Zombie Week: Day Seven

Day Seven... "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me..."

Time really is the killer when it comes to having this hobby alongside a busy job and a full-on family life (son 4, daughter 20 months, wife beautiful with reasonable levels of maintenance...). It might not look like I've managed to do that much here, but believe me, this took some effort. Being a hobbyist in circumstances like mine, you find you have to steal time with guerilla tactics, or negotiate it like a slippery politician. Every moment counts.

This has been an incredibly worthwhile exercise. Not only have I got a unit up to a basic tabletop standard, I've developed a new painterly technique that I'm still happy with after a few days (this really IS an achievement!), and I've set a new era of productivity in motion. Sure I'll still flip flop between projects but so much more will happen between flips... with minimal flops, I hope.

I'll put the final touches to this lot after the compulsory summer week at the in laws, which begins Friday, and will see me focusing on my warbands for Oldhammer day.

Apologies for the slightly blurred picture, it was raining so I had to be quick

Shock! Some Dwarf Miniatures I Actually Like... Well, They Are From Avatars Of War!

These new Dwarf Pathfinders from Avatars of War look really great. No surprise because they're the next in a long line of amazing looking minis from this company. These guys are really setting the standard for GW to follow, particularly in their more 'neglected' fantasy ranges. Any chance of some Wood Elves?

Zombie Week: Day Six

Nothing at all glamorous today as I completed all the black edges on the bases.

I feel like this is essential at this stage so that the unit looks at least minimally 'complete' come tomorrow.

That also clears the final day of this mini challenge for highlights and shading.

Day seven photos will be accompanied by a few philosophical thoughts on painting targets and techniques.

Gosh, you're excited, I can tell!

Zombie Week: Day Five

Day five... Ah, the grim realities of painting large regiments for WFB. On day four I enjoyed the discovery of a new way of using wet brushing and glazes to achieve a hugely satisfying Blanche-type effect. Oh how the mighty have fallen! Yesterday and, I must admit, a little bit today I slogged through daubing the bases in sepia ink and white wet brushing all the remaining human zombies. What a chore. There truly is no glamour in painting the regiment way. It's easy to see how people who just admit to getting painting 'done' struggle to feel motivated or even bothered sometimes. I do gain some solace though from that fact that my usual WFB play from now on will be in 3rd edition, where smaller units are more common. The undead, however, need to be fairly horde-like in all editions. Maybe in future the trick will be to paint a regiment for 4 or 5 days, then spend a couple on a character? 

The New Lizardmen Bastiladon Will Make A Perfect Feral Ork Squiggoth

I'm really glad I held off on getting too deeply into my new Feral Ork project because the new Lizardmen Bastiladon has arrived and it will make the perfect smaller Squiggoth. I'm not certain exactly how they compare size wise, but with plasticard and Forge World guns I can surely turn this plastic kit into a living Battlewagon. This project just came alive!

Zombie Week: Day Four

Day Four... Last night I brought all the rotters up to the same stage with basic washes and highlights, and added black edges to some of the bases. I must say that while the Titan Forge undead trolls are rather neat, the zomblins are of a much lower standard. It looks as if the casting hasn't work properly, something like that. This is disappointing but I'll focus on them tomorrow and see if I can get them up to a reasonable standard.

With the models in the picture you can see the effect of my white wet brushing, a technique I'm using to give an multi-layered 'John Blanche style' look to my work. This - like so many good things - started as an experiment. I'm now slightly realigning my plans for the overall look of the army and getting an extra burst of excitement!

John Blanche Illustrations From The Sorcery Spell Book

Our regular gaming nights currently involve a romp over the Shamutanti Hills as GM Andy guides his semi-competent players in typical semi-tolerant fashion (we do test his patience...). To aid my sorcerer, Andy handed me a copy of the Sorcery Spell Book during our last session. Not only did it help me sift through all the spells, it also gave me the chance to snap a few photos of the John Blanche illustrations within. Here are a few of my favourites...

Zombie Week: Day Three

Day three... And the undead are looking all shades of putrid thanks to some Dark Tone ink (watered down a little to make it flow better) followed by highlights of Elf Flesh and Sunburst Yellow. More shading tomorrow I think, plus some glazes on the clothing to get a little differentiation started. 

Warhammer 'Satire' Piece In The Telegraph Newspaper

Every now and then, Warhammer makes it into the mainstream press. It's usually a neutral-to-negative angle that's taken, and the writer does anything but develop or provide any insight or analysis whatsoever. Today is no exception, with a really sloppy bit of proto-satire by Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.  The 'satire' is that the British government should ban or block Warhammer blogs/games rather than (instead of? as well as?) pornography, in order to save the souls of this country's young men.

Sadly it's the same lazy self-centred-commentary journalism we're used in the UK press, a sad trend that seems to be taking over real reporting. And that's what this represents: the poor state of contemporary journalism. Perhaps Tim was pressured to deliver a self-think-piece 1000 words in short order. Bless him, it's not his fault that the writing is so inadequate and lame. His employers are asking him to perform in the terrible culture and conditions of today's press.

Of course, he could've said no. But maybe he's one of these attention seeking academics who needs the illusionary boost to self confidence that 'popular writing' brings. If anything, this just illustrates a man who's willing to sell his penmanship as if it were a quick 'favour' delivered behind the bike shed after school.

So in sum, this has little to do with our hobby at all; just one more example of how flaccid and pitiful a large section of the press has become. Move along please... 

Zombie Week: Day Two

Day Two... No true progress today due to long work journeys and it being our regular games night (with a first play test of some 40k skirmish rules I've been playing around with). So here a lovely zombie picture to cheer up a summer evening.

Zombie Week: Day One

Day One... Warm weather through the evening means undercoating couldn't go smoother right now. The zombies were duly bathed in Army Painter Necrotic Flesh last night and came out with a perfect common colour that will allow me to do my ideal necromantic glow. 

It also gave me a chance to experiment a little with a bottle of Amry Painter Dark Tone Ink that I picked up recently out of curiosity. This ink is basically a good quality black wash. As such, it needs to be more carefully controlled than you might've initially thought (given the quick splash solution that Army Painter use for their Dark Tone proper), but it does have a very strong pigment, meaning deep crevasses can be granted truly satisfying darkness. The undead troll here has had some Dark Tone, followed by Athonian Camoshade, and Waywatcher Green glaze.

Zippy work for me with all the zombies now at this stage.

Zombie Week: Day Zero

Day Zero... The dead are rising from their resting place, deep in the darkest corners of my hobby cabinet. I need a quick fix that can only be gained from a completed project (too many slow burners at the moment). Zombies will be the first to give me that pleasure of completeness.

If zombies are raised from the field of battle, then shouldn't there be some non-humans in the mix? Thanks to Titan Forge, there are zomblins and undead trolls!

I've had these undead knocking around for a while and it was by chance that I remembered the plan I had to give them a very simple but effective paint job: quick undercoat, shade, highlight, shade, highlight, bang in a couple of signature touches... done. 

I've always like the idea of doing undead as if they are glowing with necromantic energies, which is the only thing giving them any coherency. The rules support this, so why not the paint job? Let's see if I can achieve a necrotic-bile green glow across the whole army.

40k Without A Plot Is A Dull And Limited Game, So For All Gamers Under About 33, Here's The Rogue Trader Plot Generator

Would you like your games to include such things as: Vast floating puddings, death worlds, governors plagued by pirates, mediaeval vampires, agricultural cooperatives, secret viruses, ancient dinosaurs, alien suicide bombers, doomsday devices, motorway ambushes, Greasy Kim's Bar and Diner, allergic atmospheres, scrap yard robots, jealous brothers, over zealous local police, Mysteriously Acquired Crazy Syndrome, unexploded minefields, migrating creatures, ex-wives, malfunctioning weapons, Dr Gostello's Amazing Intergalactic Psycho-circus, experimental androids, camera crews from local media companies? Then the Rogue Trader Plot Generator is for you! Grab your D100 (or borrow your Dad's if you're a youngling) or pick something that takes your fancy or get your GM to do it for you. Enjoy proper gaming! 

And by way of comparison, this is what you get in the current 40k rulebook...

Some John Blanche Art From The 40k Rulebook, Just Because It's Great

Reaper Bones Vs Metal Comparison

You might remember a week or so ago I posted my dabblings with painting one of the new Reaper Bones models. I thought the material was OK, given the price, but there were obvious limitations with the medium. Now Mike over at Constantly Risking Obscurity has just posted some very useful 'case studies' of the comparisons between Bones and metal models. It's certainly a must read for those who might be considering an investment in Bones in the future. A case of 'buyer beware' I suppose... Here's one of his pictures: 

Warhammer 40k: Inquisition Might Be The GW Surprise Release For 2013

A very tasty rumour this one, and potentially a downer if you're anticipating that a new edition of Blood Bowl will be the special box for this autumn.

This, or something like it...?

Rather than paraphrase, here's the text from Faeit 212:

You heard that right. It appears one of the biggest surprises this year is not going to be the re-release of Bloodbowl, but something that is much more insidious.......Warhammer 40k: Inquisition. 

This will be a skirmish sized game of 5-10 models per side, and may end up becoming more than a limited edition run. It seems that seeing all the skirmish sized game out there, Games Workshop is capitalizing on their 40k universe and peoples drive to want a smaller game. Rather ingenious if you ask me. 

Definitely if a game like this was the same scale models as 40k, and was expanded upon as more than just a limted release, count me in. Might have to count me in regardless.
Please remember that this is a rumor, some salt is always required. This breaking rumor comes from TastyTaste and more can be found here on his site. 

http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2013/07/15/rumor-it-blood-bowl-come-inquisition/via TastyTaste on Blood of Kittens

GW is about to enter the skirmish scene with the release of Warhammer 40k: Inquisition
Inquisition is designed for 2-4 players and each side will use custom cards and dice. Army sizes consist of about 5-10 models per side. A whole new set of models drawn from Blanche artwork will accompany. The game should be flexible as you can make and design your own Inquisitorial retinue. As for rules complexity that is anyone's guess, but the general marketing goal for Inquisition is a gateway game into the greater Warhammer 40k universe.

Beyond that GW, seems to be taking cues from Kickstarter projects like Sedition Wars and home-brewed rules like Inq28 for Inquisitor. This also might not end up as a limited edition run, but that all depends on sales, and if any support is continued will be done through digital expansions and updates.

A Very Orky Distraction

I doubt that I'm the first hobbyist to damn themselves for constantly getting distracted. I'm certain I'm not the last. There are just so many new toys out there demanding to be bought. Things aren't helped by the unique pleasure associated with assembling plastics. During the recent hobby lull that afflicted me due to non-packed paints for a week in Cornwall I filled that vacated hole with reading and planning with the Ork codex - the plan? Feral Orks for the 2014 Armies on Parade. Now that's thinking ahead! But it's meant that for the last fortnight I've been converting batches of models from Orcs to Orks - I started out back in the hobby building on the contents of the Battle for Skull Pass set, so I gathered plenty of greenskins during that re-christening period, almost all of which I didn't bother to paint. Thus, Orks are a great option, especially considering how cool the newish Savage Orcs are. 

There is another historical link here, because I played Feral Orks way back in the days of Rogue Trader. Back then it was as a consequence of having a mix of futuristic and wild boyz, and a distinct lack of any funds whatsoever to use to build an army. Now, things are somewhat different. Consider, for example, the prospect of converting up a whole range of cyborg-squig-creatures to take the place of trucks and battlewagons and bikes... The future is green (with lashings of orange I imagine too).

Nurgle Gun Drone Or Blight Drone Substitute

This interesting little morsel was posted up on the HiTech Miniatures facebook page yesterday. I was thinking it might make a potential substitute for a Blight Drone. I've just taken my drone onto the table for the first time this weekend and it proved to be a rather nifty prospect, being heavy on the weaponry but taking a Fast Attack slot in force organisation. Useful when blasting away at marines and terminators. 

The Dread Maw Bursts Forth

Forge World have finally released the Dread Maw model and here it is:

The rules for this beast are great: it can pop up right under enemy units. The model is pretty dynamic and I rather like it, just look at those rows of teeth. It would've been rather nice though to have more of the model above ground, maybe lancing down on it's foes, rather than just at the point it erupts through the earth. A minor point perhaps. I do hope that FW keep banging out these large monsters and don't become consumed with the Heresy.

Knights Of Badassdom Trailer

As someone who managed to mis-spend a fair amount of their teens playing LARP, this is a film that was just made for me... well, me 25 years ago.

Wizard in Reaper Bones Plastic

Here's a fun little fellow. He's a wizard by Reaper in their relatively new bendy Bones material. Thanks to Andy for giving him to me from his big box of kickstarter goodies. 

I've used him as a test model for my Slaanesh colours and I'm very pleased with the results. If you're thinking about Bones I'd recommend giving it a go. The models are really cheap and although there is patchy definition (what do expect for the price?) these are Reaper minis so there's bundles of character. (Background art supplied by my daughter Astrid).

Armies On Parade - Accidental Nurgle Goo And Gloss

Following a slight problem with a forgotten paint box during my holiday last week, I ended up experimenting with something completely new: Tamiya X series paints. This wasn't entirely intentional yet by happy accident I think I've found a neat way to do the 'gooey' weapons on the Obliterators and Mutilators. These paints are glossy which is very unfashionable these days. I'm hoping they might lend a slight old school edge to this bunch of degenerates. Here's how it's going so far: