Games and Painting, early February

We got some snow this week, which unfortunately saw the postponement of Ambuscade!, which I was quite looking forward to playing in. Nonetheless, I was able to get in a couple Warmachine games.

Grymkin Mirror Match

I played vs. Remy at Guardian on a gorgeous and cold day. He dropped Heretic into my Wanderer list (couldn't be bothered to haul the enormous Old Witch model around). We both played fairly well, but he ran out of time on the clock due to unfamiliarity with his list. Heretic being able to cast Star Crossed off of Wanderer's card was a bit of an unpleasant surprise for me...

Remy's first turn, moving up.

End of game.

I'm not really sure I like the Wanderer. He's got a couple really good tricks (Star Crossed, road markers, Veil of Mists) but aside from those he does very little either himself or for his army. He has no offensive output, and Grymkin doesn't really have enough of a Defense skew to make stacking it via Star Crossed a significant challenge for opponents. Combined, these mean he's not as engaging to play as I'd like. I'm afraid that after this master's league, he probably gets dropped in favor of Dreamer... just like everyone else plays. (Probably paired with King of Nothing or Child because I don't like lugging around Old Witch, even if I love the model.)

Or Skorne. That's hot right now, and I have a large collection I haven't played since Mark 3 came out...

Vs. Trollbloods

Had to drive across town for this one and it was uncomfortably tight; both Dan and I are parents of small children and had to squeeze the game in before school got out. Who knew kids would cramp your gaming lifestyle so much?

He put a Madrak1 Band of Heroes list down against my Wanderer list (see above re: Old Witch model). Scenario was the Pit II, aka "championship belt." Dan took it on scenario; I just didn't have enough offense to get the attrition edge AND contest the left-hand zone.

Early days.

End of game - he's totally dominated the left flank.

Painting

I broke out the airbrush after a long hiatus and tried my first experiment at proper zenithal priming:

And then I finished a couple models for my Dungeons & Dragons game:

Purple Worm!

Shambling Mound!

Pretty happy with how these turned out. Quick, easy, and definitely good enough.

Lessons Learned on Painting

A clickbait-esque meditation on the things I've learned since I started painting miniatures for tabletop games.

Most of the time, it'll be seen from at least three feet away, in poor lighting. And probably by people with less than perfect vision.

An OK paint job and a good base looks twice as good as a great paint job with a lousy base - or no basing at all.

The smaller the figure, the easier the paint job. (But the more you'll have to paint, usually.)

Also, the smaller the figure, the brighter you should make it if you want it to be seen at the usual tabletop distances. For very small figures, such as 6mm, you may want to make sure the figure contrasts with its basing. This can be tricky to pull off well for camouflaged figures...

Contrast makes for good, easy color schemes - whether it's contrast of hue, saturation, or texture.

You're not painting a single figure, you're painting a collection. Consistency in the work will look better on the table than individually beautiful models that present an incoherent whole. (Unless, of course, you are painting a single figure.)

Always work on two projects at the same time. This gives you something to work on while the first job is drying, or curing, or if you're sick to death of painting ambush camo and need to take a break, but still want to paint something.

Never work on more than three projects at the same time. That way you'll actually get stuff done and on the shelf or table, and you can feel a certain sense of accomplishment instead of being overwhelmed by all the unfinished junk staring at you from around the painting table.

It is - as a rule - more satisfying to have a complete army with an ok paint job than to have a few figures with great paint jobs and several more trays of lead waiting to be painted - or worse, fielding them unpainted.

Take breaks. Every 20-30 minutes, stand up, stretch, and look at something that's at least ten feet away for a few minutes.

If it stops being fun, stop doing it.

Painting Update: Summer 2015

It's miserably hot in Portland right now, which means I'll be spending as much time as possible in the basement, where it's cool, painting. The 2015 summer Cog Collective painting challenge is in full swing, so I'll be working toward that as well as polishing off a few unfinished projects that have been taking up space for far too long.

Cog Challenge

For this year, I'm limiting myself to just four projects, and I don't even expect to finish one of them. They are:

Essex post-Mongol Japanese army for DBA

Old Glory Crusaders, for SAGA
These probably won't get done, because I need to order spears and that probably won't happen till August

Krueger the Stormwrath, a Pureblood Warpwolf, and a Shadowhorn Satyr
These are for the summer Journeyman league, and about the only Warmachine models I plan on carrying out from start to finish this summer.

