2016 - II - Ridend project done!

And they're all done, finished, completed.

Though I had hoped to finish them by the end of the Cthu faction Kickstarter, last Tuesday, they just took a bit longer than expected. It was worth it though, really happy with the end result

Definitely underestimated how much work there was on these models, especially all the tiny bits and bobs all over the Archers. Having spent most of the last two years or so working on single models or units definitely had an impact. It takes a bit of a mindset shift and better planning when tackling a full project.

Think I had to go back to various models over a dozen times to do stuff I could have done for the entire batch in a single go. Bit of a learning process to get back to Specialist Games-level of army/warband size! The Tor Gaming team (link) has done quite a stunning job on this faction, a great example of how 3D sculpted models can still lead to very organic and lively models!

The Dragon Tower model was probably the most fun model in the entire war band, there was just a ton of opportunity for contrast and little details on there. The fur and feather textures, in particular, were lovely to work on. This is also a very fun model on the tabletop where it's all about spotting and marking units, not fighting them. Though I am certain we'll be seeing a more combat-oriented variant somewhere down the line.

My favorite models of the batch have to be the Ladies of the Court though, really hadn't expected they'd be so much fun to figure colour schemes out for. There's certainly some Disney influences in there, though it's really the poses that push the models to the front of the pack. They just ooze character!

COMING UP NEXT:

With these done it's time to move on to the next projects and there's some interest stuff on the horizon. First off I'm joining a Relics monthly challenge where I hope to build up another faction, roughly the same size as the Ridend, over the course of about five months. A unit and character a month should be quite doable, especially since half of them are already built or partially converted. Viscount Alard and Lawrence the butler, are finally going to see paint!

Was a tough choice between the Britanans or the Nuem, especially given their latest batch of models. Still, puppet redcoats first!

Secondly there's Thunderchild Miniatures' (link) Wasteman Kickstarter goodies that arrived last week. I'll be putting these together this week, so keep an eye out for a 'Closer look at...'-article. Really fell in love with the hand-sculpted style of the models and Jason definitely delivered on the Kickstarter promises. There's still some big models and the special bases the models can be slotted into to follow. but there's a wonderful range of models to get going on. Thinking I'll just 'have to' start painting up the Lunar Coalition models as well.

Finally there's been word of the upcoming DeepWars expansion from Antimatter Games (webpage, Facebook). Now I'm trying to put extra effort into actually finishing projects this year, while also limited the amount of models added to the metal/resin/plastic mountain. So if I want to support this one, I'll have to add another big, balancing project to the list. Cue this year's second big project, the Ancients of Atalan. Think that should keep me busy for the next 6-7 weeks!

And that does it for this post, thanks for reading and have a great hobby week everybody!

2016 - I - What, a new year already............?!

Well the last couple of weeks have definitely flown by at an incredible speed. Haven't had too much time to do much blog work, aside from some Star Wars related musing over on the Garage Gamers blog (I, II & III).

That's not to say I haven't been busy with the hobby, quite the contrary actually, spent more time on minis these last two weeks than the full month before. There are even a few finished models to show off, starting with Alucard (Infamy Miniatures). Part of the Big Smoke range/game, I had an absolute blast with this guy. There's an absolute ton of tiny details all over this finely-cast and rather menacing-looking, resin model. He can't possibly be up to anything good with all that gear.

The Big Smoke world promises to be a rather bleak, dark and alternative view of early 20th century London with automatons, legendary monsters, half-robotic monkeys, an evil Homes and Watson and Tesla himself trying to stem the tide. A setting that challenged me to go back a few years to a painting style I've drifted away from further and further - 40K / John Blanche's grimdark approach. Been mostly painting more light-hearted pulp and scifi models these last two years, which generally invites brighter color schemes. Going back to something dark, mixing all your colors from scratch and using about a dozen different shades of brown was quite a nice throwback and something I will stick with once I get around to the other Infamy models on my to do-list!

Now Alucard isn't the only finished model, though the Barrow Wight (Warploque Miniatures) is most definitely an entirely different beast. Certainly no less detail, the sculpting style on this one almost pulls a 180. While Infamy's range is more and more becoming a 3D render-centric product, demonstrating just how wonderful printed models/masters can be, Warploque's Alex does all his sculpting by hand. This has lead to some extremely distinct, characterful and much more organic models, which naturally lend themselves (or force the painter) to a different approach.

There's a lot more blending and free flowing brushwork possible on these models, something I think may very well end up influencing my general painting style. I do not believe this model has had a general release yet, though that may very well change in the near future. In fact, for anybody interested in the Arcworlde models and game there will be a big starter set coming later this/next month:

Thirdly, there's a 'get them painted already'-project from my long, long to do-list on the hobby table at the moment: Relics' Ridend faction (from Tor Gaming). About time these lovely, little models got some attention, there's even some quite challenging stuff in there. The Dragon Tower promises to be quite the challenge, with all those tight spots.

Amusingly enough the simply undercoating process made me change my mind completely on my favorite models in the group. Really like mounts and dragon models, but now the Ladies of the Court have jump to the head of the pack. Really charmed by all the small details, the posing and just how many layers there are to their dresses.........guess I like princesses then ;-)

And yes, yes, part of the reason for my sudden motivation for these is down to the Kickstarter for the newest C'thu faction for Relics (link). Hey, at the very least it will mean more models painted than added to the pile ;-)

Regardless, it's been quite a productive year. Hope everybody out there is having a great new year, both real life and hobby-related, as well!