From the Desk of Magic Karl

'Nother update? So soon?

2010-08-04T13:58:00.002+01:00

Quick update on progress... due to band and other stuff I've suffered painting-wise, and I also blame the rain for poor lighting. However what's done so far looks fantastic at general level, but also up close it's not an eyesore like my US army... Hard to put details on FoW but I've used NMM on guns and do not regret this choice. The bases also help the case.

So far then I've done 9 medium stands fully, 2 AA trucks w/o crew/ extras and 4 small stands. I've also found a better way of basecoating, so that should pick up.

In other news, I'm working on a FoW board 4'x4' with a road and hill, some forests and maybe a lake. Nothing special, and has room for expansion but I just spent the rest of my summer budget on a new amp... bah humbug.

Now that that's cleared up, update!

2010-08-01T14:52:00.002+01:00

Well that's the Ancients out of the way, time for some 15mm. I'll update more this time as less rushing, even if I have just joined another band.. pfft I don't paint in the evening anyway, lighting's too bad in this room. So let's get an idea of what is to be done:

HQ:
1x Warrior
1x Command
1x 2iC
1x Sniper team

(3x) Rifle Platoons:
6x Rifle/MG Teams
1x Command
1x PIAT
1x Mortar

2x Flakpanzer AA

My target is 1 Rifle platoon a day, and a little bit of commands. So far so good as 2 Rifle stands and a command, PIAT and mortar are done at the time of writing. Apart form the Valejo paints 15mm is much more fun. The basing theme is a rain filled field. Thus lots of dark mud, water effects and sprawling grass.

Later y'all.

Price guide

2010-07-29T15:38:00.002+01:00

Reduced 10% for pre-assembled miniatures

See Key below for guide, Price in brackets per model.

28/25-In- Ba (£0.50), Ob (£0.75), Ge (£1.00), Co (£1.50)*
28/25-Ca- Ba (£0.75), Ob (£1.25), Ge (£1.75), Co (£2.00)*
28/25-Ar- Ba (£0.50), Ob (£0.75), Ge (£1.00), Co (£1.25)
28/25-Fl- Ba (£0.80), Ob (£1.30), Ge (£1.90), Co (£3.00)
28/25-Mo- Ba (£0.75), Ob (£1.25), Ge (£1.75), Co (£3.00)**
28/25-Sp- Ba (£1.00), Ob (£2.00), Ge (£3.00), Co (£5.00), So (£8.00)

15-Sm- Ba (£0.40), Ob (£0.50), Ge (£0.75), Co (£1.25)
15-Me- Ba (£0.50), Ob (£0.75), Ge (£1.00), Co (£1.75)*
15-La- Ba (£0.75), Ob (£1.25), Ge (£1.75)
15-Fl- Ba (£0.80), Ob (£1.30), Ge (£1.90)

*Commander Level available for 1 banner per unit or Characters/ Heroes. Soldier Level will be worked out on request.

**Monster guide applies to Spcial army units on monster bases. Ogre Kingdoms models are mostly monsters and so Soldier level is available on request. This level includes only 40mm bases, 50mm/chariots are special.

Key:
Scale-Type-Level

Scales (mm):
06
15
20
25
28

Types:
In- Infantry
Ca- Cavalry
Ar- Artillery
Sp- Special (tank)
Fl- Flying
Mo- Monster
Sm- Small Stand
Me- Medium Stand/ Tank
La- Large Stand

Level (see Painting Guide):
Ba- Basecoat
Ob- Observer
Ge- General
Co- Commander
So- Soldier

New Painting Guide

2010-07-29T15:05:00.003+01:00

Well I'm not changing my prices, but I thoguht I'd give a guide on levels here. I'm gonna be scrapping the 1,2,3 etc system soon, in favour of this more logical one:

Basecoat*
Observer
General
Commander
Soldier

So what do these mean? Well they're the distance at which you're looking to give an idea of how well they're painted.

Observer Level is a passer by. The level is base colours and a wash with a grass base and painted rim. It is designed to give the illusion of a cohesive army qith quick turn-around and low cost, but details just won't be there. If you only want a fully painted army for tournaments or for friends telling you to get a paintbrush, this is the choice for you.

General Level is gaming standard- details, tri-coloured shadows and highlights but a few mistakes here and there. This is the highest army level I will paint (ie for full units). Standards and shields will be painted with patterns, but don't expect a masterpiece**. An army at general level will look incredible from the gaming participant's standpoint, but up close it may not look so fantastic.

Commander Level is the hero level for a well painted commanding figure. It is detailed to look good at eye level and not just on the battlefield. Freehand on cloaks or extras specified by the client is acceptable here.

Soldier Level is the highest I can do, only available to 1-3 models per army project. This is the model that is to stand out and will include conversions, sculpted parts and the very best of my brushes. Best reserved for a general figure or battle standard, some call this level "display level", though I'm not sure I will be able to replicate actual displays.

*Basecoat Level is the basic colours. You're paying me to start painting, and then you pick up the rest. This level is if you wish to dip your own models or just hate the starting point of assembly, spraying and colouring the large areas. It wouldn't even look good at a distance for a full army in my opinion, but then as an expensive hobby I understnad budgeting. I will only do this level if the amount commissioned outweighs the material costs- no single models.

**Unit standard bearers can be requested at Commander Level if you want special care on the army banners. The model holding the banner will be painted the same as the unit he is with.

I hope this settles it. I wil try and find a way to put this as a permanent link on the sidebar. Anyway, here are my personal reccomendations based on my skill level:

28mm Warhammer fantasy:
Orcs & Goblins, Skaven, Empire, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings or other hordes- Observer level. This allows large armies to be fielded at low cost (minus that GW pricetag!)

Brettonia, Ogre Kingdoms (minus gnoblars)- request at General level with Commander Banners/orge skin for that "elite" look on Bretonnians, and tattoos or skin details on the ogre units given their size.

General level for all others.

15mm Flames of War:
I'd reccomend observer level for infantry companies given the large amount of small models. Who really is ever going to get close enough to see details on them, even as a general? I do personalised bases to my own taste and army theme as a standard on flames of war at no extra cost. This is polyfilla bases with small sand in areas and water effects/ponds, fences, sandbags etc just because I enjoy that. Basecoat level I will only glue models to the bases and not touch polyfilla, but observer or higher it's a default.

25/28mm historical:
My current project is at a midpoint between general and commander level. This is by special request only as I require a lot of research into patterns, colours, skin colour and even breeds of horses. The clothing varies man-to-man which takes up a lot more time than painting uniform and models that are metal require more care than I origionally thought.

Knock knock...

2010-07-25T16:14:00.002+01:00

When Persia controlled Egypt, the egyptian army was comprised mainly of immortals. They were'nt really immortal however, just in denial.

Comission 1

2010-07-08T19:34:00.003+01:00

Done!

I have finished 24 Hoplites and 12 Cavalry. Now onto the many, many archers... I think I've developed enough skill to get them done in another week, even if I have 1 day off for birthday party... yeys!

Pictures:

Commission Update!

2010-07-06T23:12:00.003+01:00

Time for your daily dose of miniatures!

Right to the point today as I'm tired. Spent the day painting all 12 cavalry and have only spears, beards and the occasional red area to do. I also did some more shields for the hoplites, but I'll be working on building up various colours tommorow and thursday, aiming to finish thursday night or firday morning.

Pics!

Commission Update!

2010-07-05T19:32:00.003+01:00

I'm once again puttin down the brush for the evening, as it's getting too dark to paint. I've set out my targets for the week, and am already behind scheduale... in theory. I said I wanted to have 10 Hoplites done by the end of the day, and have finished 6 so far, but I have basecoated the first shades onto the other 18 so that's okay. I've also made a start ont he shields.

From yesterday then, I have done the following:
-Painted 6 Hoplites
-Undercoated 12 Cavalry
-Undercoated all shields
-Basecoated skin and vests of 18 Hoplites.

I also began on basing some FoWs but will not do alot until I have the paints.

Anywho, here's the special shield design. I think I will only do specials on the white shields (there will be 3-5) and otherwise it's the letter Lambda for time constraints, skill constraints and if even one looks bad in a unit of so many it can destroy the overall feel. The Lambda is much more uniform and identifiable to sparta.

Commission update

2010-07-04T17:13:00.004+01:00

So yesterday I spent my few hours between commitments organising the models.

I came up with this diagram to help me base the miniatures... I still have to cut up some shapes though, which I hate.

I also did some cleaning, but not enough to warrant an update.

Today however I have started getting on with it. I have no Uni work, no band and party season is over for now. I also have monday off, which is nice.

Here's the progress report anywho:

(all matched to bases)
-6 Cavalry cleaned
-6 Cavalry in the cleaning tub
-24 Hoplites based and ready to be sprayed
-8 British Rifle stands glued
-5 Command stands glued
-3 PIAT & mortar stands glued
-1 Sniper glued
-1 Character glued

Tomorrow I'm going out to get more glue, maybe paints, maybe even scenery/flock. I'll be needing more polyfilla soon, as I'm using it in good quantity on this commission.

Getting anything sprayed depends on the weather, as my house is exposed to all elements, and even a breeze can knock over a regement or screw up the paint.

Anyways, here are some pictures!

The Army

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m240/mikethemike_2006/?action=view¤t=Archers1.jpg

The Archers

My current target by friday

The Cleaning Process

And some immortals w/archers.

Stafford Games Commission!

2010-07-02T18:33:00.003+01:00

Exciting day for me as it's my first genuine commission to be done. The overall order as of now is:

1x British rifle company (FoW)
60x Persian/Greek Infantry (Vendel)
30x Persian Cavalry (Vendel)
120x Confedarate (Not sure yet)

And I have received my first lot for painting as follows:

1x British Rifle Company
24x Greek Hoplites
12x Persian Cavalry
Mixed Persian archers +8 Immortals

So busy busy busy.

I've just put my knife down for the first day as I need to clean the metal figs before I can move on, so have done:

-Organised and checked the contents of the order
-Matched bases with models
-Removed mold lines off some FoW, 6 Cav and 24 Hoplites. These are currently in the soapy water.

I am allowed to post pics, so expect some later on... maybe when I've cleaned and based everything.

Update!

2010-06-27T13:58:00.003+01:00

I'm getting lazy, I swear. Maybe it's that I've posted this in 2 forums already, or maybe it's that no-one reads this bit anyway. Well, here are the newest photos!

What's been keeping me really

2010-06-19T22:32:00.004+01:00

Okay, so for those 0 of you following me or reading this, I wanna let you know I'm not dead! I've been getting ridicculously long hours at work, and I've started Flames of War. I therefore have so little time to spend on my Wood Elves they're not even out of the shed yet! Besides I have nowhere to put them... my room is just so full of crap and I have no surfaces other than a bass amp. Hopefully things will change soon- world cup is over next week and I'll have 2 days to finish Uni work, I've ordered my 8th edition book, and things will pick up again.

Just to give you an idea about the extent of the last 2 weeks- I did 10 hours today and have worked 7 days a week for 3 weeks. Part time my ass. Also I decided to go for infantry heavy US Rifle company, and have a LOT of models to paint (well over 100 for just the CORE of my army). I live near Stafford Games, the Premier FoW retailer for the UK so I really should be playing that. I'll post pictures when I have painted-
1 Rife Platoon (done)
1 Rifle Platoon (nearly done)
1 Rifle Platoon (started)
1 HQ w/snipers (started)
1 Weapons Platoon (started)

These will be done next week easily, I don't take long to paint them, I just don't have the time or energy.

OH and I will probably not be commentating the rest of the batrep in depth, as I've forgotten a lot of it... I took pics though, so maybe I'll let you the viewers write it for me :p

Suffice to say, there were many elven casualties.

Many.

20/06/10- 2nd Rifle Company finished! 3rd Rifle company based. I'm progressing fastish...

What has been keeping me?

2010-06-14T22:37:00.000+01:00

Flames of War, US Rifle company.

Wood Elves vs Vampires 1k Battle report! Part 1

2010-06-08T12:02:00.003+01:00

So, finally, I bring you the batrep! It's another rainy day, and I had a day to spare thanks to a misunderstanding with training dates, so I thoguht "what the hell?".

Pre-game notes:

I dropped the alter kindred as I couldn't stand the guilt. Vampires rolled Raise Dead and Gaze of Nagash.

Deployment:

Vampires made some strange deployment decisions, putting the vampire next to the Wood Elf-placed forest, WAY out from the rest of the army. Other than that, here's the picture.

