The Grumpy Gnome‘s Fantasy Projects Blog (latest update on page 61)

[Grumpy Gnome]

And the weekly update…

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/06/05/a-few-good-elves-and-things-finished/

Some Mirkwood Elves and the last of our Pegasus Hobbies walls.

Plus my thoughts on Army of the Dead if you are curious….

[Little Odo]

Great looking elf warband - very dynamic.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Thanks, Mrs. GG is rather fond of them.

[mirjeki]

They're probably my favourite sculpts from the new Hobbit miniatures line. They're perfect for generic fantasy too - I agree with Mrs. GG, they fit with my mind's eye view of what a Wood Elf should look like.

Great paintjob on them Mrs. GG! And well done on all those walls GG, the end result is definitely worth it. They look so much better now.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Thanks for the kind words mate! Mrs. GG also appreciates everyone’s kind words. She is considerably more humble than I am.

[Grumpy Gnome]

My latest blog post…

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/06/08/lets-talk-about-miniatures-a-tutorial-of-sorts/

… warning, it is long winded even for me.

[BZ]

Nice post! I also wrote 2 posts about the type of bases, because I think that the same type of base really unifies all the miniatures. But to select the type what You want to use for the rest of Your life is hard. Especially at the beginning... There are a lot of pros and cons for every type. I ended up using 25mm GW-round bases, and Im satisfied with them. They are not perfect, but was still a good chocie (for me).

[CookAndrewB]

Rick, I think a very basic overview of figures is often nice. Though many of us are probably familiar with each of those producers individually, it is often rarer to see them side by side or even to see how one scale compares to another. I've often wondered if a particular mech might pass as a suit of power armor in 15/28mm scale, and those kinds of comparison shots are hard to come by unless someone like me buys one on a hunch, and then shows the end product. Even so, I think it is somewhat easier to compare unpainted minis next to each other as my eye can be drawn by color, a particularly brilliant (or rubbish) paint job, or a bad camera angle (I do this to myself constantly) and somehow that makes the comparison more difficult.

I will also say that while scale creep can get out of control, I generally accept figures from 25-32mm as being of the same scale on my table. 20mm, 15mm, or even 6mm may be fine if the figure is meant to be monstrous or large in a smaller scale. I have an "epic" scale Titan that I love as a 28mm scale Securitron type robot. Often, the thing that prohibits this is indicator features. An example would be a 15mm troll having small little 15mm human skulls which may look like he has been pillaging daycare centers rather than collecting the skulls of mighty warriors. So when I'm planning to bring a figure up/down a scale I tend to primarily evaluate those indicators of scale more than the particular height of a figure.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Nice post! I also wrote 2 posts about the type of bases, because I think that the same type of base really unifies all the miniatures. But to select the type what You want to use for the rest of Your life is hard. Especially at the beginning... There are a lot of pros and cons for every type. I ended up using 25mm GW-round bases, and Im satisfied with them. They are not perfect, but was still a good chocie (for me).

Thanks mate!

Everyone has to choose what works for them and yeah, it is very hard to choose one… the right for you… right off the bat.

And who knows, I may yet change my mind on themed bases given how cheap Dungeons & Lasers 3 from Archon Studio may make them.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Rick, I think a very basic overview of figures is often nice. Though many of us are probably familiar with each of those producers individually, it is often rarer to see them side by side or even to see how one scale compares to another. I've often wondered if a particular mech might pass as a suit of power armor in 15/28mm scale, and those kinds of comparison shots are hard to come by unless someone like me buys one on a hunch, and then shows the end product. Even so, I think it is somewhat easier to compare unpainted minis next to each other as my eye can be drawn by color, a particularly brilliant (or rubbish) paint job, or a bad camera angle (I do this to myself constantly) and somehow that makes the comparison more difficult.

