Miniatures

I've been collecting and painting miniatures since I was in high school.  Here, I'll share photos and thoughts of the miniatures I've collected over the years.

Contents

September 29, 2017: Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes
January 13, 2016: Lone Gunman Amazons, Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo Zombie Rednecks
March 24, 2015: Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo, Bombshell Miniatures MicroBabes Set 1
March 1, 2015: Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo, Rebel Minis Civilian Hunters
January 17, 2015: Hospital 911 - An All Things Zombie 15mm Miniatures Project
December 16, 2014: Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo
October 21, 2014: Rebel Minis Modern Zombies Assortment 3, Highlander Studios, Khurasan Miniatures
July 29, 2014: Rebel Minis Modern Zombies Assortment 2
May 30, 2014: Creatures Big and Small (Martian Metals, Steve Barber Models, Chariot Miniatures, Blood Dawn)
May 23, 2014: Martian Metals 15mm Dragonslayer Skeletons and Gargoyles
May 16, 2014: Martian Metals 15mm Dragonslayer Orcs, Goblins and Hobgoblins
May 3, 2014: Armies of Arcana Snakemen, BRF Lizardmen, Martian Metals 15mm Dragonslayer
May 2, 2014: Rebel Minis Survivors, Gangers and Zombies

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 29, 2017: Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes

It has been a very slow year painting 15mm miniatures. As with all of us, many things take me away from the paint table. Work, life, family, etc. I hadn't realized how long it's been since I painted a 15mm mini until I sat down to type this: nearly a year! In that interval, I've painted a bunch of my Steve Jackson Games Ogre miniatures and space ships for Starfire. But a year since my last 15! Yikes.

Well, when last your intrepid painter painted a 15, I was working up to Reapercon 2016, last October. Shannon Stiltz double dawg dared me to enter the painting MSP painting competition. In that competition, you are competing against a standard instead of other painters, and there are as many awards as there are people who meet or exceed the standard. My goal was not to embarrass myself too terribly....

After painting the Amazons, where I'd been working on faces, I decided to try my hand at skin tones and shading. For that, I needed miniatures with lots of skin. Of course, in 15mm, there isn't much skin to begin with, so I opted for half-naked barbarians. I had discovered Copplestone Castings one day and fell in love with his Barbarian Heroes and Northlander Personalities. I'd had them for a while before I dared paint them. Shannon's challenge for Reapercon got me off the porch to give them a shot.

Whereas the Amazons were an experiment in painting faces, the Barbarians became a study project in painting flesh tones. So, it was off to the books/videos to study.

Holy crap! Who knew there were so many different styles/methods of painting skin tones?! Of course, all of the tutorials and guides are geared for 25mm and larger, so I found some of the techniques did not work as well for me as others. One thing I knew: I was through dunking minis I'd spent hours painting in Quickshades! Nothing against the product; I just can't seem to use it consistently.

Base coats, washes, glazes, layers. I tried numerous techniques trying to find one that worked for me and my 15s....

So, one book suggested base coat, then flesh wash and touch up. Didn't seem too difficult....

Number 1:

So this guy was my fist test subject. Lots of skin and opportunities for shading. The idea was to base coat him, slap some flesh wash on him and then clean things up and highlight. The painting guide I was referencing basically treated the flesh wash as though I was lining the crevasses of his skin. The intent was to leave just a thin line of the wash, just as one would do when lining.

In this instance, I found the flesh wash to be too red, leaving the "lined" areas too stark of a contrast for my taste. By the time I'd cleaned up the flesh wash overages, I'd effectively painted over all of the flesh wash. It seemed like I'd doubled my work.

Number 2:

That got me to thinking, if flesh wash was too red, why not try brown wash? So I did.

Base coat, brown wash, clean up, highlight. The effect was much smoother and required less clean up. But, it still seemed like I was making more work for myself. I was experimenting with these miniatures in preparation for Reapercon. While this technique would probably suffice for gaming, I was certain I could get better results.

Number 3:

I tried the brown wash a second time, applying it a little heavier to obtain more contrast.

I seemed to get a little more definition on this one, but I still had to basically paint the miniature twice: once to base coat it, and a second time cleaning up the wash.

So, after three tries of the base coat/wash/clean up technique, I moved on to layering.

Number 4:

I had a little experience with layering when I painted the Amazons' faces. But I was moving on to a (relatively) larger canvas. I knew lots of thin layer would take time, but I was hoping that I wouldn't end up painting the miniature twice only to get back to where I'd started.

I had no real experience with paint theory, so instead of mixing my own paints, I used Reaper's color triads. Those triads have a mid-tone with an accompanying shadow and highlight color. On to Number 4....

Decisions, decisions. Start in the middle, then shade and highlight? Start with the shadow color and lighten everything up? Or, start with the highlight color and work down?

In the end, I started in the middle, base coating with my mid-tone. I then worked on the shadows and finished with the highlights. I didn't do any blending or mixing of paints; just the three shades in thin layers. In all, I like the results better than the washes I'd used with the previous three miniatures. It was time consuming, but I didn't feel as though I was repainting the miniature. Much more satisfying.

Number 5:

I decided then that layering would be how I proceeded. But, three colors was too choppy, and my shadows and highlights need a bit more "pop". So, I added tow more paints to my pallet: a darker tone for deep shadows and a lighter tone for brighter highlights. Five colors, but I mixed adjacent colors 50/50 to create a step between colors, so I effectively had nine colors on the pallet.

I started by base coating with my mid-tone, then went dark and worked my way up to my brightest highlight. Also, I painted the face first. That way, if a Simple Green bath was needed, I only lost the face, base coat and primer. I learned that lesson with Maelee...

Much smoother results. I also discovered that my wet pallet (about 3x6 inches) was too small for me to work with 9+ paints at once, so I purchased a larger wet pallet at Michaels. By the time I finished Number 5 I knew layering was the way to go for me. The shading transitions were giving me fits, however, as I couldn't seem to get them as smooth as I envisioned they should be. More practice needed....

