Berserkers Galore

So as usual I've been bouncing from project to project - Mighty Armies, a dragon, and Viking Berserkers.

So, for today I'll show the berserkers in progress.




I've actually finished the first four but haven't had time to take the photos yet. But the above shows where I'm going with them. These are foundry figures and are a joy to paint. I did think about varying the bear skins but in the end, decided to do 'em all pretty much the same way.

My intention was to complete all ten, including a leader model but as is the way at the moment, something else came along, namely Infinity. This is a new game for me, though its been around for a while. Its a skirmish level tactical sci-fi game. I've started on one of the troopers and photos will follow this weekend.

But then, Christmas is now getting in the way as my wife has come up with an excellent idea. My wife has two brothers who are both Dr Who fans and so I've been commissioned to paint the current doctors and assistants. As I need to do these by 14th December I guess I'll have to curb my butterfly nature and focus on just these.
Can't say I'm complaining as I'm looking forward to painting them. The figures are from Heresy Miniatures and the likenesses aren't too bad. So I'll keep this post short and post a longer one including all the doctors after the weekend.

Barbarian Archers

So this week I've been mostly painting barbarians. I bought these models ages ago, can't remember what for but then they went into a box, as has happened on a number of occasions, and there they sat.

Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but, for the time being they've gone into my ever growing dungeon collection.


Speaking of which, I've seen some rules I'm quite interested in by Otherworld Miniatures. This is one of my favourite miniatures companies. They produce a classic range of fantasy miniatures based on the pictures in the original Dungeons and Dragons and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying games. I've got a growing collection of various monsters, some of which, such as the Beholder and giant rats, I've completed.

I've seen my next purchase from them

http://otherworldminiatures.co.uk/shop/dab-series-dungeon-adventurers-boxed-sets/dab3-female-characters-12/#

But for these I need some ebay pennies.

As well as the barbarians I've also been working on a number of other pieces

I have an old Marauder Giant, an example of which is below:

I've been working on mine on and off for a week so far. With Kelly's help I've made a MDF base and most of him is now attached, although I think I'm missing a couple of extras like the barrel. Hopefully I should have pictures soon.

I've also been looking at the various dragons that I have. As those that know me, I have a penchant for dragons and have collected many over the year, even painting a few. Well I've started consolidating my collection and have found a number of dragons I didn't even know I had. I'm working on one at the moment and have made a custom base for it to sit on. I'll have pictures of that soon as well.

A bit here, a bit there

So a couple of weeks have gone by and its time for an update.

Firstly we have Professor Erasmus.

This is an Empire of the Dead model, another gift from Andy. I really, really like this model. The detail in the sculpt is brilliant and was a pleasure to paint. Not sure if I'll play Empire of the Dead again (where the model comes from) but as I enjoyed painting it so much I've already benefitted.

Next I have an old Citatel Centaur:

This one came from Kelly. I'm unsure about this one. Its going into the fantasy collection for the proposed dungeon bash for the time being but it may find its way onto ebay.

Lastly, after the dragon I dug out one of the Bushido starter sets.

These are the Savage Wave.

Firsly we have Zuma the All Seeing:

Followed by the first of the Bakemono Marauders:

And the other five as work in process:

These are very well crafted figures but do come in an inordinately large number of pieces. It took a night just to put them all together. Having said that they have also not required any filling what so ever.

With these done I'll be half way there. I've also been looking at scenery requirements. Sarissa produce some lovely buildngs which I'll be looking to pick up. I can use the scenery I have at the moment but if I like the game then I'll be adding it to the future purchases list.

Gladiators ready!!

So I've been working on these for the last couple of weeks, in between stuff for Malifaux.

Finally finished the first 6 today and here are the results:

Gladiator Contra-Retiarius

Gladiator Dimacherius

Gladiator Laquerius

Gladiator Provocator

Gladiator Sagitarius

And finally

Gladiator Veles

These were bought a couple of years ago and were going to be used for a gladiator game that one of the club members was building a coloseum for. And as with a lot of projects over the years it stalled. Still, they were something different to do and although, not the best sculpts out there I think they've turned out ok.

And finally, I painted the first of the Bushido models I bought from Salute, again a couple of years ago.

I really like this model. It ticks all the boxes for me - Fantastic sculpt, Chinese mythology and its a dragon!!!

Its currently going to be used as part of my Malifaux crew but finishing this one will spur me on to finishing both of the Bushido factions I bought. And then I'll give the game a go.

