Retail Therapy

I've been lack a bit of focus in my painting for the last couple of weeks and have been a touch frustrated with a couple of purchases which has prevented me from completing some goals I'd set myself (hence the lack of a post last week).

Therefore I decided to sit down and churn through some bits and pieces of 'street' furniture I've had floating about for a while as a way to de-stress.

Most of these are bits from various Mantic Terrain Crates that I was given (last year?) as part of the 7TV Secret Santa I participate in annually.

I hadn't got round to most of them because they are internal features (mainly from shops) and I don't tend to game in building interiors.

First up are these shelving units and a clothes rail. The produce on the shelves were all separate pieces, and I've added some other bits I had floating around. I kept the shelves dark so they might conceivably work in a variety of settings, for example Pulp or Post-Apocalypse.

I haven't worried about doing too much detail on the packaging or clothing as these are background elements and I didn't want to make them too specific.

I took a similar approach to the bending machine, giving the impression of a variety of brands but not worrying too much about doing more than painting each item a different colour.

The magazine rack I kept as faded paper without any colour, again so that I would hit into a variety of settings.

I'm struggling to think of when I might use the janitor's trolley. However, it is a funky little thing.

I bought this skip years ago at a wargames show. In fact it was Sheffield Triples, which might give an indication of how long I've had it.

I never got round to painting it as it is warped and had a broken section. I did however paint the other one I picked up at the time.

I decided to stop fretting and filled it with rubble, including a resin bin bag, and used a tarpaulin made from masking tape to cover the damaged section.

Finally is the teddy bear, which was really easy to to - easier and faster than anything else in this post, and a mcguffin from the launch of 7TV Apocalypse.

I'm not sure I'll ever use it as a mcguffin, but it will work fine as scatter terrain in Fallout or other post-apocalyptic games.

My shopping frustrations (more on this in a future post) have led to me binning several miniatures after stripping anything that might be salvageable. I've also sold some metal Death Company that I was never going to use (I have 10 painted already), and so I've actually made a bit of a dent in the lead pile this week.

Acquired: -83
Painted: 52
Lead Mountain: 524

Hidden Treasure

My head has been in a bit of a Carnevale space for the past couple of weeks which has meant I've been feeling a bit frustrated at not having more to paint for the game whilst I've also lacked motivation for other projects.

Therefore I set about digging through my backlog to see if there was any hidden gems that would help me scratch an itch.

In short, there was.

The longer answer was that I remembered that I still had a pile of treasure chests from a Mantic Terrain Crate lying around and once that was done I set about kitbashing a model to join one of my Carnevale forces to stand next to it as on their own, the chests would make for a rubbish blog post.

The model I used as the base of my kitbash is a soft plastic D&D miniature from Wizkids. I've had my eye on using it for some time as it stands roughly the right height and is armed reasonably appropriately.

The major issue was it had a pretty featureless face, and so the first order of business was a head swap (I think was from a viking sprue). On top of this I gave him a new sword and quiver from some Frostgrave sprues as the sculpted ones were rubbish, and procured a cloak from some Fireforge cavalry.

The result? He'll do.

Not an amazing outcome, the base miniature really has limitations, but I am pleased that I do have something that is useable and will look okay at table level, especially as he'll be joining my Vatican force, which is almost all proxy miniatures of varying standards.

In game I'll be using him as a Templar Marshall as there are only two options for characters in the Vatican using a (regular sized) crossbow, and the beard and bald headake him not look massively like a Squire.

The chests are the final unpainted piece I had left of the Treasury Terrain Crate from Mantic.

Although a bit fantastical, they won't look too out of place on the quaysides of Venice, waiting to be loaded onto a passing privateer vessel.

As such, I took the time to make the open scrolls look like maps to more hidden treasure, or perhaps to where this pile of loot will be hidden.

All in all, I'm pleased to have got these models painted, even if neither are my best work, as I've been able to use up some miniatures that were being overlooked and allowed me to scratch my itch at the same time.

On top of this, I've also managed to sell another Blood Bowl team (this time the plastic Elves from Dungeon Bowl), and so the week ends positively in terms of progress after my purchases.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 44

Lead Mountain: 540

Over-Troubled Waters

One of the areas of Carnevale I haven't really gone into yet is the wackier and more monstrous sculpts. As such, when giving instructions for potential Christmas presents, I asked for some 'big-gribblies' from the Rashaar faction.

Mrs Cheaphammer is not afraid of wandering into my FLGS asking questions for which she has no context and so I received a pair of Lesser Ugdru as part of my gift.

