Oldhammer is the besthammer

How have you been? It's been an age right? Well, after the Analogue Hobby painting challenge I took a mini break from the hobby and didn't get the paints out much at all. There was a lot of great TV to watch for starters plus sometimes life just gets busy.

Anyway, these days owning an LED lamp rather than a furnace level heat producing daylight bulb means painting is not stopped by the heat of summer. So, I got the brushes out and painted this week. I also did some undercoating and building with the youngest offspring of his choices from GW. They are some bizarre new Space Marine kits that I have no idea what they are. A very funky looking bunker and a hover(?) tank. (Did they get jealous of the Eldar?) I must admit these new kits fit together very nicely even if they have a horrendous number of parts. 

I, however am stubbornly sticking to what I know and have been adding to one of my good old fashioned square based warhammer armies. I explained here how I accidently painted a night goblin army and recently I have been wondering what I can add to it. It really needed a proper character to lead the army and so I trawled ebay until a

I found a reasonably priced set of Skarsnik and Gobbla. What better character to lead the army? I also prefer this version to the newer silly looking one. 

I'm super happy with how they came out. I painted Gobbla first, the entire time lamenting the fact that any squigs I previously owned were sold in a clearout of old models that I sometimes regret. I really want some more old school squigs now, they are so fun to paint. Skarsnik was a bit trickier as he has a lot of details, some of which I genuinely couldn't see unless I took a photo and zoomed to check what I had painted! I tried something new for the green skin, GW Plaguebearer flesh contrast over Coat D'arms goblin green. (I know, right? Finally success with contrast paints!) It's taken about thirty years, but I think I've finally found a way of painting greenskins I am gonna stick with. (Cue GW discontinuing the contrast paints range...)

So, what should I add to the army next? 

Let me know in the comments.

Zulu wars Perry Plastics

Its been a while since my last post here. I haven't been idle though. Regulars will know I have been taking part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and posting there instead. Post Christmas I managed at least one post a week, so not too shabby if I may say so myself. So, apologies to anyone that saw these models in that blog  but I thought they warranted another posting here with some different accompanying words.

As I have previously said many a time, I love historical gaming, but I am slower at painting for it due to the self imposed stress of historical accuracy in uniforms. (Yes, so much has already been said about "Do your own thing" This is just my own issue, let's move on.)

So, I greatly enjoyed sticking together these Perry Miniatures plastics, then they sat on my painting tray for a long time. A very long time. Inspired by the Father in Laws love of the Victorian era in toy soldiers, I picked up a copy of Ospreys, The Men who would be Kings rulebook. They are skirmish rules and using their half size unit rules, you have enough for two forces if you buy two boxes of Perry Plastics, one for Brits, one for Zulus. (You are actually just a couple short, but the free Warlord sprues from Wargames Illustrated I have got recently covered the shortfalls.)

After these were all finished I decided to add a Gatling Gun to the Brits.

The gun carriage colour was inspired by checking out these guys here.

I also remembered I have a couple of the Wargames Illustrated limited edition figures that fit in nicely.

I'm probably going to paint up another box of Zulus if I can bully myself around to getting to it.

The British box comes with casualty markers. The rules I have don't specifically require any on-table markers but I decided to future proof myself by using green stuff to make some dice holders with them in case something crops up in the future that they are useful for.

All the models were finished with Coat D'arms Super Shader which gives them some nice shading, as well as an old school gloss finish that I kinda like for this project.

The paints used were (For those interested):

British.

Citadel paints:

Zandra dust, Corax White, Cadian Fleshtone, Eshin Grey, Dawnstone, Ironbreaker, Abaddon Black, Retributor Armour.

Coat D'arms:

Pale Sand, Horse Tone Dun, Beige Brown, Blood Red, Supershader Light Brown.

Zulus.

Coat D'arms:

Beige Brown, Dark Flesh, Pale Sand.

Citadel:

Zandra Dust, Corax White, Abaddon Black, Agrax Earthshade.

For the bases:

Tamiya Grass Effect Khaki, Gamers Grass Dry Steppe tufts.

The gun carriage is Citadel Russ Grey.

Now, anyone know if I can get an mdf Rorke's Drift kit in 28mm that folds down for easy storage?

Middle Earth painting at Christmas

 So, I have been painting like a (Golden) demon already post Christmas with the Analogue Painting Challenge. under the alias PeterB. For those of you who have not popped over there to find my posts among all the vastly superior work on offer, (There are on average about 10 posts a day from people showing some great painted miniatures over there every single day.) I can give you a brief update on some work I have done so far.

