Monday 31 October 2022

12 year anniversary

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been blogging for 12 years now!


That's right, 12 years! Who'd have thought it? And, in a couple of months I'll hit my 2,000th post the whole thing is surreal. As much as I'm using social media more for hobby related content and interacting with other hobbyists I believe blogging is still the best way to share what I'm doing and I've seen Twitter hobbyists also see the benefit of having a more bespoke space. With so many people looking at Elon's purchase of Twitter with dismay and the weirdness of Twitter maybe the humble blog will see a revival?

Regardless, I'm still here, still plugging away. My only issue is time at the moment - finding time to get down everything that's in my head that I need to extricate like the digital pensieve I've always used it as. The ability to write and post whatever I want and not be stuck to just a few characters or photo limit is a blessing, and a curse - I've never been good at editing my own content! 😂 But I heartily recommend it for all those wary of the new digi-social order. It may not be as popular and wide reaching as those other channels but the majority of the things your fear or despair most about them I've found are almost completely absent blogging. If you've thought about it, give it a go.

However, in the real world I'll be starting a new job in December, which may or may not have an impact on the blog, too early to say yet. I hope it doesn't but I really have to step up as I've been 19 years in my current employ so it's a huge leap of faith I'm taking and it will either be no different to what I'm currently doing or a massive culture shock. I'll be doing a 'What's on my palette' post soon, to try and take stock after the months of solid work I put in trying to finish my #ArmiesOnParade and #DreadTober commitments, which will also require posts. So there's still content expected. 

All that's left to say is thanks to those who follow, read and comment on the blog. As I've said many times I don't do this for likes, hits or any similar acclaim, but I appreciate the support I've had throughout the dozen years I've been sending my hobby missives out into the void. If you've taken any enjoyment in what I've done that's good enough for me. All I ever wanted to do was open up and share what I do, the fact it might help someone or inspire them gives me more joy than I could ever imagine. Thanks for keeping it going.

Thursday 27 October 2022

#DreadTober - Dark Angels - Ravenwing Attack Bikes, bikes and Primaris Chaplain - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's still the fourth of DreadTober and my Ravenwing are TO DONE! I've had #ArmiesOnParade at my local store and will share pics soon, but for now, here are the bikes.


After completing the Bloat Drone my DreadTober stretch goal were at least these 3 Ravenwing Attack Bikes, so that was a relief to achieve.


I also had 2 Munitorum Containers, I did not meet that goal but finished one of them sufficiently that it did not look incomplete, I will in due course though.


I made compromises in the painting of the Attack bike and will highlight those in the white pics. But whatever shortcuts I made I'm happy with the result. 


The blending of the highlights might not be up to my usual standard, but I'm not sure it's that noticeable on the tabletop, so I can live with it.


I'm just glad they're complete and should I ever actually want to play I hope they get some use as I believe they're considered quite cost effective and useful on the battlefield.


I also got this lone biker done as he was the most progressed out of all the bikers and Black Knights I had.


It wasn't too much of a stretch to add him to the pile.


Unfortunately I feel somewhat burnt out with all the effort and I really don't want to face the remaining bikers. 


I had to make the hard choice to get these done or not finish and the downside is I got them done, I just don't want to finish the remainder.


The Chaplain is such a great model and it formed a great centrepiece HQ to face the Lord of Contagion in my display.


Despite the Primaris size he manages to fit in with the rest of my Ravenwing, even with them being on the old capsule bases rather than the slightly bigger ovals they now come on.


I'm also glad the orange weathering powder looks OK too.


It's a worry it'll look too much like rust but I think it comes across as RED PLANET dust in the treads of the tyres.


I have a lone Zoanthrope I may want to paint to try to get something different done. It might help me get back to the Ravenwing.


But I've got a number of real-life things ongoing that I feel I might need to spend more time focussing on me for a bit, we'll see.


OK, I don't usually partake of the GREAT Big Major Project RUSTY Stamp of Approval but with this mix of TO DONES! it seems appropriate for the Attack Bikes.


While the lone biker scores me a GREAT Big Minor Project RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the 2022/23 Hobby Season.


