Mike is feeling all nostalgic this week….

This week I've been painting Warzone models again. Why? Besides the fact I have enough Warzone and Chronopia models in my house to put any hobby shop from the late 90s to shame…it was my first real non Games Workshop obsession. 

I had encountered Warzone at Gencon in 96 whilst walking the floor looking for trades. While I didn't end up trading for any Warzone stuff (I did manage to trade for a bunch of Legions of Steel and Heavy Gear models)…the game intrigued me. The models were some of the best I'd seen outside of Games Workshop at the time…and in 1996 that was a real accomplishment.

Fast forward to 1997 and I was working for Liberty Hobby Supply. Lo and behold they had Warzone…and all the miniatures for it….and a 60% discount for employees (we basically bought at cost…hence why my miniature collection is as impressive as it is). So I picked up the core book…an assortment of Dark Legion and Imperial models and haven't really looked back.

As of right now, I'm sitting on probably 4 complete armies for Warzone…Imperial, Capital, Bauhaus, and probably Cybertronic. I also have smatterings of models from the other Corporations, the Brotherhood, and Dark Legion. Just tons of unpainted lead…a casualty of 20 years of mercenary painting and ebay auctions. To be honest, Warzone stuff never really heated up the painted market for me, so I mainly painted Reaper from 2002 to 2009 with the occasional GW or Rackham model.

So why am I painting them now? I'm done with painting stuff simply for the intent of selling it one day. Screw that. Again, I've been painting for 20 years this year…and I have maybe 35 painted models in my possession. All my "masterpieces"? Sold on eBay or painted on commission. Sure I made some good $$$ in my day…but kinda sucks to look back have nothing to really show for a hobby you love.

Hence, I'm painting a 20 year old model from a company that hasn't existed in probably 13 years…simply because I want to and I love their models. I don't care that I can't sell it or that it isn't an investment. I don't care if it's something the whippersnappers on CMoN deem worthy of a 7. I don't care if I still paint like the mid 2000's Eavy Metal Team (although my favorite era is late 90s). I'm painting for me now.

2014's Painting Resolutions (or crap I will completely abandon in two weeks)

Sitting at my painting table this morning and looking at the sheer volume of models I own, I've decided I need to come up with some sort of plan of attack. So without further ado, "My stupid list of stupid crap that I won't actually keep to but sort of keeps the OCD in check":

1. This year I will paint at least one full sprue of Empire and Ork models from my big Warhammer box set I got almost 14 years ago to a sort of Collector standard. That's just 16 plastic models that aren't that complicated…so I shouldn't have any problems (if only…).
2. Vor models…do something with the models I have no intention of painting (aka Zhykee, Shard, and Growlers) and paint at least one or two of the models I do keep (Union, Neo Sov, and Pharon).
3. Paint a Foundry model and not immediately shitcan it upon completion. I used to paint these things all the time, but now I try to get fancy with them and let's be honest…those models aren't for that sort of thing.
4. All my Westwind Germans are going to my nephew. God knows he could use an activity that isn't watching TV or playing video games. Also, maybe it'll give my Mom fifteen minutes of quiet.
5. Fantasy/D&D/Pathfinder/Warhammer RPG model collection…maybe paint some of those this year.
6. One piece of display terrain. I'm thinking Sylvanian cemetery so my small amount of Undead stuff can have somewhere to stay.
7. Mantic Plastics…I love Mantic but sweet jesus what am I going to do with 50 orcs. Easy, pull half out and give the other half away. Zombies and Ghouls are staying with me.
8. Dead By Dawn…write it, do art for it, paint some models for it…something.
9. Continue to thin out the miniature collection to only the finest models. I predict horrible casualties in my Reaper collection (particularly Warlord  and Chronoscape).
10. Give Ken all the metal stuff I don't plan to paint so he can melt them down.
11. Maybe use some of the other 200 colors of paint I have instead of just Red, Bone White and Black.
12. Maybe get the website back up.
13. Rebuild CMoN rating back up and not rely on past glory. Yep, starting back at the bottom and going to claw my way up again. All new models…so I have to get off my ass and work again.
14. Enter Crystal Brush.
15. Paint in the nude or at most a stylish thong and rain bonnet.

