Sprue Cutters Union January 2016! - Sticking point...

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, and welcome once more to the Eternal Wargamer blog. This month, the members of the illustrious Sprue Cutters Union have been asked to talk about a varied discombobulation that must plague us all from time to time:

At what point of the build do you tend to stall?

Well now, here is a question that could have a multitude of answers, but I will stick to the spirit of the topic and think about just which bit of a project it is that causes me to bog down and flounder. And what is the answer? Honestly, I would say there are two points in a project that might inhibit progress. The first is right at the beginning.

In recent years I have made it an essential part of my builds to prepare model components properly, which means removing all the parts carefully from the sprues, and cleaning them up by scraping and removing mould lines and other imperfections. This is a mind numbing process which takes about as much time as the assembly of the kit, so bearing in mind that the majority of my hobbying takes place in my hour lunch at work on weekdays, on a box of twenty miniatures I have added about a week to my project time.

The benefits to cleaning up the parts like this are significant when you look at a finished model that was cleaned up first to one that wasn't - visible mould lines, or nubs of plastic or metal where they shouldn't be, un-drilled gun barrels etc, compared to a miniature that has none of these blemishes for me to be bothered by for years to come or for other people to kindly suggest should have been removed before assembly and painting. I am now what I would consider to be an experienced modeller - that doesn't mean I am a good modeller, just that I have been doing this for some considerable time, and have picked up a few tricks, and so naturally I am going to use the techniques I have picked up.

So where is the stall point? It's before I even take the shrink wrap off the box, because I know that when I do, the project, like every project these days, starts with the job I dislike the most...

There is one other factor that causes my projects to stall, but it isn't related to the kits or the work involved, it is related to the amount of time I have to spend on hobbying, and the impact of this is far more pronounced. Unfortunately the job I do can be quite demanding, which means that occasionally I either don't have time to take a lunch break away from the desk, or I am off-site altogether for the day and don't have the usual hobbying accoutrements with me to work on my project, and this has in the past cost me several hours of hobby time. This alone has a double impact on my projects, because not only do I lose actual available hobby time, I also find that my brain can be too fried to even contemplate concentrating on a modelling project.

I never like stalling on a project, and I have found that the more a project stalls, the harder it can be to get back into good routines and pick it back up again - it's important to get back on the horse and crack on with a job, because nobody else is going to do it for you. I guess this is why some people have additional motivating factors, like deadlines for finishing an army so that it can be used at an event that you have committed to or, in my case, a painting target to be reached before the end of the year.

I have found that another great motivator to help you keep going is a little bit of friendly rivalry, and so periodically at our club on online on forums I have run one of my 'Hobby Survivor Series' events, which are just a bit of fun to try and keep people painting and building where, left to their own devices may lost the motivation to continue weeks earlier. Suffice to say that the premise is that all participants have to post progress photos of their project every third day throughout the Series, and anyone that misses the posting deadline or has failed to make progress is out.

Those that successfully post every posting day until the end (typically a Series is 20 posting days long) are allowed to post a badge in their forum signature that tells everyone that they are a Hobby Survivor. If everyone drops out before the end, the Last Man (or woman) Standing is allowed to add a special 'extra' to their Survivors Badge to indicate this achievement, and anyone that fails to make it to the end is open to a little ribbing from the rest of the group. This is all in jest however, and those that do drop out are always keen for the Series to end and the next one to start.

Anyway, those are the things that cause my projects to stall, and a little bit about an initiative I have found works very well for keeping myself and others motivated. I look forward to reading what my compatriots have said about their project stalls, to see whether they are different to my own.


Until next time, thanks for reading...

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Miniature Modellers - SCU November

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, to what in our neck of the woods is a rather gusty morning in the East Midlands. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date...

Oh the irony. The November topic for the Sprue Cutters Union is a question about planning projects within our hobby, and as I probably consider this hobby blog an extension of my wider modelling and gaming hobby, the lateness of this post going up should speak for itself!

“Do you plan and prepare for every step of your

build’s process or do you wing it as you go?”

Well now, here we are on December 5th. The cut off for the topic submission should really have been the last day of November, so why am I bothering to write this at all after I have missed the date? There are a couple of reasons really. First, I want to support what I believe is a great project and community endeavour in the Sprue Cutters Union, and secondly, I am determined not to miss any posts since the return of the group project. It is a great driver for thinking about the hobby, and for making sure my blog doesn't go too long without some kind of offering to the hobby world. I am also hoping that Jon hasn't already typed up the November SCU roll call yet...

And what is the answer to this month's topic question? Here is the irony. I plan every project in some detail. I have to, because I am a wargamer. Let me explain. Anyone not versed in the world of miniature wargaming may well not be aware of how things work, but at least for the games I play, list building is an integral part of the hobby.

List Building 

This is the bit where we decide which units we will include in a force for a game we are going to play, and this includes deciding what equipment a unit will go into battle with. This decision making process begins not at the point where we agree to fight a battle against our opponent, but way back before that, when our group of models are still on the sprue, or even still on the store web page.

                           

Although it is not always strictly applied (it pays to be accommodating in what is primarily a social hobby), it is a generally held standard to try and adhere to the rule of WYSIWYG in the world of miniature wargaming, which stands for 'What You See Is What You Get'. This simply means that the model you put on the table is equipped with the weapons and wargear that you have included in your 'army list'. This is because many units in many different games include options for different weapons, which determine what the capabilities of that unit are on the battlefield.

We want the model our opponent sees from across the table to represent the model in our list as accurately as possible, because this can affect their decision making process when they are planning how to tackle that unit. It is entirely likely that there are instances on gaming tables across the globe where a discussion has to be had at some stage in a game to clarify what a model is and what it is equipped with, because a different decision would have been taken by an opposing player had the model been 'WYSIWYG'.

In practice, this means that we have to read and understand what the model can do in game terms, and the role we want it to fill in the army before we even cut the first sprue, so in this respect there is certainly planning required for every build, apart from the odd one here and there were a unit doesn't have a diverse array of weapons options and only has the one set up. Special or Unique units are an example of this, as they tend to represent a well know model or character in the game setting, and their equipment is pre-determined and does not vary. Other than that pretty much every model has options.

Autobots, transform!

Now that we have laid out the planning that is required just to be able to build a unit, there is a further and slightly more advanced stage of planning that I have come to include in my model building as widely as I can, and it is something that tackles the question of what to when you need a model that you have built to perform a different role in a game.

You don't want to put a model on the table that doesn't represent the weapons you need the model to use in the game, but at the same time, the weapons you have built the model with are not suitable for dealing with the opponent in your planned game. Perhaps you need that tank that is set up for anti-armour duties to take on a close support role, providing a greater volume of fire to take on a horde of infantry models. 

A powerful shot from a weapon like a Lascannon may vaporise one Ork Boy per turn, and you have three Lascannons on your Predator Annihilator, but that won't help when the enemy unit has thirty models, including a leader with a Power Klaw (a giant hydraulic can opener), and Rokkit Launchers that can punch through your armour. You really need Heavy Bolters or perhaps even Heavy Flamers to really spread out the anti-personnel goodness.

There are two options for using different weapons on a model. Number one is that you simply let you opponent know before the game begins that the model is armed with different weapons to those depicted, and generally this won't be frowned on too much, but the option I have come to prefer is option two: magnetise the kit.

Magnetising a model involves building magnets into some of the components (typically weapons), so that they are held in place by the magnets while playing, but can be swapped out for alternative parts for the next game.

When it works, this is a cool and beneficial technique, but if it is one you have never tried before, then it pays to do a little research before you try it. There are a few different kinds of magnets, but generally the the size and shape are more important than the type, and you also need to consider carefully where the magnets need to be placed, and how. Sometimes there isn't anywhere to fit the magnets on one part of the model - there is a big space where we wish the manufacturer had included a nice magnet shaped recess - and so we have to improvise and build in our own support for the magnet.

I won't go too deeply into the process for magnetising kits, because I have posted a 'beginners guide' based on my own experiences on this very blog. Suffice to say that Magnetising requires a fair amount of planning before you start the build, so you can be clear on which parts need magnets, what size and how many you need to use, how you will fit them, and which parts of the model can be assembled and glued. Click below to read more.

Magnetising for Beginners

I could go on and talk about how sometimes we need to plan whether to paint certain parts of a model before we assemble it, because there are some places you just can't get a brush to once the model is glued together, and a half dozen other things as well, but I think that is quite enough to be going on with for this month.

There won't be another Sprue Cutters Union topic now until January, as we all take a break for Christmas, but I will surely be posting something else before the closing of the year, because I need to give you all an update on how far I got with my painting challenge for the year...

Until then, thanks for reading.

Sprue Cutters Union October Topic

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, and welcome to the October post for the Sprue Cutters Union topic, which perhaps should be entitled 'Working to close deadlines and only getting the post finished at the last moment', but in actual fact is about which aspects of miniature modelling projects are the most important to us...

This months hobby topic put to the Union is:

We all get lazy at times but let’s face it, there are areas of this hobby that modellers cannot get skimpy. Whether it’s a part of the assembly process, a finishing technique, or a particular tool, what do you think are the essential aspects you cannot afford to cut corners on during a build? What are your imperatives?

Though, as I know you are probably aware by now, I am a miniature wargamer as well as modeller, I do like the occasional post that I can answer from a purely modelling perspective, and this may be one of those topics. Maybe. Perhaps. Not sure if I can take that big a step away from wargaming to be honest. 

Corners, and the cutting of them. Let's start there. I imagine the same applies to scale modellers as it does to miniature wargamers, but when we get into this hobby, whatever age we are when we pop our first shrink wrap on a box of metal or plastic (or resin - for those that way inclined), we all have to start somewhere, and that place is invariably 'at the beginning'. The beginning can be a daunting place, because on one hand we have an internet full of amazing finished builds and armies, and what look like complex and very technical skills and processes being demonstrated, and on the other we have us, and our complete lack of the experience necessary to make much sense out of what we are seeing at anything more than a rudimentary level, at least at first. 

Imagine then (and I am sure many of you don't have to imagine, because you were there) what starting out in this hobby was like before the internet and before access to all those tutorial videos and blog articles. Unless you had Yoda, or Mr Miagi to coach you to greatness, you would have had to do the same as most of us, and work a lot of things out as you went along. You clip, you unintentionally break things, you glue (sometimes your fingers - and I know some of you still manage this feat of chemical engineering. You know who you are), you paint, you play with your toy soldiers - transported to war in a shoe box. We learn.

Fast forward twenty odd years, (I am not old, I am not old) and I have learned a great many things. I have learned to paint to an acceptable standard (in my opinion), I am able to assemble complex kits, using pins and magnets and modelling putty, and I am able to use a variety of basing techniques. And the most important thing I have learned that allows me to achieve a fair standard of finished product? The thing I think is worth spending that extra time on, despite the piece of my soul that is consumed every time I do it? Preparation...

When we are young and inexperienced, without even knowing we are doing it, we cut corners on modelling projects. We cut components off sprues, we glue them together. When we look at those same models years later when we have achieved a greater level of proficiency, we think 'crikey, I wish I had scraped off all those mould lines'. 'Why are there all these gaps?' 'Why does he hold that gun at such a strange angle?'

As we gain more experience and get better at what we do, we cut fewer corners. In a way, I think that is what it is to be a decent modeller, and the best modellers cut no corners at all. It is only in the last couple of years or so I have come to understand the value of taking the time to make sure that every piece I clip from a sprue is neatly filed and cleaned where it needs to be, and has all the mould lines scraped away. 

Not only does this make a big visual and psychological difference when it comes to painting the assembled model, because we have nice smooth surfaces to paint which are free of unwanted protrusions, but because we file all the joint faces there are no unsightly gaps either. We have a better quality of model to work on, which in turn may make us want to make an even better job of the paintwork than we may otherwise have done if we felt like the model didn't warrant that extra attention. It will also avoid the oft read comments from well meaning fellow hobbyists when we post photos of our work on the internet for feedback - 'Great paint job mate, but it would look much better without the mould lines'.

The result, despite the extra effort required in the preparation, is a better standard of finished product. It may add a week to a project when I am working on a unit of twenty models, because I spend the first four or five days filing and scraping every piece before I even think about reaching for the glue, but in the end I think it is worth it. I want to achieve the best standard I can, and that starts with good preparation.

As always, thanks for reading...

Sprue Cutters Union - Heroic Scale!

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, and welcome to September's Sprue Cutters Union post.

This month we have been asked for our thoughts on a subject that certainly means something rather different for us miniature wargamers than it will for my scale model building compatriots:

What is your favourite scale to work in and why?

