Mouse the slayer

When I'm not painting minis, it's probably because I'm busy with other art. This is one of the many randoms I've drawn/painted the past couple days.

Everyday, I try to do at least one piece of art or finish one or more minis. I took a short minis break after finishing the Adrian Smith box set; I'm still trying to decide what to paint next. I also just might need a short break; I've been painting the hell out of minis the past couple months.

Zombicide Black Plague: Chronicles of Hate

These are the Zombicide: Black Plague survivors from the Adrian Smith Guest Artist Box. They are characters from his Chronicles of Hate graphic novel (which I'm not familiar with yet, but hope to pick up soon, especially with volume 2 on the verge of release.)

They are probably the most difficult to paint of all the survivors; there was a LOT of details everywhere on each figure. I started the painting by giving the whole group a drybrushing of dark brown. That first layer provided me with two things: It helped bring out the detail, picking out smaller details otherwise hidden in the fur capes or among multitudes of leather straps, and it also provided a first layer of color to build on -- drybrushing with brown essentially finished all the leather straps! (And there were a lot of'em.)

Drybrushing was followed with painting the flesh (I used the Foundry Flesh 5 triad -- my favorite.) And then I did all the metal bits -- armor and medallions. Loin cloths, weapons, accessories, skulls and clean-up followed. It feels good to get this group finished, being both difficult to paint and my favorite looking Zombicide survivors of any (Black Plague or Modern.) I can't wait to get them on the board, though, I'll need to paint a couple companions to round out a 6-person crew. I think Klom the ogre and Dr. Stormcrow will fit this group well enough.

I'm not sure what to paint next (if not Kloma nd Stormcrow). I've got a lot of stuff going all at once on the table, and I'm happy that I'm able to get a little of each done every day, now. I have the Monty Python Holy Grail figures primed (but I'll need to get some photo reference,.) I also have plenty of my Warhammer Empire troops primed and based and ready to paint. Then there are the "ladies in sensible shoes" adventurers which paint up fast. That's just the stuff that's ready to paint -- there's a helluva lot to prime!

40mm Samurai: Retinue

I've had these 40mm figures from Steve Barber's samurai range for months and only now finally finished them. There was a lot of planning with these, to get the individual figures assembled and prepared/fitted/aligned to carry the kago/palanquin, to get the kago/palanquin itself assembled and painted (I assembled it incorrectly, by the way; it should have a peaked roof,) and then of course to get a scheme planned and everything painted. And all of this occurred during a time in my life when painting minis was the last thing on my mind.

Fast forward a few months, and I'm currently experiencing a resurgence of minis painting. I saw these guys sitting off to the side and pulled them back to the table. Now, my entire samurai collection is once more complete.

I would like to assemble and paint one more kago, but before I do, I might commission a sculpt of a noble to sit inside -- the opposite side has an open window which was planned for the future commission. It still might be a while until I commission another sculpt, but the rider is a strong contender to be the next. I think in the coming months/years, my next commissions will be various Edo period civilians -- pilgrims, laborers, messengers, travelers, merchants,etc. Don't forget, you, too, can commission sculpts!

Zombicide: A horde marker

Sometimes, in Zombicide, more zombies congregate in a zone than can physically fit. Some people play that nothing other zombies or survivors cannot enter the zone once it reaches capacity. And others take all the zombies in that zone, set it aside, and place a marker to represent that horde. That marker is what I've made here.

I had plenty of extra walkers, superglue and gumption, so putting this together was no problem. Simply cut the zombies form their bases (try to cut as close to the base as possible so as not to cut their feet off.) Then start gluing them to a larger base (I used a 60mm base here.) With each figure, do a rough dry placement to see how it looks first. Then a couple dabs of superglue on the feet and one or two on the body where the figure might touch other figures for added strength.

You can prime with spray, but you'll need to follow up with some brush primer to fill in missed spots. Then paint as normal!

I don't play much modern Zombicide after the release of Black Plague, so I won't be using this marker much at all. But I'd like to make a couple similar markers for my Black Plague game. I'll need to find some more zombies (without having to buy another core box.)

If you're trying to count -- there are 18 zombies on that base! The next one, I might spread them out a little more. 18 is fun, but I don't want to spend TOO much money on these :)

Women in sensible shoes

So I've been told the range is called Women in Sensible Shoes, and they can be found at Oathsworn Minatures. Here are a couple more added today. Still a few to go, which I will paint among other ongoing projects. The painting table has been busy the past few days!

I'd still love to get some of the adventures from Otherworld Miniatures, but they're definitely on the pricey side just as I thought. And I don't need any new figures anyway: I have Zombicide survivors to finish, women in sensible shoes, a Hot Wheels repaint commission, my Warhammer Empire/Mordheim repainting project, and a few stragglers among my 40mm samurai. That's what I have currently -- my copy of the Conan board game has yet to arrive with all of its figures in their Howardian glory. That's the biggest reason I'm trying to get my current projects finished.

Woman in sensible armor

I don't remember the exact name of the Kickstarter campaign (women in sensible armor?) nor the name of the sculptor (who I salute!), but these figures are great to paint. I'm painting these for my friend Jeff who owns these figures.

I can really dig a nice, crisp, contemporary sculpt done in a retro, old-school style. They look great in a nostalgic way, and with the well-defined, simple sculpt (that's not over the top,) these make for great figures for a beginner to start with, or for an old-guarder like me to paint leisurely.

