When Imagination Fails

On the painting table

I finished a set of Cold War-era NATO microarmor for a game, and started work on a group of Minbari star ships.  With the base done on the Minbari ships, I took a break and started to build two Shadow Omegas.  Unfortunately, the Shadow Omegas are difficult to put together with pieces breaking off easily because there are no mount points for the spines.

Narn completed

I finished gluing together three of the painted Narn ships I had. 1 remaining G'Quan was partially primed.  My next ACTA game will probably be a meeting engagement of a the Bin'Tak and 2 G'Quan against 2 Brakiri Avioki and 1 or 2 Earth ships.

Progress on some of my Narn ships

Finished drilling the mount holes on some already painted Narns that I bought from hiffano months ago. 1 Bin'Tak and 3 G'Quans. I hope to use them in an upcoming game with my Brakiri.

Started work on Brakiri ships

I started work on the Brakiri ships.  Base is done for all three of them.  Just need to do a bit of detailing.  Then I have to finish up some painted Narn G'Quans I picked up a while ago.

Picture of the PsiCorp Shadow Hunters I finished recently

I finished two PsiCorp Shadow Hunters this week and posted a picture of the two of them at Flickr:

I pretty much used the same technique as I have with other Shadow-like ships:

1. Spray prime with black;
2. Paint with several coats of Floquil NATO Black;
3. Apply a wash of silver multiple times.

I cannot list the paint/water ratio I used, since I adjusted it to be more silver between each coat.  I think I applied at least four coats.  I am more satisfied with this result than what I achieved with the other Shadow ships since the silver is more noticeable.  I photographed it under florescent lights so the lighting conditions aren't the best.

Resolutions and all

My list of miniatures that I have primed or prepped, but have not completed, is truly too high.  Of course, so is my list of unprimed & unprepped miniatures.  Sigh. 

I won't be prepping or priming any more until I get through a good chunk of my list of unfinished miniatures.  This will be tough.  Good thing winter is coming up.

Photos from Torvalus vs Shadows Game

I put up the two most interesting photos from my Torvalus vs Shadows game.

Torvalus had bet on the development of the younger species at GLrdBffVb.  When the Shadows started to interfere in the GLrdBffVbians development and affect the Torvalus' bets, the Torvalus sent their Dark Knives to enforce a blockade of GLrdBffVb.

The Shadows decided to force the issue and run the Torvalus blockade.

In the picture below, after the initial clash, the Dark Knife in the lower left used its super maneuverability to retreat and get a side shot on the ancient Shadow cruiser while the others moved to engage the other ship.

The view from the other ship:

We had to cut the game short and so we never found out who would win.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find my normal camera and had to rely on my cell phone camera instead.

Fall priming done

We had a brief bit of warm weather, and with trimming and cleaning done, I set about priming the latest set of miniatures on which I plan to work.  Of course my list of primed, but not completed, miniatures is far too high.  Still, I finished priming a bunch of miniatures, including:

• 1 Minbari Sharlin
• 2 Brakiri cruisers
• 4 Brakiri Halik frigates
• 2 Shadow Hunters
• 2 Shadow Omegas
• 1 Shadow scout
• 1 Shadow cruiser
• 8 stands of Shadow fighters
• 8 stands of Vorlon fighters
• 8 stands of Minbari Nial fighters
• 10 stands of Narn Frazi fighters
• a whole bunch of Mauridian & Deisho from Ravenstar's Cold Navy line.

This is most of what I hoped to do last month, but the Shadow scouts are a pain to glue together, though they look fantastic, so I only worked on one.

I had hoped to make the Shadow Omegas' center section actually rotate, ala this post, and went so far as to buy the required brass rod and tube.  However, I decided that drilling out the center section would prove to be too large an effort.

I have a game coming up, so I am finishing up the Shadow Hunters.  I'll post pictures of the last two games next week I hope.

A bit of trimming

Fall is here and with it the cold.  I am in the process of cleaning and trimming the miniatures I want to prime before it becomes too cold out doors to do it.  This includes:

• 1 Minbari Sharlin
• 2 Brakiri cruisers
• 4 Brakiri Halik frigates
• 2 Shadow Hunters
• 6 Shadow scouts
• 1 Shadow cruiser
• 8 stands of Shadow fighters
• 8 stands of Vorlon fighters
• 8 stands of Minbari Nial fighters
• 9 stands of Narn Frazi fighters
• a whole bunch of Mauridian & Deisho from Ravenstar's Cold Navy line.

With any luck, I'll also finish trimming 2 Shadow Omegas.  A bit under half way done so far.

Also, I ran a game where the Shadows try to run a Torvalus blockade.  We had to cut it short due unexpectedly.  I'll post the pictures I shot with my cell phone soon.

EA Crusade Era Ship Photos Available

I posted photos of most of my EA Crusade era ships on Flickr here and here.  I also posted a photo of the sixteen Fleet Action scale Whitestars I painted.  I also completely changed my photos around.