Hans

    This weekend, having finished the Harlequins for my main project, I found myself at a loose end.  I knew that I wasn't going to have hours to spend on painting as I'm recently married, had had a tough week at work and therefore would like some time to unwind with the new wife.  However, I did want to get something done, and so there was some rooting through the "stuff waiting to be finished" shelf that sits guilting me above the work desk.

    I cam across Hans, the original metal sculpt for Malifaux.  While I considered starting work on my next commision (Deathstroke) he needed assembly and the weather was not great for undercoating.  My BMG Harley crew are undercoated, but I felt like I needed to dedicate a whole block of time to getting them started, which I didn't have.  So, without further ado, I give you (rather poor photos of, taken on my phone) Hans.

Next month for the ATONLG I will need to paint something extra for the Harlequins.  This will either be the second 2 Skyweavers that I have already, or I may need to get a third Troupe.   After I have both of those completed I will be able to fill my FOC and consider starting to play (probably very short, and one sided) games.

As well as that, I aim to reduce the size of the pile of half finished stuff on the the shelf.  So far, that consists of 

Warmahordes

Stormwall

2 Troll Impalers

Hunter

Malifaux

2 Thunder Archers

Fuhatsu

Lone Swordsman

Undertaker (Forgotten his name)

Vulture

Nicodem

Mature Nephilim

(Just needing Basing)

40K

Striking Scorpion Squad and Exarch

BMG

Harley Quinn

Joker's Daughter

5 Harley Henchmen

Gatling Brute for Harley

I know a few people read this, and so if anyone has any thoughts on which of these they would like to see worked on next, please feel free to comment.

Harlequin Squad 2

So, month 2 of the ATONLG is complete.  This month I went with a second squad of Harlequins to go with the first squad.  The initial squad was assembled, this time with 3 Harlequins Caress' and a Neurodisruptor and Kiss on the Troupe Leader.

Assembled and Undercoated

They were painted in the same colours as the first squad, with the idea being that they could either form a second squad of the Harlequins in transports, or they could join with the original squad in a larger foot based squad.

So in terms of points, for this month I will score myself.

Participation, Preparation, Painting, 1 Post, and Pictures for 9 points.

On the table for the rest of the month will be the start of my Harley Quinn Crew for BMG, along with a Deathstroke commision, and possibly some more work on my Warmachine or Hordes forces.  Any thoughts on whether anyone has anything they would want to see me work on, please feel free to comment.

Voidweaver and Month 2

So, I have completed month 2 of the Tale of Next Level Gamers challenge after only 10 days in.  I have successfully painted my voidweaver.  With this, I have now achieved 1 Troop, 1 Fast Attack, 1 Elite, and now 1 Heavy support for the army.  I am therefore only 2 Troops and a Fast attack off of having a legal army.

I have quite enjoyed painting the voidweaver, and it has followed the colour scheme as previously used for these forces.  I did make a rather huge mistake in that I painted the interior cockpit, and then glue the top and bottom hulls together rather permanently with superglue without putting it in.  That explains why the canopy is closed, and painted black, as the innards are not in there.

So the pictures....

As with the skyweavers, the masks have not been added to the models yet, and the squad markings are only roughed in.  I will be painting all of these in together when I have a clearer idea of what shape the final force is going to be and thus how I am going to squad things up.

I also haven't decided if the raised bobbles on the hull are going to be painted as red gems, or left as irregularities in the bodywork in the underlying colour.

As always, comments and suggestions welcome.

First Month Completed

So, I have completed month one of my "A Tale of Next Level Gamers".  Not sure if anyone else is actually doing this, but, it has motivated me to get a fixed amount of models completed each month.  The fiance has helped, encouraging me to get the last of the models painted by the end of the month.

So without further ado, the models.

My Shadow Seer, painted in the same scheme as the squad that he is going to join.  Of note, unlike the other Harlequins, his mask is blank, and painted black currently.

I have also painted the first 2 Skyweavers, again in the same paint scheme as the first Troupe.  The shuriken cannon are removable, although I haven't as yet painted the Haywire Cannon to replace them.

Finally, there is a shot of the whole of the force so far.

So, by my reckoning I should get 1pt for participation, 2pts for Priming and Prep, 3pts for Painting, 2pts for posting, and 2 pts for pictures, which makes 10 of a possible 15 points, and losing points on playing games and player choice (which can only happen if there are more than just me scoring points for it.)

Comments and criticism are always welcome.

Harlequins Progress so far

So, I decided as part of a sort of "tale of (insert whatever) gamers" project here to start Harlequins as an army for 40k.  I've spoken about how they were my first army, I've waxed lyrical about the nostalgia part of painting them, and I've even shown a test model.  Well, as we come to the end of the first month, I thought that I would show the outcome of the first months work (well, nearly, I have 3 days left)

Troupe Master

This is the Troupe Master for the first unit.  Neuro Disrupter and harlequin caress.

As you can see, the rest of the Troupe stuck pretty much to the test pieces colour scheme, with the green and purple halves with yellow and gold accents and black gloves and shoes.  I've stuck with the bone masks despite some ideas regarding making them a more standout colour, as I think a little the contrast with the red in gems etc works ok.  The Shadow Seer, in contrast, will have a completely black mask, at least for the first one I am painting.

