Time Stamp

What happened to the witty blog titles eh? I feel I’m slacking :/  I know it’s been over a week since my last post, but we were away over the weekend with the lovely Miss Vicky, and have been pretty tired this week.

I also promised a DnD related post on Monday, but I was still pretty wiped out from our awesome weekend, and starting training again after a week or so off (doesn’t sound like much but it makes a lot of difference), but I’m going to postpone that till Monday next, as it’s late in the week now and I don’t like to double post too often.

Anyway, back on track :) great weekend with our friends, who introduced me to a whole new world of collectables (after previously getting us hooked on Pop Vinyls), and I’m now the proud owner of  Deathwing Stormwind attack down to £30 from £100, and Optimus Primewhich was also pretty heavily discounted but I don’t remember the numbers. I also picked up the next wave of Mixels, which Miss Vicky’s quest helper also introduced me to,  after becoming disillusioned with both the price, and duplication of ‘standard’ lego minifigs (as a reference, a lego minifigure is £2.50 but a single Mixel is £3.00)

The Warcraft Megabloks (and their ‘blind bag’ minifigures) are something that I will ‘collect’ as I played Warcraft in its many versions for years, and still dabble in from time to time. But the Transformers I suspect I will only pick up any sets that I particularly like the look of.

The upshot of this is that I will be blogging some assembly, and unboxing pictures when I sit down to these pretty big tasks, for a further diversification of this once staunchly wargaming based blog.

Fret not though I will still be posting updates for miniature wargaming and painting etc when it’s relevant, and photos once I setup a decent home lightbox.

 
For those of you disillusioned with the lack of tiny soldier mans in this post, fret not!

When I sit down to ‘mans’ (as my wife and I refer to the activity). I will be trying to cast up some components and create a bedroll type setup for my dragon knights, to give them the wandering knight kind of look, as they protect the herds of lizards, and perhaps eggs/nests, as part of their nomadic warrior lifestyle. 

 
I also really want to push through to completion with the  ‘wave serpents’ as they are oh so close to being ready to spray coat and get into the painting queue (which is currently empty as the Fire Dragons got stripped, and nothing else is spray coated). I am still really undecided about any kind of ‘rider’ for the dragons but I’m not sure how convincing it is that these beasts would transport troops, and direct the fire of their weapons under their own volition… Perhaps some kind of psychic link which they receive instructions over? I’m not sure yet but I want to test a few options for pilots etc. I will also be adding a lot of baggage, spare ammunition etc to the Dragons backs, as well as hand holds for the transported troops to add realism.

An interesting link into topics further up this blog is colour scheme for the dragons. A few posts back I outlined a vague plan for a sandy brown/red colour scheme for the army, and this is apparent in the Farseer and the Avatar painted so far, but when translating this to the lizards and dragons I noticed a remarkably familiar site which will be a nice nod to another hobby of mine :)

That’s all I have for now, well done for reading this far down!

Hopefully I can keep my promise of a DnD Monday blog this time round.

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty 

Wet Weather Wednesday

Hi again, pleased I am managing to post when I said I would, let's hope it's something that can be maintained!

I was off work today as I had a dentists appointment, and I received my first filling in my 29 years of life, which I don't think is too bad going.

I also managed to finish the drybrushing layers on both the Dire Avengers and Striking Scorpions.I even added some tufts to the Scorpions as I have been doing with most other models so far. I'm undecided as to whether or not they fit with the Dire Avengers as the cork they are on is a lot thicker, so I'm not convinced it will look as good.

All that's left though is the pre Tamiya clear layer on the gems for Scorpions. I have been thinking a lot about transport, and I am planning something to replicate what is seen in this video (again with the videos right?), as it is modular, and expandable and can be applied to any of the miniatures I won, with the simple (and relatively cheap) application of magnets.  One of my project for the weekend whilst we visit our friends, who are also craft minded is to scout out suitable cases and seek advice from someone into more traditional crafts :)

I also picked up some blu-stuff, again after seeing success from my friends blog (linked above), as a combination with insta-mold as they both work quite differently. Blu-stuff seems to be more of a press mold device, but I will be testing this, in order to establish which is bettera t what task.  I have a few places on my Wraithlord & Wraithguard models which will require dragon horn type protrusions and the bits for such will be nigh on impossible (let alone expensive) to get hold of without making copies.  It's worth mentioning here that IP is not infringed by replicating any other IP for personal use, it's only illegal when trying to make a profit out of the sale of such a copy.

