Miniatures and the Airbrush

More and more of my free time is being devoted to miniature wargaming.  I've had some great online D&D sessions in recent months, but I really miss running games and I have yet to find a game that really hits my sweet spot as a player.  So I've started working on miniatures again.  I've have several projects going on right now and I think it will take several months to complete them all.

The first major project is a "Desert Rats" army for Bolt Action.  I'm still int he process of assembling the 30 some infantry models, and I have yet to purchase any tanks or other vehicles.  I'm hoping to find some bargains at the Cold Wars convention next weekend.  While I'm there I'm thinking of picking up a few 15mm DBA armies to match up against my Vikings.  I'm thinking Anglo-Saxons or Normans, though Eastern Woodland Indians might be a neat opponent too.

For 40k I've still got some Space Wolves to work on.  I have 2 Rhinos that need to be finished, but since I can't see using them that often I'm not very motivated with those.  The next models I'll probably work on there are the 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry I have.  Then I'll start touching up and converting some of the older models I have.  The only other Space Wolf model I really need is a Njal Stormcaller.

All of my Imperial Guard is painted, but I do need to finish the bases on the infantry.  I've been thinking about adding some of the Wargames Factory Shock Troops for Elites and Heavy Weapons, but as my IG were originally planned as an Ally detachment, I'm not really pressed about building up that army.

I've got a large Orc army for Warhammer Fantasy that is now completely base coated, ie green. That's probably the largest project I have sitting around.  It's over 150 figures.  My other WFB army is still waiting for miniatures to arrive.  I got a small group of Chaos Warriors, but I've been waiting a years for a certain Kickstarter to deliver  with the bulk of the force.  Not that I'd have time to paint them anytime soon.

My Flying Monkey army for Fanticide is now based and primed.  The real pain in the neck starts this week as I have to attach all of the wings to the monkeys.  I have a feeling that these things are going to be falling off all of the time.

And if all of that wasn't enough, I still have ALL of the Reaper Miniatures KickStarter to paint up.  To get all of this painted, I decided it was time to invest in an airbrush.  I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm really liking it.  Here's a pick of my first project with the new rig.

It's a little hard to see here, but I'm really excited about how easy it is to create shadows and highlights with the airbrush.  I'm not expecting this to be a masterpiece, but I want this to turn out well so I can feel proud about displaying it.