Parting shot for 2011

Well another year is pretty much out and we are ready to welcome in another or if you are of a certain belief the end of the world............whats this apocalypse attempt number 6? haha

I've been rather active on this blog over the past year and have increasingly moved to it from forum posting, whether thats because the forum scene seems to have slowed down from the economy or others also moving to blogs who knows but I guess its all good.

In hobby terms this year has had its ups and downs I've probs started more projects than I would care to list and finished none of them, we get to recent months and all interest and mojo have dried up. I hope by having a break until the new year it will reinvigorate me some more but its quite possible that 2012 might herald my depature from the hobby......... maybe thats my apocalypse hahaha.


So I figured I will as a New Years resolution try and stick to a set list of projects for 2012 so here we go:

Battle Fleet Gothic: Imperial Fleet : This is to appease Rictus who has now finished his entire Nurgle fleet (HERE) if I can sort this out I can actually start playing a few games against him which might get the mojo flowing more.

Infinity: Rasmus my evil Danish Friend has talked me into buying an Infinity starter pack, gone for the Yu Jing Imperial service starter:

These will be a painting project largely and as its only 6 models I can take my time.

Chaos Legions: If the rumours are true then a chaos legions codex might appear during 2012 at this point I might return to my Word Bearers and do a new 1000-1500pt army salvaging what I can from my old army and if GWs prices dont increase(thats hoping for a lot......) possibly use some new models. Of course I could always do something different instead of Word Bearers again, possibly explore the black legion, Iron Warriors or night lords. Of all the projects listed here this is the one most likely not to happen.

Mordheim: Part of my agreement to do BFG with Rictus was that we would both do Mordheim warbands. I really enjoyed working on my slaaneshii cult of the possessed and would love to get back to them despite not being entirely happy with the GS work. I am planning an undead warband to use up a box of skeleton warriors I've got as well.

Batman character busts: I want to get back to large scale clay sculpture, after having decided to give a third term of my course a miss I've suddenly got an itch to make something. I have a bag of clay and would like to do some busts of Batman characters, at the moment the first batch will likely be Two Face, Harley Quinn, Joker and Scare Crow.

As you can see from the list I'm steering pretty clear of large army projects the Chaos legions thing is only a possible, there will likely be a few random models mixed in with that lot but in general these will be my main projects of 2012

So I wish all my followers and those who read my ramblings a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year and I hope to be back in action in a few weeks time :-)

Before I go welcome to new followers Warpaintguy and David, cheers for the support guys :-)

Tale of Painters Blog Network and Marine Captain update

Evening guys,

Thought I would put up a quick post just to promote a Blogging group that Stahly kindly invited me to join.

The blogging group in question is the "Tale of Painters Blog network", a rather cool site set up by Stahly with contributions from Sigur and Garfy all of which are well known on the hobby forum scene.

They aim to promote the work on other blogs, provide a nice selection of tutorials as well as their own inspirational work on their own armies. Well worth a look :)


And seen as I'm here, heres a small update to show some progress on Centurion Vorenus:

Added the cloak and fur pelt now. He basically needs some finishing touches such as some clasps holding the cloak in place and toes added to his right foot. I wasn't to sure on the back banner to start with as I thought it might look a little OTT but it has grown on me somewhat.

All thats left to do now is the shield. I've got a torso built ready for the GS work to begin on the Chaplain....................;)

In other news in my way of forever boncing between projects I have dusted off the Slaaneshi Mordheim warband, might be time to continue with it :P

I'm back

Been a month or 2 since my last post, been having a break from hobbying for most of that period only occasionally working on the odd thing.

Largely been distracted with Xbox Games mainly Arkham City and Battlefield 3. But I've also gotten back into reading and have worked my way through a decent number of books mainly David Gemmels Drenai novels.

So onwards to why I'm posting I've been working on some stuff again:

First up WiP of Centurion Vorenus, commander of the 3rd company of the Steel Praetorians:

 

Size comparison to a normal marine:

Been working on this guy slowly for the past week, ever since receiving the Sicarius head from Rasmus (many thanks sir :) ). I was originally thinking of getting the fron plates from some Sang guard torsos for the whole muscle look then figured it would be less hassle to just sculpt it.

He still needs a cloak adding as well as a Roman style storm shield making. Game wise he will count as having a relic blade and storm shield.

