Pirates!

I decided to take a bit of a break this week both from painting Gangsters and from painting in general.  I feel its important to me that painting never starts to feel like a job even if I am getting paid for it.

So with that in mind, i've only painted two things this week, and one isn't finished.  The first is a brilliantly sculpted resin Skeletal Pirate from Black Scorpion Miniatures and the second was a set of barrels for scenery from Renadra.

The first pirate is a bit of a mix as far as i'm concerned.  The sculpting is excellent and the pose is good, the detail is clear.  In fact there's nothing wrong with the miniature at all.  But my approach didn't work out quite as well as I had envisaged in my mind.  I wanted a grimy, dirty look which I got but it wasn't easy.  In fact it took a lot longer than I expected and still isn't quite what I had in mind.  

The non metallic metal work on his sword came out well despite needing a lot of work to get it right.  I repainted it twice before getting a look I was happy with and if I wasn't committed to improving my NMM work I probably would have thrown in the towel and pulled out the metallics.

But in the end it came out well I think.  The wooden floorboard resin base from Tiny Worlds Wargaming came out really nicely and shows off the model to great effect.  I can't recommend those bases enough!

Now the Barrels were much easier.  I started with a base coat of US Field Drab from Vallejo Model Color (70873) on the wooden parts and Lufftwaffe Uniform (70816) on the hoops.  The wood got a wash of Agrax Earthshade to pull out the details and the hoops got a Nuln Oil wash.

Thats as far as i've got though.  The plan is to finish off with a Grey Blue (70943) highlight on the hoops and to glue them all to a base so they can be used for lots of different games.

I'll put up some photos of the finished work soon.

New Painting Table

I mentioned in my last post that I set up a new painting table and that i'd share it with you, well here it is.

I paint in my living room, this isn't a perfect solution but does have the main benefit of me being able to be sociable with my wife.  So when she's watching soaps (which I can't stand) I can occupy myself without having to endure them.

But painting in the living room does have some drawbacks.  First the painting table needs to be mobile so when we have company over it can be cleared away.  Second the level of noise has to be low so no electric drills or dremelling allowed. Third the amount of space is limited so the workstation has to stay organised and tidy.

I'm using a small computer desk with a pull out draw. It's on wheels so can be moved around easily and has plenty of storage area underneath for my basing materials, spare brushes, and the paint colours I don't use very often.  The pull out keyboard draw is the perfect place to keep my palettes.

Its a big improvement on my last table as the storage shelves mean I can keep the work space clear.  My angle poise magnifying lamp fits on one side and my little bench vice on the other.  

Both these tools are excellent additions to anyone's painting table in my opinion.  I don't use the magnifying glass too often, mainly for eyes, but the extra light is invaluable.  The vice comes in handy for all kinds of things including drilling miniatures so they can be pinned and holding them still while I file or cut them.

On my right I have my computer so I can reference photos for inspiration and listen to music, especially when Eastenders is on!

When the table needs to be cleared the paints and miniatures get packed away in plastic boxes and go onto the shelves the lamp gets unplugged and the whole lot gets wheeled into another room.

On the table at the moment are five of Bob Murch's Pulp Figures to finish for my regular DM's Pulp game, four Undead Pirates from Black Scorpion that I have no real need for but couldn't resist buying and two sets of barrels I picked up for £2.50 at Clifton Road Games this week.  They should come in really handy for all kinds of games.

Games Workshop, Overprice much?

£8.00 for 4 figures

During my recent visit to Clifton Road Games I picked up a set of four Resin Undead Pirates from Black Scorpion Miniatures, they cost me £8.00 which is in my opinion excellent value for money.

£45.00 for 4 figures

So you can understand perhaps why I had a bit of a jaw dropping moment when I went into Games Workshop the same day and saw the White Council set.  Four Resin Miniatures for £45.00!

So are the Games Workshop miniatures worth nearly six times as much as the Black Scorpion ones?  Are they made from the Resin of the legendary Tree of Life?  No, guess again? Then perhaps they were hand sculpted by Leonardo Davinci, hidden in a secret vault for 500 years and finally unearthed by Games Workshop Archaeologists? Nope wrong again. Well at least they must be in dynamic poses and have complex levels of detail.  Um...not so much.

So in fact, they are reasonably well sculpted but simple miniatures in very prosaic poses priced at £11.25 each but not sold separately (in those poses/outfits).

Well the Black Scorpion miniatures must therefore be in comparison really badly sculpted? Nope, they're really well sculpted actually.  Well maybe they're made of the toxic death poison known as lead? 'fraid not, they're high quality resin too. 

So why do they cost £2 each then, there must be a reason they cost nearly 6 times less than Games Workshop miniatures?

Anyone?   

-crickets-

Anyone?

  

Spotlight on: Clifton Road Games

I love Games Shops, wherever I go I like to look them up and see how they do things.  I've been to Games shops all over the UK, in Italy, France and even in Florida and Indianapolis.

From now on when I visit a new one i'll do a little review and share my thoughts with you, I hope you find it useful. Leave a comment if you like the idea.

So first in the series will be the shop I went to today. Clifton Road Games in Exeter (UK).  I've been aware of this shop for a few months and despite living just half an hour away I haven't found the time to visit until now.  That's a mistake I'll be correcting on a regular basis if I can.

An entire wall of Flames of War

They have a Facebook page and a pretty well constructed website.

Clifton Road Games has a very deceptive entrance.  Through a tiny corridor opens up into a fair sized shop with a very, very, generous games room.  

Gamers Paradise

The member of staff (the owner I think) was friendly and helpful as were the other customers.  In my experience its a characteristic of Games Shops that the customers want to help other gamers and this store was no exception.