Admittedly, Lesser Ugdru are not the biggest of gribblies available to the Rashaar, but they are definitely gribbly. 

Also, I may already have two from the starter set, but they are the sort of thing that it feels right to have multiples of, and they are different sculpts too.

I was delighted with this gift.

When I came to painting them I wanted to ensure they matched the two I already owned. Fortunately, I'd meticulously listed the paints I'd used on them when I posted almost three years ago.

As I still had all the necessary paints, it was an easy recipe to follow.

The only bit of awkwardness came from one of the bases, as I needed to reclaim one of the 40mm resin bases from another miniature, and as such there were chewed up bits that needed masking.

The leaping Lesser Ugdru's foot (his ankle REALLY worries me) sorted one of the ugly areas whilst a small pile of gubbins from various sprues and bits boxes did for the other.

All in all, I'm pleased with these two, but I do still want some bigger gribblies.

Finally, I've got around to painting the third of the pack of MDF bridges I bought for the game when I first got into it.

Again, I've tried to match styles I used three years ago, and I think I've been successful.

In other news, I've managed to sell a chunk of old metal Blood Bowl miniatures, and so the Lead Mountain has taken a bit of a hit. I'm really hoping to make inroads into it this year.

Acquired: -71
Painted: 42
Lead Mountain: 544

Ashes to Ashes, Rust to Rust

Having had a play around with rust effects in my last post, I decided to go mad and create some suitable terrain for Fallout and other post-apocalyptic games.

The base model is a diecast car I picked up whilst on holiday, mainly because it had the look of a car from the fifties and would be suitable for Fallout.

It's missing the circular design in the bonnet, which I think is meant to indicate it's nuclear fuel cell, but it's close enough for my purposes.

I did spend a good deal of time researching rust methods and thinking about how to go about base coating the car to cover the shiny blue paintwork.

Ultimately, after my experiment with the troll, I decided to just slap Typhus Corrosion straight onto the model, and if the paintwork or shiny bits showed through, that would be fine.

I may end up regretting this decision later, but this process was so quick that I'm not really worried about having to fix it up (or down, as the case may be).

I also threw Typhus Corrosion over the windows to make them grimy, swamped the inside with Garaghak's Sewer contrast paint to make it rotten and filthy, and ripped the tyres off.

After the base, I sponged on Mournfang Brown, Tausept Ochre and Ryza Rust again (going easy on the last one as it's really bright). I also added some sponging of Ratskin flesh to get a more muted orange in there.

I went over some of the chrome areas with touches of Chainmail rather than dry-brushing the whole model as I wanted only these bits to have any sort of gleam.

Finally I put some basing material and tufts in suitable places and did some streaks of Agrax Earth shade down the sides 

All in all, I'm really happy with the outcome. It's not pretty, but it's not meant to be, and this was quick and simple enough to be something I can do quickly when I get my hands on other suitable vehicles.

Acquired: -61
Painted: 367
Lead Mountain: 645

The Seat of Seeing

One of the reasons I really wanted to play through the Quest of the Ringbearer campaign was it would encourage me to collect and build the characters and locations from Middle Earth at a measured pace.

Having reached Lothlorien in the campaign, I know that the next stop is Amon Hen, the Seat of Seeing, in the Emyn Muil where the Fellowship is ambushed by the Uruk-Hai.

It's from one of my favourite scenes in the movies, when Aragorn sends Frodo away walks round the seat to face a veritable horde of Uruks with a look on his face that says, "you boys are in so much trouble."

Despite only being in the background of one set piece, the Seat of Seeing is, for me, one of the more iconic locations in the trilogy, and one that is small enough that I don't need a house extension to store it.

This piece is 3d printed (for those that care, the main body is FDM, whilst the statues are resin) and bought off and Etsy seller, REZ3DPrinting, who I'd heartily recommend - really fast delivery, well packaged, etc.

There was a little bit of cleaning to do on the statues, and the top platform was separate from the column and steps, but the whole thing went together really quickly.

There are some visible layer lines in the columns, but when it comes to stone, that's not really an issue. Additionally, there is a very slight warp on the top platform that means that it's not quite flush at the back of the model. This is not particularly noticeable as I only spotted it when I was gluing the thing together.

The use of resin to pint the statues offers much more detail on the parts of the model that draw the eye, adding to the whole piece.

I've kept the eagles separate so that I can potentially use the main structure in other circumstances, without it clearly being from Lord of the Rings as it has a generic temple/altar feel without them.

The broken sphinx statues will also be quite versatile in pulp or fantasy games. All of which makes this a piece that I'll probably get to use more than I have Weathertop.

When it came to painting, there's nothing to report. A dark grey base with a heavy dry brush of light grey. Job done.

Yes, there are ways of making it look more like real stone, but it's going to have orcs with plastic bases struck to their feet moving round it, so I'll cope with a bit of lacking realism.

I'm really pleased with how the whole piece has come out and I'm looking forward to the next scenarios (there's actually a choice of doing three linked battles, or one big one).

Before I get there, I do need to paint some of the Fellowship in their Elven Cloaks. I do own suitable models of Legolas and Gimli, but I need to track down an Aragorn. I might not bother with Boromir, as it would only be used in this battle, whereas barring a brief costume change at Helm's Deep, they'll be wearing the cloaks pretty much until the end of the campaign.

For tally fans, I'm counting this as one model, as I only counted it as one when it arrived, and it took less effort than a single miniature to do the whole thing.

Acquired: -69
Painted: 324
Lead Mountain: 660

Flying Horror: A Tale of 4 Armies

The commitment to delve to the bottom of the bits box throws up some fairly problematic situations along the lines of: how the hell am I going to use those?

When the problem facing me was a veritable bucketload of monopose plastic bats, I feel I may have come up with a pretty good answer.

The old plastic swarm kit, which I believe was initially made for Warhammer Quest, was simultaneously great and terrible.

Whilst it successfully provided an affordable way to add swarms of Bats, Rats, Spiders and Snotlings to your armies, it was a very rare individual who wanted all of them. On top of that, the uniform monopose nature of the sculpts somewhat undermined the concept of a swarm.

Alternatively the models could easily be scattered around an army as base decoration quite easily. Well, apart from the bats, which sat upon chunky flight stands that looked like they'd been impaled.

Therefore, when it cam to making use of my truckload of them, the first thing to go was the stands.

I had a good look at different manufacturers' bat swarms and opted for simply gluing them together in clumps to give the impression of a confusing swarm.

I used plastic glue for this to form a longer, stronger bond, but the time it took to dry did present some issues with things falling off during construction (largely because I was a bit impatient). The trickiest element was getting a strong enough bond on the base bat to build from.

When it came to painting I opted for keeping it really simple. Going for a Grey Seer undercoat, Black Templar contrast drybrushed with Eshin Grey and Administratum Grey.

Although I'm fully aware that bats aren't black and this makes them a bit cartoony, I'm completely happy with this as the Vampire Counts army, not to mention the whole Warhammer world, have always been more than a bit cartoony.

The teeth and tongue were picked out in white and pink respectively and given a coat of Skeleton Horde contrast paint, whilst the eyes were dotted white and washed in Hexwraith Flame for added spookiness.

I've made sure the unit ranks up because I didn't check the army list before making them; in Warhammer: The Old World Bat Swarms are skirmishers, but this hasn't always been the case. However, my careful construction will at least help with storage.

I've always liked Bat Swarms in my Vampire Counts army as they make for a good blocking unit, protecting the flanks of my cavalry, as they can keep up with them.

All in all, I'm really pleased in how these have turned out. Very few things in my hobby please me more than making a 200 point unit for this army game out of things I had no intention of ever using.

Call me petty, but I consider these things as a degree of compensation for what Games Workshop  did to my Undead in 1999. It's what Cheaphammer is actually all about.

#neverforgetthesundering

I still have a load of the metal Bat Swarms knocking about, but they ended up being based separately for more generic fantasy skirmish games, and I'm not sure I'm going to bother to bring them back over to this army. Much as I like swarms, I'm not sure I need even this many.

Beyond that, I genuinely only have a couple of character models to go and my Vampire Counts will be done to the point of no backlog.

To top things off, I think Bat Swarms were the only models I hadn't done for the Vlad's Army feature pack for 7TV, so you can expect an imminent start on that.

The terrain piece I've done was actually bought last week to be carved up and used as a base to pin the bats too until I decided to just stick them together.

It's a Renedra kit and I took the opportunity to play with how I do stone using something I saw on a video. After a base of Grey Seer and Black Templar (I don't have any black spray) I sponged on some Administratum Grey followed by Grey Seer on the edges and corners.

I them proceeded to wash it with three colours at once: Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade and Seraphim Sepia. I did different colours in different bits and merged then whilst they were wet, which has ended up giving a much more mottled and natural look than a flat colour with a single wash.

I'm really pleased with this and will probably pick up the other kits in this set of ruins to do the same with.

A really successful 24 hours. 21 models off the Lead Mountain, but I'm only counting them as 7 models painted given that it was all so simple.

Acquired: -12 
Painted: 144
Lead Mountain: 831

Changing Rooms

Filling my very kind Secret Santa gift, I've decided to spruce up the interiors of my wrecked buildings with a few items of suitable furniture.

Neither Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen nor MDF were involved.

All of the pieces I've done are from Mantic Terrain Crates (I think), and so they understandably pair well with the Mars Attacks ruins that are also from Mantic, adding a bit more depth, tragedy and interest to the tabletop.

I do like Terrain Crate scenery except for two things. It's a bit pricey, and longer-thinner sections tend to warp. However, as all these pieces are fairly sturdy and they were essentially free, I'm in a happy place.

The dresser and the drawers were done with Wyldwood contrast paint over Grey Seer, drybrushed with Ushabti Bone, washed with Agrax Earthshade (after the plates were done) and then drybrushed again to give them a dusty look.

Similarly, the sofa set was done in The Fang, with metal springs picked out in Leadbelcher and stuffing painted with Ushabti Bone. Once again, Agrax Earthshade and a final drybrushing finished them off.

The toilet and sink were simply done with White Scar, made dirty with Agrax Earthshade and drybrushed again to bring up the white.

I'm not sure about the basing choice as they kind of get lost, but it totally matches a lot of my other post-apocalyptic terrain, so it's fine.

The walls were done to match the Mars Attacks terrain as much as possible. The bricks done with Ratskin Flesh, the timber done with Wyldwood, the plaster with Ushabti Bone and the rubble with Baneblade Brown. As ever, Agrax Earthshade and a drybrush finished things off.

I'm really pleased with this little set and it will work for all sorts of post-apocalyptic games, including The Walking Dead and  Fallout (although Matt tells me there's not enough skeletons for that), and also wrecked buildings in more modern games. The wooden furniture and walls will fit with older period such as WW2 and even into the Victorian era.

And yes, I'm still very aware I haven't finished counting up my new/old acquisitions.

Acquired: 212
Painted: 299
Lead Mountain: 532

Of Runtz & Riderz

My second Ork odyssey comes to a conclusion with the completion of the final vehicle for my Gorkamorka gang along with a very old Ork indeed

The Biker was originally bought to be the leader of my gang until I read the rules properly and found that you needed an extra Spanner for every three bikes, meaning that unless you go big on bikes, an Ork biker is a luxury to be added later in the campaign.

I really liked the model at the time and I still do. It's clear that the Gorkamorka range pointed the direction that design of 40k Orks would move in over the years. Away from the brightly coloured clowns of 2nd edition to the brutal killers bedecked in rivetted armour of the current incarnation.

I'm trying to bridge the gap between these two aesthetics, keeping the bright colours, but rendering as chipped and worn.

I've not chipped the painting on the Evil Sunz logo as I think that would be the bit the Ork owner would take care of to ensure the favour of Mork so that the red paint makes it go faster.

Painting wise there's nothing different here from the last couple of posts. Over reliance on Agrax Earthshade and chipping with a sponge covers a multitude of sins and I'm really happy as a result.

That completes my Gorkamorka gang for now. I've certainly got plenty to be going on with and more than enough for the early stages of a campaign when we get round to it.

I still have another Trukk and the chassis of a Rebel Grot Big Lugga, but without crew for either I'm in no rush to work on them.

In the meantime, here's a really old school 2nd Edition Runtherd. You can see that difference in design through the facial expressions and pirate aesthetic.

This model is by far the oldest 40k Ork I own and turned back up in the recent haul got from a friend. I think I originally bought him to be a coach model for an Orc Bloodbowl team.

If returned to black and yellow from the red I've been using as a spot colour on the Gorkamorka stuff as the main force of my army are Bad Moons.

This chap will be taking control of the Gretchin mob in my 2nd Edition army, freeing up a Nob to rejoin the boss's mob.

Probably the best thing about including a Runtherd in my army is that along with the Mek, he allows me to include the frankly hilarious Shokk Attack Gun in my force, meaning I will now have to track one down.

Despite getting the Biker and Runtherd painted, my numbers have taken another hit this week as I was kindly given a 3d printed artist, which I intend to use in Carnevale as one of the Gifted.

