Consolidating Interests

I've been on a bit of a binge recently with payday coming up.

I mentioned in a past blog post that some of my 5+ year old paint collection had dried out and was useless. So, whilst replacing some key colours (metallics mainly) I've also added a whole new raft of colours - Purple for my eventual croak hunters (poison tree frog style) a couple of extra green shades for diversity (also in my Blindwater), and some blues (who doesn't love too many blue paints?..)

I also treated myself to some new brushes (and spent the most I've ever spent on a single brush)
Round Synthetic Sables from here :) http://www.princetonbrush.com/heritage-series-4050/

I have also been getting some work done in the meantime on Lady Justice & the judge, who I'm pretty pleased with and are nearly finished

I'm also pretty much done with the 'official' Boneswarm, and have done a bunch of work on my proxy second Boneswarm which I envision more like a gelatinous D&D style beasty

That's it for now, I'm really hoping that the Basius webpage is up soon so I can get my Malifaux guys sorted, but I'm enjoying being back hobbying again and think I'm making some pretty good progress for the year.

Thanks for stopping by :)
Lofty

Steady

Just on the train back from the Thursday night meet up in Leeds, so I thought I'd do a write up.

I lost versus a Runes doom shaper list. Unsurprising maybe for my first game in 3 years, however I knew what list I was facing in advance, so if I'd bothered to read up on it I'd have known that Barny's feat was useless vs all those steady Runeshapers...

Ah well, it was fun getting models to table and rolling dice again. Mark also mentioned a kind of slow grow type league which a lot of the local competitive players aren't interested in, so its really good for me as I don't know every rule of everything I might potentially face, like most would.  I tend to play for fun more than anything and if I'm honest I'm not a fan of the competitive play mentality that some people seem to have. To each their own of course though.

I need to find some way of stopping magnetic models sliding over the smooth baking trays though. Maybe some mesh material fixed to them. Strong magnetic hold, but no friction whatsoever. Successful test run of the case however :)

I also got some work done on Rask yesterday (who would have stood a far better chance this evening, ironically). I'm trying really hard with thinning paints and highlighting not drybrushing. I still struggle with hand shakes though, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong with my wet palette butnit doesn't seem to be doing what its meant to :(

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by

lofty

Breaking Radio Silence

Hi all


I know its been a while, but I'm getting back into the hobby world again.


Long story short, I've just started a new job and its one in a team of people whole play role playing games and inline games so being 'the guy with the toy soldiers' is in no way an issue :)


I've been to my first Leeds Warmachine gathering on Thursday just passed and will be attending them every fortnight when they are on. My intention is to play alternate Hordes and Malifaux and maybe even Guild Ball and Infinity in the future.


I've got a lot to update so I won't go on for much longer in this post, other than just to say that I'm hoping to keep up a regular log of what I'm getting up to with my hobby :)


This evening, and evenings this year in fact, I've been doing odd bits and bobs and I've finished off a few WIP blindwater pieces which I spray coated in a large batch today. I'm hoping to get some airbrush basecoat time soon.

Thanks for stopping by

lofty

Northern Son

I'll be honest, I lost a little steam after the bank holiday on Monday.  I'm not sure the pre-shading has worked on Hyperion if I'm honest, and it looks like I will have a fair amount of work to do once it's base-coated.
I was also a bit dejected when I started work on my witch doctor conversion. The piece I had bought as a skull mask for him doesn't have a chance of fitting over his face without a lot of Dremmel work to remove the mass inside it, whichj i struggled to do with hobby knife/files.
I managed to salvage the skull into a Wrastler looking one which I will use on the base, and try to add some runes/OSL glow to the eyes maybe. Back at the drawing board for this one, and maybe I will try a different type of headdress.

So tomorrow and Sunday I will be pushing on with Hyperion when I get chance, and hope to at least get the grey base coat and metallics sorted so I can think about how to approach highlighting.  At the moment, I'm leaning towards using standard brushes to shade and highlight, which I'm disappointed about, but there may hopefully be chance to airbrush at least the white on the shoulders, if not some kind of stencil work to make it stand out as a centre piece.

Based on recent experience however, my current airbrush set-up really makes me feel like it will just be a tool for priming and base coating.

