A flurry of activity for a couple of months and then nothing but silence. What happened? University. Who knew that studying law part time and working full time would keep me so busy?
I’ve not be wholly idle on the hobby front though; so here’s a look at what I’ve been doing over the past few months.
Skeleingtons
These bony boys were actually painted back in May/June, I’ve just taken that long to get around to taking a happy snap. While I’m still left what younger me was thinking when he assembled them, the refreshed paint work is a big improvement I think.
Originally they had Beasty Brown spear hafts and shield backs, while the metal elements were done in plain Tin Bitz. I’d also just painted the bases Scorched Brown.
In the refresh, I went with Desert Yellow for the spear hafts, Black for the shield backs, and Gunmetal highlighted with Chainmail for the metal parts. I also gave them an Agrax Earthshade wash and sorted out their bases as well.
Finally, I’ve magnetised their bases and assigned them a magnetic movement tray.
Orc Boyz
Now here are some classic Games Workshop miniatures for you. These are the orc boyz from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th edition starter set. I can’t remember when I got my copy, possibly 2003 or 2004. I do know I went halves with my youngest brother though. I assembled them (aka cut them off the sprue and glued them to their bases) when we got the set, but otherwise these have been gathering dust ever since.
I went with a variety of colours for their jerkins: Khaki Grey; German Camo Orange Ochre; Stonewall Grey; and German Camo Beige. There are a couple of colours used for their pants too, though I can only remember Brown Violet. Leather things are in German Medium Camo Brown and metal in Gunmetal highlighted with Chainmail again.
Again I’ve magnetised their bases and assigned them a magnetic movement tray.
Dire Wolves
Finally we have the dire wolves. These are a current GW offering for Age of Sigmar. I’ve assembled them on 50×25 MDF bases though for use in rank and flank games. They’re quite characterful models, though the mate who assembled them for me said they were extremely arduous to put together. GW love to make things needlessly and overly complicated these days.
Fur is layering of German grey, German Field Grey, then Ghost Grey. Fleshy bits are Gory Red followed by Medium Flesh. I’ve used Black Wash on the furry bits and Umber Wash mixed with some Gory Red on the fleshy and bony bits.
I was dubious about the contact the minis had on their bases, so I haven’t used magnetic bases. That’s also why they haven’t got a movement tray.
The Table
In other news, here’s a nice bit of carpentry that dad did for me.
Previously this room had a model railway layout that was in a permanent stage of very early construction. I got sick of the wasted space, so we did away with the top and then dad disassembled, cut things down to size, and reassembled with a fresh top.
The top is 1800x1200x16mm MDF with adhesive velvet stuff stuck on top (comes in sheets of 1000x450mm). The legs are, from memory,. 100mm square and are 800mm high (they’d previously been 1000 high in the train layout). The wheels add another 100mm, so the table is about 900mm high all up, so about benchtop height. The wheels are 360° rotating ones with locks too.
We’ve added drawers at either end. They were from a furniture kit which Dad rescued from a skip. We’ve them added some firm felt to the inside.
All up a very neat construction.
The Rack
Finally we have my painting desk. This isn’t really anything new; I just wanted to show off my reorganisation.
The paint racks are from Back 2 Base-ix, a local company that does MDF and acrylic hobby products. They’re also who I source my movement trays and magnets from.
I previously only had two racks, but I was getting sick of the excess bottles accruing on my desk so I bought a third. I’ve now got all my paints braille labelled (it’s really hard for me to read the labels these days) and arranged in alphabetical order (Model Colour on the top two rows, varnishes and washes on the far end of the second row, Game Colour on the bottom three rows).
I also spreadsheeted the lot so I could keep better track of what I have (so I stop buying extras of things I don’t need).
Next Time
As mentioned, mid-semester break is soon upon us and I’m hoping to get some hobby things in while I can. I’ve a game of Bolt Action this Sunday that I’ll do my best to get posted as soon as I can after. I’m also expecting a game of 40k within the next three weeks. Will that be the first game of 40k I actually feel inclined to post on here? Only time will tell.
Until next time.
Blind Wargaming 