Currently on the painting table

On the painting table: Batman Miniature Game!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Ways to Go

I have been painting here and there over the last 2 days. I have had some decent progress but nothing finished as of yet. The KSBs and (despite not being imperative) runeshapers have seen the brunt of the work. The reason the runeshapers have had as much work done on them as they have is they shared colors I had on the palette for the KSBs. The SSE has been neglected and I fear he will not make it in time. Worst comes to worst I will drop him from lists and just max the KSB unit. Sure losing his buffs will stink but gotta do what ya gotta do. My stretch break is over back to the painting table. I am gonna throw Rounders in the DVD and try and bang out the KSB unit before bed........

Monday, January 30, 2012

Templecon Time Crunch

Templecon is right around the corner and I have a bunch of stuff I need/would like to have finished.



All of these need to be finished to hardcore standards. As you can see Janissa and Mulg are pretty close (and have been for over a year), the KSBs are OK but the SSE is way behind, the whelps are OK, and the runeshapers are so so. If push came to shove the runeshapers can be scratched. Not pictured I need to assemble and paint a second Champion Hero, touch up Boomhowler & Co, and Gudrun. these need to be basic painting requirements not hardcore. On top of this I need to get a model painted for this weeks 'scrum challenge. I think it is going to be another caber. Stay tuned hopefully there will be multiple updates with finished models over the next 18-36 hours.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Maddy, Carver, and More

Well we had our tourney yesterday but I forgot my camera so I will only do a little run down at the end. Here is my finished pMadrak for the January PTT. I have also done some more work on Les' Carver and he is nearly done. I need to do one/maybe two more highlights on the skin, skulls, tusks and fingernails and he is done.


Once again he is in need of some statics grass but that will be batched later on. I also picked up some army painter grass tufts I am interested to try out on some of these bases.....maybe I will use Carver as my test subject :)



Here is the BMMD himself. I have really enjoyed this model and after yesterday I am having a harder time not picking one up for myself and starting a pig army (damn you scudo). I might need to do a little more work on his fur shoulder as it doesn't seem to have enough contrast.

We had a good turn out for the tourney yesterday with 10 players showing up. we had three guys make a 2.5 hour drive from buffalo to join in which was cool. The faction breakdown was as follows:

3-Khador
2-Cryx
1-Cygnar
1-Circle
1-Trollblood
1-Minion
1-Merc

We were playing SR2012 with 37min death clock. My two lists were as follows. Character restriction makes list building a bit interesting. I can put Janissa in almost every list I play so I miss her when she doesn't come along for the fun.

Jarl Skuld, Devil Of Thornwood (*6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)
Totem Hunter (3pts)
Chief Madrak Ironhide (*6pts)
* Slag Troll (6pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes (3pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)

Game one I played Khador and being down 2 control points to none and about to give up another I had to go for the assassination. I feated and after some movement shenanigans from crusher applied Mulg to face....W

Game 2 I played Scudo playing Carver and piggies. I played Jarl this time. This game was back and forth and ended when my deathclock expired..in all honesty he was going to win on scenario next turn anyways. I did get a new respect for the gun boars with Carver and I now have to fight the urge to start pigs....again damn you Scudo....L

Game 3 was a blast with a lot of back and forth with PG_Z1G1 playing pVlad. I went back to pMaddy for this game. Our forces met in the middle of the battlefield and went to town. I looked to have the upper hand when he made 9 yes 9! tough rolls in a row totally destroying Mulgs crusher run. The counter attack from Drago and forces almost but not quite killed Mulg. At this point Mulg was not happy...he ate 2 whelps and applied tree to face killing everything near him. It got to the point were we both had 'lock/'caster and some support left. Maddy charges a BoK Vlad in an attempt to end the game. We came down to the final fury left on Maddy and Vlad at ~ half life. Needing a nine to hit I had to try and get it so I could boost damage if I hit....dice roll=9...hot damn. OK now I needed a 12 on 3d6 to kill him....dice=14. WOW! I guess that made up for the 9 tough rolls.....W

All in all the day took longer than it should have but was a good time. Thanks to the Buffalo guys for rolling in and hopefully team Spite will roll out that way this summer some time.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

This and That

Despite not having too many finished minis to show I have gotten a fair bit of work done of the past few days. I finished up Madrak for this months PTT but haven't had a chance to take some photos. I am not sure I am 100% in love with the skin and I am considering an additional wash to tone it down a bit. That, however, will have to wait.

