ZN Games Wild Satricon - 23-020

I'm a bit giddy about this miniature - not because it's going to win any awards - but because I had a Friday night with some free time and was able to start and finish a complete miniature in a single night by keeping the paint scheme simple and using a lot of drybrush and wash techniques.

Looking on my shelf I found this Wild Satricon from ZN Games and their Unearthed Hyperborean Age line of miniatures. As are the other models, this miniature is very 2d in appearance (which is why the pictures only show front and back) and sits on an octogonal base. Like the other ZN Games models, I've swiped the base with a bit of drybrushing.

2014/12/30 - discovered the sculptor as Phil Lewis.

As to the pictures - they're not too bad - having a lot of painted metal on the miniature freaks the camera out - too much light is reflected off the model and trying to adjust contrast and brightness either darkens the other details or completely washes the metal out. So the end result is some ok looking pictures - I actually think the model looks better in my hand than what I can present here in picture form.

Lately I've started to put down the sculptor to each of my painted miniatures (and even started a sculptors page) - however, I can't find any data on the internet about ZN Games and their miniatures. If anyone has any further information then please leave a comment or send me an email to my gmail account which is rickajr.

Painting Instructions for Wild Satricon:

Step 01: Undercoat model with Black primer
Step 02: Use Boltgun Metal on all armor
Step 03: Use a heavy dousing of Devlan Mud as a wash over all armor
Step 04: Highlight with Boltgun Metal on all armor
Step 05: Wash all armor with a watered down mix of Chaos Black and Devlan Mud
Step 06: Final highlight all armor with Boltgun Metal
Step 07: Use Scorched Brown on legs
Step 08: Drybrush Bestial Brown on legs
Step 09: Drybrush mix of Bestial Brown and Bubonic Brown as highlights on legs
Step 10: Use Terracotta on plume
Step 11: Wash plume with watered down black
Step 12: Drybrush Terracotta on plume
Step 13: Drybrush Blood Red on plume
Step 14: Use Bleached Bone on hooves and horn
Step 15: Wash hooves and horn with Devlan Mud
Step 16: Highlight hooves and horn with Bleached Bone
Step 17: Use Snakebite Leather on gloves
Step 18: Highlight gloves with Desert Yellow
Step 19: Use mix of Snakebite Leather and Bestial Brown on axe grip
Step 20: Wash axe grip with Devlan Mud
Step 21: Highlight axe grip with Snakebite Leather
Step 22: Final highlight axe grip with Desert Yellow
Step 23: Use Terracotta on axe wood
Step 24: Wash axe wood with Chaos Black
Step 25: Use Shining Gold on all ornaments
Step 26: Wash all ornaments with Devlan Mud
Step 27: Highlight all ornaments with Shining Gold
Step 28: Use Dwarf Flesh on face
Step 29: Wash face with Devlan Mud
Step 30: Drybrush Codex Grey on base
Step 31: Drybrush Fortress Grey on base
Step 32: Drybrush Skull White on base

Setup and Undercoat a Model

During the summer months I'm typically very busy with the kids sports and therefore don't have a big block of time to paint. So I've been working on prepping and undercoating a whole bunch of miniatures. I have something like 30 ready to go. Another 20 on my desk which have been assembled and cleaned (from mold lines, flash, etc.), but not based and undercoated.

I've been wanting to try a hand at producing a how to video - therefore why not start at undercoating a model. I had a bit of time today and had a great time making a video on how to setup a miniature on a spool and then undercoat with black spray paint. Here's my first mini-painting tutorial...



Well that was a lot of fun! It took a bit of time but I had fun putting the video together. You have to think through all the scenes and the dialog for each. I had a basic idea but did a lot of winging it with the dialog. As always, let me know what you think and I'll try doing this again - maybe something on making the stone base effect - good for an rpg session as most take place in medieval town, castle, dungeon, or cave.

Reaper's Labella Demornay - 2105

Another rainy day, another figure! An opportunity to sit down for a few hours and crank out this wonderful sculpt. I've had this one sitting on the shelf for awhile (ok - I have a lot sitting on the shelf for awhile primed and ready to go) and it struck my fancy.

