Surviving Nurgle's Rot...

...okay, not Nurgle's Rot... but I did manage to finally get over a really bad cold. I haven't been knocked on my ass by the common cold like that in almost 20 years. Even though my sinuses have cleared up and I don't feel like I have a head full of rocks, I'm still dealing with the exahaustion from not getting a decent night's sleep (aka more than two hours) for the last six nights.

But enough talk of snot and misery, time to talk about my most favorite things in the world... painting miniatures.

Sunday was a day of celebration as I could once again breathe... so I decided to get some painting in. First up was the Dwarf Miner Standard Bearer from the Battle for Skull Pass Box Set. Thus far, I've opted for the 'Eavy Metal color scheme and I'm using my Foundry/GW hybrid paiting style for this model. The blue is simply Ceramcoat Copen Blue over a Citadel Enchanted Blue/Regal Blue mix. The beard is a mix of Vallejo Red Leather and Ceramcoat Autumn Brown with small amounts of Reaper Saffron Sunset added in. I love the Saffon Sunset color... you'd be surprised how often a desaturated orange comes in handy. He is based on a round Wargames Factory plastic base which has a simple gravel texture.

SIDENOTE -  Yes, I know the round base isn't the standard for Warhammer. Honestly, the chances of these guys seeing any sort of action is slim and none... so I just went for a basing style that was different and aesthetically pleasing to me. Besides, maybe they'll get pulled out for some sort of Mordheim thing... or something along those lines. All I know is, the little voice that screams "What about resale value" inside my head is now dead.

Next up is a Barbarian Prince from Grenadier (Mirliton). I'm doing up what will eventually be a 20 man warband of some sort. While I'd like to add them to my existing Barbarian Horde... I don't know if the models would go together well. What I do know is these are all Mark Copplestone sculpts... and he is the master of miniatures as far as I am concerned.

To the right you can see the bulk of the collection (I still have a couple of barbarians from the early days that pad this out to a 10 man warband). My favorite model is the beardy guy on the far right with the big battle axe. I think I've painted that models about 15 times over the years.

Then there is this guy. The Exotic Idol from Reaper is the latest commission model I've done. I really can't call this a miniature though... more like a piece of terrain (yes, that big). The painting for him was pretty simple, Partha Old Gold base coat followed by a wash of Dark Burnt Umber. Then drybrushing of Partha Old Gold, then Vallejo Old Gold, then a little Pearl White for the highlights. I also did a purple glaze over the model to weather the gold (takes a little of the yellow out of the gold). I did do a little verdigris on him, but I played it safe and only did it in certain areas. Didn't want to get so close to the finish line and then mess it up.

Check back next time when I'll be starting to work on some of my Oldhammer models. Thinking I'm gonna tackle my Chaos Marauders or some of my older Undead models.

No Jake but plenty of Fatman....

This is my "Prototype" Angry Fatty for Zombicide. In case you are wondering, yes... he does seem to have sprouted an exo-skeleton/carapace thing. While I don't know exactly what the deal with that is, I have to admit it's fun to paint (and a nice way to break up big fleshy areas.

Colors used on the model are:

Fleshtone - GW Rakarth Flesh mixed with my own custom flesh blend (Cadian Flesh would work though).

Jumpsuit - GW Macharius Solar Orange mixed with a little Vallejo Light Brown. Shaded with Army Painter Strong Tone (added some water to lessen the ffect... wanted to shade it, not to varnish it).

Carapace - Army Painter Skeleton Bone mixed with a small amount of Loren Green. I shaded with Vallejo Russian Green.

Details - Vallejo Oiled Metal on the zipper, GW Snakebite Leather on the shoes (I think), GW Rakarth Flesh mixed with GW Iyanden Sunset for the hair (again, I think). The metallics were shaded with Apple Barrel Black while the rest with GW Agrax Earthhade. The blood was Blood for the Blood God (applied in very thin layers to set up basic discoloration... then I piled it on the areas where it would pool).

Everything was highlighted by simply adding a small amount of Ceramcoat Sandstone to the mixtures. Glazes of Agrax Eartshade were applied between each layer .

To finish him off, he was mounted on a clear plastic base from Litko.

I plan on puting the other two through a much faster process now that I have the color mix and techinques figured out.

Have to admit, I'm considering purchasing another box of these to paint up for the Gen Con painting contest and basing them on custom wargaming styled bases. Definitely think a base styled after the prison tile set would look really cool.

"Loving you is a dirty job..."

I'm gonna hold you 'til the end of time

I'm gonna love you 'cause it's now or never

I'm gonna kiss you till I make you mine

Lovin' You Is a Dirty Job

Lovin' You Is a Dirty Job

Lovin' You Is a Dirty Job

Yes, those are lyrics to the song Ratt tried to foist on us twice...once in 90 and again in 97. Also yes, hair metal is one of my guilty pleasures (that Winger guy writes some catchy songs dammit). Can't be all death and doom metal all day everyday.

So I finished three of six rats from Reaper. Still not the biggest fan of the casting on these models with the new Bones material. The fur texture doesn't really come through as nicely and no segmenting at all on the tails. I still might blend a little pink in from the tips of each tail just to add a little more umph to them. 

Sure, I give the Bones stuff  a hard time... but in all fairness it's only to the smaller stuff like critters and things like that. I actually really like most of the line... I just want to caution anyone thinking about buying them is that they are not the same quality as metal or resin. I actually have a seperate rate I charge to paint Bones as they aren't as detailed or elegant as their metal counterparts. 

This fella is Hellakin. He's also a Reaper Bones model... one of the first I bought. He's not a bad model if you look past his kinda bendy knife and futzed up detail on his feet (they get kinda crummy). Painted up relatively quick (did him over a weekend) and makes a great NPC.

Plus I'm sure you've seen the Orc Warboss (he's the big orc below).

If I didn't have the metal model to compare to, I'd have never noticed the minor casting problems.

But that's the deal with Bones... the bigger the model is, the better it looks. If I can somehow score that big ass metal hill giant from the new wave, I'm getting it (even though I have the metal one as well).

So to wrap up... Ratt was never a great band and the bigger Bones models are pretty sweet.

Finally scored a little bit of time to paint...

Juggling three huge books tends to eat up one's time. However, I managed to score an hour and half of painting time this evening and here are the results:

On the left is a Reaper Half Giant I am painting on commission for a friend. If you haven't noticed, the model is incredibly top heavy and awkward. He's actually fallen off everything I mounted him on... I finally had to epoxy his big ass on a 40mm round base (and epoxy 4 metal washers under the bottle cap to keep him from tipping over). His paint scheme is black armor with grey trousers... sort of loosely based on Blade of the Berserker. Not the greatest miniature ever... but certainly not the worst either. Hoping to wrap him up this weekend so I can quick knock out 5 more rats.

To his right is my personal project I've been working on while the big guy dries (including the 24 hours I let the epoxy on big guy's base cure). Standard second gen Sons of Kronos warrior... and I believe he's a Kev White sculpt (I'd be shocked if it wasn't). Waivering back and forth on throwing him in the Pinesol jar as he just isn't popping the way I want him too. Maybe it's because I only started messing with him because he was primered... which is not a great reason to paint a model.

Anyway... come back by next week when I'll be showing off some more Zombicide models and hopefully a completed half giant with several rat friends.

Setting some specific goals for 2015.

I think setting a couple of hobby goals for this year might be in order... otherwise I'll meander around like I've done for the past four years and not really get anything done.

So.. these are my four "basic" painting/hobby/gaming goals of 2015.

• Russians for Bolt Action. 
• Couple of Inquisitors and their Retinues for playing Inquisimuda.
• Sci-Bor Resin Inquisitor kit
• Zombicide Fatties

Gonna try and post some photos tonight... although the bulk of my progress has been "waiting for it to get warm enough to primer".

2015 or Holy Crap I've Been Doing This for Twenty Years...

Another year has passed and my mountain of unpainted stuff is still monstrous. Granted, my efforts at reducing it for the last four or five years have been kinda half assed. But by Crom, 2015 I intend to use all of my ass.

Before I list my "hobby resolutions" I should probably point out that I actually did absolutely nothing I listed last year. However, 2014 wasn't without some hobby accomplishments:

• Managed to paint several historical models in 2014. Vikings, pirates, Victorian Explorers, and even some WWII stuff.
• Painted a few Reaper models after not painting any for about 3 or 4 years.
• Painted a couple of my old Warhammer models. Got around to goblins I purchased fifteen years ago.
• Realized I don't do theme months or self imposed deadlines. Stuff gets done when it gets done and I've made my peace with that.

I'm sure there was more but the rest probably weren't worth mentioning if I can't remember them. So this year, I'm going to keep my hobby resolutions simple:

• One year moratorium on purchasing new models. Not getting anything until 2016... I don't care how cool something is.
• Not buying anymore Bones models. I have enough... time to paint what I have and stick a fork in them. This is a "from now on" and not confined to a year.
• Paint a squad or regiment of something... I don't care what but I'm going to finish something this year.
• Zenithal lighting and blending. I actually used to do that kind of thing but stopped after Otto passed away. Time to start doing it again.
• Clear bases on boardgame and RPG models. They look really friggin' cool.
• Sell some stuff. Unpainted stuff going on Ebay this year. I predict massive casualties to Reaper stuff and maybe some old Warhammer stuff. I don't know why I have Bretonnian Pegasi, but they gotta go.
• Airbrush. Use it. If nothing else just to do mass base coating. 
• Organize. Organize. Organize.
• Set up gaming area in garage and play some Zombicide and Inquisitor.

I think the hardest thing will be the year of not buying new models, but has to be done. Going to be tough to not purchase any new models at Gen Con (although I might let myself buy some then as it's a special occasion, but definitely no more mail order, ebay, or going to stores).

Later taters, I gotta go basecoat Baba Yaga.

The progress... it progresses...

Quick update before I head off to bed. Haven't gotten the new photo set up ready yet, but I plan to before New Year's.

• Scarecrow is progressing along nicely. Finished up the Trousers and did some touch up on his shirt... mainly to clean up some of the shadows. I also gave the base it's initial coat and is now ready for drybrushing. I plan to use gray rather than brown to give the appearance of fallow earth and should work nice with my Wasteland Tufts from Army Painter.
  
• Viktor got some metallic paint added, but not much more than that. His replacement arm showed up Wednesday along with a bunch of 40mm lipped bases.
  
• Far right you will another Wargames Factory Viking. I'm painting him up for use with Saga and will attempt to give him a really nice high end paint job.
  

Going to be prepping a half giant model this weekend.