Seeking inspiration through little green men.

Not that kind:

This kind!

As I've mentioned in a separate blog, my gaming motivation has been low for a while now. I've tried to jumpstart my creative energies by reading fantasy and science fiction, not to mention gaming books. I've started writing adventures and campaign ideas only to stop partway through. None of it has really gained traction.

So now I'm thinking of trying a different tack. Instead of what I have usually done –looking for minis to fit an adventure or campaign I'm writing– I'm going to paint the minis to spur the ideas. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So how much can I get out of a three-dimensional visual?

So my very simple goal is to put paint to a mini every week. I have a bin full of Reaper Bones that are collecting dust. I don't even care if my rusty paint skills turn out something ugly. At least I'll have done something!

It's worth a try, right?

Flight of the Gondor

I finished the first few of the Minas Tirith soldiers last night. It was a quick and simple paint job, but should do the trick. They still need sealing, though.

(I'm not sure about the ruins piece as a photo prop. I think it's too busy.)

Bones 3: Electric... Christmas Tree?

Or whatever.

ANYway! I pledged for the Bones 3 Kickstarter this AM. So around this time next year I should have another crazy influx of minis. Maybe my goal should be to get through the Bones I have?

Back in Black

So, in keeping with my earlier statement about working on LOTR stuff, I decided the Minas Tirith soldiers were a decent place to start minis-wise.

Originally, I had primed them white, following the whole "prime good guys in white to make the colors brighter" theory. Looking at them again, I realized the black made a lot more sense, since their uniforms are supposed to be black and silver. So I re-primed them all black (less the color scheme test I did a while ago). One of the spearmen had lost its weapon so I pinned a sword to the empty hand. Otherwise, they are pretty much straight out of the box (24 total.  A mix of bows, spears, and swords).

The bases are completely plain, but I figure on doing a simple static grass flocking after they are painted. I know they aren't part of Moria, but they are definitely JRRT.

Gobbo Gobbo! GOBBOS!

No, not "Gabbo!"

Gobbos!

Okay, it was a lame pun.

Anyway, the Heroquest goblins are completed. It's still WAY too humid to spray seal minis, though. Next up, I think I'll work on the necromancer.

Murder Hobos, ASSEMBLE!

Here are the "PC" minis in all their glory. The elf and wizard still need sealed.

I added a small translucent bead to the staff's top as a "magic crystal." I also did some very basic gem effects on the wizard's cloak clasps, ring, and headband; the barbarian's sword hilt; and the elf's belt.

Skellington

Here's one of the HeroQuest skeletons. I've alway like the scythes on these. It's a super-simple paint job. The model was primed black, then base coated with TAP Monster Brown. I did the base with the usual TAP Uniform Grey before the other colors were added.

Bones: TAP Skeleton Bone
Wood: TAP Oak Brown
Metal: TAP Gun Metal

Strong Tone Wash over everything except the base.

I also painted the PC Barbarian, but the pix were so blurry, I'll have to re-take them and post later.

Barrow Wight

From the batch I bought for my Moria/LOTR stuff. I was going for an incorporeal-glowy green look, but I don't think it quite worked. Still, like orcs, you can't have too many undead minis!

Spooky wolf

From the Bones pile, a "shadow wolf" (or whatever). It was a quick and easy paint, but since it was the first one I finished from the bunch, I thought I'd share:

A glow is supposed to be coming from his eyes and mouth, like he isn't really an animal, but rather an evil spirit.

A New Project Looms

My brother (of Catthulhu fame) has a complete set of the old HeroQuest adventure game. He is wanting to eBay it and asked me to paint up the minis.

As you can see from my previous post, I love the HQ minis. They're just fun! So I'll be working on those over the next few weeks and posting my progress. I may even do a video or two about speed and rack painting. Whee!

Futzing about

I painted up one of the RAFM "Tribe of the Midnight Sun" cavalry figs I'd bought who knows when. They'll make a nice little rohirrim unit along with the plastic celtic horsemen I have from Wargames Factory. I also painted one the GW Dark Elves with the TAP warpaints. It came out fine, so I won't need to sweat a lot of color issues from the dried out older pots.

(Pics to follow soon) Here are the pics (lousy though they are):

TAP Mega Set: More thoughts

Back from Garycon, I sat down and painted a GW Moria goblin archer captain (pics to follow) last night using the Army Painter set. The paints are smooth and cover well. The metallics are fine and the inks give a nice wash (Strong Tone is roughly equivalent to Badab Black from GW).

The color limitations aren't really much of an issue (so far). I was able to make a fairly convincing reddish skin tone with one drop each of the barbarian flesh, lava orange, and leather brown. I'd like a Tin Bitz, but I still have my GW pot for that, and it could probably mix that from the bronze, brown, and gun metal.

I am thinking about using them to speed paint some night goblins (Skull Pass), but I should probably stay focussed on the Moria project for now.

