Bit of painting and a lot of thinking
Well as the magical 17th come closing in, I must look back at what I have done so far in my "Tale" and what I aim to do next month.
Let me start with a painting update, as people are surprised by these.
So am I to be honest.
Red XIII
Nanaki, one of my favourites.
Hopefully you remember that my Claw and Fang set is being painted with a video game theme.
Cojo, who just needs his red tie modeled on is going to be Donkey Kong.
The Sabertooth Cerberus is being painted as Red XIII from Final Fantasy VII which, bring on the nerd rage, is my favourite game of all time.
Red was even a member of my party the first time I finished the game and I believe the only one who wasn't a Frog.
Recently I have been painting while I praise the sun (more video game references for you there) as it is the best natural light I can have.
Plus why not enjoy it?
You can see from the photo that I hadn't even bothered to dry brush the base yet, I really just wanted to crack on and get the big cat itself done.
Also, being I'm going to do a lot of the basing all at once (snow and ivy) I didn't see a rush to do it now.
Plus, not that the GW brushes there are standard and basecoat.
I really should get some better brushes, but I abuse mine quite heavily.
Also, after years of having to get painting done quickly for other people, I once a man of always using small brushes am now very much a man of always using big brushes.
I kid you not, the standard was just for mixing paint (it's pretty wrecked).
This is where I post pictures of the harder work I've done and question why I even bothered?
I did admittedly dig out some "fine detail" brushes here, I use quotations as both brushes I had barely kept a point (they kept two) and were also amongst my unloved and badly looked after collection.
The tattoo originally started with me just doing the "XIII", however, some sick part of me felt I should attempt the tattoos Red has.
In the end, it's not even close, I guess the idea is there.
I was asked if I used a pen, but this is definitely (poor) brushwork. I do use a bit of blackwash to thin the black paint rather than solely water, this helps stop it being so faded.
The hardest to impossible part for me was how the bits overlap, in the end without a good brush and simply just not the skill of steadiness I had to tidy it up with the orange the leg was originally painted in.
The back leg also has tattoos.
Though these are also "wrong" I like how they came out.
The design is fairly close and I wrapped it pretty well I feel, this though lead into an issue.
I didn't do the other side.
Why?
Well first of all, I wasn't 100% what the tattoos were like on Red's right side.
Trying to find a picture from this side quickly on google turns out to be harder than you'd think.
Red is meant to have the same leg and shoulder tattoos on both sides, bar the number branding.
I wondered to myself whether I should bother.
Does it look better on only one side?
I pondered this and threw it out to Twitter and once they all got the reference if they didn't already I found the consensus was, I should.
Bugger
Well I will have to do that another day soon.
You may note I also gave one of the heads the signature scar, as well as this I did attempt the American-indian-like face markings, on all three.
Again, not perfect, not all the same shape, space and the outlines aren't all there. However, overall I am pleased.
The two things I take away from this is:
First "Just walk away", when you feel done and are just struggling to figure out what to add. Stop.
For me personally I find I try to add too much, mess previously fine work up and get frustrated.
You always have to be honest with yourself, you should always aim to improve, but always know your level where it's at now.
Second, I need to buy more stuff.
This is basically impossible with my current life situation, which is balls, but aside from a sob story, what I actually trying to get at is good tools are important.
I need at least 1 or 2 very good brushes for detail work. I can basecoat with a slightly ropey one, but doing the tattoos or Cojo's eyes with my twin pointed brushes of crap just made things take longer and look worse.
I also had less paint than I thought, mixing is good but having a greater selection makes life easier and also means remembering the mix isn't as important.
I need to bite the bullet and head over to element games for their own brushes which I have heard great things about.
You may think this is just a sponsorship push. It really isn't. Element have never let me down, delivery is fast, they have a ridiculously huge range to choose from (going to get some Army Painter spray and other metallics at some point too) and I have heard nothing but positivity about their own brush range.
It's a big load of win!
Month 2
Previously on the spending part of this #ToMB we ended up with an extra $10 to add to the second month's $25 (this is what we will get from now on to expand).
$35.
Where is this going to go?
I am not 100% sure yet, but I do know what I want.
Cheaper minions
The issue with Claw and Fang is it is a box of a master and totem plus 4 expensive models.
The RSR is not a crazy high amount of points but he is also far from cheap.
In both games recorded on here, especially the first a higher model count would've made my life a lot easier.
Now I do want to stick to Beasts really as the crew synergises well here.
So what are my cheap beast options?
- Molemen
- Hoarcat Pride
- Malifaux Raptors
- Night Terrors
- Guild Hounds
- Gupps
And possibly more.
Now preferably I would want things that are non-peon and that aren't insignificant, the latter being more important as for schemes.
My issue becomes something else now though, not a gaming one, but a modelling one.
Metals
If I can, I'd rather not bother with metals.
I already own molemen and night terrors and actually recently passed on some Gupps, all of which are good options but all of which are currently metal models.
This bothers me as I prefer painting and modelling with plastics and also I much prefer the plastic versions over the metals for almost every model they've redone so far.
Plus I'll be honest, things like the current Hoarcats just make me think "What the Hell?".
My options if I want cheap plastic Arcanist minions right now are metal and ice gamin, steam arachnids and rail workers.
I love Rail Workers, we all know this, however they are 5 soul stones while the rest are 4, so that scratches them for now most likely.
Arachnids do have Df6 and Wk5 which is nice for scheme marker dropping and protecting as they can dodge some blows and aren't too slow.
4 wounds isn't great but armour +1 does help that.
Also Unimpeded which makes them quicker as such and also can keep in cover if need be.
They aren't very offensive, not a huge problem, but the back of their card is almost pointless.
Also the thing is, Metal Gamin I feel are better in most ways.
Wk4 is slower, but Magnetism in pairs they can drag about if needed and we all know it is great offensively versus constructs too.
Where the Arachnid had Df6 the Metal Gamin has 5, however, armour +2 and Stand Ground more than make up for it. Oh. Also.
Hard to Kill
This will cause the Gamin to be much more difficult to remove from a quarter, marker, whatever needs protecting.
His attacks are almost as bad as the Spider, but the Protection of Metal ability could prove useful, being the Beasts all seem to have low Df.
Now it's rare they will stay within 3" of each other, but even if it's just a vital turn, this ability is far better than the back of the Steam Arachnids card.
Lastly the Ice Gamin, lower defense, lower armour, no Hard to Kill.
It does explode and can't be paralyzed, but overall these abilities don't compare.
Now it does have a better melee attack and putting out slow is ok, but that is not what I need these guys for.
It also shoots but 8" and 1/3/4 is nothing to get excited about.
If I go for Metal Gamin they're $21 on the Wyrd store, leaving me $14.
I think I'll probably save this, but we will see.
I also have to consider a second Cerberus, but that's a different story.
As I come to an end there is one thing I need to cover.
Month 2 painting
Now I think I was supposed to have my month 1 purchases painted by now, or at least Monday.
I can see me getting half done as I now have a cheap video game idea for the Jackalope.
Do I fail? Well maybe, but I couldn't care less if that is what people think. For me this has helped as I have actually bothered to paint again after almost half a year out and probably a lot longer for myself.
I did also discuss with @lemonconstuct that the painting is very month 1 weighted the way the money is led out.
Mostly all the #ToMB-ers have bought a box and something else month 1, with a maybe one box or 2 blisters month 2. Not only do we have more than twice the money month 1 but also the crew boxes are great value.
Now even with this, I have "messed up" as I do the second half of Claw and Fang in month 2 I still will have extra to paint (Metal gamin would be quick).
However, I have got a lot of the modeling a basing already done, so I guess that will speed some things up.
Byeeeee
That's it for today, hope you enjoyed, don't forget to crack on with those Wave 2 models to enter #MFXTOP and if you have any comments, please leave them here or tweet me.
...I wonder if the Dawn Serpent will be out in time for month 2?...
-Ben (@psientologist)
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