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.

Firers at the Ready

Another Sunday afternoon, another brief hobby update. Managed to tidy up the last remaining dorf crossbowmen this week, so the army is very nearly done. If I keep telling myself that, hopefully I will put the wrap on the whole thing sooner than later, right?

Dwarf Crossbowmen; Hasslefree (left and center) and Reaper (right)

The first two in this pic are yet more squeeky-clean sculpts from the talented hands of Kev White at Hasslefree. The last fella is my final Reaper dwarf, again looking a bit "heroic" in scale for my tastes, but that's the basic schtick for humanoids in the Dark Legends line.

Here's the full unit, arranged skirmisher stylie for your perusal (and my documentation):

 

Trompin' through the gravel of Ye Olde Worlde. P-Choo! P-Choo!

Wish I had something more important to say than "Hey! Look what I done!" Not feeling particularly deep or wordy these days.

Hope your world is either suitably characterful or 'orribly grimdark, whatever you fancy these days. Take care, brethren.

The Little Ones Win Out

Nothing world-beating to report this week. My dwarfs have been eyeing me guiltily for the past few weeks, as if to say, "Hey, dum dum- remember us?" I did start this blog originally with the completion of their army firmly in mind, and I have sadly drifted from them over the last few months. So, just to remind them that they are indeed loved, I added three very heavily-armored crossbowmen to their ranks this week. I know they'll appreciate the effort. Sculpts by Reaper.

After these, all I have left to complete the army is another six infantry models (including three crackers from the Perry Bros. / Fantasy Tribes era), a beer keg-laden baggage train, and two ancient gyrocopters; after that, they'll be off to visit a 3rd edition Warhammer tournament near you. You wouldn't happen to know of any, would you?

Sigh. If only. In any case, thanks for the look in. Take care, brethren.

And So It Begins

The family and I kicked off our Barrowmaze campaign this afternoon. Pretty much just background info, familiarization with character sheets and equipment, etc. so far, but it is very nice to be back playing again instead of just painting. As much as I love the creation part of the hobby, it gives it all a sense of purpose when dice start rolling and decisions start getting made. Yeehaw.

On the painting table this week, I was able to bang out two quick and dirty projects. The first were the next three dwarf crossbowmen. All three are from Reaper, and all three set new standards for the term "28mm Miniature." Huge, huger, and insanely huge.

I also think I found a fairly decent answer to the question "What should I do with these minis from that lot deal that I don't think I will ever want to paint, and all of these silly hex bases?" Answer: put 'em together and turn 'em into statues for using as dungeon scenery, of course.

Pretty much all of these are either duplicates or extras, and my guess is we all have a pile of these lurking in the shadows of our lead piles, no?

That's it for the first week of December. Hopefully my next post will feature pictures of dungeon delving in action. Cheers, lead brethren.

Busy Days

The last few weeks have been a wonderful flurry of hobby activity for me. I feel like I have my mojo going very strong again, for the first real time since I stopped painting for other people.

Right after my last post, I started in on DM prep work for the family's upcoming delve into Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze. After studying Greg's maps and keys for the dungeon, I knew that it was going to be a challenge to adapt it to a miniatures-based dungeon crawl. Greg's maps are very well designed and layed-out . . . but building them as a floor-tile dungeon would be next to impossible because they are so cramped. I took Greg's designs, cut a whole bunch of floor tiles downloaded from the Skulldred site and mounted them on foam core, and then re-laid out and re-keyed the "major" encounters to match the rooms and passages that I could easily build. It will make for a slightly less realistic dungeon lay out, for sure- but I think that it will be a lot more playable as a tabletop game. I plan on posting pictures of the games, as I know some of you have expressed an interest in Barrowmaze.

After studying the random monster tables for the various environments, I decided I was a little light in the dungeon vermin department, so I picked up a couple packages each of Fire Beetles and Giant Scorpions from Reaper and painted them up one evening last week. Again, since they are destined to die in droves, the paint jobs are quick and basic, but I was pleasantly surprised at how decent they look. Especially considering that these are Bones minis, and barely broke the $10 mark for the whole group of twelve. Definitely a good value.

Everyone's favorite gland donators

Roll save v. poison or die

About the same time that I ordered these guys, the Red Box Games kickstarter was wrapping up, and I was a pretty big backer of that project. The minis that Tre sculpted during the last few days of the campaign as stretch goals were so good that they drove me to search around the inter webs looking for older minis he had sculpted. I came across this great Not-So-Little-John priest type from Reaper, and fell in love. Readers of this blog will certainly know of my weakness for beer guts on minis.

Gotta love scale differences

He is joined here by a Dwarf from WOTC's Chainmail range. This guy is way too big to use in my WHFB Dwarf army, so I mounted him on one of the flagstone bases from Fenris and he will ultimately be a PC in Barrowmaze. I think the rest of the family will be rolling up new characters fairly frequently, as the dungeon is pretty deadly. The color scheme for his armor (yellow and black) was inspired by my older son's favorite soccer club, Borussia Dortmund (he happened to walk into my painting room wearing his jersey just as I was gazing at the mini trying to figure out how to paint him up). It was a nice excuse to use my favorite yellow painting technique again- a dark ochre base shaded with a heavy flesh wash and then highlighted up by adding in bone white. The cleric will make guest appearances as an NPC. I have an inkling he may be drunk fairly often. But just look at that whoopin' stick!

Hope you are well, wherever you might be- enjoy the last of your turkey sandwiches if you're on this side of the pond. Cheers, all.

All Hail the Dwarfmaster

Just another quick update/documentation post today showing a couple of dwarfs to add to the growing horde. It felt good to paint up a couple of stunties again for the first time in a while- painting big boots and beards is like slipping into a comfortable old pair of slippers for me.

The fella on the left is from Heartbreaker, and is a fairly recent (post-2000) Kev Adams sculpt that will fit in nicely with my second edition Bugman's unit. The sculpt is so well done that I wonder if calling Kev the "Goblinmaster" is actually shortchanging him. One thing I have definitely noticed over the years about Adams' sculpts is that he never seems to get lazy on his minis; even places that no one would be reasonably expected to see on a finished, painted mini (places like underneath arms held snug against the body, or undercut areas beneath tunics) Kev will continue to lavish detail. It's quite admirable, and when you combine that ethic with his considerable ability to bring character to a little lead figure, well- it's no surprise he is a legend. Well deserved.

The pretty little lady on the right is a female dwarf ranger from Reaper. Although I haven't done it the justice it probably deserves, the face is one of the best female faces I have ever had the pleasure of painting up. So, another earth-toned addition reports in.

I am definitely wishing I was in Baltimore at the moment, with my fellow yankees at OITNW. There's always next year, right?. Can't wait to see all the blog updates.

Cheers, brethren.

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.

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.

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.

Building The Community

It's funny the way life works. Miniatures, too.

For the last couple of days, I have been reading all of Masterminis "The Future of Games Workshop" posts. If you haven't read through all of them, I highly recommend them (despite the fact that it will take a couple of hours reading time- they're really, REALLY good). The gist of the series is that the current downtrend being experienced by the great white tower is all related to their indifference to the miniature community at large. I happen to believe that the biggest problem that we mini painters, and the rest of this little niche community, have with GW is something totally different- to put it in a nutshell, they've ignored the fact that they are a company that relies on artists for their profits.

But that is a blog post that I don't really want to write. As far as I am concerned, it's already been written by a whole bunch of people who are far better bloggers than I.

What I want to talk about today is about community, something else that Masterminis, and his company Painting Buddha, are very interested in.

This morning, it was really, really rainy out here in beautiful central Florida ("The Sunshine State"). To pass the time, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to do my own little bit of community building, courtesy of my four-year-old son Miles.

For those of you who have read through previous posts, you'll already know that Miles is a fanatical RPG'er. His exploits with his now-3rd level ninja character named "Kendo" are a thing of legend around my household. But he has never played a tabletop battle. . . until today.

The first steps in a brave new world

Using a simplified version of Delaney King's Skulldred game (which, again, if you've never happened to check this out before, stop reading this stupid blog now and go check out the best skirmish rules available in the whole friggin' world), little M and Dad played out a little dwarf v. orc grudge match.

We took 5 figures per side- a leader, two fighting types, and two shooters each. I gave each model only 3 stats to keep it easy- "Dice," which is simply the number of 6-sided dice they would roll to attack, "Power," which is the number that they need to roll under in order to succeed in an attack, and hit points- Miles is totally down with the concept of HP's, so I gave each leader 3 and everyone else 1 a piece.

Skulldred uses a fantastic activation mechanic wherein you roll a special 6-sided die marked 1,2,2,3,wild, wild- the number rolled is number of actions that the model can take during their turn. A "wild" means that we needed to check to see if the model was within range of the leader- if yes, they got 2 actions, but if not, they did something else. In our case, we decided that the brave dwarfs would get one action, while the cowardly orcs and gobbos would head for the nearest cover to hide. All the fighters got 2 dice to attack at power 2; shooters got 2 dice to shoot at power 2 (but would only get 1 die in HTH), and the leaders got a whopping 4 dice at power 4. That was all the rules he needed.

Daddy- I am shooting your leader in the face!

It was amazing to watch just how quickly the little man picked up concepts like activation, movement rates, and how important getting a lot of "action" pips was. He groaned whenever he rolled a '1' for his actions, and got up and danced for those lucky '3's. I made sure to use lots of funny voices and expressions throughout the game, and he joined right in saying funny things for his dwarfs ("Wait for me, boss!").

