Not Much to Report

 My painting has, unfortunately, slowed down dramatically since January. Depression has been kicking my ass, sad to say, and just all around haven't been able to carve out both the time and energy to make it to the painting desk. I did manage to eke out these vampire women from Reaper's Bones 5 Kickstarter, part of the "Shadows of Ravenholme" expansion.

"The Children of the Night...What Music They Make!"

First up, a bit of news; Mike Hutchinson, of Gaslands fame, has released a beta PDF of a new solo-play/co-op pulp game called Perilous Tales.  Drawing inspiration from Lovecraft, hero pulps, Indiana Jones, and the Universal and Hammer horror films among others, it is squarely within my wheelhouse and I'm hoping to give it a go later this week.  

To that end, this week I've painted up a Vampire Count and his minions to play the villains in that first game.  

The villain himself, Count Ludwig von Blutburg, is a "Vampire Lord" from Reaper Miniatures' Dark Heavens line of metal miniatures, and even without the rock he's standing on, is an absolutely towering figure.  

He's served by Hans and Hilda, a pair of Vampire Spawn, also from Reaper's Dark Heavens line.  

And then finally he commands a pair of Bat Swarms, from Reaper's Bones line of plastic figures.These I was worried about coming out well, but basecoating the swarm in Reaper "Woodstain Brown" and drybrushing with "Driftwood Brown" honestly looks pretty darn good to me.  They're on 40mm bases.  

All in all, I think they make for a pretty imposing bunch, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare against Count Casimir and his Trans-Siberian Renegades.  If the weather improves later this week I'm hoping to get some more figures primed for both Perilous Tales and Fistful of Lead, as well as the first unit of a small Wargods of Aegyptus army I'll be working on in the near future.  

Recent Reapers

I've invested pretty heavily in the Reaper Bones 5 Kickstarter, but still have a fair amount I picked up as part of Bones 4 to complete.  Here's a couple pieces I've completed this past week:

First up is the Fertility Idol, released as part of the "Lost Valley" expansion.  Obviously based on prehistoric Venus figurines (especially the Willendorf Venus), she's surrounded by terracotta bowls filled with offerings.  I mounted her on a 3" round base and flocked with Gale Force 9 "Meadow Flock", leaving a bare patch in front where I imagine most supplicants would approach from. 

Next up is the Burrowing Behemoth, a hulking insect-like brute that I'm guessing is based on Dungeons & Dragons' iconic "Umber Hulk" monster.  I've seen some pretty garish color schemes done on this fellow online - including a vibrant purple-pink tone, but decided I wanted something a little more muted.  I decided to think about this monster as an ambush predator, something that sits motionless pretending to be a mossy boulder before striking; the underbelly and arms were done using Reaper's "Uniform Brown," highlighted with "Green Ochre," "Faded Khaki" and a final light brush of "Yellowed Bone." The back and shoulders were basecoated in Reaper's "Jungle Moss," and highlighted with successive drybrushings of "Highland Moss" and "Pale Lichen."

To break things up I basecoated the eyes with Vallejo Fire Orange, and then went over each eye with Vallejo Golden Yellow, leaving a little bit of orange visible around the rim of the eye.  Each eye was then glazed with a couple coats of GW Lamenter's Yellow.  Overall I'm super pleased with how he turned out; he'll be making appearances as an alien monster, post-apocalyptic horror or prehistoric nightmare from the Earth's core as needed in various Fistful of Lead games. 

Challenge X Entry 1

I'm off and running with the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, with my first entry satisfying the requirements of the "Douglas Shallows" locale on the Challenge Map.

First up, a Fishing Boat that I got as part of Reaper Miniatures' "Dreadmere" expansion from the Bones 4 Kickstarter.

I was aiming for a "whitewashed, but not maintained well" look for the interior, via a basecoat of "Misty Gray," a wash of "Seraphim Sepia" and a drybrushed highlight of "Pure White." I think I achieved what I was looking for. 

Next up is the "Dire Crab," painted as a Chesapeake Blue Crab.  Legs and underbelly were base-coated in "Yellowed Bone" and washed with "Seraphim Sepia," while the back of the shell was a 1:1 mix of "Deep Ocean" and "Olive Shadow" drybrushed with "Olive Drab." The blue on the legs was picked out in "Surf Aqua" and glazed with "Gulliman Blue," before highlighting the center of each blue patch with Surf Aqua again.  The claws were done with multiple glazes of "Bloodletter Red" with each subsequent layer of glazing being smaller and more concentrated towards the tips of the claws. 