Next up we have 2 armatures:

Both in the early stages, I've decided I want to push my scratch sculpt skills and try to improve. I have come up with a potential project to use for  practise but I shall keep that secret for now ;)

Well thats it for this update, posts will likely become more sporadic as I'm just taking hobby stuff at a steady pace to maintain my interest in it.

As ever any comments or suggestions are more than welcome :)

Malifaux: Rasputina

Evening readers, been a while since the last update.........2 weeks, I'm slacking.


Interest in models lately has vanished, I've been struggling to find the energy and inspiration to actually do much. Instead I've been reading a lot having burnt through 3 books and a graphic novel since the last update.

Don't know what to do about the lack of interest, maybe a break from the hobby is in order?

I have however managed to pretty much finish Rasputina for the Malifaux crew:

Pretty pleased with her, they are the best eyes I have managed to paint in ages sort of a fluke that I didn't mess up the pupils haha. These malifaux models are very enoyable to paint when I actually find the mojo to paint, might be because I'm taking my time on them but who knows.

I shall be trying to get the 3 little ice demons from the box painted over coming days, We'll see how well that goes.

The current lack of interest in models won't be helped by the fact that Batman: Arkham City is released at the end of the week so I shall be lost to the Xbox.

Welcome to new followers Christopher and The_Great_Gonzo cheers for the support guys :)

Malifaux: Ice Golem

Afternoon readers, tis update time


Despite  being struck down with what I have dubbed "Nerd Flu" which I think I picked up from Gamesday (seen as out of the 4 guys I was with on the day 3 of them have also been ill :( ) I have been painting and have managed to get my first ever Malifaux model pretty much finished.

Onto the pictures of the Ice Golem:

To start with I wasn't to happy with him but he has grown on me. Decided to gloss varnish him in part to reinforce the ice aspect of him and also to protect him as I've never seen paint chip off any metal models I've had as easily as it was coming off this guy :(

 need to do a few touch ups and some washes in a few selece areas but he will look pretty much the same as he does now after haha. Next up painting wise will be Rasputina herself.

So should have an update in day or 2, hopefully I can shake off this accursed Flu/Cold/Virus soon

Malifaux and Zombie Apoc update

Evening readers, small update time. 3 updates in the space of a few days shocking :P

The Wargames Factory zombies that Rasmus had sent turned up last week, I know a few of you were interested to hear my thoughts on them so figured I would write them up.

here are the 3 that he sent me:

Now Rasmus did warn me that he didn't think they would be salvagable, and he was very nearly right. The sculpt and cast quality is terrible, all the things I have read about the detail especially on their faces being shallow is completely true. I can only just make out the details of the face when they are bare plastic god only knows what it would look like when you have them undercoated.

another thing I have picked up on them is that some of the arms are completely out of proportion being either to short or too long.

Examples of this being the 2 zombies on either end. Their left arms which are cast on as part of the torso are too skinny and short. Then you have the zombie in the middle whose right arm is too long and just looks unnatural.

Now I was expecting all of this, I had chosen to get these zombies to use pretty much as armatures for sculpting my own details onto, and they work reasonably well for that, here is how I got on with converting one of them:

zombie compared to hasslefree model

Carved the face off completely and resculpted it, then resculpted parts of his clothes still need to attach and correct the other arm which is the one that seems too long.

over all here is a summary of them:

Pros:

• Cheap
• True scale 28mm so work perfectly with hasslefree zombie hunters

Cons:

• Terrible casts
• questionable proportions on some arms

my advice is that unless you are up for the challenge of trying to salvage them as I am then steer clear of them. As I think trying to paint them straight from the box, especially the faces would be incredbily hard.

I shall likely still be picking up a box to convert, Shall see how I go with these 3 first I think. But in all honesty although you will only get 8 for the same price as a box of 30 of these I think you would be better off getting Studio miniatures zombies.


___________________________________________________________


Now onto Malifaux, been getting the models cleaned up and ready to paint, for once I'm doing next to no conversions as I pretty much like the models as they are. The only exception being Rasputina herself.

I wasn't a fan of the top hat style thing she had so I cut it off and decided to make her a hooded cloak instead. Sort of helps to tie her to the December Acolyte model too. Heres how shes looking:

Pretty much done meaning she will be ready to paint soon, Though the first thing from the box that I shall be painting up is the ice golem who got basecoated today :)

With this warband/crew figured I would put some effort into the bases too, so after a chat with that foul Kiwi known only as Foot_of_Adhesive_tape I decided to give them cobble stone bases. To go with the winter theme they will get snow added but I wanted something extra so set about finding something I could use to make spike of ice.

Inspiration struck and after carving up some GW flying stands I ended up with this prototype base:

The bases and model will be painted seperately with the snow being added once the model is glued on. I'm actually rather happy with the Ice spikes.

well that is it for now, I shall have an update in a few days with some  progress on malifaux as well as the zombies :)

GamesDay 2011 the aftermath

Well Gamesday has been and gone, rather enjoyable day even if I didn't really pay to much attention to what was going on there. My main reason for going was to see some of my internet friends who I normally on see once or twice a year.

So I spent the day with Rictus, Schoolcormorant, Mr Feral and Dave aka Lavadude off Ammo Bunker.

The first hour of the day was spent trying to wake Schoolcormorant up as me, Rictus and Dave all stood in the lobby of his hotel phoning him. 25 missed calls to his mobile, 2 calls from the lobby staff to his room and eventually 3 security guys going into his room later and he was awake and ready to head across to the LG arena.

I didn't bother entering Golden Demon given that when we got there they were letting everyone in anyway. Figured it was less hassle that way.

So off we set to look around after getting seperated from SC and Rictus pretty much instantly I had a wander around with Dave checked out the Ammo Bunkers table:

The Ammbunker won best club contribution for the table

had a good look at the armies on parade stuff though forgot to get any pictures, standard was really high though.

New FW landraider

Very nice skaven conversion that caught my eye

The new Forge world rhino conversion kit

Not long after this we found Mr Feral and he joined our motley group for the day, after looking round a few more time and grabbing some lunch we decided to brave the queue for the sales stand which moved surprisingly quickly.

Here was my loot for the day:

only 2 things, one was the plastic nurgle lord which I shall convert to a plague marine character at some point in the future (Malifaux and zombies being my priority now) as well a pre release copy of The Gildar Rift, which I picked up as I quite like books with huron blackheart and the Red corsairs in (Check out Bloodreaver by Aaron Dembski-Bowden)

Managed to then get the book signed by its author Sarah Cawkwell as did Mr Feral.

All in all a very enjoyable day, as to if I'm going next year well that will be decided closer to the time when I know who out of my friends is going as really they are the only reason I went haha.

Gamesday 2011 plans

Evening readers, small update

tomorrow is Gamesday and I shall be in attendance walking around with the rather shady pair of Rictus and Schoolcormorant.

Will be my first time entering Golden Demon though mainly doing it to get in earlier, as I stand no chance in hell of winning a thing in it haha. I shall be entering the Classic version of Ironhand Straken I painted up a while back as it is still my best painted model:

Might try and do a proper entry next year


After an unfortunate accident involving me rolling my office chair over one the them the Kill team won't be going to GD, haven't got the time to repair it :(

Today I met up with SchoolCormorant in Birmingham as he has come down a day early, and I finally ventured into Waylands Forge as recommended by Brummie. Left with this:

Looks like Malifaux will be getting started earlier than I expected haha. Planning on really pushing myself with the painting on these, but it wouldn't be me if GS wasn't involved so I shall be doing a conversion or 2 on them ;)

If any of you are about at GD come and say hello I will likely be with the tall geordie with Blue hair.

Shall get some pictures of what goes on to post up on here either tomorrow night or monday  :)

Zombie Survivor

Evening Reader, tis update time again

Project zombie has begun and I present a survivor:

Forgot I had this model, its zombie hunter Kev from Hasslefree with some GSed on hair and beard to make him into a metal head :P

Decided to paint his hoodie as a band one so had a look through some of my black metal CDs and decided on the front cover from 1349s "Hellfire" album as its rather simple design. I'm actually really pleased with how its turned out as I'm not the best with freehand.

The Albums artwork

Here he is with my other painted survivor the Jill valentine from Resident Evil 3 conversion:

Zombie wise my devious Danish friend Rasmus aka AWOL from Ammo Bunker is kindly sending me accross a sprue of wargames factory zombies so as I can decide if I like them before buying them :) actually quite looking forward to converting them.

Once I have decided if they will be useful then I will order both a box of them and the other hasslefree models I listed last post.

