Bones 3: The Search for Mr Bones Kickstarter!!!

Click here to find the newest Reaper Bones kickstarter. For us Brits there is usually an extra $50 for shipping, and then £20 for customs tax, but I have found it to be worth it the first two times.

Funds are low this year, with Mathilde going on Maternity leave, and then us having a beautiful baby to take care of. I have 17 days to decide and get Mathilde on board if possible. Just not sure about it. I will watch it carefully.

I cannot recommend this enough though. The miniatures are decent quality and can be used in all kinds of settings. My Song of Blades and Heroes project is being made mostly with these guys.

Dad time.

With the end of my teacher training in sight, I am getting more and more excited for the summer, in which I should be able to find time to finish a few projects. That, of course, is all dependant upon how well my new daughter is sleeping, and letting me sleep.

That is right, my half term holiday painting plans have been dashed by the wonderful arrival of my beautiful daughter, Adelaide. I find myself getting lost in her eyes, and just watching her, not achieving anything.

Well, here is my new family;

I will probably be reposting this.

I have finally finished my skeletons. It has only taken a few months to get them painted and based. Up coming is a dragon and some heroes to fight the skeletons.

My only regret is using a gloss scarlet colour.

I think the two characters below are my favourites. I like that one has an axe, and one has rotting clothes.

In lieu of attending Salute...

I discovered Salute in 2013 and attended. It was amazing. I also went last year with my then fiance and introduced her to my hobby. It was an important moment for us.

Unfortunately, with deadlines and generally being overworked, I can't attend this year. I will miss out on the PSC deals, as well as investigating various fantasy avenues and possibly picking up some SAGA type miniatures to make some warbands. I also would love to have some Fellowship of the Rings miniatures.

To make myself feel better, while running some errands this morning I popped into the 99p Store. I do not regret it. I saw this garden ornament and thought it would make a good monument or something. It is a little broken on top, but that doesn't matter to me. I might stick some foliage on it or something to make it seem a bit forgotten.

I also popped into The Range and looked at the fishtank decorations. I was looking for plastic plants to chop up, but think I might get that online instead. What I did find, though, was this ruined section of building. It was £2.59 so I went for it. Cheap, easy, and ready to go.

On the Bench.

I had planned on priming a whole bunch of my Reaper miniatures so I could just pick them up and paint them every now and then. The idea was to nip over to my parents' house and do this, as my flat is small and my wife is pretty much constantly sick with the pregnancy. However, she has been taken into hospital for a couple of days to sort some stuff out and replenish fluids, and I found myself with an opportunity to prime outside of visiting hours.

The skeletons were primed white, and then i just went ahead and washed the white parts to see what would happen. I like it. I also painted the steel parts. I have, however, realised I need more colours.

The trouble with washing. (StuGs part 4)

Today the sun is out. It has been out all week, but today I am allowing myself a day of no work. No marking, no lesson planning, no essay preparation. Nothing. I even decided to bust out my paints and make some progress on the StuGs.

I dusted off my German Camo Brown and got to work, however, after a while I decided I would take the plunge and wash one of them. I didn't want to pin-wash, because efforts in that regard have been dismally disappointing. I just thought, I would paint the entire StuG with my Citadel "Weird named Oil" wash. I am not sure what to make of my results.

Something about it just seems off. It doesn't look, to me, like the wash has really pooled around the details. There seem to be large swathes of dried darkness. I will grant that it looks grubby. I just don't know what I was expecting. Maybe it is fine, and I am just over-thinking it. 

What do you guys think?

StuGs Part 3.

I started work on these just after Salute 2014. They have been looking like this for almost a year now, but with my lack of modelling and time, I haven't shown how they look. I plan, over the Easter holidays, to devote a little time to doing some painting. During this time the StuGs might get some extra camouflage and dirt. I will also be priming a bunch of Reaper Minis so I can have some small projects to get on with in any down time I may find.  

Operation build a village part 4.

So this is what the house looks like so far. I painted the windows, which need some work. I added a cross frame made from tile separators. The walls have been dry brushed. But progress has long since stopped.

Clones go into battle.

I was looking through some pictures of my Star Wars Miniatures the other day and found this one. These clones are so awesome. I also have a Transformer AT-TE that is completely out of scale, but is fun for scenarios. 

I may have piqued the interest of my younger brother in law regarding SWM, which means I may be showing their outings here. So I guess this is a "watch this space" sort of post.

I feel it in my bones!

I returned home yesterday evening after having a pretty intense week at school. I feel my teaching is improving, I have a job interview for a position in September, and I am very tired.

Waiting for me on the floor was a note from the postman saying I owed customs money (which I was expecting) and I had to go down to the distribution office to collect the package. Looking at my watch, I saw it was 16.50...Distrubution office closes at 19.00, it is next to a bridge that is partially closed, and is a vital commuter route in and out of the city, and right now it is rush hour. 

The decision was made to eat my dinner, and just before 18.00 I left, phone almost dead, note and wallet in hand to go and pay the money. Unfortunately I have never had to go to this particular place. I knew it was just before the bridge into town, so upon seeing the bridge, I turned right. There were too many houses for this to be an industrial estate. I pulled over, turned the GPS on on my dying phone to find out I had turned off for the wrong bridge: one over the railway, before the one into town. 

Upon completing a 20 point turn I returned to the main road to find I couldn't turn back onto it. Panicking a little, I crossed the main road, and turned around at the first opportunity. Back on the main road, I went over the railway, silently cursing my stupidity. Nervous, I saw the bridge (the real one) approaching and turned right again...into a cul-de-sac of trendy waterfront apartments. Turning around, again, I made my way to the main road, and took the next right turning...again another turning too early! Frustrated, I parked my car and walked around the corner into the industrial estate, only to find that the distribution office is right at the end.

Eventually, at 18.30 I walked in, pulled out my wallet and card, only to be told "we only accept cash. There is a cash machine at the garage over the bridge". Running to my car, I realised how unfit I am. Sweating, I pulled away, made my way across the bridge and found the garage. Card inserted. Buttons pushed. A strange timer. "We were unable to process your request". More curses. Another attempt. Same result. It is 18.40. Where is there a cash machine? Bitterne, just up the road. Fighting through the bridge traffic, I headed over to Bitterne, pulled in behind the gym, ran to the bank, withdrew some cash and got back in my car. Then it hit me, I can't get back onto the main road from where I am. I decided to just head in the general direction and hope for the best. Well the best happened and I ended up on the same road where I had to turn around earlier.

I walked in the doors at 18.58 and picket up my package. The staff had their coats on and were about to leave. 

The box seems smaller than Bones 1, but I love it. Lots of lovely miniatures to start painting. With my time being very limited, I think I will be spending any spare model time painting these guys. I can't wait to start.