Latest and last round of Reaper Bones

Okay, I think I'm done with the Reaper Bones experiement. I either have or don't want any of the other bones that are currently available but will be watching the line as it matures.

I've used most styles of paint that I own here and a few mixes of things. The purple worm for example, Army Painter primer and paint. The Gnoll, Vallejo brush on primer and paint. The Troll, Reaper Heavy Gear paint, no primer. The ghost, Privateer Press Paint, no primer. The werewolf, Vallejo Primer with an army painter dip. Yeah, he was a quick one. The three orc archer, mostly old Games Workshop paint, no primer. I was lazy with them for the most part as it was pretty much just a test run.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. Some of them are direct tie in to the Warlord Game like the Ghost, who is a named character for Necropolis, and the Gnoll, who works for the Black Orcs. The others are good all purpose miniatures.

I think the best we can hope for now though, is that they get some compexity down. All of these are very simple miniatures. In some ways, they are perfect starter miniatures. That werewolf expecially is good for people who want to learn either drybrushing or dipping or using a wash. Same for the worm, ghost, or troll. Not a lot of different parts, not a lot of bags, pouches, belts, or other distractions. Allows you to get something painted quickly.

At their price point, I think they'll be a great seller for Reaper.

Ral Partha Drow and Games Workshop Skaven

That's an old drow from Ral Partha on a Gale Force 9 25mm square base with some Vallejo paste textured down on it.

The skaven is a slave I believe with some Army Painted Battlefield Black on the ground. I may do a few drybrushed over it later when I'm sure the glue is dry. I had another pic but it was so dark I figured to hell with that one.

The Undying by Games Workshop

Well, apparently some rumor mill flying around that Games Workshop is doing some price increases for Finecast while doing some price reductions or something along those lines.

Me? This is an old metal figure. While I too think that some of What Games Workshop produces is overpriced, I love a lot of their Lord of the Rings figures, especially their Wraiths. I have a few of them and would like to purchase more in the future.

These guys were done up for the most part with Andrea's black mix set. It's six black variants. Good stuff.

The base on the horse is an old Secret Weapon. It's way too tall. It's like 3mm when most are like 2mm. Now I now that doesn't sound like a lot but on this scale, it's enormous. But since I'm not actually palying with them in tournaments or anything and its for RPG purposes only...

A few Bones from Reaper on order along with the Heavy Gear paint set from The Miniature Giant as well as some new molds from Happy Suppuku. Next week should be good times for painting! Still looking forward to seeing the Army Painter's boxed set but think I'll have to pass on the Games Workshop one unless someone wants to donate the cash for it.

Bueller? Bueller?

Ogre Maneater Arabian Final Paint Layer

Alright, he's not quite done in that I'm going to touch up the base and where ever I see some white poking through the paint but for the most part, he's done. Still took way too long. Hard to say what the final painting time on him was because of waiting for the inks on the various weapons to dry.

Now onto the next one!

Maneater Layer three

Okay, the third layer done. Next time it'll be the final. I'll probably pop a layer or two more on the red and black boots and start with the inks and washes. Bad thing about the inks thought is they take a lot longer to dry than the washes. Might to time to think of what the next figure is going to be.

Maneater Layer Two

Alrighty, this is layer two. Well, mostly layer two. On the boots I didn't do anything and the skin is actually like layer 1 and 1 half as I put down too much paint thanks to poor control and did a quick mix of layer 2 and layer 3.

Another layer and a few washes and inks and I'll consider him done.

For the curious, the inks will go onto the metallics, the washes over pretty much everything else.

Using Andrea Paints, Reaper HD Paints for the most part here.

Ogre Kingdoms Maneater

One of my favorite sites to look at for miniatures, both in terms of skill and speed, is Four Color Figures. It seems one of the ways he handles such a large volume is having a good idea of what colors and paints he's going to use ahead of time. So tonight I had this bad boy, another maneater for my Ogre Kingdoms army (that I've never played boo!) and threw on the first layer.

I have to go to bed or otherwise I'd pop a few more layers on him but first layering done in about 40 minutes. Not bad in that it took me probably as much time to find the paint I wanted to use as to actually pop it up on the sucker.

Ogre Kingdoms and a Few Reapers

Six grunts and four of the two handed weapon weilded along with that giant scorpion and a knight that I based on a square and painted up in Warlord Crusdader colors.

A Matter of Paint

So I just finished my latest batch of ogres. I'll take some pics of them and the giant scorpion that I was working on at the same time.

In between that, I tried to organize my painting area. That did not end well. I did not realize the huge amount of material I was keeping in the window. Probably not the best place for some of it, but the binds were always down.

