This week theottovonbismark, MT and I focused the Saturday of our gaming weekend on Kings of War in 10mm. It represented the first proper outings for my new 10mm orcs and goblins and also my first proper session of Kings of War. It was fun. We will do it again.
Filed under: Games in Progress | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Kings of War, Warmaster | Leave a comment »
Early August is a little late for this, but whatever.
On February 1st last I put up a post about my hobby plans for 2012. I listed a number of projects that I thought would likely be tackled this year. As part of the mission statement for this blog is to get a clearer picture of my hobby output and stick-to-it-ness levels, today I am going to review my progress so far.
Firstly I will list the items that I thought most likely to be worked on when I wrote the post in early February. Secondly I will list other projects that have come to the fore unexpectedly and that have in turn reduced output on some projects that seemed like safe bets at the start of the year. Try to stay awake. Just look at the picture perhaps.
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The predicted projects last February were:
Adeptus Mechanicus: I have only got a pair of figures for this project finished, although I did get some other preparatory work done on it.
I am not too worried about slow progress on this one. I have enough long term interest in it to reckon that it will bubble to the top sooner rather than later. I also quite like the monochrome look that these figures have, although I dont know if it translates very well to the photos.
Gears of War: No progress.
Dreadfleet: No progress.
Judge Dredd: No progress. This is a little unexpected really and a little disappointing as a result. The time that seemed likely to be spent on this project has been eaten up by a couple of unexpected out-of-the-blue projects, as shown below.
Inquisitor Warbands: Slow progress here, although as this project dovetails with the Adeptus Mechanicus above and the Veer-myn and Space Dwarfs below it isnt really static. But as far as actual Inquisitorial retinues go, its really just these two figures shown.
Standard Falls post-apocalyptic terrain: No further progress on the shanties worth talking about. I will get a bout of enthusiasm for it at some unknown point in the future and plough through the remaining bits that I have.
Zuzzy Mats: Completed.
Although the urban mat is still waiting for the appropriate terrain before it gets used properly, the wasteland terrain has been used for about thirty or so games of Malifaux since it got finished, which is satisfying.
Of note is that the Wasteland mat is currently showing zero signs of wear, which makes me about as happy as I can get from my toy soldier stuff frankly. The mat adds immeasurably to the visual aesthetic of the games that I have played on it and it looks durable enough to last for quite some time yet. Hooray.
Unusually the mat hasnt been used to play a dice game yet due to Malifaux using card decks as its random number generator. Tomorrow is scheduled to be the first time that dice will be rolled on the mat (via Kings of War, which involves large quantities of dice) and sad as it sounds, I am actually looking forward specifically to that bit.
Yeah its pretty dorky, but if you dont like dorky stuff then what the flip are you reading this for? 🙂
Graveyard Terrain: 90% complete. Other than an afternoon spent working on making some more strips of gravestones, this project is complete. Like the wasteland Zuzzy mat above, this terrain has been involved in a decent number of games already, which increases satisfaction levels. Another success story, go me.
Colonial Marines: All the stuff is bought and has been sitting in a box ready to go for about two years now I think, but as yet nothing to show.
This project has become a running joke of sorts in my mancave. It is a monkey on my back that I will have to spank soon. But right now I dont know when. Bah.
Riddick: Completed. The entire single figure project has been bought, cleaned, assembled, undercoated, painted, varnished, based, photographed, blogged and put in the display cabinet.
Titans: No progress. No prediction of possible delivery date.
Zombies: The closest things to zombies that I have finished this year are the Dark Judges. I get a warm fuzzy from looking at my own painted versions of icons from my childhood 🙂
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Unexpected projects that got done this year are as follows:
Malifaux: Getting regular local games of Malifaux played since February has been a big motivator and time sink. Although I havent got many Malifaux figures painted I am pretty pleased with the figures that I have finished so far. Malifaux games are the reason that the Zuzzy mats and Graveyard terrain shown above got completed too.
I have plenty more figures for this in the pipeline too.
Veer-myn: After I returned from my 2012 trip to Salute I felt compelled to paint something other than Malifaux for a while. Firstly I painted the Veermyn that came with the Project Pandora game.
Space Dwarfs: After the enjoyable process of painting the Veer-myn, for reasons that I am still unsure of I decided to paint space dwarfs. They came out well I think though: they have a Rogue Trader vibe.
10mm Fantasy: The most recent project that I have been working on is 10mm fantasy. As a pair of the old guard dug out their Warmaster armies and have been playing Kings of War with them, so I decided to get in on that too.
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So thats the output for the first seven months of 2012. Totals are ~70 miniatures and ~55 terrain elements (which vary from a 28mm book to 6×4′ terrain mats).
Not bad I reckon 🙂 I slumped and got nothing done from September to Xmas last year though, so it will be interesting to see if this higgledy piggledy approach, regularly chopping and changing from one project to another rather than forcing myself to work on specific things when my enthusiasm wanes will make a slump more or less likely to happen. We shall see.
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Filed under: Editorial | Tagged: 2012 | 6 Comments »
Saruman the White
Saruman today. Another Copplestone figure, this guy was a pleasure to paint. Lovely sharp detail and nice deep recesses, the figure lent itself to my painting style rather well I think.
The robes go from black through to a very light cream (GC Off White). The high contrast may not be terribly realistic, but it does make the detail on the figure stand out easily from a few feet away.
“There will be no dawn… for men.”
I made an effort to paint eyebrows on this figure, which was a bit risky. Mainly I did it because the look of the character when played by Christopher Lee in the movies relies heavily on the big black bushy eyebrows and black ‘tasche. So I thought that I would give it a go in 10mm for fun.
I think that this is the figure that I found most enjoyable to paint in this project so far 🙂
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Fantasy, Kings of War, Lord of the Rings, Orcs & Goblins, Warmaster | 6 Comments »
After a phase of chaotic mancave reorganising I got the place ready for gaming in again over the weekend. After a couple of games of Malifaux today I cleared up enough space to take a group shot of my 10mm orc, goblin and general evildoers army.
I have plenty more additions to the force in the pipeline, but here is everything completed to date. Not too bad at all ocnsidering everything in it has been assembled and painted this month so far.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Fantasy, Kings of War, Lord of the Rings, Orcs & Goblins, Warmaster | 4 Comments »
Mounted Nazgul
Nazgul mounted on Fell Beast
My first unit of Orcs…
…and how those orcs look alongside last weeks goblins.
Orc heroes alongside last weeks goblin shaman.
My first unit of wolf rider goblin cavalry.
My stone thrower (along with Sweetums-like propulsion system…
… and a shot from the side to show the brains of the artillery unit.
I am enjoying this project a lot. The turnover rate is rapid, allowing me to get to paint units with a little bit of care while still amassing a force reasonably quickly: very satisfying.
Comments and criticisms all happily received. If anyone has any questions about the stuff shown then let me know.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Fantasy, Hordes of the Things, Kings of War, Orcs & Goblins, Warmaster | 6 Comments »
Real life has been kicking me in the nuts a bit lately, so I havent managed to get any photos of my most recent 10mm fantasy stuff taken yet. There are quite a few new things coming though.
In the meantime I will direct you to the blog that a long term gaming crony of mine has been getting up and running recently.
My orcs rounds the mountain into insult hurling range of TheOttoVonBismarks halberdiers.
The Otto Von Bismark (also known as SOS around here occasionally) has recently been documenting various attempts at gaming with 10mm fantasy figures. The system that has been getting the most love has turned out the be one designed for use with 28mm stuff: Kings of War.
It seems to be suiting our group for now, with its quick and streamlined play. Its early days yet, but it has been working better than many other systems that we have tried over the years. Its free too (although there is a new and rather nice hardback rulebook thats worth a look). The free stuff is available here.
Some photos of my new 10mm bad guys will be up soon. They are fully painted and all that, so its just photography time required.
Filed under: Editorial, Game Rules | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Fantasy, Kings of War | Leave a comment »
War Trolls
The next addition to my growing 10mm horde is these Copplestone War Trolls. These are very nicely sculpted figures that were pleasant to paint and I recommend them without any serious hesitation. I do have a couple of minor gripes though.
