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Hi Folks, For this year endurance challenge of 12 months of hobby I enlisted a Plodding Along vow that is now complete The vow consisted into: 1 x Moroch set 1 x Necromunda Market 1 x ooP Fronteris Killzone 1 x Bheta Decima set 1 x Ork Workshop The work started with the old KilZone - Sector Fronetris. A bargain at 80€. It defined the main colours for the rest of the stuff as the plan was to develop a compete and cohesive table around STC Bunker-habs modules. The Ork Workshop and the Bheta-Decima terrain followed. The latter is not especically cheap, and not so qualitative. Yet it is a nice addition to get a silo in the table and add some heights. Yet I did not plan to use the Gantries on this table, Or only anecdotically. They will be better reserved for my Sector Mechanicus Table. The rest of the Sector Fornteris was completed by the addition of the Moroch set, which increase the number of bunker and add some characteristic buildings and fences.. Finally, and in order to develop the idea of a sump town slowly growing around the initial inhabitation core (a la Far West movies), I used the Necromunda Market as a source for some "tent like" stuff. I already commenetd all the pleasure (insert sarcasm here) that caused the painting of this set. And once comes the moment to store it safely.... Even worse. In the end I added to my terrain collection a serious amount of plastic chunk. More than necessary as the differnt item associated to the completed kits is already more than what is required to cover a table at 3000 pts. Next challenge will be hosting a game now. The Plodding Along was completed on june 14th or alike, before embarking on a sea trip to and back from Cornwall on the 21st of the same month. SO I fitted into my target window of 1 semester. Hooray! At one moment I felt like I was going to increase the challenge adding some more Slumptown structures with some cut and converted Munitorum Armoured COntainers. But I gave up. Similarly I resisted into buying some Hab modules from Necromunda. Characters, they have. But cheap they are not. And I spent too much, more than I wanted, on the "Terrain" stuff. Time now to come back into business with Standard Monthly Vows and CtA 2024 of course! See you soon ... ... And now some scenarization! 1. Welcome to Dust Glutch, Ultimate Frontier Quadrant. West of Nowhere. Well known place for its booby traps... Locals wandering in the market, looking for something (or someone) to eat I feel alone... Is there someone here? I had better be left alone finally... This Pad looks small once compared with an already not-to-scale SM aeroplane: CAST (Removed at final cut) - rest of Plodding alone stuff unused there:

Hi folks, After 5 months and a half, I finally completed my Plodding along vow. Last part was the Necromunda market. This set was initially selected in order to represent a sumptown or refugee tents installed among the ruins of the Sector Fronteris that is the core of this table. I did not enjoy painting this set. Too much small stuff that are not really useful or necesary for a gaming table (Mugs, Mung vases...) except for marking objectives, but hey, Objectives markers I have already so many... The assembly is also delicate and the tents very fragiles. It will be nightmare to store safely. As an illustration on how fragile, one sprue came with a pole broken (from factry as the bit was missing). As such I decided to base this tent and use some Tamiya sandbags to hide the missing part. Can you hide something that is not there? In the end here is the result. Some overview shots, still on the workbench; Some detailled views, inc. the Kornflakes tent. I may eventually add some touches on the fence made out of the weapon dispenser grid. I am thinking about adding some guns I have from old Ork kits, SM scout snipers and AdMech Rangers. Might be less Necromunda and more 40k looking... With this completion, it is time to think about the rest of the year. CtA2024 will keep me busy all summer long. but from Oct to years end, I might eventually include a second Plodding along vow? I still have 2 kit bashed tanks (a Land Raider and an Aurox) that may be good candidates. But they still need some serious plasticard job... See you in a future entry about that. Maybe.

Hi Folks, March is coming to its end soon, and I used the days left to build up some old Guardians I ahve since the early 2000. one Defender and one Storm squad. I bought on a budget some platforms on Ebay to complete these chaps and get them aligned with 10th Ed rules. Meanwhile, I also progressed, up to full completion, on the Moroch set of my Plodding Along vow. I had left the fences and the landing pad. The former are really really boring to paint. Getting an aspect that bring a little bit more that a unicoloured chunck of plastic is a time consuming task for this piece of terrain. The latter did not sorte out exactly how I wished/planned. my objective was to get a blend making the link between the darker Hab bunker and the clearer dish antena. The concept was simple. In principle. doing lower parts dark, usinf the Hab bunker recipe, and the concrete platform clear, using, guess wghat, the recipe of the antena and beacon. But it was counting without Murphy´s law, or better said, without my hand being very heavy on sky grey dry brushing. The dark part ended up being so cleared that any supposed contrasting purpose went cancelled. But I am not too concerned in the end as the overall result is more than acceptable and combined well with the rest of the items of my collection of scenery. Let´s makes your own opinion: For this top tactical view I used Manufactorum mats, as I can´t remember where I put the Moroch ones. I also added some walls from the Sector Fronteris Killzone to get a more equilibrated top left corner on this battlefield. "South" view, from the beacon and hab zone "North" view, from the landind pad area I am therefore starting the month of April with only the Necromunda Market left to paint and the Plodding along will be complete! See you soon.

