The Eternally Unfinished Miniature Blog

Back from the brink.

2012-02-18T12:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, so a good 6 sinus infections, two gaming groups shrinking to near nothing, numerous hobbies and Lord knows what else, I have finally found the time and energy to start back at this. So that is the why I haven't been blogging, now what I have I been up to? Well, I read a Song of Ice and Fire, got a high end Kichten Aid Mixer, actually played in a series of Warmachine tournaments, started teaching someone how to paint and play that game, started new factions for games I rarely play (Cryx, ALEPH, early war British), bought way too much stuff for game systems I don't think I'll ever play even once (Heavy Gear: Bliltz!, Uncharted Seas, Firestorm Armada, MERCS among others). I even stopped buying GW products other than paint. My last model purchased was the Space Wolves termies adn the last book the Grey Knights Codex.

Hopefully over the long weekend, I'll get a chance to document my partially painted Cryx bottle box and summarize my experience with the Heavy Gear starter.

Along the way, I am going to also start documenting a bit of my other unfinished hobbies inculding photography (ya, I bought Adobe CS 5 Design Premium which was an more costly and foolish decision than most of my miniature expenditures) and fancy bread baking.

Oops, I did it again...

2010-04-11T08:20:00.000-04:00

Oh you evil resin naval combat game... To the last, I will grapple with thee... from Hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!

Cleaning Continues...

2010-03-23T10:28:00.000-04:00

Two contractor garbage bags of junk and an old shipping box for wine are gone. Paper terrain for Infinity, all boxed up, as are all the card boxes for Star Wars Mini's cards along with a bunch of large Star Wars models that didn't fit in the "large Star Wars mini box".

This weekend hopefully I can unload 10 sq. feet of Warhammer terrain. Not sure how I am gonna handle all the unused Army Transport foam. There is a box of stuff from my old apartment I not opened in 7 years that should free up half a shelf.

Slowly chipping away at the mess.

The new era in hobbying...

2010-03-20T09:29:00.000-04:00

So with the dream workbench (pool table) gone, I have set up a more modest hobby table in the unfinished portion of the basement. Darker, more cramped, cluttered and awkward, I am now going see how the other 99% of hobbyist live. This actually should force me to stick to one project at a time, as I will be losing the ability to store too many half built models and terrain pieces. The PvP robot is still guarding the table...

The table is gone...

2010-03-17T07:52:00.000-04:00

Yup. My gaming table with was a 3 piece slate Eclipse Olhausen as show below is gone. My electric guitar and amp left 3 hours later. About 18 cubic feet of empty TV boxes left early in the day as did most of the protective materials for the pool table. Now I need to get rid of the "junk pile." This consists of old USB cables, bread boards, op amps and such.

The hobby break continues...(and birthday begins)

2010-02-27T09:20:00.000-05:00

So, I have been busy. The way we track our productivity at work has dramatically changed (honest, it is even called "Production" and accounts for 40% of my yearly rating). Due to this, I have been shifting when I hand work in for credit in order to ease the transition from the old system to the new system. Well, the the first bi-week of the new system is ending I as I type this.

The pool table....
If you never saw the table, here are pictures of it protected and unprotected. Hopefully it will be gone by the end of March, and I can start to clean up the basement and figure out how my hobbying will continue. Until then, I am pretty much in lock down so I don't damage the table.

The Camera...
So I ordered two lens for my birthday. Honestly I have enough hobby stuff. $1200 of camera parts is no bigger than a land raider, I love this new hobby. So I got a 60mm Mikro Nikkor and Nikon 70mm-300mm telephoto zoom. I spent last night learning how to use a true macro lens on an orchid (results below). This lens while profession grade, it more specialized than thought. It does great close up work, but you have to be right on top of your subject. It has been too windy to actually do anything with the 70-300mm (it is a f/4.5, but still a decent pro-sumer lens).

What exactly have I been up to?

2010-02-18T07:36:00.000-05:00

So around in early January I sat down at my modelling table (which is a gorgeous and covered for 3 consecutive years pool table) and carved up my thumb really really good. Between the dry temperatures and constant irritation from shoveling snow the healing took longer than normal. So now it is (mostly) healed and hobbying can resume.

Of course there is a catch...
I finally found some to buy my hobby table, er, I mean pool table. For those who have been in my basement over the past 4 years, that giant 8x4 gaming/utility table was actually a pool table. I am close to finalizing deal to get rid of it, which will change the way I hobby. Soon the basement (at my pace soon should be about 2015) will be transformed from a carpeted workshop to a remodeled den and sitting area complete with gas fireplace.

The end of Star Wars Miniature Battles...
This cute little game from Wizards of the Coast is slated for retirement along with the rest of the Wizards' Star Wars lines as they have opted to not renew the license. On the one hand it saves me money as it is one less thing I can spend money on, while on the other gaming loses a great gateway/casual miniatures product. This may or may not open up the Star Wars license for newer and better things. Only time will tell. As I already own nearly every model for the game, I should not have any issues with crazy binge buying.

The Great Purge...
So with the pool table going, my hobby/collecting/gaming habits need to change. It is time to once again start drawing down on stuff I bought and will never use. There stuff down there I know I will never use already, so what i the point of keeping it around. I mean honestly, what am I going to do with a Bretonian, a High Elf and two Catachan unopened battalion boxes? Time to find some kids getting into the hobby and give them a head start.

The Blizzard of 2010 (assuming we don't get another one)...
I shoveled a lot of snow. My roof and gutters appear to have suffered minor damage. Damage which of course I don't have a three story ladder to reach. I lost a few shrubs. Nothing major when it is all said and done. The big loss from the storm was my ice rink collapsing. No more playing ice hockey for probably a year or more. So I am one more step towards becoming a hermit.

The random new Hobby...
So I bought a new DSLR camera in October. I have really taken to it. At first I was just shooting my miniatures, but I have started taking pictures of all kinds of stuff. recently, I thats been origami birds in strange locations. For those of you who think wargaming is expensive, try buying professional grade Nikon camera lenses. I am slowing learning how to deliberately adjust the shutter speed and aperature to create cool pictures.