The sculpts have nice faces that have a characteristic Copplestone style to them. The detail on the models is crisp although the designer has kept the figures quite clean: there are not many extraneous details.
Normally I like a minimalist miniature design approach as it speeds painting along. Extra detail does not always equal more character (Games Workshop please take note). In the case of these trolls however, I think that it was a minor error.
Because these figures are quite large (as 10mm trolls go at least) and because there are few details on the figures that demonstrate scale other than the occasional skull on their belt (which could be a skull from a fantasy creature of any size really), it is easy to mistake these guys for 25mm or short 28mm figures.
The shields are the main culprits here: the shield looks plain enough to be a 60cm diameter Roman parma rather than the two metre diameter, livestock/vehicle/you-and-your-family flattening piece of ordnance that a creature of that size would likely carry.
Also the fact that the plain shields and weapons look somewhat factory produced is somehow incongruous with the primitive looking trolls. I know that Mordor and the like seem to have quite efficient production facilities (no union presence is a factor Id say) but the pairing of those weapons and those trolls doesnt sit quite right with me.
“Shhh! I dont think he’s seen us…”
Painting was straightforward. I considered painting them a shade of green but the scaly shoulders, knees and arse were obviously designed under influence from the troll design in the Lord of the Rings movies, so I went with an approximation of that. I enjoy painting pale flesh tones anyway.
In Warmaster troll sized creatures tend to be mounted three to a base. As these figures are being prepped primarily for that game that was the plan.
Unlike when painting 28mm figures, I paint miniatures at this scale separately from their bases and attach them afterwards, so that I can get at the awkward areas while painting. Thats what I did with these guys too.
Trying to get three big guys like these to stand together on the same base was awkward. Awkward enough in fact for me to swear passionately when I manged to knock all nine trolls onto the wooden floor while trying to perch them delicately on their bases without cover each other with glue.
Once the tears had dried sufficiently for me to cover up the damaged paintwork as well as I could I finally got them stuck down and based.
20:20 hindsight tells me that I should have simply mounted the figures two to a base and added either scenic pieces or the occasional goblin or orc to add scale, but its too late to do that now.
“RrrrAAaaaARRrrrgh!!!”
Despite all of my whining I still like these guys quite a bit. Their particularly massive stature makes them look rather threatening alongside the front of my second goblin unit.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Fantasy, Hordes of the Things, Orcs & Goblins, Song of Armies and Hordes, Warmaster | 8 Comments »
Insert Mockney Quote Here.
This is a quick post to show my second unit of 10mm Goblins. They were painted at the same time as the first unit, so everything that I said about them applies to these guys too.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Battle of Five Armies, Hordes of the Things, Orcs & Goblins, Warmaster | Leave a comment »
My first finished 10mm unit.
As mentioned earlier this week one of my bi-decade forays into fantasy miniatures has begun. This time its 10mm orcs and goblins based as regiments rather than individually, hopefully for use in a variety of games. This unit of little guys plus their shaman chaperone are the first off the conveyor.
Apart from the leader models in the regiments the figures are from the GW Battle of Five Armies boxed set. The majority of the models in that box are slightly smaller than their GW Warmaster equivalents, but not so much that it bothers me, doubly so in the case of goblins. As long as the little guys are smaller than the orcs that they hang out with and the humans that they want to eat, then I dont really mind what size they are as long as they look reasonably malignant.
An obliging Chaos Space Marine models the Summer 2012 Goblin Collection.
Each BoFA troop type is represented by two strips of plastic infantry or cavalry. Unfortunately only one strip is supplied for each troop type which results in a cookie cutter look when they rank up. This is little bit of a pity. If there were even two strips for each unit then enough variation could easily be incorporated into units to draw the eye away from the cloned look.
On the other hand, if the goblins are anything to go by then the figures in the BoFA box paint up very satisfyingly. The sculpts are clean and less comical than the Warmaster goblins, if that sort of thing appeals (I would be happy with either really).
To give a little more identity to the units I cut the plastic troop strip down and added a Warmaster Night Goblin and accessory (a squig) to the front rank of the front base of the three base strong unit.
