Friday 31 October 2014

Zomtober 2014 Bonus Mini!

Well, caught up with some retained Zomtober 2014 painting momentum, I have managed to crank out another shambling dead mini before the end of the month, which can be seen here. I started this one while working on the Week 4 entry, and of course it signals the start of another 'triad' (no doubt to be finished next year!).

This is not a favourite sculpt for me; the big hands and other flaws ensure that I am afraid.

I am not sure of the manufacturer - possibly Cold War Miniatures, but their site is under renovation so I cannot verify that.

Despite the flaws I find with the sculpt, it is another Zombie painted, and that means another body for the small horde. I hope I remember to get around to photographing the slowly growing mass at some point soon.

Zomtober 2014 has proved very useful for me, and the primary fruits of the month can be seen here together.

In all, I have painted 7 minis in the last month. From July to September I painted 8 minis in total, so getting a few things done this month has helped my mind set on the painting front, and aided getting minis finished for Anima Tactics too. That means I am looking forward to hopefully painting at least 5 - and hopefully more than 5 - minis over the next two months to maybe finish the year with a small flourish. Time will tell of course.

It has been great to see everyone's output who has participated in Zomtober 2014, hopefully each getting our own rewards by painting things we may have been putting off or need a nudge to do. The spirit and ethos of Zomtober is simple, and we made the only rule simple and manageable so that most painter-hobbyists could get something out of it if they have an interest in Zombie or Survivor minis.

Simon and I were discussing recently doing a summary of participants efforts, so hopefully we will get around to that; until then, once again, "Well done guys". :)

I know I will be back for Zomtober 2015, and I hope many of the same faces and new ones are too.


Wednesday 29 October 2014

Dragon Forge Designs Kickstarter


Resin bases. I love them. And one of my favourite manufacturers is Dragon Forge Designs (Jeff Wilhelm). I love the crisp castings and designs Jeff creates, and he is into the final 7 days of a Kickstarter project for a new base style addition for his range.

The project is for his Ancient Ruins II style bases (click for link). If you like handsome bases, very well cast from grey urethane resin, then I heartily suggest taking a look. I have never been anything but pleased with the Dragon Forge Designs bases I have bought, and over the years that has been a lot I am so impressed with them.

Ancient Ruins II Base Series -- Kicktraq Mini

Sunday 26 October 2014

Zomtober 2014 (Week 4)

The final deadline is met! This minis was finished yesterday, but was actually started sometime last year but left unfinished until now, mainly because I was struggling with the orange. I am not as satisfied with the orange colour on this as I was with the last of the orange triad I painted (see post here). Nonetheless it is finished and that is the main thing, even if it is far from my best painting. Definitely one to hang around the back ranks of the horde!

The mini clean up was poor on my part, but the casting was a little rougher than I am used to with Studio Miniatures; however it is what it is.

Still, I have achieved all my Zomtober deadlines this year, and I am pleased with that. More importantly, It has also prompted me to paint a couple of non-Zeds (here and here) this month, so that has been very pleasing. The ranks of the Zombies have been swelled a little more, although calling it a horde is being generous I suppose!

I have one more mini that I did some work on today, in between modules for an E-Learning course that has a looming deadline, so I may have a bonus Zed before the end of the month, time permitting.

Most importantly, well done to everyone who has participated in Zomtober 2014; it has been great to see everyone's productivity. :)

Sunday 19 October 2014

Zomtober 2014 (Week 3)

Week 3 was finished on Saturday, and I didn't feel I needed to rush this time. This one was stress free, which was very nice, and the deadline was nowhere near as close as the first two weeks!

It has been great again to see the Week 2 and week 3 posts in the last few days - well done guys.

This is the final Zombie of the 'green triad'; I will post group shot of a few more triads soon. The mini is from Crocodile Games, primarily known for the Wargods of Aegytpus/Olympus lines; they have two packs of modern Zombies which I picked up for their cops, which was before Studio Miniatures did their own cops.

Over this weekend I have done a little more work on another Zed, which means I have 3-4 in varying stages of completion. If I can finish two of those for next week I would be very satisfied.

One happy knock-on effect of Zomtober this week is that it has helped spark my motivation to get some other minis finished (including this one - click for link), which is a welcome bonus, and funnily enough something similar happened last year two; so Zomtober is the gift that keeps on giving at least as far as my painting is concerned. In June to September I painted 8 units (there is a 5 mini model counted as 1 unit for this purpose). In the first 3 weeks of October I have already finished 4 units, and could be at 5-7 by the end of the month.


Wednesday 15 October 2014

Quarter 3 2014 Painting Summary

A few days later than preferable, but not quite as late as the last one. :)

Quarter 3 was not as productive as either Q1 or Q2 unfortunately, but I am hoping to recover some lost ground in the next Quarter since I will have finished my course by then (barring any resubmissions I guess!). So I may achieve 40 minis as I thought setting out; anything above that would be a bonus. Zomtober should help to that end of course! There should also be a better balance of minis in the next couple of months with Zombies, Batman Miniatures Game and Pulp City minis in the queue, as well as an accumulation of Anima Tactics.

Left column, top to bottom



Middle column



Right column



Sunday 12 October 2014

Zomtober 2014 (Week 2)

This was a rush paint-job to hit the deadline, and I am not ashamed to admit that. Still, despite that, and a pretty crappy mini, it is done, and another walker adds to the meagre horde.

I generally like the Studio Miniatures range of metal zeds, but this is poor and shows off the worst aspects of some of their minis IMHO, with some ill-defined areas, weird lines in parts that don't really make sense, and a flipping huge bobble head.

Since I don't plan to chuck out the 'bad minis' of theirs that I have picked up, it was due for painting, and it was already under-coated, which made it prime choice for quick painting this week.

I only had limited time for this mini due to working on a big final essay for a course, so this is what it is. It is another addition to the newest 'Zombie triad' (the 'greens'), which means I will try and complete the trio next week.

Two weeks in and two deadlines met for me. So far, so good. More importantly, it has been cool seeing other Zomtober works from around the minis blogosphere - well done guys!

Sunday 5 October 2014

Zomtober 2014 (Week 1)

It is week 1, and the first deadline is hit for me; or to put it another way "Oosh!". However, apologies for the ropey pictures.

The cool thing about Zomtober is seeing the fruits of other hobbyist's painting and those posts have started to roll in. Great stuff guys. :)

This year is going to be odds and sods additions. I have tended to paint up triads of Zombies with a linking colour to them; my thought is that in bulk they won't look too similar, but if I have an in-game reason to activate a small group of models, then they are identifiable for that reason.

This is the first of a planned 'green' triad, and I hope to add another to the group in Zomtober, maybe even with the next submission for Zomtober.

So that makes one mini down, three (or more!) to go. I have started work on the next couple, so my only tricky deadline is next weekend as I have a big course assignment to work on over the next week. I am still hopeful I can get Week 2 done in time though.