Heart Shaped (bits) Box

Hey, wait, I got a new complaint.

Or maybe a new solution.

I have loads of miniature boxes laying around with bits of sprue still inside, taking up space.

I figured I should probably get on the bits box train.

I quick trip to Dollarama got me sorted for $4.00.

I decided to start with my Oathmark Humans and Dwarves.

I turned this:

Into this:

Except I forgot to take a photo. To be added soon.

Really feel great about the progress but man, is it ever tiresome snipping bits. Oathmark Dwarf heads are especially annoying.

More SW Legion

I got the Clone Wars Legion boxed set today for my wife and my 12 year anniversary today.

I built Obi-Wan, the clones and the Barc speeder.

I put General Grievous together with 4 lightsabers and put the legs, torsos and backpacks on the droids.

Hope to do the heads and arms tomorrow (the worst part of the figures IHMO) and depending on that I’ll see if I touch the droidekas.

That’s all for now.

SW Legion Update

Hello there!

It’s been a while but I have some updates. My schedule at work had changed. No more Monday- Friday. Now I work 3 weekends out of 5. Bit shit I know but I do get a lot more days off overall.

First off, my Russian Civil War has been progressing nicely. I have a platoon of Mahknovists (Ukranian freedom fighters) and some more “Whites” ready to go. 

My armoured train is mostly painted. Still have the tracks to do.

I received about a company’s worth of OOP Footsore Miniatures WWI Scots (which are now back on the website as of this week).

But none of that is at all related to Star Wars. That is correct.

This year I’ve picked up two B1 Battle Droid box sets and an upgrade set. I also got one box of Phase 1 Clone Troopers. Count Dooku and Anakin round out the set. I’ve painted them slowly but this week finished the bases of the droids and painted Anakin and the clones. All that is left are the bases and I am done.

Here are the droids. I’ve gone with a Geonosis style of base. The keen eyes may be able to see two similar but different paint styles.

Here’s a close up:

The left of is a mix of two contrast paints(light brown and bone).The right is a yellow contrast paint and a dry brush of a sandy colour.

I did the left squad first before watching a YouTube video and switching it up (going for the easiest paintjob possible here) a black contrast paint on the weapons and some bright yellow markings and voila. Done.

For the clones I should’ve planned it a bit better.

I primed in grey and realized I should’ve probably primed I’m white instead so I sponged on a coat of white. Then a dark wash for the recesses.A drybrush of white followed by a layer of white to highlight the top armour plates/panels.

Think on the next squad I’ll cut out a step or two to save more time.

They look good from far but far from good. Whatever. I’m done with them.

Anakin was done using contrasts again. Not super happy with his face but I’ve always sucked at skin tones and he’s done.

I also tried my hand at object source lighting on his  backside. More noticeable in person.

Lastly a tragedy occurred. My youngest was playing with these guys a few weeks ago. Dooku and a droid fell and broke. The droid’s arm was found but Dooku’s is lost forever. I’m hoping I get another left arm from somewhere and I’ll add it to the model.  

I haven’t the nerve to finish him as I might scrap the whole thing now. Minor set back but enough to derail me for now.

Anyways that’s it for now.

It’s getting warm out

The weather is slowly getting there.

We probably had the last “cold” spell on Monday and Tuesday until Thanksgiving. The days are getting longer. The temperatures are rising.

So what does one do on a day like this? Prime some miniatures!

I primed my Star Wars Legion Phase 1 Clone Troopers (7 figures) Anakin, Count Dooku, Priority Supples and Artizan Designs French Foreign Legion (14 figures) in GW’s Grey Seer.

I primed my Star Wars Legion B1 Battle Droids (9 figures) and Artizan Designs NWF British (16 figures) in GW’s Wraith Bone.

The plan is to use contrast paints for most of the base coats and use regular ones for highlights etc.

I was lucky enough to grab one of the cans of primer discounted to $10 because the lid was broken.

The weird object on the side is my trusty Citadel paint stick. It’s a little bit of a ridiculous hobby tool but man, does it ever work.

And on a side note, I have a platoon of unpainted OOP Footsore Miniatures WWI Scots on their way to me. They are Early War and sculpted by Paul Hicks (slightly on the small side) but will be fierce opponents for my Germans.

Ze Germans are finished

Well, not really “finished” per se but I’m at a place where if I never bought another WWI German, I’d be fine with that.

That being said 😂 I have plans to add another Heavy machine gun, a grenade launcher, a sniper and a small unit (10) of Cavalry.

The miniatures are a combination of Great War Miniatures, Brigade Games and Copplestone Castings.

There are two platoons. One with plain helmets and the other with a camouflage pattern.

Each platoon is led by a 3-man command element.

There are three ten man squads.

