From the workbench of the esteemed Horati0nosebl0wer

So I’ve gotten more done for my friend running a longstanding D&D campaign. A quick segue from the Romans and desert halflings for cash. It doesn’t help that I finally had some Battletech decals come in. It means I have yet more to do.

Took a break from the Greek mythology for a little bit as I get the fauns painted, the Amazons assembled and arrange the recent shipment of centaurs.

A friend of mine got through trade school and aside from his Madcat Mk II on the backburner I thought to do these guys for him. As he informed me of the series Stieger’s Tigers I thought it would be good to give him something we might be able to play in SAGA. There’s a bolt thrower on standby to paint as I get these guys taken care of. Hopefully I can get all this and some of Giftmas before the next big leap into mini space.

Back In the saddle again and happy to say work is being pushed along. I had a friend stop by for a few days and I’ve decided to paint up the TTCombat desert halflings that’ve been sitting around doing nothing. I showed off my Arabian Knights to him, got the feedback that the work was very good and noted that the Arabic banners I had meticulously put on had been affixed upside down on a few models. Note for anyone else, be familiar with the language to toss onto your models.

Beyond that I surprised myself with the beautiful result of the airbrush application VGC Gold Yellow (72.007). The new Vallejo bottles really do a good job to give a better idea of what the resulting paint will be and I’ve not been let down. I’ll compliment this with some Express Color later to make short work of these little guys.

I bought this specifically for preserving beautiful leaves I had made using GSW punches and real leaves. As the product says it is for actual plants I picked it up to make bases more eye catching. The directions state to have the vegetation soak in the bottle for 24 hours. It’s just seven hours for the soak time now and all the color has leached from the leaf matter.

Granted, these leaves are two years old so it might be a variable to taken into consideration but the colors are pretty good for the age. Overall, this has left me questioning if the product was a wasted purchase.

Yes, perhaps harsh for a decision but it does bear out in this initial test. It may also be a matter of time submerged so I’ll try again. For the moment I’ll call this a fail .

I’ve had time to sit and think about quantity versus quality. It stems from the gaming convention last month and the judging of my figures. Receiving the feedback that my work was at that of high level gaming is supportive that I do well enough but not so much to compete outside of a gaming store. Now, after the exhilaration of the competition, I’m thinking in terms of making my models present better. I know I can do better. I want to be able to give myself that sense of “shiny” and simultaneous “I did that”.

I don’t feel bad about my entries as they are the best I have so far. I want to have better results and still maintain a high level of productivity. The quality of number and the quality of end result stand at seeming odds with each other.

Right now I am trying to paint a large figure and make it quite presentable but I find myself asking if it’s worth it as a gaming piece. To put in all the extra effort of adding in more shadows and highlighting with greater care seems like I’m putting in too much. I have more figures and plenty of work to do. I think that drops my need to go ham on the gratuitous detail despite the fact it is a huge monster. Ugh, balancing “The Force of the Brush” is indeed a real thing now as I become aware of it. I am thankful for Speedpaint and my airbrush for future effort.

Having seen this book and purchasing it myself I believe I can push my painting with practice further up the ranks. I already have an idea for next year of trying out NMM chrome on a unit of mechanized cavalry. This aspiration is a small unit outside of the army I am continuing to work on. Again, being realistic on effort.

Not much to report but a spot of information to share from thus weekend’s convention. I had my first in person sculpting class and it gave me more insight into how I’ve been going about greenstuff wrong. First, the ribbons of blue/yellow was a known bad investment. What I didn’t know was that keeping the separate blue/yellow sticks in the same tube or container was not good either. It seems, from my class, that the vapors from the material can cause the reaction of hardening.

Using material that had been kept in their own small plastic bins and later mixed with equal parts of Apoxiesculpt made for a pliant putty that did in fact start to set in an hour. A few hours later it was set solid. I was very impressed and with the pointer of when to start sculpting things like hands I feel like I can raise my kitbash game. It will also help with the rig that the teacher was kind enough to give each of us and keep.

Outside of that I won a first place in the painting competition for Group (my Arabian Knights commander on horse with entourage) and placed third in the Single Figure category (same army, leader on the giant scorpion). I’m feeling good and think I’ll start on getting my entry for next year together. Like other thing, a little work at a time can lead to outstanding results. I might start going to other cons for this kind of thing now. There’s a big world and I’m a small fish that needs to grow beyond this bowl.

After digging around in my past photos here’s what Warren’s army looked like all ranked up before I sent them. The bases were painted to reflect the same kind of detail as the Little Big Men Studios shield transfers.

The gifting time is here since I saw a future gamer without his own army. Here is the handiwork of a Noseblower with purpose.

Its not a spectacular effort to wow the crowds but it passes my muster for a serviceable selection of 4 points or more. Here’s to a first foray into weird and wonderful non GW fare. Maybe we might see a bright new OTT-er pup on the boards.