Painboy - revisited

I have recently been painting some Orks and I thought it high time to update some of the ones I had painted previously. First up were the Nobz and that meant getting the Painboy looking good.This basically involved getting a lot of cecked designs onto the model. I have been getting better at painting these while doing the orks and now it isnÄt so much hassle to get them painted even if they can be a little rough at times. Here is the previous plain painboy if you are interested in having a gander. I also took the chance to tidy up the model a little and add a few highlights where needed. The skin should have also received some attention but then I would have needed to redo the skin on the entire force and I don't want to do that. The updating of the models is really just something fun and quick to do! I will put up the Nobz soon as they are almost finished too. Once they are done I have to tackle one of the larger mobs. I am not looking forward to that!

Bramble Ale

In January I mentioned that I was starting a new hobby. Well here is one of the results. This is a really nice and simple IPA. It is the first beer where I got the bitterness levels perfect. I also improved the clarity a lot. The result of these two small improvements is about tenfold on the actual flavour! Sadly it is really warm here still and so I haven't managed to brew much since May. Hopefully the weather takes a turn for the worse so I can get busy in the brewhouse/mancave soon. I have invested in an all-grain set up and I haven't managed to use it yet. It was impressively expensive and so I am eager to get some small return on that. As soon as I can I have three brews planned and I can't wait.

Oh and these are the friends of the brew shown above. I have managed eight brews so far this year and while two of them were less than stellar I think I have begun to get some great results from the hobby. At least now it isn't only me who enjoys what I manage to produce. My stocks are running dangerously low at the moment so I have to start rationing all of these.

Red Kaya, whats up?

Red for me is a terrible colour! I can't seem to get a nice transition in any direction with it. I have been doing it a few different ways on individual models for my Hordes forces for a while hoping that eventually I would hit on the right formula. I still haven't. I painted this model a little while ago and for the cloak I started with Hull Red from Vajello's Panzer Aces series. It is a lovely deep dark red and it is the colour I use for the basecoat of all my reds now. I gave this a purple wash and then I shaded it with some Rhinox Hide(GW). It is really easy to shade and doesn't need much effort. For the inside of the cloak I just added back the hull red and then one more highlight and that was that. I wanted it to remain dark. In the picture you can definitely see the brown shading and a hint of the purple wash.

For the back of the cloak I wanted a much warmer and brighter colour. I ended up with a lighter colour and quite muted. I know why and I should have thought of it at the time. I used for the final few highlights Rotten Flesh(VJ) and as this has a green tint it muted the red considerably. I shaded the cloak the same as usual and built back the original colour quickly. From there I added Blood Red(GW) to brighten everything up. That went fine and I got more or less a colour I was happy with. For the final highlights I added the Rotten Flesh. As you can see here it quickly muted the red. It even seemed to kill the previous brighter colours somewhat. I am happy enough with the end result even if it isn't exactly what I intended. I think I will use this colour if I ever manage to return to the Blood Pack I bought. I just hate the PP plastic and I can't be bothered putting in the effort required to assemble the last half of that unit.

I must resist!

As I have been playing Medieval II: Total War recently I have been getting into the mood to play some early medieval games. While SAGA covers that I have been looking at a more continental based system. Then I learned that the next supplement will cover the Crusades or the Reconquista. With my curiosity piqued I looked up some minatures that would be appropriate and I found these from Fireforge Games. Not only are they excellent for almost any army of the period they are perfect for an Empire army in Warhammer. I already have one of those but it is purely cavalry and I am really tempted to bulk it out somewhat with some of these infantry. Anyway I will endeavour to await more news on the fothcoming supplement. Once I know what is coming I will more than likely pick these up and make a nice force from them.

More Orks

It took me a little longer than I had anticipated but here is a second formation for Epic Armageddon. This time some ork infantry. I definitely have s econd formation and I intend to paint it over the coming days. I doubt though if I added up all that I have here in Germany that I would manage to field an effective army. The nobz took the longest time to paint as I did a checked design on the back banners. The are noticably taller than the boyz and I guess of a slightly larger scale. The boyz are detailed well enough for a 5mm miniature. Just enough detail that you have to pick it out even if, like I, you skip the highlighting of each individual piece. The grtchin are also well detailed and more or less the same size as the boyz reinforcing the fact that the models are of a very slightly different scale.

Battle at the Ruins

I don't often think of taking photographs of battles I am playing, mainly as my camera is a brick and it is easier to leave it at home. The recent popularity of iPhones however means that getting decent ingame shots is pretty easy. I played a great game of SAGA at the local gamestore last Thursday and my opponent, Steve, grabbed these shots. It was a six point battle between the Anglo-Danes and the Normans. I hadn't played against cavalry before and it was quite intimidating to see three units of them lined up against me.

The scenario was 'A Clash of Wwarlords' pretty much the default scenario. I had to weather a hail of missile fire from the Normans as I closed. Their Flemish Mercenaries held the centre as I advanced. In the end it was a bloodbath but the speed of the Norman cavalry allowed them to encircle me and I just couldn't keep my Warlord safe. He bravely charged the Norman cavalry himself but the counter charge the next turn killed him. So victory to the Normans! The more I play Saga the more I come to like it. It is relatively simple but well balanced. I have seen some complaints that there can be mismatches between the armies but so far I haven't come across any. There has been talk of a campaign in the local gamestore here in Hamburg so hopefully that gets off the ground. More likely however is the prospect of a four player team game with the Aanglo-danes comprising one team and the other yet to be decided! I am looking forwar to that.