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Fifty wrote:Those Blightkings look bloody brilliant. You can almost see the flies buzzing in the air around them.

Cheers old son. I really did enjoy them, and I think they'll look prety stonking (and indeed, stinking) on the table over festive period!

Theophony wrote:I always knew Wookiee’s would give someone a virus, stinky animals.
The IA models are coming along nicely.

Tsk. He's a very versatile guy lol. Funnily enough, he wouldn't have succeeded if hadn't been shot and enraged (bonus die on a subsequent test). Another highlight was when they tried to slice (hack) a door panel), failed, and the guy with the vibro-knife literally sliced it open. Great moment.

endtransmission wrote:
I would imagine only the larger companies export, so you never see the microbrewery stuff make it past the local pubs. The biggest horror I had going to Canada was the bar near the hotel selling "Premium import cider" at about £13 a pint... it was Strongbow, a cheap mass produced chemical abomination. Mind you this place also sold Traditional Irish Curry. I have absolutely no idea what that would have been. I dread to think!
anyway, the Imperial Assault figures seem to be coming along very nicely indeed!

Oh, I have experienced similar horror of alleged "premium" imported ales, it's so depressing! Microbrewed stuff often doesn't travel well. We are very, very spoiled in Glasgow, though. And thanks! I am actually adding bits and bobs to other figs here and there, as I hadn't fully appreciated the need to distinguish Elite villains from regulars - so you might notice that the officer now has a red cap badge and stripe on his blaster, for instance, and I've painted in the face plates of a couple of Royal guard black (a bit like the Champion).

Tyranid Horde wrote:I'm enjoying the minis and the beer! Always tend to like Brewdog's stuff, the weird ones are interesting to try at least.

Glad to be of service we spent my 40th a couple of years back in a Brewdog pub trying all the strangeness. My wife had bought me shares so we got discount also. It was... messy.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:IA seems like a really fun game, maybe I'll keep my eyes open for it. I appreciate your mini play reports!

It is! And because the game has "finished" (no new expansions) folk are often offloading collections (baffling to me, but there we are) - we got the core set (RRP £80), the first four full expansions (£40-60 each), all the wave 1,2 and 5 boosters (£15 each) and a few extras for £120. The app gives it added longevity, as it takes on the role of the Imperial Plyer/Narrator, so there's more of a mystery element plus of course, solo play.

Briancj wrote:IA has the advantage of being a 'closed' game, so there's no more things to endlessly purchase.
--Brian

On the other hand, there is a LOT of stuff.

So what with #mandomonday and all, here's the next batch of Stormtroopers:

And individually

Jet Troopers in Rebels colours

Heavy Stormtroopers. I'm pretty happy with how they all came together in the end.

On to advent matters. Today, a frosty Barbarian archer and a "light" beer.

This annoys me: Light is a style of ale, not a faddish low-cal thing. I suspect this is to be drunk cold and disposed of. I had the Cloudwater and it was indeed excellent, along with an Irish Red ale (meh, red ales should have a rich depth of flavour - this was just... meh) and an IPA so forgettable I can't even think of the name. The Barbarian, on the other hand, is another great model, very Frostgrave (not that I play it) - but I just really like these characterful wee fantasy figs. I strongly, strongly suspect I'm going to let the kids paint the majority of them (although the wife REALLY like the Halfling adventurer from the other day ) as a xmas project. Mad Hettie (Day 1) is still the absolute winner so far, though the bone pile is up there.

Am taking part in the Gaslands Secret Santa. I haven't Gasland-ed in ages, but I thought it would be nice to put together a box of cool cars and bits for someone. So many folk are stuck in the house unable to get good toys, I thought rather than making something I'll do a glory box. Does that sound reasonable, or should I make something instead?

Merrily we roll along,
Graven


Automatically Appended Next Post:
When da big gobbo said we waz gettin a pony I fought it would 'elp me! #mlgadvent

Just realised - 9 figs to go to crack 900!

Paradigm wrote:"They fly now?"
"They fly now!"

Jet troopers look real neat with that extra dash of colour, and the Imperial output as a whole is nice and coherent. Need a shot of the whole force at some point, I imagine it's more numerous than some SW Legion armies!

900 is a truly staggering figure, you'll breeze past it though!

I really enjoyed doing them, and I'm glad the boy demanded that I do them in Rebels colours. And a group shot is coming, I need to audit what's left to do (and, realistically, think about another storage box). I don't about breezing through, because can't prime anything new just now - not risking it till we're a steady 10+ - so much as I'd like to start on Moonstone/Reaper stuff, it's likely that I'll continue to push through IA:
Heroes (9): Biv Bohdrik, Saska Teft, Onar Koma, Shyla Varad, Vinto Hreeda, Loku Kanoloa, Verena Talos, Davith Elso, Murne Rin
Allies (3): Lando, Echo Base Troopers (2)
Mercenaries (22): Ugnaught Tinkerer (3), Wing Guard (6), Tusken Raiders (4), Gamorrean Guards (4), Weequay Pirates (4), Rancor
So, just a couple of things Big Bane and Display Superman are calling me also though, but they're very much long-term projects. It's the eternal dilemma of wanting to get stuff done but not wanting to feel pressured leading to burnout. For all that we joke about hobby ADHD, the channel-hopping is a very necessary part of keeping one's interest. I also have some unbuilt Void 1.1 Viridians (great generic sci-fi figs)

Still, in the meantime, MHD-19, medical droid, and a bunch of crates:

These are repurposed Deadzone crates I was using as motherboxes for DC, but never actually got around to finish painting. A quick and easy job, and now colour coded for IA. Plus the droid from Hoth, who is a bit crap as a character but AMAZING as an ally. I feel I'm going down a slightly risky path painting my Hoth bases differently, as that leads to different bases by expansion - and at that point, I might as well paint the bases properly so we'll see. The rancor almost certainly will get a proper, bone covered base, as befits so mighty a beast.
Speaking of beasts:

Lovely Naga warrior fig, one of the best so far.

Quick tally of the rest of pile:
Primed - Bane the Bat (Display), Superman (Display), Red Hood (Rebirth), Thomas Wayne (City of Bane)
Unprimed - Reaper advent figs (10 currently, obviously), Moonstone Goblin Starter, Faeries, Human Starter and townsfolk expansion (14), Imperial Assault 3D terminals.
Unbuilt - 20 Viridian Marines, AI Avenger Strike Fighters (planning 2 Imperial Navy, 1 "Ghost"/Tau scheme, 1 looted)

In addition, a mate is printing me some DC figs, unused KM prototypes, which is exciting. Plus, Mantic assure me that my review copy of Armada is on its way, hoping for that by the end of the week



Looking forward to "Fly Solo" at the weekend, boys are really keen to carry on with the IA campaign, finding their feet with the characters and rules. Super happy they've earned a droid to tootle about with them and very excited to try to get Han as an ally for the team.
So, on we go,
Graven

You're not wrong I am not a fan of Sours at all, and life is too short to drink crap beer. I suspect that I'll try this, in the spirit of advent-ure, only to discard. Hazy beers I'm less anti-, I have no problem with unfiltered beers (hey, I don't tend to filter my home brew), as long as you're not contending with lumps.

Fifty wrote:Page 365?

That is as many pages as there are years in a day!

I really like the Stormtroopers on the previous page.

Lol I almost wish I had more Stormtroopers to do... Almost

Yorkright wrote: Your hitting it out of the ballpark with all these minis at the end of the year. Those Stormtroopers look great as does all the beer.

You're most kind. The beer has been good - even the fake empire (which on the reverse is called The Empire Fruits Back ) was remarkably pleasant. Last night, carried on with my dive into Doom Patrol, and worked on the scum of Tatooine:

Weequay Pirates. Elites are the two with bloody knives and different skin tones. Yes, I did the bases

Tuskens. Urooo-ururururur etc.

And Gamorrean Guards, everyone's favourite pigs... in... spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

Group shot. And what's that monolith in the background?

7% of lethal beer and some lovely reaper crystals - more excellent fantasy (or sci-fi, I suppose) scatter.
Weekend looking busier, supposed to upgrading to Fibre, router still not come though so no wifi in the house. We'll actually have to talk to each other or something...
Till next time,
Graven.

