Alfyn Crowkiller

I mentioned a while back when I completed Jon Snow that I did not relish the idea of painting an entire unit of rangers of the Night's Watch for gaming.  Well, since that post I've had a change of heart and started working on a small unit of rangers that will be sent beyond The Wall to search for signs of Mance Rayder.  The thing is, if I'm to do a bit of Westeros wargaming, I better have a few opponents for the Watch to face.  And who better than their long time enemies, the Wildings?

I thought I'd start my Wilding warband with Alfyn Crowkiller (DSM5021).  Although Alfyn is not a major character in the novels, his name is mentioned several times and it is quite apparent that he is a man feared and respected by the Night's Watch.  It took the fabled ranger Qhorin Halfhand to finally bring down Alfyn in A Clash of Kings and end his murderous ways.  We shall see if the rangers of the Watch are able to repeat that feat on the game table.

I started with Alfyn not only because I needed a leader for my Wilding warband, but because I absolutely love the sculpt.  Jeff Grace has done a wonderful job capturing the essence of the GRRM novels for Dark Sword Miniatures.  The Wildings he has completed all feature dynamic and fluid poses, which always grabs my attention....and this one is certainly no exception.

Although not much is written in the novels about garb, I had to assume from the descriptions of their spartan lifestyle that the Wilding culture is based off the land.  As such, I painted Alfyn wearing leathers and furs with lots of earthy colors.  Even the metals were mostly muted, with the exception of the maile and sword. 

With such a limited color palette, the miniature was fairly easy to paint.  And with the extra time, I was able to do a bit of wet blending on the shield.  The color gradient on the shield surface came out fairly well but the metallic decorations were another story.  With the limited space and metallic color options, the gradation was too abrupt and easily noticed.  If I were to do it again, I think I would have chosen to use non-metallic metals to help with the blending.

As for the gaming rule set, I've been tinkering with the old LotR SBG rules from Games Workshop.  They are easy to adapt and perfect for the small scale skirmishes that characterized warfare between the Wildings and Night's Watch.  For now, I'll basically use the rules as is, and simply substitute warrior profiles where appropriate.  With time, I'll work on adding special rules that more closely represent the world George R. R. Martin created.  Ideas and suggestions would be very welcome!

The Ladies of Port Largo - Part 3

Perhaps this entry should have been titled Lady of Port Largo since I only have one miniature ready for the blog at this point.  But to keep the titles of the ongoing series symetrical, I guess I'll leave it in the plural form.  Anyhow..... although this miniature is destined to serve as a character in my Legends of the High Seas campaign, just like the barkeep a few weeks ago, she is well suited for use in a number of settings from fantasy to medieval and even into the closing stages of the last century.  I have no doubt that I'll get quite a bit of use from her.

The miniature is from Fenryll and is part of their Villagers line.  She comes in a blister containing three minis, all of which are well-sculpted and suitable for gaming.  She scales well with Reaper miniatures but not so well with Black Scorpion, which comprises a large part of my pirate collection.  That's OK though.  She is to be used mainly as a background piece and not so much as a character, unlike some of the previous Ladies of Port Largo entries. 

Although I did just say that the model is nicely sculpted, there is a problem with the eyes.  It may be difficult to tell from the photo, but the recesses are definitely offset.  I tried to cover the flaw with paint but the raised areas only showed the flaws in a unflattering light more readily.  I suppose I could have taken a very very very small file and and removed the sockets but I lack both the skill and the patience, so she will remain as is.   Still, she is a wonderful miniature and I'm quite happy with her.  Now I need to go and create a proper background for her so that she can join the campaign.

Completed Rangers

Before the incredibly busy two month period known as Spring Break hit, I was able to complete a batch of ranger-type miniatures.  I never got around to posting them however, and since the blog has been a bit slow lately due to long days offshore, now seems the appropriate time to do so.  

As a quick introduction, I've always been a ranger kinda guy.  The outdoors, trekking through the wilderness, and that whole self-reliance thing has always appealed to me.  So perhaps it was natural that when I started reading fantasy and playing fantasy roleplaying games, rangers, trackers, and archers gained most of my attention.  The same can be said for my painting.  Though I try to vary my subjects, I always seem to come back to the rangers.  So it was that just after the first of the year, I grabbed a batch of ranger fellows that had been waiting for paint and launched on a ranger painting spree that includes the miniatures below, along with Jon Snow and Mason Thornwarden that have been previously posted.

First up is the Young Dual Wield Hedge Knight from Dark Sword Miniatures (DSM5026).  The mini is from the GRRM Masterworks line.  Most of the models in the range represent a specific character in the books such as Jon Snow, Stannis Baratheon, and Tyrion Lannister.  Hedge Knights however, are more of a class of warrior than specific people.  In Martin's world, Hedge Knights are knights without land or liege and to real knights and the nobility of the land, seem to be only a step or two above common sellswords.  That's OK though.  I purchased the miniature more for the sculpt than it's place in Westeros or the fact that it is part of the line I've been collecting.  Plus, with the bow slung on his back and the lack of armor, he looks more like a ranger than a knight anyhow....thus his inclusion in this post.

This next miniature is also from Dark Sword Miniatures -- Male Ranger (DSM7403).  Of all the ranger-types I've seen lately, this is one of the most unique.  Sculptor Jeff Grace has created a figure that simply exudes character and motion.  He looks as if he is about to bound off of the stone and over a crevasse or gully.  In my mind however, I envisioned him ascending a steep rise, slowing only for a moment to drink from his wineskin while continuing his pursuit of some enemy or quarry.  Whatever the story, this miniature certainly showcases the advancement of the hobby from the days of very static poses to the exciting and fluid designs of today.

The blister comes with two options for the left hand.  The first is a longsword held downward.  Although I knew before I even purchased the miniature that I wanted to use the wineskin, I don't think I would have been happy with the sword position had the other option not been available.  Looking at some of the photos with the sword in hand, something struck me as unnatural.  If the ranger were running or climbing with a blade unsheathed, I don't think the angle would be quite right.  I guess it could be argued that he was using the tip of the blade for purchase or balance while climbing, but what true warrior would risk damaging his weapon in such a way?  Maybe it's me, but I definitely would have had to do some conversion work to make things right.  Option two, as mentioned above, is the wineskin.  While not exactly heroic in nature, the wineskin makes this ranger unique to any other ranger in my collection (of which I have quite a few) and certainly wins out over the odd looking sword arrangement.

I wish I could have done a bit more with the base to create or more rugged and rough scene.  My basing tends to be rather simplistic though...not so much because I don't have the material (I do) or the skill (I think I do) but because I lack the patience.  After I spend what seems like forever painting, the last thing I want to do is spend more time working on a scenic base.  Maybe one day I'll change my mind, but for now, the easy way out will work for me.

Halbarad from Games Workshop has been sitting on my shelf for years waiting for attention.  What kept me from moving him into the queue, I really don't know.  I've always liked the sculpt and I consider it one of the better minis from the entire LotR range, but he somehow eluded my attention.  No longer though.  He is finally complete and he will not be sitting on the shelf staring at me with that pleading unprimed face.  Now that he is finished though, I have opened yet another can of worms.  To add to my VERY long project list, I now have another project tentatively titled:  The Grey Company.  Damn!

One of my favorite chapters in all of The Lord of the Rings occurs in RotK and is entitled "The Passing of the Grey Company".  In it Tolkien describes the rangers that arrive with Halbarad to aid Aragorn in his coming struggles.  "A little apart the Rangers sat, silent, in an ordered company, armed with spear and bow and sword.  They were clad in cloaks of dark grey, and their  hoods were cast now over helm and head."  As I mentioned in the intro, I have always loved rangers and perhaps this is the passage that started it all, now that I think about it.  While the beginning of my fascination with rangers may or may not be tied in with that passage, what is for certain is that I wanted to paint Halbard in a similar fashion that Tolkien described.  As usual, he does not paint a full picture (pardon the pun) of non major characters and leaves much to the imagination.  Beyond the grey cloak, he does not say much of their garb but I based some of the missing information on his several accounts of Aragorn's clothing.  I actually wanted to use darker colors to more closely coincide with Strider but so much of what I have been painting lately is dark and drab, so I opted for a lighter pallet.  Despite my use of brighter colors, I still felt I needed to heavily wash the metal to make it quite dark so as to match more of Tolkien's description: "There was no gleam of stone or gold, nor any fair thing in all their gear and harness..."

Finally we have this ranger from Reaper.  He is titled Faramere of Vestonia (02086).  I can't even begin to fathom how long I have had this miniature but it has to be at least ten years ago since I purchased him.  In fact, he may have been one of the first miniatures I bought when I started painting again after my long hiatus.  No matter how long I've had him though, he is finally finished as well.

I have to admit, other than the cloak which I'm quite happy with, Faramere is not my best effort.  The cast quality was not very crisp on the front of the miniature and that may have reduced my enthusiasm for painting him somewhat.  After all, who wants to put tons of time into a mini when no matter what you do, the flaws will still be visible?  I can't blame it all on the cast though.  I think I just ran into a wall on my ranger painting fling.  That impasse was similar to writers block.  I think I just wanted to finish up and move on to something else for a while. 

So why did I add him to the blog and even bother posting him you may be asking?  Beats me.  He's actually not all that terrible though.  With better highlights on the bracers and a better color selection on his pants, maybe he wouldn't look so bland.  Perhaps I'll do a little repaint once my ranger fever comes back and do a post on the refinished mini titled something like "How to Add Life to a Bland Miniature".  Ha!

