Tutorials – Tiny Plastic People

29 Jul

The Audacity

Articles, Hobby, Tutorialspainting, Tentpole

Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Paint a Tentpole Mini I would describe myself as a slightly below mediocre army painter at skill level. It’s hard to tell given the sheer volume of amazing minis you see on the web, and I tend to only see a few other people's minis in real life, so in my head that’s where I sit. A recent mini for skill level. The point of the above is that it created a fear in me. I didn’t mind paying £25 for a hero character and not having it painted particularly well, but…

06 Mar

Bitz a Wonderful Life

Hobby, TutorialsGetting Into, Hobby Tools, Why I Love

Converting, Kitbashing, and Why It Might Be For You! A quick safety note: some of the tips here involve chopping and hacking your miniatures in ways that weren’t intended by the designers. Be careful when using sharp tools! There are a raft of valid and understandable apprehensions over kitbashing; the worry of putting valuable plastic at risk, concerns of “ruining” a model, uncertainty over costs, fear of failure, and plenty more. I’d love to say that they’re all unfounded but honestly, I’ve experienced every one of them during my time in the hobby. But that needn’t stop you! So why…

03 Mar

Founding Felstad (Part 2)

Articles, Gaming, Hobby, Terrain, TutorialsFrostgrave, Step by Step, Terrain

When I last left you, I’d made a whole bunch of single storey scatter terrain. This was a good start but I really needed some larger pieces, and especially some elevation, to make the table more varied and fun. The first thing I did was grab a couple of bits from Gale Force 9’s Battlefield in a Box range. These are nice pieces and if you’ve played any games at a games store you’ve probably seen them, as they’re made of resin so are nice and robust, and they come pre-painted. Of course I needed them to match the rest…

18 Feb

My Favourite Tool: Proxxon Thermocut

Hobby, TutorialsHobby Tools

A fly-by look at one tool in the hobby-space - what it's for and why it’s good. This time: the Proxxon Thermocut Hot Wire Cutter Got foam that needs cutting? Want to make a large amount of terrain, very quickly? You might consider a hot wire cutter! The proxxon thermocut The elephant in the room, is this an expensive tool? Yes, it's not cheap, about as expensive as a larger Games Workshop kit, but I will tell you now, if you have anything beyond a passing interest in terrain building: you want this in your life*. With no exaggeration, you…

09 Feb

Founding Felstad (Part 1)

Hobby, Terrain, TutorialsFrostgrave, Step by Step, Terrain

Having got a copy of Frostgrave 2nd edition for Christmas, Osprey Publishing’s fantasy skirmish game of “wizards, battling through a ruined frozen city in search of magical artefacts”, and with lockdown continuing, I had plenty of time on my hands, so I decided to make a table for it. This was my first large scale terrain project so I was leaping in at the deep end, but I hoped that the crumbling, snow-bound nature of Felstad would help cover any mistakes I made along the way. A couple of years ago a seller was offering a bunch of Hirst Arts…

03 Feb

My Favourite Tool: Magnet Key

TutorialsHobby Tools

A fly-by look at one tool in the hobby-space - what it's for and why it’s good. This time: A magnet key. Never glue in a magnet the wrong way again with this one neat trick. My magnet key. Okay, it’s deceptively simple but I went a long time without having something like this. Maybe other people are missing one too. I’ve always keyed my magnets individually for the job they were doing, so my Adeptus Titanicus warlord carapace weapons are a different direction to the arms, doesn’t cause any problem. Except, I occasionally slip up - then it is…