The Westphalia Cabinet

Strider Love

2010-08-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm Back!

2010-08-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

I've been painting a fair bit in the past week, thanks to a prompt delivery of Black Talon miniatures.

Here's some pictures of my Dark Naga. I chose the HRP+LPA configuration to allow for cheapish heavy firepower and accurate short range defense. When painting, I did all the metallics first and I noticed how superior the new sculpt is compared to the old one. The new Naga is as beautiful as it is menacing.

I also have a couple of Ravens to accompany my Dark Skirmisher. The still need a couple hours of work done. I'm really not convinced a Forward Observation and Recon Team is a viable army choice under 1000TV, but I like the models, which is the most important thing.

Finally, I grabbed this spice rack for 99 cents at a second hand store. That's a good investment if I ever saw one.

Offline

2010-08-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all, as I'm moving back to Canada tomorrow evening, I will be offline for a bit. Thankfully, I packed a small painting kit to hit the ground running while I wait for the rest of my stuff to arrive.

I also just put in an order for some extra stuff, such as some Hoplites and infantry for my Black Talon, and the majestic new Naga sculpt to provide some extra stealthy punch.

When I finally get settle in Kingston, I'll try to find some players for a Heavy Gear campaign. I have been working on it for a good while now. It will be something like "24" with Gears, set during the Interpolar War.

Dark Skirmisher

2010-08-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

From the huge Dark Kodiak, I went on to paint the diminutive Dark Skirmisher. It was quite challenging, but it turned out OK.

This would probably end up being my army commander, in a squad of recon Gears.

Enjoy!

C'MON

2010-07-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

You can now vote for the Dark Kodiak on coolminiornot.com. Just once I'd like to break the 7 threshold, but it doesn't look like it's in the cards. Not complaining, mind you. CMON voting is harsh when you're receiving it, but after a few days it averages out and is actually pretty accurate. Assuming you don't go vote repeatedly for yourself.

Thank you in advance for your vote. But one person, one vote!

Monster

2010-07-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

A couple pics of the Dark Kodiak I finished painting today. This it that largest Gear miniature I have painted yet.

Last Chance for Heavy Gear Free books

2010-07-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

Having not received any emails from interested parties, I'm giving it a couple more days and then the books are going into the recycling bin.

Army Painting Contest Winners

2010-07-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

I always look forward to this. To few people show their painted Heavy Gear armies online, so it's great when a yearly painting contest draws them out.

Congratulations to the winners in both categories (Army and Commander). I'm especially fond of these two pictures:

Henri Harkonen's Northern Guard:

Leif Raiha's Rabid Grizzly:

I'll definitely participate next year, but the combination of having a newborn baby at home and the previously mentioned factors really did me in.

Now, you two, I want to see more minis from you.

Books, Books, Books

2010-07-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

As I am getting ready to move back to Canada this August, one task that is especially difficult for me is to sort out the books that are valuable enough that I want to keep them and those that I want to get rid of.

A couple years back, I took advantage of a half-price sale at the Dream Pod 9 store to grab almost all 2nd edition books for Heavy Gear. I love these books, even though they came out in the 90's (for the most part) and I absolutely WILL be shipping those back home.

I can't say I feel the same way about my 3rd edition books.

I don't want to go on eBay to sell them because I frankly could do without the hassle, but I don't really feel like tossing them in the recycling bin either. Sure, I think the 2nd edition was superior, but they're not THAT crappy. Hopefully, someone will be willing to give them a home.

So here is what I have to unload:

DP9-900 Silhouette CORE Rulebook (first printing, NOT the deluxe edition)
DP9-925 Heavy Gear Player Handbook (Hardcover, two or three pages coming loose towards the end)
DP9-926 Earth Companion
DP9-927 Vehicle Companion
DP9-928 Terra Nova Companion

To be clear, these are ALL the books for Heavy Gear 3rd Ed. and the Silhouette CORE rulebook.

