So now it's 2026... 

I haven't this thing since 2019... but I figure if I wanna get things back on track, I need something to help keep me focused and honest. Yes, I've been hobbying as always, but things kinda went awry in 2020 and have stayed that way for a while.

I rediscovered my love of video games and I sunk a shitload of time into those. Between Fallout 76, CoD MW DMZ and Warzone, Conan Exiles, ARK, and about a dozen more games like that... I did not get as much hobbying done. 

I had a health scare at the beginning of 2025 that threw a monkey wrench into the first half of the years hobby stuff... and I have only regained a lot of the fine motor skill painting requires over the last few months.

And of course the usual wear and tear that comes with being in your 50s. My 40s just felt like a continuation of my 30s... but ugh now... 

So for 2026, I'm gonna try and clear out some of my painting "to do" pile. Not gonna focus on a set amount, just gonna go with a vague "bunch of stuff" and leave it at that. I have the right tools and materials to put a dent in it... not just painting with craft paint and a jug of Future anymore. Been slowly replacing my everyday go to paints with the more recent Warpaint Fanatic sets from Army Painter, various washes and effects from AK and Vallejo, and the usual Citadel paints.

So here is the resolutions for 2026 that'll make my goal happen:

• Focus more on the big two 40k and AoS (Fantasy)... and all their associated spin offs... as I have not painted anything for those in years. I start, but something always happens.
  
  
• Trench Crusade, Frostgrave, Stargrave, Silver Bayonette, and other skirmish games... actually paint a complete warband for at least one of those. None of those have huge amounts of minis required, so let's knock something out for one of them.
  
  
• My CMON and Mantic board game piles... as much as it pains me I gotta step back on a lot of those models. I'll probably still work on Rise of Moloch and the Others as I'm obsessed with those games' settings. If I feel froggy... maybe Star Saga, Zombicide Invader, of Zombicide Black Plague... maybe...
  
  
• Reaper, Rackham and generic D&D fantasy models in general.. there will never be a time where i don't have at least 2 or 3 models i'm working on just because they are cool. What would be really cool is if I'd finish them before moving to the next shiny thing. And no more KS's.
  
  
• Kickstarters... Unless it's from Diehard, Crooked Dice, or Axia Miniatures... I'm not messing with it. I dunno, if Andy from Heresy does one... I'll probably jump on that.
  
  
• Photographing the finished stuff. It's been 16 years since I did actual photography for finished models. That's is just crazy. Sure, I do rando snaps with my phone, but no real nice model photos. Well that's gonna happen this year.
  
  
• I don't make terrain... the end. You can buy really nice stuff and just paint it. Yes, I have a Proxxon... but it was bought with more that terrain stuff in mind. I still might do up a backdrop or two for photography.... but nothing beyond that.
  
  

Plots and Plans for 2019... aka looking ahead to the next year...

Yep, it's the first of a new year, thus I have to prattle on about utter bullshit involving good intentions and possible projects. Every year I make a grand list of shit I want to get done, and I maybe get about a third if not less actually done. So this year, fuck that.

My grand plan for 2019? Focus on skirmish level stuff and not think even about grand armies or major painting projects. It's always nice to fantasize about entering one of those fancy contests... but lets face it, I'm not going to be jetting my way to the UK or Europe any time soon. No, this year... focus on the smaller stuff. Actually finish a gang, a warband, or whatever.

So I will be focusing on models from or compatible with:

• Blackstone Fortress
• Silver Tower
• Shadespire/Nightvault
• Necromunda
• Kill Team (includes Rogue Trader)
• Frostgrave
• Star Saga
• Assorted other games (Zombicide, SDE, Imperial Assault, etc).

I know I won't finish ALL the models for any of those games... but I can at least finish something playable for one or more of those games. None of them require a huge number of models to be completed for playing. I spent 2018 building up my speed and technique... so this year I take that and use it to actually get some specific stuff done.

The other part of my grand plan is to stay away from purchasing any more models. There will of course be a couple of exceptions here and there... but definitely not on the scale of the purchasing I did in 2017 and 2018. Definitely no more Kickstarters... I got stuff coming in for Bones IV, Xenocide, and the D&D doggies... and that is gonna be it for a while.

Oh... and one more part of my grand plan... pretty much dumping Chronopia, Warzone, Epic 40k, Spacefleet Gothic, and Warmaster (the latter two are going to Ebay as people actually want those). All of those have been sitting in a box for the past 19 - 20 years or so... they gotta go.

Currently reviewing earlier seasons of Zombicide... more or less going to paint the survivors from S1 and maybe 3 each of the zombies... and can the rest. Between all the stuff I got for S2 and S3... and Walk of the Dead 2... I really don't need that many "regular" zombies (and any duplicate survivors are going to get used for Last Days).

