'Monstrous' from KeithS: The Chimera

So, I’m stuck in Albuquerque of all places thanks to the big storm yesterday and I’m desperately figuring out how to make a post on my phone - no easy task! Anyway, travel and technological woes aside, I present a Chimera by Ral Partha for the final theme weekend.   He was a fun one to paint!

I really like the sculpt - great detail, personality, etc. I went with a dungeon basing as this guy is gonna get used one of thes days for a D&D game!  He’s a looker, some goat, some dragon, and a whole lot of lion.

I wasn’t quite sure about the wings so made them fit closer to Mister Right Head (i.e. the dragon).  Seemed only fair since goat and lion got the lion-share of the body (I kill me!)

 All three heads look pretty angry and open for business (as in eating adventurers).

Well, that’s it for old school goodness. I’ve been traveling a lot so I only managed this guy for the theme weekend. I should have some more old school chaps before the end, but on Wednesday it’s off to Garycon in Lake Geneva WI where it all began for some serious gaming, including miniature games!

'Music/Musician' from KeithS: Orcish Marching Band

I really had to stretch a bit for this particular challenge, as I did not have anything in mind.  But, just as I despaired and figured I'd skip it, I got a delivery of some figures I bought of eBay which included a few musicians.  The figures are eight Orcs from Heritage Miniatures.  They include rare, unreleased poses that I scored for a really decent price.  I did a bunch of Orcs from the same line for the challenge a year or two ago, and really wanted to add these to the mix.

The group photo:

One set was a Moria Command section.  This is the musical tie in, as they include a drummer and horn bearer, in addition to the bossy guy with the finger and a bannerman.  The banner got the same orange wyvern as all the previous orc shields, though it was a pain as the folds in it were quite deep.

The musical duo up close.  The figures are not the most excellent ever made, but I just love Ralph Bakshi style Orcs (as in Lord of the Rings, 1978 version).  I am quite fond of them.

The ranks and file (and the confused boss on the left).  They are all over the map and provide a little variety for the two dozen I painted previously.

Orange Wyverns for all!

And from the back just for drill,  As Orcs, they get dirty, mangy clothing and colors.  But, I think they're all good lads and a worthy addition to my Orcish force for the next game of D&D.

That's 8 25-28mm figs at 5 points each, so 40 points.

'BFG' from KeithS: Big Freaking Guy - The Demogorgon Story

For the Big Freakin' Guy challenge, there was only one monster with the star power to make the cut!  I present you Demogorgon (and his older brother, the other Demogorgon)!  From the hit show Stranger Things, to the hearts of D&D geeks everywhere, he has proven to be a favorite for people of all ages.  TV Star, Demonlord, slayer of player characters, devoted family man (men?) -- he's all this and more.  Demogorgon by Grenadier (left) is joined by his older brother, Demogorgon by Minifigs (right).

There's a family resemblance, to be sure, but who are we kidding?  Only the Grenadier version has the looks for TV.

Here's his headshot, taken from IMDB.  He certainly is a fancy one.  And all the Succubi just go crazy for him.  Four eyes?  No way, eight eyes!

His brother, meanwhile, has a face only a demon mother, or maybe a baboon, would love.  Left head (to right) is looking a wee bit sad at that.

Together, they are a dynamic pair, though Minifigs guy is a bit mangy looking, even if he is a biggun.

As a special bonus, here's a rare, behind the scenes photo from the set of Stranger Things.  This is TMZ material, as Demogorgon was taking a bath when this was snapped.  I hope I don't hear from his lawyer.

And that's it from me.  I picked up the Minifigs guy at Historicon in July 2016.  I literally sat down two minutes after I bought it to look at my phone and saw a pic of the Grenadier version from Stranger Things, which was released that day and I'd never heard of.  Weird coincidence.  I picked up the Grenadier version from Mirliton shortly after (and before they became hot items).

The Grenadier one is 62mm tall and the Minifigs one is 71mm, so around 20 or so points, methinks.

'Flight' from KeithS: A Flight of Dragons

Nothing says "monsters" and "flight" like Dragons!  Originally, I thought I would do a batch of flying demons for this fortnight's theme, but as I was getting organized I noticed a long-neglected box with a Grenadier dragon sitting forlornly in a drawer.  In fact, I had four of them from Grenadier that I bought in the 80s and never got around to painting.  On top of that, my dad had purchased two from a recent Ral Partha Kickstarter, which he passed off to me.  Six dragons?  Seemed like the way to go!

Up first is a Black Dragon from Grenadier.  For this guy, I went with the classic colors from the dragon in Disney's Sleeping Beauty (and, probably not coincidentally, from the Grenadier box).  This guy is quite big and very heavy!  In fact, I think it's safe to say its the largest miniature I've ever painted.  It's also top-heavy - shortly after gluing it together and before basing, it toppled over and blew to pieces, more pieces than it originally started with, unfortunately.  So, not easily visible are some cracks and a few things bent in ways not intended, but I think I hid them well with some wood filler (my go-to gap filler and sculpting material).

The webbing in the wings have a purplish tinge that's not easily visible in this photo, unfortunately.  Otherwise, the coloring was pretty straightforward.  I was rather pleased with the results.

Next up is a White Dragon, also from Grenadier.  For this one, I primed in white, then washed with a pale blue, then followed with a heavy over brushing of white again.  I wanted to do the horns and claws with a  cool horn-colored blend, but my blending skills are inadequate, so black it is.

For this base, I made some snow with glue, paint and baking soda.  He needs a proper wintry terrain (and since its snowing here in Virginia as I type this, it seemed appropriate).

A third angle.

This guy is a Ral Partha Gold Dragon.  However, it strongly reminded me of J.R.R. Tolkien's style of drawing dragons, so I went with a red color in honor of Smaug.  It's long...really long!  But, I really like it's personality. 

It got an all-over dark red base, with multiple shades of lighter red over the top.  The wings were done with cheap "dark pewter" paint with a little red to bring out the veins and other features.

I'm really pleased with this guy.  He might go on a shelf in my office.

I did a second Red Dragon, this one from Grenadier.  It has a similar paint job as the last one, with the main difference being a golden brown underbelly.  I used some slightly different reds, as well, just for variety sake.

Like a proper D&D red dragon, this guy looks pretty evil...not someone adventurers want to tangle with!

Up next is a Blue Dragon by Grenadier.  This guy is pretty straightforward.  I did darker blues with a blue ink wash for the main color.  Highlights and underbelly are darker yellow.  I think he looks like he is ready to try out for the US Navy's Blue Angels.

Reverse angle.  Not bad, but the least exciting one to me of the lot.

This chap is "Dragon Sitting Atop Treasure" by Grenadier.  Seeing as it had no assigned color, I asked some friends for color ideas and two said blue, so blue it is.  To make it differ from the last one, I did lighter blues and dry brushed silver before washing it.  This gives it a bit of a more metallic coloration.



The treasure pile was easier to do than I thought it would be, fortunately.

That's it!  Six dragons of varying hues.  I have to admit, I sort of dreaded doing these, hence the 30 year delay for some of them.  However, they turned out to be a lot of fun and I might run out and get some more one of these days.  Of course, I have no idea where to put them!

Pointwise, these are odd ones, so I am not going to guess and just list sizes.  The Black is 85mm tall; the White is 95mm long; the longer Red is 155mm from snout to the upward curve of the tail; the shorter Red is 140mm tail to snout; big Blue is 90mm long; and Blue on Treasure is 80mm long.

'East' from KeithS: Asian Orcs

Slipping this one in last minute!  This is a group of 9 "Asian Orcs' from Heritage's Dungeon Dweller series in 25mm.  They were apparently an alternative set to the Orcs I just finished the other day, with Asian-style armor and gear (they have the same product number as the other orcs).  I really like these - they are well sculpted with tons of personality.  I did four of them for the challenge last year (for the nostalgia entry, if I recall correctly).  I managed to pick up some more since then.

Here's the three types, one with sword, axe, and spear.  There is a fourth figure with a bow that is probably my favorite, but sadly I was unable to procure any of that particular one.  Alas.

From the back.  I painted these to match the ones I did last year, based for outdoors for no discernable reason I can remember.  Still, the other four makes a nice baker's dozen for a skirmish force.

Another angle with a few of the lads.  These really are great figures with tons of personality.  My thinking is that I can use them as a second Orc tribe to be allies (or rivals) with the other Heritage Orcs I've been painting.

That's it - quick and dirty!  I barely slipped these in on time, thanks to many unexpected distractions!

'Risk Taker' from KeithS - 'I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way...'

At the very start of this challenge, it occurred to me that the obvious entry for the Risk Taker was going to be the Fellowship of the Ring.  I've had a set of Mithril's figures of the Fellowship for decades, buried away unpainted and still in their blister packs.  This was the perfect opportunity to finally paint them!  So, I present to you my risk takers, representing the Free People's of Middle Earth.

Here's the group shot.

Being both ambitious and stupid, I decided a loose bunch of figs was not going to cut it, so I decided to do my very first (and probably last) diorama.  So, the following is my rendition of "The Ring Goes South," the departure of the Fellowship from Rivendell to the south, before things got too crazy.  Doing a diorama proved to be way harder than I anticipated!  These guys are standing on some really wet glue!

The party is climbing, representing their climb towards Caradhras and, eventually, Moria.  Gandalf is leading, with Aragorn taking up the rear.

Looks like a fine day for a walk.

The Hobbits up close.  What IS missing is Bill the Pony.  I ordered one, but it did not arrive.  I actually picked one up the other day, but realized after it is way too small for these chaps (they are all scaled for 32mm and the pony was scaled for 25mm, and was small for that).  Bill will have to be added later, I'm afraid.  Sam was beside himself.

Gandalf's staff was broken when I got the figure.  I fixed it but it broke off again after painting.  Worse, apparently it went missing between when I finished painting these guys a few weeks back and this weekend.  I had to get creative to top it off -- not my best work but I was (am) running out of time!

Here's one reason for the time crunch.  My first attempt earlier today at a base for the diorama warped -- badly!  I had to start from scratch to recover.  Fortunately I had additional wood and some linoleum to overlay it to avoid the wood becoming warped again.  Ugh.  Painting is easy.  Wood sucks.

Adventures make one late for dinner!

So, along with the Fellowship, I had a figure from Mithril for Bilbo Baggins, and I decided months ago he would be my Curtgeld, as I have always seen him as my favorite risk taker of all time.  From running out of his comfy Hobbit hole to follow Thorin and Company, through Trolls, Goblins, Gollum, Spiders, and Smaug himself, old Bilbo is my favorite risk taker, literary or otherwise.  I hope he proves a satisfactory payment!

I should have a few more minor figs as a last hurrah, but with the Cold Wars gaming convention next weekend, I am about done.  This'll put me nicely over the top of my expanded goal.  Thanks to all the kind comments and encouragement along the way!

'L'amour' from KeithS - 'The Femme Fetale'

I was originally not going to enter anything in this particular challenge, but then I thought this young lady might actually fit quite well.  The figure is a true 25mm from either Grenadier or Ral Partha dating to the 70s or early 80s, party of my effort to paint really old lead that's been sitting in boxes for decades.  I'm calling her a sorceress based on the fact she is carrying a wand (somewhat hidden behind her back) and what looks like a potion.  Given her scanty attire, and saucy pose, she definitely gives me the impression of a dangerous lady, a regular Siren.

She certainly looks a bit under-dressed for adventuring, but I'm guessing she has a line of guys to take care of all her dirty work.

I generally avoid trying to paint eyes and lips on such small figures, but in her case some red lips were a must.  I also gave her red toe and finger nails but they're hard to see in these photos.  Definitely need a better camera than my iPhone!

The young lass is based for dungeon delving.  I'll have a lot more to say on this for my next regular post -- suffice to say she was just one of many figures upon which I've been experimenting on some basing techniques.

'Nostalgia' from KeithS - Classic Orcs & Goblins

The Holidays are finally slowing down enough to allow me some painting time!  First up for me (for my first painting challenge, no less) is a group of 28mm Orcs and Goblins that have been sitting in a box since the late 80s or early 90s.  They are all, I believe, by Grenadier though I don't have the slightest recollection of when, or why, I bought them.  Anyhow, they scream old school D&D to me, hence the nostalgia!  They might be from a bit later -- they are too big to be 25mm and scale well with other 28mm figs.

The first group is of four Orcs, all fairly well armed and armored.  They always reminded me of old Tim Kirk illustrations for Lord of the Rings, which is perhaps not a coincidence.

They were quite straightforward to paint, which is good as I am in the process of ramping up my skills!  From the back:

I like this style a lot more than the more "modern" Orc look from Warhammer, Lord of the Rings, etc.  I based the color scheme more or less on the description of Orcs from the AD&D Monster Manual (ditto for the Goblins), so more brownish-green skin than just green.  In hindsight, I'd have browned them up even more.

There were also seven Goblins in the pile I dug out of the depths.  These guys were insanely well equipped -- most of them had at least 3 weapons, multiple bags, lots of straps, etc.  Not hard to paint, but a little time consuming.  Still, I like the variety of poses and weapons, especially the military fork.

Some of the lads.  I tried to keep the prominent teeth from being too stand-outish!

I like these guys a bit less than the Orcs, as their faces are too snoutish for my tastes.  Still, fun enough to paint.

I have some more "ash and trash" leftover lead from the 80s to paint, but I did not have enough time for "Nostalgia Week" to get anything further done (I did finish three matching mounted Goblins but did not get to their Warg mounts, so I'll save them for a later week).  After that decades-overdue cleanout is finished, I plan on shifting to 28mm Vikings and Saxons for use in Saga.  Happily, they are all assembled and primed and ready for painting.