The Hobbit: Dori

Dori has been done!

One of the elder statesman of Thorin's company, GW's color palette for Dori was pretty easy to match with my own paints. And he's another great mini!

Next up, Gloin, father of Gimli!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Bifur

 Bifur is done! He also looks to be a really nasty melee fighter for the company, but we'll see!

Plenty of earth tones on this guy!

Sizes up well with the Rangers.

Five Dwarves strong!

Next up, Dori!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Nori

Nori comes next in my march toward completion of Thorin's Company.  I actually bought the GW color Skavenblight Dinge for his coat, and I really like it!

I actually glued his twin knives on upside down, but I don't mind, they look just as cool like this!

  

 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Dwalin

As notable for his sheer size and impressive armament as he is for his amazing combat stats, Dwalin stands as the second toughest member of Thorin's Company.

The figure's amazing look speaks for itself, and he was the easiest so far to paint. Check him out!

Thanks for visiting! Tomorrow, Nori's next!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Fili Is Done

Back for a second Dwarf on the second day?  Excellent!  Today we have Fili, the dashing, young Dwarf warrior who is part of a duo of Dwarven brothers!  We'll get to Kili on another day!

Those twin blades also count as throwing axes in the game, so he'll certainly become a favorite of mine!

Tomorrow, the second-baddest Dwarf in Thorin's company!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Project!

The Lord of the Rings plastic Dwarf Rangers are my favorite LotR models, and favorite dwarves, period, of all the many "stunties" I've painted over the years.  So it came as no surprise to me that I would be interested in the new Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game from GW.  At $125 it's not cheap, but you get a lot of high-quality, hard-plastic models, including a baker's dozen of the coolest, most characterful dwarven warriors you could ever want.

Thorin's Company is simply awesome! Anyway, it's not often my two work lives collide, but the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (where I practice the fine art of librarianship) is hosting a Night in The Wilderland on December 13th from 8:30 - 10:30, and the shop I work for on Sundays, Phantom of the Attic, will be there to put on demos of the new GW game! Pretty cool!

So I've been tasked with painting the Thorin and Co.  That's 13 Dwarves, 1 Hobbit, and a very cranky Wizard (Gandalf, of course).  Now I don't think I'll really need to have all of the lads done for the demos, but I'd like to see if I can knock off a dwarf or so a day  for the next 11 days to see if I can make it happen.  We shall see! 

Let's start the proceedings with the figure that might be among my favorites, Oin!

Scale shot with Dwarf Ranger--Oin only slightly taller. 

I did not stick 100% to GW's suggested colors mainly because I don't own all of the the new paints, but I feel like I captured the spirit of this super-dynamic mini. 

Really enjoying this so far!  Tomorrow, another dwarf! 

--Scott

40K: The Third Cultist!

Got a third one done!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

A Spot Of Commerce

Please excuse this bit of commerce on the blog, but we're running a 20% off sale on all PDFs on Wargame Downloads and Saber's Edge (this excludes Chaos In Cairo and The Department).  Anyway, if you've been hankering to try one of our rule sets, or to try another one, now's a great chance! Sale runs until midnight, tonight! 

Thanks!

--Scott

Two Minis, 90 Minutes

I was fortunate to have a lot of folks I know help me out on the recent Goalsystem Delves Kickstarter we ran. Some of them were colleagues in the large public library system I work in, and don't game regularly or know much about gaming. Two of these folks, Don and Wes, each pledged for a single miniature. Small pledges, but important nonetheless for us to maintain momentum and continue adding backers.


Yesterday morning I had some time before work and I went to pack up their minis for inter-office mailing, and I just could not do it.  I could not send these two guys I know so well and work with unpainted metal. What would they do with them?  Throw them in a drawer?  Anyway, I had 90 minutes before catching the train to work, so I resolved to speed paint these two figures (the Half-Orc Monk and the male Halfling Adventurer) to the best of my ability and let the chips fall where they may.

I wanted them to have figures they'd be proud to display on their computers or a book shelf. Anyway, I am pretty pleased with what I got done in 90 minutes.

