Wehrkind wrote:
Wow, that is a really great set of elves you have been cranking out! I never really loved GW's style as a young lad, preferring Ral Partha, but damn, those bring back a heavy dose of nostalgia. Those ancient wood elves especially.

I still have a few RP elves from this era, and while they were pretty nice, it was hard to get enough of them to build a full army. They did make some nice models back in the day. Maybe I'll do a Ral Partha Nostalgia project sometime...

Looking good. I especially like the one with the mystery magic staff

EDC

More elves:






Five elves with hand weapons and shields. The last guy has always seemed a little off to me, like he got called to battle without any warning. He's wearing the elf-equivalent of Casual Fridays, he didn't have time to add those ridiculous braids to his mullet, and he didn't even have time to put on his tiara. I painted all their shields essentially like the Melniboneans from last month, to sort of tie the army together.



Here is a hero to lead them. This model is based on the same body as the guy with the hawk I posted earlier this month. He seems to be gesturing to his opponent to come closer rather than flipping the bird.



Next, a musician with that most martial or instruments, the pan pipes. Zamfir goes to war!

Finally, everyone together:


I have a few more elves roughly half-finished, so I may be able to post one more time in August.

Love the elves. Are you sure the hero isn't flipping the bird.....

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:
Love the elves. Are you sure the hero isn't flipping the bird.....

Thanks, dude. And yeah, I just looked and it's his index finger. Kind of a shame, really...

Mwah-ha-ha

Great Job Josh

Here's my last entry for August. I had them sealed on 1 September, but wasn't able to get good photos until this morning.


These are, or course, elf spearmen. Note that they are virtually identical to a couple of the swordsmen I posted last week. That's pretty common with miniatures of this era-- a single body could have slightly different details added, which I assume saved the sculptor time and getting more things into production. Note also the ridiculous elf braids, this time one on either side of the forehead, then braided together at the back. I tried this once when I was in high school, but it looked even goofier in real life.


More of the same, this time with helmets and longer hauberks. Their helmets cover their ridiculous braids.


Two more spearmen, this time based on the same bodies as the axeman from last week. I spent a long time on their faces, which are covered by the shields. Sigh.


A couple of miscellaneous spearmen. I only have one of the growly guy on the right, but at least three more of the guy on the left.


Finally, a swordsman who was supposed to in the group I painted last week. His original primer coat wouldn't come off with just alcohol, though, so he had to spend a week in the nail polish remover. This model is remarkably well-equipped, with a couple of pouches and a bundle of rope on his belt. He does not, however, have a scabbard for his sword. In fact, none of the HW&S guys have any place to stow their weapons, so I can only assume that they don't plan to come back from whatever battle they are headed to.

Finally, everything together:


Have you noticed the wallpaper and stained cutting board in these photos? I complained last week about the quality of my photos. This time, I did the unthinkable and pulled out the user manual for my camera. I adjusted the ISO, shutter time and white balance, and set the models up in my little foldable studio, but I could not get my camera to actually focus on the model. I set them on the bookshelf with inadequate lighting, and ended up with my best photos in months. Go figure.

This is the end of the elves for a while. I have a bunch more soaking in alcohol, but I'm out of 25mm round bases. In preparation for Blainetober next month, I will be painting large wlakers for Deadzone/Warpath in September. It's been a long time since I've worked with restic. Let's see if I still remember how...

Amazing elfwork, Josh. It's great to see all of those old, cool models painted and treated so well in 2016. I'm truly sad that the only thing holding you up will be a lack of round bases. Are they difficult to come by in Japan?

Not really difficult, there's just nothing local. There are a number of mail order services, but I prefer to order enough that I don't have to pay shipping. Also, Blainetober is coming up.

Great stuff Josh

I'm currently trying to find my blaine's for Blainetober.

Great job on the elves Josh.

I always prefer to buy things like bases in bulk, but then the question is how many to buy?! I recently bought all the bases I would need for the minis from Space Hulk and Dearhwatch Overkill. I happened to buy 20 extra for Deathwatch marines of my own creation. And then Death Masque arrived so I now need to buy more again!!

Nice work on the Elves. Gotta love those tiny shields!

EDC

@JoRugby: Thanks. I know where all my Blaines are, but only because the stuff I get from Mantic Kickstarters tends to stay in their boxes pretty much forever.

@TP^DC D.M.: It's been a long time since I've run out of bases. When I first started playing WHFB many many years ago, it was a struggle to get enough 20×20 square bases. Now that I'm rebasing the elves, I suddenly have a glut of those, but no rounds.

@edc: That's what they came with, so I figure I should aim for historical accuracy. I just wish there were more elven designs in the Arcane Armorials set, because I can't think of a good design for the non-Melnibonean contingent.

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:
Great job on the elves Josh.

I always prefer to buy things like bases in bulk, but then the question is how many to buy?! I recently bought all the bases I would need for the minis from Space Hulk and Dearhwatch Overkill. I happened to buy 20 extra for Deathwatch marines of my own creation. And then Death Masque arrived so I now need to buy more again!!

I tend to try and work out the most I'll ever want, and then double that. Safer that way. Changing from 25mm to 32mm is a nightmare though. A never-ending nightmare.

And what the hell is Blainetober? I mean, I can work out that it's about painting Mantic Blaines during October, but is that a Dakka thing, or a Mantic thing, or....?

It started over in the Mantic SF N&R thread. Someone posted a teaser image of Blaine from the next Mantic project, and it kind of snowballed from there.

I'm gearing up for Blainetober by painting up some Deadzone stuff. First up, a Corporation Strider:






I went with the same color scheme I use for all my Enforcers models-- Tamiya NATO green and dark grey. I added some transfers to some of the flat areas to break up the otherwise monotone areas. I considered going back and doing some weathering, but the glaze over the green is still dirty enough that I don't think it's necessary. The base is from Escenorama. I backed their troubled SF scenery Indiegogo, and got some pretty neat terrain from them, but only after paying a bunch of extra shipping. The bases are nice, but that raised lip around the sidewalk area is a little irritating.

Next up: the Urban Pattern Iron Ancestor!

Very nice. The green and the orange look great together.

EDC

Thanks. The canopy is 7-8 layers of sepia ink over Citadel's Mitrhil Silver. That's one of my go-to techniques for tinted glass.

Better late then never, right? Here's all the stuff I finished in August:

That's a lot of elves. Nice strider too!

I have a lot more elves that need to be redone, but I need to restock bases first. In the meantime, the DZ stuff is a nice change of pace.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Thanks. The canopy is 7-8 layers of sepia ink over Citadel's Mitrhil Silver. That's one of my go-to techniques for tinted glass.

That's brilliant. Definitely want to try this.

EDC

Inks over metallics provide some really interesting effects, if you have the patience for it. Which I usually don't...

I had a day off to myself yesterday. Instead of doing something "productive," I did this:





This is, of course, an Iron Ancestor from Mantic. The basic version is all restic, and for DZ it comes with different weapons cast in resin (they are in the first two photos). Since they are on simple ball joints at the shoulders, I decided to magnetize them. This model is in the same basic colors as the Forge Guard I posted a while back. I initially added some spot color, but didn't like how it looked. I may go back in later and add transfers or something, but for now I think it works well enough. I tried to give the hammer a red-hot metal effect, but I'm not sure it works. Maybe if I had cleaned the mold lines better I could have pulled it off. Ah, well, I have another one for that.

Finally, here's a comparison shot of the two walkers I've done so far:


The strider is a lot taller, but has spindly limbs. You can't tell because of the ginormous gun. Next up, a Marauder Stunt-bot, followed by a squad of Peacekeepers.

Nice work, Josh. Both on the walkers and especially the "Elf Army in a Month". I don't think you posted the horsies in the Tale thread?

I like the Master Chief look you've gone for on your Strider. Some serious Halo vibes there, Josh

Thanks for the kind words.

az: I thought that I had posted everything on the Painter's Challenge page, but all those Melniboneans kind of blended together there at the end.

aov: I'm not really into video games, so I had to look that up. You're right, though, the resemblance is there. I guess the color combination is just a natural fit.

Josh, where in Japan are you? Because I have the feeling we might be the only two players with DZ figures!

M.

I'm in Iwate, which makes me the only owner of DZ in Tohoku, as far as I can tell. Where are you located?

Great stuff Josh

Love the strider, excellent prep for Blainetober

 JoshInJapan wrote:
I'm in Iwate, which makes me the only owner of DZ in Tohoku, as far as I can tell. Where are you located?

I'm afraid that I live in Kobe. Not exactly a same day trip.


M.

Looking good. I'd totally count painting as something productive those minis won't paint themselves!

EDC

Hm. Kobe is a little far for a day trip. Maybe I'll find a way to get down there during some vacation or other...

Next up, a Marauder Stuntbot!






For my DZ Marauders, I have been using khaki/ochre as the main uniform color. With this 'bot, I picked up a jar of Tamiya Desert Yellow. After that, it was my usual series of glazes and drybrushing. Unlike the other two walkers, the Stuntbot has a detailed interior. No grot, in any fictional universe, would drive around a deathbot with an open cockpit, so I wanted to use the cover. but I also wanted to be able to see the pilot. I pulled out one of my very very tiny drillbits, countersunk some brass wire and viola! A canopy that opens and closes:


The Strider and Iron Ancestor were 2-for-1 in the Pledge Manager, but the Stuntbot, being resin, was not. Thus, I only have this one, which is fine with me. For all the (quite valid) complaints about restic, I find it easier to work with than resin. The arms are held on with Blutac, waiting for me to decide between gluing, pinning or magnetizing them.

Next up, a squad of Peacekeepers. I should have them ready to show by Monday.

You said that the stuntbot and iron ancestors are all from mantic. Is the stuntbot grot part of the mini or was it a conversion from you?

I only ask cos some parts look like they could come from 40k orks

Also, I like the yellow in the stuntbot. Very neat. My yellow always gets really patchy

The Stuntbot is part of the Marauder (read:not-Ork) faction from Deadzone. The Stuntbot would work pretty well as a Killa Kan (or whatever they are called now) if the model wasn't so expensive.

The yellow is actually a yellow-ochre color, quite close to AP's desert yellow and just a little lighter than the old Tau Sept ochre. I, too, have always had problems with yellows, which is why I pretty much never use them any more.

Nice work - I thought that thing looked a bit Orky, but not like an actual GW Ork model. Mantic Orx explains that perfectly!

 Azazelx wrote:
Nice work - I thought that thing looked a bit Orky, but not like an actual GW Ork model. Mantic Orx explains that perfectly!

I really like the Orx stuff from DZ1-- they are tied with Asterians for second, after Enforcers. I really wish I had picked up some Raptors before they were discontinued.

Cool model. Certainly gives a reminiscence of Ork stuff.

Paint job looks good, really nice clean yellow.

EDC

Those stunbots and iron ancestors are surprisingly nice! The paint job is very nice, but I am surprised to see anything sculpted for Mantic that I like the look of so much.
WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!

Really good job. Count me in the I hate yellow club too!

I need to paint my enforcers

M.

I'll be in Kobe for New Years...

Wehrkind wrote:Those stunbots and iron ancestors are surprisingly nice! The paint job is very nice, but I am surprised to see anything sculpted for Mantic that I like the look of so much.
WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!

I'm a big Mantic fan, but even I recognize that they drop the ball a lot. When they get it right, though, they can make some nice models. Pretty much everything from the first DZ (minus materials issues) is pretty solid, IMO.

Miguelsan wrote:Really good job. Count me in the I hate yellow club too!

I need to paint my enforcers

M.

Yellow sucks. I want to see your enforcers.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I'll be in Kobe for New Years...

No fair using my pblog to make plans that I can't attend!

I'll be in Kyoto too, Hiroshima maybe. Any of those doable?

Iwate is about as far as you can get from anywhere else in Japan. The closest I can get is Fukuoka immediately after January 1st, but I don't think I'll be there long as I have to be back up here for entrance exams shortly after.

Here are some terrible photos of my latest work. I could not get my camera to focus anywhere but under this warm light, which is why everything is yellow. Anyway:

This first guy is a Peacekeeper Sergeant. He has this sort of casual walking pose, so I gave him these straight arms and positioned his head so that he is looking straight forward. If you picture the video for "Eye Of The Tiger," you'll see what I was aiming for.


Speaking of aiming, here's this guy. I positioned his arm too high. The lighting is really washed out in these photos, but I really did shading (okay, glazing) and highlighting on these guys. The same techniques I use for all my Enforcers, in fact.


One more boring pose. Unlike Space Marine power fists, Peacekeeper power fists can grip. Note the horrible upper arms on this model. Most of them are like that-- corrugated tubing or something like that. Some of the details are crisp and clean, some are flat and ill-defined. Whoever makes the molds for manitc needs to step up their game.



Oh, yeah, that's more like it. These final two guys have really dynamic poses, more than either the Pathfinder or Enforcer kits offer. It seems a little weird that not-Terminators should be so agile, but it was nice after building three guys just standing there. That said, this guy was a bear to assemble. I ended up gluing the right leg to an old 25x50 base, letting it dry, and then assembling the rest around that.



And one more dynamic, lunging guy in hulkbuster armor. It wasn't until I was more than half finished that I noticed all the mold lines I missed. I promise to pay better attention on the next set.

And finally, a group shot:

The Peacekeeper sprue only comes with four closed helmets, and only two of those cool goggle helmets. For the next set (if/when I get around to them), I want to use those, but I'll be one short. I wonder if the Enforcer head is the same size...

As always, comments or criticism is welcome. I hope to have one more post by the end of the month. Keep watching this space.

Here's a better photo, taken in the same location with the same lighting conditions and camera settings. Why did this one come out better? Don't ask me, I have no idea.

Great work lately!

Thanks. My numbers are way down for the month though. I'll have to work on something smaller in October, in addition to my work for Blainetober.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
One final entry in my September painting challege:





These are, of course, the Pathfinder monobike rider, mounted and on foot. The ponytail on the walker snapped off somewhere between production and painting, so I just filed down the stump and made her completely bald. Also, I swear I picked out her ears, but the camera didn't pick up the detailing. The rider's left arm appears to have fallen out of the bag, and I didn't feel like emptying and entire Box Of Shame to find it, so I replaced both of her arms with leftovers from the Pathfinders I did a couple of months ago. I also added a couple of decals from a sheet of 1/100 scale transfers I picked up at the local hobby shop. They are probably supposed to be for Gundam models, but they work pretty well at this scale. I applied some to both the Strider and the Stuntbot, but they don't show up well on the latter.

Finally, here's everything I painted in September:


For October, I'm planning to build a couple of Frostgrave warbands-- probably Orcs and Halflings. Frostgrave is the first game my son will actually use the rules for (as opposed to lining up models and going "pew-pew!" until I lose), and I want to keep him interested. Hopefully he will want to try some other rulesets as well. In addition, I plan to paint some models for Blainetober. You should, as well.

I'm having a little bit of a slow start in October, but I managed to get my first new entry for Blainetober.:





This is the Mars Attacks! version of Blaine. The model is a little better detailed than the Deadzone version. He also came assembled with fewer egregious mold lines, making him much easier to paint. In general, I tried to keep the colors muted to reflect Blaine's professionalism (I assume he's a professional at whatever it is he does). I painted the wristblade-thing on his right hand with power sword blue highlighting, but the photo muted it beyond recognition. The photo in the MA rules has him holding some sort of sci-fi blaster or something, but it looks more like a modern handgun to me, so I just did it in medium grey.

I have the start of my orc warband- two KoW Godspeakers and the hero from Dungeon Saga--for Frostgrave started. I hope to have them ready to show this weekend.

Really digging the new Blaine. Your paint job is top notch. Really like the contrast between the blade and the rest of him.

Cool stuff. Really liking the work on the jacket.

EDC

Nice work on Blaine. Was that an add-on, or included in MA pledges? The Peacekeepers look good as well. The initial photos give them an atmospheric feel. Like a shot from a level from Destiny or Halo.

Azazelx wrote:Nice work on Blaine. Was that an add-on, or included in MA pledges? The Peacekeepers look good as well. The initial photos give them an atmospheric feel. Like a shot from a level from Destiny or Halo.

Thanks. I honestly don't remember how my MA! pledge breaks down. Remember that weird credit system they used? Blaine was somewhere in there, I think.

evildrcheese wrote:Cool stuff. Really liking the work on the jacket.

EDC

Thanks again. The jacket was pretty simple, just Ceramcoat Chocolate brown with a couple of highlights using AP Leather Brown, followed by a dark brown glaze. I'm pretty happy with the results, though.

Archer wrote:Really digging the new Blaine. Your paint job is top notch. Really like the contrast between the blade and the rest of him.

Thanks to you, as well. It looks a little better in person. You would think I would know not to use the Auto Adjust filter...

Here are the first models for an orc warband for Frostgrave:




This is an orc Godspeaker from Mantic. This model was produced without Kickstarter, so of course I needed to get one. Positive reinforcement and all that.





Did I say "one?" I meant "two." The model comes with variant arms and heads, which make them models look different enough to justify the purchase, I think.





This is the orc Final Boss from Dungeon Saga. He'll make a nice captain for a Frostgrave warband as well as a Krudger on Foot for KoW. At arm's length, the model looks great, but up close we can see the limitations of the single-piece cast-- his ears bleed into the headdress and the side teeth are more than a little blobby. Otherwise, I have no complaints. I especially like that he is wearing almost an entire Mawbeast carcass as a hat.

I went with an all-brown palate on these guys. Mantic orcs are supposed to be short-lived,and I felt like they wouldn't be bothered with any kind of textile manufacturing. That's what goblins are for.

Here's a group shot:


I have the rest of the orcs from DS primed, and DS Blaine started. I hope to have them ready to show by this time next week.

Love the Orc skin tones! Nice choice on the simple palette as well. Drives home the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short life of your typical orc.

Valete,

JohnS

Next up, Tyrant King Blaine, from Mantic's Dungeon Saga:




I cranked this one out in two mornings, not counting the Gesso primer. Like the MA! Blaine, I stuck with a limited palette of browns, bronze and charcoal grey. I picked out his eyes, but it's hard to tell because I couldn't get the camera to focus on his face. Maybe I need a monotone background? I dunno.

Blaine is a tiny, tiny alien mercenary, at least compared to an orc krudger:


Speaking or orcs, I have nine more orcs from DS started. I hope to have them ready to show this weekend.

Can you please enlighten me as to who this Blaine is that seems to appear in different guises? Loving the painting. The orca in particular.

Blaine is kind of a mascot for Mantic games. He has appeared in every game that they've Kickstarted since Deadzone.

Cool looking Orcs, Josh. Blaine has come up well also.

 Azazelx wrote:
Cool looking Orcs, Josh. Blaine has come up well also.

Thanks, dude.

Speaking of orcs, here are some more:


These are the orc archers that came in the orc expansion for Dungeon Saga. I used the same palette as the orc krudger and wizards I posted a while back. You will note that a couple of their back feet are not on the base. I probably should have done the boiling water thing with them, but somewhere along the line I seem to have decided that cleaning and prepwork on restic/board game plastic models is more trouble than it's worth. They look fine at arm's length, so that's good enough for me. Also, I don't know why the camera wouldn't focus on them. The rest of the photos for this update turned out OK...



Three morax from the same set. Again, the same colors and the same techniques. These models are a lot more dynamic than the KoW plastics.



Three greatax. Second verse, same as the first. Again, these are a nice variation on the KoW plastics.



Three mawbeasts. Check out the guns on these guys. Whoever sculpted them must be a bodybuilding fan. They look weird, but not any weirder than a Citadel squig, so they get a pass from me.



Three goblins. I really enjoyed painting all those orcs, but these guys were kind of a drag. Maybe I'm getting tired of all the brown, maybe I just prefer the muscly look of the orcs as opposed to these weedy little guys with their funy helmets. Whatever it is, I'm going to push the rest of this set to the back of the queue.

Here are all the orcs I've done in October (Orctober?)


Between these models and the ones I had finished previously, I can build a pretty nice Forstgrave warband. For the remainder of the month, I have Blaine on Jetbike and some Old School Halflings in preparation for another warband. I hope to minimize my use of browns for these...

Still loving the green skin tones on those still loving the green skin tones on those Orcs!

You could probably get those back legs down by bending them down and then putting them in the place, or just gluing them… But I understand the impetus to have things done and not going back to fiddle with him even more.

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks. The green is the same technique I've been using since I started painting Orks for 40k-- goblin green with a heavy glaze made from Liquitex acrylic green. It's served me well.

As for the bendy ankle problem, it's easy to fix with boiling water and a little bending, but these particular models came glued to their bases, and whatever the Chinese sweatshop uses is stronger than any superglue I've ever found. There's a good chance that I'd break either the model or the base trying to get it off. The gap is small enough that it looks more like the model is running/advancing rather than falling over, so I've opted to just let it go on these guys.

Love the quality you are coming up with on your orcs.

I ended up backing Star Saga. The solo rules look good and I did a play test which I enjoyed. I'll just have to hope that bankruptcy doesn't follow

Thanks. All my orc and goblin stuff uses the same, very simple techniques. They break down if you look too closely, but at tabletop distances they look just fine.

Here are some halflings:


This guy is Oddo, from the Kickstarter project I mentioned above. I used Tolkien's description of Hobbits as inspiration: "...inclined to wear bright colours, chiefly yellow and green." (that may not be the exact quote). I assumed that his ribbed tunic thing is armor, so I painted it in leather brown.



This is Bailey from the same set. I reversed the colors on his clothes, but otherwise he's the same as Oddo.



Here's Spud, armed with that most Halfling of weapons, the sling. I painted the fleshtones a little differently on these guys. THe base color is AP Fur Brown, highlited up with AP Barbarian Flesh, washed with AP Soft Tone ink. THe result is a ruddy skin tone appropriate for an agrarian peoples.



Wort here is another slinger. He has the shapless-bag-hat that Sam wore in FotR. He also has a red waistcoat, but it's hard to see, even in person.



Finally, a token Citadel halfling. I have two more from this set somewhere in the house that I will be revisiting sometime as well. This one is wearing a pot as a helmet, which bugs me more than anything at this scale should.

Here's a group shot:


This will be my last post for October, as the next three days are packed. I had hoped to finish Blaine on Jetbike, but I can't decide on how to paint the bike, so Blainetober will end with a whimper. Novermber will start with more halflings from this set, I think.

Cool halflings!

I like the orcs and gobbos from the previous page too, workkng through the same batch myself.

Nice work on the Halflings. Totally adorable!

EDC

The halflings look great. Thanks for sharing!

GrimDork wrote:Cool halflings!

I like the orcs and gobbos from the previous page too, workkng through the same batch myself.

I have enjoyed all the DS stuff I've painted so far. The orcs were a lot of fun, but I got kind of burnt out before I could finish the goblins. Maybe later this month...

evildrcheese wrote:Nice work on the Halflings. Totally adorable!

EDC

Thanks. They really capture the oldhammer vibe. I have another six a couple of days away from sharing. Watch this space.

Cleatus wrote:The halflings look great. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for looking!

Good to see the little guys represented. You know Lumpin Croop from the GW Regiments of renown would work well in Frostgrave or Mordheim....

 Archer wrote:
Good to see the little guys represented. You know Lumpin Croop from the GW Regiments of renown would work well in Frostgrave or Mordheim....

