Life in Lockdown

Wow - It's been almost a month since I last blogged ...

In my defence, not that I need to defend myself, Mrs. H. got ill, so we were quarantined for a fortnight, and I was looking after her, and young Master H, so in spite of thinking I might get some painting done, nothing happened but 'firefighting' household chores and trying to keep everyone in the house sane.  Also, the Mansions of Madness Investigators that Mrs. H. had set me the challenge of painting just weren't inspiring me - perhaps because I didn't choose them myself, I don't know. 

I'm sure I'll get back to them at some point.

Then I got ill, just as work provided me with a Laptop to work from home, and a week later when I was well enough to paint again, that meant I was well enough to be working too, and the weeks in lockdown had taken their mental toll.

Fortunately this week Mrs. H. did something wonderful.  last Thursday she painted a model. This one, in fact.  And yes, she did it all in one day.  I suppose, just like the ghosts in "A Christmas Carol", she must be magical so can do it all in one night and change the heart of this old curmudgeon here.

Gizza Kiss!

Reaper's Shub-Niggurath.  It's so big it almost fills the light box!  I said I'd share some pictures of her painting at some point - and here it is!

Her doing some painting gave me the impetus to get back at the desk again - but even better, she painted with me.  She's currently working on some very cute baby dragons (Also from Reaper) which I hope she'll let me photograph too.  Having her to paint with helped me get back at it - and getting back at it has helped my locked-down head too.  I may not get much more painting done this week as I'm back at work, and next weekend I have a Role-play convention that has moved online in response to the Coronavirus epidemic, but who knows, I may still manage something.

So, on to what I've got painted this week - it's somewhat eclectic, as it's mostly been what I fancied.  As I said above the Mansions of Madness Investigators have taken a step to the side until they are the thing that inspires me again.

It was Crooked Dice's 10th anniversary during my painting hiatus, and as I love their stuff, and wanted the free Janey Paranormal Investigator for Mrs. H. (hey, a model arrived that doesn't go on my acquired list ... Huzzah!) I ordered the fantastic skeletons that were released not too long ago.  They have a great "Ray Harryhausen" vibe to them, plenty of character without any fiddly detail, and will be lovely when 7tv Fantasy arrives.  Fingers crossed that some with Spears and Bows are in the offing as well, and I'll have a good selection for both skirmish games and RPGs too.

Does his skull go all the way to the top of that hood?

Next up I painted a few things that were on my work in progress shelf that had gotten as far as being undercoated, but no further.

Some Mermaids from the Pirates of the Dread Seas range from Dead Earth Games.  These came with their Dwarf Crew Kickstarter, and I'm awaiting their Human and Undead crews along with the rulebook, from the Kickstarter that followed.  There are some great sculpts in there, though the scale is a little larger than some of the other pirate figures I've got, they still fit in just fine.

With and Without Makeup?

The Savage Worlds 50 Fathoms game I'm running has moved online for the foreseeable future, but that's no reason to not keep painting Pirates!  The PC's have recently hired some more female crew, so I painted these up that had been sitting in an undercoated state for a while.  I can't for the life of me remember where I got them from though.

Don't call them Wench!

The last piece of work in progress is this Reaper blacksmith.  Painted just because I liked the look of him and it made for one less unpainted figure on the shelf.  I have a feeling we're going to need to get some more figure cases.  Or at least some foam that can go on shelves.

Have Anvil, Will Travel

The rest of my painting this week was 'shiny and new' - or at least relatively new.  Last month I painted the hoverdrone from Crooked Dice's Pulp Sci-Fi kickstarter, that looked suspiciously like one from a certain 1980's Sci-Fi film with an iconic score by Queen.

The next set of models that I've painted my also look as if they've stepped out of the same film.  They don't look very friendly, mind.

*wheezes* Fires Gun.

These, like the drone, are getting based on clear bases - I'm going to stick with sand and flock for my fantasy models, and the beach bases for my pirates, but I think for boardgames, and at least my 'current' run of Sci-Fi stuff that clear bases are the order of the day.  Just as well Warbases were still open and delivering last week!

Dispatch War Rocket Ajax!

While the most merciless of the character types hasn't gotten painted yet, I have managed his generals and his 'bride to be' - I picked blonde rather than brunette to match the film for the bride because it's my model, and I can.  The black and gold though.  Can't mess around with styling like that!

So, that's 25 Models painted since Friday, and 8 acquired since the last blog.  Still keeping ahead of the game!

Running Totals

Painted: 335

Acquired: 97

Can I play with madness?

A day late this week.  While I had all my painting finished yesterday, I'd not got the bases sorted, so did that this evening before updating the blog.

I've made a proper start on the Investigators from Mansions of Madness, and have managed to get 12 of them done this week, plus a few other sundry bits and pieces from the 'work in progress' pile, along with one brand new arrival.  The first of my expected Kickstarter deliveries from last year has arrived ... so the acquired number will tick up again.

But first, onto the Mansions of Madness - I had a little trouble with some discolouration on the clear bases from the superglue I was using - I'm not really sure how to combat this other than try to use less superglue.  Still, I'm happy with the results I've got on some not-terribly well sculpted models.  The more recently produced models are much better than the older ones, and I feel I've done them more justice, but they're also a little smaller than I'm used to painting, and my eyes are getting old.  At least, that's my excuse.

Agatha Crane

Somehow she seems to be welcoming our new lords from the outer planes.  Well, she is a Parapsychologist.

Bob Jenkins

I'm not really sure what Bob is supposed to be holding in his hand.  I painted it silver as if it's some kind of goblet.

Carson Sinclair

The Butler, Carson.  Either his eyes are a little dark, or he's been chasing the dragon.  Possibly both.

Father Mateo

Father Mateo.  While I was painting this I couldn't get out of my head that I thought he looked like Benedict Cumberbatch.

Gloria Goldberg

Probably the best bit on Gloria is the portable typewriter she's carrying.  Unfortunately I didn't photograph her from an angle that shows it off.  Or in focus it would appear.  Maybe I'll update this picture at some point.

Harvey Walters

Harvey is one of the better sculpts (in my opinion) from the original set of investigators.  He also has the same name as the sample character showing the character generation in Call of Cthulhu 5th edition, which was the first edition I played.

Minh Thi Phan

I tried to do an Asian skin ton on Minh.  Not sure I got it right as Mrs. H. has dubbed her "The Simpson".  Still.  Mrs. H. hasn't painted anything for me to photograph to put on the blog yet, you know, just to show off her talents and all that.

Preston Fairmont

Preston's a fairly dour millionaire, in miniature form.  I couldn't get rid of the bumps on his cane either, not without risk of snapping it in two.

Rita Young

Rita is one of the few non-white investigators - I'm pretty sure in one of the novels linked to Arhkham Horror she's described as mulatto, so I tried to go for coffee-ish coloured skin.

Sister Mary

I will admit I didn't enjoy painting Sister Mary.  At Mrs. H's suggestion I painted on an Alice band to try to cover up the mould line that I just couldn't get rid of through her hair. Her eyes are sculpted rather bulging, somewhat Innsmouth-Looky.  And the model itself is hunched over.  While the character art makes her look about 20 ... the model itself comes over as a lot older.  Ah well.

Wendy Adams

Wendy I'm rather pleased with, however. She looks rather scared and waifish, which she's supposed to.

William Yorick

Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio ... There's a lovely fracture on the skull he's holding (it's not a mould line I missed, honest) so whoever died, it was violent.

That's 12 of the 30 done, 18 to go which I'm sure I'll manage over the next couple of weeks.  They'll also come in nicely as characters for 7TV Pulp - and as I've recently received a number of Mythos gribbly stat cards, the monsters will be able to play their part as well.

I also painted a few other bits and pieces this week though nothing particularly fancy.

Objective markers - Always useful.

Another 'thing from the work in progress pile' here - I had these rocks glued to bases sanded and undercoated, and just lying there, so I finished them off as objective markers.  As I was painting Mythos things, I gave three of them Mythos symbols - the Elder Sign, the Icon of Nytharthotep and the Yellow Sign.  The final cairn with a handle sticking out of it is clearly some kind of weapon to smite the Mythos - just to keep in theme.

Ooooh.  it's and Ooze.

I also painted this Ooze - It's not got a base because I just have no idea how to base it really.  It's cast in semi-transparent resin, so I've picked out the rocks, bones, and other bits and pieces.  I'm sure it'll eat an adventurer or two at some point.

I also said that I'd had a Kickstarter arrive - the Crooked Dice Pulp Sci-Fi Heroes and Villains plus a few extras (some of which were for Mrs H, fortunately) so I've got 24 models to add to the acquired count.

One of these will be taking the part of a Robot Sidekick to the Sci-Fi lizard I painted last week.

Long live Flash! You've saved your Earth!
Have a nice day!

And that's it for this week.  18 models Painted, 24 arrived, so a little in the red this week.  I'll try to get at least another 12 of the Investigators done, and see what else takes my fancy.