Theophony wrote:

Spoiler:

Gamoreen are second rate at best

No Wifi is the internets way of getting you to a thousand models this year.

Otherwise you'd have to play non-electronic games and read stuff like comic books....both of which are definitely not part of your lifestyle.

This is all true lol.

Briancj wrote:Those crystals paint up well.

Spoiler:

--Brian

they're lush Brian, what was your base recipe?

Viterbi wrote:Sooooo much Star Wars goodness From Clone Wars I knew that there are jump troops, but didn't know they had translated to the Stormtrooper days. Great paintjob on them and all the other stuff.

Thanks man. Yeah, they're great, and fun models to do.

CommissarKhaine wrote:Loving all the models as always, those additions to your star wars collection will add some nice variety. Now you'll just need to build Jabba The Hutt's palace .
Good luck on the internetz issues!

Well, I have a rancor that rather needs my attention... Hmmmmmmmm...

After a holiday on Tatooine, how about a break on Bespin?

Lando has always been my favourite star wars character

Sweet space cape! And wing guard

I heart Bespin


On the subject of Star wars,
So one of my mates has been printing me some stuff. These are unused KM prototypes in STL form.

Atrocitus, Rage Incarnate, Tyrant of Ysmault

Apparently, they found this too graphic.

Karu Sil, Fear Itself

Too hard to manufacture. Shame, she's one of the most fun sinestro corps members

Arisia Rrab, Indomitable Will

Went with a different sculpt because reasons, so I might use this for a Red Lantern paintjob of her, or possibly Supergirl - vengeance of those who died because of wilfull ignorance

Mary Harker, Queen of Blood

Too obscure lol. Again, might modify her to make Bleez, semi naked red lantern demon lady. Like all the best/rationale red lanterns, Bleez is an avenging spirit, vengeance of sexual violence.

Mera and Cyborg, DCEU versions

No demand?! Pah. Again, Mera will get red lantern treatment - vengeance of the ruined seas.

And, non KM... Din Djarin & Grogu!

Yes, that's the Mandalorian and Child.

And the wife's reaction to this last one in particular?
...
"Why don't you just get yourself a 3D printer?"

Result!
So at some point, I think an elegoo Mars 2 pro is in the offing but I'm open to advice.

Had a couple of games of Imperial Assault this weekend. First, they rescued Han...

Then, climbed a mountain with Leia.

Ran into some trouble.

Lot of fun. Kids finally learning the rebels are always against the clock.
Unfortunately, their next mission is a spice run to clear their debts with Jabba. It's interesting (bear in mind this campaign is set immediately after episode 4) as they know that, on some level, they will fail, but they're still super excited. A very well conceived game, though it does favour the Rebel player. But that's ok when they're older we'll up the difficulty level (good scalable mechanics exist for that also). I do worry about replay value for the base campaign but I think you can potentially construct the campaign in such a way that it plays out differently after the first mission. And hey, I'm the GM, after all tbh having deep SW lore does help with the story, for today's game I used a plot point from an episode of Rebels to flesh out the narrative, and it really added to impetus and immersion for them: they went off and spent the rest of the afternoon building minifig versions of the characters. Job done!
And before I forget, weekend beers and minis:

Lovely drow will cut you if you break lockdown

The boy nicked this for his nighthaunts in under a minute.
Hey ho, and on we go,
Graven

Paradigm wrote:Lando looking appropriately suave, nice work on the Galaxy's best-dressed chap and his security detail.

Looking forward to the Red Lanterns assembling, some neat minis there and look like great prints to boot. Atrocitus himself I actually prefer the released version, same for Arisia. And Din and Grogu look great. If you ever fancy a larger scale (75mm) Mando, this one prints really nicely, the same guy also does a Boba Fett I need to get round to.
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-bounty-hunter-75mm-131392

Lots of advice on prospective printer purchasing down in (naturally) the 3d printing subforum, so worth digging through some of those threads. The main thing they won't tell you about is the need to build an extension for all the new minis you'll be cranking out! *looks guiltily at desk overflowing with Dwarves, Orcs, barbarians, dragon people, fish people and.a large scale inquisitor*

Well, that's not the full fig for Atrocitus, there's a base to come also - this was the planned 60mm display version, to go with Brightest Light and Lord of Fear. I love the regular Atrocitus also, it's a banging sculpt, but I do love the brutality of this one. I am aware of the depths of the printer sub-forum, but it's always good to get the wisdom of my trusted pals Elegoo Mars Pro 2 seems the best bet for me, I think. Reasonable price-point for the hobbyist, and I'm definitely leaning to resin over filament.

Briancj wrote:Honestly, it was just GW's "The Fang" with some splotches of medium brown, and then an "Agrax Earthshade" wash.
--B.

Hey, looks ace regardless, Brian.

Yorkright wrote: I really cannot keep up with all these great Star Wars minis your painting. I think your wife has the right idea you should get a 3D printer you certainly will get a lot of use out of it.
Thanks for sharing your gaming stories and pics with the family it’s good to see someone gaming. Plus who wouldn’t want to adventure in the SW universe!

You're most kind Funnily enough, small boy spied the Forces and Destiny (SW RPG) advert on the side of the Return to Hoth box and got very excited Can't get it any more but might be something to think on. Interested to see what Atomic Mass do with the SW license generally. Next weekend the boys are doing a Spice Run but sadly they will return to discover Yavin 4 in ruins. Imperial Assault is some game, I tell you.

Viterbi wrote:Lovely work on Lando, although him holding the cape looks a bit weird. Have the nagging feeling he wants to pull it in front of his face, Dracula or Lrrr style
And it's so great seeing the kids getting involved in the hobby, can't wait for my boys to get a bit older and also start them on the good path

I think he just likes folk to check out his fabulous cape action Yeah, absolutely corrupt the smallfolk

endtransmission wrote:I've an older Elegoo Mars and absolutely love it, so the 2 Pro will be a really solid investment for you. Soo you will be churning out more figures than you can possibly keep on top of...

Llamahead wrote:Word of advise about the Bones figures prime with care. I brush on cheap craft acrylic as it just doesn't work with the spray paint I use. Equally it means you can get started with them.

Appreciated. Luckily, the lovely folk at Mighty Lancer Games (who do the calendar) include a warning insert in day 1 to avoid spray primer

Briancj wrote:
These posts are excellent primers (heh) to using Reaper Bones:
https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/48668-bones-preparation-glues-putties-mould-lines-etc/
--Brian

Hmm, I may have to invest...

Aside from over-excited little miss rumbling in at 3am (she's Mary in her nativity today), am generally pretty fine as we hit the last full week of term. Lovely weekend - we had no wifi (new fibre router escaped from Wales but got stuck in Yorkshire, finally sorted this evening) so it was all colouring, crafting, board games and DVDs - actually really chilled out. Lots of cake too possibly some beverages were imbibed also.

Ugnaught Tinkerers next; I added a gs cap and goggles to distinguish the elite version:

I have spoken Pretty pleased with how my quick Kuill conversion turned out. I did think about losing the droid arm but, honestly, it's SO Kuill that I really couldn't looking forward to using IG-88 as his Elite Junk Droid The last two generic troops are Echo Base Troopers very annoying that they're a 2-pack not a 4-pack, and I'm loathe to buy more (maybe I could print some somehow - and then hey, other poses, more stormtroopers... )

Now it's just the remaining characters and the Rancor (which I'm not touching till I get some brown primer).

Today's... brew:

Yup, a hag squatting over her cauldron. So much character in the figure, fun model, sort of Baba-Yaga vibe.

I've got some moonstone to build, tiny delicate things. Lovely figs, but intimidating. Other than that, I'm still dithering over the big display figs. I'm actually kinda enjoying the horde painting thing
Graven

Well now, today's "miniature" is simply the best yet:

And with display Wonder Woman for scale.

I did consider positioning his spear to cover the L of CLOCKWORK
I'm really excited to be facing the challenge of this fella. I plan on using him as Ares, I think - he certainly seems divine enough. He's a Spartan Living Statue, and granted it's more of an Achilles vibe - but still, I love it, and he makes a great antagonist for my Amazons - ruleswise, I'd probably run him just as Doomsday or Darkseid. I'm only slightly sad I don't have the female version I also discovered that I can Vallejo white primer for £2.45 same day delivery via amazon, so that was an easy choice

Viterbi wrote:I was like "Cice spartan, he looks... oh, no trousers or loincloth, ok" And interesting scale shot.

I *might* gs him a loincloth - if I do him in flesh tones. Not sure, honestly. Marble and verdigris are also possibilities.

Theophony wrote:Well the no loin cloth caused WW to whip her head around quick .

What is the hag doing squatting over the Cauldron . Probably better not answered.

The tinkerers look great, nice GS work.

I know, I had the same AWFUL thought about the hag and thanks

tzurk wrote:Nice work on the tinkerers! Goggles look great and it's interesting how a few variations in shade and tone can help differentiate the duplicate bodies.

Excited for both new minis!

I'd vote for keeping the nudity and making him marble but I'm sure you'd pull off whatever you tried on him...

No jokes about pulling off naked dudes. Yeah I'm leaning towards marble for sure. Thanks re: Ugnaughts, they were surprisingly enjoyable to do.

Llamahead wrote:Honestly for Ares the Mythic Battles Pantheon version can't be beat.......

That's... An interesting idea.

Today's treats:


Big reorganization pre Xmas. Lots o' box juggling.
Graven

Don Qui Hotep wrote:I'm getting a big kick out of these combination hobby updates/beer reviews. Love the idea of a Reaper Holiday Calendar, I'm going to have to check that out for next year.

Lando look badass as he should, I really like the cape, it looks like it's silky/reflective like it was in Empire!

edited for accidental double-post

Lol I know the feeling, just had to tweak one of my own! Yeah, it's a logical combo. I was inspired by adventureswithpeps on instagram, plus the fact that I can't be arsed doing more than one insta post. Also, it turns out, it drives up interest Lando is the boss, every time.

Red Harvest wrote:Lando is cool. keeping with the beer theme, decorate his base with a few cans of Colt .45 malt liquor.
Seeing these minis reminds about how good the first 2 Star Wars movies were and how not good the rest were
The Hag and her cauldron...I've heard the expression grunting on the can, so grunting on the cauldron works. Oh, and Reaper now has a Baba Yaga hut with some scary realistic chicken legs. The hut itself does not look particularly Slavic though. Sadness there.

I love him as Harvey Dent, actually, and the fact that he plays him in Lego Batman is genius. I had seen that hut, it's not bad, if impractical as a game piece I have her on her tub for Hellboy also.

Steadily chipping away at the remaining Heroes for Imperial Assault, first one finished is Biv Bodhrik, Rebel Guerilla:

Heck of a model, and really interesting in game: he's generally ahead of the power curve to start with (cos he has a honking great gun that he can also bludgeon with) but plateaus much more quickly that any other.(limited choice of extra gear/skills)

Can't believe I freehanded a rebel logo. And then weathered fudge it of it
And futher adventures in advent, aside from the large and lethal beer:
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Disappointingly, yesterday was a double do two halflings make a pint?

Today, however, more than made up for this with a pair of tiny super-cute robots. I love them, and whether they are pottering about a space station or causing murderous mayhem as Joker toys, they're an absolute winner. They're going to get a tin-toy candy paint jobs, that's for sure, one red and one blue - I think I'll call them RK-M and SK-M
A Facebook advert got me yesterday, Diception popped up with a promo Red Hood Joker (new edition), so that was an easy choice for £14. Xmas, baby. Otherwise, pottering along. My S3 (14/15) asked me yesterday if they could watch an Xmas movie... So we're watching Batman Returns
Hey ho-ho-ho,
Graven

CommissarKhaine wrote:Wow, you really keep on churning them out, nice work! Those robots do loo super cute indeed; what was you issue with the halflings? they seem like decent models?

Thanks buddy. I don't have an issue with the Halflings per se, it's just that this was the second time I got the fig in the calendar. I think the individual fig is ace, just no use for two the same.

aku-chan wrote:Awesome Lando!

Cheers chum!

Gitsplitta wrote:So, I'm getting the impression that Brew Dog is the IPA center of the universe...

Nah I'm just working my way through their calendar it's funny, I remember 20 years ago it was really, really hard to get a good IPA. Deuchars IPA was the only Scottish IPA on draught and it's foul (IPA on draught is historically a challenging thing, as the whole point is that it matures in the cask in the hold of a ship). These days, there's plenty of great IPA (draught, bottle or can) but there's a lot of adulterated rubbish also that uses hops to hide poor flavour. Williams Brothers' Joker IPA is probably the best draught there is, but Brewdog's Punk IPA is the backbone of their business and very commercially available. Plus, I have shares, so I get discount online and in their bars.

Llamahead wrote:Pah it's canned true IPA is draft or at least bottled......

Very true lol.

I had a very pleasant afternoon with my kids. I got Onar Koma, dangerous mercenary hero, painted

All the while using slave labour to prime:

#thisistheway

Saturday's advent, as you may have spied, was this:

I don't like sours at the best of times, and now I know what comes out of the Grinch's anus. That Martian is another matter entirely, amazing fig and perfect addition to my Martian coaching staff - his brain is a little big for the Mantic plexi hoods but I'll manage, I'm sure.

Today, however, is another matter:

I don't know what a spiky IPA is, but I'm excited to find out love the citizen figure. *Edit- turns out a bitter edge. Lovely.

The boys attempted to boost some Spice from the Hutts:

They did ok, not brilliantly. But then, Chewie never did manage to pull off a successful enough job to throw the Hutts off Han's trail.

Had a big zoom catch up with my best bitches (as they refer to themselves), a group of fellow Scottish media teachers. Good to have some human contact, after a fashion at least Meanwhile, I got on with the other heroes

Davith Elso, young Jedi

Fun with OSL

Shayla Varan

Might've painted her as Bo-Katan

Speaking of repaints

Saska Teft as Dr Aphra

Given that they did her psychotic droids, the least one could do is her. Tsk. I'll use her as an elite ISB agent I think.
Hmm, who's this scoundrel?

Verena Talos, essentially a gender switched Han.

Not everyone's a fighter

Murne Rim, Ithorian agent

He's great in game. Terrible physically, but can give orders to enemy figures
And collected team of Rebel Scum

Just leaves the Rancor. Loved every bit of this. Sadly, one of my mates is threatening to print me extra stormtroopers

The older boy also started teaching the younger AoS...

Went fairly well despite a not inconsiderable amount of rage quitting.


Meanwhile, tiny madam Halfling has loved being able to paint figs:

Not bad for a 4 year old.

And I got some paint on a Repeat fig too:

I'm Bat Man! Well, Bat Beast Boy

All the best my friends, stay safe in these strangest of days.
Graven

CommissarKhaine wrote:Lovely models, and my condolences on that first beer, glad the second one came out better! And a double mini in an advent calendar is a shame indeed. Random is random I guess.

It's not a big deal, tiny madam loved painting it and I've got an extra if I want to do one. More importantly, it's really got me thinking about Reaper figs to pick up for myself for random projects.

Briancj wrote:Please drop an email to Reaper, and they'll fix your advent fig problem in a jiff. They have /awesome/ customer support!
--Brian

Well, technically it's Mighty Lancer Games in the UK, not Reaper themselves, that do the calendar.

Slinky wrote:Star Wars IA stuff is v cool, I have been thinking of picking that up to play with my boys

Do it, it's great for Dad-gaming, and even when things go wrong, it still feels fluffy, which is great game design. It's also very easy to tweak things: so, for example, I swapped out a couple of imperial things from that last mission (which is from the base set) to add in the Weequay and Gamorreans from the Jabba's Palace set as it just made sense. Sadly, the Rebel Scum are about to get attacked by elite Imperial troops in their supply base. In the main game it's Royal Guard and the Royal Guard Champion but to my mind that doesn't feel quite right (as if they'd be away from the Emperor hunting down ragtag rebels) so I may switch them out for a mix of Elite Regular and Heavy Stormtroopers with Kayn Somos, the Stormtrooper commander - although the Royal Guard Champion is PARTICULARLY terrifying in game - he's like one of Snoke's Praetorians, so I have to keep the power balance right.

