Lots of work , no painting...

As you can see in the pic below:

I have had a busy, unproductive week. But I thought I would give you all a glimpse of my work desk.

1. A couple Scattergunners I needed to get my unit to 10.
2. A couple Shredders for my mini Everblight I am making for a friend.
3. Troll Whelps. Finger lickin good.
4. Phineus Shae and Bart
5. A unit of Trencher Commando's...that I got painted pink. I am working on a tutorial on how to salvage a model's paint job - and you can't get a more needy model than a pink one...
6. Warpwolf
7. Wolves of Orberos
8. Dire Troll Blitzer
9. Nyss Sorceress
10. Thagrosh
11. a unit of Mechanics and Widowmakers freshly stripped.
12. An Argus
13. Poor Armless wolves
14. My allergy medicine - the main reason I have not been painting - haven't felt like it...
15. My dipping clips. I tried to do an army via dipping in the past - didn't work to well. I keep them as a reminder.
16. My paintbrush/tool/paperclip holder.
17. My paint tray.
18. A small posabel flashlight. For when I prime in black.
19. Gorilla Glue - greatest glue made.
20. My insta set spray - to make gluing instantaneous.
21. One of my new Windsor brushes.
22. The EXTREME juggernaut that just came in the post today. See? I am a man of my word. Will ship it out as soon as I get an address.

So, yeah - been feeling a bit under the weather and thought I would get some assembly in this past week. Its hard to paint when you are sneezing all the time. Sorry guys.

So whats on your desks? Do you have mini's from 6 different factions going at once?

Avast Ye Lubbers!

 Arrrr! Ah know ye didn think tha' 'ol burb be laying low this past week did ye? O' course 'e was paintin' - it was some scurvy dogs that he be paintin'.

Ok, enough of my "type like a pirate day". Actually its been paint like pirate week here at burb-land. I know - I know I should have posted them as I was working on them, but a few things came up.

1. I ran out of green stuff making bases - so 1/2 of them have normal bases.
2. I thought I would try something different on the bases and of course I didn't like the look so 1/2 of them have arcs painted and 1/ don't so I need to fix that.

So here we go. Lets start it off with some 'jacks.

Here are the heavies. And now for some lights.

Those are all the jacks I have currently painted, but I have another Mariner to paint up.

Now for the units. I have a full and a minimum Sea Dog Unit painted, a full Press Gangers Unit painted. and 3 Riflemen painted. I tried to make the units distinctive, but appear to be on the same ship. This is hard to do when they are chaotic pirates. So I decided to go all out and make the max unit as bright and flamboyant as I wanted, and kept the minimum unit muted. So, here you go.

You all might remember my Fiona, well, here are 3 more solo's to go along with her.

None of my 4 - yes 4 cannons are finished and neither are Bart and Shae. But I am working on them.

So, I will try to keep the updates just that - updates. I just got swept up in a bit of skull duggery and would just as well paint as take pics this week. So sorry.

As always, comments and criticisms are welcome!

Sorry for the delay, winner anounced!

Well, I actually tried to contact the winner so I could post what model they wanted and who won but I have not heard from them. So...I thought I would call them out with a pic. All the pics I took with my son pulling the paper out of a box didn't turn out because a flash apparently washes out b&w laser printer ink...Doh!

So I took another one just now and I am calling you out! Claim it or be square!!

The winner is Plarzoid! Congrats - and update your e-mail on your blogger account for pete's sake :-D

Stay tuned to find out what model he chooses.

Drawing TONIGHT

Ok, sorry for the delay - I was trying to find my wife's Camcorder I bought her for Christmas. She has it at work and forgot to bring it home tonight. My cellphone does video and my test shoot looked like crap today so - old school it is. I have all the names printed out (all 42 - I am counting everyone that got in before the end of the day we hit 40) I just need to cut them up, put them in a hat and draw the name.

Stay tuned fine followers!

Wow...just WOW. Free Extreme sculpt for one of my followers it is!

SO I put the challenge out and boy did I get the response. Over 25 new followers in less than 48 hours. I will include all 42 in the drawing to be held ASAP (most likely Friday so I can get the kid to help cut out all the names). What I want to do is put everyone's name in a hat and draw them out that way so I can film it. Also, because I am an old school dog like that so there. So again, thanks for the overwhelming response and congrats to one of you!

Horrible taste in my mouth...

So I sat down last night to work on my Kodiak and not 10 minutes later I was at the toilet worshiping the porcelain goddess if you know what I mean. It turns out that my son, as sweet as he is, borrowed one of my brushes Saturday. Well, when he put them up he thought he would clean all of them with Angela's help. They used my brush soap but did not know that you have to wash out the cleaner. As soon as I got the bristles moist yesterday they literally fell out. Since I am one of those weird "I use my mouth to moisten the bristles" kind of guy - I had a mouth full of soapy horse hair.

So, in a few days when my new brushes arrive I will get back to painting.

So instead of my normally scheduled updates I thought I would share with you all my idea for a fun Talion Charter list I am thinking up.

35pt.

• Captain Phinneus Shae +6
• 2x Mariner 16pts.
• Bloddy Bradigan 2
• Bosun Grogspar 2
• First mate Hawk 2
• 2x Sea Dog Deck Gun 4
• 2x Minimum Sea Dog Units 10
• The Commodore Cannon 4

I figure 3 cannons ought to be able to hold the center and keep the Sea Dogs back to prevent assault. The Solo's would go on the lightest flank and the 'jacks on the heaviest flank - or if its a infantry heavy list keep them with the Dogs to load those cannons.. So what do you guys think? I know its a bit light but I wanted to get as many cannons as I could out there.

Also, don't forget - today the contest starts. Feel free to put the word out any way you can/want to.

Till next time - keep your brushes clean - but out of the reach of your kids.

Come one, come all to Burbs Contest!!!

Well well well. Here it is three months in and I have a respectable 14 followers. Not to shabby not to shabby. Everyone here is quite helpful and I appreciate all the comments. But like any "Red Blooded American" I want more. But unlike every other Okie (the term used to describe inebriated gun toting rebel flag sporting people who live in Oklahoma) I am not to proud to beg.

Here's the rules and conditions. This contest is only good until the day my blog hits 40 followers OR April 2nd, 2011.

Now here is the contest part. I will do a drawing of every single follower to win a prize - but its based on TIME. The Day I start counting is Monday the 28th. So 1 week will be measured at midnight the following Monday.

• If I hit the mark in 1 week - I will buy from Privateer Press the Extreme model of their choice and ship it to you - Free of charge. (Or similarly priced model if you do not have one you want).
• If I hit the mark in 2 Weeks - One Heavy Warjack/ Beast - No Character's. Only your bog standard Heavies.
• If I hit the mark in 3 Weeks - 1 Unit box up to $30 in Value.
• If it takes 4 weeks - 1 Light of your choice - character jacks allowed.
• Finally, if it takes longer than a month OR we dont make it - I will buy a single blister pack of the $10 price range and send it to one lucky follower.

If so desired - I will paint the model too! I would like to do this but its up to the winner to decide! I will paint it in whatever theme to match your army.

 I will write each blog member's name on a list and post the list on or close to the 2nd with a number attached to them. I will then perform a random drawing on video and contact the lucky winner.

So unleash your inner used car salesman and get out there and tell your friends, tell you mom, tell your girlfriend.

Post it anywhere you want with my permission. I request you mention that its Burb's Painting Blog and provide a URL - but the rest is up to you!

Get to it bloggers - the clock is ticking!

Food for thought...

So just a quick one tonight.  but I thought I would share my bemusing with everyone. I noticed since I got back home that having a few weeks with nothing to paint has really made me ADD boy. I mean I am currently working on a Kodiak, trying to repair a 10 man unit of Trencher Commando's that are bright pink I got in a trade, and finish my Trollblood Champions. It seems that I missed painting so much I can't seem t make up my mind as to what exactly I want to paint - but I know I want to paint it all! Which brings me to my next point.

Faction lady of the night-ing. Yes, you know what it means and if you don't - good. Your clearly much younger than I am. And you need to stay in school...and don't do drugs M'kay?!?!? Anyways, back to the subject - faction envy. In the few short months since I started Warmachine I just realized - I have 6 armies with a 7th on the way. Just look at this - I even ran out of shelving!

