10/13/13: Smells Like Charity...Again! Extra Life 2013 and Charity Gaming Event

Hey guys!

Its been a busy two weeks! This post is going to have a little bit of painting showcase, but I really want to focus on the more important aspects this time; namely, more charity work!

Those of you might remember this time last year, Smells Like Wargaming participated in two charity events; Extra Life 2012, and the Breachside Benevolence Ball. Both were for great causes, and greatly helped out their respective groups. Lets break them down again, shall we?

With Extra Life 2012, myself, along with two other members of our gaming group, Durango Diceworks, raised over $800 for the Children's Miracle Network. We got in some 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, plenty of Magic, Xbox, X-Wing, and....*shudders*...Nitro Dice...

There may have been some...drinks involved...too...

For those of you unfamiliar with Extra Life, its a charity group involved with raising money for your local Children's Hospital by getting pledges to play games for 24 25 hours. Its for a great cause, and we all have a ton of fun gaming and raising money for the kids. Its all about the kids, ya'know!

This year, I'm hoping for an even greater turnout and results. You can't go wrong with raising that much money for charity, but hey, we've always gotta aim higher! For those of you interested, here's a link to my Extra Life page: Granesh's Extra Life Page 

The Extra Life page recommends a dollar an hour ($25), but anything works. My personal goal is $250, but I'm hoping that's a glass ceiling that we smash through! Honestly, any money raised for this group will make me happy!

Believe me though, I've got more going on than gaming for charity too. I'm always happy to donate my talents to these endeavours as well! Again, my good friend Magilla Gurilla came to me, asking if I could donate some vouchers for painting for his Charity Gaming Event, taking place in Southern California November 9th. I one upped him, as I like to do, and offered to paint up a Cygnar Battlegroup to be raffled off for charity. 

Again, for those of you who don't remember, I painted up a Seamus Crew and redid some models for a second crew (for some reason, I can't find pictures) for Malifaux; the two crews raised about $150 towards charity. Magilla approached me again, as I said, looking for some support, and I figured it'd be better if we had a set of models the bidders could see in the flesh. I opted for a Cygnar Battlegroup, as Warmachine seems to be bigger in their area than Malifaux at the moment. Pictures should begin next week of the progress, I'm very partial to that Colonel Striker model from that set...

Blue and Brass? I think that can be done!

Expect shots of this project over the next week and a half. I'll be out of town for Halloween, so we'll have to get it done in that timeframe. 

I apologize for the lack of updates, Facebook and Twitter seem to be a little easier for posting, especially WIP shots. I was working my butt off last week on High Elf stuff to get them ready for my client who was traveling with RTGamer and my boss to Feast of Blades. For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the freehand on the Dragon Prince's banner:

Alrighty! Got a game of Blood Bowl today (Don't lose too many skinks...) and I'm doing some work on my Warp Talons to relax, and monday, expect some Skaven and Cygnar goodness!

Granesh

9/28/13: Finished: Lots and Lots of Terrain!

Hey guys!

So here's what the last week of work has been leading to! I'm really happy with how all this terrain came out, but I'll let my pictures speak for me, as usual! Lets go!

The Shrine of the Aquila. Opted for a NMM-effect on the aquila, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

 The base of the building is an overbrush from dark grey up to white. Everything is then sponged in a light silver to create chipping, then details were added.

 There is a lot of freehand all over the buildings, it really helps to add the urban feel to everything.

 

 

 Personally my favorite piece, the rust is FW weathering powders, and the billboard is the client's business card glued to a piece of plasticard, then a frame was built. Then I masked the picture, painted, and weathered it! Turned out perfectly!

 

  And the interior, lots of weathering powder on this guy, along with my standard freehand. This 'SLW' guy is everywhere!

 The Governor's quarters, the balcony adds a nice touch to the battlefield.

 

Spent some time to get those monitors looking sexy too!

 

 A broken Imperial Basilica, really digging the green with the bronze.

 

You again!

 

 Honored Imperium and Battlefield Accessories. Nothing too crazy, but all the Accessories have waterslides on them to add to the Imperial effect. Its little details like those that will really make your battlefield terrain.

 

More craters. Been there, done that!

 

 There's a set of three forests; first off is an Autumnal grove.

 

 Second is a summertime meadow.

 

 And lastly, a burnt out grove, perfect for Sylvania, the Chaos Wastes, and Armageddon alike!

 

 Added some extra leaves to the bases to make them look more natural.

 

 Look Ma, more freehand!

 

 Veterans of the Cadian 317th hold off cultists in a bombed-out Imperial city.

First time my IG have hit the table in a while!

 

 And High Elves face down the minions of Festus the Leechlord!

Whew! That's a lot of terrain! Like I said, incredibly happy with how it turned out, and the client was just as happy as well! Next up is some more terrain, a little Forge World, and more Elves! Here's a sneak peek at the next group:

 

May be a slow week on the painting front next week, but have no fear, the mojo is in full flow and I've got a lot of stuff coming up!

