What I painted in November 2020

Oh my, the year has almost gone by now, how time flies even in a pandemically cursed one...

After painting a month worth of orcs of all sorts, this time it's back to the hotch-potch variety of models.

And the first one finished this month is Malbeth the Seer.

Wing Zero was painted up as well, for use in MechaTop.

For Warhammer Underworlds, I completed the Steelheart's Champions warband

More Games Workshop stuff readied, as at last I painted the first model for my planned idoneth Deepkin army (basically, since their release day...)

 

As was this printed giant Vulture for Rangers of Shadow Deep. 

Another thing I painted up this month is of course scenery, starting with this Viking Hut.

More scenery was completed in the form of a river, good for almost 2 meters of length, and actually painted up for a Rangers scenario I played this month.

 

More terrain was printed and painted, from 3D Hexes, with these sections of his Lion Wall set as well as the Crystal Core piece.

Another printed project, this is a Ruined House by Mini Makers.

All the dungeon tiles printed last month where painted as well during november.

 

From my pile of MDF kits, I completed the Enchanted Well this month.

 

I doubt much will be painted during december, as the first half will see me assemble and prepare a mountain of figures for the next edition of the AHPC, but for this month we clock off at 39 models, not bad at all!

2.11.0.0

The Haul Report 257

 As I said last week, another parcel arrived from Games Workshop, containing a White dwarf as well as a Fomoroid Crusher.

Though the latter will be used neither for WarCry nor Age of Sigmar, but was bought with the solo game system from Underworlds in mind, so the Mordor Troll can be relieved of stand in duty.

I also received a parcel from my go to eBay guy, with three more Khand warriors.

 

On a printing level, I have been churning out more dungeon tiles, the "safest things" to print until I get around ordering a new nozzle for the Ender 3.

 

Talking prints, the first releases for the Vladivostov village from Dark Realms Forge came in, containing 3 houses, 2 shops, 2 terraced shops and a tavern, awesome stuff as always!

 

Finally, some of my old stuff found it's way back to me as my nephews decided years ago this wasn`t the hobby for them after all, and with an Island of Blood set to boot in there.  While not complete, there are still a handfull of Skaven and High Elves in there to paint up and use in DnD, so that's nice stuff.

A rather modest week all in all, but with some great stuff! 

War in Rohan

 As a lover of the Horselords, I looked really forward for this expansion to the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, and how it brings the forces of Isengard against Rohan, culminating in the battle of Helm's Deep.

 

The book was also accompanied by some gorgeous releases like the Rohan house and the Forge World Dunland characters and troops, but those are for 2021 or something...

 

Following the pattern of the previous two expansions, the book is littered with pictures from both the game and the movies, and is high quality finished and hardcover as usual for the range.

And right after the Introduction, we dive straight in the action with the 21 Narrative scenarios, of which about 2/3rds handle of course the siege of Helm's Deep, but also the run up to the battle (the Warg Attack on the road to the Deep for example) and the aftermatch battles like the Uruk-hai Retreat.

 

There are some historical scenarios as well, like when Eorl comes to the aid of Gondor to fight the Variags of Khand, resulting into the founding of the kingdom of Rohan.

 

The book contains expanded rules for various armies, the most obvious ofcourse being Rohan and Isengard, but also quite a growth for the Dunland forces, with all their new releasesm before moving on to 8 of the 9 Legendary Legions in the book.  These are build around the mighty siege obviously for the most part, and some look really nice to try out one day.  The final one is in the appendix and features Helm's Guard, the founder of the fortress.

The next chapter of the book details all the rules to do your own Siege games, wether it being the mighty fortress of Helm's Deep or an attack on a small walled village, you will find everything you need here.

Add a build guide for the Rohan settlement buildings and a showcase into the mix, and you have a great looking book worth every penny.

 

I wasn`t disappointed at all with the book, and will be starting off painting my Rohan force at last coming january, or Rohanuary as it is known in community circles, in the hopes of already doing a serious batch of models for the various scenarios... especially on the side of Rohan.

On the Painting Desk 171: AHPC 11 is coming

 The annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has been announced, already in it's 11th iteration (and the 4th one I`ll participate in), so it's glue and undercoat time.

You are only allowed to paint during the three months of the challenge, but are permitted to prepare (aka, assemble and basecoat) your entries before hand, something I've been doing as such last weekend.

