aku-chan wrote:
You did a great job with the lightsaber glow on those guys
Thx buddy. Lot of fun to do. Speaking of lightsabers...
A fine addition to my collection.
Shatterpoint minis really are a joy to paint.
I have to decide if I'm just entering Grievous or the whole gang.
So much fun with OSL and blending.
Might take some fresh contest photos as these look slightly over exposed in the old dakka super zoom.
Where would he be without his guards?
Freehand on the cloaks. Ugh.
Kraken, droid commander from the TV show.
Enjoyed the base And big chonky B2s. Will definitely need a better pic of them.
Definitely keen to hear your thoughts, as I say. I am leaning towards just Grievous and the guards, as they're the most interesting.
Also, scrolling back, I realise I also never posted my B1 droids. I'm just going to add them to this month's tally. Surprisingly fun, posable minis.
Roger Roger.
A very productive weekend, all in all.
Graven
Automatically Appended Next Post: Better pics:
General Grievous and Magnaguards.
Great painting Graven - I also did notice you tried for some OSL effects on the bases and minis. Way to go (and so much better than my sad sad efforts).
I do miss the active interactivity of past years here after disappearing for a bit. Haven't found a substitute for the DDakka P&M posse on Soc'Media though: may get more eyes on something but rarely any discussion, it's all too easy to click a "like" and keep scrolling.
Maybe we're just getting old and can't keep up with the yoof, or the world just keep getting faster and faster to distract the masses with more and more content that means nothing.
blockade23 wrote:Great painting Graven - I also did notice you tried for some OSL effects on the bases and minis. Way to go (and so much better than my sad sad efforts).
Thanks so much dude. Don't be so hard on yourself, also, I love the way your colours pop on your iyanden - and I'm certainly not brave enough to tackle tartan!
Dr H wrote:Good job on the warring of the stars figures.
I do miss the active interactivity of past years here after disappearing for a bit. Haven't found a substitute for the DDakka P&M posse on Soc'Media though: may get more eyes on something but rarely any discussion, it's all too easy to click a "like" and keep scrolling.
Maybe we're just getting old and can't keep up with the yoof, or the world just keep getting faster and faster to distract the masses with more and more content that means nothing.
I'm heading out to yell at a cloud.
Very true my friend. Internet ain't what is used to be.
Gitsplitta wrote:I love those graven. That's really great work!
You're too kind my friend.
Playing a lot of board games, lots of cards. It's really proving more satisfying and more time efficient, sadly. But still, I enjoy the hobby side enough to keep at it.
After all the Star wars, I decided to look for a bit of variety. Added a bit of colour to my old world alliance team but... damn they're anything but fun to paint.
So instead I decided to have a rummage and found some scatter:
A good excuse to play with weathering techniques.
These are Wizkids deep cuts Cannons and a Guildball Navigators goal.
I have a pile of Guildball minis, amongst others, that deserve a new lease of life. Assorted Fishermen and Navigators, newly repurposed. I don't really need more fishermen but they fit the Carnevale aesthetic and there's LOTS of other Guild folk I don't have. How fitting to repurpose Guildball into The Guild. And, it's a while since I've done any conversion work. So we shall see. I also have plenty of Star Wars to tackle though - the Luminara set, Padmé set, Spectre and Ewoks. Starting Rebellion era is a mistake, but it wasn't ever my intention - a mate was shifting the Luminara and Padmé sets and gave me the ewoks gratis. It's the circle of nerd life!
Camkierhi wrote:Star wars is all amazing. Really got the vibe of the series.
Cannons! They look fantastic.
Thanks man on all counts. More star wars to come. In the meantime... Behold! The great repurposing!
So now I have...
Whalers! No conversions required. Great sculpts both.
Butchers! These were originally fishing poles that have been cut and carved and gsd.
Poacher and Smuggler! The poacher has a bow (arm carved down) and quiver from a middle earth mini of the month, and a gs mask. The Smuggler has the addition of a gs blunderbuss, the core of which is the paddle that was on the now-poacher.
Animal Handler with Beasts! The official model is a dog handler with 3 dogs, but that hardly seems very nautical to me. An otter with a pirate hook? An oversized murderous gull?
However, there are some being left at fishermen... the two jumpy types I will sub as Barbers Guild in game, I think. Barbers are fast and light where Butchers are slow and strong. And the other one is staying as an extra Fisherman (/woman). I'm not just using Guildball minis, though.
A Mariner! Ditto. The details really sell them as a proper nautical type. I have a reaper pirate lass done as one also and they totally look the part together. The wench is from Reaper and she will make an excellent venetian Citizen or even a Harlot if need be.
I don't want my Rashaar to feel left out. The big fella is perfect as a Beast Handler.
And a bit of scatter.
I am very much in two minds about dakka. I'm not entirely sure I have the desire to post here any more.
On the one hand, it's a great as a receptacle. I have 9500+ images from 15 years of hobbying. Otoh, the community side of it really seems to have died down, which is a great shame. Partly it's the rise of social media, I suppose. Certainly, I think posting will be less frequent.
Hey ho
Graven
I love the cannon - I think I have the same farmer guild ball set from NOVA (I've used some parts for statues, others for scatter). Great job on the weathering.
I'm enjoying my return to Dakka as It helps keep my best stuff in one place. Plus I like seeing peoples feedback and not having to dig through comments on instagram stories.
I understand completely graven. Dakka certainly isn't what it used to be. I think technology has just moved on and this format isn't as relevant as it used to be. That being said... I've never found it's equal on FB, Discord or whatever.
It would be terrible to see you go, but you should follow your instincts if you have better options.
blockade23 wrote:I love the cannon - I think I have the same farmer guild ball set from NOVA (I've used some parts for statues, others for scatter). Great job on the weathering.
I'm enjoying my return to Dakka as It helps keep my best stuff in one place. Plus I like seeing peoples feedback and not having to dig through comments on instagram stories.
Thanks man. I don't disagree, and instagram is a nightmare to navigate back through.
aku-chan wrote:Nice job repurposing all that Guild Ball stuff!
It would be a shame to see you disappear from Dakka, but there's no denying that the place ain't what it used to be.
Yeah, maybe I just have to accept that
Gitsplitta wrote:I understand completely graven. Dakka certainly isn't what it used to be. I think technology has just moved on and this format isn't as relevant as it used to be. That being said... I've never found it's equal on FB, Discord or whatever.
It would be terrible to see you go, but you should follow your instincts if you have better options.
You're a loyal friend as always, old chum. I know what you mean about discord etc. We need a new social media platform of our own!
Llamahead wrote:Those Star Wars models are looking good I need to scrounge some for Stargrave and the random fantasy models for Carnevale are ecxcellent as well.
Thanks mate. I love your heretical thoughts
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:It's always good to see your steady progress, graven.
Thanks man. It's nice to hear from folk.
The most recent Moonstone kickstarter, The Shades (undead and puppets) didn't really do much for me... apart from the ks exclusive mermaid Sen'ara
I really enjoyed this, tried to lean into rainbow trout colours
I have a lot of Clone Wars eta to paint for SW but wanted a breather.
So, in the meantime, quite a few ewoks.
Chief chirpa. I have been accessorising with some 3rd Ed gw jungly bits.
Wicket! Although something weird has happened and added some blue pixels that aren't there irl.
Paploo. I added a spare stormtroopers backpack from IA to his base for variety.
Logray. GSW tufts and Stirland mud help complete the bases.
Skirmishers. That's a LOT of browns. The same stormtrooper kindly donated his helmet to one of the bases.
Warriors. Like the Skirmishers, you're supposed to build the two groups the same but... nope.
And a friend
I really enjoyed her, and the gw stump made a good spot for the hat.
Yub Nub! Eecheemawa!
A fun force, looking forward to getting them on the table with all their traps and tricks. That just leaves threepio and artoo from those sets, but I might tackle Spectre or some Jedi next...or given that I'm in a swampy mood, maybe more serpentmen.
Off to Tabletop Scotland this weekend, should be a lot of fun.
Lol so true. I mean where did they even get those clothes for Leia?!
blockade23 wrote:I'm afraid you must find tiny santa hats for a base of the Ewoks so they can represent the Star Wars Holiday special....
Nooooooooooooooo! hohono?
Had a great time at Tabletop Scotland this weekend. The focus was very much boardgames, though even then there was less for sale than I expected. Didn't get much, some well-priced star wars Legendaries to finish off my set 2 was all really. However, I played a lot of new board games, including the unexpectedly excellent Lego Monkey Palace (lego board games are notoriously crap). Mando Adventures was also good fun.
I also signed up for a painting session, but it wasn't quite what I thought, more beginner level BUT you got a free mini of your choice from a selection of dwarves from a new company, Bifröst. Logically, I should've picked the bagpiper for my Blood Bowl team but in the end I just loved this model: I have no specific for it whatsoever I'll maybe use it as an rpg character at some point. I'd also taken a couple of minis from the bits box so decided to speed paint all 3. Again I have no actual use for the steam punk lady but the mask makes her so very Carnevale. She'll also work as a brimstone hero. It was mostly fun just using a half dozen paints and what you could blend. Then, finished them off with Army Painter strong tone. The pickaxe pirate skeleton will go in amongst Shadows of Brimstone as a coffin breaker (nigh indestructible skeletons) with a less old west feel for otherworlds. Threw some grass on the dwarf's base and texture pait on the skelly when I got them home. Mostly, nice to paint things for no reason other than feeling like it.
On the horizon is a lot of Shatterpoint: the crew of The Ghost; Luminara, Barris and Clone Commandos; Padmé and her handmaidens; Threepio and Artoo; and Mace, Wolf and ARF troopers. And then, after that, maybe some Rebellion era stuff. That being said, I still have serpentmen galore to tackle, and some Carnevale too; it's good to take a break between settings, so i shall simply follow my muse Hey ho Graven
Alright Rebel scum? Spurred on by the sad passing of James Earl Jones, a bit more star wars. I mean, given his legendary performance as Thulsa Doom, I should really paint some serpentmen, particularly as I have loads to do, but still.
We're doomed! I genuinely never realised one of threepio's legs was silver till I started looking at reference pics for this.
Continuing the Clone saga, with some crispy commandos. Fun to do, which surprised me.
I have Jedi and Padmé 's gang prepped and ready to go, and then I REALLY need to get on with Spectre.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Procrastination? No, it is creative distraction. I'm working on this other productive thing instead of the productive thing I had planned to do.
