Monday 24 December 2018

Naughty or Nice? You Decide!

This'll be my last post for 2018. December's bookings in work have finished and it's been a hell of a ride. That said, I've been doing the best I can with trying to get some painting and gaming in and with the team efforts in work from everyone I don't feel cheated at the lack of hobby this month; I've seen friends, had a laugh, got the shopping done and survived another Christmas season in the service industry. I'm pretty good right now!

I have been able to work on a little project in the evenings though. I decided to paint up a model for Model Box's December contest. I liked the model I got and I felt like doing something a little Christmasy. In the New Year I might paint up some friends for him, perhaps another Mordheim Gand for my long awaited next campaign.

What do you think? C&C always welcome.






See everyone in 2019. Have a good 'un!

Monday 3 December 2018

The High King

It took me a while to get these done, but I think the time was well spent. These old school LOTR Elf models are a lot nicer to paint than I would have thought. Though I think part of this is due to the colours involved. I don't paint gold very often and not in such large areas when I do. It's rewarding to see these come out looking as good as they do.




Another batch of Elves to finish the army for "Into The West" in January and then it's back to painting some Orks again I think.

Friday 23 November 2018

The Kings of Dakka (WIP)

I've been showing off my progress of these lads for while now and I'm happy to say that I've finished building the Mob of Flash Gitz. May I present the Self Proclaimed Kings of Dakka! (to be painted)


Complete with ammo runt, big guns and snazzy bits the Boys are finally ready for the painting queue. I'm still grinding out some more Elves for Lord of the Rings, but once they're out of the way, it'll be time to paint these guys for the new year.

Flash Gitz have been one of my favourite units in the Ork fluff and and the new rules has not only made them useful again, but potentially devastating! Part of me wants to expand the mob to 10 models, but that's a job for another day, right now I just want to get these lot on the table so they can show off their super-sized fire power! Expect further updates from these guys over the coming weeks along with anything else I'm working on.

"Look at my flash!"







Friday 16 November 2018

A Spot of Painting

Decided to get my act together this week and finished off another page for New Wasteland Fairy Tales. This Is by no means a quick project, but I'm always super happy when I manage to finish a page. It makes the whole thing finally look finished, even though I've sold so many copies in black and white over the last 5 years I promise the revamped colour version will be something special.


Work continues on my Flash Gitz too. Git number 3 with his Gretchin "helper".




May get the mob of 5 built before Xmas if I'm lucky, but some more comic pages need my attention more right now.

A quick shout out to Oakbound Studios this week, who are embarking on a kickstarter for their collection of miniatures for Goblignomic Wars. We here at Grinning Loon towers always love to see some Goblin themed projects in the works and this one has a few friends contributing. Phil Hynes has put stuff forward and there are lots of other cool looking minis on show. So go put some kickstarter money their way ;)

Tuesday 6 November 2018

I Been Busy, Honest!

So work has gone into high gear as we enter the Autumn Internationals Rugby and then Christmas to follow. Hobby time regrettably has been put on the back burner. Thankfully I've been able to squeeze some painting time for my Last Alliance army.




But the big news for me this week has been the new Ork Codex. And it is AWESOME! In light of my favourite unit getting a massive boost in the rules I've began work on a Mob of retro style Flash Gitz.



Thursday 25 October 2018

Last Con of the Year

It's finally here, my last Comic Con for 2018 and I thought I'd go out with a bang: London MCM. This is one of the biggest shows in Britain and I've been looking forward to this one for a while as it'll be my first London show. Once more I'll be teamed up with Kev from Deadstar and we'll have all of our usual titles up for grabs.

If you're in the area, then come and say hello, we'll be in the Comics Village this year.


Wednesday 17 October 2018

Make Numenor Great

The new rules for Lord of the Rings has really spurred me on to finishing my Last Alliance themed army, Especially since Numenor got a massive boost and can still field High Elf allies without penalty. That said I've finished the Numenorean contingent (bar a few archers and a captain for later)



The King himself was a joy to paint. It's a model I've had bouncing around a box for years and never got around to doing anything with him until recently. So much character.




The Banner bearer was a happy accident as I'd lost the original spear he came with. A little work with the cutters and some greenstuff soon got him back in the ranks. I intended to paint a tree on the  banner, but due to how it's folded up, I'm a bit dubious how it'll turn out. I may go back to it another day.


