Presenting ... Bob Moss

When I saw this Classic Treant from the Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Miniatures line by WizKids, I couldn't resist buying it. It looks like it came straight out of the first edition Monster Manual.

Whether I end up using it for Shadowdark, I figured the sculpt, with all that texture, would be easy to paint, and I was right.

I sprayed it with a dark brown basecoat (Rustoleum's Espresso paint+primer) and drybrushed the trunk in lighter shades of brown craft paint, then a golden yellow, then a light gray.

I did the leaves the same way, starting with a dark hunter's green, adding successively brighter shades, and finishing with a light drybrush of bright yellow.

The eyes were ivory, then an antique maroon for the colored part, then a dot of bright yellow for a highlight. I then added grass and plants to the base, and Bob's your treant!

Behold!

Presenting: The Eye Tyrant; a.k.a. The Sphere of Many Eyes, a.k.a. The Beholder!

This figure depicting the classic D&D monster is from the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line by WizKids.

My wife purchased this casting and asked me to paint it for her to take to the office, where it will sit next to the giant I painted for her last year.

I was again very flattered that she asked me to paint a mini for her. Although she's not the gamer I am, she does appreciate my creativity and encourage me to pursue my hobby.

For this minature, I primed it black, then did a lot of drybrushing various shades of color-shifting paint from the craft store (mainly Blue Flash and Purple Flash, using Red Flash, White Flash, and Yellow Flash for the eyeballs. I also used some Army Painter Speed Paints around the mouth and tongue.

This model does come with six of its eyes sculpted onto the main body, and you have the option of adding plain eyestalks or eyestalks shooting magical beams (my spouse chose the former).

Here's a top-down view in case you're curious.

And the figure is very large when compared to human-sized minis; making for a terrifying opponent in the dark lower levels of the dungeon.

Or, in this case, menacing the other miniature next to my wife's work computer. Either way, I enjoyed painting it!

Clanmech binary

Some more battlemechs, this time from the Clan era. As an old-school Battletech player, I'm not much of a fan of the Clan Invasion storyline, but between the Alpha Strike boxed set, some Salvage Box purchases, and a couple of donations, I have amassed 10 of these miniatures. First is the Clan star that was included in the AS box (l-r): Nova, Pouncer, Fire Moth, Warhawk, Timberwolf/Madcat.

Painting was straightforward, if a little messy. I painted the base color with a light tan Krylon spray paint + primer, then used an old toothbrush to spatter various maroon, orange and yellow craft paints onto all of these at once. I then brushed over some Army painter strong tone, picked out the cockpit windows with pearlescent white, painted the bases, varnished them, and called it a day.

The second star came from two blind purchases, a gift of two extra mechs, and the Blood Asp salvage box (l-r): Nova, Huntsman, Linebacker, Warhawk, Blood Asp.

For this unit, I hit them all with a light blue paint + primer, splattered various greens and yellow with the toothbrush, and covered them with green tone before covering the bases in gray and detailing the cockpits, then finishing the bases and clearcoating.

I like this painting technique, although it does take a while to notice whether any paint is actually landing on the minis, and it isn't as fast as you might think. But combine the haphazard drops of color to emulate a random camouflage pattern with the way the wash picks out the details on these castings, and it has an overall pleasing effect. Has anyone else tried something like this on their wargaming minis?

More battlemechs

Here's a trio of mech miniatures I recently completed. Since these came from the blind-purchase Salvage Boxes, they each have a different paint scheme. 

For the Enforcer (left) and Stinger (right), I used Army Painter speed paints. I like how the former came out, but the color scheme on the latter makes it look like a toddler in an outfit —so I gave it the callsign "1-Z".

I'm pleased with how the Atlas (center) came out as well. Another easy task: I hit the bottom and top haves with two different hues of spray primer, then applied green and blue tone to each. I picked out some weapons in gold, applied decals, and sealed with matte spray varnish.

So, that's three more battlemechs ready for our Alpha Strike games, for close to 40 total. Only about two dozen left for me to paint!

Corpsefire

Playing one of the military expedition mini-campaigns in Oathbreakers, I needed a corpsefire mini. I decided to use this Reaper Bones miniature.

In a simultaneous attempt at zenithal highlighting and color gradient, I hit this with red Krylon primer from below, some orange straight from the side, and yellow from above. I then drybrushed and picked out details using color shifting and regular craft paints for an undead mini without any black. 

Quite the change, but I like how it came out, even though it suffered the new-figure curse and died on the first turn. 

Grunhilda says hello

 A little late for St. Patrick's Day, but please allow me to introduce Grunhilda Vert, part of a project I'm working on for my gaming group. The figure came from an Arena of the Planeswalkers game I picked up cheap a few years back.

I painted this mini by basecoating with some brush-on craft paint (I learned the hard way that Rustoleum spray primer on other models from this box remained tacky for more than a year; it took covering them with regular acrylics to get rid of the stickiness), overbrushing gray, and drybrushing white. 

The casting's details showed up easily under the drybrush, and I then used various shades of speed paints and some craft metallics with a wash to apply the color scheme. The banner is paper covered with craft paint and wrapped around a coffee stirrer straw that fits over the wand she's holding. 

It was a quick task for a tabletop standard, and I'm happy with the result. Now, who wants to guess what I'm gonna use her for?

Some toasters

Another batch of battlemechs, which my wife christened "toasters" because of their resemblance to the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.

These guys were simple and quick to paint: Gloss black spray primer, and sucessive drybrushes of metallic black, metallic gunmetal gray, metallic silver, and metallic white (all craft paints).

I applied some color-shifting black to the cockpit canopies, then picked out a few weapon muzzles in metallic red to give that Terminator vibe, and I was done.

From left: Commando, Wolverine, Shadow Hawk, and Locust.

Some UrbanMechs

As you may have noticed, I recently got back into Battletech--or more accurately, Alpha Strike. The game plays extremely quick, and I really like the look and sizes of the plastic minis from Catalyst Game Labs. 

I've got nearly four dozen battlemech figures, but not enough of the light 'mechs, so I decided to pick up an UrbanMech lance to supplement the more substantial combat walkers in my collection. 

Painting was super-simple, thanks to my set of speed paints: One solid color for everything but the weapons (black) and windows (just craft paint pearlescent white with a blue wash). Now I have another quartet of units for Alpha Strike!

Still around

 I know it's been awhile--OK, a year since my last post. I have fallen out of the blogging habit, with no real motivation to post more regularly.

Don't worry, though! I am still gaming and still painting miniatures. As proof, here is some sort of giant model I picked up at a flea market last year. I think it's from a Vikings boardgame.

This figure was very easy to paint, thanks to the sculpting and to the Army Painter speed paints I was using.

I was planning on using him in Oathmark, D&D, or Frostgrave, but instead my wife took him to put on her desk at work. I'm flattered she likes my work that much!

Who knows, maybe I will start blogging more soon. Meanwhile, happy gaming.

Mounted Bretonnian Sorceress

One of my painting accomplishments last year was this Mounted Bretonnian Sorceress from fifth edition Warhammer Fantasy.

I haven't played that game; however, she worked great as a mounted human spellcaster for my first Oathmark army.

I enjoyed painting up the Lady Monique de Ville, and I used her in many Oathmark battles, where her Sieze the Initiative spell helped my kingdom triumph against their foes.

I accquired this figure a few years back secondhand, from a vendor at MillenniumCon. 

I could have kept her in the blister pack as a collectible or for resale, but where's the fun in that?

She belongs on the tabletop, as do all the miniatures I've bought over the years--and these days, some of them are actually seeing action!

I know it's not perfect close-up, but on the tabletop against my oponents, this casting looks great!

Some more bugs

Some more MAATACs* from my MillenniumCon score. These are the Dragonfly-class troop carrier galactic war machines.

After words of encouragement on my first painted MAATACs, I decide to go with a similar scheme here: watered-down, color-shifting paints--but this time I drybrushed a non-shifting metallic color as well.  

I like the way these came out, even if it's not what I'm used to. I'm at least trying something different.

And this batch should put me over my goal of at least one miniature a week for the year, if you count the buildings and scatter terrain I made (which I do).

I've also been rereading the MAATAC rules, and even playtesting the game a little. Athough it's a little primative and somewhat incomplete, I can see getting some fun gamesout of that rulebook.

I hope to have some more of these painted up in the next week or so. Here's to more gaming in the coming year!

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computers

My first painted MAATACs

As part of my pledge of painting at least one miniature a week in 2021, I applied pigment to some of the castings from my recent MillenniumCon score.

These MAATACs* are recognition code Black Widow-class destroyer galactic war machines from the Entomalian Empire. Note the articulated legs, giving this vehicle an advantage in difficult terrain.

These 1:285 (6mm) scale vehicles share the same setting and designer as Starfleet Wars, the space combat game by Superior Models. The MAATAC rules and minis can now be found at Monday Knight Productions.

Instead of my typical Bug paint scheme for these insectoid vehicles, I decided to go a different route: I used various hues of watered-down color-shifting paint atop black spray primer. I still can't make up my mind if I like the way these came out--they seem almost too garish.

Like their spacefaring counterparts, these designs carry a lot of detail. However, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone of drybrushing everything. So I decided to experiment.

The destroyer galactic machine is one of the smaller classes of MAATAC, but still more sizable than conventional armor, as you can see from this comparison shot with an obsolete heavy tank from a now-defunct Terran polity.

I may end up redoing the paint job later on, but for now I've got four more miniatures painted and ready for battle. Now to put together a short solo game to learn the rules.

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computers