The Tale of Skirmish Game Painters 2011

[DAGabriel]

What is it all about?

The aim of The Tale of Skirmish Game Painters is to help motivate those involved to start and complete their Crews/Bands in the next 6 months.

The painters involved have made a commitment to paint and post, by the last day of each month, their finished minis. They do this each month for the next 6 months. Starting with their first post on the last day of August 2011 and finishing with their last post on the last day of January 2012. So we have this month, whilst everyone signs up, to collect, build, convert, undercoat and otherwise get yourself ready to go with the first work in progress starting in September.



However, because people have real lives with exams, holidays, honeymoons, new babies etc, etc. They get one 'Joker'. For one month within the half year you can ‘play a joker’ and rather than post an update they can post "sorry guys couldn't get it done this month. Real life got in the way." But the other 5 Months they have to come up with of painted and based figures. Even for the slow painters that should be at least 1 crew.

If the thread should become too big I will split it, but unlike the other Tales I would like to try and keep it in one thread.

A WORD ON PHOTOS
640x480 seems to work best OR use thumbnails
Bigger than this results in the scroll bar of doom for many.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q : Am I too Late? Can I still Join in?
A : No you are not too late. Yes you can still join in. Just post on this thread saying which army and how many points you intend to paint.

Q : How much do I have to paint?
A : There is a minimum of one mini per month with the additional WIP pics. Most will aim at more. But one breathtaking mini will take a long time.

Q : Can I include a short narrative with each months post.
A : Yes. We love background stuff. Write as much as you like it will be read and enjoyed by many.

Q : Can I drop out?
A : No you can't, why should you?

[DAGabriel]

Here it is to all of you.

List of participants (total 41)

Basher...............................Infinity/Ariadne and Helldorado
Bingo the Fun Monkey..........Infinity/Ariadne
Bleeding Through................Malifaux................... .................................................. ..........Here and the wyrd side
Catferret............................Necromunda
DAGabriel...........................Malifaux/Gremlins, Outcasts and LadyJ......................................Here and the wyrd side
Dark Apostle.......................Mordheim - witch hunters
Discord..............................System??
EmperorNorton...................Malifaux/Gremlins and Ressies, Freebooter`s Fate
Fechik................................Malifaux/Lilith and Ressers........................................... ...........Here and the wyrd side
Fluffystuff..........................Dust Tactics/Axis
GomezAddams....................Malifaux/Freikorps, Guild and others
Green Feevah!....................Hordes&Watmachine
hartag12 ...........................Dystopian Wars, Malifaux, Secret of the 3rd Reich
Intermission.......................LotR/Malifaux
Khrangar...........................Strange Aeon & Infinity Nomads
Leggo1927.........................Malifaux
Little Joe............................Britanans
loveless.............................AnimaTactics/Wissenschaft
magath.............................Mordheim/Reiklanders and Malifaux/Neverborn
Morticia Addams.................Malifaux/Ressis
Mr.Feral............................Eden
Necrothrall.........................Malifaux/Neverborn+Guild, Infinity/Nomads, Cryx
Nightseer...........................Malifaux/Ramos+Guild and Legends of the High Seas pirates.......Here and the wyrd side
Niibl..................................Freebooter `s Fate Armada
perplexiti...........................Malifaux/Guild+Ressers
Red Skullz..........................Pulp City
robscott5598......................Gorkamorka
Rotokultaxe........................Malifaux/Ressers........................................... ........................Here and the wyrd side
sea.man............................Confrontation
Shnerg..............................Malifaux/Pandora
Sigur.................................Malifaux/2 Crews and Gorkamorka/2 Warbands.........................Here and the wyrd side
Slartibartfast......................Force on Force
Snyggejygge......................WHFB/Mordheim
Solun Decius......................Hordes/Legion of Everblight
someone2040....................Mordheim
Spellscape.........................Helldorado Les Sarrasins
Tancrede...........................Eden and Helldorado
Theimp..............................divers bands
Warflag.............................Cryx
Whitwort Stormbringer........Zombiesmith Games/Quar and Crusaders
Zujara..............................Necromunda/Redemptionists

[DAGabriel]

And her a quick "where are you pics" WIP from this morning (wife is out brunching, kids still in bed). A Bayou Gremlin with first try on of colors.

[basher]

Well here we go seems to have been ages since signing up.So for starters i've built and primed the starter set for the infinity faction ariadna



and painted the sas guy with a boarding shotgun but there's something missing so any comments would be cool

[Little Joe]

@DAGabriel Only Britanan (no Malifaux) for me, but the whole starter set at least. Also I think you should use July and August so we can start now in the first post.

OK background in a nutshell, so we have a world called Relicia; the gods have fled from it. The gods did however meddle with creation itself called Maaj (life force in all its aspects), and there the magic stirs.
The humans are your bloodthirsty conquerors that threaten to kill and take all, with the main and now only fraction being the Britanan Empire. This came to be, because the Vaettir did a spell killing all but a few thousand humans (yes, massive scale). Saved by King Jorje who quickly threw up a magic shield, going crazy by his loss he built a puppet army powered by the cursed souls of his former subjects. And that army is now again bloodily conquering the world.
Relicia has a very powerful watcher like fraction called the Vaettir. You could call them the cosmic haughty ones craving peace but killing all who do not comply, even the gods fled before them after being gentled for a while. Now they are corrupted and foul themselves by their ultimate spell, in an attempt to save at least some life (but still wanting to kill all humans) they had a bit of a backlash. Being in a bit of denial of their achievements they now hate all life (including themselves).
The Orcnar are the former gentle earth loving bronze giants. Brought almost to extinction by a ravening god and the Britanan Empire, then came the Vaettir spell and their minds were melted with Maaj killing most shamans and mutating all other Orcnar, slowly killing the species (reproduction problems). They want only revenge and to be cannibals.
There are other species to come and all in all I’d say it is a nice place for your next battles! More information can be found here.

I admit to really liking the stitchpunk style, so yes please hook me up with more. New dollies are coming, but for those who cannot wait, they are filthy cheap now. Relics is currently 20% off, so get them directly from Tor Gaming (fbrelics20) if in the UK and support them directly, worldwide Maelstrom (NEW-2011) has better shipping conditions.

This month I will paint three grenadiers, the ultra elite for this army. Shooting with templates and bashing in close combat. And still they look cute, adorable …
For colours I will go Dutch with dark blue and orange collars and cuffs and some grey pants, for most troopers. Dark green, greys and yellows will be used to mark specialists. I have to do more historical background studies for the colours.
For the base I am thinking of bony desert with a bit of a dried up river for some colour, this should symbolise the keeping of living creatures away from basic needs (water, food).
The models were easy enough to clean and assemble; I use green stuff along every glued part anyhow. Only the arm with gun was slightly more difficult and the heads were pinned. I drilled a bit into the barrels because I dislike the flat black spot when painted.
On the bases I went for the old skeleton skulls and a few ghoul bones from GW. The skulls are a bit larger and after burying them I want some detail left, the new bones are more detailed. The cracked earth was modelled with green stuff.
Currently done is the basecoat and a first shader to find all the stitches.

I am open to all criticism and comments as I see this thread to learn and improve. Bring it on!

[EmperorNorton]

Not much in the way of work in progress, but rather an idea of what is to come.
For the first month, McMourning and crew:


Second month, Canine Remains:


Third month, Freebooter's Fate Brotherhood:


Not really sure what to do after, but plans are bound to change anyway.

Also not sure if I'll do the Gremlins. There are just so darn many of them:

[DAGabriel]

@ Emperor Norton: Lol, i discovered the same about the Gremlins! But it is nothing compared to two regiments of skeleton warriors!!!! And still upset about the postage of the LE Models?

[Rotokultaxe]

Hi all,

My plans for The Tale are to have 2 fully painted resurrectionist crews (or even 3 if I can paint enough crossover models) by the end of month 6. Since I'm a slow painter and I don't have much time with family, work, and my passion for literature, my objective is to paint 2 or 3 models a month. For august, I'm finishing my Kirai boxed set with Ikirio and the Datsue-ba. But for the rest of The Tale, I still don't know if I'll focus on my Seamus or my Nicodem crew.

You can see what I have already painted for my Kirai crew by following the link in my sig.

@Basher: don't know what's missing on your fig. The choice of colors is good, but the gun seems the same color as the holster and the backpack.

@DaGabriel and Emperor Norton: good luck with all those gremlins (and pigs)!

[DAGabriel]

Just based and undercoated 3 stuffed piglets and am just working on the Taxidermist!

[basher]

@Basher: don't know what's missing on your fig. The choice of colors is good, but the gun seems the same color as the holster and the backpack.

yeh the top of the gun is the same colour.It's camo he's ment to be an elite sneeky bugger

norton: as always i'm amazed at your work load

DAgabriel: if them pigs look anything like three minis in the first post i cant wait

[EmperorNorton]

And still upset about the postage of the LE Models?

Yes, I am.
I was on the fence about them before, seeing as they aren't exactly cheap to begin with. And essentially raising the price by 20% just a couple of days before the release really rubs me the wrong way.

[sea.man]

Here is the beginning of my skirmish game painter's tale:
Confrontation Khaurik's Guard

I will try to make full group photos, so we can all see the progress

@DAGabriel
Can you please change the name of my tale to the given above?

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

Well for starters, I have to apologize - I got impatient and painted up my first planned group for this tale (just a small fire team of Crusader Quar). I didn't take WIP shots along the way, but I'll hold off on posting the final images until I post my first painted minis for this tail.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, so quick introduction to the world of the Quar:

For 700 years or so the quar have constantly been in conflict with one another for various reasons, between many shifting allegiances etc. etc. etc. - a period that has simply come to be known as "The Long War". At this point in their history, the quar have a roughly-WWI level of technology. Recently (11 years prior to the game's setting) a particularly cunning quar general named Alykinder managed to bring the majority of the nation-states under his control, and only a few defiant groups are still holding their ground, but as he continues to conquer the few remaining independent corners of Alwyd (the quar's world), nations under his banner are becoming discontent, his forces are spread thin, and local militias are rising up against his troops.

A bit about the quar - in appearance they are kind of like anthropomorphic aardvarks or anteaters, with long snouts and otherwise stout bodies. They are facultative insectivores, but will gladly eat other foods as well (the cook figure is accompanied by two pig-like creatures). Their belief system is atheistic, and focusses on worship of one's family and ancestors for their deeds. Prominent families will often have a shrine or two dedicated to renowned ancestors.

There are 5 major factions in the game at present:
- Alykinder's Crusade or simply Crusaders.
- Coftyr
- Fidwog. Alongside Coftyr, these two factions are collectively referred to as Royalists because they maintain loyalty to their local kings.
- Militia/Veterans/Partisans can represent almost any non-organized fighting quar, ranging from veterans of previous wars to poorly equipped conscripts for one of the larger factions to bandits or simple villagers defending their homes.
- Kryst is a harsh desert province that is defended by an elite independent army, and they remind me a lot of the Fremen from the Dune series.

If you're interested in more, check out the Zombiesmith Games website.

So, for the tale I'm starting with some Crusaders. As I mentioned, I jumped the gun and already painted up the first 6, but I have a command section and some cavalry that will join them. To be realistic, I'm thinking for August I'll try to pump out the Yawdryl (sergeant equivalent), cook with pigs, and pykpyk handler with pykpyks (pykpyks are messenger squirrels - the quar have developed radio technology but it's unreliable, or something like that...). Here's a shot of those guys:

[tancrede]

Hi everybody !

As said in the conscription thread, I'm in with 2 wonderful french skirmish games (even if one is not french anymore, as Helldorado now belongs to Cypher Studios) : Eden and Helldorado.


First, a little bit of background for those 2 games...

Helldorado
During the Thirty Years War (early 17th century), religion war rages across the whole Europe between Catholics and Protestants, and involving nearly all the european nations.
The bloodbath of this war, especially the massacre in Magdeburg (Germany), opened a great portal leading directly to Hell. A peace was signed between all the nations, ending the religion war.
Some explorating parties are sent to explore this new land, and soon a town was created near the portal : New Jerusalem.

But soon, the raiding parties will discover that this new land is not empty : saracens, deamons, monstruous and weird creatures are still here, and soon, the sound of war was heard in Hell...

Eden
Eden is a post-apocalyptic game, sitting in the near future (but no date yet).
The background is not really clear at this time, but some elements are given during events such as campaigns and tournaments, or with the release of new minis.

To make it simple :
- there was an "apocalypse" 200 years ago, and the survivors are now scattered in small towns, villages or shelters. The campaign takes place in Eastern Europe, but the backgrounds covers some factions coming from Africa (the Bamaka mutants) or undetermined origins (the drone/androids from the ISC).

You can choose to play a faction, or a stigmate (with various minis coming from the different factions chosen around a theme, represented by a symbol on the playing card).

The differents factions are:
- the Bamaka : a mutant clan of chamanic inspiration, coming from Africa in a religious quest.
- the Jokers : a gang of criminals, totally insane and psychopatics, with a very dark sense of humour (d'you rememer the Joker in the Batman movies ? It's worse ! ^^)
- the ISC : some kind of drone/androďds, programmed to do something (but who gives the orders, and what is the ultimate goal of this faction is a really great mystery)
- the Matriarchy : SM womens with their male slaves, thinking that the apocalypse is the men's fault and that they must expiate all their sins.
- the Convoy : a very MadMax/gypsies oriented faction, as they are mainly normal people, scattered in vehicles convoys across he whole Europe in a kind of spiritual quest, and in a constant search of food, water and fuel.



I will present you some minis each month for the 2 games.
For Helldorado, I will essentially paint Westerners, with a few mercenaries.
For Eden, I have to paint some Convoy minis to complete my starter set, and a full Matriarchy starter.

And here are the first 2 minis I'll paint this month (but if I have the time, I'll certainly paint more than 1 mini for each game) :

For Helldorado, Alvaro Echeverria de Balaguer, a very friendly man from the friendly spanish Inquisition :


For Eden, Georg, a distinguished member of the peaceful Convoy :



See you soon with some paint on them ! ^^

[robscott5598]

So here are some WIP pics to show how far along I'm getting with recreating the contents of the GorkaMorka box set so far....

