St. Paddy's Day Infantry Parade

Just a quick mid-week update to celebrate the completion of my dwarven infantry. The last three foot soldier models join the fray, this time thanks to a couple of Perry Twin sculpts and a random Ral Partha stunty:

Ick. Photo's a little underexposed today. Sorry about that.

Here's a couple of group shots of the whole 25-strong unit. Lots of various manufacturers from lots of wargaming eras represented here. Plenty of green to go around on this 17th of March, huh? Spot anything interesting?

Happy St. Patrick's Day, lead peeps. Go have a pint of the black stuff on VeronaKid.

Anatomy 101

Nick Bibby continues to astound me. He shouldn't- the dude has a full time gig as a not-miniature-but-like-museum-kind-art sculptor. But those brief years he spent at the Citadel design studio needs to be celebrated. He is, in every way, a master of the craft.

I recently picked up the AD&D Minotaur he did back around 1987. It may not knock the Spined Dragon off its post as the greatest mini of all time, but it's not far behind.

Citadel AD&D Minotaur ADD86 by Nick Bibby

This model had two other variants that I am not such a huge fan of, but this one in particular is, to my eye, just about perfect. The thing that really sets it apart for me is Bibby's attention to "realistic" anatomy. The musculature is spot-on, and the pose has a sense of heft that, I believe, must be very hard to achieve.

Are you lookin' at my bum? Note the zit on the right cheek there. . .

There are veins in the arm muscles that my camera (and my inadequate paintbrush skills) don't entirely pick up. There are several pimples, great fur texture, realistic growth scars on the horns. . . it's just a really, really great sculpt that I can't recommend enough.

Early on in my painting of this fella, I had dreams of an homage to the classic version that Colin Dixon painted that is featured in Heroes for Wargames. I found out, however, two important facts:

1. I am nowhere in the ballpark as good as Colin was at painting flesh (actually, I kinda knew this one already).
2. Pale flesh tones look a lot better in pictures than they do in 3D.

After getting a tone pretty close to Dixon's classic original, I decided it was not deep enough for my tastes, so I added a few dark brown and reddish glazes to make mine more tanned. Like a minotaur not unaccustomed to spending time down by the shore. I settled for adding the rock path and Mario mushroom to the base to pay my respect.

This one will feature as a mercenary hire for Skulldred games in my house. I can't wait to come up with stats for this model. :)

I hope your own leaden pursuits continue unabated, brethren (and sistren!). Take care, all.

Rut Breakers

This whole post-on-Sundays is becoming a real habit.

This week, I decided I wanted a small break from my ongoing projects to work on something completely different- different color palette, different basing style, different subject matter entirely. In the past, this has usually meant turning to something evil- my normal slant is towards the good guys, so every once in a while, I break out of these types of ruts by painting up something for the good guys to fight against. In keeping with my recent Jes Goodwin museum curating, I turned to the leadpile and pulled out a pile of delicious old Skaven models.

I wanted to do a little experimenting with desaturating the colors on the robes, so thanks to a suggestion from Asslessman (Cheers, JB!), I mixed varying shades of grey into the primary colors for highlighting. I think it worked better with the green and yellow than it did the blue and red, but I am certainly excited to learn a new color idea. I really like the effect it has on fabric surfaces- quite realistic.

The bases are random hunks of cork, covered with grit and baking soda, and then painted & drybrushed. I finished them with static grass added along with subtle washes of blue and purple ink. All credit for this basing style goes to Delaney King (Cheers, D!). Not the last time you'll read those words in these pages. Since these rats are destined to be participants in Delaney's Skulldred game, I'm hoping she doesn't mind my shameless imitation too much.

I remember reading the original Skaven army book the first year I started in the hobby and being very inspired by Andy Chambers' description of their personality- always scheming and backstabbing one another. I don't know if it got phased out of their fluff over the years, but Chambers' original Skaven even had a mechanism in place for underlings killing off the leaders of the race and then assuming their position, inevitably to be re-deposed themselves. Their reliance on drug-induced sorcery mixed with steampunk-ish technology always hearkened back to one of my favorite 80's animated films, The Secret of NIMH.

Mrs. Frisby almost gets skewered by a pre-Goodwin Stormvermin

If Nicodemus wasn't inspiration for the Grey Seers, I'll eat a wheel o' brie.

Yet another conversation I'd love to have with the Design Studio from those golden days. . . If anyone has an old White Dwarf where Goodwin discusses his Skaven influences, I'd love to hear the issue number in the comments below. I'll search it out for sure.

Hope you are well, wherever you might be.

A Tough Pill To Swallow

This week's hobby goodness features one of my ten favorite Citadel miniatures of all time, Brian Nelson's incredible orc shaman. To me, this mini always stood as a kind of island of old-school character amid an ocean of slack-jawed, GIANT-AXE!!!'d, skull-festooned silliness that the greenskins turned into at Citadel circa 1997.

Citadel Orc Shaman; sculpted by Brian Nelson

My copy, bought as usual at great discount on eBay, lacked the sweet short sword on his back, so I had to sculpt a wee waterskin to hide the peg and open area on his back where the sword was supposed to go:

Given my extremely limited sculpting skillz, I am pretty happy with how the flask turned out.

The reason for the post title today, though, is because of an utter failure on my part to see this great mini through to its planned finish. I really wanted to do a nice checkerboard pattern on the hood opening around the face and on the sleeve ends, but after attempting said pattern six separate times, re-basecoating and starting over each time, I finally threw in the towel and went for this rather drab finish instead.

A few years ago now, I painted these Harlequins up, and they were covered almost head to toe in various check patterns:

So, I thought I'd be able to paint a little black and white patterning with no problemo. Perhaps it was the extremely folded and curved surfaces on the orc's robes, but I think my utter failure has more to do with my advancing age/decreasing eyesight/failing patience .No matter what I tried, or how slowly I went, I ended up each attempt just looking like a very messy painter. Oh well. The shaman will fit into a Skulldred warband just fine as he is. Alas.

It was not an easy thing for me to decide mid paint-project that my plans were too ambitious for my talent and skill to see through. I am sure it won't be the last time, unfortunately. . .

On the topic of Harlequins (by the way), GW finally listened to the 4 bajillion email, forum posts, and comments made in retail stores I have made over the years on the subject and announced this week that the Harlies are finally going to be their own army, with a brand-new hardbound codex (do they still call them that? Dunno.). I assume that there will be several plasticrud sets released as well, to go along with the $60 army book and $30 painting guide coming out in a few weeks.

Too little, too late for me, I'm afraid. I admit I got a little excited at first, but those price tags just hammered home how done with the current iteration of GW I am. When I paint more harlies, it will be my old metal Jes Goodwin figs languishing for too long in the pile. My checkerboard patterns will probably end up looking like crap, but I'll still love them so much more.

//End grumpy old man rant.

Until next time, brethren- may the paint brush gods grant you a nice pointy, hairy bit every time you need it.

Rabbit, Rabbit

Happy New Year to all of you out there in leadland. To kick off 2015, I put the finishing touches this morning on what I was working on when I was so rudely interrupted by the greatest miniature of all time. Today's lead candy comes from the talented and long-toothed hand of Tony Ackland, he of "Grandmaster of Chaos" fame:

King F'yar of the heinous Kwae Karr orcs

Here's Citadel's TA3 Arcane Monstrosity-Orc War Wyvern, which got re-used as part of the Blood Bath at Orc's Drift scenario pack. He'll get added to my modest greenskins warband for use in larger games of Skulldred.

In the D&D campaign, the family made an interesting choice that I wanted to document here before it escapes my memory. On the way back from the barrows, the party was attacked by crocodiles. The two hirelings/meatshields were both grievously injured (poor Ardo got his leg bitten clean off) and ended up having to be stretchered back to town. When the party arrived back in Helix, they were stopped by the guild master who revealed that the priest of the only shrine in town had been found murdered while they were away. The family decided to turn detective and investigate. . . not rest and recuperate from their brief trip into undead land.

