All along after viewing some of the review videos online and such for Dust, my thoughts of Dust Tactic miniatures has always been imprinted with an impression that its more toy like than serious detailed miniature like GW’s. Not expecting anything amazing, I opened my first box of Dust Tactics.

Each Dust Tactics miniature is packed neatly and wrapped in a small zipped bag. Included is a card stats for the Grenadier as well. Once they are unwrapped, I must say, I am impressed. The miniature comes based coated in grey colour already, which makes it convenient if one need to start painting straight away. The quality of the plastic feels good. It’s a bit slightly softer with a little rubber feel if compared to GW’s typical plastic type. The details on the miniature are nicely sculpted as well. There are slight mould lines here and there on the miniature, but I guess it can be cleaned up if you are into detailed modelling.

The miniature’s waist and head can be turned or rotated for a different angle post. The only thing is, there is a slight gap on the waist, as the torso is rotateable. I guess this can be fill up with green stuff and sealed up with a permanent pose. (check out the comments where Allan offer tips for fixing the gaps) Finally, the miniature is nicely sited on a base with a metal hatch texture.

If painting is not your area, I guess straight out of the box, they good to go for battle! For me, I got to have it painted before they are into battle! So Dust is cool to anticipate that their products will appeal to 2 groups of people.

Overall, I am impressed with the quality and sculpt of the Dust Tactics miniatures. For a board game with expansions, it left me with a totally different set of impression, Wow! I guess, I am looking forward to getting it painted and possibly gaming with it! More Dust! Cheers!

Past days, been pushing myself hard to get some miniatures painted, almost there. Just as I was wondering what to paint next, managed to receive some commission project which I am really excited to paint. So, stay tuned.

There have been lots of rumours here and there about the new 40k edition. After reading the rumours, I am sort of disappointed with the idea that GW is steering 40k toward the likeness of Fantasy warhammer. Along with all the randomness new rules and hype in Warhammer or upcoming 40k, just felt that things are getting too random, which make strategy play kind of useless in the games. Guess classic chess still offer the best strategy play…ha ha. We will have to wait and see how it goes when the new edition is release.

Thought I have not been playing much games, but painting a lot, and with GW miniatures price going sky high, and the embargo issue (so much for being faithful to all things GW), I just felt that I am slowing losing the vibes and drive for GW. The enthusiasm just does not feel the same years ago, sigh.

On the good side, I have been looking around and painting lots of other make of miniatures. Been also looking and considering other games system to start and play. One big thing definitely, most of the other gaming system is way cheaper to start comparing to GW. This week I had my first game of Flame of War. First thing, that struck me, it’s definitely cheaper to start FOW as compared to GW now. I am still considering whether to start, but the thought of painting 15mm does excite me though. Then another game system that been giving me second thoughts is Dust Tactic or Dust warfare. First impression was the miniatures feel so cheap plastic toy, but upon browsing the core book, it sort of changes my opinion… hmm.

Meantime, I will browse around as to which new miniatures and system maybe to get into, while I prepare and finish off some of my miniatures and get ready for my commission projects. Cheers!

Saw this video preview for Secret Weapon new May release, I am excited. Was thinking of getting some weathering powder, but after I saw the May release, think I will wait for the May release to save the shipping. There are awesome new bases in the release. The ones with the skull are cool, and the corpses field base are more awesome! Of recent I have been sort of interested in 120mm bases as well. Thinking its a good base for a small diorama for some of my projects.

The things that got me all excited are the tree stump, the fallen leaves and the bricks. All these are good for building diorama. The tree stump and leave will definitely be good for building a small garden sort of theme. And those bricks, what can I say. I have always love building bricks. My Kingdom Death Game Hunter, my modern US marines and my Hasslefree miniatures, all I had enjoyed building the walls with blue foam. Now there are tiny brick, I will have a good time building walls for diorama, haha. Cant wait to get my hands on those… Cheers!

It was my first time painting anything from Warhammer Tomb Kings army and I am just as excited to getting started when I received the job. It’s also the first time in my years of painting that I painted so much gold, haha. Tomb Kings Necropolis Knights!

At first I thought the gold painting would be a difficult challenge, but it was easier than I expected. I used Vallego’s Gold with a little mix of Citadel Sunburst Yellow. The little amount of yellow was added to ensure a smoother mix and flow of the paint when painting over a bigger area.

After that it was washed with Citadel Seraphim Sepia. Then followed by a mix of Citadel Mithril Silver and Vallego Gold for highlights.

Yap, I am still using my existing old GW’s paints. Guess my switch over will be slow and progressive. Bought some of the new shades and compound, have not really tested it yet.

Still the Tomb King was a nice painting experience and I enjoyed it truly. Just as I was painting the Knights that week, my local TV was showing Brandon Frasier “Mummy Returns”, it sure kept the mummy mood on the ball and I was off to painting the knights after that, haha!

Anyway, now its time to sort out some of my painting, my Wyches are calling me again… haha! Cheers!

Its been a while since I painted a Rhino as well. Come to think of it, my last Rhino was my Grey Knights Rhino. Was real excited to get a Rhino painted. Recently I have been looking airbrushes, and I was wishing I had an airbrush to paint the Rhino. But my plan to purchase an airbrush is on hold until I setup a proper work space for it. So I thought I try some dry brushing highlight techniques suggested by Melvin a while back. Basically the light and highlighted portion on the Rhino is achieved by using an old brush, with a mix of Ultramarines Blue and Skull White, and really little and dry dry paint on the brush, and keep brushing in circular motion. And thats the cool highlighted effect.

