Uncharted Seas Redux

Here we are as promised with the Uncharted Seas minis.

For those of you with long memories I got into Uncharted Seas when it first came out and I got the original Orc box set when it was released. We all enjoyed the game at the club and I ran a big league a couple of years ago, then things quietened down and my models ended up in the loft where they sat until I saw Spartan were bringing out a hardback rulebook and as I hadn't picked up the 2^nd edition softcover I decided to pick it up and expand my force.

However my original Orc fleet was the old, hand sculpted style and Spartan had since moved over to computer designed models and re-released the whole range and I REALLY liked the new models. But I thought “you know what I'll just get the new models for the ships I don't have and nothing else”. That's when I remembered I'd based all my original models on plasticard with sculpted greentuff waves. Well after an evening of trying to replicate the effect on one of the old models I hadn't got round to completing the first time out I realised I was going to go nuts doing it with all the models and I'd never get anything done, plus I REALLY liked the new models...

So I ended up replacing everything I had with the new versions and I have to say I'm very glad I did, the computer design is superb and a whole level above the old stuff.

So, without further ado, here's my new, old fleet:

 

I still want to put some kind of iconography on the sails but i haven't worked out what I want to do yet.

If you're curious about the differences between the old and new versions here are some comparisons:

As you can see the level of detail and scale on the newer models is vastly superior, even the pewter sails have more definition.

Anyway I hope you all like.

More soon.

J

A Couple of Belated Welcomes

First up I'd like to extend a very belated welcome to my newest followers, Christopher and Brummie, thank you for showing an interest in my mini dabblings.

Next I'd like to apologise to everyone for the lack of updates for the past three months. Unfortunately real life has not been kind and at the beginning of December, following a brief illness, we had a death in the family that came as a complete shock to all of us.

The whole thing has knocked me sideways, particularly considering the time of year, and quite frankly my priorities have not included much hobby related stuff, although in the brief moments when I've found a little piece a few bits and bobs have been done or started.

Anyway, rather than this post becoming maudlin I'd like to assure everyone that, whilst not at my best, my love of the hobby is still strong and I am picking myself up, dusting myself off and getting back in the saddle, (and mixing my metaphors apparently), and have a few ideas in the pipeline for the coming year.

First up though, hopefully tomorrow, I'll finally post up the Uncharted Seas pics that have been sitting in my camera for the past couple of months, possibly along with a couple of new Pulp City minis, though they may get their own post a day or so later, I haven't decided yet.

So until then, take care.

J

Empire of the Dead

Today I'm going to put up the Westwind Productions' EotD miniatures I mentioned previously.

First up a little background to the game for those that don't know.

Set in 1888, it is a Victorian Science Fiction, (or Steampunk if you must), skirmish game with supernatural overtones.  The discovery of a new element, Infernium, has advanced Victorian science in leaps and bounds in a very short space of time, but it has also awakened the worst in human nature as well as drawn the attention of other, darker forces.

If you've ever played Mordheim or Necromunda then learning EotD will be easy as the game runs along similar lines with some nifty tweeks here and there to add some nice flavor, and as with both the aforementioned games there is a nice campaign/advancement system built into the rules as well.

For the starting forces I wanted a couple to take to the club with me to demo for people and decided upon The Brotherhood, members of the Holy Orders sworn to protect humanity from evil, and Nosferatu, out looking for new victim to drain the life-blood out of.

Both the games I've played so far went well with myself and my opponents coming away having had  fun games, I'd definitely like to play a campaign though as I think that is where the game will really come into it's own.

As for the models, first up are the Nosferatu:

Graf

Consort

Guardian

Thrall #1

Thrall #2

Thrall #3

Bat Swarm #1

Bat Swarm #2

Next The Holy Orders:

Deacon

Confessor

Brother #1

Brother #2

Brother #3

Brother #4

Brother #5

Brother #6

And finally, I have also painted up the limited edition edition miniature I got with the rules:

All the paint jobs were kept pretty simple for the sake of speed as at the time I was really struggling to concentrate for very long at the painting table, but these guys really helped me get back into the swing of things with both the starter boxes taking me one week to paint each group of 8 miniatures.

The cobblestone bases are from Fenris Games.

Anyway, I hope you like the models.

Hopefully more miniatures soon, so until then take care.

J

Back to the Dark Side

As promised here are the latest batch of 40k Chaos Space Marine characters that I've painted for Richard's Thousand Sons.

Up first is the Forgeworld model Lugft Huron:

For the banner I've placed the name Rich has given him, (Ini-Herit), at the top.  The character is going to be used as the standard bearer for his 1st company, The Fellowship of the Scarab, and the closest ancient Egyptian word I could find with my Google-fu was Sen, which means brother, so Sen-Scarab means Brother Scarab which seems like a good choice and it fit the available space nicely.

Up next is Typhus:

My favourite model of the four, he came out almost exactly how I saw him in my head as I was prepping him.