On the Wood Elf side we have (Right to left) Glade Riders in a line and Wardancers on the flank:

Then 2 units of Glade Guard on a hill (one in front of the other was a HUGE mistake, more later) with their noble, and Dryads on left.

And finally, Forest Stalkers.

On the vampire side we have the Vampire on the right flank, as shown above. Ghouls and Skeletons are in the center flanked by the Spirit host,

And finally, Zombies and skeletons on the left.

So, deployment done. Next time: Turn 1-2

There might be a hiatus...

2010-06-06T14:32:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm waiting for somone to get back on the topic of a battle report. My games room is outside, and at the bottom of a thin garden and therefore in the rain it would be impossible to take anything down there without damages (the floor gets very slippery). With the unpredicatble british weather I've decided to take everything down today while it's hot, and I've basically set up, so I can't get any painting done until after this report. I will be taking pictures and explaining the tactics etc. It's going to be 1,000 points Wood Elves v Vampires. Because the wood elf list barely reaches 1k (I've had to include the wardancers at 4 with one mantic skeleton standard bearer standing in for the minimum 5th) I've weakened the vampire list. Here, then, are the lists:

Wood Elves 999

Noble 141
Light armour
Great Weapon
Alter Kindred
Bow of Loren

Glade Guard 126
x10
Musician

Glade Guard 132
x10
Musician
Champion

Glade Riders 201
x8
Musician

Dryads 144
x11
Nymph

Wardancers 111
x5
Musician
Champion

Waywatchers 144
x6

Vampires

Vampire 175
Flayed Hauberk
Avatar of Death (Great Weapon)
Winged Horror

White King 75

Skeletons 237
x25
Standard
Musician
Endless Horror

Skeletons 92
x10
Standard
Musician

Ghouls 128
x15
Ghoulkin

Zombies 96
x21
Standard
Musician

Spirit Host 195
x3

So, some fluffy lists indeed. I'm basing the lists on the new percentages rule, but I always do that regardless as I enjoy horde armies for the horde aspect of it. I was afraid to take the spirit host as they eat up a significant portion of the army points, but then Glade riders are the flanking force for the army and have no magic attacks. Also they can survive anything but the dryads and kill many, many elves for some bonuses in combat. The Vampire general was a risk as a winged horror, but I think being able to move is a BIG advantage here, getting into the backs of the Guards.

The wood elf list however is based on what I have, so this should be interesting.

Wood Elves part 5

2010-06-04T17:59:00.001+01:00

Update! So the camera has been absent for a few days, but now it's back and with new techniques for up-close photos. I also have Spyro 1&2, so that's eating into my life. Also... JOB!

Anyways, here are the pictures:

So, to recap:

Painted:
-10 Glade Guard
-11 Dryads
-2 Waywatchers
-1 Wardancer

On the way:
-4 Waywatchers (details and highlights)
-Lord (weapons and sealing)
-10 Glade Guard (undercoated, basic colours & eyes applied)

The Glade riders are on hold 'till last, for a few reasons. Firstly, I hate painting cavalry as I said earlier, secondly the assembly is WAY off thanks to my seller and finally I don't even know how many I will need/want in the final army. I will be painting all of them up anyway, but I'd rather finish everything else (save for the dancers, I might only want 1 unit and therefore have 2 spares) first.

I have to address the lord, as there are some fairly obvious faults int he painting. Obviously, the back has some silver on it because of the pewter hating GW paints. I cleaned the model more than I did the waywatchers, yet this one just will not stay painted in some places. Thus I have to seal the parts, but I only have varnish which makes it shiney, and I don't want that. So I'll do my best, but bear that in mind when you see badly scarred areas.

Karl

I bought the Lord and the, Lord won.

2010-06-01T17:42:00.001+01:00

This song covered by sting's band... Bad jokes aside my lord w/great weapon arrived today! He does look just as dynamic as I thought he would. Unfortunately my metal glue bottle has broken. If his arms fall off during painting then I'm screwed. Anyways I hope to finish him in one sitting, and as soon as he's done I will get a battle report up. I think I'll be fighting myself, but it's only to see where the army's going. You'll also get some good full army pics of 2-3 armies, mostly painted. Wood elves will be painted by the end of the month, but vampires are nearly done and lizardmen I doubt I will be touching for a while. Pictures will come later when all the glue/ green stuff has dried.

