Keymaster, Gatekeeper and Realmgates

RealmgatesHarbingers2

RealmgatesHarbingers6

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Divershun

Divershun1

The Saturday morning animated motor racing theme continues today…

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Sci-fi Traffic

CivilianVehicles1

Sci-fi civilian vehicles: its like the 1950s, but in spaaace!

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Imperial Firebase via Deadzone

FirebaseCompositeFinal I made an homage to a 1990s card and plastic terrain kit out of Mantic Deadzone/Battlezone scenery. ImperialFirebase Continue reading

Urban Sci-Fi Terrain

Sector13a

Judges patrol the rad-zones of Sector 13.

I have been working on a terrain set for the last few months.  Urban sci-fi terrain has been a goal since I first got into toy soldiers in the eighties, but its only now that I am finally getting to fully indulge in getting the necessary bits ready.

More details and info will follow over the next few weeks but for now, after a weekend of painting ruined buildings, this snap is a proof of an almost thirty year old concept that pleases me quite a bit.

2014 = 144 Painted Miniatures

I got 144 miniatures painted in 2014.  It is a pretty decent total.

Deffkopta6

#1 – #3: Ork Deffkoptas

"Give it up for... Mushroom Klowd!!!!!"

#4 – #6: Goffik Rokkerz, “Mushrööm Klowd”

Blood Axe Human Advisor

#7: Blood Axe Human Advisor

Pod7

#8 – #9: Deathworld Jungle Pods

L to R: Spiker Victim, Spiker, Imperial Assassin

#10: Deathworld Jungle Spiker

VenusManTrap

#11: Venus Man-Trap

More Man Traps

#12 – #13: Venus Man-Traps

A big ol' pod.

#14: Deathworld Jungle Pod

Pod3

#15: Deathworld Jungle Pod

#16 – #30: Deathworld Mutant Plants

Venusian Mantrap

#31: Venusian Mantrap

Sedition Wars techno-organic terrain pieces.

#32 – #41 – Deathworld stuff (Sedition Wars technorganic virus things)

PodClixGroup

#???: nine refurbished Horrorclix miniatures. These could arguably be counted as part of the tally, but I am not going to.

DeathworldJungle10

#???: Very, very many jungle terrain bases. Im not going to count these in the tally, but they took ages.

Judge MacO'Conihoonihan

#42: Emerald Isle Judge MacO’Conihoonihan

#43-44: Ork Drummer and Drum Kit

#45-51: Renegade Runtmaster Zodgrod Wortsnagga and Super Runtz/Ninja Goblins

#52: Gretchin Zero (left)

#53: Loor Scout

#54-55: Notorious G.I.T. (centre) and crony (far right).

#???: Carnivorous Sand Clams.  Again, I could arguably include these in the total I think, but Im not going to.

Helga - now with orange trim

#56: shuttle/lander/lighter “Helga”

#57-#68: Campsite

#68-#74: Spine Crystals/Perilium/Kryptonite/Warpstone

#75-#76: Portaloos

#77: Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Jodorowsky

#78: Tenebrainian Cerebalite

#79: Deadzone Chovar

#80: Yellow Gyrinx

#81: Sensei Ramirez

L'Oreal Wangst

#82: L’Oreal Wangst – Eldar Outcast

#83: Friskers the Gyrinx

#84: Milo the Space Eunuch

#85: Honoured Imperium Marble Aquila

#86: Ursa Miner Cyber-Slayer

#87: Honoured Imperium Marble Space Marine Statue

 

#88 – #91: Bouncers

#92 – #97: Skabsquigs Skallywags, Mr Killgore and Swabs

#98 – #100 – Deadzone Marauders

#101 – #106 – More Skabsquigs Skallywags

#107 – #108: Kaptin Fiddy Teef and Mr Scuttle

#109 – #114: Gretchin Skallywags

#115 – #121: Dead Body Objective Markers (Judge Death not included)

#122: Mushrööm Klöwd Tour Bus

#123: Big Billy & Crackers, Troll and Parrot Space Pirates

#124: Ash Wastes Nomad

#125 – #127: Rippy Fish

#128: Ambull

#??? – Battle Systems card terrain. Im not including this in the tally, but considering how much time it took to get it to it modular state, I felt the need to document it. It definitely ate into my painting schedule, although I think that it was worth it considering the gaming opportunities that it provides.