I stumbled a cross (yep you guessed it...) a great idea in a video and the Warlocks shown here using High Elf Shadow Warrior parts spoke to me loud and clear, so I will almost certainly be borrowing that inspiration when I get around to making mine. I think it will translate pretty well to a mounted version.  

This does divert from my original fluff somewhat, but what's a good story if it doesn't evolve? :)

The last thing I want to cover today is that I have scrubbed down the Fire Dragons that I had soaking in Dettol, and they look pretty clean. The paint layer comes off very easily, but the primer turns into a ridiculous sludgy mess that's hard to get off anything it touches. for some reason I decided to only wear one latex glove to deal with them so you can imagine how great my hands smell now after umpteen washes...

Before I get these sprayed and started painting (still struggling to replicate the colours I'd like to use, although I've pretty sure what I'll do) I'm going to work on some of the 'more important' elements of the army as I mentioned in the last post, and try and get the army playable at last!

I also mentioned last time that there are a couple of DnD related points to talk about but I'd like to keep that in a separate post, so tune in next time for Dungeons and Dragons madness on Monday.

Thanks for Stopping by

Lofty

When Life Gets In The Way

I had every intention last week of posting new tagged posts 'Monday musings' and 'Weekly/WednesdayWIP'. Sadly, with many and varied issues with the house, drainage leaks, boiler issues, cats and, to be honest, actual painting progress, I'm only just sitting down to hopefully cover both bases.

Let's start with progress!
Most recently, I decided to attempt the sword on my Avatar. I wanted to try the 'classic' force weapon glow type look, made so popular here except by brush, not airbrush, as I wasn't at all confident in being able to replicate the effect, after I struggled with simple gradient on the Farseer sword (paint spattering, I suspect due to the nozzle cap having paint collected in it?..) Ironically, I happened on a method for this in a GW video as their how to paint videos are pretty good!



Anyhow, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, even though the picture does it no justice ;)
The brown areas are under coated for gold/bronze.


I've also pretty much finished up the Striking Scorpions which I recently had to buy a wash especially for.



Again, the photography isn't great, but it's with the camera on my phone, and in shoddy light. I seem to have a thing about watering down washes which leaves the contrast between washed basecoat and 'first highight' basecoat rather slim... This is something which is glaringly apparent on these models and something I need to stop doing as it makes it all rather pointless. After watching this video I can see the benefit of the wash as a shade of the base, and then bringing the base back up to it's original colour. I'm improving all the time still though, and what better way to do it than practically :) (I get a lot of inspiration on YouTube it seems - a sign of an isolated hobbyist?) I am please with how these models are working out though, and will be finishing them up this week.

I fully intend to create a decent light box set up at some point, and try to resurrect my old digital camera/tripod to see if that's any better. Seems a shame to grab quick snaps of these models which I spend days in total painting

I'll try and keep the rest of the post brief, and post again on Monday (oh, is that tomorrow already?!) Maybe Wednesday then as I'm off work for a dentists appointment...

My next thing to get done is stripping and repainting Fire Dragons after stumbling across this amazing example on good old Google images. So I've bought a red brown, and started testing on a spare guardian model. I'll get the mopdels soaking in Dettol at some point tomorrow probably and then re-based etc ready to start painting on Wednesday :)

After they are done (which I predict to be quite quickly) I want to make a real push towards getting mounted figures done, as they are what the army is all about really :)

That's where I'll leave it for now, so as to not rattle on too much and lose focus. Coming in the next post though is:

DnD miniatures - what to buy and why, or even if!
DnD ideas - disjointed inspiration!
Miniature transport - Magnets!
Mold(s) - the good kind!
Warlocks - Good(borrowed) ideas!

Until then, thanks for stopping by :)
Lofty

Dungeons & Dragons

Hello again!

When I posted earlier this week I had every intention of being on a roll with posts, and trying to carry on momentum, but after some pretty bad luck and multiple boiler repairs, and drain leaks my time has been either full of stress an/or thing to sort out.

Anyhow, I'd like to introduce a new topic to this blog. I have previously touched on D&D through the medium of miniatures when I posted painted figures representing me and my party in campaigns. Now though, I hope to use the blog as a sounding board for ideas for my own campaign.

I'm not a very experienced or confident GM, but I do enjoy the game, and the ideas that I have.  I previously ran two sessions of a campaign with some friends but after our diaries filled up with other commitments, and a pretty shaky start from myself as a first time GM, we never came back to it.
Fast forward though to now and I find myself having been bitten quite deeply by the role play bug. Thanks, in no small part, to an Amazon voucher i earned through doing marketing survyes being spent on a series of books I've been meaning to get around to for a while - The legend of Drizzt by RA Salvatore.

