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Did you start with white cloth and paint it or dip it into watered down paint?

It was a section of tan summer shorts material - a bit thinner than t-shirt material. After cutting to shape and size, I painted thinned down PVA onto the bottom part and then hung it off the model using superglue so the "hang" would be right. Went over the last bits (the superglued ones) with PVA once it had dried.

At that point, I just painted it - more or less as normal. This one is deliberately ragged, because undead. I'm thinking of using the same technique on the High Elf banner that's been cockblocking the completion of my Swordmasters unit for over a year.



While working on the Giant Slayers a few months ago, I ended up with quite a few metal slayers on my desk. With many models, especially those that I don't plan to paint in large batches of cloned models like skeletons or bunches of plastic rank & file. These guys - the Troll slayers were the second batch to be finished. I've got another half-dozen partly-done/barely started slayers on the bench to work through, so I'm sure they'll get back into the queue. Probably after I finish the dozen Vikings I'm working on - I'll have the first few of those to show off shortly.



These guys were a lot of fun to paint, but they also managed to cockblock me for a good month or more. Probably closer to two months. The issue was working out the tattoos. Yeah, I know. The thing is that I really wanted them to look "legit", so it took me ages to come up with designs that I was happy with. The runes in the back tattoo read in Dwarvish, while the ᛟ (Othal) rune on the shoulder is a rune that denotes "Odin".



It actually seems quite difficult to find Troll Slayers - as opposed to Giant/Daemon/Dragon Slayers - which strikes me as a bit odd. I didn't note the dates on the tabs of these guys before I started them. I just assumed that they were from the same era as the pile of Giant Slayers ('93-4) but looking through the catalogues on SoL it seems that GW used the Marauder sculpts for a solid decade or more. I only spotted these guys in tiny pictures inside the awful US "catalogues" from the mid-2000's stuffed into painted units.



My growing gang of Dwarven Slayers. These guys will eventually make up a full unit, but I'm doing these guys very much piecemeal - so it'll be a while before there's a full unit of these guys done.

Some nice stunties there Azazelx! Love the classic stripey pants.

Those are some nice Slayers. Are their hair/beards all the same colors, or are you introducing some variation in the orange? The photos look like the latter, but that may be a trick of the lighting.

Lookit dem dwarfs. Excellent

Thanks guys. And yes, Josh - the hair is a bit different. basically, every batch of dwarves has the hair done using more or less the same techniques, but with slightly different colours. I basically just paint their hair without recording the exact colours, and since I've got a whole bunch of red-browns, reds, oranges through to orangey yellows, it gives each group a slightly different look so the overall group has some variation without needing to go into pink or black mohawks.

I've finished some more of my many Reaper Bones figures that fit under the rather broad undead umbrella that I use. No stretch this time, though, as they're a bunch of skeletons. Originally sculpted by Bob Ridolfi, the Bones versions - somewhat predictably - suffer from mould lines, wobbly weapons and soft details. Still, they're not the most terrible models and they're good enough for RPGs or even standard troops on the table.






As usual, these guys were painted piecemeal over a period of time, mostly at work. They were a bit of an experiment - primed with the spray can and done in the normal manner, they were as sticky as all hell for awhile, but the acrylic paint over the top and the polyurethane spray seems to have settled it down. I skipped the decals on these guys because I didn't want to "waste" 20-year-old decals on Bones models and instead did the shield designs freehand... and of course they came out far better than decals would have.



They're a pretty odd number to make a unit out of, with nine models. Bones II backers got one of each, while they're now being sold in sets of three of each sculpts. I usually make a regiment from a dozen models, since they work out about right when based on 25mm rounds for the correct footprint of a KoW regiment.



With nine models here, I'll just shove the archers out of the front rank, and add a couple of random skeletons to make up the numbers. Turned out I could only find two, but good enough. I'm calling it a done regiment, but if (when) I end up with more random skeletons down the line, I can split or remake these guys into 2-hander, sword and board or archer regiments. For the time being, it gives me a second Undead unit for September's monthly Tale of Gamers challenge.