By now, it's late Spring 2016, and Texicon was around the corner. I was eager to have something to show Shannon so she could provide me some terminal guidance as I prepared for Reapercon.

Next was Number 6....

Number 6:

Basically, I painted this one the same way as I did Number 5: base coat and face, then worked my way up from shadows. I also tried my hand at some non-metallic metal (NMM) painting. That didn't work out too well for me.

I was beginning to get the hang of the shadowing and layering, and the transitions seemed to be getting smoother. I realized I was taking longer per miniature than I had with the first three (base coat and wash), but it seemed reasonable as these were being painted to a "higher" standard than "tabletop ready". It was also very relaxing working on the layers with Buffet in the background. I understand what Marike Reimer means about being in the zone...

I felt this guy was good enough to display at Texicon, so I added some grass tufts based on feed back from the previous year with Maelee. I knew I had no chance of winning an award, so the less than stellar NMM painting didn't matter to me.

I really wanted to do a good job on the last four of the set as they were my favorite sculpts of the group. Next up, Number 7.

Number 7:

I love this sculpt. Really not much to say about how it was painted. Skin pallet of 9 colors. No NMM; I used metallic paints for the metals. I do believe I should have gone a little darker with my shadows. This was the last one I painted before Texicon 2016 and was the miniature I entered for display. No awards; no surprise. But, the mini did draw a lot of comments and compliments. Once piece of advice I received was to dry brush some of the color in the miniature onto the grass. Very subtly. Apparently, it draws everything together. Who knew?

So, it's June/July-ish 2016 and Reapercon's in mid-October. Three miniatures left to practice on before then.

Number 8:

By now, I'd learned a few things:

1. Layering seemed to work for me.
2. Five colors with half-steps was working well.
3. Lots of thin layers.
4. I can't pull off NMM. More practice required.
5. I'd memorized the lyrics to about 70% of the songs in my Jimmy Buffet playlist.

The sculpt for Number 8 is perhaps one of my favorite 15mm sculpts. I do not think I've ever seen so much "life" or "action" in such a small miniature. Wow.

As I prepared to paint this guy, I had a realization: I had absolutely no idea what color the inside of a wolf-skin cloak should be. None whatsoever. I searched the internet, asked some hunters I know, looked through some books. Nothing. I decided on tan.

I have to admit, I do like how the axe head turned out. Metallic paints. The base of the axe head is actually much darker than in the photo. It reflected the flash of the camera and washed out.

Number 9:

The set included two female sculpts. As the one I wanted to present at Reapercon was one of them, I left the other second to last so as to benefit from all the practice I could.

I look at this miniature and can just hear her saying "Did you just call me fat?".

We're now in late-September of last year and Reapercon is just a few weeks away. I'm beginning to panic as I don't think I'll have time to finish.

The gem on this one was a new challenge for me. I knew the basics of painting gems, light refraction and all, but I'd never really tried it. I found out during Reapercon that while I had the right idea, I had it backwards: the light "burst" should have been at the bottom of the gem and not the top. It's at the end opposite of where the light enters. Duh.

Funny sidebar: While studying the miniature prior to painting it, I couldn't find the back strap for her bikini top. I determined that she wasn't topless, but I could find the strap for her top. So, I emailed Mark Copplestone and asked him what was up with the bikini top back strap.

He forgot it.

Too funny. I just painted the strap on.

Greta:

The week before Reapercon and I all I've accomplished on the mini I want to present is prime her. Painting her was supposed to be a big photo essay, but I was so crunched for time that forgot to take the pictures.

The tenth miniature was what originally caught my attention regarding Copplestone Castings. I can't remember where I saw the photo of the unpainted miniature, but as soon as I did I knew I had to paint her.

People who don't paint miniatures often ask me what they look like when I purchase them. Here's Greta after a warm bath and scrubbing:

And priming:

Two new things for me here: first, I'd never used white primer before. Second, I'd never used an Army Painter colored primer on a 15mm miniature before. Not sure it worked too well for me with these miniatures. The primer came out of the can at a very fast and heavy rate, then dried rough. I had to hit the minis a couple of times to smooth it out and was concerned that it was being applied too thickly.

In any event, after priming, base coating, lining, shadng, etc, here's what Greta looked like:

Greta is another example of leaving well enough alone. I overdid painting her face and had to strip the paint off. Fortunately, I hadn't started on the rest of her, so I didn't lose much time.

I finished her a couple of days before Reapercon. After seeing all of the other presentations, I nearly snatched her off the table and hid her. Talk about some talented painters. Even leaving out the professionals, there was some seriously beautiful artwork on display.

But no 15s. So Greta stayed on the table.

In the end, Greta earned a Bronze Medal. I was seriously stoked!

Yes, that's a 3x5 inch card behind her.

Some of the feedback I received from the judges:

1. 15mm is too small to really display any talent. Really? Bigots. ;-)
2. The light "burst" on her gem should have been on the bottom. Duh.
3. Not enough color variation. Everything was too drab with browns. Fair enough.

That's it for now. I need to look, but I think I have some Splintered Light minis I've yet to display.


Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 13, 2016: Lone Gunman Amazons, Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo Zombie Rednecks

I cut my role playing teeth on Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip back in the mid-70s. The guy who introduced me to the game sold me my first 15mm miniature for a quarter. Over the next couple of years, I grew my collection to a modest 100 or so Martian Metal miniatures, with my wolves, bears and hobgoblins substituting for everything I didn't have, which was quite a bit.

Then, around 2005, I stumbled across Dark City Games and their TFT-compatible solitaire modules. As I do nearly all (who am I kidding? ALL) of my RPG-ing solo, Dark City Games was a treasure find. Dusting off my 30 year old miniatures, I decided I was at a point in my life where I could update and expand my miniature collection. That was important as I didn't have miniatures for half of what was presented in the DCG modules (what's a Kolbold, anyway?). That's when I realized I had a total of 3 female warrior miniatures.

