A great cancon haul for me. I got a whole bunch more kryomek figures in a bargain bin, including aliens, chunky cyclos and swat. Cannot wait to paint those to match my rogue trader stuff!
I also scored myself a Steampunk Dorothy from Guild of Harmony, a pack of silurids for Malifaux then wrapped up my spree with a ten pack of cote d'arms paints so I can sniff my way back to the 1980s once more.
Add that to yesterday's haul and I had one full boot on the way home!
Anyone get any good stuff?
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Cancon day 1
Finally, finally, I rocked up to the bring and buy sale in time to get some bargains! Usually I am digging through piles of plastic high and dark elves and goblins looking for something decent.
I am now the proud owner of some Cryomek aliens, plastic rat ogres and some first edition Eldar scouts.
Met a guy fielding two 1980's hobgoblin rocket launchers in his chaos dwarf army (props), and found an Aussie cote d'arms stockist. Finally!
Exciting but frantic mood today. Looking forward to chillaxing Sunday.
Here's a picture of an Asgard Dragon lizard tyrant facing off against a Grenadier giant by mark copplestone in the first ever Skulldred convention game!
I am now the proud owner of some Cryomek aliens, plastic rat ogres and some first edition Eldar scouts.
Met a guy fielding two 1980's hobgoblin rocket launchers in his chaos dwarf army (props), and found an Aussie cote d'arms stockist. Finally!
Exciting but frantic mood today. Looking forward to chillaxing Sunday.
Here's a picture of an Asgard Dragon lizard tyrant facing off against a Grenadier giant by mark copplestone in the first ever Skulldred convention game!
Cancon
Hey folks, I am in Canberra tomorrow for cancon. You will find me lurking at the eureka miniatures stand doing live sculpting demos. If your interested in how minis are made, want to pick up some green stuff pushing tips, wanna shoot the lead breeze or want to just give me money for no reason stop on by!
If space is permitting, I also have with me a skulldred demo board, so may get some games in if you rock up with a small warband.
See you at the show!
Oh and I will be selling bederken blister packs too!
If space is permitting, I also have with me a skulldred demo board, so may get some games in if you rock up with a small warband.
See you at the show!
Oh and I will be selling bederken blister packs too!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Storage tip: Chinese food containers
A quick tip, take away containers flipped over make great storage stackers for minis. I blue tac the figures to a bit of stiff card.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Happy birthday - heres diffusing
Never drink and blog. I somehow typed 1979 instead of 1976. Unfortunately the tardis could not take me back to change the date of my birth to comply with my blog as I had already visited that timeline and would cause a world ending paradox.
Instead I have to post a correction instead. Thus stealing away the smug satisfaction of correcting someone on the Internet for my dear readers!
Though being a horse would be kinda cool (works for sarah Jessica parker) I am still a rabbit.
Mind you, the dreaded beast of Antioch was a rabbit too.
So I rewarded myself yesterday with a day off to sit and paint something and kinda discovered a neat new painting technique that I will be using a great deal from here on in.
It's getting pretty steamy here in Sydney, so I dragged out the retarder to keep my paint from drying on the brush. I decided to make up a batch of some ready mix retarded, flow improved matte medium- elsewhere I think its known as gunk. I can't remember the link- battle bunker perhaps.
Anyway, I thought I would use this to practice wet blending. Normally I use a glaze technique to build up layers of shading, but this can take a bit of time. I never nailed blending before- its always eluded me.
Normally you either go wet onto wet, a highlight onto mid tone for example, or wet next to wet and use a damp brush to transition. Both can cause hard edged if you stray too much into the shadow portion of your models, or if you lift off too much paint with your brush work. I decided to try wet on wet, and it occurred to me that what I really needed to do was just diffuse the brush strokes edges. Imagine the difference drawing an ink line on two sheets of paper- a dry one and a wet one. The ink line on the wet one would diffuse as the edges dilute.
So here's what I did. Load and wipe one brush with retarded paint. Then load and wipe another brush with water/flow aid/retarder/matte medium.
Stroke brush 2 over the surface to moisten in, the apply brush 1 on the highlight. The paint edges blur!
A little coaxing with brush 2 will soften the edge further, then whilst you wash brush 2 and reload it, the strokes are dry. The matte medium helps the damp brush liquid stick to the surface, the retardant stops the whole thing evaporating and the flow aid breaks the paint tension and lets the paint diffuse.
Apart from avoiding the hard edges, this technique makes hard edging really nice and blended!
I looked around but this does not seem to be a discussed technique, so I am calling it diffusing.
Pics once I master the technique.
Instead I have to post a correction instead. Thus stealing away the smug satisfaction of correcting someone on the Internet for my dear readers!
Though being a horse would be kinda cool (works for sarah Jessica parker) I am still a rabbit.
Mind you, the dreaded beast of Antioch was a rabbit too.
So I rewarded myself yesterday with a day off to sit and paint something and kinda discovered a neat new painting technique that I will be using a great deal from here on in.
It's getting pretty steamy here in Sydney, so I dragged out the retarder to keep my paint from drying on the brush. I decided to make up a batch of some ready mix retarded, flow improved matte medium- elsewhere I think its known as gunk. I can't remember the link- battle bunker perhaps.
Anyway, I thought I would use this to practice wet blending. Normally I use a glaze technique to build up layers of shading, but this can take a bit of time. I never nailed blending before- its always eluded me.
Normally you either go wet onto wet, a highlight onto mid tone for example, or wet next to wet and use a damp brush to transition. Both can cause hard edged if you stray too much into the shadow portion of your models, or if you lift off too much paint with your brush work. I decided to try wet on wet, and it occurred to me that what I really needed to do was just diffuse the brush strokes edges. Imagine the difference drawing an ink line on two sheets of paper- a dry one and a wet one. The ink line on the wet one would diffuse as the edges dilute.
So here's what I did. Load and wipe one brush with retarded paint. Then load and wipe another brush with water/flow aid/retarder/matte medium.
Stroke brush 2 over the surface to moisten in, the apply brush 1 on the highlight. The paint edges blur!
A little coaxing with brush 2 will soften the edge further, then whilst you wash brush 2 and reload it, the strokes are dry. The matte medium helps the damp brush liquid stick to the surface, the retardant stops the whole thing evaporating and the flow aid breaks the paint tension and lets the paint diffuse.
Apart from avoiding the hard edges, this technique makes hard edging really nice and blended!
I looked around but this does not seem to be a discussed technique, so I am calling it diffusing.
Pics once I master the technique.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Day of the Dave
Hey mortals,
Tomorrow is my birthday! Yes, its the Day of the Dave. Strangely, I have not asked for any miniatures as gifts this year because... well, take a look at the last post. The last thing I need right now is more miniatures right now. Oh, go on, maybe one more. No! Resist. I don't need any more miniatures this year... especially taking into account the four.. wait... six stripping jars awaiting a gunky afternoon of Dettol fumes. Stripping jars. You start with one and next thing you know they are multiplying like rabbits.
Speaking of rabbits, I was awfully dissapointed to find out that I was not a Dragon as I had been previously lead to believe. Yes, 1979 was the year of the Dragon... but unfortunately chinese new year falls after my birthday. I am a child of chinese 1978. Year of the... uh, rabbit.
In fact, my birthday is more cuspish than I thought according to one researcher. I was equally horrified to find out that, according to my wife, I actually fall into Gen Y.
Gen Y? Are you frikkin serious? I watched reality bites, curtain haircuts, Nike Pumps and had to sit through Nirvana whinging about royal tea or some other depressed bollocks. Gen Y? Do I look GEN Y? Look at my hair? Not foompy! I know how to navigate using a map and compass... look, see? I dont live on Facebook!!!! GEN Y? NOOOOOOOOO.
Hell.
1979 is not a transitional year. I say, the moment John Lennon was shot... that should be the moment the generations switch.
The only way to rectify this is with retro denial. So here I present what was lurking in jar numbers... oh wait, jars 7 and 8. How many of these things have I got?
Yeah baby! Now we are talking some seriously cool 1980s lead here. Lets kick off with the first ever Chaos 'treacher' marine, the first ever Space Dwarf (aka Squat), The Dwarf With No Name, The Complete Adventurer (mark 2), Talisman Orc, AD&D Stirges and one of the two Female Space Marines. Yes. Space marines once had equal rights. One of Bob Olleys space pirates also lurks above- a great line because they where the last gasp of 70's Starblazer style space opera- check that cloak.
You may also notice a Grenadier Hunting Dragon- which I grabbed because not only is it a nice figure, but it graced the Grenadier advert that used to run in GM magazine- which was the independant role playing magazine back in the 1980s. You know... when big peroxide hair was in (isnt that right Wayne? You know who I am talking about) Jes Goodwin himself sported a pretty good and tall mullet back then, which appeared in a great deal of his work. Check out the chaos sorcerers and the elf spear weilding wardancer in this pick. Dungeon Punk at its best!
As you can see, I collect a wide range of figures. My main motivation is getting those peices I always wanted as a kid. Not sure what I will accomplish by this task. One day I will open up a Jiffy bag from the UK and... game over... I will have them all. What then? I wonder what feeling will come with that. Still, its a long way off.
I am waffling. Heres a close up!