I set my target once again at 1000 points, which last year I cut close, so that is a good motivator to push myself.  I hope to do a wide variety of things this year, from rounding out some open projects to painting a lot of Middle-earth and all.  

 

 

In a bottom line, wothout location bonusses and all, I should be painting 200 models of scale 28mm to reach the goal, so I`ll see how I can "play" the map for some additional points, as well as how to incorporate a lot of other scales projects and terrain pieces into the equation.

 

On a normal painting level though, work has been done in the early morning hour slot on the barabusa's I won on Instagram in the beginning of the year.

 

But excuse me, I have to go back sticking my fingers together now...

The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box

Some good fashioned sunday afternoon television for me and Noshi with this adventure movie from 2014.

Based on the novel Mariah Mundi by GP Taylor (I should sniff out that book), this is some good old fashioned adventure like flicks as the Mummy, but on a lower production budget.

Mariah Mundi has no choice but to unite with the enigmatic Will Charity when his family is kidnapped by an unknown enemy. Their adventure leads them to the mysterious and majestic Prince Regent, a huge steam-powered hotel on a small island at the furthest reach of the Empire. Mariah, with the help of Sacha, must unravel the secrets of the island to find the truth behind the disappearance of his family, and prevent Otto Luger from getting his hands on the mystical and powerful Midas Box.

At the end, Will leaves to search for the boys’ parents, who are still missing. He promises to return for Mariah. A mid-credits scene reveals that their mother has been taken to Egypt by the villain Gormenberg — her husband, the boys’ father. 

Don't expect high level special effects and deep rooted mysteries in this movie, but as I said, just some good fun to watch.

Just a pity the franchise never took off as a series for young adults, because at times that is just all you want to watch after a heavy weekend...

2.11.0.0

Crystal Core

Today another piece I got from 3D Hexes, the Crystal Core.

 

This nice little piece is available as part of the "Yellow Bundle", which is also a pay what you want bundle, so if you want, it is essentially free.

 

Printing it at my (slow) settings takes around 6 hours, but as I said before I got it a very slow travel speed and all to prevent less chance of misprints while the head moves.

 

 

The model itself is really nice, with the runes etched in the circular platform, while the crystal is well represented coming out of the brick work.

 

I went for a warm grey stonework like the Lion Walls I printed up from them earlier, and then a blue crystal for some good contrast.

 

So check out the 3D Hexes webstore and grab some of their excellent and characterfull terrain!

2.11.0.0

Ruined House

The latest print I finished painting, this is a Ruined House by Mini Makers.

The files where free a while ago as an offer I found through a Facebook group, and I set out to build it.

The set contains three pieces: the largest has the door frame, then there is a straight wall with a window pane, and finally a corner with an oven.

The three pieces all have wooden floors, adding some nice contrast to the painting job instead of just greys.

A lovely little project, and a great model for sure, with the ease of being able to put the ruins apart a bit more or less on the table to suit the collection and the game.

The Girl in the Spider's Web

The sequel to The Girl with the Dragon tatttoo (with an excellently recasted Lisbeth Salander), this is a great action movie I enjoyed with Noshi.

Based on the Millenium series as a spin off book, the movies are in sequence though the books aren't really that much though.

In Stockholm, Sweden, computer programmer Frans Balder hires vigilante hacker Lisbeth Salander to retrieve Firefall, a program he developed for the National Security Agency that can access the world's nuclear codes. Balder believes it too dangerous to exist. Lisbeth successfully retrieves Firefall from the NSA's servers, but she is unable to unlock it. Her actions attract the attention of NSA agent Edwin Needham.

Mercenaries led by Jan Holtser steal the program from Lisbeth and attempt to kill her, though she survives. When she misses a scheduled rendezvous with Balder, he mistakenly believes Lisbeth has kept Firefall for herself and contacts Gabrielle Grane, the Deputy Director of the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO). Grane moves Balder and his young son, August, to a safe house. Meanwhile, Needham tracks the unauthorized login to Stockholm and arrives there seeking Lisbeth and Firefall.

