Halloween WIP Part 2 and a Note on Painting Flames

Update: You can check out the finished diorama here

I've finished up the night-watchman for my entry for the Halloween themed painting contest that my local GW store is hosting.  I think the pose of the model really conveys the shock & horror that one would experience upon seeing the dead rising from the grave.  He kinda reminds me of a character from a B horror movie, like an angry villager from a Frankenstein film (I watched a lot of Mystery Science Theater back in the day).

I guess GW doesn't want my money...

When I drive to and from work I pass by two game stores and there's another within a mile from my office.  The latter is a new GW that moved from a busy high rent shopping mall to a large strip-mall, shopping center as seems to be their new business strategery.  Part of there new retail business plan also seems to be to keep their new locations severely under staffed.  I'm not talking about poor customer service, I'm talking about the damn store not being open when its supposed to.  The place opened in June of this year and I was excited to have it so close work - I could swing by on my lunch breaks and pick up a paint or magazine, yeah!  I've tried about four times now and the place hasn't been open.  Doors locked, lights off, nobody home.

Burnt Out on the Fluff

I've been thinking about the fluff.  It's almost a dirty word to some in the hobby (actually, it is a dirty word in certain contexts).  Recently I've been finding myself less and less interested in the background materials in the games I play.  I bought the monstrous 8th edition Fantasy rulebook within a month of its release, but I have yet to read through all of the background section.  I told myself before it dropped that I'd be patient and what for the mini rulebooks from IoB to hit eBay and save myself some cash.  I caved and bought the $80 beast anyways but have yet to partake of its full offerings.

I have 4 editions worth of Fantasy rule books and 3 editions worth of 40k.  I won't bore you by listing the various editions of army books and codecies I've read.  I used to really enjoy reading the background materials, but I've never been obsessed with it the way some people are.  I'm not coming down on hobbyists who really dig the fluff - if you've read any of my other long winded soap box triads you know that I'm all for enjoying the buffet of hobby options that wargaming provides.  I'm just not interested in discussing the nuances of the 2nd War for Armageddon or the trade relations between the Houses of Necromunda.  I've always though of Battletech as one of the best wargames ever, but I have zero interest in the back story (Clans, Inner Sphere, meh.  Giant Fighting Robots - OMG!!1).

Halloween Painting Contest WIP

After playing around with a few ides ideas for my local GW's Halloween themed painting contest, I came up with a plan for my entry.  I didn't want to spend any money on it, so I was restricted to what I could dig up from my cache of old figures and bits in the garage.  I had some old Mordheim mercenaries lying around and I've been wanting to paint something Empire related for awhile so I decided to put together a little diorama.

Update: be sure to check out Part 2 and Part 3 to see the competed diorama

it's another Black Reach Warboss...

Yes, you've seen a billion AoBR warbosses by now and here's another one. He was one of my entries for the Golden Skull painting contest at the local GW last weekend, so I thought I'd share him with you, my lovely audience.  He didn't win anything, as the 40k single figure category had the best competition.  I hadn't painted up anything 40k related in awhile, so I decided to pull something out of the way-back-machine (aka the storage closet in my garage) to enter. This guy's actually not too way-back, I painted him in summer '09 during a stint of funemployment after I took the bar exam.