Well said
Gitsplitta wrote:I absolutely love the way the Ewoks turned out graven. Stellar work!
You're way too kind, as always, but I'll take it Yes, yes, I should be starting Spectre. But we've got the commandos, so better have the Jedi, right?
Luminara Unduli. She looks rather more severe than I intended, but I'm still pleased with her. And the padawan...
Bariss Offee. Oh, that cape. That was nightmarish, doing the blue grey ocelot pattern.
But honestly, I'm pretty happy with the result. I also enjoyed doing unusual skin tones on both. I have actually started the crew of the Ghost, or at leats their custom bases I've been making, but nothing worth sharing...yet Graven
I am very much in two minds about dakka. I'm not entirely sure I have the desire to post here any more.
On the one hand, it's a great as a receptacle. I have 9500+ images from 15 years of hobbying. Otoh, the community side of it really seems to have died down, which is a great shame. Partly it's the rise of social media, I suppose. Certainly, I think posting will be less frequent.
Hey Graven! I have fond memories of the Great Gitsplitta Mantis Warriors thread from back in the day and you were a big part of that. Dakka formed a really big part of the hobby experience back then. I drifted away, but returned to the hobby during Covid (who didn't) and had a similar experience on here. I started a P&M blog for a Necron force, but I stalled after realising it was just me posting into the void. Post after post with no reples. Do you find that the forum experience isn't just about posting to have a progress log, but it's also very much about the replies, the community, the feedback?
I have fond memories of posters from back then; ArbitorIan, KidKyoto, SilverMK2, yourself and Gitz.. The list goes on but I see not so many are still on the forum. I personally don't want to start an insta, or create a YouTube channel for this side of my life. I prefer the more linear, intimate experience a forum gives me. I will subscribe to the thread, but I totally agree with your points. If I can help to inspire your continued posting, I will!
I, too, find myself posting less and less, mostly because I'm not getting any gaming in these days, which has led to a slowdown on the hobby side. I still check in and admire everyone's work, though.
I am enjoying all your Star Wars stuff-- C3PO and R2D2 are spot on-- even though I don't know anything outside of the movies.
Cap'n Facebeard wrote:I can't help but read Barista Coffee
Tek wrote:
Hey Graven! I have fond memories of the Great Gitsplitta Mantis Warriors thread from back in the day and you were a big part of that. Dakka formed a really big part of the hobby experience back then. I drifted away, but returned to the hobby during Covid (who didn't) and had a similar experience on here. I started a P&M blog for a Necron force, but I stalled after realising it was just me posting into the void. Post after post with no reples. Do you find that the forum experience isn't just about posting to have a progress log, but it's also very much about the replies, the community, the feedback?
I have fond memories of posters from back then; ArbitorIan, KidKyoto, SilverMK2, yourself and Gitz.. The list goes on but I see not so many are still on the forum. I personally don't want to start an insta, or create a YouTube channel for this side of my life. I prefer the more linear, intimate experience a forum gives me. I will subscribe to the thread, but I totally agree with your points. If I can help to inspire your continued posting, I will!
I agree absolutely about the need for feedback from the community, and it's about a lot more than self-congratulation and affirmation: whereas comments on social media tend to be, by their very nature, brief, they also seem to only operate at the extremes. Nuanced discussion and genuine, constructive feedback are rare. Granted that that's a problem, to an extent, of the Internet generally - to quote another old timer, MeanGreenStompa, Anonymity Breeds Aggression - but it's a shame that even dakka these days is quite quiet and abbreviated. And I freely admit that I'm as guilty of this as any.
Still, a pleasure to hear from you, and thanks for swinging by!
JoshInJapan wrote:I, too, find myself posting less and less, mostly because I'm not getting any gaming in these days, which has led to a slowdown on the hobby side. I still check in and admire everyone's work, though.
I am enjoying all your Star Wars stuff-- C3PO and R2D2 are spot on-- even though I don't know anything outside of the movies.
My hobbying, at least in play terms, is mostly cards and boardgames, though I dread what's going to happen even I that when eldest goes off to university this time next year Glad you approve of my droids! After Rebels, next is Mace, probably, so you'll get your movie fix. Then back to imperials, probably, but I might tackle the New Hope Detention Block escape set.
aku-chan wrote:Nice work again on the Star Wars stuff!
Thanks! It pleases me to see how popular it is
Now at the start of the summer I foolishly joined the dakka Centrepiece challenge in the hope that it would motivate me to tackle the Wakanda terrain... it did not somehow, they're just not fun. But it's also because I have totally fallen out of love with MCP.
Actually that's not fair. I've NEVER loved the game, just the minis. However, one of my mates, the YouTuber Northern Invasion Stu (check him out, he's awesome, for MCP and AoS) REALLY hates painting terrain, so I'm doing them for him... which pays for more star wars. so, first of all, the Battle for the Throne:
Now, yes, it's noticeably missing Black Panther and Killmonger - that's because he wants to paint them himself. Fair enough.
Next?
The Kingdom of Wakanda Terrain, starting with the lampposts. Nice enough I guess. Certainly have an afro futurist vibe.
The ancestral tree. Terrible instructions, and a pain to build. But it's certainly a tree.
And the Vibranium transporter. This is a REALLY good kit, with hinged doors and removable vibranium canisters.
This is a scenario piece too, where you can undertake a vibranium heist. I like that (finally) at least some of the terrain has in-game effects.
As for the other wakanda set...
The icons of Bast. Who doesn't like really big cats, after all?
And fonts of Bast. I managed to forget to install the basins so had to do a bit of fiddling to get them to fit, but got there in the end.
And the whole batch. The new owner's son is just getting into mcp, too, and he's working on Wakanda as a faction, so he'll be getting that lot for xmas. A good home indeed!
Right, enough procrastinating, better get on with some star wars Graven
Gitsplitta wrote:You should be happy with those Jedi... they look seriously good.
Generous as always.
A wip update. How improbable.
I am making steady progress on Spectre but the sheer quantity of freehand is really intimidating.
All of zeb's stripes, and the various pad details on sabine, are all freehand. I mean I suppose it's a good challenge? I hate checks, especially that tiny. But objectively, I'm having to raise my game, I suppose.
These will be for this month's dakka contest, Absolute Unit. However, these are where most of the work will be, so it may end up being just the two of them.
Thoughts?
Graven
inmygravenimage wrote:
I agree absolutely about the need for feedback from the community, and it's about a lot more than self-congratulation and affirmation: whereas comments on social media tend to be, by their very nature, brief, they also seem to only operate at the extremes. Nuanced discussion and genuine, constructive feedback are rare. Granted that that's a problem, to an extent, of the Internet generally - to quote another old timer, MeanGreenStompa, Anonymity Breeds Aggression - but it's a shame that even dakka these days is quite quiet and abbreviated. And I freely admit that I'm as guilty of this as any.
Still, a pleasure to hear from you, and thanks for swinging by!
Agreed on all points. I hope that we see a small rennaisance for long-form internet. Short replies and heart emojis don't quite cut it. A least for now, I'm back on the forum and let's hope it continues.
inmygravenimage wrote:Why not both thanks lol yeah it's traumatic, but... kinda in a good way?!
Tek wrote:
Agreed on all points. I hope that we see a small renaissance for long-form internet. Short replies and heart emojis don't quite cut it. A least for now, I'm back on the forum and let's hope it continues.
Can't wait to see how she comes out!
Well, not a huge wait to see her:
This was extremely challenging, especially the shoulders and chest piece.
I do enjoy an explosion, however.
Zeb likewise has masses of freehand - the stripes, the shoulder deco, etc.
But I do think of all of them he's the most show-accurate. Added a medge hatch to his base for the sake of it.
Hera is also a great sculpt for such a simple pose. Freehand on her laiku (head things) was tedious.
I decided I need a bit more base variation, so added a random interesting bit of plastic from the bits box and decided to add floor lights rather than do the slots as a grill or drain as usual. So there's also a bit of uplighting and OSL from the red lights also.
Chopper is a great sculpt also. I decided to do the base wreckage as an imperial R5 droid, as befits everyone's favourite war criminal.
I am not particularly keen on the Kanan sculpt, so opted to go full on with the osl instead.
I also added a Deadzone strut and a wee tag to mix things up.
Finally, my least favourite sculpt: Ezra. His face is particularly off putting with its... wry (I think?) smile.
So lots of osl, again, and added a medge occulus that's a perfect Lothal tunnel hatch.
Still, Spectre done! All aboard The Ghost!
Have to decide which to enter for the contest. Probably the classic 5, or maybe the 4 non-jedi? Thoughts?
However, that's not all!
We Are Brave: Padmé and her handmaidens.
Blending on the Handmaidens was haaaaaard.
Sabé, Padmé's bodyguard/ body double.
And Queen Amidala herself. Surprisingly enjoyable to do.
I never normally mount models on identical bases, especially within a unit, but it amused me to do just that for Padmé and Sabe.
So that's it for Star Wars for a bit. True, I have Mace, Wolf and the ARFs primed, but once they're done I'll change tack; it's a good idea to have a bit of variety. November marks the elder spawns 17th birthday and he wants a big critter, the Monstrous Stryx, for his Carnevale Strigoi (vampires), so that will require some secret painting. Still, it's good for the October dakka contest. I also have the Mask makers set for Carnevale that I bought as a birthday gift for myself to do, so they may make an october appearance. But by way of pallet cleanser, I think it's time for some speedy serpentmen.
Thanks for the continued support,
Graven
I actually like the "severity" on Unduli, and really like the clean white of the Clones; about posting and blogging, tbh I recently got back to the painting hobby, and thought of opening/reopening a WIP blog ( I had a P&M in Heresy Online and a Blogger just as a personal hobby journal and reference), as this way one can have a progress archive, and is nice to see the steps and recipes one used for x or y project; but I didnt expect any modern website to hold WIP project, or forums at all. I was pleasantly surprised to find out Dakka still has it, but as much as I think is an optimal medium to post projects and discuss the hobby, unfortunately is not a thing that modern Internet uses any more. Oh well, as long as the platform is here we can use it.
Now if youll excuse me, I need to go yell to some clouds
endtransmission wrote:Excellent work on all those, especially the Rebels crew... I do love Chopper! I can almost hear him screaming as he takes off like that
yes, he's a psycho alright
JoshInJapan wrote:I love all that Wakanda terrain, especially the transport. Your sky-earth work on MCU vehicles inspired me to try it on my mech last month.
