Love it! Great break from the usual, but still works to your strengths. The canopy looks brilliant.

Valete,

JohnS

Neat looking mecha, and somewhat more realistic than all the two-legged ones seen in most sci-fi. I wouldn't bother with the pin wash myself; why risk damaging an already nicely done model? I've had to make that decision myself a few times.

Thanks for all the kind comments. It was fun to work on something so far outside of my wheelhouse.

My painting has slowed down this month, but I did manage to get a few things done. First, Chief Radgrad, a Deadzone mercenary:





Marauders in DZ have a slightly more regimented look than the Orks they are based on. This guy kind of leans toward the Waagh. He's also solid metal-- not quite as deadly as a 2Ed SM dread, but you could still seriously injure someone with this model.

I also painted some Enforcer Peacekeepers, this time with Defender Shields:





For this set, I went in a more Iron Man direction. The sprue comes with five shields, but only four right arms that go with them, so I have one more guy to paint.

Finally, I painted this old Citadel Ogre:





This guy is more like an Oni rather than a GW ogre, so I tried to take my painting in that direction. I'm not really very happy with how he turned out-- There were too many wrinkles in his clothes for me to add any patterns, so he doesn't really look all that Japanese. I was planning to enter him in the monthly Dakka comp, but I think I'll have to do something else. Speaking of which:



I got this Storm Giant in the first Reaper Bones KS. Let's see what I can do with this.

Really like your take on Enforcer colours.

Great stuff, JoshInJapan. The classic ogre rules. Looking forward to the original BONES cloud giant. She's a pretty neat sculpt. Haven't painted mine yet, either. Did you pick up the reboot?

inmygravenimage wrote:Really like your take on Enforcer colours.

Thanks! I have a ton of Enforcers painted in military green, and I've gotten tired of that particular scheme. Also, no brown in these models!

youwashock wrote:Great stuff, JoshInJapan. The classic ogre rules. Looking forward to the original BONES cloud giant. She's a pretty neat sculpt. Haven't painted mine yet, either. Did you pick up the reboot?

Thanks! The ogre is not my favorite from this particular series, but he is unique. I have the male version of this giant in my KoW Ogre army, but this one is a little too cheesecake for that. I haven't actually picked up any more Bones models since the first KS. There are some neat ones, to be sure, but looking the big white box full of little white plastic dude, each in their own little plastic bag, is a stark reminder of the size of my backlog...

Heh. I hear that. I pledged for BONES I, and very quickly learned to wait for retail and pick and choose from the later offerings. As for most of KS 1? Given away to friends and new painters.

I like the look of your Enforcers. That beautiful blue.

Looking forward to seeing that giantess painted up!
Not sure if I ever got around to finishing mine.

Oooh Oriential Ogre. I would love to own all the Jes Goodwin ogres, I've only got a few.

youwashock wrote:Heh. I hear that. I pledged for BONES I, and very quickly learned to wait for retail and pick and choose from the later offerings. As for most of KS 1? Given away to friends and new painters.

On those rare occasions I dig out the big white box, I invariably think "___ is a pretty cool model. I should paint it." Lots of random, but lots of fun. I may start working my way through the box as an ongoing project next year.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I like the look of your Enforcers. That beautiful blue.

Thanks. It's VGC Imperial Blue, highlighted with white. It is a lovely blue, isn't it?

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:Oooh Oriential Ogre. I would love to own all the Jes Goodwin ogres, I've only got a few.

I only have a few, myself, but I love them all. Sadly eBay prices are to high for me these days.

aku-chan wrote:Looking forward to seeing that giantess painted up!
Not sure if I ever got around to finishing mine.

Ask, and ye shall receive.










Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm going to stick with the giant theme for a while, starting with this guy, from Old School Miniatures.

You've really bought that giantess to life, great contrast between the skin and the hair. May I ask, do you undercoat in black, usually?

 PaddyMick wrote:
You've really bought that giantess to life, great contrast between the skin and the hair. May I ask, do you undercoat in black, usually?

Thanks, I'm glad you liked her. I was originally planning to make her blonde, but I thought that would get lost in all the other browns. The fiery red hair worked better.

I always prime with black gesso. It makes missing tiny crevasses less of a concern than with white. This is something I worry about now that I have 50+year old eyes.

LOVE that blue skintone. She's turned out great!

In love with that skin tone, perfect with the red hair.

youwashock wrote:LOVE that blue skintone. She's turned out great!

inmygravenimage wrote:In love with that skin tone, perfect with the red hair.

Thanks. It took a long time and lots and lots of layers to get it right. I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at photos of fitness models to figure out where the highlights should go. It was research, of course, no other reason.

You're a martyr to the cause, mate

Sometimes you have to take one for the team.

Lovely blue skin on that giantess, well done!

She looks cold as ice. Oh yes, I know. I've seen it before, it happens all the time.

The giantess is amazing, as they said before is brought to life, and kudos for all the pain having to check fitness models photos

Amazing work, every time I come here.

aku-chan wrote:Lovely blue skin on that giantess, well done!

Thanks. It took me a long time to get it as good as it is.

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:She looks cold as ice. Oh yes, I know. I've seen it before, it happens all the time.

Closing the door? Leave the world behind?

The_Retromancer wrote:The giantess is amazing, as they said before is brought to life, and kudos for all the pain having to check fitness models photos

Oh, the things I do for my craft!

Camkierhi wrote:Amazing work, every time I come here.

Back atcha, friend!

October is Spooky Month for the Dakka Challenge, so I'll be painting these not-Scooby Gang models from Black Site:



Also, continuing the theme from September, I painted up these giants from Old School Miniatures:



This first guy was actually the last of the set. I chose his head based on his wearing armor. I lost patience on the NMM, as you can probably see.



There were four heads to choose from. This guy's head reminded me of Wallace (of Wallace and Gromit fame), so I decided to paint him in those colors.



I'm not sure why I didn't take a rear shot of this guy, but that's probably OK, as there's not much to see.

Here's a group shot:



along with a WIP of Daphne:

Feefifofum I smell... CHEEEEEESE!
Actually, the nmm looks quite natural because it's not overdone. They look grand.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Feefifofum I smell... CHEEEEEESE!
Actually, the nmm looks quite natural because it's not overdone. They look grand.

You see the resemblance, right? The ears, the teeth, the huge hands. How could I not go in that direction?

Those guys are great. Really fun models. Daphne is already looking swell.

 youwashock wrote:
Those guys are great. Really fun models. Daphne is already looking swell.

The giants were a pain to assemble-- their heads needed pinning and I had to bore out their hands so the weapons would fit-- but they were fun to paint. Chunky hand-sculpts are great to work with.

Daphne is finished, I just have to take photos.

Loving the eyepatch giant in particular, good work!

The_Retromancer wrote:
Loving the eyepatch giant in particular, good work!

Thanks. He was the first one I painted out of this set, when the project was new and I was highly motivated.

I finished off the Scooby Gang earlier this week. First up, Daphne:



Daphne was the first one I painted. Her right arm was a separate piece, and being so tiny it was a bear to attach, needing some putty work to cover the join. She (and all of the models in this set, really) had some really unfortunate mold lines, most visibly over her right shoe, and a really weird face. Seriously, she looks a lot like that Momo meme that was going around a while back. Someone did Daphne wrong.

Next, Shaggy:



Shaggy suffered from the same mold line problem as Daphne-- he has one running right over the palm of his left hand that I ended up just ignoring. The model is probably supposed to be running away from Old Man Smithers in his ghost disguise, but his face makes him look like he's up to something.

Vemla:



Cartoon Velma is short and a little stocky. This Velma is tall and slender, but her ugly sweater makes her look dumpy. Again, mold lines.

Fred:


Fred is probably the best of this set, despite the fact that he is no one's favorite character.

Scooby:



Just a brown dog. His front legs were separate, and had a huge gap that needed filling.

Here's the gang all together:



I feel like there must be a better-sculpted Scooby Gang out there, but this is the one I have. They look good enough at arm's length, but probably needed another pass by the sculptor to get them a little more cartoon-accurate.

I'm not sure what I want to paint next. I have a lot of things on and around my painting station, but as of this writing nothing is really screaming at me to be painted.

Looking great, and as you say, Fred is definitely dapper.
I know the feeling about stalling a bit. Nothing wrong with taking a wee bit of time off. Also, dakka contests often spur me on to paint random stuff.

Hasslefree used to have two different sets of the scooby gang. One armed and another unarmed.
Unfortunately Hasslefree seems to be gone now, but if you look around I think a few third party vendors may still have them.

inmygravenimage wrote:Looking great, and as you say, Fred is definitely dapper.
I know the feeling about stalling a bit. Nothing wrong with taking a wee bit of time off. Also, dakka contests often spur me on to paint random stuff.

Recently, the only models I have painted have been for the Dakka challenge. Nary a game in almost two years, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I have an idea for an ongoing project that should at least keep my hand in, though.

Tommygun1918 wrote:Hasslefree used to have two different sets of the scooby gang. One armed and another unarmed.
Unfortunately Hasslefree seems to be gone now, but if you look around I think a few third party vendors may still have them.

I'm not entirely certain that I need another Scooby gang, especially given how many other models I have in my backlog.

Well, model issues aside, they turned out well. Doubling down on Scoobies seems like a not-great idea. Got any more giants? Or wait a minute to see what November's challenge will be?

 youwashock wrote:
Well, model issues aside, they turned out well. Doubling down on Scoobies seems like a not-great idea. Got any more giants? Or wait a minute to see what November's challenge will be?

Thanks! I think I'm out of giants, and I know I'm out of places to put large models until I rearrange the cabinet. November is looking to be either Surprise! or Ancients. If the former, expect to see (or not see) ninjas. If the latter, probably something Lovecraftian.

This week, I did a little palate cleanser:







This model from Bear's Head is supposed to be a beholder, but lacks the trademark eyestalks. He kind of reminds me of Kang (from The Simpsons, not Marvel), especially with his toothy grin. I did everything, including the base, with gouache paints. As an extra challenge, I only used red, blue, yellow, white and black. He didn't turn out quite as fleshy as I'd planned, but I'm happy with him overall.

The theme for November's Dakka challenge is ancients. I was thinking of something Lovecraftian, but nothing in the Closet of Shame really called out to be painted. Instead, I'll be painting up these old Eldar:


They were originally sold as guardians, but I've always used them as Dire Avenger exarchs. I'll be painting them as individual characters rather than as a unit.

He looks quite personable. Like he's about to make you an offer you can't refuse. Nice work mixing all the colors!

Already stoked to see the old Eldar. I lament never owning the pointing fellow with the mask.

First beholder user car salesman miniature I’ve seen!

Lovely work as always, Josh(e).

Can’t wait to see those old Eldar get a fresh treatment.

Valete,

JohnS

He's a bit... sleazy... isn't he? The face is quite unsettling.

Scooby Gang turned out pretty good despite their issues.

youwashock wrote:He looks quite personable. Like he's about to make you an offer you can't refuse. Nice work mixing all the colors!

Already stoked to see the old Eldar. I lament never owning the pointing fellow with the mask.

He is a pretty cool model. The half-closed eyelid really adds a lot to his face.

At one point, I had three of the masked guy, but he was one of my least favorite of that release. The mask struck me as a little too Chaos-y. I like him a lot more now, though.

cygnnus wrote:First beholder user car salesman miniature I’ve seen!

Lovely work as always, Josh(e).

Can’t wait to see those old Eldar get a fresh treatment.

Valete,

JohnS

Just be sure to check the warranty before you sign anything.

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:He's a bit... sleazy... isn't he? The face is quite unsettling.

He's not sleazy, he's just shrewd.

aku-chan wrote:Scooby Gang turned out pretty good despite their issues.

Thanks. My feelings have softened somewhat now that I've finished them and moved on.

Speaking of which, I finished off those Eldar. They've actually been done for a week, but I didn't get around to photographing them until this morning.




This first guy is my favorite of the set-- I used another copy of the same model as a Dire Avenger Exarch back when I played 40K. I painted this guy in the classic black-and-yellow of Yriel's Eldritch Raiders, but the headband kind of masks the yellow of the helmet. The way he holds the sword made the NMM a little tricky. If I had to do it over again, I would probably file down the edge of the blade to make it sharper and less hexagonal.




Not being a 40K player, I rarely give models identical paintjobs, as I don't have to form them into units. For this second guy, I knew I wanted to do him in red, and decided on bone as the contrast color. Once the model was finished, I realized that I had essentially painted a Saim Hann model. That made me look back on that first guy, which now looked more like an Ulthwe model.




I decided to sort of go with the flow, and paint each model in one of the classic Craftworld's colors. This third guy is Biel-Tan. I dirtied up the white, to keep with my Paint Everything Brown technique.




This fourth guy is in Iyanden colors. He's from an earlier release than the first three in this set, which is why he has the mesh undersuit and lumpier helmet. I think I have another copy of this model in a Striking Scorpion unit somewhere.




This last model in in Alaitoc colors. Originally, I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about that, as those are just mirrored Iyanden colors. I opted to lean more Turquoise, which I think works to distinguish the two. The right side of his mask is miscast, making it look like he took a melta-shot or something to the face. It doesn't really show unless you're looking for it, though.

Here is a group shot:


I really enjoyed painting these guys. Eldar were my first RT army, and I love going back and revisiting them. I have a few, even older, guardians in the works that I hope to be able to show by the end of the week.

Your beholder looks like me surfing the internet.

Great updates! Love those classic Eldars.

I love the retro elder in classic wd schemes. Lush.

Really cool stuff. Great job!

They look great, I think they look better here than the spotless look GW used to give them.

Tommygun1918 wrote:Your beholder looks like me surfing the internet.

You might want to consider clearing your search history, just in case (>.<

muette wrote:Great updates! Love those classic Eldars.

Me, too! I've had these (and other) models for nearly four decade, but I never get tired of them.

inmygravenimage wrote:I love the retro elder in classic wd schemes. Lush.

Thanks! These paint schemes were a happy accident, but I can see why they endure.

youwashock wrote:Really cool stuff. Great job!

Thanks!

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:They look great, I think they look better here than the spotless look GW used to give them.

Thanks! My style of late has become rough and muted, with lot of earth tones. I'm not sure I could do something in the old 40Kv2- era style, right now.

After posting these photos, I noticed some slop in the first dude. I went back, fixed it, and used the new photo in the Dakka Comp:

Really nice work. I don't remember the old Eldar having head bans.

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
Really nice work. I don't remember the old Eldar having head bans.

Thanks. This is the only one, to my recollection, with a headband. There may have been one or two in the generation after this one, but I can't say for sure, not being a big fan of those models.

Nice job on those old Eldar, my favourite is also the one striking a fencing pose.

Exalted JoshInJapan.

I have to admit, I have a love of recovering and painting old Eldar.

Cheers,

CB

aku-chan wrote:Nice job on those old Eldar, my favourite is also the one striking a fencing pose.

Thanks! I wish there had been more models done in this style.

Captain Brown wrote:Exalted JoshInJapan.

I have to admit, I have a love of recovering and painting old Eldar.

Cheers,

CB

Agreed. All of Jes Goodwin's eldar, from the earliest Space Elves to his Aspect Warriors, still hold up today.

Some miscellany to round out the month. First, some more classic Eldar:





These guys, along with two others currently soaking in alcohol, were going to be my entry in the Dakka challenge, but I opted for other set, all of whom were bare metal. I still love these models, but they kind of show their age, or rather Jes Goddwin's. If you look at the profile shots, you can see that a normally-proportioned humanoid head wouldn't fit in that helmet unless said head was boneless. Let's just agree to overlook that fact, shall we?

Next, a resin Blaine model that I got from Mantic's Vanguard KS:






Blaine is a sort of recurring character in Mantic's games. I think I have at least one of each that has been released, with the exception of Blaine Riding a Dinosaur that came with one of the Kings of War Kickstarters. I was supposed to get one, but apparently the molds kept breaking and eventually they (meaning Mantic) eventually gave up. No big deal, as it was a freebie.

Finally a limited edition Stage-1 Plage model, from the first Deadzone KS:






For comparison, the version of the model I painted years ago:



The model was supposed to be on a 40mm base, but the overhang was too egregious. I ended up putting him on one of the a Sedition Wars bases that I have lying around (a lot of their Big Monsters fit better on smaller bases). I have at least two more of the restic version of this model-- one painted(seen above), one not-- but you can only ever field one in the game. Still, one can never have too many gross bone monsters, right?]

I have a small set of Forge Fathers (also Deadzone) in the works, but painting is going slow as the end of the year draws near. I'll try to have them ready to show before the New Year's holiday.

For a split second I thought you were posing with it in a Spiderman outfit

Looking good. Classic Eldar are always a favorite.

I have often wondered if Deadzone is really just Sedition Wars 2.0. There's some very similar design sensibilities, but a much wider world. Never bothered to look at the timeline or people involved after Sedition Wars went kaput.

Looking good! Love forge fathers, what scheme are you thinking?

