2016 Year in Review...

Well...

I'm a bit late with this post but here goes....this is my attempt to summarize my hobby efforts for the past year and to look forward to what I hope to accomplish for 2017.

As with my previous review I'll address things in 3 broad categories:

• Gaming
• Painting
• 2017 goals

Gaming,
2016 was a great year for gaming in Blue's world...I played more games this year than I have in a very long time.  This included a bi-weekly gaming session with my local gaming partner during which we explored Space Hulk, Frostgrave, Dragon Rampant, and Rogue trader games.  I also played a fantastic game of RT with some of my other local gaming friends early in the year.

Bretonnian Organ Gun...in Action!

Hello all,

Long time no see!

Well...I've finally had a stretch of painting time and will have a number of things to share with you over the coming week or so.  Last night I had the majority of the evening to myself as my lovely wife was dealing with the nibblers and various appointments.  So I gathered my newly painted minis together and started to set up my "photo studio."  My intention was to take my usual "documentary" images on blue gradient...but as often happens when I disappear into my hobby...I got distracted and ended up setting up a whole little scene and spent my evening happily taking pictures.  

The documentation pictures will just have to wait a bit...

My urge to actually make a more interesting scene probably stems from my lack of participation in the Lead Adventure League over on the LAF.  Long time readers will recall that this painting event used to be a major part of my hobby calendar every year.  I have now missed the last two iterations of the contest and the urge to take some creative pictures of my figures is getting to be irresistible.  

So here are some fun images of my newly completed 3rd ed Bretonnian organ gun and crew...well supported by some of my existing Bret army (5th ed models)...as they attempt to fight off a attack by a roaming warband of orcs and Goblins.

I'll start with some longer range shots to give you a feel for the whole set-up an then focus in on some of the more detailed photos that you can achieve with a rough set up like this.

Overview shot of set up...(click through for larger images)

Retained Knights...completed Not-Space Marine Squad

In the run up to OHNW one of the units I really worked to get complete were my squad of Retained Knights from Alternative Armies.  I finished the first half of this squad as an entry for the Lead Painters League earlier this spring...but I had hoped to get a game of RT in Baltimore this October so I pushed the rest of the squad through the painting queue.

....sadly the game failed to happen this time (Next time Bulldog!) but I'm still glad to have a finished squad to deploy on my sci-fi terrain...assuming I ever get it put together.

Anyway...here is the squad as a whole...below are individual shots of the new ones.

The Rest of Averland...Part VI...the end....finally

In my last post I alluded to another commission that I was finally able to finish up...lets take a look... 

This one was a really joy to work on because it included so many really fantastic classic figures.  I am of course speaking of the group of Averlander's that I have been working on for thebinman for far too long.

I've discussed this group in some detail elsewhere so lets just get into the pictures.

First off is the group that has been completed the longest...a wonderful combination of races that makes for a very evocative little group.

LPL Round 8: Retained Knights...on a smoke break...

Howdy all...sorry for the lack of blogage over the last few weeks...life has just been too hectic for me to spare the time. 

...anyway...time to get back on that horse.

Well my LPL kind of fell apart this year...things had been going quite well until the second half of the contest.  After using the team of Averlanders for Round 7 I was able to complete one more new team for round 8 but after that I had to use two teams that had been previously displayed elsewhere...which means that they didn't receive the "new team" bonus points...which meant my standings in the polls continued to slide...:(

Oh well...as someone once told me..."Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"  (whistle....)  So lets forget about the above and take a look at the last new team I was able to complete for Round 8. 

LPL Round 7: thebinman's Surprise

Howdy all,

Just a quick update...the summer is really starting to ramp up and the painting schedule is taking a hit.  for the seventh round of the LPL I had to compromise....basically there was no way I was going to be able to get a new team painted in time...but I wanted to have an interesting and compelling entry even if the figures weren't "new" ...so I opted to fall back on the the Averlanders that I have been painting up for thebinman...a fellow lead head from the LAF.  So I did a little touch up and finished a couple of shields that had been lack and then set them all up on my Photo board for their moment in the sun.

Here they are:

LPL Round 5: Sea Peoples Raiding Party

Well...I've managed to make it to the mid point of this years LPL...man how time flies!  One of the great things about the LPL is that it sometimes forces you to paint outside your comfort zone.  For Round 5 the theme was: Ancients....

...now as you are well aware I have a mass of lead in my man cave...but it does not contain a single "Ancients" miniature.  BBBuuuttt...as luck would have it I just concluded an agreement with a kind gentleman from the Oldhammer Forum to paint some figures that fit the bill quite nicely.  LadAsbestos sent me a great group of miniatures to work on and among them were these five Sea Peoples Warriors...I beleive they are from Foundry.  They turned out to be a joy to paint...here they are!

LPL Round 4: Chaos Comes to Town...

Howdy all,

Time for the weekly update on the LPL.  The last weeks "competition" has been the closest contest I have ever been involved in....and is perhaps the closest in recent LPL history.  When I last checked nearly 500 votes had been cast and the two teams were still within 3 votes of each other.  As of Friday ...midday...we were tied!  My team was up against that of Professor Witchheimer...who I consider one of the best painters and photographers in the LPL...his entries are consistently of VERY high quality....so I'm quite happy that my team is even holding its own against such talent.

Anyway...on with the show.  This was a un-themed round...so I dug into some work that I've been meaning to do for many months...some more Chaos figures for my CDO compatriot Hashuts Little Helper (HlH).  The three chaos warriors in this team are a continuation of some painting I did for HlH more than a year ago ...where he sent me some painted Marauder MM90 Chaos dwarfs and I painted the Chaos Warriors that inspired them...in colors similar to his MM90 color choices.  The two citadel chaos dwarfs on this team are a part of a small batch of a few other figures I agreed to paint for HlH.

Anyway...here they are as a team...

Now let's look at the three warriors and their corresponding MM90s...

First up are the copper twins...

Here I stuck very close to the "source material" that HlH sent to me...even down to shield selection.  Luckily this is a CW that can pull off the smaller shield....which comes from the Marauder chaos/undead sprue.

Next we have the Blue meanies...

Again I tried to mimic the color of the CD fairly closely....and again I turned to my stash of marauder shields to give this guy a bit of protection.  I picked this particular shield because I felt that the bull skull motif mirrored the shape of the horns on the warrior helmet...also this CW can handle a much larger shield than the copper one.

Finally we have the Pinks...

As you can see HlH used metallic pink for his CD...and I did some experimenting with making my own pink metallic paint....and those experiments didn't go well.   

So after consulting with HlH I went for a non metallic finish for the armor.  Still I was quite nervous about trying to pull off this much pink as it was not a color I have used much in the past.  And right up till the final layer I was convinced that I was going to have to start over...but something about that final highlight pulled the whole paint job together.  Now I can't wait to try this color again on a few of my own figures!

The two citadel chaos dwarfs on this team also deserve some mention as they are both great figures in their own right.  

This guy just looks like a loony!

And this guy just looks....well...awesome....the leather thigh high leggings and the big glaive thingie make him one of my new favorite chaos dwarf sculpts.

So they they are....Team four....they've done me right this week no matter who finally comes out with the most votes.

Cheers for now!

LPL Round 3: Muster Troops Forward!

Time for another update about the ongoing LPL.  Voting for Round 3 has wrapped up and Round 4 is now underway so I can share with you my Round 3 Entry.

I returned to my Muster Troops from Alternative Armies for another team...this time including the Squad Leader and another heavy weapon.  Here is my entry Photo.

LPL Round 2: Jenkins! Get over here! Alternative Armies Muster Troops

Hi all,

Just a quick note today to share with you the figures I used for Round 2 of the LPL.  This was the first un-themed round so I moved forward with trying to get some troops done for my growing 40k project.  For this purpose I painted up a team of not-Imperial guard troops using the excellent Muster Troops Figures from Alternative Armies Ion Age Range.

I attempted to imply a bit of a "story" with my team photo even though it is just on a gradient background...hence the name of the team...here is my entry pic.

LPL Round 1: Ewal Dvergar

Well...the time has finally come!  Round 1 of the Lead Painters League has closed for voting and Round 2 has begun....therefore I'm allowed to post up my first round entry for public consumption.

The entry requirements for this year's LPL have changed from previous iterations of the contest.  This year you are allowed to only enter one picture of your team...with no composite images allowed.  In the past I had the option of using a combination of images to best illustrate the details of my figures....this year one picture only.  So this was picture that I submitted...

Chaos Dwarf Comparison shots...

About a week ago Four A Miniatures released the Chaos Dwarf/beastmen that I covered in earlier posts.  These wonderful figures were sculpted by John Pickford...as were the Ewal Dvergar that Clam is sharing with the world.  When I put up the post about the Four A minis several people asked for some size comparisons...I promised to do some shots...and never did.

...Well today is the day!  I had the camera set up to take my first three rounds of LPL photos...so while I was at it I grabbed a few other Evil dwarfs and put them all together for some Glamor shots.

