It's beginning to look a lot like Fishmen...

I call this meeting of the Innsmouth Town Hall to order.

Fishfolk are a staple of HP Lovecrafts' The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and they are mentioned several times throughout the Monster Hunter International's story lines.  Originally, I had just a few of these fantastic little hybrids, but Crooked Dice has come out with plenty more, and they are just a blast to paint up.  

I really like the idea of a whole town of these folk, living anachronistically to the modern times, blissfully unaware and unwilling to meld with the modern world.  Have an intrepid adventurer pass through, and whamo, you have a whole fun gaming scenario.

The Honorable Mayor and Lady Remoloude

Acolyte Albacore and Father Chubb

Mr. Gorton, Capt. Mac Mackeral, and Beluga

The Pike family, Rock, Ma, Pa, and Gerald

The Original folk, Finn, Gil, Sticks, Mrs Gorton and Kermit.

 It's been recently brought to my attention that this 'faction' would work well in Dracula's America, a gaming system I am aware of but haven't paid too much attention to.  I've been checking it out, and it does look like a blast.  I realize I'm more of a painter than a gamer, and I'll most likely never play, but I love reading the fluff and flavor of the gaming books, and using it as inspiration to build units.

Hope you like them, they were certainly fun to work up.

More Zombies!!

 Hiya,  me again.

Just adding a few more finished King Zombie zombies to the done pile.

First up is a not so friendly k-9 and his handler.  The handler has a pretty horrific head shot he's dealing with.  You can see the puckered gun shot in his eye, but the backside of his head is...lets say, not healthy.

An officer takes a lunch break, while the flight paramedic wanders aimlessly.  I was just making all the zombies with white or yellow eyes, but adding pupils to the cop really made him look vicious.

 

 

 

Most of the First Responders in a group shot.  I'm betting they kinda wish they weren't the first responders to that last call.

 

  I think I only have a couple more of this set to paint, but it's been really good to paint these up after so long of seeing them languish on a shelf.  I've had fun playing with different skin tones, and the uniforms were fun to paint as well. 

Zombies!

 What good is a modern urban fantasy with out tons of zombies?  Whether they are fast ones, slow ones, mutants, brain infected, rage virused, or just good old fashioned walking dead they are certainly a mainstay of the genre.

Here are some of the King Zombie figures I've been working on lately.  I've had them around for some time, but my attention span is low.

They are seriously over the top and cartoony, but as I've mentioned before, fun and quick to paint up.

These were all from the First Responders set.  The first is a paramedic who decided his patient would make a better meal.

I get a bit of a Freddie Mercury vibe from him.

Next up are some Firefighters.  Each miniature has an integrated and sculpted base, so I just painted it as whatever it was sculpted as. I kinda like the variety.

Don't ask where the dalmation went.

The two on the end I painted some time ago, and now I finally add a few more of the SWAT team.  I used a blue to highlight the ones in the middle, and I like that it doesn't wash out the blacks as much as the other two do, with their grey highlights.

This is why Zombies aren't asked do to the YMCA dance.


I've got just a few more from this set left to do.   Here's a parting shot of a Fire Chief survivor (made by Griffin) holding off his work mates.

Oscar Nunez and Big Jim Murtowski turned on Chief Wendall Rice once before.  The first time was when he was promoted to Chief.  He let that slide as jealousy.  Tonight they turned in a different way, and now the Chief was all done with second chances.

Still alive!

Heya!

Not so sure why I've been away from my beloved little hobby for so long.  But, life does seem to get in the way sometime.

Anyhow, I've not abandoned my project and slowly but surely I've been getting more interested in renewing it.

I have been painting some older Grenadier miniatures, just to get the rust off.

These aren't strictly MHI monsters, but still fit nicely into the genre.


First up is a Lovecraftian beasties called Tsuggathua.  

The most erotic of demon poses.

He's a decent sized mini, and I envision him as some sort of bloated Bat Demon, looking for cultist to heap praise on him.  I've got a bunch of bats that I will eventually paint up to become his entourage.

Next is another Grenadier mini, called the "pit demon'.   Seems like he'd make a great antagonist to any group of Monster Hunters.  He's 'man sized' but with those claws and teeth, I'm sure he'll be more than a handful.

Rawr!

Onto the summoning gone bad, or good, if you are the evil type....

Do you have a moment to talk about my lord Cthulhu?

