The Paint Queue

So, I decided to arrange my current painting projects into a painting queue with the help of a chess board. 20-25mm bases take up one square, 40-50mm take up 4, and so on and so fourth. The only rule is that to add a new model to the queue, space must be cleared for it.

I've found it a fun way to focus myself whilst still giving me freedom to flit between projects (also, it limits my potential paint queue to a maximum of 64 models, so it's not as daunting).

My Top 10 Models (GW edition):

I've been seeing this go around for a while and I thought i'd give it a go. So, here it is, in no particular order, my ten favourite models:

10 - Rogue Trader Chaos Dreadnought

Probably the best Dreadnought GW has ever made (the Forgeworld Contemptors are a close second) - I love the Giger-esq aesthetic, it's subtly creepy in a way the new Hellbrute isn't.

9 - 1998 Gamesday Ork Nob

I'm going to lay this out right here: Gorkamorka is my Oldhammer, and this is the best Gorkamorka Ork (until the next one anyway).

8 - Death Jester

Creepy jester? Check and mate.

7 - Orc Shaman

Arguably my favourite model of all time. It's probably, to me at least, the best fantasy Orc that GW has produced (a bold statement indeed).

6 - Da Red Gobbo

Gorkamorkas back! I just love the idea of the Rebel Grotz. The Red Gobbo is the most characterful of the lot. Just look at him! Where did he even get a leather jacket in the middle of a desert...

5 - Space Ork Nobz in Power Armour

Painted by Dylan Gould - http://dylangould.blogspot.co.uk/

I don't know what it is about these guys. Their faces are weird, the proportions are odd and their waists are unsettling. But that said, I still love them. I just can't explain why. Like a pet dog that stinks a bit and eats it's own sick.

4 - Space Skeleton

The perfect mix of creepy, menacing and impossible to find for a reasonable price on eBay. All-in-all, 10/10 would pine after again.

3 - Nazgrub Wurrzag

Ok, last Gorkamorka model. I promise! I remember, as a lad, reading a fluff peice about Nuzgrub and it's stuck with me since, I think it ended with him pole axing an Ork boy in the head with his pick axe. If it just wasn't for his right arm (it's just holding his shotgun a bit... Oddly) he'd be my #1 Gorkamorka Ork.

2 - Genestealer primearch on throne (with magos)

A bit out of left-field (mostly because it's not an Ork), this is the model that keeps me wanting to do a genestealer cult. And any model that makes you contemplate dropping the money required to start a whole army is surely deserving of a place in your top ten?

1 - Marauder Giant

Aah, the Marauder Giant. To me, the definitive giant. A model I've wanted for as long as I've been in the hobby, but could never have (until recently, well, mostly). If only the new giant was just this guy, in plastic. I'd have an army of them.

Ok and that's it for my, admittedly GW-centric, list. I'll produce another one sometime focusing on alternative companies. Maybe, I've been very flakey on my posting recently. This is a situation I'll have to rectify :).

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Hobby Update: Deadzone, Oldhammer, Beastmen and a disaster!

It's really got everything in this update!

First things first! What's on my table?

Beastmen:

I'm making some progress on my Scibor Minotaurs, they're all built, based and one of them is even fully painted! That's it. That's all the progress I've made on the Beastmen in the last three months. Might need to pick up the pace a little...

Deadzone:
Ahh, Deadzone, the place I've made some progress!
WIP of my plague strider -

 More in-progress shots of my Plague Mortars (when you get the chance to make a Squirtle, you make two)

 My Gen 1 has found himself some fancy new shoulder armour (sadly, he's still looking for a weapon) -

 My second batch of Gen 2's are awaiting  green stuff and basing -

And painting is under way for the first set -

Oldhammer Minis:
The great priming of 2014 has begun for my (non-warband) Oldhammer guys!

These guys are mostly dwarves and goblins and the like, with the odd halfling and hobgoblin thrown in for good measure.

In this photo you'll see the bases i'm using for all my pre-slotta (or non-slotta) models. Basically 2p's for big bases and 1p's for small ones. There are some advantages to this (price for one - 50/100 bases for a pound? bargain) and there's a reassuring heft to the models.

There are, of course, some downsides too - the big one being that I'm pretty sure this is illegal... but we'll keep this between us, ok? Snitches get stitches and all that.

All i do is stick the models to the base with super glue then smooth around the edges with some Fimo. which brings us onto the 'disaster' portion of tonight's post...

