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I see you went with the looped up rope option. I like it, it looks much better than I had imagined it. It's exciting that you'll be getting some new bits and tools. I hope the wait isn't too bad. I'm curious about those "little green gators"

 Syro_ wrote:
I'm curious about those "little green gators"

It is a... sculpting slang? I guess. It is used to jokingly name tips of toothpicks, smothered in greenstuff with attached eyeballs, used as a starting point in sculpting the head. You may be able to see some semblance to the actual baby gator head in these images -




If it is intended for a beastman, the pointy tip will become a nose, for a human it would be a top of the head. The size and spread of eyeballs define the size-scale of the miniature head.

Thanks Wirecat, I didn't know that term. And I appreciate the visuals, the term makes sense thanks to your pics and descriptions

Gotta tell ya, in the upper phot, the one furthest left looks like Scrat, from the animated movies Ice Age.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Gotta tell ya, in the upper phot, the one furthest left looks like Scrat, from the animated movies Ice Age.

* Wirecat oh-noes and tries to hide. There are distinct sounds of tectonic plates cracking, magma rushing out and water flowing in. *

Well, maybe I should sculpt some small insane critter... but not this time. I need an even smaller "gator" for that and currently I am out of bith greenstuff and time. Where did the greenstuff go? First, I've finished both executioner dogs - aren't they a jolly pair? Well, before things are cast they aren't actually finished, I may add a neck chain to that medal on lop-rador, for example...



And that herald-hang-dog alone -



He is 43 mm from the base level to his eyes thus being almost exactly the same height to the top of the head with monkey grenadier. Now, they need a witch to hunt, but that cat-lady will be delayed to the end of the year (two of her, actually), along with wolf warband (I yave already started assembling some parts for them).

I've also sculpted some fallen gnolls to finish my "Alatriste" diorama-unit for Kings of War. Frostgrave gnolls kit has left me with so many bits, heads and arms that I've decided to put at least some of them to better use. They are slightly smaller than the actual plastic Frostgrave gnolls - I was hoping that will help with top-down perspective we usually have when playing... didn't work as I've imagined it would. Oh, well, the difference is small enough to handwave it away.



It is unlikely I'll have time for anything "hobby" in the two coming weeks, so - till then!

Sorry to hear you won't have any hobby time for two weeks, but what you've getting done is very nice. It's good seeing the Dog executioners again. I hope you get more green stuff soon

Stalemate continues. Worse still, I have no desire to break it. I pass by the shoebox with my incomplete gaming stuff in the evening - and nothing moves inside me. Toys remain in the toy chest. I hope it is not the onset of depression.

Hang in there Wirecat, I hope things improve for you

Guys like you make working in greenstuff look so easy- which is a great reflection of your skill! Me, I could hold my breath and try to use this stuff under freakin' water and it would still get sticky and ball up on me.

That's why 'tarps' are my favorite thing to make out of extra greenstuff- very hard to mess up rolling out flat sheets (again, with enough water tossed onto it!).

Toujours en avante, Wirecat- always out front- and on to the next. I sat down for 'just five minutes' tonight, didn't want to work, get stuck in and all the attendant mess and sorting and remembering what I intended; when I looked up again, two hours had gone by.

It helped that YouTube for some reason decided to groove down an early 80's track and was playing songs by Company B, Expose, Dead or Alive, Mr Mister, etc. My favorite era. Although,as a Gael, I have to watch out that nostalgia doesn't become maudlin!

That's where you Dakkanauts keep me on the beam!

Keep up the great work, Wirecat. Take your time - it's a hobby, not a job, but do give it a go even if you don't feel motivated. Motivation is a fickle feeling that can be brought about by just sitting down and working for five or ten minutes. My wife tells me to sit down at the hobby table at least a couple times a week so I stay sane and don't crumble under being a workhorse. Very often I have to force myself to do it (and listen to my wife) for my health. I never once regretted forcing myself to do it, even if it was only for 30 minutes.

This is exactly why I am trying to make the hobby look and feel like work - inner workings... Thank You all for Your kind words, but... Psychopathology rant incoming.