Hi Folks, After weeks procrastinating about these platforms that needed to be finished, I final managed to convince myself that it could not stay uncompleted longer. So, I applied a kind of autodiscipline: spend 10 minutes every day applyong the wraithbone colour I selected as main tone for the platforms. It took me 2 weeks to finish, mainly because covering of splashed metallic tones requires more than onne coat and also because there is a lot of small gaps to be painted. I swear I will think it twice before I will buy more platforms. And if you plan to buy some, before selecting a paint scheme, think it carefully and stick to simple schemes. I decided to go into too much details, that in the end do not really matter. But once you started, you should do all your platforms the same way. Otherwise while mixing them it will looks odd... So, the kit is not offering a lot of variety, this is something damn sure, but I hope it will give depth and options to the rest of my AdMech and Manufactorum scenery. Here is a general overview of the final result: All access traps a removable. Piles are less detailled than previous terrain released by GW, And it does not really matter as it probably have the right amount of detail for a tabletop: My favorite remains the round platform for the Reactor/Furnace. Even if the level of details is lower than the one of previous octogonal platforms. Once again, not a big deal. As for the objectives, they were showcased some times ago already: So, what´s next? Well, I primed the landing pad of the Moroch set, so it is a good candidate now. And I still ahve the Necromunda market set to start. Even if this one will probably require more time: I ran out of paints and I had a stop at the FLGS that opened last year in town (note the use of past tense). It was in a remote area, did not do any publicity... In fact I went aware it existed only 2 months ago. So I stopped by this morning and... it appeared it ran out of business. So I will have to order online or try this new big hobbycraft store that opened in the mall nearby which, apparently, has all the Vallejo range available...

Hi Folks, As Weather is definitevly not by my side, no outdoor activities over the past Week-end. Week in fact. And the weather broadcast for the coming days is even less attractive. It left me with some time to spend painting. And I used it quite well progressing on the 2 odd stuffs from the Moroch set: Meaning the dish antena and the (beacon ?) tower. I tried to do these 2 lighter tainetd than the Ryza Pattern Hab-bunkers. Just to get something close in pallet but offering some contrast on the table. I applied a variant of the colour recipe I used for the Bheta-Decima pillars. At least these pillars are painted, meanwhile the last spur od platform is still on progress. For 2 months. It is progressing as fast as my WFB resurected Proxi-Gor unit (MoN). 2 Prooject I can´t convince myself ending for good. Anyway, back on the Moroch accesories. But first, with a recipe for the main "Light Plastcrete" colour: Step 0 is a white prime. Let´s skip it and jump to Step 1: a good wash of Contrast Basilicanum Grey Step 2 is a deep dry brush with Layer Russ Grey. Not Dry, but Layer: dry is too dry and you need enough "wettness" to cover flat areas. Or at least it is how I justify myself as I do not have any pot of Dry paint for this purpose.... Step 3: a light dry bush of Sky Grey. Any other light grey (Dawnstone for example if we stick to GW range) would be okay Et Voila! Simple, quick and dirty. Perfect for scenery. The last step is probably the most important one: this is the moment when the miniature takes life. You can of course have variants, such as changing the priming in grey and washing with Agrax Earthshade or Wildwood. It gives darker backgrounds. You can do the deep dry wash with Mechnicum grey or the Fang and you have other kinds of finishes. See for example my Administratum building in Galleries for the latter or the Ryza Bunker hab for the former... Then, time to details, but not too much, and here is the final result: Should you do the same on the beacon tower (pimping it a little bit more) you have something quite acceptable too Both pieces are in a tone that makes them compatible with the rest of my collection while introducing a small hue in the pallet. Let´s see think about how I will treat the landing pad next. I might try the same recipe or go toward something even lighter. Maybe I will skip the washing step, and go drybrushing directly on a sky grey base coat. Russ grey and Mecahnicum grey in degraded maybe? See you soon once I will have answered this question.

