Lord Carver WIP

Well it looks like this month's painting challenge that I set for myself is off to a bad start, on hold for now and likely to be pushed back to later this year. Sorry about that. I'm waiting to hear from my LGS about whether or not the rest of the Cygnar guys that I ordered from them are going to arrive anytime soon. Otherwise the only progress I've made so far was in successfully tracking down my missing box of Stormblades. So yeah, not good really.

Sure I could have started this past week on the Cygnar stuff that I do have, but instead I decided to hold off until the rest of the miniatures arrive. I'd rather wait and try this again in a few months, than start now but not be able to finish because half the models are on back-order. I'm actually kind of curious to see if I could do this challenge, so I'm willing to wait until I am better prepared before trying this again. Oh well… it's lame, I know. Feel free to call shenanigans on this. I only hope that regular diceRolla readers have by now become conditioned to such disappointment. ;)

So in the meantime over the last couple of days I've been painting this charming Farrow from the Thornfall Alliance for Hordes. In case you're not familiar with the model, this is the Minions warlock Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq III.

"ManBearPig is real. I'm super cereal."

Realizing that my chances of getting the Cygnar army painted this month were worsening with each passing day, I was ready to move on and start painting something else, anything else. I've had Lord Carver for about a year or so still in his blister pack and this seemed like a good time to paint him. I've got no other plans for collecting a Farrow Minions army so I'm painting this guy just for the hell of it.

I get a real kick out of this miniature. I love the pose, so serious for such a silly subject, and his cape is more than sufficiently swoopy. :) I had lots of fun painting that part of the model, though I'm considering going over it with a red glaze to knock the orange back a bit. Then again, maybe I should just leave well enough alone. Nothing wrong with it I suppose.

Swoopy.

I haven't settled yet on what I'll do once I've finished painting Lord Carver. I feel at this point, even if my Cygnar order were to arrive in the next day or two, that it would no longer be a fun experience trying to blast through painting all of them just to make the goal I set for myself. I'm content to save 'em for later. I have a few other things sitting on my painting desk that I could work on but right now none of those older projects hold much interest. I'll think it over and see if anything jumps out at me. So until next time... happy painting and gaming!

Charity Painting Opportunity

Hey, I'm back! Sorry about going MIA from the blog the past couple of weeks, I've been really busy with family stuff and all that jazz. No time for gaming, blah blah blah... let's get on with it! :)

A few minutes ago I was flipping through the new issue of No Quarter Magazine and right away noticed mention of the upcoming Foodmachine 2011. The idea behind Foodmachine is to encourage Warmachine and Hordes players to organize a bunch of events between November 1st and January 2nd as a type of food drive, the entry fee to play being canned food for donation to local food banks. Participants in these events are allowed to purchase "Cheats" for use in their games by bringing along more canned goods. The more you donate during the event, ever more powerful cheats become available for use. All the details about this charitable cause, rules packets, and info about the various cheats can be found by clicking the link already provided.

If you're more of a painter than a gamer, however, there is another way to get involved. This year the organizers want to auction off a complete Tier 4 army, to be made up entirely from painted miniatures donated to the cause. Here are the details for this project copied from the main website:

Painting for Charity

We’re also kicking things up this year with a companion event for all the hobbyists out there. Orange is the official color of hunger awareness and so we wanted to combine that aspect of the charity into Foodmachine. Project: Orange Crush (Hunger) gives hobbyists the chance to devote their special talents to the cause.

We've drawn up a Tier 4 Shae army full of pirate models. We’re asking the community to sign up to paint a model from the army in an orange scheme of their choosing. The army will then be auctioned off for charity. Privateer Press' studio painter, Matt DiPietro, will be painting up Captain Phinneus Shae and the Commodore cannon in an orange-based paint scheme. In addition, this year's Formula P3 Grandmaster, Zach Lanier, will be painting up Dirty Meg for the army.

To participate, follow the link (here) and sign up to paint one of the models. Glue the model to a normal base but do not add any flocking. After you have finished painting it up, mail the model to Matt at Privateer Press:

Project Orange Crush
c/o Matt DiPietro
Privateer Press
13434 NE 16th St STE 120
Bellevue WA 98005

Privateer Press will be basing all the models and the photographing them in preparation for their eBay auction. Your model must be at Privateer Press by December 2nd, 2011.

+++

Pretty cool, right? I dig that our gaming community embraces these charitable causes and so I've signed up to paint a model for the army's unit of Sea Dogs. Pictured below is the smart-looking fellow that I'll be working on to help CRUSH HUNGER... um, pirate style of course:

Along with painting my own miniature, if possible I'd like to recruit some additional painters to work on the rest of the Sea Dogs that I have. Therefore if you are interested in painting a pirate for charity, but do not have any of the requisite minis that are being sought for this project, I'll gladly send you one of my own scurvy bastards by express mail. Just be sure that you can have him painted and shipped out in time for your mini to arrive in Washington by the December 2nd deadline. If that sounds good to you, go to the website's google document and sign up to paint one of the remaining Sea Dogs. Then send me an email or leave a comment indicating which of the following minis you want to work on for Orange Crush (Hunger).

