A Much Needed Update

Hello folks,

I thought it was about time I made this announcement, it is with regret I'm going to have to postpone any posting on the blog for the next year or so. School work has taken its toll on my wargaming and I feel it is best for everyone if I make it official I won't be posting anytime soon. I can't remember the last time I lifted a paint brush I don't know when I will again. However I will try and finish the vespid tutorial round about Christmas time if I can fit it in between my studying. I tried to remain to the saying, "never say never," but the pressure from school is just to great. And I know the stress I'm feeling now is hardly anything compared to having a job, but it is time that is holding me back from painting or wargaming. I would like to apologise to anyone who was wanting to see my tutorial or any updates from any of my projects over the last two months.

At the moment I do have half finished Vespids sitting in my cupboard collecting dust and I might be able to break them out over the Christmas Holiday's between my studying. This also means I will not be entering Falkirk's Painting Competition which makes me very sad as I had such a buzz from last year it would be so gutting if I couldn't make it next year. I had so many high expectations for my blog at this time. I wanted to do battle reports, a free hand shield tutorial, finish off my Saga army and get some Tau Tactics on the site. All these things are slowly slipping out of my grasp and school has taken over completely. I thought this was a good time to say how sorry I am to anyone who was looking forward to see some more posts and I thank you for your patience.

However on a more positive note I have been doing a lot of work for my Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, like taking pictures. So I thought I would share some of the pictures I took from where I work and some breath taking landscapes when I was on my expedition:

Above is an abandoned and disused railway line that use to travel through the Galloway Forest.

This was on the Carrick Trail (I think) almost 300m above sea level

Some really nice autumn scenes creeping in already.

This was a burn which ran very near but not at our campsite, and yes for those of you who noticed that is someone's house on the right in the middle of nowhere.

Now this is a blue tongued skink(above), I particularly think this animal is ugly but it's tongue is quite cool. That's the male one that isn't looking too happy to have his picture taken.

These are Bosc Monitors, at the moment they are only two to three feet long, but these guys can grow to up to six feet long and weigh the same or even more than a fully grown man.

These turtles are really cool, they are Reeve turtles, a very close relation to terrapins I believe ( but don't take my word for it!) they grow to about six inches in length. Well I hope you enjoyed this post and I may not speak to you again until Christmas time, hopefully with something new. Thank you to all who have supported me this year especially the Tale of Painters crew for allowing me to take up a post to display my Tau, bye for now!

They're growing in numbers!

 Hello Folks,

I have sort of fulfilled my promises for the end of the week. I have finished the tutorial, I have taken the pictures and made my notes, it's just writing it up. But I have achieved what I wanted to so that I wasn't struggling to try and finish it during my first week back at school. The Vespid you see above is the one that will take to the main stage in the tutorial. I tried to select one that had a lot of flesh on it, so the Strain Leader was out of the equation, and the other two I had left, well one is missing an antenna which was blown off during a rapid fire bolter round and the other still had it's wings to be glued on! I'm really pleased with how these Vespids are turning out, even if it takes be about 5 hours per figure. They may not be much on the battlefield but as models I love them and can't wait to get my hands on mine! Click the link to see more close ups and a group shot so far.

'Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!' More Vespids to the Slaughter!

Hello Folks,

Yes I have painted another Vespid to keep his Buzz Buddy company! For those of you who missed the last post, it is the one on the left that is new but there is something new on the one on the right. After some careful zooming in and close looking at all the available images I realised that they also have Strain markings on the backs of their wings. However I don't know how much there is so I limited it, after all these are commission work and not my own models so some boundaries have to not be crossed. I also have an update on the tutorial for you. So click Read More for more photos and an update!

I believe I can fly!