I will also say that while scale creep can get out of control, I generally accept figures from 25-32mm as being of the same scale on my table. 20mm, 15mm, or even 6mm may be fine if the figure is meant to be monstrous or large in a smaller scale. I have an "epic" scale Titan that I love as a 28mm scale Securitron type robot. Often, the thing that prohibits this is indicator features. An example would be a 15mm troll having small little 15mm human skulls which may look like he has been pillaging daycare centers rather than collecting the skulls of mighty warriors. So when I'm planning to bring a figure up/down a scale I tend to primarily evaluate those indicators of scale more than the particular height of a figure.

I quite agree with you mate.

The post was filled with information mostly considered common knowledge on this forum but was inspired by conversations I have been having on other forums. I thought I might pass on some of the knowledge I gained here.

You make a great point about indicator features.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Latest blog post edited with new photos and information based on received feedback.

Thanks folks for helping improve the Home of the Grumpy Gnome!

[CookAndrewB]

I mostly assume that those who post on here may find most of that common knowledge. However, for every person that posts I bet there are at least ten who lurk because they are trying to learn, get inspiration, or even get up the nerve to dive in. Before I started posting here I had been reading for 4-5 years (anonymously), and only started actually painting and building a handful of years before that. I still see things in blogs and forums that I had never even considered, and I imagine it will go on like that for as long as I haunt the hobby world. But, we all start somewhere, and I think the info you provided could really help someone just getting started out.

[Grumpy Gnome]

That is my hope, to return the favor done for me by others.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Hi Rick,

I think your good self and Mr.Cook have a very good point, it always shocks me when I see how many registered:guest users are online (38:839 as I type!). Inspiration is key.

I watched AotD on the release date and really enjoyed it whilst it was on screen (I like Mr. Bautista - in this case looking like Bunson Honeydew gave up on science and decided to kick some ass instead) but lots of Meds and insomnia probably help .
 But as you said there were some annoying areas. It’s a follow on “of the dead” film and whilst I’m a fan I’m aware they haven’t been great. I did however watch the 20min making of film and then watched it again and it helped ameliorate my critical feelings somewhat. From the lenses used to make that unique look, Mr.S’s obvious enjoyment of his job (you’d have to be dull not to enjoy getting paid for that), the new motion capture system that made an excellent horde and to knowing that Ace the Horse was dutifully somewhere under that zombie suit of armour and was being looked after off screen by a bigger team than any of the stars. It’s not brilliant but I’ll take it and be happy enough (story of my life). In a perfect world it would get the ‘Snyder cut’ treatment and come back three times longer, plugging those little gaps and omissions (the film and my life!).

Hope you’re both doing well, looking forwards to Tarnished Splendour.

BALM

[Grumpy Gnome]

I know people complain about the camera work, ie focus in particular but I have no problem with that.

It is the writing that I have an issue with. Plot points that make no sense break my immersion. Why would the military stop flights in but not out? How is that containment?

I have been thinking about the “Why would you need to break into your own vault?” So it does not look like you stole your own money? Maybe. But why not just have a way to make it look that way without risking failure. And yes, I know there was another Agenda but this question is one the characters should have asked not just the audience.

There are many questions I have about plot points but do not want to get into spoilers.

I get that the crew were enthusiastic. I was enthusiastic. But I do not think a Snyder cut… since this was a Snyder cut… would fix this. Nor do I think a simply longer director’s cut could add things to fix the incoherent plot.

One of the critique points I read somewhere really struck home.

Fast zombies versus slow zombies is a common debate point. I follow the Max Brooks school of slow zombies in general as I think fast zombies are more like ghouls. I see 28 Days later as a ghoul movie. The threat is very, very different.

Snyder avoids the debate while trying to have his cake and eat it too, with both fast and slow zombies.

And as much as I love the movie “Aliens” this movie mirrors “Aliens” too much for my taste.  Rather than a clever nod it goes beat for beat too many times.

I do not want to yuck your yum, if you enjoyed it great. There were some cool visuals and Dave Bautista is awesome. The dude deserves an Oscar in my opinion, although not for this film. But it irks me when I see a film that had the potential to be so much more.