Mighty Armies - Wood Elves part 1

So as promised, here is a large Mighty Armies commission piece I did earlier in the year. I call this part 1 because I received more of these to paint up and currently working on them at the moment. Mighty Armies is a miniatures game using 15mm miniatures.  Most of these miniatures used here are from Splintered Light Miniatures, a miniature company that makes a ton of 15-20mm miniatures. 

So there is the background info, and here are some pics! There are 2 armies here: Undead and Wood Elves. Wood Elves are in this post, the Undead previous post! 

And that completes the past Mighty Armies commission project. I am working on more at the moment, but when I finish them more pics will be posted! Until next time....

Mighty Armies - Undead part 1

So as promised, here is a large Mighty Armies commission piece I did earlier in the year. I call this part 1 because I received more of these to paint up and currently working on them at the moment. Mighty Armies is a miniatures game using 15mm miniatures.  Most of these miniatures used here are from Splintered Light Miniatures, a miniature company that makes a ton of 15-20mm miniatures.

So there is the background info, and here are some pics! There are 2 armies here: Undead and Wood Elves. Undead are in this post, the Wood Elves to follow!

And there we go! I am currently working on more of these miniatures and when I get them finished, I will have more pics up for them! Until next time.

New additions?

So I am checking over my blog and I am thinking about adding pages to the blog to house different projects by types for easier accessibility instead of using the labels.  The labels will still be used for overall purpose and search findings, but the pages will house the larger projects all in one go. 


I think these are some of them: Terrain, Cryx, Menoth, Legion, Super Dungeon Explore, Wrath of Kings. Or maybe headers with Subheaders leading into the armies. ex: Warmachine takes you to Cryx, Menoth, Cygnar. Wrath of Kings takes you to the factions there. Super Dungeon Explore will just be a large photo gallery of all those same as the terrain.


Not sure when this will happen as most of those I listed are in stages and none completed as a whole yet, but this is what I was thinking, just thought I would share. Also this week I hope to have updated a commission I had earlier in the year, the Mighty Armies part 1. So look for those pics coming up!

Mid year update

So we are over half way over on 2012. I thought this to be a good point to look back at my "yearly to do list" I made back at the start of 2012 and see how I was coming along. Remember this blog not only showcases some of my works, but is also ment to make me move along to projects so I dont forget about them. So now I would like to take some time between projects and reflect on those "project promises".

PAINTING::
     Super Dungeon Explore! All the miniatures need painted (50+)
- still need work. sadly. I finished about 2 of my own heroes and 6 minions, but the expansion is coming soon and I am not close to finished. Unfortunatly they get pushed back when I get commissions.
     Legion of Everblight commission project (almost done- need pics)
- yup. same place in line. Still getting pushed back.
     Khador commission project (special I am only half involved in)
- Has been delayed until time for the first half from the client gets done. Im ok with this.
     Mighty Armies commission project
- done! at least part 1 when I wrote this is done. I am about to get more within the next month.
      My own Cryx army (maybe I will get to finish it)
- 45% of my army is painted! about 30% based! Not bad considering I have about 300 models!
     Cygnar
- yeah, bits here and there. I think I will take this off the list as there are other priorities.
     Malifaux characters (random bunches)
- Also taking off the list. Most of these I save for between projects or when I need a certain style to paint.

TERRAIN::
 Wargaming (Warmachine/Hordes) Terrain:
     Cryx-ifyed King of the Hill Terrain(with extreme mode)
- In progress. I did however do a King of the Hill piece using ruins instead.
     Trenches
- Pictures were lost in the "how to" process.
     a "How to" series on various bases I have done
- In progress. I should just take the pics one day and hammer them out.
     Cryx Tower
     Cryx Harvesting tanks
     Hills, walls, and other field terrain
- The rest of the terrain is in progress. As in the bits are laying around but nothing assembled yet. I have been working on more Ogroth Ruins type terrain, so we will see more of those in the future.

 RPG Terrain:
     3D 8-bit Dungeon
-DONE! really it is. I can always add to it but the basic that I wanted and set out for is done.
     Dungeon X (really How much longer can I delay its creation?)
- Apparently as long as possible. With all this other terrain building, and the new Terraclips from World Works Games, this one really fell by the wayside.
     More WorldWorks Games Terrain Dungeons
- See explanation above.

SO there we have it. Not much really got done. I even pushed aside commission work for 2 months and that got me a bit caught up, but not much. As we can see I was able to FULLY complete 1 on this list. Just need to push myself more because August is coming and that will get busy.

Allow me to list:
Super Dungeon Explore Expansion: new models to buy and paint
Zombicide: Zombie survival board game! with miniatures!
Wrath of Kings: New miniatures skirmish game. nice models
Warmachine: As usual. new Cryx models come out! cant wait for these ones!
Hordes: The Mountain King arrives in September.

See more miniatures to add to the painting list! There is just not enough time for everything. Add to this commission work - sheesh. I may have to take another break from commissions in September.

Well there we go, another list post update. Had to put this up to drive me more, to get more done. As long as I can stay focu...oh look MORE MINIATURES!!!!

Road Hogs!

Another commission piece is done. This one included 2 of the Road Hogs, a Minion Heavy Warbeast from Privateer Press for their Hordes line.  As you can see this commission was like the other piggy minions, basic paint and base. Simple and quick.  Here are some pics!

As you can see not only are the two in different poses, but their shoulder armor is also different colors. This was the clients choice as it sticks to the theme provided earlier with the Slaughthousers of his army. And I rather was going to do it that way anyway :)

So there they are, the newest commissions. There are more to do and I am working on terrain in between. Some future projects you should see: more Mighty Armies, a Warhammer Fantasy Dragon, more tabletop terrain, and some super cool miniatures I cant decide yet!

Until the next update....

Cryx Wraith Engine 1

Muhahahahahahahahaha....oh hi. Sorry for that. This post was a while in the making, and it pleases me much to now share with you one of my pride and joys.

NOT just because I play Cryx (for Privateer Press tabletop game Warmachine), but because this project had me in my most crazy creative in a while. When I conceived this project I went nights dreaming of it and how to pull it off, you see it is more than just a regular battle engine. More than just a model. More than....ok well I will let the pics speak for themselves.

As you can see from the 'Frosted Mini' post, he did turn out rather nicely. The basing detail really adds to this piece making it not only a model that matches the rest of the army, but doubles as a nice display piece as well.

Now here is the kicker, the geniusness of my madness: It. Lights. UP! Damn straight I just said that. I will say it again!

IT
LIGHTS
UP!

Oh so tricky. Many a crazy nights here. How you ask? I am indeed a madman. See the soul coming out of the body? it has a spring on the bottom, press down to turn on or off the lights. There are 3 of them in this bad boy. The trickiest part was hiding the battery and switch. I actually had to drill holes in the base for the switch. the wires were soldered underneath the base.

 And the battery?  See the little Stitch Thrall (undead with the sack) in the back? If you look close you notice that part of the base looks odd? That is where the battery is hidden. Underneath the base. The Thrall is attached to this piece which can be removed to replace the battery. Now that was tricky. I had to break apart the base and perfectly realign and reassemble so it is still playable.

I am happy to share this piece with you, hope you liked it. Now onto more pic taking and painting. until next time...

Frosted Terror

Hello again readers and browsers! Its been a while, I know. I have been busy lately painting up more of my Cryx army for a tournament happing soon. Out of all the models I own for Warmachine, Cryx is the largest with just about 300 models! Out of them, less than half are fully painted and ready to go. So I set out to paint what I can this past month and I ran into an issue when working on one of the big ones, the Cryx battle engine, the Wraith Engine!

Hence the title, Frosted Terror! It may have happened to you, or it may some day and I am here to help you out. You just finished painting a beautiful miniature, you let the paint dry, and you begin to apply sealer. Whatever type of sealer you use, you notice that upon drying something bad, no terrible, no no, UNSPEAKABLE has happened! The beautiful paint job is now covered over in a frosting grey haze!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

All those hours, all that detail, all that damned frost! What to do, where to turn? Right here friends, I am with you and I will help you through this. First, dont panic. Frosting can occur with many variables, the most common being the weather. Humidity can cause the sealer to set before it is completely dry causing this fog up, or it could be an old bottle/can of sealer, or just a bad batch. Just follows these steps and you will be back to praising the light and the fact that you came across this.

STEP 1: DONT PANIC!

 So its a hugh deal, but easily fixable. After this horrendous finding, breath and say "I can fix this". Dont touch the miniature and set it aside for 24 hrs to allow the sealer to completely set in. usually 12hrs will do, but better safe than sorry.


STEP 2: Cooking up the Miniature.

 Ingredients to use after the miniature has sat for a while. Olive Oil and water. Thats it. You dont even need that much of the olive oil either, Just a dab. Wash the entire miniature with Olive Oil, just like you are adding an ink wash. Use the water to help spread it around all over the frosted areas. You will be able to tell where you need to go over if you missed any spots.


STEP 3: Drying Time

So you can see here in this shot, the miniature is washed with the Olive Oil and water. This is what it looks like when drying. Make sure to wash off excess Olive Oil. Too much may not let paint stick to it again. Or even your re-sealer.


STEP 4: RE-SEAL

Now if you want to leave the miniature all shinny, you can. The texture may feel weird, but that is up to you. IF you decide to re-seal, I suggest you wait another 24hrs AFTER the Oil wash to apply any type of sealer.  In this pic here I did re-seal with Testors Dullcoat spray. I did have to wait for a nice day (no humidity) to help ensure that no frosting would take place again.

STEP 5: Enjoy!

And there you have it! The beautiful miniature brought back to its former glory! Sure it took time to get it back, but its worth it. I didnt have to re-paint, or worse yet strip the already painted model. Life realigned itself and everything was good again. Now I can continue on painting more!

Next time I update, hopefully I will have this model completely finished and more along with it. Until then remember: Its not the heat, its the humidity!