Edit: Deleted a large amount of text pertaining to an American Civil War Project.

I'm truly sorry about the quality of these pics--they were taken with my iPod Touch! But they provide an update and showcase of what I've been doing.

Anyway, here's what I'm using for the Civil War project:

This is a 54mm Robert E Lee figure by BMC Toys, pre-painted pewter, that I picked up at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, for $10. I'm going to be repainting him, then, hopefully, placing him on a display cube, with enough room to glue this on the front, obviously resized:

I'm going to a hobby/crafts store tomorrow to try and find a cheap wooden display cube or something of the like--otherwise, I'll be spending $8 to get the resin display cube from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

In other news, I met a friend at university who used to play Warhammer 40000. We both agreed that we would dig out our collections over the break and start playing some games of Combat Patrol. I will be fielding a Grey Knights army:

These miniatures are in dire need of new paint jobs, and will be dropped in Simple Green to give them a fresh start. The Dreadnought in the back is painted for the Blood Sword chapter, but will obviously be re-purposed for GKs. I also have a Brother-Captain coming in the mail--I had to break my vow not to buy from GW until The Hobbit...

And, something non-miniature related:

Completed earlier this year, this is a work of art I call "Old Man Cuba." He was drawn entirely from words scribbled with a pen.

Cool, I made my own board game using Warhammer miniatures. It would be similar to Descent even though I never played that game. It's a simplified dungeon crawler.

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

That picture from words.......Fabulous! Great job.

Cuban dude is awesome!

Here is a quick shot of Robert E. Lee WIP:



And, the old Grey Knights have been stripped, the Dreadnought has been undercoated, and the Brother-Captain has arrived:

First Grey Knight completed. Not too hyped about 40K anymore--would rather be playing LotR or something historical, but hey, it's something. Hoping my gaming buddy will consider Blackwater Gulch, Rebellion, or Warhammer Historical: Gladiator--games that are certainly less dorky, have nicer miniatures (imo), and would be much easier to invite other people to join.

AND:



Completed vignette! Total was about 5-ish hours of work.




I did not paint that insignia! I printed it out and glue it on. The base in Bestial Brown covered with Gloss Varnish.

Very enjoyable project, great results!

Hey guys,

My brother and I decided to play through various medieval campaigns, such as the Ninth Crusade and First Scottish War of Independence, using War of the Ring rules. I have made some purchases, but I don't have my usual camera, just my iPod Touch, and am unable to provide adequate pics of the models. But, we decided to use 1/72 scale, and have the Medieval Knights (Crusaders) Boxed Set from Caesar Miniatures and the Normans from Revell. To make the trays proportional, I shrunk them to 80x45mm for Infantry, and 65x35mm for Cavalry. Infantry are based on US pennies; Cavalry, on 25mm round bases. In naming this WotR variant, I settled on "Knights of Honor," one of my favorite PC games. Down the road I intend to adapt Warhammer Mighty Empires rules for this variant, to reflect more on its namesake. Last night, I spent about 3 hours working on stat lines for troops. I wanted to post the stats here, but I can't seem to post them in a way that makes them readable. Now for some "showcasing:"


Here is an oil painting I did last year, called "Wrightsville Beach."


I also got Carcassonne from a family friend for Christmas. I'd really like to play it, but haven't had the chance. Anyone like Carcassonne?

Carcassonne is awesome, enjoy it every time I play, got loads of expansions for it as well

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What exactly is it?

Carcassonne is a board game, where you make the board. You take turns taking a piece, and placing it. You can choose to put one of your little men on the piece you chose. There are cities, roads, monateries, etc on the pieces.... You score points for the guys you've placed down. Once all the pieces are placed, you tally up the points and whoever has the most wins. It's a fun game.

Just to expand on what theavenger001 was saying, Carcassonne is a board game, involving tiles and seven small pieces called followers. Each tile contains a pictures on it, such as a monastery, part of a city, or a road, set on grass. Each player places down one tile per turn, trying to complete a city, road, or "cloister," a fully surrounded monastery. The grassy areas between the roads are called farms. After you've placed your tile, you can choose to place a follower on your tile, who can score a different amount of points and be returned to you once the city, road, or cloister has been completed. At the end of the game, any cloister, city, or road not completed gives you a smaller amount of points; additionally, farms are tallied by how many many cities they border. It's quite simple, and I'm assuming its fun, but no one will play with me!

Edit: Been playing loads of Carcassonne with my brother, has to be my new favorite board game!

Here is the first company of generic Archers:

I dont really like the models but your painting and base work has made them look alot better.

Thanks. The models are 1/72 Revell Normans, and compared to other figures I'm working with, like Caesar and Italeri, Revell are fairly mediocre.

Here is the next company finished:






Once again these are 1/72 Revell Normans, and in game they will likely count as generic cavalry.

What's to come:


On the right we have Revell Normans, in the middle Caesar Crusaders, and on the left, Italeri Saracens. 1/72 is quite an interesting scale; the models can have as much detail as 28mm miniatures, but I can't seem to paint them to as high a standard. I also think that 1/72 is also about as cheap as it gets for wargaming--maybe even comparatively cheaper than 6mm or 10mm metal armies.

Third times a charm, eh? Instead of painting another company of Normans, I painted eBob's Man With No Name model for the third time. I stripped down one of the miniatures I already owned and re-painted it. I'm still not completely satisfied. The skin this time is too light, and his shirt and poncho don't look that good. However, his beard looks the best it has. Here are a lot of shots:







The pic that inspired the model, from the riveting standoff at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The background I used for model isn't completely accurate to the film :


Next to The Lord of the Rings, Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy is my favorite series of films.

Nice! Again, i dont really like the medieval models but they look alright when propelry based and painted.

Well, yesterday I spent about 3-ish hours speed painting another company. These guys look pretty poor and I know it; I just wanted to get the company done. Again, 1/72 Revell Normans. I've always intended these models to count as generic medieval swordsmen, but with them painted up, they really do distinctively look like, well, Normans.







I did something different on the bases this time, and while it was economic for sure, I don't really like it as much as my usual method. I bought some Gale Force 9 Foundation Dirt Flock, and it ended up being waaay darker than advertised (almost black), so I had to highlight it with Bestial Brown and Bleached Bone. However, painting flock it not the same as painting sand, gravel, and grit. Additionally, to cover up this Foundation Dirt, I put on way more static grass than I ever have. I honestly think the result is a more realistic balance between dirt and grass, and more realistic, less dynamic-looking dirt, but its not as aesthetically pleasing. I have three more companies of Revell Normans to go before I move on to Caesar Crusaders.

Guys, I've mailed the Normans and the Crusaders to my brother back home, and I now have the chance to focus on my own Saracen army. My first Saracen boxed set us from Italeri, a company with a vastly higher quality of miniatures than Revell. I've just spent an hour or so painting up the first figure:





Here's a comparison between a 28mm miniature and a 1/72 scale miniature, something I meant to show a while ago: