Happy Halloween

Well Halloween is here. Another example of American cultural imperialism. I blame E.T. The Extraterrestrials. Still I suppose it made D+D seem almost normal. 

Grumpy old man moment over.

We went on a Halloween night out a few days ago and enjoyed a really fun haunted hayride. Whilst we were out we saw a really scary spirit which you can see here almost hidden behind a zombie. Don't look into her eyes. If you've seen "The Ring" you know what's coming.

The Big 30,000

I think I must have got to 30,000 in the early hours of the morning. There must be someone other than my dad ready my blog. For those of you that do read thanks very much. If anyone fancies putting me on their blog list or +1 I would greatly appreciate it. Yes I am a blog tart but at least I don't have 2500 friends on Facebook. Think of it as an almost birthday present.

Thanks.

Fred

What's On The Workbench

 This is one of those posts where I don't have too much to say today. I've done my Zomtober bit for the day but still feel the urge. Work has not progressed much but I feel the urge to blog about something. The work bench is looking very distressed at the moment. On the plus side I can actually see some green so I have some surface to play with. It's probably time that I had a bit of a tidy up or maybe just add some more shelves so I have less to complain about.

Zomtober Part 3 - Return Of The Son Of Zomtober

  I thought I'd go back to showing some different types of zombies for this weeks Zomtober offering. The non traditional ones rather than something a bit more mainstream. I'm not sure that nice Mr Romero would approve but I have tried to keep to his early style of low budget effects.  I tried taking pictures in a few differently lit areas because I really wasn't happy with the way the pictures were turning out. So I had rather a lot which is always a bad thing because you have to sort through them.
  These are a fair bit shorter than the average 28mm figure and obviously a lot greyer. They have the classic Grey alien vibe. Just back light them and they would be perfect for the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (if it featured zombies).

  I've also chosen to put a few more pictures in than normal. I normally hate this because then you have to get the images to balance or it looks like a five year old have been let loose with scissors and glue. I'm not sure I have achieved something that is much better but I am not complaining.

  When I was running my For All Mankind RPG campaign a little while back I wanted some Grey aliens. I went looking for some and found what I was looking for at Tengu models. I got some of their normal zombies a few years ago and liked the level of detail. I painted most of them but only up to a point. I published one of them as last weeks Zomtober offerings  and seeing these zombie Greys gave me a few ideas.
  These were not very difficult figures to paint but I was worried that it was going to look like it had been stained with nicotine surrounded by glowing mold. I don't think I got that in the end. They do look quite rancid in places. I love the way their faces have come out. Most look quite menacing. The kind of thing you wouldn't want to meat on a dark planet or at the end of the bed.

  I do think zombie Grey aliens would make a great sci-fi channel movie. Given a sufficiently low budget (something that even Troma would complain about) I think it could be a modern classic.

More Malifaux

This is the rest of the Rasputina Malifaux band including the eponymous hero herself. I think it's the hero figure that I like the least. You have to wonder waht they were thinking of when they had the design meeting (which must happen a lot in design meetings). There are a lot of little Ice Gamin (which is apparently not a type of sat nav but a small ice spirit). The Gamin should fit nicely with the winter theme of the Skyrim game. They all come of those round lipped bases which I hate. These are much bigger than the usual 25mm/1" which makes them fun on gridded tabletops. Without them they don't work for Malifaux. Aside from the boss I have ideas for all the others. I suspect the boss is going to end as a workbench warmer. Mind you I have enough of them already I should be able to grow tomatoes in the work room.

Malifaux - Ice Golem

There have been a number of games that I have been talked into trying by friends with very little actually happen after the initial purchase. This is another of those purchases, at least at the moment. My old guard chique took a momentary knock when I talked to staff in the shop but I got over it. It wasn't as bad as they day I went into workshop to buy some paint to find that I owned acrylic paint that was older than all of the staff.  Even though the game looked a little bit poop I embraced it. I was almost giddy. This time though I thought I'd be clever and I'll buy some figures that I can use for something else even if they did look a little bit anime.

I really think this figure is fantastic. I have a thing for winter role playing so the icy themed Rasputina  Malifaux mixed set seemed like a good idea. I got some other stuff  for this force and other packs too (one that is still in the same spot it landed four months ago unopened but it was very cheap on eBay) but that hasn't been started let alone finished yet. I liked the Ice Golem so I thought I's put this up first not really Malifaux offering.

He is now officially a fantasy monster. I see a use for him in Skyrim and have a idea for a combat involving him and his buddies. Giant frost atonarch? 

Another Evil Mage

Must be the bad guy

He's dressed in purple and he has skulls on a stick. He must be evil. And he looks like an old guy.They are always sinister, I've seen Family Guy. He just needs a Zimmer frame and an old dog and he'd look truly scary.

This figure is one I got from eBay. Again I am not sure where he came from originally but it struck me as a nice for for the game. I think he strikes me as a necromancer so now I need some muscle. I think I want skeletons, lots of skeletons.

Zomtober Part 2 - A Week Later And A Penny Short

Bloater

Busy, busy busy. Two posts today. I was hoping to get some time off over last weekend but that was not to be and work has kind of taken over until now. I've decided that I need a break and that I should do something new. This is the first time I've picked up a brush since last Wednesday. It was something I had previously started so was probably a bit of a cheat.


It's a little shiny. The ink is still literally yet and the figure could probably use some anti-shine varnish before it hits the table.

For those of you that are intersted it's from Tengu Models. A fairly small scale manufacturer but one that does some very nice products. I have some of their Grey aliens and this one of their zombie Greys is going to be my next project.

Meddling Monks

This is just a quick one. These are some armed monks. Trust me the one on the right is armed and he's got a sword belt. These are from Griping Beast. I wanted some monks because Vikings seem to like killing monks. Christians seem to be a good target.

The one on the right has the look of Ian Paisley or possibly any modern cleric who likes the sound of his own voice.

Bards - Hurrumpf

Whenever I think of Bards in RPG games I am drawn to a mental image of a design meeting in TSR. I see in my mind that there was an argument about new character classes and that for some reason they wanted a set number and were struggling for a final class. The argument about including monks had gone on for hours. I mean it's a largely western setting why not have the odd shaolin style monk drop in, I mean look how popular the TV series Kung Fu is.

Why harps?

After this vicious debate people had lost the will to fight so the bard character class got in. I suspect there was a similar meeting about character races where the team got bored and decided that they would let gnomes in. Something along the lines of Tunnels and Troll has faeries and leprechauns so why not. I see and "oh well what the hell, it's time for my coffee break" moment happening for both.  The next thing I think about bards is that scene from "The gamers: Dorkness Rising" where there is a huge pile of dead bards. The pile is created from weak, stupid bards. The scene makes me feel kind of warm inside. Suffering bards are cool.

Bard with attitude

You may have got the idea by now that I don't like the character class. Sadly I am running a Viking themed game so bards really are part of the background so I kind of feel a duty to use them. So I got some from Gripping Beast. I am now ever less impressed as the one with the blue tabard looks like one of my PE teachers. They all seem to have a larp feel to them.

Not a PE teacher

Evil Magic User

A really quick post today as I have a lot to do, not least of which is my Zomtober offering. It's an evil magic user. As I got him on eBay I am not sure who made him originally although if anyone knows it would be great to find out. I don't like the snake at all, it turned out much less vibrant that I was expecting. . It's okay but not my best work. I haven't figured out a role for him in the game yet but I am sure that will come but I sense something to do with zombies. Looking at it again I think he needs darker eyebrows. Believe it or not they are there but the same colour as his hair. They are noticeable by their absence.

Magic Users - Dark Age Style

This post makes me look busier than I have been. I did these the other month. Pretty sure that this is a Gripping Beast miniatures. I really like this figure. It kind of captures Saruman from Lord of the Rings and a friend of mine. In my game world mages belong to different schools which are each associated with a particular colour. It gives me a chance to play around with a colour pallet and bring something deeper out.

The second figure I got of eBay recently and I think is an old Grenadier miniature. It struck me as a more earthy figure so green seems to be the way to go. I really liked the way the belt turned out. Nice as the pose is, the figure seems to have a little too much animation but the look does dovetail with my Skyrimesque ideas. Well maybe not the pointy hat which looks a little too Harry Potter.

Life is still a bit too entertaining to pick up a paint brush but hopefully I will manage  something for Zomtobter. I am really trying to get back into the swing of blogging and I hope you like it.

Busy Morning

I have spent a hour or so this morning painting. I might have had a bit more time if I hadn't been eaten alive by a puppy. I now have so many scratches on my hands that I a few more will make it difficult to type let alone paint. I look like I've been rolling around in bracken. I've just added a few touches to a figure that has been annoyingly incomplete (paint job wise at least). More Skyrim/Norse/Arthurian/Dark Age stuff. I think my faces are definitely getting better. I still need to develop a bit more shading. then of course there is my basing skills which need way more practice.

I'm never sure about posting products from a certain company Nottingham way. these two statues have been sat on my desk since July and I have just found them under a pile of other stuff. They kind of fit the Skyrim middle age apocalypse vibe. This was a very easy paint job. the stone grey is actually just primer and the green is some cheap emulsion paint. A little bit of ink wash and some highlighting and here we are. Not the best piece of craftsmanship I have ever done but quick and easy.

Finally, the biting, whining, widdling and pooping puppy. I want to see if the picture has the same effect as kittens do on my other half.

I am feeling a bit more back in the grove even though I don't seem to be doing too much. Hopefully my enthusiasm will continue.

Some Work In Progress

I have had a few hours to myself earlier this evening. This is after a few days of total hell. I know I have been posting but these posts have been stuff I mostly prepared over the weekend. Today was the first time I have picked a brush up since Sunday. Nothing finished just a few bits of work in progress. I am not sure there has been a great deal of progress but every little helps I guess.

The first picture is a few more of the "ice zombie" warriors like the one I worked on over the weekend. I wasn't struck on the chill look from the dry brushing so I might try something else.

I have about forty Kobolds to pain. I managed to get some painted a while back. these are the pre slotta ones from GW. I loved these guys when they came out. I had two from way back in the eighties and managed to get a job lot of them about five years ago. Kobolds are always good roleplaying monsters. They might not be very tough but they are tricky and of course I have forty of them.


Lastly a magic user. This is very early in the process and it doesn't look very good at the moment. I have a few finished magic users so maybe I should have put them up first.

The Druids Are Coming

During my exile from the internet in the last few months I was still doing some painting and other bits and pieces. I started off with some sci-fi stuff but moved on to something more Norse/Arthurian/Dark Age.This is just a few of the things that I have been doing. These are some druids for the Skyrimesque thing I have planned. I've had them for a while but I am pretty sure they are Westwind figures. They were purchased as figures for an RPG. I wanted something that could give a game a more uniform theme. I mean by that the figures were all in the same sort of style and there were enough figures for a force rather than making up a force from two or three different types of figures.

I know that true white is probably not that historical (I had a conversation with someone) but I wanted something that looked a bit more like contemporary Wicca druids than true ancient druids. Certainly not the D+D style of druid. Just get them based properly and they'll look great.

Freebies

Freebies are cool

Everybody loves freebies but these are a little special. My gaming life change a few years ago. It's a kind of out with the old and in with the new thing. I have been with the same gaming group for a long time and now I have a new, bigger and definitely better group. There have been a few sad moments but a few happy ones since. One of my new group gave me some figures for a Skyrimesque RPG game I am planning. Some dark elves and some Vikings. These are the Vikings. I'm not sure who made them but they fit in nicely with what I have. I quiet like them. They have been painted for a while  so I guess this is really a catch up post. I have a fair bit more to post. I haven't been busy over the last couple of months but I haven't been idle either.

Ice Warrior

No not the doctor who type. I am trying to keep the momentum going and this was another figure from Sunday as a test paint job. I'd almost finished but added a couple more touches. I mentioned the other day that I wanted something kind of undead for the upcoming Skyrimesque game I'm planning.

Ice Warrior

This pale blue warrior is set to be one of these. I am half tempted to may this the weekends offering for Zomtober. I might even get a few more. This is a cheap way of turning regular figures which I have a quite a few of into monsters. I have aquired a few too many guys blowing horns so I suspect there will be one of each in this group and my second offering on Sunday. thinking about it, I did some figures not unlike this recently for Malifaux (which never took off). I am planning to maybe turn some into something that look more like statues. I will have to find some more weapons so that I can make them look the part.

I have some Workshop Lord of the Rings figures to come. I have some dismounted Riders of Rohan which I have planned for Skyrimesque town guards and some of their ghostly warriors. I sense a few more test paints in the near future.

The Dark Ages Are Coming (One Big Pile Of Lead)

Now just taken off the workbench is the box of what I have ended up with for a Viking Fantasy game. I'll have a load of stuff I can borrow as well. It doesn't include all the boxes of building I now have but it does include some smaller elements of terrain

Gripping Beast have kind of sold me on their figures. I was thinking in terms of a Samurai or Viking game as a project. As much as I love the Samurai, the Viking have won out because there are lots of people that want to play the Viking game. Maybe that says something about the British mentality. There is a lot of Viking blood in us after all.

So where else have I got stuff from? eBay? If ever there was a way to separate a man from his money it's Ebay. Some of it is just too shiny not to buy and some if it reminds me of days long gone by. I went on something of a binge in the last month or so. I have twenty more stars on eBay than I used to have and I am still owed a fair bit of feedback.

I got the usual mixed bag of stuff. most of it has been for the Skyrim game that the new year will great. I have been promised that I can borrow some figures but those people are a bit light on types that don't just carry big swords and axes.

There are even a load of fantasy stuff. It being a Norse (well Norse lite) game, the figures need to have the right look. I found a moderately bag grenadier dwarves. I know these models are owned by Mirliton now but I wanted a variety and it's difficult to get what i wanted out the range without a lot of stuff I didn't want and getting a load of duplicates. Nordic elves are a little harder to come by but these will do the job. I didn't want anything that was too GW dark elf but something that could be painted to look evil.

I got a bag full of paitned terrain,

I got some Apaches and zombie cowboys. These will do for someone a mates game which come along at the end of the year.

All in all, one big pile of lead.

Just Made Myself A Liar

Something has got me going. Think it must be the Zomtober thing but it's probably just self imposed guilt from not posting enough lately. Not sure ice zombies count for Zomtober. I've mention the not really Viking not really Skyrim a few times. One of the things I need is monsters. Plagiarism (no really it's research) makes up a lot of what I do.

So... I wanted something that was vaguely undead, blue skinned (almost Norse I think) and like the things from North of the wall in Game of Thrones. This is the first test. The figure has red eyes but they really don't show up too well. It's my first try out with shield transfers and I am not all that impressed. Better than painting, I guess. I think the figure is Gripping Beast. there is no weapon as I am a little short on weapons and equipment at the moment,

What do people think?

I plan to try something that looks a little more ice like or just a series of shades of blue. Not quite ice golems not maybe not unlike them. I had them pegged as something not unlike the statues created by the White Queen in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but ice rather than stone.
Any suggestions?

Zomtober Part Deux

I had to resist the urge to subtitle this post "The son of Zomtober". No Cliches here. Honest. Definitely. This figure is something of a quickie paint job. It's the only figure I think I am going to get done this week because I am really short of time and sleep. The only reason I have had the chance is that me and the cat are hiding from the new puppy (and the smell of what are being called piddle and poop).

I've just watched a PBS UK programme about Custer which seemed almost appropriate. I have this mentally image of a Zombie Custer roaming North Dakota. Given that this figure was painted for Deadlands I'm not even sure that Custer would be dead in that alternative reality.

This for me is an old school zombie paint job. Most of the zombies I have painted over the years have been of the early Romero type (or very low budget makeup so lets just put green grease paint on the white guys and blue grease paint on the black guys). My painting techniques have progressed a bit since I last painted zombies so I think it's not too bad a show. Not sure I would win any prizes but I am quite happy.
 

Zomtober

Well I'm trying to add my name to Zomtober. I am a little worried that I might be taking on more than I can chew but I have a few good reasons for wanting to try. Firstl one of my mates is planning to run a Savage Worlds Deadlands game at some point in the near future and this might well be my character. I got some figures of eBay relatively cheap so I feel duty bound to paint the. The way my mind works is that it's just one figure. I have a load of dark age stuff to do which is kind of my current temporary obsession so doing something else is always good. I assume that as I am running a 15mm fallout game that I might get side tracked anyway.

So this is the figure of choice for the week. It has just been based and the glue is still wet. Let's see what happens.