Wizkids Classic Beholder - WZK90740

 

This was great fun to paint and I used a variety of styles and paints to put this one together.

I started off using Vallejo Xpress Color paint, but through an airbrush. First time that I've tried using an airbrush with the Xpress paints. I did not add flow nor thinner to the paint as I wasn't sure how that would interact with the formula of what Xpress is - so these were pumped right out of their bottles. I also know that usually you can't go lighter with Xpress paints so I started with the lightest first and then layered down into the darker colors (however, an experiment for another day, I think atomizing the paint through an airbrush might work based upon how I saw these colors lay down on the model).

The Xpress colors used through the airbrush were...

1. Imperial Yellow (lightest)

2. Nuclear Yellow

3. Martian Orange

4. Plasma Red

5. Velvet Red (darkest)

I was really impressed at how well the Xpress paints flowed through the airbrush - no hiccups or problems at all whatsoever. Coverage appeared to be really good. I was able to blend the layers together starting at the top with the lightest color and then flowing downwards to the darkest color.

Then I switched over to the Sharpie Creative Markers.

6. Purple on the lips

7. Pink on top of the purple to highlight the gums

8. White on the teeth, they center eyeball

9. Red thin line around the outside edge of the center eyeball

10. Orange thin line around the outside edge of the center eyeball but within the red line

11. Yellow central eye on the center eyeball and struck lines from outside edge to just short of yellow center; then all 10 of the stalk eyeballs

12. White medium dot on all 10 of the stalk eyeballs

13. Black tiny dot on all 10 of the stalk eyeballs and elongated pupil on the yellow eye

14. Grey as a highlight on the black pupil and around the yellow eye

Finally, I used traditional paintbrush and Vallejo standard paints to paint and drybrush the base

15. Black

16. Neutral Grey

17. Stonewall Grey

Asking Google's Gemini to convert the painted model into artwork generates probably the model closest resembling what I painted - it did enhance the eye...

As to ShadowDark stats - as mentioned with the Beholder Zombie, I'd probably use the stats in the core book for The Ten-Eyed Oracle. However, when comparing the stats to the original AD&D monster stats I might make some changes that would make the Classic Beholder unique in ShadowDark. I think the Eyestalks are a good compromise between ShadowDark and the original AD&D ray attacks - many of them are the same. Two attacks that are missing which this Classic Beholder should have would be the anti-magic cone and its bite:

1. the core rulebook has hostile spells targeting The Ten-Eyed Oracle are DC18 to cast and I would replace that with an anti-magic cone from the central eye which I would ShadowDark as filling a double-near sized cube extending from the creature with the antimagic shell spell.

2. a bite attack +4 for anyone silly enough to get within close with 2d4 damage

And finally I would restrict its movement to 1/2 near - the original beholder was a slow moving tank of a monster - it hovered a few feet above the ground and slowly obliterated everything in its path.

Final thoughts - I posted a pic of the front image to a local game store Discord and someone mentioned it reminded them of Cheetos. So this new ShadowDark monster is now named Hot Cheetos and upon its untimely death it explodes in a fireball as if the spell was cast on a natural 20.

Reaper Miniatures - Eldritch Demon - 77113

 

This model expanded my Sharpie experiment - just like Sir Conlan, I decided to use the Sharpie Creative Markers with the paint brush tip. It's an interesting pack / marketing decision made by the Sharpie folks. The nub tips actually have the same 12 and then another 12 more colors in what I think they call earthen colors. However the paint brush tip has only the primary colors with the exception of green.  Picking up the pack of Sharpie's gets you 12 colors to play with...

1. Blue
2. Purple
3. Pink
4. Red
5. Orange
6. Yellow
7. Black
8. Grey
9. White

and then I left the greens for the end - instead of primary green you get...

10. Blue-Green
11. Cool Green
12. Yellow Green

A minor pain from my perspective is that Sharpie doesn't actually name the colors - however, they do have a nice cap system with the color but if they ever do expand the line, it would be nice to have color names.

