“Rats I Need To Write an Update”

Hello all, well as the title says I’m very late to the party this year as here we are now into the fourth month of the year and only one post from me, and that one I’d really rather of not had to post.

But anyway I thought I’d better let you all know what I’ve been up to while all of you have been happily painting miniatures and posting on your blogs? Well first off I have to apologise for my absence there have been a few reasons for this, firstly work has been a pain in the arse, as they keep changing my shift pattern, but I won’t go into that. Secondly most Saturday mornings have been spent down at the “Model boat club lake”, sadly most of the time I haven’t actually been sailing a boat (actually I’ve only sailed twice this year so far!), but we have been doing a fair bit of ground work around the lake, and have now put a fence up too, it’s starting to come together and will look the business by the time we are finished, but it has been a lot of work. Another time grabber also associated with the boat club is the fact that I have now volunteered to take over the role of “Merchandising officer” (this is a posh way of saying I order the (polo style) T-shirts etc. for the club), sounds simple, but as no one had done this role for many years I had to start from scratch and find a company to do them, source the image for embroidering , take orders, collect the shirts and distribute them along with doing the accounts, all this because as my wife said “I’ll do anything for a club T-shirt!!”. I have now expanded the “merch” so we also do….Hoodies, sweatshirts, baseball caps, woolly “beanie” hats, and coats (Gillette style body warmers coming soon!). However the last and probably biggest block on my hobby time at the moment is sadly our dog “Holly” she is now fifteen and for the last couple of years has been requiring more and more attention, to the point now that we can’t really leave her alone at all as she needs to be reassured and constantly watched in case she has to go out to the toilet, avoiding an “accident”. We love her to bits, but feel a bit like live in carers for her these days. Still enough excuses, I’m here now so what have I been doing since I last posted.

Well not a lot to be honest, I have added to the ”fleet” a little, last time I mentioned my boats I had four, two working and two very much works in progress (or not as the case may be), well I’m now up to six (though there are still only two working 🤨. A few months back we spent a couple of weeks clearing all the Boat clubs stuff out of one room by the lake and putting it into a new slightly bigger room. Well while doing this on the first Saturday, we found a few “hulls” and part built boats and were asked if anyone wanted any of these, well I succumbed and bought this one ☝🏼, thought lord knows why! It’s horrible to be honest, though it was only £5.00, at some point I think I’ll turn it into a “pond yacht”, though probably with a small motor and working rudder. Then a couple of weeks later this tug 👉🏼 was unearthed under a pile of plywood sheets, as I carried it across to the new room someone asked “who’s is that?”. “Well it looks like it’s Rogers now” came the reply from Mark the club secretary, despite me copiously disclaiming that I didn’t want any more boats,  suffice to say that a couple of days and £10.00 later it was here sitting in my garage. This has been the thing I’ve spent the most time tinkering with and will probably form the subject of my next posting, so something to look forward to there then (or not).

I have painted a few figures as well over the last couple of months, not for myself, but for my youngest who has been taking part in a couple of “Blood Bowl” tournaments at our local “FLGS”, he ordered this “Skaven” team off of the internet, and when it finally arrived  (a couple of months and a few Emails later), I agreed to paint them up for him, He actually won the first league they ran, and is currently leading the second (He’s a much better gamer than his dad!!). He has his eye on a “Khemri” team for his birthday next month 🙄, so the brushes will be out again for that no doubt!

Lastly (and I absolutely blame this one on Matt, I have started collecting a few “Hotwheels” die-cast cars, as I speak I’m only getting Corvettes and Ford GT and GT40s, but this is very addictive so…..

Anyway that will do for now, at least you know I’m still about, will I return to painting figures for myself? Well I’d better as I still have tons of the blooming things about unpainted, and as they say you never forget your first love..

Till next time, cheers Roger.