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:For a split second I thought you were posing with it in a Spiderman outfit

Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's been years since I could rock tights, though.

youwashock wrote:Looking good. Classic Eldar are always a favorite.

I have often wondered if Deadzone is really just Sedition Wars 2.0. There's some very similar design sensibilities, but a much wider world. Never bothered to look at the timeline or people involved after Sedition Wars went kaput.

Agreed. I love me some Jes Goodwin Eldar.

I don't care a lot about the background of any game I play, so any similarities there are beyond me. The game itself, though, is great. Fast playing, low model count, verticality on the table. It's probably my second favorite game of the last two decades, with Frostgrave being the first.

inmygravenimage wrote:Looking good! Love forge fathers, what scheme are you thinking?

All of the FF I've painted so far match the studio colors pretty closely. I might try something different with these guys, but I've not decided anything yet. That's part of what is slowing me down.

I do like standard orange, but maybe something with more of a construction crew vibe? Then again I did mine lime green (constructicons )

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I do like standard orange, but maybe something with more of a construction crew vibe? Then again I did mine lime green (constructicons )

That's how I approached the Brokkrs, but the fully armored guys give me trouble. I'll figure something out.

Now THOSE are some blast from the past Eldar! Crazy how different (and clearly better) your painting skills are for when those lads first graced our ping pong table!

Amazing work, as always. You really did them justice. Heck, more than. The paint jobs, think, outpace even the admirable Mr. Goodwin’s skill of that era.

Blaine looks great as well.

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Now THOSE are some blast from the past Eldar! Crazy how different (and clearly better) your painting skills are for when those lads first graced our ping pong table!

Amazing work, as always. You really did them justice. Heck, more than. The paint jobs, think, outpace even the admirable Mr. Goodwin’s skill of that era.

Blaine looks great as well.

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks, dude. Do you recognize the paint scheme on the Eldar? It's the same one I used on my army for the 2000 Grand Tournament.

I knew they looked familiar. Wasn’t sure if that’s how you had them painted up when we played back in the day or where I had seen it before. But, yeah, definitely remember the scheme.

Very nicely done, indeed!

Valete,

JohnS

Ah, the days where every shiriken was unique.

Cheers,

CB

Classic models have a certain charm for sure, and you did them justice! Also liking some of the Deadzone stuff; I think the Star Saga game was based on that same universe as there's a boss in that game who looks similar to your plague guy (possibly even the same sculpt). Which reminds me, I need to eventually either paint or sell that game (yet another in my endless backlog of projects...).

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Classic models have a certain charm for sure, and you did them justice! Also liking some of the Deadzone stuff; I think the Star Saga game was based on that same universe as there's a boss in that game who looks similar to your plague guy (possibly even the same sculpt). Which reminds me, I need to eventually either paint or sell that game (yet another in my endless backlog of projects...).

Much like music, my hobby tastes were pretty much cemented when I was in my teens. A lot of the newer models, from any manufacturer, are objectively better than a lot of the classics, but the classics are what I grew up on.

Star Saga is, indeed, set in the same universe. A lot of the character models have counterparts in the Deadzone rules. Every once in a while I regret not backing that particular KS, but almost immediately I remember just how many unpainted models I still have from the first two DZ kickstarters and then I feel better.

Here are the Path To Glory models, all painted up and in a group shot. Individual shots came out dark and a little out of focus, so I'll be redoing them before I share.

OH! those are glorious! Fantastic work

Are they from Knightmare?

They look like the path of degeneration for the guy on the far right. They get steadily more chaotic and mutated from right to left. They look fantastic!

Wow they look like the stepped out of the pages of Slaves of Darkness!

bbb wrote:OH! those are glorious! Fantastic work

Are they from Knightmare?

Thanks! I honestly don't remember where I got these models from. Some boutique outfit, most likely one guy working alone, that appeared in my FB feed a while back.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:They look like the path of degeneration for the guy on the far right. They get steadily more chaotic and mutated from right to left. They look fantastic!

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Wow they look like the stepped out of the pages of Slaves of Darkness!

That's exactly what they are-- the sculptor was inspired by this two-page spread from Slave to Darkness:

Excellent! Great paint and an awesome homage to a classic.

 youwashock wrote:
Excellent! Great paint and an awesome homage to a classic.

Thanks. They are cool models, and I'm pretty happy with how everything but the daemon blades have turned out. The flame running up the middle of the blade is acceptable, but I can't seem to get the glow right along the edges.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

bbb wrote:OH! those are glorious! Fantastic work

Are they from Knightmare?

Thanks! I honestly don't remember where I got these models from. Some boutique outfit, most likely one guy working alone, that appeared in my FB feed a while back.

Found them. Drew Day Williams / Satyr Studios

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9aUq1uOKCJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 bbb wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

bbb wrote:OH! those are glorious! Fantastic work

Are they from Knightmare?

Thanks! I honestly don't remember where I got these models from. Some boutique outfit, most likely one guy working alone, that appeared in my FB feed a while back.

Found them. Drew Day Williams / Satyr Studios

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9aUq1uOKCJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Nice hunting! This fellow makes a lot of nifty, RT-esque models that I in no way need, but want nonetheless.

Work for 2024 is over, and I found some time to re-photograph the Aspiring Champion:

Turning To Chaos:


Just some ambitious Empire soldier. This is a one-piece mold, which must have been a bear to cast given how he's holding the dagger.

Mark of the Gods:



A pretty quick jump from Empire gear to Chaos Armor. We see his first mutation-- a horse leg. The helmet flash was kind of confusing. He has horns as well as decorative elements. Typing this out, I realize he actually has two mutations.

Mark Of Chaos:



Two more mutations-- a tentacle arm and a tail-- as well as a Daemon Weapon. This guy is rolling pretty well on the d1000 table. The weapon caused me a lot of heartache. I tried to make it look white hot at the core, but it came out a cheerful lemon yellow. This version works well enough, I suppose.

Eye of the God:


An extra pair of arms, plus some growth on his tentacle and tail. The model is bigger than the previous three, so I put him on a larger base (32mm insted of 25mm). These guys all come with slotta tabs, so I had to slice out a slott(a) in the base for him. This sword looks better than the previous stage-- I think I learned from my mistakes.

Becoming a Daemon Prince:



The previous four models were all one-piece casts. This guy had separate wings and head, which gave him a little more dimensionality. This guy is on a 40mm base, which also required some cutting for the tab.

Here is a group shot, slightly clearer than the last one I shared:



This was a fun little project. There are a lot of little details on all the models, but not a lot of colors, so painting didn't take terribly long. I have a few more models mostly finished on the painting station, and I hope to have them ready to share before the New Year.

Nice to see more pics of this project. You did a great job on them. I'll always have a place in my heart for the original Realms of Chaos books.

 youwashock wrote:
Nice to see more pics of this project. You did a great job on them. I'll always have a place in my heart for the original Realms of Chaos books.

Every once in a while, I pull them out of storage just to wallow in the weirdness. So many random tables, so many crazypants conversions, so much Goblin Green...

Great stuff! Really like those Eldar. Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for the new year

Love the evolution of damnation. Great job!

PaddyMick wrote:Great stuff! Really like those Eldar. Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for the new year

Thanks! I love Eldar in pretty much any incarantion.

I hate to disappoint you, but I never actually have a plan for my hobbying.

Nevelon wrote:Love the evolution of damnation. Great job!

Thanks! This set was an impulse buy, but a good one, I think.

Nicely done on the Path to Glory set, dude rolled well on his mutation table!

Very nice work on the Path To Glory models.

And Happy New Year.

Cheers,

CB

Love seeing that aspiring champion mutate. Nice work and happy new year!

aku-chan wrote:Nicely done on the Path to Glory set, dude rolled well on his mutation table!

Indeed. Leafing through Slaves to Darkness in preparation for painting these models really makes me want to run a Path To Glory campaign. If only WHFB rules weren't so klunky...

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice work on the Path To Glory models.

And Happy New Year.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, and Happy New Year to you, as well. I can't wait to see what you paint in 2025.

The Red Hobbit wrote:Love seeing that aspiring champion mutate. Nice work and happy new year!

Thanks. It really is a cool set of models.

It's 2025 here, as we're on the future side of the International Date Line. We had a pretty low-key holiday, as my son is prepping for his high school entrance exams-- Exam Hell , as it's sometimes called. I did manage to finish a few more models that had been sitting on my painting station. First, some Forge Fathers for Deadzone:







These guys are vintage restic, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time cleaning them up. I decided to lean into the construction worker vibe I used for my Brokkrs, thus the safety yellow armor. The blue is supposed to be denim, but it's a little to bright for that.