Hi folks, Here reporting the first big milestone of my 2024 Plodding Along vow, with the completion of the KT Sector Fronteris environnement set. After setting up a paint scheme last month, Cleaning up the big chunks of sprues, here comes the complete result. Overviewing the complete set of walls set on the mat, it leaves little space available indeed. Said thata I was (secretly) maoning that not getting the Ryza Pattern ruins set included (as in Moon Base Kassius for example) was a missed opportunity! Should these have been included (with the broken door barricade and the hatch) I wonder how it would have possibly fit on the mat!. I choosed to use the sprues NOT to build a complete any intact building. Favouring 2 half collapsed instead. "Why?" would you ask? Because I also have the Nachmund box with its 2 complete buildings. So getting 3 untouched was not of my prime interest thinking that I will end up combining the 2 sets. Here bellow another shot which allows, let´s admit it, showing something better that the previous top view. And less blurry too. As doors are coming with one side plain and one side with 3 closing lockers, the orientation of the wall takes some relevance: it would be puzzeling that the setting of the door would allow someone to close you inside whereas the purpose of these hab-bunkers is to locked yourself inside and defend your ground. Or wait that the storm pass by. The structure shown bellow was assemblied in such a way that unfortunatly the door was in the "unproper" position. Not too shabby. But neither so critical as the ruined walls are molded in a very clever way, making the doors very easy to remove and reorientate. So here it comes: you just cut the 6 attaching plastic sections and you just reposition and glue in place. Tachan! The half opened door is set with a bobby trap made out of left appart Necromunda fusion bombs grape (not shown). Pics are a little bit blurry as I am on the urge, atm. Yet I expect I will release more latter, once the whole plodding vow will be complete. So, plodding alonng vow is going well; - KT Sector fronteris: Complete - Bheta decima: 6oo7 spures done - Ork Mekboy Workshop: 2oo4 sprues done - Nachmund: 2oo7 sprues done - Necromunda market: still in box. After 6 weeks of work it is not too bad. See you soon

Hi Folks, While plodding along, one of the challenges I am facing is selecting a paint scheme for the Ryza pattern SCT bunkers and ruins coming with the Moroch box and the Sector Fronteris ooP KillZone. Surfing and lurking around on the internet brought some of the usual suspects: Plain gray scheme, as per Moroch pics, which is a little bit plain Tales of Painter schemes, although they are quite dark and air brush oriented YouTube video tutorial, out of which most are 100% airbrush or just plain crap. Sometimes in a genuine combination of both criterias. Few, yet impressive, red or brown or yellow paint schemes that are very nice looking yet represent a big drawback: most look like being time consuming painting with a lot of detailing (inside panels...), something that I am not ready to invest on. So... Looked like a dead end alley way. Or not. Going back to the basics: what do I expect from a scenery model: That it is painted fast That it shows enough details to have a good overall aspect without being as detailled as my LoW-character-of-death (this means that stopping the painting process to dry brushed boltgun metal over black primed model is not a satisfying option) That the big picture is coherent enough for the miniature set and for the same set vs. the other ones I may use along I think I reached such a good balance of outlook vs. effort on my previous scenery kits and what I am looking for is trying to get the same type of results. While adding another criteria: Not be as the other stuff I previously painted. Yet if I want to respect the above criteria #3, I shall try to be more or less compatible in terms of chromatic range. My current chromatic pallet has been so far based on (for buildings in scenery): Space wolf grey tainted plastcrete - sector Imperialis and Sector Manufacturum wall type Russ grey tainted plastcrete - BEtha DEcima pillars, and sector imperialis flooring So basicaly I have a "mid" tone and a "light" tone. What is missing? A darker tone. My recipe for this one has been based on the following adapted steps (I almost use the same steps everytime, adding varition only by paintpot/colour selection): Priming/Base colour: FeldGrey spray from Vallejo Covering everything with Agrax Esrthshade Dry brushings. Plural. Here the sequence is a tad more "evolved" than the usual one (to be understood the one I usualy apply: mid tone applied with average pressure (Space wolf grey for example), lighter tone with very light pressure (Dawnstone for example)) First, a genaral Mechanicus grey, insisiting quite a lot to get a significantive impact Second, and only for superior part of the walls, a light dry brush with Vallejo Sky grey Thrid, and only for the bottom part of the wall, a more intense dry brush 1:1 sky grey/neutral grey - both from Vallejo. Global effect results being quite OK. At least to my taste. But to come to life, it needs the bronze details for pipes and reds for cable. Roof and derelicted roof were done as per the Sector Fronteris model: black, drybrushed with boltgun metal and details with a very light bronze wash. This is the extra touch needed to get a good overall aspect. In the end I am quite happy with the result: * I guess I have my scheme, even if it is not radically distinct from the usual colour lay outs found here or there. I may lack of imagination, but I feel more confortable with this than with brown/redish earth walls I tried before.... Which I do not share as they hurt the view so much they will need a serious "Rescue painting" activity... See you folks when I will have more to show as I have quite a number of building and walls waiting to be painted now... So Plodding is progressing! * With a little bit of imagination you can see the roof colours...

