I am in agreement with the others it looks reflective to me. Your definitely getting better at it.

On my phone that is looking an order of magnitude better than the test subject! Keep it up.

Looking good so far!

Thanks, everyone. Here are a few more WIP shots of the gloem:





I think I've got the shiny down, but it doesn't look really metallic to me. Next up, I'll paint and attach the arms, and then do a little decoration on the base.

I don’t know man, it looks pretty damn impressive to me! Really like the green-tint steel coloration. I think you definitely capture the metallic look. Very, very impressive.

Can’t wait to see what it looks like with the arms attached.

Valete,

JohnS

I'm loving this nmm, very impressive indeed

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I'm loving this nmm, very impressive indeed

Agreed, it's looking really good imo!

I think the Golem is an exceptional example of NMM, don't fool yourself about not "looking" metallic, it certainly does.

You have developed some amazing skills by constantly challenging yourself and you should be very happy with the Golem.

Yeah, wow. You're really kicking ass here! I need to go back and see what else you're up to but those frostgrave minis are sexy and this golem is dope. I don't have the patience for something like NMM so I'll experience it vicariously through your efforts

Looks great, can't wait to see the arms!

Gee whiz, fellas, you're gonna make me blush with all this praise.

The golem is as finished as it's going to get:







The Frostgrave soldier is there for scale. I tried a different setting (Dramatic) on my iPhone, but I'm not entirely certain I like it. I bought my son a camera for Christmas, so I think I'll borrow it and take some better photos. Anyway lessons learned:

1) I need to get over my unreasonable fear of contrast. NMM need to go from black to white and I've never been able to make myself paint with that broad a range. I'll try to work higher contrast into my work from now on.

2) Blending takes a long time, especially on flat surfaces, but the results are worth the time. It's not like I don't have enough painted models to play pretty much any game I already own, so I'll be spending a little more time blending my layers from now on.

3) I need to think more about light. This model is a mish-mash of shapes and surfaces, and I think I got the highlights generally correct, but they don't like up very well from part to part.

All in all, this was a successful second attempt at NMM. I still need a lot of practice,but it's not as scary as it was before I started.

As always, comments and feed back are welcome and encouraged.

Definitely worth the effort. I think it looks great.

Looks great, and your self-critique/plan for next steps is remarkably self-aware and I look forward to seeing you explore this further. Your progress so far has been very speedy, and it already looks fab.

Thanks for sharing

That is excellent NMM. For a second attempt, I am totally blown away. Love the model too, really weird in a very cool way.

Very well done. And the ability to self-critique will make improvements all the easier.

"Gort- klaatu, barata, nictu." The Day the Earth Stood Still

"Okay- klaatu, barata, *cough cough cough*-tu. There, I said the words." Evil Dead 3

Extremely nice work! Couldn't resist the movie quotes.

Amazing job on the NMM, especially for a second attempt!

Fantastic work pushing yourself and your skills.

Really lovely work Josh, you can really tell you've gone all in on this month's challenge and it wouldn't surprise me to see you vying for the top spot this month.

Very nice NMM there JoshInJapan.

Well executed for the New Tricks themed Unofficial Painting Challenge.

Cheers,

CB

Late to the party, but it looks great with its arms, as expected.

Bravo, sir!

Killer work on the golem Josh. The colour choices are really effective.

Final pics look amazing, really smooth work, loving this iron giant.

Thanks for all the (undeserved) praise, everyone. It was a lot of fun, and frustration, practicing this new technique. You can expect to see a lot more of it from now on.

The theme for the February Dakka Painting Comp is "Showing Off." I've narrowed my choices down to some Dreadball Captains or some Ogre Heroes from Atlantic miniatures, but can't seem to make my final choice. So, I put up a poll-- which should I do? Help me make up my mind, fellow Dakkanauts!

Dude, that ain’t undeserved! That’s some top-notch NMM. Really, really nice work. Love how you’ve stuck with the technique and really worked to master the craft. That golem looks great.

The color palate for the NMM effect is perfect and the execution is really effective.

Great job overall and can’t wait to see your “Showing off” effort.

Valete,

JohnS

Defo go for dreadball! the galaxy's greatest game!

After a nearly a month of agonizing work on the golem, I decided to finish January with something a little easier:


I made this Treasure Hunter (left) and Templar (right) from the Forstgrave knights kit. The templar has the best head on the sprue-- it's essentially Robocop's helmet, including the slightly pursed Peter Weller lips. I used NMM on them instead of true metals, with moderately-successful results. I also got these finshed:



These are resin spider nests from Bad Squiddo, which I picked up when we started playing Rangers of Shadow Deep, and then put into a drawer when my son lost interest and we stopped playing. I dug them out when I picked up the Wargames Atlantic spider set (that's where the guy in the coccoon came from). I hope these can see some use in the near future. Finally, the first model for this month's Dakka Painting Challenge. :



The theme is "Showing Off," and I went with the majority decision of Dreadball Captains. This guy is the captain of the Tsudochan team. He is described as a Martial Artist, so I gave him Shaolin orange robes, while keeping the gold and grey accents from the rest of the team. Here they are all together:


Only now do I see that the focus in that photo is terrible. Anyway, more Dreadball and Frostgrave stuff in the pipe. As always, comments and feedback are welcome and encouraged. Thanks for looking.

Lovely spider nests, I have Rangers as well and was plotting some of those. But those resin ones are hard to beat. I really like all your frostgrave stuff, I just think your style suits those minis really well.

Paintjob on the captain is nice, but not sure about that model myself!

Well I'm biased but obviously I love the Dreadball. Beautiful colours too.

Da Boss wrote:Lovely spider nests, I have Rangers as well and was plotting some of those. But those resin ones are hard to beat. I really like all your frostgrave stuff, I just think your style suits those minis really well.

Paintjob on the captain is nice, but not sure about that model myself!

I tried afew times to make my own spider nests, but just couldn't seem to get them right. These resin models were a godsend.

inmygravenimage wrote:Well I'm biased but obviously I love the Dreadball. Beautiful colours too.

Thanks. Like so many Mantic models of this vintage, he's not much to look at, but he painted up quick and easy, and he fits pretty well with his team. Speaking of which:

Here's the second model for this month's pledge, the captain of the Crystallan Dreadball team:





I took more than my usual care (read:none) in cleaning mold lines-- old Mantic restic is just too terrible to do more than a cursory cleanup. The character is described as a veteran of the game, thus all the extra cybernetics. Being older restic, the rock, metal, and crystaline parts all look sort of the same, so I had to keep going back to the rulebook the figure out what was what. He'll work well enough on the board, though.

Great updates, love the adventurers although I'm more partial to the eye-patch face than the Robocop-wannabe

Captains look great and nicely contrasting with the orange and the light blue.

Feel a bit like a broken record, but once again, I’m very impressed with your natural palette. You’ve really captured a great realistic fantasy look for them.

Not quite sure about the Dreadball models. Not a slight on the paint jobs, just not quite able to wrap my head around the models. Still, the colors are quite striking and look good.

And I’m still just completely impressed (floored?) by the Golem. The more I look at the pix, the more impressive it is. That model just looks great!

Vale,

JohnS

Oooh you're clearing out your mantic pile, something I definitely haven't even approached. Kudos!

I especially like your knight and treasure hunter, really selling me on the FG knights kit which, to this point, I had been sleeping on.

Viterbi wrote:Great updates, love the adventurers although I'm more partial to the eye-patch face than the Robocop-wannabe

Captains look great and nicely contrasting with the orange and the light blue.

Well, I find the Robocop helmet endlessly delightful. Robocop is the greatest movie ever made, after all.

cygnnus wrote:Feel a bit like a broken record, but once again, I’m very impressed with your natural palette. You’ve really captured a great realistic fantasy look for them.

Not quite sure about the Dreadball models. Not a slight on the paint jobs, just not quite able to wrap my head around the models. Still, the colors are quite striking and look good.

And I’m still just completely impressed (floored?) by the Golem. The more I look at the pix, the more impressive it is. That model just looks great!

Vale,

JohnS

Well, yeah, I kind of agree with you. Most of the DW line are Mantic models of a certain vintage, cast in their older restic formula. That said, they look fine on the pitch, and the game is enough fun to make up the difference.

GrimDork wrote:Oooh you're clearing out your mantic pile, something I definitely haven't even approached. Kudos!

I especially like your knight and treasure hunter, really selling me on the FG knights kit which, to this point, I had been sleeping on.

My Mantic pile, like all my other piles, will never be completely cleaned out. That said, it's been fun going back and revisiting this game. I highly recommend the FG knights. I'm thinking of getting a couple of sprues of their demons-- there are some bodies with regular human legs and full armor that would work well with some of the helmeted heads on the knights sprue.

Anne-Marie Helder is finished, along with four Jacks:





Anne-Marie here was fairly easy to clean, but the Chinese factory workers who packaged her opted not to use clippers, so there are some ugly gouges here and there. She's apparently not available, and doesn't have rules in Dreadball v2. The fluff (still available via Google search), comes dangerously close to fat shaming. In addition, she shares a name with a British singer/songwriter, so that may have been problematic as well.



The mold lines on the Jacks (which are the backbone of the Void Sirens team) were much more difficult the clean, but too obvious to just ignore, which is my normal method of dealing with restic. I like the black and fuscia team colors, even if it makes them look like Emperor's Children.

I finished the strikers a couple of days ago, but haven't based or photographed them yet. I hope to have the core team finished this weekend. After that, a few more FG knights, and then back to Dreadball to finish out the month.

They look ace! Like really angry liquorice all-sorts.
Her stats are in the Xtreme 2.0 update which is semi-official, it's on the FB group, or pm me and I'll email you - she's now an MVP called The Black Widow. The original model is based on a roller derby blocker I believe. Are you getting Magnetar Circuit? Very excited for it.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
They look ace! Like really angry liquorice all-sorts.
Her stats are in the Xtreme 2.0 update which is semi-official, it's on the FB group, or pm me and I'll email you - she's now an MVP called The Black Widow. The original model is based on a roller derby blocker I believe. Are you getting Magnetar Circuit? Very excited for it.

PM sent. I had forgotten about Magnetar Circuit until you mentioned it. I put it in my cart, waffled over what to add to get free shipping, and then forgot all about it.

Still plugging away at the BlackPinks:

Three identical Strikers:


And one oddly-posed (thanks to warping) Guard:


And finally, two alternate poses (L: striker R: Jack)


I didn't notice the debris on their bases until I posted these photos. They have since been cleaned off. I only have two more-- another oddly-posed Jack and the Keeper (who no longer has rules, from what I can tell). THere is also a prone model in the set, but she's pretty low priority.

Finally, the raw materials for an entry in the latest LoER Competition:


My wife frequently has to attend conferences, and recieves bento lunches when she does. Usually, bentos come in disposable plastic containers, but for the last three, the disposable plastic containers were further contained in these sweet compressed foam "boxes." They are all 5mm thick and the "walls" are 55mm tall. I'm going to turn them into a two-level abandoned building/haunted mansion, with internal walls and some kind of flooring. It will be quite an ambitious project, and one that I'm not sure I can pull off, but I relish the challenge. Wish me luck!

Good luck, indeed! That sounds like a great project

Keepers are used in league or casual play only. It's an advancement for Guards. The Guard pose is indeed truly bizarre - another reason for using Anne-Marie! Looking very snazzy regardless.

Excited to see what you do for your building!

Good luck with the building, looks like a challenge

I like the black-pink colour scheme, they look great!

Lovely work on the pink team, very smooth colors. And also excited to see your LoER project develop.

GrimDork wrote:Good luck, indeed! That sounds like a great project

Thanks. I'm gathering materials and planning in my head. I hope to start work on the house in earnest this week.

inmygravenimage wrote:Keepers are used in league or casual play only. It's an advancement for Guards. The Guard pose is indeed truly bizarre - another reason for using Anne-Marie! Looking very snazzy regardless.

I think the guard is supposed to be punching someone. I'll have to straighten out her leg and see if I can't make her work.

Da Boss wrote:Excited to see what you do for your building!

Thanks. I'll try not to disappoint.

Slinky wrote:Good luck with the building, looks like a challenge

I like the black-pink colour scheme, they look great!

Thanks. It's based on the official white-and-pink colors, with black instead of white. I think it works better.

Viterbi wrote:Lovely work on the pink team, very smooth colors. And also excited to see your LoER project develop.

Thanks. I hope I can make the building work.

Here are the final models from the Dreadball team:



The one on the right dancing the twist is a Jack, the one on the left is a Keeper. I probably should have repositioned the Jack to look like she is running.

Here are the three alternate poses in one photo:


And the basic poses+ MVP*


And finally, a couple of poorly-focussed shots of the whole team:



Reflections:

1) Working with restic remains challenging. It doesn't help that Mantic models of this vintage have mold lines in terrible places, and in many cases have been twisted off their sprues by the underpaid factory workers. That said, restic is no better or worse than metal or HIPS, just different.
　
2) Both the black and pink that I used on these models are from Warcolors. I got them on a whim when the company first started out, but haven't used them much before this project. They both have a gel-like consistency, and the pink is a lot more translucent than I'm used to, requiring 5-6 coats over a white basecoat. That's probably a plus when using their system, but kind of frustrating when you're used to Army Painter and Vallejo (like me).

3) Working on these reminded my of why I prefer building Frostgrave warbands over, say, Space Marines or Eldar. Painting what amounts to the same model a dozen times got really, really boring by the end of the year.

4) That said, I spent a lot of time looking at the Dreadball rules while working on these models, and I am itching to play again. I can't wait to give this team a go!

As always, I have some Frostgrave models in the works, specifically some more dudes from the Knights sprue. I've also done a little work on the haunted house as well, but not enough to share. Thanks, as always, to everyone who looks and comments.

Oof, yeah, 6 coats would drive me nuts!

They look good.

This is a fantastic blog! I really enjoy your painting and the variety of miniatures and styles.

I have one quick belated question: I just browsed through the last several pages of your blog and I saw your (awesome) KOW Vanguard miniatures were based on circular bases. Have you played Vanguard with those models and did the base shape matter? I would like to try Vanguard sometime this year, but I would rather get double use out of the models and based them on circles to match my other fantasy models.

Thank you!

GrimDork wrote:Oof, yeah, 6 coats would drive me nuts!

They look good.

Thanks. Six coats was a lot, but as the team is finished, I will never have to do that again.

Abdyel wrote:This is a fantastic blog! I really enjoy your painting and the variety of miniatures and styles.

I have one quick belated question: I just browsed through the last several pages of your blog and I saw your (awesome) KOW Vanguard miniatures were based on circular bases. Have you played Vanguard with those models and did the base shape matter? I would like to try Vanguard sometime this year, but I would rather get double use out of the models and based them on circles to match my other fantasy models.

Thank you!

Thanks, and welcome! Thanks to the pandemic, I only really play at home with my son, so we can relax the rules at will. Base size and rear arcs are both part of the Vanguard rules, but as long as you keep track of how many models can gang up, and mark the rear arc, I don't think round bases would be a problem with most gamers.

After painting all that black and pink, I decided to get back to basics:



Ah, glorious browns, greens, and greys! How I missed you! I built these two from the FG Knights sprue. I painted their eyes, but you can't see them because of my terrible lighting. The shield design came from the endpapers of one of my son's King Arthur storybooks.

I'm also slowly (very, very slowly) working on my entry for the latest LoER competition:



It's going to be a dilapidated, two-storey wooden house. In my head, I'm calling it the "cannibal house," having been inspired by "The Picture in the House." I still need to add a door, some windows, porch, staircase, inner walls and a second floor-- pretty much everything, really.

One of the reasons I'm going so slowly on the house is the Dakka Painting Challenge. It's "Space Marine" month, but as I don't enjoy painting Space Marines, I'm revisiting Deadzone Enforcers instead. Rather than the military green I've used in the past, I decided to make them shiny and (non-metallic) metal. My first Proof of Concept:


This guy turned out a lot more blue than I'd planned. I'll probably use this for the forward observer/sniper. My second try was this sheme:




The guy on the left is plastic, the guy on the right is metal (he doesn't appear to be available any longer). A while back, during a discussion on the relative merits of these models, someone said that they were weirdly proportioned. Specifically, their helmets looked to small to fit a human head. I argued that they were cyborgs rather than dudes in armor, and another person chimed in "like Robocop." That idea has stuck with me ever since, so that's the direction I'm taking with this strike team. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where to put the highlights and how deep to make the shadows, but overall I think it's working.

I think they are excellent, I like the slightly more brown tones in the shading of the plastic (to be fair I like the scheme on the plastic guy better generally).

Nice progress JoshInJapan.

CB

I love the colour palette on your frostgrave stuff as always. It's kinda what I aim for, but only hit on my good days.

Frostgrave minis look really cool, I need to get some sprues, they don't look so good in the rulebook, love your way of painting them. NMM on those Enforcers looks great!

I really like what you are doing with the Enforcers! The pink and black really suits that Dreadball team, looks great.

inmygravenimage wrote:I think they are excellent, I like the slightly more brown tones in the shading of the plastic (to be fair I like the scheme on the plastic guy better generally).

Thanks. As a rule, the metal enforcers, as well as the mono-pose restic ones, come in more interesting poses than can be built with the multipart plastics. That said, the plastics are easier to clean up and to paint. These two have the same color palette, but it was easier to get into the recesses of the plastic guy. I agree, he turned out better.

Captain Brown wrote:Nice progress JoshInJapan.

CB

Thanks. These NMM experiments are proving to be very, very time consuming.

Da Boss wrote:I love the colour palette on your frostgrave stuff as always. It's kinda what I aim for, but only hit on my good days.

The secret to my FG (and pretty much all fantasy models) these days is just paint everything brown.

Viterbi wrote:Frostgrave minis look really cool, I need to get some sprues, they don't look so good in the rulebook, love your way of painting them. NMM on those Enforcers looks great!

The knighs offer a lot of variation, and are compatible with the rest of the FG line, so even one sprue comes with a lot of opportunities, assuming that, like me, you buy everything FG related that comes out.

I'm not completely happy with my NMM yet, but it's getting there.

RobertsMinis wrote:I really like what you are doing with the Enforcers! The pink and black really suits that Dreadball team, looks great.

Thanks. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Spring vacation has begun, and I've managed to find some more hobby time, allowing me to finish the Enforcers:





These two are basic enforcer troopers with special weapons (thermal rifle ont he left, fusion gun on the right). I added a little muzzle burn, but it didn't turn out so well-- I guess you really have to use inks for that.






This medic has a lot of interesting details, but being restic, he also has a lot of terribly-placed, difficult to clean mold lines. He looks good enough at arm's length, though.








This is Lt. Roca (I think), a special character. Since he is a sniper, I decided against the shiny silver-grey of the other models in this update. Like the special weapon guys, he's metal, so the paint on his left heel keeps rubbing off. Also, the runner for his right arm was right in the middle of his shoulder pad, so I had to file away all the detail to get it flat. Who approved that design?






Finally, Sgt. Howlett, Mantic's Wolverine tribute. After all that bule and grey, I wanted to try something different with this guy. I used a NMM bronze recipe that I found online, but left out the verdigris step. I'm actually pretty pleased with how he turned out-- facing my fears head on and highlighting to white payed off, I think. Finally, a group shot:

There's so much to love here but your howlett is superb. Now for some iron man enforcers!

NMM is improving. Each model looks better than the last. Wolv . . . I mean Howlett looks awesome.
The contrast seems to be the thing. I've been practising my NMM as well. I'll continue to look at yours for inspiration.

Lovely stuff there, Josh, and Howlett is particularly great!

Well done for persevering with the restic models, they are a bit of a bugger to work with...

inmygravenimage wrote:There's so much to love here but your howlett is superb. Now for some iron man enforcers!

I've been avoiding that, but who knows? It's not like I don't have enough to spare.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:NMM is improving. Each model looks better than the last. Wolv . . . I mean Howlett looks awesome.
The contrast seems to be the thing. I've been practising my NMM as well. I'll continue to look at yours for inspiration.

I agree, conrast is the key. Black-to-white is still outside my comfort zone, and I'm scared of screwing up all the work I do on a model, but I guess we all have to face our fears someday.

Slinky wrote:Lovely stuff there, Josh, and Howlett is particularly great!

Well done for persevering with the restic models, they are a bit of a bugger to work with...

Agreed. Normally, I just do a token pass with the needle file and then ignore the mold lines, but these are for the Dakka Painting Comp, so I had to do a little more work.

At the end of last week, the rest of the family took a trip to visit the grandparents, leaving me at home to look after our aged dog-- returning readers should recognize this as an ongoing pattern. Normally, I use this time to catch up on movies and to tackle a larger-than-normal hobby project. I achieved the first, but agonizing over the Enforcers left my hobby batteries a little drained. That said, I did finish all the obstacles and the goals for Dreadball Xtreme:



I started the larger obstacles on the left full of enthusiasm, as you can see with the highlights and carefully-placed sponge weathering. I began to lose steam working on the smaller trapped obstacles on the right, but still found the energy to add some depth to the trap markers. The goalposts I just phoned in, as I was ready to be done. Overall, I'm rather pleased with how everything turned out, especially the pin wash I did for the black lines.

