Notes to Self on Painting Heavy Jack

Airbrush primer coat of black
Airbrush Cygnar Blue Base on Metal
Airbrush Highlight Blue
Black the bits that will be metal
Dry brush Silver on all metal bits
Brush Gold on copper bits

Wash Silver in black wash
Wash gold in brown wash

Detail Cygnus and Eyes

Pictures borrowed from Privateer Press without permission.

Base, Prime, and Airbrush Ol' Rowdy

2 Days to go until I want to have Ol' Rowdy painted and ready for the tabletop.  I have this evening, tomorrow evening, and a couple of hours on Saturday.

Ol' Rowdy ready for priming.  I normally stick the mini on the base but I wanted a handle for airbrushing.  Then the handle needed extra support to stand up...

Here is the arm on a separate cork.

For the base, I did two pieces of cork, layered, then white glue along the edges and dipped in sand.

This is the primer I used.  It does a good job of a fine mist and the paint really sticks to it.  On a metal mini, it works great. I am not so sure about it on plastic minis as I had a horrible batch of Bones miniatures a while back and I don't remember which primer I used on them.

Base primed 

Both pieces primed 

Airbrushed P3 Thamar Black thinned with a 50/50 mix of distilled water and blue glass cleaner (Windex)

"Blue Tac" which in this case is white, used as a masking agent

I pushed the tac into the crevices  

Airbrush P3 cygnar blue base thinned with the 50/50 mix of water/glass cleaner

This is the cygnar blue highlight thinned and airbrushed on 

And without the tac 

Base blue and highlight blue airbrushed on.  I like the top of the oversized shoulder pad.  I need to look more into where to place the highlight on things like the forearm brace.

And without the tac

Currently = 45%

After Dry Brush, I will call it 50%

Assembling Ol' Rowdy Part 2

8 Days to go - Want to have Ol' Rowdy finished by Sept. 3rd, 2016.

• To Pin or Not To Pin
• Well, I pinned.  I wanted more stability in the legs.

Lower Leg Assembly

• Note to self - Next time, drill all the pin holes before you start gluing.  I drilled the hip sockets straight through.  Drill the legs at the hips and the feet.  Drill the Arms at the shoulders.  Drill the two smokestacks and where they attach.  Drill the shoulder pads if you are going to.  I did not. 

• By waiting to drill it a piece at a time, it put extra stress on pieces already attached.  It stayed together but I could have thought it out better.

• The benefit of waiting was being able to position things as I wanted them.

Green Stuff in slot to help with the fit.  It was a little loose in the slot.



A little bit of green stuff smushed out and I had to smooth it out.

• And... FLIP THE BASE OVER!!  Wow!  This made positioning the legs SOOO much easier.  I got them glued together and left the feet free in the base.  It helped the legs stay in the best position for gluing.  Why didn't I know about this sooner????

Flip the base over!!  Long pin to go all the way through the hip piece.

Base helps line it all up 

Everything glued.  Now to the knee pads.  They were loose and needed green stuff for support.  I placed a small bit at the 5 o'clock position on the back of the pad.  Then more superglue.

Pushing the knee pad on sucked.  Find something to push with so you don't impale your fingers.

Drilled hole for the center support

Drilled the top part.

This was close to the actual length of the pin.

I almost left it like this!

Here it is lined up.

It was actually easier to line up the top and bottom from the back.  It is a little hard to see from the picture but if you are doing this, you will see where it is from the back.

Still more to do.  I was hoping to have the arms on and the base done tonight but it wasn't meant to be.  Still, I like the structure and I how solid if feels.

Currently = 14%

Fully Assembled will be 20%

Assembling Ol' Rowdy Part 1

Cleaning flashing

9 Days Left until I want him completed 100% (Sept. 3rd, 2016)

Assembling Ol' Rowdy:

• Cleaned all the flashing and rough places on the parts with my Exacto and small files.

• Washed all the parts in soapy water and let dry

• I used the diagram on the box to be sure I had all the pieces.

• I had read that some people filled the empty space inside the body with green stuff (two part elastic putty) and I had a bunch of from Gale Force 9.  I bought a package of putty about 5 years ago and I still have most of it.  Some complained that it wasn't cost effective to fill the chamber but I had the product and I figured, Why Not?

• I always seem to mix up too much so this time I "measured" but putting the separate balls of green stuff in the cavity I wanted to fill.  With the amounts correct, I mixed it together.

•  I coated the inside of the pressure tank with super glue, then stuffed in the green stuff.  I then coated the back of the swan piece and stuck them together.  It probably was not entirely necessary but it felt like the filling gave more surface for the glue to hold.

• I also decided to do the pressure tank first because it seemed to give good cues for where the two shoulders needed to line up.  As always, dry fit everything before you glue!

• The two pieces went together pretty well.  The top is lined up on center.  The Left Arm side has a tight seal.

• The Right Arm side has a little bit of a gap.  However, this is the side that has the oversized shoulder pad and the gap may be to accommodate that piece.  Either way, it will be covered by the 80's style shoulder pad!

• Also notice the hollow core of the chest piece.  I will address this next.

• Next, I rolled up more green stuff.  I could have left the chest hollow but I had all that green stuff sitting there and it really didn't take that much.  This gives the shoulders a large area to grip, rather than just the edges.

• I coated the inside of the Left Arm Shoulder with super glue by making a small pool then rolling it around in the cavity.

• I then shoved the snake of green stuff into the shoulder socket, leaving the long snake form.

• Next, I threaded the green stuff through the chest cavity.  I din't need to fill the void completely, I just wanted more surface area.

