Horisont V: Impressions, Part 1

I returned from Horisont in Silkeborg last Sunday, and finally I have som time to rant a bit about it.

Firstly, compared to Horisont III in Esbjerg, this installment was much more cosy to attend. Instad of a big sports hall, the smaller rooms of a school comprised the event, and it resulted in a much richer atmosphere (in more than one way ;o) ).

The event seemed a bit less organized than 2 years ago - especially when it comes to meals served, and the snack/beer sales, but all in all, I had a really nice weekend.

Here are some pics:


Friday evening, before the action



A table for Chain of Command. For some reason, I never got any pics of the actual game...

Dreadstreets - a game written by the presenter.

Dystopian Wars

More Dystopian Wars

Gods of Battle (or War?... help me, Torben!)

Grande Armée (I think) 6 mm

The End is Coming!

Having painted 5 minis during the Medieval Painting Order challenge at the LAF that I can use as human survivors for my PSZ: Warhammer Apocalypse Z project, it is now time to turn my attention to the living dead (it IS a game about battling zombuies, after all).

So, here they are, my first assembled Mantic plastic shamblers:

I just started a week of vacation, so I expect to get a lot of these assembled, and also to get some of the long overdue AARs updated.

Another Renaissance-ish Mini...

My 3rd Empire Spearman for PSZ:WAZ (and for the Medieval Painting Order at the LAF) has been finished today.

I have made some observations regarding painting these 'slashed' garments:

If I paint the main colours first. I rub off highlights from the dark (red in this example) colours, and get paint residue and other dirt(?) on the light (white parts) in the process of twisting and turning the mini to get all the details done, so:

Unless you use  some tool to hold the mini by the base while painting it, paint all the little detail first, then the darkest parts of the main areas, and finally the lightest parts of the main areas.

That way you handle the mini as little as possible after painting the slashed fabric, thus minimizing the risk of doing handling damage.

If you use a cork or clasp to hold the mini, don't bother

As you can see, this guy does not trust his companions, and has opted for a full cuirass instead of a mere breast plate solution. Only fitting for a survivor in a zombie game, I think... ;o)

With some dwarves and elves I already have used for Song of Blades and Heroes, I now have plenty of survivors for the first couple of games of PSZ, so I'll turn my attention to the zombies for a while (but also have to paint a few Pulp Figures).

I don't have many models sporting guns, but I don't think that PSZ is an obvious choice for hard-core wysiwyg-ing, as the survivor models are mainly there to represent the players, and I intend to (mainly) have each player play one survivor (experienced players may ptobably gain followers over time, but initially it will be one man, one character).

The 30-40 zombies will be given a very sloppy paintjob, probably in batches of 10:

- Black primer
- Army Painter Skeleton Bone or Necrotic Flesh sprayed from above
- A dark wash (probably Devlan Mud,while supplies last - then a substitute)
- Another light spray from above
- Details picked out
- Bases finished

When I have a neat horde, I'll decide whether to continue down the fast lane, or if I'll start painting some individually.

To supplement the zombies, I intend to rebase and 'touch up' some old Citadel plastic skellies - after all, it's a fantasy post-apoc setting, so the magic that animates the fresh corpses can also be responsible for this Dance Macabre.

If everything goes according to plan, I may be able to get a small game running during my Chrismas Vacation. But it never does. Besides that, winter is coming, making it difficult to spray minis, as I don't have a well ventilated, non-residential, heated room to do so. I do have an old, working, kitchen ventilator I intend to use for a 'spray box', and it may be about time that I get that project on tracks...

Worst case scenario, I should have enough undead for a game at the end of February, or so...

A New... Photo Set-up.

Failing to find some bulbs powerful enough to light through the sandwich-paper on my light diffusion box, I have stripped the box down to make a permanent 'stage' for miniature photography:

A lonely zombie catches the spotlight.
This can't be good...

The camera is normally placed on its tripod in front of the shoe-box, to which I have taped a sheet of A3 very light grayish blue sheet of heavy paper in a way that makes it curve away behind the object(s) to be captured by the camera. I could have used my other camera to capture it, but I got lazy...

The 3 lamps are bought in Ikea, have flexible arms, and the lampshades can be rotated around the bulp to easily obtain any angle. Sadly, I don't remember the model name.

I use 15W (maximum for these lamps), 805 Lumen, milky bulbs.

The camera is a fairly cheap Canon PowerShot A560 with a €10 generic tripod.

Settings are Indoor, with Macro On, Flash Off, and a 2 Sec Delay.

Furthermore, I use Face Recognition, which enables focus on the mini instead of protruding arms/-weapons (provided the face is well enough painted, of course).

DON'T use Auto setting with artificial lights - you'll get blurred or yellowish pictures 9 out of 10 times (at least I do).

With this set-up, I get really good results almost every time - except for when I forget to check if the focus has captured the right part of the mini.

More Hooded Minions!

I finished rebasing these two culprits from slottas to steel washers yesterday:

They were painted some years ago, but only rebased just now - and with these, all my painted minions are now ready to join a new Pulp Alley League, as soon as I get the Pulp Figures Crimson Scorpion painted in matching colours!

 The next Pulp Figure I'm going to paint is Short Round of Temple of Doom fame; Bob Murch does a nice mini that is not dressed exactly as Short Round in the film, but he is close enough to use as such.

When we played our first Pulp Alley game, we needed a 'clever child' for one of the Plot Points, and I think it's fair to say that Short Round fits the bill for that!

I have nor morepainted  minis to rebase right now, but I'm sure I'll stumble on more over the next months....

PSZ: Another Survivor

I finished this Movember bugger yesterday:

Some might say that I should paint them more gritty, dirty, and bloodied, but I like to paint my minis neat.

That way I can also use them for other purposed than just zombie games.

This was my second red tryout. It consists of old GW Red Gore, GW Wasdakka Red, Wasdakka Red with some white, and Wasdakka Red with even more white.

It gives a slightly desaturated/bleached/worn look, which can be very useful. An even more bleached look can, of course, be obtained by starting with Wasdakka and adding further layers with more white mixed in.

I'lla paint another of these spearmen this coming week, trying yet another combo of reds; I'm trying to fin a method for a good, saturated red that does not go orangeish or pinkish, because i intend to paint up a Forgefather team for DredBall (somewhen... I have to assemble my guts for cleaning them up, first...), and I haven't quite struck home, yet.

Somehow, I had gotten his right side contaminated with a touch of Bestial Brown, and I had to redo some of the white this morning, but as it turned out even better than the first time around, it was really worth it. I almost wet-blended some of it, working with white and a very pale grey at the same time, mixing some of it on the mini.

PSZ: Warhammer Apocalyse Z is cllosing in...

I visited my gaming pal Ulrik in Odense today to collect the goodies he has bought for my little PSZ project.

Yes, he actually got 60 Mantic zombies (at a discount from his FLGS) for me to use at no cost for me.

He also gave me two dripper bottles for water, so I don't have to run to and fro my painting sessions to thin pots of paint.

At the right, the shamblers are drying after a quick hot bath
with dish-washing soap.
Thankfully, they are made of normal plastic,
not the dreadful restic like the DreadBall minis.