On the other hand...

2010-05-31T15:00:00.000+01:00

Contrary to the last post, I've thought about how my painting skills have developed, and deicded to undertake a great refurbishment. Dryads will be left as is for now, I'll clean them up later but they're as I want them. GG however (and waywatchers) I will be adding eyes, highlighting hair, brightening the weapons and cleaning the cloak blending up, as it's a bit obviously painted as it stands. I am happy with the first model I've done this to, although some features still don't look as good as I'd like, I'm not a pro painter and not pretending I am. Thinning paints to me is still a messy and pointless process as I can't control the paint with the brushes I have at the moment. Also the assembly cracks are still showing and there's very little I can do about that, but I'm selling the army at sub-standard price anyway, so there shouldn't be any complaints.

Karl

My plan...

2010-05-31T11:36:00.000+01:00

Alrighty, so it is at this stage that I can see the flaws in a pre-assembled miniature, and really it just won't do for me. I've also developed a lot of techniques during this time, and I think now that I have the hang of it, I can look back on the first miniatures I painted for this project and say "crap". It is this reason that makes me want to put all the plastics back on eBay as soon as they're painted at batallion price. I think if you're selling a painted miniature it must be; pro-painted, cheaper or a full army. So I don't know how well I can pull this off. But anyway, with whatever I make on these I will buy a new batallion and start again at a higher standard all around.

That is all.

Wood Elves part 4

2010-05-30T19:21:00.001+01:00

Then again, why withhold pictures on my own blog? Especially as noone is reading this yet... I guess I should start linking people to it? Later. When there's more to see.

On the skyscape, I've got a friend who will paint me a backdrop, which means I can add it to the list of things "on their way"

So here's the progress report:

Painted:
-11 Dryads
-2 Waywatchers
-8 Glade Guard
-1 Citadel Wood
-1 Wardancer

2 more glad guard are on their way, but having gona over the pictures I really need to detail some more of the done ones. I think I'll get them painted for now, and then I can concentrate on final uni work, girlfriend and detailing. I'm also trying my hand at sculpting, song writing and other crap.

Anyways, here are the Dryads completed;

Well there you go. Not much more to say tonight, I'll get those glad guard done for tommorow, and start on the 2nd regement. I want to get the movement trays done soon, but am still struggling to find the materials. Darn you Stafford!

Karl

Nice, Chunky update.

2010-05-30T15:13:00.001+01:00

Dryad pics are forthcoming, don't worry. As they're part of the army I'm gonna post them separately. Those of you who wish to avoid banter will probably just skip to articles that say "Wood Elves part" etc. So that's my reasoning. Also keeping pictures back means that if I don't do something for a day you will still get an update, so the lag is something I quite like.

So here's your fill for the day. What have I been doing? Display board, of course. Althoguth I really should be getting on with miniature painting I took some time out to do the presentation work. I had some foam board left over from 5 years ago and felt it was time to use it. I've explained what it's for already, and I'm pretty pleased so far, but then I've never painted a peice of terrain before that was made from foam board. *sigh* not looking forward to that endeavour.

The set is modular and heavily BTP influenced, the positions of the hills etc. What's new though is the room for citadel forests which I've not seen before.

Here are the first pictures:

So as you can see, I only thought to take pictures when I'd begun. The edges are pretty rough at this point as the only cutting tools I have are a pen-knife attatched to some plyers, a small "exacto-knife" and a bread cutter. I have sandpaper, but it's tesco brand and therefore becomes useless after a few swipes.

Later on I'd cut the forest area out by tracing the outline of the base, then drawing a grid. Cutting the edges of the grid gave me a sort of slabbed road look, which I might remember for a Tomb Kings army some day.

I then cut those squares into smaller grids of about 6-16 pieces and did the same. The effect made the underside bumpy but consistent:

And finished:

So I tested it with the trees next to find one side fit perfectly, whereas the other was a bit further up than I'd have liked:

I sanded the area down, but didn't get a picture of that, not that's you'd have been able to see it anyway. But here are the trees fitting perfectly in place:

And finally, the spare peices that I may use for an Osgiliath board... lol jk I'm throwing them.