Next, the fifth Enforcer Peacekeeper from the set I painted a few months ago:


The sprue comes with five Defender Shields, but only four arms to attach them to, so I gave this guy a Burst Laser instead.

Finally, an armored fighter, from Bear's Head (I think):



This guy came with the Beholder I shared a while back. I'm mostly happy with the NMM on the armor, but not so much the sword.

By my count, this puts me at 107 models for the year, plus a set of modular spaceship terrain, two walkers,a quad mech, and five giants. Not too bad, I think. I'll try to put up a retrospective in the next few days, and maybe reflect on my hobby progress at the same time.

Thanks to everyone who reads this P&M blog. Your comments really, truly encourage me to keep on hobbying. I hope to see you all here in 2025!

Cool stuff, JoshInJapan. Again, all your Deadzone minis make me want to dig through and see what I have left from Sedition Wars. That and paint the box of Enforcers I picked up for pennies.

 youwashock wrote:
Cool stuff, JoshInJapan. Again, all your Deadzone minis make me want to dig through and see what I have left from Sedition Wars. That and paint the box of Enforcers I picked up for pennies.

Thanks, youwashock! I remember Sedition Wars minis as being pretty cool and not hard to paint once I accepted restic and all the attendant limitations of the medium.

2024 ended up being rather a productive year. I entered the Dakka Challenge every month, which kept me at the table regularly, which in turn kept me pulling out models that I wanted to paint. Some were more fun than others, but painted is painted, after all.

For January, I painted up some Blackwater Gulch models for the Challenge:


And then the models for Demon Ship:


The game comes with a photocopiable mat and terrain, but I wanted to play in 3d, so I built some stuff out of expanded polystyrene I had lying around:


The crates and barrels are from Dreadball Xtreme.

For February, I started with some oversized Usagi Yojimbo miniatures that had been sitting, unloved and unpainted, ever since I came to Japan twenty years ago:


I followed up with some rangers/assasins from Midlam:


and some Amazons from Bad Squiddo:


March is Space Marine month in the Dakka Challenge. I opted to revisit my samurai marine army that I took to the 2001 and 2002 Grand Tournaments:



I am not ashamed to admit that I've improved a lot in two decades.

The rest of the month was a random assortment of models, including more Amazons:



A valkyrie from Bad Squiddo:


An Oldhammer Chaos Thug:


A couple of Oldhammer Elves:



and a couple of Geisha, one from Clan Wars, and the other from Zenit;


For the April challenge, I finished this Harlequin dreadnought that had been in a box since well before I came to Japan:


as well as finishing my old metal Fellowship:


and a Deadzone merc:


In May, I painted these Striders, also for Deadzone:


a sniper, also for DZ:


a Marionette Phantom, yet another DZ model:


a Dreadball team:


and some corpse markers from the Sedition Wars terrain set:


Kind of a Mantic heavy month.

For June, I entered this Avatar of Khaine in the Challenge:


followed up with this Tigrax Outrider for DZ (I sense a pattern developing here)


July saw me painting up some dudes with rifles from Alternative Armies:


a bunch of Bad Squiddo ghouls:


some scouts from Mantic's Vanguard line:


some Frostgrave cultists:


and Raging Annie, from Bad Squiddo:


August was a change of pace, with the 1/35 quad walker:


Then back to Deadzone with Boss Somethingorother:


September started with some Enforcers in Peacekeeper armor:


followed by an Oldhammer ogre:


and a Cloud Giant from Reaper:


I kept with the Giant theme with these dudes from Old School Miniatures:


October is Spooky Month in the Challenge. I entered this Scooby Gang:


and followed them with a Beholder from Bear's Head:


For November, I went Old School with these Eldar:


followed by some more Eldar:


and then some more Mantic models, starting with Blaine:


followed by this limited edition Plague Lord:
]

I finished off the year with this Path To Glory set from Satyr:


and then some DZ Forgefathers:


a Peacekeeper to finish the squad from September:


and finally an armored fighter:


Thanks, as always, to everyone who looks and comments. Here's to another fun year of hobbying!

A glorious retrospective! I love the sheer variety, as always.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
A glorious retrospective! I love the sheer variety, as always.

Well, having been in this hobby for so long, I have enough models to play any game that I am every likely to play, so anything I decide to paint is based purely on whim, rather than any need to finish some army project or whatever. Variety, you might say, is my middle name.

And it's the spice of life!

Great wrap-up! Lots to look at, and all well done. Big fan of all the Eldar minis and that Cloud Giant.

 youwashock wrote:
And it's the spice of life!

Great wrap-up! Lots to look at, and all well done. Big fan of all the Eldar minis and that Cloud Giant.

Thanks! I always love painting Eldar.

My first finished models of 2025:



A couple of Reaper Bones spiders. They took about 20 minutes, not including drying time.

Thanks for the year in review, Josh. It was fun seeing those minis again. And wow, you already have something done in 2025

You had a really productive year, nicely done!

Good selection of stuff done in 2024, and to a pretty high standard if I do say so myself. And good job already being on the board for 2025. The spooders look cool!

Syro_ wrote:Thanks for the year in review, Josh. It was fun seeing those minis again. And wow, you already have something done in 2025

Glad you liked them. The spiders feel a little like cheating-- cheapa$$ Bones models, essentially two colors, but since I'm planning to finally break out League of Dungeoneers this year, I needed some low-level dungeon critters.

aku-chan wrote:You had a really productive year, nicely done!

I'm a little surprised my numbers were so high, honestly.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Good selection of stuff done in 2024, and to a pretty high standard if I do say so myself. And good job already being on the board for 2025. The spooders look cool!

Spooders. That made me snicker out loud at work.

The theme for January's Dakka Challenge is Frugal. I opted to paint up this gachapon toy that my wife and/or son brought back from Osaka. I think. I wasn't on that trip.



This guy is one of the Ni-Oh Guardians who stand on either side of the entrance to a Buddhist temple. The Uruk-hai sword is to replace a part that got lost somewhere along the line. Here in Japan, you usually see these guys as bare wood, but my wife asked me to paint this guy up. Here's the result:






The first image includes a Reaper Bones wizard for scale. He is also the next mini to share:





This guy is first generation Bones, and has been languishing, primed and forgotten, for literally years. Despite all the limitations of white Bones, he actually painted up pretty easily. I also dug this guy up to finish:






This is, of course, a classic Jes Goodwin Ogre. I started him a while back, lost steam pretty quickly, and moved on. He was pretty fun to paint once I got started this time, though. I have a couple more Ogres from this series, but they are repeats of models I have already painted.

For 2025, I'm planning to minimize my buying and finish stuff that's been lying around, waiting for paint. As of January, I have two main projects. The first is Empty The Box:



I have these organizers to store my hobby supplies, and the drawers you see here are full of models that I brought downstairs to paint and then forgot about or gave up on. The Wizard and Ogre both came from here. I intend to work on everything here until the drawers are empty. In the second photo, you can see a preview of my second 2025 project, A Fistful Of Bones. I backed the first Bones KS, and have barely touched the contents since. I plan to periodically grab a fistful of those little plastic bags, and paint up whatever I grab. I hope the variety will keep be from getting bored, and even if I do, one Reaper model shouldn't take a whole lot of time to reach an acceptable standard.

Nice! Gotta love a JG Ogre, and you have done a fine job on the gacha. The BONES project sounds like it will be both challenging (some of those early minis looked rough) and entertaining.

 youwashock wrote:
Nice! Gotta love a JG Ogre, and you have done a fine job on the gacha. The BONES project sounds like it will be both challenging (some of those early minis looked rough) and entertaining.

Completely agree on the JG ogres, and apparently so does every hobbyist Of A Certain Age, as evinced by their eBay selling price, which is what is keeping me from completing my collection.

Bones will be a good way to improve my painting, in that the soft details will force me to really push my highlights to make up for the lack of detail.

I made a start on my Fistful of Bones project. First up, The Shadow:


Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I used this guy to practice painting black. His suit uses the traditional grey hightlights, but I went with blue for his opera cape. I think it worked pretty well.

Next, a Steampunk dude:


A lot of browns on this one. When I first took him out of his little plastic bag, I thought he was a not-Hellboy model-- the goggles (which looked like horns, the giant fist, and the unlikely gun sort of tricked my eye, especially since Bones is so white that it's nearly impossible to see any details before priming. I tried a little copper NMM in a couple of places. Does it work?