Squads 1 & 2 have a Sgt, 8 rifles and a light MG

Squad 3 has a Sgt, 7 rifles and a flamethrower team.

The Camo squad three have grenades to indicate they are bombers/grenadiers.

There’s a 4 man high Command, heavy machine gun and a field gun rounding out the force.

For rules I have GW Historical - The Great War. However, Chain of Command is a great rule set and I’m super interested in the WWI variant.

All miniatures were painted by Karl Friedrich of Kura Creative. 

Now I just have to finish the terrain boards I started last year. And buy the opposition forces...

The Light Elves are finally done

Quick post today. 

I managed to put some texture paint on the bases of 27 light Elves a week+ ago. All that was left was the flock. 

I don’t want to say I found the time but more like decided to get off my but and base them.

Here are the all of the completed Light Elves. Need to get a picture with the “regular” Elven figures.

Covid 19 gaming

It’s been a rough 10 months for everyone. 

I miss seeing family and friends and going to gaming conventions. I am fortunate enough to be an essential worker and my wife is able to work from home. We have been able to cancel our child care needs so are saving a bit of money in that regards.

I’m fortunate I have two sons who have been gaming with me for a few years now and are getting better at grasping technical games.

October: We played the now OOP Pocketmodels Pirates of the Caribbean game. Pirate, French and Spanish fleets took to the seas in a three way battle.

November: Zombicide season 1. My kids really like Black Plague so getting them to play the modern one was a struggle but they enjoyed it. 

In the Hall of the Mountain King. My buddy ordered it from Kickstarter and promptly gave it to me. Lol. We really enjoyed this one. The cascading mechanic is a very cool concept.

Eldest son got Risk: Europe. I don’t mean to brag (and I haven’t played a super serious game of Risk in over 10 years BUT I was a very good Risk player. 

This was very different but I enjoyed it. I lost. Waawaa.

Happy New Year!

Wow, I really lost track of the time there.

Things have been busy since August, hobby wise and in real life. 

Here’s a quick recap Of the hobby stuff:

Purchased:

( and built) 2 Aberdeen  class airships from Crossover Miniatures

16 French Foreigh Legion and  16 British Northwest Frontier from Artizan Designs (Christmas gift for myself from the family) for a VSF setting. 

Oathmark undead box and two metal blisters.

4 Tier one operators sets from Spectre (Christmas)

1500 3/8x3/4 foam bricks off of Etsy.

Ltd Edition GW Gamling on horseback.

Painted:

Received the rest of my 28mm 101st Airborne from Karl at Kura Creative

Oathmark Goblin Wolf Riders (only rider figures) metal heroes and resin Ltd edition hero painted by Karl at Kura Creative.

I finished 30 Oathmark Elves, 10 light Elves, 4 hounds, 4 humans and one necromancer. 

Why did I purchase 1500 3/8x 3/4 inch foam blocks? I hear you ask. Because it’s cheaper than buying a Proxxon foam cutter and I’m not burning time cutting foam blocks. The reason is Jeremy from Black Magic Craft (YouTube) posted a dope video on modular rules that I wanted to try. The results will follow in a separate post.

The plan for 2021: Major Projects

Continue plugging away with Oathmark

I have to built, Prime and paint the 30 plastic and 6 metal Undead figures from Oathmark.

Finish painting 30 Dwarf heavy infantry.

Base 30-40 Dwarf Infantry and 30-40 Goblin Infantry.

Paint 21 Wolves (for the painted riders to ride)

Base 27 Light Elves.

VSF project

Finish assembly (on one) and paint both Aberdeen airships (other is primed). 

Paint 14 FFL and 16 British NWF using sweet contrast paint scheme found on YouTube

Purchase rank and file British troops ( 7 packs of 4 figures from Artizan). Paint  them. 

Star Wars Legion (or Chain of Command) this is my nice to get to 3rd project.

Assemble Count Dooku, Anakin, box of B1 Battle Droids (omg the pieces!), and Phase I clone troopers.

Purchase Clone Wars starter set.

Paint them all.

Minor Projects:

WWI terrain board - finish building both sections. Paint both. ( WTF is this really a “minor project?)

Have Karl finish painting my WWI Germans (under 50 figures-easy).

Have Karl finish painting my Wild West figures (under 50 figures-easy).

Foam brick terrain (about 750 have been made into terrain - needs to be mod podged and painted other 750 need texturing before building.

Would be nice Projects:

Try to finish painting my Frostgrave/Rangers of Shadow Deep, The Walking Dead All our War greyscale project ( purchase saviours and whisperers).

Tackle whatever GW lord of the rings I can (for the boy).

Stay away from anything new (looking at you  Stargrave).

Cheers and good luck to you on your Projects this year!