Battlefront WW2 Hungarian infantry, for a commission

As for unfinished projects, they are legion. In order of priority, more or less:

• Skorne Mammoth. Really need this for an anti-Cryx list.
• Kings of War Undead army. Interest in KoW is rising in Portland thanks to the imminent release of 2nd edition as well as GW's release of the very different Age of Sigmar to replace Warhammer Fantasy. This will invovle some rebasing, something I swore I would never do...
• Assorted Minion models for Warmachine - Gatorman Posse, Bog Trog Shamblers, and Efaarit Scouts.
• Not quite unfinished so much as not yet begun, but I have an army of Essex Attalid Pergamenes that I want to get finished so as to have something to throw against my Seleucid force in Field of Glory.

So that's a summer's worth of work, easily. We'll see how much actually gets done.

Starscream for Warmachine

I just finished a rather neat commission. The client wanted some Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth done up in Starscream's color scheme (from Transformers) on the theme that Vindictus is the treacherous, power-grabbing Starscream of the faction. So here they are.

Vice Scrutator Vindictus

Sanctifier Warjack

Errant Exemplar unit + Officer and Standard Bearer

Painting Update: 15mm Blitzkrieg Germans

I didn't get a lot of projects done in October, because I was working on one big project: A 15mm 1940 German infantry company based for Flames of War, for a client through CGR Painters. I'm rather pleased with how much I painted in five weeks, and how it turned out.

The whole thing: 3 infantry platoons, 2 gun platoons, mortars, and machine guns.

Infantry Platoon

Heavy Infantry Gun Platoon

80mm Mortar Platoon

Machine Gun Platoon

Painting Update: Penultimate Seleucids

I finally finished painting - almost - the last two Seleucid units.

Argyraspides - elite "silver shield" phalangites

Cataphracts

I say almost, because I broke one of the silver shields, so there's a base in the back row with only three phalangites and no basing material on it. Need to get a replacement, and I'd like to add some command stands for all three phalanxes. It's a bit ahistorical, but I like the look.

Painting Update: Seleucids

A couple more units join my Seleucid army:

Elephants

Skirmishing archers

Pretty quick to paint up, and elephants on the field are always interesting. All figures by Essex.

Painting Update: Seleucid Thureophoroi, new Skorne to be painted

Making progress, despite some drama that's eaten into my painting time. I've completed the next unit of the Seleucid forces, the thureophoroi from last post:

Now I'm working on some phalangites, and the rest of the Firestorm Armada Dindrenzi fleet:

And I've added a few models to the Journeyman League challenge: Tyrant Zaadesh, the Despoiler, a Void Spirit, and a pair of Reptile Hounds.

Cog Collective Painting, Journeyman League

The Cog Collective painting challenge continues, but now there's a new wrinkle: A Journeyman League. I'm sticking with Skorne for this league, but most of what I'll be painting is Minions:

Since that's a pretty fuzzy phone picture, here's the list, top to bottom:

Gatorman Posse, metal sculpts
Gatorman Posse, new plastic sculpts
Tiberion
Skorne Venator Catapult Crew
Titan Gladiator (the head is currently bathing in acetone to get some superglue off)
Basilisk Drake*
3x Reptile Hounds*
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor*
Gatorman Witch Doctor*
Bog Trog Ambushers

* These models all have one color of paint on them; in the case of the metals, it's because I spilled a pot of silver paint and didn't want it to go too much to waste...

Painting Log: Seleucids update

Of my current projects, I'm enjoying the 15mm Seleucid army the most, I think. I've finished the horse archers:

Begun and finished some slingers:

And begun some thureophoroi, Greek mercenaries named after the shape of their shields:

Cog Collective Summer Painting Challenge, 2014: Week 1

The Cog Collective runs a painting challenge every summer. This year, I'm in.

This week, I'm attempting to finish these figures:

Essex Miniatures 15mm ancient horse archers

Privateer Press Skorne Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Privateer Press Skorne Nihilators

Spartan Games Firestorm Armada Dindrenzi Cruisers

Battlefront Miniatures 15mm World War II German Armored Cars (SdKfz 222 and 223)