Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2013/01/03 01:20:41
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Starting this is part of my efforts to introduce some accountability to the nerdish side of my life.
I'll be tracking the development of my Infinity Haqqislam force, my Confrontation Drune warband, Terrain related to both of those, anything of P&M interest that comes from playing X-wing, and my continued struggle with whether or not I start playing Warmachine or 40k again.
The overall idea, that I am just now pulling out of my ass, is that if I don't have a playable army of whatever system painted and based by the end of 2013 then any and all minis from that system have to go out the door.
This doesn't bode well for my boxes of Empire troops, but they should have thought of that before I slowly acquired them for no good reason over twenty years, the jerks.
Because first blog posts without at least one picture are for godless hobos, here's a phone pic of my first WIP Infinity mini:
Trying to pick an Infinity faction I was having trouble narrowing it down. I liked the idea of dirty SOBs policing ports and doing nasty work before I'd read anything about the Qapu Khalqi. I tried to make that idea work conceptually with the Pan-O models that I liked but eventually switched to Haqqislam, eventually realising that that also fit their background perfectly.
I won't be limiting myself to QK sectoral only troops, but will be pulling any minis I like in to that theme.
Right now I'm picturing them operating in ports/industrial areas, and in the sort of high population hab areas where scumbags might try to unload the stuff they just smuggled/stole through the ports. Think Blade Runner, Total Recall (2012) for the setting. The broad theme is simply that they are melon-fethers.
So that brings us to the Djanbazan with HMG. I'm going to be sticking with greys for the most part. I screwed up the basecoat as it was meant to be the starting point for most of the gradients but ended up being a solid dark blue. I wanted to keep some green in there as a nod to the official Haqq colours, so under shirts, fatigues etc. will generally be some sort of green, although usually very subdued. "Lit" areas will generally be blue.
I'm trying to balance speed and quality, so I'm expecting to do a lot of minimal but stark highlighting, tints in the shadows to add interest and pigments where possible.
I have a half decent camera at home, so I'm planning to have some more interesting pictures to put up later in the week.
My Drunes are partially on hold as I wait for my Red Box Kickstarter minis to come in so I can decide what I'm mashing together, but I'll probably be working on them and Infinity concurrently to keep my brain hamster interested.
/scene
2013/01/03 09:20:47
Subject: Re:God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Thanks folks.
Alph: I'm looking forward to their KS with some trepidation. The card design they've shown does not live up to the "everything is gorgeous as hell" legacy of Confrontation, and if they can't get that right...
Back to Infinity.
Pulled out my wife's camera and found a good windowsill with a light diffusing curtain and took some better pics.
I haven't taken decent pictures of my painted minis in a while (mostly due to not having any painted minis) and I forgot what a harrowing experience looking at your work that close is.
Won Golden Demons? Art degree? Macro sees the truth....
Spoiler:
Anyway. So the camera really picked up the blue "glow" and red glazes, pulled them up and flattened them out. I'm not sure what to do to fix that, but, meh.
The boots are meant to be sloppy with dry and drying mud. It's mostly pigment with some paint thrown on to add variety and a little more texture. Not sure if I'm buying it. I still need to add some texture to the base that might tie it in a little better.
Overall this is mostly done, I guess. I think it might need a secondary accent colour somewhere, but apart from some cleanup of the glowy bits I'll be moving on for now.
I've started work on the three boxed set Ghulams and the Muyib with rifle and LGL and hope to have at least one of those done by next week.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/05 07:33:56
2013/01/07 17:08:34
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Holy jumped-up-Jesus-on-a-pogo-stick, it's great to see you painting again! If you'd posted this two weeks ago I'd see this as a sign the Mayans were right after all.
You're off to a great start too. Glad you got the 2nd set up pics, it was a little hard to see any colour in the first. I like the greys and blue, this guy looks like he works for a living. Only suggestion I'd make is add a dot of pure white to the lenses and lights. The eyes get a bit lost, and it'll help separate the lights from the surrounding glow.
The mud's looking good, but maybe a bit "clumped" on the left leg (2nd to last pic).
I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in person; I know the camera tends to flatten the details and highlights. I expect the box to be completed for February!
Hey, what did you order through Kickstarter? I think you had posted a link before, can you post it again?
Red Box for pretty much everything, and Imbrian Arts for his Undead pack, and I'll be picking up the Ghoul King once it hits general release this year.
Not sure either if those are a sound investment, given that we played what, five games of Confrontation last year? I'd like to have at least one fully painted warband though and I can't bring myself to not convert models, even Rackham's.
Thanks for the feedback on the Djan. I got a bit carried away on the boots. I was trying out some Army Painter pigment that I hadn't used before and it acted a little differently than I was expecting so I just went with it. I think I'm going to go back and knock it back a lot.
