Crystal Brush 2014

Crystal Brush voting is now underway, so I can finally share my projects on the blog.  If you feel these entries are worth a thumbs-up, you can enter your own votes for the Crystal Brush competition here.  Votes from the Internet count for 50% of the score, alongside the 50% from the master judge.

First up is Mean Jellybean, a Dark Age figure, finally finding his home on that weird custom base that I showed as a WIP on the blog.

As disturbing a personality as Mean Jellybean seems to be, his pose and presence impressed me as something belonging to a heroic figure, albeit a dark and sinister one.  To my mind, the image looks like it belongs on a movie poster, so I wanted to show the piece with an explosive background and a grindhouse-style label, along with an appropriately sensational title.



Next is my first attempt to paint a Rackham figure.  Or effectively twelve of them, as it turns out!

The idea to paint a unit of multiple cavalry figures occured in only the last month leading up to Crystal Brush.  The folks on the Dragonpainting forum proposed for their monthly challenge to paint a Rackham figure in the old style of the Rackham studio models.  This idea excited me, because I would be able to kill multiple birds with one stone:

1. I could finally paint my first Rackham figures.  I only very recently gained enough confidence in my painting skill to give justice to what I consider to be the finest gaming figures in the hobby.
2. I could add a unit to my long-delayed Orc & Goblin army for Warhammer.
3. I could gain more practice painting NMM.
4. I could have a relatively novel entry for Crystal Brush.

The project was a bit overly ambitious, as it turns out.  I carefully managed all of my spare time over the course of the month to focus on painting this unit, as well as Mean Jellybean.  The effort had me painting and prepping until the very last evening, right before flying up to Chicago! 

This kind of stress is something I tried to prevent this year, but the intensity level turned out to be productive in an unexpected way.  Painting for competition is basically an excuse to force me to paint at high intensity.  Otherwise, I would pace out the painting at a leisurely pace, take shortcuts, and/or just lower my standard, especially for figures that I intend to game with (i.e. the Strohm Warriors).  But by painting almost every day, the exercise highlighted to me my limitations and weaknesses.  Namely, achieving better opacity; better definition; better contrast and light placement for NMM; and better skills building from dark to light.  These are areas I still need to improve -- I recognized these deficiencies as I painted these projects for Crystal Brush.  And I still see these deficiencies in the final result!

Halfway through the month, I concluded that I'm unsatisfied with my current skill level.  I'm still OK with the pace that I'm progressing, but I now have more specific goals of where I want my skill level to be.  I am coming out of this furious exercise more motivated to raise my standard.  So competition painting, something I've had little interest in, has surprisingly lit a little fire in my belly!

Plinth progress

I've been torn on posting to the blog.  While I'm tempted to share the WIP on my current painting projects, I also want to wait for the great "reveal" for Crystal Brush.  I finally decided on the latter.

But having cleared my calendar of all other hobby activity, that leaves little to post about.  So here's a taste of one of the two projects I'm working on -- the plinth.  Here's where we left off a little while ago.

This is only the second time I've made a proper plinth.  I realized last year, as I paid attention to more shows, either from afar via the Internet or actually participating myself, that a plinth is practically mandatory for a display piece.  That's probably obvious to most competitive painters, but I'm still just starting to dip my toe in the competitive painting scene.

Much like I had to learn to "like" basing as part of painting models for gaming, I'm force-immersing myself in the craft of plinth building.  Like the rest of the hobby, the more you do it, the more it becomes second-nature, and the more you begin to enjoy the process, rather than view it as a chore that is a necessary hurdle to begin actually painting!

So here I covered the foam mouse-ears with Milliput and used rocks and bark to make rock-like impressions.  I experimented with different textures.  I expected the smaller bark chip in the center to show the best results, but it turned out to be different sections on the larger bark piece on the bottom.

You can see I also added some doo-dads on the front of the plinth, to convey a more modern and industrial, or post-apocalyptic, scene.  There's not too much original there, but adding those kinds of items seem pretty much obligatory, as obligatory as the plinth itself.  I will take some credit, though, for the concept of the shards.  I'm sure it's been done out there, but I'm drawing on my childhood imagery of Frank Frazetta illustrations for this idea.

