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.

Mixed news--rats are mostly close to done, and I got a nice Titanicus game in, minus side, reminded the hard way 3d printed resin is brittle....

Disappointing, even if its probably pretty easy to fix with green stuff....

Just need to do the sand, wood, and wire when I get back, maybe with a color touch up or some varnish.

Game wise, played my cousin in a learning game of Titanicus, both of us using mininal Venator demi maniples (though neither of us remembered the maniple rules). He set up a small board, and we did the magma planet scenario, modified to fit, and with random secret objectives and strategems.
His forces:

My set up (technically he set up first, very wide and this is actually pre deployment, but I ended up about the same place):


I ended up with Honor and Glory, so first turn was me going full bore into his reaver:

Pushed one warhound, Lunae Latrator, then rolled two heat and immediately suffered a self inflicted devastating hit to the body. Not sure we played heat right--going right to the minimum is s9 hit chart in the orange seems quite brutal. He focused on the already wounded Latrator, I focused on the reaver, he grabbed an engine kill, I just had his reaver down to critical body.

(Start of turn 2)

I had and used a lance strike, then immediately charged with my reaver, Eternus Dio, made it by the 2" melee range of my chainfist and even then barely...but the attacks more than leveled the opposing reaver, netting me 15 VP.

(We forgot the blind barrage, so he took it back and used it later, less effectively. Oops)
Of course, return fire then leveled Dio and left me in a bad spot...

Plus side, left side hound is immobilized from my warhound's fire.
I forgot to take pictures, but I charged his right hound turn 3, did some damage, but took down to crit body and didn't kill him, by about two head crits, and my flamers first hit legs...then wiffed. Plus he got my legs down to stabilizer damage.
Turn 4, left hound repaired up the immobilized, I did another charge into the same guy, and karate kicked him to death in the head--but in return, got my plasma taken out.

Turn 5, his fully mobile hound and I turned to look at each other--but he emergency repaired his collapsed voids up, and I failed to repair my plasma, so my flamers took the voids down again, but I had no follow up, as I'd positioned to use the fact I had near full voids and he didn't, so I had no way to use that. Final result was 38-32 me, as I had a table quarter and the 2nd turn kill, vs his 3 vp hold the line, and counting my up titan for vp as it was structurally compromised.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Apparently on the enthusiasms this week, though I expect a crash coming, hopefully after I get the challenge models for the month done. Had an Anubi hero for wargods lying around, and went from unprimed to just waiting on basing on him tonight:


Sadly, off theme, and I forgot to take pre-paint pics of him, or I'd be tempted to just use him as a backup challenge entry. Hopefully doesn't get too chipped up on the way home so I can take better pics. Really needs better hair now that I look at him, but black hair felt right, and anubis is likewise black, wasn't sure what to do with it. Maybe a dark blue glaze when I get home?

Small back at home update:
Rank and file just waiting for some wash and drybrush base work and names:


Greenstuff repair to snapped ankle started:


And just needs a wash once the plaster dries and whatever final touches I decide to do on the Anubi hero.

Once again suffering through poor lighting on the work surface.
Did a light dry brush on the griffon, but not much to show, and still not sure where the werewolf is going, so no pics there. Hopefully bring some of this in to the done pile soon.

Nice work on Anubis, and I'm enjoying the rats.

Thanks Monkeytroll. Actually just finished the rats up, which means I have one full infantry squad of guard fully painted up, and most of the work to a second:


Also the Anubi. Still kinda think I should have glazed his skin, but I didn't and I put him in the cabinet already so...


Though looking at those pictures, my phone still refuses to focus on him. May have to take him out to shoot pictures with the Nikon,

also a little progress on the griffon, actually think its about done except for basing:


hopefully can get that basing and a start on the werewolf tomorrow.

Progress check in:

Started the base on the griffin, realized the yellow was far too unnaturally saturated, and starting trying to glaze down with Iraqi sand ended up as "basically redoing the whole body." I think we're more or less down to the base now though:


Started the werewolf, thinking I'm going to try to replicate Mierce's studio job, though likely much worse, with a wash based technique, maybe? Started filling in under colors and small details before the main fill:
(spoilered because Mierce makes their werewolves anatomically correct)


And pulled a few more rats down to try to fill in a second basic infantry squad. Mostly going to be trying to salvage 2015ish me's iffy paint jobs:

Back to real life work soon, we'll see what we can manage in the rest of the month...

