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 #27

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?

Skaven Update #26

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!!!

Skaven Update #25

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

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.

Skaven Update #23

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.

Skaven Update #22

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!