Unrelated to the above, I have narrowed down my entry for this month's Dakka Painting Challenge(theme: Travelling In Style) to either this Mech:



Or this Goblin King:



I'm going to paint them both, and enter whichever I'm more pleased with.

Obstacles came out nice, and rather understandable you ran down the batteries after that much weathering.

Looking forward to the mech and gobbo

Obstacles look great, I love what they add to the game

Great job on getting the obstacles done. I loathe painting terrain or such features, so love the effort you put into them!

I've made some progress on the mech:




It's blu-tac'ed together for these photos, which is why it looks so wonky. The base colors are AP uniform grey →ash grey, with a heavy wash of Payne's grey for the lining. Next, I'll add some decals and do the weathering. I'm going to try this technique, rather than using a brush. I've never done it before, but how hard can it be?

Looks super crisp just now. Really excited to see how it turns out.

Looks really crisp, and nice to see you change size of Sci-fi! This thread is a real Dakka gem

Thanks for sharing

Great start, love how clean all the lines are! Excited to see it progress.

I'm glad you all liked the clean version. Here it is all scratched up:






Rather than doing edge highlighting, I tried that toothpick-and-oil paint weathering method I posted the link to previously. Scraping the toothpick along an edge gives a nice, thin line, while rolling sort of spreads the paint a little more. After the paint dried, I went over most of the lines with a pencil to further sell the corroded metal effect. I was going to add some weathering powder around the feet, but after a couple of experiments on some scrap foam, I realized that I need to check out more tutorials and then practice some more before I try it on an actual model. I did some drybrushing around the lower legs, but it doesn't really show up. I'm not entirely sold on the gun barrels, but I'm tired of working on this model, so I'll set it aside for a few days and work on something elsefor a bit.

I really love it. It almost looks cel shaded. It's a cracking, crusty, cartoony mech.

Absolutely love the weathered version!

Thanks for sharing

inmygravenimage wrote:I really love it. It almost looks cel shaded. It's a cracking, crusty, cartoony mech.

If it looks cel shaded, that's completely unintentional. If I stay on this robot kick, I might have to explore that.

IGtR= wrote:Absolutely love the weathered version!

Thanks for sharing

Thanks. After all the time I've spent on the model, all I see are flaws, so it's gratifying to know that someone likes how it turned out.

Really like the weathered version. Great color choice snd the weathering is really top notch!

Great stuff as always!

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Really like the weathered version. Great color choice snd the weathering is really top notch!

Great stuff as always!

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks, dude. Working on the base coats, I kind of felt like the grey was a little too bland, but the cool colors seem to work well with the warmth of the burnt umber.

I think the bot has come up an absolute treat. I wouldn't push this guy any further. Call him done and be VERY happy with your results.

Weathering powder can be for the next one.

The pin lining is excellent- I'm going to get back to some Eldar armor sooner or later, plus other vehicles and will need to relearn/improve how to do that.

The weathering technique is terrific- thanks for linking that! I have some cheap oil paints lying about for other uses, can't wait to try the burnt umber and see how this comes out.

Rock on!

Archer wrote:I think the bot has come up an absolute treat. I wouldn't push this guy any further. Call him done and be VERY happy with your results.

Weathering powder can be for the next one.

Thanks for the kind words. I do need to do something with the gun barrels, but otherwise he's finished. I need to do some research (read: watch YouTube videos) to figure out how to use weathering powders before I actually use them on models.

Meer_Cat wrote:The pin lining is excellent- I'm going to get back to some Eldar armor sooner or later, plus other vehicles and will need to relearn/improve how to do that.

The weathering technique is terrific- thanks for linking that! I have some cheap oil paints lying about for other uses, can't wait to try the burnt umber and see how this comes out.

Rock on!

Definately give the toothpick technique a try. It was remarkably easy, requiring just a little more patience for the extended drying time.

Lovely mech, exactly the right amount of weathering. Now I'm longing to replay Metal Gear Solid on the PS1

 Viterbi wrote:
Lovely mech, exactly the right amount of weathering. Now I'm longing to replay Metal Gear Solid on the PS1

Thanks. Now that some time has passed, I've come to like the way the mech turned out. Which is for the best, considering how much time I spent on that one model.

After all they grey and rust, I had a little explosion of productivity for the end of April. First, I cranked out this Goblin General on Mawbeast from Mantic:




Apart from the goblin's skin, I kept to my trademark Everything Brown techniques, to match the rest of the goblins. The model is resin--very soft and bendy resin--, which is why his axe is bent. I heat-corrected it once, but it just went back to this. I don't want to break it, so we'll just pretend that's how goblins like their great axes.



I got this alien bounty hunter when I picked up Rogue Stars, but he's more likely to see action in Stargrave.




I bulit this ranger from the Frostgrave Captain sprue. I based his paint job on an illustration from one of my son's Robin Hood books, which is why he is very very red. We've been playing a lot of FG over the last few days (we're in the middle of the Golden Week holidays), so I think this guy will show up the next time I upgrade my crew.



I pulled this guy out of storage for the Dakka Painting Challenge for May. The theme is Through The Ages, which is a pretty good term for how long I've been hauling this model around the world. I even did some work on him this weekend:

All sorts of goodness and wickedness. Love the mawbest especially.

That old model is awesome. What is it supposed to be? A Warrior of Chaos?

Paint job is really good so far.

Lovely creepy gribbly arm! And really excited to see people working on things for Stargrave, which has really energised my hobby mojo

Thanks for sharing

inmygravenimage wrote:All sorts of goodness and wickedness. Love the mawbest especially.

Thanks. The mawbeast was a breeze to paint, all those organic lines were quite a relief after painting hard edges.

Archer wrote:That old model is awesome. What is it supposed to be? A Warrior of Chaos?

Paint job is really good so far.

Thanks. The model is a Champion of Slaanesh, from the original Realms of Chaos release, way back in the late '80s.

IGtR= wrote:Lovely creepy gribbly arm! And really excited to see people working on things for Stargrave, which has really energised my hobby mojo

Thanks for sharing

I'm really looking forward to Stargrave as well. My son and i have been playing Frostgrave after a long hiatus, and it's been a blast.

Very cool update with a wide range of minis you got there. Although goblin rider takes the prize, always good to see the hijinks of the little green ones

 Viterbi wrote:
Very cool update with a wide range of minis you got there. Although goblin rider takes the prize, always good to see the hijinks of the little green ones

Glad you like him. He was fun to paint, but it will be quite a while before he sees any tabletop action, as we've been playing a lot of Frostgrave these days.

Speaking of not seeing the tabletop:






This guy is finished, inasmuch as he doesn't have any bare metal showing. The sword and the right shoulder pad are still a little rough, but I'm kind of tired of working on this model. I'm going to set him aside and work on something else for a bit.

I like how your "little rough" is light years ahead of my "I tried really hard this time".

The arms and sword are most snazzy

Archer wrote:I like how your "little rough" is light years ahead of my "I tried really hard this time".

inmygravenimage wrote:The arms and sword are most snazzy

Thanks,fellows. If you look at the blown up image in the gallery, you can see what I'm talking about. I have a lot of room for improvement.

Nice job on the Chaos Warrior!
The "Old School" Chaos minis were always so cool.

I love 1988 Chaos, especially done up nicely with more modern sensibilities. Your fly guy looks great, the green carapace and gold armor work well together. And not a bad NMM sword at all!

Great job on the chaos warrior.

I think you are too hard on yourself - the Dakka gallery blows up the mini to an enormous size, which is wholly unrepresentative of what the mini looks like on the table, which I think is really what matters!

Thanks for sharing, this thread as ever delivers some quality and variety, which is very much appreciated

aku-chan wrote:Nice job on the Chaos Warrior!
The "Old School" Chaos minis were always so cool.

I couldn't agree more. Those classic Jes Goodwin Chaos models (Warriors, Thugs, and Beastmen) are the primary reason I switched to WHFB from Battletech.

Boss Salvage wrote:I love 1988 Chaos, especially done up nicely with more modern sensibilities. Your fly guy looks great, the green carapace and gold armor work well together. And not a bad NMM sword at all!

Thanks. The old Chaos Warriors have aged better than a lot of Citadel models from that era.

IGtR= wrote:Great job on the chaos warrior.

I think you are too hard on yourself - the Dakka gallery blows up the mini to an enormous size, which is wholly unrepresentative of what the mini looks like on the table, which I think is really what matters!

Thanks for sharing, this thread as ever delivers some quality and variety, which is very much appreciated

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I agree that the model looks better at arm's length, but there is always room for improvement.

Along with the Jes Goodwin elves, the Chaos were the very best of the Warhammer models of that era, IMO, the whole aesthetic was really great.

And your paint job really brings him/her/it to life

 Slinky wrote:
Along with the Jes Goodwin elves, the Chaos were the very best of the Warhammer models of that era, IMO, the whole aesthetic was really great.

Coincidentally, I have loads and loads of both!

Slaanesh warrior looks really cool, love the contrast between the gold and the green. And those spidery arms directly gives you an itch when looking at the pics, so a job well done

 Viterbi wrote:
Slaanesh warrior looks really cool, love the contrast between the gold and the green. And those spidery arms directly gives you an itch when looking at the pics, so a job well done

Thanks! The traditional Slaaneshi pastels didn't seem appropriate for this model, so I went with green and gold. The colors work well, I think.

After nearly three months (I think), my entry for the lastest League of Extraordinary Riveters Challenge is finished. I give you: the cannibal house:







The roof and second storey are removable for play:

(Why is this photo upside-down?)

Let's take a tour with a friendly ninja for scale:

The little porches at the front and side doors kept breaking off, so I made a base with leftover foamcore.



The first floor hallway is wide enough for up to a 32mm base.



I picked up a set of run-down furniture on sale from Mantic for use in the house. I think I need to make a rug or something, as well.



The stairs are roughly the size of the hall.



The second storey slots into the first storey for storage.



The upstairs rooms may be bedrooms, or possibly torture chambers or butcher shops, is in "The Picture In The House," which partially inspired this project.

This is the biggest, longest terrain project I've ever done, and I've learned a lot of lessons, not the least of which is the importance of planning and sketching, a step which I skipped, resulting in a lot of weird measurements. The odd dimensions add to the dilapidated look, but made cutting and assembling unnecessarily difficult.

Excellent work, really impressive. The fact that it stores inside itself is remarkable.

That is a terrific project- nice clean lines and extremely well-painted and detailed. However, I claim false advertising as I saw no encapsulated bovines (can o' bulls)?

Great work!

