Random Thoughts

So, no pictures tonight, in fact no projects to put up. I've recently begun tracking my site traffic and have become depressed. It seems I'm the only one checking in here. Of course, that's probably because I started this blog about two weeks ago. I guess I shouldn't be too depressed yet.

I do have several projects in the works. I just completed assembling the contents of a Warhammer Dwarf Battalion box. That's a lot of Dwarfs there. I've never played a game with them. But I like the models and I like the fluff (their back story, for the uninitiated among you). So I'm painting them. Besides, it will be nice to play a game of Warhammer with troops that don't run away at the first sign of trouble, like my Orcs and Goblins can do.

After these Dwarfs I have some Ogre Kingdoms stuff to work on. I've got a box of Ogre bulls and a Butcher to work on. I'll probably throw in some Ironguts and a Tyrant as well to round things out. I'm not sure if I'll play these guys at 2,000 points or not. I was thinking of keeping them to a warband sized force.

On other project fronts, I've got the itch to continue to work in colored pencils. So I'll probably be putting together another girlie painting before long. But I also promised my wife that I'd do a portrait of my son for his 10th birthday. I did one for his 5th, and so it needs to be updated.

Would I shock anyone if I also admitted that I've been drafting out a novel? I've been working on an outline / draft of a novel since last May. It's a historical novel set in the Viking age, and not surprisingly it's about Vikings. I've got to give myself some credit for sticking with it, since I'll be finishing the outline soon. This is not your typical outline format, by the way. It combines a lot of description, some dialog, plot tension, etc. It will probably run about 200 single spaced typed pages when it's finished. I'll have to blog about that project as well. It's probably easier to blog about it rather than actually write it.

So, as you can see from all this, I'm very focused on myself and things I do alone. This also might explain why I'm not very achieving in my day job! I've got too much going on in my fantasy world.

Space Marine Command Squad

Here are a few pictures of some of my Space Marine figures. I painted these about a year ago, and I think I've improved a lot since then. Still I've always liked the banner that I painted for the command group. I did it freehand on the banner itself. I just drew it in with a pencil and then painted it on. It's decent, but not as good as some stuff I've seen.

Since I haven't taken any pictures of my other minis recently, I'm falling back on my old stuff. Check out the really poor choice of basing materials. I knew that this wasn't looking good, but because I had put it on all my other marine models I felt like I had to do it to these for the sake of consistiency. Were I doing it today, I'd have not continued with the poor choice. Live and learn!

Another miniature -- just for fun

Here's a miniature from Reaper that I just had to buy and paint. It reminds me of one of those stop-motion monsters from the old Adventures of Sinbad movies I used to love as a kid. Despite a back-log of miniatures needed for gaming, I had to stop and paint this one.

I also consider this a "breakthrough" mini for me. For one, I used a flashlight to determine where to place highlights and shadows, and it really worked wonders for the model. Also, I experiemented with skin tones to get something more "ethnic" rather than the white boy paintjobs I've been doing up until this time. I felt the model looked South Asian or Southeast Asian, and I wrestled with a skin tone mixture that would finally produce what I wanted. I did a lot of detailing, but sorta lost interest when it came time to paint the metals. So all those wonderful swords just got a few thin coats of metallic paint and I just left it at that.

Also, again the photo has some distorted colors. It looks like her cheeks have been slapped bloody red in the photo. It's not really like this. So again I have to learn how to take better pictures of these minis.

Eiryss

The picture didn't come out so well, and I'll probably have to re-take it at some other time. But this does a fairly decent job of showing what the paint job. Though it can't be seen here, I think the cloak came out quite nicely. It really reads well from a "standing at the gaming table" position. Since I paint these to play, I try to think of this whenever I'm painting. I suppose there's some other standard for painting a mini to be seen "in the round," so to speak. Also, the face came out nicely on this, and her eyes follow her crossbow aim perfectly. I was amazed to get that gaze right on the first shot. It was very lucky.

Khador Widowmakers

Here are some samples of my Widowmakers for my Khador army. I really like these models. Privateer Press really turns out some quality stuff. This really inspires me to take more time with the paint job. Also, as a complete unit is only 4 models I don't feel bad about taking more time with them. In fact, I'd feel bad if I didn't take more time with them.




Here's a more close up view of the leader's face. In this shot, for whatever reason, it looks like she has a black eye. It must be a trick of the light, as she does not have a black eye in actuality. I sorta lost interest in highlighting all those ammo packs, though. It's just too much for a model that I plan to actually use in a game.

The Big, Bad Warhammer Giant

The giant model is one of the most impressive models I've seen for Warhammer. It's big and and imposing looking. It's just way cool. So I put him on my Christmas list and look what Santa delivered! A giant! It was my first model that I painted from my Xmas haul of miniatures. I couldn't wait to see him standing next to my Night Goblin archers. (For those following along who know nothing of Warhammer -- it's just Night Goblins are small, pathetic things and they look funny next to behemoth model like the giant.)

So, here are some pictures. The lighting makes him look a little more glossy than he really is. In fact, I achieved a nice even flesh coat on this one. Through some accident I splattered his belly with brown ink. It ended up enhancing the look of real flesh, so I left them there.

Here's a close up look at his face. I tried to go for the slobbering look and I think it came across nicely. It just enhances the "mean and stupid" feel.

The biggest problem I had with this model is the mold lines. I tried to melt them with plastic glue, but that didn't work. So I put green stuff in the lines, and that just worsened it. So I tried to minimize the lines with the paint job. That worked somewhat, but not all that well. It's too bad, as this guy is a set-piece for my army and will get a lot of attention. Well, at least I tried!

Iron Fang Pikemen

Here are some pictures of my recently completed Ironfang Pikemen. I did 10 all together, but I'm only picturing two for this blog. I've never played a game of Warmachine before. I've played Hordes and liked it. So I'm hoping I like Warmachine. I put who knows how many hours into these figures. There are three base coat layers, five highlight layers, one shading layer, and two ink washes for just the red alone. Everything else took time as well, but the red just about caused me to have a nervous breakdown. How do these Golden Daemon painters spend the time that they do on one model?

Anyway, have a look at 'em. I'm quite proud and I think that they look really nice. I drilled out their pikes and replaced them with brass rods. They are not only sturdier, but also look straigher than the junky pewter ones that they came with.

Here's a detail shot of the IFP leader's face. It looks less smooth in this close up than it does in real life. But maybe that's because the camera is more honest than I am about my paint jobs. At any rate, the dude has a lazy eye, I know. That will happen when you spend as much time with blasting charges as he did.