Previous Paintings

I was looking over my posts here and saw that I don't have any picture of my previous works, so I wanted to put a smattering of my trolls out there so people can see some of my painted

models.

Again, I need to get the light box set up for better pictures, but these are just some quickie pics.

Battle Report

Yesterday I went down to the LGS before heading to my sisters for dinner with the family and was able to get a couple of games in. I got there before Billy, one of the better local players, left. I brought with me a smattering of Trolls, I was going to play Gunnbjorn, but realized that I forgot his cards, so I decided to go with Grim instead. We decided to play 35 pts.

Grim Angus

Bomber

Slag Troll

Impaler

Fell Caller Hero

Janissa Stonetide

Trollkin Champ Hero

min Burrowers

min Fennblades + UA (Officer and Drummer)

Another one of our better players, Nathan, had been complaining about the new Ranking Officers and how broken the Menoth ones were. In particular, the Menoth Ranking Officers with Sea Dogs and Harbinger broke the game and was unbeatable. Billy took the challenge, and came up with using Cryx and Venethrax. Working from memory, the list went something like this:

Venethax

Bone Chicken arc node

Stalker

Skarlock

Satyxis Raider Captain

Siren

min Bile Thralls

Bloat Thrall

full Satyxis Raiders

Withershadow Combine

Nothing out of the ordinary, or over the top. But it did pack a wallop. Those Satyxis Raiders are just ugly, mostly because they don't take blast damage and have a 12" threat range with Advance Deploy and a toolbox of other special abilities. Plus it was my first time dealing with them, so that put a nice twist on it.

We played a scenario "The Gauntlet". I was really trying out the burrowers, because i just got them a couple of months ago, and knowing they can be pretty dirty, haven't used them yet. I didn't have any difficulties about pulling them out against Billy. In a nutshell, I lost to scenario, because the raiders wiped out my Fennblade tar pit and my solos who were holding my control area. Although he would have killed my caster because I had gone for the caster kill and didn't quite make it.

I made a ton of mistakes in this game, which I'm confident would have given me a better shot at winning if I didn't make them. There was also one big key roll which failed. I forgot my Fennblades vengeance move on turn 3, which would have put me in charging range of the Raider on my left flank (fennblades were on the right flank). They would have killed 3-4, and held them off another turn possibly. On the burrowers charge on the Bloat Thrall, the Stalker, and Venethrax, with the Champion Hero in range to use his 10 cmd, roll an 11 for their terror check, and get to stand there and get killed.

Finally, when i was trying to 'No Quarter Challenge' my way into a win, I freed up the Impaler and Grim so I could take shots at Venethrax, I forgot to pop Grim's feat, allowing him to miss on a boosted RAT roll. Otherwise it was possible I could have won on caster kill.

Result: Loss

Lesson Learned: Must play more and remember what I can do and DO IT

Another game, Billy pulled out Kara Sloan and some Cygnar, I played the same list, he had (again from memory)

Kara Sloan

Thunderhead

Hunter

Cyclone

Squire

Mechanik solo

Black 13th

Stormsmith

I had the same list, and we played Killbox. I was ready for Vengeance this time! 4 successful tough rolls later on his turn 1, none of the fennblades died, no Vengeance for me. The burrowers tied up and killed the Hunter, while throwing a couple of good hits on the Thunderhead who was holding the middle hill. After clearing them out, the Thunderhead was able to move forward and start zapping folks, the Champion hero was a champ and made 2 tough rolls! My turn, and also soon for me to leave to head to my sisters for dinner, I was 'sneaking' up my bomber on the left flank with phantom hunter upkept on him all game. I had to have a backup plan, just in case things went wrong, so I knew i had to kill the Thunderhead. I had to move Grim first, but to get him where i needed him to go, and out of the charge path to the Thunderhead for both of my Hero's who were alive. But I was starting out of the Range of the Bomber to put Far Strike on, so I put Far Strike on the Impaler, moved Grim so that I could pop my feat (yea I rememberd) so I could reduce the Def of the Cyclone who was in front and just to the left of Kara, behind the hill in the middle. Then Grim shots the snare gun at the Thunderhead, knocking it down. Fell Call Hero stands the Champ Hero up from knockdown (those 2 tough rolls) and charges the Thunderhead, does much damage. Hero charges the Thunderhead and scraps it. Backup plan successful, I'll live through the next turn with 2 transfers and the Bomber and Impaler without any damage. The last 2 burrowers kill the hunter with some fantastic rolls, scrap another one. The Impaler moves up, so he can put Far Strike on the Bomber and takes a pot shot at the Charger. From where the Impaler was, if I did crit slam the Charger, not only would have it been knocked down, but easier for the bomber to hit it, and get Kara in the blast damage. Well I threw another fury on the Impailer, and BLAMMO, crit slam back, and the angle was such that Kara got clipped and was also knocked down. I also rolled far enough, it didn't displace Kara back. Bomber rolls up 5 inches, and its able to drop bombs right on top of Kara's head, explosion, and a massive boosted roll, one dead cygnar caster.

