Star Wars Armada Arrived Today!

Read the basic rules, assembled the models, and set up the table. Haven't had time to play through the Starter Scenario, yet, but I expect to do it over Eastern, although I'm working nights the next 5 days, and thus am going to be sleeping my day away....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASfVIFUw20Y

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 9

Bases highlighted and flocked, which concludes my work on the unit as such.

Next step is to cut out and paint a banner for the standard, and I might drybrush a bit of white onto a skull or two.

Of course, I still need to paint a leader for the unit, but I hope to be able to get that done over the course of a couple of days off next week.

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 8

The skellies got a Devlan Mud Wash, and I have based-coated the bases with WZ Trench Brown.

I need to hightlight the bases and put some flock/tufts on them, and I really should do something about the horns on the standard, but, frankly, cannot be arsed about it at the moment. It has takem me FAR too long to get this unit done, and the next one I shall do in small batches, as it is easier for me to keep up the steam when I actually finish something on a regular basis.

LEGO Friends and Elves - Lea's Birthday

My youngest offspring turned 9 yesterday, and among the presents were the LEGO Friends 41033 set (some Jungle Animal Rescue setup with a waterfall that slides aside to reveal a cave with green crystals), and the LEGO Elves 41075 'The Elves' Treetop Hideaway'.

Both sets had to be built immediately, and Anna was given the task of constructiong the Friends set, while Lea dug into the massive buch of bricks for the Hideaway herself.

The building instructions are very graphically detailed, with no text, allowing children down to 6 years of age to follow them and construct the sets, which is one of LEGO's big strengths, in my opinion.

Below you'll see pics of various WIP stages, as well as the finished builds.

Both girls digging in.

A tree made of bricks. It is almost like Minecraft.

Jungle rock and cave entrance.

Details are being added.

Things are shaping up!

Almost done with the first tree.

The canopy of this tree is movable...

...and can be 'closed' in front of the Hideaway to 'conceal' it.

The full set of the Treetop Hideaway

PLAYTIME! Several other Jungle Rescue sets added to the setup, and play in progress!

Ultrasonic Cleaner, Part 2

The final result of my paint-stripping venture can be seen here:

I left the minis in the soap, and re-started the ultrasonic cleaner a lot of times whenever I noticed it had stopped, then left the whole thing over night, and the last paint came off easily.

I don't think the rest of the week will see much progress (I had planned to get some work done on my Pulp project, but stuff got in the way), as Lea turns 9 this Saturday, and I have to tidy up the living room for having some family and close friends over on the day, and the girls from Lea's school class on Sunday (unfortunately, the garage attic is still too cold for having events in)-

Ultrasonic Cleaner

I got this for DKK 239,- in 'Harald Nyborg' in Odense, and had to try it out for paint-stripping right away!

The two ancient skeletons I started painting with Humbrol Enamels more than 20 years ago (the scythe-wielding ones) were submitted to this first attempt.

I first tried using white spirit as cleansing liquid, but it didn't really hav much effect on the enamel paint.

Then, I tried using liquid 'brown soap' (a kind of soap apparently unbeknownst to non-Danes), and after 3 'treatments' of 480 seconds, each followed by a scrubbing with my brass brush, the middle figurine looked like you can see below.

The helmeted skeleton as shown below was treated 4 times, and as you can see it also still had some paint residue in some creases.

My next step in this process is to leave the minis in the soap for a couple of days, before using the ultrasonic feature again (to allow the soap softening up the remaining paint a bit more)






This is much more effective than leaving minis in a jar with brown soap for months and months, and I shall be using the ultrasonic cleaner for all paint-stripping operations from now on.


Next time I shall try leaving the subject in the soap 24 hours before appying the ultrasonics, as I think the ultrasonics might have an easier time loosening the paint if it has been softened up a bit in advance.

Who knows, maybe I'll even get some of all those old Space Marines I have had in soap for ages (I am not going to play any later version of Warhammer 40.000, but I might use them for other Sci-Fi and/or Post Apocalyptic settings)

If you find yourself stripping minis often, I would recommend getting one of these. I haven't tried stripping acrylic paints, but I assume that the process is much faster, as 'brown soap' dissolves acrylics easier than enamels.






Some primers may require the minis to be left in your paint-stripping solution a bit longer (like the enamels), but I think the combination of ultrasonics and a dissolving (not corrosive, mind you, at it will damage the container) solution of some kind should prove effective.



Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 7

Put some sand on the bases lately. Next up a Devlan Mud wash!

Mantic: Deadzone Infestation Kickstarter

Just backed this at Quarantine level.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/deadzone-infestation-sci-fi-skirmish-game/

SotHT: Rebasing the Mad Grave Robber

I realized that I had yet another mini for the project that needed something done to its base, and, yes, I rebased another slotta mini onto a washer (I am making a habit of it, it seems...)

I have yet  to finish painting the stairs, and then flesh out the leagues, and figure out whether I need to paint additional models. At least the 'good guys' will need a few extra members, but I have plenty of models to use to that end.

Next week should see another burst of concentrated work done on this project (Monday-Wednesday), and I hope to be able to draw up the final plans for it, as almost half the time designated to this Painting Club has expired.

Rebasing Old Metal Skeletons

The minis I based for my daughters' D&D player characters pushed me over the edge onto that slippery slope leading to basing even slotta-minis on washers (something I had forsworn I would ever do), and I have put these very old minis on 20mm washers to fit in with the plastic skeletons I have been rebasing for my GoB Lords of Undeath army.

The colours on the first two are old Humbrol Enamel paints, btw. I probably should have stripped them... Am going to get an ultrasonic cleaner, so, maybe I'll give them a shake (will mean I shall have to base them again, though...)

Longbows Oiled

Both my trusty old one-piece 'peasant's' bow, and Anna's new fancy-pants two-piece longbow have been given two treatments of linseed oil, and should be ready for an outing one of the next days, weather permitting.

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 6

After a weekend all booked up by practical assignments - and a field trip to Jutland to pick up some LARP equipment for me and the girls, AND the first real longbow for Anna (which now means that I shall have to acquire equipment for making arrows, as buying ready-made ones is far too expensive; luckily, I already have been pointed to a Danish store that sells such stuff, so as soon as my tax refund has arrived, I shall order tools and materials) - I found some time for painting a bit more today.

I have decided to use the old metal armoured skeleton with the scythe as leader for the unit, which means that one of the axe-wielding skellies will be relieved of its duties for now. If I find a suitable armoured skeleton with shield and sword, the leader can be replaced and instead be used as a Blacksoul or part of another unit.

Using the metal mini will delay getting the unit on the table, but if I can get the warriors done, concentrating on the leader should make it possible to get him painted fairly quickly.

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 5

Yesterday, I managed to slip in about ½ hour of painting, splashing on some long OOP Blood Red-

The guy with the startled expression on his face is a Plot Point for SotHT, waiting to get his base, either augmented with some iron, or substituted by a steel washer. I actually did not arrange for him and the skeleton to look at each other, it is just one of those photo moments!

I slept to 3:30 p.m. today, and spent what was left of the afternoon on some overdue work outside, but tomorrow I should be able to get some more work done.

SotHT: Painting Stairs WIP 2

A bit more progress.

On top of the 'Golden Ochre', an overbrush of 'Amber Light' to which I added a few drops of Scorched Brown back when I prepared it for my first attempts on painting Egyptian rubble.

Did some shopping today.

I got up early and drove with my wife to Odense, when she went to work, as I had a few things on my to-buy list (especially some honey for the next batch of mead).

After Odense, I drove down to Svendborg to do some additional shopping.

Of notion, hobby-wise, I got some paint for my Egyptian temple stairs, and I bought another yatzy-set with dice tray (to have 2 trays for gaming) - and I found a green doormat in the pound store (Tiger), that I am going to cut up to use as fields with un-ripe crops.

You cannot tell from the picture, but the bristles on the mat are approximately 10mm long.

SotHT: Painting Stairs WIP

Work on this was paused, because I realized that I needed to get a bottle of orange-brown acrylic artist's paint instead of using my Citadel Vomit Brown up on the stairs. Orange-brown, because I want to paint the stairs to match the aquarium deco Egyptian statures which are that colour in the deep recesses.

I got it today, so work could continue.

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 4

Progress as planned today.

Next up is painting the shields, then the unpainted weapons

I'm not going to elaborate, as I skipped sleeping after working last night, so I am very tired.

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 3



I did not make much progress today, as I slept until 3:20 p.m., and had to cook up a large pot of pasta sauce to have something extra to put in the freezer for easy preparation.

I did, though, prime the standard bearer and the shields.

Tomorrow morning I am going to paint the back of the shields, and the banner pole, and later in the day I shall attach the shields to the Skeletons.

I expect to have the unit ready for a re-match in about 10 days (if Ulolkish/Duregar is available for a game - otherwise I might try teaching the girls the GoB rules).

This unit will replace three of the Ghoul units (with one point to spare, but I shall not be able to spend it), meaning that I shall have 2 units fewer than the original configuration.

As they cause Fear, never Test Courage, and fight to the last Skeleton, they should last considerably longer than the Ghouls did last game, hopefully buying the remaining Ghoul unit time to out-maneuver some of the opposition.

Well, we shall have to se about that...

RPG Fantasy Vikings: Main Characters Based.

I started working (somewhat delayed, compared to the original plan) on these yesterday, and I actually did something that I thought I would never do; I put minis intended for slotta-bases on washers instead.

