2 posts in a month! Like an unstoppable leviathan!

Not only 2 posts, but 2 completed minis!

I think I've finally found my 'style' for painting, and i'm pretty happy with it - who knows if this will change in time, as the way miniatures are painted definitely follow a fashion of sorts. I'm really enjoying the results of bold base colours, washing, then highlighting with strong edge highlights.
For one, it is pretty damn quick! the mini below had been sitting primed for a week before i found time to start painting. and it was all done and dusted in 1.5hrs, including drying and basing.
For two, i think it looks great on the table, at playing distance - making bold highlights is something i'd neglected in the past, but now i see why people do it. It can look a bit of mess close up, but from 2-3ft away it really 'pops'.

So this little war band i'm building (for no particular purpose) is now about 1/3rd complete. I'm enjoying the narrative too. This chap was a collection of bits in my box last week. The body of the famed Ultramarine Scout, whose name escapes me (edit: Telion). a Tau Pulse carbine and arm, a space marine hand and space marine Sgt. head.

But now!

He's a veteran scout who was abandoned on a Tau controlled planet, he hid for months evading them, and eventually surrendered to them, they learned to respect them, and when the planet was eventually invaded again (by... eh, i don't know, lets say the Imperium?) he took up arms and fought with the Tau, and helped lead them to victory. Only to be eventually captured by the Inquisition and given a choice to serve with them on a witch hunt that needed a good tracker, or face extermination.

Or some such nonsense! (borrowing heavily from dances with wolves of course)

Anyhoo - after these guys are done i'll be moving on to the New Neophyte Genestealer Hybrids, which i thought looked so good i actually bought 'new' models from GW, which i vowed i'd never do again.

Underhive Assasins - 28mm

Once again my painting has taken a back seat in place of playing, which i'm not going to make too many excuses for!

X-Wing has well and truly overtaken epic as our go-to game, probably simply due to the time it takes to play and to teach new people. Considering i only picked up the core set at Christmas last year its fair to say that Fantasy Flight Games have hooked me, and landed me, as there is now only a few models i don't own from the range, and i have doublers/triplets of some of my favourites!

Anyhoo, there is still talk of getting a Necromunda or maybe 40k Kill Team campaign going in the new year, so i'm practising my rather rusty 28mm painting skills with some old models in my collection.

I've also ordered up some of the new Genestealer Cult stuff as they will make a great Necromunda gang and look fantastic... So hopefully i'll blast though them when they get here and will have another update soon!

Progress! (Epic, X-wing, and Necromunda)

Yeah, yeah... i know! Its meant to be a blog, and 2 updates in a year do not a blog make.

But in all honesty I've been playing more and painting less, so not completely dropped off the radar hopefully!

Here we go.

Epic - Iron Warriors;

Slowly working my way through a box of minis. Got the big guys (Leviathan, Warhounds) done, all the terminator infantry is painted, but not based, and i've made a start on the artillery.

The X-wing minis are great - and the paint jobs are really nice, but i couldn't resist a wee bit of tinkering, so here is my HWK-290 'Moldy Crow' interpretation

Nercomunda;

Finally managed to convince some folk to start a small necromunda campaign. 

I've got plenty of 40k stuff to proxy. so i'm going to paint up a fresh gang of Chaos Cultists to use as Cawdor.

The keen eye'd amongst you may have noticed my paint table has had an upgrade.
grabbed some Hemnes furniture from IKEA and it now is almost all hidden away in a nice bureau when not in use, which should save a few arguments in the future :)

Happy New Year!

Oh wait, I'm a wee bitty late there...

Hmm, moving house has put my hobbying and blogging on a bit of a hiatus, but all sorted now and back in the groove, and i now have a dedicated 'man-cave' as well as nice big dining table, that i've made a 6x4 overlay for! Happy days!

I'll start 2016's news with some progress and goals.

1. Started a 35,000 point NetEpic campaign, with game 1 under the belt and god only knows how many to go! link here for those who wish to follow it > http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=30910

2. Built/painted some desert scenery to go with my new GameMat.eu mats, and for the campaign

3. Painted some more IG units to fill some of the gaps i had in my collection

4. Started an Iron Warriors army, as my first dip in to Chaos, i like the fact they aren't too deamony/magical, its more just good honest siege warfare from them. So far i've got a Siege Century painted, and some test models for the rest of the force, but they are pretty quick/simple to do, so will hopefully have 3-5k in no time!

5. Also started playing the X-Wing Miniatures Game from Fantasy Flight - Can't recommend it enough, very simple to learn/play, but with the depth of an ocean in terms of advanced gameplay, the models come nicely pre-painted, but lend them selves well to a bit of sprucing up if you choose.
Its also nice to have a quick game to play, that is still being produced! The novelty of going into a shop to buy new stuff still hasn't worn off!

So in no particular order, here's some snaps!

Epic - Tyranids

The swarm has landed... And multiplied!

The bulk of this army came as a single eBay lot, and I couldn't be happier with it - love the colour scheme.
the rest I've stuck to the old White Dwarf/GW colours, a bit annoyed about the mish-mash of basing, but that's what you get when you cobble an army together.

This should be enough to get me going with playing them, just need a couple of models to complete the lot, and as usual i've ended up with a surplus which will eventually be used as trade fodder!

The Scythed Hierodule is a kit-bash of a 28mm/40k gaunt - and whilst it fits the bill, i think if i do another one i'll use the newer 'Tyranid Warriors' plastics as a base, as they are bit chunkier/armoured and look a bit more like the Forgeworld model it's based on,

Epic - Knights Castallan

Oops! forgot to upload this before going on holiday there...

Ach well, here they are, my Martian/Ad-mech Knight Castallan(s?)

giving a bit of punch to my Mechanicus force - I'm now on the hunt for a single 'Crusader' knight to finish off a detachment of them... oh, and 3 more Lancers to complete the household... then I'm done with the Ad-mech, probably.

Tyranids coming soon! - picking up a started box for a good price locally, then I'm filling the gaps with some eBay finds, and I'll be doing 40k scale conversion for the Bio-titans etc.

Looking forward to it as its an army I've never used/played against so very intrigued!

From out of nowhere... A Dark Angels Assault Company appears

Had a flurry of activity this weekend and both started and finished (almost - still need to decide what to do for the HQ) a whole Dark Angels Assault Company, using Troublemaker Games 'Novan Elite Forefront' Minis as proxies.

I decided to proxy the models for a few reasons - 1) availability 2) cost and 3) he verity of poses to break up the monotony.

Pretty happy overall, especially considering the time spent on them.

Rhinos are pretty redundant as I plan on chucking these guys out of Thunderhawks or riding in Razorbacks for the most part, but still, hand to have them in case the military budget doesn't stretch that far!

Next challenge will be to see if I can do the Devastator company with the same ease - although I might start on the support detachments (predators, whirlwinds etc) in the mean time while i wait for my Troublemaker indiegogo pledge to arrive to give me the troops i need.