Cave Challenge: Weekend Update/Put to Shame

The weekend has come and gone and I was able to get some work done on my Menoth army. I finished up the three wracks and have Reznik 95% done. I also did a little other work on bases and random minis in the army but didn't take any photos 'cause it was enough to show really. Here are the three wracks and the man who loves to make them Reznik:

I need to freehand the text on his scroll/ribbons, paint his eyes, and put metal on all the little black circles along his loin cloth. I am also thinking about painting the crest on his helmet red to add a little more diversity to the head. I also need to paint up the wrack for his back and attach it. I forgot to clean it when I assembled his so it had nasty mold lines still.

Here are the wracks. I tried to paint all three victims with different skin tones so that they were all a touch different. I probably wasted too much time worrying about it but I am happy with how they came out. I am thinking about doing a little dried blood/bruising around the shackles but that will be at the very end if I do it.

As I was getting ready to head down to the cave I decided to look at my email and saw I had one from Z1G1 with some attachments. OK can't hurt to look at some WIPs right? Wrong. This is what he accomplished in the last 24 hours. Yes conquest was not even started yesterday.

Great job brotha and I no longer feel good about what I got done. I need to get some sleep but will have to get right to it in the am. Once again I feel really behind.

Progress....Finally

I was having a hard time sleeping Friday night and ended up getting up around 0430. Instead of tossing and turning and trying to get back to sleep I headed down to the cave. I put an episode of Mohr stories on the iPod and got to work. I then listen to the lasted MoM:Road to War podcast. After about two hours of working assembly line style I felt like I hadn't really accomplished anything and was feeling a bit discouraged.

At this time I decided I needed to focus on a single mini and crank it out. That mini was Reznik. Over the remainder of the day I snuck down to the cave to grab 30 min here and 45 min there. In doing this I was able to get a lot done on Reznik and it helped me feel more productive and like I had accomplished some thing.

During the day I painted all the white metals and bronze sections, washed the metals with my armor wash, washed the yellow metals with GW Gryphonne sepia and whites with GW Badab black, basecoated the grey sections, washed the grey with more Badab black, blackened the armor sections, basecoated the scroll, and hit him with a coat of matte varnish. OK now he is starting to look like something!

Here are a few shots of the other minis I was assembly lining earlier in the morning.

Here are two of the three wracks. I am trying to have the skin tones on all the "guests" slightly different. The darkest one is done the middle tone one needs one more highlight and the lightest one (not pictured here) is only basecoated. I also did the leather wrap around the legs on all three. I should be able to finish these soon. I need to finish the skin, paint the crows, and drybrush the dirt.

While I had the P3 Rucksack tan on the palette I basecoated the paints on one vassal and wraps on the other. I also base coated the skin while I was doing the wracks. The skin was also used on three of the choir boys which can be seen in the group photo above.

I was pretty happy with yesterday as a painting day. If I get a solid session in I should be able to finish Reznik but I don't see it happening today. I plan on heading down to the FLGS to grab a game or two. Zack wants to try out an alternative hardcore list for GenCon and my pMaddy brick wants to say hi. I also have a buddy looking to get his first 25pt game in with his Cryx so I think I will be bringing him down to the store too. I will update progress once I get some more done. Hopefully a finished Reznik and three wracks are here by the end of tomorrow.

Cave Challenge: Week One Wrap-up

The first week of the cave challenge has come and gone with a mixed bag of results ranging from very productive to hardly productive.

I will start with myself. This week has seen a pretty poor showing by me. Work really kicked my ass and with people being under the weather here I just could find a decent chunk of time to paint. I have gotten the wracks to the point where I can work on details such as the infidel strapped to the wrack for his sins and the crows. I finally finished up the metal section giving them two washes one with my armor wash and one with either gryphonne sepia or badab black (depending on the metal). I also did a little work on my vassals with one receiving more work than the other. This week I want to get all of these partials finished, at least one jack finished, and put a serious dent in Rznik. I would also like to get the steelheads started by hitting them up with a basecoat from the airbrush.

Next up is Oxyguy. Day one of the challenge I got a text saying he was up at 4:30 to paint before work. This enthusiasm faded a little as he got distracted by is main faction which is mercs. He banged out a unit of ogrun assault corp. He was able to get some circle painted as well:

We aren't allowed to be in Circle lists but insited on being painted.

