‘More sedatives, he still has a pulse!’ (via Suggestion^n)

This is a great blog post about Malifaux. Enjoy.

Not many beyond Sebastian had seen McMourning's nurses. One might suspect that he, like his counterpart Seamus, surrounded himself by women he made beautiful. McMourning, however, took little notice of the women charged with the task of maintaining his creations. It was the nurses, themselves, desperate to preserve a beauty that had long since faded, that filled their own veins with the diluted formulas they used to preserve the flesh of McMourni … Read More

via Suggestion^n

URBAN WARFARE

Urban combat in WARMACHINE is all about Buildings and Structures. It can be a lot of fun to play through some games where the majority of the terrain pieces are just different kinds of buildings, and the armies are fighting to root out fortified enemies and capture vital sections of the city for a strategic advantage.

And when you decide to set up a game using a city theme there are four types of Buildings/Structures that you will be using:

• FOOT PRINT: A footprint is the ruins of a destroyed building that really has no walls remaining and basically is just a rough terrain template with rubble and the smashed remains of inner or outer walls.
• COMPLETE: A complete building/structure is an intact building that has either one story or multiple stories with a rooftop. These buildings make cityscape fighting interesting because they sometimes block LOS and allow for models to enter them to gain cover. Also, rooftop combat can be fun and exciting. Decided ahead of time if complete building may be entered or not. If they may be entered, build them with removable tops to allow models to be moved in and out easily.
• PARTIAL: A partial building is a typical ruined or damaged building that only has part of its walls and a partial roof. These buildings may have been burned out, bombed, or otherwise suffered collapse during combat.
• FLATS: Flats can only be used in special situations with certain tables or board. I have used flats when I have butted a table up against a wall, or when the building is on an extreme edge of agame board. A flat building has a front, but has no rear of the building. These are usually used as backdrop buildings in model railroads. This link shows a good example of a flat. Notice the front is detailed and the back is open.

No matter what kinds of buildings you choose to use, remember that you should build them with game play in mind. Allow for walkways, stairs, and windows where models can enter and exit the buildings … but whatever you do make sure that you have fun playing out some of the cool scenes from Legends in your cityscape battles.

EASY GROUNDWORK

Ground work can be easy and simple.

When you have built your piece of terrain and painted it, then it is time to add the groundwork.

There are plenty of materials to use, including mundane ( herbs, lichens, moss) and hobby focused (turf, field grass, static grass, and flock.) Either way, the materials should be mixed and matched to provide variance so that no color is dominant. (In the picture above, you’ll notice the static grass has brown and green mixed.)

Remember to consider your scenery before haphazardly adding vegetation. In some places the grasses and weeds may be growing wildly while in others foot traffic may have worn it down to nothing.

Distribute the flocking materials so that they look natural. Make sure that when the materials are fixed in place that they look realistic, are easily distinguished, and do not clash with each other.

And remember, you can use this method with terrain pieces and miniature bases. The concept is the same.

Alright, folks. Time to get to work!

Until next time, keep rollin’ sixes!

 

 

BRICK BUILDINGS

Painting brick buildings can be an annoying task.

Here is one way to accomplish the task without losing your mind.

My reference paints are Vallejo Model Color.

• Spray paint the entire building a single color. I used black. Make sure the spray paint is room temperature, well shaken, and matte. If you’re painting plastic, make sure the spray is intended for plastic. If your building has any signs like the one above did, cover the signs (and windows) with blue painting tape. I actually put a strip of blue painter’s tape on the interior of each window as well to give the building a “glowing blue” look from inside. After all, Cygnar is known for it’s glowing blue gadgets.
• Drybrush the entire building using #921 English Uniform. (You could use P3 Gun Corps Brown) This will give the building a nice overall “brick” look.
• Using #828 Woodgrain, create an ink by adding a 1:1 ratio of water/paint. Ink the entire building. Allow this to dry.
• Using 886 Green Grey (You can mix 3:1 Ironhull Grey and Gnarls Green) drybrush the walls up and down to create what would appear to be weathering from water running down the walls. If you wish, use a little crumbled up white or gray chalk to lightly dust the entire building.
• Seal with a matte sealer when you are happy with the completed building.

Ok then, get out there and paint your buildings!

Until next time, keep rollin’ sixes!

SMALL TREES

Do you follow the crowd, or form your own opinion?

We live in a time dominated by all kinds of public opinion polls. Decisions are being driven by the crowd, and sometimes this is a good thing. Surveys can inform us about people’s experiences with products helping us make wiser purchases. Opinion polls can tell elected officials of how their policies have been received by the public. And when information is gleaned on a personal level, it can help us in making decisions in a variety situations.

The same can be said about the scenery and terrain pieces we use with our little toy soldiers. Blogs, podcasts, and videos reveal the good, bad, and ugly about all the choices of terrain that we have out there. Before buying, most people will do a little research in order to find out if the piece is made well, transports easily, and holds up decently to the use and abuse of miniature gaming. However, in the end, personal opinion wins out.

Some people like homemade terrain, and others hate it. Some people only buy their terrain, and would never waste their time making something that they would view as “ugly” and “unattractive.” Others just want something that works and is inexpensive to put on the table. Heck, some people just use whatever is laying around like books, plates, soda cans, and pie pans.

There’s nothing like playing “King of the Hill” from WARMACHINE using a big fat pie pan.

Anyway, it really comes down to the reality of what you want in quality. Do you want to spend some hard earned cash to have beautiful stuff to put on the table, or do you need to use “upcycled” stuff from around the house and “found items” to make your terrain? It’s really up to you.

If you’re into inexpensive items that you can have fun making into terrain, then this is another idea for “Terrain on the Cheap” for you!

As I discussed last year, you can make simple, functional trees using Moss Rocks and Dowel Rods. You can likely find both items in a local craft store or dollar store. Here in town you can buy them for $1 each at the Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, JoAnn Fabrics, and other stores of that kind.

You simply need to cut the dowel rods to your desired length, and paint them to your desired color. After they are dry, carefully push one end pf the dowel rod into the foam “rock” to make a tree. You can also do this using toothpicks if you choose. Additional detail can be added easily by using Green Stuff on the dowel rods to bulk them up, and carve in details to resemble tree bark. In the end, you’ll probably want to attach them to some kind of base depending on what game you play. I recommend at least a 40mm base for WARMACHINE.

And ta-dah, you have trees for your favorite miniature wargame!

Also, go over to WWPD and check out this awesome article about making flocked felt tree templates. Not a bad idea.

REALMS OF THE FLATLANDS

Southpaw Arts and Designs: Advanced Deployment makes cool gadgets, widgets, and tokens for your favorite role-playing and miniature games. Although it is not released yet, they will be featuring a “Portable Terrain Set” called the Realms of the Flatlands. From the looks of it, it features acrylic templates and terrain for use with miniature games like WARMACHINE and HORDES.

Keep your eye on them, they make some pretty cool stuff.

ELVEN TEASE

Elven Set Teaser

Dwarven Forge has released a sneak peek of their upcoming Elven Set with this small teaser. Click on the image to see the picture on their website.

 

MALIFAUX UPDATE

Care for some tea?

I am making some progress with my Malifaux miniatures. I’m trying to finish off my Viktorias, and then complete the Ortegas. I’ve also been working on a Convict Gunslinger. Here’s some updated photos. Enjoy.

The first is my Convict Gunslinger. He is nicknamed “Sloth,” He’s sporting bright green hair, and an orange jumpsuit. I played around a bit with his skin tone, and tried to focus on his face and eyes. I’m not good at faces, so I am using these models to practice. I’ll probably base the model with some sand, a little flock, and a littering of shell casings. 

Convict Gunslinger - WIP - 6/2011

Next, we have Papa Loco. I just plain like this model, but he’s been a bit of a pain to paint. I put a bunch of Woodland Scenics “Junk Pile” details on the base to give the appearance that Papa has been tossing his dynamite as he advances on the enemy. I decided that I’d paint him in an orange prison jumpsuit as well. Right now, all I have to do is clean up his face, dot the eyes, and pick out some details.

WIP ~ Papa Loco ~ 6/2011

Next, we have Viktoria with Swords. I have officially called her done. I touched up some of her details, and stepped away from the model. I find that sometimes I start to obsess about details with some models, and this is one of those. I needed to just call it done and move on to the other ones on the painting table.

Viktoria stalks the streets

 

Well, that’s all for now. I have plenty of painting to do, and I will continue to log in and share my progress with you. Thanks for checking things out.

Ready for a Show Down!

Oh, hi there. Time to die!

Brick and Mortar

Red brick buildings can come in many shades. Here is a basic guide on how to paint a red brick building.

• Use whatever kind of paint you wish. Pick a nice flat (matte) dark reddish brown color as a base coat. Paint the entire area of brick with the base color and allow it to dry.
• Apply a mortar wash to the entire area of brick. Use a wide flat brush. The one I use is called a “Shader.” Use a grayish white color for the mortar wash. Thin the gray paint down by adding water until you get a nice thin wash. Using the flat brush, apply the wash to the entire building. This will allow the lighter color to sink into the recesses of the brick. Allow this to dry.
• If you believe that you didn’t water the wash down enough and you got too much gray on the red brick, use a pencil eraser to carfully remove some of the excess mortar wash.
• Using a different brush, drybrush lightly over the entire surface with the original dark base color. Feel free to allow some areas to remain lighter in order to show weathering.

A second way to do this may be simpler for some hobbyists. It works because on textured card or styrene.

• Paint the entire brick area of the building white. This serves as a basecoat and sets the underlying mortar color for the bricks. Allow this to dry.
• Wash the entire building with a mortar wash of a light gray. Most mortar is not white, and it will add some variance to the base color. Allow this to dry.
• Using a dark reddish brown color, drybrush the entire brick area. The drybrushing will color the brick on the raised surfaces, and allow the lighter color to remain visibile in the crevices between the bricks.

Malifaux Miniatures

Well, I got a little painting done. I am working on a big batch of my Malifaux miniatures, both the Viktorias and the Ortegas. I have been trying to use colors that I normally don’t use with my WARMACHINE and HORDES stuff. So it’s been fun to break out purples, oranges, and other bright colors. The combination of P3, GW, I-Kore, and Vallejo paint is working fine to add some variations in color. My I-Kore paint is almost 11 years old, and holding out well. Can’t say the same for a lot of the GW paint pots. For now, it’s only really worth showing the Viktorias because they are the ones closest to being finished. And I’ll throw in the Convict Gunslinger, too. Let me know what you think.

Viktoria (Paired Weapons)

 This Viktoria with her Paired Weapons is pretty cool. She’s a monster in combat, and her Trigger of Whirlwind is rough. I’ll need to get her a totem and a few Ronin in the future. I painted her with purple hair just for fun, and used turquoise on the blades of her swords. She’s mostly done, but needs a little touch up paint here and there on the details.

Taelor (wip)

Taelor is tough to beat. She’s a tank, and can suck up a lot of damage with her special abilities. Her hammer gives her a three inch melee range, so she can take out enemies from afar without needing a gun. I really like her pose, pointing a finger at her next victim. With Taelor, who needs Thor? She’s close to being done. Needs basing of course, and some detail touch up.

The Rest of the Crew

These guys still need some work. Viktoria is going to have a magenta overcoat, but otherwise will be painted a lot like the other Viktoria. Bishop has bright Arcane Blue hair highlighted with Hawk Turquoise. I also used Thrall Flesh to give him an unhealthy sheen to his skin. And Johan has a bright green cape, and light blue pants. I have to finish their bases as well, but will probably just go with a simple flocking of my “forest mix” that uses Woodland Scenic Burnt Grass flock, and Basil to simulate fallen leaves.

Finally, we have the Convict Gunslinger, nicknamed “Sloth” like the dude from Goonies. I basecoated him in Battlefield Brown. I am painting his pants Bright Orange like a prison jumpsuit. I’m using Dwarf Flesh washed with Brown Ink. He’s got green hair painted with Necrotite Green although it’s hard to see in the picture.

Convict Gunslinger

When I wasn’t painting, Megan and I played another game of Malifaux. It was an unorthodox game to say the least. She used the Viktorias, and I used a “crew” made totally of Convict Gunslingers. I know this isn’t a legal build, but it was a part of the game. We used a small “table” made of Dwarven Forge parts. The idea was that the Victoria crew was fighting their way out of a prison. The Convict Gunslingers were fighting to recapture them. We made Sloth the main Gunslinger and allowed him to use Soulstones like a Master. If Sloth fell, we decided that the other Convict Gunslingers would give up and scatter. If both Viktorias fell, then her crew would surrender.

The game went pretty well. In the end, the Viktorias won. I was down to Sloth and two other Gunslingers. She had lost Bishop, Johan, and one of her Viktorias (the one with a gun.) Taelor had one wound left, and the other Viktoria was down to two wounds. Thanks to a Red Joker coming up at exactly the right time for Megan, Sloth was smacked down by Taelor and a well placed Hammerstrike.

That’s all for now. Thanks for taking a look.

Keep Rollin’ Sixes! ♠