The wrong side of the tracks

Another ruin for our gang-fight town. This time a bit more blasted and burned and graffiti'd.



More here on Flickr.

A town without pity

1/5 of our new ruined buildings to add to the town for Mordheim games is finished.

#1: Ruined Villa:



I wasn't able to get the ivy to work how I'd wanted, so it isn't as covered in creepers as I'd originally envisioned, but I'm still quite happy with it.

A few more views available here

Campaign Log: Empire vs Wood Elves.

This weekend we fought the 4th battle in the first round of our multi-race campaign. This game saw 1500 points of Empire facing 1200 points of Wood Elves. This is the allies building stage, so the points the Empire scores allows them to take an equal number in points of Wood Elf allies in the subsequent grudge match with the Orcs and their associated axis of evil.

Waywatchers proved to be the heroes/jerks of the day depending on your viewpoint. They killed 2 out of 8 knights on turn 1 with point blank bowfire thanks to their deployment rules. The knights failed, fled, failed to rally, and walked right off the board on the bottom of turn 1. That pretty much evened up the points disparity, and garunteed that unit got the full loving attention of a Volley Gun later in the game.

The Empire did their best to hold off the elves with a largely static defensive hold until turn 4 and 5 allowed some apropriate charges. Not really a suprise when facing the only army in our collections that is even faster than Skaven.

The only other matchup of note was an empire captain on Pegasus- aparently it was his first day with the lance- of the 6 times he rolled to hit with it, he only managed to connect once. His swords earned him one unit of Glade Riders, but after fumbling the lance attack against the other unit, the remaining two horsemen chased him off and then cut him down. We may have played that action wrong, but I can't remember. It has been years since I played a flying unit in WHFB, and I totally forgot until afterward that there are some special rules about them leaving hand to hand.

I'm having some problems getting the pictures off the camera... perhaps my SD card is dieing, but if I manage to, pictures will follow.


Final: Elves: ~710 Empire: 506

Sir Fella of DudeGuy

I'm calling this a Hospitalier Master of Horse, and you can't say otherwise.

Actually its marketed as Sir Guy of Gisborne, from the Robin Hood legends. Sculpted in 40mm by the Perry twins for Foundry. It was a limited release with a matching Robin Hood figure that I've never seen.

This was a test piece for a new set of flesh paints and a bunch of reds, as well as an excuse to practice some new NMM recipes. I'm pretty happy with the brass/gold metallics on this, and reasonably happy with the helmet. I think I have the coloring on the helm correct, but there are some placements that I'm not too sure of. I never am. . I just don't see it well often times.

Overall though I really like the way he came out.

Higher res, non-blogspot image



I need to go back and shoot this again however. The poorly sculpted sword handle wrap has been inked more, as has the pinky ring and some of the buckles. Also I've darkened the helmet a tiny bit with some dark grey washes.. I may do another before I re-shoot. Mostly though I need to see about capturing the shading in his face better. . . I'm not sure why it came out so flat. I'll muck about with the lighting, and enlist the expertise of my photographer wife to help me out.

Things that go bump in the night

I finished my skeletons, and only a touch late for Halloween. These are probably the nicest skeletons I've ever done- amazing sculpting on them. The only drawback is they are multipart (the arms are seperate), and being so small and metal makes them a bit fiddly to put together. Not much surface area for glue, and even less for trying to do a decent pin job. Even so, these are wonderful miniatures.



Blogger downsamples the figures so much they really don't look as nice, so here are direct links to some good pictures:

1 2 3 4

Enjoy!

brand new and run down

Ben and I ordered these months ago to flesh out our Mordheim set up, and I'm finally getting to the initial assembly. I think they'll do quite well for us, though I'm still speculating on how to add some quality 2nd story traversable terrain to our horde. These will be good for gettin up on top of and shooting from/behind, but not much else (...unless I build some crazy rickety bridges ??). Anyway, they'll be good for what they are indeed.

The pieces are slipcast ceramics from Thomarillion.de

SirDudeGuy

Amid the many projects afoot at Madponies right now I made a little progress on this fella tonight:



I'm not sure the thin-ness of these red layers will pay off, but I'm trying to stay patient.

I remember halloween!

Had a very relaxed first of November today, and made some progress on these lovely Otherworld skeletons:

bits and bobs

I always enjoy the places between project, when I can do a little of this and a little of that. Glue project 4 while project 6 is drying downstairs etc.

I finally got in touch with the fine gents at Thomarillion about the missing piece from my terrain order earlier this summer which bodes well for Ben and I getting our ruined town fleshed out a bit more.

I finished the weapon swaps and bases on 4 or 5 more members of my bandit gang, which is very pleasing. I still have about 10 to go, so plenty of time to agonize over the color scheme decisions.

2 of them I finished today are the monks. The figures are Perry japanese monks with weapons from Wyrd Miniatures. Their statline will be based on the Cossaks, which are basically the same as regular warriors, but they have hatred of all Chaos, Dark Elves, and Skaven. I thought 2 of them was about right to include in a warband that will be primarily tussling with the rat-men.



One of them will probably end up with a wide wicker hat.