You're right, they'd make a great little warband.

Speaking of which, here are some more halflings:








These are from the same set as the halflings I posted earlier in the week. Same basic palette, same techniques. The single most difficult part on all of these models is their stumpy little legs-- I had a hell of a time getting the brush in to paint their inseams as well as the basing material between their feet. Also, for whatever reason, neither my camera nor my phone wanted to focus, so you'll have to forgive these blurry photos. I have three more left to paint, two pony riders and a banner bearer, but I'm going to push them back for a bit. This week, I am working on my Heroines in Sensible Shoes from Oathsworn. Watch this space for more later in the week.

Oh, yeah, here's all the halflings I have painted to date:

I really like them. The heraldic colour combinations works really well. Really like the halfling with all the bling.

So how does a half long warband match up against the others? Are they cheap and plentiful or actually capable on the field?

I started a thread about this very topic over on the Misc. games board. The official word from the creator seems to be that racial differences can be ignored, so that every thief or man-at-arms has the same stats. It makes sense for Frostgrave, I think. You should read through the thread for a better explanation than I can give.

I also like the guy with the disco medallion a lot. He will be my captain, I think.

Loving the halflings

Cracking Job Josh.

You've done loads since I've last been here, particularly love the Blaines and the marauder stuntbot.

Thanks, guys. The halflings have been a blast to paint. The DZ stuff was fun as well, although they did bring my monthly average down just a bit.

WTF, America? W.T.F.?

-----

I'm not generally a fan of female models for gaming. It's not that I dislike women or that I don't want women in my games (as players or as elements on the tabletop), but I find the way they are depicted in both wargaming and role-playing to be quite distasteful. The corset-and-boob-cups on Sisters of Battle bug the hell out of me. Remember that dude who put stripper cages on his Land Raider? Who the hell would drive that thing into battle? I dropped out of the Shieldwolf KS because the warrior women from the frozen north charge into battle with bare midriffs. And I still feel icky from looking at those renders of the slave miniatures from a couple days ago (I won't be linking anything here; you can find them on the N&R page). G-strings and bustierres, high heels and bare midriffs, stripper poles and nipples-- these things have their place, but that place isn't on the battlefield, in my opinion. That's just not the sort of game I want to play, nor the image of women that I want my son to grow up with.

So when I saw this project on Kickstarter, I decided that I had to back it.



These are the fighter, rogue, bard, and half-orc barbarian from Oathsworn miniatures. This whole set is designed as dungeon crawlers, which is why they are carrying lanterns and torches, but I figure they'll make a nice Forstgrave warband as well.



Here's the barbarian. This, I think, is the stand-out model for the set. She is the only one not carrying a torch or lantern-- maybe she makes one of the others carry it, or else she has infravision. This photo makes her skin look green, but it's more of an ocher in real life. I had trouble deciding on her skin tone, and GIS was no help at all. A search for "half-orc" results mostly in images of Hulk-like naked musclemen/women with very minimal armor, along with at least one photomanip of Megan Fox. In the end, I just went with earthtones befitting a barbarian-type. Note the bedroll and coil of rope. I suspect she has some iron rations in one of those pouches.



The bard is wearing more armor than you usually see a bard wearing. In fact, GIS results for "female bard" give a lot of results like I complained about above. I think her dark skin turned out pretty well, as did her braids. I swear that I painted her eyes, but they don't really show in this photo. I'm not sure I like how the torch turned out, so I may go back and redo it when I get to that stage on the next set of heroine models. Note the bedroll and coil of rope under the lute.



The fighter here has a really big sword with no scabbard, a crossbow, and a Howling Griffon on her shield. I used Vallejo Dark Flesh for her face, trying for an Indian/Pakistani skin tone. I was going to try some OSL on the lantern and face, but I liked how the warm yellow looked well enough to stop there. After all, how brightly can a candle burn? Once again, note the bedroll and rope.



Finally, the rogue. I gave her caucasian skin tones and mousy blond hair, as well as a dimly-glowing lantern like the fighter. This model has an empty scabbard for the short sword she is holding. Again, note the rope. These adventurers are ready to swing over any gap or lasso any kobold. None of them, however, have a ten-foot pole.

I really, really enjoyed painting these models. Nary an exposed belly button or boob among them, and they still look like women. This is the internet, so I can get skin anytime I want, but next time I pull out the dungeon set, I'm taking these ladies.

Nice work on the halflings, I especially like the halfling noble.

Brilliant work on the adventuring ladies too, some top work there.

EDC

Thanks. They really are nice models, which is half the battle.

I think these are some of your best work. The rogue in particular really pops. Well done.

Thanks, Archer. That's some high praise. Hopefully I can live up to it with the next set.

I saw your post headline and the last post and immediately though you had some Otherworld minis. Uhm, these http://otherworldminiatures.co.uk/shop/dab-series-dungeon-adventurers-boxed-sets/dab3-female-characters-12/ There is a similarity in style. Otherworld has lots of cool stuff. Not readily available in the US as far as I know.

I like the lanterns. A good dungeon-crawl accessory. And the painting. Nice work on that.

Not so much wearing the sensible shoes as Boots, high, hard. Or Boots, high, soft. It's a D&D reference. (From the original D&D.)

Thanks for the link. Those are pretty nifty models.

If these are old-school D&D characters, they must have at least ten flasks of oil in the backpacks.

Plus, of course, 50 feet of rope and a 10 foot pole!

Don't forget the iron spikes to keep the doors from closing behind you.

Those are cool models, and your paint job really showed them some love.

Those are awesome paint jobs on your Oathsworn minis! I haven't got to mine :( I love the models they're really great, and quite small with a lot of detail (not the epic GW proportions).

Still laughing about the D&D comments too... omg, many an adventuring was started with exactly that list of items. And Iron Rations. Don't forget Iron rations lol

Love 'em! Especially the rouge. Very nicely done.

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Love 'em! Especially the rouge. Very nicely done.

Valete,

JohnS

Thanks, dude. I'm a little surprised that the half-orc hasn't gotten more love. I think she's the coolest figure in this set.

Speaking of which, here are some more:


This is the elf ranger. Inspired by the Lothlorien wood elves from the films, I went with greys and greens for her dominant colors. Her bracers and the accents on her sword are gold, but the lighting in this photo make them look muddy. Some day I'll figure out how to take good photos at home. Note the coil of rope.



This is the human wizard. I figure she's using the magelight to compensate for her not-very-bright lantern. Once again, notice the rope.



You can tell this one is a cleric because she has a mace instead of a sword. I don't know why her face is out of focus. Maybe her god is protecting her soul so that the camera can't steal it? It's hard to see, but she also has some rope, on her left side.



Here's the first and only dwarf in the set. I'm not really a fan of this model, mostly because she doesn't really have any visual signifiers of dwarfiness, so she's essentially just a short human. This one has no light source, I assume because dwarfs can see underground, but she has a magnificently huge rope coil on her belt.



A halfling rogue. I painted her in the same colors as the halflings I posted in September, although she doesn't fit with them stylistically. She has a lot of daggers and, of course, a coil of rope.



Finally, a forest gnome archer. I wasn't (and am still not) familiar with gnomes as a PC race, but I figured "forest" meant "green." It's hard to tell, even in person, but her skin is a greyish-green while her hair is yellow-green. You can't see it in these photos, but she also has rope.

Last, a group shot:


This was a fun set of models to paint. I still have two or three that don't quite fit thematically (one pregnant villager, a dragonborn wizard, and a nest full of monster eggs), but for now I'm calling them done. As you may have noticed, every model is carrying rope-- they must have half a mile between them-- which just feels ludicrous to me. Maybe they are Wonder Woman fans? Next up, five models from the Sensible Shoes 2 kickstater. Watch this space.

Nice job on all the Oathsworn minis!

It is kinda sad that their sensible attire makes them so unusual.

Those gals are indeed wearing sensible dungeon crawl shoes! not a single stiletto to be found, amazing!

Nice paint work btw!

aku-chan wrote:Nice job on all the Oathsworn minis!

It is kinda sad that their sensible attire makes them so unusual.

I agree. The Dice Bag Lady stocks all sorts of sensibly-dressed figures, but I wish more models like this were available.

shasolenzabi wrote:Those gals are indeed wearing sensible dungeon crawl shoes! not a single stiletto to be found, amazing!

Nice paint work btw!

Thanks!

Awesome stuff Josh.

You really hit it out of the park with the adventurers

Thanks, dude. The models themselves are nifty enough that I want to put in a little extra effort on them.

All sensible adventurers come equipped with a 10 foot length of rope for GM baiting shenanigans as well......

50 ft ropes or you only have enough with which to hang yourself

Awesome minis lately! I love the line of sensible adventure ladies. Keep up the good work, you've done a bang up job there.

Those are amazing, and i want them now. i spend so much time looking for not awful female minis and these are perfect.

and the painting you've done with them is just about perfect as well.

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. I'm not wholly certain that I deserve all the praise, but it's certainly nice to hear.

@amazingturtles: If you're looking for fully-clothed and -equipped female models, I suggest The Dice Bag Lady.

This week's production is five more models from the Sensible Shoes 2 Kickstarter:


This is another rogue. I decided to paint all of her armor as leather, as befits a D&D thief. She's getting ready to throw that dagger, which is kind of hard to tell in these photos- really dynamic models defy 2D photography. Naturally, she has a coil of rope, but strangely no bedroll.



This one is a monk. I based her colors on GIS images of Shaolin Monks. I'm actually quite proud of the oranges and yellows. I'm not entirely certain about her staff-- it looks like an ornate table leg or something, rather than a long wooden stick. Note the rope, once again.



Here's a halfling sorcerer. I had originally planned to do her in greens and yellows like all my other halflings, but partway through I got bored. After some Googling, I settled on blues instead. Because of the cloak, we will never know if she is carrying rope or not.



And now, a barbarian chieftess (is that a word?). I based her palette on illustrations in an Osprey book (Rome's Enemies 2, if you're interested). The shield probably needs some kind of freehand design, but I'm no Azazelx...



Last up, a paladin. I don't have much to say about this model, as she's mostly armor and therefor not particularly challenging. No rope for her, but she does have a bedroll. I can't imagine she'll get much sleep wearing all that armor.

Finally, a group shot:


I'm pretty much done with this project for now. There are a few more models in both sets, but they don't fit thematically with this bunch. I remain impressed with Oathsworn's work, and if they do a third set of female adventurers, I will likely got those as well.

Next up: Frostgrave gnolls. I have the first five assembled and greenstuffed, and I hope to have them Gessoed tonight. As always, watch this space.

Thank you very much for the link to the dice bag lady, there's a lot of really interesting stuff there! I may be spending money in the future.

I like those minis. Daggger throwing Rogue especially. If my Shelf of Shame were not already groaning under the weight of so much unpainted metal... Nice painting too.

Ah, here is the original equipment list for D&D (yes, the original original, from the LBB called "Men & Magic") under the spoiler, for your viewing pleasure...

Awesome. I really like the pose of the Paladin.

EDC

amazingturtles wrote:Thank you very much for the link to the dice bag lady, there's a lot of really interesting stuff there! I may be spending money in the future.

Her international shipping rates are dirt cheap as well.

Red Harvest wrote:I like those minis. Daggger throwing Rogue especially. If my Shelf of Shame were not already groaning under the weight of so much unpainted metal... Nice painting too.

Ah, here is the original equipment list for D&D (yes, the original original, from the LBB called "Men & Magic") under the spoiler, for your viewing pleasure...

Spoiler:

Remember too, than no matter what weapon you used, you only did 1d6 damage with it. You had a lot of characters using just daggers as weapons. Except Clerics. They would buy a 10' pole and cut it in half to make 2 staves, since you couldn't buy just a staff.