He pounded me. When it was all over, both leaders lay dead; all the orcs got finished off in roughly six turns, and he still had a shooter and a fighter left over. Victory dance time!

Take that, chump! (Asgard Dwarf King and Troll)

Of course, the genie is out of the bottle now. He is already making plans to stomp both his mother and his brother in Skulldred, and he has grand plans of a 2 v 2 game on Dad's big table "with the castle in the middle." Success.

I feel accomplished. Like I have done my part for "the community" today. Huzzah!

Have a good one, wherever you are. Thanks for the read!

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.

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.

On the Topic of Homage

After a couple of slow nights at the painting table, I managed to put the finishing glazes on and then varnish the batch of dwarfs I've been working on last evening:

As I was finishing up the beard on the stout little fellow in the middle with the steel skullcap, I was suddenly struck with the impression that I had seen him before. That face. . . it looked incredibly familiar . . . could it be?

Is this guy possibly

none other than our favorite Citadel jack of all trades?

I have a sneaking suspicion that whichever Perry bro sculpted up this polearmed stunty, he did so either in homage to, or possibly poking fun at, Dave Andrews, Oldhammerer extraordinaire. We've certainly seen this kind of personalization many, many times before in the early days of the design studio- there's a long history of the big names at the company ending up as inspirations for the minis they were churning out at the time. I think that I was just particularly struck by this possibility because DA has always been one of my very biggest inspirations in the hobby. I have long admired how well he seems to do, well, everything- his artwork, cartography, and shield designs are some of the most memorable visuals from those heady times, and I give him a lot of credit for maintaining the look of the old Warhammer world all the way through to today- he continues to build or design a lot of the scenery that is still in marketing pictures and battle reports. All those old card buildings. . . his. All those dungeon floor plans. . . his. If only he had managed to keep that sweet beard and long curly locks (more recent pictures from the "How To Build Scenery" books show him bald and goateed now). Alas.

Five more warriors with hand weapons reporting for duty

On the subject of homage, here's my own much more humble attempt. Like many of you out there, I have a special love for the RT601 code of Adventurers from the early Rogue Trader days. In all but a few cases, I think the 'eavy Metal team at the time did an admirable job illustrating the wackiness and randomness of the 40K universe as it was originally imagined. So, I have done my best to keep my own collection of these minis very inspired by the "originals."

RT601 Navigator, Halfling Chef, Ventolin Pirate, Pilot, Squat Engineer, and Armored Squat

Enjoy, brethren. Have a good one, wherever you are.

Back To the Really Good Grind

Just a quick update post today showing progress on some armory pieces, along with a WIP of the next little group of dwarven rangers. The commission minis are from an assortment of manufacturers, but I know for sure that the big weapons rack with the shields is from the old Heroquest box. I'd guess the other big rack is an Armorcast piece because of the parchment-colored resin that it is cast in (blechhh).

The dwarfs are a mix of C-series and Fantasy Tribes from Citadel. But you probably already knew that. The dwarf thief on the far left is from the BC1 Dungeon Adventurers' Starter Set,  released in 1985. You can already see Citadel's move away from more "realistic" proportions towards the big-head-and-beard shape prevalent in the Marauder sculpts just a few years later. I love the Perry Brothers' sculpting of cloaks in the Fantasy Tribes series- it makes them dovetail very nicely with the other ranger figs, and gives them a rough 'n ready, on-the-trail sort of look.

I usually just use up "extra" paint on my palette during commission work to add glazes to my own minis during the in-between drying times on basecoats. That way, I can get through a fairly large batch of focused, hired work in a month, and still make good progress on whatever I want to get done for myself. Sustainable lead consumption, no?

Good evening, fratris en plumbum.

If You Paint It, They Will Come (and Play)

With introductions outta the way, I'll get on to discussing painting project numero uno.

I mentioned in my first post that I've been collecting and painting miniatures, primarily Citadel, for a good long while now. I've learned from reading similar "Oldhammer" blogs that this phenomenon is nowhere near as rare as I once thought. I'd daresay this whole movement is very nearly becoming commonplace in the admittedly niche world of tabletop gaming. It seems like quality blogs about all things Ansell, Priestley, & Halliwell sprout up very regularly these days, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people the world over who are churning out very nice paint jobs using modern techniques on "retro" models (see blog list->). It's all very encouraging. I only wish that there were more people (or, maybe even ONE other person) in my area doing the same. The reason for today's post title is because, where I am, I simply have to put my head down, keep painting, and believe that eventually, cool things like older editions of Warhammer, or Rogue Trader, or even just older versions of D&D, will eventually catch on locally. If I have the models already done, then when they do catch on, I'll be ready, Kevin Costner style.

Whaddayou mean, you don't like Jes Goodwin's Ogres??!!

