And so it begins

Junt, Urn and I have been egging each other on quite a lot this year and the result seems to have manifested in to a challenge.

What challenge? To paint 365 figures in a year. This obviously equates to one a day which seems daunting but casting my eye back over the last year I seem to have painted well over 200+ items and that includes big scenery pieces that have taken more than a week for each one. I’ve also prepped and made lots of figures and scenery. Given that I often batch paint big groups of figures the target of 365 seems less scary.

A year dedicated to clearing some of the backlog of figures? Yeah I’m up for that.

Junt also mentioned that we should try and maintain momentum with the gaming itself and suggested 52 games in a year. Given how easily life distracts us from fun things, I think this is going to be HARD but hey…..I’m up for that challenge as well!

The 365 figures that I’m hoping to get done include:

40+        40K Eldar

140+      30K Marines, Mechanicum & Solar Auxilia

20+        Pulp City heroes and civilians

80+        Dystopian Wars for both the KoB and PE

70+        Seraphon

50+        Dystopian Legion for both KoB and PE

150+      Massive Darkness figures yet to arrive from a Kickstarter.

Okay, that actually total in excess of 550 figures which will be something of a reach to achieve but that’s the reason for the challenge. Soooooo many figures waiting to be painted. I wish it were all that is sat unpainted in my study. Gotta start somewhere I suspose!

I was planning to start on January 1^st but I need to get cracking on the Seraphon for February and as such I’ve started the challenge already. 11^th December 2016 is the day of commencement and by this time next year I want to have completed at least 365 figures from the list above. We shall see.

The GoGs are heading for Nottingham on 10/02/17 and I need to have an army ready. I have the BFG’s seraphon on loan under the condition that I paint it and this is a convenient starting point. I’ve got 2 months to paint 70+ figures and I’ll be happy to get 30+ figures done per month as it’ll show me how difficult it is to keep on track.

Now the Seraphon should be a quick paint….

  

…but as usual I find a way to complicate the process. I’ve gone for a wash effect for the main colour scheme but I wanted to have their armour plates in a different colour but also tonally similar to the main colour. This means adding a base colour to parts of the model prior to the quick wash. Probably doesn’t actually take much longer but just feels like it when you’re trying to do 37 in one batch! Probably will only take one more evening to finish the first stage and then onto applying the wash.

Only one thing left to say.

0 finished in 3/362 days

Gulp!

TTFN

After a week away...

...I finally got the chance to finish the first of my DW KoB land forces.

I've quite enjoyed painting these but it is nice to have finished them. Time for a break from DW as I switch my attention to getting The BFG's Seraphon ready for massed painting!

This is the first of three cavalry units. There are 3 units of saurus' as well as Kroxigor, skinks, big dinos and a Lord Kroak. Plenty to keep me busy for a while.

I also managed to get a warmill kit together ready for spraying thanks to Urn's donation of the sign for the roof.

TTFN!

Washes really are rather good aren't they!

I'm still plugging away at my DW KoB forces. I finished the tracks last night and managed to get some Badab Black wash on some of them. The effect it has is great.

It makes me wince sometimes seeing the pre-wash colours. They're sooooo gawdy!

One coat of wash and the metals are toned down, details picked out and crevices shaded. Its a long way from blobbing on Humbrol enamels which is how I started painting miniatures back in 19......no lets not dwell on how long its been.

So tonight I'll finish off the black wash and start on the bases.

  
Managed to get this fella together today. body and legs are pinned as are the arms. You can't see all of them but there are three spindly spines on its back which I nearly left off as i thought they'd be early casualties in the figures case. However.....I persevered and managed to pin all three despite them being only slightly big than the drill bit.

Given that infinity seems to have grabbed me and Urn I suspect that this fella might get a pass to the front of the painting queue.....along with some friends.

TTFN

How is it.....

...that the tiniest of tanks seem to take ages to paint?!?

Main colour going on to the KoB tanks now. These will probably need two coats but the coverage from the green isn't too bad. After the green the tracks will be steel colour then the whole lot gets a black wash which should tone down the brass, pick out the details on the green and give a nice finish on the tracks.

TTFN

Now for some ever so slightly better pictures.

The Infinitys guys got a lick of varnish and base trimming last night. Here are some slightly better photos but I am coming to the conclusion that I really must invest in a light box to get a better quality of piccie for the blog.

 Zhanshi follows the original colour scheme that I'd used apart from me adding a bit of white detailing on his torso armour. I also used a slightly lighter grey to paint the weapons, one which seems to show the gun details better after the addition of the army painter.

The two Domarus are mainly monchrome white and grey but there is colour is the underlayer.  

Like the Zhanshi, the celestial guard is pretty consistent with my previous limited pallet choices. I think this style of painting suits the infinity figures pretty well.

After those were done I cracked on with the KoB.

Gaudy aren't they! The main green colour will go on after the brass and then the steel for the tracks. Then they'll all be given an total wash of Nuln Oil to bring all the colours right down. Hopefully the brass will be subdued down to just being bright rather than the painful bling it currently has. The green seemed to take the Nuln Oil well on the test and the steel always comes out looking really nice under that wash.

Ever hungry to get more done......I finished construction of the pile'o'crates at work today. Weather permitting tomorrow, I might be able to get a spritz of paint on these in the car park during tomorrows lunch break.

TTFN

On to the next thing.

So PE DW land forces wave one are finished. Phew. I enjoyed painting them but staring at the same figures when batch painting does wear....a ....little thin after a couple of weeks.

So to provide a nice change I slapped some paint on a couple of, soon to be deployed, infinity troopers. A Celestial Guard, two Domarus and a Zhanshi. These, along with several I already have painted, will provide me with my first proper 100 point 2SWC list. Urn and I have flirted with Infinity but now it is time to get serious, engage fully with the rules and escalate the conflict!!!

I am really looking forward to this. It is a scenery heavy game which I really like and between Urn and I we have some really nice scenery to play on.

I'm sticking to the limited pallet that I used for my other Yu Jing so these shouldn't take that long to do. I hope.

I also got some reinforcements through for my DW KoB forces. The KoB were rather outnumbered by the PE so I decided to even the match at bit. Trimmed, bases textured and sprayed today in time to go home this evening. I'll be starting on them as soon as the infinity figures are done. More big batch painting but it'll be worth it to finally have the bulk of the DW forces done. After that I'll have to get some scenery knocked together.

I really do have a lot of toys.

:-D

TTFN

An inconsistent week but....

...I've still managed to make more progress on both the DL figure prep and the DW PE land forces.

Wave one of the DW PE are all but finished now. I only need to glue a couple of shrubs to the bases to break them up a bit and they will be totally done. the next challenge with these is to work out what to store them in?

I'm about half way through the DL figures but of the ones I have left there are a fair number that will need extra pinning work. Hopefully most of the standard infantry types will be prepped next week.

I fairly pleased with how these PE tanks have turned out. I'm glad I resisted the urge to try a camo scheme as they probably would have ended up looking to 'busy'. I'm not sure the choice of the grey for the electro bits on the sides worked out but I was hesitant to have more metallics on such a small figure.

  
I'm also quite pleased that i'd textured the tracks behind the tanks. A bit of Devlan Mud picked them out quite well without them being to obvious. Shame about the one that I'd managed to mess up by having the tracks come out of the front of the model. Doh!

 All in all this lot is about 1900 points which I suspect is more than enough basic forces. Still to add is wave 2 made up of artillery, massive robots and several Zeppalins.....oh and the ginormous land aircraft carrier.

I suspect however that I will do the basic KoB forces first to give me two fieldable forces.

What next? Well more DL at work during the lunchtimes and also a small amount of KoB DW stuff to bring them closer to being at a similar strength to the PE.

I might have a break from DW for a week and get a couple of Infinity figures done. Especially as it appears that I have another game scheduled for Thursday. :-D

TTFN

Progress on all fronts

Despite my children's attempts to stop me getting anything done I still managed to get some more done on the first wave of my DW PE last night.

I gave them all a wash of Devlan Mud. I was hoping that it would pick out the detail a bit more and to some extent it has but it also added a touch more mottling than I would have hoped for. That aside I am still fairly pleased with how much of the detail has been retained on these models.

Just the basing to do on these and I'm not quite sure how to proceed with that as I normally do a black base highlighted up with browns for 28mm figures. Somehow I think that will be odd looking at this scale. I shall quiz the Spartan forums to see what others have done.

Also managed to get a couple more DL done at lunch today.

The pile is growing.....slowly.

TTFN

Slow Going.

The decision to use a Vallejo air brush paint applied with a brush is still one that I would make again but......sheesh it makes for slow painting. The thin paint takes at least three layers over the white undercoat to give a decent finish. It is worth it in the end as it really helps keep the fine detail on the lovely little Spartan figures.

So....I'll just keep plugging away at them.

TTFN

A little DW progress

On to stage two of painting the Prussian Land forces for DW.

I'd started with a layer of sprayed white undercoat and onto this was painted a steel colour that I'd watered down with an airbrush dilutant. I don't really use water anymore because the dilutants give such a good result.

Once dry, the steel colour was given a coat of Nuln Oil and between this and the watered down steel I've managed to keep the detail on the models clean and sharp. I have to say that I'm pretty pleased how they are going so far. I just hope that my choice of main colour doesn't let them down.

eek!

They make a nice change from painting 28mm!

TTFN!

And now for something completely different.

The big game at the weekend was a real blast! It was really awesome to see all the 30K armies on the table as I think everyone has really stepped up their game painting wise.

Just a shame that I neglected to take.....any photos at all.

I was really rather caught up in the game so that's my excuse.

However having painted something in the region of 1700 points of Iron Hands since February, I think a break from the scarlet and gold is in order. So this has lead me to start on some of my Dystopian Wars land forces as I've had loads of this stuff lying around for ages untouched. I am resolved to get at least one force of this completed over the next month or so.

Last night saw the start of this with the diddly wee tankies getting their first lick of paint. I suspect that the massed Prussian Empire forces that I seem to have acquired with take a little while to get through.

Arse. just noticed that I've missed painting the base trim on that front one. Harumpf.

I know what I'm doing first tonight now.

TTFN

Bring me sunshine...

...oh..no need. it's here already! Huzzah!

It meant that I got to put to the undercoat on the massed Prussian Empire forces that have invaded my desk. Hopefully I'll get the chance to start painting them at lunchtimes next week. The paint scheme has more or less been decided to be steel & dunkelgelb with a little added brass to pick out the fun stuff like Zzzappy guns.

Quite looking forward to painting them. I haven't painted anything at this scale for a while.

TTFN.

Paint-a-thon!

My drive is not diminishing!

The Paint-a-thon is forging ahead. I'm aiming to put brush to figure pretty much every night (excluding gaming nights) until I have done the main core of the infantry for the both the Iron Hands and Iron Warriors for 30K.

This does constitute quite a large number of marines in both power armour and also Terminator armour.

To be precise:

IH Marines 60
IH Terminators 15

IW Marines 60
IW Terminators 13

It's going to be a bit of a slog but I am committed to getting them done once and for all! I also have the added incentive of all the fun stuff to paint once these are out of the way.

Last night I was getting the first coat of red done on another 5 marines. This time it was some autocannon fellas. Tonight I've got 5 guys with Volkite Chargers to do and then I'll have the first thirty Iron Hands showing a decent amount of progress. From that point I'll probably work on all thirty at once as I do the second coat of red and the finishing touches.

I'm still also trying to be constructive in my lunch hours so today I applied some glue and sand to the bases of my PE land forces. Fingers crossed the weather will stay dry and allow me to get these sprayed tomorrow and then I can start slapping a bit of paint on them as well. I've more or less decided on a steel and Dunkelgelb colour scheme with a limited amount of camo stripes on the non-metallic areas.

TTFN

Even more little tankies!

After all the prep work I've been doing on my 28mm Horus Heresy stuff it has been a nice change to prep the DW stuff as it takes hardly any time at all.

 Some medium Prussian tanks and...

A whopping great mobile airfield!

Also had enough time to spray some HH figures ready for next week when I intend to get stuck in to getting the Iron Hands done after sooooooo... much procrastination!

Ferrus and some friends.

Yet more Robots....

...and some artillery!

Not too mch more to do then I can look to texturing the bases prior to undercoating them.

I'm currently thinking of a light brown and green scheme for the KoB and a simple Dunkelgelb scheme for the PE. I want to carry the colour schemes over to the DL forces in 28mm that I have so I'm not rushing the decision on what colours to go for.

TTFN

Landships Ahoy!

Couple more tanks prepped for DW.

Still not sure whether I should go for a grey military look or something more colourful like dunkelgelb with stripes. This said, I haven't decided what scheme to use for the KoB and they've been undercoated for well over a year.

TTFN

Lunchtime Tinkerings

I've tried to kick myself back into gear at home in the evenings to get my Horus Heresy stuff done (hmmm probably should do some blog posts about that as well) but I've also tasked myself with being a bit more productive at lunchtimes once again.

