A Painted Life

Confrontation Campaign: Divine Tears

2010-11-10T07:55:00.006-05:00

Alright with the contest from Rackham no longer holding my document up. I'm placing it up here here for anyone who wants to give it a go. http://www.mediafire.com/?2qb2wdbeyobyubr

Click on the introduction page to see it full size so you can read it.

Malifaux: Neverborn, Cherub

2010-09-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

This guy was fun to set up even if he isn't the most restrained on his base. I just couldn't get more than the one pin in him to hold him up so he immediatly broke the glue bond and spins on the pin. At least he hasn't come completly free yet. Still I think he works well with Liliths crew. The wings came out fairly well. I could have gone for more coloring but as a cherub I wanted to keep his wings predominatly white/grey in coloring. Looking back thougha nice brown for the leading edge of the wing (the top) would have helped stand out that diffrence and made the model stand out more.

Malifaux: Neverborn, Poltergeist

2010-09-23T23:22:00.004-04:00

Definitely enjoy models like these, they take very little real effort to produce excellent miniatures on the table. I of course painted him to match up with my Pandora crew from months ago as he is her totem. I've yet to actually play a game with this piece. I've not touched pandora in months. Still a decent piece. I got in the core Neverborn colors that I have been using to help mark the faction when I am able. Both the purple is their in the skin details and the green is everpresent.

Malifaux: Neverborn, Bad JuJu

2010-09-20T08:00:00.004-04:00

So I really wasn't wanting to paint this guy when I started. Moss green with green seemed to much blah. As I got into it though it really started to come together. Mixing up the greens I used and really just picking out details on the model after painted and drybrshing the whole model one color to start with. This system seemed to really help Bad Juju come together.

Malifaux: Outcast, Waldgeist 2

2010-09-19T08:00:00.003-04:00

I was reading my way through the Harry Dresden series when I painted this guy. This model is exactly as I was mentaly picturing some of the Fallen from the books, namely the wife who runs the more chaotic branch. Only her form is more bug/locust in style rather than woods. Still this is the pose/look I pictured in my mind.

Malifaux: Outcast, Waldgeist 1

2010-09-17T08:00:00.002-04:00

I really enjoy these models. both in working on them as well as on the table. I just love the overall cast of a vegitive predator. I thin think the eyes on these models really pop out at you and bring a level of malice to the piece it didn't have before.

Malifaux: Outcast, Silurid 3

2010-09-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the good old line man Silurid.

Malifaux: Outcast, Silurid 2

2010-09-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

I call this the Jazz Hands Silurid. I may have a wonky sense of hummor.

Malifaux: Outcast, Silurid 1

2010-09-11T08:00:00.004-04:00

After finishing this guy up and basing him I realized it looks like he is reaching down to collect the discarded bottle in the water. Yay for the eco freindly Neverborn. Aside from that though I used the good ol' Neverborn purple as I call it to highlight his fins. Thus keeping him tied to the faction.

Malifaux: Neverborn, Voodo Totem

2010-09-10T08:00:00.001-04:00

Here is the Voodo Totem for Zoraida. A neat little model. I am actually looking forward to the upcoming Puppet Armies game that Wyrd is putting out. It's going to have puppets versions of many of the models from the game. Being a gamer whore as I am I'll likely pick them up. I'll even likely use them to swap out this model as I Conduit various models. Making my totem reflect who its linked with.

Malifaux: Neverborn, Zoraida

2010-09-07T08:00:00.003-04:00

Here is my finished up Zoraida. Now any of you who actually play this game may notice some changes I made to the model. Namely I green stuffed up her apron to actually go over her chest. Old marm saggy was not something I wanted to see on the table so I worked up some additional appron for her. I think that work came out pretty good actually. Considering this is my first attempt at really any kind of green stuffed skulpt. Aside from having to many similar colored articles about her person, dress, skin, inside of the cloak. I don't think she came out to bad. I really felt it was looking horrid until I got her ont he base and with all the dolls. They helped to create some more color around her and really make her shine. She is one of the more bulky masters on the table. That always seemed odd for being the frail old woman. Still she came out well.

Malifaux: Outcast, Leveticus Crew

2010-09-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the finished Levi crew all together.

Malifaux: Outcast, Steam Punk Abomination 4

2010-09-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the last of the SPA skulpts. Perhaps my least favorite. I'm just not seeing the bandsaw head being much of a threat on the table. That may just be me though.

Malifaux: Outcast, Steam Punk Abomination 3

2010-08-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

My second favorite SPA. The head alone is just great. It really brings out the twisted version of Necromancy that Leveticus uses.

Malifaux: Outcast, Steam Punk Abomination 2

2010-08-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

Here is the second SPA. One of my favorite of the castings. Although not as low as he should be the details on this model are awsome. Between the stitching and the metal hand I just love him.

Malifaux: Outcast, Steam Punk Abomination 1

2010-08-27T08:00:00.004-04:00

Here is the first of the Steam Punk Abominations, SPA from here on out. I thought this guy was especially good for a cast as he actually is a Height 1 model as their rules state. I think the others should have been in a lower stand or position, maybe scuttling acrost the ground rather than being so upright. I think the use of gloss onthe brain/gore really helped to make those elements shine, pun intended and all. I love the SPA models and am looking to pick up a second set. Not sure how I will make them diffrent from this set. Not to much clothing to work with.

Malifaux: Resurectionist, Bette Noir

2010-08-24T08:00:00.003-04:00

A really simple cast in my mind for Bette. Not all that much detail to draw out on her. And really no need for it. She is a spectral ghostly serial killing crazy and thus she should be. I kept her clothing dark to really draw atttention to the white skin. Allowing her to seem even more etherial in the dark. Although I liked teh way the eyes and lips worked out I am a little worried the lips withthe white face give to much of a DC's Joker look to her, still even if it does that isn't all bad. Still gives off teh whole creepy vibe well.

Malifaux: Outcast, Rusty Alice

2010-08-21T10:42:00.005-04:00

Finished this up some time ago but as many of you know summer seems to be the bane of getting much gaming

done in a normal time frame. With that in mind I'll be putting the pictures up but with a bit less comments to try and get this blog out from the old fade.

Rusty we a pretty good model to paint overall. Her face was difficult due to the hair and clothing providing cover for about half her face while attempting to get a brush down on her. Still It worked out fine. I wish I was better at free hand I wanted to do somethign akin to plaid on her skirt but I didn't trust myself to screw it up. Plus I was on a time constraint to get her done for a local Malifaux league. I think the additional brass coloring for he metalic elements helped to give her that extra old world steam punky look rather than a more cyber punk aspect.

Malifaux: Outcast, Leveticus

2010-07-03T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finally a model that came out more akin to what I was hoping for. Painting Leveticus was a dream. He just came together so well for me. I really loved the whole process just about from start to finish. It felt like I was painting like my old self again. That alone was good, but beyond that I really didn’t need to repaint any particular feature, they just seemed to come together for me this time.

Always a joy to paint when that happens. I really liked how his face finished out. That doesn’t show to well in the pictures here. I may have to add in a face shot for him later. He has yellow eyes that with the black pupils I painted really gave him an old and somewhat diseased cast to his face on the table. I’ll be finishing him up with gloss on the orb of his cane as well as the sewer sludge. I think that will make the orb come out a bit better and seem more of the polished jewel it is supposed to be rather than the green glob it is right now.

Malifaux: Outcast, Hollow Waif 2

2010-06-30T08:00:00.002-04:00

Nothing much to say on this one. Just the second of the Hollow Waifs. I liked the red dress it came out pretty well. The black ties across the arms/legs was a total pain in the ass. I’m not sure they came out to well either. Anyway that’s all for now. Next up Leviticus.

Malifaux: Outcast, Hollow Waif 1

2010-06-27T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finished up the first of the two Hollow Waifs. I’ve been a bit under the weather after getting back from a trip to New York. Y hands have been really unsteady unlike how they normally behave for me. It’s made painting exceptionally difficult. As such I started with the totems to try and get my painting hand back before moving on to the more detailed pieces. As such I’m not really too proud of the work on the Waif. Still it is very table ready.

Although technically undead I think of the waifs as being more soulless than undead. I wanted them to seem more akin to mindless trollops than any kind of supernatural being. I think I got that effect to work at least. Opting out of more traditional green or red eyes for the model and giving them traditional pupils in white. Perhaps I should have gone more with the black eyes of the desolation engine. Or even pure white on white.

Malifaux: Outcast, Desolation Engine

2010-06-24T13:52:00.003-04:00

Working to get my Levi crew together before the Steam Punk Abominations come out next week. I wanted to run him for the upcoming League coming up. Levi will be my fifth master. The desolation engine isn’t exactly right model wise for what it is supposed to represent. The upcoming SPA’s look great in comparison. The body needs to be more twisted and messed up really to fit the bill. Still it’s a decent enough model to paint. I really enjoyed all the stitching detail across the model. That was fun to paint. It really helped to draw out the details across the rest of his skin as well. The blue waist cloth was perhaps a poor choice. I should have gone with something more akin to the purple coloring of the hollow waifs clothing. Thus matching the army together especially as I will eventually be picking a second one up. And having that one match the second hollow waif would have tied the units together.

Other than that all the various details where great to work on as I painted up the model. Even the larger elements like the shoulder pads where very nice to paint, using lighter metal to really draw out the details.

Malifaux, Tablecraft

2010-06-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

Crafted up a couple of 3x3 tables for use at the local game store the other day. I picked up some ¾” particle board flooring. I think this is the same stuff used for all the other table boards at Crossroad Games. I painted them up with same sand in the base color to get texture going on. Then I painted one with over coloring of green for a grass board and a red brown for a desert brown. The desert one defiantly came out better. I picked a bad green for the grass. Also I need a second green that that is lighter more yellow than the base coat to dry brush the texture with to make it look better. Oh well. At this point I’m so sick of having to use the 4x4 tables I’m just glad to get these guys ready to use.

Malifaux, Outcast Killjoy

2010-06-18T08:00:00.001-04:00

Finished up Killjoy, and man did I love how he came out. I was seriously not impressed with the sculpt at all. Looking at the sample painted version of the model I was expecting a lot of nice wound details across the model. Most every element of detail was SO shallow on the model I was afraid the details where going to be washed out during priming and painting. Still after finishing the model out, I was VERY happy with the results. The flab and gore details come out great. The eyes really pop with the model. The addition of the tentacles to the base even came out great.

The nice sewer base came out really well as well. The coloring is nice and dark below a very light colored Killjoy. So a nice balance.

Malifaux, Ortega Crew Shot

2010-06-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

Just a shot of the crew all together for a view of consistency.

Malifaux, Papa Loco

2010-06-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finished up the last Ortega family member finally. So got my 4th master’s starter crew box finished up now. I wasn’t too excited to paint this guy. Mostly to be honest because my first Lilith paint job had just been totally frosted over and I was a bit defeated toward painting. Also I’m not excited to field him. He’s too much of a party liability for me to want to field him in a game. I’ve personally killed him so many times amongst his crew as to cause massive damage and losses to my opponent to want to field him with my own forces.

Still several elements where fun to paint. The placard on his chest for example, hand painting Loco across the sign was a great touch. Also I enjoyed the burning wick on the dynamite as well. The straight jacket came out alright. I wasn’t too fond of the coloring after I finished up. Still it looks a bit like a dirtied up version of the older style, turn of the century jacket.