And something a little different

So here's a WIP on a small piece of terrain my mate Kelly is developing:

Its a linear rock outcrop that he's kept simple. I did a basic paint job to see how it would look with a bit of flock and long grass to provide an accent.

The long grass needs sorting out and I missed a bit on the painting that I'll tidy up but I think, as a small outcropping linear obstacle its not bad. Useful for the fantasy and scifi market he's aiming for.

Opinions?

The old and the new

So I've been having a long hard think about the amount of models I have. I know, I know, we all have more stuff than we will ever paint and we buy stuff for projects that never happen. And its with this in mind that I've started a clearing process. So I took a look at some of the stuff that I didn't think I'd either ever get round to painting or would never use again and sent it Ebay's way.

So bye bye, Epic 40K, see ya, Dark Elves, and adios fell bats. This is just the start as I have loads of stuff that I'll either never get round to or that I painted years ago but have not used since.

So that was the old and now the new.

From my friend and a lovely man, Loki, I give you the Butler from Empire of the Dead:

He's a limited edition model that Andy gave me as he didn't really get on with the game and was done as more of a painting project than anything else. I find painting in blacks an interesting challenge but am please with the results. However, not sure when I'll get to use him as the EOTD faction I have are a bunch of mad clerics. I may need to pick up something like the gentleman's club faction as a rival. Something to ponder.


Next up I have a new female cleric from Reaper miniatures:

This is Sora Goldflame and is adding to the ever growing list of fantasy heroes I have. I think I'll need to concentrate on creatures for the heroes to fight as they are currently outnumbered.


And finally I needed some treasure markers.

These are from the Hirst Arts molds I mentioned in a previous post. I've based them to use in Malifaux as objective markers for my Arcanist crew. I've got some crystal markers I want to make but this will do for now.

The Water Cavern part 1

So I got into painting miniatures via role playing, particularly Dungeons and Dragons. That has sort of followed me pretty much to the present day and although I don't really do any roleplaying any more I still feel most at home in fantasy land. And with that in mind I've always wanted to make my own dungeon. A couple of year ago I came across Hirst Arts molds and this was what I'd been looking for. However it took me the next couple of years before I'd give it a go. I resarched the different sorts of plaster, what you needed, what the problems were and watched a number of Youtube vids to get a good idea on what I was letting myself in for. And then I went for it. On Hirst Arts website there are a number of projects you can follow and the Water Caverns was the one for me. So here is where I am at the moment:

As you can see the basics are there. I'd made a number of modular pieces base on blue high density foam. You'll see the river carved out, currently dry. and a number of stand alone pieces - Stalagmites and doorways. Here are some more:

All the pieces come from three of the molds. I spent a couple of weeks constantly casting before I had enough, then went through the process of putting doorways and stalagmites together. Once that had all dried I base coated everything in dark grey. and then started with the colours, followed by various levels of highlight. There's still plenty to do as its not big enough, floor space wise, the river needs finishing and I've got a lot more stalagmites to get through. But I'm happy with what I've done so far. Here are some close up shots with some of the fantasy figures for scale:

And, finally,a couple of shots of the hill giant with other models for scale comparison that Matt asked for.

That's it for now.

Failed at the first hurdle

So I make all these promises and manage to not stick to any of them. So no more promises. I'll just add posts when I can and put up pictures of things I've done.

Above a Beholder from Otherworld miniatures. I love these models and it takes me back to my role playing days many a moon ago. This one I did earlier this year and it gave me the opportunity to have a crack at eyes. I rather like the effect I acheived, though it may not be picked up by the camera. Still learning to take pictures. I have a number of others from this range which I intend to do a bit at a time. Gotta love the classics.

And here's a hill giant that I think came from Reaper Miniatures. The home of the fantasy figure. I'd bought this along with a load of halflings to use in a Mordheim campaign which never happened. So its been sitting in a cabinet waiting for some painting love and I finally found some. And the love for fantasy and Reaper doesn't stop there:

A wizard, cleric and fighter. The wizard is Cadarius from the Reaper range but I can't remember where the cleric and fighter came from. I'm not happy with the bases for the last two so will revisit some time in the near future. And finally for this post:

A classic wizard and a gnome fighter. These two are really old figures that I got from my mate Kelly who is a hoarder of epic proportions, though he is cleansing with the help of Ebay. Well having said I'm not going to make any more commitments I may as well break that now. Next I'll be posting some pictures of a water cavern I have in progress. 'll keep the details until then and, hopefully that will be soon.