Remembering how to actually paint

 

I finally got my paint set up sorted. Due to it being a dining table rather than a dedicated painting table I've taped a bin bag to it to protect it from paint spillages! It isn't perfect - in particular I haven't sorted out the relevant extension cables to have a dedicated painting lamp on it, so it gets a little too dark to use during the evenings.

The original plan was to paint this Fenris Games plinth. It's a chunky bit of resin that I was planning to use for miniature photography once it's done. It's been undercoated black, then grey.

Unfortunately, I undercoated it while it was very damp out. As a result, it was quite sticky to touch, and I realised that the paint was coming off when I held it tightly. This is deeply annoying, but down to my own mediocre short cutting and impatience rather than the quality of the piece!

After a little bit of research online, the two recommendations I saw were to either strip it and redo the undercoat, or to varnish it. I decided to go with varnishing first, because it was the easier option. After a pass of spray varnish, and leaving it a few days, the problem seems to be fixed. There's a couple of spots around the sides which are still a little sticky - but I reckon one more pass should solve it.

But, this means the plinth needs to move down the painting list while it gets fixed - so what have I picked up instead?

Here's what I'm pai . . . ooh, that's a lot of back lighting. I definitely need to sort out that extension cable soon. Lets break down what we've got.

First up is a Gray Maiden by Reaper Miniatures. This is a Pathfinder figure with a "canon" paint scheme. I think I originally bought her to be a Slaanesh chaos champion, but now I play Pathfinder, she's getting returned to her original setting. The Gray Maidens were bodyguards to a particular queen in Pathfinder 1st edition who has since been deposed. I like having a Gray Maiden miniature available as the idea of a former bodyguard who's been hired by some new employer is an interesting option for a henchwoman level antagonist.

I started off painting her with contrast paints, but it got quite patchy in places. I'm going to go back in with some layering and drybrushing to try and fix this.

I got a free Krakon Games Shieldkin at an event last year, so I've used contrast paint to drop in some base colours. He's a nice simple sculpt so should be nice and quick to finish.

And finally, we have these three Guinea Pig Witches by Bad Squiddo. Again, these will be for Pathfinder, and I picked three fur colours to get started, and am just happily dropping in some basic colours with contrast paints to start off.

It's good to be back painting again. There is an itch in the back of my brain that I want to finish painting something. With quite a few models lined up that need painting, I'm really keen to get a feeling of progress. But that's for another day.

Let there be (painting) light!

The replacement part for the broken hobby room light turned up quicker than expected, and I managed to be productive! First up is this Dwarf Shieldmaiden from Oathsworn Miniatures, though I believe she's now out of production.

I'd started painting her with Contrast, but decided to finish her up with normal acrylic highlights. I suspect I could go in and spend another hour on tweaking her a little more, but she's fine for RPG purposes, so I'm calling her done.

I deliberately went with brighter highlights than I'm used to, sometimes blending, sometimes not depending on the materials I was highlighting. This is all stuff I'm doing more of following the Roman Lappat beginner's course, which has really changed how I think about painting.

The cloak was a particular problem as the Contrast hadn't done a great job there. I got it OK in the end, but I think I'd definitely start it differently in future.

Then I realised that the battery for the flexible light I use for front lighting photos had also started to die, possibly just to mess with me. I ended up having to charge it and retake the photo of these Reaper Bones wolves for D&D as the first ones were way too dark...

I've got one last Oathsworn dwarf to finish, and have been getting a few more O-12 models ready for paint too. I'm also starting to get paint on these Mutant Marshes scatter terrain pieces for creepy horror games.

Work in Progress Wednesday: New Year Metals

 

Over the New Year, I got a whole pile of metal miniatures assembled. First up is this undead Ogre, which I bought over Facebook years ago. I believe that sadly the sculptor passed on since. His pose is reminiscent of a classic Games Workshop Ogre sculpt from way back when.

Next up is this mystery figure. I got it free in an order with some other models, possibly from Fenris Games? I don't know who or what he's meant to be, but he's got a nice grumpy feel to him. He, and the rest of the miniatures from here on, were undercoated in "PHR Bone" by TT Combat. I'm pretty sure I got it during my pandemic panic buying, and I wanted to use it up on models that weren't needing to match anything else...

This Reaper Human Fighter, Brigette was acquired from the Fenris clearance section, and will be joining the ranks of sensibly armoured women fighters and adventurers I've been amassing.

Miko the Vampire Hunter is a Bad Squiddo figure from the Feudal Japan range (though you may find her under the Horror section on the shop). Unlike many other Bad Squiddo figures, she doesn't have a puddle base, so I pinned her to one of the Archon Studio bases I had stashed away to try those out.

Next up are a couple of North Star miniatures for Frostgrave - an apothecary and Markswoman. I'm pretty sure this was a Bad Squiddo Bargain Bin special. Its worth having a regular nose through, as there's often bits and pieces where Annie has found some end of range bits and pieces, or ex show stock.

More Bad Squiddo miniatures next - this time a pair of Tiefling pirates. They do make me realise that with a bit of prep, characterful models like this can make much more interesting D&D encounters if you stat up monsters or characters to match random models you have. A Tiefling rapier fighter backed up by a second with a glaive and a breastplate isn't necessarily a combat encounter you'd have thought of if not prompted by the miniatures.

A lot of small miniature companies include random samples in with orders. In this case, Fenris Games sent me an urn. I've decided to throw it on a base for stability and paint it up to be a bit of dungeon scatter that might be an empty pot or might contain some loot.

Next up is a Dwarf Watchman by Bears Head Miniatures. Sadly, Bears Head are no longer trading - I believe the sculptor has moved on to producing stuff for other companies full time without having to deal with the general public.

Someone was selling an old Warzone Trencher for peanuts and I decided he'd make an excellent heavy baddy for Stargrave. Are they called pirates? Either way, its a good example of how the miniature agnostic nature of games like Stargrave give you opportunities to do non standard stuff.

Maximillian and Madelaine are sculpts that were made for members of the Rogue Emporium Facebook group some time ago. I think they're likely going to be joining the ranks of Stargrave pirates.

Finally we have the terrain pieces from the Mutant Marches Kickstarter, by WilhelMiniatures. These will be excellent scatter terrain for Terrible Places. Every time you look at them you find new awful things.