The New Workspace

Like most people in this hobby, I've been modelling, painting and gaming for several years, but I've only occassionally had a permanent space to use. I've gone from one dining room table to another, to a fold out table in a small corner of a garage and back to a dining room table again. While it is nice to have everything you need to paint ready to move at a moment's notice, there is also something nice in having a permanent place to call my hobby table. Now it looks like I have one.

My new desk arrived last week.

my old desk

After converting my study into a nursery last year, I found myself without a space of my own, and although I had the opportunity to paint at the dining room table, this inevitably led to less time for hobbying. I can't count the number of times I've thought about painting, only to decide I didn't feel like setting up all the stuff, painting for a couple hours, and then tearing it all back down.

my new desk

While I purchased both the corner desk and the desk extension, my current study only allows enough room the the corner desk. Still, this desk is huge and gives me enough room to have my computer set up along with any hubby stuff I may need. This means I have a more permanent workspace with easy access to my computer (great for blog updates and listening to podcasts while I paint).

The desk is calling to me...'ready to paint?'

When I sat down for my inaugural paint session at the new desk, I also discovered that my new study happens to site in the quietest room in the house, and on on the ground level where it will be easy to cool in the long hot summer to come. I'm looking forward to spending more time here.

And as an added bonus, the desk also came with a huge amount of styrofoam in varying widths and shapes and, to my wife's chagrin, I have saved almost all of it for a terrain project I have been very much looking forward to...A forest for Malifaux.

Now, to get painting.

More to come.

-Nick

Show and Tell (The Slime Edition) or Stalling for Time

A Giant Slime from the depths of the Underhive

In my last post, I mentioned I had made the decision not to go to Adepticon this year. This decision was based on several factors. Mainly though, I decided to stay home and miss all the crazy shopping strictly because I haven't begun to work on anything I purchased at Adepticon last year. All the Forgeworld goodies I plan on using for Necro, all the Necro gangs, all the bits and all the little extras....haven't even started messing with them.

Add to that a healthy dose of Crazy-Job, Daughter with Ear-aches and my own 4 1/2 week cold-from-hell and it just didn't work out. But that's okay. I didn't have anything ready to play there anyway. That means, for my update, I'll be showing off some of the stuff I've been working on with the Necromunda: Badzones project. I'll feature some slimes from the Bestiary; simple to make, and great looking on the table.

Sludge Jelly: converted from a Tyrannid Spore

 mine...and love.

In the meantime, what little hobby time I have been giving myself has been spent looking over some of my stuff and cringing. Specifically, after getting several comments about my Goliath gang, I quickly became interested in painting them,  took them out, looked at them, and decided I needed to start over. I've mentioned before that I started these models during what was a waning interest in Necro and the lack of enthusiasm shows. Some barrels were drilled, others were not. Shoulder pads had no straps greenstuffed onto them and, overall, there was a general lack of care in putting these guys together. Add to that the hasty beginnings of a paint job and there was not much to be impressed about.

An Icroctic Slime. "Open up, Skull!"

...And that is why my desk smelled like Simple Green for weeks.

Shadow Slimes: More common and

aggressive than Icroctics

Now that we're back into Spring and the not-too-hot, not-too-cold weather is back in style, for at least a little while, I am working hard on getting as much built as I can, ready to spray everything before the summer settles in and I am left with strange primer behavior. 

The Puppet painting continues, but recently I've also been interested in getting back into playing more games, and that has meant putting more attention on getting something done that I can play with. More on that soon, I hope. As it turns out, there is a group of Malifaux players that meet up, get this, TWICE A WEEK! This may not seem like a big thing, I know, but around here, it's pretty huge. This town be the dominion of Magic...(puke).

Anyway, I'm off to see what that group looks like. More to come.

-Nick

Playing Catch Up to the Puppet Parade

About a month to Adepticon 2012. Hmm...Last year, Adepticon was my deadline for completing the Space Hulk project and I still haven't gotten back to that. My wife and I went to Chicago last year and even though I was only a spectator, we had a great time. We did a lot of shopping (hence the picture to the left), ate some great food and I immensely enjoyed becoming completely entrenched in the hobby for a couple days.

This year, the goal was to have Puppet Wars complete by Adepticon, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. With all the craziness between my job and family, it looks like I'm putting off going to Chicago this year. That's okay though, as I still don't have a single crew painted for Malifaux anyway.