They made their way to the nearby town of Ironguard Motte, where the cleric of the much larger temple revealed that the rubbing they had secured from the barrows was virtually worthless without a means to translate it. . . a means that can only be found back in the tombs. No closer to determining the murderer, they hired a couple of experienced men-at-arms and headed back to Helix.

One of these days, we'll get to the dungeon. . .

Hope you are all well. Take care and thanks for the peep.

The Citadel Great Spined Dragon

I am usually able to maintain a fairly disciplined approach to my painting projects. For the most part, I finish my projects once I start them- my painting table rarely has unfinished minis sitting around waiting for me to come back to them. If I am trying to tackle something really big, like say my dwarven army, I purposefully break up the project into bite-sized chunks that I intersperse with other projects so that things never get tedious. I have a queue of models that I want to get done, usually planning for whatever the next game is that I plan to play, and it is rare that a new, shiny acquisition gets to jump the queue and get head-of-the-line privileges.

Christmas morning, my family gave me the Citadel Great Spined Dragon by Nick Bibby. The queue was jumped.

I am still having a hard time believing that this is my dragon

I've mentioned before how much I've wanted this model- for years now, among the first things I looked at nearly every morning was my permanent "Spined Dragon" eBay search. Until last week, I had never even seen one in the flesh. I could tell by the pictures of it on the 'net that it was Mr. Bibby's fantasy masterpiece (he has, of course, gone on to considerable fame sculpting real animals, alas). Others have said it countless times before, but the sculpt really has to be examined up close to appreciate just how amazing the musculature and skin textures are rendered.

Wifey was nice enough to donate a few sheets of heavily textured stationery from an old diary to use for the wings. They took a full day's work to cut out, attach, and detail, but I am very happy with their realism.

I debated putting the holes in the wings for a while, but the examples online convinced me they were necessary

Here's how the model looked when I opened the package:

Thanks much, AllHistoric.co.uk

I spent most of Boxing Day (See! We do pay attention!) toothbrushing this beast with a mixture of Pine Sol and oven cleaner to strip off all of the thick black paint and (mostly) the contact adhesive used to attach those canvas wings. Although it was a lot of work, I was very happy to see that all of my wing "skeletons" were intact. In fact, there was virtually no repair work that needed to be done short of some mould line removal and minor filing to get the head to attach properly.

Nary a scratch to be found

After much discussion with the family, and lots of online picture perusing, I opted for a green color scheme. As much as I love how Bibby's looks in Heroes for Wargames and the temptation to do an homage was strong, I decided to keep it simple with fairly basic techniques.

Here's a shot for scale to see how huge this fella is. That's the Citadel ogre from the Monster Starter Set for comparison.

Straight up huge

So, we haven't had a lot of time to continue the D&D campaign, but that will be remedied shortly.

I hope that all of your Christmas stockings were filled with leaden surprises as well. Happy New Year's, brethren.

As Long As The Lightbox Is Out. . .

. . . I might as well get a couple of old mini projects documented.

First up is my RT-era SPESS MUHRRRINES. Like probably a large percentage of you reading this, my first foray into mini painting was one of the power armored giants, although my first one was one of the plastics that came with the 2nd edition 40K box and not one of these incredible metal C100 models.

The paint and color scheme came directly from one of my painting heroes, Delaney King, who posted a similar project along with a very kind tutorial on her blog a few years ago. As soon as I saw hers (she has some wicked conversions in her force as well, stuff that's well beyond my skill level), I knew I would have to collect some old marines and paint them up similarly.

My RT Eldar force, painted up to use in games against the marines, takes their inspiration (of course) from the Rogue Trader rulebook. They used to be so much more characterful and "elfy" than the current models, which seem to me too bulky for elven types. Purple guns for the win.

I used almost exclusively inks on these guys- only the flesh (if I remember correctly) was actually painted on. I still like the alien-ness that I achieved on this project- one of my personal favorites.