Agreed on the lights. I'm not a big planner when it comes to paint schemes. I have a concept and usually work it out as I go. That worked when I was painting the first of an 80 marine army, less practical when you're painting an entirely unique guy. So I hadn't really worked out what the glowy bits were. I couldn't bring myself to paint the soulstone type thing on his chest as a 'Eavy Metal gem, so it's more of a bio luminescent blob. Does it make sense that he has light pouring out of his face? Not really, but I think it adds some interest.
I also ended up using about 15 different paints on this guy, and he doesn't even have flesh tones, so I'm trying to tighten up the palette for the rest of the group. I also didnt make any notes, so I have no idea which of 4 different grays I started various areas with.
Next up, Muyib with LGL.
2013/01/08 17:22:59
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Damn, the Imbrian Arts stuff looks amazing. I'd have no problem buying some of those, though not through Kickstarter.
I agree that the soulstone thing doesn't work with these guys; it looks archaic, which fits gothic 40k, not these guys. I think "Iron Man" seems like a great inspiration for painting Infinity models; he has the glowing eyes and chest, plus random lights when it suits the story. Visually, it works; it doesn't really matter why his eyes glow, but it gives him life and looks high-tech and bad-ass.
Mastiff wrote: Damn, the Imbrian Arts stuff looks amazing. I'd have no problem buying some of those, though not through Kickstarter.
I agree that the soulstone thing doesn't work with these guys; it looks archaic, which fits gothic 40k, not these guys. I think "Iron Man" seems like a great inspiration for painting Infinity models; he has the glowing eyes and chest, plus random lights when it suits the story. Visually, it works; it doesn't really matter why his eyes glow, but it gives him life and looks high-tech and bad-ass.
There's a lot more white in those lights than I would add to a model, but a white dot would work I think.
Is the Army Painter pigment like chalk dust? How do you apply it? I've been curious how it's used.
Yup, the Imbrian Arts stuff looks great. I'm planning to use the Shadow as the super cheesy elemental that the Drune faithful can summon....you know, when we play Confrontation again...
I think the Iron Man reference is pretty spot on. I was going back and forth between "realism" as far as the glow goes and giving the light source some artificial seperation from the armour. You can see my indecisiveness on the helmet front lights in particular. I think I'll be smoothing all that out.
My painting afternoon for this week was eaten by an unexpected journey to go see The Hobbit with my wife. I'm going to try to make some time on Friday. Although I'm finding out how much it will cost to repair our terrible car tomorrow so I might be spending that time carefully removing one of my kidneys to sell on ebay.
The pigment: Like quite fine chalk dust, yes. I'm no expert but tend to stipple it on with a trashed brush cut down to have a flat head. I've mostly used it to weather metallics. It has a huge range of uses mixed with varnish and medium that I'm just starting to touch on.
The potential subtle gradients and texture you can achieve tend to get bludgeoned by sealers and clearcoat, so I've tended to lay it on quite heavily. The boots definitely got out of hand here and I'm going to go back and tidy up.
You know, the Kum's riders are great (especially if you want your forces to look like dirty SOBs), it's just the bikes that a re lame. Swapping with something from another line shouldn't be too hard, and Infinity tourneys etc. are remarkably forgiving about conversion parts.
Infinity: Way, way better than 40K and more affordable to boot!
"If you gather 250 consecutive issues of White Dwarf, and burn them atop a pyre of Citadel spray guns, legend has it Gwar will appear and answer a single rules-related question. " -Ouze
2013/01/10 18:01:12
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Could you not get these bikes and use them as Kum bikers? Is the base size a problem?
I've started the new batch of Yu Jing and I've gone back to GW paints. I've decided to go for pure, bright and clean, since the models have the detail to shine. Doing little lights and stuff seems like dessert after painting the usual armour and stuff.
How did you enjoy the Hobbit? To be honest, I'm not at all excited, and will probably wait until the 2nd movie is released before seeing this one. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, because I'm perfectly happy appreciating a movie that can build a convincing, detailed world, whether fantasy, sci-fi or historical, and using the plot of the movie just to showcase new vistas. But knowing this'll be another two years to complete removes all the urgency.
Mastiff wrote: Could you not get these bikes and use them as Kum bikers? Is the base size a problem?
I've started the new batch of Yu Jing and I've gone back to GW paints. I've decided to go for pure, bright and clean, since the models have the detail to shine. Doing little lights and stuff seems like dessert after painting the usual armour and stuff.
How did you enjoy the Hobbit? To be honest, I'm not at all excited, and will probably wait until the 2nd movie is released before seeing this one. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, because I'm perfectly happy appreciating a movie that can build a convincing, detailed world, whether fantasy, sci-fi or historical, and using the plot of the movie just to showcase new vistas. But knowing this'll be another two years to complete removes all the urgency.
I think the bases are the same size. I'm not super in to the nomadic, tribal elements of Haqqislam yet, it doesn't help that they have some of the older models.
