My buddy Steve asked if I could do some more 25mm Sci-Fi infantry for him. Considering he's going to be using them in an upcoming game he's running for our Sunday evening group, I had no problem squeezing this commission in. I had done a squad (platoon?) of eight awhile back, and I remember them painting up really well. Most of them are from the Star Grunt line by Ground Zero Games. This time, he also had a contingent of four, though, from the Geo Hex "Combat Babes" line (which says on the pack its designed for Star Grunt, as well). The Combat Babes figures are much slimmer, angular and a wee bit more two dimensional that the Star Grunt line. I think the Star Grunt would even be called "true 25mm." All together, it was 13 figures that he wanted painted up as a squad of 10 and a separately uniformed Scout squad of three.
I primed them all together, but then decided it was simply too big of a batch for me. Since the 10 figure squad needed to dry overnight to fully utlilize the way acrylic paint "shrink wraps" itself to a figure (making it easier to dry brush the detail), I began work on the Scout Squad first. Steve had considered a camoflauge pattern, but then said that didn't make sense in a Sci-Fi universe when there should be wildly different types of terrain. So, he left it up to me. I decided to go with a non-reflective black armor. Of course, that would be too boring looking painted up, so I outlined each piece of armor in a light green. I think they turned out awesome, and they are my favorites of this commission.
The 6 Star Grunt figures were the next batch I completed (I prepped them and the 4 Combat Babes) at the same time. Steve had requested green for a color. The figures themselves have armor and a cloth uniform it is worn over or attached to. I know he's a big Minnesota Vikings fan, so I couldn't bring myself to do the other color yellow -- like my first thought. Steve is a big Minnesota Vikings fan, so I know how much a Green Bay Packers colored squad would urk him. So, I went with a green armor with light gray cloth uniform underneath. These are great figures, and paint up really well, I feel. They have a decent -- but not overwhelming -- amount of detail. The coolest part of them is the closed visor space helmets. I can't wait to see a tabletop full of these guys!
The final batch were the Combat Babes. I'm not as big of a fan of these figures as the Star Grunt ones. They have a lot of personality, but in an exaggerated fashion. I wouldn't say they are exactly whimsical, they just seem more tongue in cheek caricutures of science fiction personalities. When painted in the same color scheme as the Star Grunt figs, they fit in reasonably well. They'll probably spice up the look of a squad. I was annoyed by the one that came with separate weapon and arm to be glued onto the rest of the figure. The piece did not fit well and I had to fix it with epoxy. All in all, though, I'm pleased with how they came out. It was a pleasurable way to spend a couple evenings during my break from school...plus profitable, too!
Since yesterday was the kickoff to my modern Africa campaign that I'm running for the Sunday night gaming group, I decided to paint some more figures for that period. I knew I was probably short on RPGs and light machine guns, so I sorted through my unpainted 20mm Liberation Miniatures figs, and dug out most of the LMG and RPGs. Some were militia types, others were more uniformed. I painted them up in a variety of uniforms to supplement the squads I already have painted.
Here you can see (above) a UN trooper armed with a LMG. The clippings of brass wire on the base are how I make it easier for my players to tell the LMGS from the ordinary, small arms AK-47s on the tabletop. I thought I'd posed the figure so you could see his Ghana flag patch, but I guess I didn't. Next is a guy in khaki uniform with a LMG. Since my figures are meant to represent the warring factions of the period of The Congo's independence, I mix in olive drab, khaki and camoflauge uniforms -- and sometimes a little of a couple different types on the same fig! I'm really happy with how the two guys on the right turned out. I did Google image searches for "tiger striped" camo patterns and found one I thought I could duplicate in 20mm scale. It was actually easy: Black base coat, elongated patches of medium green and then tan accents. I will be painting up a squad in this pattern eventually, and these two are the advance guard, of sorts. The figures (I think) are wearing the uniform of the Rhodesian army. I like the shorts and ball caps with neck flaps.
Here are the militia guys, who I tend to paint up in either civilian attire, or civilian with various military attire items. I think the machine gunner with the blue and white stripes turned out nice. So did the guy with the "Africa colors" shirt -- green, yellow and red-brown. If the two RPG gunners look a bit short, that is because they are meant to be. They're from Liberation Miniatures "kid soldiers" selections. I wish they'd made them a tiny bit shorter, so that it obvious they are kids. No biggie, though....they also pass as adults at this size.
