Acclimating

 Still acclimating to being at home full time now. It still feels like time off at the moment. Apparently that feeling, plus the habitual tension from a work rythm are currently translating them in an urge to get stuff done in the hobby "before I have to get back to work". Which, for the foreseeable future, I don't have to, if ever...  Weird how the brain works like that.

So, I've been taking advantage of the nicer weather to get some terrain things done.

I've oil-washed and rusted the second of my Gallowdark floors: 

It ended up being more black and less ruddy/rusty than the previous one, but I'm okay with that. All that is left for this one is to airbrush in the glowing pools of toxic sludge with a nice neon green. 

Today, I spent the day putting my grout-plaster-sand mixture on the Necromunda upper platform and fixing it all in place with alcohol and watered down PVA:

These will get to sleep under the stars overnight, to dry and harden up. Tomorrow, I'll be glueing the mandatory mushrooms and some other small detritus onto them to make them fully ready for primer.

Can't wait to get this finished and shove all my Necromunda terrain onto a table, see what I have now and what I want/need to add.

Finally, I glued the Zone Mortalis tiles I had printed so far onto some 1'x'1 MDF, to start my 3'x3' Zone Mortalis board. I want the boards to look varied but still have at least one, preferably two tiles on each plate that have a surface that the columns and walls can grip onto. 

The printing of the remaining tiles and Zone Mortalis terrain will have to wait, as a friend commissioned me to print him a foam dart blaster. So that comes first.

While I'm still processing the loss of a job and new disability status, I'm thoroughly enjoying being able to build terrain again. The last two years all my energy had gone into work, trying to build up enough hours to keep my job, leaving me an exhausted husk outside of work hours. Working on terrain now is part of reclaiming my Modhail-ness. 

The weather will be expected dip back down over the next week, so I'll be getting back to painting for 15mm Badab War then.

See you all again soon!

Time "March"es on...

Well, this is it. The first week of no longer working due to disability (long covid)...  Still feels like vacation for now, but different at the same time.  I'm giving myself a few weeks to rest up, acclimate and process the new situation. While I miss my job and colleagues already, it also means no longer burning up all my available energy to make the minimum hours I needed for my contract. Hopefully I'll be able to hobby (and generally enjoy life) with more regularity again.

Speaking of hobby:
I'm currently finishing the Tyrant's Claw army, and just need to print the Minotaurs and I'll have 2 loyalist and 2 secessionist chapters once all is painted. I think I'll leave the project at that size for the time being. Partly because I don't really suspect I'll find more than 4 players, but also because I find myself getting a bit of "Marine Fatigue", mainly regarding having to support all the minis for printing. 
The weather is getting better, so terrain can get back on the menu soon.  I still need to oil weather the second of my Gallowdark floor board. And finish the texture, details etc. on my Necromunda elevated platform and the pillars to support it, so those can be painted. I also found an affordable source of 30x30cm/1x1' mdf squares, so I can experiment with some Zone Mortalis floor tiles, with modular walls to slot onto them. I've got enough to experiment with a 3'x3' table and maybe a pair of set piece/diorama tiles.

Been doing some comparisons as well, and I think the Zone Mortalis columns and walls can also serve for 15mm Badab War, I just need to make a second set of scale appropriate scatter items.  They can just represent larger, more imposing walls and corridors in spaceships or underground complexes.

Which only adds fuel to the fire of wanting to do a Zone Mortalis set...

Anyway, just some waffle. Hopefully I can post some progress pictures next time!

See you then!

A tiny civil war, with tiny models (Badab War, resurgent?)

Life stuff first: As expected/feared due to the full disability assesment my current employment will end either 1 or 2 month from now, depending on the speed administrative processes. So yeah, less income, but also less exhaustion and stress, hopefully.

Anyway, on to the meat and potatoes of this post:
For some odd reason, looking for painting tutorials for red, to paint a small House Draconis Battletech Lance, led to seeing lots of Space Marine tutorials. Which led to thinking about marines again, which led to try a grimdark/gritty Raptors Terminator squad (for Space Hulk). Raptors led to seeing the Imperial Armour art for them again, which led to Badab War, which led to my 15mm Howling Griffons:

So, I'm thinking about having another go at Badab War games/hopefully a campaign, but this time in 15mm.