Theophony wrote:The IA models are really coming along nicely.
I know Luke’s APS had a video on Howe to prime any time of the year, and being from the UK, he might give some insights so you can release your slaves .....or task them to other chores .

Ach, it's ok. I have plenty to be going on with. Also Reaper plastic does not respond well to sprays. Keeps em busy

Solar_lion wrote:Nice to see all the work you have been doing. A lot to catch up on.
Great that the kids are so involved and making the most out of the stay home situation.

Well, it's that or ACTUAL murder

Yorkright wrote: Just have to concur with the rest about the IA minis, very well done Graven. Good to see the gravenspawn having fun with minis and gaming. Keep up the great work and stay safe.

That's certainly the aim, on all counts

endtransmission wrote:You seem to be churning through the IA figures nicely. How far off are you from complete now?

Just the rancor, in terms of what I own. I've finished adding some bones to base (there's a Kroot skull on there too ) so just waiting to prime. Otherwise, we'll see what Satan brings

Got a fantastic early Xmas gift from Kitbash games:

Meep the space monkey and Kyla, which I'll be using as Detective Chimp (or possibly an agent for Hellboy) and Terra from the Teen Titans.


Monday's haul

Milkshake IPA? Tropical at that?!! Stop messing with my beer damnit! And a chibi. I hate chibis. I knew there would be one, it's inevitable. For all my interest in Japanese culture, just not a fan of the BESM kawaii aesthetic etc. I'm even indifferent on FunkoPops, even though I have a couple (gifts - a Lando and a Batman). Still, girl-spawn thinks it's cute, so it's another for her. I suspect I will fill the back and steal the bat wings - you never know when you need a set of bat wings - and the cobblestone base is rather nice too. Priorities

Tuesday - last day of school!

Now that's some haul. Elvis Juice, but lethal. And a Klegg! Well, a space lizard, but perfect for a Klegg, the vicious alien mercenaries from Dredd. If I were being niggly I might put it on a 40mm base (looks a bit daft with the overhang) but meh. I picked up the Strontium Dog rules - same ruleset as Dredd, but has the custom creation rules - so can knock together stats for the killer Croc (ahem). Slicey-slicey oncey-twicey!
In fact...

Better base, better beer. Well, better than the tropical travesty (it wasn't awful, actually, just like drinking fizzy pineapple).
Not much on the paint slab atm. I want to spend decent time/effort on the final DC figs - lots of cape work means lots of wet blending, so actually need time to do so (granted, no wet blending required for Red Hood, but as Rebirth Jason is my favourite, I want to do it justice). I'm hoping that festive lockdown will give me time to do so. Speaking of comics, I've massively downsized my pull-list for DC, as the backlog was starting to stress me out (much to my wife's amusement #nerdworldproblems), so now it's just Batman, Detective Comics, Hellblazer, Red Hood, Nightwing, Green Lantern and Far Sector. I realise I have read the last 75+ issues of Flash out of a weird sense of obligation, and both Wonder Woman and Superman have really gone downhill. It's interesting that there is ZERO chat about Endless Winter - yet another BIG DC CROSSOVER TM - partly because it's getting overshadowed by Future State, partly because of crossover fatigue, I suspect. I am looking forward to getting back into IDW (Transformers, Canto), BRPD and new Star Wars comics, which I've totally lost track of.
Off now till... 6th, depending on what they decide. So Xmas, here we come!
Graven

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Lovely job on the Ithorian! Always wanted to know what they were called. Only played IA a few times, but I played a similar support-type character and had a blast. The OSL job on the young jedi is great too.

I'm on the record as a fan of milk stouts (on nitro if possible), so I'm happy with a milkshake-type beer; but a milkshake IPA is not for me. Thank you for taking on the burdens of beer review, we appreciate the sacrifices you make!

Cheers matey! The mix of characters makes for a great game - everyone's got something to do. Granted, I think Hellboy does it BETTER but IA has its charms.
I prefer an oatmeal stout or porter, myself. The consumption of the beer is a cross I must bear. Speaking of which, my mother provided me with a couple of proper English ales along with our Xmas wine (noice), the Spitfire you see above (from my home county in the Home Counties) and Marston's Pedigree (a fine London bitter). Comforts of old indeed. Where I grew up we had 3 pubs (a Shepherd Neame - they of Spitfire - a Marston's and a Harvey's (that one literally at the end of the road) within a ten minute walk, so you grew to appreciate an English ale.

I *suppose* I had better paint something.

This is the way.

Season 1 Mando. Not quite NMM, but a lot of those principles.

Capework

Slightly concerned the Child looks more evil than cute

Detail on the crib.
Overall, very pleased. Used an extremely limited set of colours (VJ air black, air mahogany, deck tan and Arctic White, livery Green for Grogu and a speck of air blue for Din's shoulder and wrist details), all blended. I've been avoiding washes and drybrushing for the SW stuff as a whole, and I think it's paying off in the aesthetic overall.

Today's penultimate advent haul:

I love a good bystander figure. And how fitting, given the comments about stout above. The tendency to lean into the chocolate on stouts is not my favourite, but I'll give it a bash.
Still, appeals to my movie nerd:
Layer Cake is one of those great underrated movies, broke Daniel Craig into the mainstream, plus Tom Hardy, Michael Gambon and Colm Meaney all on top form (and great direction from Matthew Vaughan). Craig and Vaughan were originally picked to collaborate on Thor off the back of it, funnily enough. So referencing it with a beer definitely appeals
Xmas is coming, and I've yet to start the cooking slightly concerned that I'm giving myself a lot of prep tomorrow, but I'm sure it'll be FINE...
Graven

Viterbi wrote:Had a lot of catching up to do, great stuff as always. Loved the OSL on the young Jedi and your boy's shirt which, if I'm not mistaken, spells "this is not a moon"? And mad respect for the painting skills of your daughter at age 4 My boys aren't yet interested in working with brushes, may try that out again next year, I have some minis I really don't need they can practice on.

raise em right yeah, it's a fully operational battle station on it

Fifty wrote:
This is what I like to see!
Did the older one play fair?

He did, though made some very gracious... Errors

Slinky wrote:Top beer choice

Faversham's finest when we were under 18 we were allowed to drink outside at the Ostler's Hook (not the name of the pub, but a metal pinion sticking out the wall in the car park), owing to an historic by-law that allowed stable hands a jar for their time standing by waiting to attend the horses of the rich. Decent excuse for a drink if you're 16

Don Qui Hotep wrote:

inmygravenimage wrote:
Slightly concerned the Child looks more evil than cute

Well that's just children, innit? Great job on Mando and Baby, i like the brown base to the white crib and the armor, fits the gritty, lived-in Star Wars vibe.

Good luck on cooking prep! That Layer Cake beer is tantalizing. Hope it was a successful drink.

Now this is advertising.

Thanks matey, a valid point and I'm as you like it! That was absolutely the aim, it was done over dark grey prime and then all lined with mahogany for that exact reason - hurrah! I've not risked the beer yet, though the Elvis Hammer was astounding, possibly the best of the lot (so far).

Got an AMAZING supply drop from Mantic. I'd ordered a few 1st ed refbots but one of them was missing an arm. No biggy, I'm using them to be a rogue broken bot team but happened to mention to warehouse manager in the group chat. Then this happened:

That's ... Some refbots speaking of which, whatever happened to the broken bot?

Boiling water is my friend. One prone refbot!

Oh! Also, this came:

Really looking forward to digging in. First impressions are it's VERY pretty. Merry Mantic Xmas! I think 2021 is definitely going to favour Fantasy between this, Moonstone, Jaws of the Lion and Shadows of Brimstone.