And because it is the season:



A few other minor projects were dabbled in too; They may or may not be getting any attention in the near future, we'll see.

Long Live the New Flesh

I've finished the caucasian flesh recipe reference guide.

Huzzah! Much fun was had doing this, and once again I am reminded of the enjoyment and expanded knowledge that comes from painting something outside your normal familiarity/comfort level.

fleisch

I've finished the painting and photography for the flesh recipe guide, all that remains is to format it and get it published. Should only need an hour or two of html wranlging some night this week and I'll be up.

Preview: [Privateer Press Formula P3 flesh tones]

Just like grandma used to make it. . .

The flesh recipe showcase continues, I'm through stage 3 on 9 of the 12 recipes.

Here are a couple favorites back at stage 2:

Skinjob [Flesh Recipe WIP]

People are always asking how to paint cacausian flesh, so I thought I'd do a little visual recipe guide showing off the results of a number of different approaches. I've been collecting flesh recipes from various other painters, and picking up the various colors to play with them. I finally have most of them ready, and got hold of a good set of demo figures- 1/2 naked foundry germans- which are nice and chunky in that wonderful Mark Copplestone way.

The final stage by stage images will be properly lit so the reflections off my work lamp won't blow out the more subtle differences in the shades. But for now, here is the first 6 of 12, taken up to their 2nd color:

The sun never sets.

I've finally finished the Zulu diorama. The chap I painted it for should be putting it up for acution soon to help his cousin's charity fund raiser.

"they're saluting you!"

Nearly done with this Zulu vignette. I'm still working out what to do with the loin cloth. Animal print or geometric patterns?

Greenish stuff

My very small hat factory:



I'm not sure how well I'll do sculpting fur texture, so I'm making analog clone-stamp tools:

Too Many Paints

I have too many paints. I love them and I am glad to have them all, but I keep finding /more/ I want to use, and I am now reaching the limit of my storage space for them.

I basically just line them all up on my table. Well, they now take up close to 1/2 my table. Most of the paint organizers I see marketted to hobby folks don't really do anything but /organize/- they don't save any space. Unless I go to a full wall mounted shelf one wall I'm not sure what else to do.

The only other thing I've thought might be usefull would be a chest of drawers on my table. Something like these from Ikea:



If I do go to drawers it'll have to be something equally light weight and easy to open/close, as I'll be getting paints out of it often. Perhaps I can save enough space to create a staging area next to where I paint, big enough for 10-15 bottles that I'm using at a sitting, and then file them away into drawers at the end of the table.

I'll have to do some looking around.

Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more.

My main distraction from painting (aside from beautiful weather and motorcycles) has been the fact that I've needed to scrape, sand, caulk, putty, and paint my house this summer.

It isn't done, but after several intense weekends, we are finally in the home stretch, and I am excited to start pondering getting back to miniatures again.

I've finished two or three more conversions and prep work for my chinese bandit gang, sneaking in a few moments here and there over the last few months. There is also a Black Scorpion colonial Brit vs Zulu vignette that I have cleaned and primed, and headed for a charity auction. Now that a mail order package has arrived, I have it based on a 60mm round and ready to start the 1st level of colors.

Oh, and this is what all the fuss has been about:

The NeXT Step

Now that I have a bazillion things going on for summer I'm not sure how long this next project will take.

Mordheim gang #2 has begun. This time around it will be a gang of fighters made of mostly Chinese Bandits figures from War Games Foundry. The idea is somewhat inspired by The House of Flying Daggers, and the heavy color saturation style costumes of that film as well as The Golden Chrysanthemum, and Hero.

This is an alternate figure selection that I'll actually be playing as the Kislev list -an official addition from the Mordheim supplements.

I've decided to mount these on scenic bases with a broken stone design which will be a nice diversion. The only drag there is the extra time I'll have to spend removing the integral bases and cleaning up the feet since they can't just be covered with flock and grass to hide any rough cuts to the footwear.

I managed to get the first one cleaned up and mounted last night so now I can get an idea of how they'll look, and start thinking on color schemes.

The smaller they are. . .

The smaller pants they wear?

Something like that.

And here are the last of the Tall Tales for your enjoyment:







Thief, Pit Fighter, and Cook:



And the big bad ogre:

I will gladly pay you tomorrow for a turkey leg today

Some more images of the finished Tall Tales:

Scout and Javelinas:


Youths:


Scouts:




The band I've picked from my pool for the initial recruitment as the Tall Tales consists of:

Characters:

1 Captain: Sword, helmet, crossbow pistol, light armor.
1 Thief: Crossbow pistol, sword, throwing knives, rope+hook.
1 Youth: Axe

Henchmen:

2 scouts with sling
2 scouts with bow
3 javelinas
1 warrior with 2x handed hammer
1 warrior with sword, buckler, and light armour.

Initial recruitment cost is 509points, with a rating of 88.

They are currently 1:0 with a victory against skaven. With the gold earned in that battle, I think I may hire the Iron Chef.

