D&D Essentials: Dragonborn Druid!

I think I'd like to retreat from painting miniatures for skirmish battle games of any sort for a week (maybe more!) or so, and do some one-off pieces for RPG's, and just personal enjoyment.

To start off, I picked up a great Reaper Reptus Wizard to use as a Dragonborn Druid for a possible D&D Essentials game my buddy Rico may run on Sunday mornings. D&D at dawn? We've done it before!

I didn't like the scroll hand, so I swapped it with a plastic closed fist from some of my spare Warhammer Lizardmen bits, a near perfect fit!



I wanted this mini to have a unique story, and I wanted to do some 3-step white blends again after a while away from it. So I decided he would be a foundling, some scion of a long-lost tribe of albino Dragonborn that worshiped a massive White Dragon as their god. Raised by human druids, he too would take on the mantle of a protector of nature and wielder of its power.

I've decided his name will be Zephyr Frost-Tongue, a title given him by the mountain dwelling druids who raised him as their own.

I went with my go-to green for the robes and hood, Foundry 3-step Phlegm Green. The shillelagh was meant to be ash, so I used Foundry Butter Fudge on it. Here are some more shots:











I need to do a bit of clean-up work on that eye.

Here are some comp shots for scale:





Next up, I need to do an animal companion for Zephyr, and you can pretty much bet it won't be a mammal!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

WFB: Rats In Unusual Numbers

My buddy Rico and I were talking about playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle again, and I realized I had not yet shown off my recently completed unit of 60 Giant Rats. Yes, I went there. It is a horde of hordes, and surprisingly effective in the two games I have fielded them in.

If anything, they're a tar-pit that when placed in the center of my lines, proves difficult to avoid!











In making the unit I used GW rats from every conceivable source, including Necromunda and some long OOP fantasy models (thanks, Lou!).

As impressive as they are, a bit of good cannon fire sends them packing! They are Skaven, after all!

Thanks for looking!

--Scott

Hordes: Skorne Paingivers

I've decided to do a small 15 pt. Skorne force containing only the models I like best from the line.

As a test, I picked up a unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers to try out my paint scheme, which features a lot of Foundry 3-step Conker Brown. So far I am happy with results.









Next up will be the Warlock, Mordikaar.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: SuperFigs!

Man, I have painted a lot of SuperFigs over the years. I though it might be fun to show some more off here on the blog.

Today we have shots of Karthoum and the normal sized version of the Fission, one of our shrinker packs.









Designed by the amazing Thomas Scioli, Karthoum possesses that unmistakable Jack Kirby vibe. He's also larger than the average SuperFig, as you can see in the comp shots above.

The robotic Fission (seen above with Karthoum) was designed by my friend Jan Anarella, and he has a really classic Marvel silver age feel. The idea behind him is that when he shrinks he splits into two smaller versions of himself.

I have never got around to painting the two shrunken versions in this red scheme.

I'll use this feature to show off more SuperFigs in the future!

--Scott

Hordes: A Murder of Croaks!

Well, not quite. But how about a duo?

As I've stated in the past on this blog, I do not like duplicate poses in skirmish games like Hordes. I wanted to use two Croak Hunter solos, so I asked a sculptor associate of mine to make a few minor adjustments on my second Croak Hunter before I painted him. It's not a huge change, but it makes a big difference to me.









And if I might rant for a moment. Hey, PP, sculpt like you've got a pair! You're a big-boy miniatures company, one of the best in the biz, so step up and deliver some alternate poses of these sorts of models. I know how the process works. This could be accomplished for minimal cost and outlay of time. The original becomes a dolly for the new pose. Not hard. Use some of the funds you've saved on pewter from hollowing out all of those miniatures and funnel them back into alternate poses.

Again, I love PP and most all of their stuff, but I just want them to be better in certain areas.

Anyway, thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Off the Shelf: Radagast the Brown

I really dig the Lord of the Rings miniature battle game, and I have a large army of Dwarfs that I will show off on another installment of OtS, but today I'd like to share my paint job on Radagast the Brown, one of the coolest wizard minis ever done in 28mm, IMHO.





Unfortunately, Radagast is less than effective in the game, but I guess you can't have everything!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Chinatown Again!

I recently traded for some more Chinatown miniatures with my friend Rich from NY. Over this weekend I needed a break from the Warmachine merc painting so I grabbed this guy and slapped some paint on him:









And here's a comp shot with a WGF Shock Trooper for scale:



He'll work great in just about any sci-fi game, and there's plenty more where he came from!

--Scott

Wargames Factory Shock Troops: Test Paint

We may be doing another Kill Team 40K event at Phantom, and this time I thought I might get creative with the Imperial Guard list and build some "tech Guard" using Wargames Factory's excellent Shock Troops plastic kit. At 18 multi-part plastic models for $20, they're one of the best bargains in the known universe, and the quality and scale are comparable to GW's own IG models.

Of course, YMMV on these models, but I like them quite a bit. I decided to spice them up by mixing in some of my own Aegis Figures Sci-Fi Ganger Heads. Here is the first test-paint results:











I decided to try something different and add a dash of color to the scheme, so I stippled some blues and creams onto the armor plates to show that the trooper's armor had once been a pristine color, but had since been worn with age and use.

More Shock Troop and head combos to come in later posts!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

MechWarrior DarkAge Re-Paints II: Tundra Wolf

I've had my eye on this one for a while, and when I had a need for some of these plastics to re-paint for a bit of play-testing, I snatched this one up on eBay.

Same scheme as yesterday's Spider. These guys will form the core of a Merc unit. I put this big Mech on a 50mm base from GF9.









And here's a comp shot with some Ravager battle armor:



Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

MechWarrior DarkAge Re-Paints!

I've been toying with my own 'Mech combat rules for Goalsystem. I decided to re-paint some MechWarrior DarkAge plastics to play-test with.

Today I'll show off the re-paint of a neat 4-legged, "Spider-Mech":









I re-based the model on a 45mm round from Gale Force-9. Great company--they'll custom cut any size bases for you in sturdy MDF.

Tomorrow I'll show off a heavy-hitting bipedal 'Mech!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: LotOW Tong Gang!

Last week I featured some of my old Cowboy Wars models and paint jobs that I used for my Legends of the Old West (LotOW) games. This time around I thought I might show off some shots of my Tong gang models that I've only used in one or two games. Having never taken these guys through a whole campaign, I am not sure how they would work, but they were fun to paint, and they have also come in handy for various RPG's we've played the last few years.

The gang is a mix of Pulp Figures and Cowboy Wars Tong Gang minis.










I actually have a few more of these guys done, but what you see above fills out the core of gang.

Later this week I hope to show off some MechWarrior Dark Age re-paints I am working on.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Warmachine: Cryx Leviathan

I don't normally show off my commission work. Suffice to say that in addition to my normal weekly output, I am always beavering away on one or two pieces for someone else. I was particularly happy (and relieved) to have finished this most recent piece, the Leviathan for PP's Warmachine game.

It's a large warjack for Cryx, and another sadistically difficult build from PP. Anyway, after much drilling, pinning, and fitting, I got this beast to stay together and commenced painting it. The final result will go nicely with the legion of other Cryx stuff I have painted for this client. It is an impressive piece in the end, but I just wish it had not been so painful to get it to this point. PP cannot do a plastic version of these 4-legged kits soon enough, IMHO!





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Later this week, another installment of Off The Shelf, and maybe some re-paints of some pre-painted minis.

--Scott