I am working on the assumption that when a scale model builder is considering this question, it will nudge them to consider which of the various standardised kit scales they prefer to build, and I also suspect that this relates generally to vehicle kits of one sort or another, whether they are WWII armour or 21st Century fighter aircraft and super advanced naval vessels. I imagine there will be questions raised about the relative complications of working at various scales, or perhaps the availability of favoured kits or lack thereof in certain scales.

As a wargamer, for me this means the same, but at the same time something different, because a different scale of model means more than just the size of the finished build, and the intricacies of the project depending on the level of detail involved. To a wargamer, a different scale often means an entirely different game system, if not also a different genre as well.

So, when wargaming, what does it mean to model an army at a particular scale? Well in wargaming circles there a plethora of game systems to choose from, covering every period in history and even the future, science fiction and fantasy, steam punk and alternate realities. And that barely scratches the surface.

So why would different games use different sized miniatures in the first place? Typically it affects one thing in particular: The size of the conflict. If you want to fight a small skirmish, perhaps between a half dozen or so elite models, then collecting, assembling and painting 54mm models or larger is a fulfilling project. If you want to fight out the Battle of Waterloo at the same scale however, with one model representing one soldier, then you would probably need a battlefield the size of a football pitch to play out the engagement at 54mm.

From the Waterloo Diorama Facebook Page - #makesmewannaplay

Battle size. That's the name of the game then. If you want to be able to play a game with less than 10 models per side, you can be happy working at anywhere from 28mm up to 90mm. If you want to play out your average battle game at around 50-100 models per side, then 25-28mm is about right, and seems to be the most commonly occurring and popular scale. If you want to be able to play out truly epoch shattering battles, then the size to go for if you a). want to be able to conclude the game in this lifetime and b). don't want to have to barricade yourself inside the local town hall to have a big enough space to play it out is probably 6mm or less. I only found out this year that there is such a thing as 2mm model soldiers! 

Our game of choice affects both which scale we are likely to be working at, and also how likely we are to come into contact with other scales. If you are a hardcore 40K player for example, playing at 28mm 'Heroic' scale, then all your models will be at that scale, whether they are infantry models, tanks or mighty bipedal war engines and aircraft, however if the game setting is as much a draw to you as the gaming, and you want to be able to play out other types of game set in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, then you could be drawn into playing Epic - a large scale battle game with 6mm models - for really big battles, or Battlefleet Gothic for the battles in space before the land battles even begin.

A game of Battlefleet Gothic, in which Imperial Torpedoes are 200ft long!

A very old shot of the precursor to Epic - where entire companies of tanks and infantry engage in battle

Fellow modellers, we have our choices, our options, our world of hobby goodness to cherry pick what we like from and bend the resin, metal and plastic to our will. But which scale do I prefer? Well the games I play most are Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar (until recently Warhammer: The game of Fantasy Battles), and the vast bulk of my collection is at 28mm Heroic Scale. 

This is a malleable scale that offers great modelling and painting opportunities, and isn't as daunting as a larger model may perhaps be. It is also a very popular scale in the industry, which means that even if we play predominantly one game, we can sometimes find suitable models for that game from outside the system. For example, it is becoming more and more common to find models from Mantic Games or Mierce Miniatures in Fantasy armies, or Kromlech and Wargamma models in 40K armies. 

But...the problem with models collected for armies is that there tends to be rather a lot of them, and sometimes, it is a welcome change to be able to work on something not only from a different genre of game, but also an entirely different scale. This is part of the reason I have recently been adding to my collection of Battlefleet Gothic ships, and have just started the task of refurbishing my entire collection of Man O' War ships. 

Models such as Battlefleet Gothic and Man O' War ships, and miniatures for games like Epic are of course much smaller and the level of detail is, well, not necessarily less fine, but certainly less 'specific', and this means that they are in some ways easier to paint. BFG ships for example can easily be made table-ready with a spray base coat, followed by some dry-brushing to bring out the detail, and finished with some carefully applied spot colours to 'bring out their eyes', and all in double quick time, and this is a far cry from a large unit of 28mm models that all require upwards of five or six colours, details like weapons, armour, pouches and belts, teeth and eyes etc. 

This doesn't mean that you can't spend far more time on the smaller scale miniatures as well, and produce some mind boggling results on a much smaller miniature, but this isn't always necessary, as the desired effect is the look of the model, army, fleet or warmachine on the tabletop, in amongst other miniatures, scenery and the accoutrements of a typical wargame. If you are a gaming hobbyist it is more about the overall impact of the game, and less about the individual model.

The answer to the question then, of which scale of miniature I prefer to work on, can only be this. It depends on which call to war I hear blowing on the wind on any given day, and I will prepare my chosen weapons of war accordingly.

As always my friends, thanks for reading.

Sprue Cutters Union - Invisible Detail

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, and welcome to the workshop. I am here this time to answer the latest question to be posed to the illustrious members of the Sprue Cutters Union, and it is one that in my opinion pits the desire to achieve the highest level of attention to detail that we are capable of against the practicalities of time constraint and the preservation of our very sanity...

Do you bother with details that will not be seen in the finished product or do you pour your heart and soul into each nook and cranny of the build?

I guess this is a question that can be approached from a number of angles. Is the piece you are working on a gaming miniature, a display miniature, a competition entry or even a commission paint job for a customer? All of these questions will impact both the degree of effort you can or are prepared to put into a paint job on a miniature. A competition entry may end up being the greatest piece of art you have ever produced, and a 'basic standard' commission piece may be a 'quick and easy' entry level job at the lower end of your pricing scale.


The vast majority of the models I build and paint are gaming miniatures. In practice this means that they are primarily used to fight battles, they are handled and moved around a lot, and they often sit among a group of similar models as part of a larger unit. This also means that most of the miniatures I paint are rarely going to be looked at from less than a couple of feet away, and are even less likely to be turned upside down to see if their nether regions have seen the caress of a brush.


Most gamers are too intent on the game they are trying to avoid losing, rather than the groups of similarly painted miniatures that compose the enemy army to be overly concerned with a really close up inspection of the paint job, and when they are taken with the appearance of a given model, it will tend to be a model which is a focus point of the collection, like a character, a monster or a vehicle. These are what gamers refer to as 'Centrepiece Models'.


