What is your style ?

one trick pony : god mode

Ok, Today I'd like to talk a bit about what we consider as style or a touch, anything that sets one's work apart from the rest.
We've all encountered people's work we can immediately tell apart from others and there are some things that make or break it for each f us.
It's usually harder to give a proper definition of what we do unless we have a very strong vision and the means to translate it in a tangible form (and that requires talent AND skill I think).

Why would I think about all that ? Well I do see people with a strong identity in their painting and I've been told now and then I do have a "style" some can easily identify (although I've also been mistaken for my friend Jon).

Epic Imperial knights - Lancers

So after painting the paladins, it was only natural to get to the lancers (or the wardens I know) ! Well I picked the tall fellas rather than the fat ones because... I don't know they looked fun and I'm painting them all in the end anyway !

Lancers are the fast guys which you can guess from the tall legs and dynamic poses and I find them quite creepy actually with the german helmet or robotic chicken look...

Epic Imperial knights - Paladins

So here are a few more giant robots to go with my ongoing epic project and this time, I treated myself with 3 imperial knights !

The design of them is just brilliant, gothic and weird, I simply love them !

Of course, with modern standards, these look kind of odd and they're actually different kinds of knights with an actual paladin and an errant, the third being... I don't know, some twisted vision of what a giant robot should be !

Froggish slavers - New Bizaza releases !

And these arrive just in time ! Here you have two of the new Bizaza slavers from Katsina's brand new  Kickstarter ! I love the mix of goofy and deadly they have and you can find throughout the whole range !

With the project in motion (I've pledged for some more of the scenery and might dive in on some more models as well) I hope you folks will all appreciate the love, enthusiasm and talent that went into those babies !

Crystal Turtles !

Just like I said, I didn't paint any of what I should be painting but felt the urge to get these crystal critters done !

They're the Ferrus Testudines from Krakon Games and just feel right to have with the crystals I've painted so far so that's a good thing to have done !

I don't know what the 2 of them are doing to those rocks (maybe absorbing minerals) and I'm not sure I want to know but as they are, they're fine, it was a single night's work so everything pretty rough but I needed to get those done quickly to avoid the guilt of painting something else. And they look fine enough for NPCs and terrain I think.
Great little pieces to have, one day I'll find a way to use in a scenario I'm sure !

Pillars and crystals

Hi everyone, following our journey through Katsina's upcoming KS, here are the scenery bits I got plus some other stuff I just had to paint along !

The first thing you have to know about Bizazas is that they seem to have a strong affinity with cristals, many of them have some and even the cute spiders have some embedded in their skull ! It makes sense to have a few of them to display on the table (and on the sculpted scenery).

Crystal Spiders - Katsina miniatures

Hey everyone ! Today, I'm quite chuffed to be able to show you some of Katsina's models to come for their next Kickstarter !
These are crystal spiders and only two of many more ! They were sculpted by the hands of Dorota who already sculpted this magnificent fat frog and I'm eager to get the others !

Paradygm shift : Don't feed the troll !!!

Hi everyone ! A little change this time and an unexpected one on top ! 

For some reason I found myself needing to paint a troll (to celebrate an event on a FB page full of them) and wondered which I could paint and if I had one at all ?

After a quick search I realized I actually had this gorgeous guy from the first Pantheon of Chaos Kickstarter :

Zodgrod Wortsnagga - Orctober is here !

Well you know what month this is, not only my birth month, it's Orctober ! Now I've taken part in this Orctober challenge for 4 years now and I have to say I'm always looking forward to it !

I'll be honest with you here and admit I never was an orc fan in the first place but painting them has made me love them and now there a sort of happy hobby place I like to get occasion to go back to.

So like every year, I just needed the right excuse and this year it was provided by an absolute gent who sent me this bad boy.

Oldschool robots... or titans ?

Hi everyone, you might have seen those robots a short while ago in their successful kickstarter by Oldschool Miniatures, well I was lucky to be handed a few to paint !
This is a new collaboration between Oldschool Miniatures and Jason Fairclough from Thunderchild and this time they've decided to scratch therobot itch with a nice oldschool vibe to them !

Group painting, old chaos warrior and 200th model of the year !

So the other WE I was at the Octogone again in Lyon, a gaming convention. This year, I wasn't trying to promote Oldhammer (much) but took part in a painting get together with some pals !
I have to say I rarely paint in a group and have always had a lonely way of modelling but I have to say it's quite fun to have friends around you can share painting tips, paint pots, glue or whatever in a joyful mess !

Khârn the betrayer - KILL ! MAIM ! BURN !

Hey there, like I said a little while back, the hobby sometimes comes with some form of self inflicted pressure and with the end of summer, real life comes back in the way, energy levels start to get lower and you end up setting impossible goals like paiting a 11 man gang for Necromunda and 7 models for Strontium Dogs in a month... Stupid I know but as I felt things were getting a bit out of control, I decided to give myself a break... by painting something else !

Now for some reason, a guy posting his unpainted 2nd ed Khârn has ignited an odd fire in my heart...

I used a lunchbreak to check his Background, got my codices out and had an immediate crush for the guy !

Warhammer underwolds Shadespire - The Sepulchral guard

I'm back on Shadespire just as Nightvault is announced ! That's a good timing, especially since I still have one band left to paint for it ! (more about that later)

Now this month, I had a painting challenge for which I had decided I'd paint a band themed on a season, my pick obviously went straight to undead and autumn, because that's a theme I love and my favourite season and both are an obvious match. 

That meant I wanted faded colours but obviously I couldn't help getting some vibrant reds in (I really must try to get rid of that habit before it becomes a cheap gimmick though).

Adeptus Titanicus - Going Back Oldschool !

So Adepticus Titanicus is coming back to us ! Well of course it seems we're bound to get all the cool things back ! Now the good guys at my FLGS asked me if I wanted to try the game. Why of course !

Now I've said it before, I am NOT building a force for Epic or anything, oh no. But one Warlord simply isn't enough right ? I just had to add him a couple of friends okay ?

Cool and hot - Being a Bratt in the underhive

Well as expected, playing Necromunda has made me want to... play more necromunda. And it's also made me want to upgrade my bratt gang which isn't much of a gang for now if I'm being honest...

Since I managed to get my hands on the sweet limited edition guy with sword and my mate Rochie gave me one of the armless gangers in a trade (thanks mec), I took the opportunity to add a bit more serious firepower... 

The Null Steersman - Oldhammer exclusive

I just have to admit it, BOYL is over and it was only a week ago ! Like most people attending and taking part by playing and socialising, I feel a little post-BOYL blue (that's a thing).

Honestly, what better way to still ride the vibe than to paint the exquisite special model we were offered there ? Right ?

We've been used to having great models throughout the years now but I have to say this one is remarkably good.

Summer in the underhive - Necromunda campaign

It's become a sort of tradition amongst my friends going to BOYL to organise a little warming up get together at Warhammer World to enjoy a few linked games.

With the release of Necromunda earlier, it was pretty obvious this would be the one we'd play so we all came up with a gang and Jon/Axiom designed a great campaign for us to meet as many players as possible.
You might have noticed the heat this summer is quite severe so Jon added a taste of it to the campaign to increase the immersive power. Before the games, some gangers would go missing, taken by the heat or some would even become crazy, acting weird(er) to the point of attacking their own friends !

BOYL 2018 Review !

Well well well ! It's this time of year again ! I just got back from BOYL and need to tell you all about it ! Of course, Bulldog Lopez has already covered the most important points but there are still a couple of lousy details that may be of interest to some !
As usual, this post will be packed with pictures so take a good seat and a fresh drink (damn heat...) and let's go on !

Summer work - More Venators !

Summer is not exactly the easiest period to get any hobby done let's face it. Too much bathing, sun, seeing friends and all. It's just not a productive time. We can make it worth though by trying to cease the opportunities.

And avoiding temptations.

Lucius Lupo - Venator Leader

'Long time coming' doesn't even begin to describe the process behind that model. The conversion dates back to January 2014, I've tried many sources and ways to come up with a solution to do this head and it's only a month or so ago I finally got an actual answer !

But what was I trying to achieve some of you may wonder ?

Metal Slug - What a tanker !

BRRRRR, PAOWWW PAOWW, KABOOM KABOOM PFRRRRRRRT !

Oh yes, you got it, this is time for the real deal now ! BOYL is coming and with it plenty of new fun games to test with the lads. Amongst those, Our friend Colin has offered to prepare a game of What a tanker ! Cool ! 

What do I need ?

A tank ! No kidding !

Well I don't usually paint tanks so when I do I want to tick some lines off the to do list and I had the perfect idea for that !

Growing in the 80's and 90's comes with a truckload of cultural references you just cannot escape and amongst those, a fondness for small burly tanks had emerged.

Slanns in Spaaace - Ribbit and Rock it !

There are some prejudices you just have to embrace, and what can I say about frogs apart from the fact I love them ?

It's been exactly 6 months since I last painted a giant frog from the future and those guys above were actually started at the very same time...
So what happened ? Well, for starters I think I was a little ambitious when I decided to paint 14 models in a single batch, especially with that many colours (something I never ever do really). You can also add the fact that I engaged in a stupid number of hobby comitments and that midway through painting I had another idea to paint them which would have meant stripping them all and starting back from 0 when I had spent quite some time on the skins...

