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Viktor von Domm wrote:

Still, I've got enough toys, right

that´s probably old age taken the better of you... who in the seven hells would say something like that? happy belated birthday!!!
as for the RL stuff... I feel you mate! I recently was in a day care institution to work on a depression I got due to work related issues... but even tho it was over eight week it was only a mere warm up so to say... no real cooking done ... now the real cooking has to be planned...
P.s. ...you really got really good... whenever i am turning in on these pages after lots of lurking I see so much good stuff here!!!

Thanks man, you're very kind; sorry to hear RL's been kicking you too.

Slinky wrote:Scatter terrain is great, you'll have a full miniature Venice soon

Thanks amigo! Yeah, nearly there. One of my mates with an FDM printer went in on the recent Waterspire KS so is doing me a couple of extra buildings and that'll be the board done. My sister in law (well, the one I like) got me another set of market stalls as part of my birthday so that's a little more scatter also. More to jump on and cause havoc in the streets.

Gitsplitta wrote:Glad you had a good time graven... well deserved

Thanks old chap. It was dead good.

Off on me holidays for the next couple of weeks, so it's going to be quiet here till mid July. Thanks as ever for all the support, and cyall on the other side

Just one Cornetto, give it to meeeee!

Enjoy yourself!

Camkierhi wrote:Just one Cornetto, give it to meeeee!

You say Cornetto, I immediately think of Shaun of the Dead...

Gitsplitta wrote:Enjoy yourself!

Oh, we really did, despite a dearth of hobby stores in the area. We found one eventually in Berwick (walled town on the border with Scotland) and had a lovely chat with the owner, so when we go back in the Autumn I'll probably make a beeline for it.

Hello again. Not much painting happening. I did a bit yesterday in a flurry of excitement: this month's dakka contest is Renewal so I thought VAMPIRES!

However, having not painted in 3 weeks my hand is now absolute bloody agony. I'll need to be very careful: I really want to get these done (I'm trying to finish up all our Carnevale as a summer project) but I'll have to pace myself. Also, Hhving had a massive huff with Asmodee after they stopped communicating - and deciding not to do my blog over at Big Comic Page any more - that's back up and running so MCP will be back on the table soon.

Excitingly, in other news, we're getting a new board game cafe round the corner, which is relocating from the town down the road that the wife is from. Whilst it's not a full-on hobby store, and he mostly caters to the Pokemon crowd (because £), it's still a major boost for our wee suburb. My kids are really excited, the older for general hobby supplies (card sleeves, paint, cake), the younger for DnD and manga.

A month of the holidays left. Planning on some Stuffed Fables (gamers with younger kids - get, play, paint), the excellent game of the toys protecting their sleeping kid from the monsters under the bed, more Highlander CCG, and hopefully some Carnevale. Plans, plans.

Hey ho
Graven

Steady progress:

As ever, for the dakka contest, I'll pick 5. Aside from the guzzling vampire queen, the top row are more citizenry so won't be in the mix for this, but are part of the paint push.

Well, it's been a lovely week or so. First up, minis!

The Drowning and The Drowned. A ferryman, 2 Sinkers (Vampires with weights for... Drowning you) and 2 Aquatics. Fun with OSL on the Ferryman and rusts etc on the Sinkers. The Ferryman will go in the Dakka contest, really happy with her.

Some KS extras - the variant regular Strigoi (love her strut), and another retainer with a printed gravestone - a Reaper (jumpy vampire, very nasty) and the Vampire Queen of The Adriatic. The ladies will likewise be in the contest.

More Guild, with another Recruiter for my planned pincushion list (many crossbows) and the last of the citizens.

And the whole lot from the current push, along with finally another Rashaar Hybrid, who I quite forgot about, and the Mask Masker of Venice. I bloody love that model, he's a KS promo and almost impossible to get so was delighted to get hold of him. He will round out my Dakka entries this month, as Renewal is a whole part of the Carnival and masks.

