2010 Recap

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!

Skaven Update #13

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's Thursday, What Else Is New?

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.