Simple D&D character models

As I mentioned in my last post, I've just started playing in a new D&D campaign. Even though it doesn't seem like we're making much use of miniatures, I always like to have models for the characters, just for fun. I dug into the box of Bones, which includes models from all three Bones Kickstarters at this point, and found some models with input from the other players. I only have models for the first three characters created so far. 

The paint jobs are a little blotchy, but I often struggle to achieve more on Bones person models. The highlights look extra blotchy in this photo; they're a little smoother in real life. 

Anyway, on the left we have brother-and-sister paladin-and-cleric team Winslow and Winifred, with their good-for-nothing wizard cousin Dunlow beside them. Dunlow is a modern figure, clearly meant to be a Harry Dresden type, but I liked his douchey little hat. His flashlight hand was replaced with a book that was a spare part from a Black Cat Bases model of H. P. Lovecraft. I wanted to echo the house colours worn by Winslow and Winifred in Dunlow's scarf (which has a white fringe you can't see) to reflect that he's a house member but with a different sense of style. 

Anyway, this is just to say that I have not been idle!

Age of Sigmar: Easy mode update

So I mentioned that I didn't think I was going to be able to finish this month's Age of Sigmar painting target, so I pulled out my big single model to fill in the gap. Well, that seems to have been successful so far.

So, this is what it looks like after an evening's work. As you can see, the basic colours are all on there, and if I don't get time to back to it this month I'm going to call it done. Like any Reaper Bones model, the mould lines are an ugly mess, and I kept finding them when I thought I'd got them, but ... eh. It'll look OK on the tabletop. I feel like it's at about 80%, and if I get the chance to touch it up a bit over half-term I can get it to about 90.

I was originally going to paint it in naturalistic colours, but I wanted it to be more consistent with the rest of the army, so I went for a white-and-black colour scheme with the side heads represented in the army's green and purple accent colours.

Quick bad guys for D&D

I needed some muscle for the baddies in my D&D game, and I didn't have much time; I was dreaming up this scenario while on holiday in Italy. As soon as I came home, I rummaged through the Box o' Bones to find some guys who might do the trick. I wanted some burly dudes in evil-looking armour, and here's what I had lying around:

These guys are from the Reaper Bones II Kickstarter; I painted them in my usual speed method, priming them grey, highlighting up to white and applying colour with washes. Torso-face guy was easy (he's just that method with a 50/50 black and green wash all over his body and some contrasting areas picked out) but the one I'm really happy with is the guy in the centre, whose evil flesh-armour looks pretty good. It's a layer of GW Carroburg Crimson followed by a 50/50 mix of Carroburg Crimson and good old Tamiya Clear Red. The bony areas are Army Painter Soft Tone highlighted up with VMC Ivory.

These knock-off Chaos Warriors look a bit sloppy but I think they're all right for rush paintjobs on one-off baddies. If I were going to go into more detail I'd define the edges of the armour panels more clearly, maybe add some metal scuffs and wear, stuff like that. But to be honest I don't feel like most of the Bones models reward that level of investment for me; cleaning them up is such a nuisance. They really shine in situations like this one: I would never have bought these models, but I got them super cheap and when I needed some evil-looking dudes, I just pulled them out and gave them a super-quick paint job. I'm pretty pleased.

Plus I mashed out this quick sorceress -- also from that Bones Kickstarter -- while I was at it. I think she looks OK, although this photo could be better. She might turn up in Frostgrave or other games.

D&D "Gorgon" painted and pondered

So in D&D, confusingly, gorgons are called "Medusas" and the "Gorgon" is a giant metal bull critter, which I believe is based on the brazen bull, a presumably fictional torture and execution device.

Now, the bull may be associated with the cult of the Carthaginian god Moloch, who a) has a great name, b) is awesome in Paradise Lost, c) already exists in my campaign, and d) gets some extra emotional heft from his appearance in Howl.

That being the case, clearly in my campaign the "Gorgon" is the Sacrifice Engine, a mechanical construct powered by the life energy of humans horribly roasted within it. In 5th ed., its main attack other than just goring and trampling people is its petrifying breath, which obviously doesn't quite fit in with the image, so I'm gonna give it a horrifying scream -- after all, the ancient writers focus on the gruesome sounds the thing made -- which forces characters to save or be frightened. And I might give it a scalding blast of steam as well, although I'd rather it did something cleverer than just do damage. Characters should also be able to get into the hatch on its side and pull out the victim, although presumably at the risk of burning themselves.

