Over the Misty Mountains Cold....

Hello all, Sinscaptain here.  Today I'm here to give you the cliff's notes to where I've been the past two months, and what you can expect going forward with this blog.

Past Two Months

• 5 Games of Malifaux (1 W - 4 L)
• Nythera Global Campaign began for Wyrd and Malifaux.  I am participating under the Neverborn Flag.  Not doing so hot so far in my games - see above.
• No painting has occurred.
• I have build a few models here and there, nothing of real note.
• Malifaux collection has expanded to:
• Neverborn - Collodi, Zoraida, Dreamer
• Gremlins - Zoraida, Ophelia, Brewmaster, Ulix
• Ten Thunders - Brewmaster, Misaki, (Yan Lo)
• Guild - Lady J, McMourning*
• Ressers - McMourning*, (Yan Lo)
• (Yan Lo) - he is being professionally painted at the moment
• McMourning* - the old metal crew box
• Picked up playing the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, mainly the Force and Destiny component of the game, with a couple of buddies in the area.

As you can see, not much too crazy.  I have mostly been out of the wargaming scene due to a combination of lack of opponents, lack of motivation to paint, assemble, or even play games, and general fatigue.  This does not mean that I am out of the hobby.  Quite the contrary!  I am still loving the fluff of the Malifaux world, eagerly building lists and Theory-crafting characters, crews, and army lists for all of the games that I play.  I am trying my hand at writing some short stories to go with my interests in the various systems that I play in, and keeping up to date with all of the new information coming out for my favorite games.

What's the problem then?  Well, as a whole, I am suffering from severe hobby wobble and general overload for how much stuff I have on my plate with hobby and things outside of hobby, as well as the age old excuse of "my wallet is telling me no more hobby for a good amount of time."

So, in order to downgrade some of my hobby wobble and make sure that I am focusing down on the hobbies that I most enjoy, I will begin a purge sometime this week - mostly Spartan Games (Firestorm Armada and Uncharted Seas), Warhammer Fantasy Armies that I was in the beginning stages of getting started before all of the changes were made with the Age of Sigmar, and various other games.  I will most likely be trading out a good portion of my Chaos Space Marines for Orks, and the Skaven collection will - while not getting pared down - will see transitioning to full moth ball mode.

I hope my Skaven can one day come out to play again, avoiding the above fate.  However, the general interest in Fantasy has hit an all time low for the player base around me and, frankly, for myself.    The space cleared in some of these cases from selling out of a couple of game systems will hopefully allow me to better store my Malifaux collection and allow me to - eventually - expand into new games or to better organize and complete a collection of some of my older games.

If you have made it this far, I congratulate you.  My pity party of a post is not the most interesting read in the world, but I really need to get it on to paper, erm... internet paper so that I can have hard evidence.  I am lost in the hobby right now, when it feels like I should be in the hobby prime!

I have been extremely excited to get on the table with the Malifaux Nythera campaign going, but I have been sorely disappointed by my own play in it.  I was absolutely thrilled that Warhammer Fantasy was getting an update and starting to move forward with the End Times, but I just can't seem to get into the grove of Age of Sigmar.  Warhammer 40k has, for all intents and purposes, been out of mind for almost 2 years now.  X-Wing gets entirely too competitive for my tastes, and Star Wars Armada - which I was REALLY excited for - has completely flopped in my area.  Some other games are starting to take off, such as Frostgrave and Guildball, but I have a feeling that they too will fade in time and lose their player base.

I have even considered going out and grabbing some Warmahordes models - something that I thought I would never go back to.  The community seems fairly stable though, no matter where you go.

And so that brings me to this place - the Hobby Crossroads.  I don't know what is going to happen, but something is going to change soon.  I cannot keep up this hobby purgatory. With that in mind, I'd like to apologize if this blog becomes dark for long periods of time again in the near future.  I wish I had more to share here, but besides a few games here and there that have no photo evidence, I have nothing to show for the time invested.  So, until next time dear readers, I bid ado.  Happy painting, building, gaming, and most of all Hobbying!

