And now for something completely different . . .

Plenty of progress on the painting and Pledge fronts as I’ve finally managed to catch up with most of my varnishing backlog. I’ve finished 30 Army of the Dead for War of the Rings, 24 Soviet Zombies plus another 11 assorted Soviet Models for Secrets of the Third Reich, and another 12 Americans from the Brainwurst! set (also Secrets of the Third Reich). I’ll take photographs of these once they are fully dry.

In the meantime here’s a picture of a KV2 for Flames of War. It’s been painted, weathered and the varnished at least twice. I’ve misplaced the slogan transfers which need to be applied to the turret, so I can’t count it as complete, but here’s a couple of pictures in any case.

KV2

KV2 - another view

Haradrim: Before & After

I finally managed to squeeze in a varnishing session last week, so helping with my Pledge progress we have 84 Haradrim Warriors. They are split 50/50 between Bowmen and Spearmen.

It’s a very nice feeling when you finally finish such a large quantity of figures and you can say you’ve turned these . . .

Unpainted Haradrim (1)

Unpainted Haradrim (2)

. . . into these . . .

Haradrim Bowmen (1)

Haradrim Bowmen (2)

Haradrim Spearmen (1)

Haradrim Spearmen (2)

Haradrim Spearmen - side view

Once again a fairly simple paint job that owes a lot to GW Devlan Mud Wash. I’ve used a very limited palette.

Reds: Mechrite Red, Highlighted with Blood Red
Blue: Enchanted Blue / Chaos Black, Highlighted with Enchanted Blue
Purple: Regal Blue / Chaos Black, Highlighted with a 3:1 Warlock Purple / Liche Purple
Gold: Brazen Brass, Highlighted with Shining Gold
Flesh: Dwarf Flesh, Highlighted with Elf Flesh
Cloth: VMC 788 Khaki
Wood: Darf Flesh, Highlighted with Vermin Brown
Metal: Boltgun Metal

All base colours applied over a black undercoat, followed by a very liberal coating of Devlan Mud Wash. Then the highlights applied. Flesh and Gold then given a light wash of 50/50 Water/Peat Brown Ink. Simple.

Which makes my score for the year:

Bought: 1564
Painted: 621
Sold: 18
Net: -925

Still no camera, but here’s a Wyvern

Still no camera, but here’s a picture of a Wyvern I completed a few months ago. The Orc rider is currently waiting to be varnished, along with quite a lot of other stuff.

Wyvern

I’d hoped to have a varnishing session last weekend, but for various reasons that didn’t happen. I did make quite a bit of progress with the brush though, and have finished another 35 Secrets of the Third Reich figures. 24 Soviet Zombies, including 4 Bomb Zombies, plus 11 assorted ‘living’ Soviets. I wasn’t quite so impressed with the Soviet Zombies compared to the German ones, but the ‘living’ models were an absolute pleasure to do. Pictures will be forthcoming just as soon as the camera is available – promise.

The lack of a varnishing session has meant my “Pledge” total has continued to progress in the wrong direction. This time the culprit was a large batch of Khador figures for the superb Warmachine game from Privateer Press. My plan is to try out a new (to me at least) method of painting them. More to follow . . .

Bought: 1564
Painted: 537
Sold: 18
Net: -1009

Eastern Front Flames of War

Still no progress on the camera front, so this time I’ll have to settle for a couple of “action” shots of my East Front Germans (MidWar). Apologies for the quality, but they were taken “in game” and the lighting wasn’t the best.

First up we have a PzIVF1 – long barreled

PzIVF1

Next we have the PzIVF2. Very useful for digging out infantry. You can just make out the PzIVF1 in the background.

PzIVF2

I don’t really play Flames of War any more, which is a shame because I did really enjoy the game when I first started playing. The Late War stuff leaves me a little cold though, as it tends to be a little dull to play.

I’ve still quite a bit of unpainted Flames figures, so perhaps I should try and rekindle my interest, although more things to paint is the last thing I need at the moment.

Painting update:

The varnishing backlog continues to build up with 42 Haradrim Bowmen joining the queue. I’m going to try and get them all done at once, hopefully at the weekend.

Once they are all done it will be a huge plus towards my “Pledge” progress – not that I have any realistic expectation of succeeding this year after making more purchases at Derby.

Never one to turn down a bargain I picked up:

24 Wargods of Aegyptus Spartans (I must have enough for the army now)
A Circle Orboros starter box
6 Satyrix Raiders
2 Fell Bats

Which makes my score for the year:

Bought: 1480
Painted: 537
Sold: 18
Net: -925

Next up on the painting table will be my Secrets of the Third Reich Soviets.

Runesmiths

Still no progress on the camera, so once again I’ll have to settle for publishing an old picture rather than taking some new ones of the Haradrim I’m painting now.

Here we have two of my Runesmiths for my Dwarf army. Nothing much to say about them. They’ve had a fairly simple paint job to match the rest of the army.

Runesmiths

I tend to use the one on the left more often than the one on the right as he ranks up far easier, although some opponents have confused him with my BSB. Personally I don’t see it.

Dwarf standards

Some progress on the painting front. Nothing actually finished, but rather a lot of stuff complete except for their final coat of varnish. Including:

Bretonnian Trebuchet & Crew
Dark Elf Manticore & Rider (found him at last)
Orc Wyvern & Rider
12 US Armoured Infantry from the Brainwurst! set
42 Haradrim Infantry

Hopefully I’ll have the camera back soon and can take pictures of them as I finish them.

