Goblin Shaman

The next session of our Middle-earth RPG is coming up this week, and I wanted to introduce a new portion of the WFRP game rules to the players...divine power. Sooo, they will be encountering a new enemy type: the Goblin Shaman.

Here he is with primer and ink wash.

...and fully painted.

Back view.

Also this week, I was happy to finally finish off the skin highlights for my 1st century Celtic army.

Moving back to Cryx for a bit...really like those guys.

'Til next time.

Celt Army Update

Grinding away on this Celtic army for Command & Colors: Ancients. I'm about half-way through getting the skin highlights on. Below are some of the figures with finished skin.

Bits like eyes and lips haven't been painted in yet.

And, of course, the daunting task of getting the cloth painted lies in the future...but not too far off I hope.

At least there's a little bit of mail in this army...that will go fast.

Lots of distractions lately...mostly on the RPG front. We've been having a lot of fun with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition in Fourth Age Middle-earth. The guys are helping Durin VII take back Moria right now. Lots of dungeon crawling!

'Til next time.

WFB Club Game

I was out at the club tonight and got a 2000 point game of Warhammer in with Scott. I pitted my Lizardmen against his Daemon army.

The Krox went to war!

This was one of Scott's main infantry blocks. I wound up doing a fair bit of damage to it with a charging Stegadon...but after a few rounds of combat the Steg broke and was run down. Boooo.

I don't know Daemons well enough to know the proper name of this unit that Scott painted up...but I call the models "Salamander Snacks."

Scott's Bloodcrushers really did a number on my Saurus Warrior block. I tried for two turns to get some buff spells off to help these guys, but the dice just weren't there. However, in the end, the Bloodcrushers went down to ranked spears and Krox.

The game ended on a terrible miscast roll from Scott. His Daemon Prince went down on a "2" miscast roll. The Prince, Scott's army general, got sucked into the warp never to be seen again.

Go Lizards!

'Til next time.

Cryx Corrosion

Well, have to admit I'm taking a bit of a U-Turn here.

I already have Menoth and Khador armies for Warmachine, and a Legion army for Hordes, but I couldn't resist doing some Cryx as well. Their stuff is just sooo coool.

I was inspired to do some Cryx after watching a YouTube tutorial on AFV weathering. I thought the techniques would be great to represent Cryx corrosion (many of their attacks are acid/corrosion-based).

I've had the Cryx battlebox sitting in my closet for some time, and I always hoped to get around to them.

My first Cryx Helljack is this Slayer. A pure double-handed melee 'jack. I wanted a test subject for this new rust and weathering technique, so I put him together on Sunday. I sprayed on the P3 Cryx Base and Highlight colors, then started in with the MIG weathering powders and washes. A few evenings later...presto. Hope you like him. He was more fun to put together than anything I've ever done for Menoth (which always feels like such a chore).

Well, back to the Celts for a bit.

'Til next time.

First Project, 2011: Vengers

...and now on to 2011!

I've had these Warmachine Exemplar Venger models sitting in my closet for about 5 years...ever since Mk.I. They've always intimidated me, and I've never had the jam to just pick them up and start putting them together. Well, over the holidays I said, "To Hell with this! Let's knock these boys out."

I used the airbrush to put on the Menoth White on, then painted the horses, leather, cloth and finally the metal. After basing and matt spray, I went back over the enamelled white horse armor and applied floor wax to bring up the shine. Glad to finally have these guys done.

On the Celt project, I have flesh shade on most of the figures, and will be working this week to bring the skin up to highlights.

Hope 2011 is starting well for you.

'Til next time.

2010: Year in Review

Hello All.

It's been a busy year with lots of cool stuff going down at the hobby table and with the family. Time to look back.

There were 230 projects completed this year, ranging from the modest (Space Hulk Genestealer) to elaborate (the Viking Ship). Let's start at the beginning.

Back in January, I was plugging through eight Albatross DVs in 1/72 scale. That was a nutty project.

As the MayDay convention was looming, I started work on the Carentan Normandy scenario. Here is a WIP shot of some of the German infantry I worked on. 28mm.

Here are the finished American paratroopers I had out for that convention game.

I also ran a daylight bombing raid over Berlin, 1945. This was a six-player game with lots of 1/144 scale models, and lots of metal falling out of the sky.

In the early summer I got an airbrush and decided to take on a modest first project...nearly 40 15mm armor pieces for a still-to-be-realized Kursk scenario.

But before I could finish that project, Warhammer 8th edition was released, and I decided to take the plunge. A Lizardmen army occupied most of the summer.

The Stegadon.

In August, our city's Folk Festival hit town, and so did our nieces. Four days of music, food and a great time!

Late in the summer, Hordes 2.0 hit, and I started to expand my Legion of Everblight army. A WIP ship of Thagrosh.

In the fall, I undertook this Viking Ship project to spruce up the Danish dark ages army I was putting on display in the local library.

In October, my wife and I left for a beach vacation...it was nice to take a break!

When we got back, we decided to expand the cat family, so we adopted Orion from the Humane Society.

As winter approached, I expanded into a second Warmachine army. This Spriggan was my first Khador Warjack project.

On to Christmas holidays, and the last bit of insanity for the year...a new Celt army for Command and Colors.

Well, that about does it for the year. I hope you had a great 2010 and are looking forward to an even better 2011. Thanks and welcome to all the new followers of the Hobby Table blog this year!

'Til next time.

Holiday Project...Underway!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Holidays have been going for about a week and a half, and I've gotten a rather large project underway. Thinking forward to the MayDay convention 2011, I'd like to put on a game I've been wanting to do for several years now. This will be a miniaturization of a fairly balanced and exciting Command and Colors scenario: Sotium.

Quick background: In 56 BC Caesar had campaigned in Gaul for two years and had moved on to Illyria. With the Roman general gone, the Veneti tribe rebelled. Caesar sent Publis Crassus to Aquitania to subdue the Sotiates so that they would not join the Veneti rebellion. However, while Crassus was moving through the Sotiates territory, they were ambushed by King Adiatuanos' levy.

I'm starting with the Gaul army...62 figures, 15 of which are cavalry.

Here are the Warrior infantry units, along with the Gaul Medium Cavalry.

And then there are the seven Auxilia infantry units and three units of Light Cavalry.

It took about 5 days to clean, assemble, prime and ink all the pieces. They are a mix of Warlord and Wargames Factory plastics. I'm imagining they will take some time to paint because of all the plaid clothing and fancy shields. Better get started...skin first! At least there's a fair bit of that easier stuff.

After doing the Gaul army, I'll move on to the Roman troops.

Happily, the holiday's started with a Christmas ski trip to Banff. Weather was awesome.

'Til next time!