Saturday 7 January 2012

Just another quick post. The moon boards are not dried out yet, hopefully on Sunday. So no update there.

Slowly slowly slowly painting the figure from Forlorn hope. But needed to catch up on sleep today so not been as active as I might.

I have undercoated my next batch of 10mm dwarfs so they'll be next.

Hopefully I'll be more productive soon and have something to show for it. But we all have off days so lets just chalk this up to one of those days.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Just another quick daily update.
Starting with the moon boards. I Have put the first coat of "Muck" on the next two boards and now they need a couple of days to dry. SO probably do nothing with regard to the moonscapes til Saturday at the earliest. That being the case there is nothing to show. The Camera seems to be eating batteries so I'll get some on the way home from work tonight.

New Figures: I had a small eBay order through today, just 3 figures from www.forlornhopegames.co.uk arrived very swiftly with the minimum of fuss. I got T0064 Male Biker with smg/chain, T0066 Female biker smg/shorts/boots. and T0069 fat biker with smg.

OK but what are they like: Firstly let me say I like them a lot and may well get some more. There are only 6 in that particular range, so making whole biker gangs might not be quite so easy, although I think these figures will fit in with many 28mm ranges, foundry street violence and Copplestone KKBB ranges quite well. There's no major casting lines or "flash" and the figures have had a dusting of grey primer when they arrived. So all that's good. I have nothing Bad to say about them, But there are a few things I'd have wished for. The "cuts" (denim jackets trimmed of sleeves) could have had the usual 3 patches on the back and a couple of others on the front. The Chain is very chunkie and would have been better slimmer. The Fat biker is not as fat As I would have hoped and no where near as fat as some bikers I have known in my past... (John the Big for example)... I was hoping for some figure who looked like a contestant in the biggest looser. Still we don't all get what we want. The bit that fits in the slotta base is also quite thin so needs to be packed out before you can mount them properly. Both the male bikers also have a pistol holstered as a back up weapon. The guy with a chain also has a grenade on his belt and a knife in his boot and an offensive pony tail hair cut. With that amount of weapons they look like good Necromunda gang candidates.

I'll tart up the warmaster dwarf beserkers in a sec and get these bikers ready for paint on Friday.

I was quite luck at work, I did manage to get all the time off I want for annual leave. (Has to be used up by April). So It looked like I'd get a couple of games in at the Sittingbourne club. Great as young Steve had a Vietnam game planned which I wanted a go at. But then my other supervisor rang me at home first thing this morning and offered me 18 days overtime (which of course I agreed to). So I may have to miss the Vietnam game, which is a shame but the money will allow me to buy loads more wargames stuff! (Yippee!) Also on the way home managed to pop into Tescos and get their last minute final mark downs before things go out of date. Sirloin steak at 58p a pack you just can't go wrong so I bought all they had and other than the one I had for lunch the rest have gone in the freezer! Some days it just works out right.

OK the last bit's not wargaming but I just had to tell someone!!!

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Two snaps of the 10mm warmaster dwarfs from Kallistra. I have some tidying up to do and a few touch ups with a paint brush, but other than the varnish I'll call these done. (well almost done).  As you can see I have settled on a very simple colour palette. Given that most of them in this regiment are skin tone it was just a simple job of painting them "dwarf flesh" and then adding a dull red wash to get in all the cracks and crevices. I was going to hi-light them but have decided against it as I think it works well enough. All the fabrics were painted "Regal blue" and highlighted with dobs of "Enchanted blue" That just left the hair and the weapons. As you will note this is not an expert paint job as I really need to hand on to what little sanity I have left. Really quick post today as have a lot on my mind, Non of which is wargames related. So kindly forgive the brevity. Cheers Clint

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Getting back to normal.

Again no pics today.

Moon Boards. I have done most of the next two boards construction. I'll still need to put a couple of layers of "Muck" on them and allow them to dry thoroughly, but they are coming along. I did manage to put the last layer on the first board. That will probably need 5 days to dry out and then colour up. Spent 2 hours up the shed in the cold and wish I'd put 2 pairs of sock on.

Club shirts: Done nothing today.

Warmaster Dwarfs: Getting there. I have just put a thin Black wash on then. Once dry I'll look at basing them and then with luck should get to photo them tomorrow. They are the first ones so have to learn the tricks of painting them as I go which means a little slower than normal, but if the black wash works I think they'll look OK.

Other than that nothing today. But have ventured the idea of a Mordhiem game set in 16th century Japan inspired by the new Wargames Factory Samurai. More if it happens.

That's it for today, I'll try to get a pic or two up on Wednesday.

Monday 2 January 2012

Drying out.

You'll forgive me but it's the first moon board which is drying out. I must say it's doing OK, looking as I would expect. So generally I'm quite happy with the progress. It will need one more coat of paint glue and sand and then about a week to completely dry and then I can start colouring it up.

I have started the next two boards as well. On Tuesday I'll finish the construction of them with an aim to getting the first load of muck on them both. Until that happens not much to see.

I will post some pics of the warmaster Dwarfs I'm painting when they get to a stage where there is something interesting to see. Again they are looking good for what they are. They won't win any painting competitions, but they will not be embarrassing to Field on the table, which is the point.

Next subject: Club shirts. I have sent the design ideas out to three people. Two of whom have gotten back to me the other is most likely away or the holiday season. One person has suggested we have a Zombie Curassier as the club motif. I have no objection to that but as soon as I suggested they might like to do some kind of sketch to show me they backed out and just said can we have them on black shirts. Personally I think black would be the wrong way to go, yes I can see it would make them popular, but the colours would not "pop" from them and they would thus look dull. And after explaining my concerns he suggested Red (same problem), then Blue (I was getting bored by now explaining the same thing over and over again and said for it to work it would be best if it was on a pastel colour.... finally he came round to my original white shirt idea. Takes a time but finally I can get my own way.

Also talked to Alan (Sittingbourne club) about if we were going to get some "crew" tees for Broadside this year. He thinks we should so that's also in the pipeline. BUT no details just yet but we should have them by Cavalier where we would hope to wear them and hand out leaflets. If we get it sorted we'll be easy to spot at that show.

The thing I get from this blog is that it does "make" me do something for wargames everyday. I may not have to do much but I will have to do something.

More as it happens. Clint

Sunday 1 January 2012

Happy New Year

Well no post yesterday, which is not to say I did nothing, but more to say I was doing things I don't want to talk about. Later today I'll do some more on the moon boards and start my 10mm dwarf army. I am a recent convert to dwarfs having spent many years as a staunch dyed in the ear Elf player in role-playing-games I have steered clear of the diminutive chaps in the past. I think it was mostly that the people in my past who had games workshop dwarf armies were not as likable as people as I would have hoped. I hasten to add this is nothing personal to dwarf players in general, but is aimed at a few people in the past whom I have now lost contact with.

I have only unpacked one blister of Kalistra Beserkers, but I have found them very characterful. Yes the muscles are ridiculously large, and the noses remind me of bad Astrix cartoon copies, but all in all I think these stout chaps look great in naked metal.They seem much "chunkier" and probably a little taller than Pendraken, but that's not a problem for me as I don't intend to mix and match.  I also like the Kalistra price compared to GW and the fact that you get 4 stands and not three. Which has little effects on making a small army, but when making a large one say 3000 (warmaster) points will lead to a saving somewhere along the line. They are also wearing "Kilts" and bear chested and now that I have typed it I can't think what I would have done differently if I were a sculptor. The weapons are a nice mixture of really over sized and unwieldy items both one handed and double handed swords axes and hammers. All in all I think they'll paint up well and look good on the table but time will tell. One thing is for sure I'll be able to lose with them no matter what they look like.