Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Pumping Out Warriors

*Update*

This is as done as they will get. 




About two weeks ago, I decided to buy a box of dwarf warriors. Why?  

Well, there are two reasons I guess. The first, I can use more warriors instead of using so many proxies.  The second, the store I buy GW stuff from only had a single box of dwarf warriors in stock. And they haven't had new stock in the last three weeks. 

One of the difficult (obviously) things about living in South Korea and being a wargaming is getting models. It really isn't too big a deal for most games, but for GW, we are limited. I either have to rely on the single store in Seoul, order from that store or maybe use the GW online site, but I am not sure how easy that is with their stupid regulations.

Anyways, I didn't have too much motivation to paint these guys, but I did manage to get them to about 90% in about 4 hours this morning. 


They turned out...standard. The dwarf warriors are just so boring to paint. The part I especially hate about them is the cloth. I haven't been able to make it work. This time, I used a sky blue color (oops) that didn't go on as well as I had hoped. 

I also tried messing around with the bases, but I don't like the result. It was too rushed, but oh well. 

I am happy that they are basically done. I will spend a few hours tonight before bed touching up each model and basing them with flock. I will likely end up redoing the sky blue as well. 

The only cool thing that came out of this was the model on the far right. 


I actually had a set of arms left over from Grimm (shooty dwarf guy). I decided to slap them on this model and he ended up looking badass. I will certainly spend more time with him later. 

I think if I make any more dwarf purchases, it will just be with elite units. I may end up getting a few copters and a few more boxes of Ironbreakers. 


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Silvermoon Syndicate Pt. 1

I got into Bushido in December last year. It is an amazing game with a wonderful system. Unfortunately, it is not popular at all where I live and the only people that played it have either leftt the country or are now too busy with their jobs. 

So, Bushido was put on the back burner for me. 

This week, I have been finishing up old models. I had purchased the Silvermoon Syndicate starter box in February, but it has just been sitting there. 

So, I decided to paint one of the models. 


I had actually painted this guy in February, but I was very unhappy with my color choices. So I striped the paint and just left him. 

This time, I think he turned out a little better. His clothes are much better this time around. His skin tone is still off, though. Finally, his tattoos were better this time. I tried to paint a dragon last time, but I am simply not very good at free hand. So instead, I just had my girlfriend translate something into Korean.

His chest reads: The Legend of an Obese Man. Silvermoon Group (Syndicate). 

I also downloaded an app today to mix my photos together. I typically write these blogs at work on my phone. It is a bit of a hassle to load multiple pictures with the app. 

I am not entirely sure when I will get around to the other models in the starter box. My next project will be a group of dwarf warriors. Following that, I imagine I will move onto Malifaux again. 

My goal was to finish off the models I had sitting near my desk. The rest of the Bushido models have been put away, so they aren't on my mind. I think I will leave them until I am fully motivated. I want to do a good job on them, since the models are all beautiful and have tons of detail. 

Monday, April 28, 2014

Avatars of War Pt. 4

I have finally finished up my last Avatars of War dwarf model. I was really excited to paint these models when I first heard about them, but my interest in them and also in dwarfs has been declining. 

*Scroll down to skip my rambling*

I first started painting Warhammer Fantasy dwarfs in March. A bunch of the guys at the shop I go to wanted to start a league. I have always tried to get interested in a GW game, but something always tears me away from it. 

The first models I ever bought were 40K Space Marines. After spending a lot of money, I only ever ended up playing a handful of games. I didn't enjoy the game or the players :(

Now, I am finding myself in a similar situation with WH:F. I like the players, but I don't get much excitement from the game. It feels bland and overly complex.  After a game of Fantasy, I usually feel tired and either discouraged, bored or just bad. Most of the games I have played are either a stomping, really bad dice, really good dice or outrageous units. None of these elements tend to add excitement to the game for me. 

When I play a game like Malifaux, every turn has tons of fun and exciting moments. The opposed duels, the interesting character abilities and the seemingly good balance of the game really helps with enjoyment. 

So, my interest really started to fade this month and my dwarfs were ignore. I also feel that I didn't do as great a job on the Avatars of War models as I had hoped. 
Here is the last one: 



He still looks like an absolute badass, but I didn't put much effort into the finer details. 

I am sure I will end up finishing off my dwarf army, but I am highly doubtful that I will ever buy into another GW army again. 

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Catching Up

I decided to catch up on some old models that I had primed some time ago, but ended up just leaving them by my desk. 

Last week, I ended up painting Sonnia Criid for a contest. This encouraged me to continue painting these old models. 


I managed to get 8 of then finished. None of the paint jobs are very remarkable. A lot of them, especially the robots and the horse, have just simple details done on them. 

I bought the Relic Hunters box mostly for Sidir. I don't have much desire to use the other models. And the Hoffman box I got as a prize in a Malifaux tournament. He seems pretty neat, but not really my play style. I may give him a shot at some point, but it is a little doubtful. 

