Painting Threat; Orks on the Brain

For the Slaptimber Painting Threat on the Waaagh Forums I threatened to paint my warboss and a mob of 21 boyz, the start of Waaagh Uzdreg. I have one observation so far: all that Bad Moon yellow is going to take me ages to paint. Good thing it calls attention to itself, so I can worry a little less about small slip-ups on the rest of the model. Plus, once the entire shoota mob is painted it will look great on the tabletop.

My current ork skin recipe: Basecoat with P3 Thornwood Green, and then cover with P3 Traitor Green. On the nobs and characters I’ll probably do something similar to Warboss Uzdreg, where the Traitor Green is carefully painted to leave a darker Thornwood Green in the recesses between the muscles.

My way of doing metals: I basecoat in Boltgun Metal, and then take a very thin coat of P3 Bloodstone and sort of wash/stipple it on. Makes the metals look a bit more dull and used. I may also do a super-thin wash of a green, and then another Bloodstone wash, to add even more dimension.

I’ll be trying to link to these update posts in the Slaptimber thread on the Waaagh Forum as well. Feedback would be awesome, but is not necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, I completed several costume commissions for Dragon*Con, and both clients loved the work I did.  I’ve already been in communication to do a second costume for an anime convention in November, which is going to be exciting.

I’m planning several new print designs for dice bags, and have picked up some great Halloween fabric – a checkered purple and neon green that I’ll be combining with a deep purple fabric for a “Joker Edition” dice bag.  I’m really thrilled to see how it will come out.

As always, you can find my dice bags at http://www.greyedout.etsy.com

 

Happy gaming!

Karchev in Pink

I think he looks rather handsome, actually.  I tried to go for some battle damage as well, and the metal parts are about as rusted and greasy as I could make them.  I’m really happy with the results.  The armor was done in Murderous Magenta, and then done in several coats of Murderous Magenta mixed with Carnal Pink, until I was happy with the results.  The accent color is Thornwood Green.  Battle damage was done in Bloodstone, with streaks of the same to emulate rust.

The metallics are partially done in Boltgun Metal, with the bronzes in various mixes of Rhulic Gold and Brazen Brass.  They were coated in Devlan Mud, then very thinned Bloodstone.

 

 

 

 

Hobbying Away; Warmachine

I’ve been painting my Warmachine miniatures again, after finding my mojo.  I tend to go through periodic spells where I have no interest whatsoever in playing or painting my miniatures, and then suddenly I’ll come across something that will get me 100% interested in the hobby again.  The nice thing about miniatures is that they’re always there for you, and don’t disappear just because you’re busy with something else.

I’ve mentioned my interest in a Zerkova Tier 4 list before, and the other day I pulled out a Greylord and primed him to test out my color scheme for the Zerkova list.  The base color will be Cryx Bane Highlight – a greenish grey that’s nice and muted.  Accent this with my standard dried-blood red armor color, and add a few tertiary colors in small doses, and I think I have my new scheme.  I spent a few hours today getting base coats down, and was able to paint his gloves in an interesting color as well.  It didn’t occur to me that the Greylords will have grey cloaks, which ties in a bit to the Harry Dresden Files – the Wardens there wear grey cloaks, and are a sort of police force of battle wizards that keep order in the White Council(of wizards).  So I thought it was fitting that I was unintentionally outfitting my Greylord Ternions in grey.  I think I like how it’s turning out so far – I have plans to highlight the Cryx Bane Highlight with a bit of Hammerfall Khaki mixed in, and it will get shaded with Thornwood Green I think.  The blue gloves are a Firefly reference – “two by two, hands of blue”, though of course Greylords come in threes.

The other project is Karchev and the Paint It Pink challenge.  I’ve taken some picture of Karchev(in pieces).  The grey areas are ones which will be painted pink as soon as I can pick up my paints from the LGS.  The greens are a base of Thornwood Green with a light coating of Traitor Green on top, and will stay green as an accent color.  I’m hoping it works out as well as I think it will.  The metallics are done in Brazen Brass, and Boltgun Metal.  The Boltgun Metal was washed with P3 Armor Wash, and will get highlighted up again, I think .

Last but not least, I have a fairy/witch house that I’m working on.  I was going to paint it in Halloween-themed colors, with green slime running up the walls, but as I was laying down the base white colors for the slime, I realized it looked more like a gingerbread house, and so it will probably remain.  I’m excited to finish this little house and get it listed in my Etsy shop.

That’s it for today’s update – thanks for reading!  I hope to have the test Greylord finished soon, and I’ll update as well with Karchev news.

Thoughts from Places: Giga-bites Cafe, Marietta

One of my hobbies is tabletop miniature wargaming.  It’s a little bit like chess, or historical wargaming, except that it uses little pewter miniatures to represent fantasy warriors like knights, fierce beasts like giant werewolves, and giant, steam-powered, magic-controlled robots.  The miniatures come unpainted and unassembled, and putting them together and painting them has always been one of the highlights of the hobby for me.  While some may see it as an expensive hobby, it can be cheaper to pick up a new miniature than to spend a night out drinking with friends.  Budgeting helps, as well.

When I moved to Atlanta, one of the first things I looked for was a friendly local game store(FLGS) to play at.  The game I play is Warmachine, by Privateer Press, and my search online quickly led me to Giga-Bites Cafe in Marietta, just to the northwest of Atlanta.  I stopped in with my fiancee several weeks after arriving in Atlanta to take a look around and see what the store has to offer, and was very impressed.

The store is a long rectangle, leading back from the front door.  To your right as you enter is the cafe section – yes, the cafe.   Owner David Finn had a brilliant idea, and the store serves food and drinks as well as being able to sell you the latest miniature.  The cafe features a variety of coffee drinks and smoothies, as well as sandwiches and paninis, and David knows his way around the espresso machines.  On the left are racks upon racks of miniatures mounted on the wall – everything from Warhammer 40,000 to Warmachine to Firestorm Armada and Flames of War.  The center of the space has large tables meant for playing those miniature games on, and on any given night you can find a number of gamers rolling dice and moving their miniature soldiers around.

At Giga-Bites, certain days of the week are reserved for certain games – that is to say, there are many varieties of tabletop wargame, and on certain days, preference for table space is given to players of those games.  Thursday night, for example, is Warmachine and Hordes night.  That doesn’t mean that players of other games will get kicked out; the store is incredibly fun to hang out at, and everyone I have met so far has been super friendly.  On my first day there I was quickly welcomed, and had a chance to play several games over the course of the night.

The store is a friendly and welcoming place to play, and the hours of operation reflect the hobby – the store is often open until 11pm, and tournaments on the weekends can run all day.  If you need a miniature that isn’t on the shelves, the salesperson will be happy to order it for you, and orders generally arrive within a week.  The store also has a “Rolling Bones” club – members pay $15/year and receive a 10% discount on all purchases – worth it if you plan to spend a good amount on your hobby.

I’ve found through over a decade of being in this hobby – miniature tabletop games – that most gamers are friendly and welcoming people, and it’s wonderful knowing that there is a safe place to play games to your heart’s content and indulge in your hobby with likeminded people.  Giga-Bites is certainly a shining example of the FLGS, and I’m glad to call it the place where I play.