And more Fall Painting...

Just have really had the urge to paint lately, so I'm taking advantage of the feeling.  Nothing earth shattering, but I just feel these are solid paint jobs, and better yet, they shrink my unpainted pile-o-minis!!

Some have been 'almost done' for some time, but for every new mini I'm painting, I'm trying to finish up a partially painted one as well.

First up, Alpha Forge Horror line.  This ones a survivor farmer with a shovel, so I made a base to represent him hiding out in the cornfield!  (THE PICS ARE ARE CLICKABLE to make them bigger!)

The cornstalks are made from paperclips and some paper.

Here's a Sci Fi guy I decided to do.  This one is an Urban Mammoth mini...

Next, I wanted to try a 'monochrome' mini, using very limited colors.  I'm going for a 'they are standing in the moonlight' look here...I'm not sure if I achieved it, as it is rather boring.  If you look close, you'll notice the vampires eyes are red. (you may have to just imagine that....lol)..

Here is that SLITHER lady I was working on.  Not really happy with it at all, but I plodding through and finished it.  It's much too cartoony looking....I like the gore on the base.

Here's another Sci-Fi mini...This one was sculpted by Jim Bowen, and is the first in a whole group of these I have.  Kinda boring, but I like the 'moodiness'.

But, wait there is more!!

Spinespur puts out some bizarre minis, and this one is no execption...A pig mask wearing butcher dude...Freaky!

Last, but certainly not least, is my favorite from the bunch.  The finished APE squad member from the Incursion Game.  He is 'Slugger Murphy'.  Now with 'decal' attached!!

Hopefully these paint moods will continue!  I've got so much more stuff to go!

Still plodding along...

Heres a few I finished just recently.  Both had been on my shelf for some time, in various stages of paint...

The first is a Griffin Zombie Survivor, and the other fella is a EM-4 mini (i think).  Nothing overly special, but just adding to my 'done and painted' pile.

Next is a WiP picture of the very cool Incursion APEs from Grindhouse Games:

They are very cool minis.  I've got some decals on order and once I apply those, I'll finish him up.  Of course, I've got 5 other squad mates to do as well....I can't help it I'm slow!!

Here are a few of the bases I'm going to use for them:

They are made by Fenris and are fantastic quality!

I've put a few layers of flesh tone on the SLITHER lady (see last entry) and hope to be working on that some more as I go.

Thanks for looking!

Twice in One Month!?!

Wow...Go for months without a post, and now, twice in one month!  And with LOTS of stuff.

First up, I've been painting up some A Touch Of Evil boardgame characters for the fellow that runs THE ZOMBIE GAME website.  These were kind of a challenge, as they are made of that soft, bendy plastic...The detail is fine as well, so it's hard to exaggerate things like I normally would.  Anywho, here they are:  CLICK TO SHOW THE WHOLE PIC!

I like the faces on some of them...some were a real challenge.

I also painted up some Hasslefree Adventurers for the same fellow.

These were much more enjoyable to paint and it really shows the advantage of painting metal as opposed to plastic.  Hasslefree stuff is pretty amazing!


This is 'Shawn' and 'Dione'.

I liked the way the highway turned out on the Dione figure, but now looking at that green grass, I think I could have used another layer of highlights.

Here is Shawn again, this time with his Slacker buddy Ed (although technically Hasslefree refers to them as Ray and Tony.  Below is Ken the cop and Alyx.  This is the second time in just a few weeks that I've painted the 'Ray' character.  I've already sent these in the post, and it just now occurred to me that I didn't put a drop of blood on any of the figures....For shame!!!

And Now, a very bizarre WIP sculpture I'm working on..

The movie "Slither" is one of my favorite horror flicks.  It's campy, funny, creepy, and gross.  The grossness doesn't get more so with the character of Brenda...Impregnated by the alien and filled with slimy, mouth seeking tongue worms.  Poor gal just can't get enough to eat!!

So, I set out to make my own little Brenda...With an armature of tin foil, some Pro Create and milliput.  I'm not much of a scupltor, so keep that in mind....

