WizKids Blink Dogs - WZK72568

What can be more fun than a good-aligned blink dog in the party and these two dogs are awesome.  Love the translucent plastic that's being used in these miniatures.  For the clear portal I actually used a Reaper blue with a lot of water as the Reaper line isn't as opaque as the Vallejo - then took that watered down paint and carefully did a smooth layer over the front and back.  First time I've had a miniature with clear plastic as part of the miniature.

Painting instructions for Blink Dogs (used my Vallejo Game Color)...

Step 1: No need to primer - already done
Step 2: Use Leather Brown on dog body, legs, tail, and head
Step 3: Drybrushed over that with Filthy Brown
Step 4: Use Bonewhite on spikes, teeth, and inner ears
Step 5: Use Black on nose and eyes
Step 6: Use Warlord Purple on tongue
Step 7: Use Black on base and rock
Step 8: Drybrush Cold Grey on rock
Step 9: Drybrush Stonewall Grey on rock
Step 10: Drybrush Dead White on rock

WizKids Phase Spider - WZK72572

What a great model - this one was so much to paint.  Can't wait to "phase" this into one of my games - going to be such a nasty surprise for my players.  This baby is painted right out of the monster manual pages.

Painting instructions for Phase Spider (used my Vallejo Game Color)...

Step 1: No need to primer - already done
Step 2: Use Night Blue on body and end of legs
Step 3: Use Magic Blue on initial joint of legs
Step 4: Use Ghost Grey on legs and under-body
Step 5: Use Magic Blue on under-body blue dots and raised dots on top as well as pincers
Step 6: Use Electric Blue as highlights
Step 7: Use Black on base and rock
Step 8: Drybrush Cold Grey on rock
Step 9: Drybrush Stonewall Grey on rock
Step 10: Drybrush Dead White on rock

Reaper Miniatures Packrat - 77297

This one is the Dad joke - packrat.  Awesome.  Love this mini as I do all minis sculpted by Jason Wiebe.  Like the henchman Oswald the Overladen, this has been a long time coming whereby whenever I had a bit of paint leftover I would dab a bit on either Oswald or Packrat.  Therefore you end up with an eclectic bit of this and that which just works because it's so random - just like the items they're carrying.  I have to figure out how to get this miniature into one of the current campaigns I'm running.

Kickstarter paint total: 134 + 1 Packrat = 135

Reaper Miniatures Chthon - 77228

I have a bunch of the Wizards pre-painted Gricks but I needed one more - I dug through my Kickstarter bones and sure enough there is something which looks dang close.  So I based it - hit it with some paint and now I have a full squad of these wonderful low level monsters - they make it more interesting than just another encounter of goblins/orcs/etc.

Kickstarter paint total: 133 + 1 Chthon/Grick = 134

RAFM Shrieking Scarecrow - 3856

This one has been sitting on my desk a long long long long time.  Probably about 17 years long - because in 2002 I was starting to move from painting Game Workshop models (which is what I learned on) and making my way over to painting other brands as collectable display pieces.  I purchased a bunch of hexagonal bases from Reaper Miniatures and put a bunch of Reaper's on them.  Painted these up to display model standards (not for gaming).  Those efforts led to Stern, an Orc, Samantha (which I gave to my mom for her shelf because it looks like her), and Golgath who is my goto for skeleton technique.  I have these on a display shelf in a glass cabinet.

This RAFM miniature is even older than that because it has that armature feel of very early miniatures when sculpting was still in its infancy.  The pumpkin is rather well done as is the gravestone in comparison to the scarecrow body.  Amazingly enough, you can still pick these miniatures up.  I don't know the history of RAFM other than I know they've been around a long time.  It looks like someone in Canada is still creating these miniatures under the RAFM name (says they've been at it for 35 years).  One brand new Shrieking Scarecrow if you'd like.  Unfortunately the website doesn't state the sculptor. 

I started last year painting a halloween piece in the fall - last year was the Halloween Tree from Reaper.  I grabbed this old piece - dusted it off and added a kitty on the front side (came from Reaper's familiars pack).  Then painted it up.  I used mostly a drybrushing technique on the scarecrow to give it a grainy old weathered feel to it and then used a blending technique on the pumpkin itself as that's really the centerpiece of this model.  Unlike my other hexagonal based miniatures, I might actually use this one against a group of characters in a Dungeons and Dragons game night - maybe the head gets thrown and explodes pumpkin guts and then reappears back in hand to be thrown again - kinda like Green Goblin throwing pumpkins in the old Spiderman cartoons I watched as a kid.

WizKids Displacer Beast - WZK72576

Here kitty kitty... oh my goodness... what an awesome model - I just love this model and so much fun to paint.  These Wizkids unpainted miniatures are just awesome.

Painting instructions for Displacer Beast (used my Vallejo Game Color)...

Step 1: No need to primer - already done
Step 2: Use Midnight Blue on entire model
Step 3: Use Scrofulous Brown on pads
Step 4: Use Bonewhite on pads
Step 5: Use Bonewhite on teeth
Step 6: Use Squid Pink on inner ear
Step 7: Use watered down Midnight Blue and wash over the inner ear
Step 8: Use Sun Yellow on eyes

Reaper Miniatures Bat Demon - 77261

With the recent release of Descent into Avernus there are a lot of great pre-painted miniatures that have come out recently in the demon line.  These provide great examples of minimalistic paint jobs that get the most across in the least amount of time.  I used the Red Abishai as my inspiration model when I painted this one.

Painting instructions for Bat Demon (used my Vallejo Game Color)...

Step 1:  I'm using Stynylrez primer on the bones models - just slop it on and cover everything - it works great!
Step 2: Use Gory Red over the entire model
Step 3: Use Parasite Brown on back fur
Step 4: Drybrush Scrofulous Brown on back fur
Step 5: Use Hot Orange on wings (as a wet drybrush)
Step 6: Use Orange Fire on wings (as a wet drybrush) as highlights
Step 7: Use Sun Yellow on wings (as a wet drybrush) as final highlights
Step 8: Use Bloody Red as skin highlights
Step 9: Wash skin with watered down Gory Red
Step 10: Use Black on claws and nose
Step 11: Use Midnight Blue on claws and nose as highlight
Step 12: Use Bonewhite on horns
Step 13: Use Dead White on horns as highlight
Step 14: Use Black on base and rock
Step 15: Drybrush Cold Grey on rock
Step 16: Drybrush Stonewall Grey on rock
Step 17: Drybrush Dead White on rock

Kickstarter paint total: 132 + 1 Bat Demon = 133

Reaper Miniatures Turanil, Male Elf Paladin - 77044

I need an elf paladin as an npc for a recent game - so I threw some paint on this guy and placed him on the table - perfect.  Not to complain too much - but I couldn't really tell what all the bit were on the front of the model around the waste.  There's so much detail that gets lost in these bones - I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the new black bones and see if those have better detail.  I see there's a new Kickstarter coming out and I'll have to be part of that.

Kickstarter paint total: 131 + 1 Elf Paladin = 132

Reaper Miniatures Skeletal Breakers - 3758

Some perfect minis for a Friday the 13th... Skels and these are some old metal miniatures I had lying around.  I love these guys - so well sculpted with tattered bits of armor, leather, and cloth.  My favorite part is the old leather helmet - I really like the character put into these guys.  Really good sculpts and a kick butt sword.

I used the same painting steps on these guys as I did Golgath.  He's my goto model for when I want to spend more time than a simple drybrush and a wash on skeletons.