Kobold Tribe

Larx Longtooth is known throughout the realm as one of the most crafty and troublesome Kobold raiders to ever curse the lands of Galaria.  Time and time again, he and his band have crept down from the foothills of The Crags to descend upon some unsuspecting trader's caravan only to disappear quickly into the wilds.  Along with his cohort, Binj the Mewler, Longtooth's Raiders (as they have become known) have caused trade between the North and South to become a dangerous and expensive endeavor.  In fact, trade has become so sluggish that wardens from Cumbria have been called to Donegal to track and stop the scourge of the North Road.  For the North and South to work together so closely on this matter certainly illustrates the seriousness of the problem.

Larx Longtooth is flanked by Binj the Mewler on the left and an unidentified raider on the right

It is believed that Larx and his band are part of the tribe known as The Children of Cridox.  This is a large group of Kobolds that call the eastern Crags home and have been known to prey upon trade and travel between The Dales in difficult years.  If this theory is true, then the trouble may only get worse as the year progresses, for the tribe is ruled by none other than Guart the Taker along with his minions Mange the Mighty and Rikt Wyrmcaller.  Trouble is brewing indeed.

A Kobold raiding party preparing for a "run"

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I've been working on my Kobold tribe for some time now and finally have an acceptable number for gaming completed.  Though I absolutely love the old school feel of Otherworld Miniatures, I chose the Reaper line of Kobolds to represent my little raiders on the field for several reasons....the biggest of which is availability and cost.  Ordering from Reaper only takes a few days to get my goodies and the minis are always reasonably priced.  With the release of the Bones line, I get an even better deal on rank and file Kobolds.  Don't get me wrong though.  It's not like the Reaper Kobolds were a distant second and chosen only due to logistics and money.  I very much like their Kobold sculpts.  It's just that I grew up with 1st Edition and I'm familiar with the old style Kobold illustrations that are so faithfully rendered in Otherworld's sculpts.

Anyhow, I've got the first twelve raiders finished and ready for action.  They are from Reaper's Kobold Raider blister (02470) and the Bones version (77010).  I also have additional reinforcements nearing completion.  They are four Kobolds from blister #03064 which includes an archer along with a blister containing a leader and a sorcerer (03024) and Snar Mangebelly (03295) which will represent Mange the Mighty, Rikt Wyrmcaller, and Guart the Taker respectively.

In doing a bit of research to decide how I wanted to paint my Kobolds I was surprised to learn that their background changed a bit over the years.  When I was a D&D geek during the 80's, no mention was ever made that they had draconic connections.  Apparently sometime during 2E and definitely during the 3E days, they became somewhat connected to dragons.  At first I was taken aback by the change but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.  With their new connections, they are still low level fodder but the gaming possibilities are greatly increased when possibly paired with a dragon. 

With this in mind I decided to pair my tribe with Cridox the Red and paint the Kobolds with a reddish hue.  I basecoated the tribe in Scorched Brown and worked up the red highlights with Dark Flesh to give the tribe a physical connection to a red dragon without ending up with "little red lizards".  I'm excited to try this process again with another tribe possibly paired with a blue or green dragon.  A dark organic blue with electric blue highlights might look interesting and definitely different from the standard fare players often see.

I love Kobolds by the way and they, more so than any other monster, bring back memories from my first D&D adventure....but that is a story for another time.

Off Topic: Waterspouts

Although I regularly bemoan the fact that gaming is non-existent where I live (the closest FLGS is nearly a 50 mile one way trip for me), I have to admit that calling the Florida Keys home for the last fourteen years is not a bad thing at all.  After all, I do live in paradise and have a dream job.  OK, so other wargamers are very few and far between down here, but the advantages of working on the water and living beside palm trees definitely outweigh the disadvantages of living in a gaming vacuum.  Some of those advantages are the spectacular scenery I get to see everyday from my "office window" on board the boat.  And last week was no exception.  I was treated to a wonderful display from Mother Ocean.

