Hobbyboygaming

Ariadna Game Plan For 2012

2012-01-04T23:17:00.002-06:00

Keeping to my New Year's resolution to paint all my Ariadna minis before getting anymore I need to document what I have. First pic is what I've considered tabletop ready- not completely finished but presentable.

Man I really need to get better lighting. I see many details not painted!

The following pics are my batch-o-WiPs at various stages of completion. I kind of went all over the place with each one. Some have washes done, some have highlights and details, but most have a general basecoat.

Generally, I'm cool with the direction I've taken. I tried priming them white for the first time. I never primed my minis white before. So far so good. I'm happy with the color schemes I've chosen. Some details like holsters and pouches still need color choices. I'm quite surprised how well the Highlander's shoulder detail came out. I was expecting to do several passes on it but luckily only did one. Now I got to do the tartan...

Next are the rest of my collection.

Minis next in line

The whole lot. I guess I have more than I originally said. :)

Up until now I really thought I could do this but then Corvus Belli comes out with this...

me wants

This guy will be coming out next month. I wonder how many minis I'll get done before then, if any. Wonder how long it will take for me to break. Ugh.

2011 Recap

2011-12-30T17:54:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a nice holiday! Well another year has gone by and before the new year begins I thought I'd take a look back on my hobby progress.

(crickets chirping)

Hmm, I thought I did more than this.

Yeah, there were a few setbacks. The first was work. This year work really took a big dent in my free time. Just way too many deadlines and way too little time off. In fact, I don't remember the last time I took a vacation. :( Second, was starting up a new game. I got to tell you moving to Infinity is the best thing I ever did gaming-wise. Great sci-fi theme + fun innovative and deep game mechanics + ridiculous minis (mostly anyway) = my favorite mini game. Yes, that meant more minis to paint. But, I am talking about 10-12 figures which is pretty much your army compared to one unit of 40 clanrats which is clearly not. The last excuse, er I mean reason are the freaking video games. Curse you Nathan Drake and your awesome hi-def game!!! Weeknights are usually a time to paint but when you put in 11+ hours at work you just want to plop in front of the tv... and squeeze in some video games. All those nights when I should have been painting but was too lazy were instead spent climbing walls, grabbing treasure, and shooting bad guys. Arrgh!!! So much stuff to do and so little time. It's a good thing that 2012 is just around the corner.

So what's the plan for next year?

More Ariadna! My New Year's hobby resolution will be to paint all the Ariadna I currently have (which is around 12 I think) before I grab anymore. There's a good chance I'll break it but I gotta at least try, right? Stay focused!

I've been lucky to find players to game with so I can learn the rules and figure out a good list. It seems like quite a number of gamers are 'gaming small' these days. I've notice a lot of gamers particularly GW gamers are either supplementing their fantasy and/or 40k with smaller skirmish based games or just switching completely. Games like Cutlass, MERCS, Malifaux, Hell Dorado, Dystopian Wars/Uncharted Seas/Firestorm Armada, and Heavy Gear all got some loving this year. Curious to see how this trend will turn out in 2012.

My Skaven are still on the table. Closer to the back burners but I haven't completely shelved them just yet. The rat ogres are still in my mini queue. I'll get around to them eventually.

I've slowly been collecting a small Koborlas/Lupine warband for Reaper's Warlord game. I recently I picked up a couple boxes of Wolfen from Rackham's Confrontation game really, really cheap that's perfect for this. I hope to at least get them to paint ready before 2012 ends.

Whadya think? Can I do this? Time will tell. Have a Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-27T02:16:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a nice holiday! I should've had something posted by now but I've been off to videogame land! Let me explain- I'm really late on the next gen console bandwagon and last week I finally picked myself up a PS3. I was so positive I would eventually get one that I even started a small stash of blu-rays and games way before I picked the console up. That very night I opened it and played the heck out of it. The following day I went to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family and then went back home watched a blu-ray and played some more. On Black Friday I bought a few more blu-rays that were on sale. Needless to say there was a whole lotta hi-def activity going on but the holiday wasn't all videogames though. I did take advantage of the sales and shopped for more Infinity minis from my LGS and bought some odds and ends at my fav online gamine store.

Yay hobby shopping!

Anyway, more news...

I had my first full game of Infinity a few weekends ago. It was 200pts., Ariadna vs. Combined Army( y'know, the alien alliance). I got pwned big time. My opponent (Combined Army) had a linked team and just stormed down my flank killing everything in its path. By turn 4 my Lt. died and I had to concede. It wasn't a total massacre but it was close to being one. My opponent was actually cool and patient with me and answered all of my noob questions and even gave me advise. We had a bit of a peanut gallery so the game took longer than it should have but it was still fun. There were key mistakes I made in the game and the big one was deployment. I had a couple units deployed way too close to his linked team which enabled him to run his team up to my guys and shoot them down on the first turn. I also had several guys in the wrong place. Another big noob mistake was not knowing my list very well. During the course of the game I overlooked very important skills and weapons that would've helped the previous turn. Hard lessons learned.

Fortunately, this weekend I'm suppose to meet up with a dude from the forums that's fairly new to the game and we're going play a small game that'll help cover the game basics. Baby steps.

ADEPTICON!!! Man, I shouldn't have waited to pre-register for Adepticon 2012. D'OH!!! All the seminars are practically sold out and now I'm going to have to settle on a Partial swag bag. I'm not sure what that exactly means but it won't be as good as a Full swag bag :( . The Infinity tournament was also sold out. It's really awesome to see people sign up for it. Hopefully my experience will be up to par and my army fully painted for the following year. :) Hmm, I wonder if they're letting open gaming for Infinity during the con?

And speaking of my army here's my progress thus far... My Line Kazaks are done, for now. Until I get better lighting I won't be able to do any of the details I'd like to do on them. Looking at the pictures I realize it's not my best work but I got to move on.

Next up are 3 skirt wearing, gun toting, scots and a vet. Until next time!

Where Did September Go?!

2011-10-06T00:08:00.003-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's already October! Work has been crazy trying to meet all kinds of deadlines, mostly all unrealistic. These past few weeks has been quite a blur that I hadn't realized I completely neglected my minis. It was only last week that I had the chance to go back to painting again. Funny enough, it was when I was sick. Anyway, onto the minis!

So I started painting the Ariadna Line Kazaks or 'Grunts' as what I'll be calling them in the future. Also, I was missing my rats already so I continued painting my rat ogres.

I'm about half way in and they are starting to shape up I think. I'm basing my color scheme on the G.I. Joe Grunt so they will all have basic green fatigues. I picked up GW's Camo Green specifically for them and it seems to work nice as a highlight for the Catachan Green basecoat. I think after some washes and more highlights they should be good and done. Oh, and yes, there is the Tankhunter but he's taken a backseat at the moment, sorry!

The rat ogres need a bit more TLC. They need another go of highlights and a definite rework of their bases so that may take some time to do.

This weekend a LGS will host their biannual auction and may take a peek. They tend to attract big spenders so I don't expect to be picking anything up. But, if I do luck out and sneak a buy (praying that it not hurt the wallet) I'll let you know. Later!

Air Wagons and More

2011-08-23T19:38:00.003-05:00

A couple nights ago I downloaded the Ariadna air wagon from the Infinity Downloads section. I thought it looked fun and simple enough to do in one night.

My first pass didn't turn out great because I used cardboard which was way too thick and folding the tabs became difficult. Second time around I printed on cardstock.

Voila!
Not too shabby but I did have some trouble in the end. Like a lot of papercrafts, for me it's quite hard to get these folds even and correct- especially when they are tiny. I ended up using both types of paper. I used the cardboard for piece #1 as a sturdy base. For the rest of the pieces I used cardstock which is thicker than paper but easier to fold than cardboard.

I made 2 versions. The one on the right is the intended papercraft. The one on the left is just an alternate flat version which is basically just piece #1.

After perusing through the forums I found out the air wagons were done by this guy. What a find! I guess there will be more papercraft projects in the future!

Catch Up

2011-08-08T18:59:00.019-05:00

Man, working late has really put a damper on my hobby! Haven't been able to write anything until now. Well, I can pretty much summarize what has happened in the past few weeks on this single post.

So I went to Gamesday. It kinda sucked. Mainly because I got there late. I missed the Golden Demon entry time as a result. Also missed out on a couple activities like the the conversion contests. I did meet up with an old friend and his kids which was nice.

I got to do the 40k make and take scenery which was fun. Everyone got a rectangular piece of clear acrylic that was used as a base for your building. Sprues were randomly given out. One wall sprue, one floor sprue, and one miscellaneous sprue. Mine wasn't quite well thought out but just getting a chance to build something new and different was a nice experience.

droooool
The minis showcased were awesome as always. The large dioramas were incredible and loved the Forgeworld Skaven Exalted Verminlord and Brood Horror monster- probably something that I'll never get to pick up. :( Check out the pictures I took here.

In other news, I got to play my first game ever of Infinity finally. I was able to meet up with one of the guys on the forums and played a game. It was more of a demo really, just learning the fundamentals and the skills my unit had. Overall it went really well. In four(or maybe five) turns we were done. By the end of turn 2 both of our lieutenants(army leader) were eliminated. Mine walked in front of his remote mech with a machine gun. What was I thinking?! Anyway, it was fast and brutal. I hope there will be many more games like this.

There were 2 guys playing a game of Warhammer Fantasy next to us at the store. Seeing all the stuff they had to bring and seeing my army in a box about the size of hard drive just confirmed how much I'm not going to miss it. :)

Lastly, I got to work on my Ariadna. Started painting my tankhunter and got my first group of line kazaks ready for priming.

Gamesday 2011

2011-07-15T17:01:00.005-05:00

Well it's official. I got my ticket in the mail today! Seeing that the real reason I'm going is for the freaking Gamesday Skaven mini, I should probably try to make the most of the day. I am definitely not bringing an army to play. Skaven is just not a fun army to lug around. I'm just tired of it all. Instead I might do some of the activities provided.

-Armies on Parade could have been fun but I'm late on that and should have started months ago.
-The Monster & Vehicle conversion contests are too expensive to make anything worthwhile I think. The Warhammer/40k conversion contests where they provide the supplies, on the otherhand, sounds like fun! Plus if you've got a conversion idea already in your head but unsure if if will work, this might be a good way to find out. Never done this before so I'm not sure what really to expect.
-I guess I could enter the Golden Demon just for the hell of it. Just to say I participated in one is something right? I do have a couple that I'm pretty proud of so why not?
-I am somewhat interested in the Battle Board Paint & Raffle. I wouldn't mind winning a board actually.
-If I'm confident enough and if I have a pretty good surplus of creative juices I might give the Art contest a try.
-Seminars are also an option.

Hope to see you guys there!

A Couple of Minis

2011-07-07T18:31:00.003-05:00

Okay small update. Two whole minis done! Can you believe it!

One Infinity mini down... many more to go.

Reaper bat swarm. Done.

Here We Go...

2011-06-27T17:10:00.006-05:00

Well here's a wip of my first Infinity mini, SAS. There are still quite a few details that need to be done like the camo pattern on his pants. The details are intricate and small and strained my eyes sooner than expected. I really need better lighting to do this. It's a good thing I'm painting those rat ogres at the same time.

