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 Theophony wrote:
Just a nudge, but the seven samurai just went on preorder from Warlordgames. £35 for 7 metal figs and gaming accessories seems pretty good.

On the one hand, they are neat models and would fit with the Koryu guys I posted last week. On the other hand, I have spent a whole lot of money on models in the last two months. Conclusion: I will probably have to wait for general release.

 Syro_ wrote:
Thanks for the battle pic Josh. Looks cool. That is funny how much your son wanted to stack the odds I've been on the receiving end of that too

He's a lot better about it now. When we play Dungeon Saga, he prefers to be the Overlord, even though the odds are stacked against the evil player. He still likes to see the good guys win, though.

I've managed to finish quite a few models in the last week, but I didn't have time to photograph any because of a school trip. First up, some Frostgrave barbarians:


About three weeks ago, my son decided it was time to work on his Lizardman army. We assembled a dozen plastic Saurus from an old WHFB starter and a sprue of Ghost Archipelago snake men. At the same time, he decided that I needed to work on some more barbarians at the same time. His models have stalled at the priming stage, but I got these guys finished. This crossbowman has one of the few beardless heads. His hair in not really the same color as his fur stole. I need to work on my lighting set up.



I like this guy's Conan helmet, but I wish I had gotten his left hand to line up better.



The barbarian sprue comes with two shields. This one works great with all the viking shields I've been doing for the Shieldmaidens that I've been sharing. I'm a little surprised at how good his eyes look in these photos, given how terrible they look in person.



This guy has the other shield from the sprue. The freehand raven turned out well enough, I suppose. Also, not the bushes-- it's autumn here, and in Kyoto (where we went for the school trip), the trees are this same vibrant orange/red/yellow. In spring, I'll probably switch back to green basing for everyone.



This guy's shield came from the Ghost Archipelago crewman sprue. I used essentially the same colors that my son chose for the barbarians he painted a couple months ago, so they should mix in well.

After the men here, I decided to work on some more shieldmaidens:


These archers are the last of the infantry that came with the KS. I went with more muted colors with this set to help tie them into the barbarians. Their eyes were really, really hard to paint.



I really like the pose on this one.



Look at how thick their bows are-- they are as big around as their arms. They must have one hell of a heavy pull.



This is the only one of this set whose eyes came out to my satisfaction. I wonder how much protection she gets from that studded apron...

Finally, a group shot, along with a bit of scatter terrain made with Grabblecast trees on a Miniature Scenery scatter base:


As always, I welcome comments and criticism. Thanks for looking.

Hi, everyone. I hope you have all had/are having a wonderful holiday season. Christmas here is even more commercial than back in the US, but we still had a lovely time here at home. New Year's is much more important, and we'll be celebrating that in a few days' time. I've been keeping an eye on everyone's P&M blogs, but haven't had a lot of time to comment on anything. Painting has slowed down, but I did manage to knock out some more models. I photographed them yesterday, but the camera on my cheap android phone refused to focus properly, so I had to find and charge my old iPhone instead.



I have spent quite a lot of money on new models this year, despite playing very rarely, and yet I still find myself drawn back to Oldhammer stuff. This batch of elves had been soaking in alcohol for months before I got to them. This one has a javelin, which was an option way back in WHFBv3 or so. I have only ever had this one, though, so he never say much action.



I have enough copis of this model to field a small legal unit of them. The shields on every model in this post came from a Kickstarter for shields compatible with Oldhammer models. No more huntig for plastic shields for me!



Wardancers were always my favorite unit the any version of the Wood Elf army. I gave this guy some warpaint, but have no idea where that spot on his shoulder came from.



Another wardancer. I tried to model his warpaint on David Bowie's Alladin Sane look, but the face on this model is too long, thin, and craggy for my meager freehand skills.



Two more essentially identical wardancers.



Finally, a wizard. Did you know that Jes Goodwin only sculpted to male wizards for his wood elf line? And that one of them was only available with the Attack Chariot? The dress on this model didn't come out quite as white as I'd planned, but I'm happy enough with the results.

Last, a group shot:


This will probably be my final post for 2018, so the numbers in my sig will be my final count for the year. I currently have some very old Chaos Dwarfs in the works, and after that I think I'll try to kitbash a ranger for Rangers of Shaow Deep. Happy New Year to you all!

Archer wrote:Elves look great. Particularly like the Wizard and the white robes look great to me and the ear dancer with the massive sword.

A kickstarter for compatible shields? That sounds like a great idea.

"Eardancer" may be the best typo I've ever read. That's what I'm going to call these guys from now on. There have been a couple of KS for shields, which delights me to no end, given how expensive the old plastic shields get on Ebay.

youwashock wrote:Absolutely love those Wardancers. The guy with the 2-hander, no shirt and the chainmail pants is one of the best in the range.

I like this guy a lot, as well as the other guy in this pose wielding an axe. Fun fact: I once based a Champions character on this model.

Theophony wrote:Beautiful oldhammer elves, and as usual your bases are fantastic. Enjoy the coming new year .

There's not much to the bases, just sand from the garden and some tufts. Those do all the heavy lifting.

aku-chan wrote:Nice job on the Elves!
Mohawk Elf is my favourite, even if he is wearing a chainmail onesie.

Imagine how much it must hurt to walk on chainmail boots for th entire battle.

Meer_Cat wrote:Those figures really take me back- I didn't know the background on the Jes Goodwin wizards. I have several of these, but none painted to this standard. And I think the 'David Bowie' wardancer came out very well.

Thanks. The model turned out well enough once I gave up on the facepaint.

So winter break began for everyone on Friday afternoon. I finally mailed off some Christmas presents, cleaned the bathroom, "played" a couple of "miniatures games" with my son (he lined up all my elves versus my undead army, we rolled high-low for combat and he won with almost n o casualties!), and found time to finish these guys:


I started buying Chaos Dwarfs to field along with my Warriors of Chaos/Beastmen army (back when everything Chaotic was part of the same list), and had enough for a single unit of thirty or so. That sat in their box, unpainted, for many a year until, in a fit of efficiency/madness, I sold them off as part of an attempt to rationalize the backlog. I regretted doing so immediately and deeply, and continue to do so to this day. A couple of months ago, a fellow on the Oldhammer Trading FB group was offering some for a reasonable price, so I snapped them up.

I thought at first that this model was topless, but on closer examination, he's wearing a Joel Schumacher breastplate. Ah, well, at least he has a magnificent beard.



The casting sculpting on these guys is very much of the era, so they are a little more rough than the elves I posted last week. They make up for it with funkiness, though. Check out his guy's Salvador Dali facial hair. Also, I painted his one visible eye, but of course it's almost impossible to see, even in person.



My son pointed out that this guy looks like a regular, non-corrupted dwarf, so I gave him a green beard. His lower lip is painted in AP Necrotic Flesh, as well.



Another suit of armor with the beard sticking out. It turns out these little tanks are pretty easy and fast to paint.



Then there's this guy. On the right, he's just a bunch of armor. On the left he has a furry arm and a goat leg, and he carries some sort of goblin skull staff as a weapon. That's more like it.



And finally, the best model in this lot. I guess he's supposed to be a berzerker, but he looks just like Sweetumsto me, so that's how I painted him. I tried to give him crazy eyes, but of course they look fairly normal.

Here's a group shot:


I put them on 20mm square bases because they are most likely to see action in Vanguard, assuming we ever get around to playing. I enjoyed these guys so much that I have another set based and primed. They'll have to wait until after New Year's, though. I hope everyone reading this has a Happy ( and Safe) New Year.

Red Harvest wrote:Nice little warband you've got there.

White robes on the wizard actually make me see it more as a priestess. Which kind of fits for wood elves.

Referencing something from the previous page about the commercialization of Christmas in Japan: There are not that many Christians in Japan, AFAIK? Would most Japanese have a different view of Christmas?

Thanks. I was kind of going for a Galadriel look on that elf. Re Xmas in Japan, I imagine all the trappings came over during the occupation, and the gaiety offered some relief from trying to survive postwar deprivation. Now, it's very much a family holiday if you have kids, a dating holiday if you don't.

bbb wrote:Ancient Chaos Dwarfs! Awesome as usual, Josh. Good stuff.

Thanks. I have always had a soft spot for these little guys.

Miguelsan wrote:Burning the midnight paint to the last minute. Good job on dealing with the unpainted pile!

M.

I got my 大掃除 done early, so no one complains when I do hobby stuff during the day.

Camkierhi wrote:Brilliant work. Quite a year from you. Love this batch. Sweetie especially.

Thanks. I didn't reach one model/day, but I think I made up for it with all the terrain.

Archer wrote:Love, love, love the old Chaos Dwarfs. I plan to start my own Chaos Dwarf army next (if I ever get through the Necron grumble, grumble) but mine aren't the full of character ones you have here or even the big hat guys or yesteryear. Mine are the current forgeworld version and I think they lack a little Chaos.

I think the best way to build an army of these guys is to start back in 1986 when they were still cheap. I spent almost $100 on the dozen-or-so I'm currently working on, and I just can't justify an army's-worth of models at that price.

Da Boss wrote:Lovely oldhammer minis here. Those old Chaos Dwarves are SO much better than the later ones in my opinion. The big hats and OTT stuff really ruins the more modern designs, makes them look like walking wedding cakes.
Your paintjob on these guys is exactly as it should be for evil Dwarves.

I never did like the big hats, they were just too cartoony.

Theophony wrote:Great looking chaos dwarves there josh , your knocking out these oldschool figs right and left. I have a couple of the chaos dwarves that have bazookas and platemail kicking around somewhere.

I have a set of bazookamen in the queue. I had two back during my selloff madness, but no one seems to be selling them, at least at prices I can afford...

It seems that all the cool kids are posting retrospectives in their P& Blogs, so I'm doing the same. First up, January:



January was a big sci-fi month. I cranked out a bunch of Battlezones while the family was away visiting relatives. I have a bunch more of those Broken models, I should get back to those.

