So Angry It Hurts!!

What is the Gorax?
And why is it here?
And why is it angry and Primaled, I fear?
And ready to frenzy wherever it goes?
That old Mohsar still lives here.
Ask him. He knows.

(With deepest apologies to Dr. Seuss.)

Miniature Monday: Wealth of Stealth

In a quick update for  Miniature Monday, I have recently finished The Lord of the Feast and a Dwarf Thief model for the new Pathfinder campaign at work, both models representing stealthy characters of different sorts.

The Lord of the Feast came together very well. I wish I had built a little more contrast into the color scheme, but it does make the hair really pop.

Look, kittens! I love kittens. And the flesh of my enemies.

I wish I had built a little more contrast into the color scheme, but it does make the hair really pop.

You don't have him for dinner...

My Dwarf Thief is a nice Reaper mini, and I made a point of trying to paint him quickly for a change, all in all about 4 hours or so.

I steal everything, basically, but especially mustache wax.

While the photos are a little washed out, the blonde beard was probably not the best choice, both because I am not good at Blonde yet, but also because it fades into the skin tone a bit.

Thieves's Guild, not Lollipop Guild. Come over here and make that joke.

I intend to try painting the entire Druids of Orboros unit this weekend, so I used this as a dress rehearsal for the cloaks. It came out too light, so I’ll go darker for the druids.

This week, I’m working on Nuala the Huntress.

Miniature Monday: Don’t Go Into the Woods

Circle Orboros represents the red in tooth, red in claw side of nature to be sure, and I am currently working on two of the more emblematic figures that embody this: Wurmwood, Tree of Fate and The Lord of the Feast. (Circle Orboros makes up for its lack of titular preposition by liberally applying them elsewhere.)

Wurmwood, Tree of RAWR!!!!!

Wurmwood is relatively straightforward to paint, though it has a lot of detail. The photo washes out the skulls around the base–the shading is much darker in person, but I will still need to deepen the shadows in the eye sockets. Painting all the ropes was getting fussy and I surrendered partway through the day. I have yet to field Cassius and Wurmwood, but am looking forward to the day I feel advanced enough to take on the challenge.

Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom...

While Circle Orboros doesn’t have anything I’d call as much of a “crutch” or auto-include as the Choir or the Deathjack, The Lord of the Feast comes close, “bloody” close (har!).  I specifically started painting him to remove him from my battle bag and try something else with the four points. I’m still having trouble with the skin, drybrushing didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. I need to do a little more glazing and highlighting, the shading ended up too heavy-handed.

Your Ticket to the Dog Show

Late last year I picked up the Reeve Hunter and his three pet War Wolf missiles. Today I finally finished painting them. I take forever to paint a model these days — even more so than in the past — due to a busy career and a number of impromptu lunchtime meetings cutting into my painting time.

Let's play fetch. The hard way.

Painting the Reeve Hunter was surprisingly challenging, but also very fun. I wish I had chosen brighter green for his armor, and the sword really dulled down with the matte varnish in a way I wasn’t expecting. In general, however, I am pleased. For the War Wolf Solos, I applied  a basecoat of medium gray over black primer, drybrushed with light gray and white, then washed in sepia. I drybrushed up to white again, washed down in sepia, and finally drybrushed up one last time. I wasn’t sold on the result until I painted the armor and harnesses — the fur looks much better in contrast with the other colors.

Real wolves are not as fond of brushing as tiny metal ones.

As always, I tend not to paint the models I am playing — so the Lord of the Feast will never be painted, I guess — and I haven’t figured out the best use for this five points of roving death.

Of course I have the proper licenses. Come check their collars.

My collection of Circle Orboros is continuing to grow, unfortunately it is growing into a pile of unassembled models, much of it infantry.   I remain woefully inept at pinning and I had been avoiding the frustration to be had pinning lots of little hands to spears. I despaired of ever being able to run Morvahna or Mohsar, however, who depend on infantry spam. So I finally bit the bullet and assembled — without pinning — a full unit of Wolves of Orboros with Unit Attachment and a min unit of Reeves of Orboros. I did pin Wolf Lord Morraig with predictably inaccurate results.

I don't think the fur is faux.

Painting all these are going to be a chore, I’m going to wait and see how bad the joins are — those spears are bound to catch on everything. I am halfway inclined to just go Indonesian, next time.

Lord of the Storm, Lord of the Dance

Epic Krueger has been painted just in time for this weekend’s foodmachine tournament; I ended up rushing the cloak because I wanted him finished, so some of my highlighting is not as good as I would have liked. I have done all but add the basing materials (I painted the front arc after I took the photo): I wish I had a good way to have swirling leaves since he looks all windy. I would greatly prefer to let him dry much longer before I paint the sealer on, maybe I should play him carefully with no sealer on Saturday.

Why do PP's "action" poses all look like dancing?

I wish I had not broken my camera, the iPhone really doesn’t take that great of pictures.

The cloak ended up a different color than I expected, it’s different shades of olive green in thin layers, but then I washed with with GW’s Thraka Green and it got very emerald. I should really have made a dark olive wash myself, I’ve had so many bad experiences with self-mixed washes that I am hesitant. I considered mixing Devlan Mud and Thraka Green washes to try to emulate an olive green wash, but I think that may not work well. I should try that on a model I care less about to see if I can paint my Druids that way.

I chickened out on doing glowing blue eyes. I had a white glaze on the brush and in the eye socket before I changed my mind and just gave him regular eyes. I made the pupils with a very dark gray this time, it looks less googly-eyed than black does.

I’m working crazy hours right now. Not a lot of time to craft a post, I have chosen to spend my free time painting, instead.

Stab, Stab, Whoosh

I pretty much finished the Eladrin Swordmage for our new D&D campaign the other day (his sash is going to get one more detail pass and a more careful final wash, I think). He turned out pretty well, the iPhone photo is not as good as the Sony took, but there you go. This is why we can’t have nice things. After I created the character I was struck by the fact that the character concept is rather Circle Orboros–he teleports around, uses lightning powers,  and has a vaguely unsavory secret agenda.

Wait here. I'll be back. I promise.

 

The DM told me he liked that he can only see one or two splashes of color whichever way he looks at him, and when you turn him around the red scabbard is a nice surprise. I thought that was pretty gratifying. I only have four or five hours into him, too, so it went pretty smoothly.

I primed the Druid Wilder, eKrueger, and a Reaper human fighter/undead hunter model that I really have liked for a long time, today. It’s amazing how priming the models will show you all the little bits of flash you missed, the Wilder has lots of little tags around her that I need to clean up. The weather is turning to the Autumn/Winter day temps in the sixties in NorCal, so I am going to need to keep the proverbial weather eye out for good priming days for the next five or six months.

I’d like for eKrueger to be painted for the next tournament, at least. I’m not sure I want him to be cloaked in plain ol’ green. I might use the midnight (“Prussian”) blue for all of my Druids, and the storm theme of Krueger seems to demand a color like that. The olive greens of the studio pKrueger scheme also appeal to me, however.