We'll Keep The Red Flag Flying Heeere!

I took a short lunch today on the grounds of work, but managed to get two CPGB chaps from the Shock Group done. I rather like them - leather jackets, SMGs (a Bergmann and a Beretta) and a general air of proletarian vigour. I suspect that, in game(s), the Shock Group will be quite potent if it gets close up - the combination of SMGs and hand grenades is quite powerful.

I also basecoated two Dire Avengers and blocked in the armour for the Farseer. A good base to work from next week.

Next week I aim to paint the Dire Avengers, Farseer, and a chunk of the CPGB chaps.

To keep you entertained, here are some more gems from my collection:


A 2nd Edition metal Stormtrooper for my 2nd/4th Edition Imperial Guard Army. His shoulder patch indicates that he is from 1st Squad, Yellow Platoon, Blue Company, White Battalion.


A better set of views of the Sgt for 1st Tactical Squad, 2nd Company, Ultramarines Chapter Strike Force Sixtus. He is from the Battle for Macragge set, and replaces my very first ever Space Marine Sgt. If I can find that model I'll put a set of comparison pictures up to show what a difference a decade of painting makes!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 11
2010 Total: 50
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 108

Thursday's Work

Today (or rather, yesterday) wasn't massively productive. I was a bit preoccupied with Real Work (tm), so I only managed to finish off the Dire Avenger Exarch. I rather like the simple designs I did on his back banners - one with the rune for his Aspect, another with the Biel Tan rune.

Soon I hope to make a start on the Liverpudlian CPGB Assault Column, base-coat the remaining four Dire Avengers, and maybe do a bit on the Farseer. I did a quick mental count of 'unpainted models at home' and came up with ~130 figures (46 Necromunda, 20 Orks, 10 Legionaries, 17 CPGB, 5 Eldar, 2 Minotaurs, ~30 Fallen Men) plus a few other random bits. Not too bad, really!


My Vampire Counts army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Note that the Fell Bats need painting, as do the Black Knights, the Wight Battle Standard Bearer, some of the Dire Wolves and my Vampire Thrall Battle Standard Bearer (who also needs a horse). You can also see the Vampire Lady without Dragon just above the Fell Bats (she's the one with a sword).



Some of my favourite shields. Religion cannot save you now! Ahahahahaaa...

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 9
2010 Total: 48
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 106

London's Burning, Liverpool Is Red

Yesterday when I got home from work, I found a package waiting for me from my ever-vigilant arms dealer, Al Front. Inside were 8 20mm IT Figures RCW cavalry, 2 lonely Red Guards in Budenovkas, and a Red Guard Maxim team running with their MG...

...and a host of Anglian (now Empress) Miniatures Republican Militia and International Brigade troops for my Liverpudlian VBCW Assault Column. I've ended up with enough figures to complete one group of 10 (Officer, NCO, LMG team, standard, 5 riflemen), start the 'Shock' group (4 figures with SMGs) and another rifle platoon (standard, 3 riflemen). A 'few' purchases, probably at Salute!, of Musketeer Miniatures' Workers' Militia and Workers' Militia Command, plus PLP 111 Atwood, PLP113 Higgins, PLP128 Cpl Gordon, PLP129 Tommy 'Gun' Atkins from Artizan Designs, and the Empress Miniatures' International Brigade Command will do to give me a small command group plus 30 infantry.

Then 'all' I need are an MG team and a bomb-thrower type contraption in lieu of a mortar. They might be supplied by Moscow and the COMINTERN but that doesn't mean they've got all the gucci kit!

Anyway, foaming for yet another new project aside, today I cracked on with my wife's Biel-Tan Eldar, getting a Dire Avenger Exarch to a state where I can probably finish him in my afternoon break. I'm hopeful that I should be able to crank out the actual Dire Avengers fairly fast, maybe two or more in an hour if I 'assembly line' them. The key, I've found, is to keep the scheme simple, use limited colours and few highlights (and where possible don't mix colours), and always remember that it's for playing with, not for show.

Oh yes, and I painted up an Anarchist guerilla/terrorist with pistol. The propaganda of the deed, comrades, is alive and well in 1938 London. His allegiance is hidden, almost, with a black-and-red neckerchief below his shirt and suit. Perhaps he's a Painter, or perhaps he's just another Angel Alley Anarchist... or maybe he's both, or an agent provocateur, or all three, or none of them!

And, finally, some more pictures from my collection:


A Games Workshop Imperial Army Sergeant - when I got this model he was missing his right arm, so I gave him a new one from a plastic Sentinel pilot, with a metal stubgun from a Necromunda Escher Juve. I like this 'colour test' figure, and will be painting all my Mercian Yeomanry (AKA Syrtis 72nd) in this way.



Two views of the same scene - an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus approaches a PDF roadblock on Rigel, together with three Stormtrooper bodyguards and an assassin. Violence is likely - but my money's on the PDF this time, unless that 40mm GL can take out the APC with its tribarrel cannon...!

ADDENDUM: Figures in the above by Ground Zero Games (Hammer's Slammers range plus resin vehicles and ESU Commissar's dog), Hasslefree Miniatures (Kat) and Games Workshop.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 8
2010 Total: 47
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 105

So THAT'S What Paint Tastes Like

PROTIP: When painting, do not stick the tip of your fully loaded paintbrush in your mouth to give it a point before you wash it. Eurrrgh!

On a less paintophage note, I finally finished my Priestess of Ssotay (hurrah) which sort-of-for-now finishes my Accrani Song of Blades and Heroes warband for my Azabhande setting. She looks pretty cool, and I've tried a few new tricks on her just for fun. I'll talk about them when I get the pictures up, probably this weekend.

Then, whilst discussing children's antics with someone, I painted a Police Inspector (this figure from Artizan) to fight my London Anarchists in the Very British Civil War. I think I may have his uniform wrong, but I don't care. It's fictional and any discrepancies can be explained by the "it's a different timeline" hand-wave.

Now, more of my collection to sate your desire for pictures:


Six Stormtroopers from Stormtrooper Assault Force Hilfe. These are for a Stormtrooper army mounted in Valkkyries and supported by a Vulture flight - there will, eventually, be 66 Stormtroopers in six squads of 10 and a HQ of 6. Oh, and the gunships...


Possibly my most prized model, this is the Lahmian Countess D'arque of Tyrka (a principality in my Warhammer setting). I intend to create another model of Lady D'arque on a dragon, but I need the dragon first. I'm tempted to get the Heresy dragon just for gits and shiggles!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 7
2010 Total: 46
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 104

Interesting New Company

A very brief post - I discovered a new company, called Arsenal Miniatures, this morning. They intend to sell a range of late 16th Century Ottoman and European troops in 28mm. The range is sculpted by Paul Hicks (of Anglian/Empress/Musketeer fame) and so far has one pack of command, one of pike and one of arquebusiers. Soon to come are cavalry. They look bloody ace, frankly, and I wish the company success. Check them out - you might be tempted!

Aliens And Volunteers

Today I painted up four Copplestone White Russians - two officers and two riflemen - as troops from the Markov Officers' Regiment and the famous Kornilov Shock Infantry Regiment. I got a few uniform details wrong, such as white piping at the top of the stand collars rather than the bottom, but overall I'm happy with them. They're destined for the collection of Al Front - which is where they originally came from!

ADDENDUM:

Since writing this, I went back to them and corrected the errors. Hurrah!

I also painted up a Guardian Defender squad leader type (technically he's the Number 2 for the weapons platform I did last week, but hey - who's checking?). He looks quite snazzy, but the white armour is a swine to paint. I think I'll do the rest of the squad in the same green-and-white as the weapons platform operator.

A good start to the week, figure wise. Still no photos, but feast your eyes on these:



L-R: Battle for Macragge Space Marine Sergeant, Captain Sixtus v2 (5th Edition special character model), Captain Sixtus v1 (2nd Edition Ultramarine Captain). The Sgt and Sixtus 2 are the start of my Project 2nd Edition: I'm rebuilding my old 2nd Edition Ultramarine army which I had when I was 9-10 using modern (4th and 5th edition) models. Good, eh? You can also see how I've improved - both versions of Sixtus were painted to the best of my ability: number 1 when I was 10, number 2 when I was 22!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 44
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 102 Hurrah! Past the 100 mark!

