Gatt Dalvurth, Squat Trader

Monday night is painting night, and this little fellow is the result of last night's session:

Snap! I've Got A Pair!

You might think that the right number for a group of miniatures is a squad of 5. Or perhaps it's a regiment of 30. You're wrong of course, I've recently had the realisation that the correct number is 2. This realisation only came to me through two sub-consciously created events:

Event #1
I purchased this Citadel Pilot from the classic 40k Adventurers range:

"So what's my point?", you might ask. It's a perfectly good purchase of a lovely, classic Citadel figure. No different from buying the Space Eunuch or Worldburner.

Spacelords Adventurers - Painted Trader

Sometimes, very rarely, I buy a model that not only jumps to the top of the painting queue, but also one that demands I paint it immediately.

Over the weekend I received a pack of re-issued Metal Magic Spacelords Adventurers. Doug at EM4 Miniatures has recently been reviving some of the long out of production codes as a little sideline - you can check out what's been re-issued to date over at the Lead Adventure forums. (Note, EM4 carries others in the range in their metal unpainted miniatures line)

I picked up the 3701 Adventurers set for the princely sum of £6.00 (to go with the 3720 Starship Crew I bought the other week).

Spacelords 3701 Adventurers

 

Friskers Painted

If you've been keeping tabs on this blog, I probably don't need to tell you that over the last 9 months or so I've been steadily collecting Citadel's mid-1980s Eternal Champion range, based on Michael Moorcock's brilliant novels. It is my intention (eventually) to paint up the full range and do a bit of fantasy skirmish gaming.

As part of assembling the collection, I commissioned my friend and ace sculptor John Pickford to sculpt me a little winged cat (let's call him Friskers), who could represent a certain animal familiar to accompany Elric's companion Jhary a-Conel. Citadel's Jhary sculpt already had a very similar winged cat on his shoulder, representing Whiskers from the Elric books. But I foresaw the need for an independent winged cat, hence the Frisker sculpt.

I painted up my Friskers last night - here's the results:

Friskers hunting through the grass!

 

Original Art - Part 6: Rogue Trader & Confrontation by Martin McKenna

I started my collection of GW original artwork by tracking down Eldar-themed pieces, but sometimes opportunities come along which just require a broadening of horizons. Last year I made contact with Martin McKenna and was offered a wide selection of pieces, including Rogue Trader, WFRP and others besides. Martin's style is very precise, often with great attention to the expressions of the characters he's drawing. After much consideration, I decided purchase three of Martin's lovely pieces, this being the first:

 

Brattish Behaviour: Don't Mess With Jern Rembeau

Another Monday night painting session resulted in my 6th completed Brat ganger, Jern Rembeau.

Nearly Midsummer: A Mid-Way Hobby Pledge Review

OK, it's a couple of days premature...but never mind!

Back in the dying days of 2013, I took a look at my hobby achievements for the year. Given that summer solstice or midsummer is nearly upon us, I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on my ambitions for 2014, and my progress towards them.