Surfing the web, I discovered Old Glory 15s and Black Raven Foundry. Their Amazons intrigued me, but I didn't need hundreds of them (they are sold in packs of 24). A few email later and I had a mixed package of 48 miniatures on their way to me. My first thought upon opening them was that they were nice sculpts. It wasn't until I compared them with my Martian Metals miniatures that I realized how big they were, actually closer to 20mm than 18mm, let alone 15mm. They have found their way to the bottom of my lead mountain due to their incompatibility with my existing miniatures. Lately, however, I've been thinking of using them as test subjects for my painting practice....

Early last year I found Lone Gunman Games' Amazons. As soon as I saw they were sculpted by Sandra Garrity I knew I had to get some. A few more email later, and I had 16 of the lovely ladies on my paint desk.

For the past couple of years, I've been working on improving the quality of the faces of my miniatures. While I'll never be an Ali McVey or a "Brushmistress" Jessica Rich, I at least hope to paint my miniatures with a little more personality. To that end, I decided to use Sandra Garrity's Amazons to practice painting miniatures from the neck up.

These were the first miniatures I painted with the brushes I purchased from the Wamp Store Kickstarter. I absolutely cannot rave enough about those brushes! I believe they are well worth the price.

Anyway, onto the ladies....

I started with the Blade Dancers:

The only problem with painting 15mm miniatures is that most of the painting tutorials are for 25mm and larger. During Texicon 2014, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with Shannon Stiltz. Shannon's sort of a Jill of all trades, painting, casting and making jewelry to sell on her Etsy store. I can't remember her exact affiliation with Reaper, but I do know she's done display painting for them. She suggested that I first paint the eye sockets black and follow that with an off-white streak for the whites of the eyes. Then, a dot of color for the eyes. The idea is for the black to suggest eye liner. I suspect it's a lot easier with 28mm miniatures, but I gave it a go.

I have since learned that the need to make the black border as thin as possible is a must, otherwise I get a "raccoon" effect.

I also took the opportunity to play with highlighting the blades of the weapons. I use metallic paints, but have plans to play with "Non-Metallic Metal (NMM)" effects at a later time. Just look at some of Jessica Rich's NMM work. In my dreams....

Here are a pair of Amazon Warriors:

I decided on a quasi-Greek scheme for the Amazons based on jeweled bronze. I played with highlighting the faces a bit, with a bit of blush on the cheeks and lighter colors on the cheek bones. I also quickly realized that darker eye colors made the "raccoon" effect even more pronounced. That, of course, reinforced the need to thin out the black eyeliner as much as possible.

The Sword Maidens were next:

Yeah, I broke the sword. After three or four attempts of finessing the superglue, I decided the hell with it and globbed it on. Sorry Sandra....

My intent was not to have the shields look dirty. I was painting these Amazons back in November. Last year's painting focus was on faces; this year's is on shading. As I've been doing for the past several years, I've shaded the miniatures with Army Painter Soft Tone Quick Shade. It's a good product, but I have trouble getting consistent results and I tend to over do it. I was devastated at how some of the Amazons turned out. It a way, that was a good thing as it strengthened my resolve to learn how to properly shade.

Next are a pair of Bow Maidens:

I really like these sculpts, and I believe the dark haired Bow Maiden turned out the best of the group. By this time, I was beginning to get the hand of shading the faces and "blushing" the their cheeks. I was also going very minimalist with the Quick Shade.

I actually painted these Scouts before I painted the Bow Maidens. It's pretty obvious I was still having "raccoon" issues.

Next came the Spear Maidens:

I tried, with limited success, to bring a little wood grain effect out on the spears and bows. I'm still trying to get comfortable with how thin the paint needs to be to accomplish these techniques. I'm also having to remember to let the previous coat of paint dry thoroughly before applying the next, especially if I'm trying for some sort of layering effect. That has about tripled the time it takes me to paint a miniature.

A pair of Princesses followed:

I was extremely upset with how these turned out after I applied the Quick Shade. I mentioned my inability to maintain consistency. Normally, I would have dunked them in Simple Green for a couple of days and started over. However, this time, in deference to the arthritis in my thumbs, I based them after I primed them. Normally, I base them after they are painted, but it's proving more difficult to hold the miniature in my fingers as I get older. I wasn't sure I could strip the paint without affecting the bases, so I decided to live with the results. Bummer.

Finally, the Amazon Queen:

Once again, my ineptitude with the Quick Shade bit me. As you might see in the photos, the Queens' robes have inlays of four-pointed stars which I painstakingly painted, only to have my effort covered by the brown Quick Shade. Other than that, I was pretty happy with these as I did a better job on the "wood grain" of the spears.

That's it for the Amazons. I appreciate the willingness of Jim Hintz of Lone Gunman Games to allow me to put together a special order of these miniatures.

Things I learned painting the Amazons:

1. Patience. I was so frustrated by the months long delay in getting to paint these miniatures that I pushed things when I should have slowed down.
2. Basing the miniatures first doesn't work for me. I've since invested in some cork bottle stoppers and tacky stuff.
3. Thin paint, multiple coats.
4. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly between coats when layering.
5. Thin the eye liner to avoid the "raccoon" effect.
6. Painting the faces first worked well for me and minimized the rework when I screwed it up.
7. I need to learn how to shade in order to avoid the issues I had with the Amazons.

I was getting burned out painting zombies, which is why I jumped to the Amazons. I've decided that I will alternate between genre of miniatures to avoid that burnout. After the Amazons, I made relatively quick work of some Highlander Studio's Zombie Rednecks. You might remember Bubba Zeke from an earlier post:

Well, it turns out he's the eldest of 12 brothers. Here's a family portrait of the dirty dozen:

I got lazy and simply painted them all the same. Here's a close-up picture of Zeke and one of his brothers:

The biggest difference between Zeke and his brothers is that I did not coat them with Quick Shade. Instead, I gave them a relatively light coat of brown wash. I think it worked better than the Strong Town Quick Shade. Perhaps a little darker next time.

That's it for this time around. I've started working on some Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes. I've decided to use these as my training platform for shading skin tones. We'll see how it goes....

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 24, 2015: Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo, Bombshell Miniatures MicroBabes Set 1

Highlander Studio's Zombie Rednecks collection consists of six different zombie sculpts. My pledge for the Two Hour Wargames ATZ:FFO Indiegogo landed me a dozen of each sculpt. Today, I have some photos of the sixth sculpt, which I cleverly refer to as "Redneck Zombie 6".

Here he is in your face:

And, coming and going:

Finally, the dirty dozen of them:

Having painted Redneck Zombie 6, I have painted at least one of each of Rod's zombies. Here's a family photo of the set:

I have to admit, the casting of Number 6 annoyed me. Usually, Rod's sculpts need very little clean up of flashing - just the occasional vent line. Number 6, however, was a different case altogether. I literally had to drill out the excess material from between the sculpts legs and from under the arm supporting his torso. On some of the sculpts, the casting of the pony tail was incomplete, leaving a gap around the neck.

What annoyed me the most is that I really like the pose. I did what I could to cover up the surgery I performed prior to painting them, but I really didn't have my heart in it. I opted for simple clothing, no stripes or plaids. I didn't even paint eyebrows....

Oh well.

What really had me stoked this month is I got to paint my Bombshell Miniatures MircoBabes Set 1. I've shamelessly drooled over Bombshell's "Babes" line for a long time longing for an announcement that they would venture into the 15mm realm. And, they did! I think I ordered the MicroBabes about 30 seconds after they became available.

When the sculpts came in, my heart nearly dropped out of my chest. They were in a padded envelope, but "Scarlett's" (see below) ankles were bent nearly 90 degrees; I was afraid I was going to break off her base the entire time I worked on her.

In any event, after studying the sculpts I decided to give painting eyes another try. I found a brush that was small and stiff enough to make a consistent point, and some practice on parchment paper gave me the encouragement to try again.

I know pride is a sin, but I am really, really pleased how these turned out.

First, the "Civil Officer" I call "Scarlett":

I'm not sure of her origins; she might be from Bombshell's Counterblast game. When I studied her sculpt, I immediately thought of the uniforms from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Red minidress, black thigh highs, nylons, white hat - seemed obvious to me.

She had to have blue eyes. I was surprised how easily they were to paint and it only took me two tries to have her sight down her pistol. The new brush really made a difference.

Next is a Galactic Defense Force officer from the Counterblast game. I'm thinking Bombshell is going to make 15mm sculpts of the 28mm (32mm?) miniatures used for their game.

In any event, I decided "Gretchen" would have chocolate brown eyes. She was the last of the four I painted, and I managed to paint her eyes to my satisfaction on the first try.

Here's Gretchen with her pulse rifle:

The third sculpt is based on the Ripley character from the first "Alien" movie. She and Jonesy obviously have someplace to be:

I tried to give Ripley's t-shirt a sweat-soaked translucent look by first painting her entire torso flesh tone, then applying very thin coats of the white for the t-shirt. I didn't quite achieve what I was striving for (NOT and wet t-shirt! This is a family friendly blog you cads!), but it was good practice working with really thinned paint.

Finally, Bombshell's mascot "Maelee":

She was the second of the four I painted and was quite a learning experience. Based on my previous attempts to paint eyes, I told myself I'd give myself three tries before I stripped off the paint (I was smart enough to start with the faces).

Maelee became a challenge, and before I realized it, I'd blown right past my three try limit. When I finally had the eyes sort of how I wanted them, I walked away for a while and came back to paint the rest of her.

When I was finished I must have stared at her a good five minutes trying to figure out what was wrong with her face. She looked like she had a pig nose. And, her eyes seemed really small. That's when I broke out the dental pick.

It seems my paint wasn't as thin as it needed to be, and my repeated attempts had really slathered it on thickly. Of course, I hadn't yet realized that I needed to ensure I was happy with the face before moving on to the rest of the miniature, so I'd actually completed her before I noticed her porcine features.

I really didn't want to give her a Simple Green bath, but I had to strip her face to start over. So, I broke out some cotton swabs and my Simple Green and worked on stripping the paint off her face. In the end I was mostly successful as I only had to repaint her from the belt line up.

Lessons learned from Maelee:

1. Use really thin paint when painting faces.

2. Paint the eyebrows before the eyes. Early on, I actually had her eyes done, then gooned them up when I slipped painting her eyebrows....

3. Be patient, but not timid. I found that if I moved too slowly trying to dot her eyes (no pun!), my hand would begin to shake. If I was slightly more aggressive, my hand didn't shake so much and I was more successful.

4. Make sure you do not have too much paint on your brush when painting eyes, especially thinned paint. Nothing as frustrating as hitting your intended eyeball mark only to have her eye socket fill with green paint. Or brown.

Here's a group shot of the four MicroBabes:

Next up are some of Lone Gunman Games's Amazons. The Amazons are sold in skirmish packs, which was too many of each sculpt for my FRPG likes. The proprietor, Jim Hintz, was kind enough to allow me to purchase two of each non-riding pose, for a total of 16 miniatures. The minis are sculpted by Sandra Garrity. I am a fan of her dragons and my Lizardmen down below were sculpted by her. These will be the first "humans" of hers that I will paint.

Lots of opportunity for more eyes!

