Themed Tables at Lock & Load 2013

Here are just a few of the gorgeous tables in the Iron Arena at Lock & Load.

Minion solos WIP

Just a few shots of some WIP models.  These are late additions to my journeyman gator army.

Thrullg

Totem Hunter

Viktor Pendrake

On the painting table, 12/2/12

The Stormwall is assembled, but I'm procrastinating on painting it.  In the meantime, I started on the pods. I'm going to try some weathering effects on them once the painting is complete.  I'm thinking soot on the vanes and mud on the base.

Storm Pods

Arlan is almost done.  I tried to add some details by painting his gauges with a needle and "danger zone" but I'm not sure if it really adds much to the model.  I still struggle with painting metal, especially on isolated spots.  Larger bits are easier.

Arlan Strangewayes

The Thunderhead has been assembled and primed for months now.  Having just finished pNemo, I'm trying to get some progress made on him.  Recently I started using a Vallejo "extra opaque" brown to undercoat the gold instead of the typical black.  It's worked out really well.  Even when base-coating white, which I normally avoid with metals, the brown is dark and opaque enough to cover fine.

Thunderhead

Also in the queue, I'm assembling Boomhowlers and Jonas Murdoch.  They should be a nice complement to a large majority of Cygnar lists.

Galleon

DC brought his Galleon to Warmachine Weekend and it looked amazing.  I just wanted to throw up a quick picture of it.

Galleon

Not to forget the Circle

I painted these a couple of months ago, but this is the first time I've had a chance to post pictures.  We've got some new additions including the Bloodtrackers + Nuala and Gallows Grove.  I've yet to put either on the table but hopefully this weekend it will happen.

Bloodtrackers

Nuala

Gallows Grove

New editions to Cygnar

I finally got around to photographing the recent models I've added to my Cygnar army.  Despite writing a tutorial on photographing minis, I'm certainly no expert.  I'm not super-pleased with how the pics turned out. They're lacking contrast and look flat to me.  Click on the photos to embigginate.

Gun Mages 

Stormblade Gunners

Stormblade Officer Attachment

Stormblade Infantry

Defender - front

Defender - back

Ol' Rowdy - front

Ol' Rowdy

Ol' Rowdy

Hunter - front

Hunter - back

Disclaimer:  The guys below were done quite a while ago.  I look at them and cringe a little inside.  Still, I like to keep them here for the sake of continuity.

Journeyman Warcaster

Journeyman Warcaster - back

Squire, saddle my horse and fill my tankard!

Squire - front

Squire - back

New photo setup

I'm trying out a fancy new photo setup.  The pictures below were taken with a light booth made out of a cardboard box, two external lights, and my iPhone.  Just goes to show you that it doesn't take much to get half-decent photos of your dudes.

Gorman di'Wulfe

There are still some shadows present below, but I think this will be mitigated once I strap the flash onto the SLR.  The iPhone camera is surprisingly good and it does fine in a pinch.

Smaller Gorman

The key is to flood the model(s) with enough diffuse light to eliminate some shadows.  Diffusing the light also makes for fewer shiny highlights.  You can also change the position of your light sources to add depth to the model.

A common mistake people make is using a very low aperture that limits their depth of focus.  If one part of the mini is sharp, but the rest is blurry, that's what's happening.  Best case is to use a tripod and lower the shutter speed.  Also, if you have a zoom, move the camera away from the subject and zoom in.  This can effectively blur out the background while keeping the model sharp.

Centurion Piston Spear Conversion

I don't do much in terms of modifications to models since I'm always short on time in getting them ready for the table.  I made an exception in the case of the Centurion's spear.  I wanted to replace the spear in the metal kit with the one from the plastic warjack kit.  As the pictures will attest, I was largely successful.

Who doesn't want a bigger spear?  The weapon on the metal version of Cygnar's Centurion warjack is ridiculously tiny (seen in the photo below, right side).  It's a toothpick.  The version from the plastic kit - now we're talking.  To quote Crocodile Dundee - "That's not a Piston Spear, THIS is a Piston Spear."

Plastic Vs. Metal

Combine Melee/Combined Ranged Attacks - a spreadsheet

Link to the Spreadsheet

When I started playing with units that had the combined melee/combine range attack ability, I was generally confused about how to configure my attacks to be the most effective.  If I want to take down a heavy, should I lump everyone into a single attack?  It turns out, no, not always.  It may even be different if you're benefiting from an extra dice for charging.  If I want to use my Long Gunners to kill as many Iron Fang Pikemen in a turn, how many should I group up?  What about against Fennblades?  Actually, the answer is different for each.

Against a single target, it's a little more straight-forward than against multiple targets.  We're just concerned about piling as much damage into one guy that typically has high armor.

For multiple targets, assuming your goal is take as many targets off of the table as you can, you also have to factor in the target's health.

The spreadsheet allows you to enter stats for the attacker and defender along with the configuration of the CRA/CMA.  I sometimes refer to that as CXA.  The results tell you how much damage to expect against a single target or how many models you're likely to kill in a single activation.  Any number of attackers can be represented, up to 10.  I'll probably need to increase that to allow for some of the unit attachments.  We also don't take into account the slightly better stats of some of the officer attachments.

To use the spreadsheet:

After clicking on the link, select 'File->Make a Copy' to copy the file to your own Google Drive.  Once there, you can make all the changes you like.

Link to the Spreadsheet

Bombshell Bombardier, Druid Gone Wilder - What's in the Box?

I saw someone asking about the contents of the two Gencon 2012 beer models from Privateer Press.  Mine arrived Thursday, and I took some pictures.

The Bombshell has quite a few parts.  Despite that, assembly seems pretty straightforward.

Bombardier Bombshell

 The Wilder just has a couple of pieces to assemble to the main body.

Druid Gone Wilder

These models are fantastic.  I can't wait to get them assembled and painted.

Judicator @ Gencon 2012

Matt DiPietro was painting a Judicator at the Privateer Press booth during Gencon.  In the few photos below Ron Kruzie has taken over the labors.

It's a beautiful model - one of the best looking Colossals.  But to be honest, they all look great.  Make sure you click on the photo and hit zoom.  They're pretty large.

Gencon 2012 - Privateer Press Models

 Just got back from Gencon 2012!  I wanted to make a quick post about some of the new models I saw there.  The photos I've seen to date weren't that great, so I'm posting these from the Privateer Press booth for folks to admire.

Druid Gone Wilder and Bombardier Bombshell are Gencon exclusives.  They were sold out by the time I got to the booth, but they were available in the PP store during the con.  I ended up ordering both.  Gorgeous models.  

Click the images for slightly larger photos.

Druid Gone Wilder

Bombardier Bombshell

Updated!  You can see the contents of the blisters here 

General Ossrum

Ashlynn D'Elyse resculpt

Ashlynn was actually an entry into the painting competition, but I'm afraid I don't know who painted it.  If you happen to know, please leave a note in the comments.

What I've Learned about Painting - Part 2

...continued from Part 1

As I mentioned in the first post, these are based on my own learnings and experience.  The list goes on...

People like bullet points.  Here they are:

• Matte medium is my friend - Adding matte medium allows you to maintain the same tone, but with increased transparency or less (but still smooth!) coverage.  Water will also make the paints more transparent, but the pigment becomes really splotchy.  I use it for washes to add transparency, but still encourage the paint to settle in the cracks. 

• Keep a damp brush handy for cleaning up mistakes when they happen.  A little more water in the paint may make the difference between having time to clean up and not.

• Planning makes a big difference in efficiency.  Figure out ahead of time what's getting dry-brushed and do that first.  Lately I'm putting down the first base coat on the whole model, then doing the areas that need dry-brushing.  

• Glazing is used when you want to put down a thin layer of paint, but in thinning it, you don't want it running all over the place and settling in the cracks.  Matte Medium can be used to make glazes, but I've also tried Glazing Medium.  I'm too newbish to tell the difference.

• I'm still trying to speed up my painting so I'm doing a lot of work in batches.  Build some models, prime some models, paint some models.  My speed with the brush isn't getting better, but the overall workflow is. The airbrush helps with that...

• Airbrushes are sweet!  I'm finding the biggest benefit is speed and consistency.  Currently, I use it mostly for undercoating and base-coating.  You can get much, much better coverage than a spray can of paint while never having to worry about applying too much paint and filling in detail.  The downside is that they require some setup and maintenance time and additional equipment.  I could probably write a whole post about things I learned about air-brushing.

• I'm still thinning my paints with a 20-1 water-flow enhancer mix.  I think my brushes are beginning to suffer for it.  The paint wicks up into the ferrule much easier when using the flow enhancer and it's getting harder to remove.  Still, I love the flow enhancer, especially when painting details.  I can use a really light touch and don't have to worry about surface tension sucking a glob of paint off of the brush. 

And because everyone likes pictures:

Rupert Carvolo - WIP

April Circle

I'm a bit late putting these up, but April was a slow painting month.  I'm making up for it in May.  I'm steadily painting models for a Baldur theme list.  To date, I only had two Circle casters painted and table-ready - Kaya and Grayle.  This month I added eKaya and Baldur.  I'm getting a lot of practice painting sticks and stones, which are commonly used in Circle to break them bones. 

Megalith

Otherwise known as  "Kaya the Moonblood" due to her red pants.  Thank my wife for that one.

Kaya, the Moonhunter

I really like painting solos.  Baldur's model is clean and well-defined.  That's something that makes painting easier for me.  I don't enjoy painting models when I can't tell what a thing is.  Is that part of the coat, or is it his undershirt?  Is that surface pants or boot?  I struggle.  Perhaps I should not worry about it and just do what looks sweet.  On second thought, I'm too OCD to go that route.

Baldur, the Stonecleaver

Spoiler:  In May I finish the rest of Baldur's theme force.

Big month of Circle Painting

As mentioned previously, I wanted to field a T4 eKaya list for the March Madness event.  Ultimately, I needed 35 pts painted plus the caster - in one month.  I came close, but ultimately just fell short.  eKaya and Laris didn't get painted in time, so I fell back on a Grayle list that used all but two of the models.  Here's what made it off the table in March.

Shifting Stones

Warpborn Skinwalkers

Pureblood Warpwolf

Gnarlhorn Satyr

Druid Wilder

Druids of Orboros Overseer

Druids of Orboros

Pyre Troll