Hi,
The International Plastic Modeler's Association convention was interesting. I got to go as part of a family vacation, and it was worth stopping by. More information about the IPMA can be found at their website, ipmsusa.org In their vendors room, I was able to snag a small army of ancient Greeks for $8.00, more on those later.
I have made only limited progress in painting lately. Soon, I'm probably going to paint an historical army. My friend PL wants to play the widespread historical wargame,
De Bellis Antiquitatis. I've been wanting to paint up an ancient Egyptian army since I was six years old, when I saw the (now highly collectible) Atlantic brand Egyptians at a flea market. My mother (correctly) thought that 1/72nd scale historicals were beyond the ability of a 6 year old so I did not acquire any Egyptians that day. I never forgot it however, and in recent years I found out that those very same plastics are being reproduced by Nexus. I'm the first to admit that the quality of these is not altogether up to modern standards. I am painting them out of nostalgia, however, and using the
De Bellis rules as an excuse. With one of these boxes of infantry, and a box of chariots (not pictured) you can make a list legal army with plenty of leftovers, for about $25.00 if you pay full retail. Not bad. The figures are weird, with bits of costume and equipment that defy nailing them down to one particular time period. However, they do have a nifty overall appearance. At any rate, they could be the least historically accurate things to ever grace a wargame: I've been questing after them for 20 odd years, so they look good to me! Besides, I went to Egypt this year and want to do a related project while it's still at the surface of my mind.
All of this is academic. I must be firm and not start any new projects until my Imperial Guard for
Warhammer 40,000 is painted to 2k points.
About around 2010/2011, I received as gifts the Citadel Miniatures kits Chapel of Sigmar and Dreadstone Blight. They are, respectively, a sort of Renaissance German looking church, and the shattered ruins of a tower. They are pretty neat kits. My painted copies can be seen in the inset picture, you can order them from www.games-workshop.com if you are so inclined. As far as dollar value goes, both of these kits are great. There are tons of parts which can be used in other projects or to customize your buildings. They looked so much like the old artwork for the game and got me thinking about Mordheim again and to start making some scenery for it. Mordheim is supposed to be the ruins of a late medieval city that got hit by a comet or something, so the chapel and especially the ruined tower were a natural fit, but to cover a tabletop I need lots more ruined buildings.
Lucky for me, I ran across a bunch of large scraps of 1/4 inch black foamcore someone was throwing out at work. If you aren't familiar with foamcore, its like a sheet of styrofoam with a layer of paper glued to each side. Artists use it for lots of things, but I mostly use it for making model buildings. I traced out three walls of a small multi-story house on it, glued it to a base of particle board and used balsa sticks from A.C. Moore's to make floors and create a half-timber look to the thing. A roof was built up from strips of cereal box, clipped to make them resemble shingles. Window panes and door frames came from more balsa, or in some cases, from spare plastic model bits. Loads of sand was glued to the base and I painted it in dark colors. Then, when I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing, I made and painted two more of them. I also made a few piles of rubble and timbers for skirmishers to duck behind. Visually, the ruined houses needed something to fill in around them and the rubble piles worked nicely. Four themed objective counters were glued to 20mm square bases and painted up, and that about does it. I have two more houses in the pipeline now, and when those are done, I think the city will be done expanding. They are a neat side project to revisit between other things. 
