Wash Day

So I have done some terrain painting over the last couple of days. Most of which is still wet. I've used a lot of wash to get this done. Not something I have bought. This is way too expensive for this sort of work. So I make my own.

It's mostly water with some matt medium and flow improver. Lastly, a bit washing up liquid, measured in drops. Aside from the ink, it was about £12 all in. Another £4 for each colour of ink you need. So far, it's lasted about four years. So probably another two to go before I run out. I probably won't run out of ink by then. Well maybe the black.

I have used it on minis. It works fine. The pro stuff is a fraction better. So I probably wouldn't use this on anything I want to be the best it can be. It is perfect for terrain. So I call it terrain wash.

Moving on to the next project....

End Of The Week - With Added Zomtober (25)+(2)

Note to self. Did send it to be published on Sunday. Instead I booked to be posted at point in the future. I hit the wrong button apparently.

...

It's been a week of some progress. Not the greatest in general though. I have hit and surpassed the painting target for the week. Which is nice. The New Cruelty is happy. There are some new budget toys and even a bit of progress on terrain.

Starting with the zombie. Just the one. Another Warlord Konflict 47 mini. This one is for my sUnderDground project. Along with a big pile of other stuff.

The first bit of the terrain stuff is the Dwemer scenic bits from Skyrim: Call To Arms from Modiphius.I didn't want to use the original bases that came with some of it. An aesthetic choice 🙄. So it should fit in with the rest of my stuff. I did take a copy of the surface of the original bases to make this happen. Not finished, or even primed yet. There are a few other random bits of terrain that needed to be prepped, so they are in there too.

I've had a pile of wooden terrain features (yes made of plastic) sat around for a few months. Mostly for fantasy games but I figured I also needed terrain for Sludge. It got primed a month ago so I figured I better do something with it. It's had a couple of colours put on the plastic and a wash. Once the basing is finished, I will give everything a dry brush to make the colour pop a bit. This includes assembling the last four 20' cargo containers from Wargames Atlantic.

These are the last eight of the Warlord  28mm WW2 Soviets in the active queue. All good so far. Think I need another box to finish off some options. This project can stay on hold for a bit. Maybe come back to it in the new year.

There are some more Imperial Assault bad guys complete too. I am a bit taken aback by the size variation in some of the models. But, well, you know. I have plenty more to do on this project. This includes some more bad guys and a lot of heroes. Still finding that I like this project. There are a few more bits to buy, so I doubt that this project is going away soon.

Whilst I want to get these finished before XCOM arrives, I want to start and finish another project. So Blood Bowl it is next week.

I got hold of some budget metal 28mm Normans a few weeks ago. Whilst I should put a bit more texture on the bases, I am calling these guys done.

I got hold of some more budget stuff (in the region of 20p a figure for most of it. This includes a load of old, old school G Dub skinks. I I already painted up an Imperial ?£#@ton of these a few years ago. I figured what the hell. This would make them into a small, or rather short army.. They have been trimmed from their original bases and I've glued them to smaller bases. There were also a dozen or so Kroot and a couple of random metal minis.

Thanks to the decision to pull out into my lane and stop because they realised they couldn't turn right without hitting another car, I crashed into them. Not my fault, definitely on them. The car is still drivable but even with the minimal amount of damage done to it, there is a good bet it will be a write off. I don't see how this ends up not costing me money. I had hoped to get some more done this week, but my left shoulder is killing me. In the round, I suspect that things might slow down again for a bit. It's probably going to put a dent in my purchasing plans too.

Still I got a bonus day with my daughter, so on balance, an okay week.

Start Of The Week - Blood Bowl Halflings (No Real)

I have a soft spot for hobbits (or halflings if you don't want to get suded). I think it's between my ears. Personally I blame Tolkien (and the thing with elf's ears still annoys me). I have been running a dark age game which I try to secure in myth and history. This kills me because there are no halflings. So any way I can angle them into a game, I will probably take it. I am still looking for the right halfling mins for RPGs. Most are just too 17th and 18th century for my taste. This aesthetic does fit with G Dubs overall Old World vision

Over the years I have not be a big player of G Dub games. Except for Blood Bowl. I have kinda promised myself I will paint at least one Team for the game every year. There is a backlog. Oddly. Part of the great plastic mountain that I hide by trimming stuff from the frames. I brought a box and then got a treeman. Then picked up another team with another treeman on eBay a good few years ago. This Gives me a pretty solid team.

All Star Players are still a bit of a work in progress. I struggle with the idea of a squirrel blitzer, but you know, the older I get, the more open minded I become. If I struggled with that, I really struggle with a blitzer on the back of a sheep. There are a couple of other Star Players as well. In general, I don't see this as a team I would play competitively (but then nobody does), so buying them is a lot of money when I could probably proxy them. Well maybe not Rumbelow Sheepskin (the most 1980s name there is). not sure I could get hold of a suitable sheep.

So there are two Hefties, two Runners and twelve Hopefuls, along with the two treemen. Past experience with the current batch of modern G Dub mins, this is a bigger project than it looks. There is as much detail on was stunty as there is in two regular historical 28mm plastics. The plan is to give it a go. Its a short week for me. 