I originally had worked up a purple/pink paint scheme in my mind but I changed it at the last second to use a base of Terracotta and work that up to a mix of Terracotta and Skull White - the end result is more of a deep and dirty pink. I've improved my wet palette setup and that really helped - not only to get the flow of the paints and brush, but also the speed at which I can put down layers has dramatically increased. Here's a picture of the new setup:



What I've used is the plastic tray from a Reaper Miniatures blister pack. I chose this for it's size and that it's square in depth (the GW plastic is sloped on their blister packs). The "sponge" is from a GW blister pack - it is exactly the perfect size to fit inside the Reaper blister pack flat. Then I cut a piece of Wilton parchment paper (which I stole from my wife's kitchen) to fit neatly over the top of the sponge. Wet the sponge and wet the parchment paper on both sides and walla... an easy to create and use wet palette that keeps the paint thin for hours.

What I did was put a couple dabs of Terracotta (shade) on one side and a bit of Terracotta and Skull White mixed (highlight) on the other. Then I brought them together in a mix and blended the two colors so I had my entire spectrum of shade through highlights. The wet palette kept the colors in a prepped state for hours. From there I was able to paint. This is a thousand times easier than trying to mix into the white plastic tray the various colors and have them dry out after 10 minutes.

When I'm finished painting, I throw out the parchment paper and wring the sponge out to let dry. Simple cleanup. I suppose it would be easy enough to make a couple of these wet palettes in the case you wanted to hold different colors for a complex or large piece. I found the single palette had enough room (it's about 3" x 2") for everything used on this project. I haven't tried to save the paint overnight but I'm guessing a bit of plastic wrap over the top would do the trick.

Painting Instructions for Labella Demornay:

Step 01: Undercoat model with black primer
Step 02: Use Terracotta as base coat on dress
Step 03: Wash dress with 50/50 mix of water and Devlan Mud
Step 04: Layer Terracotta up to a 50/50 mix of Terracotta and Skull White
Step 05: Use 50/50 mix of Bronzed Flesh and Pallid Flesh on hands and face
Step 06: Wash hands and face with Devlan Mud
Step 07: Add more Pallid Flesh to mix and highlight hands and face
Step 08: Use Scorched Brown on hair
Step 09: Use Bestial Brown on hair
Step 10: Use Bubonic Brown on hair
Step 11: Use 50/50 mix of Bubonic Brown and Skull White on hair
Step 12: Use Shining Gold on necklace and belt
Step 13: Drybrush Codex Grey on stone base
Step 14: Drybrush Fortress Grey on stone base
Step 15: Drybrush Skull White on stone base

Games Workshop's Armoured Skeleton With Spear 5

Rainy days are good for something as I was able to paint up another awesome looking GW archive skeleton! Just as before, this skeleton from Games Workshop is circa pre-2000 - I've always liked the strong look of GW's armoured (british spelling) skeletons. Long ago I went to a GW Games Day in Baltimore and picked up some bits including shields with skeletons on them - I used one of these instead of the boring round plastic shield. I also tossed out the tiny base and mounted him on GW's one inch base - then gave it my standard dungeon look.

Painting Instructions for Armoured Skeleton With Spear 5:

Step 01: Undercoat model with black primer
Step 02: Use Vomit Brown on bones
Step 03: Mix Bleached Bone into Vomit Brown on bones
Step 04: Use Bleached Bone on bones as highlights
Step 05: Mix Skull White into Bleached Bone on bones as final highlights
Step 06: Use Snakebite Leather on leather armor
Step 07: Wash leather armor with Devlan Mud
Step 08: Use Terracotta on the halbred shaft
Step 09: Drybrush Blood Red on the halbred shaft
Step 10: Use Boltgun Metal on all armor, studs, and blade
Step 11: Wash all metal 1/4 Asurmen Blue, Devlan Mud, Chaos Black, Water
Step 12: Highlight all metal with Boltgun Metal
Step 13: Final highlight all metal with Chainmail
Step 14: Drybrush Codex Grey on base
Step 15: Drybrush Fortress Grey on base
Step 16: Drybrush final highlight Skull White on base

Reaper's Hell Hounds - 2522

I'll put up some more pictures over time of each individual hound.

