Spirit Of The Forest and Jabberwock

I like painting figures. Not much of a surprise I guess judging by what else is on the blog. I don't much like painting anything much bigger than regular sized figures. I especially  hate painting horses. I have got better at horses over the years, more by looking at pictures than anything else. I rarely play about with anything bigger than a horse. Yet I find myself with a few bigger things on the go at the moment.

The biggest I have started so far and by far the most complicated is the Spirit of the Forest. This is a Reaper Bones mini. The figure wasn't too  bad but the legs were slightly curved inward making it a little entertaining to put it on the base. This wasn't a huge problem but it does seem to be a common theme the bones minis. I love metal minis and they definitely win on the quality front but the bones figures win on price every time. Some days you want fish and chips not a double starred Michelin Restaurant. There is still a long long way to go here.
 
I wasn't sure about posting the pictures because currently I think I am making a bit of a hash of it.  I am sure I will bring it around eventually. There is a huge amount of detail on this figure  so it may take a while to get it finished. Given what it is, I was hoping to go to town on it a bit. I was thinking that it would make a great monster for Shadowrun.

Even with the coin as ballast, the base is still a little misshapen.

I have got a few of the larger Reaper Bones monsters and some odds and sods. Most of them, especially the bigger ones seem a little warped. Just to show you what I mean this is the jabberwock. The base is bent and the figure itself has a bit of a list. Currently I am feeling a little Monty Python. A cross between Jabberwocky and the Ministry of Silly Walks.  I am currently debating what to do with it but I doubt it will end up as a mini but maybe some scenery instead?

There is also a dragon which looks pretty good even if it needed to be clamped to the base when it was glued down to get a flat surface. I'll post a picture of this on a another day.  All the smaller stuff turned out to be fine however.

Zombies, Well Draugr Really

Well, not done much today. Had other things to do today. I did some painting and sorted through some pictures. I have been working on these for a while. When I say working on, I mean they have been sat in a box for ages. I was after something that looked a little like the draugr from from Skyrim and evoked what I thought after walkers looked like, Anyway, so pretty pictures.

They are a little off being finished and there are some more to do yet, so expect to see a few more pictures of these minis yet.

I Can Feel A Binge Coming On

I just had a look at my plan for the year. It was a good plan. Still is a good plan. Or maybe I just want to spend some money. So I have been looking. I like the idea of doing some more dark age fantasy.

I want some skeletons. As I can't find what I want I guess that I will have to settle for some GW ones. I would prefer metal ones but the plastics will be easier to convert. I have a stack of weapons suitable for the task but need some more shields. A bit of green stuff should make passable rusty helmets. I have some part conversions but they are not really suitable for this..

Zombies are never far from my mind. I have lots and lots. Trouble is most are not suitable for a fantasy game. I have found a few but not enough to want to make a start. I also have some plastic celtic warband types. They won't do for traditional zombie types but should work fine for draugr or rager types.

I was thinking about human adversaries as well. They stuff I have will pass as a lot of nations but not Normans. I was also planning on getting some barbarians (in the Roman sense rather than the Conan one). One of the races in my game are the Franks which I picture as more the celtic type than the Carolingian type. It so happens that Crusader do some nice ones in both periods so this looks like a good place to start. There are a few other bits I can pick up here too. They are nice and cheap but you get two of each of four models per pack and I don't like to have too many duplicates.

I have some plastic Ents to do too. When I have finished the current  the current batch, this looks like what I will start next.

I found some  Black Tree ratmen I got from a shop in st helens about ten years ago. They got started but forgotten about. There are few of the set missing. There are some more that I want to buy and they don't really fit with in with what I am doing at the moment.


Triples is around the corner. So I might wait but I am starting to have my doubts. I'll look n the garage and see what I find.

Easter Monday

Family are round. I can't do much but I guess I can find the time to put a blog post together. Sadly, I have had to put all my toys away as the visitors might get bored, distracted, shocked or injured or any of the above or, more likely, none of the above at all.

So in the process of moving house, I have found some figures that have been hanging around for a while. I know some of them are still in production but most of these have been sat on my bench or someone else's lead pile for many years.

