Raging Heroes Gluttony

Getting back into the swing of things with these two Minis from Raging Heroes.

 They are the Fantasy and Science Fiction versions of the 28mm model.  I was originally thinking that there was very little difference between the two minis but, as a got to work on them, I discovered that there were a few things that I had missed.

The SF version has what looks like some kind of flamer built into the right arm, the torso some gems and a respirator backpack with several hoses. 

I elected to use a sort of impressionist approach to painting these.  Partly because its been a while since I painted anything and partly because I have recently been looking at a lot of Blanche's paintings and minis.  They won't win a Demon but should be a fast and fun way to flesh out an evocative, cinematic force. 

  The weapon arm of the SF version is shared with the fantasy version but its not really a problem since so many system specific weapons are available to replace the cleaver if desired.  For this one I opted to keep the cleaver.

This should serve ably as a Chosen Champion for Death Guard. 

 For Chaos, especially Nurgle,  I really like the fuzziness, limited palettes, and distressed look.  They show well at table top range but are a bit scary up close.

 I'm shamelessly stealing the Gnome's Chaos Warband... The Unwritten... as the basic framework for the Chaos Space Marine Project.  This fellow should be sporting a "Veteran of Corpulous Prime"  Campaign banner on his trophy rack so I'll have to scare one up!

  The Fantasy version.  In a fit of fevered inspiration I'll extrapolate the Unwritten as a Fantasy Battle Warband as well.  Go Gnomie!

I also went with a basic bases so I can rip them off once I settle on  theme for the two forces.

And then there was paint!

After about six months of fail... I've finally located my paints, brushes, and lights!  While excavating a box yesterday... incongruously labeled "Dishes and Crystal" I was amazed to find my long lost painting tools and supplies!

I'd just about given up on locating them and was trying to figure out a way forward.... but now I can proceed!   I had been struggling to justify the expense of restarting the paint and tool collection so that is a huge relief!

This week I'll be setting up a good area to work and moving forward...  The first projects on the Block are from Raging Heroes.  28mm Gluttony in Fantasy and SF versions and the Fantasy Blood Vestals.  I've since acquired the SF versions of the Blood Vestals and the Character Model Skaryaa so they will follow closely on the heels of the fantasy group.

Now if I can just get Blogger to stop defaulting everything to Japanese....

Paint on!

Setting up

Its been slow in the Swelterverse. 

I went to get in a pick up game last week and found that the box of Dark Eldar Vehicles was actually a Box of Chaos Daemons and had to do a quick search.... made of fail!  They vehicles are still on the MIA list.  I cooked up a list of the Chaos Daemons and headed out the the local game day at the rec center only to find that my late arrival had cut off the chance of getting in a game.  I did join and play a running board game of Lords of Waterdeep which seems like a good game and followed up with a game of Chaos in the Old World.  Between those games a Warmahordes game kicked up that featured some really massive individual figures many of which were either well painted or well on their way to it.  I love watching a game with painted minis!  The terrain was good as well, snow themed rocky hills and forests which helped display the minis.  Great minis need great terrain!

I laid out some stuff and went to open the box labeled "Paint and Supplies"  only to discover no paint or brushes.... grrr.  I'll need to open all the boxes in the hobby room until I win the paint roulette.  I have had some success in finding supplies like tools and magnets etc...  so I feel like I'm getting close!  In the meantime I discovered that one of the Dark Eldar boxes I have found has a fair bit of minor damage to repair so I'll need to spend a little time working on that before next weekend.

I've been stricken with Bursitis in both of my knees and hips which has pretty much KO'd me for the past week.  Unfortunately I'll miss this week's game session due to the ongoing pain. 

Raging Heroes Blood Vestals and Gluttony first looks and some Bug repairs

 I love Raging Heroes, I really do.  Their customer service is phenomenal and I really get the sense that they care about me individually.  Their products have been impressive although the details have a softness to them that requires a bit more work to fully bring out.

My fist encounter with them was with their amazing Ashara miniature which came with enough bits to make the completed variant of your choice (Dark Eldar, Chaos, or Sister of Battle Saint) and then, with the addition of some plastic GW Dark Eldar torsos you could make 2 more figures or just use the bits around your forces to spice things up.  Each variant had significant differences in weaponry, a different head and a different backpack structure all wedded to a common body. 

 With that experience under my belt I was anxious to take a look at their new series based on the seven deadly sins.  They began with Gluttony done in SF and Fantasy versions.  I ordered both!  Today I finally got round to opening them up and taking a peek.

