Final Contest pics

Evening I hope this email finds you well, it sure finds me well, I got a job.

But onto the Nerdom that this blog was made for, I did indeed enter the contest on Saturday, unfortunately due to a previously planned family event (which ruled) on beautiful and scenic Vancouver Island, I was unable to attend the event in itself. But I did get a good look at the other entries, and wow were they good. Like scary good, like redefining the limits of human motor skills good.

I myself did not win a thing, (didn't think I would) but am infinitely more happy that I entered. I have struggled with painting models in the past and the fact that I actually went through with it feels like a victory in and of itself. The whole experience in itself was a huge dose of inspiration. I definitely learned alot of interesting things about painting at a smaller scale just by looking at the other models in my category. I also made sure to pick up some pointers from the painting Yoda that runs the store, as he has massive experience in painting 15mm Celts.

Here is some pics, and check out my new and improved basing techniques. It took a lot of research, and a TON of trial and error, but I think it adds a lot to the models. More on that later, now I have to get to bed.

Take care,
Goodnight.

p.s. My blogger stats tell me I am getting hits from as far away as China and Columbia ?!?!?!?!

Ni Hao and Hola Amigos !!!!
Feel free to comment I would love to hear about your hobby ventures around the world.

Painting contest thus far

Afternoon folks I hope this post finds you well.

Sorry for the delay between updates but life threw a couple of curve balls at me lately and circumstance dictated my attentions be else where. If your curious, I was laid off and then got a chest cold so bad it damaged my lungs. September has been so fun, but at least Hockey is starting soon. I also got to escape to a friends cabin in the Mountains of British Columbia, it was calming and nearly as spiritual as the unintended spirtquests my medication was sending me on a couple weeks ago.

In between all that drama I did manage to work on my first Command base which is one of the 5 bases I will be submitting to the contest. I put infinitely more time on these chaps than ANY single model I have thus far in my 20 + years of gaming. Untold amounts of careful inking and dry brushing went into these bad boys, and by my estimate they are nearly done.

Yesterday Ella swung by and snapped off some pics, and since she not only has a better camera, but actually knows what she is doing with it, I think they turned out pretty sweet. Next step is figuring who else is going with the Command base, thinking one elephant, one base of team Linen Cuirass, one of Numidian horse, and then I don't know maybe another base of the Linen chaps to add depth to the presentation of their unit, or possibly a base of Numidian Skirmishers.
Hmmmmm........

Painting contest WIP shots 2b

Painting contest WIP shots 2a

Splitting these shots into two posts.

Not dead, still deluded......

Sorry about the delay between posts, but life has an odd way of forcing you to pay attention to it at the cost of fun. As you may recall I had a friend in town from Japan, and although we didn't get a chance to physically play FoG, it did figure heavily in our conversations, when he returns to Canada we will be undertaking a map based campaign. We used to do so in 40k and it invariably makes for a better game. Lately I haven't really had the time to paint and as such didn't post, but this weekend I had a whole Saturday to myself (and the laundry machine), and got started on my next project.

I started working on the pre-requisite Command elements for my army. For the first base I used the basic Carthaginian command pack, which I picked up from 50 Paces, this company is great not only do they sell 15mm historical models, they also stock magnetic bases and are conveniently located not far from my apartment. Their prices are awesome and their customer service is exemplary.

Here is a link to their site:

http://www.50paces.com/catalog/index.php

I kept the paint scheme close to that of the rest of my army, with the subtle addition of some purple and gold on the standard itself. These little touches I think add a fair amount of character by their contrast with the rest of my army. The Carthaginians made a lot of money in the manufacture and exporting of rare and astoundingly expensive purple dye, couple that with a solid (or more likely plated) gold standard and they serve to convey a huge amount of wealth. Sure purple was so rare it was almost invariably restricted to Royalty, but it isn't too far fetched to see a commander of the army of Carthage sport purple tones.

The pics below are only work in progress as I am lavishing these bases with previously unseen amount of effort not only because they are an obvious focus point for my army but also because of a new goal, something I have never attempted before.....

Blame the heat of late August cooking my poor cold adapted brain, but I have decided to enter a painting competition. That's right the good folks at Strategies Games are holding their 4th annual Immortal Brush painting competition, and there is a small scale historical category !!! So after much deliberation, (not to mention friendly goading from the lovely Ella) I figured I would give it a shot. Now keep in mind that I am no Dave Taylor or Scott MacPhee, and doubt I will win, but I won't let cowardice stand in the way of a bucket of fun so between now and October 2nd I will be painting and repainting and rerepainting until I have 5 bases that I think both look good and are a decent representation of my army. With that in mind this new Command base is already out to an early lead for base one.

Here is a link to more info on the comp, its near the bottom of the page.

http://blog2.strategiesgames.ca/

here is a link to their main page,

http://www.strategiesgames.ca/STRATEGIES/

Feel free to drool all over their amazing board game section. I love this shop, they always have all the new stuff, and are more than willing to answer any questions. I frequently raid the owners brain for painting advice, he is not only a very, very talented painter he is also eloquent enough to explain complex techniques in simple terms. He is the origin of my ever faithful 3 point painting stance, as I have a crazy low blood pressure and shake constantly. Two of my favourite things about that shop are the used RPG book section (keep 3.5 alive !!!!) and all the cool little gaming aids they have that many other shops don't. It is truly a gamers shop run by people that love games.

But I digress, here is some pics pardon my crappy cameraphone and lack of Macro lense.