miscellany

I'm trying to get through the last month of the Old World Army Challenge, but struggling. I've already met the minimum requirements, so I'm technically in the clear. But I had some remaining figures I wanted to include, and would like to finish them for the sake of "completing" the challenge army. (I know full well no project is ever "finished." But I'd like to complete what I have on hand.)

Along those lines, I painted a tiny "bonus figure" to go with the OWAC wood elves. Because I'm easily distracted. I believe it's from a pack of familiars from Reaper.

While digging through bins of old figures, I came across most of an old Nurgle chaos warband, painted long ago....

STUFF! IN THE MAIL!

I finally received this giant forest troll, Lempo, from the Sandstorm Miniatures KS. Another Drew Williams sculpted troll to add to my growing collection. The little details are amazing. For scale reference, the grid on the cutting mat is 1" x 1".

I also made a couple of impulsive Clearance Sale purchases online. One was a couple of sample packs of Scotia Grendel (former Harlequin sculpts, I think) orcs that I've been eyeing as possibilities for more half-orcs/hob-orcs. Here's a scale comparison pic. The Stygian orc (left) is at the smaller end of the scale, the Greater orc (Uruk) is at the larger end, especially if he was standing up straight. Accompanying them are painted orcs/half-orcs/hobgoblins from Grenadier/Mirliton, Black Tree, Midlam, and Reaper

The other thing I bought was a bargain purchase of a resin inn from Blue Moon Manufacturing. Looks great, but trying to do a dry fit today I couldn't get the parts to align like they do in the second pic (stolen from the online shop.)

Old World Big Man

I've got a case of painter's block. What colors would Drachenfels wear...?

Unaligned Daemons

As mentioned before, part of my plan/concept for the Powrie I recently painted was to use them as pre- or non-RoC, or at least non-aligned, daemons. With that in mind, I'm thinking about what else I could use. I may have been overlooking one option that was literally right in front of my eyes, as I had these old Crucible goblins on my painting desk since I used them in a game of Sellswords recently.

I still have about sixteen more unpainted. They've got a nicely alien and villainous look to them. I'd prefer not repainting this batch that is already done, but I wouldn't mind painting the green skin with some other color to avoid the goblin connection. Maybe red, like the Powrie/Rage Smurfs? Maybe stark black or stark white? Dark blue? They might even look extra-creepy in caucasian-ish skin tone.

I think I'd like to repaint the feathers as well.

Opinions? On color? Or whether they even look suitably daemonic? Also interested in other recommendations for generic daemons.

Stuff! In the Mail! (Non gaming edition)

Received this vinyl figure from 100% Soft (via My Plastic Heart in NYC) in the mail today. I've been trying to get one for over a year. The original resins were damn near impossible to get, then I pre-ordered this near the beginning of the year and have been patiently waiting. Originally I felt it was like an unofficial mascot for my team at work. But now that it's arrived, it seems more like the Spirit of 2020.

Last Powrie, Light in the Garage, Ghost

I finished the rest of the Powrie from Cauldronborn Miniatures. Inspired by a comment from Paul Muller (the sculptor) I may start referring to them as Rage Smurfs.

I found one more old Metal Magic figure and figured I may as well paint it to go with the others. This one had previously been painted, but was stripped a few years ago with the intention of working into my recent undead project.

I'm continuing to work on getting Garagehammer up and running. Added some lights above the table.

Remote Gaming, Stuff

We've been cleaning out the garage. I;m going to take advantage o that and try to clear out a space for a larger game table than the 3ft x 3ft I've been using in the basement/dungeon for Sellwords lately.

I got a couple of small folding tables to prop up the old panels I made in the old attic....

My plan is to try a combo of solo gaming, but also involve some remote participants. Maybe I use Hail Caesar/Shadowstorm -- the remote generals give orders and then I solo the minutia and dice rolls, documenting the whole thing here. Maybe even with some videos.

Outside of the garage, and before I started on the table space, we had our first guest over since the pandemic began. We kept out distances, had another fire. It was good. We even talked a little gaming stuff.

I found an old Metal Magic figure in a bin. Thought I'd paint it since I recently posted a bunch of old Metal Magic figures I painted long ago.

Also thought I'd share this blank meme set-up I made based on someone from the FB solo gaming group's photo of their cat at the table. Too easy, it was an absolutely perfect photo for the meme... :)

Hob-orcs, Sellswords, and Fire

I have painted five more of the Midlam Miniatures hobgoblins (or hob-orcs/half-orcs for my purposes.) More great sculpts! I've got some duplicates that I will be using for some minor conversions, mostly just simple weapon swaps.

