eBaldur Continues

I was able to do a little work on Baldur today but not as much as I was hoping. Today was my little guys 3rd birthday so I spent the morning playing with him before I took my nap. I also had softball this evening so no progress after I got up either. On the topic of softball I am getting old. I never used to get hurt before I was 30 now it seems like I pull a different muscle every year. OK back on topic. All the leather and greys have been washed. I was happy with the leather as is so I highlighted the runes with a little P3 beast hide. I need to do the seams and call the leather sections done. The grey needs to get highlighted up with most likely two layers. Once I get that done it is on to his face and beard. I am not sure when he will get worked on again as tomorrow am starts the FADD/Cave Painting Challenge (more on this in the am).

eBaldur WiPs

I took about a half hour this afternoon to do a little work on eBaldur. I put in the two different basecoats for the leathers (P3 bloodtracker and bootstrap). The leathers and skirt sections are both ready for their shading washes. I also painted the loincloth section in my standard green.

I start my work week again tonight so I am not sure how much more I will get done on the big guy. I start my PoM challenge on Wednesday so if I don't get a solid push on Baldur he might be sitting in a partially painted state until September.

While I was out and about this afternoon I hit up one of the FLGS and picked up two more blisters (I really have an issue). I am not sure if you can make it out but I grabber Madelyn Corbeau and Orin Midwinter.

These are going to be the last mini I buy for a while as I really need to get through what I have and stop adding to the pile. OK off for a nap prior to work. Hope to have a nearly finished Baldur photo tomorrow.

FADD: Menoth

I have been talking over the last few months about my FADD army but have not made any specific mention of faction. The FADD army is going to be Protectorate of Menoth. I have been purchasing and assembling (or sending out for assemble) my PoM force. There were a lot of contributing factors to me selection Menoth as my next project. The primary reason is I have been trying top get a buddy into WM/H for some time now and PoM was always his army of choice. I have failed to get him into the game but in the time I was working on lists/paint schemes for him I got myself hooked. Another contributing factor was a post on FnF by KestrelM1 and then subsequent conversations via PMs with KestrelM1, Paradox, and 'Gday. While I ultimately decided on a different 'caster I have picked up all of the parts for the Vindictus list and that will be painted up down the road as well. Here is my test mini for the army.

Here I painted pKreoss in my selected scheme. This scheme is heavily influenced by Ron Kruzie's 300 Skorne seen in the studio showdown in NQ 17-20. I changed up the theme for all the cloth sections but the idea of a shinny clean black with gold trim was "borrowed". Kreoss took a little long than I was hoping for but I think I should be able to carry this theme across the faction and be able to paint the 35pt FADD army in my designated month time period. I am contemplating another highlight on the grey section to bring it out a little more. Little bit of glair in the photos.....sorry.
There are a few 'casters in the PoM that I have always really liked the look of and wanted to paint. The main offenders were/are the High Reclaimer (resculpt), pKreoss (resculpt), Vindictus, and Reznik. I selected the latter to lead my 35pt challenge. I decided to go with the Knocking on Heaven's Door theme force from Jason Soles as seen in NQ 35. Here is the 35pt T4 list that is going to be painted over the next month:


Reznik - Knocking on Heavens Door (NQ35)
High Executioner Servath Reznik (*6pts)
* Scourge of Heresy (9pts)
* Templar (8pts)
* Vanquisher (8pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Deliverer Sunburst Crew (Leader and 2 Grunts) (3pts)
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Attendant Priest (0pts)
The Wrack (3 wracks) (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

Here they are in their assembled and primed glory (sunburst not pictured). As you can see some of the bases were painted ahead of time as tests and to get some of it out of the way ahead of time. The army is based on Dragonforge scenic bases except for any mercenary minis. I did this so that any mercs painted can jump between factions/merc contracts without sticking out too much due to their bases. I went with list for a couple reasons. While my initial inclination was to go with a High Reclaimer or Vindictus list they both consist of multiple in faction troops that will be a little more time consuming to paint. The steelheads, on the other hand, should paint very fast being mostly metal. The next reason is I like theme forces. While I do not play them that often I love building them in my head and thinking through theme lists.

