Howdy! Been a while, I know...I missed you too!

There really are not any real excuses as to why I haven’t updated the blog lately , the  truth is, I just haven’t.  I also haven’t been painting as much as I would like but that is because of a shitty ass retail schedule a bunch of closes and not actually getting to sit down to paint until well after 9pm on most nights.  Again not real reasons…heck not even valid excuses.  I need to get back into the saddle when it comes to painting.  Plain and simple. 

Now in an effort to get back into painting, I am going to do two things. 

1)      Finish up the Mountain King – Just need to finish up the Troll Whelps crawling all over the big’un

2)      Paint up two battleboxes

a.       Cygnar (My original Warmachine faction)

                                                               i.      Stryker

                                                             ii.      Ironclad

                                                            iii.      Lancer

                                                           iv.      Charger

b.      Alternate Trollbloods  Battlebox from the Journeyman League Rules

                                                               i.      Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls

                                                             ii.      Dire Troll Mauler (already painted previously)

                                                            iii.      Pyre Troll

                                                           iv.      Storm Troll

Next Monday I am being sent down to Fairfield to train for my new job, I am supposed to be down there for a month, yup a month…well at least 4 Monday-Friday Weeks. 

So during that time I am going to work on painting up both Battleboxes.  I ordered in Hoarluk and I purchased the plastic Pyre Troll Kit and Storm Troll Kit (very nice kits FYI).  I also had to order in a new plastic Charger kit, since the one I originally got broke. 

For the Cygnar Battlebox I am going to a slightly modified ‘studio’ blue theme.  I drew inspiration from the IKRPG Book and the picture they have of the Ironclad being given its Quake Hammer on page 301.  It is a bit more on the purple-side than I am thinking about going for, but the thought did cross my mind to do the purple scheme.  Really I just want the one white shoulder pad and the white cowl around where the ‘jacks head is. 

For the Trollbloods Alternate Battlebox…well I am going with the scheme I already have but seeing that the Storm Troll and the Pyre Troll are both ‘elemental’ trolls they will differ vastly from the scheme I am using on the full-blooded Dire Trolls and Trollbloods themselves.  Should be fun and make painting them up pretty interesting. 

I figure I should be able to do each battlebox in 2 weeks. 

Other notes of interest…I won two painting contests this month.  The Sons of Bragg won the Unit Category at NorCon 2013 and my Searforge Commission list which consisted of every painted ‘jack I own plus Gorton Grundback won the best painted army at the Convergence of Cyriss book release event held down at Matrix Games.  Pretty cool but in all honestly, I still have a baker’s butt-ton to learn about painting compared to my friend’s Jody, Aaron, Jon, and Kaleb. 

The Mountain That Walks again...

Some photo updates of my progress on the Mountain King.

More pictures to follow as I slowly work on the Mountain King.

The Mountain that Walks.

It was pointed out to me the other day that I haven’t been updating the blog as much.

Tis a true statement. 

I have been rather lax in my updates lately and I am hoping to change that now that some major life events, which have caused some upset in my painting schedule, are calming down.  It has been a rough February and March, but I shall not bore you with details. 

I have been getting in some painting lately.  Not a whole lot but some.  I started in on Durgan Madhammer got about ¾ done with him and then decided I didn't like the colors and so dunked him in some of my favorite liquid, Super Clean, and stripped the paint off of him.  Now I just need to reprimer him and start over =)

I have been working on the largest model I own to date and that is the Mountain King.  There is the book release event for Gargantuans at the end of April that I am going to go to, so I want to have the Mountain King painted up for that.  I have gotten his skin tone done and really, I just did a quicky couple of layers.  Base coat, wash, and then lots of drybrushing. 

The detail on the skin is amazing.  Cuts and scratches not to mention musculature, so rather than have my bumbling hands muck up the awesome detail…I just drybrushed the entire model (five or six times). 

Yup, I took the cheaters way out.  

I am almost done with the bottom portion of the Mtn King that would be impossible to reach if he is glued to his base, i.e. certain areas below the belly.  Once I finish that up I will glue him to his base and then just go on a crazy painting spree to finish him up in short order.  For that to happen I need to put one more layer on the leather belt and then give the model a thorough once over before I glue it down. You can see the parts where I have had to hold the model by the top 'mountain spire' so that I could paint the under-carriage.  When I get him glued to his base I will reprimer the top portions of the mountain with my air brush.  

