Completed D&D Monsters

A little bit of additional detail work has completed the three new monster miniatures posted previously.

Bone Naga, Giant Snake and Cloaker (Dragonborn for scale)

Next on the painting table are a few more D&D blister packs: Grick and Grick Alpha, Grell and Basilisk, Black Dragon Wyrmling and Blue Dragon Wyrmling. And the Roper from the last post...

I hope to have at least some of these done by the end of the weekend.

Painting Some Recent D&D Miniatures

While the most recent oil painting effort first layer dries for a few days, I have been inspired to go back to painting some Dungeons and Dragons miniatures that I have picked up recently at Games Keep in West Chester, and Showcase Comics in Swarthmore. I have gone to Games Keep a few times in recent months with the express purpose of spending some money to support them, and I went to Showcase Comics yesterday for this first time in over a year for the same purpose. No harm in buying a bunch of stuff that you want but don't really need if it helps the stores that you value and want to still be around when the pandemic ends. Or at least moves into a different phase...

Of the [unspecified] number of packs of pre-primed ready to paint WizKids miniatures I picked up, I decided to start with the 4 shown below: a Cloaker (the manta ray thing), a giant constrictor snake, a Bone Naga, and a Roper (the tentacled stalagmite thing). All are recent releases and are classic D&D monsters, and all would be useful adds to my "painted by me" collection. I know that I have a couple of pre-painted Ropers, and an older pre-painted Cloaker, as well as a host of snakes of all shapes and sizes, but these models are all very nice and will be on the easier end of the painting scale. Not having done any miniature painting in a a bunch of months, I'd like to get back into it with something that can be done effectively and quickly so as to give me the positive feedback to continue with some more.

Dungeons and Dragons minis

The Bone Naga is not that far from done. The Cloaker has some partial base coating only, as does the Giant Constrictor Snake. The Roper has only been glued to his base and had some mold lines scraped and cleaned up. The dragonborn sorcerer is included for scale. These are all big monsters.

As a side note, you can see where I have added Liquitex brand flexible modeling paste to the bases of the snake and the Cloaker to blend the molded figure base into the base itself. It's always good to do this BEFORE painting anything, if you have the patience (and memory) to do so. The Bone Naga is almost done and then the base will still need to be dealt with. I need to fix the Roper base before painting to avoid the same problem I will have with the Bone Naga.

 More to come.

Spring 2019 Painting

I've done a good bit of painting over the last few months, especially in the past few weeks since the new range of Citadel Contrast paints came out. I'm always a sucker for something new. The Contrast paint range is basically just a highly pigmented glaze, so in that respect it's nothing new, but the new range release is notable in that they have released about 3 dozen colors at the same time. More on those particular paints later. In the meantime, here's a few of the smaller odds and ends I have painted over the course of the spring.

WizKids unpainted minis has a blister pack of 3 giant spiders. I bought two packs and painted them in about 10 minutes using just the Contrast paint "Blood Angels Red". One of the molds has wrapped victims on the base. These were painted khaki and washed with a brown shade. I have lots of spiders of various manufacturers (you can never have too many) and these 6 red ones add some variety to an existing mix of predominantly blacks, browns and grays.

WizKids Giant Spiders

I also had a blister pack of 2 pack animals. These were painted over the pre-primed white base coat with a variety of Contrast paint colors (browns, tans and greens, with a couple pops of brighter color). These were good examples of what the Contrast paints do - color, shade and highlight all in one go. These are nice little minis, and can be useful on the table (I like everyday scatter/clutter like these), but with the limited amount of painting time I have available, investing a bunch of time in these to paint them nicely in the traditional manner wouldn't have happened very easily. In an absolute minimal amount of time, I have these 2 done. Not great paint jobs by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly serviceable.

WizKids Pack Animals

A Shambling Mound. A classic D&D monster, and one of the nicer WizKids figs. This was painted the traditional way, using a muted palette of greens and browns. I should have put a human figure in some of these pictures for scale... this miniature is ~2.5 inches tall and ~3.5 inches wide at its widest (the outstretched arm). I have another one of these in stock which I will probably paint in a more "fantastical" manner (whatever that means).

