Northy in painted stuff SHOCKER!

That's about as much tabloid enthusiasm as I can stand, so back to my usual acerbic (lack of) wit.

January 30th to March 28th. That's a bloody long time to go without posting anything, isn't it? Ah well, fear not, I've made great use of my time to get some things done. Mostly not painting, admittedly, but I have completed a couple prototype pieces for some armies (Erseta and/or Greyhawk based) with a few more "on the way". Learned a few things about the painting of 15mm stuff, and considering these are the first ever finished (and based) 15mm chappies I've done, I'm still fairly happy with how they turned out.  Actually, I finished some of these a good week ago, but I'm truly terrible at taking pictures and even worse at uploading things in a timely manner. Still, pictures!

Do the clicking voodoo doodoo to embigggen the view!

First off, back and front pictures of the (18mm not 15mm) Dwarfs I painted quite some time ago. Finally based, this is actually the battlefield look if/when I get the other bases ready for a battlefield confrontation of some variety.

Next up, we have a base of spearmen. Ostensibly they're Vostlander town militia, but they'll do well enough as pretty much any moderately trained spear types in a fetching red and black motif.  This base is the one that I learned the most from. Primarily, the learning focused on the need for layers rather than a panacea one-hit ink wash.  The inking I used here is far, far too weak for the final result, and it doesn't make the detail hit nearly as well as the figures actually deserve.  Sure, they're "good enough" for the battlefield, but I'm certainly going to be doing things slightly differently for the next batch (which might just lead me to revisiting this base to make them match up a tad better to their comrades, we'll see).

 Lastly, a stack of stakes to hide the masses of troops that I have (yet to paint) behind. Based in the FoG 15mm style, I bought some thin rigid dowel (roughly the size of matches, only round) and went to down cutting them to length with cutters then whittling the tips to points and bases to a flat angle. I found that applying some green stuff to the metal bases helps seat the stakes more solidly and also gives a better looking surface rather than the oddly two-dimensional look of plain metal. Still, let me tell you, these bastards work VERY well as caltrops versus my feet.


Next most likely to be finished is the prototype heavy gun base that's 90% done, or, muse permitting, possibly a 28mm D&D figure of my darling wife's superstrong fighter, or even a Wehrmacht-themed Ogre Mk.III.

Minis. Well, two of 'em.

I've been embroiled in real life. Wrestling with the government, tending sick kitties and summer weather can really suck out all desire to do anything hobby-like out of me.

First off, sorry about the disappearance of the Armies of Greyhawk progress.  It's still there, it's still waiting to be posted, I just have to put a few finishing touches to it before I can move on.

Now, onto a minor update. A picture of my first fully-completed 'mech miniatures.  Yes, Joe, I SHOULD be painting more Pan-Euro minis (and they'll get done at some point) but I wanted these mean ladies on the field in full dress. Enjoy!

Swamp prototype, with pics!

Finally, the first (of hopefully, many!) swamp terrain piece I've done is complete.  It's not perfect, and I'd surely like to add more 'depth' to it, but I fudged somewhat to allow it to scale reasonably well across Ogre, Battletech and even stretch to 15mm 'Armies of Greyhawk' scale.

Considering the compromises, I think it's turned out quite well. I've also learned a LOT about the process, and think the next few pieces will only look better and better with each iteration.  With the swamps done, then I'm left considering whether it's lakes and river features next, or more trees. Whatever I choose, terrain wise, I'm just glad that my table is gradually getting populated. That being said, I DO have a number of rather sexy looking terrain pieces I picked up at Dexcon that need basing and painting... Then there's the half-built wreckage markers I'm putting together for Ogre minis... Or I could finally get to painting a few more Canopian 'mechs... Or finishing off the Marik colour testbeds for my wife's 'mechs... Or the character sketch of my newest AD&D character...

...

*twitch*


Anyway. Enjoy the picture of the swamp prototype and glamour shots of Caroline the Fencer and some Pan-Euro forces modeling the latest in red "swamp camo".

Caroline, oh Caroline!

She's finished! Eeee! The pink Fencer, after deciding on her name of Caroline, is ready to destroy those dirty, horrible, science-hating Combine forces!  She's thoroughly gorgeous and she'll overrun anyone that says otherwise. I panicked somewhat when I first added the black lining after the basecoat, but thankfully (I think) the topcoat went on quite nicely and covered the fact that it looked bloody awful at that time.  Paint covers a multitude of sins, thank goodness!


