2017 in Review

Well, so much for keeping this thing updated right?   Knew that would happen.  That said, let's see how I got on over the year with my resolutions.

2017 Hobby Resolutions

1 - Build and paint a 1500 point German Force for Konflict '47.  in 15mm.

 

Nope.  Got everything built and primed.  Painted about 3 Infantry.  Fail...

2 - Continue painting Microworld Beastmen for 6mm Warmaster to hit 2000+ points.

 

Managed this one, breaking the 2000 point barrier (thanks to double Dragon Ogres)  I really enjoyed doing these guys, although the Chariots were a bit fiddly, and look forward to expanding them, and at some point, painting up another army.

3 - Paint one of the 6 WARMACHINE Colossals or HORDES Gargantuans I have in my Backlog.

Knocked this one out the park, hell, I painted 2 in a month, and also did a 3rd (Storm Raptor) later in the year.  Easily transported armies be damned.

4 - Maintain a relatively tidy and clear games room.

Considering this a success as the room has seen a lot of gaming going on, so the table needs to be clear and the floor needs to be traversable.  Still a few boxes lying around, but it looks pretty good right now.

5 - Maintain Butcher's Guild being fully painted.

Fail.  Did 1 of 4 models.

6 - Organise and run a two day Warmahordes event,

Success!  Had a blast as one of my last official Pressgang events.  Definitely on the agenda for next year, bigger and better to boot.

7 - Play 6 different Board Games.

Pass.  Played Blood Rage, Chaos in the Old World, Battlore V2, Conan, Kaos Ball and Zombicide: Black Plague.

8 - Paint a Dark Elf army for Warband in 15mm. 

Nope.  Still in bits.

9 - Place in the top half (or at least top 2 thirds) at Welsh Masters for Warmahordes in May.

So I went 3-4 at Welsh and finished 70th of 128.  Seems...  well, it's a pass.

10 - Transfer my flip-top paint collection to dropper bottles.

Nope.  I did make a start and did all of the Base paints from the GW range, and made a start on the Layers.  One to continue.

11 - Paint 4-6pts of Normans for SAGA for the Falkirk District Wargames Club Campaign.

Pass.  Painted the bare minimum of 4pts, although I have another 3pts part done.  Hopefully get to them before the new rules are released.

12 - Play 6 New Opponents.

Pass.  Did this one early between SmogCon and the Warhammer event.

13 - Go to 2 Gaming Shows or Conventions.

Pass.  I did however miss both the Scottish shows because I was in Wales and Ireland for tournaments.

14 - Paint 20 Random Frostgrave Figures.

Nope.  Did 3 models. 

15 - Finish the Privateer Press Forum Painting challenge with Ironman Status (10+ pts painted every calendar month)

Well, I didn't maintain Ironman status, I stopped posting on the forums altogether after the PG announcement.  I did paint more than 120 points of WMH models, so...  half a point?

16 - Paint 2 new Warmahordes Battle boxes for demoing.

Nope.  I built the Troll box, but the PG being disbanded kinda knocked my enthusiasm (and need) for having more demo sets.




So...  9.5 out of 16.  It's more than half at least, so, I'm relatively happy with that.  There were other things done that weren't on the list, like painting the Deathguard half of the new 40k starter, and I suppose that counts for something, as well as having a lot more games at home.  As always, the dreaded Xbox draws a lot of my attention (hey, I did break 100k gamerscore) and it is something I probably need to reign in at times.

I've sorted out a list of resolutions for next year, and I'll get a post up tomorrow going over them in more detail.  Two days posts in a row, you lucky buggers.  (It is up on the homepage right now)

That's it for 2017, Lang may yer lum reek and arrabest for 2018.

Cheers,

John

Chronicles of the Wayfarer Painting Competition

So, as you may know, I am a big fan of 15mm Fantasy figures, in part due to some amazing sculpts from the likes of Copplestone, Demonworld and Splintered Light Miniatures, s, I try to keep abreast of what is happening in regards to fantasy models at that scale, it is also why I created the 15mm Fantasy Gaming group on facebook (Link) to promote it more too, as there were only historical and Sci Fi variants when I checked.

A while back, some new miniatures surfaced for a starting company called Chronicles of the Wayfarer (Facebook Page ) and the sculpt looked absolutely amazing.  As more images were released, the company set out to organise a painting competition, of which I was one of the entrants.  The rules were simple - paint the models, supply photographs and a review, and send the images off.  There will be an online contest to determine the winner, and everyone who took part has first refusal at future contests.

So, onto the figures.  There were 4 resin miniatures supplied - A female with sword, a heavily armoured crossbowman, and two heavily armoured warriors, one with spear and a large shield, and the other with the choice of sword or hammer and a smaller shield.  Also included were 4 circular resin bases with a stylised Lava pattern (20mm diameter)

The emailed instructions stated that the miniatures were cast in a high grade resin and that they were free from any mould releasing agents, so did not require any special preparation, however, I found this out after having washed them. 

Initial Impressions - Woah, these are tiny, and super detailed.  Like, ridiculously detailed, what have I gotten myself into here?  They are gorgeous though, and it is a cool opportunity.  Might also motivate me to get off my ass and do some painting.  Plus, resin bases, always a fan of that.

So,  after basic prep of washing in warm soapy water, glueing to a lolly stick and hand priming (white) I had to figure out a colour scheme.  Obvious choice was blue as it is my default go-to colour, but I wanted to avoid orange, as I can't paint everything in Irn Bru colours (or can I?...) so I settled on yellow, with standard silver/brass detailing.  I also decided to do the bases as fetid swamps rather than Lava, because, well, laziness really, and it saved me having to do any OSL...  plus I like doing my own thing, and it would fit better with my gaming mat.

Overall, I'm not sure about the blue lacquered armour, it certainly makes a change from the standard metals, probably needs some work, these figures are a lot finer than the models I generally work on, and are probably more realistically proportioned and scaled and less suitable for my standard cartoony paint style.  Some of the detail is extremely fine, and is easy to lose with thick paint, it is also extremely easy to lose with even a small paintbrush.

On to the individual figures

Figure 1

This guy comes in two parts, the main body and the choice of either a hammer or sword wielding arm.  I really like the clockwork/gear effect on the shield rim and the heavy armour.  Probably one of my favourite figures in the set.

Figure 2

Single piece model in heavy armour wielding a crossbow.  The armour is similar to the other male figures, but has a studded covering. 

Figure 3

The sole female miniature in the set, comes in 2 pieces, the main body and a separate back banner, depicting the stylized gear icon.  She appears quite well armoured, indeed there are a few areas that could be painted as either exposed flesh or clothing on the model, and she is armed with a large sword.  Her bare head sports an impressive mohawk.  Probably my least favourite figure in the set due to the exposed flesh and head, but that is generally because my immediate advice for anyone asking about painting faces is "start with a model wearing a helmet."

Figure 4

Another heavily armoured male figure, armed with a tower shield and spear, and holding a plumed helmet.  I like this figure a lot, probably as it is one of the chunkier sculpts, it has a very commanding pose, surveying a field of battle, rather than being depicted in full fight mode.  He has some rather difficult to reach areas, due to being a one piece pose, however his shield is pretty big and could be a good place for either transfers or (for the insane) freehand designs.  There is some sculpted detail in the centre but it could be easily removed.

Group shot - Front

Group shot - Back

Base Details

Scale shot with UK 5p piece

Scale Comparison 1 - (l-r) CotW, Demonworld Elf, CotW, Khurasan Werewolf, CotW

Comparison Shot 2 (l-r) Khurasan Werewolf, CotW, Copplestone Northlander, CotW, Plastic Soldier Company German.

Comparison Shot 3 (l-r) CotW, Demonworld, CotW, Blue Moon Vampire, CotW, Splintered Light Satyr (18mm), CotW, Splintered Light Skeleton.

So, overall thoughts?

The resin is an absolute joy to work with, these are the first 15mm scale figures I have painted in the medium, although I already owned some from Scibor.  They are easily cleaned up and go together very well on the two multi-part figures.  The figure with the spear is chunky enough to pin underneath, however the others are far too slight to attempt such a manouever and have to rely on being superglued to the bases.  There is a sense that these would be very easy to accidentally damage, especially taking the rigours of gaming into account, however from reading the CotW page, I understand that they are designed to sit 3 to a 40mm round base, however it may still be an issue for anybody with plans to base them individually for skirmish use.  Larger contact areas would be a nice touch to provide a little more leeway for pinning.

The poses are very good, a nice mix of action and at ease, and some variety could be achieved with the figure with the optional hand weapon.

