Category: Reviews

Christmas Special 2022 – The Christmas Broo!

I know it’s nearly Easter, and that I should have posted this in early January, but life got in the way. I can’t help myself and wait until next Christmas, so I thought I might as well release this now 😊 .

In the past couple of years, whenever time allowed it, I made customised gifts for my loved ones: doll houses for my nieces, a vignette for my brother, and this time it was a surprise for my gaming friend. Since he is a long-time fan of Runequest and his favourite monsters are the broos, the choice was obvious.

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All About That Base

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been fairly busy in the last few months and one of the reasons for this, has been a massive hobby project: painting a customised base for my 15mm minis. I have a whole platoon of infantry with a matching battlemat and the next logical step was adding a set of buildings to my collection. There are many options available on the market and it was difficult to pick one, but in the end, I decided to buy the research station set from Brigade.

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A Favourite Reborn

My blog has been pretty quiet lately, because the last few months have been exceptionally busy on all fronts: work, life, painting and playing, but now I have much to share.

The Spider Drones of Ground Zero Games have been a long time favourite of mine: I have plenty of them waiting for me in different stages of unfinishedness. A six-legged spider-like drone with a rotary gun – yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about when I imagine a sci-fi battleground. When I ordered a few more of them recently, Jon was kind enough to ask if I wanted the new version. Is it possible to say no to this?

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Experimenting with Colourshift Paints

Colourshift or chameleon paints, which make that amazing iridescent effect that looks so cool on cars or guitars have been on the market for a while. These paints contain tiny glass-like flakes that work like miniature prisms, interfering with the reflected light. Practically, the paint seems to change colour depending on the light and the angle of the light it is viewed under. Finally, these paints are now available for miniature painters too; several manufacturers have launched their colourshift miniature paints.

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Escape the Dark Castle – Review

I bought the Escape the Dark Castle game shortly before the lockdowns, as it promised an easy to learn and quick to set up game that can be played both solo or in a team. The price tag was convincing, and the cover art faintly reminded me of the classic Fighting Fantasy artworks, so I bought it without hesitation.

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Winter Haul Report 2020-2021 – “It Wasn’t Me, It Was Santa”

Christmas is about friends, family, celebrating, spending time together, having fun and exchanging gifts. Sadly, most of these were impossible at the end of the last year, which is why I focused more on gifts – some for my loved ones and some for myself.

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Weathering with Enamels and Pigments

When I started painting minis and when model paints finally became available, the most commonly used option was enamel. It wasn’t the most friendly material: it was smelly, it dried slowly, it could re-activate the layers under and correcting mistakes with it was also difficult. Some of the more experienced miniature painters had used oil paints, but that seemed to be even more challenging, so I have never considered oil paints as an option. Acrylic paints made everything a lot easier, and when they appeared, I was convinced that enamels were gone for good.

Apparently, I was wrong: I have seen more and more articles recently, where enamels and oil paints were used, tutorials where pigments were applied, and I also found a growing range of these products, but they still seemed to be over my league. When I bought the “Painting Wargame Tanks” book of Ammo by Mig Jimenez, I was shocked to see that they recommend these techniques for wargaming tanks. Since the book explained everything in detail, and it made this method look so easy, I soon ended up with a set of pigments and enamels. When I gathered my courage and applied it on my Valentine Mk IX, I was pleased with the result and decided that I would write more about this topic.

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My Funny Valentine

Love strikes in the most unexpected moments… You catch a glimpse of perfection, the true beauty itself and your fate is sealed. Love fogs your senses and you don’t care anymore if there’s another one that is younger, more modern, better armoured or has more firepower: you’re in love with the Valentine Tank.

Joking aside, Valentine is a British tank that was manufactured in the highest numbers during World War II, it was used probably in all the theatres of the war and had more than a dozen variants. The distinctive look and the diversity of this tank make it a very interesting subject for my hobby.

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Battle of the Brushes

When I started painting minis, brushes were just plain standard brushes and the ones that were too old and worn got trimmed, and were used for drybrushing at the last stage of their lifecycles. I tried GW’s brushes made specifically for this technique, and I was pleased with them: the flat profiles worked surprisingly well and since it offered a range of sizes, I could choose the right one for every task.

When I saw the Series D Drybrush Set from Artis Opus, I found it really weird: the brushes had huge, rounded heads, and were sold in elegant wooden boxes at a shockingly high price. In the end, the tutorial videos I saw convinced me and, I bought my own set. A few months later I found that The Army Painter’s Masterclass Drybrush Set had an undeniably similar design, but for less than one-third of the price. Is it possible that their brushes can offer the same, or is it too good to be true? I had to find out, so I bought their set as well and tested both products.

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Christmas Special 2020

Now that Christmas is over, packages were delivered and gifts were opened, I can finally tell you about the project that I had been working on in October and November. I try to make a handcrafted Christmas gift for someone in my family or for one of my friends every year, and this year it was my nieces’ turn. Sadly, visiting family and painting something nice together was not an option in December 2020, but I still wanted to give them a personal gift that I made.

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