I read the first three books in what must have been 20 days altogether, I found it hard to put them down. It set my imagination sparking though and I started looking through my old notes etc. and trying to think how to salvage my old campaign with the fresh ideas I had been given by the books.
I also re-discovered an old program I once bought a license for which allows a user to create characters in the D&D (and many other) settings, saving all the number crunching hassle - Hero Lab
Because my roleplay group stuck to D&D 3.5 when 4th edition came out, the fact that my license wont be updated with newer content is fine :) and after a couple of entire evenings spent noodling around with new and old characters in the program, I was back into writing again!

I have also been drooling over some miniatures which I will be painting up as NPCs for the campaign, and also just because I really like some of their fantasy human range.

Hopefully the 'D&D' tag will be either fortnightly or more often depending how much writing I get done, or maybe even just the odd idea now and then hoping for some feedback from whoever still follows here ;P

That's it for now. I will be backfilling the posts I didn't have time to write this week tomorrow maybe :)
Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Job Done!

Hi!

Yes it's me, yes I'm posting again.

There, now that's out of the way. I've been inspired to pick up blogging again thanks to a dear friend of mine.
I have a painting log on Warseer but I will be updating betwixt here and there in as close to paralel as possible.

To keep you interested, here are a few WIP samples of the army so far:

I'm also going to be writing additions to an ongoing DnD adventure I am running with some people so I will be using this area as a kind of sounding board for ideas and new features :)
I also intend to 'buy bad guy models', just as an excuse to paint up some nice one off pieces, which I can then post here :)

That's all for now, Thanks
Lofty

Departure

Its is with heavy heart that I've decided to part ways with my retribution. If I were to get to a club/event then my first choice would be hordes. As much as I live the models and the time spent painting my ret, it is a waste having them simply sitting in their foam case.

If there is any interest at all please contact me here or message loftybloke on the privateer forums.

Thanks
Lofty

Don't Stop Me Now

Things are still going really well, there is a lot of momentum to this project!

I've come up with a couple of paint schemes, but I'm having trouble picking one to go with (will be painting up a couple of spare guardians to see what they look like hopefully), any preferences please dear readers? I think the black helmet is in the lead at the mo.

KILLED AND LOST BY PHOTOBUCKET :(

To cover off from last time, I have readied ten Dire Avengers for painting (going to hopefully have a massive weekend of airbrushing base coats on EVERYTHING) sourced a High Elf Dragon as a wave serpent, and 8 Cold Ones for jetbikes.

The plan at the moment is to make Shining Spears - Dragon Knights with four cold ones/Dire Avengers and have two units of three jetbike guardians on the cold ones as well. I also have plans for a Farseer/Warlock council on 'jetbikes' at some stage, though cold ones are proving pretty tough to source so this won't be anytime soon. Both the Dragon Knights and outriders (Let's call the guardians) have been heavily inspired by other people's conversion work, as well as the Exodite fluff I've been reading in various places online. I plan on giving them a good amount of baggage on the back of the saddle, with bedroll, knife, personal effects etc.

I have been pondering ways in which to make the more traditional Craftworld elements of my current project fit more with the Exodite theme, and in this vain I have purchased some Instant mold. The plan is to take a mold from the spine/head area of one of the cold one mounts and have this scaly pattern greenstuffed onto the smooth head areas of the wraith units. If I can pull it off, i think it will look pretty good.

I don't get as much time to assemble & paint as i would like, as our kittens are still pretty into everything they can see, so it's a very stop/start process. Slowly but surely I'm getting to where I want to be though.
I'm at a friends house on Thursday to see him play against a second friend so I can start learning the new edition of 4ok, which I'm looking forward to as it will allow me to better plan my collection/armny lists.

Further into the project, I will be making my own Howling Banshees (also intended to double as Harlequins somehow) Warpspiders, and a small corsair DE force to go with everything else, as well as Lizardmen monstrous creatures as grav tanks.
I'm also wanting to include a Carnosaur somehow eventually (Wraithknight stand in??) a Wraithknight (see previous) and I'm not sure how to represent further wave serpents, as the High Elf Dragon wasn't easy to come by, albeit being cheaper than a Wave Serpent kit...

This is a project which has run ahead of me, and I'm finding it quite hard to stay on top of all the things I keep thinking of to include in the force etc. It's very refreshing to have such a clean slate to work with, there is a lot to be said for the world of GW plastic kits and the options they leave a modeler.

I'll hopefully have something to show soon, but I can't promise anything with Xmas on it's way and being pretty busy. I will however show progress when it's made, especially with the more esoteric stuff like the dragon et al.

Thanks for stopping by!
Lofty