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Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: PeteMurray on May 08, 2007, 02:46:53 PM
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Okay, Historicon is coming and I've agreed to run four completely different games. I blame Rich. I also blame a flask full of delicious, delicious Jack Daniels, but that's beside the point.
The games:
1. Zombies of Skeleton Cay: Recycling my Skeleton Cay board from Cold Wars, so that part's done. I should get some new palm tree stands for it, since this game will take place on a banana plantation. Need to paint one Voodoo priestess and at least eight zombies.
2. "And They Made Merry": Pirate raid on a town! This board will be shared with #3, but I still have to build a board with a canal and a sea-wall. In addition, I need to paint a few figures to represent various characters in the town (the Governor, his daughter, the Captain of the Guard, etc.) I figure I'll need about six two-story buildings as well. Oh, damn.
3. Temple of the Eclipse Gods: Conquistadors vs. Aztecs! The town board will be transformed into a decaying temple, which will mean replacing buildings with things like altars, idols, and stands of jungle plants. I have three or four Conquistador characters who need to be painted, eight Aztec suit warriors, a priest, his helper, and a sacrificial victim.
4. Afghanistan in the Great War: The ridiculous theme for Historicon this year is Afghanistan through the Ages. So since the Germans and Turks tried to wheedle the Afghans out of neutrality, I'm going to run a little game where the Central Powers delegation gets attacked. This is the one where I have to paint the most figures, but the board should be pretty straightforward. That will mean painting 8-12 each of Turks, Asien Korps, and British infantry, and if I get particularly clever I may throw some Sikhs in there too.
So last night I glued 59 figures to bases and glued sand down (I do this prior to basecoating--I think it saves time and hassle later down the road.) My goal is to get the figures cleaned and prepped for undercoating tonight. We'll see how it goes.
No pictures, sorry. I feel compelled to do discuss this project publicly because this board has a good way of keeping me honest.
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When is Historicon? Depending on the date, you might just require American entrepreneurship with a touch of good, old fashioned slave labour. So you MIGHT just manage without Teutonic Efficiency™.
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July 26-29. I'm pretty confident I can do it without subcontracting the jobs out. With the exception of the WWI game, I have fallbacks for most of the things there. Hopefully it won't come to that.
In some respects, I'm actually grateful for the tight deadline because it'll force me to get some work done, rather than spend my time in the workshop, shuffling idly through boxes of unpainted figures or browsing catalogs.
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I've got Haitian zombies, no surprise, and the Pardulon buildings if you get desperate. I know how you feel as I've been staring at the poor Tsar and his family and the WW1 Brigade Games Russians for a while now. Oh, and I still need to do the board. I'll get them done by July though.
Joey
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Deathwing, I may borrow your zombies. I'll let you know.
Last night I managed to get everyone cleaned and prepped for basecoating. And then I dropped two of the Aztecs and their machuitillihguilti thingies broke off, so they'll be pinned and fixed later.
Basecoating tonight.
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Basecoated everything today, repaired the Aztecs, and now am completing gluing the Aztecs together. This means back banners, feather plumes, and shields.
First on the painting block will be the Asien Korps, I think.
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Got sick on Saturday--not sick enough to spend the day in bed, but sick enough to have to miss out the all-day family trip out. I got a lot of painting done.
(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k116/PeteMurray/God%20Wants%20It/teutonic_weekend.jpg)
I don't have the right color khaki for the Asien Korps, but did my best with a tawny gold and a brown wash. Also the officers still need their red trim, and I need to do bases and dullcote, but hey! The hard part is done.
But these guys are my new favorites.
(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k116/PeteMurray/God%20Wants%20It/Turks.jpg)
Turks! Great khaki uniform, goes well with brown washes. Since I didn't work very hard on them, this means they'll be unstoppable on the table. Minis I lavish with paint and care do crappy, sloppy painted figures do really, really well. I have no idea why.
Not pictured: Skin tones on all the Brits! Huzzah!
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Got sick on Saturday--not sick enough to spend the day in bed, but sick enough to have to miss out the all-day family trip out. I got a lot of painting done.
"Sick"... You cunning devil, you. ;) And She Who Must Be Obeyed didn´t catch on you?!? :lol:
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No, seriously! The kids brought home the Bug of the Month from day care, and since I was home taking care of them, I caught it. Short, not too painful, and got me the day off. I even mowed the lawn.
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Last night I did skin tones, boots, and puttees on a dozen Brits. Not bad for 45 minutes of work.
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Are you sure you don't have any Teutonic lineage? :lol:
Yesterday I only managed two figures and they were already undercoated :cry:
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Mr. Thomas Atkins, Esq., and comrades. I wanted to make a little cricket bat for one of the officers, but that would have defeated my assembly-line process. I decided I was less Teutonic and more Henry Ford Efficient--lots of stuff fast and cheap.
(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k116/PeteMurray/God%20Wants%20It/DSCF1329.jpg)
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Pete, do you just seal your minis once with glosscoat or do you make a second pass on them with dull? Your otherwise excellent minis seem a bit glossy in the pictures.
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I do seal afterwards with dullcote--the high gloss effect is an artifact of using the dipping technique. Dipping is an unsavory practice, shunned by right thinking people, but it works like a charm when you need to get a lot of stuff done quickly. Plus it makes the figures invulnerable to handling, which is also desirable for a convention game.
I'm not showing you close-up shots because these look a lot less nice at the detail level. :mrgreen:
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I do seal afterwards with dullcote--the high gloss effect is an artifact of using the dipping technique. Dipping is an unsavory practice, shunned by right thinking people, but it works like a charm when you need to get a lot of stuff done quickly. Plus it makes the figures invulnerable to handling, which is also desirable for a convention game.
I'm not showing you close-up shots because these look a lot less nice at the detail level. :mrgreen:
Ah. I think dipping seems to be an excellent thing for certain projects (like massed uruk-hai and WWI turks).
I can't come to grips with that technique, though. It seems like it is vital that you get the right stain or it just turns out a mess. The brand of the stain seems important and that, of course, makes the many tutorials on the subject helpfull only to a certain point since the availability differs from region to region.
The tinned stuff they sell for the miniature market in some hobby shops must be dilluted with Chateau Lafitte '23 because it is bloody daylight robbery what they are chargin for them.
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Absolutely right on all counts. In general, dark stain is better, but you can use some of the redder stains (like mahogany) to get some nice effects on skin. And I use the crude all-in-one wood stain and varnish, which is only $5 for a can that lasts me the better half of a year--it usually goes off from poor storage and lid fit before I run out.
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Had a wonderful weekend away. Took Friday off, spent Saturday and Sunday relaxing on the Corotoman River in Virginia. Also painted these:
(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k116/PeteMurray/God%20Wants%20It/mama_non-non.jpg)
Brigade Caribbean Zombies and a Voodoo Priestess. I've managed to avoid the zombie-mania up to this point, but I have to admit that these were quite a lot of fun to paint. I tried to under-do the gore on them.
These are definitely going to be a pulp group when they're done threatening pirates on a banana plantation.
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Ah that is realy cool ,I think a long time abaut these figures :love:
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they're really nice, pete, loveyl sculpts and wellpainted, too!
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Well done, lad. Well done!
I've had my eyes on the Carribean Empires range for a while but having to pay the customs fee has often made me opt for other minis.
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Reaaally good work, pete! :love:
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Lovely work! Are you sure you don't have any Teutonic blood in you? :lol:
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Thanks guys. I really wasn't sure about these figures to start. I thought the zombies were way over the top, but painted up they looked a lot better. They're very well detailed, as are the Voodoo practitioners (the pack has five, and I've only got one of them done up). Up close, they have a lot of nice detailing. You can't really see, but the one in the blue shirt and pants is wearing a military web belt, complete with holes for canteens and pouches. It's a nice touch. Sculptor is Faron Betchley, but I don't know what other stuff he's done. Brigade's announced another pack of zombies, which I'll probably pick up because these weren't hard to paint.
I'm sorry the price is high for you guys in Europe. Copplestone and Pardulon kind of suffer the same problems coming our way across the Atlantic.
Up next: Finishing proxy Afghans and Eureka Conquistadors!