Star Trek Online...
Over the snow break, I played way too much. After that initial 40 hours, now I am settling into a nice 20-30 minutes a day of it. Game while now much less buggy and more user friendly, does seem like bare bones ans unfinished. Now that the game play is fairly sound (not perfect, but good), Cryptic Studios needs to add content at rapid pace.

Project of the Week -12/31/2009: Panzer IV Ausf. H and StuG G

2010-01-09T14:12:00.001-05:00

So the German armored vehicles are finally done. I have been through Christmas and New Year's and am still fighting a serious sinus infection. If I don't start getting better faster (as I am getting better very slowly), I'll have to go to the doctor soon. I just have this terrible feeling I'll get prescribed Cipro, which has a nasty history in my family. I also fixed the inability to post comments, as Reece has so politely shown. So anyway here goes the round up of the tanks (remember these tanks are 3/4" tall).

As you can see, the schurzen supports had to be rebuilt in many cases. The plastic Battlefront uses is VERY brittle. Here you can also see the tracks have been painted in a dark red/brown, then a lighter red brown, then touched with a dark metal.

This is a close up of the really rough platicard support I put in. Remember these things are at 15mm scale, and you can't notice them once the are finished unless you get under 2 ft from the model head on.

Here you can see the StuG G's after one coat of GW Badab Black wash. IN later pictures we'll see why I was not particularly happy with wash. Part of it was user error, part of it was using a product out side of its normal usage. The StuG G's were done a slightly ahead of the Panzers as they were 2 piece intro models and lack a fair amount of detail seen on the multi-piece Panzers.

Here is a nice top down of the base coated and detailing of the Panzers prior to varnishing and washing. You'll notice a slight gloss and some white goop around the plasticard support struts for the schurzen. That is a PVA white glue (Aleene's Original Tacky Glue) that I used to reinforce the schurzen supports. That glue dries very clear is left to set for 24 hours. It was needed as the schurzen is only attached to the chassis via those little supports. This particular white glue is very strong, and filled some of the joint gaps in the homemade struts, and also formed a clear bond around and over the super glue bond between the plate and the strut. It dries clear, so you really don't see it later.

Here you get a feel for the difference between Badab Black and Delvan Mud. Personally, I think they both went on a little heavy. I wanted to avoid doing a proper oil weather with these little guys, particularly after how well the Sherman tanks I did turned out. However I think because of the light color scheme, and the camouflage pattern, the GW washes are jut to dark. With oils, I would have had much more control.

So there are the two StuG G's. By this time I have hit them up with satin and the matte varnish, and then a 20:1 mix of thinner: Tamiya Buff. The buff coats lets the weathering powders you see have something to bite into. I was torn about painting the flag that way, but the Germans used that Nazi flag as aerial recognition. so I really belongs. The antennae are guitar wire painted black.

You can see where the washes didn't settle proper on the nice smooth schurzen. I found eventually that painting one side and letting it dry while on its side held some with the pooling. Smme of them got that strange zig-zag dirt pattern. In real life it isn't that distracting, but from the perspective of the one who took the shortcut of not using oil, it is a bit frustrating.

Resin: Flames of War style

2009-12-16T17:30:00.000-05:00

For most of us in the miniatures gaming world resin is that exotic material just shy of Vibranium. We work in gray plastics and shiny white metals. Those nuts who buy ForgeWorld talk of soaking and rinsing, mold release, air bubbles and mix ratios. Well, if you have ever seen the shiny gray tanks in those Flames of War blisters hanging on the wall, you have seen resin. This article chronicles my experience with the Flames of War: Open Fire! starter set models (so far just the StuG G's, I'll update when when I do the M4A1's).

Any time you deal with resin it will start something like this:

That green stuff is Simple Green. Other times it gets soaked in warm soapy water. The soap part being run of the mill liquid dish detergent, I think I use Dawn. Like all resin, Flames of War stuff is sometimes shiny to the point of being unprimable. When car primer wont stick, you know something is up. This batch got soaked in both.

Resin is brittle!!! Mild agitation (I swirled it gently in the spaghetti jar) can lead to breakage as shown.

Luckily, resin is highly porous. Because resin is a two part mix, even if it is smooth to our eyes, resin is actually very rough at the micro scale as the are tones of air bubbles and fine cracks as teh two luquids combine. This means it takes very well to super glue as shown below.

As you can see, that chipped off piece of schurzen glued right back on there. If only I have found the third little piece and fitted the puzzle back together again. As a side note, when you superglue resin, the reinforced with superglue resin is stronger than the normal resin. This can lead to uneven filing and sanding if you are not aware of that.

You will notice that StuG in the start set is two pieces: a resin body and a pewter gun. Because of this, the underside is not only filled in with resin, but is channeled and cut in such a way as the model floats above its tracks. Those Germans were advanced, but not so fast Adolf!

That is a lot of resin to file out. Resin is toxic and spews dust every where. It is cold and rainy outside. Therefore I will cut my resin inside. And therefore create a fine layer of toxic dust all over my basement? No way. Enter the Dremel and vice. Below you can see how I mounted a vice with balsa wood jaw guards and scotch tape. This allows a rather firm grip on the solid body of the model. You'll want a solid grip for this next part. Notice the white plastic bag to catch the dust. That is key, otherwise you just making a bigger mess than filing it down by hand.

If you zoom in, you can see where I carefully cut a nice channel out next to the tracks. The goal was the cut a series of these channels and then chisel out the remaining fins like so....

Instead, I was having so much fun, I decided to just grind that whole puppy down. (the picture is an intermediate step)

The key is , because of carefully Dremel usage, the vast majority of the dust ended up in that garbage bag, and not on the floor or floating around int eh air as it would have if I had taken a file to it from the beginning.

Safety First! Despite having the dust going where I wanted safety is essential. That dust is nasty, and Dremel bits are know to come flying off, as are chunks of resin. Goggles and a dust mask are important.

A little green stuff to repair my over zealous nature with power tools, and voila!

