Category Archives: Paint Table

Pics of work in progress on the paint table

Saga – the beginnings

Paint Table, Saga

As I put in my last post (a whole day ago), I’d bought myself some models to start Saga with. Well, like an excited kid, I built a few models up and painted them yesterday evening. I need to take better photos than the ones from the paint table with the mobile phone – and get the decent light source on them, but here goes…

Viking Warlord

Viking Hearthguard (first 1 point unit painted)

And yes… I decided to use Army Painter’s Strong Tone dip. Although I painted it on. I have so many models to paint, and just not enough hobby time. In comparison, at the same time I started cutting bits off the sprues to finishing those 5 models, my wife had painted 1 of her Frostgrave wizards. Yeah, her’s is way better, but then again, my eyesight’s getting worse and the models look fine on a tabletop – even if I did bottle out of painting the Warlord’s eyes 😉

EDIT:

Work in progress on 8 warriors. They still need layers of highlights and I haven’t dared varnish them with a spray as the humidity is up to the kind of level that causes the awful frosting effect.

Project overload!

Paint Table

It seems I’ve got one game too many on the go. Although I’ve had a week off work, I’ve not felt like I’ve accomplished much. I was planning on taking some decent photos and updating this blog, but this is all it’s going to get for a while…

First up, some terrain for Sci-fi and Modern games. I made up some MDF cargo containers from Dark Ops. I didn’t want to spend too long on them, so a spray of black paint, followed by an Army painter colour spray. and finally a splash of brown around the bottom from the airbrush. After this was really just mucking the things up with a sponge dipped in dark brown, then metal.

Pretty decent pieces of terrain cover for the price and effort.

To go along with the mdf theme is a work in progress. I bought a landing pad from TTCombat. I couldn’t building the Mantic Battlezones one and the GW one is way too pricey. This one I bought was less than 10 pounds and was very simple to go together.
So far it’s only been based Black, followed by Dark green. It will get a lighter green spray from the airbrush then mucked up like the cargo containers. The mdf joints visible on the pad itself will become landing lights in red/yellow I think.
This will go nicely with the terrain I’m putting together for Maelstrom’s Edge – about the only Sci-Fi large scale game I play at the moment.

As the title states, one game too many…
The last thing I really painted was the WC51 Dodge Truck for my US Bolt Action army. Here’s a few photos from the painting table via the mobile phone.

The postlady brought me the parts I’d ordered from Ironclad Miniatures whilst I was at Partizan wargames show a weekend or so ago. A couple more of their trench pieces to add to my collection.

And back to that title again… My projects have been interrupted by SAGA.
I “may” have purchased myself a few boxes of sprues to make up a Viking Warband for myself and an Anglo Saxon one for my lad. 🙂

For the Vikings to start with I’m hoping to put together;

1 Warlord (put on a raised 32mm base)
4 Hearthguard (Armoured with axes and swords)
4 Hearthguard (Armoured with axes and swords)
4 Beserkers (I’m going to make these dual wielding so they’re different to Hearthguard)
8 Warriors (Unarmoured with spears and shields)
8 Warriors (Unarmoured with spears and shields)

Which should give me 5 points so I can play 4 point games with a slightly different mix of units. I’ll do the Anglo Saxons with a similar build initially. There should be plenty of models left in the boxes after this to make more units too.

Now, all I have to do is await Gripping Beast (and the rest of the internet shopping world) restocking the Saga Rulebook and the Northern Fury supplement. (These are like trying to find rocking horse shit at the moment) Hopefully I’m not making a mess of the unit builds I’m doing as I take info from the internet and not the rulebook. Sucks that I have the models, the special dice, but no rules.

And none of this compares to the amount of Deadzone models I’ve built from the latest Kickstarter which just landed. I think building all those is where my time’s gone.

All glue and no paint

Maelstrom's Edge, Paint Table

The title kind of feels how the last month has gone by. As usual, not a great deal of time to dedicate to the hobby. I’ve finally got round to building enough Maelstrom’s Edge models that I can have a starter game – with the wife ofc. It does always mean making and painting two forces up.

Maelstrom’s Edge

I’ve put together two small forces of 50 points for a starter game to learn how to play. The rulebook’s pretty complex, but is well designed and made to cover every rules possibility out there. Very comprehensive – but hard to learn at first.

Karist Forces: (50 points)

Epirian Forces: (50 points)

There’s also a mature Angel and a Hunter mech built – not for the starter game, more for me to find out how large they were so I can design a storage case around my collection.

The photo below shows how complex one of the small human size figures can be – in this case, the Karist Kaddar Nova leader figure seen built in the bottom right of the photo above.

Other projects

I did manage to finish a couple of very quick and cheesy hobby projects. A set of 5 mines for a minefield in Bolt Action, and some piles of rubble for the 4Ground ruins. I know the mines are rather ‘exaggerated’ and highly visible but it makes it obvious what they are in the game.