So there you have it. Fifteen things (and that's only for miniature painting) to do this year. If I buckle down, stop watching so much TV and playing so many video games…I think I can pull this off. 

First post of the New Year!

Welcome to 2014!

I finally got around to doing up "glamour shots" of all the models I've painted over the last couple of years. I've actually been meaning to do that for quite some time, but yesterday things just sort of came together. One would think I'd have a place to set up my photography rig permanently…but no. I just might have to set something up in the garage later this year for photography.

 In case you are wondering what's up with the "rusty frame" stuff, well that's all part of the design for the new Paintshop of Horrors.

I plan to have the new site up and running within the next couple of months. It's been down for far too long and I've relied on places like CMoN to show my work. The photography backlog was one of the bigger hurdles, but now that is mostly out of the way (I'm going to be updating the photos for some of the older stuff).

Another important step is to set up a Facebook page for the Paintshop itself. While I do not intend for it to be any sort of business, I'm sure most people wouldn't want to wade through my personal crap on FB to see new pics (although maybe 15 people know my blog exists…but hey, gotta try).

Why the impetus to get this going now? Well for one, I just killed my CMoN account. Ever post a model that's pretty good looking…you know at least a 7…and then some teenage asshole comes in and votes a succession of 1's to knock your score down to a 4. I didn't until today…and frankly I'm done with it. I'm not in high school and therefore I will not put up with this kind of bullshit voluntarily. 

Let me be clear, the staff at CMoN are top notch and their products and online store are fantastic. But at the end of the day, the main part of the site is just a giant internet comment board and we've all seen how those have devolved over the last several years.

Anyway, stay tuned for big things…all 15 of you.

Oh Blog…I'm sorry I've neglected you so...

I have been neglecting my blog for far too long. It's been about three months since I've done a post that actually had any sort of content ( I don't count me whining about how I have way too much stuff in my garage as a real post).

So, first things first….let's get caught up on the last couple months worth of painting. Surprisingly, I've actual completed a couple of projects without getting sidetracked. I know…un-goddam-believable.

1. Reikland Mercenary for Mordheim

Mordheim is one of my favorite GW miniature games. I've always enjoyed the Warhammer universe, and Mordheim's imagery and miniatures were probably the most evocative of that universe's feel. I personally have collected a Reikland, Marienburg, and Undead warbands…along with about 30-40 plastic mercenary models (picked up a box of Empire Free Company guys when a hobby store closed).

Why did I decide to paint the Reikland guy? Pure laziness. I didn't want to mess with primering anything a couple of weekends ago. So I reached in to the drawer with all my "in queue" stuff…and this guy was ready to go (although missing his head). Luckily…there was a couple of white primered mercenary heads from 2001 in my Mordheim case (and now I try and primer the heads white whenever possible).

I kept his color scheme pretty simple as I was trying to see how nice I could paint a plastic model from 15 years ago (and those plastics…while really nice….lack detail).

One fun thing I did try out was some more demi metallics. I added Rain Gray to my gunmetal and got some fantastic results. The color looks a lot smoother and less speckled than just using regular metallics. For the gold, I added Ivory to highlight. It did dull down the highlight a little but it sort of worked for a more "military" styled model (I also mixed Greedy Gold into my usual Folk Art Pure Gold).

2. Blood Bowl Zombie

I like Undead…and I like Blood Bowl. Hence, I have two Undead Blood Bowl Teams...the Champions of Undead and the Necromancer Team. Back in October, I managed to have time off on a weekend…so I decided to do a full on painting project. The Blood Bowl Zombie seemed to be the best model for getting my mojo back.

I opted to use my own mixture for the flesh tone this time (Moss Green and a small hint of Antique Gold). Instead of going with the cheesy catalog color schemes, I opted to use the color scheme I had come up with years ago for my Sylvanian Levy (back when you could have living dudes in a Vampire Count Army). Simple greens and grays…dull and drab with a sort of Victorian feel.

Trying to get at least one update in before the end of September...

Kind of in a weird mood at the moment.

Every now and then, my collection hits a critical point where I have way more minis than I will ever be able to paint. Once this occurs, I generally ebay off a giant chunk of them and then start up again a few months later...collecting (hoarding) more little metal men.

This time though, I'm thinking about seriously thinning out the herd. There really isn't a reason for me to have every metal mini Reaper put out between 2004 to 2008 in my garage, but there they are. There really isn't a reason for me to have plastics for armies I sort of collected 13 years ago just laying around. I won't even get into the gigantic amounts of stuff I've accumulated for miniature games that died out a decade ago.

To this end, I will be putting up a vast amount of minis on Ebay over the next month. Try and sell off as much as humanly possible before surrendering the rest to Ken Cliffe to be melted down into 54mm Historicals.

My hope is to get the amount of stuff I have down to 1998 levels when I only dabbled in Reaper models and I only had enough Warzone stuff to field an Imperial army. Heck, I'd be happy if I could get it to where I can easily store the stuff in my hobby room instead of taking up a big corner of my garage.

Basing instructional.....

Just wrapped up painting the last base for my basing instructional. I originally painted up these 10 bases for my Zombie Vixens instructional. However, I have a really hard time painting squads of anything...I've always been one to paint one offs or work on single models. Working on 10 bases at once reminded me of this fact.

Anyway, the photos for the bases are done and all that is left is to do the writing. I believe this will be one of my more comprehensive instructionals and will also be the first one for basing. 

I have returned to my painting desk...

Actually, I have a new painting desk.

Long story short, my "work area" for my graphic design work had to expand and did so at the expense of my painting area. When I would work on my Mac, I was constantly knocking minis on the floor while trying to find color card proofs or when I was swapping out thumb drives. It culminated when I ended up knocking a painting contest entry on the floor and messing up many hours worth of work (granted, I was really hating the paint job). I boxed everything up and set it off to the side.

A month and a half later, I noticed I was having a lot of trouble sleeping and even relaxing. I was beyond Grumpy Bear, I was pissed off Grizzly Bear. That kind of happens when you stop doing the one thing that helps you unwind after a busy day...which for me is painting minis. So with the help of a $20 Ikea desk, a very helpful paint rack suggestion from Tom Schadle (who is the frikkin' man when it comes to painting....but I'll cover that on another post), and a quick bout of "getting rid of crap that had piled up over a year and a half"...my new (yet smaller) painting area was born.

Before I had ceased painting back in May, I had been concentrating my efforts on rehabbing my skills using simpler "troop" models...specifically ones from the 1998-2002 era. My first effort was the Tethru Master of Words which I've posted some shots of (glamor shot versions soon). This time out, I decided on a model from one of my favorite fantasy games, Chronopia. However, I opted for a model that wasn't part of a faction I collected...and it was this fellow.

This is a Standard Bearer for Orc Assault Troops...from the Blackblood faction. I actually didn't know i had him until I did the "getting rid of stuff" thing I mentioned earlier. 

As of tonight, he is about 90% painted....I've had a busy couple of weeks with work. But as I painted him, I noticed something... I was able to relax again. I had forgotten how well I could just lose myself in painting minis. I've actually gotten a decent night's sleep over the past couple of weeks...and I think I'm a little less grumpy (I think so, but I'm sure my wife doesn't think so). 

I am planning to wrap the model up Friday night...I only have a couple of things to do work wise on Friday, so I should be able to get some more painting time in.

So, stop by the blog over the weekend and hopefully you'll see a painted model.