WizKids Shambling Mound

The Treant model is another large WizKids fig (being about 5 minutes tall). I don't like the paint job, but it's done, so that's something. This ended up being one of those models that looks good up close or in person, but will probably look very dark and dull on the table. Maybe I'll find another and try it again.

WizKids Treant

You can never go wring with some torture chamber furniture... Or a mirror.

WizKids Torture Chamber stuff

Lastly, I painted 4 Games Workshop Hormagaunt figs in a hive fleet Kraken color scheme. I posted some pictures of my Tyranid Genestealers in the cotton candy explosion color scheme, and after Grace pointed that out I have trouble painting anything else in that scheme. Maybe I'll do some more Genestealers in these classic colors. [These actually have a little more detail work before they are done, but while I was taking pictures...]

GW Hormagaunts

I've also made some progress on some larger efforts. More on that soon.

Painting Table January 2019

It's been a while since I've done one of these, or for that matter a post of any sort. This thought struck me while I was looking at the giant mess pile that is my painting table in the basement. Most of what is on the table is stuff that is more or less recently-ish in process. So without further ado...

The whole mess

At far right, we have a tray of Warhammer 40k figures used for games of Kill Team with Ryan and Josh. Genestealers in front are basically done. The Eldar guardians in the middle are maybe 50% done. The Space Marines tactical squad and scouts in the back are perhaps 80-90% done. There are some other bits less done on other parts of the table.

Warhammer 40k for Kill Team

Middle-ish we have a bunch of blister packs of unpainted D&D miniatures. Some character figures, some monsters, and some torture chamber scenery. Plus a very large remorhaz figure in the box in the back. There's an earth elemental and an arcane altar on the little paper plate. And the box for a fantasy ruins terrain kit.

Unpainted D&D minis

On the left side of the table, which is the more active side since it is where the lights and the paints are, we have a variety of things. There is a mostly done Shambling Mound figure for D&D, and a group of Umber Hulks. There are some black primed tyranid warriors and smaller critters for Kill Team. I see a torture rack. A few treasure chests. An iron maiden (the torture device, not the band). A couple of character figures that have been started. And the first test piece of the Azyrite ruins set whose box we saw in the prior picture. Oh, and an owlbear with a little paint on it.

The more active bits

On the gaming table, we have odds and ends of a waterside terrain board I am making. And the main bits of a Tamiya 1/35 scale Panther ausf "A" model that I am building. More on that in a separate post. I think I built this exact kit in the early 1980's (it is copyright 1975), and again in ~2000. I felt like building a tank model kit, and I love the Panther. A pretty tank if there is such a thing. And this particular kit is crazy cheap on eBay, relatively speaking.

Waterside scenery and a 1/35 Panther "A"

So that's some of the multitude of hobby bits that have gotten some attention recently. If I ever actually finish anything, I will post pictures...

Short Attention Span (SAS) Plans

I am fabulous at imagining and starting new projects. If I have a super power, that's probably it: imagination. Unfortunately I do not have a limitless amount of time to sink into my various and sundry hobby pursuits. I also have the attention span of a flea.

This isn't the best combination.

What it typically results in is what I have going on in the basement at the moment. A 6 by 8 foot gaming table cluttered with odds and ends of projects in various stages of completion. A large painting desk with a similar pile of this and that. Most horizontal spaces in the unfinished part of the basement with something placed or piled on them. And for all the activity over the past few months, very little actually completed to show for all my scattered effort.

Since the spring, or say the last 6-8 months, it is probably fair to say that the projects I have actually started and completed would be:

• The "ruins" set described in a June 2018 post. I started and completed a decent sized set of this. Subsequently, I started some more pieces, and of course they aren't done. But the first batch is.
• 8 Tyranid genestealers for use in Kill Team games.
• Assembly and basic painting of all purchased Kill Team terrain pieces. Enough to have them looking nice and able to use in a game with no shame.
• The handful of D&D miniatures posted recently.
• And, well, that's probably it...

