A productive year so far

This blog seems dedicated to my Blood Bowl painting, and I am keeping it that way for the sake of... Well, I am inclined to change it, but so far it's been like that, and that's left the impression that I don't currently paint much, or that I have stopped reading Warhammer-lit. The latter is somewhat true, though I do read fantasy, but I ran out of Warhammer-lit that caught my fancy, and my reviews on here have also been limited in scope to deal only with the fantasy setting, not 40K, and I am not likely to change that.

I do currently paint a lot though. In fact I have been painting a few commissions as well as selling off a good share of minis that I felt that I no longer needed or wanted. My primary motivation is not money, as I don't live in a place where I can make any sort of decent money that way. That's not just due to the level of my painting, but I do have a full time job (and then some) and to reach higher levels of painting does require more time, so this is pretty much the level of my "for sale items".

Here's a recent addition, just to get a splash of colour on the page here again: A chaos team. These are obviously all conversions and suitable for the "old" scale of Blood Bowl, ie 28mm-ish.

Old goats

These were originally done ultra quick, ie glued up and dipped, for a friend with a small budget and a big rush. At the time he made do without properly painted up warriors, and gors without any frills.

Dipping works, but results improve much if you actually brush it on. It works especially or perhaps specifically with earth-tones, and this burnt orange or terracotta is one. So are the skin and fur. That does mean that the minis lack some contrast, so-called 'pop!' perhaps, but it sped things up at the time. The somewhat hyper-green grass helps offset the orange and brown, though.

Warriors... plastics. One converted human thrower, one converted chaos warrior with a daemonic claw hand. All these warriors had very BB-friendly poses, so it was just weapon snipping that needed doing.

Chaos Pact - Uncle Bully

Countdown continues... Here is the bull.

Quite a bull, I think. He (it?) is of course a conversion as well, featuring the rather hideous muscle-mino plastic head which I actually thought worked quite well on this.

He is somewhat dominated by the warpstone that's coming out of his body, and the chunk of it that he is holding, but I think it turned out alright, even with a super simple paintjob. The furry bits got to match the uniform that the other guys wear, and he really only wears team colour on his shoulder pad.

Girly legged minotaur

The long-legged androgynous minotaur got a little of the time I had to spare over the holidays. Jonathan provided the feedback, and a strap for the shoulder pad now helps the bullman man it up a little.

Not seen in this particular picture is the green stuffed improvement to his too neat hair style which has now got a bit wilder down the back.

I am still not sure if I should fur up his thighs. That would mean his furry panties would no longer work though...

Meh'zo Hawhny

A long-legged minotaur with furry panties like MOTU-dolls, almost!

As you can tell, he is a random conversion that just happened as I tried to work off some of the stress from the office and the subsequent xmas shopping. Sawing and cutting followed by green stuffing does the mind good.

He is no masterpiece. Some may hate him for his soft and girly legs, hairless and long. Others may not like the very upright pose, or you may not like my removal of his weapon and sculpting of muscle where there used to be chain. It will all cover up nicely with primer, and I am debating giving him more fur as well.

Darkside Goatboys

Seeing as I have other unfinished business, ie two other teams to paint that see action, getting played in the league, it really made little sense to paint these.

They even look familar, because I recently painted abother team, the Rams-looking one, that had the same goats. So no, it was not really the challenge or some sort of mad inspiration.

Am I a Cowboys fan? No, not in the slightest. I have painted these up as Cowboys, because I toyed with the idea with a friend, and then I could not let it go without trying. Suddenly I was halfway through the goatses, and I liked the different look from most Chaos teams who tend to be dark.

The loin cloths were supposed to be silvery, but the mix came out a shiny, and not exactly with a metallic look or sparkle. And of course beastmen wear no helmets, so the silver helm is... their massive belt buckle instead. They like belt buckles in Texas though, right?

The warriors are converted and primed. They will have silver helmets. Promise.

Pact for pizza

As a favour to my league opponent and generous host of our boardgame antics, I took on the project of supplementing his team of converted humans with a dark elf, a goblin, a skaven, a troll and a minotaur. In return for some free deep pan pizza.

There were two challenges.

1. Keeping cost down. This was a "just whatever you can find"-job, but with a clear focus on getting in some cheap players. That meant conversion, as I obviously have loads of time for that...

2. Matching the paint job. I had one of the other players to work from as a dummy, and I had to try and match his base as well, obviously. This meant that the paint job is not representative of my current level of skill as such, as it involved some cheap and easy techniques that I would otherwise not be using.

That said, these minis should match up nicely with the ones he has, providing him with another team to play, and a unique one at that.