Weekely Goal 10/24/2009

2009-12-14T15:55:00.000-05:00

The goal this week was to strip, prime, base coat and do the ambush camouflage airbrushing on 5 Panzer IV Ausf. H medium tanks and 2 StuG G assault guns. The panzers had been siting around for almost a year, and the StuG G's came in the Open Fire! starter set for Flames of War. By Wednesday night, here is where I stood:

Thursday night I buckled down and did both passes of camouflage as shown below:

For the time being, they will stay like this, perhaps every now and again when I need a break, I'll do some work on the tracks or pick out the tools. The track and tools are next, followed by the decals., the GW brown washes, and varnshing, then on to weathering. In the meantime however Christmas is fast approaching and I still owe Ron a Painter v. Painter model.

Review: Malifaux First Impressions

2009-12-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

I have been watching Wyrd miniatures for a while now, making sure to look over my shoulder ever now again to see if anything new cropped up (much like I treat Freebooter and Dark Sword). A few weeks before Thanksgiving I had the chance to play a few learning games (I have multiple rules sets that I have never played, er... umm..., Flames of War). So the following impression is based on play, although not full fledged skirmishes with all the bells and whistles.

The rulebook:
Malifaux rulebook is in many ways very similar to Privateer Press rulebooks- a running story across factions, great illustration, rules that make sense on the surface and everything you need in one book.

As you don't use dice, there are a lot of easy to read two row tables to show what the various totals for cards mean. One of the things that I didn't even catch until I sat down to write this review was, not once in the rule section, was there a figure for model positioning. Unlike GW and PP games where you are constantly shown diagrams for charge lanes, line of sight, cover, etc, Malifaux means everything off the base and height values so those drawings are not needed. Can this model? (Answer: I dunno, can you draw an uninterrupted line?). There has been substantial errata posted on the website forum, and this appears updated routinely. Most of the rule errors are simply grammatical. The faction/model errata is where the significant changes occur. Some of them I caught reading the book the first time, for instance, why was the generic Guild Guard a Unique member of the Family. I wager in two years we'll get the Infinity treatment, and get a really polished near perfect revised rulebook.

The actual production value of the book--written and illustration, and even layout-- is very nice. The fiction starts with nice overviews of the grim Victorian characters showing primary role. When it concludes, you feel as if you get just enough to realize how open and desperate the world of Malifaux is. Very little has purely good, and near everything has the taint of either evil or malice. From the simple line drawings to the full color chatper pages, the art is of premium grade.

The missions are highly varied, and the system even allows for secret objectives. One of the things I am always interested in are asymmetrical object based scenarios. Malifaux has a random primary objective (a strategy) and optionally, secretly chose secondary objectives (schemes) at the your own, not the game's, discretion. So you might very well in up with defend an objective with one crew and kill their leader on the other. Further terrain features heavily into most objectives.

The models:
They have a strange Weird West- Steampunk- Victoriana flavor. And it works. Models are 28-32mm, but not heroic. No elven archer hands here. Some of the earlier models in the range are nasty to put together, having very fine chains or wrist joints. New models are often single piece, or hidden joins. In quality, they are comparable to Infinity in so many ways, including assembly.Recently, more single piece models have shown up, and they are very well done. A little twisting of an arm with padded pliers, and you can completely remove the flat effect which single piece models often suffer from.

The game play:
I have only had a few games, mostly just moving Lady Justice around for a charge on Saemus. The game does play fast. There is a resource allocation system, soulstones, similiar to Warchmachines focus mechanic, with major exception-- you only get an initial alotment, they don't come back every turn.

The game a feel similar to low model count Warmachine. Flip cards, add, compare. The twist and cheat (which are the actual game terms for it), is swapping cards from your hand to with those in play, or using a soulstone to add an additional card. Additionally, all weapons have ranges, even melee weapons. So the base to base contact isn't as crazy as in some games and the rue melee monsters, have much longer melee ranges. Damage actually scales based on a damage flip, with no damage always being a nasty 1/54 chance (flipping is the card equivalent to a dice roll).

So that is my quick first impression of Malifaux. As I get more time to play more meaningful games and paint up some models, I'll be sure to come back for a more informed impression.

Mid-Week Update for the 12/13/2009 Goal

2009-12-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

Okay so the stripping, scrubbing, priming and base coating are done. So the StuG III Gs are at the same phase of painting as the Panzer IVs. As I have now learned, they were not as originally thought StuG IVs, remember count the road wheels, divide by two (or read the contents of the box). The Schurzen (side skirts, i am too lazy to figure out HTML umlaut code) are back to a nice German Yellow (dunkelgelb) after undoing my first attempted at Ostfront camouflage.

Here you see the spaghetti sauce jar getting pressed into service of the Reich. There was also a round of soaking in Windex. I had horribly botched my first attempt at camouflage, and the Schurzen needed redone from scratch.

Here you see the results of cleaning the StuGs. The Schurzen of the Open Fire! starter set are molded, in resin, directly onto the body of the assault gun. Thin resin, plus the occasional shake and scrub led to the broken plate you see on the left StuG.

Battlefront makes the vast majority of their armored vehicles out of a very brittle resin compound. In the mainline kits, these have numerous white metal and, in some cases, plastic components. The Open Fire starter set StuGs, however, are single piece resin (as noted above) plus a white metal barrel. the normal StuGs and vehicles are resin cores white white metal tracks. Why is this important? Look below....

On the right, you get a nice view of how the resin tab protrudes beyond the bottom of the tracks, causing a floating in scape look. On the right, you can see how the tab for a normal kit Panzer IV Ausf. H is much smaller as there are not tracks getting int he way of it being cut close to the body. Originally, I was just going to do the models "straight out of the box" but the broken schurzen and the floating tank syndrome were too much. So while I am not using my extra tank stowage bits, those things are getting

So some time in the vice and a little green stuff to correct for operator error the cleaned up, I present the StuGs with more ground clearance than a Corvette.

Here you can see the quick repair of the broken resin schurzen via some plastic card and some more green stuff on the bottom of the StuGs. The card blends in decently for as slap dash as it was done. Once built and painted and weathered properly, it should look a a little disjoint as schurzen were separate plates in real life.

Primed and mounted and ready for base coating.

And now the whole family assembled for a group shot now that base coating is done.

As a side note, Menoth White Base is a great touch up for my recipe for Dunkelgelb. Tonight I put on the Reflective Green and Red Brown primer the Germans used for camouflage.

Hopefully, I'll be posting a small tutorial on how to Dremel resin, as it isn't as safe as one would think.