“Flash” (2012 – 2024)

Well I suppose I should really start with an apology, as I have been meaning to post an update for a couple of months now, however events have overtaken me and I now find myself having to begin this year’s postings with my least favorite kind of post as I have to say that we have once again lost one of our precious cats, the lovely gentle “Flash”.

As I’ve mentioned before when I found “Suki” (or rather she found me) back in 2013 we had no idea that she would, Then on the 22^nd of August she presented us with five “additional” little felines, and Flash named after the famous “Alex Raymond” hero was one of these. Though born the smallest of the litter he grew into the largest, probably in part due to of his reluctance as a kitten to give up his milk in favour of solid food, in fact we had to buy another tray of the “Kitten milk” from the pet shop due to his stubborn resistance to “grow up” with his siblings. Despite this he grew in earnest into the big boy you see here, and even though he looked like a “right bruiser” he was in fact a gentle soul, though he could be a devil with his sisters, once poking “Tabatha” from the other side of the curtains causing her to make the most unladylike noises! A game he thought most enjoyable.

Strangely he was also very fond of his “mum” despite her total indifference (if he was lucky) to him, often crying when she got shut in the attached garage, to let us know she was there. She would then saunter in completely ignoring him. He also used to drink water by dipping his paw into the bowl and licking it from his now soggy foot, something he also learnt from him mum.

However over the last couple of weeks we had noticed him go off his food and begin to lose weight along with him becoming a lot more “fussy” coming in for a cuddle and letting up cover him with a blanket something he had never really done before always preferring to be somewhat “aloof”, he’d come in “squeak” for a quick “fuss” and wander off again. So a trip to the vets ensued and he was given a blood test and a course of appetite stimulants, though this seemed to start him eating a bit our return visit revealed that he had lost even more weight, so a scan was booked for last Tuesday and we prepared for the worst. Sadly the scan revealed a “massive tumour” attached to his liver, and we decided to let him go while still under the anaesthetic rather than put him through any more stress and pain.

There is now a “chunky” black and white cat shaped hole in our lives where “Flashman” used to be.

Sleep tight little man.

Blax The Kleric’s Top Ten of 2023

Unluckily, for those painters and wargamers eagerly looking forward to another of Dick Garrison’s well-penned postings, this particular piece will probably prove rather disconcerting as it maintains the annual tradition of Roger writing a piece for my wargaming website “Fantorical”, and me once again temporarily taking the helm of the good ship “Rantings From under The Wargames Table”. The past twelve months have certainly caused Roger to focus upon an eclectic range of subjects, such as his model motor boats and regular Advent Challenge entries, so as always it’s taken some time to whittle his ‘best of the year’ down to just ten figures…

 

[10] Robo Rally (Wizards Of The Coast) 27^th January 2023

Whilst I have never played this board game myself, these robotic-themed gaming pieces certainly captured my imagination by tapping into my love of the old “Robot Wars” television series. In addition, some of cartoony faces on these characterful automatons reminded me of V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and B.O.B. from the classic Disney science-fiction film “The Black Hole”. Resultantly, I adored all of Roger’s paint-jobs for these little guys, and felt they are a worthy inclusion into this Top Ten.

Having a rally round

 

[9] Liberators (Wargames Terrain Workshop) 18^th March 2023

It’s hard not to be impressed with Roger’s handling of white on this double-dose of nostalgic BBC science-fiction. I own this particular model myself, and it can be a bit of a handful with all its spikey points. So was I suitably impressed that both resin spacecraft were not only so well painted, but that one recovered from a significant tumble – requiring Zen to make some extensive repairs.

Disaster and double liberation

 

[8] Cylons (Nexus Miniatures) 30^th April 2023

I’m possibly a little bit bias with this selection as I was the one who sent these figures to Roger in the first place. However, I thought he did a fantastic job on some sculpts which, whilst far better than I could ever produce, certainly showed signs of being hand-made. Of course, I’m also a huge fan of the original series of “Battlestar Galactica”, so that’s another reason for my liking these (not) Cylons so much.

Old red eye, and friends

 

[7] Blacktooth Suppressor (Reaper Miniatures) 12^th March 2023

As Roger himself states in his posting for this well-pigmented piece – “It’s a T’Rex with a laser gun! How cool is that?” Furthermore, the palette choices are first-rate, with the red costume and dinosaur’s green-hue working very well together. The white kneepads and attachments also do a marvellous job in helping break-up the different areas. Just a terrific ensemble of colour.

Lizards, large and small

 

[6] Trainee Agent (Copplestone Castings) 10^th April 2023

Considering just how much I adore the old “Carry On” movies, it will doubtless come as no surprise to some that this Charles Hawtrey-lookalike made my Top Ten. A corking sculpt by Mark Copplestone, Roger has done a first-rate job in bringing the figure to life. I particularly love the bow-tie and the shading on the spy’s jacket. Splendid brushwork.

 

Oh hello

 

[5] Farrah (Reaper Miniatures) 8^th January 2023

There’s a palpable “Danger Girl” vibe to this paint-job, which just smacks of comic book capers. The colour combination of green and black is excellent, as is the decision to give Farrah a wonderfully vibrant orange-red hair. Roger’s highlighting, especially on the black areas of her costume, are also well worthy of note. Terrific model.

 

As Farrah’s I can see, they’re a safe Bett!

 

[4] Nemesis (Copplestone Castings) 25^th March 2023

It’s hard to fault this cracking female incarnation Frank Castle’s Punisher. A great paint-job is raised to another whole level by Roger carefully ‘picking out’ some white stripes in the lady’s hair, and free-handing the awesome skull emblem across her chest. An eye-catching pose matched by a strong colour contrast – top notch pigmentation, in my humble opinion.

 

Not danger girl and not danger girl

 

[3] Double Agent (Crooked Dice Game Design Studio) 11th February 2023

There can surely be little doubt that this (not) Bond girl is one of the all-time favourites, and Roger’s captured the haughty naughtiness of actress Barbara Bach’s Russian spy with this model. Great work on the dark dress and packed with plenty of femininity too, courtesy of a superlight touch around the miniature’s face – which isn’t easily done in my experience.

 

Don’t be posey, be a real starr

 

[2] Betty (Reaper Miniatures) 8^th January 2023

Not only do I like this space heroine because of Roger’s terrific work on her. But he also went to some extra effort to pigment the lady’s marvellously cartoony extra-terrestrial side-kick too. Together, the pair form a wonderfully humorous, and intriguing partnership. Terrific colour choices, which mark out the squid-like alien on the base too.

 

As Farrah’s I can see, they’re a safe Bett!

 

[1] Captain Griffon (Reaper Miniatures) 26^th November 2023

Perhaps unsurprisingly destined to be my favourite of Roger’s paint-jobs for 2023 just as soon as I saw him, this figure is just brilliantly done. The freehand patterns and stripes are top-notch, with the decision to present Captain Griffon as the younger, fitter form of elderly super-hero The Zimmer, being the icing on the cake for me. First-class stuff.

Better Late Than Never

 

And with that, I sadly come to the end for another year. I heartily recommend that you go back and spend some time pouring over Roger’s other postings, as there’s plenty of wonderful paint-jobs which I haven’t mentioned in this Top Ten. Have a Happy New Year.

Simon

As is customary I’ll stick my oar in here at the end just to thank Simon for all his efforts picking out the ten figures above, and in a rather usual twist I actually agree with pretty much all his choices this year (well perhaps not one or two 🙄) but perhaps that is more a reflection of the lack of figures he had to choose from than a meeting of minds! I have been giving my humble opinion of Simons (much more prolific) output of the year too, and you can read my illiterate ramblings here.

All that remains now is to wish both you and him the very best of New Year’s, it’s a pleasure to share my little blog with all of you, I’m sure I can include Simon in this when I say, we both hope you have a wonderful and productive 2024.

Cheers Roger.

“Better Late than Never” (Advent Challenge)

OK so the two figures I’ve got for you this time are more than a little late to the party to be honest as they were my “Advent challenge” figures for June! I realised pretty early on in the year that I wasn’t going to be able to take part in “Forgotten Heroes” this year so thought that the least I could do was paint up one “super hero” type figures and show a little support to those who were taking part, well I failed at even that and these two have been languishing on my desk ever since. Anyway here’s there official names along with the code numbers and the day they popped out of the calendar….

6. Dr Insinn, Evil Mastermind 50093 (Reaper Miniatures)
20. Captain Griffon, Superhero 50027 (Reaper Miniatures)

Now I imagine nearly all of you (except Simon) will not remember a conversion I did way back in 2015 of a “Hasslefree” figure, turning him into an octogenarian Superhero called “The Zimmer”, Well I thought it might be a bit of fun to turn “Captain Griffon” into his WW2 Nazi fighting earlier self (a kind of Prequel, you might say). To this end I first had to replace his belt buckle with one matching my original conversion and of course add the “shield” shaped insignia emblazoned across his chest. Regular readers will not be surprised in the slightest that a little greenstuff was used to this end. Both figures were then re-based onto two pence pieces and given a coat of white primer (I decided due to the light/brightness of their costumes I’d forgo my usual black in favour of this), and on with the painting.

Dr Insinn, like all good evil maniacs has a fluffy cat (wait I have a fluffy cat, does that mean I’m….No, well maybe 😼 🤔) Anyway, I decided to start with him/her so coffee highlighted with cream and then again with white was used here. This now meant I couldn’t really go with white on his top as it would blend too much with his “kitty”, so instead I went with Dungeon stone grey, with more of the same lightened with some white. His flesh I did in my tried and true way of European flesh and after his (and pussy’s) eyes and monocle were added in white and black (along with a little sir coats silver on the lens)I highlighted the flesh with more European flesh this time with a touch of pale flesh to lighten it. Sticking with the grey theme (James Bond villains never seem to be particularly colourful dressers), I undercoated his trousers in a mix of black and dark grey, then highlighted these in the same with the proportion of black reduced. That just left his shoes that I decided to do in chocolate brown with saddle brown highlights.

“The Zimmer” (or Captain Griffon if you prefer) was painted in the same basic way as my original version, therefore after highlighting the coffee basecoat on his cape, trunks, gloves and insignia with cream and then again with white I added red stripes to his trunks, his chest insignia, and added the red star and three red stripes to his cape in dark red highlighted with Italian red (as the bright red I originally used was now in the bin dried up), I also did his boots, and the flashes on his gloves in these colours too. Next I added his under suit, this was undercoated with a mixture of royal blue with a touch of porcelain blue, and highlighted with the same mix of colours but with the ratios reversed. I also added a blue line around the star and the stripes down his cape in the same colours (It was at this point that I lived to regret adding these on the original, trust me I wouldn’t have if I’d thought then that I’d have to match them on another figure some day!! 🙄). His flesh next was undercoated in European flesh tone and this was then mixed with a little pale flesh tone, I was quite pleased that the shape of his face really does have a younger look but similar chin and nose to the older model. His hair would of course have to be a lot darker than the “grey” original, so I went with black for the base layer and chocolate brown darkened with more black for the highlights here. This left his belt to be added in black highlighted with a little dark grey and his belt buckle in copper and shinning gold. The pictures show young “Bernie Baxter” next to the older version.

Their bases were then painted up and flocked in my usual manner and a coat of matt varnish sealed their fate. Believe it or not I am now back up to date with this challenge (I’m not sure I do to be honest!), just two more to get done next month now, but I’ll have a couple of days off before I have to start them 😉.

Till next time, excelsior Roger.