40k Chaos Characters - commission

Following an inexcusable delay (we've been insanely busy!) it's time for some regular posts. Starting with a quick short post about a recently completed commission of two 40K Chaos characters.

Khârn and Typhus were painted to a High-Gaming standard on landscaped bases. Typhus also features Dark Angel remains at the clients request. 

Though I still consider "Finecast" to be a nightmare to work with, these two models were enjoyable to paint. Perhaps because of their bulk - they were certainly less fragile than the High Elf models Emma worked on and highlighted in the previous post. The rocks used for the bases lend weight and stability to the models which otherwise would be uncomfortably light for gaming.

Khârn the Betrayer

Typhus 

The Dark Vengeance Chaos forces are currently prepped and on my desk as a follow up to this commission, and should be featured soon. :)

Trulytrulytruly Outrageous GEMS! (New High Elf Characters)

Don't worry you haven't click on the wrong link or stumbled onto a Jem and the Holograms fansite (the High Elf post is below) this was just my theme song for most of the time I was painting these models. XD

Anyhoo... *cough*

Finally, here's the post on the three recently completed High Elf characters.

I was really looking forward to painting the two female models, Handmaiden of the Everqueen and  Alarielle the Radiant, but and it's a pretty big but... they're GW's Finecast. BIG SIGH! Now, I'm no expert and granted have only recently started painting properly alongside Jay but even I had heard of the horror stories about this material and have to agree that "Finecast" is big pile of crap... and I never want to touch it AGAIN!

I got Jay to do all the prep work on these brittle fragile models, and he did his normal thang but, of course, it took at least double the amount of time than a "normal" model to get them into a workable state.

Once I got started I quickly realised these were going to take a long long time to get done to good standard, as for whatever reason it took a gazmilion layers to get a good base layer on them, and yes they were properly sprayed with a base coat. :P

The other thing that I was very wary of , especially with Alarielle who is standing on her tippy toes with only a couple millimeters of failcast material connecting her to her base, was SNAPPING HER LIKE A TWIG! Thankfully, I was gently and she survived the many hours of handling. :)


The Handmaiden is a lot more sturdier and looks awesome, but I really wish they'd made her in plastic like the Loremaster. Mr Hoeth was a dream to paint, so much so I'm currently working on another one!

As you can see from the photos I even took the plunge and managed to paint a couple of fine decorative lines on their cloaks - once they were complete it was like I had progressed to a new level and unlocked a special Miniature Painter's Achievement.


Yay for steady hands!

...there should also be an achievement for painting gems! Seriously how many do they need?! Mind, at least they're not skulls lol!







The birds will be up in the next post, but we're waiting on some new flight stands for them all since, well, the weird plastic stands that GW provide quite frankly suck and will only hold the weight of the birds once they're glued. Which is a little bit of a problem for storage and not to mention sending this commission through the post. But not to worry the new fancy flight mechanism will solve all these problems! :)

New High Elves - Sisters of Avelorn

With a great new client on board who wanted to add to his existing High Elf army this commission provided us a great opportunity to see and paint all the cool new high elf models recently released.

First up is the Sister of Avelorn - x20 (2 boxes).

High elves have always had a good looking aesthetic with lots of flowing robes, ornate armour and gems out the wazoo and these latest models are of course no exception.

Before seeing the components, I had envisioned a magnetising trick for this expensive duel unit box set: my master-plan was to magnetise the sister and shadow warrior torsos to the same legs, which would have been awesome allowing the buyer to duel purpose the models from the box. Alas my plan was thwarted as unfortunately the models share the same components with regards to the cloak and the attached rear half of their torsos. -.-

A definite word of warning, since these models were not originally intended to rank up initially, they are a tricky puzzle to get them all in line. I suggest attaching them to their bases only when the models are fully constructed to ensure you can position them on their bases in conjuction with and without any interference from the neighbouring models.

Anyway on with the painting. The client wanted the traditional scheme for the Sisters and also went for the standard painting option we offer and so we stuck with the dark greens and browns with a golden colour (Foundry Ochre iirc) for the hair as our base colours.

The Foundry Forest Green shade on the inside of the cloaks, I think, helps frame and contrast the body of the model. I also got Emma to do some of her crazy detail work on their eyeballs, so they don't look so manly. We probably should've also added a bit of lipstick too to help with that lol! (When will GW learn that female figures are more than just hair and shaped boobs? The face is what counts! And unfortunately these have very angular faces, which granted is the look of High Elves, but come off as being too extreme and ultimately male imho.)

