Secret Diaries of a Zombie Call Girl.

Hello mid week gamers. I thought I'd do an early post this week as I'm off to Arnhem to see the streets for myself. I am very excited and expect to see many a photo and inspiration for another Flames Army. Anyhoo to the real reason I'm posting. My Malifaux crew of 25 points is complete. This has been a wonderful project and I have really enjoyed thinking about how I could make the links to Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland.

Firstly, I would like to thank my girlfriend for the choice of colours that these ladies of the night are adorned with. I recommend that if you ever find yourself thinking about the colour of uniforms or clothing go ask your partners. Women's innate ability to choose the correct shoes to match their outfit seems to work in the miniature world too! Never before did I think that I world hear the words "I wouldn't be seen dead in that!" (pun intended) Followed by an argument about how a pink dress should be accessorised. Taking fashion advice for your models is worth doing as I am sure you will agree. So again, thanks Joolz!

I am very pleased with how Madame Sybelle has turned out. Based on the Queen of Hearts I spent a lot of time free hand painting extra hearts on the bodice and the fan. The flesh of these zombie ladies used a mixture of tallarn flesh and rotting flesh in varying amounts. This is blended with purple wash to give a translucent appearance to the skin. The skin was then given a liberal brushing of a mixture of the old GW paints chestnut and red inks. Their glossy finish gives the blood splatter a suitably wet finish.

Finally, I painted Alice using the Bete Noir model from the range. This gave me a chance to practise painting white in a different way to my usual method. Using the same technique of base, shade, base, highlight I managed to achieve the desired result. This model is very simple as there are not to many accessories on it. To give the model that extra something I added some extra blood splatter across the dress (you can't have enough blood!)

Well I'm off to explore the Dutch countryside hopefully 30 corp will make it to reinforce my position and bring me back in time for tea... Or maybe it'll be a Bridge too Far!

Wraiths, Paints and...Bicarbonate of Soda?!?

Gribbly Green Menace

This week has been a very exciting week for me in the world of miniature painting. I got my very first (proper) commission and its for a model I have been dying to paint for a while. I often find that there are models out there that I would really like to get my paws on but have no need for them in the armies I do. The reason for this project came about after a conversation with a colleague at work. I was talking about how I had started this blog and showed her some of the pictures of stuff I had put up. She asked me if there were any "Grim Reaper" models, as her boyfriend likes to collect them. At this point my eyes lit up and I immediately showed her the Cairn Wraith GW model. Impressed, she asked me to paint one for his birthday and low and behold here we are!! This is one of my favourite miniatures available at the moment and for a plastic (yes I thought it was finecast too) model the quality is outstanding. I've gone with an unearthly green colour scheme to give it a supernatural glow. This has been one of my more easier projects as the majority of the model is robe.

Woot!!!!!!

In addition to this exciting personal news something else has caught my eye with the up and coming release of the new paints from GW. I can't wait to get the mega paint set of these as they have increased the range to also include glazes and powders, its like Christmas, Easter and New Year in one! I asked a GW staff member why the change and he told me that: one, the company that will now produce the paints could increase the range and two (more importantly) the paints will now be manufactured in the U.K. Why is this a big deal? Well, in my mind U.K. manufacture needs all the help it can get at the moment especially in the current economic climate so all I can say is bravo GW.

Weapons of choice: Super Glue and Bicarb.

Finally, a strange one. A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to a chap about super glue (bare with me on this). I mentioned to him that I couldn't stand using the G9 spray rapid cure, which is very good but leaves a horrible smell making me feel ill. He said to me have you ever tried Bicarbonate of Soda.... At this point as I looked at him blankly thinking had I accidently walked into aa cookery and baking class. Many days past and the conversation was filed in the back of my mind. I forgot about it until yesterday. After, purchasing the latest Wargames Illustrated I read to my amazement that one of the articles in it suggested the same idea and that I give it ago.

Upside down Bete! 30 seconds after
Bicarb application.

So, I did. Having just bought Bete Noire for my Malifaux crew I set about the difficult task of basing her on the Wyrd Metal bases ( a nightmarish task). Wandering into the kitchen and rummaging around my girlfriends baking cupboard (she makes exceedingly good cakes) I found some Bicarb. Massively sceptical, I gave it ago and could not believe the results. Bete Noire was instantly stuck! Who would have thought it Bicarb the Rapid Cure. Try it out and you will be amazed. That's it for this week, I have almost finished my 20 point crew and will have pictures up soon.  I also plan to play a couple more beginner games with Animatronica, but if your ever down Heroes and Legends I play almost everything (except Fantasy, what the hell is a square base?) The new episode of Failhammer is out too, which are always worth a listen. I often find myself painting with it in the background. Right I'm off to super glue more stuff. Bye.

