Falling Behind...

Prompted by the arrival of a Kickstarter that's going to put the painting lead I'd built up back a rather long way, the camera's come out and the paintjobs of the last three weeks are here.

It's an eclectic mix of work in progress stuff, and a "why don't I do that?" project, along with a couple of the models that came in the Reaper lockdown bundle I got at the start of the month.

First up are some Oathmark Soldiers that have been knocking around for a while.  I've got several of the Oathmark Kits, and they're all full of character.  I'm told they're completely compatible with the Frostgrave kits too, which is unsurprising, but likely to be remarkably helpful.  I built one of these as a character model for an RPG, and he got painted straight away, but the rest of the sprue, plus the metal captain model have languished with just undercoat on them on my painting desk for a while.

Hi-res photography always shows up how dodgy my eye painting can be, but for tabletop play they'll be fine.  I was even mad enough to put magnets on the shields.

I think I'll do the next five with bows, when I get around to them.

Forwards men!

Next up some random Reaper Bones - these came with my lockdown survival kit.  Mrs H had some, and I took these.

This Way ...

Anyone who knows me well will know I have a weakness for Redheads, right Mrs. H?  So no surprises that this lady of *ahem* negotiable affections *ahem* was painted with a scarlet mane.  She's been based up to go with my Pirate collection, after all, Pirates need Wenches!

Strike a Pose!

And here's the creature from Devil Reef - it also seemed a sensible addition to the Pirate collection.  Once we're back gaming face to face, I'm sure it'll turn up in a roleplay session at some point.

It's Clobberin' Time.

I've had GW Orc armies before, and even though I've painted my Reaper goblins with 'traditional' GW style green skin, I just couldn't do it with this fellow.  So, Gryph-Hound Grey Contrast it was.  I rather like the Gray skin-tone, so when I get around to my other Reaper Orcs, I'll be doing them the same way.  I think the Oathmark Goblins I have may get even darker grey skin 'cause they look rather like Giaks from Lone Wolf, but I digress.

I've also painted a couple of Crooked Dice miniatures - I've been working through the Pulp Sci-Fi set released earlier in the year (or was it late last year? time is ... strange at the moment) Not-Flash and Not-Ming are still in progress, but I finished both Not-Barin's

A Secret Serviceman and a Man in Tights?

Both of them do a good job of reminding me of certain actors.  I'd really like some Not-Arborian guard with the same kind of jackets as these two. But I can wait.  It's not like I don't have a lot of stuff on my to-do pile!

I also finished a couple of scurvy swabs from my pirate collection - somehow these two got skipped when I painted up my Black Scorpion Elven Pirates.  No idea why, and they don't quite fit with the others as I've forgotten the recipe I used for the others. They're close enough though.

Back to Back they faced each other.

Last, but no means least, I've had these Reaper Nova Guard sitting in the blisters for a while, and they called out to me.  Liberal use of Orange Contrast to basecoat them made for easy, if somewhat slapdash work, but I now have some generic sci-fi soldiers to use as mooks in RPGs.  Once I get Zombicide Invader and Nemesis on the painting table (one day) I'll have plenty of gribblies as well.  I think I'm going to need some more clear bases though.

"I am in charge, and I say we go that way!"

So that's 32 models painted in the last three weeks or so.  Not my best effort, but by no means my worst.  And I'm on 377 models painted so far this year.

Now onto the kickstarter that arrived today ... Mantic's Terrain Crate.  Fortunately some of it belongs to Mrs. H - so I don't need to add the entire model count to my acquired total.  But there's still a lot.

Also, Father's day has happened, and Master H got me a couple of pirates.  Plus Mrs H did an order from Reaper to replace a dragon that our dog ate (yes, really!) and snuck in a couple of models for me too (thanks dear, no, really, I love the models, just not the addition to the pile!)

Sooo ... my acquired total goes up by ... 337.  Ulp!

And I still have several other miniatures-heavy kickstarters in various covid-related states of delay that will quite possibly be turning up over the next six months...

I'm still less than 100 behind at the moment though ... better get on with it!

Running Totals

Painted : 377

Acquired : 475

Nearly two months ...

Blimey - time flies when you're having ... well, whatever it is I've been having.

I lost my painting mojo again - the stresses of homeschooling, trying to keep a house tidy with a puppy we can't walk, and a 6-year-old  7-year-old (he's had a birthday, you know) that just won't tidy up, and a depressed me haven't been good.

A combination of lack of motivation and lack of clear space to paint in has meant I've not got much done for some time.