Typically only a smaller portion of a gamer's collection is made up of what we call 'centrepiece models', which are often large and impressive kits, and as such draw more attention than the models around them. This therefore tends to mean that they are scrutinised more closely by others. It also tends to mean that, as we know they are a focal point of the army, and this is part of the reason we bought them in the first place, that we are often likely to spend more time on painting them than we would the faceless rank and file of the army.


There are of course those who couldn't do an 'average' paint job on a model if they tried, those who paint every single model in their collection as if it were the last model they would ever paint, the model that they would be judged by forevermore. But we won't talk about those people. For myself, and I imagine for the majority of other gaming hobbyists, the amount of time and effort I put into painting a model, and the degree to which I lavish attention on the bits I know will rarely - if ever - be seen by another person, depends mainly on what the model is and it's role in my collection.


My character models and elite units are going to have much more time spent on them, including the deep recesses of cloaks, the inner folds of clothing and armour, and saddles which will be hidden when the model is assembled, than a model in the centre of the third rank of a horde of Skeleton Warriors, quite simply because with his fellows obscuring the view to him from all angles, and the fact that when not marching to war he spends most of his time stowed in a foam lined carry case, there seems little benefit in spending 'extra' time and attention on areas of the model that never likely be seen.


Equally, the command models of that same block of Skeleton Warriors will get far more brush-time, because not only do they tend to be more impressive than their rank and file brethren, they also carry interesting accoutrements like musical instruments and unit standards rather than just weapons. They are also the last models to be removed when the unit is finally destroyed by the enemy, and they are the models that form the focal point of the front rank. They are the 'face of the unit' if you will, and the rest of the unit are pretty much just filler.


In gaming circles there are a few variations of a phrase: Bases, faces, banners and shields. These are the areas if a model that draw the most attention, and whether it is a centrepiece model or a rank and file nobody, if you get these areas painted to a reasonable standard, then shortcuts elsewhere can go unnoticed. I for example am in the process of trying to paint as many models as I can to a 'battlefield standard' before the end of the year - almost at 180 infantry models, of a target of 250 - and this doesn't mean painting sloppily (not deliberately at any rate), it means painting to a more basic standard that looks fine on the table, but that I can come back to later down the line to spend more time on things like eyes, teeth, general highlighting and other smaller details which just aren't necessary when the goal is to be able to put models on the table for games without cringing.


Part of being able to get through models quickly does however involve cutting corners where I can, and on the unit of 25 Chaos Marauders I am almost finished with for now, this might mean painting a thin layer of brown onto the backs of the shields and leaving them at that, rather than bother with the metal banding and any washes or highlights that are entirely out of sight unless looking at them from behind and beneath. When you look at them from the front, they will look fine, with no obvious bits missed.


Some people take other short cuts with gaming miniatures. If the hatches on a vehicle are going to be closed the whole time, where is the benefit in painting the inside of the passenger compartments? What is the point of painting the underside of a tank or bike if no one will ever see it?


I have heard stories about some armies people have painted to a very strict deadline for a gaming tournament, and tales of weary and bleary eyed gamers painting into the small hours by candlelight the night before an event are common. In these cases it would not surprise me at all to find that corners have been cut wherever possible in an effort to get the entire army to a presentable standard for the event, especially as painting marks are on offer and contribute to the overall winner of the tournament. Though when we hear about gamers who have painted the front of a miniature to an enviable standard, yet have left the back of the model simply base coated because they didn't expect people to see it, you have to wonder when people have bitten off more than they could chew.


For my final thoughts on this topic, I have already described as a gamer which models are going to get more attention and which models less depending on their role in the army, but I think there is also an area of overlap in some cases. When a hobbyist reaches a certain level of ability, and their painting becomes noticeably better than the results of those around them, their collection is probably going to attract an ever increasing volume of attention until, regardless of whether a model is a large centrepiece creature or an inconspicuous infantry model at the back of a reserve unit, every Tom, Dick and Harry is being looked up and down and all over for the quality of his battle attire.


When every model is lavished with a greater than average level of attention to quality and detail, every model is more likely to be scrutinised even more closely than their counterparts in less eye-catching collections, and when that happens, will the painter still feel happy that they can cut the odd corner in order to hit that tournament deadline, or will they have become a victim of their own skill and success, doomed to paint every last shield rear, undergarment and horse's tackle until their eyes fail and their hands shake after decades of painting every boggling detail, just in case someone decides to have a closer look at a model from the back of a unit just to see if the quality of painting is consistent throughout the army?


A nice problem to have some would say.


As always, thanks for reading.

Sprue Cutters Union - Must Stash!

Well, well, well. Welcome back finally to...the Sprue Cutters Union!

After something of a roller coaster ride of a half year or so, the Sprue Cutters Union is back and hopefully better than ever. I will certainly be doing my utmost to post on every topic, as I have always thought that this is a great venture, and one that I am proud to be a part of.

The new format will be that each Sprue Cutter will post up their views on the topic of the month as usual, but now they will be gathered together at the end of each month and made available via the Combat Workshop Facebook Page. No more listing of links to other blog posts at the bottom of the page. And to go with a fresh new start to the Union, how about a cool new logo?!

So, without further ado, this month's post is something of a remake of the classic Sprue Cutters Union topic...Must Stash!

Why do we accumulate a stash of unbuilt and 'potentially-never-will-be-built' kits?

OK then, we may have a new logo and a new Facebook outlet for our blogs thanks to Jon over at the Combat Workshop, but some things will never change: I will always being tackling the topic of the month from a wargaming perspective. Well, that isn't entirely true, some things change, because first time around of discussing this subject, my stash consisted of a single 'Solar Powered Construction Kit', which has nothing whatsoever to do with my hobby.

What happened?!

Imperial Guard Valkyrie, Dark Eldar Talos, Ork Fighter Bomber,
Dark Eldar Void Raven and assorted Hasslefree Miniatures
in little bags - and this doesn't include my Age of Sigmar starter set
or beautiful Axe-Faction miniature my beloved wife bought for me!

Alright, since you ask, I'll tell you what happened. Really, two things happened. The first, like many of us I am sure, and a contributing factor to the absence of the Union this year, is that work went crazy. Or should I say 'more crazy', because work for me has been a challenge for about a year now. I guess that's what happens when you are in it at the pointy end, with a hundred emails a day flying at you and nowhere to run.

The other occurrence was that I made a certain 'hobby resolution' at the onset of 2015, which you may or may not recall was to finish off to a 'tabletop' standard two hundred and fifty gaming miniatures by the twelfth chime of Big Ben on December 31st 2015. 

Now then, this painting promise resulted in a flying start to the year, and up to this point I have just upped my total for 2015 to 160 miniatures done and ready to fight. Given that during the whole of 2014 I managed around a third of that number, I think that I have done rather well. The target is twenty per calendar month, and I aim to be averaging twenty five per month come the end of July. I am really aiming for the big Three Hundred by the end of the year if I can.

The unfortunate side effect of all this painting is that it is eating up the vast majority of my hobby time, and as the 'big things' like vehicles are a comparatively minor part of my collection (only about twenty or so tanks), with the vast bulk being made up of various hundreds of infantry and cavalry models, the armour and flyers have found themselves at the bottom of the 'to do' list. Opening stash means 'cutting sprues', filing and scraping components, and assembly, none of which involves a paint brush, and if I plan to hit my targets for the year, the acrylic has to flow like Income Tax out of my wages.

So there we have it. In the previous iteration of this post, I had said that as a gamer first and modeller/painter second, my focus would always be on assembly and game play and painting models would come in its own good time. Having seen just how many unpainted miniatures I own and committed to doing something about it, that focus has shifted considerably. In fact it's a wonder I have time to be typing this post. 

It's a good job really that I don't consider all my unpainted miniatures as stash, because it will take in the region of five years to get it all painted at a rate of 250-300 per year. All I need to do is avoid building up a collection of new models to add to the pile...Doh!!!

For the first time in what feels like an age, thanks for reading. 

P.S. I have signed up to write some gaming based articles for the Creative Twilight blog, and I will link those back to this page, so I invite you to keep a look out for some tabletop delving from me soon.

Is This Hobby Dying?...Sprue Cutters Union #31

Greetings fellow wargamers and hobbyists, and welcome to my Ponderium, which of course is where I come to think on the labyrinthine intricacies of the universe. And to watch the Rugby.

Is This Hobby Dying?

This month, the Sprue Cutters Union members have been asked to give our thoughts on the idea of whether the hobby of scale modelling is a dying pass time. I as always intend to answer this question with my usual 'wargamers twist'.

I must of course approach the question of whether the hobby of scale modelling is on it's last legs from a wargamer's perspective, because a wargamer is what I am, rather than a pure scale modeller, and my first inclination is to ask you dear reader whether you are open to the idea that birds are really flying dinosaurs?

You may be forgiven for thinking that this is something of a strange question to ask, but bear with me. If you are open to the idea that birds are in fact dinosaurs in another, more survivable form, adapted to their environment where their great big thunderstomping ancestors were not, then I put it that the hobby of Scale Modelling is not dying, but perhaps it is transforming into something else, something both the same, and different...

Let me start by dissecting the question. In my view, to know whether we can say whether the hobby is dying or not, we must understand what the hobby is. Not what it may once have been, but what it is now.

I consider myself to be a wargamer, a painter, a collector, assembler and converter of miniatures, but does that make me a 'scale modeller'? If being a scale modeller means assembling and painting purpose built scale models with the singular aim of creating models for display, then no, I am not a Scale Modeller, but if we begin to consider the hobby of Scale Modelling in a wider sense, that of the assembly and painting of models of multitudinous forms, then the answer becomes a rip roaring yes! 

If we take the example of what seems to be the majority genre of scale model building, that of military vehicles primarily from the World War II period, and look at how they fit into my favourite hobby of miniature wargaming, we see straight away a huge variety of military vehicles, from bipedal walkers to motorbikes to aircraft and three hundred ton super heavy tanks. Fair enough, most of mine are of a futuristic bent rather than faithful representations of historical war machines - I mean, look at the Sisters of Battle Exorcist: a missile firing church organ on tracks! I ask you! - but does that really make any difference when determining whether they qualify?

Ok, so if you are of a mind to insist on historical real world examples of wargaming miniatures, then there are plenty of those as well. How about two increasingly popular World War II games, Flames of War and Bolt Action? And that's without mentioning the raft of game rules available to try out which require miniatures to play out battles on the tabletop? 

If there is one thing that being a tabletop wargamer in today's world of internet and social media, it's that there are more styles and preferences out there than I care to try and name, and certainly more than enough to cater for the tastes of even the most demanding gamer.

So, if we want to see scale models in all their glory, these days we can look not only to the domain of the true scale modeller, but also to the battlefields of tabletop wargamers, whatever our tastes for genre, time period or scale. Scale modelling isn't dying, it's evolving. There are more miniature manufacturers jumping on the wargaming miniatures bandwagon than ever before, and the kits are getting bigger and more intricate all the time.

Not only that, looking at even sci-fi games like Warhammer 40,000, there are campaign books and supplements coming out like the Imperial Armour books and the entire Horus Heresy 30K series, which are in effect 'historical' and open up the possibility of sticking faithfully to the unit markings, vehicle paint schemes and even wargear options of the campaign, just like the true scale modeller and their real world historical referencing.

Maybe it's time some of my true scale modeller buddies jumped the fence and gave miniature wargaming a try?

Thanks for reading...


If you enjoyed this post, or more likely would like to read more sensible view from other members of the Sprue Cutters Union, I recommend checking out the links below to their posts, and to the main topic hub over at the Combat Workshop.


Scale Model Workbench
Doog's Models
Mattblackgod's World
Kermit's Bench
The Combat Workshop

Topic Hub


Finally, if you would like to join a group of dedicated collectors, assemblers, and painters of models of all kinds, how about joining the Sprue Cutters Union? All you need is your own hobby blog, and a passion for this hobby. We post on a monthly basis on the topic of the moment issued by our glorious leader, Jon over at the Combat Workshop - look here for more details.


                                  

Old Dog, New Tricks...Sprue Cutters Union #30

Howdy wargamers and hobbyists, welcome to 2015 and the return of the Sprue Cutters Union. It's been a few months since the Sprue Cutters last rode onto the field, but as I threatened at the end of last year...we're back!

I'd like to start by saying that I have certainly been looking forward to reinvigorating the Sprue Cutters Union posts, and its return is all the work of Jon over at The Combat Workshop, who does a sterling job of running the show and keeping us all inspired with blog topics, even around his own real life demands, so thank you Jon.

The Sprue Cutters Union posts will hence forth be a monthly emission, so on with this month's topic:

What New Products/Techniques Will You Purchase/Attempt This Year?

Well well well, what kind of things will I be trying out this of all years, when I have set myself the resolution of painting up a minimum of 250 models before the end of 2015? I think it would certainly make sense for most of my efforts this year to be in support of that painting goal, and in order to achieve that goal there is one thing I need to get much better at.

Quite simply, I need to paint faster.

So then, when you are a wargamer with hordes of infantry,  cavalry, monsters and vehicles to paint, what does painting fast entail? Well the first thing I have to talk about is the standard of painting I want to end up with.

Malorian said it pretty well in his recent YouTube video about speed painting: you can get a model painted in about five minutes flat if you stick to no more than three colours and don't bother with any of the details, and with practice you can end up with a model that looks like what it is meant to represent from the extreme limit of battle cannon range - 72", or six feet. I however have spent many years building up my painting skills to the point they are at now, which I consider to be nearing the top end of tabletop standard.

This means I think my painting is better than what someone might achieve if they just rush out models as quickly and simply as possible, but they fall short of competition standard. That's just my opinion though; everyone has to judge for themselves whether they are happy with the work they are producing. 

My hope is to maintain a standard that I would be not be embarrassed to field on the table, but quick enough to keep to my schedule of about twenty models per month. It may be the case that further down the line I come back and take the fine details and highlights to the next level, but initially I would like to get caught up on the huge backlog of unpainted miniatures I own.

So what do I already know about painting quickly? Well, I know how to batch paint, I'm just not all that fast at it. What I want to look at this year is how to speed up the process, so what I plan on doing is experimenting with different coloured undercoat/basecoat sprays.

Until now, I have almost always undercoated my models in either black or white spray, usually black. Now this is pretty much the norm. Long gone are the days of undercoating miniatures by hand with a brush. What I want to explore now is the concept of using sprays to base coat miniatures in their 'dominant colour', and then simply add some details afterwards to get a result I am happy with in a much shorter time. I want to veer away from spray undercoating black and then painting 70% of a model brown when I can just spray the model brown to begin with and take it from there.

Hopefully, if I use my Orks and Bretonnian peasants as an example, I can spray base coat them brown, then just paint the skin areas and weapons, give the various areas a wash to shade, finish the base and call it done. My Tyranids too: spray them blue, apply a quick drybrush highlight, a wash to shade - done. That's the plan anyway.

So what else can I do to speed things up? One thing I can certainly do is give more careful consideration to my colour selection when painting models. In the past I have quite happily spent time mixing colours to get just the shade I want for a model, but when I'm meant to be knocking out models quicker, that is just too time consuming to maintain. From here on in I plan to implement a strict policy of no mixing of colours, unless it's just for a single session of highlighting and that's it. No coming back to the painting table and spending valuable time re-mixing a shade I used last session. If it can't go on the shade it is straight from the pot, it doesn't get used.

Anything else? Well, the last thing I plan to do is less a technique and more a motivational tool. I need to make sure I maintain consistency because I am working to a schedule, and each month I miss the target of twenty models means that much more of a hard time I will have on the home stretch at the back end of the year to meet my goal. I plan to maintain the pace by running pretty much back to back painting challenges online, because they are a great way to ensure that I get at least some painting done pretty much every day. Little and often, that's the way I find gets results, without sapping my will to live.

To summarise then, new things I am going to do this year to help speed up my painting:

1. Buy and use coloured spray paints to base coat miniatures in their dominant colour wherever possible.

2. Avoid mixing colours to produce other shades, because it takes too long. Instead, use colours as they are out of the pot, and if I don't have a colour I really want to use - buy it!

3. Limit the number of levels of detail I go to while I bring my collection to a basic but respectable tabletop standard. I can always come back later on and spend more time on them at my leisure.

4. Don't drop the batton! Do whatever I need to to maintain the pace; paint a bit every day whenever possible, aim for twenty models per month, take part in painting challenges and change it up between armies and units to avoid getting bored of painting the same thing for too long.

There it is then, the new things I will be trying this year to accomplish another new thing and get a record number of miniatures painted before the end of the year.

Feel free to drop me a comment below to tell me about any new techniques or products you plan on trying out this year.

If you want some inspiration, you could do much worse than check out the links below to the blogs of other Sprue Cutters Union members, and to the Topic Hub over at The Combat Workshop where members will post their links after mine goes up.

Check these out:

Doogs' Models
The Combat Workshop
Yet another plastic modeller
Kermit's Bench
The Museum Modeller
Motorsport Modeller

Topic Hub

And finally, if you yourself write any kind of miniature modelling blog, then perhaps you would like to consider joining the Union? All it takes is the dedication to produce one article per month on the topic of the moment, and include links to other members articles at the bottom of your own post as I have done. All you need to do is keep an eye on The Combat Workshop or any of the member blogs for details of the next topic! Look here for more details.

As always, thanks for reading.

While You Are Out: Sprue Cutters Union #29

Greetings wargamers and hobbyists, and welcome. The Sprue Cutters Union is back!

It's been a while for sure, both since my last post and since the last topic provided by the Sprue Cutters Union high command (Jon over at The Combat Workshop), but now things are all in order and ready to roll. There will however be a change to the SCU posts (Sprue Cutters Union), which is that topics will be issued for consumption monthly rather than weekly.

I am happy enough with this myself, and am very pleased that Jon has been able to accommodate the Spruecutters in among his new schedule. Also, this leaves me with more time to post more gaming related topics and get some more painting and modelling done myself! There will be plenty to talk about, as I have recently picked up the new Dwarf Army Book (get ready for some truly classic models appearing in this very blog), and a new edition of Warhammer 40,000 is right around the corner!

With the introduction out of the way, let's move on to this month's topic:

"How do you keep in the hobby when you are away from the workbench?"

Now Jon has asked the Union to talk about the ways in which we stay connected to the hobby when we aren't actively 'cutting sprue', like research or collecting supplies for or inspiration for our next project. Well in order for me to answer this question, I have had to begin by asking myself "what is my hobby?".

The answer to this question has changed a little over the twenty-plus years that I have been involved in miniature collecting and wargaming, with the advent of things like the Internet, and then eventually the ability to take that wealth of information with us wherever we go.

Where one day in the past the hobby consisted of buying, assembling and painting miniature soldiers, and then using them to take part in 'Little Wars' either at home or at my local gaming store or gaming buddy's homes, it has evolved to also include more writing (campaign material, background fluff, army list generation and of course, this humble blog), and trying to be an active part of what has become a thriving internet and social networking community spanning the globe.

I think that I am fortunate that the various elements of my hobby allow me to talk gaming with hardcore tournament stalwarts, but also discuss the finer points of weathering and composition with modellers and painters that focus exclusively on the visual feast of dioramas and display pieces, and finding interest right across the spectrum.

There is it then. With so many aspects to what consititutes 'my hobby', I am able to keep my hand in when I am away from HQ:

I tend to take a fishing tackle box with me to work, so that at lunchtimes I can sit in the canteen and paint or work on assembly and conversion projects. I find a tackle box has enough room for about a dozen models or so, and twice that number of paints, plus brushes and small modelling tools like files.

In addition to this, I have a 7" tablet (the perfect size for keeping with me pretty much anywhere) which has on it all of my pre-selected complete army rosters and lists of different scenarios and missions for games. It also has on it all my digital rule books and campaign stuff, so that I can work on army lists, campaigns, blog posts and even my novel on this one handy gadget. I always have at least one Codex or Army book in my work bag, and usually a campaign note book too. I used to have an issue of White Dwarf in there as well *grumble, grumble, grumble*

Between the practical hobby goodness carried within my trusty tackle box, and the digital awsomeness that resides on my phone and tablet, I can partake of whatever aspect of the hobby takes my fancy at any given moment, and with internet access via my portable wifi, doubly so. This is why I think that being an all round hobbyist is such a boon.

Some hobbyists only paint and model, so background material, list building and campaigns are of lesser interest. Others only game, in which case they need not only a table, rulebooks, scenery and plenty of time, they also need a whole extra person! No matter where I am, I can take part in my hobby. Even driving in the car I get to listen to wargaming podcasts, so whatever happens I'm covered.

So how do you manage to keep in touch with the hobby when you are away from the workshop?

For anyone who hasn't come across the Sprue Cutters Union (#spruecutters) before, it's what we refer to as a 'blog carnival', which is a series of complimentary blogs which tackle the same topic title from the perspectives of their individual writers. 

At the bottom of each SCU post, I will include links to the articles already posted by other Union Members on the topic, and a link to the 'topic hub', which is where members post the links to their articles over at The Combat Workshop - my favourite thing about the Union is getting to read the views of other hobbyists with different interests talking about the same topic - links below!

Scale Model Soup
Build The World With Me

Topic Hub

And finally, if you yourself write any kind of miniature modelling blog, then perhaps you would like to consider joining the Union? All it takes is the dedication to produce one article per month on the topic of the moment, and include links to other members articles at the bottom of your own post as I have done. All you need to do is keep an eye on The Combat Workshop or any of the member blogs for details of the next topic!

As always, thanks for reading.

P.S. I recently felt it in my water that there must be a new Bretonnian Army Book on the horizon, and after being inspired by Wayne Kemp of the Heelan Hammer podcast, I started building my own pair or Trebuchets. Here's the progress:

Pack Your Bags: Sprue Cutters Union #28

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, and welcome to the ‘Wanderium’. This rather large hall is where all of our travels are recorded; upon the immense spinning globe...see all the pretty little lights? That small cluster of lights, right there, are the ones we are going to talk about today, as this week, the Sprue Cutters Union members have been asked...

- How far are you willing to travel for this hobby? -

To answer this question fully, I am choosing to categorise my hobby-travels into two areas: planned hobby related travel, and un-planned hobby travel.

My planned hobby travels could be considered both impressive and unimpressive in equal measure. I can't really answer the question in terms of whether I am prepared to travel great distances across deserts, mountains and rolling oceans, because I have never had to. The key events in the Games Workshop hobby calendar for non-tournament gamers are the events at Warhammer World, and Games Day. Warhammer World is in Nottingham, on the south side to boot, which makes it around a forty five minute drive for me to get there. Games Day takes place on the near side of Birmingham at the NEC/NIA (National Exhibition Centre/National Indoor Arena) site, which can't be more than an hour away.

So, impressive in that I basically live in the centre of a fairly major and vibrant gaming area, with some sites of Games Workshop related international pilgrimage within easy (Deep) striking distance, and unimpressive because I have never had to travel all that far to an event. Even the odd forum meet-up I have attended has typically taken place at Warhammer World, because it's a great place to visit and play games, but is also central in the country.

So, to add more interest, let’s have a quick look at 'accidental' international hobby visits.

I am very fortunate to have been able to travel fairly broadly with my wife before our son was born, and during our travels I have 'stumbled' across both Games Workshop stores and indepedent hobby shops in some far flung places. We have sometimes come across stores where I was fairly confident they would be, because we were in a country with a sizeable gaming community and in a major retail area, and at other times rounded a corner to be greeted with a splendid gaming store where I wasn't thinking at all about hobby, along with groans of 'here we go again' from my long suffering wife.

For example, I once bought a Space Marine Strike Cruiser model for Games Workshop's Battlefleet Gothic in a Games Workshop store in Toronto, Canada, where my wife (girlfriend at the time) insisted I buy something, just because of the novelty of being abroad in a Games Workshop store - you can see why I married her of course!

A more unexpected incident occurred in a shopping centre in Penang, off the coast of Malaysia, where whilst out for a walk and browsing the shops, we stumbled upon a games shop which also sold Games Workshop products! Imagine how pleased I was when I was able to purchase the Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition Rulebook in such a place. It gave me something great to read during the remainder of the holiday, and was probably at a discount compared to UK prices to boot!

So there you are. If you are prepared to accept these accidental hobby related purchases made in far flung places, then I have travelled some considerable distance and still had the hobby in mind, even if it wasn't planned. If you are not prepared to accept that, and prefer instead to cry 'cop-out! that's not a hobby trip!', then I say this. I live within an hour's drive of both the Games Day venue and Warhammer World. I'll let that sink in, until next time...

If you would like to read more on this same topic from a variety of viewpoints, please check out the links that other Union Members will be posting in the Topic Hub over on The Combat Workshop. Usually I would be posting links directly to those posts here too, but this week I am first to post!

Topic Hub

Finally, if you would like to consider joining the Sprue Cutters Union (#spruecutters), then check out this link for more details. All you need is a blog of your own, and a passion for miniature modelling.

Thanks for reading...

P.S. there will be pics this week! I'm just typing much faster than I'm painting at the moment...

