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

12/11/13: Review: Puppets War Mankind Rippers Unit

Howdy folks!

So I was recently approached by Nick over at Blood of Kittens about a little 40k proposition he was throwing together to combine 3rd Party suppliers and commission artists. Personally, I love the idea, and not long after, I was paired with Puppet's War, a bits supplier based out of Poland. I dove right into the box of goodies, and the first project that caught my eye was the Mankind Rippers Unit. Lets jump right in, shall we?

Disclaimer: Although I received these models through a promotional offer to promote both myself and Puppet's War, I have no obligation to give a biased or favorable view because of the circumstances. If I don't like a kit or piece, you better believe I'll speak my mind about it! Same goes if I love it! Now, without further adieu...

Puppets War's Mankind Rippers Unit Review

Cost: $40 (approx USD)

Contains: 5 Complete models minus bases

The kit consists of 5 bodies (torso and legs are a single piece), 5 heads, and 5 sets of arms. Personally, I would have liked to receive some bases for these bad boys, but I had a set of 40mm round bases lying around, so it wasn't a big deal for me, but just keep that in mind when ordering. 

As you can see, I received a 6th set of arms; I can't imagine it was intentional, just a packer's mistake, but I'm not complaining! I gave the models a good bath to release any release agent, though the models seemed to be fairly devoid of it, thankfully.

The biggest question I'm sure you all have is, "How is the casting quality?". Impeccable, my dear sirs and madams! There are virtually no airbubbles on the models, as well as flashing. The only places I found them were on the tips of the fingers and the bottom of the feet, which is no problem whatsoever.

As you can see, the pieces scale very well to Warhammer 40k bits and pieces. While I opted to go with minimal additions, you could very easily throw Space Marine or Imperial Guard heads on them, or cover the shoulders with a Terminator Shoulderpad. The standard Marine ones are too small. You can also see the detail on these pieces; CAD design and casting has come a long way! 

One of the biggest selling points of the kit is the holes for magnetizing the arms. This makes these badboys very versatile, as you can use the arms supplied with the kit, or opt for Terminator arms. I only magnetized the sergeant, as I'm still playing around with army choices for the unit, but in reality, you can easily magnetize all five models.

The arms take standard 1mm rare earth magnets; be sure you mark one side with a sharpie to keep your polarities straight! 

My magnets stick out just a touch; I prefer the extra girth they add to the shoulders, but you can easily drill the sockets a touch deeper if you so chose. Ahh, the beauty of resin!

My first Ripper WIP; I've opted for a more neutral style to allow me to play with the 40k allies chart. I've been playing around with doing a small Adeptus Mechanicus force as Necrons, but with the armaments included with the Rippers, they'll work just fine as Mega-Armored Nobz, Shooty Terminators, Necrons, or even Tyranid Warriors (Instinctive Behavior represents their control over the skitarii). 

And, an overall assessment of the product as a whole:

Quality: 5/5; 

Clean casts and well designed models ensure you'll be able to paint every detail without problem!

Price: 4/5;

Cheaper than a box of Space Marine Terminators, but with less pieces and weapons. At $8/model though, you can't go wrong!

Value: 4/5;

The casts are clean, and the detail is there, but some extra weapons and bases would have been a nice inclusion. Hell, I'd pay another $10 to get some extra arms and even a plain black base! 

Overall: 4.5/5

Puppets War has done an excellent job on these models; they're very striking on the tabletop, and with the sharp edges and little details, lend themselves very well to both beginner and advanced painters. As I said, some extra weapons would be nice, but you can pick those up on their website, as well as sculpted resin bases. 

Expect more reviews in the coming month or so as I slowly work my way through the box of goodies I was sent. Thanks to the guys at Puppets War, as well as TastyTaste over at Blood of Kittens, for giving me this opportunity. I've got a couple of tutorials coming as well from the group of models I received, so stay tuned for some strange, fun projects coming your way!

I was working on that first WIP guy during the Broncos/Titans game this weekend, so I was almost too tense to finish him up! I should have more pictures of these badboys painted up towards the end of the week, so stay tuned! Should, as well, have another blogpost up tomorrow showing you all what I've been working on this week. Realizing its only been a week, the amount of stuff I've painted is kinda scary, even to myself. Anyways, stay tuned!

Granesh

Smells Like Wargaming