Celebration time ! (with give-away bits inside...)

After a week away from brushes and internet access, I've realised I had my 100th post to write !

I will use this very special post to celebrate 2 things :

1) I Reached 100 followers !

 First is the fact I've reached 100 followers. I am really glad about this because this is mainly the only figure I care about (that and comments I get). I know most views come from Google bots, Apple bots or whatever so these kind of figures don't mean much really. On another hand, the fact that people pressed the "follow" button because they wanted to see more after coming here is really meaningfull to me.

Since my (dare I say) friends Warlord Paul and Legio Custodes suggested (quite heavily) I should celebrate, there was no shying away from thanking you all. Hence the little event (see below)

1) I got liebstered (again...(twice))

The second thing is that during my little holidays in the french Riviera, I received not one but TWO liebster awards from Demi-Morgana and Legio Custodes (the very same)! I really thank them for this and I will use this post to answer their questions (I'm trying to limit the number of non-hobby posts).

 So let's move to the main subject

100th Follower Celebration Give-away :

I've been thinking about this one a lot and here is what I've come up with :

This whole hobby-blogging thing is about one thing to me : SHARING. I did not feel confident with asking people to promote my blog in order to gain fame and I did not want people to write non-hobby related posts just to give me personnal satisfaction.

Since I have very limited skills and budget, I thought about using what I have in unilimited quantity : Imagination.

The idea is very simple, you will find below a list of miniatures I've had for a while and which never got any attention and which will most probably never will ... UNLESS you decide otherwise !

Rules are simple, you just have to be a follower of this blog and then write a little comment mentionning whatever miniature from the lot you want and 2 words to your liking. It can be anything really; just consider you pick up a model as main base and you add 2 "flavours" to it, you can go really far with that and I expect some challenging flavours from you people.
I'll then make a list of entries and randomly generate a winner who will receive the converted, painted model (according to the 2 accompanying words).

To sum up :

1) You have to be a follower of this blog

2) Name the miniature you like and 2 words to give a special flavour to the model (anything from communism to banana, Higgs particle or whatever)

3) I'll randomly generate a winner from the entries

4) I'll convert and paint the model chosen by the victor ensuring the 2 "flavour" words are visible on the final result.

5) I'll send the result to the winner and we'll all be good to go nto more adventures !

Here are the models I propose as a base, just state the one you'd like or why not chose a random one !

Gary Morley elf wizard, Limited edition mordheim character Aenur , Limited edition White dwarf, blood bowl dwarf player

Marauder Slaanesh Daemonette, Marauder plaguebearer, imperial preacher, Space farer, Platic Ork Nob

2 Liebster awards in a week :

Now the 100 the follower celebration is launched, here are the questions (and answers) due with the awards.

Here are the 11 questions form Demi-Morgana :

1. Do you remember what was your very first model painted / purchased ?
If so - what was it and when? 

Easy one, my first model ever purchased was a blister of 3 tzeentch champions :

First one ever painted though was the Warmasters Ogre (I wanted to train before painting my lead). It was painted with Humbrol enamels (Like God Fraser) like all my models until 1995 wehen I bought the citadel paint set. 

2. What is the best brand of matt varnish you've used so far ?

Never found one that really pleased me but the one I'm using these days is the anti-shine Matt spray from Army Painter. I used to airbrush my varnish but frosting a whole Nurgle band got me to change my view on this...

3. Is there a strong hobbyists community where you live ?
Or are you miniatures-weirdo operating in the dark room connected by internet with other maniacts around the globe?

I unfortunately tend to be a connetced weirdo but the very nice commnity gathered around my excellent local hobby-shop has given me the will to get a little more social.

4. Do you share miniatures with your kids (if there are any) or is the hobby game for grown ups only ?

My daughter is 3 years old  and my boy is 4 months old now so any hobby related common activities are just fantasy for now. I do hope that I can share a bit of my world with them in the furture though.
My daughter seems to have a genuine interest in those "little men" though and I sometimes take her on my legs and ask her what colour she wants on some parts (expect some pink in future releases from here).

5. Do you think brushlicking is the mark of truly devoted painter ?

I just don't see how one can paint without brushlicking. Nothing shapes a brush after use like the tongue does, nothings is better to blend than saliva and nothing beats saliva when pushing green stuff with my rubber tools... Brush licking and saliva are the 2 best assets in my painting.

It is the mark of truly devoted painters.

 

6. What mediums and other additions do you use for painting ?

Good question. I tend to use matt medium a lot to blend or to create glazes. It really helps to get the right consistency while having far less pigments. A really useful tool I would miss a lot.
Second additive I use a lot is PVA glue. I really like to create my own GW washes by misxing a drop or two if inks with a drop of PVA and 8-10 drops of water. A wash if this mixture rapidly gives a lot of depth to any surface and it can make metals look fabulous.
Next thing I'm going to dry is windex or whatever it is called in France (I guess any glass-washing liquid can work).

 

7. Would you consider participating in miniatures exchange organized between bloggers ?

I would and I am. I'm actually painting a model for the oldhammer band challenge and the result of this should come soon enough !

 

8. Your opinion about GW rip-off models: all those not-space marines and others.

I'm always saddened to see that some people won't invest time and energy in original concepts because there's so much to explore in those alternative worlds of ours... that said, if people are happy to buy them...

9. Do you think Ukraine will survive the crisis thing or will is wall apart to small pieces within coming months ?

I have no idea at all but I do find fascinating to think we're in the midlle of something which could go radically opposite ways with possily tremendous consequences. 

That said the world just keeps on moving and hopefully we now have lolcats, tweets and other silly things to hide our heads in instead of sand.

10. Do you trust people who do not swear ?

I don't. People who don't swear go in 2 categories : liars or frustrated, there's no other choice.

11. Does your hobby gets any support from the family, or they just don't care? Or maybe your partner would prefer you spend the time doing something more productive ? 

 My hobby doesn't get any interest from my relatives but the very fact I'm able to spend some time on it means I'm supported in some way. Thi smeans I owe it to them to be able to spend so much egoist time really. 

Thank you dear; I love you even though you'd rather have me do something more productive ;)

OK, I hope I got them all right ! Here are the question from Legio Custodes : 

1. What year did you get into this fantastic hobby of ours ?

I discovered the hobby in 1989-1990 while looking at GW publications (in english) my cousins had. While I could only look at the miniatures and pictures, it had such an impact on me I started to draw  robots and dragons in my schoolbooks. I then got serious in 1991 when I bought my first miniatures and started painting.

2. What was your first model?

See Answer #1 above

3. Do you still have it? (If so post a picture)

 See Answer #1 above too ;)

4. Are you more of a gamer or a painter?

More a painter really, I've been pianting all my life (apart form that little period between 16 and 18 when girls where kind of taking all the place in my mind...

5. How do your family feel about your hobby?

See answer #11 above. Quite comprehensive I would say...

6. What's your favourite miniature?

Hard question... It has to be a Jes Goodwin model because I've been into this colelcting most of his work. I don't really know which model it would be but I'd simply say the Jes Goodwin chaos champions and warriors.

7. How much do you reckon you spent on your hobby each year?

You understand that I cannot write publicly anything that could be used against me, right? Let's just say I buy FAR MORE than I can actually paint...

8. How do you feel about modern GW?

Just like I feel about any other miniature range, some things I like, some things I don't, these days, there tends to be far more things I don't like though...

Prices have been discussed a lot and I find them sometimes laughable to say the least but if I want to paint a model, it's a good one for me. Simple as that. 

I have no hard feelings about GW and don't wish them anything else than to come up with good models with reasonable prices for me to buy their stuff.

9. What's your current project? 

- Finishing several bands for confrontation

- Working on my chaos renegades army for 40k

- Working on my chaos fantasy army

- Finishing my Kaleb Daark conversion some day...

10. Is your interaction with the Oldhammer community primarily online or are you lucky enough to have like mind friends you can share it with?

It is unfortunately a primarly online activity for the time being. That said, my coming to BOYL 2014 seems like a reality now so I hope to fix that in a memorable way !
There is also room for improvment (see answer #3 above)

11. Fantasy or Sci-Fi ?

Sorry but I just can't answer that really, for me it's like being asked if I prefer left boobs or right boobs, they're just the different sides of a same coin really.I love them both with all my heart. There have been times when I was more attracted on one but the other would always come back eventually.

It's like choosing between dragons and robots, an inhuman choice really.