The LMG and RPG guys painted up so quickly, I deicided to squeeze in another batch of them. Since in my campaign, all the player factions start out with mostly Militia troops, I figured there was a chance I'd run short of those. So, I sorted through my dwindling supply of Liberation Miniatures and found some actual army troopers that I thought could be converted to militia with a paint brush. I love how these guys came out! The guy "pimping" with the black and white striped shirt and gray fedora steals the show, in my opinion. I gave the two guys on either side of him OD pants, but then a civilian shirt. I also gave them sneakers to make the fact they're militia stand out even more. The fourth guy found an OD "bush hat" somewhere, and along with his "Sunday best" white shirt and gray pants, is ready to make a little war!
The last batch of small arms militia guys has a couple guys I really like, too. Of course, the flashy guy in the center with the rose colored shirt and camoflauge bush hat was meant to stand out. His shirt pattern was an easily done batch of repetition of three dots in a triangular shape. The black pants make his shirt seem even more bright. The guy on the far right wears his sky blue fishing hat, and along with his white shirt and khaki pants, also seems dressed more for church than battle. The other three are fairly basic. Sometimes the color combinations I choose "pop," sometimes they're kind of ho-hum.
Next up? My buddy Steve gave me another batch of 25mm Sci-Fi troopers for a game he's going to run in December. I'll do those, then I'll finish off Greg's Thracians after that. And as I mentioned earlier, November and December will be a painting frenzy for me. Not sure how much time I'll have to work on stuff in January once my student teaching strarts. But for now, I plan on enjoying it, making some money off commissions (to cover the hours I'll miss at work), and get some of my own stuff done!
I finished Greg's second batch of Thracians, today. This was a big group for me, too: 15 figures. I normally paint in batches of 8-12, as that takes les time and consequently keeps me motivated. However, these were the last of the Auxilia for this army, and I decided to bite the bullet and get them done. First of all, have I said before how much I dislike detached shields and weapons in 15mm scale? Well, not only did these Xyston figs have detached shields, they had solid fists that needed drilled out with a pin vise for their spears. And what's more, it didn't even come with spears -- I had to make my own! When I'd mentioned to Greg month's ago that I charge for these steps, he had a typical Greg Crane response. He turned away, bent over, and said, "Be gentle..." Classic Greg!
Anyway, I'm glad I told him that as the spears were indeed a pain in my butt. The brass wire I use to construct spears is not exactly the same width as the pin vice I have to drill out the hands. So, that meant more jimmying with a thumbtack to widen the hole, which in one case caused the entire arm to break off. My epoxy surgery turned out good, though, and you can't even tell it was reattached. So, then I had to prop the spears in place with balls of blue tac to get them in the right place while I epoxied them. All told, I think the attaching the weapons and shields phase took a good hour and a half...did I mention I dislike detached shields and weapons in 15mm scale?
The figs came out great, though. Each Thracian has a unique, colorful shield design, along with patterned cloaks or tunics, for the most part. Xyston provides a number of poses in the army pack, and at each stage, their seemed to be an even amount of three basic types of clothing: One third have tunics and cloaks, one third tunics only, and one third a kilt/loin cloth. Within each type, there are variations, as well. It should provide a lively and colorful looking army when it's all based up.
I should have pictures up here tomorrow.
In general, my painting of the HOTT stands to sell in the flea market went well. I priced them at $10 each, and sold four of the eight. I also sold lots of the books I brought -- and walked away with more than $100. Definitely helped, paying for my hotel, in essence. The long and short of it, though, is I still have some of the stands left, if anybody is interested in them. I have Balrog 1, the Insectoid Monsters, the Meduasa and the Beholder. Price remains $10. Let me know if you are interested and we can work out how to get it to you if you life outside of town. Scroll down below for pictures of them. Note, I took out the rear views because it was taking so long to download the site -- those are big pics I'm hotlinking from Photobucket!
Well, if I wondered before how much school would curtail my painting, I know now! Fall 2009 should end up being my busiest semester during my work towards my teaching license. I had two field experiences, which are three week long student teaching stints, while I was taking two courses at Ashland. Add in the usual other stuff -- like work, The Herald and trying not to let my house fall into ruin -- and I barely touched a paintbrush for two months.
Hopefully, that is ended -- at least until my student teaching begins in late January or early February. I have just finished the first batch of another commission, this one as 15mm Thracian DBA army for Greg Crane. The figures are from a boxed army set from Xyston Miniatures. I think these are the first Xyston I have painted. Shields are all separate and need to be glued on, as well as fists that need drilled out for the spears or javelins of half of the infantry. No lead spears are included either, so I will have to use brass wire.
Otherwise, they seem pretty well cast and fairly easy to paint -- for Thracians! For those who may not know, Thracians are an Ancient people who lived north of Greece and were known for their colorfully designed cloaks, among other things. So this should turn out to be a nice looking army when it is done. Pictures of the first batch are included with this update. Lots of different poses! Interestingly, only four of the 12 figures in this batch are actually wearing cloaks...which is fine with me!
My loyal customer, Jeff Chattin, bought a 15mm Dwarf army from me awhile back. He decided that he wanted some Beasties to go along with the army, and asked what I could paint up. I dug through my unpainted bins and came up with enough wolves for two stands of Beasts, and also found these prepainted "dire badgers" from a collectible, clicky game of some sort. I based two of these up as a Behemoth, as they are very large. This completes a fairly large order I've put together for Jeff, which includes a catapult for his dwarves, as well as a Feudal English DBA army and camp.
I really like how these wolves came out -- the coloring seems very natural. Instead of using photos from Google Image searches, I used the wolves I'd painted for my own Wolfpack HOTT army as the models! First time I've done that!!!
A couple weeks ago, I decided to dig through my unpainted lead for Hordes of the Things and find some stands to paint up to sell at a flea market table. I figured I'd take them to Advance the Colors, Sept. 25-27, in Springfield. I dug out mostly monsters and such that could be fielded as Behemoths, Dragons Gods or whatever for 15mm HOTT. They turned out much nicer than I expected. As a matter of fact, I thought they looked so good that I decided to offer them up here on my website first. Any that don't sell I'll take and put on my flea market table. So, if you like any of the stands below, send me an email and make an offer. I'll give it a week or two, and then -- if the offered prices were high enough -- sell off these stands in advance.
They are all based on 40mm x 40mm stands for 15mm scale HOTT. Many of the figs are actually 25mm monsters or whatever, but hey, if they're going to be a Behemoth they HAVE to be big, eh? Like I said, send me an e-mail if you're interested at: mikedemana@earthlink.net
I'm pretty sure this model is from Steve Barber miniatures. I think the skin, which was based coated a Barn Red and dry brushed a lighter shade, turned out great. The wings are black with a red-brown dry brush, which brings out the texture well, which you can see on the rear view. The flaming sword turned out nice, too, I think. You could use this model as a Behemoth, Dragon, God -- you name it. I was half tempted to NOT sell it, and use it to replace my own Balrog, which was painted many years ago and doesn't look as nice!
This version of a Balrog is more monster and less "Demon" like. I base coated him black, then dry brushed his scales Copper Metallic. It turned out very nice, I think. The underbelly scales and his claws and such were done in scarlet, which gives a nice "demon of the fiery depths" look. Like the other Balrog, this could easily be used as a Behemoth, Dragon or a God by a number of armies.
This one is definitely a Steve Barber model, and although it is very simple, I think it is my favorite of the batch. The smoke issuing from the copper lamp is done very well. It has clean muscle lines, and simply looks like a genie or air elemental should. I think the sky blue eyes help with the whole creature of the air effect. You could use this model for a number of things: Magician, Behemoth, God -- whatever. A perfect fantasy element to add to a historical Arab army!
This figure rivals the Genie as my favorite. I love the color scheme of Dun and Autumn Brown, with gold claws and scales. His dry-brushed wings are a nice, gauzy looking dun and white, and the yellow jacket coloring on his lower abdomen turned out nice, too. I have him segmented looking insect eyes, too. All in all, I could not be happier with how this figure turned out. You could easily use him as a Dragon, Behemoth or God in HOTT.
Remember the medusa from Clash of the Titans? I think this miniature was modeled after it. The huge, snakelike body, hag-like face, and bow remind me of it. Makes me want to go out and rent that movie to watch it, again! (If only they hadn't put the mechanical owl in as an R2D2 copy...). Anyway, I really like the two color effect I did on the snake body. I base coated it black, then dry brushed the red and yellow shades to give it that patterned look. The detail on the fig made it easier than otherwise. My buddy Jason said he might be interested in this figure, so if you want it, you'll have to outbid him! The Gorgon could easily be used with any historical Greeks to turn them into a HOTT army, of course. You could use it as a Behemoth or even a Magician -- reckoning the "turn to stone" effect being either its bespelling or its archery.
Yes, I really did paint red vessels in the big eye to give it a bloodshot appearance! I like the purple and lavender dry brush effect on the body -- if that is what you call it. The individual eye stalks are very well moulded and painted up great. This would make a great Magician stand, I think, for a HOTT army. Of course, it could also be used as a Behemoth or even a God, if you like.
When I first saw this figure, I thought Dwarven God. For 15mm scale, its heroic 25mm size works perfect. The detail on the armor is incredible, with most of the individual rivets reproduced. Of course, that meant I had to paint them gold so they stand out even more on the steel armor. I also used copper metallic here and there for a bright effect. Lots of times, Dwarven HOTT armies are lines of boring infantry. This stand will jazz up your army, as a God or even a Hero, and give you a different troop type to help the tactical mix!
This is the fifth batch of 15mm Pirates that I've done for Zeke as a commission. There are a number of interesting leader type figures in this batch. Front and center is a Long John Silver type -- complete with parrot on his shoulder! Next to him is a female pirate. The English Civil War looking dandy in green jacket turned out great, as well. These were a bit smaller than some of the figures in other batches, and the sculpting was somewhat squat in a few cases. All in all, though, they turne dout nicely, I think.
Next up for Zeke is the final batch of 15mm Pirates -- the artillery crew. After that, the next commission in line is Greg Crane's 15mm Thracian army. Not sure if I'll get it done in time to get to him at ATC at the end of September, but we'll see!
I have figured out how to hotlink on this site, and with my web page creation program! What does that mean? It means I host the photos on another website, and code Lead Legionaries to pull up the photo as if it is hosted on my own. The long and short of that means MORE photos, and BIGGER photos! I went back and resized and uploaded the Faun Army pictures, below, so you can see what I mean. I probably won't go back and do older ones, though. The new updates, though, will have the images hosted on photobucket and hotlinked here. Let me know if you have any problems viewing the site, but I tested it, and it seems to work fine.
Sorry to take so long to unveil these guys, but I wanted to do all the flocking on them at the same time. That step was completed yesterday, pictures taken this morning, so here they are! I am extremely happy with how this army turned out. The stunning detail on the Splintered Light Miniatures makes painting them a snap.
For the full details and the rest of the pictures of these guys, click here to visit the Gallery page I've constructed for them.
The nine Iron Wind Metals animals I was doing for the Faun army are also completed. The bobcats, in particular, turned out fantastic. I highly recommend anyone planning on painting animals to do some Google Image searches beforehand, download some photos, and refer to them frequently while painting. The right markings make the animals look so much more realistic.
In addition, I put Liquitex on the bases of the entire army, this evening. Which means that I am only a couple days away from the taking photos stage. I am really looking forward to seeing this army fully flocked and ready to take the field! I promise I'll take photos of the whole kit and kaboodle. Now, what to do for a stronghold...
The third (and final) batch of Splintered Light Miniatures fauns are done. Although I have them all based up, I have not flocked any of this army, yet. I still have one final batch to do for the army -- 9 Iron Wind Metals 25mm animals (3 Stags, 2 Bears, 2 Foxes, 2 Bobcats). One of the stags will go on the Hero's base to remind folks that it counts as a mounted figure. The others will go four to a base as stands of Beasts.
The 12 spear-armed Fauns came out great. I still can't get over the detail in the faces and musculature. It makes painting them really easy. The most difficult part are the shields. I decided to do a different leaf pattern for each. I think it would have been easier without the large, central boss in the middle of each of the ciruclar shields. In essence, the boss gives me a smaller pallette area to paint the design I choose for each. Still, with a little creativity, most of the shield patterns have turned out pretty sharp.
Sorry to be a tease and talk about this army with no pictures! I promise it will be soon. I am on break between semesters for a couple weeks, so should have time to get the Beasts finished (as well as Zeke's two final batches of Pirates) completed in this time...
This has been an interesting army to paint. There is quite a variety of figure poses, and what appears to be at least four different manufacturers. So, it keeps the painting interesting. This batch is definitely cruder when it comes to the sculpting than some of the previous ones. Still, I like it how it looks en masse -- and individually with the officer type in the red jacket! These paint up fairly quickly, and as a commission project, I should be done with it fairly soon. I have one more batch of Blades to do, then some artillery crewmen, and then I'm done with my portion of Zeke's HOTT army. He also has a couple 1/1200 scale ships he's including as airboats or aerial heroes, I believe.
Next up is the final batch of Fawns for the Old Forest army. The 12 spearmen are sitting on my desk with the flesh undercoat on them completed. The sculpting is so good on these Splintered Light beauties that I dry brush the flesh in two colors to bring out the detail -- particularly in the face and abdominal muscles. After I finish these guys, I have to do some Iron Wind Metals animals that I'm using as Beasts. Then it is base and flock everything, take some pics, post it here, and voila!
So, it was back to work on Zeke's 15mm HOTT Pirate army. His bag of "Blades" had 28 figures in it, so I divided it into three lots by figure type. I completed one batch of nine in a quick two day time frame. I have pictures of them, above. I remember to do my culturally diverse group (to use the language of my teaching classes) this time. I think my favorite of the lot is the blond guy in the front right corner with the boarding pike -- he just LOOKS like a Pirate.
