The Week's Work

Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

2011-11-16T14:31:00.001-08:00

As you know, fine readers, yesterday I said that I would be consolidating my collection of toy soldiers by, well, selling a lot of them off.

I intend to (re)focus my collection largely on skirmish games, as they a) usually require less figures, and b) are more fun, I find. So with that in mind, I sat and thought about what I will be disposing of, and what I'll be keeping.

I will be selling off most of my bizzare and eclectic collection of Warhammer stuff, with the exception of my Undead (and associated army books), and figures that I have an attachment to - like my Dwarfs, for example, or my Oxenford Bretonnians. I can justify this with reference to Mordheim (hurrah) and Song of Blades and Heroes.

Equally, whilst I will be parting with my Pirate crew, I will be retaining my armed SF/near-future civilian mob for use in Gangs of Mega-City 1 (most likely as Total War terrorists and the like). The gist of it all is this:

Out go the armies and forces that I haven't used in years, if ever, and in come (or stay) the skirmish warbands, gangs, and platoons that I have and will use in the future. I have, of course, one eye on my son - it is an inevitability that I will end up playing wargames with him relatively soon, and I want to have something in every scale that I can pick up and run with - and another on my father, with whom a wargame is seriously overdue and to whom my VBCW stuff is going.

I am actually quite excited, and am raring to dive into my shed and my parent's loft to "rationalise and downsize my assets" - keep an eye on here, the Lead Adventure Forum, the Forum of Doom, the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour, Warseer, and - of course - ATP Painting Studio for sales in the near future.

To the bright new dawn and the end of Rabid Butterfly Syndrome!

Oh, and to maintain the picture-per-update ratio, have some Dark Eldar:

PS: I forgot about the Gran Chaco War - if I can ever get hold of 'Green Hell' I will take the plunge and do it in 15mm. Mainly to annoy my friend who lives in Bolivia by reminding him of Paraguay's great victory!

Good Grief, Charlie Brown, an update!

2011-11-15T10:59:00.001-08:00

Good lord the interface on this webular doohickey has changed.

Anyway that's besides the point! I have been concentrating (rightly so) on my business, ATP Painting Studio, of late, which is why I have not updated in almost two months. The reason I'm updating tonight is twofold:

1) I intend to return to daily updates as of tonight.

2) I am coming down VERY HARD on my excess of enthusiasm for multiple projects, with the intention of selling off a large part of my model soldier collection via ATP Painting Studio's shop.So,to that end, here is a list of projects that I will be continuing with:

6mm:
Epic 40,000

15mm:
AK-47 Republic (1st Edition)

20mm:
Cold War Gone Hot/Ultra-Modern Imagi-Nations

25mm:
Seven Years War Imagi-Nations

28-30mm:
Judge Dredd: Gangs of Mega-City 1
Necromunda
Warhammer 40,000
Mordheim/Song Of Blades and Heroes
Inquisitor/Dark Heresy

And that's it.So I will be getting rid of:Pirates, VBCW, Chinese Warlord, Vietnam War, Ancients (yes I have some!), all my SF stuff that isn't compatible with either my GoMC1 stuff or my 40K stuff. All of this - except possibly the VBCW stuff - will be sold off via my business at ATP Painting Studio.To keep you entertained, I attach some pictures of my Dark Eldar that I have resurrected:

And there will be more tomorrow! If you want to see what I've been up to between September and now, check out ATP Painting Studio.

ATP Painting Studio

2011-09-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

Today I created my business's website (ATP Painting Studio). I am confidently awaiting thousands of orders!

On a more serious note, I have also (finally) got pictures of some figures wot I ave painted. In this instance they are Lamenters Space Marines, for an army I'm creating for a Doubles Tournament at my local club on the 24th of October.

A short post, this, but more tomorrow hopefully.

Lamenters Veterans: Sgt Zell of 4th Squad (drop pod assault), Brother Baethor of 1st Squad (Chapter Master's Honour Guard). Note Terminator Honours and Zell's Deathwatch shoulder pad.

Lamenters Codicier Librarian Xanadu. A junior Librarian trusted and tasked with leading a mobile strike force.

Lamenters Scouts. Due to their crusade of penance for siding with the Astral Claws in the Badab War, these Scouts are not Neophytes but full Marines. Note the arctic camouflage and low-visibility chapter icons.

Exciting News!

2011-08-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Hail, my readers!

The reason I have been so quiet of late is because I am setting up my own business. I have decided to take the plunge into the world of figure painting for a living, and thus ATP Painting Studio was born.

I am currently working on things like getting a dedicated website up and running, sorting out customers to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, and painting figures for money.

As a result this blog will probably not be updated until October, so I apologise. In the meantime you can keep an eye on ATP Painting Studio on Facebook; I will be updating the page there fairly regularly.

I am cheaper than Artmaster Studio (by quite a bit) and less expensive than Golem. I will paint anything, from 6mm Prussians to 120mm busts, from My Little Pony to Waffen-SS Grenadiers.

Please do e-mail me at: patrickcullen317 [AT] btinternet [DOT] com if you want to commission me: I have favourable rates and discounts are available. A full price list will be going up on the Facebook page within the week.

And because I am not a liar:

Derpy Hooves, a character from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, painted to sell (search 'Derpy Hooves' on eBay).

What? It's a miniature! :p

The Last Words-Only Post, If I Have Anything To Say About It

2011-07-31T00:59:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make a little post detailing my current wargaming plans for the remainder of this year.

Currently, my wargames stuff is spread between my parents' house and mine. I don't have anything like the storage space that I want for it all, so what I'm aiming to do is rationalise what I have, gather it all together in one place, and organise it properly. Off the top of my head, I have the following armies, either started or half-way complete. I don't really have any 'complete' armies because I'm a classic Wargaming Butterfly...

1:whatever:
Battlefleet Gothic: Imperial Navy and Chaos fleets

6mm:
Epic Imperial Guard, Orks and Space Marines plus Titans and flyers
Battletech

15mm:
AK-47 Republic armies (Dictatorship, Popular Front, Super-power Backed, and White Supremacist)
Vietnam War US infantry company (1 figure = 1 man) with support

20mm:
WWII 1940 British
Russian Civil War Bolsheviks
Vietnam War US Infantry platoon

25-30mm:
Historical: Pirates! Just one crew, though
Historical: Chinese Warlord army
(A)historical: VBCW - BUF, reds, Skye Battalion
Moderns: Mogadishu
Moderns: Congo Simba Revolt
SF: Foxglove's Fighting Band - desert-based mechanised mercenaries (company)
SF: Force Generica (platoon)
SF: Women's Battalion of Death
SF: EuroFed Police and Rioters
SF: Viridians and a Triad gang for Urban War
SF: Gangs of Mega-City One gangs
40K: Imperial Guard (lots), Space Marines (three kinds), Chaos (LatD and Marines), Inquisition, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks (lots), Tau, Necrons, Tyranids.
Gorkamorka: Grots, Gorkers and Morkers
Necromunda: Escher, Goliath, Orlock and Ratskins, plus Hired Guns galore
Mordheim: Vampires, Skaven and Mercenaries
WFB: Empire (Wissenland), Empire (Solland), Vampire Counts, Bretonnians, Dwarfs, Dark Elves, Wood Elves
LotR: Haradrim, Gondor (Last Alliance) and those ghosties that are bad.

1:35 and 54mm:
Inquisitor warbands (two)
Operation Squad: Germans, with Russians on the way

Which is a conservative estimate. That's a minimum of about 64 armies, not counting all the 1-5 model starts for some armies (like my Savage Orc Shaman, Skaven Grey Seer, or Nova Castellan command squad) or any of the random crap I have like my 1:48 figures or the two 1:200 US carrier aircraft.

Even if we just narrow it down to rules sets, I have:
Ak47 Republic, Operation Squad, Stargrunt II, DropWing, LotR: Return of the King, WFB 6th Edition, 40K 4th edition (and 2nd), Necromunda, Gorkamorka, Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40K, and a good few others.

So what I am aiming to do is sell off the stuff I don't need or want. A shortlist of that includes, but is not limited to:

Some of my Imperial Guard,
My 15mm Vietnam stuff,
My BattleTech,
My Pirates,
Some of my Inquisitor 54mm stuff.

More will probably go on the 'sell' pile as and when I find it. I am aiming to stop being a butterfly by the end of the year, and instead stick firmly to my PLAN-PURCHASE-PAINT concept developed earlier on this blog. As part of that, from now on I will not post any updates unless I have pictures of stuff I've painted to show you.

More for OpSquad

2011-07-30T02:02:00.000-07:00

A collection of thoughts regarding weapons not included in the rulebook that perhaps should be:

Rifle Grenades:The rifle-grenade fires, using a bullet-catching device, an explosive charge over long distances, giving infantry squads a handy extra 'punch' in combat. As such, the following stats may be used to represent this:

Rifle Grenade: Short +1d6, Normal +1d6, Long -, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 5(A),
Single Shot
The rifleman may alternatively use his rifle as a standard weapon of its type, e.g. a Kar 98K or an SMLE.

Shoulder-Launched Anti-Tank Rockets: There are two significant types of man-portable anti-tank rocket launchers; the re-loadable Panzerschreck or Bazooka, and the single-shot Panzerfaust. As such, they really require two different statlines:

Panzerfaust: Short +2d6, Normal -, Long N/E, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1 10(A), One Shot, Bunker Buster

Bazooka (etc): Short +2d6, Normal +1d6, Long -, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 10(A), Single Shot, Support Weapon, Cumbersome

One Shot: May only be fired once per game.
Bunker Buster: -1d6 from any cover.

Incendiary Weapons: By which I mean Molotov cocktails, flamethrowers, and WP grenades.

Molotov Cocktails, WP Grenades: Short +1d6, Normal/Long/Extreme: N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 5(A), Minimum Range 10, Incendiary
Flamethrowers: Short +3d6, Normal +2d6, Long/Extreme: N/E, Rate of Fire Special, Incendiary, Cumbersome

Incendiary: Any figure hit by an incendiary weapon will be set on fire. A figure on fire must roll 2d6 each turn, adding one every turn after the first, as though shot (e.g. they can be pinned, wounded or killed). A friendly figure may attempt to put the fire out by spending one turn in base contact with them, and rolling 10 or more on 2d6 + VT.
Rate of Fire Special: Draw a straight line from the flamethrower operator up to a maximum of 50cm. Anyone within 3cm of the line is hit.

And, lastly, Body Armour: Rarely worn, but most of all by Red Army assault squads and combat engineers, WWII body armour comprised sheets of shaped steel. Any figure wearing body armour may roll an extra d6 when being shot at.

I'm sure those will alter as playtesting reveals the kinks and weaknesses, but should suffice for now. In the meantime, I've built the first four Germans for my late-war Eastern Front force, and worked out what I'm getting for my 1944 Western Front stuff - two boxes of Dragon British Infantry, a box of Tamiya British, and a couple of boxes of Tamiya Germans (which I intend to paint up as straight German Whermacht, rather than my late-war W-SS/random squad). So in the end I'll have two German squads, a Russian squad (from Zvezda) and a British squad. Depending on how that pans out, I may splash out and get some US Airborne or something as well.

