Well, I just barely got the Brotherhood of Steel Knight done for this week’s update. Unfortunately, I’ve run out of tufts (more on that later) so the base is plain for now but I’m sure you’ll see what he looks like with some tufts soon enough since this mini will feature in the next two battle reports. I tried to take some atmospheric pictures this time so some of the details on the mini are not as sharp as I would like but I think and hope you’ll enjoy them all the same. Let’s see how this one turned out!
This week I kind of got tired of working on this mini as I didn’t mentally prepare myself for a mini that was going to take two full weeks t complete. As a result, I got impatient with glazing in the bluish tones. I think I did get rid of the overly gray look the mini had but maybe didn’t completely nail the blueish metallic look unfortunately. The weathering and rust does look pretty nice and overall, this mini looks a lot like in the Fallout games which makes me happy and proud. I think I was able to surpass the minis shown on the box as well which doesn’t hurt! Next time I paint one of these, I’ll try to be a bit more patient and see if I can’t do even better but here is a quick action shot (which incidentally is a better picture of the Radroaches than of the Knight but I’m glad to share a nicer picture of them so I don’t mind).
That was all the progress I made this week but thankfully, I am ready for another battle report. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep well Sunday night and took a sick day on Monday so I won’t be able to take a day off to play for a bit. I’ll figure out another way to get a game soon though as I’m itching to play!
Talking about sick days reminds me that I wanted to mention that I expect that my hobby output is going to be inconsistent in the coming months. I am getting married in Aug., I am buying a condo or townhome and moving before my lease ends on July 31st, and my fiancée is getting surgery in a week and a half on her knee. Needless to say, I don’t know if I can keep weekly updates going this spring and summer. I know you’ll all be fine if I have to skip a week but the future constraints on hobby time is certainly something I do not look forward to even if I look forward to accomplishing the previously mentioned tasks, if you know what I mean.
I do have a few other things to complain about though. I guess you can consider this a weekend winge, inspired by the great, The Imperfect Modeller (he has a regular Wednesday Winge feature on his website). One thing that is a bit annoying is that I’ve run out of things I use regularly all at once. For example, I only have one of the two kinds of tufts I use for Fallout minis and I have to order the ones I need from a model train store. Their shipping prices are not cheap so I can’t justify just getting one thing of tufts. While this would be a great excuse to load up on some fun new products, there are other hobby things I need so spending more on that will make it more likely that I’ll have to wait to get other things. For example, I need a detail brush after I ordered one and Amazon allegedly shipped it and then cancelled the thing altogether and refunded me my money. This is after I settled for a smaller size than what I wanted because that is out of stock. Personally, I think this is a COVID and Brexit related issue but maybe it is a Suez Canal problem too! I need to get Matte and Gloss varnish very soon as well because I’m nearly out so add that to my expenses list. But that’s not all! I also am running out of primer spray and I was going to order an MDF kit and some spray from TTCombat but they won’t ship their new primer to the US so I’m out of luck there too! I can get primer from other places but it is expensive to just buy primer by itself so I’d be wise to combine it with some other kind of order. What a strange situation to want to buy things and not be able to do so. I clearly need to get some of these things purchased soon or it is going to halt my hobby progress eventually so I intend to sort this mess out later today or tomorrow.
I’m in a bit of a weird place hobby wise because while I have some Fallout miniatures to paint and I plan on working on some more of them this upcoming week, I really would be smarter to work on terrain as that is what I need the most. I really need bigger terrain pieces now more than smaller scatter stuff as well so I know where I need to focus even if I don’t have the supplies needed to do so quite yet. At the same time, I find myself wanting to paint up something different for gaming (yet again!). This seriously happens all of the time for me and yet, I somehow still manage to only focus on one game at a time. If I just wanted to change genres in my painting, I could start an MESBG diorama but I’d like to focus on gaming-level painting where the stakes are lower for a bit longer before I tackle another display-level project. I have a couple of MESBG sculpts kicking around that I could mess around with but other than those, I have no other sculpts on hand to paint at the moment. Its enough to both drive someone crazy and make them wish they played more than one game! Maybe I will finally (FINALLY!) find another game that brings me painting joy to mix in with Fallout minis. I should probably become more decisive about that and go for it as I clearly could use a bit more variety in my queue. But that’s enough whining and complaining from me for this week. Things aren’t as bad as they may sound and I fully admit that all of my hobby problems are good ones to have!
Kuribo's Painting 
Excellent finish on the model Jeff, really like all the different tones you’ve got into the model.
The world as it stands can be very frustrating at the moment, with delays and constant out of stocks for all, but at least we have the blogs to air our grievances on ! LOL
With your detailed style painting, have you considered painting busts, or collectors pieces ? This would certainly vary your subject material
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Thank you, Dave! Really glad to hear the hard work paid off 🙂 I try not to complain much (both in real life and online) but this time things built up enough that I couldn’t help myself. I’m sure that things will sort them things out soon enough though or at least I hope so!
I do think I’ll tackle a bust at some point in the future. I’m not sure and this could be totally wrong on my part but I imagine they take as much time as doing a detailed display piece from Warhammer so that is one thing that has kept me from trying them. They make some excellent historical miniatures in larger scales and those are very tempting to me as most 28mm historical minis can’t keep up. I haven’t quite found the right painting balance but I have gotten better with time so I’m hoping that will happen for me eventually.
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Nicely done on picking out the details on the figure!
Feel your pain on supplies and shipping costs, etc. I went to a nearby train store looking for something that of course they didn’t have, they seem to focus more on the trains vs the board. With Covid there won’t be any train shows either (except virtually) which dents my supplies also. Shipping from the UK I have to wait until I have a big enough order to make it worthwhile with those additional shipping costs now. Etc, etc.
I didn’t get the new SPQR rules but haven’t had a chance to really see the difference yet between the editions.
Did you pre-order Cursed City?
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The lack of an edit option is annoying! It gets me sometimes too. Shipping can be a real killer in our hobby and I hadn’t thought about trying to go to a train show here in Chicago (I used to go one in Cincinnati growing up pretty often) but that is a great idea. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled on that when conventions happen again.
I’ll be curious to hear what you think about SPQR. I joined their Facebook group a while back and it seems like interest in the game is somewhat low (not that that matters a ton to me) but also so far, the revised edition isn’t getting a ton of momentum either so I’m not sure what to think about it. I decided to wait on Cursed City to see some reviews first. I’m afraid to spend $200 and add 60 miniatures to my queue for a board game without lasting appeal. That is kind of my impression of the previous Warhammer Quest games but I haven’t played them so I’m really just taking other people’s words for it.
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Gak, where is the edit button? I did get the SPQR rules.
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Well first up congratulations on your up coming marriage. I do hope all goes well on the day and your future happiness thereafter. I also hope your new home offers you more space for the hobby! 😉 Very nice work on the figure and I appreciate the shout out too. Postage is often a killer with our hobby. I keep an ongoing list of the things I want to buy – paints, brushes, figures, you name it- and whenever possible place a bulk order before I run out of stuff. Of course that doesn’t resolve out of stock issues. Hopefully as the Covid situation improves so will everything else. I would also echo Dave Stone’s comment, seek out a few special figures and paint them as collection pieces. As a non gamer that’s pretty much what I do all the time. It gives you the freedom to challenge yourself and doesn’t restrict you to scale or genre. 🙂
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Thanks, TIM! This is a long awaited wedding thanks to COVID so I’ll be looking forward to it in that sense. Postage is a killer, especially from your country in the last year or so. Do I need to lodge a complaint with Parliament, Boris, or someone else to see some improvement in the rates? 😉
I think you and Dave are on to something and I’m considering getting a bigger project going in response to the lack of variety in my queue currently. We’ll see what I end up with once I finally get all these other hobby supplies ordered and delivered!
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Really nice results. I get less of a blue and more reddish, purple tone. I think that gives the metals a nice corroded appearance. The scenic shot is also very nice indeed and evocative. You should place a mutant or something in that right hand window.
The roaches came out well, too. The greens make them really pop.
Finally, what is your photo set up? Seems you need to either increase F to something like 10 or more or you do some focus stacking software.
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Thanks for the kind words and I did think about adding mutants to the shot instead of Radroaches, the roaches just happened to be out and the Super Mutants were in my mini case and laziness won out 🙂
I have a simple point and shoot camera, a lightbox with desk lamps, and I use Corel Paintshop Pro to make any edits to images that are needed. I don’t edit photos very much though as I don’t know how all of that works all that well. I always aim to take good “raw” photos that don’t need a lot of editing as a result. I don’t know if that information helps answer your question but I tried to share as much as I can 🙂 I’m not really much better than an amateur photographer though it is my Dad’s primary hobby so he’s taught me a few things along the way.
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I was more getting at the focal length of the camera used. If you have a manual mode option you might be able to change the f-stop to a higher value, which should increase depth of field and everything should be in focus.
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Ah, I see! My camera does have some focus options but they seem pretty limited and unfortunately not particularly useful. Truthfully, my camera is getting a bit long in the tooth so I may very well try and get a new one with more robust options. I’d love to be able to take higher quality photos where everything is in focus, for example. Thanks for sharing this info with me as I’ve certainly learned from it 🙂
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I really like the knight, Jeff! 🙂 And your bases match the mat you use for Fallout perfectly! Maybe running out of a load of stuff at the same time is a way of letting you know you’ll have other things to concentrate on in the near future, and I hope the wedding, the house move and the surgery all go well!
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Thanks as always for the kind words, John! I think mat and bases are really working now too which is really great to see. You might be on to something there about other obligations though I tend to be of the mindset that someone will have to pry my paintbrush from my cold, dead hands 😉
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Great painting as always mate. The power armor looks brilliant, the base looks great and the mat suits is all nicely. I always feel a Fallout urge when I see your work but with my wife not being keen on post-apoc and us having so many other projects on the go I have to continue to live vicariously through your Fallout experiences.