I bought WD yesterday for the first time in forever. I got it for the (delayed) Aeronautica stuff on looted flyers and tau human allies. Interesting, but hardly justifies the cover price. Still, has got me thinking, and I have plan

And the final advent:

I must've been a good boy this year (or perhaps a clever girl) to get the one Reaper mini I really wanted from my mlgadvent calendar - and a lovely brew as well! Now Beast Boy can be a dinosaur!

Today will involve food prep, tidying and Xmas crafting. Doubt there will be much nerding.

Best of the season, to you and yours,
Graven

CommissarKhaine wrote:I love how you keep churning everything out, it's hard to keep up just reading . That carnosaur is a lovely model indeed, and loving the little baby Yoda (just finished S2 of The Mandalorian, loving every second of it).
Enjoy the festivities!

It's a great show, very satisfying. And thanks man, although I doubt 2021 will be quite so productive

endtransmission wrote:Great stuff there. I sort of lost track of DC shortly after New 52 started, I'm more of a Marvel guy due to the digital subscription. There are some really good Star Wars comics at the moment.

Did you get the IA card from last month's WD by the way? If not, PM me your address and I'll stick it in the post as I have no need.

I am the opposite, I know enough about marvel to be conversant at the level of your average nerd but no more, really. As for DC, OTOH, I am pathetically über nerd. And, thanks, you're an absolute gent sir

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Ooh, Armada looks really cool. Excited to see your opinions, I've been low-key looking for a good naval game every since Dystopian Wars went belly-up. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Afaik there is a new reboot if dystopian wars? But just opening armada and it's so pretty. The mat is huge - 44x30 - enough tokens, but not FFG quantities, some MDF ones for faction specific stuff (nice), different coloured bubble wrap around the ships and bits for the 2 fleets (genius), no bubbling, warping or other casting issues I can see; first impressions are very positive.

Well Xmas has been... Interesting. Turned on my fan oven to bake cinnamon rolls, and it wouldn't heat past 50 degrees. I have double oven but this has been... Interesting... my top oven is a bit temperamental so I unscrewed the thermometer from my BBQ and put in the oven instead. It held 160 despite being on full blast... Turkey was ok. Bit of juggling, but ironically for the first time ever everything was ready EXACTLY on time and, I might add, delicious. Not bad for a 6.5kg Turkey in an oven that barely fitted it.

On the plus side, I got this:

Wife is evil. Evil I say. I'd actually decided AGAINST a printer, and she gets me this?! Wicked woman. So dutifully ordered myself a curing chamber off Amazon, a bit of an indulgence but it's not like I paid for a printer Her sister got me RotJ Luke Skywalker for SWIA, whilst my folks got me (amongst other oddments) Aeronautica Tau assets and (randomly) Lego Minions - odd, but cool - and a flagon (yup) of St Ayle's golden ale, which was glorious. There's hope for them yet I also got a nerd drop from erithromycin of a custom carry case for gaslands along with a LOT of new toy cars to customise. I haven't really done much Gaslands in a long while so some toy cars might be fun.
Sometimes though, the toys we get ourselves are most glorious: I was seriously chuffed to find a promo anniversary red hood (well played, targeted Facebook advertising) for a decent price, and because he should be on a 40mm base decided to customise accordingly. Hopefully it will look... Ace also picked up the tokens and buildings from Strontium Dog for a song, so that was a nice wee bonus.
Hope likewise your festive season has been successful,
Graven

Gitsplitta wrote:Ohmygosh... 3d printer in your hands! Dakka just became a much more interesting place!

Dangerous place. DANGEROUS.

Theophony wrote:I’m glad you have given into the printing universe .

You can do more than just make cookies

Well, having done the test print of the Rook files that come with it, I have put together my first plate for stuff: a Tiefling for use as Blue Devil, a couple of Transformers cinematic blasts for the boy to use in his stop motions, a pillar for Shadows of Brimstone, an R5 unit and a console for SWIA:

First prints on my Mars Pro 2, done in 1hr 47. Thoughts and queries, L-R.

R5 and visitor bust - both worked perfectly, very happy.
Targa pillar - slight bulging, I wonder if this is because rather than printing vertically I printed it on its side and the resin has pooled?
Console - you can see that the base has cracked where I removed it from the plate with a metal scraper. This is my biggest worry, that I'm finding it really hard to release things from the plate; any advise?
Tiefling - arms have collapsed completely, should I have added supports? (And if so, how?!)
Not pictured - 2 cinematic blast effects for transformers that simply didn't print. Weird.

Slinky wrote:A whole new world!

As long as it's not the awful remake, that's fine lol.

viterbi wrote:that was very evil, giving you a 3d printer :d already excited for your forays into printing with it next year. even more interesting stuff should pop up here

Entirely evil, I quite agree

First impressions from starting Shadows of Brimstone (City of the Ancients) with my kids:

So, the game is fun they are enjoying it, and find the mechanics intuitive. We seem to rack up stuff fairly quickly and that gives a good sense of progression that they find satisfying. Trips to frontier towns seem to run a disproportionately high chance of negative results. I can see, perhaps, why folk recommend the expansion to iron that out.

Personally, I find the minis a bit irritating from a build side - lack of base tabs, quite gappy, monopose yet fussy. Plastic is good quality, nice details, and fairly evocative.

Their impressions compared to other games: the older one doesn't feel particularly immersed in the game world, in the way he does with licensed products, but likes the supernatural horror elements. The younger really likes the setting, and weaving the story together. However, even after just a couple of games he's noticing a samey quality to the monsters. They both like the encounters and the variety that brings, and the older particularly liked the fact that we ran into Goliath relatively early (that boy does love Cthulhu). So, first impressions are broadly positive; it'll be interesting to work our way fully through the COTA campaign and see how they feel at the other end.
On to a lot of gap filling
Does pain me not to playing with painted minis, but there you are.
Later, we're going to try Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion... Wish me luck
Graven

@Paradigm thanks so much for the outstanding advice. Much to chew on.

Syro_ wrote:That's cool to hear that your boy is making stop-motion.

He's been playing with Stop Motion Pro for a couple of years now. Of course, now he's distracted by 3D modelling

endtransmission wrote:Nice work with the prints. For the pillar, did you have supports on it at all, or flat on it's side on the build plate?

SoB can feel a little samey with just one of the boxes. When you start adding in the expansion sets and new otherworlds it becomes crazily varied as the sheer number of monsters can become a challenge in itself. I'd suggest picking and choosing the expansions that appeal to you (while sticking to the otherworld themes) and slowly growing. I've got everything from the first two kickstarters and havn't seen half of it yet. The next best purchase is the other wild west starter box as you'll have 4 more heroes to pick from and a new selection of monsters. There are loads of new missions and monsters on BGG as well

Good advice squire. Is the other Wild West starter Swamps? Struggling to find it but will continue to keep an eye out. The pillar was flat on its side - a mistake I've learned from

Speaking of which, we're setting up print number 3:

Another pillar, a test tree, a pre-supported dwarf beer wench, another attempt at a cinematic blast effect, and a junk droid. The boy and I have been studying up...

Also, rather annoyingly, I picked up some epic thunderbolts and marauders, with a notion to orkify them, but they are TERRIBLY small.


So, if anyone wants them, fire me a pm. Dakka gets dibs.

On the other hand, I also got a Reaper Bones Astrolabe and it's HUGE! too big, really - I was thinking it would be 40mm high ish, instead it's about 100 and ~60 across the bottom. But I love it. So I shall build it, and it will appear in games as scenery the astrolabe is a size 2 object in Hellboy - person sized - whereas this is ... A... Bit... Bigger but then quite fitting for arcane instruments

Today, we tried Gloomhaven - Jaws of the Lion. Older boy thought it was ok, not gripped by narrative, willing to give it a go, though wants to play some more SWIA. Younger boy really didn't like it, card driven combat mechanic primarily. I think it's possibly to old for them, or at least youngling - he's much more keen to keep going with Shadows and, tbh, I kinda see where he's coming from. Maybe it's my fondness for Deadlands, but it's the campaign I'm keen to get back to. Hey ho.
Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll have news of the print ...
Till then
Graven

CommissarKhaine wrote:Tiny indeed those epic models... Always love to see what people can do with 3D pirnters, I will need to get one at some point too...