And the Primaris Chaplain on Bike receives a GREAT Big RUSTY Stamp of Approval..
That's it for DreadTober 2022:
  • Foetid Bloat Drone
  • 3x Ravenwing Attack Bikes
  • 1x Ravenwing Biker
  • 1x Primaris Chaplain on Bike

Friday 21 October 2022

#DreadTober - Dark Angels - Ravenwing Attack Bikes, bikes and Primaris Chaplain - All your base - BIG BUILD TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's still the third of DreadTober and  my Ravenwing need Red Planet BASE! I know my Death Guard are all tar based but there is still some Ferron Proxima red stone. My Armies on Parade board would have benefitted forms some transitional pieces with tar on the red but time escapes me.


These had been quite a daunting prospect - plain 70mm MDF bases needing to look similar to my various debris strewn biker bases.


One lesson I learned after putting my sand mix on the base on the right below was to add some tile adhesive grout to the flat areas on the one on the left and one above. Just a mound to break up the flatness that made it painfully obvious it was an MDF base. The two bits of rusty debris [made from a broken up plastic dryer ball] helped disguise the flatness to the right one in the end. I also tried really hard with Dirty Down Rust on those two pieces of debris, following Peachy's advice. I gave the pot such a shake, holding it up to the light so I could see no unmixed paint at the bottom - laid it onto a Vallejo Game Effects Dry Rust base and then heated with a hobby heat gun - still no rust! I'll get there eventually, silver base next time. This was weathering powder and Vallejo Model Wash again.


Primaris Chaplain base too.


And the lone biker.


I also did the bases for my Adeptus Titanicus Cerastus Lancer, a Tyranid Zoanthrope and most of the other 5 bike bases. However, they have a lot more debris and detailing on that I couldn't find the time to tackle before AoP. So, for now I just get a Great Big Big Build BASE RUSTY Stamp of Approval. 



Wednesday 19 October 2022

#DreadTober - Dark Angels - Ravenwing Attack Bikes, bikes and Primaris Chaplain - highlights

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's now the third of DreadTober and with my Bloat Drone TO DONE! I'm back to my Ravenwing.


You should all be well aware I've found this project overwhelming - too much at once which made it much easier to jump to other projects and put this repeatedly on hold.


However, Armies on Parade and Dreadtober have given me additional motivation to push on through. As much as I think you should 'go with the flow' and paint what ever is your muse at that moment in time there are situations where you have to wade through the projects that you just can't get going on.


So, I focused on the Attack Bikes, the Primaris Chaplain on a bike and after some more highlights just one additional bike. That sounds odd but it made sense at the time because I'd done the first set of black highlights on it so it wasn't too hard to do the rest. 


The remaining 3 Black Knights and 2 bikers have a bit more work to do and so something had to give as I just didn't think I had enough time until AoP. After all the black highlights I decided to glue the sidecar on, which I soon regretted as I'd forgotten I hadn't freehanded the company number 2 on the right shoulder pad - that will be a ball ache to do now they're in-situ.


The 3 Attack Bike riders and the extra biker. Now the highlights appear extremely pronounced at this stage and ordinarily there is an additional black shading that goes on to help blend the highlights, but I didn't bother in the end...


In some areas it's painfully obvious that the transitions are stepped rather than smooth but when the rider is on and with the litanies inscribed on some of the panels it acts to blur some of the lines anyway.


Your eye can't easily parse the tones so it just smooths it all out. I may kick myself for not taking more time over it but I've lived this process and made decisions that I am comfortable with so I'm not going to beat myself up about the - #FinishedNotPerfect


Although I don't have Primaris in my Dark Angel force, this guy is an exception [alongside the Redemptor Dreadnought]. He's an awesome model and as a HQ I can totally accept he is significantly larger than the rest of his brothers and bikers.


I'm surprised how well he's come together actually. He may also work with my Guardians of the Covenant Primaris army, should I ever get round to them so I think the Ravenwing decal from the Indomitus sheet will still be valid.


Next update I need to do the bases for my attack bikes, all the eye lenses, glows for the headlights, rivets on all the bikes [not just the Chaplian], purity seals, litanies, vid screens and those darn freehand company numbers. AoP is this Saturday for me, these are actually completed now so I'm on to Munitorum Containers and catching up with Rings of Power. When it's done I'll have to do my online entry photo shoot and then maybe get the 5 remaining Ravenwing bikes finished. I must admit it feels really annoying to have to go back to a point that if I'd been able to batch as one larger group would be well behind me. But, I might have been overwhelmed again. So, better to have progressed with more to do than started and fallen and the challenge.

