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.

Dungeon Tile Goodness to Ring in the New Year

A small bit of painting has taken place over the last two months.

Off and on over the last few months, I have been painting my Dwarven Forge Game Tiles.  I have four small boxes of these things amounting to quite a few pieces.  At first I was too overwhelmed to even start on them, then I took some advice from Ed Allen on G+ and just began with a few.  That soon led to momentum and now I have done over 20 which is better than nothing.

They look very nice, and there are a thousand ways to paint these things.  I find that dry brushing these pieces is kind of relaxing to do while watching a movie or hanging out in the living room.

This first picture shows them off along with another Reaper Bones goblin archer I managed to do in early December (green hat). I think Reaper Bones minis and these Game tiles go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Here is another simple room arrangement with a goblin ambush party present. Don't go in the door!!   I'm learning how to arrange the tiles to make different layouts.  I can see how getting some of the dungeon decorations (barrels, chests, braziers) will be helpful in adding to the scenes.

Finished - Reaper Dragonman

I finally finished him..the dragonman mini from Reaper...Yay!  I spend a lot of time on painting the metal armor using my homebrew NMM technique, and that really ate up time.  I can't say how many hours went into this guy..but I'm pretty sure it was too many and most likely embarassing to admit here. As always, I appreciate the NMM metals even if they are not exactly right.

I'm happy with the skin and wing colorings - red is quite fun to paint up in different shades and hues. Getting the wing colors to work with the rest of the mini while not using the exact same colors was challenging.  It seems the violets are OK to mix with the red /oranges. 

I added a homemade giant skull to the base to make it a little more interesting. A past victim of the fierce dragon warriors perhaps.  I may add some tropical ferns or banana leaves as well.  I assume these creatures live in the tropics and are rulers amongst the reptiles. Or perhaps they battle for supremacy with the snake people.

Here is a back shot that kind of shows of more of the wing colorings and those funny scales right by the base of his tail.  Once I had pinned the wings, glued them,  and added some green stuff to the seams, the bond was strong.  These wings don't move much, which is a good thing. 

Now on to paint something different!