This one is actually two different models.  The summoning circle and the Protoplasm fellow.  I combined the two, and added some resin....er I mean Ectoplasm.   I'm sure it was a shock to the little cultist to have all those teeth come raging out.

Lastly is a WiP of a bunch of zombies I've had for a while.  They were made by a company called King Zombie.  I think they called the whole line Biohazard Miniatures.  This particular set was 'first responders'.  I've done a few of the SWAT team, but as you can see, there are quite a few more to work on.

They are cartoony, over the top, and strangely sculpted, but honestly they are fun to paint.  There can never be enough Zombies to fight:

Looks like an Unlock Character scene from a video game.

Hopefully I can keep the momentum moving forward and get some more painted.  

You can always come find me on Facebook @  https://www.facebook.com/supervike    

Until next time!

Time flies...and now so does my MHI team.

Jeez, I can't believe how quickly time flies.  It seems I just don't get enough time to update the blog or work on my hobby stuff.    I had shelved the Hind project for a few months, but was able to pick it back up again.  The model itself was a Revell 1/48th scale plastic model I nabbed off Ebay for a song.

It's Red!

I spray painted it flat red, and started trying to 'Orc'ise it.  In Monster Hunter International, the gang gets around quickly in style via the repurposed Mi-24d Russian Hind.  To avoid confusion, they had it painted red, similar to a Red Cross vehicle.   The super skilled pilot, Skippy, customized it from there.

Click to make bigger

It can be equipped with either extra fuel, missle pods, or a variety of other mission specific items.

Now boarding for Natchez Bottom.

Quite often blaring head banging Heavy metal and sacrificing chickens to the 'ro-tor' Gods, Skippy can do some amazing aerial acrobatics with the beefy copter.

No chickens were harmed in making this model (yet).

Honestly, I'm not too fond of the lettering/numbering on the tail piece.  I tried to freehand it, but it looks pretty crappy.  I plan on just painting over it, and getting a decal kit to put the ID number on properly.  I don't mind the 'rough' look of the shark teeth, and white stripes, as I figured Orcs aren't super particular about the overall look.

If I ever do manage to play some sort of game using the miniatures, I'd probably use the chopper as an objective point.  A 'GET TO THE CHOPPA' type scenario.

It's still a bit rough in spots, and I'll clean those areas up, but I was anxious to post pics to prove I hadn't totally abandoned the project!!

In the Monster Hunter International news, there is a bunch of new stuff in the pipeline.  

First up, hitting in July, will be a 'Weird Old West' anthology.  Larry Corriea has authored a short story dealing with Bubba Shackleford, the founder of MHI.  Sounds like fun, and it'll give me a chance to start working on some cowboy minis! 

The next in line in the overall continuing series will be called Monster Hunter Siege.  Sounds like the team is going to have it's hands full in this fight.  It's due out later this summer

In October, comes the Monster Hunter Files, an anthology from a variety of authors penning stories set in the MHI world.

Somewhere soon the third book in the Monster Hunter Memoirs (called Saints) will be released, but I've not seen a date on that yet.

All in all, should be plenty of character, monsters, and etc. for me to keep my project plugging along for the foreseeable future!!

Still plugging away...

Hiya.

Been a busy early start to the year.  Ice storms, overtime at work, dog sitting, home improvements, and of course miniatures!

On the MHI project front.  I have just been slowly painting some side characters, just to keep me moving.  I've been assembling many of the miniatures I got from my Hasslefree haul, but other than some primer, most of those haven't seen paint yet.

These are zombies from a company called King Zombie.  I've had them for a while, just never got around to painting any.  They are kinda goofy looking, with bobblehead sized noggins, but they were still fun to paint.  These are 'First Responders'.  The female zombie is in 'mid-shotgunned blast' mode.

The leg chomping Zed was something from Frothers Unite's zombie line years ago.  He's gruesome enough to be a great target for the other two fellows.  These are team members from Team Haven.  Since they look so similar, these two are going to represent a pair of brothers on that team.  I think they were called the Hate Brothers, and they operate mostly in the Rocky Mountain area.   I'll have to double check on those names though.  The miniatures I used were Spectre minis, and I have to say I wasn't too impressed with the quality of the sculpts.  The anatomy is a bit wonky, and they just don't have the attention to detail I find in other premium models.  But, they will work as a couple of automatic rifle toting Hunters!

Chompy and the Bros.

