First Foray into Generic Fantasy Fun! [Update 07/07/2011]

[Longbottom Leaf]

Hello all!
 
Looooong time lurker, first time poster.
 
First of all, I would like to say what a top shelf community you all have created here! Brilliant stuff!
 
Next, a little bit of background:
 
I am 32, live in Nova Scotia Canada with my wife, 2 children, 2 cats, and a dog.
 
Growing up, I had zero clue about wargaming at all. I mean, I hadn't even heard of G-dubya.
 
Fast forward to 21, and I am living in Edmonton Alberta. Go to West Edmonton Mall, and walk by a GW store. I don't go in the first time.
 
After my next few trips to the mall, the novelty of the "Worlds Biggest Mall" begins to wear off, and now it is just like any other mall, except about a million times more annoying. I needed something to do while my wife did her shopping.
 
Eventually I do go into the GW store, and am instantly blown away. I spend about 4 hours in the store soaking up everything the staff, and patrons were yammering on about. I leave with the sixth edition box.
 
Get home, open it up, and spend the next 3 years (and several moves, including back to Nova Scotia) assembling, cleaning, priming, and painting the contents of the box. Finally it was time to have a game with the meager armies I had created from the starter set. Had a few games and realized....I hated it! I loved the models, the fluff....just did not like the game.
 
So I gave it up...sold the models, and moved on. The only problem was...now I was hooked on the miniatures, and hobby.
 
The next thing I ran into was Heroclix by Wizkids. Being a MASSIVE comic book lover (Marvel Zombie, and proud! ) I fell in love again. I played Heroclix for a looong time, but then the collectability aspect, secondary Market prices of some pieces, and constant rules tampering by the company left a bad taste in my mouth....so I quit, and sold off all of my stuff.  
 
The last couple of years has been spent trying to find a game/miniatures that would suit ME. I stumbled upon this site, and others (The Miniatures Page, Tabletop Gaming news, etc..) and began to soak things up again. Games companies, miniature companies, painting techniques, Indy rules...you name it)
 
I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to get back to the Fantasy side of things, but stay away from Warhammer. So the miniatures were not a problem...as of course you all know there are ton's of Fantasy miniature manufactures out there....so my problem was which rules?
 
Lately I have answered that question with 2 answers in no particular order:
 
1.) Skulldred
 
2.) Songs of Blades and Heroes
 
These rules, after reading them actually got me excited, and kick started parts of my imagination that I am sad to say may have been dormant for a while.
 
I proxied some mini's and had a few games. I am in love again!
 
I had to start from the ground up, I needed mini's, paints, tools, the works to start me off.
 
A couple of trips to the dollar store, an e-bay deal on some Reaper figs and I was off and running.
 
Here is a W.I.P shot of my first mini.
 

 
 
C&C is of course welcomed, and appreciated.
 
Think I may start a blog as well to keep track of progress.  
 
Have a few more mini's primed that I will post up once they get some color thrown on them.
 
Peace!
 
 

[Mason]

Welcome, Longbottom Leaf!
It seems that you have followed the path of sooo many of us;
Drawn in by the Evil Empire, get fed up with them, get rid of everything, find out that you really miss it but not sure what you want to do, then finally get drawn back in again.................
Yep, I know the feeling.
Sounds very familiar, although my first taste of the EE pill was Rogue Trader. As a 13 year old I just couldnt resist those early Space Marines.....
GW does still have a lot to recomend it, unfortunately, most of those recomendations are in its past. It has turned into something that I find hard to suffer now, but its earlier days were glorious (IMO, of course).
I still play some of their games; Mordheim, Blood Bowl and Necromunda mainly, although all have been subject to at least some modification by our group.
Dont let that put you off again, though. There are so many more wonderful companies out there, and it seems that you are finding them.
The best thing that you could probably do is get yourself to a convention asap, you will see what is out there and lose (at least a little of) your life to this wonderful hobby that we all share.
Welcome back into the fold, and, if your wip picture is anything to go by, enjoy yourself and your obvious talent!