During our morning dive excursion, a line of dark grey rain clouds started to move out over the reef line.  The rain was falling heavily in sections while thunder and lighting added to the natural soundtrack.  But the winds remained light and this time of year that usually means one thing...Waterspouts!

Though I see them quite often during our wet season that lasts from mid-May to November, I was in for quite a surprise.  Over a twenty minute period I was able to spot and photograph between 12 and 15 waterspouts in the same general area.  That general area happened to be pretty much right on top of me.  In fact, while I was busy getting video of one about a mile from my position, one quite literally developed on top of me.  The mate on board happened to bring to my attention the monster that was forming about 30 yards from my stern.  I was able to get great video of the business end of the spout but due to our close reference point, I obviously could not get the whole thing in the frame.  Darn!

The video above shows the water swirling on the surface of the ocean.  The funnel cannot be seen yet.  The video below shows the same waterspout after it moved away from our position.

While the waterspout did form very close to the boat, I wasn't too worried.  There are two types of waterspouts:  tornadic and fair-weather waterspouts.  The tornadic version is just as it sounds....a tornado that forms over water.  This variety can be every bit as dangerous as their land-based counterparts and are certainly a cause for concern.  The ones close to me however, non-tornadic, or fair-weather spouts, are a totally different beast.  They usually form in fairly benign conditions beneath the bases of flat-bottomed cumulus clouds and start on the water and work their way up to the cloud (unlike tornadoes that form from the cloud down).  They are still capable to capsizing small vessels though so I certainly would not recommend getting close to one.

Although waterspouts have been reported in many locations worldwide (even in Europe I'm told), the Florida Keys get more waterspouts than any other place.  Over 400 are reported every year.  I've witnessed quite a few in my days on the water, but seeing so many in such a short period of time was both unusual and exciting.

Before posting these photos, I tried to think of a clever way to link the pics to gaming.  Naval waterspout rules anyone?  But in the end I just gave up and let it be.  Sometimes it's just nice to sit back and chat about something off topic.  It could have been something much worse like politics or religion, right?

So enjoy the photos while I start working on my next "on topic" post.

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?

Old School Squats and Space Marines

After reading some of these posts about Warhammer's 25th Anniversary and old school Citadel miniatures over at Bleaseworld, I could not help but want to play along.  It took me a good while to locate the box containing some of my old minis but the effort was worth the reward....well....kinda.  Though I did find what I was looking for, in some respects I wish I had not.  Wow!  I was a really bad painter back then.  Not only that, I had a terrible knack for picking out horrid color combos.  If you can keep from laughing long enough, scroll down and read the rest. 

Space Dwarves!  Um, I mean Squats.  One has to be politically correct these days or risk offending someone and possibly inviting a law suit.  I've always liked the Squats.  They reminded me of short stunted biker dudes.  The photo above shows a handful that were either finished, or close to it.  I can't remember what my mindset was way back then and if I thought flock was even important for finalizing a miniature.

What the photo also shows is what I considered highlighting back then.  Compared to the very flat tones that marked my earliest miniatures, drybrushing a bit of white over, well...just about everything, was a huge improvement for me.  Had I continued painting I might have discovered proper highlighting techniques but it was not to be.  The year was 1988 and I was a junior in High School.  Suddenly gaming and painting were no longer important to me and I completely dropped the hobby for nearly 15 years until the release of Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring reignited my love of fantasy and everything associated with it. 

I believe the Space Marines in the photo above were painted in early 1988.  They represent my first foray out of the fantasy world (mainly Dungeons and Dragons and Middle-earth) and into a whole new realm.  Not only were the Space Marines an entirely new genre as far as miniatures were concerned, they also introduced me to wargaming in general.  Before painting these fellows, every game I played was pen and paper.  Though I had painted hundreds of miniatures in the years before (though not very well), they were only used as an accessory in our D&D or MERP sessions.  Now the miniatures were at the very heart of the game.

At the time of their painting, I was very much inspired by the Colonial Space Marines from the movie Aliens and decided to add graffiti all over their uniforms.  Unfortunately, as a teenage boy, I went by the adage that "if a little is good, then a lot must be better" and proceeded to write all over these poor miniatures.  I had to turn some of the Space Marines a certain way, strategically place them behind others, or simply leave them out of the photo because some of the things I wrote on their armor would not be appropriate to show on this blog.  Ha!  The mind of a teenage boy at work again.

These guys saw quite a bit of action against Orks and other evil entities back in the day.  I have such fond memories of playing Rogue Trader over at my friends house.  His Dad was into wargaming long before I really knew what it meant and allowed us to use his custom game table in the spare room to play out our battles.  I'm sure we really didn't follow the rules back then but we sure had a good time.  Unfortunately my memories of 40K seem to be more intact that my poor old rulebook.  The cover still looks amazingly good for its age but the insides have all detached from the binding.  It has definitely seen better days.

If looking at old Citadel miniatures brings happiness and a flood of nostalgia, you may want to check out this great site I found.  The Stuff of Legends compiles miniatures, catalogs, and info from the early days of many miniature companies into a wonderful walk down memory lane.  Here is the link to the Citadel section.

Mason Thornwarden

Just finished up Mason Thornwarden (03500) from Reaper.  He's part of a group of rangers I've been working on over the last few weeks. I'll have a few more completed rangers ready to post soon.

Mason Thornwarden from Reaper Miniatures

Mason Thornwarden is a great sculpt by Bobby Jackson.  I love the action pose and the look of concentration on his face.  I would hate to be the poor orc standing down range from this archer.  For fans of intricate detail on every millimeter of a miniature, this may not be the figure for you however.  He is rather plain actually.  Only the lacing on the sides of his extremely tall boots and a bit of work on the quiver stand out on Mason's very basic kit.  For a ranger type though, I think the lack of detail is quite fitting. 

Interestingly enough, there is a previous sculpt of this miniature by Gene Van Horne (or is it a newer sculpt?) with the same name but with a different product number (02918).  This particular version depicts Mason in a similar stance but with different garb and equipment.  Instead of the soft leather tunic on the first version, he seems to be wearing some type of studded leather or brigandine armor that boasts a fair amount of detail to break up the monotony of the ranger's garb.  He is also equipped with a sword this time in addition to his bow, along with a few other tweaks.  I just purchased this version and look forward to painting him up as well to compare the two.

 

How odd.  After I took the photo above with my iPhone to illustrate some of the differences between the two sculpts, I noticed that this miniature definitely has some issues going on.  The bottom of the right boot seems to be missing or perhaps it was folded over during the casting process and strung out in a long line of extra metal that runs along the top of the base and ends at the start of the left boot. I did not notice this large defect when I took it out of the package.  Darn!  Gotta send this one back...

As an aside, I've always enjoyed the creative names Reaper has assigned to their miniatures.  Instead of "male ranger", it's refreshing to see all the individual names of each mini while flipping through their catalog or cruising the web.  It also makes it easier to remember the name of a particular model (or refer to it) rather than trying to recall a product number or generic descriptive tag.  And just for the record, Mason Thornwarden definitely ranks up there among my favorite names created by Reaper.  Wish I had thought of it.

I wonder if there is one person in particular at Reaper that comes up with these names or is it more of a committee affair.  Anyone know?

Jon Snow - Dark Sword Miniatures

I'm a big fan of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  I love the gritty "fantastic reality" the story portrays and his reluctance to color his world in only black and white and good and evil.  I'm also a huge fan of Dark Sword Miniatures.  Looking back through this blog, it's easy to see how true that statement is.  So I guess it's only natural that I'm a double big fan of Dark Sword Miniatures George R. R. Martin Masterworks line that came out a few years ago.  I started collecting the miniatures right away but it has taken until now for me to finally paint one.  And what better way to start than Jon Snow?

