Terrain is everything - Sector Imperialis Administratum - TO DONE! White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Sector Imperialis Administratum. I know, I know, the blog has been quiet but its not been a priority as I've had some interviews to prepare for and upgrading the Man Cave, which has taken all of the Queen's Jubilee weekend so I don't even know if she won or anything - no spoilers, I'll watch the season finale on catch-up 😂 

I'll just try and get this out of the way so you can see the pics against a white background. Check out the faked lenses using multiple thick coats of VerniDas Gloss Varnish.

 Again, the Dirty Down Rust was abandoned in favour of a mix of Vallejo Rust Wash and Secret Weapon Pigments Rust Orange, with some additional sepia and dark brown streaks. 

Sure I want the Dirty Down to do it's party trick, but I'm OK with this too.

It turned out really well

because partway through it was just OK. Som additional weathering just lifted it onto that next level.

But the inside, oh my! I just love it.

Despite all the hard work and grind of painting such a large and detailed 'miniature' I'm minded to build up my Shrine of the Aquila and get that painted too.

It would certainly be something to add to my #ArmiesOnParade board. And yet, I was offered £140 for it! I got it with some vouchers for £30 when I could see it might be discontinued.

Part of me is wedded to making it and painting it because I see it as a gift. Theoretically I could decide to sell it and it may even increase in value, although red terrain might actually reduce its value!

Most likely it would ensure I didn't sell it as I can't bear to part with anything I've painted I may one day do a Twitter poll to see what to do. 

Anyway, lots of lovely pics for you to check out, hope you like them.

Terrain is everything - Sector Imperialis Administratum - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Sector Imperialis Administratum. It's funny, the Blessed Verdigris has always felt like a step too far on these terrain pieces. The brown underneath always felt sufficient, yet I think it really works here. Despite an abundance of turquoise I'm happy with the result. 

The door itself wasn't as weathered, which fits with my Sanctum Imperialis. I am looking forward to seeing these alongside each other and how they sit together #ArmiesOnParade baby!

Now, I had ordered the mythical 'liquid talent in a bottle' Dirty Down Rust to play around with on these AC and heating units. Unfortunately they did not perform. Starting with a dark brown only the most yellow of the rust showed up. Multiple coats, reactivation with water, thick or thin application I only got yellow rust in tiny amounts. Whether that is because of the dark base, or the fact I applied a matt varnish beforehand that somehow prevented whatever alchemical reaction that causes the rusty goodness I don't know. So, I resorted to my Secret Weapon Rust Orange Pigment, mixed with Vallejo Model Wash Rust.

I'm down with this rust though, especially with the streaks that are dripping off the bottom over the verdigris. I briefly considered shading the rivets, but there are just too many of them. Not that the challenge wasn't worthy, I just felt there would be far too much visual noise with every rivet shaded. Some have some rusty leaks, but for the most part they're just highlighted. The dials have been filled with multiple layers of Vernidas gloss varnish. It shrinks like most varnishes, but far less, so you can get these almost glass lens results, which I really like.

And from the inside, much less weathering, which is also pretty cool.

I love how the floor tiles came out. It certainly would have been too much to have the internal wall and floor in this colour. It made a lot more sense to make the differentiation here than justify how the walls were a different colour on the inside, even when they're clearly represented as a rockcrete fascia on top of a metal core.

The yellow pipework was also a bit of fun, and the fastening and some of the stripes embossed on the cable made breaking it up with black hark back to my Knights and eventually my small AdMech force.

This top piece isn't attached, so it can always be removed to create an additional terrain piece if needed.

So much detail, hence why I will be putting this down as a 'Lord of War or Behemoth' in my hobby Bingo scoring sheet. I've plenty of terrain to score and this is much bigger than just a Munitorum Container.

The smaller corner piece as well, that's part of the whole, I haven't scored that seperately.

I just love how this came out. Again the Dirty Down had to be covered up but it's a learning experience and I;m sure I'll find the right way to use it eventually. It certainly stinks, no one mentions that in the videos, quite acrid, bleurgh!

I glossed all the buttons and that broken lens on the controller is Tamiya Clear Green X-25.

I also used Tamiya Clear Re X-27 and Clear Orange X-26 in places too.

So, here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamps of Approval! White pics to follow.

Blood Bowl - Halfling Team - White Shirts

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've done a bit more #paintingwarhammer on my Halfling #BloodBowl team. It was June 2021 they last got attention and painting all their uniform white is the first step of then doing their Fluoro Magenta, as seen on the right.

I also added orange to their shoulder pads, which will eventually be yellow. Half with orange trim, half will be brown. I don't know why I'm differentiating them but I am. 

There are also some decisions to be made about helmets and pans. Whether I want them to be as if they were the actually cooking utensils, hastily pressed into service, fully painted to match their uniform, or half and half - a quick splash of paint to show it had served the Hopeful well in a pinch and now it was his lucky colander.

No doubt I'll do a mix of all of these, but it's pink next and oh boy, these will look insanely different in the next update 😎

Battle Report - Middle Earth Battle Companies - Moria Goblins Vs Rohirrim [and Orcs] again

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity - I've been playing Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game again at Otty's. This predates the painted Blackshield, at this stage he was still in his primer state. We don't usually play with unpainted minis, but at least it made him easy to identify. We rolled the mission where a part of Orcs are defending an outpost, I've played it before. Liam was reluctant to play the Orc party again but we bullied him into it as having either of us take charge would have been biased one way or another.