Sadly I was a bit disappointed.  The differences between the two versions were minute.  Basically a gem and some hose and a backpack/tank were added to the SF version.  No weapons, no alternate heads, the two versions are armed....identically.  Fortunately there is a fist that will easily take any number of cool SF weapons so the flaw isn't fatal.  Just not quite what I'd come to expect from there otherwise exceptional catalogue.

 Moving on to their Blood Vestals I was again impressed by the efforts of the customer service.  When they encounted a problem with the supplier of the packaging they sent out an offer to either ship in alternate packaging (which I did) or to wait for the regular package.   The alternate package looked very sharp and they packed all of my Blood Vestals (2 squads and a command squad) in the same package.

I also got what I was expecting from the figures.  They are single piece soft metal figures that are in dynamic poses and have no options.  There are 5 poses for the regulars and 5 command (although one of the command set is repeated from the regular squad)  they look very good.  I would have liked to see SF versions of these to use as Dark Eldar Blood Brides but I can convert them easily enough considering how many extra weapon bits I've accumulated on DE sprues.

These we so clean that I thought they must be pre-cleaned.  Only one figure had any noticeable flash and that was very minor.  I had thought to build these as fantasy Dark Elf but now I'm thinking I'll go ahead with the mild conversion and add the to the Wytch Kult.

Here we see a casualty of the Move.  A Stone Crusher Carfnifex from Forge World that I entered in the Golden Daemons for Games day 2010 (First Cut).  Needless to say I was unhappy that it was this particular model that took the hit but it really isn't a bad outcome for a move halfway round the planet! 



















Easily repaired and back to devouring the universe!

Settling in

I've just received the last shipment of stuff and am testing all the gear, inventorying damage etc...   So far one Computer, a UPS, a bowl and the Forge World Stonecrusher Carnifex  have all taken hits.  Fortunately the Carnifex looks like an easy repair!  The Computer is looking like , dead Motherboard, CPU and CPU Cooler at the very least. 

I have managed to see a game of 6ed played and have reviewed the new rules.   Looks a little fussy, some good stuff mixed in with a big uptick in how many dice are rolled in a given turn with all the snap shots.  Not sure what I think about that yet... seems like a lot of fiddling for the effect but I want to reserve my opinion until I've a couple of games under my belt.

On the painting front I'll start with the repair of the Carnifex and then move on to some raging heroes Wyches surrogates and a faux Nurgle daemon thing( also from Raging Heroes).  I'm hoping to kick off painting efforts Wednesday.

Arrived!

We've landed in Japan in the middle of a cold... cold... typhoon.  number 4 I think.  Blogger has decided that, since I'm in Japan I must, of course, be Japanese!   I do read it a bit but not nearly enough to decipher technical computer speak.    At any rate now I'm awaiting the arrival of the minis!  I'm told that they'll be here "In two weeks".... boy does that sound familiar!

More later!  still getting acclimated and set up! 

Mata ne!

On the Road

The minis are all gone, paint and tools too.   Its only temporary of course!  The whole kit and caboodle has been shipped to Japan.  I'm told the stuff could take two months to get there so I'll not be painting anything until then.  Time to see about getting from here to there myself! I'll log in when I can and visit the usual suspects from time to time.

See you on the other side!~ 

Swelter

FoW Polish Infantry and Objective Marker

 Some infantry and an objective marker (destroyed Stuart light tank) finished up.  Looking at the pictures now I may go back and do something with some of the helmet nets but I'm in crunch time for packing up the house so it may not get done.  I did locate some artillery to add to the force and will try and knock it out before I ship out.

These were entertaining to paint.  I started with everything primed in US ARMY GREEN.  For the uniforms I washed gryphonne sepia to tint them towards the uniform color I was after and followed up with 2 washes of devlan mud to lock in the brown.  The belts and pouches were brushed on using reaper khaki mid and re-brushed with a khaki highlight before washing in devlan mud.  the skin was vallejo light flesh washed with ogryn flesh. helmets were calthan brown and ogryn flesh, boots black and guns were vallejo gunmetal washed with badab black.

The bases were dressed with wood filler then painted calthan brown then dry-brushed basic flesh and washed with the ubiquitous devlan mud.  I mixed a couple of static grass colors...  one very bright green and one very burnt green to get a summer grass mix.

Otherwise the packing up of the house proceeds apace and posts will remain spotty until after the move.

Polish 1 AD WiP

 More work done on the Flames of War Late War Polish.  These are intended to be from 1st Polish Armoured Division, 10 Brygada
Kawalerii Pancernej, 1 Pułk Pancerny, A Squadron and a couple of Regimental assets.



I've run out of small white stars for the flanks of the tanks so work will pause here for a bit and I'll jump over to the infantry component while I wait.  I also need to dig up or fabricate some Firefly turrets and barrels.

In other news I'm packing up the house and moving to Japan for a while.   The main impact here is that posts will be erratic for a few months while I'm getting torn down and reset.  Many of the larger projects will be pushed to the back burner in favor of things I can work on more readily as I travel.

Court of the Archon assembled

The Court of the Archon in its basic configuration is complete today with the addition of the Lhamaeans.  These last two models are single piece Finecast.  They were easy to work with and I've got another one in the process of being converted to alter the pose.  I have a few alternates to add in yet... a converted Lhamaean (just to vary the pose) and a couple of Ur-Ghul that will use the remaining heads from the Finecast kit but use another body... again for variety.

Moving now on wrapping up Greasus Goldtooth and prepping the squiggoths and a Forge World Vampire Hunter that I came across recently.  The Kabal is particularly keen to add the Vampire but it had been partially constructed and only retains the first page of instructions so I'll be a little bit sorting it out.  My primary concern is the engineering of a flight/display base for it as its not immediately clear how such a base would be attached.

Dark Eldar Sslyth

I love scaly aliens!  The Sslyth were both fun and aggravating to work with.  They strongly resemble the old 3ed WHFB Chaos Snakemen which was nostalgic but, where the old snakemen were metal minis, these were Finecast...

The Finecast has great detail but on kits this articulated it was just plain fragile. 



Accidental contact with a sword or other protrusion resulted in the minis either catapulting across the room as the somewhat rubbery material behaves like a frail spring!   Just a little tap and the figure practically achieves orbit!  anything stronger than that and the limbs would just break... as the glued joints are actually sturdier than the casting itself the break would often be at someplace other than the actual join. 

An additional issue is that one of the swords has a stubborn curve in it which resisted my "working with resin" attempts to straighten.  It did recover from its letter "C" original curve to one that it much less eye catching but it was never fully corrected and so one of these fellows is likely to be a hazard to his mates!




The figures are also very light in the sense that they do not have sufficient weight to stand on their own except under ideal circumstances.  Since I've been playing with water effects for this unit I had the happy coincidence that the depth of water effect I've been using actually adds weight to the bases making these minis very stable! 

While I'm happy that they ceased falling over if looked at or, god forbid, brushed while moving a neighboring miniature I still have some concerns about their durability as playing pieces and their storage/transport survival rates.  On the plus side I do still have a lot of old metal Chaos Snakemen so if these don't survive I can always re-purpose some of those!   Who knows... maybe even a unit or two of mercenary Sslyth are in my future!

FoW Polish I Armored Division WiP

Stepping...sideways from my work queue I decided to work on these elements of the Polish I Armored Division from the Late War period formatted for Flames of War.

I spent most of the day doing research and found a supplier for regimental vehicle markings in Dom's Decals.   The basic painting and weathering of the vehicles has progressed to the point where I'm just waiting for the decals to arrive.  I'll add some details while I wait and paint the bases so it should wrap right up once the the fiddly decals arrive.  Later this week I'll sort out the infantry and see if I can knock the project out and return to OGRE PANTS!

Other things on the table that have seen some progress are the Sslyth for the Dark Eldar which are in process of layering the water effects for the base.  They will be closely followed by the Lahmians... which should finish up the Court of the Archon for the time being.

Dark Eldar Medusae and more Spirits of Vengeance

 The Court of the Archon is proceeding at a good pace now with the addition of these two Medusae and the impeding arrival of the Sslyth.  The entire Court is mounted on Blasted Swampland bases from Secret Weapon.  I'm liking the water effects more as I get more accustomed to them.  The large shrinkage that occurs as the effect cures and clears requires the the central areas of the bases be refilled several times to avoid a concave shiny situation where the shiny effect rides up the retaining walls and the sides of artifacts that are only partly submerged.  This could be adjusted with paint as well but I'm currently favoring the adding of actual depth.

 This shot shows the bases pretty well.  The effect around the log, just below waterline is the best bit.

 Finally getting close to wrapping up the Spirits of Vengeance!  The Datsue Ba and the second batch of Seishin complete the basic selection of all the models.  Just as I finished these though.... the Avatar of Vengeance arrived!  The concept for the model is really good and its an ambitious sculpt.  Unfortunately the arm pins seem to be very much out of position and will have to be shorn and replaced.  The spirit rises from the collapsed body of Kirai Ankoku and the join is also a bit ambiguous.  In pinning it I may actually not lower the body completely so it could actually appear to levitate over the fallen Kirai.  I'm anxious to see how that goes so its already in the construction pile.

Batch 2 of the Seishin brings this element up to its likely potential.

Shikome and Ur-Ghul on swamp bases

 The Spirits of Vengeance crew is getting close to finished now with the addition of the Shikome.  Its some sort of Kabuki Harpy and a spirit to boot with a dark evil look offset by the incongruous spray of wild flowers in the industrial rubble.