Firstly I have finished one test model for the Gorker mob color scheme ect..
I decided to try and paint my mobs so that although the Gorkers and the Morkers will be obviously different enough so that anyone playing GorkaMorka with them will plainly see the difference between the two mobs, in the end all the boys should still be able to be rolled into one unit for 40K playing as well.

So every orc will feature some unifying colors schemes of Green, black, red and brown. However the Gorkers will use "Goff Checkers" and very little red versus the more prominent "Red Daggs" wich will feature on the Morkers.

heres the first test model for a Goff Gorker. This represents about 15-20mins worth of speed painting to just get a basis for future models...




Additionally I decided that the cardboard scap tokens were boring and wanted some 3-D pieces of scrap for my mobs to fight over. I added one "unexploded stikbomb" counter for good measure.

Actually really proud of these as they have tons of detail and character which doesn't show in this pic as they are currently just primed black, but really looking foward to getting some paint on these!

finally a collage showing my first Trukk built from scratch. Since I have a rather small budget, I spent $6 at ToysRUs for two Tonka packs with a total of about 9 big wheels and two chasis in each, and from there using only carboard and a few bits from the bits box I have enough to make about 2 Trukks and 2 Buggies. Here the first Trukk.

and with a boarding ramp...

[Mr Feral]

Put me down for some EDEN please.

I have half a Convoy starter set to finish off, having been sat basecoated for months now and also an ISC starter set (freshly ordered, I couldn't resist their post-apoc samurai robot vibe!)

When I've received and assembled the ISC, I'll put up the first of monthly group progress shots.

[theimp]

Here's where I'm at. This will take a couple posts, my apologies. From here on I'll only post what I've worked on in any given week; usually Mondays.

Cult of December.


My cult is mostly finished and I'm pretty proud of it. I've had the silent one since it came out though and haven't made much headway on her. I'm also converting an old Kelt Fianna Shaman from Confrontation into a second one. I added fur texture to her cape last night. I still need to get Snowstorm to complete this set.

Outcast Mercenaries.


To supplement my Cult, and possible future Malifaux crews, I decided to convert a female outlaw gunslinger around eight months ago. I stalled out on her because I wasn't satisfied with the guns that I had made. I started the pistol in the pin vice around three weeks ago and I'm much happier with it. I'm making a quick press-mold and I'll pop out a couple copies to mount on my conversion; then she'll be ready for paint, finally.

Bayou Gremlins.

I've also had these gremlins on my desk for about a year. They're around halfway done, and I would like to finish them. I'll probably end up adding the Rising Powers gremlins to my collection as I make headway on these.

Scorpions of Dirz.

I've had these models rolling around in a box for around three years. And the clones have been primed for at least two years. I have a lot more of these figures, but I really don't want to do them all at once.

[theimp]

Azur Alliance Chasseurs.


My FLGS has a small Anima Tactics group. I really only bought the male Azur Alliance Agent for an RPG character. I am however an impulse buyer and I picked up the other three on a whim. I may never even play the game, but I have another five figures in mind to buy.

Infinity Various.


I'd been eyeing Infinity for a long time and could never come up with a really good excuse to order any. I finally did so for use as D&D characters in a weekly Encounters game I was running. That game ends Wednesday, which may stall me out on painting these.

Hasslefree Grymn.


These have been on my table for around seven months. I'm adding capes to them and I'm going to try to graft some helmet wings on. The blurry thing in the back is an old Warzone Vulkan battle suit that I think matches up nicely with the grymn aesthetic. I've kind of been putting these off until Micropanzer releases their 32mm Stoat Autonomous Recon Vehicles. I want to add two to my set.

[theimp]

Hell Dorado Serasins.

I bought these just to pad out a special order. I love the way they look but haven't made any progress on them since I bought them.

In addition to these, I have a set of 1:32 Italeri Gladiators on order that I'm planning to convert into Broadkil for a Rifts game that I'll be running for the next 10 weeks or so.

[Dark Apostle]

Seems like a lot of people a really eager to start this :-) Great, looking forward to this TOSGP!

Now, I'll be doing a Mordheim witch hunter warband, and I'll be using the latest Corheim rules set to build the band.

I aim at converting every single miniature in the warband. I will also buy some scenic bases for them, and would like some help to decide on which ones:

Dragonforge "City in ruins"

Dragonforge "Basic ruins"

Epicast "Cobblestone"

Epicst "Flagstones"

Any other suggestions are also welcom, but these are the ones that I've found so far that seem suitable alternatives. Pics will follow as soon as the conversions are under way!