Otherworld Adventurers & Stuff

Not far off a month of no posting here but as anyone following me on Facebook will know I have been busy daubing stuff. First off, as the title says I've been painting more Otherworld Miniatures so I guess I'll throw some pics up and then go into the waffle. We've got berserkers, adventurers, familiars and a sorcerer.

I had planned on these being done much sooner to be honest but a combination of some taking longer than expected to finish plus a hefty dose of burn out creeping up on me throughout the year really made them drag on. My favourites were the berserkers although the familiars were rather fun. OSL and the shield design on the female paladin wore me down a bit. All 'new' models to me except the sorcerer which is my second version painted (not sure I ever posted the first one). If I'm honest I don't particularly care for that model, it's a bit confusing and 'busy'.

I mentioned being a bit burnt out this year. I guess it's something that hits most of us eventually. For me it's the kind of models I'm painting more and more. Things that are very detailed or maybe simple but very delicately detailed and requiring a lot of patience and concentration can get a bit draining over time. In the past I've had a mix of models that have helped lend a lot of variety to my workload but certainly this year and going back into last year it's been one tougher job after another. There have been a couple of what I thought would be easier jobs but when I'm distracted and lacking focus on those I know I'm clearly ready for a rest.

One thing I have really enjoyed this year has been resurrecting my Urban War Viridians. That bit of time I grabbed to retouch my old models and paint a couple of new ones was really satisfying. I think I've posting pretty much everything here but a few days ago I did finally manage to take some pics of my retouched and rebased saurian rider. It was only the base that needed finishing and then it sat gathering dust for a few weeks but here it is all tootled up.

The nice big GW oval base is far more stable than the old 50mm lipped base was. There is some pinning in the legs here though to ensure it doesn't droop under the weight of the model. I know the initial castings, of which this is one were prone to warp. Back when I assembled this I put a pin up through the foot, ankle and into the calf and another into the back of the knee and down the second section of the leg to strengthen those points. I still wasn't sure if it would hold so initially wedged a 'rock' under the raised foot. With rebasing I decided to just pin the raised foot. You can't see the pin unless you look closely for it. If I get time I'll definitely do more Viridians.

One thing I've been threatening to do for while is video tutorial type stuff. The camera I've been using for what must be a couple of years now was bought partly on the strength of its video recording capabilities. Not having a suitable lens or really knowing what kind of set up I needed stalled those plans but I finally decided to take one in the ass from my credit card and get a couple of bits of kit.

Here we've got a zoom lens and an extension tube. The lens as you may guess makes distant things look closer and the extension tube adds macro capability to a lens. Together it means I can have my camera placed out of my way, essential for painting, whilst being able to bring the image closer to fill the frame and show what I'm doing more clearly. I just need a couple of extra bits to make life easier, a holder for my tablet and an adapter to connect my camera to it (plus a software app) so I can see my cameras live view on the tablet in my eye line rather than having to keep looking away from what I'm working on to see my camera. At least I hope that'll be everything.

I think that's my lot for this post. Time to decide whether to have another large vodka and make tomorrow a problem or just play Sniper Elite V2.