All in all, a nice set of models - the quality of the plastic is good and theres a lot of detail you can pick out plus with them being plastic they are relatively easy to put together however problems do arise when it comes to ranking. Lastly they are expensive for what you get. If GW had any sense, they would sell extra leg bits so people can use up all the leftover components to get the most out of this product...

For the movement trays we used the Mag-Flex range from Back2Base. This range gives you everything you need for a magnetised base - the magnets for the bases, the self-adhesive magnetic plastic strip, and the mdf pieces that make up the bulk of the movement tray. They are very easy to put together, a reasonable price and come out looking great.

In our next post Emma will be featuring the character models she did as part of this commission.

Sisters of Avelorn - set 1

Sisters of Avelorn - set 2

Latest wave of Zombies

We've been painting and blogging a lot about boardgame related miniatures lately, and we will be getting back to normal soon - a High Elf commission will be featuring once it's completed - but for now a quick, picture heavy, update on the latest exclusive Zombicide models from Season 1 that recently arrived.

And OMG Season 2 is just around the corner! O.o

From set #1 Survivors and Zombivors

 Kickstarter optionals:

A client of ours also made a video of the Zombicide models we painted up for him, he also posts gameplay videos too - check his channel out Lycan oftheunderworld:

Back to painting I go! Till next time. :)

Part 2: Project Ramblings from MrsMiniK

So, I have another project to share with you that I recently completed. After dabbling with the two Super Dungeon Explore promo models I decided to try my hand at one of the small expansion boxes: Rock Top Gang (Jay went for the Denizens). Don't worry non SDE fans, I'll be featuring something else next time...I have some Corsairs and Wood Elves in the pipeline. ;)

The Rock Top models themselves are nice to work with, although some of the mould lines are really annoying to remove, and I got Jay to help with some of that. These models also require you to fill in the gaps in the bases, so I did that with a bit of green stuff - it didn't take too long, but it does add on a bit of extra time before you can spray them with a base coat.

In the meantime I had to come up with a colour scheme. I knew right away I didn't want the turtles to be overly garish or vibrant and so I decided to go with a more muted, earthy-ish vibe, which I think suits the lil turtle dudes what with all their rockbits and nubbins.

I do mix my paints alot so I can't tell you the exact ratios...I just go with the flow, but here are the colour palettes I used (Foundry paints unless otherwise stated):

Crusher:
Skin
- Royal Purple                                  
- Quagmire                                  
- Shadow Pink                                  

Shell & Nails
- Quagmire                                  
- Royal Purple                                  
- GW Wash mix of Baal Red & Asuremen Blue                     

Eyes (all turtles)
- Phlegm Green                                  
- GW Black           

Bellies (all turtles)
- Phlegm Green                                  
- GW Wash Azure Blue          

Rollers:
Skin
- Storm Blue                                  
- Deep Blue                                  

Shells
- Quagmire                                  
- Slate Grey                                  
- Storm Blue                                  
- GW Wash Azure Blue          

Slowpokes & tokens:
Skin
- Storm Green                                  

Shells
- Quagmire                                  
- Storm Green                                  
- GW wash Biel-tan           
   
So that's enough chit chat, here are the pics. Enjoy :)

     

Dystopian Wars - Russian Colaition Kostroma Class Battle Carrier

Okay it has been a while, there is plenty going on in the studio I will endeavour to share more of it here!

I have a few individual Dystopian Wars models in the pipeline because I wanted to get a look at some of the larger pieces and have some fun with them. I was immediately excited and daunted upon opening the parcel containing the first of these. These 'massive' category vessels are... massive! For a sensible price point you get a serious chunk of finely cast resin. The Russian carrier, which I started with, was in fact a blister pack full of goodies with flyer tokens, Icebergs and cards.

Two massive carriers begging for paint. Big thanks to the Prussian Battleship and Forest Green Light for standing in as comparison.

With the inspiration of the Russians and the White army of the Dystopian Wars Universe my mind wandered to the icy waters of the Arctic. I am always a huge sucker for themes, whether through; colour schemes, conversions, or basing. Together with the idea I wanted to try for a sturdier magnetized base my course ahead was set.

I traced the outline of the vessel and created a two layered plasti-card base. Aside from a sturdy structural integrity this provided the depth for 2mm magnets to be slotted into the top layer, it also gave some possible depth to the waves to be sculpted around the hull. The ice bergs are roughly cut plasti-card mostly stacked up in two layers. I was careful to attach these with the inclusion of some green stuff to give them some movement in the waves.

