A ramble and Lemmy

Sadly little to report in the hobby realms on my end since my last post. My move went really well with lots of good mates who helped shift everything over in (surprising) only two trips. O_o
My new flat is now unpacked and I severely underestimated the amount of space I'd have available to set up my hobby station, so that's in my front room and ready to rock too.

The hobby mojo though is running on fumes right now. Too much on my mind - still getting used to living on my own for the first time in 21 years (Outside of marriage I always had room mates.) and trying to get my head around being an available single man again, which I was never really good at even before I met my ex and now seems to be almost exclusively done digitally somehow. (Ugh...)

My friend turns 40 tomorrow and for his birthday present, I managed to source this trio of lovely sculpts as he's a big Lemmy (From Motorhead) fan. I'm hoping the fig's arrival will help get my hobby mojo going again so I can get it to it's new owner in time for his actual bloody birthday (Unlikely) and I can then move on to the other many, many project that I have waiting.

One thing this move has done is impress upon me just how much bloody unpainted miniatures and terrain I have sitting around! Damn near had me in a panic.

Hope to have a proper hobby update posted before Xmas gets here - just need to drop the Playstation controller for a bit and step away from Red Dead Redemption 2. (Harder than it sounds. LOL!)

Cheers

A break in service

This is not my cat, but my cat would be doing similarly if she wasn't so damned lazy.

As it would so happen, I find myself moving out of my current abode and into a tiny 1-bed apartment this weekend. So no hobby progress to report as all my stuff is packed away. (Well, most of it.)

Not sure how much space I'll have to work in my new place, but it'll get sorted eventually. One thing I've realised though is that I REALLY need to sell some minis, both painted and unpainted - that shit has gotten out of hand and I won't have the space to store so much.

Forgive me if I am silent commenting on your blogs, I'll try to catch up once things are settled my end.

Cheers,

(a rather trepidatious) Dai

Commissions (Densmol - Part 1)

My good mate Densmol gave me these to paint 4-5 months ago and I've really been procrastinating on getting them off my painting desk up until this week. but I decided I needed to remedy that so have gotten half way through already.

These are 28mm WW2 German Kriegsmarine. Naval servicemen put into use as ground troops once Hitler's half-arsed navy was no longer viable. In war, they tended to be rather untrained, but extremely stubborn to budge in the field and fought bravely against a superior opponent.

The minis are by Warlord Games and are a very characterful lot with a good mix of uniforms and water-proof jackets and trousers, helmets and caps. So far, it's been fun painting such a motley crew!

The squad Leader with the pipe and beard was already shown in a past post I believe and once the full squad of 10 are done, I'll do a post with better pictures, but these are the first 5.

Zomtober 2018! (Week 4 - the finale!)

I made the deadline! Well, PST... 

Last week of Zomtober and all involved have put out some stirling work. 

Seeing as my week 3 post was only done yesterday or something, I've had precious little time to get my week4 hobby progress finished up for posting. Well, it's done now.

This is Harper. He was a finances bloke who spent too much time on his phone telling his brokers to "Buy buy buy!" or "Sell you idiot!" and whilst on a particularly heated call whilst walking to his favourite overpriced coffee vendor, he inadvertently stormed right into the largest zombie herd in town. So he lost his face. And his stomach lining. How he kept his eyes... is anyone's guess. 

Thanks to all for the encouragement throughout this month!

Next up, some long  unloved commissions that I'm sick to death of being around.

Zomtober 2018! (A rather late Week 3)

Between my birthday last weekend and a real social life (for once) painting and blogging opportunities were few and far between. So, 6 days late here is my Zomtober week 3 offering!

I call them Marcia and Mercedes.  Both are by Wargames Factory for Project Z.

One day and a bit to get my final week 4 offering painted up and posted! (Which might just happen seeing as its taking a flippin age to download the bloody great data lump for Red Dead Redemption 2 on my ps4.... *grumble*)

Zomtober 2018! (Week 2)

Week 2 is almost passed and i am actually on schedule for once.

This is a big zombie bloke from Project: Z by Warlord Games. He's the 2nd one I've painted up and is rather cool wielding that stop sign (british btw version, no idea how he got it mind).

Once again, bit fast and dirty paintjob but he'll do.

Zomtober 2018! (Week 1)

It's here again! The month in which (some) hobbyists dedicate their month-o'-October work to some "tober" or another. (Ork/Dread/Ink/mastur/etc)

I aim to fulfill the Zombie side of things cos, ya know, it's October and Halloween and that just makes far more sense than working on greenskins, walking robot sarcophagi, drawing or other stuff.

