Old Stumpy

Inspired by VSM's post here's my latest project!

After Vanquish I've decided I need something else big and scary for the GoG Tournie. As we know 1 Greater Daemon just isn't enough so I've raided my shelves of holding and came across a little old Bloodthirster that the wife bought for me a couple of years ago!

You'll note that I seem to have bought shares in the Green Stuff company for this one! Frankly metal (especially big metal) just doesn't go together well so he's had a couple of pins and lots of green stuff to re-inforce him. He's probably the hairiest Bloodthirster out there...

So why Old Stumpy? Let's just say that the left arm with whip was so heavy that no amount of pinning or green stuff was holding it in place so after much thought I decided to run with a one-armed Bloodthirster! That way he can claim to have beaten you with one-arm tied behind his back :-)
Now to paint him this weekend and next ready for the GoG Tournie. No pressure then. Oh and then have to find some way to transport him!!

Defending Fortress Europe...

....Would be pretty tough without troops! So, in order to do just that, I've started up a Grenadierkompanie.

As you're all no doubt aware, I've started up Flames of War and with my brother-in-law Dave taking the Brits, the Germans seemed like the logical choice (and they have all the great tanks too of course!). We're going Late War with the Brits and Yanks steaming in from Italy and Normandy and I'm pretty excited about starting to paint and play in this scale.

As you may know, the little figures come with round metal bases on them and you stick 3, 4 or 5 of them to a plastic base and they're a unit. i stuck mine down and didn't really like the fact that they all seemed to be standing on little islands, so after a quick look at the FoW website for inspiration (and £1.59 at B&Q later) I had some wall filler ready for use to work them into the terrain a little more. And whilst I was sitting there "icing" my 17th base I thought "This is the type of thing we should be blogging about!", so here it is.

Apologies for the rubbish quality of the photos, I made the classic mistake of having too many things in the shot so the camera had no idea which one to pick out! Still, hopefully you'll get the idea. I stuck little rocks and sand on the bases as I'm hoping that'll give me a nice bit of texture for when I come to paint them.

Stay tuned as over the weekend I'm hoping to get this little lot painted as I've told myself that I can't buy any more until I've finished what I've got. Wonder how long that rule will last ;)

And the man at the back said "Everyone attack!"....

...And it turned into a Hobby Blitz...... A HOBBY BLITZ!

Right, on that rather dodgy song link I thought I'd post about the weekend I've just had and all the hobbying (is that a verb? It is now!) I've done in it. I said a while ago that I should post more about random things, and followed that up by not doing so, so this is an attempt to make amends.....

Recently I've actually been doing almost nothing to do with this slightly geeky hobby of ours other than play. Yes, I've been painting the odd sister squad and rhino for the Blog challenge, but that's been sporadic and half hearted at best for the last couple of months. To be honest, I'd even wondered if I was going off painting little figures I was that disinterested!

But fear not, something snapped on Friday. I don't know what it was..... Perhaps it was the thought of shifting the climactic GOG battles forward to about a month's time..... Perhaps it was the fact that I played a game of 40k last week and realised that every game I played used exactly the same scenery and grass mat, just shifted that scenery around a little each time..... Perhaps it was the fact that I have to spend 15 minutes clearing the garage before every game to even mean we could lay out that scenery.....

But something did snap. And a Hobby Blitz ensued....

I started off by finally finishing the half ar$ed job I'd done on some rather simple tank teeth thingies (you know, the things that stop tanks going over them). All I'd previously done was spray them with roughcoat and stick them to a board which I added sand to. I had only used them once, probably because they looked rubbish. So I added some flock, bushes and rusty old barbed wire to ensure it was clear that they were difficult ground and offered LoS blocking (and were impassable for tanks) and now I can't wait to use them.

Encouraged by this I started some entirely new terrain. For ages now (over a year?) I'd saved some interesting packaging that muffins for my weekend breakfasts came in. "They'll look great as some kind of tent" thought I. Not so when kept in a big cardboard box since then though. So out they came, out came some of the mountain of polystyrene that I've been keeping and some plasticard and voila, Imperial All Environment Survival Posts. The simple addition of doors (spare from rhinos), an Imperium Eagle (again spare from rhinos) and an exhaust fume (from a the first ever rhinos!) finished the modelling. I reasoned that they wouldn't need windows (might not work in the harsher environments) and if time and conditions permitted they would be built on a concrete base (mine were). This meant the building would block LoS or offer cover for vehicles and the concrete would offer saves for infantry. Just need to highlight the concrete and they're done.

Then I started on my last sisters squad. This is the one I need for April's painting. So here they are, stuck together with basecoats on half and basecoats and washes on the other half.

Next up was the pirate ship that's been sitting around getting in the way looking like a toy. Some conversion work on the masts and windows and sticking the thing all together (including adding some new decking, drilling new holes for the masts and adding a door) and then spraying it brown. Highlighting to do and then it'll be ready to challenge Master Shipwright Waple on the Seven Seas.

I even dug out all of the Armoured LotR Elves that I had lying around in anticipation for War of the Ring to work out how many I had. (Enough for 4 bases of eight warriors and 2 bases of eight archers if you're wondering). So I converted up a new banner bearer, cleaned up, based and undercoated all those not yet painted in anticipation of them being painted too.

And I even found time to add two coats of paint to the walls in our bedroom, watch two 6 nations games and the City game on Sky!

Apologies for the long post, but I'm just so chuffed to be back hobbying again! Really enjoyed the weekend and I have a new lease of life. It's good to be back :)

My workbench!

As we are posting workbench pics this is my current one. Yes it is very "minimalist" but there is a very good reason for it. As I have a very inquisitive 3 year old I can't leave anything lying around anymore so I had to develop a completely portable painting box and this is the result. The only thing it does not have is spray varnish and paints as that is done outside anyway.

It does have the advantage that I can chuck it in the car boot and do a bit of cleaning up figures in between giving lessons.

WorkBench/ Dining Table

In the spirit of things here is my pic!!

As you can see there is a motley collection of Orks, Royal Navy and Cowboy Terrain, including a small corrall!

Workbench Challenge

This is my painting queue, or at least part of the queue. Your challenge for the day is to identify as many units/characters as you can. I think(!) there are 18 not counting the LOTR blister that's sat on the CD player.

Scarily this is not everything. The Easterlings are on a different shelf together with my other Infinity models. Oh and then there's all the stuff that hasn't been built yet... but that's another story!

Workbench of wonder!

Well, as promised, here's a sneaky look at my workbench/painting table as it stands at the moment. As you'll see from the main picture I have 2 rhinos and 3 sisters as my main task. 1 Rhino for this month and one for next (as it saves time doing them together) and the 3 sisters I need for Novembers unit (the rest will come from the already painted ones that I have, probably with a repaint of the armour to match my newer ones better).

Over the back on the right is more barrels and some sacks and suchlike to be used as scenery for the "legends" games we're currently playing (Old West and High seas). Over the back on the left (and in more detail in the second picture) is my pirate crew - 11 scurvey naves (and navesses) that I'm planning to have ready for the end of November when we'll start using them.

I've also got some undercoated marines & officers, but I'll save them for the next update!

By the pirates is the nurgle CSM rhino hatch with CSM and storm bolter. i finished the rhino about 6 months ago but this part of it has been on my desk for all that time! i really must find time to finish the poor little fella off......