niedziela, 13 listopada 2011

Lords section of my WFB Orcs

I have been working on my list. I have no special reason to do it, except for the will to get the stuff painted, eventually, and play some games with them. So here they are, Lords of my army:



I roll him as the army book prescribed. So no surprises there, 355pts of Fist-In-Yer-Face goodness.



I use this guy as a Black Orc Warboss. I give him Giant Blade, Helm of Discord and Enchanted Shield. 260pts of pure madness!



Orc Great Shaman. Pretty basic stuff. Haven't figured out what to give him. Any suggestions?



Same situation here. I have no idea how to boost those guys. Please help me out in comments, thanks!

sobota, 12 listopada 2011

Sentikanz painting progress

I finally decided to paint up these buggers. If it wasn't for a spilled water pot I would carry on painting, but I assumed Gork (or Mork) has given me a sign to stop. So far I got one kan waiting for a final highlight and some detail work and two more painted with base colours.









poniedziałek, 31 października 2011

Getting warmer

As some of you already know, I am now located in Poland. It's getting a bit chilly right now over here. My gaming room was not supposed to be a room of any kind when the house was built and thus there's no heating in there. I had to dish out some money and buy a standalone gas heater. And it works! Doesn't leak gas or anything, hasn't exploded yet either. Soon, some gaming should commence when me and my brother organise some time together, a man-date you might say.

I also managed to put some paint on my models and... convert antoher Big Mek for my army. You can see a sort of GW sneek peak on the army pic in the previous post, but as soon as I get 30 minutes of free time I will shoot a HD clip of it an put it on YouTube. A cool, High Definition, 360 degrees of the model.

Apart from that I have been insanely busy and stressed looking for a job. I don't want ANY job, I want a good job. It's either that or trying to be my own boss. And we all know how difficult that can be. So, I have been applying and got only one reply so far. It seems like a great job and I managed to get through to the third stage when assessment takes place in the company's offices. I think I got pretty far, thus the stress. I need to prepare a presentation, a self assessment sheet and some things. Keep your fingers crossed! I need this job!

Till later gang!

PS
One word: Warcanto! (google it)

wtorek, 25 października 2011

Latest addition to my Ork Army

So after some time I managed to collect a sizeable Ork army... again! It's my third. Every time I finish it I sell, this one... shall not be sold! For I like it too much. All models have black and grey primer on them. Next step: all bases and metals on ALL of the models.

For now, a pic:

niedziela, 16 października 2011

Took my Orks out for a spin

Greetings!

My Orks have played two games this weekend. First one I played against my brother's Impreial Guard. We played a 1k army each. Dawn of War deployment and Capture & Control mission. His Imperial Guard couldn't stop my Orks from coming to the objective in his deployment. It didn't help he forgot to roll for his reserves. Any way it was a close one as if not for me being lucky at the begining and taking down his Basilisk it wouldn't be that easy.

Second game took place today against an army of Chaos. Same mission and Spearhead deployment. It was a draw but the Chaos player didn't even leave his quarter. My Orks got there second turn ready to wreak havoc. Unfortuantely they got stopped by Obliterators and a Land Raider full of Terminators. Both games were fun and I'm ready for more.

Also, right now I'm working on a Deff Dread. I'm trying to convert a little bit by adding a part here, part there, cutting things in half and so on... Not a big thing, but when I'm done it should look OK. Pictures as soon as I finish.

I also have a podcast to edit before my co-hosts kill me. It has been two weeks of me being really busy and this weekend I have some time so I am planning to do it. Keep your fingers crossed!

Till later!

wtorek, 11 października 2011

First game in new place

Today me and my brother decided to have a game. I decided to play Dystopian Wars as it is an amazing game and we didn't need to write up any army lists since we used two starter sets: him - Prussians and I - Blazing Suns.


That's my brother NOT realising he's getting his ass kicked.

The game was, as always with Dystopian Wars, fun. He learned the basic rules of linking fire, splitting fire, moving and turning. It was pretty cool. I managed to play my Blazing Suns (BS) 'trains' as Prussians: full ahead and didn't use my P/S Guns.

As some of you know Prussians are good in barging in among the enemy and using their Broadsides all over the place. BS are not good at it, they seem to be better at circling the enemy on Band 2 and using all their Rockets and P/S Guns. But that was only the first game I played with BS and I will probably revise my conclusions later on. We'll see!


