Daddy Broke-legs the Giant Spider

Couldn't find a photo that wasn't from someone else's blog so this post will be a TEXT ADVENTURE this time. Found one I took before the pinning:

From WHFB3:
"The darker and more secluded areas of the forest in the Old World, South Lands and Lustria are home to many forms of creature. The Giant Spider is one such monstrosity, a creature rarely seen, but frequently spoken of by those whose daily duties take them into the woodlands. Giant Spiders are known to inhabit the inner regions of the Forest of Shadows in The Empire as well as the Loren Forest of Bretonnia.

Physique. Giant Spiders are ugly, hairy, creeping monsters that shamble and skitter as they move, filling the forest with unnerving rattling noises. They are dark coloured and very difficult to see except for their countless eyes which catch the light like small black gems. Boastful woodcutters tell of creatures as big as houses. and who is to say that they are mistaken? Giant Spiders can certainly grow to a very large size.

Alignment. Spiders can be malicious and hateful creatures, although most are simply animals hunting in the only way they know how. They can be Evil or Neutral.

Base Size. 40 x 40mm or as appropriate for model.

Special Rules. 

1. Spiders are immune to all psychology excepting that they dislike fire. A spider attacked by fire weapons, or moved to within 4" of a burning building, must take a panic test.
2. Spiders cause fear 6" in all creatures under 10 feet.
3. Spiders attack with a poisoned bite that adds +1 to their strength. Models taking damage are not necessarily dead, but may be paralysed, although they are removed from the table as casualties.
4. Spiders are not only very powerful creatures, their mouth parts are especially designed for penetrating deep into a victim's body. Accordingly, any blows struck by them have a better than average chance of penetrating armour. An enemy's armour saving throw is reduced by -1 if struck by a Giant Spider.
5. A Spider's chitinous armour gives it a basic saving throw of 4, 5 or 6.
6. Spiders may move through wooded areas without penalty. THEY MAY ALSO ASCEND TREES INSTEAD OF A NORMAL MOVE - THIS PUTS THEM OUT OF CHARGE REACH OF CREATURES UNDER 10 FEET TALL. THEY MAY DESCEND TREES AS A NORMAL MOVE, OR DESCEND AND CHARGE UP TO 5" AS A CHARGE MOVE."

How bloody cool is that last rule?!?!?! (CAPSLOCK FOR EXCITEMENT!). Imagine: a group of intrepid adventurers, slowly treading their own path through thick and foreboding woodlands... They hear a faint rattling from the trees above and before the elf in the group has the chance to recognise what danger lurks atop the canopy BAM! A giant fucking poisonous spider drops on top of them!

Well, unexpectedly this morning there was one waiting for me in my mailbox! It leapt out at me screeching "PIN MY BLOODY BROKEN LEGS YOU TWAT!" so I promptly got to work on doing so. I'll post photos when I've actually painted the blighter (I have an unhealthy habit of photographing naked lead, bloody susso). Until then: WATCH THE TREES AND KEEP THOSE HOLES IN THE SIDES OF YER HEADS PEELED FOR THAT EERIE RATTLING FROM ABOVE.

P.S. Next up I need to acquire myself a Giant Scorpion as I am both: a) A Scorpio & b) A massive fan of Scorpions (the band). So it only seems fitting that I have an 'eavy metal Scorp in my collection.

- The Witchfinder In General.

Newcomers & Outers

    The sleepy village of Fyndertowne is growing in population and I must extend my utmost gratitude to Craig at Turnkey Miniatures for including the little stowaway feline I wasn't expecting, Fyndertown is now safe from those dirty ratmen raids! But what about those rowdy drunken newcomers? There's a few Tom Meier & Murch sculpts in the mix here which is nice, but in all truthfulness my favourites are the Metal Magic recasts (on the left).

    And thanks to Mr. Conway on the FB group the FCR-87 now has a pilot!

Someone thinks he can steer with his toes... Bloody lazy bugger.

That's it for now I reckon, back to painting my woodcutter...

- The Witchfinder In General.