Not nearly as "out there" as my usual New Year goals. Basically, Keep On Keeping On and Get Rid of Some Stuff.

Lord Pommelfanny and Friends...

I set some lofty goals for myself for 2018... and thanks to being out of commission for about 3 out of 4 weeks in January thanks to travel and the flu, I'm running a bit behind. Still, I did manage to do about 8 or 9 since the beginning of the year (and yes, most of those are Zombicide).

Any way, here is a quick workbench update (from Left to Right):

Front Row (aka finished)

• Baba Yaga - Commission model I've had for way too long... and finally finished. I used the Pathfinder artwork for color reference and tried to keep the colors kind of muted. Only real splash of bright color is her shawl which is done with some old Lich Purple.
  
• Goblin 1 - Another commission piece. The Red Box goblins are just way too tiny for me... they are almost snotling sized. This one I painted, stripped, and painted again just to get him to look right.
  
• Goblin 2 - Personal piece. One of the goblins from the Bones III KS. I went with my usual green for him... but I'm kinda thinking I should have maybe done some sort of ochre color with glowing green eyes... as these goblins just look really sinister (as opposed to the GW ones which have a goofy and loveable look).
  
• Dwarf Adventurer - Another personal piece and another from a KS. He's a resin cast from an old Heartbreaker model from back in the early 90s. I had painted him for the 20 Year Challenge... but I just didn't think he was my best work.
  
• Necromancer - I am not a fan of the whole "Boobs A Poppin" fantasy look. But I have had her based and primed for over a decade and I was looking for a model I could practice some undead flesh painting techniques on. Her color scheme was inspired by some of the Scourge Wizards and Priests from Wrath of the Lich King (and I guess Scholo back in the day).
  
• Zombie - This is a Black Tree/Harlequin model. I really like the look of the old Warhammer models and this guy pretty much fits in with that early 90s look. He's part of my home grown DIY Heroquest/Warhammer Quest collection. He'll probably end up as a flunkie for the Reaper Bones Warlock/Necromancer I painted early last year.

Back Row (aka shit I'm still working on)

• Mirkwood Elves - Commission models which I running horribly behind on. They are getting the same Autumn treatment the first two I painted got. The toughest thing about these guys is building up the rust color on their tunics... which takes forever. But, I'm gonna try out a new formulation using all Citadel paint that should speed things up.
  
  
• Lord Pommelfanny - He's an officer model from Heresy Miniatures. He's the leader of my Rogue Stars mercenary band. Basically, he's a Rogue Trader and he goes all over the fringes of Imperium space with his merry band of rejects looking for treasure. I'll be posting some of his friends over the next few months.
  
• Margara Firetongue, Dwarf Rune Priestess - So, I made an adjustment to my yearly goal last weekend. Basically, I want to focus more on quality and less on quantity (but still get a bunch of stuff done by end of the year). As such, I'm working in one "fancy" model into the painting cycle. So far, I've spent most of the last week on her. Her fleshtone has about 7 or 8 layers in it... and her clothing has a similar amount. Why am I spending so much time on her? Long story short, I'm trying to make this one look better than the one I did in 2004. So far so good...

So in conclusion... I'm still trying to speed up my painting but I'm also trying to focus on the quality of my painting as well. Probably means I won't hit 75 models by end of the year... but it does mean I won't hate every model I finish this year. Still hoping I can hit close to 60 though (which means a lot of Zombicide... which I'm getting tired of).

It's a New Year... or something... or whatever...

I haven't really posted much on my blog for the past 14 months. Haven't really had much in the way of thoughts on the hobby that couldn't be expressed in a short post on Facebook. But as I've been gradually "getting my shit back together" over the last few months... actual blog worthy posts have begun to percolate once again. 

Some good things happened in 2017:

• Diane's renewed interest in collecting 40k models. Her enthusiasm for collecting Space Marines has given my enthusiasm for the entire hobby a real kick in the ass again.
  
• Kickstarter stuff came in. Bones III and Impact's Oldhammer Dwarves & Goblins specifically. I got my Star Saga stuff in too... but that whole KS left a lot to be desired.
  
• CMoN's big end of year sale. Gave me a chance to load up on cute animal D&D models as well as a chance to get the Sedition Wars box set cheap.
  
• Citadel Painting App. If you use GW's paints, this thing is awesome.
  

To be sure, there were other good things about 2017... but these are the big ones that stick out in my mind.

Going forward into 2018, I've set some hobby goals for the year. Unlike other years, I've tried to keep things a bit more realistic and achievable. 

• Death Guard Army for Armies on Parade. Doesn't have to be a huge force... and I'm probably gonna go bare minimum with a Patrol sized formation. Got all the stuff bought... just need to paint it and keep my focus on the end goal.
  