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 1, 2015: Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo, Rebel Minis Civilian Hunters

Looped back around to work on some of the miniatures I received from the Two Hour Wargames ATZ:FFO Indiegogo. All of the zombies were sculpted by Rod Campbell of Highlander Studios and are available as his Zombie Rednecks collection. My Indiegogo pledge netted me 12 of each sculpt. I have no idea if Rod has names for each sculpt, but I call this one "Redneck Zombie Chick 2".

I like Rod's sculpts, but they can be a pain to paint! It seemed that every time I thought I was finished I found another detail to pick out. Fortunately, once I figured out the first one the remainder were pretty easy to paint. Of course, it took me the first 3 to identify all of the detail....

Here are a couple more shots of her:

My pledge also netted me Rod's Urban Fantasy Set 1.

Here's the werewolf from the set:

I admit like my werewolves more "wolfish" than "beastly".

Next up is the "Female Caster" figure:

I was at a loss as to sculpt was supposed to represent. At first, I thought she was supposed to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I couldn't find any images that matched with the clothing. After beating my head against the wall for a couple of weeks I broke down an emailed Rod. Turns out he was inspired by the cover of the Patricia Briggs "Mercy Thompson" book "River Marked". I haven't read that series yet, but I believe Mercy Thompson is a werewolf....

I only saw one way to paint the "Male Caster":

In researching how to paint him, I stumbled across this image:

I devour each Dredsen novel Jim Butcher writes.

Next in the collection were a couple of Urban Vampires. Not sure of the vampiress, but the vampire has a definite "True Blood" vibe to me.

I'm using the Army Painter Quick Shades "Soft" tone for my non-zombie miniatures. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it works, but it does "dirty" up whites. I may have to repaint her gloves.

Rebel Minis' 15mm Civilian Hunter's Pack 2 was originally an unlocked stretch goal for Two Hour Wargames" Hospital 911 Kickstarter. Here's a group shot:

My son and I have an ongoing disagreement with this guy. He reminds me of Bill Nye the Science Guy, but my son believes him to be one of the Doctors from Dr. Who.

I finally gave up trying to figure out who this girl was supposed to represent. I thought she might be Sookie Stackhouse from the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse books (True Blood), or perhaps Buffy. I finally decided that whomever she was she'd look good in yellow....

A guy at work told me this next guy reminded him of the Michael Douglass character from the movie "Falling Down". Add some glasses and I think he's right.

I saw this figure and immediately saw a retiree in plaid shorts and dock siders. Plaid is not fun to paint in 15mm....

When I saw this figure I thought he was Carl Kolchak from the old tv series "Night Stalker", but the clothing is all wrong. Then I thought Watson from the Sherlock Holmes books. In any event, I practiced my stripes a bit more.

This last one was a surprise from David McBride of Splintered Light Miniatures. He intimated that she was a future addition to his post-apocalyptic line. My son and I decided she should be named "Brooke Lyn"

Well, those were supposed to be January's project which became "get them done by the end of February", which I accomplished.

Next up, more redneck zombies and Bombshell Miniatures MicroBabes Set. The Microbabes are Bombshell Miniatures first step into the world of 15mm, and I sure hope it's not the last. The sculpts are simply amazing!

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 17, 2015: Hospital 911 - An All Things Zombie 15mm Miniatures Project

Back in April of last year, Ed Teixeira of Two Hour Wargames once again figured out a way to separate me and my money. In fact, he's in competition with David McBride of Splintered Light Miniatures for the title of "Most Likely to Cause Scott's Divorce". My wife doesn't seem to mind too much so long as the blondes and redheads are only 18mm tall....

In any event, I supported the Two Hour Wargames Hospital 911 Kickstarter, which was a joint venture with Rebel Minis. Everyone knows Day 1 of the Zombie Apocalypse started in the City Hospital before spreading throughout the world. Hospital 911 lets you play that out using All Things Zombie: Final Fade Out. The Kickstarter included the Hospital 911 Rules, floor plans for the hospital and miniatures of hospital patients, doctors, nurses, terrified civilians, cops, SWAT, street punks and zombies of doctors, nurses and patients. The stretch goals that were unlocked included four fire fighters, a news reporter and her camera man, a zombie hunter (who looks vaguely familiar), a bank robber.

Here are photos of December's painting project that I finished tonight - no zombies this time as I needed a break. Still working with my cell phone camera, but I experimented with taking the pictures in my spray paint booth. Not sure it helped. Some of the photos are a bit fuzzy which I think is a function of combining the zoom and macro focus features. Keeping the zoom to less than 2.5 seems to help....

First up, Katia de la Fuentes and Sam Washburne

Another photo of Katia

and Sam

The Bank Robber

The news crew and robber are available from Rebel Minis.

Here's the SWAT team. They are part of Rebel Minis US SWAT team

and individual shots of the team members

It's hard to tell, but the SWAT team miniatures are painted in about 5 different shades of black and gray. I tried to use a paint pen to write "SWAT" on the back of them, but it didn't work and my brush work wasn't up to the task. I apologize for the blurry photos, but the autofocus on my camera was having a hard time....

Here are the four Firefighters available from Rebel Minis. (Pop quiz: Do you remember when we started calling them "Firefighters" instead of "Firemen" and why?)

and individual shots. There was a good amount of detail on these miniatures and they were a royal pain to paint. I honestly think I spent the better part of 3 hours on each one....

Four Police Officers came with the Kickstarter. They are part of Rebel Minis' US Policemen.

The photo doesn't really do the last one justice.

Four gangers/street punks from Rebel Minis came with the set. I've painted these sculpts before.

And finally, the zombie hunter that was one of the stretch goals. Rebel Minis calls her Suzie. I really didn't have a choice on how to paint her....

I think I might call her Alice....

As you probably noticed, I tried different basing this time around. Since all of these miniatures were supposed to be from Day 1 of the apocalypse, I tried for an urban feel to the basing. The asphalt was made by first adhering Woodland Scenics light gray fine ballast to the base then using extremely thinned flat black paint to color it black. After letting it dry thoroughly, I used that really thick craft paint you can purchase at Michaels or Hobby Lobby to paint the lines. "Regular" paint was too thin and runny and tended to blur into the gravel. All in all, I'm pleased with the results.

January's miniatures are primed and ready for me to find the time to paint them. Rebel Minis' Civilian Hunter's Pack 2 and some more of the Highlander Studio's miniatures that came with the ATZ:FFO Indiegogo.

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 16, 2014: Highlander Studios/All Things Zombie Final Fade Out & More Indiegogo

Back in the early summer of 2013 I participated in the Two Hour Wargames All Things Zombie: Final Fade Out Indiegogo crowd funding campaign. My pledge netted me two sets of survivors and their zombified incarnations (20 miniatures), six dozen additional zombies, and a set of six urban fantasy miniatures (two casters, two vampires, a werewolf and a "smart" shotgun-toting zombie), as well as a copy of THW's High Rise to Hell ATZ:FFO scenario book and a couple decks of cards (the City deck and the Risk and Rewards deck) for use with the game. Pretty good haul for the price. The icing on the cake was the additional dozen zombies above what was listed for my pledge.

All of the miniature were sculpted by Rod Campbell of Highlander Studios. I really like his work and hope my painting skills do a little bit of justice to his efforts.

First up are the two sets of survivors. Each set includes a male and female survivor, a military figure (you may recognize the Marine from my previous post), a Police Officer, and a Ganger. The miniatures represent all of the character classes in ATZ:FFO. Each "live" miniature came with a zombie incarnation.

Here's the first group:

I'm still trying to figure out the lighting for my photos. I probably need to experiment using my paint booth as a photo box. In any event, here are the "live" and zombie versions of the first set:

Male survivor:

Female survivor:

Marine:

Police Officer:

Ganger:

Kind of hard to tell, but the Ganger has sunglasses.

Here's a group shot of the zombies:

And here is the second group:

And a group shot of the second set of zombies:

The "mass" zombies that came with the Indiegogo revolved around six sculpts which I quickly realized were the zombie versions of Rod's Rednecks. I couldn't really pass up the opportunity, so I purchased a set of the "live" Rednecks. Turns out the zombified Rednecks include two sculpts for which there are no "live" Rednecks. No problem.

Here's a family photo of the Rednecks followed by individual shots:

Can't tell from the photo, but I did my best to paint a representation of a deer on the ball cap...

and a Zombie Redneck Family photo:

Next up on the workbench are miniatures from the THW ATZ Hospital 911 Kickstarter. I was stoked over that one as one of the stretch goals that was achieved included a news reporter and her camera man. I've already decided on their names: Katia de la Fuentes and Sam Washburne. My goal is to try to complete this next set by the end of the month. Depends on how much of my vacation I get to spend on things I want to do.... ;-)

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 21, 2014: Rebel Minis Modern Zombies Assortment 3, Highlander Studios, Khurasan Miniatures

Still working zombies and survivors. Here are some pictures of Rebel Mini's Modern Zombies Assortment 3 along with some miniatures from Highlander Studios and Khurasan Miniatures.

First up: Zombie Brides...

... and the Clowns they married.

.

I guess the suits didn't work. Seems to be a problem these days.

I guess the wife beaters got their comeuppance...

These guys really are half the men they used to be....

When I first started painting miniatures my son and I put our heads together to mix a skin tone for survivors and zombies of different races, basically light gray tinted with varying skin tones. What a pain. In any event, I've exhausted my supply of those paints and opted for going with the basic green-tinged moldy skin tone that seems to be widely accepted. My Marines were the first zombies using the new skin tone scheme.

Finding paints to match the colors of USMC Desert MARPAT was an exercise in trial and error, as I previously mentioned (hurrah for Simple Green!). I finally broke down and went to the local Joint Reserve Base and purchased a Desert MARPAT bush hat and eventually found some Reaper colors that were a shade lighter than what was on the hat.

Next was trying to figure out how to simulate the digital camouflage. I found that thinning the paints down to a very thin wash worked out pretty well.

I participated in the Two Hour Wargames All Things Zombie Indigogo crowd funding campaign some time ago, the miniatures for which were crafted by Highlander Studios. There were several survivor sculpts with their zombie counterparts. Here are a couple of the Marines...

... and their zombie incarnations.

Finally, three female survivors. This was the first time I actually tried to paint the eyes of 15mm miniatures. It didn't go well. I probably should have stripped them and tried again, but I'd already based them. Oh, well. If the faces look a bit poorly, it's my painting efforts and not the sculpts.

The first is by Highlander Studios and is a tribute to the Two Hour Wargames promotions gal who recently lost her battle with a terminal disease. Her name was Carolee.

The next two are from Khurasan Miniatures. I call the little one "Khloe Andrews". She's based on the character Hit Girl from the movie "Kick Ass" (get it? Khloe Andrews?). She's a tiny little thing (I think the character was 12 years old in the movie) - remember, the bases are 1 inch diameter disks.

I have to admit I'm pretty happy with the way this last one turned out. I call her Margarita Estrella Jones. "Star" Jones. She's destined to be my star character in the Two Hour Wargames pulp campaign I hope to start in the not too distant future.

Next up on my work bench are more High Rise to Hell survivors and their zombie incarnations. I have no idea when I'll finish them.,,,

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 29, 2014: Rebel Minis Modern Zombies Assortment 2

Wow. It's been a while since I've posted any miniatures photos (disregard the fact She Who Must Be Obeyed scarfed my camera for a month). Here are some pictures of Rebel Mini's Modern Zombies Assortment 2 that I finished painting last month. For some reason, they make me want to dance....

GIMME A Z! Painting those oxfords were a pain in the foot. It's hard to see, but I painted blue and yellow ribbons in their hair.

YAY TEAM! The baseball players were actually the first minis I painted from this set. That was before I realized the set had a High School theme to it. If I'd thought about it sooner, I'd painted them in a blue and yellow uniform....