Clearing the Painting Desk

In preparation for the Painting Challenge, I'm trying to get some partially-finished stuff off my work bench (aka, the side of the kitchen table my partner and I don't eat on) since nothing begun before December 21st can qualify for the Challenge. 

First up, a pair of Giant Leeches from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter, part of the "Dreadmere" expansion:

These were base-coated in Reaper "Uniform Brown," given two heavy washes of GW "Athonian Camoshade" and then a light drybrushing of "Green Ochre" before picking out the jaws and tongues.  Nothing fancy but they came out pretty well I think.

Next up is the beginnings of a project I'm very excited for.  First, a bit of back-story: I first came into miniature painting and wargaming in the early 2000s, probably 2001 - in fact, looking at White Dwarf back-issues, I'm thinking I must have made my first foray into a Games Workshop store in August of 2001.  6th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles was in full swing, and the helpful clerk at the GW store asked me a few questions and determined that Orcs and Goblins were the force for me.  A few models in particular really caught my eye, but I'd never end up buying them.  These included the Stone Trolls, the Orc Warboss on Wyvern, and "Grom the Paunch," a morbidly obese goblin warlord in a chariot (that required an extra wolf to pull due to Grom's bulk). 

With the announcement of "Warhammer: The Old World," and with both "Dragon Rampant" and "Warlords of Erehwon" sitting on my shelf as alternatives, I decided it was finally time to build the Greenskin army I'd always dreamed of.  I've read enough Oldhammer blogs, and recognized that more than anything I love Kev Adams-sculpted orcs and goblins.  So I knew I wanted to focus on Kev Adams sculpts, from a variety of lines and manufacturers, and build an army that I could use across multiple rulesets.  This is going to be an ongoing project throughout 2020 and beyond. 

I am now the proud owner of an unbuilt Grom's chariot, and also got a spare Grom off eBay that I based on foot, and got a couple packs of Kev-sculpted goblins, originally by Harlequin Miniatures that have since been rereleased by Black Tree Designs, giving me the beginnings of a regiment as well as a shaman.  I got these glued to 20mm bases, primed, and painted to test my color scheme.  I still have to flock the bases, but I'll let you judge the results so far:

Torlan, Weregator

I've done a little bit of puttering away lately in the evenings on a few figures picked at random from what I got from the Bones 4 Kickstarter, and here's the first one I finished - "Torlan," some sort of gatorman or were-gator.  I've never been satisfied with my abilities when it comes to capturing the shades of an alligator's hide in miniature, so I decided to try something a little different, and painted him as an albino, which I think worked out pretty well. 

He may appear later on in a Fistful of Lead game or just go on the shelf, I'm not sure yet. 

Catch-Up

I've been neglectful of this blog again - granted, I've been wildly inconsistent in the time I've been spending picking up a brush! It doesn't help that it's been ungodly hot here lately, that's for sure, but I have accomplished a bit. 

So let's see here...

I did get a set of five Raptor-style dinosaurs from Reaper's Bones 4 Kickstarter painted, in a color scheme I'm really happy with - the underbellies are basecoated in Yellowed Bone and highlighted with Creamy Ivory, the flanks are Auburn Shadow highlighted with Carrot-Top Red, and the dorsal surface and stripes Dark Skin highlighted with Dark Highlights.  The open mouths are Dusty Rose Pink highlighted with Blush Pink, and the eyes are Vallejo Livery Green. 

I'm backing Crooked Dice Games' Colony 87 Kickstarter, and that reminded me that I have some figures from Lead Adventure Miniatures' first Astropolis Kickstarter still sitting in my lead-pile.  I got those cleaned up and glued to their slotta-bases and puttied over the edges of the slots.  Maybe it's just because these were early casts in the molds' lives, but these figures required almost no clean-up, which is remarkable considering how much detail they're covered in.  I was so impressed I ordered another five packs this afternoon.  These have had their bases textured and are in the priming box right now. 

And finally, I had backed Dark Fable's most recent Kickstarter and got myself a baker's dozen of fabulously sinister cultists, as well as a pack of cult treasures which will make phenomenal treasure markers in Frostgrave or similar games.  I haven't begun cleaning or basing them yet. 

Mojo Lost and Found

Well, June ended up with me hitting the brakes hard on Age of Sigmar.  Games Workshop released the 2019 "General's Handbook," and I realized that if I wanted to play AoS, I'd need to accept that Games Workshop is releasing a fundamentally unbalanced game and "course-correcting" every year with a new book, rebalancing everything, and that I'd need to pay $40 a year to keep playing, and that just took the wind right out of my sails.  It's one thing if a game gets a new edition released after a few years that tidies up issues discovered after the fact with the previous edition, and quite another entirely to buy a new book every year because GW can't playtest properly.

With that realization, I lost a lot of my will to paint, which I've been teasing back by selecting figures from the box of stuff I got from Reaper's most recent Bones Kickstarter and making myself sit down and work on them, starting with this Wyvern from the core boxed set.

Started off by base-coating the dorsal surface with Reaper's "Deep Ocean" and the underside with "Cloudy Gray," then gave both a wash of GW "Drakenhof Nightshade" When that was dry, the underbelly was drybrushed with "Misty Gray" and the back with "Marine Teal," followed by a much lighter drybrush of "Surf Aqua." I brought some of the Misty Gray over on to the back at the trailing edge of the wings.  The thick scales along the spine and tail were glazed with two coats of GW "Wayfarer Green" with some also brought down along the neck and underarms to tie the two sides of the figure together some.  Inside of the mouth was done in "Old West Rose" and the teeth and claws were picked out in Vallejo Leather Brown and Reaper "Stained Ivory." The eyes are Reaper "Fire Orange."

I added a piece of GW Azyrite Ruin and the Wyvern's designed base to a 50mm base, and painted them with Delta Ceramcoat brand craft paints - basecoat black, drybrush Espresso, Dark Grey, Light Grey.  Some basing grit and grass tufts later, and we can call it done.

"I am here. What dost thou wishest?"

One of the bigger non-scenery pieces I got in Reaper's Bones 4 Kickstarter was "Agramon, Pit Fiend." Unlike the previous sculpt of this character, whose size is somewhat disguised by his crouching pose, this version is striding forward purposefully, and we got our choice of right hands (open, holding a fireball, holding a cleaver-like sword, holding a crude stone sword) and heads (closed mouth or open).  After trying them all out, I went with the open right hand and the snarling face. 

Fully assembled he stands about 4" tall and has a wingspan just shy of 8".  He's a big boy, that's for sure, his sculpted base juuuuust overhanging the 50mm round base I glued it to. 

I expect most examples of this figure you'll see painted will be in darker shades of red, the bubbling pools on the sculpted base painted as lava, in keeping with depictions of Pit Fiends in more recent editions of Dungeons and Dragons.  I opted for a brilliant blue devil (basecoat Reaper "Sapphire Blue," followed by a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade, highlight with Sapphire Blue, then True Blue, and a final light highlight, mostly on the face and chest, of Sky Blue) and made those bubbling pools filled with fluorescent green slime (basecoat Vallejo Escorpena Green, washed with thinned Reaper Viper Green, highlighted Vallejo Livery Green, finally glazed with GW Wayfarer Green).

The wing membranes were basecoated with Vallejo Leather Brown, and washed with GW Seraphim Sepia.  They were highlighted with Reaper Golden Shadow, and then progressively lighter highlights built up towards the edges of the wings with Golden Skin and Golden Highlights.  Claws and horns were basecoated with Stained Ivory, highlighted with Yellowed Bone and Creamy Ivory. 

I normally don't mess around too much with lighting effects on figures, but once I saw how bright the green slime pools came out, I knew I wanted to give a glow effect to where the light from it would hit Agramon.  I think it came out pretty well this time. 

They Call Him...MISTER PIG!

Not much to report right now, but I did finish a "Dire Boar" out of the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter, which will serve admirably as a wild boar in my Frostgrave bestiary.  He's been glued to a 25x50 cavalry base and will be getting flocked probably tomorrow.

Body was basecoated in Brown Sand and the mane in Dark Skin, both washed with GW Seraphim Sepia and highlighted with Sandy Brown and Dark Highlights, respectively.  Not exactly a wild paint scheme, to be sure. I kind of think I maybe should have mixed some gray into the brown of the body, but overall I'm happy with this as a table-top ready piece.

I also started work on the new sculpt for "Agramon, Pit Fiend," a more dynamic sculpt with the demon lord striding forward purposefully, versus the crouched form of the previous sculpt.  I've basecoated the model in Reaper's "Sapphire Blue," because ultimately, I've never seen a blue Pit Fiend before and I think it'll look cool and different.  The kit came with four possible right hands and two different heads - I went with the open-mouthed, snarling head and an open right hand. He'll be fantastic as a Major Demon in my Frostgrave games.

Ape Attack!