Running along side the zombie project will be a BFG Imperial fleet as I'm buying some cruisers off Rictus at GD.

There will also possibly be some Malifaux in the future as after much nagging Foot_of-Adhesive_Tape has finally talked me into it by showing me the upcoming releases for October so I will likely get this warband:

Some very nice models in there.

This will be the plan for the next few months, as I'm utterly bored of 40k and most GW stuff in general. I've had far more fun painting that zombie hunter than I have had painting the last load of GW stuff I've done, BFG will be somehtign completely different at least.

well thats it for now let me know what you think :)

Gamefest and Zombie Apoc ideas

Morning Readers, bit of a text based update here though there are some pics just not of models :P

Yesterday I headed down to the NEC for the day for Gamefest, pretty good day out even if some of the queues for things were utterly insane for example if you wanted to play Modern warfare 3 it was like a 3 hour wait :| madness

I did get to have a go on the following games though:

Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
Soul Calibur 5 (Xbox)
Assassins Creed: Revelations (PS3)
Street Fighter Vs Tekken (Xbox)
Plus a few more

Assassins Creed being the only game I queued for mainly as my mate really wanted to see it, lost an hour and 40 minutes of my life to that queue :( .

Got a good look at Arkham city and it looks utterly awesome:

Managed to catch a few glimpses of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City as well and that looks really good.

I would have liked to have a go on it except the queue was massive and Capcom in their infinate wisdom only had 2 or 3 consoles with it on :| when the Demo of it was 5 mins long and you have about 60 people in the line in front of you it becomes rather dumb to even try and wait :(

So things I have learnt:

• The 3DS has really grown on me its good to see that it is getting some more adult games such as Resident evil. As for too long to me at least Nintendo has focussed on party games and kiddy nonsense theres only so many rehashes of Mario games I can handle before it gets really annoying.
• I might see if they drop down any further in price and might have to pick one up :)

• NEC food is still retardedly over priced, £5 for a burger £7 for a 9 inch pizza madness we refused to eat there and picked up food from Birmingham on the way back. On the plus side they were giving out free bottles of Mountain Dew all day so drinks at least weren't a problem :P

• I felt sorry for the Nuts Magazine girls, having to get their pics taken with sweaty nerds all day hahaha

And to model related things:

Planning out the initial purchases for zombie stuff :D

So far from hasslefree I shall be getting:

Hazmat squad
Mckenzie

The hazmat squad will be a military clean up team tasked with destroying the undead and possibly even survivors

Mckenzie will draw on ideas from the Film Battle: Los Angelles with her being an airforce spotter for bombing raids who has since been trapped behind the lines and can join up with some survivors. Want to try paint her in Digital camo as a challenge.


Zombie wise the Studio Miniatures ones though very very nice are a tad too pricey for my liking, so I'm thinking of picking up a set of the wargames factory plastic Zombies

These guys work out as better value you get 30 of them for the same price as 8 from Studio miniatures. I have heard that the detail on them is pretty poor  though this is no problem as I can simply resculpt faces, tidy up clothes etc. Will likely heavily convert some of them into female zombies for some variation.

Might be more hassle than just getting the studio miniatures ones but it works out cheaper.


any thoughts on the zombie plans are much appreciated :)

Games Day Kill Team : Test Scheme

Afternoon readers, small update time :)

managed to get a test model from the Kill Team painted up:

Hes come out reasonably well, needs some tidying up on the highlights of his armour in particular. He shall do though, the camo came out better than I thought it would as I normally hate painting it haha. Just need to get the rest of them painted up now.

Speaking of which here are a few better pics of the conversion work on some of them:

only got a little GS work left to do mainly shoulder pads and gauntlets so shouldnt take much longer.

Think after these are done I shall have a break from GW stuff for a bit, its beginning to bore me if I'm honest. I thought the Space Marine game would boost my interest but it hasn't, so theres a choice between possible projects:

Either Zombie Apocalpyse so painting up some survivors and zombies, more as a paintign project really as I doubt I will ever Game with them.

or 15mm Sci fi which would let me make a little terrain too.

At the moment I'm leaning more torwards the zombie stuff as it could be fun to  paint and I have plans to make more versions of Resident Evil characters plus some from Left 4 Dead as well :)

Welcome to new follower Lorenzo Calvi too, cheers for the support dude :)

Thats it for now shall be back when I have painted up a few more of the KT