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2017/12/06 10:32:36
Subject: Re:The Bloggit: 5th December, Walking Dead Survivors, Custom Survivors, and a pimp mack daddy.
OneManNoodles wrote:I forgot to say how nice I think the fur tones on the WIP horse when I saw it two pages back ... but now it's finished, really awesome .
That tiger is really good too.
Thanks mate, much appreciated. With both of them, I wet blended the fur colour with vj flesh which I think really helped!
Gitsplitta wrote:Awesome sauce!
I see you've got Bat-Mite on the brain
Yorkright wrote: Gitz stole my thunder I wanted to say awesome sauce too... Wonderfully painted group Graven.
Cheers mate. So close to having a clear shelf of shame!
Reaper Man 2020 wrote:I love the tiger Graven! I'm tempted by all the Batman etc stuff but I just can't start another system.
Cheers. But remember it's 2 games for the price of one, because pretty much everything (except goons) is usable for DCUMG.
Bits and pieces done. Aiming to clear my whole shelf off. Like WW1, it'll all be over by Xmas Speaking of Xmas, presents! Black Mask goon: Trying a brush destroying technique for gore: blood for the blood god + superglue Yup, that works. Wish I'd wrapped barbed wire round it now...
And WIP on the Studio Minatures version of the Grimes family: Their Richis particularly good but the scale's slightly off for TWD.
Shouldn't even be painting this guy becuase, 6 months on, I'm still waiting for his shoulder cannons... Decided to play with really ramped highlights in places. Liking the effect.
Assembled my last unbuilt models (!), my Street Wars NYC gangs: Black Cobras; not all the models for this have been released yet, but might as well make a start. And the Devils Outcasts (poor dears, they have no knowledge of the apostrophe). Fantastic generic thugs for all sorts of gaming, and my various Penguin gangers can likewise be used to fill out their numbers. These are now all in the garage priming, as the weather's slightly milder the last couple of days.
Whilst tidying the gargage (read - looking for box of Strathclyde Welsh that are hiding for Saga 2nd Edtion), found this: It was the base I made for a GKKnightley did for me, I think, before I switched back to conventional GW bases. Perfect as a rift marker for DCUMG though - now I just need to make 3 more
I'm a realist - I'm unlikely to actually be fully painted before the year is out, but it's really satisfying to know all my BMG/DCUMG and TWD:AOW - in other words, the games I actually play - is done.
Achievement unlocked, indeed.
Later, graven
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/12/07 09:20:10
Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."
Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.
2017/12/07 14:44:08
Subject: The Bloggit: 7th December, Baseball Bat-Man, Grimes family values, giant robot, and funky warriors
aku-chan wrote:Just realized I've been following your thread for a while but never commented!
Pretty snazzy stuff all over, but that tiger was particularly impressive.
Many thanks, always nice to have a newcomer!
Yorkright wrote: That blood effect is little too close to looking like the actual thing. I may have to steal that idea.
Yeah it does destroy brush though. Used a dead drybrush.
LexCorp Heavy trooper finished, for now:
As are the Grimes:
Have realised Rift markers are 30mm, and I'm out of 30mm lipped bases. Bugger.
Km stuff is delayed till 18th boooooooo
So, donut shop:
Front has had to have a lot of changes. Missing wall replaced with window, "glass" added to other, wall columns cut to size, doors sorted, and a lot of gap filling. Added details like a staff door etc.
Less to do on this side. Flipped a wall to make a hatch. Bit of gap filling. That's it really.
I reckon it'll paint up nice and all, but so much for the was of 3D printing Just motherboxes left to do, really. Well other than Street Wars.
Hey ho
Graven
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/12/08 22:38:03
Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."
Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.
2017/12/09 00:11:34
Subject: The Bloggit: 8th December, LexCorp Heavy Trooper, Grimes family, and a donut store.
Ruglud wrote:Always a pleasure dipping into these pages - so much variety and unique characters
That donut shop makes me think of Lard Lad - just need to get a figure to hold the donut aloft...
