The Tragedy of McDeath

"Something wicked this way comes."

Something wicked like a pair of minis that would set you back for over $300 USD if you happen to collect rare Citadel minis!

Check out this auction for King McDeath and this one too for Lady McDeath from the Citadel set The Tragedy of McDeath.

I track a lot of auctions just out of curiosity, usually to see where they end at. When I saw this pair approaching $100 each, I had to start poking around the various lead sites and wikis to find out more about them. The end result is that each time I learn a little bit more about various minis and manufacturers, I feel a little less like I'm just stumbling around in this hobby.

Back to painting. There's a drow warband that MUST be finished by Friday!

Pro Painted, The Sequel

A couple of months ago, I ranted about painters who describe their work as "Pro Painted" or "Master Painted" when in fact (in my opinion) they are not.

Since then, I have been paying more attention to the various individuals and organizations who sell their painted product, mostly on eBay. For the most part, there are quite a few sellers who produce some really nice minis, and most of those are accurately labeled (tabletop/pro painted/display quality, etc). And then there are a small number of artists who truly can describe their work as professional or master quality. More about that in a minute.

Finally, there are a fair number of sellers who don't live up to their own self-described hype. I see a LOT of paint jobs in and around the solid tabletop level that are touted as pro or master works. Come on, really? One prolific South American outfit has a large selection of minis for sale on a regular basis, but when I see mistakes like clearly visible brush marks, it makes me cringe. And don't get me started on weapons that don't have the ends of the barrels drilled out so they actually look like a lethal projectile weapon, and not a storm bolter that does not appear to have a functioning method for spitting out lead death upon their foes.

I mean, come on, you can't take a minute or two to carefully drill out the end of a firearm? Or file off the rather obvious mold lines? Tell me again why I should pay a premium for your models?

Having said that, I can't blame these guys for doing what they do. They churn out a LOT of painted models and plenty of people pay good money for them. The one seller I single out above has almost 9,000 transactions and a rating of over 99%, so they must be doing something right!

And then there are auctions like this one. Here is a painter who can truly and honestly claim to be a Pro Painter. If my work can keep improving and one day even be a fraction as good as Alexi-Z, I would be thrilled. Take a look at her CMON gallery because there are some totally sick pieces to look at.

Oh, and the icing on the cake? The proceeds are earmarked for charity, so it's not always about just gettin' paid. Another example of a member of the minis/painting community stepping up and being a good egg.

Well, enough of that. I need to take some pics so I can complete my upcoming post where I discuss the great 25mm vs 28mm debate.

I'm a pinball wizard...

Well OK, not really. But I still think pinball games are a good way to kill some time and quarters. We were vacationing in Seaside, OR last month and my boys wanted to play some games in the Funland Arcade so of course I said yes.

They played a racing game, a motorcycle sim (the tilting bike was a bit too much for them I think), and a couple others. And then they saw the row of shiny, happy pinball machines! My eldest son (8) glued himself to The Lord of the Rings, and my younger son (6) took a liking to Pirates of the Caribbean. I was pleased that they thought it was fun - you know, a game with a moving ball, buttons that you must press at just the right time to hit the aforementioned ball - because it is such a departure from Nintendo DS, console games, and computer games.

Seeing their faces conjured up memories of my own time spent playing various pinball and arcade games as a kid. Granted, I was never a pinball expert, but when the mood struck me, I was always up for a game.

I'm pretty sure I would have earned better grades in college (UW - go Huskies!) had I spent less time gaming in the Space Port arcade on The Ave. But that would have meant less time spent playing Donkey King, Afterburner, Star Wars, Zaxxon, and Crossbow. But come on, did anyone really expect me to actually study when I had an hour or so to kill during the day? Good times, indeed.

So I hope my kids continue the family tradition of playing games, if only to keep them young at heart.

WIP

Last post I mentioned I would try to add some WIP shots. I think I need to snap some pics this week of my various unfinished projects, if only to serve as reminders of stuff that needs to be finished! Here's a pic of my drow warband I'm working on:



Since this shot, they have been primed and I am working on their skin. I'm going for a more traditional black skin tone, as opposed to some of the really nice dark brown schemes some painters use.

And it looks like the end is near for at least one of my Giant of the Month Club giants! It's a miracle...

My DA scout squad has grown from seven to ten members with the recent additions of two scouts with bolt guns and Sgt. Namaan. If I can keep hammering away here and there, I might actually get a bunch of minis completed in September.

Back In The Saddle Again

Right after my last post, I picked up my Dark Angels scouts (5 scouts + 2 snipers) and started painting. Huzzah! It feels good to be painting again.

In addition to working on various units of my DA army, I'm still working on assembling the 20 Dark Eldar warriors so my son and I can play some 40K.

For D&D, I'm trying to hammer out my Giant of The Month Club backlog. That would be one each of fire, frost, stone, and undead/skeletal.

I'll attempt to snap some WIP shots as time permits. We have an abbreviated session coming up next week, so I need to get cracking if I want to bring something new to the table.

Mental Roadblock

Sugar honey ice tea! It's been over a month since my last post, so thanks to some gentle prodding from my DM, I'm attempting to re-engage the creative side of my brain. And that would be a good thing, because it's really the only part of my brain that works.

I pretty much went off the painting grid before we took off for our annual family trip to Lake Chelan. And once we got back, I have continued to ignore the many projects sitting on my desk. Having said that, I will note that I helped my apprentice (aka my almost 8-year-old son) assemble the first unit in his 40K Space Marine army: a 10-man Tactical squad of Ultramarines and a Land Speeder. I also put together a couple of ruins, and started building some Dark Eldar warriors so we can play an intro scenario.

Taking a backseat to 40K are a trio of Reaper skeletal warriors (Barrow Wardens), seven Drow raiders (also by Reaper), and my Giant of the Month Club, which is soon to be four unfinished members strong. That, unfortunately, is just the tip of my unfinished projects iceberg.

I've also been totally idle on peddling my extra minis via eBay, to add a little salt to my other wounds.

To help inspire me, I've been cruising the Reaper forums and CMON. What I really need to do is just sit down and paint. Inspiration helps, but it doesn't get any paint on the lead. Must...focus! Wish me luck.

Remembering Mikey

My brother Michael died eight years ago today. When we were kids, Mikey taught me how to play games - checkers, chess, Avalon Hill board games, and a myriad of pen & paper RPGs. I fondly remember game boards being upended by the sore loser of the moment (we shared those fairly equally), but I can now appreciate all the strategies and tactics my brother shared with me those many years ago.

Mikey took up D&D again with me and my gaming cronies in the year or so before he died. Of course, my cronies were all Mikey's friends and classmates before they were mine, so he pretty much fit right in, just like old times.

The last character Mikey ran was a human wizard, if I recall correctly. I think I have the character sheet around here somewhere - I'll have to dig around a bit and see if I can round it up. Anyhow, to represent his character, Mikey chose the following miniature from my collection:



I guess the paint job on this mini is at least 10 years old - I had recently been working with inks and washes for the first time, so you can see the results for yourself. His clothes and cloak turned out decent, but not his yellow garb. And the skin-tone ink makes his face look blotchy - oops. But what I remember most about this mini is how Mikey described it. "He's NOT wearing a fez - he's really wearing a traditional pointy wizard's hat. You just can't see the top half of it because it exists only in the astral plane."

Thanks for a lifetime of gaming memories, and also for being my big brother. If you were still around, I think you would have liked watching your oldest nephew paint minis, and had fun playing D&D with both your nephews and your little brother.