I call him Beachhead. :P
Haven't started on the Tankhunter yet. His assembly is a little more complicated than I thought and had to ask a couple questions on the forums.

Skaven Update #32

2011-06-24T16:36:00.007-05:00

Quick update here:

Well, I was going to say that I was finished with these guys but as soon as I uploaded the pictures I noticed a couple details that were overlooked. I'm gonna have to touch those areas up.

Started repainting the next batch of rat ogres.

Potpourri of Sorts

2011-06-10T14:27:00.010-05:00

I've been working on different things this past week. Here's what I've done so far in my ADD-induced state:

All finally based. A couple need some green stuff loving but the rest are ready for priming. Also threw in Throt in the mix to get the Moulder groove going.

Painting-wise this was it for the rat ogres unfortunately, which was part of the reason I chose not to include it to my usual Skaven Updates.

The bottom half of the rat ogre on the left shows the original coat. The top half is coated with Elf Flesh. The rat ogre on the right shows the final look. It has been painted with a coat of Elf Flesh then a generous wash of Gryphonne Sepia. Both still needs work though.

One morning I stopped by my workstation and had a sudden urge to magnetize the captain, anticipating that I could swap him for another knight or something. I had planned on this for awhile, but it was just weird that I had to do it that moment. Made me late for work too! Hahaha, ahem...

Worked on a couple of Reaper minis intended to be Warhammer proxies. First is a Reaper Thug that I wanted to use as an Empire Militia champion- I'm pretty sure they have champions, right? I got stuck working on the shiny metal. Second, I thought this looked to be a perfect proxy since GW's is just simply terrible. Not much to this, added a VC coffin shield and worked on the base a bit.

Last but not least are the start of my Infinity collection! These are wicked minis, but my only gripe is these are very delicate pieces. The handle bar for the Tankhunter is really soft and has flash. I'm really hesitant to do any fix on it. The knife arm for the SAS is also soft and I'm worried in time after much handling it might break off. It maybe just these particular minis but they are definitely not for kids. Still I can't help but think how cool these minis will be once I get some paint on them!

Oh, I even did another sprite. That's now 2 and counting!

To Infinity... and Beyond!!!

2011-05-23T19:28:00.011-05:00

In light of the recent GW news- phasing in resin products in place of metal and another price hike- I've noticed quite a bit of players switching to other game systems. Some finding a fall back and some just completely bailed. Games like Warmachine/Hordes and Malifaux seem to be the popular alternatives. I too will be switching but Infinity will be my game of choice.

I've been lurking the Infinity forums for a couple years now admiring their miniatures and even picking up a couple minis on coolness alone. It wasn't until Beasts of War had an Infinity-themed week that I started to seriously look at the game. After reading the GW's current announcements, it pretty much sealed the deal.

What lead me to Infinity besides the cool minis were the rules. At first I was really overwhelmed with how different it was from the other games I've played. But as soon as I got my head around it I realized this is a great game. And I'll give you three reasons why:

1) Miniatures. Minis are wonderfully sculpted. Even if you aren't into the heavy anime style there are a couple factions that aren't. You don't even need a lot to start playing. A couple of starter boxsets for you and a friend is all you need. One can even buy as little as a few blisters to play a small skirmish game.

2) Rules. I had always hated the down time you'd get from the typical 'you go, I go' sequence. Infinity instead allows you to react to your opponents' minis whether its running away, shooting back, get up or go prone, or just plain dodge while it's their turn. Can't think of other games that do this. Can you?

The game is also supposedly unbelievably balanced. No faction is better than another and there are no specific list that wins. All lists for the most part are actually competitive. That is unheard of! I really hope this is true but I'll find out soon enough.

3) Free. Rules are free to download so if you're still on the fence you can proxy those Imperial Guard or AT-43 figs.

I still love my rats. In fact, I'm still planning on attending Gamesday. It's just looking more and more that my fantasy army will be 99% hobby and 1% gaming.

Skaven Update #31

2011-05-20T00:02:00.008-05:00

I was expecting to get some good quality hobby time these past couple weeks but that was not the case. The little time I did find I...

...expanded!
Since I'm working on rat ogres at the moment I thought it'd be a good idea to open up my 2 unopened Moulder boxes that's been collecting dust and to finally start on them as well! They've been on the shelf for a long time. I picked one up way back during the Lustria summer campaign (remember that?) and the other one when a LGS went out of business shortly after.

Aside from a single packmaster everything else is assembled and most are based.

Y'know, I do have a couple more rat ogres that are still in their packages- the more recent Boneripper and the Mordheim Skryre rat ogre. I wonder if I should assemble them as well. This project just got a little bigger.

Rat Ogres!

2011-05-01T16:32:00.005-05:00

Okay, it's official. I'm committing myself to paint this hulking bunch next.

Looks like they're almost done but let's take closer look...

The packmasters have obviously not worked on. They don't even have their bases sanded yet.

At the time, I rushed these dudes to have them tabletop ready (for an entirely different game system no less) and in doing so, prematurely added the static grass when I clearly wasn't finished. I need to brighten the skin tones a bit and finish the smaller details. Also need to paint around the grass to finish the base. Well that's the plan anyway. I may need to strip the grass all together.

These guys look about half done and need some serious wash and highlighting. These earlier models clearly look different from the others so I wanted their paint scheme to reflect that a bit. After seeing them within the unit I may have to tone down contrast just a tad to have a more uniform look.

The old Boneripper is now my master bred. Still needs some painting to do but what it really needs is special treatment on the base to have it stand out more.

Well, there you go. We'll see how long this project will last.

Skaven Update #30.1

2011-04-27T18:27:00.008-05:00

Quick update, the Warp-grinder is done. Yay!

It's a shame it doesn't have a nightrunner unit to accompany it. :( A couple things I may have done a little differently. First, I should of planned the base a bit more. The intention was to make it look like the weapon team was emerging from the hole they came out of. I pretty much winged it and the result is just okay. Secondly, I wish I picked out a thicker guitar chord for their hoses. A bit skinny.

I do admit I like how it came out despite it all. I think it's the most extensive conversion I've done to date. I even like the periscope counter I made for it. Personally, I thought it was... GENIUS!

I haven't committed to anything yet and just did whatever I felt I liked doing. So, I started basing a few different minis including a 40mm x 60mm base. Next update I hope to nail down which batch of Skaven I'm doing next. This 'one unit + single model' approach seems to be working for me so I'll continue to do this. Until next time, thanks for looking!

Skaven Update #30

2011-04-14T19:03:00.007-05:00

Okay, here's what I've accomplished so far...

gutter unit #1
gutter unit #2 with a deathrunner
These Gutter Runners have been a real chore for me. I thought that these would be a quick paint considering they are mostly black. But, the longer I painted them the less motivated I became. Part of it is the sculpt; difficult to paint around. I think this is as far as I'm willing to go with these guys. I'm happy with the simple color scheme so let's just call them done and move on shall we?

I doubt I will ever field 2 units of 10 gutter runners- maybe 2 units of 5 at most. I just wanted to build as many as I could.

Still painting the Warp-grinder. Hope to get this done soon.

I'm not quite sure what's next on my Skaven plate. The night runners were suppose to be next but seeing how long these gutter runners took I might have to take a break from the models. My 'to do' rat list is always growing but on the top of list are:

1) Screaming Bell and unit: Originally I was going to update this clanrat unit by repainting the whole unit and then updating the bell by adding the large 60x100mm base. I even had a couple of ideas to fill up the enormous base that the bell would be on. It would've have been a nice project to work on but after seeing the great armies at Adepticon especially the Skaven in person I started having second thoughts. Right now, I still want to repaint the whole thing but instead keep the old 40x60mm base and officially retire/shelf the entire unit.

2) Rat ogres: Varying degrees of completeness. Where to begin? The old Boneripper mini would be the master bred in the unit but I need to make a special base for it. Not sure what though.

3) Giant rat pack: Another unit with varying degrees of completeness. I do want to add a unit filler in the unit, hence the empty 40x40mm base.

Decisions, decisions.

Adepticon 2011 re-cap

2011-04-04T17:40:00.019-05:00

Whew! Adepticon 2011 is finally over. Even though I didn't play any tourneys I was still exhausted. I went on Friday and Saturday and man was I overwhelmed. So many painted minis to look at. This year was definitely bigger than 2009. Not sure what they did last year but this time around the main hall was devoted to the registraion booth, Crystal Brush, the vendor area, and everything 40k.

First thing you saw was the immense diorama by Opposing Forces near the main hall entrance. Really awesome stuff. So many angles to appreciate.

The vendor area had your usual suspects like Battlefoam, Blue Table Painting, and Forgeworld which had an enormous line wrapping around the vendor area, no surprise there. Cool Mini or Not also had a shop which had products from Micro Arts and Dark Age to Soda Pop's Super Dungeon Explore.

Just outside the main hall there was a vendor called the Game Room that was always crowded. I walked over to see what was going on. I was pleasantly surprised to see bins! Bins full of bits! I was there for hours. Bought more bits than I should have and stayed there for way to long. Too long that I even missed a seminar that I was supposed to go to. Whoops! Among the things I bought there included the Death Angel card game by Fantasy Flight, numerous Skaven bits that I care to admit, and a couple of nice finds in the bits bin. One is a Gamesday mini still in the bag unopened for $15. The other is the metal Skaven army standard bearer that came exclusive in the battalion box- also for $15.

As the weekend went on Crystal Brush's display cases quickly filled up with wonderfully detailed minis.

more Crystal Brush pics click here

Next I immediately scanned the area for Brandon's Ork army, Mad Morks. This I had to see in person. Words cannot describe how awesome the army was. The theme, painting, and conversions were just ace. The display alone is one of the best I've seen. I found myself coming back to his army everytime I went in the main hall. When I found out it only took him a month from conception to completion I was even more impressed, and then later depressed. Curse you Brandon and your skillz! Lol.

for more Mad Morks and other 40k goodness click here

I was surprised to find out that the army actually ended up NOT receiving Best Appearance but Players' Choice instead. WTF?!?! Not sure why this happened. Conspiracy I tells ya! Players' Choice is basically just that, popular vote. It's favoritism. In a way it works as everyone loved the army. But the fact that the award probably doesn't even need an awesomely painted army is like a backhanded compliment, y'know? I'm glad Mad Morks was awarded something but it still feels wrong. Personally nothing came close, not even from the other halls from what I remember. The best in show imo.

There were a lot of cool 40k armies and it made me want to start one up! Even had me thinking of ideas for themes. While I thought Friday was crowded, Saturday was insane. It was packed in the main hall with 40k team tourneys players.

It wasn't until well after a couple of hours of wandering around the main hall that I realized the Fantasy stuff were nowhere to be found! Turns out that Fantasy was plopped with the rest of the non 40k folk on the other side of the hotel. Fortunately, each game system (Fantasy, Specialist Games, Privateer Press, and Flames of War) had there own hall. But, because they weren't near the main hall there wasn't much foot traffic. So when I went to check out the player's armies in the Fantasy hall I felt like an oddball even though it was probably okay.

more fantasy pics here

The SWAG didn't disappoint. Well I wasn't disappointed anyway. I was shocked to see a Warmachine Cryx starter set included in the bag. Apparently people got random Warmachine starter sets. In hindsight I wish I had asked around to see if anybody was willing to part with there Cygnar set. D'oh!

Overall, I had fun even though all I did was drool over the minis and take pictures. I actually didn't think I would have this much fun just wandering around. Although that free time did lead me to spending way too much time in the evil bits bin at the Game Room. Maybe next year I'll have a more structured itinerary.

If you want to see the rest of my pics check them out here. And before I sign out here's a little clip from Saturday in the main hall. Enjoy!

Skaven Update #29

2011-03-14T19:48:00.005-05:00

Another small update. Finally got a chance to pick up a decent brush. I can now start painting!

Still not done with the gutter runners. I've got most of the base coating done and started a little bit on the shading.

The warp-grinder is ready for priming. The hoses aren't permanent at the moment. I'll glue them afterwards. Maybe even add some greenstuff. I just don't want them to get in the way while I paint.

Skaven Update #28

2011-02-19T00:35:00.008-06:00

Whoops. Has it been that long? Dropped the ball on this one. Work the past few weeks has been overwhelmingly busy and, well, interesting to put it lightly. Can't say much about it only that 2011 will definitely be an eventful year. Anyway, enough of that and on with the pictures!

Let's start off with another bitz haul from my favorite bits place, Hoard O Bits!

I got myself some headless gnoblars, doomwheel bits, marauder horsemen weapons, bret bits, and kroot equipment.

Next is a Warp Grinder. It has been a WiP for a long time, stuck in the back burners for months. Only recently, I found what I was looking for. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this sucker real soon.

I haven't touched my gutter runners at all this year. Maybe I'll get some progress the next time I post.

Cough Cough

2011-01-20T00:54:00.005-06:00

Sorry, I haven't been posting much. I was sick for a week. I pretty much slept through New Years. Since then I've been recovering and catching up on some missed work. A LOT of work. Swamped really. You'd think I'd do some painting while I was sick at home. Nope.

I saw that GW released more new Skaven goodies- 2 weapon teams, 2 special characters, a 2-in-1 box kit, and the Abomination. All pretty good although I'd imagine the Warplightning Cannon/Plagueclaw Catapult kit and the Abom are the most useful of this wave. The 2 weapon teams, the warp-grinder and doom flayer, while both are really nice sculpts seem like they are least used of all the weapon teams. The special characters, Ikit and Tretch, are also nice figs but how often do we really use special characters? Still, all nice and I'd buy them all if I could but I'd probably just buy the Abomination and maybe the WLC/PCC soon after. Right now, though, even before the models, the thing to get I think is the Skaven Heraldry book. I'm surprised the Skaven got this before the usual suspects like High Elves, Orcs, and Dwarves. I need to grab a copy before they go out of print.

I recently picked up a ticket to go to Adepticon this year. I went two years ago and loved the swag. Almost worth price of admission. Should be really cool. This may sound lame but I didn't sign up for any tournaments. I was never big on tournaments and lugging around my army from table to table. I did sign up for a couple of seminars though which will hopefully help my painting. :)

I think I'll also attend Gamesday this year and actually consider entering Golden Demon. Zoiks! Yes I know, I don't what is coming over me. I have an idea as to what to do and it's a bit ambitious... especially for me. I better not break under the stress! I guess I should start soon then. Win or lose at least I'll get the Skaven Gamesday mini.

Anyway, in the following days or so I should be back to normal with the usual updates. Laters!

Hello 2011!!!

2011-01-02T19:08:00.004-06:00

Out with the old...

... in with the new!

I think this represents the current clanrat mini better. What do you think?

2010 Recap

2010-12-28T18:43:00.003-06:00

The year is almost over. It's time to reflect as 2011 draws near. 2010 for me started late. I was on a bit of a 'hobby hibernation' for a good 6+ months. The break actually did me some good as I noticed I've been painting differently. Whether if it's for the better or not is for you to decide. :)

definitely not legal
It was around May when I began painting again. It started off fairly good, fininshing a unit of 23 plague monks. Then throughout the rest of the year I worked on a bunch of single minis. Many were small insignificant minis like the dwarf slayer, Mordheim Eshin sorcerer, and even a Reaper CAV mech. But a couple were fairly large single Skaven minis. The doomwheel was the first 'big project' that involved some conversion. I wanted to update the old model by using some of the current bitz. I thought it was a good idea at the time and didn't think it would take too long to put it together. I was so wrong. I wasn't entirely happy with the way I executed it. As a result, I got very indecisive and hesitant. But in the end I think it still came out pretty good. The other big project- the Verminlord- however had no conversion and plenty of planning. It took a long time to finish it, mostly because of the 13 rats on the base, but I think it's my best model to date. I'm pretty happy with it. I did have 2 color schemes in mind at the time though. And I do have an extra VL (well 2 extra to be exact). I didn't glue the VL to it's base just in case something stupid like this happens. So maybe in the future I can paint up that other color scheme.

Later that same month I unexpectedly won a logo contest that I almost didn't enter. I submitted my logo literally 2 hours before the deadline. Now I got an IG battleforce on my shelf collecting dust... just waiting to be made. Waiting....

The IoB High Elf mage weekend project was a surprise. It was definitely an impulse moment. It was a good excuse to try out the new IoB minis for the first time. Plus, I didn't think I was even going to go through with it. But, I really wanted to enter the contest so the motivation alone helped me finish in the nick of time. Surprisingly it was a fun, learning experience and I think I did quite well- toot toot! Too bad I didn't win. Not even a single vote. Haha!

I ended the year finishing up a unit of Globadiers. A last minute thing. I thought I was done with the unit when I came across an old edition Globadier tucked away in a bitz box. The Gutter Runners should have been the last unit of the year but with the holidays and work I just couldn't get around to it. These will have to be first on the list for 2011.

All in all, I think 2010 was pretty productive. Despite starting late in the year I learned and accomplished a lot. I didn't paint a whole lot like last year (2009 Adepticon) but I think there was more quality this time around. Next year I hope to maybe work on more rank and file units instead of the single minis... or maybe an abomination conversion!!! Until next year!

Ho-hum

2010-12-22T17:36:00.006-06:00

Sorry, I haven't been doing much on the hobby front. Been too busy with other things. Mainly work and holiday stuff, but mostly work.

I have been working on a new avatar for my forum accounts though. Just doodling right now. I've been wanting to change it for a long time (hakomike might remember). I've been dragging my feet to work on something and all of sudden an entire year passes by! So from now until the end of the month I vow to make a new sprite for the new year so look for it soon!

Happy Holidays!

Skaven Update #27

2010-12-07T15:39:00.015-06:00

Finished my Globadier mini champion.

And here he is with the group.

I haven't made much progress with my gutter runners. I've been distracted with other things like playing some Fallout Tactics on the pc and finally catching up on The Walking Dead show. Man this show rocks! Hopefully I can do better this weekend.

I got an unexpected number of views on my photobucket account from an Italian Warhammer forum called forumgwtilea. Over the weekend it got some 1300 views and then another 1300 just yesterday alone. I normally get some 15 views a day- more if I actually post something. WTF is going on here?! Are they trashing my stuff or what? Anybody know Italian?

Weekend Project: IoB High Elf Mage DONE!!!

2010-12-01T16:01:00.004-06:00

Well I wasn't able to finish on Sunday like I planned. A bit ambitious I guess. But it's 99% done and I think I'm fine with that.

I had the hardest time figuring out how to paint the globe on the staff. I redid the freaking thing like 4 times and just settled with what I have now. I was so frustrated that I didn't even do the back side. Ugh, I know that'll gnaw at me for a while. The next hardest were the gems although they came out surprisingly well, better than I anticipated. I was really dreading them. Overall it was a pretty fun experience. I learned a lot: skin tones, painting new colors like blues and whites, and gems. I even tried glazing- fancy! Damn these elves. I can definitely use this when I start my Empire army... whenever that'll be.

Anyway, hope you like and now back to my rats!

Weekend Project: IoB High Elf Mage

2010-11-26T17:48:00.005-06:00

Thought I'd show you what I've been able to do so far.

First impressions of the mini are pretty good. The model is very detailed but very delicate. I accidentally broke off one of the swirly things underneath the mage while I was painting. Had a hard time deciding what color scheme I should go with so I went with the standard blue and white look. Also had problems with a couple of the GW paints. My Sunburst Yellow and Shining Gold weren't coating evenly. I shook the bottles pretty well and my brush is clean and neat(not worn out). I'm guessing it might be the paint so I'll pick up new pots tomorrow. Until next time!

Skaven Update #26

2010-11-24T13:47:00.009-06:00

I wasn't entirely focused these past few days so as a result, I worked a little on a few things but got nothing done.

Progress continues with the gutter runners. I got most of them covered in chaos black and tallarn flesh. I just started painting them with calthan brown. Their skin will be slightly lighter compared to my other units because their Eshin-wear will be black and I want a bit of contrast to make them stand out a bit.

Almost done with my proxy globadier champion. It's coming along. Small ain't he?

This Thanksgiving weekend I'm going to try and tackle this High Elf. The odds are stacked against me. I've got until the end of the month (next Tuesday, so 5 days!) and I've never painted an elf before let alone an elf with this much detail. I'm gonna try my best or...

... die trying!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Me Want

2010-11-22T20:35:00.004-06:00

GW just revealed their next Gamesday mini for 2011 and it's Skaven. Damn you GW.

I guess I'll be heading to Gamesday to pick one up.

From the BIts Box...

2010-11-17T11:26:00.008-06:00

The LGS I go to hosts a couple auctions every year. It's a great place to pick up some minis and bits and maybe even one or two boardgames. Last time I went I picked up a bag of miscellaneous GW bits for a few bucks. Awesome deal considering I got a couple of complete metal single minis along with some bits on sprues. Anyway I was rummaging through the bag and found this dude:

Can unmounted characters still use their lances? Is this mini usable? I wonder what the previous owner was thinking when he/she was putting this together. If it is afterall a legal mini I may paint it up as a painting exercise. Otherwise it may end up being a nice casualty.

Prepare to be dismembered elf! :)

Skaven Update #25

2010-11-11T18:28:00.008-06:00

First up is this guy.

He was pretty quick to paint up although I'm not sure what I'd use him as in my army. Possible Mordheim mini. Too bad I'm not playing any Mordheim campaigns at the moment.

I found this old mini in my box 'o minis.

I think he'll be a nice champion for my globadier unit. At least for the time being.

I thought I'd better start working on larger things like characters, war machines, and actual units besides working on these single minis that aren't even special characters. So, I began building up 20 gutter runners from old skaven minis that I bought secondhand a couple nights ago. They are all armed with claws and have dagger tails. A few are armed with either slings or stars. The champion has 2 claws.
This way I can make a single unit of 15 or make 2 units of 10. One oversight is that I only made 1 champion. I need to make another champion and maybe another 2 gutter runners just in case I choose not to have champions in the unit. I'm on the fence whether or not I should actually try to build the champions with weeping blades. Well, that's what I have going on right now. Until next time!

