Updates with Painting

So I've been lazy lately.  You can say it was the holidays and lots of other things popped up that kept me from painting and doing lots of other hobby related things, but the truth of the matter is that I just couldn't be bothered to get the paints out and start in on some miniatures.  So thankfully last night was another gaming night and I just happened to bring my carrying case along with me. It felt strange but comfortable to get the paints out and start applying brush to model.

So mostly this is going to just be an update on which models I've been concentrating on and how far along they are, so here's models...

First up is Krueger the Stormlord.  I had him mostly done for a bit of time now, but I wanted to do the same highlighting I did to Morvahnnas cloak to his.  So it came out really watery across his back which I really liked.

Next up are some more Circle minis. My first crack at the Tharn Bloodweavers.  I was originally going to go with a more brown color scheme like I did with the Bloodtrackers, but I had the green on my palette already from working on Kruegers cloak so I went with it.  So far I'm liking how its looking.  Im going to have to go back over the skin with some of the new flesh paints I picked up. I think a pale skin with the green highlighted on the skirt and top will look cool. Especially with dark brown hair and mask.  Then there is my Woldwatcher.  I really like this model and I should probably pick up another one.  I followed one of the tutorials for making the green runes glow from all over his body.  Now I just need to go back over and clean up some of my work and he should be ready to go.  I realized how bad that mold line was after I started painting him and now I'm going to leave it.  I was debating trying to find a way to make it look like two pieces of stone that got smashed together but that might be a project down the road a few decades.

Then we have Morghul, Kreoss and Ryan.  I think I used a bit too dark a red on Morghul so far. I might go back over him and make it highlight up a bit more.  Kreoss has the opposite effect. Since he was primed white the red is coming out almost pink on parts of him.  So I might have to wash this a few times to get the red to darken to a more magenta.  Ryan is going to take some figuring out.  Im not sure if I want to do like their pictures and paint every buckle on their outfit, but I keep really like their artwork so it might end up happening that way. I just want to finish one of the Black 13th so I'll have something to go on for the other two.

 Finally we have Katherine Laddermore.  I've always liked this model and I wish I used her more when I actually got to play.  Maybe I will now when she is painted.  I'm a huge fan of the Cygnar blue color.  This will be my first time using the highlight color for blue.  After my experiments with the green on my Circle figures I think I'm finally comfortable enough to do it on the blues.



So that's what I worked on last night.  Hopefully I'll be able to do more weekly and post them.  Maybe even finish another battle box and talk my gaming group into Wargame Wednesdays.

Painting On The Go

Lately I've been painting mostly at my two gaming nights.  I carry my Army Transport about half full of trays of various miniatures I want to paint. I have the foam tray for paint pots they made which is full of my P3 paints. I also carry my water cup and the folded paper towels I use as well as my makeshift wet palette as a to-go painting surface. My brushes take the brunt of carrying everything this way as they are just laid down between the rows of paint pots.  I've looked at various ways to carry my brushes in hopes of not damaging them as much as just laying them on the foam is doing. I've seen a couple of paint brush boxes with foam to hold your brushes up and away from each other. I may go with a homemade variant of that solution. Then I could modify it to carry other tools along with the paint brushes;glue, files and my pin vise. That way its not just a paint on the go box but a modeling on the go box. What does everyone else use? Do you model or paint on the go or only do either at your home station?

Painting Update

Been working on a variety of miniatures lately.

StormguardRanger

Firefly Light Warjack                 

Sword KnightSword Knight back

Kaya the WildbourneTharn Bloodtracker

I've also been working on a Khadoran Warjack and Warcaster.

Juggernaut












 Kommander Sorcha








Also a couple oldie but goodies, my first completed Warcaster and first completed unit.

Commander Coleman Stryker

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

I just bought a couple of new brushes, as I was brutal to my last couple, and am attempting to take better care of these. I also went back to using my wet palette as that seems to be the best way to thin out the paint and make clean up the easiest. I will also be going back through and taking pictures of models I had completed before I started documenting my progress.  Not that there is a terrible lot to that category yet, but that's why I'm broadcasting this.

Original Hardcore Army

Once upon a Gen Con, I took part in the first Hardcore tournament. I hadn't been home for very long and I hadn't been playing Warmachine very much recently. But that tournament sounded like the kind of fun I wanted to have. Only thing was you needed a fully painted army to participate. So I made an army list and started on my mission to get them fully painted.

I painted all the time. After work, on weekends, I could usually be found at my desk painting away. Unfortunately I was a perfectionist and a beginner painter. So I would constantly second guess myself or be afraid to experiment with just putting paint on the model and seeing what it looked like. Needless to say this made my painting take a much longer time then it should have.

Gen Con kept getting closer and I kept painting. Finally finishing the painting the night before I left. I was down in my parking lot spraying matte finish over them when I should have been sleeping. But I was able to take my Hardcore army to Gen Con and play in the first Hardcore tournament.  Turns out I really should have practiced more.