Result: Win

Lesson Learned: When I remember to do things, I do much better. Crazy huh?

So, I shook Billy's hand, thanked him for the games, and headed off to my sisters for dinner. Good day for gaming, and food.

Battle Wound

So I've been jumping around a few project, as usual. My buddy Lance and I had a tossing of the gauntlet moment:

On Feb 17, 2011, at 3:55 PM, Lance E wrote:

btw, Challenge accepted! I'll see you in the model case in three months.

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Mike Z wrote:

My Janissa will trump your janissa!

On Feb 17, 2011, at 3:06 PM, Lance E wrote:

I should paint janissa for kubla get to guarentee at least one "crowd favorite" vote.

So I will be throwing down against Lance at Kublacon, model-a-model in a duel for a year of bragging rights.

But I'm working on a, for now, secret project! While cutting up an extra Troll Kriel Warrior I did cut my thumb. Yes, I'm sure we all know that pain. Working on a model and then blood, and wondering when the last time one had a tetanus shot. Luckily I did not have to apply super glue to the wound, It wasn't a deep cut. I didn't bleed for long but it was a bit sore, and while I worked on the model, I did bleed a little more. Wipe the blood off the model, good to go. Its rather amusing when I think about what the model is going to be, bleeding for it, would seem appropriate. I got the base model all pinned up, and mocked up the extra bits on it. Now I have to wait for some of it to cure, and put it togeather, putty a little more to smooth out the connections to the body. Find a proper base for it, get it all primed up, and a painting we will go! When I get done, I'll post more about it with the final product.

Kaelyssa's Battlebox

I had previously found the base color I want to use for my Retribution force, but not having done "human"-ish skin tone in years, I've been putting it off. But this Saturday there is a Battlebox tournament going on for some new players, and I'm going down to support and help out where needed. I'm not exactly a newbie, but I'm not sure if I would consider myself a Veteran player either. I have a good grasp of the rules and should be able to help out so that the press ganger isn't overwhelmed.

I also wanted to make sure I had a fully painted Battlebox force going in, so no looking like a slacker either. I also wanted to make sure I was using a Warmachine Battlebox force, since the store is newly stocking the game, and they mostly have the Warmachine box sets. I do not want to roll in with a Hordes Battlebox and throwing a wrench into the gears and confuse brand new players with the Fury/Transfer/Animus mechanics.

This also allowed me to play with my light box and get back into taking better miniature photos. The photos came out decently, but I need to play around with it more and get a set up that I like, that will take photos that I like. So expect some improvement on the lighting as I continue painting and taking photos. I was also excited about getting this force painted and wanted to blog it up.

Janissa's Wall

So with Janissa on the painting queue, and her base finished (to be seen later), I decided that she needed her own wall. I had previous made a wall for Cpt. Gunnbjorn (just not painted yet) and I wanted to make something similar, but went along with her base.

I grabbed my Magic-Sculpt, my rocks I got from Michaels, and some scrap aluminum foil. Plus, I had cut out some plasticard in the same dimensions as the wall template 4" by 3/4" with a hight of less than 1"

Tightly wrapping the foil to give a basic shape I wrapped it with the Magic-Sculpt. The foil allows me to shape the wall while not using more of the Magic-Sculpt than I need, saving $$$

After wrapping and molding, I added it to the plasticard and checked the size against rulers, making sure it was within specs. Since I was going to add rock to it, I made sure that I had enough room so that I could keep the height under 1"

Adding Rock to the piece, making sure to push the rock in, checking the height constantly pushing and molding.

Here is the finished product, pre-paint with the rock! Again I'm constantly checking the size, length, width, and height. One of the best things about Magic-Sculpt is that it holds shape, but doesn't set quickly so you have lots of time to work with it. It means you do have to be careful with gravity pulling it down, but you can put a piece down, look at it for a bit, and work on it again easily. Plus when it sets, its rock hard and you can easily sand and drill into it without breaking the piece. I do let things set for hours, and its best even to have it cure for at least 24 hours depending on how much sculpt putty you use.

After the Magic-Sculpt set, black primer was used. I layered the primer on to make sure there was an even coat, and I touched up with black in case i missed anything with the primer. Then did a light drybrush of white, and then highlighted some of the rock edges. Then a high gloss over the top, making sure it didn't pool up.

Behind the rock wall, is the other wall I had created for Cpt Gunnbjorn, that is a smooth piece, with a few cuts highlighted, making it look like a more solid piece of "obsidian".

I'm very happy with the end result, and cannot wait until Janissa is finished with her painting and I can throw this down on the field of play!

InstantMold

So I was reading the PP forums and found this post:

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?50407-Has-anyone-seen-this

referring to this product:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/tools-and-misc/instant-mold.html

I sent emails to friends, saying look at this! Its amazing! I need to try this!

I bought it, and I tried it...

I'm not an expert at molding, I've done a couple of simple press molds before, making feet and symbols, so this will be a real newbie experience. I followed the directions and heated up water using my coffee maker, and poured the water in a separate glass bowl. I found that I could maintain a temperature about 165˚F (the directions on the packaging say to use hot water at "about 170˚F"). The temperature went down fast, but it was good enough to get the putty warm enough to where it was easily pliable. When I needed more hot water, I poured more in from the coffee pot, or microwaved the water I had. Of course I made sure the glass bowl i used was microwave safe, and just contained water, not the putty. I didn't want anything cracking or sticking in my microwave.

After waiting a couple of minutes, when the putty was taken out of the hot water (with a tool, per directions) it drooped because of gravity, and was easily shaped. Its seemed there was a limited time to get a good shape for the item you are pressing in (a couple of minutes). It took a little trial and error to discover how much putty i would need and how much time i had before the putty started cooling off to where I wouldn't get a good copy of the item. I ended up using 3 of the blocks (2.25"x.5"x.25") out of the 6 that come with the package.

I decided to use a complex item, a wing from a Legion Harrier. Two sided press mold. It took me a little bit of trial and error to get a good mold, since this was the first time I had used the product, and was watching the products video to get some tips. It was a little more difficulty item to mold because the wing has a bit of a curve to it. I did this on purpose to give the putty a good newbie test.

Per the video instructions I cut off extra putty on the sides and cut out the pieces from the side so I could peel the putty off and the piece out. This was done carefully with a sharp hobby knife. Using my modeling compound, Magic-Sculpt set it all up and pressed it in the mold, and put the sides together, and rubber banded the whole thing together. It was very important not to use a putty/resin mix that heats up chemically, because it would then heat up the putty and ruin the mold. I was pretty confident in the material I used, since I've used it before. The most difficulty part was waiting for the material to cure, since it takes a few hours to do so fully.

TA-DA, the big reveal! I removed the copy from the two sided press mold and went....wow I used too much compound. I got a great impression on both sides, you can see the detail from the mold, and it looks fantastic. I made another, using less compound. A few hours later...another great mold, but still too much compound. So one more time, less compound. A few hours later...another great mold, more useable as a piece on a model, very acceptable! I'm sure with more practice and some time I can get better molds.

And what did I do with the extra scraps that I cut off? Well I put them back in the hot water, and molded them back together and made a press mold of the Harriers claw. I made 4 claws throughout the day, and I was delighted with the detail that came out. Of course this wasn't a 2 sided mold, but for making symbols or feet, anything you need 1 side for, the mold can be used and re-used.

None of the Magic-Sculpt compound that I used was left in the molds, it separated smoothly from the InstantMold putty, and didn't deform the molds. The best part, I can dip it all back into hot water and re-use the InstantMold putty on another item without any difficulties.

The experience using this product was fantastic, and I think making simple press molds, and simple double-sided press molds will be superb. I think the most use I will get from this, is creating my own base inserts, and then making copies.

Reference post:

Warmachine Housing: http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?49788-Modular-hexboard-harbor-and-houses(WIP)

Foam Stones: http://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t4532-chemical-agent-s-terrain

Its a better day out today, going to be sunny, not much of humidity, so its time to Prime! So far I have assembled:

Janissa

Scouts

Fennblade UA

Croak Hunter

Gatorz!