What I'm Up To These Days

Well, Christmas is over and yet the holidays are most definately not. I got three miniature related presents this year. One was the most excellent tome, "Painting Miniatures" by Danilo Cartacci. I got this book from Fantization after seeing a recommendation of Joe Videcki. Apart from that I got a truly amazing miniature from the Helldorado Westerners range called Georg von Holbein, and one of Privateer Press' newest warjacks, Beast 09.

Now I am nowhere near finishing Georg von Holbein, but I did the basecoats of Boltgun Metal (over TinBitz) and the Foundation Mechrite Red today to show where the miniature is going. I could have filled a little on the horse but I'm no perfectionist, and the only person who would notice will be looking to see whether it's a gelding if you take my drift. There was a bit of flash on the helmet of Georg.





Beast 09. I picked this up at the post office this afternoon and built it tonight. Nice kit. I don't know about the price. I paid it, but it was dear.



Comparison shot with a Juggernaught as Beast 09 is a souped up Juggernaught, and I thought I'd mention that a Jugger has a MSRP of $29.99 and Beast 09's MSRP is $54.99. It's a little strange. Shrug...



These are a unit of WFB High Elven Dragon Princes of Caledor, built, primed black and wetbrushed with TinBitz. I'm not decided upon where I am going with these and I'm trying to pick up another 5-10 so I'll await that development. But these are very cool miniatures, Jes Goodwin sculpts, first produced by GW in the early/mid 1990's. I always liked them.



eIrusk on the assembly line.



Yuri the Axe and his trusty henchwench.



The 4th edition High Elven plastic Spear and Archers. I always thought these rocked. I'm chuffed to have returned to this project after 12, yes, count 'em, 12 years.

A Good Trade

I met a fellow at GenCon this year, a fellow hobbyist from Cleveland who paints with distinction under the handle "Minidragon". Anyways, when he happened upon an offer of mine respecting issues 1-19 of No Quarter magazine, we quickly worked out a deal where I would send those to him for a 28mm miniature of my choice painted by him. I chose a GW mounted Bretonnian Lord I had quite liked the look of from the first time I saw it, and asked that it be painted as if it was a Teutonic Knight. The miniature is now finished and I can only say that I count myself a fortunate man. So thanks, Joe. A lot.

The Golden Hills of Eriador

The newest army at my house-The Patrician Ellie-Dumptruck Confederacy

Words are besides the point! Well, except to point out that the bowls are fortifications for the commander in chief.

Another Glorious Painting Update

Well, I've more or less finished the Winterguard. I didn't realize until after I'd finished that I have an extra Sergeant and an extra Rocketeer. Well, that's how it goes, I guess. I'm fairly happy with these, but I must say that unless you have painted Warmachine miniatures, it's difficult to imagine how tedious some of them can be to get through. These Winterguard are a case in point, whereas the MOW Kovnik below is a joy to paint. Anyways, I started highlighting miniatures when I began painting my Late Romans in 2001, but with these Winterguard I just don't have the patience to highlight them given the work involved in just blocking everything out. I like these miniatures, don't get me wrong, but it's not like lovemaking to paint them...not at all. There's little joy in it.















My newest project, the High Elves. These are from the WHFB 4th edition box. I've had them since late June, 1996. 12 years later and I'm painting them. Oi vey! But I'm really enjoying it, I like the 4th edition High Elf range, exceedingly. Actually, GW haven't made a decent spearelf or archer figure since. It's been all poncey dancing fools with bad hair, and I just don't get the joke. But that's because I read the 4th edition High Elf Army Book I suppose.

These were primed black. Tin Bitz was then overbrushed on the armor, followed by a drybrush of boltgun metal. Then a coat of Tri Art Yellow Oxide on the cloth, and a coat of GW Foundation Mechrite Red on the spear and leather hauberk. Then PP Skorne Red over the Mechrite Red, and Reaper's Linen White on the cloth.

That's how far I've got to the present.

There are a couple of metal spearelfs in the ones I have worked on shown in the picture below. I painted them in 1997, and IIRC I used mithril silver on a white base coat. So I'm going to be trying a few washes on them.

Painting and Daydreaming Update

First, the painting update. As you can see below, the Winterguard are just about done. I'm going to give the faces and hands a bit of PP Flesh wash, and then one more highlight of Midlund Flesh, and I've got to figure out what, if anything, I'm going to do with their hair. And of course, the bases need a drybrush of bone before flocking them. Paints are GW Foundations, PP flesh tones, and the old Citadel metallics.



Secondly, my next project...yes, it's back to painting GW Terminators. I kind of miss the little buggers, and I can't bear to look at them in their current form any longer. I painted up 10 of them a couple of years ago and then traded them away...pictures of those miniatures are to be found in an earlier entry.



And, to explain a bit about where I'm coming from, what got me thinking about these terminators was the free Black Reach terminator with a recent White Dwarf. Here it is, built, primed black with some gesso and then just roughly overbrushed with a coat of old Citadel Vermin fur or something.



Which brings me to my daydreaming...I left off the GW hobby, as they call it, at the end of 2006. However, since I've moved to the outharbours of my fair province, GW has got me back a bit, mainly because of the fact that the only thing I can buy here that has any connection with my hobby interests is White Dwarf. And you know, that magazine has improved enormously. I'm not going to wax on about it ad nauseum. The bottom line is that they have changed the balance of the White Dwarf from advertising rag to hobby magazine. And GW's prices are going down for Canadians at the same time as they have almost revolutionized the quality of their models, and apparently made some relatively positive improvements in their rules. Anyways, the long and short of it is that I am so inspired by the new Vampire Counts, Chaos demons and the Chaos Warriors armies that I am going to get my OOP High Elves out and try to do something fine with them. It means coming full circle in a sense as the High Elves were the first army I acquired when I got into wargaming again in 1996.

Red October

Fall is here, and for some strange reason, strange because I cannot understand it, I find myself with time to paint again. I am painting the last of my Khador. Why? I do not know. But I am.