The Star Wars dudes look good-- I admire your fortitude on all that freehand. And the explosion does look great!
Well that's very kind of you to say, on all counts - and your mech was superb. The transport was the highlight for me too. I can definitely see uses for it outside of MCP, might try to track another down.
aku-chan wrote:Nice work on the Rebels crew! I was tempted to get the sets myself but I knew I'd never get them looking right.
Thanks dude! I would honestly say give it a go. For all that I moan about it, it was a good challenge.
The_Retromancer wrote:I actually like the "severity" on Unduli, and really like the clean white of the Clones; about posting and blogging, tbh I recently got back to the painting hobby, and thought of opening/reopening a WIP blog ( I had a P&M in Heresy Online and a Blogger just as a personal hobby journal and reference), as this way one can have a progress archive, and is nice to see the steps and recipes one used for x or y project; but I didnt expect any modern website to hold WIP project, or forums at all. I was pleasantly surprised to find out Dakka still has it, but as much as I think is an optimal medium to post projects and discuss the hobby, unfortunately is not a thing that modern Internet uses any more. Oh well, as long as the platform is here we can use it.
Now if youll excuse me, I need to go yell to some clouds
Thanks for kind words and 90s Simpsons references I am increasingly thinking of dakka as a security blanket of sorts. And even today I found it useful, and fairly easy, to go back and find a particular shade of primer I mentioned using in late spring.
Slinky wrote:Catching on on a couple of months worth.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
And so on
Jolly kind of you to say so, sir.
So, I ended up getting on with Mace Windu and his Clone gang after all. He's a Lovely sculpt, really superb face.
I slightly re-angled the head.
Commander Ponds. The fact that NONE of his markings are sculpted on is nightmarish. All the red is freehand with no indication other than sitting with Black Series toy images for reference. Still, happy with the result. Tiny tiny aurabesh. Some guys have all the luck And, ARF troopers. Very fast, light, nasty little blighters. But would it have killed them to include the helmet markings? Sigh.
Next? Well now. The many Serpentfolk of the pile of Brimstone continue to glare at me, the giant bat monster for Carnevale is still unbuilt, and I have the next wave of Shatterpoint - Thrawn & the ISB, Inferno Squad, Death Star Rescue and the Maintenance Bay Terrain - all buzzing about.
So I'll probably doing something else entirely
September has been remarkably, and indeed atypically, productive, but that's the advent of not working Fridays I suppose. I'm at 319 for the year, which is a nice, steady pace overall, and I certainly have enough to get me to 365 by year end... but if I don't, I don't. It's not a competition Incidentally... this is post number 15,000 for me here. Blimey.
Yooo, Sabine looks fire! And Zeb looks even better. I love the Queen Amidala aesthetic and that model might be my favourite I've seen so far. Absolutely loving this stuff, mate.
I love the way you did the explosion one or two updates back. Absolutely smashing. How did you start to paint that? Fire colors out to dark? or vice versa? You also hit it out of the park on the handmaidens. No way I would come anywhere as close to making those reds and yellows blend as nice as you!
Tek wrote:Yooo, Sabine looks fire! And Zeb looks even better. I love the Queen Amidala aesthetic and that model might be my favourite I've seen so far. Absolutely loving this stuff, mate.
Cheers brother. I agree the Amidala sculpt is boss. I doubt I'll play her in game and I'd really like an episode 2 version but the model was great to do.
blockade23 wrote:I love the way you did the explosion one or two updates back. Absolutely smashing. How did you start to paint that? Fire colors out to dark? or vice versa? You also hit it out of the park on the handmaidens. No way I would come anywhere as close to making those reds and yellows blend as nice as you!
Thanks man! Started pure white, vj golden yellow, vj flame orange, vj gore red, drybrush black. The handmaids incidentally were almost exactly the same process.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I always love your updates, graven. You always have so much to show. Can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.
You're so very kind mate.
It's likely to be these for the Hallowe'en edition:
The Mascareri, mystical mask makers of Venice. Each can imbue the powers of a faction into a mask for the wearer for one night. How very seasonal I do have a massive vampire beastie also but it's still in bits and I'd need to do it in secret as it's a surprise for my eldest's birthday.
Tommygun1918 wrote:That's a nice set of miniatures. Are they for that Carnevale game?
Indeed they are! I am a big fan of the minis and the game and have... way too much for it, but these were a birthday treat to myself.
Camkierhi wrote:Blown away by your latest work bud, so good!
Many thanks old chum.
So, I managed to get this giant beast, the Monstrous Stryx for Carnevale, primed:
This can only be worked on in secret as it's for my eldest's birthday. So I might manage to get it done for the monthly contest, though the mask makers are there too.
Assembled, with 32mm mini (and full size banana) for scale
And gap filled
Monstrous Stryx required a monstrous amount of green stuff gap filling. I mean the pieces are reasonably well cast, but 2 hrs filling gaps and sculpting fur was not on my agenda today. I mean, it's not like this is forge world. So no further painting progress, alas.
In other news, I've also primed up the next lot of Shatterpoint: Thrawn, Iden Versio, Episode IV rescue and maintenance bay. Plus, I have a Cunning Plan ! I have swapped my built, painted Weapon X facility with a mate for his... unbuilt, unpainted one. Why, you may ask? To make an Endor bunker I must be mad... Graven
That's an amazing model graven. Make sure you have fun with it. I've painted many a birthday/Christmas gift for my boys in the past... it's well worth the time and trouble.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I love the scale-banana. That stryx is bananas-big.
A whole bunch of bananas. Maybe I'll sculpt one for the base
aku-chan wrote:That's a big ol' bat beasty!
Isn't it just?
endtransmission wrote:Wow he's nice, might have to grab one for my flesheaters at some point!
Well hello there old chum! Yes, there's some great minis there for flesheaters in the strigoi range.
The_Retromancer wrote:Loking forward for that big bat painted!
It's going to have to be sneaky. The filled sections are now primed, and I'll start to add layers of brown to the fur next.
Slinky wrote:Oooh, that's very nice!
Thanks mate. Yeah, it's a great looking piece, just hope I can do it justice.
Gitsplitta wrote:That's an amazing model graven. Make sure you have fun with it. I've painted many a birthday/Christmas gift for my boys in the past... it's well worth the time and trouble.
Well, as part of my cover story, I've been working on this "beast": The Maintenance Bay Terrain set for Shatterpoint. The tag says REBEL in Aurabesh - I wanted to keep it grubby but subtle enough not to be too era specific. Glorious kit, the perfect mix of heights and blocked LOS. It's designed to dominate the middle of the table and generally be interactive with objectives. Unusually, for me at least, I painted it almost entirely on sprue pre assembly. On the subject of tags, this is a "K" in Outer Rim basic/Huttese, which is the symbol of the Nikto K gang, who exist from the Clone era right through to the New Republic. It's a substantial piece. Lots of interesting cover options, which I approve of. Plenty of room for epic battles, too. Unfortunately, by my self-imposed rules that's still only one model painted. However, the set also comes with a Wamp Rat sitting on a rock! Could you bullseye that in a T-16? I don't know, but by my rules, a piece of scatter terrain is still a painted model (hey don't ask me, I don't make the rules... um...) so, on balance, that seems fair The spawn is off on a field trip the next few days, and it's our October holiday - so, time to break out the Beast! Cya Graven
Slinky wrote:That's a great piece of terrain. Wamp rat looks challenging, but might be able to bullseye on a good day
Don't get cocky kid
Ok, the big beast is done! The Monstrous Stryx! I added a gondolier oar I made from some sprue to the base for a bit of variety I spent a lot of time on the fur, especially having had to sculpt so much QUITE a lot of OSL And a banana (and a bottle) for scale!
And to cover my tracks, I bashed out some Carnivorous Plants... And Winged Serpents. These are for Valley of the Serpent Kings for Shadows of Brimstone Adventures. There's also 6 archers and 3 giant temple guard in WIP, plus the Conquistador "heroes" and allies themselves (and 4 Vikings heroes still to do from Gates of Valhalla). So them next, or maybe more Star Wars. Got some baddies to do, and I can't say no to the power of the dark side... 31 models left to go this year to hit 365. Not bad Graven
Good job on the OSL on the big bat, that really helps the big model to pop! And I love the SW terrain. I'd love to see a table decked out with that kind of scenery.
endtransmission wrote:Oooh the glow on that well is nice!
You could even say... well nice I'll see myself out.
aku-chan wrote:Nice job on the big bat!
Riddle me this, Riddle me that, who's afraid of the big bad bat?!
Tek wrote:Good job on the OSL on the big bat, that really helps the big model to pop! And I love the SW terrain. I'd love to see a table decked out with that kind of scenery.
Thanks, I wanted it to have a bit more variation in the palette and this seemed logical. A big SW table will follow soon!
I've been taking a break of sorts, just playing dead ccgs, revisting 7th Sea just now.
I have, however, been building new Star Wars:
This is Some Rescue! The episode iv Rebel set. Han has a custom base.
And, inferno squad, which got me making more custom bases.
And some paint! Serpentmen archers.
And Temple Guard. Progress, of a sort. I've hit a bit of a wall with the various lizardfolk tbh. But I'm not stressing. I've also got some Vikings to do for next month's dakka contest, Ancients.
We shall see...
Graven
Noodling about:
More building than painting tbh. I got hold of a second Weapon X bunker, because I think it'll be a great imperial bunker for Shatterpoint. I want it to feel a bit more starwars so I've removed rivets, visible hinges etc. I'm not sure about the antenna tower, the 3 pronged antenna feels very SW but not the rest. I've used the transmitter pieces as greebling / handholds on the side - any other suggestions? The other thing would be to not use the trees and make it rockier so it fits the rest of my terrain and not just be a glorified ewok display base
Only other thing I can think of would be to put some grating into the holes the Marvel figures stand in so they look like vents? Other than that it's looking pretty star wars to me, nicely tweaked
endtransmission wrote:Only other thing I can think of would be to put some grating into the holes the Marvel figures stand in so they look like vents? Other than that it's looking pretty star wars to me, nicely tweaked
Ah! Yeah actually the grates just weren't in yet, I had to remove the STAND CLEAR lettering (which I've redone in Aurabesh ) on one and gap fill the other. I've also added a MEdge flooring section over the threshold as it as has imperial vibes.
Having dithered about, I decided to make it endor-adjacent.
Some detailing.
Although the big log was part of the original plan, removing that gives much more playable surface and versatility.
As you can see by all the ewoks!
But hopefully the Bad Batch also shows it doesn't necessarily have to limited to one small inconsequential 4th moon.
So a fun little diversion. And, at last, some progress on the Vikings:
Very enjoyable models to be giving a bit of attention to at last!
Feeling a bit low atm generally. November is the hell month in teaching and RL is also always mega expensive too between elder spawns birthday and the run up to xmas. However there is a new gaming pop up night at a local pub on a Tuesday, so went along yesterday for the new star wars tcg prerelease and that was lots of fun - did rather badly, but had fun. I have a box of boosters coming Friday, which I'm looking forward to, broadly. I enjoy the game, but not fanatically so.
I'm hoping this month will be more productive than last for painting. But, I'm still on track for 365 overall, and even then if I don't, not a big deal.
Hey ho
Graven
Gitsplitta wrote:Pardon my ignorance... I don't see how the rocks fit in with the structure. Is it supposed to be buried in a hill or something?
Well, in theory. The original (as in Weapon X facility) is built into a mountainside. I plan to use it at the edge of the board. I might also invest in the "Take Cover" scatter terrain set for Shatterpoint as that includes rock formations, which I'd paint the same. It also has a swoop bike and gonk droid! gonk, gonk...
Kid_Kyoto wrote:Great job on it, I'd swear it was a Star Wars model
You're very kind old chum!
Another update. These were actually nearly finished, just needed odds and ends done.
Serpentmen Archers for Shadows of Brimstone- valley of the Serpent Kings.
And, Temple Guard. Really need to get a better photo setup.
Progress has been made on Vikings Heroes also. Hopefully finish over the weekend Graven
To the gates of Valhalla!
Viking Heroes for Shadows of Brimstone Adventures: Gates of Valhalla.
Tried to improve lighting, and worked on faces, plus combining NMM and TMM techniques.
Jarl, mighty leader
Raider, veteran Warrior
Berserker, enraged champion
Huscarl, loyal supporter.
NGL, I never thought I'd love these as much as I do, but ultimately I'm really pleased.
Gonk! Gonk! Who doesn't love a Gonk droid?! Got to wait a bit though, lot of characters to get through before then.
Gitsplitta wrote:Love those Vikings!
Many thanks my dude
Cap'n Facebeard wrote:Looking good, especially like the berserker
Cheers, I did wonder whether he needed bloodied axes but think he works as is.
JoshInJapan wrote:The barbarians are lovely (is that an appropriate descriptor for barbarians?), but I think I like the snakemen even more.
Well, there's a reason for that - snakes are cool
Got a massive Shatterpoint supply drop / review pile the other day, a mix of new releases (Mandalorians, Lando, Bounty Hunters and Crosshairs) and classics (Vader, RotJ Luke, Plo Koon, and Din Djarin). Not popular with the wife
So...
Better get on with the backlog! First up, my new Imperial Force from the various novels, starting with Thrawn and the ISB.
As a rule I don't like playing the Empire, it sits slightly uncomfortably with me, but I'll get over it.
The Grand Admiral himself. I wanted to give him a custom base, but keep it subtle, hence decking.
Agent Kallus. I had to have the old mutton chops, and the compact version of his weapon - though in retrospect having it extended and glowy might have given more contrast. Still, very happy and love the custom base I made which is specifically designed to reference the Rebels episode where Kanan first draws his Lightsaber. Yes, I am a nerd, leave me alone. Kallus may not actually make the final list, as he's great in Spectre, and there are a lot of tempting Bounty Hunter secondaries.
ISB agents. Should I have gone helmetless? Well, they're goons, so I went with helmets.
And for squad 2? Inferno Squad!
I love Iden Versio and the gang, and their whole story arc. I also really enjoy playing them in Star Wars unlimited tcg.
I decided they deserve bases to show them sneaking about, especially Iden herself. However, talk about 50 shades of grey! Del Meeko. I have slightly gone away from canon with the brown pouches. He's a demon in game.
Gideon Hask. I actually made the Aurabesh signs for my Maintenance Bay but ended up not using them.
And the troopers in their pressure suits. So much black.
Fluff wise, I could easily justify using Bossk or Dengar with these teams as they both have history with Inferno Squad. Dengar is mechanically interesting as he can be given any keyword which is extremely potent but Bossk is a killing machine; the rest are all fairly sneaky so it might be good to have a meat grinder.
But to restore the balance to the force... This is Some Rescue!
I decided to try and go full detention block with the bases so added some extra greebling to Han and Chewie.
Chewie was fun, and I love the Mouse droid that seems to be enraging him.
Leia's sculpt is great. I'm not completely sold on her in game, though she does seem to be getting a bit of traction. She's definitely better than the Endor version.
Luke is almost a bit too heroic. Reminds me of the overly buff Kenner toys of old.
Han was really enjoyable, and the sculpt is a lot of fun. It was quite interesting doing deliberately different Whites for the Stormtrooper Armour compared to Leia's dress (and, indeed, Thrawn's uniform).
So, a productive few days that takes my tally to 361 so far this year.
Currently on the desk are the 4 Conquistador heroes and 3 Spanish pikemen for Brimstone. I think I now have a plan for them, so that's next in theory. Then, I have the 6 Mascareri for Carnevale, though I may get distracted by the top of the Shatterpoint stack, which is the Bounty Hunters and TV Mandalorians. Too cold to prime though (-4 C! dreadful), so we'll see. I often get stuck in to the unfinished pile at this time of year. I've even built a new display shelf in the study, though I'm going to need another one very soon with all the Shatterpoint. You can tell I hate November, that's why it's always a busy month on the table 😄
Graven
Tommygun1918 wrote:Minis came out great. It makes me want to start a Shatterpoint or legion army, but I'd never get it done.
Why thank you what is great about Shatterpoint is that, as a skirmish game, you only need 8 models per side. Now fair enough you might then fall down the rabbit hole, but that's just the hobby generally
muette wrote:Man, that's a lot painted.And very high quality.
most kind!
Gitsplitta wrote:Really nice work on the Shatterpoint. Very realistic painting... excellent.
Cheers chum! I decided to try to go that way as they're part of the more grungy, lived-in era.
Meanwhile, a change of pace in many ways, with the heroes and allies for Shadow of Brimstone Adventures - Valley of the Serpent Kings.
I don't often use metals any more, but I wanted to turn these guys over relatively quickly and, actually it was quite fun to do in the end.
Explorer, El Capitan, Duelist and Soldier
And, Footmen. Pretty quick and dirty paintjobs, but fine for a quick adventure. I mean they're nice sculpts and all, though I prefer the Vikings. I love Jargono (the serpentmen swamp) as an otherworld though, and set a large chunk of our lockdown campaign there, so it'll be fun to revisit it with a different group, historical issues aside. It's actual a general issue with SoB in that it is all through a very white, western lens, albeit less gendered. But it's fantasy, ultimately, and could afford to be more flexible I think with its historical interpretations. Still, tips me over the 365 line.
I currently have 6 unpainted, primed models (all Carnevale), and 33 unbuilt (Shatterpoint), so that's encouraging. Try to trundle through them before the year is out. What an earth will I do with myself then?!
Graven
Great job on those Conquistadors!
And more Star Wars, can't have been fun having to paint almost everything black or white, but they came out really good.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Oh no! You'll just have to acquire, assemble, prime, and paint MORE lovely minis. My heart goes out to you. lol
Fair lol I mean Shatterpoint is going to keep distracting me for now. I am usually tempted by TT Combat's Black Friday White Box terrain bundles every year, but this year doesn't really inspire me. I have picked up a set of double sided neoprene river tiles on the cheap (cobblestone roads on the reverse) from Monster Scenery - they make great stuff but it's exorbitant usually.
blockade23 wrote:Terrain and Vikings and Star Wars oh my!
That fairly accurately sums up the last year, actually
Gitsplitta wrote:Nice work on the conquistadores!
Gracias Amigo!
aku-chan wrote:Great job on those Conquistadors!
And more Star Wars, can't have been fun having to paint almost everything black or white, but they came out really good.
You're most kind! Funny you should mention that...
Fear and Dead Men
Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. I appreciate the osl won't be to everyone's taste but I reckon go big or go home.
I really enjoyed this. I actually don't particularly like the Episode V style pose, but the Kenobi version is like gold dust, so here we are. I did everything except the reds with washes; there's actually no black at all on the model (well except the base rim) - just greys, whites and blue, purple and brown washes.
And accompanying troopers. Again, much like clones, only arbitrary details are molded on the helmets. Weirdly, the sergeant has the detailing on the back whilst the troopers do not. Inexplicable.
I have Crosshairs (S2 Bad Batch version) and the elite troopers primed also, though I want to sculpt up fire for the flame trooper. Next to prime and paint are Plo Koon, Snips and Wolfe (that freehand will break me!) and the Episode V bounty hunters. After that... Mandalorians, I think. That will leave the 2 versions of Lando, Cloud City (with Lobot and troopers) and RotJ with Luke, Boushh / Leia and R2. Lando is my favourite SW character so I want to do him justice. Oh, and there's Carnevale to paint still, too, but again, I need to be in the right mood.
Now here's an interesting thing. Next year, I am NOT aiming for 365 particular. Does this mean I'm concentrating on quality over quantity? Maybe. But I am consciously going to try to get less minis. I still have lots of boardgame figs, and whilst they might not be the best necessarily, it's still something to paint. I am going to invest in more Vallejo paints and brushes, and I have some ideas of things I might want to tackle, but I am also aware that I have a whole lot of stuff. It is the perennial problem of our hobby I suppose.
Anyway, November is nearly done. Happy Treachery Day colonials, and cy'all in December!
Graven
JoshInJapan wrote:That is some pretty aggressive OSL, but it works. Kudos for not using black, but still achieving black.
Thanks man, I wasn't sure if I'd gone too far but I'm really pleased with the comments I've had from all over
Right, indecision time! What to paint in December?
I have still not got anywhere with the Mascareri:
Well, I put some skin on. Either I'll submit the 3 without any skin or, if our lord and master okays, the best 5 of the 6.
However... I also have a LOT of Shatterpoint to paint:
I sort of have to paint Plo Koon and Boba Fett, as they (along with Vader) won my insta poll. And if I paint Boba, I have to do Dengar, as he's my son's favourite (his online handle is brickbuiltdengar )
Any other requests? Can I get through the pile of shame? we shall see...
aku-chan wrote:Vader looks good all lit up like that!
