Well... that was a while.

So, yeah. I am alive, sorry about not posting for ages. I had had work and all sorts happening over the last few weeks, just not had the time. =( I am however free from Wednesday evening onwards. I am hoping to get some painting done on Thursday and Friday. As you might have guessed I haven't really touched the hobby at all recently - still been on the forums I visit and that, but otherwise not had much to do with it. And so, I never got chance to enter into the Winter's Touch Challenge. Sucks, but I'm still going to paint him up. I am thinking pale blue skin, like the skink, but white in places and same with the hair etc. Will have to see.

After this, I am looking to move back onto the focus for my dwarfs. I want to get these guys worked on. They've waited for so long...

So yeah. Not much to say, except I am still around, just got quite busy and hope to change that soon.

Today I wear the dunce hat...

Yeah, as the title says I am a dunce. Why? Because I only just realised that two of the four dwarf quarrellers I have finished have the wrong arm. They do not have the correct one to allow the hand attached to the crossbow to connect. So, I do not have four finished quarrellers, I have two. =/ I feel like an idiot. Alas no pictures, but there will be when I get around to painting the rest of the unit - the proper unit that is. This means I'm probably going to have to buy another box of quarrellers. Bah.

One thing I have not cemented just yet is the bases. I don't want to do the typical rock-snow that almost all dwarfs have, even though it looks good and suits them. I have actually considered doing a stone floor, to make it look as though its a dwarf hold. So a uniformed look, that would probably be different and maybe a lighter marbled look. Not sure just yet. I have a tentative 500pt list planned, which is basically some quarrellers, two units of warriors, thane and a bolt thrower.

However, for the moment I going to be working on a single mini, this being my first from privateer press. I'll explain... Sheffield Irregulars have a monthly painting competition, and this one is called "Winters Touch". I fancy giving it a go, and so chose a non-GW mini and probably the biggest mini I have painted to date. Its the Trollblood Winter Troll from Hordes, he looks like this:


I am planning on doing him much paler, more white than the blue they have used and he'll be on a snow base. I have assembled him - came with two torso halves and two arms separate - and have greenstuffed the joins. I really....REALLY... need to practice with GS. I have covered the joins, but its not smooth or that well done. =( I hope to get him undercoated tomorrow. For once I'm going to try a white undercoat, followed by a light black wash. I'm looking forward to painting this guy actually, seems like fun.

I also think I have a problem. I am going to do yet another army, despite only one of the armies I partly own are playable. Its seems I have a thing for the green, as I plan to do an orc and goblin army as well. The reason being is they have a bit of pretty much everything and different to the dwarfs in almost every way. I also just love their character; brutal but with a huge stupid streak. I like it! So, I am adding them to my to do list. I think what I am going to do is paint my armies in 500pts increments, slowly building up units here and there. There is one thing I do like and want, and that is to keep my armies as they are - the four. But I want them to be MONSTROUSLY huge. I want to be able to field huge armies of a well painted race. This is my dream. Now, I just need to time and money to live it.

Irregular Magazine, and other.

I have been living in Sheffield, UK for three years now and not until middle of last month was I aware of a painting group within its limits. And not one that seems so well run either. Sheffield Irregulars is their name, and they're held in a part of Sheffield I rarely transverse - so no wonder I was unaware of them. However, I have begun wandering about their website/blog and its pretty cool to see a group of painters - many of which are not from Sheffield (they have a Facebook group open to the world - get together and enjoy painting. Also, they hold a monthly painting challenge where the community chooses a theme and those participating paint a single miniature in this theme - the winner receiving an actual little trophy.

In addition to this they have begun to put out a wargaming ezine. Its not like most you see, focusing on one range, they have covered a multiple ranges, but they do still focus on the painting side of things. The guides are really easy to understand and well written. I would suggest the Irregular Magazine to anyone.

The last thing I'd like to mention is two Blood Bowl podcasts. I have been listening to them recently and they're really good. The presenters sound like they're having a hoot, whilst giving some great advice. I enjoy listening to both a lot. Here

Three Die Block
Tackle Zone Radio

Sorry for any real updates, I haven't had chance to do much hobby stuff lately. Though, I did just lose my third FUMBBL league game of the LOBBA league. Its not going well for the Orcs. =(

Not dead!

Hey guys, just wanted to give a brief update. I turned twenty-five on Monday, so the weekend was busy and so was my actual birthday. Been doing other things since then, such as Batman -Arkham Asylum, hanging out with house mates, uni/uni society stuff and even gamesday today. I intend to try and make time for painting each week, and have decided that depsite having space wolf stuff (picked up two boxes of wolves and one wolf guard today) I am going to get my dwarfs to 1000-1500pts before moving on to the wolves or another project. Its just going to be slow, due to this being my final year, having an 8-12,000 word essay to research and write for the end of my year and other uni based stuff, it's not going to be easy finding time for painting and such. But I'll try.

Oh yeah, and here's some stuff from Sunday.
Gamesday 2009

The choices we make...

Or don't make, as it was in my case. I want to make this entry about remembering the beginning of my, and mayhaps your own, experience of the miniature hobby.

I actually forget how I got into the hobby, I know it involved "Heroquest". But from where I got it I am unaware of. I was then invited to a house of someone my dad worked with, and there I was thrown into the world of Warhammer. I loved it. It was brilliant good fun and after that my dad brought me a second hand dwarf army from one of the guys. So, my first ever army was not actually one of my choice. Seems odd now, and I'm not sure I'd have chosen them myself but I love the dwarf army.

Since then I have loved my dwarf army and they're always going to be my first love in the Warhammer world. I am looking forward to repainting my dwarfs and making them look all nice and great, I also want to expand them to include every unit and make it a great big army. I love their background and mostly their minis.

Test Dwarf B

OK, so new test subject. It was suggested I do the turquoise and the grey slightly brighter. So, I had a fiddle about with a second dwarf and came up with the following scheme.



I quite like this one, its a bit better in that the grey doesn't look either unfinished or too much like the armour. I used shadow grey as my base and went from there.

Back to my roots

Dwarfs were my first army ever, my first true exposure to the GW hobby and so always have a place in my heart. I have recently got the bearded bug and so I have decided to repaint and update my dwarf army.

OK. So, onto a new army project. The dwarfs. I mentioned before that I was trying to steer clear of the typical dwarf schemes (these being blue/khaki and red/white). I would still like to but not sure what scheme to use. Any suggestions are welcome. On my first test dwarf I have gone for a turquoise/grey scheme. I like it quite a bit. The turquoise (maybe a tad too blue) gives it a nice bright colour allowing it to pop a bit, the grey acts as a neutral colour - and both are more in the 'cool' group. But I'm not entirely sold just yet. Here he is;








I haven't used gold on purpose. I plan to use it only on characters, longbeards and hammerers to set them apart from the rest, who will be using bronze as their secondary metallic colour.

And now I want to grumble.

So, I was looking through the dwarf army book for ideas and I quickly came to the conclusion that its pathetic. GW in their wisdom decided to deny a cohesive looking army to the dwarfs, instead opting for multiple shades and colours in a solitary unit; making it look ratty and disparaging. I know my dwarf fluff well enough to know that dwarf armies are all drawn from different clans, most of which will adopt a different look when fighting alongside other dwarfs. Most know this and the method they use to represent this fluff aspect is to use a different method of applying the same scheme, usually to the shield. For example, you might have one unit with the scheme split horizontally and another who's goes vertically. Its not difficult and easy to explain, whilst keeping the army on the whole looking like one army.

The GW studio army looks horrendous, being a mass of different shades of a number of colours. It is a shame, because when it comes to a uniformed looking army, the dwarfs pull this look off very well. It suits their large deep blocks, banners and war machines. It bothers me, and seems like GW just didn't care at the time of production. For shame GW. The dwarfs need love as well, they are a staple of the Fantasy world.