Here is the deal:
1) If you want to trade me, let me know what you have to trade. I don't hope to make money on this, but I just want to cover what it's going to cost me to ship to you.
2) I will ship Cargo, so it will likely take a couple months for the books to arrive.
3) All books are second hand, but are in good condition. They have been read, but were never thrown around.
4) I won't split the books. This is very much all or nothing.
5) Yes, you got this right. I want to GIVE the books away. I just want to swap something to compensate for the shipping costs, and everything above that just puts a smile on my face.

I would announce this on the DP9 forum, but I have a feeling they would frown on this. If you are interested, email me at patrickstamand@gmail.com and let me know what you are willing to part with. I am perfectly aware that I run the risk of getting screwed, but I choose to have a little faith in humanity and human decency. And at any rate, it only costs me shipping and wins me tons of great Karma.

Random Non-Gear Pictures

2010-06-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

After thinking about it long an hard, I've decided not to participate in this year's army painting competition at DP9.com. There are many reasons for this, not least being the fact that between my job, my work to relocate to Canada and my two-months-old son (see post below), I just don't have much time for painting, and I don't want to be the guy who just enters an Iguana in an army painting competition: that's just not right.

But I also have two other reasons.

First is the decision on the part of DP9 to disqualify Gears and combat groups previously entered in an earlier DP9 painting contest, which leads me to believe that I'd be disqualifying my whole army from future competitions, which I don't want to do right now. Granted, I have lots of other Gears to paint, but nothing like my current MilICIA army.

Second, and this is largely me being an asshole, but I just don't feel like the target audience for this. To quote on of the pod guys one the Dream Pod 9 forum (and this is nothing against them, just part of their pragmatic strategy to promote the game), "it's to encourage people to show up at the American Championships at GenCon with painted armies." That's all well and good, and I get it, but then I look at the people who placed in the three top spots last year:

1st Place: Jakes Staines (Sar), UK
2nd Place: Patrick St-Amand (Commando Zero), Taiwan
3rd Place: Henri Härkönen (SickBunny), Finland

Shameless self-promotion aside (yes, I got second place, but there really weren't that many entries last year and I did submit three different squads. Let me say it now: I am a mediocre painter. CMON says so.), I don't think any of us are going to attend GenCon, for obvious geographical reasons. And then there are the nice guys at Heavy Gear-France (see link in the sidebar) who do an awesome job of promoting the game on their side of the pond. My frustration (if I can call it that; it's really just an itch, actually) comes from my impression that the current Pod Squad-centric promotion drive for Blitz! leaves us old timers in the lurch in a way. I'm sure things will be different next year, but for now, that seems to be the strategy and us overseas fans have to wait it out and hope for different terms next year.

That being said, I don't paint Heavy Gear miniatures to participate in painting competitions; I paint them because I love the minis and the overall imagery of the game. And here are a few more pictures, this time featuring infantry and tanks.

Infantry, Infantry, Infantry

2010-05-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

I've finally been able to complete two new combat groups I had been working on, which get me two step closer to having an army to submit for this year's army painting competition at dp9.com. Both are infantry-based, but rather different.

First, a "vanilla" infantry platoon:

Second, three squads of Jackrabbit ATVs (I'll be the first to admit that the model for the Jackrabbit looks goofy, compared with the Northern ATV):

And here are some picture of a completely motorized infantry platoon, with both ATVs and ORVs:

Mordecai

2010-04-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know this has nothing to do with Heavy Gear or miniatures, or anything this blogs concerns itself with usually, but here it goes:

On April 9th, at 10:28 in the morning, my wife Ariel and I received this wonderful little package.

CCG Armory

2010-01-29T17:57:00.000-08:00

I have never done business with these guys but I have read lots of bad things. Buyers beware.

Thread on the DP9 forum.

Some blog.

Really, people, watch out.

Stripped-Down Jagers: Getting There

2010-01-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

A couple more hours on these guys and I'm through with them.