Granesh

9/8/13: Finished: High Elf Army Add-ons!

Hey guys!

Just a quick update today! Most of my painting week was spent rolling through some final High Elf pieces for my local client! Trying to figure out why my individual picture of Caradryan didn't load, but hey! There were some archers with the group, but I figured you guys would want to see the cool stuff instead!

This is an old pewter musician. Nice model, painted up pretty quickly too!

My favorite model in the group, I had a lot of fun trying a mix of techniques on him, from runes, to a glowing ring and a celestial effect in the orb on his staff, as you can see in the next picture.

Lots of fun, went pretty quickly too! 

Alrighty, next on the queue is a ton of terrain, as well as some more High Elves (a hero's work is never done, right?) and, hopefully, some more Astral Claws, as I try to get ready for Month two of our local campaign!

Granesh

9/3/13: Finished: High Elf Chariots; Some Upcoming Projects!

Hey guys!

So I've been busy working through some projects this last week, I think you all will really enjoy them, I know I did!

So my regular High Elf client sent me some final pieces to round out his army. I guess chariots in the new HE book are a little overcosted, but its always good to have all your options available. When I received these models, 2 were painted incredibly badly, while a 3rd (the horse one) was assembled, but needed some cleanup. No problem! I'll let the pictures talk, instead of rambling on!

 I opted for Orange and Blue on the horse chariot front, to compliment the BSB I did a while back.

 

 Dunno if the driver is supposed to be wearing a tunic, or what, but he looks meaner with bare muscle exposed.

 

  For what its worth, I've never painted a lion before, so this was a nice change of pace!

 I've really been enjoying freehanding banners, and this group had 2 perfect banners, ripe for some High Elf iconography!

 

 Really happy with the second side, the moon turned out perfectly!

 

 With the second Lion chariot, I opted for blues, rather than whites (Probably for my own sanity!), while still keeping the same style as the first.

 

 Wasn't sure if the Astronomy banner would work, but it turned out rather nicely, in my opinion!

 

  The other side is a little barren; I wasn't feeling another freehanded lion, so I'm sure I'll get bored sometime in the future and do something there!

Kitties!

There's a couple pieces left before the client's High Elves are finished, and they'll hopefully be done by Saturday. Here's a sneak peek at Caradryan; fun model, but the face leaves a little to be desired...

 

 There's also another project coming down the pipeline, so stay tuned for this. If you follow the Facebook page, you'll probably recognize what its going to be already!

 

  Alrighty! Next up is some more High Elves and terrain! I'm also feeling the Alpha Legion bug again, so I may get some work done on my own army! Only time will tell!

Granesh

7/15/13: Painting: Apocalypse Steel Legion Infantry; Another Loremaster of Hoeth!

Hey guys!

Awww crap, two weeks without a post?! It's been a killer-busy two weeks though, lemme tell you! I spent the weekend of the 4th of July visiting my girlfriend, which is always nice, but as soon as I got back, I started to work on these guys! Lets just jump in, shall we?

Here is the Imperial Steel Legion army as it sits at the moment. Right now, we have finished:

• 2 Heavy Weapons Squads (6 Lascannon, 6 Heavy Bolter)
• Platoon Command Red
• 5/5 Infantry Squads (Red)
• Platoon Command Blue
• 2/5 Infantry Squads (Blue)
• Platoon Command Green
• 0/5 Infantry Squads (Green), but the 4/5 Sgts done!
• A random smattering of Legionnaires, ranging from Lasgun guys to artillery and additional Sgts.

The Heavy Weapon squads are labeled by letter and number (ie: A1, C3), to allow for squad designation.

The picture for the Red Platoon Command disappeared...hmmmm...

Here, though is the entire Red Platoon! You can see the designations on their bases, allowing for identification during a game.

Blue Platoon Command. I wanted to play with an activating Power Sword effect, its ok for a tabletop model such as this!

Work continues on the Blue Platoon, should have them finished tomorrow after work!

And Green Platoon and their Sgts, they'll be done on Wed-Friday. 

The second Heavy Weapons squad group. Really happy with these guys! 

And a smattering of random guys. As I progress through each tray, I seem to find more and more Steel Legion, many of which don't have a group to go in, or would feel off (multiple missile guys, for example). They'll all work into a squad by the end!

And lastly, the army with an unfinished Green Platoon added in for effect. Lining them all up like this is nice, as I can finally visualize the direction of the army and where everything is going!

Also got another commission from my local High Elf player, wanting another Loremaster and some horses painted. The Horses will come soon, but here's the Loremaster! When he gave them to me, he was already painted, so it was a case of washing and cleaning up a tabletop piece.

Whew! So the rest of the week is Steel Legion, followed by Space Wolves and an interesting commission I'm sure to take pictures of. Stay tuned folks, I'm hard at work!

Granesh