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!

Vassal Mechanics

Painted a couple of Menoth solos for Warmachine yesterday. Finished up the bases this morning, so figured I could double-post this weekend.

I have a 50-point game with Elliot tomorrow and thought these guys would come in handy to keep my Warjacks working over the long haul.

'Til next time.

Terrain Repaints

A couple of weeks ago, our game club's "supplier" showed up with a pile of old Pegasus terrain pieces. They were painted, but I felt they really could use a repaint. I bought five pieces and started into the repainting this week. Here's the first one...kind of a hilly pass full of bones.

These two pieces came from my favorite game terrain source...the local aquarium shop. I can't pass an aquarium store without checking if there are any tank ornaments in the sales bin. Last weekend...bingo. Found these guys on sale. Quickly repainted.

All these bone pieces are good for either Legion or Lizardmen terrain items, I think.

This is another one of the Pegasus resin pieces...a skull tower. I repainted with most of the work done by airbrush. The metal rust was a test bed for some new weathering pigment powders from MIGS. I really liked working with these. Fast, and good results.

The end of the year wrap up is coming soon...

'Til next time.

New Khador Army

More Warmachine madness...

Last month I bought the Ebay auction put up by col_festus of the First Rank, Second Rank blog. This was a large lot of Khador figures, and about half of the army was painted by Eric Festa to a very high quality level. Here is the Juggernaut from that lot, painted by Eric.

I was eager to paint some of the bare metal that came with this Ebay lot...the challenge was whether I'd be able to match Eric's style. Fortunately, he had posted a Khador painting and weather tutorial, so I had a great set of guidelines to match his work.

Here is my first Khador Warjack off the table...the Khador Spriggan.

Not a perfect match to Eric's style, but close enough to pass as a single army on the tabletop. The main departure I had from his instructions was to use water-based weathering washes instead of the oil-based paint he used. In any event, I'm happy with the result. More so because Eric's painting instructions were very clear and made for a very fast painting project.

So fast, in fact, that I was able to take this full Man-o-War Shocktroopers unit from bare metal to done this week as well.

I'm very excited about this new army, since I have a good head start with Eric's painted figs, and it's proving to be a very fast army to paint.

'Til next time.

Typhon

Continuing on with Legion forces...

Finished the Typhon last night and did the basing this morning. Tried out another color scheme...this time it's a mottled green and brown. I airbrushed the base colors with Vallejo air model paints and then did the highlighting with GW and Foundation.

Continuing with the theme of hybrid metal and "fleshy" beasts, the carapace is brass and the spines, claws and teeth are silver. GW paints for the metallics.

I was going to bring this guy out onto the table today during our lunch game of Warmahordes...but he's really just too expensive for a 15 point game. I took the Angelius instead with Epic Lylyth and got my butt handed to me by a Khador force played by the very adept and experienced Elliot. Lessons learned!

Next up on the table...I'm trying out six Khador pieces in an attempt to match the painting style of the finished Khador force I got in an Ebay auction a few weeks back.

'Til next time!

Two Seraphs

Continuing on with my Legion of Everblight forces, this week I finished off a pair of Seraph warbeasts. Kind of a shocking purple, given the muted tones of my other Legion forces, but what the Hell!?!

I'm guessing the sculptor of this model was different than the guy they used for most of the other beasts in this faction...the wing ribbing is very different, and I'm not a fan...I'd rather that the sculpting was more subtle. Whatever...these guys have a pretty wicked design.

A WIP shot of the next big guy on the table...the Legion Typhon. Going for a more mottled green/brown this time around.

Some more WIP. Here are three Menoth epic casters I need to knock off the list to get my Protectorate forces finished. I played Epic Sevarius (center model) three weeks ago, and he was pretty strong. Looking forward to playing him non-proxied.

'Til next time.

Angelius and Carnivean

I finished up an Everblight Angelius last night, so thought I'd post some shots along with a Carnivean I put together a couple of years ago.

I'm intending to do all my Everblight beasts in different colors, but tie them together with "Alien"-like metal teeth, brass carapace plates and steel spines, claws and talons.

Angelius.

