New blood

Posted on May 24, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

After the Austrian Salute and Sigur’s painting induction Number One Son has expressed an interest in painting toy soldiers, “Just like Papa”. So we sat down with catalogues and looked in my cabinets and he decided that he wanted to paint Space Marines. He was greatly taken by the blue of the Ultramarines.
So before I went to London I hit eBay and searched for Space Marines, found some and had them sent to my Daughter’s so I could collect them and save on postage.
After my trial and tribulations in London I was able to get back home in time for his birthday where he would get them.
The set I got was all the marines from GeeDub’s Dark Vengeance box set. We sat down and looked at the figures, I have to say that I am very impressed by the plastics GeeDub produce. I fell in love with the High Elves from Island of Blood and now these are worming my way into my affections. They are very crisply detailed and look to be a joy to paint, I wanted to steal one to paint, but I wasn’t allowed. Anyway looking at them it became apparent that they were a specific chapter and not generic marines. I said that as they were his figures he could paint them anyway he chose, looking at illustrations he chose to go with the green livery, Dark Angels, instead of his previous choice of UltraMarine blue.
Next up came construction. Then came Priming which involved setting up the compressor and airbrush. All of this also came with the first steps of zen patience, because nothing can be done instantly.
Painting was the next step and Number One knocked out a figure an hour.

Hard at work

The overall aim was to get him to game, but I didn’t want to complicate things too much, just toys on the table.
So I made up a very simple ruleset.
Movement 4 inches. I used some marker rods for ease.
Shooting/hand-to-hand combat hit on a 4, 5 or 6.
Armour save 5 or 6 (in our first battle it was 4/5/6 but it was a bit too easy)
Three lives.

Our first battle.

I lost.

Our next combat

This was our second battle using ten of my marines and ten Orks.
Needless to say, I lost.

Salute 2016

Posted on May 15, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

Apologies for the delay, but as you’ll read on I’m sure you’ll forgive me.
This was something I’d been planning for for ages. I have been going to Salute annually for about ten years before moving to Austria. Then I had a two year gap. I was hesitant but it was my Wife who encouraged me to go as I hadn’t been back to England since the move.
Salute, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the largest wargaming shows in Europe. Here you get a chance to see a whole load of traders and get to see their merchandise in the flesh. It is also a chance to look at a huge range of games that had been lovingly prepared over the last year. There is also the painting contest. This is drawing in some of the best painters from around Europe, so I didn’t stand much of a chance, but nothing ventured etc. I wanted to enter the Salute figure contest. Every year in your goodie bag is a free figure which can be entered into next year’s contest. Now as I hadn’t been for a couple of years I didn’t have the figure. A quick request on the Oldhammer Facebook group soon dealt with this problem. Many thanks to Mr. David Wood, more of which later.

Once the list of traders was announced on the Salute website I spent a fair amount of time visiting every single traders website and working out a wish-list. Then came the job of prioritising what I wanted to buy. In theory I had an unlimited budget but I was also aware that my lead mountain was vast (about 15 years worth of painting) so I tried to narrow the list down to what I actually needed and within a reasonable budget. I allowed a bit of wiggle-room as there was Kevin Adams, The Goblin Master, and no real prices or stock on the website.
Once I had drawn up my shopping list I printed out the Salute site map. Armed with my shopping list and site map I worked out a hit list in my notebook going up and down the traders in the most time efficient manner.

As I said this was my first visit for a couple of years and my first from abroad, so no home base as I was previously used to. The cheapest ticket option was to stay for five days. So a bit of Facebook posting got me some sofas to surf on. The first two nights was to be spent at my old gaming buddy Seb’s house.
Two days before flying I was struck with severe abdominal pains which lasted almost twenty four hours. I was worried that I would have to go to hospital and miss Salute. A further worry was that if it returned whilst in England I would have to visit and English hospital. After Austrian hospitals any trip to an English hospital would be like a trip to the third world.
Thankfully the pains vanished the day before flying, much to my relief.
I managed to squeeze everything into my little holdall, just grams under my ten kilo allowance. For the return journey I had booked a suitcase which was to be donated by a friend. I had also bought a lot of bits and pieces on Fleabay and had them sent to my Daughter’s place. Also in preparation I had some business cards printed up along with a promotional t-shirt.