Just wanted to give a quick update really. More to come, more often, I promise.

Can you smell what the Rockram is cooking!?!?!?!

Quick update! 

I finished up General Ossrum's Little Buddy!  

Wroughthammer Rockram

Not sure what is next on ye ol'chopping block.  Might finish up the primer'd Durgan Madhammer I have been sitting on for a few months...err year or so.

General Awe...wait for it...some is here!!!

That's right folks, General Ossrum is painted up and ready to take to the field.  Scottie-too-Hottie got him for me because he is a cool guy and I got him half way painted up and then got distracted by plenty of other painting projects.  A Knight of Morrow for an IKRPG game, a 25pt Circle Orboros Holiday Bundle, the last two remaining members of the Sons of Bragg for my Trollkins…

And that is when I took a step back and realized that I had way too many unfinished projects in the works and that I needed to focus on finishing up one task before I started another.  Since I really wanted to play Ossrum, I needed to finish his paint job.  I was sent down to Stockton/Lathrop for training for Target (yup switched jobs and jumped ship to a different pharmacy) I had plenty of time to finish him up.    

Well, really all I had finished on him originally was the metals.  I started working with all the armor plates.  Instead of using the P3 paints I went with the Vallejo Caymen Green.  It is a little bit darker but overall it will fit in with the green theme of the Searforge Army I have going right now.  Even the dark red Grundback Blaster fits into the overall theme of the army and eventually I will finish painting up all the Gunners and Blasters that I have (light green and dark red).

Aside from switching up the greens a little bit, I followed the same formulae I used for the other models in the Army.  Green base coat, heavy Devlan Mud (or whatever it is called now) wash, second go around with the green, mix in some bleach bone (or whatever it is called now) for the edging and call it a day.  I mimicked (mostly) the studio paint scheme with the blocking of the colors.  To break it up a little bit I added in a tan brown for the bottom of the great coat and one of the front armor plates.  I am pretty happy with the look of the model. 

Again, I hate doing eyes…I can never get them right…ever! Damn you tiny eyes!!! DAMN YOU!!!

I’ll be working on finishing up the Sons of Bragg before I move on to the Circle Orboros Army. 

There is a 35pt Tourney on the 9^th of Feb and I am seriously debating throwing some Searforge on the table and rocking with them.  I have never played the Searforge Commission in a Tourney and at 35pts I have some pretty rock solid lists for all the armies that I own.  Though I am tempted to bring Kara Sloan to the table just because I haven’t played her in a really long time and she is one of my favorite casters for Cygnar.  

And the New Year has arrived.

And the holidays are finally over!  Whew!!

I made out like a bandit and I am supremely happy (and thankful) with everything that I was given for the 2012 Christmas Season.  Scored a Kindle from the In-laws, an awesome Hoodie from my mom, the spouse bought me a Circle Orboros Holiday Bundle from the PP Store in addition to the two latest books from my favorite RPG, Legend of the Five Rings, The Book of Air and The Book of Earth, and a much needed replacement to my electric razor 

I honestly didn't have the intention of starting another Hordes faction; I just seeded my Christmas wish list with items that were over $100 so that I could make sure I got the two L5R books, which combined were about $60.  It all started when I asked the Lady what the overall price limit was going to be for gifts this year.  She told me that we would spend no more than $100 on each other.  One day I am checking the bank accounts online and I noticed a spike in the credit card bill, so naturally I went to investigate and saw a purchase from the Privateer Press Online store…oh boy!  She blew past that $100 limit in one fell swoop.  The Faction ADD that I suffer from caused me to jump in delight as I knew a new army was coming in for me to play!!

That being said, Scottie-too-hottie and I are going to be working on painting up Tier 4 lists.  I believe he is working on a Kreoss T4…so butt-tons of Knights Exemplar, Errants, Bastions, and a few Warjacks.  I on the other hand will expand out the Circle Holiday Bundle into a Baldur the Stonecleaver T4 List. 

Scottie is also going to be hosting a 35pts Hardcore Steamroller Tourney at NorCon this year so I am going (yeah yeah yeah, I am a commit-a-phobe when it comes to finishing past painting projects) to have the Baldur T4 painted up for that. Which gives us: New Year’s Resolution #1. 