Look! Pictures!

2011-07-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

Right then! I will now post a flurry of pictures of the commission work that I have recently done for a few people. If you are interested in commissioning me, my prices are as follows:

Toy Soldier Style (block colours, gloss varnish): £2 (£1 for 20mm, £3 for 54mm and up)
Wargames Standard (basic highlights, semi-gloss varnish): £4 (£2 for 20mm, £6 for 54mm and up)
Display Standard (at least 3 highlights, specific varnishes to give effects, etc): £6 (£3 for 20mm, £10 for 54mm and up).

1:12 scale statuettes, busts, and other large items (e.g. tanks, walkers etc) are costed seperately, usually in the region of £15-25. I don't charge extra for 'special figures', one infantryman costs the same as one cavalryman or character. I will paint anything, at any scale, and do my best to ensure a one-week turnaround.

Discounts are available for large orders.

P&P is 10% of the total cost or a minimum of £5. I send all items by Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class (48 hours for delivery). I can be contacted for further information at patrickcullen317 [AT] btinternet [DOT] com.

And without further ado... the pictures!

Airfix 1:12 statue of Julius Ceasar. Display Standard.

Wargames Foundry Gladiators. Display Standard.

Wargames Foundry emperor, Warlord Games Romans. Display Standard.

Wargames Foundry Roman Slave Auction. Display Standard.

Immortal Miniatures' Greek Hoplites. Display Standard.

Napoleonic French (1812). Wargames Standard.

Games Workshop Dwarf Warriors. Display Standard.

Revell (?) British Paras. Display Standard.

Games Workshop Dwarf Longbeards. Display Standard.

Warlord Civilians, Foundry Praetorians and Officials. Display Standard.

Warlord and Foundry Romans. Display Standard.

And that's all for now! Still to come: Dark Elves, Dark Eldar, Grey Knights, Roman Legionaries, Veterans, Auxiliaries, a Testudo, more Emperors, Turks, ANZACs, 1/35 W-SS... and more!

Thoughts On Operation Squad, or: Last Post Before Pics

2011-07-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

Right, so I don't forget, here are my current thoughts on modifying Operation Squad for 1/35 and general play:

1/35 modifications:
Ranges: all ranges increase by 50%. Area effect of grenades and mortars increases by 5cm each.
Movement: 10cm becomes 15cm, 15cm becomes 20cm, 20cm becomes 30cm.
MGs and Assistants: Assistants must be within 3cm of the gunner, rather than in base contact.
Table size: 6' x 4' rather than 4' by 4' is preferred.

General modifications:
Motivation: This is scenario dependent. Squads can be classed as having LOW, NORMAL, or HIGH motivation. A squad with LOW motivation reduces its Break Point by 1, while a HIGH motivation squad increases it by 1. Note this does not affect the number of figures in the squad.
Shoulder-launched AT Weapons: E.g. Bazooka, Panzerfaust. They act as direct-fire weapons as follows:

SHORT: +2d6 NORMAL: +1d6 LONG: N/A EXTREME: N/A
Characteristics: Single Shot, Support Weapon, A(10)

Multi-Player Games: 4-8 players. I recommend that each player takes a Squad, with one player taking a Platoon Command Squad, or acting as the force commander. Each Squad should have an objective, which should in turn act towards the force objective(s). Platoon Commanders should issue orders before the game starts, and if they wish to alter these orders may only do so if either:
1) Their figure is within 20cm (28mm) or 30cm (1/35) of the squad leader he is giving new orders to, and with a clear LOS; the Platoon Commander must also be visible to the Squad Leader (i.e. in his 180 degree field of vision).
2) Send a runner from his squad to the other; the runner must use RUN actions where possible to get to the Squad Leader in question as quickly as possible. Once within 5 (or 10) cm of the Squad Leader, the orders may be relayed as a single Action on the runner's part.

What do you think? I reckon those mods will be easy to use and improve play, at least for me. Next post - pics. Promise!

A New Obsession (Oh Help! Oh No! It's A Wargamerlo!)

2011-07-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my commission work, I have rediscovered the joys of 1/35th military figures. So much so, in fact, that I have purchased a copy of Torriani and Del Castello's Operation Squad WWII rules (from work, ahahaha) and some 1/35 Dragon late war Germans to start with. I have on order (from work) a few sets of Russians to oppose the Fascist Vipers, and I intend to do them all with winter bases for games set in the winter of '44-'45. Which allows me access to all the funky toys like StG-44s and Russians with body armour. And, of course, old men and young girls fighting to defend the Vaterland!

Not to mention, of course, the Lithuanians, Spaniards, French, Latvians, Danes, Belgians, Italians, Dutch, Estonians, Russians, Ukranians... etc etc. I'd gleefully paint their national shields but, sadly, all my Panzergrenadiers are in thick winter gear or camo tunics.

Terrain will be fun, too, and I think that I may have to make a few alterations to the rules. Chiefly, increasing all the weapon ranges by 50% and removing the bloody stupid tournament-based points system. Frankly I don't give a damn about points in historical games; I'd much rather do it by scenario requirements.

Should be fun, especially as my dad is going to have his shed wargames-room-ified by the end of the year.

My current thoughts on my German squad org are something as follows:

1iC with StG-44
2iC with MP-40
2 PzGrn with MG42 and G43
8 PzGrn with a mix of K98, G43, MP-40 and StG-44

Leaven with a couple of panzerfausts, stick grenades, etc... job's a good 'un!

Oh - and there'll be another post tonight: WITH PICTURES

IT LIIIIIIIVES!!

2011-07-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

Aha! I have a power cable! I am going to spend the next umpteen million man-hours uploading the hundreds and thousands of pictures that I have to post. Then I will post them. Then I will write more... and so on!

I have mostly been doing commission work, most recently a zillion Romans leavened by ANZACS, Turks, and 1/35th Waffen-SS Grenadiers. So expect a lot of Ancients.

Oh - yes - I have just started a new blog over at Parallel Futures, discussing SF in all its forms. Pop across, have a read, and help me formulate a new analysis of SF! Or just laugh at my ramblings. Either way... go! Read! COMMENT!

Of Superquick and Metcalfe...

2011-05-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Fairly recently, my Dad and I engaged in a spot of WW2 gaming (as is our wont) with a Fallschirmjager assault on the sleepy village of Lower Bimble, defended by a company of Home Guard. A report from the jackboot side of things can be found here on the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour. I will be putting in a report as soon as I can get a replacement power cable...!

Anyway, what I was really going to be talking about was Superquick and Metcalfe. For the uninitiated, they are two companies that make cardboard kits of houses, factories, pubs and so on for model railways and, yes, wargamers, in 1/72 scale. We used their stuff for Lower Bimble. It works remarkably well with 28mm, and perfectly with 20-25mm too.

The amount of kits they do is incredible - between the two of them there's enough stuff to produce a whole town with industrial estate, railway station(s) by the dozen and an airfield. And I've got a load of them at work. They look at me, tempting me to get them and make them so that, next time, we can have urban warfare in the streets of Upper Bimble as the Field Army and its Home Guard comrades try to fend off the fanatical Nazi paratroops and their Whermacht chums.

Should I give in, or stay firm? Help!

Disasters

2011-05-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm excusing my lack of photo-updates and two missing battle reports with the following joyous bit of info:

My multi-adaptor which powers my laptops has died, spectacularly. So now I can't use either of them! Arrrgh!

On top of that, I have discovered the hard way that my shed (garage) leaks. I lost three books to water damage on Friday. One is easily replaced, one can be either picked up 2nd hand as a book or printed off as a PDF...

...and one is now only availiable second hand for upwards of £100!

For the interested, they are Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), Mordheim: Empire in Flames, and Tactica Imperialis: A History of the Later Imperial Crusades.

So, in all, woe and misery. Expect reguar updates to begin again once I can reliably power my laptops. Bloody hell! What a saga!

Lego and Other, Stranger Things

2011-05-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

A quick post - almost a placeholder for another one tonight.

Lego is a good thing to use for wargaming, particularly skirmishes. SF and F are very easy to do, while my introduction to wargaming came in the form of Lego ironclads battling it out on a carpet Potomac...!

I am also going to plunge back into the Guard and Dark Eldar armies that have been simmering for some time; with the upcoming release of things like the Venom, Talos, Cronos

JOOLS HOLLAND IS IN THE SHOP RIGHT NOW whee

My First Army List

2011-05-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Having yesterday completed the task (well, almost) of moving my stuff from my parent's house to my own, a mere six years after leaving there, I was rummaging through papers and found a small notebook marked 'IMPERIAL CODEX' in my own handwriting. Intrigued, I flipped it open and found an army list dated 15/12/97 (for the hard of counting, that's over 13 years ago) and entitled ULTRAMARINES Army List. It laid out, in my then 11 year-old self's childish handwriting, my ideal 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarine army. I will reproduce it here for your delight, complete with spellnig erors.

1 squad of terminators. (seargent is V. and has 'Photon Searchlight') trooper 2 has 'Auto Launcher with Frag G.' and 'Plasma Blaster') P.T.S. Value: (inc wargear): 356

1 close combat tactical squad in rhino (saergent is V.) P.T.S Value (inc Rhino and V.S.): 355

1 Techmarine. ('Servo Arm') P.T.S. Value (inc. servo arm): 43

1 Tactical squad (1 trooper is a dev., other is spec.) P.T.S. Value: 300

1 Scout Squad (S. is vetran + infiltrate rules) PT.S. value (inc. V.S): 105

1 Captain (second co., Army Commander) P.T.S. Value: 96

1 Landspeeder. P.T.S. Value: 145

1 Bike Squad (S. is V. + 1 Attack Bike) P.T.S. Value (inc. V.S. + Attack Bike): 298

TOTAL P.T.S. Value: 1698

This is followed by a more detailed and expanded army list for the same lot, this time with names and extra characters, dated 26/12/97. It is this force that I am currently replicating with modern models painted in the style of 2nd Edition and, in keeping with the way I painted back then, to the best of my ability. At the moment I have the Captain, 2 of the 5 Terminators, the Scout Squad, and a Tac Squad. I still need a Rhino, Bike Squad, another Tac Squad, a Landspeeder, Command Squad, Librarian... a few figures!

Right, now I'm off to paint Romans by the dozen for money. Ta-ra for now, chaps and chapettes!

Victory At Last

2011-05-01T00:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I engaged my friend A in a 1,500 point 'Prepared Assault' mission from the 40K Battle Missions book. I took my heroic bad guys, the Karaboudjani Kataphraktoi, in a manner that I've never taken a Guard-based army before. He took his Blood Angel Successors (with some proxies) in a list designed to kill horde armies.

Good job I had a few tanks then!