  

Tea, Medals and Wargaming!

The battlelines are drawn.

Friday night gaming comes round so fast these days. Another day another game of Flames of War. This time with a chap called Gez using his Nomandy Hitler Youth painted by Animatronica. So this time I decided to record the valent efforts of the brave men of the 6th British Airbourne. My last game against a New Zealander called Bob (a very common New Zealand name I'm told) went very well. So with my men's morale high we waited for the German army to strike.

June 1944 Somewhere over mainland Europe Major Tathem Walter waited in his fox hole knowing that somewhere just past the crest of the trees German infantry were poised to strike...

The sound of enemy artillery flew overhead slamming into the 6 pdrs position. Luckly they were too well dug in for the shells to do any real damage.
"Report in, Sir", saluted the runner.

"What is it Jeffrey, can't you see I'm busy, some of C company has just bowled their last over and they're out for a duck!", Exclaim the Major.

"Sir, reports of some of Barkmann's infantry are trying to take our flank!"
Grabbing his binoculars the Major surveyed the field of battle. Sure enough the enemy were making a break for it. "Well thats just not cricket. Artillery maximum effect on my command."

The German Infantry are destroyed. 

The light canverse offered little or no protection from the bombardment. The survivors stagered out only to be torn apart by the machine gun fire from the recon platoon that had just made it back from a routeen patrol of the area and had arrived in the nick of time.

Waving his brolly in the air in approval at their destruction, the Major now turned his attention to the tanks and the platoon the he knew were some where in the thick undergrowth of the treeline.

Pathers Attack!

With a roar, the Panthers had decided that enough was enough and moved towards the left flank look ingto create another German breakthough. This attack was led by none other than Barkmann himself. The Major watch the lead Panther drive head long into the cornfield...

Silence...

The driver had stalled.

"Thats a spot of luck", said Jeffery.

Barkmann Stalls

Unfortunately, for the Paras the 6pdrs were still reeling from the pounding they were recieving and were unable to capitalize on the driver's error. Realizing that the tanks were trying to create a gap in the British line the Major ordered his lads to move double smart and take out the armour before it was to late. Meanwhile, the recon jeeps were closing in on the objective but needed more time to make it secure. Artillary and machine gun fire were traded time and time again but both sides were to well dug in for it to make any real lasting effect.

"Get those guns back into position", screamed the Major.

With that the gun teams plucked up the courage and moved to their firing positions.

"FIRE!"

Barkmann's tank exploded in a gout of smoke and flame.

ATTACK!

"Howzat!" cheered the Major, failing to notice Barkmann and two of his crew escaping from a side hatch and disappearing into the corn field. With the main thrust of the German army in disarray and Barkmann heading back to his repair HQ to request another Panther, it looked like the battle was won. The Recon team making it to their objective cutting off any escape route that may have been possible. The Germans were surrounded 

"Well", said the Major, "Tea and Medals anyone?"



To late for the German Armour.

Overall, a really fun game. I did feel that Jez was a little unlucky as he rolled badly for a bog down check on Barkmann leaving him stranded and vunerable. This allowed me to sweep in and take both objectives. In hindside Jez says he won't be taking Barkmann in small pointed games again as he comes in at a whooping 300 pts for this army. I feel like I am getting the hang of the mechanics of this game and I can now look at working on the tactics. The scenarios are what makes flames such a tactical game. I can't wait to try out the others.So, don't just sit there get stuck in choose a force, theatre and theme and give it a go!

Its All in the Cards

Well all in all a busy week for gaming. My Malifaux Crew arrived and I got to learn the rules (a bit) at my local club run by the Heroes and Legends guys. What an interesting game! Its nothing like I've played before as it uses cards not dice. The idea being that you get the same amount of good luck to bad. You just have to know when to use it. Each player takes it in turn to activate a model, which makes the games very tactical. I was using Seamus and his Rotten Belles whilst Animatronica was using his guild force (Criid's Witch Hunters). Malifaux is not the easiest of games and I've learnt that I'm gonna have to play many more games to understand more of the possible combinations and effective tactics. However, both games that I played were incredibly enjoyable and I can't wait to play other Crews.