 

EEEK!! That's Hideous!!  Here is the same mini, now primed, with a Hasslefree mini for scale:

Hopefully...I'll get to painting it tonight or tommorow!  Perfect for Halloween.....Let's just hope it doesn't burst while I'm painting.....

Lastly, Heres a zombie Nun and the poor Priest that has to put her out of her misery....

These are made by Griffin Miniatures:

 

SHOOT DAMMIT SHOOT!!

Until next time!! Happy Halloween!

I still paint!!

Ha, I wasn't for sure if I could still do it, and after seeing this, maybe the answer is still 'no'...but regardless. I painted a few of the Hasslefree Zombie Hunters up and made this mini-diorama...

The two heros are standing, on a pillar of some sort, proud of all the zombies they've put down, but what is that behind them??? EEK!

The piles o' dead were zombies from Wargame Factory, which quite frankly is about all they are good for. I used a few parts from the GW zombie line as well.

I made this diorama for some good friends of mine from England. They both are horror movie fanatics, and had sent me an awesome zombie book for my birthday. This was my way of saying 'thanks'. The text across the bottom reads, James and Kath, Britians Greatest Zombie Killers. Probably would have looked better without my hackneyed text...but it does make it more personal.

I had fun with this one, and am currently painting some more of the zombie hunters for another online friend.....maybe someday, I'll paint my own stuff....sigh.

Anyhow, that's that. Hopefully I'll have a few more pics up in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading!!

Getting back in the groove!

For almost the entire summer, I just kind of let my miniatures and gaming go on the back burner. It's not that it was out of mind completely, but a nice break really helps me get excited to get back into the fold....And so onward and upward!

My latest thing, miniature speaking wise, has been to start assembling, basing, and priming as many miniatures as I can. I think having them 'RTP' (ready to paint) will give me more of an incentive as I move along: Here's a batch of freshly primed minis:

All kinds of goodies in there...Some Wyrd, some Void, some Cobalt, some resin statues, some bases, and I think a few Spugs....Believe me, this is the tip of the proverbial iceberg!

In "hey I wanna play a freakin' game" news, Games Workshop cleverly tricked me into buying the latest incarnation of SPACE HULK.

I thought I was done giving the Evil Empire my hard earned scratch, but I was wrong. Every time I get out, they pull me back in!!! Although I was aware of Space Hulk when it first appeared (back in the 'crazy 80's) I was only into 'fantasy' miniatures. I thought it looked interesting, but had neither the time nor the inclination. Now, having both those abstract qualities, I snapped it up. Some of the folks I speak to on the 'forums' have always waxed poetic about this game, and I was determined not to miss it this go 'round.

Plus the marketing geniuses did this (see pic to the right): That's right....they made it a LIMITED EDITION! You can plainly see that I was left without a choice. While Stocks Last. Smartest marketing move since the guy wrote Wash, rinse, REPEAT on the shampoo bottles.

The thought even occurred to me to buy two. What the hell? I swear they put some sort of magical trance on my cognitive abilities!

Anyhow, let me tell you a little bit about the game. I'm sure there is upteen kazillion reviews of it out there, so I'll add another.

The game is set in the 'dark future' of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k universe, but is a stand alone game. Deep in space, and after several thousands of years, derelict space faring vessels have morphed and combined (through the magic of the 'warp' dimension) into massive floating relics. These 'Space Hulks' move about in space, mostly in the 'warp', but occasionally find themselves in the real dimension. Not leaving well enough alone, the evil Genestealers have decided these things make great hangouts, and have set up shop there. They breed and hang until the Hulk is close enough to infiltrate an unsuspecting race. Then, the little bastards really get medieval and 'plant their seed' inside a 'host'. The host then takes care of the offspring, and through progressive generations, the Genestealers Hybrids become part of the society...I'm sure there is a point to them doing this, but it's quite possible they are just after Low-Carb recipes. Either way, it's pretty hideous.