So that's that for now. Later or tommorow there'll be another update, so keep looking forward.

Karl

Big suprise part 2

2010-05-30T11:42:00.000+01:00

So, I kind of lied to you about the big suprise. I'm terribly sorry. When I said it was a citadel wood, that was only 1/3 of my plan. However, I don't know if I'm planning to send off the last 2 parts with the army, I might do on request, like, if the client decides to boycott postage and pick up the army in person. Otherwise I'll use it as the backdrop and base of other armies and commissions.

If you haven't guessed my plans yet, go and look at Blue Table Painting's armies when they sell. I'm making a display board and backdrop. Now In high school I was not a very good painter. I got a C in my GCSE art, and that exam I really did try at. In honesty I've always had a "looks good from afar" aproach to my art. I can draw small scale. The backdrop however will be more in my area of paper painting because it's a skyscape, a blend of colours and no real cleqar details.

Pictures of the Dryads are coming, I've had little chance to yet. I also didn't win any games of pool, but 4/5 games we had ended in a black ball fluke. Meh.

First unit!

2010-05-29T20:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I was invited out today, and I really didnt wanna go. I'm not very good at pool, yet they insist i play and get beaten. Friends eh? Well I told them I had a lot of painting to catch up on, true really, so I'd only come if I finished 6 Dryads in 2 hours. I didn't think I would do it, especially with having tea in the middle there, 30 mins to cook and eat. So in 1 hour and 30 mins I managed to dark flesh, bestial brown, desert yellow, bleached bone, knarloc green, camo green and skull white my way to completion, which I was very suprised about. Oh and blood red eyes. Obv.

So pics will come later, as I have to go out now. Results of the pool game forthcoming too.

Wood Elves part 3

2010-05-28T21:52:00.001+01:00

Well it's about time I put up some pictures. As promised, here is the "big suprise":

Oh yes, I'm not only shipping hte warriors of Athel Loren, but a small chunk of the terrain with me. This decision was down to the selling point of the army. I think the trees really tie the army together, plus if used in a non tournament environment trees are a necessity for a Wood Elf army to function. If you can't leave home, take a little home with you as no-one I know always said. Anyways, here's the rest of today's eye candy:

Okay, so maybe I should explain that in person the browns are not nearly as wet-inky looking as they seem. I actually used no ink on the wood at all, I just finished the project after dark which was not my aim, and the flash photography and fake lighting does that.

Anyways, I'm pretty happy with the way the army's going so far. It's far from professional level, but at a tournament it would get some painting points surely, and with a display board (if I make one) the army should be held tightly together and will be one of my crowning achievements.

June is dawning! This will be a 1 month gap between higher prices and 8th edition. In this time I am having a 7th batrep fest. I will be having a few games with various people involving 1,250 pts of Wood Elves, to also celebrate half the army's completion, and I promise those will come with pictures of 2 fully painted armies.

Something big is on it's way...

2010-05-28T14:53:00.001+01:00

So once again no pictures yet, possibly later today depending on how much gets done.

As in the title, soemthing big is coming! It will be included in the army, as the army, but not in the points section. It's the most imprtant part fo the wood elf fluff and I must include for the army to be considered "Warriors of Athel Loren". Can you tell what it is yet?

If not then you'll see later. I will include everything together that is painted so far as soon as it is done.

So, the tally:

Painted:
-2 Waywatchers
-8 Glade Guard
-1/2 Big Suprise
-5 Dryads
-1 Wardancer

On the way:
-6 Dryads (base colour'd and base'd)
-2 Glade Guard (tabard highlights and bases to do)
-1/2 Big suprise (base colour'd, at this point I'm waiting for the paintbrush to dry. This is the faster half)
-2 Waywatchers (base colour'd)
-1 Glade Rider (base and details to do)

I also have a Lord/Noble on order, who will serve as my 1,250pt general. I will post a test batrep to celebrate half of the army painted fully when, fully painted. I am also waiting for some firends to get back to me on play-testing the army. I live where fantasy gamers are rare unfortunately, but to combat the noobism we will play 2 small games and switch armies. I will post results and a tactica separately.

