Trimming the bush and skinning the villagers

When Samurai/Feudal Japan reappeared on the radar locally, a few weeks ago, I ordered a set of blossoming Sakura trees ( to share with Gunbird) as well as a set of bamboo. The bamboo arrived earlier on this week, but turned out a bit on the small-ish size:

Sufficient, but not quite imposing enough for the bamboo maze/forest I had in mind. So an extra set of larger bamboo stems was ordered the same night...
While waiting for those to arrive I set about trimming the excess flash off these bamboo stems. I've got a hundred of them to go, so I'm doing it in little batches, clipping a few every time I have a spare few minutes, like when waiting for the teawater to boil, etc.:

 I'm already a quarter of the way through the bag...
Once they are all clean (enough, with this soft plastic, I can't expect to get it perfect, and they're supposed to look good en masse, not being inspected individually up close), I'll start making a test bush, so I can start serious production once the larger stems have arrived. I'm hoping they'll arrive in the next week, so I can do this in a couple of days off I have heading my way.

Today, after a leisurely stroll in the forest, I painted the skin on my first 5 villagers:

The painting is a bit rougher than I would have liked. Apparently, I'm more out of practice than I thought... Still having a little bit of the shakes from a flu earlier this week may also have contributed.
I'm not too worried as they're essentially just set dressing/ objective markers.
The wash on the hats and woven basket are currently drying, maybe I can just finish those before supper?
Hopefully next weekend I can get the most of them dressed.

See you next time!

It takes a child to raise a village

In this case, my son needing someone to assist/supervise him with his homework.  As sitting there, staring at the ceiling until he needed me isn't my thing, I took my cutting mat, some tools and a batch of mini's along:

Luckily (for me, not for him!) he had enough homework that I could also get around to basing them:

So, I have been a good parent, had a nice father-son chat as we both worked on our own things and I gained a batch of mini's ready for primer and (start of) paint tomorrow. Win-win-win!

These are a sort of spontaneous collaboration with Gunbird, as he has enthusiastically started building a samurai village. As we both have an interest in medieval Japan wargaming, I might as well provide the population!

The project is (unsurprisingly, seeing my track record) threatening to escalate a bit though. My original plan was to limit myself to the Gempei War miniatures from The Assault Group, with some supporting mini's from Perry to fill the gaps, but I've already ordered a Koryu Buntai from the Ronin range by Northstar Miniatures, and find myself eyeing other buntai and more "modern" samurai figures from Perry, Kingsford and Northstar... We'll see how far this goes...

See you next time!

Geta job!

Job done, that is! 😁

With the help of my lovely wife (and her fabric collection and sewing machine), the geta got finished:

I just need to fidget around with the straps, get them neat, and find out the right length before I permanently attach them.

The wood is  "steigerhout" from a local DIY, which seems to be a low grade of pine. It's light, but not very sturdy, and hard to get really smooth and neat.  I finished it with boiled linseed oil, in the hopes of protecting them from wet and dirt at least a little bit.  The straps are terry cloth wound around sisal rope, held togehter inside a black cotton tube.
These are just a quick test of concept and construction, to see how they would be to walk on. If they work well, and I actually manage to wear these out, maybe I'll make a pair of decent wood. Maybe, someday.

They're a bloody hazard to walk around with on wooden flooring, but on carpet I can manage a (careful and nervous) run. Hopefully I'll get to try them outdoors sometime, the type of terrain they are intended for. We've got some inland dunes nearby so I might get to test them out on both woodland soil, some light mud and loose sand. Plus I get to confuse the locals...

See you next time!

I feel like sushi tonight.

Our  DnD Campaign set in mythical Japan has picked up steam again, which has gotten me looking at my medieval Japan references again. At the same time Gunbird started building Japanese houses and a second hand copy of Daisho came along on the LAF. Apparently Samurai are in the air... So why fight it?

Especially as I have a Pappis box full of the belligerent little dudes. :D A couple were already paint in progress and I had a basecoated Torii. As good a point to start (or continue) as any.
Here's the results of a day's painting:

 I tried to get the Torii to look like a simple, weathered, rural one, the design just lent itself to that. No idea where it came from, it was a gift from Gunbird.

And more of a close up of the Samurai themselves:

The mini's are from The Assault Group, Gempei Wars era Samurai.
I've got a few more primered and ready to paint, but those will have to wait for another weekend.
Once my Daish rule set arrives, I'll have a root through my box and assemble a warband/Buntai. I should have some ashigaru as well. And if I have the right mix of weapons and gear, they may even visit Frostgrave?
For now, it's just fun to be doing hobby stuff again and sharing enthusiasm with Gunbird.

See you next time!

Warhammer Questions: Hesitations over Hammerhal

So, a new iteration of Warhammer Quest has been released. And unlike Silver Tower, this one actually had me interested/excited: Hidden conflict in the catacombs under a great, magnificent city, seeping corruption. The preview art showed the Heroes facing off against corrupted Nurgle warriors. Rumours of campaign rules, options for adding more monsters and creatures to the game. So, the right mood, the right setting, promise of replayability, this could be it! I said to myself that, if the funds were available at the end of this month, I'd treat myself to it.
Now, the end of the month is here, the funds are there, but I'm still holding off the order.
Why? Because doubt has set in about wether this game is really worth my money...

Part is because the setting of the game isn't as focussed as I had anticipated, instead of being more Nurgle-centric, GW has tried to cram all four Chaos Gods into this set. Which struck me as odd, as the first WHQ-reboot game was all about Tzeentch.

This was also reflected in the miniatures. Several let-downs on that area, in my eyes: First: no new sculpts, at all. Plus, there were less mini's than in the Silver Tower box. (And even less still, than in the original WHQ box...)
And to be honest, of the mini's in the box, the only ones that I'm actually interested in are the Cogsmith and Putrid Blightkings. Oh, and the Gryphhound. :)
The Kairic Acolytes actually annoy me for being in this set. I don't like the sculpts, far to bulky/beefy and not near mystical enough for followers of Tzeentch. Apparently they are the cockroaches of AoS as well, as you seem to find them everytime you go into a dark and dank area...  Sigh.

Finally, there is the doubt about how much I'll actually get to use it. Aside from some (semi) regular RPG campaigns and the occasional wargame with Johan, I don't really game that often anymore. (Something that I'm trying and willing to change, but hey, calendars and real life and stuff.)
So, I'm not sure I want to spend the cash on something that may just end up a closet-filler.

On the plus side, it has got me thinking about dungeons and dungeon terrain again, in other words, it may have lit a spark under my Dungeoneering project... (Which may turn out to be bad news for my Howling Griffons. But then again, that project has lain dormant for a month already. And maybe this will fire up the old hobby engine again? Which could benefit the Griffons as well.)

As a result I've been looking at options for dungeon terrain again, and thinking about what I really want from it.

There are ofcourse various commercial options, like Dwarven Forge, Hirst Arts molds, Ziterdes and things like Maki Games' M.U.P. and te offerings Manorhouse Workshop (though I discovered their excellent dungeon walls are no more to be found on their store.). Quick to get up and running (except maybe for Hirst Arts), but very spendy and ofcourse, clearly mass-manufactured.

So, I'd be expending a significant amount of cash (which I don't have to spend) to get a reasonable sized setup that isn't very unique in the end.
Plus, being an artsy git at heart, I like the stuff I use to be unique and "mine".

However, I have learned from my Space Hulk 3D project, that if I do build it from scratch, I need to do so in a way that is both quick and easy. I need to acknowledge that I no longer have the (near) unlimited time and energy of my youthful years.
What I've taken away from my Warhammer Quest Display and the walls for Frostgrave is that most time is consumed by the various styles and types of stonework.  I'll need a way to speed that up, and still get good-looking final results.

I could look at sheet materials for the textures (plasticard or resin), casting molds or maybe even texture rollers (though I don't know if those are tough enough to texture foam, most I see are intended for putty or clay). Or I could go monolithic and carve or stack XPS blocks.

