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Thanks, Syro_. I don't have a lot of non-combatants in any of my various collections, so these guys were a new experience for me. That said, I appear to have slid back into earth tones. I may have to pull out some old Harlequins or something just to paint brighter colors.

Ronin feels like a pretty good game so far. We have only used the basic rules, so no special attributes for leaders, no banners, and no objective-driven scenarios.

Oh, I know that drab colors are to be expected for these models, but I can't seem to stay away from the browns and greens. See also: all the elves, Chaos, and Frostgrave models I've been sharing. I have another set similar to these in the works, along with the islands and shipwrecks from Dreadfleet (I will play this game at least once before I die!). After that, I may well pull out some Harlequins just to brighten up my painting space.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I have managed to find painting time in the mornings before everyone else is awake (one of the advantages of being an early riser, I guess), but wasn't able to take photos until last night:


These guys look a lot like the peasants I shared last time, but are in fact from Perry's Ikko Ikki line. The guy with the helmet is also wearing armor, but you can't see it from these angles. Sorry about that.



Two more from the same set. I didn't bother painting their eyes this time, as they aren't sculpted very well and would just turn out ugly. This is pretty much a universal feature of Perry samurai. They work just fine on the tabletop, though.



The last two of the set. I based the guy on the right on a painting from one of my many, many Osprey books. Both of these models are wearing fundoshi, providing us all with a nice view of their buttocks. I felt a lot less like a creep painting these guys than when I was working on the Chaos Thugs from many months ago.

Last up, some more Dungeon Saga stuff:


These guys were actually finished a couple of weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to photograph them. All I have left in this set is the orclings. My son and I have been playing through the first set of scenarios, and he's getting more devious as we go along-- he actually tricked me into making a bad move, costing my heroes the game on Sunday. That made me so proud.

Finally, a little battle scene:


I have another big project very nearly finished-- I hope to show it in the next day or two. As always, comments and criticism is welcome and encouraged.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Excellent figures all around! I can see what you mean about the fineness of the Perry castings- but you've done a great job of detailing the faces with the washes you used in spite of all. And I get a history/cultural lesson at the same time- winning!


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How do you get the grass bunches stuck onto your bases like you have here? That's something I want to do to break up the monotonous flatness of my stuff.

Thanks for the kind words. Perry models in general are pretty nice for blocks of troops, but their age makes them less suitable for characters, IMO. Thankfully, there are a lot of alternatives to choose from.

The Ikko ikki movement was one of several apocalyptic movement from around this time, but they stick out for their militarism and resilience in the face of the daimyo.

I use self-adhesive grass tufts from Tajima1 (I use their ebay shop), but there are any number of makers in the US as well. I should probably be using a little more scatter on bases, but as I think I've stated before, I really dislike basing.

Theophony wrote:
Once again awesome looking and inspiring models. I need to get back into my Test of Honour figs . Our FLGS is carrying Test of Honour again, they are moving to their new location, same intersection, just a much larger storefront. They are going to try and start running a league, if I can get off of this stupid night shift I might actually get to play it .

I agree, you should get back to ToH stuff-- you inspired me to revisit my samurai, after all! That said, I'm really enjoying your Gaslands work as well. I guess what I'm saying is that you should keep on hobbying.

Slinky wrote:DS stuff looks good. I sold all mine off when I was having a clearout, starting to regret it a bit.

Still, if Heroquest 25 ever delivers, all will be well


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Forgot to say, the Japanese are also top notch again

Thanks kindly. I have been enjoying DS now that we've finally gotten around to playing it. I find myself wishing that I had checked more carefully, though, because I appear to be missing one of the expansion rule books, despite having received three full sets of the models for it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now, I present a sight rarely seen by mortal eyes. Prepare yourself to be shocked and amazed should as you gaze at

Theophony wrote: MyFLGS still has multiple copies , very prominently displayed trying to still sell at full retail . But if you mean a set fully painted and being played....that I have never seen.

One of the shops I do mail order from has at least one copy, so the game itself still exists. I'm pretty sure that painted Dreadfleet sets are rare--four-leaf clover rare. Actually playing Dreadfleet? That's a myth, like Bigfoot. No one has ever actually played Dreadfleet.

Syro_ wrote:Wow, what you have hidden in the spoiler looks really great, and so good on the table. Do I even want to ask how much time you put into finishing it and making it look that good?