I've been looking at some of the convergence of Cyriss photos to come out of Lock n Load as well and I really like the aesthetic, and have been juggling potential colours schemes around in my mind this morning.  I have been pondering about a second Warmachine faction for a while, but I can never really justify it to be honest. I still haven't picked up any of the new 'jacks for Retribution, and I pretty much prefer playing Hordes anyway if I'm honest (I'd love to pick up some Trollbloods).

My first thought is that I can magnetise a Vyre 'jack kit or two (learning from my mistakes with the first Shyeel kit I tried to magnetise...), and grab the last 'caster is missing along with a solo or two I'd like and call it done, unless the next book or two drag me back into the faction.

For Skorne, there is very little I'd like to add to my forces, save perhaps a second unit of Cetrati at some point, but I have pretty much everything I like the look of etc. so I'm happy with painting them up for now.

It's a similar story with Gatormen, I have Rask now to put together, and with the exception of the witch doctor/shamblers unit in the new book there isn't anything I'm after greatly so, again I'm happy painting up what I have.

As far as Cyriss/Trollbloods go, I think I'll wait until at least the end of July (after my birthday) and see how I feel then. I don't play at all hardly any more due to various reasons, so it's difficult justifying any large layouts at the moment, so we will have to see where the future lies

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Sleep on it

Managed to get Hyperion pre-shaded & Zenithal highlighted yesterday with the airbrush, and the mask works perfectly, so I will be doing plenty more airbrushing in the future.

At first, I was a little scared that I had 'ruined' the areas I was trying to shade, with a steady hand and not great control of the airbrush requiring me to go back in with a brush and tidy up some areas with the grey primer colour, and the white which I was spraying down from the top didn't really seem to have coated too well. This was assuaged a little this morning though once I opened my drawer to inspect my handy work. I feel a lot more confident now that it will look ok once I have painted on the mid-layer. Hopeful it will pick out the shades and highlights too. If not, I have  a plan to re-shade with a mix of the darker colour and the mid-layer through the airbrush.

I'm reluctant to show any WIP of this process to be honest as it really doesn't look great so I'd rather show the finished item, if I need to fix a load of stuff, or even start again if the methods used haven't worked.  Once the armour is painted though, I'm going to add battle damage with a sponge, paint the metallics, and then try to OSL the power channels and orbs with the airbrush.

I think this may be a little ambitious for my first real use of the airbrush, but I'm pretty sure I'll love to tell the tale :p

Ravyn and the Arcanist are being added to whenever I get a moment between Hyperion layers, and I also finished Calabans base, and eVyros' base as well. Calaban shown below.

I'd like to add in a link here to a forum I found recently which is an amazing resource of guides and tutorials for painting miniatures and bases.  I spent an entire evening/night pouring through these well-written articles, and I really felt like I learned something. Despite the focus on Warhammer fantasy, there is a lot to be learnt here, so I suggest you go and at least have a look even if you feel you don't need any help :P

Hopefully some progress with Hyperion mid-week

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Committed

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have things coming up which I've committed to with the amateur theatre group that I stage mange for, and of course I have literally zero time at the moment for hobbyisms.  It's all hands on deck until Sunday morning, including not getting home at all after work & rehearsals 'til gone 10/11pm.

It's not all bleak news though my friends, fear not!
I've two 'missed delivery' slips from the postman, so I'm hoping that my copy of Gargantuans is waiting at the post office, along with my respirator.
Which leads me nicely on to the fact that I will be airbrushing like a man possessed in order to get Hyperion painted. I learned recently (Tuesday) that there is a Colossals release event at my LGS in two weeks on Sunday. Pretty short notice if you ask me, but no-one did. Of course, me being me, I went into panic mode and started trying to cram on the new rules, and on casters and tactics etc... Where as what I think I'll be concentrating on is painting.

All I need to complete is Ravyn, an Arcanist who are both at around 80% and of course Hyperion.
I do have a plan of attack on how to approach the big man, involving pre-shading and weathering/battle damage, so we shall see how he turns out.  I suppose I can always go back and add to the model if I feel like it needs it at a later date.