#129: Char’lee Krown, alien plant person

#130 – #133 – Dryanids (space tree people)

#134 – Space Santa

GINGER1

#135 – G.I.N.G.E.R., cyber-gyrinx

SpaceSkeleton8

#136 – Space Skeleton

#137-139: Steev Tylork, Klem Fandangorkk and the NoyzKraft Kustom 200 sound desk

#137 – #139: Steev Tylork, Klem Fandangorkk and the NoyzKraft Kustom 200 sound desk

#140 - #141: Brainboyz

#140 – #141: Brainboyz

L to R: Avaran Treebeast, Yndij Reaver, Convict Grogan Thug

#142 – 144: Avaran Treebeast, Yndij Reaver, Convict Grogan Thug for DreadBall Xtreme

Some of the items in the tally are small, quickly painted affairs while others are far more significant in terms of their size and the corresponding resources that they demanded.  I figure that those differing subjects balance out in general, so each counts as “one thing” in my total, whether its a tiny cat miniature or a big shuttlecraft.

Although the work that went into preparing the Deathworld jungle was very significant and a number of items from that project feature, I didnt count anything that essentially amounts to an unpainted/prepainted item that was glued to a base and subsequently textured.  The jungle was a lot of work and required all my free time for a couple of weeks, but most of the elements do not really constitute painted miniatures.  It is a fine line though.

Similarly, the Battle Systems card terrain took ages to punch out and assemble into a modular state.  That time was all hobby time that I could have spent painting (and frankly I would have preferred to spend painting) but it doesnt show up here.  Work on terrain is definitely worth it of course, but getting the balance right is tricky.

The total output is down ~25% a bit on last year, but I knew that 2013 was exceptional in terms of turnover.  I had a slow down, not quite a total slump in output from around August until late November due to a variety of mainly good real life things taking up my time.

Paradoxically some of the extra time that I spent gaming with these and other models ate into time that I could have spent painting, which is a weird conflict of interests.  The gaming side of things was busier for me than usual this year, which is great.  A few different factors contributed to that (Pulp Alley, getting together with the O’Hammerers, extra enthusiasm from my oldest gaming buddy PB, the trip to BOYL and the games that I played with the guys at that, the Sector Six Crossover project, a few other things).  Best of all is that many of those games played had literally been on my to-do list since 1988, so the year was one of the very best in terms of gaming really.

Finally, posts containing my painting tallies for previous years can be seen via the links below.  They show changes in painting style and subjects and a slight improvement in photography (I think) in addition to experimentation that didnt always work out, but its all there if any of you fancy taking a look.

2013 total: 192

2012 total: 159

2011 total: 145

Thanks to anyone who has taken the time to comment on my toy soldier-y corner of of the internet over 2014.  I have a whole load of other projects in various stages of production that should start to materialise very soon, so hopefully I will get to chat with some of you again in 2015.

Happy New Year!

Dead Body Objectives

DeadBodyMarkers2

I needed some markers to represent dead bodies that some characters had to rummage around in during the Get to the Chopper! game recently, so I quickly painted these a week or so beforehand.

The two variants – legless, rib cage exploded outwards dead guy and sad, died in abdominal agony in long coat lady – come from the rather cool terrain pack that is available for Sedition Wars.  Considering the sorts of miniature games that I favour, rummaging through chunks of imaginary dead body comes up a fair bit, so I expect these to get a lot of use.  Im surprised that I never got around to something like this before now frankly.

Bouncers

“BALLS!”

Not the thick-necked gentlemen performing security duties at a venue, but a peculiar bit of Rogue Trader alien wildlife weirdness with some lo-fi execution.  Hold on to your valuables, here we go…

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Honoured Imperium Marble Statue

HonouredImperiumC

After painting the Marble Aquila last week, I figured that I should really paint the statue that came with it before I forget how to do it.  The weather is a bit cheery and upbeat for the grimdarkness of the subject, but as we dont get clear skies here that often I decided to take an outdoor shot anyway.

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Marble Aquila

Aquila3

Some themed terrain for my 40K skirmishing, with particular reference to upcoming Sensei/Highlander games. Continue reading