It's a blessing and a curse, I'm discovering.

Briancj wrote:Big, but a great terrain piece for Epic D&D adventure. Also, more of an Orrery than an Astrolabe.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CH1XnRrndOz/

Quite so!

endtransmission wrote:
Yes, Swamps of Jargano, though the Forbidden Fortress starter is also really solid but doesn't follow the Wild West theme. It does, however, act as 2 new Otherworlds so you can start in Japan and can end up in the American desert anyway. Some fantastic monsters in that one.

If I could've got FoFo at the time, I would've. One for the future. Not going to run it of choices for expansion.

Right. Here's the first proper set of our prints:

Going through them:
Pre-supported dwarf beer wench, about 35mm (big for a dwarf), lovely figure and very informative for learning about placement of supports.
Tree, which allegedly was support free. Auto supported it, glad I did. I'll now do bigger versions.
Targa pylon, needed more support underneath, gone a bit wonky.
T3 droid, bit big (Legion, not SWIA) but happy with it regardless. I did the supports, worked well.
Ghostbusters blaster with peg for Transformers, with blast effect with own peg - boy did all the supports, and his reward is a full print is now in overnight of other blast effects.
That's tomorrow's excitement planned
Me and the boys took a dive down into the mines of Brimstone again...

Only to have the mine collapse at the end of the adventure, and have to find our way out! Excellent adventure, strong narrative, and great link to the next adventure which was likewise very enjoyable. Now we've found a gate to the Other World, guess I know where we're going next ...
2020 has been a very productive year, with all its ups and downs. I'll do a full review next week, but thanks all for you support. 930 painted - couldn't have done without you! I'd love to hear what your favourites were
Big nerd love,
Graven

Paradigm wrote:Hurrah, those prints look great. If you wanted the droid in a smaller scale for IA, Chitubox does let you rescale models, it's the third button down the left when you're laying out the plate. (just keep in mind it'll remove any supports, so rescale then support). That Dwarf looks like an Artisan Guild one if I'm not mistaken, they are great to learn from as their presupports are generally very well done, I've printed loads of theirs with few errors.

930 is a hell of a score, one to be proud of!

Well it turns out the T3 droid really is that big, so I'm not fussed. The wench is indeed Artisan's guild, though I only now discover they are 54mm learning process on my next print I'm going scale down one of their demon portals for general use.

aku-chan wrote:930 minis in a year is incredible, I wish I could achieve just a fraction of that!

It WAS a very strange year, to be fair.

Slinky wrote:930 is jaw-dropping, particularly when you look at the consistently high quality of your output!
Bravo, sir, bravo!

Lol quantity over quality, truly.

Me and the boys finished phase 1 of our Brimstone campaign today:

We collapsed the mine that was causing the townsfolk's troubles, levelled up but found many mysterious artefacts from another world - guess campaign part two beckons!

We printed out a set of cinematic blast effects for Transformers overnight, riding the Earthrise hype:

One failed, randomly, and one missile had issues with its 3mm peg slot so I'm going to have to very carefully drill that out. But the rest worked brilliantly, and he's one very happy kid. War for Cybertron is go!

So here's a run down of my 21 hobby pledges for '21:
1) First and foremost - not to try to aim for any set number! If I do 365 (or more!), great, if not, not a big deal.
2) Build, paint and play Armada - got the starter stuff, just got to get it done!
3) Paint my remaining BMG and DCU figs - ideally before the new ones turn up!
4) Complete Dreadball - track down the last promo fig Tycho, try to track down a set of the promo Frenzy dice, maybe get an MDF pitch, and get the last couple of non-promos painted - and play some more [REDACTED]
5) Paint up Strontium Dog stuff - I've ended up with a set of the Scum of Universe and of course my not-Klegg, plus the building from the starter set, so that'll be fun - and play more Dredd vs SD vs AI opponents (tweaking our AI system!)
6) Paint up Reaper figs for the fun of it - no other reason needed!
7) Organise my Star Wars Imperial Assault Collection - this really means get another carry case Did I mention I got Luke Skywalker, Wookies and Hired guns at last?
8) Paint up some 3-D Prints - lots made, so let's do something with them!
9) Explore Shadows of Brimstone - it's a massive hit with the kids, and I'll take that and run with it.
10) Kitbash/print some more Aeronautica - haven't actually played in ages, so some hobby might help the motivation
11) Get back into Gaslands - haven't played with toy cars in ages. SHAME!
12) Learn how to use the printer a bit more - kinda obvious, but still...
13) Get a real-life game of BMG3rd - this is obviously hugely optimistic, but a guy can dream.
14) Play more AoS with the kids and help #2 get his AoS Stormcast up and running - he's shown an interest at last, so I need to figure out how to help him with that.
15) Finally get my Copperhead conversion finished - she's been sitting on my desk for ages
16) Build some Void 1.1 - ah, retro (ish) gaming. Loved a bit of Void back in the day, and I've got a squad of Viridian Interceptors to attend to.
17) Work on getting my painting back up to where I was 4 years ago - I've not really had any hand episodes this past year; the regular painting of the last year seems to have helped build up a lot of muscle strength. Now, it's about getting the technique back.
18) Give Gloomhaven JotL another go - it was a big investment, not ready to write it off yet!
19) Paint and play Moonstone - we've now got a mat and everything! Woo!
20) Reorganise my hobby desk drawer - I want to clear this out and make it solely for game components (cards, templates, dice), rather than the mish mash it is just now.
21) Finally, the big one - try to keep my hobby area tidy! Aye right
Best of the season to you all,
Graven

Theophony wrote:930 models is something most gamers I know will never paint in their entire LIFETIME, much less one year.

Glad the printer is working for you, at least mostly working.

Cheers! It really is, though I need to be a bit more disciplined about masks and gloves

Syro_ wrote:That's a lot planned for 2021, if we didn't already know what you are capable of we would think it was unrealistic
I hope you are able to get in some games of BMG. Out of curiosity what does army does your older son play in AoS? You've probably mentioned it, but if so I have forgotten.

Eldest plays nighthaunts, and trying to coerce younger into stormcast do he has an opponent other than my daemonic hordes.

Viterbi wrote:So, only triple digits in the end, shame on you scnr. 930 is mighty impressive and your plans for 2021 are pretty cool, excited for the things to come!

Lol you and me both

Yorkright wrote: Looking forward to your new resolutions and congrats on painting over 900 minis in a year. That 3D printer should keep you quite busy this year.

That's the hope/fear. Though my Curer (Mercury) timer button seems to have broken very annoying can still be operated. Maybe I'll print a be button

CommissarKhaine wrote:21 pledges? I'm happy if I can make 1 . Loving to hear about the 3d printing as well: most of my friends that have one seem to spend equal times troubleshooting and churning out brilliant stuff.

High time I painted something!

Careful. This R5's got a bad motivator.

So, go big or go home, right?

He's an angry chap. We had a great game of SWIA today:

I swapped out the Royal Guard Champion for Din Djarin, we decided he was Boba Fett with +2 accuracy (longer range) rather than Mobile (can move over terrain). Royal Guards were swapped for HKs and threat spent on IG-88.

They BARELY survived. It was GREAT
More prints, still scale testing

Tree at 150% is perfect. As feared, the SW STLs are for legion so everything else has been scaled back 90% - printing just now.
I printed an abyssal gate for Shadows also

Aiming to print another in this colour and two more in trans blue.

Sadly Tiefling too big, this time
Not sure if this chap is done yet or not

Trying my hand at marble


This is for this month's dakka contest. Never painted bones before, never tried marble, never tried this scale.
In the paint queue are the Carnosaur / Beast Boy and Red Hood just now.
Next on the print line, meanwhile, be some fantasy odds and ends. A Benkei (finally, a spear wielding Oni!), a Yuma (hungry ghost), giant bear, another portal and a soul sucking sorceress that boy is going to use as a counts-as Cairn Wraith I think. After that, I've got some Aeronautica files I want to play with, Imperial Agents and Salacious Crumb, plus attempting to fix the Targa Pillars. I mean I'll find other things too, I'm sure.
Graven

Don Qui Hotep wrote:New year, new techniques, and we're not even a week in! Really well done on the marble, did you use any shades or just layer on each color?

Thanks! Marble process was:
Prime vallejo white (Reaper don't like aerosol, and it's too bloody cold anyway)
Wash seraphim sepia
Drybrush vallejo deck tan
Draw in thin y shaped lines with Vallejo air mahogany
Edge thinned white around rounded surfaces and edges of dark lines
Spot highlight pure white.

Slinky wrote:Marble is nice, you can certainly tell it's marble

Thanks old son!

Theophony wrote:Marble is looking great, glad your having fun with the printer, once you get the hang of it there will be no stopping you.

We did the Rogue One crew but overdid the supports. Going to redo them so here's hoping. I got a fantastic bear printed for beast boy, another portal and the boy's undead efforts seemed to work well too.

tzurk wrote:Some wonderful things happening on this page! Loved reading about your games with your kids and interesting to hear their takes on the systems. Those energy blasts for the transformer look great - looks like the printer was a present for the whole family!
Marble is looking noice, I'm glad you kept the donger, and the eye glow is suitably menacing. I think maybe a few brighter highlights would help there but not sure - I've never painted it either.
What a year of progress! Those are super impressive numbers. Looking forward to seeing where 2021 takes you!

Thanks matey. Eye glow needs a lot more work, I agree. We're going to do the blasts again in trans blue, along wit the portals.

youwashock wrote:Big Marble looks cool! Rancor brings a smile to my face. Shadows of Brimstone > Gloomhaven.

Cheers! Yeah I'm this close to offloading Gloomhaven. I don't have space, time or money for a game that doesn't grab me and the kids, tbh, if I can reinvest that in something they WILL play.

Yorkright wrote: Hmm 4 days into the new year and your off to the races. That droid and Rancor look the part, well done on those two. Marbling is realistic on the statue and those prints look cool, do you have to wash them before putting ant paint on them?

Yeah, but just with water. Washable eco resin is great

Okay I'm happier now with the big fella.

Thanks for input gang.

Finishing up the holidays (well, my holidays) with a GREAT game of Imperial Assault

They had to break into a disused facility and then escape under fire. They narrowly made it into a secret tunnel, scoring a partial victory but next mission is now getting back through a forest crawling with Imps and AT-STs to their transport. I really think, on a related note, that I'm going to offload Gloomhaven. Life's too short to play games I'm not invested in, and I can exchange for an unplayed copy for Heart of the Empire (Coruscant expansion) with a mate who feels similarly about IA. Equally, I not only pre-ordered the new Dreadball expansion but threw in an Orc Smasha great ship and I've not even tried Armada yet

Painted up the Reaper Carnosaur as Beast Boy

Rawr! Ama dine-saw!


Got my favourite new KM sculpt done
I love Jason Todd. It's the mark of a truly great writer (Scott Lobdell) to make me love a character I've hated every previous incarnation of.

The crowbar was missing it's tip, so I just gsd it.

Scale shot, ready for Titans S3!

And finally, back to virtual work tomorrow, so had to make the view behind my desk more professional.

Job done, right?
Hey ho
Graven

Gitsplitta wrote:Nice work on the stone graven. I've tried that several times but it's never come out properly.

Most kind chum.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Thanks for sharing the marble recipe! I got a bunch of fun terrain this holiday that I have to paint up, and it will be fun to experiment with marble effects. Dino fierce and Todd looks dangerous.
RIP Gloomhaven, never got a chance to try it myself. The card-based combat sounded neat, but what doesn't grab ya doesn't grab ya. Glad you're able to make a clean trade of it for more IA goodness.

Yeah, well, cutting my losses. I got the equivalent of retail value back on it so can't complain.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:THE RANCOR IS AWESOME!
Sorry to yell. I got excited.
The statue dude looks good as well.
The backdrop for work calls is excellent. Quite professional indeed.

funny fella. Many thanks. Yeah, my colleagues were pleased by it

Right, so, it definitely seems that the theme of what I'm doing for the current dakka contest (New Tricks) is terrain.

Again, not quite finished, but nearly. New things here - 3D prints, and first time combining unpainted and painted elements in a finished piece. Osl still needs a bit more highlighting.

Because of issues with the prints, I'm also resculpting sections rather than binning them. I never, ever sculpt in milliput, so this is also a first. And with the statue, that'll be my 5 things
Speaking of terrain, I built the Reaper Astrolabe/Orrery/World Engine.

It's pretty big. How big is it?

Well that's a 60mm base Giant Robot Hellboy's on

On the matter of Hellboy, got my visitor bust painted up

Print painted up rather well, I think.
And did a fresh T3-M4 droid after we broke the last one

Didn't paint over the lens, just white dotted, allowed the clear blue to show through. Think the droid itself needs a little brown in the mix, even though it's pretty true to the colours it "should" be in.
Ended up finishing up the pylons and tidying up the portals.

Really happy with the gates. Pylons are... Ok, considering. A decent save. As well as the Harvesters that came the other day, the Guardian of Targa (xl epic boss) came today as well, so that's built and ready to ... surprise them on their otherworld adventures
Had a crazy follow up game with the boys, escaping from the Empire

They did very well, focusing on the mission objectives and not getting distracted. Next, off on a secret mission to Coruscant (shhhhh!) - and then, the finale! Maybe. If I don't force (ahem) another mission on them
Till then
Graven

Yorkright wrote: Those pylons and gates look great! OSL effect looks cool but I’m most jealous of your gaming with the kids. Any chance to do an online campaign ;-)?

Nah, I wish. My time is fast vanishing with online schooling :/

JoshInJapan wrote:NIce save on the sculpted parts-- I can't tell which is which. The glowy effects are a little rough, though.

Cheers chief. And I don't disagree, the Pylons are a bit ropey, granted.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Nice work on the portals and pylons, the portals are sufficiently glowy and mystical.

Why thanks kindly!

So what's next?
Painted up Kaya the Bouncer from Supers Unlimited as DC's Terra:

Always been a fan of the character, and Kitbash games very kindly gave me her as a freebie (missed her in the first KS, inexplicably).

Also, I weathered the T3 droid.

Much happier, much more of that lived-in universe vibe. The odd thing next to it is a terminal - yes, I know, it doesn't look like much, but it holds the terminal tokens for IA (which flip in game). I mean, if you want a PROPER terminal:

Comms terminal objective. Nice wee print.
The printer now has the blast effects going, in trans blue this time. Then, the next batch is a mixed bag: couple of remora drones, Oni with naginata, different portals, and a pumpkin (test, for a Shadows scenario). After that, I've got 2 sets of Star wars prints sliced up: a set of doors and more terminals (dull, but necessary) and a mixed bag of evil: Jabba, Salacious Crumb, Krennik, Dr Aphra, and impressively grumpy looking KTS0. Need to get some AI scenery done after that. I've also found some excellent serpentine types I quite fancy printing up. Down the rabbit hole
On we go!
Graven

Theophony wrote:Your getting pretty good results with the printer already . Even the "bad" prints you have been able to fix and reuse.

Terra/Kaya is looking good.

Cheers sunshine! Well, not all of them. I'm really struggling to get this oni with naginata printed successfully. I've now got the body and one arm done on 3rd attempt, 4th attempt at naginata in right now and today's big print went HORRIBLY wrong because one of the kids banged into the hot water tank cupboard (which the printer sits on top of) and so Aphra, K2 and the door went wonky. Jabba's survived (so big no squint) and I *think* Salacious Crumb and Krennic will be salvageable. OTOH, I printed a cople of remoras and one is missing one engine outlet so I've just GSd that. Equally, I accidentally printed a couple of extremely tiny AI ships. So it's give and take

Syro_ wrote:Seeing those two pictures of the T3 droid brought a smile to my face, it really brings me back to when I played Knights of the Old Republic
Nice figures and painting all around, but along with the T3, the shot of the Star Wars game was my favorite to see, that AT-ST looks so dominant on the board.

Yeah, the kids have discovered KOTR on their tabs, they love it. Takes me back lol. It was a really good game, we're very close to finishing the campaign now (2 or potentially 3 games, if I pull some nasty Imperial influence tricks )

Viterbi wrote:So much to read up on. Others are contemplating what they will do this year and you just jump in Love the portals, really cool sculpts and the green/grey color scheme fits really well.

Thanks the real danger is making rather than painting, won't end well

Another day, another narrow escape:

Good game, breaking into an Imperial facility on Coruscant. They did well, but now they've got to escape through a Stormtrooper barracks

Some hits and misses with the prints but I'm particularly happy with the pumpkins:

Punk and pumpkins, sounds like a win I have managed, at last, to get to Oni printed, along with Krennic, the Hoth-themed Imperial officer, 3 more doors and terminals, and the bases for Atrocitus and Mera (though I promptly knocked Mera over, shattering her - so need to reprint her). Next plan is Aeronautica, I think, and if I can find it again a Morrigan, sexy female demon with bat-winged helm, to be the Red Lantern Bleez.
Starting online teaching today, going to be... interesting.
Graven

Syro_ wrote:
That's great, I'm glad your kids are enjoying it, it is a really good game. That's exciting that you are getting that close to finishing the campaign. In the latest game that is an intimidating amount of imperial forces (which makes sense if they are running through the barracks)

Actually, this is them breaking IN to the research facility - which they won, but I've used my influence to make them have to escape through the barracks as a forced mission rather than getting away and going straight to the finale. Mwahahahahahaha...

Briancj wrote:A little disappointed that I'm not seeing the triple AT-ST combo...

I am ashamed of myself. Like Starscream to your Megatron, I have failed you once again.
First day of lockdown teaching was surprisingly ok, if a bit of a juggle. But it might work, ish Plus, unwinding with some beer and paint. Always a bonus

Couple of trees printed the other day.

And a couple of other animals printed for Beast Boy. I do NOT have a problem!

Pile of weird (wyvern?) Bones

Reaper calendar really is the gift that just keeps giving. Some Sci-Fi fun from it:

RK-M and SK-M, mini bots.

Cute AND murderous.

Martian, who I'll need to print a dome helmet for as he's a bit big for Mantic ones. Painted up as a staffer for my Martian team, with extra-large goggles GSd on. I think I'll call him Statto

And space lizard, perfect Klegg for Judge Dredd. Slicey Dicey!

Plus, a classic Warlord metal Dredd fig, on that subject. Kenny Who? Radge wee CalHab bugger, only man to beat Judge Dredd (at least, that's the way he tells it). Questionable tartan trews!
I've dug out a dozen zombies to surprise the kids with in Shadows of Brimstone mostly mantic with a couple of zombicide and reaper ones that I had floating about (need to get paint on the Reaper one - it may in fact be a ghoul, but hey). The lack of availability of a lot of Shadows stuff is really killing me
Just when I thought the weather was turning, woke up to sheet ice today. At this rate I'll have to paint a Batman miniature
Toodle-oo
Graven

endtransmission wrote:Great progress there. T3 looks awesome... I loved him in the game.

Where'd the pumpkin stl come from? I need some of those to expand my countryside terrain

Cheers! Thingiverse, along with the giant mutant darkstone pumpkin: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3172406 It comes with pdf links for adventure, threat cards etc for SoB also.

Theophony wrote:I may have to print the pumpkins for Rangers of Shadow Deep , There's an evil root in one mission and it sprouts tentacles (pumpkins ).
I think you have yet to reach Problem phase of Beast Boy animal collecting. When you have a shelf full.....then we may have to intervene (send ninjas to swipe them ).

Fair enough. Fair enough

Gitsplitta wrote:Man I'm behind. Is it weird that I really like the trees?

Not at all, I'm thrilled, I love the trees thanks man.

Got a couple more portals done:


Mail drop!

Ah, Coruscant! City planet! Jewel of the Empire! Nothing could POSSIBLY go wrong here.

Let's combine printing and star wars, shall we?

So all in all I'm rather pleased

More prints you say? Ok:

Krennic, Bodi, K2S0, Maul, Cassian, Elite officer and Ahsoka. Let's hope they paint up okay!

Couple of thunderbolts, one to orkify and one to crash in a crater.

And for Hellboy:

Finally! An oni with naginata! If you've not seen Storm and Steel, one of the animated prequels to the Del Toro movies (and straight out of the comics), it's excellent; the Oni sculpt in game is ideal for Thunder but finding Lightning has been impossible up into now - and given that Oni can turn up in pairs, it made perfect sense to get another!

I started building my Armada stuff.

Shiny. Lovely casts.

Going to crack on. I'm not thinking about numbers though
Graven

Theophony wrote:These are the portals I am looking for
Jabba looks as good as he can, being a Hut does have some drawbacks after all.
That Oni Is one that I printed a while ago, I think It's from Duncan Shadow Lucas isn't it?

I'll fire you over the link for the STL if you want? Oni is indeed one of his.

Yorkright wrote: Quick catch up for me, you may not have problem printing things left and right but it sure seems like your having a blast! I really like how you did Slicey Dicey and those little bots are cute.
You did a great job on Jabba he really looks like he stepped (slid) off his party barge.

I need to print the party base for him at some point, actually. Glad you like the sci-fi goodies (baddies, whatever)!

endtransmission wrote:That ship is lovely! Dammit, I went and looked at the sets. I must not buy into another game system that I can't/won't play as I don't have a gaming group...

Arrrrr! Yeah it's a very pretty game of lovely toys.

Slinky wrote:Jabba! Awesome stuff...

Thanks kindly!

CommissarKhaine wrote:Jabba is looking just like in the movies .

Cheers, it's all about the drool
On a bit of a catch up. Reaper again, first of all.

This ghoul is a test scheme for Shadows undead.

Likewise, this is a test for swamp serpentfolk.

This lovely lady is painted up as Mad Hettie, the 250 year old witch from Sandman and Hellblazer. Dreadful photo Speaking of DC...

Thomas Wayne, the Batman of Earth-2 where Bruce dies and Martha goes insane, becoming the Joker.

And Bane the Bat. Finally!

This has been sitting threateningly on my shelf unpainted for aaaaaages.

I added spare deathstroke and deadshot masks to base also, to add some spot colour variations.

Do enjoy a bit of cape work

Another display figure to check off the list!


Couple of extra oddments. More terminal mounts.

My usual self-imposed rule is 2 tokens = 1 "figure". I'll grudgingly call these 4 one painted thing.

Doors! I wanted these done as one of middle creature's home learning tasks is to play a board game with family today. Shucks. What a challenge. 4 are home printed, 1 is mantic (star saga). Had fun with scorch marks and scratches the post-it note says "Shut" in Aurabesh, because why not eh? by normal token rules, that's 2 1/2 models, but I'll round down as they weren't exactly a lot of work

Having successfully parted ways with all my HP (to a mate, who'd forgotten his wife's birthday tomorrow ), I briefly looked at the CMON Teen Titans game, but $50 for the basic game plus shipping and VAT, maybe delivered at the end of the year? Nah. I have Teen Titans minis and I can write a better game by November, I'll wager (the gameplay looks... just dull, dull, dull). Plus, I can invest that in more Shadows and IA. I think focusing on games we all enjoy is the way forward, it would be dangerous to invest (for example) too heavily in Armada at this stage, even though I'm likely to want to add at least an Abbess (giant human ship) to my fleet, just so the two fleets exactly match.

I am trying not to think about the fact that I've managed to average a mini a day, and we're only halfway through the month. I'm enjoying just hopping from one thing to another. Ah, hobby ADHD! What's next? Well, I've got a couple more things hand primed - promo Red Hood Joker, final Dreadball MVP, and Donnie the businessman promo from Street Wars NYC (I think I'll do him... peach - although the kids are hassling me to get the AT-DP for IA done (and @briancj will be happy with triple walker threat ) Unprimed, there's some Strontium Dog figs, Reaper oddities, printed Star Wars and DC stuff, Tau for AI - if there's anything you fancy seeing, lmk
Adios,
Graven

IA:

And little miss wanted in on the action so built her own board: