Star Wars Imperial Assault: AT-STs and the Heroes

As ever, it has been an extraordinarily long time since my last post. I tend not to do much painting when I'm at uni (ferrying models and paints between homes can be a pain...) but I always manage to get some things done during the holidays.

So, while I should have been preparing for, and writing, the numerous essays which I had to hand in last Friday (don't, it was a hellish two weeks) I painted a set of miniatures for a friend of mine from a Star Wars boardgame called Imperial Assault. We've yet to play it, but it looks like great fun...

Unfortunately, I gave a lot of the models back to their owner before I thought to take a picture of them for the blog, but I did get some snaps of the 'heroes' and the AT-ST walkers, which were a joy to paint! 

The Heroes (minus the Wookie...)

The heroes are really well sculpted (mostly) and convey a lot of character. My favourite is definitely the Smuggler in the middle - great pose and a very cool jacket. Not too sure about the General chap (back row on the left) - his pose seems a little "brap-brap-gangsta-pistol" to me... 

The Basic AT-ST

General Weiss in his AT-ST

The walkers were really good fun to paint. There's obviously not a huge variety of colour choices because they are... well, grey. I really enjoyed adding the weathering though, and grey is a grey-t colour to weather - all that dirt and rust and grime shows up really nicely.

Unfortunately, the little bloke poking his head out is pretty awfully sculpted, to the point where his face begins to resemble an amorphous blob. This is, however, my only criticism of these guys and it doesn't ruin the model or anything like that - the details on these walkers is great and painting them was a great little trip down memory lane.  

Will hopefully be posting more things soon, stay tuned!

An Imperial Knight and the Ortegas

Well it's been a hell of a long time since I posted anything on the blog... I've not given up on painting just yet though (although I haven't done any for a couple of months now and I'm really starting to get the itch). I'll soon be heading home for the Christmas break and I'm looking forward to picking up a paintbrush again - I think I have a copy of Space Hulk waiting for me... Can't wait!

In the mean time, I thought I'd just throw up a couple of things I did over the summer.

First, I had a crack at an Imperial Knight. These models are insanely detailed and it was really cool to work on a big model like this. Only have one picture of it as it was given to the customer upon completion...

Scary.

The flame effect was really fun, and fairly easy, to do. It just took time and a lot of carefully applied layers. But the beauty is that not a great amount more detail needed to be done and there was no messing around with transfers and such (usually these guys are covered in them - I know from experience, I've painting 5 of these guys now...).

If you haven't heard of Malifaux you really should have by now. It's a really enjoyable skirmish game for which they released a new rule-set about a year ago. In addition to the new rules, they have started producing (and re-producing) all their miniatures in plastic and the detail is INSANE. I have one or two plastic box-sets at home and will be returning to them over Christmas I'm sure.

Pictured here are the Ortega family in their original metal casting. I completed these just before Wyrd released the plastic version of the same gang... Sod's Law. The picture quality isn't great, so apologies for that.

As ever, thanks for reading. I hope to be posting up some more things over the Christmas break - we'll see!

A Beginning

Beastman Lord

Dear readers,

This is most exciting and a little bit unnerving. Starting a blog for the first time is quite unlike any other feeling - you'll probably know what I mean if you've done a similar sort of thing. Putting a bit of yourself, or your work, on the internet feels like exposing oneself, not quite in the way that that flasher sitting next to you on the tube will expose himself, but in the way of laying bare the workings of one's mind to a world full of people. Certainly I am somewhat nervous about this but I hope that I can settle into it as something that I will come back to regularly to post little bits and bobs about both myself and the miniature-painting that is both my hobby, and, if you consider the earning of money to be indicative of such, my job. I find it hard to consider painting as 'work' in the sense that an office-job might be considered, it is just far too enjoyable! The reality is that painting is my hobby and I am simply lucky enough to be able to make some money from it.

Necron Cryptek

I suppose that seeing as this is an introduction of sorts, I should tell you all a bit about myself. My name's Ollie and I have recently turned 20. Miniature-painting and war-gaming have been a part of my life for half of those 20 years so I should say I have had some experience. While I enjoy the gaming aspects of hobbies such as Warhammer, Infinity, Malifaux and Hordes to name but a few, the creative element is my gig. I think the reason behind this must be obvious when I think back to how much time I spent with Lego as a child (honestly, vast quantities of the stuff) and how much I have always enjoyed creating something where previously there was nothing. When it comes to miniatures, they are the blank canvas onto which I can paint whatever I want, in whatever way I like. It might sound cheesy, but it's the truth.

Lizardmen Saurus Warrior

For a while I have been frequenting a delightful centre of gaming and hobbying called Heroes and Legends Games. Their prices are great and the atmosphere in their store is always fantastic - if you are in the neighbourhood of Surbiton head on over there and check it out (this is not an advertisement spiel, I am genuinely recommending you better your life by paying them a visit, you won't regret it.) Anyway, having been going to the shop regularly for a couple of months I was asked whether I might like to do a bit of commission painting on their behalf. I duly agreed and, Heroes and Legends coffee mug in hand, sat down to paint a bunch of models for display in the shop, as well as launching straight into a few commissions. Of course, it is not only myself that paints models for the store, but Ed and Animatronica also, who should be duly given credit for their great work. I do not, under any circumstances, want to sound big-headed enough to have you conclude that I am the only commission painter in town - I am one of the Heroes and Legends team and we offer our services to all.

I should probably conclude this first post by saying that I hope you have enjoyed the beginning of my blog and that I hope you will be coming back here now and then to see whether I've made any progress. The aim of this whole malarkey is really to display some of the models I have painted in the past, as well as showing you lovely people some of the current commissions (and hopefully some of my own stuff) that I will be working on in the future. If you have anything to say or ask please get in touch, it's always appreciated!

Thank you for reading,
Ollie