Project of the Year

2009-12-07T20:20:00.000-05:00

So that whole Christmas, New Year's, time of reflection and planning thing is starting to set in again. While the Skorne seriously kicked me in the teeth as far as scheduling went, this blog has been pretty good about keeping me working towards a goal. I am painting models that have been laying around forever (trust me, eight models of any quality in two months is a big deal, particularly when Thanksgiving is factored in). I am already figuring out what my next few sets of weekly projects will be (mostly stuff already on my bench off it).

This led me to thinking of a Goal of the Year. Something grandiose, but still attainable. Something, like my original Shadowsword, that will push me, but not rush me. Something I know is within my skill level, but at the very edge. Something that I can not only be proud of, but will also get seen and encourage other people.

I used to help make a Games Day table for Big Gunz DC. I love large scale projects and planning. I love teaching youth and catching their hearts and imaginations on fire. I have been mulling over some ideas recently and here are the options I am looking at with pros and cons.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

ForgeWorld Warhammer Fantasy Fire Drake (occasionally referred to as the FW Emperor Dragon): Some avid games don't even know the thing exists.

Pros:
1.) I already own it.
2.) It is absolutely gorgeous in a weird draconic way.
3.) Clearly within my skill level, but doing it justice will take everything I have.
4.) Large base size means it will have serious scenic/terrain element possibilities.

Cons:
1.) Odds are it will never leave my basement.
2.) Odds are it will never be seen in person by more than a half dozen people (although it would obvious get photographed and posted here ad nauseum).
3.) It will never get used for anything other than a show piece.

ForgeWorld Death Korps of Krieg Super Heavy Battalion: I have actually used it for Apocalypse games in its unfinished state. Building all the tanks was actually Project of the Week number 1. My Super Heavy Battalion is rather large. 5 Baneblade chassis, 5 Macharius chassis, 1 Minotaur, 8 Leman Russ chassis, 3 Chimera chassis, 3 drop Sentinels, and Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter. Oh, and some supporting infantry.

Pros:
1.) It is already started and I know exactly how do complete it (even have a finished prototype)
2.) It has left the basement and seen LGS play already, in a limited scale. It will again.
3.) Everyone, including myself, loves DKoK.

Cons:
1.) While easy to do in chunks, those repetitive chunks might wear on me.
2.) I plan to do a large number of smaller Flames of War projects, and might go into tank overload.

Loyalist Terminators (7-10 squads from different chapters): I have tons of Terminators. I've got all the FW shoulder pads, two copies of Space Hulk, new Space Wolves plastics and the old FW Space Wolf Torsos. If wanted to go overboard, I even have the matching FW dreadnoughts where applicable (or even Land Raiders). Imperial Armor VIII is Raven Guard, so there will certainly be a Raven Guard Dread and terminator set (even if it is just shoulder pads). Space Wolves get their dreadnought early next year.

Pros:
1.) I already have most of the models.
2.) Terminators are fairly easy to paint, and I prefer closed helm versions. I have painted Terminators and know what I am doing so that I could do quality work on one squad a month or so.
3.) A chance to paint models in pre-defined schemes across a variety of palettes. More of a technical challenge than an artistic challenge.
4.) If done well enough, I can probably sell them at cost in chapter chunks (never above cost, I like my status as an amateur).

Cons:
1.) 70 plus models when factoring in making some leader types.
2.) Like the tanks, I might just get tired mid way through squad 5.

The Battle at Weathertop: GW is re-releasing the 16" diameter FW model for the Battle of Weathertop from The Fellowship of the Ring. Some of us have seen the smaller 1/2 ruined piece in GW stores. This is the full piece, near identical to the movie set.

Pros:
1.) I get to buy limited release Forge World and I already own the LotR boxed set for the battle with Aragorn, hobbits and Ringwraiths.
2.) It is a terrain piece usable in many games.
3.) Ideal for small scenarios games with my Youth Ministry work over the summer.
4.) Potential to take to Games Day if my club every does that again for a club type table.

Con:
1.) What do I do with a 16"x 16" chunk of terrain when I am done? It is getting kind full under the pool table.

Goal of the Week (er, um, month) for 12/05/2009

2009-12-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

This project for whatever reason was a bear. It was the perfect story. It was project more complicated than imagined, in a very busy time period with multiple interruptions. Dragon Age: Origins soaked up hour upon hour, Thanksgiving kept me cooking, the whirlwind trip across the North East actually kept me away from painting. At some point I became simply disinterested as newer and more sparkly things arrived.

But they are painted. Not based or weathered (which will require selecting a base style). I have to remember these models were never intended to be my best work, and were to simply be painted so I could continue my holier than thou anti-playing with primed model attitude. (I have since relaxed it a bit. I will not play with new models for a system, until the ones I have are painted. This only works for smaller systems like 300 point Hordes, Infinity and Malifaux).

This is where I was on the 13th of November. Things don't look terribly different, but there are some subtle differences, mainly in that the banner poles are attached. You'll also notice, I got much beter with my camera zoom, just in time to show all kinds of tiny defects. Perhaps the most egregious of them will be fixed when a base and weather them.

Cyclops Savage No. 1, painted and varnished.
You can see that I had a really nice free hand Skorne symbol on one side, and a not so nice on the other. I can do really nice "one off" free hand, but not so much when it comes to replicating it. Something to consider if I start doing Celtic knots and such for Eldar or whatever. You'll notice a slight discoloration or fuzziness at where the banner poles connect. After too many issues with those annoying poles, and being to far along the project to do much, I decided to simply epoxy them when done. Next set of back poles get brass rod shafts, and wire loops bulked out with green stuff for the harness. This was just a "get you by" trick, that isn't really all that noticeable.

Cyclops Savage No 2. Painted and varnished
You'll notice the simpler free hand pattern on this guy. Rather than copy something (the Skorne scorpion symbol), I simply started carving up rectangles until I got something I liked. Not a perfect copy by any means, but a learning experience. When you simply don't care, and are looking for ways to speed up certain steps, these kinda projects are great for that.

Titan Gladiator, painted and varnished
Every time I picked this guy up, I found something new to do. In fact, I can list of about five things now that I could easily fix (and probably will when it comes time to base him). This guy is really my first "finished" model with interference paint. That purple sheen is really there. I used that "flip paint" you see used as an additive to car paint. One tube the size of your basic Delta Ceramcoat or Americana craft paint runs about $11. Generally it is used to via airbrush, but because of the order I painted the model in, I ended up mixing up a brush formula. While expensive, you have to remember it an additive, but a paint base. A blob the size of a pea was enough to glitter all fourmodels, and have enough left over to probably do eight more. After varnishing satin, I went in by hand and glossed the purple glittery enamel.

These models were actually the first time I ever used GW's inks. The gold is PP Rhulic gold washed with Sepia and a second wash of either Black or Mud depending on which ever one I grabbed that day. After that was dry, I dry brushed the metal again.

Personally, I am not pleased with the off white/blue shading effect I got on the white parts. Even when not zoomed in, it still looks splotchy. i thyink I should have done it all off white, hit with white powder and then varnished it, using the white powder to form a white highlight. Too late.

Morghul, painted and varnished
This guy has been done for several months now and was not really part of this project. When I get to basing him, all four pieces will be done at the same time. You can definitely tell I learned how to use the manual focus on teh macro setting with these pictures.

So til next time.

Cyber Monday...

2009-11-30T07:13:00.000-05:00

Yes, the Monday after Thanksgiving.... Cyber Monday. Stupid media and marketing types. Man that sounds so lame. Anyway, TheWarStore.com's Black Friday deals continue. Honestly, aside from the 5% and a great deal on Flames of War stuff across the board, not much of note. GW stuff is limited to terrain and splash releases in stock for a reason, PP is mostly soon to be obsolete books, and the clearance rack is mostly family games I am disinterested in. It definitely is not the gold mine that it was last year. A few of the gems though:

Flames of War
Firestorm: The Bagration Campaign
Firestorm: Market Garden

Games Workshop (direct and licensed)
Rogue Trader
Warhammrer RPG 3rd edition
Space Hulk

Rackham
Confrontation Army Boxes

While I did not buy all that stuff, if you were in the market, some of that is a decent deal. 5% on top of the already great prices is also nice. What I did order will show up over there on the right hand side when it arrives.

Dragon Age Update:
I am now to an impressive 31%, and presumably almost done with the Brescilian Forest. It makes me rather skeptical just how accurate the progress percentage is. I know that it is across all characters and all options, but it seems like I should be farther along than this. Still loving the game though.

Painting Update:
Back banners are attached to all the Skorne warbeasts now. Now it is just time to even out the whites and purple, and touch up. White and purple are two of the worst colors to even out in my experience. The metallic touch up is going swimmingly though. These are definitely "good enough" models. With Warmachine MK II almost upon us, who knows how much I'll actually play with these guys. I might just unload them and the rest of of the Skorne on some tourney player to make room in the ....

Basement Update:
Yes, I have been cleaning out my basement. So far, I have removed 14 cubic feet of junk from my shelves. This is somewhat misleading though, as much of it was half empty GW core game boxes from various editions. Still, I managed to clear off the nightmare that had once been my pool table, and put away a couple hundred minis (GW and Infinity), and box up a huge amount of terrain. All that and I still have about 8 cubic feet of shelf space left and I haven't thrown out anything other than boxes (so consolidation is pretty much done). Once I get to college text books, broken appliances, dry rotted sports equipment space and rusted house paint cans space should abound (well, at least be better).

Blog Photo Updates:
Since the basement purge is under way, setting up the tripod and light box is a non-starter, so this evening/tomorrow I'll post up some of my early, learning and prototype minis.

So.. if you actually read this far, thanks. This entry was more of a sanity check on myself than information to the masses post. Luckily, I haven't stumbled into a rant.

Mordheim: Middenheimers

2009-11-27T12:07:00.007-05:00

Mordheim is easily my favorite game in all of GW's properties. They are one of the few sets where I have a completely painted (and even in most cases varnished and based) armies.

This bad boy is the Middenheimer Mercenary Captain. Generally, he ends up seriously wounded in the first game of the campaign and I end up using a different model with a crossbow and very heavy helmet to represent him.

These are my champions. These are heavily used models. The lad on the right seems to be be missing a hammer. At +1 Strength starting, you really want to get these guys in hand to hand combat. Sadly, my models seem to have a built in arrow attractor.

These are my Youngbloods. Girlie on the right was my first good model. On the tabletop, she looks much better, which is nice because she is pretty much worthless there too.

These some the various henchmen I have made use of over the years. Telly "Who loves ya Baby!" in the top middle and Karl "Of course I am the Emperor!" in the bottom middle (not wearing his very important helmet) are easy my favorite.

These are my two hired swords: the Tilean Marksman (left) and Duelist (Right). You may recognize them as Dogs of War characters. Umm, ya, the unfinished Dogs of War Army.

And so the Dragon Age and Black Friday continue...

2009-11-27T11:40:00.001-05:00

After about 40 hours (or more) I am at 30% of Dragon Age: Origins. 2/3rd of the allies quests, Denerim and the DLC are done. Will this game ever end? I finally got back to painting after some frustration caused by getting toasted by a dragon. So the back banners are now glued to the cylcops and I am just doing touch up work on the metal fasteners at the joins. By this evening, I should be down to just that Titan left and most of that is just the banner colors being evened out. In order to prevent the blog from sitting idle too long, I'll start uploading some of my early hobby finished figures. Sometimes I forget just how nice some of those Mordheim models were. Oh, and of its Black Friday... You can guess what that means in my house.

Goal of the Week Update for 11/13/2009 Goal

2009-11-09T08:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this week has been really busy with evenings well past midnight Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I got my first learning games of Malifaux in. I think I like this game as much as Infinity. It defiantly out ranks GW and PP games. Simple mechanic, low model count and and an interactive turn. So none of that "Take your turn while I run to the bathroom, I'll make the armor saves when I get back" stuff. While the response mechanism is different that Infinity, I am actively involved the entire game. Also, while I am not a huge fan of the "bucket o' dice" mentality. Malifaux doesn't even use dice, just a deck of cards (even standard poker deck if you want).

I received my first Winsor Newton Series 7 brush. So far, it is just a nice brush. The handle seems a little thinker than the Winsor Newtons I am used to and the bristles are cut much closer to the ferrel. I also received my B&H 67mm protective filter. Now my camera can go outside with out compromising that 18-105 lens.

Sadly, both my dishwasher and 30" monitor died too. So I will be spending Veteran's Day figuring out which part of the washer is leaking, and then weighing the replace/repair costs.

The Skorne Warpack is slowly getting closer. These guys were never intended to be my best work. They are more for experimentation and playing. The Highborn Covenant will be my "master class" faction/contract. the free hand is a mixed bag. It turns out I can do some really nice free hand in a one off, but replicating it is just asking for disaster (and in this project I both asked and received). You can see the difference of copying the Skorne symbol versus the common practice of easy to reproduce geometric shapes. Anyway, I am just having fun painting something that isn't a tank or warjack and learning to use the camera.

Attached Banner pole, and you can clearly see differences in the free hand.

Here is the titan. He is pretty much painted. I have the interference paint as seen in the 3rd photo on him. I think because he is a nice solid mass, the camera auto-focuses on him much easier. this is the first time I have really tried to use that paint, it is challenging, but I am slowly getting the hang of how to use it. You have to thin, but also put in some medium and flow release otherwise it puddles and you can see the brush strokes. Hey its a learning model. I also tried wet blending the tusks, just about the worst place to try on, since the other tusk gets in the way of the brush handle when trying the pull the brush for the actual blend. I tried to shade the whites with a light blue. That was an absolute failure. But I tried it and that was the point. So this guy is almost ready for protective varnishing, and then matte varnishing for the skin, and gloss for the purple enamel parts. Then comes the weathering and distressing.

Okay the banners. As said before, Matching free hand, not so great, but it is getting there.

So I think all this will go on custom swamp bases to hide the painting errors.

Mid Week Update for 11/07/2009 Goal

2009-11-05T07:21:00.000-05:00

Okay so I want to finish this Skorne Battle Box I have been slowly working on. When I started playing Hordes I made a rule to myself: NO new units hit the table unit I finish painting a Skorne unit. So for instance, I finished Morghul, and now I can use Hexeris, once I finish the Cyclops this week I can use the Basilisks. I started the this rule when Mark II is a known but distant event. Now Mark II is almost upon us now not only are more goodies are coming, but the pull of older miniatures is working on me. My favorite faction in Privateer Pres is the Mercenary contract for the Highborn Covenant. Mercenaries are due to get their revamp right before my Skorne, which I actually play with (albeit, in a very limited way). Therefor I wanted to push these guys out before they get eternally shelved.

So here is what I started with Sunday night:

Cyclops Savages with Banner Poles. These guys are mostly done.

So here you see the Titan Gladiator with Banner Pole.

He has a long way to go. The skin is all done and the gold metal is pretty much in, but everything else is just base coats and guide coats. From five feet away, it is passable, but the closer you get it becomes exponentially bad. So bad that about that if you closely examine the model from under two feet away, all the Democrat gubernatorial candidates up for election lose, that is how powerful my bad painting is.

As of Tuesday night I was this far:

Handles on the Cyclops are based in light grey craft paint, then double washed with Delvan Mud, a la Ron's Deathwing. Gives a decent spotty leather really fast.

The Banners are getting roughed in. Now it is just slow layering to get even whites and purples.

You can see the ropes are all done the metals are cleaned up, the purples are nice and solid and the whites are started, the loincloth painted and washed. I need to go back and start putting contrast on the whites, do the tusks, and then put the interference paint to the purple armor and minor spot highlighting on the loincloth. After that, attaching the banner poles comes.

However, I don't think I will be able to do all that with my limited time this week, so this project may drift into next week, which is okay, as I can add basing to the project and I will have limited time due to travelling anyway.

Finished Random Models

2009-11-02T07:11:00.002-05:00

So I buy a lot of models. Most miniatures go to a game of some kind nowadays, whether it is some thing as common as Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k to more esoteric stuff like Avatars of War or Ron and Bones. This is where the really random "Hey that is cool!" purchases and other models that don't fit another category will end up being documented. Here you find stuff from Resina Planet, Enigma, Reaper, Dark Sword, and Mega Minis, etc. If it isn't elsewhere on the top or side links, it should be here ... if I have finished it.

Reaper Miniatures

Hyena, from 03277: Hyena Pack (2) by Jason Wiebe

This pack of models was used for the first Painter v. Painter feature on From the Warp. The only way to tell this thing is actually a hyena is the coloration. If you study pictures of hyenas, the muzzle is all wrong, far more ursine than canine. It would make a great demonic hyena or a hellhound though. Animals are one of the things I have the worst time painting. This model did satisfy one prime requirement though--you get two for $7.99 making it ideal for our purposes.

Goal of the Week 10/31/2009

2009-11-01T08:51:00.016-05:00

So this week's goal was to finish some tanks. Those tanks being 15mm Flames of War M4A1 Shermans. this week also the saw the introduction of a D90 camera, and me building a light box out of a cardboard box, some Kleenex, tape and a office paper.

You'll notice some dramatic sways in photo quality as I learn to use the camera.

So there they are.

I did some weathering using powders and added an antenna using 1st string from a guitar. No enamels, no oils. Caked, dry mud made from weathering powder and matte medium. The decal softener and setter worked like magic. Notice how the Allied Star meshes perfectly to the seems in the front.As you can see I build a little light box. That will probably get added to the Side Projects heading later. While it worked for this, I am learning fast how to improve it. I discovered this wonderful thing called white balance. I still haven't figured out how to use it on the camera itself, but Picasa has a white balance bar that lets me remove the excessive yellow from the photos.

Mid-Week Update for the 10/31/2009 Goal

2009-10-29T06:44:00.004-04:00

So this week I set out to paint five M4A1 Sherman tanks from BattleFront (the Flames of War people). This is my first foray in 15mm scale. I own some 12mm Warmaster models, but they came painted off eBay. I had to buy them, honest. It is the only game system where Kislev is fully supported with respect to the rules (and at one time miniatures), even if it is a finesse army.

So here is what I started with on Sunday Night.

