Jass Posters

Back in this post I showed you a CD design project I completed for a 20's style Jazz band. I forgot to include the posters that were also part of the project.

The primary poster. At my customer's request, I left space for the venue to add the details of the event. 

This high contrast version is intended for senior centers and assisted living facilities. Again, the open space is for the venue to add the specific information about the event.

I left a white border on these posters as it is likely that whoever is printing these will not have acces (or want to) print on over-sized stock and trim to size. I prefer the look of color/art to the edge of the page (called bleed) but the parameters of this project would not allow.

Loot!

After selling some MtG cards, completing a design job, and a bit of birthday money, I funded a major shopping shopping spree...

Taken from internets without permission.

FLGS

• Tau Riptide
• Tau Xv8 Commander 
• Tau Commander Shadowsun
• Tau Pathfinders
• Tau Darkstrider
• Tau Cadre Fireblade
• 6 Valejo Paints

Taken from internets without permission.

The War Store

• DreamForge Games: Eisenkern Stormtrooper Rifle Squad
• Munchkin 7: Cheat With Both Hands
• Munchkin Level Playing Field
• Munchkin Boxes of Holding Set 2
• Munchkin Duck of Doom Plush
• Munchkin Duck of Gloom Plush
• Munchkin Tricky Treats Booster Pack

Taken from internets without permission.

Paulsons Games

• Mech Soldier Head  (3)
• Mecha Commander Head (3)

Taken from internets without permission.

Victoria Miniatures

• 12 Shoulder Boards
• 5 Victorian Torsos
• 5 Camo Cloaks
• 5 Dress Uniform Torsos
• 10 Slouch Hat Heads
• 10 Plinth Helmets

Taken from internets without permission.

Goodwill

• Yahtzee World Series (for the cool dice)
• Star Wars Monopoly Classic Trilogy

Taken from internets without permission.

eBay

• 5 Stalwart Class Escort Ships (Space Fleet)
• 4 Thunderbolt Class Cruisers (Space Fleet)
• 8 Cobra Class Destroyers (Space Fleet)
• 2 sets Dark Vengeance + 40 Cultists + Limited Chaplain (figures only)
• Star Wars Monopoly Original Trilogy (figures only)
• Star Wars Monopoly Limited Collector's Edition (figures and coins only)

Battlefleet Gothic Lookback

Here are a series of shots I took of my BFG figures about 10 years ago. I have made some additions to both fleets over the years in addition to starting the task of repainting both of them.

Space Marine Fleet: 1x Battleship; 4x Crusers; 4x squadrons Escorts

Imperial Navy: 1x Battleship; 4x Cruisers; 2x Lt Cruisers; 4x squadrons Escorts; 16x bases of Attack Craft

Orbital Defense Platforms and Asteroid Base Station

Close up of Orbital Defense Platforms 

Close up of Asteroid Base Station
showing docking ring and launch bays

Close up of damaged Orbital Defense Platform

The Orbital Defense Platforms were made from rubber feet from a plastic storage bin and model/toy bitz. The asteroid base was made for various household, model, and figure bitz. 

I really like how the damaged Orbital Defense Platform turned out. After hollowing out a the rubber foot, I used card board to represent the decking and the crumbled up rubber as the fire/explosions.

Next up will be to make a progress chart. Since these pictures, I have not only increased the Space Marine and Imperial Navy fleets, but added a good sized Rogue Trade/Pirate fleet.

All three of my fleets could fight each other, or better yet ally with each other. Someday I would love to battle against an opponent(s) with all my fleets combined!!!!

Mining HeroClix

In this post, I unintentionally started a larger project. I don't plan to do any heavy conversions with these--Mainly head and hand swaps.

Cabal of Sorcerers:  Psyloke, Umar, Yukio, Rasputin, Diablo. I plan to paint these in one common color a unique secondary color.

Girl Gang 1: Witchblade, Tiger Lily, Echo, Abby Chase, Hydra Medic. Gang 1 and 2 will be painted in the same colors, but I may flop the colors between the groups.

Girl Gang 2: Kabuki, Typhoid Mary, Ashleigh, Shi, Marrow.

Security Team: SHIELD Trooper, SHIELD Agent, Lobster Johnson, Bullseye, Paladin. This group will represent organized thugs, a security team, or possibly officers.

On average, these figures are about 1/5 head taller than a typical 28mm figure and a full head + compared to a 25mm figure. I am ok with that but I realize others would find the scale difference unacceptable. This is intended to be a quick project that will bulk up my modern/sci-fi figure inventory.

Dark Heresy Servitors Showcase

 

I finished the servitor I have been working on along with his "brother". These are two new additions to our Dark Heresy acolyte cell. In-game, they are sporting a Heavy Stubber and a Grenade launcher, but these two will eventually see service with my Aquamarines, hence the load out.

I made a change to the missile launcher since my last post. After removing the "ammo clip" I first used, I added one from a Space Marine from the 2e boxed set.