[Longbottom Leaf]

Welcome back into the fold, and, if your wip picture is anything to go by, enjoy yourself and your obvious talent!

Thank you so very much!

My talents, as meager as they may be, are all thanks to sites like this one, and the one's I mentioned in my initial post.

I try to learn everyday, and get better all the time.

My "lead pile" at the moment is pretty tiny......7 or so metal Reaper figs.

So I have time to savor each one for now, but my want list is MASSIVE. Too many Warband ideas, so little time! 


Peace!
 

[blackstone]

My "lead pile" at the moment is pretty tiny......7 or so metal Reaper figs.

That is a blessing mate....
Paint job looks great so far, if that's one of your first paint jobs then it's extra great

[Longbottom Leaf]

Paint job looks great so far, if that's one of your first paint jobs then it's extra great

Thank you very much!

It is my first "serious" paint job after reading up on techniques online. When I painted the GW stuff years back, it was nothing more than slathering on paint right out of the pots.

I have been reading, and learning a lot from those brilliant members of the miniatures community whose secrets, tips, and knowledge that only experience can bring has I believed saved me countless hours/mistakes/money.

Now it's time to apply what I have learned.....or try to anyway! 

Still need to start thinking of making terrain/gaming board as well...........

[phreedh]

Very nice! Impressive paintjob, hope to see it finished soon!

[magokiron]

Welcome back to the light!

Yep, GW "the evil empire" has attracted A LOT of us into the hobbie (in my own case was HEROQUEST and then I jumped to WHFB), but after a while you get tired of silly rules and bad customers service.

So we changed to other systems, rules and minis, and discovered a new wonderful (miniature) world.

Your mini is preeeeeety good, and we hope to see more of your work.

As for rules, if you're into skirmish, Skuldred and SOBaH are just GREAT!

If you ever want to try FANTASY MASSED BATTLES, a simple system is KINGS OF WAR (free download at Mantic's page), but if you want "model by model" count, kill and removal, ARMIES OF ARCANA is the choice for me.

And you have a Canadian distributor, "Zinkala" or Rory Thompson iirc.

If you're interested, PM me, or post right here, and I can send you his e-mail.

Hope that helps and best wishes.

[Argonor]

A mini with a lot of character, that one, and you've nailed the face quite nicely. As it is a WIP, I cannot comment on the overall impression, but the finished parts look abolutely promising.

I, myself, only started 'painting' (as opposed to blocking out colours) other than the faces on minis after I joined here some 5-6 years ago, when I saw all the nice work presentred here and learned about some of the simpler layering-techniques.

It also helped to find rules for which only a handful of minis were necessary  

I must concratulate you on your choice of rulesets - both are innovative and very enjoyable. I actually asked permission of Andrea Sfiligoi to translate SBH into Danish (and got it - just waiting for the 5th revised Ed.), to make it more accessible for the young ones, as it is a wonderful way of introducing as well new as seasoned gamers into Fantasy Wargaming.

Just bear in mind: Joining this congregation of deranged, utterly mad, and annoyingly skilled, absolutely wonderful people will, eventually lead you down the dark path of playing other settings/periods - and to acquiring a Lead Mountain.  

I came here in search of something pulpish, and apart from 4-5 sets of pulp rules, I now also own rules and minis for VSF, Fantasy, Wild West, Sci-Fi, and other, more intricate things, that I didn't even know existed before joining.

So, welcome, and may your brushes never dry out!  

[Gluteus Maximus]

That's an impressive debut post. You must have been saving all that up for years 

Love your figure- if it is your first one then I'm very impressed  and jealous. Very clean brushwork, the shading's very good and the eyes are perfect. A very difficult thing to pull off 

I'm looking foreward to seeing him finished!

SBH is a great set of rules, either as a generic fantasy set or tailored to a specific setting.