These hell hounds came together in a two blister pack from Reaper Miniatures. They had been sitting on my shelf for a long time and about a month ago while I was painting my daughter came into the hobby room and asked what she could paint. It had been several years since the last time she painted a model - so I was quite surprised. I grabbed these two models off the shelf and I asked her to paint these - I figured it was mostly a layer of brown with a few layers of drybrushing.

She asked me about the fire coming from neck and I showed her Laszlo's excellent painting fire tutorial on a miniature - gave her a brief explanation on Laszlo's white to red and not red to white.

She proceeded to paint like mad that afternoon - finished one, and most of the second. A few weeks passed and she told me that I should finish the remainder. So I did the last little bit on the second, touched them both up, added a wash of Ogryn Flesh to the fur and Devlan Mud to base.

Overall I'd say she did amazingly well and now I have two well painted fiery hounds to add to the completed shelf!

Reaper's Vernicia - 2460

A drow or dark elf - I like the little spider Reaper puts on the base to symbolize the drow miniatures. The picture taking on this miniature was a real pain because of the spear length and the dimension of the spear brings the tip a lot closer to the camera than is the remainder of the figure.

Painting Instructions for Vernicia:

Step 01: Undercoat model with black primer
Step 02: Use Reaper's Cloudy Sea and mix with Chaos Black on skin
Step 03: Use Reaper's Cloudy Sea on skin
Step 04: Use Reaper's Cloudy Sea and mix with Skull White on skin
Step 05: Add more Skull White for final highlights on skin
Step 06: Use Shadow Grey on hair
Step 07: Use Space Wolves Grey on hair
Step 08: Drybrush Ghostly Grey on hair
Step 09: Use a wash of Space Wolved Grey to tone down drybrushing on hair
Step 10: Drybrush Skull White on hair - wash with Ghostly Grey - drybrush with Skull White again
Step 11: Use Imperial Purple on leather armor, gloves, and boots
Step 12: Use Liche Purple on leather armor, gloves and boots
Step 13: Use Warlock Purple to highlight leather armor, gloves, and boots
Step 14: Add a mix of Tentacle Pink to leather armor, gloves and boots for final highlights
Step 15: Wash leather armor, gloves, and boots with Liche Purple
Step 16: Use Scorched Brown on spear handle
Step 17: Use Bubonic Brown on spear handle as a wet drybrush
Step 18: Drybrush Bubonic Brown on spear handle
Step 19: Wash spear handle with Devlan Mud
Step 20: Use Beaten Copper on metal bits
Step 21: Wash metal bits with Ogryn Flesh
Step 22: Highlight metal bits with Dwarf Bronze
Step 23: Use Boltgun Metal on spear tip
Step 24: Wash spear tip with watered down Chaos Black
Step 25: Use Chainmail to highlight spear tip
Step 26: Use Blazing Orange on spider
Step 27: Drybrush base with Codex Grey
Step 28: Dryrbrush highlights on base with Fortress Grey
Step 29: Drybrush final highlights on base with Skull White

Wet Palette

If you can't tell from the Blog Archive - I've been away from the miniature painting endeavor for quite awhile - I started in 1999 when I ran across a Games Workshop store at the outlet mall and 2004 was the last big year - just before Matthew was born along with some life changing career events.

During that time away, something called a wet palette was introduced to the painting community. I had no idea about it until I made a recent visit to a meeting with the DCAreaMiniPaintingClub - a group that I was a charter member of back in the summer of 2001. It was great to see long time ago friends as well as new faces - in addition, one of the things everyone was painting with was a wet palette.

A wet palette has to be the simplest brainy idea ever for miniature painting. The idea is this - add moisture to the paint at the same rate as evaporation through a process called osmosis. The theory is easy to put into practice - water, a sponge or paper towel, and parchment paper. The water travels up the sponge/paper towel and then slowly into the parchment paper which acts like a membrane between the paint and the water. The parchment paper draws water into the paint at about the same rate as the process of evaporation.

So here's my wet palette...

I simply took my plastic paint tray and folded up a paper towel into a square until it fit into the center of the plastic paint tray. Next I poured water over the paper towel until fully saturated. Finally I cut out a square piece of parchment paper and laid that over the top. Somewhere I read its best to get the parchment paper wet - so I rubbed some water into the parchment paper on both sides prior to throwing it on top of the wet paper towel.

To try it out I threw a little bit of Reaper's Cloudy Sea paint on the paper - I did two sections - one drop that I didn't use and one drop that I threw some Chaos Black into. Added a drop of water to each and prepped them as I would have so they flow. Then I grabbed a model of a dark elf from Reaper and painted away using the mixed paint.

It was awesome! The paint stayed fluid the entire time - I was able to use far less paint, had far more control, and it didn't "chalk" up on my model (ie - stayed smooth) or cause the tip of the brush to dry out. I worked with fluid paint during the entire paint session of basecoating the mix onto the mini. When I finished, I checked the drop which I hadn't used - it was like I first laid it onto the palette - totally fluid and usable paint.

For giggles, I took the parchment paper off the soaked paper towel - lasted about five minutes before completely drying.

We'll see how my next few miniatures turn out - but I'm predicting that this is a game changer that will allow me to kick my painting up a notch.

Citadel Stage 3 Fighter - ADD02

This miniature I found in a bag of old minis that I won off e-bay years ago. It's the third stage of a fighter produced by Citadel circa 1985 for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game (ADD02). I'm quite surprised with the level of detail on this miniature - a great sculpt compared to anything else of the era. Also, very noticeable is the size difference - from toe to top of helmet is 25mm which makes him look short and squatty compared to all of my "modern" figs.

Each pack came with three stages and I've actually found that I do have the first two stages as well in that bag of old minis. The first stage shows the fighter with simple chain mail and not much "stuff". The second stage with half plate and a bit more garnishment. The final stage shown here with full plate mail and all of his goodies fully expanded. This mini has a helmet plume, a stuffed backpack, a mace, a sword, an axe, and a dagger.

None of the minis in my bag had shields - so I found a metal shield in my bits bin and tagged that on. Additionally, the originals came on an octagonal slotta base - I don't have any of those, so I threw him on a one inch square slotta base instead. I'll eventually get around to painting the other two and thereby complete the series.

Often when I paint I have a purpose in mind - in this case I wanted to do an old school paintjob - primary colors, wash, then highlight in a short timeframe. I like the results and the painting was done in a single session which is even better.

Painting Instructions for Stage 3 Fighter:

Step 01: Undercoat model with Black primer
Step 02: Use Boltgun Metal on all metal bits - armor, sword, etc. - except:
Step 03: Use Reaper's Blue Steel on mace
Step 04: Use Reaper's Green Steel on axe head
Step 05: Use Brazen Brass on sword hilt and dagger hilt
Step 06: Use Snakebite Leather on all leather bits
Step 07: Use Regal Blue on helmet plume
Step 08: Use Enchanted Blue on helmet plume
Step 09: Use Enchanted Blue on shield
Step 10: Use Bestial Brown on back of shield and on axe handle
Step 11: Use Skull White on shield cross
Step 12: Use Bronzed Flesh on face
Step 13: Wash entire figure with Devlan Mud
Step 14: Drybrush Lightning Blue on helmet plume
Step 15: Use Chainmail for metal highlights
Step 16: Use Bubonic Brown for leather highlights
Step 17: Use Elf Flesh for face highlights
Step 18: Drybrush Codex Grey on base
Step 19: Drybrush Fortress Grey on base
Step 20: Drybrush Skull White on base for final highlights

Chainmail Human Templar - 1288888001

Happy New Year! The first miniature of 2011 is from the Dungeons and Dragons Chainmail miniatures game produced by Wizards of the Coast circa 2002. I picked up a bunch of these off the discount rack for $2.00 each from the local hobby store. Most of the Chainmail miniatures have an interesting and dynamic pose, but the castings themselves are rather rough and most come in a number of pieces that need to be crafted together with significant gap filling. The Human Templar was the only one of the lot which was cast whole.