That Slaaneshi Warrior of Chaos is great! I love how you’ve taken your mastery of the naturalistic palate and then thrown a curve-ball with the colors there. And great break from the titillating pink, black, and gold of the “normal” Slaaaneshi look. He (it?) really fits in with your other models, yet possesses a chaotic “otherness” that really sets it apart. A “realistic” Warrior of Chaos if that makes sense. I assume that’s NMM?Very nice if so. And the chitinous green is a great effect.

That’s a great house entry as well. Really nice weathering and the interior design is really well-done. The space is playable, but it’s not just a box. Definitely jealous not to have that model on my Malifaux table. Would fit right in as a M&SU flophouse...

Very well done indeed!

inmygravenimage wrote:Excellent work, really impressive. The fact that it stores inside itself is remarkable.

I may have used the wrong word. The upper level slots into the lower, but still takes up all the vertical space.

Meer_Cat wrote:That is a terrific project- nice clean lines and extremely well-painted and detailed. However, I claim false advertising as I saw no encapsulated bovines (can o' bulls)?

Great work!

"Well-painted" means "craft paint thinned down to watery consistency, then slopped on," but thanks just the same.

cygnnus wrote:That Slaaneshi Warrior of Chaos is great! I love how you’ve taken your mastery of the naturalistic palate and then thrown a curve-ball with the colors there. And great break from the titillating pink, black, and gold of the “normal” Slaaaneshi look. He (it?) really fits in with your other models, yet possesses a chaotic “otherness” that really sets it apart. A “realistic” Warrior of Chaos if that makes sense. I assume that’s NMM?Very nice if so. And the chitinous green is a great effect.

That’s a great house entry as well. Really nice weathering and the interior design is really well-done. The space is playable, but it’s not just a box. Definitely jealous not to have that model on my Malifaux table. Would fit right in as a M&SU flophouse...

Very well done indeed!

Thanks. I've been doing a lot of NMM recently, with varying degrees of success, but I'm pretty happy with how this guy turned out.

Over the last couple of weeks, my son and I have been playing a lot of Frostgrave, which has inspired me to dig into my Big Box of Unpainted Resin Scenery:





The trap doors were used in the Lair of the Ghoul King, and the cauldron for The Dark Cauldron, both scenarios from The Thaw of the Lich Lord. Not a lot going on with any of these pieces, but BBoURS is just a little bit lighter, so that's a win.

Thaw of the Lich Lord is where the FG cultists were introduced, and they show up a lot as enemies. I still have half a box unpainted, so I kitbashed a wizard and apprentice using FG Wizard bitz:



I painted them using my patented Everything Is Brown technique, so they'll fit in with the rest of the cultists if/when I use them. I have three more models from the same sprue almost ready to share, but our new puppy requires a lot of attention, and that sort of work seems to fall on me. Not complaining, but also not painting.

Congratulations on the new puppy!!

My folks got a new puppy in December so we’ve been experiencing vicarious puppy joy.

As always, very impressed with your naturalistic Color palette choices. You may call it “paint everything brown“, but it really works for a realistic looking model

Valete,

JohnS

That cauldron looks great. Super bubbly. And I love the strategy Everything is Brown. Perfect results every time.

cygnnus wrote:Congratulations on the new puppy!!

My folks got a new puppy in December so we’ve been experiencing vicarious puppy joy.

As always, very impressed with your naturalistic Color palette choices. You may call it “paint everything brown“, but it really works for a realistic looking model

Valete,

JohnS

Vicarious dog is almost as good as the real thing. All the play, none of the cleaning-up-of-poop. What breed? A 2/3 supermajority in the JiJ household chose a chihuahua. It turns out he's pretty cute.

I've pretty much mastered browns. Sometimes I think I should do something more colorful, and then when I do I go back to brown. It's kinda like comfort food, I guess.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:That cauldron looks great. Super bubbly. And I love the strategy Everything is Brown. Perfect results every time.

Thanks. I have another one with tentacles rather than bubbling goo. I should finish it sometime. Everything Brown is a pretty good strategy for pretty much anything that isn't a Space Marine or Aspect Warrior. I bet it would work well on skaven

 JoshInJapan wrote:

DJJazzyJeff wrote:That cauldron looks great. Super bubbly. And I love the strategy Everything is Brown. Perfect results every time.

Thanks. I have another one with tentacles rather than bubbling goo. I should finish it sometime. Everything Brown is a pretty good strategy for pretty much anything that isn't a Space Marine or Aspect Warrior. I bet it would work well on skaven

I was thinking the same thing. Fur and fabric of various colors. Mix a lot of browns in. Then, brown wash just about everything.

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

DJJazzyJeff wrote:That cauldron looks great. Super bubbly. And I love the strategy Everything is Brown. Perfect results every time.

Thanks. I have another one with tentacles rather than bubbling goo. I should finish it sometime. Everything Brown is a pretty good strategy for pretty much anything that isn't a Space Marine or Aspect Warrior. I bet it would work well on skaven

I was thinking the same thing. Fur and fabric of various colors. Mix a lot of browns in. Then, brown wash just about everything.

It appears that you have mastered the essentials of the Paint Everything Brown technique.

This is my approach to a lot of Brimstone/wild west stuff. All the brown!

Great work on the cannibal house and agree, a rug would be good. I heard those really tie a room together

Love the cauldron, that's what a bubbly witches cauldron has got to look like!

A deadly brew indeed is stewing in that cauldron

That cauldron looks great Josh! It also makes me wonder if your son is old enough to start reading fantasy novels by Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King).

inmygravenimage wrote:This is my approach to a lot of Brimstone/wild west stuff. All the brown!

Paint Everything Brown is a universally-applicable technique.

Viterbi wrote:Great work on the cannibal house and agree, a rug would be good. I heard those really tie a room together

Love the cauldron, that's what a bubbly witches cauldron has got to look like!

I left the interior of the house empty so as not to tie it to one genre, but without furniture it's pretty boring.

Slinky wrote:A deadly brew indeed is stewing in that cauldron

I guess I need to paint up a witch or three...

Syro_ wrote:That cauldron looks great Josh! It also makes me wonder if your son is old enough to start reading fantasy novels by Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King).

He's eleven closing in on twelve, so he's probably ready. I7d have to find them in Japanese, though, as his English reading skills aren't that far along.

What goes well with brown? More brown:




These guys can be used as Men-At-Arms in a FG warband, or just as generic cultists on the random encounter table. I also painted a Captain


He's not as brown, so he will stand out from the rest of the cultists. He's leaning so far forward that I couldn't get a clear shot of his face, but it is painted. Here are all the dudes I made from that sprue:


I need to unpack and reorganize the boxes I keep my FG and Vanguard minis in--they're packed pretty tight, and somewhat randomly, so I can't remember what I have and haven't built. That's a project for this weekend.

Speaking of projects, it's time to jump into Stargrave;


I'll be submitting these fellows to the Dakka Painting Comp for June. My son has decided to assemble them, so who knows what configurations he'll come up with...

Damn... Those look great! Excelsior sir!

Love the freehand one that shield.

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Damn... Those look great! Excelsior sir!

Love the freehand one that shield.

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks. I've been painting skulls like that since the late 80's, when I first got the Nightmare Legion set. That particular technique holds up a lot better than anything else I was doing at that time.

Frostgrave stuff really looks the business. Really excited to see where you go with the Stargrave lads, even if they end up with some possibly random gear! All the more food for the narrative, I suppose...

Thanks for sharing

Those cultists are great, realistic fabrics and leathers. Some of your best work I think.

IGtR= wrote:Frostgrave stuff really looks the business. Really excited to see where you go with the Stargrave lads, even if they end up with some possibly random gear! All the more food for the narrative, I suppose...

Thanks for sharing

Thanks. There's not much to these FG cultists, so they're pretty easy to paint. The SG sprue works mostly to make dudes with guns, so there won't be as much randomness as I'd hoped. I expect to be able to post photos by the end of the week.

Archer wrote:Those cultists are great, realistic fabrics and leathers. Some of your best work I think.

Thanks!

Just a heads up for anyone reading this: voting is open for the Dakka Painting Comp and the LoER Comp. Drop by if you haven't and vote for your favorites!

I made my first foray into Stargrave over the past week:




Being from the SG Crew sprue, I decided to draw inspiration from Star Trek: TOS. The blue-grey tunics are for science, red/orange are security, and mustard yellow is for command. The models themselves are pretty chunky, and come with the same 2.5D issues that all ~grave models have (crisp and clean on the front and back, but indistinct details on the sides, a consequence of two-part molds). I went with the Crew box because I wanted to build specialists rather than dudes with guns (I have lot of those already). Sadly, there are only three arms not holding some sort of weapon.

I also dug into the Big Box of Unpainted Resin Scenery:


These teleport disks/portals will appear in our next game of Frostgrave, and can be used for at least one other scenario in the rulebook. Here is a scale shot with the SG crew:

Cool teleportation markers.

Looking real good!

Like you I wish the crew box had gone in more for tool and computer hands rather than guns (esp with both Mercenaries and Troopers being a thing). I still like it, but it's irking.

And darn it, I'm planning the same theme for my crew!

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Cool teleportation markers.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to finally using them in a game.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Looking real good!

Like you I wish the crew box had gone in more for tool and computer hands rather than guns (esp with both Mercenaries and Troopers being a thing). I still like it, but it's irking.

And darn it, I'm planning the same theme for my crew!

I reckon I can use some of the many left over arms from the wizards sprue and kitbash some techies. Make sure you post photos of your StargraveFleet crew, as well!

Nicely done Josh, I like how you painted the Stargrave mini's. Teleportion markers look great too.

Love those portals, great idea with the crew colours too

Was it sensible to paint models with Red Shirts? We all know what happens to the Red Shirts don't we......?

I think they look great, the split skinned guy really bought back memories of that particular episode, Gene Roddenberry was a clever guy.

The whole thread is great. Excellent work. With the cannibal house complete is their a chance to see a apartment building with a slaughterhouse in it? Love the free hand skeleton face on the shield.

Yorkright wrote: Nicely done Josh, I like how you painted the Stargrave mini's. Teleportion markers look great too.

Thanks. They are pretty simple models, especially when compared to FG models, so they were easy to do.

inmygravenimage wrote:Love those portals, great idea with the crew colours too

Thanks!

Archer wrote:Was it sensible to paint models with Red Shirts? We all know what happens to the Red Shirts don't we......?

I think they look great, the split skinned guy really bought back memories of that particular episode, Gene Roddenberry was a clever guy.

The red shirts' job is to keep the main characters alive, so I think they'll be a necessary part of the crew.

The message of that particular episode comes across as pretty heavy handed now, but I suspect that it was something of a revelation at the time.

Pointer5 wrote:The whole thread is great. Excellent work. With the cannibal house complete is their a chance to see a apartment building with a slaughterhouse in it? Love the free hand skeleton face on the shield.