Scale wise, these are true 15mm scale, closer to the PSC model above than most of the Fantasy stuff I have to hand.  Personally, I would prefer slightly chunkier sculpts, possibly some more exaggerated features to allow for less fastidious painting.  Some of the tiny detail could also be toned down, as it is far to easy to obscure it, even with extremely thin paint.

Overall, I am happy with the models, as stated, not sure they really fit my usual style, but I find with 15mm you have to aim for high contrast at a distance.  I would definitely consider picking some up when they are released, either as character models, or for a small skirmish warband.  I am also keen to have a go at some of the larger figures in the range.  I think, that they are easy to recommend picking at least some up, purely for the joy (or novelty) of working with such great (if fragile) material as it makes a real change from the predominantly metal models you get elsewhere.

So yeah, that's about it.  Chronicles of the Wayfarer, tiny and highly detailed sculpts in lovely resin.  Go check out their facebook page, follow them, and vote for your favourites in the painting competition.

#workbenchwednesday 15/03/17 and 22/03/17

So, been a bit quiet recently as not long after dropping my last update I had an email from Matt Wilson of Privateer Press that explained that the Press Gang program was being shut down as of April 30th, which has kind of hit my hobby mojo a bit.

Now, the Press Gang has been quite a big part of my life over the majority of the last year, May 13th would have been the date of my first year in the gang, and, like most things, has pretty much become routine for me to run a 4 weekly SteamRoller event.  April Fuel Daze is still going ahead, and is looking to shape up into a pretty epic event if I do say so myself.

Part of the reason I joined the Gang was to force myself to be more sociable and force me to get out of the house and interact with people, and that meant shuffling my work schedule from time to time, which is not something I can be sure of now with the lack of "official" status, as well as potential contractual changes being rolled out.  It's weird, as being in Scotland, with only 2 active PG's, we are kind of far removed from a lot of things, but there is still a very real sense of loss and being cast adrift.  Not sure how things will pan out over the coming months, and whether or not it will have an impact on any of my hobby resolutions, doesn't look like I *need* those Skorne and Trollblood Battleboxes painted up now.

So, had been working on Circle stuff and desk looked like this -

Cleared it up a bit and was getting back on track with some Saga stuff for the club campaign.  After having primed and inked all the Frostgrave/AFOKF figures I went over all of them and the remaining Saga stuff and got all the drybrushing and stuff done, then tidied up the rims.

So that is a very quick and badly lit shot of the Demon box for AFOKF, as well as a ghost and mummy for Frostgrave from Northstar, along with Not Mad Max and a Reaper Familiar.

Followed with another crappy shot of the Apothecary, Cultist Marksman, Templar and Knight, a Medium/Large Construct, treasure chest, not an Assasain from On the 7 Seas, and another Reaper Familiar (Werewolf clutching a pumpkin)

Only painting I have done recently beyond rims is getting started on the horses for my 2pts of Mounted Hearthguard for Saga.

Just finished up work this morning for a week or so's holiday, so the plan is to get a fair bit of painting and gaming done, as well as the final prep for AFD.

#workbenchwednesday 08/03/17

Not much to report really, ran an event Saturday and been working since, so painting has not happened much.

Still working on the Woldstalker unit and 2nd Leader, as well as Baldur1 and I pulled down the Copplestone not Mad Max Road Warrior.

In other news my 2 day event APRIL FUEL DAZE has now sold out (I did half the capacity though  :p )  so I have been doing the whole cat herding thing chasing up folk for lists and getting the prize support sorted out.

Last OT shift of the week tonight, so hopefully can get some brush to lead over the next few days.

#workbenchwednesday 01/03/17

Not really much to update after yesterday's offering, just a quick snap of the workbench with the aforementioned Wold Stalkers and Baldur 1.

Not got much done today beyond the first wash, as kids are over.  Have a few days off work but planning on getting some games in and running an event Saturday before I go back to work, so, productivity might slow down a bit.

Month in Review - February 2017

Strangely, it doesn't seem all that long ago since I was doing this, yet it also seems an age away, as it has been a relatively busy month.

Working on the Construct Warbeasts for Circle has really let me get a lot done, as it is mainly washes and drybrushing, with a load of basing effects, and I rattled out more than enough to run a full list.  According to War Room 2, it is 108/75, so...  rather a lot more.  I managed to plough through

Baldur2, Megalith, 2 x Wold Wrath, 3 x Blackclad Stoneshaper, 2 x Wold Wyrd. Wold Guardian.

I also managed to get the 5 shrimps from the 1st Woldstalker unit completed, but held off on painting the leader (curse you living model) as it will be more time and paint efficient to do him along with the leader of the 2nd unit.  Might even do both the Shifting Stone Leaders too.  That would have been another 10pts complete, but it stands me in good stead for next month.

With SmogCon been and gone, I've ticked off all my games against new opponents, and my 2 shows or Conventions, add to that, not one, but two of my Gargossal Backlog now fully painted, and that is 3/16 Hobby Resolutions cleared.  I need to finish at least one more next month to stay on track for the year, and I reckon I should maybe get those Beastmen finished for Warmaster to clear that space (especially as a few guys at the club were playing the Czech released Warmaster Revolution updated rules), or more of my Normans for the club Saga campaign, as I still have to put those Crossbowmen from York together.

Thing is, I'm really enjoying painting Circle right now, and it is going in quick, as I've already had to rearrange the display cabinets to fit in what I have done.  This might also be future-proofing, as I put the Storm Raptor together over the weekend (a 3rd Gargantuan?  Indeed)  There are a few changes I would make to my Baldur2 list as it currently stands, which means painting up a couple more models before Welsh Masters in May, and I have an idea for a 2nd build that pulls an idea from MacBeth of all places....  plus I probably should get a few more Warlocks and other living models done.  Gah, hitting the painting of actual proper units...  Might be time to switch Faction,

Looking further ahead in the year, ticket sales have picked up slightly for my Warmahordes 2 day event in April, and, while I doubt it will hit 48 players, I am hoping for 24, which makes splitting the groups up for both days easier, and I have holiday time booked for that, Welsh, NorthCon in June, UK Masters in September, and I am going to try and get a sneaky trip to Dublin in for the Irish Gauntlet in August.

Not done any boardgaming this month, or played any other games other than Warmachine.  I'm lined up to do a guest spot on the Painting with Menoth John show (https://pwmenothjohn.com/)once I have a Sunday night free.

Next up on the paint station is the Leader for the Wold Stalker unit, plus a 2nd unit and Baldur1, and I still have to do a little clean up and gap filling on the Storm Raptor before it gets primed.  Should probably get started on some Frostgrave models too...

Finally, I figured I'd share the words I put up on Facebook post SmogCon, as it gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction to be part of such an amazing hobby and bunch of people.  It was pointed out to me that, even if one person in twenty is an asshole, that means the other 19 are pretty decent, so, it is good to just focus on positives sometimes.

"So, 600+ mile round trip to SmogCon, don't even want to total up the expense, had an absolute fucking blast hanging with the PPS guys (Hungerford, Matt and Dallas) who spent more time with us than required and were super cool to just chat shit with, and sit in the pub eating kebabs, kinda weird when the only people asked for their question in a QA session by name are you, your missus and Thomas Guan. Was great to get in some games with both the guys from my own meta (David, Nicholas and Skywolf) seeing as I'm always running events, and do crazy shit like Thunderdome (with Nick, Sims, Ross, Sarah and Tom) then again with Rory, Konrad, James, Stuart and a 3rd time with Warcaster V1-3, with Konrad, Stu, James, Sarah and Cole. To the guys that I got pick-up games with (Byron, Alan, Martyn, Delano, James, some dude called Will H or something... ;) and to Norbert for the sweet Tshirt and whiskey, Jason for the T, and Justin from Beasts of War for getting my army on film, on that note, to every single person who came up and asked about or complimented my stuff, from people passing by and stopping me mid game to ask to take pictures, to the old women in the lift saying it looked more fun than their convention, and the (possibly) Italian women asking for pictures in the hallway. That means a lot like. To all the sound guys from previous events that we don't get to hang out with enough because of distance, and my Scottish guys Allan, Sean, Dan, David and Adam, that mean there is always a familiar face close by at some point. To Martyn for seeking me out to try and get a little 4 nations event organized on the Sunday morning, and James for getting at me to get in on the pre- WTC 6 Nations planning. It's appreciated guys. Congratz to Jon and all my fellow PG's for running the show, you do great work guys. Roll on Lock 'n' Load Europe!

Sorry if I missed anyone, you know who you are, and let's be honest, alcohol consumption and lack of sleep means there is a lot of blur over the weekend :P
Really, it's just fucking awesome to be part of such a great community and crew, and that it is always surprising and a bit humbling when people remember me, or actually seek me out, because I see it as me just being some dude doing these little events in this little country, so final thanks to Sarah for scoring the tickets, and always being the one to push me to do more stuff and remind me that, in terms of the hobby, I'm sometimes someone to somebody."

#workbenchwednesday 15/02/17 and 22/02/17

Ok, bit of a delayed double update now, because... reasons...

Nothing has really changed on the workbench because I went all in over a week and painted  a 2nd WoldWrath.  And Megalith.  And Baldur2.  And 3 Stone Shapers...   Yeah, over 100pts of models in about a week, including kids being over 4 nights and 3 nightshifts...

Probably a feat that will never be repeated because that is most of the stone stuff done.

So, having a 2nd list all painted, I was all set for SmogCon, and what an epic weekend that was.  So much stuff to process, but the highlights include - hanging out with Will Hungerford, Dallas Kemp and Matt Goetz from Privateer Press, playing loads of games against new opponents and my local guys that I never get to play because I am running events, playing stuff other than straight-up Steamroller, like 6 player drunken Thunderdome until 7am, then going for breakfast and a sleep, seeing the new Grymkin faction release video (and the models in the flesh) want all the things.  I had a huge amount of comments about my army, don't think I managed a single game without someone passing by stopping to ask if they could take pictures, and the guys from Beasts of War caught it on camera, and even asked me a few questions.  Also managed to take the PPS guys for a cheeky Nandos before they left.

That weekend crosses off two Hobby Resolutions though, so that is things continuing to move forwards.  And provided some sweet ConSwag.

Car crapped out on me on the way back though, so that was a costly bill on top of the weekend, and was straight back at work to boot.  Spent some time getting my Wold Stalkers assembled, as well as a couple of Wold Wyrds and a Wold Guardian.  All primed now, so hopefully won't take too long to get painted up.  Also had to rearrange the cabinets as one shelf for Circle wasn't cutting it with 2 huge bases added in.

I've been asked to do a painting guide for the Warmachine & Hordes for Beginners Blog, as well as a guide to painting Frostgrave models, so I have a lot to be getting on with.

#workbenchwednesday 08/02/17

Phew, late in the day, but this is a big one.

First up, the weekly workbench shot -

Looks suspiciously tidy right?  Well, the Saga stuff got moved out the way, as, fresh on the success of finishing my Circle list, the arrival of the new Wold theme force made the Baldur 2 list I had planned a lot more competitive, so I thought I'd try and bust it out before SmogCon.  Hey, it's only 7 models in 2 weeks, right?

Enter disaster...

So, being a big kit, I figured the 1,9mm brass rod was the best thing to use as pins.  Sadly, my old clippers gave up the ghost after about ten years faithful service, and shattered when I was trimming one of the pins...

This was after my Drybrush figured it was time to call it a day...

Maybe I'm just heavy handed?

Then, After using an entire bottle of Strong Tone to wash the Wold Wrath, I found out that I had about 8 bottles of Soft tone and 6 bottles of Dark tone in my stash, but no Strong tone.

So, that was a day lost, fighting the cold, before heading out to get new heavy duty snips, and a restock of Strong Tone.

Long story short, I finished Wold Wrath.  Well, the first one anyway...  Only 6 models to do in a week.  Around work.  and the Kids.

Totally doable, right?

Bloody picture won't rotate...

In other news, made the trip to York on Sunday (between Nightshifts) to Vapnartak, along with the guys from Falkirk Wargamers.  Did the usual wandering, spent a fair bit of time around the Warmahordes event, and had a demo of Relic Knights, seeing as I've had the models sitting in a box for over a year...

A modest amount of spending was done (for me at any rate) and the haul included -

Rogue Stars and the Pikeman's Lament rules from Osprey, to fill out the collection, and let me get a gang sorted for the FDWC Campaign, plus some Barbarians, who will be added to the Frostgrave pile, but might get used for Broken Legion's Dacians.  Picked up the Norman Crossbowmen from Gripping Beast to scale with my Conquest Knights, and a couple of Arcworlde figures.  A dark lord who is obviously not modelling himself after the Witch-King or Sauron, and a Norse style Leader.  Final purchase was a set of Union dice for Guildball from the Flea Market (once it had settled down to the level that you didn't flow between the tables on other people's sweat...) for a fiver.

All in all a good day, although work was a killer afterwards, but the trip was worth it.

Not a bad week considered, one item ticked off the Resolution list, and another 50% complete.