As can be plainly seen in the pictures above, the photos of the miniature have gone through a new process of using the digital macro mode of my Canon PowerShot SD1000 by placing the miniature on a black sheet of paper which sits on top of aluminum foil (removes most of the top down shadows) and covering the photoshoot with a white paper towel to act as a light filter. The photos are then placed into the Gimp software where they've been outlined, cut, and pasted onto a gradient blue background. The whole process is fairly quick.

I named this one Jacques as this is a Human Templar and Jacques de Molay was the final Grand Master (1292-1314) of the Knights Templar and infamously burnt on the stake.

Painting Instructions for Human Templar:

Step 01: Undercoat model with Black Primer
Step 02: Use Dark Flesh on face
Step 03: Use Bronzed Flesh on face
Step 04: Wash face with Ogryn Flesh
Step 05: Use Elf Flesh on face highlights
Step 06: Use Skull White on teeth
Step 07: Use Tentacle Pink on tongue
Step 08: Use Scorched Brown on all leather bits
Step 09: Use Bestial Brown on all leather bits
Step 10: Use Snakebite Leather for all leather bits highlights
Step 11: Use Bubonic Brown as final highlight on all leather bits
Step 12: Wash all leather bits with Devlan Mud
Step 13: Use Boltgun Metal on all armor and sword
Step 14: Wash each rivet with Devlan Mud to build a dark base
Step 15: Use Chainmail on each rivet as highlight
Step 16: Use Chainmail as highlight on armor and sword
Step 17: Use Brazen Brass on sword hilt and helmet trim
Step 18: Wash Brazen Brass bits with Ogryn Flesh
Step 19: Use mix of Dwarf Bronze and Chainmail as highlights on Brazen Brass bits
Step 20: Use Enchanted Blue on cloth belt
Step 21: Wash cloth belt with Asurmen Blue
Step 22: Use Lightning Blue on cloth belt
Step 23: Wash cloth belt with Asurmen Blue
Step 24: Re-highlight cloth belt with Lightning Blue
Step 25: Use Bubonic Brown on pants and shirt
Step 26: Wash pants and shirt with Devlan Mud
Step 27: Highlight pants and shirt with Bubonic Brown
Step 28: Use mix of Bleached Bone with Bubonic Brown on pants and shirt
Step 29: Use Bleached Bone for final highlight on pants and shirt
Step 30: Use Shadow Grey to highlight scabbard
Step 31: Drybrush Codex Grey on base
Step 32: Drybrush Fortress Grey on base
Step 33: Drybrush Skull White on base

Reaper's Townsfolk IV-C - 2677C

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2011-01-05: update - the above pictures have been swapped out for my new process - the colors are now much more realistic to actual and rather close to being there and picking up the model in hand.

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From Reaper's Townsfolk IV comes the third rogue character. There were so many ways this could have been painted but I wanted to keep it simplified - brownish/red (red is always difficult to digitally photograph - the true color is bit browner than displayed) with blue/green (based upon Reaper's Master Series paint called Cloudy Sea). I did use two different colored browns - gloves and boots a yellow/brown while leather bits were more of a traditional brown.

This was my first utilization of the Reaper Master Series paints from a sample bottle of Cloudy Sea. My first impression is that this is great stuff! I was able to thin down the paint considerably with a bit of water and I had good coverage over a black undercoat.