Sea Dog Crew Leader

Sea Dog #2

Sea Dog #3

Sea Dog #4

Sea Dog #5

Alright, that's it for now. If anyone is interested in painting one of these dudes for a good cause, please let me know as soon as you can. So until next time... Aargh! ;)

EDIT: I will update this post as I hear from interested painters, making note of which models have been selected and which are still available. The ones chosen so far are: Sea Dog Crew Leader, Sea Dog #2, Sea Dog #3, Sea Dog #4 and Sea Dog #5. That leaves the following still available to anyone who would like to contribute some of their time to this charitable effort...

Nothing's left!

All the miniatures now have painters!

Woo-Hoo!!

Thank you again to everyone who has gotten involved, I really appreciate it!

A Lovely Iron Kingdoms Table

I don't have much time tonight for blogging as I continue to be occupied by visiting relatives. So for this week's Warmachine/Hordes post I'd like to show a picture of one of my favorite gaming tables. I saw this one at Adepticon and I have no idea who is responsible for it, although I guess it was made by someone associate with Privateer Press. It was located right next to one of their big display pieces in the ballroom where all their tournaments were held.

Okay, check it out:

Why then do I like it so much? To begin with I think it's just a really attractive table built to a high standard of craftsmanship. I wish at the time I had taken more photos of it so that I could show some closeups as the buildings and train station are all well detailed, beautiful pieces of scenery. Also the train and boxcar apparently received a similar amount of care and attention. I remember them being quite lovely.

Beyond its aesthetic appeal I appreciate that it is still a very functional wargaming table for the system for which it was created. It doesn't appear overly crowded with too many lavish terrain pieces and so it should still allow for an enjoyable, standard type of game, not one in which the table itself dominates how the game is played. While I definitely have a lot of fun playing on those specially designed, narrative-heavy tables, this one comes across to me as a top-notch, "I can play on it everyday" sort of table.

Perhaps what I like the most about the table, however, is how well it fits the background and themes of its game world. It seems to me a perfect expression of the Iron Kingdoms and very representative of that Steampunk-styled setting. Sure it would work fine for a lot of other games, but with even a glance I know where the action on the table is supposed to be taking place. I'm also impressed that this isn't conveyed by means of any overt references to in-game factions, symbols, etc. or other sorts of give-away clues.

Finally, I just think it's really neat that the table has train tracks and a train, too. I've wanted to build a table with train tracks for a long time but have not yet done so. That's a terrain feature I would like to see show up more often. Growing up my dad was into model trains so I've thought for a while it would cool to integrate a little of that into my own hobby. Maybe someday I'll get around to that... seems like it would be fun. By the way, does anyone know what scale or gauge of track works well for 28-30mm miniatures?

So that's why I think this table is so groovy. I hope everyone is having a rockin' week so far. Goodnight!

Hordes Switch, Time for Skorne

This is going to be a quick post tonight as I am about to start assembling my Titan Gladiator, hence I want to spend as much hobby time as I can working on the angry elephant. It looks like he's going to take a lot of pins and greenstuff so I'm eager to get to it. As I look at the generous pile of pieces that await me, I have a feeling this guy would really benefit from being rereleased as a plastic model. Hopefully PP has that in the works for their future Hordes plans.

Earlier today I repaired that Cyclops Savage who was damaged in the move without too much trouble. This means that once the Gladiator is built I will have my first 15 points of Skorne ready for painting. I still don't know if I'll go with the standard paint scheme or an alternative selection of colors. I like the basic red-flavored Skorne enough that I'm happy to use it as my default paint scheme should I not think of anything else with more appeal. Since the current Gladiator will likely take me a while to build, I'm sure I have plenty more time to consider my options.

As for the change of pace, I decided that I was ready to switch from working on Circle Orboros and start in on my next faction. Eventually I'd like to be able to run intro games in the Asheville area as it seems there is not yet much of a following here for either Warmachine or Hordes. Unfortumately I do not believe there are any Press Gangers within several hours drive of me so no help there. No worries though, I don't think it should be too hard to teach the game to someone else should I get the chance.

In order for me to do that, however, I need to paint some more monsters. Therefore it's time I return to the knives, glue, greenstuff and pins. Goodnight!

QuickPic - Lord of the Feast

Today I unpacked my Hordes miniatures for the first time after the move and was relieved to see that all of them held up quite well to the jostling. A couple of smaller pieces popped off of one of the unpainted Cyclops Savages but otherwise everyone appears to be in good condition. Phew! Also I noticed a few areas here and there that will need touching up but again it doesn't look like it will take much to fix 'em.

So after inspecting all the models I couldn't help but play around a little and take some pictures of them. Even though he's been seen on this blog a few other times, this Lord of the Feast is still one of my favorite minis to photograph. I hope you don't mind me posting him again, I kind of like the way this one turned out.

Hmm... I wonder what he's pointing at.

Oh well, goodnight!

Newton's First Law of Blogging

The past month ended up being a rather slow time on the hobby front, but that's not to say I have been entirely idle these past several weeks. After fighting unsuccessfully against inertia, with regards to both hobby stuff and blogging, I decided it would be best for me to take a step back and consider what it is that I want to do with my little corner of the Internets. To that end I packed a satchel full of my favorite rulebooks along with some dice, then ascended to the top of my mountain for a period of deep contemplation and soul searching.

Reviewing the latest from Wargames Research Group

And so what did my meditations upon the great mystery of the d6 reveal to me? Not much really. I did however make up my mind about what to do with this diceRolla blog. I feel that it is time to take a more deliberative approach to updating my blog rather than the haphazard manner which I have previously employed. Therefore starting tomorrow I am going to attempt to keep a regular posting schedule and will initially aim for at least a daily post.

Early on in the history of this blog I tried to post something every day but that experience ended in disaster and tedium. With a newborn in the house there wasn't a whole lot of hobby time for me and even less time available in which to post anything meaningful, but conditions have changed since then and I'm optimistic about being able to maintain my routine a little more successfully this time around. It's probably best however to still think of this as something of an experiment as it very well may crash and burn within a matter of days. With that caveat out of the way, this is the posting schedule I have in mind:

Monday - WH40k

Tuesday - Warhammer Fantasy

Wednesday - Warmachine/Hordes

Thursday - Infinity

Friday - Malifaux

Saturday - Dystopian Wars

Sunday - Open/Misc.

Like I said, I'm not sure how long this will last and I may want to revise the rotation as I go along, but I do feel like this will be a good start even if just to try it out. I enjoy a variety of games and certainly love painting a wide range of miniatures, so I think this schedule would be fairly representative of my current hobby interests. Also as I inevitably have a lot of different projects underway at the same time I figure I might as well make something of that too, thus making my tendency to jump around a feature of the blog. We'll see how it goes but it can't be any worse than my recent, nonexistent blogging efforts, right?

So the new era of my diceRolla blogging adventures is set to begin on the 1st of August. May it last for years and years, or until I become burned out and bored. Hmm... I give it two weeks. :) In the spirit of new beginnings I'll be kicking off a brand new 40k army project tomorrow, previewed in the following picture.

Who loves hedonism and corruption? I do, I do!

Thanks again to all my fantastic readers and the many friends I've made through our shared passion for glue and paint. If this blogging experiment works out, hopefully you'll hear from me more than just once a month. Really my main goal is to get that hobby inertia working once again in my favor, and since this blog has been such a source of motivation and encouragement for me in the past, I believe I can use it as a way of launching back into the swing of things. So until tomorrow (fingers crossed)... happy gaming and painting, everybody!

New Games for Consideration

One of my hobby goals for 2011 is to continue experimenting with new game systems, even if only to learn the rules as an excuse to paint different sorts of miniatures. Last year I really enjoyed delving into Hordes especially although I did begin peeking into Warmachine and Malifaux a little as well. Early on I even made a decent start on painting my Circle Orboros army before running out of steam and resuming work on GW projects. I believe those are games I'll have fun with for quite some time to come so I'm happy with the investment I made in learning them.

I would therefore like to again expand my gaming horizons and so I've been looking around at what's available, mainly with an eye toward the miniatures but also with some curiosity regarding their rules too. There are quite a few systems that I'm considering but at this point I still do not know which appeals the most to me. I suppose I've already started in with Super Dungeon Explore very recently but I don't count that as it lacks the army collecting/list building elements that I want in a new game. What follows is a list of those that have caught my attention for various reason and from which I expect to further pursue at least one or two of them.

Anima Tactics

Dystopian Wars

Firestorm Armada

Flames of War

Freebooter's Fate

Heavy Gear: Blitz!

MERCS

Pulp City

Uncharted Seas

I really don't know much about any of those yet except what I've found out about them poking around their primary websites and a few very tentative visits to some of their forums. If anyone has any experience or opinions concerning these games, I'd really appreciate hearing them. I am particularly keen to learn more about the three from Spartan Games and would be very interested in hearing about how those games actually play. Also I'm always eager to find out about other games people are playing so if there's anything else you really enjoy, I'd love to hear additional recommendations.

Okay, that's it for tonight... miniatures await!

Gaming in Asheville, NC?

First I want to start with a quick reminder about the contest I'm running. If you haven't already, please click here to see the details and enter for a chance to win some MkIII Iron Armour marines as well as a display base to go with them made by Secret Weapon Miniatures. So check it out and enter if you wish, I'll select two winners a little more than a week from now on the night of October 24th.

My hobby activities are presently on hold as I am currently in Asheville, NC with the family and will be here for several more days. I did bring some things to work on when time allows but I forgot a few necessary items. I brought along a batch of HORDES models to assemble but forgot my glue, and I also packed a bunch of paints but failed to bring anything that's ready to paint. D'oh! Well, that's what I get for packing at literally the last minute before leaving home.

