It has been a fairly mundane week of painting for me but I did manage to get a few things done that are not necessarily fun to paint but good to get done. First up, I got another objective marker done for Fallout. If you’ve followed my painting progress for a while, then you probably know that these markers are hard to get motivated to paint and can take quite a bit of effort to complete. They do look great when they’re done and add some nice flavor to any game as well. This one features some fairly recognizable items from Fallout so that helped motivate me to work on it. I almost definitely have too many Nuka Quantums (the light blue beverages) which are rare and hard to find in the game, but I wanted there to be some balance in the colors so I let realism slip a bit there. I also did some kind of goofy hybrid NMM/zenithal highlights because I was feeling too lazy to do them the correct way. I doubt that many of you will notice or care but I know what I did and I’m not necessarily proud of it! I’m pretty sure I did a similar thing on a previous marker and I can live with it as I still think the ones I’ve done thus far look good. If only I was a bit better at tiny freehand, I could have added some logos on the bottles and the toy truck. Alas, I did what I could in a reasonable amount of time. Here’s a look at it from several different angles.
I also knocked out some Hellboy minis that will come in handy whenever I can get a game in. They’re not much to look at and there isn’t a lot to say about them other than that I’m glad to have these done as they’re not the most fun thing to paint. Thankfully, they don’t take too long to finish and that is how I managed to get six done this week to finish the set of eight.
While its always nice to make progress on some less glamorous stuff, I am itching to get a display piece going and so I’ve made some purchases to start gearing up on that. I’ve only received the plinth so far (go figure!) but hopefully the rest of what I bought arrives next week so I can get cracking on this project. I’m eager to get back to Middle Earth and challenge myself a bit more than I have with the recent gaming pieces. I actually dug up an old Hobbit-era mini of Tauriel and tried to paint her. It is a rare mini that I think was maybe never released or something like that and GW did a special order for it. Unfortunately, my efforts failed spectacularly. Her face looked so bad that I gave up painting her after all. It wasn’t a mistake that I made so much as the mini has a really bad face sculpt that is hard to do anything with. This served as a nice reminder that I need to stick to more recent minis that Games Workshop has made as they’re much higher quality and easier to paint. I might even have to shell out the big bucks and get some of the recent Forge World releases as those look quite nice too.
Kuribo's Painting 
It’s never easy painting the mundane things but it can be satisfying to know they are done and out of the way. Getting your teeth into a show piece will soon up your mojo! 🙂
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That is well said, mate and I’d say having to paint some unexciting things is the downside to painting for gaming purposes. I think the display piece should spice things up and I’m certainly looking forward to it! 🙂
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Nice work there, Jeff! 🙂 It’s always worth doing these smaller bits and pieces when you know you can fit them into a game!
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Thank you, John! It will be fun to use some of these pieces in the hopefully near future. That is certainly more of a payoff than the act of painting them 🙂
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Ditto on what John and TIM wrote. It’s the little things done well that make the bigger things stand out. Bravo!
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Agreed and thank you, Mark!
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Excellent work on the smaller pieces Jeff, they can be such a labour, but your work on them will certainly add life to any gaming board you put them on.
Bad sculpt on faces can make a model really difficult to work on, and if lacking in detail, can be a real challenge. Hopefully the rest of your display piece arrives soon so you can scratch that itch.
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That is all well said, Dave! I would have to say that every miniature we paint is almost like a collaboration between the sculptor and the painter (the exception being when someone like you does both of course!) and both parties have to do their jobs well for the end product to be high quality. I don’t think many of us think about it in this way but it really is true!
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Not much fun to paint but good to have done is like my hobby slogan!! But we’ve covered that already. 😀
But the not as much fun to paint stuff will certainly add enjoyment in the actual game as we know do well worth the time. But the logo on the soda does look pretty cool. 😀
Interested to see what lotr project is in the works.
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It really is our slogan at the moment. I might as well start painting 100 Vikings myself at this point 🙂 The little extras make a difference in battle reports so I will look forward to using these objective markers when I can get Fallout on the table again. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get started on the LOTR project in earnest by next weekend or not but I look forward to it too!
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The less-glamorous stuff is always a chore, but on the bright side it’s done and out of the way 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing your LotR project!
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That’s the truth! I admire that you seem to mostly paint things that you want to paint when you want. When you paint gaming stuff, you do have to get stuff done that you may not be excited about from time-to-time. I’m excited about the LOTR project too. Its time to spice things up a bit! 🙂
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Objective markers are important to games, a neccessary evil that you are doing well. Just remind yourself it will add to the enjoyment when you actually get to play a game
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I appreciate the sentiment here, Bret. I’m just glad this one wasn’t quite the drag that some of the previous ones were. Now if only I could get the last four done and put them all behind me! That will be a good day 🙂
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Great stuff as always. I think you made the right call on the number of Nuka Colas.
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Cheers, mate! Always good to hear that from a fellow Nuka Cola fan 😀
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Love that objective marker, nicely painted and so much more evocative than a counter! Keen to see what you tackle next for display, agreed that some of these older mesbg models are a bit hit and miss. The new plastics are fantastic and the forgeworld range for the game is top notch too, either is what I’d aim for if I was looking for a display piece.
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Thank you, Nic! I would agree that these counters really bring the setting to life better than a piece of flat cardboard can. I’m glad to hear you agree with my assessment on MESBG sculpt quality as well. I really need to pick up something from Forge World in the near future based on your recommendation. I can reveal that I got a plastic mini from GW for this project though it is fairly new so that narrows it down quite a bit!
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Oh very nice! I have an idea of what you might have gotten then! Time will tell.
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Well done for getting these completed mate, I am hopeless at finishing the little extras, I tend to put them aside to do later and then I cant seem to find them, most of the time they are knocked on the carpet and found when the shows been completed!!!!
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Haha, my hobby table is a mess at the moment too so I run the risk of that happening to me too. The only good thing I can say is that I have hardwood floors in my hobby room so there’s no place down there for them to hide! 🙂
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Are yes very handy as carpet has a special way of swallowing tiny parts 😅👍🏻.
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Good work. I find it hard sometimes to focus on these more mundane bits of terrain, tokens, markers etc. We’ll done for completing them and making them look very nice in the process.
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Thank you, mate. They are definitely hard to focus on. I think that is a good way to describe the process of painting them.
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Done and Done I say! The Fallout marker looks good, and less important pieces are always a good place to try new things and experiment with different techniques since they don’t matter nearly as much! I do like the script on the side of the Nuka-Cola box – that’s certainly well done!
I don’t have any Tauriel figures, so not sure on the sculpt quality, etc of that one – might be worth putting aside in case you become interested in getting back to the game down the line, I guess!
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The Nuka script was sculpted so don’t give me too much credit! I would have loved to have done a bit more freehand but something I’m working on currently let me practice those skills a bit. I’ve hung on to Tauriel for now as well. Not sure I’ll ever make another attempt at her, but you never know!
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Love the blue on those bottles! Nice job getting those terrain bits done. They can be a serious chore (I don’t want to ever paint bookcases again!!), but look great in the game!
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Thank you! I look forward to using this marker in a game sometime in the near future. I haven’t used the markers quite as much as I hoped thus far but I think that will change as I play the game more.
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Maybe only a simple objective marker, but it looks the part and has lots of character. In the end these little details make a nice table into an exceptional one.
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Thank you, mate! I certainly hope so and intend to have some really high quality games (and battle reports) in the future!
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