February:



After the BZ the month before, I was still in DZ mode. I like the models, and I'm pretty sure it's a solid game, but I still can't seem to actually play. Maybe I'll break out the old AI deck and try solo during winter break.

March:


More Mantic stuff, plus a "commission" for a friend.

April:


I seem to have gone on a combined Frostgrave/Oldhammer kick in April, along with slogging through some goblins for Dungeon Saga.

May:
I don't seem to have tagged anything in May...

June:


I went on a little Samurai kick, probably after my son and I tried Ronin. He wanted more peasants, and I rarely object to getting new models....

July:


And then it's back to Frostgrave, with a few DS models thrown in. I'm still pleased with how those old Grenadier wizards came out.

August:


I had a week to myself in August, so I cranked out a bunch of resin terrian and most of a set of DS abyssals. The Ghost Archipelago crewmen were a request from my son, while the barbarians were painted by him.

September:


Some more crewmen, and some Bad Squiddo shieldmaidens.

October:


More Bad Squiddo, and some Ogres. I think I have two more packs of these Mantic Ogres, along with a few random Oldhammer ogres, and then I can call this army finished.

November:


My numbers seem to have dropped quite dramatically as the years wound down. The samurai/swordsmen were inspired by a painting challenge in the Feudal Japan Wargaming FB group. The shieldmaidens were me wanting to get that particular project finished.

December:


December was an oddly productive month. More Bad Squiddo, some barbarians to accompany them, and finally some Oldhammer models. My final tally is 220 modles, plus three sets of Osgiliath ruins, Great Cthulhu, two Japanese peasant farmhouses and a rice paddy, and a whole bunch of resin Frostgrave terrain. I know better than to set goals for hobby stuff, because then it's no longer a hobby, but I hope to have a productive 2019. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting all year, it really helps inspire me.

Continuing the theme from December:


These Chaos Dwarfs paint up really quickly, being mostly armor and beard. I'm trying for a bronze effect on the armor plates, and I'm generally pleased, but on this guy it blends in too well with the horns on the helmet.



For those models with shields, I'm trying a glowing/molten Chaos Dwarf rune theme, but I need a better yellow paint for the innermost stripe.



I originally painted this guy's cloak red with white trim, kind of like you'd see on a portrait of a European nobleman, but he ended up looking like Santa Claus. This turned out better, I think.



Apart from the curved sword and the spider on his helmet, this guy looks a lot like an Imperial Dwarf.



This guy is super plain, but I did his thigh-high boots.



I wasn't sure if this guy was wearing a hood or a helmet, so I painted it as a skull instead. The glowing red eye effect didn't work at all.

Finally, a group shot:


Working on these guys, I was reminded on perhaps the worst part of painting dwarfs of any type-- their stumpy little legs make it really hard to decorate the bases. I actually finished this set a couple of days ago, and have cleaned, assembled, based and primed the five Mantic Abssal Dwarf Immortals I got with their first KoW kickstarter, but managed to get distracted by Rangers of Shadow Deep, and am currently kitbashing a couple of rangers using the various Frostgrave kits I have lying around. My wife and son are away visiting her family, so I'll be catching up on movies and hobbying for a week-- hopefully I'll have something to share in a day or two. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged. Thanks, as always, for looking.

Slinky wrote:Lovely stuff, Josh, so much better than the later big-hats in my opinion.

I never liked that generation of Chaos Dwarfs. I get that they were trying to give them a unified look, but the Babylonian/Assyrian thing just didn't work, IMO.

youwashock wrote:Oooh...the little guy in the green cloak is such a classic figure. Like a mini Death Dealer. Love it.

Thanks, he is a nifty model.

This time, I have a few Abyssal Dwarf Immortals from Mantic.






They came free with my rewards for the first Kings of War kickstarter. They're kind of boring models, sadly-- ornate but hard to read armor, identical weapons and shields, and only four different heads for five bodies-- the last guy has a head from the Dwarf Command sprue. One thing I like about these older KoW models with the integrated bases is that the models are designed to fit inside the footprint of their bases so they can rank up. Not so important for a skirmish gmae, but for rank and flank not having to assemble the unit like a jigsaw puzzle is a big plus.

Next up, I have a few models assembled for Rangers of Shadow Deep. I have tomorrow all to myself, so I hope to have at least a couple ready to show.

 Miguelsan wrote:
Are you going to dip your toes into Vanguard, Josh?

M.

That's the plan. I like the rules, and I have a ton of painted models I can use. The problem is finding players.

I realized just yesterday that it's been over two weeks since I posted anything. As the man once sang, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter. Our dog (we're down to one) has been perfectly happy to sleep in since the first snowfall, which in turn leaves me without the impetus to drag my butt out of bed at 4AM. I'm still painting, but at a much slower rate than usual.


With the release (and my subsequent purchase of) Rangers of Shadow Deep, I've been focusing on models for that game. I built this guy using a FG Cultist body with a head and arms from the Legends of Sherwood Forest conversion pack (from Northstar) and a plastic cape from the FG Soldiers 2 sprue. I was going to use him as my Ranger for RoSD, but decided the model is too similar to the Aragorn models than my son decided to use. I field him instead as Robert Eagle Eye, my archer companion. He was originally named Robert Eagle Eyes, but he lost an eye to a permanent injury in our first game...



