Update 11/20/15: Beast and AoW

I had a very limited paint time again and I decided to work on the Beast of Nurgle with a bunch of different shades.  The base was a wet blend of VMC Black/Brown, VMC Flat Brown, VMC WWII Beige, and VMC Off-white.  Also, I mixed in a touch of a red color and a green color.  Then I used a combination of shades.  I blended them on the mini as well.  All shades were Citadel.  I stated in the lower sections with AES, then I painted over it with CC, I followed this with another AES layer, then I used DV, and finished it with ACS.  For the upper parts I used the same pattern but with old GS instead of AES.

It doesnt show well in the photo, but when it dried it looked gross (good for Nurgle).

I figured I should work on the AoW some since they've been back burner-ed through this.  I put on about three layers of Citadel Bleached Bone thinned down to a glaze consistency.  Then, I ran out of time so I stopped there.

Dog Bowl IV - Coming in March

I'm not going to procrastinate this time.  Dog Bowl IV will be taking place at Marmalade Dog Gaming Convention on Saturday March 19, 2016.  I've started the planning process already.   This year I'll be more prepared.  Because this is a free tournament (players just pay the entrance fee to the con), there is a budget of zero dollars available.  This means the money for the tourney comes out of the tournament directors' pockets.  To helps us save money we build much of our awards.

I'm building a couple 3D dugouts that will be used as prizes for this year.  The other TO built one already (it looks great) and between that and the ones I make, its a good, inexpensive start.  Plus this way our awards are one of a kind and will be something different for the players.  I'm going to keep a log of my building them here.

I'll post more tournament info here as well as on The Spiked Ball and the Zlurpee Bowl Forums.

Update 11/16/15: Nurgle

I had a whopping 30 minutes to paint this weekend so I got some blocking in and a layer of wash on a couple minis.  I blocked in the remainder of the colors on the Nurgle warriors.  I also slopped a wash mix on the warriors.  I need to go over them again to give them some highlights and clean-up some areas.  Then I'll goop up them and their bases and they'll be complete.  As fun as it has been to paint the rotters, the warriors have been that boring.

I've also blocked in the colors on two pestigors.  I need to do their metallic colors.  At that point I'll give them the slop wash mix followed by highlights and clean-up.  Then I'll "goop" them and there bases.

I need to work on the Beast and finish up the rotters.  This will give me enough pieces to have a starter team and a tourney team.  I'll round out the team later with the piece I don't have primed yet.  When I finish up the team I'm going to post a summary of the team.

Update 11/13/15: Nurgle Too Early Team Photo

I've been doing some work on the Nurgle team.  The models are all in varied states of completion.  I wanted to see how the team was looking as a group and posting it on here seems to give me the clearest ideas on how things are going and what needs to be changed.

I'm happy with the color scheme and how the rotter are all looking a little different.  I think the team is coming along pretty grotesquely.  I need to prime up one more Pestigor and a few more rotters but my priming area is being used as a storage area for my daughters' new bunk bed until I get the room painted.  The Beast isn't pictured because of a small accident he had so I need to give him some extra attention.

I hope to have the AoW team and this team done by Christmas.  I can do it... I think.

Update 11-9-15: Pestigors and Beast

I know how you kids like'm; extra sloppy!

I'm trying something new.  I know, shocking.  I wanted to try out the painting styles of one James Wappel.  This doesn't mean my end product will look anywhere near the awesomeness of his, ut just means I want to try out his "shaded basecoat" technique.  I know I'm going to mess this up royally so I thought a Nurgle team would be the best to try it on.  I saw some of the technique on YouTube and tried stuff from there.

I used a big brush (size 6), held it near the end, and multiple colors to wet blend tonal changes into the pieces.  I did two pestigors and the beast that the team already had with it, in this method.
I used VMC Black/Brown, VMC Flat Brown, VMC G.U. Khaki, and VMC Off-white.  Then to spice it up a little I used VMC Deep Blue, VMC G.U. Green, or VMC Desert Yellow to add a tint.

I painted the darkest colors into what would be shaded areas, mid tones in the middle, and the lighter colors on areas I thought would catch more light.  The beast figure is the one I did last and the one that started the best.

I'm not quite sure what to do next but I'll  see what I learn and how it turns out.  I'll post steps right or wrong that I do to the finish, I wont learn if I don't try.

Chibis - 11/4/15

The Friday before CC15 I was lucky enough to take a Chibi painting class.  It was taught by Droachmega.  I've never painted a Chibi before but it was a blast!

The eyes of a zombie are usually "dead" but he wanted to show us the technique needed for anime-style eyes.  Mine turned out nowhere near the level of the others in the class but I was truly happy with it.  We used Reaper Master Series paints on them which I've never used before so I don't know the specific colors used.  I really like the paints they seemed to be rich in color and I liked the consistency.  I think I'll stick with my Vallejo paints though because of how cheaply I can get them and because they are readily available in my area.

Tom from Impact! gave us (the class members) another Chibi so I'm looking forward to painting that up.  Here's a start:

I "finished" him up.

Here he is with the one from class.

I definitely need work on doing hair and highlighting.  Also making the figures look smoother.  I do feel like I'm getting better at this painting thing but I have a long way to go.  I will get my hands on a few more of these minis.  They are so much fun to paint and I know I can do better.  This mini fell off his holder and into a pile of white paint so I stopped at that point.  He was done enough anyway.

As I said before, I won the Legacy team from CC15.  I would like to add a couple pieces to it so I've been searching the interwebs for the right models.  I'm going to paint them up to match the team.  I need at least a bull centaur and one chaos dwarf.    I haven't played CD's before so I'm looking forward to filling out the team.  Maybe I'll use them at CC16.

Update 11-3-15: Rotters and AoW

I've been working on painting quite a bit lately but I haven't been taking pics and such.  I have blocked in the colors on a few of the AoW minis.  They all have a ways to go but I've been working on new techniques on the side that will, hopefully, allow me to paint faster and better.  The technique is called "loaded brush."  The only place I've seen it is on Painting Buddha.  I'm not trying to do it for showcase level and I don't expect to be anywhere near as good as this guy is, but I think it can speed up my painting.  Here are some of the AoW minis so far.

AoW Progressing

I'll take better and individual pictures later.  The problem is, besides me taking poor pictures, I don't think about pictures until I done for the time.  They're an after thought.  The color scheme is based on Brown and Gold, WMU colors.

While waiting for colors to dry or just to break things up a bit, I've been slopping some paint on the Rotters for our defunct leagues community Nurgle team.  I painted a test model quite some time ago and they are fun!  I've changed up a few ideas from then.  Also these are weapon snips from some old minis (Plaguebearers I think) and the previous paint job didn't do these sculpts justice.  I find new and interesting details every time I pick one of these up.

Rotter Fun

It's hard to tell from the pic but these guys have guts spilling out and other random growths; all kinds of nastiness.

I'm also learning, very slowly, how to do NMM.  I'm not even to the point that I feel comfortable showing my failings, my first try turned out looking green and try two looked like light brown cloth.  Maybe I'll post future tries anyway.

Back in the Saddle

Holy cow.  Since Chaos Cup (which was awesome) I haven't had any hobby time.  Well, I finally got some stuff done.  I used my first chance to hobby to glue, and glue, and glue, and remove mold lines, and glue some more.  I decided it was time to put together my human team from Impact! and a buddy's Apes of Wrath team (also Impact!).  I've only had both teams for about a year now.  Both teams are Trollcast resin so I'm getting use to how light they are and learning to handle them with a bit more care.  I broke the foot off a catcher as I was cleaning a mold lines and I've broke other stuff too.  Luckily nothing of the AoW yet.  I'm doing a substantial amount of filling using green-stuff, I hope it turns out well in the finished product.  Once I get these models all primed up I'll have a ton to paint, about 20 apes and 16 humans.

Here's the AoW test model.

Lists so I remeber

Fur-
Base: VMC Flat Brown
Wash:  Citadel AES
Drybrush: VMC Black/Brown

Skin-
Base:  VMC Flat Brown
Build up:  1:1ish, VMC Flat Brown VMC German Uniform Khaki
Wash: Citadel GS
Highlight: VMC German Uniform Khaki

Teeth-
Base: VMC Off-white
Wash: Citadel AES

Pants-
Base: VMC Flat Brown, then Citadel IDS
Wash: Citadel GS
Build up: Citadel IDS
Highlight:  Citadel IDS with tip of VMC Deep Yellow

Pads-
Base: VMC Black/Brown
Wash: Citadel AES
Highlight:  VMC Flat Brown

Chaos Cup 2015 Legacy Team!

