At the Gate

As much fun as it is to see an army come come together, it is even more interesting to see it placed on some appropriate terrain!  Somehow, it makes the whole collection have more impact.

I suppose putting them into an actual setting, as opposed to a generic photo backdrop  makes  it more 'believable'... especially when it comes to sci-fi figures like these Gates of Antares Isorians.

I have a number of step by step guides on painting these here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/10/painting-isorians-phase-one.html

Fortunately, the kinds of bases that I made for these Isorians matched the Warp Gate terrain pretty well!

The Gate is a terrain piece that I made for the Painting Pyramid video series, called "Building a Portal".  It is one of 5 terrain videos that were part of the series, over 100 minutes long as it takes you through the building process and even painting it too!

The glow of the weapons really stand out in this environment, which is really fun!

I am hoping to do some new terrain videos soon, since new recording equipment now makes that possible again!  While I will attempt to do some facebook live versions, I will definitely create some new YouTube versions.  These will be made available to the Patreon subscribers that pledge $5 or more.

There are a number of terrain projects under way, and it would be great to share those in video format.  I have pictorial articles on the blog, but I believe folks will get a lot more from the videos.  Here's a link to the page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Slightly Mad

Back to the old Confrontation figures and some reminiscing about how different the sculpts and even the poses were at the time.

13-15 years ago, you didn't see the kinds of whimsical poses which became one of the trademarks of the line.

Even things that were supposed to be more aggressive or brutish (including goblins and orcs) were given this kind of pose.  Until then, most of the poses were very hulking and static.  This figure is actually ogre sized, on a 30mm base.

Vengeance on the Vistula begins!

The Kubus has arrived!  And now it has been prepped for tonight's facebook live session.

The cast was really wonderful, and just about the easiest resin kit that I have ever assembled!  The lines are all very clean, and the pieces were all straight and perfect.

Here's a link to the original blog post that discusses this recent kickstarter campaign, with links, etc.  There is an extension on the ability to pledge to this fantastic Warsaw Uprising campaign, so there's still time!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/02/vengeance-on-vistula.html

There are no precise color images of the original Kubus for obvious reasons, but some of the best guesstimates put it like this.  So, I will try to paint this guy up tonight before your very eyes.  I will be using regular brushes instead of an airbrush, since not everyone has them.  

The primary medium will also be acrylic paints, because that will let me get to more of the vehicle, including weathering, etc.

Until recently, this is what the hulk of the Kubus looked like.  I have even found images of a 1/35 scale model of the Kubus rendered to look like this scene.

There are a variety of options for the commander, and for weapons.  This image shows you what those are like.

So, stay tuned for late this evening (about 2am central time), or breakfast in the UK and dinnertime in Australia!

I have links to previous facebook live sessions on my patreon page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Basing Madness!

Green Stuff World just keeps making more and more amazing texture rollers!  I keep finding more and more uses for them, and more genres where they can work.  They are also so easy to use, it has altered the way I do my sculpey basing entirely!

I have many posts on how to use the rollers, but now the roller guides which Green Stuff World created make the process even more simple.  The "plain" roller is used to get a sheet of the Gray Extra Firm Sculpey into the appropriate size and thickness for those roller guides.

Just roll along the ceramic tile, and keep equal pressure with both hands... and poof!

This Triple Hex roller is a new favorite.  I will be making a special video of that roller for the Patreon supporters.  I tested out some new techniques with this during a live session the other day:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212356287316393/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

While this texture is great for fantasy and steampunk minis alike, my real goal is to use that for my Bolt Action terrain.  This sheet is huge, and just a few of these could create an entire courtyard of a French village, etc.  So, you will eventually see this texture in my Bolt Action battle reports as well!

Here's a peek at some of the bases that I made during that live session.  I was trying to show how to make multiple levels, use "scrap" pieces... as well as the usual process of how to sand and gravel the various sections together.

I hope to do many more live sessions on these basing materials, which are funded by the Patreon Page.  I am also filming some special episodes that will be available to the Patrons each month!

Here's a link to the page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The Evil Twin

Into the way back machine to check out some more Confrontation minis!

I never realized that they did several sets of figures which showed a "normal" and "warped" side.  That became an interesting challenge to keep the two sides as close as possible, but still denote the 'changes'!

The shapes of the weapons were very unique, but still quite nice to execute some NMM... normally very odd shapes for weapons means having to mess around and fudge with the rendering, but not this time!

In other news, the next painting video link has been sent to all the $5 and above subscribers.  This is all about painting Lave Bases!  Among other things, it looks like March will be Basing Month on the Patreon page! :-)

I will be doing a live session on working with the Green Stuff World texture rollers late tonight, which will be fun!

Drone Wars

This is the Isorian Tograh MV2 Transport Drone from Gate of Antares, another element of the Isorian army that I have been working on.  As with the Combat Drone, I used the Vallejo Fluorescent paints to establish the glow.  The Oranges and Purples were used to act as a compliment to this greenish glow.

Here's a link to the webstore:

https://us-store.warlordgames.com/products/isorian-tograh-mv2-transporter-drone

The purples were also tinted "warmer" and "cooler" be virtue of the glazes and highlight colors.  For instance, I can start out with the same Reaper Clear Purple, and then use either a pink or a light sky blue to highlight it.  This creates a greater variety of tones, which is important on a vehicle as large as this with so many complex surfaces.

The underside of the vehicle was highlighted mostly with that bright sky blue, while the upper area shadow zones were glazed darker with blue.  This made the pinkish highlights stand out a bit more, without having to be made incredibly light.

I didn't want those highlights to be brighter than the green glow of the various power transfer elements.

If you check out previous posts on the Isorian army, you will find some step by step painting guides.

The views from above show how all these different tones work together.  You can see that I used the pinkish highlight colors to create the 'living' sections of the carapice, where veins and other bits of freehand show through the outer shell.  That carried those tones across the entire surface, merging two very different areas of color together.

Even the purple spots on the orange sections help in this task... pulling all the elements together.

I have already painted a number of Gates of Antares vehicles in my facebook live sessions.  Here is a very fun session that I did a while back...

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209626582475478/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I will be doing more Antares live sessions, as well as additional Bolt Action tutorials.  If you want to see even more painting, basing and terrain techniques, you can be part of my Patreon Page, where special videos are available on every aspect of painting!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Roll Out the Barrel

This rather interesting miniature is the February Raffle figure for the Patreon page.  Anyone who pledges support to the page is eligible for the 4th monthly raffle.  Here's a link to the page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

There's much more to the page than raffle figures of course.  I do at least 1 2.5 hour facebook live tutorial each week, and starting in March, more YouTube painting lessons will be available to those subscribing $5 or more.  Those pledging $10 will be able to see other special sessions, and more of the Painting Pyramid series as well.

Here's an example of the Dark Sword figure demos, and the kinds of miniatures that will be offered on these 'secondary' raffles:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212119155668250/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I will also be doing special Bolt Action battle reports that are only available to the patrons.  Two have been posted thus far to my YouTube channel.

In addition, I have been making some of the Painting Pyramid series available to the Patrons.  I will be sending private links to the Patrons on March 1st, which will be one of the 12 basing videos that I created as part of the series.  There were 53 videos in all covering a variety of subjects, so just about every interest or question should be covered!

I am also making new Painting Pyramid videos covering techniques that I have learned since that first batch was made.  Oil painting, new basing and terrain techniques are all planned!

To all who have already supported the page, you have my thanks, and the drawing of this Raffle figure will take place in a few days during the next live session, so stay tuned!