That's No Moon!; finished winterguard deathstar

Just a quick, short update. Finished the last of the Winterguard for my Khador commission a few days ago, here's a pic:

More to come soon :)

Thanks for reading,
~ Alex/Magos

Blue and White, Red and Black; more commission work

Little more progress on my commissions over the weekend. My second commission, a large Yu Jing army for Infinity, arrived on Sat so I got to work producing a test model for the client, who was after a bright army painted to a high standard. He's very pleased with the results, which is always good to hear. I opted for intense, rich colours instead of straight-up bright shades, and kept the look similar to the official Yu Jing scheme. The blue glow effect should be more pronounced on the heavily armoured models and provide a nice contrast.

Thanks for reading,
~Alex/Magos

A Brush For Hire; starting a Khador commission

Something rather exciting to share with the class today, the first models of my first commission since I decided to get back into the brush-for-hire game. I currently have two commissions on my plate, but the second one is still in the mail. The first, a modest Khador army, arrived yesterday and today I prepped and painted a couple of test minis for the client's approval - since I've just received an enthusiastic response, I'll be going ahead with the rest of the army like this.
I love my Khador, although I'm used to painting them red. The vibrant blue and white colour scheme the client wanted was initially a bit of a challenge, but the more I painted the more I felt the colours were coming together.
Expect to see a fair bit of blue and white Khador in the coming weeks as I get these boys done and sent off to the front their new owner.

Thanks for reading,
~Alex/Magos

Bones, Bloodbowl, Battles; hobbying hard on Sunday

Today was a good day for all things hobby. Managed to wrangle my brother (and only gaming opponent in town) away from his year 12 studies and video games for a day of painting and gaming. Want to try and do it more often, so hopefully can make it a weekly thing or something.
He painted up some bones, since he hasn't painted in over a year and really just needed to have some practice. I tried brush on primer this time and it worked better, no lingering tackyness, although the white on white meant I didn't get a perfect coat and this plastic just hates paint with a passion. Really not a fan of it at all.

Anyway, in an hour or two of paint jamming together he finished this:

While I got to work on the first of my Bloodbowl figures.

Yeah that's right, Bloodbowl.

Basically, the Wargamers Massive down in Melbourne, of whose trolly ranks I am an honorary member, are having a Bloodbowl tournament in November. I stuck my hand up to attend, mainly for the excuse of getting down to Melbourne for a weekend of gaming. Only problem? Well, aside from one game ten years ago, I've never played Bloodbowl, don't own a team and don't know the rules...
Well, the team was easy to fix - I have always loved dwarves, and settled on a Slayer themed team using the awesome Avatars of War slayers. The rules are a work in progress, but thanks to the Bloodbowl video game, I'm getting there. By November I shall be an unstoppable force. Or not.
Anyway, here is the first test figure for the team, the Zhufbar Barbarians. I am VERY happy with the skin, it was fun to paint and looks great IMO. I'm much less happy with the cloth and metal... yeah, just wasn't feeling it. What do people think? Am I being over critical, or should I repaint them?
Finally, tattoos, not something I'm good at painting. Do they work?

And after all the painting, we knocked up two 35pt lists and smashed some face in Warmachine. My Khador (proxying Vlad for Harkevich) won the day, though we were both a bit rusty and my bro made a few mistakes that probably cost him.

Only one (bad, flashy) photo, showing the glorious moment when my Berserker, having charged and mauled the Scythian, detonated. I'd given him a single point of focus using Power Booster, and predictably, I rolled a 1. It was funny, and almost killed the Scythian, so wasn't much of a loss.

Anyway, long post. Thanks for reading,

~Alex/Magos

Short and Sweet; WIP Black Ivan

I'll just leave this here...

~Alex/Magos

The Defenders of Caspia; my painted Cygnar

It's been a few days since I posted, but for once, I've not spent that time totally slacking off and playing video games (nor have I been working, annoyingly). I've been hobbying away, mostly on some of my newest acquisitions (I somehow ended up with a few more Khador jacks... actually a whole 'nother WM starter box... oops), but unassembled, unpainted models aren't very exciting. I should have photos tomorrow or the day after (tomorrow is my old man's birthday, so I'll be heading into town for lunch at an awesome craft brewery... they make the most delicious malt stout).
This is rapidly turning into the Post of the Parentheses, so I'll move on.
In the interest of providing painted models for your viewing pleasure, I have again raided the archives and taken new photos of old models. But before we get to that, there is one important thing I have to add...

GO THE MIGHTY HAWTHORN HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight, for the first time in five damned years, my beloved Hawks beat our arch nemeses, the Geelong Cats. In a preliminary final too. WOOOHOOO!!!

Ahem, ok, regular transmission is resuming.