My list looked like this:

Lord Commissar with Carapace Armour and power sword in Chimera
Primaris Psyker
Priest with Eviscerator

Platoon 1:
Lt with Power Sword and Plasma Pistol
4 Veterans with Flamers

Sgt with Bolt Pistol, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter team, Commissar with power sword
Sgt with Plasma Pistol, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter team
Sgt with Laspistol, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter team

Platoon 2:
Lt with Power fist and laspistol
4 Veterans with Meltas

Sgt with Bolt Pistol, Plasma Gun, Lascannon team, Commissar with Power Sword
Sgt with Power Sword, Plasma Gun, Lascannon team
Sgt with Laspistol, Plasma Gun, Lascannon team

Armoured Sentinel with Autocannon and Smoke
Armoured Sentinel with Autocannon, Smoke and Searchlight

Devil Dog with hull Multi-Melta, turret Melta Cannon and pintle Heavy Stubber

Demolisher with Plasma Cannons, Lascannon and Storm Bolter

He took:

Reclusiarch
5 Assault Terminators with twin lightning claws
10 Assault Marines with twin lightning claws, flamer, plasma pistol
10 Tac Marines with Heavy Bolter and flamer in a Rhino
10 Devastators with Signum, 2 plasma cannon, multi-melta, rocket launcher
2 Baal Predators with Inferno Cannons and hull Heavy Flamers
Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons and Magna-Grapple

I went first, and had a dismal round of shooting. But, despite the fact that he caused 23 casualties on 1 Platoon in his Turn One AND destroyed my Demolisher... I still won! Mainly because his teleporting Terminators scattered onto his Dreadnought, suffered a mishap, and died in the warp. I ended the game with all three objectives in my possession and only one Space Marine left on the table - a Devastator with Rocket Launcher.

A had some bad luck - for example, at least one Plasma Cannon 'Got Hot' every turn (although he did pass every save) - and I had some good luck; particularly the tank commander of the Devil Dog who, with his heavy stubber, headshotted a Devastator Marine through a wall, and killed the Reclusiarch. His crew, on the other hand, were utterly dismal, hitting only once and killing a mere three marines from five hits.

All in all, a great game and one from which I have taken a lot - namely, playing Guard in accordance with the background means YOU LOSE. Time to ditch most of my fetish regarding the background and start playing to win a bit more... but not at all costs.

Pictures, by the way, will come when I get my other laptop back from the repair shop this coming week. This one is too unreliable to use for picture uploads &c &c.

Aetherspace Connection Established: Void-Tansference Initiated

2011-04-29T00:00:00.001-07:00

Or, in other words, I have internet access at home for the first time since December last year. Hurray!

In painting and modelling news, I have finished Da Ard Nutz and am currently working on a (very large) commission for a chap who appears to have decided to want to collect a couple of 1:1 ratio Roman Legions. Cue about a thousand or so 28mm Ancients to paint...!

GorkaMorka and the Gran Chaco War continue to infest my mind, so much so that I have declared an intention to run a GorkaMorka campaign at my local club, and am trying to save enough to purchase a second hand copy of Arthur English's Green Hell.

Now, before I bore you all with too many words, I will sign off and not return until I bring back photographs of Da Ard Nutz and some various other things I've painted since my hiatus began last year. Hopefully that'll be tonight or tomorrow morning.

Onwards - the future awaits!

Of Gork And Mork, Or: GORKA GORKA GORKA

2011-04-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hail, devoted fans and fellow lunatics!

Recently I have been (re)inspired by that classic Games Workshop 'specialist' game: GORKAMORKA. A true fusion of brilliant games design, madness and comedy, Gorkamorka pits gangs of Orks, Grots, 'Oomie skum and Mutie terrors against each other on the blasted desert world of Angelis in the far distant and violent future.

It was the second Games Workshop game I played, in GW Oxford in the heady summer of 1997, aged 10. I had an absolute blast pushing my (then) Morka trukk around and yelling "DAKKA DAKKA" at the top of my lungs. My friend Tais and I also spent several weeks pretending we were the driver and gunner of a trukk, running about shouting things like "Oh no! We skid!" and crashing into walls, trees, each other, and parked cars.

So, in the spirit of my yoof, I bought a box of Grots and dug out some spare Orks, and am now in the process of painting two mobs: the dangerous and fearsome Grot Revolooshunaries 'Da Green Menace' and the well 'ard Gorka headcases known as 'Da Ard Nuts' because they wear helmets.

Now all I need are some vehicles... expect pictures of both Grots and Gorkas in the coming week.
Oh, and before I sign off, if you're interested in kikkin' 'eadz an' applyin' sum boot levva, try these links:

The Rulebook
The Other Book (mob lists, campaign rules etc)
The Unnamed Gorkamorka Site
Mektown

Foot, Meet Mouth

2011-04-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

Me and my big mouth! "Back to daily updates yadda yadda" or not, as the case may be.

So, with a slight hiatus, I have not a lot to report: the Gran Chaco War idea has been gathering steam, and merely awaits the deployment of funds.

I had a good game of 40K 5th Edition with my mate A who used to live next door until we moved (again): his Blood Angels Successors against my Karaoudjani Kataphraktoi Veterans using one of the Battle Mission missions. I took four squads of 10 veterans in carapace armour, a Demolisher, and a Company Command Squad. He had a 'Death Star' unit of 10 Assault Marines led by a Reclusiarch, a Tac Squad in Rhino, a Predator Annihilator and a Combat Squadded Dev Squad. His 'Death Star' unit killed 27 figures all by itself for 9 casualties in return, mostly caused by shooting.

We're going to have a rematch - I'm thinking of fielding either a lot more armour, or a lot more infantry!

That's it for now, but the day is rapidly approaching when I'll be able to post pictures again. Onwards, to the new tomorrow!

Good Lord! Signs Of Life, Doctor!

2011-04-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings! Well, with my last post occuring in August 2010, you'd be forgiven for thinking me dead, possessed, or otherwise out of action.

In reality, all that happened was that life put toy soldiers on the back burner for quite a while. I have been doing various bits and pieces, not least of which has been Dark Eldar related (more on those in another blog post). However, due to cashflow issues and time demand/supply - e.g. I demand x hours but am supplied with y hours instead, a highly unsatisfactory situation - I haven't been able to post about anything I've done for quite a while.

To give you all a brief update, I've been thinking long and hard about consolidating and cataloguing my array of projects and figures before I launch into any more. Note I said 'thinking', not 'doing', as while I was engaged in this Khurasan Miniatures had the gumption to release 15mm Gran Chaco War figures. Together with Peter Pig Assault Guards, QRF Vickers Type A and Type B models and Old Glory's Vickers Carden-Lloyd mk VI tankettes, a pleasantly sized Bolivian force can be easily built; the Paraguyans will need to comprise large numbers of the very nice Khurasan figures for now.

Anyway, I suppose what I'm getting at in this short and rather rambling post is that I'M BACK and daily updates will resume once again. Pictures will start coming back towards the end of the month, once I get my laptop back from the repair shop and once Sky connect the house to the interwebulatron.

In the meantime, I will be boring (or intriguing) you all with tales of my various projects and my need/want list(s). I trust you'll stick around, or at least come back for pictures...!

For now, I'm off back to work to try and fund some Khurasan purchases in the near future.

A Very New Manufacturer?

2010-08-14T01:05:00.001-07:00

Just browsing the forums, and I discovered Reiver Castings' massive range of VBCW stuff, which can be seen here.

In sum, they do A LOT of stuff, in packs of 10 infantry, 5 command and 4, or 3 if command, mounted. I intend to get some of their Black & Tans to fill out the Skye Battalion unit I started so long ago.

Of Houses and Packing Tape

2010-08-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm up to my eyeballs in cardboard boxes and packing tape, as I am moving house. Boo and hiss! No, it's actually going to be great - I'll be living above a toyshop that stocks paints and basing material, so that's handy and probably going to be a massive money-sink unless I carefully ration myself. To, say, 99.9% of all my wages.

That seems reasonable, right?

Right?

...

Moving swiftly on! Whilst packing, I had a closer look at the unpainted Necromunda stuff I have lurking in a carrycase. As previously mentioned, it's only 41 figures, and they break down thusly:

1x Wyrd (Telekinetic)
2x Scummers (ex-Goliath, ex-Delaque)
3x Escher (running with shotgun, heavy stubber and Leader pointing with laspistol and bolter)
4x Goliaths (all Juves I think)
9x Ratskins (mostly Braves, a couple of Warriors, and one Shaman)
22x Orlocks (Leader with power axe, heavy bolter, 20 various Gangers and Juves including some conversions, e.g. heavy with grenade launcher).

So I think I'll make them my first priority once we're all unpacked and settled in. I wouldn't expect much in the way of productive painting-style posts for a good couple of weeks - mainly because all my stuff, paint-wise, is now packed up.

The counter to this is that I hope to start regularly gaming against my old foe, Al Front. Once a month if the gods smile upon us! Which will, of course, spur me on to do more daft stuff like finish off my AK-47 armies, start that Lace Wars imagi-nations army I've been banging on about for years now, and so on and so forth.

Exciting times ahead! Stay tuned...

Solland Resurgent!

2010-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

In a quiet moment today, with my son asleep and my wife on the telephone, I dug out my current Warhammer Fantasy Battle Empire army. The idea behind it, apart from the preponderance of Pike and Shot style tactics and units (three blocks of spear, two of pike, and a lot of musketeers), is that a minor lord in Wissenland - the southernmost province of the Empire - has discovered that he can legitimately trace himself back to the last Elector Count of Solland. Solland, for those who don't know, was originally the southernmost province of Wissenland, but it was destroyed by Orcs and its lands absorbed into Wissenland.

Anyway, this Lord has declared himself the Elector Count of Solland, and is busy trying to sieze back the old lands of Solland whilst the Emperor and the rest of the Empire is busy with the aftermath of the ill-fated Storm of Chaos invasion. He hopes to present Karl Franz, the Emperor, with a fait accompli and have Solland restored to, well, its old lands and ways.

So far I have the following:

The Count, on his charger,
His faithful second, with the Standard of Solland,
An Amethyst Wizard,
A Bright Wizard,
30 Musketeers (10 built, 20 on sprue);
60 Spearmen (23 built, 37 on sprue).

To finish it off, I need two blocks of 35 pike, another 30 musketeers, a unit of heavy cavalry, and a couple of cannon. I'm tempted to get some Dopplesoldner greatswords, but I'm not 100% certain. I think it might be worth getting some Pistoliers and things as well, just to really differentiate the army from a Renaissance European one.

Anyway - pictures of what I've done so far!

Overhead 3/4 view - Lord, Heroes, 10 musketeers and the 3rd Spear Regiment, plus the command group of the 1st Spear Regiment.

Front view of same.

Side 3/4 view of the wizards, Lord and Captain. The wizard on the right is from the Amythest College, and the wizard on the left is from the Bright College.

The command group of the 1st Spear. I will think of better names for these units soon!

