Merry X-mas too all!!

Well I just wanted to say thank you to you my blog followers. Another year has passed with another get set of posts. I have really pushed myself this year painting wise and this has been a great thing for me and I am greatfull for the abilities I have learned. I encourage all of you to try and do the same because only through failure will you ever be able to succed.

So thing's to expect in 2011, well my company Battleroad  Games and Hobbies will have not one but three new miniature lines comming out. each line is being sculpted by some very famous (well in the sculpting world that is) sculptors, and they have been hard at work let me tell you. The first line which is an American War for Independence will be comming out in later January 2011, the next line which will be Bootlegger (1920's prohibition skirmish game) will be in the late summer of 2011, and finally a techno gladiator game at theend of 2011. The last two are skirmish games that will have our own published rules and such so this is partly why they are taking their times to be produced. This way our game testors can get back to us so as to insure you the client has the most fun with the products we produce.

Well people this is it for me for 2010, expect a post early in 2011! Merry X-Mas and Happy New Year.

X-mas gifts from the heart, and your bits bin!!

So a friend of mine out in Washington State who has helped me out with a lot of business lately said he needed a chaos sorcerer. So I dug into the bits box(of which is huge since I am bitzing stuff out and have tons of leftovers), and after a totaly of 75minutes over two nights this is what I came up with for him. He is going to paint it but I just thought it would be fun. I left some room at the top of the standard with the metal rods so he could add two more heads on them. He is a avid nightlords players and has won conquest northwest two years in a row now for overall. With that here's the pics enjoy:

Front shot, since I didn't have a Space marine missile hand on hand, I decided that he would be cuping his hand as a force type thing. Today I added a horned skull to it as I just felt it appropriate.

Using Bits from Dragonforge, and from the seekers of slaanesh I crafted the force staff. Being sorcerers make packs with daemons for their powers I felt the corrupt ness appropriate.

I just thought since he was a character that a standard was well deserved.

"Alas poor Urik, I knew him well"

Well I hope you all like him, as I feel he should be a fine xmas gift, and goes to show that with $3-$5 dollars worth of bits from my ebay store what you can accomplish.
 
http://stores.ebay.com/battleroadgamesandhobbies
 
You can find all of the afformentioned bits I used(except the dragonforge ones) at my ebay bits store later this month.
 
As usual C&C welcomed and keep painting.

Pre-Heresy Army up for sale

Well it pains me but I am selling this army. I  am not going to be able to get to it for a few years, and I will need reconstructive surgery on my ankles in the near future so I am selling it. It pains me to do so but it is what it is. Anyways here is the link, bid strong bid proudly and just bid.

Also if this auction get's over $1000.00 I intend to donate half of the proceds to charity!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220712670936&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Progress on the 6in grey knight!!

Ok since my time is limited I am just copying what I wrote on coolmini and reposting to all of the other forums and blogs that I am apart of.:

Ok so I have been working on this believe it or not. Like I said this is somewhat slow going but being it is the first "big" progect I am not really wanting to mess up. As such I took some advice from JRN and redid some of the chest work, and advice on how to work on the detailing. This has actually helped me emmensly as it is making the progect easier to sculpt, and thus meaning their is less for me to cut away and redo.

Here you can see the arm as that is probably the only part of this model complete atm. I still have a lot of work to do on the gun but it is moving along. When the gun is complete their will be a handle bar under the palm, and a butterfly trigger by the thumb as this seems the most practical way they would be able to shot these(be mindfull fluff wise they only carry 20 rounds).

As you can see I am having to resculpt body parts that I cut away and as such I needed to do the connecting parts between the armor. This was suprisingly easier then I though, and I knocked that out while watching NCIS LA . As well as more work on the gun.

Finally I cut deeper into the chest because instead of the plaques I wanted to do the ingrained texting on the armor. Though it really says nothing I think it is far better then before. I may redo the book a bit on the chest, but I may wait till the end to see how it all matches up.



Well there you have it I am not fast with this like others so updates will be slow but I am suprisingly intrigued with this progect so I will actually finish it. For those of you btw wondering what happened to lord Nelson well... he decided to take a bath in Simple Green yesterday, and will be restarted soon. The face was just really annoying me so I had to start over. This time I will start with the face directly.

Proof that I have lost my mind!!

So a while ago (over a year) I purchased one of the FW 6in space marine models. Well I knew I wanted to always enter him in GD some day, and I started to paint him. Suffice to say I didn't like how he was turning out so I threw him in a vat of simple green and left him unpainted for months. So about a month ago I talked with a many time over slayer sword winning friend of mine, and I was going to commission him to turn the model into a Custodes. Well I still may have him do that one day but as I said I have always wanted to put this model into GD. So I sat down and starting cutting and hacking and I had determined that I would make him a GK as I knew I could pull this off. Well he is a long way from complete but here are the initial pics, enjoy.

Here is a shot of the left arm. As I said still very WIP.

Closer shot of the chest. The square is where the book of litanies and the sword will be sculpted. I knew I couldn't dig deep enough to put the inscriptions in the armor, so I dug down a little, and placed plaques instead that read Holy, and Terra. While working on this I sit there and have Stargate on, and a pic of a GK on the Computer.

Finally here is a pic of a WIP 3rd legion librarian for the Emporers Children, and yes that's pre-heresy.

I am waiting on some cabling before I continue, but already he is shapping up nicely.

And don't worry I will continue work on Lord Nelson in a week or so as I was getting rather annoyed at myself with him and had to take a break. Well I hope you enjoy these wip. As usual keep painting.
-Alex

Update on Lord Nelson

Ok so a small update on Lord Nelson for you all. I spent another 3 or so hours on him thus bringing him too 7 hours total of work, and as you can see nothing, and I mean nothing of him is done. I had a small misshap on his face, and may end up having to redo the whole thing. I don't mind but it is more of an annoyance at myself for not thinking as I work, and just living off in lala land. Anyways here he is and as usual C&C welcome. Just a fast note btw, if I like how he turns out I will be entering him at adepticons crystal paintbrush comp.

As usual Keep painting, and see you next time. BTW I will be doing a contest if we can hit 100 followers by 100 posts, and being this is post 70 I think we can do it. This blog is barely over a year old too.

Finally a WIP pic for you all of a Space Marine Librarian. He will be for the emporers children Pre-Heresy:

Black Scorpions Lord Nelson

So a while ago I had the honor of picking up the third cast version of Black Scorpions lovely Lord Nelson (their title not mine, and yes I know he's and admiral). As such with adepticon looming I figured I would paint him for it so as such here are the very early pics of him as he is no where near complete.

Finally here is a pic of the nest Hannoverian SYW Reg't I will be doing. He is the test model for the 4-B (funny the first reg't I did was 4-A CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU!!!) so I hope you enjoy.

As usual Keep Painting people, and C&C always welcome. With that I wish you all seasons greetings.
-alex

To cool for words!!

So a friend in Denmark made this for his kids, and I thought it was just to awsome not to post. For those curious he was also the sculptor of the little princess I made (btw update on that I hated the base so I threw it out to make a nice simple winter one). Anyways just wanted to post this pic so I hope you all enjoy:). Also check out his site : http://www.jrn-works.dk/ as he does own his own miniatures company and produces some cool stuff.

Runic Miniatures Little Princess Complete!!!

So last night I decided to sit down for an hour and finish up the little princess. Though I am not entirely happy with my end result she still came out fairly well. I ended up redoing her hair 3 times asI was not happy with the result, and the veil twice. My initial plan was to have pink involved with the model but to say the least this did not happen because I was not happy with the initial base pink I laid down. All in all around 7-8 hours so she was fun to paint. I hope you all like her, as I have a touch more to do with the base but that is namely to add more snow. As always keep those brushes painting, and if you ever see something you like on here and are interested in purchasing almost all of my models are always up for sale. I am also free for the moment for commissions and you can contact me at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com.

To Ebay and beyond!!!

That's right people. Since the holidays are upon us, which means my electric bill rises to ungoddly prices, I have decided to clear out the cabinet(so to speak) and sell some of the stuff cluttering up my shelves. So that means I am selling the Ogre Reg't I won my demon with, some romans from warlord games, and several of this years GD chaos sorcerers.
Ogres Link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220702308016&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Roman army link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220702310861&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Games Day Models links:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220702313451&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220702313725&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220702313886&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

So with that I say bid hard, bid often, and just plan old bid:)!

Also don't forget Battleroad Games and Hobbies is having our weekend blowout sale.

Battleroad Games and Hobbies Black Friday Sale!!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT!!!!!!! My personal company is going to launch a Black Friday weekend sale. We will start on friday and go all the way through too monday with it. 20% off everything we sell (must phone in orders only as the web page is not fully prepared to take sales through it).
We will start each day opening the phone lines at 9am each day and stay open till 10pm EST so as to allow you the customers to have plenty of opportunity to do all of your shopping you need.  All orders domestically will ship for $4.95 USD up to $50.00 USD. After that they ship for FREE, International costs are 10% of order up too $100.00 USD then they ship FREE . So checkout our website http://battleroadgames.com/, and give us a call this weekend so as to insure you get what you want for the holidays.

P.S Any orders placed during this time will be honored so if we run out, then no worries. We have a one business day turn around with our suppliers, and are able to get restocked quickly so asto not inconvience you the buyer.
-Alexander

Minden Hannoverians, and Gorgon Studios Etruscans!!!

So I have been extremely busy as of late painting historicals from the SYW to Etruscans to Cowboys... OH MY!!!(don't forget Samurai soon too), and let me say I have had a blast. Very different then GW models and tons of fun. Well to kick off I am going to Adepticon this year, and the little wife will be playing in the WAB team tourney with me ( she's just thrilled:) ) so I need to knock out a 1000pts army for her for the event as I will be running samurai. Well this gave me a reason to purchase more of the Gorgon Studios Etruscans that I love ( WOOT WOOT) and finally sit down and start painting them. I decided to do the cavalry and one of the two phalanxes first. This way half of the force is complete. As such I learned a couple of things as I made some major newb mistakes while working on the cavalry but thanks to the models they still came out ok so I am not too upset. I plan on increasing to two cavalry units by 2012  though so I will have another go around at least:). Anyways here's those pics:

Here's a quick group shot as you see. I placed them on bases of two because I won't just be using these for WAB but for future fights against early romans.

Here's a side shot. I intended to use the transfer for the shields but to say the least they are not too easy to work with so I just left it as is for now. I may come back later if I have time.

Here's a shot of the multiple armor types they have. These models are great, and had I painted the horses first, they probably would have looked better but either way they were great casts, and fun to work with. I kept the horses simple... as well I hate painting horses what can I say.

Now onto the Mindens: if you look in my blog role you will see the Minden progect which is the baby progect of one Frank Hammond. He started this progect as a way to build excellent quality SYW models, and believe me he and his sculptor Richard Ansell delivered!!! Saddly Frank only takes on a limited number of clients as he doens't want to be in the industry again but I count myself fortunate that I get to be one of these exclusive people(thanks uncle Jim). Right now I am slowly working on the Hannoverian Brigade for the Battle of Fontenoy, but will add 2-3 more British brigades over the next year or two as well as a cavalry brigade. My plan is for a 2012 battle of fontenoy at the Seven Years War convention in South Bend. Anyways here's the pics so enjoy.

Quick group shot of the 30 strong reg't.

Command shot. I still need to add the tags to denot the Reg't on the back of the base and the officers weapon top as I replaced them with brass rods, but otherwise these are done. The flags came from Flag Dude.com and they are awsome. I fully recomend him if you don't have any as he knows his stuff, and the prices are great. Technically this was the second battalion I painted but the first did not stand up to my expectations so they went into the simple green to be stripped, and will be painted next.

Well that's it for now people. I hope you enjoy and as always C&C welcome no matter good or bad. As always Keep Painting and see you next time fellow bloggers.
-Alex

When lines are crossed!!

So instead of posting pics of WIP or talking about some of the miniatures ranges I am producing for my company Battleroad games and Hobbies I thought I would talk about our hobby and crossing boundaries on models. Now what do I mean by this, well simply put when is a model just a model and when does it become to much graphically to the point where we are ashamed to even let our family members see it. I am bringing this up because today I has the distinct displeasure of seeing a model from the kingdom of death line that was called  "the wet nurse" .

This model (I refuse to even post it on my blog so as to not demean myself) has countless boobs, a baby suckling from them, and a penis whip that protrudes from the anus to interact with the naked female models that come with it. Normally when it comes to nudity and our toys I look the other way as well... they are just models. I have seen some hardcore bondage models on coolminiornot that people have done, and all I see is the amazing work that the painters did on them. I don't see the nudity, or the fact of what it is but more see the artistic side of the model.

The owner of this company on a forum ( not to be named) even stated that it just took the eggs from the women and fertilized them which to me sounds more of rape. I posted privately on a part of the forum and stated that I felt the thread should be removed to which several people just made childish remarks about the boobs. Now personally I know their is a lot of grey area in our industry as so many people want many different things, but if a number of people state that they would be ashamed to show a model to their friends and family that is when I say that the model has gone to far and should be kept to the sellers site alone. I want to know what you think of this my viewers because I for one am just appauld at this point. If you think i'm so far to the right on this then tell me why you think so. if you can present a valid arguement against my opinon hey I have no problem correct myself, but please remember no foul language on my blog.

Runic Princess, and WAB road to adepticon

Well normally I don't treat you blogger with constant WIP as I feel a couple quick shots and then the final is the way to go, but for kicks I figured why not since I am taking my time on this mini, and slowly working through it. So far I have only put in around 5-7 hours of work, and I intend to do a lot more with it.I will either put a moon or a star on the hat in the final step, and then I was thinking of maping out the big dipper on the back cloak. Either or I am having a lot of fun with this mini. I was thinking if I was a better sculpter I would creat a base of a candy mountain(visit chalie he loves it there, and if you don't know what I am talking about you tube candy mountain).

Here is a font shot of here, as the face took a while for me to work on. I took suggestions from the sculptor on how to go about painting her because I wanted to incorp pink into the model( shoot to be the pieces on the hat). Jakob suggested if I use pink then I should make the hair black so as to allow the colors to pop more. Not one to bat down ideas from a multi slayer sword winner, and origonal member of the eavy metal team with Mike McVey, I hopped right on it, and actually liked the results. I am still in distress about what to do with the orb on the end of the wand, but I am sure one of you fine subscribers can give me some solid insite.

Here is the customary back shot, as I feel these help give you a better feel for the model and how it flows. Now Jakob has stated that he is already begining sketches on a knight to go alongside this model, so I for one am very excited to see what he produces. Jakob Rune Nielson has also agreed to join the Battleroad Team as one of our contract design, and sculptors and will be working on a special progect that we hope to release by historicon of 2011. More snipits to come in the future, but I for one know that this special progect will get many of you excited out there.

Finally here is a fast pic of the Gorgon Studios Etruscan cavalry that I am painting for the wifes army for adepticon. She is being.... I mean she happily wants to play in the Warhammer Ancients Battle team tourney:)_, but doesn't have an army. I intend to bring out my Perry Miniatures Samurii army for the whole weekend that I will be painting in the upcomming months, but I need to knock out this 1000pts force just in case I don't find a team mate. If any of you are interested and play WAB and will be at adepticon let me know.

Yes the pic is not that great but I will  post more on these later as I plan on finishing them up today. Well that's it people, and thanks as usual for reading my blog. My next contest btw will be a small holiday Give away, and also a really big one once we hit 100 followers so tell your friends, and as usual "Keep Painting".
-Alex

Runic miniatures Little princess... and two devil dogs:)!