Take care.

The Gang's All Here

Took a little break from painting WFB minis this week to work on a Rogue Trader figure- the "Mad Punk" from the RT601 Adventurers code.

While I was working on her, I brought out the Sensei I purchased already painted earlier this year and finally got around to fixing up his face and armor. Of course, as long as I was tidying up this model, I figured it was a good chance to tidy up all of my RT Adventurers. . . one thing lead to another and several hours' worth of work later, the group was ready for their family picture:

I have several more of these types of figures in the queue. Now I am more anxious than ever to get back to them. So many figures to paint, so little time.

Hope you are well, wherever you might be.

Painting is a Process

So, back a few posts I was bagging (a bit) on Jes Goodwin. The late 80's High Elf cavalry models he sculpted are not my favorite models. I stand by that.

Most of everything else he has done, however, stands like a colossus over the hobby. He and Tom Meier are, to put it simply, the masters of elven models. The same way that Kev Adams infuses orcs and goblins with a sense of chaotic mischief and evil naughtiness, I think Goodwin lends a sense of nobility, regal-ness, and (often times) utter ferocity to the elven armies. Case in point: the Elven Attack Chariot.

Now, I don't know whether Jes had anything to do with the original rules for this behemoth (1500 points in 2nd Edition??!! And look at those abilities the characters have! This thing is like playing the Star Wars miniatures game and someone taking the Death Star!). What I do know is that he (working together with the heavily-sweatered Bob Naismith) somehow created a chariot model that oozes both wildness and grace; crisp, clean lines and whirling, pointy bits. I think it is a masterpiece of the early-to-middle part of his career.

For a while now, if I was to rank the Citadel models at the top of my most-wanted list, the Elven Attack Chariot would come in at number three, behind only Nick Bibby's Great Spined Dragon (someday, my precious) and Jorj, the original champion from the first Bugman's unit (I've written this one off, and just converted my own version). After coming close a couple of times on eBay, I finally managed to land an intact and complete chariot a couple of weeks ago.

After three extended periods in the stripping bath (ancient red oil paint, epoxy cement, and an obscene amount of gap filler you say? Why yes indeed- all three!), I have started on this beast. I don't want to rush it at all, so I plan on working on it between and during other models. There is an astonishing amount of both detail and surface area to get covered with painty bits, so this might be in for a long haul. Here's where she stands right now, with most of the actual chariot done except for final highlighting:

Javelins, check. Quiver of arrows, check. Luscious bear-skin rug, check.

Insert Tab 'A' of winged lightning rod into Hole 'B'

I am having a hard time deciding what to do, if anything, with the white. Over a white undercoat, I painted the whole model with Vallejo Ivory. I like the color here a lot, and I want to preserve the pristine cleanliness of the whole model, but it feels to me that the textured portions at least need some shading added. Looking at the original version, I would guess that Kev Adams painted it (because of the mushrooms of course); whoever it was looks to have painted a very thin white/ivory layer over more of a bone color (look at the wheels, especially). This gives the original, to my eye, more of a birch, wooden feel. I don't know if I like that, or the porcelain feel of my ivory better. I think I will leave it as is for now and see how the addition of the horses and the base changes my mind.

So. . . this goes in here, right?

Finished up the cannon and crew for the dorfies this week as well. The barrel-carrying (keg carrying?) fella is a fantastic crewman, sagging gut and all. For some reason, the sculptor of this set decided that all dwarves that work on cannons need enormous metal rings hanging off of their belts. Good stuff. Everytime I see the guy with the keg, Prince's "Raspberry Beret" starts playing in my head. If only I had the courage to paint it that color. . .

Thanks for reading. Hope all is well in your world, wherever it might be. Take care, brethren.

No One Wins 'Em All

I think I have mentioned here before that I mark my start into the hobby with the week that the "Dark Millennium" expansion came out for 2nd Edition 40K.

Summer 1994. It was all downhill from here.

I still have a very vivid memory of looking through a friend's White Dwarf and getting completely hooked looking at the pictures of minis (Andy Craig's Harlequins were the first to make an impression, and still remain my favorite 'Eavy Metal minis of all time) and reading a Priestly/Johnson battle report (High Elves/Greenskins). Here was the hobby I had been looking for all my life- a Venn diagram showing the meeting of art (I grew up a military modeler), battle tactics (I have poured over battlefield maps showing troops movements my whole life), and gaming (I think half my time at college was spent playing chess, Risk, and Axis & Allies).

My first minis were the Space Marines that came in the 2nd edition 40K box. I think I established my standard operating procedure by attempting to exactly copy the Blood Angels from the pictures (I am notorious for having issues with coming up with my own color schemes, much preferring the ones that already look good that other people have come up with). Mine were noticeably worse than the ones Mike McVey painted for the trade pics.

These are not my minis.

Shortly after getting the Marines painted up, I sprung for the 4th edition WHFB box as well, thus cementing my early addiction to GW's brand of plasticrack. At the same time, I found my first true love in the hobby when I built the High Elf army from the box.

How many hours did I spend with this? Many, many, many.

I think I have collected, painted, gamed with, and sold off six High Elf armies at this point, which now that I have actually counted them up sounds completely absurd. My current one is, unsurprisingly, the best of the group- Caradryan up there in my banner is from my army. I haven't pictured it much on the blog, because it is mostly newer models that I painted when I delved back into the hobby big time a few years ago now.

I have recently begun adding older elf models that I will be painting in the coming months, once the Barrowmaze and dwarf projects are done. I did want to share today's completion, though, because it ties in with all this reminiscing. See, there was a point after all. . .

The High Elf models back in the day always gave me fits to paint. I can say now with conviction that it was NOT MY FAULT. They are not easy to paint minis. They absolutely do not "paint themselves." They are very, very hard to make look good- hell, even the 'Eavy Metal versions circa 3rd edition are pretty underwhelming, especially when compared to everything else being released at the time.

I remember in the 90's starting a unit of the original Dragon Princes (sculpted by none other than the Elf Master himself, Jes Goodwin) and literally throwing one across the room because it was so impossible to make look nice.

These elves have their details crammed impossibly close together. Their scaling leaves a lot to be desired. They are covered with those damned gems EVERYWHERE. They are quite simply not very good models.

But of course I love them anyway. I am a hopeless devotee to this army.

I have learned, too- always have faith that a bigger unit arranged together will always make the underwhelming individuals look 100% better.

So, what's the most challenging group of minis you have ever painted? I'd love to hear of your triumphant struggles against difficult sculpts in the comments. Have a good one, brethren.

Something Old, Something New

Greetings, all, from the land of sunshine and orange juice. Today I bring good tidings of reconditioned lead.

First up is a quick blast from my not-too-distant past. I've never been a huge fan of Chaos, much preferring to play good guys normally, but a couple of years ago my older son and I were playing a LOT of Delaney King's Skulldred, and I managed to put together this little war band to use in that game. They are all fairly common Citadel Chaos baddies from the eighties- figures I am sure you are all very familiar with, so I will spare any further discussion of where to get them. The standout here for me is the unmasking mage in the middle- that is such an inspired pose. I feel fairly certain that I read that that is an Aly Morrison sculpt- fantastic.

Next up is my most recent addition for my (very slowly) growing dwarf force. When I saw this figure listed for the first time on eBay, I was immediately struck by the Kev White-esque balance in the pose and the interesting visored helm. I am pretty sure that this is a more recent Ral Partha sculpt (please correct me if I am wrong) and I wasn't disappointed in the least when he showed up in person. Really nice details throughout, and I love the larger-sized crossbow on this model.

I got a few more Otherworld NPC's done this week- this time it's a couple of men-at-arms and a wee gnome thief/illusionist. They are all from OW's current range and highly recommended- the two fighter types are particularly well sculpted and have some very cool little additions like wood grain on their shields and rivets on their armor. Very well done.

