The March of Progress

So who's got two thumbs and had some miniatures displayed in the GW Official Flickr Photo Pool yesterday?

I do actually wear polonecks sometimes. 

Nightmare Scenario

"Pappa. Pappa, Freja help paint."

Painting Guide:

• Front: Bilious Green 
• Back: Temple Guard Blue 
• Legs: Lucius Lilac
• Highlights: Changeling Pink followed by Emperor's Children followed by Changeling Pink again, with special attention to the hands which had to be pink. Pink! Pink!

Happy Halloween, and may all your offspring find your painting trays well-stocked.

From the Dettol it rises...

Dettol has long been my stripping agent of choice: cheap, clean and safe, and as long as you obey the rule not to bring in soapy water until the model is fully cleaned (otherwise your toothbrush gunks up), your model will be fully restored.

I live again!

(I guess the *other* rule is that you should use an old toothbrush, not your current one, but I hope that's evident).

But I've never really tested its limits. The majority of my restorations have been metal miniatures with water-based paint (often with no base and no varnish - the whole reason they were getting stripped was because the paintjob was rubbish) - and with metal, you could really throw any substance at it, scrub hard as you like, and still get the paint off without damaging the miniature beneath.

But what about plastic? Some of the early paint strippers I used were so strong they would melt away anything that wasn't metal. Dettol seemed to be okay (having tested it on a few slottabases), but would it remove a stubborn paint job, and still leave the model beneath intact?

They Be Back

Space Marines are like twiglets, for me. I don't particularly like them, but I've had one, I can't stop myself.

It's a long time since this lot have

• Seen a lick of paint
• Got away with this size of base
• Been used in a game of anything

Heroquest - 25th Anniversary

I don't mind that Doctor Who is celebrating 50 years. It always seemed so established that it was just waiting for milestones to be checked off.

But has it really been 25 years since Scott and Charlene walked down the aisle to the heartbreaking tunes of Angry Anderson? Yes, it has: Scott and Charlene from Neighbours are now celebrating their Silver Wedding Anniversary, and if that doesn't make you feel old, here's another:

It has been 25 years since I saw this commercial on telly, and knew what was going at the top of my list to Santa*.

*Yes, that would make me 10 years old at the time. Yes, I still believed. I have a vivid and magical imagination. Go and watch The Polar Express and stop looking at me like that.

Let's just dwell on that memory:

• Christopher Lee is narrating. Because of course Christopher Lee is narrating.
• Why does the child with the Broadsword card sound like Clive Owen?
• The player line-up doesn't match the ones of my experience (several family members dragged to the Boxing Day table, humouring me, dozing off or just complaining loudly)
• I think the 'Fire of Wrath' caster's voice is about to break.
• At the end, the kid in the DM chair becomes a monster (making it the most accurate disclaimer ever added to a commercial).

I still have my trusty Heroquest set (plus Ogre Kingdom expansion), although most of the furniture has been pillaged for spares, and some vandal has daubed all the miniatures with a crude enamel paint.

However, I now learn of a Kickstarter campaign to create a Heroquest 25th Anniversary Edition that looks absolutely cracking. I've never been led down the crowd-funding games route before, but at around £55, I might very well be tempted by this.

For no other reason that to atone for my very first paint job...

"What have we become?"

Games Just Became Less Special

As rumour turns into reality, it appears that the long, slow death of the Specialist Games is being brought to an end by those loveable chaps at the Match Toolshed.

This includes:

• Necromunda
• Battlefleet Gothic
• Epic
• Mordheim
• Warmaster
• Inquisitor

The books and sets have long been out of production, but apparently when the current stocks of miniatures are gone, they will not be replaced.

'Limited' indeed...

Not that they can stop us playing with the games we already have (they can't, can they?) and I for one am still dead keen on a Woffheim/NecroBoot weekend.

But if you were planning on picking up any odds and sods to finish off your collections, you would be wise to do so now (I've already grabbed that House Escher gang I've been planning for decades and never got around to starting - maybe now I will).

And if you feel bad about this turn of events, just remember it was probably your own fault for not buying enough Space Marines.

Cut and Paste

Very quick post - I'm on my way out - but I just read a rather thought-provoking article referenced from a Guardian story and wanted to share.

How long before we can save up together and buy ourselves a printer, learn to use it, and never darken the doors of our dark overlords again? And then sell all our new intellectual property on Kickstarter for a mint, of course.

Painting Masterclass

People often ask me, "General Stylus, how do you keep maintain that copper-oxide, just-showered look for your hair?"

And as I rummage through my bag of Avon products, the conversation turns to the painting and sculpting of miniatures.

I haven't posted any painting updates for almost a month, and now I can reveal why: I've been working on painting a set of 40K Orks to the highest possible standard, so that I can now share these techniques with you.

Feast upon these pearls of wisdom. I know you'll find them useful.

Pro Tip 1
There is much talk about drybrushing and highlights, but if you stick to three or four really strong colours, you can get a professional look with just one heavy coat of paint.

Adding light and shade? That's what the sun is for!