There are no small parts, only small warriors

The leader of my mordheim halfling warband, 'The Tall Tales'. Another excellent sculpt from Kev White. I just realized I got some green paint from the flock on his crossbow. . . oops. I'll have to go back and fix that.

Ho! And well met.

So I've had enough of dealing with the coolminiornot blog system. I'll miss knowing that random folks are checking out my work due to the CMON sidebar links, but I figure if people really enjoy seeing what's going on at MadPonies Labs, they'll make the treck over to blogger.com, or just subscribe to the new rss feed.

Now that I've satisfied my obsession with continuity and moved all the old posts over here I can begin updating again. Though it should be mentioned that it /is/ summer, and there are about a bazillion things going on all the time it seems, so I may be painting (and thus updating) less over the next few months. Camping, motorcycle trips, painting the house, and just the beauty of Washington in the sunshine months all will be getting a larger portion of my time.

I'm now just finishing up the basework on the ogre, so I can finally close the lid on the halfling project. They've already had their first outing against the scurvy skaven, and we're hoping to add a couple more players with a norse warband and a goblin gang joining the fun before too long.

He aint brotherly, he's my heavy.

Finally got some more time spent on the last fig for the halfling band, the ogre.

Where it all began

Actually, it all began with painting green plastic army men with my Testors model paints. Then the viking game pieces from Crossbows and Catapults. Then I bought the 30 MK7 marines box. Thats where this whole thing really started for me. I had some craft paints, and after paging through a friend's copy of Rogue Trader I decided the dark angels looked cool. A trip down to the basement turned up the pieces; I had to glue him back together for this shot:

The Inn of the Green Man

Here's the Inn, all finished up:


More views and details here.

Jiggity Jig

This piece is nearly done now. I'm just finishing up the ground work and scenic details.

Gimme Shelter

This waddle and timber house (Armorcast) is about 75% now. Roof, windows, door, and misc details left to finish up.

Cruisin' for a bruisin.

This former Bloodbowl bruiser is getting a new job as a designated smasher with the halflings. Yes, thats a collander on his head, which ensured him a place in this warband.

Warpigs of the power

These fighting swine will be some of the strongest troops in the halfling warband:

.
Also a young human adopted by the warband, who could have arguably similar stats to a halfling:

When you have to shoot, shoot.

A lively little archer from Harlequin miniatures. Needs some dirt on that chainmail me thinks!

Slings and Arrows

Color came out wierd on this one for some reason, oh well. Here's a quick look at a couple halflings from Grenadier who are joining my gang to add some missle support.

All things Great and Small

I took last weekend off to go to the mountains and had a host of things going on this past week, but I finally got a little brush time this weekend. We also got a bunch of Mordheim terrain assembled so we'll be ready to rumble fairly soon!

One small step

The fellow on the left will be the leader of this warband. A small conversion to give him the mini-crossbow. The one on the right is the last of the warriors I'll be doing. Also converted- from a scythe to the krautmasher, which I find an amusing weapon choice. That only leaves the thief, and the scouts to do, and then a couple non-halfling gang members.

Oh to be young again

These guys will probably be my 0-2 youths in the Halfling warband. This is my first archer todate, which would be concerning considering archery is the only thing halflings have going for them, but I have located some more which are now en route from Italy.


Incedentally, I'm thinking about moving this blog to blogspot which is much less lame then the CMON publishing tools. . . How many of you only read it because of its visibility as linked on the CMON sidebar?

The little things in life.

I'm now full swing into this halfling warband for mordheim, and it is proving very satisfying.

Equinoxical

Round the horn! Here's to the demise of winter for one more year. To celebrate, I finished the Elf on Stag. Well actually that was finished because the recipient's birthday is this week, so it seemed timely to get it wrapped up. Proper pictures will follow tonight. My Empire forces got to trot out to a lopside (1100 vs 1400) battle this weekend and snatched a victory from the Dogs of War in our fledgling campaign. No newly painted units were fielded for either army, though my Rebellion archers continue to show up in 100% of the games I've played since they were painted. Here is a look at the battle field and the forces arrayed against me:

Halftime

It is the time of the half man. Fear his dimmunitive stature and his shortened stride.


Building a mordheim gang. :-)

Inch by inch, leaf by leaf

I'm getting back at this painting biz a little bit more now and again.

Black hats

So now that I got the hats straightened out, I was able to get some final photos of Marshal Ney and staff.
(also votable)

Mistaken Identity

It was pointed out to me today when I shared the final pictures of the Taco General Staff that I had in fact failed rather stunningly in my limited research into the correct uniform colors. Aparently all bicornes and the like were black in the French army. A cusory look around the web confirms this. . .not sure how I missed it before.

But whats more, how did the people I shared the work in progress with miss it as well? I expect more from my readership! Yes thats right, the both of you. Next time let me know before I finish the figure, will ya?

The Return of Commander Taco

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working on the elf. I've been a complete spaz since we've moved and haven't really settled into a consistent project groove yet. I started these French staff officers before the move, and I just realized I was really almost done with them, so why not finish them off. The chance to have something completed was too strong, I had to take it. Now all I need is for the putty to dry, and they'll be on their way out the door shortly there after.