Vindictus WiPs

I got a chance to work on the Vindictus. I was able to finish the grey and red cloth sections and started to pick some plate sections to be black. I still have more black to put on his armor and a few other things I am playing with in my head but here is the man at the current time:

I know I talked about bringing a "spiteful" list to tomorrows tourney in honor of my last local even with PG_Z1G1 but I think I am going to break my cherry and play Protectorate for the first time. I have been wanting to get them on the table for a while now and when I was texting with Zack the other day he said he wanted to see some of the Cave Challenge minis before he left so Menoth it is. I am also schedule to receive a package from Rob tomorrow with some reinforcements for Menoth so that did hurt my decision either. I really would like to play Vindictus but I am concerned that not having my zealot in a playable for at this time will seriously hurt his list building. OK I am beat time for bed while the house is quiet.

Hear His Words: By Voice or Blade

The house has been infected with pre-school illness and we have all been feeling like hell. I was able to put this aside and get down to the cave to do a little work on two minis. The first mini and the one getting the most attention is Vindictus. I love would like to say I love Vindictus. I have never played him or against him but I love his story/vibe and I really like the mini. I mentioned when I first said I was starting Menoth there was a thread on the FnF boards about a Vindictus list that sold me on the faction. Here is Vindictus in his current wip state:

So far I have his metals done. He still looks too gold but that will change. I have also basecoated the grey and red sections of robes. The grey robe has also received a wash with Badab black and once that is dry I will highlight it back up with my standard grey color build. After the grey section is finished I will move onto the reds. When I am doing the reds on Vindictus I also plan on banging out the red loin cloth sections on the three heavy jacks from the Cave challenge. Once the reds are finish it will be a simple matter of blacking out a few selected armor plates (forearms, shines, strip on the neck) and he will be ready for matte/gloss varnished. He will be put on a Dragonforge base when all is said and done to match the rest of my Menoth force.

When I washed the metal sections on the Vice Scrutator I also washed the skin and armor on this bad boy.

He was started way back at the start of the Scrum Challenge when I thought I was going to paint up three cabers (only finished one) and a full unit of warriors (only finished the UA). This gentleman will be seeing table time soon but not in a unit of Kriel Warriors.....huh? Let me know if you know what I am saying/thinking. I have to finish this guy and the other partially painted caber but first I need to find the other one. OK off to check up on sick kicks. Have fun watching football today all (go Vikes!) and I hope to have another small update on Vindictus in the next 24-36 hours.

Getting Back on Track

As evident from the lack of blog entries after the cave challenge I haven't been "feelin it" however that seems to be changing. I took two days to do a little work on that Malifaux crew and have put them back on the shelf and I am eyeballing my trolls and PoM once again. I think there are a couple contributing actors but the most compelling is PG_Evicerae is running 25pt Wednesday tourneys again this month. I had to miss the first week due to work but I am all set for weeks two and four.

Next week tourney will have a special place in the spite section of my heart. Next week will be the last local event I get to play with PG_Z1G1 before he departs for new employment in RI. Z1G1 is one of those guys you cannot help but have a great time with. He has been an absolute pleasure to play and travel with (my co-pilot to Templecon 2012 and I was his co-pilot to Conquest Toronto). Even though he is a great guy I want to send him off in true Team Spite fashion with a quality beatin'. This had brought me back to one of my favorite past time......list building. 

I am not going to get into my lists too much right now but I have a few things I need to do with my trolls to  get to fully painted by next Wednesday. I also want to have two fully painted 25pt PoM lists by the end of the mont so I should have some wips and finished photos over the next few weeks. At the current time I anticipate playing trolls next week and PoM the following week but who know I might try and play PoM next Wednesday. I am up in the air on which troll 'lock to break out but it is between pMaddy, eDoomie, Grim, Jarl, and Borka right now. Protectorate is up in the air as well but seeing as I don't even have my zealots cleaned and on bases I think Vindictus will be out. I am looking at High Reclaimer, pSevy, and Reznik right now but pKreoss seems to be pretty forgiving on new players so might take a look at him as well.

