Set me free...

So, I finally snapped and gave in and bought the Age of Sigmar starter box set.  Which, when combined with the Storm of Sigmar box, 2 of the Getting Started Magazines, and one of the Quick Assembly boxes of Retributors has given me a force of Stormcast Externals.  Following the self imposed rule, my plan is that I shouldn't play with them before they are painted.  As a change from my usual painting style, and because I hate painting units with a passion, I have decided to try and speed/batch paint the majority of the models to a basic tabletop standard, the idea being that if they look good on the table being played, then that is good enough.  Since Tuesday, I have turned out 14 Liberators, 5 Retributors, and am working on my Relictor.  All together, I have 920 points using the generals handbook, and I also have a Khorne force that my aim is to sell or donate to a needy wargamer.
 So, some images.

Retributor Warscroll

For my reference, below is the test model that was painted, along with the colours that I used.

 

Armour - Ironbreaker, washed Nuln Oil, Drybrushed Necron Compound

Gold - Retributor Armour Washed Agrax Earthshade

Blue - Macragge Blue highlighted Caledor Sky

Red - Khorne Red washed Carrienburg Crimson

Any comments of criticism is, as ever welcome.

I am of course participating in the GW summer campaign at my local force.  Amusingly, the painting that I have done puts me in third place having never played a game of Age of Sigmar at all........

Got the Time?

So, I have been a busy bee from a hobby perspective.  First of all, I have finished painting the limited edition Aionus Model.  A simple paint job, with the clock painted in the style that I have now adopted for the spirits in Malifaux.  The rest was simple blended layers.  Quick, but I think it looks Ok.

I also managed to get a game in with my McMourning crew.  They have the honour of being the first box set that I ever painted for myself, and having never been put on the table before.  

I shall post a fuller battle report (maybe), but I think that the important point is, like all Malifaux games, it was fun and had some of THOSE moments.  The Flesh Construct ate a Rooster Rider, Mah Tucket beat McMourning to death on Turn 1, and Francois on Hallucinogens from the Nurse standing in place and fighting invisible enemies.  All in all, a great, fun game against Kendall, where the result (a 10-8 win) almost didn't matter as much as the fun.

Who do you have in the Deadpool?

So, continuing the time off spent working through projects, I have now finished painting Deadpool.

Nothing too much to say.  The cast was considerably better than some of the Knight Models casts that I have seen.  The arms needed a minimal amount of filling.  So, without futher ado, the pictures.

 The paint job was fairly simple  Red over white undercoat, highlighted up in stages through Mephiston Red through Evil Suns Scarlet.  The black was applied, and then the straps were painted in Dryad Bark.

The biggest struggle with this model was working out what the uniform should look like.  Every image that I found had a different layout for the red and black areas on the body of the suit.  In the end, I found one picture that had multiple views, and went with that.  I don't know if it is "official" but it works and is clearly recognisable as the character it is meant to be from gaming distances.

I should also note that Deadpool, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy have the honour of being models that are allowed to live on the bookcase in the front room.  Thanks for that The Wife.

Comments and criticism are welcome, although I know that the pictures are not of the highest quality, being taken on my phone camera.

It's a swamp thing....

Although sadly, not the B-movie, or the comic, but the modelling project kind.  As part of the time off projects, I have been working on some swampy/bayou type terrain pieces, aiming to have enough to fill a board.  So far, I have a Swamp patch/Pool, a Giant Stone Egg in a Pool, a Pile of enormous building blocks, and a house on stilts..... over a pool (WIP).  I am planning a couple of tree/wood type pieces, some more of the blocks, and some walkways.  May also do some more thematic pieces, like a gremlin still, Pig Pen, a field for the Carver to guard, maybe a cave for Bad Juju.  Lots of ideas.  It has, however, meant that I am behind on the painting side of the plans for the week, but I can probably live with that if I get a finished board out of it.  Aiming to get some of it ready for Monday evening's games.

Without further do-dads, some pictures, with an unfinished Thunder Archer for scale. (Who shall henceforth be known as Fred.  Just because)

Cracked Stone Egg

Swamp Pool

Pile of what I hope look like collapsed stone blocks

Another angle on the blocks

Work in Progress Hut

Front view of the Hut

    For future reference, the mud is Stirland Mud and patches of Lustrian undergrowth dry brushed with Underhive Ash.  The edges are Dryad Bark.  The water is Castellan Green washed with Athonian Camoshade and then varnished.  the Rocks are Eshin Grey, dry brushed up to Longbeard Grey.  The slime from the egg is Nurgle Rot.

Comments and criticism/suggestions welcome.

It's a Stitch Up

So, tonight I have finished the rogue Necromancy that was first referenced in the posts about my Take Back the Night Crew for Molly.  After much discussion, I decided that I should paint it as if it were "real" rather than a spirit, as that gives it more utility in other crews, and fits more with the fluff for the model.
Painting it was a chore.  I am still convinced that the lion parts look too Wizard of Oz cartoon Lion for my overall taste.  Nevertheless, it works as a whole.  As often happens to me with models like this, I got stuck for a few days, and lost inspiration, since I had decided that I really didn't like the way it was turning out.  So I stopped, and looked at it while playing Magic Duels online, and today I cracked on and ploughed forward.  It's not my favourite model, but it is good enough for government work as they say (Or as McMourning does.  And since the good doctor is likely to be the other user of this, well...)

Without further ado, the pictures.

Yes, I missed some blood on the front leg

And this back Haunch is missing blood as well

It's also worth noting that this weekend was the start of 2 weeks of Annual Leave.  Yes, this means that I have extra time, that needs to be divided between the wife, and the toys.  As is usual, I am going into my leave with a list of Hobby Projects, not all of which are likely to get anywhere near completion.  But the list is here anyway.

To paint
  Finish Rogue Necromancy
  Finish Aionus
  Finish Gracie
  Finish Daenerys Targaryen
  Paint Nova
  Paint Deadpool
  Paint Mysterious Effigy
  Paint Carver

Terrain Project
  This is going to be a Swamp/Bayou board for Malifaux.  Plans are currently being worked on, but I know that it is going to be made up of pieces of scatter terrain on a baseboard.  I have a proof of concept swamp piece and the beginnings of an elevated hut.  Other ideas include a stone egg, some trees, some stones, walls, fences, a pig pen, a still and anything else that grabs my fancy.

Army Projects
  Cygnar Army - Aiming to get a 75pt force selected and tested for Warmachine Mk3
  Trollbloods Army - Aiming to get 75pts painted and tested for Hordes Mk3 (This will require more painting and work that the Cygnar)
  The Girls of Malifaux - Developing my Viktoria's crew, by including as many additional thematic females as I can.  This is likely to include Hannah, Johanna, and any others that I can squeeze in by any means necessary.

None of the projects are set in stone and it's likely to be a few days before I finalise which ones I am going to try and get completed.  I shall cross them off here when I am done with them.  Any thoughts, comments or criticism really welcome.

Taking Care of the Baby

So today I finished the next model for my Molly Crew.  Continuing the theme, this one shows a Ghostly Nanny with a real Philip in it.  The basing continues with the traditional sculpted green stuff cobbles, but this time with some grass and the red flowers from www.warpainter.net which I picked up at Bovington.  Their bag of 120 mixed tufts cost me £3, and this is the first time i have used them.  They appear to do exactly what they say on the tin, and I am pleased with what they have added to the base.

So now, most of the models that I plan on doing in the ghostly effect for my Molly crew are done, and there is only one Dead Doxy in progress.  She is at the stage where the base is being prepared, so will be done soon.  I have also completed my 1.5ed Jack Daw model, but for personal reasons, and to avoid triggers, I have not included pictures of this here,

What I have included, is a picture of all of them except him so far.  That's Molly, Philip, 3 Crooligans, and 3 Drowned.  I also have the repurposed Jack, and a Dead Doxie in this scheme.  I will then start work on the University of Transmortis Students, and the Rogue Necromancy.  I already have all of her spirits painted for my previous Kirai Crew, so I will then have all of her summons and thematic hires covered.

I have also sorted out the date for the next Malifaux tournament at my FLGS.  20th August will see a 50SS 3 Round event, and we have already had 12 of the planned 16 spaces spoken for.  Facebook event is here.  Hopefully, we should have some crossover between people reading this and people turning up for that.  I for one am looking forward to it.

Drowning.....and a Brawl

Tonight we ran the first Enforcer Brawl at the FLGS.  6 people playing, running a variety of models, including Raphael, Burt Jebsen, Howard Langstrom, an Ice Golem, Yin The Pennangalan and Bishop.  After a little bit of confusion about the scoring (and the last time I try to use google sheets and a touchscreen with a spreadsheet I knocked up that afternoon to score), it seemed like a good time was had.  We allowed people to appear on any edge they wanted rather than picking randomly, and after Raphael finished off both Howard and the Ice Golem turn 1, he had a target painted on his head for the rest of the game.  Ultimately, Yin won, with Howard pulling off an excellent final turn to take second.

The other thing of note is that I have finished my Drowned.  Painted in the same style as my Crooligans, for my likely Molly crew, I debated how to give the cobbles behind them the impression of being wet.  After some thought, and lots of ideas, I went with black wash (to darken the stone) and then gloss varnish.  Its not perfect, but it seems to work.

The ghostly appearance may not totally fit the fluff, but I think that the effect is worth it.  Again, thanks to Matt (who demanded credit) for the idea with the Nihilakh Oxide for the effect.

Comments and criticism again welcome.

Horrors? Or just Cursed?

So, I have recently been shown the wonders of using the nihilakh Oxide Technical paint from GW as a way of quickly painting ghosts.  I decided to test it out on some Crooligans.  Apply Technical paint.  Drybrush White.  Pick out colour details.  I like it.

Now, I should say about Crooligans, that I have never used them.  I have never even looked at their card properly.  And yet, I have, at last count, at least 9 of the little so and so's.  This includes 2 sets of Molly M2E box, and a pack of the old metal ones.  I'm never going to use 9 Crooligans.  I doubt I will even use 6 of them (3 metal, and 3 plastic)

Which brings us to the curse of Molly.  Molly is a master that I quite like thematically, and while the 1.5 sculpt is not the prettiest, I have 2 of them, and they have a certain characterful charm.  I also have the most cursed M2E Molly box ever.  I bought the box from E-Bay.  I then built it as part of the lets build everything in one big batch fit of madness that I had a while ago.  During that, by the end models were thrown together for speed rather than accuracy, and I've been regretting it ever since.  A consequence of this, was, during the building of the Necrotic Machine, I lost part of one of the arms.  I spent an hour hunting in the carpet, and eventually gave it up as lost.  Thats fine, I've got a metal one somewhere.  Of course, in the haste, when I came back to look at Philip, well, lets just say that you could drive a real pram through the gaps.
Long story short, when I got the chance, I picked up a very cheap Molly box off of E-bay.  Which would be fine.  Except that, when trying to put Molly on a base today, I snapped her supporting ankle off of both her temporary base, and the model.  And it went into the deepest, darkest depths of the carpet behind the desk.  I swore, I cursed, I complained.  And then I got lucky enough to find it.  Lets just hope that it is the start of a new streak of luck for Molly.

Without further ado, the pictures.

The whole crew, with new printed photo backdrop.

The teddy bear that inspired the whole idea of this paint job

I can't decide if I need to pick a feature on the one on the left to pull out in colour or not

Molly, complete with gluey repair mess at the ankle

This does also mean that I have spare plastic Crooligans, and a Spare Philip and the Nanny (It's not terrible, I just wanted it better, its certainly recoverable. if anyone would like to discuss them.
Comments and criticism as always welcome.