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| "The construction of them is one of the Cogs most closely guarded secrets..." |
This 30mm metal model of the “Guild Ball” Engineer Mascot, Mainspring, is made by “Steamforged Games Ltd” and proved to be something of a difficult painting experience despite the relative simplicity of its colour scheme. The majority of my discomfort was as a result of the multi-part miniature being somewhat too large for its base, and subsequently sitting over the circular lip. This disconcerting placement not only continually irked my sensibilities, as I like my models to fit within the confines of their stands, but also made it nearly impossible to reach some of the figure's details with my brush.
Fortunately despite being cast with separate limbs, the "anti-personnel mine" did prove reasonably straightforward to assemble, at least once I worked out which way it was meant to be facing, and was initially treated to both an undercoat of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and a wash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. With the Mechanica's priming phase finished I then dry-brushed the wooden construct with more “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna before picking out its metallic joints and numerous gears with a combination of “Citadel” Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.
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| "Irregular Miniatures" WIPS - Perry Class Frigate, Oberon Class Destroyer and County Class Heavy Cruiser |
Finally, I applied some “Vallejo” Gold to the edge of the construct's carapace, the ends of its insectoid legs, as well as its canopy's bolts, and washed these areas with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade in order to imply that they were made from polished brass. The Indar's ball was quickly painted using "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.
As I'm still building up enough players to field the Engineer's Guild, I haven't yet used Mainspring on the "Guild Ball" pitch. The 'giant cockroach' does however appear particularly useful in front of goal on account of its "Super Shot". This Character Play allows the model to add +1 dice to its dice pool and +2" to its range when Kicking; effectively providing the mascot with a 2/6" shot. In addition, the Indar machine can "Overheat", causing "all other models with the 3" pulse [to] suffer 3 Damage and the Burning condition" when it "suffers the taken-out condition during the Activation Phase." Little wonder "even the Engineer's players exercise caution" around the wooden device.
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| Blightlord WIPs - The Putrid Blightking has been undercoated, washed and dry-brushed |
Having recently finished a flotilla of ten 'Romulan Raiders' by "Irregular Miniatures" I have found my own version of the Utopia Planitia Starfleet Yards on Mars busily constructing an equally formidable Federation force. As a result I've partially painted three more of the manufacturer's Perry Class Frigates to use as 'Soyuz-class Federation Starships', two more Oberon Class Destroyers to use as 'Miranda-class scientific/patrol vessels' and a County Class Heavy Cruiser to use as the NCC-2000 U.S.S. Excelsior.
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| "STAR TREK: ATTACK WING" - Commander William T. Riker confronts the Borg |
Finally I've been assembling a number of multi-part plastic "Games Workshop" models to add to my diminutive "Age Of Sigmar" Nurgle host. This Blightlord is the leader of nine other Putrid Blightkings I hope to build and paint next month. However the "enormous, bloated warrior, festering with pustules and plague" was simply too tempting a figure not to prime, wash and dry-brush. As with my Lord of Plagues I plan to paint the favoured mortal servant of Nurgle predominantly green, and use a combination of "Vallejo" Brass and the "Citadel" Technical paint Nihilakh Oxide on both his armour and weaponry.
The models look nice so I will have to look more closely at "Guildball".
ReplyDeleteIts certainly a pity they're not more affordable Clint, as I'd have bought multiples of a few of the sculpts, as I think they could appear in other genres too (e.g. the automatons as "Frostgrave" constructs).
DeleteYou are correct, the price does put me off. It means that I have to spend about £50 on the game before I start. (as I would have to get two teams to introduce it into the club).
DeleteAnd then there is the Rules. They are a Free PDF. Which is fantastic IF you have a printer and ink cartridges. (My Printer has Broken and the ink Dried up due to lack of use.
So all in all at present I will pass on Guildball but it does look good and so do the HYPER expensive figures. (Rant Over)
Those starter sets will only give you enough players for an Introductory Game too Clint, and I understand the experience garnered from such matches pales into comparison with a Typical Game (1 Captain, 4 Team players & Mascot). I've only played Intro and its always seemed to simply be a scrum/fist fight with little in the way of scoring taking place. Indeed I've never even shot at goal during my games, and still won a few of them.
DeleteI own a couple of the "Hyper expensive figures". But when I do another one, it'll be from one of the starter boxes ;-)
Now that's a curious creation, Guildhall continues to tempt me.
ReplyDelete"Guild Ball" is slowly growing on me Michael. But the majority of the minis are a bit too detailed, and thus time-consuming for my liking.
DeleteVery nicely done Simon. I am abit paranoid about my minis snapping off there base when there is very little area to connect them to there bases. It looks fab despite the issues with getting him on the base. In future perhaps use an insert that over hangs the base. Which then allows you to secure them properly without having the extra circumference of a larger base.
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon. To be honest I absolutely hate anything hanging over my bases, including inserts and always remove such things before assembling my minis - you'll notice that when I finally start painting my "Batman Miniatures Game" models.
DeleteI'm already getting frustrated continually picking up this mini by his legs, so have pre-ordered the team's Season two Mascot, Mother as a replacement. This one is a giant mechanical spider; and definitely falls into Clint's "Hyper expensive" bracket.
Mainspring is a nice model but I know what you mean about stuff hanging over the edges of the base, it annoys me too. Everything else looks good too, is that the other Enterprise in the last picture? if so it does look better than the one you featured in your batrep.
ReplyDeleteCheers Roger.
Cheers Roger. The Mainspring model is annoying as you have to pick him up by the legs to move him, hence my desire to replace him with the Season Two team mascot, Mother.
DeleteThe 'new' U.S.S. Enterprise-D is indeed the new-look "Wizkids" Galaxy-class starship, which sports a metallic pre-paintjob as opposed to less inspiring blue-grey one of old. The model actually comes in the U.S.S. Venture blister pack. But I immediately swapped them round, so the Federation flagship could sport the better paintjob :-)
Your Guildball Mascot looks interesting but is not a figure I'd find much use for. I, too, looked at Guildball and it's minis. There were quite a few I liked but not at the prices they were asking. So I won't be adding this game to my collection but I will enjoy reading about your own experiences with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bryan. Its such a shame about the pricing for as you know I thought a few Fangtooths would make for great medieval "Zombicide" Fatties, and I'd certainly be interested in getting a handful of Hoists as a wooden construct force for "Frostgrave". I did recently spy the alternative Blackheart mini I've been after since battling with my version. Its £40!! So you won't be enjoying reading about my experiences with that particular model I assure you :-)
DeleteEclectic post today. Lovely stuff
ReplyDeleteCheers Martin. I do like to miss things about, as well you know ;-)
DeleteI really like the Guildball Mini's paint job. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteI'm still resisting buying Irreg. spaceships (though the same can't be said of the Star Wars Armada models).
I have to say that I think that Borg Cube looks very weird in the photo, at least to me, but I suppose it is what it is and is meant to look like that.
Thanks Roy. I've got some "Star Wars Armada" stuff myself, so I know the lure. But the "Irregular Miniatures" are very nice too.
DeleteThe Borg vessel in the photo is actually a Borg Scout Cube, so is meant to be a small spaceship, as opposed to the much larger ones you might have in your mind's eye? I have managed to get a larger Borg Cube, and its considerably bigger. But for now wanted to see how tough the little scout vessels are - and they are very tough!!
Possibly it is the size that's throwing me.
DeleteI never really watched TNG, which I believe the Borg featured heavily in, so seeing such an aerodynamic vessel as the flying box is still new to me :)
Just looked on Amazon at the Attack Wing game, and I've never heard of most of the factions. Not that I've seen much of the programs - just Enterprise and DS9.
I'd argue that the vast majority of "Star Trek Attack Wing" is set within The Next Generation era (including DS9 & Voyager). There are still plenty of Original Series ships out there, and a few Enterprise ones too. But most at TNG-based.
DeleteThese weekly BatReps will be here for quite a while, as I plan to explore as many of the factions as possible, and the huge array of OP missions (which introduce new mechanics and abilities etc). Hopefully they'll give you a taste of the game if you're tempted ;-)
Tell you what I like about STAW, and that is that they've used the 'X-Wing' sized small flying bases but kept the main vessels for the game as the capital ships (as opposed to the smaller fighters of X-Wing, and the Armada's capital ships). I like that. The ability to have a decent sized 'fleet' on a smaller playing surface, rather than a Flight of fighters as in the Star Wars X-Wing.
