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Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






Ooh, that crystalline tree is cool. I just spent a bit looking through some Moonstone miniatures, super characterful and impressive. Glad to hear the game is good too, excited to hear your report!

My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Gitsplitta wrote:No one can ever accuse you of being stuck in a rut my friend. Wonderful to see the diversity that you work on every day. Very inspiring!

Well, you're very kind indeed. To be fair, Brimstone promotes diversity with its sheer range of settings. But it is good to mix things up. And now my kids are yammering for more Star Wars
Slinky wrote:Be'lial be'rilliant! Very nice.

Unbe'lievably nice of you to say so, sir
Viterbi wrote:Really excited for the Mexican undead army (a sentence I never thought I'll utter)!

Me neither lol!
Don Qui Hotep wrote:Ooh, that crystalline tree is cool. I just spent a bit looking through some Moonstone miniatures, super characterful and impressive. Glad to hear the game is good too, excited to hear your report!

Cheers, yeah the figs are lovely. Way beyond my painting skills though

Gearing up for Mrs Graven's birthday, so that's a distraction The weekend has been a lot of socially distant family catch up - plus, I am not going to let my nerdself get guilted into painting. It's been good to take a wee while away from it, but also painting is largely relief from work stress, and being off just now means I'm not especially stressed

But anyway, next for the paint queue is Imperial Assault. We're starting our new campaign, which is Tyrants of Lothal - basically the Rebels TV show. So, that means I have to paint them all plus the damn kid wants to use the Clone Commando character from Heart of the Empire, which means I have to paint that as a priority We spent a chunk of Saturday afternoon reorganising all the game components (and it's FFG, so it's token/card fetishism), and built our campaign decks, so we're good to go. I have managed to pick up all the remaining bits for the game, so aside from a few custom figs, that sort of thing), we're good to go.

Converting an ISB agent into Agent Kallus, to run as an elite Agent. Extended the stock, added a blade to the barrel - and of course, those mighty mutton chops! Still needs a secondary underslung barrel but nearly there.

On the subject of future gaming, I finally got round to building my Strontium Dog scenery from Sarissa.

Lovely, but fiddly. Never quite sure that Sarissa stuff is worth the price tag but this was an eBay cheapie so not complaining.

Well. Having said that... The generator kit that it also comes with is maddeningly complex, and who makes a post apocalyptic wasteland home without shutters (I made some out of offcuts)? Madness.

It's not all magic space future though: I picked up, and built, the Rusty Blade Tavern from TT Combat.

Detailed interior, removable roof... What a ridiculously good thing for under a tenner.

I do think I might still add some rickety beams to the corners, but coffee stirrers are hard to find these days
I have their Briar Rose cottages (£12 the pair) en route to review also, very quirky, designed for Moonstone but useful in any fantasy situation. 3 buildings is explicitly the most you "need" for the game (some of the scenarios use multiple small buildings), and whilst I have the two cottages I made during lockdown these will round things out nicely, especially as you need to get break into the houses in one scenario.

Just taking things at a gentle pace. Bear with me team
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






UK

Kallus is looking great! Sideburns agogo

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Slinky wrote:Kallus is looking great! Sideburns agogo

Cheers buddy. I'm pleasantly surprised with how he turned out. You know as a kid I thought they were called sideboards, like the furniture, which made much more sense to me the build on him is done, painted pic to follow anon.

I tidied up Cthulhu, and added a Japanese shrine to the base for Forbidden Fortress... Not that I own a copy of FoFo yet

All in all pretty happy. Need to get back into taking proper pics though, the boy has stolen the light box as he is trying to break into Lego blogging.

I have been playing a whole bunch of Moonstone with the lad. Really love the game, and the whole Henson look. We played one of the scenarios
"Go Home Fritz, You're Drunk" from the main rulebook - pictured are Agatha and Fritz from the Tumbledown Street Commonwealth Box, Dim& Dimmer the mercenary giant, and Doug the Flatulent and the Vicious Midget from the 2-player starter.

Great fun, but poor old Fritz sadly didn't make it home from the pub. Article will be going up on bigcomicpage.com Saturday with review, discount codes for the game, discount code for gamemat.eu and chance to win some TT Combat goodies. Go get the shiny!

Much Star Wars a-happening with the kids; this has been a holiday of gaming more than hobbying. Tyrants of Lothal is proving to be a fun campaign: it has a branching narrative structure and lots of choice leading to all sorts of things happening - plus, the kids really feel like they're in-universe.

Yes, I know I am breaking my rules with unpainted minis. I don't care lol. Well. Obviously that's not strictly true. I'm just not going to feel guilty about it.

I really haven't done very much painting this last week. But I'm just taking it easy, spending time with the kids, enjoying the garden, that sort of thing. I am back on Instagram, but not stressing over daily posts and myriad hashtags. Lots of scenery has been primed, and colours blocked in on Santa Anna's Army of the Dead, but I'm not rushing.
Just chillin like a villain
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

I don't understand how you can paint a thousand models in a year but still end up playing your games with unpainted models...

Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Star Wars campaign sounds fun and love the first pic of Moonstone. Excited to see more of the board!
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Gitsplitta wrote:I don't understand how you can paint a thousand models in a year but still end up playing your games with unpainted models...

Don't rub it in!
Viterbi wrote:Star Wars campaign sounds fun and love the first pic of Moonstone. Excited to see more of the board!

Well, the scenery is now primed, and so are the figs, so more to come.
So, I have done a wee review of Moonstone over at bigcomicpage.com - check it out if you're so minded:
https://bigcomicpage.com/2021/04/17/geeking-out-ill-met-by-moonstone/
There's a 20% off code for direct orders, a 10% off code for gamemat.eu and TT Combat goodies to be well!
So come support a fantastic small game from an indy game supplier (and more!) - the whole game is print and play for free, but who doesn't love crazy Henson style fantasy?!
Cheers
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Wiltshire, UK

Loads of cool things going on in your blog Graven as always, looks like the backlog hasn't gone down much!

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

GiraffeX wrote:Loads of cool things going on in your blog Graven as always, looks like the backlog hasn't gone down much!

Well let's be honest, there's always something new on the Shelf of Shame
It's funny to think that this time last year was the most productive I've ever been, and this year it's been the least. However, RL has a habit of intruding. Wife's birthday and lovely weather combined to not much paint time, and now back into the most demented teaching period on record.
Nevertheless, proof that I am working on stuff:


The fabled Lost Army of Santa Anna. Undead Mexicans (muerticans?) - I really hate painting historicals, even undead ones. Notable in his absence is the modified standard bearer, as he was part of the primer shock incident. They are sat on a neat elbow platform my dad brought me, rescued from his garage:

Relaxation of lockdown has its advantages, eh?!
Lost Army should be finished this week, along with dark stone scorpions at the very least.
Trying not to look at the shelf of shame, it's not too bad...

Granted that doesn't include Moonstone, scenery or the rest of the Armada fleets, but still...
Instead, I shall remain calm by celebrating what shall become the Shelf of Splendour!


Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

I think your problem is that you build everything without really having the time to paint it... then it clutters up the "shelf of shame", making you feel bad while it all waits to be painted. I tend to leave my stuff boxed and stored until I'm ready to paint it... then I build & paint in one go. Thus no shelf of shame... just hundreds of models kept safely out of sight in boxes and bins!

Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Wiltshire, UK

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I think your problem is that you build everything without really having the time to paint it... then it clutters up the "shelf of shame", making you feel bad while it all waits to be painted. I tend to leave my stuff boxed and stored until I'm ready to paint it... then I build & paint in one go. Thus no shelf of shame... just hundreds of models kept safely out of sight in boxes and bins!


I'm the same as Gits I tend to keep most things boxed before and also after painting

My shelf of shame remains about 20 models and if it gets too many they go back into boxes again, I'm not a great fan of assembling minis though and really struggle with some with small parts, man I'm getting old! .

   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






I honor the courage that Graven exhibits in sharing his shelf of shame in the open. Long live the Shelf of Splendor, long live Krampus, display Batman, and Cthulhu!

Thanks for sharing the Moonstone kick, super tempting to get into. Sadly we're still locked down fairly well, might see if there's a module for Tabletop Simulator!

My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Gitsplitta wrote:I think your problem is that you build everything without really having the time to paint it... then it clutters up the "shelf of shame", making you feel bad while it all waits to be painted. I tend to leave my stuff boxed and stored until I'm ready to paint it... then I build & paint in one go. Thus no shelf of shame... just hundreds of models kept safely out of sight in boxes and bins!


Yeah maybe my friend. I'm trying to clear stuff but I think you may be right.

GiraffeX wrote:
I'm the same as Gits I tend to keep most things boxed before and also after painting
My shelf of shame remains about 20 models and if it gets too many they go back into boxes again, I'm not a great fan of assembling minis though and really struggle with some with small parts, man I'm getting old! .

Oh, I know that feeling lol. My frustration at the faerie miniature is such that I may never play them just out of spite
Don Qui Hotep wrote:I honor the courage that Graven exhibits in sharing his shelf of shame in the open. Long live the Shelf of Splendor, long live Krampus, display Batman, and Cthulhu!
Thanks for sharing the Moonstone kick, super tempting to get into. Sadly we're still locked down fairly well, might see if there's a module for Tabletop Simulator!

I thank you sir! Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting more Hellboy, second KS starts the end of this month and I'll be so all in on that bad boy.
Don't know about TTS, but Moonstone is free to print and play, remember. I would still roundly recommend picking up the starter as it's great value and highly accessible as a game.

So in attempt to clear the shame, I have cracked on!

Dark Stone Scorpions, nasty big critters on 60mm bases. I've modelled them on bark scorpions, loosely. Don't much fancy running into them.

Feral vampires, and a vampire lord that I printed to match. Almost entirely done in washes, mostly as an experiment. And, at last...

The Lost Army of Santa Anna, with Generalissimo and Hell Cannon. I hate painting historicals, as I say, so I'm glad they're done (tick!)

What's next? Well, with relatively little Brimstone left to do, I am going to have a breather and do some more Star Wars. This will gear me up nicely for the more individual, detailed paint jobs of Moonstone. So I'm going to work my way through the Rebels crew and antagonists first, and then see how I feel.
Adiós
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

That is an excellent offering. You did a great job on the historicals mate, don't sweat it.

Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Wiltshire, UK

The all look really good as Git's said you really nailed the historicals not something I've dabbled in myself.

Love the scorpions, the white makes them really pop.

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Gitsplitta wrote:That is an excellent offering. You did a great job on the historicals mate, don't sweat it.

Most kind, I'm certainly pleased i took my time with them.
GiraffeX wrote:The all look really good as Git's said you really nailed the historicals not something I've dabbled in myself.
Love the scorpions, the white makes them really pop.

They were great fun, so thanks buddy!

Anyway, as promised, we move to the stars!

As our current campaign is Rebels themed, we begin with 2 antagonists, duplicitous Weequay Hondo Ohnaka and fallen jedi The Grand Inquisitor.

Love the poses, but need to hit the Inquisitor's lightsaber with boiling water I think.

An aside: Green Stuff World paint remover is an absolute godsend. Primer shock recovered!

Such a relief. Everything survived, although there is a slight rubberiness to the Moonstone resin now. That was a one hour soak. The really gummed up stuff (wolf and bear forms for the shaman) got an overnight soak and the paint just fell off under the tap. Rest of the Brimstone is going in next. Highly recommended, well worth £10 a bottle.

On the painting table right now for IA are Loth Cats, Kallus, Wildfire (rogue clone trooper), Thrawn, Ahsoka, Obi-wan and of course the crew of the Ghost. So, keeping busy lol.
Till next time
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






UK

Are there official models for Loth cats? I know a boy that would love that

Hondo is v good, but yes, the Inquisitor needs a little bit of perking up

Thanks for the tip on the paint remover, I have used fairy power spray before, but it's not very satisfactory.

   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Wiltshire, UK

Oh GS world do paint remover in a bottle, that sounds great, is that plastic or metal minis or does it do both!

Loving some star wars minis!

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Slinky wrote:Are there official models for Loth cats? I know a boy that would love that
Hondo is v good, but yes, the Inquisitor needs a little bit of perking up
Thanks for the tip on the paint remover, I have used fairy power spray before, but it's not very satisfactory.

There are indeed, they come in the Tyrants of Lothal box. To be fair there are some pretty decent ones on Thingiverse though. Dettol is better than power spray but this stuff is amazing.
GiraffeX wrote:Oh GS world do paint remover in a bottle, that sounds great, is that plastic or metal minis or does it do both!
Loving some star wars minis!

Plastic, metal and various resins. Breaks down superglue a bit. Very impressive nonetheless. There's a little bit of pockmarking on the older Brimstone resins, but it's not the end of the world tbh.
However, this weekend I've been at the Moonstone. Having stripped the 3 faeries I decided to tackle one of them, first, The Fencer:

Entirely done in gw washes, apart from the tree which is done in Vallejo model air and with green stuff world tufts.

I think I can consider that saved! Provisionally the plan is to tackle a variety of Moonstone minis this week. I'm feeling it.
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Using Inks and Washes





Looking forward to you painting up some more Moonstone stuff.
The minis look amazing, but my stupid, sausage fingers don't work well with resin.
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

aku-chan wrote:Looking forward to you painting up some more Moonstone stuff.
The minis look amazing, but my stupid, sausage fingers don't work well with resin.

Well, I sympathise, I don't have sausage fingers just clumsy crab claw hands. I'm basically Dr Zoidberg...
DROWNING in marking, so to relax I decided to tackle my favourite of the goblins (possibly my favourite sculpt in the game): the Vicious Midget:

I say favourite, in game I hate the little swine! But I love the Brian Froud/Jim Henson Labyrinth vibe of the Goblin City minions, and him especially

I'm rather proud of the nasty little bugger. Need to work on my macro photography (you cannot see the red eyes) but still.
Just working to whim right now.

Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Wisconsin

Great updates Graven, Belial and the cthulu swordsman are really cool. The flame effect is very well done, looking forward to all the new soldiers you've got lined up.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Vicious midget is amazing, such a lovely sculpt and great paintjob. Love the scorpions and yeah, that lightsaber from the inquisitor seems to be a Spaceballs reject, hope hot water could fix it!
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

You did an excellent job... and Labrynth is exactly what I thought of when I looked at the mini.

Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Yorkright wrote: Great updates Graven, Belial and the cthulu swordsman are really cool. The flame effect is very well done, looking forward to all the new soldiers you've got lined up.

Thanks amigo yes, trying not to think about the various armies of the Republic...

Viterbi wrote:Vicious midget is amazing, such a lovely sculpt and great paintjob. Love the scorpions and yeah, that lightsaber from the inquisitor seems to be a Spaceballs reject, hope hot water could fix it!

Yeah, saved by boiling water and many thanks. The Goblin City figures are so much fun

Gitsplitta wrote:You did an excellent job... and Labrynth is exactly what I thought of when I looked at the mini.

Job done then! I'm chipping away at the denizens of the city, although I still need to build my trolls (with a not-Ludo). Meanwhile, we have the next Goblin: Doug the Flatulent!

This is possibly the most versatile character in the game, certainly for Dominion and perhaps entirely. Long range weapon, relatively fast because of base size, good at digging AND has a fart attack.

Who's a good boy?!

Painting the shield freehand was definitely out of my comfort zone, but glad I did so.
What's next? Most likely Beaky Bobby, the last of the Goblin City set, but I might turn my hand to a giant, or (shock!) one of the Commonwealth humans (in other words, my faction, rather than my son's!)
Headspace is pretty good, I feel like I'm getting a decent finish on these and am just about on top of work and life. Long may that continue! celebrating by backing the new Hellboy KS, 4 expansions and dice game, very exciting. There's a proper big dragon and everything.
Hey ho
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

Very nice work graven.

Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






Henson indeed! (1:56)


My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in gb
Calculating Commissar






Reading, Berks

Doug is definitely a good boy! I do like the look of those figures

   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

I was drawn in by the word "pug" and i have no regrets!

Ambrosius!

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Gitsplitta wrote:Very nice work graven.

Thanks buddy! They're a far cry from your kind of Ork
Don Qui Hotep wrote:Henson indeed!

Love it I have a Hoggle STL I plan to print out to use as a citizen
endtransmission wrote:Doug is definitely a good boy! I do like the look of those figures

They are excellent indeed, and it's a small UK company so it's good to support them - plus you can use the discount code from my Big Comic Page review till midnight Sunday.
amazingturtles wrote:I was drawn in by the word "pug" and i have no regrets!
Ambrosius!

I may also have an STL for sir didimus cheers buddy

To prevent Moonstone fatigue, however, I decided to finish off some things I've had sitting around for ages. First, the Dark Stone Hydra:

Big snakey snake snakes.

Great big annoying regenerating beastie (as all hydra should be) from Brimstone.

And, some star wars stuff for our Rebels campaign:

Loth-Cats! As my 5 year old daughter declared, "Awwwwww they're so cute... And evil!" The white ones are force-sensitive in the show so work well for the elites.

Utinni! The paler Jawa is a print, and is clearly off to Lothal for its holidays. Again, another elite variant (which makes sense, as the elite is less zappy and more barter-y). Speaking of desert inhabitants ...

Old Ben himself. Trying to remember my human skin recipe and, on that note...

ISB Agent and converted Agent Kallus.
Work is managing to be even more stressful, which I didn't think was possible. Thank feck for paint and dakka!
Graven

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/29 19:49:46


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
 
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