A year passed: winter changed into spring, spring changed into summer, summer changed back into winter, and winter gave spring and summer a miss and went straight on into autumn... until one day...
I managed to get in some hobby time in today and the Wheat Field is nearing completion I need to add some “Stirland Battlemire” to the sides of the doormat to hide the black rubber that is peeking out in a few spots and also finish off highlighting the trees. As a final step I will spray the base with some watered down PVA to help it survive in the world of tabletop gaming. Here are a couple more pictures including one that shows the "Wheat" sections removed so models can move through the field.
Next up I will continue work on the Merchants Cottage and also get some base colours down on an Arachnarok Spider for my Night Goblin army.
As I get older I find myself looking back with fondness on all the games I used to play as a wee nipper and wanting to recapture some of this childhood magic in my adult life. One of the games I used to play way back when was "Man O'War". I ended up getting a cracking deal on a set in very good condition. The previous owner had basically assembled the ships, pushed the tokens out of their surround and then packed everything back in the box where it has remained ever since. The cards are still sealed and the ship sails/banners unused. Even the box was described as being in good condition with just a small knock on one of the corners.
Some extra ships included in auction
Also included in the auction was an Imperial Greatship (undercoated, one mast needs a slight repair) and a Dwarf Nautilus squadron (basecoated). Buying stuff counts as hobby progress, right? Expect some Man O'War posts in the future but for now my Night Goblins will be taking priority in preparation for a big AOS game my group has planned for a months time.
I had a few days holiday from work and was surprisingly productive. I completed another 10 Night Goblins bringing the total to 20 so I now have the minimum unit size that can be fielded. As usual I had lots of fun painting these models, I mean look at them! Whats not to love?! This unit includes a few of the old "Netters" and "Clubbers" models and I plan on adding another 4 in a future update.
Next up is one of the old Squig-Herder teams. Unfortunately the light was crap when I took this photo so the colours have come out looking a little flat but they are painted in the same way as my other Goblins.
And last up for my painting accomplishments is the White Dwarf Subscription Goblin Warboss. This guy was really fun to paint. I did a little work on him every night for a week and I think he ended up pretty good. As mentioned in a previous post the mushrooms are a mixture of the ones you get with the Mangler-Squigs and the ones I reviewed from TheBattleForge. I overdid it a bit with the weathering powder on the rocks and plan at some stage to tone this down. I also need to redo a few of the red and white "Fairy Tale" mushrooms to match the 2 realistic coloured ones but for now I'm calling this done!
WIP project wise I threw together some simple LOS-blocking scatter terrain using some of the many resin accessories I have accumulated. I have also primed a few bits of terrain such as the Cottage and Wheat Field and pictures of these will follow once I have made some progress painting them.
And talking of the Wheat Field, I found this guy in my bitzbox and think he might come in handy for watching over the crops. He's an old Mordheim model from the "Frenzied Mob" set.
And lastly this Box O' Fun arrived. More details on this soon...
I kicked myself into gear and finally got to chuck some paint on 10 of my old metal Night Goblins. I have around 50 to get through so I thought it best to split them into chunks of 10. I started out with the goal of doing a quick paintjob that looks good from a metre away but up close is fairly basic. This didn't really go to plan and I spent far too long on each one although they turned out (I think) pretty good. Since taking this picture I noticed I forgot to paint the banner top, DOH! I will fix this and make a custom banner ASAP. I sooooo love the old metal Gobbo's. They are so full of character which is something I think the current range has lost. I mean, check this out:
That Guy in the middle, easily my favourite pose!
Work also began on one of my many terrain projects, a wheat field:
I took a bit of MDF and added sections of walls/fences from GW's excellent "Walls & Fences" kit. I then used some Polyfilla to mold these to the base and also build up some raised "bank" sections to help better hide the door matt rubber base. Next up will be the basing stage. At his rate I will have a small farm soon! I've got some annual leave from work coming up next week so I plan to continue on with these and other projects so expect some updates soon.
A quick update to show you all what I'm working on at the moment. First up is Forge World's excellent Troggoth Hag. I have always loved this model and since I have got some Moonclan Grots on the go it gave me the perfect excuse to add Her to my army. Since taking this photo I have sorted out the moldline which annoyingly I didn't notice until after I had taken the picture. I need to do some work on her base and then I'm hoping to get Her primed and some base colours down when I'm next off work.