Malifaux, Santiago Ortega

2010-06-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

So looking at this sculpt I really didn't think this was going to be a great face to paint. A lot of it was hidden to one side. However it came out really well the face is about just right for what I was expecting for this guy. A really good glower. Aside from that the model was very simple to do. Between the coat and pants He didn’t have to much detail pieces to pick out afterwards. I was thus able to really focus on the face and other detail issues rather than the bulk of the model.

One more Ortega down one left to go.

Malifaux League

2010-06-09T16:17:00.004-04:00

I'll be running a League of Malifaux at Crossroad Games in Standish Maine from June 29th to July 13th. Please see this link. For more information and sign ups.

Malifaux, Lilith Redux

2010-06-08T07:29:00.002-04:00

Yes no need to scroll down this one does look like a previous post. Part of the reason for the long post delay has to do with this model. After taking pictures of it and putting it up on the blog, I went to clear coat the model. It wasn't a new can in fact it was a can I'd been actively using for the last month or so. I don’t know if the weather just changed greatly or if the can really crapped out but essentially my miniature frosted so bad it looked like I'd sprayed white primer over most the model. (I checked it was a can of clear coat.) So I've spent the last couple weeks cleaning and re-painting this model. It didn't come out as clean as the model had the first time. But the pain job went by pretty quickly and well it is done. So I'm glad to be done with it.

Anyway no real comment beyond that for this model. I also got a few other miniatures done this week as well. So expect them to be posted up here in the coming days.

Malifaux, Lilith Crew

2010-05-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

Nothing much to say here just adding a group shot of the crew all together to give a feel for the forces as a whole. Click the picture for a larger view.

Malifaux, Lilith

2010-05-27T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finally finished up Lilith and thus my Lilith crew box as well. My neverborn forces are now large enough to field a nice Brawl size game. I opted to paint her coloring scheme with two things in mind. First she needed to fit in with her own thematic forces. Thus her skin, skin wash and the insider coloring of her cloak was preset to fit with the Nephilim. After this I also wanted her to match with the rest of the neverborn. Primarily with Pandora. For this I decided to go with a dark royal purple color very reminiscent of the Neverborn faction color in the book. To tie her up with Pandora so a brawl size game fielding both masters would fit together, I opted to paint the candles a mystical green flame rather than a traditional yellow to red flame. The lighting effect was used with the primary green used on the Sorrows and Pandora herself. Coupled with the green skin wash tone of the Nephilim also help to tie the Neverborn together as a group. All told I think the model came out really well.

Malifaux, Mature Nephilim

2010-05-24T08:00:00.003-04:00

Finished up the last of the minions for my Lilith crew, and man is he a big model. I kept the same skin and clothing scheme as I had been running with thus far. I wanted to have more of the green skin toning than in the Young Nephilim, as such I did the green wash a couple of times. I also kept the nails more bone in coloring than the stand out black of the young as well. I got to try out my kaki coloring on his arm and I loved how it came out on such a large area. I think I’ll use the same coloring for Papa Loco’s straight jacket. The blue came out pretty well even over this much area. The hooves came out really good in my mind. Still he should be fun to throw on the table and get some bodies ripped apart.

Malifaux, Young Nephilim

2010-05-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

The typically shown young Nephilim are shown as more akin to gargoyles in coloring. I wanted a more uniform coloring across the Nephilim so they would seem more similar. Especially as the tots and young ones will age up as the game progresses. Again I washed with a green coloring. Although looking at the finished product I probably should have gone back and lightly washed them again when all was completed to give them some more coloring given how much skin they have showing.
Still the clothing came out pretty good. I will defiantly be using a similar coloring for the mature version. The wings also came out some pretty good coloring as well. Then again I didn’t care to much for the overall sculpt. One model had a real flash issue that I just couldn’t take care of. The model was to skewed across the mold line.

Malifaux, Terror Tot

2010-05-18T08:00:00.003-04:00

Finished up the Terror Tots the other day. After painting them up I thought the skin was a bit too simple. So I added some blood effects to the models. This made them truly stand out as little horrors to behold. I particularly like the one on the far left. The way the blood came out spattered across it came out very well. I did a wash of green to give their skin an otherworldly ting. One of the stories about Lilith described her as having a green tint to her skin. So I wanted to apply that across the faction. I choose a fair skin color tone as the Nephilim are the Malifaux version of vampires. I thought the tots came out rather well. I’ll enjoy using them to rip up my opponents.

Malifaux Tournament, Results

2010-05-15T08:00:00.005-04:00

Finished up the Malifaux Introductory Tournament a couple weeks ago on the first. It was a three round tournament, VP was given for victory or ties in a match. 3 for the win 1 for the tie. The match VP was used to decide who won each round. You signed up one master for the tournament then formed your crew when you sat down to your table. Each of the 5 tables had the Strategy special terrain feature and terrain preselected and laid out. Players would have the same strategy as each other on each table.

I got together some interesting specific terrain to represent the special terrain features on each table. We had a Campsite in the forest, an acid pool in the bogs, am Ancient Monument in the mountains, a graveyard in a pioneer town, and a soulstone vein in some ruins. We had six players participate, without the odd player I was not able to play. Amongst those 6 we had two Nicodem The Undertaker, Perdita Ortega, Marcus, Viktoria, and Som’er Teeth Jones. In the end Devon won with Nicodem, Second play went to Mark with Marcus, Third place was Tad with Som’er Teeth Jones. Michael with Perdita took fourth place, “The Big Cheese” took 5th with Nicodem. Young Ronny wasn’t able to pull a win out with the Viktoria sisters.

The last round of the tournament had some very heated games that kept a clear winner from being declared until late in each game. The first place table was a wonder to watch, every time I came over it seemed like the who was winning had swapped sides of the table. The worst was Marcus using Alpha on Killjoy and wreaking havoc on his own crews members.

Another interesting game to watch was Perdita vs Teeth Jones. The seemingly outclassed Goblins where able to pull out victory in the end using some devastating pig frenzies to wreak havoc on the closely packed Ortega clan while snipping at them from behind low stone walls with the goblin crews safe from piggy retribution, although one poor +twisted damage draw seemed to stop the goblins momentum late in the game.

In the end it seemed like the players had a great time all around and much fun was had.

Malifaux, Guild - Nino Ortega

2010-05-12T08:00:00.005-04:00

I completed Nino Ortega today. Glad to have him finished, been wanting to get him on the table as soon as possible. I've had his base set up for some time waiting to get him mounted to the side of the gravestone. I thought it was an aptly dynamic pose for him to be diving straight out like that. With his long range I’m thinking he will be a great addition to the table with either Sonnia or Perdita. With him completed I only have two more Ortega family members left to paint before I start in on Lilith and her brood.

Malifaux, Guild - Francisco Ortega

2010-05-09T08:00:00.003-04:00

Finished up the second of the Ortega family today. I rather liked this minaiture even with its simple single cast sculpt. It is such a western piece that I can't help but enjoy it. About the only thing out of place is the sword and bladed hilt on the gun. Otherwise he is so very western. I rather enjoyed finishing him out. I was starting to get lost in the sameness of his coat and boots before I got the details on his face and hat to really start making the miniature pop. As those elements came together I really felt like I had him in a good place to become something special.

Two Ortega's down three more to go.

Malifaux, Neverborn - Doppelganger

2010-05-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

Finished up the Doppelganger. Wanted to get it done for the tournament so I could field a fully painted crew. Not to much of a fan of the model. I think I am about the only one who isn't. Probably why I didn't spend to much effort ont he model and just got it done for play on the table. It came out alright. Not to big a fan of the eye work I did. Although she does have a haughty glare to her face that is perhaps fitting for a monster bent on killing you.

Malifaux, Convict Gunslinger

2010-05-02T08:00:00.002-04:00

The Convict Gunslinger was an interesting piece to paint. Although a single piece sculpt he still had a number of interesting elements to him. The scars across his body along with free hand painting the stripes on his pants gave me more than enough to do while working on this miniature. I opted for blond hair rather than the punk green the miniature card shows. I just don’t see punk as really fitting into a western/Victorian/steam game. I know there are more examples of punk like clothing, and I was a child of the 80’s early 90’s. Still I just don’t care for the look at all. Besides between the Ortega clan and Pandora I’ve painted all the black/brown I can handle for hair. So more blond for more variety.

This is one of my few attempts at free hand painting. I don’t think the stripes came out perfect, but they are more than serviceable in my mind. Thankfully you won’t really be able to see more than front or back in practice. As the two sides don’t line up really well.

Malifaux, Guild - Perdita

2010-04-30T08:00:00.002-04:00

I finished up my latest guild master, Perdita today. She's an alright sculpt but my primary brush crapped out on me mid painting on this model so I was using a larger brush than I typically do. Also the sheer amount of hair I found ridicules. I’ll be basing all my masters on the similar candle laden grave base. Gives consistency. I did some more lighting effects. I’m not sure if it came together better or worse. My expectations may be to high who knows. I did put some lighting effects across Perdita’s hair. Hoping to make the miniature more impressive from the back, rather than the bland hair job she is now. I did notice while editing these pictures I seem to have clipped some paint from the hat brim on the back while basing her. I’ve not sealed her yet so it will be an easy fix.

The deep recess that her left arm makes with her body and hair was a pain in the ass to deal with. As I said already I was using a larger brush than normal and it was giving me all kind of fits to try and paint down into this area with that thing. Oh well at least she is done. The rest of the Ortega family I hope will give me less trouble once my new brushes arrive.

Malifaux Terrain - Acid Pool

2010-04-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

So I finished up my first attempt at terrain for Malifaux. I did a Hazard terrain for the game Specifically an acid pool for 3/6/kill damage for use in the tournament on the first. I made two in case we need to have 10 tables, not that it's likely but who knows. If you look close you can see the base pond this is based from in the last post picture. I've adde dsome bumps repainted it, and added some static grass around the edges. It came out pretty good. I've got some more elements for the game coming but most of those are showing up finished. The treasure chests.... well those arn't and I'm not sure they will get here in time either. I have some hero quest chests to use in a pinch though.

Malifaux Tournament

2010-04-24T10:12:00.004-04:00

Alright so the painting has taken a back seat the last couple weeks. First up my good brush totally crapped out on me. So it's done. I had to order new brushes. Sadly I ordered them with some Confrontation preorder stuff so they didn't ship out till the 12th, and didn't arrive until the morning I was leaving for a wedding in Mexico. As such I have been home all of 1 day with working brushes. I got Perdita's base finished and her attached. I'll get some photo's up soon.

Couple that with me running/organizing a Malifaux tournament for the 1st and I've been pretty busy of late with other gaming issues to do much painting. I was able to pick up 14 copies of the Nature's Wonders HD play set. Although not strictly 30mm scale, picked up the farm set and everything is a bit to big but the windmill is serviceable, the elements being trees and rocks work great for gaming terrain. Specifically I was making the purchase for a tree. My local Wal-Mart had them on final clearance for $1.00 each. So I filled up a cart load. The trees will work great as a bayou trees. My store only has the Warhammer trees for use and a couple pine. Neither really inspires swamp in my mind. Included is a large rock formation a couple boulders and a pond. I’m working up a couple ponds to look more like acid pools. I put some bumps across the surface using glue, and I’ll be adding some static grass around the edges to finish it up. I think I might also add grass and mush effects to many of the ponds and try and turn them into bog rather than simple water effects. Add a bit of a muddy water coloring as well. Thus turning the ponds from water/uncross able into bog severe terrain instead.