That's how effective Blazing Suns guns were.

Till later gang!

czwartek, 6 października 2011

(my) Armies on Parade

On Sunday me and my bro will be either going to the local club to roll some dice, or we will do it at home while drinking insane amounts of beer. Either way, I decided to get ready and got all his IG and my Orks out to write up some lists and while I was at it I unpacked my newly bought Skaven army.







I was also sorting out some mess in the cupboards and managed to dig out something that my mate was asking some years ago and I said: I don't have it! Well look'e here! Goliath gang...



You know what that means? It means I will want to start to play Necromunda again and will lure him in. Mwahahaha!

Till tomorrow! I hope...

wtorek, 4 października 2011

My gaming room is starting to take shape

After a long day I have done almost everything I wanted to do to my gaming area of the attic. Now I will have to move in some desks and shelves to sort out my painting / building room which is a bit to the side, and smaller. Winters here in Poland are a bit harsher than in UK and I don't want to heat up the whole place to paint couple of minis. So, here is the pic of how it looks right now.




Honey, I'm home!

So the move went well. I'm now organising my life back in Poland and it's going pretty smooth actually. So far.
As a true hobbyist I started of with getting my lair sorted.



I got my 6"x4" table ready and full of stuff as you can see. I will take pictures of it when it's done, but for now this has to do.



This is the same room from the opposite corner of the room. It looks even worse then the previous picture.



This will be my painting room when I get done with the main one. It's smaller, but that's going to make it easier to heat it up. You know in Poland we got proper winters, not just autumns with more rain and gloom all over.



And just to prove I'm hardcore, that's my room. Just a mattress on the floor. Waiting for the wife to move in and sort out the décor. I can't be bothered with that crap.

So... there will be no painting posts for a while; until I get the room sorted. Considering I landed yesterday I did quite a lot. I'll talk to you later gang!

piątek, 23 września 2011

Temporary break...

Hello guys! As some probably noticed, I have had a break recently. Not due to my laziness, but due to certain customer unfriendly companies not caring about their paying customers. Namely: Whatever Happens / KnowHow. They are very crap at sorting your laptop repair. I will speak to you more on that when I get my stuff unpacked in Poland which will be more or less on 3rd October.

For now, just to prove that I have not been lazy I would like to show you two pics of my lately painted minis: I have decided to try my luck and skill at blending and layering. Here are two models painted for my mate's shop intro table. I thought why not and went to town with them. I know it's just intro table, but they look awesome and I hope they will not get nicked!

This here is obviously the Assault on Black Reach warboss:






This one here is the Space Marine captain:





And these here the DeffKoptas:





I know the bases are a bit bare, but I wasn't sure what the intro table will be like so I left them in a state that will allow Luke (the owner of the shop) to do whatever with them, even repaint them.

I will try to take pictures of the models in the shop. But I got a bit limited time here in UK as I have to work until 25th and all my stuff gets picked up by moving company on 29th. Got most of it packed.

Well, I talk to you guys when I get home and unpack my stuff a bit! Till later gang!

wtorek, 16 sierpnia 2011

Washes make your models look "propainted"

Hi! Today I wanted to talk to you guys about an effective use of GW washes. The idea for this post came from seeing couple models I have painted recently and how they turned out. Some people say that GW washes make you a better painter; but do they really? Do they make one's life easier or the models look better? I'll try to answer those and probably couple more questions below.

So let's start from the very beginning, when GW didn't have washes in their range and the only thing you could use were inks. The problem with inks was that after applying them to the model they would go into recessed areas and run down the model. It was really hard to work with them. They would also, leave glossy coat on painted areas and sometimes, would stain flat surfaces. Then GW changed the chemical mixture (not sure what they have done exactly) and changed the name to Washes. The idea and techniques are more or less the same, if not simplified, but the results are so much better.
Washes do not run down the model, the stay in the recessed areas and they give a nice coat of a wash colour to the whole model. Only good things! Well there is an issue of the smell, but that's not a big one... unless you do not wash your brush properly and put it in your mouth... yuk!!!

