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Ok that's a terrible thread title but it'll have to do....

I've said this elsewhere but it's worth repeating here, 2016 has for the most part been a terrible year for me and wargaming. Due to a lovely mix of depression, anxiety and gender dysphoria (yes I'm trans, been on HRT for 6 months now) my desire to do any sort of hobby stuff has been almost entirely absent. I tried forcing myself to do things a few times (see my piss poor contributions to the Tale of Many Gamers threads for that) and to be quite blunt it didn't work. In the past few weeks I finally started to take anti depressants to deal with the depression and would you believe it the desire to do hobby stuff has started to come back. I'm starting this thread to help keep me motivated and hopefully get some encouragement from you lot. (ooh look at me fishing for compliments )

Initially I'm going to limit myself to small easily completed projects rather than large armies, I want to ease myself back into things instead of jumping in the deep end and getting in over my head. First off is a basic cell for the Osprey Publishing game Black Ops. This rule set is wonderfully adaptable with set of complete army building rules in addition to set army lists for modern/near future factions (and ninjas). I've tried to go down a relatively realistic science fiction route using the rather fabulous Regiments range from Anvil Industries and from a rules perspective an item from the science fiction equipment list.

Right that's enough talk on to the good stuff, minis.

Starting with the Ace (think hero/leader):



Next up is the cell's medic (spotted a couple of touch ups that he needs ):



And finally the first fireteam:



So for those who know Black Ops, this cell is equipped with body armour and PDWs (aka Personal Defence Weapons) apart from 2 of the Jacks in the fireteam, one has got a PDW with UGL (Underslung Grenade Launcher) and the other has the DEW (Direct Energy Weapon) from the science fiction list.

Still to come is the second fireteam which is on the verge of being finished, just got to do a few touch ups, slap on a wash and base them. Once that's done my plans are a second cell for Black Ops so I've got two armies to play with and throwing something together for another Osprey game, Dragon Rampant. Which I think would be a nice step up in project size from Black Ops without being too overwhelming. Which I start first is still up for grabs, I'm erring towards DR simply for variety.

Glad to see you're getting back into the swing of things, Nick, though sorry that it has sounded like a tough year for you.

And don't sweat it on the thread title - I suspect my "A miscellany of miniatures" is worse than your Slapdash Selection.

I take it you've enjoyed the possibilities inherent in the Regiments system? While I've not picked anything from that line up myself yet, I can see how they'd be really useful for the Black Ops game.

Do you have a different theme in mind for your second cell, or is it likely to be a palette swap?

Tough is an understatement really, ah well I'm getting better every day now so it's all good.

I actually used your thread title as inspiration so thanks for that.

Yes I love the Regiments range, I think I spent about 3 or 4 hours working out this first cell. For the second cell I'm thinking of going for smaller 3 man fireteams that are more heavily armoured and armed with something longer range than the little PDWs the first cell has.

Black Ops guys are looking good. I think Ace is particularly cool.

EDC

Thanks, and here's the second fire team finished.



Plus of course a group photo of the entire cell.



That's not many minis but it is the first real project that I've completed for over a year so I'm pretty happy with that.

Next on my list is starting the Dragon Rampant project I mentioned, this is simply so I have some variety in the models I paint. I think that if I were to do another Black Ops force straight away I would get bored pretty quickly even if I used completely different minis and paints. So I've placed an order for a box fantasy minis that I really want to paint, hopefully they'll arrive sometime this week and I'll be able to make a start on them soon.

Those are some nifty models. I have a copy of Black Ops, but have yet to really read through it. How is the game play?

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with them considering how long it's been since I actually completed a project.

I've not actually played Black Ops myself yet but from reading the rules it looks to be a pretty simple game. Activation is controlled by cards randomly drawn from a customised deck. Each card will activate every model of it's type, so for example a red king would activate all of the red side's heavies and a black jack would activate all the black side's regular soldiers. Jokers give their side's ace either a bonus action or let them issue an order to a single model within 6". In a unit's activation they get one action from a fairly diverse range (stuff like become hidden, take an aimed shot, move and shoot, move a longer distance and shoot with a modifier, perform mission specific actions etc). Shooting looks to be simple enough, roll above a model's ACC value with modifiers to the ACC value depending on thing like movement and range. Any hit models then take a save again with modifiers from stuff like cover and high power weapons (RPGs add a scary +5 to a save, so a 4+ would become a 9+ save....). Still need to have a proper read of the close quarters rules but they look pretty reasonable at first glance.

