Have Time, Will Paint

One of the many (many) projects that I have had on my desk for the last year are a set of rocks - two sets, actually - that I wanted to have painted up for use as scatter terrain. Because the sets had three different styles between them, I had the idea to paint them up for different terrain types. The desert and ice rocks came together quickly but the woodlandy rocks have been in a partially undercoated state long enough that I had to wash the dust off them before I could finish priming them.

But with the four day weekend, some good light and the right mood, things aligned so that I could finally get them finished.

..of course, I probably don't have enough icy rocks for scatter terrain for a game of Frostgrave and I certainly don't have enough rocks for Fallout or Dracula's America so I will probably have to get some more. Mind you, I forgot to write down any of the paints I used.. 

Also..

I realised that I actually painted a few other random things this year, including..

This platform from TTCombat (to go with my Mars terrain). This made it into the "hurry up and paint it" list because it is large, flat and made from MDF and thus guaranteed to warp in my cold, damp office. 

These HeroQuest orcs. The scheme is fast and simple. The cleaning up of the miniatures to paint them? Not so much.

... and Mr Spooky Mans, who I painted late last year for a MESBG Battle Companies campaign. In retrospect it would have looked better (and brighter) if I had used a single coat of a contrast paint over white instead of doing multiple washes and a drybrush highlight..

Frostgrave. How seasonal!

It is hard to believe that the first edition of Frostgrave came out over seven freaking years ago. As someone who backed the Necromunda horse when it first came out and thus couldn't afford to jump in on Mordheim when it was released a few years later, Frostgrave was the more approachable and in-print alternative that I had been waiting for.

I rushed out and purchased a dozen or so metal figures from a variety of manufacturers to make my first warband and promptly.. never painted them. I have wanted a nicely painted warband ever since but with my glacial painting speeds, it was never going to happen.

By the time 2nd edition came out a scant two years ago, I was starting to suspect that a nicely painted warband was no longer within my ability. Accepting that, I naturally.. started a brand new warband. This one featured the easier to paint and cheaper-to-replace-when-I-screw-them-up Frostgrave plastics. By July 2021, I had managed to paint.. two horses. And not only are they from an optional supplement, you can only take one! 

But fast forward a year (and a bit) later and I have actually managed to finish the rest of the models! That's like.. almost a model a month! Madness. I would like to thank my diminishing ability and eyesight for making this happen. Agonising for months over a single model and producing a B- of a paint job is no longer an option; a one month C- job is now all I can manage. So.. er.. yay? 

In the front row we have Lyra the apprentice, Ranald the Artificer and Captain Graves.

The trio on the left is an infantrywoman and two thugs, while on the right we have another thug, a thief, an infantrywoman and a crossbowman.

Finally, bringing up the rear is a low level version of Artemis (the Captain's horse), the higher level version of Artemis (featuring a mounted version of Captain Graves) and my large construct, Rowdy. If I ever find a medium construct miniature I like then I may add one to the warband.. but otherwise the Ranald's Expedition is finally ready to go! 

September Sun

September is a tricky month. The kids go back to school (or if you are reading this in the future and are currently enjoying Covid-22, maybe they don't) but you can't appreciate it because you are still paying for that time off work you had over the summer.

The days are cold in the morning but still bright and warm in the afternoon, and for about half the month you still have some daylight in the evenings to get things done. And then autumn sneaks in, the rain comes back and you are soon huddled around a fire by 6pm, waiting for the wolves to come and eat you.

When it comes to tackling projects in my hobby closest, I normally need to wait for the perfect storm of need, desire, enthusiasm, time, materials and space in order for that project to miraculously transition from "Something I will do one day" to "Holy cow it is done!". But in September, all of those things can be substituted for desperation.

And so here are some trees, designed to match the mat I will use for Fallout and Gamma Wolves. And some billboards, also for Fallout, though now that I have painted them I've decided I will put them on bases so they aren't really complete. Now that It Is Dark Again, they may not be completed until 2022!

The trees are Woodland Scenic armatures stuck to MDF bases covered in sanded polystyrene and Sculptamold. I messed that up by making too much, so while two of the tree bases are relatively smooth, the other two ended up being clumpy and difficult to work with because it was drying by the time I applied it. I will make it in smaller batches next time so hopefully I will avoid the same mistake.