This is another model from the Soldiers 2 sprue, along with an axe from the GA Crewmen sprue. Her skin turned out much darker than I had planned, but I'm happy with how she turned out.



Another model from the same sprue. Every time I put a shield on a model like this one, I feel like I should paint a freehand design. Then, when the laughter subsides, I slap on one of the Howling Griffon insignias that I printed ten years ago. It took me a couple of tries to get the eyes right, and I'm still not happy with them-- she looks deranged. Looking at the photos, I realized that I forgot to paint the straps and stopper on the potion bottle. I'll have to do that before I pack this one away.



Yet another female soldier model, with accessories from the Barbarian and Cultists sprues. I tried to give her crazy eyes, but they turned out pretty normal. Strange how that works.

RoSD is a scenario-driven RPG-lite sort of game, and the starting rangers and companions are relatively weak. For the first couple of scenarios, they have to fight a lot of vermin:


These giant rats were included in the basic pledge for the first Reaper Bones KS. Reaper keeps having Kickstarters, and I come this close to giving in every time. I stop my self by periodically opening the Bog Box of Bones stored in the Closet of Shame-- the mound of white PVC is enough to dissuade me. That said, there's still a lot of useful stuff in there, including these guys.



The second scenario involves giant spiders and web cocoons containing survivors, corpses, or dead bodies. I built the webs according to a tutorial I found on YouTube, and bought the spiders (and flies for a later scenario) at a ￥100 store nearby. I really enjoyed making the cocoons, even though they didn't turn out very well.

Here's everything in a little battle scene:


I've been really enjoying this game, and the inspiration it has given me to work on little bits of scatter terrain. Hopefully I'll have more to share in the next week.

Camkierhi wrote:The lady with the shield reminds me of those hats you get in Neverwinter Nights that look a bit daft but have big bonuses. All looking fantastic, and for not being very productive, you have been ...well....very productive.

I'm not familiar with that game (or any non-analog game, really), but I think I understand. Also, I'm running out of storage for all these finished models, so a slower pace is fine for me.

Miguelsan wrote:He is back from the snows! Nice to know you are still fighing the good fight against the grey horde.


M.

I'm still surrounded by snow, but I simply choose not to be defeated by it.

Red Harvest wrote:Those web cocoons look like mutated pastries of some sort. In a good way. Fantasy terrain should be unusual looking. The character models are quite characterful, and nicely painted. Perfect for RPG minis.

Re the battle scene. Reminds me of a line from the old D&D Holmes blue book. Here we are, "The tunnels form an endless maze and there is no end to the rats."

Do you have any flying bases for those flies? Or even mount 3-4 of them on clear plastic rod and then on a 40mm square to have a fly swarm.

What kind of dog? I now have a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. ( the 'real' kind of JRT, not the short-legged version.) There is no sleeping in with one of these guys. OTOH, speaking of vermin, The squirrels that have been growing fat and sassy this winter feasting at my bird feeders are soon in for a very, very rude surprise.

I've been thinking about flying stands. I'll probably stick some wire in some of the many, many Mantic bases I have lying around.

We also have a Jack Russell Terrier-- long legs, short hair, and an endless appetite. He doesn't do well in the sub-arctic temperatures we get here, so he's perfectly happy to climb under the blankets as long as I'm in bed, and just as happy to stay there after I get up.

Thanks for the kind words, JR, but I think your recent output puts me to shame.

I'm still plugging away, slowly but surely. Here are the last two models from the FG warriors 2 sprue that I started oh so long ago:


Just a couple of generic soldier models. I really like the Robin Hood hat on the crossbowwoman.

Remember the archer model I showed last update? I based him on a body from the FG cultist sprue. While assembling him, I also threw together a few zombies:


The undeady parts came from the cultist sprue, but the bodies are from the barbarian and soldiers sprues. Say what you want about these sets, the intercompatibility easily outshines whatever other limitations they have.



The guy on the left in this photo is all from the cultist sprue apart from the head, which is a Mantic ghoul head. The guy on the right is a barbarian body with undead bits added.



This guy gets three photos only because I couldn't get his sword and face to both show up in the same photo. He's all cultist except for the head, which came from the Ghost Archipelago Crewman sprue. I sliced off his nose and drilled out his eyes to zombify him.

As you may recall, I've been focused on Rangers of Shadow Deep for the last three or four weeks. I have enough models to play pretty much any scenario, but I find myself lacking terrain. I painted up this stuff for Mission Two, Scenario One in the main rulebook:


In this scenario, the rangers have to sneak over a bridge and past a gnoll camp to get to the watchtower. The bridge is balsa wood, the tents and bedrolls are toilet paper over cardstock/balsa wood, and the fire is hot glue. It turns out that there are a lot of YouTubers out there building stuff for D&D, and I'm getting a lot of inspiration there.

As always, I'll close out with a little battle scene:


As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Next up, more Rangers stuff (probably).

