Day 1461 - a 4th year of paint-on-brush (Nick)

So yesterday was an incredible 4 years since Carl & I started trying to put 'paint on brush', and sadly this post feels like a carbon copy of the one I made 12 months ago!

For me it was just 3 finishes again, while Carl has had another bumper year with 57(?).

All started with good intentions to make amends, and then big changes in February meant I ended up travelling the UK & Europe a lot and living out of a suitcase as it were.

Despite a brave attempt to carry on and at least do 'something' every day, it soon became clear that it was just one more thing I didn't need to worry about and I have been out of the gaming & hobby circle completely for 9 months and I am only just getting back into it now the winter draws in.

It will take me a while to get back onboard with the hobby side of things, especially as the mantra has been completely out the window for a long time now... it may get there, it may not, but I've started playing a few games again and having a deep dive into my stash so you never know?

Warhammer: The Old World - Chaos Marauder (Nick)

Following hot on the heels of Carl's chaos warrior are some of my own old Warhammer chaos miniatures - with the imminent release of Warhammer: The Old World from Games Workshop it seemed like a good excuse to get my Warriors of Chaos army onto the table at last with good old fashioned square bases.

Here are my first two Chaos Marauders, old metal figures from 1997 (and in my opinion so much nicer than the plastic ones that replaced them) - to be fair I only had a bit of touching up to do, remove some old static grass, and varnish while I try my best to match the colours again ...and these are great because the base size hasn't been changed for the new (old) game.

I'm sure I will add some dead grass and tufts in the future, but with so many to do I think I will leave them like this for now and come back to them when the unit or maybe even the army is complete (rather than have some finished and others not)

A bit cheeky calling these x2 finishes, but they are my gateway to more which are already on the way and not the first figures to just need varnish and (not) tufts... let's see where this new madness takes us!

WW2 panel fence (Nick)

Progress! ...after yesterday's rather dismal summary of the last 12 months, here is my first finish of 2024 - a (resin) wooden fence section from Warlord Games.

There are in fact eight of these sections altogether as I bought 2 packs of 4, however with the lack of finishes since March last year and no results of the big end of year push I wanted to show something for my efforts.

Painting was a fairly simple drybrushing affair over black prime with an old Citadel Foundation Paint: Charadon Granite, followed by Vallejo Game Colour: Beasty Brown, Miniature Paints: Earth Brown, and finally Army Painter: Skeleton Bone.
The base was then drybrushed two shades of craft shop grey before following up with my usual earth recipe.

I have also managed these sci-fi scatter terrain pieces, but won't class them as finished just yet as I want to base them with the other 6 I have to paint (mainly to protect the resin from damage) - so still not heaps of progress, but a little every day to start the new year:

2023 a year in review (Nick)

Well for me 2023 can be summed up very easily, just 3 finishes... yes THREE finishes!!

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement, and I've already outlined what went wrong in my earlier 'a 3rd year of paint-on-brush' post... even after that post while I was away, it took me another 9 days to realise I still wasn't doing anything so had misses for the first 8 days of year 4.

Meanwhile Carl did amazingly well last year, so congrats to him for hitting the magic 52 finishes *rapturous applause*

I did take inspiration from Carl's 'easy win' haystacks and prepare a load of my own resin terrain in an attempt to see the year out with a bang, but in the end decided sleep, sanity, and some cool films on TV were preferable so admitted defeat.

So where does that leave me in 2024, well I've managed something every day since missing those first eight days, all that terrain is in progress and hopefully finished in January, I managed to finish building a heap of plastic Vikings ready to prime and paint in February, it could be a good year?

Day 1095 - a 3rd year of paint-on-brush (Nick)

Yesterday was 3 years since Carl & I started trying to put 'paint on brush' or as it is now, at least do 'something' every day.

Sadly this year I've had a lot of misses for one reason or another, I genuinely forgot on several occasions or was just too tired (let's blame old age) and a brief bout of COVID has led to a prolonged period of not doing much and the wheels have pretty much fallen off my wagon.

Carl has been doing much better than me recently and is on quite a roll, however my efforts at end of the previous year (again) mean that the last 12 months of doing 'something' every day have seen 54 finishes from me although the calendar year is currently only 3!

I do intend to continue the mantra, but it looks like I need yet another bumper year end - as always I guess doing 'something', no matter how little, is still better than doing nothing... I just need to put those wheels back on my wagon.

As I write this cruising down La Seine hopefully this short break is what I need, I have even brought some paints and brushes with me should the mood strike!

War of the Roses - Bowmen (Nick)

Beware the Ides of March! ...or something like that, although we're nearly into April and alas these are my first finishes of 2023.

