Grims Mini Swap WIP

So I have been spending a whole lot of time playing Warmahordes and doing modifications or conversions on my Trollbloods army.  So my painting time has suffered a bit.  However I did get a bit of time this last little bit to work on this little dude for Scotty.  A classic Warrior of the Abyss from the Mid Nor of Confrontation.

These Rackham figures are so freaking great!  The detail and character in everyone of their miniatures is so awesome! They are my goto cure for painters block, because they are so damn fun to paint!

Here are a couple of WIPs. 

Scotty has a rockin' Purple and dead flesh Mid Nor crew.  So I decided I'd do my own little spin on his color scheme.  Hopefully I can do his crew justice.

Short and sweet this time folks.  Any questions or comments, advice, criticism, cookie recipies...
Please throw them in the comments.

Thanks for watching!!

-Grim

The Hobby within a Hobby

There are a lot of things people do with their hobby time. Most people play their games, paint their figs, research their lists, drool over the latest models. But everyone i believe has their "secret" hobby, or their hobby within a hobby. 

What could this be?

This is something that could be called a hobby in it's own right, but is used to help elevate the primary hobby. Sometimes these hobbies are a direct result of needing something for your little army men. Does this sound familiar?


For example, I needed a storage/transportation solution for my paints and figs for game/paint nights at the local game shop. Thus began my journey to the inner hobby of really rough, mediocre, yet still functional woodworking.

My latest undertaking has been to find a way to store my paints in an effective way, while keeping them hidden since we are trying to sell our house. Hopefully in my next place i won't need to hide my paints, but for now we have to do what it takes right?

Here is the sequence I took to create something acceptable to me and my better half.

Cut equal lengths for the frame and nail together

Use a dremel to make slots for my aluminum bar

Insert bar shelves and attach back piece

Attach ring terminals to the ends of some galvanized wire

Screw terminals to the sides to create a front stop for the paints

I still have a few tricks up my sleeve to complete these shelves, but will save that for another update.

I want to hear from you!What are your "secret" hobbies? What talents/skills have you put to use with wargaming that you did not think would be connected?

IMC Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Painted as a prize for the InterMountain Cup Warmachine/Hordes tournament.
More info can be found here

Miniatures Showcase

Here is a showcase of the recently painted commission pieces for our local Pressganger. These were painted by Grimwolf and Scottykhan of Geek Garage. Miniatures featured are from the game Warmachine and faction is Khador.

Soundtrack:

Space 1990 by Kevin MacLeod
(incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By
Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

An Apology and Some WIPs

Alright, the Holidays have come and gone, and it has been nearly a month since I have posted anything up here on the GG...

I have to apologize... I always seem to think that during the holidays I will have more time for hobbies, yet every year it seems I have a whole lot less free time than I imagined.  So again, I am sorry for my slacking.

Now, here are a few WIPs I have been working on over the holidays.

First Up....

Tir Na Bor Standard Bearer:












Now, I know you want to see what else Im working on right? :) :P
Click it!! Come on!  Please? Click it!!

The next guy I have been working on is another one of my favorites from Rackham...

Magnus the Mystical:

Ill show you this guy from the very beginning.  Cleaned up and primed white.

Added some basecoats... You may have noticed something is missing...

I dare you to comment and point it out.  I double dog dare you!!

At this point I couldn't figure out what to do with his gloves.  I chatted with my buddy Scotty and he suggested doing some crazy red and blue transitions.

This is how it turned out...
Thoughts? Comments?...
Verbal Abuse?

I decided to move the transitions over to his sword as well.  Like this Mystical magician was doing some crazy magic voodoo on his sword.

Not sure if the effect came out exactly as I had pictured... but I think I like it.



















I did a little bit of work on his face at this point.  I love for the face of all my little Dwarves to be the focal point of the mini.  I worried that the sword may draw too much away form the face.

Here are the quick first few steps done on his face.
















And the finished face shown below.  I took the picture so as to ensure you all saw how grumpy and mean this old dwarf is!  The lesson of the day:

DONT MESS WITH MAGNUS!

I have yet to finish this guy.  When I finish him I will be sure to throw up a pic so you all can tell me what you think.

Thanks for Watching!!

-Grim

Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast

Just finished up this commission piece for a local gamer. 

Nice miniature to paint up and the face is probably one of the best ones I've done so far.

More photos and video below.
Wildchevy

Tutorial: Armored Greatcoat

Here is a quick tutorial on how I made the armored greatcoat. 

Materials needed:

Milliput (yellow grey)

Super Sculpey (Firm)

No hole glass glitter beads

And sculpting tools

First I mixed equal parts of the milliput mix together with Sculpey. This creates a nice compound that is easy to work with and hardens well.
After that was all mixed I pressed the putty flat in between some parchment paper and cut into a nice long strip with my blade and ruler. Carefully I set the strip on the mini and tap it down into place with sculpting tools, being watchful not to cause and dings.
For each panel I simply make a small knife line and used the sculpting tools to fix the shape I wanted.
Now the hard part, placing the beads into place. Since these are so very small and have a static cling to them, the simplest way I found is to use a moistened toothpick to pick each on up and set them into place.

Once the putty is cured you can go back and glue any beads that have slipped off. 

Wildchevy

IKRPG: Vasily

This past weekend we had our first encounter with the Iron Kingdoms campaign. This was very much a learning experience as my total amount of Warmachines equates to two games. The mechanics are very easy to learn and the play was very smooth. Here is who I brought to the fight:

Vasily
Human, Khador, Arcane Mechanik/Man-at-Arms

Thoughts on this character is that he is more of a supportive class. His primary role is helping with repairs to Steamjacks or creating new Mechanika items for the party. Being a Will Weaver allows him to run magic spells a little more forcefully than a Focus Caster (as long as he doesn't fail a Fatigue roll) and his Arcantik Bolt spell is useful for shutting down enemy Steamjacks. With his Polarity Shield spell any charges against his front arc are canceled and his Defense Line ability adds +1 to his ARM while in base-to-base with a friendly character. This lets him act as a nice decoy when in city terrain. 

Background
"Former member of the Khadorian Special Recon group, a squad designed to learn the enemy forces' rune magics so to better protect the motherland. Trained in the arcane and close quarters combat these individuals  were sent behind enemy lines to gather intel. After a ambush in a old Orgoth ruin he was left for dead by his squad after falling into a crypt during their retreat. Surviving by his will Vasily sets out to continue his quest to learn new runes and avenge his fallen brothers."




The base sculpt of the miniature is a Widowmaker Marksman. After cleaning off any mold lines, I spent some time with a chisel and file removing the fur trim on the bottom of his great coat. After that I used a mix of miliput and super sculpey and created armor plates, the cobblestone base, and the shield. The head was swapped out for eIrusk and the trencher knife came from pStrakhov.

Part 1 of 2 Extreme Jack Commission

Alright, I was finally able to finish off ol' Extreme Torch for my buddy Trevy.  Handed him off last night...  One part of the Massive Extreme Jack Commission Complete.  Now on to the second (and most intimidating) part of the commission.

First up some pics of Torchy:

More pics and angles... Plus a sneak peak at Part 2!!  Keep reading!

This guy was really fun to paint, and I think my buddy was happy with the result.  I had a lot of fun working with red on this particular model.  Red can be hard to work with at times... I think I achieved and acceptable result using the red.  (Sad thing is I don't keep track of recipes... Im all over the place, I just start throwing colors on my palette until they look right) NOt sure if I will be able to replicate it :(

Well thanks for watching!!

-Grim


Ahhhh, right, can't forget the sneak peak :P ;)

Extremoth (Yup thats a Vanquisher that will be on his base!  Yikes!)

Thursday WIPs!

Man oh Man!  It has certainly been a hectic couple of weeks for this guy.  Trying to squeeze hobby time in has become increasingly more difficult.  Thank Goodness for Thursdays!!

I was finally able to slap a little dab or two of paint on my IKRPG figure.

Here is what I have got so far.  Hoping to finish him up tomorrow night so he will be all ready to take his first adventure in the Iron Kingdoms.

Here ya go  GRIM ULTHAS:

 More pics

There he is, still need to finish up a few details highlight a bit more and he will be ready for the table.

Thanks for watching!

-Grim

Thursday WIPs

Alright, it's been a rough few weeks for me.  Fortunately after a couple of exams I am free again this wonderful Thursday to throw up some of what I have been working on.

These are the two models on my painting desk receiving my painting love.  The troll is part of the fully painted challenge thrown up here by Happy Panda... think once I finish this guy I have 25 pts fully painted!  Yes!!

The big guy is an Extreme Torch conversion I am painting up for a buddy.

I also decided to branch out from the norm and do a little bit of converting.  Here we have a gnarly Dwarven Gryphon rider... This guy may eventually end up as part of my all Rackham Kragmarr Dwarf army from Warlord... Until then... it's just a cool lookin' Dwarf on a Gryphon :)

For more angles and pics... click read more. :)

Torch:

 

Impaler (Braveheart style? )

and the Gryphon Rider:

Thanks for watching!!

-Grim

Keep your eyes on the blog for some exciting news!