It's Back: What's in the Box!

It has been a while since Rob has done a commission for me. This isn't for my lack of desire but due to him being extremely busy at the beginning of this year. If you don't follow his blog he has been making display tables/boards for both Cool Mini or Not (Kings of Wraith) and for Outlaw Miniatures (Wild West Exodus).

I received an email from Rob at the beginning of March saying he had some openings if I had some project I wanted to get done....ha I always have stuff that needs to get done. After a few emails deciding on what would be in this batch I sent of my stuff and anxiously anticipated it's return.Well Friday's mail was delivered and what was in the mail box...just a package from Jersey. I love getting cool stuff in the mail.

 

As I mentioned a few posts back I have been getting more interested in working on my Protectorate of Menoth again as you saw the High Relaimer wips. The first two items I will be showing are for my Menoth army. The first is actually for the FADD army which I failed to finish on time if you recall those posts.

 

Here is a guardian for my PoM but more specifically from Reznik and my NQ theme force. I like the idea of having a node with Reznik for perdition and when it is on a heavy that can do some serious damage with Iron Aggression even better. Since my PoM is all based on the new plastics 'jacks the guardians legs seemed out of place. The correct for this I sent Rob a set of plastic legs and a plastic crusaders head to match the current line better. you can see in the bottom photo he had to add a little plasticard and rod to tie it all together.

 

The banners for the guardians back had their poles removed and replaced with sturdier brass rod. He did this on his own and damn am I happy he did. The banners will be easier to paint this way and have a nicer connection point. I wasn't sure I was going to add the banners but I am leaning more towards including them now.  

 

Next there was just a plain old repenter. Just basic assembly and pinned to the resin bases. In both cases the jacks are not glued on just pinned so I can paint them separate from the bases.

The next part of the shippent is my favorite part. I have been playing with Gunnbjorn theme lists for a long time now. Those of you familiar with the theme for know that for every two units in the army you get a trench to deploy on your side of the board. Having seen all the terrain he has been doing lately it hit me to have ROb build me a trench or two for the theme force. He had a few questions for me so he could match my static grass and ground sections to my based minis and BOOM!

 Two trench section that can fit perfectly together if desired.

 

The interior of the trench is exactly the size of the trench template from the back of Prime/Primal

 

 Nog! Hurry up and finish us so we don't look completely terrible in this awesome trench!

As you can clearly see there is a slope leading up to the trench sections. The plastic jack didn't have too much of an issue staying on it but if it were a heavier metal jack/beast or was more top heavy it may be an issue

 

Not an issue

 

"Hi guys"

 

Rob included four rock sections to use as wedges to prop up any mini approaching the trench..... hopefully the sluggers will mow them down before they get there but just in case :)

 

Well that concludes this episode of "What's in the Box" my favorite of all posts. In my next post I think I will be doing a building a wall tutorial seeing as I need one for Gunnbjorn, one for Janissa, and up to four for the pDoomshaper theme force and I "misplaced" my two at Templecon.

Some WiPs

I didn't get to paint too much last week due to work but got a little time this week to work on a few mini. I didn't really focus on one faction (or game in fact) but bounced a round between a few.

The first mini to show is my enlightened grunt from Wild West Exodus. Once again you can check out the kickstarter here if you are interested. After putting this guy together the other night I primed him with grey Vallejo Surface primer via the airbrush (hindsight being 20:20 I wish I went with black).

My initial inclination was to paint the paints in a denim scheme but I was unsure of the correct timeline for the creation of denim so I elected to go with a grey cloth. On a whim (and after talking with a buddy) I decided I liked the idea of a red shirt so went with it. Here he is with most of the base coating done and the pants and metals washed with GW Badab Black.

The next minis are the sluggers for my unloved challenge army. While I am still not 100% sold these guys are going to be in a ton of the lists I run with the Family Reunion they will be in one of the first few just cause they look good and I want to try them out. I am also holding out hope that there will be a UA in Gargantuans that will make up for some of their issues. I think it is a possibility that the UA is in the book as both Legion and Circle have received UAs for medium based units that are on the newer side of releases.

Here is where they currently stand. I washed the skin and metal sections while the boys were at school today. I typically let this wash sit for a while before going back to the mini but when I get back to it highlighting the skin will be the first order of business.

