Waagh if you wanna go faster!!

The Christmas season is looming fast. My cans of primer are too cold in the garage and it is already dark when i finish work. Luckily working at home means i can nip out at lunch and prime the odd model for painting. Spray cans have to have a good warming hug for a bit as well as the traditional rattle before using. It hasnt stopped me painting, but i have slowed down a bit. Mainly because my leadpile is running pretty low. So low in fact that i have decided not to take part in the Analogue Hobbies challenge this year. I just don't feel I have enough models to paint and post about weekly for a full three months. (I mean I'm not saying i have nothing, the day I have my entire collection painted will be a miracle day.

Gaming wise though it's been pretty busy. We have been playing Heroquest at the club, tried the new Dragon Rampant 2nd edition rules and we are starting a Bloodbowl league. It has been like we are tabletop gaming in the 90's again. Using my Bloodbowl models I did realise they are looking a bit battered and the painted quality is not up to todays standard. I'd like to maybe give them a Biostrip bath and repaint, but I'm not sure I would get them turned around before their next match. It is very tempting to buy a new team though! 

The youngest has done his Warhammer wish list. It's a completely confusing list with models from about four different armies. Trying to explain to the staff member that our kid just wants the models so he can put together his own amalgamated army for Xenos Rampant rather than playing 40K just generated a befuddled reaction. I did try gently pushing the choices towards models i would prefer to paint as it is muggins here that will do the task. I must admit to being bored now of painting Ultramarine Space Marines. 

My own wish list has some more bits to go with my new Ork army i have been having fun painting. The army does now fill the storage currently assigned to it, maybe that is a sign to stop, or buy a bigger box. I wouldn't say no to a Battlewagon. I have already added this beast though:

It had to be painted red as we all know, say with me, 'paint it red and it goes faster!'

I did enjoy the following in the instructions of the 'Snazzwagon':

Turns out it isn't 'quite difficult' it's downright impossible. I ended up snapping his wrist on the arm holding the rollbar. Some extra Tamiya and a pair tweezers solved the issue though.

 The whole project involved building it, pausing midway through, painting details that no-one would see, then continuing the build. I can assure you there is realistic leather super tiny cracking detail on the seat rest of the driver that noone will ever see. All the effort went on the interior and the outer shell you can see was a rush job as I began to tire...

I never thought I'd do it again

Meet Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. I've painted him

 before (the guy on the right). That is the model from

 the 90's, but why did I feel the need to supplement 

with buying the brand new version? Yep, they are the

 same Ork. Something to do with Orks getting a lot 

bigger if they survive long enough to live a long life. 

Well, no I am not taking up 40K again after a many year hiatus. I still think the new modern game is no longer in the spirit of what I discovered back in the 90's. I kind of accidently made this army.

It all started with finding a bargain, a handful of modern Orks were looking like a bargain in one of those bit part magazines. So, I bought a few just for the painting exercise. Instead of painting in a classic Goblin Green, I thought I would try a modern colour scheme. 

It was fun, so I bought a few more, until I had four squads of ten.

After all, I had to try the other options out for combinations of weapons.

They were super fun to paint. A base coat of Orruk Flesh (Orruk? I mean really? Orks people, Orks. It's bad enough they changed it to a K rather than a C) With a wash over of Plaguebearer Flesh on top makes a great looking modern Ork flesh look. The rest was just colouring in the details of their clothes and weapons. Finding and painting all those teeth (some not in the mouth) was the tricky bit.

Well, I had made a start now, next I got some Deffkopta's as they looked fun too. It gave me a chance to try out some free hand checker pattern work.

So now I practically had the beginning of a small army, I felt like I had to continue. The Dreadnought was a bit tricky as it was split between two issues of the magazine. I don't subscribe so it was a risk buying part one as there was no guarantee I would get part two. Luckily, the super helpful staff at my local WHSmiths put the issue to one side for me and I could finish the dread.

Well, we are nearly there at this point. So I had a delve through my other boxes and found a reasonably modern Ork with a big gun that I had picked up in a job lot of older Orks recently. I just needed to repaint the base as it was a lovely Goblin Green.

Of course, no Ork army is complete without some Grots to be bullied, so we needed a couple of Orks to encourage them forward. The kit has two different build options, so I had to do them both. I love the pet Squig.

Grots are one of the best inventions in the GW lore. I feel for the poor little underdogs. I highly recommend reading the Mike Brooks Ork trilogy of novels, it gives you an insight into just how poorly treated they are, those poor Grots.

The variety in the models isn't huge, some are monopose and the rest only have one choice of arms, but you do get to choose which heads go on some bodies. 

So, I had an army. As I said I'm not intending on playing 40k any time soon, I'm going to use something like Xenos Rampant, or possibly One Page Rules (someone at the club wants to give it a go.) But an army needs a leader, so that is why I felt the definite and compulsory need to get the new Ghazghkull. His little friend Makari has not grown much in stature over the years, but the rumour is it isn't actually the same guy (they just keep the same name to avoid upsetting the Boss.)