Now I add a layer of sand, followed by real dirt.  This is pretty standard fare, too, a la Massive Voodoo.  They recently showed a whole tutorial on impressing Milliput with different materials.  I had the idea before I saw their post, but they certainly helped validate and fine-tune how I went about it.

Finally, the day I've been waiting for -- to see the piece primed, in order to see it as a unified structure, where I can see the balance and composition that I have in my mind's eye.  I pretty much got what I was going for.

Now we'll airbrush on some base colors and see where it goes from there!

Warhammer: Lizardmen vs High Elves

With all my painting projects going on, I haven't shown much of the gaming side of the hobby.  As it turns out, I'm actually playing about one game a week, on average.  Usually Malifaux on Malifaux Monday, but also the occasional Dystopian Wars game or Warhammer Fantasy.

I might have an opportunity to play in the Warhammer Fantasy doubles tournament at Adepticon, so I managed to schedule two practice games with my pal, Rafael, in order to test out my 1000-point half of my doubles army.

The roll for terrain was sparse:  a two-story Tower of Evil, from which pours a River of Blood (yes, the blue river of blood), overseen by a Sinister Statue from amidst ancient ruins.

The armies have amassed for battle, and the High Elf Ellyrian Reavers have made their Vanguard move to skip over the river and evade the evil circle of doom emitting from the Sinister Statue.

Turn 1a  Lizardmen

The Lizardmen go first and send the Skink Skirmishers with the Skink Priest to occupy the Tower.  The plan will be to use the river, accompanied by powerful, magical Wind Blasts, to delay the center and the right flank.  That will feed the High Elf army piecemeal, while I roll up the left flank.  That's the plan anyway.  Spoiler alert:  (it doesn't work out anything like that).

Turn 1b  High Elves

Having occupied the building, I unwittingly gave the first High Elf unit free passage across the river, by granting them an easy charge, which spares them the need to spend two turns wading across.  So there goes that plan.  And maybe my Skink Priest along with it.  I also underestimate the distance that the Ellyrian Reavers can march -- far enough to avoid the charge arc of my heavy cavalry.  Both of my flanks are now threatened.

At least the Skink Priest strikes an imposing sight on the promontory.  "You shall not pass!"

As it turns out, the Skinks actually survive the assault on the Tower and hold it steadfast!  There is yet hope!

Turn 2a  Lizardmen

The valiant Skinks hand over the job of holding the Tower over to the more than capable Saurus Warriors.  However, in order to make the switch, the Skink Priest must leave the Tower, too.  He doesn't want to hang with the Skink Skirmishers, who will make a sacrificial maneuver, so the Priest finds a nice pocket to hide in.  It's a risk either way, though.

The Saurus Cavalry evade the Ellyrian Reavers, skirting just outside of their charge arc, leaving the Salamander to deal with them.

The lumbering Kroxigors have no hope of intercepting the fast cavalry unit of Ellyrian Reavers, but they can at least interfere with their movement and make way towards the less maneuverable, Elven Silver Helm heavy cavalry on the right flank.

In an attempt to save the Skink Skirmishers, the Skink Priest casts a boosted Wind Blast on the downstream Elven unit.  But the Elven Mage dispels it.

Turn 2b  High Elves

High Elves charge all of their obvious targets.  The Skink Skirmishers are crushed, but the Salamander gives as good as he gets and survives with one wound remaining.

In a key development of the battle, the Elf unit that crushed the Skink Skirmishers failed to Restrain their pursuit (despite the Banner of Discipline, even!), and they pursue out of position.

Turn 3a  Lizardmen

The Lizardmen take advantage of the odd position and assemble on the other side of the building to confront the Elven White Lions unit.  This spares the Saurus cavalry unit from a suicide run, and they turn their attentions elsewhere (totally forgetting to Swift Reform, which I just remembered as I write this...).

The Kroxigors force the hand of the Silver Helm heavy cavalry.

The Salamander defeats the Ellyrian Reavers but misses killing the final troop by 1 on the die.  Then fails to chase him down by 1 on the die!

The Skink Priest overlooks the fray below him and offers cheering support and military advice as best he can......."Hit 'im in the head!"

Apparently it was enough of a distraction to the High Elves that the Saurus win the combat and succeed in running down the unit!

The Sinister Statue looks stolidly on the battle, never bothering to interfere with his shocking anger.