An Oldhammer disaster!:
Well, you see, as I said before I use Fimo on the bases to hide the join between the integral base and the coin, bake it in the oven and you've got a rock-hard join, job done. This method has suited me just fine with these models and everyone was happy.

Right up until last night. Where I may of accidental left the oven on a little high, or a little too long, or a combination of both (the summer heat may of cooked my brain) which lead to this when I went to get my models out of the oven:

Ouch.
Really. That's not good too look at.
What you see there is two Mantic Dwarves, a four Chronicle N11 Black Orcs... well. They were that once, now they're metal splats.

On the upside, if you own any of those Black Orcs, they've gotten a little more valuable. Back to eBay for me, I guess...

The triumphant return!

Hark! Is that the distant sound of angels trumpeting?

No! well, maybe. I can't really be the one to keep track of that type of thing... But what I have kept track of is how long it's been since I made a post last, almost 5 months! But worry not, I haven't died or anything equally horrible. Basically, me and my girlfriend moved in together and i got a new job - which didn't really leave all that time for hobby. But everything's settled down now, and thanks to the new job, don't need to worry about money for a little while. So everything's working out pretty good.

Ok, so, first. I've actually painted some models! (this is further evidence toward the end of days theory I opened with). I've not really settled on a particular project yet, so I've been mostly painting individual models (most of them from my big box of Reaper Bones) with the hope of incorporating them into some sort of hybrid Mordheim/dungeon crawl type game:

Purple (ish) Worm

Stone Golem

Some sort of Zombie Blood Well... Shrine.  

It's a trap! A Chest-Trap. 

Ok, so. I've painted 4 models. That's still 4 more than normal.

Well, that's about all for now. Hopefully my next post won't be in 5 months - there's so much that's happened in the hobby in the past couple of months, it's really a good time to collect toy soldiers.

Painting Zombicide - A Horde Approaches

Ok, a quick update on all the hobby goodness I've been getting up to recently;

I left off last time with the first batch of models spray base-coated... and that was about it. Well, since then I've painted on all the block colours - to speed things up i painted them in groups of 8, picking out one or two main colours to use with each group.

I also dipped all of the models and matted them down (which turned out to be more hassle than i expected) and highlighted them all up, see? It has been a productive week!

Base-coated and ready to go!

And here's the post-dip models in all their shiny glory!

And here's my Progress Fatty!

 I also began painting the blood onto them using Tamiya Clear Red paint - love that stuff.

Once I've finished the blood, all I've got left to do is the bases and the first 32 are good to go! Hopefully I'll get them all done before the next Zombicide Kickstarter launches...

See you next time!

A quick Hobby Update!

Just a quick update on what I've been working on. This month, as per my hobby resolution, i haven't really been messing around with much GW stuff (but, from the leaks, that's about to change);
 

Firstly, I've dipped back into Kings of War and decided to start putting together a Undead Samurai army, I've only got a Necromancer with 10 skeletons and 5 Zombies so far (these models take much longer to put together than i expected!) - Once I've found them, the Wraiths in the background are going to get some old Rackham Oni Masks.

Also, when I've not been messing around with undead samurai, I've started to pur together a Malifaux Arcanist Rail Crew Box (With the Rail Golem and Willie):

I've gone for a railway (no surprises there really...) theme for the bases - I was googling ideas for basing and found the idea to use model railway tracks, and they do look pretty cool. Awful to cut tho.

Anyway, that's all for now! I've got some gushing to do about the new WoC models, but I'll save that for another post.

One last thing! My copy of Sedition Wars has arrived!

I'm very impressed, although there is quite a bit of warping of my models .Which is a bit of a disappointment (a disappointment that's becoming a more and more common occurrence with models made from not-HDPE plastics - my most recent batch of Reaper Bones models has a couple that needed re-setting), but one that should be easily fixed (although, to play devils advocate, it's a bit like the Finecast situation - even though the fix is relatively simple, i shouldn't have to do it. But that's a different post all together.)

Hobby Update: Abombaclypse!

Wow, it's been a while. So, what have i been up to in my absence? Well, i (finally) finished painting my Abomination for my Skaven (no conversions this time around - but i do have something planned for the future). I haven't painted the eyes on the rat heads for a good reason, honest! (i'm waiting until i've practiced OSL some more)  

I've also been busy converting up some Mantic Dwarves into Chaos Dwarfs (i'm not using the Abyssal Dwarves for two reasons, firstly they're a bit too costly for what they are and secondly, i had these guys lying around.) - Ignore their current paintwork, it was from a very early experiment with dip.

They're still very much a WIP - i've got a whole load of green stuffing to do once i've finished chopping bits off.