Thursday 30 July 2015

THE SAGA OF THE SHED CONTINUES AND VISITORS TO THE BUNKER.

What's occurrin' then?

Well to be fair, not that much hobbywise. Last week seemed to fly by in a succession of visits/reunions. Firstly at our weekly WNI (Wednesday Night Irregulars) session, we had a visit from an old team mate and prolific gamer. Let's call him The Baron (named changed to protect the innocent). The Baron  and I, along with Sheldon and Morph all played American Football together, it was for a proper team and everything. It was also a long time ago and I hadn't really seen The Baron since. On Thursday another surprise visitor, Northern Lighter Thief (Again name changed to protect the innocent). NLT from now on. Hadn't seen NLT since the heady days of Morph's Garage and 40K. Several years ago now. Still a tremendous amount of fun was had.

Before we get distracted by all the rose coloured nostalgia, let's get back to the business at hand. That business being the promotion and appreciation of zombie art and artists. Yes, the cultural mission. So again another really nice piece from the extraordinarely talented Bryan Baugh! I know that some of my viewers particularly like his damsels in distress. This one is called Half and Half Horror. Enjoy!



Anyway, The Baron came along to play Zombicide and he brought beer and snacks. Along with the zombie slaying, we managed a few beers and talked about our long gone glory days. Great fun was had by all, except Morph, who had to be home in bed by ten. Lightweight!
So The Baron agreed to join our ragtag band of survivors and become an irregular attendee at WNI. Result!

Thursday, as mentioned a visit from NLT. Upon mentioning gaming the previous night and large amount of fun involved, NLT quickly said that he would call in on a Wednesday in future. Wow, another or should I say returning irregular. I'm not holding my breath on this one though, NLT has been known to be unreliable more often than not. Plus he didn't say which Wednesday.

Friday didn't get any quieter. Just sitting down to dinner, phone call from The Tollman. It was time to pay my toll, he needed a lift to Barry (Home of the comedy Gavin and Stacey) to pick up his new transport. So a few hours on a mission of mercy. Just think of all the karma points man.

In spite of all the merriment taking place at the bunker, I 've managed to progress a little more with the shed. The making of which is turning into a saga all of it's own.

And there I arrive at a problem. Photo's need taking but my official photographer is away visiting a friend. She doesn't get home till the early hours of Tuesday morning. So no photo's on time or photo's and a couple of days late.

So obviously waited until my official photographer had enough "princess" time, before she could take them. Anyway they are done now.

So let the saga continue. Firstly we have a shot of the front. For some strange notion I thought that painting the door seperately was a good idea. It's not.

FRONTAGE AFTER DRYBRUSHING.

I was totally wrong last time, it was basecoated with Chocolate Suede, not Cozy Cocoon. I followed  the basecoat with a heavy brybrush of Cozy Cocoon.Then a lighter drybrush of Oatmeal (Wilko tester pot 75p.). I made up a wash from various dark colours and inks, then heavily diluted, I slapped it all over the building. Inside and out.

LEFT SIDE. VERY BORING.

Maybe some posters will brighten up the big flat surfaces. Or some blood.

RIGHT SIDE. EQUALLY BORING BUT A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COLOUR IT SEEMS.

 I quite like the irregular staining from the wash, makes it more natural I feel.

A SLIGHTLY MORE INTERESTING BACK VIEW.

The interior was washed with the same mixture. Bringing out some detail and leaving behind some more irregular staining.

INTERIOR SHOT. BACK WALL.

A little blood splash to match similar patterns on the floorboards. More wash.

CLOSE UP OF THE BACK CORNER.

Remember the drag marks, well now they end somewhere, or is it start somewhere.

INTERIOR IN SITU WITH FLOORBOARDS.

Still needs the doors painting and window mesh coloured. Gluing to the base, basing, it goes on. It seems the shed saga will continue for a little while longer.

FRONT ELEVATION.

Bugger, just realised I haven't done the bloody roof yet.

Well, it seems like that's all I got this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time, follow the DUDE'S example and "take it easy".



Sunday 19 July 2015

MORE SHED WIP.

What's occurrin' then?!

A bit more progress on the storage shed this week. It's been bloody hot mind. So warm and humid at night I haven't been getting to sleep until well past 3 a.m. Despite my lack of sleep, perhaps because of, I've managed to drag the shed nearer completion. The southern hemisphere's rugby championship kicked off this weekend, something else to dent my dreamtime.

The cultural mission rumbles ever onward. More art from the extremely talented Bryan Baugh. Another amazing monochromatic example from Mr  Baugh. This piece is entitled Soggy Dead. Enjoy!

SOGGY DEAD.

So first of all, I had to paint the floor. Much easier to do before the walls were glued down, of course. The raw wood was given a coat of Chestnut Ink, then some Dark Green Ink and some Purple Ink where added for a little detail.

BASECOATED WITH INKS.
Wow, too shiny! Had to knock it back a little, so gave it a drybrush of Bestial Brown. This really wasn't the look I was after, change of direction coming.

OOPS! THAT LOOKS AWFUL.

To try and save it, I went lighter and less glossy. A heavy drybrush of Oatmeal emulsion (75p from Wilko's) saved the day and my blushes.

GETTING BACK ON TRACK.
To add a little more interest, I drybrushed Magnolia emulsion onto the "heavy traffic" areas (again 75p tester pot from Wilko's). This made things look a little less flat, well, I thought so anyway.

HEAVY TRAFFIC AREAS DEFINED.

As a final touch, some blood splashes and stains were added to break things up a bit and bring a little (un)life to the piece.

BIT OF BLOOD AND SUCH, TO MAKE IT GNARLY.
That's it for the floor. Moving on to the interior walls, they got a good coat of Oatmeal emulsion. I was trying to keep the inside as light as possible. This was then drybrushed with Magnolia emulsion, this stage may need to be repeated.


As for the exterior, more emulsion, this was Cozy Cocoon (I think!?). A few coats of drybrushing with lighter tones and the job should be a good 'un. Some creative staining may also be called for.


The interior is also looking a smidge too pristine, something will have to be done about that.

A shot to show the walls in situ with the flooring. Hopefully, another week and this thing should be finished. But don't hold your breath!


In other news, Z-nation starts at 10pm, 21st of July (Tuesday) on Pick. Really looking forward to it, another take on the zombie apocalypse, what's not to like.


Well, I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time try and follow the DUDE'S example and "take it easy".


Sunday 12 July 2015

100th POST. WOO HOO!!!!

What's occurrin' then?

I know, it's been longer than usual since my last post. Progress has been really slow these last couple of weeks. Fighting some personal demons has taken up a fair bit of my time and energy, leaving me less than enthused to do anything. It's also been bloody hot and the bunker doesn't have air-conditioning, further reducing my enthusiasm for all things hobby.Right, enough moaning, we have a cultural mission that still needs completing.

Continuing our mission to bring some culture to the world of zombies, even if it has to be dragged in kicking and screaming. (It's more fun that way). I present you with another fantastic piece by the extremely talented Bryan Baugh. This one's called Loose Veins. Enjoy!

CHECK OUT THOSE BIG RED EYES.
Painfully slow progress indeed. I have managed to cut a base and model the floor for the big storage shed. The base is cut from another placemat, bevelled and sanded. The floor is made from lolly sticks (popsicle sticks) which have been whittled and drilled to get them vaguely looking like old worn floorboards. Then PVA'ed directly to the base.

THE FLOOR FROM ABOVE.

Once it's finished the shed will be hot glued into place and then maybe it might get some colour on it. When it's in situ, I should be able to finish the base with the old filler, PVA and sand combo.

NOT QUITE SQUARE, EH!


FRONTAGE ON THE BASE.

A silver lining to my hobby cloud is that the WNI (Wednesday Night Irregulars) has still been meeting with a regularity that belies our name. As Zombicide is our go to game at the moment, Sheldon purchased the Ultimate Survivors set. We've even used them in anger. Unpainted! (Shock horror!). Very nice figures and their starting skills are excellent.

YOU CAN RELY ON THESE IN A CRISIS

Having played Zombicide weekly for the last couple of years, we're getting pretty good at it now. TCM, Prison Outbreak and Rue Morgue add loads of variety and replayability. To be honest, we haven't really scratched the surface of Rue Morgue yet. Only played the crows once, same with the V.I.P. zombies. Not used the new zombivor rules yet or any of the new celebrity survivors.

Even though we have a lot more of Zombicide to explore, Sheldon felt the need to bring along another zombie game. It wasn't out of the blue, we had discussed trying it out at some point. The game in question was Dead of Winter.


A completely different kind of game to Zombicide. Crossroads is a new series from Plaid Hat Games that tests a group of survivors' ability to work together and stay alive while facing crises and challenges from both outside and inside.


Dead of Winter is the first game in this series. It puts 2-5 players together in a small weakened colony of survivors in a world where most of humanity are either dead or diseased, flesh craving monsters. Each player leads a faction of survivors with dozens of different characters in the game.


Dead of Winter is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means the players are working together toward one common victory condition - - but for each individual player to achieve victory, they must also complete their personal secret objective. This secret objective could relate to a psychological tick that's fairly harmless to most others in the colony, a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk, a desire for sabotage of the main mission, or worst of all : vengeance against the colony!
Certain games could end with all players winning, some winning and some losing, or all players losing. Work toward the groups goal but don't get walked all over by a loudmouth who's only looking out for their own interests!

A little more abstract than Zombicide, more card driven but still a lot of fun. The game uses card flat figures instead of mini's but that doesn't detract from the enjoyment. The secret objective mechanic is brilliant as you don't know who to trust. All in all, a fun nights gaming. The only drawback is it can't be played solo. I can see this making a semi-regular appearance at the WNI weekly meet ups.

Hopefully, I can be a bit more focused and productive over the following weeks. Thanks for bearing with me.

Well, I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time follow the DUDE'S example and "take it easy".