...and a happy new year!

Hello!

There is no done stuff to be shown, but it is another "remarkable" date to be mentioned! We will start counting the days from the start again and in about 2 months, my blog will celebrate its very first birth day. I am not much of a New year's resolution guy, but there is all that talking about the projects for the next year, I might add my part. But before I do that, I'd really, really like to thank every and each one of you that has checked (or even actually read) posts on my blog. Even more so to people, that take time to comment as this is what makes a blog "alive". I've reached 10,000 hits and I've also noticed theres 50 people following the blog already! It is a first bigger milestone and it fills me with mojo to start showing the good stuff again!

Currently, I am being distracted by way too many seminar papers that need to be written, by way too many visitors that need to be greeted and Board of Living Lead's diorama contest. I won't bore you with the boring stuff (interesting fact: 93% Nauruan men and 97% of Nauruan women are obese) but I can tell you a thing or two about the diorama. I got this amazing (really amazing, I'm telling you!) idea about a month back and it took me quite a while to build the thing up. The problem is....it didn't turn out as amazing as I had it imagined. It is actually amazingly boring. But you can see that for yourself once the competition is over and I can post some pics around. I was mentioning it so I could explain how much time it takes. I am also sculpting (with a dead slow progress) a snake throne and 2 snakemen....and some random people that I still got to decide what they will become :P. When I am done with the diorama, I should really focus on the projects that need to be finished.

Which leads me to next year's plans. What projects are planned?

1. Modern zombie gaming. I want those zombies painted! I've started this blog painting zombies, now I haven't painted an in a long time. That is the problem with the plastics, eventually, they're all the same. I want those buildings painted! And I want those games be played! I will give NIMRH another try, as they honestly look like just the rules to use, yet something doesn't feel right with them. It has everything I need. I also want to scratchbuild a vehicle. Surely I'd make myself a tank, but I will start by converting one of the big buses I got in London in march. I will put some extra armour, some fencing and a crow's nest on it. 

2. Strange Aeons. I got that cool supplement and I want those special scenarios played. For it, I need to finish my Dunwich buildings and build more. Need a river. Need more jungle (always handy). I'll need dinosaurs (was about to buy them like 3-4 times, but I always change my mind as there's something that I dont like about the toy ones). I'll need giant bugs and such, also had them in my shopping cart but decided I'll just sculpt my own. It is nice to game with something you've made, but it takes time...which brings me to next goal

3. resin and mould making rubber. I've already made a research and know where to get it in Slovenia and I know the costs. Once my sculpts get good enough, I'd love to duplicate them. Because I'm nowhere there, I am in no hurry with resin, either. 

4. Hostage rescue, sci-fi, aztecs, napoleonics, WW I, (Weird) WW2, pulp, gangsters, gladiators, greek mythology quest-adventure-sth...those all got 1 thing in common. They are a reason I hardly make plans. It is all that interests me, one more than others. I'd buy piles and piles of figures if I wouldn't be saving the money to spend it at Salute next year. I honestly hope I can restrain myself from buying anything new before I paint everything I got. There isn't hundreds of figures, but still enough. I probably won't game much different games, but I am not much of a gamer anyways. It is just another reason to make buying miniatures "worth it"...as they get used. 

Well, we will see how it goes when the time to show progress comes!

See you next year and have a great celebration! I am looking forward to spending another year in your company and I hope I will manage to meet at least someone in person next year!

Merry Christmas!

While personally, to me Christmas is not much more than a reason to stay home and buy/get some presents and wishful thoughts, I'd like to wish a happy Christmas to everyone keeping eye on my blog! From those, to whom it represents a pagan or christian religion, to those in the middle and to those, who got nothing to do with it, but are caught in a spirit that fills the internet, the streets and the homes.

There is one wish I would like to share with everyone. Regardless of the meaning of the holiday, it is generally accepted as the peak the "Happy December" and all I'd want to add is, it doesn't have to be a special part of the year to make sure you do good things, to make sure you let your family and friends know how much you care about them.

As for the "Kind men that bring gifts"...(Slovenian culture incoming, run all, run!)

The red and white Coca-cola's Santa Claus has been known in Slovenia since I am aware of myself, but wasn't too widely used to bring gifts to little children. This year, there was full of them around, for example. I think it has started around the start of new millennium. I could say that is the "man" for most of the modern slovenian families nowadays. As abroad, he comes around in a night from 24th to 25th.

More christian families still hold on to Miklavž (ž is pronounced as j in french name jacques or something :P) (the name comes from Saint Nicholas of Myra (just as Santa Claus). He gifts in a night from 5th to 6th of December. Local churches still make an event of it, where a guy dressed in "Miklavž" comes to church, perhaps does a giro around a town. He is accompanied by Parklji and Angeli, devils and angels. The devils are really loud and terrify little (and little bigger) kids.
I remember getting modest presents for Miklavž, like mandarines or oranges and dried apples and toys later :P

Dedek Mraz (Grandpa Cold) was used in the socialism and is a mythological man from Eastern Europe. Slovenian Dedek Mraz got slovenian clothes, to make him feel more welcomed, as the russian one. As in most communist countries the religions were forbidden, he was the one to take place of Miklavž. I am not sure religion was forbidden as such in Yugoslavia, but it was generally not welcomed. As he is not connected to any religions and such, he was gifting children on a new years' eve.


Aaaand all together now:

Shocking tales of mayhem and madness 3 arrived!

A postman just dropped my ST3 book for Strange Aeons. It was officially released on Halloween and I got a bit worried I'll never see mine. The thing is, they had to be sent to the UK and from there to Slovenia, as I've  ordered from the UK based Black Hat miniatures.

I've just made a quick peak but we got giant bugs, giant snakes, giant spiders, mushroom forests (I always wanted a reason to build giant mushrooms!), meat eating plants. Also got chainsaws, molotov cocktails and the Dunwich horror! Gotta paint mine as soon as I'm done with my diorama for The board of Living Lead!

CD based terrain

Hello,

motivation is out of supply in Mathyooville, for study and for hobby. The winter is none of my favorite seasons. And I hate snow shoveling. Anyways, I got some sculpts WIP that I won't show today...nothing interesting in a clump of wire. I have found out I am simply unable to make a nice dolly and if I do go to Salute, I'll make sure I bring some dollies back home. That leaves me around 5 months to practice, because I don't want to ruin those dollies after I get them!

Anyways, I've also ripped one of the cork tiles I made for my urban terrain. They've started wrapping and I've decided I will build a less modular board one day. I went for a simple rocky concept and I've made 2 little "pyramid" rocks, two "something else" rocks and an abyss, filled with water.

The photos:

 All 5 CDs together:
I went for the green and grey drybrush for stones, as I did with my gravestones and crypt...it is supposed to be from the same area after all!

 The abyss. In Strange Aeons, there is a scenario where a tentacled beast is summoned from an ancient well. As I had no ideas how to make a good looking well, I went for a deep, water filled crack. It looks more like a crater than I'd want to, but I can live with that. The water is way too bright, I should do something with greens or purples I guess. Anyways, what is missing are the tentacles that are on my to-do list but I haven't actually started working on them yet.

 A close up on one of the CDs. This one has enough space in between the rocks for a miniature to pass or hide between.

 Annd a sneak peak on my WIP Dunwich buildings. I've made two roofs and lost motivation to get started with the third. I've also messed up 2nd story on the house in the background (unpainted one), and everything is wrapping. But I think I'll slowly paint finish them. I got too many ongoing projects and nothing gets finished.

Yet again, thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Modern survivors conversions

 I am neglecting hobby due to all the work I got with my study, but here are some photos of two conversions I've been doing lately:

First is TAG's riot policeman (4th guy from left here. When I've joined Board of the Living Lead there was a discussion about useful survivor's equipment. I am not certain who it was (think it was Brummie), but someone mentioned chainmail against sharks and talked something about a pike and a shield as an useful weapons to fight the hordes. That was the basic idea, the rest was just added as I saw fit.
He will have a riot shield attached, but so far, here is the list of modifications:
A visor instead of tactical glasses. Protect the face!
A baton turned into an axe. Hack it, don't smack it!
One hand got dressed in the chainmail, against the bites!
Lost a little radio on his back, gained sawn-off shotgun. Explanation needed?

 The second is a mantic-hasslefree Ken. I've got mine misscasted and replaced (with no hassle, good job mantic here). I was left with the miniature that provided a nice basis for some converting. I changed his G36 for F2000s our army uses. An "interesting" fact: Slovenian army was picking between G36 and F2000 at one point, deciding to go with belgian gun nobody uses instead of german field proven piece. It is a bullpup gun, but I think I roughly got the shape without it looking too wrong. To really make it F2000s (mind the S for "Slovenian", yay), I'd need to put a red-point aiming device on top of the rail. I did no further conversions for a long time, but I've lately modeled the back-pack and a face mask for some more variety.

Thats it for today,
next time, we can discuss all the good guys that bring presents to nice slovenian children in December. Yes, plural. No, not zombie related.

Cheers,
Mathyoo