Skaven Update #24

2010-11-08T15:14:00.006-06:00

Done with the globadiers...
...well the main unit anyway. I added a gloss finish to the globes and I think they came out pretty good. Someday I want to add a champion, maybe converting one up. I have a couple of ideas, I just need to figure out how to execute it.

Mini Hunt: Wolves

2010-11-03T18:01:00.006-05:00

I can't seem to find a good wolf mini for my Koborlas faction, a lupine race (not werewolves) from Reaper's Warlord skirmish game. I am looking for a fairly accurate looking wolf that I can get multiples of at a reasonable price. Not much to ask for right?

Reaper does supply a couple but I'm not crazy about them. The sculpts are satisfactory but not dynamic enough.

GW's wolves were an obvious choice being cheap and plastic but the sculpts are worse than Reaper's. They look like rabid corgis. Maybe GW will update them soon like they did with their boars just recently? Here's hoping!

Avatars of War has one but it's way too bulky, expensive, and only one sculpt.

Privateer Press' Tharn Wolf Riders are actually quite decent and they are the closest to what I want. They look lean and the poses are dynamic unlike the others. Unfortunately, the bottom half of the riders are cast onto the wolf itself. Being metal, converting these would be a real pain, not to mention expensive.

I'm a little surprised how difficult it is to find a generic wolf sculpt. Maybe I'm too critical. Nah.

Skaven Update #23

2010-11-02T10:32:00.008-05:00

Time for another update! It's been a couple weeks since my last (sorry!). Worked on a few things these past few nights.

I'm almost done with my small unit of Globadiers. I need to add a couple more details before I can call this done. I'm still on the fence whether I should redo the globes. It's fine I guess. Maybe if I add a gloss it might look better. Overall, I am pretty happy with the way the unit turned out so far. I don't know why it's taken me this long... better finish it soon... like tonight.

I'm almost done with this little dude too. I'm not sure what else to do to him besides adding the eyes and grass. Other than that I think I'll be done with him shortly.

I started painting this old warpfire thrower team over the weekend. Should finish it fairly quickly. I was also looking at my ratling gun team and was thinking of repainting it or at the very least updating it a little. It might be me but I think my painting changed a bit(for better or worse) when I went on that 6 month hobby hiatus. Weird.

Anyway I hope to finish the Globadiers and the single vermin warrior tonight.

Underempire finished their September/October painting contest this week. I didn't enter unfortunately. I wanted to do a converted weapon team but I just didn't have the bits and the motivation to tackle it. This next and final one of the year is open so any GW product is fair game. I'd like to do something for this and I have a couple of ideas but we'll see.

Pinball Expo 2010

2010-10-25T17:23:00.008-05:00

Went to Pinball Expo over the weekend. Yes, pinball machines. Yes, with the silver ball and yes they still make them. :) It was held at the Westin in Wheeling again. Had a great time. Got to meet old friends and even made new ones. Of all the times I went to Pinball Expo this was by far the most entertaining.

Thursday, for the first time I actually went to most of the seminars. Overall they were pretty informative. Later that day I invited a couple of old gaming friends that I haven't seen in awhile, met at my first Superdawg for dinner, and played 'til about midnight. Oh and completely out of the blue, someone gave me a bottled present.

Friday, was more of the same minus the seminars. Not as much gaming but whole lotta people were there- a nice young crowd even. Always nice to see that. Stayed around until 1AM. I would've stayed a little longer but my feet were killing me.

I went back Saturday night for the banquet where Python Anghelo- famous artist in the pinball community- was speaker. Heavy on the accent, maybe had a few to drink, and possibly the longest speech in expo history. Started clean and got really 'colorful' towards the end. He was definitley the highlight of the night.

Like previous expos Thursday and Friday were the best times. Thursday is great because there aren't that many people so you can play the games. Friday is great because that's when the crowds, young and old, come in. By Saturday a chunk of the machines were sold and packed away. Same goes with the merchandise. I waited too long to pick up a couple of souvenirs.

I wish I had taken more pics. Always next year I guess...

Skaven Update #22

2010-10-14T19:56:00.020-05:00

Worked on the globadiers past couple of nights and got most of the basecoating and washing done. Details and highligts are next.

Althought the paint scheme is rather basic and unoriginal I hope to convert up a champion for the unit. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a suitable body to start with. The obvious choice I thought would be to use either a plague monk or a packmaster as a base. But, when I put one next to the unit I saw a size difference. The plague monk is significantly smaller than the metal globadiers. Maybe add basing material like rocks to stand on to compensate for its smaller stature? Hmm, I'll have to think about that.

I started this little guy too.

Oh and look what I got in the mail yesterday!

As you probably have guessed from my previous posts I ended up choosing Imperial Guard as my prize. To be honest I'm not terribly excited to assemble and paint all these dudes but what I am excited about is that my long time dream project of making a Cobra-themed army is finally coming true! Well, it's one step closer.

The shirt is way cool. I was actually expecting the traditional white tee with the logo silk-screened. It's a collared gray shirt with the logo embroidered. I'm impressed. Very professional looking. I even got the title 'Logo Master'! Hmm, I wonder if there is a 'Logo Keeper' too...

Thanks again to Battleroad Games and Hobbies for choosing my logo!

Priming for Winter... or Not

2010-10-06T00:47:00.004-05:00

Haven't been painting much. Life stuff. Work stuff. Anyway I'm thinking I might need to start priming any miniatures I plan to paint before winter comes along. Fortunately I paint slow so I don't really need to prime much. :P Then again I already have plenty of stuff ready to paint. :P :P

Possible priming contenders if I choose to prime:
20 Empire Spearmen
16 Empire Handgunners
an old WE Treeman
30 Clanrats with spears.

I've started basecoating my 6 Globadiers. I'll post pics when I've basecoated the whole unit. Like I said I just started.

I had this idea of a simple conversion for a weapon team in the back burners for awhile now. I think I have all the bitz to put it together. With another UE painting competition coming up I should aim to finish it.

I still haven't figured out as to what Battleforce/Battalion set I should pick up. Here's what I've come up with so far...

1) Space Marines- Solid choice if I've got nothing else to choose. Probably go Black Templars if I pick them. Then eventually get a Crusader Land Raider (drools).
2) Orks & Tyranids- Although there are some great minis in their line, I don't think I can handle another horde army. However, I wouldn't mind picking up those Black Reach Orks sometime in the future.
3) Imperial Guard- I guess this could be categorized as a horde army as well but I've been really wanting to make a Cobra (yes G.I. Joe) themed army for the longest time. It would be a good excuse to finally start one.
4) Tau- Not enough minis I like to jump into. I only like the Piranhas actually.
5) Dark Eldar- I never had an interest in the army to be honest. Not even an inkling. But after seeing some of the new sculpts that have started to trickle in on the internet I am quite intrigued. Eh, I think I'll end up liking some and hating the rest much like the Tau.
6) Empire- I have units already from the previous starter set as well as the current army book. It would seem like the obvious choice but I really hate GW dropping the Pistoliers from the set. It would have been a no-brainer I think. Now I'm not too crazy about the set.

The rest of the armies either has little to no interest from me or there just aren't enough minis I like in the army to justify getting a Battleforce/Battalion set. After writing this it sounds like I may be leaning toward IG after all...

Nope, still not sure.

OMG!

2010-09-26T16:04:00.008-05:00

Holy crap I can't believe I won!

Battleroad Games and Hobbies recently had a logo contest on Dakka Dakka and posted the winner yesterday- me. Yay me!

Hmm, now I got to figure out which Battleforce/Battalion set I should get. I've been a Skaven player (ok hobbyist) for most of my life so I think this would be the perfect time to test new waters, maybe even try 40k... but I doubt I'd play it. So overwhelming, I can't believe I'm stressing over this. Any suggestions? I'm totally clueless right now.

EDIT: If you want to see my entry check it here at their blog site.

Skaven Update #21

2010-09-07T18:58:00.004-05:00

Ok done with my littlest rat ogres Riff and Raff.

I think they came out alright. Seeing them up close on the monitor, I may do some touch ups but I think I can call this one done.

An added bonus... well sort of...

I thought you might want to see some size comparisons of the different metal figs from previous editions.

Noticed Something Funny...

2010-09-02T16:09:00.003-05:00

So today on the GW site they have an article on box cover art. It was pretty cool to see all of the editions on one page. Anyway they have the IoB cover art as a wallpaper and proceeded to download it. When I took a gander of the art in all its glory I noticed something rather amusing in the background...

Little winged rats carrying censers! Ha! Anybody else notice this? I so want to model this now!

Skaven Update #20

2010-09-01T19:48:00.009-05:00

Well another great Underempire Painting Competition has come and gone. Lots of awesome entries again too. Still haven't seen it at full capacity though. One of these days...

Anyway here was my entry:

The Vermin Lord!!! I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Managing all the rats (all 13 even!!!) was a pain, literally gluing and painting one rat at a time. I was smart (hey, I have my moments) enough to wait on gluing the Vermin Lord onto his base last so I can work on the little rats. More pics and a mini slideshow here. Anyway hope you like and now I got to think about the next project for the next painting competition!

Skaven Update #19 and a half

2010-08-31T18:13:00.004-05:00

Didn't have much time over the weekend but it's getting there.

I'm pretty much done with the first rat ogre- maybe a couple details. The second rat ogre is about halfway through and I've just started to basecoat the base.

Next time I post I should be done. I might even show a sneak peek of what's next! Until then, thanks for looking!

Skaven Update #19

2010-08-25T14:19:00.006-05:00

Even though there is a large amount of Island of Blood talk now more than ever I've been recently inspired from threads on Underempire that featured old skaven minis. So from the stuff I listed on things to do I've decided to work on a couple of vintage rat ogres (which would have been part of #2 on the list).

Let me introduce you to Riff and Raff. I'll be using them as either one rat ogre unit or a unit filler for my vintage clanrats.

And here's my progress from last night. It's not much but I think it's coming along.

Looking at these minis makes me want to take size comparison pictures of all the rat ogres I have. My, have the ogres grown!

Skaven Update #18

2010-08-18T20:51:00.003-05:00

Whew!!! I didn't think I was going to finish this weekend but in the wee hours of Sunday night/ Monday morning I finally finished my entry for this month's painting competition. What is my entry you say? Well you'll have to check out the competition to see what I did. But, will you be able to guess which one is mine?

In the meantime I've been trying to decide on what to do next:

1a) Convert a Warp Grinder weapon team. I have a pretty solid idea on what to do. But, that would mean I'll need to whip up a unit of Night Runners to accompany them.

1b) Whip up Night Runner unit. Not really in the mood to do these dudes but they should paint quite easy considering they will be mostly black.

2) Convert unit fillers(x2). I have a couple of older models that I can use to make 2 unit fillers: one specifically for my night runner unit (ugh, them again) and the other is more generic maybe for a unit of clanrats.

3) War-litter or Bonebreaker? I sort of have an idea for a war-litter conversion but would a Bonebreaker be a better direction?

