Hobby Progress: Orc Boyz

I found some time to base my orc boyz this week.  It's actually my first time using static grass.  I tend to prefer using small gravel or drywall paste for my bases, but I thought these guys would look best walking over a grassy field.

Get me my choppas!

Basing these guys took some forethought.  With ballast/gravel I usually use watered down white glue. which sits tall on the base when wet due to surface tension. This works fine for heavy rock pieces but I didn't figure the lightweight static grass would do very well. I ended up just using straight white glue thinly applied with a brush. This meant the stickiness of the glue let it sit as a very thin layer. After dunking the base in the tub of grass I used a second, clean brush to clean any grass off their boots and the sides of the bases. It worked well and went very fast.

The last step was to spend a few minutes finishing up the logo on their banner. A fine brush and a bit of time got a spider and some skulls picked out.

I don't really have a use for orc boyz so I've put these guys up for sale over on Half Price Minis.  If you have a use for them you can pick them up for pretty cheap.  Check them out here.

February Hobby Wrapup

February is fading from sight in the rearview mirror, so before it's completely out of sight I thought I'd say a few words giving myself a hobby report card.

• Empire Swordsmen - A+. Nailed it.  I finished painting all six swordsmen and even got a blog post in about it that you can read here.
• Bloodletters - F.  I pulled these guys out of storage and then they sat on my desk scowling at me the whole month. I hear Khorne is intolerant of failure, so I expect some kind of retribution.
• Riptide - B-. I got some more paint on this guy and started in on his line highlighting. Not done, but not forgotten.

Riptide of Joy and Suffering

I started his line highlighting up around where the head attaches so I could get that bit glued in.  The arms and shield are being held together with bluetac for the picture.  I want to get them and the torso finished before gluing them on permanently.

For March, I think I'll leave the bloodletters on the desk.  There's really not that much left to do on them.  Of course I'll continue work on the riptide, but instead of thinking I'll get it done I think I'll set a more modest goal, like getting the torso and arms finished.

I've also got a band of Warhammer Fantasy Orcs sitting on my desk that just need to be based.  I'm thinking I'll just sprinkle some static grass onto them and call it done.

Waaaauuuuugh!!!

Painted: Empire Swordsmen

There's certainly not much time left in February for completing my hobby projects, but after a nice afternoon painting session I do have my Empire Swordsmen wrapped up.  They go along with my other swordsmen, Master Engineer, Witch Hunter and a gaggle of flagellants for the painted Warhammer Fantasy Empire army I've been working on.

Reporting for duty.

There's a lot of detail on these guys that I didn't pick out. I made the decision early on with this 30 strong troop choice that I wasn't going to spend much time on each individual. They're meant to run around on the table as a large mob so the important thing was for the paint scheme to consistent across the regiment. That's why they call it a uniform, after all.

Here's an older shot of my witch hunter and his retinue.  The freshly painted swordsmen and master engineer aren't included in the shot. I still have a steam tank and 12 more swordsmen that need painting up, then the original composition of the army will be fulfilled.

A witch hunter and his retinue

I'm not going back and putting these guys on round bases for Age of Sigmar. Even though that's probably the rules set they'll be used in from here on out, I still like the look of them when they're all ranked up in traditional Warhammer Fantasy style.