Chaos Cup 2015 was an absolute blast!  Not only did I have 6 awesome games of Blood Bowl, but I won the Legacy Team! Here they are:

Chaos Dwarfs

Mino & Bull

Randroid

Three of Swords

Chaos Dwarfs

Fatfinley

Kilowog

OTS

StoutYoungblood

WildManTX

Hobgoblins

BCH

Furry

JonnyP

Randroid

Xtreme

Thanks everyone!

Chaos Cup Legacy Team Entry 2015 - Part 4 Done!

Finally.  Finding time here and there seems to be my only chance to get stuff done.  Well this is finally done.  I flocked the base and put the Slater letters on it.  I used a gloss varnish and then used a matte varnish to seal it up.  I am kinda glad to not have to paint this guy anymore.  It just didn't have as much fun painting this guy.  Here he is:

I did a simple bitmap mock-up first to determine how I wanted to paint the mini, here's that:

I tried two "techniques" on this model that I've never used before.  I tried to do a non-metallic metal on the logo thingy on the shoulder pad.  I also tried the loaded brush technique for high-lighting.  I like doing both and think as I go along I'll get better at them.  The NMM is hard and I think if I tried it on some bigger areas I might learn more.

I'll try to get some shots of the completed team at CC15 this weekend.

Chaos Cup Legacy Team Entry 2015 - Part 3

Chaos Cup 2015 is almost here and this years theme is Chaos Dwarves.  A friend of mine took up the challenge of organizing a Legacy Team for this year.  Well, I did this sometime ago and I thought I'd do it again.  Last time I made a piece for a legacy team it was a dark elf lineman, this time I'm painting up a hobgoblin.   Time is a bit short for me at the moment so I'm not trying any conversions or building, I'm just going with straight hobgoblin from GW Blood Bowl.

We took a family vacation and I decided to take some stuff along and paint at night.  I did most of the highlighting and some more of the base colors while there.  When I got home I finished up the skull thingy and his head cloth.  I noticed some poor coloring in areas, so I'll fix that up with some glazes.  This weekend I'll finish that up and finish the base.  I'll post the finished product then.  For now here's where it stands.

Almost done

Chaos Cup Legacy Team Entry 2015 - Part 2

Chaos Cup 2015 is almost here and this years theme is Chaos Dwarves.  A friend of mine took up the challenge of organizing a Legacy Team for this year.  Well, I did this sometime ago and I thought I'd do it again.  Last time I made a piece for a legacy team it was a dark elf lineman, this time I'm painting up a hobgoblin.   Time is a bit short for me at the moment so I'm not trying any conversions or building, I'm just going with straight hobgoblin from GW Blood Bowl.

This round of "burst" painting (that's what I'm going to call small amounts of paint time) saw me start on the clothes. I put down 3+ layers of base coat on the orange area and 2 layers on the grey.  I decided to try layering highlights and rough some of it in.  I was just going to do the basecoats but I had extra paint on the pallet.  Here are some pics of the progress.

Orange base is a mix of Mechrite Red, Red Hightlight (P3), and Scorched Brown

Trying to give a line down his back 

Roughed in Highlights

Grey Base is Black, Off-white, and German Uniform Khaki

Rough Highlights

I plan on using some glazing stuff I'm learning to help with the highlights and shading.  The next "burst" will probably be finish the cloth areas and the wraps.  After that I'll do the armor and the accessories.  Then base and finishing touches.  Looks like I should finish this on time.

Chaos Cup Legacy Team Entry 2015

Chaos Cup 2015 is almost here and this years theme is Chaos Dwarves.  A friend of mine took up the challenge of organizing a Legacy Team for this year.  Well, I did this sometime ago and I thought I'd do it again.  Last time I made a piece for a legacy team it was a dark elf lineman, this time I'm painting up a hobgoblin.   Time is a bit short for me at the moment so I'm not trying any conversions or building, I'm just going with straight hobgoblin from GW Blood Bowl.

I've been getting more excited about painting right now and have been watching a few more videos. Because of what I've been seeing I'm giving some new-to-me techniques a try.  I'm using small bursts of time on it whenever I can.  I put down 3+ layers of base coat on the skin and that's where I'm starting.  I tried a couple different methods of shadowing on the hands to decide what's best for me.  I tried an all-over wash on his left hand and a more accurately placed wash on his right.

I used a 1:1 mix of Citadel Gnar. Green (foundaion paint) and Citadel Bleached Bone (old stuff). For the wash I used Citadel Ath. Camoshade.