This model had been sitting on the bench for quite awhile - I originally had it painted a goblin green body with medium brown wings - the paint was airbrushed on with extra paint remaining in the pot from other painting projects. It wasn't really doing much for me and this Sharpie set has a bunch of greens so I figured this was the perfect experiment.

The three greens were used as follows... blue-green on the body and the wing structures - cool-green on the wing membranes - yellow-green to pick out the details around the body and the belly. Mentioned previously but it's easy to see, the paint is very opaque which was great to cover the airbrushed paint. However, sometimes it would be nice if just a bit of bleed/transparency was there to blend - the AK's are similarly very opaque.

A bit of Google Gemini magic and we have a Eldritch Demon for a VTT session...

What do we do with what is essentially the aspect of an elder god making its way to the material plane through space and time (tampered just a bit because I do have Reaper's C'Thulhu which is twice the size - a true LV20 beast). How about a large bit of demon, some dragon, a bit of brain eater, and finally some gibbering mouther (elevated) for anyone near the beast.

Finally we do get to deduct another model from the Kickstarter Bones pile...

Kickstarter paint total 230 + 1 Eldritch Demon = 231

Reaper Miniatures - Sir Conlan - 77200

 

I used this Reaper Bones model for a bit of an experiment - it had been sitting on my desk with a coat of light blue paint over it from some leftover paint from airbrushing the ocean hexes. It's also a Bobby Jackson sculpt which means it has some nice flow to it as all of his sculpts are awesome and would work well for this experiment.

I wanted to use only the Sharpie markers on this as well as some acrylic metallic markers I found on Amazon (Pagather 24 Metallic Acrylic Markers). I've been playing around quite a bit with the AK Interactive markers but they do tend to be a bit messy and I wanted to give the Sharpies more of a go. However, the Sharpies are very limited in color - so now I have 24 metallic colors (too many to be honest). 

This was a lot of fun and super easy. The blue cloak, the grey shield, the black straps were all Sharpie. The gold armor and the silver sword were the Pagather metallics. Like wow, that was simple. I did need to go to the AK's for the dark skin on the face. May need to see if the Pagather's have more colors to supplement the Sharpies. 

The Pagather acrylic markers were interesting - they're dual tipped with the brush tip on one side and what they called fine tip on the other which was more of a ball tip like the Sharpie bullet tip version. And like the Sharpie bullet tip version there wasn't a shaker ball and no instructions to shake. However, the brush tip acted and looked exactly like the Sharpie brush tips and the paint flowed quite well from the tips. I was accurate enough with the tip to get the gold chain going down and carefully follow the lines of the sword through the cloak.

One more test... I don't normally spray Bones models because they're so soft that the paint doesn't chip like a metal model would. However, I wanted to give it a go and see if there was any adverse effects on the model like what happened with the Vallejo Xpress Color paint on the Wizkids Raging Troll.

I gave it a pretty solid coat of Testor Dullcote and there was no reactivation or disintegration of the paint. Looks the same...

Time to bring the model into Google's Gemini and convert it to artwork for your VTT sessions using AI...

Now for some ShadowDark goodness for Sir Conlan. As he's designated as a Paladin which isn't in the core rulebook, let's take from the Monsters a combination of the Knight and the Acolyte - then give him a couple bumps in level...

Finally, this does count against my giant kickstarter pile (it is going down). 

Kickstarter paint total 229 + 1 Sir Conlan = 230

NextLevel Miniatures - Gold Dragon

 

This is a huge mini from NextLevel Miniatures on a 3" base and sits at 4" tall from tail to horns with 4" wings - actually quite a beautiful miniature - well sculpted with good proportions.

I airbrushed this with Vallejo Air Gold. I really like the outcome - it shoots extremely well through the airbrush.

Then it was back over to the AK Interactive Playmarkers and I used Desert Ochre on the belly and inner wings. Finished off with Black on eyes, nostrils, and claws.

Brought the first photo into Google Gemini and asked it to convert it to artwork for your VTT...

No ShadowDark card as essentially the Gold Dragon is the equivalent of a Lawful Red Dragon - use those stats on page 210 of the core rulebook.