Friday 14 October 2022

Not a Battle Report - Middle Earth Battle Companies

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity - I've been playing #MESBG [Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game] at Otty's again. Oh man it's becoming such a tragedy that I don't have the time to complete these battle reports so soon after the event so I have some semblance of what went on. I was playing Liam's elves in this game and once again pivotal dice rolls made the game. I'm not sure I'll be annotating the battle as it happened but just an overall commentary throughout. This was the first time Liam had faced me with the two Cave Trolls, he didn't even know I'd added a second to my warband.


He was not a happy bunny! I think he had 5 or 6 re-rolls because of the lower value of his warband compared to mine.


However, I was very much dreading that I would squander my points advantage and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for most of the game.


It was an accurate portent though as ultimately I did lose. That was in part because I was broken and then most of my army fled the field. 


This gave me a new insight to one of the weaknesses of Moria Goblins that I hadn't really experienced up to this point - their shocking Courage value.


It was also interesting to face Liam's Elves because I was not only reminded once again of how tough some of them are, but how accurate they were with their bows. Their arrows weren't worth anything, but they could hit me all day long.


Eventually some arrows did stick though, hence why I was broken.


But Liam's dice were utterly cursed and this roll elicited a laugh/cry from my throat that I don't think has ever passed my lips before in my entire life.


What didn't help was that some of my dice were absolutely on point. 


And these three 6s did not go down well with whatever squashing, rending or throwing my Goblins and Trolls were attempting at the time.


But ultimately I think his Elves, which had taken up defence in the ruined farmhouse, proved much higher quality than my goblins and the rout followed swiftly.


It was a little frustrating to yet again fail to deliver on both the two Cave Trolls and the significant advantage in points. Liam also gained 5 or 6 bonus Influence points for the win and although I think one of his models died outright he was easily replaced with plenty of Influence left over after maxing out his warband. I foolishly pointed out the Seeing Stone item he could purchase that allows him to roll a D6 every turn and on a 6 he chooses who has priority. An awesome item which reminds me that was the mission - there were scattered relics across the board but I don't think you got anything at the end if you held them. However, it did seem appropriate that he would then have a Seeing Stone in his inventory after such an event. I expect this advice to come back to haunt me at a later date!

Wednesday 12 October 2022

#DreadTober Death Guard Foetid Bloat Drone - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's the second of DreadTober and I've been painting my Bloat Drone. I know this doesn't look too great that less than two weeks in I've completed my pledge but I'm pressured with so few days left until Armies on Parade. It'll be 8 days left today and I'll probably have one evening gaming so only 7 more days to do my Ravenwing Attack Bikes and tweak the Munitorum Containers.


The Containers could be considered part of the pledge alongside the attack bikes but still so much to do. Back to the Bloat Drone and it naturally progressed really quickly. I had a choice to make with the fly icon on the front - rust or Blessed Verdigris and I think I made the right choice with the verdigris.


I really think the turquoise works in this instance. I'd originally wanted to keep that just for my Dark Angels but in the end it adds a little more history and variety to the colour palette. It also helped with fly icon on the gun barrels too.


If I had more Bloat Drones I would consider a paler bladder/body material similar to the Poxwalkers. Although the angry red flesh is what I intended it doesn't feel it has enough depth or variety. I'd have liked a little more underpainting so we would get the illusion of what's going on under the skin. The red is just a little too opaque overall.


But really pleased with the results overall.


Although the eye lens might have been better in orange, the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 red is obviously used on the flesh immediately below. 


I think it adds a layer of confusion about what material the lens actually is. It's a minor annoyance as I really like the lens, it's just confusing to me.


And as revealed in the previous post I also finished these old skool Space Crusade Chaos Space Marines.


Although not 'dread' sized I just needed some more bodies for my Parade and these marines have been sat unpainted for 30+ years.


There's a surprising amount of red in there, almost Khornate on the middle one but I wanted all that panel detail to look like raw exposed flesh, like an open sore.


I;ve also been playing around with my camera apps as I took TO DONE! pics of my Poxwalkers and Camera360 made them so stylised they're almost unrecognisable from the actual models. I'll probably take the pics again.


But Camera360's Velvia filter really gets the high contrast saturated look of my red shots. I've found another app called Ektacam that will also replicate the Fuji Velvia filmstock, but it doesn't smooth out the detail as Camera360 does. Unfortunately it's an old app, not built for the current Android OS and has some incompatibility issues. Any time I try and change the camera ratio it stretches or squishes the image into the new dimensions rather than crops it. It's an annoyance but the results are more consistent for these shots.


So, two more GREAT Big RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the 2022/23 Hobby Season.