The Ice Warrior

This figure is the first in a series of alternate color schemes for the Algoryn faction from Gates of Antares.  The goal is to create as wide a range of themes as possible, using both color and basing.

Since the original color is a deep red, I wanted to try something very different, utilizing an icy palette for an icy base!

The faceted armor reminded me of ice, hence the reason this particular theme crossed my mind first.

Some of the other concepts I'm working on include urban, lava base, jungle camo, and more... so stay tuned!

Wolf Pack!

Wulfen figures of all types are clearly favorites of mine, and these Norsgard versions are a great addition to my collection.  I had a lot of fun with these.

Each of them has a unique character, and the poses are certainly dynamic.

All of the bases were made with tree bark, and a smattering of Secret Weapon resin skulls were added.

There are also some different fur colors here.  I could not resist making the "Duelist" white!

The larger wulfen to the right of the image had more greenish tones worked into the fur, while the magic user had plenty of purple glazes.

To see more amazing figures from Norsgard, check out their website:

http://norsgard.com/news/time-has-come.html

Manticore

This monstrous creature is one of the original sculpts by Raging Heroes.  I had painted this up for a possible Chaos Warrior fantasy army.

As with all things that pertain to Chaos, I wanted to have a Tzeentch theme, and this is why the sword was given the blue tint, and glow applied elsewhere!

There was also a design aspect to that choice, which was an attempt to create a little more interest in areas that might have been repetitive or monotonous.  Since many of the colors would be warmer tans and umbers, the brighter blue would offer a contrast in saturation and color temperature. 

Some of the middle tone colors were greenish grays, made by mixing that lighter blue with the sienna and tan.  The green colors provided a little more interest in the middle tones, and even the shadow areas.

I know that the texture on the wings was pretty heavy, and it would be impossible to make them look more like membranes or something semi transparent.  This was another reason I wanted to toss in that extra definition from the Object Source Lighting.

The rider was also interesting to paint, with lots of fun shapes.  His head crest also reminded me of the Tzeetch look!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222321715934?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Cool Cubes!

This is a bit of a sneak peek at the building German force for the France 1940 campaign, and the dice to go with them!

Like all of my army dice, they are from Dice of War.  They are very high quality, and you can find just about any national symbol or even army/divisional symbol!!

I really enjoy them, because they add a lot to the overall feel and look of the game.  Also, the larger size is more comfortable to use than the smaller 30 dice in a container style.

Again, there's a massive variety to choose from.  I also have the Afrika Korps version, two different Italian dice, two Hungarian dice, three French sets, and more! 

The vast majority of the designs are actually inset into the surface, as opposed to printed.  However, I have many sets of the printed dice, and they are quite nice as well.  Those designs are usually national flags.

So far, I have only done blog posts on the Panzer IV and the Opel Blitz truck.  As you can see, there are many other troops, weapon teams and vehicles that are yet to show up on the blog.  I was very curious to see how it was all starting to look together, and it seemed like a good opportunity to put out the dice too!

In fact, there's a whole lot of early war Heer that is being built and painted at the moment.  I am trying to include every type of weapon system that was employed in the France '40 theatre.  This means PZ 35's, 38's, etc., with all forms of artillery and lighter weapon teams.

My goal is to include as many tutorial style articles on these items as possible.  Once everything is prepped and readied for Google Hangouts, I want to do some of those as well.  More of them will likely involve infantry units, but vehicles and even terrain are things I'd like to cover also.

Stay tuned!!

Moulding the Future

It was great to see the good folks from Happy Seppuku at Reapercon, as they were showing off their new products and designs.  Here I have some images of the 'classic' moulds, along with some peeks at the newest versions!

Here's a link to their website:

http://happyseppuku.com/

These casts were all done by rolling pink or grey extra firm sculpy over the moulds in a relatively thin sheet.  I need to do a new round of basing, so it was time to get raw building materials!!

These industrial and sci-fi versions are going to be used for more Gates of Antares bases.

This brick pattern will be excellent for both roads and as broken walls.  The idea is to create a vertical piece, and cover a portion of it with stucco paste while leaving some of the brick texture exposed.  I'm hoping to create a destroyed village wall in the process!

This pattern will be fantastic for roads in small French towns, or city sidewalks.

Here are some of those new texture stamps that Happy Seppuku was showing off at Reapercon.

I can't wait to try these guys out!!!

The latest round of baking yielded bases, sheets of texture from Happy Seppuku and even Green Stuff World.  A new roller just arrived, so stay tuned for some fun with a brand new texture!!

Scissor Hands

Meet the wulkin version of Edward Scissorhands!

That particular feature made him interesting to paint, that's for sure!

This was also another case of utilizing the Reaper clear paints for glazing, both in the 'traditional' sense of transparent washes, but also mixed with opaque colors to work in the all important midtones.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222317027695?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Have a biscut, chaps!

This grenade tossing soldier is not exactly bowling in a cricket match... he means real business!

This is part of the BEF plastic kit from Warlord Games.  To fit in with the France '40 campaign, they were all built with early war weapons, and units structured accordingly.  We shall see how they fare in the version 2 rule set.

As with previous French and German figures for this theatre, I used some of the Mig AMMO mud products on the base, and the lower sections of the figure itself.