That's a wrap!

Sealed the gargoyle. Here they all are in their glory:

First up, the forces of Chaos!

Next we have the ever-popular Fimir!

Another crowd-pleaser: The undead!

Let's give a warm WAAGH of applause for your favorite and mine: 

The GREEEEEEEENSSKINNNSS!!!

And rounding things out, the Heroes!!

Let's hear the for the whole crew!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program of LOTR-themed minis and way too many Reaper Bones!

Goyles will be goyles

aaaand done!


The gargoyle is finito! Granted, it still needs sealing, but it's been raining all day here. Maybe tomorrow. After the varnishing, I'll take a pic of the whole set together.

Overall, the piece came out OK. I went for the flame/balrog-y look. I was pretty pleased with the red shading on the wings and the fiery blending on the whip. 

(Chaos) Sorcerer Supreme

Complete with the "Eye of Chaos" on his helmet! 

(Don't leave your evil tower without it!™)

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.

Orcs x 8

All the HeroQuest orcs are finished! I still need to seal them. Just 3 goblins, the necromancer, and gargoyle-boy to go!

Moar Orcses!

Is moar betterer!

They follow the color scheme I set up before. I still need to clean up a couple spots the wash made and seal them.

Some progress

I painted two orcs last night (morning stars). I left them with the wash drying. I'll take some pix and post them tonight. The weather here has been cool and wet, so varnishing may have to wait.

All they wanna do...

...is eat yer brains!

Skin: TAP Necrotic Flesh

Vest: TAP Leather Brown
Pants: TAP Wolf Grey
Handle: TAP Oak Brown
Belt & Hair: TAP Matt Black
Metal: TAP Gun Metal
Base: TAP Uniform Grey
Wash: TAP Strong Tone

Gobbos!

First few of the HQ goblins are done. They follow the orc color scheme. Readers of this blog know how much I love these little runts.

One-eyed, one-axed, lizard purple people whackers

Fimir are done.

The one in the center is the original.

Bones & Bandages

More HeroQuest baddies. Mummies and Skeletons complete!

The other skeletons pretty much followed the original's color scheme. 

The mummies were covered in TAP Skeleton Bone, then the exposed areas (under the bandages) got a coat of TAP Desert Yellow. Everything was washed in Strong Tone. When that was dry, the bandages got highlighted with a 50-50 mix of TAP White and Ash Grey. 

They'd be tender, they'd be gentle...

…if they only had some hearts.

SO I GUESS THEY'LL HAVE TO HACK SOME OUT OF PEOPLES' CHESTS!

HeroQuest Chaos Warriors done.

They were primed with TAP Plate Mail.

Horns: TAP Skeleton Bone
Metal Trim and Rivets: TAP Weapons Bronze
Axe Haft: TAP Oak Brown
Leather: TAP Matt Black
Base: TAP Uniform Grey

Strong Tone Wash

HQ Fimir

Here's the test for a Fimir. This one was a little trickier because I was using the TAP Purple Tone wash, but only on the skin. The rest got washed in Soft Tone.

Skin: TAP Uniform Grey w/Purple Tone Wash
Eye: TAP Demonic Yellow and Matt Black

Leather: TAP Matt Black

Metal: TAP Gun Metal or Weapon Bronze

Wood: TAP Oak Brown

Teeth, Tail Knobs, and Claws: TAP Skeleton Bone

Base: TAP Ash Grey

HQ Orc color test

The orcs were spray-primed TAP Goblin Green. I touched up one or two areas where the color was thin.

Leather: VGC Cobra Leather
Belt and arm band: TAP Matt Black
Metal: TAP Gun Metal
Tusks and skull buckle: TAP Skeleton Bone
Eyes: TAP Demonic + Matt Black dots
Base: TAP Ash Grey
Cleaver Handle: TAP Oak Brown

Everything got a TAP Strong Tone wash.

Total brush time was about 20 minutes. The rest will go faster when I'm rank painting them.

HeroQuest Prime(d)

Warm enough to spray prime! (barely)

I used the TAP colored spray primers to hopefully speed up the painting process.

A couple more (just for fun)

I plan on using a couple of these HeroQuest knight minis in an upcoming video. This one was a color test (took about 40 minutes to paint using TAP paints).

And here's a Reaper zombie speed paint that's been sitting for a while:

Episode 2 (parts A & B) are up.

Here's the video link to Episode 2

And here are the stills of the finished druid:

Painting away

I haven't done much with the Moria terrain lately (I've hit a few logistical snags), but I have painted a few minis, so I thought I'd post the evidence. These were all done with TAP's war paints. I'm really enjoying the paints, but the finish is a little glossy. I've hit these with a layer of Krylon Matte sealer, but maybe a second coat when it's less humid is in order.

First off, a Chaos Space Marine (going to be Alpha Legion) and some Battle of Macragge Ultras.

 

Next up are some of the Skull Pass gobbos, including a shaman:

 

Finally, here's a Beastman from Reaper's Warlord line:

 

The GW's were spray primed with TAP's color primers (Alien Purple for the goblins and Navy Blue for the Astartes). The beastman had been spray primed white a while back. All of them were done with a "speed paint" process of basecoating followed by a wash and a (very) few highlights. It's a great "Get it on the table" method, which I find more satisfying sometimes than struggling with "fancier" paint jobs.

Speaking of Middle Earth

After playing in a mammoth (400+ minis) 1st Age ME Chainmail game at Garycon last month, my Moria project is all the more on my mind. Beyond that though, I'm looking at getting things together for a broader LOTR scope beyond Khazad Dum.

I picked 30 or so WFB High Elves on eBay recently to represent some 1st Age Gondolin-style fun. And I also unearthed several sprues of WFB dwarfs I'd bought years ago on a charity auction. Between those, the Rohan cavalry, all my orcs and goblins, and the Minas Tirith soldiers, I think I could field some gnarly battles!

So my goal now is get the elves and dwarfs and horsemen prepped for painting. Warm weather is here so spray primer opportunities should be easier to come by (at least until the humidity sets in). I think I will try some TAP color primers to speed the paint process along for these minis.

Apart from that, the Moria terrain still addressing and I'll probably want some ME scenery for "normal" surface battles.

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):