Back Again pt. 1 - The Year in Review

So...That wasn't as successful year as I'd hoped for painting wise.

The Xbox did take over my life for a while, but mainly I just lost the drive to paint for some reason. It took until I got convinced to run a DnD campaign in August/September that I finally started to get things going again and now I'm back into it quite well.

So, first up here's a picture of my Bloodbowl team that I said was coming about 9 months ago now:



I like how they came out a lot, shame they didn't perform as well on the pitch...

After that, I didn't actually finish any of the projects that I had left, however, I did finish some others.

First up was a commissioned Mordheim Skaven Warband for Richard, (shadoblade...and yes he is still waiting for me to finish his Devourers...), The X Rats:


Front row l-r: Wolverine; Storm; Cyclops; Gambit; Beast; Colossus
Second Row l-r: Psylocke; Warpath; Lockheed
Back: Juggernaught

I also managed to put together a Mordheim Warband of my own, The Cabal of the Dessicated Crow, (the next generation of the group I formed for Scrollmaster's Realms of Chaos campaign from a couple of years ago):



Other than these guy's I have also managed to paint up a fair few mini's (both figures & scenery) for use in the DnD campaign:








I even managed to finish 3 more Devourers & start another couple, but those pictures will have to wait a little bit.

I'm happy with what I got done, which I just discovered when I added it all up was actually quite a lot.

So without further ado, here's the important bit:

Tally:
Miniatures Painted to date (28/12/08) = 123
Projects completed = 1/5 + 3 unintended projects completed.

All in all I'm really quite happy with the end result, I was surprised by the number of models I actually managed to paint, which for me was a hell of a lot, it will be interesting to see what 2009 has in store for me, but more on that next time.

J

One down, four to go.

Just a quick update, and no pictures yet, but, I have finally, (with a little help from the weather finally letting up), managed to complete my Blood Bowl team. The head coach, 2 assistant coaches, 2 cheerleaders, 3 Re-Roll tokens & 1 Score token are all done , varnished & 5 minutes ago I put them in my case for tomorrow night, so, Project 1 is officially done & I've even got started on the next model for Richard's Devourers, so Project 2 is officially go as well.

I have to warn you though, I did purchase an Xbox 360 last Thursday with Mass Effect so my postings may become even more erratic :)

As for points I'm only counting the tokens I did for my BB team as 1/2 point each as they don't really count as full figures (you'll see what I mean when I get the photo's done).

So, until next time.

Tally:

Miniatures Painted to date (24/03/08) = 24
Projects completed = 1/5.

J

I'm Ba-aack!

Well, did you miss me? No, I didn't think so ;)

So, for the last week I've been going through a period of painting apathy, I just haven't wanted to pick up a brush at all, so no progress on anything this past week, until yesterday when I decided to get the bases for the 1st 3 Devourers for Richard sorted out, and I'm pleased to say that they're almost ready for flocking, so hopefully by the end of the day I should have the models stuck onto them.

As for my Blood Bowl stuff, I've kinda lost interest a little, I'm so close to finishing them though that I should get my arse in gear & do it, but I have a tendency to do this every now & again, whenever I get near completing a project I just loose interest & I start looking for the next thing to start on.

This time round I got caught up in terrain fever after seeing this post on a Infinity fansite, it's in Spanish, but with a little help from Altavista Babelfish I've figured out most of the bits that I couldn't get just from looking at the pictures.

And then, just when I thought the terrain fever had passed, I see a link to a report from the Tactica show in Hamburg this weekend. Here's the link, the Mordheim board has really got me going as I've been thinking about running a Mordheim campaign for ages now & it's given me ideas for scenery like you wouldn't believe.

Anyway, back to the painting news. Before the apathy hit I'd managed to paint my head coach, one of my assistant coached & 2 of the team-specific markers I want to use, they just need varnishing, (after I've gone over the assistant coaches feet where I've got a little careless painting the base), to be completed & on the list, whether I'll get that done today or not I don't know, but I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you as I'm focusing on the Devourers right now.

So that's all for now, hopefully I'll be back next week with news of actual progress on the painting front, but until then TTFN.

J

So, I kinda skipped a week there, wasn't intentional, but finishing the 10 zombie repaints took a little longer than I'd anticipated.

Anyway, they're all done now & you can check them out in they're new Displaced Miniatures Gallery.

The Mousillon Bodysnatchers had their first game last Tuesday & as with any BB team I've fielded they managed to loose their opening game, this was partly down to the Harbinger of Nurgle, (also known as Steve), distracting me by coughing his lurgie over every square inch of the playing surface, minis & indeed me, he also cheated for the first few turns as he conveniently "forgot" that the pictures on he dice represented 1's & not 6's as he'd been claiming...so moral victory to me then :0), in the end though my dice rolls let me down when it came to scoring chances, though not, I'm pleased to say when it came to beating up on Steve's team, I actually won the beat down 5-3 which was nice.

I also made a couple of tactical mistakes...namely setting up an offence when I was defending & then setting up a defence when I actually had the ball. Still, you live & learn, next time it'll be different (probably 'cause I'll end up against Ian & get completely dismantled...but it will be different :0)

Anyway, only the 1 mini in the WiP pic tonight, Head coach of the Mousillon Bodysnatchers Atticus Van Garrett:

New Tally:

Miniatures Painted to date (03/02/08) = 17
Projects completed = 0/5.

