Icy Cold Freshness

Jed made a snow table awhile back, and although I've not yet played on it I'm pretty pumped. I was biking a few weeks back after an intense wind storm here. I was wheeling my bike around a fallen tree when I noticed it was covered in...tiny trees! Well actually little spines but they look pretty much like skeletal trees. Hot-glued to pennies and then dipped in white paint, probably one of the fastest terrain things I've made. Could use some of that snow flock when I get back though. These plus the pine trees/frame-trees probably gives us enough trees for a winter forest map.

A half-painted StuG on my desk for comparison. Pointy ends clipped for minimal rage causation.

As Jed can play Easy Company, I can play the corresponding Volksgrenadier/Panther defenders, and we have a sweet winter table, I challangene Jed to the "Attack on Foy" scenario (followed by a potential Band of Brothers marathon):
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3634

Treeman status: Complete

Hooray! Everybody has posted, some several times, in a flurry of impressive hobby-ing. This afternoon I've put the last touches on my treeman and am excited to show him off. It's not 100%, more like 97% complete since there are little details I would like to add. I like the idea of a birds nest, and he needs a few little spirits on his back. That aside, the model is totally painted, which is most important.

Front

Close up on his ugly mug. There are 5 colours in the eyes, which is more than any other part of the model.

But what is this blue tail you may ask?
I know this is a point which may be met with opposition, but I have deliberated with myself enough to know it's for the best.







The army derives certain amounts of inspiration from Princess Mononoke. Not usually anything substantial, just to help make colour and theme choices. For example I painted all of the little spirits white, and used the Iron Town colours on my banners. Here what I've tried to do is simulate the forest spirit in the movie that transforms into a huge blue elemental beastie.

For comparison, there's what I did on the tail, and what it's supposed to mimic. It's just the back leg, since he is in between forms.

This means that the challenge is essentially over, but that is no reason to post and/or comment any less. I quite enjoy seeing cool models, and it's more exciting to see ones I may ever actually see in person, as opposed to just perusing the internet. Plus we can plan games and talk rules and shit like that.

 

Also did up these movement trays while I had all the browns out. The dead boar is another loose reference to Princess Mononoke.

Incoming!!!

I've finished painting up my 15cm howitzers for Flames of War. I had significant motivation for this one since I didn't glue them to the bases before painting and the guns were taking a beating in a pretty crappy travel arrangement. I'm really glad I decided to drybrush these guys as opposed to highlighting, drybrushing was so fast and came out really well.

The battery of four 15cm sFH18 heavy howitzers. Empty shell casings are bits of the spray-stick that comes with WD40.

The officer class doing some math and enjoying some ersatzkaffee. Pretty much boiled, burnt acorns. Gross.

My main concern with drybrushing was obliterating the detail of those rivets, but they turned out fine.

These guys are furious in game, no gun shields is pretty much their only downside (and they're a hefty price in mid-war lists). They're easily capable of pounding infantry out of their hidey-holes from corner-to-corner on a 4x6 board provided I can range in on them...which is iffy. Thus why I clearly need like 12+ bad-ass armoured cars to go a-scoutin'...

Look like this summer painting challenge is going well for all. I'm again at the status of having all infantry-base models in FloW painted which just turns my crank, frankly.

Ohhhhh Shhhiiiit!

Ohh Yeah look at this sexy beast. Wooster's tree monster better watch the skies, because this Dakka Jet is so badass it'll switch universes and fuck shit up. Dakka. Dakka. Dakka.

Rawr. This robot bird/dragon monster has teeth. This fly boy has spruced up his jet with scary decals.

Enclosed cockpits are for pooooo-saaaaays. A real Ork wears stylish sunglasses

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA

From this angle the inefficiencies of the Ork engines are clear. The excess heat energy has cooked the paint off!

So basically what this post is saying is that "you's guy's are's chumps" I still need to do some highlighting and tweaking so I'll put on a couple more pictures next time I post. Hopefully Woost Shoost posts soon, in all seriousness I want to see that tree monstro done; It'll be pretty badass. I'm also excited to get my dice, that is, unless The Darkster has already cursed them with his Witchery.

What is next on my list you may ask? I guess you'll have to wait and see!

O.K. So you won't have to wait that long. I've already started sculpting a Phoenix from a different bird. I'll post within the next couple of days about that.

Dasvidaniya 

So I've been a little delayed...

But I'm finally ready to join in on this deluge of posting.

So I've been working on my dark elf infantry and ended up finishing all of my Blackguard. This is kind of an accomplishment for me because I don't really have the patience to finish a whole unit before jumping to something else.