• De-clutter the hobby room and "the collection". Started out strong on this front a few months back... just need to finish getting rid of stuff and reorganizing the stuff I'm keeping.
  
• Speed up the painting process. Mainly things like painting multiple troop models instead of just one at a time. To be fair, I have a lot of character type models as well... so no idea how to speed those up.
  
• Blog posts that are more than just painting WiPs. This is probably going to be the tough one... but this is the year to put forth some more effort on the blog.
  
• Hit 75+ minis painted this year. With the focus on painting multiple troop models at the same time, this is possible... hence the plus. Fair chance some of these will be Death Guard models, but I'm sure quite a few will end up being skeletons (as I can paint tons of those over a short amount of time... in theory...).

That's it. Five goals which are within reach with a bit of effort and focus. Will I get all 5 crossed off? Maybe. I'd be happy if I could cross 3 out of 5 off the list... as that would be an improvement over the last few years.

I'll probably post again this coming weekend with all the models I completed during my time off. Fair warning, not as many as I'd hoped but still a reasonable amount.

A sneak peak at my some of my upcoming personal projects...

Things have been pretty quiet on here for the last couple of months. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't posted anything since July. Granted... things have been kinda crazy... Gen Con, Kickstarters, slogging my way through six months of backlog, and much more. But as work stuff has settled back down... I've been slowly working through all my painting projects and commission work. 

I took a bit of a break over the last week to concentrate on assembling and prepping my next batch of personal projects... and here they are:

There is a bout 30 metal models in the photo... all ready for painting. About half of the models are old Harlequin Fantasy models (the undead and the barbarians) and the rest are a mix of Reaper and Ral Partha. Actually, I thin there is 1 Ral Partha model... the hill giant.

Not pictured... all the plastic models I will be working on. Why? I have a different prep processes for hard plastic models (GW and Mantic), softer plastic models (Zombicide and Imperial Assault), and Reaper Bones models. But there will be a fair amount of those as well.

I will probably end up doing some tutorials with some of the models... such as a revised undead fleshtone with the zombies, maybe a tanned flesh with the barbarians or the ogre.... and possibly a pallid flesh one for the female necromancer (althouth I also have a Diehard Necromancer that isn't pictured here that might work well for that).

Long weekend painting challenge...

Anytime I have a long weekend, I like to set a little painting goal... mainly so I feel like I actually accomplished something other than grilling an awesome steak and mowing the front yard. As I have Monday off for July 4th, I am preparing my challenge model for painting.

Meet Amiri...  the Pathfinder iconic Barbarian. Yes, I bought yet another Barbarian model... I know so out of character for me. What I like about this mini is she is not clad in a chainmail bikini or a leopard skin thong. Never been a fan of that whole thing... sure it looks cool on the side of a van as she's fighting a firebreathing Jimi Hendrix while some wizard watches in a crystal ball... but that's about it.

Anyway... I'll be painting the Bones version of her on this long weekend. The model itself actually has a really nice amount of detail and no funky spots caused by the casting (that I can find). I think I might have to freehand some of the texture on the trim of her armor, but still a good model over all. If only the Bones version of the Whispering Tyrant wasn't so crummy.... but alas.

I've already removed mine from her broccoli base, inserted a pin in her foot, and primered her black with Army Painter Black Primer. Just need to do a little touch up on the primer and she'll be ready to roll Friday night. 

Oh yeah... I painted some stuff (finally). See the dwarf in the back... he went in the Pinesol the next day.

On the table this week....

Some progress on a couple of projects this week. I managed to make some headway on the Viking dude from Red Box Games over the last couple of weekends. I'd have liked to be a little further along with him... but thanks to some minor health problems and work he's taking a bit longer. He is turning out really nicely though... the colors I chose are working will together. Just needs the shield and some details painted and he'll be done.

The elves beside him are another story. Only progress on those two was a basecoat of fleshtone... had left over when I was working on Viking dude. The one of the left is almost done... just some work on the flesh and some detailing and he'll be done. Elf on the right is a couple of steps behind his buddy. 

Beside the elves you'll notice a Zombie from Mantic games. He's the starting point on my Dragton Rampant Undead warband. I decided to spice up the appearance of the Undead by giving them some nicer basing treatments... aka chunks of Sculpey and plasticard. I have two groups of 12 of these guys to paint (and they only cost me 2 pts...). I'll also be fielding 3 units of skeletons, a unit of ghouls, and possibly a Dracolich or something along those lines. Not a fan of how Vampires are treated as an elite styled unit rather than a command option... especially since I have tons of Vampires from Warhammer to use.

Back to the left you'll see Achmed the Terrorist. Why am I painting him? Got the idea of painting up some whacky Zombicide alternative models... and he's the first one of the batch. Still working out exactly how to paint him up...I want to go for a black shirt, camo pants... maybe a black mask.. but I'm having some trouble figuring out the best approach for the black on him.

Beside him are the first two Vikings from my recent Gripping Beast purchase. These are by far the best Viking plastics ever. They aren't that different size and style wise from my Foundry and Black Tree Vikings, easy to assemble, AND they aren't posed like they have a stick up their ass. But fear not, my old Wargames Factory vikings are getting cannibalized for my Undead warband... mainly weapons and shields. I figure it'll help push the whole Draugr motif.

Yep, officially a skirmish wargame convert (and apparently a big Osprey Fan too)

For the past 20 years, I have struggled to find a balance in my miniature gaming hobby. Unfortunately, trying to find that perfect balance of painting, collecting, and gaming has been always unattainable. As hard as I try... I always end up focusing on the painting end of things (along with a healthy bit of hoarding all the "shiny" stuff I come across) and as a result, I game maybe once every five to seven years. 

Rather than get bogged down with something large scale... I'm focusing all my gaming efforts on small scale skirmish games. Right now I'm trying to assemble my warbands for a couple of fantasy games... Frostgrave, Of Gods and Mortals, and my new favorite at the moment, Dragon Rampant. 

What's so great about these games? For one, price point for getting into them is low... pretty much cost of book and that's it. Second, between the remnants of my old Warhammer stuff, my RPG models, and my historicals I have an unlimited amount of options for composing my warbands. Third, I'm not stuck painting the same type of models for a year so I can field an army.... I can stick to my usual scattergun approach. Fourth... it's a lot easier to get people to try a new mini game if they don't have to drop $250 on a starter force... unless they are new to the hobby, they should have something to field.

To be clear, I'm not dumping the big wargames completely. Still have my Orcs and Gobbo army for WHFB. I still have all of my vast legions of 40k models (although no way in hell I'm upgrading past third edition... as it's pretty much large scale Epic 40k now). I still have all my WW2 Russians for Bolt Action. I did say goodbye to Warhammer Ancients though... SAGA gets all my Vikings now.

Now someone talk Osprey into doing up some nice small scale sci fi skirmish games... I got a ton of Warzone stuff I need to do something with.

On the table this week...

So this is my "in progress" pile at the moment along with some of the more recent finished items. It's a big pile, but one I hope to be done with before Gen Con this year. Most of my to do models are either Zombicide S1 and LotR Mirkwood Elves... with a few metal models scattered about. And poor Boba Fett... sitting there in that state for the last 5 months.

These two I've been working on over the weekend. The one on the left is almost done and the one on the right is about 75% the way there. I was painting them both at the same time, but once I got the the brown leathers I opted to finish them seperately. Makes sense as those areas require a little more TLC than the jerkins. I fully expect to be done with both and two more by this time next week.

For the record, not a fan of the kneeling elf's pose. Kinda meh... although each elf in that box is in a unique pose which is nice. Had the LotR plastics in the early 2000s been like that, I'd probably have bought more of them.

Here are a few finished models. The Vampire on the left is an old Reaper model from 2000-2001... I'd originally bought him to use as a Blood Dragon character. Now he's just a champion of some sort in my Undead collection. He'll probably be put in charge of a gaggle of skeletons.

Beside him is a skeleton from Mantic. I opted to give these a whirl as I was thinking about starting a KoW undead army. The model isn't bad despite some odd anatomy choices. I went for a sort of Wrath of the Lich King effect for his eyes... doesn't show up on a single model well, but I figure maybe in a group it would. Anyway, he's also part of my Undead collection... and will probably end up getting used for Frostgrave.

Dwarf on the right is one of the dwarfs I had for the Skullpass box set. Ended up painting him as I really though the standard and all the candles looked really neat. I did not do any fancy glows on him... went for more classic WD look.

Next up are some greenskins. The Orc is part of my WHFB Orcs and Gobbos army. I had thought about updating them to AoS... but I already have a Chaos horde for that... so I kept them compatible with WHFB 6th. 

The goblins to the right are from Red Box Games. I probably would have enjoyed painting them more if they weren't so frikkin' tiny. The Crone on the left was painted with a more classic Warhammer style goblin skin, while the champion to the right got a similar tone that the archer I painted last year got.

Last but not least, some models from Zombicide and Super Dungeon Explore. My efforts to make a dent in the pile of models I have to paint for those have been futile as this is as far as I've gotten since the holidays.

Still plan to push on with these and hopefully be done with most my S1 walkers by the time the rest of my Black Plague stuff arrives.

Also, you may have noticed I've gotten a nice big box of Vikings from Gripping Beast. I haven't given up on my Warhammer Ancients stuff. I just hope I can find someone who makes some nice plastic Bondi and Huscarls (not Wargames Factory...ugh...).

Yeah... not the greatest post after being silent for three months... but I plan to post more often if time permits.