The only thing I have literally no idea about is lists. I will be using pVyross and Ravyn, but other than that I've no real clue what to field.  I won't have time to get my Destors assembled for Ravyn unfortunately, but I've never really played her before so I'm stuck for other options.

Can you guys help suggest anything for these two casters at 50 points? The only Ret models I DO NOT OWN are;
Vyre 'jacks
Houseguard uints
eEiyriss
Sylys

Radio silence for now then, but hopefully I'll be back to it on Sunday with something to show on Monday late on.

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

The Gravewalker

In a flurry of productivity (the likes of which hasn't been seen for over a year:/) I got Calaban finished, and a base prepped.

I'm pleased with the way he has come out. For some reason, the albino skin tone isn't quite the same as the witch doctor. I think maybe I got confused between two similar looking paints for the base coat  I'm happy though  and definitely can't complain about knocking him out as quick as I managed   I'll never be dropping quality minis in the kind of time scales Griffin does, but I'm happy.

I would guess that this is the last entry for a while, depending when my orders arrive, as I may be able to get some quick WIP shots of my planned witch doctor conversion.  Other than that I would hope to be able to get at least some hobby work done a week on Monday which is a bank holiday.

Until then I will be chipping away at the tyrant I mentioned, Maelok if I get distracted, and I hope that I can add the finishing stages to my Bronzeback titan. Maybe even get my Cetrati finished. Ambitious maybe but at least I'm in the zone :)

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Sugar Rush

Late night/early morning productivity is what's on at the moment. I'm hopped up on energy drinks and combating fatigue from today's lunchtime run along the canal (Long story, but basically I'm training for a 10k later this year).

This seems to be a good state to be in though, as I've managed to get Calaban from primed to pretty much finished except for the many and varied skulls on the model, and the details like his glowing skull and face mask.  There are some really good colour contrast areas on this model, from warm to cold and light to dark so I'm looking forward to seeing how he turns out. 








I've also made some progress on the Skorne Tyrant (standard bearer not started yet). I've used red as the colour for his robes, which is one of the ideas I had surrounding changing my colour scheme for my Skorne, and the theory here is that Whilst Xerxis' house colours are blue, Makeda will use red, so any tyrants other than Xerxis will use the Baalesh house colours.  Hopefully the armour colours and blue accents will still tie it all together visually.

It's payday on Monday, so I can place my monthly hobby order. I'm going to pick up Gargantuans, Rask, a couple of paints and I'll also be getting hold of some airbrush friendly varnish to save my poor warbeasts from chips/abrasion from any case foam (I'm not convinced that this is what has happened, but I'd rather be sure), as well as a respirator to enable me to use the airbrush more often and more safely.

I'm also ordering a single gatorman in order to convert it into a second witch doctor.  I've mentioned a couple of times that I'm not a  fan of the current sculpt (despite how quickly/well it painted up).

I've been inspired a great deal by some posts on the PP forums, namely these few.  Specifically these ones posted by PG_Gift.  I've got my eye on a few games workshop pieces to bits order to help with this conversion so hopefully I'll be able to progress with this this month also.

I've got some commitments next week with the Drama group I'm involved with (as stage manager, I don't act) so perhaps Bank Holiday Monday will see some hobby time. I'll try and update where possible, but hopefully Mr Gravewalker above will suffice for now.

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Weekend Warrior

I managed to get the witch doctor finished :)

I like the albino style colour so much that I will use this method for all my witch doctors (Currently only Calaban) when I manage to convert up some more.

I also played around with my new colour ideas for my Skorne, but I couldn't get any of them to look as good as Xerxis currently does in what was the final iteration of my bone + blue scheme, so I will be continuing with that :)

This week will be working on Maelok I reckon, and then seeing what takes my fancy after that.  I didn't manage to get a respirator over the weekend, so I will try and get one on payday this month a long with some bits and bobs like varnish, as some of my beasts have chipped at some point, or have paint rubbed off by foam, which is less likely.  This of course means that I will need to finally add water effects to those that need it, and I can do this all at once, and hopefully varnish the next day :)

Once I've got a respirator though, I will be working on my minions units, and trying to use the airbrush to get them done quickly, whilst not rushing them.  The bog trogs especially I can see as being laborious to paint after not particularly enjoying putting them together