The FADD army will be on the clock starting August 1st. 31 days to be completed.......

All Over the Place

This am I got up and headed to the cave while the rest of the house was still sleeping. I stated off with some assembly for the FADD army. The minis I put together this am aren't part of the challenge list but additional parts of the faction. After that I took five minis for the FADD army, eBaldur, and Rhupert and primed them with the airbrush.

The other day I asked for input on who I should paint for my PtT mini. Black Beard Freelance said he would like to see eBaldur but I had already started Tartarus. After BBF brought up eBaldur I have been thinking about him a bunch so decided to get him rolling. I let the primer sit for a little then headed back downstairs to put about an hour into the Stonesoul.

 Dry brushed all the stone sections.

 Painted the lower skirt dark grey, basecoated the face, and put all the white metal base sections in (forgot the sword hilt)

Painted all the white metal sections with thinned down yellow metal. This has now been washed but once I put the wash down I don't touch the mini until it is fully dried.

All in all a pretty solid start to eBaldur I would say. My circle army is a "speed painted" faction for me so I am trying to bang him out in a timely manner. The rest of my day is pretty full and so is the weekend with the little guy having his 3rd birthday party (where does time go?). I don't expect to paint much if at all over the next weekend but I have a post scheduled for tomorrow am to finally let you in on the faction being painted for the FADD army. Have a great weekend all and hope to finish up this guy before August first and my painting time is consumed with FADD.

July Target Hit

After picking a model only a few days ago I was able to bang him out in near record time (for me). Here is the finished Tartarus.

There are a few things that could stand to be touched up but I am trying to not be as OCD and I am gonna call him done. Doing the few sections of purple helped me visualize some changes to previous Cryx pieces I started. Tartarus has got me thinking about working on my Cryx again but that will have to wait as I have the big FADD challenge/project looming. Speaking about the challenge it looks as if I am going to have two of my locals joining in and attempting to paint 35pt lists in the month with me. Those two individuals are Oxyguy (my most common commenter) and PG_Eviscerae (some of you might know his Operation Desert Skorne). They have not told me what they are painting yet just that they want to take part so that is cool. Seeing as I have three people in now I might have to come up with a prize for those that finish in time.

Yesterday was a cool day in that even though I didn't get to play I stopped by the FLGS. One of our old PGs recently moved to Atlanta and was back in town for a few days so he was at the store. It was nice just to say hi to PG_Mozz again (seeing as he played a major part in me loving this game soooo much) and watching him and Zack (Z1G1) play a hilarious game (both using Zack's minis). Anyways its was nice to see Mozz in town and next time will be at Templecon 2013. While I was out I also sent my store credit and picked up more for my FADD army and this guy.

I have wanted to pick him up for some time now and finally have. I hope to prime him later today and work on him little by little over the next month.

AM Update

So here is Tartarus after his wash dried overnight. I also started to do a little bit of the detail work but was interrupted when the boys woke up and haven't gotten a chance to paint anymore. I have softball tonight so it is looking doubtful I will get back to Tartarus today. I am contemplating putting another thin wash on the yellow metal sections to age them a little more before I give them the sepia wash but I am still up in the air on that.

I got a little distracted this am. After doing a little on Tartarus I put on an episode of The Crab Feast and worked on the FADD army a little. I assembled the last three minis to complete the 35pt list and primed up the last batch. I am getting excited about this project but need to get through Tar Tar first. When I get back to him I need to do the dead flesh sections, teeth, axe handle, and finish up the base. If I get lucky I will get some time later if not gonna have to be productive tomorrow.

PtT WIP

So here is Tartarus at last photo break. I am happy with how he is shaping up seeing as I only started him this am and haven't had a ton of time to work on him (maybe an hour and a half tops). I decided to reverse my normal metal trend and do the main plates in yellow metal and the filigree in white metal. I drybrushed the "skirt" with P3 greatcoat grey followed by a very light drybrush with P3 trollblood highlight. I just put the metal wash down and now have to wait for it to completely dry so might be heading to bed. If I end up staying up I think I am going to hit him with a layer of matte varnish to establish a save point prior to heading on to the detail work. OK enough talk on to the photos:

I am really liking the progress so this might make me break out the parts and make that full unit of "Tartarus' Bane Knights".

In the first Tartarus post I had a question about how I thin my metallic paint for airbrush usage. I mostly have used isopropyl alcohol but just got a new product and tried that out for this project. I was happy with the results.

July Target Started

When I got home from work the only comment I received was from my boy Les saying he would like to see Bane Lord Tartarus so I headed into the cave while people were still asleep and got a start. this is where he currently stands. I wanted to get a little further but I am stating to fall asleep and need to grab a nap. I intend to put a big push on him tonight.

So here I airbrushed the metal sections in silver then gold (actually steel and brass if you read the bottles). I like to put my yellow metals over white metals as even if the yellow metals doesn't cover perfectly white metal showing through looks natural where as black spots don't. I have also blackened his "skirt" section but neglected to take a photo before heading upstairs. He is going to be a "speed painted" model so I intend to mostly use drybrushing and washes to pull him off. When I get up I need to paint the white metal sections back in by hand then lay down my metal wash. OK off to bed for a little nap and should have some updates later.

Change of Plan. Looking for Input

Well neither of our FLGS had an Orin in stock....DOH. OK change of plan need to pick another model and looking for what you would like to see painted. The way I look at it I have three viable options as all three I have in my possession and are assembled.

a) eKreuger
b) eBaldur
c) Bane Lord Tartarus

Which would you like to see painted by Thursday?

Need to Pick a Target Mini....Fast

July is nearly over and I haven't started a model for this month's PtT over at Lost Hemisphere. As evident by my lack of wips July has been a really slow month in the cave. One of my goals for 2012 was to hit every target which failed miserably by March but I don't even think I have hit back to back targets yet which is sad.

This month's challenge is to paint a model with reach. This should be easy enough right? Well all of the minis in my troll army that have reach are either partially painted or full painted so I cannot use them. My FADD army has some reach minis but I don't want to paint any of those until I officially start the army (coming to the cave soon). What to do what to do? I started looking at some of the other random minis I have in an unassembled/unpainted form and nothing caught my fancy.

I was about to throw in the towel when a mini jumped into my head. That mini was Orin Midwinter. I have loved the Orin sculpt by Edgar Ramos since I first saw the preview in NQ. I bought the blister when it came out and had him 95% when I dropped him one day and snapped off his staff. I was so pissed I threw him out and never attempted to fix him. I grabbed the copy of my Merc book to make sure he does in fact have reach and he does. Even though it is a work week I am going to call both of the FLGSs in my area to see if one of them has a blister and head out to grab one today. If I can get my hands on one I need to get it assembled and painted by 7/27 to accomplish my goal. Fingers crossed one of them has a blister otherwise I might be SOL for this month. Hopefully tonight I have a picture of an assembled and primed Orin for y'all.

Merc Work

Last night I headed down to the cave for a little bit. I didn't have a tone of time to paint so I elected to do my favorite part of the hobby: assembly. This is a bold faced lie as I hate assembly but it is a necessary evil. Here are the mercs I assembled/cleaned/primed last night. All of these gentleman and lady can be used for my FADD army which should start to see posts in the not too distant future.

Here we have Herne & Jonne, the NQ alt pEiryss, Gorman di Wulfe, and Kell Bailoch. None of these models will be part of the 35pt in one month challenge but all can be used in the army. There are a few more merc solo I want to add to this group in the near future. I was looking over my mercs and I might have to pick up a few casters (MacBain or Damiano) and plays some merc lists....but I would have to get some merc 'jacks so maybe I will hold off. Back to a work week here so time to grab a nap.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

So as I mentioned in my previous post I have been in a bit of a funk lately. We yesterday was one hell of a day and seems to have gotten me back on track. Yesterday one of our FLGS, Play the Game Read the Story(PTG), held a Colossal release event. Based on response on our local forums it looked doubtful the event would happen. Even though I didn't think we would play I decided to pack up the Khador and head down to the store. While I was packing up I took a little time fiddling with my airbrush and low and behold I figured out the issue with it and now it is fully functional.

