My Hobby and Blog in March 2016 #2

The Four Heroes Workshop

Anything related to my projects, modelling, painting, etc.

Preparation of Battle Masters Chaos Army for painting

Blog

I have decided on changing how I organize my blog again. I will use Logs posts for broader project updates rather than for just mundane updates. I will use the "My Hobby and Blog" posts for the smaller updates.

Since the Last Update...

Battle Masters - I have started work on the rest of the Battle Masters Chaos Army (first image in blog). I decided to work on the remaining infantry figures first before working on the mounted figures. I completed scraping the mold lines, attaching figures to bases, and magnetizing the bases of the infantry figures. In addition, I undercoated 5 of the models, trying to use a mixture of black and white gesso as a way to get a black and white "sketch" of the figure. That idea was to get a rough guideline for highlights and shades of the final paint job on the miniatures. Not sure if I like the method, especially for large units of the same model; however, I will try it out on other model

Primed using varying mixture of Black and White Gesso

Removal of Parts from Plastic Sprues - On my spare time recently, I have mostly been removing the plastic pieces from the sprues. This is mainly to reduce the amount of space the plastic GW kits take up. I can save considerable amount of space. For example, below is a picture of 7 battalion boxes worth of miniatures desprued. 6 of the desprued battalions can fit within 1 battalion box. I have 80 more plastic box kits (~280 figures) to unpack and desprued...

6 battalion box worth of miniatures inside 1 battalion box

2016 Goal Progress - 

I have set a goal for 2016 to complete at least 80 items. At the pace I am working on, completing fantasy armies is a long term goal and it is most likely easier for me to complete smaller goals within a year rather than to work exclusively on miniatures for fantasy armies. Completing all the Battle Masters miniatures will fulfill both miniatures for fantasy armies and a board game. Last year I finished the Imperial Army of the Battle Masters game which also fulfill miniatures for the Empire fantasy army. For 2016, I want to finished the Battle Masters Chaos Army. That is 60 miniatures that can also be used as soldiers for Warriors of Chaos, Beastmen, Orcs and Goblins, and Ogre Kingdoms fantasy armies.

With the Battle Masters miniatures, I still need 20 more miniatures to reach my 2016 goal. I plan to paint some single piece miniatures here and there this year, but I want to line up another small project to complete. After finishing the Battle Masters miniatures, I am considering painting miniatures for a board game: either Dungeons & Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon (42 miniatures) or Ninja All Stars starter box (42 miniatures). Partial completion of either one this year, should help fulfill my quota.

The Chaos Archers were finished at the end of February so 10 of the 80 items for 2016 are completed!

The World of Games and Miniatures

Anything related to past, current, and upcoming games and miniatures

The Price of Games Workshop Products

For older models made many years before Age of Sigmar the price per model has dropped, however price per product purchase have increased. If you are interested in getting many models, then overall it is slightly cheaper. The "Start Collecting!" box sets are good deals. They remind me of the Battalion box sets. It appears to be a bigger saving for some of the box sets - specifically the Seraphon and Skeleton Horde.  Age of Sigmar and more recent models are still expensive for me. Passing the $100 priced tag for an individual model is definitely a line that I do not want to crossed even if I like it. As a display piece maybe, but for gaming purposes...I think I would only cross that line if all 4 of the Greater Daemons get a new sculpt.

I do like Games Workshop producing boxed game sets again such as Betrayal at Calth and Deathwatch Overkill. In the future I would love to purchase Deathwatch Overkill and the Space Hulk game to have more alien enemies for Science Fiction themed adventure games. The price is still on the higher end for me, but as a self-contained game I am more than willing to purchase them. As I get ready to post this, I learned that this summer Games Workshop will be releasing Lost Patrol board game and there is a rumor of a fantasy boxed game for release this year. Looking forward to them!

Avatars of War

Previously, I purchased some minotaurs to round out my minotaur unit. Looking for a goblin and chaos marauder hero for my fantasy armies projects, I chose to purchase some Avatars of War miniatures as they fit fairly well with the Games Workshop miniatures. Some of their metal miniatures did not fit very well together. I am quite happy with their plastic Marauder and Slayers kit. The type of plastic used felt different, not necessarily for better or for worse than the usual hard plastic of other companies I am familiar with. The plastic works better with Super Glue than with Plastic Cement. I was surprised that the Marauder Plastic Kit came desprued and also came with a resin champion.

Ninja All Stars

As mentioned previously, I was interested in this game to run a league for my nieces and nephew. Having purchase the starter box and read the rules, here are some of my initial impressions:

- Emphasis on positioning to gain dice advantage before entering close combat.
- One should normally not enter close combat unless he or she has more dice than opponent.
- Compared to close combat, it is less of a disadvantage to enter ranged combat when having less dice against opponent.