About the League of Underwhelming Miniature Painters

The League of Underwhelming Miniature Painters (LUMP) is an Elk Grove (Sacramento Valley), California area organization dedicated to improving the quality of tabletop wargaming miniatures for painters of all levels. We endeavor to be more than underwhelming.  Founded by Peter Kelly as a mechanism to help fellow gamers improve their painting skills we hope that LUMP can eventually have a broad reach within the hobby offering encouragement and advice to gamers everywhere.  We’re always looking for more authors and contributors to join the League.
0d35b6cPeter Kelly, Founder— I started playing miniature games as an adolescent.  My first foray into gaming was Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition at about age 11.  Miniatures were a tool to help bring the story alive on the table top and I started by painting models from an old Citadel adventurer’s pack that included a Dwarf, Barbarian and an Elf.  I remember reading about the concept of “washing” a model but not being able to figure it out.  I played various games with models until I was about 16 or so.  At that point girls and cars became more important and my time gaming decreased rather dramatically.  In college I found out about the Game’s Workshop small scale game, Epic and played it a bit here and there.  Out of college I played various games with friends on Friday nights including Necromunda.  It really wasn’t until about 2011 that I got interested in playing Warhammer 40K and painting models again.  In the three years since, my painting skills have gone from essentially nothing to relatively decent through practice and reading up on various topics.
Current Contributors
Ben Vaughn— I first discovered 40k midway through 3rd Edition, and caught the bug hard.  Prior to this, I’d never had an interest in anything artistic, much less painting.  It was quite an adventure learning how to build and paint miniatures.  Since then, I’ve made a point to learn a new technique or two with each new army I paint, and that has both pushed me to become a better painter and a well-rounded player.  I’m currently working on an Imperial Knight household, but I have no doubt that I’ll eventually return to my one true army, the Thousand Sons.
Erik KenneallyErik Kenneally — At about the age of eight I started to really get into a book series titled “Lone Wolf”, which was essentially like “choose you own adventure” but with character stats, items, enemies and dice rolls.  Between that and Final Fantasy being released on NES, I started to have a deep fascination with the swords and sorcery genre. Naturally, I ventured into a local mall gaming store and was amazed by a  small corner of the shop that had a strange magazine called “White Dwarf”. After a few issues I saved up my money and bought the Blood Bowl box, followed by the (Epic) Space Marine box. During this time, a good friend of mine bought the Rogue Trader book and it captured out imaginations. Frankly, at the age of nine the rules were a bit over my head and the models were quite expensive (which almost seems humorous now with current prices), but we still were quite excited and did what little we could with it. When second edition eventually came out the game became more accessible due to the models included in the box set and our slightly raised incomes. My attempts at painting were misguided then and I did some silly things like painting models with Testors enamel, but I still became familiar with the basics like washes and drybrushing from White Dwarf. This continued until just after third edition was released, when I got a driver’s license and my primary hobby became modifying cars. Many years later in 2012 I noticed that a Games Workshop opened up across the street from me and I couldn’t resist checking it out. The state of the hobby had improved so much that I was hooked instantly. I then decided that I was going to put a serious effort into painting to a high standard. Since then, I met Peter and joined LUMP to share some of what I’ve learned.
20140225-065608.jpgAnthony Adamo— Our newest guest writer, he’s been gaming for the last six years.  He says that Warhammer 40,000 was his inspiration to learn to paint, and the last six years have shown that he has some pretty good skills.  Recently, Anthony started taking on commission work. He has these thoughts to offer all aspiring painters, “no matter if the image in your head matches your product don’t get discouraged, practice really does make perfect. Painting really has a lot to do with muscle memory, but don’t forget to thin your paints, it’s going to be more work but you will get a better product in the end!”
Past Contributors

Stephen Habets — Currently on authoring hiatus, he has been been painting miniatures for about 10 years, and in that he’s painted a number of different armies.  For Warhammer Fantasy he’s collected and played Dwarfs, Vampire Counts, Skaven, Warriors of Chaos, and High Elves.  For Warhammer 40,000 he’s collected Orks, Space Marines, Necrons, Imperial Guard, and Dark Angels.  We hope that Stephen decides to come back and write more articles about his wonderfully painted miniatures.

5 thoughts on “About the League of Underwhelming Miniature Painters

  1. Any chance any of your members are willing to paint commission work? I’m afraid my eyes and hands are no longer steady enough to do passable work, but I would like my D&D minis painted for a campaign that I’m playing in. I have one figurine in particular that I’d like painted (my PC) but I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, so if there is a minimum number, I do have other figures that I could pay to have painted. Please contact me if you know anyone in your organization who could do this.

  2. Any advice on where to sell a large lot of lead and bone miniatures in Redding, Sacramento or other valley areas? My brother was an enthusiast who left a huge collection of unpainted miniatures we’d like to sell now that he’s passed. Any help appreciated.

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