Agus anois, rud difriúil ar fad!

And now for something completely different!

Just wanted to apologise for the distinct lack of posts recently. I've been really busy with various things and I haven't been able to do much sculpting. The team are coming along slowly and I'll hopefully show some progress soon!
In vaguely related terms, I've re-bought some kit which will allow me to get back into Gaelic football.

You've heard of Irish kisses?  Well this is an Irish hug.

Gaelic football is a wonderful sport, kind of the platypus of the sporting world. When scientists first discovered it they thought it was a hoax, cobbled together from bits of basketball, volleyball, rugby and soccer. Unlike soccer, however, there's no whimpering about injuries. Well, there is... But when there is, there's generally a lot of blood or broken bones rather than a slight fall! We are routinely encouraged to elbow other players and knee them in the face when jumping for the ball.  Are you beginning to see why I'm such a fan of Blood Bowl? It's not for the faint-hearted at any rate. Although, it's much less dangerous than hurling. Hurlers are insane.

We used to play it at school but I really got into it when I got the chance to play for my university. I absolutely loved it but when I returned home I never bothered to continue with my local team so I'm very rusty. I'm looking forward to getting back into it though and it may inspire me to try creating a 28mm version of Tutatis, a whacky game by Greebo which is based on the auld Gaelic.  Check it out, it's different enough from Blood Bowl to be both challenging and fun in its own right. I particularly like the way it deals with the "Heroes". Yet another thing on my modelling to-do list!

Where do you guys find the time!?

The No-Cost Norse Challenge

When I started this team, I set myself a challenge.  I wanted to see if I could assemble a Blood Bowl team and then make my money back by selling bitz that I didn't want.  You can read a little more here at the No-Cost Norse Challenge page.  I was pretty shocked to see I'd spent about £40 so far but actually I think that's alright.  It might be hard to get it all back but it's not impossible.  We'll see, anyway...

Unfortunately, there's not much else to share this week.  I've been trying to sculpt abdominal muscles and it's not been going well. In fact, it's been going badly enough that I'm thinking about buying a box of gors so that I could use their torsos instead.  On the one hand that means adding another box-worth to the Challenge... On the other, it'll make my sculpting life easier and I could use the legs to create GW-legal werewolves.  Temptation strikes again!

Lessons Learned #2: Scale Creep is the devil.

Actually, let's get this straight.  I love scale creep.  I like my plastic heroes to be big and chunky, with disproportionately large hands, weapons and heads.
What I actually hate is what I call scale-slide.  Essentially, Warhammer models are getting smaller- or less heroic at least.  Case in point, flagellants.

I wanted to create a Kislev team for blood bowl. So, while waiting for Norsemen to dry, I thought I'd kitbash a mock-up of a Kislevite.  But it was more difficult than I thought because my choice of Cossack-esque torso turned out to be tiny.

Granted, he looks okay so far.  But to get what I want out of him is gonna take a fair amount of green stuff and I had hoped for a simple conversion.  It's pretty darn annoying that a Warhammer body looks small on Lord of the Rings legs.  Bizarre!

But anyway, just so I don't spend the whole post grumbling, here's my WiP thrower, who will eventually be pointing with his left hand:

Lessons Learned #1: Keep it Simple

I've been working on my positional Norsemen for Blood Bowl recently.  The two pictured below will one day be my berserkers but they are both works in progress at the moment.  I'm really happy with how the models are coming along so far, but it is taking a while.

Which brings me to today's lesson; keep it simple. Chances are that when my Norse are on the pitch, no one will notice how much effort went into creating the legs and rugby shorts. Does that mean I shouldn't bother? Not necessarily- I do want to be happy with my team's look- but you can achieve a lot with far simpler conversions.  I mean, take a look at this orc team from Laughing Ferret.  It's characterful, fun and unique but also pretty simple- only a few green stuff accessories have been added.

Of course, I'll be seeing this project through.  It'll be good green-stuff practise and should result in a pretty unique team.  But my next team is definitely going to be a simple legs and torso swap- I'ma need a break after this!

Big Grumpy Monsters

So for my return to Blood Bowl I wanted to make a team I'd never fielded before.  I've always been a big fan of Norse mythology so I decided to go with a Norse team and after a couple of games with them on Cyanide, I found I really liked their play-style.  But I love modelling and wanted to play some real life games so I had to get on with converting a team at some point.

Oddly enough, the first player I started converting was this guy, my Yeti.  He's made completely from scratch out of green stuff and wire and it's been a pleasure creating him.  Progress has slowed a little as I'm a bit apprehensive about the finer details and the hands but I'm happy with how he looks so far.

I want to hug him, and pet him, and call him GRENDEL!

This was my first ever foray into the world of scratch-building models (I've only ever filled in gaps before!) so it's been a test of my skill and patience, but I'm glad I did it.  When he's finished, I'll have a unique Yeti that no one else will have.  He is a little on the large side due to a mathematical error I made in the planning stage but he'll be fine.

This next guy isn't part of the project but he may well be part of the team some day.  He's a model that I used to use as a werewolf in my Von Carstein army (remember when those were legal?).  Well, the Von Carstein army was sold on eBay a long time ago but I found this guy hiding in a drawer at my dad's house.  And I sure am glad he was because I really like him.  He's too big to be a Norse Werewolf outright but would look great as a ST5 werewolf if luck is ever on my side!


And that's all for now folks!  I'm working on some basic Norse positionals so I guess next time I see you I'll show you some progress on them.  Cheers for reading.

Welcome to Fitch Face's modelling blog!

Hullo and welcome to my modelling blog!  To start here's just a quick snippet about me:

My start in wargames came in 2000 when I picked up a box of Ork Boyz in a dingy old hobby shop.  This was the tip of the iceberg and I amassed a huge collection of miniatures.  I tried out almost all of Games Workshop's games but mostly stuck to Warhammer Fantasy and developed a particular love of greenskins.  I had a really great time in the hobby but little boys do grow up and at the age of 14 I decided to quit.  I sold most of my miniatures and set about being a booze-hound and trying to get a girlfriend.

Almost 8 years later, here I am getting back into Blood Bowl.

But why Blood Bowl!?

1. You don't need many models.  It's cheap and easy to get a legal team on the pitch.  You can feasibly convert all the models to create something unique.
2. Blood Bowl has retained its goofy charm where Warhammer and 40K haven't.  Probably because Games Workshop all but abandoned Blood Bowl before they got all serious.
3. The Blood Bowl community is amazing.  Such a passionate, friendly and helpful group of gamers I ne'er did see!
4. It's just so damn fun!

So, most of what you see here will probably be Blood Bowl related.  I may start playing other games at some point but I have enough on my plate for now.

Hope ya enjoy the blog!

Fitch-Face