Works of the Nearly Finished Kind

HG minis for a Buddy

2011-08-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have been fairly lazy in my owings and favors. I have decided to get off my but and do some work. Here are some Heavy Gear Minis I'm doing for a buddy. I hope to post more by Sunday.

Retribution assembley III

2011-03-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

I'm starting back in action on these guys. I just bought some Dawnguard Destors and I am hoping they will be decent to assemble. Doesn't look too bad right now. Here are some photos.

Retribution assembley II

2011-01-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

So I have finished 3 units and their UA. I am now working on the daunting task of Assembling the Mage Hunter Strike Force boxed sets and UA. I hate these models. They look awesome and the flash and mold lines are easy to clean, and they fit nicely into the bases. Why do I hate them? I hate them because they gave me tiny parts to stick on tiny parts and expect them to be durable to the rigors of table top gaming. Those fuckers! The fix is hobby putty and some sculpting that is way more work than need be. I cannot pit most of the parts so I will have to settle for this method. As cool as they look and as awesome as they are in the game these models fail in my opinion as game quality models. These should be relegated to the kinds of things that sit on shelves and are never ever touched... I fucking hate that shit.

I've got new putty as my older stuff was not up to the challenge of sticking to the models as much as it was sticking to me. Newer Putty should work and make me less angry. More to come and maybe some pics too.

Retribution assembley

2011-01-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well after going through the collection of stuff I have gotten I have almost two of everything for the Army. I pulled out some models and I am assembling them. I'm on a break to get some food and just post about it. I need to get into the habit of doing this. I'll take some photos tonight and post up what is assembled. At this point I don't think I'll be taking them to Gotta Con on February 4th, 5th, and 6th, but you never know. I might pull a "Bruce", doubtful though.

*Pulling a Bruce: Sitting up all night and painting an army for a tournament for the next day.

Update!
Here is a link to the photos of stuff I assembled today.

I hope to have more photos of the rest that are assembled. Thus far I have the following models assembled:
Dawnguard Sentinel Unit x2
Dawnguard Invictor Unit
Houseguard Riflemen Unit
House Shyeel Battle Mages Unit
Soulless Escorts x2
Nayl
Arcanist
Gorgon x2
Chimera
Griffon
Manticore
Hydra
Pheonix
Vyross
Kaelyssa

Change of Plans

2010-12-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

So a while ago I told myself I was going to pull out my Dark Angels and re-paint them and then sell them. I think I am just going to sell them. Every time I look at them I think, "yuk, noway".

I just acquired a Retribution army for Warmachine and there is a Tournament in Victoria at the beginning of February. I think I'm going to paint up this army for it. I'll have to be extra diligent but I think I can do it. I'm going to post some pics this weekend of some models I'm going to try and paint.

The Next Project: Old Dark Angel Terminators

2010-09-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

A few years back I was running the Comicshop games department or the Dungeon as it was known. I use to buy and sell stuff people didn't want and I would usually pay them for it up front and take the risk of selling the stuff myself. Thinking back on it now it was pretty dumb. I made more money that I spent, which was lucky considering some of the CRAP I bought. One of the purchases I made was someones old Metal GW Terminators. They had discovered that the old metal models were now available in plastic and wanted to sell them. Not a bad idea. The models were converted to have some extra details and the were made taller with a bit of Plasticard on their feet. The paint jobs were not that great, but I figure with a little work I could make them better. I never finished the project due to my collecting nature and I didn't feel like selling something that was not complete. For the rest of this month and October I'm going to finished them and then try and sell them. I'll post some pictures probably by Friday the 24th of what they currently look like. Some of the models I had finished and so I'm going to paint the rest up to the same standard. I think my skills are a bit better now so I'll see what i can improve. Its mostly White with highlights so its somewhat difficult to see a difference unless one wants to really exaggerate the look of the colour scheme. I hope I know what I'm talking about... it makes sense in my head... so there :P

Finally the photos

2010-09-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

So I've been a little preoccupied this week with looking for work and so the photos are late. I didn't want to post them all here so I'll be posting a link to my Album on Photobucket.

I'm still having trouble figuring out how to take a decent picture; however these are adequate for now.

The Spike Experience 2010

2010-09-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well I managed to finish my team... well mostly. There are some finishing touches like Scuff Marks and Wear I wanted to put on the Helmets and Shoulder Pads. I will add them later once things have settled down. There were some really great teams this years painting wise; sadly I did not take any pictures I was running on sugar and adrenaline for most of the weekend. I'll be posting pictures of my team tomorrow.

I played a 5 great games and 1 just ok one. All of my opponents were fair minded, easy going and gentlemen. Some of my game experience coloured my view of them, but it was the best tournament I have been to in some time. Great moments all around. My last game was the hardest and most carefully reckless game of BloodBowl I have ever played. Wood Elves vs. Halflings. Owen scored 2 touchdowns by Turn 4 and I managed 1 on Turn 7. For the next 7 Turns it was a bloody chess match for me. I somehow managed to keep him from scoring and he kept me in check so i couldn't either. In the end he beat enough of my players into the Injury box to get a 3rd TD. As he Kicked to me he got a blitz and ran a bunch of catchers in my back field and when I failed to score he swiped the ball away from me and scored again; the final score was 4 to 1 and he had inflicted 8 Casualties against me. For about 14 turns during this I felt like I could still win it or pull out a tie. I was playing hard and it was great when I risky maneuvers paid off. This was my Best game of the the event even though I lost.

My overall record was 1 Win 2 Ties and 3 Losses. My second loss was close I had to force my opponent to score so I could get more players back into the game but the die turned on me in my last turn of the game and I couldn't tie it up. My record does not reflect just how intense and fun some of my games were. I honestly feel like I came out pretty good considering I took essentially a Tier 3 team to an event. Some people I know did way worse than me and they had Tier 1 or 2 teams. I even played another Halfling team which got weird really fast. It was a difficult match but it was manageable due to the fact that I was essentially playing a team even in strength to my own. That match ended in a tie and both of my tie games could have been wins had my flying ball carrier landed on his feet.

I have a bit of hope now that my skills are getting better. I'm going to try a new team next year and this time I'm going to practice with it.

Pictures tomorrow... I promise!

Edit* There was a gentleman that posted some of his photos of the event on Twitter and Flickr they are pretty good and my team even made it in to the selection.

Halflings for a HalfingTeam WIP

2010-09-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

So I have not worked much more on the Treeman but I did start working on the hafling players over the last two days. I should finish them by Wednesday evening. I have been fiddling with the paint scheme and I have managed to come up with stripes and block colours for the uniforms. The Uniforms are not so uniform as you can see below.

Theses guys have stripy pants and green shirts while some others with have stripy shirts and green, white or cream coloured pants. There will be a few with white or cream coloured shirts as well.

The models have a some consistency but some have helmets that are different, some have gloves, and some do not. I decided to go with a colour scheme that will match a little.

Stripes are finicky to paint and to look good. My original idea was to paint the whole team like the characters from Banannas in Pajamas but the test model I did was a little scary looking. I have not taken a photo of it yet but I will later on so that people can get an idea of my original concept. I did not try any new techniques here mostly it was just layering from dark to light. I mixed a few colors together for the base of my shirts and pants which you really can't see any longer. It was mostly to cut down the harsh white primer. The skin tone is just watered down P3Bloodstone and I will go over it with P3Khardic Flesh and then highlight with a brighter tone. The Stripes will be highlighted with white and blue and with luck the will stand out better on the gameboards. The Helmets, Shoulder and Gloves will be some complimentary colors and I will add a little yellow and orange for contrast afterward. I am still not sure how I feel about the uniforms but its a little late to be worrying about it. The scheme is pretty solid. Once they are done it will be time to number them.... I dread this upcoming time.
More tomorrow.

Treeman for Halfling Team WIP

2010-09-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

So far I have only worked on the face and mouth of the beast. A while ago I bought some of that Army Painter Quickshade and I decided to give it a go. As a guy who has been painting for a number of years I can see the merit in a product like that; however, I was disappointed with my first try. The stuff smells bad, its fairly thick, and I'm sure i could have gotten a better effect with Vallejo Smoke mixed with Flow Release and water. The finished product is fairly shiny and I worry as to weather the paint that goes on after the shading will stay on.

I tried to get the effect of being lit on the interior of the mouth and eyes but I forgot about the flames being brightest from within. One should work from light to dark with fire or flames instead of dark to light. All in all I'm pretty pleased thus far, with the exception of the Army Painter stuff. I've got one halfling painted but I decided to re-work the team colors a bit. So one player on the team will look a bit different. I'll post a picture tomorrow once I have a few more 'flings painted. So far I'm on track.