The unit is filled out with a couple of spare skeletons. One (the archer) is from Bones 1, and the other is from Dark World, a boxed Not-HeroQuest game from the 80's or 90's which I've rehabilitated figures from previously. It only gives me 11 so I'll have to sort out a 12th, but I'm still calling the unit functional for now.



And finally, as is the norm - the completed unit shot.

I wrote the following thoughts along with one of the first batches of Bones Skeletons I posted, and they're just as relevant now, so hey.

As models go, like many Bones, these do what they say on the tin, in a very basic manner. I'd really only recommend them for roleplayers. If you're playing D&D and want some cheap and cheerful skellys for your adventures, then these are a perfectly serviceable way to go. They even work okay if you're the kind of roleplayer who never paints their models, or just gives them a wash to bring out the detail. For wargamers, there are many better options out there, (especially for $2 each/$6 for three.) Still, I already owned these, they pass the three-foot test, and they've now gone from Unpainted to Painted, and we know that every time a miniature gets painted, a Kitten gets their Wings, so it's all good.

Those are fantastic, especially given that they are Bones. I still have a mostly-untouched Vampire pledge that I just can't seem to make myself crack open-- all that stark, snowy white really intimidates me.

I'd recommend opening it up, debaggie-ing them all, and then sorting them into different themes: Undead, Elves, Dwarves, Mosters, Chaos, terrain, etc and then storing them with the other figures of that theme that you own. That way it's not so much "painting Bones" but something mixed in amongst your Undead or Elves or whatever.

Also makes it easier to go through them and sort which figures you're going to set aside for your kids to learn to paint/give away/etc.

 Azazelx wrote:
I'd recommend opening it up, debaggie-ing them all, and then sorting them into different themes: Undead, Elves, Dwarves, Mosters, Chaos, terrain, etc and then storing them with the other figures of that theme that you own. That way it's not so much "painting Bones" but something mixed in amongst your Undead or Elves or whatever.

Also makes it easier to go through them and sort which figures you're going to set aside for your kids to learn to paint/give away/etc.

That's a pretty good idea. My son loves looking through my unpainted stuff already, it probably wouldn't be too hard to get him to help open all the little bags.

Nice skeletons, both the new and last batch. I really like the 'champion' from the last unit.

EDC

Those are pretty good Skeleton minis. Reaper minis look quite different-- in a very good way-- when nicely painted.

Those freehand shield designs are fantastic. They put my efforts along similar lines to shame! Really impressive work. Does kinda make me want to paint over my own skelly shields though. A how-to guide would be fantastic, if you ever get a chance.

Thanks Gents. I appreciate the feedback. This batch of Bones models is a lot nicer than the ones from Bones I. I didn;t go in for the core pledge of $100 worth of random junk in Bones III, so no more Bones skellys for me for awhile. I just said Bones too many times.

I'll do what I can next time I paint some undead shields, Ian. Hopefully it comes out as a reasonable guide.

These boxes are not on the hillside, nor are they made of ticky-tacky, but they are (almost) all the same.

Ok, this is a scenery post, and a simple one at that, as it deals with a few pieces of minor scatter terrain. A long time ago, I backed Mantic's Mars Attacks Kickstarter, and amongst all of the stuff that I received (and still haven't used.. shhh!) was a few sets of the scenery accessories.


Credit to Iron Saint’s Children of the Kraken Blog for the picture.

Naturally, I forgot to take a photo of the Accessory pieces before I started on any of this stuff, and Mantic's photos don't show them very well. It is in fact a very good gaming set. It turns out that I had four of them. Unless I find another 1 or 2 in boxes someday. I actually started painting the post boxes and rubbish bins back in summer, about 9 months ago, but managed to mess up the salt weathering. So the whole project went into limbo. A few days ago I spotted the box-barricades sitting on my painting desk and so decided to clean them up in a vaguely useful way - by painting them!



So here they are. Exciting, no? I kept them as generic as possible so they can work in as many settings as possible, from historicals through moderns, zombipocalypses and to sci-fi in about 28 to 38,000 years' time. (When most things are still oddly recognisable when compared to nowadays.)



