Pimp My Ride (WIP)

I've been watching the work of whiskey priest and cheetor with much interest over the last few weeks. Not only are they putting together some bands of space pirates for some RT gaming at the Oldhammer Day in August, but they are also producing some lovely shuttlecraft.

For a little while now I've wanted to make some sort of vehicle for my Brat gang. Every self-respecting Brat wants some sort of ride, and I figured the most suitable form of transport was some sort of pimped up streetcar.

Like this.

 

Tutorial - Simple Display Bases

It's a known truth in the hierarchy of miniatures that a painted miniature trumps an unpainted one. A nicely based miniature is better than a painted green slottabase. And miniatures ALWAYS look better in decent scenery or a diorama*
*true fact

Don't believe me? Check out Eldar v Squats from p180 of the Rogue Trader rulebook.

Three Cultists or Other Peoples' Painted Models

I know there's a wide range of opinion regarding painted models. Some people purely want to game in the most efficient way possible, so basic painting or even commission painting is the way forward. Personally, I want to look at models in my collection that are mine; I built them, I painted them, I play with them. Every so often though, I come across a model that just begs me to buy it. Last year, it was a small selection of figures painted by John Blanche; the other week it was some figures by Andy Ritson offered for sale on the Oldhammer forums.

I can't claim to know that much about Andy other than what MarkH wrote in the trade thread:

Back in the day (the early to mid 80s) visitors to GW Sheffield would have seen some rather nice models painted by a chap named Andy Ritson. Andy used tube acrylics and was back then on the cutting edge of the art. Those of you who have seen the 'Mad Max' display game in recent years and in the 80s will have seen the talent of this gentleman.

Sadly, I have no idea which Mad Max display game MarkH is referring to, and I've never been to GW Sheffield, early to mid 80s or otherwise. That said, I was immediately taken by these three lovely figures:

Brattish Behaviour: The Sutter Dukes & The Magpie Dandy

I think I may have mentioned before that I have a short attention span...my cases and boxes are filled with the debris and half-completed models from discarded projects, At the start of 2014 I set out some ambitions for the year, one of which was to complete my Brat gang so I had a small warband of 10-12 models to use in pick up games of RT, Confrontation, Necromunda or similar.

Some of the Brat figures destined for inclusion in the gang

Original Art - Part 5: Fangorn's Epic Painting

Back in June last year (before I'd started this blog), I sent across some info to Orlygg over at Realm of Chaos 80s on some of my original GW artwork, as part of his 'Where are they now' series.

 

The largest piece in my collection of artwork, and indeed the only colour piece, is the artwork used for the Epic Eldar Legion and Ork Horde boxed sets, painted by Chris Baker AKA Fangorn:

 

Blood Bowl Dark Elves - Finished

When I say finished, what I mean is that I have 11 players completed and can now actually play a game with this team! In reality, there are still a couple of cheerleaders and coaches, as well as the display board to do. But that's just nit-picking!



Witch Elf #2 in classic 'fend' pose.

Last night I finished painting up this lovely lady; the second Witch Elf for the team. She's gone from being a last minute change from the original Witch Elf #2, to being my favourite model in the team. Funny how things work out! 

Chasing Unknown Unknowns

When it comes to collecting models, there are "known knowns" - the models that were catalogued, widely produced and put on general release. Limited editions and even unreleased figures could also be "known knowns", with resources such as Stuff of Legends and Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki increasing the number of known knowns on a regular basis.