NextLevel Miniatures - Tentacle Horror

 

Lots of fun with this model. I used both the AK Interactive and the Sharpies on this beast. Of all the miniatures from NextLevel this model is easiest my most AND least favorite model. It has great character and a fun vision - three eyeballs, monster mouth, big slime, long tale, four tentacles, and a rockin set of feathers and scales. However... this came in multiple parts - tentacles, tail, body and the precision of the assembly was awful. 

The easiest thing to do was to start off with Animal Green over the main body. Light Green for various big highlights and on all the little nodules throughout. The contrast between the greens was a bit much, so I used Vallejo Goblin Green as a wash to tone it down and blend it together a bit. 

Favorite color Purple on the tentacles with the nodules on top and the suckers below hit with a Pink. Red on the feathers/scales going down the backside following by Dark Orange. Finally I used Sharpie paint brush tips Orange and Black on the eyeball. I originally had it yellow, but when I went back to do a bit of clean-up I grabbed Orange and really liked it much better.

On the base I went back to my traditional paint it Black and drybrush Vallejo Neutral Grey and Stonewall Grey.

Time for some Google Gemini A/I magic for your VTT...

Here's my ShadowDark Monster Index Card...

It's a Kraken Holiday

 

To get into the spirit of the Holidays I picked up some fairy lights off Amazon and carefully created a light box out of the retail packaging. My original thought was to tangle the fairly lights within the tentacles of the creature but that didn't end up looking quite right. Instead I placed the lights around the edge of the package front and top so that the fairy lights would display and showcase the model. The light chord sneaks out the back of the package to an easy on/off switch. Looks pretty cool.

And for those crazy Magic players - my offer of $200 is still open and now includes fairy lights for free, rofl!

Christmas Minis Arrive from the Goblin King

 

There's a Youtube channel I've been following for years - many years - and is one of my favorites because Michael, aka the Goblin King, promotes and shows that it's okay to paint for the game table instead of a glass enclosed shrine.

He also has a ko-fi channel and sells subscriptions for miniatures - I've been a member for a few years now and I'm on a tier where I receive several monster minis twice a year - a summer release and a winter release. I love receiving these, not just because they're my toys that I look forward to getting into a gaming session, but I like to see how another painter approaches tabletop quality and he bases miniatures very different than mine (I'd say it's a more traditional approach).

Michael's Youtube channel is Michael Mordor.

And here's a link if you want to go straight to the videos. Lots of great older videos in his list. Much of what he paints are Reaper Miniatures and WizKids - mostly what I paint as well.

Here's Michael's ko-fi shop. He has almost a dozen membership tiers you can join to receive minis in your mailbox (and it's quite fun to receive a box with Royal postage from the UK for us living in the US).

Michael also runs a blog on ko-fi that he updates on a regular basis - so check out some of his past posts.

Ruined Manor House

 

I took a risk and bought some things of Temu - picked up a couple t-shirts, some 3d prints, and a 2d metal artwork piece. I definitely will not be buying t-shirts off Temu, I could have guessed those would just be very low quality. The 3d prints are alright - this manor house, a graveyard, and a couple of medieval boats that'll need airbrushing. The 2d metal artwork came bent, I complained and received money back on the item with a keep it message - we'll see what we can do with that - I've started working on it, but unkinking metal is a pain in the ass.

First up, I picked up this ruined manor house. It's scaled at true 28mm - probably really needed to be 32mm to deal with where heroic scale minis have been for the last two to three decades. Original 80's Ral Partha miniatures would be right at home. It also appears to be missing a lower doorway piece on the front side, but that wasn't included (and not included in the seller's image).

I did the majority of this with airbrush. Black base for the brick - brown base for the wooden structures - blue base for the roof tiles. Then drybrushed with a giant Citadel Scenery brush (it's the only Games Workshop brush I own). Neutral Grey and Stonewall Grey for the stone. I think it was Plague Brown for the wood. Then Magic Blue and Lightning Blue on the roof tile.