The Duck-man

I finished my latest Discworld miniature a few weeks ago.  The Duck-man is another member of the Canting Crew (Foul Ole Ron and Arnold Sideways, which I have already painted are also members)

The Duck-man is considered the smart member of the Canting crew.  He used to be well off and successful.  His tattered clothes are that of an old well tailored suit.  He recounts eating in the very finest of restaurant.  He also has the bounty of $132 000 for his head from the assassins guild.  So someone really wants him dead.

The only really odd things about the the Duck-man is that he is oblivious to a duck that lives on his head. He also does not understand why people around him keep quacking.

I tried painting a little stubble on the Duck-man's face.  I used 2 layers of some watered down "grey-white".  I also tried going for some mud splashes on the suit.  I am not to happy with the duck though.  It looks sloppy and rushed.  I will probably repaint the duck at some point. 

Kevin

The Hogfather

        The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett is one of my all time favorite books (and one of the few that I have read more that once). I try and read it almost every December. For people who have not read it I will give a brief summary.

       The Hogfather is an anthropomorphic personification in the Discworld (he is basically Santa Claus). However he is a little more rough in appearance (he has tusks) and 4 large boars pull his sleigh. In the book, an assassin is hired to kill the Hogfather. Death (the character) believes that the world needs to believe in the Hogfather or the sun will not rise. So Death pretends to be the Hogfather (complete with a false beard and a pillow stuffed into his jacket) to maintain the belief. Meanwhile his granddaughter, Susan, tries to figure out why her grandfather is pretending to be the Hogfather. Susan must figure everything out and save the real Hogfather.
The book is peppered with enjoyable humorous character such as, the Oh God of Hangovers, a tooth fairy, and the Veruca Gnome. I can't recommend this book more!

       When I found out that Micro Art Studios also made a Hogfather miniature I had to paint it this December. I ordered it a little late and it had to come from Poland but it arrived shortly before Christmas. Sadly I did not get enough time to finish up Elf Albert too. I frantically tried to get The Hogfather painted by Christmas. I wanted to use it in a game of Guards Guards after Christmas dinner (which I won). I put the snow on the base at 11pm on Christmas Eve.

       I tried some different paint for the red this time (compared to how I painted my Blood Angel army). I felt it made a good solid colour. The main difficulty I had with the model was doing so many different shades of white/bone. I ended up going with yellows, greys and brown bases with the same highlight white to mix in.

Kevin

Christmas Gift Project - New Painted Tank

 This post is a little late (as you can probably guess from the title).  I managed to complete the project two days before Christmas.             

             Last year, for Christmas, I painted a Flames of War German Pather tank for a non-gamer friend of mine.  When later he saw my winter themed Germans, he kept asking for a "snow tank". What a better way to complete that request then with a new Christmas present.

              This year I wanted to paint something for him that was a vehicle but not necessarily a typical gun tank. I ended on a British half-track. I have always liked the looks of a half-tracks but had never painted one. I figured that the troops in the back would look great in a diorama.

              I used the same type of display box that I used for the previous tank. I built a little base and used some pre-made pine trees in the background. This was also the first time I had used decals.  The dessert rats symbol looks awesome so I used that one. It was a little finicky to get the decals to stay in place.  I used a little watered down Wellbond glue to help secure them.

              I added a little snow flock to some Wellbond to make the snow drift. For the trees I sprayed them with stiff hair spray and sprinkled snow flock over top.

             I hope he liked it.

 Kevin

Granny Weatherwax

Granny Weatherwax is one of my favorite Pratchett characters.  I think I was first introduced to her when I read the Wee Free Men series.  Granny is a witch.  Witches do not have a hierarchy with leaders (that is wizards stuff) but "Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn't have" (Pratchett, Wyrd Sister).

She is your stereotypical witch.  However she was been cursed with a full set of teeth and has yet to get a single wart anywhere; which for a witch is a real image problem.

I wanted a more natural black colour for the cloak.  I tried going about it a little differently this time.  I would usually start with a black base coat and highlight the edges.  This time I went with a dark grey base.  From there I highlighted up to a light grey on the extremities.  Then gave the who model two coats of Nulin Oil.  I am happy with the result, it has a more realistic black cloth appearance.   
 

“Personal’s not the same as important. People just think it is.” Granny Weatherwax (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)


“Don’t hold with schools. They gets in the way of education.”  Granny Weatherwax (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

Kevin

Time for Something a Little Different

I did not get much finished on any Discworld miniatures.  I was all set to paint Death.  However as I was applying a base coat I found two grooves and a strap on his belt that looked a bit off.  I searched for pictures online and lo and behold, I was missing Death's sword (his second favorite weapon). 

I am doing a little Flames of War campaign over the month of December.  It will be me and my buddy Josh.  Neither of us have played any games really.  We are going to do a Tank Aces campaign.  He will be playing his Soviet Union army and I will be using my Canadians.

We decided that we will only play games once we have fully painted that campaign phase worth of points (500pts, 700pts, 900pts).

Here is Josh's  first round of T-34s.

 And here is my force.  I originally built them using GW's plastic glue.  Apparently there was a bad batch a while back that crystallized.  All the details and barrels broke off all my tanks...I was not happy.  I have since begrudgingly repaired them.

 Kevin

Bugrit, millennium hand an' shrimp

The fifth Discworld miniature is finished.  This one took me a little longer.  I did some highlighting on the cloak and then gave it a wash.  The wash ended up staining the model and giving it a really sloppy appearance.  So I highlighted the cloak back up and I am much happier with it.

Foul ole Ron is a member of the Canting Crew (Arnold Sideways is also a member, which I painted a few weeks ago).  He is known by his ranting catch phrase "Bugrit, millennium hand an' shrimp."  According to wikipedia, Pratchett came up with this phrase by putting a Chinese menu and the lyrics to They Might Be Giants "Partial Man" song into a random text generating program.

Also on the base is Gaspode, the world's first Thinking Brain Dog (instead of a seeing eye dog).  Gaspode is a small dog that has gained the ability to talk by spending so much time around the Unseen University (Random magic changes the locals) .

First game with miniatures! 

Full review of "Guards Guards" to follow soon!

Kevin

Nobby Nobbs

“They always gives me bath salts. And bath soap and bubble bath and herbal bath lumps and tons of bath stuff and I can’t think why, ‘cos it’s not as if I hardly ever has a bath. You’d think they’d take the hint, wouldn’t you?” ~Corporal Nobby Nobbs

The orange player in Guards Guards will use Corporal Nobby Nobbs of the Night Watch.  Nobby Nobbs always reminds me of my old friend Brad; it might be their appearance, or use of "under handed" tactics, or their desire to always use the flame thrower.  In any case, Nobby is one of the most memorable of Pratchett's characters. 

 

Kevin