VIllagers WIP

    Right, well. I went for a nap at midday and woke up at 10pm yesterday. Today I rose at 4am, getting better but still off by a fair bit... A lot of sleeping and not enough hobbying, can't say it's been the most productive few days...
    I noticed the other night that I have a staggeringly low amount of unarmed/civilian types among my leadpile so I've set out to tip the balance. This week I am focusing on my entry for Chico's 7th challenge: a Metal Magic barbarian. In keeping with my recent obsession with civilian/townsfolk minis and with the help of a generous portion of green stuff I've begun work on a base for this guy to make it look like he's chopping wood (or, as it kind of looks like, attacking a bloated fungal stump-being deep within the forest). The model itself shouldn't prove to be too much of a hassle to paint as he's predominantly flesh tone but the composition of the base is what's troubling me most, I need to find the perfect balance between simplistic minimalism and over-the-top detail but I've probably gone and buggered it all by adding all those mushrooms. Here's what he looks like at the moment:

    I might have the tendency to go a bit overboard with these challenges and never actually finish anything and this time is no exception but I fully intend on finishing this guy before the deadline. The base just needs two more things: a woodpile & a section of log to cut (at the moment it just looks like he's about to take out his savage frustrations on an innocent tree stump).
I'm sick of seeing naked lead and green stuff so I'm making a start on the colorization process as soon as I hit Publish. I usually undercoat in white but I'm considering changing my ways for this model.
    Feels good to have some motivation again.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Amputee

Coming soon. 

May or may not have anything to do with Chico's 7th challenge.

May or may not be a mystery.

...

Stumped yet?

...

(couldn't help myself)

- The Witchfinder in General

Minimal Progress

    Not much to report this time, just thought I'd drop in and put up some photos of the FCR-87's progress. She's getting there slowly but things are starting to fall into place inside, outside is a whole other kettle of fish. I really don't know what I'm gonna do with the exterior at this point. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cockpit improvements, swiveling chair.

What kind of a spaceship would it be without joysticks?

Captain Mainwaring takes no notice of the guitar strings used as pipes & inspects the ongoing construction.

    The metal components in the cockpit and by the exit hatch are from Antenocitis Workshop (cheers to Gareth over at Drums in the Deep for the recommendation), the brass components you see are from an old model ship kit I found in a bin (particularly proud of the joysticks I might add) and the ladder in the third photo was an absolute nightmare to assemble! I was dealing with components far too small for my clumsy fingers and suffice to say there was a lot of swearing and glue-caked fingertips involved. These were the ingredients: wire and these bloody tiny and frustratingly difficult to work with key shaped whatsits:

What I had to do was glue one "key" to the end of the wire, cut it to length, glue the other key and then trim the keys to fit in the wall. Sound easy enough... except these bloody keys were tiny!

The key what opens yonder door of hardship.

    I think I might be struggling out of my paintless slump though, the age old remedy that is buying more minis has got me inspired. It may not be much but it's either a start or a desperate cry for help:

Looking crate.

     The crates are also from Antenocitis Workshop, they've got some nice stuff there. I've ordered in the Spacelords range Ship's Crew and some other miscreants from EM4, some Metal Magic civilian types from Turnkey, a Citadel giant spider and a huge lot of GW dungeon tiles (two sets boxed, two others loose) from ebay & a pilot from the RT landspeeder to sit at the helm of the FCR-87 from a legend on the Oldhammer fb group, cheers for that mate! Can't wait 'til the mail starts getting chunkier.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Creating the FCR-87™

    Well, due to complications unforeseen, I've failed the 6th Chico's Challenge. I got a bit too excited and decided not to strip my LE02 marine of its previous black undercoat and just spray on a quick'n'thin layer of white over the top. But to my dismay, however, whoever had this mini previously had undercoated it in something strange which reacted with the white spray and blobbed up, obscuring details. So naturally into the Dettol he went and he's sitting in front of me with a fresh white priming, waiting patiently to be painted.

