A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Dungeons and Dragons – Having your character class as a cute animal miniature seems to be a more of a thing in recent years. I’ve painted plenty of sets of Dungeon Doggies and Catacomb Cats, but this is my first set of Reaper Mouslings. These little guys are very cute and there’s enough variety of them at this point that you could run a full campaign or even mix them in with some of the Mice and Mystics models for some variety.
Kickstarter – After some minor delays the Reaper Bones 3 Kickstarter arrived. I didn't go whole hog on this one as I don't play D&D I don't really need a boatload of Fantasy models, even if it's an amazing deal. While this was running my group was playing quite a bit of Frostgrave however, so I did pick up the Graveyard set to fill out my board.
Read MoreDungeons and Dragons – So a cleric and a paladin walk into a bar... This week on my painting table are two character models from Reaper Miniatures. These are the traditional metal figures rather than the new bones material. Both materials have their own benefits but for one off models I think I still prefer the metal.
Read MoreDungeons & Dragons – I'm just aboiut done with these fire demons. It's a bit odd because the models aren't technically sculpted like they're on fire so I'm really just winging it to determine where the hot spots should be and where it cools down to more of an orange from the white and yellow areas. I'm happy with the results and I feel like the models are conveying that made from flame look.
Read MoreDungeons & Dragons – I just wrapped up two more characters for a client. These are both pretty cool models and I'm really happy with how the paint turned out. For the knight's cape I went back to my any color red highlight. I'm disappointed I haven't been able to find this product for any other colors because it works amazing to get that nice highlight without turning orange or pink.
Read MoreI recently took some time to assemble my Cthulu and Undead Dragon from the BONES kickstarter. I'm really impressed with how easy these models went together. The pegs only fit in the correct hole and fit snuggly enough I was able to put them together without glue or tack. This was a pretty impressive feat as I was even able to move them around a little bit unglued.
After dry fitting them together I used some Gorilla Glue in the sockets and put them together permanently. Note plastic cement will not work on BONES you have to use regular crazy glue. Also with the BONES material you can't prime the models, just wash them off with soap and water and then start painting. It's weird I know but most spray primers will never dry because of some chemical reaction.
There was no flash and very little in the way of mold lines. The material is a bit rubbery so you have to use a very sharp fresh blade to scrape them off.
Overall I'm impressed with the huge figures I picked up and now I need to figure out what I want to do with them. I was thinking maybe having a monster attack Mega City One or have a beastie rampaging through Malifaux...
The Possibilities are endless I suppose.
This week I received this beat up barely sealed box on my doorstep. Seeing the rips and bands I feared my box had been destroyed by the USPS. After bringing it in I put some fore thought into photographing the process of opening the box. (Previously I've had this happen with a Forgeworld Order.) With some hesitation I slipped the bands off the side of the box ...
Thankfully my models seem to all be there and in decent condition. I only backed for the Limited Edition Sofie and added some larger models after the fact just because they were such a good deal. It looks like Reaper threw in an extra model which will be helpful to see how my paints react with the material. I've read some horror stories about primer not drying on these models and I don't want to make that mistake with my Cthulu or Skeletal Dragon. Apparently the bones material is formulated so you can apply paint directly to the model, I'm a bit skeptical but thankfully they sent a junk model I can mess with.
Opening the big boxes I'm impressed with the heft and level of detail on the large models. The bones material is fairly flexible (which is a good thing for models that will see lots of play) and less likely to break if they take a tumble. It doesn't react to plastic cement so crazy glue is needed to assemble the models. I'll post a full review once I have some time to spend actually putting together and painting these bad boys up.
This it the third Kickstarter project that has finally delivered and I'm pretty happy with the overall results. Ultimately Reaper is now going to be able to move more of their line over to the less expensive material which means when I need a random whatever for a game I'll be able to pick it up for a couple of bucks (Remember when Reaper minis were like $2 a piece?) this is ultimately a good thing. The material is a little sketchy but I think once you get used to it and adjust your style to it's quirks the benefits will outweigh the negatives.
As with all Kickstarter projects this one faced some delays, which at this point is just to be expected. If the Kickstarter is wildly successful throw any dates out the window as it is unlikely you'll get your rewards by that date. I was very disappointed in the packing job and hope this is a fluke based on the shear volume Reaper is distributing at the moment. Previously things were nicely taped and packed and arrived is tip top shape ... not so much this time around but again I'm guessing the temporary help they've brought in to help with shipping is the cause of this crappy packing job.
Malifaux – I picked up a Reaper Krampus model to use in some holiday scenarios for Malifaux. What's a Krampus? Click here to find out.
To use this as the model represented in the Wyrd scenarios I needed to mount it to a 60mm base. The reaper model is a bit on the small side and looked a little unimpressive on that size base. I decided to use one of my rocky bases and add some undelivered presents to the base. I think this helped to describe the scene and set a tone for the model.
After basing it up I added some addtional sand and gravel to smooth the transition point where the boxes had been glued to the base. I quick shot of primer and it was ready to paint. Looking on the internet it seems there are several colors that the Krampus typically comes in: black, white or red. I decided to go with the traditional red devil look as I feel that will really stand out against the snow I plan on applying to the base.
Malifaux? – Recently I picked up Scuttlebones, Undead Crab from Reaper Miniatures. This is a pretty odd miniature, which doesn't really seem to fit in Malifaux (probably why they don't have one ... duh). I however really thought this was something cool I'd like to paint so I picked it up.
Assembling the thing is a giant pain, as is to be expected with anything that has a bunch of small spindly legs. The main body comes in two pieces which go together easily. Attaching the legs not so much. After drilling our the leg joins and scraping down the ball joints I was able to wedge the leg into the holes to create a pretty strong join. The claws suffer from the same issue but after a bit of work I got them to fit.
I mounted the crab to one of my Skull bases and was able to position it so almost every leg attaches to the base. I like how the pose turned out as it looks like it's scuttling over the rocks.
After the primer dried I base coated it with Foundation Orange followed by several coats of Ball Red Wash. This gives it a nice red-orange color. I them painted the highlights and toned the whole thing down with a light wash of Devlan Mud.
For the base I decided to paint it a rich earthy color like Bayou Mud. A bit of static grass and water effect and it's almost done.
Not sure what I'm going to do with it, maybe I'll give it to Breadcrab to use as a Rogue Necromancy. He seems to has a seafood fetish and just started playing Ressurectionists.
MERCS - This year for Halloween, my Tuesday night gaming group is planning on running a MERCS game using the zombie rules I came up with earlier this year. As I got distracted with some other projects I never got around to finishing up the Studio Minatures zombie horde.
I think part of the reason I lost interest in painting these models is the shear number I had to finish up. When you have 40 or 50 zombies sitting on your table the first instinct it to assembly line them to get the job done. Of course this means your burn out fast and don't lavish the attention these models deserve.
So I've decided to break the horde down into more manageable chunks. The first batch I'm working on wrapping up are the Zombie Strippers from Reaper's Chronoscope Range. These sculpts are pretty fun even though they tend to be a little clunky, I think it adds to the undead nature.
I started with a base of Foundation Flesh followed up with a purple wash. This gives that bruised base color that I like for fresher zombies. Once that dried I used Elf Flesh as the first highlight followed with an Ogryun Flesh wash. To give them a variety in their state of decay some will have a greyish highlight applied while others with have a pale flesh tone. I'm trying to avoid the green pallor because these are fresh zombies and not from the grave.
Before applying the final highlights I've taken red ink and applied it to all the wounds, around the eyes, mouth and hands of each model. The ink gives a slight sheen which is more representative of blood.
To be able to tell the difference between the different types of zombies (walkers, wailers, etc.) I'm using a different color to indicate the flank and front arcs of the models. This makes game play easier and clarifies what the various zombies could be.
Malifaux – A while back I picked up some undead horse from Reaper. I intend to use them for a special "Doner Party" Scenario. They also look pretty cool pulling the supply wagon, so I think I'll get some use out of the models. I based them the same as the rest of my Ressurectionist models with a Victorian-style cobblestone base. I'd probably be better off putting them on a wasteland or ice base for the scenario, but I'm all about getting multiple uses out of a model.
To paint the horses I started with a base of Deneb Stone, from the foundation line. I then did a wash of Ogryn Flesh followed buy a wash of Leviathan Purple. This created the bruised flesh color I wanted. I then mixed up a light beige highlight color and applied that to the model. And followed that with a light Sepia wash. After some minor highlights the skin is complete.
I painted the muscles and exposed guts with a deep crimson and followed that up with the same washes as above. I'll go back in a add some of my "any color red" highlight and a touch of gloss varnish to finish up.
The hair was painted with a dark gray followed by a black wash. (easiest way to paint black IMHO).
The holidays are upon us once again. I've been pretty busy trying to get some christmas presents done. This Christmas Sophie is one of my favorite Reaper models.
I've also had quite a few new commissions. First up is the Witch Hunters Crew, I really like all the guild models so these were fun to paint. I kept everything in a simple brown scheme, Samuel really feels like a Daniel Boone/Davey Crocket character. From the few tournaments I've been to he seems to be an auto-include for most guild players. The Witchling Stalkers and Sonnia Criid are also really great models and don't need much work to make that look really great.
In addition to the guild models I just finished a few models for the Arcanists. The Ice Golem is such a pleasure to paint, washes and light dry-brushing bring out the detail. I stuck with the same color scheme as the Ice Pillars. The sabertooth was painted similar to the studio scheme. The Rattler started off using the same colors as a coral snake but the spines made it too busy. The black and red stripes give it the feel requested without detracting from the sculpt. You can see more photos in the gallery section.