Painting Instructions for Townsfolk IV-C:

Step 01: Undercoat model with Black primer
Step 02: Use Reaper's Clouded Sea with a dab of Chaos Black on pants
Step 03: Add a bit more of Reaper's Clouded Sea and build pants base
Step 04: Use Reaper's Clouded Sea to start highlights on pants
Step 05: Use Reaper's Clouded Sea with a dab of Skull White on pants highlights
Step 06: Use Terracotta on shirt and hood
Step 07: Use a dab of Chaos Black to Terracotta on shirt/hood shadows
Step 08: Use a 1:1 mix of Terracotta and Blood Red on shirt highlights
Step 09: Use Blood Red for final shirt/hood highlights
Step 10: Use Dark Flesh on face
Step 11: Use mix of Dark Flesh and Bronzed Flesh on face
Step 12: Add Elf Flesh to mix for final highlights on face
Step 13: Use Leprous Brown on gloves and boots
Step 14: Use Devlan Mud wash on gloves and boots
Step 15: Use Leprous Brown to highlight gloves and boots
Step 16: Use mix of Leprous Brown and Golden Yellow-highlight boots/gloves
Step 17: Use Scorched Brown on leather bits
Step 18: Use Snakebite Leather on leather bits
Step 19: Use Vomit Brown as highlight on leather bits
Step 20: Use Boltgun Metal on metal bits
Step 21: Use Chainmail as highlight on metal bits
Step 22: Drybrush Codex Grey on base
Step 23: Drybrush Fortress Grey on base
Step 24: Drybrush Skull White on base as final highlights

Townsfolk IV Treasure - 2677B

This is the sacks of treasure from the Townsfolk IV - 2677B from Reaper. I placed this on an old Ral Partha metal monster base. Added a shield I had lying around in the bits box. Added a sword from the Reaper accessories pack. Then added a large battle axe from some bits I won off of ebay years ago. Threw them all together onto the base - added some mud to the base and pockmarked that to look like piles of gold from the Dragon's hoard.

I originally started off painting some of the bags a brown leather, but they ended up blending into the surrounding piles of gold too much. So I used Vallejo's Terracotta and moved up to GW's Red Gore and Blood red on the big bag and some blues on the third. I also played around with some old colored metallics I had from the Reaper Pro Paints line - a Green Steel on the axe, Blue Steel on the sword, and Red Metallic on the shield - added GW's Chainmail to the mix for highlights.

Goodman Games Pointy-Hatted Wizard - GMG6010

Sometimes it's just difficult.

That was the theme of this miniature - which is really a shame - this was a nice Jason Wiebe sculpted (I do like his stuff) classic wizard produced for Goodman Games and their Dungeon Crawl Classics line of miniatures (which ties back to some of their D&D modules).

I try not to do the classic blue wizard - for whatever reason I've tried to stay away from that cliche. I have a yellow/red and a green robed wizard.

So I thought that I would go with Brown - starting with Scorched Brown and to keep adding Rotting Flesh for the whole model. I did - and it looked like a chocolate Hershey bar left out by the Easter bunny. Therefore I painted a different color robe, than another color, and another - a little of this and a little of that.

Basically it ended up being a salvage project. Even taking a picture of the model ended up being a disaster for some reason - it just wouldn't take - so what's above is the best I could get and provide some realistic coloring.

Updated 2010-12-31: playing around with digital macro settings and gimp software:

Reaper's Kiri, Female Ninja - 2534

Completed a miniature that I had started quite a long time ago. I had painted the skin tones and basecoated the clothing - then it sat for a long, long time - several years actually. Until now - I had a bit of inspiration - grabbed the color wheel and instead of two-color red/green I decided on a tri-color red/blue/yellow - the blue I worked into the ribbons and the yellow I used on the hair to great affect.