Yolandai - Nomad Boss Lady

Coming out of nowhere, here's another model that just jumped to the top of the paint queue in the blink of an eye. 

Like the other years, I wanted to take part in Morikun's painting competition and I therefore needed a female model to paint since the theme of the competition is to paint an image of what his wife could be like in our fantasy worlds.

Like many of you, I do have plenty of female figures to paint but I had just received one which for some reason made a lot of sense. I actually had the very best idea when the comp started but I totally forgot what it was. You can be sure I'll remember as soon as it ends.

Warhammer underwolds Shadespire - Ironskull's Boyz

Sometimes you do things you never thought you'd do. I never thought I'd paint anything related to Age of Sigmar, and here I am with my 3rd band belonging in it. I never thought I'd get the orruks for Shadespire, but here I am.

I didn't like the way they looked, didn't like the way I could hardly tell them apart, I didn't like the look of them.

But some things just happen, in my case, it was going to meet my dear friend Sho3box and playing Shadespire with him, facing his orruks with my Stormcast.

Caryatids - Hive angels or demons

Every new release for Necromunda seems to be aimed directly at me. I guess I'm either someone super important or more likely we live in an age where people like me have the chance to be targeted right at their weak spots in the entertaining industry.

And I have to confess amongst many others, one of my weak spots is naked blue winged mutant babies... That's just how I roll.

Now I'm ashamed it took me that long to get this one painted honestly but I will probably come up with excuses if I have to.
Now this one was even better since it was a freebie from the latest Colony 87 KS so it was a shame not to have it painted really !

Papa was a rolling unclean one - Rogue trader Great Unclean One

And just to finish this first tale of several gamers, here's a Greater demon of Nurgle with a Rogue Trader twist !

Having already painted a Bloodthirster and a Keeper of Secrets I still had 2 left to paint to complete my pantheon so I thought painting the fat papa would be cool to go with the palanquin I had just finished !

Pimple my ride - Nurgle Palanquin for Rogue Trader

Hi there, I'm in the final steps of my tale of several gamers so still trying to finish as much as I can for my Chaos renegades. I've only realized last month I haven't painted a single character in this challenge and thought I could use some leadership. Now of course I couldn't settle on something simple could I ?

And that's how I remembered I had this Nurgle Palanquin with no less than 3 potential riders, all fitted with Magnets !

Best part of which being one is pretty neutral and could be your regular undivided chaos lord.

Since I didn't have enough corks to put the riders on, I had the best idea in the world (aka worst idea ever, don't do this at home) and pinned all three on the same cork !

Hobby mojo or how to make the best of our hobby

Something a little different today, I'd like to talk about Hobby Mojo and more generally speaking what we expect from our hobby (or any other hobby for that matter).

Over the past years, I've seen terms like Hobby Mojo, Hobby burn out pop out here and there and I have to say those have always seemed a little odd to me. Why do people feel that and why does it seem odd to others ?

Houses of the city - Post-apoc/Sci-fi scenery

In the last couple of weeks I had the chance to play a fair load of games and for the second part for the french Oldhammer event (posts HERE and HERE, I had decided to build and paint a bit more scenery to have a good table.

Now I've started these a few months ago but like often I did most of the job and then couldn't get myself to do what was left.

Necromunda 2017 and Dracula's America in Space

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to meet up with my good friend Cheetor/Sho3box. Now both of us have played our fair share of Necromunda from its initial release up until the past years with the Inquisimunda add-on but both of us had yet to really test Necromunda 2017.

Now the game is a sort of 'go to' for many of us, it's a game that 'feels' natural to us but that means we might miss the difference and changes in the new version by just repeating what we know.
That's why we decided to first play the 2 tutorials in the core rulebook to test it.

Oldschool gaming and a french Oldhammer Event !

A bunch of handsome french and belgian oldschool players !

Those last 2 weeks have been pretty packed with hobby in all its forms, from painting to modelling and even more gaming !

I've played a great number of games of all kinds from old to new, quick to long, small to large and all were simply brilliant !

Be warned, this post will cover many games with a stupid amount of photos !

This all started 2 weeks ago when I had the pleasure to fly to Ireland to visit my good friend Sho3box/Cheetor. Seeing him was already delightful but you know how it goes, when in Rome...

Battletech !

A week ago, I had absolutely no idea these would be painted or that I would even have them...

That's what it is to have great people around you. Let me just explain a few things.

This WE, a fistful of friends and I are gathering at a convention in North-Eastern France to have a few oldschool games and amongst them, my pal Goulven has offered to GM some Battletech (providing table and miniatures as well).

Now It's been more than 15 years since I last played any Battletech and the time before this one was so long ago I cannot remember.

Fast forward a few years up until last week when I was in Ireland in the exquisite company of my friend Cheetor/Sho3box and here he is getting a bagful of models to pick from...

Wilson Ochtar - Octopus extraordinaire

Everything happens for a reason, even the most stupid ones (often the most stupid ones). It's been over a year now my WIPster friends and I have had the excellent Wilson in mind. You just cannot imagine the surprise we had when GW decided to release the Idoneth Deepkin and amongst them no other than our favourite invertebrate !

Scatter Terrain from Fogou !

Here's the second half of the Fogou scenery I did earlier. This time it's all the scatter terrain and bits you can use to decorate the tabletop with.

Like for the rest of the Fogou pieces, it's remarkably well cast, requires little to no preparation and the details are probably finer than on some of the models you'll use it with.

Slaanesh Renegades

I'm still painting more recruits for my renegade army and this month, I thought I could add some of the Slaaneshi. After all, I've already  spent some time on Slaanesh this past year so it was time for me to get the marines done !

And since I had to paint 400 points I thought I could just as well add that Dreadnought I unboxed a while ago...

The circus of corruption

So this week I had the chance to get a few models from the Circus of Corruption Kickstarter by Oldschool Miniatures in the mailbox !

You might have seen it around but if you haven't I advise you to go have a look at it :

Click here for the link

A farm for a battle - Fogou scenery

Something a little different for us today, something I don't do enough but I had the perfect occasion and targets to do so this time : scenery.

The excellent Chris from Fogou Models has offered a couple of friends and myself the possibility to paint some of his upcoming models and I have to say after painting the brilliant shacks he had done earlier, I was more than excited to put my brushes on more of his work !

The Dustfarers - Ash Waste Nomads between the hives of Necromunda

Well Necromunda doesn't stop to inspire many of us and I've found it to be the perfect excuse to go back and dwell in the leadpile to find old projects that could be good to tick off the list !

Ash waste nomads were exactly that !

As you may have noticed, I have a very deep fondness for Confrontation (Necromunda's ancestor) and I have to say having a gang of each entry in the game would be quite of an achievement for me. ^^

Two opportunities have made the Ash waste nomads climb to the top of the painting queue : Necromunda and Dracula's America.

What's the link with Dracula ?

I'm going to tell you.

March of the titans ! - Imperial warlord titan

So this is March, month of Mars, like in the God. So what better month to paint titans ? None, that's right.

Now I've had the will to paint in a different scale for quite a while but like all the good plans and bright ideas, I've always postponed it because of better newer projects.

Rogue trader Keeper of secrets

Soooooo, still working on my "tale of several gamers" entry for March, I've managed to paint something easier. Since We're supposed to paint 400pts a month and I have painted 1100 in 2 I thought I could use the spare points and make March an easier month with about 250 pts worth of Demonic lust. ^^

Lady Woodgin - Slaanesh Cult Dominatrix

Hey, you might remember the six sinners from earlier, well; I've been meaning to upgrade the team from quite some time now but was looking at how to do it right. The arrival of the new Necromunda was the right trigger for this for 2 reasons :

- The magnificent Escher models in the box
- The upcoming chaos cult list in WD.
Oh yes, chaos cults in the underhive, that's how groovy it's going to get.

The stripper - Everyday life of an oldhammerer

See that imperial look, that nobility and the high standard of moral values Karl Franz embodies ? Of course you don't. Nothing here to see but inch think layers of hard enamels and gruesome gore effects... URGH...

But hey ! What's the matter, all we need is a good seesion at the strip club. We'll show those enamels (with Vincent Price's voice) the evil of the strrripper !

Now it had been a while since I last had a model so poorly painted to strip. Like 5 years ago actually. I'm going to show some models I've stripped before, just to attest (did I need to prove anything ?) that I'm not exactly new in stripping town.

Warhammer underwolds Shadespire - Garrek's Reavers

It took me a while after Steelheart's champions but I finally managed to paint the second half of my box of Shadespire !

To be honest, this is the first time I paint all the models from a single box so that's quite an achievement ticked !

Just like for the Stormcast, painting the Reavers proved to be quite more challenging than expected due to my muscle memory being entirely focused on painting old lead.

Eric Raucher the squat - Old School miniatures

I suppose it's hard to let squats go so I recently got another one from Old School Miniatures. Now Jamie over at Oldschool Miniatures has commissioned the ever talented John Pickford to sculpt a model of the company's mascot Eric.