Individually, the ships took me about three or four painting sessions each. All the terrain I did assembly-line style over the course of a week or so. Overall, the project took seven years, mostly due to disinterest on my part.

JoeRugby wrote:Great stuff Josh, liked the battle pic it was like a preview of Nioh 2

I don't know what that is, but I'll take it as a compliment. Thanks!

Thanks, Wirecat. Given the open-ended nature of this hobby, it is nice to be able to say "I'm finished" every once in a while.

This week, I'd like to share some models for Frostgrave. First up, a couple of thugs:



Pretty basic but essential models for the game. The lamp looks pretty bad up close, but it will work on the tabletop.

Next, a treasure hunter:


I'm trying to use brighter colors with these guys, but I keep sliding back into these muddy browns and greens.

An archer:


I like this model's toque.

A man-at-arms:


I decorated his shield with a Howling Griffons transfer. The black lines are supposed to be battle damage-- it didn't work.

Overall, I like this kit. They aren't top of the line models, but they fill gaps in my collection of mostly heroic warriors and such. I opted not to paint their eyes, as they only have little slits where their eyes should be. I'll revisit this kit again, next time using the metal conversion parts from Northstar's Legends of Robin Hood kit. Next up, though, I have the last models from the Warlord of Galahir expansion for Dungeon Saga, as well as some surprise guests from the ancient past.

Edit: I forget to post a group shot:

ZergSmasher wrote:Those look cool! I particularly like the archer.

Thanks. The Frostgrave soldier sprue comes with a lot of nifty, characterful options, so it's easy to build cool models.

Meer_Cat wrote:Very nice little gang you've got there! I'm paying particular attention to your method of using washes to give nuance and character to the face (I haven't given up painting eyes yet, but I'm willing to try other methods, too). Very nice work there, also. I remember guys using that technique on Napoleonics back in the day when 25mm's were _really_ 25mm! Faces were much too small (and there were far too many of them) for the old boys to paint, so they did something similar to what you've done.

Great work!

I did the faces on these guys (and on the Perry models from a couple of weeks ago) using the same techniques I learned in White Dwarf magazine twenty-odd years ago-- base color, wash, then highlight. If the models actually had eyes, I'd paint them, but there just isn't anything in those pits on their faces.

DarkSoldier wrote:I like the Frostgrave plastics because they have so many options to customize them to your liking. I dislike the Frostgrave plastics because there are no instructions so I don't know how to match the accessories to the bodies to make them fit right.

These guys, as well as the Cultists I have assembled waiting for some attention, took a fair amount of dry fitting to get right. I snipped quite a few arms off the sprue getting these guys right.

highlord tamburlaine wrote:It gets even more fun when you start tossing various other Frostgrave kits into the mix.

With the exception of the snakemen, most of the other kits are pretty compatible. Heck, even the snakemen can work with a little creativity!

I'm about half tempted to start tossing Oathmark bits into the mix and see what I end up with...

I'm looking forward to kitbashing a few of these sets. Be sure to share photos of your Oathmark guys!

Slinky wrote:A nice bunch of models - Reminds me of the old Empire Militia kit in some ways.

I was thinking the exact same thing as I worked on these guys. I have never owned that particular kit, but now I wish that I had.

Red Harvest wrote:You're not missing all that much, Josh. The minis were not very good quality at all. These Frostgrave figures look to be much nicer.

Really? I've never seen them in person, but they look pretty nice in photos. Ah, well, it's not like I need more models.

Wirecat wrote:These (Frostgrave soldiers) are really good. No matter the age this recipe in Your hands produce a pretty result! One day these kits will make me fail Willpower roll and get them.

Thanks, Wirecat. If you play any kind of fantasy skirmish game, I recommend these models. They are supposed to be compatible with all of the other Frostgrave plastixs, so even a couple sprues from different sets will give you some nifty models to work with.

JoeRugby wrote:Great job josh, love the colour palette you get into your fantasy minis, looks really natural but also has some colours there than green n Brown.

I'm really going to have to dig out my old Harlequins someday, just to brighten up my painting desk...

Continuing the theme from last week, here are some Frostgrave cultists:


After assembly, I had a hard time deciding on a color scheme. The Thaw of the Liche Lord book doesn't have any photos of these models, and GIS mostly gave me blacks and reds. The only illustration featuring cultists in the book is a painting, in which the looks look like burlap or sackcloth or something like that. In the end, I painted their pants and shirts using a palette similar to the soldiers from last week, and made their coats and hoods the dark browns you see here. I figured that, as cultists, these guys mostly hang around with everyone else in FG until it's time for culty activities, when they put on their uniforms and get to work. I didn't use a single wash or glaze on these guys, just good old fashioned layering. The torch in the first photo turned out terribly, and will need to be revisited before I put these guys away. The two-handed axe in the last photo came from the Solider sprue, so I guess they really are cross-compatible. In addition to these guys, I finished off these little pests:


These orclings for Dungeon Saga came already attached to the base, which makes them playable out of the box but difficult to paint. I ended up slicing them off the base so that I could paint them separately. Not much more to say about them, really. This just leaves two of the heroes to finish this particular set. As always, here's a group shot:


The cultists are apparently trying to torch this little rice paddy, while the orclings are defending it? The paddy is scrap MDF, spackle, static grass, Realistic Water, and strip tufts that I picked up for this particular project. I'll have to make a couple more for the next time we play Ronin.

As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged. Dungeon Saga heroes and some Old-nadier models.

Slinky wrote:Cutlists? Is that because of their love of cutlery?

For someone who doesn't like basing, your bases are just getting better and better, they really set the models off nicely.

And that terrain is simply brilliant - Well done!

My basing is super simple-- white-glue-and-sand, painted and drybrushed, with some static grass and scatter. I still hate doing it. I'm pretty proud of the rice paddy, though. I have enough scrap MDF for at least three more plots, although I'll probably do at least one as vegetables instead.

Wirecat wrote:

JoshInJapan wrote:

Wirecat wrote:These (Frostgrave soldiers) are really good. No matter the age this recipe in Your hands produce a pretty result! One day these kits will make me fail Willpower roll and get them.

Thanks, Wirecat. If you play any kind of fantasy skirmish game, I recommend these models. They are supposed to be compatible with all of the other Frostgrave plastixs, so even a couple sprues from different sets will give you some nifty models to work with.

I've already got some of their metals and was a little disappointed by their smallish size... then told that later blisters had a bit of a scalecreep. OK, got 20 of their plastic gnolls, will start with them next year (looking closely at what You've did!)

This would have benefitted so much by a forced directional light shading from his torch... or a darker flame on that stich - he is darkfuming!

I have the metals for both the gnolls and barbarians, and they are a little larger than the plastics. I've never had much success with OSL, but I might give it a try on this guy when I repaint his torch.

insaniak wrote:Love those cultists. Nice work.

The cultists are nice models. I'll have to see if they scale well with ME Broken arms for post-apoc cultists.

At my son's request, I bumped these two models to the front of the queue:



These are, of course, the Glade Warden druid and Salamander fighter for the Dungeon Saga expansion The Warlord of Galahir. Since this expansion re-uses the elf and dwarf hero models from the original DS, this particular set is complete and ready to play. Here's a group shot, composed by my son:



I also managed to finish these three models as well:





I have had these three models since 1980 or thereabouts, shortly after I started playing D&D, and they are pretty close to the first models I ever bought. They come from Grenadier's Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line. I never really liked Grenadier's human-sized models-- Ral Partha did them much better-- but in my old age, I have come to appreciate these guys a lot more. Their hands are grotesque, of course, but the flowing robes were easy to paint and highlight, and they have "character," which is what we old guys say when we like older, somewhat crude models. They look like Magic Users, and they'll fit quite nicely with the wizard's apprentices I painted way back when. I'll have to see if I can't get in some Frostgrave over summer break.

Next up, more Dungeon Saga, unless I get distracted. As always, comments and criticism are welcome.

highlord tamburlaine wrote:Those magic users *DO* have character though. I'm liking the middle guy with the smoke the best.

You don't really see wizards with the conical hats anymore do you? Very much a fantasy trope that seems to have fallen out of fashion.

Was the Salamander in the Warlord expansion? Is it plastic or resin? My Dungeon Saga stuff got flipped before anyone else knew better and I don't even know what I sold in the end.

I've been tempted to track down a reasonably priced copy, if only for painting purposes or using the figures for other games.

Both the Tree Warden and the Salamander came in this expansion. Both are board game plastic, which means that mold lines got zero clean up before painting. They turned out well enough to game with. DS itself is a fun little game. The Uncharted Dungeon cards and the design-your -own hero rules that came with the Adventurer's Companion make it a pretty solid beer-and-pretzels game.

