You've got mail!

Hell-o everybody!

This week I received a package from a guy in California, Aron, who sold me some new miniatures. They have been under way for a while, and because of the Danish customs services, they even got delayed further. And became more than twice as expensive as they were, including shipping! But that's Denmark for you: Everything is much more expensive than it's supposed to be. On the other hand we get free education and medical aid, so I don't think I should complain about an extra fee on toys.
But I digress...

When I said "new miniatures", I was actually lying: They are quite old. All of them were marked with "GW 1985" on the slot, so they are as old as myself! But they are in great shape and only the axe guy(bottom, middle) had a severe mould line across his' left arm. So cleaning them up and making them ready was a soon overcome chore, which left me with the basing. Cork is my friend, as you can see...

I also did a little green stuffing. I have tried out a bit of modelling before, but I almost only use modelling putty to fill out gaps and do
small repairs, but seing as the two crossboworcs looked too much alike, I wanted to give the hooded guy some extra individualism.
Again; I am not much of a sculptor, but I tried giving him a chain mail shirt and I think it went okay: The only tools used were my finger and a pencil, and with about ten minutes of work, I am quite happy with the result. We'll see how it turns out, when the paint goes on. This is one of the great things about orcs: It isn't weird if an orc has his' upper body clad in heavy armour, but his' lower body only protected by a loin cloth. It's an orc! Screw appropriateness!

Three days prior to getting this little bundle of joy, I got another package, that time from England. It was the rulebook for Confrontation, which I have never played(I've played to miniatures games ever: HeroQuest and Dungner Derby), but would like to try, not least because of the outstanding miniatures! But the book is beautiful, filled with pictures of minis, paintings of characters and concept art for the game! Annd it turns out that it's a skirmish game, a fact I was unaware of, which means I already have a painted team to play with, by sheer coincidence! I like skirmish games more than battle games, because of the relatively low number of miniatures needed for playing...

Staying on the topic of Confrontation, here is the progress of the guy I started painting right after the last post: A Kelt Sessairs Warrior. After writing the last blog I saw the Jason Momoa version of Conan the Barbarian and it inspired me to get going on this guy. The movie is quite good, although it lacks a lot of the charm of the 1982 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I really like the genral world that Robert E. Howard created; it's based on ancient Europe, but then twisted into a magical world, so foreign that it doesn't fell like one of those stupid crossover fantasy worlds, where people travel from our world to the magical world and back again. You can probably imagine my feelings on Narnia and Harry Potter. Give me Hyboria, Faerûn or Aarklash any day of the week!
Back to the painting: I had a hell of a time deciding which colours I wanted for this bloke, as he has a lot of natural materials on him; Leather, metal, skin, fur, bones, and not much fabricated clothes and that sort of things. In the end I decided to just try something and then, if it looks boring in the end, I will use washes to make him more interesting. There are six base colours on him: Skin, grey, light brown, medium brown, reddish brown, dark brown and green. At the moment of photography, he has been washed with The Army Painter's Soft Tone Ink for the skin and light brown, and Strong Tone for the leather. The sword and leg brace has had to shadings, first a 1:1 mix of Vallejo Model Colors Neutral Grey and VMC Dark Grey and then pure VMC Dark Grey. There are going to be two more shadings and then the highlighting begins...
I really like this mini: although it looks a bit strange with the receding hairline, this guy looks freaking bad ass, with his determined jaw and simply the stance in which he has been modeled... I am really looking forwards to getting the entire band done and fitted onto a scenic display board!

But I'm not finished!

I had my ten years anniversary at The Company and got a cake and a gift card from them. Well, it wasn't really a gift card, it was a letter saying that I could spend a specific amount of money and bring the receipt, and then the company will reimburse me. As it turns out, the local pusher had a sale of up to 70% off, ending this Saturday, so I went and went amok: All of the pictured thing will end up costing me NOTHING AT ALL!

Now I'm finished!
Have a nice weekend, everybody and enjoy the onslaught of summer, by staying indoors and painting little lead soldiers!

Brain Cat!

Hello Everybody!

I'm sorry for the delay -again- but that's just the way it goes. Sometimes I have a hard time finding time to get to the Torture Chambers, which means that the painting progresses even more slowly and I don't really feel like writing something, if I have nothing to say...

But now I have a bit of news!

Look out! It's a jumping brain!

I've painted a cat!
Well, not so much a cat, as a brain. It's a Mind Eater from Reaper Miniatures and I think it is probably the best sculpt of this monster, eventhough it has been made more insectoid, than the D&D monster, it's obviously based off. For this kitten I've tried to get a kind of organic black on the legs, by painting in dark greys and then washing with different mixes of red, purple and black inks. I'm not sure how visible these shades are to you guys, but in my eyes the washes give this critter a much more vibrant and diverse color, compared to just drab grey. The base is done in much the same way, only with green and blue inks and a bit lighter colour scheme...

Miav!

Here's the picture of an Intellect Devourer from the AD&D Monstrous Manual, the kitten who Reaper's sculptor Patrick Keith is obviously inspired by. Eventhough I like the cat's paws version better than the more arachnid version, this is still a fun miniature to paint and the brain part is appropriately gross. I might get some more of them at some point, just because they have a great gross-out factor!
I'm planing on using this cat as the warhound for a future Frostgrave band, made from Cthul-oids. But first Tor Gaming has to get their Kickstarter set in production. I can't wait!


But enough about felines!

As I've stated before, I have an easier time focusing on the work, when I have a kind of project to do. Single minis can be fun, but I work better, when I can plan a bunch of painting, such as a Frostgrave Warband or some such thing. And now, I've thrown my love at a gaggle of barbarians from Rackham's Confrontation game. Or is it a murder of barbarians? No matter; here they are, so far:

From left to right: Man-at-arms, Treasure Hunter, Wizard, Barbarian, Man-at-arms.

These are Kelt Sessairs from Aarklash, the world in which the Confrontation game takes place. Confrontation minis are -hands down- my favorite miniatures of all time, no matter if we're talking orcs, barbarians, mutant zombies, giant dragons or whatever you can name! This small group is also in the works to become a Frostgrave band, but it will be expanded a bit, when I get a bunch of archers and one more Spasm Warrior from Johnny, over at Brains and Guts. He found a bunch of the Rackham minis in hi's stack and immediately contacted me, to see if I wanted them...

I'm also focused a bit more on getting some work done on my commision; it's going a bit too slow, even for my own taste, but it's just a little difficult for me, to focus solely on the massive task that it is. You can see the almost finished ghost ship in the background of the Kelt picture...

That's all for this time! Have a nice week!