From The Ground Up - Vol. 1 "Battlecruiser in a Bottle"

    Welcome to a new semi-regular article wherein my exploits and adventures in the art of scratch-building are made known! I thought "From The Ground Up" was a fitting title as most of the materials I use are found literally lying on the ground somewhere on my daily travels. I've been amassing quite a collection and no doubt to an outsider I would seem insane, but you know the old saying: "One man's trash is another man's VB Class Industrial Freighter..." Let's git garn shall we?

"How are you going to get THAT in THERE?" Pt.1

    Various 'that's what she said' jokes aside, I found that questions of this nature were a reoccurring theme throughout my latest galactic venture. Everyone should be familiar with the old ship-in-a-bottle concept, yes? Well, I figured I'd give it a crack. So sit down, get comfortable, make yourself a cup of tea and have a nice, long and learned look at my aforementioned crack:

    Sorry about the horrible photos, the light in my room is awful and the camera refused to focus correctly! It was a bloody fiddly ordeal constructing this little bastard and there was no shortage of incidences involving far too much glue, far too little accuracy, and far too many fingers. Nonetheless, have at a couple of photos of what it looked like before I decided to get sloppin'...

 Now it's time to work on the base/enclosure! I'm going with the idea of hiding the wire with cotton fibre in a trail of smoke leading down to a dome at the bottom, painted to represent a planet. Who knows if I'll ever actually house it in the bottle but at this point I'm preeeeetty sure it still fits.
    Well, I've got a lot more that I've been sticking together as of late, so expect another installment of From The Ground Up very soon!

- The Witchfinder In General.

POOR BLOODY EFFORT MATE

   I realise now that I've posted an average of one measly post per year these last couple of 365's and, quite frankly, I am ashamed. I have a lot of time on my hands, being unemployed due to mental health issues I am currently trying get under control and I spend most of my time focusing on my main creative outlet: music, so all I have are two rather tenuous excuses as to my inactivity.

   BUT...
   Recently I've found adequate inspiration to start two projects I intend on completing before the year is through. The first being Space Fights, my poor man's Star Wars knockoff themed project, wherein I try to find appropriate models to represent certain identifiable characters from the films, but with a nice Rogue Trader aesthetic. Buggery knows why, but surprisingly the whole idea was sparked into motion upon rearranging the display shelves for my other secret love: classic Lego sets! It was when I was trying to find a nice place for my Snowspeeders (hardly classic by my terms, but brilliant models regardless) when I noted the aesthetic joy I felt for the Rebel Fighter Pilot uniforms, the vibrant orange, a colour I'd not yet been inclined to experiment with too much, really tickled my fancy and as I'd not too long ago picked up an old pot of Hobgoblin Orange which was uncovered in an old storage area of my not-so-local-one-hour-train-ride-away hobby shop, I thought to myself: GET TO IT SONNY BLOODY JIMBO JONES! This will be no means an easy task to undertake, as there are so many important characters I want to portray, but I'm planning on having at least 10 or so completed miniatures before 2016 is lain to rest in the sepulchre of time forever passed.
 
   The second project? "A Noble Cause" as noted by a fellow member of the community...

From The Stuff of Legends archive.

   I've always loved the style of these buggers, they've got more detail crammed into them than an extremely detailed comparison I'm at a total loss to think of! And the character! Oh what character! Though I do have a certain soft-n-squishy spot for the later marines, with their chunky legs and all, these original Bob Naismith sculpts really are the cream of the crop in these weary ocular sightglobes of mine. Produced a couple of years before I was even born as the first physical realisation of Rick Priestly's brief, these guys really hit the mark.

   A few painted examples can be found in Bryan Ansell's collection which can be viewed over at The Citadel Collector

   So, before I waste any more time on this wordy post: it's off to the painting table as I have a crack at the Death Squad marine, as the only other one I own at the moment (Missile Launcher) is taking a bath in acetone to remove some nasty blue enamel... Soon I plan to own them all, I've seen most of these guys in a fair abundance except for the Captain so I'm fairly confident I'll be able to complete this project before the year's out.

  Until next time, when hopefully I'll have something more completed, Hail and Kill!
And thanks again to all 4 of my followers for your fleeting interest!

- The Witchfinder In General

SPACE FIGHTS

A long time ago in a painting queue far, 

far away....

Episode I

A NO HOPE

It is a time of space fights.
Rabble  spaceships, striking

from  their  invisible  hideouts,
have won an initial victory against

the purportedly bad Galaxial Imperium.

During the fights, Rabble spies

stole secret plans to the Imperium's
ultimate weapon, the DEADLY SPHERE,

an armoured space station with enough force to

destroy an entire planet and its inhabitants to death.

All this has no bearing whatsoever on Duke Skywarper, 

ex-Rabble starfighter turned mercenary-merchant-gun-for-hire.

Duke and his Robert-Man™ brand robot sidekick Artie.

    2015 was a busy and turbulent year, though my count of completed miniatures is higher than last year's, it's still not very many. I'd had an Iron Claw space pirate Dambo Kweltz sitting around for aeons, waiting for some sort of paintjob but I had no idea where to even begin! Then, in a spark of inspiration it hit me, and now: Space Fights is born.
    I've managed to scour my collection for suitable characters and, though incomplete, here's what I've come up with so far:

Prinn Zeslaja, the royal on the run.

  

Jann Szoło, losing his colour.

And finally, wearing only his primer...

Master Y'Odour with his legendary "Light Hummer".

    To be continued...

Two-timer

"ORF ME BLOODY PROPERTY YA TINY GIT!"

These two miniatures represent the entirety of my completed projects from over these last two or so years. That's right, two miniatures. Whoops, the building also counts. I don't get much time to allocate to the hobby as I don't have any reason other than my own enjoyment to paint, and I'm a slow painter as it stands. Anyway, here they are, my Grenadier halfling (Julie Guthrie sculpt) & Metal Magic/Hobby Products barbarian. They could do with a few more highlights in certain areas but I'm tired of never finishing anything I start so I'm willing to overlook it, for now... It'll probably be a while until my next post. The camera on my phone is pretty bad and the lighting situation isn't flattering but whatever. Enjoy.

- Witchfinder in General.

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.