The Golden Buggy

So far you've seen a variety of heavy and light support figures from various new factions created in the Unfinished Business campaign by Wild West Exodus. 

Today we will introduce the fourth and final faction,  the Golden Army.

This faction is composed of a few different archetypes.  Leading the way is Ponce de Leon, who has learned about an interesting side effect of prolonged contact with RJ-1027.

Spanish conquistadors now roam parts of the weird west, along with the dirt farmers. 

This is the heavy support for the Golden Army. 

Going on an Expedition

I think what I will enjoy most about the Bolt Action series will be painting all the various forces from around the world.

You have seen me painting lots of French thus far, but that is only the beginning!  Not only am I working on the Axis invasion army to oppose them... I am painting up some allies too.

This was the first color test figure painted for the early war BEF.

I will continue the same Ardennes forest appearance to match the French.

While the differences in color were very subtle from their French counterparts, the slightly warmer browns of the uniform were a lot of fun!

A number of these are well under way, as are some British vehicles.  Stay tuned for much more!!

Base Camp

While miniature painting is the focus for my demos in the WitchBorn booth at GenCon (#2861), let's not forget about basing!

This is a set of bases that I have made over the last few weeks to have with me at the table.  Most of you already know how obsessed with basing that I am, so it is only fitting that I have all kinds of sculpey and bark bases handy!

I tried to make as wide a variety as possible, although most of them were made using the new Green Stuff World texture rollers.

This batch was created with the mosaic tile texture roller.  I also combined a few other elements, including my sculpted column bits.

I still had some of the Celtic ruins texture left, so I made more of those too!

I had to make at least a few "Bark and Branch" bases to work on, of course!

I will have all 53 videos in the booth on USB drives, twelve of which focus exclusively on different basing techniques.  Swamp, snow, forest, marble, wood planks... you name it.

Here's an example of the "core" basing video, on how to create some of the essential base types using sculpey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW80jZhpvsg

A few of the videos even discuss how to paint your bases once you have sculpted them.  One shows a more "standard" marble effect, while another shows you how to paint the "Demon marble" like the effect I used on my Tomb Kings bases.

This sample video shows how to create sci-fi style bases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEP1ILxyGcs

I am going to have as much in the way of basing supplies that I can bring, so if people want to see a demo of that, I will be able to do some of those too!

Again, I will be in the WitchBorn booth #2861 in the new section of the dealer's room.  I'm hoping that it might be a little quieter there, and easier to talk :-)

There will also be a small part of each day when I am at the Badger Airbrush booth doing 2D art with the airbrush, so be sure to check that out!!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the mini Fort Wappel at GenCon...

The Lavender Paladin

I originally started working on this Sandra Garrity sculpt at Marcon.  This was a more challenging piece, as some of the details were quite small.

To keep the long flowing cloak more interesting, I tried to create a number of different color and saturation variations.  As you can see, some parts are a more intense, warm purple, which transition to a more muted blue.  I also made darker and midtone blue shades to compliment these colors.

I used the Reaper clear and liner paints to tint and shade most of these colors.  While those paints have a very intense pigmentation, they are also more translucent.  When combined with water or even materials such as glaze medium or flow improver, you essentially create a very nice glaze of your own!

I will be demonstrating this principle in a few classes at Reapercon later this year.  The use of liner paints is well documented in my painting videos.  Those liner paints are also excellent for freehand work!  Be sure to see me in the dealer's room at GenCon!  I will definitely be demonstrating these techniques before your very eyes :-)

The Swamp Rats

With the four new factions created in the recent Wild West Exodus kickstarter expansion came not just a huge batch of new miniatures... but new battlegrounds!

Taking their rebellion to the swamps and bayous, the Confederacy conducts a guerrilla campaign, striking from out of nowhere, only to return to their nearly invisible hideouts once the assault is complete.

While their technology might lack the advancement of their Union foes, they can make the most of it.  Here and older blackhoof, precursor to the iron horse and other bikes, is used as light support for those hit and run attacks.

I'm looking forward to painting more of the Confederate Rebellion, as I can contrast the burning glow of the RJ-1027 against even more muted camouflage colors!

I will also get a chance to do more swamp bases!

The first of many... so stay tuned for much more.

Rise of the Machines

While painting tiny Frenchmen and tanks for Flames of War is certainly very different from anything else that I have done in the past, working on even smaller CAV figures is truly unique!

These offer an interesting opportunity to experiment with a wide variety of weathering techniques on a truly small scale.  Reading the main rule book also described some fun possibilities as well.

The holographic camo patterns will be especially neat when seen along with terrain, as the vehicle itself attempts to blend in with its surroundings.

I'm painting up a variety of hover tanks, ground vehicles and other mechs.  Some of these are light scout mechs... and others are massive behemoths!  You will see one of those very soon. :-)

The kickstarter has been under way for a few weeks now, so be sure to check it out!

Here's a link to the campaign:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/272456130/talon-games-cav-strike-operations-ii

Looking for Trouble

While I was prepping a TON of Reaper miniatures to use as demonstration material in the GenCon booth (#2861), I ran across this assassin figure, and decided to finish it off.  It seemed to be just the right figure for the ruined Celtic temple theme base!

I have a number of BONES minis that I will have on hand to demonstrate various techniques, although the Shaded Basecoat and glazing techniques will be the most prominent.

I'm hoping that folks will stop by to chat and watch me work, as they have the last few years.  Think of it as a very tiny Fort Wappel in a massive jungle of craziness!  I will also have the videos there on USB drives, as I did last year.  Of the 53 total videos, 12 of them are all about various basing techniques that I have developed over the last 16 years of miniature painting.

It's hard to believe that for the first few years, we did nothing but gravel and static grass!  My how things have changed.

I'm going to try to make a number of different bases to have in the booth at GenCon.  At the very least, they might give folks some new thoughts on how to approach basing.  This is not a very difficult method at all, and you can see how much it adds to the overall look and feel of the miniature itself.

With just a small amount of extra effort, every miniature can become a tiny diorama... you don't have to have a massive plinth, plaque or bust :-)

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322207876485?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649