Happy Mum-orial Day!

Hope all you gamers out there got some gaming in on this long holiday weekend. Personally, I got a little bit of progress done on my Cryx force, and I decided to have a little fun and paint up a mummy from my Bones Kickstarter.

Right now I'm really glad I bought into Bones. I didn't even prime this guys, so I could just pick up and paint on a whim. It's really to have a big pile of random fantasy figures to paint on the fly. The base is D&D style black for now, but I will probably go back and base him later. I also made a conscious decision to paint the eyes the same as the Bones zombies I painted up a while back. That way, there's a sort of connection between them, like maybe the zombies are the mummy's minions. Either way, I'm happy with how it came out for such a quick paint job.

I'm sure I'll find a million uses for a mummy, but I know he'll find his way into Strange Aeons for sure. He looks marvelous staring down my Threshold team.

That's all for now. Have a great rest of your holiday and happy gaming!

Grave Encounters

Thanks to one of my gaming resolutions, I have finished my first painted minis of the year. I haven't been quite reaching the 2 hours a week mark, but the resolution itself has at least inspired me to get off my ass, and I suppose that's really what resolutions are for.

The first thing I want to show off are some gravestones:

They aren't anything special, just extras from Games Workshop zombie sprues from almost a decade ago. I've had them forever and always wanted to do something with them. Strange Aeons calls for grave markers in some scenarios, so I figured I'd use these. They were basically free, plus one penny each for the bases. The pennies are great because they take up much less space than a 25mm base and are low to the ground, which is wonderful for small terrain pieces. Plus, you know, they cost a penny.

Of course, you can't have graves without something to come out of them:

I had 3 very creepy zombies from my Reaper Bones Kickstarter and it seemed like a perfect time to get them painted. I really love how Bones minis paint up and I didn't even bother to prime these. The undercoat went on like a dream and seems to be pretty tough on it's own. Not necessarily something I would do all the time but it's good to know for simple pieces like these.

The zombies I also painted up for Strange Aeons, but they have a hundred other obvious uses. I gave them blue glowing eyes to try for an arcane feel, rather than a virus or disease. These are zombies raised for purposeful mayhem, not a product of mere random chance.

You way notice the bases are a little different than my usual work:

On the left is the basing technique I have used for years. It's fine model train ballast held down with school glue and liberal layers of paint. It generally takes forever to dry but creates a nice, solid base with more texture than regular sand but not overwhelming chunkiness.

On the right I used The Army Painter's Brown Battleground Basing. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the bases get done in a single layer and no extra paint is needed. On the other, it's quite a bit chunkier than my usual basing and the color isn't 100% to my taste. The lack of a top layer of paint also makes it a little more fragile.

Here are the two materials side by side:

If you clicked the product link above, you may notice a big difference in the color. I was a little disappointed, as I was expecting a more even coloration that I could then drybrush with my chosen highlight. The way it is, the highlight is sort of included. Now, I could always add more paint but that sort of defeats the purpose in the first place. Still, for about 4 bucks it's an interesting alternative. It would be good for quick and dirty jobs, like the zombies, and I could keep the other basing for more detailed jobs. Of course my laziness may win out in the end and all my bases may end up covered in it.

So there you have it: gravestones, zombies and a mini basing review. That's all for now and happy gaming!

Crossing The Threshold

Strange Aeons is the first game where I vowed to paint all my figures before I started playing. I don't know why this is, but I suspect Song of Blades and Heroes is to blame for this. SBH got me into the habit of skirmish style games, where only a handful of figures are needed and having an all painted force was easy to accomplish. After many years of playing with great grey hordes in Warhammer and WH40k, these small, colorful battles were amazing and glorious.

How glorious? This glorious.

So when my SA figures were in hand and I only had 6 or 7 to paint up, I said "This'll be quick. I'll be done in no time." and set to work. I suppose in the grand scheme, less than two months isn't all that much time. I have been known to work on a batch that small or smaller for almost a year. But now I have a cast of heroes, some villains and a few ideas to work with.

I've already introduced my new bad guys, and have lots of other models from years past to use as Lurkers, but my Threshold agents were a totally new thing for me. I've already shown you one from my first Bones experiment, Agent Mick Francis. Now I have the rest of the team painted up and ready to fight extra-dimensional horrors and their servants.

First we have the team's leader, Agent Ashton Clarke. Born and raised in Arkham, Mass., Clarke is no stranger to odd happenings and the occult. Though brash and headstrong, he shows a real talent for leadership. Despite his impetuousness, he was promoted because he gets results, even if those results are sometimes acquired through the liberal application of dynamite.

Agent Lucy Shae, a former Providence journalist, is sort of the mascot of the group. She is usually the one asking questions and dealing with people. She is known for her incredible luck, and has often survived where other agents have not by sheer chance. Given Clarke's methods, she seemed a natural fit for his team.

Professor Arthur Haywood is the group's scholar and occult specialist. Also from Arkham, Haywood is cautious and measured, and rarely without a plan of some sort. He counter-balances Clarke's disposition, and though there has been some argument between the two, they are fast friends. Haywood is currently looking to acquire spells for study and eventual use against their foes.

Finally, we have the group shot with Mick. Agent Mick Francis was the former sheriff of Alameda, Texas. After the Alameda Incident, the town was abandoned and Mick inducted into Threshold. Mick never speaks of Alameda, but then he rarely speaks at all. The mysterious silent type, he doesn't go in  much for asking questions and studying books. He remains on the sidelines until his real skills are needed, then enters the fray with six-shooters blazing.

And that's the team. I'm hoping to get my first game of Strange Aeons in soon and I hope to have a report of sorts up to go along with it. I'm incredibly psyched for SA. It meshes my love for little toy soldiers with my obsession with Lovecraft. A better fit for my gaming, I cannot imagine.

Happy gaming!

A Batch Of Beasties!

Last week my lovely wife and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary. As everyone knows the first anniversary is the miniatures anniversary. Having the awesome wife that I do, she purchased me enough stuff to get me started in the Strange Aeons game of Lovecraftian horror and mayhem. I've done some painting in anticipation of this event (since I've known I was getting it for a while now), but I haven't had anything official to work on until now.

I received not only a Bundle of the Beast, but also the Threshold Agents I and the Fishmen I packs, plus a membership in the Cult of the Black Goat, complete with Giant Deep One (and a banshee, captive and submerged Deep One). Needless to say, I have a nice pile of stuff to work on. The Threshold agents are primed and in progress, but I couldn't help but knock out the Fishmen real quick. Being mostly robes, it was easy work. I chose turquoise robes to evoke images of the sea.

The pieces were easy enough to paint. The details are limited and subtle, and the sculpts pretty basic. I haven't worked with this particular resin material before, and I did notice some hefty flash/mold lines as well as some areas of bubbles. I'm not terribly skilled at removing/fixing such things, so I left them be. I don't think they are too noticeable. I really enjoy the sculpting style, but I will say that for the price ($12 CAD for 2 models plus $10 shipping from the great white north) I think I may be limiting my purchases. The quality to price ratio just doesn't hit as square on the head as I would like. Still, there are a few packs I will splurge on in the future if funds allow.

Slightly before I received my SA stuff, I finished off a model I've been meaning to paint for years. During my true love affair days with Warhammer (about 6-7 years ago) I picked up a box of chaos spawn for roughly half the price of what they cost now. I was a Lovecraft fan at the time as well, so naturally I built them up as Mythos-y as possible. I discovered them while searching through minis a while back and figured this was an opportunity to paint one up. I of course chose the one with the most tentacles.

The paint job on this guy is about as basic as you can get: base, wash and re-highlight with base color. The only thing I got "fancy" on was the eyes. I went for hourglass shaped pupils and huge yellow irises to give them a really unnatural look. I figure this guy will make for a great Formless Spawn or maybe The Horror if playing a Dunwich scenario. Here he is with a victim for scale:

I truly can't wait to get these guys on the table. I have to finish up my agents first though. Now if I could just get past the color choice on that splendid waistcoat...

Agent Mick Francis, reporting for duty!

This is a reasonably historic post because two things are happening for the first time here:

1) I have painted the very first miniature from my Bones Kickstarter
2) I have painted up my first miniature intended exclusively for the game Strange Aeons

The miniature I chose was a gunslinger, who looked like he'd fit in perfectly with some 1920s Cthulhu Mythos investigators acting as some extra muscle for those candy-ass, four-eyed bookworms with all their scrolls and whatnot. I don't actually have my copy of Strange Aeons yet, but I feel confident I will find a place for him.

I am quite pleased with how he turned out. I am used to painting fantasy and sci-fi miniatures with bright colors and plenty of detail This more simplistic miniature with naturalistic tones was a minor challenge in that I had to create variation among various shade of grey/brown.

Given that he bears more than a passing resemblance to NCIS's Muse Watson, I chose to name him Mick Francis. I imagine him as a tough, no-nonsense gunman, a former law-man whose chance encounter with strange creatures from beyond got him recruited to Threshold. Gruff and direct, he isn't suited for a leadership role, but his fighting skills are invaluable when things go South (as they often do in his line of work).

As far as working with a Bones figure for the first time, I have to say I'm impressed. The figure was one of the lucky, unwarped ones, so no reposing was required. It took both paint and primer easily, without having to be washed  first. Though flexible, the paint doesn't seem to crack, so it should be pretty durable.

I only have two complaints about the material so far. The first is that the Bones-ification process seems to cause a fair bit of softening of the detail:

Original Figure (Picture copyright Reaper)

Bones figure (Picture copyright Reaper)

 It's not bad, but it is enough that I had a hard time not making the figure look like a D&D pre-paint repaint (and I'm not entirely sure I succeeded). The second is that mold lines are a real pain. While not excessive, the material can't really be scraped off like metal or hard plastic. Instead, you sort of have to carefully filet it off. I have difficulties enough with regular mold lines, so I left them on. That also doesn't help the pre-paint feel.

So there you have it. I still have 11 days until I receive my SA books and Mike here can go on adventures, but I'm glad he'll be ready for action at the drop of a (10-gallon) hat!

Happy gaming!

Floaty Tentacle Monsters of Doooooom!

I've been feeling in a Lovecraftian mood lately, and also feeling painty, so what better than to sit down and work on something with tentacles?

A while back I decided to put some extra Tyranid spore mines to use by slapping some paint on them and using them for extra-dimensional creatures out if space and time. They fit all the criteria: imhuman looking, float/fly by imperceptible means and trailing tentacles behind them. Here's the group shot:

I painted up the blue group first. I chose that particular coloration because it was unnatural and seemed to fit ethereal, otherworldly beings. At this point I had decided all the tentacles should be the same color, and it makes them really look like space jellyfish:

The red group I wanted to do something different with. I aimed for a more organic, fleshy look, almost as if they were covered in blood and ichor. I chose a human skin color for the accents and tentacles to make them look especially fleshy but still unnatural. I chose to leave the central tentacle red so as not to over-use the flesh and keep the red, bloody color strong:

Simple models and color schemes, but I think effective. I know they will find their way into Song of Blades and Heroes or D&D adventures for sure. I'm hoping I will be able to use them in Strange Aeons, which I will be getting to play sometime after the next couple weeks. I already have cultists to summon them!

"Forward and consume, my minions!"