OK, sometimes purchasing joy is easy - I've got a game mat from Deep Cut Studio and it is amazing! 4' by 4', rubber padded, Northland style. I've unrolled it on a wrong table (my own gaming room is still a long effort away) and played with some scatter and BnB figures - as I've hoped it easily accommodates almost every kind and color of base. I've promised some preview of my table for a convention - well, here is a preview of the preview!




And, if You remember a sketch from some time ago (a forum page back) of another set of scaffolding I wanted to make out of empty sprue - here it is. A bit different from the initial design, I've decided that a crane should be a completely separate piece, but close enough. A bit different way of painting wood this time, maybe a little more contrasting, can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing. You can squeeze a 50 mm round base on it, but it is really made for 30-40 mm bases. If someone wishes to put a badger on it - I'll have some fitting dice ready for support.



I am making these things more or less compatible in size to Renedra ruins and other plastic terrain. If needed, both scaffolding pieces can be joined together - they are quite sturdy in this configuration.



In other news - I am working (although very slowly) on my gnoll troop that is still some weeks away from completion. That's it...

I like how the wood scaffolding turned out- the weathering/fading is very realistic. Hard to believe that is leftover sprue though- did you use a steel brush tp scribe the wood grain onto the flat surfaces?

And the battle mat is ace.

Here's hoping that our enjoyment of your work will always bring you back to to sculpting and modeling/painting
Your stuff looks good as usual, but I am more interested and ecited to find out why and where you are in America (USA).

Meer_Cat wrote:I like how the wood scaffolding turned out- the weathering/fading is very realistic. Hard to believe that is leftover sprue though- did you use a steel brush tp scribe the wood grain onto the flat surfaces?

And the battle mat is ace.

No, it is a simple excuse to train some freehand, so no physical texturing. There will be some more, more fitting to the dock/pier desription... I would really like to make a few pieces for naval theme, boats, probably ships too, both as pure decorations and as scenario map for landing/boarding action. So many ideas - and not that impossible, it is actually doable... but I already have too much on my table and in the box under it. Unless someone buys at least my elves I am not adding anything any time soon.

Yep! DCS are that good!

Syro_ wrote:Here's hoping that our enjoyment of your work will always bring you back to to sculpting and modeling/painting
Your stuff looks good as usual, but I am more interested and ecited to find out why and where you are in America (USA).

You mean the little flag icon? Sorry to disappoint but I am still in Europe, Lithuania. Me in USA - not in this life, even though I like to never say never. This is probably the result of me switching EVERYTHING off in my browser after being peppered by a highly disturbing adverts. And I ain't turning it back for some time still. :(

Last time I forgot to put up the image of gnoll tertio - here it is. Haven't worked on them in a week so no loss...



Also, to report something somewhat new - here is a sketch of market boot / bakery, for BnB and Alkemy, most surely. Would be OK for Hordes, but too "rustic" for Ariadna. They are not that much backward!



Some weirdness with posting.. hopefully it will work. Anyway - till next week!

Would be OK for Hordes, but too "rustic" for Ariadna. They are not that much backward!  

I dunno, I could see Ariadna being totally into Renaissance Fairs . More seriously, that will be an interesting building when its done, and the gnolls look to be coming along nicely.

Wirecat,

So are those platforms made out of excess sprue frame?

Cheers,

CB

Sorry to hear you're not in America right now, and yeah, I was guessing that because of the flag icon. Hopefully someday
Good choice turning those settings off if it's giving you peace.

Vejut wrote:

Would be OK for Hordes, but too "rustic" for Ariadna. They are not that much backward!  

I dunno, I could see Ariadna being totally into Renaissance Fairs . More seriously, that will be an interesting building when its done, and the gnolls look to be coming along nicely.

You have asked for this:



- Get off this sidewalk, fuzzy butt. Your dwarf fantasy friends are this way! We are having a civilized party here.

Unfortunately, I've erred, overestimating available plywood pieces. And since a slow boat package still haven't arrived, I had to make a generic "roof on 4 posts" instead of bakery. Next time...

Captain Brown wrote:Wirecat,

So are those platforms made out of excess sprue frame?

Cheers,

CB

Yes, just like that:



When I have a byte of free time, but no courage to bit the brush, I add some plastic glue fumes to the room air. In the end it produces very sturdy things that are easily prettied up with all kinds of bits from kits themselves.