I've played a LOT of games this week, albeit mostly cards: taught middle spawn DC Deckbuilding which he's really taken to, so we've played through Black Lantern Crisis Mode with Teen Titans and Dark Knights Metal; more HIGHLANDER with elder spawn and Doomtown Weird West Edition - great to revisit yet another old card game, and I do love a mythos mashup. Also, my old friend Ron came round for the evening (Doomtown was a birthday gift from him), and as well as all playing Champions! (even little miss) we played more Highlander for the first time in 25 years or so - we really did party like it was 1999.

However, that's not to say there aren't more minis on the go: the next batch of MCP arrived - Immortal Hulk, MODOK Scientist Supreme, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Squirrel Girl, Gwenpool, Mbaku and Klaw - any preferences for what you'd like to see painted, lmk
Ta-ta
Graven

That's impressive productivity. Hopefully your hand is hurting less now. I especially like The ferryman and strutting lady.

Syro_ wrote:That's impressive productivity. Hopefully your hand is hurting less now. I especially like The ferryman and strutting lady.

Thanks man. They are definitely my favourites of that bunch, too. Hand is improving gradually.

So between reading L5R books and playing Doomtown I felt like painting the last of the Shadows of Brimstone stuff. Pretty quick and dirty, because I just wanted it done, but happy enough.

Scafford Highwaymen. I swapped out the hand of one for a leftover cavalry sabre I found lying in a bitzbox.

Orphan and Piano Player, for what would've been our second Old West campaign that never really happened.

Takobake cannon and crew. Ah, love me some mutants.

Sorcery! Corrupt shugenja of the Dark Shogun's court.

And, loyal retainers. I realised, eventually, what colour scheme I wanted: to flip the Takobake scheme, presenting almost an uncorrupted version. The sashimono (banner) reads Crane... Hopefully 🤞

I don't own the Coffin Breakers (skeletons) for Old West or the Onmorake (carrion phoenix, not yet released in the UK at retail) but otherwise that's literally everything released for the game at retail plus a fair bit of KS variant stuff also. Madness new KS should turn up end of the month bring on the Norse!

Going to start playing in the global Carnevale campaign with the boy, here's the board for our first game:


Getting the balance between busy and cluttered is tricky, but hopefully we nailed it! Let's see if the Cult of R'lyeh triumph against the Claws of the Reaper, vampiric witch hunters!
Graven

So much graven goodness... and you're playing games too! So jealous.

Good on ya graven.

Gitsplitta wrote:So much graven goodness... and you're playing games too! So jealous.

Good on ya graven.

I don't know about goodness, but certainly plenty of gaming We've also been playing lost of DC Deckbuilding - that old chestnut - and going to try out Star Trek Ascendancy tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to.

So this weekend I was working on the new MODOK: Scientist Supreme

As you can (hopefully) see in the side-by-side with the original one, I've spent a lot of time on the face particulary



I don't know why I'm so fond of the big angry baby, but there we are.

And even a scale shot with an Action Figure!

Plus, finished up more scatter for Carnevale/Moonstone/fantasy gaming generally, as well as adding MDF bases to the previous ones to counter the janky mantic plastic:


Not bad to close out July. August will start Cosmic Ghost Rider (August dakka contest is Some Like it Hot, he's literally on fire ) and M'Baku, possibly Klaw and Gwenpool too. Saving Immortal Hulk for September's dakka contest (Sun's Out, Guns Out) - might manage to hold off on Squirrel Girl till then too. I've also got another set of modular Carnevale buildings coming, the Calle de la Ceramica, so that'll be fun to change direction on. I am remarkably low on unpainted plastic, but I'm aware that the Brimstone Norse are about to land on my lap, so that'll be a whole lot of frosty mythos fun
Adios a mi-go
Graven

Great work on M.O.D.O.f.K.! The face is (massive) head and (tiny) shoulders above the original, I think.

I was a little disappointed to see the new version didn't come with some beekeeper AIM grunts, but the sculpt is a big improvement nonetheless.

And now time to catch up on Graven' matters.
I'll do what I did with Gits' and scroll through what you've done and try and comment on things I see.

I don't know if I've even commented on this "new" blog of yours' since you started it. I had subscribed... but that could have been any time...

Let's see here, starts some time in 2021, OK
You've been trying to paint a mini a day, OooooK
You mention painting 418 in 2022... Ah
And you've done 253 so far this year... Insert Charlie Brown "Good Grief" here.


8 pages of just Graven' posts... lets gooooooo....

Good start with the Lizard.

Nice Moonstone goblin with Octopus "hat". I still like tentacles after all.

And a Doc Oc for more tentacles.

Cool worm things, mostly tentacle...

Woah, cool skeleton crawling out the ground thing.

Good job on the recycled toy trucks.

And all the other comic style cars and things.

...And that's just page 1...

Good job on the Sanctum building thing.

Very cool Book Nook.

Nice colours to Brittlenose.

Nice big building with the "Thanos was right" billboard.

Sandworms are cool.

Nice scatter terrain bits.

Good job on that plane thing's window reflection.
Glad the advice I gave a lifetime ago was useful.

Nice job on Arnim Zola. The body face hologram thing works well.

Space marine-y things...

Droogs!

Nice terrain-y bits.

Too many MARVELous things to comment on individually.

Good work Graven'. An hour and a bit of scrolling well spent. The world is now scrolling itself in my eyes...

Paradigm wrote:Great work on M.O.D.O.f.K.! The face is (massive) head and (tiny) shoulders above the original, I think.

I was a little disappointed to see the new version didn't come with some beekeeper AIM grunts, but the sculpt is a big improvement nonetheless.

Thanks mate! Yeah I was surprised by the lack of goons it seemed obvious but I do like his mechanic that effectively anyway in range on your side is a meat shield

Dr H wrote:And now time to catch up on Graven' matters.
I'll do what I did with Gits' and scroll through what you've done and try and comment on things I see.

I don't know if I've even commented on this "new" blog of yours' since you started it. I had subscribed... but that could have been any time...

{Snip}

Good work Graven'. An hour and a bit of scrolling well spent. The world is now scrolling itself in my eyes...

Thanks my old chum. Glad you enjoyed your time scrolling and it was actually really nice for me to think back to stuff done over the last couple of years. Thought you'd like the Droog

First up for August is Mbaku, leader of the jabari:

Great sculpt, and great in game... Not that I am feeling MCP, really. I'm hoping that the new edition coming later this year will add proper scenery rules, though, with heights and falling etc, in a more Shatterpoint kind of way. I have the high ground, and so forth.

Also for MCP I've started my Cosmic Ghost Rider for this month's dakka contest:

Well, ish Rather than having him crash into the tarmac I want him properly flying through space. Hence the square of MDF which I'll attempt to galaxy paint. I might have some other space debris floating past though... But in the meantime...


All this sci-fi means I'm in the mood for something a bit different also. We've been having a clear-out of the attic and so forth and my middle one decided to offload a pile of Starlink stuff (another victim of the AR toy craze). However, I have nabbed one very cool ship from it as it just screams sci-fi hotrod to me:

I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with it: the wings are detachable (as are the weapons) so it could make a great 32mm ish piece of scenery

I quite like the idea of illegal rod racing in Mega City One, and then having the judges trying to chase down something that is just wayyyy faster and more manoeuvrable than anything they have. A bit like Chopper and skysurfers, which were always some of my favourite stories... There might be a game in this... Somewhere between gorkmorka and wipeout. Podracer style. Probably run out of table space pretty damn fast though


Graven

LOL! Your keyboard looks like mine... paint spattered all over it!

Gitsplitta wrote:LOL! Your keyboard looks like mine... paint spattered all over it!

Lol my wife hates it, I'm not supposed to paint there but hasn't stopped me yet

I picked up a bargain copy of S2 of the Highlander TV show, which I've been watching there. It alternates between surprisingly ok, almost unwatchable, pretty decent and remarkably touching, and genuinely thrilling. I remember watching S3 onwards but not seen much of the early seasons bar the odd episode here and there. The less said about S6 the better mind you...

And I've been painting marvel stuff again. First up, finishing off Cosmic Ghost Rider:

I'm very happy with how this turned out, but almost more happy with his custom base.

Yeah. Looking pretty hot 🔥 I reckon.




I really like how the sprue scraps as exploding rock worked out.

And the wonderful, bizarre sculpt that is Ulysses Klaw:

This is so strange, and so comic accurate, that I just love it.