I will also hopefully be picking up Gargantuans on payday so I can catch up on all the fun :)

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

WIP Lash

The time has finally arrived! Yes that's right I have painting to post! Feast your eyes my friends;

It's nothing much really but I've been rattling through this miniature considering that it was the model that I wanted to get done 'collaterally'. Whilst searching for inspiring pictures of the model, I found a really good albino version on Bell of Lost Souls which I really liked so here it is.
I've also made a real effort to use something other than drybrushing to layer paints, and this can be seen here on his cloak/rags, and skulls (which I'm not happy with as I think I started with too dark a colour, but hey ho). I'm really pleased with how this is turning out and hope to have him finished today at some point.

I've also been practising this new layering malarkey on an elf model I'm going to use in my DnD campaign, and layering blue on his cloak as practice. I really like the effect, and think that it can be achieved relatively easily. I would like to buy something to keep the paint wet for longer though, and I think that this is readily available from most paint ranges so I'm going to take a look for pay day :)

Other than all this activity (it feels good to be home guys :)), I've been toying with the idea of painting up a custom unit of terminators as a hobby project, with decent bases and unique look/weaponry etc, so that might be coming soon too.

I've also pretty much decided that I'm going to re-paint my Skorne with a darker feel, and (shock horror) no blue! So once I've got the doctor finished, and Maelok well on his way, I'll try my new ideas out on a couple of primed 'spare' swordsmen that I have and see what you guys think :)

Lastly - I'd love to get my hands on some gatormen for converting another witchdoctor or two, but ebay seems pretty bare with only full units available.  I'm going to try bartertown today I think, but if anyone knows of any for sale then please let me know!

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Mayday mayday

Managed to get a brief painting session in today after our weekend away.  Had plenty of housework to catch up with though so it was only maybe an hour or so of painting.  

I took the advice that most people had been sharing, and painted the things I felt inspired to paint. So I added some more layers of pallid flesh to Maelok, and began to think about what else needs adding. This model has a bewildering level of detail, and a lot of layers. By which I mean not only does he have skin, candles leather accessories, but he also has rotten skin, innards, and exposed bones. Lots to get on with, but I really really like the model and his back story so I enjoy painting him.

To complement this, I also chose a '15 minute model' which is an idea I picked up on the ppforums, and is a model which you may not particularly like/enjoy painting and trying to work on this model for just 15 minutes every time you sit down to paint.  My victim is the Gatorman Witch Doctor, who I've mentioned previously that I do not like, so I'm hoping I'm able to get him painted alongside something I do enjoy.  I've decided to make him a little different also and try an albino style paler skin tone compared to the rest of my Gatormen.

The reason I'm not going nuts with my freshly undercoated Hyperion model is that I really need a respirator of some description.  The dustmasks I've been using to work with the airbrush really aren't sufficient when I'm working so closely with the atomised chemicals coming out of the device.  I can't begin to describe the headache I had the other day when I was bascoating.

I'll have the window open wherever possible, in order to avoid a build up of fumes, and take regular breaks so as not to fumigate my dear wife who shares the study with me

So hopefully at the weekend I can get basecoating a few other miniatures, and start to work properly on Hyperion.  

That's all for now, hopefully have some progress pictures at the weekend

Thanks for stopping by

Lofty

Progression

I'm about to sit down and do my first hobbying since the blitz on my Blindwater congregation ready for the BCB and I really don't know what I want to get on with.

I've my Ret (Destors, Ravyn and Discordia away from fully done)

Skorne (a massive amount to paint)

and finishing the Blindwater (I have my alt boneswarm and snapper now too)

I'm going to be able to get one with the custom bases for the give away as well this week, so I can get them to their 'lucky recipients'

I also have a £20 voucher from the BCB raffle to spend.  What do you guys think I should pick up and get on with?