I also added a few bits of plasticard to the sides and top of the backpack, making it more like a standard servitor backpack.

A nice little project complete!

Clueless

So here is a little update on my Clue figures. I started laying in color on all the accessories. I am keeping this to 2 color (3 on the skin). No blending--Just simple cuts. Some of the detail is nice, but most of the hands and faces are terrible. I do not think I could make sense out of it if I was blending the colors.

This is taking me much longer than I anticipated. Partly due to my botching the spray primer. I must not have shaken the can enough as I got this weird powdery rough texture all over. It grabs the brush and absorbs a lot of paint, making the process take longer.

Painting a squad of 10 guys at the same time is not new to me, but this is 10 individuals with many unique colors. While I tried to reuse the secondary colors as often as I could, there was still about 40 colors that went into this project!

One change I made was to remove Sgt Grey's left hand and add a HeroClix Hydra Medic's hand with gun.

This isn't the best picture, but the colors are actually quite close (on my monitor).

On the Bench

Here is what I have been working on recently.

Made some progress on the Clue figures. Laid down shadow color and cut in base color. See the first post of this project here.

I assembled these specifically for our Dark Heresy campaign. They are going to be representing a Sentinel Powerlifter and Underwater Exo-Suits respectively. I will likely leave the Sentinel as-is for now, but will paint up the Tau Stealth Suits in my Tao colors.

I have modified 2 of the Stealth Suit legs to make a better running/jumping pose. Detail shots to come later.

Samhain

My band has a gig on November 2nd celebrating Samhain, a Celtic harvest festival. We are getting a lot of good buzz and hope to get a really good turnout!

I designed the poster. I started out laying everything out in CorelDraw (vector graphics), but as the design developed, it looked too "graphic". So I printed what I had out and traced it giving the art a more rustic feel. Then I scanned it back in, opened it in Photoshop, finished a few more details before coloring it.

Clowning Around

As it seems easier for me to start projects than to finish them, I started yet another one! 

It all started a couple weeks ago, when I had my personal HeroClix collection out looking for the name of a specific figure. Deathbot wandered by to see what all the ruckus was about. He asked if he could play with them and I said yes. A little while later, I walked by and saw one of my HorrorClix bins open and noticed the "circus" folk. I thought... what about a clown themed gang! Something like a cross between a Necromunda Goliath gang and a clown from a slasher movie.

So here we have the first installment of the clown gang. These figs are all from a eBay store inventory. I chose to keep these guys armed only with melee and flame weapons. I thought it would be a nice change up to the usual fair. Also, our Dark Heresy group is headed towards an under water hive on the next mission--Firearms are banned there.

I started hacking up the the figures before I remembered to take a pic. These are all HorrorClix figures. The pair on the left are Jesters, the middle one is a Mime Monster, and the last one is a Luchador.

Here is the group shot. I really like how these are turning out and would love to make a second group of five. Unfortunately, I only have 2 more Jesters. Might have to troll eBay for the rest, or get more creative! Here is a run down the mods so far:

• Jester 1: Removed original arm and added bare left arm from a HeroClix fig.
• Luchador: Pried open his hand and gave him a Skaven flail; Added 2 Flagellant weapons on the ends of the big "stick"; Added a Night Goblin head. I am considering making the nose a clown nose.
• Jester 2: Re-positioned the right arm and head.
• Mime Monster: Removed hands, and added 2 Skaven hands with blades.
• Larken: This is a Ramshackle Games mini. I added a SM loincloth and an Orc choppa to his hilt. I may green stuff a "clown fro".

In addition to the clown gang, I also started 4 other 5-man groups. All of these groups I intend for use in Dark Heresy although I admit they will likely look more suited to a modern setting.

• Cabal: A mix of male/female sorcerer types. I plan on painting them with a common main color and accent with a unique color for each.
• Security: Dudes with guns and light armor. I want them to pull duty as PDF or private security.
• Gang 1: Chicks with guns. Some with light armor. Will be interchangeable with Gang 2.
• Gang 2: Chicks with melee. Some with light armor. Will be interchangeable with Gang 1.

I saved a handful of additional figures that could easily represent a personality, but I probably wont get to them for quite awhile.

In future posts I will detail my progress with the other groups. I have actually removed all of them from their HeroClix bases and made modifications to 3-4 of them.

Bloodbowl Showcase - Greenfield Packers (Halflings)

Almost 3 years to the day since my last Blood Bowl Team Showcase! In writing this post, I also made some updates to the Dwarf Warhammer's post.

I really enjoy playing this team. Simply for the rare chance of pulling off a one turn TD! I love the Throw Team Mate skill!! The full team roster consists of:

• Coach
• 2 Assistant Coaches
• Wizard
• 4 Cheerleaders
• 14 Halflings
• 2 Treeman
• Puggy Baconbreath
• Deeproot Strongbraanch

Here is a group shot. I don't know why I didn't include all the regular player nor why I included the Star Player, Puggy Baconbreath (the is the right most Halfling with the big spike on his shoulder pad. All these figure are 2e with one or two 3e Halflings.

These two were apparently late showing up for the team picture.

This is the Star Player Treeman, Deeproot Strongbranch. He is an old figure I had (Grenadier I think). I made the shoulder pads out of plasticard and made the rivets out of plastic tubing.

Here are two Assistant Coaches and the Halfling Master Chef. I made the assistant coaches out of old GW metal Halfling spearmen and fabricated the clipboard (plasticard and paper) and trophy (Eldar weaponry).

Halfling Apothecary is a D&D miniature that came out around 2000.

The female cheerleader is also a 2000 circa D&D figure with greenstuff pom-poms. The Halfling Master Chef's assistants were promoted to cheerleaders where they launch "The Flying Hobbit" into the air every time the Greenfield Packers score.

Re-Coloring Tau

I saw Sean's Tau over on L33tLike.us and fell in love with his paint scheme! So much so in fact, that I am considering re-painting my Tau is that vein. Following is a side-by-side comparison of a proof of concept next to my current paint scheme.

Sometimes my phone does a much better job than my
camera... this is one of those cases!

These are painted to similar standards, although the proof is missing some of the small details. At this point I am ready to rock this new paint scheme. I will resist the urge to follow my usual protocol by *not* re-painting all the "brown/tan" Tau before I start new ones.

That is what crippled my Space Marines--I paint up 40 models; Come back years later and tweak the scheme/improve my technique; Re-do half of the previously painted figures instead of painting new ones!

I do have a few Tau that will not be repainted (or at least mostly). They are my Sniper & Drones Team. I came up with an alt scheme to the "brown/tan" to indicate stealth. It is a dark red and I think they will fit in well with the new scheme.

Oh yeah! Today is my Birthday!! Last week I sold some Magic: the Gathering cards (about $400 worth)  to fund a small birthday shopping spree. My Tau got a few reinforcements. After everything comes in, I will share my pile of loot with you.

Blood Bowl Progress Chart

I love what Admiral Drax does with his visual progress charts and I am going to blatantly rip off his idea! :)

To start off with, I have a chart for my Blood Bowl teams--My favorite GW game!!

I haven't made any progress on these figures for many years, although I did send part of my Orc team to a painting service thinking it would jump start the effort. (check out this article on the subject)

The Dwarf, Halfling, and Dark Elf teams are essentially done (not counting figure needed). The Chaos team's second paint job is close to completion, and the Goblin, Human, Orc, and Skaven teams have been re-primered and their second painting is underway. The other teams are in complete disarray!

In future posts I will continue to document my progress with similar charts for Necromunda, BFG, Space Marines, ad Tau. I will also post group shots of teams/units as the are completed (or for previous un-posted work) and as I make progress. I would like to chart my RPG projects, but I'm not sure how to implement that (yet).

Hopefully this will make a little more sense to the viewer as I tend to jump around a lot from project to project.

Salsa

Taken from interwebs without permission

I have refined a salsa recipe that has become popular with friends and family. I make it by feel, so each batch is a little different. But that doesn't stop 4 32-oz mason jars from disappearing in a flash!

Because I make this recipe "on the fly", it is hard to quantify some of the ingredients. Although some ingredients, like the peppers and tomatoes its easy to. I will indicate which ingredients are a guesstimate with an " * ".

ZORCON'S SALSA

4 Beefsteak Tomatoes
3 Bell Peppers (1ea red, orange, yellow)
1 Poblano Pepper
2 Anaheim Peppers
15 Jalapeno Peppers
8 Serrano Peppers
2 large Red Onions
2 bunches of Cilantro
4 cloves Elephant Garlic
1 can Re-fried Beans (salsa style)
1-tbs* Salt
1-tbs* Pepper
1-tbs* Smoked Paprika
1-tbs* Chili Powder
1-tbs* Ground Cumin
1/2-c* Lemon Juice
1/2-c* Rice Vinegar

Roast all the peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

Take the peppers, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro and dice, chop, or place in a food processor (your preference). I use a Ninja kitchen appliance. It is similar to a food processor and I blend all the ingredients down to a slurry. Place in a large mixing bowl

Add in all the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

This batch will yield between 3-4 32-oz mason jars.

Constructing Elementals (part 2)

In a brief part 2 of this article, I showcase my constructs, or golems.

This trio represents a clay, wood, and stone golem. I believe all three are Reaper minis. All three are mounted on GW 40mm square bases and have my basic painted sand/ballast/pebble basing.

This quartet of iron golems are from two different sources. The first and third are from the D&D Chainmail line (the one that predated their CMG line) and the second and third are Mage Knight figures. All of them have been based on GW bases (25mm and 40mm) and have a similar basing style.