Too many Paints and Old Style Dwarves

Hi Chaps and non Chaps,

Work has been intense this week so I only managed to paint a handful of models which as you could guess are older Games Workshop products bought cheaply on ebay. I have no idea about the lore regarding Dwarves, Elves or anything else that GW produces-my "background" info comes from The Hobbit so I may be missing a lot of detail!

The figures are almost complete but I will give them another pass over tomorrow to eradicate any glaring errors, after all these are rank and file guys and not characters...

It was a refreshing change to work on something other than Empire-these guys were really cheap off the internet and are now the beginnings of yet another army. I am not complaining but I do need to get a couple of new shelves

Earlier today I visited GW Preston to buy some bone coloured paint. Needless to say I bought 6 lots of paint but not Ushabti Bone or whatever it is called now as I forgot.

On arriving back home I had a look at my paints and I seem to be collecting more paints than figures

Vallejo/Others paints =35
Vallejo/other washes  =8
Citadel washes =9
Citadel special paint= 5
Citadel paint=58
Other paint = 2

The reason I mention this is that the 6 paints I bought today cost £17..OK I am old but bloody hell £17. This hobby can seem a little expensive especially if like myself you are on a bit of  budget.

Keep blogging people, I love reading your stuff.

Greenstuff World, Ebay and old GW figures

Hi Chaps,

It is a lovely sunny day here and all is well with the world (well my part of it), I do hope all you chaps are feeling just as zen?

Anyway this morning I took a few snaps of this weeks early morning painting sessions, I have ordered another lamp and some different colour backgrounds in an attempt to improve my photo quality...we shall see.

Mostly I have been painting older GW figures for my Empire army but an order from the Perry twins arrived so now my General/Warlord has a bear to make himself look even more impressive when I finally buy him.

This pack came with horn blowers who will be handy to flesh out the three units that I currently have completed.

This is another older figure that I managed to win on ebay...I do remember looking at him back in the day he was new and thinking wow how expensive! I probably paid the same amount for him second hand though!

Above are the latest motley crew of second hand figures that required either stripping, repairing or just altering to make servicable. In the end they I think they will be OK for line troops but I will try to purchase unpainted figures in future.

Perry twins Siss musicians are about right height wise but look a little slender-I will just have to tell myself they are younger troops or just effeminate. Price wise the Perry twins are great value even more so if you buy plastic-the plastic heavy cavalry is on my list for this army. The list for this army is actually quite large and I have many wants including figures from Artizan, Gamezone and Foundry.

Today I ordered the Generals Handbook but almost forget to mention my favourite little purchase in a long time...Greenstuff Worlds leaf punch!

This little punch could be sold in meditation centres all over the world. Just insert a fallen leaf, press the button and 4 perfect little miniature leaves get pressed out of the machine....different coloured leaves add to the variety....leaves are free! Now my bases get a little extra attention for nearly no cost....treat yourself to one of these if you like your bases to be full of character or you just need to relax.

Keep blogging Chaps (and our lady Chap sisters) you keep me going.

Veteran GW Spears

Hi Chaps,

Well I have just completed the most decrepit group of figures that I own. Thank fully I will never have to look at them closely again....on the table they will hopefully look OK but these guys arrived with spears glued on in the wrong position and detail obscured..ughh.

The unit is of 10 spears but only seven appear in the pic as the other 3 were still awaiting paint...as it turns out 30 or 40 minutes hobby time through the week before work is a useful way to complete line units. I can give myself a treat  of a character at the weekends.

The muskets are awaiting paint but the non standard guy is holding up the proceedings because greenstuff takes a good 24 hours to dry.

It has been a rather standard week on the hobby front but some old figures from the 90's arrived....I always wanted the drinking figures from Games Workshop but could never find them. The Priest will work as a stand in Wizard for my Empire army which I now realise is made from figures from very different era's.

Keep blogging Chaps you help me through the day with what you create.

Vintage Games Workshop Empire Muskets.

Hi Chaps,

Well it has been another busy week on the work front with nearly no painting time....but I have found a slot! By getting out of bed 30 minutes early I am starting to develop a method whereby I can still paint a unit of troops (10 for me) each week. Obviously this method is a work in progress and painting before 6AM is a new thing but by applying just one colour to 5 of the men in a unit I can get all 10 to a stage where I can complete them on a Saturday morning. (at a decadent 7AM).

Where there is a will there is a way....

The Dracoth thing was an impulse by from ebay...I had never painted a big model before so this was a first. The quality of Games Workshop does seem to continually improve and I may invest in some more newer releases.

When I said there is always a way I was of course excluding my damn computer which refuses now to crop the height of a picture without also taking the same amount off an edge...it never used to do this. Oh well more things to add to the wants list.

Also now that I have mentioned "the list" I have ticked a few items off of it in the last few weeks, namely a Dwarf starter army (on its way) and a leaf punch from Greenstuff which should arrive later this week. I have coveted a leaf punch for some time but the spare money (a paltry £11 inc postage) was always in demand somewhere else. Having had a good few years living carefully to say the least I have become a bit of a "prepper" as regards everything-especially hobby wise. The plastic mountain will grow large enough to take me into retirement by the end of the year.

Keep blogging Chaps it is my escape time at work.

Repainting Vintage Games Workshop figures.

Hi Chaps,

This weekends painting time was spent bringing a new lease of life to some old Games Workshop Empire figures. I always loved this range but never bought any back in the day because hobby time was spent on "real" war gaming. Oh the wasted years....

To be fair I have been on a tight budget for a long long time (or is that always?) so I would probably have never bought these new anyway. Ebay provided this little bargain, around 30 figures and a cannon for under £20. At this price I was not bothered if the whole project went pear shaped but the figures were surprisingly err average. I think thay had been stripped and then sprayed white as the finish was a little rough but it was workable. A couple of the figures were placed into the spares box immediately and I was left with two units of 10 muskets and 10 spears.

25mm mdf bases from warbases were used instead of the now oh so last year squares and if I am honest the figures look all the better for it. So 4 or 5 snatched hours later (an early start this morning whilst everyone was snoring helped) and this is the result. Maybe through the week another couple of men will join the ranks and I am pretty confident that the musketmen will be a complete unit by next weekend.

Obviously I have a white balance issue and a decent camera is on my list...so many things on that damned list though! An order to the dice bag lady maybe made at the end of the month to source some female heads as I do want an all female unit of spears. I have no real reason for this except it should look cool and I have never seen one before.

Please keep blogging your work Chaps it makes for excellent reading.