Dwarf High King

 Well, another model finished for my Dwarfs, the Dwarf High King Thorgrim. This model is from 4th edition and I remember hunting it down when I was suitably inspired my Hoodling's Hole post about his Thorgrim. Unlike Hoodling, I am not a great painter of banners and resigned myself to just print them.

I did keep the scheme in line with my Dwarf throng, with a few colour choices as a nod to the classic. Regrettably though, the banner poles had long been lost to the mists of time, so I had to make my own out of brass rod and 6th edition dwarf champion hammer bits. I think it looks okay though.

Anyways, a great model that has aged very well I think. I it was really nice painting dwarfs again.

I do realise the banners look a bit faded, however, that was the best the scan would come out as. Perhaps one day I will return to them, but I am happy to call it there for now and move on.

Thanks for looking!

A long trudge

 It has been an age since I have painted Dwarfs, but an impending game of the greatest of all games, Warhammer Fantasy Battle looms, and I just had to finish off a model that has been 70% done for many years. But Dwarfs are as patient and enduring like their mountain holds (the ones that are still theirs anyways).

So I finally finished this organ gun for my army. This now means I have 2 of each war machine and they are all different models. 

Glad to have it done. I have the Dwarf High King next on the table. Hoping that will be complete in less than 8 or 9 years.

Cheers!

Blood in the Badlands Campaign conclusion

I have certainly been idle for quite some time, mainly due to life. I figured I would post up some photo's from the conclusion game of our Blood in the Badlands Campaign. We decided to just have an all on all Triumph and Treachery game, with Gav and I having an addition 100pts (I think) for the extra territory we had on the map. We played this game 5 months ago, so I do appolgise, I just got too busy!

Anyways, you can at least look at the action and I'll leave a belated conclusion at the end.

 My friend Cail's beautifully painted Night Goblins engage the spectral Undead.

 My lovely gyrocopters fly around, attempting to be a menace.

 Fanatics make short work of it though...

 Good ol Dwarf movement is quite limited.

 30 odd Longbeards stare down the Night Goblin Deathstar with Skarsnik and lots of Big Bosses with Great Weapons.

 I lost a lot of Longbeards it seems, though I didn't break. They broke apart due to another fight being fought.

 The Lizardmen sally forth!

 I do recall my Longbeards staring them down for a very long time!

Hammerers with Grimwald the Surly smash into the Saurus. I believe they killed a lot, then ran them down. Either way, this was game at this point.

A very enjoyable conclusion to the end of the Campaign. Gav with his Undead came away with the game so very well done to him. I believe I was second as I had only 50 to 100 points down on him so close! Ahh well, perhaps next time.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

Hammer time!

This is a very quick update of the Dwarf Hammerers unit I have been plugging away at for far too long this year. Though happily they are close to completion, with only 6 more to do. Motivation is very low however at this point, but I do ardently endeavour to get them done by the end of the year.

So here is what I have done so far. 25 Hammerers.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

Dead Drunk

Small update here. Quite prolific today to get two posts in 1 day! Anyways, tomorrow night a few friends of mine having a gaming night planned for Warhammer Fantasy. We will be playing the scenario Loot and Pillage (or Oi! Get away from my Beer!) from the main rulebook, in the non standard section. Basically its a game to claim barrels of Bugman's XXXXXX.

So considering that I have already painted up a Bugman Beer cart, I thought I'd paint up a unit filler with some barrels on it to represent the beer at the Inn, that is in the centre of the board.

The barrels are from the Bugman limited model. The drunk dwarf is an old citadel one which I had spare. The spilt beer I think is a nice touch.

I added a pipe, mug and axe from the old 6th Ed Dwarf plastics. Still got a lot of those pieces in my bits box.

The main Dwarf himself, Bugman. Thought that the Dwarf force I planned to take would include him and some of his rangers. I had to put him on a rock to look heroic and actually fit in the unit as well.

Not bad for a days effort.

I'm looking forward to the games tomorrow night. I'll definately (even though I say it everytime) will bring my good camera for photo's.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

Review: Orangemonkie foldio

It certainly has been awhile since I have posted anything, but I tell you I have been painting....honestly!

I thought I might do something a little different and give a review of a product that I purchased recently and thought it would be cool to share. I'm not been paid for this or given anything for this review, I just thought it is a handy tool and perhaps others who are in the same boat as me might find this useful. Or not. Or whatever.

Orangemonkie: folio

I came across this product while going through some hobby blogs. It looked like something I could use so I bought it to give it a try. Basically it is a fold away photo studio, with lights and backdrops included. I thought this would suit my needs as I have two young boys running around, and they love to get into 'Daddy's' stuff. So something that can be set up easily and put away would be ideal.

Here is my old set up. White paper for the backdrop, lamp shining in. Very basic, so I was looking for an upgrade.

The box in all its glory.

It comes with 3 foam inserts for the backdrop. White, grey and black. They seem okay, though I do have a concern they may be a bit fragile. However, I have since discovered Hangar18 Miniatures do some awesome backdrops, so these will do for now.

The fold away studio itself.

Its made of a plastic sheet material, and also has magnets which you can see as the round circle dots there.

Very easy and quick to assemble. Seems okay for sturdiness, as in it won't collapse when taking pictures and such. Though I do notice it loose its structural integrity when I adjust that top flap to direct the light.

There are 2 versions to get. You can get them with 1 or 2 strips of daylight LED's. I thought I would try the 2 strips, to see what it was like.

The batteries simply 'stick' to the magnets in the side of the foldio.

All it up.

 

Here is a picture of my current Hammerers. Very crisp.

For comparison, here is a picture of the same unit, under the old conditions. You can definitely see that the second picture has more of a yellow tint on it, being the lamps globe. There is also a slight gradient on the backdrop, which frames the unit nicely. Something to keep in mind for the foldio. Might have to grab some backdrops after all.

So from the photo's, you can see that it pumps out a lot of light, and is easy to set up and take down. I do have concerns about the backdrops, though I may address that with some Hangar18 Miniatures backdrops. Perhaps though for the short term I may make a basic backdrop to put in there.

My other concern is that it is quite small, and that it may be restrictive in taking shots of a bigger model. But for the majority of the things I paint and take photo's of, it does the job nicely, and I don't have to worry about doing it during the day, which is an added plus when there are 2 curious boys around.

Overall, I would say its a 4 out of 5 stars for my purposes. I like its compactability, and the LED's are nice and bright. I figure I can tone the light down by not attaching one of the LED's. Cost was not too much, around $50 to $60, so certainly not too prohibitive to get a more professional finish. Overall not a bad product.

Again, here is the link to Orangemonkie. Hope this might be of use to some people, who are after an upgrade for their own 'photoemporiumlab'.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers!