Tuesday, May 6, 2014

The Story in Statues


It just occurred to me that I never snapped any images of the statues that I created for the Adepticon tournament army!

As usual, they served multiple purposes.  First, they were objective markers for the army.

Second, and more importantly, they told the story of the army!


If you read the concept of the fluff I previewed a while back, this was originally a Bronze Age society with no modern weapons at all.


To turn the tide against repeated Ork invasions, the Inquisition had sent troops disguised as locals.  Eventually, more modern weaponry was required, and the Inquisition revealed itself to a select few.


These were trained in the ways of more technologically based warfare, with increasingly improved weaponry and firepower.


I used a variety of minis... some Celtos for the most ancient versions, followed by some Dark Age and even Excalibur figures.


For the final evolution, I chose a Necromunda figure.  Clan Escher, I believe.


All in all, they made very fun objective markers, and helped to tell the story of the army.  I never did have time to write up a full history.  Hopefully some day!


Since there was not enough time to paint all the murals inside the cathedral as I originally intended, this was the next best thing.


The pedestals were fairly simple, but the paint pulled out more details, and gave them a little more depth.  Once they were inside the Cathedral itself, they were just fine.

It was important that they match the columns and other interior details.  They were also magnetized, which meant I could simply keep them with the board, instead of constantly packing and unpacking them!


Monday, May 5, 2014

Tanks for the minis


All right!  Time for some shots combining the Secret Weapon wrecked tank sections with some actual minis!


Of course, we have Victoria Miniatures Highland Moss Guard hanging out in the shade.


This will really show you how well these sections scale up to 28mm miniatures.


It's one thing to say the such and such part of the table is terrain with a flipped over tank or a piece of paper, but in this day and age of TLOS, hiding behind a true piece of vehicle has more meaning.


I love the two turret cut out sections.  It's very fun to have a mini sitting in there. :-)


It was very easy to get the whole squad inside the sections as well.


The only problem is, these lads are mighty upset that someone has busted up their tank!


This was certainly a different sight out in front of the house.  This was Friday morning right before Cathy left for Penguicon.


When she got back, there was a fun new bag for Jeero to hang out inside!


Covering up the bases


Well, they tell me that I must cover up my bases with these metal objects, so here you go!

This is a favorite sculpt of mine from Mr. Patrick Keith, I believe, of Reaper fame.  It's another one of the test figures from the videos.  I think I had considered it for OSL, Freehand Cloaks, and at least one other video.

It had been a while since I had done some transparent garments, so I did a little of that as well.


I really enjoy the motion and flow of this piece.  The folding of the cloak on the ground is also very impressive, as I have tried to sculpt such things a number of times myself, to no avail.


The figure is understated yet powerful, which I think is fantastic!!

She's also here:


Sunday, May 4, 2014

What we were talking about...


There were many conversations about basing during the week of Reapercon.  I was only able to squeeze in one 'official' class, but there were many spontaneous eruptions of basing the in the Main Hall!


Messes were made everywhere as shards of sculpey and cork went flying.

Fortunately, everyone caught on to the principles of the basic sculpey technique so quickly, we were able to spend nearly an hour painting various forms of marble!


I think it will always be my favorite, even though I have dozens of other bases that I like to create.


There's just something wonderful about a marble base that sets up a theme for the figure, but also makes a great 'platform' for it to rest on.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and joined in on the madness!!


Still a first time for everything... Man of Steel :-)


As you know, I do a lot of painting of just about everything.  However, despite all that, there are some things I have never painted before.

I didn't even know what this was a few years ago.


Somehow, I got a look at some Steel Legion figures online, and then the mystery was solved.  I thought it could be an interesting color scheme for me to do, given the yellowish greatcoats and the brown/gray of the helmets, gloves and boots.


He is also here:


Saturday, May 3, 2014

Broken tank? That's terrain!!


For those of you who saw the pre-Adepticon posts showing the unboxing of the Ruined Tank from Secret Weapon Miniatures, I finally have some painted images for you!


This set of three resin pieces replicates a destroyed Leman Russ tank very well.  Like all Secret Weapon resin, you don't have to scrub and soak it in cleaner!  Yea!


The three pieces are really cool, and offer you a lot of fun little painting areas that means you can customize it to your army.


They are also scaled up very nicely to regular 28mm figures, so they make fantastic terrain, or as a marker for a destroyed vehicle (which is still terrain!)


This turret is more than tall enough for someone to stand behind for cover.


The other hull pieces are just as good for terrain...


I have some more images coming of a whole squad of Highland Moss Guard hanging out inside the ruined tank... stay tuned!!!


Friday, May 2, 2014

Irina from Raging Heroes!


Hey folks!  Still a huge mess in the studio.  

I was unpacking all the stuff I hauled back with me, making a bigger mess, when the boxes showed up with the rest of the stuff that I could not carry back from last week. :-)

Between that and shipping out a bunch of boxes today, I have not gotten a lot cleaned up!

However, I was able to get this figure completed.  It was just posted in the Raging Heroes update on the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy!


She would certainly make an excellent addition to any command squad.


These views also show the neat digital pad she is using, as well as the Flight Deck base from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

I will be working on many more of these wonderful minis in the next few weeks, so get ready for more of the TGG.