I've worked out I have around 2000 points worth for One Page Rules so I think that will be plenty for now. This has been a fun exercise in modern style but I do miss the Goblin Green bases. (I will not miss building kits that have over 40 parts for one model!)

Time for my close up

 In the current age of internet hobbying, there are countless images and videos of the highest quality painted models, photographed super close in the highest resolution. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing them and have the greatest of respect for these talented people. This is their hobby (or their job) and I don't want to disregard that at all. I myself also get enjoyment in painting something to my highest quality and sharing it, on this blog of course as well as an social media. With that in mind though, I sometimes need to remind myself of the other reason I paint models, to play games. 

When you get your models on the table and roll some dice, no-one is looking at whether the eyes are perfectly painted, or five shades of highlight have been applied to the nose of each model. You spend the entire time looking at the back of your entire army, until they start retreating that is. When I first started painting, it was purely to get models on the table. I once painted 60 Skaven rat slaves in one evening to get them ready for a battle for the next day. (Spray brown, paint noses black, paint spear points metallic and paint the bases green. Done)

So I would like to spend a blog post talking about those models not painted so well. This is all done with love, I never want any reader to think I am mocking anyone, or judging their painting skills. I just want to share with you one of my hobbies, browsing Ebay and taking close up screen shots of model faces. Please note, these are not my painting and I would share the artists details (yes I consider them artists, all art is art regardless of the "quality") but I feel it would be less kind to credit rather than not.

We start with Mephiston. A great close up. I suspect on the table this actually looks really great, I love what they were going for with the white and grey. In close up he does look like a member of Kiss. It's better painted than I did this model back in the 90's. 

I love these guardsmen. They were described as "Schmo Painted", I'm not sure what that means and yet I kind of do. They are actually quite well painted and would probably look great on the table. I just love the expressions in close up so I had to share.

This one really just suffers from the photography, a Sister of Battle with no shading whatsoever. The dots for eyes are at least level.

Unlike Mr Space Marine Scout here who was described as "Pro Painted". A description on E-bay that makes me laugh for many reasons. Technically I guess, anyone who has painted a model for someone else and cash has exchanged hands could describe themselves as a "Pro Painter". This definition is why my idea of having separate categories for Pro Painters in painting competitions is an impractical solution for giving us less talented painters a chance. 

This little dude, probably looks great on the table surrounded by a thundering charge of cavalry. Close up he looks like he has just done a whoopsie in his lower armour.

I love this one, clearly someone has not thinned their paints and just dumped it on. I suspect a younger painter. You know what though? I think it is great that they have had a go. The colours are defined and they have that nice neat line of blue on the piping. This Ultramarine does need a Biostrip bath though to reach his full potential.

Now, this Commissar does look great, in fact I would say they have done a better job than I would have done. Again though it has been listed as Pro Painted, a description I think is pushing it a little. I'd love the number of his dentist.

Another Pro Painted, which to be fair, on the table probably looks super great. I would suggest investing in a nice soft brush for dusting down the model before photographing though. I love the weird negative eyes.

I'm sharing this one because the seller listed it as "Badly Painted" a description that was probably not required, but I admire the embracing of it.

This Space Marine scout is I suspect a victim of a combination of lack of undercoat and some terrible storage. I love the haunted look he now has though, the horrors he has seen, rattling around in a cheap Woolworths toolbox with his fellow squad. He has definitely been well loved and had some great battles, rolling a 4 up for all results and not worrying too much about the rules of the game. Oh, and props to the artist for the addition of flock for camo. He is a scout after all.

The blue, the blur, the red, the grey eyebrows. There is so much to unpack here. To be honest the photo probably doesn't show it but I think there is probably some cool highlighting/shading there. Why should all Space Marines be white?

I'm totally getting some Manga vibes here. I have super respect for the artist though for getting that fine straight eyebrow and that thin mouth line. I think this is a Captain Tycho model, if it isn't, that is a very thick chunk of gold paint splashed across one side of his face.

Ol' blue eyes here is a Dark Angel Space marine I think. A great example of why I hardly ever even attempt painting eyes. 

Finally my favourite. A Gretchin from the Space Crusade board game. The artist has chosen to ignore the standard greenskin colouring that most painters go for. Instead, they chose a thick layer of flesh coloured paint that makes the model look like he is wearing a halloween mask. The black dots for eyes are perfectly placed, which makes it look even creepier. They were listing a whole set of these with the accompanying Orks, which means they never regretted this colour scheme. Love it.

In the interest of fairness then, here is a close up of a model i have painted.

That sideways glance is hilarious. I think I was just glad I got them looking the same way. Yes he is a halfling, but that is some deep red blusher.

So, don't fret too much about what your model looks like in a close up photo. Unless you are a "Pro Painter", you just need to make it look good enough for the table. If you are painting up large companies of men, the spectacle will be enough to look great. Of course if you want to spend an a long time painting one model, you do that too. That is one of the great things about this hobby, you can take a completely different approach to the hobby to the next person. I hope no-one takes offense at my brief reviews of the above models, it is all done with love. The people that painted them are all artists in my view and I applaud them all for their efforts and hopefully the joy it brought to them. They put some paint on them. A far better thing that fielding unpainted armies. After all, we all know the greatest crime is fielding an unpainted army! 

