Blog discription

What will you find here? Ramblings from an aging gamer-miniature painter. When I first started out in this hobby computers were in their infancy and finding other gamers could only be done by going to conventions or as in my case bumping into somebody who happened to see me reading "Panzer Leader" on the school bus. Look how far we have come! The internet has allowed our small community to be able to connect on a level I never dreamed of when I was but a small lad. What I do hope you will find here is something interesting from one wargamer/miniature painter to another. I paint miniatures somewhat decently, so I will be posting some pictures of my work, and perhaps a review or two of games and/or miniatures. Most of all this is just about having fun and anything I post here is meant to be for that reason.

Friday, December 24, 2021

Battletech: Marauder and Archer for the Kell Hounds

 Christmas Eve madness. After a fun filled day with my family I finished off these two mechs and took some pictures to unwind a little bit. The classic Marauder, and the Archer (the one with the missile hatches open. It's the first two mechs I need for my four mech lance and are from the mercenary unit called the Kell Hounds. The arch rivals are the Draconis Combine unit called the Genyosha which I am currently painting as well. I am the only one investing and painting these bad boys so it will be a while before I have enough to throw a game with. But I am having fun just painting them. 

Any ways Happy Christmas everyone and I will see you on the other side.




As always thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin


Friday, December 17, 2021

Arena Rex: Iason

 One of my favorite poses for my Ludus we have "Iason" here. It makes me think of the Spartacus Movie with the legend Kirk Douglas himself who sadly passed away in 2020 at 103 years. Old age got to him and not the blade of an opponent in the Arena. 

I replaced the spear with a metal one cause the resin one supplied just sucked as far as sturdiness goes (not artistically, but game survivability). 

I think I did a little better on the skin job, and my greatest art critic (my wife) at first gave it a thumbs down, told me it needed a little dry brushing to bring down the starkness of it, didn't believe her, had a huff about it, but in the end she was right. Now I am one step closer on my journey of learning to paint skin like the pros (thank you honey).... but I do thank the gods I only have a few more left so I can go back to painting lifeless robots.





As always thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin


Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Arena Rex: Hermes

 I absolutely hate painting skin. A face and hands, okay. Half naked Gauls, Greeks, Gladiators, not okay.

I trudged on, and did the best okay for the moment. One day, hopefully, a light bulb will come on and it will be like, this wasn't so hard.

This bad boy is Hermes. A couple pics of him and one of him standing next to Atrox the Tiger. Oh and I included Urbicus with Atrox as well. 






I have a about three or four Gladiators left to paint up for my Ludus, and then it's up to my friends to keep up their part of the bargin.

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers 
Kevin




Sunday, December 12, 2021

Arena Rex: Atrox

 No fancy pictures here, just calling this done to the best of my current painting ability. I could do touch ups and tweak it a bit more but it looks good enough in my hand to play on table, so why take a chance and mess it up I ask. Well I asked myself because in the end that’s who it really matters to;) May it please the Gods when it enters the arena for his meal.

Atrox is like this God Tiger. I haven’t taken a photo of him next to a gladiator yet, but he is huge! Tomorrow I give him a gloss coat and later a mat one and it will be finished. Once that’s done I will try and take a photo next to a gladiator.








As always thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin



Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Battletech: Phoenix Hawk

So I got this crazy idea to try showing one of my jump jet equipped Mechs in the process of lifting off the ground. My choice was the Phoenix Hawk model from the new plastic Catalyst Lab Games. It's pose standing made it an easy choice to simulate a flight take off. 

I drilled a hole in the crotch of the mech and into the mdf base and used a clear rod to insert mech onto the base. I had it on a painting stick for awhile thinking about how I wanted to simulate the flames etc. when oops, knocked it over and the rod broke off on the inside of mech, doh! So I had to drill out the rod and do it again but lesson learned, don't be a clutz. 

I decided on using greenstuff, and once I made some up I wetted my fingers with water to handle it easily. I started out with a blob on the base and then sort of stretched it up to the jump jets. It was almost perfect first time, I just had to use a hobby knife to mold a few more twists and turns in the greenstuff. Then I let it dry over night. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I just primed it up, started with an Ivory and then went to town building up the highlights and shades for the jump jet exhaust. 

This Mech was also painted up in the Draconis Combine colors for the Genyosha. It will be part of a Medium Battle Lance. You'll note the decal on the left breast of the mech, and the front right knee. I cut the decals out of sheet and eyed them up on where I was going to place them on the mech, then gently used a very sharp xacto blade and cut both decals into three parts without cutting all the way through the decal paper. Then I soaked them in water the appropriate time and then gently lined them up on the breast and the knee as there were sharp angles and separate plates.

Here are a few pictures. Hope you enjoy them.






As always thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin


Friday, November 26, 2021

Battletech & MA.K Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) Gans

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone, and of course these are busy times for everyone, but I was able to get a few moments to work on a few models. 

Posting two different subjects here. First up is some of the new Battletech stuff from Catalyst Game labs. The scale is 1:285 or 6mm. I’ve painted up two models of four required so far for my Heavy Recon Lance. A Catapult and a Wasp. The smaller of the two is the Wasp. The Catapult brings a couple of big missile launchers to the field of battle, while the Wasp is a fast Scout type mech. They are from House Kurita (The Draconis Combine) and are part of the Regiment called the Genyosha. 







The other subject is a 15mm scale model called a Gans for Ma.K. It’s a lunar unit (operates in space and on the moon), but is also known to battle on Earth. It’s a kit-bashed model. I used three different models to make this one. Though I hear that Slave 2 gaming will possibly be making the model in the future.






Well that’s it for now, and as always thanks for looking.


Cheers

Kevin

Friday, November 12, 2021

Arena Rex: Ludus Magnus: Urbicus

 Arena Rex set in Rome 1253 AUC. This is not the world you know. The Republic and the Empire thrive. Arenas dot the landscape. Warriors from lands both known and unknown perform upon the sands for the chance at freedom, riches, and eternal glory..... 

So says the beginning entry on the Arena Rex page. A 35mm beautifully sculpted resin game that can be played on a lazy Saturday afternoon with friends and a few frothy beers. There are many different Ludus's to pick from, and you can mix and match to your hearts content. You can make your own arenas, or simply use the rubber mouse like pad they sell. You play with 3, 5, or 8 figures on a side. 

I have chosen my ludus to be Ludus Magnus and have painted up my first gladiator. Urbicus is a cool little figure, I love his sculpted fighting pose. He is also the first dark skinned figure where I have been happy on how the skin tones came out.






Check out the link I left you above, there are a lot of cool figures. As always thanks for stopping by for a look.

Cheers
Kevin



Sunday, October 31, 2021

MA.K Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) Jerry heavy armored fighting suit

Not much time to paint lately as I have had to play the role of nurse's aid for last couple of weeks. I did get a chance to knock out three more models for my growing SF3D sci-fi collection. Hopefully soon I'll be able to put on another game using the sci-fi rules Gruntz.





As always thanks for looking and hope to post again soon.

Cheers
Kevin


Wednesday, October 13, 2021

MA.K Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) Nutcracking

 Okay pre face melting time is over....

Let us proceed to the actual face melting...

Gentlemen, Ladies, it's time to start Nutcracking!!!!!!!!!








...and in closing I will let my very good New Zealand friend have some closing remarks.

"Are You Not Entertained? Are You Not Entertained? Is This Not Why You Are Here?"






Monday, October 11, 2021

MA.K Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) Nutcracker Ballet

 Pre face melting time! The Nutcracker ballet begins!


Seriously though I bring you a work in progress with another model from the Maschinen Krieger line from Slave2game. They just released some more models to the line, and one of those is my super favorite the drone hover tank called the "Nutcracker"! Need one of those pesky enemy powered armor dudes taken care of? Call in the Nutcracker!








That's it for now and as always....

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin