Sunday, January 27, 2013

Warlord Dacian Falxmen, Rogue Trader Models, and my First Horrible Sculpt

Hello,

I've finished a unit of Warlord Games Dacian falxmen.  Warlord Dacians are their Celts with a bag of metal parts thrown in allowing you to convert the models to Dacians.

I usually make units of 24, no idea why I only painted 21 and screwed up my normal basing system


The metal pouch contains a metal leader, musician, falxmen torsos, Dacian heads, and various weapons.
There only three falx torsos, but there loose falx allowing you to add falx to plastic open handed models; I chose not to do that.

three metal torso options
Here's three Iron Claw Space Pirates, from 1998.  Iron Claw was a sister company eventually absorbed by Citadel.  Bob Olley sculpted these models, but probably doesn't like people to know that; they're barely in scale with each other.  I tried to paint them as they were pictured in GW's Book of the Astronomican.  
Astronomican titles left to right:  Ooglorg the Cruel, Psycho, and Nixan

Here's my first sculpt (awful) of a crawling zombie made out of green stuff, I did sculpt a face but my photographer is an idiot, completely lacking any photography skills.  Second is some sort of horned-cyborg dog thing I found in a bits bin.  Third is an old RT Imperial Army model that had thick enamel paint on it; I painted over the previous paint job, but he still looks like poop.





Lastly are some random GW models.  Left to right are two Empire crewmen, what I think is a D&D  female cleric, and a Talisman game thief.  I was too lazy to paint eyes on anybody this month, which I regret.  Eyes would make up for  some of their lackluster appearance.


 Until next time when I hope to have a unit of Prussian Lutzow Korps Jaegers and really old Mithril Miniature models done.

Love,
Baconfat

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Fallout Luddites?

Hello,

I've been fairly slow at painting this year only finishing ten models, but I have about 80 models that are about 80% done.

First up are two Warlord brand Dacians which will be the leadership models for a unit of Falxmen that I hope to finish this week.












Here are two West Wind priest type models.   They're kinder nacht (child vampire) hunters.  Next to them is an old GW Bretonian spearman, whose missing a shield.




Lastly are 5 GW mentally unsound clerical types all from about 2004.  Left to right:  Empire flagellent, Bretonian battle pilgrim, another flagellant, Mordheim witch hunter, and Empire warrior priest.
Our paper armor will protect us unless it rains

I don't play warhammer games, but have tons of painted priests and flagellants.  I think they'd make a great Fallout/post apocalyptic gang, which I've named Luddites.  Their lack of firearms could be because they've decided that guns and technology are the evil source of man's apocalypse.  They must cleanse the world of non-believers by thumping them with blunt objects.
Jesus is not part of the mob, simply a statue out of a gum ball machine
They look like hippies bringing books back to the post apocalyptic library.







































random picture of a sniper on top of a building

 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Building Progress

Hello,

I've been making progress on the first building of a bombed out city table.  Almost finished painting the front and sides. I'm too far away but most of the zeds in the windows are friendly and waving, because they love people.




Here you can see an early pic of the back after the stairs were installed.





Added a little top building for roof access.    It needs paint and cleanining up.






The little roof comes off.   Please ignore the liberal application of hot glue, which I hope isn't to hard to tear up.  The actual roof coating is textured scrapbooking paper painted gray. I need to find a way to wash it to make it look more roofy.  There's actually no way for models to get to the left side of the room, because of the giant hole in the floor. I'll have to fix that.


The engineer has violated almost every building code.


Closer shot of the front entrance, the back entrance is much bigger.
 
 
Here's a shot of part of floor one. Until I took the picture, I had no idea how poorly I painted the walls. I will never assemble unpainted terrain again. Proper planning prevents piss poor painting. I'll never be able to paint the stairs.
 


The painting is a piece of craft store jewelery with a little bit of paper glued on. It's "Two children beating a goat."