We're visiting Asheville to begin getting a sense for the area as we'll likely be moving here next summer. Nestled within the Great Smokey Mountains, it is a beautiful place and I've always liked this part of the country. So far everything looks good and I suspect we'd be quite happy living here. While driving around yesterday the wife and I came across an awesome Bavarian restaurant where I tried Das Boot of lager for the first time in my life. Fortunately it was only the single Litre version as I would not have been able to handle any more than that. Overall it was a great dining experience though I was worried enough about falling asleep at the table. : )

Along with all the usual pragmatic concerns involved in moving, like neighborhoods and school districts and such, I'm also quite curious what type of gaming scene I might find here. There is a severe paucity of tabletop gaming where we live now so it's difficult for me to imagine my hobby situation not improving with this move. I have a lead on one game store that I expect to visit tomorrow afternoon which I think is promising. Otherwise I'm still wandering around blindly, listening to the winds for the welcome sounds of rolling dice and gamers' incessant whining.

I have a positive feeling about this place and I believe it could be a good fit for my little family. It seems like a town well suited to weirdos and eccentrics. I'd love to hear from anyone who knows this area or has had any experience playing games in the Asheville region. I'm definitely interested in learning how well represented our hobby is in this part of the state, plus I'd really appreciate any other advice or words of wisdom my Tar Heel readers might have for me. So please let me know what your impressions of this area are like. I would be very grateful for any help in this regard.

Thank you!

POWER!!! etc.

It's been dark and stormy times on my little island these past four days. We lost power on Sunday and only had it fully restored earlier this afternoon. Fortunately I did have the opportunity to check out the initial wave of pictures from Games Day mere hours before the lights went out as the alternative would have been too cruel. Wow, those are some cool models. I don't know exactly what I'll do but I definitely want to mash up a Raider or two for some terrain. Making a Sarlaac pit seems like it would be fun. Once I have time I'm eager to catch up on whatever else has come to light about the upcoming product release.

To celebrate the power coming back on I took the above photograph of my Circle Orboros guys. Since referring to them in my last post I realized that I had not ever taken a group shot of the happy bunch and decided I would set them up once I could charge my camera's battery. How's that for a dorky celebration? Also I looked into how many points they comprise, the total of which turns out to be 21. When I am again motivated to work on this stuff I believe I will next paint a unit of Wolves of Orboros or Tharn Bloodtrackers to add some cheap numbers to the army. I don't anticipate that being any time soon, though.

Prior to the power outage my wife's parents were visiting and stayed with us for several days. I've therefore done very little painting over the last week but I should now be able to get back to it so long as the electricity doesn't go out again. (Fingers crossed as the storms have hardly lessened.) With the hobby time that I was able to scrounge up I assembled the first of my Skorne models, a unit of Praetorian Swordsmen and the warlock from the Skorne starter box. It may not be much but I'm thankful that I accomplished anything considering recent circumstances.

Okay, that's it for the update. Time to paint.

Breaking Fealty

I haven't mentioned Warhammer Fantasy since 8th edition was released when I decided to start a new Bretonnian army. I've been quiet about this undertaking since then because I have not made any progress that seemed positive or worth discussing. The past couple of months have seen me become increasingly frustrated with my choice of army as I've struggled with list after list to make an army that lives up to my early enthusiasm for the chivalrous blue bloods and their filth-encrusted peasantry. I simply cannot find a force hiding in the Bretonnian army book that I like.

When I chose to go with the Bretonnians I was somewhat aware of the challenges this would bring, though not entirely so. It would seem my "careful" consideration was not as carefully considered as I had thought. I was not foolish enough, however, to believe I would be able to come up with a super-tough list capable of competing against strong opponents. All I really wanted was an army to use in some fun games against friends, thus allowing me to return Warhammer Fantasy to my gaming rotation after my interest in it had waned over the lifespan of the previous edition. Yet even with these modest goals in mind I have not been able to put anything together that excites me enough to begin investing the time and money needed for a new army.

So what's a fella to do? For now at least I'm stepping back from my pledge of loyalty to Bretonnia and the Lady of the Lake. While it may cause my Dwarf army to label me as an oath-breaker and refuse to ever fight for me again, I think this is my best option. I don't want to fall into the trap of forcing myself to work on an army I'm not excited about as there are numerous other projects I'm eager to tackle. As a finicky and easily distracted hobbyist, I finally learned that it's almost impossible for me to get very far with an army when I'm less than fully enthused about it. Despite the frustrations necessary to bring me to this point, I am at least grateful to have recognized my issues with the army before putting forth any significant effort.

Eventually I'd like to get back to these Bretonnians though I have no idea when that will be. It feels to me as if the army currently lacks in variety, a problem which is exacerbated by the fact that several characterful units I'd like to include are not well represented in the range of Bretonnian miniatures. For example, weren't there at some point more than five Questing Knight sculptures? Two rank-and-file variants just seems to me woefully inadequate for a unit that should have lots of individual personality. In this particular case I could set about trying to convert or kit-bash some models of my own but that sounds like a lot more than I'm willing to do at this point. Therefore, confronted with an army book that doesn't particularly captivate me and a range of miniatures that leaves me wanting, I think it would be best to set aside the spurs and lance until Bretonnia receives its update for the new edition.