Thanks kindly! Talking of OSL, I decided to sculpt up some fire for my Elite Flametrooper Clone, which comes as part of the Good Soldiers Follow Orders pack for Shatterpoint:
Here's the dude himself
Very pleased with my sculpted flame. It's a paper clip in a __) shape mounted in the barrel, gs'd over.
I might even submit him/them for this month's dakka contest.
And the rest:
Crosshairs, from Bad Batch S2. Only black on the model is Nato Black (which is actually just dark grey) on the cloth, everything else is greys and nightshade wash.
And the elite team. Need a better pic if entering them, but I'm tempted just to do the flametrooper and let him do his thing.
Oh, and made a couple of bits of scatter from the remnants of the Weapon X Bunker:
So, a good start to December! Next, well, I got the MOTU Battelground Castle Greyskull Dice Tower from a mate for Xmas - I don't play the game, but it's a brilliant thing lol, so I'll do that. Then... Bounty Hunters, Plo Koon (and maybe the wolfpack, but that's a LOT of freehand) and maybe Carnevale Mask Makers, which are plodding on in the background.
Hey ho
Graven
Thanks my dude I am rather proud of him. I was particularly delighted when my lesser spawn showed him off to one his mates clearly, I have arrived.
Camkierhi wrote:Superb work. Beautiful detail . Like Darth Vader.
Cheers buddy. Appreciate that.
Hello chums. It's been fairly quiet on the painting front, as I've been mostly building the next wave of stuff: bounty Hunters, plo Koon, Ahsoka and the Wolf Pack, and RotJ Han, Chewie and commandos.
Unbuilt at present are all the tv Mandalorians and RotJ Luke etc. So, getting there.
Plus, a bunch of scenery to do: I won a Zatu voucher, so indulged in the Shatterpoint scenery set I've had my eye on for a while, plus my geeky secret santa got me a sunken brig for Carnevale. I didn't want the building that's also in the Shatterpoint core set to look identical, so I got to work:
First, removed the light fitting.
Then, added new door, vents, sign, hatches and a different light.
And minor changes to the walls
I want it to feel as if it's consistent without being the same, and I also want it to feel a bit seedy and grubbier.
Gotta love the MEdge sprue On we go!
Graven
Cheers mate. Not doing anything at innovative as you, but enjoying noodling about.
Paint on!
A good festive frenzy was had. The wife and I don't really do anything for each other for Xmas - geeky stuff is pretty hard to get me anyway - but my kids got me a cuddly Oddish (too cute!), my parents came up trumps with the Vallejo model color set and my sister in law got me Devir's The White Castle, which is by far my most wanted wishlist game. Traded a bunch of cards with mates for classic ccgs, too (highlander and 7th sea), so rather pleased. Cooked a lot of food, drank a lot of drink, etc.
In the meantime... by the power of greyskull!
Castle Greyskull dice tower. Fun to do, bit gappy, but easy enough to fix.
Automatically Appended Next Post: With a bit of luck, I hope to have the Take Cover terrain set finished to round out the year...
Graven
The castle Greyskull dice tower is excellent - needs some vines and a lightning bolt background perhaps. As usual, the star wars stuff looks excellent. As far as the OSL on vadar goes - OSL is hard to pull off really well. I think I've only achieved it a few times (generally when I can borrow an airbrush and someone who knows how to use it) but I think it looks good on Vadar. It's not overwhelming and sells the look.
blockade23 wrote:The castle Greyskull dice tower is excellent - needs some vines and a lightning bolt background perhaps. As usual, the star wars stuff looks excellent. As far as the OSL on vadar goes - OSL is hard to pull off really well. I think I've only achieved it a few times (generally when I can borrow an airbrush and someone who knows how to use it) but I think it looks good on Vadar. It's not overwhelming and sells the look.
I did consider some vines actually, particularly as part of the gap filling, but instead just added the grass tufts. Thanks for kind comments about Vader! It's a tricky balance to pull off.
muette wrote:That tower dice looks like fun, good paint job on it!
Cheers, and welcome!
To round out the year, finished up the terrain that I treated myself to:
Trying for a badlands/ Ferrix (Andor) vibe.
The building was modified with medge bits
Definitely a legitimate business. Oh my yes. No droid port, their kind isn't welcome here.
The sign is... maybe Deadzone? Definitely not advertising availability of individuals and their wares.
I love that the scatter can be mounted on the roof securely.
Although quite why you would mount this on the roof is beyond me.
Swoop bike and gonk droid. Had to mount him on a base because reasons
Gonky!
And rock formations.
Had an excellent game of Carnevale with the elder spawn yesterday. We decided to break out the giant monsters and see what would happen.
Sadly, my Morgraur (lizard thing) proved absolutely devastating, and whilst the Stryx (bat thing) did cause my leader bother the Morgraur was pretty unstoppable, even in the face of a lot of blood magic (though, bless, the tiny little crossbow wielding thrall came VERY close to finishing it off) when its handler chucked the gypsy crone into the water to be swallowed whole. Fun, if somewhat unbalanced. Then again, the Strigoi (vampire/gypsy faction) are generally a bit underpowered. The rashaar (mythos monsters) aren't necessarily the most powerful but there's a reason the Morgraur is the most expensive model in the game. All looks quite pretty too, though.
2024 was a good year, on balance. I've painted 388 models, slightly down on last year, but I would say generally of better quality. Very broad hobby goals for 2025 include better model photography, finish the sunken brig and perhaps other nautical scatter, more star wars from the classic trilogy and Mando eras, and more board game components (which was actually a 2024 goal but still) such as the ships from Firefly. I have an unfinished old world alliance blood bowl team that needs attention as my lesser spawn wants to try them out, and there will be other gw bits that I've randomly acquired from the combat patrol magazine, too.
Thanks for sticking with me, and see y'all on the other side!
Graven
388 is absolutely spectacular - that's more than one per day, which is awesome! Way better than me unless I count each individual mini on the LI bases as a distinct paint job (which they aren't really). Excited to see the work on the sunken brig and more!
blockade23 wrote:388 is absolutely spectacular - that's more than one per day, which is awesome! Way better than me unless I count each individual mini on the LI bases as a distinct paint job (which they aren't really). Excited to see the work on the sunken brig and more!
Thanks! I'm not necessarily even aiming for those numbers in 2025, just useful to keep track. Tbh that's almost the main reason I use dakka these days. The rise of the metanet and so forth.
I had a very satisfying time with some new shelving, reorganising models on display, getting DC minis out that have long been hidden away, incorporating scenery into displays, repacking hellboy stuff, that sort of thing.
Next, to add LED strips. I also need to make another shelf to give me a bit more room for Carnevale goodies, though that can wait. Even more excitingly, I have convinced lesser spawn to play blood bowl, mostly because he knows he can play it on his PlayStation as well. After a bit of discussing, he's gone for Shambling Undead, which to me feels like a really solid choice. He's quite keen to learn to paint them too, which his brother lost all interest in. Cautiously hopeful this will be a thing for us.
Meanwhile, made a boat!
Sunken brig for Carnevale, which was a supreme secret santa gift. I dislike the edges at the water line, which come with splayed broken boards but just doesn't look right, so need to come up with a solution. Sculpt surf around the edges maybe?
And some progress on my Frugal entry:
Well, the base anyway. First time using fluro paint!
And how it will sit in situ, though I plan to add more stringy goop.
Thanks! I'm not necessarily even aiming for those numbers in 2025, just useful to keep track. Tbh that's almost the main reason I use dakka these days. The rise of the metanet and so forth.
Yes but Dakka makes it way easier for me to see what I've actually done since it's all in one 'channel' - my problem with all the social medias is that I cannot keep track of what I posted where at times. Plus who wants to go back and see facebook posts from 3 years ago?
As far as that carnival sunken ship, I think putting them on a base, building up some tissue paper waves or similar to show it 'going down' would be excellent. Alternatively sand off all the rough edges so it lies flat on a board.
Thanks! I'm not necessarily even aiming for those numbers in 2025, just useful to keep track. Tbh that's almost the main reason I use dakka these days. The rise of the metanet and so forth.
Yes but Dakka makes it way easier for me to see what I've actually done since it's all in one 'channel' - my problem with all the social medias is that I cannot keep track of what I posted where at times. Plus who wants to go back and see facebook posts from 3 years ago?
As far as that carnival sunken ship, I think putting them on a base, building up some tissue paper waves or similar to show it 'going down' would be excellent. Alternatively sand off all the rough edges so it lies flat on a board.
Well quite, and trying to trawl through instagram posts is even worse. Good shout out the waves btw, that's got me thinking.
So here we go... the Sunken Brig
And some details
So, I really enjoyed this kit, and I've built a lot of mdf in my time. NGL, having built one of their boats and found it very challenging, I was delighted by how straightforward it was. Really superb, well designed, adaptable (I added water, barnacles and weeds with gs and a mix of technical paints and uhu glue). Great kit!
It's been quite nice not painting Star Wars, for all I love my Shatterpoint.
So...
Next, my entry for this month's dakka contest, which is a Space Marine.
There's a lot of Star Wars coming, but other than that, well... not sure. We'll see.
Till then,
Graven
JoshInJapan wrote:Ooh, I like that boat. There is a Frostgrave scenario it would be perfect for!
Thanks! Well, if nothing else, TT stuff is very cheap. Or at least I assume it is relatively so to Japan?
Next item on the never-ending pile of shame: a frugal Space Marine!
Captain Terens of the Storm Lions
3D Printed marine, MDF offcut base, free mini of the month Tyranid, uhu glue, and actual gravel from garden. He's named for our school technician, Terry, who is a former GW store manager. He definitely didn't print this on the school's printers. Also, first time use fluro paint, which was fun.
He's a nice addition the random assortment of Storm Lions I did last year for the kitbash project.
Not my usual power weapon either, and quite low key osl for me
Not painting as much just now, ccgs have distracted me - old school Highlander and 7th Sea, current Dr Who MTG and Lorcana - as well as getting back into the board game pile. However, that may encourage me to start painting tiny spesssheeps, whether they be Firefly or Star Trek. We shall see. Also, the spawn's Shambling Undead have arrived, so we'll be tackling ( )them together.
Make it so Graven
Gitsplitta wrote:Love the wrecked ship graven. The frugal marine is pretty awesome too. More like a flamboyant marine!
