Summer Update...

One thing I can't help noticing about the beautiful weather we've had in the UK over the last couple of weeks is that it doesn't half dry out the paint on your palette quickly!  Not that I'm complaining.  I'm a slow painter at the best of times, but my need for swiftness is rather pressing at the moment.

In less than two weeks (as of writing this), on the 27th July, 4Tk Gaming in Colchester is holding its annual Summer Open Day, incorporating the Golden Gears 2013 painting competition.  As this is not only my FLGS, but also a tremendous supporter of the wargaming hobby in general as well as the shop who kindly bought Ayako Ito during the Heroes For Heroes painting event earlier this year, I felt compelled to enter.  And of course, we painters do love to show off our work, don't we?

Now, one miniature in a few weeks is no problem, though a stretch for me at competition standard, but my painting guru Gus Pollard has instead managed to somehow convince me to enter not one, but FOUR categories; Single Figure, Troop/Unit, Vehicle/Monster, and the Open Category.

EIGHT MINIATURES.  (Again, for most professional painters this would be a breeze, but for me it's a big deal).

Luckily, I'm cheating with the Vehicle/Monster category, I have a certain Mantic Kings of War Orc Giant which fits the bill nicely, or I could enter my Space Wolves Land Raider.  Neither of them are perfect, but I do love them.  (I wonder if I could enter them both...?)

The problem with the other categories is that I actually have to get something painted!

So what am I working on, then?

Well, the Open Category was a bit of a given.  How could I resist painting the beautiful 'Artemis' from Hasslefree Miniatures?  This miniature was made for competitions.  Large areas of metallics, large areas of skin.  There's no superfluous detail - it is a miniature which does not allow you to hide poor painting - which of course may be my downfall!

Artemis - Work In Progress

For the Troop/Unit category, I decided to enter my five-strong Ito Clan starter set for GCT's Bushido.  I fell in love with these guys while painting Ayako Ito from the same range.  They are five vastly different, characterful miniatures which meld both history and fantasy seamlessly.  The greatest challenge for me I think will be the cobra-headed warrior, Akimoto.  As you can see from the work-in-progress photos, I'm deviating from the traditional greens of the Ito Clan to go for a more serene and oceanic turquoise feel.

Ito Clan (and Artemis!) - Work In Progress

Finally, the Single Figure category is a bit of a secret at the moment.  All I will say is that it's a sci-fi miniature from Mantic Games.

Ooooh!  The intrigue!!!

But why all the secrecy, I hear you ask?

Well, as of this month, I have become part of Ironwatch magazine's 'Iron Forge' team along with some other fantastic miniature painters.  Each issue, we will all be trying to submit some beautifully painted miniatures from Mantic's many excellent games.  However, I'd quite like to give the magazine an air of exclusivity - or at least, first dibs, so where possible I'm trying not to show my submissions until they've been published in Ironwatch first, which I'm sure you'll agree is the decent thing to do!  All I will say about the miniature so far is that I'm very pleased with how it's shaping up...

Sorry there's nothing more concrete at the moment, but hopefully there will be lots of exciting finished projects to show by next month!

Now for more painting!

Looking to the Future, and an Awesome Year Ahead

Well firstly, a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!

(Okay, so that's almost three weeks late, but I'm assured that it's the thought that counts...)

I'm really looking forward to seeing what 2013 brings and I already have several projects and events lined up for the early part of the year.

This post is a run-down of just a few of them...

HEROES FOR HEROES - ENDS 31st MARCH, 2013

The first and foremost will be my contribution to Heroes For Heroes which is an event being run by my friend Rid from Fanplastic Little Men.  From now until the end of March, a huge group of painters from far and wide - both professional and amateur - will be painting miniatures which will be auctioned on Ebay.  All of the proceeds from these sales will be donated to the Help For Heroes charity.  Help For Heroes provides direct, practical support to wounded, injured or sick Service personnel, veterans and their families.  This event has already had support pledged from companies like Tor Gaming, GCT Studios, Mantic Games, Cymbeline Games, Tabletop Nation and Gamerz Nexus, so if you would like to take part in this fun and very worthy event, go to the Heroes For Heroes Facebook page to find out more!

April will be a busy month for me event-wise, with two visits to wargaming trade shows, Diceni in Norwich and Salute 2013 at London's Excel Centre.  I'm really excited about these as I've never been to an 'independent' wargaming show before.

