Painted steamship...

... these posts about the steamship have literally been the least watched or clicked posts I have ever made for some reason. The project has given me enjoyment but I shall not dwell too long on the project. So here's the last one, the boat is not nearly painted to readiness, but I shan't bore you guys with it. Upwards and onwards!

NO RAGRETS!!!

Tried to darken up the on-top-of-the-hull-construction-hut-thingie. Before and after above and below.

I have been having some issues with helping some guys with permits. I really, really dislike the Swedish bureaucracy (and can't spell to the B-word). No good deed goes unpunished they say, because I got a call from the Violence-Monopolists of Sweden to explain certain parts of things I had typed into the applications of the permits. See above for my mental state... It is designed to destroy the morale I have finally accepted. So, therefore I...

... take a shallow breath and just relax, and get back to the boat...

I mean it is just part and parcel of living in Sweden, eh?

Had plans to attach the plastic boats I have been casting up, but thought they'd look more like Norwegian baby-penguin bashing boats, so I did not...
 

 

Might have looked nice though, but not really in the style of this Isengard ship.

Wraaaah! Dangerous rams, saws and ballistas! The design evolution of this ship has been interesting to follow (inside my own head).

(Speaking of evolution and casual racism and anti-evolutionismsimsms)

 

Tried a lighter paintjob first... I think I need to separate the hull and the rest paintwise...

But that sounds a bit difficult... hard work you know... I might just go and burn a flag instead. Or some Swedes, as is fashion now in the immigrant heavy parts of various cities in Sweden.

Batrep: Game of WotR in Australia

Battle report might be a bit generous, I really can't remember the details other than it was good times. Been ages since I got a game in, and Scott suffered from the same rules-amnesia as I - at first: After a few rounds we started to get back into the system

Wargaming!

[Droning on about rules here was removed due to boringness, hence the seemingly non-sequiteur paragrahp below]

I still claim that the best rules addition is the one found on Jamies rough WotR-blog: Giving elves a rule to just ignore shields when firing arrows. Elegant, beautiful and makes perfect sense from a balance point of view (especially against Morannon orcs) and does not add a bunch of number crunching.

Scott kindly invited me to his home and I happily left the quiet little east-coast suburb I rented a room in to spend some time with a fellow blogger and hobbyist. Since I took a bus up and left said bus at what was possibly the right place I waited a while in the warm and pleasant outdoors of Australia, in the WINTER! It is very strange that they have summer in the winter... I had no idea how he looked like but he recognized me and called my name - after all there aren't that many llamas standing around bus stops in Australia. You get the occasional koala or kangaroo, but not llamas.

But I digress. Scott showed me some of his magnificient collections, a wide range of different eras and types - and especially the 30K-stuff made an impact on my hobby mind. Beautifully painted and air-brushed resin and plastics, really nice models.

One of the best aspects of this visit, besides talking Norwegian with his young daughter, was the collection of M.E.R.P booklets by Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E, IIRC). Sooo much good stuff, inspiration for decades, filled with Angus McBride illustrations.

The game

The first two rounds we mainly charged each other. I lost a company of Vault Wardens due to archery and Mordor ballista - it is actually the first time playing against one of those. I have used one in test games against the other side...

Really nice table and general gaming/hobby area. If you removed a tree there were indicators on the battlemat where the tree was supposed to be put back, meaning it was really easy to move big formations around the table.

Our forces collided and we just went to town killing orcs and dwarves alike. Left, right and center.
 

As is often the case, no pictures were taken the last round since I have a tendency to get absorbed by the game.

The models were just great, nice movement trays and the right amount of careful/discreet theming that makes it easy to differentiate the two sides easily. I was - and am still - astonished by the sheer numbers of nicely painted War of the Ring/LotR/Hobbit models Scott has: It dwarfs my own collection which encourages me to up my game, both in numbers and in dealing with the soft backlog I have. 

Yours truly pondering on how to not lose...

Via digital communications I have received news that Scott and his gang of gamers have greatly increased the amount of hobby time dedicated to WotR! I feel I have an amount of responsibilty here, and I await my check from Gaymes Wokshop!

Lastly a big thanks and cheers to you Scott! Let's do it again some day!

Isengard Patrol Steamer, painting of...

Back on track

This is where it is at currently. Shovel wheels attached, most of the removable gear placed and kind of painted. I have only been home for a few days after my trip to summer. 

But let's go back a bit in time in the process of making this ship...

 

This little llama went abroad and had some nice interactions with girls at the beach and on hostels - perhaps not as nice as getting a lift on a surf board (as seen above) but plenty of touching firm girl-bodies and other niceties. Bondi was very decent and I started a few conversations/pick-ups-that-lead-to-almost-nothing at the place - even though I am not in the best of shape physically (talking Northern European standards here, in America I am probably seen as "starved" or "rather fit", sad to say - and sorry 'Murricans, I love you and your country, but the amount of fattityness is un-good).

I stayed in half a dozen places, and the last one was a hostel, due to wallet-related issues. As you all know I am in my mid-30's so I was in the older age bracket, which worked very well for me. The frying of eggs was interesting, as apparently, in Australia, you can only fry eggs in very small pans and may only try to flip the eggs with oversized spatulas. Oh, Australia, you little fucker...

Living the life in a hostel filled with Europeans aged 18-26. Most of the ladies in the room liked to expose their thong-clad butts - and I am not talking about the footwear here. So the stay, while obnoxious in it's core due to people over indulging on goon and drugs, had some definite positives. 

One of the better places I went to was up in Sunshine Coast, but we shall come back to that in the next update. I met with another blogger and hobbyist that you may know about...

Let's recap the ship: Steam ship of Isengard. "Curunir Steamer" or something one can call it.
 

Inside of the ship is not really detailed, I only made the top detachable for storing purposes as I still live rather cramped in this Tokyo-of-Sweden where I live.

Painted it in different shades of gray with rust streaks. There's very little difference between the parts that is supposed to be wooden and the metal parts.

 Notice the first paint layer, and my lazy way of making the huuuge bolts to stand out...

If any of you wonder why I did the bolts so sloppily you can see that Isengard is in good company. Took the picture above in Sydney just to show you. Square, worn down bolts in the middle of a European-style city. Big parts of Sydney around the CBD was more or less filled with trash and hobos/narcomaniacs. But I digress...

I then tried to darken the whole ship... I shall put white details as spot colour, but I really need to somehow either differentiate between the wooden hull and the metal building on top, or somehow make it look better... I really do not want to side step the worn, old look but I might just have to do that: Pristine black colour on all the metals above sea line, white coloured hull... not sure... Any input from you would be greatly appreciated!
 

I came back to Sweden... There had been three or four more grenade and bomb attacks against the Police as well as numerous rioting and "sudden attacks". Glad to find the above... well not really happy...

It doesn't matter, I shall sit back and think about Australia instead. Especially the KFC was more than decent. I remember barely tolerating it in America. In the Aussielands it was sooo good... you could really feel the trans-fats just zing your mind... The little popcorn chickens was just so nice to mix in with the mash and gravy... My gawd was it a simple pleasure...

And now I am home and slightly under the weather, not only due to physical reasons (a "cold") but also because Australia is dearly missed. Perhaps one day I shall seek asylum, it just needs to get a lot worse here for the UN to give Swedes asylum status, but I am sure it will happen within 20-30 years.