Finished griffon:

Not looking great for the werewolf, but we'll see what comes up.

Gryphon’s looking great! But maybe grab a couple of blank sheets of paper for background or a move a lamp next to a blank wall for your competition photos. The colours in your workbench are a quite close to the mini and it’s not easy to distinguish. It doesn’t show off your hard work as well as you might.

Thanks theCrowe--mostly intended for those to be a quick "woo! done!" sort of pic. Just got around to making pictures with a better background and lights and the digital camera:




Of course, now I'm seeing flaws in the wing edges, don't think I'll go back, but I may cause it bugs me a bit.

Also while I had the camera out, those better pictures of the Anubi hero:

Very nice work on both of those.

If it makes you feel better, I can’t see any issues on the wings.

Anubii are great, and not in the easiest to do colors!

Internal bug is a nasty biting beast, I know that. These weird wings look nice, but if they cost You some uneasiness, go for fix. Good luck!

Thanks Nevelon, Wirecat. The issue on the wings is at the tips and edge, there's spots where the black wash didn't get to, so its got glaring little brown spots. Also at least one chip I think already...
Spent most of the week staring at things and not moving things forward much, but I did a bunch tonight and last night, so got a bit to show:

Some movement on the rats:

Needs eyes, and then washes and detail work.

Made some base colors for the Jade Falcons:

Didn't really touch the Ghost Bears to be though.

Did smash out most of the Nova Cat though, down to being silly enough to make a full TOE position for it...




Really should break down and get some transfers or at least transfer paper, but did some freehand instead. Point 2, Beta Star, 43rd Binary Battle, 274th Battle Cluster, Tau Galaxy, Clan Nova Cat. Made up the colors on the shoulder insignia, because the only picture I saw was black and white.
Hopefully have some basing done this weekend, not sure if I'm going for all the snow basing, or some green/brown with snow and flock tundra style.

Hopefully finish some stuff before the end of the month.

Needed to get caught up, great updates all around. Good to see you get a game in and love the makeshift terrain. It always gives some kind of Micro Machines vibe Once played a game of 40k with Duplo terrain, also recommendable

Finished griffin looks ace as does the Anubis hero. Love his base, the sandy effect came along very well!

Thanks Viterbi, I'm glad this time the paint and plaster mix didn't get too messy...

Tried going out to a painting night at the local flgs, ended up doing a little here and there on the old badger and typhon swordsmen that I didn't take pictures of, and then bought a reaper pterodactyl-man, and ended up finishing him tonight:

I feel I did decent on the blending for the wings, but the veins needed to be painted first, and the rest of the skin and the other color choices are a bit enh--should have done more color mixing.

Still avoiding finishing the mechs and rats it seems. Didn't even touch the mechs, but did a little on the rats:

Finished up a werewolf lady that'd been sitting on my desk for a while:



and did a push on some likewise older cat pike:



Eventually, some of this half started stuff will get done I hope, I mean, that werewolf only was started in june 2020...

Remember, every bit of paint brings a mini closer to completion. Don't let mundane conventions like calendars rush you.

Pike cat looks cool from the start and werewolf lady can now go hunting when the next full moon arrives!

A little late, but love the space rat conversions! Wish there was an official space skaven army back in the day!

Viterbi--more or less what I'm going for. One layer paint each day on some model, more if I get enthused. Thanks on the models!
Boxhead--thanks! I suppose there's the demiurg, but they never did get to the table...

And some finished stuff:
Yesterday, finally based up the Nova Cat Nova Cat:


And today, finished one of the pike cats from...(checks notes)...2017 apparently.
Tried to push for quality here, not sure it was the best idea for a rank and file space filler, but here we are.





Still drying actually, but kinda wanted to post it and put it away. Kinda like how mixing iraqi sand with violet worked for the skin shading, will have to play with that more in the future. Om the other hand, you can see where I could have done a little more fitting the wire spear to the hand or hiding the hand join--that was me being worried about sanding it so thin it lost all strength.

Nova Cat and indeed Pike Cat are looking nice. Mission clearly successful!

Nice pair of cats.

I’ve heard of using purple to shade, but never tried it. Looks good. One nice thing about the back ranks, you can try new things out and if they don’t work it’s OK.