Huns and Kodiaks

2010-01-10T06:38:00.000-08:00

Hi there, I spent a couple days working on a pair of Hun tanks for my MilICIA army.

Hun 1

Hun 2

Back View

Huns in the Badlands

Or in the forest ;)

I also assembled these two, which are absolutely huge when compared to the other Gears in the Blitz range.

The Dark Kodiak (left) was fairly easy to put together, but the base Kodiak (right) had a large number of small parts and took me about two hours to put together. I also used over two complete paperclips to pin that monster.

Some More Works in Progress

2009-12-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

I spent some time painting this weekend. I think my technique has improved a lot over the past couple years.

Three Elans and a Few New Pictures

2009-11-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

First of all, I got some new miniatures last Friday and I started painting immediately (for once). On Sunday, I finished these three Elan ORVs. I'm also working on a platoon of Jackrabbit ATVs and another platoon of straight up infantry. The idea is to reinforce my Eastern Emirate freedom fighters army with both infantry and tanks. These guys will be part of a rapid deployment force.

Second, I reshot some pictures of my older miniatures to post the on the miniature website Coolminiornot. Here are some of the new shots.

You can view my gallery here. Don't forget to vote generously!

Reports of my Death Been Greatly Exagerated

2009-11-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

Many things have kept me busy and away from my blog in recent months: work, my lovely wife's pregnancy, and drinking, but I am not dead yet. I have just started getting back into painting after a short break, this time working on my Black Talon army (I love painting stealth Gears: they almost paint themselves) with pictures to follow (hopefully next week).

And, of course, I want to congratulate Unclean, from HeavyGear-France, who won the first edition of the painting competition they had going. I love Unclean's painting style, and I have to say his recent works (a fantastic looking Caprician army, still in-progress) came out even better than his Northern army, which was chosen as the winning entry.

Nostalgia

2009-08-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the few people who may be following this blog; I somehow thought that having more free time this summer would encourage me to post more often and get some work done on my painting projects, but it turns out having nothing but free time does not encourage productivity very much.

I'm one of those people who need structure to be productive. I'll have to remember never to get a job where I have to work from home...

Something that happened recently though, is that I got my hands on a bunch of Dark Heresy books. I may not like Warhammer 40K as a game, but it makes for a fantastic setting, RPG-wise, and Dark Heresy can best be described as Call of Cthulhu on steroids in the 40K universe.

Given that there are absolutely no players here (none I know, at least), I don't think I'm going to be running any game any time soon, but I'd have to look at the upcoming new edition of the Heavy Gear RPG before I decide what game I'd lean toward.

Dark Heresy got me thinking, though, about the miniature game that I always liked best: Necromunda. Oh, sure, it hasn't been around for a long time now, but in the late 90's, I used to play a lot. Necromunda had a great balance of fast-paced, action packed gameplay and a very strong narrative element where your gang gained experience and exploited the territories it controlled for cash.

Some of my fondest gaming memories are from a campaign I played in with my cousin André and a few others. The crazy thing was that André was always both a good painter and a great terrain builder, so that made for a truly great gaming table. I played Escher, my cousin played Cawdors, as did Karl. Shawn played Delaques. Phil played Scavies and Dom played Spyrers. But the most active players were my cousin and me. Eventually, we also got some Ratskins, but I only remember my cousin playing them once. He lost pretty badly.

One time, I went to my cousin's place and my friend Karl hinted that we'd have a treat for the game that night. When we got in the gaming room, my cousin showed us his latest creation: a ruined cathedral, complete with stained glass windows and frescoes. It was crazy. I wish I had pictures, but that was before anyone had digital cameras

I dug into my old miniatures and I found I still have four whole gangs, with ALL the minis that were available for them: Eschers, Ratskins, Delaques and Spyrers. I also have a few special characters. I stripped them of the old paintjob.

Maybe I'll get around to painting them sometime...

Pinning: An Amateurish Demonstration

2009-06-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

Someone on the DP9 boards recently asked me if I could show how I pin my miniatures and I readily replied I'd get a tutorial together. A couple of weeks flew by and I finally got around to putting some pictures together.

Since they have so many parts, I think pinning is essential when assembling Heavy Gear Blitz! miniatures. Otherwise, they break or shatter very easily.

Now I have to say a few words first: I'm no professional modeller. Neither am I a pro painter. Take the following with a grain of salt and try things out for yourself. Because you're working with small parts, you have to always use your judgment and be careful so you don't mess up an expensive miniature.

1) Be careful with your hand drill. Use light pressure to create a guiding hole and don't let the tip of your drill move around. I don't know how many guns I've destroyed; thankfully, Blitz! miniatures come with enough spare guns to field a couple small armies.

2) Don't use too much glue. If you're pinning, you want just enough to ensure the pin is solidly in place and keeps the joint solid. Soak any excess glue off with a bit of tissue, so as not to have dried superglue masking off your mini's details.

3) Keep your workspace neat and all you miniature parts in safe compartments so you never throw a Gear's arm with the trash. Yeah, I did that. You can point and laugh now.

First, Separate all the bits. Choose which weapon you're going to use. Remove the basing slot. Clean all mold lines and repair any defect before moving on to the next step. Here, I'm working with an Anolis Gear.

Drill a hole in the middle of the circle in the leg half of the miniature. This is usually not necessary, but with this particular miniature, the joint will be too flimsy without a pin. I always simply "eyeball" my holes and I've never had any problems. Just be careful and always "dry fit" parts before actually gluing them together.

Here you can see the hole. Only a couple millimeters deep is enough.

Insert the pin. I always use bits of metal paperclips cut in short segments. It's cheap, and it still has a little bit of flexibility to it, as opposed to something like an actual pin, which is more likely to break in case of shock.

Do the same thing for the backpack, being very careful to keep your holes aligned and not to drill all the way through the backpack.

At this point glue together legs, torsos, and backpack. Your miniature's pose is going to be pretty much final after this point, so think it through.

Here I glued the head on, which doesn't require pinning, and Ive drilled a hole where the arms will fit. Again, this will act to reinforce the bond between limbs and torso.

Stick pins in the drilled holes and glue them in. Make sure the pins are roughly aligned together, so that your Gear's shoulders don't have a weird look to them later on.

Your weapons are going to stick out and come off easily if you don't make sure they are sturdy enough. Here, I have used a pin in the fist, again being careful not to drill all the way through. Drill a matching hole where the gun handle is. The gun is a small part, so be extra careful and take your time. Start by drilling very lightly so as to create a guiding hole in the gun and then go for it. If you drill too hard right away, chances are you'll misalign your pin or damage you weapon.

Here, I have affixed a medium rifle to my Anolis. Yes, I know it's an illegal swap. Sue me. The problem with this Gear and the arms I have to go with it is that the Very Light Autocannon it's supposed to carry just doesn't fit: it's to small for the barrel to rest into the Gear's left hand. Plus, The medium rifle looks better.

Finally, I drill holes into both feet and stick in longer bits of paper clip. These will be used to pin the Anolis into it's base, but also to insert into a wine cork or something similar during priming, painting and finish. You want to keep your fingers off you miniature as much as possible while you're working on it.

And... Voilà!

Feel free to give me feedback, as I'm always eager to improve my modelling skills.

Terrain Modelling Article

2009-06-13T00:42:00.000-07:00

There's a pretty cool article on how to model Sci-fi buildings on the Reaper website. Even though it's originally intended for their CAV line, I figure it would work just as well for Heavy Gear.

Check it out!

Second Place in Paint Your Squad '09

2009-06-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in a very good mood this morning. My OPSEC Squad took second place in the Paint You Squad competition at DP9.com.

Hurray! And, of course, congratulations to the other winners. Those are some great looking Gears.

Missile Pods

2009-06-06T22:07:00.001-07:00

Because I am naturally lazy and I'm always looking for shortcuts to systematize my painting, I wanted to get a bunch of missile pods done so I could just go and pin them on finished models. It also frees up some space around the head of Gears while I am painting, and makes reaching small spots easier.

First, I pin the pods on paperclips and mount them on a plastic cork (natural cork it to hard to pin something into). I then prime them.

Second, I basecoat them in black. In this case, I used two thin coats to get a really even color without losing any details.

I then brush on the metallics. In this case I used three shades, from darker to lighter: Shadowed Steel, Honed Steel and Polished Silver.

Then, I fix the black on the front and back of the missile pod.

Fifth, I apply decals. I just don't trust myself to get a good result through freehand. After the decals are completely dry, I brush on a generous amount of brush-on sealer, before spraying gloss varnish to really seal in the decals and prevent them from coming off later on.

Finally, I paint the individual pods with two coats of bright red. One of my gripes with Heavy Gear miniatures is that they are often not cast as well as they should, so you often get imperfections that are very hard to fix. Missile pods are the most common victims of this, with many individual missile pods often deformed and not looking like circles at all. So at this stage, I have to make sure I get perfect red circles to at least give the illusion that the pods are perfectly formed and aligned.

I will probably finish the pod by doing an extremely light whitelining highlight to add definition to the details, such as the panels and the pods themselves.

Voilà!

OPSEC Cadre

2009-05-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

This is my third entry for the miniature painting contest at DP9.com. I'm rather happy with the results.

A Chameleon. The black shoulder plate unwisely indicates this is my army commander. But thanks to Stealth (5), no one will get to shoot at him.

A second Chameleon, with its DPG upgraded to a LBZK. A nice small survivable Gear with some extra bite.

Panther (New Shots)

2009-05-30T02:03:00.000-07:00

I've added a new layer of varnish from a different can (both matte, strangely) to my Panthers and I've been able to get rid of that weird gloss. Yay!

Panthers

2009-05-06T03:07:00.001-07:00

These guy are not going to make it into the Squad contest ( I can't put them in a legal Squad yet), but here they are anyway.

Towards a complete OPSEC Cadre, Part 1

2009-05-03T22:31:00.001-07:00

I've been working on my OPSEC Cadre for the HG squad painting contest.

One of the Snake Eye Black Mamba is done already. I have two Chameleons (one of them with a stinging surprise) that are coming along nicely.

So here is the second SE Black Mamba. First, with base colors and blacklining done. I want this one to look really crisp:
Second here is the same mini with the edge highlights done. I'm much happier with this one than with the first one, where there was much more streaking.
But it's not always easy to paint when you have to keep fighting off intruders who like the smell of paint.
;)

J. G. Ballard, 1930-2009

2009-04-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I've never liked reading sci-fi. Movies, games, no problem. But I've never enjoyed reading sci-fi. There's just something about writers who work with the assumption that ideas and science are more important than the actual craft of writing that I find entirely uninteresting.

Two exceptions: William Gibson's Neuromancer (not so much his other novels) and my personnal favourite, James Graham Ballard.

I saw Empire of the Sun when I was 13 and I really liked it, as opposed to Steven Spielberg's other movies in those days. I only read the book much later, while I was finishing my M.A., and I much preferred it, since it lacked all the cuteness of the movie. Completely uncute, but great, was Crash, both the book (which informed my own writing for years) and the Cronenberg adaptation.

I then read an anthology of Ballard short stories, which blew me away, especially his more experimental, fragmented short stories such as those found in The Atrocity Exhibition.

And then while on a one-month trip to Thailand, I read a few more books, such as The Crystal World, Cocaine Nights, Super-Cannes, and The Concrete Island. Not all of them were equally great, but they were all enjoyable. Not all of them were even sci-fi, but they all had that melancholy, that sense of an end of the world, or an end of a world, examining either science, sociology, technology, with this sad eye only he had. Nothing quite compared.