Along with these terrain elements I have 4 metal chests on order from e-bay. (finger’s crossed that they arrive in time.) I’ll paint them um and base them on 30mm bases for the Treasure hunt tokens. Also on order for terrain features are two graveyards, two soulstone veins and two ancient monoliths. Again I hope they get here in time. I want the terrain to have many new elements for this tournament that the players coming to participate in won’t have seen before at the shop. I’ve gotten together little intro packs for the players as well. So far I’ve got soulstone bags for the first twelve players. I’ve printed and cut out, but have yet to card and sleeve 12 sets of 15 strategy/scheme reference cards. I haven’t decided if these will be a tournament resource or another grab bag giveaway. This will likely depend on if I have to buy sleeves or if I can get matching set out of the stores box of loose free sleeves.

Anyway on the painting front look forward to the Convict gunslinger and Perdita in the next few days. Hopefully I will get my painting groove back on and get some more up here quickly as well.

Malifaux, Guild Witch Hunters - Executioner

2010-04-18T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finished up the last of my Witch Hunter miniatures today. This one dosn't come from the crew box but is a bit of a melee tank I picked up to compliment both the Witch Hunter Crew box and the Ortega Family crew. Both seem very shooty so having a bit of a beef tank seemed appropriate.

I picked out the 40mm base insert with the little bird to paint it up more like a raven or the like. Seemed fitting for the Executioner. I was very glad of the time spent on this model. I think it came out really well and I got it done over a single day. I especially liked my color choices for his gear. I think the combination of steel and brass looks very good. I painted on a few signs of heat in the vents and the like. Not sure I care for how those particular elements came out. But overall it looks very good.

Malifaux, Guild Witch Hunters - Group shot

2010-04-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

Here is a compiled group shot of the Witch Hunter Crew.

Malifaux, Guild Witch Hunters - Samael Hopkins

2010-04-15T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finished up the last of the Witch Hunter crew miniatures, Samael Hopkins. He was an interesting piece. A lot of armor like details across the miniature coupled with small detail elements made it a very interesting model to paint. I enjoyed work on him very much. Only took me a day to paint him up but it was very worthwhile. I think he will be a very complimentary piece on the field with the Witch Hunters, as well as any other Guild crew I may field. He will be especially valuable with an Ortega crew. His high damage potential along with his mobility and caster neutralization will help balance the crew for multiple encounters.

Malifaux, Guild Witch Hunters - Sonnia Criid

2010-04-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

Finished up Sonnia Criid and man did she come out well for me. Her face isn’t the best one I’ve ever done. But the rest of the model really shines I think. The runic tracing along the blade and the overall shadowing along its length looks great. I think most impressively is the lighting effects for the candles on the gravestone. They came out looking really great. The last photo really shows this effect well. I think she will be a great centerpiece for the crew and shine very well.

Just the overall color use and composition came together very well in my mind. I can’t wait to get her and the Witch Hunters in for a game soon. They should be very interesting and fun to play a game through with. A far cry different play wise from Pandora at least.

Malifaux, Witch Hunters - Witchling Stalkers

2010-04-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

Got all three Witchling Stalkers done, they came out alright. I just wasn’t very impressed with these models compared to most of the stuff Wyrd puts out. There was so little detail and their whole bottom was just blank. Coupled with the guy holding a sword low and in front the sword was made about four times as thick as it should have been where it was in front of the body. Still I think I made a good effort at getting this unit done and ready for play at least. No real painting ooohs or ahhhs to speak of with it. I did paint the face/hand wrapping slightly different coloring for each to help with game play differentiation.

Malifaux, Guild Witch Hunters – Purifying Flame

2010-04-06T08:00:00.002-04:00

Today I have the totem for the Guild master Sonnia Criid, leader of the Witch Hunters. I rather enjoyed the quick work on this little miniature and think the results where well worth the time put in. The base choice really makes it pop giving more meaning to the position the flaming skeleton is in. I think I spent about as much time painting the base insert as I did the totem on this one. Really fast guy to do. So tiny. This is my first attempt at lighting effects. I put some blue reflection across the base to represent the flames light from the Purifying Flame. The effect is… meh ish. It is there, but it is not all that well done. I shall try again in a future model I’m sure.

Malifaux, Hans

2010-04-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

Finished up Hans the same evening I got Pandora done, my first Outcast for the game. I wanted to get some ranged support for Pandora and the crew as an option. Seems that Hans should fill in for that very nicely. when I first saw the model picture I thought he was holding a cigarette in his left hand. Turns out its a billet shell for his rifle. I very much enjoyed this model. I painted his body completely before attaching the arms and painting them. This helped me to get the details where the rifle rests done without having it get in the way. I really liked the way his pants came out. I wasn't very sure when I got started how I wanted them to look. Initially the dark grey wrap on his shoulders was the same coloring as his pants. I added a black wash to the shoulders to darken it and the two came out sufficiently different. Since I will be using him with my Neverborn force primarily, at least as far as I can tell now, I based him on a Victorian base insert. I’m still waiting to get basses for all my guild models. So I won’t be able to get them based until a bit after I get them all painted.
My plan is to pick a base style for each faction and stick with it. So far its Victorian for the Neverborn, Graveyard for the guild. Outcasts will be using a mix mash of bases, and some specific sub models might get other bases based on strong theme. Like the hag and her lizard men would defiantly need to go Bog for their base. As always click the pic for a larger version of the image.

Malifaux, Pandora - Crew Shot

2010-03-31T08:00:00.004-04:00

Here is a shot of the whole crew together.

Yup that's it.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, Pandora

2010-03-31T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finished off the last of my Neverborn from Pandora's Box, Pandora herself. This time not the avatar form already put up but the regular sculpt. I plan to use this miniature mostly as a proxy, for several games. I plan to use it in confrontation as a Rhea of Brisis for my Ram forces as well as a proxy for the Doppelganger that comes out in April for Malifaux. The only real complaint I have with most of the Malifaux miniatures is they are so thin. I have a hard time finding a place for pins needed for use with the base inserts. Pandora was certainly not an exception. I was able to squeeze one into her left leg. Still their so small it was difficult. Different certainly than how I have been doing all my confrontation miniatures. Those I leave on their tab and simply base over the tab. I do have to say though having the pins does make painting them a whole lot easier. I can use my pin vice as a handle to hold the miniature with. So no more grubby paws rubbing paint off while working on the miniature itself.

I kept the coloring as similar to the Avatar form of Pandora as I could. Sculpting differences prompted me to come up with a few new coloring schemes for areas like the back of her coat and eyes. Overall though I think they fit well together.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, Candy

2010-03-28T08:00:00.002-04:00

Finished up the last of my crew. So now I have a 35 Stone crew ready to field. I think Candy came out great. I was debating ongoing creepy little girl or not with her and opted with sweet. I think the juxtaposition of a sweet Candy with the rest of the crew will make it all the more striking. I found the freehanded candy stripes to be very difficult. I’ve never really done any free hand work so this was pretty much a first for me. They came out alright. Table worthy to be sure, but not too far beyond that I am afraid. Then again we are our own worst critic. I have to say the entire project was a lot of fun. I can’t wait to give them a go on the table.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, Baby Kade

2010-03-25T08:00:00.003-04:00

Finished up Baby Kade and on my way into Candy to finish off my crew. Hoping to finish her off today as well so I might get my crew into a game tomorrow. Time will tell. I painted up his teddy bear to match the previously painted Teddy in the crew. Same coloring for the fur and the pads, and I even made the button eye a red one to match Teddy’s evil red eyes. Wanting Kade to look a bit malicious but still to hold a little cute charm I opted to make his eyes the portals to the evil within. I gave him bags under his eyes these seem to really give the impression of an adults eyes to the miniature. The darkening passes off an image of very mature very adult sadism to the baby body that is Kade. I think it works perfectly for this model. My opponents shall rue the day this little guy takes the field.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, Teddy

2010-03-22T08:00:00.003-04:00

Anyone want a hug? I finished up Teddy today. I simplified the painting colors of this miniature. I wanted to make him look more akin to a traditional teddy bear rather than the version Wyrd miniatures showcases. I wanted him to match my Kade's teddy bear in coloring so that the two miniatures where thematically colored in sync as well as having the abilities that make them work better together. As such I opted to really go at the base to help frame up what I think is a relativly flat looking miniature. He's a one mold model his arms are resting at his side and he is pretty thin along the side. Since he is supposed to be a thing of nightmare, much like all the Neverborn I wanted to frame him on the base witht he lightpost and trashcan to make it almost seem as if one was viewing the model hiding down an alley from you. I think the effect came off rather well. Visually Teddy seems to be crammed in behind the post and can, I rather like the overall effect. This is perhaps the first case where I did about as much painting work ona base as I did on the model itself. Perhaps even more. Still I think teddy will make a great addition to the crew as something of a beat stick.

as always you can click the image for a much larger version of the picture.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, Pandora Avatar of Woe

2010-03-19T08:00:00.004-04:00

I finished up Pandora in Avatar form today. I’m basing this model on a 30mm to use as an alternate sculpt of Pandora rather than the 40mm avatar form that will be released in a future rules release. I greatly enjoyed painting this miniature. I think the dry brushing used across the clothing gave it a very woven texture that I appreciated. The ghostly tendrils leaving the box on the ground also came out very well to me. I opted to make the faces glow an inner white rather than leaving the washed black I had started them as. I though this gave them a look of power rather than the solid realness the black wash filling the screaming faces had given it initially.

I base painted the two forms of Pandora initially to keep them both similar in coloring. As I got near the end, I opted instead to finish up the avatar form as I wished to complete this one for use in game. The base was somewhat interesting to paint. I didn’t realize until I was about to put brush to the base that it was not a dirt/gravel pile in front of the grating but rather a kind of sludge/slim mixture. I enjoyed giving this a sort of brown sub coloring, grey wash/streaking followed by some various laying of darker to lighter grey/green coloring. I think the effect came out well. The bubbles are a nice putrid light green. I made sure to paint up two of the same base inserts the same way so that both forms of Pandora would sit on the same base. You’ll be able to compare them once I get the other Pandora done.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, Sorrows Part 2

2010-03-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

Late this evening I’ve finished off the three Sorrows for Pandora's Crew. Along with the miniatures themselves I've painted up their bases and base accessories. I’ve added some nice static grass to the plant pot. I also chose to have the spilt bread bag be on the other Sorrow. A sign of activity about the miniature, as if a civilian was walking by with bread when the ghostly Sorrow came up out of the drain.

After painting the Tarascus for so long these felt good to get done. Painting the mini’s and their bases took me all of a day to complete. After the weeks of work on the Tarascus the feeling of accomplishment from these guys is just what I needed to get my painting groove back. I’m all gun-ho to get at the rest of the crew and finish the whole lot up this weekend. Maybe then I can even get my first game in.

Malifaux - Pandora's Box, the Begining

2010-03-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

So Monday my unit arrived and I set to work on it. I got the mini's all cleaned up, the tabs trimmed out and the miniatures themselves assembled into workable clusters as I call them.
Sections of the model that would not be interfering with each other for me to paint are assembled; those areas that would get in the way are left unattached but made very ready for easy assembly later. I then set pins into the model drilling them and attaching a very long pin that I can also use as a way to hold the miniature in my pin vise, while painting. The first image is a shot from this morning. I had started in on the ghostly green effects of the sorrows and Pandora’s avatar form.

Then I got all into painting one of the Sorrows. In about 2 hours I got him finished up and the base painted and him pinned in and attached. I've also cut out and attached a piece of felt along the bottom of the base. I think this adds a level of "class" to my miniature and will hopefully help keep it more stable on the gaming table while playing. I thought this particular base insert was perfect for the ethereal Sorrow, as he is forming up out of the drain pipe.

Tarascus Completed

2010-03-10T15:30:00.000-05:00

Well its taken me a fair task longer than any of my previous miniatures to complete, and rightly so, but the Tarascus is now done. I'm not sure I will care to work on a model of this scope for some time again. The shear amount of time spent doing the same thing over and over again was driving me nuts and away from my table. This is also why I tend to only paint heroes and not units. I get a lot of enjoyment painting a miniature; I don't enjoy painting a miniature multiple times. Yet I am done now and that is nice. Base coating this monster took me a fair amount of time, and the weathering steps were also time consuming, washes took a long time to dry, and keeping my hands clean while holding the "mini" was very difficult during the wash/weathering steps. My normal system is to use very watered down black then rust then brown pigments after each ones dries and to liberally coat the area of effect. The problem on such a hefty miniature is that I had few safe places to be able to hold the miniature while not getting my fingers pigmented and thus transferring them about the miniature unintentionally. I had to clean up such mistakes a number of times. Also After base coating I assembled the miniature to have the finishes applied more uniformly across the miniature. I didn't want for example where the leg connected to look different from the hip because they were painted separately.

Actually while painting the skin I found uniformity to be my most difficult goal. I wanted the skin tone to blend from darker near the top to lighter on the belly/bottom. Yet to get a smooth transition while dry brushing over such a large area was extremely irksome. Still I am happy with the results. The miniature came out looking great and I even got a game in the following day after I finished sealing it. At 1775 AP it is a bear to deploy, but with a 4k game I was able to get it in. I ended up losing the game, I was honestly more interested in how my Tarascus was performing than in taking objectives so I ended up losing by 1 elixir in the end. Still the beast was a beast on the board. I lost all of 1 incarnate, and 6 clones of dirz. My opponent had a full Knights unit with the Red Lioness Mounted eaten by the Tarascus with about 6 paladins as a chaser and his second incarnate. My tigers where able to un-hurriedly consume an entire unit of archers. Leaving my opponent with nearly 2/3 of his army eliminated by game end. It wasn’t overpowering. I would have lost the Tarascus by turn two had I now won initiative and been able to heal it with Genetic reconfiguration/Reconstitution as my opening maneuver. The clarification that challenges are rounded UP to the nearest integer, rather than down as they had been in the past makes the titanic Tarascus a more balanced unit rather than a terrible beast. Still with disengagment and implacable the Tarascus is a terrable foe to engage.

Battle Report: Campaign Testing

2010-03-06T08:00:00.004-05:00

So for the third time my play group has been play testing the missions for the Confrontation Campaign I have been working on. The campaign document itself is about 80% done. Its nearly all written, fluff being about the only part not having gone through at least one completed draft. I had posted the document up for the other Sentinels for Rackham’s Confrontation to look through and make comments on. I’ve only had one response. So taking those comments in stride looks like I will have to work this one out on my own.
My gaming group has been very good at helping me to test out the missions though. We have a discussion about how they went and what could/should be changed why they feel that way and how that would affect the feel of the mission. The comments from my fellow Sentinel demonstrated I needed to put a lot more clarification on certain new rules elements that I take for granted as my group has been using them for a number of months, why they are set this way for the campaign.

So this week we play tested a mission called elemental portal. Fluff wise this area holds a number of stable elemental portals to the various elemental plains, a crew from Cadwallion discovered it and had been collecting mana gems from the portals before all out war broke out accost Pernicus. The map basically features three chests filled with mana gems radiating from the center of the map on three points of walls spreading out from the center. Surrounded by six elemental portals, one for each element. The portals work like Nexus of Mana but only for armies who’s mages work with the particular element. Part of the campaign document has an appendix with print out for the cards representing the elemental portals, including icons for the armies who have affinity for ease of reference during play. The key element of the scenario though is that once controlled the chests can be carried off by the unit controlling it so long as a member of the unit is in contact with it. So once the second round begins, the first chance to control happening during the first round control phase, the play becomes very mobile as the objectives get carted away from the center.

We played a three way game, I played the Ram, and my opponents played wolfen and lion each. For pretty much the whole game Lion was winning authority, I took it for one round, but the wolfen’s scouts and high mobility proved to be a clincher this game even though I and the lion player nearly ignored each other trying to stop him. I knew it would be a scenario in the wolfen’s favor, I also don’t think it was exceedingly in his favor. The end result was pretty close and he did a very stoic job of sacrificing his fighters to allow controllers of the chest to get away. I played a summon heavy ram company and deployed my summons in a type of undead wall formation to try and pen in the wolfen. Sadly aside from a slight delay at one point the wolfen player would assault and wipe the unit out with a non-objective carrying unit to allow the objective holders a chance to run for it. Still I had a great time and I think it was a good scenario.

Malifaux

2010-03-03T16:38:00.004-05:00

So I've been hearing about Wyrd Miniatures newest game, Malifaux since the D6 Generation went to Gencon and espoused upon its virtues to their listeners, me. I must admit I have had an intrest in the game since then, but having been working to get Confrontation and AT-43 played in my local gaming area, without widespread success, I was leery of getting into another game that no one was playing. Well a group independent of me has started playing the game, and those in my group playing Confrontation with me had made and order to play Malifaux. So I broke down and got a hold of the rulebook, I told myself at the time it was to figure out if I wanted to play before I dug myself in too far. The truth is more akin to figuring out what crew I wanted to run before picking up models.

I took me a whole 4 hours of reading through the rulebook to decide the following. A.) I was hooked and wanted to play. B.) I was drawn to two crews, the Ortega Family as well as Pandora. I liked the western feel of the Ortega’s, not having anything western themed at all it would be a good fill in for other western themed games that may come up in the future. However I learned that the group getting into the game already had a solid Ortega player, and no one playing Pandora. After reading the stats and how they worked I was truly intrigued. This is a crew that will not work in the typical fashion. They don’t really fit into a play style standard that I know of. They are not brawlers, they are not shooters really either. They do some of both but their real strategy is to have the enemy almost literally eliminate themselves. So far that is how I see them anyway. They manipulate and confound your enemy, and in the end force him to pay for every action he takes against you.

To say I am unfamiliar with how to run a band based around this kind of strategy is an understatement, yet I am looking forward to the mental wing stretching. The very foundation of how this crew works seems to demand a lot of imaginative undertaking from the player to pull out victory. You have to game both your opponent and the cards to make them work. So I put in my order and have my crew showing up. Being such a minimal figure count, I wanted to go all out on these guys and also ordered the Victorian base inserts as well as the accessories to really spruce them up. I think I may have found a new painting inspiration to get me over the marathon attempt that painting my Tarrascus has been so far.

Speaking of that beast of a critter, weathering is done, and the leather armor is all painted up and highlighted ect. I just have the flesh to highlight, and the strapping to highlight as well. Then go back do a little touch up to some detail elements and it should be done. I work on it a bit every day but no long hauls on it and I’m making progress again so yay.

Ram vs Lion - Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

2010-02-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Well this week I had a fun game of Confrontation at the old local gaming store. I played the Army of the Ram while my opponent played the Lion. Theintresting part came from two of our incarnates and their particualar line up. Essentially he was fielding a lion hero who with the artifacts he possesed would ignore the first three wounds he received to a minimum of zero. I was fielding the almighty crane witht he Abyssal Weapon. Esentially I eliminated a fighter, any fighter in contact for each attack test success. Both of our star incarnate units ended up fielding on the same edge of the table and both charged for the same objective, a mystic fountain of water. His units being faster he arrived first and held the fountain for a round before my unit arrived and coontested it. (First picture).

At this point I won authority and proceeded to charge the paladins who had been valiantly holding the fountain. The results where devistating. With one blow I fell the great hero of the lion. My undead minions slew a few paladins but a fair share of them survived. (Picture 2).

Faced with such an unstopable force the Paladins decided to valiantly flee this battle before they all lost their lives and go perhaps hunt down those nasty tigers of dirz that had been eating their fellow Guardsmen. (Picture 3). Although my tigers would be slaughtered the delay they had instilled in the lion had assured me victory.

All in all it was a great game. My opponent is fairly new to confrontation and we both laughed at the situation on the fountain. Had he deployed that unit on the other side of the table from me. My Almighty Skull would have simply held the fountain and been picked at by archers, while his hero slaughtered his way around the table. All in all a fun time by both of us.

Griffin Inquisitor

2010-02-20T11:47:00.005-05:00

Well it seems I've caught up with my backlog of postings. It was nice to have about 3 weeks of blog posts already made-up and ready to go online on a nice neat schedule. Well if you don't paint then you get behind on that as well it seems. I've hit a bit of a lackluster painting spell. I have about a dozen miniatures in various stages of being painted on my table, and I have about zero drive to get to them. My Orphan of Avagadu came in, and the flashing on the face of the monstrous form was so bad that the entire left side of the mouth is just gone under it. No teeth or detail at all. Totally blew the wind right out from those sails on me. The Tarascus is a whole lot of miniature to paint, and I've gotten sick of constantly working on that... so I took a break from painting for a couple weeks.

Coming back to it I picked up a new miniature, or at least an unprimed one. The first miniature I ever painted was the Griffin Inquisitor some three years back. Well I knew that my first attempt wasn't going to be my greatest and I went out and picked up another of the same miniature some months later. I put it aside, waiting till I thought I could do it some justice. At the bottom of this post with the grassy background is a picture of the first painting I did of this same miniature.

I got all inspired to redo this model after joining a new game of Pathfinder being run at my local game store, Crossroads. In Pathfinder right now there are a few classes being beta tested for their advanced players guide coming out this fall. One of those classes is the Inquisitor. The core pathfinder book only having the core D&D PHB classes to begin with (modified to be sure) but still evoking the same play style. I wanted to try the new Inquisitor class for fun. So I designed the character to be akin to the miniature and after a good first game session I pulled this guy out and went to work on him. Initially I had not painted his face white because well I only owned pure white and I'd never had good results painting things white before. This time I applied some shading I'd been working on with some of the other models and had a great old time. I took a knife to the mask and scored it akin to a blade striking it within the world. I think that came out especially well.

I played around with shading the hilt of the weapon from a dark red to a blackish red. I think that came out very well. As did the ink fill in of the runes along the blade. Very evocative of heat and more subtle than the blade I did for Mira. I did a bit of detail work on the jewelry this time around, coloring in the gems on the front ring at least. Another bit of fun, about a year ago I picked up a set of resin bases and basing materials from Back 2 Base-ix and have yet to prime or even use them. So I pulled one out primed it up and went to town painting it and used the new summer static grass I'd picked up. I think this new base really makes the miniature shine. I'll have to prime up and paint the rest so they are ready to be used in the future. I think they were really a star piece to make this new paint job come together.

