No painting but much assembling this month

While I had planned to paint Angelica and get her into my showgirls crew over the last couple of weeks that just hasn't happened. Pretty much I'm going to blame my Marcus crew box arriving and my desire to get Mei Feng on the table so instead of painting I've been on a bit of an assembly buzz.

I've put together both the Mei Feng and Marcus crew boxes and a couple of additional models just so I can say I've actually achieved some hobby time this month haha. In saying that I did manage to get them primed up so that can almost be classified as painting. It's one less step I need to do when it comes time to paint then anyway.

Here is a quick picture of the models I've assembled and primed. Some of these are on the wrong size bases but that's just while I primed them, once painted they will get put into their correct bases.

So Angelica is still what I want to paint next and now she has been primed at least. Mei Feng and her crew will likely be in the next batch of models to see some paint too, hopefully sooner rather than later. A new board is also taking some of my time which you can see these models sitting on in the photo above so many things are getting in the way if paint time. That's something I need to rectify hhmmmmmmm.

Johan and the Gunsmiths

Winter has started and the rain has come so it's been a good time to sit inside and get Johan and the Gunsmiths painted up ready for NiCon. While they are now painted I didn't take that much care on them and it proves to me that I really need to concentrate more on getting skin tones sorted and the only real way to do that is put in more time on it. If I had put in more time they may have looked better but how much time to put into them versus how much time I have to get them ready for the table and they don't look terrible but I'm not super happy with them.

Johan was an easy choice, skin, leather overalls and purple hat and wrist straps to tie him into the Arcanists and he's done. Nice and simple or so I thought then I started on his skin...meh. That's was the first strike for effort against time constraints.

Next was the Gunsmiths...I wanted them to have a similar brown leather cape look and feel as Johan but also to have either a blue or greenish black leather look to their chaps more like Ironsides. I think I got it looking close but again the purple highlights to tie the faction together was to cause me problems. The lady Gunsmith was easy, I gave her a purple top and the frills of her pants and her sword sheath could all be purple...simple. The male Gunsmith was the issue. He ended up similar to Mouse and just got a purple belt but then I painted his gloves purple too just to try and make him stand out a little more.


I want to get Angelica painted next cause she looks like she will be great fun with Colette and the showgirls crew but enough chat, here's what you came for, some images...I really need to work on my pictures, they are all still a little crappy but then again they are just tabletop models so enjoy as they are..

Troubleshooters: Captain and Mouse

So I've been super slack and actually finished painting these two models around three or so weeks ago but are just getting up to posting them now. What's worse is while I think the Captain is awesome, I haven't fielded Mouse since I painted him and probably won't again...oh well, he's painted now and it's another model what needed painting finished so alls good.

In keeping with my idea to use purple accented areas to tie all my Arcanists crews together I chose to trim the captains coat tails and cuffs in purple as the obvious choice. It sorta works but took a while for me to get used to. Mouse on the other hand had very little I could use to accent and still look ok. At first he had a purple hat but it looked shite so he's ended up with purple googles, belt and belt pouch. All very small items but still enough to tie him into the crew. This did make me wonder how I will get my beasts for the Marcus crew to fit in once I get to that crew box?!?! Ideas appreciated if you have any haha.

You may also notice that the Captain is sitting offset on his base. This is so I can put something extra like a skull or some bushes or something onto his base when I get around to finishing them off completely but until then I count him as finished

Up next on the painting table are pair of Gunsmiths and Johan. These have so far been assembled and primed and had a rushed three solid colour base coat so I could use them at a local event last week. They wil be getting a proper paint job in the coming weeks so they will be the next figures on here cause I want them finished for the next event in a few more weeks time. Not fond of playing with unpainted or half painted models since this is a skirmish game and you really only need seven or eight models per crew.

Today was a sunny day so I tried taking the photos on my window sill with a sheet of paper to defuse the direct sunlight and it seems to have worked out ok. They are still crappy pics taken on my cell phone in the end haha...here they are.

Toni Ironsides starting to see some paint lovin..

With the distinct lack of painting that's been happening here it's been fun to sit back an make in roads on the trouble shooters starter crew box. At first I wanted to get Toni, Mouse and the Captain finished but the Mages needed to match Ironsides colours...bugger. Oh well, they need painting too so make a start.

First problem was seeing how to actually make them work as Ironsides crew but also how to incorporate them and Ironsides into the Arcanists crew I already had. With Colette and the showgirls there was a ribbon or similar on every model that I could tie them together with as parts of the same crew so used purple as the tie in colour. Works good enough to make the colourful showgirls crew stay together so I'll use the same colour here for this crew.

Ironsides was easy, she had ribbons on the ends of her gloves so they became purple. The mages had no matching items except the capes which at first was an option but I decided this would be too much purple.....so in the end I decided to use the hair of the Mages and the head without any hair it has a big swooping magical thing happening that can be purple. Problem solved.

Well they are mostly done... I don't have any spray sealer left so need to get some more to finish these of. I also want to try water effects on Ironsides base and the swooping Mages base so need to find some water epoxy. Once the matt sealer is on I'll add some static grass and the water effects then they will be finished...until then, here's how they look:

IRONSIDES

OXFORDIAN MAGES
TEerrible lighting reflection in one for some reason...

And then all together

While I was painting the bases I remembered to take mouse and the captain of their bases and paint them at the same time..wish I had thought a bit more as I need to make some base for my gunsmiths and they could of all been painted together

Killjoy is almost finished...

Well the painting has slowed to a crawl but the production of models has ramped up massively. In the last month all I've managed to do is finish up painting one model. Yes that's right, one single model...what a slow down that's been. To make it even worse the model isn't even finished, I still have to paint the base aarrrggghhhh.....

To be fair I haven't slacked off completely. Instead of painting, it seems I have been making models and priming them ready for painting in my modelling time. I've also mucked about with bases and a bit of scenery but more on those as I do blog posts for them later.

This month I have assembled more of my arcanist masters crew boxes and reorganised all my cards into sleeves and holders for ease or access when playing...models and crews assembled are: 3x metal gamin, the mech rider, rail golem (mucked around for ages and still ended up with a railway/mine style base), Johan, a gun smith, fire starter ltd edition model (thanks Peter, so looking forward to painting this model) and the Ironsides crew box....Toni and her crew are what I'm putting on the table at the moment and they play so much differently than Colette and the show girls. It's been a fun month but a very unproductive one paint wise. All of these models I've assembled are still sitting around in primer, it's depressing.

What's worse is the list of models still to assemble...Mei Feng crew box, Kaeris crew box, Ramos crew box, another 6 mechanical spiders, angelica, silent ones, acane effigy, Willie, electrical creation and the essence of power....I'm thinking of buying the rasputina crew, Decembers acolytes, Marcus crew and the slate ridge mauler just so I have pretty much filled out the arcanist a but this would mean an even bigger list of unpainted and unassebled models staring at me....wait, I also need mole men, hoar cat prides and blessed of December..oh hell no..they can all wait a while longer.

I'll try a get some pics of the models I assembled up and the terrain I started on up to but in the mean time that's more than enough dribble from me, here's what is expected...a couple of pictures of the painted killjoy model...

Still need to decide on how I will paint the bases but pretty happy with ow it's turning out. Also not sure if I should try some blood splatter effects of leave it like it is..next up is the iron sides crew box as they are running around unpainted on the table and its irking me so expect to see them up here next

Mechanical Doves

Forgot to post this the other day so here they are. Used them in a game the day after they when painted and they were awesome fun...squishy but fun. The dove sitting on the Mimic Chest turned out good and is bigger than having it sit on a book on the base so pretty pleased with that model too

Also had my order from Wayland Games turn up so haven't been doing much more painting but are looking forward to putting my new crews together. Super stoked actually as it means that I will have a few extra models to have in my crew selection at BattleCry even if it will probably be the first time I have used them hahaha...not sure which crew I'll start on but it will probably be Ironsides since shes supposedly the complete opposite of Colette and gets stuck intothe fray rather than hiding out. The Oxfordian Mages in her box set have a ranged attack option that I can use with Colette's crew too. Time to put some grey plastic and glue together...back soon

Reaper Mimic Chest

The Reaper Mimic Chest is painted but the pics are pretty bad, also the mould lines which I completely ignored are super visible but meh...It's for a model that is meant to be sacrificed in game anyway so it will be on and off the table fairly quickly in games it's used in once I turn it into the base for one of my Mechanical Dove models as originally intended.

That been said my old Malifaux 1.5 metal Mechanical Doves and the newer M2E Mechanical Rider for my Colette crew arrived yesterday so woot woot!!! Perfect timing and I'll make a start on them early next week. I've entered the BattleCry Malifaux event for 2016 in an effort to learn to actually play Malifaux a bit better so the doves turned up just when I needed them..can anyone say super excited to play a tabletop game again!!!! Yusssss!!!!

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the Mimic Chest so far, I will post it again with the dove on it once I've completed them. The chest turned out ok and the transition from wood to fleshy tones on the top with the evil looking greenish yellow eyes worked better than I expected. I gave it a purplish coloured tounge to help tie it in with the rest of my Colette crew who all have purple somewhere on the models to help make the bright ostentatious clothes colourings of the show girls and mannequins try and unite them as a combined crew somehow.

And the doves that will be up next are here... the Mechanical Rider is such and awesome model that I will need to source some Gamin or more Mannequins to take advantage of it and actually use it in a game. I won't make a start on that just yet but will really enjoy painting it once I have some fodder for it to spit out 

Reaper Bones Gnoll Warrior

Well its been a while but I have finally finished the Reaper Bones Gnoll Warrior. The fact that I knew nothing about what a Gnoll Warrior even was and the total lack of preconceived ideas as to how it should look helped me, but also hindered my colour choices; however it also made it a fun model to paint.

I wanted it to look a little bit like a tiger or some form of brightly coloured jungle beast and had decided to try and have blueish coloured metals to contrast with the brighter orange and yellow skin/fur I had chosen? That's where it all became unglued....

After finishing the model and applying the final sealer coat everything turned upside down. The sealer reacted again with the inks, even after leaving them to dry properly. It washed out the orange and yellow skin tones considerably, making a complete mess of the highlights and all but obliterating the yellows. That I could live with, almost, but the blue metallic ended up so muddy and monochromatic it just looked like a blue solid colour and nothing like a metal surface...arrrggghh!!!!

As this wasn't going to be a playing piece and was really just for fun/painting practice it wasn't all that bad but I needed to try and rescue it with some form of detail added into the finished piece. A quick dry brush over the skin/fur almost worked and the decision to make the metal areas blue washed out mess the base of a quick grey toned drybrush rather than a repaint with metalics seems to of worked too. It has sort of inspired me to try out NMM at some stage but I think I need a lot more practice though before trying that. The end result is what I am going to call my first attempt at NMM

Here he is...

Next up is going to be the Mimic Treasure Chest. I want to paint that to be the base for sitting one of the old metal Mechanical Doves on that I am waiting to turn up for my Colette Malifaux crew rather than just have the dove sitting by itself...the fact that I will be using that model as a gaming piece and that it is a smaller model than this Gnoll is should hopefully get me back into a more productive routine of painting.

Giant Pox Rat

This was a fun model to paint, actually it will be probably be one model from the Reaper Bones models I've got that I will actually paint and use in games. Most of them are just going to be painted for trying out something different or just to put some paint on a model and keep me motivated so wont get their bases done. That being said I have no idea what game I'll use this Pox Rat for so until I have a use for it I aren't going to base this either just yet.

Might brighten the yellow on the pustles but other than that I'm happy with how it finally turned out...up next....

Apparently it's a Gnoll or Knoll but whatever it is its bigger than the tiny halfling and also a little bigger than the rat I've just painted so I'll see what inspiration takes when I paint this bigger model next

Woody Stumpwimple, Halfling Ranger

Pulled out of storage my BonesII Kickstarer box and ripped open the first bag from the box. Threw my hand in lucky dip styles and pulled out.....Woody Stumpwimple, Halfling Ranger

Looked at it for ages and couldn't think of how to paint it so decided to just grab a brush and see what happens. As it was coming along the green cloak wasn't doing it for me so I decided to see if I could make a chameleon sort or cape effect...hhhmmmm sort of works on some angles

Well that's Woody Stumpwimple, Halfling Ranger and his magical chameleon cape done, next up is this bad boy..instead of pulling out another random model I looked through the open bag and this jumped at me saying I wanna be a Giant Pox Rat...I miss my Skaven so why not...

 

M2E Starter Set completed

Today the bases were finished and the models attached to complete the M2E Starter Set..I ended up fairly pleased at how the Guild turned out but pretty meh about the Neverborn. The only one I don't mind is Angel Eyes, the rest, I guess I just didn't put the effort in that needed them to look ok. I could redo the skin and see how that looks but since they aren't part of the crew I will play with I probably won't...Enough from this waffler, here they are....

M2E Neverborn Starter set and bases

Today, it was time for the Neverborn from the M2E Starter Set...I wanted the Bloodwretches to look like some sort of bland green and dirty brown, battle worn prisoners look almost as if they were military of some sort that had been captured. The thought was to have Angel Eyes be a dark mysterious Assassin/Ranger looking character with dirty worn clothes that is out to get them back and for the Scion to be similar in his 'come get some' arms out each side and peacock chest pose.

The skin was what was bothering me and what turned out pretty bad, none of the models are quiet how I wanted them to look. I wanted a light but dark (duh, how dumb does that sound) skin tone that was dirty yet also showed somehow the black blood. I had no idea where to start. I was going to use a red and brown mix but thought it would of got lost in the muted clothes and been to dark so decided on a purple shade on a bright skin to start with...In my head it looked good anyway.

Here's what it looks like....as these are only Starter Set models which I'll probably only play with a few times anyway it doesn't matter too much.  Because of the failed skin tones, I pretty much rushed through the models and didn't put as much effort into the rest of the models paint jobs so I could make a start on the bases once they were done. Once painted I'd changed my mind on the bases and made debris ridden outdoor bases for the Neverborn, rather than making them all utilise the steel plate bases I had planned on fitted everything to originally. I think it will work better in the long run and I'll be able to make the Neverborn bases dirtier as if they are on the run or something. 

The Bloodwretches where started with a greyer skin tone but came out too purple, Angel Eyes came out ok I guess, it works with her dark clothing. The Scion was closest to what I had pictured. The problem was when I went to seal them...I tried a new Reaper Brush On Sealer that I had here which I hadn't tried before. While initially impressed with the ease of application, I don't think I had waited long enough for everything to dry before sealing them. The super viscous sealer reacted with the inks and the paints and mushed them all together and striped it out of some of the recesses...doh!!! most of it all settled down and worked ok with brushing over the skin areas and wiping away most of it before it dried.

Not that happy with the cape either but are looking forward to getting the bases done and the models finshed. That will have to be tomorrow now as I have to wait for the grey epoxy in the bases to dry before they get primed and painted...one cock up a day is enough I feel :)