Scrub Resin NO MORE!

That's right folks, I've discovered a way around the tedious and all-too-often futile methods of scrubbing resin clean of mold release!

Join me for this helpful little article to discover how, and enjoy your Forge World gifts just that much more this holiday season.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Now who doesn't love a little Snoopy on Christmas?

Merry Christmas to everyone...to those who are defending out country in foreign lands and your loved ones, a very special thanks and Merry Christmas.  To those of you celebrating this holiday with a loved one absent, for whatever the reason, remember them in your heart and in the joy that you shared, Merry Christmas.  To those of us whose 5 year old, or whatever age, will be waking us up at 6 in the morning, Merry Christmas.  This is a time to spend with family, friends and loved ones.

I don't typically bring any socio-political or religious topics to this blog.  That isn't what you folks come here to read, nor is it what this blog is about.  However, I celebrate this wonderful holiday in remembrance, reminder, and thankfulness of something that means more to me than words can explain.  If you want to know why, ask me, and I'd love to have a talk about it.

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming later this week, but in the meantime, enjoy the holidays!

- Tim

A Matter of Opinion: Which Paints to Stock

So in my last article about the Pros and Cons of owning an entire paint range, I went and opened my big mouth. At the end of my entirely factual, and wholly opinionated findings, I stated the following:

"I don't care if the paint set is 6, 12, 72 or 144 paints, I would rather buy a core set of colors and then build out from there."

I was very quickly asked what I would consider a "core set of colors", and to give suggestions on what exact paints and from what ranges I would pull from.

Dark Future Games: Community Growth and Outreach

How many times have you all read and/or heard me address the topic on how bloggers do what we do because of the community we are a part of? The fact that, if there wasn't a community to be a part of and to contribute to, we'd all wallow to some degree in our hobby, and the leaps and bounds that many have been a part of in our abilities wouldn't happen nearly as quickly, if at all in some cases?

Community is what being a blogger, and reading said blogs is all about. Well, Dark Future Games is stepping up along this line of thought and action...

Paint Sets: Are They Worth It?

I was approached the other day with a question:

"If money wasn't a factor, would you buy the Citadel Ultimate Paint Set?"

I actually had to sit there and think about it for a moment or two before I answered with a solid, "Nope, not worth it. In fact, I'm not sure any Paint Set, Ultimate, Mega, Small or Mighty is worth it."

"But Tim, I said not to take into account the money…"

And I didn't. So why isn't it worth it, you ask?

The Importance of Feedback and Comments to Bloggers

So I've been doing this consistently for what, over a year and a half now? Some months have been more prolific than others, and some have been downright torture prepping for tournaments and events. Over that time I've gotten to meet with groups of fellow bloggers who have influenced me over the 5 years or so I've been reading blogs, have shared experiences and just recently have even been able to be a part of a webcast Bloggers Roundtable.

Then I got this email the other day from a reader...

Digital White Dwarf Review, Dec 2012

Let me start by saying that yes, I realize I missed the November issue review. Also, no, I will not be going back and writing a November review. I missed the review by an entire month, so I miss out on the shot to do the review. I try and take this blog and the writing of it seriously, and a couple weeks back I missed updating the blog for the first time in a year and a half. I'm not pleased with that. So if you need a good review of the November issue of White Dwarf, for whatever reason, please visit the good folks over at Tale of Painters here. It's a solid review and worth reading.

Now that we're past that, on to the review!

Adepticon 2013 - Have You Registered?

The pre-registration for Adepticon 2013 opened yesterday at 7pm CST, and if you figured you'd wait til today to register and still get into your favorite events or that seminar you missed last year...

...you may get a rude awakening.

Back from Fishin & Feast of Blades

If the heading hasn't given it away, I took a bit of a much-needed vacation after Feast of Blades. Nothing recharges your batteries after working a bunch of overtime, then spending all weekend long across the tables from various opponents like escaping civilization for a week and landing trout and bluegill.


Of course, escaping civilization has the adverse effect of putting any posts I could concoct on the back burner until I could get to a wifi location, or home. Yes, I could have planned a post with a delayed publication date, but I didn't...

So what did I do? Do you read Dark Future Games' blog?

Vindicare Finished - Off to Feast of Blades!

It seems like I have this masochistic need to always push a project to the very end, barely finishing it in time, and generally stressing myself out because I have to maintain strict timelines to finish at the last minute. So what's the lesson learned?

Who knows, I haven't stopped doing this for the past 5 years. But the Vindicare is finished! Lets take a look at my take on this unit, styled for a pure Grey Knights force.

Attending Feast of Blades! Who's With Me?!

That's right folks, I'll be in Denver, Colorado next weekend at the Feast of Blades Tournament and Event. This promises to be not only a blast, but the first independent National Event that I'll have attended outside of Adepticon.

So why Feast of Blades?

Thematic Model Variety and You

When I say "Vindicare Assassin", what's the first model you think of? How about "Lysander", or "Vulkan"? I'm guessing that most of you immediately think of the stock models supplied by Games Workshop for these characters and unit entries. Though maybe not for Vulkan, that fig is hideous. Regardless, since they are supplied with specific sculpts, those are the ones we should think of, and should use in our games, right?

Well, it's my buck…what if I don't want to?

I'm Published in Wargames Illustrated, Issue 300!!!

Back in January I wrote the article "The Point of All This". In it I wrote on why I blog, who influenced me to blog, and how I blog. I also had made the realization that I love to write, and that I wanted to write for a hobby industry magazine.

Well guess what folks...I'm published!!!

Yeah, yeah. I know the heading of the post kind of gave that away, but stay with me here.

 

White Dwarf Review, Oct 2012 and Digital

I started collecting White Dwarf back on issue 300, and wow, what an issue to start with! For the following three years, I looked forward to getting my monthly dose of GW hobby crack in magazine form. Then...then something changed. It was like finding out you're allergic to your favorite food...I looked at the magazine with a longing, wanting to like it, but I just couldn't stomach looking at it any more. It had changed and not for the better.


Well, it looks like White Dwarf is turning over a new leaf in design and philosophy, so I decided to give it another shot...lets take a look and see if I can stomach it now.

New Doesn't Always Mean Good

Everyone knows by now that here are two topics I tend to shy away from on my blog: Rumors and Tactical Articles. There are times though, when I will do anything I can to find a reason to throw the new hotness up and write an article on it. Case in point, the "Ooooh, Shiny!" Syndrome article came when the new Ogre Kingdoms models were released. The new models gave me an inspiration for a playful series of articles, and an excuse to toss up the new pictures of models I just had to own.

The new Chaos models are no different, but for the first time in a long time, the new models haven't triggered my "Ooooh, Shiny!" response...

Not Imperial? No Fortifications for You!

With the prolific nature of flyers in the games nowadays, fortifications like the Aegis Defense Line with a Quad Gun is one of the most seen models on the tabletop, no matter the army. But be honest with me here, how many of you xenos players feel a little denied by the soup nazi when it comes to the fortifications, model-wise.

So what do we do about it? What can we do about it?

Auctions and the Hobby

Be it in person, or online, no one can deny that there is a fair amount of plastic, resin and metal recycling that goes on in our hobby world. Does your local store have a quarterly used gaming auction? Maybe you enjoy looking through the painted and unpainted masses alike on eBay.

Either way, you can't ignore the fact that auctions and our hobby don't just exist together, they live together. What we should be talking about is whether or not auctions are a detriment to our hobby.

*Note: After some amazing comments made, please consider the full article to INCLUDE the comments.  OST, Mordian7th, KrautScientist, Humie Stompa and Frontline Gamer all have made excellent points and well written views, and I encourage you to take it all into consideration for this topic.

When to Buy a Better Brush

In the comments of my recent article on competition and tabletop painting, I was asked some questions on the brushes I choose to use. More specifically, I was asked when should someone be serious about buying good brushes. My answer?

Now. There, that was simple, thanks for reading!

...I should know by now that I can never get away with the short answer. Let me go into some specifics that include not just when to buy better brushes, but what to buy and how I use each size and style brush.

Heresy-Era Figures: To Forge World or Not to Forge World?

With all the big hullabaloo that's been in the air ever since Games Day US, and the subsequent leaks, whispers and teasers, Heresy Era modeling fever is gripping our community more than ever before. Everyone wants new models, that look old. A bit of an oxymoron, sure, but what the hey, I happen to be one of those people.

The big question though, is do we pay thought the nose for Forge World models that reflect that time period in our favorite universe's history, or do we go our own way with conversions and third-party bits?

Necessary Evils for the Hobby

"So Tim, what have you been up to for the past few weeks?"

...

"No, really. What have you been doing in the hobby lately?"

...why don't we take another look at the picture above, and then we'll talk about the 'Necessary Evils' in our hobby.

Competition Painting and Tabletop Painting

It never ceases to amazing me how much differently I paint when if comes to competition pieces versus mass army projects. There are so many factors that we concentrate on with a single competition piece that we will tend to either gloss over, or hurry through on a tabletop painting project, even if your typical level of painting armies is above the norm for tabletop standard.

There are gobs of techniques and work philosophies that we can cite for helping us achieve a wonderfully painted force without spending the next decade on it. Let's dive in.

The Great Re-Organization of 2012

Back in June of 2011, the article "The Bitz Box, a Hobbyist's Best Friend" addressed not only the reason for the need of a good Bitz Box, but also some options for you to choose from and at the end, my recommendation and product of choice for my own Bitz organization.

A little over a year later, my wife decided I needed to readdress my organization of my hobby. The picture above should give you a decent reason why.

Did I stick with my tried and true Bitz Box from a year ago?

The short answer is "no". But what to replace it with, and how?

Games Day Play-By-Play

A couple days later than when I hoped for this recap to be posted, but none-the-less, join me for a reselling of what was a friggin blast for me.

Yes that's right, I said the day was a blast. Was it the type of Games Day that we remember from yesteryear? The kind where it used to be a two-day event of a GT and a Games Day event? The kind where the were some great sneak-peek seminars, and more? No, no it wasn't. We've already established that so long as GW's philosophy doesn't change towards events, we won't have those types of events back.

So what made it so great?

Games Day Bound, Who's With Me?

In a few minutes, I'll be out the door and on my way up to Chicago for the North American, 2012 Games Day.

Games Day has always been fun for me, for various reasons throughout the years past. Everything from the old Grand Tournaments to now actually participating in the Golden Demon competition, meeting game designers, authors and sculptors, I've always enjoyed a trip up to Chicago for a day of pure Warhammer.

This year, I'm looking forward to it for yet another reason...

Josef Bugman - Painting Progress

I've got 4 days, counting the day I wrote this on Monday, to finish the Brewmeister. 3 days from today.

Why the !$?& do I keep doing this to myself?! I mean, seriously, do I hate myself?

Okay, okay...I'm better now. Let's see what I've accomplished in the first 2 days.

Novel Details for Model Details

I've spoken in the past about how there are many places to pull inspiration from. This time I wanted to bring up a specific point of inspiration from that past article and elaborate a bit more.

While a novel, or series of novels, from our favorite grim-dark universe can give us some amazing conceptual inspiration, what if those stories happen to be about the factions or armies we are actually building? Is it possible to use those same books for more specific details?

The basic answer is yes, but let's elaborate with some examples.

The Golden Brewmeister?

Needless to say, long hours at work and my wife going in for surgery this past week have put a stymie on not just hobby time, but blog time as well. So two weeks out from Games Day Chicago, and I'm just now able to work on Golden Demon entries, much less trying to keep up on posting at least one worthwhile thing a week!

So what am I working on? What's with the barrel above?

The Impact of Allies in 6th Edition

The ramifications of the changes that 6th Edition has made to our hobby ripple across the interwebz. Cries of “it’s the devil”, “we love it”, and every other ping-pong reaction you can imagine are prevalent throughout the blogosphere, as well as your local store I’m sure. There’s one topic, among many, that’s hot right now, and I’d like to discuss it:

Allies

“But Tim, you’ve always said that you aren’t going to dive much into rules and tactics in this blog, right?”

Right, and I still won’t today. No, this is going to be about how Allies is a game-changer in how we can model and customize our toy soldiers!

Deadlines: Bane or Blessing?

So on the true eve of the next edition of Warhammer 40,000, I thought I might divert everyone's attention away for a moment of calm introspection, and serenity...

Right. Did you read the title of this post?

Crystal Brush, the Adepticon competition at least, has come and gone, Golden Demon North America is in 1 month and the local voting for Armies on Parade is TOMORROW. And that doesn't even begin to touch on the numerous tournaments that require fully painted armies to participate in.

New Edition Blues

With the dawn of 6th Edition in mere days, the rumors abound. With the rumors, however, come all the grizzled old veterans, the competitive gamers, and the beer and pretzel folks with their bevy of opinions on what should and shouldn't be done with this game.

Come on people, the new rulebook isn't even out yet!

I'm seeing three major divisions of opinion when it comes to the new edition. Let's have a little fun, and break them down.

Scrubbing Resin, Cleaning Metal

Anyone who tells you this hobby is just about rolling dice with some wonderfully painted figures, is clearly blowing smoke up something to get you to try the game. There are times when you can spend days of prep just for one model. Or in my case currently, two models.

Why spend the time to actually prep your toy soldiers before assembly?

I don't suppose you'll let me off with just a basic "Just do it, cause you should", will you? No? Alright fine, let's dive into 3 key prepping procedures and find out why your time is well invested.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!!!

I've always wanted to say that.

Okay, so there's no chicken involved, but there are three boxes of plastic crack for someone to win! Midnight GMT happened sometime around 7pm my local time yesterday...and I quite frankly let it slip right by without noticing. Dangit.

So who won?

White Dwarf Painting Article Critique

When someone decides to write a tutorial on how to paint something, we typically expect to learn something from it. We expect a detailed, step-by-step process on how to achieve the results the author shows us. When an international magazine publishes an article on how to paint a model, we expect a tutorial that is not only comprehensive, but one with highly detailed steps that are also relatively simple to follow.

Enter the newly received White Dwarf article on how to paint an Ultramarines Storm Talon, and why I think it's a perfect example on how NOT to write a painting tutorial, starting with the picture above. I do promise that this will be a informed critique of the article, and not just a troll bashing.

Birthday Giveaway! Miniature Tim is 1 Year Old!

1 year ago today I re-entered the blogosphere with Miniature Tim. All short jokes aside, I made a commitment to make this blog a priority for me, posting at least once per week with content that I would actually want to read and hoping that a few folks out there would want to read it as well. I did my research, read articles on how to run a successful blog by successful bloggers, and cannonballed into the deep end.

Holy crap…it's been a year already?!?!

Life Imitates Hobby?

Spend as much time, work and money on a hobby like ours and it is bound to begin influencing other aspects of your life. Typically most folks would take that to mean we spend less time and money doing other things, and more building and playing with little army men.

I tend to have a different perspective.

Brand Loyalty...Is It Worth It?

If I were to put on my fake old-guy accent and start out with "Back in MY day…", I could wax poetic about how there weren't many competitors to the big miniature design studios. I could also make the cliche remark about walking 3 miles to my local hobby store in the snow, uphill, both ways, but that's besides the point.

Back then, while there were miniature companies to choose from, typically your game of choice had you buying from one manufacturer, especially if it was a tabletop wargame. That time period instilled a certain kind of brand-loyalty in gamers. Not to mention games who's figures were exclusive to one manufacturer such as FASA's Batttletech and Ral Partha, and our ubiquitous GW and Citadel.

But what about now? Is there competition worthy of killing Brand Loyalty? Is Brand Loyalty already dead for other reasons?

Custom Objective Markers

With objective-based missions comes the need for an objective to fight over, yes? And considering the scenarios in the rulebooks, not to mention national events like Adepticon, frequently you need multiple objective markers to get through the day. Speaking of Adepticon, it's a requirement to bring 3 objective markers to the table with you for each game, whether the scenario calls for them or not, and they need to be represented on 40mm bases at that!

So what's a wargamer to do, just go online and buy some? No, I say!

Umm…well okay, you could, but where's the fun in that?

All Your Bases: Ballast Textures

A while back, I touched on the topic of different ways of basing our miniatures, both in technique and difficulty. After having been asked how I made the bases for my Grey Knights this past Adepticon, I decided it was high time to start detailing those techniques in a new series called "All Your Bases".

To kick off the series, we're going to take a look at the most basic of the materials we base with, ballast, and how simple it can be to go above and beyond the norm.

Tools of the Trade: House Paint

No, that's not a typo, I really do mean house paint. Glidden, Behr, and other lines of house paints are an excellent resource for our hobby. You think the selection of the new Citadel line of paints are impressive? Take a field trip to your local home improvement store and peruse their paint department. There are more colors, tints and shades than your can shake a paint stick at.

"Okay fine, so there are a ton of paints at the home improvement store, thanks Captain Obvious. What does that mean for the hobby?"


Read on, my friends, read on...

Miniature Tim Sculpts for Dragon Forge Designs!

Now there's an announcement I've been dying to break to all of you for some time now. A while back I contacted Dragon Forge to see if they were planning on expanding their Goth Tech line of bases, as I was contemplating buying an army's worth. Through a series of emails, I was given the chance to work with Jeff at Dragon Forge to expand that particular line of bases.

Needless to say, I jumped at the chance!

Adepticon Wrap Up

Yes, I know that Adepticon was over on Sunday, but if the delay of this post isn't a good indication of the sheer exhaustion that resulted from this past weekend, I don't know what would be.

I can also state that this Adepticon was the best experience I've had in the past 6 years of attending the convention! This is going to be a comprehensive article on the weekend, so let's have a little play-by-play, shall we?

Spoiler: While this is an abbreviated article about the weekend, it's still a long one. If you're wanting to skip ahead to my picture links, as well as links of everyone I had the pleasure of interacting with, just hit "Read More" and scroll to the bottom. It's okay, I understand.

Adepticon Bound! Who's With Me?

In mere hours, I'll be starting the 5 hour drive north to Chicago to attend the tenth anniversary of Adepticon. This will mark my 6th attendance for this national event, and I can't wait!

What am I looking forward to most?

Grey Knights: Draigo & Paladins Finished!

Have I mentioned how much I hate pushing projects down to the wire like this? Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with how these last 8 figures came out on the whole. I just wish I had been painting them back in December as I should have been.

Ah well, no use crying about it now. A weekend with little to no sleep in order to have gotten these done isn't going to hurt. Besides, I can sleep when I'm dead, right?

Grey Knights: Converted Dreadnoughts Complete!

As of 3 am this past Sunday, the three Dreadnoughts in my Grey Knights force were completed. I was tired, and darn near falling asleep in my static grass as I put the finishing touches on, but they are done! I can honestly say that it was an interesting experience batch painting multiple Dreadnoughts at once.

Notice I said interesting, not fun, but interesting none-the-less.

Grey Knights Progress: Interceptors and Rhino Complete

The closer Adepticon gets, the closer the Grey Knights move towards completion! This time around, the Interceptors and the singular tank in the army is complete.

If a Rhino can really be called a 'tank'. A mobile pillbox, maybe?

Wait, no, that's a Chimera.

Ah well, on to the update!

Grey Knights Update: Strike Squad Completed

I know it's been a while since I've posted about any progress on the Grey Knights for Adepticon, but while I may have been silent on them, I have not been idle! In fact, the Rhino is now 95% done, the Interceptor squad is about 75% done, and the three Dreadnoughts all have their steel and armor complete.

I've already posted paint schemes on the Armor, Reds and Whites/Cloth, as well as the tutorial on the Force Weapons. Now we'll dive into the finishing touches.

Color Theory and Painting Miniatures

With the imminent release of the new Citadel line of paints, I thought this might be a good time to go over some basics of color theory and how it relates to painting our little toy soldiers. What better opportunity than now, especially with the new color charts I found on Miniature Wargame Conversions, right?

I promise to leave my soapbox for this particular topic in the corner and approach this from a rational perspective.

Well, I'll try at least.

Early Thoughts on the New Citadel Paint Line

Last year, April, I took a class at Adepticon in Advanced Painting that was taught by Mathieu Fontaine.  A bonus point of that class, beyond completely opening my eyes to a new method of painting, was that all painting classes that weekend would be supplied with Formula P3 paints for everyone to use. 

I was beyond impressed with the quality of the paint itself.  The pigment saturation, the flow and the ease of use were all wonderful.  I ended up sidelining the main Citadel paints, though I kept the Metallics, Foundations and Washes.  I changed a paint loyalty that measured nearly a decade in the space of a 4 hour class.

Now, a year later, Citadel goes and throws a curve ball at me with this newly remained paint line of theirs.

Experiment: Tamiya Light Gunmetal Spray

40-ish days until Adepticon and it feels like I am still in second gear with my Grey Knights. While I'm about 95% done with the first 10 infantry models, I still have 18 more, and then the Dreadnoughts and the Rhino. Yes, of course I have plenty of time, and plan to have it all finished by the end of the month. Vehicles tend to be a bit of a stumbling block of rme at times, though, and that singular Rhino could have been a bit of a troublemaker for me...

COULD have been. Key word here, Could.

Enter the experiment, Tamiya Color For Plastics Spray, Light Gunmetal

Pushing Around Paint: Force Weapon Effects

As a sister-series to my "Pushing Around Green Stuff" articles, I'm starting my painting tutorials this year. I'll be diving into how-to articles for some of the painting effects and techniques that I've either learned how to do from others, discovered for myself through trial and error, or a combination of the two.

To kick off this series, we're going to go through something I've struggled with in the past, power and force weapon effects.

Oh come on now, like you didn't see this coming? I'm painting Grey Knights, fer Pete's sake!