His sonic ghost image was a real challenge and I'm rather pleased with the final result.


Finally, the Glamorous Gwenpool!

The comic at the front, printed super tiny, is one of my favourite comic covers ever: Gwen holding an umbrella over MODOK as My Neighbour Totoro

I'm not actually a huge Gwenpool (or indeed Deadpool et al) fan generally but this model is comedy gold.

The quality of mcp sculpts just goes from strength to strength.

And how CUTE is baby Jeff the landshark?!

Also, working on more Carnevale:

We just felt we need a little more terrain, adding a bit of extra height and more alleyways at the same time.

Because this set is the Calle de la Ceramica, I decided to embrace a more tile- coloured theme.


Starting to gear up to go back to work Nah, it's ok. Looking forward to running my wee Kill Team club B) and my kids' exam results were generally excellent so I feel vindicated plus elder spawn got straight As in his so very proud dad.

The old pile of shame is getting dangerously low... Might even clear it by the end of the week! a foolish brag... especially with Shadows of Brimstone: Norse Adventures on the way
Graven

Nice work on all the Marvel stuff, can definitely see an improvement between old and new MODOCK's.

aku-chan wrote:Nice work on all the Marvel stuff, can definitely see an improvement between old and new MODOK's.

That's very kind of you mate, thanks
So continuing to chip away at the dregs of the shelf of opportunities give us...

Aeldari ground assets! I picked these up at WH world last summer, and the demise of the game is finally motivating me I have a set of 4 guard fighters to do as Raven Guard PDF and that'll be me. NGL I'm almost tempted by new EPIC because (a) big stompy things (b) I have all these in scale flying things and (c) Adeptus Titanicus was actually my first experience of GW minis back in 1989, so I have nostalgia bias. And so...

Flying things!

Avenger Strike Fighters, painted as Deliverance PDF, to match the Raven Guard Astartes airforce. Good to have them done after 2 years in a drawer.

Wee scale shot with the Thunderhawk

Anyway, newer toys! This one's UNBEATABLE 🐿

Yes, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for MCP. Fun fig.

And how about a bystander?

Oops, wrong game. Promo Bruce Wayne - Drifter from Knight Models.

I know, a DC mini after all this time? Who'd a thunk it?! Told you I was properly having a dig through the draws.

And finally, another promo: Diana Enraged.

Like so much Moonstone, an intimidating model to paint - but very lovely.

Does actually make me want to paint and play Moonstone again.
There's been a new set of Goblins ("Death and Taxes") since I last bought anything which have definitely caught my eye.

Despite running low on minis, I've decided not to keep my Shadows Of Brimstone Adventures: Gates of Valhalla KS, which arrived Friday. I'm going to regret it at some point I'm sure, but we've not even played SoB: Forbidden Fortress yet and I've had that for over a year. If we're not actually playing it, it's not worth it, I reckon. I'd rather get some more gribblies for Carnevale. Talking of which...


Had a brilliant game of Carnevale with the Elder Spawn to finish the holidays. The scenario was Sealed Messages: 2 mobile objectives (so, ones you can carry rather than just stand by to hold/contest), 75 Ducats / 2x2 board (standard small game). As I won the last game in the campaign, my troupe all had Slippery (better at disengaging from combat).

He mixed up his usual list with a Nosferatu (can walk through shadows across the board), I went for a couple of different types of Deep One rather than cultists this time.

From the outset I played very aggressively, grappling and drowning the Stryzga (massive winged vampire) and Nosferatu, although my Siren 🦑 took a serious beating in the process.
In the end I beat him, but ultimately I think it's because he's too cautious.
Anyway...
I have had a hunt in my drawers and found a few mantic minis but not much else. I'm genuinely nearly... FULLY PAINTED.
The Sky will fall on our heads...

Graven

That's a lovely setup. I'm not really in a place where I can start a whole new game system, but I'm enjoying it vicariously through you.

 inmygravenimage wrote:

I have had a hunt in my drawers and found a few mantic minis but not much else. I'm genuinely nearly... FULLY PAINTED.
The Sky will fall on our heads...

Graven

This is impossible for me to believe. I wonder if I'll ever run out of stuff...