While I'm content to hold off on the Bretonnians, there's still the fantasy itch that needs to be scratched. I started to look again at what other armies I might want to collect but so far nothing has jumped out at me. I thought it would be fun to work on a new army to coincide with the latest edition of the game but it's certainly not necessary. I still have a couple of functional armies which I can use in friendly games of Warhammer, but they've become sort of stale feeling to me over the years. Nonetheless I would like to work on something of a more fantastical sort so as to satisfy that part of my gamer soul not currently fulfilled by chainswords and plasma guns. Hmm, what to do?

Oh yeah, there was that other game that had captivated my attention last winter... Hordes. Or more properly, HORDES!!!! (PP's penchant for capitalization still cracks me up.) The game offers lots of cool monsters, crazy warlocks and spells, and some really bizarre factions to choose from, all of which sounds to me like a winning combination. Plus every model I worked on before was a blast to paint and I doubt I could ever tire of painting monsters. The more I think about, the more convinced I am that this is where I need to look to get my fix of fantasy gaming.

In fact the last miniature I painted before my unanticipated five month break from the brushes was a Lord of the Feast for my Circle Orboros gang. I already have 20ish points of Circle Orboros painted and another 15 points or so worth in boxes, as well as 35 to 40 points worth of Skorne models waiting around in their original packaging. Therefore my plan going forward is to cease worrying about doing something new for Warhammer Fantasy and will instead turn to Hordes for my swords-and-sorcery gaming enjoyment.

Best of all, this is the perfect time for me to return to Hordes as the faction of my dreams is just now being rolled out, the Blindwater Congregation:

Crazy voodoo alligators... I think I may have just fallen in love.

Showcase: Circle Orboros

While waiting on the police after his car was broken into at AdeptiCon, DrGabe was kind enough to photograph my finished Circle Orboros guys. I'm so impressed with his camera skills that from now on the pictures I take are going to look pretty poor in comparison. Also it makes me wish I had done more painting before leaving for the con. Thanks again, Gabe... I'll come to Missouri next time I need pictures of something.

Kaya the Wildborne

Warpwolf Heavy Warbeast

Argus Light Warbeasts

Gorax Light Warbeast

Shifting Stones

Lord of the Feast

Oops, WIP

AdeptiCon is officially one week away and I'm supposed to be in Chicago five days from now. Well, I just realized about twenty minutes ago that I don't have plane tickets. I had researched a bunch of options months ago, but then never got around to actually purchasing any. My wife was growing suspicious over the past several days that we had overlooked getting the tickets, and after searching around in my inbox this evening it seems that I currently do not have a way to get to the Con. But this is no time to panic, I'm sure I'll be able to work it out... it will just make things more interesting.

I'm still working away on the Lord of the Feast. He's a creepy dude and has some sort of bad mojo going on. Even though I like him a lot and think he is a cool miniature, I'm looking forward to having this one wrapped up and done. I keep finding little areas of skin that need to be painted and this has been slowing me down. Also I've made a few color mistakes and have had to go back several times to redo an area, so maybe I'm just being influenced by these delays and frustrations. Or maybe it really does have something to do with him being the embodiment of entropy as a force of nature. Who knows, perhaps I should blame the Devourer Wurm? Check out the WIP photo above to see where I'm at, meanwhile I'm still updating the Color Guide as I go along. I apologize if the picture is too dark, I'll try to get a better one in the morning to replace this one.

Regardless of whatever voodoo he might be working on me, I've got more painting to do. I expect to finish him up in a day or so. After that, I'm not too sure what to do. I'm starting to get the itch to paint something 40kish in anticipation of AdeptiCon. I should address that Chaos Sorcerer if only as an exercise in painting discipline. There are just so many other things I would rather work on, and right now there's not a whole lot of time left. It would nice to at least get the Tharn Bloodtrackers assembled, or perhaps some of the Minions that I plan on taking with me to AdeptiCon. Oh yeah, and there's the matter of actually getting to Chicago... nope, I do not want to forget that again!

Lord of the Feast WIP

Okay, so I said before that it was time to work on some units for my Circle Orboros army, but here I am posting about another one-off sculpture, the Lord of the Feast solo. I took Monday off from painting and instead opened up a blister of Tharn Bloodtrackers to see what would be involved in assembling them. I decided that I wasn't quite ready to begin on them and would rather do the Lord of the Feast first. I wasn't sure how I wanted to divide up the Bloodtrackers and realized that if I had the solo done, I could next paint the first six of the Tharn to give me a 25 point usable army. After that I can finish off the unit before moving on to the unit of Druids, thus bringing up the points total to my current goal of 35, which I believe to be a relatively standard size for most games.