 

I don't have a concrete plan yet, just musing. Maybe use this as a project to soften the sting of being at home full time. Like Battletech, I'm hoping to go for a "show up and play"format, where I build a couple of forces, probable for the most iconic and active factions of the Badab War. And once these are done, invite some friends for a day/weekend of gaming.

Since there are 18 chapters involved in the Badab War, I'll need to make some choices on which chapters to build forces for. While 15mm paints a LOT quicker than 28mm, making 18 full armies for 4-8 players is insanity.

My current thoughts are as follows:

Secessionists:

-Astral Claws: can't have a Badab War without the Tyrant of Badab and his army! Plus the Marines and Imperial Guard hybrid force seems like an interesting project.

-Lamenters: Gotta rep the sad bois!

-Mantis Warriors: They're just cool, and I like their green with yellow shoulders.

-Executioners: Might as well complete the set.

Loyalists:

-Red Scorpions: Well, they're the Forgeworld poster boys, and in-lore leaders of the loyalists, so they're a given.

-Howling Griffons: A minor role in the conflict, but they're my lads! I have to include them.

-Minotaurs: The whole chapter was there, and they got special character models, so yeah, can hardly leave them out.

-Carcharodons: Not a big role in the most of the Badab War, but again, cool guys I want to include.

By the  "entire chapter was involved" criterium, the Fire Angels, Fire Hawks and Star Phantoms could also be included. But honestly, 4v4 feels nice and shouldn't be too unmanageable.

If, during the prep, any players express an interest in a particular chapter not in the list above, I can always add them, as I have the files already and most marines paint quite fast in 15mm scale.

Anyhow, that was my ramble/musings.

Until next time!

Sunday Musings: Space Hulk/Gallowdark and abandoning an ancient empire.

 I had the past week off. Which meant that what little energy Long Covid allows me has gone towards my hobby instead of my job. I've also been looking at/seeing things and musing.

What did that musing lead to?  I think I'm done being an active Games Workshop Customer.

Let's preface this with some background and then the causes that led to this conclusion.

I've been a GW\40K fan for my entire adult life. I discovered them around 18 years of age, during second edition. Since then I've bought EVERY edition of 40K starter, and have collected a large portion of the 1st edition books too. Several editions, I didn't even get to play a game in, due to gaming groups drifting apart. But I still kept up, because Warhammer/40K was my main "thing". Even if it was never exclusively so, I do play other games and settings. I have many of the secondary/Fanatic games, and love them dearly, especially Battlefleet Gothic, Necromunda and Space Hulk (Kill team combining these two in Gallowdark was a stroke of genius which is mainly responsible for this only coming now, and not several months sooner, tbh). The shared love of the games and setting has given me the vast majority of people I now call friends, both online and in "meatspace".  The 41st Millennium runs deep with me.

So what prompted this disentanglement from the company that produces it? In no particular order:

-While never a cheap hobby, the game has become downright unaffordable over the past years. The Hobby™ has never been cheap, but the past and upcoming price hike have, for me, broken the limit of value for money.

-GW's relentless release pace means you don't have the time to enjoy new mini's or spend time with a release to get to know it's ins and outs. It's all so rushed and stressful. It's exhausting. 

-And many of the newer releases, despite being of high technical and sculpting skill, aren't very good, lore and design-wise. There's nothing joyous or inspired about them.

-Despite its grand  "Warhammer is for Everyone" statement a while back, I've not seen GW make any significant progress or effort to deal with the obvious bigot issue in their community. They're still here, and with the lack of significant push out since that statement, they're louder and more obnoxious than ever.

-GW's reliance on FOMO and flash in the pan sales and their accompanying consistent unwillingness and inability to get their product in the hands of fans instead of scalpers. It just shows such disrespect and disinterest to their customer/fanbase.

-GW's exploitative lack of respect for their artists and creators. It started years ago, with the removal of author credits on rules, artists watermarks and credits, and now after building loyalty and community through popular faces on their tutorials, they've reverted to literally faceless narration. The only ones allowed a name and face are the presenters, the one who are effectively doing a constant, barely masked sales pitch.

GW has always been a somewhat out of touch and regressive company, but they seemed to be doing better for a while. Not it just feels like their regressing to their worst habits. I just can't find any joy in THEIR version of The Hobby™ anymore.

Sum total: I don't NEED Games Workshop anymore for my hobbying in the 40K setting, and I don't like them near enough anymore to give them a default claim on my hobby budget.

Does that mean GW won't lure me back in at some point? No, if they manage to hit the perfect note with a release (Say, BFG 2nd ed or Warhammer Old World Man O'War?), I might pick that up. But I won't be a devotee anymore, just a passer by.

Keeping my games/collections up to date and assuming something is a must buy, because it's for a game or faction I collect? That's past. The only remaining guaranteed buy left is the fourth installment of Kill Team Gallowdark. Because I WANT to have it, not because I NEED it to stay current. Unless a miracle happens, 9th will be the last edition of 40K I own.

I won't sell my collections either, as I still like the setting and minis. But I'll be playing around in the universe at my pace, on my conditions, in a part of the timeline I choose, an the version of the rules I like without regard to GW's  plans or desires. MY hobby, not The Hobby™.

Anyway, after all that dour thought, let's end on something fun, shall we?

I finished painting the first/test portion of my Gallowdark terrain. These are 3d printed fanmade iterations and meant as a testcase for painting techniques, colour schemes and new materials/paints to try. (Dirty Down Rust prime among them).  They'll also mean I can fill a larger table for when we play a Badab War Kill Team campaign later this year.   You see, for this year, I want to try and focus on playing more, instead of just buying more. Let's hope I succeed!

My Void Crows scavenger team got a bit more than they bargained for inside a derelict ship!

 

 Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Lots of stuff happened, I lost the heart to hobby and blog for a bit after the events of last post. I did pick hobbying back, but not yet keeping up with this blog. Especially as I got Covid last September. Which turned out to be Long Covid... Added to that discovering I have diabetes (possibly triggered/exacerbated by the covid infection) and getting the flu on top of that all, resetting my recovery back to zero in december.

Anyhow, enough moping, let's see what I've been up to in the intervening months. Not gonna say much, just dump pictures.

April 2022

May 2022

June 2022

A commission for a friend.

July 2022

August  2022

September & October 2022

'Rona....

November 2022

December 2022

In December, I also pitched a Traveller RPG one-off to my friends, that may, if all like it, become a campaign.

And I (re)discovered Battletech!

January 2023

And that's us all caught up.

The 28mm scale Warhammer mech still needs basing, once that is done, I'll take some glamour shots of the beast. He'll be accompanied by a Locust and maybe some infantry, for large scale skirmish level games and/or mech on mech duels.  I still need to decide what the OpFor will be...

Aaaand, done!

Hello again my dear readers,

Today I want to share the completion of the terrain and markers for the Necromunda: Underhive boxed set. Took me a bit, but I finally got there. (Just in time for GW to drop the next set, it turns out.... 😆) Here's the complete set:

(In the background you can see some Multiverse Gaming Terrain walls, as well as some 3D printed Zone Mortalis ones.)

And with a few extras finished in the same style:

(For those interested, the floor tiles are MDF from Multiverse Gaming Terrain, part of their Vault Builder Megaton set.)

Some close-ups of the walls and barricades (junky workdesk pic, viewer beware! ;)  )

Recently I've become enthusiastic about building Necromunda terrain again. Unfortunately, we're coming up on the busiest time of year at work, so I won't actually be able to do anything with the current mojo. Hopefully it will last until after the holiday season.

See you all next time!

From the deep they come... Scenting blood...

Yeah, I should be working on my Multiverse Gaming terrain, but yeah, random muse is random.
I needed something enjoyable and self-contained to deal with a stressfull weekend.
A Kill Team would be ideal. I had hoped to finish building my Cardinal Archivists, but for those I need some female heads from Statuesque Miniatures, which are still in transit.
So it was an another Kill Team that got to be the centre of attention.

Cue the music...

A few weeks ago, on a whim, I bid on some small, cheap batches of Primaris Intercessors and Reivers. Not bothering to strip them as the paint already on them was thin and even, I quickly set about converting them:

After that, the airbrush was fired up, for the primer and basecoat, and soon, things were progressing nicely:

Once painting was done I applied acrylic water paste, to simulate the effects of water lapping on a shore:

M40.3955564/1 Carcharodons Astra Task Force "Mako", preparing to deploy on one of the embarkation decks of Hive-Crawler Sarcomand Secundus. -Stripped by pict-thief from one of the deck internal security picters-

Intercessor sergeant Ropata gives the order to advance, as Reiver Sergeant Hunapo instructs his Reivers to seek high ground. 

Same pict-thief 37:32 Terran hours later. Exactly what transpired is unknown, but somewhere in the intervening time, the Lomar Township, presumed to be the seat of the rebellion, has gone completely, utterly silent. The Carcharodons Task Force departed as quickly as they arrived, leaving no explanation or debriefing for the local Imperial Command.

They were fun to paint, especially the Exile Markings on their helmets and armour were an entertaining challenge.



See you next time!

A Derelict Citiplex part five, and a Kill Team

With the painting of the first quarter of the Multiverse Gaming Vault Builder Megaton Set, it's time to start building on the second quarter.
With this I'm really going off-piste, pushing the modification of the mdf even further, making a double-length wall, and severely modifying a column and one of the floor boards, so I can start integrating lighting:

 The modified column, with the additional PVC tubing, which will have EL-wire wrapped around it.

The core in situ, still without the top.

To make sure I have a place to put wiring and the powerpack for the EL-wire, I've mounted magnets in the bottom of the column and in one of the floor tiles.

 As this will leave a hole in the floor (still to be drilled in this picture) when the column isn't in use, I've magnetized a spare part to cover it:

 And I had to do a quick test-wrap with the EL-wire to test the effect:

 And in glorious motion-vision:

This weekend, I've been painting a few old metal figures to use for Kill Team:

  

 The colour scheme, although mine are darker in tone, is this piece from the old Witch Hunters Codex:

They aren't done, hopefully I can manage that next weekend.
After that, I guess I will need to continue building the Vault terrain and start fiddling about with LEDS, wiring and soldering irons...

See you next time!

A Derelict Citiplex, part four

Well, the painting part of the first quarter of my Vault Builder Megaton Bundle is done. All that's left to do is varnish the thing and add posters and proclamations (which I still need to have printed, so that will delay things a bit).

I spent the weekend cutting a few custom airbrush stencils, and combined with a few commercial ones, added some interest to the floor tiles:

After which I destroyed parts of it again:

I'm really pleased with how the weathered and worn floor looks.

Once that was done, and having yesterday and today off, I could turn my attention to the walls, giving them an all-over wash, then drybrushing wear and tear, painting in details and dirt and finally stippling on wear and rust. (For some reason, I don't know why, despite having the same hairspray treatment, the walls and columns refused to chip. So back to hand-painted chipping I was).

Resulting in this:

Some model's eye views and close-ups (as well as some Goliath Gangers in deep trouble!):

Once I add loose scatter terrain and perhaps some patches of detritus/rough groumd, this will look rather nice indeed... :D

Oh, in the intervening weeks I also built some goodies for a duo of youtubers, but I'm not showing those until they've seen it themselves. 
And most of my needed gear for integrating lights in the next set of Vault Builder terrain has arrived... Now to see if I can finangle it into these little, thin walls!

Also, friends and I have been getting more and more serious about gaming Kill Team, so this terrain should see use soon. :)  Everyone is building Kill Teams, but I've got an Ork army, I can pick a ready to go Kill Team from. But still, the frenzy of building and collecting is infectious, so I'm looking at making an entirely new team as well. I've got several options, but at this moment Sisters of Battle (using the Astartes rules for now) and a converted Ork Freeboota Kill Team seem to be leading the pack as far as enthusiasm goes. I'm limiting myself to building just one team at a time, so I'll just have to see who wins the poll!

See you next time!