One Year Later

So, 

Illness, work and nonsense aside I have finally found a decent daylight lamp (£20 from Argos - £40 from Amazon) and have managed to do some painting.

I'm very out of practise but I'm getting there- I think I just need to experiment with techniques more and find on that actually fits. Also find my wood elf champion with the bow...I don't know where he disappeared too.

Anyway without much further ado about nothing:

Infinity 

Slight difference in size there

Gotta have some Cryx.

Next time I'll actually write a blog post and give some detail.

Exterminate: Combined Army

Another infinity army that was given a wee bit more attention than my haqqislam.

Combined Army are the...Covenant of the infinity world. Ruled by an AI (known as the evolved intelligence) they role in and absorb or destroy other civilisations.

Multiple races, though Morat (red monkey dudes) and Shavastii (bug dudes) make up the majority of the force. Interesting ruleset for both as well.

Pastel painting: haqqislam

As promised my very very poorly inked haqqislam force that I managed to paint in a couple of hours for tabletop use. On that note I will try and remember to take photos of my next couple of games and give a quasi batrep of some sort.

Anyway:
Saladin (yes that one) note..never a good idea to give an infinity miniature you want to play a game with a higher base than usual.

Gulam Infantry with combi-rifle

Hassassin (yes, that Hassassin) Lasiq with viral sniper rifle

Gulam with sniper rifle

Ghulam paramedic

Janissary (yes that...oh you get the idea)

Ghulam with CR

Hassassin Fiday..these guys can pretend to be your best friend and then stab you when you aren't looking.

Naffatun with HMG

Snake? Snake? SNAAAAAAAAAKE?

Catch up: infinity and heavy gear

So

It's been a while...the Olympics are done for another 4 years, the Paralympics cause the same traffic problems. I'm still over worked and criminally (sic) under paid...and yet I spend ridiculous amounts of money on what is generally known as plastic crack ( that said nothing here today is made of plastic)

On with the show, yes?

My fledgling PanO force from infinity painted in about a day (ie 5 hours or so) all together just to about tabletop standard. I hate using unprinted minis as you can't tell which one will blow up in your face or not.

And here's my first heavy gear mini. A black talon primary insertion (oh my) eagle mech. I'm a massive mech fan ( as are most 80s kids I would think) and I love the heavy gear aesthetic compared to say the...questionable designs of battletech.

In other news I played my first game of infinity the other week and loved it. I got absolutely trounced but it was fun.

So until next time when you'll see my pastel painted haqqislam..I hope.

Odds and sods: Enigma Vlad, Secrets of the third reich et al

So

I was a busy painter while I was on holiday as you can see. I couldn't really think of how to deal with each of these separately so I threw them all together and this is what you get:

Dark Vlad is by Enigma miniatures and they make damn fine models for mostly painters.

The dark elf prince is by avatars of war, I had problems with the face and the lighting makes it look a lot shinier than In reality.

The panoceania Orc trooper was really just a paint test that didnt work so well so I just rolled with it.

Last two are my first secrets of the third reich models..US trooper and German zombie. Only spent about half an hour on each.

I should note at this point that I generally only spend 4 hours or so on each model. I don't really have the time or the space to put more in. Once I have a proper place to stay that may change but I'm just trying to do the best I can on the time I have as I generally only have time to paint at home when I go at the weekends.

Anyway skaven to come down the line yes yes?

A little bit here, a little bit there, some up there

So

Last time I mentioned this crazy basecoat method I got from a tutorial video. Essentially you basecoat black then once dry hit it with a grey at an angle (25 degrees of so) lightly and then a pure white coat straight down from above. The gradient effect gives it highlights and you can use washes and inks to cover most of the miniature.

Here's my first two attempts, with teething issues on my first two infinity minis:

From the PanOceania box set:

I should note that this picture was taken on my iphone with a zoom function. It has a nice water pastel feel to it doesn't it? Odd though.

And here we have a Yu Jing Crane Rank Agent minus pony tail thing. This one didn't go to plan so much on the armour so I just went along with it.

Definitely a learning curve on this one. I'll update as I go along as per usual, but I think once I master it it will be a great technique.

Another quick note on Kickstarter. Mantic have just finished off their Kings of War kickstarter and I managed to get in a pledge after the end of it. Mantic have had the problem of always seeming to be the budget GW, especially considering a lot of their models are interchangable and are often used to pad out GW armies for a fraction of the price. From what I understand however there is a lot about Kings of War that makes it in some ways more fluid and flexible than Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Anywho here's the list of what I got for my $125 pledge:

Kings of War Hardback Rulebook + Mini-rulebook + 10 Dice ($50 RRP)
- Orc Starter Army (10 Gore Riders, 20 Orc Ax Warriors, Orcling Bases)
- Undead Starter Army (20 Skeletons, 20 Zombies and 10 Ghouls)
- Undead Vampiress Miniature
- Orc Wizard Miniature
- Kickstarter Bonus: Your name printed in the KoW rulebook.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Any rulebooks in your order get signed by both Alessio and Ronnie.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Electronic copy of the Kings of War hardback rulebook.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Electronic copy of the Kings and Legends supplement and The Bloodstone Of Cerillion novel.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Litho print of the map of Mantica, signed by Ronnie.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Any dice in your order get upgraded to limited edition "mantic splat" dice.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Any wound counters in your order get upgraded to kickstarter-exclusive blue acrylic.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Orc Chariot/ Fight Wagon model.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Troll Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Mummy Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Gargoyle Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Dwarf Berserker Cavalry Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Elven Palace Guard Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Celestian Paladin Angel Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Celestian Sister Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Celestian Man-at-Arms Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Celestian Paladin Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Ogre Hero Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free Kickstarter-exclusive Undead Skeleton with dog Miniature.
- Kickstarter Bonus: Free ticket to the Mantic Party in Nottingham this September, or Entry to participation game with Ronnie at either Gencon or Adepticon in the US.

Alas no awesome Werewolves

Daaaaaamned if I know

So

This guy and his friends have been sitting on my shelf for months:

Wh40k legion of the damned sergeant.

Standard paint scheme as that's more than cool enough.













Flames were a mechrite red base followed by troll slayer orange and a yellow wash at the top. Bones are army painter skeleton bone followed by their light shade wash, but more skeleton bone on top and highlighted with Vallejo off-white. I think it worked okay. General armour highlights done with thunderhawk blur wash with nuln oil.

In other news I have some infinity miniatures on their way. Itll be interesting as they are 28mm scale rather than the standard 'heroic scale which are, I believe, 36mm. 28mm gives a better scale apparently.

Until next time.