Last night I spent 5 hours vomiting forth a Rocks of Orboros tier 4 list onto my desktop in a frenzy of Zap-a-gap, pins, pins vices, green-stuff, and glued-together-fingers.  I still need to finish assembling Megalith but since I am going to mod him so that he doesn't have that crazy arms-raised-orangutan-pose, that will take a bit more time, since I am super horrible with green-stuff work and in all honestly I will probably outsource this to someone who is much better at green-stuff than I am.

Last night I also finished up the Precursor Knight figure I was working on for the upcoming IKRPG game that I will be taking part in.  And since this is a blog about painting and painted miniatures, I’ll leave off the first post of 2013 with a few pictures of the fully painted Knight of Morrow.  

Hmmm...just noticed I need to hit up the buckles on the Caspian Battleblade sheath before I seal the mini...check!

One Third the Flavor, One Third the Fun

Finished up Tor of the Sons of Bragg Character Unit.  Man, I love these trio of Trollblood Fellcallers, stumpy legs and all.  Not really sure what the sculptor was thinking giving the unit the bowed legs but I love the unit.  Fun to use on the table top as well.  

When the unit hits...boy does it hit hard (if the Dice Gods are in your favor that is and you have made the prerequisite sacrifices before the game started)

They are a pricey little unit at 6 points but they fill a nice roll as a counter-strike unit.  Run the Sons of Bragg up the flank and use them to drop annoying solos or to take down a heavy beast/'jack or to even roll into a unit and just tie it up for a turn or two.  Keep them in reserves and use them to counter-strike anything that gets a bit close to your Warlock or to even clear out a lane for said Warlock to wreak face

So next I move onto Tor's duel-sword wielding brother, Rhudd.  Hopefully I'll get him done a bit quicker...go ahead and roll your eyes now but hey in my defense I did say hopefully

Adopt a Fell Caller, Save a Trollkin for life

I wasn't even really planning on painting up the Fell Caller but when I was base coating the skin of the Sons of Bragg Unit I had a bunch of extra paint left over on ye'olde wet palette and I didn't want to waste it so...I base coated the Fell Caller, Skaldi Bonehammer, and the Sons of Bragg.

I still had a good sized blob of paint on the palette and decided to wash the models and then do the skin highlight on them.

Once I was finished with that whole layering up of the skin, I picked up the Fell Caller to look at him and then I just picked out a color and started painting.  Well of course life got in the way of painting and the Fell Caller has been getting some sporadic painting love across the week and tonight I finally finished him up.

I have kind of a mixed reaction to this model.  I like certain parts of the model and then I dislike certain parts.



Like: The leathers - I thought they turned out really nice
Like: The skin - loads of shading difference in the muscles...getting better at it. I should probably add a third 'lighter' layer
Like: The armor plates - I dig the 'highlighted' armor

Dislike: The eyes - Damn it!! they just look off to me
Dislike: The torch - I tried doing a 'yellow' fire like effect and feel I failed horribly...oh and I hate the grey colors on it
Dislike: The bronze chain mail - definitely used the wrong colors there.  I really like the Vallejo line, but I think GW has the metallics down like no other
Dislike: I used a different glue than the Zap-a-Gap that I know and love, so I didn't notice a glob dried on the joint connecting the main body to the upraised sword until I had the model primed and dusted...I painted up the glob to look like fur but it is still irksome that I missed that while the glue was still wet.  I could have cleaned off the glob of glue.  Needless to say I won't be using that shitty-ass glue anymore.



Eventually I will go back through and attempt to fix up the 'dislikes' but for the moment, I am going to keep chugging along and finish what I started even though I am going to miss the deadline for a Slightly More Possible Dream 2012 by a ludicrously large margin.

And now to start working on the rest of the Fell Callers in the list, the Sons of Bragg.  I am going to paint each one up individually, so pictures to follow as I complete them.  Once they are all finished I'll toss up the group shot.

You know...eventually I am going to have to paint up Borka Kegslayer, I mean sheesh...it is his army after all.

SHOW ME YOUR WARFACE!!!!

Well I don't think I am going to meet the deadline for the Slightly More Possible Dream Painting Challenge.   

