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Holiday period

A very merry festive season to you! This year I got several wargames related items for Christmas. I got a warhammer wood set, which should add for some spooky ambiance, box of Eldar Banshees, and Eldar Swooping hawks, which means that I have plenty of Eldar to get started painting (Maybe in 2011).
My wife got me a portable photography studio, which has a nice folding photography setup with light diffusers and a proper cloth background, and she also got me two 250 watt halogen lights to blast the target with photons. Expect some pictures using this setup, and the wife’s new camera soon.
My grandfather traditionally sends money to my parents to buy a gift “from him”. Since I did not have any items on my list that seemed to fit this category I got cash instead. I decided in a most uncharacteristic fashion, to spend the money on miniatures directly, rather than on tools or something easier to explain. Leading contenders include a Copplestone 10mm Horse Warrior army (Rohan), and the new Battletech starter, also interested in a regiment of Perry HYW French to use as Bretonnians.
In other gaming news, we are shopping for a house to take advantage of the steep decline in costs here, and the wife indicates that a room suitable for crafts and gaming is certainly a criteria. Some sort of “bonus room” with room for a 8x6 table would be great… Posted by Lasgunpacker at 11:43 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: greed, planning 
Vexatious Festive Sales

With the decline of the pound sterling vs. the US dollar (now at ~$1.48 per £ as of this writing), and the advent of the festive season, it becomes difficult for those of us not buying miniatures to hold out. Why? Christmas sales. Brigade Miniatures (not Games) is having a 15% off sale, which coupled with their VAT reduction for US buyers means over 30% off. Hasslefree is having a buy three get one free sale on most of their lines, plus throws in a goodie bag with each order. GZG is having a sale, already takes off VAT, and throws in a goodie bag as well. I am sure there are others seeking to extract my cash. What you may want undoubtedly varies, but a couple of companies of 6mm tanks, a platoon of sci-fi dwarfs, and more space ships all sound pretty great to me.
Very vexatious. Maybe next year I can take advantage. Posted by Lasgunpacker at 10:40 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: greed, sales 

This past weekend I was able to take advantage of some free time, and photograph my GW giant. The giant was a surprise gift from my wife, who recalled me saying that every army could use one, and quite rightly, deduced that it would be a good purchase. The giant is not only useful for several armies, but also fun to put together due to the huge number of bitz one can choose from to adorn him. Many hands, heads, and feet and even more decorative items are included. Particularly fun are a hand grabbing a screaming man, a man running away from the giant, and a dead cow to sling from his belt. Quite allot of kit for $45.

It would, however, be good if the legs went together a little bit better (I had to use some putty to finish them off), and if there was another leg set option in the box, as a second giant is likely to look exactly the same as the first, even with the huge number of bitz. For $45 you would expect a slightly better fit, and a few more pose options, but this is GW we are talking about, so we got more skullz instead.

Since the giant is very large, it is a bit harder to photograph using standard miniature techniques. So please bear with the photos if they are cropped strangely etc.

First is an overview of the body: I painted his legs to look as if they were made from flags/tents etc, since that seems like a likely source of material for pants that large. The striped cloth was a pain to paint, and I am not sure that the results were worth it, since even the most careful painting ran afoul of the difficult folds in the cloth. The checked cloth looks passable in this small picture, but not up close.

Next, is a closeup of the shields on his arms: I used these to indicate both his general allegiance to DOW/Empire forces, and also to make his arms a bit more armored.

This final picture is a closeup of his upper torso and face. The skin paint job is not that good, and is actually my third attempt. My first was obliterated by a too heavy ink job, and the second was too blotchy. This third is not quite as good as the first, but gets the job done.

If I ever do another giant, I expect to spend some time reworking the legs, and probably will go with a chaos oriented giant, so that I can have one "good" giant and one "bad" giant. Cloven hooves, mangled hands, and a horned head will adorn the next one, while he will be armed with herdstone and a screaming man. Probably not likely in the foreseeable future, so do not hold your breath.

Anyway, that is my giant. Next time, WFRP miniatures. Posted by Lasgunpacker at 1:19 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Painting, WHFB 

I had intended for this post to be about Halloween related painting, but instead of going to the game store and getting Reaper's new flock of bats and painting them, I instead opted to spend some time with my wife at a club (after much arm twisting on her part).

I had then intended to take advantage of a rare bit of sun during this rainy phase we are having here, and photograph some miniatures to discuss, namely my plastic GW giant, and a Reaper classic vampire, but the focus for my camera was sufficiently off that I ended up discarding all of the pictures. This is the case with most of my miniatures photography BTW, but this particular set was particularly poor, as I wanted to show of the paint job more than conversions or posing in this case.

So plans foiled for a second time, let us then discuss the plan for the next few months of painting. I am currently working on three main painting projects, to whit: finishing my playable Warhammer Fantasy Battle Empire army, cleaning off my painting desk, and the Fauxfly project, which will be discussed at another time.

My Empire army is about 80% complete, and I think that to get it to a playable level, I need to do the following: Finish converting and paint a battle standard bearer, which is a bit of a problem since I do not know what I want to do for this, having departed from my earlier plans. Finish converting my second (Heavens) scroll caddy of a wizard. This guy needs a bit of green stuff work, and of course painting. I also need to paint another cannon. Finishing up my spear regiment would be the final item, and then I would have a two "battalion" army with two wizards, a choice of heroes, and a few spare units (including DOW ogres, dwarfs, or crossbows)

In terms of cleaning off my painting desk, I mostly accomplish this through moving partly completed items back in the boxes from whence they came, but I would like to actually, you know, paint some items, some of which have been "pending" since fall of 2001. Specifically Henry the VIII for my sister (Copplestone), a few more Fed ships (Dreadnought and Attack Cruiser), a 15mm PzIV, a 15mm Sd.kfz 251, and the Necromunda bounty hunter mentioned earlier. This also includes the plastic tiles from the new Mighty Empires, which I primered the other day.

Fauxfly is a small project, but with a fairly large number of detailed figures, comparable to my WFRP figures (strangely enough). May include scenery/terrain/NPCs if required.

Long term, I would like to paint my Warmaster 10mm Empire army, the Battle of Five armies boxed set, and while we are at it, every other darn thing I own. Since I have been generally better than usual at buying fewer miniatures than I am painting, it may happen. Someday.

It must be said though, that ultimately, I will end up painting what ever comes to my fancy in the next few months, current plans notwithstanding. Report to follow as always as it occurs. Posted by Lasgunpacker at 2:22 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Painting, planning 
Why must you tempt me so?

Truly temptation is everywhere. 
TOS Destroyers

Side view of the destroyer.

All three destroyers en route to some battle or exercise. 
Why Not National Army Painting Month?
 Christmas Gift Selection aid 
From WFRP to fine art 
Glorious Weißenland A cross post from my personal journal