As for the Lord of the Feast himself, I initially struggled to find the right skin tone to use on him. I want to convey a sense of unwholesomeness and a sort of general ickiness that I get from the miniature and his fluff. Although I like the soft grey colors that I've seen him done in before, I'm nonetheless happy with the progression of colors that I ended up using. For a skin tone, I think it looks pretty gruesome, although I won't know for sure if this was the right way to go until I can see how it looks with some other areas painted up. Getting this guy assembled was fairly tricky and challenged me enough for the day so I don't feel like pressing to get much more painting done on him tonight. I'm also not sure how I want to paint all those different areas of animal skins so I think I'll leave him alone for now. As can be seen in the WIP photo, I've already managed to break the raven off of his arm within the first few minutes of painting. I'm worried that this forebodes some durability issues but hopefully he won't prove to be quite as delicate as I now fear. Oh well, time will tell. I really like this miniature and just hope it all turns out okay.

Color Guide - Lord of the Feast

Basecoat: Chaos Black, Bestial Brown drybrush

Skin: 30A, Ogryn Flesh, 30A, 30B, 30C

Chainmail: 35A, 35B, 35C, Badab Black

Eyes: 4C, Gryphonne Sepia

Stockings: 11A, 11B, 11C, Devlan Mud

Leggings and Straps: 45A, 45B, 45C, Devlan Mud

Skirt and Hood: 12A, 12B, 12C, Devlan Mud

Satchel: 7A, 7B, 7C, Devlan Mud

Belt: 13A, 13B, 13C, Devlan Mud

Severed Arm: 5A, 5B, 5C, Ogryn Flesh, cuts done with Baal Red

Bracelets, etc.: 36A, 36B, 36C, Devlan Mud

Pendants: 32A, 32B, 32C, Badab Black

Skulls: Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, 9A, 9B, 9C

Trophy Skulls: same as above and finished with Devlan Mud

Antlers: Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, 9A, 9B, 9C, Devlan Mud

Sword Blade: 35A, 35B, 35C, Badab Black, Ogryn Flesh

Sword Grip: Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, 9A, 9B, 9C, Ogryn Flesh

Mane: Scorched Brown, Dark Flesh, Red Gore drybrush, Ogryn Flesh

Trophy Hair: 34A, 34B, 34C, Badab Black

Raven: 34A, 39A, 39B, 39C, Badab Black twice

Base: watered Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, Graveyard Earth drybrush, Kommando Khaki drybrush

Stones: 57A, 57B, 57C

Base Lip: 34A

Birthday Skorned

I mentioned about a week ago that my family gave me some pretty cool gifts for my birthday, including a variety of gaming items and miniatures. I wrote last week about how touched I was by the Daughters of the Flamer box and the warlock blister from my wife and on behalf of my own little girl, but that wasn't all by far! Pictured above is a complete 35 point Skorne army for Hordes given to me by my wife, with only a minimum of selection input from me. There's even an extra warlock in the form of Archdomina Makeda to give this force additional flexibility! She started off by giving me the Warpack for Valentine's Day, then got the rest for me over the following few weeks. To round out the army, my wife included a pair of Minions blisters, the Totem Hunter and a Swamp Gobber Fob Bellows crew. I'm particularly pleased with the faction-themed items as she tracked all of them down herself and I'm a sucker for these types of things. I forgot to include the Skorne paint kit and a blister of Praetorians, but everything else made it into the photo.

The rest of my family also got in on the Hordes-action and decided to add Trollbloods to my collection. In total I was given a Trollbloods Warpack, a Pyre Troll, a Fell Caller solo, a full unit of Pyg Bushwackers, and an Alten Ashley model. This means I've now got more than 25 points worth of yet another faction! They also gave me the Trollbloods paint kit and a set of Trollbloods tokens so I should be all ready to go with them.

I am very grateful that my family would go out of their way to get me such cool birthday presents. Even though I did help out by providing some ideas, I really had no idea that I would be receiving this many awesome new toys. I am still quite shocked by it all! I anticipate being very busy this year painting them. Also it is fortunate that my birthday didn't come a month earlier or else I might have ended up with a lot of Games Workshop stuff right before becoming interested in the Privateer Press games. Good timing, indeed! As it stands now, however, I benefited greatly and now have a huge jump on my Hordes collection. It was an awesome birthday and I had lots of fun with everyone, so again, thank you!

Shifting Stones WIP

I finished up the Gorax last night and thanks to some great weather, I was able to get him sealed earlier today as well. This means I now have a fully painted 15-point army for Hordes! I know that 15 points isn't much, in this case being just one extra warbeast added to the Circle Orboros Warpack box, but I am proud of the accomplishment regardless of its scale. I just realized however that I don't have any pictures of the completed miniatures posted here, so that all I've shown off have been WIP shots. Fortunately I am still working on a solution and hope to have some showcase photos added in the coming week. It turns out there is an internet cafe even on my rural island and so I plan on going there to do all of the uploading necessary to launch a picture gallery... my internet is just too slow for me to do it from home.

Having gotten to this point with my Circle Orboros collection, I feel it is now time to begin painting some units. It's been fun painting the individual miniatures, but I am now ready to branch out into new territory for a different experience. The first unit I'm painting is a batch of Shifting Stones, which are pictured above in the WIP photograph. I anticipated them being a fairly easy project and one I could get through quickly. I got them assembled and primed today while the baby was sleeping and had thought I might be able to take them from out of the packaging to completion in the span of a single day. Although I stopped painting tonight with them incomplete, I'm still pretty sure that another day of work should see them finished. Considering my usual pace, I would certainly be happy about getting a unit done over the course of a weekend.

As per my now standard practice, I have listed below the colors that I am using in painting the Shifting Stones so as to help me keep track of them.

Basecoat: Chaos Black

Plinth: 34B, 34C, 57B

Relief: 41A, 41B, 41C, 2 parts 41C mixed with 1 part 2B, Thraka Green, touchups with 41B

Plants: Knarloc Green, Ogryn Flesh, 28B, 28C

Stones: 57A, 57B, 57C

Skull: Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, 9A, 9B, 9C

Base: Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, Graveyard Earth drybrush, Kommando Khaki drybrush

Base Lip: 34A

Gorax WIP

I started work on the Gorax this past Sunday and even got to do a little sculpting to fill a gap with green stuff. The rope connecting the Gorax to his stone did not fit exactly together, it being a couple millimeters too short and left a noticeable area lacking depth and detail, so that is where I focused my attention. I'm uncomfortable with sculpting but I am satisfied with how it turned out, although that might change once it's been painted. Regardless of how it looks, though, it will have to do as I am not going back to work on it anymore.

As for the painting, at first I thought I wanted to try out a more unusual color scheme for the Gorax and decided to go with Slate Grey (32) for his body and Moss (29) for his mangy hair and fur. I quickly felt like this might not be the right way to go but continued to build highlights until I pretty much finished with those two areas. Something still seemed off about the Gorax and he just did not seem to fit in or belong when viewed with my other painted Circle Orboros minis. So Monday night I reluctantly started going back over the previously addressed areas, though this time I feel much better about his overall appearance. I'm now confident that I have the color scheme worked out and like the way he is starting to look now. If all goes well, I hope to have him wrapped up by the weekend. As with some of my other WIP posts, I'm keeping track of the paints that I've used in the following color guide. I will be updating it as I go along.

Basecoat: Chaos Black

Body: 32A, 32B, Devlan Mud?, 11A, 11B, 11C

Mangy Fur: Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown drybrush, 3 parts Bestial Brown mixed with 1 part Kommando Khaki drybrush, 3 parts Kommando Khaki mixed with 1 part Bestial Brown drybrush, Badab Black, Scorched Brown touchups

Claws: 9A, 9b, 9C, Devlan Mud

Teeth: 10A, 10B, 10C, Devlan Mud

Armor Plates: 41A, 41B, 41C, Thraka Green, touchups along edges of armor with 41A

Metal Collar: 35A, 35B, 35C, Badab Black, Devlan Mud

Straps: 45A, 45B, 45C, Devlan Mud

Eyes: 4B, Geyphonne Sepia

Big Rock: 32A, 32B, 32C, Devlan Mud

Rope:55A, 55B, 55C, Devlan Mud

Base: Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, Graveyard Earth drybrush, Kommando Khaki drybrush

Stones: 57A, 57B, 57C

Base Edge: 34A

Check It Out, I'm 33!

Today is my birthday and am turning thirty three years old, so happy birthday to me! I don't really know what to say... I think it's going to be a great year and today was an excellent launch into this new age. I've had a lot of fun today and even got in some painting here and there. I received a bunch of cool gifts including some awesome birthday gaming surprises, no less! My wife went so far as to brave a trip to the not-so-friendly local (actually it's an hour's drive away) gaming store to pick out some miniatures herself to give to me. I'm really touched by her having taken that upon herself. In honor of our little daughter, she got for me a unit of Daughters of the Flame! Hmmm, I have been increasingly interested in the Protectorate of Menoth and so this could be the start of something exciting. Additionally for my growing Circle Orboros collection she also got for me a new warcaster, Krueger the Stormwrath! I still feel shocked by the thoughtfulness of it as I now know she really has been paying attention to my hobby beyond the painting itself, not to mention the courage it took to walk into such a den of nerdiness and dorkitude. I'll detail the other gaming stuff I was given sometime soon, I just wanted to express my thanks while I'm still in the moment.