 The work so far on the Skyweavers.  These are almost finished, except for some work on the gemstones, and, of course, the riders, who are in progress as we speak.

So that means that I have to finish the crews for the bikes, and the Shadow Seer to make my 1st months commitment.  When I achieve that, I will then move onto month 2, where I will have to decide if I want a gunship or a transport as my first vehicle, and then add some more Skyweavers.  I also need to do some final work on the Batpod for BMG that I said I would do for the manager of the FLGS.

As ever, I would be most interested to hear thoughts, opinions, ideas etc.

Harlequin Test Piece

So, I have finally completed the test piece for my Harlequin colour scheme.  I am fairly happy with the colours, and I think that the green, purple and yellow work together.  I have always painted my Eldar as if they have bone weapons and equipment, and that is not going to change.  I like the idea of weapons grown from wraithbone, and I like the effect.

The bone itself may need another highlight, but given that the initial goal is to get these table ready within a time limit, this will do for now.  I am considering making a set of terrain to go with these, red desert bases with lots of towering wraithbone arches and the like.

Any comments and criticisms are very very welcome.  The plan is that the Troupe Masters will have increased amounts of detailing and patterning on their outfits to mark them out.

A Tale of NextLVL Gamers Month 1

So, as my previous post discussed, we have started a hobby challenge.  So, for the first month, I have purchased, all from LVL Up in Bournemouth,

I thought long and hard about what force to take for this.  For months I have been thinking about trying to start a 40k army, and debated whether I should or not.  I don't actually PLAY 40k at the moment, and my last few experiences of it some time ago were fairly negative, such that I was put off of trying it in future.  I read a lot of news sites, and there is always someone talking about the latest super army.  I don't even know what my local Meta is like, but I do know that I hate games where I might as well not have bothered turning up because I am so outclassed by the forces opposed to me.  I also know that I abhor painting units of models.
Nevertheless, I have been looking longingly at some of the models.  When I was 11 or 12, I got some toy soldiers from my parents.  I already had the Space Marine boxed game, but, of course, everyone I knew was playing 40k instead.  So, one day, I took a long trip up to central London with my Dad, and we went to the Virgin Megastore.  This was back in the day when Virgin Megastore actually stocked roleplaying games, and, from there, was purchased one Eldar Guardians box set, and one of the original Harlequin Boxes.  Of course, I had no rules for these (all I had at the time was a copy of Rogue Trader, purchased whilst I was on Holiday in Derbyshire, on a visit to Nottingham where I was also given my first copies of AD&D by my Uncle Robert and Aunt Margaret).  But eventually, I ended up with the rules, and the Harlequins were my first 40K army, and remained my ONLY army until I got the 2nd Ed starter set and decided to play Orks.  (at a grand opening of the Romford Store, not long after I passed my GCSE's)

So, for all sorts of nostalgic reasons, I want a Harlequin army, and this gives me a reason.  I have no idea what they play like, and they may never make it to the battlefield.  But, they should provide a pretty, force, and a link back to my past.

For Month One, I have purchased

Harlequin Troupe Box Set
Harlequin ShadowSeer
Harlequin Jet Bike Box Set.

So far, I have assembled and undercoated the infantry from the boxes.  The jetbikes will be my reward for finishing painting the normal troupe members.

A Tale of NextLVL Gamers

So, following a random comment on the Facebook by the owner of our FLGS, I agreed/decided/went ahead and organised a challenge based around the Tale of Four Gamers that has been done originally in White Dwarf.  I know it's not original, I know that at any time there are hundreds of these running on blogs all over the internet, but this one is ours, and should be a good way to motivate the few of us that were interested to paint some models and have some fun.  We decided that we weren't going to limit ourselves to one system, and so we have people signed up for 40K, DZC, and Batman.  Its still in its infancy, but at least we have a challenge.  The rules are below.

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A hobby challenge for all of us.

Objective - Some friendly competition amongst a group of players aiming to build some forces for tabletop games.

Plan - Starting with a force of up to £50 value, unpainted (but may be assembled), and increasing it by £25 worth of models each month, aiming to have completed each section by the time the month ends.  If your force is worth more than that months value for some reason (starter boxes costing more, etc), you can spread it over several months, and get all of the points available when you complete it.  At the end of the period, we shall see who has the most points - and thus bragging rights.

Points

1-Participation - have purchased/added £25 of models in a month 

2-Preparation - Models are assembled/undercoated

3-Painting - All of the models in that months section are painted

1-Playing - Each game you play with a force made up of that months models (ideally alone, or as part of a larger force) Max 3 per month

1-Posting - Each blog post/facebook post/engraving on stone tablets about your models and your progress (Maximum of 2 per month)

1-Pictures - Each one of the above gains you an extra point if there are pictures to support it (Max 2/month)

2-Player Choice - Each month, we could have a vote as to who's force is currently your favourite, be it best designed, best painted, whatever (we could change it each month)

This means that there are a maximum of 15 points per month available.