I also found a couple of resin crates that had been bought in the 90's and sitting around part-painted for years, and spent the whole of 10 minutes that it took to finish them as well. I have the attention span of a flea, sometimes... I think they're probably originally from some set by Grendel/Scotia Grendel, since that's where most of my really old resin junk originates from.



Finally, some Zombipocalypse survivors, Space Marines and Dwarves help out with showing the scale and how they fit in decently well with all three disparate types of model. They're a little on the small side, and while they'll work well as meeples for barricades in games of Zombicide, they feel a little like those annoying foot-high "walls" that videogames use to keep our otherwise athletic heroes from straying outside of the designated play area... They might work better stacks on top of other items to create useful cover, but even as is they make for decent ground clutter.

I have very few regrets about backing the MA kickstarter. The street scenery is great. You'll get a lot of use out of those boxes.

Ah! Scatter terrain. Should take no time at all, but for some reason it takes ages...... (looks at pile of terrain )

Good job on the crates, wish I'd known about Kickstarter back when Mars Attacks was funding. I've heard backers were treated well.

Can I ask what you thought about Mantic as a company? Their latest Kickstarter is called Star Saga and I'm wondering about backing because it has some good minis and apparently will come with solo rules which is very appealing. But then I have a hideous amount of backlog, so it's probably not a sensible thought .

I've backed a lot of Mantic's KS, but at this stage, I have no trust that they will deliver in full what they promise to - because they have never actually managed to do that. Mantic are a company I want to like, and they do have some good products. Well... KoW is very good, but they seem to take the "close enough, good enough" route way too often - both with sculpt quality, rules quality, model materials, etc. Mantic's KS appeal has also dropped like a stone to me in the face of GW's renaissance - speaking for myself at least, I'd rather buy a copy (or two) of Prospero next month than risk yet another Mantic kickstarter clusterfeth that will deliver a Wave 1 in 12 months and Wave 2 another 6 months after that, followed by needing to follow-up. They've not yet delivered a KS that I haven't had to contact them to get fixed up - which can take months of back and forth emails and even direct contact with Ronnie. On top of this, regular material changes, content promises being broken, lettign Jake just churn out what he wanted to for Dungeon Saga and pretty much ignore the things he wasn't personally invested in (co-op play, solo play) and I'm just over their Kickstarters. Sure, they've told us that they have a new team and "this time, it'll be different - we really mean it this time!" But they've been saying that each time for quite a few campaigns, so I consider myself burnt.

Their... I'll call it incompetence and ignorance to still have not worked out how Hub shipping works makes it even harder for me to back given changes that are happening to AU import laws. We're about to have GST (VAT) on all imports with no minimum threshold in the middle of next year - so KS with hub shipping are still appealing. So CMON, and even first-timers like Age of Conan and Siege of the Citadel have figured out what Mantic still have no idea about. Add to that their hefty shipping costs for KS as opposed to free shipping from many retailers when buying retail (including Mantic themselves!) and it's just another reason to avoid.

So the take-away from all of that is that Star Saga will be worth keeping an eye out when it hits retail and big discounts. I consider the risk and additional "hidden" costs of backing (shipping + duties) to be too high. Especially when things like The Burning of Prospero are on the edge of release to retail.

Ahem.



Since this became a thing a couple of weeks ago (along with a roof leak that has had half of the house lights out of action only the night before), I haven't been doing much proper painting, and typing for a week was limited to pecking at the keys with one hand. While I'm now only wearing the brace at work and to sleep - and only a small amount at home, and can now type with both hands again, neither painting nor blogging have been all that much of a thing, and my cleaning up of the paint desk got halfway done (underneath) but I only got as far as cleaning up the Old Citadel/Coat D'Arms/P3 style pots that were scattered about. I'd been wanting to write up a post about the second squad of Minotaurs Space marines I finished recently, but my mood hasn't been great enough to concentrate on it, so I'm doing this one instead on the scenery I've just finished up with last weekend.



