#6MMRPC Week 3 Wrap-Up

This week was slow, but I got a few things done.  Most notably, I finished all of Phase 1, and I'm now moving to Phase 2.   In case you were wondering, the final model to assemble was The Dreamer, as seen on the left.

• Phase 1: Assembly.  Get everything I currently have from Malifaux assembled.  I should have most of Phase 1 done by the end of this week.
• Phase 2: Gap filling.  

The first part of Phase 2 was to find an acceptable gap filling medium.  I've used Milliput and Green Stuff (both regular and liquid) in the past, and I've always felt the ROI was really low.  GS can't be sanded, so you have to get it perfect the first time, and Milliput takes FOREVER to sand.

As mentioned in last week's update, I wanted to try Future and baby powder, and I did -- it does dry to a sandable level, but it doesn't naturally adhere to whatever you're filling so I had problems with the dried stuff flaking out of the gap as I worked on it.  Great idea, not an ideal solution.

Moving on from that, I went to super glue (CA glue) and baby powder.  Many posts I saw that mentioned this method said to make a paste and mash it in, but it only gives you a tiny time to work with the paste before the entire batch is solid.  Instead of doing that, I used some brush-on Krazy Glue, and used a small spoon to heap baby powder onto the glue.  That worked great (take a look at Lord Chompy Bits' shoulder, on the right)!  It still takes forever to sand, but not as much as Milliput.  Priming and painting will tell how effective this method is, but I think it's the best method I've found, so far.

Let's hope I can finish this phase before the end of October, as projected.

#6MMRPC Week 2 Wrap-up

Matney here.

This was an interesting week as far as the Six Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge goes -- on Monday, I did as I said I was going to and purchased some Malifaux stuff from my liquidating LGS; then, on Tuesday, my GenCon order from Wyrd showed up, adding ANOTHER crew box (The Dreamer) and another Teddy to my pile.  In spite of that, I got quite a bit done.

On the left, you can see the current state of my oil-painted void-wretch.  I'm sad I'm losing those deep blacks I had, but I like the brighter white -- when I'm done, a water color wash will bring the blacks back, which will be fine.  My biggest gripe on this, now, is that it looks like I'm drybrushing, even though I'm not.

At work, I've been picking away at a super long-term commissioned Dark Eldar -- just the Warriors, right now -- and I don't have a picture to follow up for that (I'm not at work -- I'll update this blog, tomorrow, with pictures of those minis.
Finally,at home I've been grinding away at assembling things.  On the right, you can see this week's haul: Teddy, 2 Convict Gunslingers, 3 Drowned, 3 Crooligans, 3 Fire Gamin, Molly, Rogue Necromancy, and the Necrotic Machine.

I spent part of this week considering my plan of attack for the #6MMRPC, and I've come up with this:

• Phase 1: Assembly.  Get everything I currently have from Malifaux assembled.  I should have most of Phase 1 done by the end of this week.
• The Dark Eldar project will be included in this challenge.  Luckily, everything for that is assembled.
• My personal WH40k stuff won't be included in this challenge, as I'm currently sawing all my Tac Marine legs off to reposition them all, and plan on repeating that process with my Terminators.
• I'm not planning on tackling my Reaper Bones in this #6MMRPC, because that's just outrageous.
• Phase 2: Gap filling.  Yes, this is normally part of Assembly, but I've put it off so long on so many models that it's a legit Phase, this time.  I'm going to experiment with various methods -- I'll have to order some Color Shapers to try Liquid Green Stuff in a way I've seen be successful, but I'm also going to try simple Green Stuff, Milliput, and a mix of baby powder and Future (honestly, I hope that's the most successful -- I hear it's sandable, but it's also damn cheap).  This should be done by the end of October.
• Some models will be used at the Salt City Gladiator Games, so they will jump ahead to basing with or without gap filling.  I won't paint them without gap filling, though.
• Phase 3: Basing.  After all my gaps are filled, I'm moving to basing.  I really prefer scenic bases, so this is going to be slower than the previous two phases -- I plan on only getting one base done per night.
• At this stage, I will be deciding and documenting color choices to make the next step more effective.
• Phase 4: Base coating.  After everything is based, I plan on base coating everything.  No shading, and only the most basic detailing.  I plan on doing this with an airbrush to speed things up, so part of making that successful will depend on how well I document and determine all my color choices.  For airbrushing, I plan on only using colors straight from a bottle to make reproduction easier, but also to prevent wasting paint.  After that, I'll clean up my airbrushed stuff with a brush and do the detailing and smaller areas I couldn't hit with a brush.
• Priming will fall into this stage, too.  Up to this point, I've primed gray with a white overspray, but I think I'm going to move to straight white as it's always proven to be easier to make things darker than to make them lighter.  At least, that's how it has been for me.
• Phase 5: Clear coating. Once I hit this point, I recognize that my process will slow SIGNIFICANTLY, and I'll return to playing with my base coated models.  The clear coat will be to make the base coats more resilient while they're played with.
• This may be as far as I get for the #6MMRPC
• Phase 6: Detail painting.  I want to start painting everything I can in oils, which will slow everything down.  I want to do only a handful of models at a time, one model a night (giving a week per layer to cure), and I don't expect to finish everything I've base coated within the year.
  
  Throughout this process, I'll continue to paint the Dark Eldar at work.  HQs and such will be painted with oil paints, but troops and vehicles will remain in acrylics.  They will be the first models through every step of the process (after a few test models from my own test-model pile. (Note to painters: If you don't have a handful of metal models to test out techniques on, GET SOME -- metal models can be easily stripped with Acetone, unlike plastics, which make them ideal to messing up on.)
  
  This is an ambitious project, but I hope to knock it out.
   

The Return of ACWH and The 6 Month Mountain Reduction & Painting Challenge

Nightmare Edition Whiskey Golem -- Cheers!

Matney here. Well, now, it's been awhile. Coming up on two years...

So, what has happened in the last two years?

• I've mostly stopped playing WH40K, and instead play almost exclusively Malifaux.
• I (and my gaming group) started a Twitter account (that we're slightly more regular on) - The Cwimson Fist

And, as far as this blog is concerned, that's really it.  Why did I make the switch?   Well, first off, I was a terrible 40k player -- I believe I've won 4 games, ever.  In addition to that, I love the aesthetic (Steampunk Western with zombie hookers...  What's not to like?!), the mechanics (it's a super clean system, and the deck of cards and cheating mechanic make you feel like you have far more control over your actions than a handful of dice), and the community (I have yet to meet a sore winner when playing Malifaux).  In addition to that, 32mm models are ~O Scale / 1:48, which is a lot easier to find than S Scale, when it comes to building terrain.

But that's not why I'm back to the blog... Sure, there need to be more Malifaux blogs, but I'm not cocky enough to believe I'll ever have anything worthwhile to add to tactics covnersations...

My Jokers

No, I'm back because of The 6 Month Mountain Reduction & Painting Challenge.

You see, I have a problem -- I buy minis and I assemble them, prime them, and never paint them.  I'll try to get a picture together of all my unpainted minis for the next update.

So, over the next 6 months I'm going to try to get that mountain of unpainted stuff taken care of.

But first, what did I do, this week?

Well, I've already used my Jokers (and, to be fair, I may use a few more -- my LGS is liquidating Malifaux, and at my next pay check they'll be at like 50% off) to purchase Molly, her totem, and a box of Hanged.

First foray into oils -- A Void Wretch

In addition to that, I started playing around with oil paints on my Harold of Obliteration crew -- I only have Ivory Black and Transparent White right now (I had them for oil washes), so my options were slim -- I know I want my Obliteration crew (at least the Obliteration part of it) to be monochrome, and this seemed like as an option as any.  And, you know what... I loved working with oils.  I don't think I'm going to go back to trying to blend with acrylics at all.

So... there's the first update -- next week I'll have a little bit more to say. :)