I might also begin the fluff work on the general, but I usually let myself make painting mistakes and use them to my advantage when coming up with a charactor. Confused? I painted my vampiress' dress badly, with bestial brown where there shouldnt have been. I turned it into a Fleur de Lis pattern over the whole garment and said she was from Bretonnia. I'm hoping for some battle scar accidents with the new lord.

Becuase it's been so long without pictures here's the first full unit I ever painted last year, afte a 3 year break from the hobby, before which my painting was stupidly bad and slow:

Alrighty then

2010-05-25T21:16:00.000+01:00

Well the "daily update" thing has trailed off, and with good reason. Mondays and tuesdays I volunteer teaching kids to read, so those days I'm stupidly tired. I have gotten stuff done though, but I'm doing assembly line stuff. So at the moment, I've got 5 Glade Guard at a level 1 painting*.

I've also ordered a lord, who will arrive shortly(ish). I don't know what to do about the bronze.

I've been looking at Wood Elf tactica, specifically this article: http://asrai.org/leaf/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24 . I don't know however if I want a Sethayla style army, not just as it's standard, but because it doesn't allow for creativity. It's advice is "this lord, this highborn, spellsinger scroll caddy, 10 GG, 10 GG, 5 WR/musician, 5 WR/musician, 10 WW, spend the rest on warhawks". Now I love Warhawks, but I intended to only have 1 unit of 3/4, not 4 units of 4/5. I also want wardancers, plenty of glade guard and dryads and a treeman. All these things are what got me to choose Wood Elves over a more competative army and even if I am selling the army I want to enjoy the ride, and may even build another on any profits I make.

One problem with me is painting horses. Don't ask me why, but painting horses just bores me, and I tend to give up easily. I'm not a fan of cavalrybased armies, but I know exactly what I want tactics-wise. The plans I have will change with 8th edition, but it remains the same: shot down one flank. Send the heavies for a frontal attack and fill any gaps with skirmishers, fast cav, hawks etc, and take all opportunities to shoot whilst the enemy is deciding which way to face.

Anyways, on with the update. No pictures today, sorry, as I said I haven't got anything new up to a good standard. Not that anyone's reading this yet, but when they do and look back, they'll see this and know. Yeah, I'm thinking ahead of myself mayhap.

Painted:
1 Glade Guard Standard
5 Glade Guard
4 Dryads
1 Wardancer
1 Waywatcher

Almost painted:
1 Rider
5 Glade Guard

I'm having annoyances with the bases as well. I've learned that chinchilla sand must be placed on watered down PVA otherwise it flakes off. I have to spend 10 minuites per models cleaning the base, which is slowing me considerably.

As I'm copying and pasting into warseer, 'cos I'm lazy, I'll let you request pictures of my Lizardmen, Vampires, BFSP or 40k Orks, or even my game room/desk/pet in the mean time. I've got almost 2,700 points of Vampires, at least 2,000 points fully painted and only 10 skeletons (mantic) aren't base coated.

До свиданиe

Mike

*Except for the skin, which is dark flesh colour. I work from basecoat upwards, and nearly always basecoat black and work up from dark colours, save for yellow. Level painting I use the standard 1,2,3,4,5 scale. 1 is basic colours, base not done or one colour, 2 is highlighted/shaded with 1 additional colour, 3 is 2 with big highlights around edges and in "sun spots" (areas the sun would hit) This level is also known as gamer level, 4 is detailed with eyes, teeth, straps etc and fully highlighted/shaded, one step above gamer level where it pleases the eyes up close not just at a distance. Level 5 is the 'Eavy Metal standard, blended perfectly and highlighted/shaded realistically. There is a level 6, Golden Daemon awards, but I've been painting no-where near long enough to master all techniques to that level.

Better Pictures!

2010-05-23T16:06:00.000+01:00

Okay, so at this stage I have painted:
-3 Glade Guard
-4 Dryads
-Wardancer
-Waywatcher/lord

And without further adeu, here are the updates:

So, as you can see, the Glade Guard are not finished, still very dirty, needs detailing etc. I'm not good with eyes, I blame GW paintbrushes and the fact I wear Glasses. Also the heat. Oh GOD the heat. I wouldn't get too attatched to the quality of these photos as I'm using a camera that's borrowed, so I think I'll reserve it for major updates, like completed squads, tattoo details etc rather than individuals (save for heroes).