Perfidious Eldar

Hurrah! I made a start on the Biel-Tan that I'm (very) slowly collecting for my lovely lady wife. Eldar because she bought herself a box of Harlequins to paint, and Biel-Tan because green's her favourite colour.

So, this morning, I dug out the Guardian Weapons Platform I made up two years ago - I did say I was collecting this army slowly - and this lunch I painted it, and the gunner, up. They look rather spiffing really! I've decided to go for a very simple colour scheme on the rank-and-file, and pay more attention to Warlocks, the Farseer, Exarchs, and so on.

Al Front, he of the arms-smuggling, sent me a package which arrived at work today. Inside were 10 Warlord Games plastic Roman Legionaries, to go with my lone Legionary I got from Wargames Illustrated, and four semi-uniformed chaps with Moisin-Nagant rifles and PPsH SMGs. Immediately I thought "Aha! CPGB Liverpudlians for a VBCW!"

Which means that I now feel the need to build a force of horse-drawn CPGB revolutionaries hailing from Fazakerley, and a force of loyalist Kings' Rgt men to oppose them. Great. Thanks, Al Front, my wallet loves you!

And now, because I'm bored of the lack of photos, some of my collection:


The core of my Darendaran X Mechanised Imperial Guard. This is now set to be expanded, quite significantly, and requires rebasing to fit a snow/ice/winter theme.


Waaagh! Da Orks! Evil Sunz wartrakk. The first finished element of a 1,500point Kult of Speed for 4th Edition 40K.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 39
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 97

A High Elf And A Blast From The Past

Well, I finally finished the High Elf Hero. He was a right swine to paint, for some reason, and to be honest I could've spent more time on his gems and the two small areas where I think the metal's showing, but it's hard to tell so I called it a day and based him. Thanks to the Basing Effect, he now looks perfectly OK and will fit in fine with both my Mordheim Warband and my putative Army of Tor Sethain for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th Edition.

My painting pile at work is now very sparse - I'll have to take the box home tonight to stock up! Not sure what I'll take back to work with me though; perhaps some more Necromunda or maybe a few more Fallen Men.

Recently I downloaded The Perfect Captain's Red Actions! rules, mainly to have a look at them with an eye to applying them to mine and Al Front's 28mm Back of Beyond stuff. Then, this morning, while I was reading Evan Mawdsley's The Russian Civil War, a thought occurred to me.

"Wait a moment," cried my brain, "surely you have not forgotten your poor old IT Figures Russian Civil War force, which you painted up in your youth!"

"Aha," said I, "now that you mention it, I had - but lo! With a bit of card and some glue, I can rebase them to Red Action standard and finally turn them into something to game with!"

IT Figures, of course, has gone bust, but the models can still be purchased here, under the name IT Miniatures (click on 'Contents' for a list of available figures - they come in packs of 3).

From memory, I have a fairly sizeable contingent of Red Sailors (who I used as Kronstadt revolutionaries in the one and only game that this little army has ever seen), some Red Guards, a 76.2mm Putilov field gun, a doctor and two nurses, some unpainted Red Cavalry and a Tchanka. That in itself is pretty decent, probably working out at about two 'companies' of Red Guard, one of Sailors and one of Cavalry, plus three supporting 'companies' in the form of two Maxims, the Tchanka and the field gun.

For opponents, I'm most attracted by the Volunteer Army and the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, mainly for all the 'colour' Regiments - Kornilovski, Denikov, et al. Although the potential for Women's Battalion of Death would be good, if I could find anyone that makes female Russian infantry... and then, of course, there's the Poles, the Freikorps, and a host of other forces that are both interesting to paint and field. For those interested in the 1919-20 Russo-Polish war, by the way, I strongly recommend Norman Davies' book, White Eagle, Red Star.

So, at any rate, I suspect that my previously published Project List for 2010 is now to be altered, as I have 'The Itch' and want to get hold of my old Reds, sort them out, identify potential force gaps that require attention (I'd like a company of CHEKA infantry, and some regulars to stiffen the Red Guards), and then purchase the Whites at Salute.

ADDENDUM:

Companies that make 20mm stuff for the RCW:

IT Miniatures
B&B Miniatures
Tumbling Dice
Reviresco (vehicles)
Emhar (Whippet and Male/Female tanks)
HaT Industrie (plastics)

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 3
2010 Total: 37
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 95

Doom-doom is upon you, man-things!

Ah yes! Fear the under-empire, man-things! Today I finished my first Skaven - a Grey Seer. I may in time to come actually get round to collecting a Skaven army, but for now that's the latest Random Model to be finished. He can join my Savage Orc Shaman, who was destined for a Savage Orc/Forest Goblin army that can now probably never be finished as GW has made it impossible to get hold of its old metal Forest Goblins. I now deeply regret not buying a few when I was at university. Ho hum.

Anyway, ol' Grey Seer Ikkit Ikskik, Agent of the Council of 13 and Secret Power behind the Warlord Krikik Eekik of Clan Skrike [SK-rye-K], is finished. He looks rather spiffing, I must say, but, again, you won't be able to see him for a while. I hope to find some kind of answer to the problem soon, and it'll probably involve my wife's laptop.

Next up will be the Elf Hero, who will hopefully be a lot easier to do, and then the Ssotayan priestess at the end of the week.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 36
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 94

More Necromunda And A Return To Fantasy

I've finished off the last of the Goliath Juves that were in my 'To Paint' box - Rotten Pahul! Sporting a neon-green mohawk and a golden laspistol, Rotten Pahul wears the latest Nuvi snythi-denim jeans and patented Goliath-style shinpads in gloss white armaleathers with jet black plastisteel banding and buckles, finished off with a tasteful selection of snythileather and steel body harnessing, fashionable piercings, and his steel-capped workboots...

...none of which you can actually see as yet, thanks to the laptop situation. Bah and humbug indeed!

In addition I've begun work on my Skaven Grey Seer, experimenting with different shades of grubby white robes. Eventually he's going to look like quite an aged rat, and I'll probably only use him in quite big games as an agent of the Council of 13 (he has the horns to prove it!). For now, however, he's something of an army of one.

I also did a bit more on my Poncy Elf Prince from Tor Sethain, whose shield is nearly finished and who looks rather fetching in all his polished armour. I'm going to finish off one of those two tomorrow - probably the ratman as I'm a bigger fan of the pointing-with-rat-on-staff Grey Seer model than practically any other Warhammer Fantasy model ever made.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 35
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 93

Technical Difficulties - Please Stand By

OK, first of all, an apology: I've been unable to post photos for the last few days because my laptop's power supply cable is bust. I don't know why, but it won't form a connection between the socket in the laptop and the plug end that goes into the laptop, thus disabling it as it can't power up or recharge. At all.

My wife's laptop will be getting some pictures (and Picasa) put on it this weekend and I'll post them on Monday if I can.

On a cheerier note, I finished another Goliath Juve today. As yet, he's un-named. I was thinking about Steve Ignorant. Bonus points for anyone who can, without using the internet, tell me who that's referring to!

EDIT: I went for 'Thick Dave' in the end. It suits him.

My current WIP list consists of:

1x Ssotayan Priestess
1x Goliath Juve
1x High Elf Hero
1x Skaven Grey Seer

I should be able to get all of those finished next week, and then it's back to the Unpainted Pile to pick out some new victims.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 34
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 92

Slimy Sid

Well, another one bites the paint. Started (and finished) Slimy Sid, a random Goliath Juve who isn't yet part of the Automatics but could well be if they get another game.

He looks pretty cool - red jeans, black leather and gold accoutrements with a purple mohawk. Have it! I also managed to drop Ded Cred and watch his heavy stubber, its ammo tin, and his autogun detach themselves from him and vanish in three different directions.

All were found and reattached later. Hurray!

Then I did a bit more on the Elf Noble in Heavy Armour with Sword and Shield from Games Workshop who will, eventually, be both a figure in my Mordheim Elf warband and my Warhammer Fantasy Battle High Elf army of Tor Sethain.

Oh yes, and this morning while eating my cornflakes (OK, rice krispies, who's checking) , I built a small two-story power station/transformer station. It's in two parts - the top floor can be a small (2"x2") building in its own right, or you can position it on the 3"x3" lower floor and provide models with a bit of a walkway type thing.

I've got enough card for probably one more (ruined) building and then I think I'll call it a day - I've expanded the original four buildings that came in the Gangs of Mega City One box to 10 (9 if you stack the two parts of the powers station). That's plenty for the 3'x2' playmat. The last ruin will be as big as I can make it, and then it'll be time for some mass painting.

