Welcome back

Hello again!!!

     Well it has been a busy summer for me life wise. As you could tell with my lack of blog updates since April. Wild and bumpy ride. I was able to paint and paint and work, work, work. The blog fell by the wayside as my computer died, was fixed, and then suffered issues within. Its almost back up to par and my camera's memory card full of projects I have have completed.

     Lets see if I can get back into the swing of things with a new update (hopefully) every week on Thursdays - that seems to be the best day for me. So we will start with this welcome back post, and follow thru next week with some newly painted material. In the meantime we can talk about our summer!

     The biggest thing over the summer was my first ever GenCon! I was super excited about it, and it was all it lived up to, 4 awesome days of gaming! I spent the majority of it at the Cool Mini or Not booth (if you remember I am a Legion member - the core demo program at CMoN) running Zombicide demos to thousands of people in attendance. I also met some friends, ran into some old friends, people from the industry, and picked up a LOT of miniatures to paint :)

     I had a blast there and looking forward to going back next year. I am also looking forward (hopefully) to attending Templecon in 2014 which has extended to 4 days!

     For now, I guess thats it. I am going to work on getting pics ready for next weeks upload, but coming up we have that Circle of Orborus starter box from Privateer Press I have been saying since April. We will also take a look at some Super Dungeon Explore heroes from Soda Pop Miniatures, both my own and some commissions, and some random commissions I did for locals from Privateer Press. Also I was able to get ahold of some Dark Age models from Cool Mini or Not and I will add them into the mix.


Keep those brushes clean, and see you next week!

Khador Excitement part 3 - the Conquest

Welcome back! Part 3 of Khador Excitement! And if you can tell by the title, there is Khador here. These all follow the commission requested scheme of White and Red Khador by the client. This. IS. CONQUEST! The colossal warjack for Khador. It is HUGH, so much that the base size is classified as hugh. The base is the size of a CD/DVD. The model itself is as big as my head! This thing means business, and here he is!!

CONQUEST

I went for a bit more detailing in the paint job here, those rivets were...well not fun to be honest. There are plenty of them and each has at least 2 if not 3 colors of paint on them. Overall I did enjoy painting him tho, a massive warjack ready to crush the opposition.
     Side note that I dont have an airbrush which would have helped on these massive figures. But I had fun painting them by brush anyway.



Here is a size comparison shot with the warcaster Harkevich who is on a 30mm base and my iPhone. Just to give some of you an idea how tall Conquest really is.

Wow-We! There you go some love over the weekend and multiple posts in a week, GO ME! I hope you enjoyed checking out the Khador Excitement with me. I had a blast and I think the client enjoyed them too. He is probably lining up more for me as we speak.

Coming up soon will be a Circle starter army for the 2-Player Hordes starter box from Privateer Press. I may even get a few Super Dungeon Explore heroes up on here as well within the month, but time will tell. Now I am off to paint something, I hope you are too!

Khador Excitment part 2

Welcome back! So this post is titled Khador Excitement part 2 of 3. And if you can tell by the title, there is Khador here. These all follow the commission requested scheme of White and Red Khador by the client. These next 3 models I will show today are 2 warcasters and a mercenary attachment. All three of these were done up a bit more than the previous two. A bit better quality, but not to the full 9s.

First up are the two warcasters. These are the leaders of your army. You can see they follow the paint scheme, and the basing detail (I am actually going to add another tutorial on snow bases sometime).

Forward Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff

Kommander Harkevich

This next model is from the Mercenary faction. These guys are great to fill in gaps in your own army that you need....filled. Sylys here is a warcaster attachment, meaning he attaches to a warcaster on the filed and has benefits for both of them. His name looks difficult but really pronounced Sigh-less Wish-nail-er.

Since he is a Mercenary model, the client wanted him to fit into Khador color scheme, but also be able to look as if he can go into other armies as well, just in case. So I reversed the color scheme on him, and tried some ink highlights on his armor. Turned out pretty good I think, but there are a few spots where it did not catch right and the camera may or may not show that.