Every once in a while, I go back over the earliest posts in my thread, and grimace at what my skills used to be.

An apartment building? Well, summer vacation is approaching...

I love the CheronIan! And those teleport markers are really freakin’ well done!

I’m more than a bit jealous.

Great stuff as always my friend!

Valete,

JohnS

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, we recently got a chihuahua puppy. Our much older dog is happy to have a brother, and is much more energetic than he was before. He wakes up with the sun, and the puppy hears him walking around and cried to be let out of his house. I'm the only one of the family who sleeps lightly enough to be woken up, meaning that my day starts at around 4AM. In the past, I would walk the dog and then do hobby stuff for an hour or so, but two dogs with wildly different energy levels and equally high needs for attention has pretty much eliminated hobby time on weekdays. I did manage to finish these guys over the weekend, though:




These are Steampunk Heroes from Reaper. I got them to use with the Airship Pirates I painted up for Starbreach about a year ago, but they took so long to arrive that I moved on to different projects. I figure I can use the Airship Pirates for Stargrave or Five Parsecs From Home, if/when we take a break from Frostgrave.

Next up, I have a few more models from the Pirates, and a crossbowman made from the FG Knights kit, but I don't expect to have them ready to show for a while.

They both look great. I'm always pleasantly surprised by Reaper stuff. We're about to get a puppy and oh boy I have the fear ...

Love the Stargrave crew and will probably get some Northstar kits myself. The "official" paintjobs don't do the minis justice in my opinion, always happy to see some of them in the wild.

inmygravenimage wrote:They both look great. I'm always pleasantly surprised by Reaper stuff. We're about to get a puppy and oh boy I have the fear ...

The puppy has become even more energetic and demanding of attention than before. IN addition, our old dog has suddenly taken ill, probably requiring surgery. Between the two, I have even less hobby time that before. *sigh*

Viterbi wrote:Love the Stargrave crew and will probably get some Northstar kits myself. The "official" paintjobs don't do the minis justice in my opinion, always happy to see some of them in the wild.

The Crewpersons models have less going on than any of the Frostgrave kits, but that's easy to overcome with a deep bitzbox.

Despite all the demands of real life, I have managed to finish one model this week:




This is Lord Celsius von Fahrenheit, from RAFM's Airship Pirates line, based on a real-life cosplayer (based on a cursory Google search). I figure I can use him as a tekker for Stargrave or an Engineer for Five Parsecs From Home.

Next up: Who knows? My son kitbashed some FG wizards using parts from various sprues, so I'll probably help him with those while I think about what to do for the July Painting Challenge.

I bought the stargrave book, but none of the models. I’ll have to buy/kit bash/etc some figures for it. In the original color scheme, red shirts may not have been the best idea. But, I’ve always thought it interesting that red shirts had such an impact that ever since then red has been the command color. Anyway, some really cool stuff you have going here.

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
I bought the stargrave book, but none of the models. I’ll have to buy/kit bash/etc some figures for it. In the original color scheme, red shirts may not have been the best idea. But, I’ve always thought it interesting that red shirts had such an impact that ever since then red has been the command color. Anyway, some really cool stuff you have going here.

To tell the truth, I had more than enough models in my 30+year backlog that I didn't need the plastics. Getting one box and the book direct from Northstar allowed me to get the metal models, which are a lot nicer in my opinion, for less than they would have been at retail.

He's looking very dapper, I particularly like the flower.

I see him more as a Lord Kelvin of Celsius Von Fahrenheit myself.

But quite the dapper chap! I am sure he would never give the cold shoulder to a visitor.

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
I see him more as a Lord Kelvin of Celsius Von Fahrenheit myself.

But quite the dapper chap! I am sure he would never give the cold shoulder to a visitor.

Valete,

JohnS

You may be right about the name, but since the model is based on a real person, I think it best to leave it as is.

Your Dad-joke-game is coming along nicely.

The difference in names may not be one of kind, but of degree.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
The difference in names may not be one of kind, but of degree.

I bow to you sir!

Valete,

JohnS

I won't add to the Fahrenheit jokes (seeing as we have the one and only and totally right Celsius temperatures here ) and just add to the praise for the mini. Great colors and he fits well into skirmish games.

I painted this guy up as a test model for my entry in this month's Painting Challenge:


I didn't want to use a lot of red, as it seems a little too on the nose. I ended up going with a Gundam-inspired paint scheme. I haven't decided what to do with the disks on the shoulder pads, and the gun kind of blends in with the body suit. Also, I'm thinking about doing some weathering on the armor to distract from how asymetrical the sculpting is

I'm really not enjoying painting these models. They are very much of their time (just look at those Donald Trump-sized hands), and I just can't seem to get inspired. That said, I don't think I've ever been defeated by a model, and I'm not going to start now.

I managed to find some hobby time over the last week, and finished the Crimson Devils:






The test model I posted previously was a little to bright and clean, in my opinion, so I darkened up the rest of the squad. Observant readers will have noticed that, despite the name, I used almost no red on these guys. I based their masks on those worn by noh performers, which are predominantly white. Also, as I mentioned previously, these models are very much of their time, with the weird proportions and asymmetrical sculpting. They were not a lot of fun to paint, but they'll do the job ont he tabletop.

Next up: I'm going to try to finish my Tiger Corps models from Mars Attacks!, for use in Five Parsecs.

I like them, really quirky figures.

The models are a bit odd, but you've brought out the best in them, well done for persevering!

Tiger Corps were good models, I seem to remember, so I look forward to seeing what you can do with them

Warzone 1st ed was a mixed bags of figures. Still I love all my Mishima (Except the Deathbringers, there are no Deathbringers)

M.

inmygravenimage wrote:I like them, really quirky figures.

"Quirky" is a pretty generous descriptor. But they'll work well enough as bad guys in Five Parecs or whatever.

Slinky wrote:The models are a bit odd, but you've brought out the best in them, well done for persevering!

Tiger Corps were good models, I seem to remember, so I look forward to seeing what you can do with them

They've begun to grow on me now that I don't have to look at them in their half-finished state. That said, the general level of miniature sculpting has really improved over the years. Re: Tiger Corps-- keep scrolling.

Miguelsan wrote:Warzone 1st ed was a mixed bags of figures. Still I love all my Mishima (Except the Deathbringers, there are no Deathbringers)

M.

Deathbringers?

Somehow, I found time to crank out the last three Tiger Corps models:





Man-oh-man, the gigantic blown up photos in the gallery make the models look terrible. They're much better in hand. I based all the models in this set on Space Sheriff Shaider (sorry, I couldn't find a good link with photos), as one of my earliest attempts to learn NMM. They don't look metallic at all, but I think I got the shiny effect to work. Here's the whole set:



There's actually one more member of the Tiger Corps, but she isn't armored like the rest, so I'll be painting her as part of the Painting Challenge for August.

Great group shot of the Tiger Corps, love the blue contrasting with all the alien skin colors.

 Viterbi wrote:
Great group shot of the Tiger Corps, love the blue contrasting with all the alien skin colors.

Thanks. I think these guys will show up in Five Parsecs or Stargrave.

I have a few models for the August Painting Challenge mostly finished, but not quite ready to share. I did manage to get some SF scenery made from garbage done:



This first one was made from a plastic container which used to hold Kimchee, with the addition of parts from the Maelstrom's Edge accessory sprue and a radar dish from a Deadzone battlezone sprue.



I built this one from the package that our new dog's water bottle came in. Bits are from the same sprue, except the round exahust port thing, which is the inner cap from a bottle of olive oil.



This little house was the inner packaging from my son's camera (his Christmas present last year), with some ME bits. I need to finish the chimney.

Finally, here's everything together:

Nicely done! Now if only I could do the same with my own terrain projects!

M.

Outstanding use of 'found' items to make terrain!

The shading is so well done- especially on the kimchee container, that it was very hard to spot the everyday item inside the excellent terrain piece.

Rock on!

Miguelsan wrote:Nicely done! Now if only I could do the same with my own terrain projects!

M.

I'm sure you could do as well or better with the same raw materials. It's not like I did much more than spray and drybrush on these pieces.

Meer_Cat wrote:Outstanding use of 'found' items to make terrain!

The shading is so well done- especially on the kimchee container, that it was very hard to spot the everyday item inside the excellent terrain piece.

Rock on!

Thanks. There are lots of interesting shapes just waiting to be made into terrain. My wife doesn't necessarily agree, however...

In addition to terrain, I've managed to finish some miniatures, as well. First, the final member of the Tiger Corps:






I gave her the same basic color scheme, despite not wearing the same space armor. She won't be winning any awards, but at least I can say the whole set is finished.

I also did some Broken from the Maelstrom's Edge line, along with a model from RAFM's Airship Pirates range:








These guys are my entry for the August painting comp: Rebel Scum. I'm far happier with the RAFM guy, with his traditional shading and layering instead of my homebrew Contrast effects. These guys will likely see some use in Five Parsecs or Stargrave.

Next up: some robot characters for the aforementioned systems.

Some lovely work, especially on the dapper fellow with the red braces - or suspenders, whatever.

Exquisite jobs as always.
I just had my first game of Stargrave today. It was interesting. Need to study the powers more closely.

M.

Incredible paintjobs on these models. They look fantastic.

inmygravenimage wrote:Some lovely work, especially on the dapper fellow with the red braces - or suspenders, whatever.

Thanks. I'm glad to have finished that guy, as he'd been sitting, fully primed, on my painting station for a couple of months.

Miguelsan wrote:Exquisite jobs as always.
I just had my first game of Stargrave today. It was interesting. Need to study the powers more closely.

M.

Thanks. My son and I played a "standard" game of Stargrave last week. It felt a little too much like Frostgrave. I suspect the game works better with some sort of non-battle objective.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Incredible paintjobs on these models. They look fantastic.

Thanks!

Here are some robots:





These first two are from Northstar. They were originally made for Rogue Stars, but I picked them up with Stargrave. I didn't notice the static grass on the green guy's face until I wrote this post. Thankfully, it wasn't stuck on.




This last one is the Biometric Intelligent Technology Cyborg Hardass from Bad Squiddo's Ghosts of Gaia range.

Here's a group shot:


And one more, this time with a set of GW resin walls and barricades that had been sitting in a box for many years, until I decided that I needed more linear terrain. I have lots of buildings, and even more corners, but almost no straights. These should help:


Next up, some very old SF infantry dudes from Alernative Armies.

Really like the bone-colored robot with no name! Reminds me of something Johnny Alpha would run into in a 2000AD Weekly story line. In every possible good way.

Are the AA models going to be the old Khanate guys? I don’t remember you ending up with any of the Crusaders, but I could -of course- be mistaken…

Anyway, I’m sure you’d more than do the Khanate models justice!