On the bright side, the weather is beautiful again and that means I have a chance to sit on my back porch, let my dog play in the back yard and work on cleaning the rest of my Puppets so I can get them built and primed before the weather gets too hot. The Puppet collection is, for the time being, complete. I have at least 2 of every puppet model available and the only model I'm missing is Lucius (sorry Battlefoam, but I think that bag is kind of a rip off).

I have managed to get some pictures of my most recent puppets, so let's take a look! This latest group of completed models means that I am 25-30 percent complete with the puppet project. 30% if you count only the models I have that I know will stay in my collection. If I count all the models I own,including those I may eventually sell (extra teddies and 3rd copies) thet number is more like 25%, so not a bd place to be.

Anyway, on with the parade!

Puppet Wars

First up is the Ice Golem. This model posed a challenge, as I wanted him to look like he was supposed to look like he was made of ice and snow...wait….yes… So I wanted to make his body look like fabric instead of snow(or, at least, dirty snow). I kept his face nice and dark for the charcoal eyes effect, but decided I wanted him to be drooling this icy stuff. I'm pretty please with how he turned out.

I had a lot of fun painting the little Bayou Gremlin. Nice and simple, clean paintjob for him and he looks great.

The Sorrows are up next. I have been looking forward to painting this guy since I started the project, so I kept with the traditional color scheme (very neverborn). After finishing this model, I felt the highlights were a bit too sharp, so I washed the entire model with a very thinned down Umber Wash (Devlan mud). This really toned the model down a great deal and I will be using this technique on many models from here out. It really adds a bit of weathered look to them and makes them feel shabby and run down.

Another easy puppet and pleasure to paint was the Hog Whisperer. This may also be the first, EVER, model I painted from primer to finish in one sitting. A rare feat, and while this model is nothing too special, he fits in very well.

The Parade continues with the Siliurid. While I wanted to stick to the traditional scheme with him, I thought the all green was a bit drab, so I spruced him up with some extra colors and really made him feel cobbled together. Again, a light Umber wash really brought down the highlights and muted the final colors very well.

Still with me? Good! I have decided to keep three Rotten Belles as I love the model and this is the first of them painted. The fun, and challenging, part of painting these figures is that I have spent years trying to learn how to paint convincing skintones. Now, however, I am trying to paint skintones that look like only representations of skintones. It's an interesting exercise and it makes this entire project a lot of fun.

Next up is the Judge. This is the only model I have not really enjoyed painting. I don't know, I just didn't find him very interesting and I think the paintjob shows. He's not bad, but he just doesn't pop.

The December Acolyte, on the other hand, was a model I thought I would not enjoy painting. However, I totally did. He is another of those models that looks simple, but come across very well when painted.


Finally, to round out the group is Master #3, Marcus.

This is actually a pretty plain model and that is why I love it. The colors are very simple and muted, but he has that fire that really makes him stand out. I've only rarely had to paint flame effects, so I was pretty nervous about getting him taken care of. I think the flames worked very well and then I tried my hand at lighting effects. This is ABSOLUTELY the first time I've tried anything like this and I think, for a first effort, it turned out quite well. I'm still looking at him, but I may go back at some point and tone down the orange highlights on his face, just to make the effect a bit more subtle.

He was also my next attempt at painting bones. I wanted to avoid the Bleached Bone skeleton look that is so easy to settle on with bone, and instead go with something more like polished and treated bone you would see in a museum for example. Marcus is also serving as a first test for some techniques to use for my brother's Tomb King Army. I don't think we're there yet, but I'm on my way. More work to be done.
That was a longer update than I'd expected, but no worries.

To end, I just wanted to thank everyone who's visited recently and really helped keep me motivated to keep going. I appreciate the comments and always welcome more.
More to come.
-Nick

House Goliath Update and some Terrain

After what seems like a month, I've finally had a chance to sit back down at the painting table and get some work done. I'm only just now approaching the original milestone I mentioned a few posts ago, getting to a full 20 puppets painted, but I've been able to get good work done on another set of bases and I've even had the chance to do a little work with Necromunda.

While I'm catching up with the painting queue, and then with taking pictures, I thought I would give some updates on other projects I've been working on over the last several months.

Necromunda

Since trying to get my blog some attention, I've received a lot of feedback about the Goliath Gang. The gang ended up somewhere in the neighborhood of about 30 or so models including the original Goliath releases, the new Goliath release and a number of kitbashed fighters using Chaos Marauder and Ork plastics.

Unfortunately, the Goliaths ended up coming together at kind of an unfortunate time for me. I built them, primed them, started painting them and promptly lost interest in Necromunda for more than a year. In its place came Space Hulk and then Malifaux and now Puppet Wars.

This left me with only a test model painted.

Part of the reason I may have lost interest in the Necromunda project was the Goliaths themselves. These guys are tricky to paint. A lot of skin, a lot of green hair (which I've determined will look like it's been colored, badly) and a lot of black leather. I think I was simply intimidated by them. (there is a second test model painted, as shown in the picture at the beginning of the post, but I don't have a single good picture of him and he has since had an unfortunate decapitation.

The good news is that I've been developing skills this whole time. With all my new tricks, techniques and tools, I've found my happy place when it comes to painting flesh. I'm looking forward to getting them back on the painting table. Now I just have to decide whether to leave them primed black or re-prime them back to white, which is what I've been working with in my other projects.

When I looked over the pictures I had of the test model, I noticed they were both a bit darker than I like and, for some reason, the guys barrel wasn't drilled. I don't know why this is the case, but I am very inconsistent on this. No worries though. In the end, they will all be drilled out and looking good.

In an effort to beef up the post, I'm going to throw in pictures of the other project I was working on at the same time as the Goliaths. This is my most recent terrain. My terrain building prior to Malifaux, was focused on small pieces that are easy to store and mostly durable. The thing my tables have often missed are those patches of difficult terrain or low lying cover, so these pieces will fill that gap rather nicely.

While I haven't had a chance to work on any terrain lately, Malifaux has started to get me eager to build again. Maybe this summer I'll be able to start terrain work again. Like painting, it seems that whenever I return to terrain building, the stuff looks better and better, so I can't wait to get into it and see how older and more experienced eyes put a piece together. (Does that sound dirty? Hmm....)

More to come.

-Nick

Real Life

The last couple of weeks have been difficult for me and my family. Let it suffice to say that, after a long two weeks, my family is once again healthy, happy and ready to get back to a normal routine.
In the midst of difficult times, it occurs to me just what place this hobby has in my life and where its value lies. I have often made the case that this hobby is something like meditation for me, a welcome stress relief and a good way to spend a quiet weekend or a relaxing evening. Over the last couple weeks, I have come to appreciate this even more.

My brother called me the other night and we talked at length about his new Tomb King's army for Fantasy. We have both always loved Tomb Kings, played them in Warmaster, and finally one of us took the dive to get an army. Our conversation was about color schemes and paint techniques and products any respectable painter should have in his tool box, but, more importantly, it was a welcome distraction.. The conversation gave us both a couple hours to think about something else and, shortly, will give us several more hours making this army a reality. We may even make a team effort out of it. Not a bad way to bond with a brother some 500 miles away.

I'm reminded of when my daughter was born, and a few tense days and nights waiting in the hospital. My daughter was born in the midst of playtesting for Puppet Wars and so, in the dead of night when we both couldn't sleep, my wife and I passed the time playing games. There is something invaluable and comforting about having such a distraction.

I am thankful to have this hobby as part of my life. Like most hobbies, it is an escape and a way to make what can sometimes be a hectic life a bit more bearable.

More to come,

-Nick

Posting My Old Articles (or) The Most Boring Post Title of All Time

While plugging away at the Puppet Wars project has taken all my painting time, I have also been looking at all the old content I've created for Necromunda over the years. I've wanted to get some of this content onto the blog for a long time and it looks like now is the time.

The good news, for me, is that most of the work has already been done. Thanks to the good people over at Yakromunda, a fantastic Necro resource, most of my content is already hosted in their expansive library. I'm simply going to link to their site for now, at least until I can update some of these articles. In order to download these PDFs, you will have to register with Yakromunda's site, but if you're interested in reading the content, there's no reason you shouldn't already have an account at Yakromunda; there's just too much good info there. Over the coming months, several of these articles will be updated and many will be compiled into larger projects like Necromunda: Badzones or whatever else lies on the horizon.

That said, and with thanks to Yakromunda, here is the first batch of my articles:

-Stay! There's a Good Boy: Simple rules for dogs in the Underhive. This rule set treats dogs as hired guns and assigns them to a single gang member as a handler.

-A Captive Audience: Additional Rules and Scenarios for handling Captive gangers. Includes rules for prisoner exchanges, escapes, ransom payments and more.

-Bounty Hunting: A mini-campaign featuring even smaller gangs of hunters going up against all manner of Underhive nasties.

-Bounty Hunting Scenarios: Unique new scenarios for the Bounty Hunting mini-campaign.

-Did You Hear That? Pt 1: The Bestiary Creature Generator

-Did You Hear That? Pt 2: All the nasty creatures you remember, and more...well, half of them at least.

-Did You Hear That? Pt 3: ...Here's the other half.

-Hired Gun: Preacher: Rules for including Fanatical Preachers, both faithful and heretical, in your games as hired guns.

-Stubbers for Sale: Rules for using Traders and their retinues in Arbitrator Campaigns (my version of these rules is not mispelled by the way).

-The Brewery: A goofy multi-player game where gangs go head to head to steal barrels of Second Best.

-The Ratshoot: A friendly game of target practice between gangs

-You'd Better Do Something: An update of the old Special Actions Rules from Gang War Magazine. Everything from taunting your enemies, to priming grenades and setting fires.

Looks like that's about it for now. I'm off to get some pictures of my latest puppets. Thanks for taking a look and feel free to comment.

More to come...

-Nick

Necromunda: Badzones, or "A Good Problem to Have"

The last couple of weeks have found me busy with work and traveling. While it seems to me that I've had less free time lately, I'm not sure that could stand up to scrutiny, as I've actually gotten quite a bit of hobby work done. In addition to a lot of painting for Puppets Wars, I've been able to make some big leaps with Necromunda and I'm getting excited about things to come.

Necromunda

One thing I've wanted to focus on since starting this blog is creating new content for Necromunda and really making a contribution to the game once again. Over the years, I've had the priveledge of being published in many of Games Workshop's various Specialist Games publications. However, those dozen or so articles I did have published were just a small percentage of the content I've generated over the years. As one of those few who tend the lighthouse that is Necromunda, I feel somewhat responsible to get that content out in the open.

The first set of content is nearly ready and will be appearing on this blog in the near future.

Necromunda: Badzones

Badzones is very much a full on expansion of Necromunda's current system and will serve as campaign Arbitrator's toolkit. The goal is to include many parts of the game that have gone missing, mostly from the Outlanders rulebook, as well as adding some new ways to play and some dangerous new toys for campaigns. Here's a taste of what's to come:

• Deviant Scum. Rules for criminals, mutants, aliens and cultists.
• Underhive Bestiary. The Bestiary returns complete with creature generator, nasty old creatures and a barrage of deadly new ones.
• Defenses. A whole new way to play the game, defending territories, raiding enemy encampments and building foritifications.
• Much More...

The work continues on Badzones and I'm hoping to see it on the blog shortly. In the meantime, I also plan to add more existing content to this site. At the very least, I should link to all the articles I have written over the years.

Puppet Wars

I've also been able to power through the Puppet Wars project. It's times like these that I remember why I still paint after all these years. The process is meditative and calming, simple as that.

As the title of this post suggests, my speedy work has created a good problem for me, in that updating the blog is difficult this week as I have had no time to take pictures of the work I've done. I guess you'll just have to trust me until I can get some pictures up. Until I get some pictures up then, I thought I'd plug the Puppet Wars website. Wyrd's new site for Puppet Wars is full of information about the game, as well as tools to let you create boards, draft teams and track your puppet inventory. The website is great.

By the end of this week, I'll have completed the following puppets:

-Silurid
-Rotten Belle
-Hog Whisperer
-Ice Golem
-December Acolyte
-Bayou Gremlin
-Marcus
-Judge
-Executioner
-Sorrows

If I'm counting correctly, this means I've reached the 25% mark of completed puppets. Of course, that number includes all the puppets I own, some of which are destined to hit Ebay. If I don't count those I'm selling, I may have hit a full third of puppets complete. TAKE THAT, my seemingly unending battle to finish any projects.

I guess I should get back to work. As always, thanks for taking the time. Comments are always welcome and make sure you come back soon to see all the new stuff coming up.

More to come.

-Nick