JoeRugby wrote:Great job getting the dungeon saga expansion finished Josh.

The smoke on the wizard has come out awesomely

Thanks, it's nice to be able to say "I'm done" every once in a while. The smoke looks kind of gnarly up close, but the effect works at arm's length, so he'll work on the tabletop.

Syro_ wrote:I'm really enjoying your work on the Dungeon Saga minis, and I'm looking forward to the more you're planning on doing. I also have to agree with everyone else, the green wizard with the smoke trail coming out of his staff is great.

Smokey the Wizard is the clear winner in this set. It's hard to tell, but the smoke is coming out of a little cauldron at his feet. I assume he has his apprentice haul it around for him.

ZergSmasher wrote:I really like those old-school wizards! The bright colors and slightly cruder sculpts give them a lot of character. One of my hobby goals is to eventually paint some minis that are older than me (which those wizards are by a few years), so maybe I'll have to see what I can scrounge on eBay or something, or get lucky at a garage sale.

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Your "minis older than me" sounded intriguing but all of the pre-1970 models I've found so far have been pretty fugly...

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. My son really enjoys "snooping" (his word, not mine) in my many many boxes of unpainted and/or poorly painted models, allowing me to rediscover some of the stuff that I've acquired and subsequently forgotten about. For those commenters who also have these old models lying around, how about posting them for the rest of us old guys to enjoy?

This week, the work on Dungeon Saga: Infernal Crypts continues:



These are Lesser Abyssal warriors, the basic troop type for this expansion. Every bad guy will have a variation on this paint scheme: AP Chaos Red, highlighted up to AP Dragon Red, various light browns for straps and stuff, all with a dark brown glaze to tie it all together. About three hours of work, broken up by breaks for coffee and for interesting scenes in Predator (my go-to painting movie).



Hellhounds. Painted with the exact same technique as the Warriors. It's actually kind of zen, painting the same models nine times in a row.



Did I say nine times? I meant twelve times. These are the Abyssal Guard, the elite troopers. Their weapons are still bendy, even after giving them the boiling water/ice water treatment. Their ankles straightened out nicely, though.

Here's everything together:


The LED strip on my photo box isn't working, so I had to rely on external lighting and the gallery's auto-adjust feature. Hopefully I can get the lighting issue sorted out for the next update. I'm currently working on the two heroes for this set. I hope the have them ready to show by the end of the week. In the meantime, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Summer vacation is winding down here. My family went down to Kyushu to visit the in-laws, while I stayed for a couple of mandatory continuing education seminars and to watch after our aging dog. While they were gone, I caught up on my Marvel movies, and did some painting:



These are the two new heroes for the Dungeon Saga "Infernal Crypths" expansion. The battle nun has really, really long arms.



Three Succubi from the same set. As always with models like this, I felt a little creepy painting their butts and thighs. Also, R. Crumb seems to have designed these particular models.



Lower Abyssal Flamebearers. I actually sat down and watched a bunch of tutorials on Youtube before I painted the fireballs. I think they turned out well.



Speaking of fire, here are some Efreets. I'm pretty happy with the flames on these models as well. The secret seems to be applying a red glaze over all the layers to bring it all together.



Molochs, big ogre-sized demons. With everything else in this set, I did some minimal layering with a dark brown glaze over the whole model, but these guys were big enough that I could get by with just layering/highlighting.



Tortured Souls. These guys aren't demons, so I went with a completely different palette for them.



Finally, Drech'nok The Destroyer, the Big Bad for this set. I painted him using the exact same colors and techniques as everything else. All these models came pre-assembled, and this guys wings were very much in the way. Also, the wings make him so back heavy tat he falls over all the time. I may have to heat him up and bend him forward at the ankles to balance him out.

In addition to all these models, I finally had time to break out and paint up a bunch of resin terrain I got in a KS last year:


This was a whole lot of hobby work, and I'm just a little burned out. I think I'll give it a day or two, and then start something else. Dreadball, maybe? As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Thanks, Slinky.