Lisbeth and her hacker friend, Plague, contact Lisbeth's former lover, investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, for help identifying her assailants. Blomkvist learns Holtser previously worked for Lisbeth's late father, crime lord Alexander Zalachenko, and is now affiliated with an elusive international crime syndicate known as "The Spiders". Lisbeth puts surveillance on Balder's safe house, and when it is attacked, she intervenes, attempting to protect Balder and his son. She is intercepted by Holtser, who kills Balder and frames Lisbeth, then kidnaps August. Lizbeth pursues them and rescues August. Lisbeth also learns the Spiders' leader is her sister, Camilla Salander, whom Lisbeth believed was dead. As children, Lisbeth escaped their abusive father, leaving Camilla behind after she hesitated to leave. After years of physical and sexual abuse, Camilla faked her suicide and went underground to form the Spiders. 

Lisbeth takes August to another safe house, where she confirms only he can unlock Firefall. Elsewhere, Needham locates Lisbeth's girlfriend, Sofia, and persuades her to arrange a meeting between them, intending to lure Lisbeth into a trap. Lisbeth evades him, and Needham is later arrested by Grane. Lisbeth helps him escape in exchange for him safely escorting August to San Francisco to reunite him with his mother; she begrudgingly agrees to later give him Firefall.

The Spiders trick August by calling him from his father's cellphone, then track him to Lisbeth's safe house. Camilla and the Spiders take August to her base of operations, the sisters' childhood home. Grane had hired the Spiders to retrieve Firefall for her and informed them of Balder's location, but Camilla kills Grane instead.

Using a tracker hidden on August, Lisbeth, Blomkvist, Plague, and Needham locate him. Lisbeth breaks in to give Plague remote computer access to the building's surveillance system. She is caught and taken to where August is being held. She learns that Blomkvist has also been captured. When Camilla threatens to torture him, Lisbeth tells August to trust her and to reveal the Firefall password. Camilla tries suffocating Lisbeth while describing their father's abuse.

Armed with a .50 BMG sniper rifle and remotely guided by Plague via computer, Needham fires through brick walls, eliminating Camilla's henchmen, saving August and Blomkvist. Camilla escapes with the laptop containing Firefall, and Lisbeth pursues her. Holtser, injected with a poison that induces blindness, stumbles through some woods onto a road where he is fatally hit by Camilla's fleeing car. The vehicle crashes into the trees. Camilla, injured, escapes into the woods. Lisbeth pursues her to a nearby clifftop, where Camilla tearfully asks why she never returned for her; Lisbeth says Camilla chose to remain with their father rather than escape with her. Camilla, heavily bleeding, drops the laptop computer and steps off the cliff to her death before Lisbeth can stop her.

Needham attempts to access Firefall only to discover Lisbeth has destroyed it. August is reunited with his mother in the United States. Blomkvist writes an investigative article about the Spider's Web to be published in Millennium, but then deletes it. Lisbeth destroys her childhood home as closure, then rides away on her motorcycle. 

While not the huge success of the original film, the movie isn't bad at all and has a strong suspense feeling to it.  And Claire Foy does a great job as Salandar, making me constantly wondering wether I find her gorgeous then not hideous, a feeling invoked by the character description in the Millenium trilogy as well.

Not suited for a light hearted evening movie though, this was a nice brainworker to watch, and sometimes movies just have to be that little more challenging to grab intrest...

2.11.0.0

Idoneth Tidecaster

 Okay, two years or so after release, and about the same time of "buying in", I finally finished my first model for this awesome army.

Though it might take another year or two before I finish an actual army to play x-D

The reason I started the model is a painting challenge on Instagram, organised by Dark Elf Girl. Every now and then I join these challenges (time and theme permitting) because they are an excellent motivator to get some things going.

 

With the theme being "travellers", I thought the Tidecaster a good match.  Considering the fact I`m currently exploring the rules for WarCry (and who knows, might actually play a game of it in 2021) and the Idoneth will be my warband in there.  The Tidecaster can be taken in the forces since the Monsters and Mercenaries book, so off we go and this mage is ready to travel to the Eightpoints in an effort to find more souls to sustain his people.

The model itself is an excellent sculpt, and a great joy to paint.  I really like the Idoneth look of the fishes and everything around them, it just makes them stand out from so many other armies.

I also opted to do a waterstyled base, painting on the slow waves rolling by.  I`m kind of happy with the result as such, and it is a welcome change from the usual browns and greens for bases.

Now to assemble at least the models for the WarCry warband...