I have done a little bit of painting of sorts though - more simple scatter scenery. These crates come from the various DUST Tactics boxed sets I've accumulated over the years. Like so much in my collection, they sat around unused for ages before I got them out and primed them with PSC US Armour and Dunkelgelb Warspray cans. I did that several months ago, before winter set in and made spraying in any form very difficult. Since I could do very little else with my wrist as it is, I got Marouda to help me out over the weekend and tried out the Plastic Soldier Company spray stains that I purchased several years ago but have avoided using on my models in favour of more controlled washes and so forth applied by brush. I didn't really enjoy using them, but they did the job - especially once I went over them with a drybrush afterwards (and a little dark spot wash on the US ones). I completed them with a gloss polyurethane varnish afterwards for hardiness, followed by Testor's Dullcote to give them a nice matt finish.



The Axis crates were painted in the same manner as the US ones, though painting them and even looking at them now brings huge annoyance, as the assembly line workers in China seem to have mis-assembled several of the crates, as they have three different types of end-cap mixed across two different types of chassis. Still, if I don't look too hard, I'll be able to get past it.



This style of supply drop canister is loosely based on the Abwurfbehälter that were used by the Fallschirmjäger during WWII. The real ones went through several iterations - beginning as wood and finally ending up in a metal style that was the most common and well known. In WWII the Abwurfbehälter had specific markings that denoted their contents, though in the case of these Dust ones, I've decided to keep mine entirely without markings - so as to be more generic to work more easily across more games - From DUST (if I ever play it) to Konflict '47 to 30&40k, various 28mm Star Wars games and hell, even moderns or Bolt Action.

Firstly Az - my goodness! I hope your arm keeps getting better. I had a serious infection in my left hand a few years back which got me hospitalised for nearly a week. I knew it was bad when on the first day the surgeon said he'd have to consider amputation. I was lucky it started settling and I didn't turn in to a one-armed bandit. I had to wear a brace though for weeks and it irritates like mad so I have a vague idea about what you're putting up with. Get well soon.

Good on you for doing the scatter terrain. I really like the effect to be honest so I'd be chuffed.

Thanks for the honest Mantic assessment. I get that vibe from reading around, but good to hear from someone I know. The stretch goals do look very appealing for Star Saga and I would really love to find a solo tabletop mini game with good minis. I'm just not sure yet about forking out for yet another game when i would rather find a way to play the recent GW games solo having bought them because of the great value for money. And of course I'd rather buy more GW stuff - that Genestealer cult Goliath is pretty gorgeous and the banner bearer

Loving the scatter terrain. If the crates are really bugging you feel free to send them to me and I will take that stress off of you ;-)

Well, they're done now - and like so much other stuff that's not fun when working on, once they're finished I feel much better about them. I've got some Sedition Wars crates and barricades on the go now, but with the wind how it is right now I don't think I'll be spraying them today... we already had a huge branch torn off the tree in front of our place and I think I'll have to go re-brace the rear fence when the wind eases. Hope you're holding up well!

Sounds like you've been having a rough time of late, man. Hope the arm issue sorts itself out soon.

I am in a similar boat to you in regards to Mantic. GW have been laying siege to my wallet this year with their new stuff. Haven't bought a scrap of Mantic since Dungeon Saga, and I've not painted anything save for Plague from DZ and a nasty looking troll sculpt. Restic put me off so much that I had to wait for their HIPS Plague models, which I've yet to receive.

Nice looking terrain, all that stuff will add up to make a really interesting battlefield! Going back a bit, seems I forgot to comment on the latest batches of Dwarves and Skellies, looking good!

Hope the arm clears up soon!

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:

I would really love to find a solo tabletop mini game with good minis.

If you're open to the fantasy side of things, check out the D&D Adventures System games (Wrath of Ashardlaon, Castle Ravenloft, Temple of Eternal Evil and one other whose name escapes me). The rules are fast, simple, chaotic and fun and are played solo/co-op, all the Monsters are controlled by cards that list the action they take in certain circumstances. The models range from rather good to appalling, but as it's all pretty generic fantasy, you're one Reaper/GW/Mantic/Red Box Games order away from quality replacements should you want them.

Yeah, I'll second the D&D games. Actually Para - did I get you those last things for it? If not, please PM me with a reminder of what they were..

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I got those, thanks!

Crates are looking grand, particularly considering how simple the models are, and the relatively small amount of time and effort you spent on them in terms of stages (though I guess there were several layers of drybrushing?).