Double hobby challenge update

 I know, I know I missed January. I was busy though, busy posting on the Analogue Hobbies Challenge over here. (I go by the label PeterB, the link should take you to a list of my posts). I have just about managed to keep up with the self inflicted target of posting at least once a week. I have managed to kill at least three brushes and had to buy extra paint on numerous occasions. Yes, February is almost over too, but thanks to it being a leap year, I have an extra day to get this blog posted! 

I have been using the Analogue Challenge to encourage myself to continue with the plan of recreating a second edition style 40K tabletop game. Only in models though probably, more than likely I will use Xenos Rampant rules. I have not been able yet to find a reasonably priced period Ork Dreadnought though, so in true cheapskate style I recreated a copy of the cardboard standee Dread that came with the 2nd edition starter set. I made a base for it out of an old slotta base and added some bits of sprue offcut to make a raised slot for the card to slip in.

The project is not yet done though, I have a period Ork Warlord model to paint and I am looking for some kind of battlewagon proxy. I will probably also paint up a Rhino and some Devastator Space Marines, both of which I already have. They just need a strip and repaint.

The Illustrious Opponent has also announced a Hobby Challenge for the beginning of the year that I couldn't say no to. A version of a Tale of Four Gamers, each of us has an equivalent of £30 each month starting January to buy models for a 20mm WW2 force. Once we have enough, the Illustrious Opponent intends to host a gaming day with scenarios designed to test them. In honour of one of our number having emigrated to Australia, I declared I would try an Australian force. 

They have been fun to paint, mainly because most of the work is done by the Sepia wash they all get. I paint them a base white, the webbing tan and the socks brown and tan. Then the model gets a wash and then extra details are added. 20mm is a new scale to me, large enough that I can manage to paint them without squinting, small enough that I don't get lost in painting loads of detail. (In fact I basically paint them with the level of detail I used to paint 28mm!) 

In other news the local club has been dipping a toe into the new Warhammer the Old World rules. Obviously getting hold of any models for said rules is like finding hens teeth. Luckily regular readers with good memory will recall the Night Goblin army I painted up back in July 22. It's almost like I predicted the rules would come back! I decided to paint up one more unit for them to add that extra character and will be giving the army it's first outing next week. I expect to get a proper drumming of course, newly painted model syndrome will most likely be in effect. (Plus I am a terrible Warhammer commander)

I have also been playing a fair bit of Masters of the Universe at the club. Its nice to actually get the models on the table after all that painting, especially with all that terrain I had to paint. I'm looking forward to Salute in April when I can hopefully get my hands on the Princess of Power herself, She-Ra. With Swift Wind obviously.  Finally, in a similar style I have been painting some models from Crooked Dice. People of my vintage may recognise them...

These were super fun to paint. The sculpts from Crooked Dice are really high quality. It's nice that you can still get good quality metal models.  It isn't all plastic or 3D printed yet.

Generic Hobby Update Number 83

 I haven't posted since December on this blog, but I have been regularly posting on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge! It has been hard to motivate myself to contribute to both blogs for this period as well as paint with fervour to have something completed once a week to blog about. I am therefore giving myself a week off the Analogue Blog and putting the brushes down. (Well carefully sliding them into the multi-slotted plastic brush holder from The Works. For non UK folk, The Works is a remainders book chain that also does a great range of cheap art products.)

  So, I am sure you are all following my progress on the blog. I don't need to tell you that right now as I type I am 24th in the table with a points total of 865. My original target being 500 points. I knew this year I would paint a lot less (I can't remember my total last year but I think it was around 1200) so I set myself the same conservative target as my first year. I still have plenty to paint, but I won't feel pressure to get it all done for the rest of the challenge.

So, for those few of you who have not followed the blog, here are some highlights of the photo dump from entries:

Squigs, need I say more.

This is the way. (Today is two days away from series three, eek!)

Dum Dum Duggan. (I would watch his spin off series on Disney Plus)

Generic Space Dude in Fancy Pants armour from some toy shop I popped in to for the youngest. (Honestly I cannot remember what they call Space Marines these days, I feel so old)

A second attempt at the bust I blogged about here. I assure you it is a separate piece, not an over paint.

Frostgrave Barbarians

Zeus, chucking his thunderbolts. The entire time I was painting this I was hearing Russell Crowe's crazy accent in Thor - Love and Thunder in my head.

A new snazzy version of Gaunt and his Ghosts.

They are nice sculpts I admit of some of the key characters.

There was a missed opportunity here though as the Ghosts are a mixed Gender regiment, I would have loved to see a model of Tona Criid maybe?

Home Guard from Bad Squiddo

Shaka Zulu

Batman Animated Series Green Arrow

Coming up in the wargaming world we have Salute in April. As I am sure you know it is one of the highlights of my hobby year. I am sure Illustrious Opponent and others will be joining me for the day out where we see if we can shave off a chunk of journey time using the new Elizabeth Line. Yes it is over a month away, but it will soon be here. As I have said on many an occasion, half the fun is the prep beforehand for the day. This year I have a new train route to plan.