One thing I do like is the dedicated stealth mission rules (there are regular missions too) and the reasonably comprehensive options for solo play using the rules for "neutral" models. Another thing that has impressed me is the sheer versatility of the rules, I think it wouldn't take much work to adapt them for pretty much any conflict from WW1 onwards. Sure they're no good for mass battles but how about a WW1 trench raid, commando raids from WW2, a lone patrol being ambushed in 'nam, the obvious spec ops modern day stuff, cops vs criminal gangs or of course as I'm doing sci fi skirmish? That's a lot of very different styles of game for one ruleset to be able to reasonably perform.

That sounds pretty good. I'll have to give them a read sometime soon.

Well I said I'd be starting a new project soon, it's Gnoll time. Only built some half units from one box so far. I plan to get this lot painted then do some characters and finally another box of plastics to complete the basic warband.

So I'll start off with what I'm calling Berserkers (Bellicose Foot in Dragon Rampant) and yes I did fix that one gnoll who's falling off his base after I took the photo:



Next up is some Warriors with hand weapons and shields (Light or Heavy foot with the offensive upgrade I guess):



Then the ranged support, the Archers (Light Missiles):



Finally a couple of Bodyguards (Elite Foot) for the warband's Leader, just got to work out which mini to use for the leader now:



The plan with this lot is to add some wall filler to the bases (probably tomorrow) to give them a little bit more weight and hide the step between the base and the mini's integral base. Hopefully I'll be able to start painting over the weekend. I'll be focussing on one group of 6 at a time and probably paint those 2 bodyguards individually between the groups of 6.

Those gnolls are next up in my painting queue. I look forward to seeing what you do with them.

I also can't wait to see some paint on these gnolls. One of my favourite fantasy races! Now get painting, you wouldn't want to disappoint a stranger on the Internet, would you?

I'll see what I can do. Hopefully I'll be able to paint a test mini or two over the weekend. Got to figure out how to do the skin/fur first, since Gnolls are basically hyenas I'll start there but which sub species to base them on will be a tough decision.

I've made a start on the first Gnoll, quickly slapped the basic colours on, there's a long way to go before this guy is finished but I thought you lot would like to see some progress.



Looking at this rather poor photo I can see I need to make a couple of changes to the basic colours, the first is to make the fur more visible, I did actually use two different colours for the skin and fur but the contrast between the two isn't enough I'll find a paint that's a bit yellower for the fur. The inside of the ears needs similar treatment, something pinker would do for them I think.

Aside from that I'm pretty happy with the colour scheme, the middlestone paint I used for the bits of strapping on the arms and legs is a genuinely vile colour but I think it suits a race like the Gnolls. To give the warband a fairly rag tag look I have actually selected a fairly large range of paints which I'll mix up on each model. I've also got three different browns (this is the lightest) to use for skintones. Hopefully this should keep things varied.

Finally don't expect any more than one mini at a time, I've found that batch painting depresses me and I tire of a project if I try to do it. At best I'll be doing the base coats on one mini and while I wait for that to dry doing touch ups and washes on a previously basecoated mini. Makes things rather slow but it does mean I actually enjoy painting.

EDIT: Scratch that about not being fast, have a pair of completed Gnolls, not a great photo so I apologise for that.



These two represent the lightest and darkest skin colours I've chosen, the other colour sits somewhere between the two and funnily enough is going to be used on the next mini. I'm really rather happy with the purple top the right hand Gnoll is wearing, manages to look grubby and fabulous at the same time. I do wonder where he stole the fabric from.

That's a pretty good start. I like the darker skin tone with the orange-ish hair.

 Nick Ellingworth wrote:
. I do wonder where he stole the fabric from.

From some careless wizard, I imagine.

Looking good! Keeping it fun is what matters most, so there's no shame in painting one at a time if that's what you need to do to enjoy yourself.

I may have overlooked this, but where are those Gnolls from?

Those looks great, some really interesting minis.

EDC

 Tim 121RVC wrote:
I may have overlooked this, but where are those Gnolls from?

They're the Frostgrave plastics. Hopefully I'll be able to get another one or two finished today.

Thanks for looking everyone, helps keep me motivated.

Meant to post this yesterday and completely forgot to. Here's another pair of completed Gnolls.



I'm really not sure about the dark blue on the left one, I might go back and lighten it up a bit. I also really need to set up a proper place to take photos with decent lighting, oh and learn how to actually use my camera too, that would help.

The lighting's not terrible, but the focus needs work. When you're this close with a camera, the depth of the focus becomes very narrow, so that with one model looking to be only about an inch further away than the other, only one is in focus. Without getting too technical, start with getting the two models right side by side.