Anyway, the miniature: this Reaper Bones Gorgon was one of the models from the second Kickstarter, and I didn't really care that much about it, but I thought I'd polish it off. I integrated its textured base with some crudely-sculpted flagstones of my own (I suck at sculpting but I'm just doing a bunch of it anyway to build skill and confidence), then primed it grey. Metal paints, slightly lighter metal paints, couple of washes, some bright eyes and the job's a good 'un. I think it looks OK, particularly given that I did not previously give a hoot about this monster. Now I might actually use it, since I have both a mini and a backstory for it.

An apology and some cold-blooded dudes

I had some trouble with Blogger yesterday, so no post then. In recompense, here are some photos of painted frog models to inhabit Frog Island in my D&D game.

A group shot of the guys. Faithful companion Rroark is in the centre of the front row. 

The shaman in his skull helmet. This shot isn't great, but the model's ... OK. 

A proud Frog Island brave. 

A shaman from the Council of Elders. 

Another warrior.  

This guy doesn't quite fit with the others, but whatever.
He is a Reaper toad-man I bought at a games shop in Colorado, I think. 

These group shots are not great, but you get a better shot here of Rroark's bitchin' tiki shield.

Some more painted odds and ends.

I've been clearing up some of my backlog, including getting ready for Oldhammer weekend. Here are the results.

This lizardman warrior is another Reaper Bones model, speed painted using my usual method for fast Bones painting: grey primer, drybrush up to light, and then apply colour mostly with inks -- although for the armour panels I then painted brown and added a couple of layers of metal before washing.

As you can see, it's a pretty simple paint job on a model with lots of texture that makes it very suitable for that method. It's far from perfect -- my usual reservations on cleaning Bones models apply, and I certainly skimmed the painting process -- but I think it'll do nicely as part of an ensemble project I'm working on.

The second model is part of my developing Ork army for Rogue Trader; if you recall my original post about it, you'll remember that there were a few models I needed to finish in order to complete it. One of them was this mekaniak, who I got in a job lot of lovely old models I picked up in a charity shop for £20. I sold the Man O' War models and a few others, made back the cost and basically got some classic Orks, half a dozen barbarians, a Rapier Laser Destroyer and I don't know what-all else for free. Because I'm trying to keep the painting style consistent across the army, more or less, this guy is based on a black undercoat and a series of layers. Not fancy but whatever.

As you can see, it's a pretty simple paint job, in keeping with the generally pretty simple tone of the army. The pistol in the left hand is from a slightly later period of Ork, but it's still elderly -- I got it, I believe, when the Cambridge Games Workshop was selling off the last of its Gorkamorka stuff in like 1999 or so.

Aaaanyway, it's not perfect, but it'll do nicely for the army project, leaving me with one Gretchin and a base of snotlings to finish.

So, yeah, no big news in any of my painting projects; it's mainly been little bits and pieces like these. But I keep making strange conversions, so some of those will hopefully show up soon.

Speed painting, backlog-clearing

Minis for RPGs and skirmish games like Strange Aeons sometimes require a different approach than painting for a wargaming army; chances are they're only going to get out on the table every once in a while, and you want to paint a lot of them for variety. This means developing effective speed-painting techniques and not worrying too much about the details. Case in point: this frog-guy and turtle-men from the Reaper Bones Kickstarter (possibly a mix of the first and second Kickstarters, I think). 

As the characters in my D&D game are heading back toward a tropic island inhabited by a tribe of laid-back frog guys, I thought I had better finish up the various frogs and lizards in my miniatures collection, so I pulled out this part-finished shaman and these two snapping-turtle guys. 

The shaman is an older Bones model, back when I was brush-undercoating them black, but the turtle guys are examples of a technique I'm currently using as much as possible: I prime the figure with grey car primer, then apply a two-layer drybrush, starting with a mid-grey craft paint followed by Vallejo Medium Sea Grey. I then applied the colours using washes -- a mix of yellow, light brown and green for the flesh, and Army Painter Soft Tone for the shell, plus a little red on the inside of the mouth. I went back, dotted in the eyes, painted a few incidental details and gave the shells a quick highlight along prominent edges, and Bob's your uncle. 