I got my Goblins up to the palisade sharpish, all my sword and shield guys back up by 'spearmen'. Yep, that Blackshield stuck out like a sore thumb!

My Archers held the high ground and I now have two Wargs that skirted round the pailsade, using their speed to go the long way round, rather than get stalled mounting the fence.

Otty had most of his Rohirrim assault the fence, with his two cavalry following my Warg tactic to go round the edges.

I managed to get over the fence - rerolls and +1 to climb tests is handy with these Goblins. It at least makes up for their slow movement normally. The Wargs got into the compound and I had to move the archers down because I needed more bodies to get into the outpost as Otty was starting to pile in.

Despite my extra bodies Otty was doing a much better job of getting his warriors inside the outpost boundaries. There was a lot of careful noting of how many Orcs were left. As soon as it dipped below 50% it could trigger the end of the game on a D6 - 1 or 2.

Sorry, no more pics. I was really lucky to have wiped out my Orcs, and get all my army inside. But I was also unlucky in my Warlord got wounded. So I had the numbers, but the game didn't end. Which prompted Otty to come for me. His only option was to kill enough of my Goblins so he had superiority, unfortunately he couldn't make it stick and it would end on the D6 and I won, despite having the lower points value, which got me even more benefits to grow my warband.

It was a little disappointing that this game took so long Liam didn't get a chance to play his own army, but I had so much fun playing. The system is really simple, there's a lot of nuance in movement but we're getting the hang of it. Dice rolls can be pivotal in places but they are hilarious when it goes wrong - for priority or 'in the way' rolls. I also ended up with my Warlord injuring his leg, so he now has -1" to his movement. We have such a laugh playing, I never thought I'd get into this but the proof is in the playing. Sadly, I'm not sure I could say the same about 40k at the moment. It's not a competition though, it's just investing and painting all these 40k figures and yet 20 Moria Goblins painted in a few hours and some borrowed Wargs are giving me so much more enjoyment.

Middle Earth Moria Goblin Blackshield - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Moria Goblin Blackshield. My friend Otty built him from some Viking/Barbarian plastic kit.

He then made a bigger shield, gluing two Goblin shields together, making a press mould and creating this Milliput shield for his namesake.

He sculpted on the Warg pelt they're also famed for having to differentiate themselves from basic Goblins.

And it was an hour or so, just to paint this fella up. I've another 2 to do that he's made since he gave me this one.

OK, he's a bit bigger than the normal goblin. But that makes it stand out. Really, he's that hench he should probably be my leader rather than just a 1st level suped-up standard guy. But it doesn't really matter.

So, here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Big Build Base Stamp of Approval!

And here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Minor Stamp of Approval!

Battle Report - Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game - Amon Hen

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity - I've been playing Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game again at Otty's. I don't know if it's clear from the pictures, but he is very much a fan of both the game and the setting. This is his Amon Hen board and he's been playing the scenario of Frodo and Aragorn escaping the Uruk Hai with anyone who'll give it a go. I hadn't played in a while so it was my turn, with Liam playing the Uruk Hai.

Aragorn has a special rule to March, adding 3" to your move and those of anyone else around him, so long as they end up within 6" of him. So, both he and Frodo made good pace down the path, Aragorn moving 9" and Frodo 7".

But the Uruk Hai were hot on their heels as almost all of Liam's orcs came on, but from the back of the board, behind the ruins [not ideal for him, but great for me]. Frodo had to negotiate the turn in the path, slowing him down. I could have jumped straight off the rock face but he could have been injured or equally stalled.

Unfortunately this allowed the orcs to catch up and they were getting very close to the ringbearer

He was just about keeping up with Aragorn, but suddenly an orc appeared in the bushes attempting to slow them down.

There was nothing for it, Frodo panicked and put on the ring, to avoid the orcs, who started to swarm where they thought he was. Aragorn had broken through, getting so close to the river edge and escape.

But he couldn't leave Frodo and waded back into the swarming melee to save him. 

It was not meant to be and the weight of their foul numbers brought him to his knees. The Fellowship was broken, the King would not return - Middle Earth was lost to the forces of evil. Well, it's a good job there's a multiverse as if this is how the first film ended a billion dollars of revenue would have gone begging! A lot of fun though.

We followed this up with a quick game with our warbands. We've reset the campaign map, but still keeping our units as they were. I was playing against his elves I think. Unfortunately I only appear to have the one picture and can't seem to recall what happened. I know he had two archers in the cate tower, who were really annoying and my Warg had some fun climbing the battlements. 

I did end up with some advancements for my Goblins, one has been promoted to a Blackshield, which Otty said he'd kindly make for me. More to come as this was a lot of fun to do again. It's weird because it doesn't matter too much whether I win or lose, the characters still advance and even their injuries can confer bonuses. The simplicity and rare re-rolls are also appealing as it makes it much easier to play and far more balanced and fulfilling than my recent 40k experiences. It feels particularly unfair of me to somehow still view this as a secondary choice than 40k. The reality is I'm having far more fun playing it.