A busy hobby week - Battletech, Acquisitions, and an Infinity tournament

 

It's been a busy week! During the week nights I managed to get started on one of my Urbanmechs, getting a base colour down. The idea is to keep doing a little on the evenings I'm not role-playing or having practice games down the club so it becomes more of a habit.

I had a couple of bits and pieces arrive in the post. Firstly, the KR cases I ordered for that big pile of miniatures that need putting away showed up, so that's likely to be a very unphotogenic bit of hobby I'll be plugging away at this week. Secondly, I got these lovely space pirates from a a Facebook hobby group exclusive thing. I'm a bit torn as to what to do with them, as I deeply love them, but there's also 22 of them and I have other projects that I have a more immediate use for that I could do before them instead. They kind of feel like a project in need of a purpose...

I also attended Steel City Insurrection, a 2 day, 6 game Infinity tournament in Sheffield. It was hosted at Patriot Games, which is a really nice gaming shop with a ton of gaming space and a really good café. I would absolutely be a regular there if I lived further north!

I had a ton of fun at the event but it will take me a good bit of time to write up, and I'm off to Norwich this weekend for . . . another Infinity event. So, I promise thoughts will be transferred to blog at some point, but I cannot for certain say when . . .

Work in Progress Wednesdays: Oldhammer, Heresy Miniatures and an Out of Production Mini

 

I've been finishing up the prep on an assortment of models I sent off a while back, and it's a bit of an eclectic mix. First up is Aenur, the Sword of Twilight. He was an Elf Ranger for Mordheim who came free with White Dwarf many years ago. He's a lovely sculpt, and I need to look at what he could be in Age of Sigmar before I decide on his paint scheme.

This dwarf berserker was originally made by a small company I found online called The Miniatures Apprentice. I think they're now out of business, sadly. They mostly did sci fi things, but this dwarf was their (only?) fantasy offering. He's a bit chunky, but I love him.

I've had this liche from Heresy Miniatures sitting around for a while. I've had a few miniatures by Heresy assembled over the years but rarely finished them. It doesn't help that a bunch of the older ones I had done on square bases, and I now much, much prefer rounds. I'll probably sell off the square based models and buy a new one from Heresy in those cases. In the meantime, I want to get paint on this creepy boy!

Goblins!

Yet more miniatures painted by someone who isn't me! Here's my first batch of goblins by Brushchewer Inc. Once I've found the light box I'll take some better photographs.

This definitely proves my idea that a bundle of goblins from different miniatures from different manufacturers painted in a unified scheme really do look excellent as a motley horde of troublemakers.

I just need to have a serious think if I want to go through with an entire army of them given my current priorities.

I've just received notification that my copy of the Infinity book Third Offensive has arrived, complete with a complementary Libertos Freedom Fighter, so that's a twentieth model purchased, but 20 painted goblins is definitely starting to catch up!

Hopefully the weekend will allow me to get some painting done myself...

Models Painted: 30
Models Purchased: -20

Fomori Witch finished!

Pottered through some hobby this weekend. I finished up this Fomori Witch. I've probably mentioned that it's done by Krakon Games before. You can also get it from Bad Squiddo Games. It was part of a "clearing the decks" exercise I did over the weekend, for . . . reasons.

This little Starship Generator from the Reaper Bones line got a basic tabletop job for a bit more scatter terrain when I need it.

Remember I was working on a Chaos Spawn? This one now has all it's limbs attached. I just need to add its back tentacles, and then it will be ready for undercoating. I'm feeling really good about the number of things I'm getting ready for undercoat and thus off the painting desk.

Random back-lit photo because I forgot to take a proper one! The other "Made to Order" Inquisitor got based and undercoated. In order to stop the base toppling over, there's a lot of fisherman's shot weighting down the the bottom of the stairs... I also totally forgot to take a photo of a Jokaero I assembled and undercoated, but given that's a stock model, there's nothing interesting or different to see there.

 So, why the effort to clear the desk? Well, it seems Mike Marshall is running another Malifaux event. It's called Spring Showdown III and it's on 7 May. I haven't got a ticket yet, but I'm "moderately tempted" to go...

I'm not confirming yet, as I'm setting myself some targets to do so.

1. Not being completely dead from all the other stuff I'm doing.

2. At least one new Malifaux model assembled and painted for the event.

3. Having actually played some Malifaux this year in a practice game so I remember how these rules things play.

I will keep my loyal readers (both of you) up to date this progresses!

Fomorian Witch and an old favourite

So, I decided to throw down some paint on this Fomorian Witch. She's called Nemain, and is produced by Krakon Games. The skin tone is mostly Foundry Moss Triad, but also using Athonian Camoshade for extra depth and with light touches of Vallejo Duck Egg Green as an even lighter highlight.

