May....

 April slid through this area like a bad burrito through an intestinal tract. As a result, things got a little out of hand and touch. So without further eloquence, here's my current going into the end of May update.

Figures

In my recent batch of Reaper Fantasy Figures I have been working on, I've used some of the tricks, tips, and techniques from the RVE that I did last year on some of them. I've been working with some washes, and shades, and am really liking how they are coming out. I am having an issue with my sealers though. 

Gloss sealer last longer than matte, so in this bunch I did a double/triple layer with a layer of gloss, and then 1-2 layers of matte to cut down on the shine. This only seemed to work 50/50, and some of the figures still show a shiny that I am not really happy with but will learn to live with as the other option is to strip and repaint. (NO!).

First up is a Reaper Cleric/Fighter with Mace. Ready to bash in some skulls. He was a pretty fun and easy "Bruiser" type to do. Agrax Earthshade did wonders for the leathers on him. 

(An angry guy + a footman's mace coming down on the head = pain and death....)

Next up was a Reaper Halfling in the classic "adventuring style". 

(The picture is a blurry thanks to my crappy I8 camera and the fact that it's old and dying. A better picture is coming soon., I promise!)....

Followed by an *ahem* "Courtesan Lady"....

I worked with a new pink basing style for the yellow this time. 

As yellows and oranges are notoriously hard to work with, one of the easiest cheats for yellows is to start with a base foundation color of pink. Yes pink. From there it seems the yellow seems to build up quite nicely. Yellow shading still eludes me though....

 

("It's a lonely old night good sir. Would you care to buy me some wine?"....)

A pic of a bard and a cat. The bard is the figure for a occasional recurring character known as "Jarrald, The Aspiring Bard." (Trust me when I say that there is a reason WHY he is "aspiring"....)

The figure is from Wizkids Royal Court Box Set, and the cat is from Reaper. The original plan was to make him a Siamese but I said "No!" when looking at the paint scheme. 

("The wheels on the cart go round and round...."  *MEOW!*)

Next up was a Reaper Cleric. For this one I wanted to try some green patterns and shades as well as blue eyes and the strawberry blonde look. I think I got it down quite well. Currently she is being used as the figure for an evil priestess in our D&D game. 

(Snappy dresser, strawberry blonde hair, cute face, charming smile, and those blue eyes...AND an evil priestess for a possible snake cult!  What's not to love with this gal?....)

And of course, a tired old lady....

Here you can see the results of the glossy sealer showing through two coats of matte. I might try to cut this down with some brush on also. 

(Ol' Lady Kelka isn't happy. She's old, tired, sore, cranky, and has seen enough bumbling adventurers stumble into the village on their way to the massive "Castle of Doom" on the mountain above her village to know who will soon be dead.)

Part of the Reaper Bones Brinewind set was a fishwife, so I decided to also play around with the yellows on her.

(Helma cries out to the folks in the market square, hawing the fresh fish that her husband catches. "This one will make a good supper or even a good stew!" She says as she holds it up, bloodied cleaver at the ready to remove the head if the shopper wishes it after they purchase it.)

I realized a while back that I didn't have a "classic adventuring wizard" in my collection of figures, so out of the Reaper Bones sets I got, I grabbed this guy and started working on him.  During the painting I realized that I also wanted to try one of the effects that I learned while at RVE and decided to try a simple star nebulae on the back of his cloak.

It was easier than I thought it was going to be and the overall after results were very, VERY nice!

(Derlin the Wizard carefully decides if the cannon fodder he is looking at will be successful on making it up to the Castle of Doom, to retrieve the magical item he needs and wants...)

(The back of the Wizard showing the starry nebula on his cloak. It was easier than I thought it would be to do this on a figure that size.)

And of course, what classic dungeon group wouldn't have an evil enemy to face?

Another Reaper figure.

For this guy, I decided to play around with some blood and rust effects as well as metal effects to see what I could come up with. I'm pretty proud of the "Cheesy 80's evil being character look" that I was able to get from him.

(Awaiting the party in the "Castle of Doom" is "Lord Bone", The Undead Evil Warrior King. Straight out of an 80's fantasy B movie, or a Saturday morning cartoon show, Lord Bone, (resplendent in his evil armor and with his horned helmet, (they always have these to show their evilness, it's a contract requirement), and his bloodied, ancient sword, he waits for the next group of stumbling adventurers to wander into Castle Doom so he can cut and hack through them like a gardener does weeds in a flower bed....)

New Paint Rack

My wife told me recently, "You're drowning in paint." 

I realized that she was right. I had too many bottles of paint and no way to see or access them all easily. So it was off to Amazon to get a new (2 actually) paint rack. 

The model I wanted (the five tier) was sold out at the moment, so I decided to go with a six tier one. After receiving it, I realized that while it has more tiers, it actually holds less paint, (by about eight bottles total). I think I am going to go back and reorder the original set I got. These are okay but I liked the other set better. Future plans are to build a paint rack system for my Craft Bottle Paints. Wish me luck on this one.

(This is the new rack. Here I am experimenting with eye dropper bottles, ink bottles, old Reaper Pro Paint pots, and P3 and a Citadel Paint Pot)

(One of the new racks on the right sitting next to my old racks on the left. Their location gives me easy access to them And yes, my desk is relatively clean!)

The Death Of My Dremel

So I decided to use my Dremel 4300 to work on a wooden project. Using the wood cutting blades I went to work. The wood was waaaaaaay harder than expected and the Dremel wasn't doing it too well for some reason.

Suddenly everything went wrong.

The shaft bent, the cutting blade warped and got stuck in the wood, and the bearings and bushings got knocked out of alignment inside the Dremel. 

This is now going to cause me to either A: Try to fix it myself. B: Try to send it off for repair or C: Get a new Dremel piece.

I am thinking of going with option C.

(Oops...)

GAMING....AND FOOD!!!!

So we are back into gaming with our D&D group again. 

In the last two adventures, the party has explored the town, fought some lizard like creatures, discovered that their friendly old mage friend is now missing and possibly abducted, and discussed the situation with the town mayor. After this, they have decided to storm the temple in the middle of midday service causing quite a ruckus and combat....

Let's get on with it shall we?

(The hand-drawn map of the village)....

(Snacks on the table. In this case, chips, fruit, and veggies for the dips.)

(Staying warm in the pot is my wonderful wife's (Gawd bless her!), Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip. A very BIG hit with everyone.)

(The party makes plans to figure out how to defeat the enemy....)

(And then wisely take a break for Chinese food for dinner.... Hmmm...storm the temple or General Tso's Chicken? Decisions, decisions....)

(Entering the temple during services, Never mind the Cthulhu statue, that is simply representative...)

(Battle is joined and ended in a bloody mess...)

(The party decides to head for the side door. The one that is unlocked...)

So for the next game session we went with:

(More snacks!)

(We now have Kringles!!!!)

(Mr. Fridge is stocked with tasty drinks...)

The party discovered a secret tunnel and from there went underground, where they encountered a large 3 ft tall mushroom, which screamed loudly when they approached.  It screamed even louder when they shot it with arrows to keep it from screaming. Eventually they succeeded.

Moving down the stairs, they encountered....a red mushroom. 

Here the party had a standoff.

(The party is standing off against a red mushroom while the remnants of the purple one lie quiet and still behind them.)

(A closeup of the mushroom encounter...)

Later down the tunnel they encountered some lizardy type creatures.

(An encounter with some nasty lizardy types in the tunnels later...)

(A close up of the action...)

Finally victory was theirs and SUPRISE! 

They find a chest of treasure!

Coins and another item, (which the mage grabbed for himself).

Now if they successfully finish this adventure, they can go back to town, take a bath, do their laundry, get their gear repaired, buy clean clothes, maybe get a horse and some hot meals, buy some supplies, etc.

(Look at all the treasure...)

(A close up view of the newly found wealth...)

This is where we called the game for the evening.

The party is now in a race against time, as now the temple and it's evil(?) followers now know where they are. So they should expect some resistance and more combat.

So that is all for this post. Our next game session is June 4th and we shall see what happens!

Thanks for reading and yes, there is definitely, MORE TO COME!

Heading into April....

 Wow; What happened???

One moment I am taking a sip of coffee and it's January, and now I put the cup down and it's the beginning of April. What in the world happened to the time?

Oh yeah. Life.

So things kinda got by me a bit on this blog, so there is a little bit of catching up to do.

First off:

GAMING AGAIN!

We picked up from November back into our D&D campaign. With Dan's death, and Daniels departure due to pursuing real life things that prevented him from gaming, we had two spots open.  I put out the call, and had two individuals interested. The first is Tim, who is playing a halfling thief, and the second will be Jared who is going to play a paladin. This will bring the group back up to six. 

(First off: A spot of honor and remembrance for Dan Merchant, aka "Fargrim". He's no longer here with us, but he will always be "here".)

I set the game room up and got it ready. 

(DM's station ready to go!)

(Books are ready!)

(The Game Table in low light...)

(The quiet of the night as the table waits patiently in the dim light of the mini cabinets...)

And then it was game day!

The crew (old and new) showed up.

All was great.

Food was had first!

Oh my!

(Food!...Roast Chicken and Croissants, Manicotti with a Red Pepper added to it for zing! Veggies, Fruits, and all sorts of wonderful snacks later on!)

And the party journeyed in search of the missing merchants son, where a clue took them to a nearby village. Whereupon entering this village, they noticed all sorts of oddities going on....

(Hand drawn players map of the village)

(The PC's entering an inn in town. The good one or the bad one?...)

Much fun was had by all, and they are now collecting clues as to "what exactly is going on" here in this little farm village.

More to come....

PAINTING, PLEDGES, and PURCHASES....

So I was able to do a bit of painting between Feb and March. 

March Monthly Painting Pledge:

# of figures painted: 43 (All Reaper and Wiz Kid fantasy figures.)

# of figures bought: 29 (Reaper), +6 free figures from Reaper.

Total (for March): +6

Yearly Total Painted: 63

Yearly Total Bought: 49

Total: +14

So far I am still in the black (or the plus).

But Reaper Bones VI is going and I know I will drop coins there.

("Painted" means: "Cleaned, based, primed, and all paints applied, and flocked". It does not mean "sealed" as I consider that "finished", and due to Indiana's fickle weather, I haven't been able to seal in over a month)

I know that I am going to end up going into the red as Reapers Bones VI KS has just started, plus I was turned onto another KS which has me ooohing and aaaahing.

Meanwhile I did some painting:

(Wiz Kids barmaid.  Paulissia had heard all the stories before but she learned to be able to smile and laugh at the adventures tired jokes, because a smile and a laugh would always get her a bigger tip...)

(Another Reaper Bones Strumpet. This is the third one in a third different paint scheme. Maybe it's true that "Blondes have more fun", but you'll need to cough up a gold coin or two to find out....)

(The only historical one I have done in a while. Foundry Pirate.)

Then it was back to painting up some nasty undead and experimenting with different shades and inks.

In this case, I started with a Reaper Bones V Ghast.

(Angry because you are "alive" and it's not, it's evilness reached out even in death to make it "undead", and now it hungers for the energy of your life....)

Primed this figure in black and then started with a series of dark blues, and highlighted with lighter blues and whites. The whole idea was to have it looking like something that is trapped "Between here and there" and hateful towards all living creatures in general. I think succeeded in that.

And then I painted up a couple of ghouls to be his buddies.

I used Agrax Earthshade and once again it was magic in a bottle.

(Quite nasty creatures aching for the taste of human flesh....)

I also got around to painting up some of Reaper Bones V KS zombies from the core set.

I call these two "William and Theodore", (aka "Bill and Ted"), traveling troubadours for their group "Boisterous Steeds".... And yes I fixed the groundwork on Bill's base after these pics were taken.

Here's William, showing what coming back from the dead did to him....

Based on how he looks and how his head is hanging, it looks like he had a hard time of it.

After the travelling troubadours, I took the other two and decided to make them a bride and groom, so I present to you, Windull and Helga, the "happy" couple....

(The Bride and Groom, aka (Windull and Helga), together again; slowly making their way back to the peaceful, little, village of Berrysfield. Love never dies...)

Some close ups of "The Bride and Groom"....

I wanted to post a few more pics of the "bride", as I wanted to show the extent of the weathering I went with her, and the damage to her walking corpse. I'm kinda proud of how she turned out.

(The Wedding Party...)

I was also able to paint up some of the Reaper Bones V "Town Guards".

I ran a wash over the armor and highlighted the steel edge of the weapons with silver and really liked how they came out. 

(Just another day of keeping law and order and watching the peasants as they pretend to work....)

("My shield and belt buckle has a skull on it! Am I a baddie???")

(Givin' 'em "da axe"...)

Working with some of the colors has allowed me to also try new blends.

In this case, I did some work on a Reaper Bones V KS Wight.

(Oh great....another evil undead...)

I also painted up some Reaper Bone's V Brinewind Large Tube Worms....

I wanted to give them that revolting "guts" pink and yellow look. 

I had to tone the pink down a bit with a purple wash, but it came out great.

And of course, where wouldn't I be without a slack-jawed, eye popping, mouth hangin' open, low brained peasant in dirty clothing staring at the tube worms that just came forth from the ground in his bean field. I actually named this guy after a friend of mine.

(Paol the Peasant stares in shock or horror (or both), as something comes up from the soil of his bean field....)

To be honest, I really need to get back to doing some historicals as I have been busy focusing on my fantasy figures for the D&D game for a while.

I've got a couple of Western buildings I need to finish up.

Okay that is it for now, and I am going to close this entry.

More to come, so stay tuned!

New Year and A Clean Work Area!

 So Jan. 2022 is onto us and ushering in the new year with snow storms, bad weather, more Covid related mandates and all the usual craziness that seems to be making itself the "new normal" in our lives.

