31 Jan 2013

Board of the Living Lead diorama contest

Hello guys,

I had quite a busy for quite a few weeks, that have ended yesterday by what I hope to be my last exam!

I still wanted to show you at least something, so I will repost some pictures of my entry for Board of the Living Lead forum's competition.

The entry is pretty simple, it represents an encounter in an underground. Nothing special when you look at it now, but it took me quite some time to build it. The miniatures are separate so I can reuse them, and scenery can double as a background for shots of newly painted miniatures that way.  I might have mentioned that the male miniature is from Urban war (I bought female militia and he was mistakenly in a pack!), with his left hand cut of and swapped for a reaper's revolver. Looks way cooler than a clutched fist! Zombie is from Mantic and had a wire struck in his head and then clump foliage glued on to represent heads insides bursting out.









Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo


19 Jan 2013

3 zombies

Hey,

nothing special today, 3 very sloppy painted zombies. Last three from WGF I got built...still got 1 or 2 sprues left for "someday". One is wearing tactical vest I've sculpted but I've really painted them all in no time.



Cheers,

Mathyoo

11 Jan 2013

Aztec Sun stone





I did it! It only took me two days, about 6 -7 hours and it did not demand my sanity!It could be done even better, if I would drybrush all the colours so that cracks would show better, but this damn drybrushing never works for me. Below is an image I used for color references. I have also found one other color scheme, with way too flourescent colors and this one seemed something that could actually work. Original stone is not painted, but I figured this could work.




Below, you got a base as painted for Fenris games' shop. That would be much faster, but hey, everyone does that!



Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

9 Jan 2013

Late present and Battle bus WIP 2

Hello,

let me start with a cherry today! One of the days last week I've casually popped on facebook to see what's new and at top of my news feed was Fenris games' update. They were giving away a miscast 120mm aztec sun stone base to the first person that'd ask for it. When I read it, I saw there are no comments and quickly asked for it. I was really lucky as later I've seen that I have posted few moments after Ian has offered the miscast base. He has sent it to me the same day, and I think I can not thank him enough. Today I got it and I think I haven't been that amazed by something in a very long time. It is really just amazing. So, if you guys at Fenris will ever see this, thanks yet again! Actually, first thing that came to my mind after I saw how amazing it is, was a bad feeling, as I still haven't ordered anything from them (got a long list for Strange Aeons and modern zombie settings, but when I was about to order for first time, I went for miniatures instead, now I'm saving for salute), I really hope I can make it to salute and I'll grab few pieces there.

Back to the base, here is the picture:



As said, it measures 120mm in diameter including the outer rim. It is supposed to be bigger size of those lipped bases. It is a little bigger than an ordinary CD, so it could only be used to base a very large monster on it. Personally, I think the detail is simply too good to use it as a base. I will use it as a scenery and its a great motivation for starting my jungle terrain!

It was said that it is a miscast piece and I was expecting half of it to be missing or something, which was okay, as I'd use it in a ruined temple. The thing is, I still haven't managed to find any real defects.



On the picture above, you can see there is a hole in the rim. I figured this could be it, but after I took a picture, I went and sand the bottom, which, I'd imagine, is a normal procedure with resin scenery.  Then I really peeled my eyes and I found about 2-3 little defects, that are honestly so small, I'd never say its a miscast piece.

Here I tried to take a photo of it. If the triangular arrows are 12 and 3 (north and east of the face) (imagine a clock), then a "defect" is at little triangular arrow somewhere between 1 and 2. There are some ornaments below the top squares that look like feathers or something...thats it. a millimeter. Then I figured that it might be that the outer rim of the stone (not that of the base itself), is not crispy detailed...but again, really a minor thing that I'd never notice if I'd been told its a nice piece. Really fantastic!

I was thinking about painting it in color. I'd imagine it'd take me more than I got patience for, but there is no other way to show my gratitude, it honestly is an amazing piece. I haven't been that amazed since I saw the Rosetta stone I blabbered about few posts back!

Anyways, I've also been doing a bit of work on my armoured bus or whatever we will call that thing. I got no clear idea, so I just do bits and bobs at a time...I keep getting a feeling there is something missing and when I want to add something, that it is getting too crowded.

Picture above shows the front side. I've given it two spikes to fill the holes in the bumper, an "armored" plate (note the rivets, I've riveted everything, but it's not too visible on the pictures). As I've covered the lights, I've also give it a quickly made set of new ones.

Then I grabbed my copy of NMRIH on my way to-where-even-cesar-walks and checked for the ideas. Lawn mowers, of course! How could I not remind myself about that earlier!
Below you can see two crude prototypes. That probably won't get any better, but hey, some paint and you'd never guess!
I am not sure how to mount them. What do you guys think? Either hang them on the front plate like here:


..or perhaps hang them under the bumber, like here:

I think the position of the blades is more or less the same, but the second option does look a bit neater. Rules wise, you can have a plow, spikes or lawn mowers. Plow is somewhat boring (armoured plate was actually meant as a plow), and lawn mowers are hilarious. If you are wondering why anyone would use lawn mowers on their vehicle, no need to feel silly, so did I. Author gave a reasonable explanation, stating "why the hell not"? :D

Above is a close up on frontal firing position. I've put a TAG's SAS guy with a machine gun there so you can get an idea of scale. The plates were originally much higher, adapted for a standing guy...then I figured...who'd stand if you can sit, so I've made it smaller. Because I can't reposition miniature, it looks a bit too low with a standing mini.

Here is a back of the bus. Engine compartment is protected by additional steel plating...I need to make some holes in it or something, to "let the engine cool". Also, another position for shooter on a crow's nest.
Just a picture of whole bus. You can see wooden plating for stowage. At first, I had front lights positioned behind the planks at front, but that wouldn't make any sense if you'd put stowage on those planks then, so I replaced them. Only thing missing are some fences, but that'd be kinda boring to make, so I have figured I'll put sandbags around the steel plates. I would like to put some kind of reflector lights up there, but havent found anything at home to build them.


I was thinking about putting a .50 cal machine gun on front emplacement and a smaller one (5.56 if anyone is interested, as M249 / Minimi is all I got, otherwise I'd put M240 / MAG there :P). I+ve decided against it, as it only takes up the place for miniatures. I might change my mind if I'd have any gunners laying around, but even then I'd make them removable.

I need to buy a spray paint before I can start painting the bus, so thats mostly staled project for now.

Thanks for reading,

Mathyoo

3 Jan 2013

Bunker on wheels

Hello,

I was planning to write my first post of the year on the first day of the year, but I've figured I'd wait a bit to see if I could actually show something finished.

Now, I figured I wasn't as idle as I kept saying hobby wise, but nothing got finished and I don't want to show same WIPs over and over again.

On the hobby front, this year has started nicely. My diorama is mostly finished, my mojo is back.


I got loads of ideas floating in my head, that I should start writing down by now. I have to expand my jungle (bought lots of plastic plants months ago, only did few jungle stands). I will push forward this project so I can play:

Two strange aeons special scenarios, one happening in southamerican lost valley among the dinosaurs, other happening on a research island close to the coast of Florida.

Pacific adventures. I saw Company B's awesome japanese solider zombies (WWII) and I can't wait to game some us marines versus japanese experiment. I prefer japanese to nazi as nazis are overdone. It goes without saying I got no miniatures yet, and I really got to restrain myself from buying anything new anytime soon...but hey, before I get that jungle done, I will surely paint most of what I got, no?

Mayan / Aztec adventures! When I was a kid, I always wanted to be an adventurer / Indiana Jones! I really liked the movies and I still do. I knew at least a dozen ancient egyptian gods. I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I saw a rosetta stone in a British history museum. Just awesome. I remember reading how it is "stored in London" but when I was young, that didn't mean anything. When I saw it it had to be the highlight of my visit. Sure they got an actual Kleopatra in one of the exhibits, but as much as I was interested in mummies it seemed wrong to have actual dead bodies shown. Anyways, having a jungle and mayan pyramid lets me buy some of TAG's southamerican tribes of 16th century, which, given a good set of skirmish rules, could lead to gaming conquistador adventures. And now that I think of it, to pirates.

Well, let that be it, I think I've proven my point that jungle terrain is needed!

To be honest, I am thinking about gaming my (post)apocaliptic adventures in settings like that:

I think it might look quite awesome if done right, but it would make my modern buildings more or less useless for the use in other modern settings, as hostage situations I plan to play one day.

Talking of my modern terrain, I've finished basic colours on the out- and inside of one of my houses:
 I got two of this pattern, one green and tis one blue. I am thinking about putting a L shaped plastic between the roof and the walls upfront, to make small shops.
 Nothing special on the inside, (too) many windows, there is a solid wall between the two rooms, making it, say two bungalows. It  has no other interior walls because it would all get way too crowded. It could use some furniture!
 A detail on the "wood", I figured its no use doing anything too detailed, if I put a couch (design shamelessly copied from the ones Zabadak made!) the floor shouldn't be in a spotlight anyways.




Some of you know I was really disappointed with the Walking dead series. I was looking forward to watch a zombie themed series when it started, but second season was too much for me to take. It was so awful, I've watched it to the end just because I've started watching it and because I was hoping it might get better. I couldn't watch the little miss never-my-fault and her son anymore. Then I kept hearing how 3rd season is better (watched first 2 parts and wasn't overly impressed) and yesterday I've seen it all the way to the part 8, mid season finale. That makes 6 episodes in one day...during which, I should work on my essays anyways!

Gosh, I talk much today...sorry about that. I just wanted to say that series really brought my mojo back and I finally got around to restarding my armoured bus, okay might as well call it a coach project. Yes yes, I've named my blog post about this one and I am showing you everything, except the bus. Here it is:




Nothing special yet. It is a 1 pound bus from the poundland. I've bought two and figured I might as well actually do something with them by now. The damage you can see around the windows is an old superglue, when I lazily tried to place the wire on the outside. Yesterday I took it apart and placed it inside, for a much better result. I've put cardboard around and I think it looks quite fine. Now, what it needs is some extra armour plates up front, a plow or some spikes and a nest up on top. Got to make .50 cal emplacement and such. Also must make a note to self - make it detachable for easier storage.


Okay...got one more fast thing to show and I'll finish this for today. Here is a picture of little walls you get in those metal briefcases. I bought a case to transport my miniatures, but never used it because I gave up on the make-your-own-foamcase. I will use briefcase one day, and as those walls are not needed, they will make a great concrete compound walls. I got the idea from my gaming group. They made awesome walls from it for their WH40k terrain...I'll take some pictures once I get the chance to show it to you...its really a clever way.



So, I've been storing so much things to tell you over past month, that It all erupted now! So, my new year's resolution is, I'll try to make shorter posts and more frequent instead.

Thanks for looking, and even bigger thanks for reading,

Mathyoo