I have prepped and assembled quite a few minis so far this year, and at least 'something' every day, but my attempts at painting kept ending in frustration almost like I had forgotten my own techniques - I think maybe some burnout after the frantic end to last year.
In fact these very figures were on the 'naughty step' for a long while until one day some simple base texturing and all was well again.

These metal figures are samples from the c15 Medieval range by Eureka Miniatures on which I decided to try out liveries for my new War of the Roses wards to use in Never Mind the Billhooks Deluxe and make a characterful change from the usual grey plastic from Perry Miniatures:

I have used the same tried and trusted technique as my other War of the Roses figures, using Games Workshop Contrast Paints and some additional highlights over pre-shaded white prime, just substituting alternative colours for the livery to the previous orange and green - by coincidence this will give me four different colourways using eight unique colours.

For those interested, the liveries are (L to R): Sir John Tuchet, Lord John la Zouche & Sir William Hastings all of whom have local connections in one form or another.

So all in all not the start I had hoped for in the New Year, in fact just one figure a month rather than one a day - but hopefully I'm on the road to hobby recovery and more will follow soon.

War of the Roses - the collection so far (Nick)

Day 2 of 2023 and the family photos as promised, rather than any finishes just yet.

Firstly the 100 points of Lord Thomas Stanley's veterans for Never Mind the Billhooks 'Deluxe', including the Ambushing skirmishers:

C-in-C
Veteran Men-at-Arms

Leader I
Veteran Bows
Veteran Bills

Leader II
Veteran Bows
Veteran Bills

Next up the 24pts retinue for Lion Rampant, with the extra bidowers/skirmishers lurking in the background:

Foot Men-at-Arms/ Elite Infantry *with leader
Archers
Archers
Expert Yeomen/Veteran Light Infantry
Expert Yeomen/Veteran Light Infantry

...and now that I've completed more foot knights, the original 'one box' retinue - albeit with a few figures from alternative box sets now:

Foot Men-at-Arms/ Elite Infantry *with leader
Foot Men-at-Arms/ Elite Infantry
Expert/Veteran Archers
Expert/Veteran Archers

Not the excitement of new figures I know, but it was good to get them all out together before putting them away in the cabinet - new figures are happening, and hopefully more finishes on the way soon... dare I hope for that extremely elusive 1-a-day this year??

Never Mind the Billhooks - Men-at-Arms (Nick)

So my second post of the New Year, and back to War of the Roses for Never Mind the Billhooks 'Deluxe' for my final finishes of 2022.

Again Perry Miniatures plastics, and a mix of several 1450-1500 box set components - in fact the last of my War of the Roses collection I already have assembled!

Nothing fancy on these ones, just carefully picked out details and some specific poses - the chap with the white feather was going to be the commander of my original Lion Rampant project, and the pointing leader in charge of a second unit:

These will form a unit of 12 for Never Mind the Billhooks with the last three I finished including the banner bearer, while the first 3 with surcoats form temporary leaders giving me a painted 100 point force + the Ambushing archers - I also get two units of 6 for Lion Rampant as originally planned, even though many of these figures are later additions.

So with these last 9 finishes, that brings the tally for 2022 to 53 finishes - one less than last year but I managed to hit the magic 52+, with 51 of them finished in the last week!!
Hopefully 2023 will see the enthusiasm continue, without such a mad dash to the 'finish line', for a start I need at least one more unit for 130pts at the next Billhooks BASH in April so I best get cracking?

WAB - Germanic Skirmishers (Nick)

Day 1 of 2023 and here we are with the first post of the year already, ...although as has happened in previous years these are actually 2022 finishes that I didn't have time to post before Big Ben went bong!

We also have a change of tack from the War of the Roses deluge as I was able to quickly get these skirmishers with javelins ready for my Germanic WAB army - back to Wargames Factory plastics again and the usual Games Workshop washes and occasional Contrast paint over a white prime:

As was always the way back in the day I've kept them cheap and cheerful for WAB without any upgrades (and an odd number to play about with the 25% casualties rule).
However other rules sets do equip them as standard with bucklers or shields so I may revisit them in the future to add these, but for now I'm calling them done much in the same way as my javelinmen for Lion Rampant.

In the meantime they may make an appearance in Infamy, Infamy where I only need units of six, so when I finish another nine that will make a healthy 3 units to play with.

With these 9 done that makes 44 finishes for the year but I've been VERY busy in the last 24 hours so...