Syro_ wrote:I always enjoy your stuff Josh, but it was especially fun seeing the combination of models, and scratch builds for a scenario. Thanks for including the battle scene at the end, it's the icing on the cake

Thanks. You and your nifty D&D work have inspired me to try this kind of project.

Theophony wrote:Great looking models all around Josh . I’ll need to check into the RoSD game, skirmish games are really the new fad it seems, and with little time to play in everyone’s lives I totally understand.

RoSD is essentially low-powered Frsotgrave, so if you like that game I recommend this one as well. A big plus for me is that it's fully cooperative, so I can play with my so without worrying about winners or losers.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I'll try to put up a battle report the next time we play. Speaking of which:



The mission we're currently playing involves gnolls taking over a watchtower. I have lots of gnolls, but needed a flesh golem for one of the encounters. This guy comes from Bad Squiddo's Last Sunset line (for Dracula's America). I thought about giving him a patchwork of different skin tones, but my initial attempt looked ugly. For the same scenario, I also needed a lot of indoor scatter terrain:



This stuff is all from Mantic's Dungeon Terrain Crate. Lots and lots of brown. After finishing these, I started on the Wizard's Study set:


Lots and lots of books. I had to use the flash on the last photo because all the little gubbins were too deep for my light to reach. Here's the golem perusing the library:


With this stuff done, I think we're ready to try the next scenario. I'll try to have more photos of the game this time.

As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Llamahead wrote:Great stuff.

Thanks. All that brown was pretty boring to paint, but the end result is worth it, I think. One always needs more stuff on the table.

JoeRugby wrote:Great Stuff as usual Josh.

Love the Bookcases, whats you recipe of the wood?

Black gesso primer ->Delta Ceramcoat Dark Chocolate base color-> overbrushed with Delta Ceramcoat Spice Brown (a red-brown)-> drybrushed with Golden Craft paints golden brown-> a heavy glaze of my homebrew dark brown wash. Pretty simple and not all that time consuming.

Syro_ wrote:I like the wizard study stuff. I wonder I they de-mold the bookcases with all those deep in details. Nice paint job on all, as usual, I especially like the flesh golem

All the potion bottles and skulls and stuff are part of the same mold rather than being glued in after. I'm amazed the bookcases weren't warped out of shape.

aku-chan wrote:Nice scars on the golem!

Thanks. It's just AP chaos red in the recesses. The model does most of the work.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Love the scatter terrain, very atmospheric without overshadowing the models.

I know, right? Now that I'm finally working on them, I'm glad I spent the money on the KS project.

Theophony wrote:Does the wizard terrain crate fit with the dungeon saga stuff size wise? It’s all looking great.

The bookcases look almost identical. I pulled out some of the DS stuff I had finished for some touchups (so they match this batch) and some matte varnish (so they aren't so sparkly). I'll take some photos for comparison when I get them done.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Fantastic dungeons abound here, that lot looks amazing.

Thanks, Cam.

It's been kind of slow going for the last couple of weeks. I have managed to get a few more pieces done:




These come from the same Terrain Crate set as the bookcases, which is to say the Wizard's Study. Lots of brown and bronze, with a few splashes of color here and there. The candlesticks are going to fall down a lot without some Bluetac on the bottom. The pile of books is a separate piece, and will also require adhesive to keep it in place. There are still a few little pieces left in this set, and those may or may not get finished this weekend. After that, I kind of at a loss for what to work on next. I may have to spend sometime digging around in the Closet of Shame until something catches my fancy.

Thanks, everyone. I'm quite pleased with how well the little scrying pool turned out. Fun fact: when I took these pieces out of their bag, I thought the scrying pool was a platform of some sort, and originally started painting it upside down.

I think that my next project will be some of the many Mantic models I got with my Vanguard KS pledge. I have the first four Northern Alliance models started, but I decided to finish these three first:



From left to right, these are the tracker, barbarian, and thief from the Frostgrave soldiers 2 set. Nothing particularly fancy about any of them, but they'll work on the tabletop.

Meer_Cat wrote:Those are a bit better than 'tabletop', I think. And the basing is terrific- as per your usual!

I like the thief figure the best.

Thanks. There's noting particularly special about the basing- just some leafy tufts that I've had forever- but it works.

Red Harvest wrote:Lovin' the dungeon decor. Much nicer than the papercraft stuff I was planning to use if I ever DMed again.

Frostgrave minis are nice character type pieces. I see them as useful for just about anything.

And they're well painted, of course.

I have a whole bunch of files for papercraft dungeon stuff, but assembling it all numbs my brain. I'm really happy that Mantic made all this stuff so I don't have to.

kestral wrote:That is some great terrain - especially the mirror for some reason. The quantity is also impressive.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The year in review is really neat too. My favorite is the female samurai with monkey. That is a great paint job on a great figure.

Thanks. The mirror came out darker than I'd originally intended, but it works. Makes it seem more magical, i think.

JoeRugby wrote:Great Stuff love the magic pool thing

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with that piece as well.

For a (very slight) change of pace, I finally broke out some of the Vanguard minis I picked up in the KS. I decided to start with Northern Alliance:


This guy is the Huscarl, a human warrior. He's supposed to be on a 25mm square base, but I went with round so he fits in with the Frostgrave barbarians. I thought I took a photo of his back, but apparently I was mistaken. It's a shame you can't see his face and the little tiny eyes I painted--I need to get a second light source for my lightbox.



This is the Ice Kin Hunter, an elf archer. Again, I painted the eyes but they don't show up in this photo. I think I would like this model better if it weren't for the boob armor and battle pumps she is wearing. Note the repeated color palette-- the faction has elves, dwarfs, humans and naiads, so they need something to unify them. I'm going with lots of leather and yeti pelts.



This is the half-elf berzerker. Same palette as everyone else so far, plus a bare midriff and lots of leg. That's no worse than any of the old Citadel wardancers I've been painting, so I won't complain. I will complain about the very tiny contact surface-- I had to pin her to the base. She would have benefited from an integral base like Mantic used to use.



Finally, an Ice Naiad. I'm not sure why fish people would live in the frozen north, but apparently they do. I did the armor in golds rather than silver, but otherwise used the same colors as everyone else so far. Did you notice that her neck didn't fit into the socket on her torso? I had this problem with every model in this set. After failing to get this one to fit, I ended up trimming all the little pegs off the others. They went together much better that way.

As always, a group shot:


I have three snow trolls from this set about one more painting session away from being finished, as well as some very small terrain features for Rangers of Shadow Deep. Hopefully I can share them this weekend. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Archer wrote:Hanging out to see the ice trolls. I really like the natural look of these four (as natural as green hair and blue ice weapon can be). Makes them usable in almost any game system.

Your photos of the latest four don't seem as steady or clear as your usual photography. Did you change something in your formula?

I find myself using earthtones more and more. Every once in a while, I consider pulling out some Harlequins or something just to work with bright colors again, and then go back to browns and greens.

My photos look terrible because I'm using my new(ish) cheap Android phone instead of my very old iPhone. The iPhone's camera is much better, but it's getting more difficult to use as it ages. I may have to break down and get a real camera sometime soon.

Da Boss wrote:That furniture looks awesome Josh, and I love the Northern Alliance stuff. Your productivity is off the chart with all this stuff!

Your frostgrave stuff is really pushing me to put mine together at last. Really inspiring stuff!

Do it. Frostgrave (as well as its related games Ghost Archipelago and Rangers of Shadow Deep) is a really fun game. It's a lot like playing old school D&D, without all the scenes of attempting to seduce the barmaid.

Theophony wrote:Like what you did with the northern alliance guys and gal, but that spear/trident is excellent

Thanks. It's just drybrushed, but it turned out well, I think.

As promised, here are the Ice Trolls:



In my KS pledge, I got three of the starter sets, meaning I got three of these trolls. There are only two different heads, as you can see in these photos. I used the same colors as the smaller models I posted last week-- they apparently skin the trolls and wear their hides, as well as fighting side-by-side with them. I wonder how the trolls feel about that...?



This third guy has a different weapon (a big rock), but I didn't want to repeat faces. I gave this guy a leftover Ogre head, with some kneadatie hair added to cover the gaps. Speaking of gaps, this guy's upper body is subtly different from the other two--so subtly, in fact, that it took me a long time to figure out why it didn't fit the legs, even with hot water bending. I ended up building up his waist with even more kneadatite. I gave this guy orege fur in honor of Sasquatch, but darkened him up a bit to fit with the rest of the warband.

In addition to these guys, I cranked out some giant fly holes:



These are needed for a scenario in Rangers of Shadow Deep. They are made of a 40mm round base, a 25mm Mantic round base, some filler and static grass. Also, I made a house:


It's just foamboard and balsa wood. I was inspired by this YouTube video , but it didn't turn out as well. At least I know I can do this now, so the next one should turn out better.

As always, no update is complete without a battle scene:


As always, comments anc criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Red Harvest wrote:The ice trolls turned out well.

Scratch building terrain is very much a matter of practice. So is painting, come to think of it. It's very much a learn by doing activity.

Some quick washes, say of dark brown, into the roof, and the timber frames, and maybe the stucco, and then a light drybrushing would do wonders for the look of the building. And take less than 5 minutes. Not including time for the washes to dry.

Thanks. I did put a wash over all the balsa and the stucco, but the wood didn't darken as much as I'd hoped, and the stucco does need a drybrush. I'll go back over it and post photos of the results.

Theophony wrote:Trolls look excellent
Not sure how fly holes look compared to real life , and I’m not going to google that .
Terrain piece just gave me some inspiration to make a building, so great job there as well.

It does feel weird to say "fly holes", but that's what's in the book. Please make a nifty building so I can copy what you do.

Syro_ wrote:Very nicely painted trolls Josh, those are some scary looking dudes

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

Camkierhi wrote:Can't see anything wrong with that building bud. Looks pretty good to me.

Rest all looking great as usual.

I see nothing but problems with the building, but I built it more as proof of concept than anything else. Next time, I'll draw up some plans first and make sure everything fits together better.

Theophony wrote:I got some nifty PVC sheets the other day just before reading your blog, so I have a concept, just this weekend has been bonkers, but maybe in the A.M. .

Also doing a proof of concept is the way I usually start on buildings as well.

I've been working with foamboard and balsa, mostly. I have another building mostly finished, but the thatched roof is taking forever.

Da Boss wrote:The trolls look great! I really like the warmer colours you have chosen for yours, really suits the minis. The headswap is really well done too, I would not have noticed if you had not pointed it out.
RE terrain, the main thing is to get stuff built. I have a horrible habit of amassing stuff for terrain builds and then sitting on it for ages as I ponder techniques, and I think ultimately you can only really get good at any of this stuff by doing it. I think your piece looks grand, I think the wood is a difficult thing to work with until you are used to it. Your next piece will improve on it, no doubt!

Let us know how Rangers of the Shadow Deep pans out. Atm I only have a D&D group, no one to play wargames with, so I am really curious about RotSD.

Thanks. As much as I love Frostgrave, I can't bring myself to paint something that wouldn't fit in a more temperate setting. I figure these Northern Alliance guys change colors to match the season, kinda like rabbits.

RoSD is kinda like Old School Dungeons and Dragons, without all the talking to old guys in taverns. The rules aren't very crunchy, but the "swinginess" (is that a word?) makes for some very tense moments during the game, and some very entertaining stories after.

I may have mentioned this before, but Frostgrave is probably my favorite game of the last ten years. Everytime something new comes out, I have to pick it up, even if I don't really need it. Case in point: Plastic Wizards:


The box comes with two sprues, each with four bodies, about a dozen heads, 20-or-so pairs of arms, and lots of nifty gubbins. I based this first guy's paint job on The Blue Raja, but reduced the bling because I didn't think I could pull it off without making the model really ugly.



I originally built this guy with screaming bearded face, weilding a sword and staff. After finishing all the exposed skin, I decided I didn't like that particular set up, so I popped off the head and arms and rebuilt him. Originally, he just had an open book in his left hand, but I thought that lacked oomph. I then broke out the kneadatite and had him summoning an eldrich monster, kinda like Sanloss here:


I figure I'll use them as Wizard and Apprentice in the same warband. Finally:



If you have the option to build a guy with a fez, you are required to take that option, IMO. I originally planned to paint him like Uncle Stan from Gravity Falls, but black on black doesn't work so well on the table top. The skull is from the wizard sprue, with kneadatite ectoplasm to make it look like a summoned monster. It looks better at arm's length than up close.

Finally, here are all three together:


I have one more unfinished model from this sprue, but building the spell effects takes time, and I'd rather not rush it. I hope to have him, along with one more building, finished this week.

As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Syro_ wrote:Looking good as usual Josh, you have quite the collection of painted wizards with these three joining the party.

Like most hobbyists, I have more wizards than I can ever use for any game or system. But that's fine by me, because wizards are cool and fun to paint.

Llamahead wrote:Brilliant kit isn't it. I've been having fun with my set as well.

It is a nifty kit, isn't it. And since it's compatible with all the other (male) FG sprues, I can build 20-30 more wizards with all the bitz!

bbb wrote:Great stuff as usual, Josh. And kudos for basing a wizard off a character from one of the most underappreciated movies of all time.

I loved that movie when it came out. I never did read the comics, though.

Da Boss wrote:Lovely job on those three wise men Josh! Bringing the gifts of eldritch horror, balefire and skull this Frostmas.

Ectoplasm and sanity-blasting monsters are the reason for the season!

highlord tamburlaine wrote:The wizards look like a lot of fun.

I'm in a similar boat- I don't need much of the new Frostgrave stuff, models especially, but I keep gobbling them up.

If only those plastic wizards would show up soon on our side of the pond...

Supposedly, there is a hobby store somewhere that acts as the official distributor of FG in Japan, but I don't know where it is. Even if I did, Japan prices plus shipping costs would work out almost the same as ordering direct.

Da Boss wrote:I just popped down to the local game store to see if they had any based on this post, sadly not yet! Might order them the next time I am ordering a bunch of stuff.

I hear that FG stuff is hard to keep in stock.

Slinky wrote:Lovely as usual, Josh. Green stuff tentacles came out great!

Thanks. If I were a better scratchbuilder, I would have added suckers, I think.

Theophony wrote:Great wizardry action there Josh

Thanks!

Syro_ wrote:

Syro_ wrote:
Looking good as usual Josh, you have quite the collection of painted wizards with these three joining the party.

JoshInJapn wrote:

Like most hobbyists, I have more wizards than I can ever use for any game or system. But that's fine by me, because wizards are cool and fun to paint.

So true! Speaking of which I have 4 more wizards coming in the mail to join my collection (or five if you count the dwarf ranger that looks way more like a wizard with his staff and hood.)
Though your collection is both more painted, and more well painted than mine

Spoiler:

Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for the photo. It would be fun, I think, to pull out and photograph sets of models like that, but I dread having to put them all back in their boxes afterwards...

GunnarL wrote:Just got into Frostgrave myself. Good inspiration here!

Thanks. FG is a great game, especially if (like me) you don't care too much about balance and winning and stuff. Have you checked out Rangers of Shadow Deep, by the same creator?

Between the normal Golden Week holidays and the abdication of the previous Emperor/ascension of the new Emperor, the country is in the middle of a ten-day holiday period. Naturally, I've been decidedly unproductive hobby wise, although I did pull a lot of weeds in the yard. Still, I managed to get a few things done:


I posted photos of this building a while back, but was unsatisfied with how the wood looked. Digging through my supplies, I came across a bottle of cheap stain/lacquer from the ￥100 store. It didn't work very well as substitute Quickshade, but it did the job here, I think. You can see white spots where I applied too much hot glue, but let's all ignore those, OK?



I decided to try a thatched roof after seeing a video by The Crafting Muse. The building itself is all balsa wood-- I made the planks by scoring balsa sheet along the grain-- and the thatch is sisal twine. It was real slow going at first, and even when I got the hang of it, each "layer" of thatch took about 20 minutes. The effect works well enough, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much time on one building ever again.




Finally, a little animal pen. Again, all balsa wood, except for the base, which is a hunk of MDF leftover from a Miniature Scenery set (I used a similar piece to make a rice paddy a while back). I went with an aged wood look on this building, as I assumed the houses would be better maintained than this building. Finally, a group shot of my little farm:



Add in a little scatter, and I think this will work for a few different games.

Thanks, fellows. To be clear, though, the thatch took a lot longer than four hours. The first slat alone took over an hour, as I tried to figure out what I was doing. I spent about two weeks worth of hobby time on the roof, with some painting and modelling thrown in to break up the monotony. Next time, I'll try to find some teddy bear fur instead.

After spending all that time on the thatched roof, I find myself slowing down. I did manage to get a few models finished:



These are the Frostgrave barbarian wizard and apprentice. They had been sitting, based and primed, in my "to finish" pile for a long, long time, and I finally just forced myself to finish them. They turned out pretty well, I think. The apprentice has an ugly mold line right over her right eye. I tried to disguise it as a scar, but you can't really tell in this photo. I need to get a second light source.




And here's the fourth wizard from the Frostgrave plastic wizard sprue. Originally, this guy had a beard and was carrying a staff in one hand and a sword in the other. It looked pretty crappy, so I switched out heads and gave him a set of jazz hands. My son suggested that he should be summoning a giant eyeball. The bald head and pointed beard reminded me of Ming the Merciless, and I did him up in red and gold because of that. I remain impressed with this particular sprue. As always, here's a group shot:


Also, I've decided to enter the latest League of Extraordinary Riveters contest. The theme is "Food for Thought." While cleaning up after a game a couple of weeks ago, I took another look at the scatter terrain I cranked out for Rangers of Shadow Deep a while back, and was thoroughly unimpressed. I've decided to revisit some of those pieces, and this contest is the perfect chance. Here are some of the raw materials:


It's going to be a campfire, with some sort of beast roasting on a spit. I'll try to post WIP photos periodically. Feel free to give me encouragement!

 Syro_ wrote:
The figures look great as usual Josh. But I'm more excited about the LoER announcement. It's great you'll be joining us in the competition. Also looks like those animals are from the "Terra wild animals" tub, am I right?

Thanks, I'm glad to be a part of the comp, as well. The animals are from "Animal Land," a set of cheapo toys from the ￥100 store. I haven't decided which to cut up for roasting yet, but I'm leaning toward the giraffe.

Y'know, when I posted these photos, I didn't forsee them leading to a pun thread. I'll have to keep a closer eye on you lot.

I don't normally post WIP photos, but I guess doing so is SOP for LoER competitions. Here's the fire pit all built:


I put down a layer of sand/gravel on the base, built a ring out of slightly larger gravel, filled that in with slightly smaller gravel, and then added some wood I cut from scrap balsa. I soaked the whole thing in watered-down PVA to keep it all together.



Then I painted it. It came out a lot better than I thought it would. Next, I have to chop up the giraffe and get it ready for the spit.

Thanks for all the kind words, every one. They really fan the flames of creativity.

I've had to slow down a lot in the last month or so. My wife (quite correctly) as pointed out that I have too much hobby stuff, and need to thin out the Closet of Shame. I don't really have time day to day for that sort of thing, so it will have to wait until summer break. Until then, I'm trying to keep a lower hobby profile in order to maintain domestic tranquility. That said:



I added the posts to the fire pit, chopped up the giraffe and added the spit. I can see the finish line from here-- about three more painting sessions should do it.

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. I'm glad that everyone is getting burnt out on puns.

 Red Harvest wrote:

 Camkierhi wrote:


I like the way the fire pit has turned out. My taste would be for a spit roasted elk. Elk venison is so tasty. I have no idea about giraffe.

Maybe something to suggest a wisp or two of smoke from the fire?

I only went with the giraffe because that particular toy had the best profile once it was beheaded. The moose looked kind weird to me. I'll probably add some flames if I have time before the contest deadline.