Rogue Trader the RPG

One of the last single models that I have been working on before my next army project has been a  Dark Age Forsaken WarWind model that I got last year at GenCon. Since we will have some females (and female PCs) in our forthcoming Dark Heresy/ Rogue Trader campaigns, it seemed natural to have some female models.
First off, the Dark Age miniatures are incredible and I plan to get more of them in the future. While the game hasn't captured my attention, their sculptors and painters certainly have. There is so much detail on these models, you can spent a lifetime bringing them all out. However, as I needed to move onto more projects and I only needed to get this table top presentation... I had to move on.

Again, the base is a free resin base from Dragon Forge Design from Adepticon 2010. Jeff does a wonderful job with this resin bases and I hope to use a lot more of them in the future.

Cato the Blonde: DnD4E

My local DnD campaign is in the middle of a Harpers campaign. My character, needed a face lift and the Pathfinder Low Templar from Reaper Miniatures  came to the rescue!  At first I had my reservations about the model but after putting the finishing touches on it, I'm rather happy with the model and the result.

Once again, I tried my hand at NMM and I'm not too happy with the 'silver' result. As I've pointed out through the week, I've given NMM a fair shake and other than some success with gold, I think its time to move to more 'modern' techniques. :)

The base is a free base from Dragon Forge  given out at Adepticon 2010. It is a great promotional base and I plan to purchase more from DF in the future.

Below is Cato's character background, obviously a spin off of the great Kato Kaelin.  :)

Cato the Blonde.
Known as an oaf to some and a moucher by many, Cato the Blonde is well known but seldom adored on the Dragon Coast. Most are likely to point and joke at the strapping blonde haired brute, but hang on his coat tails since (for reasons not clear to many), he is nearly always invited to the best parties in the merhcant and nobel ranks in the large cities. When it comes to a party, the standoff-ish man is always around- sometimes to provide protection and other times just to drink and mingle among the elite. 
What is not widely known is that Cato's connections with the Dragon Coast elite is due to his membership with the secretive Harper's group. He is the operation's connections to the wealthy and upper class, particularly in Westport. However, a recent scandle has rocked the wealthy mechants district and has further soured his name. Cato was recently living with a noted entertainer in his Westport villa when a grizzly murder rocked the neighborhood. Accusations of a mistress and a bloody blade have been croned about loudly by the people in the area. Cato, being the only witness has escaped the Watch's notice and his whereabouts are currently unknown

More Dark Heresy Henchman

Monday, I showed you the PC created for my friends Dark Heresy campaign. Today I have a Nurgle infested NPC. He wanted something that looked a bit more dark and tainted with Nurgle but nothing over the top. Something still recognizable. This won his approval.

Of note, I dumped that silly NMM idea and went with regular metal paints with lots of washes on top. Washing Nurgle acolytes with greens, reds, and purples gets the job done. The model also sports a 'home made' base technique from last years Wapple Base Class. Is simple, easy, and effective. Using Super Sculpey I scored the cooked clay into the checker pattern- from there its paint, wash, ink and done.

Dark Heresy: Inquisitorial Henchmen

After Adepticon, I already had a few commission projects on the table that were ready to go. First was some RPG models for Fantasy Flight Games Dark Heresy. We love DH around these parts, its just that we don't have the time to play it enough. Role playing in the dark future is emense fun. Our GM is running some Dark Heresy at GenCon this year and needed some guys painted up. Enter the Acoylyte.

A couple of notes- I tried using NMM for the metal parts. I failed. I hate NMM. The gold turned out pretty nice, but the silver not so much.
I also tried using the Wapples technique of washing the model to achieve shadows. This was from the class at Adepticon. It turned out ok and I need more work on the technique. First, I need to highlight the pre-wash much more. The final models below are a bit to dark (which might fit a DH character better).

All in all, I like the model- even if the metal and black look a bit to similar. But the client was happy with the result and I'll be shipping it to him soon.

Adepticon: Rick Taylor

One of the things I appreciate about Adepticon is that everyone there loves the hobby of wargaming and is more than happy to talk about it to anyone who wants a conversation. There is simply not any pretentious behavior amongst anyone.  One of the coolest conversations that I had was with a very talented painter  Rick Taylor. He did take home best sci-fi miniature with his wonderful Lord Tiberius (see below). Whats interesting is that he used oil paints over acrylic. Rick has a lot of experience with 2D painting and military painting as well as competitions.

Mr. Taylor was gracious and spent some time with me on Friday and Sunday talking technique, future projects, and the work of the other artist (of which he was very complementary). In short, he had a wonderful geek-out time with each other. To me, this is what Adepticon is all about.

On Lord Tiberius, its a Kabuki Miniature done in oil based paints. The faces on the back are all hand painted (although they look so impressive they almost look 'stuck' on).  After a small outcry, the miniature was put on a rotating base to see all the details on the front and back.  It got my vote for best in show.

Adepticon Quote of the Weekend

PapaJJ of Dicerolla fame to me on Saturday morning, "Now that I threw up breakfast, I'm hungry for lunch."

I'm still laughing about that one.

Adepticon Wrap Up

Monday morning suck, but they are much better after a great weekend in the suburbs of Chicago at Adepticon. It was another great year. I'll leave the big mega-blogs to help cover all the big news and pictures, while I give you an over view of the weekend from my prospective.

First off, it was great hanging out with friends- old and new. The hotel was once again wonderful and the Adepticon crew did an awesome job running the show. Forge World made a huge impact on most people, even showing off the cool new resin bits. The line was gleefully short on Sunday and free shipping means I'll get my stuff sooner or later.

The tournament weekend went well for me, as my objectives were well met. Friday's 40K Championships was an incredibly cool experience. With over 240 players, the tournament was full of excitement, great players, and wonderful armies. Saturday's Team Tournament was what I had some to expect. Our last minute team put up a good effort and we all had fun playing during the day. We finished off the day playing against some local St Louis folks! Sunday was spent doing some hobby seminars (Todd Swanson is a great teacher) and wondering around the gaming halls taking the last little bit of hobby goodness.

So how did I do?  My painting got near top scores in the two tournaments. Something that I am most proud of. The only marks against were my limited conversions in the Championships. The Team Tournament scoring was a bit harder to determine, but we scored very well.

I am also proud of perfect sportsmanship scores through the weekend (well nearly perfect, one opponent apologized after the sheets were turned in that he circled the wrong score and the judges wouldn't let him change the score).   Needless to say, I consider these events an escape from my daily responsibilities. No need to be thought has an ass while playing with little toy soldiers.

Lastly (and least important to me, the hobby gamer) my battle scores were good on Friday 20 out of 40 and dismal on Saturday. Winning one game of four and way to drunk to remember any of the scores. Maybe that was why the sportsmanship was so good?

At either rate, I finished 59 out of 246 (or so) in the 40K Championships, which is great for me considering it was my first singles tournament in well over a year! The Team Tournament saw us land on the last page. But again, we never had a chance to play test and wasn't sure who was going to show up.