6/29/15: Showcase: Lizardman and Elves Blood Bowl Commission

Howdy folks!

This time around we have a duo of Blood Bowl teams done, dusted, and ready for the pitch! Really enjoyed this commission, especially the Lizardmen as I own the models myself and really want to get mine painted now! Let's walk through the teams.

First is the Lizardmen. The models come from Impact Miniatures, and are gorgeous little models, especially the Skinks! Consisting off 8 skinks, 6 saurus, and are Kroxigor, this is are team to be reckoned with! The client wanted the team themed around Texas A&M, which is a great compliment to the green of the alligators.  I've only had a chance to play with them on the computer, but Lizardmen are a brutal team to play. The skinks rival the Elves in terms of speed and agility, while the saurus and Kroxigor give them the hitting ability of orcs! Look out for them!

The Pro Elves come from Willy Miniatures I believe, and the team consists of 8 blockers, 2 catchers, 2 throwers, and 2 Wardancers. This team was themed around Keanu Reeve's movie the Replacements, and the colors flow really nicely. Elves were always the bane of my Orcland Raiders due to their speed, and this team should be no exception!

Whew! Loved working on this commission, but it's time to get back to the Grimdark future of the 41st Millennium! Next up is a detachment of Salamanders Drop Pods, followed by the sons of Ferrus Mannus!

Granesh

12/31/13: SLW: A Most Odoriferous Look at 2013

Howdy folks!

Hope you all had an excellent holiday! I walked away with a new lightbox, some Broncos gear, and the new Stronghold Assault book, as well as the time spent with my loved ones! I'm still out of the studio til the 2nd, but expect some hardcore painting to start out the new year!

So 2013 has come and gone and, I don't know about you all, but its been quite a year! Tons to paint, lots going on with both the business and my personal life, and some big plans for 2014! Lets just jump right in, shall we?

January

School was kicking my butt early this year as I was starting my final semester of school! I was still wrapping up pieces for my local Ogre Kingdoms player.

February

February was one of my biggest months I'd had in quite some time! I got and finished my first Blood Bowl commission; a Necromantic team called the All-Madden 2045, and every player was a pun from an actual NFL player. 

I also traveled to Denver for Genghis Con 2013, where my Giant Chaos Spawn won my first award for SLW; plan is to go again this year and bring home a first place award this time!

March

Finished two good-sized armies this month; an IG Allied Detachment, and an all-female Henchmen force.

March was also Lost Souls 2013, run by my buddy RTGamer. We're hoping to turn this bad boy into a full-on convention in Pagosa Springs this year, so stay tuned for more information on that!

April

Crunch time! With my final semester wrapping up, focus jumped back to school for the month. I had some pieces entered into my Senior Art Show!

I also finished my first Heldrake commission, a stock Nurgle monstrosity! I still need to paint mine...

May

May went by in a blur! I wrapped up two commissions; a Valkyrie for a client on the East Coast, and a Realms of Battle Board. Those Battleboards paint up super fast, and would be the first of two I'd paint this year!

I also took a little trip to the land of the Nile. Its a beautiful country, even if its in perpetual revolt right now. We got lucky and were there between uprisings. You can see my goofy mug rocking the Arafat Headwrap in the back there!

June

The summer was incredibly busy, as I was traveling to see my girlfriend, working at the shop, and trying to keep up on painting. Unfortunately, painting took a little bit of a blow here, and would cost me later on (That's a story for another time though!)

Started doing some High Elves for the guy I was doing Ogres for earlier this year also!

July

Completed the biggest commission I've ever painted! Nearly 200 Armageddon Steel Legionnaires, all pewter! While my brain was really fried at the end of this one, I paint to see awe-inspiring groups like this!

More High Elves too! 

August

Two commissions I should have finished earlier, but that's neither here nor there. Thunderwolf-Heavy SW, and the Dreamer Malifaux Crew!

September

September was nuts! Not only did I do a ton for my client's High Elves, but also completed an entire set of terrain for the hobby shop in Farmington (I painted their battleboard in May).

October

Lots of charitywork this month! Extra Life 2013 consisted of so much Super Smash Bros I needed an icepack at the end of the night! The Cygnar Group raised about $400 for Magilla's charity in SoCal, so I'm extremely happy about that! I found some time to finished Arkos' bodyguard squad of Warp Talons for my own Alpha Legion, which I'm extremely happy with! I also started painting Skaven for the same client I've done Ogres and High Elves for all year, starting with the Screaming Bell!

November

November was crazy busy! Lots of commission work and a little personal work. I repainted and finished my Baneblade, just in time for Escalation! Gotta say, love that expansion, I've actually gotten to play with my Baneblade with it! This guy was originally for sale, but I might hold onto it now...

As for commissions, I had some Defense Lines (so many stretchy guardsmen!), an all pewter Khador Cavalry group, and a Forge World Vulture! Lots of fun projects in November!

December

December has been almost as busy as November! I've done a little work for my Alpha Legion by getting my Helbrute finished up (Thank god for the Iron Man movies for saving my sanity painting that skintone!). I also completed another full set of terrain for Good Games down in Farmington; that's a table and a half worth of terrain in under two weeks! I also started on a Necron commission that I'll wrap up this weekend!

2013 brought a lot of changes, both good and bad, for Smells Like Wargaming and myself. Every year is a new learning experience, and I'd like to think I've learned a lot about myself and the business this year. 2014 already has some grand designs and expansions planned, so stay tuned this next year my dear readers, and enjoy the roller-coaster ride with me!

Have an excellent New Years folks, and I'll see you all in 2014!

Granesh

8/5/13: Finished: Canis' Thunderwolf Bonanza!; Shots from the Catering Commission!

Hey guys!

So its been a slow two weeks here on the blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy rocking out some sexy paintjobs! I've been really busy at the shop I manage, and with completing a commission for my parents two weeks ago, I've been nothing but non-stop! Lets jump into the big boy though: Space Wolves!

This was an interesting commission; lots of Thunderwolves, some Forge World, and really just took some much needed focus to roll through. It consisted of:

• Canis Wolfborn
• 15 Thunderwolf Cavalry
• 10 Grey Hunters
• Drop Pod
• Forge World Land Raider Spartan

Enough talk, pictures!

Gotta say, not a fan of GW's plastic Thunderwolves for the sole reason of how the heads go together. Sure the teeth are sculpted and there's a tongue, but the mold lines and areas where the pieces go together.

The waterslide transfers really brought the models together, and the Grey Hunters are no exception here. You can also see the Drop Pod behind them.

The Spartan was an interesting model to do. All resin, not a single plastic piece, and its incredibly heavy for what it is. The sponsons are a pain, and only slightly rotate. Its a great centerpiece for the force though! Still had a ton of fun doing the freehand wolf on the side of it!

The Drop Pod ended up being the most fun and the most frustrating model overall. I have a strong love-hate relationship with Drop Pods; sure they're great in game and look great painted up, but the fact they never seem to go together right just drives me crazy! Plus with the Wolves, I wanted to opt to yellow, which is always fun over large areas. I broke up the large expanses of Grey and Yellow by using weathering techniques. The Pod was layered up with Forge World's Black Soot powder, and lightly colored with their Dark Earth powder after the Pod was varnished. After the final varnish coat was added, I went over the edges with a graphite stick in order to keep the metallic chipping sheen I wanted on the Drop Pod.

Grey Hunters wading into the ever-growing ranks of Chaos.

Chaos Space Marines face down the full might of the Thunderwolf Cavalry.

'AAAAROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!'

Lastly, I'd mentioned I'd been doing a commission for my family. Ever since I was a teen, my family has owned a very successful restaurant about four hours from where I currently live. I used to work in the kitchen, and have done almost every job imaginable for them when I was younger. Now, I finally got to put my artistic abilities to work for them. A wedding catering had requested a Steampunk-themed centerpiece for their food, and my parents requested my services to build it. I happily obliged! Theres only a couple pictures here; if there's interest in more shots, I'll throw them up!

I opted for a scientific-style wacky contraption for the piece. Lots of PVC, tanks, the steam hatches are old Tea Kettles from the restaurant, the gauge is from an old beer tap, and there's various pieces from old clocks, lamps, and other assorted gizmos. The steam effect is simply dry-ice; I had one of the guys working the catering add a piece of dry ice to water in the kettles every half-hour. It worked the charm!

The contraption was made to look like it disappeared under the table, allowing for the piece to be set up however needed and still appear cohesive and easy to move. The second piece was more PVC, a garden hose nozzle, and a helium tank. The light is from an old floor lamp; we bent the metal rod to the shape of the tank and affixed it. The lightbulb was my girlfriend's idea; I was looking for a colored bulb, and she instead found a stained glass bulb. Voila! Perfect!

The catering was a success, and the bride and groom loved their centerpiece. In fact, they requested they could keep it after the wedding! Huzzah!

Alrighty, so with the Wolves done, there's some projects on the table now. I've got a mounted High Elf group to get through, followed by a little Forge World and some 40k terrain. My personal paint desk is getting interesting too: a new Blood Bowl team, a new 40k army, and my Chaos Marines to finish. This week is going to be a little slow on the painting front, as my little brother is getting married this weekend, but fear not loyal readers! More projects are coming soon!

Granesh

3/10/13: Lost Souls 2013 Terrain, Blood Bowl, and General Painting!

Hey guys!

WOW. Almost two weeks? I’m ashamed! I never let my post count get past this point, at least we’ve got a lot to cover this time!

Alrighty! Where to start! First off, ended up going home for a couple days to see the fam and spend time with the girlfriend and let her go skiing, such an awesome break. Its been Spring Break though, so I’ve been pretty busy! I finished my Blood Bowl season 1-1-5….yeah…. five ties….at least the Orcland Raiders are consistant! Thinking Lizardmen next season, should be a nice change of pace from everything!



I got a little work done on the Alpha Legion! My Jump Packs arrived, meaning I got to throw the magnet in and see how my Lord would end up!



Some work on the cultists too, as you can see! Really liking that Traitor Commissar, thinking he could be converted into a loyalist one incredibly easily!



Started work on the lord too! Really stoked to see where he ends up, its gonna be a while before I get the chance to play him!



Magilla’s Dreamer Malifaux crew is assembled, just need to find some time to get them painted around some other projects!



Started painting Jason’s IG add-on to his Eagle Warriors! Got to assemble the two Vendettas, but they should be done and ready for the tournament at the end of the month!



Smokin’ Aces baby!



Lastly, today was spent getting the final tables worth of terrain painted up for Lost Souls 2013! For those of you who haven’t heard, our own RTGamer is running a regional tournament here in Durango, Colorado, and we’re hoping to get it to a larger, convention-esque level, but we’ll see. Check out the site HERE and, if you’re in the area, sign up and make the trip this weekend!



Ended up getting 4 hills from pink foam to full grown!



SEXY! We knocked out a TON of Citadel trees as well. Love the models now, they’re much better to work with in person!



And some buildings! About an hour or so into a Chapel here!



And the final count! I’ll get more pictures tomorrow of all the terrain we’ve gotten done down at Durango Game Space!



BAM! Super happy with all this work, it was the combined effort of myself, RTGamer, and our buddies Jonathan and Alden, who made this all possible! Now we’ve got some of the best terrain in the region!

Alrighty, the menu this week includes Death Cultists, Veterans, a Heldrake or two, maybe some Cultists, and Lost Souls (I’m a paint judge for the whole kit and kaboodle)!

Expect more updates tomorrow and this week!
Granesh