Wargame Hobby Bingo 2018

Regular readers will have noted that I like to give myself challenges to aid with keeping the motivation going in terms of finishing projects and making myself sit down and paint.

I saw this bingo board, on Rob Hawkins' Blog and thought it was a good idea. 

Since this version of the bingo card purposefully moves away from painting alone to a more completist hobby focus, some of the challenges may be a bit OTT, in that I am not going to do much in the way of making a table. I just don't have the space. So maybe I'll fill in a couple of other options on those squares.

I am also going to make it that one mini cannot fill in more than one space. That would shorten the challenge somewhat, and that's not the point.

Here's to renewed hobby focus in the coming months.

Cleaning out the Closet Part IV

I made a bit of an error when making the logo for this challenge to myself,in dating it 2016, when I had really meant this to be a winter 2016-17 challenge. However, with that in mind, here's the finally tally as we leave behind 2016, and head off into the future:

Frostgrave Ranger: Complete.

Dystopian Legions French Legionnaires: HMG complete, the Legionnaires and Lieutenant really are sitting on the shelf staring at me right now!

Urban War Triad Retainers: Complete.

Urban War Viridian Special Forces and Sniper: Complete.

Urban War Triad Boss: Complete.

Urban WarKabuki Doll: Complete

Urban War Sumotori: Nope, not yet.

Urban War Viridian HMG: Complete. All that was left was basing him to match the rest of his friends.

Menoth Army: Yeah, let's be realistic and leave this off the list and make it the next plan on the workbench after this challenge has finished. It really is a bigger job, and Warmachine 3rd ed isn't something I turned out to be playing much. Too many other games taking precedent

Effincool Halflings: Complete. 

Reaper Halfling Rangers: Still mostly done, with only a couple hours to get them table ready.

So that's where the current state of affairs lies. Not a bad tally in the end, although I rushed off at the start and have faltered a little as the year petered out, I'm still happy with the results. Off into the New Year we go!

Hope you all have a great 2017. May it be everything 2016 was not.

Urban War: Viridian Colonial Veteran HMG Team

Yet another miniature for Urban War, a Viridian HMG support team. Painted and repainted a long time ago, finally got round to finishing the base.

Quick post to get this up there. I'm not sure if this is much use in any games I have planned, as it has two minis on the same base, but we'll see.

Urban War Triad Boss

So after 2 hours at the pant table, give or take, I've squeaked out another of the minis I wanted to finish off for my Cleaning out the closet challenge for the end of the year. Ideally, I should have dropped the 2016 from the logo I made, as I had originally wanted this to be a winter event, but you live and learn.

This is the Triad Boss for Urban Mammoth's game Urban War. This was a limited edition release that came when you bought one of the original magazines that were the rules for the 1st Edition Urban War (issue number XX). He has his katana in hand, which I always thought a little cooler than the pistol wielding general release version.

In the end, I didn't paint over the cherry blossoms, as I previously planned to, but I do think they are looking a bit better than they were, if still not perfect. He also looks like he's leaning a little, which is kind of annoying, but is down to how he was placed on the scenic base I had already prepared. Good enough to get on the table at the head of a Triad gang for Rogue Stars for sure, though now I like the idea of fielding my Oni class Shogun battle-suit as a big ass robot to stomp on the other side. Either way, my growing Triad force has already gotten too large to be played as a Rogue Stars force, and will have to find another way to make it all on to the table at once.

I'll post a run down of what I have managed to complete for my challenge in the New year, but after finishing off this guy, I based up the last of the Viridians I had previously painted, leaving not so much to complete. 

Anyway, Happy Hogmanay to you all, see you on the flipside!

Cleaning out the Closet, Part III

So one month in, and I got off to a great start, then stalled as I got dragged in to watching the Walking Dead on Netflix. The minis are lacking, but I'm mostly through season 3 now! That being said, there are a few more paint jobs done, so here's the list as it currently stands.

Frostgrave Ranger: Complete.

Dystopian Legions French Legionnaires: HMG complete, the Legionnaires and Lieutenant to follow.

Urban War Triad Retainers: Complete.

Urban War Viridian Special Forces and Sniper: Complete.

Urban War Triad Boss: Watch this space.

Urban WarKabuki Doll: Complete

Urban War Sumotori: Not yet at the front of the queue.

Urban War Viridian HMG: I stuck some paint on this guy, but the base is not yet complete.

Menoth Army: This has moved down the list for a while. Likely I'll finish the rest then move on to this as the next project, as there's a fair number of minis to repair and finish.

Effincool Halflings: Complete. Ok these guys skipped up the list, but they were looking at me with big cute eyes!

Reaper Halfling Rangers: These guys got a bit of a work over with the other Halflings, but are not there yet. The cloaks look pretty though.

Will I be adding to this list? Yeah,already I got distracted by another mini, and some treasure tokens, so look out for them too!

Dystiopan Legions: French Legionaires HMG Section

Ok, so I was trying to hold off till I had more of these guys painted, but I have yet to get round to the rest, so I'll hold off on the big post, and get these pics out there. This is the HMG for the French Legionnaires for Dystopian Legions. I'm pretty happy with them. Let me know what you think.



Hopefully there'll be more of these guys soon, with the rest of the Unit and the Lieutenant to finish.

Effincool Minis Halflings

Next up for this winter's challenge, Effincool Minis halflings from their last Kickstarter. Done so as to be able to build a halfling warband for Frostgrave with these guys when they arrive.

These guys were a joy to paint. Full of character. The only change I had to make was change the flagpole for a brass rod, but that was super easy to do. I did think about more freehand on the flag, as it's a nice empty space, so if I'm inspired, I'll go back and add something there.

There's also a couple of cavalry figs and ponies that came with the Kickstarter, but they're not even assembled, as they are no use in Frostgrave, and I'm a long way from using these in any larger scale battle games. Unless I find some opponents to try out Dragon Rampant with.

In the new year, as well as starting off with Rogue Stars, I want to get back into Frostgrave too, and these'll be perfect for the bulk of the soldiers, and my captain.

Urban War Triad Kabuki Doll

It may not seem like it from my entries, but I have been painting. Not quite with the gusto of the first week of this challenge,  but the nice thing is I didn't give myself a time limit, apart from 'this winter'.

I have a couple of posts ready to go, and this is the first of them. My Urban War Triad Kabuki Doll.

I'm pretty sure I've tried to finish painting her on three separate occasions over the 10-12 years she's been in my collection, but she's finally there. I think I might want to go back at some point and do something more interesting with the mask, but then the plain white look is kinda creepy too, so maybe not!

I am pretty happy with the hair. Painting black hair is something I am not good at, but this one looks okay from a distance!

She of course can be used in any upcoming Scifi games, and he base reflects this, but she could also be used in other time periods and eras due to the lack of hi-tech weaponry she carries. She would fit rather well into an Asian force for In Her Majesty's Name too.

Cleaning out the Closet, Part II

My challenge to myself this winter is to clean up the huge backlog of minis I have to paint, finish painting or base properly. To this end I created the Cleaning out the Closet Challenge.

I quickly boshed together a logo for this too that you can see above, so if anyone wants to join in with this challenge, you are more than welcome. I find that one of the best things about the painting/gaming community is how these challenges to ourselves and others can act as inspiration to get things finished.

After quite a productive week of this challenge, the list is currently as follows:

Frostgrave Ranger: Complete.

Dystopian Legions French Legionnaires: HMG complete and will be posted soon, with the Legionnaires to follow.

Urban War Triad Retainers: Complete.

Urban War Viridian Special Forces and Sniper: Complete.

Urban War Triad Boss and Kabuki Doll: To be continued...

Urban War Sumotori: Not yet at the front of the queue.

Urban War Viridian HMG: I stuck some paint on this guy, but he is not yet complete.

Menoth Army: Ok, as this one approaches, I really will have to break it down into some component parts. That will be a post unto itself.

As winter moves on, I'll be sure to need to add to this list. I don't need to go deep into my closet to find things that are half painted and looking for some love. So, to continue the list and keep things rolling:

Effincool Halflings.

I backed the Effincool Kickstarter for Classic Oldhammer Halflings. They arrived quite quickly after the Kickstarter was funded, and I started painting them straight away, then I got sidetracked. I have since then backed the Midlam Miniatures Kickstarter for Halfling Wizards and Apprentices, so I suppose I'd better get one batch finished before starting another. This lot carries into the next...

Reaper Halfling Rangers

When I got the above Halflings in the post, I picked up a couple of Reaper ranger/thief type Halflings to go with them. Added to the Wizards mentioned above, it doesn't take a genius to see this all goes together to make a nice Warband for Frostgrave, or the startings of a Dragon Rampant army.

Urban War: Triad Retainers

The third batch of minis from the list I have made myself is now complete.

I've recently finished off two 'units' of Urban War Triad Retainers. I hesitate to call them units, as in Urban War all figures are individuals, but the paint scheme certainly splits them into two definite groups, as do the paint jobs. The first, the red and white, were initially painted in 2004 (with the details being finished recently), and the second group, the green and orange, being painted in 2016.

These miniatures were originally released in 2004/5 (I know because it said so on the tabs, not because I could actually recall when I bought them) by Urban Mammoth, and are now available from Scotia Grendel. I bought these guys from Urban Mammoth's brick and mortar store in Edinburgh, and they finally made the trip over here a couple of years ago.

As you can see, the shading technique I used on the first batch was very rudimentary. The 2016 group has some quick and dirty 2 brush blending, so looks a bit smoother, I think.

The bases are the ones that I spoke of earlier, with the last two that I painted in this batch being put aside for the Triad Boss and a Kabuki doll, both of whom have languished in a half painted state for about as long as these guys.

As much as I would like to use these guys in a game of Urban War, it is more likely that these will go with the Viridians I have also finally put some finishing touches to (i.e. based) to be played with in some of the SciFi games I am trying to get set up.

Urban War: Viridian Special Forces and Sniper

Next batch of minis for this winters Cleaning out the Closet challenge are done.

These are the first wave of Viridian Special Forces minis, and were painted a couple of years ago. They lay languishing in a box since then but I'm looking to get them on the table soon. The Viridian forces are also known for their snipers, and the sniper minis are in my opinion, some of the coolest from this range.

Head over to the original post for the 360 views, here I've concentrated on the group as a whole and the bases. The bases are Secret Weapon Urban Rubble bases. The original group of Viridians were based on a similar set, that has now been discontinued. The original set were much chunkier and more 3D, and I really liked that about them, however, they may have caused issues with the moulds or something, as the new/replacement set are much flatter. The Special forces leader in the last two pics is on the old style base, as are the Marines in this post.

Frostgrave Ranger

It took me a while to find the right Ranger mini for my Frostgrave force. I wanted a mini that suited the look of the North Star wizard and apprentice, the old school GW troopers an the Reaper minis that made up the rest of the band. I also wanted it to be a female model, to try to give the warband more of a gender balance. In the end I settled on the Otherworld Miniatures range, and bought the female Ranger and Thief minis.

Now the full warband is complete. The rest of the gang is listed here: Wizard and Apprentice, Archers, Captain,Treasure Hunter and Rangifer, Knight and Male Treasure Hunter, and of course the Snow Golem.

I plan to organise a new round of games of Fristgrave in the near future, I'm unsure of I'l go with these guys, or start another warband. That's the thing with the lead pile. You finish off one set of minis, and there's another lot sitting ready to go.

This is also the first of the minis from the Cleaning out the Closet list for this winter.