Zombies & Cookies

I know my brother was getting on my case due to the fact that I've stopped cooking things and showing them off on here.  Well, I'll have you know, I baked....

COOKIES!!!

 Yes, I actually BAKED cookies myself.  I primarily made them for my coworkers, but since there were a lot left over, I got some extras and my parents got some as well.  I ate some a little bit ago and they actually tasted decent.  So, hurray, I didn't screw it up!

Last week, I also got the first batch of my Deadzone Kickstarter stuff.  I got to play around with a bit of it and constructed two things with the scenery:  a landing pad, and an armored watch tower.  The last couple nights I spent cleaning up a bunch of the figures.  While detail is generally very crisp, the flash and mold lines can be a real pain in the ass.  However, I've actually managed to get a few figures painted up already.

These handsome fellows are from the Plague faction.  They were my test cases and I think they turned out very well, especially since I didn't even detail the little spikes growing out of them or their eyes.  Their bases will probably wind up with some sand eventually.  The blood stains were actually a little experiment using Games Workshop's new "Blood For the Blood God" effect paint.  It actually works really well, though it doesn't really come across too well in this photo.

Now, of course, I also had to take some photos of them with my Plague Zombie horde.

Believe me, there'll be a lot more of these guys joining them in the future.  Whenever the second shipment comes, I'll be getting even more zombies to join them, though those new ones will have an aesthetic a bit more in line with the Plague guys.

Now, how about some of those Deadzone shots?

Last but not least, I have a PanOceania Order Sergeant from Infinity.  This guy was a paint test for some Fusiliers I'm painting for my cousin.

The paint gunked up some of the details on his helmet, so I lost a little bit of detail, but I think he turned out alright.  The colors I chose will work pretty well for PanOceania, I think.

Just a small update

I've kind of been neglecting this blog.  How about an update?

For the last few weeks, I've been focusing pretty heavily on working on Infinity figures.  I've actually painted up quite a few of them.  I've also been having a bit of fun with them as you can tell from these photos.

But, believe it or not, I actually started working on some figures that aren't from Infinity!  On Black Friday, I ended up picking up a couple of figures from Privateer Press' Warmachine line.  I got a Khador dude, and a Retribution dude.

For a little while, I've been slowly picking up the occasional Retribution of Scyrah figures.  Why?  Because they aren't the typical fantasy depiction of elves.  Warmachine is a fantasy/steam-punk wargame.  The general technological level seems to flop all over the place with some figures looking like they should be fighting in the trenches of WWI, while others look like colonial militiamen from the American Revolution, and yet still others are straight up knights in armor.  Of course, then you also throw in magic, power armor, and steam powered giant robots and dudes who carry handhelt lightning guns.  Like I said, it's all over the place.  However, there is still a general fantasy-esque feeling to the whole thing.  Then you get to the elves.  They're not fantasy.  Not at all.  In fact, they're pretty damn sci-fi!  The Retribution troops have a sort of ornate WWI look to them with lots of smooth, rounded armor and equipment all over them.  Sure, you've got guys who are carrying around halbreds, crossbows, and swords, but you also have guys carrying what look like laser rifles and powered armor.  I think Warmachine's depiction of elves is probably one of the more militaristic and utilitarian I've ever seen.  They look like soldiers that can not only take a beating, but dish one out as well.  Plus they look like they'd make great Exodite Eldar for 40k.

Anyway, I picked up a Dawnguard Scyir from the local hobby shop.  He's basically a high ranking officer decked out in Sentinel armor (that's what their heavy infantry are called).  For the most part, he looks like the regular Dawnguard Sentinels aside from a few small odds and ends here and there and I really like the design.  I had him all painted up and ready to go last night, but then I got the bright idea to put a wash on him and pretty much ruined the figure.  So, today I stripped the previous paintjob off and redid him in a darker scheme and with a different highlighting method.  I've pleased with how he's turned out.

Here you can see him with one of my Dawnguard Halbred troops and a Mage Hunter Assassin.  Despite using different colors, he fits in pretty well.  I deliberately used a darker scheme so I would be able to immediately tell him apart from other Sentinels that I may eventually purchase, yet not break the overall color theme of the army.

If you couldn't tell, I was going for more of a desert theme for these guys since I only ever see people painting them in either bright colors or in the official off white.  Neither really fits the more utilitarian aesthetic their troops have.