Not the end of the line...

Yes, there is n o end in sight to the amazing kits that come from the ingenious mind of Lathan!

This kit is a fantastic caboose, which fits in well with either the Battle Train or the civilian version.

There's plenty of spaces to stand on this.  In fact, you could easily have some fantastic multiple layered close combats, given the ladders and all the various levels to stand on.

Each portico is carefully measured to not only fit the miniature, but also to ensure that you can get you hand in there as well!

As you can also see, there are now tracks for the Burn In Designs trains!  I love the end of the line barrier!

I foresee a lot of fantastic battles taking place around this and the other train cars.

Stay tuned!!!

The magic carpet ride

Another member of the Wayward Eight joins the club!  This is Sierra Icarus.

I did some different things with the color scheme from the previous couple of figures.  I also carried some of the decorative patterns out from the corners of the skirts to cover the whole surface.

I also could not resist printing out a few rug designs and seeing which ones might work.  There were a lot of great designs, but in the end, I went with the most subdued pattern.  It also matched many of the colors on the figure itself.

Green will be a recurring thing throughout my Wayward Eight, with brown as the complimentary color.  It has a bit to do with the "Green Coats" storyline that I am working on. :-)

The last Green Mile

While I wasn't able to find any appropriate structures to place in these photos, the hills and trees do very nicely!

In fact, I'm pretty sure these hills are featured in one of my 5 terrain videos from the Painting Pyramid, called "Building Hills and Rocks".  Go figure. :-)

I forgot how much fun those were to make!

I'm looking forward to making some desert versions of them for Wild West Exodus.  Lots of scrub, etc.

It's neat to see all of the Dragoons in one place, in an actual setting.

I combined two Hangar 18 backdrops to create the ground and sky.  The terrain pieces hold them in place, and hide the seams.

They really look like a thundering herd, that's for sure!!

Since much of the same flock and static grass was used on the hills, the bases blend into them nicely.

I will attempt to do the same with my Warrior Nation on the future mesas and hills.

We say farewell to these particular historical minis.  From here, I will be moving on to Bolt Action, some model tanks, and even those model ships!!!

Stay tuned...

A company gets the axe

Once again, lamentations over the fact that Ilyad Miniatures no longer exists.

I think they could really have done some great things with the technology that is currently available.  The details were always very finely sculpted, no matter what kind of surface or texture.  

Weapons, armor, fur, cloaks, faces, etc., were always made extremely easy to paint.

Figures that are not well sculpted or cast can take 2-3 times as long to paint, since you are quite literally fighting the texture of the miniature.  I have been through this torture all too many times over the years!

When you have finely sculpted musculature, for example, you can be even more adventurous with skin tone colors.  Here, I was able to incorporate a lot of greenish grey into the shadow areas, creating even more interest.

Converting your BONES

Having faced The Wraith in a few games of WWX with Rich, I was very curious to give him a try myself.  After reading the A Contract to Die For WWX novel, in which he has a prominent role, I thought it would be very fun.

At first we thought we'd just share Rich's Wraith figure, but then I realized that it might get confusing.

In the heat of the fight, we might each mistake it for our own, or in my case, shooting at it because I believe he's working for Rich's posse!

I had a Reaper BONES figure that looked quite similar to the Wraith figure, but distinct enough that it could not be mistaken for the original.  I did some conversion on him, adding a shotgun arm from Victoria Miniatures, as well as other pouches and grenades.  The armor pieces were sculpted on with green stuff.

I have some WIP shots somewhere, but I may save those for another post where I compare him to the original figure that I was trying to emulate.

Again, the idea here was to get something that looked unique enough from the actual WWX figure.  While I'd love a Wraith mini of my own to paint, I could all too easily see myself getting mixed up.

This will happen more as I begin to experiment with other factions besides the Lawmen.  They are going to play quite differently, which is what I look forward to the most!

Not barking up the wrong tree

Hot off the presses, a new set of bark 'n branch bases.

There's been numerous how to's on both the sculpting and painting process here, so I will let newcomers seek those out for themselves. :-)

Since a few of these bases will be carrying some heavy magnets on the bottom, I chose to pin the branches into the bases.

I normally would not do that, as the normal process of gluing in the 'trees' is pretty solid

.However, the magnets I will be using on these are the same ones that I use on larger creatures, and I will need to exert more force to pull them off the metal sheet.

I had some really sweet pieces of bark to work with here... that fantastic shale texture that basically happens all by itself!

A few Secret Weapon skulls and a bit of the straw..

A wonderful swirling pattern to the rocks leads you right up to the tree...

I enjoyed painting these, as I wanted to incorporate more golden browns and muted reds.  I did this in advance of placing the figures, which will have a distinct set of cooler colors.

This will give me a nice suggestion of contrast, without the viewer actually noticing that it's even there!

Carpathian Industries subsidiary in Wappelville?

Naturally, Carpathian's evil minions are drawn to the supplies of RJ-1027, in addition to all the other "raw materials" that are to be found in the cemetery and the Undertaker's.

Some of the terrain in this image is from Burn in Designs, as most of you already know.  I also made some of it myself, such as the charging stations and the power generator.

The view from above makes it appear that Creation 7 has some loading to do of those wagons!

Speaking of the Undertaker's we are back to the Final Slumber funeral parlor...

One of the Yi Sisters clearly had some business inside. 

As neat as it is to see the pictures of the finished miniatures, it's even more fun to view them in this context.  I love seeing them in terrain!

These are the same kind of scenes that play out in our games of Wild West Exodus, as you have seen in the battle reports.

At a certain point I will have my own Enlightened posse.  This will center around Eiffel and other constructs, as well as the Monocav.

The next Burn in Designs building that is getting its final details is the train station, as well as the Battle Train.  Those two kits together should make quite a scene!