I began the second batch of Blades (which would be the fourth of Pirates, ya see...) the day I finished these. When they're all done, I'm going to have to sit down with Zeke and have him point out which manufacturer each belongs to. The sculpting in this batch is nowhere near as good as the last, but we'll see what we can make up for it with paint! I'll post pics when I have them ready (which should be on Sunday or Monday).
The most important news of all, though, is that I've been cleared by the Physical Medicine specialist to go back to work starting Sunday. This is a big relief to me, though I have enjoyed the time to make progress on these commissions. I'd rather have my regular paycheck coming in, though, than the money I'm charging for these. My friends are paying me well and fairly, but it doesn't equal what I earn in my "day job"...!
After the grueling marathon of doing the big camps, below, I decided to "reward" myself by slipping in a batch of Splintered Light Fauns. I took 8 of the dozen figures in the command pack (4 poses -- two leaders with sword, a shaman, 3 standard bearers and 2 pan pipes players). The shaman and a piper will be a Magician stand, a leader and a standard bearer -- maybe with a Stag "mount" -- will be a Hero stand, and the rest will be mixed in on the bases of the warbands or slingers. The sword armed guy is fairly basic, as far as the line goes (which is of excellent quality). The others are stunning figures -- particulary the shaman and standard bearers.
I was happy with the effort I did on these. I contined the pattern of leaves on the shields (no pun intended), getting a bit more tricky on a couple. More of them turned out really nice than on the slinger batch -- which was about 50/50 that were cool or just "okay." This army should actually go fairly quickly. I'm just going to paint up the Fauns, for now, and leave the Satyrs for a later army. It will be 4 bases of warband, 4 of shooters, 4 of beasts, 2 of Lurkers, 1 Magician, 1 Hero, and 1 God that I have from before -- a 25mm Pan figure playing the pipes. Obviously, that is more than 24 army points, heck, it's more than the 36 we use for HOTT Wax! That is why I felt I would hold back the Satyrs for another day.
The Beasts I'll do last. I plan on simply mixing up various Iron Wind Metals animals that I bought at Cold Wars -- bears, foxes, pumas, etc., onto the bases. Since I have two of these stands I did previously, years ago, I need to paint only two more. I'll probably do those last, and work on the spear pack for warbands next.
Before that, though, I'm going to mix in a batch of Zeke's commissioned 15mm Pirates. They are primed up and sitting on my desk right now...
So, here they are, the source of my frustration over the past week! Seriously, I'm jazzed at how all three of these commissioned camps turned out.
I used more of the Hirst Art blocks that I used to build my own 25mm scale Pictish broch for this project. The second story window/door gap is a defensive design. The drawings I've seen of these usually have ladders depicted, but I thought a wooden plank would make it easier for them to get livestock up it. Otherwise, they'd have to manhandle them vertically up (which was my initial thoughts on what to do with this, but I decided to go with the plank as it seemed a logical contrivance). The ground slope is using "blue board" insulation styrofoam, while the wooden floors and the plank are bass wood. The figures are from such a wide mix of ranges that I'm not sure I could NAME all of them. The wolfhound is a Splintered Light Miniatures one, though, and probably pretty close to the right proportion to the human figures. Those were BIG dogs!
The circular Rus fortification was built using a base of blueboard, once again, and carving away a slope with an X-acto knife. I used mini-dowels available at craft stores for the palisade, and it was much easier poking them down into two layers of the blueboard than individually glueing each one into place. It also allowed me to do a better job on the rounded curve of the walls. I simply cut a circular slot in the blueboard with an X-acto knife and pressed the mini-dowels into the slit.
The inside of the walls was done next, and basically consisted of cutting curved balsa wood inner planks for the bottom and top fighting platforms. I pressed more sized mini-dowels into the balsa wood as posts to support the upper level platforms. I used the "corrugated" style bass wood made to represent roofs for both the main gate door and to line the entrance way. A couple of clylindrical beads formed the cup to hold the banner poles, which are simply more mini-dowels.
I made the banners removable, so if John wanted to convert this from a Rus to another kingdom, he could. The garrison is also removable. They are based on 1/2" square metal bases. I placed five tiny, rare earth magnets on the fighting platform so that anything magnetic or metal could be plopped onto the platforms and serve as the crew. The banners themselves are ones I found online for the early Russian kingdom of Novgorod, and are simply downloaded, photoshopped and printed out on label paper using my COLOR laser printer.
The Viking camp is meant to represent the raiders displaying their booty to their jarl, as he stands over them on a slight bluff or hilltop. The banner is once again a mini-dowel and a photoshop image I downloaded and printed. The jarl is an Essex Viking. The raider is actually Splintered Light Miniatures' Fafhrd from their personality pack, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (Fritz Leiber fantasy heroes). The slaves, I think, are from Museum miniatures.
