Big & Small: Old & New

Last month I took part in, and got the narrowest of victories in the painting contest on The Warhammer Forum, with my Blood Bowl Apes, and the spoils of victory is to pick the theme for the next contest.

A couple years ago I tried to enter these every month. It was great fun, win or lose (since it's not really the point) and good motivation to paint and do something new or unexpected.  The contests began to suffer from a slow down- taking a very long time between contests, languishing in limbo as it waited weeks for a poll to be put up, and I lost interest since it just didn't seem to be happening. But seems to have renewed interest of late and more timely chugging along, which is great news.

The theme for this time, is 'Dynamic Duo': Two against the world.  So many great iconic characters and stories of two heroes facing impossible odds: Batman & Robin, Legolas & Gimli, Frodo & Sam, Lone Ranger & Tonto, Han & Chewie..I'm sure you can think of a lot of others too.

I'd thought I'd do a couple for Prehistoric Pulp, but then I thought about one of my (many) unstarted projects: the Halflings.  Awhile back I ordered a lot of Warploque Miniature's halflings-because they are awesome- and imagined they'd make a nice fantasy force for games like Songs of Blades & Heroes, or perhaps a fantasy skin of Saga.

I also am a big fan of old Citadel miniatures from the 80's era.  So when I run across a nice one I'll pick it up.

And so my two heroes are born- or, almost- they just need to be painted!

Halfling veteran and his Ogre compatriot.  

These two have a long history and many tales of past battles.  

This Ogre is from 1993, so nearly 20 years separate these two miniatures, but I think they make a great pair!

They have a similar character about them. 

The Ogre I converted a bit. He was supposed to be a standard bearer.  But for a skirmish game, and being possibly the only Ogre to be in the halfling's force, I needed him to take a more active role. 

So I converted the standard into a spear worthy of an Ogre! 

I also de-skullified him.  His medalion had a skull face, and the pommel of his sword was a skull (as is the round thing hanging from a chain off the spear) so I shaved the skull icon off, and filed & rounded out the other two details.  Skulls are fine for chaos marauding ogres, but this fellow has long since settled into life among the halflings and they aren't too keen on such things. 

I'm really looking forward to painting these two up!  

See how good painting contests are?  It's got me to give the first step of attention to a project. 

The contest deadline isn't until November 5th, so if you think of something you have lying around that you've wanted to paint, why not do it?  Any genre is open, so it doesn't have to be fantasy.  Check it out here. 

And in the meantime, if you have any suggestions for names for these two, let me know! :) 

He Will Bug You & Hug You: Genestealer Cult Character

Work continues on the Genestealer Cult.. here's a tidbit to share... a character: could be a commander, psyker, atsropath.. just about anything the army might need, he could fill those shoes.. with his slimy tentacles.

A Bathalian Drone from Reaper.

I love this sculpt- very alien & creepy.  Done up in the army's colors, he's a good fit I think with the rest. 

I couldn't get him on one of the sculpted microart bases, not the way he's sculpted, so I texturized a standard base and sculpted some nodules and little tentacles to match the style. 

He's also a bit top heavy, so the underneath of the base is filled with left-over white metal: makes good ballast : all those clippings from removing metal sprue, slotta tabs, and integrated bases comes in handy!

More to come...

Great Big Ape! Gigantopithecus? At home in Prehistoric Pulp

I am still madly churning ideas for Prehistoric Pulp- in the dim hours & in the back of my mind as I work on other things, and this guy is one of my favorites: the Arkansas/Georgia Swamp Monster from Pontoonier Miniatures.

This is one big ape! That is a 40mm round base he is on. 

The miniature comes on an integrated base, with his forward hand touching the ground. 

That had to go. 

The span would make the base so long that if I wanted a round base it would have needed to be at least 60mm round, which makes it unwieldy in a skirmish game, or to add another 25 or 30mm base under his hand, but I felt that looked a bit odd.  So instead I removed the base, put him as far back on the 40mm base that I could and have the extended fist elevated like he's in the process of hurdling forward. 

He is too big to be a 'great ape' for the ape faction, and more ape-ish than the Yeti faction and for the 'Robustipithicus' faction, so he may end up being used as a 'wandering monster' type, or perhaps (for lack of a better term) a 'Mercenary' that a few factions could influence over.  However it must be I will find a place for this great fellow! 

We Need More Orcs in Congress

With Congressional approval ratings so low they hover just above involuntary live organ 'donation' in seedy motel bathtubs, perhaps it is time to bring in Orc taskmasters to whip them into line.

Too good to be true?  Not so!  As Stephen Colbert kindly reveals...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Koch Brothers & Orc Senate Candidate
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

The Planta for Prehistoric Pulp: Why Gathering is just as dangerous as Hunting

For nearly 95% of our species' time on this plant we were Hunter-Gatherers. Nomadic or Semi-nomadic small groups, surviving off the land.  The popular image of humans for this time focuses on the hunting: toe to toe with a mammoth or woolly rhino.  But we also had salad with our mammoth: lots of gathering of plants for our food, in fact if we hadn't become so good at it, and learned to understand those plants so well then agriculture (and therefore civilization) would never have been developed.

But picking berries doesn't make for as dramatic and exciting images as hunting the mega-mammals, but Prehistoric Pulp is here to re-balance the scales!  Venturing among the plants is every bit as dangerous as hunting beasts, for the plants have their own protectors...

The Plants are a sentient species that are unique in the setting:  the only race that are not animals.
Because of this, they are the most alien and the most unrecognized by the other tribes.

Descendants of the first flowering plants the Planta have evolved a means of locomotion: they are not rooted to one spot as other plants are.  With limbs like creeping vines, and by controlling the flow of water between their cells, they mimic the effects of muscles:they are quite strong for their size!

The Planta have other dangerous attributes beyond their strength: they can release a cloud of spores which can debilitate, and sometimes even kill animals.  They do not make or use tools, but they are intelligent.
The see and communicate by subtle vibrations, giving them the advantage of silent communication as well as 'seeing' in the dark and through concealment. When in vegetation, such as brush and woods they can be move nearly silently and remain unnoticed to all but the most careful observer, making them very dangerous foes.

...................................

The miniatures are from Hydra Miniatures and were a lot of fun to paint!
There are only 2 poses in a set (8 miniatures) but they are very easy to bend around to get different poses out of them.  They are fairly short, so they'd also make great large plant creatures for a 15mm scale!

Enjoy!

Elvorix: Test Mini for War of Ashes & Muppet Saga

Earlier this year, when attending Kubla Con I visited the Zombiesmith booth, to see the new Quar and got hooked on a new range of miniatures, for 'War of Ashes' which could be described as the Dark Ages: dangerous and brutal, within the world of cute odd creatures.  The faction I was most drawn to is the Elvorix: the protagonist of the setting (though I did get some of the big 'wookie trolls' their rivals use- had too! they're too cool, I can always use them in my army as reformed trolls).

This last week I did squeeze in a bit of time to paint up a mini to test the scheme I had in mind.
He still needs grass on the base, but I think I'm happy with it- I like the colors, and he was very fun to paint. Simple details, lots of character, and I enjoy the dark weathered wood and leather contrasted by brighter orangish fur & turquoise clothing.

War of Ashes is a unit based mass combat game, so I did use square bases. I went with right-angled edge mdf bases: I just prefer them over the beveled bases, so there is more surface area to work with, and when in a unit it has the appearance of solid ground instead of seeing a grid within of base edges.

This is a 20mm base, so you can see the mini is fairly small and delicate. A nice relief from miniatures that crowd and spill over the base and over-burdened with details.

I have a lot of these to paint, but they do paint up quickly.
20 sword & shield like this fellow,
20 with long spears (they rank so the spear attacks from behind the swords and shield wall. (but they also rank nice together if you'd like a pike block look)
16 skirmishers
5 command characters
2 trolls
1 big attack pig

I also have some for adapting them to Saga, where I'd expect to play them as Welsh:
1 warlord (leader & banner on one 25mm base)
8 cavalry: converted sword & shield warriors to ride wild pigs!

Apes Ambushed by Gypsy Pirate Wenches! EotD Report

James Clayton, the Lord of Greystoke, had heard that the coastal village of Dreary Bluff might have a clutch of artifacts and curiosities, so he dispatched Alphie and the apes to investigate.  Woodhouse would accompany them, in case any arrangements needed to be made, but Maggie was still recovering from the brutal treatment at the hands of dishonorable 'Gentlemen', so the young chimpanzees Bartholomew and Pim would go along as well by way of compensating for her absence.

The intrepid apes split up into small groups, to cover more ground, trying to find any artifacts as quickly as possible in the cold and quiet pre-dawn hours,before any villagers might wake.

But the morning was not as empty as they'd thought- a roving band of Gypsy Pirate Wenches were also out seeking plunder!

The apes surged forward, trying to reach the disguised markers before the unscrupulous women.

The apes advanced using the cover of the homes as best they could, for the wenches opened fire!
That is one way to keep villagers in their homes I suppose.

The secreted markers were within the reach of the apes, but still the women came on, preceded by shots!

At the south end, an Ape and Pim were the most exposed, and stumbled as both were shot!

Woodhouse and a house-ape intercepted two of the violent women, while others searched the marker.

Meanwhile, Alphie and the primates in the center dispatched two of the gunwomen. 

That accomplished, Alphie charged the leader of the Pirates!  

Seeing this, she called for retreat and they ran off back to their camp.  

A couple apes were injured, but nothing serious. The Gypsy Pirates were not so lucky, having one member die and another lost an eye- well, that's why they have eye patches. 

Unfortunately, the rumors of the artifacts were unfounded.  The apes searched every disguised marker, and there was nothing to be found but dirt.  

Still, it was valuable experience for young Bartholomew and Pim as well as more command experience for Alphie, who is coming into his own, one of the goals of Greystoke being to test the effects of the combined nexus within Alphie, to stimulate it's potential within this new form of being.