Some pictures from Colours

Here are a couple of pictures from our Dark Elves vs High Elves refight of Picketts Charge taken at last weekends Colours show. Apologies for the quality, but they were taken using my iphone rather than my camera.

There was quite a lot of interest in the game and you can see some rather more professional pictures of the game in this thread. Warning there’s hundreds of shots from the Colours show here, so the page could take some time to load. Well worth a look though, as Joe Dever has captured the feel of the show perfectly.

The High Elven lines

The Dark Elves assault

The Dark Elf advance is slowed by withering fire

The Dark Elf attack is disrupted

Some Dark Elf success at the Southern end of the line. It was short lived and the High Elven counterattack devastated the Dark Elven elite units.

Some Dark Elf progress

A small step backwards

Colours has been and gone and although I didn’t buy anything like as much unpainted lead as I have done in the past I did splurge a little more than I’d hoped.

The main culprit was as expected: the bring & buy. Where I was tempted by some metal daemonettes, a handful of old Orc and Goblins, a small box of Dwarves, and a flame cannon. I also picked up two Warmachine armies (Cygnar & Cryx), but they are painted, although one will require some repair work.

I also picked up a couple of bits and bobs that I’d been looking for from the various traders. West Wind finally had the Soviet Bomb Zombies I’ve been waiting for before starting on my Secrets of the third Reich Soviet army. Soon the German Zombies will have somebody to fight.

German Zombies - Secrets of the Third Reich

Plus I picked up a handful of Wyrd Miniatures new Malifaux figures. More about this game in later posts (I hope).

All in all the unpainted purchases add up to US 83, which makes my total for the year a very unhealthy:

Bought: 1409
Painted: 537
Sold: 18
Net: -854

I’ve not had a chance to download the few photos I took with my iphone at Colours, but you can see a couple of shots from the game on our club blog here

Flesh Hounds

Still no camera I’m afraid so rather than give you pictures of my recently completed Dark Elf units (Shades, XBows and Spears) I’ll have to settle for a picture of some of my Flesh Hounds.

Flesh Hounds

As you can see I’ve gone for a fairly plain paint job. The Red is built up from GW Foundation paint Mechrite Red, whilst the Gold is built up from my rapidly dwindling stock of the old GW Brazen Brass. I do hope they bring back this colour soon, but I won’t hold my breath.

Flesh Hounds

I’ve another unit of Flesh Hounds under construction at the moment. They go together fairly easily, but they do require some green-stuff work to fill the inevitable holes at the tops of their legs.

Pledge Update

Some progress on the painting front. For my Dark Elves: 13 Xbows, 18 Spears, 5 Shades, Cauldron of Blood and a Dark Steed mounted BSB. Pictures of these will be posted once I have the camera sorted.

I’ve also found my Manticore rider and he’s awaiting a final coat of varnish before taking to the air once and for all.

Sadly I’ve also slipped and bought some more Warriors of Chaos. In my defense they were cheap, but another US 30 added to the pile isn’t good.

My progress for the year no stands at:

Bought: 1326
Painted: 537
Sold: 18
Net: -771

Seekers of Slaanesh

Apologies once again for the lack of updates, my camera is still unavailable, but I’m hoping to have it back shortly. In the meantime here’s another update for my Daemons of Chaos army.

Here we have a Seekers of Slaanesh unit painted by Paul “fat bloke” Sawyer one time editor of White Dwarf and co-founder of Warlord Games. They don’t match the basing of the rest of my army, so I may well redo the bases, but it seems such a shame as they are so well done it seems a crime to change them.

Steeds of Slaanesh

They are bit “pink” for some tastes, but not mine.

Steeds of Slaanesh (2)

Despite another holiday I’ve managed to keep chipping away at the mountain of unpainted figures I’ve been accumulating. I’ve 31 more Dark Elf Warriors, 5 shades and a BSB awaiting varnishing at the moment. Not a huge amount of progress, but every little helps.

What also helps is resisting the temptation to buy any more figures, which apart from 5 more shades I’ve managed to do. Unfortunately Colours is coming up (12/13th September) and I’d expect the mountain to grow considerably that weekend.

Speaking of Colours. Our club: The Bedford Gladiators will be putting on a display game during the show. We’ll be on the 1st floor near the bar area. The game is a recreation of “Pickets Charge” from the 3rd day of Gettysburg. As a change of pace we will be using Dark Elves and High Elves. Come along and say hello.

Dwarven Standard Bearers

Apologies for the lack of updates, but although I’ve been beavering away at the painting table my camera has been “borrowed” so I am unable to take any “in progress” shots at the moment.

I do however have a couple of pictures of some of my Dwarves to tide me over.

Dwarf standards

The one on the left is (I think) the standard bearer from the old metal thunderer unit, whilst the one on the right is a more modern BSB.

Both of these Dwarves would be horrified to learn that I am currently painting some more Dark Elves. I’ve 31 of them (13 Xbow 18 Spears) nearing completion on my painting table, plus a handful of Shades under construction. The extra Xbow’s were needed to pad out my army for the MK Massacre, where I’m hoping to compete. Whilst the Spears are needed for our club game for this years Colours show. There will be more information regarding this to follow over the coming weeks, but our plan is to refight Picketts Charge from the American Civil War, only using Dark Elves vs High Elves . . .