Author Archives: grumpyoldtin

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About grumpyoldtin

An old git over the hill and declining disgracefully

May’s workbench

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My Field of Glory Imperial Roman Army.
I need to add highlights to the armour, finish Scorpions and Auxilliaries.
The carry case, in the background, is handmade out of canvas and an old yoga mat. The ties are leather and the buttons made of briar wood.
The trays are laser cut with steel base.
Troops are based on laser cut bases engraved with my initials (just to sure as one lot of Romans looks much like another).
At the bottom are my playing aids.

FOG play aids

FOG play aids

April’s Work

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Warploque Albionican Empire Ogre

 

Warploque Albionican Empire Engineer and Captain

Warploque Albionican Empire

 

Warploque Albionican Empire

Reaper Necromancer Babe

Reaper Necromancer Babespacer

whfba3 whfba4 whfba5 whfba2

Another basing interlude and thoughts on motivation

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No More Nails

Reanimated troops for my proxy DKK ArmyJust trying out a new product for basing. No More Nails. I have no idea what the German name is. I’m using this to glue the figure to the base and to fill in between the figure base and the base.

So far the result is fairly promising, the only thing that I need to work on is smoothing it out afterwards, it’s not as easy as the ready mixed plaster I have been using.

I really should be getting on with the projects that I said I would rather than getting distracted. I have just about finished the Albion heroes and the Albionican unit. They just need varnishing and photographing. The Reaper Necromancer Babe is underway. I will need to do some interweb research on what near naked skin looks like. Surely there will be sites I can study in great depth? Other distractions have been the Goblinaid Spacer Goblin sculpted by Mark Cragg. Prepping a unit of Napoleonic English and a Raging Heroes female kommisar.

Peter from D6 Painting and Gaming wrote a good article on his blog about what keeps him motivated to paint. At the moment I have been distracted by various models rather than committing to paint. I think that everybody has some form of reward system. Mine is if I paint a unit I can paint a hero/leader. I love painting individual figures and find painting units a chore.

There are two things I use to keep me on track. The first and probably the most important is to keep my Lead Mountain out of sight. Only one project on the workbench at a time. I love opening boxes and picturing the painted model in my mind, or discovering a model that I had forgotten that I had. It is also slightly discouraging seeing how much work there is ahead of me. At the moment all bar a couple of boxes are in storage in the lager. The second thing I use is a list. One item on the list a month. It helps me stay focused.

Next month is my Roman Army. I need to finish my Scorpions and a unit of Auxiliaries. Add metal highlights to all the other units. Photograph, catalogue and put on the website.

After that:

A unit of Napoleonic infantry

The reanimated DKK Troopers and command vehicle from Ramshackle Games

GW Squig Mangler

Unit of plastic Warlord Games Celts for my Albion Army

Three Ork jets from Puppets War which will be proxy Deth Kopters

Finish a unit of Faeries and a unit of Undead for my Albion Army

Finish my Bolt Action Home Guard and a unit of British Infantry

Ultraforge Tree Woman a proxy giant in my Albion Army

So if I stay on target, this will be the next nine months work. This doesn’t allow for any distractions like taking any commissioned work (no takers yet), any Kickstarter bits arriving or the bust of Kevin Adams which I am itching to get started on.

For those lucky enough to be going to Salute tomorrow

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From a Foundry mail shot

SALUTE 2014

I’m off to Salute in the morning: so it’ll be a few days before I get back to this missive!

We’ve dug out all sorts of barely released and never released items to take this year’s Salute. This includes a Victorian Egyptian Adventure range, unseen Trojans (including 11 chariots (!) apparently there are actually 15: but I couldn’t find the others) , Napoleonic Mamelukes, unseen Hittites, Carthaginians, Ancient Spaniards and barely released Persians We have also discovered stocks of loads of Kevin Adams Orcs and suchlike many of which have barely been seen by the public. In fact Kevin himself will be coming along to keep them company.

Stealing toys from my Boys

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Stealing toys from my Boys

I’m guilty as charged m’lud. Recently I’ve started using a little bit of black-lining on my models. It’s made up of Vallejo Black, Johnson’s Klear and a touch of water. I store it in an old Vallejo bottle and use the lid to dip my brush in. Problem is the bottle top is not the most stable and I’ve been propping it up in the corner of my tray. I had thought of getting some wood from my Father in Laws and drilling a hole in it. Tidying up my Boy’s room this afternoon, “Lightbulb!” There were some wooden blocks that I had to put away and in amongst them was a little red cube. It was a matter of moments to get the drill and make a small hole with a slightly chamfered edge. Just the right size and not too space consuming on the tray.

Another brief basing interlude

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I don’t know about you but I have been using basing sand since year dot. Then I spend ages painting and highlighting it to make it look like soil.

Is there another way?

I thought I’d try out something I saw in AK Interactive’s Weathering Magazine where one modeller used soil. That’s right soil!

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So I went out gathering, some dark forest soil (shown here), some fine pale river silt and a mid tone.

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This is the first test piece, I put some gloss varnish on one side to represent wet soil. I think that the “crumb” (blame programs like “The Great British Bake Off”) is too big. This is a result of the size of the sieve. The bits of root give it a slightly more random realistic look.

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Recently at a fleamarket I picked up a new addition to my painting tools. This should deal with the size of the crumbs.

 

 

95th Rifles Black Powder Napoleonic Peninsular War

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This is my 95th Rifles Black Powder Napoleonic Peninsular War, from March’s workbench.

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The figures are mostly Foundry, sculpted by the Perry’s with a couple of Perry plastics thrown in. I’m not happy with the colour as it is much too light, they were known as the “Sweeps” as the uniform is a very dark green. Maybe in the future I’ll do a black wash over the uniform to darken it. Hopefully any opponents won’t complain too much about the inaccurate colours.

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The movement tray is a custom cut from Wargames Tournaments

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What’s on April’s workbench?

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What's on April's workbench?

What’s on April’s workbench?
There is a small squad of Albionican Empire troops from Warploque Miniatures. This is for my “Not-Empire” army.
Some heroes for my Albion Army, miniatures from Studio McVey, Hasslefree, Celtos and Privateer. These just need a little touching up and basing to match the Halflings.
Finally, if time allows, a necromancer babe from Reaper.
This month is a relaxing one as I found the unit of 95th Rifles a bit of a slog.

My penny’s worth on the new White Dwarf editions

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I  did write three pages worth of notes looking at the first two issues of Warhammer Visions and an issue of White Dwarf Weekly. Then I just thought, why bother, you’ve already seen it and made up your own minds about it. Plus there is so much on the interweb already which you’ve probably read.

My penny’s worth is, don’t bother unless it is an army you like or collect, otherwise you are just wasting your money. Really really pointless money making exercise by Games Workshop. Go and buy Wargames Illustrated, chase down back issues of the Weathering Magazine, or buy beer and pizza.

Something new

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Something new

I am grateful to Sigur from Battlebrush Studios
http://www.battlebrushstudios.com
for giving me the tip about Vallejo Metal Medium. This gives a beautiful metallic sheen, just what my Romans needed to make them stand out more.
Originally they were painted in base colours and then dipped in Army Painter Strong Tone Dip. The end result was OK, but nothing special. The metal was rather dull and lifeless. Now with this I can put my army on the table without too much embarrasment.
I just need to learn how to win.

Salute

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This year is the first time that I won’t be going to Salute. I’ve been attending for the last ten years; from when it was at Earls Court to its present incarnation at Excel in Docklands. Salute is an opportunity to see products in the flesh rather than on the web, an opportunity to see new manufacturers showcasing their new products and obviously to buy something that is just perfect to paint. One day.

There is however another Salute, in my adopted homeland of Austria. Smaller obviously, this will be it’s fourth year as opposed to the thirty four years of the English one. When I spoke to Walter Kraus, the organiser, he said the plan was to make it bigger and better each year. This Salute is being run by Silent Night Games, purportedly the biggest gaming club in Austria.
http://www.silent-night-games.at
I set off today for a few blissful child-free hours and arrived at Gasthaus Zur Bahn just after ten and was warmly greeted by Walter.

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There were thirteen tables covering a range of periods and rulesets, the majority in English.
Field of Glory, 15mm Battle of Bannockburn.
Flames of War, Arab Israeli War.
Maulifax
Freebooters Fate, this was the best looking table in my opinion.
Westwind’s Empire of the Dead.
Beneath the Lilly Banner.
Two Bolt Action tables covering modern Afghanistan and a WW2 USA v Japan.
Warmachine
An unknown air combat.
And a WW1 15mm Austria v Russia using the Piquet ruleset.
Traders were thin on the ground with only one almost stand of some lacklustre expensive laser cut scenery.
I had brought some painted work with me and I spent some time showing them to Georg from Battlebrush Studios.
http://www.battlebrushstudios.com
He revealed his secret for the final highlight on metal armour. Vallejo Metal Medium. I have put that on my wishlist.
What I did learn, if I am brave enough, is to be bolder with my highlights and the shading. Georg’s figures have the “Pop and Wow” factor that I am after.

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This version of Salute doesn’t compete with the original, yet. Some visiting traders might bring more gamers keen to look and stock up, which may in turn may bring more traders.
Onwards and upwards!
Here’s to the future success of this incarnation of Salute.