diceminis

Day 9 - Assembly Line

2009-07-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

The last few nights I have spent assembling. I would take a picture, but I think you probably get the idea.

Now here's the thing, I hate assembling, I hate gluing, I detest taking off mold lines. I would happily pay extra for GW to provide the models assembled and undercoated, ready to brush.

Blasphemy I know, but the truth none the less.

Anyway, I am nearly through my batch of dwarf warriors and getting ready to move on to some quarellers and an organ gun.

I think my wife has discovered my new batch of warriors, and frankly her looks suggest that what ever support or respect I had for my pasttime are now out the window.

On a plus side, I sourced some new dice today, I wont give it away, but they are purty dice.

Day 6 - Rank it Up!

2009-07-12T16:28:00.001-07:00

Ok,

Semi productive weekend...Those with kids, particularly young ones will know the trouble one can have in finding enough time to do anything. Some time ago I found a very controversial answer to my time problems, and I stay up very late. My average bedtime is probably about 2am. Now while your nodding sagely at this idea, don't ask what my wife has to say about this, and don't ask what happens if I try to go to bed before 12am these days. Lets just say I cannot recommend it, but it certainly does allow me time to paint. I also can have trouble getting up early. I still leap out of bed at 7.30am, but any earlier and I have severe trouble acting human.

Anyway, I am near to completing my first rank, here are the picis...

Pretty happy with the results, I still have one model to finish in this rank, but it will be done tonight. Unfortunately there will be no ashes to listen to tonight.

Since I had the camera out, I thought I would take some snaps of my base of operations, my orks, lotr and other figures abound. Apologies for the poor camera work, its come off my Nokia N95 (good phone) which has a decent camera, but its still a phone.

Whats next? Well I will probably do some more painting. Knocking off a whole unit is not a bad way to start a project. I am also expecting my other models in the post, so these should arrive, and I can have a look at a cannon.

Also I bought the Dwarf Army Book, also BST on WargamerAu, for $15.00 and I will start working on some lists. I would love to try and get a game in on the weekend, if I had enough models. I can of course proxy some....

Watch this space, I hope to add some more pictures over the next few days.

Day 2 - # 3 Down and 100 to go!

2009-07-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

I got painting again last night and knocked over 1 model, and got stuck into my third.

I am not the worlds fastest painter, and if I knock out an army under pressure with goals towards a tourney for example, the results are ok but the army overall drifts down in quality. Stating the obvious there, I know! Generally I take the popular route of focussing quality on commands, lords, heroes and monsters, and for my rank and file, I batch paint and look to get a central colour across the whole army to tie it together.

Since I have a main army ready to play, WoC's, I think I can take my time with this new dwarf project without the pressure to rush. It has taken me close to 3-4 hours of solid painting to complete 2 and a half models, and these are rank and file! Anyway the effort will be worth it, it is just daunting at the start of a project as my aim is of course 2250pts, or even 3000pts for the next vigilence tournament.

Anyway I picked up another battalion from wargamerau buy and sell yesterday. It is built and undercoated, with a cannon and thunderers. The warriors have GW's which is fine. After only 2 days, my collection of dwarfs has grown from 0 to:

1 Dwarf Lord
24 Warriors, HW, Shield, Command
24 Warriors, GW, Command (may put shields on their backs)
1 Organ Gun
1 Cannon

I have 2 and a half warriors painted. If my goal is to have this army ready for next year, I have some work todo considering the quality I want to maintain.

Also I have been using Vomit Brown for my base for Gold NMM, this may not be the best colour for the job, but then I just read another article online that said it was perfect, oh well! I am going to pick up some paint this afternoon to attempt another way, using snake bite leather as the base colour. I believe a darker starting point might give me a better result. I also need some Chaos Black, Skull White, Fortress Grey, Cathan Brown and some fortress grey. As well as some more paint brushes. Oh well, there goes another $50....

I have decided to sell my ogre army to fund this. I expect around the $600 - $700 dollar mark for it. It is very nicely painted.

Thinking on bases and movement trays. I say an army a empire army on ebay that took my fancy. The basing on the models was great, but the real treat was the movement trays, which had very thick bases. The came up about 2-3cms and the models were a little sunken into the trays.

I would like to apply the same concept to my dwarf army. Very thick bases, raising the height of the dwarfs overall and then sinking them into the trays a little. The empire army trays where very green, with static grass, flock and lichen. I am thinking along the lines of grey stone, (think world of warcraft here) with smooth worn edges with some thick snow caps on the top and edges (need to be careful to not over do it). The theme been of course the dwarfs defending their snow topped fortresses.

I am thinking of using balsa for this, as it is easy to cut and shape, and also I can inscribe the sides and tops of the bases with runes, brick work, without having to work on hardwood.

I am not huge on the idea of scenic movement trays. You see some stunning armies such as wood elves, with wardances and glade guard sitting in trees. While this is pretty, I think I am looking for a much cleaner, neater aspect.

Anyway, must get back to work, enough obsessing on the dwarfs...

Dwarfs - Day 1 - A New Hankering

2009-07-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

Work is a harsh mistress on my wallet...

After having nothing to do yesterday afternoon, I started thinking about a new WHFB project that could capture my imagination. I had finished my WoC not that long ago (sort of finished!) and was looking for something interesting to take its place.

In the past few months I have been focusing on both my Orks and my Fallen Realm army for WOTR, but had neglected my first love WHFB.

I nipped over to my local and picked up the Dwarf Battalion, as I usually start a new project by picking up a battalion box. I am 3 from 4 in that respect, I have already finished an ogre army (3000pts), a Lizardmen Army (3500pts), and a WoC army (3000pts). The only WHFB army I have not finished is a VC's, which I sold off.

Anyway, I picked up my shiny new models and went home. I cracked the box and built my first Dwarf Warrior, I love the little models! My thoughts quickly jumped to Shining Gold, Boltgun Metal, Chainmail, Mithril Silver, Badab Black and Devlin Mud to get the job done. I took a quick look up at my other armies on my shelf though, and decided instantly that the dwarfs would be done differently. I quickly undercoated my new dwarf with Chaos Black, and while it was drying, read up on NMM techniques. I had tried it in the past with no real results, but decided that this time, I would make a full attempt, across a whole army. My first example got me excited, and as is my way, thoughts on theming an army usually come after painting one model.
Here are the first pictures

I am pretty pleased with this first model. My NMM skills need a lot of work, but I see enough here to motivate me to try an develop them. I really like the almost "cartoon" element to the model and cannot wait to see how the whole army comes out.