First post of the New Year...

...and screw the New Year's Resolutions.

I usually do one of these stupid posts every year and it contains a list of 20 or so miniature painting related "resolutions" that I pretty much ignore by end of the month. Let's be honest, we all at least make an attempt at changing things up... but as always the shit hits the fan and "good intentions" are the first casualty in "Shit has to get done!". 

So... rather than bore you with my crazy love of lists I am going to dive right into the whole miniature painting thing.

So what's new? Giants and Barbarians (technically they aren't new but I got around to working on them). When I think of fantasy, I pretty much immediately think of the art of Frank Frazetta and all those fantastic barbarian pieces he did. And it may come as no small surprise that I have a lot of barbarian miniatures. Oddly enough, I very seldom end up painting any of them. Well... until now.

The two fellows in the foreground are part of my Barbarian collection. The fellow on the left is part of a group of models I bought in 98 as part of a Dogs of War homebrew regiment. Not bad models although they changed sculptors in the middle and so the difference was quite jarring (although I love both Kev Adams and Kev White's work).

The other fellow is from Grenadier and sculpted by probably my favorite sculptor Mark Copplestone. Lucky for me, Mirliton rereleased all of these guys... so I can actually build an army of Conans... or I could if I could remember where my Wargames Illustrated with the army list was.

Painting wise, Barbarian #1 is done in a color scheme reminiscent of Chaos Undivided Marauders. Just can't justify more red considering I also have a pile of AoS Khorne guys to paint. His color scheme has pretty much kept to the three color rule... gray, brown, and flesh. I also used a fake zenithal light technique where I just picked out the "top stuff" with the final highlight. This is a battle line kinda guy... so I'm not really gonna throw a ton of time at shading or highlighting on him.

Barbarian #2 I used a color scheme of  brown, flesh, and gray... but I also added in some accent colors here and there. These are some of my favorite models so I wanted to give them a little more love. I used a style similar to Kevin Dalimore's for this guy... with some glazing to help my layers blend. I've always loved the way his barbarian models looked and I wanted mine to look the same.

In the background you will notice my three Partha giants... that I forgot I bought in 2013. For me Partha was always really hit or miss with their models... there are some real gems and there are some real duds. The giants... total gems. I think the first one I will tackle will be the Frost Giant. I have no idea what I'll use him for... but it's too cool of a model to care.

Once again, I paint a Bones model...

Since Reaper's Bones models came out a couple of years ago, I've been a little skeptical. Low price point and look good once painted... just a little too good to be true. About a year and a half ago, I picked up a few models on Ebay to give them a whirl... to see how they painted up and to see how much time and effort would have to go in to get them to a level I deem acceptable.

I started off with the Orc Champion in 2014. He painted up decently... although I regretted my choice of primer and I wasn't a fan of how bendy his axe was. Still, not a bad looking model when finished.

Size wise, I'd classify him as a Biggun.. but on the lower end of that spectrum. Bigger than a human model, but smaller than an Ogre or Giant.

At the time, the only other Bones model I had was Garnuk, the Ogre Champ. Definitely a potentially fun model to paint, but I wanted to check out some of the smaller Bones kits. As many people know, I am a fan of Dwarves... and if I could collect a big group of dwarf NPCs for under 20 bucks... that would be awesome. And so, I purchased some smaller models... human sized and down.

That brings us to Hellakin. I'd painted him before, so I figured why not go with a more familiar model. It took a bit of doing, but I got him painted up to a decent standard... not close to my usual "old school 'Eavy Metal" level... but close enough to use as an NPC. Again, not a fan of how bendy his dagger was... nor was I a fan of the primer color I used (Uniform Gray was not the best choice for detailed models).

Again, I didn't have a horrible experience with the model... just a "different" experience. I ended up going a little heavier on the Foundry painting style than I usually do, but in the end I think I ended up with a guy who'd prance about the wilderness stabbing folks with a poisoned knife.

And so, like a dumbass, I went smaller. It took forever to come up with a workflow that allowed me to get that kind of detail on the fur as the details were either really shallow... or just not there. I actually ended up hand highlighting some of the fur to get it to pop more. To be fair, a six pack of metal rats would set you back about $6-$7... where as I think these could be got for less than $3. Still, I think I'd have spent the extra $$$ and gotten metal.

After the rats, I decided to up the size a notch and went with a goblin. No photo... I hated that one so damn much I threw it away. 

Which brings me to my newest addition... the Mimic.

Not a bad model... although you might notice the line where the teeth got a little offset from the rest of the mouth. I tried to minimize it as much as possible, but there is only so much you can do... plus it's a Bones model and there is no way in hell I'm breaking out putty for it.

Still, I'm pretty happy with the end result. I'd be proud to place this on the tabletop and let it devour foolish adventureres. 