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Really like the bone-colored robot with no name! Reminds me of something Johnny Alpha would run into in a 2000AD Weekly story line. In every possible good way.

Are the AA models going to be the old Khanate guys? I don’t remember you ending up with any of the Crusaders, but I could -of course- be mistaken…

Anyway, I’m sure you’d more than do the Khanate models justice!

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks for the praise. I like all three of the 'bots for different reasons, but the gunslinger is possibly my favorite of the bunch.

I think I have a few of the Khanate guys, but the ones I'm working on were called Levies. I think they're called Conscripts or something like that now.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 cygnnus wrote:
Really like the bone-colored robot with no name! Reminds me of something Johnny Alpha would run into in a 2000AD Weekly story line. In every possible good way.

Are the AA models going to be the old Khanate guys? I don’t remember you ending up with any of the Crusaders, but I could -of course- be mistaken…

Anyway, I’m sure you’d more than do the Khanate models justice!

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks for the praise. I like all three of the 'bots for different reasons, but the gunslinger is possibly my favorite of the bunch.

I think I have a few of the Khanate guys, but the ones I'm working on were called Levies. I think they're called Conscripts or something like that now.

Yeah, I do think I remember you had a bunch of the levies. Forgot about them. I ended up with quite a few Crusaders, but got rid of them years ago…. Pretty sure I still have the original rule book though.

Valete,

JohnS

Nice work on the robots, love the gunslinger!

aku-chan wrote:Nice work on the robots, love the gunslinger!

Thanks. He's a pretty simple model, but the pose really sells it. Very characterful.

cygnnus wrote:
Yeah, I do think I remember you had a bunch of the levies. Forgot about them. I ended up with quite a few Crusaders, but got rid of them years ago…. Pretty sure I still have the original rule book though.

Valete,

JohnS

I have a whole bunch- enough to fill my old Army Transport case, along with a significant number still unpainted. That doesn't mean I don't need more, though:




Pretty basic paintjobs, just "army" green suits, grey equipment, and brown boots. They won't win any awards, but sometimes you just need some Dudes with Guns, and these guys fit the bill.

One of the great things about this particular line is that all the models were hand-sculpted, with a whole lot of unique poses. I have five more of these guys in the pipes, and all ten in this squad will be unique. That's on top of all the variation in the rest of the models-- there must be 30 unique sculpts in this line. They paint up quickly, as well, which is another plus.

In addition to the rest of the squad, I have another recycled plastic structure and some barricades from the Sedition Wars terrain set. I hope to have something more to share before the weekend is up.

You're a bus chap! I especially like the fellow in the middle.

inmygravenimage wrote:You're a bus chap! I especially like the fellow in the middle.

Bus chap? Is that some weird British-ism complimenting me on my looks and talent?

Busy lol. Just a typo.

Love the Alerterntive Armies dudes, what the armored knights weren't great the light infantry never got the credit they deserve.

Nice work on the Dudes with Guns! I’m sure their red shirts are concealed under the grey breastplates! Can definitely see how they can paint up fast. Closed helmets always help.

Nice looking models though. You have been a bus chap!

Valete,


JohnS

Churning through the models and keeping a great standard as you go. Wish I could keep up the same output as you.

Maybe when I get the current terrain project out of the way and I get back to actual models…..but I know that’s just a pipe dream.

Nice "Dudes with guns" and good that they painted up quickly. I must say that venturing outside of GW and some of the other major manufacturers (I'm thinking of you, Infinity!) one is reminded that painting a mini can be a simple affair

Thanks for sharing

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Love the Alerterntive Armies dudes, what the armored knights weren't great the light infantry never got the credit they deserve.

Thanks! While the sculpts are quite dated, they work just fine for what they are.

cygnnus wrote:Nice work on the Dudes with Guns! I’m sure their red shirts are concealed under the grey breastplates! Can definitely see how they can paint up fast. Closed helmets always help.

Nice looking models though. You have been a bus chap!

Valete,


JohnS

That's the same color scheme I used on their older brothers. Quick and simple for the tabletop.

Archer wrote:Churning through the models and keeping a great standard as you go. Wish I could keep up the same output as you.

Maybe when I get the current terrain project out of the way and I get back to actual models…..but I know that’s just a pipe dream.

The secret to keeping the numbers up is to lower your standards

IGtR= wrote:Nice "Dudes with guns" and good that they painted up quickly. I must say that venturing outside of GW and some of the other major manufacturers (I'm thinking of you, Infinity!) one is reminded that painting a mini can be a simple affair

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for looking. I'm trying to improve my skills and expand my repertoire, but at the end of the day, everything I paint is a gaming piece. Sometimes, simple is best.

I haven't made a lot of progress on the next set of Dudes With Guns, but I did get a little more terrain finished:



The Landing Pad was made from another recycled container, this time for pickled Chinese cabbage, with some Maelstrom's Edge bits and scrap cardboard added to hid the embossed lettering. The barricades are from the Sedition Wars terrain set. Not a lot to say about the paint jobs-- spray paint and sponge weathering for the most part-- but they'll fill up a SF table. I need some taller, climbable pieces next, I think.

Well done, Josh, more excellent stuff - Late to the robot love party, but they were very nice!

You're a real "bus chap", as we say in England

^ I've created a monster...
The blue looks super snazzy, great job

All looking amazing, so good to see so much wonderful work.

Wish I was half the "Bus Chap" you are! Going to have to pull my bell out.

Slinky wrote:Well done, Josh, more excellent stuff - Late to the robot love party, but they were very nice!

You're a real "bus chap", as we say in England

Thanks. I'm willing to accept praise at any time, so keep it coming.

inmygravenimage wrote:^ I've created a monster...
The blue looks super snazzy, great job

Thanks. The transitions are a little rough in places, but the effect works at tabletop distances. That's the real test, isn't it?

Camkierhi wrote:All looking amazing, so good to see so much wonderful work.

Wish I was half the "Bus Chap" you are! Going to have to pull my bell out.

Everyone is a bus chap in their own ways. I'm not sure I would have the stamina to finish the giant pieces you make.

"Pull my bell out" sounds like something that could get a bus chap arrested. Or is that another British-ism for me to learn?

Second verse, same as the first:




I painted these guys over three longish sessions. Lots of overbrushing and heavy glazes to get them ready for the tabletop. Once again, five models in five unique poses. Say what you will about the models, you get a lot of variation without the slightly off poses that come with multi-part plastics. Also, I like the jaunty scarf on the guy in the middle.

Here's all ten together:


For this month's Challenge, I'll be painting either these guys:


or these guys:


The theme is Heavy Metal, and either set would fit. I'll get them cleaned and on bases, and then decide which I enjoy working on more.

Love to see you take on the Dark Judges!

Valete,

JohnS

Oooh, classic dredd minis. Nice. Got to be done.

cygnnus wrote:Love to see you take on the Dark Judges!

Valete,

JohnS

inmygravenimage wrote:Oooh, classic dredd minis. Nice. Got to be done.

The Dark Judges (including Judge Mortis, who I finally found and who is currently soaking in alcohol) will get painted. I'm just not sure which set I'll enter in the Painting Comp. Speaking of which:

Some WIP photos of a Chaos Warrior.


I'm pretty happy with the armor plates, but the chainmail is proving difficult to do in NMM. The gold accessories turned out a lot greener than I'd planned, and I'm at a complete loss as to how to approach the hilt and guard on the sword. Ideas?

...I dunno, I kinda like the green you've got going there, and the armor plates are indeed nice!

Very nice! I didn’t register that as NMM at first which, I believe, is a definite testament to your painting skills…. Thought it was silver with a greenish glaze. Well done!

Never have been able to muster the skills (or patience!) to try NMM. But that’s lovely stuff.

Can’t wait to see the Dark Judges.

You remain a bus chap!

Valete,

JohnS

He's looking good so far, with some of the trademark Josh browns

Vejut wrote:...I dunno, I kinda like the green you've got going there, and the armor plates are indeed nice!

I might revisit the green sometime, but it didn't really work for this model.

cygnnus wrote:Very nice! I didn’t register that as NMM at first which, I believe, is a definite testament to your painting skills…. Thought it was silver with a greenish glaze. Well done!

Never have been able to muster the skills (or patience!) to try NMM. But that’s lovely stuff.

Can’t wait to see the Dark Judges.

You remain a bus chap!

Valete,

JohnS

I find NMM is best approached as an impressionistic style-- rough patches of highlights, all the way up to white, without bothering too much with smooth blending.

Slinky wrote:He's looking good so far, with some of the trademark Josh browns

You'll be glad to know that my NMM steel recipe starts with Rhinox Hide. This guy is all brown.

So, these two are finished, in as much as there isn't any bare metal showing.


This first guy I'm pleased overall with this guy, except for his sword:






The blade is an irregular hexagon in cross-section, so while I was able to work with the upper and lower surfaces, the edge is too thick for NMM. Sadly, that's what you see from the front and back views.

This guy's axe gave me similar problems





Did you notice the Oldhammer-style shields? For the dude with the axe, I followed a tutorial from an ancient issue of WD (found online), while I tried to make the other guy's shield look like a section of someone's face peering out of the Realm of Chaos. Also, the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that these two models have the same core, with limbs repositioned and different bling. It didn't occur to me until I was essentially finished that I used nearly identical, but inverted, color schemes. And now, I can't unsee it.

I may or may not go back and revisit these models before the end of the month, but for now, I'm sick of looking at them. I'll start working on the Dark Judges next.

The way the shield pops against Strangely Brown is truly excellent. Legend.

Glorious work.

Two very nice, very old chaos warriors I appreciate the accidentally inverted scheme on the pair as well

Much love for the classic CW. The old-style shields add that little bit of nostalgia to contrast with the modern paintjob.

inmygravenimage wrote:The way the shield pops against Strangely Brown is truly excellent. Legend.

Thanks. I was afraid it would be too garish, but it worked pretty well in the end.

bbb wrote:Glorious work.

Thanks! I haven't seen you update your P&M blog in a while. What have you been working on?

Boss Salvage wrote:Two very nice, very old chaos warriors I appreciate the accidentally inverted scheme on the pair as well

Almost as old as I am! I always enjoy revisiting these models from the beginning of my hobby career.

youwashock wrote:Much love for the classic CW. The old-style shields add that little bit of nostalgia to contrast with the modern paintjob.

Thanks! I'd never actually done a shield in this style before, so it was quite an adventure.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

bbb wrote:Glorious work.

Thanks! I haven't seen you update your P&M blog in a while. What have you been working on?

Shamefully not much. I have about 4 MCP minis that have been on my painting desk almost finished for a few months. I REALLY want to pick up the brush, but just haven't been able to make it happen for some reason. Thanks for asking, though. It's nice to hear someone was interested

 bbb wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

bbb wrote:Glorious work.