I'm really behind when it comes to painting stuff. New term started at work a couple of weeks ago, and I am teaching five days a week and trying to get my PhD written up in the evenings. :(

 Paradigm wrote:
If you're open to the fantasy side of things, check out the D&D Adventures System games (Wrath of Ashardlaon, Castle Ravenloft, Temple of Eternal Evil and one other whose name escapes me). The rules are fast, simple, chaotic and fun and are played solo/co-op, all the Monsters are controlled by cards that list the action they take in certain circumstances. The models range from rather good to appalling, but as it's all pretty generic fantasy, you're one Reaper/GW/Mantic/Red Box Games order away from quality replacements should you want them.

Thanks for the suggestions. Sadly fantasy hasn't ever really appealed to me, but good to know there are potential AI systems out there.

Sorry for derailing your blog with this Az

No worries TP^DC.
Someone has updated the Space Hulk solo rules, based on the ones from the Deathwing expansion for the original:
http://colorfulminis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Dice-Roller-Space-Hulk-Solo-Rules-EN.pdf

Apparently Execution Force has solo rules as well. (Haven't played it yet). And then there's Zombicide.

I know some older board games like Gears of War have solo rules, and you could easily swap in a Space Marine model to replace the Gears.


Ian - there were 2 layers of drybrushing. At least on the US crates. I can't recall if the German ones had 1 or 2.

Thanks Az. I'll take a glance

I finally completed the last of these guys a few weeks ago now. As is usual, they (almost) all got started together and then kinda got split into pairs and trios to get through the detailing stage. I enjoy painting marines more as individuals, and it becomes less of a grind, so it works for me.







The sergeant is a bit of a bits-delve. New tactical legs, a 2nd edition powerfist, Anvil Industry "Vanguard" (not-Mk8) chest and cape and topped with a Puppetswar "Temistokles" head. I had to carve off the lower part of the PW helmet to allow it to fit into behind the gorget. The pteruges on both figures come from Anvil again, and the plasma gun came from my stockpile of FW bits. I went RT-old-school with the Plasma Gun paint since it fit in perfectly with the Minotaurs' weapon casings - red with copper coils. I considered doing something more fancy with his cloak, but he's just a sergeant and pure red works for Spartans. I'll get jiggy with someone else's cloaks down the road, I'm sure.








Something interesting about this squad is that with the exception of the Sergeant, they are all recycled/rescue marines - all of the torsos and legs came from Nerdfest09, when I purchased the scraps of his Blood Angels/Flesh Eaters force a few months ago. The heavy bolter guy was actually complete and painted by Nerdy and sent as a gift, so he had more of a touch-up to match the rest of the squad (and a FW resin shoulder added along with a new "Spartan" head replacing the bare head that will in turn go on a Carachodon or Flesh Tearer in the future).

The others were in various states, and so most have new heads and all have new arms, as they tended to be more CCW-geared - though a few were headless and many were 'armless anyway. I bought a couple of sets of Minotaurs pads off FW several years ago, and between the sets there were a few miscasts. FW were kind enough to replace them (their CS is pretty damn good) and so given the theme of this squad, I used a few of those pads here as well. Hopefully they don't stand out unless you're really looking for them! The second marine here is the "Corporal" who will be the second combat squad leader. He was chosen because of the small tabard and MK8 torso.








These three are just standard tactical Space Marine troopers. I tried to match up the shoulder pad types on these guys. Another Anvil Spartan head makes an appearance here as well.








Finally the last three of the squad, including another Spartan head and one marine that had been given some "battle damage" to one of his armoured greaves. The BA arm and bolter came out fine when painted in a non-BA style, and really I'm very happy with how these guys came out - especially as they're almost all "recycled" marines given new life. As these guys were completed in September, they count as an "additional unit" for my Tale of Gamers painting challenge. I need to try and get something finished this month for the challenge, but it's going to be bloody hard to do so...

Next up for the Minotaurs will be a Librarian, Captain (or other officer type) and a Dreadnought. I'm waiting on a Devastators box to steal an open right hand for the Captain, and I need to get some very thin plasticard for the Dread, so both of those have stalled out. Once I get back into painting then, I think the Librarian will be next up...