  

So yeah... finally got around to doing some painting.

If there is one thing I do not have large supply of, it is spare time. However, I have managed to squirrel away a few hours ever couple of nights and get back to my commissions.

  

Ah... the LotR/Hobbit line from GW... we've had a rocky relationship. Way back in 2001, I got the Fellowship box game and the Fellowship box as a gift. While I loved the metal models... the plastics were kinda meh. Don't get me wrong, the Men of Numenor were pretty good, the Elves ok, but the goblins were atrocious. After that, I kinda kept my purchases to the metal models and decided I'd just collect them.

Now here we are in 2015, and I'm painting plastic Wood Elves... and they are really nice models. I don't know if it's improvements in the casting process, but these are so much better than the original plastics. 

For this one, I went with an autumn themed color scheme. I had originally done the trousers as a light tan, but it felt too "happy" for an autumn. Plus, I wasn't seeing a light tan in any of the leaves in my backyard... but i was seeing plenty of gray. I also went more desaturated than I originally did... really helped push the whole autumn theme more.

Her base was done as a more dried and dead earth... hence the wasteland flock. Definitely think it works well with her color scheme.

Oh yeah. I painted this Wargames Factory Skeleton for Frostgrave way back in August when I got back from Gen Con. Couldn't really get a good angle as he's leaning forward to stab a dude. As I said, he's part of my Frostgrave "monsters" and also part of my big Undead collection. That collection consists of a variety of undead models from Reaper, GW, Wargames Factory, Ral Partha, and Grenadier... and probably more as I come across other really cool undead models.

I've organized my collection into something of a horde of undead... which is inspired by the GW Undead Army book from the early 90s. An Oldhammer styled horde... but with mainly new models. 

I amaze myself sometime at how bad I am at photography...

Quick update this week... got two finished models and two in progress models.

First up the finishes... keep in mind these are quick shots with the phone and not with a proper set up with the backdrop or good lighting (amazed how bad the lighting in my office is).

First up is Foxy Brown (or whatever the actual name of the model is). I finished her back in April but never took a photo of her finished. Planning on using her as a proxy for Zombicide. I'm actually planning that for many Chronoscope models. While I kept her color scheme and painting style simple, I am pretty happy with her fleshtone. I tried a new approach to darker skin tones and I ended up with a much more natural look than I thought I would. Planning on using this skin formulation on some upcoming fancier models (the ones where I do blending).

Next up is the Colnel. Another Chronoscope model which I've painted up for a friend for Xmas. While I'm happy with the painting on the model... I do have some gripes with the casting (I hope it's the casting as it's a Bob Olley model). I honestly thought it was an Old Glory model... but no.. it's a Reaper model. I also have the three pack they made to accompany him... which I am not going to paint. But since he has the same problems as an Old Glory model... I opted to paint him in the same style I paint all my Historical models in... the Foundry method. I think it works to help hide some of the models sculpting flaws.

Next up is a Skeleton from Wargames Factory. I like these models quite a bit.. they remind me a lot of the older Citadel Plastic Skeletons from the early 90s (and just as fragile). I'm giving them a suitable Oldhammer styled paint job and he'll be joining the ranks of my D&D collection.

Mr. Beefy got some work done. His head and back got some attention this week. I plan to give him a bit more over the weekend.

\

I've pretty much stuck to my standard layering method on this model as he's huge.

On a sidenote, you might have noticed I've been opting to go with more layering as of late. My biggest reason is time... layering is a nice fast way to get a neat appearance with good amounts of contrast. When you have maybe two hours a night during the week to paint and not much more than that on weekends, you need a shortcut or else you end up painting 4 models a year. Plus, I have a ton of Zombicide on the way shortly... so I need to work on speeding things up.

Any progress is still progress... I guess...

I actually scored some time to paint this week. Not as much as I would have liked, but with my schedule I take what I can get. Across the top are my four current projects:

• A British Colnel from the Anglo Zulu War which is a Bob Olley sculpt from Reaper. Since it is essentially a historical model, I went with a Foundry style paint job (although I did do a little bit of glazing on the jacket). You can see I did a fair bit of black-lining on where the straps meet his tunic. Still iffy on the blue for his pants. They are supposed to be Prussian Blue (I went a little lighter since he's a man of action and thus his trousers would have faded). You might notice his base is missing (but the gravel for it isn't)... welcome to the newest hell that has plagued me over the last couple of months. I've actually reattached it to the base using Gorilla Glue Gel... it's not the greatest fix, but once it dries and I touch up the paint it'll be fine. Once he's done I'll glue on a couple of dead grass bits and he'll be ready for whatever.
  