The gold start for week one goes to PG_Evicerae and his "Appleseed" Retribution. Wow was he productive. Here is his unit of sentinels and light jack (griffin?) He also did airbrush work on other minis in the army:

Although insisting he has no shot DieselDM cranked out a really nice eButcher. This army is going to be 5th Border Legion (my favorite) and was his first attempt at the green scheme. I have to say it looks fantastic. Head over to DieselDM's Blog as he is writing a really nice narrative to go along with his painting......too bad I know the ending to the store ;)

Our next challenger PG_Z1G1 has an exam he has been studying for and has not been painting much at all. He did paint up Zerkova as a study break. Z1G1 also made an upsetting discovery when trying to assemble the Conquest...it was missing a key piece. Hopefully PP can get his replacement to him in time so he can get it assembled and painted. His GenCon hardcore list needs it.

Last but not least is Mr Scudo. He has been having some neck and back issues this year which has hampered his playing and painting time. The begging of the week was pretty rough on the little guy but he had a good day near the end and put in some good work on this full unit of Tharn and Tharn solo.

Keep up the good work guys and hopefully next week we can see some finished minis making their way out of the cave. Time for bed!

Cave Challenge Update

I have not had a lot of success this week getting much done on my 35pt challenge. I was able to have my most productive session yesterday am as I was able to spray all the white metal base for my three 'jacks, hand painted the chain on the last wrack, and was able to base the white/yellow metals on two vassals of Menoth and then wash them. I painted the wrist clamps different colors to try and differentiate the two minis a little. I will also be painting their hair different colors when we get to that point. I was hoping to get the metal wash down on the wracks but just wasn't able to get back down to the cave. Here are a few wips to show current status.

Doesn't look much different than last photo except all three have metals basecoats finished

Base for the Covenant

As you can see I also got a little sidetracked and did a little work on the book for the Covenant of Menoth and the book bearer. I love the detail on the book and look forward to paying around with the writing/text on the pages.
I had big plans to try and get a ton of work done today but I got a phone call last night from my boss asking if I could come in and work another night. It turns out my counterpart for my 7on/7off schedule got called for jury duty so I am doing 8on/6off (uggh) Well he helped out when my wife was in the hospital so it is the least I can do...hopefully Menoth will forgive me for not getting his chosen on the battlefield more rapidly. Even though I need to come in again tonight I am hoping to get a little work done on the wracks and vassals. I am thinking about using the airbrush to apply the metal wash to the wracks as I have seen on a few tutorials by Schnauzerface but am concerned about messing it up as I do not want to have to strip these fragile models.

Oh as an fyi it appears that the Iron Agenda Blog Network page is now dead so if you are looking for your favorite IABN blogs head over to www.handcannononline.com and click the IABN banner in the top right and you should see all updates for all your old favorites.

"Hurry up and paint this Reznik army so you can work on me. I mean come on man I run this show!"

Cave Challenge days 2 and 3

Well day two was about a much of a bust as day one. I got home from work and headed down to the cave to do some work on the wracks in hopes of getting the bases done, finish basing the metals, and washing the metals. I drybrushed all the stone work on the bases and started to put down the brown base for the dirt sections when I heard some banging and crashing upstairs. Well my four year old son decided to try and climb over the gate at the top of the stairs and, being the bull he is, crash through the gate and down the stairs. He roll a 6 on his tough roll and was unscathed but failed the command check and was rattled so my painting for the morning was done and we sat down and watched cartoons.

Day three was once again a pretty big bust. I only had about 20 min to paint today between the time my four year old went to bed and when I had to leave for work. In the time I had to paint I did the chain on one of the wracks, finished the dirt section on the last wrack, tested a base color for the crows. This is what the wracks currently look like three days into the challenge.

It may sound silly but I already feel a little behind only three days in. If we assume a warcaster is a 5pt model my 35pt list is actually 48pts of minis (the attendant is free from the tier) so to hit my mark I need to get 12pts finished every week. I knew my work weeks would be an issue and planned on picking up the slack on my weeks off but I need to be a little more production on my on weeks. I need to pick more point productive minis next week on.....maybe a jack? I might have to bring a mini or two to work and take a 15min break every night to get something done but that is not a great option. I guess this is why it is called a challenge eh?

On a possitive side it sounds like some of the other guys are having a good start. Evicerea is really flying and has done all his basecoats and multiple highlights with his airbrush. He is heading to hand painting now so that will slow him down some but making good progess. DieselDM has his 'caster nearly finished per his text this am. Great job guys. Z1G1 is studying for an exam so he is not going to get much done the first week but know him he will throw on Law and Order reruns and bang through his minis once he gets the chance. Oxyguy has been distracted by his Rhulic minis and started working on an ogrun assault corp getting ready for the arrival of General Ossrum.

10K/Day One Progress

First off I'd like to say thanks to all of you that stop by and check out the blog. I hit 10,000 page views today which was pretty exciting. Once again thanks.

OK day one of the Cave Challenge was a little slow as both the little guys were up running around when I was walk in the door this am. They are both under the weather so that doesn't help their disposition either. I did manage to sneak down to the cave and spray a little metal on the three wracks, Reznik, and a couple minis not part of the challenge. After that I did a little more work on the wracks before heading up to bed. As you can see the one wrack is further ahead as I was using it to test out/visualize a couple things.

I am hoping tomorrow will be a little more productive. The other guys have been checking in and letting me know how their lists have started off. Oxyguy texted me and said he woke up at 4:30 just to kick off his list before work (gold start) and Evicerea has put in some serious airbrush time laying down multiple layers on most of his army.....looks like he is the leader out of the gates :) OK gotta get ready for work. Once again thanks for helping me get to 10K before the one year mark.

The Cave Painting Challenge

The other day I mentioned that I am doing a painting challenge to try and get 35pt done in a month. I also mentioned a couple of my locals were planning on joining me. Well the number of locals has increased. I am going to have the guys give me weekly updates and I will then post them here for all to see. Hopefully we can all make it. Now that I am getting a few more guys to join in I might have to come up with some prize(s) at the end. hmmmmm.

The first guy to jump in and say he would join me on my adventure was Oxyguy who is a regular commenter here on the cave. Oxyguy is also the gentleman I painted Carver for at the beginning of the year. He is going to be painting up some Circle of Orboros:

Grayle the Farstrider (*6pts)
* Argus (4pts)
* Feral Warpwolf (9pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Blackclad Wayfarer x2 (4pts)
Lanyssa Ryssyll, Nyss Sorceress (2pts)
Lord of the Feast (4pts)
Rorsh & Brine (9pts)

Oxyguy's first list was a few point short as he forgot warbeast points when he sent it to me (senior moment?) but he added a few minis and is good to good. His original plan was to paint pKaya but he had a hard time stripping the paint from his son's original paint job and changed plans. It will be nice to see him playing a different faction (primary faction is mercs).

Next we have PG_Evicerea who is going to be painting up some Retribution of ScyRAHN! As previously mentioned he has a really nice Skorne army which was seen on the PP forums.

Adeptis Rahn Shyeel (*6pts)
* Chimera (6pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
House Shyeel Battle Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

This is a pretty ambitious list consisting of lots and lots of infantry. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that one of the units was still not fully assembled at the time of this post. Word on the street is Evicerae didn't think it was enough of a challenge and he has thrown a second caster into the mix.

The third player to jump in was DieselDM. As some of you might remember he was kind enough to ninja shop for me at LnL and bring back the SoB a month before release. You can check out Diesel's other work over at http://handcannononline.com/ and his blog http://www.dieseldm.com/ On this challenge he is two timing his beloved Swan in favor of the Motherland.

Kommander Orsus Zoktavir (*6pts)
* Beast-09 (11pts)
* Kodiak (8pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Greylord Escort (2pts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)

Keeping with "for the Motherland" is PG_Z1G1 workin on some of his Khador army. When you look at his list it looks a little wonky and that is because he made a list of minis he wanted/needed to get done prior to Gencon (most of his Khador army is fully painted). Oh by the way, in case you didn't know, he is the back to back to back Gencon hardcore limerick champion ;) He will be painting up a colossal which will be sweet. While he is not willing to say it's "muh favorite" he really likes it... and that is important for later. The to be painted list:

Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova (*6pts)
*Conquest (18pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Sea Dog Crew (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Mr. Walls Sea Dog Crew Quartermaster (2pts)
* 3 Sea Dog Crew Riflemen (3pts)

Mind if I crash this party too?

Last but not least is our shortest participant....none other than Mr Scudo (damn you Scudo....just cause). He will be workin' on more of his beloved Circle army.  Similar to Z1G1 Scudo has a mostly painted faction also his list consists of models he is trying to finish up to get the faction to fully painted. He too will be breaking out a huge base mini which is nice. Here is what Scudo (AKA Macguffin on our forums) will be painting:

Baldur the Stonesoul (*5pts)
* Winter Argus (5pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Celestal Fulcrum (9pts)
Tharn Ravagers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
* Tharn Ravager Chieftain (2pts)
* Tharn Ravager Shaman (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Tharn Ravager White Mane (3pts)

I am interested to see how he goes about painting eBaldur as I am also in the midst of painting him myself.

There you have it our brave painters coming along on my wild ride. I am really excited to get this rolling. Good luck to everyone and hopefully in one months time we all have a lot more painted minis. Once again good luck and the clock is ticking.......