The list of started but not completed projects is just a tad longer. In no particular order of importance, and with notes on what my shorter term goal would be:

• Kill Team space marines. 10 tactical squad and 5 scouts assembled and partly/mostly painted.
• Kill Team Eldar. 10 guardians and a weapon platform assembled and partly painted.
• Kill Team Tyranids. 1 Warrior, 4 hormagaunts and 4 termagants assembled and primed.
• Kill Team terrain. All assembled and in some state of painting. Lots of detail work left to be done to call them finished.
• Jungle terrain. Shoeboxes of fake floral bits to be made into little stands of jungle terrain. I've made about 20 of these, but have the stuff to make maybe a hundred more. These are little cardboard oval bases generally around 2-3 inches in size with a variety of plant material hot-glued onto them. I would settle for ~30 more to make a total of 50. The rest of the raw materials can go into stock.
• Many units of various historical minis in various stages of completion, dating back years. This only includes the ones I've started. Not the untouched lead pile... I would like to complete a unit or two or three just to say that I painted some historicals.
• Games Workshop lizard men. I bought a bunch of Saurians to use as D&D lizard men because the figures are cool. They are still cool, but only half done. Finish 12-15 figures as a start.
• Inventory my homemade dungeon tiles, caverns, tunnels, etc. I have posted lots of pictures with these various bits over the past few years. I need to admit that I am happy with some, not so much so with others, and settle on what I want to keep and what needs to go live on a farm. Perhaps an eBay farm where someone throws money at me.
• Related to the above, I have started a better modular D&D tunnel set for which I would like to complete the first batch. The Proxxon hot wire table makes this sort of thing easier than I could have imagined when I was doing my first versions of these with an old knife. The flexibility the Proxxon gives in terms of possible shapes is wonderful.
• "Tan dungeon" tiles. To be made for a particular expected use in our campaign, which will hopefully be starting up again soon. I just want a small batch of passages and rooms in a lighter brown/tan/cream paint scheme in contrast to my usual dark gray/medium gray/light gray color scheme.
• As an administrative task...finish inventorying, organizing and filing away all of the various D&D and Pathfinder minis I have bought over the past 3 years. There are too many little shipping boxes and bags with odds and ends of figures that never made it beyond "well at least they made it to the basement".

So the plan for the last 6 or 7 weeks of the year, which will include a good bit of holiday time off, is to knock off some of the partly done projects listed above. I wouldn't say sticking to this list and not starting something new is an absolute must...but let's call it an aspirational goal.

Most likely to get done would probably be the dungeon tiles and modular tunnels, which I am most interested in at the moment. Completing a unit of historical minis (medieval Ottomans or eastern Europeans, or maybe 15mm WW2) is a good candidate. As are the Space Marines. Josh and Ryan have been traveling, but we should probably be looking to get an evening of Kill Team together again soon. So maybe some additional painting work on sci-fi terrain.

I'm cautiously hopeful. Wish me luck.

Miniatures Painting Again

This weekend is the HMGS Fall In! convention in Lancaster (PA), and I probably won't make it out there this year, even for a brief fly-by. Even if I no longer feel the need to block out the 2-3 days to attend the whole convention, play in a few games, and perhaps even run a game or two, I still always enjoy stopping in to these conventions for part of a day to wander the event rooms and get energized to go home and do some painting of my own.

That won't happen this time around but I am happy to say that the painting bug has already bitten recently, and I have been properly re-energized as far as painting goes. I have noted in recent posts that I have been painting some sci-fi stuff along with Ryan and Josh (for Kill Team), but the painting binge has extended beyond that.

There is a very nice ongoing line of releases for WizKids unpainted D&D miniatures (and Pathfinder minis). The figures are very nice for the most part, and pre-primed, so all you need to do is break something out of the package and dive in. Below are a few of the things I have been working on over the past few months. I won't discuss backlog of unpainted purchases...

