Bull Centaur - Flesh Coloured

I know that the traditional colour scheme for a Bull Centaur is red, but I personally don't like red skin, unless it is on a demon. Here is my version of a Bull Centaur.

Inspiration - New & Old - 3

Here is a book cover which made me want to not only collect oriental minis, but also play oriental based Role Playing Games.

Oriental Ogre

You know how there are some minis, that when you see them for the first time, you know that you must have them for your collection. Well this lovely mini was one of those minis for me.

I first saw a picture of him in White Dwarf, back in the 80s. And I really want him. Well the truth of matter is, I never received the oportunity to purchase him, as Citadel miniatures were not all available (not easily anyway) in Melbourne Australia, back in the 80s. So he never was mine, until about 3 months ago, when I bought him from someone in the UK via eBay. He sat unpainted on my shelf, until a few days ago, and even though his base is not finished, I wanted to show you some photos.

Stripes on my pants

I remember back in the 80s, there was a trend to paint stripes on minis which appeared to be wearing tight fitting pants (I dare not call them leggings). And even though this method gave a visually interesting effect to a plain and boring surface, I personally did not dare to attempt at painting such straight lines at evenly spaced increments. I held this fear until a few months ago, when I finally attempted my first stripes. I knew how to do it technically, but had zero experience at it. Anyway here is my first attempt at stripes on leggings.

Note: In case anyone is wondering the pig is from 'Fantasy Warlord miniatures' made by Alternative Armies, back in the early 90s.

Empire Citizen

This is my "Empire Citizen". He is a foundary miniature I believe. He was purchased on an impulse buy on eBay, as he was cheap, and I was already buying several other minis from the same seller, so I thought that one more mini wouldn't hurt. So when he arrived, I was quite impressed with him. He fit perfectly with the painting competition over at the ' Warhammer Empire ' website, which was to paint an empire figure, which was also a citizen. Basically it was open to any empire figure, as basically every soldier or wizard is also a citizen.

He entered the competition on July 17, 2011, and on August 10, 2011 he won first place out of a field of 16 other painted citizens.

Here is thread over at Warhammer-Empire, so you can see all details.
http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=37399.75

The Plastic Chaos Dwarfs

Over the years I have managed to acquire a total of 150 Plastic Chaos Dwarfs. Some were painted, some were undercoated and others have never been touched by paint. I usually acquired these because they were cheap. A good way to bulk out my Chaos Dwarf army of "Big Hats". The truth of the matter is I never really loved these minis, as they were so bulky compared to their metal counterparts. So I am in the process of selling off my plastics and trying to acquire some metal warriors. Here are some photos of the first two batches I am selling have sold.

This is the first batch of 10

This is the second batch of 10

My work area - this is where all the painting happens

Here is a photo of my painting area. The main shelf which holds all my paints is a CD stand, which is on its side, and I removed all the plastic CD shelves. It was purchased for $5 from an Opp-Shop.

Here you can see my nice industrial lamp. It is a heavy thing, but I absolutely love it. It has a "daylight" fluro tube in it, and produces lots of light. I aquired it from my work, when they were having an office clean-out. It is amasing what people will discard.

I like to keep my paints on their sides, for a couple of reasons. Firstly I can see exactly what colour is inside the bottle, and secondly I feel that the paint is easier to shake back together after it seperates.

Some cheap plastic drawers that I use to hold various bits-and-pieces, like dental picks, sand paper, pens, bottle caps etc.

This is the "holding area" for unfinished minis. I really need to get back to some of those minis, they have been there for too long.

Where I take my photographs

Here is the setup I use to take my photos. For those of you who are interested. Since taking this photo, I have two white lamps, which are now the same size and I have put the black lamp into retirement.

The minis are place ready to phtograph.

You can see that the minis are elevated on top of a box. This helps with taking photos at various angles, especially down low.

This is what the photo looks like. This will now be opened in Photoshop and cropped and trimed ready for uploading onto the internet.

Bull Taurus Re-paint

Here is a picture of my Bull Taurus, which I painted for the October Painting Challange over at 'Chaos Dwarfs Online'. The theme was "Beast", so here is my Beast.

This is what the Bull Taurus looked like before the re-paint. I was trying to achieve a more "human" skin-tone, but it just looked washed out to me, and so I was happy to repaint it.

Baeliog Tractor using Sketchup

I have wanted to use Google's Sketchup (free 3D modelling program) to assist me in planning out models and terrain pieces. About 4 days ago I finally started using it. Does anyone here use it to plan out their custom models or terrain? If so, can you please share your experience. I am after tips and hints. AND I would like to know if you actually build things in your scale of choice (ie 15mm, 28mm, 1/56 etc) or whether you model them at a larger size (maybe 1:1) and then scale things down later.

Anyway here is what I managed to build. I did it more as a learning project. I am still working on it.

Zombiesmith's - Baeliog Tractor for the Quar

Note: The Baeliog was modelled on photos taken from the internet, and it is done to 28mm.

Inspiration - New & Old - 2

Here is another illustration from the 80s which was very inspirational to me and my hobby. It is a great piece of artwork by the great John Blanche. The more I look at this piece of artwork the more I like it.

Werid WW1 - German Pedal Power

I have finally decided to follow my desire to join the world of "Alternate History Wargaming", and after much deliberating I choose the Weird World War One (WWW1) theme/genre concentrating towards the later part of the war and beyond (a little bit into the area of pulp gaming).

Pedal Power with a Big Punch

Pedal Power with a Big Punch

Empire Ogre - Pirate - Finished

Here is my Empire Ogre. I painted him for the September Painting Challenge over at 'Chaos Dwarfs Online'. The theme was "A face only a mother could love".

Challenge:
Find the ugliest model you have, whether it is actually an unly beast/creature, or whether it simply badly sculpt, cast, broken, or simply just unloved. Paint it up and make it "feel loved" again.

Here is my ugly face. Don't be fooled by his outfit, he truely is ugly - honest.

Empire Ogre - Pirate - Nearly Finished

Here is the latest from my painting table. Actually it is still sitting on my painting table, ready to be based. For a long time, I wanted to paint something pink. Something that shouldn't be pink, anc I considered doing a pink Space Marine or an Ork wearing pink, but I finally decided on this mini. I am not sure if this says something about me, or not, but I like him.

Inspiration - New & Old - 1

About a week ago, I came across some images from the 80s, which brought back some very fond memories. They reminded me, why I first got into this hobby (the hobby of collecting and painting "toy soldiers") so many years ago. I remember being fascinated by images of fantasy based creatures, whimsical creations and architecture as well as the mighty knights and warriors, all that really good stuff that makes up a wonderful and imaginative world, where almost anything can happen.

I was so inspired by these images (back in the 80s) that I wanted to re-create this rich and wonderful world with little lead men, pieces of cardboard, piant, glue, rocks, sand and sawdust. So my journey into collecting wargaming miniatures began.

So I am going to start a series of posts within my blog of various images, photos, articles, advertisements and magazine articles of things that inspired me, in my early years and things that still inspire me now.

I am going to start by showing this image. It is the box art to the firt version of the Talisman board game. I never owned this game, but the box art was certainly very inspirational. I would love to get a large poster of this image.

Khador Warjack

This is my first ever Warmachine mini, and am very proud of it. I purchased this from a local gamer, and even though it was painted. I repainted it, using my style. this mini, had the right "shape" and "angles" to allow me to try out a weathering/worn technique, which I have not used until now. I don't mind the final outcome, but I know it can be improved a LOT.

Black Orcs

Here are my first batch of Black Orcs. I used a strange painting technique on their armour, which basically used a combination of purple and orange inks, over a dark metallic grey. It makes their armour look colourful but in a dull sort of way. It certainly is not the bright red armour that used to be popular in the 80s.

Hobgoblin Wolf Riders

Here is my first batch of Goblin wolf riders. I really want to add more wolf riders to my Chaos Dwarf army. Hopfully I can get some painted up real soon.

Black Orc - Standard Bearer

Here is the latest painted mini. He has 5 other friends, but they have not been based yet.

This guy was painted over a black primer. Also I am not really happy with the "battle damage" on his armour. The next black orc, will have a different technique applied, to create the battle damage.

The Two Samurai

Old Citadel Oriental Heroes

Quar and their Battle Tractor

Here are my Quar and their Battle Tractor. The Tractor looks a little plain at the moment, so I want to add some decals to it. I am also thinking about a Quar commander to stick on the top (looking out of the hatch).