Hobby Block - To Be Continued

I’ve been in a funny old mood recently and I’m finding that it really takes a lot for me to get around to painting anything - I can think of about half a dozen different reasons for this, so it’s not too worrying or anything, but I must start to take steps to rectify it and find my love for painting little figures again soon!

I’m going to continue with these ponderings in a future post, but in the meantime here’s my most recent projects, including one I’m working on for the “rescue” challenge set by my mate Lewis (his blog will be in the side bar and I’ll link this later!). The idea is simple, find a mini that needs rescuing - strip the paint, rebuild it, hit it with the hairy brush and pigment! I started off overly ambitious, with the thought of doing the batch of minis I’ve most recently stripped - a little group of Mordian Iron Guard which will round out my collection to approximately a command squad and infantry squad. I’d suggested that I could potentially get them all done in the month, but then things got in the way:

1. I can’t find the 12 other Mordians I have.
2. I can’t find the Epic-scale Land Raiders I’d planned on using as the basis for a tracked support weapon for the Lascannon for the Command Squad (one of the ones from Lewis is the Lascannon operator, who had a separate Lascannon on wheels like a field gun, with his little button to fire the pewpew.
3. Work has been busy (and I’ve been getting some other cool real-life stuff sorted out too!)

So, what to do? Mere days before the deadline!

There were a few other Necromunda minis that Lewis sent along too, donated by our friend Fraser. One of them got a mild conversion in order to join my Necromunda Slave Guilders - a bunch of gladiator-types and slave catchers (just the worst bunch of ingrates you’ve ever seen!). I dremeled away some of the old Goliath badges (which looked a bit Orky!) and severed his head - I repositioned this into a slightly more sensible pose (for a man with a chainsaw-mohawk…) and did some patching up with putty. I then decided that as he wasn’t really leader material (in my eyes) and he’d most likely just be a champion or what have you, I removed the barrel of the melta gun and replaced it with one from the Orlock upgrade sprue that matched in with some careful carving!

I started the rest of my gang with a metallic undercoat, so I went the same route with this guy - he’s now looked like this for a week, will I make the end-of-month deadline? Hell yeah!

Other stuff:

Megadroth Skeleton - a great kit from GW, I’ve always been a fan of the “omg that’s a huge skeleton!” terrain that we’ve seen in the 40K terrain collection (thinking of Space Wolves 3rd edition Codex, with terrain of some big Fenrisian beast’s skeletal remains!) and it’s nice to be able to buy one! Really nicely designed set without a lot of extra embellishment. I did do some slight changes though - I clipped away or dremeled off all the skulls and bones on the bases. 

- I filled any leftover holes with old greenstuff.

- Added gravel and sand to the areas that needed it with PVA. 

- When this was almost dry I took some PVA, watered it down and added a splash of washing-up liquid, thinly coated the parts I’d added gravel to. This step was to stop the gravel peeling away (I’ve had this happen on other terrain).

The reason for removing the skulls and bones isn’t because they weren’t nice and thematic, it’s just it would have directly tied it to the 28mm/32mm scale, but I wanted to keep it neutral and thus be able to use it at 6mm/10mm/15mm/28mm etc. (I know it’s themed around being in Ghur in the Mortal Realms, so the extra bones make sense there!).

Finally, I’ve also put together this squad of Necromunda Ironhead Prospector Squats. I’m currently pondering a scheme for them, but I’m thinking black/grey/yellowish-green like the Ryobi power tools. Call them the Riobi Consortium or something? They’ll likely be rather inep

Let me know what you think :) 

Hobby Bingo!

I received the latest White Dwarf in the post last week and loved the idea of Hobby Bingo (to be honest, I've loved the idea since Rob Hawkins first posted it on his wonderful Hobby Blog, it's a shame that he didn't get credit when GW nicked it and repurposed it as the Middle Earth Hobby Bingo and now the White Dwarf version!), I sent a quick snap of it to my great friend Lewis at The Die Is Cast!, who challenged me to start it with him! 

Well, I could hardly say no, could I?

2020 has been a truly dire year for my hobby goals - I'd had so many plans and then, as they say, those plans met the enemy and did not survive contact. Here's to 2021 and hopefully, many games!

Oh, we've also decided to start it straight away, counting anything that we paint now for our January scores! I'll be updating with the miniatures I finished recently and some information about that new project in the next day or so.

6MMRPC September Recap

Time for the September 6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge round-up! I'm going to dive straight in with a little bit on what each blogger has got upto! If I've somehow missed anyone off the list, please comment below and I'll update as soon as possible!

1. The Spider Web of History - Dave has managed to get a bunch of stuff finished - he's mainly been stuck in the Dark Ages and has managed to complete a lovely unit of Viking Beserkers, a bunch of warriors, some townsfolk, a lovely scratchbuilt terrain piece and has managed a big chunk of assembly of various plastics! As usual, Dave can also be found over on Instagram as irishjaeger. 
2. Mik's Minis - Mik started off well over on Instagram painting up some Omega Protocol figures, but slowed to a halt later in the month.
3. Tiny Solitary Soldiers - Spacejacker finished off some lovely aliens (Prang from 15mm.co.uk) - you can find more of his work on Instagram.
4. dead lead project - Olly has been getting some work done repainting the WotC Star Wars pre-paints - lovely work indeed! You can also find him over on Instagram.
5. The Lost and the Damned and the Stunted - Dai has been working on a lovely mix of stuff - I love the barbarian and the Red Box Games necromancer in particular! 
6. Tower of The Archmage - David has been working on some of the lovely Reaper Bones figures - the blue-skinned orcs look great!
7. Random Encounters - tomw has painted a bunch of different knights and other metals, plus used one of his Jokers in order to take up an "offer he can't refuse" on a bunch of Foundry blisters. To be honest, if I'd seen that offer, I'd have been tempted myself!
8. Paintbrush and Superglue - Matt has finished some PLA, a lovely officer for his partisans (what an awesome figure!) and is also partaking in Zombtober, having completed a survivor for the first week.
9. Planet Ares VI - Stroezie has completed a load of lovely 6mm sci-fi vehicles!
10. Grey Wolf Studio - Dave C (so many Daves in this challenge!) has now migrated to blogspot and has got started on a massive amount of figures this month - lots of priming and basecoating - check out his posts for the enormous task before him!
11. Mad Tin Hatter has finished off a nice batch of Flames of War figures, but a house move has somewhat stalled the productivity...which is entirely understandable!
12. Horsewood Inc. has been working on various 40k figures - lots of nice kitbashes from various sets, including the old Warzone plastics!
13. Pants of War - Spiro got off to a good start with some lovely Forgeworld Warmaster terrain, but things slowed due to family issues - I look forward to more lovely paint from him in the near future!
14. Miniature Insurrection - (another!) Dave has been working on Napoleonics, some lovely rocky spires to add to his terrain collection, but had a donation from a mate of various bloody lovely blister packs of old lead (well, white metal...) - I'm green with envy!
15. Rust and the City - Cameron has been working hard and getting loads done - lots of Flames of War stuff! Check out his lovely crisp painting and the fantastic bases on his 15mm infantry!
16. Bloodthorn Studios - a latecomer to the party but equally welcome! It's never too late to try and reduce your lead mountain! Bloodthorn will be working on Malifaux and Sedition Wars!

Once again, if I've missed anyone out, tell me in the comments! I'm also planning on putting up a round-up of the stuff I've completed this month too (plus, I got a lightbox, a beauty of a backdrop from Hangar 18 and some new lights!) once I get around to taking good pictures!

Bluebells the Fool

Bluebells the Fool was named for the copper bells festooning his suit of motley, turned blue-green with verdigris over time. He rides a wooden zorse from town to town, where he's often warmly welcomed, with meat and mead his payment for such wonderful performances...
He never stays long though, and it's often found to be the case that one of the townfolk's children has wandered off - some say to follow Bluebells into a life of foolery, whilst others speak of darker acts...

I've always been a fan of this figure from the Warhammer Bretonnian range - I picked it up on eBay nice and cheap a year or so back. There's always been something a bit sinister about jesters for me, and the idea of a travelling fool that never overstays his welcome long enough for his crimes to be discovered... I've been listening to the A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks whilst painting/modelling lately, and Shagwell the Fool stood out, with the following piece of fan-art sealing my next figure to be painted (and inspiring the paintscheme!). I also painted his hobby horse in the style of a zorse for another link to the Bloody Mummers.

Giant Landcrabs - Fantasy Fauna

Following on from yesterday's post on the Giant Angler Crabs, here are some normal Giant Landcrabs.

Made in the same way as the Anglers - plastic toys, moldlines removed with a fresh scalpel blade and mounted on lipped 50mm bases, sand was then superglued to the shell, claws and legs to add more texture to aid in painting. 

Another scale shot alongside the Viking Champion!

And one alongside some post-apocalyptic scum!

Feel free to leave a comment! Glad to have these finished, they've been half-painted for a while now!

Giant Angler Crabs - Fantasy Fauna

I visited Whitby earlier in the year - I always love to look in the souvenir shops to find useful items for gaming. On this excursion I discovered these crabs, which were sold 3 for £1 in a shop that sells shells, fossils and crystals, as well as more touristy stuff. I thought these would be big alongside 28mm miniatures, but would work well in my Fantasy Skirmish setting, or even in Rogue Trader-ish 40k games and the post-apocalypse. 

The crabs were made from a vinyl plastic, similar to the Reaper Bones figures. I trimmed off the moldlines with a sharp scalpel blade and mounted them on 50mm lipped bases, as these were primarily for my Fantasy project. With these particular crabs I decided to add a bit of a fantasy twist, inspired by the fearsome angler fish - I used a bit of wire and some greenstuff to create a lure. I also superglued sand to their shell and legs to add a bit more texture for painting. These angler crabs bury themselves in the mud and silt at the bottom of a rivermouth or in a lake and leave their lure visible for their intended prey. In nature, snapping turtles also use a similar method... 

Here's a shot for scale, alongside the Viking Champion from the other day - quite a fearsome challenge for the average fighter! 

Finally, this is what they looked like to begin with - I've also finished the "normal" giant crabs (another three), so check back tomorrow for more!

The Warband ofJarl Asbjorn

Jarl Asbjorn, favoured of Odin, leader of a vicious band of ne'er-do-wells!

The Jarl and his 4pt SAGA starter warband - 2pts of Hearthguard and 2pts of Warriors. I'd originally assembled the warriors purely from the Viking Hirdmen set, but decided to mix them in with the Dark Age Warriors set for a bit more variety. I used Renedra plastic bases with coins on top to add a bit more heft to them (much better for gaming I find). More on these soon!

More meat for the grinder - New 6MMRPC participants!

Wow! We have more folks that are accepting the challenge to complete some painting projects over the next 6 months!
9. Stroezie is part of Planet Ares VI crew and is currently churning out some brilliant 6mm sci-fi scratchbuilds! Lovely stuff!
10. Dave C's blog can be found here: GreyHorde on the WAMP Forum. His collection is mainly fantasy-based, so we can expect to see some lovely fantasy stuff from him over the next six months!
11. The Mad Tin Hatter of the blog Mad Tin Hatter is focused on some lovely Flames of War figures, but the odd space ship pops up now and then...
12. Horsewood Inc. is the humble abode of Horsewood, who will be documenting his adventures in Warhammer 40k and some home-brewed projects...
13. Spiro Dotgeek's blog Pants of War catalogs his exploits in gaming with miniatures from a bunch of Games Workshops sadly defunct (yet utterly brilliant) "Specialist Games" lines. Hopefully we'll get to see some brilliant classic figures!
Welcome aboard everyone! Once again, you can find our Facebook group here and feel free to share the Challenge with your wargaming friends and blog followers - I look forward to seeing some freshly completed figures!

Conquering the Lead Mountain - a #6MMRPC Facebook Group!

Well, this was slightly delayed! I'd planned on having a little Facebook group set up for the 6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge set up to coincide with the launch of the Challenge on September 1st, but alas, life gets in the way at times! Anyway - I hope the challenge is going well for folks (I'm also a little behind on reading my Feedly, so I haven't had a chance to comment on a lot of the most recent posts - soon!) and I hope those of you with Facebook (whether you're taking part in the Challenge, or you'd just like to join to have a place to chat about your current projects!) will join us at Conquering The Lead Mountain!

The day is here! Challenge begins!

Well, I'm happy to announce the start of the 6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge! I've spent a good portion of the day giving my Nerd Room a good tidy out, so everything is fresh and ready for a good start! Here's a list of the challenge participants to check out:

1. The Spider Web of History - Dave and I thought this would be a great way of getting our projects in hand, save a little money and complete some miniatures! Expect to see Dark Ages, zomb-apoc and even some fantasy stuff - Dave is also active over on Instagram as irishjaeger and in addition to the rules of the challenge, he's going to try out converting figures and pinning for the first time!
2. Mik's Minis - Mik's blog was one of my main inspirations for the creation of my own blog - he explained his motivations in taking up the challenge over on his blog. Mik is another very active Instagrammer...is Instagrammer a thing now?
3. Tiny Solitary Soldiers - Spacejacker is a purveyor of finely painted 15mm figures - another blogger who can now be found more often over on Instagram.
4. dead lead project - myincubliss is another fine Instagram gentleman - are you seeing a theme here? At the moment, Olly is working on some Star Wars Storm Troopers - very cool stuff!
5. The Lost and the Damned and the Stunted - Dai covers a bunch of different genres - with a focus most recently on Flames of War. In addition to the standard rules, Dai is going to buy the rest of the force needed to complete his FoW German force - I look forward to seeing these!
6. Tower of The Archmage - a blog that is primarily RPG related, TotA has set an additonal aim for himself of completing at least one miniature per week - I love the added challenges folks are setting themselves!
7. Random Encounters - this is a relatively new blog, ran by tomw and covering a number of genres. tomw has mentioned that he's just got some landsknechts and Dogs of War, so they should be appearing during the challenge!
8. Paintbrush and Superglue - Matt has recently been painting some very nice Partisans for WWII gaming (I have some 1/72 scale Partisans on the very long to-do list) and has interests in various different genres. Reducing his leadpile is the stated aim!

Phew! Hopefully this will serve as a bit of a placeholder to keep track of the folks taking part in the challenge! If anyone else would like to join, please comment below with a link to your blog or Instagram account. If you use labels on your blog, please use "6MMRPC" and/or Challenge for posts relating to it, or over on Instagram, please use #6MMRPC. I'll be doing a little round up post on how people are getting on with it every couple of weeks...

I had planned on having a stormer of a first day of the challenge...but sadly not! Tidying the Nerd Room and cleaning up some freshly stripped figures was about as far as I got. I have made a few "pre-Challenge purchases" (somewhat defeating the objective of the Challenge!), but the items I've bought will come in handy for a few different projects... More on this later!