What do I want from my dungeon terrain? I want it to be both modular and atmospheric and moody (just look at the picture above). I don't want/need squares or hexes per se, though it would be nice if it were easily made compatible with the original Warhammer Quest. I'm not sure if I'd want terrain tiles with (groups of) rooms and corridors or separate individual rooms and corridors. I think I'd even be fine with combining the both. A Forgeworld Zone Mortalis type set-up, expanded with a number of moveable walls would also be worth considering. I'm a bit hesitant about the Dwarven Forge style modules, I'd like a whole corridor or room to be a seamless whole where possible, plus all those little bits take a while to set up before a game. Definitely no papercraft for me! I'm looking for a (moderate) variety of styles, including cellars and dungeons and crypts/catacombs.
At some point I'd definitely want to expand it with caves as well. Multi-level is cool, but may already be too ambitious, let's just get a basic set done first.  I'd like to be able to build some larger dungeons, so I should be able to fill a 3x3' or 4x4' square table, for warband-sized skirmish wargames.

So, anyone have any suggestions or ideas how to go about this? Maybe there are some products or companies I haven't seen yet, that would be perfect for this?

See you next time!

Complete at last!

It took me a while, but now I finally have all the Appleseed movies and books I know to exist:

I've been re-watching the movies in order of release. Today I received Appleseed XIII and Appleseed Alpha. I'm two episodes in on XIII and saving Alpha for the weekend. Good times, and a nice distraction from the worries about the In-laws' health.


See you next time!

Clamping down on issues (A progress report)

Painting hasn't been progressing as much as I'd hoped. Part is just general lack of Mojo (a recurring theme on this blog, sadly), part is because Friday before last, my "boss" (Being the temp agency, as I do temp work) surprised me with a re-assignment to another project, starting the next Monday!
So the past week I've been in training for that new project, and I'll be starting actual work this Monday. Speedloading all that information into my brain the past week has fried it a bit. Plus some medical worries concering my father-in-law have cropped up, further dampening enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, there is some progress to report.
Painting on the second tactical squad is (slowly) proceeding:

Basecoat, wash, and the first layering on the yellow segments (except for the rightmost one). Still a long way to go, and there is the second half of the squad yet to come...
I've made a quick list of the squads, characters and vehicles I want to have, at minimum, in my 2nd Ed army for the planned Badab War Campaign. I was suprised to discover that it totalled 45 miniatures, of which 12 are already painted, and a further 10 are either already built or being built at the moment.
Suddenly this plan seems a lot more achievable!
Ofcourse I would like to have a larger variety of squads that this minimal list, and I'd like to have a few more vehicles and characters as well. But my daydreaming and wishlisting over the past few weeks had caused the project to grow very large and unachievable in my mind. If I can keep focussed on building this core first, I'll have a respectable 2nd Ed 40K army, as well as a generous chunk of a more modern one. Hopefully without getting discouraged or distracted along the way. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll clear everything that isn't part of this core list from the hobby table to assist in keeping this focus.
I really want this to succeed, as I really, really want to play this campaign!

And I've commenced battle with the notorious 3rd edition era Landspeeder kit:

I guess you can now tell why I chose the title for this post....
This kit is infamous for it's poor fit, and has since been redone by GW to adress these issues. But I still have this old one to contend with. It's currently drying up, as is my swearing streak! What a bugbear to build.
I've magnetised the underslung gun, and intend to do something similar for the gunner's weapon, so I can switch between the classic 2nd Edition 40K loadout of Heavy Flamer and Multimelta and the more modern/effective Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter. Or even go single weapon, if I need to budget my points.
I'm also swapping the torsos and heads for more modern ones, stolen from the Assault and Tactical squad sprues. Once the basic assembly is done (and gap filling), I will be "Griffonizing" this one; adding details and decorations befitting my Howling Griffons chapter.
Together with the Assault Squad that has arrived recently, I should have a decent mobile element to my force.
And now I'm off to have a nice relaxing read in my 2nd Edition Codex Ultramarines. :D

See you next time!