Anyone got any ideas for a 2"x3" picture I could use for a vertical billboard? I was thinking of finding something suitably at odds with the dystopian landscape; perhaps a beauty product ad or something. Either that or a Justice Department poster:

CITIZENS - PSU IS WATCHING YOU

EDIT:

How about this:


Olley Painting Points:
This Week: 3
2010 Total: 33
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 91

Dakka Dakka Dakka

Today I finished Ded Cred with Heavy Stubber. I'm quite pleased, actually - he looks a lot better than the original did, and I even managed to GS a strap to hold his autogun in place.

Together with Kal Kutter, my Heavies now make the Automatics quite scary, being able to effectively cover the entire board and pump out 3 sustained fire dice (between 3-9 shots a turn) at S4/8 with an ammo roll of 2+ thanks to my two Armourers. If all that meant nothing to you, don't worry, it confuses me too sometimes.

I also painted the priestess' gold jewellery. I opted to paint it straight Shining Gold, as it leaps out more against her skin. I think tomorrow I'll be painting more Necromunda before I do anything else.

Unfortunately, and contrary to previous thinking, I won't be able to attend the Big Game at Evesham because it's just too expensive. I have too many bills to pay and not enough to go round once they're paid. To slip into whinge territory, very briefly:

I earn £1,433 a month after tax (this will go down this month, I think, as I have exceeded the threshold for tax above NI and Student Loan Repayments). This is immediately eaten by our £1,225/month rent.

We then get around £200 a week in Working Family Tax Credits, which is swallowed up by food, travel expenses (to get to work), and bills. This month our disposable income (£50 each - this would originally have got me to Evesham) had to go on paying off an old and outstanding tax bill.

End result - I can't go. I just can't afford it! I had hoped to be able to get the tickets in two goes (train return to Warwick - £30, bus tickets to Evesham and back - £20) , but ... I just can't.

Sorry, chaps! If any of you are reading this blog.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 32
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 90

A Day Of Unfinished Things

This morning, before I left for work, I started another cardboard building for my future urban skirmish stuff. I've cut out and scored it ready for construction, but I still need to cut out the windows and stick offcuts of card behind them, and I also need to build a door. I didn't put any advertising hoardings on this one, as it's meant to be purely an apartment block. I might well build one of those roof access door-box things to go on the, well, roof, or I might stick with the tried-and-tested trapdoor.

So that was unfinished thing one.

Unifinished things two and three came at lunch - I started off by mixing a very dark skin colour for my Ssotayan priestess. It's an attempt - a pretty good one, too, I think - at painting the sort of ultra-black skin you see in the Sudan, in people like Alex Wek, the model. The interesting thing about it is that it's a sort of purple-black, with a hint of blue and (very) dark brown. Hard to paint, harder still to do correctly! Anyway, I painted her skin, then had a bash at her translucent backless dress. I'm not sure it worked as well as the others, but we'll see. Then I basecoated her snake in two shades of blue (dark and mid); as it's an incarnation of the demon Ssotay I thought it'd look better in Ssotay's sacred colour: blue.

At any rate, she shows promise, but may not work as well as I hope, in which case I may well have to Simple Green her. We shall see. I'm hoping for the 'Base Effect' to come into play...

Unfinished thing three was Ded Cred v2. I painted his tartan trews, and did the first colour for his skin, and, er, that was it.

I doubt I'll get them both finished before Thursday, which'll give me a fairly feeble total for this week, but hey ho. I'll at least have a few more buildings, as I plan to make one every morning before I go to work. I'll have a metropolis in no time! Now all I need is a box to put them in... hm!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 31
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 89

For Ssotay!

I finished the last (so far) cultist for my Song of Blades and Heroes Accrani Ssotayans (there's a mouthful). Her name is Usuthe, and she has a Very Large Sword. Oh, and a dagger, but that's not quite as terrifying as her zwei-hander.

I'm really pleased with the way her skin turned out - it looks right, for once, which is almost a miracle with black skin. I'm going to try and repeat the feat on the cult leader. I was originally going to make her an albino but to be honest it's just pink skin and I can already do that.