Finally, a skeleton archer:


The casting on this model is pretty rough, with some very prominent mold lines. Bones being too soft the really clean, I just sort of painted over and around them. He'll work well enough as an enemy in some dungeon crawl, I suppose. At least he painted up quickly.

Here are all three together:


Next up: more Bones.

Great stuff, I wish I'd picked up some of those temple guards in Japan. Ah well, next time.

I like steam punk dude especially, and yes to the nmm copper I love how characterful reaper minis are. I have a grab bag of them for when I just want to paint something random.

That’s a lot of Pile of Shame in the drawer. Good luck getting through it. You are off to a good start. I like the use of grey/blue highlights on The Shadow. Helps differentiate an otherwise monotone mini.

Heh. I always looked at that guy as not-Hellboy, too. Great job on The Shadow (or The Mist, can't remember what name Reaper gave him). I may still have him in a box, myself. The other two are long gone. Wonderful start on the project!

Great paintjobs, love the highlighting on the 'shadow'.

I'm getting some Cad Bane vibes from "The Shadow"; that's a really cool mini. The others turned out decent too. I'm not a huge fan of Bones minis mostly because of the soft plastic they use (the sculpts are fine, the material not so much); I do own a couple that I used as proxies in 40k way back when, but I never got around to painting them.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Great stuff, I wish I'd picked up some of those temple guards in Japan. Ah well, next time.

Well, it's a gachapon toy, so I'm sure you can get something similar anytime you come back.

inmygravenimage wrote:I like steam punk dude especially, and yes to the nmm copper I love how characterful reaper minis are. I have a grab bag of them for when I just want to paint something random.

Thanks! I'm still not wholly certain about the copper-- I should probably just follow a recipe next time.
One of the best things about Reaper is that they make Player Characters rather than Armies, so their is just so much variety.

Nevelon wrote:That’s a lot of Pile of Shame in the drawer. Good luck getting through it. You are off to a good start. I like the use of grey/blue highlights on The Shadow. Helps differentiate an otherwise monotone mini.

The Drawer of Shame is a drop in the bucket compared to the Walk-In Closet of shame. We gotta start somewhere, though, right?

youwashock wrote:Heh. I always looked at that guy as not-Hellboy, too. Great job on The Shadow (or The Mist, can't remember what name Reaper gave him). I may still have him in a box, myself. The other two are long gone. Wonderful start on the project!

I very nearly did not-Hellboy as Hellboy, but he's wearing a vest. I couldn't get past him not being bare-chested.
Also, The Mist? If I'd know that's what the model is called, I might have done him in whites instead of blacks.

Olthannon wrote:Great paintjobs, love the highlighting on the 'shadow'.

Thanks! Blacks have long been challenging for me-- until quite recently, I just did what someone on Dakka called "lazy black": charcoal gray with a Payne's Gray ink wash.

ZergSmasher wrote:I'm getting some Cad Bane vibes from "The Shadow"; that's a really cool mini. The others turned out decent too. I'm not a huge fan of Bones minis mostly because of the soft plastic they use (the sculpts are fine, the material not so much); I do own a couple that I used as proxies in 40k way back when, but I never got around to painting them.

I had to look up Cad Bane. I feel old.
Bones White is like early Mantic Restic for me-- cleaning is too much work for the return, so mold lines stay where they are. I'm using the slightly softer details to try and improve my painting technique, specifically shading and highlighting to pick out details that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye.

Great work on the Shadows cape!

I always loved that particular wizard sculpt, annoyingly I never got around to picking up the metal version when it was available, can't work on that original Bones stuff it's 'orrible.

 aku-chan wrote:
Great work on the Shadows cape!

I always loved that particular wizard sculpt, annoyingly I never got around to picking up the metal version when it was available, can't work on that original Bones stuff it's 'orrible.

I'm finding Bones not that difficult to work with, now that I've accepted that it will be bendy and that the mold lines won't be going anywhere. I won't win any prizes, but I will fill some gaps in my collection.

Wow that sword on the Guardian, very nice work. Love the Ogre too, I remember that guy, what a great model.

 PaddyMick wrote:
Wow that sword on the Guardian, very nice work. Love the Ogre too, I remember that guy, what a great model.

Thanks! The sword took an inordinately long time. It has at least ten layers of paint, and I'm still not fully satisfied.

I love me some classic Jes Goodwin models. Loads of character and easy to paint.

This week, I've been continuing my twin themes of Empty The Drawer and Fistful of Bones. First, a halfling/pixie wizard:





I gave her green skin to match a similar model I painted years ago:


Then, an Asterian Cypher for Deadzone:




I tried to add an energy/glow effect to the gun, but I don't think it worked very well.

Next, a Reaper model called Ghostly Summons:





The model is cast in clear green resin, and before priming I wasn't really sure what it actually was. I wasn't expecting three naked ghost ladies, though. It kind of reminds me of the opening credits to a James Bond movie. I didn't want to leave it all sexy, so I tried doing the faces as skulls. The model itself is really tall and off-center, so I glued it to a washer so it wouldn't fall over.

We also have a lamia/gorgon/snake woman:


A couple of beetle swarms that took about 10 minutes, from start to finish:


And finally, what I'm calling a troglodyte:





This guy, like the naked ghost ladies, leans too far forward and wouldn't stand up on his puddle base, so I ended up mounting him on a piece of plasticard.

One thing I really like about this project is the variety. I have been feeling bored painting units and armies, and since everything in these projects so far are individual models, each painting session is something new.

Next up, more Bones!

The cypher and trog are my faves. But a great bunch as always.

Very nice work, as usual Josh It's funny, I didn't notice the double stack base on the ghost ladies until reading what you wrote about it. Same with the trog, you made it look natural on that square, like it came on that base to start with.

Great work, Josh! I especially like the big bruiser troglodyte.

Also; I just started painting my own Ghostly Summons yesterday. I primed mine grey, overbrushed it with white, and then used Hexwraith Flame contrast before a final drybrush of white. I just need to fix the base.

Lean aside, the trog was one of the more successful Gen 1 BONES minis. Bigger is better for that pliable white material. Yours looks great. Love Ghostly Summons. Could be used as a spell effect. "I cast ORGY!" I tried to preserve some of the translucency with mine. I am rather fond of that sculpt, as well.

Very nice. I think that halfling/pixie wizard is my favorite out of this bunch.

inmygravenimage wrote:The cypher and trog are my faves. But a great bunch as always.

The troglodyte was fun and simple to paint-- lots of textures, so I could get away with mostly drybrusing/overbrushing. The cyper is pretty rough up close, but I am pleased with its base.

Syro_ wrote:Very nice work, as usual Josh It's funny, I didn't notice the double stack base on the ghost ladies until reading what you wrote about it. Same with the trog, you made it look natural on that square, like it came on that base to start with.

The naked ghost lady base is exactly the same size as the washer, so it kind of blends in. I used a lot of grout on the trog's base, which, along with white glue and sand, really helps everything blend together.

KidCthulhu wrote:Great work, Josh! I especially like the big bruiser troglodyte.

Also; I just started painting my own Ghostly Summons yesterday. I primed mine grey, overbrushed it with white, and then used Hexwraith Flame contrast before a final drybrush of white. I just need to fix the base.

I've painted a few ethereal models over the years, but have yet to figure out a technique that I'm fully satisfied with. I get pretty close on this model, though.

youwashock wrote:Lean aside, the trog was one of the more successful Gen 1 BONES minis. Bigger is better for that pliable white material. Yours looks great. Love Ghostly Summons. Could be used as a spell effect. "I cast ORGY!" I tried to preserve some of the translucency with mine. I am rather fond of that sculpt, as well.

I have a few of the larger Bones models scattered throughout this P&M blog-- a skeleton giant, a jabberwock, and Great Cthulhu. They do hold detail better at that size, but the jabberwock and Cthulhu suffer from having skinny ankles-- they bend over from the weight of the rest of the model. They probably need to have their legs drilled and filled with brass rod or something.

I thought about doing something with inks to keep the transparency of the green plastic, but my initial experiments looked a little off, like the model wasn't actually painted.

Tommygun1918 wrote:Very nice. I think that halfling/pixie wizard is my favorite out of this bunch.

One of the great things about Reaper is the sheer variety of PCs they produce.

I took a little break from Bones to finish a couple of Deadzone models that had been languishing the the Drawer of Doom:




This first guy is a Steel Warrior Huscarl for my Forge Fathers. He's on a dirt, rather than urban, base because he's old enough to still have the Mantic circle. I thought about cutting him off, but opted to glue him into the hold and cover it with filler and sand. The NMM works well in some places, not so well in others, but the overall effect passes muster. I'm pleased with how his cape came out.