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Older Malifaux Models

I actually got around to playing a bit of Malifaux today against one of my Korean friends named Oh-Cheol. We had two really good matches: his Perdita crew against my Lady Justice crew. 

This was the second and third time I had played LJ. The first time I played her, I learned that I had to be much more aggressive with LJ since she is a powerhouse melee character. 

I ended up winning both games, however, either game could have swung in my opponents favor with just a few different decisions and a bit more luck on his side. 

While we were transitioning between match 1 and 2, I decided to take some new pictures of my crew. Here they are. 







And Sidir because he is wicked. 


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Sonnia Criid

I have quite a few models sitting around my desk that I never ended up getting to for one reason or another. 

While on Reddit yesterday, I noticed a contest. It was focused on female models. I have never submitted any of my models for a contest, but I thought I'd give this a shot. 

At the very least, it motivated me to paint a model that I have just sitting there. 

So, I chose Sonnia Criid, a Malifaux model.  





Overall, I think it turned out okay. Her face is the area that probably could have gone better. She is a fire type Mage, so I wanted to try and give her darker, fiery eyes. I tried a red wash after painting her face and it ended up just looking dark and sickly. 

I will have to try and look for some tutorials on how to paint fiery eyes. 


So, although I don't think I will even come close to winning the contest, I am still very happy that the model is finished. 

I actually have an appointment to play Malifaux this weekend. Maybe I will work her into a crew. 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Firestorm Armada Pt. 2

I have continued messing around with the Firestorm Armada ships I bought last weekend.

It is quite fun to play with masking tape and the airbrush. 

Last night, I painted the largest ship from the starter set. I wanted to do something pointy. So I went with a teeth inspired paint job. I think it turned out much better than the first model. 


The paint on this model just seems smoother to me than the last model. The only slight issue I have with this model can be seen in the next picture. 


On the triangles on the right side, there is some slight overspray with the white, particularly on the third triangle. 

This is likely because I didn't secure the masking tape tightly enough. It is certainly a good learning experience though. 


One big difference between this model and my last is that the model is cleaner. I rushed the first model and it had a number of mould marks and excess resin that was left over from the manufacturing. I haven't noticed any marks like that one this model. 



At first, I was worried about using tape. The first time I used tape, I peeled off some of the paint. I have since started using varnish before going to the tape step. The results have been excellent and I am now much more motivated to try using it more in the future. 

Monday, April 21, 2014

Firestorm Armada Pt. 1

I picked up a starter box of Firestorm Armada models this weekend while visiting the shop in Seoul. This price on the box had been reduced twice and I just could say no to that. 

I am not sure if I will end up playing the game or not. It certainly seems interesting, but I already have so much on the go. 

This is the first* ship I've painted. 

*I messed up the green on my true first ship and ended up striping it. 




I haven't messed around too much with masking since I got my airbrush. I decided to try it out with these models. I am very happy with the first results. 


I am going to keep the paint scheme pretty much the same for the following models, but I think I am gonna mess around with different patterns. 

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Avatars of War Pt. 3

I spent some time on Saturday finishing off my second model from Avatars of War. This model turned out better than the previous model. 

I spent a bit more time on his beard this time and I think it turned out well. 



Different light angle makes quite a difference. 




I enjoyed painting this model, however, I realized one of the main differences between GamesWorkshop models and Avatars models. There isn't as much focus on armor and metal on the Avatar models. 

Either way, both style of Dwarfs are great. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Avatars of War Pt. 2

I quickly got to painting the new models I received from Avatars of War. I have been much too distracted with PC games lately and I have had an urge to paint. 

I decided to paint the Thunderer model first. 



The model's posture and weapons are absolutely fantastic. My only complaint about the model is that it is a bit too large. I will have an issue when trying to use this model with my other GW models since he likely won't rank up very well

I think I will end up creating some specific models to stand beside them with accommodating stances. 

I did mess up a bit on this guy. 

I didn't clean some of the excess metal off of some parts and I left a few nasty mould lines. Also, I messed up and forgot to glue the rifle's barrel and his cigar on before priming. Oops. 


You can certainly see the gap on the barrel in this picture. 


Overall, I am pretty pleased with how he turned out. It certainly isn't my best work, but it was fun to do and some more experience with metal figures for me. 

Avatars of War Pt. 1

I finally received my shipment from Avatars of War. I ordered the package nearly 6 weeks ago, so I was glad to finally get it. 

I ordered 3 hero type dwarfs. 




I actually didn't know that they were metal models when I ordered them. I am not overly fond of metal models when painting. After painting GW models for the past two months, I have become much more used to painting plastic. 

One mistake I made with these models is that I didn't clean them properly before priming them. This is an issue I've had before. 

Oh well. 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Grimm Burloksson

This is my latest model. He will be a fun addition to my Dwarf gun line! 

The initial model I did had a pure white pipe. 



But a friend recommended some changes. After doing a few touch ups, I had completely fucked up the pipe. I ended up scraping off the paint that I could and just went with silver. Fuck it. 


He looks more dwarfish this way, but part of me still wishes he had that crisp white pipe.