Thanks matey. Loved doing the boat. Marine was fun, and I'll do another ... in March I nabbed the first issue of Combat Patrol for its big cheap sm and a couple of the big nids in passing, also, for that matter.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Looks cool to me!
Thanks buddy! You are a troublemaker with all your terrain-ing!
Right. Projects! let's do this... Real Quiet Like. Special guest: my finger. I have dithered over this for a number of reasons, but mostly, I hate doing camo. However the VJ model color range, which I got for Xmas, has plenty of military greens and browns, so I've no excuse now. The Han sculpt is just perfection. Although I'm not sure why there's a bit of IG droid on his base (other than to complement Chewie)
The Chewie is a bit cartoony. He's good in game but more likely to use the other sculpt.
The commandos are great sculpts and great in game too. I'm really pleased that Endor lists are a viable subfaction. I just wish we'd get a useful Luke. And a quick snap with the bunker I really hate my phone camera
And, continuing the classic saga vibes... We Don't Need their Scum.
IG-88-B. Is this the one Han and Chewie have taken out? It's a mystery.
Bossk: Dynamic sculpt, but I don't know that I love it. He is, however, hard as nails in game and a dirt cheap tank.
Boba Fett! Boba Fett? Where? I can't believe that I had to freehand the logo . Please excuse the shoddy pic. Definitely one of my fave models in a while.
And, the deadliest of them all... Dengar! Brilliant sculpt when you consider how mocked he is. Phenomenal in game, too. He's my eldest's favourite sw character, so had to be done.
Also, I decided that, after the success of using some of my Shatterpoint terrain to add height to my storage, I'd do a couple more Carnevale themed risers. And in situ
Now. Inspired by Nevelon, I am doing a wee stock take.
Carnevale: 6 Mascareri - these have been sitting primed on my desk a while. They're lovely models, but actually quite intimidating. However, there was an excellent strategy guide for them posted the other day which has got me thinking about them again.
Raft of the Damned: this is a terrain piece, really, but will he next month's dakka contest piece - the theme is SURPRISE and what could be more surprising than a great white lodged inside a wooden raft?! Brilliant disguise
Shatterpoint: Plo Koon, Ahsoka and the Wolf Pack - built and primed. No excuse not to paint... other than the freehand will kill me.
The rest are at best unbuilt.
Mandalorians - I have the Mandalorian covert and Djin/Grogu, Grieff and IG-11 to tackle. They are... interesting in game, politely. The Covert are great, Djin etc is disappointing. But I'll get to them. They'll be fun in a multi-coloured way. Gameplay wise the covert give the base game Mandos (Bo Katan and Gar Saxon) much more choice.
Lando Calrissian - Lando, Lobot and Cloud City troopers to do. Lando is my favourite SW character so I really have to do him right. He's very meh in game, and Lobot has a really derpy sculpt, which isn't great motivationally.
Fearless and Inventive: Episodie VI Luke, Leia (Boushh), Lando and Chewie. Not great in game, but hella nice scuplts.
Moff Gideon - this set includes a death trooper and dark troopers, and is among the best in the game. High priority to run in any number of empire lists.
General Veers and Snowtroopers - aside from the fact that this is a seriously stupid set idea, they're very good in game. I have quite mixed feelings about playing empire tbh. But then I think, well it's only a game. It's not like I play Space Marines...
25 Shatterpoint minis, 7 Carnevale. I mean... that's actually not much of a to-do pile, is it? In the grand scheme of things I mean. And, yes, there's other random models kicking about, but nothing I have specific plans for. Hey ho Graven
You like Bossk because he looks like the original Star Trek Gorn who battled Kirk... which is the best sci-fi character ever created! Even looks just like him... just re-named for a new franchise.
muette wrote:Those Shatterpoint minis are looking spicy, great job!
Many thanks!
Gitsplitta wrote:You like Bossk because he looks like the original Star Trek Gorn who battled Kirk... which is the best sci-fi character ever created! Even looks just like him... just re-named for a new franchise.
That AND his costume is a re-used Dr Who costume I am fond of him, it's true.
aku-chan wrote:You continue to do impressive work on all that Star Wars stuff!
You're most kind sir hope you like the next wave
JoshInJapan wrote:Great work on all the SW stuff. The standout model for me is Boba Fett. All of his gear looks sun-faded and worn, just like in the films.
Cheers buddy. Having the correct military paint colours really helped seal the deal. Praise be to Vallejo!
So, we had a storm, Eowyn, Straight Outta Rohan. All schools shut. Tree down blocking the road. Everyone stuck at home. So, along with a bit of Lego Monkey Palace, finished off... Lead by Example!
Plo Koon.
I mean I get why folk are so taken with him. He's so... alien. Plus all the McQuarrie Luke vibes.
Commander Wolfe
Fun with the spider droid eyes, too, drilled one out and used trans red for the lens glaze.
And...
The Wolf Pack!
A different approach for these guys, starting with Vallejo Wash FX black which is their nuln oil analog. Cheaper, thinner, better coverage. So as I move away from gw paints, it's a decent option. Other colours used are model air nato black, deck tan, Wolf Grey and many, many, layers of Arctic White.
They're urban commandos so tried to reflect that whilst adding a bit of colour elsewhere.
All the freehand on the shoulders, and on Wolf's helm. shudder And finally, Ahsoka!
I love this sculpt. Much more so than the kid padawan one.
Added the Droid general arm for the fun of the thing.
RL update in the block
Spoiler:
It's been a tough month. I mean I'm doing OK, mental health is a bit on a knife edge but have better coping strategies after a year of therapy. Wife is in a horrible place - colleagues keep dying, which as both their friend and boss (she's seconded into a senior role just now) is taking a real toll on her. The prospect of the eldest, my gaming buddy, leaving home, is hard on me too, but him staying is going to be at least a year of us all butting heads too. Sigh. I'm at least enjoying work, mostly. Or not hating it, at least. Middle spawn is demanding but generally better than has been in a while. Little miss is a stroppy as a nearly 9 year old girl can be. But, equally, very sweet.
Not running as much as I'd like - I'm a bit fair weather, I realise - which really is no one's fault but my own. I also had my card cloned ,lost a bunch, managed to recover only for the bank to miss it happen again which has been an incredibly stressful fight to resolve.
Not gaming much. Which is tough. But at least I'm enjoying the paint on the toys. Some card gaming. And, indeed, things could be much worse. I think I am just appalled by the state of the world, the failures of my generation and the inability of the left to articulate a cogent argument against the populist right.
Horrible weather notwithstanding, the next wave of imperials still got primed today. But I think the Mandos are next - after all the grey scale of the Wolf Pack, I need a bit of colour. Then again, Dark troopers and death trooper shouldn't take long ... and I still have mask makers for Carnevale to do
blockade23 wrote:Some more awesome progress. How many Shatterpoint minis is that completed so far?
Oh gosh lol um
...
96 ...
Not including terrain, and counting multi-bases (so like a swarm base of ewoks) as 1 Ah, my not-so secret shame
Finally, having bought them as a belated birthday treat in August, I've been working on the Mascareri, or Mask Makers, for Carnevale. They're part of The Gifted (mercenary magic users) faction. This was actually the first faction I got for the game; I never play them in isolation, as they're a bit underwhelming, however this bunch give them a lot more heft.
They're an interesting bunch of characters, who can each be hired by any faction in game to give you access to some of another faction's unique abilities with their magical masks.
For example, Elena grants vampiric attack (hence she is in my Strigoi colour scheme) or extra offence. Very good in any list but particularly nasty with the Gifted's own leader, who's combat- forward but tends to die quickly as a result.
Hydraea grants water creature or fear. Great counter to drowning lists, which in a game set in Venice is a common strategy.
Il Mentore grants Pickpocket (rubbish) or Aerial Attack and Infiltrate (terrifying). I'm unlikely to use her much, though, as I play Guild anyway (who use the latter tactics) and doesn't fit well with Rashaar (because creepy merfolk rarely climb buildings). I might try her in a straight Gifted list though.
Francisco is interesting, as there's not many mercenary Sorcerers in the game.
His ability grants extra Will to another character (rerolls or magic use) so he's pretty versatile.
Gerhard grants Universal Shielding 2, which for my money is the best ability in the game: the first 2 points of damage are ignored from every attack. He can also grant a damage boost, but, meh. He's a point cheap than Elena, so might change the two of them about.
I gave him a little pieta shrine, as he's gifting Vatican abilities (damned shield of faith!)
Marco Leontus is the cheapest, and his ability is to grant 2 extra command points - handy for taking initiative, necessary for lots of faction abilities. His pistol is OK but 8" range is not great, though he's very tough. I'm not sure how viable he is, but he's a cool model. Love his wee monstrous venetian lion face.
A nice change of pace to finish off the month. More Shatterpoint, plus, a sneaky shark next month.
Graven
Another nifty set of minis. My favorite is Marco, especially your work on his coat. I also love that the model is carrying a lion mask, like he modeled it on his own face.
JoshInJapan wrote:Another nifty set of minis. My favorite is Marco, especially your work on his coat. I also love that the model is carrying a lion mask, like he modeled it on his own face.
I know EXACTLY what you mean he's definitely my favourite of the sculpts. And, thanks!
Passed a pile of models onto a fellow nerd who's hit a painting doldrum and they were surprised, so I explained the Circle of Geek to them. I mean that's a thing right? Pass on the nerd love, and all that? They'd never encountered it before, which makes me sad. I always think of ours as a really generous community.
Not been painting much, bit of a breather. Distracted by a combination of TCGs, Work and smallest spawn's birthday.
However, got this done:
The Raft of Damned
A Shark in disguise is fairly surprising. Reaper Bones make some fun stuff Back to Star Wars next, been good to have a break. A bit brittle atm, tbh, but hoping painting mojo is back.
Graven
aku-chan wrote:Nice work on the camouflaged shark, he does not look too healthy.
It's just a scratch... Hello all, Been in a bit of a slump. RL busy, work frustrating. However, turned the corner and started building primed minis. So this push includes RotJ Luke etc from Jabba's, Ep. V Lando and the gang/Snowtroopers, and team Mando vs team Gideon. The other mandos from the show are still on sprue, as is the damn kid's Shambling Undead team Also got the Embergard starter for Underworlds from Gw for my school club so building and painting that is a priority. Who knows, might even paint something else this month Graven
I'll look forward to the day you return. The end of February has been brutal here too. I'm lucky if I even get five minutes to watch tv, much less paint. Minis will always be here for you to come back to.
Dr H wrote:Nice shark, Graven'.
Have a good 'un.
Hope to see you about the internets or back here when our rotations meet again.
Cheers matey
JoshInJapan wrote:
I'm sorry to hear that. Yours is one of the few P&M blogs I always read. I hope to see you soon.
See, now I feel a little guilty and rather appreciated .
blockade23 wrote:I'll look forward to the day you return. The end of February has been brutal here too. I'm lucky if I even get five minutes to watch tv, much less paint. Minis will always be here for you to come back to.
Sound advice.
I wonder, in some ways, if I have made a rod for my own back in recent years by keeping score / doing a self imposed 365 challenge. I was not feeling in the mood to paint and so... didn't. But that has its own associated guilt.
Thank you all, though, for your support. And funnily enough, not posting gave me a little burst of end of month energy, despite some primer issues.
Moff Gideon, Death Trooper Sergeant and Dark Troopers.
For the Darksaber I used Vj Gloss white which is SUPER bright and a Gloss varnish.
I used these guys to play around with a different black recipe.
Prime grey, VJ Model Air Nato black - which is really an ultra matt, thin, very Dark grey - vj Wash effects black and then vj gloss black inside the panels. Whilst I wouldn't necessarily use it for all things I think it works here. The Dark Troopers are amongst the best supports in the game. Gideon is a bit meh and the Death Trooper Serg is situationally useful.
Next, General Veers and Snowtroopers.
In a monochrome imperial mood, it seems.
I like the Veers sculpt but think he's a silly idea (albeit very powerful) in game, he never gets out of his ATAT.
Snowtrooper sergeant. Both him and Veers come with optional bases. I do like have extras for scatter.
And the Snowtroopers aren't bad in game. Pleasingly, they're all rather good with Vader.
After that, I felt like some colour:
The Return of the Jedi!
Boushh. My kind of Scum
It's Lando. Shh!
And on that, into March!
Certified Guild
Din Djarin & Grogu. Amazing sculpt
Greef Karga. That's a lot of brown.
And IG-11
and the... back?
Hurrah for extra bits!
Up Next...
This is the way.
If I feel like it Graven
Tek wrote:I love this blog. 12 unpainted models? That's barely a pile! More like a tiny mound of shame.
Definitely time to start something new
Yeah first world problems right? It's really an excuse to start 3d printing again
aku-chan wrote:I wish I could get my unpainted pile down to just 12 minis!
The Star Wars stuff continues to be awesome.
You're very kind. So here's some more!
What have we here?
Lando, as I've no doubt mentioned numerous times, is my favourite Star Wars character.
He was the first character I remember seeing moral ambiguity in and doing the wrong thing for the right reason - just really caught my imagination.
Lobot. Dreadful, derpy sculpt. Looks like Picard in Away Missions
And, the Wing Guard (-ium leviosa?)
Next up, the Mandalorian Covert. Although I DID find the vestige of a plagueburst crawler... Papa bless,
Graven
Graven, I can send you models. Not to paint for me... just to paint and keep, or sell, or donate to a good cause. You just let me know. I think I've touched a brush once in the last two years... my models are weeping for attention.
Tommygun1918 wrote:Lando really likes his capes. All nicely done, I'm just getting into Star Wars minis, although they are Legion.
I may get Shatterpoint though.
In the words of Palpatine.. do it! Shatterpoint is a very different game, I much prefer it but then I'm more skirmish generally.
Tek wrote:"Hold on Han, this might be the right galaxy after all. Because I see a heavenly body!"
Did I wander into a porn remake?! thanks dude.
Gitsplitta wrote:Graven, I can send you models. Not to paint for me... just to paint and keep, or sell, or donate to a good cause. You just let me know. I think I've touched a brush once in the last two years... my models are weeping for attention.
Och don't be daft. I'll find something. But thank you. Then again, if you send me it, I WILL feel obliged to paint it
So this month I've been working away the Mandalorian Covert.
This is the way.
The Armourer was a lot of fun with rich browns and oranges.
Paz Visla bringing the big guns. They really missed a trick not calling him Post Visla (his father being Pre Visla)
I liked the challenge of making each look distinct and slightly mismatched, yet part of a whole.
It was also fun doing the extra glow and blast. Trooper type models are often less interesting but these all have loads of character.
So, legendary achievement unlocked: Shelf of Shame empty!
Well, sort of
What's not done?
Well there is an unfinished alliance blood bowl team, and a shambling undead team belonging to the lesser spawn. So in theory we're going to sit down together and paint... at some point.
I also found an assortment of nurgley tanky bits, I suppose I could build a PBC or something?
There are also nids from a couple of issues of 40k magazine knocking about: a parasite, winged prime, psychophage, 10 termagants and unit of von Ryan's. Now, again, the lesser spawn is interested in these, because Helldivers. My aim is to devise a simple Termanid inspired scheme that I can show him and then, if he wants to, he can use. I refuse to spend money on stuff, though, for now. 500 points or so. I have enough nurgle, and indeed sm, that he can learn to play IF he wants to. Then again, if you have spare nids, then I have a home for them
It's quite liberating, actually. Don't know what I'll do next. There are new star wars waves coming, I'll probably get them, and I'm still missing a few of the early ones. Who knows, eh? I'm a creature of whimsy, after all Graven
Wow - Absolutely amazing you have nothing left to paint! (Looks on shelves) I've got a whole box of D&D minis that need painting, let me just send you fifty more models!
blockade23 wrote:Wow - Absolutely amazing you have nothing left to paint! (Looks on shelves) I've got a whole box of D&D minis that need painting, let me just send you fifty more models!
I'll always find something
JoshInJapan wrote:Nice work on all those Mandalorians. It must be difficult to paint what are essentially identical models so differently.
Isn't this the second time you've cleared your backlog? That's quite an achievement.
Well thank you! It was fun to do them. Yeah, I've done it in the past, I just find it very therapeutic. I did so much in lockdown I guess it just stuck. I'm sure there will still be something in a drawer somewhere...
aku-chan wrote:Nice work on the Mandos!
And congrats on a (Almost) cleared backlog!
Well thank you on both counts.
So true to my words, I have dug out and painted the half-finished (well... barely started) old world alliance team I assembled from random sprues.
No other ogre or treeman - temporary transferred from other teams - and could do with at least one more human linesmen, but at least it's technically a team.
After taking pics I inevitably saw things to touch up, and added some pitch markings blood spatter etc... but you'll just have to trust me on that.
I have a game set for a couple of weeks, really looking forward to it, though I'll probably use my 90s Beastmen Chosen. They're rubbish, but the nostalgia rules strong. It's that or one of my other chaos teams, Khorne or Norsca (slaanesh). What can I say, the ruinous powers call to me.
The lesser spawn has decided he is too intimidated by the Shambling Undead to build/ paint. Looks like they're next in the queue He is however keen to paint the nids I have found, so I'm hoping that's an Easter holiday project and then we can get a simple game of 40k to the table. That would make me very happy. I have the SM I did for the Storm Lions project as well as alllllll the nurgle, and the elder spawn has stacks of Raven Guard... somewhere. And if dakka painting for April ends up being Scrapheap Challenge, I'll try to kitbash a 3rd PBC, or turn it into a rhino, or something. One of my mates is clearing out a storage locker, and he's found a couple of giant shark dudes from Wrath of Kings he's passing my way. Who knows, eh?
Hey ho
Graven
Right, well. Final thing for March, which has become the first thing for April: Shambling Undead BB team - the Graven Guardians!
These were done to prove to the lesser spawn that a fairly straightforward paint scheme can work.
Prime grey, drybrush bone, drybrush tan. Then VJ Transparent Red, Flame Orange (as a base for rust), Purple, Dead Flesh where appropriate and Leather - all on sprue, which I NEVER do, but again, experiments.
Then built and washed with Agrax Earthshade, and built back up, with the additon of gunmetal. Based with a mix of tufts, stirland mud, styrene cobbles from a sheet that's nearly 20 years old, and grass flock.
There are some minor conversions here and there, head and arm repositioning on ghouls, skeletons and wights, that sort of thing, and switching around arms and back sections on zombies. The lack of even alternate heads, apart from the mummies, does annoy me.
As for the dakka challenge, the theme is From The Scrapheap. Given that I'm the one who suggested it, I really should enter I might try to resurrect something from the shell of the pbc I found.
I also have some sort of primaris hover tank that the elder spawn abandoned long ago.
Plans for April are otherwise very much terrain focused. These are rescue failed prints from a mate that I plan to salvage:
A 3d printed Trench system, and a vaguely sith temple.
Side details didn't print, so that will need a bit of work. Any and all would suit.
Found some KM Batman models, a stylish Nightwing and Batgirl, 60s dynamic duo, couple of others. Options!
Graven
blockade23 wrote:Hilariously I too am doing a Primaris Gladiator / Repulsor (whatever) tank for April!
Well, that is pretty hilarious I have actually ended up changing tack, though, after all that, working on the salvaged trench:
April is always a really quiet hobby month for me. Combination of school holidays (so, my own kids rather than other people's, but also less need for hobby as therapy) and wife's birthday, so she often takes a good chunk of it off. Also, the combination of the eldest being off studying for exams and his girlfriend being away means we've been playing more ccgs and board games, digging out classics like l5r ccg and Catan, as well newer ones like Altered tcg and Harrow County.
I have picked up the new Krennic set for Shatterpoint, along with Cad Bane, however the latter suffered the worse case of primer shock I've seen in forever - weird, as was literally sprayed next to Krennic.
But then, I got distracted
I had an idea...
So this might be a thing.
Onwards!
Graven
So, anyway, finished the trench system:
Very pleased with how it turned out
Enlisted little miss to help with drybrushing and other details
Tiny 3D printed Lewis Gun!
I like the spots of colour. A job well done
And, in a burst of adhd, got on with this fella
NGL: love him
So, the plagueburst crawler, in a (plague)burst of easter adhd
And a motor pool pic, for the heck of it:
It's been a busy week.
Me and my mate Chris have been planning a game of bloodbowl for about... 18 months! This was supposed to take place at the start of 2024, and we finally managed today to get my Norsca, the Bluetooth Barstewards, and his Dark Elves on the table for an epic Slaaseshi grudge match!
Neither of us have really played since the 90s, so we were pretty rusty, but soon got the hang of it. The Norsca linesman are nails with Block so they set up a strong Line of Scrimmage, with the Delves trying to dodge in and out of them. My Valkyries were *terrible* at picking up the ball but clearly just showboating for the crowd, finally picking it up at my end in the dying turn of the first half and getting it all the way up the field for a touchdown. When, in the second half, they managed to bash it out of the hands of the Delf blitzer no one was more surprised than the Berserker who caught it and he bagged a TD! Finally, we were back up to our old tricks in the dying moments of the 2nd as everyone kept fumbling the ball till the same Valk as before grabbed it and scored her second TD.
.
Special mention to the foul swine - those adorable little beer boars are right little monsters To be fair to the team as a whole, they just kept knocking down and KO'ing the Dark Elf team; they really struggled against the sheer weight of Block. Ulfwerenes were... ok, frenzy not an issue and that S4 is nice but the Bersekers are just better and cheaper.
We've decided to keep playing our occassional games and track our team's performance, almost like a mini-league of two. Maybe we'll get another game in this... year? Decade?
Next up, well, I now have the ogre for my Auld Alliance team, but with Andor S2 round the corner I think Krennic and some imperials are looking likely...
Graven
I would not want to be the poor guy who has to climb in there and drive it.
Well, he's welded in already and, thanks!
Slinky wrote:Love the Nurglation on the tank!
So, that's my new favourite word
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Oh, I love the teethy cannon on that plague mortar. Also I identify so strongly with the statement "in a burst of ADHD". Yeah buddy, I understand.
Yeah, I've come to terms with it. Just roll with the whimsy. The teeth were inspired by the beast of nurgle foot that I found and used as the middle ones!
It's new Star Wars season! That can only mean one thing...
Deploy the Garrison!
In the Empire, in the empire...
Krennic looks a wee bit grainy in the shot. Primer maybe? Looks fine IRL.
Love the Shore troopers.
Such cool sculpts.
As, indeed, are the Death troopers. And, btw, by far the best Shatterpoint minis to build so far. Quite superb kits.
Got a BB Ogre to do next, and a housewarming present for a pal: BeWitched Harley Quinn promo. Then, into May, I'll be doing Ladies of the Night for Carnevale, and hopefully more Star Wars shenanigans.
Styrofoam04 wrote:Wow that Krennic looks good! I really like the face you captured that expression. I also like the grainy give it texture
Well the texture wasn't entirely intentional but thanks nonetheless Just to close out April (much more productive than usual), here's a little force-temple:
This was a "failed" 3D print from a mate: the sides didn't print properly, so I shored them up with some offcuts from mdf terrain. Always keep those little squares of wood!
Granted it was scaled for Legion, but despite appearances the addition of the little extra bits of mdf mean they're actually quite stable. It's now a nice functional piece of terrain. I have the high ground!
Next on the menu is the BB Ogre - and maybe some classic metal ones I may have found in a box - and these lovely ladies:
This will form my entry for the Mayday contest, as they're obviously masked, dancing and celebrating but also there are the poor blood slaves that need saving. They will also do double as Cult of the Cankered Rose for London 1(666), which I'm helping playtest - skirmish game of rival factions during the great fire of London. The Cult are plague-immune harlots and orphans that spread disease and chaos to try to undermine the status quo amid the flames, whilst battling fire-raising demon cults, the anarchist Heirs to November and the elites of the Royal Guard.
Starting off the merry month of May, we have our Ogre for the Auld Alliance team.
And alongside his teammates
What I am pleased with is how they all use the same colours but in a different way; the ogre is predominantly red with some yellow plus blue accents, the half halfling mostly yellow, some blue and red accent, and the Dwarves and Humans both mostly blue with some red and yellow accents. This means I can potentially make distinct teams, particularly for Ogres and Halflings, down the line in those colours.
Speaking of which, I found this ugly bunch by combing the bits boxes.
I mean I'm down an arm and 3 heads, and don't have any gnoblars, but it's start. And it turns out I have Grak and Crumbleberry! Who knew?! And more Ogre has to be a good thing, right?! So they got cleaned up today, alongside the next batch of Carnevale. Onwards!
Graven
It may be the lighting, but it looks like the BB ogre's pants and skin are the same colors, which in turn means that I thought he wasn't actually wearing pants, just a cup-and-g-string combo.
It may be the lighting, but it looks like the BB ogre's pants and skin are the same colors, which in turn means that I thought he wasn't actually wearing pants, just a cup-and-g-string combo.
Lol I thought that too I need to smack it with yellow ink. Although saucy ogre is not necessarily bad
blockade23 wrote:I love that you're digging out things from the old to be painted pile. I do agree about the color pants - maybe a different wash would do the trick?
Also, I really like the shoretroops from earlier. The bases look amazing.
Thanks, that was fun to do.
Gitsplitta wrote:I could see a horde of Necrons marching out of that temple...
Love the crawler, but the gums are way too healthy looking!
Yeah it does have the vibe. It is also true that the lack of gingivitis is poor.
Well, hello there gang, been a while. May has been fairly unproductive, a combination of factors: lots of sunshine, low motivation to paint, other RL stuff.
Still, I managed to complete both sets for Carnevale's Harlots' Guild, The House of Virtue & Ladies of The Night, as well as building them a custom base on a whim
The Madame, the leader
The Blood Witch
Reversed
And their unfortunate victims, Blooded slaves
I'm quite sure they deserve it
The Shadow Assassin, who avenges wrongs against women of the city
The harlots, all of different styles for different tastes
And of course, their Escorts
On balance, they were fun. The custom base was a total whim based on scrap and offcuts I had lying about, making a bit of height variation for display purposes in amongst the rest. They'll also do double-duty for the Cult of Cankered Rose for London 1(666) which is shaping up to be a fun game. You can download the beta and all stats here
That's some fine work on a great set of models. The Madame and Blood Witch stand out-- all the decorative chains and whatnot must have been a PITA to paint. I like your treatment of the wounds on the slaves, as well as the bodyguard's stripey pants.
JoshInJapan wrote:That's some fine work on a great set of models. The Madame and Blood Witch stand out-- all the decorative chains and whatnot must have been a PITA to paint. I like your treatment of the wounds on the slaves, as well as the bodyguard's stripey pants.
Thanks. Yes indeed they were infuriating, especially all the tiny tiny bones on the Blood Witch. The Blooded were great fun to do, and the stripes are a continuation of the experiment on the Ogre.
This month's contest is Slow and Steady:
Wargames Atlantic villagers. They bumble around and get in the way in any game, but particularly for London 1(666) where they are hopeless at escaping from the And metal 2nd ed ogres that I've not touched for 30 years... that's Slow and Steady, right? Plus, of course, they are Slow (if not steady) on the field... and next month the Gnoblars are perfect for Sidekick! I mean I don't OWN any but there's time, right?
In fact...
Let's do this!
I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into these. The gnoblar is a rackham goblin... maybe? I gsd his club into a lump of meat. The star players are all going to be done in my Auld Alliance colours (Red, Blue, Yellow) in the above ogre and halfling variants of the scheme.
I've not really been in a painting place. So, I decided to bang out some generic plastics.
A quick and dirty paint job of the Galactic Corps for Core Space.
These did not inspire me to give them a great deal of time and effort, because the casts are... dire
That's not really recoverable. So, they're playable... enough. 2 by 2 with hands of blue...
I've also started off the Wargames Atlantic villagers. Nice modular kits. This is one sprue worth.
Anyway, whilst I'm not back on the paint train, I'm starting to get back into it.
Hey ho
Graven
Gitsplitta wrote:Love the way the gals turned out graven. Quite an eclectic bunch. I think you did an especially good job on the dancing harlot.
Enshrined
Thanks buddy. I really like them as a group, but she is a lovely sculpt indeed.
A very wee update.
I've decided to really concentrate on Morg N Thorg, and just enter him for the monthly contest
Obviously the shoulder skin needs more layers/blending, but even under dakka super zoom I'm not embarrassed by the face- Very happy so far.
Alright?
A random thing I made on a whim:
A bit of scatter for Shatterpoint, an Imperial Console, made from a prosecco bottle cap:
I've drilled a wee hole on the side as a mech port too. Sometimes a random fun thing is just the palette cleanser you need.
Viktor von Domm wrote:totally accepted this as an actual model from shatterpoint...
Well, to be fair, Krennic is
blockade23 wrote:Love the scratch made terrain - it's always the randomest things that make the best terrain.
Yeah man it scratches an itch. I used to do the LOER contests on here but, like anything, you go through phases. Like, right now I'm on a bit of a blood bowl kick? But then I saw this lid with its death star dimple and I KNEW I had to.
Kid_Kyoto wrote:Love the Imperial Fish Bowl, going to have to try that with a bottle some time.
Director Krenick (sp?) is looking good too.
Cheers buddy.
It's one of the twist top mini prosecco lids, FYI
So yeah, Blood Bowl. Good link eh?
This is a model from when I was... 12 maybe? Stripped and repainted.
I think that qualifies as Slow & Steady I tried to go for a very traditional garish gw scheme
Hurrah for a new light box!
Next step will be to find my DSLR which is in the house... somewhere and get proper depth of field, but these will do for now.
And to accompany him, a test Gnoblar.
I *think* the model is a rackham goblin. I've gsd his club into a slab of meat for reasons that will become apparent.
The rest of the team. I have converted up regular gnoblars, mostly. I reckon they steer them with meat: "Hey you! Look! Food! Now get the ball!"
After this, orc and black orc teams.
I do like building blood bowl teams. It's really self- contained.
Granted the orcs will be team 11 & 12, but still... Graven
Continuing the Blood Bowl theme, Grak and Crumbleberry:
Yellow has been ramped following advice of you excellent bunch.
Very nice mini.
Well, not especially mini but you know what I mean.
Very very mini mini otoh.
These guys were originally intended for this month's dakka contest, Sidekick, as that's very fitting, but it'll be the gnoblars instead.
OK, so, my hobby goal this year was to paint... less. Bear with me. To be more accurate, it's been to paint quality over quantity.
I enjoy miniature painting very much and during covid times I did the 365challenge - averaging 1 miniature a day for a year. Having done that since 2020 - in fact, with over 1000 in the first year and around 400 every subsequent - it's become, well, a chore, albeit a satisfying one.
As a result, this year I'm only painting what I want, when I want. 124 this year so far, and that's fine by me.
hohono?
! I have swapped my built, painted Weapon X facility with a mate for his... unbuilt, unpainted one. Why, you may ask? To make an Endor bunker 
I am rather proud of him. I was particularly delighted when my lesser spawn showed him off to one his mates 
