Frost Blade

I don't paint a whole lot of Privateer Press figures, but it is fun to do that when I get the chance.

As you might imagine, this is also part of the massive snow theme project, which combines figures from a number of different companies.  While painting an army in a continuous color scheme is certainly an interesting challenge, keeping a range of colors and theme over radically different styles of figures is quite unique!

I think there have been at least 4-5 different manufacturers in this adventure.  All you can do is try to find the "common ground" in all the figures, be that cloaks, hair, weapons, etc.  Having a distinct basing style with everything is the easiest method, and snow sorta works with everything.

While something this massive is not for everyone, challenging yourself to make a group of five or six unrelated figures work with each other could open up some new ideas and concepts for you!

Darkest Eldar

This "combo kit" Kabal warrior emphasizes the newer kits over the old sets.  Most of the previous figures have prioritized the use of the original, older sprues.

I certainly didn't expect the two kits to come remotely close  to working together, given how far apart in time they were created, and the differences in design.  The technology involved in making the two kits was certainly very different!

The newer versions had the more dynamic poses, and more clearly defined armor sections, as this guy does.  The weapons were much the same, but the massive variety I ended up with was well worth the effort.  Dozens of these Kabal were done this way, and each one was unique.

One last close up look... but stay tuned for many more!!

Pitch perfect

We return to one of my favorite lines of Blood Bowl minis with the original Sukubus team.  While three wonderful new teams have been created since these ladies (Norse, Dark Elf, etc.),  these Demonettes still rule the pitch!

The sculpts have plenty of detail and dynamism in the poses, and each one is unique as well!  Better yet, nearly all of them are in just one piece, such as this figure.  I have no idea how that was possible, especially with the minimal amount of mould lines.

I hope you enjoy seeing these various teams come together, player by player.  The rest of the team can be found in the Sukubus Studios section of the blog, along with previews and reviews of their other races and teams.

Be sure to check out the Sukubus Studio webpage and on facebook to see their latest news, and what's being planned for the future.

Crossing the Rubicon

It's time to take a look at the first of some amazing 1/56 scale kits by Rubicon miniatures.  I suppose that the old "you can't judge a book by it's cover" saying does not apply here, because the incredible packaging is an indicator of the marvels contained within!

As most of you already know, my obsession with trucks as transports and tows, so having another Opel Blitz around suits me just fine. 

The concept behind the Rubicon kits is a combination of gaming and display level figures.  This means that they are supposed to have the look and feel of high level traditional model kits (which can be used for competition dioramas, etc.) but have an ease of construction and durability which you see in more gaming oriented kits.

Working with these sets has shown me they accomplished this goal with great accuracy!

The instructions are a great balance of detail and options, just like the kit.  There are many tidbits of advice and hints on which parts should be assembled first, depending on what your goal is.  A very complete decal sheet is also included.

Amazingly enough, it took only two sprues to provide all these options.  They are not jammed in together so tightly that you have to risk breaking pieces just to remove them.  All too often, I have to cut up the main sprues to be able to get at the parts that I need.  Certainly not an issue here!

Things might look complex off the bat, but the instructions are very easy to follow, and every piece fits together perfectly.

Check out the level of detail on this undercarriage.  I can't wait to get at this with my weathering products!  I think you can also see some of the thought bubbles on the instructions offering the tidbits of advice.

The tires are very well done too. so the crisply rendered treads will be prefect for some nice light colored dust or dried mud!

The bed can be put together in as number of ways, and the cab is a fantastic design which makes paining the driver and crew a snap!

More options!  The truck bed can be completely enclosed, partially opened, or minus the cover completely.

There are stowage sets for both Allied and Axis kits, which I absolutely have to get my hands on!  I'd love to have the bed of a truck filled up with some supplies as an objective or something along those lines.

The shell of the cab pops right off for easy access to the crew.  I'll be painting those first so you can see them.  There are some templates for making windshields and windows, which I will take advantage of!  This way I can splatter some mud on them and possibly some rain effects!

These assembled shots give you a sense of how nice this will be to paint!  The cab is not even glued in place yet!

I have not quite decided which period/theater this will be from.  Since the top comes off so easily, and stays on without needing glue, I may just use it for my Afrika force.  We shall see.

This is only the first of several incredible Rubicon kits, so be sure to stay tuned!!

Keeping the line moving

The Samurai surge keeps building with another lineman.  Just like the first one, he is without the head crest, which I have saved for the Blitzers and Black Orcs.

When I first attempted sculpting this team, the armor pieces were done in sections, one by one.  Needless to say, that took a long time, because each arm has between 3-5 sections!  This time around, I was able to do them all in one sheet.  

The sculpting tools were the same, but experience had shown me some tricks to get a similar enough result with the one shot approach.

Still, I only did one arm at a time, or just the leg sections at once.  This was to avoid the risk of sticking my finger into freshly sculpted green stuff.  And yes, this will happen.  Fresh green stuff sitting around has a 100% chance of getting smushed, no matter how careful you are.

By working on many figures at once, you can rotate through all the pieces you are working on, and still make a lot of progress in each section.  In this case, I was adjusting nearly 20 figures at the same time.

A Sniper on the Loose

Next up on the Isorian unit list is the Phase Sniper.  As usual, there's a small drone included in the unit.  I'm continuing the same basing and color scheme throughout the entire force, with some variations here and there as need be.

When carrying a color scheme across an entire army, as I have done any times, the real trick is to create a scheme which can not only be repeated over and over again... but one that can also be applied to vehicles and heavy weapons.

Creating something that looks cohesive on both standard infantry and 'irregular' objects such as these weapon platforms takes experience and careful planning.

This is why the color test figures are done along with the bigger, more specialized pieces.  However, the color test piece is carried all the way through to completion, while those other units wait until that pattern is more ingrained in my head.

Any time you have a carapice such as this, the temptation is always to do various spot patterns.  Since I wasn't sure if I wanted to imply more of a manufactured look to that section of the figures, I kept it a more solid color.

One reason I did these rusty deck plating style bases was to give some easy contrast to the far warmer and more saturated colors of the figures themselves.

I have taken a few initial group shots of the figures which are already complete.  They showed me that the color scheme will indeed work out across the entire army... so stay tuned for more!

Bark and BONES

This BONES Dryad figure was a good opportunity to test out a few different things.  Primarily, I wanted to see what would happen if I did some glazes over the leaf foliage.  There were a few situations recently where I did so on plastic foliage, and I really liked the results.

While there are a number of different foliage colors available, I've noticed that they tend to be very monochromatic within that 'spring', 'summer' or 'fall' designation.  In this experiment, I worked with the spring version.

Those trend towards very bright greens, which I would attempt to tone down with some darker glazes of greenish browns and warm greens.

I had to be cautious as I applied these glazes, because getting the leaves too wet might cause them to curl or be too dark... or even clump together!

To add to the experiment, I had glued some individual leaves in the hair, which mimicked what was sculpted into the hair.

That aspect of the experiment was particularly successful, which made me happy!  I think that it also worked the way I wanted on the ground foliage as well.  Next time I will see what happens if I use the AMMO filters and glazes.

The oil paint might not soak into the leaves quite as much, and might reduce the risk of clumping and curling due to the lack of water.  The oil washes might also sink even deeper than the thicker water based washes could reach.

Stay tuned!!