Progress Report 8/29/14 - Behold... a Gnoblar!

Here he is. No name for him yet. No fluff. What would you call him? Should be beer related a bit.

Progress Report 8/23/14 - Gnobbin' along.

Just a quick update - spent some time the past couple days building a Gnoblar Hero for the Ogre Stronghold Gnoblar Hero competition! Gnoblars are awesome. Still thinking of a name and backstory for this little guy.

I'll use him as a unit filler for Gnoblars in my Ogre Kingdoms army later on as needed. I also spent a little time throwing paint on my Vampire warband leader for Mordheim. Just blocking out the colors.

Hope to get in a practice game next week assuming my allergies don't get the better of me... my eyes are burning and inflamed!! Makes painting tricky but I make do. Until next time...

Progress Report 8/20/14 - Saw on a stick.

Been a busy couple of week for me with not too much time to paint or build miniatures (and no time to game). Did manage to knock out a commission paint job in just a couple days with pretty good results. It was for a half-orc assassin type character in a Pathfinder Societies game at GenCon. Good to finally make it to the convention in some form!

Client asked for a mini painted in all blacks and yellows. Very challenging for me as I don't think I paint those colors very well and they take time. I was happy with the balance of the mini and the way I managed to avoid the "bumblebee" effect. This mini was originally a vampire character but I think it looks suitably orcish too! If it was my mini I would have cut off the pointy bat shaped ears. I did learn a new recipe for dark black which I will use on my Grave Guard and other skeledudes for the upcoming Nagash vampire madness in WHFB!!

Meanwhile I spent time painting some Goblin/Gnoblar secret weapons for the Bulltimore Bullies to field in the upcoming Chaos Cup.

Just the basecoats and washes on these minis for the most part. I did spend some time today getting the skin layered up a bit. Looking forward to getting these guys into some Blood Bowl! Blowing up people with bombs and attacking them with chainsaws is always fun (on the pitch).

Oh yeah and this cyclops/big guy is getting some love too.

Lots of work to do here. If it turns out at all decent I will enter him in a painting competition taking place during Chaos Cup this year for best painted Impact! miniature.

And then there were the beasts... calling my name... a few new additions to the herd. It's growing!

Will they get any paint before I switch over to my VC army in preparation for Nagash!? We'll see..

Beer Review - Paw Paw Brewing St James English Ale

Paw Paw Brewing Company - St James English Ale

Beer Type: English Brown Ale - 5.10% ABV

Appearance: 12oz brown bottle with a red and white label. Beer poured a clear copper color with just a trace of head that lasted the whole way.        

Smell: Sweet bready malt with just a hint of something spiced?    

First Drink: A lot of sweet malt and biscuit flavors up front that mellows out to a rich bitter flavor.      

Mouthfeel: Crisp yet smooth. Easy drinking beer this.       

Last Drink: More caramel and pine/hops coming out now but basically the same.            

Drinkability: This is a mild ale that is a bit on the sweet side but totally drinkable.             

Notes: Who needs Newcastle when you can get a great local english style brown ale?!        

Verdict: 3.75 out of 5. I've had this in bottle and on tap and it's always got good flavor. 

Progress Report 8/6/14 - Malal beckons...

What twisted madness is this!? WHFB!? Warriors!? Malal!?!!

For some reason I felt compelled to pick up two test minis from a couple years ago when I started working on my Malal WoC force and slap some touch ups and Malal themed black/white on them. The results are as follows...

Things I know about these minis... I have improved as a painter since two years ago and I can't spend too much time on each rank and file mini in the army if I ever want to finish (and I do). I think these tests are a compromise between the two. Decent quality for the time spent. I've learned some things I want to do differently on the next painted minis (particularly the Warriors). 

For those who don't know Malal I recommend this article over on the Realm of Chaos blog. orlygg does a fantastic job of covering the history of this lesser known Chaos God as well as unearthing some unknown lore and information in the process. 

My take on this WoC Malal force is simple... his followers are secretive. They are unknown among the ranks of the various faithful and when called upon they quickly cover themselves in the colors of their god (bisected black and white) and go to war in his name. The army will not feature iconography of the other Chaos Gods nor will it contain any god-centric units (like the awesome Khorne monster cav). Each unit will look like a mish-mash of different warriors from different regions... or at least that is my hope! In place of Marauders I will be using Beastmen as they are natural followers of Malal. I will also work in some Hellcannons (Chaos Dwarf mercenaries for hire) and probably some monsters like Trolls and Ogres. Ultimately the one unifying theme is the lack of theme and the focus on the variety united. 

With that in mind I added a few Beastmen to the existing unit I started a couple years back and figured it was about time to get a standard in there!

Still some GS work needed for his severed head shoulder pad, some hair on the mini, and to tie the braided skulls and hair into the standard on the back. Digging the look though! 

Here is the unit as it stands now. I hope to add some Minotaurs and other stuff to the unit to make it really big - including another 20 or so Beastmen! 

The short burst of WHFB centered modeling and painting has me quite fired up for the game and I am thinking about registering for an upcoming winter tournament event as well! Perhaps it will be a good reason to get my WoC done or perhaps to pull out the much neglected VC or Ogres?!

Progress Report 8/3/14 - Slow rolling... into the grave.

Well I am officially (statistically) half way to dead and another year older. Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it at the movies, making pizzas, drinking beers, and playing games. Not tabletop games (I wish!!) just some low impact board games like Carcassone and Shadow Hunters. I did get to spend just a tiny bit of time painting and assembling some minis too. 

Here is where things sit on the table at the moment...

This big guy was a pain to assemble

Hoping to paint him up for a painting competition in September

Look familiar?

A new addition to our Pathfinder Societies party

Just working on base coats here

Dwarf Cleric on Sarenrae done except the base

I like how it turned out

I wanted to give the red a softer tone

Not so soft there is the Gnome Barbarian

I like painting bright orange hair!

Human (was Dwarf) Druid

Kinda looks like a Ranger but whatever!

Halfling Rogue ready for action

If by action you mean missing a lot of backstabs

Goblin conversion for a BB secret weapon (chainsaw)

I like the chainsaw on a stick idea

A goblin chucking explosives

Another conversion for BB secret weapon action

Need to get all these finished plus a commission that just rolled in all in the next few weeks! Should be a busy bit of painting time. Really itching to finish my Mordheim band as well and I think I might compete in a WHFB tournament in a few months which means I need to finish and/or repaint and touch up one of my armies. Probably my Vampire Counts though the Ogres are tempting me...