Chaos group shot

In case anyone wondered about the relative sizes of the players... They are from three different non-GW manufacturers, but it's hardly an issue here.

All that's missing are numbers on the bases and varnish.

Chaos was the law of nature...

I have completed 12 beastmen and a converted minotaur... for no apparent reason.

Well, the primary reason being experimentation. These were painted rather quickly and with no pressure to deliver. This meant that I stuck with the Rams-colour scheme even if hated it at one point along the way and came close to changing it.

The warriors are 60% done, so they are to follow as soon as work permits me to focus on them.

Teaser WIP

I do like cobbling together big guys from bits, sculpting the odd detail to cover up problem areas where things did not quite meet up as neatly as intended, creating unique focal points for a team...

Problem is that new teams often start off this way, sucking the creative energies out og current projects. This, however, is a guy I am working on when I need a break from painting, and I am enjoying both, so all is well.

He should fit in well on a Pact I am putting together.

Bully boy

This piece is... Well, I would not say that I actually like it, and there are several reasons.

1. It is feckin huge.

2. It has a tail. Yes, I could have fixed that, but it does.

3. It is a 'comission' and will probably murder som of my players in the near future.

So normally this would not be on here. It is not my 'style', and I mostly just cobbled together some bits and bobs and used a truly fugly head to replace one that was actually worse.

Chaos team: more beasts

Been at it with the knife and sprays as I experienced a lull in my desire for brushwork. Staying productive and cutting a few corners - and weapons - will allow me to stay on course: 12 teams completed in 2014.

I am experimenting with two things as I create this beastie team.

Priming. Coloured primers and zenithal. This will hopefully aid the use of washes on these multiple texture minis.

Bending. One advantage to working in metal is the chance to create variation and better posture by means of bending. It takes some strength to do it in a steady motion, and be careful not to clamp down hard with your tool of choice. Sometimes snipping a weapon leaves you with a near hopeless mini, and indeed, why bother? If you end up with a mini who cannot conceivably be doing anything in that position, then try and bend the hell out of it or don't bother snipping.

Minotaur II

Done! Well... apart from the base. He is entirely in keeping with the goat team, and I must say that I am quite pleased with him. Easy to do, but looks the business.

He may be shaded too dramatically if anything, but it was a fast paintjob, and I did not want him to stand out from the goats in terms of style, so there you have it.

Minotaur

Working on a new minotaur for the chaos team. Quite happy with this easy snip job with pads and a little adjustment of one hand and green stuff repairs.

He is quite slim, but animalistic still, and not too humanoid. Looks like an easy paintjob too, so he should be ready for next round.

Minotaur conversion wip 2

I reworked the legs and added fur, pads and gloves. Not sure what I think of him. Looks vicious, at least. Perhaps he is too bestial, but concept-wise I like minotaurs as dangerous, barely controlled monsters, and not "my friend with the bull-head who loves souvlaki".

Maybe he needs some chains.

Minotaur conversion wip

I am at the stage where I am hating this beastie and feel tempted to smash him. However, I find that sticking with an idea, at least to the point where it counts as having tried it out, is best when doing extensive conversion. After all, these things are not meant to fit together.

Head is gw. The rest parts unknown.

Chaos Dwarf Team VIII

Group photo of the lads.

I am quite pleased. Normally I would make chaos dwarves or dwarves a bit stockier, especially with halflings getting bigger and bigger, but I am not unhappy with this built.

Working on another minotaur just to test my skills a little and use up some odd bits.

Thoughts about minotaurs

Even though I have padded him up for Blood Bowl, I am not sure about that mino. I think it's a great miniature, even if he does stretch his arms out in a way that... Well, he'll require a counter to go down.

I am toying with the idea of building a better one. It may just be my ego demanding that I have a more unique mino, seeing as it is always going to be a focal point, but still. The motive doesn't seem all that important if it produces a cool big guy, so I may take a look at what I have in terms of parts.

Hobgobs are nearly alle done. Pictures later.

Chaos Dwarf Team VI

Mess with the bull, you get the horns...

Dwarf for comparison. Mino obviously needs a bigger base and some pads. Maybe a breathmint too.

Chaos Dwarf Team V

Minotaurs. Here are two wildly different ones. It would wrong to say that either fits the team, but which is less of a missfit?

I did consider making some little alterations to make either share SOME feature with its team mates. It seems a sure way to make oneself one retarded mini though. A beard? A chaos helmet? No one wins here, I fear.

Also here is the last dwarf. He drinks, he tackles. We all have friends like that.