Monday, September 16, 2013

Weekend Follies

My life is starting to settle back down a little as I move into the fall season.  I usually get more painting done during the fall and winter months, and I hope that trend continues.  I've picked up a bunch of commission work, and plan to focus on that for a while.  Part of that is more OGRE models:



I have a handful of heavy tanks, OGRE's, and a few miscellaneous buildings and vehicles.  I've been tasked with a new round of camo to try out ranging from simple to complex.  Expect some step-by-steps in the weeks to come.

Intermittently I decide to pick up my own stuff and attempt to paint it.  I had an attempt at that this weekend.  Having picked up the exclusive Gen Con Robotech miniatures I've been pretty eager to get Max Sterling painted.  Unfortunately Max had other plans:



A model going to pieces isn't anything new, but this case was different.  I had already assembled him once, and had him fall apart into several pieces before I even primered him.  To have him fall apart again while being painted is quite aggravating to say the least.  It's been years since I've had a miniature do this.  Having assembled miniatures with few/small points of contact but have held up better makes me concerned about the integrity of the model.  Part of the frustration comes from having to do a lot of touch-up work.  When a miniature is glued and primered, inevitably you end up painting over where the joint is glued.  Once the glue gives it usually takes paint with it, and you can't just re-glue it and get back to painting (not if you want to keep your brush from being ruined at least).  In the rush to get some exclusives at Gen Con it's possible that the sculpt is a bit off.  Needless to say if/when I re-assemble Max he's likely to be a show piece rather than used for the game.

My final piece for today is the beginning of new scenery for me:



Just some simple packing material that looked ridged enough to be used as hedges.  I cut out some cork board for a base and just glued them right on top.  All I have to do now is see if some extra bits of foam will take spray primer or melt.  Once I know that I can begin painting.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Gen Con 2013 part 3

The final post about my Gen Con experience this year is a special one.  Since I was only going to have one day to get in the same amount of fun as I would normally do across four days my Gen Con would have to focus on a specific thing.  The big reason I went this year was to reconnect with friends from across the country.  I got to see my friends from Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, and Athena Hollow:






I also got to meet a bunch of new friends like Sarah Moore and Amanda Maul of Gamer Chick, and Lola Hart:




Being around other gamers is probably the biggest highlight for me each year at Gen Con.  So many gamers of so many different styles coming together for four days of camaraderie and having a great time.  That's why I made the drive out to Indianapolis Indiana, and spent an incredible day running all over the convention center.  The people.  My friends.  I'm already looking forward to seeing them all again next year!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Gen Con 2013 Part 2

Continuing from my last post I plan to reveal more of my Gen Con adventures.  This post WAS supposed to go up last week, but in an attempt to feed my narcissism (and that it was free), I snagged a free hair transplant to try and ward off my thinning hair.  The result looks like it'll be good, but has left me feeling kinda of out of it in the head.  Ok, enough of that and onto the costumes!



The above pic is a group of friends dressed up as the main characters from Journey Quest.  You've probably heard me talk about it before, and I still recommend giving it a watch!  I took that pic when the group arrived at the Zombie Orpheus Entertainment booth.  Christian Doyle, the actor who plays Perf, was a bit incredulous at this would-be imposter:



Which one is which I couldn't say.  I actually caught two of them earlier one while I was standing in line for my Robotech exclusives.



Speaking of line shots I snagged a great pic of a Stormtrooper who looks like he had been pulled from Tattooine in order to do some line/aisle control.



I was stuck in line and didn't get a chance to ask him questions, but I'm betting he belongs to the 501st.

I was pretty zonked out on Saturday.  There was so much to do, and looking back I don't think I was fully aware of how overwhelmed I was.  For example this Little Bo Peep costume:



Was not actually Little Bo Peep, but Kaylee from the series Firefly in her dress from the episode, "Shindig."  I felt so bad at having missed the obvious reference, and the dress was so very well put together.

In my wanderings I headed over to the Cool Mini Or Not booth, because if I go to a gaming con I have to spend time with/around miniatures.  Word on the floor had it that there were three cosplayers for their Relic Knights line, which I helped kickstart the plastics for, but only one was there.



While I was there I decided to snap some pics of their studio paint jobs starting with the Shattered Swords faction:


Doctrine:
 

and Cercei Speed Circuit:


While wandering around the event hall I came across a terrific pair of cosplayers sporting costumes from the War Machine miniatures game!



That would be Grand Scrutator Severius and Taryn di la Rovissi you see standing there.  They were very nice, but Severius got upset when I told him that I played Khador.



I managed to flee far enough away from certain doom and damnation that I encountered a Game of Thrones cosplay for Melisandre, priestess of light:



This was a great looking costume!  All red velvet/crushed velvet, and very regal looking.  You can't see it as well in the picture because of the raised hood, but the hair was also a wine-burgundy.  I was assured that this is the book version and not the TV version.  Gotta love attention to detail.

The last costume pic I have for today is of a fierce barbarian!



I really liked this costume, and I'm glad I stopped to take a picture.  It's a cosplay of the person's barbarian character which is always awesome to see!  People put a lot of love and life into their tabletop characters, and seeing them come to life is pretty exciting.  Nearly the entire costume was homemade, and the little accents like the face paint, hair coloring, and feathered jewelry really made this one stand out.  I even managed to get a random passerby to stand still long enough to capture all that fierceness together with me.



After all that I was out of juice, and this had only been about three and a half hours!  I think that next year when I go I need to set a day aside where I can go around and take pictures, talk to the cosplayers, and learn so much more about them!