Panzergrenadiers

Long time, no blog...but here's an update...

I've been playing a lot of D&D and card and counter games lately, so not much miniature stuff to post. However, I have been working off and on with some Bolt Action figures.  I recently finished a squad of 12 late war German Panzergrenadiers from the Band of Brothers starter set at Warlord Games...

I've painted them to gaming standard. Nothing too fancy. Primed with grey auto primer. Base colors using Warlord Games suggested Vallejo colors. A coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. A highlight of original base color. A spray of Army Painter "Anti-Shine" matte coat. Finished the bases with some model railroad flock and stones/ballast. Simple, quick, and effective for the tabletop.

This morning I finished assembling a squad of 9 US paratroopers and got them primed...

They'll be painted in the same way, hopefully in a more timely fashion than the Germans. Then the plan is to have a few games of Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames. Good times...good times...

That's it for now. Until next time, carry on!

Tiefling Sorcerer

Finished another Reaper model this week...

As with my other figures, he will be mounted onto a clear acrylic base once I've finished clear coating him.

That completes all the player minis for the two D&D 5e campaigns I currently participate in. Only took me 2 years, so not too bad. ; )

That's it for now. Until next time, carry on!

Another Wizard

I finished another Reaper Wizard model this week...

I've been trying to be more disciplined about painting figures, so I started a new challenge I heard about. I can't find the links, but it's a simple enough challenge: paint one miniature a week. That's it. Just one figure a week, each and every week, for one year. That seems doable to me. So this is my first week....

Anyway, that's it for today. Until next time, carry on!

Hafling Rogue

Just a quick shot this week of another mini I finished painting. Still need to mount onto a clear acrylic base.

His feet got a little maimed when I cut him off his integral base.
Don't look too close. : )

This is my friend's son's halfling rogue for our D&D game. No great highs or lows, but I'm satisfied with a solid figure for gaming.

That's it for this week. Until next time, carry on!

D&D Dwarfs WIP

Been working on D&D character minis. Here are two of my son's dwarf characters.

First up is Max Heal, the party's cleric...

I like the shade of red on his beard.
I should have made the gem on his helmet a different color though. (shrugs)
This is one of the best jobs I've ever done on a model's eyes.

His fur cloak turned out ok.
Still need to develop the technique to get more realistic looking animal fur.
The hammer and horns are pretty sweet.

The embossed shield.
I'm not sure which god it represents, but, as one friend said,
"that's a coat of arms I can get behind!"

Next up is Gardian, brother and protector to Max Heal...

I'm particularly proud of how his beard turned out.

The red scale mail was an experiment.
I think it turned out pretty good.

The white bases are just temporary for painting. I will mount them on clear acrylic bases, which is my standard base for D&D figures.

These guys accompany Vainglorian, the High Elf Paladin I posted a while back. The rest of the party consists of a male halfling rogue, a female human wizard, and a male tiefling sorcerer. You can just make them out in the fuzzy background of these photos. I will post finished pics of them soon.

Until next time, carry on!

A Little Zombie Gaming

Played some All Things Zombie: Final Fade Out a couple weeks ago. It was a simple Search scenario in an urban setting. The players were all new to the game so I kept it simple and did not use PEFs. I played as the referee and ran the zombies while they each took a character. It was a fun game and my friends enjoyed it.

My urban board.
I need to get some MDF buildings to replace those card stock ones.

Here you can see the character cards I use.
I've made one for each of my survivor/ganger models.

The zombie kills are piling up!
They did pretty well, for noobs. Only one of them got killed.

Drone view.

That's all I've got for today. We had a great weekend and I'm looking forward to when we can do it again.

I've been doing a fair bit of painting lately. Since I have such a nice space for painting now, I'm trying to develop a more regular habit. I borrowed an idea from the running world and have committed to 30 minutes everyday for 30 days. It's the best way to start a new habit of anything. It's felt great to get back into the hobby with more consistency.

My goal is to finish all the character models for my other D&D game. One of my friends is the DM and my 12 year old son, his 12 year old son, and I are the players. We each run two characters, so there are six character models. I've finished three. Once the six are completed, I'll start slogging through my lead pile. Clearing out several half-finished projects will be the first priority. Next week I'll have some minis to show you.

Until next time, carry on!

Bones Goblins

These are my first Reaper Bones models. I thought I would try them out since they are so inexpensive.

Bones Goblins, front

Bones Goblins, back

These photos are actually of my second attempt...

On my first try, after washing in soap and water, I painted directly onto the Bones material, as recommended. Initially they painted up fine using Reaper paints. I did a simple paint scheme and then thought I would wash with Army Painter Quickshade.

Big mistake. They never dried...stayed tacky for days afterwards. I let them sit for about a month and they were a little less tacky, but not much better. So I thought maybe a spray coat of matte finish would help.

Bigger mistake. They fogged and then, when handled, the finish and paint cracked right off. What a mess! I almost relegated them to my son's toy bin, but after a little reading on the forums I thought I'd try again. They went into a soak of Simple Green and I started over. The pics above are the result.

Once again I painted directly onto the Bones material, using Reaper paints. Then I gave them a wash of Vallejo sepia wash. Once this dried I went back and picked out a few simple highlights. Then I coated with Liquitex gloss varnish. After this dried, I coated again with Liquitex matte varnish. Et, voila! There they are.