• A plastic LotR Wood Elf Ranger. I think I first posted photos of him in April... close to this stage. Scary thing is, I had done up his color scheme in such a way I could "mass produce" his buddies... but then life gets in the way and my plans go flush. As he is now, he's about 95% done... he just needs some tweaks to his flesh, his quiver, and a generous application of Red Pepper Flakes... then he'll be done. Yes, Red Pepper Flakes... DIY autumn leaf litter.
  
• The Harbinger of Darkness. In case you are wondering, he also fell victim to the gravel on his base giving up the ghost. So I rebased him on a lipped plastic base... I guess this way he'll fit in with the Thoth guy I did a few years back. He is also about done... probably 90%... just needs some details finished and the base needs another hit of black paint.
  
• GW Minotaur #1... or as I call him Mr. Beefy. I think this is the largest model I've painted in years (non terrain). I painted his head and face back in September and he's been in limbo awaiting for me to build and paint his base. Simple enough, but again... life happens and plans go flush. He's been painted with a muted reddish brown... mainly as Minotaurs are NOT covered in fur. Seriously, these models and the Mantic Werewolves are basically nude except for tufts of fur and loincloths... frikkin' wierd man. I'm figuring he'll drag on for a while as he's literally the size of three models and has large flat areas that require some blending in order for them to look nice.

And that kids is pretty much all the painting I've done since the summer. I'm hoping once things settle down I can get caught back up on things (my commission pile is huge and I have xmas gifts to paint).

43 by 44

The last couple of years have been an absolute bust as far as painting goes... hell the last 5 years have been a total bust. Since we moved back in July of 2010, I think I may have painted 40 models grand total... which is just awful. I used to paint 4-5 models a week... and now I'm lucky if I finish one in a month. Last time I finished anything was in July... remember these:

Yeah... two Zombicide models were the last things I completed almost three months ago. Since then, a lot of false starts and a lot of sabotaging myself.

So the time has come to kick myself in the ass. I'm setting a goal for myself and that is to paint 43 miniature before my 44th birthday next year. 

Time to forget about the high school shit show that is posting on CMoN... the futile bullshit that is selling on eBay... and just focus on one thing, painting what I like in the style I like. No more trying to do something fancy... no mini dioramas on bases... no zenithal lighting... no gimmicky airbrushing... just good old fashioned late 90s/Early 2000s 'Eavy Metal style painting with a bunch of Foundry style swirled in. 

And goddammit... to not only paint 43 models by next September... but go way over that goal.

FYI... Mummy dude up there is gonna be #1. Would have finished him had his base not given up the ghost in the middle of painting him (technically the Aileen's Tacky Glue holding the gravel on the base gave up the ghost... not the base itself). Definitely an Oldhammer style color scheme and painting style on him.

This week I'm all about Mordheim... again... kind of...

While I was on vacation this week, I dug out my old Mordheim rulebook and gave it a looking through. It inspired me to dig out my old half painted Reikland warband and give them an updating as they have been sitting in a plastic bin for about eleven years now. Alas, they didn't so much need an update and a complete strip down and repaint...

So, first thing that happened was all the metals went into the Pinesol jar... Captain, Champion, Youngbloods, Trollslayer, and the Ogre... all in. I also have some Marienburg Youngbloods that I picked up when I was doing an Estalian warband... so I need to figure a way to work those guys in as well. Maybe as young duelists or something like that.

Next up were the six plastic mercenaries. Luckily, those have only been assembled but never primered or painted. I popped them all apart and gave them a thorough cleaning for mold lines and flash (I built these in 1999... didn't do nearly as good of a job cleaning them as I do now). I also took the opportunity to reconfigure their weapons and gear... less for gameplay and more for "cinematic" effect. The only thing I don't have represented from the original sprues is an archer and crossbowman... I figure I'll add those on eventually.

In addition to the six headless bodies, I am also prepping their heads seperately. This is just a personal preference... I  paint the heads separately from the bodies whenever possible

Everyone will be mounted to a 1 inch fender washer base with sand. I had thought about using fancier resin bases... but I think I rather go DIY with these.

Yeah... no blog entry from two months...

I've been going full blast on Gen Con prep since mid May... which means a lot of overtime and a lot of weekends spent on something other than painting. I managed to get most of the stuff off to presses by the end of June... so I've been able to squeeze a little bit of painting in over the last couple of weeks. Mainly worked on a couple of personal pieces as I needed to shake the rust off and you don't do that on commission pieces.

First one up is the Harbinger of Darkness from Crocodile Games. I bought this at the War Room about 13 or 14 years ago. Diane and I both liked these... she liked the Egyptian theme and I liked that they were sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick (I like his work so much I even bought some Dark Elves). Going with my usual Tomb Kings/Nefsokar color scheme that I use on all my mummy models. I'm actually thinking about going with a red for the handle of the flail... just to add some zing to the color scheme. Going with a brown for the bandages rather than bone white... mainly so they look old and rotten.

Next to him are two Zombicide models from the S1 box set. I've opted to stick close to the box art color schemes for these two... more freshly dead than old and rotten. Don't know if I'll revisit that greenish fleshtone or not. Both have had Blood for the Blood God globbed over top some reddish brown stains.. Kept the painting style simple as the definition on the walker models aren't as clean as they are in the later sets. For those keeping score at home, I have 7 more fatties and 7 more of this type of walker left.... and 40 additional walkers, 8 runners, 7 survivors, and an abomination to finish up to complete my S1 box (I also have a walk of the dead and angy zombie set to do as well). Will I finish the S1 stuff before my Black Plague stuff arrives... maybe half of it but definitely not all.

Might be a couple of weeks until the next blog post... I'll be at Gen Con all next week. But I'll have plenty of photos to share, so not so bad.

Got a little painting in this weekend...

...not as much as I'd have liked as I've started hitting the gym. Trying to adjust things so I can fit that into my daily routine and still have time to work on things like painting and freelance work.

This week's painting has pretty much been these two sexy dudes. 

The elf got some additional highlights in and some clean up here and there. I've also glued him to his base and now I'm trying to find some autumn leaf litter for the base. Probably holding off until payday this week and then hitting Hobbytown USA or just ordering it online.

Goblin dude... well, I painted his spear and started the skulls. Oh, and his base got some attention as well.

Not bad considering I couldn't bend my arms until late Saturday.

Hopefully by the next time I post, Elfy will be done, second elf will be in progress, and the goblin will be done and just awaiting his coat of dullcote.

Saturday Night Gooberiness...

Having some friends over tonight for some hobby fun... the 1 inch tall plastic variety of friends that is. Tonight I start on two projects and continue on another (which I can hopefully finish this weekend). 

From Left to Right and Back to Front:

• Wood Elves of Mirkwood from the Hobbit. Really nice but fragile plastics... a lot of tiny accessories that would snap at the slightest bit of pressure. I put pins in their feet and stuck them in cork "holders" for painting. Fun Fact... that's pretty much how I paint all my minis with few exceptions. I'll be using Army Painter Quickhade on these guys to speed things up a bit as I'm painting them in Autumn colors. With the exception of the green spot color, everything else should be fine to use the brown strong shade on.
  
• Zombicide Angry Fatties. Working on the other two from the little box set that started my Zombicide craze. Their color schemes will be identical to the first one I painted, but with some slight differences (hair color) to tell them apart. Also using Quickshade on these guys as the bulk of the paint works with a dark brown wash.
  
• Red Box Games Goblin. Again, no idea if he's a champion or a boss...or just some schmoe... but he has a ton of cool details (skulls). Got his flesh done and I'll be working on his dragonscale breast plate. Probably going classic gray with his wolf pelts. I really dig these minis although they'd be too tiny to fit in my collection.

On a sidenote, I need to get a couple of paint racks... if nothing else to hold all my non dropper bottle paints (I have a ton of Citadel, Reaper, Rackham, Target, & Badger paints just sitting in cardboard boxes).

Another tiny ass goblin...

I don't know if this fella is a "champion" or "leader"... but I think he'd make a pretty good one. This is the second of the Red Box Games goblins I've been working on (there is another archer and shaman too). Took a week off from him to do a little experimenting on a personal project (messing with painting some non-caucasian skin tones for some upcoming Zombicide projects)... but I'm back on this guy again.

Once again, I've base coated him with a mix of Gnarloc Green and Waaagh Flesh over black primer. I painted the raised areas with a custom mix of my own... Kelly Green/Antique Gold/Charcoal/Sandstone... which was then built up by adding small amounts of Sandstone. I glazed it with Waaagh Flesh between each layer which helped give it a blended look. 

It may come as a shock to some, but I don't blend on every model I paint. I usually save that for those really sweet Rackham models I've been saving for the past 10 years or my Space Marines (which have been accumulating for about 20 years now). About 75% of the time, I use the layering technique. I've been doing that for about 15 years now and I've added some personal tweaks in such as washes and glazing to help get a quasi blended look. In the old days it allowed me to do up a pretty nice looking model every 36-48 hours. Sucky thing is now it takes me about a week to complete anything due to work schedule and personal commitments (having responsibilities sucks).

Here is another shot of the goblin. Going to go with a mix of Beastial Brown and Charcoal for his shield. As a matter of fact, I have colors worked out for everything except for the scales on his armor. I had originally thought about copper or bronze, but then I noticed he isn't wearing scale-mail. No, he's wearing armor made from Dragon Scales (or some other beast). So now I'm trying to think of which Chromatic Dragon to base the color on.  Red isn't a viable color as it would over power the other colors. Guess I'm flipping through my Monster Manual tonight...