Merry Be-lated Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone though it be a little bit later than usual. I hope you have all been good and got something nice. Its been a very busy Christmas in the Brummie household this year for some reason not had the time to browse the blogs as usually but things are settling down a bit this week so I shall have a good catch up.

Hobby wise not really got much to show cleaned up and based a few more Hasslefree miniatures and started a dad/daughter project with my eldest in the form of assembling and painting the fire elementalists from Frostgrave I wonder what colours they will be painted? :)

Santa loot has been the following getting there with the theme's this year and treacle toffee nom nom!
Haven't had chance to even sniff the art book yet either!

As for my own stuff got these guys assembled. Need to base and fill some joins on three of them then it will be time for priming.

 Picked this football mini up from Hasslefree not sure what I'm going to do with her yet. Will be Post Apoc'd somehow. I did think of changing the head and adding some sort of weapon to the left hand.

Playing a game of Across the Dead Earth with Carmen this week as well. made to gangs of a similar composition just going to try it with basic rules to begin with :) so there may be a little bit of a battle report depending on how things go.

Post Apoc Base Camp (WIP)

Well unfortunately on Friday the Relics Tournament for today got postponed due to the event organiser and his family sadly having been unwell all week with food poisoning (Get Well soon mate).

So rather than studying rulebooks etc I've been doing some work on this months Across the Dead Earth facebook groups scenery competition.

The theme this month is a gangs base camp. The only restrictions is it being CD based sized and up and it being mostly scratch built. I had thought about making a sort of hovel out of a vehicle and scrap but then decided to make a sort of makeshift outpost or fortification belonging to the State or perhaps a more militant themed groups lookout post. Rather than going for a more conventional tower I decided to make a tower fortification out of an old truck wreck, Old scavenged wood has formed some rough looking fortifications on top of both the 'buildings' to give some cover for sentries. I decided to shove rubble all around the truck and as a ramp to get into the truck cab.

I did think of making some sort of lighting rig for the telegraph pole and having a wire go away to the trucks engine to power it but I haven't found the bits I want to use for it so that maybe a later addition at another date.

You can see inside the cab that it has all been ripped out and a roughly shoddy wooden floor put in place. I added a tarp to the top so that in bad weather the guards can pull the tarp down and it be sealed a bit more from the elements. Deadline for this is next weekend so this will probably be the focus for this week but I think another couple of sessions and it will be done.

If anyone is after the Engineers F.E.S  there in stock and available to buy :) I have primed mine and got them ready to begin painting as the next comp is a painting competition with two categories the first being a single miniature from the either the Sisters of Acquisition and Engineers F.E.S gangs. The second one being a whole completed gang from across the whole Across the Dead Earth range released so far :)

All Primed and ready for the start of the comp I'm not sure who is going to be the single miniature entry quite yet. 

Also I've started painting up a Penguin Crew from knight models to get in some games with Pulp Citizen but I'll do a separate post about them.

Across the Dead Earth Engineers F.E.S and more Scenery Started

Well been another mega busy week. The Dragoons have been finished just need varnishing and basing. The Heavy Dragoons are now primed and ready to be started. I'll do pics when there based.

The Engineers Forward Expeditionary Squad have been released for Across the Dead Earth the minis are fantastic! They've been prepped and based and will get primed this week. We are having a painting competition beginning of April well actually two. Firstly single figure from either of the new gangs (Sisters of Acquistion or Engineers F.E.S) or a complete gang from Across the Entire range released so far. (I'll be entering one of the Engineers and the whole Engineer gang as I've already painted all the others!) There currently up for pre order (10% off RRP but not including postage) But will go live on the store any day now as they've have gone to all the backers already.

http://dead-earth-games.myshopify.com/collections/all?page=1



The main thing being worked on this weekend is some more scenery for another Across the Dead Earth facebook group. Its theme this time is basecamp and must be CD size or bigger. I've only gone for a slightly bigger than CD size one mainly just due to how busy I am with the Britanans Relics project. Mostly started yesterday morning and it kind of evolved as the day went on as I added bits between other normal life things. Its going to be a 'State' outpost The truck tower needs to the windows boarded up a bit. I may add some sandbags or defensive type structure to the top of the truck cab and the sort of lean to.

 I have a number of these dowels (from a ice lolly I think) Though height wise not perhaps to scale it makes a good telegraph pole. I have several more of these. I might mount them up on some rubble piles and have them scattered about the table. (If I get around to it!) The Climbing rungs are simply staples cut in half bent into shape then superglued into holes drilled in the dowel. I need to make some kind of junction box at the top but I think It will have to be made from putty and also need to find some sort of cable to dangle loosely of course :)

Added in a small corner wall which is the base for the lean to
 

Floor added to the ripped out interior of the truck. Rubble shored up around it.

 The progress so far. I'm thinking of adding sort of some of lighting rig to the top of the truck down to a generator (But this will be down to time and sourcing the generator bits).

Added some Rolled up tarp so in bad weather in theory they can get some shelter etc.

Post Apoc Terrain Piece update

Been a chaotic week coming up-to Christmas, Kids breaking up, school plays and everything else. Theres been little time to myself where I haven't just wanted to veg out on the sofa. I have managed a couple of sessions on my ruined post apoc building and the end is insight and hopefully for the second deadline (23rd December) having missed the first at the beginning of the month.

Its pretty much finished really, I've mostly been weathering it and picking out details here and there drybrushing etc. I just need to add the foliage and vegetation growing up the walls so hopefully that should all be done for the next time I post.

Applying washes in various shades. 

 Drybrushing back up to the light grey colour adding more white each time. Also basecoated the wood areas.

Final bits of weathering on the wood. Applied green ink in areas where the foliage is to be attached then stippled on camo green for lichen type effect.

Other bits.
I've started work on some goblins for the fantasy game hopefully they'll be finished by next weekend then I can get them varnished and a game with the kids the following week on the run up to New Years Eve. 

November comes to a close.

Wow how fast year this seems to have gone. Its that time of year where the count down to Christmas has begun!

Well what can I say not a lot has gone on this past week. Real life has just been far to busy and not had much inclination to work on anything. The building has had a little work done on it last weekend Its been painted in a mixture of paint and pva with sand added done in a couple of layers with sand and cat litter added in between. It needs a sealing coat and then painting properly. Sadly its missed todays deadline for the forum comp will have to see if I can get it finished for the 23rd which is the Facebook deadline!

Did manage to go to a local show yesterday. The Wargamer show now located at Leasowes High School in Halesowen. I neglected to take any pics but there was a fair number of stalls and some great display games sadly it conflicted with another show in Bristol which may or may not impacted on the number of traders. However there was Ainsty Castings, Gideon Miniatures, Colonel Bills, Black Pyramid Gaming and Lesleys Bitz box to name a few. Shopping was light this close to Christmas though I did pick the rest of the Army Painter inks, Some basing materials Some Rogue miniatures for conversions and a very nice Johnny Rocket from Maow Miniatures (Sold in the UK by Gideon Miniatures) 

I managed to get a few figures finished off over the weekend. Hopefully the weather will be kind enough for me to get some photos of them. Shall try and plan to get the pics done for Wednesday.

Surprise Parcel! and Terrain Progress

Got home from work yesterday to find a surprise parcel from Thunderchild Miniatures (Click the name!)  courtesy of Lord Siwoc. Johnny ran a recent competition which I won!  Thunderchild miniatures are a recently started company making resin terrain and miniatures for the Post Apocalypse. There is some useful generic stuff as well as robots, mutants and other weird creaturesI shall certainly be browsing there store for more additions the two sets below are fantastic quality castings no visible air bubbles and the fit in nicely with all my 28mm miniatures. The Sofa's shall certainly take pride of place in my new terrain piece. ( more on that in a bit)

Here we are next to Jester, Siwoc and Squint

A little bit of progress on the terrain last night incorporated some suggestions from Sunday's post

 Mathyoo's window frames.

 Robert's Window frame symmetry  with bits strewn outside and inside.

 I think a tiled roof will look better than turning it into a fortress. I have the tiles to add yet but this needs to dry first.

The van is now blocked off properly with rubble from the rest of the building.

Post Apoc Terrain Piece

Started making a building for Across the Dead Earth this week. It serves two purposes as an entry for a couple of competitions (just for fun). The task in this competition is to build a piece of terrain where height is a factor and that it is mostly scratch built.

I've decided to go for a simple two storey structure that is partially collapsed. The roof is still fluctuating as to what it will be. (currently dithering between a damaged tiled roof or a flat roof with a some sort of improvised barricades on).

Here is the wip from start to what is structurally nearly finished. Started mostly Friday and left to dry on Saturday. I need to pick up some cork or cat litter or something as I want to do a rubble strewn base.


The beginnings polystyrene scavenged packaging. The Base is from a commercially bought cake I just cleaned it. Obviously after very much enjoying the eating of said cake :D

 The lower floor before it got hacked into a thinner shape.

 I wanted as second means of accessing the first floor and didn't want to to the obvious ladder route decided to use a wrecked vehicle as a means of entry.

 Bit more of an idea of the overall look. I used some average height figures to measure things as  I went along.

 The beginnings of the collapsed rear of the building the stair well I'm in two minds about again as I can't decide yet between realistic looking stairs and playable ones.

Its current state. I figured the ground floor to be an old looted store of some sort. The Sprue representing what remains of the windowed front. There won't be much interior wise as it will have been looted long ago. If I get time I might have a crack at some furniture bits but we'll see if time allows.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Post Apoc Scatter Terrain and Ruins and more Mini's!

I've done a bit more work on the terrain front this week. The Post box has been based and various bits of rubble has been added and a sculpted skull and a wheel hub from the bits box. The Phone box will be next once I can find a suitable base to put it on.

The ruins are sitting in limbo at the minute I'm trying to workout whether I should add on some coarse turf for the over grown look or whether to have a go at stippling on some paint for a moss effect.

In other news I've received all my kickstarter miniatures for Across the DeadEarth so can now fill in the gaps (Reggie and Fatboy) paint up the release version of Skylar and I have my hands on 'The State'

I've started converting a new gang for Across the Dead Earth. There being called The Jaguar's led by the infamous Maximillian the master mechanic. Living in the ruins of Fort Dunlop on the outskirts of The Rag Market they have scavenged lots of machinery and tools out of the nearby derelict car plant and moved into a nearby ruined office block adjacent to an ancient shopping district.

The pics a bit crude. Maxmillian was finished being painted last night so will get some pics done later today!