Photo Finish: Sprue Cutters Union #27

Greetings wargamers and hobbyists, to another Sprue Cutters Union topic (#spruecutters). Today, we're sitting out on the balcony, reclining on comfortable deck chairs in the glorious sunshine. I would be showing you good people around the lavish photographic studio I use to take stunning pictures of my completed modelling projects, except I don't have one...

This week, the Union Members have been asked to:

- Show us your Photo Studio! -

So that's simple then, straight off the bat; I don't have a set up specifically for taking photos of my models. I do take pictures of my models though, so where do I take them and what with? Let's start with 'where'...

Typically the photos I post for posterity will be taken in one of three possible places: at the canteen table I paint at during my lunch breaks at work, at home in the kitchen, or, as many wargamers do, mid-game, in order to commemorate dramatic moments during battles.

At home and at work, I try and make sure I have two things: a clean and clear background, preferably white, and plenty of light so I can avoid having to use flash. At home, the background is often the white lid of a storage box we have, or the kitchen worktop, which is a wood effect colour, but looks ok for pics. At work, the canteen tables are fairly large and a very pale off-white, so I can take pics with just the tabletop in the background.

What I want from the background is to allow me to take pictures that keep the miniatures as the highlight. I don't want the background to detract from the miniatures or impact the colours I have used in my paint scheme. It's far better if I can avoid using the flash, because natural light gives a better, more natural image and shows the paint colours more like they appear first hand. I'll settle for artificial lighting, but flash is a last resort. I guess that because I don't have a dedicated space for photography, I'll take what I can get. I have in the past used a roll of white paper to give a background, and even layed out white or grey card to place models on.

Secondly, 'what with?' I used to use a Lumix TZ6 compact camera on the macro setting. As it's a ten megapixel camera (I think), I can get good results with it, but it's a bit of a pain having to take the camera to work or to games, even though it's a compact. It's one more thing that can get lost, stolen, left behind or dropped. More recently, for about the last eighteen months in fact, I have just used the camera on my phone, which is five megapixels (again, I 'think'), and a macro setting. This seems to do just fine as long as the background and lighting is all ok. It also allows some interesting effects to be applied for 'in game' shots. With pics to show what the painting looks like, I go without the special effects.

At the moment, I'm not taking pictures with enough seriousness to need anything better than I have, but I would like to think about something a little more permanent if possible and if space allows...

If you would like to read more posts on this topic, especially from scale modellers with much better set-ups than mine, I invite you to check out the links to member blogs below, and also to the Topic Hub over on The Combat Workshop, where members will post links to their excellent blogs as they release them.

Finally, if you would like join the Union yourself, then check out the details here. All you need is your own blog, and a passion for miniature modelling.

Topic Hub

BW
Doog's Models
The Garage Gamers

Thanks for reading...

P.S. Here are the models I am about to start painting, a gift from my wife for my Birthday, produced by Hasslefree Miniatures...as soon as I can get them spray undercoated that is.

Glue: Sprue Cutters Union #26

Greetings Wargamers and Hobbyists, and welcome once more to the workshop. 

This week the members of the Sprue Cutters Union (#spruecutters) have been asked a rather sticky question, one which I am sure we each have our horror stories about...

- What glue(s) do you use, and how do you apply them? -

Well, this is a very simple one for me, because I only use one kind of glue...Loctite Super Glue with brush applicator.

This reasoning behind this has come about over an extended period, bearing in mind that it will be twenty one years with the coming of February's issue of White Dwarf since I began in the hobby of miniature wargaming, not counting a couple of years or so with HeroQuest and Space Crusade before that, so I have been through some glue in my time.

I use superglue because it sticks fast, which is great when you have an entire army to build, and when I started out in the hobby, most of my minis are wholly or partially metal, so Super Glue is the obvious choice for that reason as well. Its 'rapid reaction' also makes it good for impromptue field repairs for that inevitable damage in transit on the way to a games night.

The reason I use super glue instead of poly cement for my plastics is two-fold: superglue sticks faster, and you can take models apart again later to help with painting. You can also take apart models that are glued with cement, but that requires the use of a chain axe...

You might think that this was enough to answer the question, and I guess it is, but the inner workings of my cogitator is never as simple as that, no sir it isn't.

I guess I could say a few words about using the particular glue I use. Quite simply, the reasons are as follows:

• You get what you pay for in my experience. For something that you might only buy once or twice each year, why skimp, when a decent brand of glue might save a year of headaches?

• I find the brush applicator to give the best control over where the sometimes tiny quantities of glue end up. I have heard good things about nozzle applied gel super glue, also by Loctite, but I can say for certain that the humble foil tube gives about as much control as a scale modeller at a 99% discount kit sale the day after pay day.

• When using a bottle of liquid super glue, whether a brush applicator or not, always store it upright. Never let it lie on it's side, even for a couple of hours. I learned to my cost a couple of times how quickly bottles will glue their lids on tighter than a Dwarf misers purse strings. Don't do it. It's not that you then have to pay out to replace what could well be half a bottle of glue, it's the inconvenience of coming to use the glue, and finding you can't because the son of a nutcracker won't open without a hacksaw.

• Last tip. Superglue has a shelf life, so when you start to find that the glue is getting lazy, starting to congeal and plainly just isn't doing it's job as well as it did when it was new, just resign it to the Great Hobby Heaven in the sky and buy a new one. As I already said, it isn't worth quibbling over a few quid when you only by two or three bottles each year, and you can lose hours removing, cleaning and re-gluing the same piece over and over because the glue has decided to play silly beggars. Just buy a new one.

So, there are my thoughts on which glue and how it is applied, and a few pointers I have picked up while using it. Let me know if you get stuck with any of them...

If you would like to read more posts on this same topic by a variety of miniature modellers, I invite you to have a look through the links below to the blogs of other Union Members, and to the main Topic Hub over at the Combat Workshop, where more members will post their links.

Topic Hub

The Garage Gamers
Yet Another Plastic Modeller
Fill 'n Sand
The Combat Workshop
Doog's Models

I also invite you to check out this link, which explains how you too could become a Sprue Cutters Union member. All you need is a blog of your own, whether you are a seasoned blogger or would like to start one for the for the first time, and more importantly you need a passion for miniature modelling of one kind or another. We are indeed a varied bunch...

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Here are a couple of photos of my completed Chaos Warriors, The Unleashed...next time, something quite different.