- Sinscaptain

Using Different Paints and a Completed Project

This is an art piece of One Shot done by GrainGnome and hosted on DeviantArt. There's a lot of other fantastic work you can see by following this link: http://graingnome.deviantart.com/

I always struggle to find an appropriate opening image for my posts. Fortunately, I found this gorgeous representation of the model. I feel that we should pull reference and techniques from everywhere. For example, look at the use of a bright, small concentration of white to create an extreme contrast and compare that white to the off-white/cream-white of the fur.

Now, on to the content planned for today. I have been reading a lot about the "best paint" for painting miniatures. I believe that there is no "best paint." The different brands of paint are designed to do different things. We should take these strengths and use them, rather than creating binaries of "this is good and this is bad."

The miniature we have today is Soda Pop Miniature's One Shot and Fritz, from the Relic Knights line. My brother wanted me to paint this beautiful model for him for his birthday, which I am more than happy to do.

The model itself is great. I really feel that the casting material did not do the original sculpt justice, though. I'd have much preferred metal or resin. I hear that they are moving toward resin in the future, which I am looking forward to. There's a lot of shrinkage in several places, especially in the leg areas. The cannon has less detail than I'd like. I hope this is something that changes by the time I work on another one. Don't let my talk discourage you, though. The sculpts are fun and the miniatures are a blast to paint.

You'll notice the shrinkage that I spoke of in the pictures at the end. My brother didn't want them fixed, so I didn't fix them. If you get a model with some weird casting accidents, you can easily smooth it out with green stuff, milliput, or filler putty. I'll go over those in detail at some point in the future.

Well, what if I told you something similar, but less mind-blowing?

Here is what I have done: I painted the mech in Badger's Miniataire paints and created transitions with a few ghost tints. Details and freehand were done with Citadel paints. The cannon was also done in Citadel paints (I can never get metallics to show up right. I think it's time for a hardware upgrade).

Fritz, the little guy, was painted in Scale 75's Fantasy and Games paint.

One shot was painted solely with Citadel.

I used Vallejo Fluorescent colors for several bright areas, like Fritz's eyes.

Forgive my photo quality. My camera tends to make things grainy, so I'll be needing an upgrade soon. Have a look at these images and let me know if you guys have any questions or comments. I'd love to speak with you guys.

Just in case, click the photos to enlarge them.

Take care and keep painting!

-Matte

Oil, Synthetic Exercises, and Click Bait

Picture taken from Roman's post on Massive Voodoo regarding the use of oil paints for miniatures.
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2011/07/tutorial-miniature-painting-with-oil.html

This is only kind of a click bait. If you want to guarantee that I try oil paints, then this is how they should be presented: in a nice, lovely row with lots of pretty colors. ;)

This post is really a ramble about my plan to use oil in the future, both on canvas and on miniatures. Following the talk on oil paints is a nice little WIP segment about a little exercise I am giving myself.

So, let's talk oil paints. I realize how cliché it must sound to speak about how much Bob Ross influenced my creativity as a child. Growing up in the 90s, I had access to three channels. PBS, soap operas, and fuzzy soft-core pornography. Contrary to what some may think, I spent all of my time watching.............fuzzy....PBS. It wasn't really fuzzy. Totally clear. Anywho. I recently started watching his videos again on YouTube (there are several for free on the Bob Ross channel) and I was reminded of just how much he influenced me into the artist I am today. I really appreciate his approach to painting and how he handles "mistakes." If you gals and guys get some time, definitely check him out.

Art from gckatz on DeviantArt.
http://gckatz.deviantart.com/art/Model-Painting-with-Bob-Ross-402862480
 

Now, on to my WIP. I recently picked up some Raphael Kaerell synthetic brushes (sizes 2 and 3) to play around with in hopes of finding a basecoat and metallic brush. I really, really don't like using my Games and Gears brushes for a lot of the heavy stuff.