I have good news to report from the painting front, too. Tonight I finished work on Kaya which means my Circle Orboros Warpack is now done! Woo-Hoo!! I had so much painting these miniatures and even though it was only four models, because of the nature of the game, they actually do represent a decent sized chunk of an army. I therefore feel like this was a real accomplishment for me and am encouraged about the prospects of getting some playable armies painted in the near future. I plan on paining the Gorax light warbeast next, then probably some units or solos. As for Kaya, the gold ended up being a pretty big pain in the rump but ended up looking good I think. The eyes however were really tough for me to get right and in fact I think they still look sort of jacked. Her right eye looks okay but the left one is not pretty. Is there anything more frustrating than botching the eyes on an otherwise well painted figure? I'm just glad the way the miniature is posed should keep her face hidden most of the time when seen on the tabletop. I suppose they're not all terrible bad and do look better than many of eyes I've painted in the past, but I am far from satisfied with my eye-painting abilities right now. Maybe I'll spend some time searching around for tutorials on the subject... let's see if this internet really is good for something!

Third Kaya WIP

I painted for close to another four hours tonight and got a lot more done on Kaya. No transcendental experiences like the last time I stayed up to paint, but still a good night nevertheless. Plus I feel like I ran out of steam earlier as well... it's been a long day for this dad. Other than the usual touch ups, all that remains to paint is her hair and eyes, her cloak, and finally all of that gold. Apparently people in the Iron Kingdoms like their bling. It's late and I'm going to sleep. The picture above was taken after I stopped painting for the night around 12:30 or so. If I can get to sleep quickly, I just might be able to finish tomorrow. Goodnight!

Another Kaya WIP

So after taking the past two nights off from painting, today I got back into the swing of things and returned to work on Kaya the Wildborne. The baby's nap this afternoon lasted about an hour longer than usual and I tried to make the most out of that little bonus hobby time. I really do prefer painting during the day rather than at night so I'm appreciative of these opportunities for to paint while she sleeps. Few things calm my spirit as much as quiet afternoon spent with my paints and brushes... oh yeah, and miniatures too.

Check out the photo above to see how I am progressing on my Circle Orboros warlock. I haven't put a whole lot of time into it since my last WIP picture, although there certainly is a lot more color in place now. I tried to hide it with the angle of my camera but you can still somewhat discern the overly thick paint buildup on Kaya's abdomen. As I mentioned before, I noticed this as a problem area while still working on it but there wasn't anything I could do to reverse the effect. The best I was able to achieve was to smooth it over a little by applying additional watered down coats of the final highlight followed by a wash of Ogryn Flesh. Fortunately this flaw appears to be a lot less noticeable when viewed in person until you put the figure right to your face. I don't know if it's me or the camera, but in the photos however I can't seem to not notice this. Room for improvement I suppose. Nonetheless, I continue to be happy with how she is shaping up and I'm excited about seeing the Warpack completed.

Kaya the Wildborne WIP

Good news... I finished the Warpwolf today! There were just a few remaining things to address on him and so, with a little work during the day and then some more this evening, I was able to wrap everything up. That leaves just my warlock left to paint and I will have completed my Circle Orboros Warpack. I doubt that there is enough time to paint her before the start of the next month but I still feel like getting this much done is a good accomplishment for the month of February. That doesn't mean, however, that I am not going to at least try. Tonight I have therefore officially started painting Kaya the Wildborne.

I decided I would try out something a bit different with Kaya by lightly drybrushing the entire model with Bestial Brown. I was having trouble figuring out the overall color scheme that I wanted to use and thought that this would be easier for me if I could see all of the details sculpted onto the miniature. Brown seemed to be the way to go since I'll be sticking with the earth tones common to the Druids of Circles Orboros. And it's always seemed to me like gold-colored paints go on better over brown rather than black, so even the metallic areas should benefit from the brown drybrushing. Although I'm little concerned that I might have gone too heavy with the paint in certain areas, such as Kaya's abdomen, I am generally very happy with how this experiment is turning out. It really is amazing how much the details stand out now and I'm pretty sure that this will end up helping me to get her painted quickly and with less hesitation than I would normally have experienced. I didn't get much beyond this initial step tonight but you can see the results of my labor in the above WIP photo. Also it is enough to start a color guide for Kaya the Wildborne:

Undercoat: Chaos Black, Bestial Brown drybrush

Skin: 5A, Ogryn Flesh, 5B, 5C, Ogryn Flesh

Hair: 53A, 53B, 53C, Devlan Mud

Eyes: 34A, White?

Armor Plates: 41A, 41B, 41C, Thraka Green, touch-ups with 41B

Gold Edging: 36A, 36B, 36C, Devlan Mud

Pants, Vest, and Sleeves: 7A, 7B, 7C, Gryphonne Sepia

Cloak: 26A, 26B, 26C, Thraka Green

Arm Guards: 12A, 12B, 12C, Devlan Mud

Boots: 14A, 14B, 14C, Devlan Mud, multiple washes of Baal Red for the top of the boots

Straps and Tassels: 45A, 45B, 45C, Devlan Mud

Trinkets: 9A, 9B, 9C, Devlan Mud... also the Stone bits on the tassels are done like those on the base, then washed with the other trinkets

Staff: 13A, 13B, 13C, Gryphonne Sepia

Base: watered down Bestial Brown, Devlan Mud, Graveyard Earth drybrush, Kommando Khaki drybrush

Stones: 57A, 57B, 57C