You'll notice that there are some pretty prominent mould lines on the turtles -- that is because removing mould lines from areas of heavy texture on Bones models is a ballache and I don't have the patience for it. I am conditioning myself not to see them. 

Nonetheless, I think he looks not bad. 

The ridged, wrinkly texture of the sculpt really helped. 

There are definitely things I would do better if I wanted to spend the time, but overall I think they look not bad, and now they're painted and I can move on to a new thing. Although I'm gonna need a separate box for all these various beast-men types if this keeps up. 

Some games actually getting played.

So I played some Frostgrave at long last with pal and every-other-weekly gaming companion Buzz. I think it went well; we were definitely going faster at the end than at the beginning. I can still see that I have a lot to learn, but I think I was already starting to get the hang of it. 

Table setup. It is a bit mismatched at the moment and not at all snowy, but as I develop
more actually Frostgrave-y terrain, the other stuff will fade out. The base is a set of
Wilkinson's vinyl floor tiles I got at a car boot sale for like £3. 

Two archers, an infantryman and the Necromancer prepare to cross the frozen river on the left flank. 

Meanwhile, the apprentice, accompanied by a brave man-at-arms, a hapless thug
and a trusty giant centipede (warhound), makes his way across on the right flank. 

There be traysure in them thar ruins!

Why do these strange lights burn atop this ceremonial dais?
I'm gonna repaint the green bits in a more Frostgrave-appropriate colour. 

Contact with the enemy, in the traditional form of a brutal slugfest.

I was pleased by the game, even though I didn't have time to prepare as much as I would have liked. I will cut out and sleeve the spell cards I printed for next time; that'll help.

This charming but gigantic Reaper Bones bugbear is going to be a Snow Troll. 

Frugal terrain and a few more painted models.

So, another car boot sale find! I suspect this was originally an aquarium ornament. Models fit on it nicely, although I expect I'll get more use out of it in RPGs. Not bad for 50p.

We've seen the berserker model previously, but the guy standing at the top of the bridge is a Reaper Bones ... something or other. Apparently his name is "Eregris Darkfathom," and in my D&D campaign, rife as it is with cultists of Dagon, I think he'll make a rather dandy villain. Like most of today's models, he was primed grey, then progressively drybrushed up to pure white. I went back and added the colours with washes, letting the combination of the wash and the underlying drybrush do the highlighting for me. I picked out a few details and the job's a good 'un. 

Basically, I've been trying to clear a lot of my backlog lately, and that means speed painting. Sometimes -- like with this guy -- I get a result I'm quite happy with! Other times, it doesn't look as good, but it's OK because speed has a virtue of its own. Here are a few other things I've painted since my last painting update: 

This model, by contrast, is everything a Bones mini shouldn't be -- a mess of hideous mould lines all along flimsy parts that will just bend out of the way when you try to clean them up. He looks a little better than this -- this is not a great photo -- but by the time I'd been struggling with him for a while I just didn't give a crap. He got done because I'm nearly done with all the various skeletons that came in the Bones 2 Kickstarter, and he'll probably turn up in D&D but other than that he can go to hell. 

A couple of weeks ago -- while I was at Bring Out Your Lead, in fact -- my wife picked me up a big box of old miniatures at a charity shop. Most of them were the old 5th edition WHFB plastics, mainly Bretonnians, but there were a couple of late-90s metal elves in there too. Sold the elves for a small profit on eBay and now effectively have a couple of dozen free models. That I have no use for. But free! Anyway, this little lizardman (from the WHFP 5th ed boxed set -- was one of them, and he too was tinted using washes and then had some detailed areas picked out to pretty him up. For a cheapo plastic rank-and-filer I think he looks not bad, although there is a dreadful old-timey mould block thing just sticking right out of his back.

Anyway, that is ongoing painting for now. A more substantive update to come!

Quick Painting Update

After I got back from Bring Out Your Lead, I was filled with excitement to paint stuff I got there. But I made myself promise to paint some of the stuff on my table before adding anything new to it. I'm not done yet, but here's a little progress.