And finally, my most recent commission job was this mostly resin Wizard's Den. No idea on the manufacturer here. The alchemist's desk was a fun piece, and you gotta love those anatomically correct demons; every thing else here was a bit unremarkable, but I suppose it will make some room in my client's dungeon a bit more interesting.

That's all for me this time around. I have a topic I am dying to write about, but family demands and no time and blah blah blah. . .

I hope you are well wherever you are. Thanks for the peep.

C'mon . . . Gimme a Quickie

I'm finding that the last few rounds of commission jobs have really sapped my hobby ambition. I told my client I needed a wee break, thinking that I could take a couple weeks and make some serious hay on my collection, but I am having a hard time finding the desire to head back into my paint cave. I keep telling myself that this is a hobby, this is my free time, so I am not going to fight it- but those damn little lead men keep looking at me with those sad eyes making me feel guilty for not providing the gentle caress of my Windsor & Newton #2 . . . sigh.

I did find a few hours earlier this week when my blood was up and I banged out a couple of "quickie" projects: first were some more undead for my Barrowmaze / Otherworld D&D project. These ghouls arrived from OW a few weeks back. Painting them was a very simple matter; over my standard grey undercoat which I pre-shade with Army Painter Dark Tone and then give two highlight dry brush shades of light grey and lighter grey, I gave these fellers a bluish-grey base coat which had been mixed heavily with water and matte medium; I'd guess probably about 1 part paint to 1 part medium to 2 parts water, giving me a nice grey milk on the palette. Using very thin coats, I hit each of them twice; just enough for the pigment to give the basic color to the mini while allowing the shaded undercoat to shine through. I gave them each two highlight coats, adding increasing amounts of bone-white to the mix, first hitting all the raised areas and then for the final highlight pass, I just concentrated on giving the minis a highlight coming from a light source directly overhead. I used dark red to outline the blood, and then highlighted that with a fire-engine red color just in the center of the red, to hopefully give the impression of blood drying on the ghouls. A quick, heavy wash of Army Painter Strong Tone, and then gloss-then-matte varnishes, and done. Probably an hour and a half total painting time for three more fell fiends of undeath:

Who's been eating the nail polish again?

The second mini was even easier. I picked up this Rogue Trader-era Sensei from Steve a few weeks back, and he was already painted. From the pics Steve had on his eBay listing, I figured I would probably strip and repaint him, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw him in person. The details were nice, the base coats were very neatly applied- so I decided a simple re-base and mild augmentation were all that was needed. After taking him off of his old skool grit base and clipping off his slotta (gasp! the horror!), I refitted him on a modern lipped resin base with a sweet diamond deck finish, and then added a couple of quick highlight layers to his base coat. Two or three glazes to deepen his armor and cape colors, and viola! Sensei Fonzarelli is ready to smite a galaxy near you.

OK- hold that pose, and on three, say, "Cheese!"

I should probably, some day, try to do something with that face. That grin is. . . very disturbing. The face sculpt doesn't appear to be all that detailed, though, so I think the original painter did what he/she could, and I am not about to strip off all those cool checks just to find out that that grin is gonna be there regardless of how many times it gets repainted.

Cool mini, though. Definitely a needed addition to my RT Adventurers.

Sweet dreams, lead brethren.

My Kingdom for More Earthtones

Well, that was fun.

After several very long weeks, I was able last weekend to put the finishing varnish coats on what can only be described as "the country's single largest collection of corpse models in miniature." My original count of 43 was actually off a bit- turns out it was 48. And that number includes a few minis that feature multiple "bodies," meaning that I am fairly spent on painting dead guys now for a while. Here's the family portrait of the bunch; nary a healthy, strapping young warrior amongst them:

1000 internet points if you can spot the AD&D reference

And with the (eventual) posting of said family portrait, it means I also get to share a few of my own collection, painted as usual using excess paint on the palette in between base coats. I am continuing to plug away at the wonderfully sculpted Otherworld adventuring party, destined to visit a barrow near you in the future.

Barbarian, Thief, Acrobat. . . no, wait. . .

When I added these three to the rest of the group I already had done, I noticed something rather striking- I am getting quite addicted to earth tones in my old age. It probably serves me right- my first painting attempts way back circa '96 were Space Marines daubed in in bright, lemon yellow power armor with fire engine red shoulder pads. Quite an evolution to my new style, which is brown, dark brown, tan, and more brown:

Perhaps I should just start buying my brown paint at Home Depot

Man, I love that fat friar. There are simply not enough fat human miniatures in my collection, and I resolve to remedy that. I am starting to think that all your super-hero looking skinny dudes are a thing of the past. Give me some girth for adventurin' wif.

And finally, one little parcel of Ol' Skool Citadel. I mentioned way back at the beginning of this blog that I was going to try to adhere this year to a "five out, one in" method in an attempt to thin out my lead herd a bit. Back in February, after finishing my first few dwarf crossbowmen, I "rewarded" myself with this little gem from the mid eighties- the "Dwarf with No Name." He'd been on my most wanted list (no pun intended, but hell- I'll take it) for years, and very serendipitously popped up for a steal on fleabay just as I was looking for a bargain. In a sort of homage (a concept that seems to be poppin' up more and more these days in the Oldhammer movement, no?) to a childhood fave Friz Freleng, I went with a version of this Citadel classic decked out as Yosemite Sam:

I'm the hootenest, tootenest, shootenest bobtail wildcat in the west 

It's probably been done before, but when I saw that pose, this was the only paint scheme that made sense to me.

I hope this finds you well, wherever you may be. Happy leadhunting.

How to Maintain Momentum?

I feel like I am in a good groove at the moment, banging through painting projects without ever feeling like I am slavering away over the painting table. I really want to maintain this momentum, but I am not sure what it is that I am doing differently. I normally either feel like I am not getting anything done because I am not spending enough time on projects, or I find myself not wanting to paint because of burnout. This whole good momentum thing is driving me nuts, 'cause I don't want it to go away.

A good problem to have, I know.

I've managed to get a few items from my own collection done, once again with spare paints on the palette during drying stages of commission work. Here's the next three dwarfs for the Warhammer army, another three crossbowmen that actually rounds out the first skirmishing unit of 10. Progress!

Scale differences, I damn thee

I am fairly chuffed with the way the Hasslefree mini in the middle turned out- I am diggin' the orange leather/green fabric combo which, I must admit, was total luck- just the way the ink combined with the light brown paint I used. Again, I am so impressed with the cleanliness of Kev White's sculpt. There's just no other way to describe it than "clean." Very well defined but simple detailing, perfect balance and realism in the stance. I am very, very happy with the purchase there. The Bob Olley Reaper sculpt on the right a little less, but he's growing on me. And that Perry Bros. FTD on the left looks like some sort of deranged mountain man to me. Funny and characterful but a bit odd.

I also banged out a pair from my Otherworld pile. Words almost can't express my love for this company. Richard from Otherworld has bent over backwards both times I have ordered from him now to get me what I wanted, and he's thrown in plenty of extras into both orders. The sculpts are perfect- they actually make me think of my Infinity minis in their level of detail and nice proportions. No flash, incredibly minor mold lines to scrape, multi-part models that fit together with a minimum of filling. . . just all good. The owlbear has good, deep patterning on the fur which begged for drybrushing, and the backpack on this hireling is so detailed it's almost crazy to think about.

Dungeoneering is heavy work

Maybe more like a "GoldenEagleBear," perchance?

Finally, on the commission front this week, I got to paint beds. As in, the things you sleep in with the sheets and blankets and pillows on them. Pretty much all there is to say about that.

Zzzzzzzz

Cheers, wherever you might be.

Locked and Loaded

As I mentioned in my last post, I was able to work on dwarfs during drying times in between coats while working on the armory-related pieces. I got the finishing touches completed last night, varnished them up early this morning before work, and here they are, ready to join their brethren:

Thwang!