J.G. Ballard died on April 19, after a long battle with prostate cancer. His voice will be missed.

Back to Work

2009-04-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

After my demoralizing experience in January, it took me a while to get back to painting, but here are some things I am working on. It doesn't hurt that DP9 just announced a squad painting competition. The deadline being at the end of the month, I'll have to get on with it if I want to participate. I don't see myself winning this, as my painting style is purposefully not flashy and I don't do major conversions, but it'll be fun to see what I can come up with. And what others come up with...

I showed pictures of these guys a while ago, but here are some more.

I'm planning for this Black Mamba to represent the army commander in my WIP Free Basal ESE Army. The lines and shadows came out quite nicely, I think.

Two Basilisks for the same army.

A Panther, for no army in particular (the model is really cool, and it's the easiest paintjob ever.)

I've been working on a large scale article project for the Aurora magazine, and while the writing is no problem, I want to have some artwork too, so I'm also painting Northern and Sourthern Gears to use for vignettes.

A Sabertooth

Two Dartjagers. I really love the bug head...

More to come when I'm ready to shoot said vignettes.

Return to Cat's Eye

2009-02-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

I'm getting very excited at the release in April(?) of the new Blitz book, Return to Cat's Eye, which will introduce a number of new factions, such as Caprice, the Liberati, the CEF, and my personal favourite, the Black Talons. RtCE will also advance the timeline to TN1950, making it current with the old books. That means that everything that comes out after that will be fresh, never seen before stuff. I can't wait. In the meantime, I love the look of the Caprician models...

One caveat, though, I would very strongly recommend anyone to buy the PDF version of the new book, as they'll get a full color version, cheaper, and with eventual updates that will fix the typos and mistakes that inevitably plague Dream Pod 9's books, as well as the ability to print new copies whenever they want. For those who are buying printed versions, well... you have been warned.

A Tragedy

2009-01-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

After arriving at my mother's house yesterday, I opened my mini case to realize there must have been too much wiggle room and things must have moved around quite a bit as my suitcase got thrown around.

Most of my Jagers and Black Mambas got smashed to bits and will have to be repainted eventually. Mostly, it happened to minis I painted a while ago and that had not had their limbs and weapons pinned. I almost cried as I saw all those little arms and rocket pods and guns at the bottom of the case.

So wrap your minis more safely than I did. Or mail them. Or leave them at home.

My heart is broken. I'll just go crawl in a corner and cry myself to sleep.

Travel Abroad

2009-01-16T18:38:00.000-08:00

So that my very few readers do not despair in vain of new updates, let it be known I shall be leaving this god-forsaken island (Taiwan) tomorrow for an even more god-forsaken land (Canada).

I'll be back on February 20.

I'd like to wish everybody a happy Chinese New Year!

The Gear, the Bad, and the Ugly

2009-01-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

I've been building more Badland terrain recently, and I've stolen a page from Sergio Leone's book with this piece, though I can't quite remember from which movie's intro this is ripped from.

I've moved away from smaller terrain pieces, which I have plenty of, to larger ones. There's still a bit of cutting to be done on this one, but I should be able to prime it later tonight and paint it tomorrow.

Quick and Painless Basing by Dummies

2009-01-05T02:12:00.000-08:00

Because Unclean, of HeavyGear-France asked me about my basing texture, I'll give quick step by step. I'd like to state first that this is the way I do it. There are many better ways. You will probably prefer some more flashy way of basing, and CMON is full of gorgeous bases that look so much better than mine.

I came up with this basing process because I didn't like sticking minis in slotted bases, and then applying some flock or texture. I like pinning. I love pinning. If you play with HG miniatures for any length of time, because they are so poseable and therefore have a lot of fragile parts, you'll learn to love pinning too. But I also like simplicity. And speed. This method is meant to represent some very broken ground, with lots of slate or maybe something vaguely volcanic. I was also inspired by the way mud dries and cakes in dried-up lakes and such.