In the novels, Jon Snow is one of the characters that you absolutely love or absolutely hate.  He is one of the few that remain firmly on the "good guy" side and seems to have a strong moral compass.  Unfortunately, in Martin's extremely brutal and morally ambiguous world, those very traits are what makes him such a polarizing personality.  Detractors say he doesn't fit the theme Martin created while others cling to him as one of the only shinning points of the light in the entire series.  Though this post is not intended to start a debate about Jon Snow the character, I will say that I'm firmly on the "like" side of the argument and look forward to more of his story arc.  Thus it was natural to me to paint him first.

When I began to plan out the miniature, I was thinking how easy it would be to paint.  After all, I was choosing to paint him as he would have looked after he joined the Night's Watch.  The colors would be easy...black, black, and maybe some more black to paint his set of blacks traditionally worn by the Night's Watch, along with a bit of metallic for the maile.  Well, as I quickly learned, to get any kind of contrast with an all black miniature you have to blend several different types of "black".  So in reality, after blending several different versions of gray-blacks and brown-blacks, and choosing where to place them so as to provide some type of contrast from the black next to it, the miniature became quite difficult to paint.  In fact, it became so difficult that my plan to paint up an entire group of rangers for a bit of Night's Watch gaming is undergoing serious rethinking.  Ha!

Despite my personal difficulty with the blacks, I very much admire this miniature.  The sculpt is absolutely wonderful.  Though he may differ from the Kit Harrington version of the character, I feel Tom Meier not only truly captured the essence of Lord Snow the character, but also the very personality of Martin's version of a ranger/warrior of the Night's Watch.  The pose definitely creates a a sense of movement with the miniature that to me embodies the style and tactics of the Watch itself.  It speaks of stealthy quick movements that the Watch has had to develop over the decades of long decline just to perform their duty and to survive.

In fact, I like the sculpt so much that I plan on purchasing and painting at least two more.  For one version I'd like to paint Jon as he might have appeared when he was still at Winterfell.  I'll have to reread A Game of Thrones to see if he was ever described as wearing the livery of House Stark to paint him that way or I could just paint him in those colors anyhow and let others argue over the question of a bastard being allowed to wear the device of a noble house.  For the second version, I would like to paint up the miniature as just another fantasy-type ranger.  I think the sculpt would look wonderful with a bit of color!

By the way, I'm also a fan of the HBO series.  Even though I started with the books, and that is where my allegiance lies, I really have no qualms about the television version. For the most part, the show stays very near to the novels and only takes creative licensing when needed to adapt the extremely complex books to something even remotely viewable for television.  Casting for the show was mostly spot on for what I had in my mind for each character....except for maybe Catelyn Stark.  I pictured her as a bit younger in looks.

As for characters, I think Tyrion is wonderful and Sir Jorah (though depicted quite differently than the novels) makes a great knight.  However, it's Arrya that not only stole the show but my heart as well.  I'm definitely looking forward to Season 2!

Edit 10July2012:  Jon Snow now has his faithful companion painted up to join him.

On The Horizon - February 2012

As you can see, I have a beautiful chaotic mess awaiting me this month. I know that it's unreasonable to expect to finish it all, or even half for that matter, but seeing the work queue all lined up before me certainly helps with motivation.  Hopefully next month's On The Horizon post will not look exactly like this one!

I have half finished miniatures and scenery projects everywhere...not to mention the ones I have not even started. I've tried to arrange the queue to move those projects most likely to see attention closer to the main work area in hopes of forcing action upon them.  The ones that are out of reach when I'm sitting tend to escape notice and sometimes drop out of thought until some random bit of inspiration strikes me and causes them to be moved up in the queue.

Farthest away, both in actual distance and in priority right now are some of my scenery projects.  You can see them precariously perched upon the high spaces of the work area. Just to the left of center on top of the filing bins sit several buildings for the Port Antigua project.  They are textured and primed on the outside and now await painting and detailing.  I've also been stuck thinking about how to add shutters that would still allow a view of the interior (and shooting from inside) while being able to close off certain access areas .  Near the far left, on top of the clear display boxes sits a watch tower for LotR Rohan and Dark Age gaming.  I still need to finish the railing and paint the tower to run a few games I have in mind.  I think both sets will have to wait a few weeks though.  Most of the workload for this month deals with painting miniatures rather than scenery work but I have not forgotten them.

Sections 2 and 3

Row upon row of minis await some type of work in sections 2 and 3.  These will see some progress this month, but continuing with my scheme of distance versus attention, I do not expect any of these to find their way to completion.  I'll cover this batch in detail a little later. 

Section 1 sits front and center to my reach, and thus my attention

The miniatures that live right in front of the GW paints are the ones likely to be completed this month.  Due to their proximity, they will receive priority during the paint sessions.  I'll review this section first.

Section 1

Section 1 miniatures.  These minis are likely to see completion this month.

Starting on the back row and moving from left to right we have The Mistress of Port Antigua.  That is my name for this mini from Reaper's Townsfolk III package (02655).  She is destined to star as the matron of a house of ill repute in both fantasy and pirate gaming.  Next is Autumn Bronzeleaf (03492), also from Reaper, who is in the process of getting a spring-like color scheme instead of the warm colors her name suggests.  Harald Hardradda (HVA03) stands next to her.  He is from the Heroes of the Viking Age range from Gripping Beast.  A pirate captain from Old Glory's Pirate Captains package keeps the viking company.  Once completed, he will play the role of a prominent merchant captain in Port Antigua, though I have not decided on which side of the law he will support.  To finish off this row is another wench for Port Antigua.  She can be found in the Fenryll Miniatures Female Villagers pack (FA151).

The front row of section 1 consists of a test mini for a Warhammer High Elf unit that I'm converting to represent Tolkien's First Age elves from The Silmarillion.  Next in line is another little miss to join the other Ladies of Port Antigua.  She is from the Hasslefree Miniatures Villagers line (Barwench HFV001).  Two models from Dark Sword Miniatures are next.  The first is a ranger (DSM7403) that may possibly become the representative for his class in the Legends of the Fall project while the next is Alfyn Crowkiller (DSM5021) from the George R. R. Martin Masterworks line.  Mason Thornwarden (03500), from Reaper is next followed by Halbarad from Games Workshop.

Section 2

Section 2 miniatures.  These will see attention this month and some may even be completed.

Once again, starting in the back row and on the left we have a pirate from the Old Glory captains package.  Next to him is Anwyn, a female bard from Reaper (03080).  I think she will be the representative of her class in the Legends of the Fall project.  Two pirates from Black Scorpion (Rogues 1 & Privateers 2 blister packs) stand next to her and a ranger/thief from Reaper called Kurff the Swift (02034) rounds out the back row.

Row two starts with Druss Darkblighter (03136) from Reaper who will be competing against Anwyn for the bard spot in Legends of the Fall.  Another Old Glory pirate is next followed by a "Crouching Female Fighter with Sword" (DSM1137) from the Larry Elmore Masterworks line by Dark Sword Miniatures. The mini is based off Elmore's painting called "Waiting for Shadamehr".   A serving wench for Port Antigua is next, from Reaper's Townsfolk I pack (02583), while the Governor's Daughter from Black Scorpion sits on the end.

Two Wildings (DSM5015 & DSM 5016) from DSM's George Martin Masterworks line start out the third row.  They are both likely to see action in the Dark Age gaming arena.  Though the photo may suggest otherwise, I'm sure the pirate from Black Scorpion (Pirates 2 blister pack) standing next to the Wildings does not truly wish to shoot the lovely miniature next to him... Jolie, a female scribe from Reaper (65051).  Two more wenches for Port Antigua finish up the row.  The first is from Hasselfree Miniatures (Strumpet HFV003) the second is from the same pack of Fenryll villagers as the one above (FA151).

Section 3

Section 3 miniatures.  Hopefully these will move forward in the queue by the end of the month.

Some of the miniatures in this rack have been sitting in the same stage of completion for many months.  I'll try to move some of these figures off during February though.  The top two rows are all figures from Black Scorpion and will represent the British authority in and around Port Antigua (Royal Navy Marines packs 2 & 3 along with a Navy Captain and Royal Naval Officer).  The only exception is the lone Brettonian sitting by himself on the far left.  He is part of my Knights of Westeros project that unfortunately got pushed to the side during the hectic pirate days of last year.  He is not forgotten however and might see some love this month.

The third row from the top starts out with the two Sarumans.  While I have done a bit of flesh work on them over the last few months, they have largely sat in the same spot.  I'm determined to start highlighting the robes and move these guys farther along in the queue.  Aragorn, from GW's The Three Hunters pack is next.  A barkeep from Reaper's Townsfolk (65086) is beside Strider.  I need to hurry him up a bit so that he'll be available for the upcoming pirate games.  John Snow (DSM5001) and a Reaper cleric (Christina the Devout 02475) sit on the end and await completion.

Finally, the last row consists of minis that are the most likely in Section 3 to see significant painting this month.  Three Cadian test models start out the row.  I could actually have these finished in a day or so but I simply can't decide which color scheme I like the best.  Perhaps I should post them here and let other decide for me since I seem to be stuck.  Cyndria Stormcaller (02956) from Reaper is fourth from the left.  She may take a bit more time than the others in this row since I will be trying to paint sheer cloth for the first time.  The Governor of Port Antigua (Black Scorpion's Governor) is next accompanied by a young Hedge Knight (DSM5026) from Dark Sword Miniatures that looks more like a ranger to me than a knight.

So there it is.  Planning ahead like this helps me visualize what I would like to accomplish and motivates me to paint.  Though I have to be honest.  While I do have a plan, it's easy for me to get sidetracked.  It doesn't take much for me to take off on some new direction and throw the best laid plans to the wind.  So don't be surprised to see some of these models in the same spot come next month.

Just out of curiosity, do any of you plan out your hobby work/tasks like this on a monthly basis or do you just wing it?   

Thanks To CMON, She Now Has A Name!

Though it may sound like a minor issue to some, the fact that I could not identify the miniature below nor remember where I purchased her was driving me crazy.  I searched and searched, then searched some more but without even a hint of success.  I even posted her on this blog in hopes of getting a clue but I struck out there as well.  Then, at wits end, I decided to ask one of the most active miniature communities I know of for help. CMON!

Tarika, Adventuress from Guild of Harmony miniatures

I've been a lurker on CoolMiniOrNot (CMON) for quite some time and visit often.  Unfortunately, not being the greatest painter, I really never participate on the forums because quite frankly, I don't have anything to add or say beyond "good job" or "nice work".  Even though I knew somebody there could ID the mini, I was reluctant to ask for help since I haven't contributed anything to the community since joining.  However, with no other leads on my search, I gave in and posted my plea for assistance.

I hesitantly made my post and just over an hour later, I had my answer.  Wow that was both fast and easy!  All those wasted hours searching could have been saved by going to CMON first (though I must say I secretly enjoyed looking through page upon page of miniature pics).  A special thanks goes out to "Avelorn" on CMON for the quick and courteous reply.  Thank you so much!

By the way, for those that may want to know, she was sculpted by Sebastian Archer and available from Guild of Harmony.  The miniature is titled Tarika, Adventuress and can be found here. 

Even though the search took much longer than I anticipated, in the end, the adventure has a happy ending.  Not only do I now know who she is but I also know how I purchased her.  After getting the correct response, I decided to try to become a more productive member of CMON and wanted to check my account to make sure my personal details were correct.  It was there I noticed my shopping history and sure enough, Tarika was listed as being purchased on December 17th, 2010.  As mentioned above, I frequently visit the site to look at all the wonderful paint jobs.  It must have been on one of those visits that I saw the miniature featured on the home page or maybe in some forum post and decided to buy her for myself.  Mystery #2 solved!

Another bonus of my search is that I found yet another great company for miniatures.  Guild of Harmony has some incredible sculpts and I can see myself purchasing several minis from them over the next few months.  This time however I will not forget who they are and where I bought them.

As a final thought on the subject, if any reader is having the same issue trying to ID an unknown miniature, I highly recommend visiting the CMON forums and asking for help.  There is even a thread already set up for the very purpose of identifying miniatures and can be found here.

Hobby Matrix - January 2012

This year I would like to get back on track with some of my regular monthly posts.  Somehow I got busy last year and dropped the ball and never recovered.  Although they may not have been terribly exciting features for others to read, the monthly columns such as On the Horizon, Recalling the Past, and Hobby Matrix helped keep me both focused on looming projects and savoring those of the past.

Now is as good a time as any to start again, so here we go.

This month features some fairly big changes but that's not to be unexpected since I have not posted one since spring of last year.  My hobby ADD has been in full swing over the last eight months and it's a shame that I did not track the changes from month to month.  Or maybe it's a good thing.....

A copy of my Adventurer's Book

The big news is the acquisition of The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild from Cubicle7 games.  I had been watching this develop since early last year and eagerly awaited a chance to snag a copy.  Options for getting a physical copy (PDF's were available) were few in the early days after release but Amazon eventually started carrying them and that's when I jumped.

I have to admit that I am still in the process of reading the Adventurer's Book and have not had time to delve deeper into the mechanics with the Loremaster's Book, but so far I am VERY impressed.  Cubicle7 has been able to fully capture the theme and essence of Middle-earth unlike any previous attempt.  MERP was good and will always be one of my favorites but the system was clunky and cumbersome while Decipher's version was, well.....at least it had good artwork since it was based mainly off the movies.  The One Ring may very well be the one Middle-earth RPG to rule them all.  Once I finish reading both books and play testing a bit, I will write a full review.

While ToR may be the current obsession, there is a very real possibility that Legends of the Old West may figure prominently in my future.  Confession:  I have never been a big fan of US history.  Even the Civil War fails to grab my interest the way that the history of the old world does.  But something clicked recently.  Perhaps it was the Clint Eastwood old west movie marathon I watched over the holidays or maybe the great miniatures I stumbled upon, but I have a bit of a Wild West bug right now.  Visions of dusters, cowboy hats, and gunfights obscure my vision so I have to test it out.  I've been reading the rulebooks and I'm getting ready to paint my first two miniatures.  We'll see how it goes from there...

My first two LotOW miniatures.  Both are from Black Scorpion.

Most ever other category has suffered a loss in interest lately except for LotR SBG and MERP.  I suspect that both benefited from the general Tolkien increase brought about by reading the ToR manuals.  As a direct result, my backlog of Middle-earth minis are finally seeing some attention and I may actually purchase a few new ones from GW soon.....something I have not done in several years.

Anyhow, without further delay, here is the matrix for January 2012.




Current Obsession - The One Ring
Past Obsession - Legends of the High Seas
Looming Obsession - Legends of the Old West


Lord of the Rings SBG = 9+
Warhammer Fantasy = 2-
Warhammer 40K = 5*
Pathfinder RPG = 6+
A Song of Ice and Fire RPG = 8*
Flames of War = 1-
Wings of War = 5-
D&D 4ed = 1-
D&D 3.5 = 1-
D&D old school = 7*
Axis and Allies War at Sea = 3-
Legends of the High Seas =9*
Terrain and Scenery Design = 8*
Miniature Painting (general) = 10+
Lord of the Rings Online = 1-
Pirates of the Burning Sea = 1-
Pirates of the Spanish Main = 3-
Pirates of the Spanish Main RPG = 3-
Ambush Alley = 5*
Age of Blood = 6+ 
The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild = 8+
Legends of the Old West = 7+
MERP = 5+



(The scale is 1-10 with one being the lowest on the current interest scale and ten being the highest.  "-" indicates a negative trend and "+" indicates a positive while "*" signifies no change from the previous month.)