When I got to PTG I noticed we had at least three of our regulars and also a new guy joining the ranks. I got on the phone and got Scudo to join us getting us up to six player. PTG was offering really nice prize support and provided pizza for use. Our group doesn't typically enjoy free play style events but it really was a good time. The sanctuary scenario was a fun one and I think I might build a sanctuary at some point so I can play it again some time. We had Cryx, Cygnar, Khador, Retribution, Circle, and Skorne represented.

One player had a colossal on the table and that was Abe playing the Stormwall. Everyone was trying to get free for all games in for the extra point so I played two one on one game before I got a four vs four with Scudo, Abe, and Ty. This game was pretty bananas and took forever. There was no strategy in the game as it turned into a big game of "oh no you didn't your gonna get yours now". Multiple times during the game people reversed field just to try and stick it to someone that attacked them the turn before. My pVlad was the first 'caster to bite the dust but my units and Rorsch/Brine fought on for the Motherland. By my calculations if Abe won the game I would finish first for the day taking $100 in store credit and the champion coin. Well when the dust cleared Abe did win but stunk an extra point (damn you Scudo)in before the win and Dave let eBaldur die to wurm counters which snuck him an extra point causing a three was tie for first between myself, Abe,and Scudo. We were already in the store an hour and a half past closing so we decided to pool 1st and 2nd place prize money an split it three way. I won the roll off for the champion coin but gave it to Scudo (playing circle so no coin) and took the Khador one to match the one I got from Wrath. The new guy won the door prize which was a copy of Colossals.

When I got home and helped get the boys to bed I headed to the cave and primed some minis for my FADD army. Yesterday was a really fun day and just what the doctor ordered.

Trying to Break the Funk

The cave has been pretty silent the month of July. I have had little motivation to get down there and bang stuff out. I have been in a bit of a funk and I am not really sure why. It might be a combination of things but hoping to get back on track over this weekend. I got another package from Rob yesterday and that is starting to get me going again. I do need to replace my airbrush as I appear to have broken mine. I drove around trying to get a replacement yesterday but struck out. The local art store should have what I am looking for in stock next Wednesday so that looks like the earliest I can get one.

Looks like I will be heading out to the FLGS today and getting a few games in so that should help get me back on track as well. I am not sure which store I will go to play. One of the stores is supposedly trying to do a Colossal release event but most of our crew doesn't seem to be too interested in heading there. If I go to that event I think I will pack up my Khador and try and grab that coin seeing as I have the Khador one from Wrath. If I just head to Comix zone it will be the trolls.

OK off to get the day rolling. Hopefully gaming today will help get me fired up and I will some some new wips by the end of the weekend.

Cave Update

Hey all. There has been relatively no activity in the cave so far this week. I took a little time working at a pseudo-display board to try out a few things. I also did a little airbrush work on my second unit of runeshappers. I am painting this unit to be a kinda personal unit for Doomshpaer. The armor will more closely match the armor I painted on my eDoomie and when I get around to pDoomie. I will also be passing up the standard green tartan and go with a blue like I painted on Doomshpaer.....have I ever post a pic of my eDoomie? Hmmm if I haven't I should get on that. I also did a little more work on my war wagon but no photos.

Speaking of airbrushes I seem to have a problem with mine all of a sudden. I reassembled it tonight after my last cleaning and there seems to be an air leak somewhere inside the gun as air is now coming up out of the cup as well as out of the tip. Also when I put the needle back it just kept going so I am afraid a washer or something internal is messed up and I am SOL. I really hope I don't need to buy a new gun.

On a positive side note I had an article published on Lost Hemisphere. I did a write up on the Sons of Bragg and submitted it to the guys the same day I submitted Rok for the PtT. If you haven't seen it check it out here www.losthemisphere.com/blog/22505 if my link is broken just head over to Lost Hemisphere and check out the post from the 4th. I will post larger finsihed photos of the Sons when I get a chance.

I won't be getting any painting done over the next few days as I have to head out of town for a wedding and then the wife and I are getting away for a few days to celebrate the anniversary. After I get back from that I hope to get a few solid days of painting in prior to getting back to work. Hopefully my next post will have some quality wips (or even finished minis) to show off. Have a great weekend y'all.