For us mini guys, it's usually when we start planning and beginning our new "projects"; many of these being "the same projects from the previous year", or "a previously abandoned one being brought back to life".

For me I have a list of the "What I want to do's", but before I delve into any of that, I simply realized that "First off", I needed to clean the painting and work area some....

The painting room was a mess. Empty boxes, stashes of stuff, and papers were everywhere, and the table itself was a confused, chaotic hodgepodge of half painted figures, brushes, tools, some scenics, more figures in various stages of prep, and paint bottles everywhere.

Something had to get done.

So I bucked up, soldiered on, and went ahead and started organizing the chaos.

My wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), has the saying "A place for everything and everything in it's place." and in the sense of this room and my setup that is indeed true.

So I finally finished it, and decided to get some pics, and to give some ideas for a work area setup.

(The table under normal lighting after it has been cleaned once again...)

Looking at my paints, I indeed need more paint racks desperately....and perhaps more shelving units...or a better way to store some things.

(A view of the table with the fairy lights and OTT Light on...)

I've included a series of photos showing the contents of the table, and how I have it set up, for those that would like to reference it.

(This is the left side, showing the phone unit I have downstairs, my coffee cup on the warmer, my brushes separated by size, the clear box that I keep my currently most used craft paints in, and my homemade wet palette made from a plastic pencil box.)

(A close up shot showing how I have my brushes organized. Two Tin cups hold my detail and small/small-med brushes, while the larger glasses (From Treasure Island and Excalibur in Las Vegas), hold my larger and BIG brushes.)

(The actual work area of the table with the green cutting mat, paint palette, paint racks to hold the GW pots, dropper bottles, inks, and other paints with flip tops. The two boxes in the upper right corner are more Reaper colors from their Bones IV and V Kickstarters.  You can also see a GW figure holder. I also have my Vortex mixer (a godsend), and a magnifier, clamp unit. Finally I have a large water jar (on the warmer), and a smaller jar. The large jar is used to clean brushes during painting. The smaller jar is also water filled and used with an eye dropper for adding clean water to paints for washes, etc.)

(Some of the Craft paints. Although not as well refined as some of the more professional stuff, they can provide wonderful cheap basic colors for buildings, terrain, etc., and some of their colors can be worked very well and fill in for where the pro stuff lapses. The ones I use for current projects sit here, and when I am done with them, they go back into the larger paint storage area.  Later on, I am going to do a post dedicated to craft paints and some of the colors that you can get and use.

(One of the most useful tools and needed items for a paint desk/table is a cutting mat. This is the essential, work mat for where you do your work. It helps keep your table top from becoming stained, scratched, and scarred.  For the top of my desk I also custom cut foamboard to make a protective topping. It's worked wonderfully so far.)

After I finished cleaning up the table, I looked over at the shelf and decided that that too, needed a spot and a lick to tidy it up.

So away I went, and when it was done I was pretty pleased.

(Unit 1, Shelf #1: The Dremel tools all go here. Yes that is a small flashlight, US Army Map Reading Protractor AND a Morrow Project RECON Patch on the wall...)

(Unit 1, Shelves, #2 and #3: Shelf #2 is my already ten year old Paintier 80 holding my old paint pots, (Armory, Old GW, Old Reaper Pro Series, Pactra, etc.), The Tamaiya is next to it. Beside it are jars of pre made "ground brown", agitator beads, cleaning solutions for brushes, etc. This shelf is pretty much for paints.
Shelf #3 is the tools shelf. All of my work tools, (Knives, rulers, pencils, paper clips, pins, extra palettes, Micro-Line Pens, etc., are all kept here in easy arms reach.)

(Shelving Unit 2, Shelf #2:  This shelf holds the glitter, a lot of misc. pieces, (bitz), some projects I am slowly working on in the clear container, some empty blister packs, (I cut the clear flat plastic for "window glass" for buildings, and a pizza slicer.)

(Unit 2, Shelf #3: It's all about the base...work.  Here's where I keep my bases, wood, metal, and slotta, in labelled and marked containers as well as the different types of groundwork.  It truly helps to keep things labelled so you know what you are looking at and for.) 

(Unit 2, Shelf #4: I got your glue right here!  Glues, expoxy, tape, spackle, cement, hobby-e tack, rubber bands, green putty, etc. It's all here...even the "glitter glue...")

My wife was correct. 

There IS something good about this whole "organization stuff" that makes things work a whole lot better. But knowing me and my methods of work, I know that this will probably only be a temporary look. (Edit: As of this posting the desk is filled with figures and work stuff, and the floor area needs straightening too...)

Ah well...one project at a time....

More to come!

Thanks for being here!