 

I paint too damned slow and I have only painted up two models!   

 

Aside from jacked up schedules at work, it is very hard for me to paint when my daughter is awake.  She has to be at the center of it all and that means right at my painting area and wanting to touch and paint everything in sight...but enough excuses.  I finished up the Dire Troll Mauler for Borka's battlegroup.

 

As you can see he is very angry and has very very large hands with which to rip your 'jack apart with

 

 

I did a lighter shade on the belly and the palms but it doesn't quite show in the photograph like it does when you are holding the model.  Next time I think I need to mix in another drop or two of the lighter grey with the basecoat to help separate it out more.

 

 

 

Over all I am pleased with the model but I think next time I paint up a dire troll I am going to leave much 'thinner' lines in the recesses of the musculature.

 

This guy really is just plain angry and those are some rather big meaty firsts!

Borka's Troll Axer, Krugg

I finished up the Troll Axer.  Not 100% sure I like the fact that I painted the entire front arc, but so be it, it might grow on me and if not, I'll just paint over it with black.

I have already put down 3/4 of the shadow grey basecoat on the Dire Troll Mauler and some of the dark fleshtone on the 'spines/hair'

Hopefully I'll have the Mauler finished up by tomorrow night or at least almost done.  

Borka's Drinking Buddies

There is an event on the Privateer Press Forums called “A Slightly More Possible Dream” that I have decided to take part in.  Basically, you have a 35 point list and you have one month to paint it up and then you play in a tourney with other folks who have done the same thing…now I am horrible at meeting painting deadlines, Nov 16^th in this case, but damn it, I am sure going to try!

Well I am going to be painting up a 35 point list (or trying my damnedest to do so) and while no one else is participating in Redding, I still plan to play the list in the next tourney and see how I do. 

I did choose a list that is not very model heavy because as the world’s slowest painter and I wanted to make sure that I have time to paint it all up.  Now I have been playing this list quite a bit lately in casual play and so far it has treated me well.

Borka’s Drinking Buddies (for a Slightly More Possible Dream)

Borka Kegslayer – WB: +5
Pyg Carrier
Dire Troll Mauler - PC:9
Troll Axer - PC: 6

 

Fell Caller Hero – PC: 3

Trollkin Champion Hero – PC: 3

 

Trollkin Champions – Leader & 4 Grunts: PC: 10
Skaldi Bonehammer – PC: 3

Sons of Bragg – Wrathar, Tor & Rhudd: PC 6

Just about every model in the list has weapon master which I really didn’t notice until I was staring at the cards one night while I was playing a game and Borka is just fun to play.  I love the sculpt for the model and his fluff is pretty great also.  On top of that he has some pretty solid spell list…and considering he only has three spells that is saying a lot.  I gave him a Mauler and an Axer and so far they have acquitted themselves rather well on the battle field.  The Trollkin Champions + Skaldi + Champion Hero + Fell Caller Hero is a pretty brutal combo that, pending the love of the dice gods, generally tend to wreck face pretty well.  The Sons of Bragg are a great character unit that can stand on their own and are a viable threat to most pieces on the table.

The one down side to the list is of course the low model count.  When you think about it, I only have 14 models on the table and one of those models is carrying a keg and doesn’t do much other than top off Borka with a few extra Fury.  I mean once I start losing models, the games tend to go downhill rather quickly for me. 

All in all, I am really enjoying the list and have even bought a few of those ‘crutch’ models that make the Trollblood synergies really come to life.  I have a full unit of Fennblades + UA and I picked up a unit of Kriel Stone Bearers + UA but I shall not get ahead of myself.  Before I put any paint down on any other model until Nov 16^th (other than primer of course),  I must and shall paint up the above list.  I’ll post progress pictures as I finish up each model.

On the plus side, there is a possibility that the armies painted up for this little painting shin-dig could end up in an issue of No Quarter.  How cool would that be, my table-top quality models on display in a magazine. 

HAHAHAHA epic…extra incentive…must finish painting them up!

Off to the painting table I go!

To become or not to become a Spartan Vanguard...that is the question.

I finished up the Russian Coalition Fleet, Tiny Flyer Tokens and all.  So I submitted my application to Spartan Games for their Spartan Vanguard Program.  They ask for up to 14 days to process the application, so now I get to sit and wait.

When I set up both fleets for pictures, I realized that I really liked the Russian TFTs turned out.  So in the future (at some point), I am going to be striping my Covenant of Antarctica TFTs and repainting them up all blue sky and flying like I did the Russian Coalition TFTs.



Since painting up both Fleets quick, dirty, and table-top worthy, I definitely believe that the Russian Coalition fleet came out better.  I am sorely tempted to strip and repaint up my Covenant Fleet but I am going to try and stick to my guns and leave it as is, rather than change it and possibly make it worse similiar to how George Lucas fucked up the original Star Wars trilogy.



I placed a rather large order with Battlefoam the other day.  With the sheer amount of Trollbloods that I own now (Hush Scott!) I figured it was time to get some foam and fill up my P.A.C.K. Air.  So 5 custom cut foam trays are incoming as well as trays for my Storm Strider, a Stormwall, the Mountain King and the War Wagon.  I figured since I would eventually own all those models (having recently purchased a Mountain King, and already owning a Storm Strider) I should own the foam to protect them.  The new foams will also allow me to store all of my future purchases for my Searforge Commission lists and Trollblood lists as well as possibly storing other random models.

For my next project I am going to finish painting up the Runebearer for the Trollbloods and paint up Borka Kegslayer and his brew buddy.  Hopefully by then, I shall have General Ossrum firmly in hand and will paint him up and the Wroughthammer Rockram for my Searforge Commission army.

Magnets to the MAX!!!

Did a bit of hobbying this week while I was working on my Russian Coalition models.  I bought the new Cygnar Heavy Jack Kit  and inside it contains all the pieces to assemble either a Centurion, a Hammersmith, or an Avenger.  As you can see there are a lot of bits to the model.  For those of us who have a grip of magnets from K&J Magnetics however, it has all the parts needed to assemble all of three Warjacks!!!  Oh the joys of magnets.



I choose to go with just one set of shoulderpads vs. swapping them in an out.  The shoulder pads were a bit tight and didn't fit very flush...at least not until I applied a subtle amount of pressure with the assistance of some clamps.  If I buy another kit, I'll use the other shoulder pads to help tell them apart.  The idea of jack-bulleting a pair of Hammersmiths across the board is pretty darn tempting

All of the arms and all three heads are magnetized.  I added guide pins to the left arm which holds the Centurion's Piston Spear and to the hand that is holding the spear.  The spear on the plastic Centurion compared to the metal Centurion is much more appropriate in scale and also rather un-wieldy with just a magnet holding it in place.  I am debating adding guide pins to the Avenger's sword and the Hammers...but as of yet, I don't think I need to.  Once I get a few games in with the model, this decision may change.

Centurion


Hammersmith


Avenger


Back to working on more TFT (tiny flyer tokens) for the Russian Coalition

Doughnuts of Doom

And I give to you the Doughnuts of Doom!!!

Russian Coalition Novgorod Class Frigates


The mighty 16 Tiny Flyer Tokens of the Russian Coalition


I am going to stipple some white around the bases of the TFT's and hope for cloud cover because remember in the world of Dystopian Wars it is always overcast!  Once I get the bases all 'clouded' up, I'll get started in on the planes.

You sank my Battleship!!!

Hey Folks,

Sorry for the slight delay, I was having issues with being lazy when it came to taking pictures.  I finished up the Borodino Class Battleship and the Suvorov Class Cruisers for my Russian Coalition Fleet.  I have already started in on the Novgorod Class Frigates.  Once the Frigates are completed then I will work on the 16 TFTs (Tiny Flyer Tokens) and once they are finished I get to submit my application to become a Spartan Vanguard.

Borodino Class Battleship


Borodino Class Battleship with Suvorov Class Cruisers


Kastroma Class Battle Carrier, Borodino Class Battleship and Suvorov Class Cruisers


Next pictures should have the Frigates and maybe a few TFTs finished.

Kostroma Class Battle Carrier...complete!

Here is a shot of the Russian Coalition fleet I am painting up for my Spartan Vanguard application.



I started with the largest model in the fleet, the Kostroma Class Battle Carrier, to test out the color scheme I decided on.  Since it also had a few tiny flyers on it, I was able to nail down the TFT scheme as well.



I decided to go with a Red/Off-white look. It was actually pretty easy to nail down.  The 'white' is a base coat of the P3 Cryx Bane Highlight, followed by a wash of the new Devlan Mud (I forget the name of it), and then a drybrush of Bleached Bone.  Although it is hard to see on the smoke stacks I have picked out certain sections and made them the off-white color as well and painted some of the roofs red to help tie the front of the model to the back of the model.



The red is Citadel's Dark Flesh, a Gryphonne Sepia Wash, and then a drybrush of Vallejo's Terracotta.



The Tiny Flyers on the flight deck are even simpler, Silver, washed with black, then the wing tips are painted blood red, and the canopy is the Vallejo Magic Blue.

With the scheme done, I have already started in on the battleship and I hope to have pictures posted up in the next few days.

Dystopian Awesomeness

Hello Fellow Blogger Types and other random peeps!

I'm back!

Or at least I will attempt to be back on a fairly regular basis from here on out.  My surgery went off without a hitch so to speak and my recovery is well recovery.  For about 2 weeks I have been an absolute bum on the couch and doing nothing.  Well I have read a few good books and cleaned out the DVR and watched entirely too much crap on Netflix but all in all I still consider myself as having done nothing.

I do however, have a goal now.

To become a Spartan Vanguard!  Yup I am going to apply to become a Vanguard for Spartan Games the folks who make Dystopian Wars (among others games).  Think of the Spartan Vanguard as their volunteer program to show their products, so very similar to the Pressgang Program offered by Privateer Press.  In order to qualify I have to have two painted fleets so I had to go out and purchase a new fleet.  I already own a 'mostly painted' Covenant of Antarctica Fleet and so I choose the latest release and picked up a Russian Coalition Naval Group and Fleet Carrier, since most of us here in po-dunk Redding are playing at that level (around 750-ish points depending on your nation)

The first thing that kind of struck me about the Russian Coalition is the sheer size of the models.  Compared to the Covenant of Antarctica, which have a very sleek look about the models, the Russian Coalition is a hulking beast of sturgeniam-infused metal.  Sharp pointy prows and big guns

Stat-line wise, the Russian Coalition has no special weapons but they do have a great defensive MAR (Model Assigned Rules) called Abalative Armor.  The MAR basically makes them immune to damage until the targeted model suffers its first critical hit, then the MAR expires and they start taking damage normally.  Which should be pretty sweet considering the Russian Coalition has virtually no weapons that operate in Range Band 3 & 4 and so therefore have to close quick and fast to unload the heavy weaponry they do have in Range Bands 1 & 2.  Yikes!

Still as a polar opposite (pun intended, for those that know about the CoA and the fluff) to my Covenant of Antarctica Fleet, I think the Russian Coalition will be a great Fleet to use as a Demo Fleet alongside my Covenant Fleet.

Since it looks like I am going to be off work until early September, my goal is to get the Russian Coalition Naval Group and Fleet Carrier painted up so that I can apply for the Spartan Vanguard Program around the same time I head back to work.

No pictures yet, but I have primed the Fleet black and I have started working on the Fleet Carrier.  When I finish up the Carrier I'll get some pictures up for everyone to look at!

Until then...Game on!

Not Forgotten

Hey folks,

I just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about 2d6, I am taking a bit of an extended hiatus as I prepare for surgery at the start of August.

Hopefully I'll be back up and posting sometime in mid-August.

Until then,
Game on!

Grant

A Pair of Bunnies

Well in an effort to get back onto the painting wagon, I finished up the Grundback Blaster.  Even gave him a toothy grin.



And here is the Blaster and the Gunner striking a pose.



I need to be a bit more careful when I am pinning them to the bases, they look like they are hovering...not intentionally of course but I am thinking that when I glue the pins into the feet there is some excess glue that drys up and doesn't let them fit as snug as I would like to the bases.  I'll have to keep an eye out on the next few Gunbunnies I am working on.

Diablo III and STOOPID internet

So...yeah.

Diablo III

The Devil

Compelling me to play

So yeah, I fell off the proverbial painting bus for a video game.  I'll try to crawl my way back onto the bus shortly.

Oh and my internet just went out again for the past three days. Stupid AT&T...