Progress Report 5/8/11 - Getting ready for Special K.

Only 24 days until I open a new store... the co-operative grocery where I work is expanding to a larger building. It's all very crazy, and busy, which is still keeping me away from my painting and modeling time. I have managed to get a few tabletop games of Blood Bowl in for KUBBL. Our 4th season is wrapping up and the playoffs start next week. The Hooded Menace is going in as a #3 seed. My season overall has been a lot of ups and downs. We'll see how I can deal with the heavy hitters of the playoffs...

This weekend's small bit of hobby time was devoted to two things related to our first league run Blood Bowl tournament - the Special K Cup. That meant I needed to make up a roster, and also find time to finish off the trophies for first and last place - a nice shiny bowl for first, and a wooden bowl for last.

I painted the wooden bowl in a more shoddy manner as to reflect it's nature as the last place award. The first place award was all done freehand but the paint I am using is really ghastly. I did an "okay" job. It looks nice from a distance of up to 2-3 feet but up close you can see it's a bit rough around the edges. I may still add a thin layer of varnish to seal it and smooth out some of the rough bits. 

For the tournament I am bringing my Nurgle back out. The rules allow for so much roster I was able to fit in a start player on top of my full complement of Warriors, Beast, and Pestigors. Thus, a hastily built Max Spleenripper was born!

 

He's supposed to be a Chaos Warrior with a chainsaw. I wanted him to look a bit dessicated and crazy to fit right into my Nurgle team. There will be plenty of gore on the chainsaw, along with the sliced off human head laying at his feet. I skipped the "pointy hat" and gave him a crazy beard instead. I'm pretty happy with the results as I slapped this together with some bits and a little greenstuff (mostly on the chainsaw) in just under 15 minutes. I also built some turn/reroll markers for the Nurgle folks.

And that's it for now! Look for some painted pics later this week. Be sure and call your mum today!!

The Bellower - Issue #5 out now!

Hey! This is done...

You can download it or view it by visiting the Stronghold here. This issue was quite an ordeal to make but somehow we got it done. Not feeling 100% about the content but overall I think it is pretty solid. The Feeding Grounds article is probably the most interesting thing...

What do you think?

Beer Review - Magic Hat Roxy Rolles.

Still working through a back log of beer reviews...

Magic Hat Brewing Company - Roxy Rolles

Beer Type: American Amber/Red Ale

Appearance: 12 oz. brown bottle with a red Magic Hat label featuring a biker of some sort. Beer is a nice light brown color with a thick off-white head.

Smell: Plenty of hops along with some malt as well. Smells like what I have come to expect a red ale to smell like!

First Drink: Plenty of the caramel malt followed quickly by some spicy hops.

Mouthfeel: A little oily but the overall sensation is smooth.

Last Drink: More of the floral hops comes through but I am also getting something a bit "stale" and bitter. Not liking it.

Drinkability: This is a Fall seasonal I am drinking in the Winter. Reminds me more of a Bock or Doppelbock than a Red or Amber ale.

Notes: Might just be a bit old, wish I had a chance to try this when it was more fresh.

Verdict: 3 out of 5. Some interesting flavors going on but not all of them are ones I like.

Links: Beer Advocate and Magic Hat Brewing Company.

Progress Report 4/17/11 - Painting dem greenskins.

Managed to get some test scheme paint on the two Orc lineman for my Blood Bowl team. Still toying with the idea of adding some battle damaged paint to the armor. I kind of like them as is though... learning how to paint green skin and yellow cloth has been tricky. Maybe add a colored stripe down the helmet?

 

I feel like I have so much to learn about painting but not as much interest in getting myself to the next level. I suppose a medium-quality is all I really want for the tabletop anyhow. Thoughts?

Inspiration...

Not having time to work on hobby stuff makes me sad. Here are a couple things I have come across that have inspired me for painting/modeling projects:

This foam Blood Bowl pitch by utopiaztudioz is carved/burnt/sculpted and painted before a fabric back was added so it can be folded for transport. I want something like this!!

James Stokoe's Orc Stain has a great color palette that I would love to paint some models in. I don't know that I am a good enough painter yet but... having some models that look like this... would be rad:

Warhammer Forge nurgly Ogre Tyrant! Riding a gross toad-dragon thing! Looking forward to seeing what this book brings us...

Alright... back to work on the Bellower! Gotta get this done in the next week or so. Also working on my first Orc test paint schemes for the Trailer Orc Boyz! Until next time...

UPDATED: New Tomb King model pics - Sphinx, snakes, and silly skeletons oh my!

Woke up this morning... ate a big bowl of oatmeal... and came across these pictures of new Tomb King models on the Subject to Stupidity blog.

UPDATE: More and better pics here - thanks to My Dice Hate Me! for the link!

 

 

I assume we'll see an official announcement from GW soon with some better pictures and description but as a first peek into what's inside the new TK book... I am not sure if I am a fan? The snakemen seem pretty cool but I am not sure how they fit into the lore? The snake riders are just plain goofy but perhaps in a fun way? And the new "necrosphinx" looks justifiably bad ass but what does it look like without that time intensive 'eavy metal paint job (the skin)? 

Looking forward to seeing what comes out in the next few weeks. I have always toyed with the idea of having a TK army (using my VC skeletons not the abominations the TK call skeletons) and there are some interesting themes here to play with for sure. What do you think?

Noteworthy news and models.

The days and weeks are flying by! I am still firmly entrenched in my life at work which doesn't leave much time for hobby stuff. I did manage to get the start of a test paint scheme on two Lineorcs for my BB Trailer Orc Boyz team and spend a bit of time painting commission stuff but otherwise...

In the meantime I have been getting my miniature fix in with weekly games of Blood Bowl in our Kalamazoo league (not doing so great with my Undead but the season is only half over), and spending time browsing the web for interesting or unique models I might like to own. Here are a few I have come across that I wanted to share (and to keep as a "wish list" for later):

Microarts is releasing some rubber molds for quick greenstuff conversions. Not sure if I would buy one but I like the idea. More info here.

Maelstroms's BaneLegions are coming out fast and furious and this Wight King model really caught my eye as a potential BSB for my Vampire Counts army.

I check in on Secret Weapon from time to time as I like the look of their work. Just noticed they are now offering a "sack of skulls" for basing, making skull headed things, adding to models... you name it! You can never go wrong with more skulls.

I'm interested in learning more (and trying out) their new set of washes, and I have been wanting to give their weathering powders a go for awhile. Anyone given either of these a try?

I saw Wyrd is releasing a Malifaux model that could almost be a stand in for Valkia the bloody if you were willing to sculpt on the Chaos armor...

Avatars of War is releasing a full regiment of "Dwarf Berserkers" aka Slayers! They look pretty cool but I am not sure I love the layout of the models in the unit picture. I gave up on my force of Slayers and sold off my models last year (to help fund my Warriors of Chaos and Blood Bowl forces) but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the angry stunty folks.

Moving on.. we have the natural enemy of the Dwarf... Orcs! Came across these figures by Ramshackle Games (a new company to me) and I just fucking love them! I wish I had a reason to buy them and paint them up...

And lastly we have the slew of quality stuff coming our way courtesy of Mantic. They have shown off some great looking models in the past couple months but I gotta say I really like the look of this boar riding Orc boss.

So there it is... a short list of models and stuff I found to be interesting or noteworthy in the past few weeks. I hope to have some time for hobby and gaming this month but I also need to get the next issue of the Bellower laid out... so...