An Old Orc and Some New Caverns

Here's a cool little orc for ya. I found this gangly guy at the local game store in one of their "old lead" bins.  Those things have so many treasures it is amazing.  This guy is an old Ral Partha mini.  I think he's got a lot of character, and I like the fact that he is scrawny looking as opposed to super muscular.  I would use him at the game table as a scrappy Mordor Orc who has worked his way up to being a mean leader.

Mr. orc sits atop some new cavern tiles that I got from the Dwarven Forge Caverns Kickstarter.  I've started painting them up for use one day at the table.  Dwarven Forge products and service are top notch in my experience.  These things are pretty close to being indestructable.  They are easy to paint and they don't require primer. They are really beautiful after painting.

As usual, I tried to paint Non Metallic Metals on this old mini to see if it would look good.  I'm getting better, but still not at that "realistic" level.  Notice the eye of Sauren sculpted onto this guys front armor...

Finally, here is a back view of him just to show off all the browns that an orc can have.  One day I will get brave and do black armor.

Dungeon Decor from Reaper

I took last month off accidentally.   I was so busy making Halloween costumes all month for the kids that I didn't remember to paint miniatures. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things now however, and I've decided to warm up with some Reaper Bones miniatures.  I chose these easy to paint dungeon decorations which  I must have picked up at the local gaming store...honestly I can't remember anymore since I have too much mini "stuff" these days.

The thing on the left is a fountain of sorts with a Cthulhu-like face on it. This piece will go really well with my Dwarven Forge Dungeon tiles.  The candelabras are also Reaper Bones and should add a lot of "mood" to any dungeon layout.  I hit the gems with some gloss finish to make them shine nicely and give the thieves something to drool over.

Here is the back of the fountain...very exciting. I tried to get the candelabra's to stand straight.  I used hot water and ice water on them, but they seem to have bent  back to the original pose. Luckily they are cheap!!!

Old Martian Metals Lizardman

Several months ago a couple of friends and I went to the local game store after a meetup to check out the vintage lead minis in their bins.  We knew the  "cool" kids go out drinking and partying, but we're rebels so we looked for old lead on that night.  This store has a treasure trove of old lead - cast aside like trash by their customers who may or may not know the value.  This little lizard dude caught my eye on that night so I picked him up. I think he has a lot of personality and is a pretty good sculpt for being a late 70's / early 80's mini.  He's from Martian Metals based on what I could find on the lost minis wiki.

 

I tried to spruce him up with some NMM gold and silver, as well as some extra scales that I painted on freehand on the neck and shoulders.  I did not finish the base...I'll get to that one day.  I'm just not a base guy.  Hopefully this little one will make it into a game some day.

Grenadier Dwarf Fighter

This dwarf mini was found on ebay a few weeks ago for under $2.  Something about the sculpt appealed to me... I guess it is the clean design and the strong stance. He was easy and fun to paint.

I believe this is a Sandra Garrity sculpt. She is another one of those amazing talents who have been making miniatures for a long time.

I went with a dark NMM metal style on his armor and weapons. Sort of a dirty, unpolished look. He will be happily used for gaming and should make an excellent figure for a dwarf character.

Ral Partha Dealers of Devastation

About a year ago, I met a gaming and painting friend at our local game store to go through their boxes of old metal minis.  This store has a lot of treasures buried in those boxes, and no one there seems to know or care about them.  That night, we basically picked  through the boxes for all of the cool old fantasy miniatures we could find.  We ended up paying something like .25 cents a piece for them.  It was surreal...especially since I had seem so many of the figures we found go for big $$ on eBay.  These Dealers of Devastation were found on that fateful night.

We recently made another trip to the store and went through the bins again late on a Friday night.  The Magic players thought we were strange or something.  After finding even more good minis, I decided I needed to paint up the ones found a year ago or they would probably rot.  That is why you are seeing these guys here now.

I usually start the skeletons in a brown and then work up to a tan and then finally an off white.  I find that I have to do many, many corrections to the bones to get them to look right. It is a long process for me doing old bones.  I usually stop when I like what I see.

For the weapons,  I decided to give them a tarnished but sharp look.  I used metallic paints and glazed them with several  washes to get the coloring I wanted.  I know some painters like to make these look rusty, and that looks good as well.

For the eyes, I decided to give them the Scooby Doo treatment. In that cartoon, the skeletons and ghouls always have these neon greenish eyes to make them look spooky.  That is what I went for with these minis. I am probably going to put a layer or two of Dullcote on these and have them ready for gaming along with my Grenadier personalities minis.

That is all for now.  Good luck and good painting.

Grenadier Personalities: Desert Warrior

Here is Grenadier's Desert Warrior.

I chose this model for several reasons, one of which was the ornate shield he carries. I thought it would be interesting to paint that up in NMM style.  The pose on the model is quite good too, but that is expected from Julie Guthrie. He looks ready for anything thrown at him.

I purchased this mini from Mega Minis.com while they were still in business a few years back.  He was only $2 - what a great deal.  Too bad they went out of business because of the high metal prices.

I researched pictures of Saracens, Moors, and other desert warrior groups throughout history.  One thing that stood out was how colorful their clothing was, and this surprised me. I thought they only wore white or black robes and head dresses.  I saw lots of reds, greens, and blues in the pictures. With the whole array of colors available to me,  I took a while to decide upon the color scheme.  I decided on blue and yellow,  which always gives a good result .

That's it for now.  Happy painting all.

Grenadier Personality: Female Cleric

One of my twin daughters really likes this cleric, and has been playing with her for a year now.  She has only had primer on her until this last week when I decided to paint her up (get off my lazy butt).   I buckled down and forced myself to paint the face first.  Once the face came to life, painting the rest of the figure went really quick.  I asked my daughter to choose the color combinations for her clothes, which always seems to stump me, and she made a really great selection.

This is one of Julie Guthrie's sculpts I believe.  It seems Julie has worked for all the big names like Reaper and Grenadier and Ral Partha.   Julie, if you are reading this, you are a fantastic sculptor!!  My favorite !

Here is the back of her cape.

 I used a Reaper metallic gold paint on her..and the problem with these metallic paints is that the metal flakes bunch up and don't give me a really smooth surface. The mini looks crusty in the metal areas.  Oh well, there must be some way to water it way down, perhaps shake it for an hour, and then get a smooth metallic.

Reaper Bones Lizardman Warrior

I picked this mini up a few weeks ago at the local game store - Game Empire.  They have a huge selection of Bones miniatures, more than the metal Reaper minis I think. The Bones are fairly inexpensive, so I always pick up 1 or 2 when I visit.  Metal minis used to be like that back in the day...ughh.  

Like I said before, the Bones minis are perfect for RPG gaming because they don't chip like metal minis so you can throw them in a case and handle them at a game and not worry. I decided to take more time on this guy than usual, to see just how good I could make him look.  No dry brushing of the skin or club here for me.

Here is a head on view showing off what I assume to be a snapping turtle shell. I painted the crests or spines on the back a blue color to contrast with all of that strong green skin color.

Here is another angle.

I think I may add some water effects resin to the base in between the legs there.  Perhaps a greenish swamp water color.

That's all for now.

Reaper Bones Oxidation Beast

I wanted to try something a little more outlandish for this Reaper Bones Rust Monster...err I mean Oxidation Beast -- something more interesting than the usual browns and yellows.  So, I decided to try some crazy alien and space colors on him.  These are the neon greens and purples ...even blues.  I figure he or she is bioluminesent or something like that !

The legs are actually purple that blends in layers into blue.  I would assume that the light blues on the scales would glow along with the eyes and perhaps the fringe on the antennae.

Taking a picture of this guy was really hard, and it looks a lot better in person than the photo.  The camera picks up every little shiny area on the mini and exaggerates it.  I think the paint I used on this one, Vallejo, tends to be a bit shiny as well.  I thought about using a matte sealer but the Dullcote sealer I use also tends to add a sheen of shine...hmmm I wonder what else I could use.

Vaeloth, Hellborn Paladin

This is the finalized Vaeloth, Hellborn Paladin from Reaper.  My version is a person who seeks to prove himself to society as a force for order and justice.  He is kind of a vigilante who goes after evildoers...perhaps that is why I chose the Batman blue colors.

I did my best to photograph these minis with the iPad.  The pictures are not optimal,  but they are good enough to show the colors and the work.  I'm glad this miniature is done, as the NMM metal colors tool a long long time. Each subsequent picture of him shows another side of the mini, as if it is being rotated.

It is interesting how the sword colors really pop out in the pictures.   I find the scale mail to be hard to do in the NMM style.  I think I could have tried some freehand runes or lettering on the kilt, but I really wanted him done so I passed.

Here you can see the wolf pelt he wears.  I chose the colors of the red wolf as inspiration.

Coming up with a sigil or logo for the shield was hard.  I decided on a blue infernal flame look to match the flame-like appearance of the shield frame. 

Finally, I decided to make a quick little battle scene with him fighting a dragonborn to the death.

That's all for now.  Good health and good painting to you...

Reaper Bones Orc Archers

These three Reaper Bones orc archers were a relatively quick paint job for me.  Since I am very very slow, I would say I spent 6-7 hours painting them. I used a lot of washes and basic highlights.  Almost no blending as you can tell.  I intend to use them for RPG gaming -they will go into my bin of plastic monsters that I bring along with me to games.

I may have said this before...but I like the fact that these Bones miniatures won't chip as much as metal miniatures when they are handled or when they fall over. These will go to the kids for stress testing tonight...we'll see how they hold up after I spray Dullcote on them.

Choosing colors for orc clothing can be challenging.  I cannot fathom them having brightly colored kilts or shirts.  I assume they have a lot of earth tones...perhaps even more black colors than I have chosen.

In the end, these orcs were a nice diversion away from the Hellborn paladin.  Now I must get back to him and finish!

The Latest on Vaeloth, Hellborn Paladin...a Work in Progress

Well, progress has been slow on this mini up until this week.  I seem to have gotten my second wind or runners high, and I'm making good progress each day now on Vaeloth.  The scale armor is done, the wolf pelt is done, and now there is only the sword, shield, tail, and base left.  My silver metal style is getting better, especially on the tricky scale mail.  Chain is even tougher for me to do.  Below is a grainy iPad picture of the mini:

In these next few views you can see the wolf pelt which I thought was a bit intimidating at first.  I chose a brown/red wolf for this guy, since it seemed to play off the reddish skin he has.

The next big thing to think about is the base, which is usually what most painters think of first!!

I'm not sure if this guy deserves a plinth or a rock...I may want to use him in a game one day...perhaps just a nice Gale force 9 magnetic base.

Hellborn Paladin Work in Progress Pictures 2

I'm still slowly working on this Reaper Hellborn paladin - Vaeloth. I've got the plate armor done I believe - it is a royal blue color that  I wanted to try. I've painted the base coat for his kilt which is going to be a kind of golden brown color that may match his horns, and I also have added some metallic buttons and things to his belt and armor in the NMM style. So far so good on this guy.  Here is full frontal shot:

I will probably paint the kilt next and then the scale armor.  I'm not sure whether to go for a silver scale armor or perhaps a gold. Is he a rich paladin? After that I will tackle the wolf on his back and then the shield.  The sword will be last, and that might be a reddish glowing color.  Anyways, here is a view of the back where you can see my attempts at making the boots look shiny.

Work in Progress (WIP): Reaper Hellborn Paladin

When I was sorting through the lead pile a few weeks back, this metal Hellborn miniature caught my eye.  His name is Vaeloth, and he is a paladin of some sort.  I can't tell if he is supposed to be evil or good, and I have no idea if tieflings or hellborns are usually evil/good.  The interesting segmented armor is what caught my eye , along with the good attack pose and wicked sword.

For the record, I think the metal miniatures from Reaper show detail much better and seem easier to paint and prepare.  Also, they don't have the weird facial bluriness that the Bones minis suffer from.  I still think the Bones are a good deal and good to play with; their lighter weight makes them much less prone to chipping when they get knocked over.

I'm going for a kind of blue metal on the armor here - although this armor could be construed as leather.  This guy will most likely have silver chainmail, done in a NMM style. I'm going to try and think of some blue-complimentary or split complimentary colors for the skirt and shirt sleeves. Something that will have a nice contrast with the blue.  

For the wolf pelt, I think that a medium to light brown would look good...perhaps even a little reddish. 

That is it for now...good painting to you all!

Two More Reaper Bones Golbins

I found two more goblins in my bin that had not been raided by my kids for toys.  After all, these are serious mini figures for Role Playing right? :)   Again I went with a bluish green skin for these guys with yellowish highlights.  One fellow seem to demand striped pants...like a pirate, so  I obliged him.  I think they look fun.

Bones minis tend to have mold lines in tough places, like on the face, and the plastic is not easy to scrape off.  Because of this I will leave the mold lines on these gaming minis. They are fairly quick to paint and the plastic seems to like my Vallejo paints just fine.

Here is the final group of goblins I have until I find two missing goblins that are hidden somewhere in the kids' rooms. They should be perfect for encounters.  I noticed that because of their light weight, the don't tend to chip much when they rattle around in a figure box or are dropped.