Not much to look at and they take up room. 'Twas an ideal candidate for Goal of the Week. As you can see on my other posts, those guys had stay on my desk for ages. These pictures were taken after I had painted the heavy machine guns and the tracks (basically black) and touched the metal pins in the tracks with boltgun metal. I used the AFV FAQ book by Mig Jimenez to get that shade of bright green via an airbrush mix of Tamiya colors. At first it looked way to green, almost like some kinda Home Depot spray can. Later, we'll see why that color intensity is so important. I was really worried they would come out looking like cheap toys doused in lime juice. I really should have had more faith in that book.

On Wednesday, this is where I stood:

So, here they are with the basic painting, decal treatment, and washes done. You can really see why the tank needed to start out that bright. What is left? Well, spot highlighting, armor fading, varnishing and weathering. The tank commander poking his head out also needs more than a coat of Tallarn flesh and Badab black wash he has now.

On a side note, I have no idea how to use my new camera and my images will suffer until I figure it out. it is a huge adjustment going from a decent but old point and shoot camera with a 3in near focus (Nikon Coolpix 4500) to a quality new DSLR with an 18 in near focus (D90). With the Coolpix, I just zoomed in and shot. it was the only option really. Now that I am at a tier of quality where the general purpose 18 105mm, is not as easy to use for macro photography, I need to actually learn what I am doing.

First Pictures with the D90

2009-10-28T07:10:00.007-04:00

Note: This post does not appear to be rending properly under FireFox.
It seems to be fine under Chrome and Internet Explorer.

So on a whim I pulled my DKoK Super Heavy Armored Urban Assault Division and laid it out on my staging/gaming/work area (er, pool table). Using the heavily discounted tripod thrown in with the camera, I was able to raise camera above my head and keep it steady for a better high angle shot. Later last night, I also started experimenting with the macro and zoom features for up close photography of this week's goal (paint to completion 5 FoW Sherman tanks).

Here is the wide angle from about my should level (so 5ft).

Here is the same set up about 1 ft closer and at about 6ft 6in on the tripod.

You'll have to bear with me as I handle the initial excitement with my new toy. While the D90 replaces a Nikon Coolpix 4500, which wasn't a slouch of a camera 8 years ago, this is my first camera that is designed to be used out of AUTO. I am way over my head. It turns out the 4500 has a near focus of like 3 inches while the D90 has near 18 inches. The D90 however has such a high resolution, and is such a quality camera, that In macro mode even 2-3 feet away, you can zoom way in on the images. Guess I need to add photography to the list of classes to take. It will be joining in no particular order: Classical & Koine Greek, Hebrew, Intermediate Ice Hockey and Medieval European History.

This evening I will post updated pictures of those M4A1s. The first pass of Badab Black was huge. I expect great things from some well placed judicious Delvan Mud. Sadly, I am anything but judicious.

Brass Monkey et al.

2009-10-27T18:16:00.000-04:00

So off to the side there, you can see I got a stash of "phat l00t" this week. So here goes...

Here you see what arrived.

The smaller stuff.

All the stuff from Monday.

Here is the MonPoc unpacked, yes that is a Brass Monkey in the center. Those lads must be some kinda Beastie Boys fans. Actually it is officially, Mega King Kanda. And more importantly, I got me some fishmen, er Tritons.

Then THIS arrived on Tuesday. Nikon D90 with a Nikkor 18-105mm lens. There is a remote trigger somewhere around here too. I will have the most expensive poorly shot pictures of poorly painted minis in Dumfries, VA! So long CoolPix 4500, Hello D90.

You know you might have a problem...

2009-10-27T07:23:00.000-04:00

when you order $60 of mini's from the Warstore, get the wrong ones and are still happy as a clam. Honestly, they are Malifaux miniatures, so the things are hard to get as it is. Luckily, I couldnt't decide between Lilith and Victoria crews anyway. Getting Marcus and Miranda instead of Sonia Criid's box set wasn't a big deal either. If it really bothered me, I know Neal would have it swapped out in a heartbeat. Now if this afternoon, the UPS guy delivers a box without a Nikon D90 in it, I won't be so generous.

The M4A1 Shermans for Flames of War are whole new experience for me. I have never painted at 15mm before or to a real world color scheme. It is really forcing me to paint like an artist (like Ron does). I am more from the hyper-realism school like Mig Jimenez (the guy who has the killer FAQ book and the highly over priced, high quality weathering kits) (Note: I am not where near his quality, just his style). At 15mm, I have to learn to exaggerate contrast and not busy the model with too much clutter (er, detail) which shouldn't be visible at that scale. Washes and inks will be my friend for sure. Still working on how to apply that soft fade for the goofy shade of green I used. It is way brighter than OD green.. In fact, I used OD green from Vallejo on some of the molded on stowage and crew. I hope this gives the impression that military paint isn't always held tot eh most stringent consistency. Khaki chalk, pale green-yellow oil, heavily thinned tan acrylic? Decals are going on like a charm, softened right up. The setting solution is doing its thing while I am at work. Turns out out I forgot put the stowage accessory sprue on the tanks. Not a huge deal, but I also never put the appliqué armor plates on either. While not required, they do break up the smooth lines of the M4A1 nicely giving a nice place for chipping and weathering. Anyway, these things have been sitting basecoated on my desk for 8 months now and it is nice to finally be moving them along.

Tons of photos to follow tonight. More testing out Google Chrome on my work PC right now more than anything.

Weekly Goals

2009-10-24T17:47:00.005-04:00

I am finding these weekly goals kinda handy so here is a post that will contain all the goals and mid week up dates. If only blogspot let you create blank pages rather than link everything through posts. sigh.

5 FoW Sherman Tanks Completed 10/31/09
5 FoW M4A1 Sherman Tanks Mid-Week Update for 10/31/09 Goal
4 ForgeWorld Tanks Completed 10/24/2009
4 ForgeWorld Tanks Mid-Week Update for 10/24/2009 Goal

Goal of the Week for 10/24/2009

2009-10-24T17:41:00.000-04:00

So the goal was to finish principle building of 4 tanks. The Macharius has numerous little bits that go on after significant green stuff work is done, namely the exhaust pipes which rest on a bad join. The heavy stubber is too fragile to leave on the tank at this point and I like to paint my crew separately. The two Leman Russ tanks are done including the mine plow, minus the crews as previously mentioned. Those mine plows were a bear to install, and I discovered too late, FW sent me a mismatched set of smoke launchers, so I had to do a little conversion of a left doo dad to a right doo dad. So here they are built. Not sure when green stuff and detailing becomes goal of the week, but for now they go to the shelf.

Front view of the four all together

Death Korps Leman Russ with Trench Rails and Mine Plow

Macharius with Vulcan Mega-Bolter 3/4 view

Reviews

2009-10-22T18:59:00.000-04:00

So I am thinking to myself on the drive from work "I buy tons of stuff. I should review some of it." A key part of that is *I* buy a lot of stuff. People don't give me stuff, and I don't want them to. I have plenty of stuff. I buy stuff out of sheer curiosity all the time. (As an aside, often this my biggest how my biggest mistakes start, either by thinking or buying. Getting in the car with me is the passenger's mistake.)

I am not a reporter or journalist. I am not an exhaustive fact checker in my personal life. The English language is one of my weakest subjects. Writing a blog does not qualify me as an expert at anything. At best, I am just some random guy with way too much time on his hands; at worst, and a self righteous dilettante. Luckily, that is a fairly narrow and innocuous spectrum of possibilities.

So what possible credibility do I bring to a review? See the first paragraph. I chose to buy things wide variety of thing, and I do it out of curiosity. Am I absolutely impartial? No. I, however, do not receive goods or services from entities seeking a review. So often you read in a review the phrase "from the consumer's perspective...". Well, in this case the reviewer is the consumer. I neither buy things simply to review them, nor is my income premised on me reviewing them. This is all stuff I bought and will continue to buy anyway. (As of writing this, no one has read my blog yet anyway). In addition, I purchased something out of desire, need, curiosity and sadly on occasion boredom. This gives me a desire to actually use whatever it is (with the notable exception of things bought in a fit of boredom). I have a at least a modicum of vested interest determining exactly what bought, not simply the state of art, because it sitting is my basement taking up room that could hold other stuff I do not need.

Hope you enjoy. (Reviews to start this weekend)

My Workspace

2009-10-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

So this is where I do all my work. As things change and I get new tools, I'll update this.

Painting and modeling station

Yes that is 8 sq. ft. of my $4,500 1" slate, maple frame pool table. I routinely assure myself it wasn't a waste of money. I even believe it now. The power of positive thinking!

Paints

These are some of the lesser used paints. Oils, Water colors, Tamiya, GW Fountations and Washes, Windsor Newton Calligraphy Inks, Testors Enamels

Supply Bench

My father made this bench for me at my request. Now that he is gone, I don't think I have the heart mess it up. I did mount a vice on it, and I think he would be proud (just not of the clutter, or the fact I not using it for working).

Pegboard

Ya, I have a collecting problem.

Rarely used Paint

Interference Paints, Craft Paints, other paints Mediums and Super Glue with a brush.

Weekely Goal Update 10/24/2009 Goal

2009-10-20T20:35:00.001-04:00

So Wednesday nights are generally pretty busy as I am off imparting my knowledge and conviction to my congregation of munchkins. As such, my Mid week update comes a little before midweek since I know if i put it off, then well, it wont get done. Hmm, I see a theme running through my life there. So here is the mid week update:

10/20/2009

I started here on Saturday Night while sick.

By Monday Night I was here

Tuesday Night 8:34PM this where I called it a night

And these are pieces I still have left to do.

Unnecessary Side Projects

2009-10-20T18:59:00.002-04:00

So on top of a ton of minis and a new blog to maintain, I am always starting random side projects related to this hobby. I'll try and update this with pictures as progress allows. Yeah, right, progress from a blog with eternally unfinished in the title.

Currently under way:

Flagstone Bases for my Malifaux Guild crew.

From Blog Update photos

Warmachine Finished Models

2009-10-20T07:09:00.000-04:00

Warmachine Miniatures

I am actually pretty good about finishing model from Privateer Press. I guess something about starting a new game system allowed me to be more disciplined about completing those projects.

Cygnar: Somehow, I ended up with a Cygnar Battlebox and had it sit in the basement for years. One day I decided I need yet another painting project. After about a year, I actually finished the whole thing.

Cygnar Ironclad Heavy Warjack

I really liked how this guy turned out. He was the first model I finished, based and varnished in years.

Cygnar Charger Light Warjack

Cygnar Lancer Light Warjack

Coleman Striker, Cygnar Warcaster

This Coleman Striker model doesn't look like much zoomed in that close, but at arms length looks really nice. I would say he is better than the so called "Tabletop Quality", but I will agree the face is a little lacking. He was more an experiment playing with mud and pure white.

May the Force be with me...

2009-10-17T13:42:00.003-04:00

A long time ago, during an eBay bid I won Han Solo of Hoth. Today, when I checked my mail, it had finally arrived. Now I have completed The Force Unleashed set for Star Wars Miniatures. Now, I am short short a few minis from Alliance and Empire and a Jensaarai Defender from Jedi Academy and that is it. At last they are all collected. At last, we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi.

Why do this?

2009-10-17T10:31:00.000-04:00

So why create this whole thing? Well, I have tons of projects started and not completed. There are space marines simply lacking that final coat of varnish to poorly primed Glitterboy hiding in a box. There is more Forge World terrain here than most people have scratch built. Every week, more stuff just appears from the Intermatum, destined to hang on a hook in a blister pack.

I have been in the miniatures hobby since 1996, far earlier if you count painting my Axis and Allies and HeroQuest miniatures. To date, I have completely finished 7 Middenheimers with accompanying Hired Swords for Mordheim, 1 Warcaster and 3 Warjacks (the Cygnar Starter pack) and 1 hyena. Now, I should clarify by finished I am referring to everything is finalized: basing, varnishing, specialized display, you name it. The thing is done. It goes in a box or shelf to gloat to all the models "in progress". I use that term loosely, as I start a lot of models and never come back to them.

With the holiday season coming, I will be having a great deal of time off. So I figured why not create a log to document the insanity of my miniature habit. In addition, it will give me a reason to do more talking about models than actually working on them. It will give me something to record my commitment to finish some of these models.

So what will be posted here? Lists of the models I have, projects contemplated and started, techniques I pick up, and assorted other stuff. And, of course, random moody blog rants.