So many miniatures, so little in my bank!

The store had a really great selection of miniatures, a whole wall of Flames of War, Warmachine, Dystopian Wars, Black Scorpion, Rackham, West Wind and loads more. I can't remember another shop I've been to that had such a comprehensive offering.  The few I didn't see included Copplestone Castings,  Reaper Miniatures (a personal favourite as regular readers will know), Hasslefree and Games Workshop (an omission I consider to be a major point in Clifton Road Games' favour).

Even more Miniatures

Along with miniatures there was a massive selection of boardgames, RPGs, Wargames Rules, Vallejo paint (Air, Game & Model Colour ranges), scenery and general model supplies.  There was also a pretty extensive selection of Card games like Magic and the shop is clearly very active in tournament hosting.

The Games area, they were moving tables at the time

This leads me on to another major strength of the shop. The Games area.  It was HUGE.  Plenty of tables and chairs for Friday Night Magic and Tournaments and it was big enough to hold lots of big wargames or skirmish games.  

Did I mention Gamers Paradise?

I would estimate that their playing area is around ten times the size of your average Games Workshop.  The store hosts weekly Card Games nights, Wargame nights and Boardgames nights.

Before I say this I want to make it clear that I don't know anyone at the shop, I don't get paid anything by them or have any ties to them.  

I could have spent hours at this shop, and if my lovely wife wasn't with me I certainly would have.  This is an excellent shop with a really great games area and if you live in the Exeter area (or anywhere nearby) I'd strongly recommend paying a visit to Clifton Road Games, I'm sure they will make you very welcome and I'm sure you'll become a regular.

Now thats my kind of mural. OOTS FTW

Spotlight on....Black Scorpion Miniatures

Sorry there haven’t been many posts recently but this is a busy season for work and the painting projects I’ve been working on are destined to be Christmas presents so I can’t share them until after the holidays.

But what I can do is introduce you to some new miniatures suppliers.  I think its pretty apparent that I’m a big fan of Reaper, especially what they are doing for the hobby with their Bones line but I’ve spoken about them on many occasions (and will no doubt speak about them in the future a lot too). So this post will be all about…..BlackScorpion Miniatures.

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

I want to have a look at four of their lines, Pirates, Old West Tombstone, and their modern day US Marines and Iraqi Militia.  Please be aware that none of these miniatures were painted by me.

Pirates

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

Now I really like the direction Black Scorpion has taken with these miniatures.  Its fairly easy to find Pirate leaders from the better miniature suppliers out there but the rank and file models are quite a bit harder to get your hands on in my experience, especially in the quality you get from Black Scorpion.  Each model has real character, both in the face and in the overall look but still looks realistic.    

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

There is a tendancy for sculpters to make models on a ‘heroic’ scale,  28mm miniatures that look great but are about as realistic as a cartoon character.  They have their place and I’ve painted a lot of them but for some games a realistic look is more appropriate. 

They do make models with a full complement of parrots, wooden legs and eye patches but they still look like real people and not like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a tricorn hat. Their weapons are realistically sized and the proportions are very accurate. 

Tombstone

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

Now these are a treat, especially the bearded model on the left which I am just going to have to paint at some point.  Overall they look great and the models available would contribute well to a Deadlands or generic Old West game.  

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

The only obstacle to me is I couldn’t reuse any of my existing models for this kind of game and there isn’t an easy (read cheap!) way to bulk out your collection of Old West models.  I’d have to buy something like 50 models to run my first Old West game (Cavalry, Indians, Cowboys & Townsfolk) and get all the scenery made.  

Despite all that, I suspect that an Old West campaign may be on the horizon in the future, these are just too good to pass up.

US Marines

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

My regular DM has run some really successful modern games, mainly D20 Modern and Stargate games and if I’d known about these models I would have snapped them up.  My only criticism of these models is they lack character.  

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

Although the proportions are great and the attention to detail is impressive they lack the individualism that would make them great player character models.  

Now I’m pretty sure these were designed with Skirmish games in mind so its not really fair for me to be too critical about them but I’d just have loved them to have the same individuality that is such a highlight of the Pirates or Old West models.  Black Scorpion does however do an army deal of 32 US Marines for £50 which is real value for money!

Iraqi Militia

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

These are my least favourite of Black Scorpion’s models.  As generic Iraqi bad guys they are good enough but not quite what I was looking for. 

The proportions are as consistently accurate as the other lines with the minor exception of the white shirted insurgent with the blue headband who seems to have a pistol that’s almost as long as his whole arm.  That's not really a big deal though and I do understand that pistols tend to look too small if they're scaled accurately.

The faces are obscured by masks or beards which limits their expression and for some obscure reason they’re all barefoot and or wearing ripped off shorts.    

I’m not sure if this is a deliberate choice to represent the Iraqi Militia as  faceless and desperate but it just makes them look less threatening than they should be.  I’d have liked to have seen some sinister looking     paramilitaries wearing body armour, they could have then been used as terrorists as well as desert dwelling madmen.

Conclusion

Overall I’m hugely impressed with the Black Skorpion miniatures and can’t wait to get my hands on some.  The quality of sculpting is excellent and the character that they show will make them a favourite around our games table.  

At just £3.50 for a single resin figure and £8 for four they represent incredible value.  Resin miniatures from Hasslefree , which I think are pretty good value, are generally between £10 and £20 each.

Bear in mind you can get a single plastic "Finecast" figure from Games Workshop for the same price.  But talking about "Finecast" is a whole different post, one hopefully you'll see soon.