For a few years now, dating back to the release of WHFB 8th edition, I have felt a strange sense of what I'll call "alienated allegiance" to Citadel miniatures. I delved into the hobby for the first time back in the early 90's as a result of flipping through a friend's White Dwarf and being immediately hooked. Here was an interest that scratched EVERY itch I had hobby-wise at the time: a love of sci-fi/fantasy, a history of D&D gaming, an obsession with historical battle tactics and lore, and a built-in need to constantly work on some sort of creative process with my hands. Check, check, and check across the board.

But then, over the last few years, I have experienced the same sort of malaise towards the GW brand that you can find described in a million blogs and forum posts now. For me, it wasn't as much anger over pricing or frustration with rulesets designed by marketing departments; it was a holding pattern where I found myself holding on to some sort of idea that "if I just keep building armies like I always have, surely things will improve." So while my painting cabinets were still getting filled, the painting itself was often feeling an awful lot like a job.

Then I saw this fella, and everything changed. This is my one Warhammer mini to rule them all, so to speak.

Dwarven Brewmeister from Stonehaven Minis

Here was exactly what I had been after, and I never even knew it. I bought this mini because I thought he was the perfect addition to my Bugman's Rangers force; receiving him in the mail a few days later opened a floodgate somewhere in my psyche. I suddenly didn't feel the need to focus solely on old-school Citadel minis. Stonehaven illustrates the fact that there are plenty of other manufacturers who are, in fact, doing a better job being "Old Citadel" than the company itself is, or even was (in some cases). My ideal army really is an ideal; I don't want its collection to be driven by a page from an old Citadel catalog, but from my daily breakfast time perusal of eBay and miniature forums. Not that there is anything wrong with people who want to collect that way- just the opposite in fact. But I want to create a force collected and assembled from all over the place, that looks purposely rag-tag. The crazy thing is, I've been doing this for some time building small skirmish forces for games like Skulldred, and for minis I use for dungeon crawlers. I kick myself now for taking so long to realize that an army for WHFB can be built exactly the same way.

So, here's a picture of the first few units I collected for my dwarfs a few years ago now, before this realization (1st and 2nd edition Bugman's Rangers, RR1 and RRD1, along with some minor conversions/substitutions):

And here's how I am going about building the army these days. I'm even starting to like the crazy changes in scale because, hey- creatures of the same species aren't all the same sizes and shapes. Lots of Fantasy Tribes and Marauder, yes- but alongside them are now a fair lot of Ral Partha, Asgard, Grenadier, even modern Reaper and Scibor. I'm trying hard to slowly build my armies using only the rules "do I like the miniature and can I get it on the cheap?"

So much happier painting (and collecting) this way. I've even discovered that some sculptors that I previously didn't care for are in fact much better when they work away from the GW Design Studio.

They're Only Getting Dustier. . .

I reckon I have put this off for long enough. I've been at this hobby now for all of my adult life- twenty years of collecting, assembling, painting, scenario-writing, and obsessing over little lead soldiers. But few things give me as much joy as bouncing around gaming thoughts and ideas with friends, so why not share all these little adventures with the like-minded amongst you?

I also need to have a record of all the miniature painting I am doing. Hence the blog.

I am currently working on a number of projects of my own, but I spend the vast majority of my hobby time doing commission work. I consider myself extremely lucky to have found a client who values my time and talents enough to keep me almost constantly stocked with old lead that I paint for him; in return, the proceeds from those painting projects almost fully fund my own acquisitions. It's an absolute joy to paint for him- he shares the same love for older miniatures that I do, and the depth of his collection never ceases to amaze me.

So, to kick off 2014, here's a picture of the painting "plan" for my own collection for the year, along with the first completed miniature from the plan- an old Grenadier dwarf standard bearer who will have the honor of leading one of the mismatched, drunken units of dwarven warriors in my growing WHFB (3e) army. The army is based around the exploits of a certain brewmaster, and the alcohol-obsessed entourage of rangers he surely leads across the mountains of the Old World. Many more details on that army will follow. I have the miniatures on the plan already, and to keep me on track during the year, I am going to adhere to a "one-in, five-out" rule. So, before I can even begin to think about getting anything else from fleabay, I still have another four minis I have to finish first. . .

I've used plans like this in the past to good result, but good gravy- that's a LOT to get done

I also managed to put the final ink washes on the first commission piece of the year yesterday. My client's first batch for 2014 is all blacksmith and armoury-related scenery, so to kick off the year I painted up his demonic forge. I suspect this is an old Ral Partha piece, but if anyone knows better, I'd love to hear in the comments.

Lots of different textures on this mini- a real cracker

Best wishes to all of you. It's been a joy re-discovering my love for 80's-90's minis through everyone else's blogs the last few years. Here's to hoping that maybe I can help do the same.

First post done.