So, as it's a Last Alliance army, that means I eventually have to paint some Elves. I've been dreading this part of the project. Hopefully I can get through this stage without committing too many painting sins as my Goblin nature starts kicking at the back of my mind.

Monday 15 October 2018

If You Go Down to The Woods Today.... cont

Just a very quick post Today. I heard back from Geoff regarding the Troll and the brute is up on his website HERE, given a slightly more fitting title as a Dark Tjitnir. I must say Geoff has done a lovely job on the paint work for his website.


OK I'm done. Until next time.

Sunday 14 October 2018

If You Go Down To The Woods Today....

Well I'm back from Dragon Daze and after some refresh time and a LOT of tea, I'm slowly getting some hobby work done again. First off though, Dragon Daze!

Once again a HUGE thank you to everyone that helped organize the event and also to everyone that attended. The event helps raise money for charity as well and with this being their fifth event I'm glad to see it growing stronger every year. Kev and I were flying the Deadstar banners once more and it was great to meet new people and also catch up with some old friends. As before there were lots of cool costumes and plenty of new and interesting games.

One game that I hadn't seen before was The Woods by Oakbound Studio. I really liked what was on show; gorgeous Oldhammer style minis, a dark folk lore and a gorgeous hard back rulebook. (I'm a sucker for such things) Geoff who showed me what was on offer regarding upcoming models and the current publishing was great to talk to. As an indy publisher myself, it does my little black heart glad to see that inspiration and talent is still thriving and that I can always find something new at shows like this.

On that note, I sold the Troll sculpt! I had intended to cast up the chunky bugger and sell him on myself, but with no game of my own or a time frame that aloud me to attend many shows, it was always going to be a lucky sale at "bring&buy" or Wargames Con, but I'm happy to announce that he now has a permanent home with Oakbound. Turns out the big fella has a look that  Geoff was planning for his next expansion for The Woods. We had a chat and now he'll be terrorizing Celtic shepherds or stomping on pixies as any good troll should. I'll keep you posted regarding his new career.

I've also been scribbling away at some concept art for Four A Miniatures, an old favourite as Andy is responsible for supplying me more Goblins than I have time to paint. I'll keep you posted on that little project as it develops, but for now Andy's staying hush hush about it. ;)

That's all for now more pictures next time I swear.

Thursday 4 October 2018

In All His Stompy Glory!!!

Behold the Troll!






Took a while to get him painted, just with other projects and the like getting in the way, but here he is. I'll have a few for sale this weekend at Dragon Daze in Newport, so if you fancy picking one up and having a grand day out at the same time, please come along. I'll be there with Deadstar Publishing again and as it's a gaming con I'll be unloading my excess miniatures as well.

 If Newport is too far for you then drop me a private message if you're interested in buying a Troll. I'm looking to recoup my casting costs and a few over heads, so the likely hood is once I've sold what I have, that'll be the last of him unless someone picks him up for there own. I still have the green for anyone interested in such a thing.

For those who like this sort of thing, here is the stages that led to the big brute, from early sketches to sculpting.





Monday 24 September 2018

The Next Great Thing

For the past week I've been working hard with Kev at Deadstar Publishing to get ready for Cardiff Film and Comic Con. The event has come and gone and an enjoyable weekend out it was. We were accompanied by Cat and Lynx this weekend, (aka C L Raven) a horror writing duo that were sharing the table with us, thanks to them and all the people involved in making the two day event fun. My next convention will be Dragon Daze in Newport on the 6th October so if I missed you at CFCC I'll hopefully catch you in Newport.

All that aside, I managed to finish painting some Numenoreans for Lord of the Rings. There's usually a small event held in January at my local so I'm planning ahead and trying to get an army built for the event.



These took a while to get done. Mostly due to my work schedule, but also because of trying to keep everything neat and clean. When I've painted LOTR armies in the past I've been able to get away with a little messiness due to them being evil armies or by being straight forward uniform, but these guys have a lot going on I found. The white tunic under the black over coat for example, then there's the tree symbol on the chest and the shields. Don't get me wrong these are not complaints. It's been a long time since I had to paint something that required some thought and careful brush work. I've a banner in the army to paint at some point and that means I'll need to paint a free hand flag of Numenor.

I've also been finishing off a secret project via commission which has taken up some time as well as starting another project for "real life" work.


Just some doodles at this stage, but it's fun to try something new. That's all for now. will have something new next time.

Wednesday 12 September 2018

Still Here!