The last mini I have been working on is the High Reclaimer for my FADD Menoth army. Here is the work I have been doing on the HR:

The model had already been primed and the white metal section laid down months ago. Over the last two days I did some of the yellow metal sections with VMC bronze and the cloth section. I then washed all the metals with my standard armor wash and when that dried I washed the yellow metal sections with GW Sepia wash (whatever the new one is called) While the majority of my PoM to date has had grey cloaks I was in the mood to paint some more red (not sure why as I usually hate red). I started by laying down a few thin layers of VMA fire red. I still need to do a few more layers to get the coverage perfect but I think I like the feel of the red and bronze. I am not sure I love this red and may go back to may more standard red build. I am considering using the airbrush to paint the weapon blades and add some effects but we will see.

I know this came out of left field a little as I have shelved the PoM for a while. The reasons I picked the PoM back are two fold. The first reason is I have just been seeing them on the shelf and been in the mood to paint them a little but the second reason, and most compelling, was Privateer Press previewing this guy:

I love the look of this guy (I also love the regular bastions) and the description is really intriguing to me. It sounds as if this guy is a jack marshal which has some cool potential....I think. It will all depend on his rules but i am thinking of marshaling a sanctifier with him could be pretty sweet and could be a part of an HR army. I would be looking at something along these lines:

The High Reclaimer (*6pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
* Vanquisher (8pts)
* Hierophant (2pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Cinerators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Exemplar Bastion Seneschal (?)
* Sanctifier (9pts)
The Wrack (3 wracks) (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

Since I don't know the points for the senny I left a little wiggle room in there for maybe Rhoven or the book or who knows what.

OK that is that for now. Hope to have more updates in the next few days and should have a wrap up of leg one of the Thruway Cup early next week......Let's go Team Spite!!!

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.

Cave Challenge Progress/ I'll Drink to That!

I got a little cave time over the last two days and was able to get some work done. I am by no means out of the woods but a little better off than I was. I have, for all intent and purposes, finished the sunburst crew. I have also done some work on the choir, attendant priest, and a little on the steelheads. The last thing I did before I packed it in tonight (should still be working but to tired) was block in the white metals on the 'jacks.

 

The foot print of the sunburst is so large it will not fit on one of my Dragonforge bases so I had to build one to try and match as closely as possible. The dirt has all been washed with brown ink and is drying. in the am it will get drybrushed and the sunburst and gunner will be glued on. I had a little bit of a SNAFU with these guys as the matte varnish came out a bit hazy. I will do what I can with this latter. I have to press on for the time being.

I need to do a touch more metal base work on these three fellows then they will be ready for the metal wash. I hope to have that done in the am tomorrow so I allow the wash time to dry prior to hitting the plates with black tomorrow evening.

Late order of business prior to bed is these bad boys. I ordered both of the con exclusive sculpts from PP to go along with my kilt lifter from a few years back. I need to get the three of them painted up and maybe to a bar scene with them all. OK time for bed. Need a big push tomorrow to have a shot. Check back tomorrow evening to hopefully see a bunch of done photos.

Cave Challenge: Week Three Update

Three weeks down and here we are. I don't think many of us are feeling overly positive about getting done on time currently (with the exception of one or two guys). I didn't get all that much done during the week but was up at 0430 today and was able to have a productive morning prior to posting this. I have been working on the sunburst crew, attendant priest, and steel heads.

I drybrushed the bases, finished up the metals, painted the grey robe sections, and (not photoed) washed the robes and some of the chainmail with Badab black wash.

I base coated all the metal sections on the sunburst launcher and have subsequently washed it with my metal wash. My plan is to stay up late tonight and get the crew finished and add 3pts to the finished pile.

Like the sunburst crew the priest had his base drybrushed, metals finished up, grey robe basecoated, and robes washed with Badab balck. When I am workin on the crew later I hope to get the highlights done on his robe and maybe the red sections basecoated.

Here is a blurry photo of the steelheads. I did a little extra metal work this am on them and they were ready for wash. One of the metals didn't take the wash too well so I am trying an alternative approach. The remaining nine got a quick coat of matte varnish via the airbrush to see if the extra tooth from the matte will make the wash sit better on the lighter metal sections (fingers crossed) I hope to give that wash a go in the next hour or so.

Then we have an update from Oxyguy. I don't think he got a lot painted this week but he had to call an audible on his list. Due to unforeseen issues the blackclads, Lord of the Feast, and Lanyssa are getting shelved and he is swapping in Snapjaw and Wrongeye and the stone UA.

Next update is from DieselDM who continues to bang through his 5th Border Legion Khador army. This week he did a unit of doomreavers to add to the homicidal maniac feel of his eButcher force. Here is a photo of the finished unit. The swords came out really nice imo.

As always swing by Dieseldm's blog to follow the narrative and see more photos. All he has left are the greylords + escort and two 'jacks....get on it my man :)

I don't have updates from Evicerae, Scudo, or Z1G1 but Scudo and Z1G1 are recovering from GenCon and I am sure Evicerae got his stuff close to finished as he was on a major role in previous weeks. He has set a goal of two 50pt list by December.

That is that for the weekly update. Keep at it guys and best of luck.

Cave Challenge Update/ Carrot + Stick

My week off starts today so I should be excited and primed to get a bunch done but things have turned on me. Looks like we will be spending most of the day cleaning house so that will kill much of today and since my softball team has a bye tomorrow night it looks like we will be heading back to my parents for a few days. While I love spending time with my folks and the boys have a great time too I don't get any painting time. I am really setting myself up for some all nighters here in the not too distant future.

Yesterday when I got home from work my little guy was up and wanted to hang out with me so I didn't get much time to work on my army again. I did get a little time before I went to sleep to do a little more yellow metal on the steelheads and I also did the yellow metals on the sunburst crew. This is were I stood when I sent to bed yesterday.

This am when I got home I did more of the yellow metal on the steelheads and the spear tips on the sunburst crew. I also did the white metal accents on the attendant priest. After those were done I washed the attendant priest, and sunburst crew with my armor wash and set them aside to dry. A few days ago I mentioned my issue with mold lines on the choir. It turns out my OCD got the best of me and I tried to clean them up:

I went back and put brush on primer over the bare sections and will have to see if it covers OK. If it doesn't cover the way I'd like these gentlemen will have a date with some stripper (not as fun as it sounds) and get pushed to the end of the line.

OK that is where we currently stand. I hope to get back to cave later tonight after cleaning up to start putting the grey on the steelhead's inner cloth, sunburst crew's robes, and attendant priests robes. I need to get all three 'jacks done by the end of the week or I have no shot of completing this challenge.

In an effort spur myself on and give myself some extra incentive (if I needed it) I decided that if I get this challenge finished I am going to buy myself a Vessel of Judgement (it is so sexy and really want it for pSevy) but if I do not get it done I cannot buy a single mini until I fully paint my ENTIRE Menoth collection which is now in the range of 150pts (counting 'casters as 5pts each) so that could take a long time. This might be a case of cutting of the nose to spite the face but hopefully it doesn't come up and and I am placing a discountgamesinc order for a VoJ.

Sputtering Along

I haven't been able to get a really good chunk of time in to paint so far this week but I have been able to sneak a little here and there. First I finished the little details on Reznik all he needs now is for me to finish his wrack and he is completely good to good. I also finished up vassal number two aka blondie. Like vassal one aka red I did a little freehand red stripe on the bottom of his robe. I know it isn't much of a freehand but I am happy with the added result. I also took a second to glue some army painter tufts on the bases of all complete minis. Here is a group shot of the "done minis"

I did a little on the grunts for the choir of Menoth as well. I blocked in which robes are going to be grey and which are going to be red. I am very happy with the layout but very unhappy with the piss poor job I did cleaning mold lines. I am not sure I have time to stop working on them fix the mold line issues then repaint but my obsessive nature on this matter may not allow me to just move on.....errr I don't need a set back like this.

Lastly I started on the steelheads.I had already basecoated them white metal via the airbrush so I went in and started hitting random panels with yellow metal (GMC brass) as seen on the studio models. I am liking how they are coming together with this random/hodge podge armor.

I didn't get a chance to do all the members of the unit before I was interrupted yesterday so I hope to finish that today and slap my armor wash on the unit before I head to sleep so that once I wake up and can get back to them the wash will be fully dried.