I have realised though, with too many scenery projects on the go, I’m never sure what job to get on with next. I think the next thing that will appear on here will be the painted United States Dodge WC-51. It’s not fully glued together, but seems a decent model – except mine came without the front bumper so I hope the plasticard one I crafted will do.

And the scenery to work on…

Probably the only thing I actually painted was a T-70 X-Wing model. I bought an extra from eBay so I could paint one up in the Poe Dameron colours – it’s meant I lost most of this bank holiday weekend playing X-Wing again with my lad – except he was none too pleased when Poe died first in one of the games.

Where did Easter go?

Bolt Action, Iron Cross, Paint Table, X-Wing

Easter seemed to come, give me two weeks off work, then vanish. Not much painting time to squeeze in whilst entertaining my 10 year old.

However, I suppose you could call it hobby time. We did play rather a large amount of the X-Wing miniatures game. Mostly solid 100 point games. I’m now losing 11 games to 3.

I’ve managed to take a couple of photos of the Panzer IV and the Sd.Kfz 251/10 command half-track. I wouldn’t say the half-track is truly finished as it’s missing the pair of gunners who are sitting base coated on my paint table.

Sd.Kfz 251/10 command half-track

Panzer IV

I spent most of my hobby time putting together pieces of mdf scenery. There’s about 6 pieces of basecoated buildings for a snowy Frostgrave game board. I’ve also put together several 4Ground mdf houses.
I have to admit, those 4Ground buildings are fantastic for gaming with. All the houses split apart and allow you to put troops in each floor – as well as them being a really solid build.

The mdf church I built is currently undergoing test colour schemes – which have to be a breeze to paint. In the photo I was in the process of adding a coat of a homebrew mix to coat the flat open wall spaces with. A mix of base render, water, fine sand and pva glue.

 

And, as most of my hobby time was spent playing X-Wing, I guess I should include some pics of that too.

My lad about to use his favourite tactic with a capital starship…

His attempt to annihilate my Corran Dash squad with a TIE swarm…

His rather large Imperial Navy…

The Scum and Villainy collection…

And finally the rebels, which I have to endure the losses with…

Before I go, I should mention the awesome 6′ x 3′ space mat we got from Artistic Impressions. Looks fantastic on the table top.

“Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral”

Paint Table, X-Wing

Or as I prefer to remember it by… 2 afternoons melting polystyrene chunks then airbrushing it. Should make for an interesting game with my lad’s TIE swarm tomorrow. 🙂

I’ll get round to making some good asteroids one day. I decided that some rush jobs will do better than just flat templates in the game until I get time to make some better ones out of decent polystyrene.

I made them by using a hot wire cutter to carve out some asteroid shapes. I sprayed them with good old trusty Halfords matte black car spray. It did the trick wonderfully melting the surface into pits and holes. Then it was a case of using the airbrush to respray black, then a dusting of grey and white from a distance. Some splodges of orange wash and brown wash, then when dry, drybrush slightly with light grey. Finished off by a coating of matte varnish from the airbrush. The stands were glued onto the X-wing game templates with clear glue. They actually look like they’re just stood on the template.

I also managed to glue a 10mm x 2mm magnet to the centre of all the X-wing model bases and add a sheet of rubber steel to the bottom of my storage box. Now the models won’t slide around and cause damage to each other. Oh yeah, the box could also be turned upside down with no damage to the models either. 🙂

The only other things I’ve done hobby related recently are putting together a few 4Ground houses in the evenings. I’ve still got a large ruined detached house to make, but I’m giving myself a break from wood-glue, pegs, rubber bands and swearing for at least a week now.

It’s a poor camera photo, but it shows the additions.

Next up, I have a Panzer IV Ausf G to get painted and then build some of my Maelstrom’s Edge models which have sat neglected since they arrived over a month ago.

 

Paint Table Update

Bolt Action, Kings of War, Paint Table

Well, so much for a week off. I managed to complete the base on the Zombie Dragon which has sat around since I painted it hurriedly on Boxing Day.

Last night, we had an Agent Carter epic TV watching catch up session so I painted while it was on. I did manage to more or less finish a German 251/10 command half-track. Although the vehicle is finished, it is missing the gunner holding the Pak36 and the rear gunner with an MG42.

Here’s the mobile phone pics from the paint table.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon

 

Command Half-track 251/10

On this 3rd photo, I brought down the original Half-track I’d painted. I can’t decide which type of numerals look best. The plain black or the white edged black. 😦

Oh, and excuse the half painted Saurus warriors in the background. 🙂

 

Happy New Year!

Bolt Action, Gaming, Iron Cross, Paint Table

Happy new year!

Well, maybe a day early, but I doubt I’ll update again before January.

To finish the year off, here’s a pic of the M26 Pershing my wife bought me for my birthday. I had time on Boxing day and the day after to get it complete – although only managed one lousy photo of it on the gaming table – which has a pretty poor energy saving bulb above it 😦

I’ll take a better photo in the light box when I get chance.

