End of June Update

 So the month of June is here and now gone.

Next month is July, and all the stuff that comes with that.

I did do something different this month though. For the month of June, I focused on "Non-people figures, (animals, livestock, some monsters, etc), as well as terrain, scenery, and a lot of "scatter", (furniture, food, etc.) for buildings, and such, as well as some scratch-building. The break from painting figures was a welcome change, and I plan to keep alternating between "figures one month and "stuff" the next month". 

It's actually amazing how much I got painted.

I've already posted the buildings, docks, and barn, but haven't posted the rest, so lets get on to it.

But first....

A shocker....

Notice anything wrong????

A completely clean and bare painting table.

Yeps.

This was how my table looked last night when I finished, (FINISHED mind you), EVERYTHING I had put on my queue to do for the month of June. And I did a few pieces more also!

Everything. Completed.

When I finished the last item for the month, (a horse), I sat back and said "My word....What. Have. I. Done?"

To be honest, it was a but unsettling, and was creeping me out a little bit.

A miniature gamers paint table isn't supposed to be "This empty"....

But there it was.

However starting tomorrow, it's back to figures.

So take heed.

Take warning.

Lest you find your table looking like THIS!

😨

The Big Picture:

So at the end of June, I stepped back and took a photo of everything that I had done for the month, and I was a bit pleased, but also shocked at my output.

(That's a lot of stuff done...)

For the month I June, I realized that I had completed over 100 (approx. 108) items. This included the stuff on my "to do" list, and extra stuff I just grabbed to work on.

While most of it was scenery and terrain, and scatter, there were some figures there, as well as some scratch-builds.

I'm pretty proud of myself for being so productive.

As you can see, four buildings, (two scratchbuilts, a reworked toy barn, an an MDF building), two scratchbuilt piers, a scratchbuilt "Evil Snow White" fountain, (more on her in a later post), some terrain repair, basing trees and lots more trees, a Wiz Kid gibbets, and two containers of "stuff", as well as some animals, and monster figures.

"Stuff"...

Most of what you see in the following picture is the standard furnishings/scatter type of terrain scenics. A lot of it is from Knuckleduster while some is from WizKids, and Eureka.

(Thrones, couches, tables, a copper bathtub and lots of other stuff...)

Meanwhile this side contains mostly food, supplies, and some scenics. The streetlights are Lego style that I got at Little Wars, and the film camera is from Pulp Figures, while most of the food is from Knuckleduster, Tabletop World, and some from Foundry.

(A wide bevy of supplies there....)

Close ups of some of the foods.

Tabletop World really does some excellent work. I can't say enough good things about them.

Some close ups of the completed groceries and food supplies.

I then decided to do a little "photography" to set the food on a table and get an idea of what the setting would like with it.

(A nice selection of edibles...)

That's quite a selection of cut meats and sausages.

And then I finished up the rest for the month of June.

(Cheese, fruits, and veggies, wurst, hooks of meat, sides of venison, peppers, and bottles of drinkables...)

And pumpkins for the Fall season!

And yes there was barnyard fowl.
First up was the chickens.

(Insert chicken sounds here....)

And first up is "The Rooster"....

(Before alarm clocks were invented there was this guy....)

(Not a happy hen....)

(Protecting the eggs...)

Followed up by geese:

(Geese are nothing more than overgrown ducks with bad attitudes, foul manners, and loose bowels....")

The Gibbets and The Accused....

I got a chance to work on a Wiz Kids set that I had purchased earlier.
The gibbets set also has a poor thinned pirate in it, condemned to a slow, horrible, death.
This was an "interesting kit" as it allowed me to work with multiple parts, as well as inks, shades, washes, blends, and drybrushing.
I wanted the metal pieces to have the oxidation look to it, so a good touch up with Citadel Nihilakh Oxide did the trick.

(This is an easy one to work with...)

I also finished the Wiz Kids thrones and dais  set.

(Fit for royalty...)

And after that it was to some more animals and monsters.
Among them was this Reaper Lion that I got in one of the Bones Kickstarters.

("The Lion eats to-niiiiiiight....")

For such a simple figure, I was surprised at how much reference work I needed to get the colors of the lion correctly, and how all the colors blended into one another.

And then I moved onto the owlbear.

Owlbear

Another Reaper figure done with a variety of shades, blends, and washes. I really liked the way this one came out. 

And then I finished up a Reaper Giant Beetle. 

I need to go back and fix the missing groundwork on the stand, but essentially he is done.
I used a thin coat of Reaper Herald Green, and then a very, very light wash of Vallejo Gold to get try to the the green/gold look that beetles can have on their shell. I did then a light overcoat with Tamiya Clear Green, and it seemed to work. 

Yes, two nice little beasties to wipe out a nosey party of adventurers, I think.....

And then, now all I need to do is wait for "Evil Snow White's" modge podge to dry clear and I can then seal her up and she is ready.

(It's always amazing what you can do with a little imagination, and some common items lying around in your "stuff bin"....)

Okay I will close this out for now. I didn't want to make it too picture intensive, and I didn't include pics for the owl, or the horse, or the dogs. I think we will probably see those later...

Let me know what you think.

More to come and thanks for reading!!!

It's been a busy week/month!

 So the month of June has seen a lot more work going on than the previous month, which is good. Figures are getting not only painted, but sealed and completed and by tenths my massive pile of shame is going down...but then the Bones VI KS is only 10 mos. away from starting to ship and well....gaaahhh....

So what have I been up to since the last update.

Well, after adding the latest figures, (see more on that further down), to Display Case #2, that cases figure count currently already sits at 209. Those large D&D beasties take up a lot of room.

So here's some of what I have finished up so far....

What was on the table but is now in the case...

I've been working more heavily on some of my fantasy figures, but a few pirates slipped in, and I see more pirates and gangsters coming up in the queue. 

(click on photos for larger photo)

(Taking a break before I even got started...what the heck!? But alas, tis a project I must complete...)

It's amazing how food ends up on my table, and I find myself interrupted by yet another John Wayne movie, or "The Star Trek Channel"....

But then it was back to painting and finishing figures....

NOTE: None of the figures are actually "glossy". This is a result of the lighting in the room, and the crappy I8 phone camera. 

(Bob the Troll...He's had a hard day. Waiting under a bridge all day long, and then these three goats come along...Plus he's supposed to have riddles for travelers...)

(A Reaper Warrior Figure. Painted for one of AD&D players.)

(An old Ral Partha Dungeon Monsters Boxed Set soft plastic Minoatur. He painted up really well for his and the lower quality material used in creating him.

Next up was a Water Weird/Elemental type. This was produced in blue transparent plastic, and so it really wasn't a hard piece to paint. A quick wash of Tamaiya clear blue, and some white highlights, and that was about it, (as well as the greys for the floor and the fountain itself).

(A Reaper Medusa figure. I've finally learned the tricky process of making bowstrings...)

Meanwhile, if you were a "Saturday Morning TV Cartoon Show Watcher", of the late 1970's, then you probably saw these guys at one time or another.

And right now, you are probably humming or singing the theme song....

(Oh no! Not these guys!)

(An easy figure to paint, the glittering tunic that he wears was done by using a Reaper Orange Paint, and then a very thin wash of Vallejo Old Gold over it.)

(Some more towns folks. I swear that the dude in the center reminds me of Lou Costello...)

After this group, I switched over and painted up a couple of other genres.

Here we have an RAFM Call of Cthulhu figure, an elderly lady holding her sweet, and precious Persian cat, while reading from an ancient book of forbidden knowledge...

And then it was time for MORE Pirates!

And finally wrapping up the "piratey stuff", was the completion of my Old OG "Voodoo Zombies".

These guys had given a bunch of players hell over 20 years ago in my infamous pirate adventure.

It was time for them to get the good paint job they deserved, and so I buckled down to it, and now they are ready to drag more screaming victims back into the jungle to the clutches of THE ZOMBIE MASTER!!!!

After all of this, I needed a break from the figures, so I sat down and looked at some old drawn out plans for a gangster/pulp city, and decided to work on a building, (combination brownstone, and attached Italian Ristorante.

(Five floors of mayhem with pasta and cannoli's' next door. What more could you ask for?...)

This is going to be slow going as I haven't built a scratch building in a while, so once more it's a (re)Learning Process.

And now....FOOD!!!!

So recently I've been experiment with some different dishes and recipes.

I decided to do a "Cajun Rice Scramble with a side bowl of Black Eyed Peas".

(Andouille Sausage, sliced white onion, sliced tomatoes, sliced red and yellow peppers, and sliced (as well as) chopped, wild green onions.)

(Adding all of this into an oiled skillet and cook until brown. Add paprika, black pepper, Tony's Creole Spice, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Powder, Cajun Seasoning, Cajun Black Searing Spice, and a pinch of Mesquite Spice for an amazing mix of flavor...)

(The finished product on a bed of cilantro rice, and the bowl of BEP's on the side with a sprinkling of the green onions on it.)

(The finished product up close. The cilantro rice is excellent and makes a good support for the contents of the skillet. )

How's the paint desk looking?

So it's been a while since I took any pics of the work area. 

Right now this is pretty much how it's looking.

(Cleaner than it usually is...)

(Groundwork and Glues. A count today showed that I had 16 different types of glues, epoxies, and adhesives as well as "A LOT" of different types of groundwork!)

(The "Tools and Extra Paint Shelf". Keeping stuff in semi order to keep it from being lost...)

So currently that is pretty much what is going on in the painting and gaming area. 

More is sure to come, so stay on the lookout!

Thanks for reading!