Last up for this installment is another pretty cool character from the Monster Hunter International world.  Grant Jefferson is a incredibly rich, incredibly talented hunter that we meet in the series' opening novel.  He is arrogant, cocky, and at the time Julie Shacklefords boyfriend.  Owen Pitt hates him for all of those reasons.  Add to the fact that Jefferson basically left Pitt to die during the first big mission, there is serious tension between the two.

Jefferson, Grant Jefferson

But, the brilliant thing Corriea does with many of his characters is that he makes you like them, despite their flaws.  During the series, we see Jefferson leave the premier team on Monster Hunter International to move onto a Hollywood career.  He eventually comes back into the world, but this time with the Monster Control Bureau.  By the time the lastest novel has come around (Monster Hunter International: Nemesis) he's a downright goodguy again.

This representation of him is in that MCB guise.  Tactical battles, public confusion on the subject of monsters, and political manuevering seem to fit him as well as his tailored suits do.

I used a Hasslefree miniature for this called 'Codename: Alexander' but he's very obviously a Daniel Craig version of James Bond.  I can't get over what a talented sculpted that Hasslefree guy is (Kev White).

Anyhow, as with many of the bigger characters in the series, I'll be doing another version of Grant Jefferson, this time in tactical gear.

Until next time!!

Happy New Year!

2017 already.  Just seems weird.

I've kicked off the year right by working on some more great characters from the MHI world.

First up is Heather Kerkonan.  She's the feisty deputy we first meet in MHI:ALPHA.

SPOILER ALERT (storylines will be discussed below.)

She has quite a trying time in that story, but develops a relationship with Earl Harbinger, who helps her through her new found 'change'.

Heather also becomes conscripted into a secretive Government called Special Task Force: Unicorn (yeah, that acronym is STFU), which was led by probably the coolest bad guy in all the MHI series, Agent Stricken.  I'm still struggling to find a miniature that will fit his odd demeanor, but I've not given up yet.

Here's Heather and her alternate ego, a red haired werewolf.  Since Heather was infected during the Vulkodlak (see earlier blog posts for that), it has somehow imbued her with control over her monstrous form.

I used a Hasslefree miniature for the basis of Heather, and a Reaper miniature for the wolf form. 

Next up, and my 2nd painted miniature of the year, is a character known as Rick Armstrong.  He makes his first appearance in MHI: Legion.  He's the cocksure CEO of a competitive hunter group that calls themselves Paranormal Tactical Consulting.   The rivalry heats up throughout the Legion storyline, and hopefully continues in future installments.

I used a miniature from Fenris Games to help represent the leader.  There's a few more figures I have already painted that I may add to the PT (potato tasters?) crew.   More will follow on this.

The last miniature I painted up today was another Hasslefree miniature.  He is obviously mutating into something else, so I thought I'd use him as a Nemesis soldier.  The Nemesis soldiers are first mentioned in MHI: Nemesis.  It's the novel that tells an Agent Franks story.  In a nutshell, Stricken has began to build slave type troops using Agent Franks' blueprint as a starting point.  Since evil entities are always looking for empty bodies to inhabit, some of the Fallen (as in demons from Hell) have staked their claim on these super soldiers.

Later in the story, the demons gain control and are able to mutate themselves into their more demonic forms...Thus, this mini seems to fit the bill for a generic Nemesis soldier.

For Christmas, I received a very cool rulebook called Fear and Faith.  It's a compact little set of rules that are based off the popular Fantasy skirmish rules called Song of Blades and Heroes. I think I'll use this to try to actually play a game in the MHI setting.

A couple of other cool Christmas gifts that pertain to my hobby.  First is a magnifying visor.

Yes, I look like a complete dork while wearing this, but the fact that I can see the details on the miniatures again will make it all worth it.    I've used reading glasses, and those do help, the these changeable magnifier lenses will make a huge difference.  Add the fact that it has an ultra bright LED headlamp, and this will be a great tool to improve my painting, sculpting, and even just cleaning mold lines off the miniatures.

The next uber cool give is the MHI Limited Edition Leather bound hardcover.  

And, it's signed by the author, Larry Corriea!  At least I think it's signed, it's just kinda a scribble, but the Monster smiley face is all the confirmation I need. 

I'm still working on that HIND from last blog post, and it'll be updated sometime soon.  I think the building part is over, but I got to now paint the beast...Yikes!

Anyhow, thanks for reading my rather lengthy New Years blog post.  I'm hoping to keep this rolling for a while, and would love to hear comments, criticisms, or suggestions for the project.

See you soon.