DICENI - 7th APRIL, 2013

The first of these will be Diceni on Sunday 7th April at The Forum in Norwich.

The official website (www.diceni.co.uk) has the following to say about the event:

Artwork by Matt Dixon

"Diceni is a gaming event that will be held at The Forum in Norwich, Norfolk on 7th April 2013 which will promote every aspect of gaming including tabletop, card and boardgames, LARP and RPGs.

Entry to Diceni will be free so why not come along and find out about gaming in all its varied and interesting forms? We will be covering historical, science fiction and fantasy genres and there will be a range of games being demonstrated - you will be able to take part in all of the games although you may have to wait your turn!

We are hoping to have Living History outside the front of the Forum and a local Sci-Fi group in costume as many of science fiction's most well known characters."

I look forward to going along and having a look around, especially as my friend Tom from Cymbeline Games will be there, plying his (very reasonably-priced) wares.  What interests me the most though is that there will be some award-winning painters from Platoon Britannica offering painting tips and advice - so I can't wait to see what new tricks I can glean!



SALUTE - 20th APRIL, 2013

Just two weeks after Diceni comes Salute (www.salute.co.uk), one of  the largest independent wargames shows in the UK.  This event is going to be awesome, not least because I get to take my Kings of War orcs along and spend the day teaching Cymbeline Games and Fanplastic Little Men the true meaning of pain in a series of no-holds-barred 2000pt games!

On top of this, there's a really tightly-contested painting competition which takes place every year that, in all honesty, it'd be rude not to enter!  If you want to see any of the fantastic entries and winners from previous years, you can do so at the Salute Painting Competition Gallery.  Some examples of a few of my favourites are shown below:

Unknown Artist, Twilight Knight

Andy Dean, Eldar Farseer

Conrad Mynett, Wraith

Unknown Artist, Pirate

CLASH OF KINGS - 9th & 10th FEBRUARY, 2013

One of my bigger projects last year was to attempt to get an 1800pt Kings of War orc army assembled and painted ready for Mantic's Clash of Kings tournament on the 9th and 10th of February, 2013.  Sadly, although I had been greatly looking forward to this fantastic weekend of gaming, due to events out of Mantic's hands, they were forced to move the tournament to a different venue which, unfortunately, I am unable to get to.  This means that I will no longer be attending the tournament, but all is not lost!  Firstly, I have still managed to get all of my orcs painted (hurrah!) and there is no way I would have been able to do that without the deadline which the Clash of Kings gave me.  Also, as a few of my friends from the Chelmsford Bunker are also unable to now attend, we decided to hold our own gaming weekend in one of our garages - aptly named A Clash of Paupers - so there will still be plenty of blood spilled by my orcs!

'Archangel' by Scibor

Of course, it's not all about visiting trade shows and playing games - there will actually be some painting going on this year as well!

My first major project of the year will be Scibor's beautiful 'Archangel' miniature.  A fantastic winged knight, this can only be painted as the mighty Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels!  I can't wait for this one as his golden armour will be a great challenge to test my non-metallic metal mettle!

I'll be starting this project within the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for plenty of work-in-progress images as I go along.

Though the date is yet to be confirmed, I'm also looking forward to the Chelmsford Bunker's Bunker Brush 2013 competition.  I managed to (just about) win last year's competition against some extremely stiff competition with my Orc Flagger miniature.  This time will be even tougher, with everyone's skills improving since last year.  I'll be pulling out all the stops on the technical front this time with the beautiful yet simple 'Artemis' from Hasslefree Miniatures.  Obviously, there are plenty of areas of skin to practice smoothly-blended flesh tones, not to mention a huge shield which is begging for some non-metallic metal techniques.

In terms of gaming miniatures, I have several projects coming my way.  I'll be painting a Republique of France naval fleet for Spartan Games' fantastic Dystopian Wars, not to mention attempting to better the success of last year's 'Starkiron Tony' Dreadball miniature by painting a whole team of them!  And of course, where would I be without the magnificent Blood Bowl?  I'm hoping to be able to fit in (amongst all these other toys) one of Warlord Games' wonderful female dwarf teams.  They will be the Belladonna Brimstones and will look a little different to the dwarf  teams  you may be used to - 'Tiny tattooed Goths' are about the closest words I can find to fit the image in my head.

And with all of this in just the first part of the year, 2013 is going to be massive!

There'll be more updates soon.  I hope you've all got as much to look forward to as I have.