Thanks! I haven't seen you update your P&M blog in a while. What have you been working on?

Shamefully not much. I have about 4 MCP minis that have been on my painting desk almost finished for a few months. I REALLY want to pick up the brush, but just haven't been able to make it happen for some reason. Thanks for asking, though. It's nice to hear someone was interested

Your bright and colorful Chaos Warriors inspired me to revisit my own Chaos stuff. How do you like the Marvel minis? I'm not looking to start a new game, but I don't mind picking up cool models from time to time.

Wow. I'm humbled that I was able to inspire someone

I love MCP as a game and I love Marvel as an IP. Some of the miniatures are really finicky to assemble and I don't love $20+ per miniature. Overall I think the models are great. They are much larger than most miniatures, so they arent in scale with other ranges.

That old chaos warrior with a sabertooth pelt and furry boots is one of my favourites of the era.

It's always fun to see these older models painted in a more modern style Very nicely done I must say.

 Zywus wrote:
That old chaos warrior with a sabertooth pelt and furry boots is one of my favourites of the era.

It's always fun to see these older models painted in a more modern style Very nicely done I must say.

Anything sculpted by Jes Goodwin paints up well, in my opinion.

Partly because of the impending v3 release, partly because we've been having a little Deadzone revival here at home, I painted up some Enforcers:









Apart from a few experiments with reds and NMM, I've always painted Enforcers in this business-like military green. I like the posability of these hard plastic guys, but the details on the old restics are a bit sharper and easier to paint.

I have a sprue of Enforcer scouts and some restic specialists in the pipeline. I hope to start on them in the next couple of days.

Nicely military green. No, “please shoot me” color schemes!

Hard to get a really good look at them in those pix, but they do look the part. And I have no doubt that your naturalistic style will do them justice.

And, yeah, back in the day Jes truly was the miniatures god. Amazing how well his designs have held up over time. Even as the media have changed and younger talents have emerged, he’s still a titan.

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Nicely military green. No, “please shoot me” color schemes!

Hard to get a really good look at them in those pix, but they do look the part. And I have no doubt that your naturalistic style will do them justice.

And, yeah, back in the day Jes truly was the miniatures god. Amazing how well his designs have held up over time. Even as the media have changed and younger talents have emerged, he’s still a titan.

Valete,

JohnS

Well, there's not much to see, even if the lighting were better. I'll try to have some secondary lighting for the next batch.

They've come out nicely - I like the effect on the visors particularly

I'm a simple man with simple pleasures. I see a Frostgrave model and I want to paint it brown:






Paint It Brown was the original demo of a more famous song by the Rolling Stones, BTW.

My son assembled these using parts from the Barbarian and Wizard sprues. I kept to the earthtones I've been using on all the FG barbarians so far.

The Enforcer Pathfinders are assembled and primed. I'll try to do some work on them over the weekend.

My brain heard the song before reading post picture lol. Looks ace. Looking forward to your mantic!

Yeah, I was going to say when I see a red door I want to paint it black…

As always, your mastery of earth tones amazes me. Great stuff!

Valete,

JohnS

Nice pair of druidy/wizardy dudes.

Great to get so diverse stuff to catch up on. I love the freehand on the chaos warrior shields, that is gorgeous. And the Frostgrave minis look very cool and I find it nice to have kind of a "default" color, makes painting up minis often a lot faster.

You may have simple pleasures Josh, but your skill certainly isn't simple. I always enjoy seeing your paint jobs.

There is so much to love in this thread. It has been interesting to see your painting develop over the years.

I particularly like how you have done your Frostgrave cultists, so much so that I think I will follow your example for mine.

These guys have been finished for a few days, but it was hard to find time to photograph them;








These are, of course, Enforcer Pathfinders for Deadzone/Warpath, with replacement heads from Puppets Wars (apart from the sniper). I painted them to match Lt. Roca (the fully armored guy in the last photo). The models aren't as crisp as the metal and/or restic Enforcers, but you can't really tell at tabletop distance.

I also finished Judge Death:


He's been sitting, unpainted, in a box for many, many years, along with Judges Fire and Mortis. All three have spindly little ankles (like, Hawkmoon skinny, for those old enough to get the reference), and I was afraid he would snap off and need pinning--which already happened to Mortis during priming. The grill on his mask really is bent out of shape-- soft lead combined with years of terrible handling leads to a lot of bending-- but I didn't really notice how bad it was until he was essentially finished. Please assume that he hasn't had time to do more than cursory repairs after the Fist of Dredd . Also, he's really tiny:



I have Judges Death and Mortis primed and ready to start. I'm saving Judge Fire until last because I need to study and practice fire/OSL effects to do him justice.

Love some dredd, and #deadzoneislife - looking good! You gearing up for 3rd edition, or just the fun of it?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Love some dredd, and #deadzoneislife - looking good! You gearing up for 3rd edition, or just the fun of it?

My relationship with Judge Dredd has changed a lot over the years. When I first started reading the comics as a teenager, they were kick-a$$ action stories. Now, they read as horror comics told from point of view of the monster, and they're just as awesome.

My son and I have been playing DZ for the last two or three weeks. He is determined to win against me, although he hasn't quite caught on to playing for VPs rather than kills. Also, English isn't his primary language, so he forgets about or ignores special rules and stuff. Hopefully the v3 layout will be easier for him to scan.

The layout is far better in 3rd, and the into game, with all the rules on the playmat, is excellent.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
The layout is far better in 3rd, and the into game, with all the rules on the playmat, is excellent.

Should I have gotten the v2 mat? I picked up a second v1 to play bigger games on, as the designs on the new one look to be at odd with how terrain is placed.

Well everything is cube based still but scatter can be anywhere and, indeed, everywhere. The 3rd ed box does come with a playmat but I'm likely to invest in a neoprene one. Genuinely don't know how different the first to second ed ones are.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Well everything is cube based still but scatter can be anywhere and, indeed, everywhere. The 3rd ed box does come with a playmat but I'm likely to invest in a neoprene one. Genuinely don't know how different the first to second ed ones are.

The first one is just a grid over a concrete-colored surface. There are grates and manhole covers here and there, but they don't cross the lines. The new one has that road running through the middle, and it would feel weird to me to put buildings over that.

Just taking a look at the site, 3rd edition is getting two new mats that are a bit more logical. Maybe spring for one of them.

Two more Dark Judges essentially finished:









Their bases, much like Judge Fear's, are unfinished. I'm not entirely certain what I'll decorate them with, but given how the cracking medium pooled around their feet, it looks like I'll have to Liefeld them. Note also that their badges are less detailed than Fear's, so you can't actually make our their names.

One additional detail that, once seen cannot be unseen, is that these two avatars of death are fans of the Bangles:



I've made a start on Judge fire. The flames are too red, and will need some lightening. Also, I'm having a heck of a time getting the flaming skull just right. After that, I've dug out some Blackwater Gulch gunfighter-types to use in Five Parsecs.

Always loved the death sculpt, not quite sure of the Mortissssssss, but you've certainly done then ... Justice you could even just add a tag to the base, Drokk the Js, Chopper lives or something? But cracked paving also makes total sense. Good luck with !

Nice job on the Dark Judges!
Those are some weird poses though, they should've stuck with Fears fist-pump.

Saw your terrain featured on the Spiral Arms Studios Instagram account because of your use of bits from their terrain sprue.

Good work!

inmygravenimage wrote:Always loved the death sculpt, not quite sure of the Mortissssssss, but you've certainly done then ... Justice you could even just add a tag to the base, Drokk the Js, Chopper lives or something? But cracked paving also makes total sense. Good luck with !

I'm thinking of adding detritus from victims, like skulls or fear-struck corpse faces or whatever.I probably should have done that before I painted the rest of the models, though...

aku-chan wrote:Nice job on the Dark Judges!
Those are some weird poses though, they should've stuck with Fears fist-pump.

In the comics, both characters kill through touch, so I think that's what the sculptor was aiming for. It still looks like the "Walk Like An Egyptian" dance, though.

bbb wrote:Saw your terrain featured on the Spiral Arms Studios Instagram account because of your use of bits from their terrain sprue.

Good work!

Really? I guess I should actually use the Instagram account I made oh so long ago...

Judge Fire is finished, apart from base decoration:




He looks pretty good in real life, but utterly horrible in the zoomed-in gallery images.

I think you are doing it a disservice, he looks rather nice to me, even in super-zoom mode

Very snazzy, nice fire effect.

Excellent, and the fire effect is particularly good on his left pad.

"You cannot kill what doesss not lllive..."

But apparently you can give it an awesome paint job. Love them.

Thanks for the kinds words, everyone. OSL and lighting effects are still unexplored country for me, so Judge Fire is very much an experiment. If/when I try something similar, it shoudl turn out better. In the meantime, I finished a couple of Space Cowboys:






These are two members of the Tranquility Crew (a Firefly homage) from Blackwater Gulch. They should be seeing action in a Five Parsecs crew. I have also started some more terrain-from-garbage:

All those evil judges look amazing, really fun miniatures in their weirdness. But I really love the pathfinder sniper with the cloak, I'm a sucker for such poses.

Looking forward to your upcycled (sounds so much better than "from garbage") terrain.

The Medge terrain sprue is so good for that sort of stuff.

I agree, the fire is really well done, it's a well done model!

I'm calling these guys finished. Their bases need something, but I can't seem to get anything to turn out like I want.

The Dark Judges:


Judge Fear:

Judge Fire:

Judge Mortis:

Judge Death:


I also finished the Preacher from the Tranquility Crew set:

For all that they're rather squat, you've absolutely done them justice. Love the Shepherd.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
For all that they're rather squat, you've absolutely done them justice. Love the Shepherd.

Thanks. Before digging them out of storage, I had a vivid memory of their being cool Oldhammer sculpts. Sadly, they don't really compare to, say, Jes Goodwin sculpts from the same era. Still, they painted up nicely, I think.

I didn't notice how badly the Shepherd leaned. I very carefully bent his tab to have him more upright. I need to add some foliage to his base.

Lots for me to catch up on but all fantastic as ever. Judge Dredd stuff a particular highlight

Thanks for sharing

 IGtR= wrote:
Lots for me to catch up on but all fantastic as ever. Judge Dredd stuff a particular highlight

Thanks for sharing

Thanks, I'm glad you liked them. I don't know that they'll ever see action on the tabletop, though. You know who will? These guys:




These are the last two in the Tranquility Crew set from Blackwater Gulch. I was a little irritated by the not-Kaylee model for wearing a form-fitting coverall instead of the shapeless thing the original character wore--painting such lovingly-scultped butts on what are meant to be wargaming miniatures always makes me feel a little creepy. At least she's fully-clothed. Not-Simon's hands were separate pieces, and while I managed to get the pistol hand in pretty much the right position, the other hand tuned out kind of wonky.

Anyway, the set is finished:


I need to find models for Zoe, River, and Wash someday, but for now it's on to different projects. I hope to have my ramen-bowl houses done in the next couple of days, and then maybe some of the street scenery I got with Mars Attacks? Who knows...

They are very nicely done - Did you say they were to be used in Stargrave?

They look excellent, especially the Simon. Hasslefree maybe for the missing crew?

Slinky wrote:They are very nicely done - Did you say they were to be used in Stargrave?

They could be, but they're more likely to appear in Five Parsecs. I should probably give Stargrave another try, but it didn't spark joy in the same way as Frostgrave does.

inmygravenimage wrote:They look excellent, especially the Simon. Hasslefree maybe for the missing crew?

Simon is probably my least favorite model in the set, mostly because of how hard it was to drill and pin those tiny little hands. I am proud of his vest, though. Thanks for the headsup, I'll look into Hasslefree.

Hardcore also just did a Grimdark Serenity crew that might be worth a look.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Hardcore also just did a Grimdark Serenity crew that might be worth a look.

Cool. I'll take a look at those, as well.

Nice work JoshInJapan.

Cheers,

CB

Crew is looking cool, my favorites being Not-Mal and Not-Shepherd. I had eyed the Firefly adventures box, but the sculpts seem very so and so.

And the finished judges look amazing, the fire effect looks great!

Nicely done. I need to finish my own crew too. Too many projects at the same time!

M.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Hardcore also just did a Grimdark Serenity crew that might be worth a look.

Cool. I'll take a look at those, as well.

https://hardcore-miniatures.com/shop#w--ul-id-63-2/ROGUE-TRADER-CREW/c/102467131--w

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Hardcore also just did a Grimdark Serenity crew that might be worth a look.

Cool. I'll take a look at those, as well.

https://hardcore-miniatures.com/shop#w--ul-id-63-2/ROGUE-TRADER-CREW/c/102467131--w

Thanks for the link. Those are pretty cool models, but they are a little extreme compared to the Blackwater Gulch models. Their space dwarfs would be pretty good for Deadzone, though.

I haven't gotten a lot of models done since my last update, but I did get some scenery done:




These little hab units are made from instant ramen containers, with some help from the Maelstrom's Edge scenery sprue and some pipes from a Platformer set. The weathering kind of got away from me, but it looks much better at tabletop distance than in these photos. I added some graffiti to break up the otherwise plain surfaces.







I got this car with my Mars Attacks! kickstarter stuff many, many years ago. I don't remember who made it (it wasn't Mantic-- they outsourced it to someone), but I can guess how it was made-- they smashed a toy car with a hammer, added some cut sprue for bricks, then made a RTV rubber mold. The cast is pretty rough, but it looks good enough at arm's length to use as scenery. I have one more smashed car and another that is undamaged from this set that I'll try to work into the queue. If they go smoothly, I have some more street scenery from the same KS to work on as well.

The theme for the Dakka Challenge for November is Catch Me If You Can. I'm still weighing options, and I may put up a poll when I narrow it down to two or three.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Captain Brown wrote:Nice work JoshInJapan.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks!

Viterbi wrote:Crew is looking cool, my favorites being Not-Mal and Not-Shepherd. I had eyed the Firefly adventures box, but the sculpts seem very so and so.

And the finished judges look amazing, the fire effect looks great!

I looked at those, but I didn't want to buy a whole boxed game just for the models. Also, I have had these lying around for while.

Miguelsan wrote:Nicely done. I need to finish my own crew too. Too many projects at the same time!

M.

Same here. We keep plugging away, though.

Here's what I am thinking of for the Painting Challenge this month:
1) a repaint of this classic Assassin:


2) Glam the Wardancer:


3) some Skavenslaves:


4) Blackwater Gulch bandits:


They all fit the theme in one way or another, and they're all in the painting queue as of now. Which do you, the loyal reader, think I should enter? Please give me your answer in the poll!

I went with the wardancer, due to his innate sliceyness. Hard to catch something without any hands

Also the not-serenity crew looks awesome!

I vote for the Blackwater gulch bandits; something different and a good fit for the theme.

Bandits, every time.

Love the classic assassin. Would enjoy seeing your revised take on it.

I vote either Ninja Assassin or Glam. Both great old minis.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. I'll leave the poll up for a few more days, but I think I'll be entering Glam in the challenge. He'll be a David Bowie homage, assuming I can pull it off.

Now there's a great idea! Look forward to seeing it

We have been playing a lot of Deadzone with the release of the third edition. I got into Mantic SF stuff because of their Enforcers, but since my son almost always chooses them, I have been experimenting with the other forces instead. Recently, I've been playing Marauders, using my old 40K Orks to fill in some gaps in my Mantic collection. I painted this guy to add some fun and mayhem:



Boomer the hobgoblin runs around throwing grenades. Smoke is vital for Maruaders because they have no Armor, and frag is fun because of the scatter. I don't know if he will be worth the points, but gaming is about more than winning, right?

Also, I think Glam is finished:





For reference, this is the outfit I based him on:


edit: I guess I'm not allowed to keep this photo in my gallery. Go here to see the sweet glam rock fashion.

I'm posting these photos mostly so I can see if anything needs touchup or got missed. Once I'm satisfied, I'll add something to his base and enter him in the challenge.

To be fair, grenades are generally terrifying because boards are so tightly packed with scenery that, even if they scatter, things go boom. Elf looks glam tastic, great leggings.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
To be fair, grenades are generally terrifying because boards are so tightly packed with scenery that, even if they scatter, things go boom. Elf looks glam tastic, great leggings.

Marauders can't really go toe-to-toe with armored enemies, so I've been using lots of keyword-based tactics. Suppression is great for hindering snipers, and frag is never not fun.

I'm pretty happy with Glam, but I don't think I could do a whole unit with stripey pants without going bonkers.

How does DZ3 play?

M.

 Miguelsan wrote:
How does DZ3 play?

M.

It's not that different from DZ2, really. The special rules have been cleaned up and the costs of various models rebalanced. The layout of the army lists is a lot easier to read. Adding a Health stat makes damage a little easier to calculate.

^Seconded. The Health Stat is a massive time-saver. I review it and the 3rd ed boxset here: https://bigcomicpage.com/2021/10/11/geeking-out-deadzone-from-mantic-games-review-and-giveaway/

tl;dr it's really just a massive streamlining exercise, and plays fast as. Cracking.

Love the glam elf - Stripy trousers are nicely retro and suit the model well

Very smart looking elf! And the Mantic chap looks fun

Thanks for sharing

Love Skarloc Sane! The NMM swords look great. As do the facial tattoo and the striped pants. Nice concept and really well executed!

Valete,

JohnS

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 Miguelsan wrote:
How does DZ3 play?

M.

It's not that different from DZ2, really. The special rules have been cleaned up and the costs of various models rebalanced. The layout of the army lists is a lot easier to read. Adding a Health stat makes damage a little easier to calculate.

I need to try it.

M.

inmygravenimage wrote:^Seconded. The Health Stat is a massive time-saver. I review it and the 3rd ed boxset here: https://bigcomicpage.com/2021/10/11/geeking-out-deadzone-from-mantic-games-review-and-giveaway/

tl;dr it's really just a massive streamlining exercise, and plays fast as. Cracking.

That it does. v3 has rekindled my love of the game.

Slinky wrote:Love the glam elf - Stripy trousers are nicely retro and suit the model well

Stripey trousers are very much a mid-80's Citadel look. It works so well on so many models of that era.

IGtR= wrote:Very smart looking elf! And the Mantic chap looks fun

Thanks for sharing

Thanks. I gave Boomer a test run yesterday. It went OK, but I think I just need to have him run around chucking grenades instead of hugging cover.

cygnnus wrote:Love Skarloc Sane! The NMM swords look great. As do the facial tattoo and the striped pants. Nice concept and really well executed!

Valete,

JohnS

The facepaint was hard, and doesn't look quite right, but it's hard painting over all the sharp edges on a Jes Goodwin elf-face.

Miguelsan wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 Miguelsan wrote:
How does DZ3 play?

M.

It's not that different from DZ2, really. The special rules have been cleaned up and the costs of various models rebalanced. The layout of the army lists is a lot easier to read. Adding a Health stat makes damage a little easier to calculate.

I need to try it.

M.

Give it a try. It's a great update to the game.

Those a two great minis! And if the choice is between a model that wins you the game or a madman running around the field chucking grenades... there is no choice And love what you've done with the base, the yellow breaks it up nicely.

 Viterbi wrote:
Those a two great minis! And if the choice is between a model that wins you the game or a madman running around the field chucking grenades... there is no choice And love what you've done with the base, the yellow breaks it up nicely.

I agree completely-- Boomer has become a regular member of my Marauders strike team. The base was made with a GSW roller, one of the best investments I've made this year.

I cranked out another Blackwater Gulch team, The Widowmakers:



I tried to base this one on Sharon Stone in The Quick and The Dead, but the duster is too dark and she looks more like a gender-swapped John Constantine. The model has an unfortunate mold line right over her right eye, so I gave her a Jonah Hex scar. The eyes were really, really difficult to paint.




To me, this model looks more like an Action GIrl than a western character. I didn't bother trying to paint the eyes--they're sculpted, but quite shallow and thus very difficult to get right. Note that she doesn't have a holster for that pistol.




I may have been tired or slightly buzzed when I started this model, but the hat and gloves immediately reminded me of the cover art for Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and I tried to make color choices to reflect that. Once again, no holster for the pistols.




This is the only model I've given a name to: Nurse Fightingale.




I based most of the colors on this one on Davy Crockett (the Walt Disney version). I'm not sure why she's wearing a cape. She's armed with tomahawks and a bundle of TNT, so I suspect she'll be seeing a lot of time on the tabletop.

Here's the whole set:


I also finished Glam's base, mostly by adding tufts:

Glam looks ace, beautiful swords. Love the Blackwater gals, especially the 3rd (or, last on right in the group shot) and really like how you use the GSW tufts on your bases.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Glam looks ace, beautiful swords. Love the Blackwater gals, especially the 3rd (or, last on right in the group shot) and really like how you use the GSW tufts on your bases.

Thanks. It took me a long time to get the swords as good as they are, and I can see myself spending many more hours on them if I let myself. The tufts are a mixture of Gamer's Grass and tajima1. Are GSW tufts any good?

I finally finished the Imperial Assassin:






As always, I see nothing but flaws, especially in the full-sized gallery pics, but he's done, and if/when he sees action on the tabletop, he'll get the job done.