You say Demons and I say Daemons: Another Scale Creep "Challenge"

 Hi All,

While there has been more going on behind the scenes than the blog would show, there hasn't been all that much that was interesting. Just sort of mundane hobby slow burn.

What did happen was a bunch of us, through the prompting of Spevna, painted some demons. Go check it out on the Scale Creep Blog here. There are some truly fantastic figures and paint jobs there. My personal favorite is Blue in VT's homage to Pete Taylor's Lord of Change. But honestly it's super hard to pick a favorite because they are all so good.

Anyway, my portion of the post is actually quite boring, but I was very inspired by this challenge.

After screwing about on eBay I got this Keeper of Secrets. As I mentioned on Scale Creep, I have the other three Greater Demons of Chaos, I just can't find them in my pile of shame right now.

I tried contrast on this model at first, but I failed. So I ended up using my Purple craft paint. It looks ok, but I have some proper model paint on order for future projects. Craft paint is starting to annoy me.

After failing with contrast on the KoS I decided to break out the Demonic Lasher from Reaper and try my hand at Contrast again.

After airbrushing the primer from black, through grey to a zenithal white I used Citadel contrast to block in the base colors. This time I located my contrast medium and thinned them about 1:1, 1.5:1. Contrast works way better if you start with a little preshading and thin them with the contrast medium. I still have a lot more experimenting to do to get the hang of these paints though. I think these "challenges have feed me up to experiment a little more. I also felt freer with this figure as I had already finished one and this was a bonus.

I then used Reaper paints to do the mandril faces, suction cups and spines/bones. I also drybrushed the scales and tentacles with reaper paints.

Anyway, thanks for looking and I hope to have an update on hobby stuff sooner rather than later.

Mordheim: 5 a side

Hi All,

Not exactly sure what the hold up has been on the blogging front, but I've been busy with real life and hobby projects. Although now that I think of it it could be the PS4 we bought.

Anyway after the Warzone "challenge" Cheetor suggested painting up a few fantasy figures that one could slot into Mordheim/Frostgrave/Rangers of Shadowdeep games with an emphasis on fitting the Mordheim warband guidelines.

So participants were encouraged to pick a faction and paint up a Leader, Hero and three henchmen. Sounds pretty straight forward. So I had big plans to do two warbands, but then procrastinated and only finished the one.

I encourage you to go over to Scale Creep here and read all of the entries. There are some excellent figures represented.

Here is mine.

A fun mix of figures. Three GW later edition Flagellants, Dragon Bait Cleric Adventurer and Reaper Bones Witch Hunter looking dude.

Jakob Knochengard 44013 is currently out of stock, but a fun little mini. The Bones Black material is better than the white bones material, but I still prefer metal miniatures. You can't beat the price though.

Joachim Pumpernickel is a Dragon Bait Cleric. A fun model with a lot of  stuff on him. I have a bunch of figures from this range that I need to paint.

Berchtwald

Horst

Klaus

Not much to say about these guys, they are kooky. I used a LePen 0.05 marker to write on the sandwich boards.

Thanks for looking. I should have something else up soon.

Advanced Heroquest - First Quest

Hi All,

Well, after painting those figures in near record time, we had our first game of Advanced Heroquest (AHQ).

I had no idea of what I was doing and had read the rules through about 5 or 6 months ago so it wasn't super streamlined. Having been derailed by too much searching through the rules before during games, I just went with it as best I could and relied on Google to help me through not being prepared.

This is what transpired.

So I started by deciding that 4 wall/corridor sections were the equivalent of one AHQ dungeon section. For future games I will have sections preassembled to go. I also learned I need to print way more clips, I ran out pretty fast.

The dungeon was bare of monsters or rooms for that matter. I know I forgot to roll for encounter chits or whatever it is after turn 3. Something about the Game Master rolling a die on their turn and taking a chit on a 1 or a 12. Honestly I was foggy on that. I also thought that there were premade monster matrices in the rule book. It seems I was wrong. So I went to the internet and found a table to roll on. That gave me the Quest room behind the door which contained 6 orcs and 3 orc champions plus 120 gold and something about 12 PV I found it here on Yumpu. I didn't read it, just quickly used the Quest room table.

All in all successful, but I'll have to go in and really have a look at the rules to be more comfortable with the game.

Thanks for looking.

Ash Waste Racer - Build Log

Hi All,

I thought I'd just take a moment to talk about how I modeled my Ash Waste Racer for the game at BOYL 2019.

For me it started with the fact that I knew I had some damaged Flagellants somewhere in the lead pile from an EBay purchase.

After stripping the figure I took my jeweler's saw to the bottom half and split it up the middle. This was actual more difficult than I thought it would be.

Next I had to source a mount. Terror Birds, Giant Insects, Dinosaurs had all sort of gone through my mind. I finally settled on a Basilisk. Who doesn't love a giant, 8 legged, lizard? I narrowed it down to two, but there was really only one option. The Reaper Basilisk sculpted by Bob Olley.

So some snipping of back spines, a few pins to hold things in place, and a weapon swap to make him "sci-fi" and Bob Olley's your Uncle!

If you were following my progress in the run up to BOYL, then you know that I procrastinated a lot and was very pressed for time. I quickly abandoned elaborate ideas about stowage and ended up fashioning his saddle from some cut up popsicle stick. I still don't know where I put my plasticard.

Anyway, a little greenstuff to hide gaps and hold him on a little firmer. I may have gone a little overboard. Then black primer and paint to look weird and grubby.

I don't know why, but painting the eyes black (or dark brown) and dotting them white always goes much better for me than white with a dot of black.

Thanks for looking. Happy hobbying!

Paint Table Saturday 267 - The Dead Shall Rise

Hi All,

Wow! It's been awhile since I've post a Table report. That was not the plan.

Here is the Army I'm assembling for the Old World Army Challenge. I of course over bought and so have way more than 1000 points here, but you get the idea.

This is my setup in the garage. I'm trying to relocate my hobby stuff in there to stop taking over the whole house. It is now very cramped in there.

I plan on using a mixture of Games Workshop, Reaper, Mantic, Skull and Crown, and Upstream Games House miniatures in this army.

I'll post up a better look of the units in the coming weeks. As you can see I have a lot of assembly to do before January 1st and I need to write up my starting post for the OWAC.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Olleytoberfest - Reaper Dwarven Brewmeister 02559

Hi All,

A quick one before I make dinner and get ready for trick or treaters.

A little bug eyed, but the first time in ages I've actually painted a black eye dot with a brush. The apes, with their white eye dots so successful, gave me the courage to try this time.

Perhaps I dirtied him up a tad too much with the grunge wash. All the paints were reaper except for craft paints on the base.

It was fun to work on a single figure and get him finished. I probably could have done him in fewer, longer sessions, but it was nice to just work on him a bit at a time as time allowed over the month.

You can still purchase him, and his barrel toting compadres here.

If you painted any Olley's or found any painted ones in your collection that you want to share, let me know.

I'm trying to push out the Oldhammer in the New World Zine #3 in the next day or two, in time for Oldhammer in the Jerz 2. I'm just polishing the last bit of the work I did and then abandoned at some point last year.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Paint Table Saturday 260 - Dwarf Brewmeister and others

Hi All,

Close to being finished on the Dwarf Brewmeister.

The goblins are figures that I finished a long time ago that needed their bases touched up. Then a couple of hero forge figures I have on slow burn.

Aidan had his final regulation Cross Country race of the season. Ran an unofficial 11:29 3K. Came in first place with a 9 second PR. Building off a great track and field season.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

1000 point-ish Bretonnian Army

Hi All,

So I finally finished those Bretonnians I was working on for the Old World Army Challenge. If the article isn't at the top of the page anymore, you can read it here. I suggest you go over there if you want a full break down of the points cost. When I gave actual points to the various bonus figures I painted it came out to more like 1200 points. I think I will make a list of about 1500 points as I think that is more playable.

People were creeped out, I was trying to emulate Dave Andrews.

I feel like I nailed it.

Had some lighting issues, I probably should have pumped up the ISO more. Had to have the aperture wide open, so it's a little blurry in spots.

Left to Right: 20 Brigands, 10 Retainers w/ Crossbow, 4 Noblesse D'Epee + 1 Marquis (10th Level), 1 Amorcier (5th Level) "Holbon Toddlebrew", 9 Retainers + 1 Baron (5th Level), 9 Foot Knights + 1 Baron (5th Level), Baggage wagon + 5 camp followers, War Altar and two Guards, 4 Chevalier D'Honneur + 1 Viscomte (15th Level), 15 Levy w/ Bows, L' Ordonnance + 3 crew, 1 Amorcier (5th Level) "Mazda"

Closer up shot of the Baggage. Stupid me, I forgot to move the chair. The cart was made from balsa and bamboo skewers with the addition of GW plastic horses and cart wheels. I put it on a Litko 3mm thick 50mm x 150mm base. The baggage are some plaster Hirst Arts castings I bought of someone on the internet. I glued them to a 40mm x 40mm Rendera base. So it is removable. The followers are 3 Reaper Villagers and two GW Laborers.

The War Altar is made from Balsa, Bamboo Skewers and card. The relics are resin, from Max Mini here. The figures are from Reaper.

So there you have it. I'm frantically trying to get ready for Kublacon, I totally missed the mark on getting new gangs ready for Necromunda this year, so I'm trying to pull something together last minute.

Thanks for looking.

Paint Table Saturday 236 - Those trees and Camp Followers

Hi All,

Still working on cleaning up the hobby lair and trying to finish up some things so I can take my final army pictures for the Old World Army Challenge. If you haven't already you should really check it out.

All the tree bases are finished. I just need to put foliage on the three bare trees and then spray them with hairspray or something. The clump foliage ones are shedding pretty bad.

I also finally started blocking in colors on the peasants and monk altar guards. The monks are wearing funky ceremonial robes in the red and blue of Monfel. Mongeaux, on the right is getting the fair skin tone. Blanche Neige will be getting the rosy skin tone when I unbury it.

That's all for now.

Thanks for looking.

Paint Table Saturday 233 - Bretonnians in the home stretch

Hi All,

Well, today was supposed to be the day I finished these.

But I encountered a slight problem.

Three out of the four knights did not fit their horse, I should have dry fit them before painting.

After some expletives and a little bending by hand, I decided to make up some green stuff and put it under the saddles to fill that gap. So it's hardening now and I'll paint it tomorrow.

I spread the excess putty very thinly onto a 25mm round base and textured it with my greenstuff world mesh roller. This time I put vaseline directly on the putty instead of trying to coat the roller. It worked much better.

We'll see if I can bang out the camp followers for the final army shot as well. I would also like to add a War Altar, but I haven't found the monk figures I have or received my Max Mini order.

I cataloged some of my Sci Fi collection, I'll post more on that soon.

Thanks for looking.

Hobby Update - Bretonnians, C02 Wizards, Chemical Plant and J-Pop Metal

Hi All,

A lot of stuff to tell you all about. I did end up finishing those Knights, but I can't show you until tomorrow. So I will do that with Paint Table Saturday. After we run our 5K in the morning.

On the desk right now are the old Citadel Men at Arms/ Retainers, a couple of old Bretonnian Crossbowmen mixed with Foundry Crossbowmen, and 3 C02 Wizards. Dormur, and in the back the Grim Reaper from Reaper are also there, but just as filler.

Now I've had these Wizards since the 90's, but obviously never got very far with them. I was looking at them the other day and noticed something hanging from the third guys belt. So I thought I'd do some research.

So you can find pictures of them on Stuff of Legends here.

So I have Baygar , Spyre and Holbon Toddlebrew on the desk right now and Mazda packed with my Undead somewhere. What got me curious about researching them was the thing that looks like a calculator hanging from his belt.

Sure enough it's mentioned on his page on the Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki, here.

Although I've barely been able to get anything painted for it, I'm also doing the Analogue Hobbies Painting  Challenge. I just missed getting the Knights finished on Monday,  so I couldn't submit them there this month. One of the things that's new this year is that you can submit terrain for scoring. Since I have precious little terrain I thought that would be a good thing to do. I bought the Pegasus Chemical Plant last Summer, but didn't get it in time to take it with me for gaming Shadow War: Armageddon.

Lastly I refound the band BabyMetal to listen to while I was powering through the finishing touches on those knights.

Chocolate is the main song that pops up, but I like Karate better. They sort of remind me of Melodic Metal bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Dragon Force. I feel like I'm listening to the music for the end credits of an Anime. If you go through their youtube playlist, the one where they sing Breaking the Law with Rob Halford is fun.

Also mixed in their playlist was the group LadyBaby. It's also fairly demented, Ladybeard is something else.

Thanks for looking.

Paint Table Saturday 210 - Monsters and Monoliths

Hi All,

Had to get ready for a gaming weekend, so I pushed a bunch of stuff through.

Reaper giant worm and some monoliths I made out of styrofoam and foamcore.

I bowed to wanting to play with these and just redid the eyes and called them done.

More Reaper bones monsters. Two Mind Eaters and a sand creature (?). Once I decided on matching the Ankheg color scheme and adding the pink, things went pretty quickly.

Thanks for looking.

Paint Table Saturday 207 - Ankhegs and Oxidation Beasts

Hi All,

  I somehow muddled through an overwhelming feeling of not accomplishing anything to completing these this evening.

I brushed on the black primer to these bones figures and then drybrushed on various earth tones. (Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Territorial Beige and Khaki Tan for the Ankhegs.) For the Oxidation Beasts I jut used the Umber and Sienna but then sponged on some Burnt Orange and Bright Orange to make them look rusty.

The main issue I had was with my varnish.

As you may recall, I like to use my Liquitex Matte Varnish for shiny and Vallejo Matte for dull. Unfortunately I am at the end of my Vallejo, and it has been going on very cloudy. You can see it on the head and mandible for the one on the left.You can also see that I did the Ankhegs completely in Liquitex and it is too shiny for my taste. I ordered some Winsor & Newton Galeria Matte Varnish, but it won't get here until Halloween.

Then I remembered I had this. It had never actually worked for me before, meaning I had never used it and the last time I tried to it would not spray at all.

I noticed how old it was but figured I had nothing to lose at this point. I shook the can extra long and tried using a different nozzle, but ended up using the original.

As you can see here, 18 year old varnish works.The one in the middle between the pure liquitex shiny matte and the cloudy vallejo matte.

If you go back to the top picture you may see I missed a few pots so the shine comes through. I was cooking dinner and losing light outside so I rushed things. But I'm reasonably happy and I got some more stuff finished. Yay me.

Thanks for looking.