I was a little sloppy with initial colours, so I need to go in and neaten up a whole bunch, dropping some of the darker colours back in to areas of shade. The brown robe doesn't have enough contrast with the skin if it's not under bright light, so I need to think about how to give that some definition. I'm pleased with the red, though. I've been being told off about going too dark by Sim, and this effort with Mephiston Red, Wild Rider Red and Carroburg Crimson is much better than my usual murky stuff.

Meanwhile, this classic "Made to Order" Daemonhunter has been given an appropriate Hero Base. I wanted to make sure this old classic figure was on a 40mm base for the modern terminator base size, but was having trouble working out how to not make it look swamped. By making, effectively, a little mini diorama, I think I've solved the problem well. (I've left the arms off for painting.)

I'm pretty happy with the amount I've got done this weekend. Various figures also got undercoated in the first good weather we've had in ages, but you've already seen them assembled, so I won't repeat that here.

Finally, I'm having a little bit of a clear out of some bits and bobs I'm just not going to get around to painting or using. Feel free to have a look at my stuff on eBay - there's definitely still some bargains there at the moment!

A busy weekend - Forsaken and lots of figure prep

Well, after aiming to get them done in August, I've finally got five Forsaken painted and table ready in January! This is another unit for my challenge with James at Gonzo History Gaming. These are my first finished models of the year, and it's left me feeling really positive and cheery.

I've also pottered along with assembling one of the Chaos Spawn - it's an astonishingly versatile kit for it's time. I'm looking forward to getting this one fully assembled and painted. It will be serving double duty in both Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40K.

Here's some old "never released by Citadel" figures that Wargames Foundry have now put out under their Warmonger Miniatures line. They'll be joining a squad of "not GW" Inquisitorial retinue of various figures I've picked up over time of stuff I thought was cool.

The space suited miniature had a bump on his backpack that I recognised as being intended for a Space Marine style backpack. I dug out a Forge World piece from the bitz box (I think it may be from a Legion Recon Squad? I don't know) so he could have one. I thought it was a fun mix of old and new.

I also finished basing up the EM4 Miniatures scavengers I'd started on last weekend. As those around the UK will be aware, it's not exactly been undercoating weather, so there's a big build up of bits and pieces awaiting undercoating.

Well, this takes the biscuit for rubbish progress pics, doesn't it? At least there's some other, real progress above it. This is a Forge World Renegade psyker and an Antenocitis Workshop "egg car" I got as a freebie when I attended the Infinity Winter Challenge down in Exeter.

I washed the resin, as you should, and cleaned up the (minimal) mould lines on both. I'm planning on doing a "cracked earth" style base for the psyker, so I'm keeping him separate to his base until both are painted. This is a bit of a new thing for me. To get the base ready for undercoating, I filled in the little hole the GW bases have with a bit of polyfilla.

So, there you go - 12 figures made ready for undercoating, and the last 2 figures of a set of 5 painted. I'm not sure if we'll keep up the pace, but I'm pleased to be managing to get some time at the hobby desk and not getting distracted and wandering off.

New Year, New Me

To the left of my obviously immaculate and well organised paint desk, lies a small pile of miniatures I simply dropped onto my desk because I thought they would be a "quick win". I'm aware some of them have been there since the start of last year, at least, so perhaps it was time to start pushing through them in the New Year.

I'm aware that the "Tale of Gamers" challenge has nominally finished, and I have missed the deadline, but as far as hobby goes (if not in my work life) I will quote Douglas Adams: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by."

I'm going to continue on with the project, but at a slightly more (!!!) erratic pace than before, taking a leaf from my co-conspirator's approach and having a little break by painting or assembling whatever takes my fancy.

So, first up on the desk as a result of the "Just get something done! Anything!" policy are these scavengers from EM4 Miniatures I was part way through assembling at the end of 2015, and put to one side as I had too much work in progress at the time.

I've filed down all the flash and glued them to their bases. Just going to fill the basing gaps, add rocks and sand, so they're ready to undercoat. They'll then go on the "wait for the weather to improve" undercoating pile.

In the background, you can see that 3 of the 5 Forsaken are now done, and the last two are inching closer to being finished. There's also a Chaos Spawn with a head attached to a base that I don't recall if I've posted before or not.

One of the reasons that my painting is slowing down a little is that I've realised that clutter is not good for my productivity, so spending more of my free time tidying up around the house. This is the evidence as to why I need to do this more. I cleared the right hand side of my computer desk last weekend. At the bottom of this pile, I found these business cards and ticket stub, helpfully dated to show when the pile started.

