Pleasant Surprise 2015

Once again this year I participated in the Pleasant Surprise exchange over on the Warhammer Empire forum.  Every year it seems harder for me to find the time to create a nice surprise with my growing list of adult responsibilities, but I managed to paint up a figure this year nonetheless.  My recipient received his figure this past week, so I figured it was a good enough time to post some photos here.

I chose one of my favourite Empire figures from the 90's - a hero with sword and pistol.  I remember seeing him painted up in the army book when I was a kid, and I always wanted one.  Well, as a grown-up collector, I have managed to find one and even had a spare who is now with his new owner.

My recipient did not have many posted pictures of an army, so I got creative and chose this bold purple and green scheme.  I was quite happy with the results.  Every year it is a bittersweet tradition... I tend to paint figures I wanted to paint for myself, only to send them away for someone else.  I guess it is better to give than to receive, is it not?

I hope my recipient likes this figure as much as I did, and that he finds a memorable place in his collection!

Some WIP of the Reiksguard

A few people  had asked me a while back for a few WIP pictures of my miniatures to demonstrate the inking technique I have been using.  I got a couple pictures, but not completely step by step.  I would like to say I did not get enough pictures because the technique is just that fast, but in reality I am just more forgetful, and sometimes lazy.

First picture, I have painted on the metal areas, and have put the vallejo sepia onto the brown areas - wood and leather, mainly.

In the next WIP shot, you can see the colour has been added to most of the cloth.  I also put a wash of GW Ogryn flesh wash on the flesh areas.

From here, They are pretty much ready for a black wash on the armour, a few details, and picking out the highest highlights with some regular model paint.  Then they are finished!

This is the same pic as my previous post.  I probably spent about three hours to paint these five figures (though I did not time myself, so it may have been a bit more).

Try it out... its pretty easy to do!

Some OldHammer Reiksguard

In addition to my lonely wizard, I started painting a unit of Imperial 'Reiksguard'.  Well, mostly... they are a mix of foot knights and fighters from the marauder era, which will represent my Reiksguard.  Its a good excuse to paint them up, and I like the way the unit is coming together.  Oh yes, I also tossed in a WK dwarf for good measure.  Why not?

So far, I have painted up 15 of the guys, though the shields are not yet done for them all.  Here is the whole group:

For these figures, like the wizard, I am using a grey primer followed by a white zenith prime, and then using inks and diluted paint for most of the paintjob.  The inks are very fast, and give a nice result.  Though I have been going over the highest areas with some opaque paint for my final highlight, and I like how it turned out.  Here are a few closeups:

These were the first five painted.  Second group:

And finally, the third group:

It is turning out to be a wonderfully characterful unit, and the prolific armour makes these guys dead easy to paint up quickly.  Mostly basic block colours for these guys - less time, and it still looks good in a group.  Only five more to paint and my unit of twenty is finished.

Starting with OldHammer

Yes, another project on the go!  Some of you may have heard of the recent resurgence of old-school fantasy gaming known as OldHammer.  Mostly, it is people gathering together to play earlier editions of Warhammer Fantasy, typically 3rd edition, which put a higher focus on fun gameplay and storytelling rather than competitive list building.  Not to mention that the rules and armylists are contained in two books only (for which pdfs can be found if you know where to look) and since those editions are long past, you don't have to worry about changes to the game.

Did I mention that the old school miniatures are awesome?  Lovely chunky metal with lots of character, and are also fun to paint!

Anyway, my local gaming group has decided to give it a try, so I have put together an armylist and have started the assembly.  As my first test figure, I decided to paint up a wizard.  This little fella was in my stash of stuff.  I forget where he is from, but I really had a blast painting him.

I tried something new - dark primer (I used grey) with a white zenith prime to start (ie, spray from the top down, to help with highlights).  Much of the block colours were painted using inks with a few painted highlights,  but it really sped up the process and looks very nice to me.  Without further ado, here is my new wizard:

Simple, but fun.  I really like the grisly finger mounted on his staff.  Hope you all like him as well!

Small Diversion

I recently got distracted from the painting of my Dux Britanniarum.  I assure you, I have some Saxons finished, they just aren't photographed yet :)

One of the online forums I frequent, warhammer-empire.com, runs an annual miniature exchange.  I participated this year for the third time in a row.  For my recipient this year, I decided to paint up not one, but two miniatures to match his army theme of purple and  yellow.  I decided he needed a nice, stately captain - well suited by an old Empire Reiksguard foot knight captain!  To accompany him, none other than a stalwart halfilng would do!  It was a great opportunity to paint another lovely White Knight miniature, as well as some classic Empire goodness.  Onto some pictures!

The duo:

And some closeups of the Captain:

 

Finally, some closeups of his tiny compatriot:

I had lots of fun painting these guys, so I hope you enjoy them!  They are on their way across the ocean to their new home, here is to hoping they make it there safely.

Let there be light!

So, a good friend of mine sent me a link about a DIY lightbox.  You can read about it here: Link

After selecting a suitable target, I went to town last night and came up with my new masterful contraption!

Coincidentally, I just finished an old 4th edition empire master gunner, so I figured he would be an ideal test subject.  I would say it still needs some tweaking, namely I think I need a brighter light source, or a few more light sources, but I am well on my way!

To compare the quality of light, here is our ever-famous Gob de Leon with the new light tent:

and here he is with the old use of just light bulbs:

Personally, I think its an improvement!

While I had the camera out, I also snapped a few shots of this conversion I did a while back.  Its an old Grandmaster of the knights of the white wolf, with a converted horse head and a scenic base (I sculpted the cobblestones in greenstuff):

Hope you like 'em!