Spoiler:
Cheers! Yeah I did find myself wondering if I should have a Big Joe statue, or even a Big Joe Kerr...
Yorkright wrote: Mmmm donuts...
One of the guys who goes to our club runs an artisan donut store. If there's any left at the end of the day on a Tuesday he brings them up and gives them away gratis (well, we all throw some extra change in our charity tea fund, but still). Rose and pistachio sooooo good.
Forcing myself to write more. It's good for my sanity. Trying to do one review a week - given that I read at least half a dozen DC comics a week, doesn't seem unreasonable. Current issue of Batman (36) is excellent, btw, really outstanding (and can be read out of the loop, as it were).
Black Cobras and Devil's Outcasts (can't bring myself not to use the apostrophe) are now primed. Outcasts are going to be really simple gang colours, jeans, black jackets, grubby white Ts (matching my street demonz for BMG), but the Cobras will be downright funky, a rainbow of funk no less. Won't get started today though - Trip to Santa, panto and then work night out. Painting cures hangovers, right?
Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."
Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.
2017/12/12 09:39:11
Subject: The Bloggit: 12th December: Street Wars NYC gang wips, advice sought; BMG incoming!
Hola, Got a message from KM, stuff is shipping today. Ridiculous intention was to try to get the shelf clear by the time the order came - and it's within my grasp! So, Strreet Wars NYC gangs: first stage done! Black Cobras: I like these guys, a lot of fun to paint. Again, just done with VJ model air at this stage. Looking forward to getting the other 4 gang members when the KS drops and finishing them off (though they're still playable if I stick Randall "The Saint" in the gang)
And Devil's Outcasts: I'm not sold on the denim cut-off jackets for these guys, I think double-denim is just too samey in and of itself and relative to the Black Cobra colours.Black, military green or mid brown (leather/tan/ochre?) Only one more of these guys due from the KS at least.
In theory, here's what I/you have to look forward to:
Parliament of Owls Grodd Crew Professor Zoom Reverse Flash (TV) Sinestro Arkham Militia set 2 2ed Joker Crew 2ed Batman Crew 2ed Gotham Sirens Crew 2ed Nightwing 2ed Batgirl 2ed Red Hood 2ed Deathstroke Constantine Zatanna Jason Blood/Etrigan Enchantress Knightfall Batman (JP Valley) Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne)
I *think* that's all I don't think my wife's going to be thrilled But it's not like I'm spending money on stuff (well, storage at this point, but shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...)
And then, as contest prizes, there should also be 2ed starters for Riddler, Freeze, Two-Face and Bane, plus rulebooks, buildings, dice etc. Which is nice Cheers graven
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2017/12/12 09:46:18
Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."
Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.
2017/12/12 10:06:29
Subject: The Bloggit: 8th December, LexCorp Heavy Trooper, Grimes family, and a donut store.
Right, what have we had since my last comment... Oh, well none on this page... sigh...
Good work, Graven'. I am watching even if I can't keep up with comments.
Joker-thing on shop puts a smile on my face.
Mastodon: @DrH@warhammer.social
The army- ~2295 points (built).
* -=]_,=-eague Spruemeister General. * A (sprue) Hut tutorial * Dsteingass - Dr. H..You are a role model for Internet Morality! // inmygravenimage - Dr H is a model to us all Theophony - Sprue for the spruemeister, plastic for his plastic throne! // Shasolenzabi - Toilets, more complex than folks take time to think about!
2017/12/17 05:38:11
Subject: The Bloggit: 16th December, Kings in Yellow - Reverse Flash and Sinestro!
Dr H wrote:Right, what have we had since my last comment... Oh, well none on this page... sigh...
Good work, Graven'. I am watching even if I can't keep up with comments.
Joker-thing on shop puts a smile on my face.
Cheers yeah that Big J keeps everyone smiling
youwashock wrote:In blackest day, in brightest night, Sinestro's paintjob looks real tight.
Thanks. Yellow is almost as hard to photograph as it is paint.
Almost
Gitsplitta wrote:Very nice work graven.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Sinestro looks superb. Both models are great. Keep up the good work.
