Youtube!

Youtube has supplanted this blog venture for me. Writing articles is a great creative exercise which I can foresee my self doing again in the future, but for now creating video is where my attention lays.

 If you're interested in some video content then please check out my latest episode of "The Closer". I take wargaming projects from 0% completion to 100% done.

New Project

I've been hard at work painting tons of new miniatures, but I haven't had any time to stop & take pictures of them. The reason for this would be my allotment of free time being completely sucked up by this new project.

If you're painting and looking for something to throw on youtube in the background while you work away I give you: The Storyteller: The Streets of Mordheim Episode One.

Disclaimer: We definitely got a few rules wrong here and there; we're working on it.

2 Evil Guys

Over the last couple of months I've made a hobby realization: Figure painting is a ton of fun! However army painting is the sort of tedious task that might be served up in hell.

I've been hard at work climbing three mountains lately which have prevented me from figure painting. 1.) I'm in the final stages of the Kings of War project. 2.) Scrubbing miniatures that have had paint on them since before I was born requires a lot of elbow grease. 3.) Building a D&D campaign from scratch is an incredibly rewarding creative outlet, but may be a tinsy bit more work than I bargained for.

With all of that said I have managed to find the time to squeak out these two lovelies. They're metal and they're fabulous.

State of the Hobby

Last night I put the finishing touches on six Elohi.

Some people are crazy... and I reap the rewards!

A local shop-keep advertised on facebook, "lot of classic mini's for 40$". The ad included 5 or so blurry pictures of some white-primed minis. Wait a second... are those rogue trader...wait Squats!? To my surprise the post was 3 hours old by the time I had peeped it with zero replies. Needless to say I am now the luckiest mini collector of the month. Blurry pictures inbound:

Some OG space marines. Not pictured are the bits to make about 10 more with two more of those badass pre-heresy missile launchers. 

Big Mistake?

So I may have just opened a proverbial can of worms the size of Texas.

Urban Matz Cobblestone Mat

Just today I received a new gaming mat from Urban Matz  and I couldn't be happier with it. If you're in the market for a new mat then I highly suggest at least paroozing their inventory. It's a little bit thinner & lighter than my Frontline Gaming one. I'm wondering if in time the corners will curl easier due to the thickness; for now the lightweight seems to be a boon.

After opening my packaged I eagerly set up my terrain on the more suitable graphic. The FAT-MAT restricted me to organizing buildings into a grid, whereas the nature of the cobblestones allows for a much more authentic Mordheim feel. Check it out!

Basilean Battle-Lines

Just a short post today. I've managed to put the finishing touches on 3 regiments of Basilean Men-at-arms. I decided to go for the spear variant because I theorize that the phalanx special rule is going to invaluable (once I actually get to play the game).

The painting progress was actually rather painless as I went for a quick 'n dirty approach. The three regiments (which call for 60 miniatures) are filled with 40 (roughly 13 each) speed-painted mans.

Heralds of Ruin Round Four

This past Saturday evening saw the ending of the fantastically well-run Heralds-of-Ruin campaign. The grand finale was one of custom design which lead to some intrigue, a bit of back-stabbing, and a ton of laughs. Thankfully this time I remembered to take some photos.

Filthy Denizens of the Hairy Tarantula System

Mordheim Terrain Project FINISHED!!

I just put the final bow on the entire set. So I'm a little excited. So excited in fact that I made a video that you can watch if you're bored of pictures:

Mordheim in St. Cathrines

Four days after the actual recording and the first video is posted! This is the first in a series of 4 games starring the Yuppies: a roving band of urbanites on the hunt for wyrdstone.

Heralds of Ruin Round Three... and some other stuff

Another Saturday night has come and gone; the "Not Black Legion" are one step closer to closing their grasp on the Hairy Tarantula system! Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures this time, but was kindly reminded just after the match... so I managed a photo of my opponents team. Trickery was afoot!

A Journeyman's Guide to Painting Metal Miniatures

The following guide is meant to be a resource for new to intermediate painters as much as it is an exercise in self reflection; a compilation of personal painting knowledge. I do not claim to be a master painter (hence the post title).

In the last month or so I have discovered many new stages to miniature painting. This is a result of me breaking away from my 'paint an entire army right now' mind set. Taking a hiatus from applying the same colour scheme to a horde of carbon copies ad nauseam can be an enlightening venture for any miniature gamer who seeks to deepen their well of painting knowledge.