Never Mind the Billhooks - Bowmen (Nick)

Moving on swiftly to the last of my War of the Roses finishes for now with my second unit of bowmen (bows) for Never Mind the Billhooks 'Deluxe' (or Archers for Lion Rampant/LR2), and again plastics from the Perry Miniatures and their Wars of the Roses Infantry set:

Pretty much all the details have been covered in my previous War of the Roses posts, so here is a group shot of them showing the second set of 'bows and bills' in a combined block together:

Well my time away has added 33 finishes in just 3 days, plus another to finish the banner when I got back, bringing the yearly total to 35 instead of the paltry 2 it was this time last week - all good and not nearly so embarrassing, and I'm pushing on like a madman in the last few hours of 2022 to see if I can up the tally still further before the New Year!

These latest figures also mean I can finally field a fully painted 24 point retinue with my War of the Roses project for Lion Rampant with the skirmishing archers as extras - still not quite enough for Never Mind the Billhooks, but I'm working on it... 'family' photo to follow when time and daylight are on my side.

Never Mind the Billhooks - Billmen (Nick)

More War of the Roses from me to head into the finish of 2022 with a flourish, much like 2021.

This time my second unit of twelve billmen (bills) for Never Mind the Billhooks 'Deluxe' (or Expert Yeomen/Veteran Light Infantry for Lion Rampant/LR2), again plastic figures from Perry Miniatures.

Nothing much more to say that hasn't covered in my previous posts, except that these are all built from the War of the Roses Infantry box set and not the conversions of last time - definitely much more robust if rather awkward to rank up:

These twelve bring the yearly total up to 23 finishes, so we're getting there but 52+ seems a long way off still...

Never Mind the Billhooks - Men-at-Arms (Nick)

Next up in the count down to the New Year are another three War of the Roses Men-at-Arms for Never Mind the Billhooks 'Deluxe', or Billux Dillux as it's known.

Again Perry Miniatures plastics, and a mix of several of their War of the Roses sets, further details are covered in the previous Men-at-Arms post with the exception that the banner is one of Pete's Flags excellent examples for Lord Thomas Stanley:

That just puts me into double figures for 2022 finishes and although still only half the required unit of twelve I need for Never Mind the Billhooks, when added to the previous three surcoated men-at-arms is enough for a unit in Lion Rampant.

Never Mind the Billhooks - Skirmishers (Nick)

Now for that end of year push I mentioned... a few days away from home and a specific project on hand means I could finally get those 'should have been finished in February' figures off the work in progress pile, instead of watching endless hours of Christmas TV.

There is a distinct feeling of déjà vu as I go into the last few days of 2022, with more figures for Never Mind the Billhooks from the Perry Miniatures plastic War of the Roses infantry set - although the new book is now available after a 12 month delay so they will now be heading for Never Mind the Billhooks 'Deluxe'!

This time we have a band of skirmishers armed with bows (or bidowers/skirmishers for Lion Rampant/Lion Rampant second edition, which was recently released too!).

There isn't really anything different from the previous War of the Roses figures, although not specifically liveried for Lord Thomas Stanley this time as I see them more as local woodsmen emerging from the undergrowth to harry the enemy before fading back into the shadows - to this end I deliberately selected the least armoured figures I could and chose more muted colours, I also made the bases more fussy to indicate that rough ground/woodland they would occupy much like the bidowers I previously finished for Lion Rampant:

I always wanted this unit for Lion Rampant when that was their original destination, but as if by magic this Special Event card for Never Mind the Billhooks gives them a new purpose ...even if it means they don't see action very often (Burgundian crossbows & handguns being a more solid choice for the main army).

So just six more figures finished, but strap yourselves in as the end of year finishes will follow in quick succession now - but can I hit that magic 52+ target again... a tall order indeed!

Day 730 - a 2nd year of paint-on-brush (Nick)

So yesterday marked 2 years of Carl & I trying to put 'paint on brush' every day, or in my case 'something' every day for the last year.

Real life has had quite an impact on both of us for differing reasons, however I have managed every day again apart from one or two when I genuinely forgot to the point that I'm not even sure if I actually did something or not!
Again Carl has been on and off the horse numerous times and neither of us have too much to show for it in 2022, however the efforts at end of last year mean that the last 12 months of doing 'something' every day have seen 50 finishes from me but should have been many more.

I intend to continue the mantra into a 3rd year without any immediate changes, just the hope I can push some of those projects over the finishing line for another bumper year end - I guess doing 'something', no matter how little, is still better than doing nothing at all though?

Age of Sigmar - Ogor Glutton (Nick)

Another 3 months on and to be honest this guy was done not long after the Savage Orruk of my last post, but I was holding back on the blog update as I intended to add rust effects.
A few experiments on spare weapons didn't achieve the result I was looking for so have decided to call him done for now as I like how he looks anyway, and I 'might' come back to add that rust en masse at a later date.