I added a bit of "blue tack" hair to Fafhrd's hand so it looked like he was yanking up on the woman's hair to display her to his lord. I know. Don't ask me where I get these ideas! Sometimes, like this one, they just come from looking at the figures and imagining a "scene" between them...then trying to depict it. I think it gives this camp that added boost of atmosphere.
Okay, so I said in the update below that the Field of Glory camps for John Loy were elaborate. Did I mention they were a pain the you know what? I apparently went way overboard on my ideas, and these took a lot more time to finish up than I thought. Stuff like attaching a wire "rope" around a sheep being pulled up a plank into the broch by a Pict on the second level turned out to be much more complex than I envisioned. Yikes! Hope John appreciates these...!
I just finished putting the first layer of "Turf" flocking on the Pictish Broch camp, the Russ hilltop palisade camp and Wayne Hawn's Viking camp. All that is left is the grass layer, then the final glue and water seal coat. They all do look fantastic, but they shot the hours-to-dollars ratio to Hell! Well, maybe the look of them will generate more business. I can certainly use it! I found out yesterday that any OJI payment doesn't come from work, but from the Bureau of Worker's Compensation. And the rep that I talked to there yesteday about my back made it CLEAR to me we are talking at least a month or more before I see any money heading my way from them. I'm not saying this to guilt trip anyone into sending business my way, or anything. More to let folks know if I seem "possessed by the painting demon," they will know why.
I do have an appointment with the Physical Medicine specialist (Come on, his really can't be Doctor Blood, can it...?!) for next Friday. Hopefully, he'll me to go back to work and these fincancial doldrums will be over. In the meantime, though, I'm painting, I'm going to class three days a week, and I'm dieting to make up for lack of excercise while injured. Every morning I wake up and don't go to work, it seems so weird. This is, by far, the longest time I've been off work in ages...
I'm sitll off work with my herniated disc. So, feeling guilty, I've been working on commissions right and left. I did sneak in a batch of 12 Splintered Light Miniatures Faun slingers. They turned out great. Since the idea for the HOTT army is the "Army of the Olde Forest," I decided to go with leaf patterns for the shields. They turned out okay, some better than others. I'll post some pics when I get around to flocking them.
In the meantime, I've begun another batch of camps. Two of these are for John Loy, for Field of Glory base camps. These are about three times the SIZE of what I normally do for DBA camps, 120mmx80mm. Following John's motto of "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing," both of them are big projects. The Pictish one shows a slice of a broch, reacting to the approach of an enemy force. People and livestock are scurrying in, while a trumpeter blows the alarm, and a stalwart warrior and his dog await the approach of the enemy. The other one is a palisaded fort for his medieval Russ. It has a rounded exterior, sunken gate, fighting platforms, ladder -- you it. And as an added touch, I'm setting it up so he can use it for other armies relatively easily. The two banners will be removable and the men along the fighting platforms will be on washers with tiny magnets embedded in the platforms. The only question on these FOG base camps is...how much will I charge him? Hmm....
The third camp is a Viking one for Wayne Hawn. It features a hill bluff with a Viking lord standing beneath his banner. Beneath him, one of his warriors presents the booty from their raid -- a couple slaves, livestock and some portable wealth. I'm going to do up a cool Viking banner in photoshop like I did for my 25mm Viking Dark Age project, too. Should look nice when it's all done and flocked and such.
So, with being off of work because of my back, but having no pain while sitting, I've been blazing through the figures over the last couple of days. I primed up a batch of Zeke's 15mm Pirates for his HOTT army. They paint up real quickly, and I actually got two batches of 12 done over a 2-3 day period. Here are the first pics of them -- sorry about the blindingly white cardboard I glued them to for storage/transport...!
I think these are Peter Pig figures because they are kind of small with moderate detail. I'll have to ask Zeke to be sure. Some of the figs looked like they were plucked from other ranges -- see if you can spot the Jacobite highlander...! The first batch I did, I wasn't thinking as much and did them all as caucasian types. With the second batch, I did a couple as black and a couple as dark-skinned Hispanic/Middle Eastern/whatever. I like this look better as it represents a proplerly, scurvy, multi-racial crew...!
Anyway, I've also finally decided what to do when I begin a batch of my own stuff. I pulled out the Splintered Light Miniatures Fauns that I bought at Cold Wars, and counted things up. Without even using the Satyrs, I have enough for the "Old Forest" 24 AP HOTT army I was planning on doing with them. There'd be some batches of Iron Wind Metals forest animals mixed in as Beasts, too. So, I primed up the package of Faun slingers and am about 1/4 of the way through them. The detail is simply amazing on them, with incredible articulation of their muscles and facial features.