Long story short, they are working out very well. If they manage to keep their tip for a decent length of time, I think I may end up using them regularly. I decided to give myself an exercise that proved interesting, to say the least. It was definitely a struggle.

 I am currently working on the Avatar of Sokar (sculpted by Tim Prow, if I recall correctly. I'll have to go look at the blister pack later.) using only a Raphael Kaerell size 3 synthetic brush and a really, really junked up size 4 (used to apply Vallejo Liquid Gold paints). I'm really impressed with how the brush is holding up. It's been interesting trying to figure out how to manipulate the paint with a synthetic brush in hopes of achieving what I can do with a sable-hair brush. I totally failed. The synthetic is doing awesome work, but I just cannot get the same transitions and blends that I can with my sable. It's coming along though.

The following pictures are a WIP, taken over the course of a few hours of work. These aren't in any special order. Just chronological. Just click to enlarge.

Happy Painting!

-Matte

Age of Sigmar? I need a Keg

Hello all, Sinscaptain here to talk about the elephant in the room – Age of Sigmar – as well as some general hobby updates and all the regular jazz.

Hold on to your butts, it’s going to be a long ride.

I’d like to open by saying that this article has been difficult to write.  I am, for the most part, a very opinionated person when it comes to my selection of gaming ventures.  I have toned myself down considerably from the flaming rhetoric that this blog used to be, but every once in a while, that still peaks out from behind the cage it is locked away in.

Today may turn into one of those days.

For those of you that live without regular access to the outside world, Warhammer Fantasy has been replaced rather explosively by Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.  Contrary to what rumors were making the rounds for the past 6+ months, there is no 9th edition coming.  We have our Games Workshop fantasy game, and it is Sigmar.

A little background before we delve fully into the new world that is Age of Sigmar.  I have been a fantasy player for about 5 years total.  Now, I realize that this is not as long as some of you old beards, but I have played through all that was 8th edition - highs and lows, triumph and defeat, etc etc.  It was a damn good time.  I managed to sway about 6-7 people to play WHF during that time, and we all had a blast.  Some of my fondest wargaming memories are of my Skaven going ballistic or turning tail and running for the hills.  My preferences have always been for regimental combat, magic, and my ratmen.  

The End Times were an exciting proposition for me, as I might be able to sway even more people into the Fantasy fold.  However, that didn't come to fruition, but I still got the ride of a lifetime reading those books, or listening to Garagehammer talk through them. Sure there were odd rules that started to pop up in the later books, but people were still enjoying the fluff and reading about the war to end all wars in Fantasy.  What could possibly go wrong?

Oh, right.

They could blow up the entire world.  Which they did.

So, what comes next?  Age of Sigmar!  Sigmar, god-king of the Empire holds onto a shard of reality, baddabing he gets rescued by a giant dragon in spaaaaace!!! And then makes a new set of worlds yo.  Then, Chaos starts to sneak back in, and so Sigmar throws up some deuces and locks himself in the Realm of Azyr and parties hard with his bros for a couple centuries.

Fast forward to the Realm of Fire, where cannibal Khorne bros are enslaving ALL of the people making a huge pyramid when WHAMO!  

Yes, weep mere mortals!  The Stormcast Eternals of Sigmar are here with hammers and thunder, deepstriking in on bolts of magical lightning!

So, these bros are pretty cool, honestly.  They have hammers, swords, shields, BIGGER hammers, dual wielding hammers, BIG swords, crossbolters, pixie elfie bows, and giant cat dragon lizard things.  Overall, every badass thing in the book, with a dash of 40k and entirely too few hammers thrown in.

It's hammertime baby.

Oh, and there's some Khorne guys too yo.

Again, these are some cool models.  All of these, models come in the new Age of Sigmar starter box which features the Khorne Goretide against the Stormcast Eternals of Sigmar in the first installment of the Realmgate wars.  $125 grabs you a nice selection of models to get the game going.

"Game you say?  Tell me about it sinscaptain!"