Next up is some progress on the Merchants Cottage. I used some polyfilla and milliput to level out the base and then added a mix of woodland scenics fine and medium ballast to the base. I need to prime this and then get the painting underway.
polyfilla and milliput added to base
PVA and woodland scenics ballast added
And last up is one of my latest acquisitions. I managed to score a mint in box long OOP Forge World Stone Bridge for my ever-growing scenery collection. I really love the design of this and hope to pair it up with a Re-painted Pegasus Hobbies River Set. More on that soon.
I have been searching around for a company that makes a variety of Mushrooms/Fungus that I can use as basing features for my Moonclan Grot army and came across the excellent "TheBattleForge". They are UK-based company which being a fellow resident of this little Island is something I prefer when making online orders since you tend to pay a lot less postage (FREE in this case!) but more importantly your stuff arrives quicker. Their website is easy to navigate with categories and subcategories clearly displayed so you know exactly where you need to go. For my first order I finally settled on the following items:
I placed my order late one evening and 3 days later the items arrived. They were shipped in a padded envelope with the items divided up into small bags and stapled to the order confirmation. As you can see in the below photo the mushrooms come with their own "pins" at the bottom of the stems making attaching them to bases even easier. Just drill a hole in your base, add a splash of superglue, pop the pin in... jobs a good'un!
I was really impressed with both the service and products from TheBattleForge. They are priced well and FREE UK postage gives you even better value for money. These will help add some really nice details throughout my army. Speaking of which, I have been working on basing the White Dwarf Subscription Goblin Warboss and added two of the small mushrooms from the "Giant Goblin Mushroom and Toadstool x20 pack". The resin ones on the right were left over from the Mangler Squigs kit.
TheBattleForge Mushrooms on the left. Pretty fetching huh?!
I will definitely be making more orders in the future. Check their full range of products here: http://www.thebattleforge.co.uk
In my ongoing quest to acquire OOP Forge World terrain I ended up with two of the Wood Cutters Cottages. One I purchased a year or so ago was still mint in box and I have built that stock. The other came poorly assembled by the previous owner complete with a fairly thick splash of paint and has been sat on a shelf awaiting some inspiration... and inspiration has struck! I have decided to turn this "spare" one into a Merchants Cottage. The main structure will remain as is but I have removed the wood pile and axe (as seen in the stock picture below) and attached the cottage to a beveled MDF base. I used a section of fence from GW's "Walls & Fences" kit and then selected some resin accessories to help change the look from "Wood Cutter" to "Merchant". A full product review for these bits and info on where you can purchase them will follow in a future article. Here is the current progress:
The Stock Cottage
First try. Looks ok I guess...
Bingo! We have a winner.
And as always, here is an appropriate song for this post:
I see a bad moon a-rising I see trouble on the way I see earthquakes and lightnin' I see bad times today
The time has come to resurrect this much neglected blog in a bid to keep me on track with my newest project for Age of Sigmar: Moonclan Grots (Aka Night Goblins!). I will be chronicling my progress (I hope!) and if all goes to plan there will also be a few other authors joining the blog so we should get some actual content appearing at last! I have gone through and removed the majority of old posts as I want a fresh start. Thanks to everyone who followed and commented previously, I hope you enjoy the new direction!
This was the most fun I've ever had modelling/painting. These models are so full of character and have lots of little details that you don't notice on first glance. They are still WIP and need finishing off but heres what I have so far. I tired to make the yellow colour on the tanks appear washed out/worn and applied heavy weathering all over for that "fresh out of the junkyard" look. The thing that really makes this kit is the amount of build options. You can swap around the turrets, tracks, weapons and hulls to come up with some great combinations. I'm considering picking up another set of these and also the Grot Mega Tank. I still have lots to get through on my work bench and you should see some of this progress in future posts. I also need to choose some foam trays for my army having recently picked up an empty Battle Foam P.A.C.K. 720. Will post more on that later.
I'm still going. Damn this horrible hot weather! Here are some WIP shots of my Engineers... all 20 of them! I still need to add transfers to all their shoulder pads and tidy up the colours and bases but here is a quick pic to show where I'm at. I wish Forge World released more poses than the standard 5. I've tried to convert them but theres only so much I can do! :p