That's a pretty quick turnaround. Keep 'em coming!

 hungryp wrote:
The lighting's not terrible, but the focus needs work. When you're this close with a camera, the depth of the focus becomes very narrow, so that with one model looking to be only about an inch further away than the other, only one is in focus. Without getting too technical, start with getting the two models right side by side.

Yeah my camera does have mode that lets me set the depth of field so I'll have a play with that once I figure out just where I put the manual. The only reason the minis are well lit is the flash which I'd rather not use since it can cause some pretty bad reflections. What I want to do is build a proper little photo booth complete with basic scenery and it's own built in lighting. I think something like that could be both a fun thing to build and would make my photos look a lot better than just using a piece of paper and a handy wall as the background.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
That's a pretty quick turnaround. Keep 'em coming!

Thanks, I'll be slowing down for the rest of the week though, got to go to work rather than sit around all day painting minis. There's also Planet Coaster to keep me distracted from painting too but hopefully I'll have finished the first group of 6 in the next couple of days. Then I'll be able to make a start on the next batch either at the end of this week or over the weekend.

And that's the first group, on Gnolls finished. 6 Hand weapon and shield armed Gnolls painted and based in less than a week. I'm pretty pleased with that. Also I've had a play with my camera, figured out how to adjust the depth of field so hopefully things will get less blurry from now on, it's still fairly narrow but I may be able to improve things further with more playing with settings. I've also been mucking about with getting rid of the flash and I definitely need to work on better lighting for these photos. Ah well I'm slowly getting better at this sort of thing.

Anyway on to the Gnolls, here's the last pair:



And a group shot of all 6 that I've painted so far:

Replying to myself again.....

Here's the first pair of Gnoll archers, I did want to have more done by now but I had a very busy weekend which restricted the amount of painting time I had. I've tried to make up for it this evening, finishing this pair and getting the basecoats done on the second pair.



Finally in today's post I got the first of the Gnoll characters I plan to paint and a little side project which I'll reveal once I've finished the archers.

Good job running the same colours through the clothing. It helps everyone look cohesive, especially when you've got different skin tones going.

Don't get discouraged by a lack of comments. I know they can help motivate, but you paint for yourself first, the rest is just icing, and with the number of painting machines around here it's easy for a newer thread to get buried in the threads that are several hundred pages deep.

I am trying not to get discouraged by the lack of comments but due to my depression issues little things like that can cause problems. Ah well painting makes me happy at the moment so the best thing I can probably do is paint more.

What I'm trying to do is use a fairly wide palette throughout all of these Gnolls. I've got a selection of about 7 different paints for the clothes or which only 2 or 3 are used on any one mini and 3 different skin tones. The hair, cloth straps, leather, wood and metal all have the same paints used on every mini. I think this stops them from getting too uniform but at the same time has some unifying elements to tie everything together.

Nice work on the archers. The bows are some of the better parts of the sprue, I think.

Well it's been a slow week for painting this week but I've finally got the next pair of gnolls finished (I'm trying to paint in pairs now makes certain things easier).



Still got another pair of archers to paint and then I've decided to take a small break from the gnolls and work on something a little different simply to keep my painting varied. So once I get the final archers done I'll be moving on to Gorechosen. Yep some GW finally makes an appearance in this thread. I like the look of GWs recent board game endeavours so I thought I'd try one of the cheaper ones out. I've never painted any Khorne lunatics before so this should be fun.



Finally I recently had a chance to grab the larger of the two Airfix issued Robogear starter sets for very little money. 8 vehicles, 20 infantry and some scenery for under £20 was a pretty good bargain IMO. Ok the infantry is pretty poor but they could look half decent with a good paint job however the vehicles are really cool (apart from that stupid flyer) and full of conversion potential (or bits in the case of the flyer). So here's one I threw together this morning.



It's the spider mech thing with a cut down gun mount on which I've mounted a gun from the daft flyer, the windows on the canopy have been filled with plasticard (the interior really needs to be hidden) and the front machine gun replaced with a buzz saw from the small tank thing that was in the set. It still needs a lot of work but I'm quite happy with how the conversion is going so far. I recently stumbled across the Clash at the Fringe rules from Nordic Weasel games and it looks like a pretty decent pulply sci fi game that I wouldn't mind throwing together some minis for, I guess this might make a good vehicle for that.

I like those gnolls. What are you using for their skin tones? It's quite vivid and striking. That spider tank thingy is pretty nifty, as well.

Thanks, the paint's I'm using for the skin tones are all Vallejo. It's Cork Brown for the lightest (the first pair of archers), the middle tone is Beige Brown (the latest pair) and the darkest is Leather Brown. All of then get a brown wash and that's the skin done.