"They Were Once Men..."

Super-quick one here. This here fella is my dismounted version of the Ringwraith that will lead my 500 point Mordor army for GW's Lord of the Rings game. The learned reader will note that he began life as a Citadel C18 Night Horrors "Wraith With Sickle".

"Eyyyy, batta, batta!"

A simple weapon swap with a plastic GW Empire soldier, and a paintjob that didn't even take as long as the swap did, and he's a done deal! I drybrushed some brown around his hem to represent mud on his robes (but especially to break up the monotonous black and grey scheme). Great miniature - absolutely full of menace.

His sword. Good for Hobbit-chopping.

So what will I do for the mounted version? Well I've had the old Fiend Factory Wraith on Zombie Horse for YEARS now, and he's a perfect fit for the job.

Not my pic. Mine is just undercoated black ATM, and impossible to get a good picture.

Still not 100% sure how to actually paint the horse (it's why I was scared to paint the miniature since I got it in the 80's), but I'll figure it out.

For Reference...

Just putting a couple pics of my old Conqueror robot (painted circa 1989) up, just to host them for another site...

Three More BB Skaven

Not much else to add, two linemen and a cool-looking blitzer from the Jes Goodwin Skaven era.

I think I'm getting a little heavy with the orange highlights.

I love these miniatures, but for some reason it feels like a chore to make myself do them (and it shows in the work). Oh well, I only have four left (another blitzer, thrower, and two linemen) and this project will be done - except for the cheerleaders that I need to convert from old Ral Partha ratmen. And a couple other specials. And I'll need to paint the four variant figures that I don't have (if I ever get them) as well as the Hackflem Skuttlespike mini (if I ever get that).

So yeah! almost done! :)

So You Better Be Good...

For goodness sakes...

"Punish!"

I'm still trying to decide if I want a cheery slogan on his weapon or not.

Wargames Foundry's Bazooka Santa. Found him in a forgotten box o' miniatures and figured that this was the best time of year to paint him up. Knocked him out in two quick sessions - how could I not with his limited palette? Fun figure to paint, and he can be a part of the house's seasonal decor   ;)

The Things We Fight Over

I knocked out some terrain pieces a week or so ago; I kept coming across them while I was doing a clean-up of my hobby area and figured they were just asking to be done :)

Pegasus Hobbies buttresses formed into a Gothic Gazebo

These old 3rd edition 40K chestnuts - the other two corners are around here - somewhere...

LotR ruins and Armorcast rocks. Excitement!

Do try to ignore the many, many assembled miniatures off to the sides - as usual, I talk about hobbies that I want to start, but then go haring off after something else entirely. Of course, terrain is generally quick and easy to paint and look good once you have the process down, so I feel like working on this stuff was time well spent. (Not to mention it makes the games look 100% better too!)

Time to push some miniatures from that 95% completion stage to the 100%.

"Things That Can't Be Polished" For $200, Alex.

Here are a couple old Heritage sorceresses that I slapped paint on as a whim last week. For some odd reason I've been interested in pulling out old, rough sculpts from my youth and getting color on them lately.

1206b and 1206c, respectively

As I've whined about before - I'm no great painter, but it would be hard for anyone to make these crude gals look good. Poor 1206b has a particular case of "butter face" that only got worse the longer I messed with it. I didn't paint 1206c's eyes, as her pose and general appearance suggested to me that her eyes were closed as she worked her magics.

That's a damn heavy cloak...

All said, I'm still happy enough with them - there's something satisfying about finishing something that's been in your collection for 30-ish years. :)

On Top Ork

I finished this guy this past Thursday, but I haven't posted him since I generally don't get much hobby stuff done during my work "week" (Friday through Sunday, 12 hour shifts), plus I've been waiting to try photographing my minis outdoors in natural light.

Naturally, it has been raining all week here in Texas so that hasn't happened.

Just an old Rogue Trader-era Ork boy, that I've applied the darker skin tone to. I actually started him the same time that I did the Grenadier plastic Orcs, but finished him separately. I'm OK with the skin color, but I'll try to lighten it up on future Orcs. Most likely I'll be mixing skin tones within units anyway, as I'm sure they can vary from boy to boy, just like humies.

"On Top". 

Oops, looks like I'll need to paint his claws. It's always something.

Nothing fancy here - I'm kind of at the point where I just want to get miniatures painted without worrying about fancy blending techniques. I knocked this guy out pretty quickly (for me), and that's about as satisfying as getting a "perfect" paint job. Plus, he's an Ork. They're pretty scruffy-looking anyway. :)