On a positive note, this 'is' the first of the Ogor Mawtribes destined for our Warhammer Age of Sigmar doubles tournament army as mentioned in the last post, sadly though we were unable to attend and neither army is at the stage it should be by now.

He is a straight out of the box Ogor Glutton model, or Ogre Kingdoms Bull for you old skool square base fans, updated for Age of Sigmar with a 40mm round base and the gutplate armour replaced with a round Chaos Marauder shield (as I had always intended for variation from the norm) which now added a nice tie-in with Carl's Slaves to Darkness chaos army - they have obviously been hanging around together (the Ogors probably attached as mercenaries), the chaos effects either rewards, payment or loot when they have turned on their paymasters!

Again this one was started with the brown zenithal prime I've previously used on my Orruks and Orks, although I had to redo a couple of times and mask off other areas with Airbrush Masking Putty as it seems a good, strong bone highlight is required for a smooth flesh tone - this also required a few attempts, pure Darkoath Flesh contrast paint pooled really badly however using Guilliman Flesh contrast paint to 'colourise' the primer and then Army Painter Flesh Wash to add depth achieved the result I was after.

The rest is Games Workshop's 'Contrast Paints' and my usual choices for gold and silver, metalwork aged with Basilicanum Grey contrast paint and Army Painter Strong Tone wash - the new Ratling Grime contrast paint would probably work really well here too.

So rather embarrassingly this is only the second finish of the year so far, however after some good hobby time at the weekend I'm looking at an end of year push like 2021 to get those numbers up!!

Age of Sigmar - Savage Orruk (Nick)

Wow, nearly into August and my first post and finished mini of the year - how embarrassing!

The year started so well, carrying on where 2021 left off and I should have had another 30+ War of the Roses figures finished in Jan/Feb for the Never Mind the Billhooks event in March, unfortunately I was unable to attend the event and so they never passed the finishing post.

Various projects have moved along in the meantime, but mainly building and prep work - the do 'something' every day mantra continues and I haven't missed a single day, but with little to show for it.

However here is the first to make it into the public domain and quite a surprise entry, not least for me, a Savage Orruk for Warhammer Age of Sigmar:

Carl and I have entered a doubles event at Warhammer World in August and while Carl continues with his old Slaves to Darkness Chaos project, I settled on Ogor Mawtribes which have been sat unbuilt in their box since they first came out some 18 years ago!! ...and just happened to be a 1000 points army in new money.

 - but hang on you say, this isn't an Ogor... well no, having stalled on the Ogors I got an itch to do some Bonesplitterz Savage Orruks and this is me actually scratching that itch.  Only a week in so far, let's see if they replace the Ogors this time around or are just a convenient diversion to avoid finishing what I should?

Again all the heavy lifting is done with Games Workshop's 'Contrast Paints' over the same brown zenithal prime as my 40k Ork Boy only this time I decided a lighter, brighter green was in order which is where the new Mantis Warriors Green contrast paint comes in followed by Army Painter's Green Wash to add depth and darken the overall shade slightly ...and to go with that a good excuse to use the psychedelic shade of Talassar Blue for the warpaint (I had considered orange or pink warpaint, but blue just seems right -  and sits much happier next to the green if there's a slight overlap, which would muddy the other colours).

So not the year of painting I had planned so far, and certainly not what I expected to be my first finished mini but hopefully the start of plenty more to come as there aren't many weeks now for both myself and Carl to finish our armies... wish us luck!

Never Mind the Billhooks - Bowmen (Nick)

Following on rapidly from my last post I'm sneaking in 'another' twelve finishes before the New Year arrives, and more War of the Roses... I'm sensing a theme here, and maybe even the faint scent of a fully painted retinue on the horizon?

My first unit of bowmen (bows) for Never Mind the Billhooks (or Archers for Lion Rampant) this time, and again plastics from the Perry Miniatures and their Wars of the Roses Infantry set:

These follow exactly the same process as the previous Billmen and Men-at-Arms, although I forgot to mention that the off-white of the padded, cotton armour and sleeves/leggings is just the white primer with Army Painter Strong Tone ink pre-shading and it seems to work quite well!

Here for good measure are a couple of group shots showing the 'bows and bills' in a combined block together and how they will mostly form up on the WotR field of battle:

Well that's it from me this year, although plenty WIP projects ready for the hope of some early finishes in 2022 including plenty more War of the Roses amongst other things.

These 24 finishes now bring the total for 2021 up to 54 figures onto the 'done' pile and that elusive milestone, at least for me, of 1 figure painted per week with a couple of extras for good measure - quite an achievement for me personally and something I hope I can repeat or even better next year... one a day maybe - we'll see!