I've been wanting to get back to my Sellswords and Spellslingers solo campaign. But I've recently discovered I've been doing it wrong. I've been using mixing the terms "players" and "PCs" a number of times.

So, for example, the reason the first game was such a bloodbath was that I had far more hordes of orcs than I should have. I've also been handing out too much XP after games. So I've decided to wrap up the current band with a few final games, then start over with a new warband.

My plan is to replay the Badlands scenario -- possibly using the "wrong" number of orcs again. Then possibly play the tower scenario, since I've had this old Battlemasters in my garage we cleaned out my friend Rich's game room over a year ago. (It was mine, & I painted it, but gave it to him at some point. I was handed a box with this and two others to take home...) Finally, I will put them through the Thunder Lizard scenario. Per the scenario instructions, I rummaged through my daughters toys for a suitable adversary. She had a good selection hiding at the bottom of a bin, and I've narrowed it down to these two... :D

I will also need some lizarmen, which is great motivation to get back to painting the old Tom Meier troglodytes I've been planning to repaint for many long years. I did one test figure, with an unusual color scheme based on an actual lizard. But I'm not sure I like it. The main reason these wonderful figures haven't been repainted all this time is because I can't make up my mind on how to paint them!

This weekend we've had some beautiful weather, so my family took advantage of is with a back yard cookout and fire. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but my wife and daughter enjoyed some s'mores! Stress has been getting to me lately. The pandemic isolation had been difficult. Aside from missing friends and family, we're working full time at home, trying to help our daughter manage at-home schooling (can't wait for Summer break!), and what seems like an endless stream of household maintenance issues requiring attention/repair. Enjoying the outdoors/weather has been something good to focus on.

Powrie, Better Images

I switched to the "New Blogger" but didn't realize that it compressed images horribly. So I've switched back to the old version again. Between the horrible bloggerization of the lat Powrie photo, and a request for larger photos.... behold!

(Click for even enlarger images, if you DARE.)

Zoom Group Painting (and a bit of gardening)

This morning I participated in a Zoom "meet & paint" session with some of the other Warhammer-Empire.com regulars. I've been on the forum for thirteen years, and it remains my favorite (LAF is a close second) due to the diversity and quality of the membership.

Five of us took part, from three different countries. There was a bit of figuring out the tech for all of us. But it went well, and I really enjoyed getting to see & hear everyone. I particularly liked the peek into some of the other hobby spaces & projects. I had to duck out early on the call. Today was the one likely day this weekend (or all week, possibly) that the weather was going to cooperate for finally getting our gardens in order.

Here's what I worked on while we chatted....

Almost finished two Midlam Miniatures hobgoblins, started a third, and got the first base colors on the second batch of Cauldronborn powrie.


After both topics of past Warhammer-Empire campaigns and pikemen conversions came up, I pulled out a long unfinished project that I've wanted to return to. I converted a regiment of skaven pikemen (pikerats?) that I had started for the Treachery and Greed campaign. I even did a little article on converting the figures. But the painting never got past the first sample figure. I should remedy that.

The background to the regiment was that in addition to simply adopting Tilean methods of warfare, the cowardice of the Skaven welcomed any innovation that would help keep the enemy at a distance. 

Cauldron Born Powrie - aka Daemons

I finished the first six Powrie from Cauldron Born Miniatures. I have another set of six, plus a leader/shaman to paint. Great figures! I love the look, the sculpting is great, especially the poses and taught, wirey musculature. I loved the painting on the example figures from the KS (by Pennyfew Painting) and wasn't sure how my re-imagining them as daemonic minions would turn out - but I'm really happy with them. Going to dive right into painting the rest. I think I'll need to get my hands on more eventually...

Half-Orc Bruiser & Stuff! In the Mail!

I need more (half-) orc bruisers for my Sellswords & Spellslingers games. I have a small stash of Reaper Bones orcs that were slated for conversion to Fomorians. But since that project has taken a back seat lately, I figured it wouldn't hurt to paint a couple of them up to add to the horc force.

I've got a second one on the painting table, and I'm considering trying a few conversions for variety.



Stuff! In the Mail!

I got a small batch of Cauldron Born Miniatures figures from the Rise of the Powrie KS. Awesome looking figures. Along with the Midlam hobgoblins I've been painting recently (and there are more of those already started on the painting table...) these are some of my favorite recent figures - and I haven't even started painting them. Yet.

I love the painted examples on the KS page, and I'm tempted to try to paint them in similar colors. However, I'm also thinking of red instead. My thought is to use them as an alternate/generic pre-RoC oldhammer/althammer daemon regiment. I will probably paint a single test figure first.