Glorfindel...One Last 2012 Project.

It's New Year's Eve and 2012 is closing out. Here's the last mini off the hobby table just before 2013 begins.

Glorfindel is one of my favorite Middle-earth heroes. I know why they knocked him out of the Lord of the Rings films, and put Arwen in his place...but it still would have been nice to get one of the greatest Elven Warriors in Middle-earth some screen time. Oh well! Here he is on Asfaloth.

Nice sculpt from GW, even if a little two dimensional.

Happy New Year everyone...hope you had a great 2012 and best wishes for 2013.

'Til next time.

2012: Unfinished Projects...Sad Face

As 2012 draws to a close, it's time to look back over the year and figure out what didn't get done. This past year, I finished about 2/3rds of the projects I started. Not bad, but that did leave a lot of models staring back at me with the "What did I do to deserve such shoddy treatment?" look.

Topping the list of unfinished projects was a beautiful BaneLords model I picked up at GenCon during the summer. I put this resin piece on a Secret Weapon 50mm sculpted base and figured I'd have a really nice Middle-earth Troll out of the deal. However, he only got half-way painted before being overtaken by more Cryx madness.

On the Cygnar front, there were a fair number of models I didn't complete. Included...this Hammersmith and Firefly.

I also did not finish Nemo2, Haley1, Murdoch and the Black 13th. I did play with all of these, however.

Back when GW was in the midst of pulling all their metal models from their product line (for the pending release of Fine-mis-cast models), I panicked and purchased as many metal Middle-earth Elves as I could lay my hands on. Here they are in early stages.

Rohirrim! The Hobbit got me started back into more Middle-earth figures. I have a box of Valiant Rohirrim sitting around, so I dug into half the infantry.

My wife is a fan of King Theoden, so she wanted to paint some Rohirrim horses. Here, she has just started into two. I'll be painting the riders. This is a very current project, but won't be done before the end of the year.

North African WWII micro armour. The fetish continues. Here are some British and German vehicles still not done.

And a slew of Italian ones.

In 28mm, to go along with my recently completed Sherman V, I'm "in the process" of painting this Panzer IV H. May be a while before it's done.

My interest in Dust came and went quickly...no one to play. I nearly finished off this light German walker before shelving the project.

Menoth 'jacks for Warmachine. Here are three that are in various stages of completion. Fortunately, these are high-priority models to get done early in 2013.

More flotsam from the Cygnar side show at the end of 2012. Tempest Gun Mages with Officer, another Stormsmith, and eStryker.

OK, this is one I really want to do. Again for Warmachine, this is the Mercenary Alexia, with two Thrall Warriors and 20 Risen. The boxed set only comes with about 10 Risen...I raided several other manufacturers for the other 10 undead models required for the project.

A few more Warmachine personalities that didn't make it off the production line. Aiyana & Holt, along with Ragman.

Iridian Skirmishers. Gawd...this unit doesn't deserve to be completed. If anyone has a viable list that uses them, please let me know. I can't see a good reason to put them on the Warmachine table.

Finally, a platoon of Canadian soldiers in 28mm for Normandy games. Fellows...don't worry...you will see the light of day before long!

Well, there it is. What are you lamenting not getting done this past year?

'Til next time.

Cygnar: Year End Catch-Up

Hope you had a great Christmas and are enjoying the holidays! 

I'm just wrapping up another year at the hobby table, looking back and seeing what's been done, but not yet photo documented. Here are a handful of Cygnar models for Warmachine that haven't been shamelessly pimped here yet.

First up in the Cygnar 'caster, Kraye.

I really love 80% of this model. The great molded base...the atmospheric posing of the horse...the pile of gear. But what is with Kraye's very artificial and static riding pose? It would have been much better if he had been hunched over with his rifle over his lap, rather than the "rifle/arm is cast along the lateral mold line...of course." Anyway, still a nice model that I enjoyed painting very much.

Next are a handful of important Cygnar solos.

Stormsmiths. With the availability of Stormwall, you'd need as many of these guys as you can fit in a list. They are just too good. The ultimate anti-high DEF infantry take-down pieces.

Journeyman Warcaster. He provides an extra Arcane Shield for your list. Crazy.

Hmmm, everyone in Cygnar is blue. They really need to be cheered up.

