Year's End

Welcome to Scotland.

Today is New Year's Eve, or Hogmanay as we call it in Scotland.  Historically a bigger deal for us than Christmas, even now it remains a huge street party event.  The rest of the world might have a wee party, but for Scots who take their drinking like a sport this is the World Cup of Boozing.

There's been a thing or two in Glasgow to somewhat dampen the spirits of late - our Christmas has not been full of cheer but you can expect there'll still be a lot of drunk Scottish people outside in the cold singing, letting off fireworks and making a nuisance of themselves.

Mainly because we don't like to be outdone by Edinburgh, who tend to have a bigger party.  Bastards.

Anyway, despite the Christmas period and much behind schedule I can finally score something off the to-do list as 2014 comes to an end.... my Hobgoblin Sneaky Gits are done!

All thirty models ready for varnishing.  Top and bottom row are previously painted 14 figures: the middle is the new 16.

 I started these over a month ago and didn't expect them to take so long - before the year was out I wanted them done so I could get a quick WFB battle with my Beardies.  Alas that didn't happen - work, Christmas/birthday events and general life got in the way.  But yesterday and today I hammered at these figures to tidy them up, quickshade and base them so they'd finally be play ready.

Close-up of the command group.  The quickshade is still drying as I photograph these.

The bases aren't quite the same as last time - observant eyes will notice they are a little chunkier.  I have changed my mixture for the Chaos Dwarf bases by using an, um, unorthodox alternate material...

Something I can eat in-between painting.

 Yes, it's a foodstuff I found in a health food shop at Loch Lomond.  These blue poppy seeds have the same sort of bluey grey hue I want for volcanic ash, but with a more interesting variation of colours than my own painting could ever achieve.  Little additional work is required - slap it on, spray the varnish and bob is your uncle.

Try explaining to Sister Superior I spent money on paint without colour - you get funny looks.

Something else I used in painting these figures is Liquitex paint mediums.  Although I've owned mediums before from Games Workshop and Vallejo, Liquitex stuff is a lot cheaper because you buy in bulk - not a wee 12ml post or 17ml dropper where I worry about rationing it, but a mighty 287ml bottle which I feel no shame about using it whenever the mood takes me.

While some mediums are designed to produce special effects - so Vallejo Metal Medium would make any normal colour into a metallic - Fluid mediums are designed more to effect how the paint flows and lets through light.  This guide on DakkaDakka goes into more detail but the short version is that Medium is paint without pigment - basically clear paint - and mixed with paint you can change it's opacity, flow etc in interesting ways.

I have found Matte Medium and water combined a great way to reawaken some drying out, lumpy paints.  Some people swear by using it rather than water to thin paints though I think that's a pinch excessive.  Though I still I've also found Glazing Medium mixed into my Quickshade about 1:4 a good way to make a pinch less liquid and easier to control.

So, 2014 is almost over and in the next day or two I'll post my year summary on the blog.  Before then, though, check out what I was scrubbing with my toothbrush!

One new acquisition, one old and as yet unused acquisition.

 Yes, it's my Forge World Chaos Dwarf kits which I washed to get rid of release agent.  My latest gift of a Magma Cannon is the next project on the to-do list, with the Chaos Dwarf Daemonsmiths finally getting assembled and painted now they have some troops to lead.  The Magma Cannon will be particularly cool, I think, painted in reds, silvers and blacks.

Burny death!  (My opponent Charles is not looking forward to it.)

Once I have those I think I should be able to approximate a very basic Chaos Dwarf army list with only a pinch of work and can finally near my first game.

But for now, I'll see you in 2015.
 

Bring your Sports Almanac.