This berserker is made from -- I think -- a Warlord Games Celtic warrior
with the head and axe of a Gripping Beast Viking. 

These gretchin are from Fox Box; I have another to finish.
They were free miscasts, so they're a little rough, but I quite like them. 

This monster came from em-4; it's originally part of the old Hobby Products Cthulhu line. 

More Reaper Bones undead; pretty handy utility monsters for D&D. 

I have a bunch more nearly completed, so look out for another update coming soon.

Some quick Viking scenery

I recently threw together this runestone piece for SAGA or other northern-themed games.

The stone itself is a stone from the garden, selected for its relatively flat face. Although you should always paint stone -- like I did with the stones around the base -- I wanted to preserve its interesting colour, so I didn't in this instance and I think it looks OK. The design is taken from a runestone in Uppland, Sweden, and heavily simplified. I am not good enough to paint the inscription so it's legible, but I assure you that it says, in Old Norse, "Ottar raised this stone for Arn, his father. Thor hallow the runes. A stone on a hill." It's a mishmash of other runic inscriptions intended to fit the length of the ribbon.

Although obviously you wouldn't get runes just painted on the stone like this, carved runestones were often painted -- you can still see the traces of colour in some cases.

The various foliage on the base comes from Woodland Scenics and Army Painter and whoever. There's some rather nice little yellow flowers at the back that you can't see very well in the shot, but I think the purple ones on the left by the rock are my favourite.

Here is the bold Nornvar (an NPC from my D&D game) posing in front of the stone.

It's fantasy, so her outfit is A-OK. 

Quick Notes

I am working on a long blog post for Friday, in which I explore a fascinating piece of British gaming history -- but it is not quite ready yet. Until then, I wanted to bring to your attention that a friend of mine is now blogging about games -- both campaign design and reviews -- at Fleetwood's Theory.

Also, I note that the Savage Worlds book I saw being messed with at ExiliCon, Ultima Forsan, is now available on DriveThru for about £6. I believe that price is for a limited time, though, so if you like your worlds savage you had best get a move on.

Also, I painted a Reaper Bones steampunk engineer guy and a Dungeonquest barbarian, bringing my Dungeonquest minis painted to three out of four. One more to do by next weekend!

The Bones model, like many of them, has soft detail around the face and hair -- as well as the buttons on the vest -- but I am pretty happy with the quick paint job. I'm also pleased that, like his fellow Chronoscope models, he's adapted from a tabbed figure, which means he can be neatly sliced off his textured base and put on a round base. However, I am very disappointed with the barbarian, who looks a bit rubbish and streaky in the photo. I wonder if the contrast is set too high, perhaps? I swear the horns aren't that patchy in real life. 

Another quick painting update!

So, in my excitement I have painted a few of the models that I bought at ExiliCon 2015 already.

The first couple are post-apocalyptic scenery items from ThunderChild Miniatures.

I painted this vending machine in classic Nuka-Cola colours, but
I wasn't brave enough to add a logo or anything. I really like the cartooniness
of it; it suits my painting style very well, and I was reluctant to mess it up.

"Lazy Bones" here is a little clean for the apocalypse, but
I liked the colour against the usual grey wash of the end of the world. 

These are a lot of fun to paint! As you can maybe see from the second one, they are pretty big -- that bed is huge and the skellington is no slouch either. That has never bothered me, though. And aside from the cans being huge, it's not particularly noticeable on the vending machines. It's the same with the monsters; how big is a mutant bull centaur?

I also speed-painted these Reaper Bones skeletons. The bases probably took longer to make than the models took to paint. I know the paint jobs ain't fancy, and the models are not amazing, but the four models maybe took me an hour and you need a lot of skellies in a D&D game. 

This Reaper Bones figure seems to represent a wave of skeleton bits rising from the ground. Does it represent a traditional D&D monster I'm missing? I quite like the idea; it'll turn up in my game either way. 

These guys are an old Confrontation Ratskin (I think) and a Prince August Future Shock model (although I can't find the model on their site). I painted them ages ago, but have recently finished their bases and stuff as part of a general overhaul of my post-apocalyptic figure collection.