I’m super excited to be heading out to Adepticon tomorrow, to see all the cool stuff that I can’t afford, but mostly because I want to see if there will be any sneak peeks of the new Sisters of Battle.
Anyhoo, last week I sallied forth up to Grognard Games and played my first ever game of DeepWars by Antimatter Games, a rule set based on the Song of Blades and Heroes engine by Ganesha Games. It was actually at Adepticon a few years back that I saw the demo games being played there and was immediately struck by the fact that this was a game set in the unfathomable deeps, where dive-suit clad fortune hunters pit their wits against all manner of enemies in the quest for fortune and glory. (Unashamed Indiana Jones reference there, kid).
First up was the Recon Trooper from the Fortune Hunters faction. I love all the Deepwars minis, although I will admit that one or two do have some little things that grate on me a little, and this guy is an example of that. A really nice miniature in and of itself, but the scale of this guy is way out of whack with some of the other figures in the faction. If this guy was standing up, he’d be more than a head and shoulders taller than some of his fellow hunters!
Anyway, I digress, this figure is the first mini I’ve painted from this faction:
I love the animation of the miniature here, and it really lends itself well to making you think he’s swimming in some uncharted depths, looking for some precious ether crystals. I believe he’s wearing some kind of propulsion pack on his back, which I’m assuming may grant him some ability in the game (I haven’t had chance to read up on him yet).
Next up: a Dark Mariner Vanguard marine. I really dig the designs of this faction, a mish-mash of crustacean armor with lots of Cthuluesque gribbly bits. Quite sinister with their tentacles squirming out from behind armor plates and cold eyes staring at you from within the darkened eye slits of plumed helmets.
I had to repair this guys weapon as when he arrived the upper portion of his halberd had snapped off, just below the *ahem* glowing balls. I received a second one of these in one of the starter sets, and it looks as though the same thing may be about to happen with that one as well. A friendly note to the folks at Antimatter Games – maybe throw in a bit of extra padding for this particular miniature, it’s way too nice a piece not to go that extra mile with packing!!
This now enables me to field a playable force for Deepwars, as I have 5 figures that I can take to the table with. Once I have a playable second faction, I can start running some demo games and get in on the Seadog program 😉
For the next selection on the D20 list, the wifey rolled 18… a Kamau hacker for Infinity. I’ll start that one in a couple of days, as there are a couple of other projects I need to wrap up.
I think it goes without saying that being in this hobby we all come to that point sooner or later where we have amassed a ‘Pile of Shame’ – that drawer/box/cupboard/closet/storage unit that has a literal mound of unpainted miniatures and vehicle and scenery kits. This is not to say that you don’t have plans for them and that you’re just buying up lots of plastic or metal for the sake of it (or maybe some of you do? hey, I’m not here to judge). We as gamers (for the most part) suffer from the OITNS or “Ooooh, It’s The New Shiny”, and it’s very easy to fall into this. With the number of new games, companies, Kickstarter campaigns, new releases etc growing exponentially it’s very easy to get blown around by the winds of change (maybe Tzeentch has a hand in this?). There is SO MUCH cool stuff on the market now, it’s hard to turn around and walk away (I’m guilty of this for sure).
All this aside, I was watching a Tabletop Minions video on YouTube on the train ride home from work the other day, and Uncle Atom hit on this very subject. Take a few minutes out and watch the video below >pa-CHOW<
Uncle Atom certainly hits on some interesting points for sure. I’ve recently been on a bit of a purge through my Pile of Shame and took a bunch of stuff to my FLGS to trade in for store credit (Sisters of Battle – 2019, remember? Speculating to accumulate baby!). I had begun to feel a level of anxiety every time I went into the Nerd Closet, being greeted by lots and lots and lots of unpainted or undercoated miniatures staring back at me. It was then I realized that this is a hobby, and it shouldn’t be making me feel crappy and down about having so much gathering dust. So, as well as cashing in a bunch of Forge World items and some other guff, I thought to myself “how can I start chugging through and get some momentum going with painting this stuff?”. It presented a set of challenges in that I needed to prioritize what games I was playing and the frequency of those games. At the moment I play almost exclusively Infinity, but then I thought “well, I’m going to get burnout if I’m painting nothing but Infinity miniatures”. So with this in mind I approached it from a different angle.
And thus the ‘D20 table was born’.
The D20 Table was basically an idea I had to make the selection process for my painting a little bit more fun, and to enforce some variation to keep the interest going. It’s a simple idea, I created a table in Excel with twenty line items which are all minis from games that I play/are about to play. The 1-20 obviously corresponds to the dice roll that randomly selects what i’ll be painting next. I’ve been using it for the last few weeks, and here is what I have struck from the list so far:
I’m currently working on number 8 – three PanOceania Fusiliers, which are almost done:
It’s given me a hand with wanting to get my minis painted, and it feels good to strike another line off the list. I get either my son or my wife to roll the dice, so they actually become a little invested how their ‘selection’ is coming along. The other thing that has helped is to make a conscious decision to paint to a decent tabletop standard. The Fusiliers above have taken maybe about 5 hours from start to this point, with maybe a half hour left in them to paint the bases and varnish them. It almost felt like a weight being lifted from my shoulders when I told myself that not every single miniature needs to have 10-15 hours spent on it, as that would be when the hammer blow came in and I’d get the burnout when I look at the tons of other stuff I had to wade through.
PanO bot – another item from the list – DONE!
I feel that stocking up (I won’t use the term hoarder) and burnout/fatigue can go hand in hand, so I’m really trying to make an effort to knock some effing great holes in my inventory over the coming year, so this will be an ongoing saga. I hope that you’ll join me on my journey.
I’d love to hear any comments on how any of you combat the burnout, or the Pile of Shame in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
Well, that’s another check off the list! Here is a heavy hitter for my Deepwars Dark Mariners faction. Amazingly, it only took two nights to complete, which for me is supersonic. First I hit all the areas with the base colors:
Sushi, anyone?
Once I had a good foundation and was happy with the coverage, then came several washes:
Then the application of highlights. As I’d mentioned in a previous post with my Dark Mariner Vanguard – I like to be a little bit ‘sloppy’ with the highlighting as these miniatures have such an organic feel to them, it seems to work quite well:
These undersea monsters need to look weathered and algae covered, so washes of greens and purples really help with that look I feel. I really need to figure out a better camera as my phone one seems to be getting worse, but still, hopefully you can see the work here OK.
I’ve been making some scenery for my Deepwars gaming table, which I’ll be posting up soon 😉
“Most curious, the morphology of these creatures. I have dissected one of the recovered bodies and found that its structure has a basic skeletal form of calcareous bone, but replaced in some sections by soft tissue, supported by a surgically embedded alloy lattice. The techniques used in this type of surgical work is far beyond anything I have witnessed, and the alloy is much stronger and lighter than any we can produce. I must determine the origins of these technologies if we are to repel these creatures…
Research Journal – Pilny the Aged, 1689″
Finally, after what seemed to be an age, I managed to finish up this underwater lurking creep. I had a lot of fun painting him as I wasn’t as ‘tidy’ as I am on other miniatures, and that was mainly due to the fact that I wanted a more organic feel to his look. This guy does, after all, live under the sea and his armor is going to be rusted and barnacle covered, and worn down with the elements, so I wasn’t looking to have a ‘clean cut’ paint job like I would do on say Infinity miniatures for example.
I’m pretty pleased with the lighting effects I have on the ether crystals, I always dread doing that stuff as if it looks crap, it’s hard to rectify it without repainting the area!
I’m looking to get two starter warbands painted up so that I can start running some demo games of Deepwars, and now i’m a step closer to that goal. I’m actually really looking forward to making the gaming surface (more on that later).
I’ve started a painting tracker spreadsheet which is (hopefully) going to help me rage through the Heavy Metal and Plastic Pile of Shame that I have accrued (I’ll be writing an article about that shortly too, that’s going to run for several posts). So, first entry is completed, it felt good to fill the first line in lol!
I’m excited to work on these figures, it certainly gives me something a little different to go at, and I love the fact that it’s a game set underwater (cue JAWS music…). You should all really do yourselves a favor and check out the Antimatter Games website/store and take a look at the worlds of Shadowsea and it’s sister game Deepwars (most miniatures are compatible for both games).
I had made an unofficial rule a while back that I wouldn’t be posting miniatures on here unless they were completed, but I’m breaking my own rule today as I wanted to share my WIP picture of a tentacled, barnacle encrusted beastie from Deepwars by Antimatter Games. The Dark Mariners faction have a very obvious Elder Gods/Cthulhu connection which is pretty darn cool. He’s looking very orangey brown right now but I’ll be adding a few green patches here and there to break it up a bit. So far what you’re looking at are a basecoat and a few washes. The only part that has received highlights are the helmet and the ether crystals on the shoulder and the weapon:
I’m going to try some of the OSL on this (hopefully I won’t cock it up!) because I love the idea of these creatures skulking around in the abyssal depths, eerily outlined in the gloom by the light from the ether crystals.
When this guy is done, that will be 2 of the 4 miniatures for the Dark Mariners warband that I have for playing Deepwars. Then I can start on the Ancients of Atalan! I’m hoping to run a few demo games of this soon to try and garner some interest at the FLGS’s in the area. The setting for Deepwars and the fluff and the miniatures are all really great, and deserve to have a lot more exposure, especially since the low buy in costs can be very appealing. Couple that with the RPG elements and different play styles that you can opt for, this really is a hidden gem in the depths that more people should know about!
I have lots planned for upcoming articles: Deepwars demo game terrain, some long overdue fan fiction and also another international paint pledge/reducing the unpainted pile of shame project. In fact, I’m considering opening this up to other people who may be interested in participating. Drop a comment below and we’ll see what happens!
Welcome back my lovelies! I apologize for putting that awful Disney song in your head, but it seems appropriate with this first painted mini I wanted to put up, my Siren Maneater:
This beautiful resin miniature is from a game called Deep Wars by AntiMatter Games Which is a small scale skirmish game set “in the watery abyss” and a sister game to Shadowsea. I recently picked up this little gem and another miniature by way of their Blood Reef Kickstarter campaign, and I’m thoroughly in love with the miniatures. The Siren Maneater is a personality character from the Dark Mariners faction, who are I think my favorite faction in the game. She essentially disables enemy models with her siren song which then allows the heavy hitters to move in and wreak havoc. Lots of tentacles, barnacles and slithery Cthulhuesque goodness in this group for sure. I picked up 3 other creatures from this group which I’ll be painting shortly and then I’ll have a playable 300 point force 🙂 I’m really looking forward to making the gaming surface for this too, as most of the items will be from the local pet stores aquarium section!
Now, I’m sure you’ve all probably seen/heard that GW have recently released some new Sisters of Battle miniatures (what the whaaat?), comprising of an $80 box set of Celestine, 2 ‘Geminae’ Seraphim and some big Mechanicus monstrosity; as well as a ‘resin’ Canoness Veridyan. Veridyan is a faithful reproduction of the iconic battle sister as envisioned by John Blanche. Despite my pretty much ignoring GW and their nonsense for the last few years, I was pretty giddy when I saw a leaked picture of Veridyan on my Instagram feed. Then a week or so later I saw leaked pictures of the Triumvirate set and was beside myself with excitement. Had GW finally got their sh!t together and started moving forward with a re-visioned Adepta Sororitas force? Well, the jury is still out on that, as it seems that the Sisters still only have metal miniatures available outside of those I listed above, so thanks GW for giving us sisters supporters some serious blue balls. I guess it’s a step in the right direction, but I’m really hoping these couple of releases aren’t it… If that’s the case, I’ll just look forward to Adeptus Titanicus and the new version of Epic coming out later this year.
Harsh feelings for GW aside (they DO seem to be pulling their socks up lately, and I did pick up last month’s White Dwarf and actually enjoyed it), I bought the Canoness miniature (which still made me grimace at $25). I still can’t find it in myself to drop $80 on the box set with something in I won’t need. I guess I could go halvsies with someone though I suppose.
I’m a little nervous about the material they’ve used for this figure. It seems awfully close to Finecast, and some of the pieces (like the sword blade) are super flexible.
One of the things that kinda jars me about this miniature is the pose. I understand that this is a rendition of the John Blanche painting, but I’d have used a little artistic license on the leg that’s up on the stack of bones. It looks awkward and unnatural, unlike the painting, which works because her legs are a lot more slender. A minor gripe, really. I’m excited to add this to my Sisters force, and I did wonder whether I should paint her the same as the original, or paint her in my army’s colors? I guess her get up is probably her signature gear so stay true to the original, right?
That’s it for now, I’ll be posting again very soon!
When Cannons Fade... 