I've also put together some more small things lile trading stalls for our "renaissance fair" And a tent for a camp. Probably that's all I have time and energy now... Next week blog entry will be late. Thanks for watching!

Came out looking pretty good (and I definitely laughed at the captioning). Is that tent plywood? Really kinda impressive how you got the bends if so...

Vejut wrote:
Came out looking pretty good (and I definitely laughed at the captioning). Is that tent plywood? Really kinda impressive how you got the bends if so...

Yep, it is plywood. It is not really hard to do... But the real trick is having place, patience and peace of mind (because there is no way to be sure the thing will end exactly as You have planned).



Suddenly a dragon appears out of nowhere!



This is a gift so it does not count for the yearly plan. The first miniature of the new DnD primed PVC line that I've actually finished. Not exactly marvelous, not a perfect - more than a fair share of mould lines and bad joints. Liquid green stuff and Vallejo water effects did some wonder, but haven't made these cracks disappear completely. Some mould lines I had to cut off with a knife, others I had to leave The general rule of PVC, be it Warmachine/Hordes or Reaper Bones or even Schleich still stands - the bigger miniature is, the better it is as far as quality/significance of defects goes.



So - lots of AV signal red (metallic) for scales, washed with AV carmine red, second wash in deep places and the "ground-facing side" with (again AV) royal purple, light red (AV, semi-transparent) for highlight, protruding bones and horns with bone (it is all AV, so I won't bother), then a light wash with orange brown here and there and done. Skin membrane is flat earth, gradually dry-brushed into almost pure light sand then given a wash of a very diluted chocolate brown. Brighter spots here and there to represent wear and folds, eyes, tongue, base and done completely. Base was painted with a mixture of greys and sands, then painted marble texture with water pooling method. Didn't went very well due to very irregular shape so required quite a lot of cleanup afterwards.

The gift was well received (I hope), experience painting such a big stuff with a small brush was... hard won, so maybe I will do some more of these "miniatures" some time in the future. Not a "dragon person", but these beasts do look good when painted.



Convention was a blast. Not enough time, too much of everything else! Showed my stuff around, made a demo. BnB plays better with cards, but home-rule-pack still needs some adjustment. Will do. The most horrible moment (apart from unpainted scenery) - see that rabbit knight staring at a barrel on a left edge of this picture? That is where a badger bandit, carrying this treasure, stood a moment before. Rabbit attacks too bold badger (they all are), gets an outstanding roll, badger fails its save miserably, gets a ton of wounds - exactly the number it has and is no more. Ouch! In other news - drunken ferret was totally drunk, making 4 attacks against hedgehog highlander (center) and making no damage. So much for ferrets... Badger knight (right) managed to maul the wildcat rogue, who nevertheless has made it out and away on half-life and with a piece of treasure. His retreat was covered by a valiant mouse with a big sword the badger had real trouble dispatching. Meanwhile the squirrel druid has killed that annoying hedgehog (with poison!) and a shrew pirate grabbed the last of the three pieces of treasure to be found here.

Back to gnolls, back to gnolls!!!

Game sounds like a thoroughly enjoyable mess. I do like the scale work and membranes of the dragon, and I agree with you about them being a bear to do by brush.

It's great to hear that you had a blast at the Con! Thanks for the batrep also. Sounds like a wild battle.

The main source of messiness comes from a simple fact - it is totally unclear, what kind of game this should be. If this is a game of "my turn - Your turn", then the wide range of abilities (and different kind of dice, and varying movement over difficult terrain, and complex movement in general, as in first version) make the game unbalanced in WM/H or Frostgrave way. Get an alpha-strike/first turn and seize objective, then there will be no retaliation. If You alternate activations between players playing one figure at a time (version 1.2) it feels less one-sided but also much more clumsy (when does the turn ends, did this figure already took its turn) leading to the desire to go for jugular first, for objectives second, resulting in the "same problem, take two". Basically, this game needs reaction, and needs them quite badly. One idea - at the beginning of a turn all cards are shuffled and placed as a single pile face up. This speeds the turn, allows for "passes" (if You want activate another figure first just put the current one to the end of the pile), allows reactions (if the next card in a pile belongs to the opposing player he can take a "reaction test" and activate first) and keeps both players constantly in game.

Enough ranting, gnoll time.



They are slowly taking their colors. Maybe not in a week but in two week time the unit will be finished. Now that I've spent a lot of time over it, I regret not making another figure to level out the ranks. Despite having 5 different bodies/legs Frostgrave kit is quite limited in terms of posing.



Now I'll go and mix some more shades of brown. Sigh.

Your sacrifice to the brown gods has been noted. You do have some nice bits of spot color like the kilt, and the passed out and submissive ones came out as pretty cool uses of the kit. Would not have thought of that.

Shame that the game is having some balance issues, though most do. You said each unit has it's own card? Like a stat card? I wonder if in the 1.2 version you were talking about with the back and forth if once a unit goes the start card can be turned 90 degrees to the side, like tapping in Magic the Gathering. That could help knowing when the round is over.

Vejut wrote:Your sacrifice to the brown gods has been noted. You do have some nice bits of spot color like the kilt, and the passed out and submissive ones came out as pretty cool uses of the kit. Would not have thought of that.

I am trying! Actually, I've run out of possible brown combinations, hence some bits are impossible to distinguish from others, like a few wraps and belts here and there. By the way, they are not submissive, they are ready to fight to the bitter end so that friend and foe alike will remember the last stand of a tertio. I had an Alatriste for an inspiration. Left flank still stands orderly, even though taking casualties (likely from incoming fire) while right flank is a complete mess, defenders pick up enemy weapons having broken theirs, going into messy close quarter fight (knife to the guts!)




And - done. I'll add a thin coat of varnish as soon as the air dries a bit. 14 from the kit, two home-made bodies with kit heads and hands/arms/weapons. I should have sculpted another standing body, or maybe even two to make their right flank look more dense. One thing about frostgrave kits I don't like more than a smallish scale - even though they have 5 body/legs combinations, they are very hard to rank without cutting at the waist and repositioning halves. Old Mantic MaAs are better...

Syro_ wrote:Shame that the game is having some balance issues, though most do. You said each unit has it's own card? Like a stat card? I wonder if in the 1.2 version you were talking about with the back and forth if once a unit goes the start card can be turned 90 degrees to the side, like tapping in Magic the Gathering. That could help knowing when the round is over.

It is not so much of a balance issues, Syro, as gameplay issues. Balancing is actually easier. And this is why I went for making my own cards, original game has just stats in the book and wounds/equipment on roster page. To keep tabs on who goes and who passed. Some more testing (including virtual) and it will get somewhere.

Now, 6 more gnolls for other uses!

Hurray! No more gnolls for awhile! I am sure I will sculpt some more for RPG/Frostgrave/Alkemy uses, but that will be quite some time in a future, IF I ever get there. Meanwhile - here is the free company of gnolls who, most probably, are survivors of the previous unit.



Now, since the Nutcracker is (one of) my favorite winter tale, it is a good time to get these skaven moving! I wonder if I can get the right coppery color for that rat ogre headfur...

Looking good, especially like the plaid.

Not sure the exact reference for the hair, going for more of a red-orange/red brown, or a tawny like the gnolls?

The knolls look good, I'm looking forward to seeing your skaven. Will there be a mouse/rat king leading them?

Vejut wrote:Not sure the exact reference for the hair, going for more of a red-orange/red brown, or a tawny like the gnolls?

Syro_ wrote:The knolls look good, I'm looking forward to seeing your skaven. Will there be a mouse/rat king leading them?

I don't know whether a rat-ogre can qualify for a king, but he sure can have his own agenda. Here is Your reference for the hair:



Way too political, but there is so much being thrown out of every news page and TV screen that noone can escape it. :( Well, rats are survivors, can't take that off them, whether one likes or loathes these little scheming beasts. I am still waiting for small basing things to arrive (I've ordered several kinds of gratings for my space dwarfs and scenery and would like to test them as a sewer grates also) so the skaven band is still WIP, although in an advanced stage. If etchings do not show up next week, however, I am going to switch tj dwarfs that I can do without them.

And - the last GW beastman finished. I still have enough hands/heads to build a few more with home-brewed bodies to make a full rank of them or even two, but not any time soon. My camera is once again behaving badly, forcing me to consider getting one of these LED sets for shadeless macro photography... Sorry for the quality here and now. :(