I might've failed to paint up the marine in time but I decided shortly after my last post (after weeks of deliberation, procrastination and design sketches which kind of went out the window once I found something suitable to use as the main chassis) to assemble some sort of spacecraft for my growing (yet still naked) warband while the marine sat in the hospital grade bath. The following is a press release sent out by FynderCorp® whilst the vessel is in its construction and conception stages:

    Small time merchants beware... there's a brand new compact cargo runner coming soon and it's got its eyes all over your hard earned credits! Introducing the latest in lightweight transporter crafts, the FynderCorp® FCR-87™ (FynderCorp® Cargo Runner™) aka: 'The Facker'™.

    This compact craft is simply stunning! Licensed to carry 6 humanoids comfortably (or 7 at a squeeze) with no cargo on board, plus its very own pilot (pilot not supplied). What it lacks in storage is only doubly compensated with it's speed and manoeuvrability, due to it's aeronautodynamic™ design specially forumulated™ by a congress of the universe's top leading ahead-of-the-rest engineers. And the extras!

    The FCR-87™ is a fully equipped cargo, transport & reconnaissance vessel with all the functioning capabilities implied therein! The sleek design accommodates for convenience with the spacious fold-down* airlock stair laden side-exit doorway hatch, allowing easy access to or from the lush interior. An even roomier aperture lies directly opposite: the beautiful fold-down* cargo bay, allowing your cargo to be easily loaded, accessed and unloaded with all the comforts of home or away. Speaking of home, let's take a look inside!

[:End Report:]

There's a lot of work still yet to do!

    I'm short on technical supplies at the moment but I've ordered in some parts... Does anyone know where I could find some suitable interface type doodads to flesh out the cockpit with? It's bare as hell in there.

The general shell of the craft is an AirWick scent dispenser that was lying around unused, figured it'd be a nice shape to start with.

And here's a fitting shot of the FCR-87 from behind as we reach the end of the post...

- The Witchfinder in General.

*Does not actually fold down.

Chico's Challenge 666

It's been a while since my last post so here's something to sink yer dirty chompers into...

Time to step up to the challenge! Chico's Challenge that is, this week being sci-fi themed (how very apt as I've just watched the featurette on the models used in Red Dwarf). I have a few naked Rogue Trader minis that have been waiting for a lick of the sable for yonks now so I thought I'd start off by painting up my LE02 Space Marine, the very first of its kind (as I'm lead to believe (seewhatIdidtherehurrr)). After the painfully painstaking task of removing the mould lines (they were atrocious, still not completely satisfied with the end result) comes the task of selecting my colours.

I've had a geez around at painted versions of this mini and I can safely say, although tempting as it is, I'm going to shy away from the silver scheme as portrayed in the mighty tome Heroes For Wargames and possibly outfit this magnificently detailed miniature in a shade of either green or yellow (or both if want to get all aussie about it, but I don't because that's gross and he's not exactly competing in the commonwealth games now is he?). But after seeing how well oldm8 BlueyVT's Alternative Armies Ion Age not-marines turned out with their olive and bone scheme (which reminds me, gotta finish Problemfoot), I'm inspired and thinking of doing something along the same lines... But I'm a terribly indecisive man so who knows how this will turn out! (or if it will even turn out at all!)

Given that the challenge begins on a public holiday for us convicts down south I don't really have much of an excuse not to get started!

Right... enough of the blue wafflling and onto the painting! Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Stay tuned for photos of my efforts if I actually get around to making any.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Sculpting II

Layer 2: Feet & Pants.
   Haven't done much today but I have managed to add another layer. It's looking pretty dodgy at the moment but I'm hoping I can fix it.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Navigator Concept Sketches

Been doodling around with some ideas for my RT navigator and I was thinking (there I go again...), as you can probably tell from the scan, of taking the 'third-eye-mutant' description and taking a little stroll with it. I'm not convinced on most of them (it's gonna be hard to sculpt thtat third eye) but I'm liking the one with a cable running from his third eye into a handheld display unit. It's bloody stupid. Keep in mind these are just sketches, have a geez...

Far-left 'Saturday Night Fever' trooper.

Most of what I've done looks too much like imperial guard troopers, which I'm trying to avoid... Back to the drawing board I guess. More to come probably.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Sculpting?

