Painted Ryza Ruins, and Black Crab Miniatures arrive

I'm pleased to say that the first models I've painted in the new flat are now finished!

The Ryza Ruins set is now fully painted. It's only a tabletop quality scenery job, but that's entirely reasonable for their joint responsibilities as 40K universe scenery and miniature photoshoot props and backdrop.

The paint recipe is simple enough - black undercoat, then two sets of three passes of lighter and lighter drybrushing. The inside is blue-green, the outside orange. A few details were picked out in metallics, everything got a sepia wash, then everything got a lilac (Slaanesh Grey) drybrush to bring it all together.

Of course, inconveniently, a small Kickstarter has delivered. These three highly reputable looking persons are by Black Crab Miniatures. I'm not sure if they're ever going to go to retail, so I'm pleased I picked them up.

So, how are the scores?

Painted / Purchased Score: 40 / 29

We're definitely seeing some improvement! I'm not yet in the clear and painted twice as much as I've bought / acquired, but it's going in the right direction.

I'm trying to knock out a few crates for HATE which should be an easy win on stuff painted. The Space Marine Heroes will be next up, but I will also get the Black Crab stuff prepped up sooner rather than later.

Getting some paint on some terrain, and the Third Offensive

I had a strong ambition this weekend to get a whole bunch of scenery painted so I'd have got some of my own painting finished. However, I'd sort of forgotten this thing called "real life" and I had a whole bunch of unpacking, chores and tidying to do.

Among the areas in need of a tidy was the painting area itself. Getting it a little more in order has definitely helped me field like I can sit down and get on with painting something and dip in and out of some painting.

I managed to miss some spots on the undercoat on most of the Ryza ruins, so touched that up with a brush before hitting the two hatches with a quick heavy drybrush and wash while they dried. I was following the Games Workshop YouTube tutorial for the ruins, just picking my own colours and doing a couple of extra stages of drybrush to give greater contrast.

On the Infinity front, my Third Offensive book arrived. This is the latest supplement for Infinity from Corvus Belli. It is an interesting change in approach by CB. It includes hardly any actual rules at all - it provides details of the availability and fireteams of the new and updated armies, and the latest special skills - but that's it. All the points and profiles were simply updated online, and not included in the book.

Instead, the book contains a whole raft of beautifully illustrated background. It again moves on the setting campaign, explains the background reason for some of the current campaign season focus and provides more detail on the background of the new army lists.

I'm still reading through it at the moment - it feels like something to savour and read slowly rather than blitz through looking for the new rules.

I'd been hoping to have gotten a bit more painting done before my Made to Order Beasts of Chaos stuff showed up. I didn't want much - the metal Warhounds and the standard bearer is all I've picked up - but it's another six on the queue. And the optimistic hope of getting the ten pieces of Ryza ruins finished this weekend hasn't quite come to pass. Hopefully with getting in some painting most nights over the week, I'll make some better progress!

Painted: 30
Bought: -26

Goblins!

Yet more miniatures painted by someone who isn't me! Here's my first batch of goblins by Brushchewer Inc. Once I've found the light box I'll take some better photographs.

This definitely proves my idea that a bundle of goblins from different miniatures from different manufacturers painted in a unified scheme really do look excellent as a motley horde of troublemakers.

I just need to have a serious think if I want to go through with an entire army of them given my current priorities.

I've just received notification that my copy of the Infinity book Third Offensive has arrived, complete with a complementary Libertos Freedom Fighter, so that's a twentieth model purchased, but 20 painted goblins is definitely starting to catch up!

Hopefully the weekend will allow me to get some painting done myself...

Models Painted: 30
Models Purchased: -20

Holiday and game demos

We had a week off this past week, and wandered the country doing relaxing things and catching up with friends and family. As part of this we spent a few days in Nottingham and had a little time in Warhammer World. I managed to get a little hobby assembly done, starting on the Warhammer Heroes models I have.

We managed to fit in a couple of demos. I’d also previously got a demo of Warhammer Underworlds in. So, what’s the report?

Blackstone Fortress

We got a lovely demo with me playing the Rogue Trader and Sim playing the stompy robot. Sim found it a bit too fiddly for her liking, but I loved it, and the solo play means I’ll still be able to get in a campaign of it. Firmly on my “to purchase” list.

Adeptus Titanicus

We had a stripped down demo of two Warlords blasting seven bells out of each other. Definitely a longer game, but the core mechanics are simple and easy to remember. Likely we’ll be able to justify setting up a game table and playing a turn a night over the course of a week. Will be getting more Titans and Knights, definitely.

Warhammer Underworlds

Played this one without Sim, but also been reinforced to pick this up. A well balanced game with slick mechanics and a low model count. This one is a good quick “get a game in” option.

Only managed to assemble one Marine in Bugmans in the end due to catching up with various people. Still, it was good to catch up with various folk and my hobby keen is strong!

Stay on Target - Blackstone Fortress

I’ve been looking with much interest at the recent “Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress” release. However, I’m still not up to target with my painting goals, so it’s going to have to wait. Really don’t want to buy it just to have it sit on my shelf - we’ve only got so much shelf space!

With forty something models in the box, it’ll be a while before I buy this - possibly after I’ve got Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower painted!

Druze Reinforcements

I was super pleased to pick up another batch of painted Druze from Aodhan, who is sadly about to take a break from commission painting. If anyone knows a reliable commission painter who is good with an airbrush and has some free time over Christmas, do shout!

With a good ten models painted, we’re off zero on the painting challenge, now sitting at 10/19 for painted to bought. Progress! I also went to a tournament at the weekend, and was able to field the majority of my forces painted. Another batch, and pretty much all the essentials will be done.

I’ll take some more close ups later (likely next year) when I find my photo light box.

Why you shouldn’t use the wrong tool for the job

 

By Sunday evening, we'd finally unpacked enough boxes that we could reach the hobby bench, and I thought it would be nice to get going on some scenery. I picked up the "ST Ryza-Pattern Ruins" from Dark Sphere for the bargain price of £14 some time ago, and thought it would be good to start getting scenery sorted for the new gaming table.

You get four sprues with two designs - enough for two sets of five pieces of scenery.

And this is where the "wrong tool" problem came in. With not everything unpacked, getting the scenery pieces off the sprue with a scalpel was a huge amount of work. Don't get me wrong, the kit itself was very nice - a bit mould line heavy, but nothing that a bit of cleaning wouldn't fix.

As you can see, each piece cleaned up pretty well - it was just getting them off the sprue that was taking forever.

After an hour, I'd only managed to get two pieces off the sprue and cleaned up.

As I took my lunch break, my darling wife then told me where a pair of clippers were hidden. We got the remaining eight pieces done in an hour and a half between us - easily half the time the first two pieces took, even allowing for two people.

So, folks, the lesson here is definitely to use the right tool for the job. I just scientifically proved it so you don't have to make the same mistakes...

Also, the Ryza ruin kit is excellent value for money and a good way of adding some cheap scatter terrain to your table.

Progress Accountability Update:

• Swapped Bagh-Mari Sniper for a Nisse Sniper (model neutral)
• Box of Infinity stuff sent for assembly
• Assembled the Ryza Ruins kit myself (with wifely help)
• No new models bought
• No new models painted

Painted / Purchased score: 0 / 19

WIP Goblins from Brushchewer

As all is still boxes here in the land of the Responsible One, I thought I’d share some work in progress pictures I got from Brushchewer Inc, who are painting an assortment of my goblins at the moment.

There’s a good selection in the batch - the idea has always been that the army is a motley assortment of different body shapes of goblin brought together by a single paint scheme. You can see some Northumbrian Tin Soldier Nightfolk, a figure from GoblinAid and one from Atlantis Miniatures. I don’t recall where the drummer is from - he’s almost certainly a Kev Adams sculpt, but I don’t recall if he’s Crooked Claw or someone else!

Still, it’s always good to see some progress on miniatures you’ve sent off elsewhere! I can’t wait to see them back in person when they’re finished.

Post Move Mayhem

Current state of Hobby Room

I'm pleased to report that we've moved into the new flat, so all we need to do is unpack!

My computer is still packed up, but I've managed to use my phone to update my "On the Desk" page and write this post.

Accountability

Unsurprisingly, nothing new is painted yet, and the expected slip in the "paint 2, buy 1" rule has happened to make sure I get all my Druze ready for the upcoming tournaments. I also won an HVT model in the Infinity League.

So, purchased or won this week:

• Limited Edition Wardriver
• Tsyklon Sputniks
• Peacemaker and Auxbot
• Bagh-Mari Sniper (to use as a Brawler Sniper)
• 4 Dronbots
• Hunzakut
• Valerya Gromoz
• Druze Shock Team box
• Bounty Hunter with Combi
• Kaplan Tactical Services w/ Spitfire

That's 19 models in the hole - so 38 models to paint to get back on track! Still, I've sent off another batch of Druze to my painter so that should get me a bit back on track, and I hear my goblins are progressing well too!