Good job on the custom space base.

Nice looking table of terrain.

Very nice work on the paint. I must admit to being skeptical about the validity of a cosmic GR. The original was one of my favorites from ages past. The cosmic guy is just a bit too hokey for me.

JoshInJapan wrote:That's a lovely setup. I'm not really in a place where I can start a whole new game system, but I'm enjoying it vicariously through you.

inmygravenimage wrote:
I have had a hunt in my drawers and found a few mantic minis but not much else. I'm genuinely nearly... FULLY PAINTED.
The Sky will fall on our heads...

Graven

This is impossible for me to believe. I wonder if I'll ever run out of stuff...

Thanks man. Hey, there's plenty of games I also enjoy vicariously by looking at other folks' stuff... Mostly GW as for running out of stuff, it really is happening to me. It's very strange but there we have it.

Dr H wrote:Good job on the custom space base.
Nice looking table of terrain.

Cheers on both counts! It's a lot of fun to play on and shuffle about in various permutations. Our next game in the campaign is on a 3x3 so we're going to have a section of sunken basilica also, it'll be an interesting one for sure. We're seriously considering investing in a small boat for the board also, maybe a schooner with jib sheet unfurled. Plus you can steal and steer ships in game 8~)

Gitsplitta wrote:Very nice work on the paint. I must admit to being skeptical about the validity of a cosmic GR. The original was one of my favorites from ages past. The cosmic guy is just a bit too hokey for me.

Oh I'm with you there, I'm not a fan, but at least the mini was fun and thanks!

First out, though, from the drawers, Saint Walker for DCUMG:

Horrible KM restic. Nasty nasty. I actually found a Black Adam too but it was an unrecoverable mess, cracked, face damage, miscast hand and arm... Ugh. Still, managed to salvage the Blue Lantern.

Sort of on the supers theme, some bystanders from Funky Skull Games' Street Wars NYC:

On MCP bases, far more interesting than cardstock tokens; naturally, I added the sentinel hand plus a bit of cabling.

I am... Cautiously optimistic for the new Core Set for MCP, I'm willing to give it a go with fresh eyes.

And of all things, some Dreadball! The special characters from the Magnetar Circuit expansion. We have...

A sponsor that's a couple of Zees in a coat.

Love his giant coat.

The Ref/Star Player from Magnetar itself.

He was particularly fun to do, playing about with NMM.



Pit mechanic. I did not enjoy painting her, don't know why.

Refreshments slug, sorry, elastapod

Slurm! It's Highly Addictive!

And trophy.

So... It appears I have achieved the impossible: I am FULLY PAINTED. How very weird.

What else did I find in my digging? Well there's some oddments of mantic and Reaper that I have aside for my kids to paint when they feel like it, and some Pattison-Batman minis, but honestly I'm so disappointed by the nasty-a$s material, I know why I never got around to tackling them. I'm not going to feel obliged to paint things I don't want to - we all know that feeling, and it's not healthy or productive - but I am aware that painting is good for my general mental health so, other than tackling Board Game minis, may need to get some more toys soonish.
Shucks
Graven

I'm sure there's a forgotten drawer or box of goodies somewhere?

Congrats on defeating your Pile of Shame, that's got to be a pretty rare achievement in this hobby!

I know I'll never manage it...

Even with your amazing painting output having your collection fully painted is still a great and unexpected achievement. I like your idea of getting some more goodies, I can't think of a better way to celebrate your achievement than by getting yourself more minis

Slinky wrote:I'm sure there's a forgotten drawer or box of goodies somewmhere?

I don't know about goodies, but I do have a plan of sorts.

aku-chan wrote:Congrats on defeating your Pile of Shame, that's got to be a pretty rare achievement in this hobby!

I know I'll never manage it...

Yeah, unfortunately, I shouldn't have been cocky... It's not like dusting crops, kid...

Syro_ wrote:Even with your amazing painting output having your collection fully painted is still a great and unexpected achievement. I like your idea of getting some more goodies, I can't think of a better way to celebrate your achievement than by getting yourself more minis

Thanks buddy... Um... Mistakes may have been made...

