Imps and Rats

I picked up these figures from next to the bring and buy at Castle Donnington last year for use in roleplaying with the kids. I just never got round to getting these quick paints sorted.

I have no idea who made these but they are very nicely sculptured minis. I based the winged imp on a Leven Miniatures statue base which suited it rather well.

I am most impressed with the red of the winged imp as it came out how I imagined it. Rather quick to do but looks like more time was spent on it. I now just need to come up with a use for them.

Again these were bought from the same second hand trader, three are not really enough so I will be picking up more as I come across them. I used three different browns for the base colour before drybrushing other shades over the top as I want them to look a little different but not hugely so. I used black ink on the pink tails whilst still wet which produced a nice varied pink effect that I feel looks more like a rats tail than I otherwise would have achieved.

One of the imps and these rats bases have old GW dungeon plan tiles on their wooden bases. This will help them fit in when I use them with the tiles in dungeon bashes.

The Lady And The Wolf

Last of the figures I painted up before the painting challenge began is this two figure piece that Cath bought from Spirit Games about fifteen years ago! I had started it about a year ago and it became lost at the back of the table. I would look at it occasionally but never picked it up. With the challenge about to start I did not want to get into anything too big so this and a few other bits that were part done got a go and finally got finished.

I went for a very plain look, the idea is the women lives in a very rural location, think Dancers with Wolves vibe. I wanted her to also be quite old so went with lots of grey in her hair. It's also nice to get a female figure that keeps the boobs under cover, quite a rarity I am afraid.

It's not easy to see from the pics but the wolf pelt is actually somewhat different in colour to the live wolf's. It was not an over long paint which just makes the time it took for me to get round to it even worse.

So I can finally give the figure to Cath, no plans for this so it's just for fun really. 

Pre-Challenge Painting - The Cleric

I also did this quick paint before the challenge started, this is the second character for my wife in the family D&D sessions. As it's number two I did not go to town on him and as such it's a bit basic but will serve.

I think the figures from Reaper, this ones a metal figure and rather is a bit on the heavy side. You can't see the high and low shades on the white very well as the camera did not pick the detail up. It's quite subtle anyway as I don't like the in your face style of shading on white.

I like the shoulder armour, it's a couple of faces so I used brass and then washed in ink to bring the details out a bit.

Lots of detail on the back and I have to say that I really like the adventurers that come with backpacks or other bits and bobs, makes them look more realistic. The crossbow comes as a seporate piece to be glued in place, made life a bit easier.

Clearing up the Table

I wanted to get my painting table cleared of half painted mini's before the challenge started, not that I tend to have many half painted figures as I normally just paint to completion but I did have a few.

This is another figure for use in roleplaying with the kids but this ones for Cath. Her only instruction at the start was that the inside of the cloak had to be a bright red, well put a tick in that box!

Later Cath mentioned that she now wanted the main colour to be a form of blue which I kind of went for but with grey being the main influence. In the end she rather likes it which is good enough for me. I really liked how the colours came together in the end.

The figure is a Reaper model cast in metal and was a joy to work on. I painted the sword up black as I wanted it to seem like it's magically enhanced so as not to show in the dark. 

A Little D&D Post

Seems like forever since I last posted any finishes. Well a mix of lots of work, prepping for the coming challenge and painting up a group of figures for my Santa Clause present has left me a bit short of things to post.

At least I will get to post images of the Santa Clause post Christmas. Fortunately I have found time to paint this figure up for my daughter who plays a Magic Used in a D&D campaign I am running for the kids.

It's a Reaper Miniatures plastic Bones figure that my daughter choose way back when we visited Spirit Games who have a truly excellent range of wargames and boardgames products.

My daughter picked blue hair but left most of the rest to me own imagination. Some of the details really crisp such as the hair and skirt whilst other details is rather thin.

I wanted to go bold for colours, what else could I do with blue hair LOL. Most of the colours are shaded rather than using ink, the spear was an exception, mostly as I was not 100% what is supposed to be wrapped around the pointy end!

Anyways, she likes it so that's the most important part and it was a fun diversion between prepping and the high detail of the other figures I have been working on. I hope to get a couple more fantasy figures finished before the Painting Challenge begins and I doubt I will be doing any more prep before the 20th so most of my time at the table will be finishing off part painted bits and bobs.

A Little Wolf Action

I bought two packs of Verdel Timber Wolves years ago and finally got round to painting up the seven that should have been done soon after the test figure but somehow I had never got round to it.

I painted up four of them white grey over a base cote of black. These are quite chunky figures so would count almost as Warg size. I really like the models and they have a lot of character about them and maybe some characters in them?

These are some real mean looking boys and well it would be a shame not to use them at some point in the future.

I went with yellow eyes as the photo's I had looked at it was the yellow ones that looked the most scary.

The last three I went with a brown finish, again though with yellow eyes. I also did not put them on a base as the base they come on was big enough. I did not have to gunk the bases as they were alrady textured so just shaded and flocked.

Here is the whole pack including the original test figure, so what's the chances of four characters V eight wolves eh?

Bloody Orcs

Anyone paying close attention to my Lead Mountain posts may realise I have claimed a number of finished models yet to be seen on the blog, well to start addressing this I present seven orcs that have already seen action in a roleplaying session.

I bought these from a very disorganised vendor at last years Castle Donnington show so they have been in my queue for a little over a year. Given how long so much of the figures have been waiting not too bad.

They are old Grenadier sculpts but had been (according to the seller) cast more recently though some of the figures had that old lead look about them. They had large mould lines on them which took a lot cleaning but did leave nice looking figures.

I started them quite a while ago but as I already have quite a number already and as such did not actually need them until the other night when I needed far more than the players could handle and we had a right old time of the players (and others) fighting a running battle through the streets.

I wanted them to look as if they had been busy hacking up other humans so went heavy with the blood on the swords, well it is Fantasy after all. Only got a decent shot of the backs as the camera focused on the background.

Still got a few more posts to do on the figures painted in October, yes I am that far behind which will be a good job I think as I have a busy month ahead of me with a few nights away.

Forest Troll & Secret Santa

I received this figure as part of my Secret Santa last year and the time was right for me to get it painted up. After all you never know when you will need a Troll do you?

Unpainted he was a rather friendly looking chap which was a worry, after all I don't want him trading cupcake recipes I want him cracking skulls. But a lick or two of paint and I thing the goodness has been left way behind. Indeed I think he is a bit of a bleeder.

So nearly nine months later here he is all painted up, hope my Santa is happy with the results. Will the players? well that's an altogether different story. I have to admit that mostly I used a series of lighter tnes drybrushed over the previous layer. 

I wanted to do something different when it came to the eyes and went with more snake eye pupils than the normal dot and it helps with the more threatening look.I also added several watered down flesh tone wash across the eyes to make them look less comfortable.

Anyway that brings me to Secret Santa, with the kids about to go back to school it must be time to start the ball rolling for this years Secret Santa. Same rules as last year. Each person who enters gets a target picked for them at random(ish) by my wife Cath. Cath intends that no one gets the same person as the previous year, so some slight re-drawing may have to be done. You need to be a follower of this blog, or have your own blog or know me. Minimum spend is £15 plus cost of postage. I recommend if you get someone in a different country to try and buy their gift from their country to cut down on the postage.

I will do a separate post next week on the subject but how about it, anyone interested?

A Little Bit of Fantasy - Frodo

Not that I will be using the figure as Frodo rather he is an open figure for anyone who wants to play as a Hobbit. It's a great looking figure as well. A Games Workshop metal from way back I assume. Jonathan from The Inevitable Spark gave me the figure along with a bunch of others more than a year ago! So it seemed only right that I get it painted up and now seems as good a time as ever.

Apart from the waistcoat I went for muted country colours as the last thing a Hobbit needs is to stand out in a fight! Most adventurers lack any form of storage for their needs but Frodo comes with a nifty backpack but unfortunately has no where to stick his sword, other than the odd Orc of course.

Just for scales sake I have included a Dark Sword Lady in Waiting, you get the picture. So that's another figure finished for the roleplaying group though when or if someone will take up with an hobbit is anyone's guess.

Orc's!

Painted these up a couple of weeks ago but only did the finishing touches last week. These will be some of the bad guys the party will be coming across in a game session or two in the near future dependant on how they fare in the next session.

The tough guy who will be used as a leader IF the party get to come across a larger group of Orc's. His whip is of course is enchanted making it a fire whip. I am guessing that the odd heat critical could be delivered. Best stay out of his way. The original figure was missing it's sword so I drilled a hole into his fist and added a length of barbed wire. After priming in black just painted the yellow and red (adding both whilst the other was wet) to mix in a bit of fire. Added the smoke effect once fully painted, yet more toy stuffing nicked off the wife.

The lot all together, I wonder if the party can manage eight tough orcs at once? These were meant to be a quick paint so got treated to a black primer followed by dry brush of steel varying in amount based on the part of the figure. The black grey painted over the cloths and hair. I used red leather for the flesh and then went over that with Chestnut Brown ink to get a orc flesh colour I liked.

Two of the three polearmed troops needed conversion. The one on the left I added a blade as the spear point had broken off whilst the one in the centre was a present from Jonathan from The Inevitable Spark. His blog is still worth a good look at and he is back after a break brought to us by Real-Life.Com. Jonathan gave me a mixed box of Fantasy figures all of which will find use here at some point. The figure originally was carrying a standard and I thought I could make use of him with a big spear instead. I simply removed the Hand from the end and filed to a point. I also put the figure on a MDP resin base as the feet were at different heights and this was perfect for the job.

I really like the figure as he is that bit different from the plastic older figures (he is a GW Lord of the Rings metal). His base sets him apart from the others but that's OK as the other seven orcs I have on the painting table bases don't match either.

The distinctive swords on this figures really shout LOTR films at you and seem perfect for orc's. Certainly better than the oversized swords that are almost the only other option these days. The large amounts of armour and skin make a great contrast to each other with little details like leather straps being less obvious until you take a closer look. I really like these old figures.

I wanted the shields to look metal without the look of shiny, this meant going easy on the metal colour and I was pleased with the final look. I wanted these to look brutal, mean and ready for a scrap time will tell if they are up for the challenge.

This is my favourite pose, he is leaning in and I could see him as part of a large group trying to force the orcs in front through a shield wall or maybe just on his own trying to force a door open so as to be able to chop up an adventurer into little bits.

Another view of him. I painted these up on rural bases as they will be most used in the wilds I think. At the moment though they are outside the city trying to get in, but that is another adventure.

Another good sword pose, I have to say that GW really did a great range when they did these plastic orcs and the goblins that went with them. I also have some of these to paint up and will do so in the next month or so.

Final shot of the old lad with that whip, just got to love an orc with an attitude. Just four days to go till Triples and whilst for the most part I know what I am going for I will still look for a few other figures, especially old Fantasy figures that will go with the campaign I am already running. It's very possible that I could add something to a campaign just based on seeing a single figure.

A Matter of Elf

For the first six or so sessions one of the players has used a Human Ranger as her figure but after waiting for the figure to finally be back in stock at Leisure Games I was rewarded with the Reaper Miniatures Elvish figure  14058 Lorielle Silverrain sculptured by S. Garrity.

I really like the figure as has a reasonable amount of detail and fits the players idea of what she looks like so it's more or less perfect for the game. I decided to go really pale skinned as I wanted the Elves to have a fragile look. Being the Fourth Age and after the calling of the Elves home the ones left should be more care worn and in some ways more vulnerable.

The player is experiencing her first roleplaying game and has gone from very self concious to really getting into the theme and world. The reward has been two way, she gets to have a lot of fun but also contributes to the thinking and comes up with ideas and has helped break down a few leads to get results. I have a strong block of players that will help the game progress.

I do wish more figures would come with baggage, though this figure is carrying enough wit the bow case and sword. She also has a couple of pouches and extra's on the belt which makes for interesting bits to paint. If I had been brave I would have added some free hand to the quiver but as it was a bit rushed anyway I chickened out.

The Sacrifice WARNING Naked Female On Show

Two for one post, new figures painted up and the next instalment in my roleplaying campaign. Let's start with the game for a change.

The brother of Nancy the Barmaid visited the party at the Inn they were staying in to see if they had learnt anything about his sisters disappearance. This seemed to be due to his worry about his sister, it was evident that he was not sleeping well but early on two of the players noticed he had black ink on his hands. He explained it away as due to writing up one of his bread recipes which was half excepted (the dead kidnapper also had ink on his hands). Further questioning the players found out that his sister lived with her mother, the father dying some years ago. He was close to his sister and she often stayed at his house. They also questioned where he was when his sister went missing and the fact he was at a bakery showing a new design to the bakers was then checked out. 

Sure enough he was at that bakery, and indeed has been back several times since and had each time mentioned his sister had gone missing on the day he was there and the times did match but the players were a little suspicious that he had visited several times and was reminding the workers of the fact. This lead to asking about his recipes and writing them up. It came out that he could not write and a clerk always had to write them for him.

They found his mothers address and visited. Turned out that he and his sister never saw each other any more since an argument over a year before. Further digging lead them to find out that his two best friends had gone on to do well for themselves, one in the Soap Guild (old guild house was now unused but happened to be where the drover had entered recently) another had been a herbalist but had died a couple of years ago.

The players decided to force entry into the old guild house and searched the property after killing the guard. Finally they worked down into the cellar and came across a dark sacrifice with poor Nancy naked on the alter and her brother poised to stab her with a bronze dagger.

One arrow was all it took to drop her brother and a crossbow bolt smashed into the priest mumbling incantations killing him instantly. This being a level 20 Necromancer (the supposed dead herbalist) had Lee grinning and me wondering how to fill THAT gap in my story LOL. The four watching the sacrifice started to flee in panic but another two shots and a few hacks and all were down on the floor. Such was the rolls that none of them survived, never have I seen such total destruction!!

Nancy climbed off the alter knelt by her dying brother taking the dagger from his spasming  hand and plunged it into her heart falling dead at the players feet. 

On searching the house they did find 12 sets of city guard uniforms and weapons, the uniforms showing where they were repaired. Now they have to decide what they are to do especially as the drover was not at the meeting.

I wanted this guy to stand out, mostly for crimes against fashion and colour co-ordination. This was actually brought on by the really poor casting of the figure. It's a Black Tree Fantasy figure from I think the Harlequin Dungeon Accessory section and comes with the naked female and alter.

Not only was the figure lacking in good detail (just the opposite of their WWII range) but it looks to have had a lot of lead seep out of the mould forming the bubbles I have painted as grey to represent smoke with the idea of passing off the poor quality as a spell effect!!! I have seen the image on the site and this effect is not shown on the image so I am quite sure it's down to poor casting or worn mould. Anyway I did not plan to use it more than once and was so naffed off I gave it little time on the desk as you can see.

On the other hand I did put more effort into the rest of the pack for some reason. The alter is a one piece casting and though it has one difficult mould line it can be lived with OK. The naked women on the other hand is really well cast and the chains between her ankles is a great bit of work.

Her face does make her look a bit like a rubber doll and the red hair was a real challenge as I wanted it to look fiery. 

I really liked how the breasts were sculpted as they were far more realistic than many a fantasy figure normally provides with gravity defying uplift. In this case they were flattened with gravity taking full control , not sure I could have got away with THAT sentence anywhere else  :-)

How about a B&W shot, that should allow me to apply for some kind of grant based on artistic merit. No? oh well, I'm not deleting it now!!!