On the Red Box shieldmaiden I sawed off only half the tab, in order to make the finished mini sit a bit higher on the base, and thus seem taller.

The Hasslefree sorceress had all but about ½ mm of the tab removed

I tried out my recently acquired Loc-Tite brush-on superglue, btw, and it seems a HUGE step forward from the bottles with a long thin shout that always clog up or let the glue dry hard in the bottle.

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 2

I chose one of the previously re-based standard bearers for the unit, and got the first round of filler slabbed onto the bases.

After that, I removed mold lines and mold tabs from 11 GBP shields to use with the unit, removed some mold lines from the standard bearer, and fitted one of the shields to his left hand.

As the standard bearer is naked plastic, I might as well prime him with the shield already glued in place - the other shields will get white primer before I attach them to the warriors; that way I do not have to prime the already painted models.

They will all receive a Devlan Mud wash when all the non-bone parts have been coloured in, to tie them in with the other skeletal elements of the army (and because I like the look it gives).

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 1

As I wrote yesterday, I want a unit of Skeleton Warriors for my Lords of Undeath GoB army, so I dug out some old skellies and Applied my Dremel to relieve them of their square slottas.

All the warriors with green and/or sand on the left-overs of their old bases, plus the black primed spearman, were done this afternoon.

I am going to use spare round shields from the GBP Dark Age Warriors box for these. Making one point of sling-armed levies should leave at least 12 shields for this purpose.



SAGA: Fantastorical Game!

The second game of today's session was another incarnation of SAGA, using the 'historical' force lists/battle-boards, and fantasy minis.

Ulolkish once more deployed his Dwarves (as Anglo-Danes), and I used a force primarily consisting of Rohan warriors, but using Boromir as warlord, and some Minis Tirith warriors as Hirdmen/Hearthguard (as Vikings).

Warbands deployed:

Both sides advance - the Humans in a less disciplined manner than the Dwarves.

The Human warlord leads from the front... almost!

The Warlord nad his Hird charge into the Dwarven Levy, all but annihilating them.
I managed to roll 19 dice for the first attack - nine of those were 1s and 2s - then rolled 15 for a second attack (SAGA ability) - 7 of those were 1s and 2s. Anyone still claiming that dice rolls will statistically even out the more dice I roll, please come and have a game with me and see for yourself.

The field of battle so far.

As you can see, I foolishly exposed my Warlord to be charged by his antagonist (accompanied by his Hearthguard). Needless to say, he was hit many times, and I rolled an awful bunch of saving throws, not rolling a single 5 or 6.

I really like the SAGA rules, but I think I have to play them more regularly to get the hang of them (and read the rules thoroughly a couple of times in between games, to memorize all the little peculiarities).

Well, come time, come new battle...

GoB Game: Dwarves vs Undead

Finally, a couple of games played again. Ulolkish and I spent most of the day in our living room, where the dining table stood in for gaming table.

First up, a game of God of Battles. Ulolkish brought the LotR Dwarves of Horisont fame, and I, for the first time, put my full 24 pts Lords of Undeath force on the table.

Table and forces before actual deployment

Ghouls deployed on the right flank

The Dwarven Army lined up in all its stunty glory

And the rag-tag dead opposing them. The God of Battles clearly watches with interest.

The armies advance on each other under the steady gaze of some unknown deity.

Lots of action around the ruins in the centre,

Shortly after theis, the Ghouls get butchered by the dozen on both flanks

Realizing that the loss of the last undead Knight
(and another 12 pts in addition to the 4x3 pts of Ghouls) would mean defeat,
I tried to get him out of harm's way, but unfortunately Ulolkish had not used his stratagem this turn,
and could activate the archer unit once more.
Needless to say, the ancient horseman was cut down by lowly archery,
and the victorious Dwarves could claim the field.

The Ghouls are highly ineffective against Loose units, which they cannot circle and threaten in flanks and/or rear. With Att 5 and Def 5, they are not likely to inflict a lot of hits, and they are not very likely to stick around for a second attempt, either.

Their speed (Move 10) is their only real asset, and I think they are best kept out of harm's way, until they can exploit gaps in the enemy battle-line, or be used to outflank opposing Formed units.

My next move, concerning my undead horde, will likely be replacing 3 of the Ghoul units by a Skeleton Warrior unit (12 models, 8 pts), to add some kick to the infantry. It will mean that I shall have to advance more slowly, as the Warriors have Move 8.

I'll use spare shields from my GBP Dark Age Warriors set for the new unit (I have a shedload of old Citadel plastic undead shields, but I think I prefer the historical round, leather-brimmed shields, as it should make the models look less 'Fantasy', and more 'Pulp', and make them better suited for 'Fantastorical' purposes.

Actually, I think I shall start working om the unit ASAP to get it ready for our next meeting, here at Castle Argonor.