• I did the same method of covering the inside of the shoulder and shoving the green stuff in.  After it was fit together, I fed more superglue into the joints.  This is what it looks like all together.  

• This is actually the "front" where the head will go.  This both picture shows the green stuff smushed out a little.  I cleaned it up some and added a little more to the front in the picture below.  I then coated the front face shield and smushed it onto the area pictured above.

This is all the whole chest piece put together.  I cleaned up the green stuff that had smushed out as best I could.  I am not good at that part.  I now have super glue all over my fingers from the smashing of parts together.  

On the right side of this blog, I keep a queue of my progress on Cygnar units I am painting.  I use these guidelines when I decide where the bar is at: 

• 0% = in the box,
• 20% = full assembled,
• 25% = based,
• 30% = primed,
• 40% = base drybrushed
• 50% = blocked colors,
• 50-90% = layers and details,
• 95% = clear coated
• 100% = static grass

With 16 parts and 5 of them together, I am going to call Ol' Rowdy 6% done!

Crossroads of Courage League

Privateer Press Crossroads

My local game store is running Crossroads of Courage, the year long Warmachine/Hordes league that will guide the choices of a young man.  It begins Sept.1 and each week, players get to answer survey questions that will shape what he becomes in the future.  The model will be launched next year based on the outcome of the survey and the league play.

The main page is here.
The core rules are here.
The rules for Season 1 (September) are here.
The fiction for Season 1 is here.

I have chosen to play the side of the Reapers as opposed to the Sowers.  This seems a little against my personality.  However, in Season 1, you can either paint casters or 'jacks each week for points and I can't afford 4 new 'jacks.

Each can be achieved once each week - original here

I am excited about painting.  Even if it is just one extra point a week, it gives me some motivation.  So here is the plan:

• Week 0 - Week before league starts, I can assemble and paint Ol' Rowdy.  I already own him, but he is bare metal bits in a box.  However, if I can get him assembled, Stryker2 will be that much better.

• Week 1 - Paint and Play Stryker2.  I already own the model, he is put together, based, and primed, though I will have to reattach an arm.

• Week 1 - Order Nemo2 for $17.

• Week 2 - Paint and Play Haley2.  Again, I already own the model.  She is put together, based, and primed.

• Week 2 - Order Brisbane1 for $15.

• Week 3 - Paint and Play Nemo2.

• Week 4 - Paint and Play Brisbane1.

In preparation, I am starting to paint at least 15 minutes every weekday.  I want to build Ol' Rowdy this week and try to get him painted by Sept 3.  That will be pushing it for me on a warjack but we will see.

I want to focus on my queue on the right, starting with the ones closest to complete.  I think Eiryss has been in the queue for several years.  Well, she is getting painted this week!!

I was going to focus on my queue but that changed when I started trying to build lists for the various weeks.  I moved Stryker2 to Week 1 and Haley2 to Week 2.  I would love to get Thorn for Haley but that is an extra $30 and an extra 'jack to paint.  Probably won't/shouldn't happen.

Ladies Tournament

I got to play Warmachine this weekend.  My local game store hosted a Ladies Only Tournament.  I told the guys they could play if they wanted dress in drag but no one took me up on it!  We had 4 participate with one more lady ready if another person showed but she didn't want to force a bye.  We played round robin and this is how it turned out.

This was my 25 point Cygnar Darius list I used all day.  Darius like to run 'jacks and punch people in the face.  Left to right you see Ironclad, Ironclad, Hammersmith, Darius, Centurion.  There are 3 half jacks hiding behind the main line.

My first opponent played Hordes Circle.  Her warlock was Kromac, Champion of the Wurm seen here in the center with the green tokens.

We played primarily on my right hand side of the board and we drew the Throw Down scenario.  There was an identical control zone to my left not pictured.  I set up my Ironclad with Fortify, giving it an extra +2 ARM but also granting immunity to Knockdowns for any model base to base with it.  On the Hammer Smith, second from the left, I cast Refuge so that once it hit someone, it could make a full advance at the end of its activation.  I kept both of those on upkeep for the whole game.

Eventually, she ran her Knarlhorn Satyr, pictured in the upper left, over to the other control zone and gained a control point.  on my next turn a ran a half jack over to contest the zone and it was the only point scored for the game.  I couldn't get my big 'jacks to her quick enough to put the hurt on the warlock and she won by one control point.  Defeat by Scenario!

In my second game, I played against 'Gators with the Annihilation Scenario. I was able to use my Refuge spell to charge a solo, then full advance after the attack, straight into her warlock, Bloody Barnabas.  That gave my normal Speed 4 Hammersmith, Speed 11 (normal 4, + charge 3, + refuge full advance 4).  By the end of the run, Bloody Barnabas had 4 health left but I won based on points I had killed.  Win by Scenario!

This is a side shot of my final battle with Legion.  My Cygnar started from the left.  The large green circle in the center is the 12" control zone for the Mosh Pit Scenario.  If one person gets to 3 control points, they win, or win by assassination.  Her caster is Saeryn, Omen of Everblight, seen on the far right of the picture.  She was able to take out my Hammersmith before Darius could save him with his feat.  Assassination happened when the Ironclad at the bottom left of the screen was able to get around her (I think) Strider Deathstalker.  Win by Assassination!

My last opponent and I both finished 2-1 for a tie in the tournament but because I defeated her, they called it a win for me.  Woohoo!!!  Fun times and I felt like I ran my guys pretty well.  I also felt like my math was pretty good, figuring out to hit numbers relatively fast.

I was also able to pick up the Triumphant pieces for my heavy 'jack and the boardgames 7 Wonders Dual.