No game night this week and with no overnight trips for work I’ve actually managed to crack on with a few different hobby projects this week. The plan of having a few different things on the go at the same time seems to have paid off this week.
To start with I’ve been working on some terrain pieces for Guild Ball. Al picked these up from Solid Ground Studios and I volunteered to paint them up a few weeks ago. I cleaned them up and primed them straight away and then they sat there waiting for something to happen, mainly because I wanted to do something a bit different but didn’t know what. Not having any real inspiration I just started to work on them and didn’t think too much, I just went with the flow and I’m happy with how they turned out. I usually do all my rocks in grey but looking for something different here I use some yellow wash to give things a different feel which I think works quite well. For the rough terrain I used some Army Painter grass to try and make it look like you would get tripped or tangled if you tried to move over it. Then for the fast terrain I went with a slippery feel by simply using a gloss varnish to make it look like you slide over the piece. Putting them all together I like how they have turned out, something a bit different for me but in keeping with the game.
With the bases finished and feeling on a bit of a roll I decided to have a go at painting up a couple of my Wild West Exodus Scouts to test out the colour scheme I have in mind. I’ve taken my inspiration from the concept art for the different factions, although I don’t have the skills to actually match the artwork. One of the things about these guys is that they are supposed to be a bit on the sneaky side relying on stealth to ambush their opponents. I wanted to try and have them in colours that matched the colours on the bases but at the same time I didn’t’ want them to be lost on the bases. I used the airbrush to paint the cloaks to try and give some smooth transitions between the different colours. I like how they have turned out but I think I may be a little bolder with the next batch. As happens a lot with me I think they look good up close but are a little bit too subtle when you view them on the table top. But overall I’m happy with how they turned out and whilst the bases didn’t follow my original idea I think they ended up working quite well.
Keeping with the Wild West Exodus feel I also finished off Maria L. Because she is also part of the Confederate faction she has the same base style as the scouts and the plan is to use the same base style for all of my Confederates.
Al’s also responsible for my next project after sending me text last week saying that he’d been looking at something new for Infinity. Now I’ve not played much Infinity but I do have quite a few models for the game in the form of both Nomads and Haqqislam. So I decided to use Al enthusiasm to pick up a box of Janissaires. I’ve been coveting these for some time now so it didn’t take much of nudge to encourage me to get them.
They turned up last Saturday and I was hoping to have some progress pictures for you but I ran into a bit of problem. After clipping and cleaning up all of the parts I started to put everything together only to find that I didn’t actually have all of the parts I needed to complete them. There were no heads and only one backpack which left me with something of a dilemma. I only realised I was missing these parts as I was building the models so I wasn’t sure how to resolve the issue. Did I pack everything up and send them back or could I just get the missing parts. My preferred option would be to just find a way of getting the missing parts. For anyone who has ever purchased an Infinity miniature you will be familiar with the little numbered tickets they come with. So I took a picture of all of the components along with the tickets and sent an e-mail off to Corves Belles missing parts e-mail address. Now this was on Saturday morning so I wasn’t expecting a quick response. First thing Monday morning and I’ve got a response. A very nicely worded apology and a note saying they will send out the missing parts.
Now I was a bit disappointed that they parts were missing in the first place but we are all human and mistakes happen. It’s certainly not the end of the world. But for me it’s what happens next that really matters and I think the response was absolutely spot on. We all seem quick to complain when things go wrong but never seem to shout out when things go well. So I’d like to give credit where credit is due and say that CB have been fantastic with this.
As soon as the part arrive which considering they are coming from Spain may take a while I’ll crack on with these guys. But in the meantime here’s a bit of teaser of the minis, without heads and backpacks to give you an idea of what to expect.
I’ve not done any work on the Italians this week but my plan for next week is to break the work down into squadrons so that I don’t over face myself and to keep mixing things up. So with a fair wind I’ll have a bit of variety to share with you next week. Until then have a good week and I’ll catch you all again next week.
