babies make for bad hobby

My quest to complete my high-elves came to a screeching halt the other day when my wife woke me up with a "its time" one liner. We got to the hospital bright and shinny and had a brand new baby girl by late and dusky.

Are those elves for me? Cool!!

I did manage to do some damage on the elves before I was "side-tracked". I went with six E. Reavers and some sword masters to make up the difference. Both have decent amounts of paint on them and wont take long to finish if/when I get the time to work on them.

8 Swordmasters

So, as most of you can guess the posts will become a bit less regular (not that that was happening lately) and might include more of my older models that have gone un-noticed on the blog or the painting/gaming table.

Bard

Isle of Blood Mage

Its done. I see more booboo's to fix with the camera close-ups, but in person it looks good, and even though this is a character model, I don't want to spend more time with it at the moment. The reavers have all gotten a coat of chainmail. Two of the horses have the hair painted on. I might be able to catch up yet! No sign of the baby as of yet, which allows me to work on my painting. Of course, now that I have written this I can guess what will happen.

Bard

High Elf WIP

17 was the magic number. I have finished the 17 needed to fill my points total, along with a few extras to get me to 20. Ok, not completly finished, but as good as. Now I just need to find 10 more of these Lothern Seaguard and I will expand the unit to 30. That is proving difficult as no one I know has any they want to sell, give away or trade.
Then there is the High elf mage from the box set. He looks lovely, but oh so many details! That has become the bane of my catch-up time. I like the looks of him so far, but he is becoming painful to work on. The light colour scheme will allow me to field him with the lores I envision, and it will tie him into the army very well. I will try to get a close up of the smoke on a later post, I think it turned out pretty well.
Lastly my Reavers have started to receive some paint. I was very afraid of them before I started, but I call this guy, colour by numbers, as everything is very easy to pick out. I painted this up so far in a short time before bed last night. I think they will look great when done.


These three, bring the total to 18



This makes 20!

So much painful detail

what are they going to look like--Kinda

Bard

Front 15

Better late than never! The last 5 and the character are almost done too. I have put together 8 more Sword-masters to go with the already half finished 10 I have. That will create a 6 wide unit of 18. If I can find some extra (non command group) Sea guard, I will increase that unit too. 6 Reavers, including a standard bearer are ready for paint too...I have not given up!
Without further ado... Here they are

The front 5, and friends

Second rank (aka next 5)

3d rank

Bard

Getting there. the front rank is fully done (need to do gems, but no rush) and little steams from dragon mouths on sheilds, but that too can wait. Will have the next ten done right away, as they are only a step behind. Its been very busy though here witha baby on the way, seems everyone wants to come spend some time before the birth. Entertaining guests makes for poor painting conditions!!
Anyone still reading this, thanks for your patience!

I'm a Git

YES, thats right...I'm a GIT! Month one of my Tale of Painters has been failed. Too many things happening, and not enough time.
I am blaming my lack of success on:
1) Field trips. Over night field trips really make it tough to paint no?
2) Work. Need I say more? June is always the busiest month of the year...what was I thinking??
3) RIFT! Damn you awesome computer game! "Gee, I only have 30 minutes, maybe ill play some computer as thats not long enough to get any painting done..."
4) Family. New baby on the way, lots to get done in preperation.

OK, so month one didnt work out. But I am so close, I will get those 17 Seaguard done in the next week along with the mage and then get started on my next unit of Reavers. Hopefully I will be able to complete and catch up by the end of this coming month...even though my baby is expected this month... DAMN you Life, and the business you throw at me!

On a different tangent...whats up with this storm of magic? Has anyone played it? Is it a seperate game or just another GW "buy more stuff" gimmick? I really love some of the new monsterous mounts and stuff that are available because of it. I think I want to get the magical chaos pillar for a mage and customize one for a high Elf...or keep it chaossy for my ...chaos army?

More later,
Bard

Seaguard Captain

The base coat on the captain are more or less done, just a few touch ups to do...maybe after the rest are done to this point. The 17 needed models + character have all their blues done and are being highlighted at least one level, maybe a few more for the front rank. I have the green seaweed, leather, and bleached bone weapon shafts to finish along with the bases.

Bard

Ocean blue

Marauder paints "Deep Ocean" base coat is complete on the first ten. You can even see Mr.Color Test in the second row. They are really starting to take shape. Hope to have the last ten done in the next few days even though work is always so busy at this time of the year. Why did I decide to do this to myself?

Bard

Tale of gamers update

paint scheme

All the metals and base coat for white done

close up on command

mage starting to take shape

Next up is the dark blues that adorn sashes, sheilds, trim etc.
The plan is to go back to the metals after the tale of painters is done and give them a wash followed by a highlight.
Bard

The First 5

Started the first five of 17 Lothern Seaguard. A person doesn't realize the amount of detail on these new plastic models being made! I usually paint slowly, but am trying to increase my speed again. I realize it takes away from the individual quality of each model, but the goal is to paint quickly and efficiently here. No painting awards for these.
Here is what has been painted so far...
I tried the hawk turquoise but don't like the looks of it beside the ocean blues I have for the rest of the model. I am not sure how I will incorporate the color into the paint scheme.

First coat of metalics

Underbelly blue as basecoat for white

The color test Seaguard

Bard

Night one

Night One--The Non Sleeper


Thanks for the comment Kuffeh. I have a fairly "vanilla" or "traditional" color scheme with my highelves. Chainmail metalics, with a wash. Cloth is white, with a foundation of space wolf grey. The contrast color is turquois blue, which I love the look of. Lastly, red gems and gold as the secondary spots of color throughout. I recently bought a reaper paint 3 set of ocean blues, which I plan on using on the Lothern Seaguard sheilds, and IF it looks good, I might use it on my dragon princes too!

I ended up entertaining tonight...not alot of painting got done. I did get metalics done on three elves though. I also got an email with one of the fellow competitor's models. Some Ogres. I feel cheated! So many points in such a small number of guys!

Bard's High Elves

Allan's Ogres

Bard

Welcome back Carter

Heeesss Baaack! I think I needed a hobby break. So I took one and feel refreshed and ready to go again! Just in time to start painting my models for a Tale of Gamers. Our local gaming group is up to almost 15 people ready to paint their little hearts out, myself among them.
While I have done virtually no painting since I completed the Malifaux commision, I have had the chance to put some models together and get myself ready for the contest in that way. I think I will need the time I took preping models, as "we" are expecting our first this July. So busy times are afoot!

 20 Lothern Seaguard. I need to paint 18 including command to meet my objective...the extra 2 are to get the unit up to size.

 My character model (lord/hero choice). I have three of these guys in a box, so I might as well paint at least one of them.

Next months unit. It will be ten models. They are light cavalry and so I wouldn't normally use command, but they can use it, and I have lots of the models, so I may as well put them together and paint them up!

 My converted standard bearer. I took the champion model from the Island of Blood box set and drilled out his hand to add a brass rod. I took off the helmet feathers to remove the champions look from him. The spear tip is from the Lothern Seaguard standard's tip, while the banner itself is a filled down Lothern Seaguard banner that has been shortened to get rid of most of the raised plastic dragon.

And here they are, primed and ready for tomorrow nights reveal at the gaming store!
Wish me luck!
cheers, Bard
p.s. GO CANUCKS!

Tale of Gamers (#2)

My commision is done, models have been sealed and are packed and ready to be picked up. Now onto something different! A Tale of gamers!

My local hobby store has many painters looking for incentive, like myself, and so this has come about. So far we have Empire, Tomb Kings, Daemons, Dark Elves (x2), Dwarves, High Elves (x2) and a Skaven. I challenge any readers to join the challenge too!

My challenge begins as follows:

Step one: Choose an army

High Elves it is! I have lots of models and not only almost nothing painted, but whats painted is incomplete. I have lots of the island of blood models too. As you can see in the first picture, I have started to clean and prep my Lothern Seaguard.

 Step Two: Paint scheme: I am going to stick with my current blues and whites, with yellows for lions and red for gems. The one thing I have changed, is my normal bases. I painted this large one up to use on my half painted lion chariot. It is also agood way for me to see if I like the colours.
Isn't it funny what inspires a person though? I was looking at the new Tomb Kings book and found inspiration! Page 94 has a Tomb King mural that shows them and the High Elves standing side by side fighting off deamons. Thats what has my Elf Army fighting in a barren landscape.

 This Sword Master (unfinished) has been added to the smaller version of the arid base. The regualr troops will not have the added height of the cork stone that this one does.

Step Three: Troops: Lots of the Island of Blood models available to me, so I will include them in my painting goals. These include...
-30 Lothern Seaguard. Plan is to paint 20 to meet the goal for the first month of painting and use the last ten as point fillers if I need them in the other months.
-20 Pheonix Guardians. Putting them together has been...interesting. They are fairly complicated, especially after putting together so many skaven.
-10 Sword masters that can act as point filler. I have 10 that I can't use as they already have some paint on them, but would like to finish this challenge with a full unit of 20 done.
-10-15 Reavers. They may not be the best troops as light cav anymore, but they are great looking models and I would like to have them painted. At least 10 of them.
-10 Dragon Princes. A christmas gift and one of the best looking units in this army. WIN WIN!!
-A bolt thrower, a mage model (from Isle of Blood or the Avatars of War version...or Both!) A second chariot-Tiranoc this time. Unsure what to make for objective markers, but have my brain giving me ideas for terrain...hmmm we shall have to see how much steam I can maintain.

Copy Cat Killer

He needs his base cleaned up, and a spot or two I see on the camera pictures. One more to go!

Tale of ___ gamers note:
Army choice: Leaning towards High Elves. My wife game me models for the first time this past Christmas, and I need to paint some of these presents!
Painting Plan: Month 1: 18 Lothern Seaguard, inc. full command for 259 points. Bonus: Mage all from the isle of blood box.
Month 2: 8 Dragon Princes, Full command for 290 points. Bonus: 2 objective markers that look like way-stones.
Month 3: 12 reavers, Musician and champ for 266 points. Bonus: 1 Bolt thrower.
Month 4: either 15 Sword masters or Pheonix Guard, full command for 255 points. Bonus: Eagle or Prince on Griffon.
Add this to the 10 sword masters I already have mostly done and the chariot I have started, I have a decent High Elf force in under half a year!
I suppose the other option is to start a TombKing army and paint nothing but their new monster each and every month. I am sure that would go over reeeeaaaal good. yea.
Bard