Showing posts with label 40mm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 40mm. Show all posts

Monday, 23 March 2020

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X - Body of Work

The Tenth Painting Challenge is over and I don't know about anyone else but I'm all brushed out for the time being. I need to clean up my Operations Room and find a home for the massive amount of stuff I painted! I've only had this hobby room for a few months and it's already FULL! I'm not complaining though, it has been a fantastic challenge and I've been more productive than at any time before. So time for my 'Body of Work' picture.



So what's in that mess-o-models? Quite a bit for me, I'm used to a smaller collection of work by the end of the Challenge. So here's a brief picture review of everything I managed to get done.






I think it must be obvious from these pictures that my work hasn't been dominated by 6mm this year. I had a quick look at my own personal 'Spreadsheet of doom' (yes I have my own!) and it turns out that 880 points from my 1400 total came from other scales. And worse still (according to RayR) nearly half my points were earned from work on a particular ice-bound Fantasy game. At this rate, I'm likely to have my membership of the Rejects revoked! Certainly, my reputation as 'the 6mm historical guy' is in doubt.

As already mentioned, I always keep a tally of my planned projects during the Challenge, tracking my progress as the week's tick past. I'm rather chuffed to say that I've outperformed myself at every stage of the competition. I've achieved a new 'personal best' and by every measure that I count, this has been my best Challenge ever. 


I'm already looking forward to the next Challenge and have started giving some thought as to what I want to paint. Alexanders army to face off against my Indians is a strong contender, but who knows. I look forward to seeing some of my fellow Challengers in the recently announced Quarantine Challenge and many more in December for Challenge XI.

Thursday, 19 March 2020

Frost Witch and Ice Worm at the Snow Lords Peak

The air crackles with magical energy and distant flashes of lightning foreshadow the wrath of an imminent storm as it approaches the Snow Lords Peak. Arcane words can barely be heard above the building winds. The Thunder booms and rumbles across the landscape and for a moment it sounds as if there is an unseen avalanche about to sweep the mountainside. The moment passes and more flashes can be seen, closer now. A figure approaches, skimming above the fresh snow and radiating an ethereal glow. The woman appears to be whispering but her words build and echo across the landscape until they drown out the next rumble of Thunder. Then the earth bursts open sending rocks and snow cascading down the slope. A monstrous Ice Worm rears up from the ground and gives out an ear-shattering shriek. The beast has answered its summons and is ready to serve its bitter mistress.



The Snow Lord issued me a challenge to find and paint a figure that was bigger than my normal fare. I put on my climbing gear and started up the Lead Mountain. By the time I reached the snowline I was worried I wouldn't find anything, having climbed across a scree slope of unpainted 6mm figures on the way up. And then I saw her! I found a figure in my lead mountain that I have absolutely no recognition of buying! It must have been another "ooo-shiney!" moment at some past show but I genuinely don't remember.



The Frost Witch figure is from Crocodile Games and is laughably described as Heroic 28mm which means next to nothing really. The witch is 40mm foot to eye and 44mm overall, without taking into account the cape which brings the height of the whole model to well over 50mm tall. Just for good measure, I mounted it on a 'rock' outcrop that stands a further 50mm tall, so overall this figure is pretty big compared to my normal work. But I had this nagging feeling I could do better... I tightened my crampons and proceeded higher up the Lead Mountain...





Towards the top of the mountain, I found a weird mixture not only of lead but plastic figures from over 30 years of gaming. And then I saw the perfect accompaniment to my witch, a giant Purple Worm. This is an old plastic figure that was originally bought pre-painted but had seen better days. It's an old Wizards of the Coast DnD figure that I used in RPG's probably 10 or fifteen years ago.  It was looking a bit worse for wear having been bashed around in various boxes over the years so I decided it was worth giving it a brand new coat of paint. The Snow Lord wanted bigger than 6mm, well this beastie comes in at a cool 120mm tall. A bit bigger than my normal fare!



To paint this I made a few repairs filled in some mould lines with liquid plastic and then gave the whole thing a thorough new base coat of grey before starting the new paint job. Instead of repainting it as a Purple Worm I have changed the colour scheme so it is now a huge Ice Worm.



Right, points...huh? No clue. The witch is 40mm so I guess 7 points for her but I have no idea what arcane mathemagical calculations need to be made to score the Worm. At 120mm it's not exactly standard-sized! I'll leave that decision in the hands of the Snow Lord. Whatever it is, combined with the usual points for the challenge location, will give my tally one final boost before everything comes to an end. I'm happy with whatever points I get as this has already been my most productive Challenge to date and I'm just happy to have taken part.

Sunday, 17 April 2016

Salute 2016 Photo review

I've already posted my initial thoughts on Salute 2016 but having slept on it I have one additional observation to make and I suspect many others felt the same way as I. This years Salute had a weird vibe about it from the start. Several people and traders said the same thing and essentially I think it boils down to the fact that this years show had fewer Clubs and more traders running games. Consequently it felt more like a trade show this year rather than a celebration of our hobby. I've no idea of this was a commercial decision on behalf of the organisers or just the way it turned out but it did feel like there was a lot of unused space that could have been filled by more club demo's and participation games. I still enjoyed my day but it definitely felt different this year. I'd be interested to know what you thought.

It took a long time to sort through the 600+ pictures I took during the day! Many were reference shots of labels and posters so once I have the info transferred to the accompanying pictures I delete these. There were also a LOT of blurry pics and badly lit ones so the 600 got trimmed down to about 250, and that takes time. Then I label them, add tags and upload them, all of which takes a lot longer than writing this post! I have them in some sort of order now and here's a selection of my favourites.

The obligatory shot of the queue...lots of eager gamers!

Inside the vast Excel centre. 

Gillingham & Brown - 28mm - Action at Antietem

Gillingham & Brown - 28mm - Action at Antietem

The Young Padawan shooing... almost outspent me!

RAF - Formula Minion

Battle of Hooks Farm

Chesterfield Gaming Society - 28mm - Kings of War

Swordpoint - 28mm

Bill Gaskin & Friends -- 28mm - SYW - Battle of Wilhelmsta

Bill Gaskin & Friends -- 28mm - SYW - Battle of Wilhelmsta

Ian Smith & Friends - 40mm - Battle of Adrodas - Penninsula

Ian Smith & Friends - 40mm - Battle of Adrodas - Penninsula

Loughton Strike Force - 28mm - Russo-Finnish War - Battle of Raate Road

Loughton Strike Force - 28mm - Russo-Finnish War - Battle of Raate Road

Loughton Strike Force - 28mm - Russo-Finnish War - Battle of Raate Road

Operation Overlord Participation Game - Based on the Avalon Hill Boardgame
I actually signed up for a game and then completely forgot the time and missed my slot! Sorry guys, the game looked excellent.

Emily meets the locals

Postie gives me a tickle! 

The Padawn at the EM4 stand. She bought a lot from here!

Adrian McWalter and Quinton Dalton - Napoleonic - O'er the Hills

Adrian McWalter and Quinton Dalton - Napoleonic - O'er the Hills

New Buckenham Historical Wargamers - 28mm - Agincourt

Maidstone Wargames Society - 3mm - Road to Homs

The Blogger Meet Up. Great to see everyone again. See y'all next year!

Heroics and Ros - 6mm - 1986 - Soviet Invasion of Nato

Victrix - 54mm - Spain 1800

Victrix - 54mm - Spain 1800

Tunbridge Wells Wargaming Society - 15mm - All Quiet on the Martian Front

Tunbridge Wells Wargaming Society - 15mm - All Quiet on the Martian Front

A big Fantasy game but without a sign saying who was running it. 

Lost of Fantasy miniatures

Someone is impressed!

Sheffield Runelords - 1/24th - Mad Max: Stop the Truck

Crew & Nantwich Club - 28mm - ECW - The Bloody Siege of Bristol

Crew & Nantwich Club - 28mm - ECW - The Bloody Siege of Bristol

Crew & Nantwich Club - 28mm - ECW - The Bloody Siege of Bristol

K&R

Essex Gamers - 28mm - The Tet Offensive

Essex Gamers - 28mm - The Tet Offensive

Hammers Slammers

Dalauppror - 28mm - Foteviken 1134

There were many more smaller Demo's and lost of small Participation games but most of these seemed to be run by traders. Lots to see and even more traders to try and get around made the day even more exhausting than usual... or maybe I'm just getting old?!