#workbenchwednesday 10/01/18

Well, it has been a productive week.  Quick pic to begin with of the side of my desk, as all the stuff that was on it is done.  Ignore the 6mm beastmen, they are a hangover from last year, and I still have to find somewhere to move them to.

So, above we have, the Hog Wild Malifaux crew, plus some sweet Bases4War slate resin bases, Dr. Arkadius, a Razorback Crew, Razorboar, Bone Grinders and Slaughterhousers for Mike's army, my Broken Legions warband and a Minotaur, the remaining Butchers players for Guildball, the Shooter and Rider elements for Hordes of the Things, and a couple more Guildball minis for a friend.

Managed to get the bases spray primed for both Farrow infantry units, as well as having painted and varnished the Malifaux bases.   Started the metals on the Broken Legion models,after having done most of the base work.

In actual real progress, I finished up the 6 Farrow warbeasts, although I still have arcs to make on 2, and some blood effects to add to a few, mainly where they've had metal bolted into the flesh.

 

For myself, I completed the Magician, Behemoth and Stronghold elements for my Hordes of the Things army, just working away on them whilst waiting on washes and varnish drying on the Farrow.  I really like how the Behemoth turned out (I love the Reaper Bones Purple Worm, have about 3 now...) and I didn't bother highlighting it, as I felt it was clear enough to see, especially on a 2ft board.  I added some slime effects to the mouth, and dripping on the base, but I'll probably have to rework them once dry.  The Stronghold was fun, just 2 resin scenic pieces, but I've rediscovered my hatred of sand and gravel for basing (resin bases 4 life), and the Magician was a great wee tester, love how the glow came out around her eyes.

 Getting there Dave, might be on for a game before half the year is out.


In bad news, whilst looking for PVA glue, I unearthed a box of another 30 or so Foundry paints I had moved to make space, so, I'll have to add them to the tally...


So, that's it really, still on track with updates, and hit day 10 of the #hobbystreak movement.  I'll probably do some Broken Legions or Malifaux stuff next, then crack on with the Farrow infantry and the HotT bases.  I've also managed to reorganise a couple of shifts at work to get down to Vapnartak again with the club, which is always a good day out (even if I end up like a zombie).

#workbenchwednesday 03/01/18

Woo, first Workbench Wednesday update and 3rd post of the year.  Strong start again (probably doomed to failure).

So, what's happening on the productivity front?

Got the Minotaur cleaned up, arm pinned on, gap filled and base textured.

Cleaned up the Magician, Riders, Shooters and Behemoth for Hordes of the Things, and sealed the bases for the Stronghold and Behemoth.  Got all the infantry glued to lolly sticks for priming, along with the riders pinned.   Hopefully can get them sprayed tomorrow, weather permitting, along with the last 2 Deathguard and the resin bases for the Guildball minis, as they will all be bone.

Got all 3 Guildball minis cleaned up, pinned, primed and inked.

Got the Northstar Barbarians and Reaper Ghoul cleaned up, assembled, bases textured, primed and inked.

Got the last 2 Malifaux models primed and inked, along with the 3 resin bases that still needed it.


I also put some time in yesterday to get some work done on Mike's Farrow, which is a long overdue project, and got most of the metals sorted on 6 warbeasts and a unit of Slaughterhousers.  Really want to make a good dent in this before touching any of my own stuff.  Mike is the just the best about this, super patient, and constantly telling me to keep painting my own stuff too, but I really need to get the finger out on this project, and to clear the other couple of jobs I have lined up.  Hopefully I can get the last few models of the army assembled soon, and just plough through them.


In other resolution news, still not picked what Warmahordes army 'll be doing this year.  It was going to be Cygnar, and it turns out I have enough resin bases for the list, even if I am missing about 8 models, but the imminent arrival of a Dracodile might see me return to Minions and get more of the untouched Blindwater stuff done.


That's all for now, only managed about 3 hours sleep after work, so probably going to be an earlyish night for me, so I doubt I'll get much more done, maybe clean up a few bases of Warband for HotT, or just painting the rocks on the resin bases.

2018 Hobby Resolutions

 Happy New Year folks, here's to a prosperous and productive 12 months ahead.  I'm going to take some time to go over my Hobby Resolutions for the year, and explain why I've picked them.  I'm gonna deviate slightly from last year, as I really want to try and limit my hobby spending this year, so I am considering a reward system, where I set out some sort of incentive for finishing each task.  Chances are I'll completely ignore it, but I at least want to try.

1 - Transfer my flip-top paint collection to dropper bottles. (0/491)

Resolution - A continuation from last year, I managed to do all the GW Base paints and Washes, and figured out a set-up that allowed me to do about 9 paints at a time.  The washes were easy, the base paints took slightly longer due to consistency.  I'm hoping the layer paints are a bit quicker.  It's a lot of paint to get through, but it does include the remainder of the newest GW line, almost the entire Foundry line (missing one of the discontinued WWII sets) and the original P3 line.  I guess taking the time to do a few sets of 9 every time I have a spare day will help to chip away at it.   Even if I can't get through it all I'd like to at least clear the GW ones, and ideally the P3 too.  

Reward - some new paints.  I figure that if I do either of the GW or P3 lines I'll grab another set of Scale75 paints to fill out the collection.  If I do both, I'll get two.   If by some Herculean effort I clear the Foundry ones, well, I reckon that's worth two sets in itself.

2 - Organise and run a two day Warmahordes event, (0/1)

Resolution - Run April Fuel Daze again.  For my first big solo two day event, things went surprisingly smoothly, and it was definitely well received.  The fact that it was the largest two day event in Scotland for WarmaHordes last year was also a nice bonus.  I'd like to make it part of the WMH event calendar if at all possible, and would be aiming to up the places from 24 to 48.

Reward - Attend a two day event as a player.  It's good to let someone else call the shots once in a while, and I enjoy travelling to events and meeting up with folk I don't get to see that often.

3 - Make £500 selling old models. (0/500)

Resolution - Like most gamers, I have an insurmountable amount of tat lying about collecting dust, and like most gamers, I've always told myself that I'll get around to it some day.  The thing is, as I'm mostly about the aesthetics, most of the minis I've bought are because they look cool and I really do want to paint them.  Listing stuff for sale and dealing with the inevitable bargain hunting can you dig out one model from a collection of thousands for a pound just isn't worth the time or effort  (people, gah)  One of my main barriers to productivity ( after video games) is just the sheer amount of stuff sitting about to get around to.  Clearing some of that will hopefully clear my mind a little.

Reward - I guess the reward is doing this, I get £500 cash and free up some space.   Less clutter equals less distraction.

4 - Maintain the Blog with weekly and monthly updates. (0/52 and 0/12)

Resolution - Do a #workbenchwednesday post each week and a monthly update.   I always have the best intentions when it comes to blogging, but always seem to peter out after a few posts.  This year I want to try and break that by providing regular updates.  It's kinda hard to stay accountable to a general readership of 0, so, hopefully by posting more regularly, this blog will pick up some followers and I'll actually need to work at entertaining them.

Reward - No idea.  She says get a new laptop.

5 - Go to 2 Gaming Shows or Conventions. (0/2)

Resolution - Get out the house and go to a couple of shows, ideally including one of the Scottish ones this year.  I missed them due to being out of the country for various WarmaHordes events last year, so would be good to get back to them and see the familiar faces.  Outside of Scotland, I try to get to York with the club as it's a good day out, and there is a bit more variety in traders.

Reward - Again, no idea.

6 - Play 6 New Opponents. (0/6)

Resolution - Play a game against (or including) someone I've never played before.   A repeat of last year, but it worked well, and, well, I guess it helps me feel a bit less anti-social than I can be due to nightshift.

Reward - No idea.

7 - Play 100 Games (0/100)

Resolution - Play a total of 100 games across miniature and board games.  It's a big part of the reason why we paint these things so I'm told, so I guess it makes sense.

Reward - No idea.  Not sure these rewards are gonna be any sort of incentive...

8 - Play 6 different Board Games. (0/6)

Resolution - Again, a repeat of last year.  Still, have to put those kickstarted dollars to good use.  With any luck Rivals will eventually turn up this year (not holding my breath for Torn Armor) and Rising Sun is due to be delivered.  I've still got to get around to trying out all the Undead for Runewars V2.  I can see Blood Rage and Chaos in the Old World being pulled out again.

Reward - Pick up an expansion for one of my boardgames.

9 - Play 3 New Games or New Editions of Rules (0/3)

Resolution -  The past couple of years it has pretty much been 99.9% WarmaHordes when it comes to playing miniature games.  I haven't played 40k since maybe...  2004?  And I have umpteen sets of rules that have been updated without ever being played.  Plus there are new games coming out all the time, so this challenge should be relatively easy.  Seeing as I put the Deathguard together and got them painted, I figure the new 40k should be one of the games I play, and Saga has a 2nd edition coming out too, so that will probably make the list.  Malifaux, once I get the starter done would make up the 3rd.

Reward - Buy a new rulebook (and try to have models painted and playable before it is obsolete)

10 - Paint 4pts of Normans for SAGA. (0/4pts, 0/28 models)

Resolution - Paint at least another 2pts of Normans to give me a 6pt force, and aim for 4 to give me some options.  I currently have 8 Mounted Hearthguard (2pts) and 8 Warriors with Crossbows (1pt) part done from last year, and put together 12 Levy (1pt) the other day, along with a mounted Warlord and a...  well, I don't know, objective marker of some sort using one of the casualty figures from the sprue.  Can't find the dead horse in my bits though...  I'd probably throw in another unit of Warriors to this lot, as that would, over 3 units, give me the 24 models to run 2 units in Lion or Dragon Rampant, and having had a brief look, should be, with these new additions, enough to play a game.

Reward - Pick up the SAGA 2nd Edition rules.

11 - Maintain Butcher's Guild being fully painted. (0/3 Models)

Resolution - Get the last 3 (current) models built and painted.  It's 3 models.  One of them is a single piece.  And it means my Guild is fully painted and I can maybe look at starting one of the other ones in the backlog.

Reward - Pick up the Guildball Terrain pack from SFG.  It'll make a change from flat mdf that I use for Warmahordes.

12 - Paint remaining Deathguard for Warhammer 40,000 (0/49 Models)

Resolution - This one is more for her benefit as she's keen to play, to the point that when she picked up the latest edition, she swapped out the Primaris Marines for more Deathguard and immediately gave them to me so that I'd have an army.  I managed to get one box worth finished last year, and have the 2nd to work through, alongside a few extras like Deathshroud Terminators, some of the Easy to build kits and the Limited Set, plus a donated monopose Hellbrute and the Nurgle Daemon Prince from when it first made the transition to Finecast.

Reward - Probably pick up a Plagueburst Crawler as a nice centrepiece model (I would have said Mortarion, but I'll save him for when I have a much larger force)

13 - Paint Waiqar half of Runewars Miniatures Game Starter (0/26 Models)

Resolution - Picked this up last year to split with her because I loved the models (part due to Battlelore V2) and got started on it, but that hit a wall.  Steve at CGG is trying to get it up and running again, so I figure might as well get it tableworthy.

Reward - I'll probably pick up the Waiqar Infantry Command Unit Expansion, or, if I can find one cheap, a 2nd Core box.

14 - Paint a 15mm Hordes of the Things Army (0/14 Elements)

Resolution - It's one of those games that has been on my radar, probably because of the amount of older grumpier gamers that wax lyrical about it, although the cover kills it for me because it looks so 70's...  but it gets rolled out at the club every now and then, so, I figure it might be something to get me playing people outside my usual group, and knock some of the huge 15mm backlog down.

Reward - No idea.

15 - Paint a 75pt Warmahordes List (0/? Models)

Resolution - I already have plenty of Circle and Minions table ready (I mean, I still have huge backlogs of both, but...) Recently I made up a 2 list competitive (for me) pairing for all 13 Factions, and spent the last of my PG points picking up the models I needed to complete the Legion and Grymkin pairs, along with one of the Trollblood ones.  I am close to having everything for the Retribution, Minions and Circle lists.  I also came into possession of the new Trencher army box for Cygnar...  I guess it would be nice to paint up a real Warmachine faction after playing Hordes exclusively (demo games aside) for a few years, but I think Cryx or Khador is more my style.  So, contenders are Cygnar, Grymkin, or the Blindwater side of Minions.

Reward - This is a weird one, because the reward is gonna be part of the project.  Depending on what I choose, I'm either going to need to pick up a few more models to finish a planned list, or a bunch or resin bases, so, once I've chosen, I'll work on what I have and then pick up the models/bases as required to finish the list.

16 - Paint the Hog Wild Malifaux box (0/6 Models)

Resolution - It always comes back to pigs doesn't it?  I picked these up mainly for the boars for the Marcus box I had, however, I reckon they'll be more fun to do.  Not to mention quicker.

Reward - No idea.  A new Malifaux model?  

So yeah, that wraps up the 2018 Hobby Resolutions, I'm off to write some spreadsheets and colour in boxes.

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.