28mm Gothic/Woodland Terrain commission

Hi all,

I have been working on these pieces for the last couple of months, after some wheeling and dealing with LAF member robh.

So, here's the end result:

And some more detailed shots:

So, that's what I've been up to... amongst other things. I'll be posting some more pics up this week of a few other projects :)

Power to the people

So what's next on the list of things to make and do? I'll be doing up an urban board with Painting Princess for some superhero fun. The buildings will be modular, hopefully..! One of them being an electricity substation.

I also want to use it in my modern war games, which will probably take place in the desert. So what to do?

I picked up a set of this:

HO my foot! The set is perfect for use with 28mm figures. And I have quite a bit of inspiration to draw from on my trip to work every morning. I can't provide any photos of Sydney's inner suburbs, but the power station will be some kind of brick/cinder block affair with some corrugated iron for the roof and additional levels. Here are some pictures I did find from around the world, though:

Well, that's it for now. I've dredged a piece of giprock/plaster board from a renovation site, and have plenty of cardboard... all I need to do now is start building the bloody thing. I'll keep you posted!

Ancient Wall Fort - 3rd and final installment

There's a first for everything I guess! This project is now done and dusted. A little more on the fate of this monstrosity a bit later.

So, last time I promised some more in progress shots, and here they are:

With Lord of the Rings figures for scale. Looking pretty good at this point, I reckon. Took a lot longer to actually finish but you will see that soon.

So, a little story as to what happened at Conquest and the ultimate fate of the Ancient Wall Fort. I had intended to have it complete by the Saturday. I had driven from my sister's place at Murrumbateman to Melbourne - a drive that all up took around 7.5 hours. Arriving in the fair city of Melbourne delirious and bloody-well exhausted I started painting what I had left. At about midnight I hit the sack and woke up again at 4:00am to add some finishing touches... in the end I thought better of it and took it to the show to paint on site.

I was approached by Michael (of whom, there are two) at D6 Gaming for some terrain pieces to put up in his shop. I struggled a bit but finally made the choice to send over a nice, big, impressive piece that will hopefully get a lot of use and draw some attention! And what, pray tell, did it look like?

In the morning, Melbournite sun... just before handing it over!

Some dwarves prepare to defend the walls from an oncoming attack!

Don't let them through!!!

Charge!!!!

I guess I'll need to build my self a new one! Hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did.

Ancient Wall Fort part 2

Hey everyone, I've done a little bit more on the wall fort. Hope you like it. Getting really close to my deadline so tomorrow is going to be a day of painting and gluing and sweating madly to get it done!

Slug Industries Cargo Containers soon available for purchase.

Hi guys,

Following the Easter break, I'll be putting these cargo containers from Slug Industries up in the online store. They come up really good with a bit of paint! See for yourselves (pictured with a nice LAM figure).

They come in full-size, half-size (the rest is submerged) and quarter-size (mostly submerged). More pics coming soon.

Ancient Wall Fort

Hey, back again! This Easter I've been asked to drop by at the Conquest tournament in Melbourne. I'll be taking some of my terrain, as well as working on a special piece, see the pics below:

I've only got a couple of weeks to finish this. So you will be seeing some progress very soon!

New sculpt on the way - Rex, the Dwarven Rogue

Hi everyone,

I've been occupied with this charming fellow:

And together with his mate:

They are just under 25mm from the top of the head.

Any references made to persons fictional or otherwise is purely coincidental...

New Sculpt... Greywolf the Dwarf

Hello all,

Well, I've been at it again. Here is my latest green: a dwarf for all seasons, really. Is he a woodsman, or farmer, even adventurer? Well, the way he's coming along it will be up to you!

So I guess he came about from spending some afternoons with Dave King (who has taught me a lot! Thanks, Dave), burying myself in a copy of 3rd Edition Warhammer and an incidental post from Greywolf on LAF: a link to Bo Hannson's Middle Earth soundtrack. So here's to you, wolf man!

Have a look at what I've done so far:

Greywolf in his infancy.

The money shot.

And here is a picture of him with his arms... and arms:

The idea is that his gear is interchangeable... or I may make variants of him. What do you lot think?

A sketch...

So, I thought of doing these guys this morning. Do you like them? Want to see them in the green?

Some more greens... Ancient Civilians and an Ettin pt. 2

As promised, some more pictures! Firstly is the two-headed ogre again. Then we have a female civilian dolly, and a male civilian dolly. And that's all I've got time for! :) Let me know what you think!

The first casualty of building models is...

... my left pointer finger.

So the piece of foam I was cutting had a snag and the blade jumped. Slived the top of my finger, although it didn't seem too bad at first. As I ran to the bathroom I had to stop the bloody thing from dripping on our new carpet. So a few rinses under that tap and I applied some pressure... after I let go a nauseating throb of pain hit me, so I put pressure on it again. The second time it happened I thought it might be a good idea to take a seat.

Only the next thing I knew I was picking my self off the floor, as if in a dream. Some dream!

Anyway, I'm quite alright now, it really is "just a scratch"... heck of a way to spend my Saturday.

So what's your worse hobby-related injury?

Good news is there are quite a few photos I've got to upload, which I'll do tonight!

More sculpts: Ancient Citizen dolly and Ettin (2-headed Ogre) WIP

Hi there!

Well, I've been working on a few more pieces lately. And having a lot of fun doing it. Mind you, there is still a fair bit of work to go on these but let me know if you think they're okay.

First up, this is a series of figures I'm putting together as dollies for some ancient citizenry. This guy might be found cheering on his favourite gladiator, or even lifting a heavy load (use your imaginations!!):

And a back view:

And next up is a particularly large and unpleasant bloke. An Ettin, or two-headed Ogre. I'll be taking a leaf from the "old school", after being enamoured with Dave King's work on his Bederken figures. I've since pulled out my old Citadel Orcs, Hobgoblins and a surprisingly intact copy of Warhammer Third Edition (where the artwork was more imaginative and diverse compared to today's GW publications, by far).

Well, looking forward to seeing these guys done and any comments or feedback you might have!

Cancon... and my first sculpt

Well, I've finally recovered after the hustle and bustle of this year's Cancon! It was actually a bloody nice, relaxing weekend with plenty of miniature hijinx. I caught up with some chums I don't see often enough (Dave, Guy and Kendo) and spent some quality time behind the Eureka stand, trying out Dave's Skulldred rules and having a great time all 'round, so thanks to Nic and Jack for the seat!

Of course I bought stuff, too. My Afghan terrorists have swelled in numbers after a recent recruitment run (headswaps may be in order, though) and they've got some heavy duty back up: the brand new recoilless rifle (hopefully on the Eureka website soon). I also got some of the 80s U.S. troops in MOPP suits for some chemical warfare... they will be done up as terrorists, though. I also grabbed some Ral Partha Ogres from the hand of Bob Olley (well, not literally, but he did sculpt them). And a few odds and ends... I'm really looking forward to next year's.

Two really memorable things happened: one was that a little feller showed us his painted Frog Princess that I converted (and should be available for purchase from Eureka really soon). I also finished my first full sculpt, and Nic has kindly offered to cast a few for me. Here's a pic of the finished product:

So, I hope you like it! She will eventually get some accessories: I had planned a cauldron for her, and I guess she needs a cat or a toad or something.

So all in all an eventful, and really enjoyable weekend. I also got to catch up with my sister and brother-in-law who accommodated us at their new property. And now... back to the real world!

Welcome to the New Year

So it's been quiet... a little too quiet. Which is not what you'd expect around the Festive Season! Well, the most significant development in all this is that in October, 2011, I married the lovely "painting pricess" herself, Romina (co-blogger on the Kingdom of Frogonia). Since then we've been travelling in beautiful Tasmania, spending time with family over Christmas and New Years, as well as settling into our little hobby den. So, spare time has been a little hard to come by, especially since we've also been completing a fundraising project called Yarns (the result being a publication of stories from senior citizens, sold to raise money for Alzheimer's Australia).

With the book launch due this weekend, and CanCon 2012 right around the corner, I'm gearing up to jump right back into toy soldiering.

I'm currently working on a rather large Darkest Africa campaign with Furt, who has put together some incredible blogs in the past. We will be setting the events within an historical context, and compiling the research has been really enjoyable. We will be creating some hypothetical conflicts in East Africa with several factions: British, German, and Portuguese for the Western Colonial powers, as well as Slave Traders and a tribe we are yet to decide on... possibly Ngoni or Masai.

So there's lots to build and paint, the efforts of which will be up on the blog shortly!

There will be plenty more this year, so stay tuned, and Happy New Year!!!