I will dear friend!

Age of Sigmar has 4 pages of rules, which is nice considering Warhammer Fantasy 8th had something more like a gazzillion pages.  Scientifically proven.

So, 4 pages of FREEEEEEEEEEE rules, heres the skinny:

• No more points or army selection rules - there are some unofficial army comp rules making the rounds, but most people either go by model count or wound count to organize battles.
• Initiative rolls at the start of every turn.
• Models can move, shoot, and charge all in the same turn.  They can shoot into and out of combats without consequences.
• Everyone takes battleshock tests at the end of the turn, which are similar to the old rules for undead moral tests.  However many you fail by is how many models you pull out.  So, D6 + Dead models for the turn - Bravery = # extra models that die.  
• Every game, at the moment, is all about killing all of your enemies models.
• Magic is dumbed down to every wizard knowing 2 spells plus 1 unique spell for flavor, and all tests are done on 2D6 trying to beat a number.  Enemy wizards within 18" may attempt to dispell.
• If you choose to play with 1/3 less models then your opponent, you can pick a sudden death objective to try and beat by 6 turns in order to win.

Thats pretty much all of the main points.  Every army has received "War scrolls" for each unit - for FREEEEEEEEEE - to use until they update "all" of the armies to Age of Sigmar.  They have all the info you need, including the static to hit and to wound rolls that you need - that's right: static TH and TW rolls.  A goblin hits Nagash just as well as he hits a skaven slave.  Kinda weird, but speeds up the game nicely.

I've linked the page to all of the rules and war scrolls everytime you see FREEEEEEE.

WHAT DO I THINK?

So, now to the *brief* editorial on what I think this all means.

I am split.  Part of me, the huge fan of Warhammer 8th Edition and regiments, movement trays, ridiculous magic phases, etc etc?  That part of me hates this game.  It is NOT Warhammer Fantasy.  It is some cruel joke by Games Workshop.  It's a dumbed down version of Warhammer 40k take what you want, unbalanced, polarizing, "spread a single line of guys in a line and march em across the table" BS, where everyone wants to be Tau with a bigger gun.  The rumors swirling about Slaanesh being abducted or forced off of his throne makes me livid.  Grrrrr.

The other, more rational and understanding part of me thinks that this game is great.  It does everything that we wanted for Warhammer Fantasy - reduces time constraints, barrier for entry money wise, reduces complexity, moves the story forward, lets everyone get what they want from the game, and overall makes for an enjoyable gaming experience.  This will be absolutely fantastic for getting new players into the game and having a blast with beer n' pretzels.  

We've already gained 3 new fantasy players because of Age of Sigmar, including Matte himself.  Life is good, man.  

Overall, I would give Age of Sigmar a solid 6.5 out of 10 on the wargaming scale.  It's better than your average game, but it doesn't quite feel like a solid replacement for Warhammer 8th.  Of course, I reserve the right to change my opinion as we get more games in and more books/models are released.  But overall, make an informed decision for yourself.  Don't be that asshole who burnt his entire collection.  People like that make us ALL look like Neanderthals.  We don't need to be nerd ragers.  We need to be united in the hobby, even though we have differing views of how the game should have come out.

Basically, it boils down to this:  be adults, make a decision, and don't be an ass about your choice on the internet.  Otherwise, Papa Nurgle will come to get you!

"Neeeeeeeerd rage feeds meeeeeee, hur hur hur"

 So, the title reads that I need a Keg....

I'VE GOT ONE!

Meet my converted Soju Golem for Malifaux.  The regular model didn't much catch my fancy, but I didn't want to shell out for the Nightmare Whiskey Golem, so I gave him a staff and a little bit of character to the face with some eyebrows, and boom.  Done.  Just need to throw some paint on him and Brewie will have an angry robot kegger to throw.

In addition to the Soju Golem, I built Yin for 10T Brewmaster, and for my incoming Yan Lo crew.  Toshiro will be painted up to go with the Yan Lo crew as well.  I also built a Tuco from the male TTB kit, just because I figured that he would be fun to have.  