Recent batch of painting - high view

The newly painted lot includes (in rough order of completion) a griffon, 4 gargoyles, 2 rust monsters, a pair of umber hulks (there are 2 more finished in addition to these 2), an earth elemental and a troll.

Recent batch of painting - lower view

These minis are the made from the same softer plastic that the pre-painted WizKids stuff is. I have purchased loads of those over the past 3-4 years. The paint jobs range from pretty good to pretty "meh", but they are ready to go on the table the moment that the magical eBay fairy delivers them to my house from my main supplier in New Mexico (kingsoflight eBay store - great folks...).

I paint better than the mass produced stuff coming over from China, but I also don't have to crank out "x" number of figures per hour. The main difference in my painted stuff versus the pre-painted is that I tend to go for brighter cleaner colors (or maybe I should say lighter cleaner colors). Some of the pre-painted stuff is pretty dark, and can blend into a table pretty well in a not-perfectly lit basement gaming area.

Next up on the painting table is up in the air at the moment. I have sci-fi stuff to finish for whenever we get together for another round of Kill Team. I have a bunch of WizKids character figures to paint that will be a fun challenge, but which I don't really need for anything as far as actual gaming goes. There are a bunch of elementals, mimics and other D&D monsters to get to at some point. And I can always dive back into my prepped-and-primed backlog of historical minis, especially Ottomans and later medieval Hungarians and other eastern Europeans.

Time will tell....

Kill Team - Space Marines

We've had enough fun with our first couple of Kill Team games that painting some other forces seems to be in order (as well as expanding the Tyranid force, but that's a different story...).

I have bought a box of Space Marines, and have worked through what I want the paint scheme to look like.

Space Marine Sample

The rest of the box is assembled and primed, with some more painting to follow soon. I hope.

It's fun to be painting again. (Bifocals rule!). Next on the paining table for Kill Team will be to expand the Tyranid force with a few small bugs (termagants and hormagaunts), as well as a larger bug or two (tyranid warriors).

A box of Eldar Guardians has also been assembled and primed.... (yes, I know, they don't call them Eldar anymore...).

Kill Team - First Playings

Ryan has finished painting a nice big batch of ~20 Imperial Guard (which are called something else now by GW and the rest of the world but not me) and I have finished my 8 Genestealers, so it was time to push some figures around, shoot some ray guns, and kill humans with weird alien bugs.

Over the past few weeks, Ryan and Josh and I have gotten together two or three times to work our way through these rules. We've started with the basic rules, did OK the first time out, and gotten more fluent with the rules the next couple of sessions. The rules are very typical GW: roll to hit, roll to wound, roll a saving throw. Every army has their own chrome galore.

Genestealers stalking Imperial Guard

We admittedly aren't great at using our forces yet, but the bugs have beaten the humans every time out so far, no matter who is playing what. Once the bugs get into contact with the puny humans, they don't stand a chance. Ryan's dice rolling doesn't help.

Tyranids and Imperial Guard

As much as I bash GW (maybe not here but certainly in real life), their figures are very nice. Vastly overpriced, but nice. And the terrain is very nice as well (and equally overpriced). That said, I've bought a bunch of different pieces as can be seen in these photos in various stages of painting, and have created a couple of foam boards to put the terrain on.

It's been fun. I'm working on some space marines and Eldar now, or whatever they call them these days...

Kill Team - Genestealers

Ryan, Josh and I have gotten together a number of times over the summer and into the Fall to do something gaming related while our D&D campaign is on a fairly lengthy hiatus.

One of the things we have talked about doing is to paint up some science fiction miniatures and have a go at Games Workshop's Kill Team, a game of skirmish combat in their Warhammer 40K universe. With some limited prior exposure to WH40K, I have no interest whatsoever in diving into that army-level game, but I will admit to liking the quality of the miniatures and having an interest in painting a few of them. Tyranids, or Starship Trooper style "space bugs" struck a chord with me.

So Ryan has been filling out an Imperial Guard force, and I have been painting up Genestealers for a Tyranid force.