Halfling Bloodbowl Team for the 2010 Spike Magazine Tournament

2010-09-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I just finished assembling my team for the up coming 2010 Spike Magazine Tournament. I gust finished priming the models and with luck I'll get some paint on them latter today. I've got 15 Halfling players from GW, 2 plastic Dryads I'll be using as Treemen and I am using an Ultraforge Treelord, http://ultraforgeminiatures.com/ , as Deeproot Strongbranch the Bloodbowl Star Player. The Dryads are some what small to be used as Treemen but I didn't have anything else on hand to sub in. I'll likely replace them later. I do have 3 Treelords from Ultraforge but they are all the same and hard to modify. The Spike is on Saturday September 11th so I only have about 7 days to complete this project. If I don't then I'll fall back on my painted human team. I am pretty sure I can get this done as I have loads of free time right now. However, if I end up getting a new job I will have to do that instead. I hope to post daily results. The Team name is Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

Finally will get some stuff done

2010-07-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy on the miniatures and have been focusing on school instead. Soon I will be coming back to my project page.

Painting Sucks When....

2009-06-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Painting Sucks when...

1) You decide to try something new and get it right the first time. Then you decide "Hey I need to bring those colors together a bit", so you apply wash. Then you wash out the awesome blending you just did and turn it into solid gold ass!

2) You paint some models for a friend and then you paint some for yourself. Then you realize the job you did for your friend was better than the one you did for yourself.

3) You finish paint a miniature and then drop it on the floor.... then the cat attacks it like its a ball of Catnip.

4) You think the model you just painted is highlighted with the proper colors, then you take it into normal light and see that in fact the job you just did can only be seen under Film Crew Lighting.

/me tears out hair!

The BloodBowl Project 3rd Batch

2009-06-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is my Custom Ogre Team. At the moment I have finished assembly of only 6 Ogres and 2 Gnoblars*. The Gnoblars pictured here need the least amount of work. I plan on using Green Stuff to add details like shoulder pads, helmets and perhaps a ball to the rest of the Gnoblars. The Ogres are almost done some of them require Green Stuff for straps, brass knuckles or punching spikes. I am undecided if I want to give them a helmet or some other kind of head gear. In the end the team will be comprised of 6 Ogres and 10 Gnoblars.
*In this Ogre Team the Gnoblars represent Snotlings. I wanted to keep the theme that the Ogre Kingdoms army from GW has over their BloodBowl themed team you can purchase.

The BloodBowl Project 2nd Batch

2009-06-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

This is part of the Orc Team I'm working on for myself the previous one is for a friend. The models are identical except for the ones I've added here. Also I have based my team on 30mm round instead of the 25mm round. I think it looks a bit better but they are not as hot to play with.

The BloodBowl Project

2009-06-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

So I have recently taken on some new Bloodbowl teams, an Orc team and an Ogre Team. I'm also painting another Orc Team for a friend. Here is my progress thus far, I've been a little distracted with WoW recently so there is not much progress. As I cannot fit more picks I'll just keep adding more in other posts.

The Beginning of the Thing

2009-05-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to make a web-page scratch. I am not so technically enabled to do so and my desire to learn how has be waning over that last few years. So due to some friends I have been able to discover this place with which I hope to achieve my goal.

The goal of this blog is simple. I want to catalog my works in progress in the hopes that I will finish them. I will be experimenting with various mediums but mostly it will be miniature painting and conversions. I have started taking photos of items I am working on and I will hope to update this page about twice a month. I will post about how I started a project and what goes into making it happen. I also hope to improve my photo taking and editing skills to make this blog all it can be. So while the name of the blog may not actually represent the works when they are complete, it is mainly to keep me focused on the goal of completion. Using mockery to get me to do stuff has worked in the past so I figure why not use it on myself. I will give myself and the interweb finished works. While I do expect comments from people please try and keep your criticism strictly in line with improving the work. Saying things like "Dude that sucks!", "I hate that its stupid." or "Hey that looks great but if you had done it this way it would be awesome." Do not work for me.

Anyway I hope you enjoy what you see. For the next week I'll be setting up so expect only this post for now for now.