A killing joke...

This is an interesting old Reaper figure.  It wasn't until I had been painting on it for a bit that I actually realized what he was :-)

Somehow all of his accessories did not give me the immediate clue that he is an undead jester!  I'm still glad that I ultimately chose much more muted versions of the purples and reds for his cap and robes, however.

I guess it would have been pretty funny to sculpt some additional bells or something on him...

There's one more of these old Reaper undead characters still around, so I will have to think up a fun setting for him.

Old Mini, New Tricks

Well, I hope all of you got lots of new minis from Santa!

Today, however, we have something a little older.  Yes, this is one more 1996 Ral Partha figure.

It's been fun painting these really old figures, giving them new life again!

The Ghosts of Christmas Past, I suppose! :-)

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221978063495?

Merry Christmas!

Yea!!  It's Christmas!!!

That can only mean one thing... time for a Holiday Sophie from Reaper miniatures!

It's been a long time since I last painted one of the Sophies, so this was extra fun!

Sneaking a smootch from Mr. Snowman...

It warms his heart, but hopefully not too much!

I hope everybody has a great day, and gets tons of new miniatures to paint!!

Golden Boy

Like those old decorations that you keep putting on your tree year after year, thinking that you will replace with newer shinies... those really old minis never actually die away.

Here's another 1996 Ral Partha, brought back to life!

Obviously, today's minis are far different, but it is nice to know that these old timers can still take some paint!

Cathy and I have discussed many times how figures that are this old tend to be dismissed even more due the fact that the paint jobs are often as old as the figure!  This can really distort a view in an unexpected way.

With a fun base and a touch of NMM, a twenty year old figure can look a lot different than it might have when the internet was dial-up and you had to do a special ceremony just to connect!

MEDIC!!

I used this medic figure as part of my command squad for my Imperial Guard army at Adepticon in 2014.  I had a lot of fun adapting this old Battle of Maccrage figure for this purpose.

Yes, I also could not resist lots of blood spatter!

I had a lot of fun painting his white blood stained lab coat :-)

The view from above!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221976432494?

Golden Girl

What's old can still be new!!!  Yes, another ancient Ral Partha figure.  The date on the sprue said 1996, so she's almost twenty years old.

I had a lot of fun with the metals and the cloak, since despite the advanced age, the details were actually quite crisp.

I have been intrigued as I compare these very old minis with the very latest creations of all the new companies.

I can remember a time when most figures had been sculpted by a far smaller range of sculptors, so they all had this kind of appearance.  There are now many new and different styles and approaches, which makes everything a brand new painting experience every time :-)

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/321956913973?

"Base"ic Change

I thought it might be fun to take a few pictures comparing the re-based Skeleton cavalry on the right to the more original appearance on the left.

I used a razor saw to slice the feet of the horse from the pewter "broccoli base" which was hidden beneath oxide paste and gravel.

I had made a few bark and branch bases during a previous session, and as it turned out, both of the new bases were absolutely perfect for the skeleton cavalry!

This image shows the second cavalry figure on its new base on the right.

The difference is even more stunning in these side by side images!  It's amazing what a newfound technique can allow, and give new life to a "regular" skeleton horse and rider.