Here is a WIP of the Dire Troll Mauler. The only thing done is the loincloth and the belly (I think I need to bring up the highlights a little bit more on the belly) and the base LOL. Everything else is basecoat plus wash. It sits on a Peet's small-sized coffee cup. I am trying to two-tone the mauler with a lighter underbelly and chest and lower jaw (using P3 Trollblood underbelly as the base and shaded with Underbelly + VMC Dark Sea Blue and highlighted with Underbelly + Trollblood highlight) but I am not sure if it is successful....

This Trollblood Axer is my first attempt at painting again after not picking up the brush in 4 years. Things I've learned, (1) Vallejo Model Color is still pretty good after 4 years of accumulating pigment at the bottom of the bottle (I'm glad I invested in a Robart Paint Shaker back then LOL), (2) painting minis is hard work, (3) I'm still a slow painter, and (4) I'm still not very good at this. I am actually stumped, I don't know where to go from here, so hopefully your comments and suggestions can kick my butt into action. I've actually begun working on other minis since I can't seem to finish this, and all I've managed to do is get a bunch of half-painted minis on the painting deck LOL ... not a single one completed *ugh*. You can find those on the Work in Progress page.

Anyway, here is the Axer in it's unfinished-I-do-not-know-what-to-do-with-it-anymore state. Comments and suggestions most welcome....

My initial Trollblood purchase when Hordes was first released included: Trollblood Warpack box set (pMadrak, Axer, and 2 Impalers), pDoomshaper and a Totem Hunter. The Dire Troll Mauler was quickly purchased (pre-ordered!) to include a much-needed heavy warbeast that was missing in the box set. That's where my Trollblood army ended 4 years ago.

One of the reasons I chose Hordes over Warmachine was to avoid the need to "catch up" and buy more miniatures than I can paint and field on the table just because they were already available (which the obsessively completest gamer in me wants to have immediately... as in right now! LOL). The irony isn't lost on me now that I am feverishly trying to get my hands on as many of the Trollblood miniatures published. Fortunately, the whole process hasn't broken the bank (yet!) as I have been lucky to make judicious trades (my Dark Age, Infinity, Rezolution and Confrontation for your Trollbloods, s'il vous plaît? Merci!) and one or two successful sniping (last-minute bids) on eBay. So this is what I have so far:

Fact 1: I am only really motivated to play when majority of my army is painted.

Fact 2: I am a very slow (SLOW!) miniature painter.

Fact 3: I am not a very good miniature painter.

Fact 4: I enjoy painting miniatures.

Fact 5: Facts 1 to 3 prevent me from playing miniature games with regularity and consistency. As a result I often end up quitting a miniature game before I even get started (Dark Ages, Rezolution, Infinity). *ugh* Fact 4 keeps me coming back (I am a glutton for punishment *ugh* LOL *ugh*).

Fact 6: I really want to play Warmachine/Hordes regularly.

Fact 7: It must be a really slow day that you made it all the way to Fact 7 without navigating to a different website. :)

So how is blogging going to help me turn Fact 6 to "Fact 6: I AM playing Warmachine/Hordes regularly."? To be honest, it really shouldn't, but I am counting on my vanity to kick my butt and get some colored acrylic paints on lead/pewter/plastics to save me from the embarassment of having a blog and not being able to post pics of painted miniatures. So there you go, the motivation I need to paint my army by avoiding the embarrassment because I am blogging my progress (or non-progress as the case may be). It's a stretch, I know, I know... but here's hoping it is a success. :)

The sheer nerve (I rather use the word 'cojones' TBQH... hmmmm so why don't I, no?)... Let's start again why don't we...

The sheer 'cojones' in believing that if you "blog it they will come" is the height of vanity (well... maybe social networking and the constant and often mundane status updates and tweets are just a tad more vain, OK, OK, a little bit more than a tad ;) ). Thinking that anyone would take time from their already compressed day to spend a few minutes sitting in front of their computer or straining their eyes on a getting-smaller-by-the-minute-mobile device/smartphone (WTB iPad!) to read someone rambling on (babbling? babbling?! BABBLING!!!) and offering nothing productive or enlightening really does scream narcissism and an excessive belief in myself and my own attractiveness... particularly when I am new to this whole Warmachine/Hordes thing and haven't even played a real game yet!