Wow, I have fallen behind in posting. Reasons are two fold, firstly I've been super busy with both real life stuff and super secret project work (shhhh!) So no time to post. Secondly, due to super secret project work, I've nothing much to actually post. All my other stuff, like the comics and miniatures painting have been put on the back burn until I can finish what I'm doing. I assure you the wait will be over soon as I'm in the final stages and as soon as I've been given the green light I'll actual start talking about it.

Until then, a brief rundown of what's coming up for me; Cardiff Film and Comic Con as back on the 22nd and 23rd of September and Kev and myself shall be there flying the Indy Publisher banner again. This year, Deadstar Publishing will be table buddies with Hellbound Media who I've mentioned in the past and have also been involved in Age of Savagery. If you've not picked up a copy yet, come by and see us at CFCC and you can get a few signatures off some of the creatives that were involved.

Hot on the heels of CFCC is Dragon Daze in Newport on the 6th October. A small con, but one that is very special to me. This year the event clashes with a larger Gaming Con elsewhere, but don't let that dissuade you. If you're in the area and fancy attending friendly Con with games and LOTs of comics then check it out.

Not to be kept quiet, LondonMCM at the end of October will by the last Con I attend personally this year. November onwards is a busy time for people in the service industry and that means me too. I figured that if it was going to be my last con of 2018, I'd better make it a big one and London MCM sounds like the best fit.

On the Hobby front, I've been giving Kill Team some attention, but the new release of the Lord of the Rings Rules has got me fired up to play some games in Middle-Earth. I've tried to get some painting in between shifts and I should be able to squeeze a game in this week if I'm lucky ;)

Tuesday 28 August 2018

Flag of the Loon

One project done and looking forward to the next. The Grots are alle finished and I'm looking forward to getting some more Kill Team games in with the little ankle biters. The main part of the the Mob are just the usual Grots from my Ork Army, but the specialists, warrented something a bit more unique. Whilst rummaging in the lead pile, I also dug out a few extra bits to round out the Mob for flavour and we are good to go!


Grot Pyro-Teams (counts as Burna Boyz) were a must have to get some actual damage causing weapons on the board. I thought about having Lootas, but after digging up the Grot with the welding mask I decided to go with fire.

The true heroes of the Mob; Scout Grot, Boss Grot and Flag Grot (aka fire magnet)

Finally, this little treasure. In the Mob he counts as an Ork Nob with a Power Klaw, but is still not the Mobs Leader. I'd like to get my hands on the other old Tin Boy models, but I'm un willing to pay the fees that some are asking for.



With the Grots taking to the field this week, I'm looking forward to the next two months of GW's releases. In October I'll be go full tilt into the new Ork Codex so be prepared for a LOT of new stuff along that theme, but first is the revamp of the Lord of the Rings game.

New rules, new look and certainly new models on the horizon. With that in mind I think it'd high time to dig out my home brew Dwarf army and get the little buggers painted.

Wednesday 22 August 2018

Back From Bloodstock

Took a while, but I finally have a chance to sit down and write a bit. Despite having a well deserved holiday, the catch up period in work has been keeping me busy, but in the best way. So, how was my time away at Bloodstock? Pretty freakin' awesome!


To clarify, I HATE camping so going to a festival has never been on my list of things I've wanted to do, but I was convinced by those going with me that the "camping" side of things was a very small part of the experience. To their credit they were right and with the aid of an inflatable mattress (yes I am that determined to stay comfy) I was able to have many solid nights sleep the whole time I was there. Being well rested, fueled on booze and surrounded by metal heads I had a blast. The head liners put on a great show and so many bands made the week an event to remember.


 I spent as much time as I could spare in the New Blood Stage, checking out new bands and just trying grow my playlists. Music isn't something that gets covered on this blog as it tends to be something I have on in the background whilst doing other things. As a result, going to shows and listening to live music tends to pass me by. I am glad I had the opportunity to go to Bloodstock this year and I will certainly be attending in the future. Next year might be a stretch due to money, I will honour the memories. Whilst there, I saw so many cool battle vests; tons of unique badges and patches and plenty of art work alongside it. I was able to grab a few patches for myself towards the end of the weekend as well as cheap army vest from a stall there. I've plans now to build my own battle vest, but it wouldn't be mine unless I did something special. I've put together a few ideas for the back of the vest.


On the miniatures front, I've not a lot to show. But here's a WIP of the Grots for Kill Team. Hopefully get these done before the end of the week.