Leading the unit is the Master in Crimson. This roving Druchii swordsman swaggers from Lord to Lord, disregarding all vows of loyalty and coldly mocking the sanctity of duty. His unparalleled skills in single combat and his complete, unwavering devotion to murder have recently earned him a favorable place in the household of the Balewind dynasty, where he takes his place at the front of the most unrelentingly cruel troops in the army.


The model is a Reaper mini, but it looks so much like a Dark Elf it couldn't not make it into my war-host.










Ive also painted a little of my cavalry force, including several more Dark Riders and the first bits of the Cavalry Master. Ive got an entire unit mostly completed. The bases need more work but i still have to find a style of shrubbery I like...








I also doodled the Crimson Swordsman in MSpaint and thought Id share. This shit is what I did instead of painting his unit.

Edit: I also just received an interesting package in the mail...

Whats inside, i wonder? Will I open it before its owner gets back to my house?


















Of course I will.

Sneaking up on the Competition.

Oooh. Look at this. I'm catching up.

Hopefully Shoost is distracted enough not to finish before I get the chance. Its hard to see from this distance so I'll fill you in on the painting details. I based it green. I know this is very atypical but I'm much too lazy to paint an entire model green after painting it black. I then washed all the stuff I'm going to leave green with black. I'm then gonna do base colors for specific parts followed by a wash for those parts. Last step will be taking lighter colors and highlighting.

As you may have noticed this is not your typical Dakka Jet. With some very simple conversions I turned it into a more A-10 Warthog-ey aircraft. By cutting the fronts of the bombs and putting on some nozzles from something I added two more engines (for more fastitude). By flipping over the wings and putting them on the wrong side I made them slope down (just because it looks cooler). I pushed green stuff in the holes for the bombs to hide them. I left some Rokkits on the top of the wing because, even though they're not playable, they are super cool. I don't know how many guns the model is supposed to have, so I just shoved them all on in true orky fashion. In short it is a crazy beastie.

Also In the background you can see my new mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse. That's also pretty cool. 

Harvest Fleet Incoming

I've become a little bit sidetracked from what was the main project at hand, and finished painting up 1500 points of necron fleet for battlefleet gothic. When I heard that GW was dropping the specialist games I had to quickly come up with a reasonable sized list and get in an order for the remaining models.

I was just able to pick up another pack of escorts to round out the fleet, plus using the death ray from the night scythe kit as a shroud class cruiser.

 

Also, we recently has a facebook conversation about getting magnets, and last time Molgrimmarr and I were together he showed me a pack from primal horizon of very tiny little rare earth magnets. I was right in saying that was the kind the Nexus carries, and picked myself up a variety pack.

So if anybody was thinking of ordering magnets online, I can get them at the nexus if you would prefer.

Delayed Painting Response

So Wooster Shooster issued a sort of painting *shall-awnj* a while back and my lack of response was taken by some as weakness in the painting department. Actually I was just too consumed by hobbying (and midterms) to actually post yet this summer so here's a general painting update and challenge progress:

I've focused on Flames of War at the moment as my army is tantalizingly close to painted, and the smaller figures are easier to churn out in these busy months. Since the challenge was issued, I've finally made progress on my StuGs, which have bothered me for a while with all their little nooks and crannies. I glued the schurzen (those spaced armour plates on the sides) on first which was a bit of a mistake. I camo'ed them up cause I was sick of having simple vomit-mobiles...I like how the camo came out and it's fairly quick to paint. I stipple on a layer of 50/50 camo-colour/yellow before stippling straight camo-colour to get an airbrushed look.

III little Sturmgeshutzen IIIs, my current challenge progress.

My flash was doing wacky things...some pics came out yellowish, some bleached.

 Challenge wise I've only really done those StuGs since it was issued, but before that I finished up the last of the unpainted infantry models in my army. These other summer paintjobs:

4 bases of Grenadiers making up 3rd platoon.

Two 8cm mortar teams to finish the 4-tube battery. These guys are so flexible they're a must in any infantry force I run. Those sandbags are play-dough...reminds me not to get greedy and just dig them in 1st turn.

4 bases of MG42s to talk with Ivan. One of these guys really hero-ed it up last game.

A slow but tough attacking force.

Hopefully I should get some more posts up this summer...currently on my modelling plate is an artillery battery and some excellent 1:100 aircraft models I scored at the Ottawa aviation museum gift shop of all places. One box for under $20 got me a Me-262 (usable in FoW) and a Me-163 Komet (not but badass). It even came with the rocket-flea unit decal! 

"Like a flea...but WHEEEEEE!"

Storage solutions and a gun-spider

I picked up a case and some magnet tape today at staples to build a storage/transportation unit for my ancients.

 

 The strips are adhesive magnet tape. It's only $1.50 for 30 inches (~75 cm) of magnet. I had to glue the ends, but the adhesive is surprisingly strong. I bought too much so if somebody wants some they can buy me a soda or something.

As you can see it is resilient to shaking and tilting. The magnetic movement trays interfere just enough that it can't be inverted though :(.

The case was a little pricey at $15.00, but was exactly what I wanted and easy to find, so I guess I was paying for the convenience. I'm sure a less expensive alternative could be found.

There's just enough room left in the case for my cavalry bases plus a little extra for chits, dice, cards or whatever other doodads I want to bring along.

I've also assembled this new spider. I'm very happy with how well the tesla destructor fit on the back. Now I just need to fit it to the base.

Om nom nom.

A Test of Wills Drinking Game

So I have successfully completed a drinking game worthy of our nerdyness. Okay. Here it goes.

Step 1: Players roll 4d6 for "leadership". Write it down. The higher number the better.

Step 2: Players take turns starting from the player with the lowest "leadership" in a clockwise order. In you're turn you can do up to two actions. Actions cost drinks. The actions are as follows.

Move (2): Move one space counter clockwise.

Attack (1): Either the player to your left or right takes 11-3d6 drinks.

Block (1): Chose a direction. Next time you are made to drink from that direction subtract d3 from what you have to drink.

Power Up (2): Add d3 drinks to your next attack. This can stack with Psy Blast for 2d3 - 1 drinks.

Psy Blast (4): Everyone drinks d3 - 1 drinks (including you!) and takes the appropriate leadership tests.

Test of Wills! (0): Challenge anyone at the table to a Test of Wills. Players roll a die. They then take turns, starting with the player who was challenged, adding dice. A player can either add dice or pass. If a player rolls doubles they have to drink that number of drinks and the Test of Wills is over. If both players pass the Test of Wills is over. The person who rolled lower has to drink the difference. Take the appropriate leadership tests.

Step 3: At the end of each player turn, everyone that was forced to drink subtracts one from their leadership and takes a leadership test. If you roll above your leadership on 2d6 you fall back and must shotgun a beer.

Step 4: Move to the next players turn at Step 2. This continues until there is is two players left.

Step 5: When there are two players left you can only do one action a turn and you cannot block or move.

The last person to fall back wins!

What do you guys think?

Also we ran the campaign this weekend, but we didn't finish, so I'll wait to post deets.

LET'S GET BRICKFACED!!!

P.S. I forgot my Stompa at Darko's. He really needs to take pictures of it and post them!

Tomb Guard Progress

So here is a progress update for my Tomb Guard, I've been production lining them and I've finally got past the boring colours and washes and onto the detailing. I finally have some finished product to display.

A disorderly line of Tomb Guard waiting to be painted

 

Here I've got 2 new shield designs

 A conga line of completed Tomb Guard

Army Lists and Casket Progess

I figured we needed a place to post our army lists away from the normal posts, so I started a page for fantasy lists. I put up a 2400 pt list that is currently my all commers list, so feel free to make suggestions or comments on it. Anyone feeling adventurous could also post their 2400pt all commers list.

In my previous post I mentioned the fuckton of scultping I had to do for my Casket of Souls, well I've completed the majority of it. I'm using a wire frame covered in green stuff to show the Light of Death spell in action. All I need now is Indiana Jones tied to a pole and a bunch of nazi's with melted faces.....or you know whatever.

Green stuff is always stickier than I expect and I manage to leave fingerprints all over my unleashed souls. I figure I'll just cover those up when I paint it.

Based on my current rate of completion, I might finish painting my Tomb Guard this week as I have been painting them intermitently while working on the Ark of the Covena.......I mean Casket of Souls.

And Finaly, it seems that the others have decided to concede to Wooster's clame of Omnigamnence as they have so far offered no proof to state otherwise.

Tick Tock, Motherfuckers

Ugly brute, sure could use a wash. get it? Geeeet it?

Aaaah, much better!

I am a hobby martyr.

But in all seriousness, I'm 4 and half hours into an audio book, which means all of that time was spent painting, so really that was all one marathon painting day. I've also learned that even though it's a very large model, its only a few colours in big areas.

Also, I've bought a pot of khorne red. It's a blood red foundation paint, but is a bit too bright for my purposes. If any of you would happen to have a mechrite red that hasn't dried up I would happily trade for it for this brand new, barely touched khorne red.