After all that red-and-black, I thought it was time for something a little more varied. I settled on some crewmen for Ghost Archipelago:


It was a little difficult at first to decide how to approach these guys. At first, the only pirate-looking character I could think of was Captain Hook. Then I remembered that he has a whole crew. This first guy is based on Sharky, one of the henchmen on "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," a show which I enjoy watching (with no irony) with my son. This next guy:



...was inspired by Bones, another henchman from the same program. I kind of wish I'd thought of this before I assembled these models, as there is a different head on the sprue that would have worked better, but which I put on a body without a vest. Ah, well, he's certainly colorful.



I gave this guy stripey pants because pirates wear stripey pants.



This guy has the head I shoud have used for Bones up there. He also has some fabulous MC Hammer pants.



This last guy has the simplest outfit on the whole sprue. I had originally planned on giving him a black or dark brown or black beard, but the off-white undercoat I use under all my skin tones contrasted nicely with the Indian/Pakistani tones I used, so I went with this grizzled salt-and-pepper look instead.

Here they are all together:


But wait! Here are some more models, this time not painted by me.






These Frostgrave barbarians were assembled and painted (almost) entirely by my son. We started them at the same time that I assembled the Frostgrave soldiers I shared a while back, but his at-the-time-eight-year-old attention span meant that it took until last week to finish them. He chose all the colors, and I managed to restrain myself from doing much clean-up on them. He remains particularly proud of the hammer-and-dagger double wield, and the giant wart on the spearman's head. Here they are all together:



Up close, they are pretty sloppy, but at arm's length they are perfectly serviceable troopers. If/when he is able to focus for 30-40 minutes every day, his production will speed up, and thre may be a chance to finally get ahead of the Closet Of Shame.

Finally, a little battle scene:


About the time I finished the crewmen, my son decided it was time to assemble two more sprues worth, so my faithful readers can look forward to ten more piratey guys in September.

As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Thanks, everyone. The boy has really enjoyed hearing all your comments. I wish we could find more time to sit down and paint together, but there just aren't enough hours in a day, and sadly schoolwork comes first. Still, he hasn't slacked off entirely, as we'll see at the end of this post.

About the time I was finishing up the GA crewmen I posted last time, my son decided that we needed to assemble ten more for me to work on. Here they are:


Another guy with stripey pants, this time in browns. I got the idea from a photo of a cheap Halloween costume that came up on GIS. The other guy is dressed in more standard sailor colors.



The guy with the club has two-toned pants, but I couldn't get the effect right on those MC Hammer pants on the archer.



Not a lot to say about these two, they're pretty simple all around.



These two, along with the axman above, and the two in the next photo were the second batch. I usually work in sets of four or five to keep my production levels up while allowing me time to do justice to the models. The first set all had pretty vivid colors, these guys are closer to pastels. Also, I gave them tanned caucasian skin, while the first batch have much darker skin tones. I find it nice to vary the appearance of my models where I can.



Even hardened sea dogs like these want a bit of color. I feel like the bald guy needs tattoos on his head, but I'm not sure I could pull it off. Here's the whole crew together:


They're standing on an island, one of about ten that I'm working on as free time allows. I plan to make walkways to connect them, allowing me/us to game in a little archipelago.

Finally, a couple of models from my son:


These are Ralarat strikers from the REbs team for Dreadball. He wanted a DB team of his own for his birthday, and while I tried to steer him towards one of the many unpainted teams I have hidden away in the Closet of Shame, this is the one he settled on. He decided to paint these as poison arrow frogs, with blue as the uniform color for the team. I did the eyes, but everything else was him. They are a little sloppy in places, but you can't tell at arm's length,which is a pretty good measure in my book.

Next up, I hope to start working on some Shieldmaidens from Bad Squiddo. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Thanks, everyone. I had a lot of fun with the crewmen, and my son really gets a kick out of all of your comments. Of course, being only nine means he has a limited attention span, and hasn't picked up a brush since we finished those two models.

It's been kind of slow going for me on the hobby front. As autumn approaches, dawn is coming later and later, and our one remaining dog seems happy to sleep in, meaning I lose about 10-15 minutes every morning due to my own laziness. Still, I managed to get a start on the shieldmaidens from Bad Squiddo:


I tried to keep to a simple palette, based on what little I know of historical vikings, as well as keeping their shields simple. I might try something a little more complex on the next set.



I was a little leery of the eyes on these models. Unpainted, they looked huge, almost like Deep Ones, but they turned out pretty well once I slapped some paint on them. They kind of remind me of Jes Goodwin eyes, at least in terms of how easy they were to work on. This one has crazy eyes, but only from this angle. I don't know why the shield looks so green-- it's yellow and black in real life.