I hear you about old stuff. I’ve made a push myself to clear out the stuff that’s been lingering. Good feeling.

I've already remarked how good and contrasting is this blue against brownish and pale body colors, but this time I must also add - the base is ace for this palette. Ma-a-a-aybe a little too few highlights or shadows in the fur and the cloth at the end of the pike, but very good overall!

Thanks Ragsta!
Thanks Wirecat, glad the choices worked. I agree it could maybe use a little more on the pike tuft, and I could see going a little darker and further on the shadows on the fur.
Thanks Nevelon, seems to work OK, mostly working from some tutorials I saw online about mixing in a bit of cold with your warms and vise-versa for shadows. This month ought to help with some of the clearing out the old too.

Speaking of: not sure which one of these to do. Bear cav has the older scuplt (one is 1998...) but are techically fresh produced and just came in the mail from Reaper. (Also, they're going to be more coverage and thus work...) Stygians would be quicker, and have been actually existing longer--I picked them up from a (now closed for several years) game store about 6 years ago, and they were completely opposed to sales to clear out dead stock on the shelf--I think I saw a serial port compatible trackball on the shelf there in the 2010s--so who knows how long it was on the shelf before I grabbed it, probably not the 1999 date on the actual mini...



Also, another social paint tuesday, mostly finished a badger except the basing, decided to give milliput a try for the base after bringing it home. Its....enh, though some of it may be me--very crumbly. also, now I need to re-do the feet and possibly some of the skirt and the like, and should have re-done the TMM anyways...


Should be the first model done of the month.

Knightly badger looks very cool and quite fun what old minis you can muster for the painting comp!

Badger looking good.

Milliput can be a bit crumbly when initially mixing, but should be good once fully mixed and left for a few minutes- the yellow standard version particularly so if memory serves correctly. Keeping the surface damp when sculpting helps if you're having issues at that point, and mixing in a bit of green stuff can also give a better surface (mix the milliput together, mix the gs together, then mix the two together).

I like that Badger Knight.

Thanks Viterbi, aku-chan
Monkeytroll--probably didn't knead the milliput enough then, especially as I had very dry fingers. Will have to try that next time.

Did finish off the Badger knight--did up my usual dungeon cobble base for her then decided it needed a little more to help separate her from the base, so did a little bit of fairly copious blood trails. Probably overdid it, looks a bit like graffiti at his point, but I think it did help:


Probably should use base clutter--leaves and fungus and such next time, but done for now.
Started some work on the chronopia stuff, going for very pale and either washed out or shaded to fit a name like 'The starved':

And started laying out plans for the dwarves:

Need taller bases there, and not sure they're all going to end up looking in scale with each other and the other two I have, but we'll see what happens.

Those dwarves look like fun on their mounts! Finished knight looks great, maybe doing the "toes" in a more creme/beige like color might separate some more? Blood trails look fine, I've done blood that was more overboard

Viterbi--yeah, not right for badgers but knowing I'm doing cobble bases, I should probably do cream or pink claws...

Progress on the starved:


Kinda not sure on the skin, keep adding purple or magenta washes then taking them back out again trying for something sickly looking but not like a random splash of color...

I think blue pale blue/purple looks pretty good, but the model might benefit from deeper shadows (like, close to black) to really sell the pale, washed-out colors.

So, tried to do exactly that, joshinjapan, and I think it worked ok?


Think I'm done except for the basing at this point, though tempted to try to un-screw-up that one nmm try on the sickle. Or really the sickles in general.
Also did yet another mech start:

Scorpion tanks probably getting 3 color blob camo for generic service, catapult getting the pink camo on the stick, possibly with some blue added in...

And even did a very small amount on the rats. Really need to highlight the tan and clean up the reds and blacks so I can wash and get them done. Plus side, once that happens we're maybe 1-2 ordinary troopers from having three fully painted generic infantry squads, and thus over halfway through the full platoon.

Also pictured, random icebreaker preprimed model from my tuesday at the game store paint night sessions, really need to start taking pictures of those...

Pffff, nature... What does it know of badger claws But thanks for the info, my go to for anything claw related (be it creature, mutant or else) is always Ushbati bone

Love the new stuff and really nice to nearly be at the halfway point with the rat's platoon!