Elepantitis cured !!! Replaced by Boneitis !!!

Well it was down to the wire but they are done, admittedly that's assuming that my basing experiment (ie: Basingfailure 1.5 ed.) worked. I added a few drops of my Ramones grade model glue to my usual potion of quicksand, and when I got back tonight it appeared to be holding good but I am not messing with it until its had a day to cure.

None the less this little experiment was a blast. It motivated me to get a BG done under a deadline and I honestly didn't think I could get one done that fast. That being said, as much as I like this pace I don't think I will be setting a 7 day goal again. I cherry picked when in my week to start them instead of just starting them, which in a longer view of things is not good practice. One thing that I find quite funny about this little experiment was my initial delusion that this would be a quick and easy build. No sir, I spent entire days waiting for glue to dry, and that hurt the deadline, and this unit wasn't particularly easy to paint either despite my hopes. I do think that when I use Ella's camera (or better yet get her to take the shots) you will see a readily apparent improvement of my painting skills. The skin texture of the Elephants was a real fun challenge to paint, I think they look awesome.

Next on the plate is the other half of my giant bag of Carthaginian citizen spearmen, team tunic. I won't be putting a timer on this BG but I think I could get them done in less time than the elephants, opportunity permitting.

Elephantitis day 3 - More pics and some ranting

So 3 days in and I am making great progress. I can't stress how much easier undercoating in Snakebite Leather has made this, not only that but the colours come on much more realistically and evenly. I used this opportunity to experiment a bit and painted up the Mahouts in a similar manner of skin tone as my Numidians. This was the best result, their skill looks far less patchy than my previous attempts. Love it.

But I must admit to a mistake, since I had two elephant head designs and intended to make two Battlegroups, I figured I would split the head designs between them and paint one BGs elephant saddle blankets blue and the other red. However on Saturday I woke up to watch the World Cup at 4 am and was still rather tired, and painted each head design in a matching colour. Not to fear, I have since repainted one of each brown and will then repaint them the correct colour.

My only concerns at this point are my continued difficulty with basing and how to make spear tips for wire spears. Thinking greenstuff.

Making better time than I thought I would though and am a little surprised.

Elephantitis day 3 - first of 2 batchs of pics

Elephantitis day 1

So it is officially on. I started the elephants today, I cut, cleaned and assembled everything and glued them to Popsicle sticks. They had very little flash (an excellent recurring trend with Old Glory 15s thus far), and were a breeze to glue together, the only thing that took any skill was drilling holes for pikes into the hands of those four chaps out front. I was really impressed with the way the Mahouts fit together, you can't really tell on my craptacular cellphone camera but their legs are cast on the elephants themselves and their upper bodies must be attached during assembly. The thing that I can't get over is how seamlessly this went, the join is disguised as a fold in their attire and I don't think they will even require any green stuff. Nice.

I am almost confident that I can get this done in seven days, but come June 17th....we shall see.

Ella's better pics

Ella sent me the pics I took !!!!
Note the visible difference in quality compared to when she takes them, she takes her time and has used the camera before. I play with lead, enough said.

Anyway I didn't really zoom in on these, but they are way better than the ones I took on my cellphone, you can actually get a vague approximation of their colour. And yes there is indeed a u in colour.

So I decided that I would go with Elephants next, just not sure when I can start them. Hopefully tomorrow, but I will let you know when to start the clock.

Go FC R'LYEH Go !!!!

Numidian Light Horse is done, bad pics for proof !!

Ok so the camera on my cellphone is less than crap, but I also snapped some pics with Ella's camera that likely turned out better than these. However she will need to plug into her home computer and then email them to me before I can post them, so we will all have to work together and squint to see these.

First off, I am way happier with these guys than with my previous two BGs, the Corvus Belli sculpts are crazy detailed (especially for models so modestly attired) but the final results are more than impressive even at my basic level of skill. My only complaint is that my basing technique has yet to hit its stride, although I mixed a lighter concoction and didn't get that unsightly pooling affect again the mix seems too weak to grip the basalt. I am going to put some more thought and research into that before I try and fix it.

On a more positive note, I think that I am really getting the hang of inking and dry brushing at this tiny scale. And I highlighted the spear tips with silver in a manner that almost looks like its shining on one side and shaded on the other. I am more than a little surprised at how well it turned out, but I don't think it will show up in this batch of pics. Again I left the shields blank as with my previous Numidians, although I will be doing something simple to denote units later, I have yet to decide how to split them up. Also like my previous two BGs I will not be varnishing them yet as I may be giving them another coat once my skill increases. I am likely to do the spear trick on the previous BGs, but want to start my next unit before that. More on that in a minute.

More importantly I picked up a bunch of practical knowledge and think that I am actually getting better. I am also sure that I am done under coating in white, I spent more time on these models fidgeting with mistakes than I did actually painting which in hindsight likely hurt my motivation. That being said I can see myself building another 4 pack of Numidian Light Horse, and possibly (really possibly as it would cost about 5 bucks) expanding my Numidian Skirmishers into 2 6 packs. If that happens I will of course be undercoating them in (stupid, stupid, shining through like stars in the night sky) white for consistency.

Now I have some options for my next BG (thanks to Ella's stellar BDay gift, certificate at imperial hobbies !!) I have one more unit of spearmen to do and enough Gallic horse to make 2 BGs (if I throw down a further 8 or 9 bucks on Gallic cavalry HQ), both of which are pre-requisites for a legal list. On the other side I also have 4 elephants with stylish and seasonal towers, a unit of Carthaginian citizen heavy cavalry (armoured, superior and drilled? meow.....), and tonnes of extras which I can turn into HQ. Admittedly I am loathe to follow a cavalry unit with more damn horses (will buy more paint to avoid mixed paint touch up hair pulling), but both types of cavalry would require Corvus Belli HQ blisters and with that adding to the cost of paint and my tight belt I think it is safe to say that the cavalry options are off the list.

Which leaves the HQs, Spearmen and Elephants. In all honesty I am likely to continue my ongoing plan of painting the easy stuff first and am likely to choose the elephants. Also while painting grey horses I came across the most beautiful tone for their skin. But I am going to give this some thought, as I intend to add a bit of a time constraint to my painting. As you can likely surmise from my blogs title I am not the most motivated painter, and seeing the success other bloggers have had giving themselves a time limit per BG, I am tempted to embarrass myself and my work ethic with a similar attempt. But that's only half the reason for a time limit, and not even the best part.

My sole experience of FoG up to this point has been pushing pieces of paper around a table and figuring out the rules with a friend of mine that has since moved to Japan. But he will be back briefly in August, and if my army is done by then I can cut it in two and we can play against each other. Sure it wouldn't be a legal list, and we might have really small units of skirmishers, but it would be a blast so that is the goal. I will try and finish a BG in less than a month (which is the pace I set with my light horse, slow as it was it was 2 BGs), but even if I can't I can still get enough for a decent game ready by then just with what I already have.

So I am throwing down a paint splattered gauntlet.

2 - HQ
2 - 6 packs of spearmen
2 - 4 packs of Light horse
2 - 4 packs of skirmishers
2 - 2 packs of elephants
some scenery

Admittedly I could throw the Gallic horse on there, but I don't see my budget getting better anytime soon, and I find painting them to be terrifyingly intimidating. If I did add anything it would likely be another $4 bag of skirmishers as two 6 packs of them would add a lot of dance to the game. I think even with adding them I could get this done by August, totally achievable goal.

I am also leaving the scenery in a nebulous definition as I easily have the materials to do that, just not a clear idea of what I can make. But if overloading on scenery is anywhere near as fun in FoG as it is in 40k (particularly City Fight), I will want to make a fair bit. But know this, my scenery will be magnetised for ease of transport and everyones safety.

Ok so I will ponder Elephants vs Spearmen vs HQ tonight and then start that project with a clear 7 day time limit.