RAARRRH! I'M A ZOMBIE! The Coach, a Teacher, and an Airline Pilot.

Time to dance! Take it away, Mick Zombie and the Strolling Bones! Everyone sing!

Down, down, do your dance, do your dance (do the Cupid dance)....

To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right....

To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left....

Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick....

Now walk it by yourself, now walk it by yourself (let me see you do)....

Modern Zombies Assortment 3 is on my workbench being painted. I had a miscue on the camouflage for the Marines and had to strip the paint off of them. Two words: Simple Green. I let the minis soak for about an hour and the paint came right off.

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 30, 2014: Creatures Big and Small (Martian Metals, Steve Barber Models, Chariot Miniatures, Blood Dawn)

Well, I've finished basing all of my painted miniatures. Here be creatures of all shapes and sizes....

First up: Martian Metals.  Here's a bear and wolf.  I never really cared for the bear sculpt (I always thought they look more like apes), but that didn't stop me from using them.  I've since bought some Splintered Light Miniatures bears which are much more "bear-y".

Martian Metals Ogre (left) and Giant (right).  With the scale creep in 15mm, these guys are somewhat diminished.  I wasn't too bothered by my less-gianty Giants until I stumbled across Splintered Light Miniatures Warriors of the Arena 2 set.  Right in the middle of the second row as a perfect Giant, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the 15mm section of the site.  It turns out the the "Giant" is actually a 20mm Ogre from the 20mm Large Creature line.  About twenty nanoseconds after I received my order of Ogres, Splintered Light Miniatures began advertising 15mm Stone Giants and Hill Giants.  Then I noticed the 15mm Armored Ogres.  So far, I've been able to resist the Siren's call and have only purchased the Stone Giants, but I fear another Splintered Light Miniatures sale may see my resolve crumble....

I have a pretty good memory, but I have no recollection of painting Martian Metals Trolls.  If I didn't paint these, then my High School Buddy Mike Stim must have and traded them to me for something.

Somewhere along the way David McBride of Splintered Light Miniatures slipped a Bear Warrior in one of my shipments.  He's sneaky that way.

Dark City Games used to sell a module called "Little Black Book" that had a giant-sized three headed dog featured in it.  Try finding one of those in 15mm; I sure couldn't!

So, I searched.  Then I searched some more.  Finally, I somehow found Steve Barber Models (no link here - for some reason it's not working) and his three headed dog.  He also had snakes, an alligator and a sabertooth tiger.  In 25mm.  After some email discussions with him, I ordered all four.  I've only painted the dog and snakes.  The dog is perfect for my needs.  The red mane is actually comprised of snakes, ala Medusa.  I decided on red for the contrast.

Were they to be straightened out, the snakes below would be about an inch long, with makes them a little over 8 feet in 18mm, or 10 feet in 15mm.  The pictures are too dark to show the brown diamond pattern I painted on their backs.

Every FRPG needs Giant Spiders.  Mine came from Chariot Miniatures.  I seemed to remember purchasing them directly from Chariot Miniatures, but apparently Magister Militum owns the line.

At the time I purchased the Giant Spiders, I also purchased some Chariot Miniature Ratmen armed with swords, halberds and bows:

Finally, 15mm Blood Dawn Elementals.  When I purchased these, they were sold as a set of four.  Apparently, since Magister Militum's acquisition of the product line, they are now sold in pairs by type.  Here are my Earth, Wind and Fire (I loved that group as a teenager!) and Water Elementals.

I really like the Water Elemental sculpt.

That's it for the miniatures I have painted and based.  I have some modern zombies primed and ready for paint sitting on my work bench.  I'll post some photos when they are done.

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 23, 2014: Martian Metals 15mm Dragonslayer Skeletons and Gargoyles

Metagaming's FRPG was called The Fantasy Trip (TFT) and was supported by several solitaire adventures - literally, dungeon crawls. The first was called "Death Test" and featured a room with Gargoyles. Later, after the campaign rules for TFT were released "Death Test II" was released and featured Skeletons and a few other baddies from In the Labyrinth (the campaign rules). Martian Metals offered both, so I saved my tip money from bagging groceries and bought some.

First, the Skeletons.  As always, they are mounted on 1 inch diameter wooden disks.

This is a good skeleton - he doesn't get up....

I have to admit, I never really like the Martian Metals Gargoyles - I thought they looked like Hobgoblins with wings.  I bought them primarily because my Hobgoblins were complaining about having to serve as Gargoyles when Martian Metals made Gargoyles.  The Union got involved, then the lawyers.  It was pretty ugly.  I caved.

Standard Gargoyle.  I only ever needed three of them for Death Test, but the pack came with six.  David McBride of Splintered Light Miniatures has a nice Gargoyle in his 15/18mm Fantasy Gladiators Warriors of the Arena 2 set that I really like.  But, I need three and am not up to purchasing three of the gladiator sets.  Max bummage.

The Martian Metals Gargoyle set also game with smaller, armed Gargoyles.  Here are some of them.

I actually liked the smaller Gargoyles (they're about 2/3 the height of the Standard Gargoyle), but the rules and games I played never had armed Gargoyles, so I never used them.

Next time, creatures big and small.

Back to top

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 16, 2014: Martian Metals 15mm Dragonslayer Orcs, Goblins and Hobgoblins

Well, I've finished basing just about all of my painted miniatures.  Here are some of my Martian Metals Orcs, Goblins and Hobgoblins.

Here are the Orcs.  It never occurred to me to paint their skin anything other than flesh tone.  I think that at the time I was painting these the only fantasy novel I'd ever read was Terry Brooks' Sword of Shanara.

The guy who introduced me to gaming beyond Milton Bradley was named Mike Stim.  As we were both broke High School students back in the late 70s, we would frequently split the cost of miniatures or trade among ourselves.  I seem to remember him trading me one unpainted Goblin and three or four painted ones for some Skeletons.  In any case, here are some of those Goblins.