Running Totals

Painted: 310

Acquired: 89

Better late than never!

No update last week, as I didn't get anything painted.

Instead, I went to the theatre with Mrs. H to see Back to the Future: The Musical for her (very late) birthday present.  It's not my fault her birthday was in August and the show wasn't until now. In short, it was amazing. To borrow and bastardise the tagline from an old-but-well-known film "You'll believe a car can fly"

I also provided her with a Crackpot Inventor and Unearthly Traveller from Crooked Dice - any similarity to characters in the films/musicals purely accidental.

Images from Crooked Dice

Maybe I'll be able to feature her versions of them in the fullness of time (yes, Mrs. H.  that's a hint).

This week, however, I got back in the saddle and have managed to get some painting done.

Skull Tales has now officially been painted in its (owned by me) entirety.  The final 7 heroes are done, and it's a fully painted game.  I'll have to learn how to play it now!

Clockwise from top: Gunner, Witch, Noble Rebel with War Dog, Musician, Alchemist, Lookout, Sea Dog (in centre)

Only the Musician screamed out at me as a reference to something else here.  Were Peter Dinklage to ever turn Piratical Musician, who knows, he might look something like this...

As it's the first week of the month, I also took a look at my work in progress pile to see if anything jumped out and told me to paint it.  I wouldn't say that that was exactly the case, but I did still remove a few things from the pile of shame.

First up are some re-purposed HeroClix models, originally they were used as mooks in a Savage Worlds Necessary Evil Campaign (Essentially Super-Villains-Save-The-World).  They only ever got as far as being re-based and then undercoated, so I've got them painted and I expect they will form a 7TV SWAT Police Cast - I'm hoping to get some 'out in the sticks' terrain done over the next few months as well, so they may end up paired with a group of cultists or similar that have been abducting folk for some kind of foul ritual.  This might mean a Children of the Fields cast, or maybe some reclusive survivalists - I've not really decided yet.

First up a Tough Detective and her Dependable Deputy, ready to lead their strike team to rescue the abductees.

Sculder and Mulley?

They'll be backed up by a SWAT team  - at first I wasn't sure what to do for these, because the only Police SWAT team appears in the Paranormal Investigators guide, and precludes the use of 'English' Police (the "Across the Pond" SFX) - which would mean I couldn't use Riot Police, which you'll see below.  However, I realised that an Army Unit 1) Also has the Law Enforcement Genre, and 2) the Dependable Deputy also has the Military Genre - so I'm covered both ways by using the Army Unit profiles for these - 9 Privates and a grenade-toting Corporal.

"Fire at Will!" "Which one's Will Sir?"

And here are the aforementioned Riot Police. Or the meat shield, as they are likely to be.  The Sergeant is so hard he doesn't even put his visor down. I may have to get hold of some kind of Police Car or Van to make best use of their "You're Nicked" SFX.

"Let's go Clubbing, Lads"

The Last few figures I have will likely represent a Dog Handler (the chap with the pistol and empty hand), for whom I shall have to acquire some Dogs, and an Explosives Expert - as a cast can only have one of the latter, I'm not sure what I'll do with the duplicate figure.  Perhaps a hand swap is in order to provide me with a second Corporal so I can split the SWAT team into two units.

Why does this make me think of a boy band
that will soon be firing their stylist?

Also in the work in progress pile were some character models for yet another RPG setting - this time a Sci-Fi one-shot that I ran, with pre-generated characters.  Another undercoated but never painted tale for them.  These are my first time using clear bases - mostly as an experiment to help me get my head around how to use them for a future project.  I think they work nicely, though I'm not sure I'd use them for a lot of things, they might just be the best idea for Board Game miniatures (yes, I'm aware I've just finished painting a boardgame, and I sanded and painted all the bases ...)

So, here are the crew of the Starship Lakota, from left to right a Crooked Dice Time-Lift Security Operative, Karl Drax and Kaela Yu from Hasslefree (I removed Kaela's Cigarette as the character it Psychic and it made a nice 'mind reading' pose, I felt), and a Reaper Miniatures Sligg.  I still need to get a 'drone' for the Sligg to control - fortunately it won't be that long until Crooked Dice's Sci-Fi Pulp miniatures will be heading my way, and there's a rather wonderful Major-Domo drone coming that will do the job perfectly.

The Crew of the Lakota

The last bit of painting I completed this week was, in all honesty, done because of how simple it would be.  One warning when you look at these Reaper Bones figures.  Don't blink. Don't even blink.

Blink and your dead.

Perhaps these will be Animated Statues for the Cult the 7TV Police cast are investigating.  Maybe they're up to something more mystical than mundane ...

In total that makes 35 models painted this week, which somewhat makes up for the week before when nothing got completed at all.

Mrs. H. has already chosen my next project.  The Investigators from Mansions of Madness 2nd edition.  We don't quite have all the supplements, and Mrs. H. has already painted one of them, so I'm only left with another 30 to do (at the moment).

Because of the lovely boards they move around on, I'm intending to finish these with clear bases - some of the feet/contact points are rather small but, having already done the crew above,  I reckon with a sharp knife, and some patience (along with a lack of canine or junior interference) I'll be able to get them sorted.

May also appear as a 7TV Pulp cast, or two, or three ...

Will I manage to get anything else painted this month?  That's going to be a very big maybe ... 30 individual characters means that not much in the way of batch painting is going to happen.  I might build up a couple of MDF scenery kits and do something with them though - it all comes down to time in the end.

Running Totals

Painted: 292

Acquired: 65

The Heroes, The Zombie, and the Scenery.

No, not a pastiche on the C.S. Lewis novel, but what I've been painting this week.

I've finished 7 more of the Skull Tales heroes, plus a Zombie Sidekick, leaving just 7 more Heroes and a Dog to go to have completed all the models I have for the game.  I say "I have" because there were some Door and Treasure Chest minis as an add on, that I didn't buy, but they were more money than I felt they were worth, so I stuck with more 'gamey' pieces.

Again, there are some definite pop/geek culture references amongst batch two, one of which I really wish was different, but I can't have everything.

The Joker

Today was the day I finished painting
"Almost Captain Jack Sparrow"

Native Huntsman
"Hawkeye" I said to Mrs. Hill.
Then "No, not M.A.S.H.,
Last of the Mohicans."

Freedman
No specific reference here I can see.
Though he does match an NPC in an
RPG I'm running very well

Swordsman
Hello.  My Name is Inigo Montoya
You Killed My Father.
Prepare to Die.

Voodoo Shaman and Zombie
There is a certain Baron Samedi-ness
to the Shaman, but I think that's more
the skull makeup than anything else.

Far-Eastern Spy
No reference here for me
though theremay well be one
I'm not that up on my Eastern Cinema

Bodyguard
Kevin Costner he ain't.
When I heard there would be a "Turkish Bodyguard" that
would be a 'big fellow' I was hoping that as we had Inigo
this would be Fezzik.  Instead, I reckon this is Strong Belwas
(from the Game of Thrones novels - he didn't make the TV
series) which is just as good.

I also painted the The Walking Dead All Out War Scenery Booster from Mantic Games this week - I wanted to get some vehicles done for a painting competition, and these did well for that - and some objective markers and scatter terrain are always handy to have.  Not only that, Mrs. Hill will be running a Deadlands: The Wasted West RPG at some point, so Post-Apoc terrain will be very handy.

More Barricades

Barricades

Yet more Barricades

More Objectives.
So are Baked Beans

Objectives.
Campbells Soup is Important Stuff

I tried to do that sky/earth highlighting thing for the windows of the vehicles.  I've tried it once before and I'm not sure that I've "Got it" yet, but I think I'm getting better.

I also used a colour shift paint for the first time (and promptly covered it up with rust, muck and scratches).  It's interesting stuff to use, and I've been told that an airbrush will make its use much easier.  I've never really used an airbrush though, and don't want the expense of setting one up.  Nor do I have a "hobby room" outside of my area in the living room, so such things may have to wait.

Colourshift Paint

It makes for nice self-highlighting!

Black.

It'll never go out of style.

It all used to be one colour.

Honest, it did!

I think I should have done some kind
of Mechanic markings on this one.

"Dave's Garage" or something similar.
Maybe next time ...

And a Collage, because I put one together for my
painting competition entry and wanted to use it again.

So that's 28 models painted this week, and I didn't buy any models either.  However a good friend, apropos of nothing, bought me a bit of TT combat scenery - the Wild West Undertaker, which comes with 7 gravestones too.  And a Reaper Gravedigger to go with it.  So, that's 9 models acquired.  And very nice they are too.  More MDF and Plastic for the pile!  Still not quite 200 ahead, but I might get there next week, if going to the theatre (Back to the Future, the Musical!) doesn't get in the way of next week's painting.

Running Totals

Painted: 257

Acquired: 65