Bad news. So, I won't be returning to work real soon, though I was heartened to read on the internet that only about 10% of people with herniated discs required surgery. I was hoping it was just a muscle pinching a nerve that needed realigned or whatever. No such luck. If there is a bright side, it doesn't cause me pain when I'm laying or sitting down. So, if I can't earn money at work, at least I can get some commissioned stuff done!
Speaking of which, this final batch had two standard bearers, a leader figure, and Radagast the Brown. I'm pretty happy with how they came out looking -- especially Radagast and the leader. For the banners, I did a bit of online research into Numenorean banners. There is no Tolkien consensus, various color schemes are mentioned. I decided to go with the black and silver theme, as it is repeated a number of times in his works. For one, I did a crown surrounded by seven starts. The other, I used a bear emblem, as this Ranger splinter kingdom apparently has intermixed with the Beornings in Tim's world, and the bear would be a sacred image.
The bears themselves turned out well, too. They are big, honking figures, but were very easy to paint. Tim had primed them black beforehand, and it was simple to do several different dry and wet brushes of shades of brown, a few details like claws and the mouth, and they were done! I set the whole army out and looked at it on my desk in the spare bedroom and they *do* look cool. Tim's color schemes always look good en masse. I can't wait to see the army (and try out his rules) when he gets them based up!
So, what's next? Well, I'm plowing ahead on commissions, which means Zeke's Pirate army for Hordes of the Things is finally up. I cleaned and primed two batches, today. I'll start on them either tonight or tomorrow. Next up when it comes to camps will be John Loy's Pictish and Rus Field of Glory base camps (think triple-sized DBA camps). I've also received a commission to do a Viking one from Wayne Hawn, so that'll probably be done simultaneously with John's. And for myself...? I still don't know what I'm going to start when I mix in some of my own figs. Still thinking HOTT, still pondering the Splintered Light Satyrs and Fauns, or their Squirrels I picked up at Origins, or Orcs. Decisions, decisions!
Tim had given me six metal Lord of the Rings ranger figures and wanted them done up as an elite unit. I decided to do them in uniform colors -- rather than individual, like the others. These guys also have chainmail underneath their tunic and cloak, so will definitely stand out more on the tabletop. There is a noticeable difference painting metal figures, compared to plastic. Unfortunately, they still have those stupid "slotta" bases! My friend Zeke says there is a level of Hell reserved for the inventor of those things. Although that might be overstating how I feel about them a bit, I truly do hate those things. I have to find a way to glue them down on a larger piece of cardstock or something. It is just too much of a pain in the butt to hold onto them by these cheap plastic bases.
So, what's up next? Well, I haven't decided if I'm going to forge on ahead and finish Tim's project with the 7 figures that are left, or whether I'll substitute in a batch of my own stuff. If there is one thing that I'm inspired to paint right now it is 15mm Fantasy. However, I'm not sure if I want to wade right in on my "Old Forest" army, with its Splintered Light Satyrs and Fauns. At Origins, I bought a bunch of Splintered Light's squirrel warriors. So, maybe I'll sneak them to the front of the line. I recently cataloged my unpainted figures -- writing down everything I have on a steno pad. Strangely, of all the things I looked through, I feel inpsired to paint my 15mm Orcs. I already have a painted Orc army, though (using 15mm Ral Partha), so it's not like I need to paint them. Who knows...?
Other than the final black wash, I am finished with the second batch of Tim's Lord of the Rings rangers. I should have pictures of them posted up here within a couple days. This completes the "rank and file" portion of this army. Next up is a batch of 6 elite (metal miniatures, as opposed to plastic!) rangers and 2 standard bearers. After that, the final batch will be the General of the force, along with a wizard, Radagast the Brown, and three war bears. In between those batches, I will likely work on more commissioned camps and strongholds.
In the next camp batch will be John Adkins' High Elf HOTT stronghold. Also, I plan on doing John Loy's two Field of Glory Ancients baggage areas. These are substantially larger than a DBA camp (two to three times bigger), so I warned John that the price will likely be a bit more than the normal $40 I'm charging for camps or strongholds. One will be for his Pictish army, and another for his Russ. While I was out running today, I came up with ideas for each, which I will probably bounce off John in the next day or so -- once I figure out if they are practical! I tend to go a bit crazy, sometimes, and always have to lay out the materials that will be necessary beforehand, to make sure I'm not locking myself into building the Great Wall of China or anything!