These I had sent to Seb’s. The first delivery was left in the rain by the courier company so the printing company promptly sent another batch. Seb opened the first package and the contents were fine. I now had a couple of hundred cards to distribute in the queue to enter Salute.
The flight was uneventful but getting a connecting bus to Stratford was chaotic. The bus was grimy and I was reluctant to sit on the seats.

Such a contrast to Austria.
It chucked it down when I arrived in Stratford, everything was grey and miserable and the pavements seemed clogged with fag butts. A mad dash to get some shopping done, Tea and hitting the Poundshops (I do miss them) for epoxy glue, superglue and plug adapters. Then back to Seb’s. We had a pleasant evening and I played Lords of War (http://lords-of-war.com/) for the first time. This was a Kickstarter I had backed with the bonus that the cards were illustrated by Steve Cox (http://stevecox.prosite.com/) who was two years above me when I went to college.
Saturday, Salute day! It was up early to get a good place in the queue.
I had a minor problem with my ticket, which was swiftly resolved when I showed the email correspondence I’d had with one of the event organisers.

This gave me a chance to hand out my business cards. At the time of writing there has been zero interest in my tawdry offerings. I met Mr. David Wood, my Oldhammer Facebook friend who I’d never met in real life before and we spent the hour before the doors opened chatting away.
Then at ten o’clock the doors opened and in we went.
The day was a blur, not helped by my abdominal pains returning, and my carefully planned route didn’t happen.
Here are some of the highlights, that I can remember.
Meeting Annie from Bad Squiddo Games (https://thedicebaglady.net/) and showing her one of her figures I had painted.

This photo has been shamelessly lifted from https://mugodice.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/my-salute-2016/

The Oldhammer meet-up at the Foundry stand. This was sparsely attended but it was nice to meet some of the people I know from Facebook and blogs.
I dropped off my “Souvenir” to Mantic, see previous posting.
A rather cool Mad Max game, apologies as I can’t remember who did it.

Picking up my copy of Open Combat, another Kickstarter I’d backed.

https://www.secondthunder.com/
A bonus was that I met Gav Thorpe there, he writes for GeeDubs Black Library and I regretted I didn’t bring along one of his books that I had brought for the trip.
I met Alan and Michael Perry, Paul Thompson and Chris Cound all old White Company compatriots.
At Heresy (http://www.heresyminiatures.com/shop/) I was humbled to meet Andy Foster and showed him that the Dragon is on this years painting list. Apparently most are still in their boxes. Mine will not be, July to be precise, when my airbrush corner is set up in the workshop.
I entered a Heavier Metal speed painting contest and won that round, and a Salute goody bag, and got to keep the figure which was cool because it was on my shopping list.
In the prize goody bag was another Salute freebie figure which I gave to Mr. David Wood who then promptly gave me some of his own figures.
http://deartonyblair.blogspot.co.at/2014/03/dtb-minis-now-available.html
He made me promise that I would paint them. So I had better do that.
I left the show in a haze of discomfort and can’t really remember much else about the show. Luckily I’d scribbled some notes down otherwise it would have been quite a slim posting.

The next day I went to hospital. They would have sent me away with a packet of paracetamol had I not mentioned that I would not be able to see a GP for a few days as I was visiting and I was concerned that my urine was a rich teak colour.
I got admitted immediately and was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. I ended up staying four days in hospital and missed my flight.
Don’t talk to me about the food, I refused to touch it. Not even the head of catering could provide a full ingredients listing.
Anyway I’m back in Austria. I had my gallbladder removed as it was full of large gallstones. You can talk to me about the food here, beef-steak with fresh asparagus, stuffed chicken breast with pesto mini dumplings.

Austrian Salute 2016

Posted on March 14, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

This is my third visit to this show, my second as an exhibitor. I’m lucky as this is fairly local to me as I too am based near Salzburg.
We got here at 08.30 on the dot and were greeted by an empty room with tables set up and neatly labelled. My thoughts were, “Oh dear!” Or something similar but more vernacular, I could have had some more sleep. But people soon turned up and very soon the room filled.