Seamus, himself is finished and was a joy to paint. As I mentioned in a previous post I wanted to him resemble the Batman Mad Hatter and I feel I have achieved this. I added a bow tie and a 6/10 card using green stuff and then used pictures from the game as reference. The base is from the Wyrds Graveyard base pack. A word of warning these models are a nightmare to put together and are very fiddly. When painting the skin I used the Eavy Metal Painting guides. If you can still get them they are brilliant and it amazes me why they stopped doing them in White Dwarf. Now for those of you who are squeamish stop reading now..........

OK.
Still there?

Well Seamus is known in the game for being very overly "friendly" with his zombie friends. I wanted to give a very subtle hint of this in the model. Using the old chestnut and red inks from workshop I painted a bloody hand print onto his chest. I felt that the model needed this as his stomach is very bare. Originally the plan was going to go to be a tattoo but reading Seamus' background I thought it needed to be a little more grim...

Now I'm going to finish the rest of the Crew and raise hell in the streets of Malifaux. Madame Sybelle is staring at me from my painting table (I've never been more creeped out by a model). She is going to be based of the Queen of Hearts so I will be free hand painting lots of little heart shapes...wooo. I'm also going to look for some dolls tea sets that I can add to the bases further reinforcing the theme of Alice in Wonderland. Well off I go for another week into the warp to do battle against countless enemies (or as some people may call it work).
Seeya.

I'm Flying Without Wings...

Finally, ok almost finally. I have finished the 1st squad of Sanguinary Guard minus the wings. Here are the finished pics promised. So far I feel the NMM (non-metallic metal) is going well and I am happy with the result. Some of you eagle eyed readers may have spotted the names.  

As I mentioned in the previous post I like all my armies/gangs/warbands to be based on a theme. The idea for this army was to create a Blood Angel Army based on Biblical characters.All of the minitures in this army will be named after major and minor Angels. This has led to me feeling every cassualty is like losing a character or hero during proxy games. However, the feeling may also be caused by the whopping 220pt price tag for each squad. My next squad is built but I may be taking a break from them to focus on my Librarian for the army Castiel (yes I am a fan of Supernatural).

I am planning to use the Mesphiston model with a couple of weapon changes and of course give him the angel jet pack.

This blog has really helped me to stick to deadlines and I hope to have more photos of my work soon. If you have any comments or ideas please feel free to write them down as I am always looking to improve my work.

Alice, Alice? Who the Hell is Alice...

Alternative Seamus

Often than not I find myself as far as possible from my painting than I'd like to be. This can be a problem when it comes to finishing painting deadlines for tournaments (and blogs). However it does give me a chance to reflect and plan new projects. After being inspired by the gorgeous Malifaux models painted by friend and fellow gamer Animatronica, I have ordered my own fiendish crew to roam the twisted streets. Having been torn between the Neverborn and Ressurectionists, I settled on Seamus The Mad Hatter. This disturbed individual raises his crew from the remains of Belles to act upon his darkest commands.

Batman's Mad Hatter

The models are brilliant using twisted humour to shock and disgust. Now, whilst going on one of my thinking walks around the Cambridgeshire countryside (I say countryside, I mean a small park). I came up with an idea. I want to exaggerate the idea of Seamus being "The Mad Hatter" and have been toying with the idea of basing the crew around the book "Alice in Wonderland". Recently, I have just completed Arkhem City the Batman game and loved the encounter between him and the Dark Knight. With this in mind I have the beginnings of my paint scheme.

The Plan:

I want to base the crew using The Mad Hatter's Tea Party as theme. I love the idea that Seamus is constantly searching for "Alice". In the future I may incorporate this into the crew possibly with one of the Rotten Belles. I'll try to add features such as the 10/6 card and the bow tie using green stuff. The current scheme for Seamus is too bright in my opinion so I'll be toning it down so that it matches the Batman version.

Madame Sybelle

The crew will also include Sybelle. Keeping in line with the Alice in Wonderland theme I feel that this model screams out to be painted like the Queen of Hearts. I will be ditching the black bodice for a red. Multiple references of cards may also feature heavily. The rest of the Belles will be painted in a variety of colours probably like the ones on the box. This should make my crew stand out but still keep a dark edge.

Overall I am really looking forward to this project and I should be able to start making the models this week. On top of that Animatronica and I will be playing a couple of games to get the hang of the rules, this week. This is going to be a game I'll have to learn from scratch as there are no dice involved. Who knows it might even catch on. Anyway I'm itching to get started I just wish the postman would hurry up and bring me those models. I don't want to be late for the Tea Party...