Now its not as bad as it seems - I have PURCHASED maybe $200 worth of models. Bartertown is my friend. If you go through my posts you will see that I am a fairly prolific painter. And one mans tabletop is another mans beautiful standard. I am in no way trying to brag - so please do NOT regard this as such but I have been very blessed in what I have been trading on btown. When I expect to get 45 - 60% of retail most people have been buying at full retail - which I then sink into more Warmachine. But it seems that once I hit that magical 50 - 60 point range I go "Oooohh Shiny" and pick up some stuff from another faction. At a discount. So there is a life lesson to be learned here - if you are going to paint your army paint it all. Someone somewhere WILL like your painting and try to reward you for it. And even if you decide you don't like the army you are painting - finish it because it gives you practice for when you DO paint that army that you love.

Finally, being inspired by by fellow bloggerite/ dakka dakka member Felix over at Pokeminiatures (please check him out and follow him if you have not - great stuff there) I showed my wife his wall of painted-ness. Apparently she thought it was too cool so when I came home from work I had this:

Please ignore the lonely contaminant on the bottom right. My wife just loves the paint job.

All by herself she bought this, hung it, and then got my son to help her pick out ALL my Warcasters/ Warlocks and put in it. Do I not have the greatest wife in the world?!?!?!?

So now, instead of just having my wall o' Warmahordes I have a wall and case! Thanks alot Felix - you inspired my wife!! And got me a kick butt case!

In parting now that we have all had a chance to sit on "Gran Pappy Burb's" knee and listen to him rattle on I will leave you with a few questions.

1. How hard/easy is it for you to stick with one faction? Why do you wander/ stay strong?
2. When painting a model/unit do you usually paint one thing at a time, or multiple? I usually paint 1 but I am wandering.

Oh, and as a bit of a Post Script: I will be announcing a contest this Saturday. There will be a prize so keep your eye's peeled and let your friends know.

Til next time-

`burb

Trollblood Champion Test

So here is a test model for my Champions unit. I tried to keep him fairly bright and he was actually me decision to use actual metallic's on the armor. I didn't wash him hardly at all and the armor just stood out way too much. So I washed him again slightly and it brought it down to a nice dull "worn look". What do you guys think?

Feralgeist's Finished

I brought these guys to try and fix the horrid joint between the two halves. I just could not get it to look right without destroying too much detail so I redid them 3 - 4 times. Finally I just stuck them together and tried to smooth it out a tiny bit. They are very striking and painting them literally took 10 minutes for both. Total.

1. Prime White
2. Drybrush bright yellow
3. Wash with Thraka Green GW wash 3 times heavily.

Thats it.

Here you go.

As you can see there is no lower mandible - I am sorry but a spirit looked silly to me with this huge jaw sticking out.

C&C as always.

Janissa Stonetide Finished

As she is a solo I spent a wee bit more time on her. She looks phenominal on the table and I just could not capture the contrast very well with my camera. I brought her with my to the FLGS today when I was picking up some paint for my next project and I got tons of wonderful comments on her.

I really like her. I even spent a whole 5 minutes when I was preping the pics to post playing in photoshop to produce:

C&C encouraged as usual!!

Krielstone Bearer and unit Finished

So, I posted the WIP shot of the stone and it has come a long way since then. I was hoping to do a WIP series on how I filled the gaps but I did not have my camera with me.

So here is the unit. I was more than satisfied with the skin before I washed and highlighted it but after seeing my Janissa Stonetide turned out I wanted more of a contrast. They look awesome from about a foot or two + away so I am pleased with them.

C&C as always please.

Home at last! Home at last!

 As you know form my last post a few weeks ago my mother was very sick. She was in the hospital for well over a week and needed direct care for the rest of the time. So instead of a nice vacation I played xbox with my son (yes - the original xbox) and tried to get in a smidge of painting. Unfortunately I had a very limited palet to paint with and an even smaller selection of models to paint. SO without further ado I will begin posting all that I have painted. I hope you all enjoy.

Like a Boy Scout...

..you should always be prepared. Very early Saturday morning I got a call from my mother that she was sick and needed me to take her to the ER. Well, after spending the weekend at the hospital we at least have a diagnosis.
"How is this wargaming related Matt?" I hear you ask. Simple. Friday after work I stopped at my FLGS Top Deck Games to pick up the Cryx Forces book. Yeah, I managed to read the whole thing while waiting with her. Any other time and I would have found 5 billion other things to do besides read all the fluff. I have most of the other books and just about all I have read is the rules parts.

So also, as a side note - I probably will not have much time to update over the next week or so as I need to take care of my family over the next few days. But if all goes well, I should get some painting in as they are forecasting over 14" of snow on top of ice coming in tonight so I doubt I will be at work for the next few. So I will have lots to show when I get back I hope as painting is my relaxer.

22!? Point Grissel vs. Siege learning match

Well, what felt like the blind leading the dumb, deaf, and blind turned into a pretty fun little match. It all started when a friend of mine called me up wanting to learn how to play Hordes. Well, how could I, John Q. Gamer, deny someone the joys of war gaming?

Anywho, I wanted him to get the gist of what Trollboods were about - to me anyways, and tried to get it at 20.
His list:

• Grissel Bloodsong +5
• Dire Troll Mauler 9
• Troll Impaler 5
• Minimum Champions 6
• Full Krielstone Bearer 4
• Janissa Stonetide 3

My list was trying out my newly painted Siege.

• Marcus "Siege" Brisbane +5
• Hammersmith 8
• Charger 4
• Full Sword Knights 6
• Min. Long Gunner Infantry 6
• Lung Gunner UA 2

I didn't take pics and the first turn took over and hour alone. But after explaining all the rules he picked it up rather quickly and after that it went rather smoothly. I was the one to make the big mistake. I ran Siege up to get as much as I could in my control area as those ARM 20 Champs were chomping on my Sword Knights really badly and I needed to try and take them out. Yeah, that went badly, wiffing on nearly everything put into them. But I did manage to kill the Mauler, nearly kill the Impaler and take out 3 Scribes to reduce his AOE of the stone. Only thing was I didn't realize his Impaler was withing 5" of a clear firing lane to Siege. So he walked up, boost attacked and boost damaged - leaving me with 2 health. So I enter full panic mode at this point and try to pull some sword knights back and block his firing lines loosing all but 2 to free strikes. He then Feats giving his Impaler 2" more movement and sneaks around to get a firing lane. And that spelled the end for Siege. It was a fun game - but now I know how a press ganger must feel. I was a bit stressed out about getting something wrong, but going through the books again today and everything  seemed to check out. Funny thing is I had to actually ask him to leave as he was pa-rousing the Circle section of the main rule book for well over 45 minutes after the game... Might have another player here.

My Fiona

 Here she is. I did a lot less washing and more drybrushing on it. Hence the lighter tones. It looks alright - but I am not to tremendously pleased with her. But with the amount of time I spent on her (about 20min total) I can not complain.

Finished Kell Bailoch

Well, one of my first departures from the "factory" paint scheme. But as soon as I saw this mini I couldn't help but think of Clint Eastwood. "You feelin lucky Punk?!!?". Guy just oozed attitude with that nasty scar so I had to make sure it turned out super prominent. I tried to keep some dark blacks with him but a more earth-tone western feel seemed more appropriate. And worn. I tried to give everything a very worn used look.

Wasn't hard, didn't take long, but was a lot of fun.

Finished Forge Guard test model

Here he is. 3'4" of Weapon master goodness. After painting him and washing it there was next to no visible detail. As much as I dislike drybrushing I hit it with a smidge of drybrushing to bring out the detail. Boy I am glad I did.

Finished Ogrun Bokur

Here you go. I want three simple things from my Rhulic forces.

1. Dirty - check
2. 3 color - check
3. Quick to paint - check

They have been nothing to write home about but I just want them to be painted to a decent standard. Clean lines, 3 or 4 different colors and a good thick wash.

So without further ado:

Tomorrow, I bring you my Forge Guard test fig.

Finished Grissel Bloodsong

Here she is minus the basing material. I think I need to get a tripod so I can move the camera a bit further away from the mini's. I have been noticing the tiniest of flaws when the camera is this close in with Macro on. Rather annoying flaws...

Anyways, here she is:

Also, I think I am going to start splitting my posts up by model. So when I go on painting marathons like I have the past few days I don't have a single post with 3 kerbillion pics with all sorts of different stuff on it. Each post will pertain to one model from now on. Also, I plan to go through all my posts and make sure the tags are current so things can be sorted by faction.