Rackham Cadwallon militiaman

I should start in-depth projects (my dwarven lord) more often. I'm getting lots of other stuff finished!

This figure is from the militia box set Rackham put out for their role playing game, Cadwallon. I'm painting him up for use as a character in D&D. I have a few other unpainted Rackham figures I will, sometime, paint up as either characters for D&D (or to sit on the shelf and collect dust.)

This figure isn't actually finished yet. He's carrying a shield on his back; it has yet to be painted (as does the hilt of his sword and a couple other minor details.) I'm still trying to decide on a color for the shield.

A minor eureka moment

I was looking at cast flagstone bases thinking they might be nice to try out- 4 bases for around $5. But everytime I look at some kind of terrain or accessory for my minis, I always ask myself, "Can I make this myself? And is it cheaper/easier to do myself?"

I have plenty of greenstuff and never for a second thought about customizing my own bases. It's definitely cheaper AND easy.

I've only made a couple flagstone bases using the 30mm round "display" type bases. Take a small amount of greenstuff and spread it inside the inset portion of the base. Then use a needle to engrave the joins between the stones. To help the needle glide easier through the greenstuff, I coat it with a TINY amount of oil (I used olive since I had it sitting around.)

That's it! I have yet to try it on a figure with an integral base (or at least an easily-removed integral base.) For slotta-based figures, I spread the greenstuff, then I force the figure into the slot of the base. Clean off the greenstuff pushed through thr bottom of your base and integrate it back onto the top of your base. Then draw your stones under the figure- DONE!

If you have a needle, an extra base and some spare greenstuff, give this a try.

Fopish rogue

Just one of those side projects to divert my attentions from larger projects. This one, however, only took about an hour to coomplete.

For the red color, the paints I used, in order from first to last, were Foundry Spearshaft 13B, Reaper Pro Paints Blood Red, Reaper Bright Red, Reaper Dragon Red and Reaper Bright Orange.

Foundry spearshaft is a light tan color. I prefer tans and light browns as a basecoat for bright reds as opposed to whites. Whites usually require a coat or two for full coverage, but most light browns have good coverage so that only one coat is needed, thus preventing a needless buildup of multiple basecoats.

The speed of painting the whole figure was accomodated by the use of a very small palette. Along with the red, I used browns for the tannery and gold for the metals (as well as a Foundry flesh palette fo the face.) The figure, by the way, is Reaper No. 2775: Edward Dumond.

Painting a dwarf: Step one

It's been much too long (the beginning of this blog I believe) since I've done an in-depth step-bystep guide, the kind in which I discuss specific colors, choices, techniques etc. In fact, I can only recollect two, which were the very first entries on this blog: A caveman and a dinosaur hunter (both Copplestone minis.)

I'm not sure how this will work out, if I'll be able to follow up, but I'll try to keep this project going. In the meantime, I still have my Blood Bowl team to finish as well as a couple minor odds and ends.

Now here's a small caveat: I won't post the entire step-by-step in one post. I'm going to post each step as I finish it. This will allow me to work on the project at my liesure. Posting long step-by-step entries is involved in that I have to keep detailed notes while painting. And then rewrite them in a semi-organized fashion. Posting as each step is completed will be much easier. So let's start!

This is Reaper No. 3275, Barnabas Ironbrace. My intention is to use him as a paladin for D&D 4 ed.

The first step I've taken is to remove his mace and replace it with an axe. The axe was made by taking a greataxe blade (from some Heresy bits) and sawing it in half (a top and a bottom half). Some brass rod forms the handle, and a spikey bit caps it off.

As for colors, I'm "planning," since he is a paladin, to make his armor in basic silvers and golds (yep; I'm gonna combine 'em). Since he will be a vengeaful paladin, his cloak will be sort of a grey/blue (Reaper Pro paints Dark Night as the shade coat) to reflect the storm raging in his mind. I'm not sure about trim yet; perhaps it will simply be light gray to white, but that could change as I proceed. Hmmm, maybe a "buff" or "Buckskin" color for the trim to add a little warmth to the drab blue/gray.

I'm also thinking about doing a slightly more beefy base than I usually do; it may be something as simple as putting a small slab on a basic display base- again, just thinking about it; I still have to take inventory on materials at my disposal. That's all for now!

Next time I post, I should have the figure primed, a base built and perhaps a couple colors thrown on.

A few more Reaper figures: Wizard, Dwarf and Warlock

These are the last of the figures for my D&D gaming group. The Reaper dragonkin, thief and fighter in previous posts listed here are the other figures comprising the party.

I've also painted a Reeaper Warlord Reptus as a dragonkin for another D&D party, and have anoher Tiefling "on deck."

But finishing these figures means I actually finished one of my projects. Next project I want to finish is my Blood Bowl team.

A little more Blood Bowl

This is the Berserk Boris figure from Heresy, heavily converted for use in Blood Bowl. I'm enjoying sculpting wih greenstuff, even if it can be frustrating; It's like trying to sculpt with chewing gum.

I'm finding that a sewing needle with a tiny amount of cooking oil on it (and I mean a TINY amount) is a great sculpting tool. Greenstuff is still difficult to use, in my opinion.

Oh well, at least I can rely somewhat on my painting to hide any crappy sculpting.

Step by step of how I painted my flag

I couldn't seem to get this pic to link in the previsous post on making flags, so here's another go, so that you can see how I layered everything.

Making a flag for your army

The key here, I think, in making a good flag for your army is to find the right material. It has to be a paper good enough to take paint and glue and still be supple enough to bend and furl into a nice wind-blown shape.

The material I use, and have plenty of, comes from the inserts Wargames Foundry usually sends out with their orders. I have also found, most thick, glossy papers will work. Really, just about any paper will work; If you paint the entire square/retangle of paper with acrylic paint, the paint will essentially provide the paper with a plastic layer giving your base material a layer of strength.

I prefer to measure and cut out a shape twice as long as the flag, so that I can fold it around a pole. In this case, I cut out flags at 2 inches by 4 inches (to make flags roughly 2-inches square). Don't forget to account for the part of the flag you'll wrap around the pole. For glue, I use superglue ( I like my stuff to get done fast), but white glue works just fine.

A note on flag wrinkles (see image): Flag folds/wrinkles/waves are the conjunction of where the wind is blowing the flag from one direction and gravity is pulling in another direction. But you need a point of tension from the which the wrinkle pulls, and that is the top of the flagpole where the corner of the flag holds.

Except where there are high, irregular or crosswinds, you should keep your wrinkles in a diagonal direction pointing roughly toward the tension point. You should also keep the wrinkles roughly parallel to one another though some wrinkles may slighlty branch away from larger wrinkles.

However, wrinkles are not always required- you may add a very subtle wave or none at all if you want folks to admire your handywork. I want folks to see the patterns on my flags, so I've added only a minimal of waves into them.

A note on my flags' design choice: For my Warhammer Empire army, I chose to base my flag designs off the Bedford Flag (see bottom image) from the American Revolution. The Bedford flag is considered the oldest flag of the Revolution and was even old than the Rebvolution, itself. The flag originally was a cavalry flag for the Massachusett's Bay militia during the French and Indian War.

The image is a photo of an actual-size reproduction Bedford Flag I made. The original flag was only 27 inches by 29 inches. The flags in my Empire army, however are about 6-foot square (inscale that is); I wanted them to have a decent impact on the game board.

Oldies but goodies: Empire ship

I finished building this ship last year (after starting then stopping sometime in 2006.) Like my Nile steamer, I built it as a display base for some of my figures, in this case, a small Warhammer Empire contingent.

Like the steamer, this ship started as a piece of blue foam over which planks were glued.

I'm confident I could build another with relative ease, and I would if only I had space in my small apartment.

Oldies but goodies: Pulp film crew

I think I'll start periodically reposting (new) photos of old minis. Since this blog seems to be pulling in new viewers each week, they may not take the time to look through the archives (though you're missing a lot.) So I'll put up the random photo of miniatures finished long ago.

As my photography skills improve, I'll repost better images as well.

I'll title reposted pics, "Oldies but Goodies" to indicate they're not new minis (though the pics may be new.)

This "oldy but goody" is a film crew I converted from some Copplestone Casting miniatures. The camera and microphone are scratch-built; the director's megaphone is the end of a pen (not the cap, but the part from where the ballpoint protrudes); and the clipboard and pencil (tiny) is a piece of plasticard and brass rod.

I use the film crew in playing Tusk.

Head swapping

One of the easiest conversions to make (provided you have the tools) is the head swap. Head swaps ae great for when you have a figure in a favorite pose, but you want him bare-headed or with different headgear.

All you need is a razor saw, pin vise, brass rod (or paperclippage) and maybe some greenstuff. You'll also need two figures, one of which you may be sacrificing if you are simply doing a head trasnplant (and not a "swap.")

When sawing off the head to be transplanted, try to save as much of the neck as possible, It's easier to work with more than less, and you can file off whatever you don't need later. When sawing off the head of your posing figure, try not to saw off any clothing such as necklaces or shirt/coat collars.

Test fit the head onto its new body. This is also a good chance to see how the head looks facing different directions. Once you're happy with a fit, drill holes in the head and the neck; drop a pin in the neck hole, do one more test fit, then glue it together. After the glue has dried, use your green stuff to fill any gaps or fix details.

Do you have Photoshop and a digital camera? Then you can do some basic visual headswaps to see what you're getting yourself into before you put saw to metal.

Everybody has a lead mountain of unpainted miniatures. Grab a couple and get a little practice.

Bad Bay Hackers

I've finished the core members of my Blood Bowl team. They are all Heresy figures which can be found at http://www.heresyminiatures.com/

I still have a few linemen and a couple catchers to paint, as well as a coach and some cheerleaders, all different manufacturers. All the while, I'm trying to NOT start any new projects.

These figures aren't painted as well as they could have been; this was a deliberate choice. Since they will be used on the field and probably will get knocked around, the inevitable chip will occur, using a simple color palette and basic 3-color technique will make repairs easy.