Anyway, I bought a small shelf and took all of that stuff out of the window. As I organized other stuff that I wanted to move around, I couldn't help but notice that I have a lot of paint.

But... and here's the weird part, I'm still curious as to what's coming out from some of the companies. Reaper miniatures has a thing going on with Heavy Gear to produce a paint set specific to that miniature game. The Army Painter is coming out with their own line of paints. Well, that's not true. They already have one, but its getting a boxed set and they claim that they use different sources for the washes, metallics, and base colors to insure that its the highest possible quality.

And if you hadn't heard, Games Workshop is also redoing their paint line. This doesn't count minor changes to things like Privateer Press metals where they now have a black lid to indicate that its the new formula or brands that blogs like Four Color Figures use, Foundry, or Coat De Arms, which is the old Citadel range.

In terms of paint being used though, it goes something like, knocking over an open bottle, having paint dry up, having paint chunk up, and finally, all the way at the bottom, actually using the paint. I think Chaos Black and general Black are a few of the paints I regularly use up.

So that's me rambling about paint. What's everyone else's thoughts? Too much paint out there already? Not enough paint? Too much 'official' in the game or ?

Minis In Process

Haven't finished them yet and discovered something 'interesting'. The primer that I initially used was flaky and thirsty. It ate the first three layers of paint I put down. The metallics look like they've only had one layer as opposed to three of them (traditional bolt, chain and silver). Oh well, I'm hoping that after I hit them with the inks it will help flush it out some more.

In the back is that giant scorpion. When I use the brown wash, he'll be getting hit with that, as well as some black in some small areas and then a little bit more of a build up. Also noticed that he's got a few broken spines on him. M'eh? Hated him anyway! Little bastard never fit on his base and was a PIA to put together.

Prepping the Next Batch

I have a lot of miniatures. I'm always buying more. Part of it is because I like the appearance of them or get a good sale or gifts. One of the things I've been trying to do, unsuccessfully to a point, is cut back on actual miniature purchases. While I'm still picking up brushes, paints, bases, textures, and other bits I'm trying to hold back on new minis.

This has been difficult for me. You see, I love a good looking miniature. While I don't play Vampire Counts, some of the new figures for the range have been fantastic. Really good stuff like the new Krell figure. It inspired me though to get out my old unpainted Liche Master and Nagosh and see if I can throw some paint on them. Avatars of War also has some great stuff up and coming and it requires a little will power to refrain from it.

But in the meanwhile, I still have a ton of unpainted plastic, resin, and lead around so I'm not suffering too much.

The ogres are part of a battle box I bought many moons ago. After I primed them, I noticed some mold lines so went back in. What's worse though is it is really bad primer. If they weren't plastic I might dip them.

The scorpion is for a Reaper miniatures Warlord faction. I hate it. It's not that it is a bad model, but the back legs are separate and the two sets in front of it, and the tail require a bit of patience and glue and as I've mentioned before, I am a bit of a clumsy oaf so glue on the fingers a few times tonight.

To the far right, you might notice a piece of cork with a shield in it. That's for my 3rd Griffin Knight that I've had almost finished for... I want to say three years? The drive to finish him off died when Confrontation went from an awesome skirmish game to some prepainted plastic crap but since I'm now trying to actually finish off some models....

The two red women are the same model from different time periods. One is the old metal model, the other the new plastic. Both hit up at the same time as the other Khador forces. I finished the others first because they were larger and I was able to hit large plates at a time. These two will require a bit more finesse and so take longer and don't hold my interest as much.

So what is everyone else working on? Anyone hold backing on purchases? Anyone wanting to pick up some limited edition goods but holding back? Everyone in overtime mode?

Latest Batch and Prep Work

Finished off some miniatures and prepping some more.

The gnoll is a touch up from Wizards of the Coast. The thing was initially almsot all black so while I was painting other figures I would throw some paint on it.

The demon next to him is the Heresy one. I had the red on him done for a while as he was my test figure.

The little dragon didn't initially come with a base but if I wanted to prevent it from chipping and tipping over... that's a creature from the Dragons of the Emerald Idol set in the Fantasy Lords box by Grenadier. The last one is a Games Workshop Armored Archer for the Empire done up in Nordland colors.

Same batch just from a different angle with the camera.

These are the guys I was waiting for the inks to dry on. Lots of inks involved with these Chronopia Black Orcs. They have kind of a middle east thing going on. I made the leader stand out a little by changing his base. The figures are some interesting sculpts but I thought these were bad casts. The bases on the 'grunts' are done using Happy Suppuku and green stuff. The leader's base is done up with some army painter flock and gale force 9 dried grass.