 A bit farther out of town the Ur-Ghul are mucking about in the swamps.  They will be accompanied by the rest of the Court of the Archon as the aliens which comprise the Court seem to be a bit less fashion, and a LOT less dirt/mud, conscious.  The painting has been done for the entire Court's bases but the water effect can't be added until the completed figures are mounted and all top sprays are completed.

 Here are some close detail views of the swamp painting prior to filling the bases with water effect. 

 These were achieved by layering washes of Thrakka Green with Devlan Mud and over a white primer base and a final layer of Ogre flesh in the very low, and quite flat, recesses at the bottom of the pool.The highest points were then finished up with a light dry brush of Buckskin Pale from Reaper.

  This final wash really added some depth to the effect and I would have been happy to leave them in this state except for the pesky idea that this was actually supposed to be a water effects experiment!


Here is a look at the base with the effect in  and dried.  The depth at the deepest point is about 2mm.  The water effect does contract a bit as it dries so applied depth is always significantly less than achieved depth and layers are requires to make up the difference.  In the next batch some of the figures will be standing, essentially, in pools of the water so I will attempt to get the depth of the water up to the top of the lip.

Finally, just for the amusement of my nephew, I'm starting the wash-up of the next bit of Orky madness... a pair of Big Squiggoths!  Together with the previously completed Gargantuan Squiggoth this will complete the minimum requirements for the Apocalypse formation... and, more importantly, give the Boyz some monstrous support in regular games.

Secret Weapon bases and a pair of Gaki

 Its been a mad couple of days doing house chores and otherwise submersing myself in real world activities....bleah!  I did find a few moments to finish up this pair of Gaki as well as make some good progress on bases for the Court of the Archon. 

The bases are from Secret Weapon and are very nice for getting some depth to water effects on standard sized beveled edge 25mm bases.  I's like to get some of these that are recessed but otherwise blank so I could more easily fill them with artifacts of my choosing.

Back to the real world for a couple of days but more working on cool toys soon!

Malifaux Kirai Ankoku and a pair of Onryo

OK... Crazy ladies with hedge trimmers that unknowingly summon hordes of angry spirits to take revenge on her oppressors are fun to paint... or maybe its just the blood?  For this Kirai Ankoku I bloodied both the trimmer and the floor using the Reaper Blood Triad and some spot gloss varnish from Vallejo.  I really like the effect, especially on the flooring. 

 For the Onryo I again reached into the reaper pile for the skin tones which are made up from the Olive Green Triad.  Very ghoulish! 

Due to the very Asian nature of these models I've gone into some colors like the GW Scaly Green top coats and a lot of touches of pink like the fan and some medallions.

The hair is another experiment.  Its simply P3 Armor wash over white primer.  I wanted the Asian black hair but kind of shiny and otherworldly.  

Next up... I think... are a pair of Gaki, a Datsue Ba, and some thing from the Court of the Archon.

Spirits of Vengeance and a Lost Love

 Something vengeful this way comes...  Malifaux is a wonderful back drop for painting themes.  To be fair I love all the Steampunk styles but I especially love tales of tragic loss and hopeless battles for hollow victories.  The Spirits of Vengeance crew from the Resurrectionist faction fit the bill nicely.

 The Ikiryo here is pictured rising from a pool filled with the guilty eyes of oppressors and exploiters.  I imagine this spirit collecting them from its victims and returning them to its spiritual realm for some unknown, but certainly dread, purpose.

 The eyes began as little ovals of liquid greenstuff built up in 2 or three layers on the bottom of the standard 30mm round lip base.  They were then painted as bloodshot eyes and buried in a couple of layers of water effects.

 The ablative Seishin are great little Chinese Dragons wafting across the field of carnage.  After painting these it was brought to my attention that I could have as many as five of them on the table so... four more are on the way!

 
And what tale of regret would be complete without Lost Love?  This one, as with the other members of this crew,  was inspired by the cover art.  This is because I wanted to get a handle on the atmospherics and style of the setting which is different to the GW settings I've been largely buried in for decades.  I think I've got enough of a handle on it to branch out a bit now.

One of the issues I see with Malifaux is the specificity of the models in a crew.  Its a strength in the sense that so few models are required for a game but then there are so few models available so there is not a lot of variation between the crews of any given player.  I'd like to see rules for homebrew crews and a more extensive background of crews that have not yet been developed as miniatures so there would be more room for experimentation.  For example I painted up a crew based on the Wizard of Oz that I'd love to be able to include in a game. 

Perhaps as I get more familiar with the rule set I'll be able to accommodate flights of fancy.