Sylys Wyshnalyrr

And there you have those. Now onto the BIG, BAD, CONQUEST!!!!!
so for part 3 of the Khador Excitement we shall see the finished Conquest, Khador's own colossal jack.

Khador Excitment! pt1

Welcome back! So this post is titled Khador Excitement part 1 of 3. And if you can tell by the title, there is Khador here. These all follow the commission requested scheme of White and Red Khador by the client. The first two I will show today are unit attachments (I think, I dont play Khador). Both were done using a quick and basic paint job so they have at least tabletop quality.

First up we have Cuppa Joe, Kovnik Grigorovich. Walking tall raising his weapons into the air. Basic paint job again to say.

Kovnik Grigorovich

Next up we have a Battle Mechanik Officer. His job is to repair the jacks on the field.

Battle Mechanik Officer

So there is part 1 of the Khador Excitment. Part 2 will have 2 casters and a Mercenary model. Part 3 will be the BIG excitment, the Conquest! I am going to post them all today just so I dont forget about them down the road.

Kingsley Warlock - Anima Tactics

     I have always loved anime. Cipher Studios puts out some great looking anime style models for  their game Anima Tactics. It is a skirmish size tabletop game. Skirmish basically is small amounts of figures on each players side, as opposed to Warmachine or Hordes which usually contain a large amount of models per side. 

I dont own much for the game, in fact Kingsley here is my first that I own, but I have painted for others. There is no time to learn another game and keep painting, but I loved painting him. So here I present Kingsley Warlock from Anima Tactics::

The base is actually from Enigma Scenic Bases: Dungeon Floor. Also I should note here that the sword was a try at NMM (Non-Metallic Metal). It is the process of using regular paint to copy the effect of metal, the shine, dull, and reflection as if it was actual metal paint. It turned out ok. This is one of the things I want to work on more, but need more time to practice. I still like how the model turned out, especially the skin. I was trying a new approach to the African-American skin using some blends and inks.

I would like to check out the line of miniatures more, but first I have other projects to finish. For now that is all. Going to sleep for a change, keep a lookout for more updates this week or next!

Bases Tutorial: Basic Dirt

So here we go into my second base tutorial, Basic Dirt. It is a simple one really, but to help those that are new, or people looking for a varied approach from what they are used to.

Lets start with materials needed.

1- a base. any size you need will do. The one pictured is a 30mm round lipped base used in Warmachine, Hordes, Malifaux, and other tabletop wargames.

2 - Clear Tape.

3 - PVA Glue. Basic white glue.

4 - Grit or Sand basing materials. They vary in sizes (fine, small, medium, large)

So we have our materials ready to go, lets begin!

STEP 1: Preperation

Here we take our bases and place a strip of tape over the opening holes. This assures that the sand/grit will stick on the whole of the base. The 30mm and 40mm bases will need these. The 50mm and above are completely solid, so no tape is needed.

STEP 2: GLUE UP!

Now that the base slots are covered with tape, just cover the top area in glue. Easy enough step. You usually want to do 5-8 bases at a time this way so the glue doesnt dry up before you get to it.

STEP 3: Ground the Dirt!

I keep all my grit and sand in separate Tupperware containers. This allows room for spreading around the grit/sand without making much of a mess. and depending on the way I want to base each piece there is plenty of room to move around in.

This step is the final one. You just take that base, glue side down into the grit/sand and push it in. Hold down there for about 5 seconds and lift the base out. Holding the base upsidedown still tap on it a few times to knock the loose bits off.

And there you have a basic dirt/sand/grit base ready to paint! See how easy that was?
I have a slew of these at the ready incase I ever need a quick base ready to go for future projects. I wanted to share this one tho because many of my commissions use this base.

Well I think I will post 1 more for today. I am finishing up the Khador pictures so they will be up later this week. Take care.

Razor Boars done

So hello again. I had some time available so I thought I would toss up the pictures of Razor Boars I did a month back. So here they are, Razor Boars, from Privateer Press' line of Hordes. These little guys are considered lesser warbeasts and mainly work for the pig side of the Minions faction. Done up quick and easy with basic colors as thats what the client wanted. Here they are for your viewing pleasure::

You may notice each one has a distinguishing mark upon their right rear leg. This was done to tell the difference between each one if they were close together or on the field at the same time.

Since these photos were taken, the client wanted me to re-do the hair on each one separately so they individually stand out more. In my rush to return them I forgot to take additional photos, so this is all we have here. Simple, quick, and cheap paint job. Each one took about 20 minutes to paint (if that).

Well now I will be back on later this week with a How-To Tutorial on those bases. Its pretty simple, but I wanted to share anyways. And later on we shall see some Khador, including the mighty Conquest, I was commissioned to paint. Until next time....

Alive and kicking!

I am still here. I guess this is another reassurance post than an update. Or it could be considered an update as a reassurance. This past month has been crazy, both painting and work, and life in general. As some of you are maybe aware (if you play Warmachine or Hordes in a game shop) the latest league has been going on for a month. I like to friendly compete in these, get some games in, do some socializing.

This league has been a bit different tho, with the bonuses you could earn in painting different things I was determined to actually win a league only by painting. Although after calculating everything up before hand, and knowing the playing of others, I realized this may not be possible. So I got some games in. I also got a lot, A LOT, of painting in. Most were basic tabletop quality I did for other people, some of them free, some of them commissions. This of course has eaten alot of my time up. Painting miniatures, playing games, working full time hours, the usual for me.

The league is in its last week here and so far I am in the lead with 30 points spread betwen me and second place. Oddly enough those 30 points come all from painting. So in a sense I guess I may actually win a league, and win it with painting. This would be my first league win. Ever. Usually I get tied for second, or the race is close until the last week when I get overtime at work that cannot be avoided. This time things fell into place. But the more important thing is I had fun. And yes I had fun playing my various opponents, win or lose.

But onto more painting! With the slam of this league I have decided to not take anymore commissions until after April, giving me a whole month to myself to paint what I want, play some video games, or just paint more things. I like, nah - I LOVE to paint. and you will see some of that coming up next month, maybe as soon as next week. In the works to post online I have a few items to update this blog.  Razor Boars painted, the Khador Colossal Conquest painted, a tutorial on making snow bases, and a picture set of the Circle of Orboros from Privateer Press 2 Player starter set I did earlier this month.

Those are to name a few, who knows what else I may get into. I just wanted to update this here and let whomever cares know that the blog is still alive, just stirring in its slumber currently.

Harbringer of Menoth-alt

So once again I have returned to post. This is for the Harbringer of Menoth, a warcaster for the Protectorate of Menoth army for the game Warmachine by Privateer Press. Following the previous alternate color scheme of purple and white, which was up to the client.

So in all her glory, with her attendants, here is the Harbringer of Menoth::

For now this is all I was given, and that concludes this alternate color scheme of Protectorate of Menoth. I will get more to do in the future, but first I have other commissions to do, like the Circle of Orboros starter and the Khador colossal, Conquest.

Until then I hope to see you back here and hope I inspire a bit.

Menoth alternate colors

So here we are again! This time I bring you a recently completed commission, some models from Privateer Press' line of Warmachine. These models are for the Protectorate of Menoth army. For these the client wanted a little off the typical studio color scheme and went with Purple and white with a gold trim. At first I was a bit put off by the colors, but it works well in this case, and I do like how they turned out. But more importantly, the client loved how they look, and he did!

Here we have a Revenger light warjack and the Choir of Menoth a max 6 man unit. Later on this week I will have the Harbringer of Menoth to put up here, but for now enjoy some pictures!

Revneger

Choir of Menoth

The touch of pink on the unit leader will be a theme on all unit leaders if/when I do more of this army. It is something the client asked for specifically and thats what they will get.

Currently I am trying to decide what base I want for the Minotaur of the Maze (Reaper Bones line), and working on a Circle of Orboros starter army that was part of the Hordes 2- Player starter box. A bunch of other models are sitting around on my desk as well, and get worked on here and there.

Until next time....