Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Damn the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead!

Greetings once more intrepid hobbyists, I felt that it was time to introduce you to another of my works in progress, this time my Federated States of America fleet for Dystopian Wars (by Spartan Games). As I mentioned in my last post, I have agreed to have my starter fleet plus carrier painted and ready to display by Norcon 2012 (taking place in Redding California the last weekend in July by the way!)

Now to begin, I love the steampunk genre, and I really love the model range that Spartan has created for this game. It was difficult to choose my starting force, but honestly, the paddle-wheels are what sealed it for me in the end. Also, as a history buff its important to remember that America immediately post Civil War was the most advanced military in the world, and European leaders often sent away for American officers and veterans to come to their own countries and help modernize their forces. This means that even though people immediately think of Great Britain when they think steampunk (Victoriana), this is a great period for America to be in ascendancy.

So lets take a look at my force to begin with. First, in the alternate reality of Dystopian Wars, the Civil War does take place, but do to an alliance brokered with Britannia, the Confederacy ends up as the victors and unites the country as the Federated States of America. Because of this, I have chosen to paint my forces in the grey of the confederacy, and I will include red, white, and blue as accents (and flags when I eventually add them). Aside from the grey, I am keeping the decking a yellow-brown, smoke stacks will be black with gold or brass trim, and various other details will be picked out as needed.
So here is the big beast, the double decker FSA Saratoga Fleet Carrier. I mean come on.... check out the paddle-wheels! What you will see in all of these images is a very quick basecoat. Essentially I have based the model using Astronomicon Grey, the decks are Iyanden Darksun, smoke stacks are black, topped with Dwarf Bronze, and all turrets and girders are Boltgun Metal. Over this I have given the models a healthy coat of one of my favorite washes: Devlan Mud! (Honestly, I kinda cringe when I think of how much I have spent on this one wash... it practically goes on every model I paint... and it goes on thick!)
Here is the flagship of my fleet (at least until I get the massive Dreadnought), the FSA Independence Class Battleship. The turrets are off in this picture (as they are still shiny metal or un-primed resin). One of the things that I do appreciate with these models is that they do give you options on how to load your larger ships, so a number of tactics and strategies can be developed. Me, I'm going rockets all the way!
Here you can see the same battleship with the fore and aft turrets placed, as well as the mighty rocket battery.
And these bad boys are the FSA Lexington Class Cruisers, but I consider them the true workhorses of the fleet. Though they lack the brutal strength and power of the Independence Class, these three ships put out a huge amount of combined fire, and can be counted on to take out opposing capital ships, or destroy closing frigates with impunity!
And last but not least in this collection of images is my screening force of FSA Augusta Class Frigates. Though I am still learning how to use these guys to the best effect, they are great at engaging other small enemy ships, and with Dystopian War's exploding dice mechanic, even they can do harm to enemy capital ships on occasion. My force also includes a large number of "tiny flyers" basically tokens with small aircraft on them, and also two A-17 Class bombers. The later you can see in the first image, and as they are still just primed black, I figure that they could be shown at a later date.

Well, as you can see, even with base coats, the fleet is looking alright. Over the next few months I will be adding highlights, hopefully adding flags, and getting them ready to draw interested crowds into yet another war game. The appeal (aside from the models, or the genre) is that I have wanted to play a fleet based war game for a long time. I dabbled for a very short time with Battlefleet Gothic, and though I liked the game, I really like the action created by Spartan's rules.

At the moment, only my buddy Grant (on 2D6plus) has a fleet in the works (and if you haven't done so already, pop on over and take a look at his Covenant of Antarctica... they are gorgeous!) though we are always looking for more "would-be-admirals". We have a friend who purchased a large amount of Prussian figures, but have yet to see any on the table-top. I know that our motivation for having our fleets painted by Norcon is that we would like to raise interest in the game. Already the two of us have committed to purchasing a second fleet each (I will be taking on the Empire of the Blazing Sun) so that we can have a number of forces to run demos with and let other interested players try their hands at commanding.

Well, that's the latest update. Good luck to you all, and keep those paintbrushes busy!

Monday, February 27, 2012

The State of the Paint Desk!

Well folks, I took part in a local painting competition put on by my friend Scotty and ended up taking first place... the fact that there were only three entrants (including my own) doesn't matter at all... really. The venue was a Privateer Press warcaster/warlock attachment for Warmachine or Hordes. With such a small selection of models, it was important to find one that had enough detail to actually be entered into a competition. In the end I chose the Druid Wilder from the Circle of Orboros. The model gave me a chance to try creating a "spell-effect" with brass etched leaves and it was also a model that could easily join my Warhammer Fantasy Wood Elves with a little modification to the base. (It also helped that the other two entrants both chose the same model to paint!)


Still, crappy camera skills aside, I was very happy with how the figure turned out, and I have to give credit to my wife for the win. She was the one that told me to add the swirl detailing to the skirt of the druid that helped edge it ahead of the competition.

And now with the painting competition over, I have taken the time to clean my painting desk and take stock of what projects I want to tackle. There are a few things on the burner. First, shock of all shocks, Lord of the Rings SBG (Strategy Battle Game) has received a small bump in the area after the new release of army books. I'm not sure how long the new interest will last, but I have already told you all that I am a sucker for starting a new mini game, and its not too hard to twist my arm into painting the Lord of the Ring Models! (I mean seriously, this stuff is based off of the Weta designs by Steve Jackson's crew... and how many hours have I spent watching the "making of" footage on those beautiful films?)

That said, when looking at the range of models and thinking of all of the choices I could make, a deep guttural voice was shouting in my head "Who do you serve?" To which I had to loudly reply "Saruman!" That's right folks, the forces of Isengard are assembling, and the Uruk Hai of the White Hand are invading the local gaming tables at The Armory.

Now with this force, I will admit that I am not taking my time, going for a table-top quality force and there is a great reliance on dry-brushing, washes, and selective detail work, but I will try and take some time once my named characters get in (thanks GW direct orders!)


I have tried my hand at some very basic modeling with my Uruk Hai, mainly in order to save money and use all of the figures that I have. First, I created a Captain by shaving off the helmet crest of a warrior and making a larger one with some plastic card and green-stuff. I also added a banner to on of the Uruk Hai warriors by using thin brass rod and then melting plastic card (with a lighter) to create the actual banner.


My last bit of "moding" involved the Uruk Hai scouts. I needed four more with shields added (as you can see to the side) and I think they turned out nicely - made of course with plastic card. I also needed four Uruk Hai Berserkers (and didn't feel like paying $23 for 4 models) so I used the same single weapon armed scouts, and added large two-handed swords that I made out of plastic card, brass rod, and liquid green stuff.


If this wasn't enough to keep me occupied, I have a rather large scratch building project that I have jumped into, that I know will test all of my modeling skills. My Black Templar Army is my pride and joy and I am proud to have a large force of the Emperor's finest to wage war against the enemies of the Imperium. I have reached that wonderful part of army collecting where all of my attention is turned towards Apocalypse size battles, and can slowly add formations and huge engines of war to my force. Of course, being a Space Marine army, I have decided that my battle brothers need to arrive on the field of battle in style. Enter my wip Thunderhawk!


So far the beast has been constructed of plastic card, the engines from Anakin's pod racer, and of course, various bits that I have gathered for the task.

I found plans for a Thunderhawk online, but did not like the scale of the figure. Instead I used these plans as a starting place, and then if I am honest, I have followed a thread on DakkaDakka by a poster named BlackAdder who is building an absolutely beautiful craft. I really want to take my time on this project, as It will become the centerpiece of my Black Templar force (and a great platform for mobile destruction in Apoc. Games)

As you can see, the basic structure is almost done, but I have slowed down so that I can make some decisions about the end design. For one, I really like when people put their flyers on camera tripods, so I plan on doing just that with this model. I also need to finish painting the cockpit area before I assemble the front of the bird.


I'm really excited to get this project underway, and my plan (if at all possible) is to have the Thunderhawk completed by NORCON 2012 so that I can turn this righteous weapon on the fallen forces of Chaos (thank you Gothimos Gaming Group for inviting me to your Apocalypse events, and inspiring me to tackle this monster!)


Well folks, that is all for this post... Upcoming will hopefully be some great works in progress as well as a display of my Dystopian Fleet (a project I have also claimed will be finished by Norcon... me and my big mouth!)


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Holding my feet to the fire

Greetings and welcome to a glimpse of the chaotic and swirling mind of an ADD painter. No really, I have completion issues as I am sure that you will all see. The trouble is that like some crazy Pokemon trainer with a nervous tick, I do feel like I have to paint them all, yet just as I am about to complete a project something shiny distracts me, and I'm off to paint a new and exciting figure. There are a number of reasons (excuses) for my painting condition, which I will now divulge to the world at large, eliciting sympathy and outrage as you all see fit.

First, I am a gaming addict. Yes, my name is Joel, and I have a gaming problem. From the console or computer to the gaming table (heck, even dumb car games if I'm honest- slug bug!) I absolutely love gaming, strategy, and a healthy dose of competition. I run the geek-gamer-gamut growing up on board games like Chess, Risk, Monopoly but graduating to Axis and Allies, Diplomacy (amazing game!), Settlers of Catan, Munchkin, and just about anything by Avalon Hill or Rio Grande Games. I am an avid roleplayer, willing to try just about any system, though truth be known my favorite settings are 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings (both by AEG). Finally, I am a wargamer that absolutely loves the hobby side of the industry which has inspired the creation of this gaming and painting blog.

Second, I do love painting, modeling, building terrain, and making my toy soldiers come to life. The problem is that I have so many concepts, ideas, or themes that I would love to paint or see on the gaming table that it is difficult to stick with one and see it through to the end. Case in point would be my Orc and Goblin army for Warhammer Fantasy. This is the first army that I owned (almost 10 years now), and still the largest to date... and most of the figures are grey plastic, or each unit is painted in such different schemes that the army looks terrible when fielded on the table. Hopefully this issue has been fixed (for the orcs and goblins at least) as I have decided to redo the army as pirate orcs! Still, this is only one force of many... and what is worse is when I begin dreaming of paint schemes to do for other armies... that I don't yet own. It is a dangerous malady to be struck with.

Third, I have trouble saying no to a new game. What can I say, I am an absolute sucker for dice, figures, and measuring tapes. It takes absolutely no pressure to bend my arm to start a new system, and even a rumor of interested gamers sends me straight to my computer, scouring the web and drooling over figures that I will soon own to feed my addiction. Sadly, this also means that I have piles of armies that rarely see the gaming table except for once a year when we dust them off for nostalgia' sake. You think that after all of these years I would learn... but no!

I mentioned that I have completion issues, and because of this a dizzying array of figures will be displayed on this site (though with your help, I hope to complete them). Again in full disclosure these are the game systems and armies that I am currently collecting:

Warhammer Fantasy:
Orcs and Goblins
Wood Elves
Bretonnians
Empire

Warhammer 40k:
Black Templars
Orks (Evil Sunz - Cult of Speed)
Pre Heresy Emperor's Children

Lord of the Rings
Isengard

Dystopian Wars
Federated States of America
Empire of the Blazing Sun

Flames of War
Late War Germans - 21st Panzer Division

Warmachine
Khador

Hordes
Circle of Orboros

Infinity
Caledonians

Mordheim
Pirates
Orc and Goblin Pirates
Witch Hunters

So now you all know a little more about me and the challenges that I face. Hopefully through this blog I will begin to complete the many forces that I own, that I grow in my skills and abilities as a painter, and that perhaps other gamers afflicted with completion issues like me will become motivated to finish their own forces!