The Avatar

The Avatar stands for Honesty,
Compassion, Valor, Justice, blah blah blah

Mine just likes to kick ass.

Since I got my first PC back in '95 or so I have been in love with the Ultima series (Ultima VII is still ranked as the best PC game of all time IMO, though Skyrim comes perilously close to knocking it off the top spot).

The lore, humour, sheer size of the world, and the fact that (in Ultima VII especially) you can live another life inside there captivate me, and I'm amazed that even to this day - after so long - nobody has created a PC game that comes as close as Ultima VII does to making a virtual world. Every NPC has schedules. They all go home, sleep, have breakfast, go to work - you can even watch the baker make bread or get a job and do it yourself. Then it's off to the tavern for supper, listen to a lecture at the temple, and finally back to bed. It feels like a living breathing world, and even 20 years later it's never been beaten.

Sure the graphics nowadays are better. Thousands of times better, but gameplay wise ... unbeatable.

The Ankh isn't my greatest work, but it was
my first attempt with Green Stuff

So I made myself a little tribute to this wonderful game. The inspirational picture comes from Ultima VI, and the Reaper miniature is one of their Dark Legionnaires. I sculpted the Shield to remove the rams head, did a bit of green stuff work (my first ever attempt) to make an Ankh on his tabard and the shield, and hey presto! One Avatar.

One day I intend to find models to suit his constant companions, Iolo, Shamino and Dupre. Skirmish game set in Britannia, anyone??

Village Meeting

I love how the farmer has his head turned away in disgust from
 the scantily clad dancer. Or is he just eyeing up the streetwalker?

I still have some of the Reaper villagers left to paint, so one day I shall post the village in its entirety, but for now I'll show these poor little peons off to you.

They were bought basically to die. Good fodder / objective points for rampaging marauders, or as defence points for the good guys. They also help set the scene for any skirmish that takes place in a village and stop every battle taking place around mysteriously abandoned villages.

'Come away from that hussy, child.
You might catch something!'

'Who are you calling a hussy, missy?
Look into my eye, do you really
want a piece of me?'

I think I did a really good job on some of these. The 'streetwalker' has an awesomely textures skirt. I don't know if the pictures really show it, but the deep red seems to come off almost as a velvet feel. I think it was my first attempt at layering, and not bad for one afternoons work.

Villagers enjoying the tavern after a hard days work

Some Initial Pics

So every mini blog needs pics, so without further ado I'll get to it. Please note the first pictures are hideous, but I put them here as a baseline for my (hopefully) developing skills.

When I used to wargame / D&D as a teenager, I rarely paid much attention to the painting side of the hobby. Very often my games would be played with bare plastic / metal, and if I took the time to paint them they'd be rush jobs, or done with entirely the wrong brushes. Such as this:

A Genestealer Magus. My first ever painted mini. ~1994

Then a few years ago I decided I'd take up painting on a much more serious level. Back then, though, serious painting meant a neat base coat. No shading, no highlights, just put the paint where it was meant to go, tidy up and varnish.  

 Delaque Gangers. 2009

My interest in painting gradually grew, and I started taking more time over the models. I splashed out on more paints (still sticking to GW at this time), some semi-decent brushes - Kolinsky-sable was still way too expensive for what I'd considered the lesser part of the hobby, so I was content with red sable blend brushes from Rosemary & Co (I highly recommend them as good starting brushes, excellent for those those on a budget). I learned semi-basic techniques like drybrushing and washes, and began to turn out better models.

GW OoP - Witch Hunter. 2010

    Nowadays I've learned the importance of good brushes (Kolinsky-sable from Rosemary & Co are awesome), I've expanded my paints into Vallejo & P3, and learned even better techniques like layering, wet-blending and the basics of colour-theory. Also, basing, though the mini pictured below seems sadly lack of it.

Reaper - Prince Denethorr. 2012

Reaper - Prince Denethorr (rear)

 Now I have the history done, I'll post some proper minis shortly!

2012 Year in Review

So as lots of the blogs that I read seem to be doing a Year in Review, I'll join the bandwagon and officially open my blog with one of these, too.

Firstly, I had a hard time playing many games this year. Whether I was too lazy to climb the steps to my attic or for some other reason, to me this year seemed all about the painting. I have a sneaky suspicion I might enjoy this aspect more than actually playing, though over the last few days I've begun to put a few plans into action that will hopefully see more motivation to game.

Anyhow, on to what I did.

Warhammer Quest
Earlier in the year Yo and I delved into the dark passages of Warhammer Quest fairly often, though almost all games ended in bitter defeat at the hands of rampaging Minotaurs, or from work of the evil dice gods. Worse, the few quests that we did manage to complete almost always went awry whilst travelling back to town, resulting in very few of our Heroes reaching Battle Level 2, and I don't think any reached their third birthday.

I started drawing up plans to somehow make the game a little easier, whilst still trying to keep the 'ROLL ONE MORE ONE, AND IT'S A DIVORCE FOR YOU!' level of panic. Specific Monster-themed Dungeons, gentle house-rules, and new Event cards were all on the table, but were never actually completed. I also put into action a sweeping plan to increase the variety of monsters we could draw from (basically an excuse to buy buckets of new miniatures), and I can say - a little smugly - that this was a resounding success, even if my wallet seems all the thinner for it, but more on that a few sections below.


Warhammer 40K
I'm a die-hard 2nd Edition fan, but have never been around to see a new edition launch, so I was a little curious. I temporarily got hold of a copy, and started a (small) collection of Ravenguard Space Marines and Necons. I was unimpressed, and will probably never play it again. Though I do intend on picking up a few more boxes of 40k stuff (Tau, Eldar and Tyranids) so I can occasionally drip-feed them into my Necromunda campaign.


Modified Mordheim  -"Mord-omunda of the Rings Quest"
I kicked off a new solo campaign just last month, and am writing up the rules for my own convenience and consistency. The idea of Necromunda transplanted into a Fantasy setting appeals to me very much, and if I have to write my own rulebook to get it to work, then by Moridin's Hammer I'll see it done!

Painting & Collecting
This was the Year of the Paintbrush for me, and I did lots of it. Way too much to list here, though the focus was to purchase small amounts of each of the GW Fantasy Armies so I could use them as antagonists in Mordheim and Warhammer Quest. The amount of evil denizens still sprayed chaos black and sitting on my shelves is simply staggering, though I am pleased with the amount that are painted and ready to pillage and kill.

I took part in the Reaper Kickstarter, pledging the Vampire Level. $100 to get more than 200 minis? Hell. Yeah. I'm a little dubious as to the expected quality of these minis, and doubt very much they'll be up to their usual standard, but only time will tell. I'm also not looking forward to the massive import fees the UK will undoubtedly impose...



Summing Up

I'm fairly with happy how last year went. Just a quick headcount showed that I've painted 116 miniatures in 2012, not including the 4 sat on my desk unfinished. I didn't game that much, but hopefully the new rules I'm writing will give me the kick in the backside that I need. And if it doesn't, well, I always have my paintbrush...