2018 Rap

Boom tish

Ba Boom Boom tish

Two Oh Eight-teen didn’t treat me all that mean

I continued to hobby and was still a little obscene

Ok that’s enough of that. I enjoy singing and even beat boxing but I’m no Rapper. Haha

What I really mean, obviously, is 2018 wrap.

What a year it has been. If I can be so bold to say it’s been the best year for me and my hobby/blog for many reasons. I try to push myself a little more each year and this one has been no different. Looking back over posts I can see that my painting and conversion work has been getting better. When I first started I really didn’t think I’d get better but the old mantra is 100% right. “The more you practice the better you’ll get.” Don’t get me wrong I think I still have a lot more to learn though and a loooong road ahead. I know I’ll never be a master painter but I think I could aim for master builder hehe.

I won’t bore you too much with a long slog and commentary through each post, instead I’ll share some highlights.

NPO

1. Albino Orks – This project has evolved somewhat since first starting it and this year saw Da Blud Lettas become ALBINO. Albino mice and rabbits are creepy but cool. Red eyes!! What the shit?!!! So it was a no brainer to make my Orks albino too.

Theres still a fair bit to do for this army before its complete.

Here are a few snaps from the project.

2. Decem-buary Challenge. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or an extra large piece of wargaming terrain for the last twelve months you’ll be aware that Azazel from https://azazelx.com has been setting challenges each month for us motley crew. I took part in a couple of the challenges but the first, DecemBruary, was my favourite. Here’s what I submitted.

3. I’ve always admired historical miniatures and this year has seen me dabble a little with a few historical periods but, of course, giving it my own little twist of lemon. There were the Green Dragoons and Forlorn Light Infantry from the 701st Royal BannaRoff Guard (still more to come), The Good The Bad and The Ugly (more to come) and, more recently some medieval gear as well. (Lots to come for this one).

4. Our mate Alex over at leadballoony   https://leadballoony.com put out his own challenge for February and called it FemBruary in a nod to female miniatures. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and ended up doing three female miniatures. One of which, to my utter surprise, won the challenge. I’m still waiting for my prize though that Alex said is an all expenses paid trip to the UK to go to warhammer world haha, well I can dream. The winning entry was actually based on a book Ignited Moth ://ignitedmoth.wordpress.com had reviewed called “The Girl from the other side.” I loved the book cover art. Here’s what I did.

5. As a lot of you know I tend to like creepy and macabre things and so a stand out, mini, project for me for 2018 was The Wytch and the Warloc. They “mate” by connecting their odd tentacle/probiscus type tongues together. Eeewwwllllll.

6. I threw myself into some weird gypsy type miniatures which I still need to finish painting but I really hit a bit of a flow with the conversion work and then painting up the war wagon was a real buzz.

7. I celebrated 3 years of blogging and this poem (below) from Alex (Lead Balloony) warmed the cockles of my heart. What are cockles by the way?!

IRO, oh IRO,
Logic said those those bits won’t go!
‘but really, what does LOGIC know?’
Thought our man IRO

If I want to stick that to this,
Then common sense can off & piss!
My hairy arse, ‘the Man’ can kiss,
Rants our man IRO

Now where is my best painting brush?
I’ve moods to capture, in a rush!
Grimy, creepy, live and lush,
Paints our man IRO

Quickly, let the words be said,
from key to web, straight from my head,
One more post before to bed!
Types our man IRO

The energy of this rebel Ork,
Part of the fabric in which we walk,
A tribe of sorts, though cheese and chalk,
Our Brother, IRO

IRO, we watched you grow,
Your unique ways we got to know
as you IRO, IRO, IRO your boat, gently to a different flow

Haha he’s a talented chap.

8. The Lady Of Decay and the garden of unearthly was so much fun to build and paint and it was one of the few projects, so far, that I started and completed haha. The standout model in the project was the Duke of Ruin and even Ana from Garden of Hecate http://gardensofhecate.blogspot.com/?m=1           liked it over on Instagram!!!

9. Lastly, the Black Plague project saw me push my converting to a new level, in my opinion anyway. I wanted to break any confines, although I’m not sure I had any in the first place, and let loose, go freestyle man! The whole plan was a simple one, combine mechanical bits with organic matter. The results were better than I expected. I simply pictured what I wanted and then made it happen. I think I surprised myself at how I managed to achieve what my brain envisioned.

Some honourable mentions go out to Ash Waste Nomads, SkyRaiders and Purge cardinals which are all other projects that limped along through the year too.

One major highlight for the year was getting to know TIM (The Imperfect Modeller). Not only do I really admire and envy his skills as a diorama making genius but he’s also a great bloke. Sure his long suffering wife would disagree but he’s the kind of bloke you could have a few pints with and talk about everything from old westerns to foxes, Jive Bunny, gardening and raising 15 year old daughters. Much like a lot of you he’d be a mate in the real world as well as in this blog world of ours. I have a strong feeling in my nuts that I will get to meet a lot of you one day. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing for you but either way I’ll watch you sleep and sniff your… nah I won’t go there hahaha.

Thank you to every single one of you who follow, like, comment, advise, suggest, guide and make me laugh in our little blog  corner of the World Wide Web. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you quirky band of clever, nerdy and knowledgeable misfits hehe.

2018 flew by and I suspect 2019 will go even quicker.

Happy New Year!

Cheers

IRO