Reaper's Evil Toys Painted

    This past week I painted up Reaper's pack of "Evil Toys" to use as treasure tokens for December's Ghost Archipelago game-slash-Christmas party.  The scenario will be The Island of Misfit Toys, and the players will be trying to gather as many of the toys to "save" them from the island and its evil ruler King Moonracer.

L to R: Evil Rubber Duck, Evil Teddy Bear, Evil Jack-in-the-Box, Evil Cymbal Monkey, My Little Evil Pony, and Slinky Hell Hound. 

      I also painted, to add to the mix, the headless gingerbread-man from Reaper's "Familiars Pack VI"

Medieval Killer Rabbit Kickstarter

  I always like to give a plug to any Kickstarter I back, so I thought I'd let you all know about this Killer Rabbit Kickstarter, being done by Skull & Crown.

      The figures are based on  the margin decorations of medieval manuscripts, that sometimes depicted rabbits doing all sorts of violent things to unsuspecting humans.   I thought that these guys would make a great Easter-themed force for my Christmas War armies, but they also have use in any Fantasy setting.

    To check it out for yourself, see the main Kickstarter page here:  Killer Rabbits

Some Recent Christmas Themed Painting

    When this time of year rolls around, I always wished I had worked more on the Christmas themed figures I have collected over the years.   So, over the last few weeks, with my seasonal mood increasing, I decided to finish up a few of them.
     First I completed Reaper's "Pack Reindeer", which has been sitting half done on my painting desk since I got him last December. 

      I then painted Coppestone's "Lovely Assistant". This figure comes in a blister with a Santa Claus figure, which I've put on a washer and primed, but haven't gotten to yet.

     Lastly, I just finished Reapers "Santa's Helpers"; a three pack of mechanical robot ornaments.    I tried an experiment with these; painting them first with special Chrome spray paint, and then using Citadel gemstone transparent paints on them: Spiritstone Red, Soulstone Blue, and Waystone Green, in an attempt to given them that lacquered mirror look that real ornaments have.  When finished, I sprayed them with Testor's Dullcote to give them a protective coat, and then went over them again with a brush-on glossy varnish to give them that glass ornament shine.   I'm rather plesed with how they came out.

        This will probably wrap up what Christmas figures I get done for his year; since, with the Christmas activity around the house ramping up, my painting time become more infrequent.

A Group of "A Christmas Story" Themed Pieces for Frostgrave

   As I mentioned in my latest Frostgrave Campaign report, for December we plan on doing a Christmas-themed game.  As part of that, I decided to make a few items that were inspired by the movie "A Christmas Story".  The first of these is based on the famous flag-pole double-dog-dare scene, and features an unfortunate citizen of Feldstad who had been dared by his friends into putting his tongue on a frozen metal pole at the time of the icy cataclysm that befell the city, and is now doomed to spend his days as a zombie who is trapped forever in an unfortunate situation. 

      Next up is a set of four treasure markers:  1) A blue bowling ball and can of Simonize, 2) A crate marked  "Fra-gee-lay", 3) A leg lamp, and 4) A Red Ryder BB-gun.   These were a lot of fun to make and took a little thinking outside the box to put together!

       I'm really looking forward to using all these in next month's game!

Santa-Themed Enchanter Warband for Frostgrave

   Over the past few months I have been slowly working on assembling a Santa-themed warband for Frostgrave that is headed by an Enchanter and his apprentice.  This week I finally finished the last figure for it, and while I have shown a few figures individually in the past, I thought I would present the whole complete group here today.
   First up is the Enchanter wizard himself and his Apprentice, in the form of Santa and Mrs Claus:

 Next, up is the Treasure Hunter, and Marksman.  These rolls are filled by Yukon Cornelius (From the 60's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer TV special), and Black-Powder Peter (from the Dutch Christmas folklore).

   Following up is four Thieves, in the form of four of Santa's Elves from the North Pole's Gift Repossession Department.

      Lastly, we have a pair of Thugs named Blitzen and Donner.  Santa's reindeer need something to occupy themselves with when not flying the sled around. :)

     And here's the whole gang in one picture.  I'm really pleased with how this band came together, and look forward to getting a chance to try them out on the table.

Reaper's "Christmas Eve" as Mrs Claus, Enchanter Apprentice for Frostrgave

   This week I worked some more on my Christmas-themed Enchanter warband for Frostgrave, by painting the Reaper Special Edition figure, "Christmas Eve" to be the warband's apprentice, Mrs Claus.

     This is the third figure I've completed for this warband.  I've painted Santa as the Enchanter wizard, and Yukon Cornelius as the group's Treasure Hunter.