And the rules are really simple. Just post some painted zombie figs or zombie theme'd (Survivors, etc) figs that one has worked on (And completed!) each Sunday of October. There's a nice group of blogs that have jumped on the Zomtober bandwagon this year and Simon Quinton's blog has a roll listing if anyone is interested in checking out some more Zomtober theme'd posts.

I started painting these a bit late due to some unexpected health issues with my boy mid-week so not more to post than a couple of walkers for Week 1, but they'll do!

These two are Mr Roadkill and Missus Half-Baked. Really like zombies that are a flipping mess and they certainly fit that bill. Might want to wear ankle/shin protection!

Ma Tuppence - Rogues and Royalists

This is Ma Tuppence, the cruel leader of my Burrows and Badgers band of Rogues, The Red Toothe.

Statswise, she’ll count as a Black Rat, but I wanted to go with a more Albino look as I wanted her to really stand out from any future rat additions to my Burrows and Badgers Collection.

Her paintjob is a bit fast and dirty as I want to get this warband fully painted and therefore playable (Play with unpainted minis!? Gasp and recoil!).

As with the previously posted Bat sorceress, she has a wee bit of descriptive text that I’ll post up once all of her gang’s members are painted and do a group shot.

(Forgive the pics, these were taken last thing before bed and in a hurry.)

Next up, first work for Zomtober 2018!

7th Year Blogging Anniversary!

Another year rolled around and my wee hobby blog turned 7!

Rather surprised I've kept this going so long, but am glad to have it to log my hobby progress (And failures).

This is just a small post to offer my heartfelt thanks to all of you who read my posts and even more thanks to those who leave a comment. Your encouragement really helps keep me at my paint station and your own blogs reward me with wonderful inspiration.

Cheers!

I'll get back to posting regular hobby stuff!

- Dai

Millicent Duskward - Rogues and Royalists

Just a little painting done of late.

This is the first of my charming collection of minis from the recently released (Recent as in "This year".) anthropomorphic skirmish rules set, Burrows and Badgers by Oathsworn Miniatures. I have 16 more to paint and show off in the coming months.

Due to the game's more campaign/role-play-esque nature, it's encouraged to name your warbands and each team member, which I love. So I present to you, the first member of my Rogue's warband, The Red Toothe - Millicent Duskward, a Bat Sorceress. This mini is infact the main reason I started buying into the game as I liked her so much. She's tiny as well, maybe 22mm tall, which works for a bat from the British Isles as none I believe are much bigger than a mouse in real life.

*Full blame for getting my attention onto this game can be attributed to Simon Quinton and Blaxkleric for showing off their own lovely B&B collections!

Lighting's a bit cach, I really need to get a better light-box.

Bit tricky to get in all her details as she's wrapping her wings about her person.

The sculpted details are just crisp and lovely. All the Oathsworn sculpts seem to be very well designed single-piece metal miniatures, yet have enough detail and dynamism to stay away from the early 90's flat-style sculpts, impressive!

Tried to paint her up as a Common British Noctule and gave her a cream-coloured shift to contrast against the browns. Think it worked well. 

Next on the paint bench for this project will be the leader of The Red Toothe rogues herself, Ma Tuppence!

This puppy just loves everyone!

Wowzers! Over a month since my last post!

Well, hobby mojo was next to dead so didn't feel like painting at all after my trip back home to the UK. Until this week, that is.

So here i present you some of the stuff that I can show off from the paint station:

Actually just finished this current model by Games Workshop of a Beast of Nurgle. It was a pain to put together as a kit, but the finished model looks pretty good (if one picks the least cartoony options.).

Painting took a few lengthy sessions and i had lots of time to get stuck in yesterday and today seeing as I've been home looking after a feverish 13-year-old.

What i painted originally to get me back in the mood are as follows. Just simple contemporary zombies and some 3D printed scatter terrain pieces. Nothing fancy, but a nice reintroduction to painting.

I like to call 2nd from left "Pegs"

Next up? Well, I've got some Badgers and Burrows minis on the desk and maybe just maybe I'll work some more on those poor unloved Winter Germans, or, heaven forbid I remember to get back to the commissions i should have finished an age ago!?

D-Day Event

Last month my LGS (Ogre’s Den in Orangevale, California) held an all-day D-Day Bolt Action WW2 event with umpteen players all eager to help recreate this most epic moment of the Second World War.

With multiple players bringing armies to represent both attackers and defenders of the conflict, there really was a LOT to see along with some amazingly well constructed terrain pieces (As the pics will show). As any who’ve followed my blog for at least a little while will know, I do not have a Western Front army for Bolt Action (Mine currently being restricted to Winter Eastern Front games) so I was lucky enough to borrow one from my good pal Densmol and was assigned as a defender on one of the gorgeous beach tables with my partner for the day, Andrew. We were to face the US Ranger landings – us having only 1000 points each and each of the THREE Rangers generals able to make lists of 1500! *this was going to be a heck of a tough, tough game*

This was the beautiful Beach Landing table (Actually two tables long). The top half represented the British landings, whilst the bottom half was where Andrew and I defended against the American landings. *Please note, each table was not allowed to affect the other, so no shooting across tables, etc.*

Other tables described the other action that went on during that storied day – a beach landing by the British on the table next to mine, paratroop drops by both American and Commonwealth forces who were attempting to take out some Flak 88 gun-nests that were providing supporting artillery fire on the beaches and a Commando beach-landing into a German-held French town (Town’s name escapes me now.). Each table looked fab and it sounded like everyone attending had as much fun as I did.

As usual with my battle reports, I’ll keep the blurb brief and leave it to the pics to tell the story with brief commentary beneath. Suffice to say, as history describes for us, the Allied players lived up to their namesakes on almost all of the tables and took the day. But goodness the carnage! Full props to the organisers for designing fun and difficult scenario rules and to Joe the owner of Ogre’s Den for hosting. I believe the next big event will be later in the year where the shop will be running a “Battle of the Bulge” event – perhaps I can use my Winter Germans in an appropriate setting afterall? J

Andrew and I set up our forces, largely consisting of inexperienced Osttrupen and Strafbattalion squads!

This Pak40 Anti-tank gun was the MVP for my force. Long range shots sank 3 landing craft destroying or drowning 6 or 7  squads, vehicles and Officers.

This was the objective area that my force had to defend at all costs. 

Lovely looking trenches with my Straf lads hiding out back and my regular Grenadiers up front, ready to take the brunt of the assault.

 

Meanwhile, over on the Airlanding tables, Flak88's are being defended by both German paratroops and regular Grenadiers. Densmol ran his Fallschirmjagers on one of these tables and I beleive managed to hold off his attacker, though lost his Flak88 in the process. 

There were three 88's on the airlanding table.

The 88's had an ability to be able to fire directly at targets on their own tables or choose to allow the Beach defenders to use them instead to call down a possible indirect artillery barrage. When I got the option to try to call one down, mine failed to hit a bloody thing, but Andrew managed to do some damage to a landing craft and the troops inside on one of his attempts.

The allied preparatory bombardments were rather brutal with both Andrew and I seeing casualties and pin markers aplenty strewn about our forces. The Uphill battle had begun.

So much suppression by those huge naval guns. 

And then the landing craft arrive and start disgorging their desperate cargoes - right into hails of Machine Gun fire by the terrified German defenders.

Each of the black dice represents a Forward Artillery Observer or mortar trying to zero in their nasty payloads on the beleaguered defenders. Yikes.

The Brits on the other beach looked like a bloody swarm.... 

This was my view and I did my best to tackle my immediate opponent's advance, hoping that whittling him down would make it easier to bring to bear whatever I had left against our other two opponents. No, it didn't work.

Already the difference in troop quality (Veteran Rangers and mostly Inexperienced Germans) tells. Glad both Andrew and I brought along a Captain each to help shift our otherwise pinned boys.

Even through all the MG fire, the Rangers start making headway.

And drop a smoke bombardment on my MVP Pak40! No fair.

Commandos assault this town.

Hot Para on Para action.

Off table barrages and mortar bombardments all seem to drop at once and suddenly our center line looks horrifyingly bare! I try to rush my Straffbattlion up to shore the gap. 

Conveniently placed measuring tape will block the objective, right?

Suddenly I am left with three of my squads having barely two members each! Thankful I kept that Captain around to make them pass morale tests!

Fortune favours the bold! I've managed to kill enough stuff on my side to snuff out my immediate opponent's attack, but goodness, there are still enough Rangers in the center advancing!

And so many of them pouring through gaps made in our barbed wire obstacles!

Andrew also is seeing significant troop losses now, we just can't hold on. 

The end game.

I charge those pesky yanks to show them what for. And win.

But it doesn't matter - in the center, Rangers pour over the cliffs and kill everyone in the trenches.

It's not a pretty sigh for the Germans.

Andrew's last stand goes.... poorly. We have lost the beaches and surrender, well, what's left of our forces surrender. 

The 88's all three, were destroyed on the other tables.

One of the attendees set up this nifty display of headwear and uniforms. 

Write-up was a bit of a while coming together, but I've had some stuff come along in my personal life (Trip to the UK, Promotion at work, looking for a place to live.) so hobby has really been on the back burner in general really. Some purchases have been made, namely buying into Burrows and Badgers and I'm waiting on delivery of the new starter set for Relic Knights 2nd Ed sometime in August. Will the buying ever end? I'll try to get some paint on minis some time soon to show off. Thanks for reading.