As for your supply issues, I feel your pain.
I did not realize you were about to get married… that is great news! Wishing you and your missus to be all the best, with the wedding as well as her surgery and the move!
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I’m really glad my Fallout work inspires you, mate. The community who play the game is relatively small so it means a lot to hear from other fans who like what I’m doing!
My wedding has been pushed back and back and back due to COVID and some difficult family members so it feels a bit overdue though trying to get married with COVID still ongoing will be interesting to say the least. I will pass your wishes along to my fiancée and I appreciate your kindness and support as always! 🙂
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First, best wishes on both your fiancé’s surgery and your upcoming nuptials! Must be a challenge in COVID-19 times, but I’m sure that you will both overcome these and remember them in years going forward. As for hobby stuff, for tufts, check out Shadow’s Edge Miniatures- best collection of tufts that I’ve seen https://shadowsedgeminis.com
And my advice would be to let your hobby take a back seat to bigger things. At least during the crunch times. It will still be there when you get more time. Hell, I had a 33 year gap myself!
Oh, and the knight looks amazing!
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Thanks, Mark! I certainly hope with delays due to COVID, we can manage to make it happen this summer. Your advice is appreciated too and I will certainly take that under advisement!
I haven’t heard of Shadow’s Edge Miniatures before and it seems like you can’t see the tufts on their website currently which is a pity. I will try and visit again in the near future as it seems like they will be back in stock soon. I always have room in my hobby desk for some new tufts that look good 😉
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First of all, best wishes to your fiancée, hope the op goes well. Secondly congratulations on your upcoming wedding – I know (from personal experience!) how challenging it is to organise during a pandemic. Thirdly good luck with the move – if there was ever a moment to put the hobby on the backburner this is probably it! That said when there’s a lot of things to juggle in life it can help to have something to just chill out with, that’s what painting miniatures is for me anyway so if you’re the same then don’t pack the brushes away entirely. 😉 Fourthly, probably stating the obvious here, but have you tried ebay for grass tufts? Unless you’re looking for a specific sort that you can only get from the one place then that’s where I get mine. You can always find someone selling some at a decent price. You end up with a mix of different kinds but, speaking as someone who’s spent the last few months poking around at vegetation for work, you get all different kinds of grass as well! Fifthly (before I lose count) good work on the knight, he’s looking great to me. I seem to have missed a few of your posts there so I’ll need to have a bit of a catch up session.
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Thank you for the kind words as always, Wudugast! We’ll see if I manage to survive everything with my sanity intact 🙂
While I like to read and play video games in my spare time, I find painting relieves stress for me the most so I can’t imagine not painting at least some if I have any spare time.
When it comes to tufts, I think like an MESBG painter and go for stuff from model trains companies 😀 I do use Army Painter and I see other gaming specific tufts that look fairly nice but I give the edge to the model train makers’ products as they often look slightly more realistic. For whatever reason, the ones I like tend to be difficult to find on eBay at least here in the US. I think most of the products I buy come from Europe and are imported here so that is probably part of it too. If I used Woodland Scenics, a US company, I’d have no issues scooping it up on eBay. I went ahead and ordered some tufts including some from a new company so I’ll be curious to see what I think of them when they arrive!
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Man, it’s hard to imagine a wedding in these times but I suppose they still happen. Happy wishes to you and the fiancé and best of luck with the surgery! If you had to wait all this time I suppose that means she’s a keeper so that’s good news. 😀
As someone who’s hobby frequently has to take a back seat to life and family; it can be hard to keep up a regular posting schedule. But fear not. Most of us will be here waiting for you. Go get it done. 🤣
I love the scenic pics of the knight. Looks pretty cool. Though those pauldrons are ridiculous. The guy can’t raise his arms without crushing his own head. Be sure to give a negative modifier. In any melee combat bc he can’t party an overhead strike. 😀
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Having to try and plan the wedding during COVID is not ideal but I think I can safely speak for my fiancée when I say we hope to get it finished as we’ve had to wait a long time as it is.
I can imagine that especially now, your hobby time is precious! I have a routine of painting nearly every night for a bit and I think that is a big reason why I keep slowly and steadily improving but I’m sure there is more to it than that at the same time. We’ll see what happens if I can’t keep painting that frequently soon enough!
I’ll make sure to apply the “Blain” modifier to any melee combat that occurs with the Knight 😉 I don’t think this particular mini will be very good in close combat (though I haven’t seen his stats card so I could be wrong!) though there are minis in power armor that have melee weapons. I think any kind of armor like this is very much like space marines in 40k, you just kind of have to go with it and not think too hard about it 😀 Thanks for the kind words on the Knight as well. It always feels good to hear that others like something that you spent a little extra time on!
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