Additionally, my 7TV Secret Santa gift arrived (I didn't realise what it was until it was open) and turned out to be a massive collection of scenic bits and bobs, most of which are from Mantic Terrain Crates, I think.

Pleasingly, lots of this is very generic, working for a range of periods in which someone's house has been wrecked.

And yes, that is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

This awesome generosity means that the Mountain is getting even higher.

Acquired: 212

Painted: 291

Lead Mountain: 540

Fallout of Favour

I haven't played Fallout: Wasteland Warfare for a while, not really since I almost finished painting the contents of the starter set. I suspect that the reason I didn't finish things off was due to me not playing.

Therefore, with only a couple of miniatures to paint, and seeing as I'm on a run of finishing things off, it seemed like an easy win to get this project wrapped up.

Why haven't I played it?

There's no real problem with the game, which I like, is interesting and different to other skirmish games, contains solo and co-op modes and has a pre-existing narrative campaigns.

It seems right up my street.

However, I think the major issue is I've never played the actual Fallout games and so unlike a lot of my side projects, there's no nostalgia hit to drive me. On top of this I've once again not managed to coax anybody else to buy into the game despite them having an interest and enjoying the test games.

Which leaves me with a motivation vacuum.

Until now.

The Zeta Alien is the last miniature from the rather excellent value starter set that I got for an offensively low price on Black Friday a couple of years ago.

He's technically a bonus miniature and as such doesn't feature in any of the intro games or match up well with the other contents of the box in terms of factions, which is the reason why he didn't get done.

When it came to painting I relied on contrast paints, Apothecary White and Fleshtearers Red.

The details on the model were shallow and so I used a white base to make the contrast more contrasty.

As there is currently only a single Zeta Alien miniature in the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare range my little green man looked a bit lonely.

Fortunately I've had this excellent miniature from Crooked Dice lying about for some time in need of a project to join.

Painting this was incredibly simple, more so than the official miniature. Partly this was because of the lack of extraneous bits on the model, but it was also because the metal sculpt is just much more defined.

They look similar enough to work together and begin to open up the possibility of fielding them as adversaries to the Lone Survivor in a scenario.

They also work in 7TV.

I should get a t-shirt with that phrase on.

Finally we have these two 'Phoenix Fizx' vending machines from TTCombat which are clearly more than an homage to the Nuka Cola machines that dot the post-apocalyptic landscape of Fallout.

For these IP-infringment-avoiding miniatures, I decided to use the colours of a certain rival brand of the inspiration for the red Nuka Cola machines.

The miniatures themselves are really nicely detailed and come with separate doors and a choice of removable backs. I've no idea why there's a number 3 taped to the machine, I assume it's a reference to the games.

I'm really pleased with how I've grimed these up to give a post-apocalyptic vibe. I started with bright colours, washed them in Agrax Earthshade (the flat areas have ended up streaky and dirty looking), then slapped some Typhus Corrosion technical paint around the base and in other recesses. Finally I used a sponge to add chipping across the model.

I've never really got on with the post-apocalypse look in painting terrain before, but I think the key is to start with bright colours and work it back to work and grubby so the stark contrast of how things once were comes through the model.

I'll be doing more of this.

So will I play more Fallout: Wasteland Warfare?

Possibly. 

The obstacle to expanding my collection is that the official miniatures from Modiphius are really quite expensive for a game I don't play regularly. Their proportions are also more true scale and so they don't fit massively well with proxies.

Nevertheless, even if I don't get more, there is plenty in the box to provide for any games I choose to play.

Acquired: 90*
Painted: 263
Lead Mountain: 428*

* So, a thing has happened. 

An old friend of mine (who got out of tabletop gaming some time ago) got in touch that he had some miniatures I might want to use. Being me, my ears pricked up at this kind offer and I went to visit to have a look.

OMFG!

There was loads! Two full WFB armies, numerous beginnings of armies, half a dozen metal Bloodbowl teams, Necromunda gangs and terrain, an almost complete (only the buildings missing) WFB 5th edition starter box, even some untouched paint sets.

Also in there was a bunch of stuff I'd left with him and another friend when I moved out of London - my Gorkamorka gang, Bloodbowl teams, Necromunda Ratskins, Space Hulk, numerous ancient bits and pieces.

He also had no idea of value, but not being a total arse, I informed him that this probably wasn't stuff he should just pass on and so I'm in the process of working out what I'm keeping (mainly the things that were originally mine) and selling the rest on his behalf, therefore my tallies are going to be in flux whilst I get things sorted.

However, I don't think I'll be conquering the Lead Mountain this year...