Happy New Year! And a tour of the workbench....

Well, Holidays are done, presents have been given and gratefully received, and the brushes have been flying!

I will do a proper website update and Pledge update in the next few days, but for now, I shall return to a New years tradition of my own. Every year, I do a tour of the Workshop & Cabinets. This is as much for me to remind myself what's been sitting around for far too long, what's new, and what needs selling, as anything else, so please bear with me!

Currently Being worked on...


First up, we have some more from the World of Twilight range. This represents the majority of my Military Furbarnii Empire miniatures collected to date, but I have plenty of civilian elements still to add ASAP!


Then there's the ever-present Kraytonian reinforcements. I was almost sad to finish what ARE ('Onest Guvnor..) my last ever Kraytonian light, medium and heavy infantry formations as you see here (proper pics in an update soon!) until I remembered this little lot....

Yep, they'll keep me going! That's two formations of kameli, two formations of veterans, a couple of converted Basilei, twoi formations of Rakkats, two formations of Torrak Riders (Mounted Bounty Hunters from Exodus Wars ) and a formation of oversized Krayt Bodyguards / Ferral Krayt (also from EW). Then there's the 42 coins, which are in the process of being made into bases for the 42 Kraytonian Vehicles I have waiting int he wings.... not to mention the 11 Super Heavy Flyers still in their boxes.... GULP!



And then there's this dude. He just crept back onto my workbench using his obvious powers of stealth... I was never planning to work on him but he suddenly looked cool somewhere around 3pm on Boxing Day....

Annual tour of the cabinets and a proper web update soon, but thats all for now - back to work!

Before I disappear....

I'm off on a course this week, and on a rare holiday next week, so Updates may be slow. I've not been away from work for more than 5 days in about 8 years, so I'm very much looking forward to the break but it does mean that updates will be slow once again but I have some great galleries both right now for you and waiting in the wings for my return, so fear not!

Of Gaming...

I love my Kazak Medic! That pretty much sums up my gaming from last monday. We played a Doubles game of infinity, with Myself and Eddie (as the two Ariadna commanders) taking on the abominable alliance of James and Dan.

The First turn was looking pretty dire as 3 of Eddies newly painted beauties fell in the first couple of activations, and our forces were forced to hit the ground all across the board. By sheer luck, this also took out Eddies Lieutenant, so things were really looking Grim and we'd not even activated yet!

The next three turns came down to a bitter struggle trying to clear a route for my medic to make a Dash to our fallen comrades and apply some aid. Finally the way was clear enough for me to take the chance, and dancing through a hail of bullets he reached the line of 3 stricken bodies. Not only that, but he managed to revive two of the three and just in time too. In the following activation, the enemy took out another of Eddies troops which would otherwise have forced him into retreat.

With our line balanced once more, Eddie did a fine job of taking his revenge, whilst I mainly rolled terrible dice and missed with a million Missile shots. The final outcome - Victory to Ariadna, and it was all thanks to my Medic and Eddies shooting!

Of Painting...

I had a great weekend in London last weekend and followed it with a day at Twickers watching Rugby yesterday (crap game, great day..) and a day with Kim today. So yes, I'm still working on the second Regiment of Legionaries. With the Holiday and Course in the next fortnight, my plans for my painting schedule are already looking dodgey... :os

But, lets not dwell on the possible doom ahead and instead enjoy the labours of weeks past. I've updated the 28mm Roman Gallery with pictures of the now completed Archers regiment, the first regiment of Auxillaries and the First Regiment of Veteran Legionaires. (11 pictures)

It's at this point that I should probably point something out. Because I am not painting these Romans for anything in particular, I am using them to try out a few different things. So you will notice that there will be a variety of basing between regiments, and most of the regiments will have one element or another painted in a different style. This includes trying washes and "Dips" that have sat on my shelves unused for years. Hopefully the results will still look relatively cohesive as a final complete army, but if it doesn't it's not too much bother!

I have also uploaded another Guest Gallery. I had one planned, but I'm still waiting for an email with some background info (HINT HINT JAMES!!!). So in the mean time I'm afraid you'll just have to make do* with Rhys Knight's Ad-Mech Army for 40K. (39 pictures)

Totals:
New Galleries: 1
New Pictures: 50


*When I say "Make do", I mean please cover your keyboards with a drool-proof sheet as these things are gorgeous... ;)

SURPRISE!

What's this? A mid-week update? Bet that caught you un-awares!

Truth is, I'm away at the weekend and might miss the next update so a mid-week workbench post seems ot be in order.

Of Painting....
I'm still yet to get the first regiment of Roman Legionaires finished, or either the Auxillaries or second hlaf of the archers photographed, but I remembered I had some WIP photos I never posted, so here they are as proof that they at least got this far (and honest, they have been finished!




Beyond them, I've started eyeing up the next little project. I only have the Romans because I bought a huge stockpile of DRM figures when Ian closed down his games store, the HobbyBox. This stuff has been sitting around for a fair while now without being touched and its time I changed this. What's more, its time I really knocked some stuff out fast and I know I can do this with DRM's 6mm sci fi range, having painted thousands of them already!

Here's the latest round of reinforcements having been cleaned and prepped for undercoat.



Yes, thats a re-inforcement for my Kraytonians. There's a mix of 42 vehicles & aircraft (6 aircraft require converting & aren't in this shot) and 85 stands of infantry or cavalry. I also have 11 Super Heavy Flyers, but they're not getting a look in yet.

Basically the plan is to get the Romans and these all done for Christmas. Then move on to more detailed painting of Fubarnii for World of Twighlight and Ariadna for Infinity. In the mean time I've also been challenged (by my girlfriend no less... I dont think she likes seeing me..) to enter a coupld of painting competitions, so we'll see if the plan holds up at all!

Of Gaming...
Just got time for a quick gaming update as well. Played Infinity against Eddie for the second time last Monday. Far more knowledge of the scenery requirements was a great help and Eddie had set up an interesting board for us to fight across by the time I got to the club.

I made a fair few mistakes and Eddie was on the game, with his Autocannon managing to pin down not one but two main routes of advance with some very good manouvering fire throughout the game. In short, I lost hideously but had a great time doing so - Cheers Eddie! More next week!

Old boards and Guest Galleries

It's going to be the story of the next few weeks I'm afraid - I've got a lot on, so it'll only be quick updates from me squeezed in where I can.

The good news is that we have some truly beautiful Guest Galleries Lined up ready to fill the gap!

This week, Guildford Games Clubs esteemed chairman, Eddie Turner, gets his first airing on the web, with his Guest Gallery of "Not" Blood Angels for 40K (9 pictures).

From me there's something slightly different. Its a photographic project log, split over two years, of building and then expanding the Terrain Boards for the Seeds of War Demo Games, as seen at many a show across the UK! (54 pictures).

Totals:
Galleries: 2
Pictures: 63