Progress Report 3/4/17 - 52 Minis week 9 (more Malal)

Gotta have it. Gotta have more of that sweet, sweet, MALAL!!

I haven't really finished any backstory or fluff for this particular Chaos Warrior of Malal. He was a weapon snip/ex-Blood Bowl mini I saved from the pewter graveyard and gave new life. Added his sword and shield and painted him up in a decidedly black and white style to honor his patron deity. I really like the hidden layers of character on his mask and behind the shield. Menacing! 

Here is the group shot as it stands in the current progress... but we have some new additions on the way!

I picked this Chaos Chariot up in a trade some time ago and have struggled to find the right project for it (it doesn't look good with the newer Chaos minis). I slapped on a few extra bits and presto! We have some deadly wheeled reserves coming in for Malal. 

And what Malal force would be complete with out THE Daemon Prince. A mini I have been coveting for quite some time now...

You know him, you love him, but we won't use his name... because this will be a Daemon Prince of Malal and I don't know his name yet! This was the first larger "finecast" GW mini I have built and it went together very smoothly. The details look good though there were a few areas I had to clean up (on the tail mostly). 

But it's not all Daemon Princes around here! I'm running a game of Pathfinder tomorrow and felt inspired to bang up a quick mini for one of the players in the group. Behold... Frodsak the Half-Orc Ranger! 

Still finding ways to use my pile of Bones minis from a few years back. Added a couple small touches to make him more WYSIWIG and add some toughness. I've slapped a bit of paint on him since this photo but I don't have a new image to share. You'll just have to come back next time to see it all finished! Til then...

Progress Report 1/21/17 - 52 Minis Week 3

Here we go... it's week 3 of (at least) 52 minis for the year. Hey look it's a Dwarfess!

Some kind of rune wielding blacksmith? Or runesmith? Or just a badass Dwarf woman? Either way I was really excited to get my paintbrush on her. For some reason the ink wash I used looks very glossy in this photo. Hopefully it will look less so with a bit of dullcoat applied. 

This is the first mini painted for my Mordheim Dwarf crew or alternatively for Frostgrave perhaps? (Oh yeah I kinda bought that rulebook during the holiday break... but haven't played yet)

In other news this last week was good with a bit of Pathfinder Societies play with my group (who hadn't played since Feb of last year!!) and also my first week of a new semester. This time around I have two separate drawing classes 4 days a week which has really kicked my lazy drawing butt into high gear. Probably drawn and sketched more this week than the past 15 years combined!! 

Random sketch of a random person in public.

My Ben Templesmith/Police Sketch self-portrait

The week of drawing has been a good reminder that like any art drawing takes practice! Same with mini painting and painting in general! Don't get down on yourself for doing something and it not being "the best" - getting yourself going is at least half the battle.

Kevros the Half Orc Monk about to Grapple a Stone Giant

Last year before my last session of PFS I re-created my Monk with the Unchained Monk. Best choice I could have made! At level 9 he has 27-30 (potentially up to 48) AC without armor, 2d6 damage per hit (with up to 3 per round in his Flurry of Blows), the ability to follow up and strike opponents who miss him in combat (thanks to Snake style!), and he can generally sense and perceive the hell out of things. Of course he is dumb as a bag of rocks with about as much charisma... but that's okay!

Potentially playing a bit of Bloodbowl or AoS tomorrow and I have plenty more drawing to do as well. So until next time....

Progress Report 1/28/15 - Time after time.

Well so much for those "resolutions"!!! At least the one where I update every week. In my defense it has been quite hectic with the new job/traveling for weeks at a time situation. Still! I have managed to get some gaming in here and there. 

About half way through a Risk: Legacy board. I have won 2 of the 7 games and at least 2 more of those were narrow victory margins where my opponents kept me from winning (as they tend to do). It has been a fun time though and I look forward to seeing where the game goes in the last half. 

Also managed to get in some Pathfinder in one of my societies games. Almost level 7 with my half-orc Monk and having lots of fun hugging and punching things out of the fight (unless they have DR or Hardness or some other thing I can't overcome which is starting to be more common). 

And then there is the tabletop action. Hopefully playing some Mordheim practice games this week and there is a WHFB escalation group hitting the ground next month. Hoping to bring my Vampires to those games and wrote two lists I am trying to pick between for our first games (at 800 points). 

A doodle I did while working and thinking about undead dudes.

First list is all mounted Vampire all the time.

HEROES: 200
Vampire - HA, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Striking, Luckstone, Red Fury(50), Barded Nightmare (200)

CORE: 220
Skeleton Warrior x 20 - Spears, Champion, Standard (180)
Dire Wolves x 5 - Doom Wolf (50)
Dire Wolves x 5 - Doom Wolf (50)

SPECIAL: 377
Hexwraith x 5 (150)
Black Knights x 7 - Lances, Barding, Champion, Standard, Musician, Banner of Swiftness (227)

Total Points: 797 (of 800)

Basic idea is to put the Vampire in the Black Knight unit and use the Hexwraiths and Dire Wolves to screen and redirect until they can get into combat where hopefully the Red Fury kicks in and shreds a few units along the way. Never used Hexwraiths either so it would be good practice.

The other list I have is more of a foot slogger list with more Core units and no Vampire. 

HEROES: (200)
Wight King - HA, GW, Dragonhelm (100)
Necromancer - Level 2 (100)

CORE: (345)
Skeleton Warrior x 20  - Spears, Champion, Standard (180)
Zombies x 20 - Standard (65)
Dire Wolves x 5 - Doom Wolf (50)
Dire Wolves x 5 - Doom Wolf (50)

SPECIAL: (255)
Corpse Cart - Balefire (105)
Hexwraith x 5 (150)

Total Points: 800 (of 800)

This list is more traditional and less fighty with okay magic, decent hero, tricks, and more bodies. Also a good reason to get more of my Core units painted up. This is probably the list I will go with even though I think it has less chance of winning. Not really worried about winning just want to have fun and get some paint on my army. 

My "competitive" VC list would be different and be more of an Undead Horde and less of the standard 8th edition VC book. Skeleton power!!! Thoughts and suggestions are welcome of course. 

Also working on getting ready for the third Dog Bowl held at the local gaming event here in town Marmalade Dog. Working on prizes and a dugout to give away to one of the winners. All of this and I leave again on Friday for another week!! So much to do and so little time to do it.

Progress Report 8/20/14 - Saw on a stick.

Been a busy couple of week for me with not too much time to paint or build miniatures (and no time to game). Did manage to knock out a commission paint job in just a couple days with pretty good results. It was for a half-orc assassin type character in a Pathfinder Societies game at GenCon. Good to finally make it to the convention in some form!

Client asked for a mini painted in all blacks and yellows. Very challenging for me as I don't think I paint those colors very well and they take time. I was happy with the balance of the mini and the way I managed to avoid the "bumblebee" effect. This mini was originally a vampire character but I think it looks suitably orcish too! If it was my mini I would have cut off the pointy bat shaped ears. I did learn a new recipe for dark black which I will use on my Grave Guard and other skeledudes for the upcoming Nagash vampire madness in WHFB!!

Meanwhile I spent time painting some Goblin/Gnoblar secret weapons for the Bulltimore Bullies to field in the upcoming Chaos Cup.

Just the basecoats and washes on these minis for the most part. I did spend some time today getting the skin layered up a bit. Looking forward to getting these guys into some Blood Bowl! Blowing up people with bombs and attacking them with chainsaws is always fun (on the pitch).

Oh yeah and this cyclops/big guy is getting some love too.

Lots of work to do here. If it turns out at all decent I will enter him in a painting competition taking place during Chaos Cup this year for best painted Impact! miniature.

And then there were the beasts... calling my name... a few new additions to the herd. It's growing!

Will they get any paint before I switch over to my VC army in preparation for Nagash!? We'll see..

Progress Report 8/3/14 - Slow rolling... into the grave.

Well I am officially (statistically) half way to dead and another year older. Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it at the movies, making pizzas, drinking beers, and playing games. Not tabletop games (I wish!!) just some low impact board games like Carcassone and Shadow Hunters. I did get to spend just a tiny bit of time painting and assembling some minis too. 

Here is where things sit on the table at the moment...

This big guy was a pain to assemble

Hoping to paint him up for a painting competition in September

Look familiar?

A new addition to our Pathfinder Societies party

Just working on base coats here

Dwarf Cleric on Sarenrae done except the base

I like how it turned out

I wanted to give the red a softer tone

Not so soft there is the Gnome Barbarian

I like painting bright orange hair!

Human (was Dwarf) Druid

Kinda looks like a Ranger but whatever!

Halfling Rogue ready for action

If by action you mean missing a lot of backstabs

Goblin conversion for a BB secret weapon (chainsaw)

I like the chainsaw on a stick idea

A goblin chucking explosives

Another conversion for BB secret weapon action

Need to get all these finished plus a commission that just rolled in all in the next few weeks! Should be a busy bit of painting time. Really itching to finish my Mordheim band as well and I think I might compete in a WHFB tournament in a few months which means I need to finish and/or repaint and touch up one of my armies. Probably my Vampire Counts though the Ogres are tempting me...

Progress Report 7/21/14 - Finding the Path...

Back in the painting saddled after time away for gaming at Zlurpee Bowl and working on Mordheim Undead warband minis and a few new Pathfinder characters for a home game I am running with a few friends. Also picked up Dreadball for cheap so I will either start playing that game or maybe just build and paint up the minis to sell. We'll see.... in the meantime here is some progress!

Re-painted Dire Wolf

Dead and creepy

Warband's Necromancer

Wanted to keep the blacks black

Happy with the book and skull details

Look into their eyes

Halfling Rogue

Furry feet increase stealth

Dwarf Cleric of Sarenrae

Red and gold with a flaming weapon

Dwarf Druid

First try at a camo cloak

Gnomish Barbarian

Small but mighty

Start of a Deadzone Plague test color scheme

I kinda like the gross pink and green combo

Next up I have more RPG minis to paint including some additional commissions. Hoping to get some more Deadzone terrain built up too but this month is flying by! We'll see...