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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?

I am quite satisfied having been able to close my third vow in the Imperium Stronghold before the bbell toll of Sept. 30th. Here bellow are my last 2 pieces of enlisted units and scenery: - a barricade made of sand bags - an outpost made from proxy Munitorum container (Rescued from a old (broken) toy found in the attic of Grandpa and Grandma) With some views of the outpost: I still have some of these plastic sandbags, but I will reserve them for another project... When I will have decided what kind of project it will be. My third vow is therefore fully complete now, and, let´s be frank, I will NOT add anything more. SO no new vow in the Chaos Stronghold, as the 2 other strongholds are alredy fitted with 3 vows each... Shall I have time (to be understood spare time under day light) I will try to shoot some cleaner familly portraits of all 6 vows. But it will be another day and another post.

I feel like a little bit purposeless as my next bunch of fresh material for 40k will be delivered in afew days. I still have some stuff left in a box, some more ooP Rhino chassis tanks, but It would be repainting them. I could off course shift to WFB which is clearly my next big challenge as my Pile of shame is huge here. Or anticipate on Epic reboot and paint my old (very old) 6 mm scale armies. But I do not want to embark on something too different like 6 mm and I am a little bit fed up of Space Wolf Blue. As I have just completed 4 of these ooP rhinos last week, I would like something different. So, back to the shoe boxes and bitz and see what we have. A couple of sprues of SM scouts, plus some bitz from Scions and Skitarii will make a great alternative Tempestus unit to be used as SM auxilliaries. I already have plenty (too much) scouts, so I will not regret these. after some cutting and glueing and adjusting, here we have something intteresting: It will be nice getting this deep striking unit on Astra militarum with 2 grenade launchers: something that can be a good objective taker for my still WIP Emperor´s Fist force. And after some additionnal exploration, I gathered various plastic bits which, after more cutting and glueing of these few bits out of the thousand accumulated over the years, allow getting some piles of scraps/objectives. These will perfectly complete my Ash Desert scenery. Even if the last one is mainly Tamiya material, it scales out well with Munitorum drums and crates. I will sum these kit bash and scrap piles into my next vow for the Imperium Stronghold, which will makes 10 extra points for the Scions and 7 points for the scraps (the one with the banner being small it will probably count for 1 only). I also met some Tamiya sand bags. If it is still raining tomorrow, I may use them and add more scenery...

Hi All, just thought I'd post the scenery I've been building and painting on here in an effort to keep me motivated. Hope Y'all enjoy!

[Posted in the wrong section. Please move.] Of relevance to the science fantasy setting Warhammer 40'000. Copy-pasted from an advice reply over on T9A for Mad 'At's Citycape Skirmish Blog, since much of it could be of general interest to wargamers all over. Mad 'At is by the way an accomplished scenery builder and miniature painter, as should be evident here, and it's something out of the ordinary to play across his club's terrain at some Swedish tournaments. I guess the board will double up as both sewers and streets with canals? I'd highly recommend you paint some odd stones in different tones to add interest to the plain grey board as it stands. E.g. blue-grey, reddish brown, beige, blackish grey. Likewise, a little moss and painted lichen clinging to stonewall surfaces can break up the grey monotone and give life to the texture: [align=center] [/align] It can easily be done, and is a simple way to improve terrain. Needn't be Golden Demon level, something quick like this from a Danish Frostgrave table adds a lot. Also, a touch of ivy somewhere could be neat. As could the rare tuft of grass growing between cracks in a stone or brick wall (not the street stones, that could impede placing bases around). Yellowed grass will help keep it grimdark if that is desired. And a simple bird's nest somewhere high up in a ruin could add a lot, maybe with eggs in it. Onward, wood can easily be made to look more organic on miniatures and [lexicon]terrain[/lexicon] by adding a few streaks of grey or grayish-greenish-brown (Catachan Green is a classic) into thew woodwork. This is not to say that all the wood surface shall be covered in it, but that once one have painted it brown, one can add a few veins of grayish green. [align=center][/align] Clever take with the ruined parts of Avras (Constantinople and Rome rolled into one) for a Mordheim game. This is probably not what Cityscape Skirmish players want to see, but what the heck: In both the case of Rome and Constantinople, when they got largely depopulated and the living city shrunk back within the walls, parts of the former city were given over to farming and pasture for cattle, goats, swine and sheep. So that you had a living city centre, huddling together around the Vatican in the case of Rome, and lots of ruins and abandoned enormous monuments, falling apart in urban decay. And scattered amid all this was some agriculture within the city walls. So you could include some field or orchard in a misplaced location, e.g. on some broken-up market square or within the walls of a ruined temple whose roof collapsed long ago. Perhaps some makeshift little stable of herdsman's hut thrown up against the towering stone wall of some ancient grand building. Maybe even stray farm animals just for flavour without any effect whatsoever on the game, moving out of the way automatically as the warbands roam about (or perhaps breaking line of sight and possibly stampeding in panic for some odd scenario - or being a cattle raid)? Maybe some broken statue could enhance the ruined impression? Likewise, as a bone thrown to fungoid Goblin fans out there, you could make a patch or two of brightly coloured mushrooms who release spores with odd gameplay effects in their vicinity, particularly for sewer play. And some unearthed mass grave, for all Necromantic needs. Furthermore, don't be afraid to add burn markss to frayed and damaged edges of ruins. It can aid with the visual impression. And speaking of marks, some old dried blood stains or just stains of mold, dung or dirt could help break up the grey stone expanse. Not big spots and splotches, but ones better done with a detail or stippling brush. And if you ever do a living inhabited city quarter, you could include posh ancient fluted columns and other intricately carved stonework that has been looted from old buildings and built into newer ones, such as shoddy little mansions. Here are parts of some ancient Greek columns from the Bactrian kingdom still in use in Afghanistan today: [align=center][/align] Also, while much more relevant to sci-fi than to fantasy, some graffiti in the form of chalked or coal-drawn clan markings, pathfinding signs or unholy occult symbols drawn by gibberish madmen (Chaos stars and so on) could be added to some ruin or another. Perhaps Roman, Viking or Egyptian style? Just throwing ideas in case anything is of interest. Hills as Dump Piles On a different note, how about spicing some of your hills? Tired of all wargaming hills looking virtually the same? While we all want a flat surface on top for movement, the steep hillsides are usually open field for add-ons, so long as they don't interfere with movement trays on top and units passing by. While moss and flowers can be added to the sides of hills to bring nature more into the game, there is also another route which can be taken. Simultaneously with the vegetation, in fact: Hills as dump piles. One dump could be corpses and skeletons, such as this Hill of the Slain, an illustration for Silmarillion: Another could be ruin stones poking out from the sides of the hills, some bearing ornate carvings, like the Schuttberg in Germany made up of rubble from cities bombed asunder during the Second World War: Another could be a Tell, an ancient settlement mound built up of layers upon layers of sunbaked mud brick. Perfect for desert tables. Some artistic license would work best here, since the outermost layer of bricks usually crumble down to an indistinguishable dust layer. Instead, make some sections of the hillside be worn brick wall visible among the earth. Could include pottery and bones for extra effect: Yet another take on a fully or partially artificial hill could be to make it a dumping ground for waste, such as one made up entirely of pottery shards stacked on top of one another, akin to Monte Testaccio in Rome which is a hill made up of millions of discarded olive oil amphorae during the city's ancient heyday of bustle and consumption: And last and least, how about a dump pile for Skaven underground digging? All those tunnels and caverns clawed out from the earth must leave a lot of waste, that needs to be dumped above ground. This would be an ordinary hill, but perhaps with some Skaven skull or broken ratman shield or weapon sticking out from the earth, rocks or grass of the hillside. The same could be done for others than the verminous swarms, of course, including Dwarfs (runestone proclaiming ownership of dump pile material by some clan?), Chaos Dwarfs ( sprinkled with obsidian shards and dead Goblins?) and Goblins (Goblin waste, including dung, broken gear and fungi). Just make sure any such vertical/diagonal additions to hills are done in a friendly fashion for tabletop movement. Got any tips of your own to share? Do please spill the beans!

The Mohock Blades http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qDPRrzo4ATI/U6vmQzzd4QI/AAAAAAAACao/ZgVvji3YIqE/s1600/Confrontation+Scan+1.jpg "Now is the time that rakes their revels keep; Kindlers of riot, enemies of sleep. His scattered pence the flying Nicker flings, And with the copper shower the casement rings. Who has not heard the Scourer's midnight fame? Who has not trembled at the Mohock's name? Was there a watchman took his hourly rounds Safe from their blows, or new-invented wounds? I pass their desperate deeds and mischiefs, done Where from Snow-hill black steepy torrents run; How matrons, hooped within the hogshead's womb, Were tumbled furious thence; the rolling tomb O'er the stones thunders, bounds from side to side: So Regulus, to save his country, died." - Fragment, pre-Unity Terra. Hi, so after a period of not really doing much with the hobby I'm making a bit of a return. I have two projects on the go; the first will be focusing on the Mohock Blades, my attempt to celebrate the return of Necromunda by modelling a gang of Bratts. I've always enjoyed the class warfare elements of the Confrontation background, and thought the Bratts were great fun; the House gangs are lovely but I still feel it was a bit of a shame that they were reimagined for Necromunda as the Spyrers, who are a great concept in themselves but nowhere near as varied and interesting. I've seen quite a few Bratt gangs using the classic confrontation models but never anything more up to date, so I figured that would be a fun challenge to set myself. So where am I coming from with this? Here's a quick "concept board" I put together with some of the imagery I wanted to consider aside from the classic artwork and sketches. Aside from the old Jes Goodwin sketches, which are wonderful, I was also heavily influenced by some of the sensibilities and costume design in Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange, which scream Brat to me (ironic when you come to think of it, as Alex was decidedly working class). Alex and his Droogs in their cricket whites are clearly the most memorable costumes in the film and I didn't seek to imitate them particularly, but some aspects were very inspiring. I decided to adopt the film's colour palette, so predominantly white, black and orange as secondary colours and then red and purple spot colours. All those puffed sleeves done in full white should hopefully be rather “Droogy”. As has been noted elsewhere, Brats share a lot of imagery with some aspects of the Eldar range, particularly Harlequins, so the challenge for me was to recall the old sketches without rescuing those design elements too obviously or clumsily, and at the same time also ensuring that the models weren't too obviously kitbashed from other sources. There's also an interesting historical element I want to draw on- London in particular has a long history of aristocratic thugs causing havoc on the streets. From the Elizabethan era right through to the Regency period different gangs caught the imagination of the popular press (not always legitmately- a lot of the moral panic wasn't dissimilar to some of the more fanciful tabloid sensationalism today). My plan was to follow the original concepts quite closely without using any of the classic models; instead I'd make use of various plastic components and greenstuff anything that wasn't immediately available. What that means in practice is a mix of Genestealer Cult, Imperial Guard, Harlequins and WHFB Empire bits, but hopefully not in a clumsy way. My emphasis was on the group as a bunch of privileged youths rather than the more hardscrabble gangers of the underhive; Bullingdon droogs in space, basically. To me this meant a lot of ostentation in costume but a fairly uniform set of weapons; while an underhive gang might grab anything to hand and improvise weaponry, I saw my Bratts as mostly making use of antique pistols and blades pilfered from their family armouries and occasionally (for the more exotic stuff) daddy’s gun closet. There will be 7 members of the Blades; a Leader, a Heavy, four Gangers and a Juve. I don't game, so I decided fairly early on that instead of putting the group on the usual slottas I'd receate a little bit of Hive Primus on a scenic base and have them posing, as if for a pict. There's obviously an element of Bullingdon in there. Because I'd like an element of interaction with the base, that's my first priority and will form the next post. So that's the plan! next up, some actual work.