[dijit]

I must concratulate you on your choice of rulesets - both are innovative and very enjoyable. I actually asked permission of Andrea Sfiligoi to translate SBH into Danish (and got it - just waiting for the 5th revised Ed.), to make it more accessible for the young ones, as it is a wonderful way of introducing as well new as seasoned gamers into Fantasy Wargaming.

Glad to hear that Niels! If you need a second pair of ears to read it through I'll happily volunteer.
Duncan

[Argonor]

Glad to hear that Niels! If you need a second pair of ears to read it through I'll happily volunteer.
Duncan

Of course I will need proof reading  - perhaps you could join the forum at www.skjold-live.dk where I posted about this?

http://www.skjold-live.dk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=975

Would show my fellow club-members, that I'm not a lone madman about 'alternative' games... 

[Andrew May]

Great painting, lovely and tidy, pretty much all "inside the lines". If you want to take if one step up then I'd suggest you invest in a box of GW washes, they're perfect for bringing a mini to life with just that bit extra depth. For that mini all you'd need would be brown and black washes to make it tip top! Keep up the good work.  

[Longbottom Leaf]

Very nice! Impressive paintjob, hope to see it finished soon!

Thank you very much! Should be finished today (except for the washes...have to wait for my GW wash set to arrive)

Love your figure- if it is your first one then I'm very impressed  and jealous. Very clean brushwork, the shading's very good and the eyes are perfect. A very difficult thing to pull off  

Thank you for the kind words....let's just say that the eyes were not perfect the first dozen or so times I tried.  

A mini with a lot of character, that one, and you've nailed the face quite nicely. As it is a WIP, I cannot comment on the overall impression, but the finished parts look abolutely promising.

Thanks! I absolutely adore this mini. He will be the leader of my first Human Warband. I have started scratching down some back story for him as well, and will post it when it is complete.

Great painting, lovely and tidy, pretty much all "inside the lines". If you want to take if one step up then I'd suggest you invest in a box of GW washes, they're perfect for bringing a mini to life with just that bit extra depth. For that mini all you'd need would be brown and black washes to make it tip top! Keep up the good work.  

Thank you very much! Yeah, the GW washes have been ordered, but I had the luck of doing it the day before the Canadian Postal strike.  .

The strike is pretty much over now, but they are just trying to catch up from the mountain of mail that has been sitting in the Post Offices.

Hopefully soon!

Thanks again all! I really appreciate the feedback/comments!

Take care.
 

[Doomhippie]

I just wanted to drop by and say hello as well. I like the miniature but since you've asked for some criticism here is one oiece of advice I'd like to point out: the armor could use a little seeing to.

Actually that's the only point I would like to make. Mind you, I'm not saying your mini is bad. It is nicely painted, the colors work well with each other and there is more than a solid foundation to work with.

About the armour:in some places it looks like a solid piece of silver (on the right arm and the bottom). I would suggest a wash over it (here maybe a mixture of blue and dk brown ink). I think it's important to bring out the individual links of the chainmail which means making sure that the hollow part in the middle looks dark compared to the silver of the metal itself.

Another way would be drybrushing the chainmail (meaning painting it black and then drybrush it with metal color).

On this particular miniature a silver armor looks really good. The mini appears to be somewhat of a paladin/white knight kind of character. With other miniatures I'd probably go for a darker metal (boltgun or chainmail).

Anyway, that's about all I really would do differently. As I said before the overall appearance is really nice. Hope to see some more of your work soon.

[Longbottom Leaf]

About the armour:in some places it looks like a solid piece of silver (on the right arm and the bottom). I would suggest a wash over it (here maybe a mixture of blue and dk brown ink). I think it's important to bring out the individual links of the chainmail which means making sure that the hollow part in the middle looks dark compared to the silver of the metal itself.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

I agree 100% with the armour. I am currently awaiting my GW set of washes, and plan on putting them to good use to add depth to this, and future mini's.

Thanks again!