Slow Grow Update - End of Part 2

Time for another slow grow update, and this time I've got some updates from some of the other people who are doing it with me. That's right, I'm not making this up - I'm actually not doing this stuff by myself! Shocking, I know. Anyway...

The second "month" is over (actually the third month, but the first 2 were rolled together. I know it's confusing. Don't blame me, blame Nick - he organised the thing). It finished on the 15th, and technically I did not. I started the month very late due to the distractions of the Christmas break - basically tried to get it all done in the last week and a bit. I thought I was going to make it, but just didn't get enough time on the final day and fell short. But that's OK, because I also didn't have time to do a blog post to publicise my shame, so nobody will ever know...

My stated goal was to paint another 10 Thunderers and 2 Engineers. In the end I managed to sneak in another Engineer, who had already had a little paint on him (he'd been started by a previous owner). That's good, because it means I've painted all the Engineers I own, and I've decided I don't particularly like painting the models. I don't have to like it now - I'm done with them!

10 Thunderers in the same colour scheme as my previous ones, and 3 Engineers lurking in the background.

Slow Grow Part 1 Complete

This post comes about a week late, but you'll just have to take my word for it that I actually did manage to get my first "month" (really a first effort of 2 months in one go). The deadline was the 15th, and I finished painting at about 11pm that evening. Depending on your perspective, I either barely got there, or planned it perfectly...

The last part of my first month target was a pair of bolt throwers. Actually, this is a lie. It was originally 10 warriors, but by the time I got to them after painting hammerers and thunderers, and with time gradually sliding away, I decided to change my goals. The bolt throwers were always going to be on the list at some point given that I didn't have any painted, and it was a bit more interesting than yet another group of 10 troops. So here we are.

2 Dwarf bolt throwers with their crew. The crew are actual GW models, but the bolt throwers I 3D printed using a model someone uploaded to Thingiverse, which appears to be based on the model in Total War. It certainly looks like it.

More slow grow Dwarfs

Time ticks by, and the slow grow continues. We're now a bit over 2 weeks from the end of the first nominated 2 month period, and I feel like I have things relatively under control. I have already posted my unit of 10 Hammerers, but I can now add to that a unit of Thunderers, and a Thane.

I say a Thane, but I really mean Ungrim Ironfist, the Slayer King of Karak Kadrin. Except that he can't be that at the moment, because that would be ridiculous in a 500 point mini-army. So instead he's just a Thane for now, running around in his dragon pyjamas...

Ungrim Ironfist in all his retro-inspired glory. I based the paint scheme on the old original GW studio paint job for this guy from back in 4th edition. Mine has a more modern plastic back banner on a brass rod instead of a paper one like their had, and he's standing on a little green stuff rock that I must have made years ago. When I came back to this guy recently, he had already been assembled and undercoated for a long time.

Hammer time!

With the Landship out of the way, I was finally able to make a start on my slow grow Dwarf commitment. I've posted previously what my plans are for the first 2 month period up until mid-December, and it's relatively ambitious in terms of number of models. I figured it would be OK, given they're Dwarfs and not the slowest thing to paint, but as usual I found that I made slower progress than I had hoped with the first unit, and now I'm concerned I might end up having to scramble to get things done in time.

For my first unit, I went for the Hammerers. My existing unit is only 20 models strong, and knowing that I had a few more up my sleeve that could be bolstering this number had annoyed me for a long time. Well, that is over. I have no more spare Marauder-era Hammerers lurking in my cases.

10 Hammerers, ready to bolster my existing regiment's ranks. Old Marauder models, but with more modern shields (with the hands that were moulded onto the shields carved off).

We're on a boat!

It has been about 10 days since my last update, and I'm afraid that I have not yet made any progress on the slow grow painting challenge. Poor Dwarfs. Their time will come. In the meantime however, I have managed to complete the Marienburg Landship! In many ways I felt like I had already broken the back of it in my last post (or maybe broken my own back), but it is undeniably more colourful now.

One Empire Landship, complete with a 18x10cm base that a friend made for me on an FDM printer. It probably could have been a little smaller, but this feels appropriate for the size of the model.

Going slowly and another Slow Grow

True to my previous declaration, my hobby time for the last couple of weeks has basically been dedicated to painting up my Empire Landship. The fact that it's been that long, and that it's not finished, and that I haven't even really been skimping on time spent on it, is a testament to how much work this has been. It's a very big model...

Still a work in progress, but the worst parts of it are done now. Just detailing and crew to do.

The Halflings cannot be stopped

My progress on the halflings has rolled on inexorably. Or maybe it's that I've made progress on halflings who roll on inexorably. In terms of actual time spent on some of these guys, how can something so short take so long? It's a riddle indeed.

I find the Duncan Shadow halflings quite straightforward to paint, and I like that their snappy uniforms are so crisply defined. It basically forces me to paint the puff and slash in separate colours, which is why I elected to put them alongside the MOM greatswords, who are much the same. Of course, finding them straightforward and them taking little time seem to be two unrelated things for me. And I still find that I struggle with some of their faces, particularly the female ones. Painting faces is often one of the most rewarding parts of the model, because it is sometimes really clear where the highlights should go, and it draws the model together. I didn't always find that here, and it's discouraging. But they'll be perfectly usable as a regiment on the tabletop. Looking at them individually (or with a camera) is always a little less forgiving.

20 Duncan Shadow halfling archers, up to my usual sort of tabletop standard. I had already shared 10 of these. The other 10 were done in a reverse colour scheme to try to break up the fact that there's only 6 different models there.