Firstly I have finished the Balrog I picked up at Salute. It actually took a bit more work than I originally thought it would when I bought it. I had to restore two claws at the front of the wings and the point of the rear of one wing entirely with green stuff where they had been snipped off for some reason. 

I then also had to build up the surface below his left foot as his leg was so twisted, that it was clear above the ground.

Next up, a couple of members of the Fellowship, painted as close as I could to their movie counterparts.

Finally, a couple of Bad Squiddo models. the Wolf I picked up to use for Silver Bayonet, the Knight was a model I liked the look of that was part of the recent Kickstarter. I'm not sure I'm happy with the sword and the shield, time will tell if I repaint them.

Merry Christmas to one and all

 

 

 

 As another year passes by, I reflect on the hobby from a personal point of view. It started out that I played games and painted toy soldiers so they looked better on the table when we did so. I rushed my paint jobs to get them on the table sometimes, a "that'll do" attitude sometimes kicking in at midnight the night before a big game. This year I have not played a single game (unless you count the occasions the youngest has made us fill the table with models and make the rules up as we go along), last year I squeezed in one game with the Brother in Law. Part of that may be due to the dreaded "C" as we call it in our house, but also life changes. People are busier with life, the weeks fly by. Regular wargames seem to be the reserve of the young or the retirees of the hobby, us in the middle roll dice when we can. I take more time with my painting these days and paint models that I have no idea what I would use them for in any kind of wargame. Painting is my stress release now, I take the decision that if I am not enjoying painting something, it gets put to one side for the time being and I move on to something else. Maybe in the new year I will make an effort to get some more games in.

I don't have anything new to show you right now as I have been furiously building and undercoating ready for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This will certainly encourage me to increase my output for the next couple of months, there are 101 contributors this year, so although I will be posting there, I will still be posting summary updates here if I remember as well.

Christmas will be a quiet affair with family as I am sure it probably is for most people this year. My buddies and I normally get together for some beers but we sensibly just had some beers over Zoom to keep our families that we will be seeing safe. I did have a mooch around Games Workshop (I still don't call their shops Warhammer, force of habit) and wondered whether to get something for the youngest for Christmas as he is showing an interest and is actually rather talented for his age at painting. In the end though I decided that part of the fun is choosing the models yourself, so maybe a trip in the new year with some Christmas money is in order.

So, as I have nothing to new to show, below is a photo dump from my camera reel of some favourites. I hope you have a lovely peaceful Christmas with friends or loved ones and Santa brings you the plastic or lead you deserve. Stay safe and remember to look out for one another.

 

 

More Stargrave Plastics

The Stargrave Plastics continue. It seems like an endless pile of plastic for me to play about with various combinations. I decided to try and make some of them have matching uniforms so I could use them in a slightly larger skirmish like the forthcoming Xenos Rampant rules (can't wait till they arrive next year.) So I have gone for what looks like a budget knock off Empire Storm Trooper look. The wash on the white of their armour has a gloss look to it that makes then look nice and plasticky. They have a real 90's Rogue Trader look to them too, especially the two in cool shades. (Remember when all 28mm sci-fi and modern models wore shades?)

I had fun with this guy making a jetpack from my bits box. Shame in the photo he looks cross eyed!

It's been fun trying out some new random colours. There is a danger normally when I paint to stick to various shades of brown, especially in historical or fantasy models. I've been loving throwing some brighter colours on models, it's not all grimdark in my sci fi.

The chap on the left has a maul from my bits box (I think it is Frostgrave), the chap in the middle has stolen his gun arms from the Great Escape Games cowboys sprue. If you look at the weapons in a lot of early sci fi movies, a lot of them are basically disarmed real guns with tin foil and plumbing parts glued to them.

The guy on the left reminds me of Taserface from Guardians of the Galaxy, the guy on the right looks like he has stepped off the set of a seventies Doctor Who or Blakes Seven.

I found myself taking another brave leap in my online hobbying world and signed myself up to the analogue painting challenge. A group of hobbyists from around the world all sharing their progress in the hobby by a very clever point scoring system and league table created by a generous chap called Curt. It's all friendly competition and more about beating your own target than each other (unless you want it to be). I have set myself a (hopefully) achievable target of 500 points with no aim at all of getting the highest score. I think if I just don't get the lowest score at the end I'll be happy. The chaps from the Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy podcast take part which is where I first heard about the challenge, bemoaning about their progress each year. The challenge starts December 20th but you can have your models built and primed beforehand, so all my Salute purchases are being put together this month in preparation. (Completely against my normal instincts of only preparing a few models at a time before painting them, see previous post.)

