Tuesday 27 January 2015

No Pics Today...

...but I have been able to do a little work on the diggers. I'll probably finish them the next time I get a chance to sit down and paint a bit...

My 2 days off has become 1½ day instead, and whereas I thought I would go to work tomorrow night, I now have to report in for some medicine education tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. (AND work the planned night shift) - so NO time for anything but sleeping tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday, I also have a job interview at 12:30 p.m. (after working night shift to 7 a.m.), and have to work night shift again.

So, Wednesday and Thursday are both completely busted, leisure time wise, so I probably won't be able to do anything until Saturday, as Friday evening is reserved for family time.

What utterly crappy two weeks I'm having right now!!!

Monday 26 January 2015

Toiling Along...

I have not been updating a lot lately, mainly because I'm working night shift and have not had much energy for doing stuff late in the evening before going to work.

I have been preparing a lot of second-hand wine bottles for a batch of mead that is ready for bottling.

Each and every one had the labels and collar removed before being washed in very hot water an dish-washing liquid, and the rinsed thoroughly with clean water.

A lot of work, but as new bottles are a bit more than £1 a piece, I save quite a few quid by collecting and cleaning used bottles.

I have a couple of days off, so expect an update on gaming stuff soonish!

Thursday 22 January 2015

Working on a DreadBall.

I got ready to prime the magnetized DreadBall-ball earlier this afternoon, using my vented spray paint box.

Looks like overkill to me...

After priming the ball, I left it almost an hour to get dry to the touch, and I was VERY frustrated to learn that:

1) The spray propellant (or the low temperature, or both) had dissolved/broken the adhesiveness of the LocTite Powerglue (I've never had this happening before), AND

2) that the primer had not yet completely dried and rubbed off on my index finger, leaving a finger print in the surface.

Current state.
You cannot see it in the pic, as it is in the upper right kvadrant, but I shall have to file or sand it down a bit to avoid the metal surface of the ball to look odd when finished.

Before
the disastrous priming efforts.
I'll glue the blasted thing before leaving for work later, but this kind of set-backs are not doing anything good for my motivation....






'Magnetizing' some Stuff.

Not exactly adding magnets, but iron to make these models adhere to magnetic sheets.

Two buckets of 'Fire of Isengard', and 3 series of re-roll counters I made for use with the LotR:SBG Battle Companies rules, but can be used for various purposes.

Some of the bases are of the 'slot-less' type, and those were augmented by two 20 mm steel washers instead of the thin iron rod (2.06 mm wire for electric fence).

I was happy to get these off my workspace yesterday evening before leaving for my first night shift/watch in the new job.


Monday 19 January 2015

D&D RPG Fantasy Vikings Project: More Character Minis Arrived!

In the mail today, these two VERY nice sculpts from Hasslefree (I'm pretty sure the male wizard is an ex Red Box mini, btw).

Neither exactly 'viking' in style, but the female is going to be the avatar of my youngest offspring who is playing young apprentice of the settlement's Vǫlva.

Anna and Lea play the daughters of the local Hersír, so the slightly exotic attire of Lea's character can be explained by her father bringing home some stuff from overseas expeditions.

The wizard I plan to use as an arch enemy, threatening the settlement and general area with vile creatures from a lair somewhere in the surrounding fjöll.

Shot from a slightly different angle:

All that remains now is to clean up the models and get some paint slabbed on.

I shall start work on the two main avatars somewhen this week.

I just started in a new job today, and I feel rather chewed up, but I hope to be able to get back to the workable tomorrow afternoon after work.

Sunday 18 January 2015

BioCorp Buccaneers: Final Line-Up!

Yes, finally, here they are in all their red glory.


I stilll have to paint a ball and a referee, and procure some MicroSet and MicroSol for working with the transfers, but the worst part is over now (I think).

D&D RPG Fantasy Vikings Project: Some Character Minis Arrived!

These three beauties from Red Box Games arrived in the mail - probably yesterday when we were 10 km outside Haderslev at my in-laws, to cut op some treetrunks that had fallen on their lawn during the storm/gale the previous weekend.

The two fighter types are to be used for Anna's character (they are almost identical, save for the armament) as she loves to shoot the longbow in real life (and is fairly good at it, too), so also wants to purchase one for her character as soon as she has collected the means to do so.

The face on those two even bears some resemblance to Anna, as far as I can tell, and it will be interesting to see if I can catch and accentuate that resemblance when painting them.

The 'hedge witch' I ordered simply because I like it - I have another mini arriving from Hasslefree any day now (I hope), destined to become the in-game avatar of Lea.

Friday 16 January 2015

BioCorp Buccaneers: Final Player of the Initial Line-Up!

Introducing, fresh out of the gym:

BioCorp Buccaneers #05, Steve Reeves




























Took me over a month (counting x-mas, admittedly, but still...) getting the whole team coloured up!

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Cutting the Wood!

I was able to commandeer this monstrosity in order to get some of my cheap firewood cut to useable lengths, so no big investment this time.

Only catch was that I had to fetch and bring myself, and assemble the gizmo, as it is quite new, and has been sitting in its box in the shed of one of my soon-to-be gaming pals (he has been in the process of getting married, siring a son, and moving the last many months).

I wanted to take a pic of the pile of wood I cut already, but the camera batteries died just after this picture was taken, and I really did not want to go out in the wet snowfall once more after replacing them, just to take a picture of a pile of firewood. Call me lazy, but that was just not going to happen then.

I think, today I went through just about 1/4 of the wood I need to cut; it should not take too long to get the rest done - except for that we are going to visit my in-laws this weekend to help them tidy up their garden after the storm/gale that hit Denmark last weekend (some dead trees and bushes need to get cut up, for which I am bringing my chainsaw, and my trailer to bring home some of the wood), which means a pause from the domestic chores.

SotHT: Rebasing the Diggers, WIP 3.

Sand added to the bases. Next up some basecoat - still wondering how the transisition between new and old sand is going to look...

I spent most of the day working in the shed and in the garden (in between all the very wet show, suddenly the sun shone through and made the day bright, so I thought I should better take advantage of it to get something done), so this is all the hobby progress I made today.

Tomorrow I shall try real hard to get the last DreadBall player finished, so I can move the paint queue along...

Tuesday 13 January 2015

SotHT: Rebasing the Diggers, WIP 2.

Doing some progress.

I wonder if I'll manage to get the new layer of sand to fluctuate with the remainder of the old...




Monday 12 January 2015

Sunday 11 January 2015

BioCorp Buccaneers: First Guard Done (finally)!

I'm really fed up with painting these, and all the while I'm re-directing much of my hobby-time into the Pulp revival project I make only very slow progress.

But, here he is:

Buccaneers #04, John Grimek





Another Nice X-mas Beer

Very recommendable!

Nuff said!

SotHT: Rebasing the Diggers, WIP 1.

As promised, I started working on these today. Now I must wait for the glue to dry...


Saturday 10 January 2015

SotHT: Rebasing the Turks, FINISHED!

Got these done today,

You will have noticed that I did not give the Turkish faction desert bases; they are not going to serve this project only, but will see use in a regular Pulp Alley league, and maybe also games of Strange Aeons/Von unaussprechlichen Kulten, so they got 'generic' bases.

The diggers will get new desert bases instead of their current slottas. The main protagonists ar both 'slotta-minis' so the only treatment they'll get is perhaps a small enhancement of their bases.


Tomorrow, I shall start re-basing the diggers for the archaeological expedition.



Good Beer - Almost as Good as Gaming!

The wife bought me xome discounted x-mas-brews when going to town to buy food today, and I had this with my lunch:

Skagen Bryghus Gårdnisse Julebryg (Skagen Brewery Farm Leprechaun/Elf X-mas Brew).

To my taste
PERFECT for the Danish lunch table (black bread with butter and all kinds of cold and luke-warm cuts and 'accessories' - accompanied by beer and aquavit/schnapps).

Friday 9 January 2015

I Need to Expand my Toolbox...

I have to cut all this wood down to a size that fits in my new stoves.

Yesterday, I spent about one hour sawing - by hand - one basket's worth of firewood, and my right shoulder is thoroughly busted today.

I shall see if I can borrow a powered saw from one of my acquaintances - otherwise I shall have to spend in the vicinity of DKK 4000. So much for saving money by buying cheap firewood...

Well, at least one third of the wood could be used right away.


SotHT: Rebasing the Turks, WIP 4.

Bases painted. I'll flock them later today OR tomorrow.

Soon, I can start rebasing the diggers

Thursday 8 January 2015

SotHT: Rebasing the Turks, WIP 3.

Texture done. Slow progress at the moment, am busy applying for job, cutting up some firewood, and preparing about 40 wine bottles for the next batch of mead to be bottled. Tomorrow I'll have to secure the premises against TWO gales/storms that have been announced for the weekend (I'll have to fix some ground anchors for the kids' trampoline, block the wheels of the flatbed trailer, and put everything not bolted to the ground or the house inside the garage).

I may start painting the bases this evening. Or not. It's been a busy and tiresome day...


Wednesday 7 January 2015

SotHT: Rebasing the Turks, WIP 2.

Next stage done - some of the old gravel removed, and filler added.

Next up some texture, paint, and flock/tufts/foliage/whatever...



Tuesday 6 January 2015

BioCorp Buccaneers - Need Muscle!

The Buccaneers are getting in shape. The Guards are still working out in the gym, but the rest of the team was doing sprint/reaction excercizes.



Monday 5 January 2015

Lead Adventure Forum Painting Clubs - an Explanation.

I have been ranting about this and that LAF Painting Club most of 2014; so, what's it all about?

The series of Painting Clubs started with the Ancients Painting Club in May 2013, and although I was late to the party, just coming out of a real life pressure hobby stupor, it spurred me on to paint again, so I'm quite happy with the concept

Most of the clubs are a joint venture to present a set number of newly painted miniatures (for instance: 99, 100, 200) on a period or genre specific sub-board.
Then - all in good spirits - if you manage to paint and submit one or more minis of the sort in question, before the Painting Club slots are all filled, you get the right to fly a badge in your forum signature.

For me, collecting those badges has become a sport in itself (and getting some minis moved forward in the painting queue that might otherwise get bypassed infinitely is a BIG bonus). and I haven't missed a single one after the APC!

The latest PC is a bit different, in that it doesn't require single minis to be painted, but a long abandoned project to be re-animated and finished. Never the less, I'm on board, as you can read in another post.

These are the badges I sported by the end of 2014:


These are the badges I earned in 2013:


From now on, I'll flash the appropriate badge when showing stuff I finished for a Painting Club - or, in the case of pledge badges, each time I post updates related to the pledge.

BioCorp Buccaneers: Striker Number 3!

Buccaneers #03, Wally West

The 'new kid' on the team, often only entering the pitch late in the match (when Garrick or Allen - or both - are injured), West often finds himself relying on Jacks to deliver assists for crucial late strikes, thus probably the Striker in the League with the fewest catches.






SotHT: It's ALIIIVE...!!

There is a new challenge at the LAF at the moment: Revive a long abandoned project and - hopefully
- finish it within a duration of 6 months.

I chose to re-animate a Pulp project I originally intended for .45 Adventure, but now consider applying the Pulp Alley rules to:

The Secrets of the Hidden Temple


The scenario was almost ready to go, when some real life turmoil redirected my attention away from the hobby for a while: I really only needed to  construct the stairs leading down to the dungeon-like sub-terranean temple, so this task is an obvious goal for the challenge.

Before
Back then, I painted 5 or 6 factions to take part in the scenario, and I based everything on round slottas, meaning that I have a lot of minis with integral bases based that way; thus, another goal is to re-base all the minis with integtal bases onto steel washers - and add iron to the rest.

First step will be to rebase the Turkish faction, and here I present Hasan Köse, international man of mystery, spy, dealer in carpets, exquisite antiquities, weapons, opium, informations, and murder, etc., etc., and his  not-too-bright bodyguards.

Rebasing has begun, and I shall track further progress in these pages.

WIP, Stage 1