Painting Instructions for Kiri, Female Ninja:
Step 01: Undercoat model with black primer
Step 02: Use Dark Flesh on skin
Step 03: Add bit of Elf Flesh to Dark Flesh and build highlights on skin
Step 04: Continue adding Elf Flesh to mix until final highlight on skin
Step 05: Use Red Gore on clothes
Step 06: Use Blood Red on clothes for highlights
Step 07: Use Blazing Orange on clothes as final highlight
Step 08: Use Shadow Grey on cloth armor
Step 09: Use Space Wolves Grey on cloth armor for puffies
Step 10: Use Ghostly Grey on puffies as highlight
Step 11: Use Regal Blue on ribbons
Step 12: Use Enchanted Blue on ribbons as highlights
Step 13: Use Lighting Blue on ribbons as final highlights
Step 14: Use Scorched Brown on all leather armor, straps, and boots
Step 15: Use Bestial Brown on all leather armor, straps, and boots
Step 16: Use Snakebite Leather on all leather armor, straps, and boots
Step 17: Use Bubonic Brown on all leather armor, straps, and boots
Step 18: Use Lightning Blue on bottles
Step 19: Use Ice Blue as liquid in bottles
Step 20: Use Bad Moon Yellow on hair
Step 21: Add Skull White to Bad Moon Yellow and build highlights on hair
Step 22: Use Boltgun Metal on metal bits
Step 23: Wash metal bits with Devlan Mud
Step 24: Use Chainmail on metal bits as highlight
Step 25: Drybrush Codex Grey on stone
Step 26: Drybrush Fortress Grey on stone as highlights
Step 27: Drybrush Skull White on stone as final highlights

Reaper's Sir Justin, Templar Adventurer - 2715

While Reaper named him Sir Justin - I ran out of room and shortened it to Sir Jon. I used the same painting scheme as the two previous templar knights in my collection - 2330 and 2513.

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with each mini painted - I'd say this is as equivalent or maybe even better in some areas as the other two templar knights.

Reaper's Unknown, Rogue (2677D)

2010-12-13 - UPDATE FROM REAPER'S RON HAWKINS:

Here's the deal. Originally, the pack was going to have the scimitar
wielding mini. But, the figure was replaced with a more "Bandit-y"
feel to it (the Pirate-y looking bandit was converted to the one with
hood and short sword).

I just replaced the photo online with the correct shot. And I looked
in our mold department - all 02677 D molds only have the "correct"
model (short sword).

** Please help in identifying this Reaper miniature - note that the dagger in the left hand was added by me **

Hmmmm... what to say about this miniature - first off it was a test bed for putting a name on the miniature - see below post - I added a scroll style on the front as the "official" name badge.

Then it was a test for some new Vallejo Game Color paints in the brown family which I picked up from Leesburg Hobbies. The matching colors were to GW's scorched brown, bestial brown, and bubonic brown to replace my dried up GW paint pots.

It started off alright as I primered in black. Then used a watered down scorched brown - the opacity was nice with the Vallejo and the results can be seen in the below post regarding the nameplates.

Next I used the bestial brown and I was rather disappointed with the coverage - it wasn't doing what I needed and required multiple layers - more effort than what I was wanting to give or expecting to have to do. I was hoping for more of a coverage experience that I was having with the scorched brown.

Building up to the next layer was bubonic brown and here's where I became really unhappy. If I watered down the paint, the opacity of the paint moved to the edges of the brush and I wasn't getting any coverage with the actual brush stroke - it looked like I was painting railroad tracks. I know it wasn't the brush as I'm painting with Windsor & Newton Series 7 - probably the finest line of brushes for miniature painting. Not watering down the paint is of course too thick and not a real option.

After battling with that for awhile I moved up and added a bit of Vallejo skull white to the mix and walla - beautiful brushstrokes - don't get it - but by that point in time I was overally frusturated - dabbed on some highlights and called it a day.

Work In Progress

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2010-10-11: update - added second picture showing use of scorched brown for lettering and an attempt at making a brass plate nametag - brass plate was done using bubonic brown for the base, then adding skull white and making a line through the top middle, then adding more skull white and adding another line on top of that - then adding black dots for the "rivets".

Additional sample - a plankwood - bubonic brown base with bestial brown on top with scorched brown lettering and holes with boltgun metal bolts.

Final additional sample? - two more pics - one using actual metallics - nope - looks awful - then back to using bubonic brown for the base, then bleached bone in the middle, finishing with a strip of skull white in the very middle (in essence the highlighlighting goes inwards - darkest on the outside and "shiniest" in the middle).

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Didn't get a lot of painting done this weekend - simply a basecoat and a little test I'm working up.

The next project is going to be another Reaper of a rogue - this time I'm doing him up all in a single color - brown - but the real point of this post is to take a look and showcase the naming of a miniature. It's something I've been wanting to do for awhile and just haven't thought about how I want to go about doing it.

Two thoughts...

1st - is to put a signature on the model and a date - either year or month/year

2nd - when playing an rpg and plopping down a bunch of minis - it's difficult to keep track of all the minis on the table for the NPC (non-player characters - the ones being ran by the dungeon master / game master / judge) - typical conversation:

player: I'll attack the green orc
judge: which of the six
player: the one on the left side
judge: there's three on the left
player: the one with the sword
judge: there's two with a sword
player: the one that has the red doohicky thingy on his body

and so on... - whereas it's really easy to google up an orc name and finding a website - now if you dropped on the table Vrunk, Kridish, Bruuk, Hork, Hagdush, and Buulg; then the role playing will go a whole lot faster when the player announces they're going to attack Vrunk!

I've also thought about just putting numbers on them - or a little flag with a number on them, but how boring is it to say elf attacks number 7 when the player can say Calaitharnith attacks Vrunk.

I was also thinking about freehand white lettering the name on the base, but I thought it a bit boring and therefore never did anything.

So I recently came across the website of Glyn Evans who goes by the name Zaphod. About 2004 he started to sign his stylized name of Zaphod on the base of the miniature in what looks like a tattered scroll - he eventually gave that up for a stylized Z and the year - then on his latest minis painted for gaming he used the tattered scroll affect for putting the miniature name on the front - another example - I really like that idea and I gave it a try tonight.

I started out with a set of white lines to make a solid block. Then I "yellowed" them with some bleach bone in the middle. Followed that up with some black cutouts. Finally the lettering - my consulting is Zingodia Systems - Zingodia is a bit long to use - so I used Zing and the year.

For my first try:
- tattered edge is good - I think the cuts on top and bottom is a bit much
- lettering is too thick - need a bit more practice
- black lettering is too strong - probably a bestial brown would be better - aged lettering goes brown - can give scorched brown a try as well

Hackmaster Human Magic-User male - K&C4080

Here's the end result of the WIP miniature - I was able to spend an hour here and there on it this week. This miniature is from the HackMaster line by Kenzer and Company. HackMaster was supposed to be a parody of the original D&D game. They did some rather strange stuff in the "old-school gaming" look.

With all the wackiness that was Hackmaster, the miniature is actually very good - right up there with any of the Reapers that I enjoy - which make sense as Kevin Contos sculpted this as well as a number of the early Reaper miniatures.

Work In Progress

Quick update on what I'm working on - had some time Friday night and Saturday night to do a little bit of painting each night. Just about finished - need to complete the eyes, beard (red, or red/brown, or brown, or grey), metalic bits, and stone base.

Kids...

I was on the DC mini-painting Yahoo group tonight and happened across some old files from the first time we met back in summer of 2001 at the Chantilly Game Parlor (back then it was the only Game Parlor). These were posted by Jason Moses who was living in the DC area at the time. Oh my goodness - look at these pictures - the kids would have been 5 and 8.



That was nine years ago - they did some Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Lord of the Rings, and a few Reaper's for a D&D game over the years - but both love the ballfield which is where they spend all their time. This is a pic from this summer - on a Saturday at the ballfield prior to them both having a game...



There's one more coming along - who knows when he'll be willing to sit down and paint with me. I have a feeling it will be awhile as he's a real handful and full of energy - doesn't sit still. He turned 4 this summer and is the main reason for my mini-painting hiatus these past five years (pre-baby year prior was spent painting bedroom and getting ready!) as it's hard to do anything with a baby in the house. A bit of family resemblance?