Carnivean

Here are the next ones up on the table...a pair of Seraphs. Obviously, WIP -- just the base colors down right now. Hope to have more progress on these guys this weekend.

'Til next time.

Raptors?!?

So, the most inappropriately named Warmachine/Hordes pieces have to be the Everblight light cavalry, which are called "Raptors." Raptors? Really? They're reindeer...come on. Do they look like birds of prey? Or dinosaurs?

Anyway, I completed the unit this week, and enjoyed painting them very much. I used the Foundry Bay Brown and Chestnut sets for the fur, and blended the colors together by using some Reaper drying retarder in the paint.

I did something this week I rarely do...I bought an ebay auction of painted figures. In this case, it was a Warmachine Khador army put up by Eric Festa who runs the First Rank, Second Rank blog. It was a great auction, and the stuff got here in a week. However, as you can imagine, some of the heavy warjacks got pretty banged up in shipping. After I do the repairs, I'll post pics of the force.

'Til next time.

Warmongers and Chieftain

Building up Everblight forces is now top priority on the hobby table. This week I finished off a set of Warmongers, along with the Chieftain solo.

I was hoping to get a more demonic/undead skin tone, but it didn't work out that way. I was using a purple wash on the skin, and built up the highlights with Rotting Flesh. However, in the end they just came out with pretty "normal"-looking skin. Oh well, I like 'em anyway. Great models from Privateer.

Here are some WIP shots.

First I started with the metal. The first wash was a blue ink and I drybrushed on a little bronze to help with the antiquing. Finished off with the standard armor wash and chainmail highlight.

Next I did the skin. Like I said, I was hoping this would turn out a little more "other-worldly."

Next came the fur, leather and bone. Finally, the basing material went on this morning...and all done.

I played my first two games of Hordes Mk.II this past week. Everblight is now 1-1. I really want Thagrosh to do well, but I'm up against a fast Skorne player, and Thagrosh's melee beasts just don't have the speed to match. I was better off with Lylyth.

Next up are a slew of other Everblight models. Angelius, a couple of Seraphs, two Forsaken, Absylonia and a unit of the ill-named Raptors. Oh, and I'm going to try my hand at the minion Totem Hunter. These projects should take me through the end of the year at least...so pics as stuff gets done.

'Til next time.

Daylight Savings...Thagrosh

The first Sunday in November always ranks as one of my favorite days of the year. As we say goodbye to daylight savings time there is a magical, awesome extra hour to spend on the weekend. This year, I dumped that extra hour into finishing off Thagrosh the Messiah, Everblight's epic Warlock from Hordes.

It's a big model...and I can't wait to get it out on the table.

Also got a new computer this week. It came with a new version of iPhoto and some snappy new effects buttons. As witnessed by...

'Til next time.

Moria Goblins

Several weeks ago, I dredged up a couple of blisters of Goblin archers from the basement stash. These figures are going to do double duty...just like my other Goblins and Orcs; War of the Ring and the Middle-earth RPG I'm running.

I just finished these up this week. I tried to paint them "lighter" than usual. I was finding that my other Orc figures were a little dull on the tabletop. Even through you're essentially looking at figs in dirty leather, dark hair, pallid green skin and muted grey metal, I'd like them to pop a little more while gaming.

I have a number of partially finished projects out on the table right now...so job one for the balance of this year is finishing off old projects (famous last words).

'Til next time.

EWG Library Display

The Edmonton Wargame Group was invited again this year to set up a display in the Riverbend Public Library branch for the month of November. I went in today and put the display together.

The pics are not great...lots of glare off the display glass, but you get the idea. The top two shelves show a WWI dogfight and a dark ages stand off between Vikings and Britons.

Under the Dark Ages shelf is a WWII Normandy display.

This shot shows the Danish army along with the longboat I just finished off.

Below the Normandy village is a Warmachine display using a fine selection of Elliot's Khador troops. Unfortunately, none of the pics I took of the bottom shelf (Battlefleet Gothic) turned out...bummer.

It's October 31st, so I'll close with this pumpkin shot from the front porch. Happy Hallowe'en!

'Til next time.