Meanwhile, do you recall the blacksmith I did for the Chaos Villager challenge at the Oldhammer Forum? It turns out, I was the lucky winner, so have been sent an amazing collection of creativity and art. Most have not been based, to allow their owner to base them up to match their forces. I'll be getting that sorted some point in the next few months!

Oldhammer Forum Challenge - Chaos Villager - Complete!

So, with the deadline on the Oldhammer Forum Chaos Villager challenge fast approaching, I sat down to quickly finish off the Chaos Blacksmith you saw in my post the other week.

To finish up the base, I drybrushed various different light colours onto the paving slabs to add some contrast - there's a lilac, a green, a blue and a couple of different greys all there. The piece of paper got a Steel Legion Drab base coat and a quick bone drybrush. I then dabbed in some Typhus Corrosion, wiping off the worst with my finger, to bring the stone back down a bit.

The anvil got a nice simple grey stone base with a plain Nuln Oil wash. Nothing fancy.

And here he is all together. Pleased oto have gotten a model finished, and had fun playing around with a few new paints.

Background wise, I'm thinking that his drive for perfection attracted the attention of Slaanesh, and his gold mask is riveted to his skull, driving him mad with visions of techniques and secrets beyond mortal comprehension. He uses those secrets to craft fine swords for the champions who sometimes pass through the village.

I basically took this photo to show the piece of paper behind the anvil. No other reason.

As a reminder, this miniature is available from Anvil Industry, should you want one of your very own.

Playing with paint

So, with a Chaos Villager to do for a painting challenge on the Oldhammer Forum, and the deadline looming, I dug out the assembled and undercoated model to do something with it. I pinned it to the miniature holder I'd picked up from Hobbyzone, because I wanted to do the base separately anyway (I had no wish of trying to paint the lower half of the model with the anvil in the way).

 I was a bit stuck for ideas, so decided to play around with a few things. I went with Darkstar's Tarnished Steel. I was a little disappointed so moved on to other bits, in particular, basing the leather with XV-88, as I couldn't find my beloved Steel Legion Drab. Like, seriously, I can't find it and it's really bugging me.

I then tried a bit of a wash with a P3 Chestnut Ink I originally got to experiment with water effects and hadn't used since. It ended up with a really nice rich colour, but with too much of a gloss finish for what I was trying to do - there are totally leathers that would suit that, but I wanted this to be a more dull flat colour, so I'll need to bring that back again.

I then put a Nuln Oil Gloss wash over the leg plates, and some sort of dark wizardry occurred. They suddenly looked amazing. I need to tidy up the bits where I got brown ink on them now, because otherwise they're pretty much perfect.

The anvil had been based with the Forge World Iron Hands Steel paint, though it seems to froth up into bubbles whenever I shake it. I don't think that's meant to happen.

OK, I'm back from mailing Forge World to ask them if that's meant to happen. I drybrushed the anvil with the Tarnished Steel, then did a Nuln Oil Gloss wash. Still want to play with it more, but liking it so far.

The metal bit of the base, I did the same as the anvil. I'm wanting to play around with colours a bit more, so I'm planning on really playing around with the cobblestones once the matte Nuln Oil wash is dry on that.

Oh, if you want this miniature, you can totally get it from Anvil Industry.

A trip to Wargames Foundry

After our trip to Warhammer World for the Open Day, I'd insisted on heading over to the new Wargames Foundry shop to have a nose around before heading home. I was very glad we went!

Foundry is owned by Bryan Ansell, who got a lot of old Warhammer figures when he left Game Workshop.

We caught up with Kev Adams while we were there - he heard us nosing around the shop and came out to say hello!

We did a bunch of shopping while we were there. "Mrs TRO" has a Secret Project she was looking for some very specific figures for. I was after a few random bits and pieces, which I've been intending to get for a while.

I haven't taken any pictures of the purchases, but hopefully they'll reach the top of the painting pile soon enough and you can see them then!

I was having a very Squat obsessed day, wasn't I?

 Mrs Ansell popped in to say hello and arrange to make us a mug of tea, which was much needed after the long weekend of talking to many, many gamers.

The lovely chap who was minding the shop that day showed me these wonderful cave painting style shields that he's painted. But I'm a terrible human being and forgot his name!

I noticed the block style Ork artwork on the side of this classif fort, too. There's a ton of cool stuff at Foundry, and it's well worth a visit!

Assemble all the things!

I've not been very inspired by the paintbrush recently, but I have been happily plugging away at cleaning up models and assembling them.

First up are the Snorklings. Some of these I picked up with my Warmonger Miniatures goblin purchase. Others were from Foundry's Goblinaid pack. Some of them are meant to be part of a "set", where I don't have all of them (one is meant to be leaning on a cart, but I have no cart, and the snorkling rider whose mount is eating a friend is meant to have another Snorkling with a rope trying to hold it back), but I managed to tinker about with them until they looked OK.

A lot of the Snorklings are doing relatively domestic things. I have a strange and unrepentant love for the baggage trains of 3rd Edition Fantasy. And I am not the only one. As such, in my head, when I have an assembled Oldhammer army with a glorious and complicated baggage train, these chaps will deployed near it as hangers on lurking around for scraps, but also a useful tarpit to get through if you really want to see what a goblin keeps in his cart...

As I'd opened the Goblinaid blister, I thought I might as well get Little Kev sorted out. Quick cleaning off of the flash, bit of glue, a little sandy paste, and he's ready for undercoating. Even small progress is progress!

The assembly stuff is also working well for me because I can do little bursts and come back to it. With the model below, I only really got him out on Sunday, got him cleaned up, his arms on and a pin in the foot in a couple of passes over Sunday, and then glued him to the base and added the brass etch this evening in between taking the photos of the other models for the blog.

Wow. My photos seem to be really blurry today. I've managed to focus on the feet and not the head here. This is a Prowler with Spitfire for Infinity. He's one of a couple of models I bought with my prize voucher for coming third in the Dark Sphere Slow Grow League. His base and etched brass facing marker are by Antenocitis Workshop.

I'm trying to be better now about turning around stuff relatively quickly when it comes in, although there are strange and complicated rules about this in my head. Execution Force I'm holding off on until I've finished assembling the Space Wolves from Stormclaw, for example.

I know, academically, I'd much rather be getting models completely finished - painted, based and ready for play. But I don't want to push myself into doing something I'm not inspired by right now - this is a hobby for enjoyment, after all. So, I'm getting productive stuff done with the hobby, and if I don't feel too guilty, I can put some undercoated models down - at least it's better than proxies, right?

Monthly Targets: April - Well, we knew it was a write off, didn't we?

With Salute being in April, we knew it was going to be a write off in terms of purchases. Still, I managed to be moderately productive, and did get two projects finished!

It's been all Oldhammer this month. You've already seen my Chaos Thug, painted for a challenge on the Oldhammer forum.

This is Boatswain Rickard. I previously showed him unpainted, as one of my acquisitions last month. I'm really happy he's been turned around the following month and done. He's not got a base as that's the rules for this Oldhammer forum challenge he's for. He'll be winging his way off shortly to join the rest of the pirate crew - one lucky participant then gets the crew and can base them accordingly.

So, on to May! I'm onto a shaky start already as I seem to have acquired an Execution Force box...

Painting a little bit of Oldhammer - Chaos Thug

The Oldhammer Forum is running a few painting challenges at the moment. One is "I've Never Painted a . . . before - the Fantasy 100 Club".

The simple premise was to enter a figure you've never painted before.

This was pretty easy for me, as my Oldhammer painting history is woeful. I had a Chaos Thug ready to go, so I painted him! A lot of people have been talking about hour long speed paints, so I did that too and spent 58 minutes on him for the sake of getting things done quickly.

The purple is to hint at him being a bit Slaanesh, which is the direction I seem to be taking my chaos stuff at the moment.

Stuff I got in March

As mentioned in my last post, I ended up buying a few bits and pieces which meant I didn't complete more projects than I bought. So, what was at fault?

The first culprit is Boatswain Rickard here, my entry into the Oldhammer Legacy Crew 2015 painting challenge. The idea is that everyone paints up a model to a theme (this year: Space Pirates) and then everyone's names are put in a hat and someone wins the crew.

The legs and backpack of the Boatswain are from a EM4 Miniatures' Space Ranger - I was given them many years ago while I was still at school. I felt that was suitably old school, and I haven't managed to find a use for them in two decades. The rest of the parts are from Anvil Industry. They have a nice look to them which works just fine. I considered adding an RTB01 pouch or ammo pack somewhere, but I couldn't find a suitable spot - for all that the old Space Ranger kit was a bit . . . primitive, there's a lot of sculpted detail.

The other purchase was two Mantis Battlesuits from The Miniatures Apprentice. You can currently buy them here, but I understand they're limited in supply. The flying one is currently showing as sold out!

This chap is new to the miniatures casting side of things, and I'm super impressed. You can see some of the lines from where the original was 3D printed, but a bit of fine sanding will clear that right up. The level of crisp detail is excellent, and these are really intricate kits.

I'm not a huge fan of the laser cut acrylic bases, but that's easy enough to fix. I was considering a nice resin display base or two for these ones anyway.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to the massive challenge that these kits are going to be. In that sort of "top of a rollercoaster" kind of way...