It's not like I need any more models myself, but sometimes it's just not possible to say no. Plus, I like to support this kind of product-- there's enough Frazetta/Vallejo cheesecake out there, not enough of this. Also, that equipment list predates even my D&D career. Thanks for making me feel young!

I'm still on my Frastgrave kick. Here are a bunch of photos of Gnolls:




















These are all from the Frostgrave Gnolls kit. They turned out well enough, I suppose. The box proudly, prominently declares them to be multi-part, hard plastic models. It may be my age, it may be the fact that I just finished painting a really fun set of models, it may just me being contrary, but I'm not entirely sure that HIPS is the panacea that so many gamers believe it to be. These models, just like the Enforcers I painted a couple of months back. look pretty good directly from the front or back, but details sort of blend together from the side and between their legs. While they may be multi-part, there are only so many ways to can pose a humanoid body without making the model look like a contortionist. These models also suffer from the same problem that GW Gors have:


The ball joints for their necks allow for a lot of variation in head position, but leave a necessary gap around the base of the skull, making the model look like it's wearing a cheap Halloween mask. I ended up using kneadatite to build up their manes to cover the gap. It works well enough, but it adds about 30 minutes to the painting time.

Here's a group shot:


They turned out a lot darker than I had planned. I will try to lighten up the palette on the next set of five.

Lovely work on the Gnolls there Josh. I have to agree that the neck joint isn't great but you've done a great job in fixing it.

I think plastic is so well considered mostly because it's cheap and easy to work with. Metal and resin minis are often better looking and more detailed but at extra expense. When it comes to 25mm to 32mm scale I personally prefer metal or resin by a long way for skirmish games and characters but for large blocks of troops or rank and file in platoon/warband sized games I really appreciate the cheapness and ease of construction that plastics offer. Small scales are almost universally better in metal, the minis need some weight to them in my opinion.

Looking good. I like the Gnolls, even if the plastic kits are mono pose to a certain extent at least plastic is alot easier to work with for conversions etc. I wouldn't want to go back to metal only models.

EDC

Don't get me wrong, I understand the utility of plastics in building KoW or WHFB-sized armies. I just don't see them as the be-all and end-all of modelling. A monopose metal model can offer just as much, if not more) dynamism as a multi-part plastic. I'm going to plow through all these plastics, and save the metal gnolls as a reward for perseverance.

I look forward to seeing what you do with those metal Gnolls, from what I've seen the sculpts are absolutely excellent and should look pretty damn good when painted.

Very cool loving the oathsworn minis - great sculpts on those!

love the gnolls as well not a monster you see that often anymore it seems like, speaking of D&D days

Lovely stuff Josh

Nice work on the Gnolls. I have 3 Gnoll Archers from the D&D board game. I think they might be larger than the Frostgrave ones though. Any chance of a photo showing the scale? por favor.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Here are some more gnolls:






On this set, I lightened up the colors on their clothes, while keeping them dingy. I also lightened their skin tones a bit, but you can't really tell in these photos. Did you notice that their manes and snouts are darker than the rest of their faces? I didn't think so. Note also that the last two are carrying stone axes. By special request, here is a scale shot with one of my son's WIP Ultramarines:


If you ignore the difference in base thickness, and if you imagine the gnoll standing up straight, the two are about the same height, although the SM is decidedly bulkier (as one would expect from a GW/Citadel model). I seem to recall that gnolls in AD&D are supposed to be ogre-sized. I imagine they scaled down the kit to make it compatible with all the other Frostgrave plastics. Finally, a group shot:



I have five more plastic gnolls assembled and based, but I sliced open my index finger last night while making dinner, so I'm not really able to sculpt their manes. This will probably the be last models I finish in November. I'll try to get a photo of everything I have done this month. Next up: more gnolls! Including heroes! Hopefully!

Those gnolls are great. The natural poses, the colors you've used, eveything is good.

Not bad! I really like your female adventurers, great paintwork on sensible minis.

The gnolls. Hmm. I like what you've done with them, but at the same time I think you've talked me out of getting some. At least to use for gnolls. I dunno if they always were, or even are now, but the D&D gnolls I'm used to are more like 7+ feet tall and pretty beefy. These guys look more like goblin sized gnolls. Some kind of dogmen or beastmen.

Thanks for sharing those, i've been having trouble finding good photos of them. I'll have to do some thinking on what I could actually use those for, but for gnolls I'll probably have to stick with reapers semi-oversized variety.

Lot of nice work, keep it going

I like the gnolls, from every angle except side-on, where the plastic moulding shortcomings you pointed out are so visible

Lovely paintjobs, though, good muted natural colours.

amazingturtles wrote:Those gnolls are great. The natural poses, the colors you've used, eveything is good.

Thanks, although I can't really take credit for the poses. Only two of the torsos come separate from the legs, and the shoulders aren't ball joints. I suspect that more than one box of these guys would get repetitive really quickly.

GrimDork wrote:Not bad! I really like your female adventurers, great paintwork on sensible minis.

The gnolls. Hmm. I like what you've done with them, but at the same time I think you've talked me out of getting some. At least to use for gnolls. I dunno if they always were, or even are now, but the D&D gnolls I'm used to are more like 7+ feet tall and pretty beefy. These guys look more like goblin sized gnolls. Some kind of dogmen or beastmen.

Thanks for sharing those, i've been having trouble finding good photos of them. I'll have to do some thinking on what I could actually use those for, but for gnolls I'll probably have to stick with reapers semi-oversized variety.

Lot of nice work, keep it going

Yeah, these gnolls would probably work as Ungors or something roughly human sized, though.

Slinky wrote:I like the gnolls, from every angle except side-on, where the plastic moulding shortcomings you pointed out are so visible

Lovely paintjobs, though, good muted natural colours.

They work well enough at arm's length, but up close they do start to show their faults.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
I suspect that more than one box of these guys would get repetitive really quickly.

Well I guess I'll be finding out whether that's the case or not as I'll be needing a second box at some point to complete the units I'm throwing together for Dragon Rampant.

Potential boredom inducing repetition aside that's another really good looking group you've got there Josh.

Well, Nick, I'm following your blog with interest. As for now, I'm enjoying these models well enough.

It's the last day of the month, so I guess I should share a photo of everything I did:


The adventurers outnumber the gnolls rather significantly. Also, here's everything I did in October:


I suspect that the halflings won't make it out of the dungeon this time.

My pledge for December is to finish all the half-finished stuff I have hanging out in my painting area: six Mantic ogres, 5 plastic gnolls, 5 metal gnolls, a Magnus conclave, and ten more ax orcs to finish off a regiment. Plus whatever else I have forgotten about. My goal is a clean slate for 2017.

Nice. That's a good haul completed minis for the last 2 months.

EDC

 evildrcheese wrote:
Nice. That's a good haul completed minis for the last 2 months.

EDC

Thanks. I'm well on my way to achieving one-model-a-day, although I had hoped to get up to an even 400 for the year. I probably should have done more KoW stuff.

After slicing my finger open last week, I was unable to work with kneadatite for a few days. Thus, I moved some metal gnolls up in the queue:


This is a gnoll templar. He's a good enough model, but the scultping/casting is a little crude, especially after the heroines I did last month. There are pits on the underside of his ax blade, and some grubbly bits that may be the result of damage on the mold. Also, the details are a little shallow all over. He easily passes the arm's-length test, though.



This is an apothecary, although I will probably use him as a wizard. I tride to do some OSL on the skull, but I think I'll go back and redo it as blood or something.



This is a tracker, but my son suggests that he should be an apprentice. I like this model, but the position of his right hand made it a b**ch to paint.



Finally, a couple of hyenas. Their eyes look tiny in person, but huge in these photos. I'll have to go back and give them pupils.

Overall, these were fun, simple models, but the QC was a little off, I think. Also, they are significantly larger than the plastics:


Finally, a group shot:


I'll try to take the next set of photos from a lower angle. Next up: more plastic gnolls!

Great work in the last month or more since I've been mostly-absent. The Orcs and Gobbos look great, the hobbitses look very much like the old GW style, which definitely has it's charm when painted as nicely as yours are, and the adventurer party really looks the part. I have to agree with Archer - the rogue really stands out amongst the others - though frankly they all look very cool. Bodacia/Merida from the second batch also looks really good and stands out to me. I might need to pick one of those up for my own Celts.. (yes, I'm typing as I read through the post in another tab...)

Those plastic Frostgrave Gnolls manage to look better than I'd expected them to.

I'll have to update the Tale of Gamers thread with your insane output, but I'll hold off on that for now. I've only just finished the hard yards at work and 7-day weeks doing stuff at home all weekend, so I'm easing myself back into painting and blogging to start with.

Awesome work on the metals there Josh. I have to agree on the templar being a little bit iffy on the casting (I've got one to paint as the leader for my gnoll army for dragon rampant) but your paint job has made him look really intimidating.

@azazelx: Hey, welcome back. It's good to hear that you have survived your summer of hell.

@Nick Ellingworth: Looking at the metals now, I think my biggest issue with them is the shallow details. For the next set, I plan to use much darker base colors almost like blacklining. That should make up for the lack of depth.

Love the metal gnolls! Great work and I'm still in complete awe of your sustained volume. Exelsior!

Valete,

JohnS

Congratulations on Your achievements, consolations on Your injury...

Your work is really pushing me to get some gnolls myself, both plastics and metals. I've no idea where to use them, perhaps as raiders in KoW, but a ragtag bunch is looking very good!

Great stuff Josh

Love the hyenas (the actual hyenas not the hyena men though their great too )

Wirecat wrote:
Congratulations on Your achievements, consolations on Your injury...

Your work is really pushing me to get some gnolls myself, both plastics and metals. I've no idea where to use them, perhaps as raiders in KoW, but a ragtag bunch is looking very good!

Thanks, dude. The cut wasn't too bad, just poorly placed-- right across the pad, so I couldn't really mix putty. It's all healed now.

Once I finish the gnolls, I think I'll mix them in with my old Citadel beastmen-- the non-goat headed ones, anyway. They'll make an interesting skirmish force, I think.

Five more gnolls finished:


No individual photos this time. They are getting a little samey. I hadn't planned on using any crossbows, but my son insisted. Five more to go and the box is finished. Of course, they'll have to wait until I clear all the half-finished stuff off my painting area.

Lovely work on the Gnolls again there Josh.

Chainmail gloves, the only way. I just clamp everything these days. Way too many scars on my hands already.

Thanks for the scale shot. The frostgrave gnolls are noticeably smaller than the D&D gnolls I have. I can see how painting a mass of them would get tedious though.

Good work, and almost done.

The good work on the Gnolls continues. Really like the one with the bubbling skull thingie.

EDC

Sometimes even 20 of something is just too many, don't burn yourself out .

Nick Ellingworth wrote:Lovely work on the Gnolls again there Josh.

Thanks, dude. Despite my world-weary tone, these have been fun and quick to work on

Red Harvest wrote:Chainmail gloves, the only way. I just clamp everything these days. Way too many scars on my hands already.

Thanks for the scale shot. The frostgrave gnolls are noticeably smaller than the D&D gnolls I have. I can see how painting a mass of them would get tedious though.

Good work, and almost done.

I cut my finger on a kitchen knife doing the washing up, so I'm not sure chainmail would have helped...

evildrcheese wrote:The good work on the Gnolls continues. Really like the one with the bubbling skull thingie.

EDC

Thanks. I'm still not sure the OSL works. The model itself is nifty, though.

GrimDork wrote:Sometimes even 20 of something is just too many, don't burn yourself out .

I've set aside the last sprue of gnoll in favor of some half-finished ogres that have been mocking me for many, many months, so if I burn out on anything it will be those.