Hi folks, After some down times in painting activities due to primer shortage, I finally found some Vallejo cans in the last place I would I though: a scrap booking store. The kid went out with some "Paint by numbers" set and I with some cans. And with a 10% discount vs. modeling stores. So, time to resume painting activity. With all this primer, I have been able to initiate my Feb vow. Both Mago and Epic Reaver were primed and dry brushed in bolt gun metal. I then applied all the basic colours to the Mago plus the associated lavishes and dry brushing. This one will undergo detailling nw and might be completed in a few days. As for the Titan, well, I am still stuggling into selecting colours. And what about the plodding along? First the Bheta Decima set: Ferratonic furnace is done. I used the same livery as for some other silos I have, in order to stack them into a coherent 3 levels tower. So Incubi darkness as main colour. The round platform has been as boring to paint as I remembered from the previous gantries I did previously. But the final look is rather OK and the assembly is rather smooth. I anticipated some issues, but it resulted being all the contrary: setting these round platforms is rather OK. Sure, I would not put any metallic mini on the peripheral ring, but with current plastics it is fine. Objectives are done. Quick and dirty. But they have a rather good outlook on the mat. Pillars are primed. These will come next. (see footnote 1) Second, the Ork Mekboy workshop: The 3 piles of scrap are done. 1 3 out of the 3 barricades are done. and the 2 remaining ones are at 80% It has been a rather proefficient week and I might slow down a little bit. Next milestone will be selecting a paint scheme for the ryza pattern STC buildings. I will try on a derelict wall first. I will let you know. Yet, as always, if you have some recomendations for a paint scheme for the latter, you are welcomed. Indeed the Ryza Pattern Bunkers are rather common (due to their inclusion in Hachette sprues as ruins or as building in starter sets) yet I do not find much pics on the internet (a.k.a. the ultimate inspiration source...) - other than grey... See you soon. Footnote 1: Did you notice any quality site subtly introduced as a background reference?

As I embarked in the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge for 2024, I was not really expecting getting a huge volume of projects related to 40k or HH eras. In reality I was planning painting some old WFB stuff (to get them for the Old World for using or selling) and eventually getting one or two stuff for the Space Opera universes. This was without counting on a combination of external factors suchas Winter sales, Shop closure, stock cleaning, and burning Credit card. The usual suspects. It looks like this is a typicial vicious circle indeed. ¿Indeed? So, you think you see the end of the tunnel (a.k. Pile of Shame), while in fact you mismatch with the beams of light of the delivery man truck bringing you more material. Sales are a damnation. Or is it my own lack of moral strenght? In a nutshell, while planning a quiet year, as introduced in my previous Blog entries, the plan has already blown away. And my collection of terrain is growing strong. Let´s see what went in: - Mekboy Workshop - more piles of scraps and a Ryza pattern ruined workshop... -... ruined workshop that will fit perfectly with a full Nachmund set. - And as the ruins means people living under tents, so some Necromunda market stuff makes the deal This is a good base to go with my home mad edragoon teeth, piles of scrap, sand bagged container and derelicted IG vehicles trapped in sand. Yet it is not a complete picture as there is : - More Ryza Pattern bunkers, from ooP Kill Zone: Sector Fronteris. This will almost close the loop and will allow a full Fronteris village - Bheta-Decima terrain, mainly for the mid-height platforms but the REactor will be a good silo for the Fronteris township too. I was aiming at more Armoured containers, to cut them into improvised shelters / dump town habitations and one (or two) Thatos Hab, but fortunatly I recovere reason before... With all this stuff, the small (old West) Ash desert township will result being an amalgam of the STC habs, ruined stuff and the usual add-ons from newcomers, Refugees and wanderers I guess with might be a good Plodding Along vow project for S1 in the =]12Months of Hobby 2024[= challenge, excluying the Bheta-Decima atm as it is no really fitting well into the plot... The main topic is now defining a painting scheme. In a perfect case, it should fit with the plastcrete colour of my exisitng buildings. Yet the design of the Ryza STC is closer of Mechanicus Sector gantries... Shell the latter apply, a simple black dry brushed with metallics will match. It may eventually be a little bit too dark. But I do not feel like I am ready to go to radical coulour changes such as rusted metal or brownish reds... Any suggestion?