DeleteI'm much more partial to playing fleet games than dog-fighting fighters.
"I'm much more partial to playing fleet games than dog-fighting fighters." - Me too Roy, although one of the latest wave releases does include stands of three fighters (just like "Star Wars Armada").
DeleteIn addition when it was first released the original Enterprise was 'in scale(ish)' with the much larger galaxy-class version (from TNG). After much criticism "Wizkids" then started releasing all the Original Series ships in a size similar to the TNG ships; so they look rather odd alongside one another. But great if you settle for battles with just Kirk-era starships etc.
Couldn't you just have used a larger base for the Guildball miniature? Or maybe the base sizes are mandated in the game?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, another very mixed set of models here; it all sounds like good progress...
I did consider putting Mainspring on a bigger base but it would impact upon the game in quite a big way, Hugh. A lot of the mechanics in "Guild Ball" are based around base size and range of influence etc, and when you only have a handful of minis per side I felt it would 'break' the rules too much.
DeleteAnother varied post, Simon. I noice you've used the same technique for your 'brass' fittings as before. However, still looks a little too gold to me. However, I will pass on a piece of advice that I received from a GW employee when I went looking for Brass paint many years ago. If mix a little brown with your gold, it does produce a very acceptable 'brass' - slightly duller, but still shiny. I used it to good effect on my Luggage miniature.
ReplyDeleteAnd whilst I have now ordered some spaceships, they weren't from Irregular. Irregular will be getting an order from me at some point, as will Brigade Models. In respect of Irregular's models, would you mind giving me an idea of the sizes, as the website doesn't give measurements?
Cheers Jez. Much appreciated. I do actually own some "Vallejo" Brass, which produces the duller look your excellent mixing technique suggests. However having already painted both Velocity and Hoist, I felt committed to using the same colours for Mainspring (and as you'll see from my next "Guild Ball" posting Ballista" too).
DeleteI'm delighted to hear you've ordered some spacecraft from someone? But clearly teasing me by not saying who ;-) As to sizes, if you look at the first paragraph of my finished "Irregular Miniatures" vessel postings I do give each model's width and length. These models are though from the smaller end of the scale, so something like the large County Class Heavy Cruiser is considerably bigger with a width of 30mm and length 57mm; and he isn't the largest either. Hope this helps?
Looks great, Simon.
ReplyDeleteAracnid/insect minis can be a pain to fit onto a reasonably sized base with all those legs sprawled out all over the place.
Thanks Finch. In many ways it's a shame I couldn't have just swapped the size of its base. But as I say elsewhere, the bases' dimesnions are crucial to the way "Guild Build" plays. I do wish sculptors would bear this in mind though when creating their 'masterworks'.
DeleteCockroach is an intriguing model. Thought it looked more "Dung Beetle" when I first saw the pic. Either way he/she/it looks pretty interesting and sounds helpful ingame.
ReplyDeleteMore Federation lackeys for the Romulan Empire to eradicate! Most excellent...
Daemonic Fattie deserves that green skin. I think it'll make him look especially favoured by Nurgle himself. Maybe a nurgling on his base as well as a pet - a further gift from his patron?
Cheers Dai. I'm hoping Mainspring is a better model to field than paint! He's certainly sounds useful on the pitch imho.
DeleteLots of Federation starships are coming as I want to finish off all the ones I bought from "Irregular Miniatures" before the end of the month.
I did contemplate doing a pinkish skin for my mortal Nurgle warriors. But in the end thought the green flesh worked well as a unifying colour scheme for my Nurgle host. I've actually taken all the spare Nurglings I have and based them separately in order for them to simply mill about my forces as eye candy. They won;t play any part in the "AoS" rules. But will hopefully look cheerily cool on the tabletop nonetheless.
Painting-wise Mainspring turned out well. Well done. :)
ReplyDeleteSome BMG minis are infuriating for the overhang problem, which is purely down to lack of discipline in the design stage. :(
Many thanks Leon. Much appreciated. Tbh it wasn't a model which I really enjoyed painting, on account of the irksome overhang. I have seen those sculpts for "BMG", which is why I've re-based a few of mine (e.g. Frank Miller's Batman). I'm sure, like "Guild Ball" that'll affect the model's in-game mechanics. But for "BMG" I'm willing to take the risk.
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