2016 is almost over. I plan to close out the year by finishing off all the models I started and then lost interest in over the last 11 months. First up some ogre berzerkers from Mantic:












I remember being interested in these models (or at least their concept art) during the KoW2 kickstarter, but I resisted ordering any for financial reasons. Much later, a guy on the Mantic Swaps and Sales FB group had some going cheap, so I picked them up, along with some ogre shooters. I assembled all six, finished off their skin and metallics, and then just lost steam. The models are nifty to look at, but with only two bodies and a couple of weapon options, they got boring to look at really fast. The shoulders are part of the body, with the variant arms starting at the biceps, so there isn't really any way to repose them. And so they sat, staring at me accusingly, for months and months. I pulled them off the shelf on Tuesday, applied a limited palette of browns, hit them with a brown glaze, and voila. They have tiny little eyes that look weird when photographed, but are essentially invisible in real life. Also, needle-like teeth instead of the chunky fangs of the restic ogres. Having finished these three, I like them well enough, but I prefer the Remy Tremblay ogres, even with (or perhaps because of) their skinny, knock-kneed legs. That said, these are solid metal, giving them more heft which appeals to me as a very old gamer.

Group shot:

They rank up pretty well, but only in specific combinations because of how they hold their weapons. I have three more virtually identical ogres that I hope to have finished for the weekend. After that, it's either ten orcs to finish a KoW regiment, a Magus conclave, or else some half-finished oldhammer elves. Assuming I don't get distracted by something else, of course.

Man, I thought the regular ogres weren't bad, these are just beyond them. Helped along by excellent paint work too! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. I do like these models, although I wish there was a little more variation in the poses. Thankfully, I have only six of them, so I won't get too bored painting essentially the same model over and over.

Grizzly, angry Orgres. Very nice.

EDC

There is a bit of a feudal Japan look to them. Love the choice of skin tone. Really striking.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Five more gnolls finished:


No individual photos this time. They are getting a little samey. I hadn't planned on using any crossbows, but my son insisted. Five more to go and the box is finished. Of course, they'll have to wait until I clear all the half-finished stuff off my painting area.

The archer on the right is my favorite here! A very nice, clean and consistent (yeah, probably a travesty for gnolls...) look for a bunch. Thanks for contempt... err... inspiration! I've caved in and sometime next year will start on my own gnolls.

The ogres are nice and the greyish skin is a nice change from a lot of what i've seen with ogres of various kinds

Wirecat wrote:

The archer on the right is my favorite here! A very nice, clean and consistent (yeah, probably a travesty for gnolls...) look for a bunch. Thanks for contempt... err... inspiration! I've caved in and sometime next year will start on my own gnolls.

That was kind of intentional. I have been working under the assumption that gnolls scavenge their clothes and weapons from dead treasure hunters, so everything they wear is old, dirty, and durable enough to survive being worn by gnolls.

Archer wrote:There is a bit of a feudal Japan look to them. Love the choice of skin tone. Really striking.

amazingturtles wrote:The ogres are nice and the greyish skin is a nice change from a lot of what i've seen with ogres of various kinds

I had originally planned a less blue skin tone, but didn't anticipate how the Payne's Grey would interact with Vallejo Sombre Grey. I'm happy with the result, as it allows me to pretend they are Oni when I field them with samurai.

Three more ogre berserkers finished:





These are essentially identical to the three I posted last time, with a little variation in weapons and heads. I like these models a lot more now that they are finished. Here are a couple of group shots:



I need to make a couple of movement trays for them, so I can field them as either two regiments or one horde. I have ten orcs assembled, and once the texture gel is dry I will start painting. I hope to have them ready to show by the end of the week. Watch this space.

Nice work on the ogres, really nice work.

EDC

Nice! Really like those Ogres! Wasn't sold on the grey skin at first, but it's grown on me.

Valete,

JohnS

I've always done ogres with grey skin. Originally I wanted to use a proper grey (black-white mix), but I ended up with this blue-grey instead. It works for me because Japanese one are either red or blue, and this way I can fit them thematically into a samurai force for whatever system I decide to play.

Yeah those Are sweet. Looking forward to the orcs.

Love the skin tone on those ogres, really suits them.

Really cool ogres Josh

Love your color choices for the ogres. They look great.

The color choice on your ogres is awesome. The flesh tones just work out great.

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words about the ogres. I'm pretty happy with them, especially now that I have made movement trays for them.

Here is my next entry in the Great Painting Station Clearout:



Only the two front ranks are new. The back ranks were finished a little over a year ago. I had been meaning to fill out the regiment ever since, but didn't get around to it until this week. There's not a lot to say about them. I used my speed-painting techniques (base color and glaze). There are a three unique models in this group. I used the spare heads and one spare arm from the Godspeakers I painted a while back-- you can see the command model holding a severed head, for instance. Their movement tray only has two edges so I can but them up against another regiment and make a horde without quite so much wasted space.

Next up: a Dreadfleet ship that should be finished tomorrow, and then a couple of random models that have been sitting on the tray for months, staring at me accusingly as I work on other things. Watch this space!

Addendum: these ten put my yearly total up to 372, more than one model per day. I was hoping to make 400, but that will be touch and go, what with the holidays and all. There's still time, though!

Orks looks good. Impressive model count for the year so far, good luck getting to 400!

EDC

Great work, Josh. The ogres look really sweet, and the Regiment of Orcs looks nice and hefty. Congrats on getting over 365 as well. I need to check my own numbers and see what I can get done in the next week. Shame about the heat that's started to hit right now...

Thanks, guys. The orcs aren't that great individually, but in a big block they work just fine, I think. If only I had any idea what to do with their shields...

Three more random models cleared from the painting area:



This is the Seadrake, the elf ship from Dreadfleet. I started this way back in the summer with the intention of working on it between monthly projects. I never really found the time to do much more than Gesso it. I painted it using the painting guide from WD 383 (the Dreadfleet issue), but didn't bother highlighting everything back up to white. The piping and windows are lined in gold, but it doesn't show in these photos. Only one more ship, and all the islands, and the set is finished.



This is a very old zombie samurai, from 1983. I started this one last summer as well, right after I finished that horde of Mantic zombies. Note the skeletal face and the fleshy hands. Is it a skeleton or zombie? Your guess is as good as mine.



Finally, we have The King In Yellow, from RAFM. I planned to make a diorama with him to use as a Magus Council for KoW, but I haven't decided exactly what to use. Probably an altar that I got from the Bones 1 KS, along with an old Chaos familiar (the book with feet). For now, though, the model itself is done.

I still have about one week to crank out a half-dozen elves and a very old, very rare RT-era model. Wish me luck!

Great work, loving the ship, really nice.

The King in Yellow is really eerie! I love the bone colours for the mask and the muted pallet - you've made a potentially cheesy model look really sinister

Some really interesting models going on there. What's a Magus Council do? What army are they for?

Ship looks great! Have you actually played Dreadfleet, was it any good?

Nice work on that ship, Josh. It looks really nice. I don't think I ever even cracked my Dreadfleet box. I really need to get out into the War Room and clean the bloody place up so I can do some tabletop gaming again. The problem with posts like yours is that they get me all inspired to start painting (thing) which I never end up finishing, or getting enough painted to play (game/army), so I'm going to hold strong this time.

The skelezombie looks pretty cool. Definitely looks like a figure of it's time as well, with both wonky proportions and lots of character in the sculpt and details.

I've actually got that same King in Yellow model, but I'd long ago forgotten what it actually was. I think I painted it in bronze to use as a statue. I bought a bunch of clearance CoC models at one point. Your yellow scheme really looks nice on him.

Camkierhi wrote:Great work, loving the ship, really nice.

Thanks. Say what you will about their games, but GW really does make quiality models.

Scarper wrote:The King in Yellow is really eerie! I love the bone colours for the mask and the muted pallet - you've made a potentially cheesy model look really sinister

I grew to like the model more and more as I painted it. It's essentially empty rags, animated by ectoplasm or something.

Archer wrote:Some really interesting models going on there. What's a Magus Council do? What army are they for?

They're for the Varangaur army from Forgotten Empires. It's a 40x40 base with multiple low-level wizards.

Slinky wrote:Ship looks great! Have you actually played Dreadfleet, was it any good?

The game looks fun, but I have yet to play. My son likes to push the little ships around, so maybe I'll give it a go over winter break.

Azazelx wrote:Nice work on that ship, Josh. It looks really nice. I don't think I ever even cracked my Dreadfleet box. I really need to get out into the War Room and clean the bloody place up so I can do some tabletop gaming again. The problem with posts like yours is that they get me all inspired to start painting (thing) which I never end up finishing, or getting enough painted to play (game/army), so I'm going to hold strong this time.

The skelezombie looks pretty cool. Definitely looks like a figure of it's time as well, with both wonky proportions and lots of character in the sculpt and details.

I've actually got that same King in Yellow model, but I'd long ago forgotten what it actually was. I think I painted it in bronze to use as a statue. I bought a bunch of clearance CoC models at one point. Your yellow scheme really looks nice on him.

Thanks. You're (seemingly) random production has the same effect on me. That's one reason that I've kept such a high rate pf production for the last two years.

It's winter vacation, and while I have to go into work every day, I don't have to stay more than a couple of hours. Technically, I'm working from home, but in reality I'm doing stuff like this:



I stripped these back in August, and got as far as their skin before I lost momentum. Now, they're ready to help lead a unit for KoW or Dragon Rampant. The three medallions on the standard are ink washes over Mithril Silver. I'm not wholly convinced the effect works, and I may go back and repaint them before the end of the month.



It's the Scarloc brothers! At one time, I had as many as four sets of Scarlocs Wood Elf Scouts. I still have about two sets worth of the archers, probably only one each of the standard and musician, but I have a total of three of this guy.

Finally, all four together:


I see that I forgot to add static grass. I'll do that before I put them in the case with the rest. I still have two models to go before I can call my painting area clear: an Elf wizard and an RT-era Custodes model. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...!

Love those old elves. I sold off most of mine, but still have some on horses that I could never bring myself to sell... Maybe one day I will get thelvurge to paint em

i really like that standard bearer, and it's neat to see old models like these, from before my time as a gamer.

Those are indeed some very old wood elf minis. IIRC, there was another musician with a lyre? I think I have that mini somewhere. Nice work on them.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Those are indeed some very old wood elf minis. IIRC, there was another musician with a lyre? I think I have that mini somewhere. Nice work on them.

There is, indeed, a musician with a lyre. He's soaking in alcohol, along with another 20-or-so models from this era, awaiting a repaint. Speaking of which:


An elf wizard. There were probably a half-dozen elf wizards at this time, all based on one of two poses. This one has a magnificent Jes Goodwin mullet/mohawk. I originally painted this one back in the late '80's, in full makeup (red lipstick, blue eyeshadow, heavy lining around the eyes. I was truly a child of my era), but I went with a more natural look this time. The crystal ball in her hand is actually green but the color correction in the gallery turned it black. The original photo was horribly undersaturated, though, so this is a better image overall. Someday I'll figure out how to take better photos.



This is an Imperial Bodyguard, a very early Rogue Trader-era model. They show up in a few illustrations in the RT book, and I've been sitting on this one for a while. He was a strangely disappointing model to paint. His proportions a weird (check out his lats!), and he lacks some of the funk value that makes so many other models of this era so fun. Maybe if I had another five or six-- they'd look nifty all arrayed around a Rogue Trader or Psyker or something like that. Ah, well, at least he's finished.

And this is the last of the clearing out I have to do. I'm currently working on the last Dreadfleet ship (Scabrus, if you're interested), and am getting ready to paint some Shieldmaidens from Bad Squiddo for my all-female Forstgrave warband. I hope to have one more post to share before the 31st.

Very cool stuff Josh. I like the orcs especially, but the boat and elves and weird stuff are all quite nice too

Thanks, Grim. I'm planning on making 2017 The Year of Greenskins. I hope to empty a couple of mantic KS shipping boxes by summer.

Good stuff Josh. Looking forward to following this again.

Great stuff Josh

And congrats on the painted total' that's a very impressive number

Thanks, guys. It's been a productive, if unfocused, year. Speaking of which, here is my final update for 2016:



This is Scabrus,the Skaven ship for Dreadfleet. The backstory is that a Skaven ship was swallowed by this giant anglerfish/seamonster. The Skaven tried to eat their way out, killing the monster in the process. It was revived as a zombie anglerfish/seamonster but Count Whatever-His-Name-Is, and is now piloted by a crew of undead skaven pirates. Pretty standard stuff for pre-AoS Warhammer.

I followed the painting guide pretty much exactly. This was the most difficult model to assemble, mostly because the gun decks didn't really fit between the spines once the model was assembled, a fact that didn't make it to the assembly instructions. I'm pretty happy with how the effluvia in the monster's wake turned out.

And that's it for now. I have a troop of orc skulks assembled and primed, but won't be able to do much work on them until after the New Year's holiday. Thanks for looking and commenting. Knowing that someone is looking at these photos really motivates me to do more and better.

Undead skaven pirates running a giant zombie-fish-boat. Nice Good paintwork too.

Nice work on the disgusting zombie-skaven-moby-dick there, Josh. Pretty horrid.

Good work, the dreadfleet stuff is looking excellent. The Imperial Bodyguard is an interesting model, I don't think I've seen that before.

Also a shout for the excellent elves and the creepy King in Yellow.

EDC

Thanks, guys. Someday I'll have that whole game painted and ready to play. In the meantime, here are my first finished models for 2017:



These are orc archers from Mantic. I had these assembled and primed a week ago, but went to Kyushu to visit the in-laws soon thereafter. I came back a couple of days early (boarding dogs is terribly expensive here), and cranked them out in about five hours, including drying time. The bodies are from the same plastic sprue, with some metal add-ons. I batch painted them in block colors, with green, brown, or Payne's grey glazes, as appropriate. They won't win any awards, but they work well enough in a block of ten that I don't feel ashamed of them.

Next up: a set of Shieldmaidens from Bad Squiddo, to be followed by some Mantic gore riders.

God I love batch painting. The orcs look fantastic. The clothing is particularly nice.

Nice. Mantic's stuff works really well for that massed approach.

A nice looking bunch of Orcs, Josh.

Yep I like those. Good colors. They also blend better than the dungeon saga archers.

Nice work on the Orks, they're looking great.

EDC

Thanks, everyone. These are far from my best work, but they are meant to be fielded in a block, so individual models won't really stand out. While working on these guys, I did a quick inventory, and came up with this:



This is all that remains of the 1,000 point orc army I got in the first KoW kickstarter. 7 Ax, 17 Greataxe, and ten Gore Riders. Not pictured: five Gore Riders currently in progress, ten more skulks that are still in their VHS box, and some stray, half-assembled orcs that I know are lying around somewhere. I should be able to finish these and recycle the box by spring. In the meantime, I finished a few more, non-orc models as well:





These are Shieldmaidens from Bad Squiddo , formerly known as the Dice Bag Lady. You may recall that I went on a mini-rant a few months ago, when I posted photos of my Oathsworn heroines, complaining about representation in gaming. Annie at Bad Squiddo is sort of leading the charge by collecting more realistic female models in one place. I picked these up when I backed the Forgotten Pacts Nickstarter. They aren't bad models, but they aren't as well sculpted or cast as the Oathsworn stuff. Still, they should fit in the warband well enough.I tried to paint Viking shield patterns, but a you can see, I'm no Azazelx when it comes to freehand. They look good enough at arm's length, but up close (and in these photos), you can really see the errors. Ugh. One more:


This one is a Reaper model that I picked up at the same time as the Shieldmaidens. There is a wizard in the Oathsworn set, but somehow she seemed more like an apprentice (in Frostgrave terms). I picked up this model to lead the warband. I used the same basic color scheme as with the apprentice, to sort of tie the models together.

I forgot to get a group shot. I'll try to have one for the end-of-month wrap up post. Next up: Orc Gore Riders.

Great job on that Dreadfleet ship! While the game got dire reviews the models and concepts were always pretty good.

I have those orcs too and your photo made me dig them up and think about painting them too.
Do you plan to use the usual green palette for the orcs?

M.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Great job on that Dreadfleet ship! While the game got dire reviews the models and concepts were always pretty good.

The models are, indeed, quite nice, as one would expect of a GW game. The game itself seems random and goofy enough to share with my 7-year old, assuming he doesn't get bored half way through.

Miguelsan wrote:I have those orcs too and your photo made me dig them up and think about painting them too.
Do you plan to use the usual green palette for the orcs?

M.

I'm kind of committed to using the green. I have about 200 orcs and goblins done in that scheme already. I kind of wish I had gone with a different skin tone, but I'm too far along to change it up now.

Great stuff as always! I continue to be blown away by your ability to paint that volume, whilst still keeping the quality up.

Valete,

JohnS

Great work, Josh. You've got me tempted to grab a bunch of BS' (unfortunate acronym there...) Shieldmaidens. Well, once they're actually all back in stock, anyway. I can then mix them in with the boys I've got. The shields look really good as well - nothing wrong there!

cygnnus wrote:Great stuff as always! I continue to be blown away by your ability to paint that volume, whilst still keeping the quality up.

Valete,

JohnS

It's all about lowering your standards. Block colors and glazes go a long way, especially at arm's length or further.

Azazelx wrote:Great work, Josh. You've got me tempted to grab a bunch of BS' (unfortunate acronym there...) Shieldmaidens. Well, once they're actually all back in stock, anyway. I can then mix them in with the boys I've got. The shields look really good as well - nothing wrong there!

My only real problem with the shields is getting straight lines of the same thickness. And while these shieldmaidens are perhaps second tier models in terms of sculpting, they appeal to me far more than the Frazetta-inspired models from Shieldwolf.

Shield maidens are looking good.

Really like that sorceress too.

EDC

Heck yes do I like those shieldmaidens. Yeah, they may not be the fanciest scuplting wise, but they look like warriors. And that';s a pretty good thing to me.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

My only real problem with the shields is getting straight lines of the same thickness. And while these shieldmaidens are perhaps second tier models in terms of sculpting, they appeal to me far more than the Frazetta-inspired models from Shieldwolf.

I know what you mean, though I'm planning on both. Hopefully the Shieldwolf ones have some less OTT weapons than the resins they recently showed off, and more covered-midriff options. I mean, I don't mind me some Raging Heroes style stuff - they're a counterpart to half-naked Chaos Marauders and Khorne BloodBloodiers and so forth, but I like a bit more balance as well. Which reminds me, I need to find my little stash of Statuesque heads. I have a specific project for them...

I ended up dropping out of the Shieldmaidens KS because of what I saw as the cheesecake factor. I think it was the other backers who turned me off more than the company. There seems to be a loud, defensive contingent of gamers who freak out when anyone wants their female models wearing more than Red Sonja.

If I took much notice of kickstarter comments, I'd end up on a murder spree of morons and douchebags that would only end when I myself was killed. (Which is also why I need to take frequent breaks from the N&R section here). I know what you mean, though - we're all on the internet. Boobies are plentiful and easy to find if that's what you want to look at.

I think the bigger problem is that of representation/and overall numbers. More female figures in general would make it less of an issue for both sides. There's very little in terms of affordable plastic female figures, and even less so if you then tune it to fantasy and thereby remove sci-fi and modern from the equation, and then take it to humans - removing the "witch elf" element - so naturally everyone wants to see their preferred type.

Luckily some eagle-eyed people amongst us figured out the rigging of the Shieldwolf poll being done by someone who really wanted bare breasts-a-go-go or we might have had that instead... which probably would have resulted in a failed campaign.

Rigging the poll? I must have dropped out before that came to light. Has there been any actual progress on the plastic shieldmaidens? All I have seen are the giant resin polar bears.

They were due in December, but missed their tooling slot or something. Now due something something 2017. I forgot, since it's par for the course. On a similar note, Cthulhu Wars 2 just got bumped until something something 2017, despite an "80% chance" (ha ha) of getting done before CNY.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
And yeah, they set up a survey monkey thing to see if people wanted armoured ones or booblicious ones, and it was in favour of more armoured ones until the boobtastic choice shot up like a rocket. It was a pretty simple process to figure out that clearing a cache allowed you to vote again (and again, and again) so I and a couple of other people drew that to their attention, and so they declared the poll mostly null, but in favour of the armoured ones who had been leading to that point.

Awesome stuff Josh, love the wizard apprentice

Azazelx wrote:And yeah, they set up a survey monkey thing to see if people wanted armoured ones or booblicious ones, and it was in favour of more armoured ones until the boobtastic choice shot up like a rocket. It was a pretty simple process to figure out that clearing a cache allowed you to vote again (and again, and again) so I and a couple of other people drew that to their attention, and so they declared the poll mostly null, but in favour of the armoured ones who had been leading to that point.

That's insane. The internet is overflowing with T&A, why would anyone need to cheat at miniatures to get more? Once again, I despair for my peers in the hobby.

JoeRugby wrote:Awesome stuff Josh, love the wizard apprentice

Thanks, although that is supposed to be the wizard:


I gave them a similar color scheme, which seems to be the Frostgrave way, but the apprentice is the one carrying all the gear.

my bad still looks great

They do have that master and apprentice look going on, I think in part because the wizard is standing straight and the apprenticed is hunched over and wary looking.

Over the past week, I managed to finish off a few more orcs:




These are, of course, orc gore riders, which were part of my KoW1 KS pledge oh so many years ago. I painted them in essentially the same colors as the archers from earlier this month, and in fact pretty much every Mantic orc I've painted to date. The rider's legs are warped just enough that they can sit on their mounts without being glued down, which is one of the few positives of restic. As with the rest of the army, I'm at a loss for what to do with their shields. There are no historical equivalents for me to copy, and the transfers which Mantic offer are outside of my price range, especially with international shipping figured in. I welcome any ideas, but for now they'll remain monotone black. Next up: some trolls, because I want a little break from green.

Tangentially: Over in the Discussions forum, there was a thread about Hobby Resolutions for 2017. I want to make mine official: I will buy no new miniatures this year. My backlog is bigger than I will ever get through in my lifetime, and I have other, more important expenses. Everyone reading this, please keep me honest.

Love the work on the gore riders, really nice. Earlier figures are looking spectacular. I wish you luck with the resolution, not a hope, but the thought was there.

I hear you about the resolution. I restrict myself to 2 purchases per year, Christmas and my Birthday. I've still manage to pile up 221 unpainted minis according to the spreadsheet of Shame. So I resolved to paint faster this year. So far it is working. Current pace is a mini/week.

Nice work on the Gore Riders.

EDC

The Gore Riders have come up really nicely, Josh. The slight reddish tone of their fur contrasts well with the greenskins. As or their shields, you could go for something stylised. Depending on whether you want to go with a Warhammer-ish look, a crude stylised Orkish skull.. something like one of these? Or a mixture, as long as you paint them all in white (or red, or whatever) then they'll still unify as a unit.

Camkierhi wrote:Love the work on the gore riders, really nice. Earlier figures are looking spectacular. I wish you luck with the resolution, not a hope, but the thought was there.

Thanks. It's been easy so far. Everytime I think that I "need" this or that model, I go upstairs and look at all the boxes in the closet. We'll see if it works for the next 11 months.

Red Harvest wrote:I hear you about the resolution. I restrict myself to 2 purchases per year, Christmas and my Birthday. I've still manage to pile up 221 unpainted minis according to the spreadsheet of Shame. So I resolved to paint faster this year. So far it is working. Current pace is a mini/week.

I've never been one for delayed gratification, so I have to go Cold Turkey.

evildrcheese wrote:Nice work on the Gore Riders.

EDC

Thanks. These are some of the nicest models in Mantic's orc range.

Azazelx wrote:The Gore Riders have come up really nicely, Josh. The slight reddish tone of their fur contrasts well with the greenskins. As or their shields, you could go for something stylised. Depending on whether you want to go with a Warhammer-ish look, a crude stylised Orkish skull.. something like one of these? Or a mixture, as long as you paint them all in white (or red, or whatever) then they'll still unify as a unit.

Those are all good designs, and I may go that route. I admit, though, that I'm not anxious to go back and freehand 60+ shields. Maybe as a last push when the orc box is finally empty.

Could you sculpt a stamp and stamp the shields? Erasers make for excellent stamps and are pretty easy to cut to shape to boot.

 Archer wrote:
Could you sculpt a stamp and stamp the shields? Erasers make for excellent stamps and are pretty easy to cut to shape to boot.

If I was going to go that route, I would probably opt to make my own waterslide transfers. I do that for my samurai and some of my undead, so I have plenty of transfer paper. I just don't really have a good idea for a design.

Orcs are looking nice. I'll try to help watchdog you on purchases. After seeing my shame drawer again...I too need to cut off.

I am trying to only spend on models money I receive from selling other models

Gore riders look good!

What about a Sauruman-style hand print?

Orcs look great, as always, btw. And good luck on the New Years resolution. Going cold turkey, even with your backlog to keep you distracted from new shiny things, would be quite an accomplishment.

Valete,

JohnS

gore riders look, in the words of bill and ted.....excellent!

After painting all those greens and browns, I decided it was time for a break:





These are Mantic trolls, some of the more divisive models from KoW1. Personally, I'm fond of their tiny little legs. Seen from above, as they would be during a game, the itty bitty feet and the oversized torsos create a sort of forced perspective effect, making them seem even taller than they really are. That doesn't make them any less goofy, of course, but it works for me. Their palette was simple: AP Monster Brown for the skin, AP gunmetal for the metal, with my homebrew glazes for depth. I had three pretty much identical models finished, taking me up to a full horde in KoW terms. I have another six, plus the three that came with Dungeon Saga, along with a metal brute. That's a lot of trolls.

Also, making a special guest appearance:



This is one of my favorite of the very, very old Citadel ogres. I picked one up back when they were new, but somewhere along the line it went AWOL. I got this one from the Oldhammer Trading group on FB. The ogre army continues to grow, slowly but steadily.

Hm... i like those trolls personally. They look monstrous, in the right way

NEVER SKIP LEG DAY!!!!!!!



trolls and gore riders look great dude, love the old hammer Ogre.

 JoeRugby wrote:
NEVER SKIP LEG DAY!!!!!!!



trolls and gore riders look great dude, love the old hammer Ogre.

Thanks, dude. As with every other model in the army, they are tabletop quality, but en masse they work well enough.

I wish I had even more of those old Jes Goodwin ogres. They're out there on eBay or FB, but with my self-imposed ban, I'll have to wait.

I like the ogres. The weapons on most of them are my least favorite part, the second one is really mad at his rock. Nice overall look.

 GrimDork wrote:
I like the ogres. The weapons on most of them are my least favorite part, the second one is really mad at his rock. Nice overall look.

I have resolved myself to them, because there are no weapon options in the set. I should probably make myself convert some of the remaining six.

Skrag the Slaughterer!

Nice trolls and ogre, I like the aesthetic myself, though I would have no problem mixing and matching it all up, they are supposed to be monstrous ugly brutes, so what if they are not perfectly anatomically correct., they look awesome. Nice job on them and as an army this will look brilliant. Good luck with the weapon swaps, I can understand that bit.

This week, I continued grinding away at the orcs:


This is a troop of greatax, with the last of my command models in the front rank. Combined with the other ten that I painted a couple of summers ago, I can field a full 20-strong regiment. That's one step closer to finishing off that particular box. For this week, I will finish off another box-- the last five Frostgrave gnolls, along with the last few metals as well.

Looking good. What size bases are these guys on? Any chance of a shot of one next to one of your ogres?

Ask, and ye shall receive:


Here's one of the orcs next to that Oldhammer ogre I finished last week. Upon taking this photo, I realized that I forgot to apply static grass to their bases. Speaking of which, they are on the 25mm bases that came with them. For these models, I rather like the integral base, as it saves some of the hassle of ranking them up.

More top-notch Orciness! I look forward to seeing an army pic at some point, you must have quite the horde now

All looking good. So, I'll keep looking. The variety is really a nice thing too.

Slinky wrote:More top-notch Orciness! I look forward to seeing an army pic at some point, you must have quite the horde now

Thanks. They aren't really my best work, but they look good ranked up. This photo is pretty old, but it shows my orcs/goblins and samurai as of a little over a year ago:

Red Harvest wrote:All looking good. So, I'll keep looking. The variety is really a nice thing too.

I'm glad you like them.

I took a little break from the greenskins this week, opting to finish off the last sprue of Frostgrave gnolls:




As you can see, I went with the same earth tones as before. I gave these guys shields, mostly because I hadn't used any yet. I have the final four metal gnolls primed and basecoated, and hope to have them finished early next week. Then, it's back to orcs!

Great stuff, Josh - both the Gnolls and the Orcs. Are you going to blu-tac the Gnolls to a multibase for dual-duty in KoW as well? You could easily use them as a unit of allies for the Orcs. Counts-as Humans, or Goblins or Ratmen, or perhaps something from the Nature list... Beastmen would fit.

Well done, Josh, you are doing really well at focussing on your projects and not butterflying around too much

Azazelx wrote:Great stuff, Josh - both the Gnolls and the Orcs. Are you going to blu-tac the Gnolls to a multibase for dual-duty in KoW as well? You could easily use them as a unit of allies for the Orcs. Counts-as Humans, or Goblins or Ratmen, or perhaps something from the Nature list... Beastmen would fit.

Well, I have a fairly sizable contingent of Oldhammer/Middlehammer/Modernhammer Beastmen, not all of whom are goat men, so these guys would fit pretty well.

Slinky wrote:Well done, Josh, you are doing really well at focussing on your projects and not butterflying around too much

One of my unstated goals for this year is to reduce the number of cardboard boxes cluttering up the closet. I hope to have all the orcs done by the time the new school year starts in April.

A disciplined painter. I admire that. Gnolls look suitably nasty ( in a good way ) If you have a chance, check out the section on Gnoll's in the new 5e D&D book called Volo's Guide to Monsters. Very creepy.

I haven't really kept up with D&D for ten years, at least. I'll check it out. In the meantime, here are some more gnolls:



This first one is a knight. Based on the title, I gave him a two-tone surcoat that he took from a human knight he killed. I did a lot more highlighting/layering on this set than I did on the plastics, but some of the effect is muted by the glaze.




This is the marksman. I tried for a Robin Hood look with the green and orange. Like so many Frostgrave gnolls, this guy has an eyepatch. I wonder if losing an eye is like a coming-of-age ritual for these guys...?



This is the barbarian. All FG gnolls are pretty barbaric, but this guy takes it up a notch. I considered doing his cloth in tartan, but decided it would be too big a hassle. I went with rawhide instead. That's a really big femur he's carrying.



Finally, the thief, dressed in a variety of greys. This guy is also missing an eye.

Group shot:


These are the last gnolls in the set. I still have three giant rats and two myconids, but those can wait. I have been cleaning and assembling the boars for a set of gore riders, but they have required a lot of hot water work, and will need some putty work after that. I hope to have something to show by the end of the month. Keep watching this space!

These guys have a great vibe, love the look you have captured.

Thanks. This whole set was, in retrospect, a lot of fun to paint. In addition to FG and/or SoBaH, they'll make a nice, characterful addition to my beastmen/herd army if I ever get back to it.

Those metal gnolls are very cool. I especially like the Knight. I can just imagine him snickering like Muttley as he slowly moves closer...

 Azazelx wrote:
Those metal gnolls are very cool. I especially like the Knight. I can just imagine him snickering like Muttley as he slowly moves closer...

That's a beautiful image. I will have to practice that laugh.

The metal gnolls are really nice

I love all the gnolls - really characterful and a great muted colour scheme. You're tempting me to buy more things I don't need!

Bad, bad gnolls and whoever brought them into the world of Frostgrave! It is a nice touch that bigger baddies stand out more as a bit more colourful from the rest. Personally, I'm afraid of earth tones, fearing that everything in the end will default to mud with no variation between fur, skin or weapons. Congratulations on a great "warband"!

I am enjoying this blog and the Kensei figures are just awesome. I've a friend who picked some up for KoW as well, but yours have much more paint on them this his current collection!

Scarper wrote:I love all the gnolls - really characterful and a great muted colour scheme. You're tempting me to buy more things I don't need!

Hey, don't shoot the messenger! I'm the victim here, just look at my backlog!

Wirecat wrote:Bad, bad gnolls and whoever brought them into the world of Frostgrave! It is a nice touch that bigger baddies stand out more as a bit more colourful from the rest. Personally, I'm afraid of earth tones, fearing that everything in the end will default to mud with no variation between fur, skin or weapons. Congratulations on a great "warband"!

The contrast between different colors is pretty stark before I apply the glaze.

Shrapnelsmile wrote:I am enjoying this blog and the Kensei figures are just awesome. I've a friend who picked some up for KoW as well, but yours have much more paint on them this his current collection!

Thanks. Rest assured, I have a lot more unpainted minis than painted.

Graduation was yesterday, and I decided to take the day off to nurse the hangover I was sure that I would have. As it turned out, I dodged that bullet, and was able to finish off these:


Right after I finished the gnolls last week, I started working on a second regiment of gore riders for KoW. This is the second-to-last full unit I can build with what I have, so I'm in production mode. Laying down blocks of various browns and metallics turns out to be not much faster than my normal techniques, but the results are good enough, I think. I have the riders assembled, primed, and their skin basecoated and washed. That's a good, productive way to spend a day off, right?

I'm counting these as one model each for my yearly count because they took so long to finish.

Next up, the riders!

Perfect use of a day if you ask me. Looking great.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Perfect use of a day if you ask me. Looking great.

Definitely

Nice piggies. Congrats on the graduation too.

EDC

 JoshInJapan wrote:
The contrast between different colors is pretty stark before I apply the glaze.

If that wouldn't be too demanding of me, would You upload an example? I've just tried to make floor tiles to be as bright and different as possible, using white, cream and earth before applying brown wash... only white has survived to be somewhat different.

The boars are looking good. No harm in calling them a figure each, either!

Given I'm still tempted to do that with 6mm figures......

Thanks, guys, for enabling my inflated production numbers. Speaking of which:




I cranked out the riders in about four days. They have the same paint scheme as every other orc in the army-- AP gunmetal armor, AP Leather brown for what little clothes they wear, AP Fur brown for their capes, AP greenskin (or whatever it's called) for their skin, all with the appropriate glazes. In finally settled on a color scheme for the shields: Vallejo Tinny Tin with a 50/50 gunmetal/tin mix, straight gunmetal on the parts that look bolted on, all with a Payne's Grey glaze. Sadly, you can't see it in these photos. I may or may not go back and do this to the rest of the army sometime in the future. With these guys complete, I have ten more skulks to paint, and an even dozen Greataxe plus four or five Ax left. Then I can finally say the army is finished. I hope to maintain my focus until the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Good luck staying on target. The contrast between the green of the orcs and their boars is really nice. They are a fabulous unit and hope you are happy with them.

The bases look cool too. How did you get it actually looking flat? When I put grass and dirt on a base it sticks up too much for my liking. How did you get it to stay flat?

Mantic's cavalry bases are really thin to begin with. I used Liquitex texture gel instead of PVA/sand, which helps keep the profile low, and I apply static grass by hand so it won't stand up even if I want it to. Sadly, it also makes the pigs really hard to attach to the bases. Their underbellies are too low to paint while they are on the base, so I had to attach them after painting. Some of them are still wobbly.

They look great, Josh. A really mean looking horde of angry orcs and angrier boars. The staggered look works really well on them as well.

And yeah, Mantic use the Renedra cavalry bases (or they used to at least). Pretty much these:
http://bitethedice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/IMG_2154.jpg

Yup, those are the bases. I find I can get the same effect by cutting 1.5mm plasticard.

The orc skulks are coming along, slowly but surely. I have no real objection to hybrid plastic/metal kits, but they do take longer the prep and assemble compared to all-plastic or all-metal minis. In between stages, I finished off this model:


This is Brynhildr, Shieldmaiden Champion, from Bad Squiddo. I got her at the same time as the other shieldmaidens, and in fact had her half-finished about the time I decided to start cranking out orcs. The paintjob is nothing to write home about. I think I've become spoiled by all the hyper-exaggerated features on everything else I've been painting, because I found this model's face difficult to get right. Still, she'll fit in with the other fantasy heroines fro Frostgrave or whatever.

I hope to have more orcs to show by this time next week.

She looks great, Josh. How does she fit, size-wise with your others?

She's part of the Shieldmaiden line, so she's the same size as those. As I recall, they all scale pretty well.

Really enjoying the practical looking female models floating around thee days. You have got a great look to her with the leather and metal offset with the green of the cloak. Very nice colour choices.

 Archer wrote:
Really enjoying the practical looking female models floating around thee days. You have got a great look to her with the leather and metal offset with the green of the cloak. Very nice colour choices.

Thanks. One of the reasons I took so long to finish her was that I couldn't decide on a color scheme. And I agree, sensibly-dressed female models are refreshing. It may be a sign of my advanced age...

Nice job, on the shield maiden champion.

EDC

I like the yellow edging on the green tunic, I may file that away under ideas to "borrow"

Great job on the shield maiden, nice and straight forward. Looks perfect.

Not as perfect as Orks riding big ugly pigs, but perfect.

The school year is winding down, and in the last few weeks before the new school year begins, I have a number of semi-mandatory "drinking parties" to attend. Having two back to back on Friday and Saturday pretty much killed my painting over the weekend, otherwise I would have had these ready to share a couple of days ago:


Ten more orc skulks for Kings of War. These workman-like paintjobs aren't much up close, but all bunched up on movement tray they work just fine, I think. This is the last unit I can build with the orcs I have. There are still about a dozen Greatax models and not quite that many axe models, but not enough of each for a full-sized unit. Also, each set of gore riders came with enough extra parts that I have two full riders left over. I'll be kitbashing them wit parts left over from other units and sticking them on some monsters that I've had sitting in boxes for many many years to make a couple more Krudger models. The end of this project is in sight at last!

Congratulations. It's always satisfying when you get near the end of a project. Just try to stay focused so you don't let it slip away.

They look really nice as a group, and the basing and matching movement tray really help tie it together as a unit - Lovely stuff

Nice work on the skulks there, Josh - you've been hammering through those orcs lately. I look forward to seeing those Krudgers.

You might be able to combine the Greatax and Ax units together for a mostly-Greatax unit that you can count as either - vary the front rank as needed and mix the mid/rear ranks, or hide the Ax in the middle of the unit surrounded by the Greatax guys.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I'm pretty sure I can power through these last few models, not the least because they aren't in units of ten. As for the leftovers, I also want to kitbash a couple of army banners and maybe a wardrum or two, as well. I'm sure everyone will find a home.

The orc army project is winding down. I present to you my kitbashed orc krudger on slasher:




The Krudger's body and legs are leftover from a set of Gore riders, the arms and weapon are from the Greatax sprue, and the head from the ax sprue. I did a little hot water bending on the legs to get him to stay on the slasher without pinning or gluing. The Slasher is a Grenadier Marsh Dragon that I've had in my bitz box since the 90's. It looks a little dinky compared to most of the monsters you see for WHFB/KoW, but it fits just fine on a 50x50 square base. All in all, it took about five painting sessions to finish. I did a lot more traditional layering/shading than I do for the regiments, but unless you look really closely, it's hard to tell the difference. There is, I think, a lesson in there somewhere.

I have a very old wyvern model soaking in alcohol right now, and I hope to have one more krudger finished by the end of the week. Watch this space.

Spring vacation has given me ample time for hobbying:






I made this guy using the other spare Gore rider body. His weapon came from the orc command sprue, the left arm from a greatax sprue. I did some hot water bending to get him to sit on the wyvern, and added some chain for the reins. The wyvern itself is probably a Grenadier model. I don't know for sure because I scored the heck out of the base when I glued it down twenty-some years ago. I'm down to my last dozen or so orc models--I'm kitbashing a couple of standard bearers right now, and will try to make a couple more war drums. After that, I might add crew to the chariots, and that should be it. This may be the first time in the history of wargaming that an army has ever been completed

Here are all the orcs to date (about 2400 points):

I really like that!

He needs to be careful with that spike above his head

Digging the derpy lil' slashers

Nice looking Orc horde!

- Salvage

Very cool stuff Josh - giving those old drake models a new lease on life as well - I approve! Great choices of colour with the rust and red-brown, they stand out well against the orcs that are weighing them down. I like the chain embedded into the jaw of the Wyvern as well - a nice touch - gotta keep those suckers under control somehow!

Seriously characterful army, look brilliant.

The army looks fantastic. But where did that castle come from?

So what's the plans with the orcs now?

 Boss Salvage wrote:
Digging the derpy lil' slashers

Seconded! Very derpy neat slashers, just something an orc should abuse. Err... tame, like in "how to tame Your slasher", right?

Congratulations!

Thanks, everyone.

@Archer: the castle is Castle Winterhawk by Fat Dragon. It's a print-and-assemble papercraft thing, not unlike Dave Graffam's stuff. I built it for my son years ago because every boy needs a castle, right?

Only a few models to share this week. First, a couple of banner bearers:


I made this one from an orc from the ax sprue, holding a banner from Shieldwolf's mountain orc kit. I picked up the SW models to add some variety to the Mantic orcs, but ended up seriously disappointed in them. The banner is nice, though. I painted the banner itself in AP leather brown, with three different washes to make it look like it was sewn together from the hides of three different animals. Naturally, you can't tell in the photo.



This one is based on a greatax model. There was some flavor text in the KoWv1 book about orc flaggers bashing the enemy with their flags, and I decided to model this guy to represent that. It works well enough, but the model kept falling over. I added a metal orcling from the skulks set to help keep the model upright.

Finally, a named character:


This is Wip, the half-caste. The flavor text implies that he's half-orc, half-elf. He's wiry and weirdly posed, kind of like a Steve Ditko character, making him quite interesting to paint after 200+ mostly identical models. Here are a couple of other views of the same model:



I can't quite call the army 100% finished. I plan to find a couple of taiko-drums to make war drums, and then maybe add some crew to the chariots. Right now, though, I need a break from greenskins. I plan to spend the next couple of weeks working on the Ghosts of Gaia that have been sitting in their box for a few months. Watch this space.

As I wind down the orc army project, I find myself suffering from Green Fatigue. Thus a little palate cleanser:


These are four models from Bad Squiddo's Ghosts of Gaia set. I backed the kickstarter, but they have been sitting in the box for months.



This one is Jade. The official paint scheme is all greys, but I wanted something a little more colorful. I ended up basing their uniforms on Team-U, from the Ultraman Saga movie. I went with a darker orange, as the original uniform is too bright for the supposedly post-apoc setting.



Angel has a minigun, some medieval plate armor, and ridiculous hair.



Eve is the sniper. It took me a while to decide what to do with her cloak. I went with a sort of greenish-brown, as that was the most consistent result in my GIS search. I did her helmet dome using multiple washes for Gryphonne Sepia over Mithril silver.



Abra is the psyker. The mummy wrap gives her a Negative Woman vibe. The flavor text tells us that using her mind powers is causing her skin to slough off. I went with a traditional layer technique rather than my lazy washing/glazing for the bandages. Can you tell?

There are six more in the set. I selected these first four because the intergral bases fit in the hole in round Mantic bases-- I don't use them for my DZ or WP models, so I'm glad to find a use for them. The remaining six will need to be cut off their bases, but I need to dig out my jeweler's saw for that.

Next up, a terrain piece I've been working on in the background. Comments and feedback always welcome.

Not seen those models before, but I like them! The electro staff on Abra and the cloak on Eve are my favourite bits

Really great work. Love the green stuff obviously but all looking great. These last figures are really great, nice vibe to them.

Thanks, guys. I really enjoyed painting these models. Annie from Bad Squiddo is talking about running a KS for a second set, and that may be enough for me to break my resolution.

Interesting models. That top knot would make even the toughest Chaos Lord blush.

EDC

The orc standards look great. I'm still not sold on that WIP model, but the paintwork on it is well done, particularly the fireball. Great work on the Ghosts of Gaia set as well. I think my favourite one is Jade.

@edc: yeah, that topknot is eldar-level bling. It make sme wonder in what sort of apocalypse that would be adaptive...

@Azazelx: Wip is a funky model, to be sure. After painting 100+ essentially identical orcs, though, he made a nice change.

In my mind, the Ghosts of Gaia are members of team/gang, meaning they all have the same basic uniforms and equipment. With only minor variations (weapons and outrageous hairstyles, mostly), they paint up quick:


Ratty has a heavy smartgun. What makes a gun smart? Darned if I know. Maybe it has a fitness app?



Mina carries dual submachine guns. I painted her mohawk green, because if you're going to have a mohawk there is little need for subtlety.



Hera is carrying a plasma pistol and what looks like a chainsword. She has the same space helmet as Eve (the sniper) from the previous update. I probably should have given the visor another couple of layers of sepia wash.



Dusty has a comically-oversized flamethrower and a bionic arm. The lenses of her goggles are supposed to be green (like night vision goggles), but you can't tell in these photos.



Pris has a regular sized smartgun. I kept her ridiculous mohawk in more natural browns, because sometimes giant vertical hair plumes are enough of a statement by themselves.



Last up is Bianca. According to the color text on the KS page, she took off her respirator because she had either given up on life, or else had just begun to live. She has a big, unwieldy knife.

Here's the whole team altogether:


I think I can use them in Deadzone, Scrappers, or This Is Not A Test, assuming I ever actually play any of them.

Next up: I plan to revisit the Asterians, starting with some marionettes. Watch this space.

Wow, not a single comment on that last update? That's cold, guys....

As promised, here are some Asterian marionettes:


I went with blue to tie them in with all the other Asterians I have done to date. They aren't as dark as the cyphers because I assume the stealth fields aren't as strong (Asterians use stealth fields, right? I seem to remember that). These models painted up pretty quickly, but the lack of assembly instructions made putting them together rather a chore.

The marionette sprue contains almost enough parts for three drones. I'm torn between magnetizing or kitbashing to make up for the lack of parts. I should have it figured out soon. Watch this space.

Really liking the Ghosts of Gaia gang. If I didn't have 6.02*10^23 unpainted minis already...

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Really liking the Ghosts of Gaia gang. If I didn't have 6.02*10^23 unpainted minis already...

I'm in the same boat. Luckily(?), my son is getting interested in Daddy's toys again. Hopefully he will stay interested long enough that I can pass the torch to him. He's already finished one of my unpainted Dreadball teams...

Nice work on the Ghosts of Gaia gang. Some really characterful minis and top class painting.

EDC