Red is for Chaos!

Howdy.

This is a figure I entered in a contest a while back. It took Best in Show and I am very happy with how it turned out.

I know the old school chaos dwarves are either love them or hate them. I kinda like them, I think the models are very characterful and are challenging to paint. I opted to stay with the standard paint scheme and painted in pretty much as the army book describes. I just put my own touches on the figure.

Also, I have been working on some arcticles for Bell of Lost Souls. They are being well recieved I think. A bit ot fame is never a bad thing really, but I don't consider myself an expert yet. I know I can do pretty much anything I want to, but truth is I feel like there is so much more I can learn and do. Honestly I feel like I have just started to scratch the surface of things in the painting world. Which is a good thing since I am a so so player. I win more games than I lose, but not by much.

On the work bench is a Skulltaker that is near complete. I need to get it done for my buddy who has been more than patient. Part of the reason I don't take many commissions anymore is I just don't have the time to get them done in a remotely reasonable manner. Then I have a Valkiya to get done, a lord on Juggernaught and a herald of Khorne on Juggernaught.

After that I have a Kugath to finish. Plus all my BOLS articles.

I think the order I will work for the next few is Ork skin, then maybe something on blending. However, I think my blending article would be better done by video on You tube. I'll have to play around with that before I am ready to go official with it. I say a video would be best because most of the belending I do is wet blending, ie I mix the colors still wet on the model, and it is best seen as it happens, not start and finish.

Anyhoo, back to the salt mines.

A Small Divergence for a Big Gun

Howdy.

Normally I would talk about my painting projects and models I am working on. However, I feel I need to stick up for one of my most favorite toys in my gaming arsenal. That is the modest Thunderfire Cannon.

As an engineer in real life, the fact that it is manned by a techmarine is already a plus. Us geeky guys need to stick together.

While most of the game guru's will tell you that it is a piece of junk and not worth its points allow me to completely disagree.

What we have for 100 pts is an artillery piece that can fire 4 templates up to 60 inches. It has 3 types of ammunition, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.

The first type is Strength 6 and has an AP of 5. Good standard marine or anything else killer.

Second type is Strength 5 with an AP of 6 but has the added benefit of negating cover saves. Good bye bugs and IG and good riddence.

The last type is a strength 4 with no AP. However, anything hit is treated as if it was indifficult terrain in the subsequent movement phase, which can be very handy at the right time in messing up your opponents plans to manuever or to cause vehicles trouble.

All in all it is a very versatile weapon and if you look at the opportunities to capitalize you fire it can be extremely devastating. I will throw out example number 1 and my most favorite. Troops disembarking or being caught in an exploding vehicle.

Infantry bunched up together is where this gun really shines. This past weekend at at GT tourney in Austin, in almost every game a rhino or similar transport was blown up. Troops stuck in a tight formation. One in particular was a unit of Grey Hunters with Ulrik in it. Now this was far from average, but in one volley I was able to wrack up 38 hits, inflicting 34 wounds. Suffice to say, a large unit was reduced to 1 model with 1 wound.

Anyhoo, I love my Thundefire Cannon and stick firmly to the mantra if 1 is good, 2 are even better.

August 4

Howdy.
This past weekend I went to Wargames con in Austin. Great event and I had a good time.

I am working pretty hard to try and keep up with the blog, however life has a way of making a mess of things and I have been workin on a variety of things.

Up coming topics is my good friend Honda and I are going to do a tale of 2 wargamers. He is doing Krieg for ther Vraaks campaign and I am working up my FW World Eaters.

Also, I am working on my WHFB Empire army. I have to admit I started working on this several months ago, but thus far I have only 12 models completed with several others about halfway done.

I am also needing to finish up a couple of commission pieces for 2 good friends of mine. I will feature those here over the next month or so as I get them done.

Completed projects: My Silver Skull Space marines are complete at 2000 points. My Tomb Kings are almost complete at 2250 points.

My Winter theme WW2 germans are complete at close to 50 points. Yes 50. There is still a long way to go with them.

Up coming projects

Fall football and coaching my sons team

Kugath conversion and painting

Skull taker

Lord on Juggernaught

Herald of Khorne on Juggernaught

a couple of Hasselfree figures

a few Reaper figures.

End of April

Howdy.

I am finally managing to keep up with my projects. One of them is to paint up some Leman Russ' tanks for a friend of mine. I am very far behind on this but I am almost done. he wanted something simple for his Valhallan IG army so I came up with a simple urban paint scheme that I think looks pretty good.

Anyhoo, I have a few pictures of the command tank for ya to look at. I am hopeful to get a picture of the complete 10 tank company, as well as the 2 baneblades I have been working on for him as well.

I am rather pleased with how they turned out. Simple, but with a few nice little details. For the command tank I painted a simple HQ skull on the top hatch of the turret and wrote in "valhalla" on both sides. On each tank I painted a Armored fist with the # 257, which is my friends old army unit and I used WW2 style US army tank designations on the back of each turret to identify each tank, squadron, unit and so on. Overall it looks pretty good.

Hope ya'll like it!

I have also started up again on my Silver Skulls army over on Bolter & Chainsword. Hopefully I will hear some good comments on them. I will post some pictures here shortly.

Tax Day

Hmm. Taxday today. Lots of interesting things going on in the world. Pirates, presidents, terrorists and maybe some really good summer movies coming out soon.

Anyhoo, life is messy and I have been busy with life and all that goes with it, so little time for updates. But I have made a little progress on some things here and there.

All of my kids are involved in sports. I have been busy with that since the fall. My wife has still not recovered from her illness, its a weird vestibular problem so she gets vertigo real bad sometimes.

I have mostly finished a huge project in the front yard. Just got to finish up some edging and it will be done for the year.

I am hopeful to go to gamesday this year. It is not looking like it will happen, schedule issues making a nuisence of themselves, but I have my fingers crossed.

So anyhoo, the picture is a howling banshee that I entered in Gamesday la last year. It was close to placing the judges said, but for a small gap under the foot and a kind of awkward pose. Still I am quite happy with how she turned out.

I am almost done on the leman russ project, that one is way overdue to get done.

The tiger platoon is still waiting to see some time. Everytime I sit down to work on them, something comes up. I think I am just going to have to settle for little opportunites as the present themselves. No airbrush work as I rarely have time to get my set up going before I have to stop and address something else. Also, I had to change internet providers so I have to do some digging to recover my clients email. I do not know if he still wants the tigers or not, but I will give him first crack at them as they were for him, and if not I will put them up on ebay.

I will also be putting up some US Flames of War stuff I have for sale. I have had these figures for a little over 2 years and they have never even been out of the box. Time to go if you ask me.

Crimson Guard are still on the shelf. No work or progress there, although I have worked up some Silver skulls Space marines while I have been away from home for work. The lighting in hotels is horrible for any serious painting work, but it is decent enough for metallics. So I have got some of them finished. Overall I think they look pretty good.

WorldEaters are collecting dust. Sigh...

The panzer division recieved some color along with the Tigers for Wittmann. Sadly not much else. But that is better than collecting dust.

Anyhoo, this week I will be getting started on Wittmann's platoon as well as a painting project for The Miniatures page.

Its September!

SO Howdy all. Anybody miss me? Well I missed me. Been a really busy busy year. I have been really involved with work and my wife became very ill in Februrary. SO needless to say I have not been doing much on the mini painting front.

That being said, I did get 2 figures painted over the last 7 months. Not exactly what I had in mind, but we take what little we can get. For my trouble I won a Bronze demon at the Los Angeles Gamesday this August. It was kind of a mixed blessing. I had so many other things to get too, however I had already bought my tickets and those for my son as well. Naturally they were the non refundable kind( always read the fine print). So with 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there I did get 2 figures done.

Anyhoo, I am beginning work on several projects that are so far behind it is not even funny.

Project 1. Wittmanns Tiger platoon for Flames of War. A client of mine had requested these and it is high time I got on them. I am very thankful he is a patient man.

Project 2. A Leman Russ tank squadron and a couple of Baneblades for a good friend of mines Warhammer 40k army. I have a free reign to do what I like with them so I think it will be interesting. Also a patient man. Good thing.

Project 3. More work on my Crimson Guard space marines. A little bit here and there to keep it interesting.

Project 4. My New WorldEaters chaos marine army. This is going to be a hoot to get done.

Project 5. My German 21 Panzerdivision for Flames of War. I bought this army earlier this year and have only managed to open the box so far.

There are other oddball figures and projects here and there, most of them for Gamesday next year and hopefully Reapercon in Dallas as well.

And now even More Shermans!

So here are the Shermans to tie into the Tank Destroyers. They have early-mid war markings and are identified as the 2nd Armored Division, 67th regiment, which saw action in all theaters.

The Infantry and a Jeep!

SO I have finished up the Infantry for the M18 tank destroyer unit and the jeep as well.

I am very pleased with how they turned out.

Thoughts and opinions always welcome!

M20s and a Jeep!

OK so HOWDY Again. My client is happy with the M18s so YAY GO ME!

Now the M20s are up for review. I was not entirely sure how to proceed with these guys, but I came across a modeling sight that had some M20s done up and a couple of pictures of M20s from the field in France. It's amazing what a google search will turn up.

Anyhoo, I took one of the more intersting models and split up the markings on the vehicles so each one would have some character.

The jeep I kept simple so the driver and officer would stand out more. I think they turned out pretty decent and am happy with the results. I have a few jeeps of my own and I think I am going to follow the same approach for my own. I was thinking of tryin to include a standing gunner on the jeep, but with the position of the MG and the stadning figure, the models physically did not fit, unless I was going to have the gunner standing on the rear lights/bumper. Would'nt look good at all.

The jeep needs a little grass and maybe some small basing details to finish it out. I am going to do this along with the infantry tonight so stay posted as I hope to update this evening.

So feel free to comment, praise or complaint, it is all good to me.

Thanks!!

HELLCATS FINISHED!!

So Howdy. OK so they are not entirely complete. I still need my client's approval before I can call them done. I do feel really good about them though. I am very pleased with the way they turned out and I think there is something special about these figures I have done up.

In any event I marked them up with some simple slogans and put unit markings on them for the 67th Armored regiment, 2nd Armored Division, " Hell on Wheels" I like this unit because they were in every theatre since the US entered the war and have a illustrious history.

Next up are the Utility vehicles and the Jeeps, then the infantry!

Hellcats! Rawwrr!

Howdy. Up for review is an almost finished M18 hellcat platoon for Flames of War. These are a commission set. I apologize for the poor picture quality but one of lamps was left off when I was taking the pictures and so they came out a little yellowed.

Still all in all I am pleased with them overall, my client wanted a little rust and oil stains here and there along with a bit of dusty grit. I think I have achieved what I am looking for with that, I carefully applied some weathering techinques so the fronts of the vehicles look dusty, but not covered in mud. I think that looks sloppy and not quite a realistic. The M20s I think need something more, what I am not sure of, but they seem lacking something. Maybe a nice big star on the front end, but I am thinking something more. Ultimately it is up to my client what he wants, but he has said he will let me handle most of the details like that.

I had thought putting " The Wild Bunch" on one of the M20s would be cool, but the more I thought about it, it seems like that would be more fitting on one of the tank vehicles. I will leave it to my client if he likes it or not. he may not share my opinions of "personal touches" on armor, at least for US armor. I do not think I have ever seen a US vehicle without some kind of something on it. Sometimes it is too small to translate well on to a mini, sometimes it is just overwhelming and really guady, but still it is there...Well except maybe for a jeep or two...

I know the jeep needs a star, and will look much better when the crew is done, as will all the vehicles, but I like to look at them for a while before I put the crew in them to make sure the vehicle looks "right" before adding drives and such.

The machineguns will be done separatley. I may or maynot attach them before shipping because they have a tendency to break off in the mail. I will have to see how well they fit into the holes before attaching them.

The M18s need some last little details. Serial numbers, any slogans or "nose art' my client may want. Maybe another star on the sides of the hull. I have seen images of them on the turret and hull, turret only and hull only, so it is really quite open as best I can figure.

Thoughts? Thanks!!

Happy New Year

HOWDY and Happy New Year!

So I finally got the Sherman Commission complete and am moving on to the next one. I am doing a Flames of War Hellcat Platoon. Very cool models. Will post some pictures of them in the next couple of days.

I also have some more Shermans I will post here later. I seem to get a lot of shermans now a days. Maybe with all the late war hub bub they are more popular. I don't know, but they are a neat model and I never really get tired of doing them.

I picked up the Flames of War book, the art of War. A very cool book. I picked up a few pointers in there and I would recommend to anyone who wants to get some good ideas and guidelines on what a lot of Flames of War, or WW2 gaming in general, figures and models should look like. While it is not entirely comprehensive, it is a very good resource I think.

In the meantime, I have an older figure I did early year before last for your review. He is a Hasslefree figure named " Mad Dog". I fell in love with this guy as soon as I saw him and he was a real joy to paint. Hope ya'll like him!

Third Time's the Charm!

OK so Howdy. I am finished with the Sherman commission I have. My Client has made his last detail requests and I think I have it now. All that remains is to make sure all is as it should be and then box 'em up and mail them off.

It seems I have had more than a couple people ask me to do whole armies for them. While I don't mind doing whole armies, I do my best work on small units, one at a time. I tend tio get burned out doing the same thing over and over again so I try to keep it fresh and different. Keeps the creative juices flowin'.

So if you have a figure or small unit I might be able to help you, if it is something that interests me. If you have a large number of figures or whole armies, there are a large number of very good painters/ paintshops that would be a better way for you to go.

Not that I don't appreciate the request. I am flattered you guys think I am all that. However, I feel it is better if we both get what we want and come out happier for it on the otherside.

So feel free to make a query, ya never know.

On to more inportant things. I hope you guys out there like what I have done with these tanks. They were a lot of fun to do. My next commission is a US hellcat platoon and after that a dear friend of mine asked me to take my airbrush and paint his Leman Russ tanks for him. Since I will be assembling and painting 8 of my own, Its not a big deal to do a few more. I hope to get a lot of things done around the holidays and start some of my golden demon projects for the summer shows. I know it "seems" really early, but to be competitive and get that much sought after Slayer sword, it takes a huge amount of time and attention to detail, so I don't want to feel rushed. Slow and steady wins the race, or something like that.

Another catchy phrase is " I guess I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue", but that's just a silly line from one of my favorite movies. :)

Some Shermans Again!!

So howdy. Things have been busy and crazy round here last few weeks. I was out of town for a while and then I was really busy with work and family and the Thanksgiving holidays.

Anyhoo, I have finished the 4 76 Shermans I was commissioned to do. I am rather pleased with how they turned out and all I need is for the commissioner to check them out and let me know if there is anything else he would like done to them.

I have several other things I will be working on over the next few weeks. I am hopeful to get several Panzers ready for Ebay sales, along with some other oddball items. I'll do my best to keep the blog up to date, I have been rather bad about keeping it up, but life is what it is and I do the best I can with what I have. I also hope to be able to go to Gamesday this year. I am not sure which one I will be able to attend, but I will be working on a number of things in preparation for them.

Hope everyone out there had a good Thanksgiving, and I also hope ya'll are looking forward to a Merry Christmas!

Some Shermans!

Howdy. So anyway I am on the recovering end of a very long year of very serious illness. Needless to say I an glad to still be around and I owe it all to my Lord God looking favorably on me and the tireless devotion of my wife. Good things come sometimes when you least expect itor deserve it. That being said, I am very flattered and touched from the good wishes from my friends, family and people I don't know nor have ever met.

But enough about me, and onto more lighthearted topics. I recently accepted some work from a gentleman who liked some Sherman tanks I did a while back and asked if I would do some for him as well. I normally don't do commission work anymore, but I was wanting to paint up some more tanks anyway so it was not something that would put me out.

What I mean by put me out out is not that I don't want to paint things for people, but you get to a point where it becomes less fun and more work and you are not motiviated to paint the figures. Then there is no passion for what you are doing. Whenever this ceases to be fun for me, that means it is time to do other things. My hobby should always be something I enjoy, and if I can pick up some work along the way that looks fun or challenging, so much the better.

Hope this all makes sense. I never want my painting hobby to become a chore, and have more than several times refered people to other painters because they wanted me to do something I really was not inclined to do.

Anyhoo I have some work ing progress shots of these tanks. I was really intrigued by the regiment and its history. These tanks are from the 66th Armored regiment, the " Iron Knights". They used to camoflague their tanks and the regiment is still around today. I primed in black and gaver a base coat of GW Catachan Green mixed with black as a base coat then added another coat of pure catachan green. The Camo was a mix of Vallejo Mahogony Brown mixed with black and the a second coat of pure Mahogony Brown as the base. Camo netting/foliage is green stuff. I used a mix of browns, greens, greys and some black for the netting. Any combination of those colors should yield the same results. Just gotta pay attention to where the colors are so the browns and greens are still apparent.

Next I need to do the highlights, add the dirt and grit to the tracks and some weathering all the tanks. I still have some slogans and unit markings to add and just a little bit of "bling" to make these little beauties stand out. I am really enjoying working on these tanks. Its a nice refreshing change from plain dark green all over everything. Hopefully I will have them done in the next week or two. I have a business trip out of time for a week and I don't know that I will be able to do anything till next Saturday.

As always, C&C welcome. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Take care out there.