I think I mentioned in my last post my obsession with Relic Knights by Soda Pop Miniatures and that I was considering jumping on the Kickstarter.....well my self control is well documented and I broke down. The kickstarter had 2 hours left when my will gave in and I jumped in for more than I should have (surprise surprise Nog went overboard). I entered at the Double Savior level which bagged me four factions and seeing as I can't just stop there I did some add ons. I picked up Black Diamond (I think this will be my primary faction), Noh, Star Nebular Corsairs, and the Doctrine (love the librarian model). I have all the card PDFs printed out and have been building lists already :)

Cleansing the Palette

After the cave challenge I really haven't had the drive to work on my warmachine/hordes minis. The cave challenge is playing a roll in this but there are other contributing factors to my disinterest in my PP minis at the current time. I did a little work on a partial Maelok but nothing to write home about. When I get in ruts like this I often find myself looking at other product lines and I am currently obsessed with Relic Knights by Soda Pop Miniatures and their kickstarter. If they were actually available for purchase I would already have bought a force but alas they are not. I am seriously looking into jumping on the kickstarter but that will be a last min call.

I am up late tonight doing laundry I need for this weekend and while I was down in the cave I decided to work on a Malifaux crew I started a year/year and a half ago and haven't touched in at least a year. I was in a rut at that time (similar to right now) and decided to jump in and get two crews. One of the crews was an outcast crew lead by Leveticus and the second was a resurrectionist crew lead by Seamus.

The first crew I started on was the Leveticus crew. The crew consisted of the box set, Killjoy, Rusty Alyce, Bete Noire, an additional blister of hollow waifs, and a desolation engine. Here is the last photo I took of the crew:

I picked up Malifaux not just as a palette cleanser but also to try out the over spray technique (zenial highlighting) I had been hearing so much about. I am not sure I did a great job with the priming but eh it was a first try. As you can see I really didn't get much done.

Fast forward to tonight: Killjoy and two waifs got some lovin'. Here is the crew in its current state:

Killjoy is for all intent and purposes done. I have my sepia wash drying on base. all I need to do is drybrush the dirt sections, clean the rim of the base, glue on some grass tufts, and matte seal him. I tried a few new things on Killjoy and I am pretty happy with the results. I added some battle damage and nicks on the flat section of the blade to give it some added depth (I like the one on the back side best). Secondly I basecoated the blade with a rust color so that there were dirtier sections showing under the metal. Lastly I did some gore and blood splatter on the blade and sections of his body. I am not typically a fan of adding gore but it seems fitting for this bad boy.

I am excited about the waifs as it give me a chance to play with some colors I never use (pink and yellow). I know I am not following the traditional inside out technique so the skin is going to be a little bit of a nightmare but hell I never make it easy on myself. I have stuff going on all day today so I won't get back to these guys for at least a day. hopefully it is sooner than a year like last time ;-)

Cave Challenge Wrap-up

The cave challenge has come and gone with 4 of the participants hitting their mark and coming away with 35pts of painted minis. I was one of the two who didn't hit their mark. I mostly finished the three heavy jacks, choir, and steelheads but mostly doesn't cut it. Here are my last few photos:

Lets move on to the guys that are the stars of the challenge and did finish up their goals. The four painters were DieselDM, Evicerae, Oxyguy and Z1G1.

Oxyguy while having miniature acquisition issues near the end of his challenge managed to finish up and actually painted 36pts. While not playable he could drop 2pts and legally play a list at 34pts so he gets a W. Here is a group shot of his finished lot:

Next is DieselDM. He was more than happy to join in on the challenge at the get go but held fast that he didn't think he would accomplish the target.....guess what brotha? You were wrong. Here is his completed 5th Border Legion:

Now all you have to do Diesel is paint up 4 more units of Doom Reavers so you can play the eButcher theme force ;-)

Our next successful challenger was Evicerae and his Appleseed Retribution. Evicerae decided to throw in an extra 'caster for good measure and painted up Ossyan to go with the Rahn force. His overall goal was 100pts by December so even though he has a ways to go pretty go start here:

Last but certainly not least is Z1G1 and his Khador army. The last addition to his challenge force was a full unit of pirates....which is important for later ;-)

There we have it the last set of photos from the cave challenge. I need to finish up my PoM force and then I plan to play a fully painted battle and write up a full battle reports so hopefully by the end of September I can get all that up here. Thanks guys for coming along on the journey with me and showing me up by finishing your lot while I failed. I am working on a prize that will be given to one of the four successful painted but not sure what I am doing yet...no Evicerae it won't be a $500 check.