I shall certainly try!
And as I am, quite astonishingly, fully painted, a year in review:
It's been some year. After a very dispiriting work end of year, and then early Jan, I've learned to be a bit more phlegmatic and appreciate that actually, our work life balance is pretty damn good. Kids are great, wife got her Masters and a long-deserved promotion, getting on really well with my parents, and I have all the toys I can eat. Could be a damn sight worse.
So, on to the geek!
January
Spoiler:
Always the post Xmas goodies So started the Suicide Squad boxset with Captain Boomerang:
And the other big Xmas gift, Joker, Burton style, and his mimes:
Gas cannisters
Ledger and clowns
And spesssheeps! Heroes of the Resistance
February
Spoiler:
Februray brought the most notorious model km have produced, Katana
A fab wee model from Wolfsung, as a Joker Ammo Token
and titan Objective
And a custom Gatling Brute
Speaking of which, terrain was very much the thing in February, from kits...
Nightclub: The Pale Moonlight
Red Beam Designs make some very cool things. Didn't stop me from adding disco lights to that
Or customising the Lo Phat restaurant:
Lo Pan sucks
... Through to a massive loer project, SCHREK'S (now that's what I call a Xmas movie!)
March/250
Spoiler:
Crossed the great arbitrary milestone of 250 pages in March; couldn't have got there without all of you lot and your wonderful support!
Continuing with terrain, a particularly unsavoury building:
A police van and suspect container
And as Time Marches forward, Calendar Man
Indeed, painted for the Ides of March!
A very bloody Mr Zsasz:
And a hungry Croc
Diablo, really pushing the osl
Will-shot
And a sad batfleck
After this, though, I decided I really needed to raise my game a bit. I decided that, given that I don't like the KM Cyborg, I could quite reasonably make my own:
But I needed to try to raise my paint game.
So, with more Joker themed stuff:
And to make my Titan Joker a true showpiece:
I was, meanwhile, getting some good Walking Dead action with the kids. Great to find a miniature game we could all do that was fun and fast.
April
Spoiler:
April began with a series of smiles, as All Fools should:
Grin Twins
And a jokermobile
Slipknot, on the other hand was a boring paintjob not done that
But Stan the eyeball guy, Panda Man and the goat priest were enjoyable
Plus arkham inmates
And had more fun with orange for Deathstroke and Ravager, albeit TV styled:
And Arkham Knight in the same colours
By this time, I felt I was getting into the swing of things with the Squad boxset:
And Riddled me a little something too:
Got a big piece of scenery done for a mate's birthday, decided to push my tag game a bit:
And more Walking Dead fun:
And finally, an Ancient Plant for Ivy:
You can tell there were 2 weeks of holiday there!
May
Spoiler:
Ok so May is when, to my mind, things really changed changed. Whilst I continued to rattle out terrain:
(Kids did those barriers, bless the little minions)
And churn out quick corpses and survivors:
I started playing with wet blending properly, especially on cloaks.
This change in style lead to some experiments in June:
June
Spoiler:
Work, or rather exam marking, really got to me. June was very frustrating, in many ways.
Still, fun with crazy osl:
Sniper version of the Arkham Knight
And armoured,CW style Hawkman with much brass etch
And made a tiny chicken Beast Boy for my kids, as they love Teen Titans Go:
And new penguin stuff:
This all built towards a lovely birthday, end of term, and general acceptance of the grinding crud of life.
July
[Spoiler]
With holidays and kids, July was pretty quiet, but very birthday spesssheepsy
Whilst decided to keep up the push on the DCU models
And got the Street Demonz done:
August/10,000
[Spoiler]
In August, hit my 10,000th post. Crikey.
And painted some shiny things:
Lots of edge highlights and cloth work. So, game raised, a bit.
Another conversion, Diggle this time
And continuing the Brave and Bold theme, quick response team:
And the most impossible build ever, the Batpod:
September
Spoiler:
With being back at work, it took a while to get back into the swing of things in September, but had fun with a range of terrain
Plus, repainted my new 52 Harley, one of the first BMG minis I did.
Did Michonne and walkers for a friend:
And finally, to much satisfaction, did my Wonder Woman:
October
[Spoiler]
On the home straight now. More DCU
Lots for Walking Dead
Plus a couple of Z95s for the boy's birthday:
And a U-wing for myself
And lastly some objectives
November, wow.
Spoiler:
Looking at Rebirth Batman, in close proximity to what I was doing only a few months previously, is really gratifying:
Also, more generally, changed my painting slot to half an hour most mornings, once tiny was away to nursery with the wife. A bit of dedicated, focused time.
A friend painted up Doomsday for me, and I did the base (and, actually, I ended up doing fresh highlights etc on the big D because I'm fussy that way)
It's funny, I used to hold the guy up as the best painter I knew, but I found myself looking at it and thinking, I can make that better. I'm not trying to be arrogant, and I can still do rush jobs at times, but especially on these "showpiece" miniatures I feel I've come a long way. Also, my frame of reference has changed - when you look at the work some folk put out on dakka, you inevitably become more critical of what you see physically.
Can't have Doomsday without...
And for that matter
Sticking with supers:
Some other BMG, including objectives and all kinds of conversion nonsense:
And who could forget:
Had time for a couple of guys for walking dead too:
It certainly helped that tiny person also discovered she could watch Sesame Street on the computer next to daddy's desk But more generally, just trying to be focused and productive.
And, December
Spoiler:
Nah. It's just the top of the page!
So last model of 2017 (officially) is, as we've looked back (in a flash, you might say)... Reverse Flash:
So that's it for 2017 officially. There's still the donut shop and a bat-tastic bat-computer to do, though they are more likely to be the first bits of 2018.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Reverse Flash is mini #184 (including objectives, but not scatter terrain or large terrain pieces) which has to be a personal record Thanks for sticking with me guys and gals, no idea what 2018 will bring but I'm sure it'll keep bringing the dakka,
Best as always,
MerryGravenXmas
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/12/18 19:21:30
Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."
Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.
2017/12/18 22:19:35
Subject: The Bloggit: 18th December, Merry Graven Xmas! A year in review
I am so very impressed at how the quality of your work has progressed throughout this past year (not to mention quantity). You've really made some great strides in both your painting and building. Pat yourself on the back my friend... you've earned it!
Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."
Gitsplitta wrote:I am so very impressed at how the quality of your work has progressed throughout this past year (not to mention quantity). You've really made some great strides in both your painting and building. Pat yourself on the back my friend... you've earned it!
Many thanks amigo. You really pushed me, and I have a lot to thank you for!
Yorkright wrote: That is a solid year of great work Graven, I am looking forward to what you do in 2018!
Cheers - me too
Had a massive game of DCUMG Tuesday night, 3 on 3 with each of us spending 30 points (half size teams)
Villains:
Lex Luthor and Lexbots (erithromycin)
General Zod and Lobo (metropolis)
Ultraman, Catwoman and Captain Boomerang (me)
vs
Heroes
Shazam! and Martian Manhunter
Starfire, Cyborg and Supergirl
Superman (Kingdom Come) and Green Lantern
Much fun was had, format worked well, really easy for novice players. Catwoman was, as ever, outstanding, Shazam! really good too (don't own him - typical ) But mostly just a good laugh with mates. Heroes team won, with the Starfire/Cyborg/Supergirl player claiming overall victory with least damage taken.
Wait.
I played Ultraman.
I only play with painted models.
Yup,
#185:
Which means I now have the rest of the Crime Syndicate to do (#186-189)
I also have a replacement AK Harley, who amongst other things will be getting a sewer themed base given her misadventures down the drain
Later gang,
graven
Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."
Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.
2017/12/21 20:12:45
Subject: The Bloggit: 21st December, A DCU batrep of sorts, and model #185 of 2017
But remember it's 2 games for the price of one, because pretty much everything (except goons) is usable for DCUMG. 
boooooooo
