Phreedh's miscellaneous WIPs of all things sundry

[phreedh]

It's the sad and depressing fact that in my daily life, I have no-body to discuss the wonders of lead with. I have not a single friend who is into this hobby to any extent greater than enjoying a game with my miniatures under my direction. In short, I have no-one to share this passion with except you guys. Yes, that includes YOU too.

So, when the forums went down today I felt rather abandoned. I know there is a Facebook group (I made one of my first posts there, lamenting the lack of forum access) but I find it a bit shouty. This is the only place where I can actually share what I'm up to and talk about plans, options and acquisitions. I always intended for my blog to mostly showcase what I've finished, or games I've played. With a dwindling posting frequency, I need to do something else. Thus, a WIP thread (this very thread, actually) have been created. In it, I'll post anything I'm working on or thinking about. Minis, terrain, rules or other nonsense related to my hobby.

To kick things off, a continuation on my scifi skirmish project. It's a Hobby Products Spacelords Wartech. There's another one waiting for the same treatment and together they'll be a pair of hired guns on Captain Morley's payroll. Not much left to do on this guy really. Some details on the guns, clean up the white a bit more and highlight the metals. Goal is to get as much painted with as little effort I can manage, so he's a bit rough round the edges.

In the background you can see a few 40K ruins I got in a lot of misc 90s plastics a few years ago. Quick bishbosh drybrush job over black. I doubt I'll do much more with them, except maybe a few splashes with thinned green wash to break up the grey. Here's an overview of my desk at the moment. It's a constant mess.

Finally, a close-up for Axiom to prove I've done more than prime my contribution to the legacy warband. =)

 

[Jonas]

Great colour schemes on the Spacelords. Very inspirering for future projects for me.

 

[axiom]

Ha! I got name checked

Love those Spacelords figures...the armour/helmet colour is great on the WIP figure. I keep meaning to paint up some more of the Spacelords civilians I picked up months ago...

Oh, the legacy warband figure is looking very interesting - where's he from?

 

[phreedh]

Oh, the legacy warband figure is looking very interesting - where's he from?

It's a female dwarf from Asgard. =) Once again, with Asgard females being mistaken for dudes. =D Sculpted by Goodwin too, unless I'm mistaken. As is Asslessman's barbarian lass.

 

[LeadAsbestos]

Perfect reason to start a thread! I'm in a similar boat here, having had my only opponent, my 10yr old son, move on to video games and leave me w/ no one to share my lead...

Keep at it!

 

[Obscure Creator]

Hey Phreed , very nice ones! Those Space Lord minis are indeed incredible! Even more if you think about doing that on the 80's

So sad about your situation on the hobby ...I really understand you , my best friend who likes to play this things, paint , etc now lives a bit far from y town,
so we can only play/talk from time to time.....and trying to put girlfriend/wife in that role....not work for me

 

[phreedh]

Yup, got no choice but to keep on trucking! =) It could be worse though, I do have very good friends who like a game every now and then. I just wish I wasn't the driving motivation behind it every time. =D

Jonas: The colour scheme was an accident (as most of my colour schemes are). I was planning to do them dark with green goggles. Then, when painting up those ruins in the background I ended up with a bunch of spare greys on my palette and instead painted them with that. When I had finished I realized they looked too much like statues even when I painted the yellow on one of them, so out came the skull white. =) I think it turned out OK. Nice contrast, makes for good readability on the table. The yellow is Iyanden Darksun base, highlighted with Iyanden Darksun and ancient Sunburst Yellow. It might be, but I'm not sure, that I added some white to a final highlight too. Don't think so. Finished off with a wash of GW sepia. Did the whites on the other guy yesterday, took me about 20 minutes. All those greeblies are driving me nuts, but at least there are very few flat surfaces. =D

Diego: Ha, yeah - I've tried getting my wife interested in gaming. She can stomach board games with miniatures, but Hero Quest was a big no-no. I'm hedging my bets on the kids now... my son is nearly 4, not long until we can do some very basic gaming. Let's just hope he doesn't stray down the dark path that LA's lad too. =)

 

[phreedh]

Starting to like this colour scheme... guy to the left is done now (well, except for the base) and the dude to the right have the white finished and yellow base coated. And I just realized I forgot his one boot. Grumbles.

I've spent the evening taking pics of a bunch of Marauder dwarves I've had commissioned for me. Minis I really liked but realized I'd never get around to paint. Posting them in the Showroom tomorrow.

 

[Obscure Creator]

GREAT guys and GREAT scheme! Only one thing , let me recommend you to add a very diluted orange ink wash over the yellow part , you'll get a much richer yellow.

 

[Captain Crooks]

It's a constant mess

Don't insult the word mess with that pristine workspace... if your scalpel doesn't instantly sink into a pile of plastic ork heads, lead filings, circles of dried up paint from the inside of your lids, plasticard clippings, chopped up minis, broken slottabases, discarded rusty blades, blobs of dried putty, bits of twig and 5 types of flock; if you arent being watched on all sides by the sad, accusing, eyeless gaze of dozens of partially painted and abandoned miniatures yearning for completion; if you aren't constantly under threat of being buried under an avalanche of sprues topped by teetering boxes filled with undercoated models; if you aren't continually being accused of barricading yourself in your workspace with walls of empty parcel boxes and bubblewrap by your significant other, then sir, you are moderately untidy AT BEST. This is bush league mess. Come back when you're ready to wallow in filth with the big boys.


By the way, your models look nice

 

[phreedh]

you are moderately untidy AT BEST

I guess we all have different standards. ;D I dream of having this huuuge clean work-space, made for teutonic efficiency. A clean workspace is the best motivation for me.

By the way, your models look nice

Thanks mate! =)

Diego: Thanks - you're right about the yellow being a bit flat. I might do another glaze, but most likely not. I'm aiming for the lowest acceptable standards with my scifi minis. That means, the lowest I'm comfortable with. Not the lowest possible. =D I'm notoriously slow when painting, so in order to speed things up I'm shaving off a few in-between steps and possibly also that final finishing touch. It's either that or turn into the guy who finishes five models per year because he spends 40 work hours on each. =) Even if I rarely play, I paint to play. My painting is utilitarian - I don't really enjoy it that much. I like the satisfaction of finishing a model, but the actual painting process is mostly exasperation.

 

[Count Von Bruno]

I sympathise with you Phreedh, I have nobody in my day to day sphere to talk minis/painting with either, in fact they get called "dollies"

The Space Lords are looking great though brother, keep up the good work.

 

[Golgfag1]

Whoa, slow down that man, nice job on the painting and before you jump-in with both feet - take a step back and look at what you've achieved - a good standard of finish, to nice figures in a fairly typical poses, why would you want to develop these figures any more? Are They leading figures with the their units, are you using them for skirmish games, for display - if the answers no, why bother trying to overwork something that's not really going to be appreciated - in fact by not taking them any further they should make those figures you want to stand out from the crowd even more dramatic - remember sometimes less is more.
If you were to add anything more - why not try high-lighting those nice rivets, buttons etc with a contrasting colours - I think you might be quite please with the result.

Just a thought

Paul / Golgfag1

 

[phreedh]

Cheers Paul, thanks for your reply! These are for skirmish, I'm not an army painting (or gaming) fellow. They're characters, but still just mooks. They'll side with these fellows:

And more, as detailed here:
http://ministuff.godzilla.se/?tag=scifi

I'm deliberately limiting my palette and the amount of details I pick out for this project for several reasons. Most of all, I need painted scifi minis to play games. And terrain. And a playing surface. The main inspiration is 2000AD comics and I have enjoyed the results so far. I realize it's a minimalistic approach to paint belts, boots and pads in the same colour for instance, but it helps the old-school comics look. Less detailed paintjobs than my previous offerings:

I'm sure these guys I'm painting now would look much cooler if I took the time to pick out the studs, cables and whatnots in different colours, painting patterns and insignias and so on - but I'm trying to find the lowest level that I'm ok with. =)

Whoa, slow down that man, nice job on the painting and before you jump-in with both feet - take a step back and look at what you've achieved - a good standard of finish, to nice figures in a fairly typical poses, why would you want to develop these figures any more? Are They leading figures with the their units, are you using them for skirmish games, for display - if the answers no, why bother trying to overwork something that's not really going to be appreciated - in fact by not taking them any further they should make those figures you want to stand out from the crowd even more dramatic - remember sometimes less is more.
If you were to add anything more - why not try high-lighting those nice rivets, buttons etc with a contrasting colours - I think you might be quite please with the result.

Just a thought

Paul / Golgfag1

 

[Obscure Creator]

The guy in blue suit is awesome!

 

[phreedh]

Cheers Diego!

I've got a little more work done on the two mercenaries for my spacer crew. Only need to highlight the armour and gun as well as the metals, then I'm calling it done.

After that I'll focus on something I've had on the back burner for a very long time. It's an angel mini for a younger relative of mine who (very casually) collects angel figurines. A few years ago she fell ill and is currently hanging on by a thread. I thought I'd paint this up as a way to let her know I care a lot even if we rarely talk. It's currently a bit of a monkey on my back as I've had it half painted for a good few years now.

Once I've got that out of the system it's on to Orctober! I'm deciding between three more Metal Magic hobgoblins painted up as slightly slaneeshi orcs (I've done three already) or five pirate orcs from Black Hat. They've been primed for several years, I was originally doing them for a Lead Painters League season. They were obiviously never finished. =)

 

[Dooz]

Cheers Diego!

I've got a little more work done on the two mercenaries for my spacer crew. Only need to highlight the armour and gun as well as the metals, then I'm calling it done.

...

Really like those, both the painting and the figures. Where are they from?

 

[Mr Papafakis]

nicely done phreedh!

its always nice to see those metal magic minis painted up well, their very rarely painted at all!

ive been eyeing off those metal magic orcs/goblins/ogres for a while now, but ive put myself on a "buy no more minis" ban for the past year or so. ive far too many minis that deserve my attention to be contemplating buying anymore.

keep up the good work

 

[Asslessman]

When I see orc in their pristine white prime and a full pot of gretchin green besie, I know something's wrong, oh yes, something is really wrong. When you do let that talent out though, oh yes, it does feel right.

 

[Fimm McCool]

I'm going to need to tackle my Black Hat Pirate Orcs for BOYL 2015 pretty fast... if I see your beautiful work on them I'll probably give up before I start! All of these minis are just beautiful.