Star Wars: The Old Republic and Shogun: Total War 2

Two games coming out (hopefully) in 2011 that Im just dying for are Star Wars: The Old Republic and Shogun: Total War 2.  Check out these videos from SWTOR
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/designing-light-side
and the whole stack of trailers
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers

and these videos from Shogun TW2
http://www.totalwar.com/shogun2/videos/2886 particularly the first battle report.

Im gonna need to get a new PC soon I think!!!!

Any interest in a painting competition here on this blog???

A recent post on The Miniatures Page (I cant find it now) got me to thinking...would anyone be interested in having a painting competition here that I run through my blog?  My thought was I would pick a subject, say 'Romans', or 'Modern', or 'Aliens' etc - allow two months for painting, and then hand out an award after the two months.

I would get several judges (likely several of the people whose blogs I follow), have you send in a quality pic of your entry, and then give out a $20 gift certificate to somewhere like The War Store, or Foundry, etc that I provide to the miniature we (whomever the judges are) deem the best.  If the first is successful, Id love to make it an 'every two month' contest, and then maybe eventually turn it into a 'league' or something more long term.

What do you think?  If you are interested, please vote in my poll over on the right hand side, and send me your name and email address, either here via comment, to my email at warraptor13AThotmail.com, or PM me at The Miniatures Page at my userid, jdeleonardis.  If there is enough interest, Ill set up some firm details, and get in touch with all the people who contacted me.

Dead Sexy

Thanks to all of the replies at the thread at The Miniatures Page here: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=211855 and special thanks to Norman D Landings, I was able to use Army Painter Matte Anti Shine spray to kill the glossy shine from the Future Floor Finish and salvage my GZG marines.  This was taken from my cell phone (hard to tell, but the shine is gone!):

32 NAC GZG 15mm complete

I just finised 32 NAC marines (a "platoon" with officers, SAW figures, and grunts) from GZG miniatures in what Im calling 'Mars Camo'.  The pictures dont do these figures justice, but yet again, I really feel like I have destroyed them with poor varnishing techniques.  I used Future Floor Wax as my gloss coat, and then two light coats of W&N Matt Varnish.  I cant get the glossy look to go away...these figures looked 10x better before they were varnished.  Any suggestions?

I just found a bunch of GW figs I had painted

I cleaned out a couple closets over the weekend, and came across some of my first miniature paint jobs.  These are all AT LEAST 10 years old - wow, has LOTR really been that long ago?  Anyway, most of the minis here have little to no highlighting and shadow...but some of these still look pretty good for just a basecoat!

Also, 100th post this year!

I think these guys are Eldar Warp Spiders (I think thats what they are called).  I really liked these figures - I need to look em up and see what the current generation of Warp Spiders look like.

 A couple space marines - my first conversion, and my first attempt at a flag.

Dark elves.  My first attempt at blending on the flag.  Not bad!

My first historical figure.  AWI British soldier?

My first diorama.  Obviously, some kind of knight.  I dont remember what these are called

LOTR figures.  Some of these DO have my first attempts at shading and highlighting.
Strider

Boromir

Gandalf the Grey - I really screwed up the eyes on this one!  I blame it on the funny hat.

Gimli, son of Gloin

Frodo and Sam - Frodo is kinda blurry.  Oh well.

The entire Fellowship Of The Ring

Uruk Hai.  I smell man flesh!  The metal turned out really well on these guys.

Gandalf the White, flanked by riders of Rohan

Ringwraith

"Mars Chocolate Chip" camo

This is a 'rough draft' of what Im trying to do with the GZG NAC marines.  I like where its headed.  The 'chips' are obviously not in scale, and there is no shadowing or highlighting yet, but I think its gonna be the pattern I go with.  Pictures from my cell phone...

Pay it forward

I was recently going through my older miniatures, and I realized that there are some Ill never get to.  I always had the best intentions, but it just never happened.  Actually, all of them are Games Workshop...I became disenchanted with them once I realized the world of miniature soldiers was SOOOOO much bigger than just them.

Anyway, I have auctioned a few of them off on Ebay over the past weeks, and to be totally honest, it stresses me out!  I have too much going on to be worrying about people's bids, and getting packages out on time, all for the almighty dollar (and more importantly, positive EBAY feedback!!!!)

So, I got to thinking - why dont I just give this stuff away?  A 'Pay It Forward' deal with people I know, or with people who absolutely share the same interests I do.  So, thats just what Im gonna do...

Im going to list several (actually, I think there are 11 'things' here) items that I dont want any more.  If you want them, just post a comment here on this blog entry, with a little contact information.  First come, first serve...

I only ask the following:
A) You pay for the shipping.  Ill ship them anywhere in the world (Im in the US), as long as you are willing to pay for it.  Also, dont expect the stuff immediately - ill have to track down boxes and shipping material, but I wont ask you to pay for anything until Im ready to send.

B) Dont say 'send it all to me' unless you really CAN use it all!

C) YOU pay something forward sometime in the future!  Grab one of those sets or minis that you know you will never get to, and give it to someone who WILL!  Id much rather see painted minis somewhere, then think about all those poor soldiers sitting in a box, all lead and plastic looking....

1) THIS IS SPOKEN FOR! Eisenhorn from the Inquisitor range.  This is painted (poorly) with acrylic paint and not assembled - back when I first started working on miniatures.  Nothing a night in the Pine Sol cup cant solve...

2) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR!Tau Fire Warrior Team - I think I painted one Tau.

3) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! Cadian Shock Troops - I dont think they are all here.  I think I assembled 5 or 6 soldiers.  There are still at least 6 sprues here.

4) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR!  40K Space Orks - I *think* these are the 'last generation' of space orks, but Im not sure.  Im not up on my 40K any more.  I dont think anything is missing from this box.  However, this *may* already be spoken for.  If you are interested, post here anyway.  If it falls through, Ill send it your way.

5)  THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! Wood Elf Glade Guard - I painted one or two of these guys.

6) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR!  Chaos Space Marines - I may have used some of the bits, capes, horns, etc, but most of the sprues are intact.

7)THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! Empire Knightly Orders - 5 of these riders, plus their mounts, are missing from this set

8) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! Dark Elf Dark Riders - you can probably tell that these are old blisters.  But still sealed, and ready to go.

9) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! Goblin Squig Hoppers

10) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! LOTR Haldir, Elves, and those two brother elf guys.  I dont remember their names.

11) THESE ARE SPOKEN FOR! A box full of LOTR *stuff*.  I didnt feel like sorting through it, but I saw orcs from The Two Towers (with pikes), a Gandalf from the Bridge of Khazad-dum, multiple rangers, Farramir, and some guard of Gondor (painted to a poor standard, and just 'thrown in' the box).  Maybe some goblins too.

I, Chingachgook - Last of the Mohicans

Ive just finished up 12 northeastern woodland Native Americans from Perry and Conquest Miniatures.  These were tougher to paint than I imagined they would be, but I think they turned out pretty well.  Im happy with them.

Ambushing from the tree line!