Allow me to present the only three painted models of my tiny Cygnar force, all painted long ago (6-18mths):

El Lancero

Monsieur le Chaingunner (his loader is still awaiting painting)

And the rakish gunslinger himself, Captain Caine

Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll have more exciting things to share tomorrow/Sunday.

~Alex/Magos

Y'know, Just Jackin' It; finished Khador Warjack

Finished the Destroyer, pretty happy with him, though I might need to do something more with the base, seems a little bare. The tree stump is actually a tribute to my original metal destroyer, who also had a tree stump attached to his base. I wish I had a photo of that old chunk of pewter to show how vastly my painting has improved since then.

Anyway, pikachures:

With some meatbag friends:

Thanks for reading,

~Alex/Magos

For the Swarm; Bones swarms and random WIPS

Well, a few days off work and I've actually been slightly productive! I'll get straight into pics, since I don't really have much to waffle about... Oh, except this blog passed 1k views a few days ago. Thanks to everyone who reads my intermittent rambling :)

Some more Bones. Fear the swarm!

I realised I rarely post WIPs on here... usually because I finish things in one sitting I guess. Anything that takes longer usually languishes for months/years due to my lack of anything resembling an attention span... but anyway, the following pics are just WIP, needing basing/touching up, so you'll see them again soon hopefully.

Firstly, I painted some more WOTR infantry. It's been far too long, but hopefully I'll get back to this game soon. I've been rewatching a lot of Game of Thrones lately... coincidence, or inspiration?
These guys are Burgundian handgunners, mercenaries for the Yorkists.

And finally, one of the several Khador heavy jacks I need to paint. The humble, faithful destroyer. I used to own a pair of the metal ones, but the new (well, old now I guess) plastics are a big improvement. I still miss Warmachine Mk1 though...
I don't think the photos do it justice really, I'm very happy with the red though. I use the 'official' method, as given in the Khador faction book. Obviously I'm not up to studio quality, but it's a method of painting red that I love. Given what a pain of a colour it can be, I'm happy to have something reliable that works.
I know that, given all the large plates, it would probably make sense to airbrush these jacks, but personally I find that if I airbrush them, the metals just become a massive pain. I'd rather paint the metals first, then do the plates by hand.

And finally, my Mantic Enforcer army set finally arrived, courtesy of the always excellent Dan of Tabletop Empires. These guys will be serving as Cerberus troops in my Mass Effect skirmish game (some may also become Blue Suns), so expect more on that front soon.

Thanks for reading,
~ Alex/Magos

Some of the Big Guys; new photos of old paintjobs

Haven't had much time for hobby this week, though I did get to play a short RPG encounter on Sunday with my one and only gaming opponent in town. Was fun, if a steep learning curve for two total RPG noobs, but we agreed it bears further exploration.

Hopefully I'll have new painting progress to show soon, but in the absence of new things, I thought I'd post some pics of a few models I painted earlier this year, before I had this blog. I've been sorting through hobby junk, and decided that taking better pics of these paintjobs wouldn't hurt.

So anyway, enjoy a Circle Woldwarden and Khador Berserker!

Thanks for readings,
~ Alex/Magos

Pretty Woman; Warmachine in 1/8th scale?

So I've never in my life been a big fan of 'collectibles', statues, action figures, props or the like. Basically, if I can't stick it together and colour it in myself, I'm not interested (as an aside, I've also never understood the whole fetish with keeping such things in their original packaging).
Anyway, when Privateer Press announced they were releasing some special limited ed resin statues to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Warmachine, I knew I had no chance of resisting. I jumped in right away and kissed $150 goodbye in return for the very gorgeous statue of Captain Victoria Haley. Money well spent, and I hope they continue the range with some other icons of WM (aka - Sorscha!).
So here she is, my very own Haley, #212. I'm resisting the temptation to try my hand at constructing some in scale warjacks for her... (they'd be several feet tall!)

Apologies for the dodgy photos, but my dodgy-bodged photo setup just couldn't handle all the awesome.

-Alex/Magos

Join the Rifle Corp they said, learn to hit the broad side of a barn they said...

It's been all quiet on the hobby front for most of the last week as I've alternatively worked/recovered from a cold. Broke out the paintbrushes yesterday and finished a full unit of Winterguard Rifle Corp today. These guys have yet to do much in game, but maybe a paintjob will magically give them combined ranged attack?
Warmachine is my main game, though living out in the styx, I don't get to see much tabletop action. I currently collect five factions, Khador (first and best...), Cygnar, Menoth, Trolls and Circle, I'm planning on adding Convergence once they're released in a few months, and also want to pick up a small Retribution force... and then there's Skorne and Cryx, and that Ordic Mercenary force I've always wanted...

Anyway, here's the unit, in all their batchpainted glory, just missing arc markings. Nothing fancy, but I'm happy with them :)

More to come soon hopefully, thanks for reading, feel free to leave feedback.

Alex/Magos