Saturday 29 December 2018

A Cavalcade of Carnivale


It's been a bit of a while since I posted here: the real world reared its ugly head and I had to eat a ton of mince pies and drink several gallons of mulled stuff. Anyway, I've been trying to make a dent in the huge number of lead Carnivale models I've got to paint before I can start on the huge number of resin Carnivale models I've got to paint.

Frankly, I've got more chance of photographing Nessie than I have of getting a decent picture of a Carnivale model, but I've tried my best.

Here are the nobles, which I painted a while ago:


And here is a Deep One:


And here are two peasants. I painted them to match the nobles that I did a while ago, so that they could function as a gang. In the rules, the Patrician faction can take maids and butlers, and I think these two would fit that role.



And finally, here's one I'm really proud of. He's called "The creature" in Carnivale, but he's clearly Frankenstein's monster. He was a really nice model to put together and paint. I put him on another Wyrd scenic base.



That's my Carnivale people for now. I've still got a fair heap of lead to work through, but I fancy a bit of a change for now.

Sunday 16 December 2018

Back To The Post-Apocalyptic Future

I couldn't stay away from conversions for long. I've spent a while painting old fantasy models, and it made a change to make something new for the science-fiction setting.

First up, an old robot from a game (or maybe a company) called Cryomek. I pinned his arms and bent the body somewhat, but otherwise he's as per "usual".



HX421 lumbers across the wasteland, hungry for battle - which is ironic, given that he doesn't have a stomach. His primary objective is to build himself a midriff out of washing-machine parts.


 Next is a more complex model. I bought some damaged Catachan soldiers on ebay recently. I ought to have a Catachan army, what with Straken and all, but the models are very old and the arms, in particular, are rather cartoony. Anyway, one Catachan I've always liked is a sergeant with a bolter. I ended up with about a third of this model - the head, arm and body - to which I added legs from a genestealer hybrid and an arm from a space marine to work as a prosthetic.




There was half a knife strapped to this chap's back, so with the help of some green stuff and wire, I turned it into some electronic gubbins to power his arm.





And now for paint...



Dirk Bunsen is a tough guy for hire, currently in the pay of Inquisitor Scaramanga. Dirk's usual practice of shooting first and asking questions later hasn't gone down well with the inquisition, who like to ask questions to people who aren't dead yet.






Finally, I dug out an ancient Blood Bowl miniature that I've probably had for 25 years. It got a new paint job. I noticed that not many skulls had been involved this week, so I attempted to remedy this by writing "SKUHL" on the chainsaw blade. One of all you chainsaw fans out there.



Sefton Throbb is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, which is handy given that he has a very large chainsaw. Equipped with armour and a Nike T-shirt, he has taken to the streets to just do it - whatever "it" is.


So, by the time of the next update, I will have self-published my first book and it will probably be Christmas. In which case, have a great Christmas and buy many copies on Kindle!

Tuesday 11 December 2018

My New Book - out on 18th December!

So, this is just a heads-up that I'll be publishing a new book on Kindle in a week's time. That's right - it'll be live on 18/12/18, and hopefully available for pre-order before then.



What is it?

It's a dark fantasy novel set in a magically-enhanced Renaissance. Vendetta and intrigue guaranteed, along with flying machines, assassinations, weird undead monsters, magical stone people and a drunken knight.


Where can I get it?

Amazon Kindle!


Why should I read it?

It's fantasy, but dark and complex - if you like Scott Lynch's books, Mordheim, the Witcher novels or the Dishonored games, it's your kind of thing.

And there will be sequels.



Sunday 9 December 2018

Dragons, then and now

Recently, at the Warfare event in Reading, I was challenged to assemble a model out of the box and not convert it. I thought I'd have a go at an old metal dragon. Even though it hasn't come from a box, I've not changed anything.

The model is old - mid-90s, I'd have thought - and the design is rather strange: if stretched out, the dragon would be extremely long and thin, more like a snake with limbs that the usual flying dinosaur. For a while, GW used this odd concept as the basis for almost all its dragons: the others had different details, but the same weird S-shaped bodies.

Anyway, what this means is that I can compare the dragon I've just done with another version of the same model I made at least 20 years ago. Let's see if I've got any better.

Here's the dragon from 1998:


And here's the equivalent from 2018:





And from another angle:






and






Well, I'm not sure what to make of that! The red one is more jolly and exciting, although I don't think the blending is quite as good and the base is terrible (and way too small). I seem to have been better at colouring in back then, though, as I didn't leave any black bits showing. Clearly my eyes are failing me in my old age.

The blue one seems more downbeat and moody to me, which obvious reflects my developments as a painter and my adoption of a more sombre palette (or just that I'd run out of red at the time). To be honest, I like them both!

Saturday 1 December 2018

Ghouls Gone Wild

Once again, it's been a bit of a quiet week. I spent quite a lot of it being ill, propped in front of the TV. After two days of strong medication, Father Ted and the Godfather, you start to have a rather skewed view of the world. However, I was able to finish off another ghoul and the last dwarf explorer.

The ghoul is another Rackham model and a very strange one too. His pose looks less as if he's just leaped out of a tomb than he's just taken to the stage with a feather boa, and is about to belt out some musical numbers. On the other hand, the sculpting and detail are excellent. He came without a head, so I added a shrivelled trophy I found on a chaos warrior shield. The banner/warning sign behind him was added to give him a bit more stability.


I'm pleased with the shading on his robe. Here is the whole ghastly chorus line of them, doing whatever sordid things ghouls do, in a row.


And now for the last dwarf. This guy is basically a really stumpy knight. I thought he looked ace and painted him to match the others. The teams are nearly finished!