Lucius the Eternal is next:

Rich got this guy on ebay, and unfortunately the person sending it just put him in a jiffy bag to send and during transit the metal whip got bent back on itself, when I tried to straighten it out it snapped in half.  So as a replacement I've used a plastic whip from the Dark Elder Kabalite Warriors sprue.  The exposure on the picture is a little light but I think it came out looking good and think it looks the part.

And finally is Fabius Bile:

I like how he turned out, but he was a royal pain to paint.  There's so much going on with the model that every time I looked him over I'd find another small part I'd missed.  Once I'd finished him though he came out well.

I hope you like them all, next time out it'll either be Uncharted Seas or Empire of the Dead, whichever one I can get photographed first.

Take Care

J

Picking Up Where We Left Off

Right, that was a slightly longer hiatus than I'd intended.  It was due to a few things, lack of motivation, an inability to focus on painting for longer than 10 minutes at any one time, government sponsored training courses and nothing really to show or talk about being the main culprits.

Thankfully I've broken through to the other side now, mainly thanks to Spartan Games' Uncharted Seas and Westwind's Empire of the Dead game which got me able to focus on painting again, but more on them at a later date.

Right now I have a slew of models painted and I'll be showing them off over the next week or so and I thought I'd start with the last of Charlie's Dystopian Wars EoBS ships that I had to paint along side the Ika I posted last time.

First up is the Tenkei Class Sky Fortress:

Sky Fortress plus flight of planes

A bit of a botched casting meant I had to do a fair bit of prep work before I started painting as the top and bottom of the craft were out of alignment, I had to do a lot of filing as well as fill in grooves that didn't meet and re-carve new ones.  In the end it's not too bad, I did have to get rid of a lot of the rivets on the model though which was a shame, but over all I'm ok with how it came out.

The deck is based of actual WWII Japanese aircraft carriers, with a bit of artistic license thrown in and I'm really happy with how it turned out and think it makes the model look the part.

And finally the Hachiman Class Dreadnought:

This ship is ridiculously big, similar in length to the battleship but twice as tall, she's a big model compared to the rest of the ships in the fleet but really straight forward to paint (you just need a LOT of paint).

The 2 types of shield generators as seen in the above pictures are a much easier fit than on the battleship, Spartan have obviously learnt their lesson there thankfully.

I like how both have come out, and Charlie was pleased with them when I handed them over which is the important thing, I hope you like them as well.

Next time out I have the latest batch of Richard's Chaos Marine characters painted up a Thousand Sons, so keep an eye out around Wednesday for them to appear.

Take care and I'll speak to you all then.

J

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

As promised here's the update I mentioned on Sunday.

I've managed to get another of Charlie's Dystopian Wars Japanese fleet models finished, this time it's the Mechanical Ika.

The submerged version at the top was a simple enough paint job, the full tentacled version was a little more hassle and it took me a couple of goes at the wave effect on the bases before I was happy with the result, but I'm really happy with them both now.

I hope you like.

The weather is supposed to be better at the weekend so I may get some more stuff done then, but I'm not going to promise anything as the muse is still being somewhat fickle when it comes to painting at the moment.

Anyway, 'til next time.

Take care.

J

Welcome

A quick post today to welcome my latest follower, myincubliss, I hope like what you find here.

It's been a bit of a topsy-turvy week with me being very discombobulated for most of it due to reasons I'm not going to go into here. 

But I did get a little varnishing done in the brief period of sunshine we had so you can expect a proper update of the blog as soon as I can get some pictures taken and edited, hopefully before, or around, Wednesday.

I've also started (technically re-started I guess) a project that I hope to get through relatively fast so keep an eye out for that too.

So until next time.

Take Care

J

Welcome and Update

First off I'd like to welcome my newest follower CPBelt to the blog, I hope you enjoy your stay.

As the weather here in the UK has been very wet for the last couple of weeks I've not been able to get out and spray any models, and if I'm perfectly honest the amount of painting I've managed to achieve has been next to nothing.  But fear not, I still have a few models I finished up earlier in the year to show you.

This time out I needed to challenge my D&D group, so decided to lull them into a false sense of security by having a Goblin warren as part of the adventure (the party were all 7th level at the time of entering so I think they expected a pretty easy time of it), however using a piece of advice I saw in a GMing newsletter I subscribe to I broke out my Oriental Adventures and gave the goblins a few levels in a variety of classes, some warriors, a few Samurai and a variety of magic user types.

I did this mainly as an excuse to paint up some more of my lead mountain, this time some of my favourite miniatures ever, Rackham's oriental goblins.  I still have a load to do, but these are the start:

The encounter was a lot of fun, and the dawning realisation on the faces of the players as they realised the goblins were going to be a challenge was very entertaining, (though Charlie did get his own back with a lucky critical and 108 points of damage on the goblin leader, bloody Elven Rangers and their damnable multi-shot feats!??!  I'll get you next time Charlie and your little wolf too...)

Anyway, I hope you like the minis, C&C are always welcome.

Next time out, weather permitting, I may actually have those new minis I promised last time, we shall see.

Take care.

J