Count Casimir's Trans-Siberian Renegades

Some figures I finished between the end of the Painting Challenge and going into quarantine, these are "Count Casimir's Trans-Siberian Renegades" from Pulp Figures.

Front and center is the Count himself, flanked by his wife the Countess (red coat, fur hat and falcon) and his daughter Yolanda (in fencing gear).  Behind them is bodyguard Misha (white sweatshirt and sailor's cap) and lurking in the background is Secret Policeman Blotsky. 

The red and white color scheme wasn't really intentional; white for Yolanda's fencing gear was obvious, and Blotsky's coat was done red because he reminded me of Telly Savalas' Cossack captain in the 1972 film HORROR EXPRESS.  It's well worth a watch (Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are the main leads) and it's super weird seeing Telly Savalas with a cigar in his mouth instead of Kojak's usual lollipop.  Misha I had originally intended to have a striped sweatshirt but keeping the lines straight became such a headache that I finally gave up and gave him a solid-color shirt. 

This bunch will hopefully be seeing some action on the table soon using Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead rules. 

*blows off the dust*

It's bad enough how inconsistent I get at updating this blog during the annual Painting Challenge, but this year everything went south fast.  My partner was laid up for a month with a nasty infection and I did zero hobbying while serving as her nurse.  By the time my mojo was starting to come back and I was starting to paint again, COVID-19 hit and my mood and will to sit at the table and paint took another dive.  I'm starting to pull myself back out and will be trying to get some painting and solo wargaming up here soon.

Challenge X Entry 1

I'm off and running with the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, with my first entry satisfying the requirements of the "Douglas Shallows" locale on the Challenge Map.

First up, a Fishing Boat that I got as part of Reaper Miniatures' "Dreadmere" expansion from the Bones 4 Kickstarter.

I was aiming for a "whitewashed, but not maintained well" look for the interior, via a basecoat of "Misty Gray," a wash of "Seraphim Sepia" and a drybrushed highlight of "Pure White." I think I achieved what I was looking for. 

Next up is the "Dire Crab," painted as a Chesapeake Blue Crab.  Legs and underbelly were base-coated in "Yellowed Bone" and washed with "Seraphim Sepia," while the back of the shell was a 1:1 mix of "Deep Ocean" and "Olive Shadow" drybrushed with "Olive Drab." The blue on the legs was picked out in "Surf Aqua" and glazed with "Gulliman Blue," before highlighting the center of each blue patch with Surf Aqua again.  The claws were done with multiple glazes of "Bloodletter Red" with each subsequent layer of glazing being smaller and more concentrated towards the tips of the claws. 

Gearing Up for Challenge X

As previously mentioned, I'll be taking part in the 10th annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  There are a few changes this year, not the least of which is the introduction of Challenge Island - participants can move from location to location on the island by completing specific challenges.  Once 5 challenges are completed, participants can advance to "Snowlord's Peak," for a final challenge.  I've done some mapping and planning, and figured out my route around the island. 

Going to start off in Douglas Shallows, and move from there to Cook's Crevase, Hawkins Hill, and then jump across to O'Grady's Gulch before taking Sarah's Balloon to Snowlord's Peak.  That should give me my five before the Peak.  Most of my figures for these challenges are going to be Reaper Bones for ease of painting since I'm not going to be able to spray prime anything until almost the end of the Painting Challenge. 

Clearing the Painting Desk

In preparation for the Painting Challenge, I'm trying to get some partially-finished stuff off my work bench (aka, the side of the kitchen table my partner and I don't eat on) since nothing begun before December 21st can qualify for the Challenge. 

First up, a pair of Giant Leeches from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter, part of the "Dreadmere" expansion:

These were base-coated in Reaper "Uniform Brown," given two heavy washes of GW "Athonian Camoshade" and then a light drybrushing of "Green Ochre" before picking out the jaws and tongues.  Nothing fancy but they came out pretty well I think.

Next up is the beginnings of a project I'm very excited for.  First, a bit of back-story: I first came into miniature painting and wargaming in the early 2000s, probably 2001 - in fact, looking at White Dwarf back-issues, I'm thinking I must have made my first foray into a Games Workshop store in August of 2001.  6th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles was in full swing, and the helpful clerk at the GW store asked me a few questions and determined that Orcs and Goblins were the force for me.  A few models in particular really caught my eye, but I'd never end up buying them.  These included the Stone Trolls, the Orc Warboss on Wyvern, and "Grom the Paunch," a morbidly obese goblin warlord in a chariot (that required an extra wolf to pull due to Grom's bulk). 

With the announcement of "Warhammer: The Old World," and with both "Dragon Rampant" and "Warlords of Erehwon" sitting on my shelf as alternatives, I decided it was finally time to build the Greenskin army I'd always dreamed of.  I've read enough Oldhammer blogs, and recognized that more than anything I love Kev Adams-sculpted orcs and goblins.  So I knew I wanted to focus on Kev Adams sculpts, from a variety of lines and manufacturers, and build an army that I could use across multiple rulesets.  This is going to be an ongoing project throughout 2020 and beyond. 

I am now the proud owner of an unbuilt Grom's chariot, and also got a spare Grom off eBay that I based on foot, and got a couple packs of Kev-sculpted goblins, originally by Harlequin Miniatures that have since been rereleased by Black Tree Designs, giving me the beginnings of a regiment as well as a shaman.  I got these glued to 20mm bases, primed, and painted to test my color scheme.  I still have to flock the bases, but I'll let you judge the results so far:

Challenge Accepted

I will be taking part in the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge again this winter - the 10th showing overall and my 4th if I'm not mistaken.  I've set myself a slightly higher goal than usual of 600 points, because I've recently hit a point in my life where if I don't put everything with a screen - phone, laptop, TV - away at 7pm and spend two hours doing something non-electronic, I wake up every two hours throughout the night.  I'm also taking a bit of a hiatus from writing Call of Cthulhu scenarios so that I don't burn out on it, which should free me up for even more painting. 

Mostly I'm going to be working through my lead-pile, which has grown alarmingly over the last year.  Some things I'll be working on:

• My haul from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter; while I didn't back extravagantly I've got plenty of figures here that are crying out for a paint job.
• Sci-Fi Civilians from Crooked Dice and Lead Adventure Miniatures: About two dozen cleaned, based and primed metal figures awaiting paint...and being innocent bystanders in future games of Galactic Heroes.
• Pulp Figures: I've got about 20 or 25 figures from Bob Murch's "Pulp Figures" line primed and awaiting paint.  One of my regular wargaming buddies, Tom, is interested in adding Pulp Alley to our rotation of skirmish games so these will be useful for that.  
• Kev Adams Greenskins: Inspired by the announcement of "Warhammer: The Old World," and the fact that I have Dragon Rampant and Warlords of Erehwon sitting on my shelf, I decided I wanted to build a square-based fantasy army, and I've always loved the look of Kev Adams' Orcs and Goblins, so that's what I'm basing the army around.  I've got a few figures already mostly painted that I'll be finishing off later today to clear my workbench prior to the start of the Challenge.  

Torlan, Weregator

I've done a little bit of puttering away lately in the evenings on a few figures picked at random from what I got from the Bones 4 Kickstarter, and here's the first one I finished - "Torlan," some sort of gatorman or were-gator.  I've never been satisfied with my abilities when it comes to capturing the shades of an alligator's hide in miniature, so I decided to try something a little different, and painted him as an albino, which I think worked out pretty well. 

He may appear later on in a Fistful of Lead game or just go on the shelf, I'm not sure yet.