Also, my eyes are getting worse (wow, this does sound like a 'woe is me' rant, doesn't it?) so I've bought myself one of those led lit magnifier things.  It's going to take me a while to get used to using it - so even though I've got back to painting a little, painting will be slower.

Fortunately for me, I decided to try my hand at some bigger figures before going back to the usual suspects, and I've managed to get at least some painting done.

As it's been six weeks since my last blog, it's unsurprising that I've had some new arrivals.  The Kickstarter for the Pirates of the Dread Seas has arrived from Dead Earth Games, giving me 12 new Pirates and ex-Pirates to paint up

I've also acquired a number of out-of-production Crooked Dice "Not-Doctor-Who" minis from someone who was selling off their collection, so they can be added to the pile of shame until the muse strikes me - but I have been wanting a lot of them for a while, they take the 'input' tally up to 36, and finally Mrs H and I shared a 'lockdown survival kit from Reaper, giving me another 4 to work on.

Finally, for our Bronze Wedding Anniversary, Mrs H got me a Bronze Dragon,  for  a total of 41 minis acquired in the last 6 weeks or so.

In return, I have managed a bit of painting, as I noted above - and here's what I've been up to...

Agramon with Burney Hand

Agramon, Duke of Hell, from Reaper - I'd used him as a tester for Contrast paints some time ago, but never got around to finishing him off, or all of his alternate limbs (and spare head)

He's like a Demonic Mr Ben, really.  Or Worzel Gummidge.
Or Kryten

He comes with a number of differing right hands, and two heads, making him quite a versatile beastie, if you don't glue all the bits in.

Dagon, Lord of the Deep

More Reaper - they have quite a few rather nice Great Old Ones.  Most of those that we have (including Shub-Niggurath, that I've pictured before) are in Mrs H's inbox.  But I did manage to nab Dagon for myself.  This was mostly done with Contrast paints, and has turned out rather well, I feel.  Hopefully once we get back to gaming in person he'll have a use in one of my RPGs

Mossbeard.  No actual beard of moss though.

Mossbeard the Treeman is HUGE!.  I also didn't use moss on his beard, but a fair amount of it elsewhere.  I didn't have a base big enough for him, so stole an old CD spool, and thickened it up with some air dtying clay.

Skeletal Dragon.  Does exactly what it says on the tin.

The Skeletal Dragon was wonderfully simple to paint, and looks nicely imposing on the table too.

Though Master H told me that "It's scary, but Shadow the Wizard (his RPG Sorceress) can kill it like the Giant Skeleton".  So I suppose it's not THAT imposing.

I'd wanted a Skeletal Dragon for a while, and when this came up in one of the Reaper Bones kickstarters I jumped on it, figuratively, and left it in a box for months, literally.  But it's done now, and I like it.

It was our Dragon Anniversary, Right?

My aforementioned Wedding Anniversary Present was from Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures. Pre-Undercoated, though if I get more of them, I shall remember to wash EVERYTHING, as the rocks on the base were a paint to paint, even with the pre-undercoatyness.  This was the first model I used my new magnifier thing on - and while it makes a great difference to the detail I can see on the figure, it really screwed with my head in terms of depth perception.  I just couldn't judge the distance from the brush to the figure well ... practice practice practice!

They call him Rand.

Rand, one of Reapers Chronoscope Heroes, was the next figure to get the magnifier treatment, and I Was getting a little more used to it by then.  I'm really liking the clear bases for Sci-Fi figures.  Can't see myself using them for Fantasy models, but they really set the Sci-Fi figures off nicely. I expect he will join the revolution against the following chaps.

Nothing Otherworldy about us ...

The Otherworldly Guard are another set from the excelled Crooked Dice Pulp Sci-Fi kickstarter, though now they're out into the general populace, so to speak.

Anyone who's seen a certain 1980's film can see the inspiration for them here, I chose to paint mine to match the 'secret police' General and Commander, but they lend themselves nicely to almost any raygun wielding soldier archetype whether Good, Evil, or in between.

As the big figures only count as one (thanks Gimli), I've only managed to complete 10 figures in the past 6 weeks.  I've definitely slipped ... but what I have done, I'm happy with, so that's good enough for me.

A little slide back on Painted vs. Acquired, even with the time since my last post, but I'm still ahead for the year, and only 21 more to go, and I'll have got one model painted for every day this year - which would be an achievement all of it's own!

Running Totals

Painted : 345

Acquired 138

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

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