That leads me to a good question.  Do any of you ever hit the wall on a miniature and just slap some paint on it to finish?

Reaper Bones Review

As I mentioned last week, I had recently purchased a package of Kobolds from the Reaper Bones line to paint and compare them to the metal version I was currently working on.  Well, as promised, here is the review.

First up though, kudos to Reaper for free shipping.  According to the website, any order over $25 qualifies for Free Shipping.  Although it can be argued that the service is just a marketing scheme to get buyers to purchase more, I'm OK with it.  Rarely do I purchase miniatures and supplies as single units so the minimum order is not an issue for me.  I simply wait until I need enough stuff to surpass the minimum order threshold.

The shipping was also quite fast.  Free shipping doesn't necessarily come by the quickest route but in this case I had my Kobolds in just a few days.  Not only was the shipping quick, I was also lucky enough to score some free swag.  Reaper was kind enough to add a paint sample and a cool little ReaperCon pen.  Thanks guys!

Now on to the actual review.  Once the blister was out of the box, I wasted no time tearing into it.  As you can see in the photo below, the miniatures came attached to little sprues.  They were easy to cut off with my clippers however.  And though I did not attempt any conversions with this initial group from the Bones line, after clipping the bases from the sprues, I can understand Reaper's claim that snipping arms, heads, and weapons for swaps would be a breeze.  The plastic snaps cleanly with definitive lines making for easy realignment and gluing. 

Ease of Conversion = Very Good

After clipping, it was time to inspect the models closely.  The casts (can I still call them casts when done in plastic?) seemed clean with only minimal mold lines.  The lines were easy to locate and follow even though white plastics can often hide such flaws. 

Locating was one thing but fixing was quite another.  Perhaps it has to do with the soft bendable polymer used in the casting (as opposed to the hard plastics of other miniatures), but the mold lines are somewhat difficult to remove.  I started with a very sharp hobby knife but the elasticity of the material made this process cumbersome at best.  The excess plastic did not want to detach from the model and tended to roll itself into crevices.  I then switched to small files but the results were worse.  Pieces of the soft plastic ruffled up and remained clearly visible to the naked eye.  I went back to the knife but the going was slow and I was not terribly happy with the models at that point.  You can see some of the material I'm describing by looking at the photo below.

I finally removed most of the mess from the minis but as you can see below, some areas still looked rough.  After spending more time prepping than I usually do even on metal models, I just gave up and hoped for the best.

Ease of Preparation = Poor

Now for the detail.  For plastic miniatures, and soft bendable ones at that, the detail was pretty good.  Below is a photo comparing two copies of the same mini.  The Bones version is obviously on the left while the metal version I had been working on is to the right.  I will ALWAYS prefer metal to plastic but for the price, the comparison was favorable.  The face and belt were the two areas that suffered the most, but for tabletop gaming and/or armies, the difference should not matter.  It should also be noted that the Kobolds are quite small.  It's possible that some of the larger miniatures from the Bones line have even better detail.

Miniature Detail = Good

Although priming probably should go under the miniature prepping section, I decided to keep it separate for two reasons.  First I wanted to point out the frustration I experienced in trying to clean the mold lines.  But mostly I kept priming under its own heading because the lack of the need to prime is one of the selling points for the Bones line.

Even though priming was not needed, I still placed two coats of black Krylon on five of the six Kobolds.  I sprayed them not so much because they needed it, but because I absolutely hate painting on a white background.  With rare exception, I always prime my miniatures black and these guys took the primer quite well.  As I mentioned, I do normally use Krylon but I imagine that any type of spray primer would work equally well on this material.

As you can see below, I did leave one Kobold un-primed for the review.  Though I was skeptical when I started, I was quite surprised at the ease of which the paint adhered to the plastic.  The paint went on smooth and did not run.  With this test model, I used regular Reaper and Citadel paints with all parts except the belt.  Two coats were required to fully cover the white background but that's not to be unexpected.  I did try high density paint on the belt (I forgot if I used Reaper HD or Citadel Foundations) and was satisfied with only a single coat.

A word of warning:  To bring out details on a model primed in white, or in this case, the unprimed white model itself, many painters use a guide coat.  Basically a guide coat is a light wash that runs into the crevices of all the little details on the miniature and makes them easier for the painter to see and identify.  On the rare occasion I do use white, I do the same but the technique does not work with Bones.  The wash simply ran all over the place and refused to settle in the proper places.  I should have taken a photo of the resulting mess but you'll just have to take my word on this one.

Reaper's No Priming Claim = Excellent

Below is a photo of my mostly completed Reaper Kobolds.  Half are from the metal blister I had been working on and the other half are the newly painted Bones version.  Can you tell the difference?

Hopefully the answer to the question is "no", or at least it took some time to discern any differences.  Even with the huge hassle of prepping the Kobolds, I think the end result is very promising for the Bones line.  The plastics painted up very similar to the metals and for about half the price.  From a distance it would be hard to differentiate the two unless the model were picked up or moved.

For the record, the center model on the back row is the Bones Kobold while the outside two on the front row are plastic as well.  The guy with the spear on the short dowel is also non-metal.

Below are two more to compare side to side.

Here is another comparison between metal and plastic.  Can you tell which is which?

Although not a selling point for most gamers, I was quite pleased when I read the back of the package and noticed that the line is partially made from recycled material.  I'm not a eco-terrorist by any means but I have to admit that it's refreshing to see a miniature company being a little more environmentally conscious. 

So all in all, I'm quite pleased with the miniatures.  Though the prepping was way more than I had intended, the rest of my experience with Reaper Bones was rather pleasant.  I think I will try a few more minis from the line and hope that maybe the small size of the Kobolds contributed to the difficulties I encountered.  And even if the results are the same, for the price, the prepping issues may be justified.

So in review, Reaper gets high marks for:
  * Price
  * Ease of Conversion
  * Miniature Detail
  * No Priming
  * Equal Comparison/Compatibility to Existing Lines

However, low marks are received due to:
  * Difficulty of Miniature Preparation (mold line removal)
  * The Elastic Nature of the Polymer (swords bent on two models)

If any readers have had additional experience with the Reaper Bones miniatures, you're comments are more than welcome.

A Double Duty Innkeeper

Just finished up a barkeep from Reaper.  He is available in several different blisters, but I purchased him as part of a set with two serving wenches (65086).  I love it when miniatures are able to serve double gaming duty.  In this case he will be the innkeeper in both my Legends of the High Seas campaign and old school D&D world.

For those of you old enough to remember the sitcom Alice, I based the painting off Mel, the grumpy cook and owner of the diner.  Although I was quite young, I could still see Mel's chubby face in my mind and this sculpt just screamed his name to me.  I also suspect that Otik Sandeth, owner and proprietor of the Inn of the Last Home in the Dragonlance books had something to do with the color choices.

I am increasingly using my iPhone 4s for miniature photos due to the ease of editing and obvious convenience.  Most of the time the camera on the phone does a pretty good job of capturing the mini but in this case, the whites and reds are completely overpowered.  I guess that's why all the great miniature painters go to great lengths to use the best camera and lighting available.  For my mediocre painting skills however, my iPhone or little Canon 1400 Power Shot do just fine.  In fact, they probably help me hide many of my mistakes and blemishes.  I've got a serving wench almost finished as well so I'll post real photos (with the better camera) of the "Mel" when she goes live.

Now I'm off to find me some of Otik's spiced potatoes....

Reaper Dark Haven Bones

In case you have not heard the news, Reaper Miniatures is releasing a new line of low cost plastic miniatures entitled Bones.  Here is the promo video.

According to the website, the miniatures are ready to paint right out of the box....no primer is needed.  What?  No primer?  Blasphemy!  Another apparent benefit of the new line is the ease of conversions.  Reaper says conversions take about as long as it takes the glue to dry.  Head and weapon swaps should be a piece of cake.  It all sounds very interesting and intriguing.  But possibly the most newsworthy aspect of the announcement is the price.

Reaper's new endeavor certainly seems cost effective.  A blister of six Kobolds from the Bones line will put a buyer back $3.49.  It just so happens that I recently purchased the Kobold Raiders blister (02470) which contains five metal miniatures (three of which are the exact same pose as the Bones blister) for $9.99.  A bit of simple math seems to agree with Reaper's advertising claim.

Although the miniatures are less expensive, the money saved means nothing if the quality is not present.  I've collected and painted many Reaper miniatures over the years and until recently, all have been of superior quality as far as the casting goes.  If the new plastic minis are unable to compare favorably with the metal versions, then Reaper's new line may be doomed to fail.

I just ordered the Bones Kobold blister (77010) from Reaper and will paint them up to match the metal Kobolds I have been working on the last few nights.  Once I have both batches complete, I'll compare them, take a few photos, and post a review to discuss the question of quality.

For character models for roleplaying, or heroes for wargaming, I'll stick with the metal version.  But for monsters, NPC's, and rank and file, Reaper may be on to something with the Bones line if the quality of the miniatures lives up to the claim.

A Game of Thrones on Blu-ray

I got my copy of Game of Thrones, Season 1 today.  I plan to settle down for the evening soon, drink a glass of wine or two, and watch a few episodes in glorious high definition.  Though I enjoyed the series on HBO last year when it aired (and on HBO GO in the interim), I'm looking forward to this round of viewing.  I'll be paying close attention to all the little details and nuances of the garb and armor to help with my Game of Thrones painting project.

Anyone else get their copy today?