These models are fine for basic troops and D&D monsters. The detail is not as good as their metal counterparts, but it is still serviceable. I've bought a few other Bones models and will paint them simply like these. They are a cheap way to flesh out your collection.

Anyway, here's a few action shots...

A High Elf paladin and Elf archer defend the bridge from goblin raiders.

Meanwhile, help is on the way in the form of a dwarf, a human paladin, and a wizard.

The battle rages on!

Until next time, carry on!

High Elf Paladin

Here is another Reaper mini I finished recently...

This time I didn't use spray finish. I don't think I will use spray finish for any character models again. It's fine for units of basic troops, but I hate to risk it with a model I've spent a lot of time on. Instead, I'm switching to using Liquitex matte varnish over a coat of their gloss varnish. Works well.

Clear coated and acrylic base added.

Sword looks HUGE at this angle...just a trick of the photo.

Here he is defending the Holy Elf Caves from an incursion of Bullywugs.

Until next time, carry on!

Warlock in a Fog

I painted this figure up last summer but never posted anything about it. This is another Reaper mini for my D&D games; a female warlock...

The paint job went forward well enough. I was very pleased with it. But then I made a BIG mistake...

This is the result of using a spray matte coating on a humid day. I thought it was thoroughly effed up. I tried using some rubbing alcohol but that didn't seem to do much other than soften the glue and make her arm fall off. I was so pissed/disappointed...

When I calmed down I did a little Google research and found that if I respray and then place the mini under a hot lamp for a few minutes that it should take care of the fog. I figured "why not?" and gave it a try...

After re-gluing her arm and a little touch up paint, it turned out okay! Still not perfect, as the colors are not quite as crisp as they were before, but this was a hell of a lot better than stripping and repainting.

So, here she is with her acrylic base posing in some of my Dwarvenforge Caverns terrain. I'm glad she was salvageable.

Until next time, carry on!

She is Ever Faithful

I completed another of my Reaper fantasy figures for D&D. This one is a female paladin. I think she turned out pretty well and looks like she's ready to kick some unbeliever's butt.

On the paint table, clear base attached.

Reverse view.

In my Dwarvenforge Caverns terrain.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been mounting my figures on clear, acrylic bases. I love the look of this, but have had some issues with superglue causing the acrylic to "frost".  Fortunately, my wife owns a watch parts/jewelry maker's store. I mentioned the problem to her and she suggested this stuff...

It is used to glue watch crystals in place, among other things. It does not set as quickly as superglue, but it dries completely clear and comes with a super-fine applicator, as small as a hypodermic needle. I found the best way to use it is to apply a little to each foot of the mini and then wait 30 seconds or so until the glue gets tacky. Then press it to the acrylic base and hold for maybe another 30 seconds to a minute. Worked like a charm! It doesn't take much to get a good hold. The package says that any squeeze out can be cleaned off with rubbing alcohol once it sets. I haven't tried that yet, but when I do I'll let you know how that worked.

If you want to order online from my wife's store, go here. They have a nice selection of hobby tools and other items that are useful for miniature gaming. And yes, that was a shameless plug. ; ) If you do visit, please feel free to make suggestions of hobby/modeling items you're looking for.

Until next time, carry on!

Dads and Daughters D&D Characters

When 5th Edition D&D came out, I gathered some of my old high school D&D buddies and started a very occasional gaming group. Since we live a few hours drive away, we've only met about once a quarter, but we make a whole weekend of it. After our first game session, we incorporated our teenage daughters and nieces into the game. We call it "Old Guys D&D" or "Dads & Daughters D&D", depending on our mood. I've been DMing, and we've been having a blast!

I've been painting some figures for character models. These are all from Reaper and have been a joy to paint. I've used Reaper paints and Vallejo washes. Simple photos from my iPhone, but I think you get the idea. I still need to finish the bases, but wanted to share some WIP photos.

My daughter's elven druid character.

One friend's daughter's wizard.

A friend's dwarf cleric.

A friend's human fighter.

A friend's halfling wizard.

There are three more in the party. I will post them when they are finished. I hope you like these. Feel free to comment below.

Until next time, carry on!

Earth Force Dropship

I finished my Khurasan Lander this weekend.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It is a very good model, in my opinion. I hope my paint job has done it justice.

Paint finished and awaiting matte spray.

Close up of Lander only.

The cargo/troop bay. 

Bay door open, turrets in the background.

I used some old 40K Imperial Guard decals I had around.  They add a little extra detail and give the piece some character.  This will be a nice centerpiece model for my Earth Force Marines army.

 Some on the table shots:

Earth Force Marines deploy onto the LZ...

...while the Lander provides excellent covering fire with it's two tri-barrel turrets.

I painted the windows in gloss coat for some shine. I like the effect.

The Lander prepares to lift as soon as the Marines are clear.

The troop bay is left to establish a hard point on the LZ.

I now have two viable forces for Gruntz 15mm or for THW's 5150: Star Army.  I should be able to develop some scenarios using my Khurasan Space Demons and my Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines.  I also have a good supply of desert world terrain.  I will get a game in soon and will post as soon as I do.

Until next time, carry on!