Eventually there'll be 60 musketeers and 120 'pike', a ratio of 1:2 - similar to the late 16th Century armies, if I recall correctly. It's not until the English Civil War and Thirty Years War that you get ratios of 2:1 or more of Shot to Pike.

There's not much around that discusses Solland; what I'm concerned with mostly are the following: its colours were brown and yellow (urgh), and a sun motif was present on its standards. I have adapted this to grey and yellow, as the new Elector is emphasising that there is a link with Wissenland which he doesn't want to destroy, but he does wish to change; it's a nice piece of propaganda for the illiterate peasantry.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I built the command group of the 1st Spear today, by the way, which is I suppose the original point of this post!

Plans, Plots, and Moving House

2010-08-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

Although I have no newly painted figures to show you, I do have some interesting weblinks and more mad and crazy schemes for you all.

First of all, I am moving house from London to Warwick. This will put me closer to my parents' place (and with it all my toy soldiers) and various model shops (two independent and one GW). This is a good thing! However, it does mean that until we've moved and settled in, painting time will be limited.

Secondly, I've decided on a couple of new projects. These are as follows:

Afghanistan 2006

Using Ambush Alley Games' Ambush Alley: Force on Force rules, I intend to wargame the first year's fighting in Helmand province between the 3 PARA battlegroup and the Taliban/anti-government elements that gave the lie to John "not one shot fired" Reid. For figures, I intend to use a mix of Britannia Miniatures and Liberation Miniatures.

Inspiration and information so far have come from the excellent books A Million Bullets, 3 PARA, and 3 Commando, as well as countless newspaper and media reports.

It's likely that as I read more on the subject (books like The Junior Officer's Reading Club and Leo Docherty's Desert of Death together with Lt. Col Stuart Tootal's account of the 2006 fighting are on my reading list) I will expand the project to cover the entire period 2006-current. And, if I am successful in my attempt to get into the Royal Armoured Corps as a Troop Commander, who knows? I may be able to represent myself on the wargames table.

The Matriarchy Guard:

For a long time now I've been creating an entire sector of space for the 40K universe in my head. This sector was originally known as the Rigel Sector, but after a Tyranid invasion it was renamed. Anyway, one of the planets - Paradiso - is a paradise world - pristine, barely polluted, full of holiday resorts for high-ranking functionaries and nobility from across the sector, that sort of thing. It's also a matriarchy, and for some time now I've wanted to make two armies for it - one Planetary Defence Force platoon for when I play Dark Heresy or Inquisitor 28 there, and one for standard games of Warhammer 40,000.

Now I have the figures to do both:

Planetary Defence Force from Hinterland Miniatures, and Imperial Guard from Shadowforge Miniatures. The Hinterland figures are perfect for Palace Guard types, with ceremonial uniforms and weapons, while the Shadowforge Politburo Worker Battalion will make cracking Imperial Guard.

There are other uses for some of the Shadowforge Sci-Fi range - the Marine Special Ops will mix in nicely with my Jungle Fighting Imperial Guard, while the Gangers, Bounty Hunters and Scavangers will go brilliantly in both Necromunda and Gangs of Mega-City One.

So there you have it - one move and two new projects. Madness, eh? Hopefully I'll be able to post some more painted pics tomorrow.

Return To The Paintpots

2010-08-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Sorry for yet another leave of absence - this one cause by a flood of sewage into the house leading to an evacuation and a tiff with the landlord. Joy of joys. At any rate, a couple of days ago I got the chance to sit down and get some painting done, and I finished a couple of Necromunda Scummers - one ex-Van Saar with hand flamer, sword/knife and bolt pistol; and an ex-Orlock with plasma pistol and holstered pistol. I also made a start on the Telekinetic (a swine of a model with piping everywhere and daft banding on his wrists and ankles, which I getting round by painting varying shades of black), and I hope to get him done soon too.

Anyway, here are the pictures of my two latest completed additions to my Necromunda collection. I'm not 100% happy with them - Van Rijn's got a wall eye (not a major problem, it is the Underhive after all) but their bases are annoying me. They don't look finished in the cold harsh view of the lens!

Van Rijn, with his Van Saar-standard synthskin undersuit and semi-hardened hazardous environment protection suit. The grey hair may make him seem old - and he is, at the stunningly old age of 29!

Billy Whizz. Late of House Orlock, now renowned for hiring himself out to the highest bidder (not very high in Billy's case - anyone willing to fork out for a few bottles of Wildsnake or a crate of Second Best is pretty much guaranteed to get his services for a few days).

With these two done, I have just 41 Necromunda models to paint before my collection so far is 'done' and I can start buying new ones for it.

I have a new project planned to celebrate my moving to Warwick at the end of August and my attempt to become an officer in the Royal Armoured Corps. More on that tomorrow I expect.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 59
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 117

Tuesday's Conclusion and Wednesday's Work

2010-07-14T00:36:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday evening I managed to finish the first Bounty Hunter. He ended up very blue, but he does look pretty good. There are a few things that I could have improved, but overall I'm quite happy - my long absence from painting means I've forgotten a few tricks which I need to relearn.

Anyway, after doing that Bounty Hunter I finished off another this morning that I'd started painting a long time ago - I think two or even three years ago! To keep you all entertained, here are the pictures:

Tomas Kane, Bounty Hunter. Blue is his lucky colour!

Kurt Sureshot, Bounty Hunter. His name is an homage to the bounty hunter in the Necromunda Battle Report in the first WD I ever bought.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 57
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 115

Work in Progress, Or, A New Schedule

2010-07-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

Having been to my best friend's wedding at the weekend (which was good fun), and finding a couple of new potential wargames partners, I decided to try out a new schedule. Rather than fretting about my inability to paint in my lunchbreak, I'd just get up early and do an hour's painting before my son wakes up. This has the advantage of ensuring I'm awake for him and not semi-asleep, and also that I get a nice quiet time to sit and work.

I didn't quite manage an hour this morning, just 40 minutes before he woke up. But the principle is sound, and I should be able to squeeze in a few minutes tonight after he's gone to bed in order to finish off the Necromunda Bounty Hunter I started. I also managed to finish the Sallow Man's base, which was good.

The (finished) Sallow Man.

Based on the near-completion of the bounty hunter, tentatively, I propose...

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1 (0.5)
2010 Total: 56
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 114

The Sallow Man

2010-07-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! I got another figure done! In this case, the Necromunda Wyrd with eight-pointed staff and long coat. I've called him The Sallow Man and I'm rather chuffed by him. He looks suitably disturbing on a subtle level. At the minute his base isn't quite finished, but it's finished enough for me to claim the Olley Painting Point.

The Sallow Man, with autopistol, laspistol and focussing staff. The studious among you will realise that he is TAINTED BY CHAOS and should really be the subject of a Redemptionist crusade or two. Or maybe even an Inquisitor...

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 3
2010 Total: 55
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 113

Late-Night Painting

2010-07-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

Right - this was meant to chronicle the painting I was meaning to do on Wednesday night.

But I didn't do any, instead getting caught up in packing and planning for the short holiday we're taking to go to my best friend's wedding over the weekend.

Ho hum!

Sunday's Work, Updated on a Tuesday That's Actually a Wednesday...

2010-07-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Woops! Meant to do this earlier so that it'd register as Tuesday 6th July, but hey ho. I've not gone to bed yet so it still counts! Sort of.

At any rate, although I've not managed to get any more painting done, I present the Dire Avengers that I did a few months ago, and on Sunday:

Sunday's work - two Dire Avengers in the livery of their Aspect and wearing the green of Biel-Tan.

The original Dire Avengers from back in March.

The Exarch, with his back banners displaying his membership of the Dire Avenger Aspect and his citizenship of, and loyalty to, Biel-Tan.

The squad so far. I've got another five Avengers knocking around somewhere, I think still on the sprue.

Next up - either a Farseer or Da Red Grot from GorkaMorka!, one of Games Workshop's better games.

More Old New Figures

2010-07-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Without further ado...

Anarchist urban guerilla from my Police Action! project.

Metropolitan Police Inspector, Police Action!

Markov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman

Kornilov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman

The Markov and Kornilov men are now in Al Front's possession, as a thank you for the gun-running he did for the aborted attempt at Evesham.

The Morning After The Night Before

2010-07-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

Last night, I sat down in my living room, set up a painting table, and cracked on. After a bit of umming and ahhing over what to paint, I decided on finishing the Dire Avengers which I started a few months ago. With only two to paint and a nice and simple scheme, I managed to get them both done whilst also talking to my wife (brownie points) and watching silly TV with my wife (brownie points).

At any rate, with those two Dire Avengers completed, that brings the little group to a useable squad of 5 and gives me a sort-of-completed Troops choice for my wife's Biel-Tan Army. I intend to try and get the Farseer done tonight, but I might not be able to. Expect pictures of all 5 Dire Avengers plus the other figures I did just before the hiatus either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 54
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 112

What I Did While My Laptop Wasn't Working

2010-07-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

There follows, in no particular order, and not yet completely, a pictorial list of the figures I painted at Visiongain before I left and while my laptop wasn't co-operating. Have at it!

Usuthe, the Ssotayan cultist swordswoman.

The three cultists together.

The demon Ssotay itself, and Ashal, its High Priestess. I'm pleased with her, but I think that the dress doesn't work quite as well as I'd hoped.

The warband as they stand at present. I still want to get a packet of Copplestone's Ngoni Female Archers to bulk them out for Song of Blades and Heroes.

The cardboard buildings I made from cereal packets, prior to the addition of a cooling tower and some paint. Note Necromunda Goliaths for scale.

Speaking of Goliaths...

Ded Cred version two, this time with better trews and a bigger gun. Combined with Kal Cutter's autocannon, the heavies of the Automatics are a serious force to be reckoned with. "Dominating the tabletop" is an understatement!

Slimy Sid, Goliath Juve. I like him because he looks so cowardly, like the types you get hanging around with gangs in school; the ones who get picked on if there are no other victims and yet who are pathetically greatful just to be part of the group.

Thick Dave, another Juve. This is where the Automatic theme starts to dilute. I'm not sure figures like this'll ever see action, but it's good to have them anyway. I'm a completist.

Rotten Pahul. Not much to say - just a Juve.

Now, on to some Warhammer and Mordheim stuff:

Grey Seer, agent of the Council of 13. I love this model! It's probably my favourite Warhammer model of all time, primarily because of the little rat on the staff. It makes me chuckle whenever I see it.

A Prince of Tor Sethain, and member of my Mordheim Elf warband. Nothing too special - I'm a fan of the classic blue and white colour scheme for High Elves.

And now, on to the science-fiction stuff, in this case a Biel-Tan missile launcher and Guardian leader. I also have some Dire Avengers I need to re-photograph, but more on them later.

Eldar Missile Launcher platform, to accompany a Guardian Defender squad in my wife's Biel-Tan army. Apparently the EML is a rubbish option according to the internet, but I don't care and neither does my wife.

Guardian Defender leader. No rules for the position, I just liked the pose and think he looks like a squad leader.

Still to come - Kornilov and Markov regiment figures from the RCW, some VBCW Police Action figures and those Dire Avengers I was on about earlier... plus tales of ACTUAL PAINTING, the first for months!

State of Play

2010-07-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

Well, after another hiatus of over a month, here are how things stand at present:

I am finding it hard to get any painting done primarily as a result of my work schedule - usually working late and starting in the middle of the day. I can't paint at work because 45 minutes isn't long enough to get anything meaningful done and there's no natural light in the staffroom, which is underground.

As a result, starting tonight, I'm hoping to get an hour's painting done before bed. In the meantime, I'm going to (re)photograph the figures I did months ago and which I never put up here, so that even if I don't get anything done for a few days there will at least be pictures.

The main thing is that having been push-jumped from my previous job at Visiongain Ltd, where I wrote this report on future soldier programmes before my contributions were no longer required, I'm now a minimum-wage slave at a Famous Fast Food Franchise. Which has reduced spending on toy soldiers and toy soldier related things to zero in order to continue with things like rent and bill-paying. Ho, and, indeed, hum!

At any rate, expect daily updates commencing once again, as of now.

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

2010-05-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

I live! No time for a serious update just now, but I will post again soon. Possibly even with pictures, aha! bet you didn't expect that.

For now - to work.

Friend Computer, Communist Mutant Traitors Have Caused Errors!

2010-03-01T05:55:00.001-08:00

Greetings, citizens!

I have written before about the scale of the task ahead of me, but over the weekend, instead of sorting out the problem(s) with power cables and other such non- and semi-fun things, I took the first steps in quantifying what I have to do to finish off my unpainted pile at home.

It looks much like my guess, actually. I have 134 (132 after today's session) unpainted figures at home, including the following 'large' figures:

4x 54mm scale Inquisitor figures (each 4 OPP),
2x 28mm scale Minotaurs (each 2 OPP);
3x 28mm scale Space Marine Bikers (each 2 OPP).

Not bad, actually. It totals something in the region of 153 OPP. At my current rate of about 10 figures a week, I should finish my to-paint-pile in about 13 weeks. In order to make sure I do actually do this, I've taken a drastic step:

I won't be going to Salute 2010.

Nor will I be buying any more toy soldiers until I've finished everything I have at home. I want to have a concrete goal to reach, and I think this is it - it also fits nicely into the Plan - Purchase - Paint framework.

In terms of reaching that goal, today I painted two Dire Avengers for my wife's Biel-Tan army. I really like the simple style I've acheived with them, and hope to have finished the remaining two Dire Avengers and the Farseer by Wednesday, leaving Thursday and Friday free to work on the CPGB types for my VBCW collection.

I also glued together, and based, 8 of the 10 Romans I got the other week. This gives me a 1:1 Contubernium of the Legio IX Hispana*. Four are advancing with gladius, four standing with pilum. I've still not decided how many to get, but I think I'll probably settle for a vexillation, which varied in size so I can get a force I feel happy with. It'll almost certainly include about 20-30 Auxiliaries plus some cavalry and maybe a Ballista of some sort. Eventually.

More from my WFB Undead (The Nachtarmija of Tyrka):

The two 'big block' skeleton regiments. Shield and hand weapon, shield and spear. Note the Skeleton Champion I need to paint!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 52
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 110

* The Legion of the Ninth did not, as was once popularly supposed, disappear in the year 117AD during its period in Britain. References to it, and its officers, appear from 121AD onwards, and it is now thought that the Hispana was destroyed during the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132-135AD as there are no references to it at all during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. However, I don't care about the reality, and my Legion of the Ninth are hopelessly doomed and will be set against Picts, Celts, and other inhabitants of Brittania.

We'll Keep The Red Flag Flying Heeere!

2010-02-26T05:28:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-26T01:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-24T05:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T01:16:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-22T06:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-19T06:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T05:53:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-02-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-15T06:26:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-11T05:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-10T06:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-08T01:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-05T06:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-02-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

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

As Promised, Pictures

2010-01-27T01:12:00.001-08:00

A little later than planned, but then again I'm ill, so nyah.

The revamped Ded Cred. Not a fan, as it turns out, of what was a Great Idea in my head. Oh well - not going to change him again, so he'll just have to have silly PVC tartan trousers until he gets his Heavy Stubber.

L-R: Black Legion CO, Black Legion 2iC, AG32 SNCO, Rolls-Royce crewman.

The black paint I'm using at the minute is an artists' acrylic, but it's crap. Chips and flakes like nobody's business. If I had the spare cash I'd get some Coat d'Arms black, but... I can't. Not yet.

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.

Bleurghh!! Nurgle Strikes!

2010-01-26T19:54:00.000-08:00

Obviously displeased by my concentrating on the forces of the Prince of Pleasure, Slaanesh, All-Father Nurgle, Grandfather of Disease, has struck me down with about of severe D&V.

I've been using the porcelain phone on the hour, every hour, since 12:30 am GMT. Hopefully the worst is over but I doubt it...

Seriously, however, I probably picked it up from my son, who had it (very briefly - super-active immune systems for the win!) after we all spent eight hours in hospital trying to find out what's wrong with my wife.

Result: No clue as to why my wife is ill, and a bout of D&V for all - but I get it the worst! Hurray!

In sum: Me no work today. Me no paint today. But! I do have pictures; they'll be up in a little while.

PS: After this I may advance my plan for a Death Guard/Lost and the Damned plague cult army, at least if Papa Nurgle lets me get better soon. Failing that it'll be off to Comorragh and Biel-Tan as planned in order to release Isha so that SHE can make me better.

Slow Painting Day

2010-01-26T06:09:00.001-08:00

Wel l, I finished the four BUF men I was on about yesterday. The Rolls-Royce now has a crew figure in case it gets knocked out, Captain Wilde has a SNCO with SMG for close protection, and the two Black Legion officers have been finished up.

I also added a (rather badly painted) grey/white tartan to Ded Cred to tie him into the other non-Juves, so there'll be pictures of that up later. I think for the version with Heavy Stubber I'll do a Black-Red-Yellow tartan pattern.

Then the curse of "too many models to tempt the eye" hit, and I ended up by working on the Pantokrator, starting a Praetor of Orpheus with rocket launcher, painting a base of Scab Red onto a Goliath Juve with autopistol, and washing the grey shirts of the Black Legion with a black wash.

Ahem. Woops?

At any rate, in my afternoon break I'll probably concentrate on the Black Legion and try and get their bedrolls and puttees done so that I can finish them off over Thursday and Friday.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 15
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 73

Fruit Of My Labours

2010-01-25T16:03:00.001-08:00

Here he is - the last of the Sworn Men, and the fourth Terminator in as many (working) days:

Brother Angelis Many-Faces!

And the unit, in their glory:

Freehand Chapter Badges:

Tomorrow there'll be four BUF types as mentioned earlier and also (possibly) another Chaos Space Marine

My Kingdom For A Pin Vice Drill!

2010-01-25T06:22:00.001-08:00

Well, today was remarkably productive. I 'finished' the last Sworn Man (more on him in a bit), and almost finished the BUF Rolls-Royce driver, a BUF man with SMG to accompany my Action Group's CO, and the two officers for the Black Legion. Just have their skin and bases to do now.

I also painted all the Black Legionnaires' shirts grey. Their trousers, webbing and sidecaps will be black, their puttees tan and any other random leather gaiters or what have you will be black too. I hope to have all 14 of them finished by Friday.

I can't remember if I've talked about Evesham before, but it's why my Police Action! project has inflated somewhat. The good chaps over at the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour are, by and large, responsible for the madness that is the Very British Civil War. Indeed, I've played my own small part by contributing to the article on London in the latest sourcebook, The Gathering Storm Part 2.

Anyway, they had what they called a Big Game (it was covered in this January's Wargames Illustrated, #267 I believe) and I was intrigued by this concept of wargamers from all over the country meeting up and having a Jolly Fun Time, so on seeing that a second one was being planned I leapt in with both feet, despite at the time only having a few BUF chaps and some Skye Battalion.

Following some purchasing, and a lot - a lot - of gun-running from Al Front via Artizan Designs, Empress Miniatures and others, and adding in some borrowed troops (also from Al Front) my eventual force for the Evesham Game will be as follows:

Action Group 32:

Captain Wilde, driver, SNCO with SMG - staff car
Dispatch Rider
Vickers MMG team, 3" mortar team in truck
12 BUF with LMG, SMG and standard in truck
14 Black Legion with 2 LMGs in Lancia armoured Truck
1 Rolls-Royce armoured car
1 Armoured lorry with 3" naval gun

Somerset Action Volunteers:

Captain Daring, NCO, MO, 4 riflemen inc SMG
Vickers MMG team
10 AV with LMG, petrol bombs and SMG
10 AV with LMG, petrol bombs and SMG

Hopefully this little force will be enough to put a spanner in the works of the Anglican League and Somerset Freedom Fighters!

And now, back to the 41st Millenium... my final Sworn Man, a Blood Angel, was supposed to be the Icon Bearer for the unit. Unfortunately that would require a pin vice drill and a length of wire, neither of which I have, so for now he's Icon-less. It shouldn't be too much of a problem as I can get hold of both of those before I finish the project and start gaming with them.

As ever, pictures up tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 11
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 69

It Looks OK After All...!

2010-01-23T01:18:00.000-08:00

As promised, photos of the Wolf Guard - if you look at his right kneepad, you should see the number '6' in white. I was worried it wouldn't come out having been painted onto the yellow, but it looks OK. His name is Crom. Bonus points if you know where that's from!

And a group shot of the Sworn Men so far:

Thoughts?

White Doesn't Show Up On Yellow

2010-01-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

You'll find out what I mean when I post pictures of the ex-Space Wolf Wolf Guard Terminator, now Sworn Man, tonight.

Dead chuffed with my speed now - I can finish even a fairly big and complex mini in about 75 minutes, painting to a high tabletop standard, which is what I'm after. No Golden Demons for me, thanks, I just want to have fully painted armies!

Terrifyingly, I'm more keen than ever to jump onto the Space Wolves bandwagon and replace the ones I sold when I was a teenager (a squad and a Rhino, painted to a very high standard in a Parisian flat while on holiday with my parents). I won't be collecting a 5th Edition army for them, though, no, it's 2nd/4th Edition all the way with me and 40K.

I've got a game of Necromunda booked for next Thursday at the Clapham Wargamers' Guild, so I'll take my camera and record for posterity the failings or success of the Automatics' first outing. A full After Action Report (AAR) will be posted here, of course.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 6
2010 Total: 10
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 68

Ah, Freehand...

2010-01-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

Here's the Terminator from today. I need more practice at freehanding; the fist is rubbish and so is the number 12. I'll return to this figure in the future to correct the mistake. Anyway, I'm pleased with the rest of him:

Probably nothing now until Monday, but keep 'em peeled, as Rapids Johnson would say!

The Sworn Men Reach The Half-Way Mark

2010-01-21T06:05:00.000-08:00

I've sort of shocked myself today; I finished a Terminator from base coat to base in an hour and 15 minutes. An ex-Imperial Fist, and the yellow came out nice and strong, which was a relief!

I also converted my Heavy Stubber version of Ded Cred to have an autogun and a different backpack, so that when I buy him his big stubber he can keep his autogun for those sticky moments when he runs dry or jams.

Not much else to report for today - pictures up later tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 9
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 67

More SF Nonsense

2010-01-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

Chaos Space Marine Terminator, ex-Dark Angels 'Deathwing' 1st Company, now Pantokrator's Sworn Man Aspiring Champion.

Poal Coldheart, the last - for now - of my Ratskins.

The Bloody Band in all their glory!

Unexpected Happenstances

2010-01-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I happily finished off Poal Coldheart and did the base on Sam Walks-With-Rats, and then... and then...

A woman, a Muslim woman no less, from Sales came over and said:

"Can I have a go?"
"Sure," says I, "here, take these and paint them black"
"Just black?"
"Yeh, it's the undercoat, you have to paint it on before you do anything else to ensure a good finish"
"Oh, OK"

So I had an apprentice for most of lunch! Weird but cool. She painted the Black Legion CO, his SNCO, and the Rolls-Royce crewman black, their puttees tan khaki and gave the SNCO grey jodhpurs and a brown leather coat. Didn't do too badly but the concept of brush washing failed to permeate. Still, next time!

Anyway, I also bashed on with one of the Pantokrator's Fallen Men, a Dark Angels Deathwing Terminator Sergeant gone rogue and now commanding the Chosen of the Pantokrator, his bodyguard. Nearly finished him as well - just got to do his Storm Bolter, highlight the metal, gloss varnish the lights and highlight two leather bags; so I can get those done in my afternoon break no problem. Hurrah.

No more Ratskins for a while as I've finished the gang 'to current spec' and so won't need any more 'til I do, if that makes sense.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 8
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 66

Ratskins Ho!

2010-01-19T23:01:00.000-08:00

Having sorted out the issues, here's the week's work so far:

Alf Fivewinds, Ratskin Brave

Sam Walks-With-Rats, Ratskin Warrior

Annoyingly I forgot to do Sam's base properly, but I'll finish it off today. Expect photos of Poal Coldheart and the whole Bloody Band tonight.

C3, Ratskin Style

2010-01-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

Today I finished Walks-With-Rats, a Ratskin Warrior. He's posed calling out to his brothers; hence the title of the post...!

I also nearly finished Poal Coldheart, although I doubt I'll get him done today. With the completion of Coldheart the Bloody Band will be 'currently complete' and I can make a start on the Fallen Men, which will be very interesting indeed as I've not painted a Space Marine for a long time now.

Pictures up either tonight or tomorrow, we're experiencing ... issues ... at home with my laptop. D'oh!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 6
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 64

Musketry In The Future

2010-01-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

Aha! I finished Alf Fivewinds today - a redheaded Ratskin Brave toting a plastic and metal home-made musket held together by canvas and copper wiring, among other things. I'm quite pleased with him.

I also touched up Ashande, and hopefully she won't chip again. There's a foam insert slot waiting for her at home.

I've definitely got my painting time down to one figure an hour, from undercoat to basing. I'd say the standard of painting is a solid CMON 7 - Very Good Tabletop Standard - but a long way away from a 10, or Golden Demon Winner quality.

Just three more Ratskins and then I can make a start on my Fallen Men, as per The Plan.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 5
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 63

Action Plan 2010

2010-01-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

Today I formulated my finalised plan of purchases and painting for 2010, and it runs as follows:

January - Finish Bloody Band Ratskins and BUF
February - Finish Pantokrator's Fallen Men (Chaos Space Marine army)
March - Buy Simple Green and begin the Parvassian 9th Dragoons (Imperial Guard army)
April - Parvassians Cont. SALUTE 2010 - purchase remaining Greater Israel Army from GZG, purchase Cyclops remote demolition vehicle from Forgeworld, purchase remaining Skye Battalion, Anarchists and MacDonald Brigade troops.
May - Finish Parvassians.
June - Purchase part of Dark Eldar army, begin painting Eldar for my wife's army
July - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
August - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
September - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
October - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
November - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, finish Eldar (?)
December - Paint Salute! acquisitions.

If all goes well I'll end the year having the following fully painted forces and armies:

Pantokrator's Fallen Men - 1,500 point 40K Chaos Space Marines
Parvassian 9th Dragoons - 1,500 point 40K Imperial Guard Armageddon Steel Legion
Biel-Tan Swordwind - 1,500 point 40K Eldar aspect warrior army
BUF force - VBCW, Police Action
Greater Israel Army Platoon - Space 2200 (Stargrunt II)
Skye Battalion platoon - VBCW
MacDonald Brigade platoon - VBCW

If I get the chance I'll continue to work on my Necromunda as well, ideally one figure a week throughout the year.

Here's to the adventure ahead! I hope you enjoy the ride and the painting with me. Please feel free to comment and leave (constructive) criticism.

O Nubian!

2010-01-16T00:45:00.000-08:00

Well, here they are in all their glory: Dave Longtooth of the Bloody Band, and Ashande of the Cult of Ssotay.

Dave Longtooth, Ratskin Warrior.

Ashande of Ssotay. Annoyingly, her right nipple got chipped on the way home, despite being wrapped in four layers of toilet paper, then held immobile in a cardboard box full of more toilet paper! So that'll have to get touched up on Monday... d'oh!

And finally, The Week's Work!

Next week I plan on finishing off the Ratskins and making a start on the Black Legion for my BUF.

Of Hide Shields, Assegais And Automatic Weapons

2010-01-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

I received the last shipment of weapons from Al Front today - a Vickers HMG and 3" mortar for Action Group 32. Also included were a civilian with glasses and a revolver (Anarchist!) and an excellent figure for a BUF Officer with revolver - he's broken open his Webley and is reloading it. I think they're all from Artizan Designs.

The heavy weapon crews need minor headswaps really as they're all in British Army uniform c. 1939/40. Alternatively I may get lazy and just paint them up as BUF men with steel helmets and khaki gaiters. I'm only really bothered about the Action uniform men for the Police Action! project to be honest.

At lunch I managed to paint another Ratskin, Dave Longtooth (in 55 minutes!), and almost finish the Nubian with Hide Shield and Assegai. I'm really, really, really pleased with the way her skin and translucent trousers have turned out; she's very dark-skinned indeed. The hide shield looks quite good, with an abstract design meant to represent a stylised snakeskin. She's the testbed for my Song of Blades and Heroes snake-demon cult.

I'm almost certain to get her finished in my afternoon break, too, so I'm going to count her as done for painting points purposes.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 4
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 62

A No-Nonsense Update

2010-01-14T00:59:00.000-08:00

Does wot it sez on da tin!

Gun truck corporal. Note added armband and Flash of Action in Circle of Unity.

Martin Twospiders after his promotion to Ratskin Warrior. That autogun's not going to be used by anyone else!

Another Day, Another Mini

2010-01-13T07:54:00.001-08:00

Well, today was fairly eventful. After having done all the usual morning rituals (scratch, yawn, &c &c), I donned my trusty desert boots and nice warm grey wool coat, opened the door...

...and stared out onto 2" of snow that hadn't been there when I went to bed. Still got to work tho'!

And what did I get up to miniature-wise? Well, I based the Empress Miniatures' Foreign Legion, Falange and Condor Legion models Al Front sent me, and tried out a tube of artists' acrylic black as a replacement for my now empty pot of Citadel black.

It works! Bwahahahaaa! And it makes an excellent undercoat, too.

Armed with my new black, I set to, and achieved the following:

Repaired the gun truck commander (I dropped him and he snapped in two at the ankles),
Painted the armband onto the gun truck corporal with rifle,
Undercoated Hasslefree Miniatures' Nubian with Assegai and Hide Shield,
Painted (from the undercoat!) a Ratskin Warrior - Martin Twospiders.

I'm dead chuffed actually - I've definitely hit an all-time top speed of toy soldier painting: I can produce one figure, at almost my absolute best quality of painting, in around 1 hr 15 mins. If I paint at 'basic tabletop' quality, I'm looking at about 5 figures in an hour, maybe more, depending on the paint scheme - BUF, I'm looking at you.

I'm looking forwards to finishing off another Ratskin on Friday (I'm away tomorrow to take my driving theory test), and then next week it's on to the BUF foreign volunteers of the Black Legion. After them it's more Ratskins, then the Song of Blades and Heroes warband I got for christmas.

Picture up tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 2
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 60

A Native, A Fascist And A Mule...

2010-01-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

...went into a pub, see?

Here you go:

Chief 'Bloody-Hand' Chulain (his base was finished after I took this picture).

Fascist Artillery Corporal from Al Front (needs his armband painting on, I'm doing that tomorrow).

Action Group 32's attached Artillery Truck crew.

Skye Battalion supply mule.

Skye Battalion men detailed to guard the mule and its whisky cases.

More Ratskins tomorrow, and maybe some BUF stuff if you're lucky!

Solving The Paint Problem

2010-01-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

I've decided to go with Coat d'Arms paints, for two reasons:

1) They're cheap - £1.70 per 18ml pot! Compare that with £2.25 for 12ml of GW paint! It works out at a shocking 18.75p per 1ml of GW paint... and a decent 9.4p for 1ml of Coat d'Arms!
2) They're identical to the old Games Workshop paints that I used to love. See this chart here for details.

This means that I can get more paint for a lot less money* (hurrah!) and the paints will be entirely compatible with all the ones I currently have and have used, meaning that there'll be less variation between figures. Joy! All I need to do now is navigate their tangled webpage and order some stuff.

* 10 Coat d'Arms paints (180ml) will cost me £17 before P&P. 10 GW paints (120ml) will cost me a mere £22.50 before P&P. That's an extra £5.50 for 20ml LESS paint.

Back At The Coalface

2010-01-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

Ah, the click click of keyboards and the production of words for money. Yes, I have returned to work and daily lunchtime updates! Woohoo!

Anyway, when I got into work, there was a small packet on my desk with the following stuff courtesy of Al Front, to whom eternal thanks.

8 Empress Miniatures' Falange with Rifles
2 Empress Miniatures Spanish Foreign Legion LMG teams (with the abominably bad Chauchat LMG)
4 Condor Legion advisors

Which all combine to give me a BUF NCO with SMG, an armoured car crewman, and 12 foreign legionnaires of the Black Legion. Plus a spare LMG team. I may actually fold the two LMG teams into the same platoon to give them some serious firepower and enable me to field them all. At any rate, as I need these for Evesham they've been rapidly bumped up the painting planner and will start getting painted next week I expect. Shouldn't take too long - black trousers, grey shirts, black puttees, black sidecaps with black piping and tassles, khaki blanket rolls. I'm strongly tempted to give them all different armbands or different shirts to signify their 'home' fascist movement, e.g. blue for a Falangist, green for an Iron Guardsman. On the other hand, the lack of shirt colour for some - e.g. the Ustace - means that might be a non-starter.

And then! At 12 o' clock - the post came, and lo! I got another parcel from Al Front! This time it contained a brilliant little donkey for the Skye Battalion (hurray!) and a BUF lance-corporal with rifle who'll make up the third member of the gun truck team. Both painted already, which is ace.

On top of all that, I knuckled down and have very nearly finished (from just the undercoat) my Necromunda Ratskin Warband Chief, Chief 'Bloody Hand' Chulain. All he needs doing is a bit of detailing and the base. I'm going to chalk him up as finished because I can get him done in my afternoon break.

However, I have hit a stumbling block - I'm rapidly running out of certain paints, notably black, and with funds at a fairly low level, I may have to grovel for a few bob from the family purse to replenish them. We shall see. I may even order online and try out the Coat d'Arms stuff, or the Vallejo range. I am tempted by the Foundry Paint System as it matches my style and reduces the need for mixing colours, but the price is a bit steep (£7.50 for a set, or £3 a pot). In fact I think it's more expensive than GW's stuff!

Expect photos tonight of the Skye Battalion with donkey, the expanded gun truck crew, and the Ratskin Chief.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 1
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 59

The Automatics

2010-01-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

I found it! Hurrah! It was my fault - I just didn't realise that it'd fallen underneath the desk. Ho hum.

Anyway, here's Gary Bovver:

He's got a lot of tattoos, which I'm quite proud of.

And then... the rest of them!

Leader, two Heavies, four Gangers and two Juves. I still have a few spare Goliath models (including a version of Ded Cred with a heavy stubber) but ideally I'd like to get hold of a few more of the old Goliaths. I've already got the old Juves, but there's loads of other models I'd like to get to provide the Automatics with some campaign longevity.

Anyway, that's another mini-project 'done', at least until I use 'em in a campaign.

Deja Vu...

2010-01-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Right, so I found Gary Bovver, which is great, because I'm really proud of his tattoos...

...and I took a load of photos of him and the rest of the Automatics...

...only now I can't find either the original information cable or the NEW information cable.

Arrrrgh!!

In less toy soldier oriented news, I took my wife and son to see Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre. Brian Blessed was playing Abanazar the eeeevil wizard (without a throat mike!) and Peter O'Grady played the Djinn. It was ace! My son was a bit upset by the loud noises at first but as I took him out he started to get curious, and I brought him back in. 15 minutes in and he was sat on my wife's lap (and later mine) looking intently at the action and taking everything in. By the end he was really happy and excited about it all.

Fantastic night out, fantastic production, and my first pantomime since Pirates of Penzance (if it is a panto) many many years ago.

Now, in a return to toy soldiers, Jellicoe and I are planning a Warhammer 40K 'Apocalypse' game in Feburary. So I'll be painting up some Chaos Space Marines for that in a (probably futile) attempt to get my contribution to the Forces of Darkness fully painted. I counted them - 'just' 23 models to paint (6 Veterans, 4 Icon Bearers, 3 Bikers, 5 half-painted Marines and 5 half-painted Terminators). At the same time I'm going to be tackling some more Necromunda stuff - probably Ratskins or Hired Guns for the moment. Ideally I'd like to have all my Necromunda models painted by Salute! 2010.

In terms of Unpainted Mountain projects, I intend to complete one whole 40K Guard Army this year - my Parvassian Dragoons (Armageddon Steel Legion models), a 1,500pt army which only needs a Forgeworld Cyclops demolition vehicle to complete. They'll be painted up in greys with snow bases, and I intend to convert the Ratlings to have both gas mask bags and boots, as I don't think even Hobbits in Space would like to walk around in arctic conditions without boots.

So: for 2010:

1) The Pantokrator's Fallen Men - 40K Chaos Space Marines
2) Necromunda: Ratskins, Hired Guns, Orlocks, 'spare' Escher and Goliaths
3) Parvassian 9th Dragoons - 40K Imperial Guard
4) Very British Civil War stuff

That should take me through into the summer at least, after which I'll (re)consider where I am and see what I think needs doing next. Now I'm going back to sleep and then I'm going to hunt down the bloody information cables so I can show you the Automatics.

The Brother Karamazov

2010-01-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

Here he is - the cyclone Terminator. I've managed to misplace Gary Bovver, the last of the Automatics, so I'll photograph him when I find him. The base represents him in action on the cobalt deserts of Beta Majoris IX (and if it doesn't fit in, well, it can always be redone).

Sadly I am now convinced that I NEED, in the same way I need to breathe, to create a small force of these unorthodox 'Sigma' Marines... more on them later.

For now, more detail regarding Veteran Brother Karamazov of the Sigma Chapter, Adeptus Astartes:

On his right pauldron (and in close-up) is the Chapter Badge, a 'Sigma'. Beneath it, in latin, is the phrase 'VULT IMP' which translates as 'Will of the Imperium' (VULT IMPERIUM). On his left pauldron is the Crux Terminatus in stone, with a perfect ruby mounted in purest gold. This mount is said to have come from the armour worn by the Emperor himself during his titanic duel with the Arch-Traitor Horus. The Crux is carved from stone.

The stylised halberd-head on his shoulderguard represents his company, First (Veteran) 'Halberd' Company. Every Sigma company is named, rather than numbered, and they are named after weapons.

Moving down, on his chest we see the bronze Imperial winged skull, the army badge of the loyalists during the Heresy. Beneath that is a golden Crux Terminatus, and lower still - on his right kneepad - there is yet another. On his left knee is the armour's number, in this case XLI or 41. This means that the suit of armour worn by Karamazov is the 41st suit of tactical dreadnought armour in the Chapter's armoury.

His power fist and storm bolter are painted red, the colour of the enemy's blood which they will shed. The power fist's scroll reads LUX IMP, or Light of the Imperium (LUX IMPERIALIS), and the skull is made from polished bone.

The Cyclone Multiple Launch Rocket System is loaded with frag (red warheads) and krak (blue) missiles, while his Phaeton-pattern storm bolter has a twin-drum magazine containing 200 bolt shells. Each bolt is a rocket-powered, cartridge-ignited, mass-reactive HE shell - in effect he is carrying a twin-barrelled semi-automatic rocket-propelled grenade launcher in 30mm calibre.

Note the complex arrangement of targeting devices - from IR lights under his wrists to multi-spectrum range- and view-finders on the Cyclone through a look-shoot weapon-helmet link sight mounted above the barrels of his storm bolter. This collection of target acquisition devices ensures that regardless of the environment, the Terminator can fight at peak efficiency and maximum effect.

Here Brother Karamazov is located on the cobalt deserts of Beta Majoris 9, the site of a vicious and bloody campaign against Chaos renegades. The hostile environment required sealed suits at all times, and the reinforced armour of the Tactical Dreadnought suits saw them spearheading assaults more often than usual. In such a role their unique status as the only units in the Chapter to wear the Chapter's colours openly (all other Marines apply chamelonic visual camouflage to their armour before a battle or operation) was vindicated as their morale effect on the lightly armoured and spacesuited human traitors could not be underestimated.

Just think, this was a single model, and now it's spawned insanity. Whee! 500 points should be enough... a Force Commander (Librarian?), some Tac Marines and a Scout Squad will do it.

Maybe. Or maybe I should expand up to 1,000...

Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls, For It Tolls For You

2009-12-31T06:17:00.001-08:00

Today I finished the Terminator with Cyclone MLRS that I promised to my best friends' cousin. He looks rather spiffing, in a purple/green suit of armour with a Greek sigma for a chapter symbol. I've based him up on an alien world (the cobalt deserts of Gehemene!) because I've wanted to do that to a figure for ages.

I've also come very close to finishing the ninth and last Automatic, and will probably get him done before I head home for a ten-day holiday (including New Years' Day and weekends) which is well deserved in my opinion.

That does mean, however, that updates may be sporadic and painting time will take a back seat to family, which is fair enough. I will, however, post pictures of the last two Automatics, the full gang, and the Cyclone Terminator.

Oh, and if you get the chance, watch Day of the Triffids on BBC iPlayer, it's excellent.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 6
2009 Total: 58 - 29 a month!

Space Punks In SPAAAAAAACE

2009-12-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

A very brief update, this one. Today I finished the eighth member of the Automatics, my Goliath gang.

And that's it! Pictures up later if I can find spare batteries!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2009 Total: 56

"Of Course It's Gold-Plated, I'm The Boss"

2009-12-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

A bit later than I'd hoped, but here they are:

One Goliath gang leader with autopistol and chainsword (plus fetching pink tartan trousers). The rainbow-mowhawk is traditional for Goliath leaders, or rather "that's how 'Eavy Metal painted the Goliath leader when Necromunda first came out, so I nicked the hairstyle".

BUF standard bearer -'AG 32' - and gunner, gun truck Nr. 15. You can't see it, but I painted a fasces and a '15' onto the front of his helmet. It seemed like the right thing to do.

The gun truck! See - new flag. Sort of.

Tomorrow, I'll be painting more Necromunda stuff.

Triumphant Standard!

2009-12-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

After a short hiatus of two days caused by the weekend and a free day off work (recipe: get up and travel to the office on a Bank Holiday only to discover it's closed, come home. Profit!), it was back to the coal face today.

And I had a pretty impressive day, painting wise - the Goliath gang Leader got finished off with some tattoos, piercings, and a base, Action Group 32 got a Colour Sergeant, and the gun truck (Nr. 15) got its gunner to go with the officer.

Which brings my total so far for the last couple of months up to a fairly respectable 49 infantry models and one armoured car!

Pictures, as always, will be posted later tonight.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 3
2009 Total: 55

Boxing Day - Workers Of The World: Open Your Presents!

2009-12-26T02:17:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a cracking Christmas. I did! Lots of presents opened, food consumed, and crackers... er... cracked?

Here's a few pictures of the gun truck (I am reliably informed that the naval gun is "probably" a 75mm equivalent, which in 1938 is easily capable of punching through any tank around; even better it fires HE shells as well), its gunnery officer, and the Song of Blades and Heroes warband that I got from my son yesterday.

Since these photos were taken I've repainted the flag to the red-white-blue of the BUF rather than this black-white Solway version, mainly to fit in with the rest of my force.

The figure in the middle is Studio McVey's 'Seraphine la Roux', a voodoo priestess I think. She's slightly large at 32mm (ish) but frankly I think it just makes her look even more imposing and perfect for the role of cult leader. The sculpting is incredible, it really is a work of art! The others are Hasslefree miniatures (Akanke, Nubian with Spear, Nubian with Spear and Shield).

I hope to get some painting done this evening but I doubt it'll happen - at any rate, when I get back to work I've got the second member of the gun crew to paint, a BUF colour sergeant, and some Goliaths to paint.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of you!