I think it's Alternative Armies

The first figure is a wizards assistant carrying all sorts of equipment. it is part of a wizard's traveling group which had a wizard, apprentice and mule. I am not sure what he is supposed to be, half ogre perhaps? I have always struggled with the idea of half ogres as I guess they are the equivalent  the off spring of a dachshund and a wolfhound. I am not sure about the genetics but the practicality of the matter would be difficult. Anyway. I started doing this figure maybe ten years ago and I think I have had it for twenty years now. So I guess it's about time I finished it and hopefully I will do it justice now. It is a really busy figure which I think is what put me off. I will finish off the blocking out and see what happens.

This figure is a bit of a mystery. It is very old. I have no idea who made it or even where I got it from although I assume it was eBay. I think it's a male figure but as it is a 25mm figure it is a bit small. One of the  problems I find with older figures is that there isn't a lot of detail to play about with. It makes my usual inking and highlighting a bit more of a challenge. I am sure "she" will make a nice evil mage.

This picture is a mixed bag of demi-humans. The one on the left is a halfman (halfling). It is an original grenadier mini that is currently being produced by Mirliton. He is a bit blue at the moment but I have barely touched these minis yet. I have a few of them I painted about ten years ago. I have some old GW hobbits which I am happy with and like, so I use these as gnomes. You just have to hide the feet. Decent gnome figures are hard to come by. Not that anyone ever uses gnomes.

The one in light blue is a bit of a mystery as is the one on the left. Judging by the age and size I thought chronicle or denizen but as far as I can make out this is wrong. If I was desperate I would give it a blast on the forums. The one on the right could pass as a monk, cleric or even wizard. I don't have a dwarven cleric or monk so I am just rounding out the collection. the other one could pass as pretty much any class, of you squint.  I was originally thinking of him as a dwarf but looking at the sizes I am not so sure. The last figure is another Grenadier (not Mirliton honest) dwarf that got missed off the last round of painting so I guess this really is a bag of stuff I am catching up on. I'd still like some suitable dwarven thieves and maybe even some female dwarves.

Paint Table Easter Sunday

I have been busy over the last few days. As is my want, I have been working on about thirty to forty figures. Naturally, I still haven't really managed to finish anything off but I have a lot of stuff that is part way through and some of it closer to being finished than usual. All of this stuff has been on the paint table for a while. For the most part they have been about for two years or just a bit less. A few have been sat in other people's paint queues for so long they have decided to get rid of them. Some of them are more "part way" than others. So just for the sake of me looking like I have been busy. I'll put them together in a few posts. Also I have a new phone with a better camera so hopefully the pictures should startlooking better again.

Monks, I hate these guys

These figures are a bit out of my usual range. They were a bit if an impulse purchase. I got them when I got some super hero figures and henchmen figures last year from Black Hat miniatures. I only really wanted the one on the right and there were two more in the back that I guess will never get used. The one on the right is really for a female PC in a modern rpg I kind of have it in mind to run again. No one ever has actual monks for fantasy games and I personally hate monks as characters. Still they were there so I guess I had to have them.

The one on the left is proving to be really hard work

Whilst I am on the subject of monks, I got some more clerics almost done. These are from Mirliton. Nice figures still, but a few bits need finishing off and a fair bit of highlighting to do. There is a lot of detail on the Bishop and maybe too much detail as it is turning into a real pain to get it finished. I might finish the others and come back to it to give it the attention it really needs. They will make nice character figures when they are finished.

Not sure they have the Viking look but they are a little Tolkeinesque

From the same pack as the above are a couple of wizards. They look okay bit still need a bit more work on them. I doubt I will ever be really happy with them. Again these are really nice figures which have a lot of animation.

I have a few more close to being done but I am getting tired of typing now so I am going to post and see what the new few days bring.

The End Of A Slow Month

This is my first post for about a month. It's amazing how time flies when you are having fun. I moved over a month ago and I am just about getting sorted. Today I have managed to get my painting desk back up and running, well just about. I haven't put it back the way it was as I have a plan, well half a plan anyway.

As well this, I have a workspace. Or a garage. Originally it looked like I would have a lot of space in there but for the old furniture that is to be turned in chavvy, I mean shabby chic, by my other half. I have a few projects planned.  First is huge coffee table which will hopefully be good for gaming. This will hopefully be followed up by an 8x4 gaming table.

Until then, I have started doing a bit of figure painting. More fantasy with a few dark age figures thrown in. Again I'll put some pictures up as things progress.