Bloody weather, an explanation & a change of plans

It’s been a really good week painting-wise, I’ve completed the 10 Zombie players for the team (Damn! 2 minutes after typing that sentence I went & got them in & discovered that due to the crappy weather today the varnish has gone a little cloudyL, should be able to sort it out for next week though, hopefully if I go over it with paint-on varnish instead of spray-on it’ll bring the colour back, it has done in the past anyway, figures crossed, unfortunately it means that they can’t go on the completed list just yet. Bugger!!!), today I’ve managed to get a good head start on the final 5 players for the team & with a bit of luck I may even get the Head Coach painted for the start of the season on 29^th January.

If you’re wondering why I’ve apparently abandoned the Devourers I’m supposed to be painting for Richard, the reason is pretty simple. I had hoped to get a fair bit of his army done over the xmas period as I’d have the time to get them done, unfortunately the fates conspired against me & were aided-& -abetted by my own silliness.

The first problem occurred when my own hopeless ability at brush care meant that both the brushes I use to paint the fur effect on the Devourers got pretty ruined & splayed, making them un-useable for the job. If there’s one thing I need to start paying attention to this year it’s to start to look after my brushes better & to clean them more regularly when I’m painting, not letting the paint dry out or clog up the brush too much, they’ll last a lot longer.

The second problem was that my last 0.8mm drill bit broke off in a model while I was drilling a pin hole, it’s really annoying when that happens, especially when it occurs at a time of year when it is a pain to get anything posted in a reasonable timeframe. It didn’t help that shortly after the drill bit broke the half-elf I’d started painting for the Devourers (no fur needed) decided that it was going to snap it’s leg off due to the thinness off the sculpt in that area, (Rackham & Privateer Press have nice sculpts, but my god they can be frustratingly fragile at times!!!), which meant I had to wait for the new year before the required supplies turned up.

Anyway, in the mean time I decided I may as well have a go at the BB team as it had been sitting around for an age & once I started I really started enjoying myself, I haven’t painted & force/team/gang for myself in quite a while & I really want to have a painted team for the start of the “Balls of Iron” League. Plus it’s the shortest project on the list & the easiest to complete & once it’s done (hopefully no later than the second week of February) it’ll set me up well for the painting year ahead..that’s the theory at least J

So, there you have it, that’s my reasoning behind putting the Devourer on the back burner for about a month, though I have got a fair few undercoated & ready to go when I do start it up again.

As for the change of plans, that revolves around the Project: Build & paint a Warhammer 40,000 Ork army (1500 points minimum).

After thinking about it (& buying an Ogre Battalion Box set off of Shaun) I’ve decided not to do that one but instead Build a Warhammer Fantasy Ogre Kingdoms Army (2000 point minimum) and if I want to use a larger 40k army I can finish the vehicles & units that I started for my Red Scorpions army 2 years ago, I’ll look at doing the Orks next year.

This week’s photos (unfortunately now minus the 10 slightly fogged zombies):

First up a closer look at the first two completed models for the year, Kronos & Methos, Wight players for the Mousillon Bodysnatchers.

And next up, the current work in progress (L to R: Steve; Adam; Silas; Caspian; & "Fangs" McGinty).

New Tally:

Miniatures Painted to date (20/01/08) = 2
Projects completed = 0/5.

Hopefully I can salvage the zombies for next week, if not I'll just have to do the best I can & re-paint the sections that the obscured, C'est la Vie.

more soon.

J

2 down, umpteen to go

Ok, a little later than I'd originally intended to update, but a bout of man flu put something of spanner in those works.

Still better late than never, and I can happily report I have actually completed 2 minis...the first 2 minis for my Necromancer Bloodbowl team to be exact & I've also made headway on 10 zombies for the team as well, all going well I should have them finished by Sunday.

OK, so I have managed to take a photo of my current Work in Progress:


The front 3 rows (all on the table) are all for my Blood Bowl team, as are the 2 Wraiths at the front of my spraying stand (the completed miniatures mentioned earlier) & the book-holding angel back-left of the pic (it'll be added to the Head coach base when completed).

The final 4 miniatures are for Richard's Devourers army, they just need bases done for them & a few bloody splatters on weaponry & whatnot to be finished.

So, for the first time this year I can update my tally (not quite up the Shaun's standards admittedly, but I'm happy with it as I probably painted only 15-20 last year all told).

Miniatures Painted to date (14/01/08) = 2
Projects completed = 0/5.

Hopefully much more to come soon.

And so it begins again.

Well, it's been a little over a year since I last had a blog due to the fact that my old PC died December 2006. But now, thanks to a little help from my dad & a promotion at work I'm back online again...hopefully for good.

The point of this blog is the help me to keep motivated with my miniature painting & army building. And with that in mind & given that it's 1st January 2008 I will hereby commit for perpetuity my "New Years Painting Resolution"

I resolve to complete the following 5 projects by 31st December 2008 (in no particular order):

• Complete Richard's (shadoblade) Confrontation Devourers commission.
• Complete Rob's (bigrob) Warhammer Fantasy Battles Dark Elves commission.
• Complete & paint my Necromancer Bloodbowl team.
• Build & paint a Warhammer 40,000 Ork army (1500 points minimum).
• Complete my Sci-fi terrain project.

I'd also like to make a dent of some kind in my large pile of unpainted miniatures as well, but that'll be tough considering I know that the above list will take a while to sort out & there may be other commissions coming in as well, but we'll see, fingers crossed & all that :)

So, guess I should start the tally now then.

Miniatures Painted to date (01/01/08) = 0
Projects completed = 0/5.

More soon