Spooky encounters

Hi everyone! I hope things are going well out there. I'm still under this kind of home arrest, leaving only for unavoidable job issues and things of the like. Still not much hobby time, but I managed to spill some paint on these minis, coming from the Kickstarter Wally Harwood from Harwood Hobbies launched with Ana Polanscak's from Gardens of Hecate sculpts.

I never had any certain project in mind, but wanted a fistful of these so bad that I couldn't resist. I didn't get the full batch though; I got the Blood Fiend:

Anthropomorphic (or whatever) representation of Covid-19

It's so Blanchesque in its conception that I couldn't but avoid to get one, it's the fabric of nightmares, I simply love it. I don't have a current project for this one, but it will fit in some kind of Undead army, or even better as a beast from the Warp which needs to be taken down, I think the scenario writes  itself.

I also got the signs:

Atmospherical indeed

I couldn't manage to make the signs readable, but I think they all serve their purpose. I simply love them.

Spooky encounters on the forgotten realms. Yeah, I need a backdrop

I'm enjoying the fact of grabbing just a few minis and having this 'closure' feeling. It's nice among my other larger projects and really helps to see something finished. So I'll be looking for more...

Rogue Trader Bounty Hunter

As you may know by the news, given the current coronavirus situation, all the country is under lockdown. We all are set at home and general sanitary measures are being taken seriously. We may only leave home for work or groceries and anything else has been cancelled and banned by the Government.

No, I'm not starting a cyberpunk novel, that's actual news nowadays. Well, as much as the situation looks pretty serious, being locked at home should provide some more free time for all of us. At least that's what I thought! However, being locked at home with the two younglings all day long is pretty much time (and energy!!) demanding! And once they are finally in bed, I do have job issues to attend that cannot be postponed. Gasp.

 

Enough whining. I'm making the effort of painting, even if it's just ten minutes every two days. While I keep working on my large board (ten minutes every two months) I'll be bringing small standalone projects, which I hope will prove less time demanding. Part hobby, part mental health.

 

I finished this mini quite some time ago, but never posted about it.  It was a gift for a friend, part of a Secret Santa initiative from a group. I chose this one:

Imperial Guard 'Lasgun 3' of yore

I thought it could make a nice Rogue Trader inspired bounty hunter for his Necromunda games. So I painted the guy in the proper fashion.

As much RT as I could get

I had never tried facial paint, so it was a fun step to take, though more difficult than expected. You can easily ruin all the work of the face (and the whole mini) if it doesn't work. However, I think I may repeat (and hopefully improve) it in the future.

 

I think he could still serve in the Guard

The 'Necro' on the shoulderpad was, of course, mandatory

So were the checkers. Checkers Police came soon to check how many checkers I had done

So here you have him, Ivan Pontburne, bounty hunter. Constantly wandering through the Underhive and hiring his services to the highest bidder. Bodyguard, manhunter, hired muscle, you name it. You want a job done and the pay is fair, you got your man.

This will be all for today, but I'm working on some other small projects like this one, so I hope I can make these quarantine days (or should I say nights) more bearable. No idea of how long will it take, but it will be some 4-6 weeks at the very least for sure (how I'd love to be wrong!). I'll make my best to keep the blog alive and in good shape!

Main facade finished

Hooray! New post! It's taking me waaay longer than expected to paint anything these days. Not because I've lost my paint mojo or anything, but due to pure real life issues.

 

To make it up to you, I'll try this post to be worth the delay. I've been building the main front facade of the mining town. It all was too plain, so I started to add tubes, plumbing and stuff:

A slight touch of colour

You can barely notice any difference, but there are some hours of work from the other pic to this one

The process is painfully slow. Work, children, life, etc. left me scarce minutes from time to time. This is the perfect example. Here you can see all the progress I could make in two whole days:

I sticked two matches. All. I. Did. I mean it. For. Two. Days

Then the awning took me another three stupid days

To bring this board to life I knew I had to add tons of absurd details. I used anything I had at hand.

These are lollipop sticks

You guess what I'm trying here?

Right, a nice terrace

A rudimentary hoist of unknown purpose

So this was the aspect of what I was getting:

Ahhh, way too clean. Something must be done...

Weathering and dirt!

The hard part here is not to overdo it

Do you remember what I tried (back in this post) about the prayer flags? I think I found a place for them:

I hope they don't look too festive

Yet more details!

Still playable

I'm aware I'm on the verge of building not a gaming board, but a dollhouse. It's something I have to remember from time to time. In the pic above, the table is just a standard 25mm base with some sticks. The bottle is part of a set by Green Stuff World and the rug is but printed paper (you may want to revisit this post to know more).

A friend kindly provided me some 3D printed pieces which I can certainly use here:

Not pretty sure of what is this

But I can make a... street lamp? Long range scanner?

Who knows! Who cares!

So, with some details here and there I came to this final result:

Ta Daaaa

All these weeks just for a facade

But this cannot be considered a town if there are not any people around!

Find a crew, find a job, keep flying

Dirty posters and dirty rugs

Sticking posters there inside was kinda challenging

I wanted to add more stuff here, but it had to be playable, remember?

The weirdos are following miss sunshade

Maintenance of those antennae is tricky!

Apart from the sand on the MDF board, I consider the facade finished

The pics really don't show the time invested here, but I don't care that much, as I'm enjoying myself. So well, what's next?

I think I'll paint some minis or anything smaller, so I don't disappear from the blogosphere for another month, but...

...this other facade looks unbearably empty now, doesn't it?

Let's see how long does it take!