My usual free time is starting to fade away. I will be happy if they all get finished by the end of next week. In fairness I will be happier still if I can finish this Team before Sunday. If I can stay disciplined, I might just get it done. Just in time to finish off the Imperial Assault stuff before the XCOM package arrives. So the Start Of The Week post is done. Time to get on with it.

Limited Progress

So it is now stupid o'clock in the morning. Insomnia is fun. I should be making a determined attempt to get some sleep. Just a quick post first. Tomorrow should be a daddy daughter evening but she is away, so I am at a loose end. I would much sooner be spending time with her than blogging to be honest.

I have made a bit of progress. Not to mention getting some getting some other jobs done. Today feels like a positive break. I've put a few jobs to rest and can move on.

After getting my second box of Wargames Atlantic Cargo Containers, I have got them glued together. So I now have eight of them. I will look at priming them is the weather is good. Nothing too fancy. Will attempted to give them a coloured prime, rather than a fancy paint job. Hopefully these will be ready by the time the XCOM Miniatures Game comes around.

Start Of The Week - Same As The Last Week

The Start of the Zomtober week is here. There are a couple of WW2ish minis on the bench for this. Hopefully this will. Last week was a mix of Start Wars Imperial Assault and WW2 Soviet infantry. This week is going to be pretty much the same. 

I am a fair way through the Soviet project now. As you can see, I got carried away. There are a fair few of them left. I am eyeing up a box of Siberian Veterans. This is more of a way to get some HMGs. Maybe fill in a few gaps. As there is a metric xxxxton of them already, a bit of variation wouldn't go amiss and I need to sit down and work out an army. I could use a bit more in the way of heavier weapons too and maybe an NKVD squad. The plan was for ten more this week but I only have 8 prepped.

I wanted to do a bit more for Imperial Assault. This is a bit of a mix. I want to get the bad guys done first. Some elite stormtroopers. These needs a satin gloss when done. Some of the minis I got had already painted so I have two Royal Guard to paint. The same applies to the two Trandoshans. Lastly there are four Imperial officers. I have some extra minis. The plan is to pick a selection of different uniform colours.

Some of the minis I got were prepainted or st least primed. So there are two guards and two Trandoshans to paint. I don't usually paint onto white. I might try it a bit more. This stuff is really shiny though. The paint is running all over it.

I am already part way through putting some minis together. Mostly pinning and gluing metal minis. I have some stuff for Fallout Wasteland Warfare and Skyrim: A Call to Arms. There has been a really good sale on. I am especially struck by the Dwemer terrain stuff from Skyrim. The best bits of the game were exploring Dwemer ruins. Some of the bits have their own bases. These don't fit with the rest my scenery so I have taken casts of the purchased bases which will go on my usual bases fill in with a bit of texture.

End Of The Week - Getting stuff Done Mk MM (23)+(26)

Another end of the week is here. Ten Soviets and twelve Imperial Assault minis are done. Probably over done what I needed to do. The New Cruelty content. Given it is Zomtober I have a single zombie to add to the pile. So I am calling it twenty three minis for the week. It's not a record breaking week, not even for the year but it is pretty solid progress.

This is my second week of painting the Imperial Assault minis. Got to love the Star Wars stuff. It seems to make sense to do the bad guys first. So... obviously I didn't start out that way. So this week was four Gamorean Guards, four Weequay guards and four HK assassin droids. I am fairly happy with how these turned out. Not my best work but I did put some effort in.

The Soviet infantry is also progressing. I am getting to the bottom of the pile of stuff in the backlog. I am not altogether convinced that I have a workable army.

There are a few one of minis in the group. I am not sure if I need a guy with a heavy machine gun ammunition box or a second medic. But they look good.

I even have a single zombie. A simple nod to Zomtober. My plan had been to get three done but I ran out of time. This is probably going to end up in my Atomfall ish/sUnderDground set.

I ordered some more stuff from Modiphius. I really need to start getting some of this stuff done. There is an awful lot of it, albiet purchased at a 75% discount. I have the XCOM stuff coming soon and I haven't painted my annual Blood Bowl team. I have sixteen halflings and two treemen prepped, primed.and ready to go. Not to mention the Quar Crusaders. And Paranoia. 

Another Busy Day

It has felt like a long day today. New glasses put a bit of a dent in my mood. Grumble, grumble. I had some fun playing Caverna for the first time. I did my usual thing playing board games. The first game often goes insanely well. Having set the bar, things are only going to get worse.

I felt I should get some paint on a few miniatures. There was a need to paint the banaged heads on the Soviets. So I used the colour on some of the Imperial Assault minis. These are not quite done but they are pretty close. The Soviet stuff needs a flesh tone and some patching up. 

A daddy daughter weekend is coming up. So things are going to be busy. Hopefully going to be out and about for a bit and I am told to expect a bike ride. This puts a smile on my face.

I can see that I am going to get the jobs done with a little bit of grace. There is enough certainly about that, that I am already planning what I am going to do next week.