May your stomachs be filled and your thirst quenched, may you receive all you wished and have a fantastic day.

Here's to the holidays!

Detail - Atennnn- SHUN! Taking Stock

2009-12-23T08:24:00.001-08:00

Well, I finished the Colour Party's officer, standing to attention. A bit of an oddity as the Colour Sergeant is standing easy, but there you go.

All in all, and in order, I've now painted up:
(1) Tau Firewarrior NCO
(2) Varingr NCO
(3) Mordheim Elf
(4) Bounty Huntress
(12) 8 Skye Battalion
(13) Red Witch
(19) 6 BUF
(20) Goliath Juve
(21) Chaos Heroine
(22) Chaos Daemonette
(23) Goliath Juve
(26) 3 Anarchists
(27) BUF Driver
(32) Rolls Royce A/C
(34) 2 Plainclothes police
(35) 1 Gangs of Mega-City One ganger
(38) 3 Anarchist militia
(39) 1 Escher Ganger
(40) 1 Greater Israel Army trooper
(43) 3 GIA troopers
(47) 4 GIA troopers
(51) 4 GIA troopers
(52) 1 BUF officer

Not bad going really, given I've been doing it for 33 days - an average of 1.6 figures a day.

I'm on holiday over the Christmas Weekend, then back at work in the last week of 2009, so I'm going to try and finish off the Goliaths next week (I'm almost there with the Gang Leader, and the last two Gangers have been undercoated and had their metals done), which would put me in a good place for 2010.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 9
2009 Total: 52

Thinking about it, I've been doing this since early November with a target of 8-10 OPP a month, or a maximum of 20 figures for Nov-Dec. I've already smashed that target to bits and can report exceeding the Five Year Plan by 32 models or over 150%!

Reinforcements From Al Front

2009-12-23T05:47:00.000-08:00

I did a naughty thing today. I received a mysterious package from Al Front, and at the earliest available opportunity I tore it open and dug out the packets therein.

Inside one was an armoured Ford AA flatbed with a naval gun mounted on it, and painted up in BUF colours! Hurrah!

Inside the other was an unpainted BUF (well, OK, Salo Republic) colour party, Emma Picton-Bryant (painted) and four of her White Russian bodyguards (unpainted) as well as three Angel Alley Anarchists ready for use on or in a car - one with tommy gun and two with pistols!

Wheeee! The armoured lorry's brilliant, and I've already almost finished the first of the colour party.

GIA Troopers

2009-12-22T22:53:00.000-08:00

And here are the last of them, plus a group shot.

Just think - a mere 8 more figures (12 if you include the proposed 'heavy' Powered Armour squad)... so close to completion! So close! They're on my Salute! 2010 'to buy' list, for certain.

Once I've got them all I'll paint squad and fireteam identifiers on their helmets.

Yet More GIA Troopers

2009-12-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

Here endeth the current batch of GIA squaddies. The last three were three female troopers (two without their helmets on) and a SAW gunner, giving me 12 so far:

2x SAW
1x GMS/P
1x Sniper
8x Troopers

Just think - a mere £8 (change from a tenner!) will (mostly) complete that force, and under £15 (change from a 20!) will totally complete it. Hurray!

Tomorrow, my last day at work for four days, will see me cracking on with the Goliaths and doing a little bit more on the Terminator (which today got some extra base coats - red on the Storm Bolter and Power Fist, plus red and blue frag/krak missiles in the MRLS unit).

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 8
2009 Total: 51

Look! More painted figures!

2009-12-21T22:56:00.000-08:00

Here are the GIA troopers from earlier today:

I missed taking a photo of Nik Puke the other day, as I'd left him at work. So, here he is:

And finally, I've started painting up this GW Space Marine Terminator with Cyclone MLRS for my best friend's cousin. I'm making up the colour scheme as I go along - so far it's green and purple:

Tomorrow the remaining four GIA troopers will be painted up.

Space 2200: The Greater Israel Armed Forces

2009-12-21T05:54:00.000-08:00

Today, at lunch, I painted four more Greater Israeli troopers (pics up tonight). I also bashed out a platoon list for Stargrunt II, which looks something like this:

1st Squad:
Lt, Electronic Warfare/Comms tech, plasma gunner, Platoon Sgt, Cpl, Guided Missile System Portable (GMS/P), Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), trooper (8 figs)

2nd Squad:
Cpl, L/Cpl, SAW, SAW, plasma gunner, GMS/P, 2 troopers (8 figs)

3rd Squad:
Sniper, spotter, medic, orderly

In order to reach this, I need to buy 2x plasma gunners, the kneeling sniper, the pointing officer, another SAW, another GMS/P, another trooper, and the EW/C2 figure. All for the princely sum of £8!

Anyway, that all adds up to a platoon of 20 soldiers in light powered armour (rigid composite plates over a flexible powered nano-fibre carbon-weave bodysuit, giving full NNBC* protection and strength enhancement). I'm tempted to add a grav tank, if I can find a decent enough one, and some 'heavy' powered armour troopers. We shall see what Salute! 2010 brings.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2009 Total: 47

* NNBC - Nanonic, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare

PICTURES!

2009-12-20T01:09:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of them, too...

Daemonette of Slaanesh - Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Hordes of Chaos - Hasslefree Minatures

Chaos Marauder Heroine - Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Hordes of Chaos - Hasslefree Miniatures

Anarchist LMG team - Very British Civil War: Police Action! - Musketeer Miniatures

Anarchist Militiamen - Very British Civil War: Police Action! -Artizan Designs

Greater Israeli Army troopers - Space 2200 - Ground Zero Games

Unnamed Hellbitch - Necromunda Escher - Games Workshop

Jimmi Funt - Necromunda Goliath - Games Workshop

Plainclothes Police - VBCW Police Action! - Artizan Designs

BUF Officers - VBCW Police Action! - L-R: Copplestone Castings, Artizan Designs, Musketeer Miniatures

BUF men - VBCW Police Action! - Musketeer Miniatures

BUF Vehicle Park - VBCW Police Action - L-R: Lledo Days Gone By, Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company; Lledo Days Gone By

BUF 1920s pattern Rolls-Royce a/c - VBCW Police Action! - Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Co.

Ganger - Gangs of Mega-City 1 - Mongoose Publishing

Phew! Now you're all caught up with my painting.

Adding Up? What's That?

2009-12-19T23:49:00.000-08:00

The good news is, I bought a new camera cable so I can put photos up again. Huzzah! Actually, it's quite an amusing story. I went to Currys', and asked a staffer "Do you have a cable for this camera?" "We do," he said, "but it's £20 and far too expensive. Go to Maplin's instead, they'll have it for less." So I did, and got it for £9.

The bad news is, I can't count.

1x Tau NCO
1x Grymn NCO
1x Elf (Mordheim)
1x Female Bounty Hunter
8x Skye Battalion
7x BUF
2x Police
6x Anarchists
4x Greater Israeli Army
3x Necromunda (2 Goliath Juves, 1 Escher Ganger)
1x Armoured Car
1x Mega-City 1 Ganger
1x Red Witch
1x Chaos Heroine
1x Daemonette

Adds up to 43 Olley Painting Points, not 39!

Which means, over 25 days, I've an average of 1.7 OPP a day. Counting the a/c as just one figure (38 PP) gives me an average of 1.5 - not bad at all really.

So...
Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 17 (Armoured Car, 2 police, 1 BUF driver, 4 GIA troopers, 1 Escher Ganger, 3 Anarchists, 1 GMC1 Ganger)
2009 Total: 43

Progress Report - the first 25 days

2009-12-18T06:51:00.001-08:00

I've been painting figures at work for 25 days now, and have amassed some 39 OPP.

This works out at 1.6 figures a day, on average. If you disregard the Rolls Royce Armoured Car (34 OPP), or count it as one model rather than five (35 OPP), it becomes 1.4 figures a day.

I'm very pleasantly surprised! Especially as I've only bought myself four models since beginning this mad crusade, which makes my net gain some 31 painted models over just under a month's worth of painting.

Huzzah!

Of course this'll change somewhat come January as I splurge on Musketeer, Empress and Woodbine Design Co. figures and heads for my putative VBCW BUF force, but hey ho. Win some - lose some, and all that.

Shalom, Punk!

2009-12-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

Still no lead, but I'm going to buy one this weekend if I can't find it tonight.

Today I ignored my Goliaths and painted up three more Greater Israeli Army troops - a riflewoman, sniper, and Guided Missile System - Portable (GMS-P) trooper. Their camo scheme looks a little like this:

Which is an Armja Krajowa home-made armoured car. I've altered it quite considerably, using a lighter brown and with less squiggling, but their vehicles will pretty much match this exactly.

Last night, while my son was sleeping next to me on the sofa (he's got a bad cold and won't really go to sleep without Daddy cuddles which is quite nice but shatteringly tiring) at 4am, I wrote up a set of quick-play rules (60s Spy Skirmish) for the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ranges of Copplestone Castings and Artizan Designs.

I have a few ideas for games using these rules and figures, and the inspiration mainly comes from playing No-One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M's Way, which is an utterly excellent PC game and one which, together with No-One Lives Forever, should be purchased and played at once. Both take equal top spot in my Best First-Person Shooter of All Time ranking.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 16
2009 Total: 39

Over 500 views! Oh, and some painting...

2009-12-17T06:16:00.001-08:00

Wow! Over 500 views of my 'umble 'log already? I'm flattered - thank you. You push me to paint, which can only be a good thing. Although... more comments would be greatly received if my esteemed readers have the time!

Wot I did Today:

Firstly, I painted up a Greater Israeli Army soldier in light powered armour - aka a GZG New Israeli - for my 'Space 2200' project (which in turn feeds out from my EuroFed Riot project). He looks rather snazzy even if I do say so myself, in grey and brown armour with a black ceramic composite bullpup airburst over-under gauss rifle*, and dark green visor. I kept insignia to a minimum - blue Star of David on the left pauldron, black two-forked lightning strike on the right, name and blood group on the left breast.

More of them to come - he was quick to paint up and looks suitably professional.

Then I started on my Goliath Gang boss, who has fetching pink-purple-blue tartan trousers, green work boots, and a fashionable rainbow mohawk (not to mention a ruddy great big pistol). In the same vein, I named my other Juve: Nik Puke.

In order to whet your appetites for the eventual pictures...

National Bolshevik Republic forward observation team. Note the low-tech level of their equipment; the NBR army is so large that the elite 'Assault Guard' units with powered armour are both rare and still outnumber most other armies. The NBR uses soldiers like these to garrison their colonies.

'Force Generica' - this lot can represent any mid-tech colonial defence force; in this case they could be the troopers from the Free Colony World of Olor.

Tomorrow, I hope to finish the Boss and the rest of the first GIA fireteam (2x inf, 1x sniper, 1x GMS-P).

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 13
2009 Total: 36

* 10mm gauss rifle with integral 15mm variable-yield HE 'metal storm' UGL.