 


 ta ta


 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Bombed Out City Beginnings and Random Painting Progress

Hello,

I've started work on a stupid big bombed out city table for modern skirmish, zombie, sci-fi, and post apocalyptic games.  This first piece is going to be a 9 level office building.  Theres alot of work left, but the skeleton is almost done.
a 1:43 scale car for size comparison, ignore the unpainted lead in the background

 




















 











Interior shot, I made the levels taller than a normal office building would be to allow room for human hands the room needed to shuffle around toy army men.






 




Heres's a small shot of the front, I'll need to add window pieces.







Here's a shot of the back showing some of the remaining floors.  I couldn't resist putting little men on it.








































I've also been painting a little.  First are a Perry Miniatures French 12 pound artillery crew.  They are standing in front of the gun, to hide my shame that I haven't finished the gun.  You'll notice the Prussian Blue is shiney looking, my matte simply doesn't remove the gloss off of blue.







Next is a random shmattering of miniatures.  I keep piles of loose minis around when painting large batches of minis to absorb leftover paint.  Left to right:  GW Griffin crew, old plastic space marine scout, RAFM copper from thier Cthulhu line, Foundry? Old Guard, two ugly Old Glory WW1 late war British, and a GW wizard.


Here's a pack of brown minis.  I spilt some Vallejo English Uniform and these guys took it up.  Left to right:  GW Bretonian fanatics (only  GW would think it's a good idea to go into battle with paper strapped to your face?), two Old Glory Vampire hunting priests, and a GW LoTR hobbit archer.




          







Here's a Herroclix Dr Xaxier painted to look like a zombie in a wheelchair.  On the ground is one of Spiderman's Amazing Friends (Starfire?) painted to look like a beheaded naked lady.  The Naga that still needs washing and highlighting is a Warlord Games Dacian head glued on a green stuff doodie.

Lastly are some wet looking Victrix Old Guard Grenadiers that I have finally based.  They photograph glossy, but aren't that bad looking in person.  Maybe I'm lieing to myself as I'm too lazy to risk frosting with more coats of matte spray.

Stupid Easy Razor Wire

Hi,

I used to make barbed wire with super long strands of wire, a drill, and lots of twisting and glueing.   It was boring, time consuming, and I often painted it with my own blood.  I like my blood to stay inside of me.

But now I have a much quicker safer method.

1.  Go to Lowes (maybe even Home Depot) and buy some of the metal mesh that they sell in the outside gardening section.  27 minutes




2.  Cut out individual wires. 1.5 minutes

3.  Wrap the strand tightly around a plastic pen.  2.1 minutes

4.  Pull out the pen.  .01 minutes

Bench Vent Contest and Are you a Wargamer?

Hi, 

Benchvent.com is offering a free benchvent to the winner of model workspace contest.  I don't know if there are rules other than posting a pic of your space and sending them the link. 

Here's my mobile workspace:



Here's their link:
http://www.benchvent.com/blog/show-us-your-workspace-and-win-an-exagon-r/

  • If you have a blog, post a picture on there and send a link to scott@benchvent.com





  • Are you a Wargamer?


    To genuinely call yourself a Wargamer, then you must have done most or all of the following:
    (Questions were copied from Neil's Toy Soldiers and Dining Room Battles)



    * Spent at least £500 ($800.00 in American dollars) on figures / tanks - and you get extra kudos for every £500 ($800.00 in American dollars) you've spent

    Jiminy Christmas, over 30 years I don't want the wife to know how much I've spent.  I have somewhere between 10 and 20,000 28mm minis.  I guess about $8000 or  £5000.00 (10 points)

     * Pricked your finger or thumb on a pike block - several times
    Yes.  (1 point)

    * Tried at least 10 different rule sets and vowed never to play half of them ever again
    No, I've probably only bought 10 and I love them all (0 points)

    * Bought an army off EBay
      No (0 points)

     * Sold an army on eBay
    Sold about 15 armies on eBay (1 point)

     * Spent months painting an army - then used it in anger once
    ..or never!
    Yes, I have a 2.5K WAB Hungarians that sit unbloodied (1 point)

    * Tried several different periods and genres
    Yes (1 point)

    * Dropped a box of figures on the floor from a great height
      and then I've stepped on them (1 point)

    * Lost a battle on the last throw of the dice
      Never, I lose big or go home. (0 point)

    * Made at least one enemy for life
    No (0 point)

    * Had a proper, stand up argument over a wargamers table
    No (0 point)

    * Thrown a dice across a room
      We play with toy army men, no reason to get angry (0 points)

    * Rebased an army for a different rule set
      No (0 points)

    * Inflicted a whopping defeat on an opponent
    Yes, stupidest game ever:  my cheesy WAB Hussites, annihilated the WABcorner's painting machine author's out of period Samuri army.  I lost at least 2 or 3 models.  (1 point)

    * Suffered an embarrassing defeat due to a stupid tactical decision
      yesterday playing Saga for the first time, but it was more like a series of stupid tactical decisions.  (1 point)

    * Joined a wargamers club
    yes (1 point)

    * Bought a ton of lead that remains unpainted
    Silly question, but at least I still line them up in formation on dusty shelves.  The lead provides me a gamma radiation shield (1 point)

    * Been to a wargamers show
    Yes (1 point)

    * Have more dice than is logical or necessary to own - and have used most of them
    Yes, I don't even know what some of them are for. (1 point)

    * Have taken boxes of troops down to a club just to show them off to your mates
    no (0 points)
     

    * You have reference books on each period / army you play
    No (0 points)

    * Having played so many different games you confidently quote rules for a totally different period, scale or rule set to the one you're playing at that moment
    No (0 point)

    * You have lied to your spouse about how much you've spent on the hobby
      not bringing it up isn't technically lieing, and she probably loves me enough to not ask. (0 points)

    * You get genuinely excited when a package arrives in the post
    Yes (1 point)

    * You have joined a re-enactment society (5 points for this one!)
    No, but 20 something years ago I did go to a get together of boffers.  I will never do so again.   (0 points)


    * You have played in an unsuitable venue
    No. (0 point)

    * You continue to search for the perfect Napoleonic / WW2 / Ancients / ACW etc. rule set (knowing that it doesn't actually exist).
    I don't care about perfect (0 point)


    * For that reason you have developed your own house rules for certain periods. And think them far superior to the original author's efforts.
      My rules are scribbled in notebooks that will be tossed when I die (0 point)


    * You have returned from a wargames show and sneaked upstairs to hide the stash.
    No, when you have a room full of minis your wife can't tell new from old.  Simply don't let her catch you packing for the show and she won't notice if you've brought new minis in. (0 points)


    * You have an irrational aversion to some genres and vow never to play them regardless of how much fun they look.
    warmachine, grind, dba checkerboard gaming (1 point)


    * You have made your own wargames scenery.
    Yes. (1 point)


    * You have reached a painting 'wall'
    No, I think not, if it's like writers block (0 points)


    * You have lost - and regained - your wargaming mojo.
      you can't lose what you don't own (0 point)


    * You have the occasional (and short lived) sense of guilt with your wife/children when complaining to them about the money spent in clothes, shoes or toys/Xbox games when you have £200 of unpainted metal stuffed in an upstairs drawer.
    No. (0 point)


    * You have done armies in different scales for the same period

    no (0 point)


    * You have jealously coveted someone else's troops.
      every game, if I live through the zombie apocalypse I will horde the neighborhood minis (1 point)


    * You have laughed (secretly or otherwise) as someone else's paint job
    Yes, but I've also laughed at mine, in my own face in a cruel mean hearted hurtful fashion (1 point)


    * You have provided a piece of useless trivia relating to the troops on the table to show off your war gaming knowledge.
    no, trivia is not useless, use it to distract your opponent (0 point)


    * You have contradicted someone elses' trivia - demonstrating your superior knowledge and giving you a warm glow inside.
    no, I should get negative points here. (0 point)


    * You have caused a major disaster on a wargames table (spilling a pint, collapsing the table, dropped someone else's figures on the floor). 
     yes (1 point)


    * You have cheered when an opponent's dice lets them down at a critical point (I have literally danced in front of someone when he failed a morale roll) 
     I do a gorilla dance, clap and laugh for both sides (1 point)


    * You have lied to your partner about going gaming. "Mothers' not very well - just popping around to see her. I'll be back in about - oh - seven hours".
    No (0 points)


    * You have lied to an attractive woman (man) about your hobby.
    No (0 points)


    * You have made an opponent cry. It doesn't count if they are under 8 years old though.
    No (0 points)


    * You have painted the same army in the same scale more than once (Monty, you dawg!)
    They are not multiple armies, I simply make the original army larger (0 points)


    * You have reference books on armies you haven't even got.
     yes, but intend to buy more minis that I'll never paint (1 point)


    * You have bought figures for a period you have never and will never play - because they were cheap.
    Duh, cheap minis can't be resisted  (1 points)


    * You have inflicted grievous bodily harm on a die that has let you down.
    No, they all look the same  (0 points)


    * You blog or have a web-page about your Wargaming activities
      and I also have the best 83 followers on the blogosphere (1 point)


    * Your book collection is almost all war and war games related
    Yes. (1 point)


    * You critique 'war' movies (especially Hollywood war movies) for historical accuracy.
    Yes, Hurtlocker was based on my less exciting adventures  (1 point)


    * You spend car/train journeys checking out the lie of the land - considering which way you would attack from and whether it would make good wa rgaming terrain.
    No, but I do rate every building I enter on its zombie apocalypse survival rating (0 points)
     
    33points.  I don't know if that's good or bad.  How many points do you get?

    Saturday, November 10, 2012

    Battle in the Bosque, Zombie Vixens, and Some Other Stuff

    Hello,

    I've got internet again so I should be blogging more often, as blogging from the public library/homeless shelter is inconvienent. I've posted some sloppy pictures of the Battle in Bosque Convention, followed by pictures of some of things I've been painting,.

    Here's a group shot of a bunch of gamers doing things. Very few of them made it out alive in the All Things Zombie game a friend Buc and I put on. Our table was a recreation of the convention and Albuquerque Garden Center.
     

    Overall pic

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    inside of building


     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    zombies feasting on an unlucky player

    zombies attracted by a car alarm


    someone escapes in a red car


    Here's a small scene of a real fun game put on by Buc called 7TV. Gangs, spys, and cultists all try to overcome body guards and kidnap a foreign diplomat's daughter. My camera was set on stupid and this the only real good pic. 
     
    Here's a few Strange Aeons Cthulhu game pics. 
     
    Here's a 15mm Franco-Prussian War battle, I wasn't able to play in.



    Talisman


    Canvas Eagle action.
    Battletech?


    I recently picked up some Wargames Factory (WF) Zombie Vixens from the friendly Albuquerque game store called Active Imagination.

    I was really impressed with the minis. The ladies balance on there tiny feet, so you don't have to hold them to the base while glue drys.

    The box says you only get 30 zombies, but you really get 36. Each of the 3 sprues give you two crawling zombies that fail to mention. You only get 30 bases.

    Here are the undead ladies compared to the old ugly WF male zombies.



    vixens compared to other female zeds.
    Left to right: WF, Blue Moon, WF, Victory Force, WF, Reaper, WF




    vixens with other companies, left to right: WF, Horrorclix, WF, Mantic, WF



    Here are two zombies I made out of Victrix, GW, and other bits, with a little green stuff for guts.

    I found some Reaper Cub Scouts. I painted two up as zeds. Below left to right you can see them compared to a RAFM kid zombie and an Old Glory kindernacht.


     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Here's another little table I made using sytrofoam and some GW Epic minis I found in Active Imaginations bit box. The civilian is a Reaper mini.


    Here are a few Victory Force zombies with their bases cut off. VF zombies made great dead people because their poses are somewhat static, as they're really shamblers and not ragers.

     
    Here's a few random models: two nuns with guns (no clue who made them), a GW Imperial mortarman, and what I believe is a GW Imperial Guard Griffin crewman.


    Lastly are a few Perry plastic Prussian Jaegers, that I've finally finished. I had lost an arm off of each them and had to replace them with bits from Victrix Austrian landwehr. Now I have a full 12 member unit for skirmishing, either Sharpes or Songs of Drums and Shakos.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Zombies gaming