Filler Post #2: LPL Replay and Update

Howdy all,

I wanted to take a quick moment and get a post up...life has been truly nutty for the last month...between ever increasing work obligations, weather issues, my kids bringing home various plagues, and trying to get some teams done for the upcoming LPL I just haven't been setting aside the time to write posts.  But today has given me just enough time to get another filler piece together.

Progress on my first three teams for the current LPL has been good...I'm in the midst of final touches on all three of them, then onto basing and starting on the next two teams.  So far I'm fairly happy with where I'm at.

I thought that I would take this opportunity to post up a few of my entries from previous LPLs for your viewing pleasure.  Long time readers of this blog will have seen these pictures before...but will just have to suffer through...:)

To start with here are a few of my favorite Oldhammer Fantasy entries from years past...

The heavy hitters...LPL 5 Round 9

The Game is Afoot! LPL 8 Announcement...the planning begins!

This last week saw the announcement of the latest iteration of the Lead Painters League over on the Lead Adventure Forum.  The rules this year have been streamlined a bit and the focus seems to be coming back to painting over elaborate scenic set ups...which suits me just fine as I have so little decent scenery against which to photo my figures.  Also the total number of figures to be painted has been slightly reduced....again this suits me well as I'm always so rushed to get teams done.

The Rest of Averland...:)

Howdy all,

As I mentioned once many moons ago while I was in the throes of the Lead Painters League...and before I shattered my ankle and ruined my summer...I was asked by LAF member thebinman to paint up a skirmish warband for him.  The figures he chose to send me include some of the all time great sculpts from the early years of Citadel and Marauder.  The start of this commission were the 5 figures I painted for the LPL seen here:

Remeber the Alamo...Again....Still

So I know I may be beating a dead horse here but while I had a camera out for the other shots this week also took some individual shots of the Alamo figures that I used for the LPL Round 5 entry...both the Mexicans and the Defenders....and since I love these figures so much I wanted to post the pictures up for you to enjoys as well.

Lets start with the Mexican soldiers...who haven't been seen with their completed bases up to this point.

And here are the four Casualty Markers

All Really fantastic figures with a lot going for each sculpt....I see more of these in my future.

Even though I've shown them twice already here are some new individual shots of the Alamo Defenders as well

well there they are....Some of Boot Hill Miniatures finest!

Cheers,

Blue

LPL Round 9: Averland's Best

Late last winter I was approached by a fellow member of the Lead Adventure Forum about a small painting commission.  thebinman had a group of old empire figures that he wanted me to paint up for him as a Mordhiem warband from Averland.  Since he offered to compensate me in old lead I had no choice but to accept....:)

...I had hoped to complete two teams of thebinman's figures for LPL teams but as things worked out with RL I was only able to get one completed before the contest ended.....this team was my Round 9 entry.  I picked my 5 favorite figures from this commission and went to town!  Among the group of figures that thebinman sent along were many classics and the choice was difficult but these five seemed to fit well together with their strong Puff and Slash style...plus the variety of heights/races made for an interesting team.

Anyway...here is my entry photo

This is a hastily taken iPhone picture...the camera does pretty well!

Loverly figures all!

As I have been laid up with my ankle, one of the tasks I've managed to complete is the basing on these guys...I also took proper pictures with my better camera...so lets look at each figure in detail with those photos.

On the left here we have a classic Marauder Halfling.  Just a wonderful face on this guy...I stupidly sold my complete unit of Marauder halflings when I got back into the hobby a few years ago and after painting this guy they have gone back on the acquire list!

 Next to him is "Piers," (...'cause he has a crossbow see?! haha...very clever) a venerable model from the early Citadel Empire range.  I like the figure overall...the look on his face is a bit odd...but still fun to paint.

In the middle we have one of the absolutely wonderful Marauder Puff and Slash Ogres...and one I hadn't painted before! I tackled most of this small range for a previous LPL entry but this guy was new to me and that made him particularly fun to paint.  I was a little perplexed about the severed head between his legs (see the picture of the back of the figure)...to me it was unclear what type of head it was....shrunken head trophy?  Head of another Ogre? Troll? so I went with a flesh color that could be interpreted a number of ways...:)

Next up is another bad ass figure... Smiorgan Baldhead from the Eternal Champion Personalities range...I figure I covet very much!  ...love the wicked scar on his face!

And last...but certainly not least....one of the absolute best dwarf miniatures....Ever!  The Marauder MM15 Zweihandler Figure.  My copy of this figure is still untouched....its one of those ones that I'm kind of intimidated by...so having another to work on in a completely different color scheme was really a pleasure.  His beard gave me fits...and still might get one more highlight...but overall my appreciation for this figure was only increased by having painted it....Now I'm itching to get to mine!

The Yellow and Black color scheme proved to be a fun challenge as well....both of these are colors that I tend to avoid doing large areas of if possible.  Black in particular has always been one I've avoided...I had to do a lot of internet research on different techniques before I found one I was willing to try...and over all I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Anyway....gotta get back to the couch and put my leg on a bag of ice!

Cheers for now...

Blue

LPL Rounds 6 and 7: Return of the Brets

Hey guys...."real life" has really gotten the best of me in the last few weeks...sorry for the lack of postings.  But no need to waste your time grumbling...

For Rounds 6 and 7 I dipped back into the batch painting of the Bretonnians that I've been working on this year.  For these rounds I submitted two teams of Darkenwald Scouts...these are the 5th edition "Squires with Bows" which I envision and the foresters and scouts in my Fluff.  With the completeion of these two teams this unit is all but done...I need to paint the banner and find one more figure...another copy of the guy standing and firing with the hood on....and I'll have a solid unit of 18.

...anyway...here are the pics....Group pic coming soon!

The pictures aren't the greatest as they were taken in a hotel room with less than great lights....also I obviously forgot to bring my basing supplies with me on this trip so those will be finished up later.

Cheers for now!

Blue

LPL Round 5: "They Just Keep Coming!!!"

Hello everyone!  Just a quick post today to keep you all up to date on my 2013 LPL Run.  This week marked the middle point of this years contest....and the pressure is already starting to get to me....well the pressure and my schedule! 

Anyway...more on that later....back to the shiny bits. 

Besides being the mid-point of the contest, Week 5 also ushered in another of the themed rounds...this time the topic was: Civil War.  When this topic was announced I immediately starting thinking about teams....and I came to the conclusion that I didn't have any figures that could fit this theme.  So that my mind quickly turned to thinking about what historical figures I've seen in the past that I've been itching to paint... and that fit the theme...I quickly settled on the Boot Hill Miniatures Alamo defenders and their excellent Mexican Army figures. 

....a brief digression...
"Was the Texas Revolution a 'Civil War'" you ask? well... that's a question for another time...but I would argue yes...uprisings that succeed are called "Revolutions" but hey still represent a country divided and in open conflict with itself...just like a "Civil War"  Anyway....the kind judges at the LPL agreed that it fit the bill so off I went!

....and now back to you regular programming...

I had really enjoyed seeing the greens of these figures posted by Malamute over on the LPL more than a year ago...here was the perfect excuse to buy and paint a couple of packs.  So off to the the interwebs I went...and soon 4 packs of minis were winging their way across the Atlantic to me (thanks Nick!).

Once in hand the figures did not fail to impress.  Both the fantastic Tennesseans and the Mexican troops are extremely clean sculpts and castings with tons of character, I could tell they were going to be a joy to paint.  Both packs are a perfect mix of historical accuracy and a little Hollywood thrown in for good measure. 

This being a themed round I had at least 10 figures to paint so I prompt cleaned, primed, and got to work! 

Work and life obligations kept painting time to a minimum all week... so I was up till at least 3am on Friday getting thing to a point where I could take a picture and get it sent in....as you can see I didn't quite get the bases done....sigh.  For now I'll just post up my submissionn picture....but you can expect more detailed photos of each figure when I have a chance to get them properly based and re-photographed.

I really enjoyed painting all of these...and though this is not an era I'm really interested in gaming...I see more of these finding their way to my collection and my painting table....

...maybe a diorama...?!

Cheers for now!

Blue

LPL Round 4: Mounted Squires

Its time for my weekly LPL update.  For round 4 I continued to plug away at portions of my Bretonnian themed warband...but this time I moved away from the ever present archers and opted to do a team of Mounted Squires.  Like the rest of the range these guys show the Perry brothers sculpting at their best.  I had originally planned to field a team of 7 including a leader and an standard bearer...but I just couldn't get the standard painted in time...because the F#$%ing horses took forever to paint...so I went with a group of 6 for the contest.  Once the LPL wraps up I'll finish up the standard...and hopefully some more rank and file....if I can find some.

Anyway...here is my entry photo

These figure are armed with a boar spear and have a long bow strapped to their backs so they will make great light cavalry for my Bret force.

The Mounted squire sculpts also feed into my weakness as a collector because there are no less than 18 unique sculpts to hunt down.  At this point I've managed to find 10 of them...3 just arrived today...but I've been beating the bushes trying to find the rest.   If you have any spares please drop me a note!

Here are the ones I'm still looking for:

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Blue