I painted the ax wielder on the right.

And finally, the Hobgoblins.  These guys were my utility Bad Guys.  At any given time, they were wolves, raptors, Yetis, and on the rare occasion, Hobgoblins.

Next time, Martian Metals Skeletons and Gargoyles.

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 3, 2014: Armies of Arcana Snakemen, Black Raven Foundry Lizardmen, Miscellaneous Martian Metals

I've been working my way through basing my painted 15/18mm miniatures for the past month.  I figure when I get caught up I'll get back to painting zombies for my ATZ campaign.  Here's a long string of photos of the miniatures I've based so far:

First up, Armies of Arcana Snakemen I purchased these from Lone Gunman Games.  They stand approximately 18mm to the top of their head.

It took me a while to realize the shadow a the bottom of the screen is the camera lens and was caused by the flash.  I'm using a very inexpensive camera here....

Next up are Lizardmen from Black Raven Foundry.  I purchased these, along with some Minotaurs, Amazons and some wizards from Old Glory 15s.  The folks I dealt with were very nice and agreed to assemble a special package of Amazons for me so I didn't wind up with four times as many miniatures as I needed.  That order was the first 15mm miniatures I'd purchased in the better part of 25 years, and it wasn't until after I received them that I learned of the 15mm "scale creep" that has transpired.  While the Lizardmen only stand 18mm to the tops of their heads (helmets add height), they are considerably bulkier than other 18mm miniatures I own.  Unfortunately, the Amazons and Wizards don't mix and play well with my other miniatures.  The Lizardmen are okay, but the vote is still out on the Minotaurs (which haven't been painted)....

I decided to ditch the flash from here on out.  Not sure if that was the right choice....

Just realized I needed to clean up their bases.  Did that today...

Next up are most of my Martian Metals 15mm miniatures.  These are true 15mm, head to toe, and are about 20% smaller than the 18mm miniatures I've been purchasing.  I can live with that provided the bulk of the 18mm miniatures does not overwhelm them.  Non-human types I'm not so concerned about, but the Black Raven Foundry Amazons just look silly to me when compared with my other 18mm miniatures and the Martian Metals miniatures.

Martian Metals had a line of dungeon crawl miniatures that I think was called Dragonslayer 15s or something like that.  The miniatures pretty much supported Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip game, which was the FRPG I cut my teeth on and sill enjoy today.  Unfortunately, Martian Metals and Metagaming both went out of business in the early '80s and support of the game stopped.

However, in the 2005 timeframe, the intrepid folks at Dark City Games developed a rule engine called Legends of the Ancient World (LAW) and started producing TFT compatible solitaire modules.  The roots of LAW are obvious, but they've made what I consider some much needed changes that make for enjoyable games.  I sort of blend TFT and LAW together.

The LAW engine has been expanded to a science fiction setting (Legends of Time and Space) and to a US western cowboys and Indians setting (Legends of the Untamed West).

My three favorite wizards: Herumane, Morham, and Pol.  I have to admit that I'm not very imaginative with character names, and frequently pull them out of books.  I actually made up Herumane's name, but Morham and Pol were pulled out of Stephen Donaldson's Tomas Covenant series and David Eddings' Belgariad, respectively.

Bad guy wizards.  I toyed around with the idea of repainting my Martian Metals when I based them, but decided to leave them in their 35 year old clothes.

A Priest and another wizard.  The Priest had a name at one time, but I've long since forgotten it.

Balinor, Menion, and Hendle.  All three names pulled from Terry Brooks' Sword of Sharnnara.  Menion started out life as Scott the Slasher and was the very first 15mm miniature I ever painted.  Black, silver and flesh tone was about the extent of my abilities at age 17.

An unnamed Nubian painted by the guy who introduced me to FRPGs and two Halflings: Shea and Flick.  More Sword of Shannara names

Garion, Silk and Gort.  Garion and Silk take their names from The Belgariad.

Three Barbarians.  I seem to remember the male being called Rolf.  The name was taken from Fred Saberhagan's Empire of the East.

A couple of unnamed Desert Men and a human brigand.

Three Halflings.  The two with swords are Martian Metals, while the one with the spear is actually a  Splintered Light Miniatures model that David McBride threw into my first order as a thank you.  I botched painting his face, so it looks like he's wearing a mask.

An Elven Brigand and two Halflings.

Dwarves?  Dwarfs?

More Dwarves.

Elves.  As if the ears didn't give it away....

More Elves.

When Metagaming produced the Grail Quest microquest for TFT, I had to get knights.  None of these guys ever had names other than "Red Knight", "Green Knight", "Good Knight", etc....

Martian Metals miniatures must have had a high lead content as they are easily bent and damaged.  Over the years, super glue has been their friend.

I'm working on basing my Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Skeletons and Gargoyles and will post photos when they are complete.

Back to top

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 2, 2014: Rebel Minis Survivors, Gangers and Zombies

A couple of years ago I got bitten by the Two Hour Wargames bug.  The sheer number of games and the genres they cover is astounding.  Add to that their "Reaction" game mechanic, and it's just too much fun.  Right now, I'm getting ready to start my first All Things Zombie: Final Fade Out (ATZ) campaign, so I've been painting zombies, survivors, and gangers recently.

These are from Rebel Minis Rebel Minis 15mm line.  They're actually closer to 1/100 scale, or 18mm,  Across their lines (horror, sci-fi, pirates, historical) the miniatures are consistent in size with each other and mix very well.

These are survivors.  For scale reference, they are mounted on 1"x1/8" wooden disks.  This was my first attempt at photographing miniatures for the web, and I'm afraid they came out a little dark and do not do justice to the detail of the miniatures.

More survivors:

Some Gangers:

More Gangers:

And now the zombies:

Back to top