Ready for the Battlefield!

Today is the end of one of my LGS's Slow Grow League and I put enough touches on my Gators so I have a fully painted 35 point army.

We are running an escalation tournament using the Beta SR2012 rules, I do intend to take pictures and have a report up for it.

I have two lists ready:

15 pts   pMorghoul                          Naaresh
                  Savage                               Krea
                  Shaman                              Shaman
                  Gladiator                            Gladiator
             Full Beast Handlers            Full Beast Handlers

25 pts   add:
             Full Arcuarii                       Full Gatormen
             Extoller Soulward              Pain Giver Task Master

Reinforcements(5pts):
             Thrullg                                Thrullg
             Croak Hunter                      Croak Hunter

35 pts   add:
             Cannoneer                           Bronzeback

Reinforcements(7pts):
             Thrullg                                 Thrullg
             Croak Hunter                         Croak Hunter
             Pain Giver Task Master         Extoller Soulward

With the escalation, we know we are going to be trying the Reinforcement rules for the 25 and 35 point levels.  The additional caveat is that the Reinforcement from the 25 point list, needs to be somewhere in the 35 point list (in the list itself, or as Reinforcements)

I took this week to redo my Gatormen (just had them base previously).  I had picked up some new resin swamp bases made by Secret Weapon Miniatures, they look perfect for Gators.  They still need to be detailed, I need to do some jewelry, and do some highlights, but I think they look spectacular so far, and good enough to place on the battlefield.

I am very excited that I have all of these lists fully painted.  Well OK I'm missing paint on the Arcuarii, but I had gotten them used, and need to fix them up.  But i'm secretly planning to use Morghoul for the 15 point and Naaresh for the 25 and 35 point level.  So everything I put down on the table, will be fully painted.  It makes me very excited to say that!

Here is my quick pick of the Gatormen:

Something Skorne....and Brown

So I continued my Skorne Slow Grow model painting, and well...things turned out brown.  I was thinking they beasties were from the desert, they are browns most likely, and well this is what happened:

  I was going to write some things about this, but the editor doesn't want me to make some text along with the pictures and i'm not liking how it looks, so you just get pictures.  Things I like, the Grey goes well with the brown, I've been doing well on the green jade gems on the Krea, and the Purple tentacles on Thrulg has been given complements.

Painted to Completion

     I actually painted something to completion, and thought I would share.  Ok ok, I know I have some dygmies painted and ready to share (taken to the Bay Area Open).  But at another LGS we have a slow grow league, and I've decided to paint up the Skorne that I have laying around, so I can get back into painting.

     For your viewing, I present pMorghoul

   


   

     Ok it has been awhile since I've done photos, its a quickie photo done with the iphone and a quick brush up, really so I make sure to post something, and share rather than having them look good.  So I apologize in advance.

     I am so so happy with the red on the cloth cloak, it came out fantastically, other parts are ok (me being my harshest critic), but practice makes perfect, and thats what I need right now, lots of practice.  The other thing I love on the model, is the gem on his left hip, the Jade look came out fantastically, the one on the right, didn't come out as well as the left.  One reason why I went with Skorne for the slow grow.  I can get it painted and try out techniques and make it better than tabletop, but not worry about how it looks and having to strip them so I can paint them better later.

Post-Kublacon

  Its been more than a week since Kublacon has been over and I haven't blogged anything.  I know I know, bad blogger.  I will not make an excuse, but after some blog taunting, I have felt the need to post SOMETHING.  I entered 4 models, eEiryss, Janissa Stonetide, Earthborn Dire Troll, and Troll Whelps (as a squad).  I've already featured the EBDT and the Whelps previously, they were in there to get a gauge of where my painting level is.  Previous work, I wasn't expecting to win anything with them, certainly, in my opinion, better than average tabletop level of painting.  They did not medal, but eEiryss and Janissa did!  Both netted me Bronze medals.  What I do not have are pictures of my winning entries.  I am expecting to set up the proper photos for them soonish, depending on how busy I end up getting this week.

 What I do have, pictures of my continuing legion projects, and props from Lost Hemisphere Radio!