Cheers

Lofty

Brawlin' - The aftermath(pt1)

A very brief update today just to say that the Breast Cancer Brawl event (pictures incoming I believe) run today by LeedsWarmachine was a blast. I've some pics, and a more full write up on the way, but just wanted to check-in and say that it was a really good day, and a lot of effort was put in by the organisers, so thanks for that, ans thanks as well to everyone that took part and raised so much! (I'll let LeedsWarmachine reveal donation totals).
For my own self indulgence though, I won best single pink miniature for my Thrullg which was rewarded by a Warmachine MK2 poster signed by the Privateer Press staff. I also snagged the pink Bloody Barnabus card for best in faction (I was the only minion player!) a £20 gift card for the LGS hosting the event, and a Minions coin unclaimed after the domination event which I bid for.  On top of the pink PP bandana that everyone got (and cupcakes!) and the wooden spoon from the Domination event which was a black PP bandana). What I was by far most pleased with though is that I got a lot of kind comments about my painted miniatures, which really made all that effort worthwhile!

All in all, very pleased that I went and that it was so much fun, and I'll be adding a more thorough write-up & photo dump at some point in the coming week

Thanks
Lofty

The calm before the brawl

As you guys know, I'm attending a Breast Cancer Brawl event run by LeedsWarmachine on Sunday. I've been busting a gut this week trying to get things finished for the day.
Of course, this being the worst time to have loads of none hobby related things to do, thats when everything happens.
All I've really managed to do this week is tidy up base rims and get a glaze down on the swamp horror to unify the layers (VMA blues are amazing for any use) and to be honest I'm excited about how it's turning out.
I've managed to clear tomorrow entirely to give me a fighting chance of getting at least Maelok and the swamp horror done, and maybe even a start on the witch doctor. Hopefully I'll manage to meet these targets. As I've said before though, all 3 models are from my secondary list so it isn't a huge loss.
The upshot of all this is that it's unlikely that I'll have any progress shots this weekend unless I do well tomorrow. I'll definitely have some pictures from the event though, and a full army shot either before or after I go :)
After the event, I'm going to take a week or so away from my miniature hobby to try and avoid burnout after the mad rush I've had on these lists.
Upcoming projects though in no real order:
- Trench templates for Griffin (forestmans.blogspot.com)
- Giveaway bases
- Destors, and last few Ret pieces to get back to fully painted
- Maybe some Vyre 'jacks?..
- Skorne
And hopefully far more gaming than I usually get (more vassal at least would be good)
Wish me luck for Sunday, it's a great cause!
Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Tentacle WIP

I finally had some time to use my airbrush this weekend (just now in fact).
I really like the way the blues have come out, though I think they're a little lighter than I would have liked.  I base coated the entire thing with VMA blues, and then began to dust lighter colours from a sharp angle from above, leaving the base coat on the underside & in the recesses.  I really like this effect, and all I think I'll need to do (in addition to detail work) is a wash of the darkest base layer to bring the tone back down a little.

I love the blue colours here, and think they are a great contrast to the murky greens in the rest of the force :)

I also based/primed the Witchdoctor and Calaban, but unfortunately I only got round to adding sand to the Bonestorm today so it wasn't ready for priming. I did however get the base colours down on the Swamp Horror's base ready for painting in the week. This should give you a rough idea of what it will look like :)

That's about all for this week unfortunately, there's been a blight of social activity recently which is keeping me from hobbying.  I'm up against it a little now, as Maelok still needs finishing, as well as the Witchdoctor and this beasty.  Hopefully I'll make it, but if not, at least my main list is fully painted, with the exception of labelling up the Gatormen to allocate damage

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Reality Check

Managed to snap a couple of pics of finished bases after what's been a pretty busy weekend yet again.  Whilst busy, it has been a good one, and I've realised a few things after spending time with a friend or two outside my usual circle, which is always nice. anyhow, on with the show;

Just need the rims tidying and water effects adding to the Wrastler :) (who also needs some tidying up where I've added greenstuff to get a better adhesion to the base)

Sorry it's a little brief but thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Weekly WIP

No Pics this week I'm afraid.  I've had very little time to make any decent progress to be honest. After a busy weekend socially, and the fact that I've been assembling minis this week equates to very little to show.

It's going to be another busy weekend coming up as well, so I can't promise there will be a great deal done then :(

I'll hopefully have the bases that I've been working on finished by the end of the week, and miniatures pinned to them ready to go.