From left to right, these fellers are a Citadel Fantasy Tribe, Citadel "C" series, modern Reaper, another Citadel (actually a "reject" model from the 2nd version of Bugman's Rangers, if I am not mistaken), and finally one model from Hasslefree.

When I was collecting the dwarfs, I always ogled the Hasslefree dwarf section- Kev White has such a nice, clean style- especially with his stunties. I will admit I was a bit surprised when I got the minis in the mail, though- they are much more of an "honest" 28mm scale, as you can see standing next to the Citadel mini above. He is far more akin to Citadel's Lord of the Rings models in his proportions- no oversized head or hands, very "realistic" looking armor- but ranked up, he fits in just fine.

Last thing- is it just me, or does the dwarf heroine in this group remind you of Uma Thurman from the Kill Bill movies? Every time I look at her with that sassy stance, I hear the eerie whistling theme from those movies, and I imagine her wasting dudes who dare to stare at her (admittedly) abundant assets. :)

Good night, gents.

Nick Lund Is Also Really Swell

So, of all the things about the Ansell-era of Citadel that I love that have completely disappeared over the years, my favorite may be the box sets of metal miniatures that the company used to release. The Dungeon Monsters Starter Set, the Goodly Knights of Law. . . they were like little bite-sized painting projects allowing you to try out painting characters for new forces without splurging on whole units designed to be part of a giant army. Perhaps most importantly, they allowed for the creation of wonderful little skirmish forces or groups for dungeon crawls right out of the box.

I think that Nick Lund's Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos, released under the Chronicle "sub-brand," might be the best of the bunch. A few years ago, shortly after I picked up this box on fleabay, I read in a few online forums that Lund's sculpts weren't (and still aren't) exactly loved universally. This stunned me, as I think his crouched over, hunched-up orcs are so much more savage and downright "orky" looking than the goofier ones the company regularly releases. There is a wildness and a ferocity to these guys that I feel are lacking in a lot of greenskin sculpts. The shaman from the set has got to be on my top ten list, and all those shields just beg for the Blanchitsu treatment. Dunno- I guess it's all personal preference, but I like them a lot.

My version of Eeza and his boys. Makes for a heck of a good Skulldred skirmish force.

On the commission front, I managed to get the finishing glazes done last night on a batch of tables, headed for a 12th century fantasy blacksmith near you.

Anyone need a file? Pliers perhaps? Maybe an eight-foot pole arm?

That's all for me this evening. Buenos noches, lead lovers.

Worst of the Best

Of all the myriad "little tasks" that one has to perform in order to have a table nicely decorated with painted miniatures and beautiful scenery, there is one task that stands out to me as being the worst of them. I find this task tedious, niggly, incredibly challenging to do at even a satisfactory level. . . and I have never been able to do it at a superlative level. That task is painting standards.

So, imagine my relief when my better half did me a solid this past holiday weekend, took the kiddies out of the house for a few hours, and gave me a chance to put the nail in a couple of dwarf units. Standard Bearers for Bugman's 2.0 and Hammerers? Check and check.

Cossack-style for the hammerers, Chaos stuntie-style for Bugman's v. 2

Painting little designs on little flags is just something I can't appreciate until I either see a very good one (ever see Andy Chambers' Skaven army?), or I get to see the standard where it belongs- as a part of its unit. Same case here- I was very unsatisfied with the standards at first, but after seeing them amidst their Citadel brothers, I think the simplicity of the standard isn't so bad.

My now-completed unit of the much feared hammerers

On the commission front, all of the most recent completions have been a bit boring as well. But the blacksmiths are coming soon (I always leave NPC-types for last to have something good to look forward to painting), and then comes my favorite part of every project I have ever done- the group shot!

Mostly old Grenadier, Heritage, and Ral Partha bits and bobs

Anyone out there have one thing in the hobby that they don't look forward to? Any tasks that are required but mostly dreaded? Do share in the comments below!

Good evening, lead addicts.