Finally, Strangeways. Cygnar's best mechanic and 'jack support piece. And as far as I know, the only Warmachine piece that smokes a pipe on the battlefield.

Are you looking at my bum? Cheeky monkey.

Well, I have more Cygnar on the painting table, but they are taking a back seat to a slew of Lord of the Rings stuff I'm painting right now. Thanks, Hobbit.

'Till next time.

Step-by-Step: Hammer Dwarves

I have several units still to finish up for my Cygnar sideshow. This week I've wrapped up a unit of Hammer Dwarves with their reach-weapon master goodness.

The figures are very straightforward. I painted the backpacks separately and attached them at the end. Starting with each figure, I primed black.

Instead of the studio scheme of painting the armor khaki, I decided to do my Dwarves in bare metal armor. Each figure got drybrushed with Blackened Steel.

Then, a blue wash.

I then highlighted through the main Reaper metal paint progression: Shadowed Steel, Honed Steel and Polished Silver.

I then painted the hammer in a very aged bronze color. The progression was Scorched Metal, Bronze Barrel and Burning Gold (light).

Leaning heavily on drybrushing layers, you can see that these figures go very quickly. I then painted in details (the shoulder sigil, canvas strapping and skin where necessary).

Before you know it, these 10 fellow are finished up.

A quick and fine project. I like 'em.

'Til next time.

Step-by-Step: Judicator Colossal

Ah, Menoth. Back in the saddle. Cryx, you've been a fun ride, but it's time to get back to my first Warmachine faction. And what better way to return to the fold than with the new Colossal, the Judicator.

Holy smokes, this model is not for the faint of heart. You certainly need intermediate to advanced modelling chops to put this guy together. When you spill everything out on the table, you essentially get a pile of knobs and triangles. If it hadn't come with a (minimal) assembly sheet, I don't think I would have figured out how to get this jumble of bits to look like anything other than a Menoth scrap heap.

And the flow gates for the resin. Craaaazy! I have done a lot of WWI modelling and am familiar with limited run plastic kits that need a lot of massaging to get into assembly shape. The Judicator totally fits into this category. The casts are nice, but the flow gates you have to remove are insane. Here are just a couple of examples.

After a few hours of cleaning up the parts, and following the assembly sheet, here are the major chunks of the model prior to painting. I left several parts unassembled for easier painting. One major note...like all good giant robots, the forearms are much bigger than the upper arm pieces. I pinned both ends of the tiny upper arm joiners...otherwise I think you're looking at this model's arms falling off often during play.

OK, time to start painting. I primed in black and then laid down a coat of buff-cream. This lays the foundation for the white gradation I'm going to use as the main color scheme.

Here the whites have been worked up through ivory and pure white.

You can see the gradation of whites in this shot. I think that in the end, my modulation was too subtle. My bad.

The pieces that had the most colors butting up against one another were the forearm guards. After spraying the whites, I masked off for the sanguine red.

This is the sanguine red spray.

OK, the masks worked fine.

I then brushed on the steel and gold colors to finish the forearm guards up.

Here all the parts have received their main paint colors. The menofixes were painted black and then highlighted with shades of cool grey.

The gold color progression bears mentioning. I used a Foundry paint sequence. Brazen-Gold-Shiny. After the Brazen base, I laid down a wash of Sepia and custom dark orange mix. The gold and shiny paints were then drybrushed on. This sequence makes for a nice Menoth gold.

Prior to finishing the base and applying the final weathering pass, I went ahead and finished the main assembly.

The basing was standard (glue-sand-brown-orange-cream-static grass & tufts), and then I added a few resin basing bits from Scibor miniatures (thanks to Roy at Thunderground for bringing these in).

And there it is.

Oh, and there was one final pass for paint chips. These were applied with stippled foam using a mix of dark brown and dark copper paint.

The missile trail residue was sprayed on with dark grey paint.

For size reference, here is the Judicator next to the Cygnar Stormwall I did a few weeks ago. The Judicator feels chunkier and a seems a bit bigger to me.

And finally, the star of the show: our new kitten, Helo (Karl Agathon).

OK, if you're about to build a Judicator, I hope you found this step-by-step assembly and painting guide helpful.

'Til next time.