I shall have to get started on another mounted Nazgûl (Black Rider), and some Smials, and then I can stage the first game of Frodo's Quest. I expect to run it as a co-op game between a mate and myself (one controlling Frodo, the other Sam), and doing it as a beer-and-pretzel game 😉

And, of course, the mandatory group shot.

Frodo's Quest: The Silent Watch, Dúnadan #1

The fist scenario of my 'Frodo's Quest' campaign will feature at least two members of the Silent Watch, and I have finally gotten the first one painted and ready for action!

Largely painted with Citadel Contrast Paints (not the weapons, the skin, and the base), it has not been very time consuming. I had to touch some of the 'highlights' up with corresponding 'normal' paints, but all in all I am very happy with the result.

I deliberately avoided making him 'too Ranger of the North' so that I can use him in Ithilien, too; multi-purpose is still very much part of my gaming philosophy (technically, the design is mostly Rangers of Ithilien, but even GW have been calling them 'Rangers of Middle-Earth for quite some years).

I may go back and decorate the quiver at some point, but for now, the plain Space Wolves Grey will have to do.

I expect to have his companion ready tomorrow, and then I shall have to turn my attention to a Black Rider and some Smials!

Warhammer Quest Barbarian

I painted this guy almost exclusively with Citadel Contrast Paints (I also used some Vallejo Old Gold + Agrax Earthshade, Citadel Chainmail + Badab Black, and Citadel Gryphonne Sepia).

Not a great paintjob, but very passable for the tabletop. I think I might redo the skulls; the sepia turned out too brownish in my opinion.

As I plan to play some Sellswords & Spellslingers with Emil very soon (if possible somewhen during this next week), I needed to cater for his taste for large men with humongous swords (instead of using a skinny Elf), and I am going to paint a Frostgrave Barbarian for his party, but I had to finish something quickly, and I've had this guy standing around primed with Wraithbone for quite a while, so it was a no-brainer to use him for Contrast Paints practice.

I just realized that I forgot about the banding/sleeves on his braids.
I shall have to revisit those.

Yes, the base edge got damaged when I removed him from the cork
I use for painting handle. I shall look into that, too,

Frodo's Quest: 3D Printed Smials - and then Some!

I have been printing some copies of one of the 'Small Entrances' for Modular Gaming Hills, as well as some hill pieces to go with them, by Terrain4Print on Thingiverse, and I have now prepped and primed the first pieces for painting. I shall need some flower tufts for this, methinks.

I have also slabbed some more Contrast Paint on Frodo and Sam. My experience so far is that this kind of painting is probably best reserved for plastics, as they have fewer small surface imperfections to disrupt the paint - but I shall see this little project through, as the minis are spares I thought I could just as well experiment on.

The rangers are also getting a little attention, now and then, and I have removed the excess sand after taking this photo. I may find time to treat them to a coat of Wraithbone Contrast Undercoat, so that I can try out the effects on that, too.

LotR: Frodo's Quest - Heroes and Villains

I have been doing some work on my 'little' side project each day this week, and of course I have some progress to show for it.

Today, I rebased a couple of them rangers that I need for the first scenario I am planning (I actually considered getting some of the ranger minis done by North Star for Rangers of Shadow Deep, but common sense prevailed, and I went for some of the minis I already own).

I also for the first time rebased a cavalry model onto one of the pill-shaped MDF/washer cavalry bases I have constructed - one of The Nine, searching the Shire for Baggins.

I also cleaned up, based, and primed some spare copies of Frodo and Sam (from the first Fellowship boxed set) that I have from one of the second hand lots I bought years ago.

I primed them white because I am going to paint them with Contrast Paints, to try those out, but I have already realized that some colours will have to be done with traditional paints - especially the skin, as the Contrast Paint skin colours end up way too dark (the photo shows the colours somewhat less dark than they appear in the flesh, so to speak.

I used Darkoath Flesh on Sam, and Guilliman Flesh on Frodo; neither with a satisfactory result. I never the less expect to be able to paint most of both minis with the Contrast Paints, apart from the skin and the metal parts.

I am going to paint Frodo's dagger as normal steel, not glowing blue, as in the movies he did not receive Sting, and the Mithril shirt from Bilbo until meeting him in Rivendell (I cannot recall if Bilbo left him those items in Bag End in the book, I shall have to read the books once more  to brush up on the trivia).

Shopping a Bit

I went into Faraos Cigarer (Cigars of the Pharaoh) in Odense today, and I bought a ton of Citadel Contrast Paints.

Sadly, a few of the colours were missing in the rack, as well as the white contrast undercoat, and the staff could not tell me when they would get the full range.

At least I can get started using them for army painting, but I really wanted Black Templar for Warriors of Minas Tirith, and Apothecary White for Star Wars Imperial Storm Troopers. Well, I shall have to keep an eye out for them now and them or simply buy them online.