This version of Salute is slowly growing and I think that soon a bigger venue will be required. But when I spoke to Walter, the show organiser, he was keen to keep the show at this current venue, “Small is beautiful” were his words on the matter.
Grumpy Old Tin was sited right next to the entrance and it proved to be a sweet spot as people browsed as they came and went.

Here are some of the games and exhibitors at the show. If you want a more eloquent description and more photos I’ll refer you to this post from Battlebrush Sudios.
http://www.battlebrushstudios.com/2016/03/show-report-austrian-salute.html

The day starts off with Walter’s address where he greets everyone. Walter, or El Cid as he is also known, runs the local gaming club/store and is the organiser of this event.

First up was an extravagant Forgeworld Zone Mortalis board and loads of Forgeworld models. They were running a Heresy game using 40K rules.

There was a game of Commands and Colours with Ancients. They were using Hexon terrain and I wanted to look a little later at the figures and terrain, but I blinked and vooom they had disappeared.

Next to this was Templates and Widgets selling laser-cut bases and markers. I still haven’t quite forgiven him for disrupting my Wife’s skiing plans, but that is another story for another day.

In the far corner was Casual Painting. The painting was well done but quite reliant on airbrushing which would have been nice if they had demonstrated it.

There was a game of Firestorm Armada by Spartan Games and displayed on the table were some of the Halo Fleet Battles boxes which caught Number 1’s eye as he is becoming a little Halo addict.

In the middle was a table with a rather lonely man showing off his DBA/DBM rules. I’ve since learnt that he is an authority on the ruleset so it was a pity that noone was really interested. He had some cabinets of some painted 15mm figures for use in the game. He told me that he gets them painted in Sri Lanka. We are at opposite ends of the painting spectrum he has more money than time and I have more time than money.

Close to me me was a game of Infinity with a container full of the sadly no more containers from Rackham’s AT-43. They are very nice.

Directly behind me was a table playing Malifaux. There was an interesting use of carpet tiles as a playing surface which I shall bear in mind.

Flames of War modern using the Team Yankee rules. Nice looking terrain and scenery and the armour was painted well.

The painting competition. Sadly not enough light for my poor old eyes and not enough space to get a look at the figures which was a pity as there was some good painting. This year it was single figures; Historical, Fantasy, Sci Fi and Steampunk. I entered three figures, but didn’t get a mention. So I need to up my game on that front.

This was a very nice looking 6mm Napoleonic game using rules from Kugelhagel.

The figures were beautifully painted, sadly my little camera wasn’t up to capturing them in all their glory.

There was a Chain of Command game using 15mm Battlefront figures. It used a battlemat which looked quite nice but it was very thin. I’ve been thinking about battlemats but I haven’t found anything, as yet, I’ve been totally sold on.

Being 2016 there was the inevitable game of Frostgrave which it seems is “The” game of the moment. Nice buildings from Battlefield in a Box, but as with everything I like, are discontinued, The boards were very good and were made from sheets of insulation foam.

Right at the back was a display game of By Fire and Sword which was tied in nicely to an actual shop selling that and a few other bits and pieces.

After lunch up popped a game of John Carter of Mars, where the ancients game had been. They were running it using the Heroscape ruleset and were using Heroscape hex terrain.

Triumph and tragedy. Tales of Adventure, Fortune and Fate. A 28mm skirmish game.

The big game was Guns at Gettysburg a big 28mm American Civil War game using the General de Brigade rules.
They won a prize for the best table at the show.

Then finally there was Battlebrush Studios with Sigur doing painting demonstrations.

I left Number 1 Son in his capable hands.

Here is Number 1 Son with his number 1 painted soldier.
This year was more positive for me. Time didn’t drag. I sold more stuff. And I was approached to exhibit at a show in Germany.
http://www.die-gruene-horde.de/index.htm

Making a splash Part Deux

Posted on March 11, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

This is what Number 1 Son and I will be attending tomorrow.

So what have I been up to during radio silence?

Posted on March 10, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

Well I haven’t been painting prolifically as I have been mostly working on the house.
I joined a Facebook group called 1houranight which sets monthly targets and this has been keeping me motivated.
Anyway here is a selection of work. Apologies for the variable quality of photos, one of this year’s targets is to set up a little photo set-up so I can take decent photos.

The Adventurer, his Concubine, his Accountant and his Bodyguard.
These are from Moonraker Miniatures and are part of my Rouge Trader collection.

This was a Christmas present.
It’s from Mirleton. I was disappointed to find out that there is only one pose of this as I wanted a small unit of Skaven cavalry.

Another Christmas present a Female Orc from The Dice Bag Lady aka Bad Squiddo Games.

This is from Scibor and I bought it because a friend of mine is really into Dwarves. Seriously into them. And the thought of one of his little men consorting with one of the hated enemies will drive him to dispair.

This one is from Spellcrow I think.

This is Ozzy. He was a giveaway from Casting Room Miniatures. An offshoot of Foundry. Sculpted by none other than Kevin Adams. This plus a sale and free postage was too good an offer to pass up.

This is a test paint for my Imperial Guard Ogryn unit.

Some armour for my Imperial Guard. I think I may have gone over the top with dust and mud.

This is from Kromlech. They are doing some very characterful Orks and Goblins. I have my eye on some more Goblin Pirates.
Anyway that is a round up of most of what I’ve painted. That I can remember. Sometimes I am getting a bit “Senior”.

Consistency

Posted on March 8, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

It’s been a while, and it gets worse everyday thinking I must add some more content. And then you don’t. And then the guilt builds up. So I am biting the bullet and adding a bit more content. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the editor when using a iPad was decidedly arsey.
This is the next stage for my painting, consistency in basing. I have, now, several armies each with an individual look, so it is important that the units in each army have some cohesion in basing style.

I am already recording what paints I use in a journal.
This piece of wood has been laser-cut with spaces for some 30mm bases that I don’t intend to use. The plan is to make up these bases as I make my armies and record what I have done in my journal so I will have a written record and a visual one.
I also want to experiment with other basing techniques and record the successful ones for future use.

Product of the Year 2015

Posted on January 21, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

This year there are two products of note.
The first is something you wouldn’t normally think of: yoghurt pot lids.
As I have two boys with rapacious appetites I tend to buy half litre pots. They come with plastic lids for resealing. Presumably the manufacturers don’t consider that their product will be consumed in one sitting. Anyway they make ideal one shot palettes, especially when using oil paints. I don’t have to worry about cleaning up, I just toss it in the recycling.
The second product is a paint from Vallejo, Dark Blue Grey.
I have been using it a lot on my Imperial Guard Army and have started using it on my fledgling High Elf Army. I wanted to steer away from the standard Games Workshop blue and white and head for more sea-like greys and blues. This clour just fits the bill.

More pyrates?

Posted on June 26, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

Continuing the theme we have a pair of shipwrecked pyrates from Reaper.

I have greatly enjoyed painting these figures but time seems to be slipping away and I always seem to get side-tracked by other little things. Here you can see an Oldhammer sign for my display case, some regiment signs for my Napoleonic army and some Black Powder gaming tokens.

But the big news….
…..we finally completed on a house!
With garden,
Mountain views,
Workshop,
and Man-cave.
So no more tiny flat with all my belongings and hobby bits in storage.
Now my time is going to be taken up with getting the house ready and of course my Man-cave.

Job’s a good ‘un

Posted on May 21, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

It’s arrived at last! And it’s huge! Flippin’ huge!
I am of course talking about the Heresy Dragon. I ordered it before Number Two Son was even thought of.
Andy, the creative genius behind Heresy, has had an absolute nightmare producing this. Originally he thought it would take a couple of months to produce. Since then…
http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=260

Here is a scale shot with a 28mm figure just to give you an idea.
The pity is that now it has to go back into the box for a couple of months until my man-cave is set up in our new house.
Did I say, “New house”? Yes, I did. More on that to come.

Image copyright Heresy and is used totally without permission.

Now go to Heresy and buy something!
http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7&zenid=663b39432d06ba7ae00dc76821cede6a

A bit more detail about the “Fun”

Posted on May 7, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

April saw me not terribly motivated and to try and get out of the rut I decided to paint some single figures that were started or primed but not finished. Just for fun.