Tyranid Genestealers

We have played a few games. The painting has been fun. The games have been fun. Additional troops have been purchased and are in various stages of completion. Terrain pieces have been bought and are in various stages of progress as well (as can be seen in the picture above).

My only regret... Grace took one look at my finished genestealers and said: "cool. cotton candy explosion."

Sigh.

Dwarven Sorcerer WIP

I had enough fun painting the Ranger figure that I have started on a Dwarven Sorcerer figure. It is one of the two Dwarven Wizard figures from the new WizKids D&D unpainted range.

Back WIP

The figs come primed and ready to paint, and are nice sculpts. They are a little less detailed than high end metal figs, being cast in a bendable plastic, but are still good quality.

Front WIP

For this figure, I am going to do light brown robes and green trim. Not sure about the rest yet.

Human Ranger

We have a need for a human dual-wielding ranger in one of our D&D games, and the affected player sent me a Reaper/Warlord miniature named "Gildan Elven Vale Ranger" with the request that I paint it for him. After attempting to "de-elf" the ears, that is...

Tygon, human ranger

The figure was very nice, similar in feel to a Games Workshop figure (nicely sculpted, bulky, oversized, and highly detailed).

It's been way too long since I have lifted a brush, and it was very nice to work on a single figure as opposed to doing the assembly line painting of historical miniatures that I am more accustomed to.

Tygon, better lit...

Without putting an undue amount of effort into the figure, I think it came out nicely, and I am happy with it.

The Year in Review 2014 - Figure Painting

I am getting a jump on some of the blogger-required end of year recap posts, as we have family coming to stay for the holidays soon, and I expect free time will be at a bit of a premium over the next week or so. Specifically, with the basement painting table cleared and briefly put into storage, the chances of me getting any substantial painting time in is unlikely. I may have some time next week (I hope to...), but whatever I accomplish in those last few days won't change my year end position by much if at all...

Always more medievals

In summary, 2014 may have been my most productive year of painting output in memory, or maybe ever. I paint on the slow side, and paint in spurts, with weeks or even months in some cases between bursts of activity. This year really wasn't any different, but a few of the bursts I had, notably in April/May and October/November were more sustained than usual.

In 25mm mounted, I painted 55 figures:

• 36 German knights, some totally repainted and some new.
• 6 Ottoman akinji light cavalry.
• 3 Ottoman sipahis.
• 10 mounted crossbows.

In 25mm foot I painted 84 figures:

• 56 Norman heavy infantry.
• 10 Hundred Years War crossbows.
• 12 voynuk heavy infantry.
• 6 medieval civilians.

In 15mm WW2, 87 pieces of various types:

• 10 US tanks.
• 8 US trucks.
• 6 US jeeps.
• 3 German tanks.
• 6 US antitank guns.
• 12 US gun crew.
• 42 US infantry.

And in terrain:

• 12 buildings in 15mm.
• Many bocage/hedge terrain pieces.
• Some modular road sections.
• Three 4' by 6' terrain boards of foam insulation board and green tie-dye fleece (more on these later). In addition to the three boards (two of which are perfectly flat), I made 10-12 hill pieces of various sizes and shapes that can be used with the boards (made of the same carved foam and glued-on fleece).

I'm pretty sure I painted a few more things, but I couldn't remember what...

To this total should be added the fact that I spent a lot of time in various increments throughout the year brightening up and partially repainting some of my older figures (German medievals, generic medievals and Normans especially). In all, this probably encompassed dozens of mounted figures and well over a hundred foot figures.

A village worth of buildings

Heading into 2015, there are a bunch of figures in various stages of painting that should be showing up in blog posts at some point, and a lot more figures after that which have been prepped and primed and are waiting in the wings. These include large batches of Ottoman armored and unarmored sipahis, Ottoman foot of several kinds, Hungarians to go against the Ottomans, lots of 15mm WW2 German infantry and US paratroops, German vehicles (8-10 halftracks and a dozen or so tanks), French Hundred Years War infantry of various kinds, and the list goes on. If I didn't prep and prime another figure, I doubt I could get through what I have ready to go in 2015. That's a good thing.

