Painting disaster

Last night I was daubing away (for the first time in a couple of weeks) on some half-finished 15mm Hobilars, finishing off their straps and saddle-work. For some reason I couldn't work out it wasn't going well. The paint texture seemed wrong and the paint was clumping slightly as it dried, but only when using my really fine detail brush. I gave up as being 'too tired' and came back to them tonight. Oh dear. I decided I'd strip and restart, but still couldn't work out why - the same paint and same brush were fine tonight on some Outlaws for LotOW.

Then I packed my stuff up tonight and worked out what the problem was - I have a couple of DIY brushes sitting in a jar beside my workbench. They are soaking in White Spirit. I had dipped my brush in the blasted stuff before starting last night and ruined seven cavalry that were almost done. My comment on that mistake was not very polite, but at least I'd rinsed my brushes carefully when I'd put them away last night so the small amount of white spirit had obviously come off and not ruined tonight's Outlaw painting.

Note to self - BE MORE CAREFUL. Sigh!

Et maintenant pour quelque chose complètement différente

Oui, c'est vrai, j'ai succombé à l'attrait du jeu napoléonien!

(Which my rusty memory, and a bit of help from Babelfish, assures me means I have succumbed to the lure of Napoleonic gaming!)

Yes, too much watching of Sharpe, reading of Aubrey/Maturin, and too many banner adverts from the Perrys and Victrix over on The Miniatures Pages, has led me inexorably to a New Venture, in which our Hero valiantly struggles against Tyranny, the Frenchies and the Corset Fastenings of Dusky Hispanic Maidens.

I had been instructed by the parents to give them a Christmas list, and I was having difficulty. I do need (!) some street furniture for Thorncreek's continued expansion (carts etc), but I rather fancy having a go at making some of it myself first. So I was idly trawling for a set of skirmish rules for Napoleonics in 28mm and discovered a company that was new to me - Too Fat Lardies. They produce a .pdf ruleset specifically for Sharpe-type gaming called Sharp Practice for the princely sum of Seven English Pounds.


They read like it's an absolute blast to play, so I've asked for a whole bunch of Victrix and Perry figures to allow me to do so.



I shall be tackling this project alongside my existing ones once I've got another 3 bases painted of HYW English for Impetus, my Outlaws are finished and I've constructed six buildings for Thorncreek. I've got two done so far:


Obviously this means other Unfinished Projects will suffer, but a couple of them have basically already been put in a box for a few months until enthusiasm for them returns.

Please note - this does not break the Pledge, as it's not my money.

Happy Advent Sunday, all.

How cats helped win the West

I hope you'll be pleased to know that I haven't been just been sitting sulking about GW for the last few days, I've also been beavering away on the first building for Thorncreek, which I think is in the southern part of Colorado. This should allow mountains, plains, and (at a stretch) the occasional gang of Mehican bandidos that are on the run from down south. Well, quite a big stretch...

In case any of you would like to see how I did it, I've laid out the in progress pictures below. The method is very heavily based on this set of articles over on Geektactica, and using Gungnir's sterling work as inspiration as well.

First off, I measured out some templates (sorry, can't find the picture, but it's not that exciting anyway) for the walls, cut them out of 5mm foamcore and glued them square. I then started cladding the walls with the splints/spills/little-bits-of-balsa-like-wood-for-lightning-bunsen-burners-with. This took quite a while!




The elastic band was to hold the end piece in place while the glue dried. Use lots of glue!


More cladding in place...


I realised I had to add a pointy roof bit on the back of the false front to support the roof - lesson learned for next time, when I'll just make two of the back end pieces and stick one on the back of the false front.


This is where the cats come in! The corrugated iron roofing is made from the box my cat's food pouches come in. I just peeled off the outer layer and was left with the beautifully even corrugations you can see :) It took a little while to find the best way of removing the little bits of 'outer' that stuck to the bits I wanted, but I found that a sculpting tool scraped down each corrugation allowed me to clear the stubborn bits off in about ten minutes. Free and reused - bonus!

The finished building! I trimmed the scrappy bits of foam core around the windows so that they were smooth and stuck bits of splint to form door/window frames. I stuck the whole lot onto some thick card, put a ridge-cap over the tin roof, backed the door/window holes with thin card and used some more of the base card to make a front door. I cut two pieces of thin card rectangle to make the sign, removing the central section from one and sticking it over the other to make a frame. The boardwalk was made by gluing a few modelling matchsticks (from a massive bag I picked up for a song) at right angles to the direction I laid the planks which were more splints. I'm pretty chuffed with it for a first attempt, and now that I've done it once I reckon I'll be much quicker next time.





What will I use it for? As I hope my future buildings will be less crude, this should really be the oldest Thorncreek building. The Land Office, perhaps? Suggestions on a postcard...

TTFN

GW helps me reach a decision

One of my favourite websites out there (which has given me great hobby inspiration, advice and enjoyment over the last few years) is www.talkbloodbowl.com

However, if you're reading this entry after the 11th November then the above link will probably not work. This is because Games Workshop, in their wisdom, have sent a Cease and Desist letter to the website manager because it contains the word 'Bloodbowl' in the URL. Now, I can understand protection of Intellectual Property etc, but the manner in which it was done (a week's notice after operating for nine years as the premier fan-site which was heavily used by GW employees to test and produce the last couple of manifestations of the rules) was incredibly heavy-handed and angering. I do not see how it would have been any less effective to politely request that the URL or sitename were changed.

Which is the better way of doing things? To say 'Excuse me', or to roughly barge past, shoving aside the person in your way? Which leaves a better taste in the mouth? Quite.

So the decision? I will not be attending the Bloodbowl Grand Tournament in May (I've been to three of the last four) and I'm right on the edge of a total boycott on future purchases from the main GW. (GW Historical seems to be much more by gamers/for gamers, something I approve of wholeheartedly, so they escape my ire). I will be writing a letter to them to explain the reasons for my decision.

Pledge

No, not a type of floor polish, but a Pledge! I've said it out loud twice now (to wife, and to oldest friend) so I guess that means I have to stick to it:

I, Stephen, sometimes known as Rab, will not buy any new miniatures that go on a roster for any games I play or want to play until my next birthday, being the 26th May 2010, except with any money given to me specifically for that purpose.

Now, I was originally going to be more strict than this, but I know my own (lack of) willpower. The above Pledge will still allow me to buy painting/modelling supplies. At a pinch, it will also allow me to purchase, e.g. bystanders for LotOW games. Not so strict, really, but it's a start.

Out and about with the Civic Patrol

A quick burst of painting tonight after a day filled with guests and their lovely, but very active, children and... I've finished painting my starting lawmen posse for Legends of the Old West. The new additions (from left to right) are: Charles Vickers, Sheriff Nathaniel Crawcrook and Deputy Jeremiah Ainsworthy.



And without the sepia to hide my hurried brushstrokes on the last three members:



So, now I've got:

- Sheriff (repeating rifle, sixgun)
- Deputy (shotgun, sixgun)
- Vigilante (sixgun) x 3
- Vigilante (sixgun, shotgun) x 2

Now, I've chosen their armaments entirely on what the models are sculpted with, so I may make some adjustments with a few games experience!

Yee-ha!

Johan Meier

Johan (nicknamed 'Jonah' because of his dreadful bad luck) is the veteran of countless failed business (and romantic) ventures. His popularity is based evenly on his predilection for long, hilarious, self-mocking anecdotes about his latest misadventure, and his open-hand and open-wallet to those in need. For all his apparent foolishness, he is no imbecile and will not get taken advantage of. He's also pretty handy with that shotgun and is an active member of the Civic Patrol.



I'm actually a bit disappointed with this figure; there's something just not quite right about the way he's come out, although the funny shadow near his eye isn't there in real life. Ho-hum, he'll do - I'm not so unimpressed that I'll strip him and start again, and I want to keep up the momentum I've currently got. Here are the Thorncreek Civic Patrol so far:



Now, while the temptation is quite high to give them somewhere to patrol (i.e. Thorncreek itself), I'm determined to get the starting lawmen posse (sheriff, deputy, five vigilantes) complete first.

The Harris boys

"See over there, yup - there on the table by the stairs? That there's Joshua and Daniel Harris. They and their Ma and Pa farm out East a little way. They're on the Patrol, but I still would be careful not to cross 'em! Polite and gentleman-like, a credit to their Ma, but talk down their family, or try and cheat them at cards and they'll knock you down. Do it again and they'll like as not shoot you where you stand! Good lads to have on your side when the lead starts a-flyin'. Patrol's lucky to have 'em"

The founding of Thorncreek

"Pull up a chair, Pardner, and I'll tell y'a tale. Fifteen year ago, I bought me a patch o'dirt out here. Me an' a few other fellas, families, couple o' ranchers; you know, the usual. We were doin' well, building' up, bein' respectable folks. Then a couple o' years back the trouble started. A disagreement over a fence or two 'tween the Harris boys and the Claytons turned pretty nasty, been rumblin' on ever since. So me an' the town gents got ourselves together, formed the Thorncreek Civic Patrol. You gonna play nice in town? I hope so cuz we finally got ourselves a Sheriff on the way and I hear he's awful fond o' the noose."

Patrick Flannegan, Civic Patrol member, town founder and hotel owner

Finally got some painting done - whoop! I've also got a whole bunch more primed and ready to go. Cowboys and Space Hulk have got me pumped again, so I'm going to stick with them, and then go back to Impetus when the feeling grabs me. Surely I'll get more done that way.

Below are a couple of workbench snaps to prove I really have been priming away :)

"Begin the litanies, brothers"

While the whole "I am more gothic than you" way the 40k universe has gone just makes me want to snort with derision (has it got worse, or have I just grown up?), I do like the idea of orders of warrior monks - templars, hospitallers, and, erm, adaptes astartes. Yeah, I've always kinda liked the idea of space marines, if nothing else.

So, as I explained in previous posts, I'm putting together a retro Hulk; the new board and pieces (except with a replacement timer that actually works - £1.49 from a cheapo store, btw, right next door to the local GW who couldn't offer me a replacement 'that day'), but with 1st edition genestealers and '89/'94 terminators. I'm basing them on really nice resin bases from Fenris Games.

This morning I got to sit down and do an hour's geeking for the first time in ages, and here are a couple of 'in progress' shots:

The Battle Brothers

The Xenos threat

Obviously I had to clip the slotta-tabs off the figures, then file, pin and glue them onto the resin bases (I may have mentioned how much I like them - they were great to do business with, as well, sorting out my messed up order in minutes over email). I may glue some washers to the bottom of the bases for extra 'heft', but, although light, they don't need it for balance.

Anyway, if the wind drops a bit, I'll get them undercoated later today.

TTFN