The first step is to take your standard hexagonal base and a sheet of cork (the kind that's used for pinning things on your wall, for example). I used to prefer GW's round bases, but after much reflexion, I find the though more expensive, DP9 Hex bases are just of superior quality.

The second step is to plug the slot in the base. I use toothpicks and standard PVA glue.

Then, tear a small piece of cork that will vaguely cover your hex, but leave some clear areas. You want an irregular shape that will look more natural. You also want to tear strategically so that your cork is of the proper shape for your mini's feet to stand on, and also so that you don't have to pin through the toothpick. Glue it in place with PVA glue and let it dry completely overnight.

Apply white primer to the base. I use spray, but you can use brush-on primer if you want. I'm lazy that way.

Next, give the base a couple coats of diluted paint. I use Citadel's Foundation line here (Kalthan Brown, I think) because it has rich pigments with very good coverage. But even so, because you are working with cork, two coats at least will be necessary since the cork will "drink" the first one.

Brush lighter colours on the elevated cork area of the base to give it depth. Apply PVA glue around it and sprinkle on the basing material of your choice. I am a very big fan of the Japanese company Kato, producers of railway models, when it comes to these things. Very high quality, very low cost. Remove any excess material before it dries in place.

Finally, pin your mostly painted model in place through both feet. Here is an unfinished Cheetah on such a base. Make sure to spray varnish on the base after the PVA is entirely dry, as the varnish will provide added solidity to you base.

Ta-daa! They don't look perfect, but these bases are guaranteed to be fast, tough, and provide a feeling of unity to your army. You can add extras such a lichen or rocks, but I like fairly bare bases that don't distract from models. Enjoy!

Two New Gears

2009-01-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

I was up painting until late last night and, on top of working on a few other models I have going, I got two new Gears done.

Here is the Southern Snake Eye Balck Mamba, a stealth Gear that I have here painted in urban colors. I was a bit weirded out out that the so-called "matte" varnish turned out so glossy, so I might have to fix that later on.

The companion piece to my Peacemaker Razorback is the standard Razorback with MRP and Snub Cannon. Somehow, I think the Peacemaker turned out better, so I might do more touch-ups on this one, especially after seeing it in a picture just now.

2008-12-27T19:17:00.000-08:00

I finished some of my previous WIPs this week. In this case, it's a Southern Fire Support Cadre with two demolition drones, which are basically bombs on threads. These all come from the Fire Support Squad box. As soon as I'm done painting it, I'll swap the Jager for an Iguana, for better comms, better survivability and the added benefit of a Target Designator

This is the first of my Spitting Cobras. I like the pose on this guy, even though it makes it difficult for storage and transport.

Second Spitting Cobra

A Support Cobra, with both its Very Light Field Gun (on its back) and Very Heavy Autocannon (handheld). This is actually a downgrade from the basic Spitting Cobra, but I don't think it loses any of its offensive capability, except for the saturation fire capability provided by the Spit's rocket pods.

Some More Work in Progress

2008-12-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

I apologize in advance for the poor lighting in these pics.

A standard Hunter
Predator Jaguar
Razorback
Tiger

I'm having a painting Marathon for Northern Gears, it seems...

New Models

2008-12-18T00:54:00.000-08:00

A package of brand new models from DP9 came in yesterday, as if I didn’t have enough to paint already… But hey, how could I resist?

Here are just a couple things I put together before getting on the bus to school.

First, a Python. I love this model. Sure, it’s a crap Gear. Overpriced and much less able than the Southern Spitting Cobra. But it sure as hell looks great. This one is not glued together yet. Both arms, the head and the rocket pod will be glued on later on so I can reach the inner details.

This is a Northern Weasel, a specialist EW Gear. I first resisted buying it because it’s fairly small and very specialized, but I’m glad I finally got it. I just love how it looks, with it’s elongated torso and EW platform. I wasn’t careful while cutting the parts off the sprue so I broke off the left arm at the elbow. I ended up having to put it back together with a paper clip drilled in. I actually really like the way it turned out. The extended elbow gives it a lot of character and makes it look a bit more dynamic.

New Painting Projects

2008-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

I’ll admit I have a bad habit of always starting new projects before I get the old ones done. As it is, my worktable is covered with half-finished models, some of them with barely a basecoat, others a few minutes away from completion. I’m just very bad at staying focused on the things I have already started.

I thought I would describe a technique I started using recently. I used to basically do the basecoats, or at least for the dominant color, and then do a wash to create shadowed areas and make the detail “pop” a bit more. I would then do progressive highlights and finish with the smaller details, with last minute edge highlights on the appropriate areas.

This time, I applied an initial very diluted basecoat, thicker than a wash, but still being sure to have a fairly high level of transparency. Here I used Citadel’s Graveyard Earth. As it dries, it pools in the model’s recesses, it creates shadows and accentuates the perspective. The more elevated areas are left with the white primer showing through, but at this stage there is no need to cover the surface thoroughly.

The next step, after the first colour is completely dry, is to start applying the model’s true base colour. In this case, I am using Reaper Master Series’ Desert Khaki. I leave the shadowed or depressed area clear. If I was in a hurry, I could just dry brush the model at this point and I would still get a fairly decent result. But I’m in no hurry, so I’m taking my time with this one.

Here, you can see two Basilisks I have started using the same technique. Later highlights will accentuate the roundness of the head and legs.

Peacemaker Razorback

2008-12-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

I finished this Razorback a couple days ago. I'm pretty happy with it.

WIP Peacemaker Razoback

2008-11-30T05:56:00.000-08:00

Another work in progress sitting on my table at the moment, a Peacemaker Razorback. I'm also putting together a standard Razorback in more sober colours. I have to say, with all those crisp lines, and sharp angles, this is possibly the easiest miniature to paint, yet still manages to look great.

The Razorback is an Assault Gear, but I have no idea how it actually performs in a game. It's a bit slow, and the heavier armor doesn't quite make up for how often you're going to get hit. It does have nice weapons, and the VHAC just looks awesome.

An Almost Finished Spitting Cobra

2008-11-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of an almost finished Spitting Cobra, for a Militia Fire Support Cadre. Some work remains to be done on the gun and the head, as well as adding some extra highlights, but you can get a pretty good idea of the finished mini.

This thing is truly a beast. It's massive, and it's great at projecting an impression of pure brutal force. I have been working on this bastard for about six months.

Work in Progress

2008-11-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

A Sidewinder.

A Desert Viper (minus the arms).

A Black Adder.

These are some Gears I am working on these days. These should form another Strike Cadre, this time with Desert colours and with different Gears. You may have guessed I like to work with very a very limited palette, bordering on the monochrome. I also decided to switch to hex bases in the middle of putting these guys together. I just find that hex bases are more "Heavy Gear" than round ones.

Some Accessories for Heavy Gear Blitz!

2008-11-29T07:59:00.001-08:00

A Defense Turret with two Heavy Autocannons.

A Defense Turret with twin Heavy Rocket Pods. Those can be placed on the terrain as defensive assets. I believe they are very easy to blow away. It must suck big time to man one of those.

This is a recon drone, very nice gadget used to peek around corners or perform forward observation from a safe distance. I am pretty sure this is the smallest mini I have ever painted. It's about 5mm across.

Militia GP Cadre and Strike Cadre

2008-11-29T07:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some Heavy Gear Blitz! minis I put together and painted late last year. Above is a Southern Militia Strike Cadre comprising of, from left to right, a Blitz Jager, two Black Mamba, a standard Jager and another Jager with a LBZK weapon swap. Below is a GP Cadre from the same army, with four Jagers with standard loadout and, in the middle, a Command Jager with a paratrooper rifle.
I love the Heavy Gear minis since the release of the new Blitz! sculpts. They are highly posable, very dynamic, and the arms and weapons are a lot less flimsy than the previous version.