Finally, one of my dear wargaming friends is off on an Antipodean adventure this month so I had to say goodbye. Not before he very generously gave me a case full of models he couldn't take with him, so my leadpile has no danger of running out any time soon! He shall be sorely missed (I wouldn't know the Illustrious Opponent if it were not for him) Not least because he has been an encouraging hobby buddy, but also a dear friend. However I'm sure the Internet will keep us in touch. 

Salute to your Captain

 

It finally happened, I went to a show!!!

 

Last weekend was Salute 2020 2021. The first wargame show I have been to in two years and two months. Yep, I have been counting. So, how was it? Well I had fun, the Distinguished Opponent (Brother in Law) and I set off super early on Saturday morning and made excellent time on our journey. Entry to the Excel centre was by proof of vaccination or negative Covid test which made it feel safer and the venue had also announced they had completely replaced their air conditioning system with something much more powerful. (This was very apparant as the usual afternoon "fug" of lots of hot bodies in an enclosed space did not happen at all unlike previous years.) We arrived so early they hadn't even opened up the queueing hall when we got there.

Once inside we headed straight to Mantic Games for a promised free sprue for early visitors although their marketing ploy seemed to work its magic as I somehow got hypnotised into buying a box of halflings. I have been looking to build an army of them for Dragon Rampant rather than use the existing regiment I have as part of a human army and the Wardog riders rather appealed.

 

 

 

 

Wandering about we found a Spitfire and a Hurricane by the seating area, I can only imagine that a lot of effort went into arranging these to be displayed, so props to the South London Warlords for the effort.

 

 

 

A visit to Perry Miniatures (the brothers themselves sadly at the very last minute couldn't attend) and a look at some three ups of some Russians coming soon. The Distinguished Opponent and I had also earlier picked up signed copies of the newly released rules The Silver Bayonet, so of course I had to persuade the Brother in Law to buy some Perry Plastics.

 

                                    

 

Many other bloggers have commented on how quiet it was this year, the combination of Covid and Brexit keeping away our European friends, meant that visitor numbers did seem to be down, but one thing that I did miss was the demonstration games, there really was a very minimal number of games on show. I completely understand everyone had their reasons, however it did mean I wasn't as enthusiastic as I should have been at taking photos of those that were there.

 

 

 

This photo was taken just before lunch.

 

The day was far from a disaster though, those that were in attendance seemed to have had a good day. I am just a sole blogger in the infinite interwebs so don't hear all that is said, but from the various traders and punters I have spoken to or read their post reports, some traders had a quiet day, others did a roaring trade. I think those that did attend had missed shows so much their enthusiasm made up for the absentees.

The tables I did get photos of are as follows:

The Whitehall Warlords present Return to LV426.

 

 

I particularly liked the troop transport parked outside waiting to whisk away any escaping victims.

 

 

 

Loughton Strike Force with their Stalingrad table using O group rules.

 

 

 

It is hard to make out but the building had LED effects in the interior for fire effect.

 

 

 

Bug Hunt, a rather fun looking participation game

 

 

 

The World of Anyaral from Twilight Miniatures. This table particularly impressed me with the sheer scale of the build. My photos are but a fraction of it.

 

 

 

The Society of Ancients present the Battle of Paraitacene. I just love seeing the mass ranks of troops at smaller scales.

 

 

If you want to see a lot better photos (volume and quality) may I suggest popping over to see Ray's blog here. (Make sure you come back!) Talking of Ray, I managed to meet up with a few fellow bloggers for a chinwag and you can see a photo of us over here. I'm the handsome chap in the red jacket at the back on the left. I had a lovely chat with Kyle from Mr Lee's Minis and will certainly be taking him up on his printing services in the near future.

I picked up a few other bits and bobs. My youngest is currently into Lord of the Rings and so I was on strict instructions to keep an eye out for any models. I think I did quite well, a Legolas, Boromir, Witch King and even a metal Balrog at a reasonable price. Of course some of you dear readers may remember trying to put one of these together when they first came out. The sheer weight of lead in those wings make it want to pull itself apart. I've really given myself a project here.

 

There were some new faces as well as the old at the show with new ideas. I had a chat with the guys from Leaden Lens. They will employ their photography skills for a price to make your painted models look good. Even if you aren't a professional standard painter apparantly!

 

Oh and I mustn't forget to show you the result of my speed painting I took part in if you havent already seen in on Facebook. This is the second time we have done this and I have to say it is quickly becoming the highlight of the day. 20 minutes to paint a model (this year with freshly hygenic brushes and palletes each round) and all the fun banter that goes with it. Props to the Eavier Metal guys for running this all day each year, they make it really great fun.