The only other thing I'd like to add this week is that I don't like the Witch Doctor model. There I said it. Far too many components if you ask me. I think I'm just bitter after dropping it whilst the glue was drying and having to clean up and start again to be honest.  If I decide to run a list with more than one though, I will be making my own second and/or third models :)

Sorry for the boring update, hopefully I'll be able to grab some decent painting time soon

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

A Black Tide Rises

I haven't made a great deal of progress this weekend unfortunately.  We had a visit from some university friends on Saturday, and Sunday was spent catching up/playing Vassal.
I did however mange to scrub and dry my recent purchases ready for assembly this week :)

I really enjoyed the Vassal game, the write-up of which is here so I wont expand on it much further. Suffice to say that Gators are tough :)
It was the first test I've had of the Barny list I will be running at the BCB event this month though, so it was good to see how that panned out. I should rally try and get at least one game in with Maelok before the event though I think!

I've exchanged a couple of sketches with Griffin (forestmans.blogspot.co.uk) about the trenches he wanted for eHaley's tier so I can begin assembling them soon enough I hope, Just need to pick up a few ingredients, which I can do hopefully in town this week :)

Other than that, I'll be assembling, basing and trying to get more added to Maelok this week. The recent purchases are the only models I need to get painted by the event, but once they are done, I am aiming to get the rest of my Blindwater collection painted, as all that is left is Calaban and the small based models that I own for the faction.
Hopefully it is something which is achievable by year end. After that, I'm just Destors away from fully painted again with my Ret', and a whole bunch of unpainted Skorne :P
Funtimes

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Weekly WIP

Plenty done this week. I seem to be on a good roll at the moment with getting things done which is great.

I've got both bases for my Wrastlers made and Barnabus, and I'm pleased with how they're looking.  The Green stuff will be painted to look like a snake (hopefully).

I've also made a fair bit of progress on Maelok this week, but to be honest, I'm struggling a little. I've got the bone sections pretty much done, and I've started painting the exposed muscle parts.  My original idea was to make those sections look fresh, and add a gore effect to them, but I'm not sure if this will be a little too over the top considering the amount of gore this would require.

Any ideas/suggestions?

I've made his skin purposefully darker than the posse etc, and matte to boot.  I'm going for less of a putrid/rotting flesh kind of effect than a cured hide kind of effect. Hopefully this comes across.

I received my newest beasts as well this week in the post so I'll be working on them when I get time at the weekend, and maybe have them under coated along with the bases I made this week.

I've also looked into sourcing some alternatives of the same models. As with my Wrastler, I dislike duplicated models, and my confidence for a major conversion is pretty low. Keep an eye peeled for future posts with alts of the Boneswarm, Snapper and Witch Doctor.

Possibly the biggest news this week though is that I've been asked to make some trench templates for a eHaley tier list for a friend. It'll be a long term project and I'll be blogging when I have significant updates etc. At the moment I'm in the design stage, and hope to be able to send some kind of concept out by the end of the weekend, which I'll then share with you guys :)

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Gators gonna Gate

I've put a lot of time in today and I've got both Posses to a stage that I am happy to call them finished.  After a great suggestion on my last post, I decided to give the second Posse war paint, to further distinguish them from the first group (on top of skin tone, and custom weapons).  I will be trying to add the war paint colour onto Maelok in order to try and emphasise that they are part of the same village/tribe maybe.

The only work left to do is tidy up the green stuff used to secure the arms & weapons (painted separately) with a sharp knife and a splash of paint once it's all dry.

Enough waffling, here's the pics

As you may be able to see, I have found an
awesome desk lamp. It even came with a daylight bulb, I've been trying to find
a decent lamp for a while and I stumbled across this in my local supermarket,
as strange as it sounds!

I feel really pleased with how everything has turned out, and am looking forward to getting them on the table with the rest for BCB!

Speaking of which, I ordered yesterday (payday) a Witch Doctor, Bone Swarm and a Swamp Horror, as I felt that any list I made for Maelok was just a Barny list with a different caster :(

Should be fun to get those put together, and primed next week(end), I have a few ideas of how to use my airbrush for the Horror, so stay tuned to see the results!

Only other news this week is that I finally finished cleaning up my assembled tourney tray, so I've more base size options than I will ever use, and everything fits in nicely, without any sticking anywhere, all in all a fantastic investment in my opinion.

Thanks for stopping by!
Lofty