Raiding the Dusty Wastes

A great addition to my army is my cyclops. I just got done with the cork/greenstuff basing with resin columns placed for future reference. The money I’ve spent makes me very happy now that I have the model cleared of supports and started for the build portion. I’m not done with my djinn and will continue to hammer on that with paint. Having these two pieces really is what I imagined when I came across the Age of Magic rules. I will be pleased to put out posts on the sorcerer and other upcoming additions I do have on hand to build/paint.

Edit: For the benefit of Some Dude On You Tube **cough** sundancer **cough** and anybody else who wanted to search for the model, this was the custom 3D model I comissioned for. The final print stands at 135mm high and will be featured against minis in future when I’ve properly slapped it with paint.

• Levy archers
• Special levy unit – to be revealed
• Djinn
• Mage
• Special lieutenant on carpet
• Cyclops
• War machine -to be revealed
• Leader on giant scorpion
• Another monster – on standby (for most of this year now and still in box)
• Gigantic scorpion (if I can reasonably save enough money to get 3D sculpting performed again)

Looking at my upcoming move early next year I think preplanning for the event with my projects is best. I will schedule the progress of what I expect to complete until then. I doubt I will get to the mage as I think about how much effort I’ve given to detail and the time I have available.

As you can see there have been additions and the good thing about this list is the way its just progressive growth and not “I must paint this RIGHT MEOW!” Llawnor has been a great inspiration for that but I think that the spreadsheet might be a bit much to go back to. It really was a groaner to see what I had on it for the XLBS and not updated or worked on. I also must say.. John, there’s a reason Black Templars are easy. Jump on the Eldar bandwagon with Ben but spice it up with Harlequins. Pbbbbbt!

So I got off my butt and finished the twelve scorpions for my special option Swarm of levy for the Lords of the Wild. Yes, the desert is full of wildlife. The forest is damn well overrated and I think that stretching ones brain in order to utilize a minis agnostic system as well as game in some gaps is well worth the effort.

These are the vermin scorpions from Reaper minis (SKU:77125) in their Bones line. I thought that for the cost the metal was just too pricey and considered the fact that these were gaming pieces as reason enough to go with the plastic. There are two different versions of the same SKU for ayone looking for the figures. Reaper had, what I assume was, a white nylon that held detail poorly. Recently they’ve changed materials that has held much better and might be what they produce their CAV line with.

I covered the base with the same material I’ve used for the rest of the force and painted/tufted to match as best I can recall without going back through my paint log. The scorpions were painted in simple fashion with regard to their scale and the fact I wanted them to be drab as opposed to the rest of the army.

• base of AP Hardened Carapace (an odd green/brown),
• edge highlight RMS Oiled Leather,
• highlight RMS Stained Ivory

Looking at it again I think these are just ambush pattern arachnids. Overall they are quite nice to me and I’m glad to get these done before the intense packing that will occur before the end of next month.

Upgrade to my army tray completed with metal corners caps and hard rubber feet that have been epoxied into place. I’ve also looked over the long overdue progress of the army. I feel bad about not getting things done but I have Giftmas to complete (and ship out), my occasional commission work and the sporadic quick victories I want to kick out so I can feel like I’m getting things done. I guess I should switch the quick victories out as I should be getting th army done. “How do you ear an elephant? One bite at a time”. My dad is right and I should get back to it. I can still fulfill my quota of one mini painted to completion in a week with that. Beyond all that I’m happy to see my work collected so far.

Magnets are in progress at the moment and I’m thinking the archers need more power to the pull. I’ve gone back and forth on the matter but dropping them a few times in moving them from shelves and off tabletop and seeing them scatter has made this decision for me. My cavalry isn’t too bad off as they are plastic and will sit more firmly in their trays once I get them down like my dromedary (I think I’ll use this until I acquire bactrians). My plan is to show off my entire force upside down. This will be amazing as I have bigger pieces on shelf and awaiting love.

The cavalry will get magnets as well like my dromedary (I’ll use this term for my camel corps until I get bactrians… eh.. on second thought I’ll skip on Mongols). Upgrading fast attack also has shown me that setting heavy camels on their spears while epoxy dries will lead to breakage. It was foreseen and I already have my metal spear replacements from Warlord on hand. It still sucks to see work get broken even when I planned on snipping the spears. Looking at the new metal spears there is a difference in thickness (plastics being thicker). Before setting them in their final positions happens I’ll treat the new spears with an etching product from Tamiya. I assume its a mild acid that will assist by pitting otherwise smooth metal surfaces.  I’ll test it on some figures I won’t miss first.

With that I am going to give the otherwise less visually stunning weaponry some oomph with creating lance pennants which is another layer of pain I’ll endure to make my army kick ass. Damn my hobby masochism.

I have been holding onto the metal spears that I picked up from Warlord for about a month now and I have quite a bit of time that has opened up for me to occupy my mind and hands with. After snipping thr plastic spears from the models I’m replacing them with some sturdier ones.

Translation has begun again in small part as I want to do some lance pennants for the camlery (maybe the cavalry too). I am tempted to add the same sort of additional details to the standard troops as well with simple single color devices but I haven’t decided that. I might get more detailed as I keep looking at banners. Ugh, I need to print some custom flags to kick things off before I go that route yet.

Details details… we’re well beyond 1001 nights.

I’ve come back to the project well after some downtime as I’ve been given the opportunity. This is where the large pieces come in for my monsters. Love for the big pieces once more (I’ll probably break this up for my own sanity instead of all at the same time one after the next).

The djinn is in need of love and I will be finishing his basing soon enough with the small details. I’ve been debating on whether or not to further detail the skin with sigils and seals according to various treatises of Arabic magic. Diving into that was a curious foray into the premise that all Muslim magic is done according to the faith of the practitioner. The relative success or failure of the work is dependent on piety and devotion according to scripture and the whim of the deity. As far as finding information on djinn the location of the basing matches accounts one of their residence primarily being in remote places.

I’ve already highlighted the Harryhausen cyclops previously and have done little to change it. I’ll be adding the gravel texture and a few small flavor bits. Its pretty much a go for the model otherwise.

I now reveal my next monster…. A roc! This model is Grimtalon from Reaper (SKU 77946). I’m too creative for my own good as I wanted to build a second head and sculpt it to the body as a second homage to Harryhausen

Alas I am well overbooked for time, effort and short of cash to try and get some more 3D sculpt work done despite inspirational imagery that would allow for the creation of such a thing. Ugh, so much going on in the head that could be built and not enough (or any) minions/funds to have work done for me. I really need to get into the villain business.

The original placement of the model was on a pair of stones that held up the bird but that doesn’t suit my sense of mini making. I’ve filled in the key on the leg which is the largest amount of greenstuff I’ve used on a single point of a model thus far but I’m not one for too much building these days.

In doing the base for this I’m using a 90x120mm oval MDF base and the green foam used for fake flower arrangements.

This crap breaks down into minute granules and gets everywhere as dust. I knew this going in and covered it with watered down PVA afterwards. It appears to be a closed cell foam so it doesn’t absorb into the material. This is not fun but the material is manageable after the glue dries and stabilized the surface to a degree. I’m irritated that the rocky texture wasn’t achieved after using a layer of plaster gauze as model train builders use for mountains. I will, however, use a thick coat of gesso over some texturing I plan to do with an air dry clay like Das. This will act as a secondary means of shoring up the shell on the foam. This is is a good way to keep the majority of the weight in the bird. I have a few ideas on additions to make before finally priming it beyond the tree I got from Epic Basing.

This portion of the project seems like a halfway point to terrain building and I really admonish myself as I fall futher afield into the arena of a Terry Gilliam production (I can do more shit!!).