I've been thinking (usually a bad sign)... I need a Navigator for my RT warband... and since I don't have one I thought: bugger it I'll try and make one meself! Thus what follows is my first experimental foray into sculpting with GS... I'm not expecting great results, I've never done anything on this scale before but here goes!

First step: The Wire Frame.
   I couldn't find any paperclips lying around (and it's too late to go down the shops to get some) so I used a bit of copper wire I found. Stripped the insulating plastic and wound the sucker round itself til it was sturdy enough. Made a basic humanoid shape (glued the arm/chest section on for stability)... Forgot to take a photo before I started adding GS, got a bit too excited.

Second step: Fleshing it Out.

Surfing kung-fu navigator navigating.

   I've managed to get this little bugger to strike a dynamic pose, designed to look like he's navigating (pointing) which way to go. It's peen a little difficult to keep the pose due to the softness of the wire being used but I'm hoping that once the first layer of GS dries it'll stiffen everything up. I'm pretty happy with the pose so far and I think he's gonna size up well to the RT minis, somewhere in between 25-28mm. I'm gonna have to cut his wire head off when I get started on that area but it's a nice little indicator at this point of his proportions. Time to do some concept sketches while the first layer hardens so I have a rough idea of what I want to achieve...


coming soon: 
Third step: More Fleshing Out. Time to start working on the clothing...

- the Witchfinder in General.

Terrain: Hedgerow

It's been a while since I've attempted to make any terrain. Everything I've started so far, many a bald and naked hill, has yet to see completion. I'm going with something small and simple, a hedgerow. This way I have no excuse not to finish it as I have all the materials and tools I need.

I started by sawing a 11cm (well, 10.9) by 2cm section of 0.5cm thick wood to use as the baseplate, I had a bit of this wood lying around from the old house as I figured it be perfect for a sturdy baseplate. Anyway, from there I cut a section of polystyrene roughly 3cm high and 10cm long and glued it to the base, pva and sand and bob's your mother's dad's brother in law, ready to paint black.

Foundry mini for scale, cat for cat.

From here it was simple; drybrush the base, paint the polystyrene section a dark shade of green & glue on some "Spring Undergrowth". There ya go, a hedgerow in buggerall time.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Secrets of Photography 101

     I learnt something astonishingly astounding whilst taking this photograph of an updated Problemfoot... I learnt that the key to a successful photograph of your miniature is...

Beer.

A slab of it.

Containing VHS tapes.

    Problemfoot still seems to have a problem with his foot but the colours are starting to appear elsewhere... Bugger New Zealand and Peter Jackson's portrayal of halflings, Tasmania's own Jimmy Boag's got it right.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Oldhammer Legacy Warband: Contribution: Parte the Firste

Problematic foot.

     As no doubt some of you out there will know, over on the Oldhammer forum there’s a bloody great painting challenge going on right now. Yes friends, I speak of the legendary interracial Oldhammer Legacy Warband muster for which my entry is a halfling from Julie Guthrie’s Personalities range originally released by Grenadier (I think) and then picked up by Mega Miniatures (from whence I aquired it not long before the collapse). I chose this particular model mainly due to the smooth and bare shield. A little oldschool shield painting is definitely in order! The design that sprung to mind is fairly basic, being an icecapped mountain with either a blue sky or a sunset behind it and the arrow of law below. I might be getting a bit ambitious though, it’s been a while since I’ve touched brush to lead with paint inbetween. I hope I do both the miniature and the warband justice. This is the progress I’d made so far two nights ago:

 Stage the Onest: Thee Fleshe.

     I started writing this post (primarily the intro) as a distraction from painting the bloody right foot. I’ve tried three times now to get it looking right but it just doesn’t want to look good! One foot looks passable at this stage, but oh no, not the other one. In the end I just gave up and began working on the clothing, which is the stage I am currently at: Stage the Seconde: Thee Cloathe, more to come on this in the next couple of days.

     

    In other news I’ve finally moved house, being reunited with my lead after so many months, to a nice quiet place out where things are generally greener all around. It’s a lovely change from the squalid inner city hovel of untold dirty secrets I previously inhabited, though I will certainly miss its charm, the pleasant memories and its close proximity to everything. On my latest venture into the land of scraped skies I picked up a pot of Hobgoblin Orange and some old Yellow Wash, both practically full (the wash was unopened!) which was a nice little suprise on such a wet and miserable day.

     I almost forgot! A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a $20 box of 160+ mainly early 90s/some 80s miniatures at the op shop (charity store to you foreigners), which I promptly purchased! When I got home the real fun began as I started to sort out what was inside. Turns out it contained a small High Elf army (100+ models) circa 1992 with a high contingency of Marauder minitures, two bolt throwers (but only one crew), two High Elf chariots, four ‘92 halflings, four 3rd ed plastic orcs, a bunch of 3rd/4th ed card buildings and to top it off a bloody (albeit in considerable disrepair with a snapped wing and gluegloop detail obstruction) Maraduer ‘Thaindon’s Dragon’. Bloody bargain!

Well, it’s time to quit the babbling and get to painting. 

Until we meet again: 

Arise all ye faithful to the sword!

- The Witchfinder in General.

Some things what came in the mail...

Some heroes for wargames...

Buy It Now!

So I've been on a little ebay bender of late, snatching up some very nice books (Heroes for Wargames came in the mail last week!) waiting on Call of Cthulhu 3rd edition & 3 issues of Dagon, and some tasty miniatures (Iron Claw "Dambo Kweltz", RT Imperial troopers, etc.). I should probably stop... But now I want these...

The whole top row are great!

3rd on the right, the rest don't really tickle me fancy.

Mirilton "Future Warrior" range Bike Gang[CW1515] & Rebels[CW1504], respectively.

I reckon they'd make great Space 'Pirates'/Rogue Traders, especially the large guy in the Rebels pack, looks like an intimidating space trucker, and the babes in the Bike Gang are perfect.

Bring on next pay day...

...or I'll just...

Buy It Now!

...no I should probably save some money for food or something just as useless...

Until the next instalment of my bland existence: have some bloody virtue why don't ya?

- the Witchfinder In General (AKA: Witchsmeller Pursuivant/Satânico Profanador/Jaguar Fancy/J.R.G.)

Old Photos

Here are some terrible shots of the miniatures I was working on before they were boxed away for the move. A webcam was the only camera I had available, expect a higher standard of photography to come about in the following weeks!

FTS14 Skeleton Priest V4 & some Nightmare Legion.

Metal Magic C1105i Female Thief w/ Cloak. Going to have to try and fix this one as I ballsed it up not long after this photo was taken.

Metal Magic C1019d Executioner, Foundry unreleased Renaissance Halberdier & GW Warhawk.

HeroQuest Barbarian.

FoW Hummel.

I tend to start projects, get excited by something else, start a different project, get excited by an old project, etc. so I work in irregular cycles I guess. It's been pretty frustrating having everything in storage, I can't paint, I can't draw inspiration from the various tomes of excellence, I can't do very much at all! Thankfully this will come to an end soon enough as I retire to greener pastures amongst the trees to the north-east for a while to clear my mind. Plenty of desk space, plenty of light, plenty of room for storage, fresh air, a swimming pool in the backyard and peace and (relative) quiet! Maybe I can finally get started on my Dr. Who miniatures project. Can't wait!

"Riding down fantasy's highway, another hero waits to be born..."

- the Witchfinder In General (AKA: Witchsmeller Pursuivant/Satânico Profanador/Jaguar Fancy/J.R.G.)

A quiet Friday night... on ebay.

After the previous night's alcoholic intake I decided to have a quiet one this Friday, only to spend it leisurely perusing the bay of E for potential bargains. It seems my sagely decision warranted good fortune as my weary gaze happened upon a copy of Stewart Parkinson's "Heroes for Wargames". Having wanted this particular tome for a while now, I was instantly sold. It was only when I started looking into the seller's other items when the real fortune struck in the form of, as he appears in the aforementioned Heroes for Wargaming, a 'Deep space mercenary' AKA: LE2 Imperial Space Marine.

On top of this I decided to roll up a Rogue Trader warband using the Random Inquisitor table over at the leadpile (great blog!). The results were as follows: 1st Roll: 51 (1d6 Stormtroopers, rolled a 3), 2nd Roll: 39 (1d6 Squats, rolled a 1), 3rd and final Roll: 85 (1 Navigator).

Courtesy of the Stuff of Legends website.

So I began searching ebay afresh for suitable models within my price range, finding three options for the troopers for a reasonable price of roughly $4 each. Trooper Harrison from RTO5, Trooper Mosley from RT501 & Trooper Bainbridge from RT501b. I ended up purchasing the first two but not the last, as he didn't really fit with the others aesthetically in my opinion. So in conclusion: I'm still searching for a Navigator, one more trooper & a lone squat to get a good start on my warband.

The LeadQuest continues...

I leave you with an absolute banger from Dutch band Seducer which appeared on the killer 'Dutch Steel' compilation. So here it is: Seducer - Torcher. Cop a load.

- the Witchfinder In General (AKA: Witchsmeller Pursuivant/Satânico Profanador/Jaguar Fancy/J.R.G.)

Editorial the Seconde

If I am to ever make use of all the rules systems and games I own I must put my face into the fire and congregate with similar minded individuals. I have managed to host a couple of Call of Cthulhu sessions with intrigued friends but I think some of them found it to be overwhelming, having no previous roleplaying experience. Perhaps a 1920s investigative game isn't what immediately springs to mind when most people think of roleplaying games, and it might not have been the best choice as an introduction to the hobby to newcomers, but it was the investigative aspect and setting/theme of Call of Cthulhu that sold me on roleplaying games in the first place so I thought "if I enjoy it, so should others". But alas, my organisational skills are severely lacking and people lead busy lives so roleplaying has sat down in the back seat and strapped itself in whilst someone else takes the wheel for a while.

But there is hope upon the horizon, as old friends get back into the gaming hobby (not video games ffs) and dig out their old games, ready to get back into the thrall. A mate of mine has retrieved his copy of Blood Bowl (a game I've always wanted to get into but never had the opportunity) from his mum's house and we've been discussing other games such as Dark Future, Talisman and HeroQuest (which I've had a few sessions with a couple of different groups of people recently) for a regular, possibly fortnightly gaming night/day/occurrence in time. Though previously hosting such sessions has been a breeze, my current living situation is coming to an end and I must return to the far away hills of my parental abode until I find somewhere else to rest my weary ligaments and copious belongings, making it somewhat difficult to host games. So it looks like I'll be carting my games citywards, which doesn't bother me in the slightest, I'll just be glad to be getting back into it and hanging out with a few good mates.

Until next time...

- the Witchfinder In General (AKA: Witchsmeller Pursuivant/Satânico Profanador/Jaguar Fancy/Dungeon Dave/J.R.G.)

Editorial the Firste

Hail to ye who hath stumbled hereupon my realm.

The previous incarnation of this blog was disjointed and unfocused, all over the shop. So here's to new beginnings! (this is where you raise your drinking horns and cry out in unbridled enthusiasm). With a new name, a new look and new content Witchfinder In General is ready to conquer the new year like the low mongrel dog that it is.

The focus of this blog will be on 'Eavy Metal Leadbangers (ie. small metal miniatures) and the occasional Heavy Metal Headbangers (ie. music). There is an undeniable link between these two, as many involved in the miniature painting hobby will no doubt agree, and I don't feel it necessary to go into too much detail as I'm pretty certain it has been written about beforehand on another blog (I will try to find the article I'm thinking of). My love for both of these things has been with me since childhood and will be with me until the synapses stop firing, all cerebral electricity has been reduced to zero and my corporeal existence annulled. So once again, raise your drinks to heavy metal and lead. I know I will.

I leave you with Accept - Russian Roulette. (WARGAMES! KILLED IN ACTION!)

- the Witchfinder In General (AKA: Witchsmeller Pursuivant/Satânico Profanador/Jaguar Fancy/Dungeon Dave/J.R.G.)