First off was this figure: General Sir Eddard Sharp. He was a promo model for the Arcworlde Kickstarter Sculpted by Alex Huntley, basically Mister Arcworlde. Alex’s sculpting is not polished, he is very talented and his style is very characterful and great to paint. Very like the Battleforge Halflings that I painted a while ago. He deserves our support, he’s only twenty and if he is putting stuff out there like this now imagine what amazing stuff he’s going to be producing in ten years time when he’s hit his stride.

Second off was this fellow. Again sculpted by Alex, this is The Big Chief of the Jungle Gremlins of Chaq-Itza.

Then it was my beloved Snotlings.

This guy was a cheap plastic robot that I picked up from a charity shop. He’ll be joining a few others in my “Not” Imperial Guard Army.

Finishing off with this from Puppets War. A proxy Deth Kopter in my 40K Ork Army.
They all need a coat of matt varnish just to seal them.

Splashing paint for fun

Posted on April 16, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

I haven’t painted for the sheer pleasure of it for a couple of months now, so today I thought I’d change that. I haven’t set myself any targets or goals this month. It’s all about relaxing. I have been putting in a fair few late nights making artwork for my laser cutting and have been putting painting anything far away.
This is one figure from the Arcworlde Kickstarter I received a few months ago but didn’t start, well apart from prepping and priming.

Inertia

Posted on March 27, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

Just hitting a huge bump at the moment and finding it difficult to get motivated and kickstart my painting. Everytime I do sit down to attempt something, life comes along with it’s demands. This image is dedicated to Amateur Airplanes and his unrelenting output.

January/February work

Posted on March 2, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

It’s been a bit slow of late. Partly lack of motivation. Partly preparing artwork for the GOT shop. And also some health issues. I have had to go into hospital for an operation to remove some rogue cells. The after care medication is knocking me for six at the moment.
Anyway, I finished the Ratling Snipers and managed to do one base of my beloved Snotlings.

I also did an illustration for someone attending this years BOYL, Bring Out Your Lead. The annual Oldhammer bash at Foundry HQ.
He wanted an eighties style of illustration. There’s room for improvement, but I haven’t really picked up a pen in years, so not too shabby. Not one bloody word of thanks mind you. Hmmmm.

Some more bits for my retail empire

Posted on February 17, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

Productive day today. I managed to get four batches cut today.

The first was the shipping container. This time I got the setting right and didn’t have to spend an hour cutting it out. There are a couple of etch-lines which need attention. But I’m there.

This is a packing case. I probably won’t be selling this. Working on a formula of, “Three times time and materials” this works out at six Euro each. I don’t see many wargamers forking out that much for a single piece. So I need to make something a little less complicated in a cheaper material. This is made with 4mm ply rather than the much cheaper 3mm MDF. Which I have now sourced thankfully, now to find affordable acrylic.

“Line Of Sight” markers. These are designed for your less sporting opponent. For example, I have some of my Ork Stormboyz mounted on flying bases. So when they land behind a large obstacle anybody reasonable would assume they couldn’t be seen. So if you get anyone picky, “I can see your Ork, so I can shoot at the entire unit,” just replace your figure with a marker. “Can you see it now?”

Finally a plaque for my Albion Army, when I finally get my display case out of storage.

Maybe something a little new

Posted on February 10, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

There has been a reason why I have been a little slow this month, I’m starting on a little side project. Yes soon you’ll be able to buy Grumpy Old Tin Products!
In the past I had access to a laser-cutter and made a few little gaming aids for myself. I missed that moving over here. Looking online at what is offered to wargamers I was really saddened at what shoddy goods were being promoted to wargamers (there are some notable exceptions). If you Goggle, “laser cut art” you will see some amazing and beautiful work. So why isn’t it filtering down to us?
Well the answer is that every Thomas, Richard and Harold who think they can draw a square in a CAD program is getting in on the act.
I want better than that. My aim is to start producing beautiful gaming aids and terrain/scenery and painting aids and you name it.
Everything is possible.
You’ll already have seen that I have started branding myself and have now done the social meejah stuff with a twitter (what’s the bloomin’ point) account and a Facebook page.
Here is the first prototype. Bit of a learning curve and a few rough edges.
The Boundary Country Shipping Container.