Panthers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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