Also shown is the base for one of my Gamma Wolves frames because I wanted to make sure the colours and style of the tree bases matched. The images I used on the billboards are by Charlie Wilcher and I found them at his ArtStation page here. 

Come for the art style, stay for the setting

Thats what happened to me when I picked up a few of the Heavy Gear RPG books back in my univeristy days and I have followed the progress of DP9's baby ever since. When Blitz first came out, I even dabbled in the Heavy Gear minis game but I didn't really give it a fair shake until DP9 launched their first kickstarter. 

I picked up a few of the metal minis and of course, a pledge for the new plastic kits too but since the rules (and more importantly, force lists) were in a state of flux, I didn't want to build anything until I knew how many of my favourite designs I could fit into a standard game.. and how many points a standard game would actually be!

When DP9 finally put out the force compendium for 3rd edition, I drew up three CNCS / WFP lists (50, 100 and 150 TV), one for each of the three game sizes, ordered what I didn't have from Shiny Games, then began building the models I would need. This evening, I finally finished the last of them*

Back row: Koala, Leopard, Para Strike Hunter, Leopard, Scorpion helo. 

Middle row: Hunter Gunner x2, Assault Hunter x2. 

Front row: Wildcat Pathfinder, Bobcat Flackcat x2, Weasel, Badger APC, Field Gun, Infantry squad x2

I have to say that their resin kits (the Bagder APC and Scorpion helicopter) were in the sweet spot of detail vs ease of preparation and I wouldn't mind if some of the gears switched over to that material. 

The plastics were easy to build (though they don't take polycement very well) but had stiff poses, and were noticeably skinnier and taller than their metal equivalents. 

The metals, by contrast, were nice and chunky with much better posing and the superglue worked as well as you would expect.. but everything needed a ton of cleanup; mold lines were for sure an issue but the biggest headache were the seams where one half of the mold had slipped, or otherwise did not line up with the other half. It was particularly bad on the arms and in filing down the half that was too thick, I lost quite a lot of detail. 

Even so, when I decide to get some additional gears, I will get them in metal as long as they are available, despite the price. I will technically need two more stock Hunters (the Assault Hunters will serve as a proxies until then) and I want a pair of Dingos because the weapon loadouts are a lot more interesting than the ones available to the Koalas.

In the meantime I also have a Strider to build although that's just for variety - it is easy enough to switch out the Scorpion since the points cost is similar. No rush for that, though. These need to get painted first... 

* apart from two more Hunters, which I don't have enough of. And my Wildcat Pathfinder is actually a Wildcat Riotmaster but when I decided I wanted a Wildcat with a rifle, I realised there are no medium rifles on ANY of the plastic kits, and no medium rifles in my bits box from the other metals. So I have another Wildcat to build once I've sourced a medium rifle from somewhere..

Not-cromorphs

I have wanted some necromorph models for ages and I think that started when I got my copy of Sedition Wars. I guess I was hoping that some day, a company would get the license to make an official Dead Space game and then I wouldn't have to make something myself.

However, with Quarrantine 37 due for release in a couple of weeks, I realised I was going to need some space zombies.. and while I already have a bunch of the Mantic plague zombies and the Virus-inspired Strain from Sedition Wars, I figured now was as good a time as any to cross another project off the list.

Made from a mixture of Deadzone plague zombies, Kings of War zombies and Kings of War Nightstalker Reapers, these are neither well converted nor well painted.. but in a first for me, when I sat back and looked at them, I decided "Eh, they'll do". I guess it was because I didn't plan to do anything else with the kits so it didn't feel like I was wasting or devaluing them by cutting them up and covering them with paint. 

Also included is a KoW objective marker and a Xenomoth from Zombicide Invader (boy I wish you could buy those separately). 

Now I just need to make a Bloater or two and I should have everything I need for Quarantine 37. Well, perhaps I need I new Engineer-themed crew as well.. 

Star of Alladore

Arriving just in time to make July a double blog post month, my printed copy of Star of Alladore just showed up! 

An official fanzine for Rangers of Shadow Deep, this represents the second time my work has been in print, and the fourth time I have contributed to a print product (I also helped out with Heroes of the Solar System and the Imperial book for Warzone Resurrection in a proof reading / balancing capacity and I actually wrote stuff that made it in to Warzone Resurrection 2nd edition. And then there was Kirkwood, which never saw an official release..)

Thanks for involving me in this project, Joe!