So much for the Ultramarines, had a lot of fun as usual painting them. And, hope Matthew and Sam enjoy it as well. Meantime, I’ve got another commission project lining up, been a busy month. I got to squeeze some little time for my Wyches which is lying around too long, haha.

FOR THE EMPEROR!

Definitely lot of thing to buy. Space is a constrain for me, next would be budget, haha. My shelves are already full and my painting is slower than the releases… haha. Was thinking I might consider not getting any miniatures yet. So when I am in the mood to paint them, then I will get them. Then again, what happen when sometimes the wait is too long and the miniatures are replaced with a new version or release, big headache… haha. So many to buy, Vampires, Empire, and paint!

Paint is another new thing I am looking forward to. Seems like the new organising of the paints by Games Workshop offers a very clear directive in painting. Still I am pretty concern with the new washes or they call it shades now. On the other hand, the new colour system and scheme sort of make me feel similar to Foundry miniature paint system. I have always wanted to try that, but with GW new paint, think I will skip that for now. Meantime, waiting for the new paint to arrive at my local store to try. Guess there will be changes and style to the way of painting with the new paint series. Cheers!

• Citadel Base Paints
• Citadel Shades
• Citadel Dry Compounds
• Citadel Layer Paints
• Citadel Glazes
• Citadel Texture Paints
• The Technical Paints

I guess they renamed and revamped the entire paint range. With the name changed, its gonna get confusing for a start. Then there’s one thing that worries me, washes. I used a lot of washes in my painting, especially Badab Black and Devlan Mud. Seems like they are no longer around in the new range which is called Citadel Shades.

I like the current washes range which gives a matt and smooth wash and does not form a ring upon drying. With the new range, from the video its seems watery. Guess will have to try it out and probably adapt to the new range and develop new painting methods. Then again, maybe I should stock up what left in my local store before they are gone. Just like the ink, I still have a pot of chestnut ink… Meantime, let’s wait for the release and test out the paint soon… cheers!

Shake the bottle well before use though. I left it on the table since the day I bought, I can see the wash having saturated layers forming. Giving a good shake before use, solves everything. Squeezed some wash out from the bottle onto my palette, I noticed that its more of a watery base. I took some shield bitz to test out the wash, at the same time comparing to GW’s Citadel Badab Black.

The first two shield on the left are washed with the Secret Weapon ones. The right side one is washed with Citadel Badab Black. The Secret Weapon wash upon drying, has a slight shining or gloss feel to it. Compared to GW’s which upon drying forms a soft matt feel to it. But the Secret Weapon Heavy Body black is definitely blacker then GW’s. I think it will be very useful to wash tiny gaps and slots in armour and vehicles plates. I guess each has its own use, but I still prefer GW’s matt feel than Secret Weapon’s. So much for now, back to more painting. Cheers!

I had always wanted to build a diorama with the Ork that came with one of the issues of White Dwarf. And when I saw the cover of the Warhammer 40k Space Marine Game, I was inspired to assemble and build a scene like the cover art with the Space Marine jumping off, swinging his chain sword to hack some orks! The actual plan was to assemble something similar to the Space Marine cover art, but I did not have so many Orks. In the end, I settled for a duel fight between the Ultramarine and Ork.

The Ultramarine leaped off some high ground, landing with his hand on the Ork head, other arm swinging the chain sword. The ork was caught by surprised and was too late in trying to fire its weapon… Arrgghhh…

I sure had lot of fun constructing this scene and painting it as well. The battle between the Space Marine and the Ork keep ringing in my head as I was constructing and painting it. More Marines to go, as I got a commission for some Marines recently as well. And my Wyches are still waiting… cheers!

The article titled, Father of Lara Croft, is about the living legend Ian Livingstone. Guess when we talked about RPG, games, D&D, how can we forget Ian Livingstone. For all you know, Ian Livingstone is the founder of Games Workshop. His partner at that time was none other than Steve Jackson. Check out news clipping below. More about Ian Livingstone can be also found at Wikipedia.

Well, Ian and Steve sure does bring back memories of those days of gaming when I was a teenager. One of Ian and Steve great products was the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. I do recall I was a fan of all of the gamebooks. For those who are not sure what is a game book, it’s a book that is read in a non linear way. To start, you use a dice or a chart to create your character stats, then read the storyline, fight some monsters with the gaming system, and if you win or need to make a decision, turn to a certain of page of the book, if you lose, turn to another page. Well, the decision you make in the story, will determine how the story goes and what you might encounter. It’s one of those best gaming books back in the 80s. Gosh I miss them…

Hey I do recall I still some of them… After much rumbling through my bookshelf, I found I still have 2 copies of Ian and Steve FF series gamebooks. From the picture above, the Robot Commando shows a page which is the adventure sheet where you enter your stats and details with a roll of the dice. In the course of the game or story, decision are made by turning to the respective page as indicated on the book.

The Clash of the Prince, is another great adventure book as I recalled. All the illustration all seems to ring my memories. But the 2 player system can’t seem to ring the bell, probably will have read up later. Sure gonna bring back my fond memories of gamebook days when in the 80s. And… I still recall having some more other author gamebooks chucked in another box somewhere…

I guess with the current generation of kids, they are exposed more to electronic games and tablets. Traditional classic games, table top gaming, does not seem to attract them as much as the electronic ones. The exposure to these fun games are not so common as well, unlike video games. Well, guess if there is a chance, we should expose kids all these fun and exciting classic, table top gaming, rather than video games, right? After all, table top games bring the immerse interaction between friends. Isn’t playing chess with a friend more fun than the computer? Cheers!