Here are some wips of Carver and Grissel as I promised last evening. They both are shaping up nicely. Grissel will be pretty straight forward from here as I know my normal progression. Carver on the other had will be trial and error seeing as farrow skin tones will be something entirely new for me.


I need to finish putting in all the yellow metal trim and accents then she will be ready for a wash. This step always makes a big difference in moving a mini closer to done.



The metals are mostly done at this point. Unfortunately some of the shading is washed out as I had the mini to close to the light when I took these photos.
This brings me to some Templecon prep. Here is my new Battlefoam bag which arrived yesterday afternoon. This load out will be temporary as I intend to replace some of the trays with custom one to more closely match my minis. I also like to have my minis standing upright whenever possible so when I do my custom trays it will try to accommodate this.


This bag hold significantly more minis than my old bag so hopefully I will never have to udder the phrase "@#$% I forgot ____ anyone have _____ I can borrow? No? Guess I am changing my list" Sadly I have said something along those lines too often.

I also picked up a little something to enjoy at Templecon....

So Les, how do you want yours?A little ginger or on the rocks?

OK off to the FLGS for a little tourney and practise prior to Templcon. I think we will be rolling with Jarl and Borka today but I will see what mood I am in when I get to the store. I might post some photos later tonight if I remember to take them.

Friday, January 27, 2012

'Scrum Week 2

Just got this weeks entry done under the wire. Here is a rough photo of my week 2 submissions.


When I was taking the shot of this guy I looked over and saw last weeks caber on the table. It was at this time I decided I am going to take a group photo of all the completed models up to and including the week I just finished. If I can make all of my deadlines I should have a nice group photo at the end.


Next week is Templecon so that will shorten my timetable for submitting my entry. I think I will do a second caber seeing as I have a finished point of reference and when all is said and done I need three painted anyways. It will be either a second caber or the piper to complete the UA.....we will see.

I also did a little work on Les' Carver, pMadrak, eBloodsong, the whelps, and some scouts I have been meaning to finish up. I hope to have a post tomorrow am before I head out to a 35pt tourney at the FLGS. I should have a finished photo of Madrak tomorrow as I need to send him off to 'Gday. Carver and Grissel should also be making an appearance and the contents of the box which arrived today.


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

WIPs

Couldn't think of a title so wip it is. I was thinking more and more about this weeks submission for the trollblood challenge and I just couldn't do whelps so I had to scramble to get something else finished. I was looking through the models I recently primed and decided to go with another member of my Kriel Warrior deathstar....the standard bearer. He doesn't have that much skin and has a much of metal so that makes him pretty fast (for me).


This is were the standard sits after about a days work on him. The skin, metal, and leathers are done. I need to highlight the tartan, do another highlight or two on the standard, paint the flames, do the base as per my normal steps, and paint his shield. There is still plenty that needs to get done in the next two days but we should be OK.


I have also gotten some work done on eBloodsong. Despite here tier list being on hold for a little bit I want to get her finished up. I have blocked in her skin and red skirt. I have also repainted her white metals (change my color selection) and started the tedious task of lining in all the yellow metals. She has a ways to go but I like how she is shaping up.


Lastly I have done a little work on our happy little whelps. I did a shading was on the EBDT whelp and painted in the red protrusions on our two grey whelps. I still hope to have them done Friday with the standard but do not intend to submit them to Goris.

Unpictured I did a little base work on Madrak who is to be submitted to 'Gday in 3 days.....look at that despite being nearly finished over a week ago I will be sending him in last minute again. I have a bunch I still want/need to get finished prior to hitting the road for Templecon in a week. My new Battlefoam trollblood load out bag should be here tomorrow so that is exciting and in plenty of time to pack. Hopefully more wip/finished pics tonight/tomorrow/Friday.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Random Miniature Monday







Since yesterday had some whelp wips I figured I'd post my first set of whelps in this instalment of RMM. I don't remember when these fellows were painted but I am pretty sure it was during the aforementioned escalation league from ~2 years ago. These guys were done in my typical troll scheme.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Whelps

I got a text from the wife last night that she was up getting sick and that they boys were up and miserable too. I knew that meant when I got home people would be sleeping and that I would have the boys for a bit so she could grab a little extra sleep. This would make it harder for me to get up to watch the games this afternoon but also gave me a little bit of paint time.