Buh BYE kittehs!

I dropped of the Catthulhu minis yesterday. WOOT!

To get an idea of scale, those are 1/2" bases, for the most part.

Now on to personal projects!

Promised Moria Pix (Ent, Wight, and Gollum)

 

Apologies for the lateness and the quality of the pix. I've been playing with a homemade light box and I'm not happy with the results yet.

 

Cats & cats & cats

Still plugging away on the Catthulhu Kickstarter minis. I think I will forgo tiny animal minis for a while after this project. I'm about 2/3 done, so I figure 3-4 more sessions should do it. They don't take long to paint individually, but the strain on my eyes limits brush time for such small figures.

Looking ahead, I want to get back to the LOTR stuff. I figure I need to focus on the terrain a bit, as most of the minis I need are really done. There are plenty of odds & ends to fill in (Rohirrim, Smaug, Gondorians, etc.), but the Moria section is pretty well stocked with goblins and so forth.

I made a recent purchase that I am excited to try out. A bunch of my paints are getting dried out, so rather than making a careful inventory of what is good and what is gunk, I bought the Army Painter Mega Set. It's a good deal for all you get. I've not tried their Warpaints before, but they get good reviews. I'll post my impressions after I have a chance to use some of them.

Update Madness

I managed to prime the minis yesterday (Yay Me!).

Bilbo and Gollum (on 1/2" bases)

The Average Wight (war) Band

Ent-y!

The wights got stuck onto 1" squares for uniformity, but I think the basing will need to be prettied up a little. 

Treebeard (on his included 2" metal square) got spray-primed with a green undercoat. I was going to use black, because I wanted to make sure the leafy recesses were –ahaha– shaded. But I was out of black, so I used the green instead. Why not?

Next up: 

THE WATCHER IN THE WATER!

Yes, the pool is done. Granted, I still need to do something about the Doors of Durin, etc. But check it out (I put the bead there as a "Transfix/Entangle" marker):

Bad day for Gandalf!

The water is coated with gloss Modge Podge for sheen. I tried to make the color sort of murky. I also painted the tentacle bases with the same shades. The process was basically the same as the river pieces.

Another finished (but not varnished piece is Balin's Tomb from the GW set. 

Also, I did a color test for the Minas Tirith soldiers. It's a very quick & dirty job, but I basically went with the movie look of black and silver.

Racing the sun

Tomorrow (Saturday) is supposed to be sunny and in the mid 50s. Tonight, Gollum and the Reaper minis I'd ordered get filed and assembled for priming! If there's time, I may prime Bilbo too.

Cold be Heart and Hand and Bone

Well not exactly.

As a Christmas present to myself, I used the money I made on the initial Catthulhu paint jobs to order a few more Middle Earth type figs from Reaper.

First off, I got three Barrow Wights: the Barrow Warden Lord, and the Barrow Warden 2 pack. The books don't actually specify how many wights there are in the mounds, but three seemed a nice number. I know I could have used the nazgul, but what the heck! You can never have too many undead for Christmas!

Don't be hasty! I also ordered Mossbeard for Ent-y goodness!

Hoom!

My Preciousss

So I was thinking about all this Lord of the Rings stuff and I realized that as long as I was including non-Moria figures like the Nazgul, then I should probably have a mini for a character that was actually at Moria in the books and movies. Namely, Smeagol aka Gollum.

Since I didn't really feel like spending $20-30+ for the GW ones, I picked up an unpainted Mithril Miniatures figure set from Noble Knight Games on eBay. It's 32mm scale, includes Bilbo and Gollum, and was about $10 (with S&H).

I don't know that I'd use Bilbo in a skirmish, but it's sort of cool to have a mini for him too.

Furlough figure painting

For those few of you reading this blog who were not aware, I am a federal employee and have been furloughed these last two weeks (yay. :-/ ). On the up side, I have had time for painting. I'll try to get some pics up later, but I am heading out of town tomorrow for a few days (trip was planned and paid for weeks before the shutdown), so if I don't manage it today, it may be this weekend.

On the Moria front, I finished the cave troll from the "Mines of Moria" box set. I also painted a few figs from the WFB "Skull Pass" set: a night goblin, a spider rider, and a troll. I even finished three Dark Elf crossbowmen!

I have also actually been working on a commission from my brother. His new RPG "Call of Catthulhu" has been getting some nice reviews and he wanted some kitty minis to go with his demos, etc. I have one more to do, then I'll be finished with his order. I can't post pics of them yet until he gives the say-so. For the record, though, these minis are TINY! They are Reaper figs, I believe from their familiars packs. Thank goodness they don't need complex paint jobs. Although I have tried to do different breeds. So far there is a "Tuxedo" (black & white), a Siamese, a Russian Blue, a Calico, and a pure white shorthair. The last one will be an orange tabby. I've also tried to have fun with some of the bases (GW 1/2" squares).