Hello Folks,

Well it has been a long time coming but we eventually have our first glimpse at my attempt to paint the 'fluff' Vespids. It took me about three attempts before realising I couldn't actually do it without the correct paints. Therefore after gathering the correct materials I managed to get this guy finished over the course of an evening and part of an afternoon. After painting him with the correct paint and technique it was actually quite easy and I found it very therapeutic to paint in all the small dots and bone spikes. Read more to see more angles and a tragic update concerning the painting tutorial.

Lurking in the woods...

 

 

 

Hello Folks,

 

I know I didn't stick to my promises last week but I was too busy celebrating my good results. Even though I was painting I wasn't doing enough to actually have anything substantial to put up. We have here some more Kroot. This takes the running total to 20 kroot warriors, two krootox and two shapers. I have another 8 more kroot undercoated and awaiting some paint slapped on 'em. I also have another Krootox to build but at the moment I am not too concerned about that, after all I have all these wonderful vehicles to paint with Tau camouflage, WOO HOO! I may have to update the Tutorial in the above bar at the top, since I have perfected the technique a lot more and have simplified the stages so that they are becoming faster. Click the link to see more pictures and here what else I have been working on that is Tau related.

Time to see what we put on the 'Barbie'... and a small thank you.

Hello Folks,

I am going to try and make this post as mysterious as possible. At the moment I have only given you subtle hints as to what this model could possibly be. So far we have my Heroquest Game on Sunday, which is the truth, but I am going to use this model for that. Obviously the picture above and the title of this post. I wonder what on Earth it could be. Write in the comments if you guessed correctly.

Leopard Speck... Wait, a Firewarrior!

Hello Folks,

As promised yesterday I have taken pictures of the Firewarrior I painted up in the colour scheme I am doing my own Tau Army. Even though my army is far from being started properly it is always good to know that when the time comes around I have a scheme to paint them up as. I didn't add any speckles to this guy but I might leave them off the armour and put them on the skin of the firewarrior. I might leave up to you guys. Click read more for more ideas I had and the pictures of the man himself.

Progression Report: Units Forward!

Hello Folks,

Not going to be a long post but I thought I'd fill you in on what will be coming up over the next few days. Tomorrow will be my Firewarrior colour test mini, the day after that will be a surprise (I do have something planned but I won't tell you!), by Friday I hope to have these four kroot on my desk finished, maybe not based but finished. Then I will maybe do a review on the new Tau Boxes. So far I have built up a partial battlesuit, some drones and legs and torsos of a pathfinder squad. I was pleasantly surprised with the Evil Empire's new kits. This Sunday I will be playing a game of Heroquest. For those who don't know what Heroquest is, think of it as D&D for toddlers, a simple 2 dice system. D6's and attack die, Mind and HP for characters and some money and equipment here and there. Oh and lots of gobbos and orks to chop up! A good beer and pretzels game.

On a personal note, I got my exam results through today. I would take a picture of my results but they have my address and full name on them so I won't show them. But I will tell you my grades. First of for Intermediate 2( a simplified last year course) A's are good, B's are second best etc etc. For Credit, it as a mid range school level difficulty, normally a couple of years before you leave, but it has some last year level stuff in it as well, so 1's are the best, 2's are the second best etc etc. So if that made sense here are the grades:

• Art and Design Intermediate 2 - A
• French Intermediate 2 - A
• History Intermediate 2 - A
• Maths Credit - 1
• Physics Credit - 1
• Chemistry Credit - 1
• Computing Studies Credit  - 1
• English Credit  - 2

A cant beleeve ma englush let me doon, wat says yous, how do u think ma enlgush is! (He he :D)
So overall I did well, I am really pleased with my results, I can appeal for my English which means the Exam board look at my course work from earlier in the year and see if they have it in their cold hearts to change my grade, hopefully for the better! Most of you won't care but I thought I'd put it on here as a permanent memory. Thanks for reading and until next time, bye for now!

Javelins from the back! (and Claymore)

Hello Folks,

Well here we have the rear rank to the first unit of warriors. As you can see I was rapidly running out of colour ideas so decided to paint the two orange cloths slightly darker shades to one another. Everything else which has remained constant was done exactly the same. Once again I do promise a tutorial but I'm enjoying the Tau too much at the moment. So far I am on a 4 Game win streak, Black Templars, Smurfs and 2 games won against Thousand Sons. I am on a Tau'Va buzz and can't contain myself. I'm doing kroot of my commission and building up my Tau force on the down-low. I will also recap from Claymore, I didn't bring my camera but I wasn't there long enough to go round everything and take a picture of it. Read more to see more pictures and re-cap and links of Claymore.

Spears at the ready!

Hello Folks,

Well as I said yesterday I have completed the figures to another warrior unit. I was actually running out of colour ideas so instead of doing just brown, I added an edging of red to spice things up a bit O_O. Anyway back to the models. The armour, cloth, scabbard, flesh and shaft of the spear were all done the same. Now that I see what is kept the same I think I will be ready to to a tutorial for them, then I will do one for the shields when the sun isn't making my room into a cheap sauna. I quite like painting these guys but they do get tedious. Make sure you have something else on the go to build/paint cause trust me, you'll be looking for something else sooner or later. Click to see more and pics and more of my rambling :D!

Leopard Speckled Kroot!?

Hello Folks,

Well it has been well over a month since my last post which was my commission Aun'Shi. Which was a pleasure to paint despite what you might think. So what have I been doing these past few weeks. Well quite a lot but not a lot if you catch my drift. I attempted the Vespids but realised I didn't have the GW colour, so I thought, "Let's mix it, how hard could it be..." trust me, it was difficult. So I dropped the Vespids for now and picked up on my Saga stuff and managed to get the models done for a warrior unit with the shields still WIP. I have just recently started on my clients Kroot so that you guys have something new to look at for that. But surely if I haven't painted any Kroot how come the title suggests I have? Well let's see, shall we?

Aun'Shi Ethereal: Tau Blademaster

Hello Folks,

Well today has been a long and laborious week for me. I have just started my new set of subjects this week and have been revising profusely every night. However I have managed to paint up the Aun'Shi Ethereal but it hasn't been easy. The short gaps of time to paint and the very warm and repelling weather has made the painting experience somewhat chore like. However do not fear I am not losing hope just taking some time to vent. I haven't added a picture yet because I really like how this model has come out and I feel you would get more of a kick out of it my clicking Read More and see the picture for the first time as your browser loads. Be sure to click to know all the new skills I learnt and where they all came from, with full praise going to those who though it up and so I don't look like a glory snatcher. Be sure to check it out:

Completed Welsh Hearthguard unit!

Hello Folks,

Well another busy day today. Maybe not so much wargaming wise but I just had my last exam after lunch WOOHOO but then I start school again tomorrow AWW! I also undercoated the next set of Tau figures, the six Vespids and the Tau Ethereal. I also finished basing the Welsh Hearthguard unit which went fairly quickly since the weather was so warm. Click Read More to see close ups of each rank and what I did for the shields.

Saga Hearthguard unit can almost smell victory!

Hello Folks,

Well today has been a very productive day modelling wise. I have started to build the next lot of Tau stuff, Vespids and Aun'Shi so be looking forward to that. However more to the point of this post I have finished painting my first Saga Hearthguard Unit and my first ever Saga Unit. I have also completed the shields. So click read more to see close up shots of these guys and their unit along with their shields.

Squad 1 Reporting for Duty, Sir!

Hello Folks,

Well as promised I have the final pictures of the finished Firewarrior Squad. I am really pleased with how these guys turned out, also how quickly it took me to paint them in such a short space of time. These pictures were taken just moments before they were boxed up and sent off to their rightful owner. Click Read More to see more pictures and a final group shot of the  second class of the 41st Millenia:

WAPPINSHAW Wargames Convention

Hello Folks,

Well it is yet another end to a great convention. Wappinshaw is run by Phoenix Wargames Club that can be seen above. The convention was held at Kelvin Hall, a new place to take up post since for the past 2 years we have all been crammed into a conference room in Buchanan Galleries. There will be quite a lot of pictures in this post so I will try and keep the text to a minimum. (Also most of the pictures are blurry because my camera can't take a half - decent picture of you breath whilst pressing the button, so apologies in advance. Click Read more to see pictures of some of the games and learn more about what else went on that couldn't get snapped up with a camera.

More Welshmen on the scene!

Hello Folks,

Well as promised we have the back row of this Hearth Guard unit. Even though this would normally be a full unit done (4 men) I have my units in groups of six (3 units of four halved). So I still have another two guys to do. They will probably be up next week at some point. Click read more to see more individual shots and an update on the Tau Firewarriors.

Second Welsh Hearthguard Man!

Hello Folks,

Well I bet you're wondering what's wrong with me since I have managed to do three posts in a week. The fact of the matter is these guys are just so easy to paint and since they're mine I'm not really too bothered about how well it turns out. Having said that I am really happy with how this guy turned out, especially the fabric and flesh. Read more to see more pictures and find out what's coming next.

Time to start a Saga of Posts!

Hello Folks,

I actually thought of putting this post up later on in the week but since I took these pictures I have had some advancements on my painting desk. Click read more to see more pictures and the techniques used for painting this guy.

Firewarriors continued!

Hello Folks,

Well as promised we have the second instalment of the first but second squad of Firewarriors. The last 4 warriors might be done by the end of the week if I can get enough time or the weather gives me the time to. Read more to see more pictures and find out what's coming up next.

Firewarriors: Squad 1

Hello Folks,

I thought it would be best to give you all an update since I haven't posted for a while. My painting of the Tau commission is picking up speed, I am now half way through another Firewarrior squad and I have a Devilfish ready to be undercoated. Expect more Firewarriors after this one over the coming days. These guys were done over a couple of evenings last week when the weather was dull and grey and typically Scottish. Even though I have already painted a Firewarrior squad, this is going to be squad one.

Click 'Read More' to get more pictures and an explanation as to why squad 2 became squad one and vice versa:

A Mini - update!

Hello Folks,

Well the past week has been a busy one. I have been studying, painting and building for the majority of the days. I have started work for my Duke of Edinburgh (An award scheme from my school) and I have lazed around watching Stargate SG-1 and the new season of Game of Thrones. And who said your school days were your worst?! Anyway back to the Mini - Update. So what have I been doing Miniature wise. Click after the Jump to find out:

Falkirk Carronade Run Down

Hello Folks,

As many of you will know I was at Scotland's biggest Wargames Convention called Falkirk Carronade, run by Falkirk Wargames Club. Here is a link to their website: Falkirk Wargames Club. Just a fore warning I forget to take my camera so unfortunately I have no pictures of the event, however if you go to the link within the next week to two weeks there should be a bit on Carronade 2013 with pictures of some of the fantastic display games.

A stone cold conclusion...

Hello Folks,

Well the time is nigh, my competition entry for Falkirk has been completed. Many things have changed about my plan for the competition, including figure, base, paint job, basically anything you can think of I changed it, even up until the last minute. Original plans suck anyways! :D I originally thought of putting this guy on a plinth with a scenic base. However I contacted my plinth maker too late and I had to re - think my idea, see proof, I wasn't lying! If I tally up my time from sprue to completion it would be about 20 hours or so. Now I know that doesn't seem long but I have had to do it in small stages over a long period of time. I am really happy with how this guy turned out and I really hope he can bring home the gold.

Not one, but TWO XV88 Broadsides!

Hello Folks,

I spent last week undercoating and painting my commissioned Tau. I undercoated two broadsides and a firewarriors. The broadsides were a massive pain to build, I'm sure every Tau player can sympathise with me and anyone else who was building those fragile chickens of death! It took be about 6 hours for each broadside. There were many times when I thought I was finished but then a black/ brown spot came to light and I had more to deal with. However with doing a figure as big and as hard to do as this, it gives you a massive sense of achievement once you complete it and show it off to the world.

Final Tau Post: Drone Squadron

Hello Folks,

Sorry that the title is a bit naff I might change it if I can come up with something better. This will be the final Tau post for a while, I still have to undercoat models but I spent today cleaning them up and prepping them. As I said in the previous post it will be my diorama that will be taking to the stage.
But for now here are the drones:

Battlesuits Inbound

Hello Folks,

I found some time today to get a post up of this Battlesuit and his buddies. I was actually quite surprised how quickly I got this guy done since I hadn't painted for a while. The completion of this guy now means that I have finished my first squad of battle suits. Each battlesuit squad will have a different colour of markings. This squad has a forest green colour. The next battlesuits I post will be most likely to be Broadsides which I'll do red markings for. I'll bore you no longer, onto the pictures:

The blue marking on the side of his gun (above) is to represent that it is a plasma rifle. Just a nice wee bit of showing off that I thought of.

 

 

And here he is with his buddies. If you want to see the other two battlesuits on close ups here they are Close ups of Shas'vre and 'Ui. If you look closely, and I mean with a magnifying glass, you will be able to see a few touch ups on the guns of the other two battlesuits and some other things that were bugging me.

 

My next post will probably be on the nine drones then after that, it will probably be my Falkirk competition entry completely finished. Which I really need to get my finger out and do since it is in two weeks time :O. Anyways, bye for now!

Mission Complete: Final Kroot Shaper

Hello Folks,

I am really sorry about not living up to my promise that I made a few weeks ago. My Art folio and studying got the better of me during my holidays. However I have managed to get in a wee bit of painting over the last week. This has allowed me to finish off a battlesuit, 2 drones and a kroot shaper. I know that sounds a lot but please leave the sarcastic wows till the end of the blog post :D! What is quite amazing though is that I now need to prep and spray more figures because I have painted all the ones I had ready. I never thought I'd get to this stage already. Here is the second shaper that I painted. I muted this one down since the other one was very ... 'tropical', so that the opponents'  eyes weren't spinning around in his head by the end of a game. Here are the pics:

I have taken pictures of the newly painted battlesuit and his pals. Also all nine of the drones I have painted. So expect them to be up over the coming week if I get time during my exams. However next week is going to be a tough week so don't hold your breath, I highly doubt I'll get a post in. Until next time, bye for now!

Reaper: Captain Haranobu

Hello folks,

Well it has been just over two weeks since my last post of apology. Almost everything will be back to normal now as I have entered my Easter Holidays or Spring break(however not quite as extravagant) to those over the sea. My two weeks will be mainly studying for  my exams but I will set aside about one to two hours of painting per day. This will probably mean a post every two or three days. Anyway enough the the chit chat, lets get down to business.

Some time last year at a convention I picked up quite a few Reaper Warlord figures that were going cheap. Captain Haranobu was one of them. It took me quite a while to practise the techniques for painting this guy, knowing the correct colour combinations, glazing, wet brushing, non metallic metal, dark to light fading and free hand designs. I am surprised this figure doesn't topple over with all the paint on him! Lets see how he looks.

Unfortunately I don't have a better camera yet, therefore the digital camera I have bleaches the colour varaitions. This is fact and not just an excuse for my poor brush work! :D

The markings on both sides of the flag are Japanese for 'Sword Master', it took me quite a while to find the right word that looked good and meant something that made sense. It was also a challenge to do the writing with all the creases in the flag, despite that I think I did a good job. I know, how modest of me! Also have a look at the fan he is holding in his left hand, it is blurred but faintly you can see the floral pattern on the fan. Just simply red dots with lots of small green dots around the red dots.

This picture isn't very good but I took it to get a better view of his face.

I haven't completed the base yet because this piece is going to be a competition entry. I have still to deside on a design and the materials I am going to use. Also if any readers have an criticisms about  my paint job please say so in the comments as long as it has next steps to fixing it. Thank you for reading my post and I will post again in the next few days. Bye for now!

A sincere apology

Hello Folks,

I would like to apologise to all my readers (yes all three of you XD), because the blog has been some what 'tumble-weed' for the past month or so. This is mainly due to my commitments for school and extra - curricular activities. As some or none of you may know I am only 16 years old and I am at a very important stage in my schooling, I am at the time where it will basically decide how successful I am going to be in life, or not as the case may be. Painting and blogging has been put to the back of my mind, even wargamming is becoming thin. During this difficult time, trying to blog at least once a month is very difficult and finding the time to paint is very scarce. Therefore I would like all of you who read this and/or enjoy my *clear throat* 'regular' blog posts to be very understanding. I know my blog isn't as active or as popular as some of the big blogs out there, therefore I am not expecting much of a response back. But just incase you have come across my blog and wonder why there havent been many posts, this will explain it.

On a higher note I have a holiday for the first two weeks of April, this will be a good oppurtunity to try and get back into painting my miniatures. I hope to complete my Falkirk Carronade competion entry during that time, that will mean a blog post WITH PICTURES! After that I have the start of my exams and study leave and again I will try and paint during some of that time to relax and detach myself from my work ethos and gain some form of sanity. Then the summer holdays arrive and the return of the commission Tau. I am really looking forward to that and hope that you guys can follow me all the way to completion. Granted it might take a few years, but we'll get there.

Once again I hope this blog post explains my absence from the blogging community and will make you understand my situation. Thanks for reading and I will hopefully see you all in April, but until then bye for now.

Pr0Golf3r

How to Paint a Fire Warrior

Hello Folks,

This tutorial was posted last year on the tab section, but I am trying to tidy up my top bar so I have to post it again so that I can link it. So far this has been viewed quite a lot, whether that means a lot of people have been using it, I dont know. However this is much simpler than the GW one, since this is 5 easy to follow steps rather than the 135 steps listed in GW tutorials. Here it is:

Step 1- Clean up the figures after cutting them off the sprue and gluing the with polystrene cement. Once dry, prime them with a black undercoat.

Step two - Apply the base colours for the armour, gun and the fabric and the back bit of the helmet.
The armour and end bit of the gun was painted with the new Games Workshop Skrag Brown, the fabric and helmet area was painted with Rhinox Hide. (Sorry about the blurred picture).

Step 3- Apply the first layer of the armour and gun with Tau Light Ochre from the new paint range. Re-apply for a second layer, then cover over any areas on the brown that have taken some accidental paint on them with Rhinox Hide. You can also paint in the black on the gun if any paint is on it that shouldn't be. You can use Chaos Black for that.

First Layer.

Second Layer.

 

Brown and Black painted in.

Step 4 - Now that the armour is done we can draw in the grooves on the gun and the armour. I used Rhinox Hide. I also start highlight everything, Armour/Gun - Bronzed Flesh, Fabric - Rhinox Hide mixed in with a light flesh colour, Black was highlighted with Foundry Charcoal Black C or Codex Grey.

Step 5 - The final stage is to lighten the armour and gun further by mixing a light flesh with Tau Light Ochre. The grenades were done the same as the black of the gun and the inside of the grenade was done with mordian blue base and highlighted with Tomb Blue B or Ice Blue. The white signatures were applied randomly. Squad markers were painted on with Tomb Blue B or Ice Blue. Gems were also done, Black - Red Gore - Blend Blood Red - Blend small highlight of Macharius Solar Orange - White added in the opposite corner. And gold to the ball bearings in the gun.



Symbols and Further Highlighting.



Gems.

Grenades.

Also have a quick look around the model to make sure you have coloured all surfaces and not painted inbto any grooves. Paint the rim of the base Rhinox hide so that when you are finished the whole squad you can base them. Hope this helps. Please comment below, any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.