The Tainted Pharaoh... and the scary box.

OK, since there are so many new faces here since the big run of Tomb Kings blog posts, I thought I would toss up a little reminder of the very first piece that I created for that army... The Casket of Souls!

As you will learn, the whole idea of this army was to do something entirely different from all the gold, blue and red Tomb Kings armies out there!  I wracked my brains to come up with something.  Once I saw a PBS documentary on "The Silver Pharaoh", I thought I was onto something!!

While the idea popped into my head of a silver army with Necron-esque neon green gems, my initial trials at playing the TK also modified the story quite a bit.  I had to come up with a reason why the army was virtually wiped out in every battle (aside from army books, of course!).

So, the idea of the Tainted Pharaoh emerged.  This Pharaoh has given his kingdom over to a Tzeentch god who has promised to make them human again in exchange for fealty.

That is why all the floors are demon marble, and everything glows with sickly pallor.  Anything that was gold is now morphed into quicksilver, changing colors constantly.  I will try to post some links on the story in a bit...

There are a number of Bretonnian bits in this piece, as that army was supposed to be the next in line, and it had a direct relationship with this one.

This was also my first use of the Vallejo fluorescents.  That really is an amazing paint product!

Here's the crew:

And some shots of the base...

Adapting this color scheme to everything in the army proved to be quite interesting!

If you look at the column on the left here, you will run across a tag of all the Tomb King posts.

There's lots of see, with step by step painting, converting sculpting, and even terrain building!

I developed a ton of new techniques in the creation of this army, which really was the whole purpose in doing it!!

I hope that you enjoy exploring the forbidden and corrupt realm of the Tainted Pharaoh!!!!

Here's the story behind the army:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/06/tainted-pharaoh-pseusenes-fate.html

Beware the great Carnosaur!! Loq Gar the Terrible!

Here is a special Blog Anniversary piece.  Like Mage Priest Babo a few years before, this heavy duty conversion won a Bronze Demon in the Monster category at a Games Day!  

There was a lot to do on this piece, that's for sure.

The wings did require a lot of bracing, and a fair bit of sculpting to make them blend in.  What actually too more time to create, however, was the head crest decoration (featuring Loq Gar's name, of course!) and the banner.  

Those items were fashioned from plasticard, green stuff, and bitz.  I usually keep the banner aside, since it can get a little hairy when things get into those multiple combats (now that terror means almost nothing... lookin' at you, BSB re-roll...)

Anyway, once all the converting was done.  It was time to paint!  When I first began this guy, it was the 'old' edition of lizards, with spawnings.  I was going to color code my spawned saurus... green to move through terrain, a blue for amphibious, and black for ITP.  Nothing says "I ain't scared" like a blue/black lizard walking across lava!

So, this was the army general, with an obvious tie in to that particular spawning.

I wanted to get as many cool colors in as I could, so that the lava reflections would really stand out.

While it took a lot of time, the reflections on the Carnosaur were mostly straightforward.  The reflections on the gold ornamentation was another story :-)

I still tried to keep some color variations on the wings, as you can see by the purples that were incorporated here and there...

This rare view really lets you see all that work!

Loq Gar also made the Top Ten on CMON, which was probably out of fear!!!

Only hours remain in the kickstarter!  Last chance!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel

One last time! The dwarves gather...

OK folks!  One final group shot of the Stonehaven dwarves!

They really have been fun to paint.  Lots of character.  They will make great RPG minis!!

This did give me a chance to do a nice variety of basing themes :-)

I hope you have enjoyed this series!  Go check out the Gnomes kickstater currently under way!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2087444096/gnomish-adventurers-box-set

If you should be interested in learning any of the techniques used to paint or base the Stonehaven dwarves, you can check out my own Kickstarter, which is down to the final day!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel

Babo's Body Guard!

Well, I still want to celebrate the anniversary of the Blog's beginning by showing a unit of converted Temple Guard which I made for my converted Mage Priest!

These guys started out as a batch of old Lizardman figures which I purchased at a bizarre bazzare.  They were in a pretty bad state, which was no big deal, since I had other plans for them!

Some of the conversions were made with standard 7th edition saurus, but I also had some 5th edition old timers that I used as champions, banner bearers, etc.  I was also given some spare plastic Temple Guard bits, which proved to be very handy!

You have see other examples of my movement trays, complete with broken stone floors and vegetation.  I also like to add snakes, shields, and other bits.

Most of the saurus got some sculpted head crests, made from brown stuff.

Once the whole unit was painted, I was very happy with it!!!

Here's one of the conversions using the plastic Temple Guard bits...

And here is a shot of the 7th edition saurus with the sculpted head crests.  I used brown stuff, as that material holds and edge much better than green stuff.  It can be more brittle, but that's the trade off.

Most of the weapons were made by combining spears with hand weapons.

OK folks!  We are getting down to the end of the Kickstarter!  Only about 36 hours left!!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel

Foxy lady...One more Stonehaven dwarf

Here we have one more entry from the Stonehaven Dwarf line!

This is Elia Morningstar, dwarf Druid.

Elia Morningstar tries to do her best to the point of being overly critical of her mistakes.  Elia is clean and tidy and is visibly unnerved by those who are not.

Elia travels with the fox Starling, and anyone else whose motives she trusts.

Be sure to check out their latest kickstarter!  Look for those Gnomes!!!!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2087444096/gnomish-adventurers-box-set

Harrow Boarfell, dwarf Huntsman

Once more we delve into the realm of the Stonehaven dwarves with Harrow Borafell.

Harrow entertains himself by attempting difficult tasks.  Whether it is taking the impossible shot, or tracking impressive game, Harrow is sure to inform others of his success!

In a pinch, Harrow is quick to act.  His reflexes have saved his hide more than once.

Terrain building at the Wandering Dragon...

OK!  Now that I am not half dead anymore, I can finally get around to this post on the terrain I was building at the Wandering Dragon Shoppe on Saturday!

Kevin was kind enough to save me a spot, and some used pill jars, so that I could construct some steampunk terrain pieces for his Warmachine game boards!!

Here I am getting everything set up...

Some textured plasticard with the metal grating on it...

And lots of polystyrene tubing!

I started out by cutting some square and rectangular pieces of foam as a base.

And then started to position some of the pill containers after I sawed off the threads.

I cut numerous small bits of foam, which will look more like control stations or coal bunkers when painted.

I added some bits of polystyrene tubing here and there, along with more foam details, such as the steps.

You can see this piece beginning to take shape...

Now for the all important, and by far most tedious part.  Making the rivets!  This tool is more of an archivist hole punch, which is great for making lots of rivets.  Getting them out of the punch can be a bit of a pain, as static charges make them want to stick to the punch.

I fished them out, and then put them in a container.  I got out a new, very sharp exacto blade, which I will use to handle them.

Each rivet it picked up with the blade, dipped in a spot of glue, and then painstakingly positioned on the terrain piece, one by one.  As I mentioned, this is the most tedious bit!!!

Here you can see some other pieces that I was also working on, using some other types of containers...

More bits, more rivets.  Once these are painted and weathered, it will be a real transformation!

I tried to leave some places where the figures could actually get on top of the terrain, using it as cover or for a dramatic fight scene!

The view from above.

I made a few more pieces while we were there, which I will show in another post.

It was really hopping at the Wandering Dragon, as usual!

Lots of stuff going on, and lots of people having fun, with Malifeaux, RPG's card and board games, you name it!

Well, it's getting to be crunch time for the Painting Pyramid!!  Just 3 days remain!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel