Happy New Year

2018 is here.  This is the season where we all write down our goals for the new year and most of us fail miserably.  Even though I've never stuck to any of my hobby related resolutions, I thought I should write them up anyway.

Hobby Related
1.  Clean up and Organize:  and keep it clean.
2.  Build new gaming table for inside.  (ideas already drawn up)
3.  Build modular tiles for TNT. (ideas already drawn up)
4.  Finish Raiders.  Current state - built, basecoated
5.  Finish Stormcast.  Current state - built, some basecoat done
6.  Finish human/chaos pact team.  Current state - built, some basecoat done, need a goblin
7.  Finish Apes of Wrath team.  Current state - built, some basecoat done
8.  Finish Mordheim Witch Hunters.  Current state - built, basecoated
9.  Finish Mordheim Skaven.  Current state - built, some basecoat done
10. Repaint GW Wood Elf Team  Current state - acquired
11. Re-base Initech Gangsters.  Current state - built, basecoated, shaded, highlighted, square bases
12. Finish Mordheim terrain.  Current state - built
13. Post Apocalyptic terrain for TNT.

Blog Related
1.  Weekly Posts.  Usually Mondays.  A recap of the week that was
2.  Update Posts.  Sporadically.   Trying new techniques, new projects, new products, etc.
3.  Monthly Posts.  Around the first of the month.  Showcases, news (This is January's).

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.

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.

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.  

Terrain Update 7/8/15

Holiday weekends mean extra time off... to do chores.  I failed at getting much done over the weekend.  That combined with camera problems (I forgot to use it) made for a low production terrain weekend.  It's been pretty hot the last few days here but was able to get some hobby done.

Roughed out the base for my water tower.

Attached base to water tub

Glued together some barrels for use in rubble piles. (no pic)

Gave a stone look to the first floor of my "tavern."  I'll give the upper floors a stucco look with some filler before painting.

Stone look on first floor

I already had some city walls cut however I thought I could do them better so I made some changes on that front.  I didn't want to waste the foam, so I used filler to go over the walls.  After it drys I'll give it a grayish brick look.

Filler being added to "channels"

I reinforced my city wall towers and have prepped them for painting.  I will be using a "stone" spray-paint over this.  Then I'll remove the tape and hopefully I'll get a block look.

Sloppy horizontal lines

Sloppy vertical

I put a "stone" floor on my town square thingy.

I would like to get some mdf board to make simple bases for my rubble piles.  I want to re-base my gallows, stocks, fruit stand, and well.

I know I said previously I need to finish up what I already have started but I found some pvc pipe I can cut up to use for statue bases.  Later, I mean, I'll do that after I finish all this other stuff.

Nose, meet Grindstone

I haven’t posted hobby stuff in a long, long time.  That’s not just because I’ve been lazy, I just haven’t had the time.  I’ve had a couple opportunities to play but no one else has been able to play at those times.  I’ve also been sick for some of the time and busy for the rest.  I’ve taken my newly diagnosed diabetic cat to the vet many times and that’s contributed to the lack of free time as well.  My wife and I had a garage sale this past weekend and now I can get some stuff done.

On the terrain tip I realized I need to finish up what I have instead of starting anything new.  I used some brown and black spray paint I had laying around the garage to give a base color to some ruins, fencing and wood stuff.

Spray pained base color/primer.

I found a tutorial for using thick cardboard to make up a flagstone look.  I’ve started to make some risers take on that look.  I also added some height to the edges of one elevation change.

My first attempt at a flagstone pattern.

Wood glue for adhesion and water to aid with curling.

I decided one of the elevation changes should have some walls built up.  I'll add some ropes to it to use as rope and hooks.  I like the options it will give.

Built-up about 1/2 inch with some scrap foam blocks.

I will finish up these buildings first then the flagstone.  After this I’ll finish work on the water tower, town walls and watch towers.  This should catch me up on what I’ve started and then I’ll do more.  My goal is to have this stuff finished up by August 1.

Now onto some miniatures.  I need to finish up the witch hunters that are almost done.  After that I will finish up the skaven warband my friend is using.  After that I’m going to show some love to some Blood Bowl teams for a bit.  The next tournament that I’ll be attending is Chaos Cup 2015 in early September.  I think I’ll be playing a different team than I’ve played in the past so I need to get that going.  Also I am painting up a hobgoblin for the CC legacy team, so I need to get going on that.  My goal is to have these things done by September 1.  The Blood Bowl team and player must be done by September 1.