I think Yu Jing and PanO really suit a slick paint job. Are you going back to the stuff you painted already?
Hobbit was good. It's never going to have the same impact as the first LOTR movie, if only because we've already had LOTR.
The super HD is a bit weird, but you get used to it. The first few minutes felt like a BBC TV drama with a really good budget. It does fight the 3D a bit as there's all this vivid detail, but 3D tends to shrink your focus.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Some Infinity inspiration.
Automatically Appended Next Post: More inspiration:
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/01/11 08:10:46
2013/01/15 18:47:02
Subject: Re:God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Revised the Djan last week but only just had a chance to upload the pics.
Touched up all the lights, added some detail on the pistol holster, knife sheath and piping on his fatigues, re did the kill count on his left arm, and completely changed his boots. They're still pretty muddy, but I toned it down a fair bit and scuffed up the toe area.
Not completely happy, but I never am with this sort of thing.
Got a lot of work done on my first Muyib and will hopefully have him wrapped up tomorrow.
2013/01/15 20:02:48
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Mastiff wrote: Nice! The boots look better, and the lights have more impact.
Looking forward to seeing the Muyib.
Thanks. I was going to take the boots down even further, but I realised that clear coating would do that for me.
Muyib is "done".
Camera is really pulling out the reds and blues. I desaturated the first pic a little to get it closer to what it actually looks like.
Mostly happy with this guy.
I hit him and the Djan with a coat of brush on gloss varnish to hopefully preserve some of the highlights before a coat of matte. I haven't used this particular combo before so we'll have to see how badly it ravages the paintjob.
2013/01/17 17:45:10
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Yup, same camo on the pants as the Djan. Still getting a hang of the camera...
GW gloss varnish. Not sure if that's their current one or not, bought it a year ago? Vallejo has brush on gloss, matte and satin varnish which I'd like to try.
I have a can of Krylon UV Resistant Matte that I'm planning to try. I used to use a Testors matte spray, which I can't seem to find on their site any more. Straight on paint it would really eat highlights, which is the biggest reason I'm starting with gloss here, along with the durability benefits. The matte spray doesn't really protect the paint job at all.
Everything on the Djan and Muyib seems to have survived the gloss coat, it eats up the pigments a bit which isn't a bad thing.
I'll be trying the Krylon out this weekend hopefully, luckily I have access to lots of heated basements in houses no-one lives in.
Does that sound creepy?
Automatically Appended Next Post: Sorted through my Drunes a bit. This is most of them, barring a bunch of Warriors of Caer-Maed.
I'm going to put a list together and paint towards that. The green minis have been started on 'recently'.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/18 06:40:37
2013/01/26 08:36:50
Subject: Re:God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
So I've covered some Infinity progress, at least touched on Confrontation, and now the ADD portion of this blog....
The Djanbazan, Muyib and 3 half finished Ghulams are all covered in windsor-newton brush cleaner sitting at the bottom of a jar.
I'm hoping that this is mostly because I decided that I had painted myself in to a corner colour scheme wise. I wanted something gritty and utilitarian and ended up with a pair of unremarkable grey blobs. I don't hate everything about them but I made too many compromises, starting with the basecoat. I'm probably going to be painting 15-25 minis tops in this scheme, I don't want to already have second thoughts.
It might also be because it's 1 in the morning and I can't sleep.
Updating this because I told myself I would every week.
The guys I mentioned above are stripped. Did one soak in windsor-newton non-toxic brush cleaner, followed by a scrub, followed by another soak and scrub to clean them off completely.
Still trying to work out a colour scheme, I might test something out on an old GW mini or whatever I can dig up.
I modified the Dragonforge bases I was planning to use to tie them in to my initial terrain plan.
On that note I also just ordered some Infinity related resin scatter terrain. I'll be going mostly with a scratch built table but that sort of detail is always handy.
2013/02/01 01:56:33
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Does that windsor-newton non-toxic brush cleaner work on plastics as well? How is it for getting the gunk out of the crevices on the metal models? I always end up with a pin or x-acto blade, obsessively trying to get every last bit out.
Sort of getting in the mood for building a gaming table for Infinity. Seems like it could be fun doing terrain that takes advantage of individual cover, rather than only being useful if at least a small unit can hide behind it.
What terrain did you order? I've really been interested in ordering those resin garbage cans and drink dispensers etc.
Some plastics I think. Someone on the FFG forums posted a tutorial of him stripping one of the X-Wing game A-wings with it.
I did absent mindedly pour some in to one of those plastic super glue cup/jar things to strip some brushes and it melted it into a puddle over a week or two though so...eh.
The second soak and scrub got rid of most of the little bits, but yeah, I was still working away with a toothpick.
I've also got a pledge in with this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1812955737/bug-hunt-corridors but I think I'll be pulling it before the end. $45 shipping, while likely justifiable, takes it out of frivolous impulse purchase territory. Plus I'm pretty sure I can work up something I'm very happy with from dollar store foam core.
I could never get in to 40k terrain making, but the whole Bladerunner/Total Recall (2012) stuff I can really see enjoying.
That said, I nearly painted 5 models in January and then changed my mind, so a 4x4 table might be a lofty goal.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and I just realised that I have five metal Eisenkern sitting around, so I think I'll be testing schemes on those happy little guys.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/02/01 02:22:08
2013/07/07 00:19:58
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
I'm in the middle of moving right now, I'll use that as my main excuse, oh and we had another baby in April...umm, I'm exercising more? I think that should do it, anyone requiring further excuses please send a stamped self addressed envelope to the address famumuu.
I have repainted an X-Wing Firespray! So there. Pictures will follow at the appointed time.
More Infinity terrain had been purchased months to years in advance through Kickstarter and indiegogo. I cant wait to pile it up in the basement between Christmas decorations and boxes of baby clothes.
Oh, and I've pretty much established that I'll be basing my Haqq scheme around this handsome fellow:
Which is literally the first image in the Infinity inspiration thread in the Infinity forum.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/07 05:57:49
2016/01/18 22:12:22
Subject: Re:God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Not sure it counts as a necro if it's your own thread...
Would like to pick up from here rather than start a new one just to see my Infinity interest come to fruition!
I've started actually playing the game now with winterhound and Mastiff . 200 pt games at the moment.
I'm excited about every aspect of the game, including, if not especially, the terrain!
Our go to table at the moment consists of winterhound Hexagon Mill Kickstarter and hand painted Underground Laser stuff, which is awesome:
I have a particular vision for my first board which I'm thinking of as a "Bourak Port City". Somewhere between Blade Runner and Black Hawk Down. Somewhere that you can imagine Space Bond or Space Bourne chasing a parkour-ing villain.
Inspiration is really any film with scenes in Morroco, from Indiana Jones to Jason Bourne. Also some dim personal memories of visiting off-camp markets when I was growing up in Saudi.
Foundation is going to be DUST tenements, which I have a ridiculous number of (this is maybe 20% of what's boxed).
Next step is finalising the building forms this week. I don't intend to make these very modular, probably 2 of the smaller pieces and one of the larger bases will be stackable. The variety I see coming from catwalks, detail and scatter terrain for the most part.
Palette is going to be dusty whites/creams, sun bleached greens, with red and brass details.
I need to come up with a good way to make stairs as I'm planning to have the street level flow up to the 1st storey at least, with shop fronts running along the ground floor and markets/cafes sprawling over the upper levels.
Also pictured is half of 20 MEdge terrain sprues. The doors are a little short for Infinity but still useable. Everything else will come in very handy.
I also have a small barge of mdf terrain to review and decide what's going to be part of this project.
Will be posting minis here as well! First 200 pt list I'm hoping to assemble this week.
2016/01/18 23:40:53
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Bit more work on the buildings today.
Started cutting the rooftops and working on some different ways to change up the exterior elevations.
This particular brick texture doesn't make a ton of sense vertically...but I like the pattern....and SPACE!
Automatically Appended Next Post: There's a bit of flex to the buildings so I can't really use spackle as it won't stand up to use.
I'm planning a fair amount of graffiti so need to create some more expansive flat services than the tenements normally offer.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/01/21 01:47:20
2016/01/21 05:10:18
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
Got another game in with Mastiff. Brutal affair with a pretty dramatic swing back and forth. I think this is bottom of turn 2.
Very little accomplished terrain or painting wise as I've been helping my wife recover from knee surgery for the last 5 weeks.
She's more mobile and able to help with the kids more so hoping to get a rhythm going again.
2016/03/27 06:51:22
Subject: God eaters, ass kickers, and controlling nerd ADD [Infinity, Confrontation, +more]
In the long and storied history of this thread, I have set aside one barely started project to start another!
I realised that the amount of work that the DUST tenements needed to tie them in to the sort of look I was going for didn't make much sense, so I'm trying a different route to get to the same sort of table.
Or I'm making decorative bird feeders. Either way...it's a good thing.
Started with the above dollar store gift boxes.
Next step is to wrap them in lightly textured wall paper.
This will make them more durable, easier to paint, and protect them from magpies.
Glued down with watered down, fast drying wood glue.
Seams and some slight wrinkling and air bubbles will be taken care of when detailing time comes.
Planning to use the Maelstrom Edge terrain sprue for the bulk of the detailing, some plastcraft balconies and walls, and the rest scratch built or 'found' textures.
Will I update this again? Will the warbling tit mouse find these feeders to its liking? Tune in at some point!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/03/27 06:51:59
fficial&source=lnms&tbm=isch&
