Solid support

Yesterday when I got home, my two oldest sons had a gift for me.
Jonathan, my eldest, had seen me using pebbles on my terrain pieces and he and his eldest brother had spend some of their free time at the day-care, where they stay during the school holiday, to search for some rocks.
They presented these to me proudly and asked if I could do 'something' with these.
It's probably unnecessary to say I was moved and a bit surprised. Even though I had talked to them about playing a game, this was the first time they decided to get themselves actually involved in one of my hobbies.
With a day off, I decided to see how far they were prepared to go and we sat around the table building terrain.
It was lovely to see their enthousiasm as they glued rocks together, added sand and flock and painting (under my guidance off course).
In the end I added some final touches and, ...
This is the result:

Not only are these great (and cheap) terrain pieces which models can use as cover or climb upon, they also come with a story and personal touch, which will hopefully help to keep them interested in the game for a long time to come. 

Thanks a lot for reading!

Wouter

Small animals and tall tales, or new beginnings part 2

Time goes fast when one's having fun and I'm currently having a ton of fun building terrain for a game I want to play with my two eldest sons.
I've also been painting as if in a frenzy on the miniatures. Not as a chore, but because I really enjoy painting them.

Another reason why I want it to be as perfect as I can manage is of course the fact I'm playing with children and for kids the visual aspect is a very important element in getting their attention.
The game is called 'Burrows and Badgers', published by Oathsworn games.

 

Why I find the mini's so interesting to paint is easily summed up in three parts:
1. The fact they are all one piece. However, this hasn't stopped the sculpter to put them in interesting poses.
2. I really liked to do some research before starting to paint, it;s a bit like wetting my appetite before a meal. Trying to get the fur of the anthropomorphic animals right was a huge part of the painting experience. Not one is alike as mother nature has provided them with such a wide range of patterns and colours. How dull we humans look, ...
3. For some reason these miniatures seem to suit my painting style almost perfectly.
They reminded me so much of the 'Redwall' and 'Wind in the Willows' books.

After 20 years I even started buying and rereading the Redwall books.

 

As I painted, I also started picturing them in various landscapes and before reason popped in, I bought a bunch of trees and plundered my rather large 'terrain project locker'.

This locker had been unopened for years and was still filled with a large number of items I once had plans/ideas for, time to finally put them to use.
It's all work in progress, but here's a start.

 

 Looks almost cosy, doesn't it :).

The Rogues, ...

 My Shrew/Wildcat (still to add) Wild Beast horde from the far North. These are the only faction I created a story for in my mind, so I hope none of my sons picks them

 One of the miniatures I like very much is this bat necromancer. The sculpter made her so she looks a bit like a female vampire (though she's obviously a western bat) with the gown and all. Even while being a bat she has a sense of sexiness.

 

 

The gaming mat I'm posing everything on is one I bought especially for the game.

In the past I was very pleased on the folding gaming table and mats I bought from gamemat.eu, and their Forgotten Realm mat looked almost exactly what I wanted. That and the fact it looks a bit like a scene from Elder scrolls: Oblivion.

 

Thanks a lot for reading!

 

 

New beginnings ...

Hello everyone,

Once again I noticed how difficult it sometimes is to keep on blogging.
Especially if you're like me and only like to show finished projects.
But as half the projects I start are abandoned before they see completion, I rarely post.

Since my last post I went to Salute and, though I swore not to do so beforehand, I started a dozen new games.
My creative mind and buying habit are once again getting the upper hand after seeing all these amazing boards and miniatures at the show.
Also, there is something magical about getting into a new game (or faction), everything looks so fresh and full of opportunities.
Funny how our human minds tend to work.

Here's some of my latest work.

First off is the start of my Astral Claws for 40k. I did start with a marine squad but found these very boring to paint, so I switched to this fellow in the hope he would spark my interest enough to get back to my marines. It didn't work but I had a lot of fun painting him.

Second is the start of my Feral warband for World of Twilight, a game I have neglected for too long but which I still keep close at hearth.
This little guy is Jakiin, one of the smallest, and most likely fiercest, braves around.
I tried something new, which was using a leaf stamper to add fallen leaves to the base.
Seems like I need more practice though as it didn't turn out as I expected.
I really like this little warrior as he is both a bit cute, with his doll tucked in his belt, and threathening.

Last of the projects I like to show of at this moment is a rush job I did as part of the competion at the 'The Drowned Earth' Kickstarter.
The challenge was to convert/paint-up a proxy of one of the characters for the game. This one resembles Nix, the leader of the Artificer faction and one of the easiest ones to do in such a short time in my opinion.
This was the base figure:

Though Nix doesn't have a braid, I really like this hairdo on the figure and decided to keep it.
She was only declared as 'good enough' just before the deadline ended, if I had more time I would definitely have spend more time cleaning up the little green stuff addition and also change her bow.
As well as a more decent paintjob.

 

 

I did paint some more Brewers for my Guildball team too, these don't fit in with the title of this post though :). On top of that, I would like to show them of as a team, so I still need to finish Stave and Stoker.

Thanks a lot for reading!
Until next time!