My Hobby and Blog in August 2016

A lot of rats at the adventurers' feet...

I started this blog on August 2015 which makes this blog to be one year old now! Painting the 15 "classic" Warhammer Fantasy armies was the original reason for making this blog. Fantasy armies are still one of my goals, but the blog now encompasses a lot more, such as miniatures used in board games. Overall, I want to use this blog for organization of multiple projects and as a record of the work I have done so far.

[Log] Dungeons & Dragons Castle Ravenloft Monsters & Villains - Part 2

Rat Swarms done! next up Wolves and Spiders

The Rat Swarm models were completed within the first week of August. That makes 8 models in the Castle Ravenloft game completed and 35 more to go! Next up on the painting table will be either the Wolves or the Spiders. For the three wolves, I want to paint each one of them with a different fur coat color. For the spiders, I am leaning toward a black base and each of one of them having a different design on the back of their abdomen. The next updates will contain background research on both wolf fur coat and spider markings.

Previous Log Entry: [Log] Dungeons & Dragons Castle Ravenloft Monsters & Villains - Part 1
Next Log Entry: N/A

[Archives] Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol

Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol, Empire Duelist with Sword, Empire Duelist with Brace of Pistols, and Empire Captain with Sword and Orc Head are the last batch of miniatures I painted before starting this blog in 2015. These four metal miniatures were painted to be used as part of a Reikland mercenary warband for the Mordheim skirmish game. This model was used both as a Reikland Captain in Mordheim and as an Empire general/captain for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The giant hammer, cloak, ornate armor. plus the grizzled bearded face gives the impression of a high ranking veteran soldier. A perfect model for leading an Empire army.

Notes: The original binders notes are on page 39. The record for the work I did on both this model and the Empire Captain with Sword and Orc Head were poorly kept as I was preoccupied finding a new place to live at that time. Like all the other models I painted for an Empire army, I kept the red and white color theme as the main emphasis on the model. I did not paint in his eyes, but with how the helmet gives a natural shadow over the eyes, it does not look too bad; however, looking it up close...painting eyes will be one of my main areas I want to improve on.

[Archives] Empire Captain with Sword and Orc Head

Empire Captain with Sword and Orc Head, Empire Duelist with Sword, Empire Duelist with Brace of Pistols, and Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol are the last batch of miniatures I painted before starting this blog in 2015. These four metal miniatures were painted to be used as part of a Reikland mercenary warband for the Mordheim skirmish game. Not only was he used as a Reikland Champion, he was also used as a Empire Captain in Warhammer Fantasy. Except for the sculpted blood, I really liked this characterful model. I think it is that pose of him wiping his blade after lopping off the head of an Orc!

Notes: The original binders notes are on page 38.  The record for the work I did on both this model and the Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol were poorly kept as I was preoccupied finding a new place to live at that time. For the model, I tried to keep the red and white color theme of the Empire that I had started with the Battle Master Empire infantry; however, since he is going to be a captain in the army, I wanted to give him some unique color to separate him from the regular troops. This turn out to be a light brown boots and hat compared to the deeper brown boots of the regular troops. I stained the sword's "Sigmar" engraving with a red wash, not entirely sure if I wanted it to be either a magic sword with a slightly red shine or blood soaked inside the engravings. Even though I did not paint the eyes, the shading seems to be good enough to give the impression of his eyes looking downward at his sword.

[Archives] Empire Duelist with Brace of Pistols

Empire Duelist with Brace of Pistols, Empire Duelist with Sword, Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol, and Empire Captain with Sword and Orc Head are the last batch of miniatures I painted before starting this blog in 2015. These four metal miniatures were painted to be used as part of a Reikland mercenary warband for the Mordheim skirmish game. This model was used to represent a Reikland Youngblood, This model and the Empire Duelist with Sword are part of an Empire Collector's Miniature series from Games Workshop. Like the Duelist with Sword, the Duelist with Brace of Pistols looks more like a person in gear for a fight, but not necessarily equipped for war.

[Archives] Empire Duelist with Sword

Empire Duelist with Sword, Empire Duelist with Brace of Pistols, Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol, and Empire Captain with Sword and Orc Head are the last batch of miniatures I painted before starting this blog in 2015. These four Empire metal miniatures were painted to be used as part of a Reikland mercenary warband for the Mordheim skirmish game. This model was used as a Reikland Youngblood. Nowadays, the difference in the level of detail between plastic and metal models is fairly low; however 5 years ago painting this miniature, the difference is quite huge especially when compared to the 1990s plastic models I had been painting. I also noticed how the the model can still look pretty good due to the detail of the model offsetting my rather simple paint job! Unlike the previous fantasy Empire models that I painted which are more soldier-centric in theme, the duelist looks more like a noble that is in gear for a fight, but not heavily armored for war. This makes it fit well for role playing games and as a mercenary in Mordheim.

[Archives] Hills, Citadel Modular

The Citadel Modular Hills are out of production terrain pieces from Games Workshop.

Four separate pieces combined into one large hill terrain.

Notes: The work on the Citadel Modular Hills were done simultaneously with the Citadel Hills. For both hill types, I wanted it be a medium green color with patches of other grass colors. Having 4 pieces of 2 unique sculpts, there are multiple configurations that I can use the versatile modular hill pieces. They can be used as table corner pieces, combined two together for table edge pieces, or combine 4 pieces together for one large hill. The original binder notes were on page 29.

[Archives] Hills, Citadel

The Citadel Hills are out of production terrain pieces from Games Workshop.

Te four heroes stands on top of  one of the two Citadel Hills (left)

Notes: The work on the Citadel Hills were done simultaneously with the Citadel Modular Hills. For both hill types, I wanted it be a medium green color with patches of other grass colors. The Citadel Hills are larger than each Citadel Modular Hill; however, when you combine all 4 Citadel Modular Hills together, the regular Hills are smaller. The original binder notes were on page 29.

[Archives] Warhammer Fortress

Painted Version

I remember looking at the Warhammer fortress 20 years ago, thinking how great it would be as a centerpiece for a fantasy game setting. Now, the castle looks rather simple compare to what is available today. I still like the castle for its modularity and that I can used it for both miniature war games and role playing games. The fortress is part of a project to create an adventure site that includes a town with at least 20 buildings.

Notes: The modular Warhammer Fortress can be set up in many different configurations. It can be made into one very long wall, half a castle, or even a small fully enclosed fortress. The gate can be opened and closed and there are 4 door accessories to represent additional entryways to the the towers. The paint scheme for the terrain pieces I worked on in 2010-2011 are very simple, but effective in my opinion. At the moment, the terrain pieces are not sealed with any varnish. The original binder notes for the work done to the Warhammer Fortress is on page 28.

My Hobby and Blog in July 2016

Wrath of Ashardalon adventurers and Castle Ravenloft Rat Swarms

The Four Heroes Workshop

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

Work in Progress

For the month of July, I have gotten back into painting miniatures. However, I only made progress for 1 of the 4 projects that I was working on in March. I hoped to get some more painting done for the Battle Masters miniatures in August.