In trying to start up a gaming club in my school, one thing we're coming against is the kids want to get playing... They're quite intimidated by the p&m side of the hobby. So I'm going to get stuck into my bitsbox and leftovers from the Storm Lions project and see if I can't make a couple of killteams - Smurfs and Bangles first, I imagine. I don't have the bits to make any non SM ones (well, I mean, I have my own nurgle army, but that's different) and even then I'm not entirely sure I have the oddments required, but I'm going to give it a (kit)bash.

So, here's the Smurfs:

(side note - had to create a new gallery for Space Marines )
I realise I have fewer sm bits than I thought, partly as the new kits are so much less modular than of yore. Still, hopefully can get something together for them. I should be able to make at least one more team.

And as for getting a bit cocky, well...

Maildrop! The bunker is almost certainly just going to get done as terrain in its own. This does unfortunately mean I'm back to owning everything for MCP... A game, let's remember, I don't even play (actually, that's not strictly true, as I don't own the cosmic, construction site or crashed sentinel terrain sets). I also got the new box for Marvel Champions LCG, Generation NeXt (Cable and Domino) and Star Trek Away Missions, which looks like having cool rules but derpy minis:

Not a fan of the slightly chibi, bobblehead aesthetic. Still, it's a board game, so I don't have to paint them going to try this one out next week. Game better be good

So, the wheel turns!
Graven

Congrats on defeating The Grey Horde, and comiserations on its impending and inevitable resurrection!

I've 3d printed a bunch of Kill Teams mostly using free stuff from Cults, I'll happily send you over my supported files if you fancy getting back into printing to give the kids more to work with. Good luck with the club!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
This does unfortunately mean I'm back to owning everything for MCP... A game, let's remember, I don't even play

The important question is: "Is it a game you hope to play?" I have far too many minis for games I don't get to play (Either have never played, or only got to try once), but I have the hopes to play them in the future, so I don't feel as bad about having them. Is that's what's happening with you? Also, if you just really enjoy painting MCP minis and terrain with no plans to play, nothing wrong with that either.

Paradigm wrote:Congrats on defeating The Grey Horde, and comiserations on its impending and inevitable resurrection!

I've 3d printed a bunch of Kill Teams mostly using free stuff from Cults, I'll happily send you over my supported files if you fancy getting back into printing to give the kids more to work with. Good luck with the club!

Yeah so now it's a case of back to stocking up on basics... Whole lot of primer! thanks for files amigo.

Syro_ wrote:

 inmygravenimage wrote:
This does unfortunately mean I'm back to owning everything for MCP... A game, let's remember, I don't even play

The important question is: "Is it a game you hope to play?" I have far too many minis for games I don't get to play (Either have never played, or only got to try once), but I have the hopes to play them in the future, so I don't feel as bad about having them. Is that's what's happening with you? Also, if you just really enjoy painting MCP minis and terrain with no plans to play, nothing wrong with that either.

The thing is that I really am not a fan of it as a game its lack of meaningful 3D terrain rules irks me beyond measure. However, they have intimated that proper terrain rules are in the pipeline *shrug* we'll see. I really enjoying painting the minis, which is the main thing for me.
I forgot somehow to actually post the pic of the ultras:

And here's the White Scars KT:

Basically identical loadout to the Ultramarine one, all the better to learn with. Although I have enough bodies I lack arms and backpacks for another squad, which is a shame as I'd hoped to make a Dangle one too, or maybe even as regular intercessors. I think I have the bits to make a Reiver team though, which will be Raven Guard I imagine.

Played a first game of Star Trek Away Missions... And it's really good. Annoyingly so, in fact, given that I hate the minis with the fire of a blazing Star. It genuinely feels like you are either the Borg relentlessly assimilating or the federation trying to protect the ship, locking them out of key systems. Crucially, it isn't just - or even primarily - about combat, though the system is neat. We've not tried Klingons or Romulans yet, but are looking forward to scavenging our way through Borg and Federation debris in search of glory or secrets.

Lots of terrain getting primed just now. And I think I've found a box of mantic minis More to follow!
Graven

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I think I've found a box of mantic minis

I knew it!

With MCP miniatures is their a way to bodge them into another game preferbly against the DC invaders?