With that in mind I am going to try and bring Dystopian Wars to the table again in 2016. Not naval warfare this time as I'm not sure that it really caught our attention that much. However I've always had a hankering for a game with lots of iddie biddie tanks and the land based DW stuff is just the sort of thing that flicks my switch!

My Kingdom of Britannia land stuff sits at home all put together, based and undercoated and I fully intend to get some serious batch painting done, after a chunk of the HH stuff, to get a sizable force table ready. My lunchtime aim is to get the Prussian Empire forces, which I seem to have a lot of, to the same point so I can do the KoB and move straight on to the PE. These things aren't complicated builds and the Spartan castings are usual top-notch so they don't take long to prep.

 I painted up some smaller landing craft a couple of years back and I'd picked this one up cheap as I do have the hope of doing a beachhead game at some point.

Some clanky fun!

Some even bigger clanky fun! The dreaded Metzer! The robot bases need texturing but then they'll be ready for a spray.

Two of the six Zeppelins that I find myself owning. The others are a bit smaller but a nice start to my airbourne floatilla.

Still to do?

Mobile airbase (Huge monster!)
Loads of tanks of various sizes
Some more robots
and some planes.

It might be a good idea for me to cost out the points for both the Kob and PE as I suspect the plucky Brits might well be outnumbered and....hey..I need an excuse to buy them some more air support!
;-)

I brought some 6mm buildings a while back and the scenery maker in me is screaming to start that. I've got all sorts of ideas about nice contoured pieces with little lane and hedgerows. Can't wait.

But i must wait.

Until I've finished a big chunk of my Heresy painting.

Too many toys and not enough time to play with them!

TTFN

A little progress.

Last night I got the last four Yu Jing I have put together and, thanks to a spot of sunshine at lunchtime, I managed to get them undercoated at work today along with the Steward Tanks for my DW KoB.

There is a pretty good chance that the infinity figures are going to get a lick of paint tonight as I am pretty motivated on these at the moment.

TTFN!

A slow boiler.

I've been continuing to collect the Spartan Dystopian Wars stuff long after the GoGs dalliance with DW Naval a few years back. It speaks to me as a genre and I think I've always had a hankering to play a game with lots of iddy biddy tanks. DW has it and also zeppelins and giant robots. Really.....what more could you ask for?

I came to the conclusion that this was going to be a long slow boiling project for me and as such I have been adding to the collection slowly when ever I have seen the stuff on sale at discount prices. Wayland Games, slow and a bit crap as they are, have had several sales with the DW stuff being discounted quite heavily. I have taken advantage of this more than once! ;-)

Last summer I started basing and undercoating Kingdom of Britannia forces and moved purchasing away from them and on to the Prussians as the secondary force. Last week some recent purchases arrived (eventually) from Wayland and as I added them to the Prussian pile I made the realisation that.......

..........I seem to have brought quite a lot for the Prussians. So much so that I now think they outnumber the plucky Brits!!! Only one answer to that!

I'd already brought some Steward tanks when Armoured Clash was launched and it struck me that I should get these ready to be painted with the rest of the prepared stuff. A quick job and after a squirt of white undercoat they will be ready to join the rest of the Kob in the painting queue. But a couple of Stewards is not going to be enough to face the Prussians!! So that'll be me keeping my Ebay eye on KoB stuff to slowly bolster the ranks.

You never know. I might get round to painting some of this stuff........one day.

;-)

TTFN

Sarky B******d!

I was chitter chatting to Urn during my game against the BFG last night and I happened to mention that I had been quite productive lately on the hobby side of life. Urn's response was "yeah. I saw that on the blog......oh" all delivered with a big cheesy grin. Git.

But he is correct. I have been remiss in posting lately.

So to round up my recent activities:

Old school Wraightlords stripped and the best bits rebuilt as War Walkers which are nearly fully painted
Crimson Hunter constructed and painting has commenced
Painting underway on the new Avatar
Warightknight constructed and undercoated
DW KoB land forces prepared and now undercoated
Dreadball team prepped and undercoated
9 Eldar Jetbikes painted
6 more Jetbikes undercoated

Yeah! Been busy!

I'm been trying to use spare time better and it is succeeding at the moment. Lunchtimes at work, the little time before and after work and all it takes is a little box of hobby bits on the corner of the desk and you can quickly get shifted lots of the prep work that needs doing before painting. Obviously you need an understanding boss and colleagues who accept your oddness. ;-D