Reaper Gallery: Merchant, Bodyguards & Assassin

 Another set of minis painted back in 2015, all from Reaper Miniatures.

The merchant and his henchmen were sold in one pack, while the assassin was a separate model. 

Everything here is a single-piece casting with integral base, no assembly required.

Not the most sophisticated paint jobs ever, but I'm still rather happy with the color schemes.

The pointy shoes on the assassin are pretty snazzy and his pose is very dynamic for a one-piece cast.

The merchant wins the sartorial contest on the strength of his hat, though.

If I still had these I'd probably be using the set in Frostgrave.

With the new rules for cargo transports in the Wildwood supplement I might use these two as a single transport, perhaps rebased on something a bit larger with one or two of the various "porter" figures added on as well. 

They'd also make a nice mobile scenario objective for homebrew scenarios.

The sculpting sells the weight of the chest pretty nicely, although the guy in the lead is going have some sore muscles pretty quickly in that pose.

He certainly doesn't look very happy about it.

It's nice that they're armed and all, but getting to they'll need to set that load down if they want to fight.

One of Reaper's more whimsical packs without being outright cartoony, something they used to do more of back in the day

Found On A DVD Part 2: Old Figure Gallery

 More random old minis from a long-forgotten DVD.

"I am too an umber hulk.  We didn't always look like spindly bug-men."

Old school Ral Partha Umber Hulk, from back when they had the AD&D license.

"Prince of Shadows?  Never heard of the guy."

One of my earliest attempts at source lighting from the glowing green daggers.  Didn't come out too bad.  A dynamic metal Reaper sculpt.

"Phantasmal Killer?  Yeah, I know that spell."

Reaper mini, originally a metal sculpt, translated to Bones plastic pretty effectively.  One of the better attempts at sculpting a spell effect in mid-cast.

"How come you get the helmet?"  "Shut up, you.  I'm the boss around here."

Old Reaper fig, all cast as a single piece.  A really weighty hunk of metal.

"..."

It's still a stone golem.  Did you really expect a witty quote?  Another massive chunk of Reaper metal.  I'm a little baffled why this one doesn't seem to have been re-done in plastic, it would really be a good fit for the cheap Bones white material.

"Backhand chops are my specialty!"

Oh hey, the miniature for my very first 13th Age character.  A Privateer Press mini from their original RPG range.

"Me?  A sinister cultist?  Whatever makes you think that?"  

And my very first homebrew villain for 13th Age, along with her big creepy idol.  The gal is another Privateer Press RPG fig, while the idol is an old Reaper Metal fig.  The thing's cast in two pieces so it's hollow, but still weighs a lot.  Another one of those figs that really should have been done in Bones when it came out but inexplicably didn't.  It's really a shame, the figs has a lot of character.  

Found On A DVD: Old Figure Gallery

Some random old miniatures from years gone by, salvaged from a nearly-forgotten DVD burned ages ago.  The things I find while spring cleaning.

"Trolls, why did it have to be trolls?"

Reaper Bones figs, from back when there was only the white stuff.  Think those are 40mm bases, maybe 50mm.

"Actually, I prefer good sturdy boots for treading jeweled thrones beneath my feet."

Metal reaper fig, arguably the best "Conan" barbarian sculpt ever made.

"Give a hoot, don't pollute.  Try not to bleed all over the forest when your arm is ripped off."

Metal owlbear fig from WotC's Chainamil range.  Over twenty years old at this point.

"I'm so old there actual lead in my alloy.  Fear me!"

Grenadier had some interesting sculpts back in the day.  Think Mirliton still has this one in production.

"My sculpt was inspired by an even older fantasy book cover."

Another ancient sculpt, this one from RAFM.

"Snakes, why did it...wait, we did that gag already."

Not even sure who made this one, possibly Grenadier.  Swap meet find from years ago.

"Worms, why did it have to be...damn, stop that!"

You'd think it would be something from D&D's Age of Worms but nope, OOP Hell Dorado figure.  Kyuss would be proud, regardless.

"Way creepier than snakes any day of the week."

Say what you will, Mage Knight had some neat sculpts.  Just need a bit of rebasing and a decent paint job.

"Aren't yetis supposed to be white?"

"Don't be racist."

Remember when most of Reaper's miniatures were metal?  I do.

"Raar, I'm a dragon."

One of the better early Reaper Bones sculpts.

"Raar, me too."

Not quite as striking in green, although it is a more traditional color scheme.

"You expect a quote from a stone golem?"

Early Bones plastic was probably at its best with relatively simple sculpts.

Frostgrave: A Few More Wizards

 Finished up the last of my female wizards from Frostgrave, although I still have a  vast supply of leftover bits that will no doubt make an appearance on other models in the future.

Four are the usual dynamic duos of wizard and apprentice.

Broke with the pattern on the last two.

The woman on the far left might be a wizard, but I was thinking more of an alchemist by way of being a chemical warfare expert loaded down with flasks and bottles and glass globes full of mysterious substances.

Built and painted these with an eye toward simplicity, which came out just the way I envisioned it.

Bit of a Gandalf the Gray vibe going on with them, and they're generic enough to serve as members of almost any school of wizardry.

These two use a much more colorful palette, and I'm quite happy with the way the white hair stands out here.

They're also quite a bit more heavily laden than the Gray Ladies, but still pretty all-purpose in term of school.

These last two are the oddballs of the group, and the alchemist is my favorite of the lot.  I imagine she's got a mix of poisonous and knockout gasses, semi-magical acidic solvents, and probably some kind pyrotechnic chemical making things go boom.

The other gal is a conversion that uses a spare head and arms (one of them bionic) from the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder frame.  The left arm is a mechanical replacement for a lost limb (thanks to the new rules in Fireheart) while the right has had a hand holding a copper staff (because channeling electricity seems like an artificer kind of thing) from the Frostgrave kit swapped on.  The bracer on the arm makes that sort of thing much easier since you have a good place to cut without leaving having to repair any damage to the clothing.  The parts are a pretty good fit despite being from different companies.   

Been rather ill lately and I find the Frostgrave (and Stargrave) models make a nice, relaxing project to work on while I'm trying to stay upright.  Sadly I'm pretty much out at this point (aside from parts, so many parts) and the local store is doing a terrible job stocking the ranges so I'm going to have to find something else to work on the next time I need some "just messing around" figs.  

Pity, I was hoping to get some of the demons and gnolls and the female Stargrave kits and...well, the list goes on where those two games are concerned.  Some of the best plastic minis ever made and a pleasure to work on.

Privateer Press Cephalyx Monstrosities

Three Cephalyx monstrosities from Privateer Press's War Machine range.

Big chunk plastic models on 50mm bases.  Frostgrave wizard for scale - as you can see, they're huge.

The models share a common body, with the forearms and heads and some weapon parts differentiating them.  If you weren't using them for War Machine, the various arms could be mixed and matched however you desire - they all fit the same way, although the net launcher arm will only fit on the left side so its cable reel will connect properly.

This is the defensive Warden, with twin gripping claws.  A bit weak against heavy armor but also the most inexpensive monstrosity in the game. 

The Subduer has a large blade and a net launcher, the only ranged weapon monstrosities carry.  Slightly more expensive than the Warden, hits harder, and has some nasty positioning tricks.

The Wrecker is the hardest hitting of its kind, and the most expensive in game.  It's quite strong against any target, and has a particularly nasty sweep attack.

Their size and "tormented test subject" look would make them good proxies for Dark Eldar grotesques over in Warhammer 40K, but they'd need to be stuck on 40mm bases instead of their normal 50mm ones.  Alternately, they could be left as-is and used as Chaos Spawn proxies.