Green stuff was built up in stages, simply adding height to previous spots or filling in and blending gaps. As I built these stages up I was mindful of the following; the waves rolling off the side of the hull, the large bow wave, and the choppy engine wake at the stern,

The base was finishing lastly with a thin self adhesive cork bottom, which is rather luxurious for gaming.

The primary colour is the Arctic Grey palette from foundry, I envisaged an off white hull with some grubbier colouration and weathering with dark decking and even darker industrial structures. I was initially going to paint the obvious Coalition bear logo on the carrier deck, but after goggling some Russian inspiration I settled  on the bear and eagle of Russian Standard Vodka (Itallics require a thick Russian accent), this seemed fitting for a coalition aircraft carrier and is a classy logo. Perhaps not a piece for the purists out there. The flyers I kept purposely clean and simple, because their form can easily be lost on the table. Enjoy!

PS: The next piece is to be a Britannia Eagle Class War Rotor. I am dying to apply the colour scheme I have in mind but I am awaiting delivery of some vital and awesome "Omni-Stand" flying bases from Corsec Engineering.

ZOMBICIDE: Re-basing

Zombicide! It's Popularity keeps on increasing. With over three million funding during two Kickstarter projects the number of zombies produced will, this September, reach epidemic proportions. This is in part due to the fantastically generous Coolminiornot Kickstarter projects, they haven't ceased to provide a bucket full of models for anyone purchasing their game publications through Kickstarter. Anyone simply investing in both seasons of Zombicide could probably swim in a vault filled with zombie miniatures Scrooge McDuck style (though I found it was not as fun as it looked).

But I am here to talk about basing, or rather re-basing. As an old time wargamer and painter I am unshakably aware of the impact decent basing can have on a model. This is no less true for miniature boardgames, the atmosphere and investment in such a game is highly dependant on the pieces you are pushing around. You can weight up the urgency of shooting a grey lump of plastic to shooting a crazed rotten zombie dripping with blood, his lifeless yet fierce eyes bearing down on you, hungry for any taste of your flesh. To take it one step further, the imminent danger posed by a crazed rotten zombie stood on grey plastic is perhaps less than one stood on the same patch of tarmac as your alter ego survivor. Obviously there is only subtle shades of realism involved, but the more visual indicators the greater the experience must be, consciously or otherwise.

Besides, some of the bases are utterly wobbly and just a pain to keep upright. From the get go I coated Zombicide bases in fine sand to provide a subtle texture that was painted in greys for an urban look. But had always considered fully re-basing the models. Unfortunately this is hampered, as the model and base for these figures is all one piece. Removing any one of these models is difficult and potentially disastrous re-basing any quantity of these models was a terrifying prospect in terms of time and modelling. So I wanted to base the models to look consistent and professional while maintaining the structural integrity of the models.

But don't fret, the answer is at hand!

Strangely enough the answer also appears to be produced by Coolminiornot, or at least produced in conjunction with Coolmini for Dark Age. So step forward ye delightful Dark Age 30mm Deep Bases. While these may be similar in overall design to Warmachine (they are in fact subtitled as such) and many other rounded 30 mm bases, they differ enough to be absolutely perfect for Zombicide.

The Zombicide models do not fit inside the top of a Warmachine base as their base is larger than the indent, even if you were to trim it the Zombicide base it would protrude noticeably. However the entire disc of a Zombicide model base fits inside the indent of these deep bases with unerring accuracy. \o/

The fit is so ideal the models can almost snap-fit into place. With a touch of glue (Polycement was used in this instance, rigid plastic or super glue would likely also do the job) an entire set of Zombicide can be based in minutes.

While the bases can be easily glued I wanted to ensure that any of the troublesome and wobbly bases were completed levelled. With the help of a few Bullclips each models bases could be viced in place while the glue would weld securely; I just left them overnight.

I ensured that the Zombicide bases were textured and painted (including the edging) before attaching them. This kept the rounded bases pristine as new avoiding any undercoating, paint, or basing materials. The level and flat stability these bases provide is a joy on the boardgame. Although, I have yet to test if a full Zombie swarm might be oversized for the board since packs of zombies form on certain street sections. I also need to test the larger 40mm Deep Base, the Abomination look fantastic on these! Photos of them coming soon.

So here we have my latest almost finished painted Survivors (last minute details & shading needed) including shiny bases! Hopefully this will help peeps out there who were considering re-basing but wasn't sure how to go about it. These bases will also feature as a option on my price list for any future Zombicide commissions.