lost in the woods... again...

 February is quickly approaching and I've done very little gaming wise. Though, I did decide that 2022 would be the year where I upgrade my game terrain. Consequently, the little forest of Woodland Scenics trees that I've been hauling around the country for the past 20 years finally received some decent bases. Initially,  these were all individually super-glued to fender washers--and it was clear that they weren't coming off those washers! While individually based trees provided the ultimate in flexibility, they were constantly falling over, especially when placed on sloping hills. About a year ago I made some rocky, rough-going terrain pieces out of old compact discs, so I decided to treat the trees in the same manner.

 

I'm happy with the results but have decided that I need about two or three times as many. Oh, it never ends!

Meanwhile... here are some screenshots of what's been taking up my time lately. Years ago I really enjoyed making ships and planes for simulators and I've recently revisited that. This is my Wright EX (1911) in the open source simulator, 'Flightgear'.

 

 

adieu, 2021...

It's a gray, dreary December 31st here in Washington, D.C. Seems appropriate somehow for 2021 to end this way. Four years ago when I wrote the last 'year in review' post I was upbeat in restarting my gaming hobby. Well... let's just say it didn't go as planned! I may have played two games this year, though, I'm not certain it wasn't 2020 when I played them. The first was a remote game of Habet! Hoc Habet! and the second was a solo Palaeo Diet game to suss out the rules--which I like. Honestly though, remote gaming is not for me. With my diminished sight and hearing, remote games just become exercises in frustration! Solo gaming is OK but I must admit I don't much care for my opponent. He always interprets the rules in his favor!

bears with me a little longer...

Reaper Miniatures is not a company I've been familiar with. To be honest, I couldn't tell you how I ended up perusing their catalog of figures. Probably in my search for figures of generic 'critters' to be used in 'Palaeo Diet'. Sure enough, I found the aforementioned rats and pugs but also a terrific 'Dire Bear' and a Mammoth. I also purchased a cyclops to go with my Trojan War figures and a sphynx more in line with the Greek myth of Oedipus rather than the architectural Egyptian version. Those will get painted later. Meanwhile I didn't want the paleolithic figures to languish in the painting queue.

While painting the bear I realized... I have more big bears than I ever thought I'd need!

Interestingly enough, the two darker bears in the picture above are 54mm figures from the old Italeri gladiator set. The other three, while considerably larger, are ostensibly 28mm though they do depict ancient species.

And to give a better sense of scale... I think this poor guy is in for a spot of trouble! Oh, bother!

a little progress comes to the stone age...

Proof that I've been productive this week. These are plastic figures manufactured by Reaper. I thought they'd work well as 'critters' in Palaeo Diet, Eat or Be Eaten. A pack of angry pugs seems appropriate the spirit of the rules! (The Neanderthals are from Acheson Creations.)

a productive week in Troy...

The Iliad inspiration continues.... While I've had these figures for quite a few years I've never managed to complete more than four or five. So, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for getting 32 figures across home plate in the past week! Most of these, I believe are Redoubt figures, though there may be a couple Black Tree Design figures in the mix, too. 

Only 111 foot figures and 2 chariots to go. Actually, this my be my 'project' for 2022.

Ares in the house of war...

My gouache experiment left me a bit flat and unmotivated. In addition, the 'main' project on the painting desk (32 plastic hoplites) doesn't provide much inspiration either. So, I needed to complete something to regain my painting momentum. 

I don't know where the inspiration came from but I dug out some 28mm Trojan War figures I've been hoarding away forever. The Iliad has been a long term plan for me including representing the various gods and goddesses with larger figures. In fact, the old Ral Partha Titan has always struck me as appropriate for Ares, the god of war. And, there he was, with an old paint job on an unfinished base. Inspiration hit!

A little shot of mojo goes a long way. Now I've got 20 partially finished Trojan war figures on the painting desk awaiting shields and basing. And... they inspire me!

Oh, gouache... that was pretty bad...

So... I think I've learned all I need to know about using gouache paints for figure painting. I don't think so! 

The first issue is the thickness of the paints.  I knew that with a paste-like consistency they'd have to be thinned to avoid an impasto effect and to achieve any sort of flow at all. Thinning with water led to the paint beading up on the surface--something I've seen occasionally with acrylics when using gesso as a primer. But it was much, much worse with the gouache. So, I tried thinning the gouache with acrylic floor wax. (Pledge is my favorite.) That certainly took care of the beading and greatly improved the flow. But it also diluted the pigment density. Now, the high pigment density of gouache is, to my mind, the only real advantage it may have over other water soluble paints. Having to apply multiple coats of thick paint to achieve opaque coverage just isn't something I'd look forward to. STRIKE ONE!