Confrontation Worgen

Heralds of Ruin Round Two

In the past two weeks I have played a game of 40k, two games of Kill team with an awesome group of new faces, and Dungeon Mastered my very first two games of D&D.

Operation: Human Shield

I challenged a local player at the club to a 1500pts 40k no-holds-barred throw-down. He mentioned preparing for an up-coming tournament that he wanted to take his sisters to.

Heralds of Ruin Round One

I'm back from the front-lines, and I can say that the kick-off to the Kill Team campaign was a success. Eight combatants signed up for a total of four pairings per round. Ten showed up, but two decided not to commit after discovering the 10 dollar fee.

Kill Team Leaders Square off before they throw down.

Warband Games

I have finally finished painting the starting lineup for the Marienburgers. Up to this point you've seen the five unique characters. It's been a long road to this point, and looking at the remaining 10 or so primed M-burgers is daunting in the truest sense of the word. It is my greatest pleasure to introduce you to the four henchmen: Estelle, Susan, Newman & Costanza.

Evil Space Pooches

Yesterday was my better halve's birthday so it was an official no-toy-production day, but today is a new day!

On my last trip to Hairy Tarantula I was invited to an upcoming Heralds of Ruin kill-team campaign. Having quite the extensive Black Legion collection, and recently gobbling up the small warband games, I could hardly resist. 

An hour of reading and re-reading the Chaos team-list revealed that team leaders could take a chaos hound as a piece of wargear. This lead to a painting spree this morning which ended in these evil space pooches: 

Hairy Tarantula Round Two

Okay okay okay. I get it. I have a problem. So what?

I've plunged into the depths of Hairy Tarantula's miniature hoard yet again. I have finished sifting through every last one of their blister-pack-filled boxes. By the time I had finished I had been to the washroom three times to wash my hands due to the immense amount of dust coating these hidden gems. A good portion of my haul was produced before 1995, a couple of them (the Dwarves) dating back to 1986.

I left with a total of 25 pewter miniatures from a collection of old, dead miniature companies such as leviathan, Inferno, Celtos, Adiken, Ral Partha and Confrontation. I paid a total of $41 dollars. Am I taking crazy pills?

Surprise!!!!

Terrain on a Budget

Today my old lady dragged me to Value Village to hunt for soap making molds (dafuq??). Needless to say she didn't find anything nearly that specific at the second hand store, but I did find this masterpiece:

Hairy Tarantula North Is My New Home Away From Home

If I have any readers from Toronto who don't know about Hairy Tarantula... then Happy newyearbirthdaychristmashanukkah!: HAIRY TARANTULA

Unpredictable Production

At the end of my last post I had predicted that my next post would consist of some completed terrain projects. I did finish painting one terrain set, but then hobby ADD kicked in and I painted 20 miniatures from top to bottom.

Here is the set:

The Final Set Pieces

I was beginning the long process of cleaning out my closet yesterday when I came across a few old purchases from Michael's just hanging out in a bin. Needless to say closet cleaning was brought to a halt (not the most disciplined).

Birdhouse Haul

Last night as I was on my way to watch the next installment in the Starwars series, (I thought it was fantastic) I stopped in at Michaels (craft store) to do a little paroozing. As my lady and I were shuffling down one of the many hobby inspiring isles she pointed out a few bird houses to me.

As my eyes glanced down towards the bottom shelves I had to actively restrain my jaw from smashing into the floor. Then I saw a price tag: 8$. Eight lousy Canadian dollars! It was all that she could do to keep me from cleaning out the shelves. Just look at these puppies! (The big ones were 16$)

Terrain Shelves

I figured I might as well make a post showing just how dangerously consuming this hobby can be; not only of personal time, but of personal space. The first picture is of my recently filled "fantasy terrain shelves". The second photo is of my 40k terrain shelves which were filled way back in march of 2015 and have been largely unused for most of the year.

The last photo is of a DIY dungeon master shield that I put together the other night in under an hour. Like thousands of others I have recently discovered critical role and figured I would give dunegons and dragons the ol' college try.

Hobby Discipline

As my glorious layoff rolls on into the new year I've managed to keep my self disciplined. Hobby progress has been moving along at a blistering pace. While the new years diet resolution has already fallen out the window, hitting a hydro-line on the way down, between yesterday and today I managed to complete six new Mordheim hovels. I also threw together a side entrance for a previously constructed building. Check em out!