I sprayed a dark brown over some white primer 'cause I didn't want to build up from white

I would like the flesh to be a bit more yellow

More to come.

I Have a Plan... Sort Of 8/10/15

Ok, ok, it has been forever since I've done any hobby stuff.  My ideas and motivation for terrain and Mordheim stuff have ground to a halt and with them went hobby stuff entirely.  I haven't played a game of anything in almost two months.

I have Chaos Cup coming up in early September and had a small burst of motivation stem from that. An idea I really like has popped into my head for a new BB team.  The chance of me getting it done in time for CC15 is very slim.  I've signed up for Chaos Cup with an existing team of mine and a generic roster just to get myself registered. At the very least I'll play them.

I decided to do a test model for the team.  (This is the easiest thing to do since I don't have models for any other player.)  Once again, as is my custom, I'm going over my ability level, trying to put what is in my head down to the model.  My experience level with what I want to do is very low.  Here are some stages of my test model.  It all looks quite sloppy but I'm learning as I go.

I started with a miniature from Impact! from the Pharaohs of Something-or-other.  Obviously, he was painted previously so I sort-of cleaned him up.  I used a file to remove or lessen some of the original sculpt's features.  I got bored of this step so I moved on without completing it.  That's a theme so far with this mini.

I moved on to making him a green stuff tie and collar.  I tried making them off of the model and transferring the on.  That didn't work for me at all.  Finally I used small balls of green stuff and built up some basic shapes right on him.  Before this step looked good I got bored and moved on to the next step.

Then I made the small balls of GS into strips and made him some suspenders.  Staying true to my previous work on the model I stopped before this step was done.

There is still a lot of clean-up work to do one him; more filing, cleaning up the GS, and giving him a coffee mug to hold in his hand.  Before I did any of this I made a very rudimentary bitmap drawing of him.  I think when I finish the model I'll post a picture of that to see how the actual model works against what's in my head.

Terrain Update 7/23/15

I finally made myself get more work done on my terrain pieces.  One of the things that has made it so hard is my lack of game play lately.  It seems timing never works out.

Last evening I did some spray painting on my projects.  I put a black base coat on a wall section and then sprayed over it with a grey "stone" spray.  I think I laid on the stone a bit thick but I have an idea I'll try to bring out the "mortar."

Trial of Stone Spray

I was happy-ish with the look so I moved on to spray the wall tower that I had taped up.  I went much lighter with the amount of spray I put on it.

You can see in the picture that some of the paper on the foam board is peeling up.  I didn't notice this. Then I went to work on the next thing and when I turned around to check the tower...

... it looked like this.

So, that was a huge fail and now I need to come-up with a new tower idea.  We'll see what I think of.

Luckily the paint on my other ruins had turned out okay.  I used a different paint on the three story building than I had used in the past because I liked the darker brown color.

I had to lighten the photo a lot... I'm a terrible photographer.

I prepared my elevation pieces for spraying and if my wall isn't damaged by the propellant I'll paint those soon.

On the model front, I bought some dog models to make some hounds for my warband.  I love the idea of the dogs in a Witch Hunter warband, I just never had models for them and now I do.  Maybe someday I'll get to play them... maybe.

7/24/15. Painted a few more things with stone, nothing interesting enough for pics.  I'll update when there is something more interesting.

Terrain Update 7/14/15

Getting closer.  I've been able to find a little bit of free time to do some terrain stuff.  I found time in roughly fifteen minute segments to get some stuff done so it's going slowly but surely.  We havent played in what seems like forever so I guess I have time.

I've been finishing up filler on brick-like structures so I can prep them for painting, which I should be doing soon.  I'll be going camping for bit so I probably wont get any more work done on this stuff for a bit.

I'm happier now with how the wall is looking.

Filler around the sides to give a grout-like feel

I've almost finished masking off the tower piece to get some paint on it.  (I though I had finished but I noticed in the pic I missed part.)

Missed a spot on the right, oops

I got some grit and rubble down on the three story ruin so I can spray it soon and get one step closer to finishing up the buildings.

Added Rubble

I also took those crappy cardboard bases from the gallows, stocks, the well, and the fruit stand.  I'm watching and reading some tutorials to help me come up with ideas for much better bases on these items.  I do feel mdf is the front runner.  Hopefully I'll make up my mind shortly.

I also need to turn my attention to Chaos Cup 2015 soon.  I'm still leaning toward playing an all new team but I got out my Dwarfs of Anarchy to show a friend the other day and now they are a possibility.