Edit: the pictures cut off on this website, so if you need the full picture, just click and it'll link you to my photobucket.

Wood Elves part 2

2010-05-22T23:33:00.003+01:00

So this is a small update at the end of day 2, de la painting log. Yes, I have been practising my french.

So I have undercoated:
-8 Glade Riders
-20 Glade Guard
-11 Dryads
-4 Wardancers*
-6 Waywatchers/ 5 and one "lord" as a stand in hero for now

I have painted fully:
-3 Dryads
-1 Wardancer
-1 Glade Guard

For now, here is my first Dryad:

The others aren't particularly different, I may dabble in changing the colour scheme, or I'll save that for batallion 2. The theme is young wood- still brown, not yet grey'd. Other than that it's pretty basic, Dryads I reckon I will finish by tommorow as they only take 30 mins each thereabouts.

Mini tutorial:
-Base the whole model, base, base edges and Dryad, in Scorched Brown
-Drybrush Bestial brown over the base dirt and base edges
-Highlight the dryad with Dark Flesh
-Highlight the dryad with Bestial Brown
-Drybrush the whole model in Desert Yellow, picking out details on the dryad
-Highlight dirt and dryad with Desert Yellow mixed 50-50 with Bleached Bone, then increase the ratio of Bone as the need suits, getting thinner each layer.
-Eyes Mechrite Red, Blood Red
-Leaves Knarloc Green, Camo Green, Desert Yellow
-Flock with my special mixture (rail scenics, I forget the actual company name, but it's bright green and dark green mixed in a tub)

*Wardancers: I forgot to say in my rant, that the batallion came with waywatchers and Wardancers. The waywatchers were fine, ecxept that I didn't plan on having a champion, but whatever. The wardancers... he'd bought 2 packs of the command, so I basically HAVE to have 2 units of Dancers to make this worthwhile. Prick. (I blame me as much as him for not looking closer)

Wood Elves.

2010-05-21T20:47:00.001+01:00

Hi all! This would be my first post in this blog, obviously. So, firstly I have met mini war gamer Rory, as his store is located right here in sunny Stafford, and I have to tell you, he's pretty awesome.

So after that blatent advert, I have begun work on my first complete tournament army that will be for sale, at a decent price I might add. It will be 2,500 points of wood elves, partially customisable. By partially, I mean I will not be painting up extra models as spare, but I will be magnetising command options for all units that I can.

I have made progress with starting this army already, I didn't want to show you the pictures too soon as I bought the first batallion set from ebay. My advice: if you're building a professional tournament army that will be for sale AVOID ebay. The guy told me the set would include one missing Glade rider, 2 Glade Guard, and some models would be assembled. He also told me he was a professional miniature commission...guy, who assembles and paints 40k for ebay sale. When I got the set, I found all 8 Glade Riders and 3 extra horses (?), 2 Glade guard were missing, and so was one dryad. Sounds good right? His assembly skills were what made me angry though, becuase he had assembled EVERYTHING to some extent, incorrectly. This included blobs of green stuff with finger prints in, glue that obscured nearly all details it touched, limbs chopped in places, feet missing, capes glued heavily to the wrong parts, FIVE champions on foot, no mold line removal, pieces of sprue attatched to "finished models", and his test model painted "professionally" with no shading, highlights, basecoat or details, and a pallet of literally 3 colours; elf flesh, dheneb stone and knarloc green.

Ranting aside, I've cut, glued, moldline removed and shaved the miniatures, sculpted feet and magnetised command options. Luckily I have just enough pieces to work with, so nothing is missing, but I fear these models will serve only as test subjects, and when painted up nicely will find their way to ebay again as a side-sale to recover some material costs. They'll do as game miniatures, sure, but as the tournament army I want to sell, I can see an angry customer in the near future.

Anyways, here is some progress on my painting as of 21/5/10:

Wardancer:

Glade Guard:

As you can see, very GW standard, but to a lesser painting skill. I feel the summer theme is underrepresented online, but this is what I call my "summer project", so this only seemed right. Oddly enough, I expect it to be finished by autumn...

Don't expect to see too many new models until the 8th edition book is released, I bought the batallion as I know I will need everything in there, but I cannot draw up an army list unitl then. Do however, expect to see a lot more soon after July.