And on the workbench...

Yeah, I still haven't hit the daemon prince yet. The dragon in the middle is the large dragon from the Dragons of the Emerald Idol set. I threw him on the round base that the daemon came with if you use it for 40K. Fits well. Threw some skulls and other debris on the base. The last guy is I believe a Mountain Giant from Ral Partha. The original date on the base is 1977. We've come a long way. Have to at least let these set overnight. There's a ton of green stuff on the dragon and a ton of glue. Messing with it, especially it being all metal and only two pieces, wings and body, made me remember that despite my love of these old figures, they could be a huge pain in the ass if things didn't fit and man, those wings did not fit.

Washes, Inks, Glazes or ?

When painting up your miniatures, what does everyone use in terms of washes, inks, glazes and other additives?

I started off with inks for the most part. I bought the really small Citadel pots that were drop squeezer bottles. They were fun stuff. I've never really 'mastered' that process but I still pop inks out to add some 'depth' to a color, to intensify it I guess.

With washes, they seem to do a lot of the work. Games Workshop dropped their inks and went to washes. I remember hearing the collective sigh of the internets that chestnut ink, long a favorite of gamers everwhere for flesh, fur, leather and other bits, was no longer available, but a sigh of relief that the washes, especially sepia and mud seemed to work pretty well.

I have some Andrea paints. Two of the sets I have, silver and gold, come with inks. These are old school and have to be thinned down tremendously. I've been using them a bit with these black blood orcs from Chronopia that I'm trying to finish off. That won't happen tonight as I'm up way past my bed time and waiting for the last round of black ink to dry off. For silver, there's brown, ultra-marine blue, and black inks. For gold, there's chestnut, black, and yellow. That yellow is the last touch I'm looking for but when I do it, I'll also touch up the yellow clothing on the orcs at the same time so it'll be a double purpose use.

And Privater Press has inks and washes. They have a flesh wash and an armor wash and all their other colors are inks. They recommend a lot of thinned down ink glazes over the red for the Khador forces and the thing that is terrible about that, is first, preventing the ink from pooling and creating splotches, and second, waiting for the ink to dry between layers.

Oh well, enough of my rambling. What's everyone else do?

Empire Rilfemen and Zombies For Sale

Getting too crowded with all of the new bases and washes I've recently bought so if anyone can afford $30 for 16 Empire Riflemen done up in the Nordland Colors.

Well finally finished off these suckers with army painter drip and basing materials including the grass... but since I'm not playing and need space and money...

20 zombies flocked and sealed ready for tabletop use for $50 including shipping with shipping confirmation US address only.

If anyone wants both I'll throw 'em in for $70

Zombies with Army Painter Strong Tone

After the dip dries I'll throw some basing material on there and spary it down with some matt spray.

Brains

Fought off some lethargy to put down some base coats some on GW zombies.

I'm not too fond of these suckers but as I've painted them they've grown on me a little. Have to do a little more base coating then some touch ups then a dip then the basing and then the ant-shine then done.

and I'm missing one of the little bastards. 19 of 'em. I'll find the other one some day I'm sure. Ugh.

It's All In The Prep

While I'm not a fan of the way Games Workshop is going overall, sometimes they make some products well worth the cost. Here, the boxed set innards of the Demon Prince, which goes for something like $33 a pop. Strangely enough, a resin Ogre character, with no extras, no sprue material, etc... goes for $38. Ugh. The stupdity. I can smell it through the internets.

Lots of pieces here. There are at least three distinct ways you can make this bad boy.

Okay, the guy on the left is a Reaper Stone Giant. The guy in the middle is the demon assembled. The green stuff is liquid green stuff. It's.... interesting. If you have large gaps, I think you're better off working with standard green stuff. You can't tell from this picture but that stone gian'ts left arm on the rear needed a huge chunk of green stuff. The little guy is a demonic champion from Heresy. Have to wait for the base material to dry, do some sanding on the green stuff, and then prime away! The stone giant should be a super quick finish while I suspect that the demon prince may take a little longer and the little guy I still have to put together. The bases are all done with Happy Suppuku by the way.

Anyone else doing any assembly of projects or other good stuff? I know that Dread Fleet by Games Workshop is consuming a lot of people's time.

First Miniatures of 2012

Another year of crappy pictures. Lighting was good but maybe I need to work on my Macro understanding. Anyway, these are two figures I bought many moons ago when I was going to run some Freeport. They are true 25mm so like like some halfling version of serpent men when sized up to the new figs. I also don't remember the name of the company that makes them.

A skaven slave, I think from the Mordenheim range from Games Workshop. He was about 90% done. I finished off those few parts there were not and threw some basing material on him.

Ah, Red Box Games. They make some 'evil' barbarians that would fit in perfect with a Games Workshop Chaos Marauder army. The base is done with Happy Supukku Broken Earth or Ice base. I'm fairly happy with how this one came out despite the horrible, horrible picture.

Back side shot. Also terrible. Ugh. New Year I'll have to start doing more camera work.

So:

Red Box: 1
Games Workshop: 1
Unknown Company: 2

Off to a good start already.

First Miniature Based Purchases of 2012

So I've already spent some money on the hobby at my 'local' hobby shop, Games Plus. On the left we have some 25mm cobblestone square bases by Micro Art Studio. They have a lot of great bases and conversion bits. I'm not going to use these for my initial plans though. I wanted something to match the Heresy bases I've used on the Black Legion but while these are good, they are too peebly for my needs.

I also picked up a resin cleaning kit from the evil empire. The price wasn't too bad. The brush is longer than the standard other tooth brush in terms of the bristles and the mold cleaning tool has a very solid feel making it easy to use.

Not pictured is the new No Quarter, #39 by Privateer Press as well as the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass book by the evil empire again. It's a compendium of material from White Dwarf magazine but it's all in one place and is an easy reference when you want to see how they did a particular figure.

I suspect with Secret Weapon having a Facebook coupon, I wll be buying their washes soon. I like to support smaller companies when possible.

Anyone else start the year off with some miniature goodness?

The Last of the Wine (2011 version)

This year, in many aspects, I cut back on my miniature spending. This doesn't mean it came to a stop or anything like that. I just recently picked up the prepainted Dragons collector set from WoTC and I've had the Paizo prepaints on preorder for two months. I've also bought supplies like Army Painter primer, micro-files, green stuff, and other tools. However, miniature purchases have not been where they were in previous years.  This has been a funds thing in minor aspect but the major aspect has been time. For the last two years, work has been beating my ass with a tire iron so I've taken to a lot of short cuts (hence Army Painter and Vallejo Dips) and not buying as much as I used to since the stuff I've bought in the past I still haven't even primed. While I won't say that in 2012 I vow to improve my painting skills, I will try to paint more. Anyway, onto the last pics I'll post for the year. I hope that next year sees more people posting here. We have some great talent on board here and I'd love to be inspired by more of it.

These may not be the last of my trinity figures that I've had since the game came out, but I ran across them and painted them up. Armor is the iron/silver Army Painter spray followed by Andrea inks; brown, ultra marine blue, black. Skin is Andrea skin tone pack. The base is done up with Happy Suppuku mold that does Hexes. Nifty stuff there.

Reven from Reaper's Warlord game. I didn't do the two beastmen (woodchoopers in Warlord) at the same time, but I like them anyway. The orc is something like an orc sargent but a pig faced one. The green on the orc's skin is Andrea's six pack of green. These guys are pretty standard in basing terms.

Some Menoth figures from Privateer Press. He was a dip. He is part of a pack I'm giving one of my friends for X-Mas. I know it's late as I haven't given it to him but screw him as he didn't get me anything.

Two of GW's figs. The elf is a wood elf from the command group. The pic is so clear I can see a spot I missed on his pants. The gunner is another one I found while cleaning up. And again I gave him the wrong dip. Should have been soft and I used strong. The base on the wood elf is cork. I tried to disguise it a little by clipping it at odd angles.

Two more mega-miniatures. The first is dipped in Vallejo's Sepia. The second in Army Painter Soft. I weep for the crimes I commited against that second figure's eyes but done is done!

Have I mentioned I love Superfigs? Another robot with some paste for the base. Andrea silver set on this one all the way.

I took all these pics at the same time with the same camera and lightning and this is the best of six pics I took of the Black Legion here. The guy on the left with the great sword was my old 4e character, Rus, a fighter from the core I played for a while under a solid GM. The rest I painted later on. The bases are Heresy or I should say, were Heresy. They are cobblestone tabbed that go into the standard 25mm bases. The price of metal has risen so much that Andy at Heresy doesn't even make them anymore and recommended I go to Fenris for some resin versions. I hope they are a good match as I want to buy a few more of these style figs for games like A Song of Blades and Heroes and Havok and others I've heard good things about, not to mention Warlord, by Reaper, itself. I like the simplicity of the figs. I like these guys much more than the halbred ones.

I've already got a lot of figures in various stages of painting right now including a Red Box figure that would go great with the Chaos Mauraders from the north from Warhammer as well as a set of Orcs from Chronpia I think the game was called, as well as many more figs to prep.

I hope 2012 treats everyone better than 2011 did and that the paint flows freely in the new year!