Vapartnak - York

I'm off to Vapnartak in York tomorrow - my first non-GW wargames convention! Any of my readers planning on attending? 

Here's their Facebook page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/Vapnartak

I wish I had more spending money!

2013 Round-Up (just 19 days late...)

Hi guys - I've been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now but I have only just gotten around to it! A quick recap of what I got upto in 2013 and my next post will cover my current projects and my plans going forward...

The most important part of 2013 (with regards to my blog) is that GAMES ARE BEING PLAYED! It's difficult to underestimate how good this is - I've been "back in the hobby" for 5 or so years now, but even before my break in wargaming, I rarely played (once or less a year, despite having multiple armies!). In the latter half of 2013 I played multiple games of Flying Lead and Songs of Blades and Heroes - I've been planning out games and settings for years and it was a great feeling to see my painted miniatures and terrain on the table! I even got a couple of my non-wargaming friends to start playing (my housemate and another of my best friends) and, most importantly, they kept asking for more battles!

I've actually gotten a really decent amount of figures completed this year for various different projects and I got stuck into my zomb-apoc stuff during October with Zomtober 2013 - here are a few examples of things completed this year:

Michonne and her two "camoflage" zombies - I'm very fond of her paintjob - she was a gift to myself when I'd finished half of my Studio Miniatures plastic zombie horde! Painted as part of Zomtober 2013

Chosen Space Marines of The Desolation - In The Emperor's Name

Goblins from The Hobbit - this was a lovely plastic kit! Lots of variety too. They're to be used as devolved humans in Necromunda/Space Hulk/post-apoc

Some Private Military Contractors from Empress Miniatures (sold as SAS, mine have a couple of headswaps) - these are for zomb-apoc

Wasteland Sniper - this guy is intended as a scout/herald for a new (Caesar's Legion-inspired) faction in my post-apoc. Warmachine/Hordes

Misc Studio Miniatures plastic zombies - I did enjoy painting the ones in the prison jumpsuits and the Drive-inspired one in the front! Painted as part of Zomtober 2013

A biker survivor (em4 Miniatures) and misc feral ghouls (Mantic Games plastic zombies). Painted as part of Zomtober 2013

Missing from the round-up are various different figures, an orc and goblin warband (Celtos miniatures, for my fantasy skirmish setting), 19 pirate scum (40k Chaos Cultists), 30 or so plaguebearers (plastics and kitbashes!), more zombies... A good painting year in general!

Basing 101

I've recently discovered that there is a fairly active Wargames club in the town I moved to a year ago, held every Sunday in the rooms above a cafe/restaurant - there seems to be a good mix of different players, with a focus on Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy, but with other games played. This is exactly what I've wanted for years, so I have started to knock my horde of Space Marines into some semblance of an army that stands a chance of winning the odd game...


Part of this is going over the models that I painted when I re-entered the hobby around 5 years ago. My painting style has changed slightly since then, but I'm still fairly happy with the paintjobs and the conversions - I'm planning on going back over the army unit by unit, fixing some small bits and pieces and adding some additional detailing to their bases...


This was spurred on in a big way by Ron's post over on From The Warp - Rebasing models with new materials. This is something I've done before and the post spurred me on to order a couple of new modelling materials from eBay:

- Modelling leaves - I've been meaning to pick some of these up for a while now. I've used them a couple of times since receiving them in the post last week. They're very nice - rather fiddly, but they're adding a little bit extra to the Chaos Warriors.

 - "Blighted Marsh" Static Grass - a darker mix - I thought this would be useful when mixed with the flock that I currently use on a majority of projects, as such: 

The flock on the right is the one I have been using for a good few years - the flock on the left is a mix of that and the newly purchased "Blighted Marsh".


Time to dig out the Marines...