4) I could also try for the next painting competition which will be warmachines. No plans for conversions though just a straight up paint job.

5) Update my 6th edition Screaming Bell. Maybe touch up the paint and base it on the larger 60x100.

There are ton more I can do but these are on top of the list at the moment. Any suggestions?

All FAQ'ed Up!

2010-07-23T12:25:00.003-05:00

Man, first it was the much needed Jeremy Vetock FAQ for his wonderful job on the Skaven rulebook (being sarcastic here). Then there was the FAQ to update all the armies for 8th edition. Now, there's FAQ for the 8th edition rulebook!!! Talk about FAQ overload. FAQ! FAQ! FAQ!

I had other titles...
"Oh, FAQ me another FAQ?!"
"FAQ you and your Erratas!"
"Un-FAQ'in believable!"

ok I got one more...

"Meet the FAQ'ers"

Hmmm...

2010-07-16T17:43:00.005-05:00

I guess I caved. I'll have to set aside some time over the weekend and peruse this impulse buy and see if it was worth it. First quick impressions: although nice and shiny, my college text books were also nice and shiny and just as expensive. Will I need to take a lecture class along with this? Should a hobby ever need a book this big?!

Skaven Update #17

2010-07-15T18:26:00.007-05:00

Well things are going pretty smoothly with my Single Character entry. I'm done with the base somewhat and most of the mini has paint on it- certain areas more finished than others. I don't want to jinx myself but I think it's coming along rather nicely!

Onto other things...

These guys have been pretty much done for awhile, I just didn't have the time to take pics and post them. So here they are! The newer PCB mini kind of stands out from the unit as I only have 1 (side note: came from a bits bag I bought from a local auction). I guess I can count him as a champion for now. In the future I plan to pick up more of the newer PCBs and eventually convert a champion out of the plague monk box. Well that's the plan anyway. In any case, I hope you like them!

Change of Plans

2010-07-06T18:45:00.003-05:00

Well I was planning on making a Skaven War litter conversion for Underempire's upcoming Single Character Painting Competition but as I started the project I was not liking how it was coming together. Plus I started getting other ideas in my head and began to second guess the entire project. I guess I didn't think it through well enough. Oh well, I'll have to wait on this until I'm happy with one good idea.

Good news is I've replaced it with another project. Fortunately, this time around there weren't any converting involved. Thanks to no converting I've started painting it already. Yay! Now let's hope I don't procrastinate and end up not finishing on time!

How Very Excruciatingly Tempting

2010-06-29T18:49:00.004-05:00

I was planning on passing the 8th edition big red book and just wait a couple months for the mini rulebook that's included in the starter set. Granted it's a gorgeous book with lots of pictures but it's freaking $75!!! So then I get this newsletter from an internet store that I subscribed to offering the book 25% off retail plus $3 shipping. Dangit! So tempting! Argh! Do I or Don't I? Stay tune to see if I break...

Skaven Update #16

2010-06-22T16:35:00.014-05:00

It was close but I finally finished my entry to Underempire's monthly painting contest: Rare Unit. Although there are some really great entries I actually had expected more people participating this time around. Bit of a bummer considering the amount of conversions I've been seeing on the forums. Tough to beat those abomination conversions. Surprised to see there were a couple of classic doomwheels and no new ones. Overall really great stuff. Anyway I'm still unsure if I'm happy with the end result so I ended up not gluing certain pieces. Also the banner pole is a little too bare for my liking. I'll have to add an actual banner sometime.

Currently, I'm finishing a small group of 7 metal plague censer bearers. I'm also about to start on my next project which will be for next month's contest: Single Character. Work however has started to pick up again so who knows how much time I'll get these next few weeks.

Hobby Tip: bottle caps

2010-05-27T14:37:00.007-05:00

Although not a new idea, bottle caps are a great inexpensive way to make counters/tokens for your miniature games.

Normally the caps I've seen are fairly thick or tall as pictured on the left above. Recently however Ice Mountain water bottles started to come out with a shorter cap. I figure instead of wasting $$$ using actual miniature bases for gaming aids this would be a nice alternative.

Skaven Update #15

2010-05-26T15:35:00.008-05:00

So I finally finished my Skaven Eshin Sorcerer. It was a quick and dirty paint job but I think it came out ok.

I had some time off from work so I was able to work on a few more...

I finished the assassin and almost finished the gutter runner and the slayer. Although the assassin and the gutter runner were fairly easy it was tough to get that subtle highlighting on their black outfits. I like how my slayer is turning out but I was having trouble with the metal and jewelry. I can't seem to get a nice effect on the gems and on the axe head. I need more practice that's for sure.

I even worked on my Reaper CAV Starhawk V conversion.

Next up are my PCB's. Like the Plague Monks I recently finished, these PCB's were also half done and never got around to finishing them. I think this unit- along with the side project for the Underempire contest- I should be good for the next few weeks.

Skaven Update #14

2010-05-10T13:56:00.001-05:00

Quick update! Done painting my plague monk unit. Wish I had another 2 metal minis to make it 25. Still not sure if I should add static grass and what type if I do.

Next up is is an Eshin sorcerer. Remember them? Not sure why I'm painting this now but, oh well, I'm painting it anyway.

Skaven Update #13.5

2010-05-03T23:26:00.007-05:00

So here's a little something for the time being. I'm pretty happy with the finished product despite being out of the hobby for several months. I just need to finish the rest (23 with full command) and I'll be finally done with my first painted plague monk unit! There's not much else to do with the rest just small details mainly. I also need to decide what to do on my banner and scroll. Oh, and figure out if I should use the dead grass on this unit... :P

I know I shouldn't be jumping ahead before I even cross my plague monks off my 'to do' list but I've got a few projects next in line. The next item to tackle will be my entry for Underempire's May-June Rare Unit Competition. I've got a pretty good idea of what to do and I've already started ordering my bitz. I actually don't expect to win this as I've seen a ton of great conversions in the forums and I expect a lot of entries specifically for that competition- maybe even filling all 15 entry spaces. I've been meaning to enter more of these but my timing has been really off. In fact my plague monks were suppose to be in the current competition but I just didn't have enough time. No prizes for these competitions, it just keeps me motivated.

Anyway, in addition to this main project I also hope to finish off a couple single minis that are collecting dust. So here's fingers crossed and hope I get through this.

Soon!

2010-04-09T00:36:00.003-05:00

Been busy with work the past few months. Back to back to back projects really hurt my hobby activities. I mean seriously absolutely no hobby stuff whatsoever. Well aside from one board game night- nothing! Work has started to slow down enough that I've been able to work on my neglected Skaven. Updates should be coming within the next couple weeks... hopefully.

Skaven Update #13

2009-12-14T19:37:00.009-06:00

Well it has certainly been a long few months. Work has been quite busy as of late and only just recently I've been able to sneak in a little bit of hobby time. So onto the WiPs!

With all the current Skaven hype I thought I'd go back to my old plague monk unit and see if I can finally finish them. They are about half way done. I still need to figure out what to do with the banner. So far I think they are coming along nicely.

This little guy will be added to one of my slave units. Pretty close to finishing him, just final highlights and static grass.

Finally got paint on this CAV/Mechwarrior conversion. I'd like to paint additional details to the mini but I'm unsure as to what. I thought about adding hazard yellow/black stripes but I'm not sure where to put it. I'll need to look at some more mech pictures for ideas.

I've been seeing a lot of great Skaven conversions and been taking notes! Hopefully I'll be able to jump in with the rest and start creating my own warlitter, rat ogre bodyguard, abomination... *gulp*!

Other Skaven related news...

I've been an Underempire member for a few years now and I've had my avatar for about just as long. There's actually a tiny bit of history behind my avatar. Another Underempire member was in a middle of an ambitious project trying to make an old school, 8-bit style, Skaven-themed, role playing game and was requesting help. I eagerly volunteered my services and I ended up working on the environment tiles and the main character, Sharpfang. Long story short, the project lost steam and I was left with a bit of unused art. As a result, Sharpfang became my avatar ever since. In fact, I've used the Sharpfang avatar on all the other GW message boards that I've joined.

Just recently I noticed a new Underempire member using my avatar. I wasn't ticked or peeved. I was actually a bit flattered. But, it did make me want to create another skaven sprite. Just what would it be?

It' Here!!!

2009-11-06T10:53:00.009-06:00

Just got my Skaven book in the mail today! Woohoo!

It's Thursday, What Else Is New?

2009-10-29T19:32:00.008-05:00

I've held off my Skaven projects until I get the new book. With all the rat talk about rules and stuff I don't want to be making/painting anything that I won't be using. Hearing about my nightrunners and gutter runners becoming rank and file, for example, is making me reconsider the way I assembled them. I intentionally used the large tails because they were skirmishers. Now that they are ranked they're going to be a real pain in the ass lining them up. Once I get the rulebook I'll be able to straighten all this out.

In the meantime, I've been keeping sort of busy with these...

Do you have a bunch of old Mechwarrior minis collecting dust? Want to use them somehow? Buy a weapons pack from Reaper's CAV line and tada!

I have an old WE treeman and added a couple branch bitz from the dryad sprue and came up with this:

Don't know much about treemen but thought the mini was cool at the time. The new treemen minis are way bigger so this would have to be a treekin.

In other news, I saw great episode of Castle a couple nights ago called Vampire Weekend. If you are a Nathan Fillion fan from the Firefly(sniff sniff) days watch it. If you like anything Nathan Fillion you're probably a fan of the crime show already. Check it out at ABC or on Hulu.

More Rats, More Problems Pt. 2

2009-10-15T18:59:00.008-05:00

So I just just saw the new Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace kit and OMG they are huge! There's no doubt they look awesome but man it's borderline over the top. The previous bells were 2x6 or 40x60mm and these 2 look like they're 60x100mm big. Maybe I'm just used to the last 2 versions and seeing these is a bit of shock. Are large unit types like dragons, stegadons, and hydras the new trend these days? Will we be seeing a new Empire War Shrine or Griffin in the future? Or how about a big Dwarf train? It's like GW is trying to replicate the large scale of 40K Apocalypse with it's tanks, stompas, and valkyries.

If I see a second wave of Skaven releases and I see an Abomination plastic kit I'll certainly crack.

More Rats, More Problems

2009-10-05T17:25:00.001-05:00

GW posted new pictures of the new Skaven today and guess what- I am in love with them all and that really sucks for my wallet.

Stormvermin
Just really awesome. The style closely resembles the fifth edition version with the crested helmets. The similar reddish color schemes also reinforces their similarities. I currently have 2 units of 20 Stormvermin and seeing how the new box is going for $50, I don't think this will be part of my initial purchase.

Clanrats
These are also great. I noticed that they have 2 different sizes, one taller than the other. The taller minis look more heavily armored while the smaller ones have little to no armor. Possible slave/clanrat mix? It'll be curious to see how these will compare to the previous minis. In any case these will definitely be a first buy.

Doomwheel
I think my absolute favorite from this wave. Very streamlined and more steam-punk looking. It looks more like a 2nd generation Doomwheel rather than a different take or a re-imagined warmachine. My biggest concern is how much of a pain it will be to assemble and paint it. I anticipate much planning. It's a good thing it's plastic; that's half the battle.

Snikch
I thought the old model was great but it was way too big for it's base- like a lot of the character minis back then. This Snikch looks great with the 3 poisoned daggers. The cape flowing upwards feels a bit too stylized for my taste but considering that the mini seems to fit it's base better than the previous mini that's a good thing in my book.

Skweel
New character?! Bonus! From the fluff it sounds like he'll be a Hero type. Personally for a horde army where quantity over quality is best, I think there should be more Hero types than Lord. But that's just me. Anyway the warpstone- tipped cat-o-nine tails looks sweet!

Queek
I think the coolest character of the 3 characters. Not too crazy about his leaping pose but I can live with it. Not sure if I'll pick him, or the other characters for that matter, up in my initial purchase but sure enough I will sooner or later.

Overall I was pretty impressed with the quality of the models especially the Doomwheel. Quite surprised really. Which to buy first? Well aside from the book I think the Doomwheel and the Clanrat box- you can never have enough of clanrats! I am so much into the look of the new D-wheel that I really want it. As for the others I can live without them... for now. So kudos to GW for a great start!

Looks like I'll be eating Ramen for awhile...

It's in the Cards

2009-08-31T19:28:00.000-05:00

I'm in a weird 'cards' phase at the moment. I've been on a miniature painting hiatus so I've had time to wander around the net and check out a number of games that's been mentioned at the recent Gencon and various gaming sites. The following games are card games that piqued my interest recently but aren't necessarily in the same category or genre that you'd assume card games would be in.

It first started with me jumping back into an old college favorite and the grandaddy of all collectible games: Magic: the Gathering card game. I finally picked up the set of intro packs in the new 2010 core set for light, quick, casual multiplayer games. I haven't played this game since '95 so it's nice to see that the game hasn't changed much. This was the first game that quickly taught me the harsh lessons of a collectible game. Just after a year and a half, 2 expansions later, and one college drop-out friend less, I was done buying.

Funny enough, years later when my friends and I started playing Mechwarrior, the collectible miniature game, they didn't want to hear about the evil cycle collectible games have.

This next game I heard a lot of good things. One of the top 5 games of 2008 from what I gathered. And all this time I assumed it was a board game. Dominion, in fact, is card game. Some 500 cards to be exact, all in one box. More importantly, it's not a collectible card game but instead has expansions like any other board game. I'll have to find a way to pick this one up.

The next card game is an abstract version of a typical miniature game, but without the minis. War of Edadh is a collectible card wargame with armies and troops and terrain. It's not at all like Battlegrounds where the cards are units and played out like miniature games on a table with dice. WoE is more abstract than that which involves card drafting and card management and without- as far as I know- dice. Currently, I am more intrigued on how to play this game than I am wanting to pick it up at the moment.

The last game is quite the opposite of War of Edadh. Malifaux by Wyrd, more famous for their minis, is a miniature game without dice. The game instead uses decks of cards to determine outcomes such as combat and magic in the game. Very different from every other mini game out there as dice are practically a must in the genre. This is another game that I'm just curious to try out now than to pick up. Although getting into the game is quite affordable ($60 for the book and a faction box), for me, I'm just tapped out for miniature games.

Ouch, My Wallet!

2009-08-20T17:27:00.000-05:00

Wow, a few things popped up just recently that made me jump up and down like a little kid and sad like a whimpering puppy at the same time.

First, Games Workshop recently announced that they will release Space Hulk, an old board game I remember fondly as a kid. As soon as a I saw the pictures of the gorgeous minis and board tiles I was ready to add it my basket. That quickly came to a halt when I saw the price tag of $99!!! Ouch!

Second came from Sony. Sony is finally releasing a new slim version(smaller, less noise, and less power consumption) of the PS3 with a bigger hard drive(from 80gb to 120gb). They also dropped the price to $299. While that is extremely sexy to me it's still a fairly big chunk of moolah. I would still have to pick up a game and/or a couple Bluerays on top of that.

Finally, Warseer posted new pics of the upcoming new Skaven Clanrat minis slated for later this year and they are awesome unfortunately. I was hoping they wouldn't make any new Clanrats as I already have 3 units of 30 clanrats and another unit of 30 in the works. More new Skaven minis are coming and if they look just as good as the new Clanrats I really don't know what I'm going to do. Hmmm, there is a plasma bank near my work...

As much as I loved Space Hulk back in the day, $100 for a board game is just way too rich for my blood. For me it was the easy yet fun rules that made this game rock. The enriched 40k theme was secondary. I could just very well just pick up an old copy of the game or even make one from scratch from the resources online. Incursion by Grindhouse games has a similar rules to Space Hulk but with a Weird War theme and their stuff- aside from minis- is free. Here's hoping someone I know will pick this one up.

When the first PS3s came out at $399 and $499, I plainly refused to buy one. But, I knew I was going to get the PS3 eventually. Now that they announced the price drop I may be picking one up sooner rather than later.

The new Skaven minis will also probably be a definite buy depending on the sculpts of course. I'm just hoping I won't be buying the entire new line! Curse you GW and your fluffy rats!

Ack, all of this in a span of a week. Shortly after GenCon even. I didn't go to the convention but I sure don't want to see my buddies who went. They'll start talking about more crap that I'd want to pick up. Game overload man! Game overload!

Skaven Update #12

2009-07-24T14:41:00.000-05:00

Been awhile since I last posted anything miniature related. Rest assured I was busy painting! I've been working on a unit of jezzails for a painting contest over at Rites of War. There are great entries so do check the site out!

I originally wanted more arrows on them but I kept breaking them off by accident. Very frustrating! Eventually, I'll add more. Right now I'm just glad I finished another unit!

E3 Goodness

2009-06-26T19:49:00.000-05:00

E3 finished a few weeks ago(a bit late yes I know) and news of future video games have already been online for people to see. I'm I a bit behind in consoles, still happily gaming on my PS2. But, after seeing some of the trailers my wanting to get a PS3 is greater than before. The only thing preventing me from jumping in is the price. I still can't justify the $400 and $500 price tag. In fact I was expecting a price drop announcement from Sony by now but no budge. Guess I'll still game on my PS2 for a little while longer. By the time Sony drops their price I'm sure all the games I want to play would already be marked down... which is quite alright by me.

Check out some of the coolest trailers from Gametrailers...

Video Games | Best of E3 2009 Awards | Best Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This game is not helping me keep away from buying a PS3 this moment.

Video Games | The Last Guardian | E3 09: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Need to occupy myself. I better get back to painting!

Skaven Update #11

2009-06-15T17:01:00.000-05:00

I finally finished my Aberration project over the weekend. Well pretty close to complete. After taking some pictures I noticed the mini looked rather dark. I've already sent my entry so I may have to add more highlights later. Pictures will have to come later once the competition is over.

In the meantime, here's a non-Skaven, non-GW mini I also worked this past week.

It's a Reaper CAV mini called the Chancellor.

On to the next unit!

Mini Break Update

2009-05-27T19:38:00.000-05:00

Well I'm done with my little side project, for now. The Lupines are table top worthy and if my gaming group will play more often I'll go back and work on them some more.

I'm happy with them. They turned out pretty good I think.

Also did some doodling over the weekend. Been awhile since I put pencil to paper, felt a bit rusty. Pencil and Photoshop, 6-8 hours in a span of 2 days.

I've had this idea for quite some time and wanted to make a conversion of it. But, seeing as how I work at a snail's pace when it comes to this hobby I figure I should just draw it. Based off of the Jai alai's cesta I thought it would be cool for a Globadier to use one to lob globes with. I imagined this version of a globadier as part of a weapon team: the lobber and the globe handler. I should go back and finish the second skaven :P

C&C as always!

Now off to paint more Skaven!!!

Mini Break

2009-05-13T16:05:00.000-05:00

Adepticon wore me out, and I only played one tournament. A team tourney even! So, I've given myself a break from my rats and work on something else.

A few friends started playing a game called Warlord by Reaper Miniatures. It's a skirmish type game similar to GW's Mordheim. It's a nice little game and I was instantly drawn to their Lupine faction. Unfortunately, I didn't care much for their minis. My story would have stopped there but I absolutely love Rackham's Wolfen minis from their Confrontation game. It was a great excuse to pick them up and with a quick base swap- voila!

They are prepainted minis but they aren't bad actually. With maybe a little wash and highlights it'll look great I think. In the end, I did pick up the Moor Hound, my only Reaper mini in the bunch and the only real painting I'll have to do for this project. This shouldn't take me long... knock on wood.

I haven't completely taken my rats off the list though. My next step for them will be to bring them up to 1500 points. At first, I thought it'll be another big project for me. But, after taking a look at a couple mock lists it's not as bad as I thought. I have a few options...

1) add a plague monk(20)+censer(5) unit which are mostly painted
2) add a jezzail unit(7-8) that hasn't even been primed
3) add a giant rat(3 packs) unit that's half painted
4) add a rat ogre(3) unit that are done except for their packmasters
5) add a warp lightning cannon that's half done but I want to add a base to it that needs a bit of planning

Although the rat ogres are practically done, they really suck game-wise so I'm a bit reluctant adding them to my army. I can pretty much do a combination of any of them except with #1 which would use much of the 500 points.

Adepticon 2009

2009-04-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

My very first A-con is finally over and boy am I exhausted!

The first thing everyone saw was the enormous 14' Ork spaceship.

More pics here.

The line to registration was tolerable. After a half hour or so waiting in line I got my bag-o-goodies.

I was surprised by the amount of cool things you got.

Walked around the rather small vendor area. Saw some great Battlestar Galactica minis but decided not to get any.

There were a lot of cool painted armies and I wish I had taken more pictures!

On Saturday I played a Space Hulk demo. I forgot how fun and easy the game was!

The Team Tournament was on Sunday and overall it was great. It didn't start well, but as the day went on, the more I enjoyed it.

Team 'Green Legs and Sqeeks' in all its glory!

Our first game was against VC and Demons. What an evil list! It wasn't even fun. The hightlight of the game (if you can call it that) was when my slaves rolled 'snake eyes' for their break test. Talk about insanely stupid courage! First game, Lost.

Second game was against Goblins and Nurgle. Not as tough as the last game but they did have the Great Unlean One and 4 spear chukkas. Nice players though; funny too. Weirdest game of the day. Never saw so many 1s rolled on both sides. Highlight of the game would have to be my gutter runners popping up near their chukkas and wiping them out. Draw.

Third game was against Warriors of Chaos and Demons. This was probably the most enjoyable. Really nice folks from Ohio. Tough list but still not as tough as our previous opponents. Closest game of the tree too. Draw.

Final record: 0-2-1.

For more insight, check out my teammate's post of Adepticon.

Additional pics courtesy of prelude_to_war.

Skaven Update #10

2009-03-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

Another end of the week progress report.

I think a couple more nights and all 3 units will done and ready for basing.

Just started doing the washes on the clanrats armor. They also need a bit of highlighting on their skin. Finishing touches to come soon, I hope.

More finishing touches here.

I should point out that during this time I have been painting only 4 minis in this unit. I had replaced 4 skaven with 3 night goblins (for variety) and 1 proper looking skaven slave.

Skaven Update #9

2009-03-16T18:43:00.001-05:00

Another update! Still chugging along. It's taking longer than I expected. I wanted to be done- or mostly done any way- with these units by now.

I have to do the armor, shields, and hand weapons. Still needs a wash.

Only got to do a couple of coats of brown on this unit.

This slave unit needs a bit more touch up and finish the goblins.

Still loads more stuff to do. Need to also start working on my general!

An Awesome Surprise

2009-03-09T18:10:00.000-05:00

So let me tell you a story about a friend of mine. He and I used to work together. A few years ago he had an idea of making a board game. Off and on, he'd bounce ideas off of me (and a lot of other people too). Early on, he'd ask me to do some art but towards the end he did most of it. He's quite a Paint Shop Pro veteran now. Last year, after many iterations and play-testing he decided to enter it to Hippodice, an annual design competition held in Germany. Fast forward to yesterday morning and I get a call from my friend telling me he actually won first place! Yay!!! On top of that, his game might actually get published! Holy crap!!! Check out his Holy Crap post on his Noblemen blog and check out the links. Congrats again Dwight!

Skaven Update #9

2009-03-09T18:01:00.000-05:00

Quick update time. Didn't have much time over the weekend as I'd hoped.

If you didn't notice any changes from last week's pic I drybrushed heavily all the primed minis scorched brown and did a second drybrush of bestial brown on both slave units. I also started basecoating the night goblins. This week I hope to drybrush the clanrat unit with bestial brown as well, and start basecoating the details on the rest of the army.

Skaven Update #8

2009-03-03T17:10:00.000-06:00

Ok, I've finally finished priming everything for my army so aside from doing the movement trays it's all painting from here on out.

Skaven Update #7.1

2009-02-19T18:09:00.000-06:00

Work was brutal last week so I didn't get much done. This week was little more productive.

I finally finished basing both slave units and my general. Took 2 nights to finish. Now I need to base all of clanrat unit #2, finish the conversion work on a few slaves(thanks Chris for the night goblins!) and conversion work on my general. Once everything is primed I'll post another progress pic.

1) clanrat unit #1: paint bases, and static grass
2) clanrat unit #2: everything
3) clanrat unit #3: paint bases, and static grass
4) slave unit #1: prime and paint
5) slave unit #2: finish conversion work, prime and paint
6) gutter runner unit: paint bases, and static grass
7) ratling gun team: paint base, and static grass
8) warpfire thrower team: paint base, and static grass
9) warlock engineer: paint base, static grass, and retouch paint
10) hero: finish conversion work, prime and paint
11) giant rat pack: paint bases, and static grass
12) paint/magnetize all movement trays and bases

Skaven Update #7

2009-01-22T23:27:00.001-06:00

Well, after much talk with my teammate I think this is the army that I will be fielding. I'm short on a few slaves but I hope I can find something on Ebay... something like night goblins would be nice to fill up the ranks. I'm also needing a proper hero to lead the bunch. I have a couple ideas but it's still up in the air.

Pretty much everything will need to be touched up in some way. So here's my To-D0-List:
1) clanrat unit #1: finish basing
2) clanrat unit #2: everything
3) clanrat unit #3: finish basing
4) slave unit #1: base and do everything to a few replacements
5) slave unit #2: start basing and do everything
6) gutter runner unit: start basing
7) ratling gun team: finish basing
8) warpfire thrower team: finish basing
9) warlock engineer: finish basing and retouch paint
10) hero: find one and do everything
11) giant rat pack: finish basing
12) paint/magnetize all movement trays

All this by the end of March/ beginning of April. Wish me luck, 'cause I'm going to need it!

Skaven Update #6.2

2009-01-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

So it might be looking like I'll be participating in a Warhammer team tourney in April. In which case I'll be doing a lot of painting in the following weeks and in turn more updates! Soon I'll have a list so I can figure out how much actual work I'll have to do. Keep your eyes peeled!

Skaven Update #6.1

2008-12-16T19:36:00.001-06:00

Small update. Really small.

I finally picked up some cork to use on my Aberration base. It's almost done. I still need to add boils.

I also finally assembled some Empire infantry... which will technically be my second army.

Next on the list is to base a unit of giant rats and finish assembling/basing 2 rat ogre packs. Once they are done I can probably start priming the bunch. However, seeing that it's winter and it's crazy cold outside, I doubt I'll be doing that anytime soon. Sooo, I'll be either assembling/basing more minis OR paint the stuff I already have. Choices, choices, choices...

Skaven Update #6

2008-11-18T18:36:00.000-06:00

Update time. Just a couple things though...

1) I've been working on this Aberration conversion on and off for a bit for this small contest held at UnderEmpire. Anyway, long story short the Aberration contest might not happen afterall so I figure I'd still continue my progress but document it here.

An Aberration in Skaven Warhammer world is basically a Skaven Spawn. To make one, I took a fairly obvious route and picked up a Chaos Spawn box and hopefully with some extra Skaven bits I can make a somewhat believable model.

Much of the time at this point unfortunately was used on trying to figure out what 'X' piece to put in 'Y' slot/hole and planning it all out. Pace was fairly steady until I came to the last 2 slots/holes on its chest.

Do I add an eye or a tentacle or visa versa? What about both eyes or both tentacles? Should I add something totally different or cop out and just fill them up with putty?

After much thought and indecision I chose this:

But now I'm having second thoughts. D'oh!

2) I've acquired about 2 large zip lock bags full of plastic rats from someone that dumped his Skaven collection onto me a long, long time ago. A quick count I can do 2 30 clanrat units and and about 20 skirmishers. But they are all crap and not how I want them. A couple nights ago I started taking some of them apart and hopefully put a couple units together and/or maybe revise current ones.

In the end I hope to do the following:
1. get a unit of 30 spear rats
2. get a handful of a slave-looking rats to A) replace minis in current slave units and to B) start another slave unit
3. create more night runners and gutter runners to add to the pool
4. stick whatever is left into a new clanrat unit

Game Day x 2!

2008-09-05T17:49:00.001-05:00

Two Saturdays ago I had a wonderful and certainly a well overdue game day. It was a bit of a last minute thing but I was lucky enough to go. Needless to say I had fun. I played 3 games: Wings of War, Citadels, and a new co-operative game, Red November(another Bruno Faidutti game!). All pretty light games but, truth be told, if I played some super light game like Munchkin or MagBlast all day I think I still would've had fun. I was pretty eager to game.

The following weekend(which was a holiday weekend) I was blessed with another impromptu game day! Yay me! Although I played only 2 games, the actual games we did play made the day all worth while. I got there late and caught the group playing Wings of War. Here's hoping we eventually graduate to the WoW expansions! After Wings of War we played a quick game of Red November- lost... again. Then we ended with my highlight of the night: Starfarers of Catan. It's been a long time since I played it so I was glad I got to dust this off and introduce it to a new batch of players. A lot happier now that they actually like it! Sweet, I might actually get to play this game again this year (knock on wood)!

Skaven Update #5

2008-08-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

Good news! I finished a unit! I went back to my rat swarms and finally finished them! Yay! They come 2 to a blister but in the game you're only allowed a maximum of 5. Go figure. But the sixth model didn't go unused. I repainted it to look like a plagued rat swarm- an upgraded version of the normal rat swarm. It's a pretty specific mini and I probably won't ever use them due to the new edition rules. But, since I painted one, I'd like to pick up another blister to make a nice size unit. Maybe when the new Skaven army book comes around...

Skaven Update #4

2008-07-01T19:32:00.000-05:00

Oi! Five months since the last post?! Well here's what I've done so far...

Finished a unit of giant rats.

Almost done with this unit of Rat Ogres.

Another unit of Rat Ogres almost done.

I'm currently working on this guy.

And this is about 2/3 of my Skaven collection in varying states of completeness. Shortly after this photo was taken, I became overwhelmed and quickly packed them away. Waaay back in the closet.

----------------
Now playing: Coldplay - Strawberry Swing
via FoxyTunes

Skaven Update #3

2008-02-07T20:01:00.001-06:00

First Skaven update of the year!

Finished painting a unit of slaves. Next I'll have to do their bases.

I also started a few other minis. Yes that is a dwarf you see. I got it free in a order I placed from GW. They used to put in a free random mini with your order. Unfortunately, they stopped doing that.

I applied a different technique on Veskrit the Assassin's skin and it appears to stand out more than the skin on the slaves. Should I go back and touch up the slaves? Maybe going back to the clanrats also?

I recently talked to buddy of mine and began to reminisce the good old gaming days of Warhammer Epic. I think it was just called Space Marine back in the day. Anyway, the talk got me looking for the minis and found this...

It's suppose to be a Slasha Gargant(wow, things you remember) that someone made for me. I don't think I was able to afford the actual mini at the time so this happened. There were a couple people that scratch-built me a couple of Gargants so I could play the larger games. After looking at this now I'm not quite so sure whose this Gargant this is.

How much is that PS3 in the window?

2008-01-23T18:18:00.000-06:00

I recently read an article about upcoming PS3 titles that's due out this year and let me tell you it's going to be excruciatingly tempting for me to just go out to Best Buy and buy a system. Coming out this year: Burnout: Paradise, Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid, and Grand Theft Auto IV. I'm all excited(borderline giddy) seeing these games get released as I am a huge fan of their PS2, PSOne and even their SNES versions (Sorry, I never did play the NES version of Metal Gear; I was a Sega Master System kid).

Thinking it through though, I'd have to still pick up the $500 system in addition to the games I really want- at $60 a pop! Ouch! That's $800!!! Even with the recent tax rebate it doesn't look worthwhile... especially if I'm still happy playing games like Puzzle Quest, Disgaea, and Final Fantasy XII on my PS2. Looks like I'll be waiting yet another year which is fine by me.

Bonus!

2008-01-17T22:07:00.000-06:00

Hi folks! Hope you had a wonderful holiday. I know it's been awhile since I posted anything so here's something that happened recently that I wanted to share.

A few weeks ago I had bought a GamesWorkshop Warhammer Giant box at a local game store(LGS) as a gift for myself(woohoo me!). About a week ago I finally opened the box to check out all the nice pieces. As soon as I opened the box I noticed I got 2 of the same sprue! What a downer! I was ready to start brainstorming on how to build this beast and this happens?!?! I quickly imagined the idiot who packed the box. Then it dawned on me that a couple of weeks had already past and I wasn't even sure I still had the receipt. Of course, as I was about to prepare myself to dig through a week old smelly trash bin I looked over and it was right underneath the box itself.

The following weekend I brought it over to the LGS hoping to painlessly and quickly exchange my worthless box with another. Needless to say they didn't have one. I was now forced to call GW customer service, postponing my 'giant brainstorming' (pun kinda intended) even longer. I was already dreading the call- anticipating rude operators, long waits, and an even longer shipping time.

So I called. I told my story, gave my personal info, and the operator told me I'll be getting a box in the mail. I was quite surprised how much we had covered in such little time. The conversation sounded like it was about to end when I soon realized that he didn't ask which pieces were missing. I quickly blurted out the missing pieces to him before anybody hung up. The operator then informs me that they don't give out pieces for this model so he's just going to send me another box. Wow! And just like that GW went up several notches on my cool meter.

And after a few short days I got my brand new complete Giant box! Thanks, GW Customer Service!

On a side note... I didn't realize GW changed the packaging for the Giant box. The replacement box I got was thinner and the art was changed from landscape to portrait view.

Off topic... Progress on my Skaven has been really slow these past few weeks. I only managed to paint a rank of slaves. It wasn't even a complete paint job. I actually just drybrushed 5 minis. Well its progress, right?

Skaven Progress #2

2007-12-10T19:46:00.000-06:00

I've been able to do some painting over the past few weekends since Thanksgiving. Here's what I've got on my table so far...

I still haven't done the final step(putting on the static grass) on this clanrat unit yet. I'm not sure why I'm dragging my feet with these guys either.

I worked on my slaves a bit more. I finished overbrushing(heavy drybrushing) them and also put an ink wash over the whole unit. I'll probably either start base coating certain parts or drybrush a lighter shade of brown next.

I've also finished basing all 5 of my rat ogres(2x 5th ed. and 3x 6th ed.), started base coating an old grey seer mini, and this guy...

Although he looks a tad bit washed out in the pic, I do like how he turned out. At least I finished something these past few weeks, right? :)

Geek Nite VII

2007-12-06T19:05:00.000-06:00

Had another great time at the annual Geek Nite this past Thanksgiving break. It was technically called 'Nerd Night' in the invite but I think Geek Night is better suited. Every year a bunch of geeky guys hang out to do one thing- play boardgames. There was also an XBOX 360 it the corner and movies playing in the background, but ultimately we aim to play boardgames- play boardgames until the wee hours of the night. GN7 for me lasted 'til 3am.

First game I played was Wings of War. It's the third time I've ever played and I really like it. It has great simple(really simple) mechanics and its a blast to play everyman for himself. Unfortunately, the guy who owned it hadn't bought the other expansions which limited the number of players(we were hoping to play 6+) and hadn't or wasn't willing to teach us the expanded rules. It was unfortunate because I was really aching to learn more. I'd definitely buy this game if wasn't for the WWI theme- just doesn't interest me. Don't get me wrong the production quality is great and I'd play this in a heartbeat, I just don't care for biplanes is all. Fantasy Flight did recently put out a WWII version of WofW and that I could pay for... unless of course one of my friends is willing to buy it :)

The second game was MagBlast, another great quick game by Fantasy Flight. A bit chaotic and random for my taste but it's still loads of fun with friends.

The third game was Tannhauser which I brought. Wasn't sure how it was going to turn out since it would be my first time to play it and there were 8 of us willing to play. Overall it was ok. I didn't play with all the rules which was a bit of a bummer but with 8 players playing for the first time- it could get overwhelming. I don't think I can see this game played with anymore than six with the option of using soldiers as community pawns. There are just too many characters and items with specific rules. First game run thrus are usually rough and I do like the game so hopefully I can play this again with the full rules.

The fourth game was another game of MagBlast. Not sure I should even count this as my fourth game since I was taken out before I got to take my first turn! Yeah , like I said before, "chaotic and random".

The last game I played was Ticket to Ride. It was the first time for me to play. Great game. Like the first game, Wings of War, it was simple and fun to play. Funny enough I also didn't care for trains. I might however make an exception to this because of how easy the game is but complex enough for adults that I could see myself pick this one up. Here's hoping one of my friends picks this one up too :)

Until next year!

Crouching Dragon, Paper Giant

2007-11-30T19:13:00.000-06:00

So, if you hadn't already guessed, I lost my first battle against the new 7th edition High Elves. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be although there were poor dice rolling on both sides. My friend documented the whole event. Here's the link.

I thought it was a pretty close game until near the end when my Warlock Engineer was overrun by unit of Phoenix Guards. Why O why didn't I move him off the hill? It might not have mattered much but I think I would've at least been able kill off the dragon or the chariot... ok the chariot...maybe. I knew I wasn't going to win, but I knew I could've at least got it to a minor victory or possibly a draw.

My only highlight from the game was when my Warlock Engineer atop a hill popped the dragon mage off of his dragon mount. That felt pretty good. Of course, it was the same Warlock who was run over by the Phoenix Guard.

For next time(oh yes, there better be a next time!) there are a few things I might change. If I choose to replace my giant I may pick up a cannon and a small unit of jezzails. I think I definitely need my plague censors bearers when going up against the HE. The Phoenix Guard made a pretty big impact in the game so they'll be high on my target list.

The new HE is a really tough army especially with a dragon at 1500 points. Hopefully, I can figure out a Skaven list that can hold up... soon!

Quick Update

2007-11-28T01:15:00.000-06:00

Haven't posted in awhile so I thought I'd post a preview blurb on what I hope will be future posts :)

A couple weeks ago I got to play against my buddy's High Elf army with the new 7th edition rules in a small 1500point battle. Let's just say the new and improved HE are just that.

This past Thanksgiving break I went to an annual Geek Night where we play board games and video games 'til the wee hours. As usual I had fun and got a chance to play a couple new ones.

Also over the break I actually had time to paint a bit! Can you believe it? It wasn't much but it was something. Pics soon to come.

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Now playing: Explosions In The Sky - Welcome, Ghosts
via FoxyTunes

The Gaming Yankee Workshop

2007-10-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, historical gaming moment happened last weekend (Yes I know, it's a little bit late. I've been busy- let's move on). I helped my buddy build his very own 6'x4' gaming table- or if his wife is present, 'work bench'. Of course, it didn't go without a hitch. There were a couple 'redos', 'running changes', and my favorite 'ouch my finger!'. It was my finger and it wasn't self-inflicted. I was holding a piece of wood and my buddy drilled into me, split me open, and made me bleed... wait that didn't sound right. Lucky for me it was just a bad flesh wound... that didn't sound right either. Anyway, more importantly, we managed to finish the table!

Ta-da!

Ah, my rats now have a suitable place to die- I mean play!

Skaven Progress #1b

2007-10-05T23:34:00.000-05:00

Didn't want you to think I haven't done anything these past couple of weeks. It's not much (been busy at work) but here's what I got:

I've put a coat of paint over the clanrat bases, based a couple rat ogres, a packmaster, and the clanrats' movement tray. Next thing to do is start drybrushing the clanrat bases then finally put static grass. Man, I should have been done with them by now! Argh!

Hmm. I didn't think the clanrats were that dark. Could it be from the camera flash? Maybe I have too little light at my work space? In any case, I have to make sure the clanrats have a little more highlight.

I found that painting and basing the clanrats with their shields already glued on to be very, VERY difficult. In hindsight I should have realized that would happen. Oh well, lesson learned. Unfortunately, history will repeat itself. I have another unit of 30 clanrats with shields glued on that were bought secondhand. D'oh! Another lesson learned.

Skaven Progress #1a

2007-09-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

I thought I was going to be finished with my clanrats this weekend but things came up and I also had to work over the weekend. However, I did manage to finish basing the rest of the unit(still got to paint them tho) and start basing their movement tray. Close but still no cigar. Maybe this week will be different.

UPDATE: I'm finally done basing my clanrat unit and its movement tray. I now have to wait and let them dry. I still need to put a coat of PVA glue over the sand before I can paint and add static grass. Getting close!

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Now playing: Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire
via FoxyTunes

Skaven Progress #1

2007-09-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

Let's get down to business! I play Warhammer Fantasy and Skaven is my army. Like many of you I've accumulated a bit over the years(it's a modest size- possibly around 4-5000 points worth). And of course like many of you my collecting has surpassed my painting. So now I've decided to bite the bullet and really try to paint my entire Skaven collection. Quite ambitious, I know, considering my slow pace and lack of motivation. It might even be just a phase for all I know- I have had painting phases before after all. But I think by documenting myself on this blog and visually seeing my progress, this will really help me get more motivated and bring my Skaven army closer to completion!

So now onto to my WIPs!

This past couple weeks I've been working on a unit of 30 clanrats. They are almost done. I'm done painting them and I've just recently based half. Hopefully I can finish them this weekend.

I must have ADD or something because I can never focus on one unit at a time. Here are the other Skaven units that I've been painting off and on while painting the clanrat unit above:

plague monks: I'm pretty happy how the robes came out. This one is close to getting done! Yay me!

rat ogres: A couple units of rat ogres divided by edition. I plan to make the 5th edition ones(the 2 in the back) a bit more fleshy and sickly because, well, they do kinda look sickly.

plague lord and plague censer bearer: UnderEmpire had a painting contest last month that I wanted to enter and these two and a plague monk were going to be my entries. Unfortunately I lost track of time and missed the deadline. Oh well, maybe next time.

For some reason I started on these knowing very well my plate is already full. Go figure. I guess it's better to have paint on them than no paint at all.

Hello There!

2007-09-10T21:19:00.001-05:00

Hi! Welcome to my blog on anything gaming and other geeky goodness. For the most part, I'll be using this blog to post everything that's anything gaming-related. Whether it be from my miniature painting progress to reviews of recent games and products I've seen or played to spontaneous ranting I feel that needs to be documented. Thanks for checking it out!

Hobbyboygaming

Ariadna Game Plan For 2012

2011 Recap

Thanksgiving Weekend

Where Did September Go?!

Air Wagons and More

Catch Up

Gamesday 2011

A Couple of Minis

Here We Go...

Skaven Update #32

Potpourri of Sorts

To Infinity... and Beyond!!!

Skaven Update #31

Rat Ogres!

Skaven Update #30.1

Skaven Update #30

Adepticon 2011 re-cap

Skaven Update #29

Skaven Update #28

*Cough* *Cough*

Hello 2011!!!

2010 Recap

Ho-hum

Skaven Update #27

Weekend Project: IoB High Elf Mage DONE!!!

Weekend Project: IoB High Elf Mage

Skaven Update #26

Me Want

From the BIts Box...

Skaven Update #25

Skaven Update #24

Mini Hunt: Wolves

Skaven Update #23

Pinball Expo 2010

Skaven Update #22

Priming for Winter... or Not

OMG!

Skaven Update #21

Noticed Something Funny...

Skaven Update #20

Skaven Update #19 and a half

Skaven Update #19

Skaven Update #18

All FAQ'ed Up!

Hmmm...

Skaven Update #17

Change of Plans

How Very Excruciatingly Tempting

Skaven Update #16

Hobby Tip: bottle caps

Skaven Update #15

Skaven Update #14

Skaven Update #13.5

Soon!

Skaven Update #13

It' Here!!!

It's Thursday, What Else Is New?

More Rats, More Problems Pt. 2

More Rats, More Problems

It's in the Cards

Ouch, My Wallet!

Skaven Update #12

E3 Goodness

Skaven Update #11

Mini Break Update

Mini Break

Adepticon 2009

Skaven Update #10

Skaven Update #9

An Awesome Surprise

Skaven Update #9

Skaven Update #8

Skaven Update #7.1

Skaven Update #7

Skaven Update #6.2

Skaven Update #6.1

Skaven Update #6

Game Day x 2!

Skaven Update #5

Cough Cough