Turn 3b  High Elves

The High Elves regroup towards the center.  The Ellyrian Reavers just barely squeeze by the Elven Phoenix Guard unit and make a surprise charge on the Tower, catching the preoccupied Skink Priest unawares and shutting him up in the dungeon.  The victory of defeating the White Lions is short-lived as I lose my Magic Phase.  Second game in a row!

The Ellyrian Reaver rallies on snake-eyes!

Turn 4a  Lizardmen

The Salamander ignores the dedicated Reaver.  He can't resist this perfect shot, to flame 3 units in a row!

Bwahahahaha!  Oh, yes, that's worth a close-up.....

The Ellyrian Reavers are destroyed, and the Phoenix are softened up.

Turn 4b  High Elves

Through clever charging angles, the High Elves manage a double-charge against the Saurus.  Another tricksy maneuver that I didn't see coming and makes me feel, yet again, that the battle will ultimately be lost.

But this is where it will be decided finally.  In the Blood and Glory scenario, in a 1000-point game, you pretty much have to kill the General.  Now we have a climactic match-up of General on General!

Turn 5a  Lizardmen

The remaining Lizardmen units desperately rush to the fray to aid the General's unit, while the battle rages!

Turn 5b  High Elves

Casualties mount on both sides, but both sides hold fast.  How will it end??!!

Turn 6a  Lizardmen

The Saurus Cavalry fail their charge!  But the Kroxigor come to save the day!  Rrraaarrrrr!

The Saurus General, Imtus'hexi, is protected from harm by the ancient artifact of his ancestors, the Stegadon Helm, and the Kroxigors bludgeon the High Elf command into a pulp, leaving their frail, broken bodies to float in the river, feeding the River of Blood with their own.  The battle is won!  Yay!

Meditative insight at the summit of Lead Mountain

It took over two weeks of dedicated spare time (including a snow day!) to bring all of these minis (and the plinth) to this stage.  Filing, cleaning, pinning, gluing/assembling, initial basing/magnetizing, and priming.

So it suddenly occurs to me that, at this rate, I might not actually finish painting my lead mountain in my lifetime!

I honestly believed I would paint every figure that I've accumulated over the last 7 years.  Albeit, I fully expected it would take me well into retirement (if such a concept still exists for my generation, but let's not go there).

I now have my doubts.


In other news, Jody Siegel, master sculptor and owner of Imbrian Arts, posted on the company Facebook page the Imbrian Arts goblins that I painted last year.  I am thoroughly honored.

Check out Imbrian Arts for some of the best sculpts in the biznez.  If you like Arthur Rackham and Brian Froud, here's an artist who is channeling their mojo.

Nose to the grindstone

OK, returning to my WIP ADD thread, after the Sapo detour... 

Since I finished Sapo 2 weeks ago, I've been industriously slaving on an additional, new project for Crystal Brush.  The DragonPainting forum is hosting a Monthly Challenge, the theme of which is to paint a Rackham figure in the style of the old Rackham Confrontation studio paint-jobs.  This was a perfect opportunity for several reasons:

• I needed another project for Crystal Brush, since Sapo is probably ineligible.
• I finally feel confident enough to tackle a Rackham-style paintjob, which has been a goal of mine, ever since I reentered the hobby in 2006.
• I recently acquired a large inventory of new Rackham models from which to choose a candidate.  And the acquisition has me excited about Rackham all over again, so much so that I'm finally reading the Aarklash book that came with the Ragnarock game.
• I decided on not one, but 6x2 models!  Chevaliers Strohm:  Goblin Knight Cavalry on Giant Rats.  I picked an entire unit so that I can get extra mileage out of this project and make some headway on filling out another unit that I can add to my Warhammer Fantasy Orc & Goblin army, a project which is progressing at only glacial speed.

So this is where I was after a week.  3 out of 6 models completely prepped, assembled, and filled.  I also assembled the Cerberus from Avatars of War, whose missing body half finally arrived.  I also slapped together the SpineSpur Rattler.  These two models are destined to join Cojo, to build out my Marcus crew for Malifaux.  I also rebased some old dogs, so that I can proxy them as Guild Hounds for Malifaux, if I want to.  And finally, you can see me using the excess green stuff to make mushrooms.

Modeling and green stuff takes forever.  I always underestimate the time it takes.  But I did know I was setting myself up for a big project.  So I knew I needed to focus on it in order to make it in time for Crystal Brush.  I now have my doubts...

Another week brings us to today.  The second set of rats are from the 2nd/3rd Edition of Confrontation, whereas the first set are from 1st Edition.  The 1st Edition set required a lot of green stuff to fill in the gaps.  The 2nd/3rd Edition models have different cuts, so I was hoping for easier work.  But, what time I gained doing less green stuff work, I lost assembling more parts.  These quick photos belie the time it takes to file all these parts.  But I'm just complaining, since I'd rather be painting!

Another example.  For the 1st Edition rats, the tails are integrated with one of the body halves, but for the 2nd/3rd Edition, I need to pin separate tail pieces.

Tails are drying.  I use 2-part epoxy most of the time, because I distrust super-glue.  5-minute epoxy adds that much more time to the assembly process, though.

I still need to do the green stuff on the second set of rats, but this is where the unit should be by the end of the evening.  That's a lot of metal!  The unit is going to be a beast to move around on the table.

I had no idea that the Rackham figures are so much larger in scale than Games Workshop!  They'll definitely look out-of-scale, in comparison to the old-skool goblin wolf riders, which this Rackham unit will be proxying.  The newer Squig Riders are a little closer to the same scale, but still, Rackham figures are definitely in another class.

Here's another scale comparison, as I try to decide what to proxy for the Myranda character, for Marcus' crew in Malifaux.

The Privateer Press model in the middle is surprisingly smaller scale than I expected.  The Rackham model to the right is a Kelt Sessair Fiona.  Both of them will probably work well enough next to Marcus, but I'm not thrilled with either one of them.  The Privateer Press one looks a little too "cra'-cra'", and the Fiona looks a little too masculine (despite her gravity-defying boobs).  Which is too bad, since the Fiona has the double pig-tail thing going on, just like Myranda's model.  I do have the new Marcus starter set on order, though, so I may very well just use the proper model.  We'll see.

And finally, a little treasure arrived yesterday.  My Kickstarter bundle from Imbrian Arts.

I had no idea (or I just forgot) that the resin figures come with limited edition authenticity certificates.  The certificates are works of art in and of themselves, accented with the cool wax seal.  Very classy.  I was contemplating painting one of these figures for Crystal Brush, but I'm not sure if my creative juices are up to the task to match these figures.  I want to spend more time on them than I have.  Maybe I'll do one for the MFCA show in May.

Rush to Crystal Brush

Unfortunately, I'm not permitted to enter this guy for Crystal Brush.  (How's that for a bait-and-switch?...I'll come back to Crystal Brush shortly....)

This 'toadally' awesome sculpt comes from the gifted hands of Allan Carrasco.  This is my first attempt to paint a bust, and it was a real pleasure to work on.  The name of the character is Captain Sapo, and, according to the backgrounder, he's the foreman for a crew of sewer workers.  You can see that I added some "occupational hazards" on his work tunic.

I painted it for the WAMP forum's "community painting project", celebrating the release of Sapo, with an event where WAMP members all paint the same piece and compare WIPs and final results.  It's a great exercise to trade ideas and compare styles.  Everyone who participates gets a discount on purchasing Sapo, too!

The deadline for the challenge is end-of-March, but I cranked through painting my copy, since I have so many projects that all need to be done by end-of-March, in time for Crystal Brush.  Crystal Brush allows only pieces that have not been in a competition or published in a professional publication, online or traditional.  The Sapo challenge is probably a grey area, but there's no point in risking being disqualified, if I entered it in Crystal Brush.

I worked on my Sapo from February 1st until February 15th.  Which is why I haven't posted to the blog for such a long time -- in the spirit of the WAMP challenge, I posted my step-by-step, WIP progression exclusively on WAMP.   Here's the link, if you're interested in how I approached this piece.  And if you go up one level in the forum discussion, you can view all the other WIPs that other WAMPers are doing.  I figure I spent somewhere between 12 and 16 hours on Sapo, from package to plinth.

So getting back to my Crystal Brush conundrum.  I had only one solid project in the works.  Everything else has been sketchy, either for eligibility or for display competition, e.g. Scar-Scath (Mierce Miniatures challenge), Cojo (gaming piece with apparent joins), etc.

Luckily, an opportunity popped up that kills many birds with one stone.  On the DragonPainting forum, they proposed a monthly challenge, the theme of which would be to paint Rackham figures in the style of Rackham studio painters.  This is something I've had as a goal ever since I got back into the hobby.  Not only do I finally feel confident enough to paint my first Rackham figure, but this opportunity arrives on the heels of my recent acquisition of quite a selection of Rackham Confrontation figures.  So I decided to paint not one, but six figures!  Well, really twelve.  Since they're goblin cavalry -- riding giant rats.  So this project will satisfy the monthly challenge on the forum; give me something to enter for Crystal Brush; and add a new unit to my Orcs & Goblins army for Warhammer.

The DragonPainting monthly challenge isn't a publicly announced competition, and the prize is a random draw (to encourage and reward participation), so it doesn't conflict with the Crystal Brush rules.  To be on the safe side, I'll inform the organizers to withdraw me from the prize draw.

So this is all pretty ambitious.  Here is how things are getting along.

Here is the idea I have for a plinth for Mean Jellybean.  It was quite a bit of work to shape the wood and chisel the hollow, as well as carve up all of the MDF strips.

Adding more form to tie it together and provide a base for ground.  And skulls.  I wish I had more.  I may need to open up some boxes of Warhammer Undead models.

Starting to work on the Goblin Rat Riders.  Fitting in some work for Malifaux, too -- that's RazorSpine Rattler in the back center.  I also got my spare body half from Game Zone, so I'm working on Cerberus as well, drying on the left.  I use 2-part epoxy instead of superglue, which takes a lot longer, but it's a lot more durable.  I'm a glutton for punishment.  You can see where I'm gluing zinc washers to bases so that they'll adhere to magnetic sheet, for transport.  I have square pieces for the cavalry bases.

 I also have to tap screwholes into the plinth, so that it will travel securely on the plane.  I tapped the plinth for Sapo, too.  I'm not entering him into the competition, but I'm bringing him along so that I can show him to Jeremie Bonamant Taboul, who painted the studio version.

Adding more bulk.  I'll cover the foam with more modeling paste.

There is a lot of green-stuff work to do.  This project is going to take forever.  Hopefully, the need for green stuff will diminish, when I reach the last three Rat Riders.  The first three are from the 1st Edition of Confrontation, from the late 90's.  The sculpts are fantastic, unprecedented for their time, but they don't fit together very well.  I think the metal still has some lead content, since it's on the soft side and relatively easy to work.  But the gaps are killer.  The last 3 models are from a box set that came out for 2nd or 3rd Edition, and they're another notch higher in quality, although I haven't tested the fit yet.

Some of these guys are finally starting to take form.  And they're already starting to fight!

I need to finish the green stuff on the top Rat Rider and the Cerberus.  The third Rat Rider just finished prep and filing, and he's ready for washing.  At this rate, it's going to take me the rest of the week and probably next weekend to just assemble all these damn models!  I tell ya, it's the modeling that is the time-sink in this hobby.  The painting  goes by almost too fast, in comparison!

On the modeling table

Avatars of War replied to my query concerning the mispacked Cerberus, and they say they're going to send me a proper body half.  Yay!  Unfortunately, it will probably take a few weeks to be shipped from Spain.

In the meantime, my Confrontation acquisition arrived, and there's a Dirz Cerberus in there that will make a good substitute.  He's the guy in the upper-right, stripped with Simple Green, seam-filled, and semi-based.

All of the models pictured are potential proxies for my Marcus crew for Malifaux.

The Chaos Hounds are from Game Zone.  The pieces fit pretty well for a change.  I forget who makes the slate bases.  A buddy pointed out that the second-wave beta is finalized, and the Guild Hounds happen to be Beasts, so Marcus can hire them for his crew.  There's a hound in the Resurrectionists, too, which will make an even closer complement to this particular Cerberus model, given the torn skin and all.  And how cool is it that some of the Chaos hounds have two heads?  Cerberus pups!

The model laying down is another Confrontation miniature -- a Kelt Fianna.  She might make a good sub for Myranda.  But I'm leaning more towards a Tharn Bloodtracker from Privateer Press (from Hordes, Circle of Orboros).

So this theme will be a lot tighter for Marcus.  A hunting party of beastly hounds, led by an alpha Cerberus, commanded by Myranda and Marcus as the super-alphas.  And then accompanied by a crazed, angry ape.  Just 'cause.