So, how did the washes affect painters all over the world? Well, they quickened the process of painting your standard rank and file models. When it comes to independent characters or skirmish games in which single copies of a model are used, washes allow painters to use wips (work in progress) during the game. To be honest, it varies from game to game. I'll try to concentrate on the games that I play, which will be 40k, Fantasy, Malifaux & Warmachine and Dystopian Wars & Flames of War.

How do I (and probably most of painters world wide) use washes while painting my models for those systems? Well...

Warhammer 40k

Washes are used to speed up the process and allow me to play with wips. Let's say I buy myself a Battleforce of Blood Angels. I can quickly assemble the models and do all necessary conversions. Then I spray them black, use my airbrush to put a base coat of Blood Red and cover the whole model with Badab Black, Devlun Mud or even Gryphonne Sepia (personal preference comes into play: darker or lighter recesses). Then the models are ready to play. Of course they are not tournament ready by a long shot, but when put on the table against another Space Marine army, you can tell the difference and see who's models are where and so on. This way I can have my Battlefroce battle ready in matter of an evening. Later on I can focus on particular units and pimp them up: do the detail work, guns and stuff and all things you want your models to have. Even transfers!

Warhammer Fantasy Battle

Pretty much same thing as with Warhammer 40k. The difference is that in WFB we use rank and file models in actual ranks. This makes your life even easier! (yes, it is possible) I play orcs, I got units of twenty of them. I sprayed them all black, painted skin yellow and give all of them a thick coat of Thraka Green. Then I paint all the weapons and armour Boltgun Metal and cover it with Badab Black. Then, when it's all done I paint only the first five guys! The second row has only their upper torsos finished. Third and so on get their heads finished only. This doesn't make your army look beautiful, but when you are a gamer more than a painter, it saves you time and frustration. Again, you can have a unit painted in an evening.

Malifaux & Warmachine & other skirmish games

With these I would strongly recommend spending some time on painting your models, but I can understand not everyone has time. With skirmish games every model is an independent character (well not always but you catch my drift) and as such should be given as much love and attention as your 40k or Fantasy independent characters. But, when you don't have time, think what colours you would want your guy to be painted with. Then basecoat your model accordingly and give it a coat of a dark wash. This will give the paintjob some definition and at the same time will not ruin the model for future work. You will have to simply highlight and shade the whole model and do all the detail work.

Dystopian Wars & Flames of War

These systems are somewhere in between Fantasy and Malifaux to me. There are plenty of models to use, but I want to give all my attention when painting them. Thus I use washes only to define recessed areas. The rest is done by the use of normal shading and highlighting. But that's my way of doing things. You can easily spray your whole fleet silver and wash it with Gryphonne Sepia to make them look gold or spray your whole Company of troops and tanks whatever uniform colour they should be in and wash it with Badab Black. Done and dusted. Add details and freehands later on but at least you are not playing with white resin or silver and grey infantry stands. Yuk!


So that's it really, that's how I use washes. I am the kind of person who hates playing with or against grey plastic. I always give people hints how to paint their minis quick and easy and at the same to make them look good.

Below I show you couple of examples of models painted with the use of washes. You can see for yourselves how effective (or not) they are. I will also add a brief description of the process.


Let's start off with a commission job. Here you got two vehicles for Crimson Fists chapter. It was the first time I used washes on vehicles so it was a bit of hit and miss.



It gave the models nice gritty look the client and I were after, but I think I used too much of it on some areas and we got a bit of staining. But it's my fault, not the washes. On one of the Battlefront (Flames of War manufacturer) tutorials they were saying that use of Gloss Varnish (of any brand) will make washes go just to recessed areas and one will be able to swipe it off with a brush from all flat surfaces.


Next one is my captain from Space Hulk box set.



I changed the model slightly by removing all blood droplets or painting them as gems if they were in a very prominent spot. As you can see the model has been basecoated with a dark gery, Addeptus Battlegrey I believe, and then washed with Badab Black. I wanted him in black armour for my Raven Guard army. All the detail work has been done couple weeks later. Works? You be the judge.


More recent work. Two test models for a commission I'm doing for a local shop.



Nice and simple job. As you can see the models are nicely defined. It actually took me longer to paint the ork than the space marine (the amount of belts and buckles!). The skin is also done with the washes, but I'll keep it a secret for when I write a post about how to paint orks in the future.