In order to keep up with my non-specific posting goals, I should be posting quite a bit.  I hope to get in plenty of play too.  A friend wants to show me the Star Wars game also so hopefully I can learn that soon too.

This all sounds like a lot to do this summer but I think it’s doable.

Update 5/21/15: Mordheim

It seems like forever since I've done any painting and it has been quite a long time.  I got a whopping 15 minutes set aside to paint yesterday and I used it to get one coat of paint on two rats skin.  This should've probably taken about two minutes but I forgot something as simple as how much water to add to my paint.  My first efforts were way too watery and then too thick.  I finally got the consistency I wanted about one minute before my wife called down to me to let me know my timer was going off.  I quick snapped a photo.  I figured it would be a reminder of how much I need to keep painting to even stay okay at it.

It's like riding a bike... the falling off part.

Update 3/5/15: Mordheim

We are close to starting our Mordheim campaign.  We're all getting in a couple games to build up our Warbands a little bit.  I've played two build-up games so far and have been soundly defeated in both.  I don't really know what to do yet and combine that with my terrible rolling and you've got an uphill battle on your hands... or my hands... I'm not good at words. 

I've also been starting more terrain projects.  That's problematic since I haven't finished a single piece.  I need to finish the building of one more wall piece and then I've promised myself I won't start anything else until I finish my current stuff.    Rubble, grit, and paint.  Here are the advancements I've made to this point.

Added bases to these

Tavern front 90%

Tavern left 90%

Tavern right 90%

Extras

Extras in use (Tavern inside needs work)

Extras in use

Wall with one Corner piece (one to come)

The Wall

I've got these to finish up and some models to paint.  Geez, I got a lot to do.  Hopefully with my next set of pictures you will see a little less black, blue, and raw wood.  There should be paint,grit, or texture in the way.  Maybe even all three!

Update 2/23/15 - Mordheim

Here we go!  The plan is to play some real games tonight.  I will be using my Witch Hunters against some Undead and Skaven.  I truly expect to get my butt kicked but I don't care.  We're finally going to play! In honor of actually playing some, I thought I'd get out every bit of terrain I've work on, and photograph it.  Now this is just a quick, random setup and not one of these pieces are finished.  The table I'm using to display stuff isn't 4' x 4' but this is just to inventory what I have so far.  A lot of these pieces aren't even totally constructed, let alone painted.

4x3 Table

Overveiw

Wall and Well

The flagellant is getting ready to put the night runner in the stocks

Wall 'o' Verminkin about to fire some slings

Hangman is coming down from the Gallows

Witch Hunter advancing between buildings

I might make the obelisk into rubble

Not the best photos.  Bad lighting and out of focus but oh well.  Also, please excuse the mess.  Here is what I have so far.  I put my Witch Hunters and Skaven out there so there would be some idea of scale.  I like the idea and the look of more elevation sections so I think I'll make more risers.  I've quite a bit of work to do, but not tonight.  Tonight we play! 

Update 2/19/15 - Mordheim

Well I had a few minutes, a few.  I squeezed as much in as I could.  I primed the Skaven Warband I'm making so I might paint again at some point, maybe. 

I made some bases for the extras for my Mordheim terrain and added some grit to them.  I made stocks, a gallows, and a market stand out of some craft sticks a while ago.   Then I decided to make a well, so I carved up some scrap blue foam pieces to make blocks and glued them together.  I took one whooping photo of what I did, so here's that:

That blue thing on the left will be a well... someday. 

Oh yeah.  I'm making a water tower as well.  So far I've cut up a Pringles can and added some craft sticks.  I'm going to create a base and top as soon as I figure out how.  I think I'll have some time tonight so I'll try to get more done.  I find if I do a little more planning ahead of time I can take much better advantage of the little time I've been getting.

Dog Bowl III and Mordheim Stuff - 1/27/15

This year's Dog Bowl is fast approaching.  This will be the 5th KUBBL presented tournament and for the last three years we've held it at Marmalade Dog, a gaming convention but on by the West Michigan Gamers Guild. 

We have monkeyed around with multiple rule sets over the past four tournaments and the one we've landed on is the rule set we used last year except we are playing three rounds as opposed to four.

The tournament is free to anyone who enters the convention, therefore we don't have any income and need to get creative with our prizes.  This year Randroid and I decided we would build 3D dugouts to be used as trophies.  We are both doing our own things so each dugout will be original and different.  We used standardized dimensions but that's it.

For materials I am using foamcore board, sucker sticks (unused), balsa wood, an orange bag, and random bits.  Here is what I have so far.

Blood Bowl dugouts have three areas: Reserves, KO, and Dead and Injured.  The tiles at the bottom are for turns and re-rolls.  These dugouts will fit on some FF Field Boards.  The plan is to use the bag and sucker sticks to make chain link fence.  These need to be ready in less than two week so I need to get my butt in gear.

But...

...I have been working on other stuff too.  I made some small random things to use in Mordheim.  I used craft sticks and balsa wood just to make some stuff to take up room and such.  It's not finished or painted but I shouldn't have been working on these at all.

The picture is that good but it's a fruit stand, stocks, and gallows.  I'll post more and better pics as I go.

Update 1/14/15 - Random Thoughts

So, I've been thinking... this blog has become a bit more than a paint log for me.  I used to be huge into playing sports.  I even planned my life to include being a golf professional (not a professional golfer, see the difference).  Things happen in life and the best laid plans don't always pan out.

Anyway for the past 5 years or so I've turned the attention playing sports used to get toward gaming, Blood Bowl specifically.  Some friends asked me if I wanted to play in a local league with them and I decided, reluctantly, to give it a shot.   I started out borrowing a team and playing.  The next thing I know, I'm listening to podcasts about it, reading up on it, and even going to tournaments.  Then I decided I wanted to give painting a shot and bought my first team.  Since then I've painted those Dark Elves (2x), a Slann team (2x), a Khemri team (since stripped), an Undead/Necro team for a friend, a Norse team for a friend, my Dwarfs of Anarchy, and a bunch of sideline figures.  All for BB use.

Because of the fun I've had with Blood Bowl I've met a lot of great people that I wouldn't have met without it.  One of those people has become my go-to whenever I have painting questions and he's the one who asked me to give Mordheim a try.   We played one measly practice game and now I'm super interested.  So much so that I converted up and painted a warband (well... it's almost done) and now I'm hooked on building up some terrain for the game.

I still follow my A's, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, and Spartans.  I still enjoy watching golf, boxing, MMA, and occasionally soccer.  But those are things I have to watch now.  I get to actually play, paint, and build with these new hobbies and that has given me a new area to put that attention.

I haven't had much time for building, painting, converting or playing lately but I'm still getting some stuff done and I intend to get that posting done soon too.  I think I"m going to shoot for one update a week but I'll do more if I can.

The New Year!

It's funny how the calendar changing from 12/31 to 1/1 brings the feeling of renewal.  It's a totally subjective thing but the psychology of it works for me.  Anyhow, what will 2015 bring?  I feel as though I got a lot accomplished yet so much is undone.  I've tried to be a list maker but that hasn't worked so well... so what do I try now?

Instead of giving myself to-do lists I think I'll try the broad goal approach.  I'm going to list the tasks I have for myself as of now and that'll be a sort of guideline for me.

1.  Build enough terrain for a Mordheim and a WHFB table.  I have been building a lot of city-esque terrain lately and I'm having a blast doing it.  I getting faster and planning better and therefore this shouldn't be difficult.

2.  Finish my Witch Hunters.  I'm so close just finish them.

3.  Make a Skaven Warband.  Pieces acquired, now to convert them and paint them. 

4.  Assemble and paint one Blood Bowl team for me and one for a friend.

That is all I'm going to list, I'm sure other things will pop up but this is a good start.

Here are some more images for my Mordheim Foam-core work.

Three Story Inside

Three Story Outside

Three Story with Ladders

The Ruins

Two Story Inside

 

 

 

Random Filler Ruins

Before any of these ruins see paint they'll receive texture and some more damage.  They're close.  I have plans drawn up for wall towers, a saloon, a long house, and a cathedral.   I think this will be the approximate order also.  The cathedral will be quite an under taking so I plan to paint up the rest of the ruins before I build that.