Blue's One Hour Challenge: RT Astropath

Orylgg kicked off a painting "Challenge" a week or so ago...The 1-Hour Painting Challenge.  The rules are pretty straight forward.  Take a figure from primed to finished in only one hour.  Some pretty impressive results have been posted up and I thought it sounded like fun so I took the opportunity tonight to give it a try.

In planning for this I knew it was going to be a significant challenge for me...I'm a notoriously slow painter and the idea of finishing a figure in an hour seemed ludicrous to me...but I was game to give it a try.  So...in order to increase my odds of success I wanted every advantage I could find.  This started with figure selection.  I wanted something without a lot of ornamentation and that required the fewest number of colors possible.  To this end I picked a classic old Rogue Trader Astropath...he is mostly, flesh, robe, and staff. Here is what he looks like ...Naked.  Later, I primed with my normal Dark Gray Primer.

A quick hit of nostalgia…

Hi all, 

This is not the next post I was hoping to make but one that just came to me on the fly. 

I just opened a package from an auction I won on eBay and it had some of Prince Ulther's Dragon company troopers in it.... Great figures but nothing too exciting...

There is one interesting thing about them though ...take note of the bases these guys came with… 

BOOM!!  Nostalgia moment...

I hate to be a snob (though...if "the shoe fits..." And all that...)

...but if you're really an "Oldhammer" OG you'll know where these come from.

---

I used these bases all the time back in the day... In fact I think I still have a few of my original Dragon Company figures mounted on them…But It's not something you see very often these days.

Anyway that's it for now... just a quick hit of nostalgia I wanted to share with you.

Cheers,

Blue

Adding some Character to my Bret Force

I'm finally back with an update...I'm shocked to see that it has been three weeks since my last post...but such is life right now!  Sorry about that...

Despite the craziness I've managed to get four new figures done....three of which I'll be using to add some characters to my slowly growing Bretonnian army. (the fourth is the missing Squire with bow that completes that unit)

As you may have guessed...since this force is made up of fifth edition models ...the three figures I'm talking about are Bertrand and his coompanions.  However...I don't really care to play any pre-made "characters" in my forces (other than Bugman from time to time)  In my army these three men are Gordon, Jacques, and Tobi.

Obviously as they were released these figures were intended to represent Robin Hood, Little John, and Friar Tuck....or their Frenchified counterparts, as the case may be.

...For my army...I have decided to keep the "Frenchified" part that but get rid of the "Robin Hood" part...

...at this point..as I blather on... you may be asking yourself why these three figures have such differing color schemes???   ...and the reason for that is that I do not intend to run these three as a group...a la Robin Hood...but as character models that can drop in and out of certain units....so if you see them with their respective units...it all makes more sense.

Lets look at each in turn

Jacques is the commander of the infantry in the Marquis border force so he is often found leading, or at least close to, the armies unit of elite spearmen...le Cerfs Rouges (the Red Stags).

The figure originally intended to represent Little John...I use as Gordon....the leader of the armies mounted Scouts.   Though he runs on foot (they say they can't find a horse big enough for his massive size) his long legs and inhuman stamina are more than a match for the mounts of the other troops. Some accuse Gordon of questionable paternity...implying that he has some Ogre blood in is veins...but when confronted by such accusations Gordon typically fells the accuser with a single blow from his enormous quarter staff and mutters "u-shud-up..I'm de bestest and de fastest." (I will treat him as a mounted figure during game play).

And finally we have Tobi.  Despite his ponderous bulk...and the 15 gallons of fortified wife strapped to his back...Tobi is able to move through even the densest wood without making a sound.  And for that reason he  is often found slinking along with the armies unmounted scouts.

The fortified wine that he freely dispenses to his troops can act as rations in the field and can keep them warm on cold scouts.  With only that barrel this unit can carry out scouting missions lasting several days....

...and return completely pissed...:)

So there they are...the Character that my Bret force was sorely lacking.

I hope to updating on the Knights that I will be adding to this army soon.  I'm in the process of modifying the Front Rank horses that I found to mount them on and will get them primed and ready for paint...once we have a day arm enough to prime!

Cheers for now!

Blue

Wood Grain Technique

Howdy all,

Yes...I am alive...I've just fought through a week long flu which has had me completely debilitated (boo hoo...poor me).  I'm finally getting back on my feet and actually did some painting last night for the first time in many days.

Anyway, after I posted pictures of the Dragon Bait Miniatures Executioner set that I painted up recently I received a couple of requests for information about how I did the wood graining on the chopping block.

Luckily I took a series of pictures of this figure while I was painting it in hopes writing up a longer "how-to" post.  That post never materialized...but now I can use some of those pics for this quick demo.

My technique for wood graining is all about contrasting colors and texture...and applying these colors with short quick motions....and this is true for large surfaces like this block as well as narrow spaces like along a bow stave or weapon haft.

Here we go.  I started with coating the entire block with Vallejo Model Color 872 Chocolate Brown.  Nothing fancy here...just lay it on thick enough to cover the Dark Gray primer.

Edwin the archer...and champion eater!

Hi all,

Just a quick post to show you the latest product of my painting efforts.  Here is a classic Citadel archer who carries the moniker "Edwin" in the old citadel catalogs.  he is a fun sculpt, if a bit rough around the edges.  His portly figure adds a certain comic air to the figure that is sadly missing in most modern GW offerings.

I painted up this figure and am now sending it off to merry old England where it can join a whole host of other figures as a part of the Oldhammer Forums Community Warband project (<<click link for the entire thread on this project).  Each participant selects, paints and submits a figure matching the group theme (in this case a Lawful warband)....then once all "entries" have been received...one lucky participant will become the new owner of this fabulous warband.  there are some truly amazing pieces of art in the warband already and the new owner will be one lucky individual.

Anyway...here is my humble submission (note that the bases on all "entries" have been left bare so that the "winner" can base them all the same.)

This is the type of wonderful project that can happen in a real community like the Oldhammer Forum.  If you are not a member you should swing by and sign up...its a fantastically informative, inspirational and supportive forum.

Cheers for now!

Blue

Dwarf Wizard

Here is another quick post to share with you another excellent figure that I have just finished up for a client.  This is a really fantastic Dwarf Wizard figure that I really had fun painting up and had not been aware of before.  

As you can see I went for a fairly straight forward paint job on this guy other than his robe and hat which I attempt to make fade smoothly from dark blue to light blue.  I had originally hopped to paint stars and moons on his hat....but I attempted that and failed miserably so fell back on this as an alternative solution...and in the end I think this probably looks better anyway.

Here he is!

Cheers,

Blue

Johann Complete!

As promised here is a quick post to show you the final results of the painting I was finishing up on Johann...the fantastic Chaos Dwarf Sculpt by John Pickford...and in fact this figure was painted for John himself! (I hope he likes it!)  I think I have said all the wonderful things that need to be said about this great model...it really is something special...particularly the shield which inspires me to try something new each time I look at it.

Anyway...blah blah...here are the pictures...and below I will include pictures of my personal version to which I have added a Green stuff beard.

I believe that these are still available through Clam's Ewal Dvergar Range of figures...so contact him and get you one....and some of his other wonderful figures as well.

Here is John's Johann...