And here is my Mek, an independent character.



As you can see the technique is exactly the same as in the previous picture. The only difference is that all areas, even the flat ones have been recoated with the base colour to bring out the shadows. and lots of attention has been paid to all the detailing of the model.


And last but not least something of a gimmick.



That's what I do with the models I don't want to paint right now, but still want to play with them and, as I said before, don't want to look at bare plastic. White primer and Badab Black. You got all the details, you can easily tell what is a particular model and it's preshaded for base coating and further work.


I hope you found this post informative and interesting. If you have any questions concerning my techniques or just washes please ask me. I'll investigate, and come back with an answer / tutorial / explanation.

Till next time dear readers!

czwartek, 4 sierpnia 2011

Progress on AoBR box

Just a brief update guys. Here are the pics that show that there is some progress on the marines and orks. Will be doing some more work on them shortly. An hour or so every night. So far I got them nicely prepared for the quick painting process.

Here are the pics:









So here it is for now. As soon as I go forth with next stage I will post the pics. It shouldn't be long from now, but as I have my whole flat to move to another continent it might be delayed.

środa, 27 lipca 2011

Painting Assault on Black Reach... again!

Good news! We got new shop opening in couple weeks in Brighton, Onslaught Games. That's good right? But they need some models painted quickly. And I'm not talking 40k only. There needs to be WFB, Warmachine, Flames of War and more...

I got the 'pleasure' of painting Assault on Black Reach. It's going to be like my sixth I think. And I do not mind, don't get me wrong. The owner of the shop is a mate of mine and I really want to help out. I know how to paint it quickly and that's want he wants. It's just that these models could be a bit more fun. But after that many times I think it's normal that even the most exciting things will get a bite boring.

Anyhoo, I will be preparing a tutorial on how to quickly and efficiently paint up the whole starter set. First on the workbench: orks; later: marines. So keep an eye on this blog or recommend to those who you know are starting their hobby adventure. There will be plenty of stuff for them to watch and learn.

Till later gang!

poniedziałek, 25 lipca 2011

Flames of War boccage and 40k Orky ruins

So, the stage where I build up the base of the boccage is over.



I Sprayed them as sort of rocks and applied some Woodland Scenics bushes to the top of one of the corners. That's how it looks like:



While I had the floor covered in kitty litter (can't avoid any spillages) I decided to get rid of of one of the boxes I had lying around and turned it quickly into some kind of orky barricades/ruins/whatever. Looks kinda cool and is perfect for 40k or any sci-fi 28mm game system.



Comments? Suggestions? Always welcomed!

Till later gang...

niedziela, 24 lipca 2011

Flames of War boccage, eggs and bacon

Right, so being on a roll with terrain building I went on to build myself some boccage. I found lots of pictures online and looked at some tutorials on forums. I decided to use whatever I have got in my stock. And that is lots of cardboard, board and other recycled paper.

So at first I cut out strips of old perforated board 6" long, 1" wide; another strips 6" long and 0.5" wide. I attached them at 90 degrees angle with PVA. But two things happened. Not only I couldn't keep the bits stay up, also when I did, the board warped and look fugly.

The I decided to use board after a board game box. I cut the same size strips and this time I used plastic glue gun to attach them. Two things went right: it was really easy to attach them and keep the parts straight and there was no warping.

These are the results:



Oh yes, I also made couple corners, 1" wide.

After all this I started layering kitty litter with some PVA. The photo below shows the bits after two layers:



What are your thoughts?

Also, there is something amazing for you to enjoy after you read and ponder over this post :D

czwartek, 21 lipca 2011

Flames of War rivers are now finished and drying

Right, I have spent another hour or so on my river sections. They are now drying, PVA to be exact. I like what I see. Do you?



Next up I will be working on some roads I already cut out. I need a bit more crossroads but I will show that in couple days.

Till later!

wtorek, 19 lipca 2011

Flames of War rivers

I decided to finalise all those bits of terrain for flames I always wanted to put on the table. And as I hate using unpainted stuff, I got cracking with the rivers.
I had those boxes of Monopoly lying around and I decided to take them  apart to cut out the segments. I think they turned out pretty well. I know it's pretty straight but maybe later I will add some curves. For now I ran out of Army Painter's Medium Sand. I will try painting them later on. For now there are just painted black.





Comments?

środa, 13 lipca 2011

FUBAR game testing

I have been on the look out for some cool new systems I could try out and play using the miniatures I have in my collection. Thanks to my mate from Poland, who pointed me in the right direction I found this awesome game system. FUBAR is a one page system. Yes, all the rules you need to play are on one page A4. There are obviously some other bits and bobs and you have to download and print a bit more A4 pages than one, but still, the guys managed fit everything into a very compact print. So, yesterday my mate Mike and I tried to play our first game. He used his colonial marines lead by Snake, yes the Snake from Escape from LA, not the Metal Gear Solid one. I used a mixture of Warzone's Bauhaus models and Hasslefree Miniatures.

Before you you start playing the game you need to make sure both of you know what kind of expertise your guys are and what kind of weapons they use. The FUBAR system categorises troops into four different training levels: Green, Seasoned, Veteran and Elite. Depending on the level it is easier to activate and do stuff with them. Also, the more experienced the troop, the more suppressed models they can have, but more on that in a while.

The game itself plays in a way very much different from what you are used to in 40k or even games like Malifaux. It is an alternative activation idea, but with a twist. Basically both players roll to see who goes first, then the player that won chooses a unit to attempt to activate and makes his roll. If successful he activates his unit and then he has got a choice of continuing to activate another unit or let his opponent have a go. This mechanic is really cool and it allows a lucky roller to move all his units at once. Also, it's not without drawbacks; after he moves all of his units his opponent is free to do whatever he wants almost unopposed. What if a player fails to activate his unit? Well, they thought about it too: the unit that failed his activation roll is On Guard, on overwatch if you wish. They can shoot at anything moving in their line of sight.


The gun combat in FUBAR is a bit tiring as almost any unit hits on 6's if you use any covers. We used our troops as Veterans and in the densely covered by buildings board almost all the times our models were in a +2 cover save. This +2 is added to your skill when shooting, to make it harder. Let's say your guys are Veterans, they successfully shoot people on 4+, you add +2 and you only hit them on 6+. It can take a while to kill someone, especially that there is Suppresion that saves your guys from dying most of times. 

All in all it looks like a properly developed system. It is a fourth edition after all. They have got plenty of other systems covered, you can use this system to play even with 15mm miniatures and in eras like WWII and Vietnam, I am big fan of both. I would strongly suggest you go and download the rules and at least have a look at them. I am big fan of skirmish rule systems and I really enjoyed playing this one. Oh, did I mention it's free?

Till later gang!

poniedziałek, 27 czerwca 2011

Sentikanz... continued

So my work on the Sentinel Kanz continues... from now I'm going to call them Sentinkanz. So far I filmed 5 out of 6. There is a sixth one, but I got couple bits to do. When I lay some paint on them I will update you as soon as possible. So far, here's another clip:


Tell me what you think about those clips. And leave comments on the Sentikanz below...

Thanks!

niedziela, 19 czerwca 2011

Killa Kans conversions

Some time ago I acquired three Sentinels and 3 Killa Kans, all in boxes all untouched. For couple months they waited for me to convert them into Killa Kans with Sentinel's legs. But when I got the sprues out on the work top and noticed they are fully poseable I went for six weird looking Kans. Here are the first two:


Please tell me what you think by leaving comments below. I quite like them and they will look much better when I get them painted!

Also, what do you think about little clips like that? Should I keep making them? I recently bought myself a nice new camera and I can, which is half way there right? 

sobota, 18 czerwca 2011

Burn!!! Loot!!! Paint!!!

Ha! I did get your attention with the post title didn't I? Well it has a bit to do with the content of the post. I have been busy painting my orks today and that's what I painted:


Click to enlarge!

I know they are not perfect, but it took me something around 6 hours to paint them. Unfortunately they were all assembled. So some detail has not been painted. But I'm not bothered too much about that. I want my models nicely painted on the tabletop and that's what I get over here.

Also, I tried to limit my colour palette... it didn't work. Just look at how many paints I used. Phew!


Click to enlarge!

As you can see there's lots of pots there. But that's ok, most of them were little details. I tried to keep the paintjob nice and easy, and quick! I think that worked pretty well. What do you think guys?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...