More Painting

Lately I've been taking my miniature case with me to RPG nights and getting some painting in while we play. It has actually helped me pay attention to the game more as I'm less likely to be surfing the internet on my iPad and listening is much easier when I'm not self sabotaging myself with the internet. So as I've been going I've been getting faster and faster at painting. Not necessarily finishing multiple models a night. But I have been actually finishing models and that feels pretty fantastic.  I also have a large supply to draw from with both the Reaper Bones kickstarters worth of miniatures and my own armies worth of Warmachine and Hordes.

So without further ado, my painted models from the last month or so.

Kruger the Stormlord

More Kruger the Stormlord

She needs a bit more work and a better picture.

Morvhanna The Autumnblade

Minuteman

Grenadier

There are a few more that I will endeavor to get pictures of. I've finished some more but haven't taken pictures of yet. So hopefully you'll have some more pictures incoming.

Gaming and Other Topics

Lately I've been doing a lot more reading of RPG books then actual playing of RPGs.  I've fallen in love with Dungeon World and am secretly making plans to get my group to try it out one night when the regular game falls through again.  I've been following its G+ Community and Subreddit.  I read through the book and the guide that was written up to help wrap your head around the game and its paradigm.  I can see the fantastic merits to this game, why can't everyone else?

Listening to podcasts about various games makes me want to jump up and play those various games.  Currently in the podcast rotation I have Smiling Jack's Bar and Grill, a Savage Worlds show, Roleplay DNA, a more all encompassing rpg show, The Neo-Anarchist Podcast, a show from the future about the history of Shadowrun.  I've also been listening to the Order 66 Podcast about the new Star Wars:Edge of the Empire game and Narrative Control, which covers gaming and larger picture ideas.

So just from those I have Savage Worlds, Star Wars, Shadowrun, Fate Core, Cortex Plus and a smattering of other games on my mind. I really need to organize my time better so I could possibly get some of these games in online on weekends.

Otherwise I haven't been doing much else with my hobbies. I've been slowly painting through my Warmachine and Hordes armies. I might even have finished a whole model soon, so be on the lookout for pictures.  I haven't cast any plaster in a month or so. My last batch leaked all over the board and I need to scrape that clean in order to cast any more.  I do still have some Merlin's Magic left so I need to use that up.  I haven't even started priming or painting the Bones Kickstarter yet. If I can get on the painting band wagon and do that more often then one gaming night a week I might be able to make progress into that batch.

I did make some progress in recording some test audio for a podcast. It came out pretty good. Now to settle down on one topic and write out some show outlines.

More Discussion on Pen and Paper Gaming

In addition to the two games I talked about last week, I've also been enamored with Fate Core.  Since I just got my hardback copy of the book I've slowly been reading back through the rules to remind myself how it plays.  Since I was in on the kickstarter they've been putting out various versions of the rules, getting feedback, fixing things, putting out another draft, more testing and feedback and finally releasing the final product.  Since a couple of things changed through the various versions I've read I'm getting acquainted with the final version of everything and how to plan out a game I'd like to run.

One of the awesome things about Fate Core is that it can cover a huge spectrum of game types and settings. The number of dials in the rules that you can tweak to make your game more or less like one thing and bring it to where you want them to be is enormous.  One of the hard things about such a setting is the number of dials that you can adjust.  The Fate Core G+ community is a fantastic resource especially for this issue.  Reading through the posts from people having the same mind block on the enormity that you can cover and not knowing where to start lets me realize I wasn't alone in my thoughts.  Thankfully the groups is very helpful in trying to help figure out where you want your game to go and how you want it to get there.

In addition to building up your own setting, there were a number of settings that the kickstarter put into motion.  They will be coming out later this year in a couple of compendium books.  Two of the settings that I am really interested in are Wild Blue and Camelot TRIGGER.  Wild Blue is set on another world where settlers have moved to another new continent and settled it.  It has an american western feel, but the land is much different.  There are trees that get lighter as they age which they then float into the sky.  There is the metal cobalt which lends is properties to the weapons and structures of the setting.  Also each of the PC's will have some kind of power. All powers do have a drawback though.  You might be able to fly, but only in sunlight.  Or you can tell if someone is telling the truth but you can never speak a lie.  They might not even be related. You can shoot force bolts from your hand but you can't eat solid food.  Your group will play as Wardens of the Queen protecting the lands from pirates, the Others and all manner of banditry.  I am greatly looking forward to this setting.  Camelot TRIGGER is a giant mecha setting with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round.  It takes place in the Sol System with each planet having knights and politics of its own. Players will mostly likely be knights of various stripes with the big bad of the setting being MerGN-A the AI that is trying to destroy all of humanity. I'm a fan of what I've read on the setting so far and giant mecha has a special place in my heart.

So in other news, I have a question for anyone reading this blog.  I have thoughts on starting a gaming podcast and I would like to know what people would be most interested in listening to.  Ideas that I've been kicking around include; Actual play of various games and one shots, Discussion of various rules sets, Discussion on various settings, Some kind of review where it would be on initial reading of the rules and then after a playthrough.  If anyone has any other ideas or suggestions I would love to hear about it, either on this blog in the comments or on G+.