Flintloque: Todoroni Catatonic Bishop and Luca The Newt. Uncharted Seas: Orc Battleship and Orc Cruisers

Hey Guys, I have the usual Flintloque stuff that none of you seem to be too bothered by... But I also have some UNCHARTED SEAS stuff.
So here it goes!
I'll start with the Flintloque.

TODORONI BISHOP OF THE CATATONIC FAITH

This is one of AA's VLE (VERY limited edition, limited to 250 casts) miniatures. I think that so far, it is easily the best of the lot too. Once I got this I just had to start painting it. I stopped halfway through when I realised I couldn't really use it in Slaughterloo. However, I am thinking of writing some rules for him as an extra special officer (in a similar vein to a Mounted officer, except he can dismiss orders and give his own (it is his god-given right!)).
The miniature is excellent, I really recommend it. The sculptor has done really well and you can tell he has paid extra attention to making it like the older sculpts. Well done him.
I have another sitting unpainted which will be converted into my style. I also plan on doing a pope, but dark sword miniatures just released a frog one, so I may just use that!

LUCA THE NEWT, TODORONI SPECIAL CHARACTER OFFICER

Luca has connections in the Tapioca Naffia crime family in Nepolise. He gained such connections at the battle of Maulando, he is now a well known and respected officer in the Nepolise army.

I apologise for the poor photography, I was trying to see what would happen if I didn't use flash. Turns out, my camera much prefers using it as this image is grey and grainy.

Uncharted Seas ORC CRUISERS

These truly are a joy to paint. I love the game and I love the miniatures. I used an awful lot of drybrushing and ink washing as the miniatures are a smaller scale. I wanted to get the fleet done as I really, really like the game system. I have spent a little while on the sails, I hope it stands out enough now.

Uncharted Seas ORC BATTLESHIP

This is only just 'finished'. I still have to do the sail design, which will be the same as the above ones, just with more tentacles. I have 6 frigates done too, but I have another 12 frigates 2 Battlecruisers and an assault ship (that looks rather phallic unfortunately) to paint up. The most time consuming thing to do is the bases. Sculpting them is quite a paint, but I started it, so I will finish it!

Cheers, I hope that is enough variety for you!

Rob

Flintloque - Bellalugosi Line Infantry, Cacciatore Splendido Hippo Hussars

Hey guys,

I haven't posted anything in a few days. But here is what I have been working on:

Bellalugosi Line

This is the rank and file (or should that be ranke and vyle?) unit of the Todoroni army. It is of incredibly poor quality when it comes to fighting. These toads are no more than everyday toads, drafted into the ranks of the Ferach Grande Armee because of the offer of fancy clothing!

However poor these troops may be, they have given me many good days too. They were fun to paint at first, but after the first 12, you begin to lose the will to live.
The AA painters must have souls of steel for their will not to break halfway through.

The Cacciatore Splendido Hussars

These are big todoroni riding pygmy hippos. Their uniform is just as flashy as that of the Bellalugosi, but the troops are slightly more hardened. They are no match for the best albion orc cavalry, but they are equally good as many other light cavalry units in the game.

Why Hippos I hear you all ask! Well, they are a sturdy mount, allowing the toads to canter along, showing off their uniform. They can also be worked up into a lethal charge. Most obviously though, they are amphibious, like the todoroni.

These were fun, but again, after the first 5 I got a little bored.

All of these have had their faces resculpted and some of their legs and feet repositioned so that they rank up properly. I also added a little extra musculature to the right hind leg of each hippo as I felt the leg looked a little thin when compared to the other.

I have another unit of these and I am considering doing some dragoons. The dragoons will be little todoroni though and the hippos will be irregular miniatures ones. They are cheaper and nicer models.

Cheers

Rob

And now for something completely different.

I hate Monty Python. I hate that I quoted it, but hell, it fitted.

I recently had the end of year show for my art course. I am nothing more than an A level student. In September, I will begin attending a foundation art course at Coventry university, which I hope to take onto illustration. The big dream is to work in the fantasy/gaming industry, but I am leaving the doors wide open at the moment!

Anyway, below are a few photographs of my work that was shown, amongst the essay I wrote for the final piece.

“From the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made”
Emmanuel Kant, Philosopher

This quote got me thinking quite strongly about humanity, it’s themes and it’s strengths. I think that this quote is easily perceived as quite negative, damning us, as humans for never being the same. Never acting as one which leads to all of our flaws as creatures.

However, to perceive this quote in a positive manner is also important. The quote is actually quite refreshing and it helps strengthen the concept that we are all different by an act of nature. It is completely natural to be different and to me, showing these differences make little things we have in common with other human beings that much more exciting. Perhaps this is what leads us all on to do what we want to do, we are guided by our own thoughts.
It is this sense of individuality that I wanted to bring out from my work. To do this I wanted to look at portraits and how we perceive different facial expressions. I also looked at different artists work relating to this and also just ones I thought worked in a manner that no other did but I still found interesting.

Throughout creating work for this project, I visited a variety of galleries, including: Saatchi, Modern Art Oxford, The British Museum and The Tate Britain.
The exhibit at the Saatchi gallery (The Revolution Continues: New art from China) was a truly great and awe-inspiring one. The huge variety of different mediums used and the variety of different meanings were important in making it such an inspirational show. Zeng Fanzhi’s painting ‘hospital series’ was quite an inspiring piece. Taking such a harsh subject matter and painting it in such a hard way. I painted a representation of it in my sketchbook and found it so useful in creating a new style I have been unfamiliar with.

I also went to the Exhibit at the Modern Art Oxford, ‘The House of Books has no windows’, though this was neither a long visit nor a particularly exciting one, it was a little eye opening. I prefer art to be crafted carefully and for the artist in hand to have taken time in it’s creation. However, by opening my eyes to something as unusual as ‘the killing machine’, I could draw more inspiration from it. This entire exhibit was great in proving my point about individuality and disagreements. It is very different from anything I would normally see or do. I did not agree with it at first, but by accepting it as just ‘another form of art’, I can look past it and say that yes, I did enjoy it. This is something people should try in reality, accepting individuality for what it is and moving on.
Another exhibit I saw was at The British Museum. It was a collection of art created by British modern artists including Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Ron Mueck, Noble and Webster and Marc Quinn. Some of the pieces I got to see are quite iconic in today’s art world. For me, the best parts were Ron Meuck’s huge realist sculpted faces and Marc Quinn’s ‘Siren’ sculpture of Kate Moss. Marc Quinn’s faces are good at portraying the flaws of a face and Marc Quinn’s ‘Siren’ mocks the ‘supermodel’ ideal in portraying Moss in an uncomforting position.
The last Exhibit I saw for the ‘Journal’ project was a collection of work by ‘Francis Bacon’ at the Tate Britain. This is work that I would have definitely let go past me last year had I not gained confidence in more strange pieces of work and artists in the past year. I am incredibly glad I went, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how the artist has applied paint thinly and thickly to create different textures in the piece as you stand back or see a smaller version of it. There is no doubt about Bacon being a huge individual, being an artist working with the theme of homosexuality in such a diverse and quite horrific manner. The artist took no lengths to hide his blemishes (or perhaps what others perceived as blemishes), though those that pointed out his problems created nothing but more problems for the artist in hand. An abusive alcoholic he may be, but an inspiring artist he was, and I am sure he will continue to be.

I have painted a large self portrait, this image was entirely posed and painted in a very different way. I think the size has created a very imposing image and the use of black in all the shaded areas has created an uneasy sense about the image. I toyed with the idea of writing song-lyric around the edges, but I have come away from the idea.
I then went on to paint another 4 images in monotone. The subject of these images is again my face and each is of me pulling a face. I chose to paint these images after being told I have a ‘plastic face’ in that I express my emotions very strongly through speech. I believe this to be because I live with deaf people who rely on such small details to determine the context in which I am speaking, making it easier to determine one word from another very similar word. This is one of these individual things that has made me different. Many others will look past, or not even know about such details.
I took the expressions even further with sculpture. Earlier on in the journal project, I looked at a pair of very simple heads sculpted by a local artist, Adam Griffiths. I like his idea, and I like his rag-tag approach, but I prefer a cleaner cut approach. I have created a series of these at a slightly smaller scale, but large enough to make very caricatured faces. Making these has been a chance to play with my sense of humour and also look at how we envisage certain parts of the face as larger to convey these different emotions.
I have since then painted a series of 6 very fast painted images (in a similar vein to the styles of Bacon and of Zeng Fanzhi) of a ‘Napalm Death’ gig that I went to in Camden Town. They are a very uncelebrated band choosing to express strongly political and atheist beliefs in a very harsh manner. I chose to paint the images fast as I took the images from stills which were blurry, but I also thought this fits in well with the theme of their music. I painted the images over the top of the bands lyrics typed out with a label-maker which has made the lyrics very hard to read another factor of the bands’ music.

In the end, I think I have made my point clear with my journal. We are all different and we should celebrate not only our own differences, but those others have. Different tastes, different beliefs and different inspirations. Everyone has the drive to go on, but how to go on and where they go on to are totally different matters.



Hope I haven't bored you too much.

Back to something else soon.

Cheers

Rob

Tonights game and a little thought.

Hey guys,
Just got back from the Wargames club after having played a game of Slaughterloo.

I played using my todoroni, only 1500 points, but it was an eye-opener to how I have been using the army. All my officers were 'Cowardly' in this game as this increases the Todoroni's pitiful form by +2.
I also took Ferro Rospo who increases the form by +1 to all todoroni within 45cm.
I then gave one of the Bellalugosi a Mounted officer (unfortunately, the rules only allow one per division).

For the first time ever, the toads did very well at not running away. They didn't do much fighting though. I would really love to try this army out properly as I found most of the board was dominated by a giant section of woodlands! One more turn was all I needed to give the killing blow to a unit of Orc Dragoons and a unit of Orc Line infantry. I would have also mopped up the rifleorcs I gave a bash on the nose with my Voligeria Light infantry.

Next week should be 40k, then more Slaughterloo and then I move. Very scary thought really and a damn shame I shan't be playing many games when I move. Especially one's that aren't GW.

Cheers
Rob

Flintloque - Generale Ferro Rospo of Nepolise

Hey guys,

new update here. I have been painting these for the past few days and I am very happy with the results.

I actually resculpted a lot of the original model (available from http://www.alternative-armies.com/), this may be cringe-worthy to many collectors of the LE range, but I just wasn't keen on the sculpt. I didn't feel it matched the original Mike Owen sculpts enough when used together.

I usually write the name of character miniatures on their bases for use in Flintloque and to help new players remember character names. I spent a little time on this one to make sure the writing was clear, regular and not too 'wonky'.

Here he is in his own glory. I am very happy with the arm repositioning and resculpting so it looks like he has some control of his Baby Hippo mount. I also redid his left hand to be holding hih hip. I'm also pleased with the Bicorne, which is sculpted entirely by myself, I tried to make it more 'show-offy', by adding unnecessary feathers and furry bits around the edge. Well, a toad's gotta' be fashionable. Right?

This is Rospo's wife, Lucrettia, who joins him on the field of battle to be sure he stays true to his vows. Granted, his vows were spoken with a pistol in his side, the holder being Lucrettia herself. I will probably paint a little lipstick on her. Just to feminise the miniature a bit more and add a little humour. I was tempted to paint a lipstick mark on Rospo's cheek as well!

Finally, the couple's spawn. Brought to the field as a reminder of Rospo's duty to his family. Should the goo be yellow?

Anyway, I'll let you lot be the judge of the sculpting and painting work.

Cheers

Rob

New photos!

The last photos were pretty cack, so here are some better ones.

As usual, click the photos for bigger images.

I'm very happy with these and will have another todoroni upload tomorrow hopefully.

Cheers

Rob

Todoroni Light Infantry unit, finished.

I have had the bulk of this unit painted for quite a few months now, but my most recent paintjobs have been the command (Officer, Standard Bearer and Singer) which are conversions by myself of the original sculpts by Mike Owen. These are available from Alternative Armies' website at http://www.alternative-armies.com . I will be using these as the Elite Light Infantry 'Tapioca Voligeria Bellalugosi' in my games of Slaughterloo and Flintloque. Representing Todoroni that have been drafted in from the Tapioca Family Naffia Crime family.

I have really enjoyed painting these very characterful minis, so I hope my additions are up to scratch for you lot.

These photographs show how much I need a lightbox!

Cheers guys

Rob

The very first Ramble.

So, welcome to the Rambling Corner. About time I began a blog as I do tend to ramble quite incessantly about the various things that affect the winding road that is my life!

As I mention in the 'description', this blog will be hugely about Wargaming, but I'd imagine I will talk about music, life at uni and other stresses life may involve. This whole thing sounds rather self-obsessed at the moment!

Anyway, we'll have to see how it goes.

What am I doing right now? - Painting Todoroni for Slaughterloo/Flintloque and also Sculpting a unit for the same system which I hope AA may end up casting. Will show photographs of the painted Todoroni later on.

What am I listening to? - Nothing at the moment, but I may put on some Ex Deo (Epic Death Metal with a Ancient Roman theme).

Cheers!

Rob