This second guy is Hacker Half-tail (I think), a special character for the Veer-myn. He's an alternate sculpt that I got with Mantic points at the same time as the Huscarl above. Technically, he belongs to my son, but as he seems to be outgrowing gaming with his old man, I did this one up myself. The green is Vallejo Olive Green, and the spot details are supposed to be copper. Sadly it kind of blends into the other browns.

Here they are together:


The theme for the Dakka Challenge for February is Sneaky. I have a couple of options:



The three on the left are Reaper Halflings from my Big Box of Bones. The three on the right are old, old Citadel ninja. I'll be painting all of them, and entering whichever set I'm happier with.

The theme for this month's Dakka Challenge is Surprise! I dug into backlog and came out with a couple of options:



One the left, we have three ninja from the Citadel's Oriental Heroes line. On the right are three halflings from the Big Box of Bones. In a fit of productivity, I cranked them all out over the last two weeks:








My color choices were inspired by the ninja-ploitation movies of the late 80's/early 90's, in which everyone wore different colors so you could tell them apart on the screen. This is the second time I have painted these models, and I thought I would have to give them a good soak in alcohol to remove the decades old paint. However, Ral Partha's crappy spray primer saved me that step, as it had turned essentially into chalk dust, allowing me to strip these models to bare metal with a toothbrush. Here are all three together:



Next, I turned to the halflings:






These three are definitely Bones White minis-- bendy and with soft details. I took it as a challenge to sharpen them up with my painting, and I think I was generally successful. The second one, with the crossbow and green cloak, is probably a dwarf rather than a halfling, being both taller and stockier. The third is rather ridiculously clothed-- check out the short tunic, bare legs, and fairy boots, like a Ralph Bakshi character. Rather than go that route, I took inspiration from a few generations of Robin (as in "Batman and..."). I stayed in earthtones, so it's hard to tell, but at least she's wearing pants.

Here are all three together:



Finally, I pulled this guy out of the Drawer of Miracles:



He's a vampire from the Night Horrors range of yesteryear. He was supposed to be entered in the Dakka Comp for October a few years back, but didn't make the cut.

I have some time left in the month, and not being entirely happy with either the ninja or the halflings, I pulled a couple more models out of the Big Box of Bones:



It's hard to tell from this terrible pic, but they are a mimic and a rust monster. They should be fun to paint.

All hail that ancient vampire. It was the first vampire mini I ever used in WHFB and set me on a path of undeath for multiple editions. Fabulous color pallette.

The ninja rock. More classics, done up right.

Love the colour coded ninjas!

youwashock wrote:All hail that ancient vampire. It was the first vampire mini I ever used in WHFB and set me on a path of undeath for multiple editions. Fabulous color pallette.

The ninja rock. More classics, done up right.

Oldhammer models can be hit or miss, but Undead are a lot of fun.

I have a number of ninja models from a few different makers, but these are the best. My Kingsford ninja look like dudes in pajamas, and my Zenit ninja are teeny tiny-- too small to work with really.

aku-chan wrote:Love the colour coded ninjas!

Even masters of silent death have to put safety first-- visibility reduces workplace accidents.

The variety of stuff you've painted recently is great. I like the trio of ninjas - really cool models with great paint jobs (especially the white one)

Fun collection of stuff!

Awesome work as always; that troglodyte is a fun model, and you're making me want to paint ninjas!

Zambro wrote:The variety of stuff you've painted recently is great. I like the trio of ninjas - really cool models with great paint jobs (especially the white one)

Nevelon wrote:Fun collection of stuff!

PaddyMick wrote:Awesome work as always; that troglodyte is a fun model, and you're making me want to paint ninjas!

Thanks, guys. I'm rather enjoying my Fistful of Bones and Drawer of Doom projects-- lots of different models, so I don't get bored with anything. Speaking of which:




This guy crosses over between both projects. The paintjob is pretty rough, but in my defense, so is the model. He has some pretty egregious mold lines, including one right over his left eye. His robes were meant to be purple, but since I don't actually have any good purples, I had to mix it from blue and red. Highlighting with white gave me lavender, which doesn't really suit the model, so it ended up more red that planned. I had a thought while painting this guy, to whit: skulls with huge curling horns come from sheep. While their skulls may look cool as hats, sheep are docile grass eaters, and therefore not all that imposing. This guy probably needs an image consultant.




This rust monster is supposed to look like he's all rusty, but the effect didn't really work. Maybe if I went over him in TMM and then applied weathering? Anyway, he's done.

Also, the model has no contact points for a base, so he's suspended on a bit of brass wire. It's superglued down, but the glue has bonded with neither the Bones plastic nor the base, so he spins freely around his center.





This mimic is my favorite model from this particular set, and will most likely be my entry in the Dakka Challenge this month. He had the usual Bones mold lines, but is gribbly enough that I was able to shave off the worst of them without destroying any detail. The teeth and the NMM turned out well, IMO.

Next up, a mostly-finished wolf from Northstar, and some rangers/assassins from Midlam to round out February.

I think the paintjob on Rusty works. The mimic looks very good. The "face" is really well done.

 youwashock wrote:
I think the paintjob on Rusty works. The mimic looks very good. The "face" is really well done.

Thanks! In hand, the rust monster isn't so convincing. Maybe he needs deeper shading?

I do like how the mimic turned out. I dug out an unpainted chest from my Dungeon Saga stuff to add as a "before" version for the comp.

Rounding out the month of February with some models that have been sitting, primed and neglected, for almost exactly a year:




I painted four of these assassins from Midlam last February, and then got bored because they are all essentially the same model in slightly different poses. This time, their sameness is what allowed me to crank them out one at a sitting. Half are painted as rangers, the other half as assassins. Here they are all together:



I'm not sure when I turned the flash on...

I also finished this halfling thief and chest from Mantic:


The idea was to make a little action scene for my Dakka Challenge entry, but the chest is really ugly in photos, and the halfling is teeny-tiny-- more like a 15mm human than 28mm halfling.

Finally, a wolf and an ethereal wizard, both from Northstar:




I used the Auto Adjust thing when I uploaded the photos to compensate for the flash. I should probably retake the photos, but most likely won't.

March is Space Marine month for the Dakka Challenge. I have two ideas for entries. The first is Generations:



in which I dig into the backlog and paint models from several different eras of Space Marine. I could have sworn I had a single sprue of RTB01 Marines somewhere, but I can't locate it. Here we have an Imperial Space Marine and a Death Eagle Space Marine, both from the RT era, as well as two 2ed Marines and one from a Space Marine Heroes blind box. I'll be doing them all as Howling Griffons, which is the chapter I settled on before I realized I wouldn't ever play 40K again.

Loving the mimic. But then, who doesn't love a mimic? Well the thief I suppose but still. Excited for the oldhammer!

I like that wolf. Cool idea for the Marines.

Nice work on all those stabby dudes!

inmygravenimage wrote:Loving the mimic. But then, who doesn't love a mimic? Well the thief I suppose but still. Excited for the oldhammer!

Thanks! I'm really enjoying working through the Big Box Of Bones. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but the bendy material doesn't bug me like it used to, and I'm loving the variety.

youwashock wrote:I like that wolf. Cool idea for the Marines.

Thanks! I was inspired by looking through a photo book of wild canines with my son (this was several years ago). The model looked really washed out when I put it away, but going over it with black and brown washes darkened it up nicely.

aku-chan wrote:Nice work on all those stabby dudes!

Thanks! They are all variations of the same two models, so they were a snap to paint.

The marines are progressing pretty quickly:



I'm leaning heavily into my trademarked Paint Everything Brown technique for these guys. Not quite Grimdark, but close enough.

I entered the Dakka Painting Challege every month this year. I haven't made it to the podium even once, but given the quality of the competition, I'm delighted to be in the Top Ten. Here are my entries, in order:

March: Samurai Space Marines


April: Harlequin Dreadnought


May: Deadzone Striders


July: Eldar Avatar


August: Sturm Kafer quad mech


September: Cloud Giant


October: The Scooby Gang


November: Craftworld Eldar


December: Path to Glory


January: Deva King


February: Ninjas!


I haven't missed a month of the challenge since I started entering, and I'm likely to keep on entering, as it keeps my motivation up and inspires me to visit and revisit models I might not otherwise paint. Feel free to pop over and give me a vote!

Great selection of stuff for the comp. You might not have made the podium, but are the highest ranked person who never did. And even out scored some of us who did manage to sneak up there. Quality work all around!

 Nevelon wrote:
Great selection of stuff for the comp. You might not have made the podium, but are the highest ranked person who never did. And even out scored some of us who did manage to sneak up there. Quality work all around!

Thanks! Overall, I'm satisfied with how I placed this year. I feel like I'm improving, but so is everyone else, and the winning entries really deserved those wins. The month isn't over yet, so there is still a chance!

All but one of the Space Marines for this month's comp are finished and awaiting photos. I have one more in the works, and this time around I thought I'd do more WIP photos, kind of a step-by-step. The model itself is a Primaris Lieutenant that came with Imperium, which I guess is a promotional thing for 40K. The first box was only ￥500, and came with two models, so I picked it up on a whim. I got the next two boxes as well, but it seems that I was the only one buying, as the remaining books sat on the shelf for months and then the bookstore just stopped carrying it.

My process goes like this: clean and assemble the model, then attach it to the base. I apply white glue and sand to the base:



and leave the glue to dry. The sand I use comes from a planter in front of the house. It has little rocks and some dried plant matter from the evergreens in the planter, so there is some varied texture. Once the glue has dried, I slather the base with dark brown craft paint from the DIY store:



This keeps the sand in place. I do most of my basing at this stage because it's a little sloppy and I don't want to mess up the paintjob on the mini. One this layer is dry, I prime the model with black Gesso:



Where I live it is always either cold or humid, so I don't use spray primer. Also, it irks me more than a little seeing how much spray paint ends up on the cardboard around the model. Brush on takes longer, but I don't feel like I'm wasting as much.

After the primer is dry, I give the base a heavy drybrush of Golden Brown craft paint:



and then a lighter drybrush of Fleshtone Base (a warm off-white):



I used to do may bases in green-- that was how it was done in The Old Days, after all-- but a while back I switched to this style so that things like flock, tufts, and static grass would be more visible.

Due to drying time for the various stages, as well as having other obligations at home, this whole process takes a couple of painting sessions, spread over a day or two. Normally I like to have a few models going at a time so I can get some more brush time in while waiting, but this guy is flying solo for now.

New up, I Paint Everything Brown!

I enjoyed that little tutorial thx
I feel like I'm very subject to vagaries of temperature just now, so I do brush primer quite a lot too.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I enjoyed that little tutorial thx
I feel like I'm very subject to vagaries of temperature just now, so I do brush primer quite a lot too.

I'm glad you liked it. I took a few more photos before calling it quits.

After priming, the next step is to Paint Everything Brown:



In this step, I go over any spots I missed in priming, as well as those exposed when the Gesso shrinks. Starting with brown also adds more warmth to my actual colors compared to black.



Next, I start the red and yellow, using AP Chaotic Red and GW Mournfang Brown, respectively. Normally, I don't block out colors like this, preferring to paint each part of a model to completion before going on to the next. However, Space Marine's are basically 90% armor, so this works.



Here's the red. It's not this pink in real life. The recipe is AP Chaotic Red, AP Dragon Red, and GW Cadian Flesh in various proportions.



And here's the yellow: Mournfang Brown, AP Desert Yellow, and Delta Ceramcoat Fleshtone Base.



And I'll finish off today's painting with the tabard, joints, chest eagle and the little skull on the backpack. When doing highlights, I tend to place the light source to the model's left due to my being right-handed.

Also, here's a bonus image of my wet palette:



I've been using the same paper for a couple of months. A lot of the colors, especially the darker ones, are still alive, but very thin. I find myself using the last little bits of pigments for lining and shading, and am pretty pleased with the technique.

I think I'm done painting Space Marines for a while. Here are all the models, in roughly chronological order. First, an Imperial Space Marine:





I picked up a bunch of Marines from this series back when GW would cast any model you could provide a number for. I suspect the molds were getting pretty old, as this guy had some serious flaws under his left arm.

Next, a Marine from the 2E box:




I actually painted this guy first. He went pretty quickly, and for a one-off, he wasn't too terrible. I can't imagine fielding a whole army of these guys, though. I tried to give him glowing lenses, but it didn't really work, and opted against it for the remaining models in this set.

Next, a 2E metal:




I don't have a lot of 2nd Edition metal Marines, and most of the ones I have are Devastators. I like these guys better than the plastics from 3rd Edition and later. Plastic is great for modularity, but requiring all parts to fit all other parts results in less dynamic poses overall.

Finally, a time jump to the modern day, with a Space Marine Hero:





These new push-fit models are actually pretty nice. The poses are dynamic, and the mold lines are quite well hidden. Again, I can't imagine building a whole army of these guys, but a full set gives you a cool squad of individuals. Here is this whole set, titled Through The Ages:



This second set of four is titled Up Through The Ranks. I'll be entering these guys in the Dakka Challenge, so I combined two of the models to keep the photo count down.






The camo cloak was inspired by the camo scheme used in the Badab War. I went with a standard backpack on the assault marine to visually tie the model to the next stage of this progress:





I have a total of three Primaris Marines, including this one. Having painted one, I can see the appeal of Primaris-- their size matches the fluff pretty well. I had to scrape off the Ultramarines symbol on his shoulder pad to make room for the transfer. One more promotion for our as yet-unnamed Brother Marine:






This guy took a long time because of all the bling. He's a pretty nice model, although I suspect the Iron Halo will snap off once I pack him away. Here is the whole set, showing one Marines progress Up Through The Ranks:



And finally, a shot off all the Marines together:



These were fun models to paint, and I'm kind of looking forward to more Marines next March.

Up next, some models from the probably-dead game Myth:

Dude…. Love the Howling Griffons! Quartered patterns are hard to pull off, but you nailed it. And really like the idea of t painting a Marine’s “career progression”.

Love it!

Valete,

JohnS

These are excellent. I love the desaturated colours that you've used, and it's interesting to see the evolution of the Space Marine minis. Also reading about your painting process was interesting, when you talk about painting everything brown I never expected that to include the base coat.

cygnnus wrote:Dude…. Love the Howling Griffons! Quartered patterns are hard to pull off, but you nailed it. And really like the idea of t painting a Marine’s “career progression”.

Love it!

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks! You were actually one of my inspirations for starting Howling Griffons. Back when I visited for a GT, you were talking about painting a chapter with a quartered paint scheme-- I don't remember which chapter, but it was blue and white-- and that was in the back of my head for years.

re: Up Through The Ranks. The monthly challenge for March every year is Space Marines, which are by themselves kind of boring to me. I try to add a second, more interesting topic, and this year it was this one.

Turaxa wrote:These are excellent. I love the desaturated colours that you've used, and it's interesting to see the evolution of the Space Marine minis. Also reading about your painting process was interesting, when you talk about painting everything brown I never expected that to include the base coat.

I prime everything with Gesso, for reasons I mentioned in an earlier post. Paint sticks really well, but I find it kind of rough, so I put down a layer of paint to give a smoother surface to work with. If I'm doing cool colors, I use a charcoal grey, with warm colors I use brown. Lately (like, in the last year-and-a-half) I've been starting everything with brown, and thus my trademark style was born.

I love your HGs, particularly the quite muted take on the scheme. Very effective.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I love your HGs, particularly the quite muted take on the scheme. Very effective.

Thanks! This is my take on Grimdark. Not quite John Blanche, but not 4-color comic booky, either.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

cygnnus wrote:Dude…. Love the Howling Griffons! Quartered patterns are hard to pull off, but you nailed it. And really like the idea of t painting a Marine’s “career progression”.

Love it!

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks! You were actually one of my inspirations for starting Howling Griffons. Back when I visited for a GT, you were talking about painting a chapter with a quartered paint scheme-- I don't remember which chapter, but it was blue and white-- and that was in the back of my head for years.

Novamarines. I painted one squad, and was like, nope…. Can’t see doing a whole army of them.





Valete,

JohnS

Yeah, I remember those guys. You were working with a different sort of paint, weren't you? For animation cels?

I could see doing a whole army like that (or like my Howling Griffons) if and only if I went sloppy like the dudes I posted earlier. Paintjobs as clean as your Novamarines across a while army would be maddening.

 cygnnus wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

cygnnus wrote:Dude…. Love the Howling Griffons! Quartered patterns are hard to pull off, but you nailed it. And really like the idea of t painting a Marine’s “career progression”.

Love it!

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks! You were actually one of my inspirations for starting Howling Griffons. Back when I visited for a GT, you were talking about painting a chapter with a quartered paint scheme-- I don't remember which chapter, but it was blue and white-- and that was in the back of my head for years.

Novamarines. I painted one squad, and was like, nope…. Can’t see doing a whole army of them.





Valete,

JohnS

You get such amazing smooth finishes on your models. I really struggle to produce anything remotely that smooth and solid in colour. One day I need to sit down and see if I can improve my techniques, until then, I will look at your results in amazement.

 Archer wrote:
You get such amazing smooth finishes on your models. I really struggle to produce anything remotely that smooth and solid in colour. One day I need to sit down and see if I can improve my techniques, until then, I will look at your results in amazement.

Are you talking about the blue-and-white Nova Marines? If so, those aren't mine. My old friend cygnnus painted those, and his work is enviably smooth.

If you're talking about my Howling Griffons, thank you, but they only look good because my photos aren't very good at all. That said, I've been focusing recently on contrast between shadows and highlights rather than achieving smooth blends. I think my models work pretty well at arm's length, but not so much in Dakka Superzoom.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

If you're talking about my Howling Griffons, thank you, but they only look good because my photos aren't very good at all. That said, I've been focusing recently on contrast between shadows and highlights rather than achieving smooth blends. I think my models work pretty well at arm's length, but not so much in Dakka Superzoom.

I think your Howling Griffons still look amazing and beat the hell out of my marines for sure. I'm amazed at the straight, crisp divide between the red and the yellow down the center of each model.

 ShadowsAndDust wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

If you're talking about my Howling Griffons, thank you, but they only look good because my photos aren't very good at all. That said, I've been focusing recently on contrast between shadows and highlights rather than achieving smooth blends. I think my models work pretty well at arm's length, but not so much in Dakka Superzoom.

I think your Howling Griffons still look amazing and beat the hell out of my marines for sure. I'm amazed at the straight, crisp divide between the red and the yellow down the center of each model.

No false modesty here-- I'm quite pleased with how these models turned out-- but there aren't that many straight lines between colors. All the bling helps disguise the rough edges.

Also, don't sell yourself short. Your work is lovely.

The theme for this month's Dakka Challenge is From The Scrapheap. I started digging through my abandoned projects, and found these Skaven:



After some cleaning and basing, though, I didn't really feel the call. Then, I looked into my container of alcohol (for stripping, not drinking):



and saw some of the models that I had thought about entering in past comps, but never got around to. I hit them with the toothbrush (and a little with the wire brush), and found myself with this eclectic set of options:



For now, I'll start painting up what inspires me, and then enter my favorites.

Congratulations JoshInJapan for the win in the Dakka Painting Challenge with your Marines!

Cheers,

CB

 Captain Brown wrote:
Congratulations JoshInJapan for the win in the Dakka Painting Challenge with your Marines!

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, CB! I try not to take the results too seriously, but I admit the recognition is nice.

After the Marines last month, I decided to get back to fantasy minis for a bit. I was going to pull out another Fistful of Bones, but then I noticed two oversized ZIploc bags full of grey plastic, and then remembered that I had backed the Myth KS many years ago. Do you remember Myth? It was one of the last Bucket O'Minis projects, as I recall, and ran into some issues with fulfillment. The game itself was probably pretty good, but the rules were written by the creator, with his friends and playtesters as the intended audience, and thus were pretty much impossible to understand. I convinced my local gaming group (back when we had one) to give it a try, and while that one session went well enough, the rules-as-written were too much of a hassle to deal with. I ended up giving it all away, a decision I regret because there were some really cool monster minis.

Years after divesting myself of the game, I got a box full of minis-- stretch goals for the second Myth KS that I wasn't aware I would be getting. Leaving aside the playablity of the game, I like the aesthetic, so I had these guys jump the queue:


And here they are all painted up:







These photos are in the order I painted the models, and I think you can see my enthusiasm flagging a little as the project went on. These are very much boardgame models, with all the flaws one would expect from the material. Still, they'll make good PCs for if/when I find people to play League of Dungeoneers with me, and being boardgame plastic, I won't feel bad about just chucking them in the box.

They have good PC vibes, and a neat story to go alongside it - I don't remember Myth at all!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
They have good PC vibes, and a neat story to go alongside it - I don't remember Myth at all!

I'm not wholly surprised-- the KS was back in 2013. Imagine my surprise on receiving a bunch of minis a decade later.

The theme for April's Dakka Challenge was From The Scrapheap, which I chose to interpret as finishing an abandoned project. I had originally planned to paint up some Skaven I got in a trade many years ago, but lost interest after getting them based. Then I decided to take a look in the container of alcohol I use to strip minis:


and saw all the models I had toyed with entering in past challenges and then forgot about:


Here are the models that I ended up painting from that particular lot. First a couple of Chaos Thugs:




I prefer this generation of Thug to the plastic Marauders. The latter are essentially a bunch of mostly-identical Conans, while these guys are like extras from a Mad Max movie. what with the crazy hair and mix-and-match armor.

Next, some Chaos Warriors:


I spent a lot of time going back over the NMM on their armor. I'm not 100% convinced it works, but they are done. Here's a group shot:


I also painted up a couple of Wood Elf Wardancers:






And finally, an Ogre Captain, which I am entering in the comp:

Great painjobs on such classic models! Really like your NMM style. Good luck with the painting competition!

Lots of old school goodness in your latest batch.

muette wrote:Great painjobs on such classic models! Really like your NMM style. Good luck with the painting competition!

Thanks! Drop by and give me a vote!

aku-chan wrote:Lots of old school goodness in your latest batch.

No school like the old school, right?

Great work on some classic models. The Ogre captain and Wardancers are particularly cool.

Oh boy, what a lovely batch of old metal.

Cheers,

CB

May has been a productive month. First, some more Myth models:






The martial artists and alchemists were late-campaign stretch goals, which explains the slight drop in sculpt quality. The necromancer is a much nicer model.

The theme for this month's Dakka Challenge was May Day. I chose to interpret it somewhat literally, to wit: May 5th is Children's Day here.



These two are called Shinwhackers, and are part of Bad Squiddo's Onna Bugeisha line. I painted their kimonos in springtime patterns.




These two are from Oathsworn's second Heroines in Sensible Shoes kickstarter. I had originally planned to paint them like the Chiquita Banana kids (you know, the ones who saved the Earth from an alien invasion using thei Banana walkie-talkies and Banana compass), but I had misremembered the sculpts. It turns out the models are nothing at all like the kids in the ad. Ah well, they were fun to paint. I will be entering these in the Dakka Challenge this month.

You were protective JoshInJapan.

Some good work.

Cheers,

CB

 Captain Brown wrote:
You were protective JoshInJapan.

Some good work.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, CB! Some of the models are kind of hit-or-miss, but finished is finished, right?

This summer, there is a special Side Quest Dakka Challenge, with the 5-model limit lifted. I'm going to try to get through as much of my Dungeon Saga Origins as possible:

Ooft! That's a main quest of a sidequest!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Ooft! That's a main quest of a sidequest!

Yeah, I had pretty high hopes before I started. That said, I have made some progress:

Orlaf, the barbarian:


Rordin, the dwarf:


Danor, the wizard:


Madriga, the elf:




These guys are all significantly chonkier than their first edition versions. I put a lot of work into these models, as they are the PCs and thus sort of deserve it. I'll be spending less time on the minions. Speaking of which:



The game comes with three copies of each minion. I'll be batch painting them, of course, and hope to have them ready to show in a couple of days.

Most of my painting time has gone towards the official Dakka Challenge. The theme is Slow and Steady. I'm in something of a dark place these days, watching my home country slide slowly into decay. Naturally, that means painting some post-apoc models, specifically a Mutant Warband from Black Site.




I chose this guy first because of his magnificent Johnny Bravo pompadour. Sadly, the casting on the hair is quite blobby, which spoils the effect a bit.



I like the gimp mask on this second fellow, as well as the Coke can on his belt.




Gas masks and tentacles are a recurring theme in this set. It took me a little while to figure out that this guy has two faces, though.




This guy's protruding brain and skull face (note that the skin on his face has melted off) reminded me of a Mars Attacks! martian, which informed my color choices.




Another gimp mask guy. I used a lot of blues in this set, attempting to simulate faded denim. It kind of works?



Gas mask and tentacles-check! His armor is made of license plates. I'm fond of how the axe turned out.



Another dude with magnificent hair. I gave him a flamboyant red coat and white go-go boots, because even after everything goes to hell, a guy wants to express himself, amiright?




And finally the big guy. This guy was fun, but he suffered a bit from weirdly-place mold lines. In fact, all of these guys have mold lines in weird places. Black Site sells STLs of their models, and I suspect that we are supposed to print them ourselves, which is why the casting is a little funky. I did my best to cover any flaws with my painting, and for the most part I think it worked.

Here they are all together:

A lovely bunch of muties!