On a different topic the guys seem to be having a good time out at GenCon. Scudo picked up a Woldwrath and two gatorman witch doctors. The Woldwrath is assembled and table ready. They were also able to ninja two Hyperion models for local players before PP sold out so Evicerae and Ty have some sweet shinnies to look forward to.

Z1G1 had good run in hardcore with his MoW brick of doom list. This list is a variant of his Templecon hardcore list with the addition of a Conquest. The list consists of the following minis:

Supreme Kommandant Irusk (*5pts)
* Conquest (19pts)
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
* Battle Mechanik Officer (2pts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)
Man-o-war Demolition Corps (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)

He runs them literally in the shape of a brick and slowly plods towards you chewing up anything that is within 9" of the front row. The combination of eIrusk's martial discipline, total obedience, and battle lust make this army sign for Zack. Due to the slow nature of the list and how it sets up and moves hardcore is one of the only formats where he can comfortably run the list know that it is a center scenario and all the action with take place is one spot. If he had to spread out it would suffer some. He went 4-1 on the day with his only loss to Phatasian playing Lord Tyrant Watt's pMorghoul Skorne army (see http://museonminis.com/gencon-hardcore-army-swap-2012/ for what I am talking about). Phatasian ended up finishing 4th in hardcore so once again good showing Z1G1.

That's about the extent of my news from GenCon from the few texts I received. Man I wish I was there too. If I can get through these steelheads by the end of the weekend and can spend next week on the three heavy 'jack I might just pull of this 35pt challenge.....not looking great right now.

Cave Challenge: Week Two Wrap-up

We are 14 days into the Cave challenge and the trend of superstars, slackers, and tweeners continues. Sadly I fall into the slacker category. I have finally finished the wracks but they are the only minis that I can say are 100% finished. I posted a photo of them the other day. I have Reznik at ~95% done only needing to put the metal on all those little nubs and attach his spare wrack. I did get the two vassals closer to finish status as well but, after looking at the art in forces PoM, decided to try a few new things on these guys. I am painting a red stripe on the bottom of the robe to give it a little more pop and also red sleeves on blondie.

I also took a little time to start painting the choir not too much to show but a little paint. I also sprayed the metal basecoat on the steelheads. I need to pick out a panel or two on each mini to paint yellow metal then they will be ready for their wash. I am hoping this unit will help me pick up my pace a little. The real make or break is going to be the three 'jacks.

Oxyguy had a hit or miss week and showed the is an uber klutz. We will start with the hit part of his week. Oxyguy was able to get Grayle and his feral warp wolf painted so we are looking at a solid 14pts (counting the 'lock as 5pts) and now for the misses. Oxy has been wanting to work on his bloodtrackers but....after he sent me the initial shot he tripped and dropped them needing to reassemble them. During the week he rushed home on his lunch break to prime then and when we was walking in from outside tripped and dropped them needing ot reassemble them. So he was tacking the freshly re-re-assembled and prime bloodtrackers to his basement to paint and guess what happened? DING DING DING he tripped and slammed them into a wall. Look on the bright side Oxy 3rd time is the charm.

DieselDM finished up Beast-09 to go along with his eButcher 5th Border Legion scheme. The narrative continue over on his blog and is really fun addition to the painted photos. He is concerned he is falling behind but I have confidence he can get it done.

PG_Evicerae came off a monster week last week in which he painted 17pts and followed that up with an additional 5pts this week. I don't have the shots of his current work while I am writing this but I know he was painting 'cause all day Saturday when I was playing a practice Hardcore game with PG_Z1G1 Evicerae kept calling out letting me know he was painting at the FLGS and not "wasting time" playing games. Now that is true spite showing up at the store just to paint and rub it in :) Well played Sir.

I posted a picture of PG_Z1G1's work the other day but seeing as he fully painted a Conquest in less than a day I will re-post it here. Conquest is part of his Hardcore list for GenCon which is actually a twist on the list played at Templcon 2012 Hardcore but I won't spoil his list until after GenCon.

The last painter is Mr Scudo I haven't heard from Dave since I saw him at the store Saturday. He has done solid work on a full using of tharn with UAs and started his fulcrum. Scudo is also heading out to GenCon so I don't expect to have update photos from him until next week.

So there you have it week two in the books. I am starting to sound like a broken record but damn I need to pick up the pace. Safe travels to GenCon gentleman and bring back some sweet swag.