More flying...

Hey, I finally finished one of the riders for a Griffon!  As you know, these CoolMiniorNot Griffons were used for one of the painting videos.  

The rider is not the easiest thing to work out, unlike the bird lion, which is why I only used that portion for the video.  It can look very neat once it's all together, however!

I painted it in some classic High Elf colors.  I thought the blue would be a nice contrast to all the oranges and golds.

I adjusted the banner so that the pole would be as close to the wing edge as possible.  This gives it some extra support, which is a good thing.

Overall, it is my favorite of all the mounted critters from CMON.

Here are some closer shots of the rider.  I tried to reflect a bit of the blue from the robe onto his helmet for fun!

Riding high

This particular set was very fun in terms of the bases.  They were designed to match a very specific section of the display board.  I love doing stuff like that!

Oh yeah, and the bikes were fun to paint as well.

These bikes were a crucible where I tested out all kinds of new techniques and materials for the Bloody Mess instructional video.  I learned so much, since there were 16 of these bikes to deal with!

This view shows you the pattern that I was able to develop for every miniature in the army.

As I have mentioned before, this was the first time any of my armies had a completely unified theme across the board.  Normally, I have lots of variety to distinguish units from each other.

Full speed ahead!!!

Flying Circus, part one

Welcome to Asharah's flying circus!

I am doing a bunch of new group shots of the Reaver Jetbikes.  This represents 25% of the 16 jetbikes that I converted and painted.  Yeah, call me crazy.

Each bike was converted in some way.  There were a few that had very elaborate work done to them.  Fortunately there are lots of extra parts in those kits!

My favorite thing to do was the adding of extra wings.  Since the whole point of them was the bladevanes, I thought that would add to the story.  It also provided a way to repeat the same freehand design that you saw on the entire army.

I also tried to designate various bikers with special weapons by the amount of wings.  For instance, Arena champions and those bikes armed with cluster caltops.

Of course, the basing was highly specialized, and a big part of the story as well.  If you check out some of the images of the army on the display board, that will all make sense.  I also have the story of the army in the Dark Eldar section of the blog.

Much more to come!!!

The fortress and the Fist

Well, before all the Imperial Fists head off to their destination, I thought I would shoot a few pictures in their natural environment!  All about those fortifications.

Thanks to all those LED daylight bulbs, these shots finally work out.  It was always such a bummer when I tried this with my other lights.  Even 'real' daylight doesn't work this well!

Those yellow guys just can't resist getting behind some concrete and steel...

Uh oh... look what's at the door!

A bird's eye view of the action.

They brought jetbikes too...

They're everywhere!

Someone heard there was popcorn!

Uh, Houston, we have a problem.

A new way to cook the Turkey

Worried about your bird exploding in your deep fryer?  Tired of waiting 6 hours for munching on that turkey dinner?  Well, we have the perfect solution!  The Roastmaticus Rapidus 40000.

Fueled by Prometheum, this little chef's helper does the trick in no time!!!

It leaves a fine coating of scorched skin for that crispy crunch.  Need sandwiches the next day to feed that hungry Stormtrooper unit?  Heat those bad boys up in a flash with the RR 40000!!!

Did someone say Thanksgiving?

Look whose coming to Thanksgiving dinner!  Better put another bird or two in the oven!  More pies!  More fixins!

These guys are looking to chow down.

I would make sure you have plenty of pie for them, because they have guns, and are not afraid to use them.

I will be curious to see what these guys might do in an actual game.  Anything that involved shooting always came up garbage with me, especially if it was any kind of specialized shooting!

Just ask anyone who has seen me roll dice...

They certainly look more threatening when they are all together like this!  I still might make the cloak a red checkered table cloth...

So, a big Thank You to all the folks who have taken the time to check out this blog over the year, helping to make it what it is!  It is much appreciated.  The blog flew through the 1.3 million page view mark a few weeks ago.

The Sorceress and the Sickle

Here's a figure that I had gotten as a possible subject for either the Freehand Cloak video or the Object source lighting video.  Even the Painting with Powders video was a possiblility.

I ended up using other figures for those.  However, this one was prepped and partially painted already, so I just finished it off.

I really enjoyed painting this.  All of the elements had a wonderful 'flow' to them.  The hair, the sickle, the cloak, etc., all had so much motion swirling around.

Also on ebay here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321261305271?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

From Olympus, with love

These arrived the other day.  The latest from the War Gods line!  War Gods of Olympus!!

Here is the raw set of minis.

Hecate prepped!!  Fantsatic.

Ares prepped.  Also amazing!!!!

Hades prepped.  Truly spectacular!

And then the Bronze Owl.  He will be lots of fun!

I am making some nice bases for these figures, and I will post images of then as they are painted.  Mr. Fitzpatrick really outdid himself on this entire line, that's for sure.

Great casting.  Very solid, easy to deal with.  No nasty mould line surprises, etc.