Well I though I would kick this off with some pics of a great miniature I have been working on lately. This model comes from the talented mind of Jakob Rune Neilson http://www.runicminiatures.dk/index.php. Let me say that this is actually one top notch model that he origonally created with inspiration from his daughter. I am having a blast with this mini, and already have a second one that I will be doing ... more of a ... darker purpose with. The second will be demonic:). Well without adu here's the pics.

Here is a front view I took while sitting at the computer desk.

]

Here is a pic of the frog familiar she is holding. Now normally I hate familiars as well I suck at them, but this one was fun, and wasy to do. Also I am not fully done with it but I worked namely on it while watching ghost hunters halloween live episode(Ghost adventures is better but another topic for another time).

]

just another front pic.

A pic of the cape. Now I am by no means done with this model, and only have 3 hours sunk into it, but I think it is comming along smashingly.

Finally I though I would post a quick pick from this halloween as it is my favorite holiday of the year!!!!!

Here's the devil dogs all dressed up, and ready to hand out candy. Last year the Min Pin (peanut) was Heffner the playboy pimp! Saddly we were all a little upset because we only had 7 trickor treaters, now this painter has 4 bags of candy and is getting tired of eating it(except the butterfingers.. yum). Well their it is people. I hope you enjoy this, and I will be posting more pics of her while I work/ finish this one up.

Also I will be attending adepticon with the wife, and playing just warhammer historicals that weekend and doing classes, so if you see us say howdy.

Finally Battleroadgames.com is almost live!!!! We have finished most of the site, and the web designer is busy uploading and setting up the store so once that goes live let the shopping begin!! As usual keep painting and see you next time, and thanks for reading.

$10,000 cash prize at adepticon this year!!

Now normally I don't post links but I honestly couldn't even believe this when I saw it. You read my title right, and no this does not seem to be a joke, fraud, catch ANYTHING!!!!! http://theminiaturespage.com/news/81205/ Just read it people because I am in shock.

A sneak preview of battleroad miniatures

So for those of you who don't know my uncle and I decided to go into the miniatures line together. This first prduct line, of two comming out this year, will focus on the American War of Independance as is only fitting being that the name "the battle road" is here in Mass where the revolution began. As such we are starting the line with British light infantry and Colonial Militia. This is to allow people to use these with current skirmish rules out there. By the time these models are just hitting the market we will be starting on the next set of 16 or so models focusing on the line units for both countries. This line will end up becoming a full out product line with upwards of a 100+ models or so in the long run, and will range the full spectrum of the AWI. These figures will also be sold at a very nice rate(we are looking at around 30 for $32 bucks, thats just plain unheard of nowadays). So with that I leave you all with these few pics of only some of these great models by famous sculptor Richard Ansell(check out his website here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/woodwose/ ). Enjoy, and let us know what you think. These are still WIP but almost done.









I hope you enjoy and stay tuned as Battleroad Games and Hobbies begins to launch off as a company.

Isable from studio Mcvey

So namely I am just practicing stuff trying to improve(I still have so far to go in my painting abilities but at least I am on the right track), and so as such I though I would do Studio Mcvey's isable. Now namely this was just an excuse to practice with the new camera and light box, and yet again I still have so much to learn. Anyways as always C&C welcome as long as it's constructive.




ATM I am working on a reg't of 30 Minden Hannoverians for the Seven years War. Now I love these models through and through and let me say the detail is by no means lost on them. The upside cool models, the downside TONS of detail. I am about 75% through on them and will post once complete. I stripped my first battalion I painted of them as well my paint job sucked horribly but thats fine with me. They are next up to get repainted next month.

Also I wanted to take this time to show you all the New Logo for Battleroads Games and Hobbies. This was turned in 2 hours before the end of the compatition and the team and I utterly loved it. The shirts have already been ordered for the employees and I am happy to say I will have a deal where you the client can buy one(polo style) with your own name to it if you wanted.

And finally I thought I would show you all the true dedicated workers of Battleroad Games and Hobbies. Without these two individuals the company would not exist:


The black one is my Miniature Pinscher Peanut, and the tan one is my Chihuahuah Pendragon. Soon to join will be the final edition to the family a full size doberman female that the wife wants to name rose or something like that. Well to you all I say keep painting and i look forward to hearing your C&C.
-alex

Pleased to announce!!

Alrighty one and all, I am writing today because with all of the paperwork done and materials ordered I am now able to officially say I am the proud owner and founder of Battleroad Games and Hobbies LLC. Recently as most of you know I was laid off from my job working for the Dept. of the Army. Well I was recently hired and have a new IT job as well as founded this soon to be online gaming supply store. We will pride our business on excellent customer service and fast shipping.

Everything will be below MSRP and I am proud to say we will be one of a select few for distributors of new companies comming out of Europe. Be sure to stay abreast of Battleroad Games and Hobbies as we will be launching our own product lines as well for miniature soldiers(historical) and should be fully operational by mid October if all goes semi well(sooner if flawless but I'm a realist). Thank you again and I look forward to putting out more great news such as this.

A Day to Remember.

I remember growing up and finding a extremely old paper in my grandparents basement. My Grandmother had said that it was the paper from the day of what once was the greatest disaster in American History. That was until September 11th 2001. She had always said she remembers exactly where she was and what she was doing when she found out that the Japaniese had attacked Pearl Harbor and would never forget it. To this day she hasn't and she is pushing 89.

I was in basic training never expecting that I would be drawn into a war were I would actually use what I was learning. I remember one of the other trainies lucky and him in tears as his father worked at the world trade center. Luckily enough his dad was on a business trip that day but it took him over 3 days to find that out.

Days such as these will go down in the annals of our history and it is said because it is not for some great invention or some beautiful peace of art, it is for death. I was an Infantry soldier and I have seen war. I saw the true ugly side of human nature and I lost friends because of it. I choose this day to remember them and those who passed. I remember those people and pray for them that were on the airplanes that crashed into New York, Washington D.C, and of coarse in a field in Penn. I ask that all of you take a moment to remember them and their sacrifices.

I have been called a hero and even nominated for medals for my actions, but I am no hero. To me those that died truely are, and with that I ask please do not take this day as a holiday, or a day to burn other religions words of god. Take it as a solom day to remember 5000+ heros. Thank you and god bless.
-alex

Pre-Heresy and Romans.. oh My!!!

Well I have been rather busy since Games Day. I have started on Studio Mcveys Isable and trust me have found his work to be truely a challenge(but fun). She is not even ten percent into completion but hopefully when she is done I will have picked up a few new things for my painting.

Onto the Title of this weeks blog. First off I would like to start with a quick WIP shot of my Warlord Games Roman army. Now this is just one model I am photographing but I love the models all the same so I grabbed one at random. Now this is not even 50% done, but it is a fast paint either or. I am basing the colors around the Brutii Family for this cohort and will do two cohorts of 18 models each to a legion. Now I only use the veteran models as they have the ture feel of a roman army on campaign for me, and thats what I am shooting for. With that Igive you the glimpse of the model in question C&C welcome no matter good or bad.


Now for those of you who don't know I am a HUGE emporers children fan, and with the Horus Heresy novels out I had to have an army of Pre-Heresy Marines. Now in late of 2009 I contracted friend and model master Dave taylor to build me this wonderful army and believe me he certainly deliverd. Though not cheap the army was well worth it and I will most certainly cherish it for years to come. Now I am slowly painting these as I am in no hurry and am having fun. A few minutes here and a few there equal a squad over a week or two. Now be mindfull these are table top but they most certainly took some time to paint and I am rather pleased with the turnout. Anyways onto the pics.




Well thats all for now and with that I wish you all Happy paintings.

P.S: All commissions are now finished and I am open to recieving New ones as of tonight. Email with your intrests at alexanderakers at yahoo dot come.