Seeing eye Spica

As I paint the new Mimreg Salto, I have been thinking over the possibilities of combining the Spica Hired Hands with the portals that she brings to the table.

When combined with certain characters, these Spica could utilize those portals to deal some nasty close combat strikes.  If I can find a way to come to grips with the more squishy opponents right away, perhaps that might help me equalize the numbers more rapidly.

It will also depend on the scenario.  Objective base scenarios mean that severe outnumbering will make life very tough.  Since the opponent can also use those portals once they are on the table, it means careful consideration of their location!!

Green to get brown...

Yeah, that sounds weird, but the old "red and green make brown" statement really is true.  Sometimes, however, the green is not always mixed completely with that red.

As you know, I have been using a lot of green on these Red Box Games figures, both on the skin tones and the leathers.

Back in my early days of painting, my leather colors were more of an "out of the jar" mix which was nice, but lacked this kind of depth.

It's also a lot more fun to paint this way... a far more accurate representation of how I used to paint with pastels and oils!

This is my treasure...

I have lots of Reaper "favorite" figures, but this has always been fun to paint over the years.  each time I try a little something different on it.

I suppose that I have been painting a lot of pirate themed figures of late! :-)

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321826269793?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Hammer the Spicas

Normally I don't paint my units in "official" color schemes.  However, it has been interesting to follow the concept art with at least some of the Wild West miniatures that I have painted.

I decided to stay with the 'traditional' color schemes as they offered some technical challenges.

The scheme for these hired hands was an interesting combination of reddish browns and black.  I have not painted anything in this combination very often, so I thought I would give that  try!

Bark, Branch, and tree...

You have seen many examples of my Bark and Branch basing technique, but I did a little experiment with this set.

I had a few chunks of dried tree wood, and I wanted to see how that might work out.

While my "standard" bark provides a shale like texture, the chunks of wood had some very nice striations.

These bases were created with very heavy bark from a red pine.  It almost resembled lava flows in some ways.

These bases were made for my 7th Cavalry and Pony Express rider NPC characters.

Each of these three primary textures look fantastic when they are painted, and some extra foliage added as well.

These bases are made with those chunks of wood.  I believe a few of them were actually pieces of mulch, or from trees that had been recently cut down.

What'cha doin' there, kid?

The Outlaws of Wild West Exodus are very character based.  This is designed to play to the story of the Outlaws, where nobody can really be trusted.

The hired hands are intended to be whatever drifters, thieves or criminals that they can find who can carry a gun.  These Bosses, Underbosses, and Sidekicks tend to pack a real punch, and don't offer any of the "buffs" that you would find in more highly trained factions such as Lawmen, Union or Holy Orders.

I didn't realize how prominent a point this was until I read the novels, and then started to examine all the individual unit profiles.

There are many ways where differences are established between factions, and this one is a very interesting an unique approach.

Is the grass greener...

Here's the second box that I brought back from GenCon, also from GreenBrier Games.

Once again, the game system is called Fairytale Games.

This time we have the Mercenaries.

Just like the previous set, they are all one piece plastic poses.

The Huntsman.  I might go more Vampire Hunter with this.

Goldilocks!

This is Piper.

Red.  Tempted to go Wood Elf here.

Robin Hood.  Ranger time.

Obviously this is Hook.  Pirate theme no matter what!

The Hatter.  I will try to find some fun references for this.

This is Hua Mulan.  I will put some of my paper foliage on the base.