Wild Bill Hickok

This seems to be my post #100. Yippie-kay-aye, M....!

I finished this guy from Artizan Designs Sunday evening, for the Old West Painting Posse at the LAF. Possibly also for some gaming...

Painting breakdown, from hat to shoes:

Primer: Black (Army Painter, I think...)

Hat:

• Base coat: A very dark mix of OC Codex Grey and Black (I honestly don't remember the ratio; the pot is from before I started recording my mixes)
• Layer 2: A lighter shade of grey, equivalent of V 70995 German Grey
• Highlight: OC Codex Grey with a little black

Hair:

• Base coat: OC Graveyard Earth + Black
• Mid-tone: OC Graveyard Earth
• Highlight: OC Graveyard Earth + OC Bleached Bone

Skin:

1. Mix of OC Bestial Brown and OC Dwarven Flesh  1:3
2. Old GW Dwarven Flesh
3. Mix of DF and old GW Elf Flesh
4. Elf Flesh

Eyes:

1. OC Dark Flesh
2. WZ Legionnaire Flesh
3. Black 0.1 permanent marker

Shirt:

1. OC Codex grey with some white
2. OC Codex Grey with more white
3. Highlights: Pure white

Tie:

1. Black
2. OC Codex Grey + black
3. OC Codex Grey with less black

Jacket:

1. OC Snakebite Leather
2. F Buff Leather Shade
3. F Buff Leather
4. F Buff Leather + F Buff Leather Light
5. F Buff Leather Light

Waistcoat

1. OC Bestial Brown + OC Scorched Brown
2. OC Bestial Brown
3. OC Vermin Brown

Buttons:

1. Black
2. OC Boltgun Metal
3. OC Mithril Silver

Belt:

1. OC Bestial Brown
2. OC Vermin Brown
3. OC Vermin Brown + OC Vomit Brown

Buckle:

1. Black
2. OC Chainmail

Guns:

• Base Coat OC CodexGrey, then 2 layers with white mixed in progressively.

Trousers:

1. Basically the same as the hat, but with one more layerbefore highlights.

Boots:

1. OC Scorched Brown + Black
2. OC Scorched Brown
3. OC Scorched Brown + OC Bestial Brown

Spurs:

• Built up using some greys, again. OC Codex Grey as highlight, if I recall correctly.

*Pheew* -  I really need to start writing down the colour breakdown along the way, instead of waiting 'til after i finished a mini...

Four Horsemen... well, sort of...

I didn't get around to this yesterday, so here they are: my entire collection of painted Old West minis:















At second thought, I think I shall continue to use greys for the gun metal parts - I just need to fet that shotgun fixed!

If I manage to get a couple more done for the Old West Painting Posse o'er at the LAF, I may even get a couple of Old West games staged after Christmas. Let's see where this takes us...

Doc Holliday.

I finished this Artizan Designs mini earlier today as my first contribution to the Old West Painting Posse at the LAF.

I must say, I have rarely been so irritated when painting a mini; although he is nicely detailed, especially the trousers have some very bad mold lines, and the shotgun is a veritable nightmare, very badly cast. I have tried to mend the, somehow 'twisted', double-barrels, but I think I'll have to redo them at some point, probably sanding/filing them down to a point where I can stand looking at them.

I also think that I might switch back to using metallics and washes on weapons; I think I get better results that way, but I have to scrutinize the few (3) other old west minis I painted about 2 years ago, as I also used greys on their guns.

I'll take a group shot tomorrow, and do some musings about them.




The camera caught the light
on that sleeve :o(
Really annoying!

The colours used on this one:

Primer: Black

Skin:

1. Mix of OC Dark Flesh and OC Dwarven Flesh (actually a mistake to use that mix on this guy - makes him look too healthy; a mix with some grey or blue-grey would probably have been better)
2. OC Dwarven Flesh
3. Mix of DF and OC Elf Flesh
4. OC Elf Flesh
5. (Face only) OC Elf flesh + white 1:1

Hat and Jacket (+ Hair):

1. Black primer/base coat
2. OC Shadow Grey with black mixed in 1:2
3. Same, with less black 1:1
4. Same, with only a bit black 2:1

Duster and Hat Band (+ Tie and Boots and Barrels):

1. Black primer/base coat
2. OC Codex Grey with black mixed in 1:2
3. Same, with less black 1:1
4. Same, 2:1

 Breeches:

1. OC Shadow Grey with black mixed in 1:2
2. OC Codex Grey with black mixed in 1:1
3. Same, 2:1
4. OC Shadow Grey + OC Fenris Grey; this is actually a bit too blueish, but it works, nevertheless, I think.
   I should be mixing highlights for this series using white, but considering the base paint (Shadow Grey) is no longer available...

Waistcoat:

1. Vallejo Black Red
2. VBR + GW Khorne Red
3. C Khorne Red

Chain:

1. OC Scorched Brown (how I miss it!!!)
2. OC Burnished Gold
3. OC BG + OC Mithril Silver

Buttons:

1. OC Mithril Silver

Shotgun Stock:

• OC Scorched Brown
• SB with bone
• SB with more bone

That about sums him up, the base is my usual lazy solution. I think I should get me some grass tufts... somewhen... Would not hurt the eye.

Do or Dice!



Arrived some days ago. With these and a complete set of the current SAGA rules, I am now ready to start making SAGA warbands out of my LotR minis (I may have to paint additional ones, but that's just an added bonus).

To Magnet or Not to Magnet...

When I  began storing my painted minis in A4 printer paper boxes some years ago, it soon became apparent that the minis - especially those of a metallic disposition - needed sometning to hold them in place when moved around.

At the time, I almost exclusively based my minis on slottas (silly me!), and the logical solution seemed to be magnets.

Neodynium magnets, AKA rare earth magnets, AKA super magnets, come in all sizes and shapes, and I found that 2 mm thick discs fit nicely in a standard 25mm slotta.

In the beginning, I then started switching to metal cookie bins for storage, as the minis with magnets in the base would cling nicely to the bottom (or side, or lid, for all that matters). Soon I realized that this was impractical, due to the shape of the bins (round), and the fact that they are very smooth on the outside, and easily slip - causing stacks to topple over.... NOT good.

Instead, I switched back to the paper boxes, now buying A4 magnetic sheets to put in them. This works a treat, and the boxes stack neatly and safely.

Since then, I have begun basing all minis with integral bases on steel washers, and they adhere nicely  to the magnetic sheets, too, and I happily kept buying expensive magnets to glue into the slotta-based minis.

Until it struck me: I do not need morto magnetize the minis, as long as the base is either steel/iron, or contains sufficiently of it for the magnetic sheet to attract!

I then remembered, that when making chainmail hauberks for LARP, I used iron thread (for fences) 2,04 mm thick. Cut into pieces, it can be glued into the slottas, on top of thin cereal package material (to make it touch the surface of the magnetic sheet.

To the left you can see an example of a slotta with a magnet, and one with pieces of iron thread.


The iron thread comes in rolls of about 200 meters, and such a roll will last me for years, even as I'm going to put iron in the bases of all my painted LotR minis before using them for SAGA in tyhe near future.

The head? I don't know, found it in the wreckage after the storm, lately... ;o)

I have started using Locktite Power Glue gel to glue minis to bases (and stuff under the base), btw... This method results in a much stronger join (and a tighter fit) than using thin super glue.

Horisont V: Impressions, Part 3

Well. nothing much to add, text-wise, but I still have some pics to share:

First. some pics of the SAGA board and a game in progress (Vikings vs Normans):

I got a full set of SAGA rules at a 25% con discount, and my 5 sets of dice should arrive this week!

Some 40K variant played with LEGO lookalikes:

A game of Super System in progress:

Don Ø. staged a series of Star Trek: Attack Wing demo games. He was also bringing some stuff for his friend at boardgamer.dk, and I ended up buying 2 starter sets + 8 additional ships, also at a heavy discount...

Preparation is half the name of success

In this game I (U.S.S Enterprise D) could have snatched victory, had I just remembered the Auxiliary Power rule...

The shop of Wolf Terrain

A couple of shots of a WWII game about parachutes and the Normandy (I have forgotten what rules were used):

Some X-Wing stuff (not mine..)

A game in progress on the board I brought.

And, lastly, a pic of a game of Zombiecide in progress.

That's all from this year's participation at Horisont.

I have a big bunch of pics from Horisont II that I need to get sorted out, and I should also have pics from the first BLAM, somewhere.

Expect to see more in the near future!

Argonor's Attic Attack

I am planning to start inviting fellow gamers for a gaming weekend once a year; hopefully next summer will see the first occurrence of this practice.

Over my garage I have 80 sq.m. of space that I intend to turn into a gamer's man cave over time.

This is how it looks like at this very moment, seen from just above the entrance.

My father passed away in June last year, and we had to clear his house to put it up for sale, which is why this project stalled - and the room is packed with furniture.


This is a view from the other end towards the sole 'real' window.
The tarpaulins are covering some tables with stuff on them.

As you may be able to discern, I managed to get some of the very old (and in some cases, very rotten) floor planks covered (no, I removed the rotten ones, first!) with some 15 mm boards usually used for the underside of roofs, but I never finished the task, as have been struggling with an excess of stuff to sort and decide about ever since.

Now, finally, it seems that we are getting to the bottom of the piles of cardboard boxes that has been sitting in our living room for quite some time, and I can turm my attention to this task as soon as the Christmas vacation starts (until then, I still have some storm-damages to attend to outside - and we may have another storm coming this Thursday!).

Here's the next batch of floor boards!

I am planning the Attic Attack to be an easy-going come-as-you-are weekend, where attendees coming from afar can either camp in our very large garden (or in the case of the lucky few, sleep in my camping trailer or in our living room), or get rooms in Svendborg or Odense.

Beverages will be at the premises, and a toaster should be present for snacks, while meals must consist of sandwiches and/or fast-food from the local diner.

I shall provide gaming tables/boards, and minis for several games, but as I cannot be present everywhere, I'll expect attendees to be willing to make a little effort running some games by themselves (normally, plenty of people at conventions know enough of the rules to stand in for the presenter, anyway).

Guests can also bring games they want to attract attention to, and I expect to see at least 10-15 fellow gamers at the first Attic Attack, as I shall beging to 'advertise' right away.


A view from the front left corner

And from the front right corner... I shall add lamps at every second rafter.

The only access point to the garage attic.
This won't change much, I'm affraid.

I hope to see some of the guys from Horisont - and maybe, if I'm very lucky, some gamers from Germany and/or Great Britain.

I cannot pinpoint an exact date for the event, yet, as there's a lot of work to do before the room can accomodate a bunch of gamers, but I hopde to do it in April, May, or August, the latter being the most likely.

I should be able to finish the floor in about 2-4 weekends, but I also have to get all the furniture organized in as practical a way as possible, and I have to sort out which games I can present with sufficient painted minis and terrain.


Entrance seen from ground level.

There's quite a stretch to be covered, but I'm confident that I'll get there (even if i try to participate in each and every painting club at the LAF, too... ;o)  )