I can't decide if I like this one or the previous one the best.



This one is my least favorite from this set-- the pose it a little stiff and uninteresting.

Here they are all together, along with some scatter terrain for Ghost Archipelago:


The LED strip on my little lightbox is acting weird, and I'm having a heck of a time getting a good lighting setup. Sorry for that. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Meer_Cat wrote:Very nice group- the simple pallet is extremely effective taken in the aggregate. Of course, it helps that each individual figure is very well done too....

Thanks kindly. I based the colors on the illustrations "The Vikings" from Osprey's Elite series, so I can't take full credit.

bbb wrote:Those are lovely.

Thanks *blushes*

Slinky wrote:I love the fact that the shields look so realistic, not the normal clean blocks of colour

The shields are really really nice. The wood grain is crisp, and each individual board is distinct as well. I'm half tempted to try to get a few packs of just the shields to use with other models.

Speaking of other models, I cranked these out over the last three or four days:


These are Berzerkers, also from Bad Squiddo's Shieldmaidens line. They were really easy to paint up, being essentially brown from head to toe.



The same Osprey book I mentioned above says that berzerkers were also referred to as "wolf skins," so did this one in grey.



Although these models show a lot more skin than most BS figures, I'm willing to overlook that because of how thiq they are. This one looks strong enough to have killed the bear whose skin she is wearing. It doesn't who in this photo, but she has a sort of sprts bra-looking thing under those paws.



Another wolf skin. She has that single forelock hairstyle and a really big axe. Another nice thing about these models is that they are all single-piece metal castings, so no pesky assembly.



And one more bearskin. Unlike the previous sets,the eyes on these models are tiny, and I very nearly skipped painting them. The eyes turned out quite badly.

Next up, some armored shieldmaidens, and possibly the Oldhammer skaven gutter runner that I picked up in a trade. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Continuing with the theme for the month, here are some more Shieldmaidens:



This set are all Hearthguard with Swords. I breifly thought about giving them more ornate designs on their shields, but decided that my freehand skill weren't up to the job, especially over the wood grain. I'll ask you to pretend that I got the angles right on this shield.




This shield turned out much better. I had a lot of trouble doing the eyes on these models, thanks to the noseguards on the helmets. Normally, I do eyes last, right before basing/sealing. In retrospect, I should have done them with the rest of the faces, so I wouldn't have to worry about messing up their helmets. Live and learn, I guess.




The eyes on this one are invisible thanks to the eyepiece on the helmet. It's also my favorite from this set.




The pose on this one is kind of stiff, but she has the best hair of the lot.

Finally, a special guest:


Mantic's Dungeon Saga, particularly the character creation rules, really fired up my son's imagination. After blowing through almost all of the little character sheets that came with the Adventurer's Companion, he pulled out a notebook and came up with rules for Ratmen. Even now, months later, he remains enthusiastic about them, so I've started collecting Oldhammer Skaven. This guy is more proof-of-concept than anything, but he was a fun little diversion. I'll have to work these guys into the rotation.

Finally, a group shot:


Next up, some Mantic ogres. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Theophony wrote:That rat has no chance. Never mess with Norse women, they are the reason the Viking went and did their pillaging and other activities elsewhere....because that was the only time they got to be in charge.

Excellent work on the ladies. I’ve admired some of those sculpts, but since I don’t role play I wouldn’t get much use for them.

I'm not a role-player either. I started collecting fully-clothed female adventurer miniatures as part of my one-man campaign to add diversity and representation to this hobby, and the more I buy and paint, the more I've come to like them. I have enough for a couple of Frostgrave warbands, and pretty soon I'll be able to play Dragon Rampant with them (play should be in air-quotes, given how rarely I actually play anything).

Llamahead wrote:Excellent Ratman.

Thanks. It helps that he's a Jes Goodwin sculpt

Camkierhi wrote:Excellent work on the shield maidens and the Skaven.

If you have need of some Skaven shout me.

How is Dungeon Saga, I have been eyeing it up a fair bit lately and keep coming back to it.

And just saying, but scrolling through your blog I had a deja vu moment and then remembered having a similar sight scrolling through the blog of that guy with the ultimate fantasy table, loads of beautiful models pro painted. Honestly mate don't knock yourself, you are getting very, very good.

I may take you up on the offer of skaven. I'll have to see if I can maintain my enthusiasm when I finish the ones that I have.