My shipment from Reaper Miniatures' Bones 4 Kickstarter arrived on Saturday, and digging through my new goodies I quickly felt the rising urge to get some painting in.  I decided on the "Ape Attack!" set - two ferocious-looking gorillas and one dressed in armor and carrying a sword. 

Not having yet painted any "White Gorillas" for my Frostgrave bestiary, I decided they would serve admirably.  I originally thought I'd do all three in different shades of "white" but ultimately ended up with the two feral gorillas having blue-white fur and a warmer, brown-shaded fur on the gladiator-ape.  Seeing as the Frostgrave apes are magical snow gorillas, the blue-shaded fur struck me as perfectly appropriate. 

Bare skin was picked out in Reaper's "Golden Skin Triad," the gums and inner mouths based in "Old West Rose" followed by a wash of Reikland Flesh Shade, and the teeth picked out in "Stained Ivory." Eyes were painted "Viper Green" just to do something different. 

Just bases left to be painted and I can get some varnish on them.  I'm definitely feeling a serious hankering for some Frostgrave action again some time soon. 

Lady Winterthorn's Retinue

First thing's first, I am now a proud Union man - specifically, the Brush Wielder's Union, a collection of likeminded wargamers and miniature painters dedicated to getting their stuff painted and on the table and encouraging others in the hobby. 

One of my local wargaming friends expressed an interest in his Age of Sigmar goblins pulling double-duty as a Dragon Rampant warband.  All he needs is someone to play against.  This got me digging my Liche and Skeleton Legions army out of storage, and finding it sorely lacking for what I wanted.  It was too inflexible, had too many easily exploitable weaknesses.  The answer? Build a fresh army. 

After some brainstorming, and going through my project pile of shame, I settled on a warband led by a vampire, and composed of deluded and fanatical mortals who'd been duped by the vampire's promise of eternal life.  I put together a list with a little speed, some shooting, some melee capacity and a solid spellcaster at its heart, which I felt was pretty well-balanced. 

The army core is Countess Adrasteia Winterthorn (Reaper #07010) and her Sanguine Guard (six copies of Reaper's #77408, "Athak, Undead Knight" in Bones), comprising a Reduced Model Unit of Heavy Foot with the Spellcaster fantastical rule applied.  The robes are basecoated in Reaper's "Deep Red" and highlighted with "Fresh Blood," while the armor is done in "Gunmetal Blue" with some accent work in "Ancient Bronze" highlighted with "Antique Gold." Countess Winterthorn's cloak was basecoated in "Midnight Blue" and highlighted with "Twilight Blue."

Last night I assembled the next unit in the army - a band of fanatical cultists that will be rated as Bellicose Foot.  These vicious maniacs compete among themselves for Countess Winterthorn's attention, hoping to spill enough blood to win her favor.  They're a dozen figures assembled straight off the sprues from Northstar's "Frostgrave Cultists" plastic boxed set. 

From here on out, everything else is going to be a conversion or kitbash.  I've got a box of Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry that are going to be converted into mounted cultists through the addition of heads and missile-weapon arms from the Frostgrave Cultists, and some Fireforge Medieval Russians are going to get turned into formal soldiery employed by the Countess. 

Return to the Frozen City

We're doing a Frostgrave introductory event this weekend at Just Games, and I decided I'd prep a couple extra warbands for people who want to give the game a shot.  Here's the first of my new warbands, "Elgar's Marauders":

First up, Elgar the Fiery, an adherent of the Elementalist School of Magic, and his apprentice, the lovely Raziyya.  He is Reaper's "Aaron the Conjuror" and she is the Pathfinder Iconic Cleric given a new color scheme.  I really like how the blending on the robes came out. 

Elgar is a strong believer in "Might makes Right" and that "Quality is a Quantity all it's own." As such, he's decided to eschew popular wisdom in the Frozen City and hire only a few "elite" henchmen instead of many cheaper ones.  This is "Big Bad Mogo," an orcish Barbarian. 

Next up, the Brutal Brothers, Garg and Karg, both rated as "Men-at-Arms" by Frostgrave's standards.  I kept their color schemes (along with that of Big Bad Mogo) as neutral-cool as possible to emphasize the brightness and warmth of the colors used for Elgar and Raziyya. 

Zeebo the Goblin, a "Thug" in Frostgrave parlance, weaseled his way in by claiming to be Garg and Karg's "hiring manager."

pardon the blurry photo, he's only around 10-12mm tall.

Finally, Backbreaker and Legsnapper, a pair of Warhounds.  These two took the longest to paint, with layers and layers of washes and drybrushing until the fur looked right to me. 

Just bases left to finish and they'll be good to go.