I decided to work on my whelps. I need to get a second set finished prior to Templecon so I figured lets work on them and if someone wakes up they are to finish whatever I am working on and put them down. I am going with a few different skin tones on this set of whelps. The EBDT whelp I am trying to use trollblood base as the base color. The pyre whelp and winter troll whelp are getting the grey skin treatment I have done on my pyre, slag, and eDoomshaper, and the other two got my traditional troll skin.




I also did some work on the leathers and some metal before I was interrupted. All in all not a bad start after getting home from work. I am tempted to use them for this weeks 'scrum challenge but it feels a bit cheesy. I will see how much else I can get done this week and if I have to use the hwelps I will.

I was also able to get a little bit of spray work done in the basement but seeing as I didn't take any photos those minis will have to wait.

Friday, January 20, 2012

'Scrum Week 1

I just finished up this weeks entry for the 'scrum challenge. Despite not understanding the hobby my wife woke me up from my nap and said "didn't you have something you needed to do with your little men before work" and she was right. I did the base and took a preliminary photo to send off to Goris.


The base is in need of some static grass to fill in some of the gaps in the dirt but that will wait until I do the entire lot. I am please with how he came out despite feeling rushed to get him finished. I need to take a few glamour shots of our pal here but I didn't have time to set up the backdrop and all that. Next time I set stuff up he will get a few official pics. On the table for next weeks challenge will be either: another caber, the warrior standard bearer, or 5 whelps. I know the challenge says one mini a week but one whelps seems like cheating. All of the above models have been primed, as seen in the last post, so I can start slapping color on them as soon as I get the chance.

I also need to get Madrak buttoned up and sent over to 'Gday and I would like to get more done on Les' BMMD so I have an outside shot of having him ready for Templecon. Speaking of Templecon it looks like I will be going but will have to register at the door seeing as pre-reg is closed. I don't know how many events I will be able to sneak into but if not I will just live in the Iron Area I suppose. I also got an email saying my new Battlefoam bag will be here next week so that is good news for my travel plans....now I just need to keep painting.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Primetime/Pressure

I haven't had much paint time since my last post. My work week has started up again and the household has been sick. I did get a chance to sneak into the basement to get some priming done with the airbrush.



The first pic is all the unprimed minis that came down with me. The second is after priming. I decided to prime the Nyss with grey so that they are a little brighter when all done. I always prime my trolls black so I stayed with that. You can see in the photo one rock cork base and that will be for the Fennblade leader. When you put the Fennblade UA leader next to the leader from the Fennblades box he looks like the runt of the lot not the man like he should. The base will make him a little taller than plastic leader putting him in his proper place.

Now that I have all these minis primed I need to get one of them painted by midnight tomorrow or I will miss the deadline for my 'scrum painting challenge. It would be a disgrace to miss the first one so I need to get cracking. I need to grab a nap but after that I need to hit the painting table. The minis above with make up the first 4-6weeks of 'scrum challenges baring some other mini jumping the line. This should also start a new weekly post every Friday documenting my 'scrum challenge progression.

Tuesday evening I did a little more on Les' Carver. I started to put down my white metals. next with be a little clean up and yellow metal work. Once that is done a wash on the metals and things will start to pull together a bit.



Hopefully a small post tomorrow with something finished and then Madrak by Sunday??

Monday, January 16, 2012

Random Miniature Monday

Happy Monday all. Well tonight starts my week on at work again so not too happy I suppose. Today's RMM I bring you a new faction for RMM. This is a test shredder I painted up I'd say about a year ago. I was inspired by Todd "DeadDogg" Arrington's GnG article from NQ. I don't have the issue in front of me at the moment but he painted a Neph Soilder and they called them the Black Frost Spawns. I was really taken with the scheme and thought I'd give it a go. I am not DD by any stretch of the imagination so mine doesn't compare to his but I was happy with the result. In fact, I was so happy at the time that I bought nearly 100pts of Legion to do in the same scheme. Guess what???? I never worked on any of theme. There is my FADD showing up again. Now that I have the airbrush for priming and basecoating I think the Legion will be hitting the painting table in mid/late '12 (once I get my troll stuff done)




Sunday, January 15, 2012

Madrak + One

OK here are some wip of the fearless leader of the kriels. I worked on the skin a bit including 2 shade washes and some highlights. The skin is washing out pretty bad in these photos so it is a little hard to see. I am not sure I am happy with it at the current time either so I will most likely be going back and do some more work on Maddy. He is mostly finished at this time and once I get the skin where I want it all that is left is the tartan, highlighting some of the leather, and finishing up the base.