I don't mind the over-the-top look sometimes, but I wish there was a range of just sensible adventurers -- No bikini-wearing ballet posed, elf-faced, over-emoted fighters, or pigeon-toed women, or big-tittied barbarian men with nothing but a loin cloth and a sword the size of a Yugo to carry them through the month, or cloaked rogues with overly grim faces of sneakiness, daggers and hand crossbows always in hand, or priests bedecked with teeming scrolls, books, re-agents and a hundred skulls forever faced toward the sky screaming a prayer to a wrathful god --

But regular men and women inching their way through a dungeon, cautiously, peering around corners, stooped while tracking clues or reading a map, hands on hilts but swords scabbarded for ease of movement, necessary supplies, food and equipment on their backs stowed on belts and in packs and pouches, and with just enough armor -- a chainmail shirt or random piece of plate on a shoulder -- to protect but not so much that they are helpless turtles should they fall on their backs.

I've actually seen a range like this (beside the women in sensible armor) -- I forget the name right off, but the figures were nice (if a touch on the pricier side.) Time to go surf the web!

Edit: It's Otherworld Miniatures (the adventurers, specifically). Now, some of the figures still break the rules of what I'm looking for, but many are perfect -- check out the henchmen and hirelings box set; those are all of what I like!
http://otherworldminiatures.co.uk/shop/product-category/dab-series-dungeon-adventurers-boxed-sets/

Zombicide Black Plague: Rat and Bull

These complete my collection of abominations for Zombicide Black Plague! I have a few necromancers yet to complete my entire collection of dark forces for my game, and then it's on to more survivors.

These abominations look great. If there's one complaint I have about them (and I mean ALL of them,) there are too many goddamn horns sticking out of every which way.

The Adrian Smith/Chronicles of Hate figures will take a little extra time to finish, since they have so much to them. After those, I plan next to paint up my Holy Grail figures.

After those, I will paint a random survivor here and there but probably move on to get a few more of my Warhammer Empire figures done (now that I have a bunch stripped and reprimed.)

Zombicide Black Plague: Cul'nar

This is one of the figures from the Adrian Smith guest artist box (Chronicles of Hate) for Zombicide: Black Plague. I got the box because I wanted some barbarian types for the game, and these were amazing to look at.

But they're a pain in the ass to paint. Lots of subtle detail that, if you're not controlling your palette, will get real busy real fast. I actually had to repaint a couple things on Cul'Nar here to clean him up a bit. I still might go back and tone down/clean up a few things.

Still, from a tabletop distance, he looks pretty good, and that's what counts with my games and their figures. And, honestly, the only time I (or my friends) will sit and really admire the paint job is the first time they see them; the remaining time the figures will simply be pretty pawns on the board.
And that's OK, too.

Zombicide Black Plague: Notorious WIP

Just showing you an in-progress shot looks like on my table as I paint some monochromatic zombies; mostly so you can see how messy the technique is, and that it's OK to really whip that paint -- don't be timid with your painting! I used my half-inch brush for all three layers of color on these.

This is my collection of NPCs (Notorious Plagues Characters.) I still have yet to clean up the bases with black, and the edge the bases with white so as to identify these zombies as the NPCs. I picked up some crawlers on eBay to add to Black Plague. The skinners/crawlers are my favorite zombie type and easily modded into a game with normal zombies. They're not medieval, but their clothing is ambiguous enough that they can pass.

I also drybrushed some characters (seen in the back row) to make it easier to see detail on them before I paint them more properly. Hopefully, I'll get the characters started this week.

Zombicide Black Plague: Ablobination

Here's my ablobination. I actually had a couple goes at him; the first paint scheme wasn't working out. It was similar to this one except that the fleshy base had large red, purple and blue "bruising" on a few spots around his body (using the same technique as I used for the purple on this one). But it was a little difficult to control and looked too busy anyway.

This simplified paint job worked better for me. I started with my base white flesh color on the top half of the body and dark purple on the bottom half, keeping the two colors wet so I could blend them in the middle. Subsequent highlights were simply layered on without blending to achieve an easy and simplified blending "effect."

All of my remaining zombie forces are primed. I'll prime survivors as I'm ready to paint them. I still have some Warhammer Empire figures to prime and paint yet.

A little more of the troll

Just a couple more angles on the troll so you can see what's going on.

Zombicide Black Plague: Deadeyes and a troll

I finished my first (of the second wave of) Zombicide Black Plague. Here are some deadeye walkers and a troll. I also finished the extras of my walkers and runners, but you've already seen those.

I chose gray for the deadeyes, though I will keep to the sepia-esque shade for the normal zombies.

I decided to go full color with the troll since it's easy to differentiate the abominations with the survivors -- especially this troll!

It took me about an hour and a half to complete the deadeyes, a dozen or so normal zombies (including fatties, runners and a normal abomination.) I'm getting better at speed-painting in monochrome. Zombie-wise, i have 40 or 50 NPC zombies to go. I should be able to finish those in a sitting or two.

I'll probably be selling some (unpainted) zombicide stuff, including all of my wolves (as well as the two wolfbominations and the abomin-Alpha,) as well as a my Ultimate Survivors #2 from modern Zombicide -- so if you know anyone (in the U.S.) who's interested, I sell for reasonable prices :)

Warhammer Empire: The General wip

Here's a quick snapshot of General Altehasen Katzbalger, the leader of my army, and his battle standard, both in progress.
I have a LOT of stuff on the table. Today, I based these two, and I will start painting my primed Zombicide Black Plague (wave 2) figures. FYI, if you're looking for a large troll to paint for whatever reason, take a look at the troll abomination for Zombicide -- he's a big-un!