You'll also see, in the background of Caroline's glamour shot, the beginnings of my Royal Household Pan-European forces. Slow progress, I will admit, but I'm quite pleased with the results of the first few units.  Hooray me and hooray black ink!


Okay then. In addition to Caroline, the pink Fencer of DOOM, and the Pan-Euros, I've been working on some bases of trees. Below is a picture of my box'o'trees.  It's not quite hundreds, but it'll cover enough to be getting on with. Roughly twice that number again and I'll be done! Simples!

Yay pictures!

Also, my power supply and new PC components are in the mail, so fingers crossed they'll arrive by the weekend and I can resurrect the Armies of Greyhawk series. I haven't forgotten and those lists are still coming!

Sometimes, I swear...

...things pile up against me.

I know it sounds silly but right now it feels like a perfectly understandable paranoia!

A few days ago, Mediafire was having issues with cooperating with Firefox (pretty much any version from 3.x and up). This coincided with my having finished off a couple (well, four) overdue Armies of Greyhawk lists. All typed and ready to go they were (are!), but no uploading meant I decided to just leave off posting until the next day. That night, the PSU for my computer imploded.

So now I'm currently awaiting receipt of the next one to be installed into the beast and typing this up on a spare with so little grunt that I doubt it would actually be able to power the painting lamp that is sitting next to me. I -could- tear out the HDD from that one and attach it up to this one if I really felt so inclined, but instead I'm taking the time to clean up and prime more of the 'Mechs I got from my Battletech starter boxes. And paint a pink Fencer (yes, I said pink). And base some more trees.  Oh, and finish proof-reading v1.0 of the Adventures Dark and Deep Game Master's Toolkit.

Sure, I appreciate the time to paint, but I think I'll feel a little more relaxed when I get those new AoG lists posted like I said I would... At this rate I'll actually -finish- painting the Fencer AND have taken pictures -before- I get the parts for the new computer. Astonishing!

Update!

Because I'm feeling guilty about not updating (and bad about not painting more), I figured I should post a few things on my painting table that are not anywhere near finished, or worth seeing, just because I can. So, here they are. A Centurion and a Victor (eventually to be from the Magistracy of Canopus 2nd Canopian Fusiliers), and a Warhammer IIC and Madcat from Clan Jade Falcon's Sigma Galaxy.

They look terrible, and the pictures aren't any good (damnit Jim, I'm a painter, role-player and writer, not a photographer!), especially close-up, but the Magistracy 'mechs are also due several more coats and the Clan Jade Falcon fellows are barely even started. I'm sure they'll look better when done.  Still working on these, and the 1:1200 Trafalgar/Age of Sail ships... And the myriad of 15mm stuff. I'm slow, deal with it!

Anyway, pictures. Do the clicky thing.

FINALLY!

After a week of feeling like crap, then losing my camera battery charger (and having a dead battery) I finally have something to show, and yet after all of the wait it's still only a small handful of miniatures. Still, I have to say that I'm really quite happy (and, dare I say it, proud?) of what I get to show off. 

First up, here's the first of the 15mm figures I've ever painted. It's a special gift piece I did for Joe, a good friend and DM of the AD&D campaign I play in (and steal inspiration from). Behold, Ranger Joe!





The others done to date are a base worth of 15mm heavy Dwarf Infantry, which will be based and possibly used under the FoG/modified FoG rules and are painted in colours appropriate for the armies of Greyhawk.They're finished, though they're not mounted on their appropriate base simply because I was mind-fartingly stupid and didn't think to get any with my order! As they stand, they'll sit on the cardboard I PVA'd them onto to paint them until I get bases. Besides, finishing basing them will give me another reason to post an update!

Next up on the painting table, aside from the Blood Bowl teams that are STILL not done, are a trio of Battletech mechs. A Warhammer, a Centurion and a Victor. While I'm still grumpy about various sounds coming out from Catalyst, the miniatures are certainly pretty.  In addition to those are a pair of 1:1200 scale age of sail Royal Navy ships (a First Rate, Royal Anne, and a Fifth Rate, Phoenix, which are likely not to be finished soon, damn rigging...) and a few more bases worth of Dwarfs.  Told you I have miniature ADD.

15mm...or not?

As promised, here's a comparison shot between some naked (oo-er!) metal Black Raven Foundry Rangers and Dwarves (columns two and four, respectively) alongside some Old Glory 15 Norman dismounted Milites and Saxon Hirdsmen (one and three).  The squares on the tile beneath are one inch, for scale.

As you can see (I'm sure you can click through or use some other intertubes wizardry to see the larger image) the Rangers are taller, and the Dwarves seem incredibly tall. Oh well. I like the Dwarves and the Rangers next to one another (and the test Dwarves are being painted up nicely, updates on those to come by the weekend, I hope). True, they don't mix perfectly with the historicals, but you'd be hard pressed to find a mini line that scales perfectly even with itself, so I'm not too terribly fussed.  Besides, when I'm looking top-down on them, I really don't see much of a difference, and that's what matters most to me when I'm gaming.


Additional content warning: Trees.  I've been spending a little time putting together some pine forests. Well, the trees for the frosty pine forests, anyway. Enjoy another fancy picture-ma-bob that also gives all you voyeur-types a peek at part of my desk (and reveals my adoring allegiance to Vallejo paints).  I have to chop up some stands for these, mount the trees, paint and flock bases then produce some foamboard bases for the little stands to play on. It should look pretty nifty when done. Rest assured, you'll have pictures.

It's ARRIVED... Well, sorta.

My consignment of Field of Glory books have arrived!  It's a good sign that, on first glance of them, the rules seem mostly clear and concise, and the companion books only want to make me get the rest of them. I'm looking forward to clumsily playing my way through the first handful of games with my Frost Barbarians Anglo-Saxons.

Also... Happy 15mm painting fun time! Well, soon at least. My miniatures have arrived and I'm sure I'll be spending large parts of Wednesday night going through them all in some obsessive-compulsive fit that has me sorting out each individual sculpt of miniature into a box with it's fellows so I can try to make the optimal balance of miniatures for each base.  Yeah, I really am obsessive compulsive enough to be worried about actually doing that.

No newly-painted miniatures to update this with, unless you want pictures of half a dozen primed Beastmen or a Minotaur (you can blame reading the FoG books and playing Elemental for that), but if people bitch at me enough I'll end up posting new pictures of old miniatures just to shut folks up who DEMAND CONTENT. You jerks. In the meantime, I'll leave you with an answer to a question a few people of late have asked me.  No, I'm not going to elaborate, but I will say yes, I have played it and, sad to say, with the way most people seem to approach 4e play I think contracting herpes from a brazen strumpet* would be more fun.  Are all you questioning chappies happy now?  Good.


*Bonus I <3 U points go to anyone recognising that particular reference.

BALLS!

No, really. Balls. 

Okay, admittedly they weren't strictly mentioned as being "on my painting table" or anything, but  I'm entitled to change my mind whenever I damn well please.  Besides, what game of Blood Bowl is complete without a huge, spiky ball, or even a vast, bouncy pair?

I did actually get around to also painting some other miniatures, too. This time, they were actually on the list! Behold the last two Chaos Warriors for my (fourth) team. Just for a change, I'm even thinking of fully painting these ones, too. Those that know me from the Old Country actually died of shock just there, so that cut my readership down from three to one. Damnit.

Oh, yeah, and I better add a picture of the Chaos Warriors (badly taken, but sod it, y'know?). They're not exactly the best of jobs, just a simple, clean once-over, but they had to match the previous two which were done... Uh... Eight, no, ten years ago. I like to think my techniques (if not my actual lack of raw talent) has improved since then.

As a final aside, I want to plug Vallejo paints. Cheaper than GW paints (huzzah! Not that it's actually hard to be cheaper than theirs) but really an excellent formula.  Easy to mix, easy to smooth down, I really was comfortable working with them and a palette. Right, that's enough free advertising space. Here's a closeup of my shiny red ball to finish.

State of the table address

Right!  So, actually time for putting down what's on my painting table right now.  With my painting ADD though, there's no guarantee that this is what will get painted next, that's all down to my lunatic mu... Ooh, shiny!

In no particular order, we have:

• Chaos Blood Bowl Team. Touchups on two Chaos Warriors, primer on 6 Beastmen, one Minotaur, 6 more Beastmen and one Chaos Warrior star player not started.
• Human Blood Bowl Team. Touchups and finishing touches on five models,
• 13 Dwarf Ironbreakers. Primered.
• One Imperial Greatsword (human fighter RP character). Primered.
• One Goblin Shaman (Goblin RP character). Primered.

Besides all them, I'm looking forward to getting some new 15mm figures (Dwarves and Anglo-Saxons) which were somewhat inspired by Joe Bloch's Armies of Greyhawk posts and the AD&D campaign he's running. Well, that and the fact that I don't need that many reasons to buy even more miniatures.