Enter the Space Marines!! The Space Marines are the toughest SOB's in the galaxy. They find out about these Space Hulks, and inexplicitly, decide to board the ships. I suppose if they just blew the ships up from a light year away, the game would be pretty boring....Well, the original Space Marines (the toughest of the tough) get their a$$ handed to them by the Genestealers, so on the next encounter, the Marines send in the toughest of the toughest of the toughest of the tough (these dudes are tough!) The Terminators. Terminators have swanky big armor and powerful weapons, and they have the ability to fight the dreaded Genestealers!

This is where our game comes in. One side controls the Terminators, the other the lightning fast Genestealers. Missions and objectives are laid out, and through the use of interlocking 'jigsaw' pieces a game board is created. In a creative use of game mechanics, the Marines move is 'timed'. This represents the confusion and pressure they are under, since if they don't complete their move before the time runs out, the player loses the rest of the turn! The Genestealers can take all the time they need to plan strategies, think about things, and generally torment the Marines.

The gameplay is very easy to pick up, but really is filled with tension and drama. For instance, the Marine player has no idea how many enemies he is up against until line of sight has been established. Before then, the Genestealers move around the board on cardboard counter BLIPS. It represents a radar motion tracker's signal. The Marines KNOW there is something there, but not how many (it can be 1,2 or 3 of the baddies).

Play progresses from there, with the Marines trying to accomplish a goal, and the Genestealers trying to stop them.

The game is incredibly well balanced, and has very good pacing. I've yet to get into some of the more complicated missions, so I hope it holds up to that.

As good and solid as the gameplay is, the quality of the components are what makes this game a good buy. The fantastically detailed board tiles are made of thick card that should hold up to gamer abuse. The counters are made of the same sturdy material and are very well represented.

The little hourglass timer is a let down. Why not have a digital count-down clock with sound effects and giggly-bobs? I can't imagine having something like that custom made would have been overly pricey. A quick check shows you can customer order a timer for the price of $1.35 (provided you order 5000) But GW could have done that easily. It would have been a great value-added feature!

Lastly, the miniatures. Games Workshop does one thing exceedingly well. Great miniatures. They also do great PLASTIC miniatures, and these are proof. Very well sculpted, very well molded. I love the fact that you can just snap them together (as opposed to their Warhammer models that always need to be glued). The Genestealers went together with no problems, the Space Marines I had to do some fiddling with....but all in all, no big deal. I'll probably even paint them, somewhere down the road.

If you buy this game JUST for the miniatures, I could hardly blame you. Compared to their plastic 'box sets' it's really a justified value. But, if you are buying it just for the minis, you are missing out on a fantastically well crafted game. It's quick, brutal, and loads of fun. All in all, I'd say a 9 out of 10.

Hey! I've clambered on for some time, I think I'll shut up for a bit. See you next time, thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll post more soon!

A quick look at the games I want to play and delve more into in the next few weeks/months.

Last Night On Earth....Halloween? Zombies? They go hand in hand!

Tannhauser.....FFG now owns this property, and is making new rules

AT-43....I'm starting to buy into the 'pre painted' fad...

Star Mogul...Space Salvaging never gets old.

When Zombies attack!

Zombies in all shapes and sizes, plus a few survivors to try and make it through the night.

First up, the survivors.
Poor guys look a bit rough for wear. A grease monkey and a fireman.

But look at what's after them!





Will they make it through the night??
Stay back you devils!!

All these minis are from Griffin Miniatures. Good solid chunky metal miniatures, I've got plenty of these left to paint, so stay tuned!

I also got a the first set of Studio Miniatures zombies, which are a great looking set of minis. I can't wait to start digging into those as well.

I'm notoriously slow at painting, however...

My yearly blog entry....

Allright, admittedly I don't post here much. Or at all.





But, on the plus side, I am starting to get more antsy to start painting again. I did do these a few months back, nothing super, but fun still:




It is a Alpha Forge Mephalian 'GORT'. A huge beast of Burden used by the strange aliens of Star Mogul. I sculpted some horns on this one, just to give it a different look. It actually ended up looking like a bad 1960's female hair do. Not that there is anything wrong with that!
I'm working on some zombies and hope to have some pics up of those one day. Don't hold your breath.