Well folks, hope that this little article will hold you over until I can get some pictures of my Brewmaster crew up - painted by Matte for me.  They look absolutely fantastic, so I cannot wait to show them off.  I will attempt to get some pictures of the swamp board in progress, as well as any games of Age of Sigmar or Malifaux that are played this week.

So, my minions, go forth and game!  Until next time, this is Sinscaptain signing off.

Matte's Forge - Weathering Old Metal

No, I do not mean Axl Rose. (image from Imgur)



Welcome to the first installment of Matte's Forge, a series in which I share some techniques for assembling, converting, and/or painting. There may be other topics, but this is where I'll start.

Today I'm going to go over creating an "old" look to your steel objects and how to give them a bit of rust. The Old Steel is a technique I picked up from Kris Belleau, who does several painting segments for MiniWarGaming. Here is my list of supplies:

• Games & Gears Size 2 sable brush
• A junk brush, probably around a size 0 or 00.
• Citadel Small Drybrush (Blue Cap)
• Blister pack foam or equivalent
• Vallejo Black Surface Primer (74.602)
• Vallejo Model Air Steel (71.065)
• Citadel Leadbelcher
• Citadel Abaddon Black
• Citadel Runefang Steel
• Citadel Typhus Corrosion
• Citadel Ryza Rust

I am aware of that stray fuzz. Oh dear god that stray fuzz. You'll see what I am talking about.

 

 

Primed with black primer and base coated with VJ Air Steel





Fig. 1: Leadbelcher applied to create a better starting point for the Old Metal look.
 





In Fig. 1, I decided that I wasn't going to go with my original plan, which was painting certain sections in blue and weathering the paint. I heavily thinned Leadbelcher and applied a coat all over the rocket pack. You can see the difference between the body of the rocket and the wings.



Fig. 2: The start of stippling the metal

In Fig. 2, I heavily thinned Leadbelcher and added a touch of black (likely a 5:1 ratio of Leadbelcher:Abaddon Black). I glazed the Leadbelcher up to about 4/5 of the way up (I later glazed the cone of the pack, too). Before the Leadbelcher had a chance to dry, I used some foam from a blister pack (you know the ones) to remove some of the Leadbelcher I had just painted, creating a stippled effect. This was done multiple times, slowly building up the layers until the transition and color was to my liking. The color ended up being darker toward the bottom and brighter toward the top. You'll be able to see the transition in the following images. I forgot to document it between layers.



Fig. 3: Edged with Runefang Steel



Fig. 4: The other side, not edged.
 

In Fig. 3, we can see where I started applying a light edge highlight with Runefang Steel. If you overdo this step, you run the risk of losing the Old Metal effect. I chose to highlight the edges that caught the light, as well as the inside of the piston. Fig. 4 shows the other side without Runefang Steel.


Fig. 5: Shadows and spotting
 

Fig. 5 shows the shadowing and spotting that was done with a 1:1 mixture of Leadbelcher and Abaddon black. The spotting was done with a torn piece of blister foam, the same blister foam used to create the stippling in Fig. 2. Notice the rocket's body. This step can be done before or after the highlights. Just be sure to re-establish whatever highlights you spotted over, if you so wish.



Fig. 6: Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust



Fig. 7: Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust, opposite.
 

Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show the completed rocket pack. Using an old, junk brush, I applied Typhus Corrosion into the recesses near the pistons and along the wings as I saw fit. I followed this with a heavy dry-brushing of Ryza Rust to complete the effect.

Notes:

1. Don't apply the Runefang Steel evenly, everywhere. Pick and choose. We don't want to change the effect with over highlighting.
2. If you choose to shadow after the highlight, it's not exactly necessary to re-establish that highlight. A little chaos might help with the effect we are going for.
3. If you want your model to have more of a worn, rather than rusted, look, skip the Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust.

Reference Images:

From us.123rf.com

From SuperStainless.net