      Here's a portrait of the Santa and Mrs Claus side by side.  I think they go together pretty well.  I like that he's all fierce and disheveled looking, and she's all serene and tidy.  :)

Yukon Cornelius: Frostgrave Treasure Hunter

  Late last year, I decided I wanted to do a Santa themed Frostgrave warband after completing a vary Santa-like wizard figure, which you can see on my other blog: Santa Wizard Conversion.  While I have slowly been collecting the figures I wanted to use as the soldiers for this warband for a while now, I finally started painting them this past week.
   The first I painted up is Yukon Cornelius, Treasure Hunter.  Yukon Cornelius is a character from the classic stop-motion children's Christmas TV special, Rudoph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Since the character is a  prospector obsessed with finding silver and gold, I thought he would be an ideal candidate for a Treasure Hunter type soldier.

     I was able to make the character by using pieces from the Frostgrave Soldiers boxed set of multi-part plastic figures.  There was a wool-capped head perfect for Yukon Cornelius, but unfortunately that head didn't have a beard.  So I ended up having to do head surgery; cutting the top off of the wool hat head, and gluing it onto a bearded head that I sliced the top off of.   My next challenge was where to find a pickaxe.  Then I remembered that I had a couple spare miner dwarves from the old GW "Skull Pass" boxed set, and they wielded pickaxes as weapons.  So I removed the pickaxe from one of them, and re-glued it onto a Frostgrave solder's hand that had it's weapon removed.

     After assembling the figure, I glued it to a 1" fender washer. and then spray primed it.  Since he wears a simple color scheme, he was quick to paint up.   After I painted him, I added a few stone blocks made from sprue and painted those as well, and then flocked the base with Woodland Scenics snow flock.

     I'm really happy with how he turned out.  While not an exact copy, I really think he captures the spirit of the character.

Warriors Brave: A Toy Soldier Christmas Tale - Part 3

The last two weeks, I presented the first two parts of one of my favorite Christmas books I have in my collection. It is a vintage children's story about toy soldiers coming to life on Christmas Eve.  Though there is no publication date, it is inscribed on the title page, "Roger Hill 1926". One of my blog readers researched a little further, and found the publication date to probably be closer to 1910.  It is a small volume, measuring only 5" x 4.5".
  It is interesting to note that the artist had some knowledge of the toy soldiers he drew, as many of the poses pictured are very similar to a variety of semi-round lead soldiers that were available at the time. These were often cast by small manufacturers, or Mom & Pop dime store owners, from commercially available German molds, and sold individually or in boxed sets.
    I am ran the story in three parts, with the first part two weeks ago, the second part last week, and the third part today.
You can find the first part here: Warriors Brave: Part 1
And the second part here: Warriors Brave: Part 2
So, on with the the final installment of the "Warriors Brave".  When we left off, the Indians had launched a brazen attack on the "Blue Coats," only to be beaten back by heavy rifle fire, and retreated back towards their camp in Part 1. After regrouping, in Part 2 a pair of Braves went in search of provisions and supplies, to keep the Indians warm in their camp, when the two Braves happened upon some "Bluecoats" and their limber...
(You can click any photo to view it larger.)

      And so concludes our exciting tale of the "Warriors Brave".  I hope you enjoyed it.  Also, I'd like to say, "Merry Christmas!" to all my readers out there in blog-land! I hope you have a happy and safe holiday season.

Warriors Brave: A Toy Soldier Christmas Tale - Part 2

Last week, I presented the first part of one of my favorite Christmas books I have in my collection. It is this vintage childrens' story about toy soldiers coming to life on Christmas Eve.  Though there is no publication date, it is inscribed on the title page, "Roger Hill 1926". One of my blog readers researched a little further, and found the publication date to probably be closer to 1910.  It is a small volume, measuring only 5" x 4.5".
  It is interesting to note that the artist had some knowledge of the toy soldiers he drew, as many of the poses pictured are very similar to a variety of semi-round lead soldiers that were available at the time. These were often cast by small manufacturers, or Mom & Pop dime store owners, from commercially available German molds, and sold individually or in boxed sets.
    I am running the story in three parts, with the first part last week, and the second part today.  The third, and final, part will be next Tuesday.
You can find the first part here: Warriors Brave: Part 1
So, on with the the second part of the Warriors Brave.  When we left off, the Indians had launched a brazen attack on the "Blue Coats," only to be beaten back by heavy rifle fire, and retreated back towards their camp...
(You can click any photo to view it larger.)

Tune in next week, to see why the "Blue Coats are loading marbles into their limber...
Part 3 can be found here: Warriors Brave: Part 3