Tanks and Trucks and Jeeps

Lastly, as far as my figure collecting goes, I finally came to terms with reality and sold off some of my little children (actually, lots of them). Flea market tables at Cold Wars and Fall In were both good to me in terms of selling off distractions, diversions, and things I will never either paint, or use if already painted. At one end of the spectrum is what my figure collection would ideally look like with regards to periods and scales (given my primary interests), and at the other end of the spectrum is the unfocused "little bit of everything that ever caught my fancy gone haywire" approach. It's probably fair to say that I started the year much closer to the latter, and have ended the year well closer to the ideal than I began. I won't reach the ideal in my lifetime, but it's the journey that counts. More progress will be made this year.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Something I have followed on other's blogs in past years is the Analogue Hobbies annual painting challenge. Basically, people pick a target number of points, and (this year) have between December 5 and March 20, 2015 to amass as many points as they can. Points are awarded based on type of figure and scale. Given that I paint almost exclusively in 25/28mm, to me this would mean 5 points for each foot figure and 10 points for each mounted figure (or artillery piece). If I were to do some additional 15mm WW2 painting, these would be 2 points per foot figure and 6 points per vehicle.

In the official challenge, figures must be painted, based and flocked (in other words, completely done), and then submitted to the website via photo with description. I don't intend to officially enter the Challenge, but I do intend to paint along on my own. I will score my results the same way.

With that in mind, given that the cold winter "indoor" months are upon us, I will challenge myself with a stretch goal of 1,000 points. This would be a lot of painting for me to tackle in 3 months (a year's worth in some cases). To accomplish this would require painting 4 bags of Old Glory foot (120 figs for 600 points) and 4 bags of Old Glory mounted (40 figs for 400 points).

Under the contest rules, figures could be prepped and primed before 12/5, but no paint could be applied before then for a figure to qualify. By those rules, I will have completed 12 foot figures for 60 points as soon as I get the Voynuks based up - they were painted on the 6th and 7th. I have Ottoman sipahis and a few Spanish jinetes in process that will not qualify, but lots after that that will.

If nothing else, this gives me a little bit of focus and perhaps some sense of urgency. I don't generally set painting goals, but this might be fun to try. We'll see how it goes...

[12/14/14] - In retrospect... Looking back at the above a few days later, I must have been out of my mind. A more reasonable goal would be 500 points, taking into account that there are other hobby things going on these days, such as running our fledgling D&D campaign. But I did say 1,000 points, so I'll stick to that. And when I fail (most likely badly), I can say "I told me so!"

Painting Table - Mounted Crossbows and Voynuks

This past week, and the weekend, was primarily about the Fall musical, The Little Mermaid, but in and around those obligations I was able to continue to make some painting progress.

The first four mounted crossbowmen pictured previously were finished, along with the other six in the pack, giving me 5 stands of mounted crossbows. All that remains is to flock and finish the bases (and take a good final picture). From a painting standpoint, they are complete.

Five stands of mounted crossbows

I also spent a little time prepping part of a bag of Old Glory 12th Century Infantry, which are a good multi-purpose medieval foot pack. You can never have too many basic foot in this period. My only complaint with this pack (which is a joy to paint) is that prepping them is a pain in the a$%, especially drilling out and attaching the separate spear-holding hands. These figures could have been designed a lot better in that regard...

The next small project (skipping over the mostly complete Ottoman sipahi cavalry that need some additional work) is a unit of 12 Voynuk heavy infantry allies for the Ottomans. These are proving to be exceptionally easy figures to paint, being mostly chainmail and other armor, with only some bits of cloth and shields to paint. In a short period of time, these are probably more than half done, and should be easy to complete in a couple of short evening sessions this week.

Ottoman Christian Voynuks in process

After the Voynuks I really should get back to the sipahis, but we'll see what mood strikes me at that point.

Painting Table - Mounted Crossbows

There's a lot going on this weekend, not the least of which is pulling out the Christmas decorations, but if I have any time for hobby stuff this weekend I will have the very modest goal of finishing this unit of four mounted crossbowmen. There isn't much left to do but some detail work, highlighting and finishing of the horses, so this should be very manageable.

Mounted crossbows (Old Glory Hundred Years War)

There are six more on the table beyond the first four, and a number of medieval civilian types for dressing up the little towns that often hug the sides of the gaming table. If I do get past the first four mounted crossbowmen, I will probably return to the Ottoman sipahis that I was working on before getting sidetracked. Or not. Hard to say.

I've also spent a few spare moments tweaking the table slightly from the solo game I played last weekend. I'll try to post a few pictures tomorrow. A variant of my solo game will be used for an upcoming game to introduce one of our D&D players to historical miniatures gaming.

Paint Table - Sunday November 23, 2014

This short update will be it for the weekend's hobby progress, as I have a game to prepare for and play this evening. Who knew you could actually play games with these little guys...

I decided to keep my nicer Flag Dude flags for my Hundred Years War stuff, which uses them almost exclusively, and stick to plain paper flags printed off the internet for these figures. Here are the new German stands again with flags.

German knights with banners

Back in the late spring I also painted a bunch of WW2 US infantry and antitank guns with crews. I based these yesterday while doing the other miscellaneous things, so they are now complete. Finally. Some really fun games of Fireball Forward! was the spark to paint these (and I have American paratroops and German infantry ready to paint).

WW2 Americans in 15mm

Painting 15mm is certainly very different from painting the larger scales, but a simple process of undercoat, wash, drybrush and detail was pretty easy and came out well. Given that I almost never paint 15mm, I am very happy with these, and they are a terrific upgrade from the not-so-great purchased WW2 Americans I have been using.

WW2 American infantry close up

Now off to set up that game. And watch the Eagles play the Titans. And food shop. And cook dinner...

Paint Table Saturday - November 22, 2014

I surprised myself today by investing my little bit of hobby time in finishing the bases I have painted over the last couple of weeks instead of painting something new. Thankless work, but somebody has to do it. Plus, we are playing an Impetus game tomorrow evening and I want to use some of these figures, so, out of necessity...

First up are some rebased skirmish archers (Old Glory Eastern European peasant archer figures).

Generic skirmish archers

Then some of the same figures rebased as regular missile troops (Impetus basing).

Generic archers

Next, some Breton light cavalry (OG Breton sergeants) rebased two per stand.

Norman/Breton light cavalry

And a couple of Norman leader/banner bearer figures.

Norman leader and banner

Then the Ottoman sipahi sample stand that I put together as a taste of things to come. 15 more figures (5 more stands) are near completion, but I wanted to see what one completely finished stand looked like. I like it.

Ottoman armored Sipahis

Finally, the ubiquitous German knights (from the Mongols in Europe range). I hand painted the lance pennons to match the heraldry painted on the figures. A first for me, but I think it looks good.

German knights

And more knights.

More German knights

And lastly, all the new knights on parade. There are two stands that need to have Flag Dude banners added, but that is the final step, and will be done tomorrow.

Lots of German knights

Not a bad day's work.

Painting Table - November 20, 2014

Last weekend and some evening painting this week has gone well. As planned, I was able to re-base some archers and Breton light cavalry, but (as usual) I have the flocking and finishing work left to do.

I prepped a bag of mounted crossbowmen, but can't get to painting them yet as I cannot realistically prime the figures in the house, and it has been below freezing and windy most if not all of this week, so I can't get outside to spray them, even in the garage.

Mounted crossbows

That means that next up are some already primed Ottomans (of which there are several trays full of figs ready to go).

18 sipahis on deck

Over the weekend, after the above chores were completed and in and around planning and running a D&D session, I put some work in on a block of 18 Ottoman armored sipahi cavalry. By Monday night I had painted and washed/shaded the horses, and done the basic armor treatment.

Monday - basic horses and armor

By the end of tonight (Thursday), I had done the basic painting on all 18 figures. All that remains is to clean up some details (horse equipment, straps, shield details, etc), do some shading and highlighting, and give them a final once-over to make sure they look OK.

Thursday - Detail work remains 

One stand is more or less done, which leaves 5 stands of 3 each left to go. Plus the two leaders and one extra sipahi in the background. I have a bunch of beautiful "Flag Dude" Ottoman flags waiting, and three of these stands will have a flag bearer once the figures have been seal coated.

One stand more or less done, minus flag

This weekend I really should force myself to flock and finish the bases that are hanging in limbo. But I say that most weeks... There is also talk of a medieval game this Sunday, so I am getting a table together just in case that works out.

Painting Table Preview - November 15, 2014

The Fall In convention induced flurry of painting activity has continued this week, and I've probably painted more figures over the last 2 weeks than in any similar period ever.

In addition to completing the refurbishing and additions to the 18 German knights shown a few posts back (and begun back in May), I have painted 5 medieval townspeople, refurbished about 10 stands of Norman cavalry, and most significantly, painted 56 Norman heavy infantry from scratch. These guys have been sitting in a box prepped and primed for a few years. Given that they are mostly covered in chainmail armor, I figured they would be easy to work my way through, and they were.

Norman heavy infantry on Impetus bases

Goals for this weekend, or the near future at least, are to finish basing and flocking all of the above, re-base some generic medieval archers onto Impetus style bases, prep and prime a unit of mounted crossbows and a unit of German sergeants for when the mood strikes, and flock the bases of a bunch of WW2 US infantry painted back in the spring. In recognition of my lack of focus, I like to have a bunch of different figure types and periods primed and ready to paint so that when I feel like picking up a brush I have a variety of things to choose from. Perhaps caving in to this known flaw of mine is why I have a hard time getting a period ever "finished", but it works for me (although my Ottoman project might not agree).

All this painting has made me want to get a game together, so there is a possibility of either a medieval Impetus game or another D&D session later this weekend. Hopefully something works out. If not, I may play a little Impetus by myself.

Throwing a game table together

Lastly, a completely unrelated (obviously) picture of my favorite tree. This is a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia) that we planted at the back of our property in 1998. It started at about 6 feet tall, and is now 25-30 feet tall at the top of its spike. It is a seasonal conifer with very cool feathery leaves that it drops for the winter.

Dawn Redwood

Given a lot more time (long after I am gone), this could be the tallest tree in town. By a lot. Although it is the smallest of the redwoods, it still tops out at over two hundred feet with a 6 foot diameter base. I'm not quite sure what we would do with that much tree in the backyard, but I won't be the one to have to worry about it...

Painting Table for Two

Much to my delight, over the past few evenings, I have had company at the Painting Table. Grace, my 5th grader, has decided that she wants to paint some figures of her own.

She spent a little time painting with me last Spring, and painted a mounted medieval knight (in an eye-popping combination of purples, pinks and light blues). This time around, she has declared that she wants to make a little army of three mounted figures, one of whom will be the leader, and four foot soldiers. She wants to paint them to look like mine (i.e. realistic).

Painting Table for Two

I have no idea how long this will last, but I am thrilled while it does. She is interested in learning different basic techniques, and is a good student. We have been through blocking in basic colors, washing for shading, dry brushing for highlighting, and then picking out detail. We have talked a little bit about color theory, painting over a black or brown prime versus a white prime, which colors tend to cover well (blues and greens and browns) and which colors cover less well (reds and yellows) due to the pigmentation, etc...

Painter's Apprentice

It's been a blast. I treasure these moments when it's cool for her to hang out with Daddy. On top of that, she's a pretty good painter for someone working on her second figure ever (a 25mm Old Glory 3rd Crusades mounted knight). I will post a picture when she is done. I tried to post a close up of the work in progress, but she wouldn't let me - "it doesn't look good enough yet." Good for her.