These additions dont mean anything specific in rules terms, but make the units a little more recognisable and more interesting to paint. I imagine that scale purists might feel that the Warmaster gobbos look a little stylistically inconsistent with their weaker underlings. This bothers me not one iota.
LotR Goblins (from lotr.wikia.com)
I made up the colour scheme for these figures on the fly. I knew that they had to be dark but not so dark as to be indistinct.
I enjoy the Lord of the Rings movies (I watched them for inspiration while painting these miniatures) but I feel that the evil forces on those films are just a little too hard to see due to the very restrained palette used. The most obviously noticeable variation from goblin to goblin is usually their skin tone which varies from grey to green to red to black.
The photo above illustrates what I mean adequately enough: even in daylight the goblins are almost monochrome.
A decision to make the evil LotR movie forces look murky and to ensure that everything from their flesh to their garments to their armour and weapons were similar tones must have been made somewhere during production of the movies. I suspect that the urge to make sure that the bad guys looked menacing rather than comical (which would have upset the tone of the series badly) was the driving factor. The colour scheme for my bunch of 10mm bad guys had different goals.
I decided to go for a more traditional toy soldier-y, distinct-on-the-tabletop look for these guys. Quite bright green skin tones and red focal points work to lift the black/grey/brown outfits. Highlights were applied quite harshly as they simply dont show otherwise. I may not have made the highlights bright enough to show up on a table three feet away anyway, but it pleases me to add that level of detail all the same.
So while my goblins are wearing mainly black outfits with mid-to-dark metallic areas they also feature a fair bit of red, mainly on shields. Its a little bit cartoony perhaps, but it makes the tiny little guys more interesting to look at en masse. With just black and green they looked uninspiring.
“Ah’m a witch doc-tah!”
Speaking of uninspiring, the shaman model (also plastic and from the Five Armies box) is is the opposite I reckon: he is a cool looking little guy who stands out on the tabletop, partly because of his round base but also because of his cloak and skull topped, shamanistic accoutrements.
Painting this malignant little turd was my reward for painting the rank and file. I enjoyed painting the figure and I think that it shows. I still havent named him (or any of his colleagues) yet though. Like getting some half decent photos of the army as it grows, all in good time.
Next up will likely be either be my first unit of trolls or my first unit of orcs, I havent decided which yet.
Comments and criticisms all happily received 🙂
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Battle of Five Armies, Fantasy, Hordes of the Things, Orcs & Goblins, Song of Armies and Hordes, Warmaster | 2 Comments »
Image borrowed from somethingawful.com
I am more of a sci-fi nerd than a fantasy nerd. Observing this distinction renders me a quantum nerd.
Although I have read a number of fantasy books and played numerous fantasy games over the years, I would always rather that a setting included a robot than it included a horse. A robot horse would be ideal.
Robot House HORSE!”
My enthusiasm for Warhammer 40,000 and Star Wars confuses the issue further, as both settings are very much science fantasy or space opera rather than hard sci-fi.
With that predilection in mind, and with Monte Figuero ever expanding, I traded away 99% of my unpainted 28mm fantasy figures earlier this year. One of the few fantasy projects that I held on to was my 10mm stuff. Even more surprising is that I have actually done some work on them.
SOS (AKA The Otto Von Bismark) and MT have had Warmaster armies painted up for a decade or so. MT was kind enough to donate the core of an Orc and Goblin army that he knew that he would never get around to painting a couple of years ago. I subsequently added some more bits and pieces from various 10mm sources to the Warmaster models that he gave me, so I have loads to keep me going for now.
I hope to get some Warmaster played with these figures. I would also like to try Hordes of the Things and the upcoming Song of Armies and Hordes from Ganesha Games too. Mantics Kings of War looks like a system very well suited to that scale and base configuration (despite the fact that it was developed for a company to help them to sell 28mm figs) so I plan to try that out also.
Some photos of my 10mm Orcs and Goblins should be posted up here later this week.
Filed under: Editorial | Tagged: 10mm, 2012, Fantasy, Hordes of the Things, Kings of War, Song of Armies and Hordes, Warmaster | 2 Comments »
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