So thats this weeks stripping experience. Sadly its into baggies and into storage for most of these, until one fine day when I have time to paint them up and blog them.
Hey, another window I have up whilst I type this tells me that I share the same birthday as Janis Joplin, Tippi Hedren (the chick from The Birds), Martin Luther King (no relation) and Edgar Allan Poe. Star signs are right... we have so much in common. Oh wait, I just noticed the actress who plays Peg on 'Married with Children' and Dolly Parton also have my birthday. They actually are a lot like me when I wear heels. Spooky.
Well folks, that is probably me for a few days... I expect to get nicely drunk tomorrow and achingly recover for a few more. I have a theory that its not birthdays, but birthday celebrations that age one. Maybe if I go hard tomorrow I will creep into Gen X where I belong. Move over Winona... Daves on his way!
Later lead fans.
Tomorrow is my birthday! Yes, its the Day of the Dave. Strangely, I have not asked for any miniatures as gifts this year because... well, take a look at the last post. The last thing I need right now is more miniatures right now. Oh, go on, maybe one more. No! Resist. I don't need any more miniatures this year... especially taking into account the four.. wait... six stripping jars awaiting a gunky afternoon of Dettol fumes. Stripping jars. You start with one and next thing you know they are multiplying like rabbits.
Speaking of rabbits, I was awfully dissapointed to find out that I was not a Dragon as I had been previously lead to believe. Yes, 1979 was the year of the Dragon... but unfortunately chinese new year falls after my birthday. I am a child of chinese 1978. Year of the... uh, rabbit.
In fact, my birthday is more cuspish than I thought according to one researcher. I was equally horrified to find out that, according to my wife, I actually fall into Gen Y.
Gen Y? Are you frikkin serious? I watched reality bites, curtain haircuts, Nike Pumps and had to sit through Nirvana whinging about royal tea or some other depressed bollocks. Gen Y? Do I look GEN Y? Look at my hair? Not foompy! I know how to navigate using a map and compass... look, see? I dont live on Facebook!!!! GEN Y? NOOOOOOOOO.
Hell.
1979 is not a transitional year. I say, the moment John Lennon was shot... that should be the moment the generations switch.
The only way to rectify this is with retro denial. So here I present what was lurking in jar numbers... oh wait, jars 7 and 8. How many of these things have I got?
 |
| Spot the cool 80's figures! |
You may also notice a Grenadier Hunting Dragon- which I grabbed because not only is it a nice figure, but it graced the Grenadier advert that used to run in GM magazine- which was the independant role playing magazine back in the 1980s. You know... when big peroxide hair was in (isnt that right Wayne? You know who I am talking about) Jes Goodwin himself sported a pretty good and tall mullet back then, which appeared in a great deal of his work. Check out the chaos sorcerers and the elf spear weilding wardancer in this pick. Dungeon Punk at its best!
As you can see, I collect a wide range of figures. My main motivation is getting those peices I always wanted as a kid. Not sure what I will accomplish by this task. One day I will open up a Jiffy bag from the UK and... game over... I will have them all. What then? I wonder what feeling will come with that. Still, its a long way off.
I am waffling. Heres a close up!
 |
| Iron Claw Space Pirate, 40k Navigator, Treacher Marine, Female Marine Space Dwarf, Chaos Sorcerers, c100 Space Marine, Undead Carrion Rider, Dwarf with No Name Grenadier Hunting Dragon |
So thats this weeks stripping experience. Sadly its into baggies and into storage for most of these, until one fine day when I have time to paint them up and blog them.
Hey, another window I have up whilst I type this tells me that I share the same birthday as Janis Joplin, Tippi Hedren (the chick from The Birds), Martin Luther King (no relation) and Edgar Allan Poe. Star signs are right... we have so much in common. Oh wait, I just noticed the actress who plays Peg on 'Married with Children' and Dolly Parton also have my birthday. They actually are a lot like me when I wear heels. Spooky.
Well folks, that is probably me for a few days... I expect to get nicely drunk tomorrow and achingly recover for a few more. I have a theory that its not birthdays, but birthday celebrations that age one. Maybe if I go hard tomorrow I will creep into Gen X where I belong. Move over Winona... Daves on his way!
Later lead fans.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Pledge 2012: Purchased: 1.2 squillion Painted: 0
Welcome, welcome to Kingsminis 2012, and what a year have I got planned for you, dear readers!
First, to some unfinished business of 2011- namely, bragging about how frikkin' many frikkin' Reaper minis I aquired for frikkin' dirt cheap in the recent Tin Soldier stock sell off. Uh... Frik.
Ahem.
So I promised a picture of some of my recent Reaper wind-fall, and here, courtesy of my lovely wife standing on tippy toe, risking life, limb and the ever present danger of chipped nails, is a picture of me sorting through the boxes and stacking by doubles. I had to get these filed, logged and safely locked up in storage (except for a few choice figures I plan to paint this month) before I posted because... well... even I would consider breaking in to my house to get this lot. Mind you my alignment is chaotic good, so hey.
As you can see, I am literally giddy with joy here. Thats my giddy face... see. It is a lot like my other faces I must admit. I am probably the only man in history outside the company to own 9 packs of Reaper giant battle frogs.
Also, due to time constraints I finished last year with more rants than pictures of retro minis... something I plan to rectify as part of my new year rez-a-lead-shunz. Here we go!
Kicking off the year is a loving reproduction paint job of a citadel classic wizard that I always drooled over as a kid, as it magically appeared in the corner of a Colin Dixon Diorama in a 1980's White Dwarf 'eavy Metal article on Colin himself. Ahh, vertical dioramas... remember those? I used Cote D'arms paints for this- and as you can see the orange is exactly the orange from the 1980s Citadel acrylic range. I highly, highly recommend them. If they where in dropper bottles they would be perfect! The reason, I think, such figures capture my imagination, is that they where unobtainable at the time. I would spend hours pouring over old White Dwarf magazines (we are talking issues probably ranging from 45- 99 to put this in perspective) and seeing images of figures that where unlisted in the then modern catalogue. Thank heaven for the internet!
I was recently delighted by the arrival of a beaten up box of Games Workshop Caverns floorplans fresh from fleabay. What horrors lurked within? Well, it was at least two sets of caverns, and all manner of floorplans from other sets all in one box. Score! Dave Andrews loving pen and ink added the flavour you just do not get with modern digital art floorplans, especially the D&D ones which try to emulate video games. Tsk. The best I have seen are inked adventures, but still not a scratch on the old card buildings and floorplans for old world atmosphere.
Speaking of which... here is a work in progress of my McDeath Skirmish set.
Yes I could not resist the lure of collecting the whole McDeath tribe and painting them faithful to the game art. If anyone has a Sandra Prangle, McDeath or a Lady McDeath I suggest they may be bad for your health and only I can save you by removing the threat from your household, coating them in paint and placing them in a secure location next to all the other McDeath figures on my shelf. Down spot, ye daft beastie! Och, he's doon toasted ma wee limited editions agin! Nae Dwarf Haggis for ye tonight!
It is also stripping week this week- where I take the spare hours of my night and scrub, scrub, scrub til the lead doth shine anew. Pics next post. Be warned, they may contain images of spacefarers, citadel original first run giants, chaos sorcerers, Ral Partha Giants, first edition Eldar and judge dredd minis!
Wae Hae!
First, to some unfinished business of 2011- namely, bragging about how frikkin' many frikkin' Reaper minis I aquired for frikkin' dirt cheap in the recent Tin Soldier stock sell off. Uh... Frik.
Ahem.
So I promised a picture of some of my recent Reaper wind-fall, and here, courtesy of my lovely wife standing on tippy toe, risking life, limb and the ever present danger of chipped nails, is a picture of me sorting through the boxes and stacking by doubles. I had to get these filed, logged and safely locked up in storage (except for a few choice figures I plan to paint this month) before I posted because... well... even I would consider breaking in to my house to get this lot. Mind you my alignment is chaotic good, so hey.
 |
| No. I do not have enough Reaper miniatures. |
Also, due to time constraints I finished last year with more rants than pictures of retro minis... something I plan to rectify as part of my new year rez-a-lead-shunz. Here we go!
 |
| Citadel Wizard aka Chaos Wizard. |
Kicking off the year is a loving reproduction paint job of a citadel classic wizard that I always drooled over as a kid, as it magically appeared in the corner of a Colin Dixon Diorama in a 1980's White Dwarf 'eavy Metal article on Colin himself. Ahh, vertical dioramas... remember those? I used Cote D'arms paints for this- and as you can see the orange is exactly the orange from the 1980s Citadel acrylic range. I highly, highly recommend them. If they where in dropper bottles they would be perfect! The reason, I think, such figures capture my imagination, is that they where unobtainable at the time. I would spend hours pouring over old White Dwarf magazines (we are talking issues probably ranging from 45- 99 to put this in perspective) and seeing images of figures that where unlisted in the then modern catalogue. Thank heaven for the internet!
 |
| Dave Andrews drew the floorplan to my imagination |
Speaking of which... here is a work in progress of my McDeath Skirmish set.
 |
| McDeath Skirmish work in progress: Citadel 1980's Knight of Harkness, Banquo |
 |
| The Harkness shield was done using this technique |
Wae Hae!