  First the props.  My Trollsaken, which was featured as a Runner-Up in the Bring the Blight contest in No Quarter 36 was mentioned in the May 20th episode 28 of Lost Hemisphere Radio Podcast (http://lhradio.blogspot.com/).  The comments from the podcasters were, I like the Trollsaken, and its NEAT, but that Mauler is crazy good.  I did send an email to the podcasters:

 So I've been catching up with Warmachine podcasts and listening to new ones, and I want to say thanks for the 'shout out' when my Trollsaken model was mentioned in your podcast.  I was super excited when I made it and showed it off to my friends, and even more excited when it was featured as a runner up in NQ36.  It made me smile that people I don't know enjoy what I created, and wanted to drop a note and say thanks.

  -M


 and received a reply:

Most awesome, Mike. We’re glad to bring a smile to your face, you certainly impressed!

Rock on

Gdaybloke

   I mentioned this to my gaming/painting buddies, and was promptly taunted by my blogging nemesis to enter the next contest.  So after a back and forth, I have the Let the Banners Fly entry in my head, and am currently working on that (I'm actually waiting for some molded parts to dry, and I need to get my plasticard out)

  Also at Kublacon, I was able to attend a vehicle weathering seminar being presented by misterjustin of secret weapon miniatures. http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com

  Now I'm not currently working on any vehicles, I am taking much of what i learned for basing, the mud/snow information is fantastic.  misterjustin also had a complete vehicle weathering class locally in Sacramento this past weekend, and I also attended that.  I absorbed so much information, recorded the session, and took notes.

  What I have done so far with this information, and with help of their website I used a "dot filter" method of painting and created a rocky base:

  Since I am essentially playing around with the base, I wanted to get the "snowy" look, so get an idea of what the end product will look like, I painted the snow parts white:

  Finally I added the unpainted Absylonia to see how the model would "look" with the base:

  Not bad for my prototype so far, now I want to add some more "realistic snow" to the white and see how it works out, and possibly make another base and just add the snow and let the stone underneath show through more possibly. 

Trollsaken

Finally No Quarter #36 has come out, and my entry for 'Bring the Blight' challenge has been announced and shown.  And my Trollsaken didn't win the challenge.  On the 'Blight'-side I am a Runner-up, and have officially been published for painting!  Friends are already looking for my autograph, and I will gladly do so for the low low low price of $1 US.  Without further ado, here is the Trollsaken:

This all started since I found a cheap Legion starter box and I asked my buddy Scott about putting together a 25pt army and he came up with this list:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)

* Harrier (2pts)

* Shredder (2pts)

* Shredder (2pts)

* Shredder (2pts)

* Angelius (9pts)

* Carnivean (11pts)

The Forsaken (2pts)

The difficulty of this list....it was hard to get ahold of an Angelius, and impossible to get a Forsaken.  I had extra Kreil Warriors, so I decided to do some modifications, and behold the Trollsaken came to life.  The idea also happened to correspond with a NQ painting challenge, Bring the Blight, blighten up a non-blighted model.  This is probably one of my favorite models i've done so far.  (Note:  I added the Harrier in there, instead of another Shredder, I have it, so I might as well use it)

Works in Progress

I've been on a Ret kick and have started taking my painting wants out on them.  It is actually a simpler paint job than my trolls, and they are easier to "knock out"

Right now staring at me I have eEiryss and the Destor Thane solo.  I picked up the Thane when he was released.  But there was a mispack and I have an extra flank for the regular cav models.  Contacted and then Called PP with the difficulty and it was sent promptly, and I was excited to put him together.

I've got eEiryss on her statue, which I've added alot of sculpt to it, and I intend to take the 'leaves' I use, get them "greened up", and put them crawling up the vines i've made around the base with dead ones in the grass/earth mound around her.

So my WIP currently looks like:

I also have Janissa Stonetide looking at me from the back of the workspace.  I have her base, finished, and her skin is base coated and inked.  I really need to get her done for the painting challenge I have with my buddy Lance at the end of the month.  Its just not inspiring to me at the moment, unfortunately.

Lastest Paintings

I was able to sit down and finish my Halberdiers and the Officer and Standard UA.  I really like how they turned out, the faces are a little meh.  I wasn't excited about the faces, and will have to retouch them.  But they are done done done!

Bonus painted models came along also!  I scored a 'deal' from ebay and picked up Dahlia & Skarath.  Keeping in theme of my bronze/brown spectrum, I went brown with Skarath.  I really like how he turned out, and goes well with my Retribution models.  Dahlia got a very green hairdo, plus a little purple-ish eye liner, since her eye is closed on the model.  I really like how these models turned out.