Canister & Grape - A Website for Wargamers

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Gall-Gaedhil, or Mrs Death's Boys

Holidays are great. Not only do you get to spend quality time with your other half, catch up with the kids and with new members of the family, but you finally get time to finish those projects which have been niggling at you with their incomplete status and then blog 'em.

I was able to use the last couple of days to dispose of one such project, namely the Sons of Death, or Gall-Gaedhil, SAGA's Norse Gael swords for hire. Those of you who've read my previous posts will be aware of my painting speed, so the fact that I started these eight figures six weeks ago and am only just getting around to finishing them now will surprise nobody.

So here they are, all painted, and based with the seashore theme I tried out back in November.

I decided that while most of the Gall-Gaedhil are bare-legged like their Scots cousins, I'd make their clothing a bit more Norse-influenced and go for plain colours with decorative borders. Besides, six points of SAGA Scots is enough tartan to last me a while yet!

Firstly, one of the chaps Monty of the excellent Twin Cities Gamer blog described as 'chrome domes' when discussing his own (IMHO brilliant) completed Sons of Death; in homage to this reference therefore, here is Crom MacDòmhnall (thank you, ladies and germs, I'm here all week).

CROM MacDOMhnall... oh, forget it...

We'll just keep going with the pics and avoid any more godawful puns. Well, for a bit at least. All shield transfer designs by Little Big Men Studios - as usual - love their work!

Enjoy!

Another great thing about holidays is that you get a chance to visit your mates, get a game in, and get a bloody good dinner into the bargain; for that was Monday's program at Chez Millsy. We played an excellent game of WHFB, which will no doubt be the subject of an AAR should either of us get the chance to write one up, but here's a taste;

Undead to the left, Savage Orcs to the right. Evil on Evil action, basically.

Turns out that Mr Mills is quite the chef too; in the evening, my Good Lady Wife and I were treated to a brilliant chicken, chorizo and potato bake, accompanied by a delicious (and extremely potent) home-made sangria. Result!

Thanks again to Michael and family for their hospitality!

That's all for now, but go over and check out the Analogue Painting Challenge as the competition heats up; will Millsy regain his position at the top of the table?

Stay tuned...

Sunday, 4 January 2015

Ev's Bijou Yearette In Review (Condensed)

Having reviewed Mr Mills' spectacular output for 2014, I decided to take stock of my own body of painting and modelling work for 2014.

It's slightly more modest; a mere 25 completed figs and one piece of terrain, but the upside is that it won't take you too long to read, and in the hurly-burly of modern life, that can only be a good thing.

The first figs for 2014 were completed from undercoat stage on New Year's Day, preparatory to a game of SAGA at Chez Millsy scheduled for 2 January 2014.

12 Scots Levy with bows; they acquitted themselves more than favourably on the field of battle, thanks to some extremely lucky dice rolls. Time was of the essence, and I wanted them to look a little more proletarian than the Warriors or Thanes, so no tartan for these fellas.

And just think, that's almost 50% of the year's output on the first day of the year! Needless to say, this blistering pace was not to be maintained.

March rolled around, and I decided to create a bit of terrain for SAGA, something to give the Scots a wee bit of authentic atmosphere. I went a little crazy, I think, having gotten all carried away with images of Orkney and its lichen-encrusted ruins;

"Put the brush down, step away from the model, keep your hands in plain view..."

The model, from Ainsty Castings, is one of my faves and definitely repaid the extra effort taken.

Took a bit of a detour around April, when I completed my humble contribution to Russ' 40th birthday present, eight Ork Burna Boyz for 40K. Lots of fun to paint, and I think I learned a fair bit along the way.

By the end of June, I finally got around to completing the SAGA Scots. It'd only taken me 13-and-a-half months! The last point of Hearthguard finally made their appearance, and I was well pleased.

So pleased, in fact, that I had to get them all together for a group pic...

At last! No more tartan to paint!

Something of a hiatus followed (thanks to some family health issues, speedily and effectively dealt with), and by late November I was able to make a start on some special guest stars for SAGA, the Sons of Death; I thought these aggressive Norse Gael raiders would provide a bit of additional colour for our games. I completed one of them, testing out a 'seashore' basing scheme with sand, rocks and strands of kelp. I'm quite pleased with the result and will carry it across to the rest of the unit...

...whenever I get around to completing them!

This may take a little while, as I'm spending quite a bit of time enthusing over the latest event in my life;

my granddaughter Caroline Rose Hughes, born on 23/12 at 12:23pm. Perfect in every way!

Obviously, becoming a granddad is a major distraction from the paint table, but to tell the truth, I don't mind a bit (and yes, I'm showing off her pictures at every opportunity!).

I began this post feeling a little downcast at my lack of productivity for 2014, but I thought about all the other bloggers out there whose work has provided me with inspiration and entertainment while I was largely inactive, and I don't feel so bad after all.

I've realised that while we all have ups and downs, health issues, periods of furious activity punctuated by quiet times, and intrusions from the real world (some of which are exceedingly welcome, see above!), we remain a community where there is always something going on; your work has kept me in touch with the hobby during my less-productive periods, and for that I thank you all.

All the best for 2015 and beyond!

Ev

(And to think that this was to have been a brief post..!)