US M26 Pershing Heavy Tank:

I’ve also put together the present I received for Christmas (thanks again to my fantastic wife), a Vampire Lord on a Zombie Dragon – this is the main boss for my Undead army.
I did rush to it though, and build it Boxing day and paint it the day after.
It’s still awaiting lighter highlights on the bone work, along with the stone it’s stood on and base painting. I’m waiting to put it on a decent sized piece of mdf, rather than the tabletop sized piece of plastic GW provided with it.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon – work in progress:

Finally today we managed to get a game of Iron Cross in. That’s a really nice simple(ish) set of rules that flows very fast. If Bolt Action is to 40K, then Iron Cross is to Kings of War. Iron Cross does have a fantastic action/reaction system.

Here’s a few pics from the dull lit game table.
Apologies that a few infantry models are only base-coated.
😦

The German Forces:

The US Forces:

Battle photos:

End of Turn 1

End of Turn 2

End of Turn 3

End of Turn 4

End of Turn 5

At the end of turn 6, the US forces (me) failed their break point roll as they’d taken a load of casualties and fled the table.
Iron Cross Game 1: Win to my wife with the Germans

And a couple of other photos I took:

PS: And if you noticed… yeah… Captain America was leading the US forces and Red Skull was leading the Germans. 🙂

More from the paint table

Paint Table

I realised my blog has felt neglected lately. Work has been horrendously busy recently and I’ve been putting in 60-70 hours each week. 😦

I have a few projects I’ve finished up recently like the Panther and StuH42 and they need a proper photograph.

I’m currently working on some transports for Bolt Action and have a US Jeep, a US ‘Deuce and a half’, as well as a German 305 Opel Blitz.

The jeep’s been made so the gunner and a choice of MMG or HMG are magnetic options so I can use it as a transport or as a gun vehicle.

The Opel Blitz has custom cut windows in but I’ve not yet added the glass to the Deuce till after I’ve finished spraying.

None of them are finished yet – they need a good coat of mud/weathering.

Here’s a couple of pics from the mobile phone while they’re on the paint table.

 

Playing with Magnets

Bolt Action, Paint Table

I spent a peaceful day (my wife and lad went on a day out) building a Panzer III I’d bought at the end of July. When I got started, I realised I couldn’t decide whether to build it with the armour skirts or not. So, I dug out the box of magnets and wondered how I’d do it.

The kit itself lent itself to magnetising so well in the end.

The 3 top rollers of the tracks fit a magnet perfectly. I attached magnets (with a combination of green-stuff and superglue) inside the top rollers before I finished off the track pieces. Making sure polarities were all matching so I could attach the armour skirts. I used a double magnet set up for the skirts to try and get the spacing correct.

As you can see in the pictures, the skirts are going to be optional extras incase I want to use an Ausf L with that option, otherwise, without them, you can’t see the magnets are there.

The kit had options for closed hatch or open with commander, so while the magnets were out, they got the same treatment. It means my Panzer III Ausf L can have a closed or open hatch with commander, or as an extra have the armour skirts.

🙂

Now all I have to do is paint it. 😦

Picture showing positions of magnets before tidying the mess the glue made:

Picture showing it all held together:

DIY Hedges

Bolt Action, Paint Table

My wife and I had our first game of Bolt Action the other night – needless to say my wife’s Germans defended the village well, winning her the game.

Sooo…. I need more hedges for cover!!!

Thanks to my wife, she pointed me in the direction of a webpage with a guide on how to make some hedges. The page was Six-D-Six. I used it as a guide – kind of – to make some of my own hedges. The main difference was that they flocked theirs. I painted mine. The main reason was that I only have one colour of flock and I couldn’t flock the hedge the same as the ground. D’Oh. Anyway, a quick trip to the craft store got me 50 large lollypop style sticks – 6 inches long – for £1.  The bargain shop next door had a pack of 8 flat scourers for £1. The only other thing was to dig out the glue gun.

After cutting the scourers to size, I glued a core piece to the centre, then folded them over. All I had to do then was glue them to the “lollypop stick”. Glue gun essential.

Once this had dried. All I had to do was spray them brown – I used Halfords Camo Brown – although I’m sure there are much cheaper sprays – that was the one I had in the garage though.

To finish, all I needed to do was use a large drybrush to drybrush on the following colours working my way higher up the hedge each time; Castellan Green (GW), Loren Forest (GW), Goblin Green (AP) and Desert Yellow (AP).
The base was re-touched up with brown then flocked.

A few glue-gun sticks, some brown spray and £2 worth of parts made 10 hedges. There were 8 made from folding and I used the leftover parts to make a pair of triple-ply hedges.
60″ of hedging for £2. Bargain. 🙂

EDIT: I’ve added a pic of the Stone Walls I’ve just finished painting and varnishing. I used the last few pieces to make a small fenced hedge section that will connect the other hedges up using the last ends of scourer.