Anyway I hope to get my painting on a little more in the coming weeks. A few side projects (the confrontation campaign for example) as well as the new Star Trek online have been sucking up my time. Something about making Admiral 5 in two weeks of getting the game says I've done about nothing else I think. In the interim I think I will be putting up some more posts about my weekly games to help fill in content until my painting log gets more filled out. Till next time game on.

Work in Progress: Tarascus part 2

2010-02-15T08:00:00.004-05:00

So I finished base coating this baby, and finished assembling it. I wanted the weathering and highlighting to be uniform acrost the miniature rather than by the part and have the possibility of them not matching up once assembled. Also now that the base coating is done I think that washes will work better applied to a fully assembled miniature rather than to the parts. (The pigment will get into the cracks/joints of the attached pices this way.). As with all my work I start with the darkest shade of coloring and work my way back up with highlights, after applying a wash over the whole of the miniature. So what you see here is pre wash and highlights, except for the face. I did a little more highlights to the miniatures face. Really lightening up the underside of the creature. I plan to keep the skin lightest on the bottom, much as real animals tend to be. Still I'm all excited about this piece now that the base coats are done. Now I can really get into the fun part of painting. The best part, even with just a base coat I think the miniature is looking really great. This thing will be great to stick on the table. I've already gotten ahold of two 4" sable foam trays to hold this sucker. I'm going to sandwitch it between them, the top one turned upside down. I will be hollowing out a pretty big area around the balde on the the head to keep it from getting hit be the tray and possibly snapped off while lifting it from the foam or if the foam scissors any in the case. Fortunatly a lot of the body will extend up into the second tray and if I cut that pretty tight around the body it should prevent it from slidding latteraly any and thus keep the blade protected.

Army of the Acheron: Gorgon

2010-02-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

Alright I ahve to admit, beyond her tenticle legs, I was totally not inspired by this piece at all. Her leather robes, hair and even face left me with about zero wish to paint her. Still the end effect will work well on the table. I only finished/painted her becouse she is the most powerfull caster for the Ram I have so far. Summon undead being a great spell I really wanted to field a couple units capable of summoning forth the hordes of undead to swamp my enemy under a mound of the dead. Still her minaiture held just so little of intrest for me to paint. The hair/skin of the heads se holds was so intermingled it was difficult to make them stand out as seperate elements. Her huge leather jacket wasn't a help either, and rackhams C3 card and its paint coloring wasn't any help at all.

So I'm sorry to say, I pretty much just phoned in this minatures paint job. Oh well. I've got a nice Orphan of Avagadu coming that I think well be a blas to paint.

Army of Acheron: Ejhin De Vanth

2010-02-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

Ejhin is a very intresting piece. A very awsome looking necromancer to be sure. I wanted to stick with the very dark/blackish coloring Rackham had painted her for her C3 card. I also wanted to make her fit in with the colors used in the Ram army box just released. As such I decided to paint all the metal trim work in the bluish metalic. I kept the robes in dark purple and black-grey. Both layers started out black/nearly black. The helm/hat started pure black with a bit of grey highlights. As a central part of the figure I wanted that to be as pure black as I could to keep her necromatic powers obvious. The end of her staff I worked into a slow color shift from that metalic blue to black along its twisted length. I choose grey almost alien looking skin tones as I just felt they fit for her. She is a nearly immortal undeadish being. The grey tones to her skin give her a kind of... washed out look, as if her very sins have stolen the very light of color from her skin.

Army of Acheron: Melmoth

2010-02-06T08:00:00.003-05:00

The Ram of Acheron having come out recently I wanted to get some extra hero's done for it. So far only the Almighty Skull and Azael have been released. Melmoth is out as a Resin legendary figure, but I already had two in metal so I thought I should get one painted up. Having gotten my army box already I noticed a heavy use of a fairly dark blue metalic on nearly all the skull warriors, black paladins and even the Almighty Skull himself. With that color in mind I decided I would use a similar color to help tie the undead hero's together much as I've used that metalic scorpion green on the Army of Dirz. On this miniature I only used it sparingly, unlike the army box I get the feeling Melmoth is supposed to be really old. His attire dosn't match with any existing army and has more similarities with viking's in style. Keeping that in mind I applied a very heavy black, then rust then brown wash to most the figure. giving him a very dirty, rusted out look that I think gives him that special something. I only applied that blue mix to the face on his sword, the skulls on his back and the rings ont he back of his legs. After the heavy washing they are very subdued in coloring and I think this fit with his overall style. His skin seemed a mix of bone/desicated mummey like flesh. So I went with the darker bone coloring I had of Aged Bone and Ancient Bone to keep it dark. Withthe wash and a little highlighting I think it came out well. To keep the actual bone elements such as the spine onthe sword seperate from his skin in coloring I mixed in a little tanned skin shadow as a medium layer to seperate their coloring and give the spine a more alive/fleshy look that helped to make it a distinctive element.

SO 78: Eclipse

2010-02-06T08:00:00.002-05:00

Continuing with my previous work on the missing hero's for Confrontation I have moved on to Dirz, my griffin army having all its missing hero's now. Having seen what hero groups will be coming out this year, and Eclipse being missing from that, also it contains one of the stronger casters for Dirz, the Desert Rose, I chose to start with Eclipse. Although admittably I don't have the metals for SO 38: Theben. I didn't get all ther hero's finished as the Desert rose has two profiles, one on foot and the other equiped with her living cloak. I havn't finished painting the latter version yet. I choose to paint her as if she was wearing a body stocking rather than wearing armor that covered so little. Mostly as a nod to my wife who dosn't think very well of this particular aspect of our gaming culture. Perhaps the most difficult aspec of painting her was the face. I wanted to make the skin seem alien, without making it to diffrent. She is a clone after all, but still a human clone. I opted for a nice base coat of a purple color with some thinned out flesh tones over that to allow the transparency of the paint to show the purple under the skin. I used a similar technique on her armor. Rather than constantly make shades of a greenish metalic, I opted instead to base paint the armor ina dark emerald green metalic color. Then appliy lighter shades of slightly tinted metalics over that, finishing with a slight drybrushing of straight honed steel to giver her armor a green undertone but not have that be an overdominate color of the armor. I think the effect came out really well.

The almost neon green metalic you see used as an accent upon both miniatures is a mix of Testors Gold Gloss and Green Gloss (neon green color). Mixed 50/50 it comes out in this most scorpion metalic green. I fell in love with this color while doing my aberation so long ago, and have used this to accent the armies of the Scorpion since. It's a great unifying color for the army.

While painting Sin Assyris I had some issues. Mostly creative. He was totally uninspiring to me. To much armor and I just didnt' see myself fielding him much either. Becouse of this I kept him pretty simple and just base coated, washed, and applied a few highlights to him. All that said I think the eyes, lenses came out looking pretty good. They are perhaps the only thing on this miniature I was really happy with how it came out. Similarly the vials on the Desert Rose also came out nice.

Temple of the South

2010-02-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

So here we have my Temple of the South hero's Sered and Kyruss. I loved working on Sered he has so much going on in his attire. I really enjoyed all the little religious icons on hima nd painting those each up. I filled in the holy icon over his head with a firey red color rather than black like the original paint job by Rackham. I wanted to draw the viewers eye to that aspect, plus Merin is a god of fire and light. I really liked the almost egyptian styling to Sered's clothing. Very fitting for a man waging warfare in the deserts. I added a little metalic paint to both the white and the yellowing I applied the the cherubs ont he holy relic in Sered's right hand. I did this to give them a bit of a "glow", something to try and show why this is a holy relic he's holding. Allow the divine power of it to shine through as it where.

Similarly to the Temple of the East I redid Kryuss's coloring to allow him to fit more with his commander Sered. His original coloring was a lot more browns in both his cloak and robes. Being a Templar I opted for white robes, fitting withthe prepainted figures, but using similar highlighting of gold as Sered along the armor and various armor pieces to keep them similar in appearance. Lastly I finished off his cloak in brown to tie him back to his original paint job, but added some gold trim to the bottom to tie him again to Sered with his gold trimed cloak. Lastly the wolf pelt on his back being a part of his story maintained its grey/black shading.

Temple of the East

2010-01-31T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here I have my finished hero's for the Temple of the East. With both Temple of the North and Temple of the West Hero's out now I wanted to finish off my griffin army and get the rest of the hero's finished. I kept Archo's color scheme similar to the one shown in his artwork as he heads the temple and his "thematic" coloring is the bases for the rest of the Temple of the East. Also he fits well with the prepainted templars already. With these colors in mind I redesigned Mira's coloring to match. Leaving her hair alone as that is a focus of her as a character. So I opted for a white robe to match her older borthers as well as gold colored trim to her armor to match his as well. I spent some time applying a red/orange/yellow wash to the base of her blade Hauteclaire to help give the sense of heat to the object without having it become the focus of the whole blade and thus apply to much color not on the minature itself and draw your eyes away from Mira to her blade. I think the effect came off alright, its a bit chalky looking. Still for my first real attempt at that kind of effect I think it worked. Also her white robe didn't work as well as I would have liked. The black wash just dosn't work with it and provides to much contrast making the robes themselves look to flat. I think in the future I will water down a midtone grey to wash with white. I think that will provide a better transition than black does. sadly although I do pretty good with the faces of men.... Mira comes out looking a bit like a crossdresser rather than a woman. Maybe it is the skulpt but I think not (based on some future posts with women figures you will see soon.)

Work in Progress: Tarascus

2010-01-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've gotten my Tarascus in the mail recently and after spending some time cleaning it up and doing a bit of repair to the figure, some of the parts had a few chipped of part from shipping/storage that need to be reattached. I primed this baby and began the long work of basecoating it. This thing is very impressive in size and I have to say I can't wait to field it against my opponents. It will be a lot of fun to see the look on their face as this Titan arrives ont he table to lay waste to their army.

After getting a good start at basecoating most of the figure I got stuck on deciding what colors to paint the leather bits of the figure. So while I was deciding on that I decided to do a more extensive paint job on the face and get a good feel for how it would come out in the end. So I painted up the mouth and face as well as the eyes. Now this isn't a finished job with the head but it's mostly their. None of the metal has any weathering effects yet (or highlighting/washing). I have to say this thing has been both a joy and a bit annoying to paint. I always hate the first steps of the paint process. Base coating a miniature to me is less about art and so much about just working, and this thing is huge. I have been taking breaks from it to keep myself from burning out on it. I mean you can only paint the same brown for some long before you want to pull your eyes out.

Valley of Divine Tears

2010-01-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

I wanted to drop this up here so you could all see what I was working on right now. I'm designing this to work similarly to the campaign system for Operation Frostbite, another of Rackham's products for AT-43 their Sci-Fi miniature game. One of the things I have felt for some time that Confrontation really lacked was a campaign system to help gamers organize a story and theme around their games. Being a long time tabletop RPG player I ahve always tried to come up with a story for my miniature games. It's part of what I love about the playing them. Beyond just the enjoyment I get from painting my own miniatures.

So let this be the official announcment of a work in progress the Campaign book Valley of Divine Tears. So far its shapping up to include ten missions. I wanted to use a larger mission map than Operation Frostbite uses. Being a fantasy game I didn't feel that three zones spread far appart was appropriate. Also Frostbite makes use of the future tech of aircraft to allow players to drop ship their armies from one of the campaign zones to the others. This would be inappropriate for Confrontation so I opted for a larger single campaign area. The upswing is their is more area to fight over. One down swing to the campaign system so far is that week 1 is effectivly a paperwork week with no games. (You simply can't move enough to get to an opponent.) However it's also designed with a certain timing in mind to seperate phase 1 from phase 2. So I think the loss of the first week is not an issue. It is like the deployment phase of a regular game of Confrontation anyway. So effectivly the campaign is a game over the game. Each of the 7 weeks corresponding to a game round of a regular game of confrontation, (the first round being deployment then 6 regular rounds).

I have basic themes set up for all 10 missions, as well as some basic design done on about half of them, couple are pretty wel wrapped up. The campaign will also use an MP system, although no RP will be used within the missions themselves the MP gained will be used to replenish lost troops, re-organize units, and purchase extra's to boost performance at various missions on the map. The campaign will use a slightly modified deployment rules to allow for more variety and intresting extra's for MP purchase. Deployment will utilize face down unit cards rather than the unit's themselves. The cards will be placed a minimum of 20cm from enemy units, mostly important for scouts. Once the full deployment phase, including scouts, is completed the players replace the cards with the units representing them. This will allow for example the use of campaign effects like... SPIES!: Choose one mission for the upcoming week, for that mission your opponent will deploy his units rather than cards during deployment as your spies provide intelligence for your commander.

Well I hope you all are finding something here to look forward to. I will keep you all abreast of my progress on this campaign book as the work goes forward.

Griffin Conscripts: Part 3

2010-01-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

Just a group shot of the unit together to give a feel for them on the table. Nothing really much more than that to say.

Griffin Conscripts: Part 2

2010-01-22T09:00:00.007-05:00

Here are the last 4 griffin Conscripts. Similar comments as last time really. Shaded them with various metal tones to give the metal armor a better look, while still not resorting to NMM. I used a Gold/Brass trim although more in style with the Lion army I found very appealing on these guys. Nothing much more to add here honestly.

Griffin Conscripts: Part 1

2010-01-21T09:00:00.004-05:00

As stated earlier I completed these guys at the same time as the Exorcist and the Tiger's of Dirz. I went for a little bit of excess on the brass trim, and even though it seems to make them look a little more like they belong in the Lion army, rather than in the Griffin, I couldn't help myself as it really seemed to bring out the details on these guys. I found the faces to be extremly annoying as the heads are one part witht he body. Making it very difficult to apply the brush to them in any detailed maner. The face and neck of the armor was constantly in the way.

You can really see here how I tend to base coat metal with a dark metal color, apply a black wash over all of it then highlight my way back up with the original metal paint and a shade or two lighter from their. I am not one for NMM, but I feel adding this 3-4 tone metalic seems to add a lot to elements painted in metal. I kept he shields metal free. I felt those elements would be more of a painted wood or steel, insteed of exposed metals like their armor.

Griffin Exorcist

2010-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

I painted this figure in the same week as the Tigers of Dirz as well as the Griffin Conscripts I will be putting up next. Again I was trying to get as many minaitures done in my few days of painting as I could. When I started out I would get one miniature done over weeks, with hours and hours spent on them. I want to say something along the lines of 10-15 hours a miniature. Now I tend to get them done in 3-5 hours of work. A big improvment, and yet my painting quality has also rissen even with that decreased time. This piece took perhaps 3 hours in total. It was a bit simplistic in sceme, but then again its not a character piece but rather a specialist for units. Once again I felt the red cloth came out really well. As did the holy relic on the front of the miniature.

As always you can click the images to see full size photo's.

Tiger of Dirz

2010-01-16T09:00:00.003-05:00

Worked on a set of Tiger's of Dirz this week. I wanted to go for a more tiger feel so I used a more orange tone for their skin rather than the light blue green seen on the prepainted miniatures. Since I am going ot be playing some Dogs of War I wanted to keep them usable for the Tiger Event card for Dogs of War. I painted their tails in flesh tones becouse they seemed so very rat like to me. Painted creatures just feels so more more relzxing to me. I think its the lack of any real "edge" to paint to for the most part your just painting faster as a bit of randomness to color changes actually improves the look of these as their more natural in appearance that way. As always you can click the image for a full size photo.

Undead Skeleton

2010-01-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I took a shortbreak from the more complicated miniatures I've been working on and worked ona skeleton for the Archon army instead. I havn't done any undead since I got my new paint set last christmas as a present. I enjoyed working with the new paint trios of the reaper master paints. That along with dropper bottles seem to make the work so much easier and help me improve my painting as well. I like the more grey tones that I got on this miniature than the last few skeletons I've worked one.

Dasyatis Clone

2010-01-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

My second attempt at one of the large Dirz creations. I went for a diffrent skin shading on this one. Mostly due to the fact that I wanted this piece to fit in onthe table with the new pre-painted army sceme. (They all have more of a blue gree tone to their skin.) Once more I am continuing to use the gold/scorpion green color combination to do the metalic green looking effect that I have been using to highlight specific metals actost the Dirz metals when I work on them. I really liked the way the skin came out on this one. After first painting it up with a pinkish skin tone much akin to the Aberation I applied a black wash and dry brushed over that a nice purple/blue color to get the skin result you see. I was extremly pleased with the results. I ended like all Dirz creatures by applying a bit of a scorpion green wash to various places to represent the use of mutagens by the Alchemists of Dirz.

Venerable Ambrosius

2010-01-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

I started on this miniature to finish off my Hybrid board game miniatures so I could field a wholy painted game. He was a surprisingly simple minature to paint. I took me only part of a day to finish him up from start to finish. I felt that his face came out surprisingly well. The eyes really made it. He just seems to be glaring slightly to the side like a stuborn old man would. I've not tried any form of free hand so I am leary to put brush to the banner to free hand in MERIN down the banner. I might try it again later, once I've tried my hand at some practice. Especially now that he's all sealed up. For now though I'm just going to leave him as is.

Griffin Cannon: Part 3

2010-01-03T21:00:00.005-05:00

Finished the last two members of the cannon crew, the last ammunition carrier, and the loader. With them completed I have my cannon's crew and with just on proxy mini I can even field a second cannon for say a Temple of the North list. Considering they are the only hero box that I have so far I do tend to use that faction list from time to time. I played my first game of the new Confrontation game with my current gaming group. My opponent enjoys the fluff of the Wolfen so he picked them as his army. He is using mine until his own army shows up. I love the Griffin so that was my choice. I fielded one cannon unit and had a... well I didn't get to shoot them much and when I did casualties to the Wolfen was minimal. Their howls do a great job of reducing the effectivness of my ranged units. I think I will do my best to limit the number of guns in my future lists. As always click the image for a full size photo.

Griffin Cannon's: Part 2

2010-01-01T09:00:00.003-05:00

Next I worked on the crew of the cannons. Sadly the C4 rules require 3 crewmen per cannon, while the Third edition metal cannons came with 5 crew for two cannons. So I'm one crew shot of the second cannon. Although with a second cannon box, I could field another 5 crew for three cannons worth of cannon and crew. This was my first attempt at a non flat painting of red cloth. I started with a very dark red as the base coat. I then base coated the entire miniature before applying a black wash to the whole piece. Then I went back and in the case of the red, applied the base coat once again except into the deepest recesses and cracks. I find black wash looks terrable on red of any shade. From their I built up successive layers of red until I had hit my brightest red for the teps of the clothing. Also The fire I think came out really well. It was my first attempt at painting fire. I worked from the bottom up, starting with a bright yellow, and working my way up the fire to a deep red. Then I mixed some black wash in with some red in successive amounts to get that smokey look at the top. I was lucky to have so much skin work on these mini's. I don't know why but I have always been pretty satisfied with the results I get while painting skin. Perhaps I am simply more aware of the way shading on skin works than with other substances.

Griffin Cannon's: Part 1

2009-12-27T09:00:00.004-05:00

I started work on these cannons to help me field a valid Griffin Temple army list for Confrontation: Age of the Rag'narok. Every faction list but Temple of the East requires a Cannon to fill out. Having two of the box's of metals I never picked up a plastic cannon and crew. I spent a couple hours on these cannons. I kept their painting simple as I wanted the crew to be more of a draw for detals. Cannons being of simple construction and a work machine I felt they shouldn't have much trimwork and the like to their layout. As always you can click the image to see the full size photo.

Griffin Executioner

2009-12-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Finally laid my hands on a blister of Griffin Executioners. Been wanting to pick up a set of these for some time now. Ihad originally thought they would be great as a D&D 4th edition Avenger miniature. Although now my gaming group is going to be rolling back into some Dogs of War soon, I was glad to have this unit in my free company. They perform pretty well on the table, although they are a glass cannon to be sure. Painting them was a bit of a treat. Although the second model in the blister was a bit of a let down. The details in the pocket of his chest left something to be desired. Still the armor and mask are such intresting aspects of the miniature that I truly enjoyed the details. Especially the mutagine syringe on the first minatures leg. (Second photo shows it best.)

Operation: Purifiers, Part 2

2009-12-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

I finished up my unit of purifiers today with the last two. This leaves me with only 1 minature to finish until my Hybrid board game by Rackham is finished with all the miniatures from the set painted. I was experimenting with some highlighting for these figures, the blue dosn't work as well as some of the other color sets I've worked with. More color layering would work out better allowing the shades to work together better. Still the overbearing color layers almost seem to work with these miniatures evoking a feeling of blue-jean like material in the fabric of the figures. I think this works really well for them thematically. As always click the images for a full size image.

Back to the paint again.

2009-12-21T10:54:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I took some time off from painting, then left my camera at my inlaws over Thanksgiving. I had gotten back into painting mid november and have been working to up my production pacing since then. As I was getting back into the miniatures I started off with some sci-fi work. I'd been playing a lot of Star Wars Saga edition, and was inspired to work on some power armored soldiers.

Although I don't play G.W.'s 40k I picked up a box of Space Marines to paint. I was in the mood for some power armored figures and had been seeing a number of space marines out on the tables in Crossroad games. Although I don't follow any of the chapter or typical painting scemes, I wanted to do some of my own designs. I tried to apply some decals, but failed misserably. I'll have to figure out how to apply them later on. I was inspired by the Outcast Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout III for the color sceme of these figures.

Lastly I did real fast paint job of a Star Wars miniatures figure, after reading the latest novel by Karen Travis. 501st Imperial Commandoes. I was inspired to get some commando's painted after my favorite Star Wars series.

Star Wars: Saga Character

2009-09-05T08:50:00.001-04:00

So here is a quickly repainted Star Wars miniature for the Saga game I play in. We started during the clone wars and I am playing a Clone Commando. See LINK for a shot of the mini I painted to start the campaign with. A couple sessions ago Order 66 came down in the game and my clone went traitor. So at the first stop our group made I sent the group noble out to pick me up a pancho and some red paint to work up a disguise. Hence I paint job on this mini. I'll be using him for the first time tonight, should work pretty well. It was a pretty fast repaint, not a lot of details to pick out on the Star Wars miniature line of mini's anyway. Especially the commons. Took me about an hour or so all in all. Had some fun with the base. Pulled out some train modeling scenics that I havn't touched since I was in grade school. The look cane out pretty good.

Operation: Purifier

2009-09-05T08:39:00.000-04:00

Today's mini is the Seneschal Purifier from the Hybrid board game by Rackham. As the more experianced hand in the team of Purifiers sent down into the Hybrid labs to purge them of abominations I opted to show his age in his hair. Wanting to show some grey hair I chose to give him that salt and pepper look of black and grey witht eh one stand of grey hair to represent the toll facing such horrors has caused this man.

It may not be readily apparent but this time of the year in Maine the weather has become very humid. As in the best humidity level I have seen in days is around 75% humidity. As such I am having issues with my sealent. I keep getting that nasty old fuzzy look on everything I seal. I've been trying diffrent ways to help keep the air mosture down as the mini drys. Everything from only spraying them at 1pm (least humid part of the day) and then putting them in a small room with its own AC turned on to dehumidify the room while they dry to brush on sealer over the particualarly bad spots while keeping a hot lamp on them while they dry. Although those steps have improved the issue some. They haven't been able to eliminate it. Coupleing this is the fact that I am using a new can of sealer, so I'm not entirly sure its the humidity level that is responsible for this issue.

Operation: Hybrid

2009-09-01T08:27:00.004-04:00

Today I'm posting up a series of shots of my three Scorpion Hybrid mini's from the Rackham board game Hybrid. I enjoyed working with my new set of Reaper master paints on this. I was trying my hand at a little blending, mind you with only 3-5 shades of blend. The reaper pro paints come in groupings of three shades. A base, the color and a highlight. For the purple of their cloaks I think the highlight was a bit off from the darker colors causing the shades to stand out from each other to much. I should have done some intermediate shading between the color and its highlight to sort of phase that in more as right now you can see the a color line as I switched shades. It worked much better on the mettle though allowing me to do some shading with metallic paints. I think this was giving them a much better look as the bottom of weaponry and armor could be darker than the portion on top in the light.

Although the purple highlight and coloring needed more shades to really blend well together these three where and experimental paint job and a bit of a learning experience so I'm not too upset with how it came out. It is not amazing but I still think it looks better than a flat purple with a wash. It's more stylized this way and looks pretty decent on the table.

As always you can click on the photo to see a full size version.

Lt. Francesca Fortuna

2009-07-19T16:48:00.004-04:00

Started on this model last night with brush on primer. Again I have mixed feelings about resin miniatures. They go together great, if you assemble it all at once, but super glue seems to dry much to quickly. While trying to glue the two feet pegs in I placed glue in both holes, then lined the mini up, when I got the second peg seated in the whole the first peg had already bonded fast, not yet down flush with the base. Makes basing a little more difficult if your not ready for it. Here is the first shot, a work in progress as I neared completion on the head. I think this is one of my best faces. Eyebrows, hair and even pupils are all on this face. A lot more detail, on this then I am normally able to.

First of four shots on the completed model.

Second shot of the mini.

My favorite shot onthe mini, really shows the laser coloring and a neat "actiony" shot.

Last shot showing the back of the miniature.

AT-43: Grim Overseer

2009-07-18T15:59:00.006-04:00

So I got this little bugger in the mail yesterday. Got it wrapped up this afternoon. It was definatly a lot of fun to work on. It was my first go at a resin miniature and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. Resin seems to hold detail very well, and has much cleaner lines and assembly than their metal counterparts. Only thing odd was painting the primer on seemed a little wishy washy to me. (Didn't seem to apply very well) But once that dried painting it was easy enough to work with. I have included a series of shots, as I worked on the miniature. The first shot is of the pieces after primming them, I painted them all pure black (Reaper Pro Paints).

In the next shot you can see the face a little better along with the eyes. The eyes are just blood red in all the sockets, the primary eyes got a hit of phoenix red to highlight them.

Here you can see the finished assembly. At this point I had added the metalic coloring for the blades, toes and some highlights.
I did two photo's at this stage as the flash in the second shot really demonstrates the drybrushing I had done over the black.

Lastly we have two completed shots with the rust brown wash and black over wash to help tone down the redness of the model.

Repaint: Star Wars Republic Commando Sev

2009-07-15T11:06:00.002-04:00

So the left is my repainted mini with an original version on the left. I wanted to go with a more dirty, mid battle look. The old black ink wash I had sitting on my desk did a pretty good job of that. Picked out some more of the texture on the mini, as well as leaving behind a much more dirty/sooty look over the rest of the armor as well.

Lessons - Ice Floe Indy

2009-03-03T12:14:00.005-05:00

Thought I'd take a moment to think over the last mission and nitpick my playing. I’ll break this up by faction.
Therians:
• Learn to use the routines more than I have been. Since I’m playing myself I need to “pre” spend some LP for activations thus freeing up my LP pool to only those LP I have for combat drills as well as routines.
• Ice sucks. Therians have no infantry that do not slip and spill all over the place. Coupled with small islands of ice with water on all edges their troops are in constant threat of a watery death. It wasn’t until mid game that I realized getting up ON the container would fix that issue.
• Maximized units are a poor choice. At only 2,000 AP maximized infantry units are a poor choice. Smaller unit sizes with more units would allow the Therians to be better able to control objectives, and keep heroic units from being forced into Reserve status because that is the least depleting choice for reserve units.
• Smaller Reserves. Coupled with that don’t choose 500 RP units. Instead break it up into small costing units so you can actually deploy them.

U.N.A.:
• Wing Troopers are a must on the ice.
• Small units like the Wing Sniper team are perfect for capturing far flung objectives that enemy units have little hope of getting to.
• Wrath Golgoths are very durable, as are Red Blok AVF’s. Make a concentrated effort to bring anti-AFV weaponry. Defender Cobra M8 would be a better choice then the Defender Cobra. The mortar is decent but is not very capable of broad infantry destruction, and with only 2 missiles the chances for damage are too little.

I’m not sure if it was the AP or the map, but the game felt VERY constrained. Considering the next game is Abandoned Base with Karmen vs Therian we shall see if it was limited units vs limited map that made me feel this way.

Operation:Frostbite Week 1: Ice Floe Indy

2009-02-26T13:50:00.013-05:00

Operation: Frostbite Phase 1, Week 1
Battle: Ice Floe Indy
Therian Company 1 vs U.N.A. Company 1

Round 1:
U.N.A won the opening authority roll and opted to have the Therians enter the field of battle first. The Therians spent 2 LP to pass. U.N.A. then spent 2 LP to pass as well. Therians opened up by first placing the Wrath Golgoth behind the orange crate using rush movement. U.N.A. responded by moving the Defender Cobra forward to a small island of ice again with rush movement. The Therians then moved their Storm Golems forward to surround the light blue crate in the south. Their footing being designed for the uniform surfaces of Damocleas they slid on the ice right up to the edge. U.N.A. responded by sending out Captain Newton in her Firetoad, she jumps to the crystal location.

The Therians then moved forward their Bane Goliaths placing them as near the orange crate and staying to the center of the ice, and command them to take cover. Unable to hold their position from making such a fast rush movement they slid back into the blue crate. The U.N.A. deploys their Wing Trooper squad and assigns them the capture of the crystals that Captain Newton is covering. They do so taking a knee and trying to use the cover to keep the Therians shots from finding them. Lastly the Therians move up their unit of Assault Goliaths hugging as close to the Bane Goliaths as possible and similarly take cover behind the crates, slipping only a little they slid to the waters edge on the right. U.N.A then deploys their Wing Trooper Sniper Team who first take a pot shot at the assault goliaths, disabling one, before moving out to the crate on the right side taking cover behind it. Lastly the U.N.A. Steel Trooper squad leery of the cold water surrounding them on all sides, and also not wanting to risk the jump over it they attempt to hold position, but slip to the waters edge on the south.

The U.N.A. capture and control both the north east container and the northern crystal, scoring 2 VP, and 200 RP.
The Therians capture and control two containers, scoring 4 VP, and 100 RP.

Round 2:
Once again U.N.A. won the authority test, opting to maneuver first command the Defender Cobra to take up over watch. The Therians then move forward with the Wrath Golgoth, Defender Cobra opens up with a full salvo firing both the missiles and the mortar at the Wrath Golgoth. One missile penetrates damaging the hull for two points. Surviving the salvo the Wrath counter attacks firing all weapons on the Defender Cobra, alas its armor proves too thick for even the advanced Therian munitions. Captain Newton then fires off both lasers at the Wrath Golgoth damaging the Medium Sonic Cannon before moving back behind the crystal leery of return fire. The Therians then moved their Bane Goliaths up once more taking cover, again the footing proves difficult and they move south west towards the water, finding no clear shot they hold their fire.

Next up the Wing Trooper squad moved up to capture the Karman and UNA container. They open fire on the Wrath Golgoth their multi-lasers proving useless while their two Laser Gun bears are able to score one hit against a leg hobbling its motion. Once more they take cover and a knee to keep out of Captain Newton’s line of fire. Before moving the Assault Goliaths open fire on the Steel Trooper squad killing 3 of the soldiers. Then they move up to keep control of the orange container and use it as cover from the sniper team. Their preferred targets having taken cover the sniper team moves up onto the container taking shots of the Storm Golems eliminating two of them. Having lost two of their numbers but more leery of falling into the icy waters to their south the Storm Golems move north to wrap the container, the footing proves more solid this time and they maintain position. The steel troopers open fire, missing with their missile before moving away from the waters edge.

The U.N.A. captures and controls both the karman and UNA central containers and maintain control of the crystals and container from the previous round scoring 6 VP, and 200 RP. Total: 8 VP, 400 RP.
The Therians maintain control of the two containers, scoring 4 VP, and 0 RP. Total: 8 VP, 100 RP.

Round 3:
Once more Captain Newton leads the U.N.A. to go first. First she calls in the Death Dealer TAC ARM squad to reinforce the sniper team. Hoping to eliminate the Wrath Golgoth before it opens fire itself and opening the way to pour fire into the units behind it opens up with the missile launcher against the Wrath and the mortar against the Bane Goliaths behind it. The missile strikes the Sonic Cannon destroying it. The mortar failed to damage the Bane Goliaths. The Wraith Golgoth fearing that it will be eliminated before it can be fully utilized returns fire on the Defender Cobra this time having taken the time to take aim punches trough some of the hull. The Death Dealer TAC ARMs arriving on the scene move to support the snipers having to make a rush motion to make it over the water. Worried about the sniper team taking unmolested shots and wanting to capture the crystals the Assault Goliaths move up onto the container opening up with their Nucleus Cannons eliminating both snipers. Turning their attention to the Steel Trooper squad they open fire with their Sonic Cannon but the range proves too far and the shots fail to land.

The Wing Troopers split fire the two laser guns trying to make purchase upon the Wrath, but fail to. The rest of the squad takes up over watch positions. Next the Therian Bane Goliaths move into position on top of the container, as they clear the top the Wing Troopers open fire yet fail to make any lasting damage, the Bane’s return fire eliminating 5 of the wing troopers. Captain Newton seeing her men taking losses moves up and fires upon the Bane’s ignoring the nearly crippled Wrath Golgoth. Her shots strike true and she cuts two down. The Storm Golems once again move forward to stay on the ice, their footing having been so far a great trouble. Taking cover and setting up over watch positions while being ready to split their fire. Lastly the Steel Troopers launch their missile at the Wrath missing entirely, before opening up on the Assault Goliaths with their lasers, failing to penetrate with either weapon. The ice pushes them slightly to the side.

The U.N.A. continues to control both the Karman and UNA central containers and maintain control of the crystals and container from the previous round scoring 6 VP, and 100 RP, and spent 300 RP on the Death Dealer TAC ARMs. Total: 14 VP, 200 RP.
The Therians maintain control of the two containers and capture the crystals, scoring 4 VP, and 150 RP. Total: 12 VP, 250 RP

Round 4:
Captain Newton once more leads the charge firing on the lone Bane Goliath destroying it, before firing her second laser on the Wrath, finishing off its last leg holding it in place. Before moving up onto the UNA container the Bane previously held. In retaliation the Assault Goliaths turn their fire onto Captain Newton. They punch two bold hits into her Firetoad’s frame and disable one of her laser cannons. Hoping to clear the deck the Death Dealer TAC ARM’s move up onto the container and take aim on the Assault Goliaths, having cleared their zone of fire of any obstacles the Assault Goliaths take several hits falling to the ground in pieces.

With the line falling apart and the Defender Cobra proving all but impossible to destroy the Wrath fires with the Nucleus Cannon utilizing its sniper ability it is able to finish off Number One. Captain Newton spends the LP to eject, firing her chair and aiming back to the safety of the crystal and the team of wing troopers covering it. Luck being with the stalwart commander she lands near the ice and only stumbles slightly on the ice. She readies her multilaser and prepares to hold her position. The Wing Troopers hoping to avenger their fallen commanders AVF fire their laser gun upon the wrath missing entirely. Not wanting to give up their position covering two containers the remaining troops go into over watch. The Therians seeing their ability to take control of Ice Floe Indy in jeopardy move the Storm Golems forward to take position between the three containers. The ice still giving them trouble pushes them to the left. Finishing the round out Defender Cobra and the Steel troopers open fire on the Wrath destroying its last weapon but intact.

The U.N.A. controls only two containers this round, as well as the crystals, scoring 4 VP and 100 RP. They spend 215 RP to deploy the remaining Steel Trooper squad. Total: 18 VP, 85 RP.
The Therians continue to control the central three containers but loose control of the crystals. Scoring 6 VP, and 0 RP. Total: 18 VP, 250 RP

Round 5:
Wanting to devastate the Therians the Defender Cobra opens up with the missle launcher, it lands punching threw the last of its armor reducing it to slag. Then it opens up with its mortar landing the shell amongst the Storm Golems, reducing a couple to slag. The storm golems return fire on the Defender Cobra with their Sonic Gun, damaging a leg but otherwise leaving it intact. The rest of the Storm Golems hunker down and prepare to ward off defenders taking up overwatch positions. The UNA then calls in the air drop of the steel troopers upon the forward position of the Wing Troopers, their aim falls true and they take up position on the container, the few troopers able to see a few Storm Golems take fire offing a few in the process. The Wing Troopers seeing an opportunity to end this assault now move forward to the container over the Storm Golems under heavy fire. One trooper takes a hit but the medic is able to keep him going. The troopers open up with all guns and nearly eliminate the remaining Storm Golems. With victory near at hand the Death Dealer TAC ARM’s move forward to take control of the crystals. The Storm Troopers try to eliminate the last few Storm Golems but the cover and range prove to much for their shots. The mission ends with a U.N.A. victory.

The U.N.A. gain control of the central blue UNA container, and maintain control of the Karman container. They also control two crystals, having captured the second one, scoring 6 VP and 250 RP. Total: 20 VP, 335 RP.
The Therians loose control of everything this round, including the sector. Scoring 0 VP, and 0 RP. Total: 18 VP, 250 RP

Operation Frostbite

2009-02-24T17:08:00.003-05:00

In the coming weeks I will be working my way through the Operation Frostbite campaign. This after having secured for myself a new Karman and Red Blok army. As such I’ll be posting up the battle reports as they occur. For now you can enjoy the campaign map that lists each company’s beginning movement, and thus the locations of each of the future battles. I’ll post up company lists as each company is sued for the first time, and those not used when the first week of phase 1 is over.

The first mission will be U.N.A. company 1 versus Therian company 1 at Ice Floe Indy.
U.N.A. company 1, lead by Captain H. Newton
Platoon 1
- 9 Steel Troopers (Sergeant, 2 Missile Launcher)
- 3 Death Dealer TacArms
- 2 Wing Sniper Team
- Number One (+ Captain H. Newton)
- Defender Cobra
Platoon 2
- 6 Steel Troopers (Sergeant, 1 Volcano MG)
- 9 Wing Troopers (Lieutenant, 2 Laser Gun)

Therian company 1, lead by Alpha Atis-Astarte
Platoon 1
- 9 Grims Golems (+ Alpha Atis-Astarte, 3 Flamer)
- 9 Storm Golems (Alpha, 1 Sonic Gun)
- 3 Bane Goliaths
- 3 Assault Goliaths
- Wraith Golgoth

Rackham Collection

2008-12-15T11:57:00.002-05:00

Over at the Rackham Games forums for AT-43, a running topic has been started to show off collections. So I snapped this pick to place up their. figured as I haven’t had a chance to get any real painting done in a long time, although I do have a couple mini's on the bench, I'd stick the picture up here.

I greatly increased my Confrontation set size due to the huge sale over at Fantasy Flight Games on Black Friday. Yeah an early Christmas gift to myself.

Equanumous Warrior, Dragon & Goblin Ashigaru, Rat

2008-08-03T12:01:00.005-04:00

I chose to paint this miniature in line with a different coloring scheme than is typical of the dragon army. The voids and smoke of this character seem to represent to me the teleporting/concealment of the Shadowdancer or Shadow Hand style characters from the D&D book, Tome of Battle. As such I chose instead to use a black and purple coloring for the smoke/invisible break in the character. Along with that I chose to go with a light green coloring for the eye to symbolize a kind of magical quality to the figure. The gray/purple seemed an adequately appropriate coloring for the rest of the figure. I don't think the painting was the greatest I have done yet. I was going threw it a bit faster than normal and I was mostly focused on the black/purple smoke effects.

Looking around the back of the figure the smoke effect comes through a little better. So I would call this figure adequate, and defiantly worth the experiment. Good for a D&D game though.

This was one of the more enjoyable figures I've painted. The skin was very interesting over typical human tones. The green really let me play with some highlighting of separate coloring to create a nice blemished skin tones rather than a uniform green with just a wash. His eyes and teeth came through really well as did the shield. I just loved the detail work all over this figure.

Flipping over to the back we get to see the tea kettle and cup he is carrying around. Both were a pleasure to work on. The hardest part was the clothing. The white pigment is of course easily able to cover up everything. So touching up with the white was painstaking as I didn't want to repaint the details too much. Although with the wash I am really glad with how the fabric came out.

Temple Purifier & Praetorian Guardsman, Griffin

2008-08-02T12:01:00.001-04:00

Now we hit the batch of mini's I've more recently done and have yet to grass their bases. The Temple Purifier was my first real go at hair, the one morbid puppet not really counting. Also my first human face as well. All in all I think both came out really well. I didn't get the eyes cross-eyed and the skin tone highlighted well. The hair also showed a really good depth of color. I might go for a browner coloring next time and possibly black after that. His jacket and accessories are rather flat in color, done somewhat on purpose to draw more attention to the face. Although his boots do have a bit of coloring and highlighting done to help them look a bit more scuffled. Mostly though my focus was this figures face.

Looking at his back we can see the hair a bit better. I think the brightness of the uniform apt, if this guy really had seen a fight he would be in need of some new clothing as his would be pretty rough afterwards.

Let me just say this was perhaps the hardest of the armored figures so far I have painted. The number of slight raised surfaces needing red over the metal was a head ache. Especially given that a number of those were broken up with indents that needed to be metal rather than red. The cloak to was difficult, not for any reason of the model, but rather that the closest color I could find that I ended up mixing was a horrible paint. Much to thin and requiring many many many coats to become an even non blotchy color.

Looking at his back we can see a few details. Although really the detail is in the armor itself and thus was a matter for washing not really separate painting to bring out. I didn't do any of the dirtying dry brushing add-ons to this figure. Being an imperial guard I thought them as being very ceremonial in appearance.

Aberation, Army of Dirz

2008-08-01T12:01:00.003-04:00

The Aberation from the Hybrid board game by Rackham. This is my favorite miniature so far. Perhaps not the best painted of my mini's (see Arkeon Sanath), it was the most fun to paint and a very interesting piece. As you can see in this head on shot, I used the same neon green/gold mix to paint the frontal facial plate. I also used it on a central metal piece in the back of the mini. This helps to draw your eye centrally to the mini on first glance and marks it as allied with the Scorpions of Dirz. The company painting of this miniature uses a purple toned flesh with a very lightened fleshy purple to highlight. I didn't much care for that look thinking it made the Aberation look less like a composition of mutated cloned human flesh and more like an otherworldly creature. I used amore pink/purple under layer then highlighted into a rotten flesh coloring on the surface. Heavy use of the neon green thinned out highlight was used to demonstrate the heavy doses of chemical enhancers this creature is always under.

These last four shot are from each side. Click to expand and see a larger version of each. First up the front on view once more, this time a little farther back allowing you to see more of the details.

This shot shows the right side of the Aberation showing off the twisted up shoulder and torn flesh and melded attached machine components. I think the joint in the shoulder coming threw the flesh along with the nails of the shown foot both are excellent in this mini.

The back view defiantly shows off the almost matrix like metal plugs along the arm and back of the Aberation. To each of these plugs I added the neon green mutagenic juice to help espouse the feeling of drugs and corruption infusing this creature.

This shot is of the left side. This shot shows off the melding of beast and machine, highlighting a number of interaction points. Including a piece of stretched skin extending over a raised spinal blade in its back.

Pest of Flesh, Army of Dirz

2008-07-31T12:01:00.003-04:00

These were a simple joy to paint. My first real attempt at speed painting. I did all four of these from start to finish in around 2 hours. I basically base painted the flesh and bone, then applied dry brushed layering and highlights over that, washed in some black, applied a second dry brush coat of highlight, then did a very thin wash of neon green to appropriate areas.

Their small size defiantly aided me in getting through them quickly. I basically did these on the side with left over coloring from the Aberation (coming soon).

Arkeon Sanath of the Dirz

2008-07-30T12:01:00.004-04:00

This is perhaps the best of my works so far. I only say perhaps because I love my Aberation (coming soon). I do think this mini came out the best. The use of neon green mixed with a gold made for a very good scorpion poison colored green that I think fits the theme of this army REALLY well. I look forward to using this color in the future as well.

Seen in this picture as well as above is the green bottle of mutagenics that the Dirz use to amp up their fighters. Effectively super soldier drugs. An outward application is a slight green glow emanating from the eyes of Arkeon threw his helm. This is faint in the human soldier who simply use before a battle, later pictures with creatures will have a much stronger application of a thin neon green around the eyes due to them being consistently pumped with it.

Here we can see the shoulder guard styled like a scorpion in skeletal form. For this I chose to use the stylized neon green/gold mix that creates a sort of green mother of pearl coloring that seems to me to tie in close with the scorpion totem of the Army’s of Dirz.

Of note in the last picture is the bottom of the cloak. I overlaid a thinned out brown color over the green of the cloak effectively giving it a very dirtied/worn look that I feel fit this desert berserker well.