Not bad for starting with un-based, un-primed, bare metal, huh?  One of my most effective tactics is having a small fan right next to my painting station. This allows me to dry stuff quickly between stages.

Anyway, I've painted these figs so often (maybe 5 times?) in the last 3 months I could probably paint them blindfolded!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Warhammer 40K: A Second Cultist

Got a second one done!  I love drum-fed guns, and this guy has a cool one! Probably an old autogun!  Wish I had these models when Necromunda was all the rage.

I'll try to get at least one more done this week.  We shall see! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

GW 40K Chaos Plastic Cultist

I was very happy to see GW's release of the $10 plastic Chaos Cultist boxed set.  I've been meaning to get the main 40K boxed set that has all 20 cultists, and I will, but this will tide me over until I do!

These are some of my favorite GW plastic releases in recent memory. Pure skirmish-gaming gold!

Got the first one done today!

I used Army Painter Uniform Gray primer and went from there!  Just stuck with a simple pallet that I will likely follow on all subsequent cultists. These guys will be ideal for In the Emperor's Name skirmish games as well.

The plan is to paint at least two more this week, but we'll see.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Star Wars re-Paint: Transdoshan Elite Merc

The Transdoshan Elite Merceary (Dark Times, Uncommon) is another solidly sculpted figure from one of the latter runs of the SW line.

I re-did the jacket and flesh, and based him up.  He's ready for action!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Reaper Grave Digger!

Been battling painting project ennui of late.  There are a number of factors involved, but I have yet to seize on a project to break myself out of my slump.  At least I am still writing and doing rules stuff, but my miniature gaming work has fallen off.

The last few weeks have seen me sustaining myself on RPG-related project work, and I will continue to do re-paints and re-touches until I can find something to sink my teeth into.

Anyway, since today is Thanksgiving, I thought it might be cool to dig into my miniature cases and pull out my favorite pilgrim-hat mini--the Reaper grave digger (and his able assistant). 

Here they are!

I painted this pair way back in 2005 or so. I used them for Chaos In Carpathia and other games. Still two of my favorite paint jobs and minis in my collection.

Thanks for visiting, and Happy Thanksgiving! 

--Scott

Star Wars Minis: Bomo & A Jedi

Sunday I had some time to do a couple of quick re-paints and touch-ups on two recently acquired Star Wars miniatures, Bomo Greenbark (Dark Times, Rare) and a Jedi Watchman (Dark Time, Common).

Both minis are excellent and will make great Star Wars skirmish and role-play pieces!

I did not touch the Jedi's cloak, but I did re-paint the battle fatigues, flesh, and hair. Bomo's flesh was re-done, and I cleaned his mold lines and re-touched his clothes.

All told, a pair of excellent SW figures.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: Initiation Time!

Two, four, six, eight, now it's time to Initiate! My character (a Mystic Adept) and Tony's character (a Magician) get to Initiate this weekend during Episode 6 of our Shadows of Mumbai campaign. In SR, Initiation is a subtle way to spend karma (experience) and get more powerful, and one of the ways you can describe it in-game is with a quest.  Initiating as a group can be more cost effective, and it has the added benefit of involving more players.

I borrowed the story for our quest from an old Legion of Superheroes storyline from the 1980's involving Timber Wolf and the legacy of Karate Kid.  With Kid's death, Timber Wolf had to travel to the place where he was trained and plant a flower in spot considered anathema to all life. The hardest place in the world.

This story is collected in "The More Things Change" Legion trade. If you think you might have a comic shop near you, take a trip there and pick it up. Check it out; it's good. 

That's sort of what Tony and I have to do on Elephanta Island in Mumbai.  There's a shrine to Kali there where nothing grows, and it's guarded by a powerful Shadim--an evil spirit essentially.  We have to plant a flower there. Then we initiate.

I planted the seed of this tale in the last session I ran a couple of weeks back, so now under Andrew's watch it will bear fruit, or the spirit will horribly maul us!

We'll see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott