Over on YouTube, Squidmar Miniatures posted an awesome collaboration video with Miscast and Midwinter Minis picking out their favorite minis from the past 5 decades. I wanted in on the action so I picked my favorite minis by decade to share here. It was a lot harder than I thought... 80s - Bugman's Champion. He was released late in the decade and has a slight advantage over other models from that era. I love this characterful model so much and all of the implied narrative that's sculpted into his stout frame. With his missing eye, peg leg, and axe chained to his arm lest he lose it mid battle, he's ready to defend the dwarfen realms from any invader. This model has served as the general in my Dwarf army until Age of Sigmar dropped. 90s - Morgiana Le Fay. I've never actually owned or painted this model, but it's one of my favorites, among a field of excellent minis from the 90s. The entire Bretonnian line released in the mid-90s was fantastic, especially Morgiana and...

I've been spending more of my time on Instagram lately for my social media needs. I've been fixated on improving my painting skills, rather than writing or playing the game, and I've found that the simple act of taking photos and looking at the model not under my desk lamp has really helped my technique. Also, the feedback from painters of all skill levels has been very helpful and is pushing me to improve my craft. Also, while airbrushing is a great skill, Darren Latham and Duncan Rhodes are my current luminary idols. Latham especially is fantastic at breaking down some steps and his delivery is hypnotic. That being said, here's a recent photo dump of some recent and ancient models in my "portfolio." Is there an app that can cross post directly from Instagram to Blogger? The Captain of my Astral Claws army, the Bastards of Badab, who usually strolls behind my vehicle line. The Lieutenant of my Astral Claws army, the Bastards of Badab. He is moc...

I'm working on a new Magus for my Cult Mechanicus/Ad Mech/Mechanicum. After reading more of the Black Library fluff, it's obvious the Mechanicum/Machanicus are some twisted folks. While I didn't want to make my Magos "dark" mechanium, I think there is a lot of opportunity for conversions to make each Ad Mech army unique and I want my general to stand out. One of my favorite comic book villains is MODOK. A giant head floating on a cyborg body with mental powers and traditional weapons built into his "golden throne." I couldn't figure out how to make a knock-off model out of GW bits, but it did give me a jumping off point by inspiring me to use the dreadnought hull as a body.

There are more games than Warhammer 40k? Yes. Yes, there are.  Today I re-read the Age of Sigmar rules. I have still yet to play a game though. Part of the problem is the lack of interest in my neck of the woods. Part of the problem is the simplicity of the rules and I can't wash previous edition of the fluff and rules out of my mouth. That's on me and I know it... but I'm just not excited by it. I have, like six old fantasy armies. I really should try to drum up a game and give it a spin. I also picked up a box of Infinity models. I began reading the rules and it seems pretty straight forward, but man, there are a lot of unit specific rules. Plus, tokens. I dislike games with tokens... Necromunda is the only system that I really give a pass to but other games that require cards or chits, or model specific tokens, I'm usually unlikely to give it a try. However, I really like a lot of the Infinity models and I had a hard time picking a faction, so I went t...

Recently, on a tip from somewhere on the internet, I bought some pine tree bark to use as rocks in model terrain and basing. I picked up some trees from Michael's and a few wooden oval cutout to act as bases, and started gluing. I have to say, I'm really pleased with how pine bark looks. Even without painting, the bark really looks like layers of natural rock. You can see in the photos that a couple of layers of brown and grey make for some nice additions to some sparse tree patches.

I finished a quick couple of buildings for 40k and other mini games this evening. These two pieces are mostly for 40k. The green building was made from the box I received an award in and some balsa wood, a wooden plaque and some bits from a Games Workshop building. The water tank is a coffee can covered in bass or balsa wood strips (lots of them) and the metal rings were made from comic book backing boards. These two house are usually help make up the battle field for my Bolt Action battles. They are house kits from Plasticville and make great generic cottages/houses for European theater battles. They aren't my best work but I plan on donating them to the store so they are likely to get abused or stolen anyway. I was in a painting frenzy tonight and I knocked out the first base coat of English Uniform and mud on the bases on 25 British Tommies. Next I plan on assembly painting the green helmets and khaki bits, then each troop will get personal attention when I ...

Last week I ordered an army-sized lot of bases from Secret Weapon miniatures for my Chaos Daemon list and they arrived yesterday and I couldn't be more pleased! They are less expensive than Micro Art's bases and while a few bases had spurs of flash still left along the edges,it was nothing more than you'd find on a regular Games Workshop base. I couldn't make up my mind on which style of bases I wanted, so I just ended up mixing and matching between desert mesa and desert wasteland. Not having purchased any Secret Weapon materials before, I didn't want to blindly order a theme that might be filled with bubbles and flaws and then be forced to spend hours fixing imperfections on a complex design or base. Now that I'm familiar with the quality, I'm seriously considering ordering the Trenchworks or Flagstone sets for my White Scars. Tonight I sanded down most of the biker bases, a couple of others and green stuffed my Fateweaver model. Lucha Domo looks on in...

Did you buy some crappy painted minis on eBay or Bartertown and want to strip the paint off and start over? Here's my recommendation to get a fresh start on plastic, metal and even resin models!

Today, a new batch of Dwarf models have been released from Games Workshop for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. The new models look great! A hammerer/longbeard dual unit, a giant slayer and a new character, Belegar Irongammer.  I don't care for the dual unit boxes. I think there should be more difference between units than the tip of the weapon and flag top. This just perpetuates the fluff myth that people can't tell one dwarf from another! To spruce up your army, you're going to have to put in some time in the gold mine and mint some coin. The characters are $21 for a single plastic model and the unit is $50 for 10 troops. Traditionally, new models are accompanied by a new army book, but GW has decided to put some special character rules in the revamped White Dwarf and *not* release an army wide update. At least not yet. There are a bunch of rumors flying around to explain this - everything from no army books in 9th edition, to simply releasing new minis when they are re...

My Wild West Exodus Kickstarter box has just arrived! Now I've got the tough choice of reading rules or gluing my fingers together first. I picked up the two "army" box option with Warrior Nation and Enlightened, but I swapped everything I could for Nation models. I recently found out I'm part Ojibway Native American so I think that helped form my decision. Also, I've ordered one of the 6'x4' Megamats from Frontline Gaming's Kickstarter and I've got to figure out which mat I want. I think I'm leaning towards urban, because that's my favorite terrain type to play and make, but most of my models are grassy.

I'm going to start this off by stating that I hate painting white. I also thought motorcycles (nay, "bikes") were pretty lame in a futuristic miniatures game. There, I wrote it, but I'm going to make myself a liar.  I'm a sucker for fluff and I've got ADD when it comes to picking, painting and playing armies so it's no surprise to me that when I started reading, "Hunt for Voldorius" that I would start painting/building a White Scars army. The book is pretty good for a miniature game tie-in. It's not written to the level of an Abnett, Lanning or McNeill, but it's entertaining enough of a read that I can enjoy it as a fun page turner to immerse myself in the hobby lore. It certainly builds character for the White Scars and illustrates how each of the chapters of space knights wear the same armor but can still be distinctive. I particularly enjoy the metaphor speak of the Sons of Chogoris. Plus, you get to read how the White Scars ...

Saturday I played in a 1,500 point tournament at the Gatekeeper. I thought it was going to be a 2,500 point tourney, but that has been pushed back to November. Since my Logan Wing list couldn't be taken, I grabbed my Blood Angel Drop Pod list and headed to the store. (1 Chaplain, 1 Death Company, 7 Dreadnoughts in Drop Pods.) I knew I didn't have any scoring units, but since I was disappointed that I couldn't play the list I wanted to, I would just be stomping around for fun. My first game was against Danny - normally a Dark Eldar player who was playing his new Tau list. It was fairly typical, Longstrike, two Riptides, and the other usual Tau that make up the list. The mission had four objectives so I thought I'd just have to play wipeout - since my vehicles can't contest objectives. Danny and I got in 5 turns and when the dust settled, I got Warlord and First Blood for 2 points. Danny got Linebreaker and couldn't get near the objectives. I won on the lowest...