Number 5 ...

Yes ... another Justicar. No, I'm not really building an army of these guys though at this rate it would be possible for me to field a Justicar unit in a few weeks. :)

crowtales: 1-10/52 - Privateer Press

Models 1-10 of 52 for me.

Cryx Bile Thralls. Full Unit.

I tend to do a squad at a time, in order to keep things looking similar and to make sure I remember the proper patterns, etc. These aren't super fancy or anything, but then, my mini's are uniformly for gaming - I don't enter contests with em ever. :)

I have, with my latest Cryx purchases, been trying to do a cobblestone feel to the bases. These show that off, though i think the detail is a little lacking.

Another Two

Both of these started in 09'.

Both of these are minor 'cheats'. The one on the left is from Kenzer & Co and is a ranger in their limited line. The 'cheat' here was a very limited color selection. The one on the right is a GW Mordenheim figure and got a single base coat for everything and then a dip. Then a spray down with an anti-shine matte varnish from the Army Builder. Then a dip for the base and some dotting for the eyes.

Looking at 'em now, I may have to touch up the ranger's eyes a little. Maybe a little more darkening/highlighting of the bracers but they is done.

Not a sword and board fighter!

Number 4 for the year. This one took much longer than I had intended. Her corset details and the painting of her dress just didn't go as quickly as I'd wanted. I'm really very happy with her, though her face doesn't come out as well in these photos as it does in "person".

Flash or No Flash?

The top one is flash. The botton, no flash. The bottom was too dark to see when at the large size. The figure on the left is a Games Workshop metal orc. One day I may do an actual banner for the bastich and maybe dot the eyes with some orange for some contrast to the red. For now (and probably ever), he's done though. The base is cork with pumice paste spread ontop of it.

The one of the right is a drow from chainmail. This figure is another 08... perhaps even 07 that didn't really grab me Still, with the blog here as some motivation, I figured, why not. Just finish the damn thing already.

Those Actually Started in 09!

Okay, these are all started in 09.

From left to right; Magnificent Egoes, Dream Blade (I have an original touched up if anyone wants to see the difference), Games Workshop for the Mordeinheim Game (cheated massively with him... two highlights on the red, a wash of a flesh I was using for another, single colors for everything else then the dreaded dip!), and Crocodile Miniatures for the other Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords.

Those Started Before January...

Finally got my camera working again. It's an old Sony that fits in the pocket and has a 'mighty 3.3' mega but hey, it still works. These 'bad boys' were started well into last year and just needed little bits here and there to finish. Starting from left to right; Chronopia, Reaper's Pirates, Games Workshop Empire Priests of Sigmar.

Chainmail Grimlocks

From Miniatures

These two bad boys are grimlocks from the late, lamented Chainmail line. Between collecting the figures when they first came out and picking up free blisters at WotC, I have everything commercially released for the game. I've even managed to snag a few of the unreleased minis.

I like this sculpt mainly because it's easy to paint and easy to modify. The arms are posed such that, with minimal fuss, you can swap weapons, add a shield, and so on. I have a champion modified to carry a sword and shield and another figure that I want to mod into s spellcaster/shaman. That a couple more generic warriors should complete my grimlock horde.

So, that's numbers 3 and 4 for the year.

First Two of the Year!

From Gaming Photos

These two bad boys are horned demons from Paizo's Game Mastery Line. I created the 3.5e stats for them and wrote the mini adventure that featured them, so I always had a soft spot for these guys. My wife took the photo (thanks, hon!).

I speed painted these guys, with a base coat, wash, and then dry brush. One of my goals this year is to get a ton of monster minis painted up for use in my D&D games and for Song of Blades and Heroes, a really nifty skirmish game that I'm itching to play.

Nothing like a good cigar

Another fun Ork sculpt. This guy has a welding mask that he lowers when he uses his flamethrower.

But he had the foresight to cut a slot in the mask so he can still smoke his cigar when he does. Love it!

Looking at the pic, I may go back and paint some black burn marks around the tip of the flamers and its exhaust slots there. Yeah, that might be cool.

But anyway, this makes 9. :)

Basing job

No new paint yet. But I was taking a stab at my first serious basing job. Yes, another Justicar (one of my favorite sets of sculpts), this one battling on the edge of some stoneworks or a cliff.

We'll see how this turns out once the paint has hit the lead.

Macrophotography Ideas

It was asked in one of the mini posts - how to take such great pictures of your mini's!?

So I thought I'd start a post to put tips and links for helping with macrophotography up.

My first attempts were heavily informed by the following two links:

macrophotography overview from the Privateer Press Forums:
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=5813

How to make your own 10$ Macro photo light box:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

If you've got other informational links, please post em. :)

Two and Three

As promised, here are "two" and "three". The first is Sir Malcolm from Reaper and the other is a Templar from Rackham's Confrontation. I found that I'm getting a bit more comfortable with taking less time on the blending, though I will say that the results are less perfect than I've had on other models. Still, these are intended to be playing pieces, not display so I'm very happy with how they turned out.

Numero Uno ...

Edit: Took new photos of him. Much better lighting.







I decided to include this one since I did most of him this week. I also have two more minis finished but I won't have pics until tomorrow. I think you'll really like the ones that are coming.

Two more January Orks: Big Shoota and Doc Gorkenstein!

Finished in January - Still Counts...

January Continued - Two Orks

January So Far - 4 Minions

New Minions for Necessary Evil...

Da Rulez!

It all started with my noticing that I had painted 42 minis in the 52 weeks of 2008. I idly mentioned that 52 minis in 52 weeks would be a good challenge.

And then Tom painted like 10 figures on January 1, so it's on like Lebanon!

If you're a member of this blog, you should be able to simply post pics of minis. Other than that, we don't any rules! Just paint, post, and comment. I'm not that skilled a painter myself, so don't be shy!

If you want to join in on the fun, drop a comment in the blog and I'll get in touch.

Good luck!