Dungeon Saga is a nifty little game. The rules are pretty simple, and each scenario plays in an hour or less, including set-up. There are rules for playing cooperatively against an AI card deck, but I've not tried them yet.

Also, thanks for your praise. I'm never going to be Golden Daemon/Crystal Brush level, but I am happy with how I'm progressing.

Barzam wrote:Wow, I really like those berserkers. They look like they would be perfect for Paleo Diet. I think I may have to get some in the future when I have steady income again.

Thanks. I'm not familiar with that game, but I've seen you reference it in your own PM blog. Is it worth checking out?

JoeRugby wrote:Lovely stuff Josh

Thanks, dude.

Da Boss wrote:Just catching up, those Frostgrave warbands are awesome. Love the Cultists especially. And you are doing a great job on those Dungeon Saga miniatures, I am a bit green with envy particularly when I look at how well you have done the succubi and the salamander!

Thanks. I didn't do anything particularly complex with any of those models, but I'm pleased with how they came out.

 cygnnus wrote:
Dude... you’ve been going nuts painting for years, but now you’re out-painting me in Skaven!?!? Dunno if I’m ever gonna live down the shame...

Valete,

JohnS

Well, if you want to catch up, you know what to do. You haven't forgotten how to hold a brush, right?

 carlos13th wrote:
I really liking the bad squiddo Range, it’s nice to see a selection of female models that are not all T&A, even he ones that show more skin are not sexualised. You do them justice mate especially found of the double axe bead lady.

Thanks. I'm a big fan of Annie's "mission" to get more, non-cheesecake minis on the market.

I took a little break from the Shieldmaidens this week:


I was planning to magnetize the arms so I could field them as either boomers or shooters (using the KoW terms), but they came with four sets of handcannon arms and only two of heavy crossbows. They took a long time to paint, mostly because everything about them is so big, I think. After this, I have exactly one more pack of shooters, and then three or four Oldhammer metal ogres and that's it. It feels weird to be this close to finished with something.

Next up, more Shieldmaidens!

Thanks. I'm a member of the very exclusive group of gamers who like Mantic ogres because of, as opposed to in spite of, their tiny, knock-kneed legs.

I already back Annie's KS. The only klunker I see is the models eating noodles, but the rest will fit in a warband or army somewhere.

 bbb wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:
It feels weird to be this close to finished with something.

Dude! Do you want to DIE!?!?! Buy some more stuff for the hoard of unfinished projects!

Great stuff as usual.

I said "something," not "everything." I know better than to tempt fate like that.

Slinky wrote:Catching up on a couple of weeks posts - Love the shieldmaidens again, the simple shield designs really worked again IMHO, and the Mantic ogres look great too, definitely one of their best ranges aesthetically.

I agree wholeheartedly. I have always wanted to build an army of ogres, dating way back to WHFBv3, but the metal ogres at the time were too expensive for teenaged me, and the later fat plastic Mongolians just didn't appeal to me. I like these both for the look and the price.

highlord tamburlaine wrote:Glad to see I'm not the only one who likes the Mantic Ogres.

They're honestly my favorite of Mantic's Kings of War lines, and probably in a very close second to my favorite Ogres, only being beaten by Mierce's offerings. A shame they weren't in hard plastic but the current material serves them well enough.

Interesting skin tone choices. Anything that separates them from being just humans, but bigger and more primal.

They were originally supposed to be grey, but Vallejo's shadow grey is a lot bluer than I thought at the time, and the Payne's Grey glaze that I use really brings the blue out. That said, I'm happy with the color, and it's easy to reproduce.

Red Harvest wrote:Those shields that you mentioned, the bit about more ornate designs? What you did is far closer to what I've seen done with those sorts of shields on various Germanic forces-- Saxons and such. Very nice work on some cool minis.

You need to get enough painted up to make a shield-wall.

I have a total of eight armored and eight unarmored shieldmaidens. Not quite enough for a shieldwall, but plenty for a larger skirmish game like Dragon Rampant.

Syro_ wrote:Looking good Josh, congrats on being close to finishing

Thanks. I may bump the final few ogres up in the queue just so I can say that I've finished them.

Winter is approaching. The sun is coming up later and later every morning. The air is crisp, and sometimes downright cold. Our dog, being old, is not so insistent about his morning walk in this season, which means getting up at 4AM takes a little more effort from me. This, in turn, means my painting has slowed down considerably. I have managed to get a few models done:



Inspired in part by Theophany and all his Test Of Honor models, and in part by a 30-minute-a-day challenge via a Facebook group, I pulled out some Zenit models that have been sitting in a box for years. I'm planning on using these guys as a Koryu buntai for Ronin. I based this guy's outfit on a screen painting of a samura in traveling gear that I found via GiS. The eyes on this model (and the rest of the models in this set) are little more than slits on either side of his nose, so I feel blessed that they turned out was well as they did.




Holy crap, this guy looks horrible in these photos. He's much better in person, I swear! This guy is a sword master or something-- I couldn't find him on a cursory search on the Zenit website-- but his outfit looks more like a Noh or Kyogen actor. The big, wide field of light blue on his back was bugging me, so I tried to add some heraldry. It ended up looking like a poorly-applied patch. Also, zenit uses a really soft alloy, so this guy's sword is really bendy. I expect it to break off some time in the near future.




Another zenit model, this time a student at the fencing school. Every model that I've shown so far has come with a fiddly little bit to glue on-- the first guy's hat and swords, the second guy's hands, and this one's sword hand. It came with a sort of ball-and-socket joint at the wrist, and it looked really ugly until I hit it with some Plastic Putty. It still looks kinda weird, but only if you look closely. The stripes on her hakama were inspired by an iaido uniform. They look much straighter at arm's length.




This last one is a very old Dixon miniature. The proportions are chunky, but she fits in thematically with the other three.

Here's a group shot:


Not my best work, but not my worst, either. Next up, some Shieldmaidens that got put on the back burner for these four.

Theophony wrote:I love the first guy, really wish he didn’t have the swords as he would be a great civilian. The colors are great on all of them, but like I said the first one really is my favorite out of the bunch for some reason.

I agree, he is the best of the bunch. The browns are nice and drab, like a wandering swordsman would wear.

JoeRugby wrote:Great Job Josh

Thanks!

highlord tamburlaine wrote:They all look good. I know those Zenit minis can be a pain with their random fiddly bits. I think the fencing student is my favorite. The stripes on the hakama add to it. I might need to borrow those color choices...

My problem with Japanese clothing is the absolute paralysis I get when it comes to deciding on colors. There's just too many options, and despite how garish it may seem to us these days, chances are someone probably wore a horribly mismatched outfit like what I paint back in the day.

How does Ronin play? I have the rule book, but every time I try and sit down to read it my eyes either glaze over from too much text or just stare at the pretty pictures....

The stripes were a b*itch to paint. I figured I could just follow the pleats, but the brush didn't want to cooperate. Ronin is a pretty good game, I think, but we haven't played enough for me to really wrap my head around the rules. There is a fair amount of customization available to higher-ranked models, and there is a sort of gambling/bluffing aspect to melee, that I need to figure out better. In the end, it's an Osprey game, so the investment is minor, assuming you have appropriate models in your collection.

Camkierhi wrote:They look excellent, love all the Japanese stuff flying about Dakka lately, really nice change and the models have a real depth about them. Not just another soldier, each is a little character.

Test of Honor seems to be blowing up, which is inspirational without breaking the bank, considering how many samurai models I already own.

Here are some new models:


More shieldmaidens from Bad Squiddo. This time, they are Hearthguard with axes. Unlike the last batch, I painted their eyes before their helmets, so they turned out much better.



No eyes to paint on this one. I tried something a little fancier with the shields this time around. I think they turned out well.



I got even fancier with this shield. I'm not entirely sure it's historical, but it came up on a Google search for "Viking Shields," so I'm saying it counts. It's autumn here, so it seemed appropriate to use some of the Leafy Shrub tufts I've been sitting on for so long.



My son eanted to help paint a shield instead of doing his homework. He calls this design "The Sword of the Gods." I added the black lines. Also, he finished his homework, so it's all good.

Here's a group shot:


A couple of days after I finished these, my son decided that it was time to work on some Frostgrave and/or Ghost Archipelago models for use in Kings of War:Vanguard. He assembled some Snakemen, and instructed me to work on Barbarians. I hope to have those ready to share within a week.

I'd have to unpack the shieldmaidens, but here is a photo of a "game" my son and I played back when he was much younger:



Here we see the samurai surrounding my KoW orc army. My son likes to stack the odds in his favor...