I have mentioned in previous posts that I was planning to buy a ForgeWorld Elysian Tauros Venator. I ordered one last week, and sat back to await its delivery.
I ordered it on Thursday, and it arrived on Monday - pretty good service. I opened it and thought "that doesn't look like a vehicle to me" - those 30+ years of modelling experience kicking in Ninja-like.
Most of my Dwarfs are the solid, steady type of Dwarf. Chainmail or plate armour, helmet, shield and something heavy and/or sharp to hit the enemy with.
The Norse slayers/berserkers, however, take a slightly different approach: as little clothing as possible and loads of things to hit the enemy with.
I have mentioned the Pig Iron Heavy Infantry figures in previous posts. I finally finished and based all the ones I have, so there are some photos below; I apologise in advance for the darkness of the pictures. The paint scheme is quite dark, and, although I was using my usual lighting setup, the pictures just came out very dark. Time to investigate new lights, or preferably just learn how to use the existing ones better.
Three quarters through the year, the equinox a distant memory and the shops starting to fill up with Christmas stuff - must be October. That means it's time for another status report.
The last report was in July. Since then I have finished the Dad's Army diorama. My Mum's birthday was last week, so it's now sitting in my parents' display cabinet, alongside the Blackbeard figure I painted for my Dad last year.
I'm just about finished basing a bunch of Pig Iron Heavy Infantry figures: the command group, wardroids and heavy weapons teams, so I should have photos of them next week. Other than that, the only other completed figures since last time are the first unit of Mantic Skeletons for my undead army.
Continuing my quest to complete the fewest figures in the longest possible time (I can't help but feel there's something not quite right with that goal), and having learned nothing from the grief of painting a number of unrelated figures at the same time, I am currently painting four semi-related and two random figures - to (hopefully) display standard.
The related figures are four Santa figures: Citadel Dwarf Santa, Citadel Space Santa, Foundry Plague Santa and Foundry Skeleton Santa. The two random figures are a Citadel Dwarf Big Game Hunter and a Citadel Dwarf Samurai. All the Citadel figures are very much from "back in the day".
The Santas are giving me a lot of trouble at the moment: red splashing onto white, black onto red and white etc., and they're taking a ridiculous amount of time for what are essentially going to be Christmas ornaments. I'm not quite sure I've broken the back of them yet, but hopefully another week or two and they'll be finished. I have the flesh on the Big Game Hunter and Samurai, but nothing else yet. The hunter will be in khaki, but I may try coloured metallics (using acrylic inks) on the Samurai. I think I was meant to experiment more this year, so that will definitely count.
I have finally decided on bases for the Reaper Marine and Lt. Kara Black. I had cut out a plasticard wall piece for the Marine, but realised it would be supported by 1mm along its bottom edge, so thought better of it. Instead, both he and Lt. Black will be on VoodooWorx Alien Temple bases. October should finally see them finished, only six months or so after I started them.
I learned a lot from the Dad's Army Diorama project, even though I abandoned it in the end. Even small lessons, such as only using one pin when positioning the figure, will prove useful in future projects.
The current Santa figures will all require some sort of scenic bases, and while I'm not planning to go overboard, hopefully I can do something a bit more adventurous than usual. Similarly, I have plans for the hunter and Samurai figures...
I mentioned last time that I was in a bit of a funk about painting. I'm happy to say that has passed and I'm puttering along again.
I didn't sign up for the Open University this year (plenty of chances next year, one of the things I like about the OU), so the long dark nights should see me painting, and lamenting my lack of progress, on a regular basis.
I swithered for a while, but finally bought Dreadfleet from Games Workshop, although I won't be picking it up for a few days. I'm hopeful that it can used with other ships, e.g. those from Langton, to give a more traditional Piratey feel to things. White Dwarf, when it eventually turned up, (GW have changed delivery from the last Thursday of the month to the first Saturday (which means it finally falls through the letterbox on the Wednesday following the first Saturday)) stated that the vessels were about four inches long. At 1:1200 scale, that would mean 480 feet (about 146 metres), which seems rather large for the time. I guess I'll find out soon enough, but even if they can't be used together, the mat and scenery will still be useful for both.
There are some ideas for islands bubbling in the back of my mind, and I've ordered some Irregular 2mm scenery pieces in anticipation...
A few shots of the figures I'm currently painting. Nothing too exciting, but I'll hopefully have some new stuff finished in the coming weeks, so proper pictures then
The Samurai and Big Game Hunter, flesh only so far
I bought the Mantic undead army in November 2010, and finally finished the first unit last week (September 2011). At this rate, twenty or so years should see the whole army done.
I painted the unit in two groups, separated by a few other projects, which probably explains the delay. I may attempt larger groups when painting the rest of the units, although I find it difficult to fit too many figures into the painting time I have.
The painting went fairly smoothly, although the Humbrol Matt Varnish did have a strange effect on the bronze - dulling it down more than I expected.
I didn't do any shield patterns on this unit, but the plan is to so some on subsequent units. Mantic provide stickers with patterns on them, so they should be relatively easy to apply.
Basing wise, I did more than just my usual textured paint. I used sand, flock and some Poison Ivy from Army Painter. This was only a tiny packet, but cost £4.00; when the time comes to replace it, I'm going to look for something cheaper.
Having decided from a couple of previous posts that I'm starting to overuse of the phrase "and finally, the group shot", I merely present a couple of pictures taken at slightly different angles of the finished unit (you can see the second rank better in the second picture)
There is a "skeleton bursting out of the ground" figure on the sprue, so I built and painted it as well, giving a total of twenty one figures in the unit. No big problem in itself, but they only supply twenty bases... I've used a base from another unit, so I'll need to replace it at some point.
