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Friday, November 18, 2011

Space Marine


Haven’t been doing much painting lately. Playing games? Oh yes. Planning and thinking about game? Absolutely! Sculpting minis? Yep, even doing a bit of that… But not-so-much with the actual painting. So I knocked off this one the other evening, just for something completely different to do, and to try and get myself going again.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This is an I-Kore Void figure. I’m using it (and a few others I have… if I ever get them done…) as part of a small Space Marine detachment. Not part of any particular Sci-Fi universe, just the generic Big Stick of any Space Empire’s policy making…

I was kind of back and forth on whether to do them in some sort of camouflage or something bright and ultimately chose bright. They’re the sort that want you to know that they know that you know where they are and they don’t care because they’re THAT bad-ass…

I’ve been thinking a lot about the next year and trying to forecast what I’m going to be interested in doing… It’s always better to have SOME sort of plan – otherwise I just spin wheels bying and painting willy-nilly and never really accomplishing much. I think I’m going to host three major game events; a Dark Age England De Bellis Antiquitatis campaign in February, a Hordes of The Things campaign in June, and a big Battle of Queenston Heights game in October.

The first two are easy enough. I just have to finish up the Pre-Feudal Scotts for the DBA campaign (and it’d be nice, but by no means necessary to finish up another Anglo-Saxon and/or Viking and/or West Frankish army…). For the HOTT campaign… well I could run that tomorrow I have enough armies… but I’ll probably finish up a few more, and add options for the existing ones, between now and June. The third will require a bit more research, a whole lot of painting (and possibly sculpting) and play-testing…

The big question right now is sculpt and cast my own or just say eff-it and BUY all the stuff I’ll need. At the scale I’m planning I could probably do it for under $500. How much time will it take me to model and cast all the necessary figures? What is that time worth? (not to mention how much has metal gone up since I last bought some and do I have enough to cast all the stuff I’d need or would I need to buy more?) Many things to take into consideration.

As I mentioned I have been doing a bit of sculpting lately and have been quite enjoying it… though it is a ssssslllllloooooooowwwwww process for me, and not always successful!? That’s the big worry – I spend a tonne of time trying to sculpt my oen figures to only have them look like rubbish when I’m done and then end up buying figures anyway and wishing I’d spent all that time painting… ugh… Oh how I torture myself…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hmmmmm…. Nothing’s really jumping out at me as something I desperately want to paint… no games arranged that there might be a report of… Maybe some pics of my generic 1812 infantryman…? I was thinking I might build it up as a doll – legs, torso, basic equipment (the crossed straps with and head (with no head dress) and try casing those and then adding details to make more specific…

4 comments:

  1. Sounds good Tim and your Sci Fi miniature looks great.

    Cheers,

    Helen

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  2. I know what you mean about the sculpting. I enjoy it myself, even though I can buy better figures than I can sculpt. Still, it's a fun aspect of the hobby for me, so I indulge in it off and on.
    When I did my Highlanders I left the head bare, not even hair, no arms, but with small kilt, sporran, shoes, etc. That way I could sculpt on the arms and other bits and make each one as individual as I wanted. It's a trade-off between that and having less extra sculpting to do or even fully sculpted but no variation with finished figures.

    I do like the figures you sculpt. They have a character of their own, which gives them a bit of charm. And I like seeing people be creative.

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  3. Knowing nothing about casting and sculpting, would it be worthwhile to leave a divot for the neck and sculpt and cast appropriate heads separately (shakos, soft caps, bareheaded)? Would make creating units easier as all you are doing if banging on the right head.

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