I continue to crank out the commissioned Strongholds and DBA camps. I just finished a batch of five on Sunday. Here are some pics and a brief explanation of each.
This is probably my favorite of the batch. It was commissioned by John Adkins for his daughter's Redwall HOTT army. I had never read the Redwall novels, but doing some wikipedia research showed it is basically a medieval world populated by anthropoid animals -- humanoid mice, squirrels, badgers, etc. The Redwall in title is an Abbey, which John pointed out has reddish stones, hence the name. So, I decided to do a section of curving tower/curtain wall using more of the Hirst Arts blocks that I had leftover from the Pictish broch project. First, I cut out a rectangle of blueboard and reinforced its bottom with styrene. I epoxied the sections of wall directly to the blueboard, then carved the blueboard out to follow the line of the wall. That way, the styrene is the ground level, and there is a curving section of earth supporting the wall. One the inside portion, I drove three thick craft sticks into the blueboard as wooden support pillars. I epoxied a halfmoon shaped sheet of styrene to the top of the pillars, then laid out a row of mini dowels on top of the styrene to cover it up and make it look like a wooden platform. I left a cutout for the ladder, which I had leftover from a bag of odds and ends. The flagpole is driven into the blueboard as well, and then supported again at the platform level. The flag I made in photoshop using Redwall images I found online. The two defenders are from Splintered Light Miniatures excellent line. I absolutely love how the squirrel swordsman painted up, and have included a close up of him in all his tartan glory. I think the reddish color of the rocks came out well, too. I base coated them black, then "wet brushed" (heavy drybrush, essentially) a barn red, terra cotta and finally a light khaki over it. Altogether, I think it is a sharp looking stronghold, and I hope John and his daughter are pleased with it.
Another commission for John Adkins is this Early Imperial Roman fortification section. I have to confess that I used a commercially bought ditch and rampart for this. I did add in the wooden platform that the figures are standing on. These are two Corvus Belli figures from my yet-to-be-painted Early Imperial Roman army. The officer, who is inspecting the watch, is particularly nice, I think. The hooded cloak for the legionary guard is particularly appropriate for sentry duty, I felt. He has set his shield down against the wall, while patrolling, which the officer looks like he is purposely ignoring. This is a simple, yet effective looking camp. I thought about putting "lillies" or stakes in the ditch in front of the turf wall, but since this is meant to be a marching camp -- not a semi-permanent one -- I thought that wouldn't be accurate.
Camps for nomadic armies seem to be popular commissions, as I did one in the previous batch, as well. This one is for Dan Joyce's Kushan army. The core of it is a two wheeled wagon being drawn by a pair of horses. A nomad is on foot in front of the wagon, leading his horse. The horse is giving him a bit of trouble, though, having spotted some tasty looking fodder, and is tugging away. Several sheep follow the rough track alongside the wagon, marching along docilely like...well, sheep! I used a tan colored earth to represent the less than fertile regions of the Kushans, with patches of scrub brush and rocks predominating. I gave the nomad on foot some brighter, patterned clothes to go along with what I'd found out while researching the Kushans. Overall, I think the camp gives a good feeling for movement and bustle in a nomadic army's march.
Loyal customer Jeff Chattin wanted two "generic" DBA camps like he'd seen John Lawitzke make. John runs most of the DBA events in the Michigan area, and always hauls around lots of loaner armies and camps. He sent a photo of his camps, and Jeff picked out the two he liked. The one below has a vaguely medieval tent, but could honestly be for just about any era. Two ditch diggers (camp latrines? Fortification lines?) are pausing in their work to talk to one of the camp followers of the female persuasion. The one leaning on his pick axe looks particularly interested in what she has....to say, that is! I used a foamcore atop styrene base so that I could dig out the ditch the two were supposed to be working upon. The tent is a resin one from George Nafziger. I had to do a figure conversion on the guy with the pick axe. He actually carries nothing in his hands, but it was a simply matter to slip the pickaxe under his hands and build the ground level up to it so that it stayed in place.
The final camp is another one that Jeff wanted "copied" from John Lawizke. John's had two tents behind the row of stakes, but I thought I would change it up by substituting a campfire with tree trunk rings around it for one of the tents. I added a blanket inside the tent, too. I made this one step more generic by using a strip of magnetic material for the base between the tent and campfire. So, any steel or magnetically based 40mmx20mm stand can be placed on top and it will stick relatively well.
Next up is another batch of 25mm plastic rangers for Tim's Lord of the
Rings project. I've got them primed on my desktop, but am not sure if I'll
get the first colors on them tonight or not. These paint up fairly fast,
though. So, I fully expect to be buzzing along on them shortly...