I also began to paint up the upgunned Ded Cred. It'll be interesting rolling Sustained Fire dice again after five games with a gang whose idea of a special weapon is an assault rifle. Speaking of which, I now have two new Ratskin models to paint up, plus a repaint on the old Alf Fivewinds. He needs darker hair now he's Stephen North.

Olley Painting Points:
This Week: 1
2010 Total: 31
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 89

A Cereal Packet

Over the weekend, my friend S, who I've known since we were four, came to stay (and visit some other friends). While he was here, we had a short mini-campaign of Necromunda with my Ratskins versus his Van Saar. I ended it with a significantly higher gang rating than his, but he defeated me in three out of five games!

The first one was played with no terrain at all - just the Gangs of Mega-City One playmat, with -1 and -2 to hit depending on what bit you were on. I lost, but only just, failing a bottle test on the first attempt. Ho hum. In the morning, I thought "Hm, I'm bored" and built the little cardboard buildings that came with GoMC1. They're actually really good - simple, boxy little kits that fit the cartoony feel of GoMC1. Massively out of scale - 2" x 3" x 4" on average - but they look nice and, most importantly, they were terrain!

So, we had a few more games, and I lost the first two (again) and finally got a victory when I rescued a Ratskin who'd been captured. Anyway, while S went off to a party, I had a brainwave, and grabbed an old cereal box and my UHU glue, ruler, pencil and scissors. It was Blue Peter time!

Fairly quickly I ended up with a three-storey slum-tenement (upper floor burnt out), a bungalow medical clinic and a two-storey ruined shop. I haven't quite finished painting them yet, but I'll probably get them done tonight, and stick some pictures up too.

They got used in the last game we played, last night, which I won quite convincingly. End tally: I killed five of his gang (including his first leader, in the first game!), he killed two of mine. I ended up with a Gang Rating of 1,946 and he ended up with a rating of 1,600-1,700. The Bloody Band emerges victorious!

Accrani Cultists

I have begun to develop the background to my very own fantasy world. The world in question is called Azahande (Land of Demons), and one of the civilisations is the Accrani. They are loosely based on a mix of Nubian-Egyptian ideas and influences, echoing the general Africanesque feel of the world (or at least the part that I'm focusing on the most at the moment).

My first Song of Blades and Heroes warband is that of a cult of Ssotay, one of the minor Demons hoping for advancement in the Demonic Pantheon (Pandemon?) through the actions and numbers of its followers. Ssotay most commonly takes the form of a snake, and thus its cult is known as the Cult of the Snake. Its sacred colour is blue (in all shades) and this is worn by its worshippers as a sign of their devotion.



Omishe, cultist of Ssotay. She carries a heavy stabbing spear.


Omishe (on the right) and Ashande, cultists of Ssotay. Ashande carries a light two-bladed stabbing spear and a shield marked with a stylised snakeskin pattern.


A WIP, for once! As yet un-named, but the photo doesn't do her justice. I'm very proud of what is my best attempt yet at African skin - Vermin Brown mixed with Chaos Black in varying degrees all the way up to almost pure Vermin Brown.

And finally... la Legione Nera in all their glory:


That's it for this week, loyal readers! May Ssotay bless your dice and curse your opponents'!

Snakesong

Well, I finished the second of my (small!) Song of Blades and Heroes warband. Her name is Omishe, and she's armed with a spear! Wheee!

Just two more left to paint, and I've already made a good start on the swordswoman (name to be decided) and know how I'm going to paint the priestess. She's going to be an albino - this whole warband is an exercise in painting black skin and translucent clothing, both of which are Very Difficult Things To Do.

So I'm doing every shade of black I can think of, which is nowhere near as many shades as there are in reality, but hey ho, with a warband of between four and ten models, you can't complain.

I'm not entirely sure about the setting yet - what I do know is that the big civilisations are based in the drier, more arid parts of the world, and that the African/Arab/Asian analogue societies will be the major, leading powers. The Euro-equivalents are no more than barbarians. In this world, the Ancient Greeks would've just been seaborne raiders - all the philosophy and maths and so on in the world of Demons comes from the big, nubian-arab civilisation (name pending).

I'm using The World series of articles found at the Order of the Stick website to help me, as world creation is a big thing. There won't be many non-human intelligent species - Kobolds, demons, and that's basically it really.

More on this in the future, I promise!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 15
2010 Total: 30
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 88

Photos!

In order of painting:



The Pantokrator, leader of the Pantokrator's Fallen Men (1,500 point Chaos Space Marine army for Warhammer 40,000)



The Legione Nera, seen here without their officers, for Action Group 32/The Wilde Bunch and VBCW Big Game II.



Praetor of Orpheus, late of 3rd Squad, 9th (Devastator) Reserve Company. Now in the Fallen Men.


Just for fun - the Pantokrator and his bodyguard!

Oh, and as for the games of Necromunda the Automatics had last night: I played two Gang Fights and won the first in five minutes (largely thanks to the Autocannon and a really badly placed enemy Heavy) and lost the second in fifteen. Upshot: No deaths, Ded Cred gets his Heavy Stubber, and some decent advances (both my Leader and a Ganger got the skill Armourer after the first game! I was stunned!).

Still No Photos, But Progress Is Made

Well, as the title says, I've still not managed to grab any free time at home to upload (or take!) photos of the Legione Nera or the Pantokrator. I'll make time tonight or tomorrow morning.

At any rate, the good news:

I finished the Praetor of Orpheus! I'm fairly happy with how he turned out, but I'm pretty sure that there are areas where I could've improved - the '3' on his right pauldron, for example, which is too squashed and not tall enough. Mind you that was partly because of the sculpted detail on the model, but hey ho.

Not content with that, I also finished highlighting the skin on one of the Hasslefree Nubians - I've gone for a very red-brown sort of black, a kind of mixed-race feel I suppose. Not too happy with the lips, but then again it's very hard to get black skin right full stop so I'm quite pleased. I've decided they're all going to be wearing blue (different shades) except the priestess, in white.

The bad news:

Tonight I have my first game of Necromunda in almost a year... and I forgot the bleedin' camera! arrrrrrgh!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 14
2010 Total: 29
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 87

La Legione Nera

Well, I finished them - the Black Legion, or a bunch of Italian ex-pat fascists from London who joined the Casa del Fascio's militia and found themselves turned into a unit that roams the country in armoured lorries, supporting local BUF militias and Action Groups as and where necessary.

Their next action will be in Somerset; here's hoping la Legione Nera will do better than the CVT...

Next up on the painting desk is the Praetor of Orpheus. I hope to get his white armour painted in my afternoon break, and then he shouldn't take too long to finish off after that. Then I'm going to do the 3" mortar and Vickers MMG of the Somerset BUF. I think gloss black tin helmets should be fun.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 13
2010 Total: 28
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 86

Realistic Painting Results... Possibly?

Well, I didn't get a chance to put the pictures of the Pantokrator up last night or this morning, but I'll try and remedy that tonight.

This lunchtime I cracked on with the Black Legion and got them to the stage where they're nearly finished - all I need to do is highlight the furniture on their rifles, paint their webbing black, touch up anything that needs touching up, paint their belt buckles silver, and gloss varnish their shoes, webbing, and anything else that needs it.

I doubt very much that they'll be done in my afternoon break, but they'll definitely be done tomorrow, hurrah.

I also started to paint the Praetor of Orpheus' armour white, but got bored!

Lord Of All Things

Ahaaa! The Pantokrator is finished! He looks remarkably subdued, colour-wise, compared to most Chaos Lords, but then again - who's going to argue with an 8' tall Tactical Dreadnought armoured, bio-genetically engineered psychopath with foot-long electrically-charged monomolecular edged finger-blades who wears the flayed skin of his enemies as an Ikon at his waist and decorates his armour with polished bone and a pet daemon?

I thought so.

He makes a suitable centrepoint for the Fallen Men at any rate, which is important, and hopefully his relatively low-key appearance will prevent my opponents from fearing him too much. Their mistake.

I also painted the Black Legionnaires' bedrolls, puttees and rifle furniture, and hopefully will have them finished by the end of the week. Booking my train tickets to Evesham for the Second Big Game this week, too, along with the Valentine's Day Suprise for my wife.

Oh, and I also managed to reschedule my Necromunda game for this week, so expect an AAR on Thursday night or Friday - with pictures!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 16
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 74