Weekly Waffle #320
10th February 2024
I’m back with another weekly waffle again this week after my planned break last weekend. And what a weekend it was. I know it’s not hobby related but this is also a waffle so I think a quick update is fitting. After all life should have a bit of variety if you can get it.
What a fantastic weekend it was. I have never been to Rome before and taking in a six nations game at the same time has just been the icing on the cake. It has been an absolutely full on three days with a visit to the Vatican museum first thing on Saturday morning which was an absolute wonder. There is so much to see that the four hours we spent there just don’t do it justice. Everywhere you look there is something else to take your breath away. Ironically the Sistine Chapple wasn’t as awe inspiring as I thought it would be given everything we had seen before this. Don’t get me wrong because it is magnificent, it’s just that there is so much magnificence it left me a little underwhelmed. And now I’m going to be struck down for saying that.
Saturday afternoon was the match and that aged me more than I care to think about. Italy played fantastically the their last try was the try of the day for me. England managed to hang on for the win but I can’t help but think that we were lucky and we dodged a bullet with the result. That aside it was great to be there in person and the fact that all of the fans mix just adds to the atmosphere. We were a little island of the England fans in a sea of Italian fans and at no point did it feel uncomfortable. Everyone was there for the game and just enjoyed it. If you have never had chance to go to a big Rugby match I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Sunday was a bit more of a lazy day with the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon being the order of the day. Nearly 1700 years of history separating them covered in one day. What’s more it’s only about a half hour walk between all of these monuments, if you can get through the throngs of people. This is was more of a lazy day with lots of stops for drinks and food which made for a very enjoyable day.
Monday was the day we were flying home but we had an evening flight so spent the day at the Colosseum. Again pictures don’t do the place justice and standing on the arena floor looking up just gave me goose bumps. Imagining the events that went on here and how terrifying it must have been for those standing there. Thrust into a life and death situation with thousands of people baying for blood.
It was a fantastic three days and a city I would love to visit again because this trip only scratched the surface of what there was to see and do. So planning is now underway for a return trip, I just don’t know when it will be. And that’s it for this week’s travel update and wrap things up here are few pictures from the trip.
With everything now in place for Adepticon I have been looking through my pile of shame and have a new project for this week. On the content front I’m planning on pacing myself with these projects so a lot over the next few weeks are likely to be single miniatures. Or small simple units.
With that in mind this week I have dusted off the legendary Gregor Eisenhorn. And on a side note if you haven’t read the Dan Abnett books about his exploits I can’t recommend them highly enough. In fact just about anything from Dan is going to be a good read. But back to Gregor. I picked him up when he came out and until I started this project I had completely forgotten he was in fine cast. Which is a real oxymoron. It took quite a bit of cleaning but I think it looked quite good once it was done.
Now before I got started I decided to set myself some rules for painting him. First of all I wasn’t going to let it take forever. So whatever hobby time I had for this week had to see him finished. And the second was that I wasn’t going to use any contrast paints. Because I’ve been using slap chop as a crutch for too long and need to get back to some basic skills. The first step was to prime it with a Vallejo black and to help me along I gave it a simple zenith highlight with a grey primer. I also kept it in a few parts just for the ease of painting.
As you can see from the pictures there are few bits that look scratched because I cleaned him up with a hobby knife and didn’t do any sanding. I don’t think it matters for this guy as he will be a gaming piece but it’s something I will need to remember if I’m going to try and do a display piece in the future. It’s easy to set yourself up for failure. You can’t win at this stage but you can certainly lose.
Breaking the mini down into a few bits was really just to make it a bit easier to paint. I started with the base because I thought that would be a quick a win. Some dry brushing followed by some washes and I quickly had something I was very happy with. I then started to pick out a few details to try and just bring it up a step. Really just trying to make it stand out a bit from my Necromunda minis, which I was judging this by. I soon got into a flow with this and it didn’t take that long at all to have something I was really happy with.
For me making I’ve found bases to be quick wins and a good base can draw the eye away from a lot of other issues. So starting with the base can really set the bar for a model. If I’m happy with the base and think it looks good then there is part of me that wants the mini standing on it to be just as good. Which gives me a little bit of boost to put the effort in on the rest of the model.
After the base I decided to work on the face. Because I’ve heard lots of people talking about bases and faces. You get those two right and you can hide a world of issues. Another thing I had decided to do with this model was to get back to using my wet palette, which had been languishing for several months. For the face I really just worked with a base, shade and highlights which I think has worked out ok. I used a light purple was again to try and give it a more natural look before doing the eyes. These are just white with a blue over this and then just a black dot for the pupils.
The hair was grey but I’m quite proud of this because I’ve not rummaged through my paints looking for just the right stage. Instead I used a black and a white and mixed up my own shades. I know it’s nothing complicated but it’s not something I’ve done for a very long time. So I’m really happy that I’ve done it and know that I can building this going forward.
For me the base and the head were the quick wins this week. I think part of me was wanting to do these to build up a bit of mojo because I was very apprehensive about painting the cloak which is such a major part of this mini. I started off with quite a dark green, and then tried to glaze down to the black in the recesses. Overall whilst I know it’s a long way from good I am happy with how it turned out. But I think more importantly than just this mini now have a better understanding of this process. Given time I can work on this and I think there could be good results in the future. I did the red in simple light coats building up the highlights and like the contrast with the rest of the cloak.
For the details I just took my inspiration from the box art and whilst i wasn’t trying to slavishly copy it, I was using it as guid. When the base, body and head come together I was quietly surprised with how it looked. I think the only bit I’m not content with is the staff. This was my own flat because I’d given myself a time limit and wanted to stick to it. I know it’s self imposed but I also know at the moment if I don’t do this then I just won’t get things finished. And I’m valuing getting things finished over getting as good as I can at the moment. I can always come back to it but I know at the moment if I don’t do this I will end up down a rabbit hole chasing ever diminishing returns. Which at the end of day no one but me will notice. So get it done. Learn from it and move onto the next thing with that experience. But what do you think.
That’s it for this week’s weekly waffle. Another mini completed and an imperceptible dint made in the pile of shame. I do have more lined up for next week and a plan to keep me painting right up to Adepticon. That plan is to keep it small and simple. So single models or small units. I’m not going to get greedy and will try to have something new each week. Then when I’m back from Adepticon I may try something a little larger that runs over a couple of week. But until then I’ll be keeping it simple. So until next week, keep safe, have some fun, and I hope to catch you all again next weekend.
And to keep you entertained until next time why don’t you have a look at so other content I’m enjoying at the moment:
