Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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!

Monday, January 16, 2012

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!!!