I hope to have him done in the next day or so. I can then submit him to Gday over at Lost Hemisphere for this months PtT. This week also starts the weekly challenge over at Trollbloodscrum so I need to pick a mini to paint for them. I think a caber thrower is in order but who knows. I still have a bunch I want to get done prior to February.

With Madrak being covered that brings us to the plus one. Last year about this time I painted a Reinholdt for a guy in our gaming group. I was in the mood to paint something up for someone and he had always been complimentary of my Reinholdt so it was a perfect pairing. This year around the holiday I decided I wanted to do this again but with someone else. Instead of just picking a mini and surprising someone I got in touch with one of the guys and asked what he would like. Rumor was he was about to start a new faction so I figured it would be a good place to start. Turns out he was looking to start pigs (I have been fighting the urge to buy Carver since I saw his 1st photo) and that he would be happy to have me paint up the BMMD for him. I as given the mini on Wednesday while my trolls were getting beat down. We had no established timetable on Carver but I got excited and started working on him Thursday morning.




The first photo is after I primed him. I was going to try and do a 2 color prime to avoid having to go back and paint in all the black. The over spray was a little much so I just stopped (I am not that skilled with the airbrush yet). I then went on to block in some of the basecoats on the skin and cape. I asked Les if he was cool with purple and he was down so I blocked it in to see if I liked it....and I think it is a keeper. Next up with me basecoat the metals and paint the fur section up seeing as that will be drybrushed and the messiest section.

Wednesdays Games

Cash and I got to the store right about the same time. we set up a table and got ready to roll. Cash said he wanted to play 50pt games seeing as most of the tourneys he is prepping for at Templecon are 50s. I was planning on playing 35pt but said sure. I didn't really have what I wanted to fill out either list properly (Mulg) but I brought the eMadrak up yo 50pts and hit the table. As expected Cash was playing eHaley....I hate her. We played close quarters under the new SR2012 rules but played 10min turns with one 5 min extension. The game was pretty close but he was in control most of it. I was able to surprise him on Haley's feat turn as he was unfamiliar with eMadraks feat and activated him last after I walked as much of my army into melee as possible. I feated and was able to get a bunch of attacks but missed on a large percentage of them. Madrak's army was attrition down and eventually Madrak fell himself. IT was a pretty fun game and only ran into a little but of an issue with time.




We were the only people at the store so we set up for another game. This time at 35pts so that I could use my Calandra tier list. We would be playing 7 min turns with one 3 min extension. The mission was incursion.




This time he brought out eStryker. The game was really back and forth and we both had issues with the time (me a little more I think). The flag on my right was the one that went away so much of the fighting was taking place on the hill in the center....which became a big pain in the ass. I used my extension on turn two (feat turn) and barely got through everything. This cost me the next turn as I charge Rowdy with my EBDT and should have crushed him but after my 2nd initial I ran out of time again...DOH! Again we went back and forth and he left me with little to seriously threaten Stryker. The game ended on scenario with Cash winning 3-2.

At this time some other folks had rolled into the store. I grabbed one more game before I had to hit the road this time it was against the Legion of Everblight being lead by Absylonia.




I played my Cally tier list and he played an Abby tier list. We played close quarters once again and with 7 min turns and one 3 min extension. I went first and did my typical stuff. Turn two saw the burrowers pop, Cally feat, and the dygs rip down some 'beasts. I was pretty firmly in the lead until I had a few big snafus. The first were related around time (gotta get fast), second around terror/abomination, and third was forgetting Abby's feat. I ended a turn leaving the scythean with one...yes one damage circle left. This in turn saw Abby feat and the scythean clearing a LARGE section of troops. As it stood I had the opportunity to win the game. My last turn Cally cast force blow to KD Abby and use her only remaining transfer. I then walked my last 2 dygs into position to kill her....failed the command check. If I was thinking (and I wasn') I could have just shot her at 4" away to avoid the check. She was behind a wall so def 9 but the dygs should have been able to hit her anyways.

So 0-3 on the outing so not that great but I did get some thing reinforced that I need to remember. I also realize the dygs might not be the best idea with timed turns or I just need to move way faster.

This post got a little long so I should have another post later tonight with some wips of Madrak and onther project I just started.