Undersea Boat

The Nautilus
scale unknown

“I am not what you call a civilised man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating. I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!”

This unusual model is actually a game piece from the board game "Nemo's War", painted for a friend.  She requested I follow the box art as closely as possible, and I think the resulting deep aqua turned out quite well.  This is a small piece, under 50mm long, but with very good detail for a board game token.

Looks like fun!

Adeptus Caduceus

Space Marine Medic (1988)
25mm scale

Well, this Marine is a real blast from the past... he dates all the way back to my earliest teenage years in the hobby!  He first appeared in the 1988 Citadel catalogue alongside a horde of other charming sculpts:

Space Marines were definitely a different breed back then: a lot less like walking tanks and more like elite soldiers, and the sculpts reflected that.  More personality, fewer skulls and purity seals.  And we walked uphill to school, both ways, it was a golden age, etc.

Anyway, I bought this guy for cheap on eBay many years back, a satisfying score.  His backpack is from the remnants of the old plastic "Beakies" set I keep in my bitz box.  He might not be my best work ever, but I think I captured that old White Dwarf painting style pretty well.

"By the Emperor, I think it might be too late for this one..."

The Return of Javi

Good news, everyone! 

The sculptor and painter I once titled my "Most Loyal Reader" has returned!  After a lengthy (I feared permanent) hiatus, Javi, proprietor of Lazy Minis, has started posting again, with two vibrant and creative offerings in his own inimitable style!  Check out his blog, it's a lot of fun :)

"Beware Contrarium"

"Cool Comeback... Or Not"

Definitely a style apart from mine... but he's got talent, and a real sense of humour!  Javi, don't ever stop :D

A bloodsucker born every minute

Cyberpunk Vampire
28 mm

Before the morning can break we retire
The searing heat of the sun we avoid
Await the dark, proud Walachian fighters
Armata strigoi

I have absolutely no idea where this amazing figure is from; I found it in a bitz bin at Nexus Games in Kingston ON a few years ago.  It's cast in delicate light blue resin with a fair amount of flash, so I don't think it was from a board game:

Anyway I was very excited to finally paint it, and it didn't disappoint!  What a cool character.  He's got a mix of high-tech and medieval style armor, and he's wearing an IV that constantly feeds him blood for that all-night vampire fix...

"You must be new in town!  No wonder you haven't met Mr. Pointy..."

A sucker born every minute

"Kraken" game piece
no scale

I'm happy to say I finished the "Abyss" Kraken game piece in record time!  It helps that it's only three colours, all based on the same blue shade to tie it together... but still.  That's a lot of suckers!  I wanted a murky but richly-colored deep-sea look so I tried to avoid my usual near-white highlights here.  It's a bit shiny; I gave it a durable (I hope) satin clear coat to keep it looking good for many plays.  Fun, and a bit different :)

By His Noodly Appendage

So I went to a New Year's party at a friend's, and received an impromptu request.  She recently got a copy of the board game "Abyss".  The game includes a marker for the Kraken, a game token which, she explains "follows the most unscrupulous player around the board".

So yes, obviously I'm painting this thing!  Looks like a good first project for 2019...

"Raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water tentacle."

Shieldmaiden

Thorrun, Shieldmaiden
28 mm

When I am dead,
Lay me in a mound.
Raise a stone for all to see
Runes carved to my memory

A Bad Squiddo Games figure, from their impressive line of female Vikings.  I think I spent more time on Hurstwic.org doing "research" than I spent painting this figure... gotta be accurate, right?  That said, while I wholly approve of historical revisionism in the name of fun, inclusive gaming, there's not a lot of evidence that Viking women warriors like Thorrun here were common.  And while stories of someone like Freydis Eriksdottir are known, I'm not sure she's what you'd call a good role model for your Norse daughter...

No step on snek.

Oh yes, and...  Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Fellowship of the Ring revisited

The Fellowship of the Ring
10mm

Working on all these 10mm fantasy figures lately got me thinking about the first time I explored this scale, with Copplestone's Fellowship of the Ring figures.  Hard to believe I tackled these paint jobs way back in 2007!  Anyway, I decided to re-base them in the style of more recent work, and see if I could bump up their look a bit.

Definitely an improvement, IMO.  In comparison to the figures from my previous post:

Teeny Greeny Tough and Meany

Marauding orcs
10 mm

I had a few 10 mm scale Copplestone fantasy figures left from my not-a-commission project a while back, and decided to paint them up a few days ago.  Fun!  I don't paint a lot of orcs either so their grimy green aesthetic is a bit novel for me.  The result is pretty standard Tolkien-style orcs, though I did borrow from Warhammer for the shield design :)  I have some corresponding heroes, painted over eleven years ago (!), that I now want to re-base to match them.

The brains of the operation

Space Brains
no fixed scale

Swooping down from space, their ray guns and menacing claws gleaming, their frontal lobes glistening, the Space Brains attack!  All they seek is total domination, the destruction of the planet, and possibly to grab and menace scantily-clad human women.
 
Cratered Hab Dome
15mm scale

I decided to base a couple of them on a resin scenery model to give them the appearance of hovering over a ravaged battlefield.  The Space Brains are Alternative Armies figures.  The Cratered Hab Dome is a 15mm scale Ion Age model.

"Aim for the squishy bits, troopers!"

No seat in Valhalla

Shaman and Draugar
15 mm

A couple more figures from the Barbarica "Northlander Characters" pack, painted as a mystical (or maybe just deranged) hermit and an undead Draugar warrior.  Draugar, the Norse undead "possess superhuman strength, can increase their size at will, and carry the unmistakable stench of decay".  They are also supposed to have "blue and evil looking" or black skin, and possess a variety of supernatural abilities.  Possessing insatiable appetites, they envy and hate the living, leaving carnage and misery in their wake.

Background's a Kleenex box.  Pretty good, huh? ;)

Lord of battle I pray on bended knee

Barbarian Adventurer and Witch
15 mm

While I generally don't paint a lot of fantasy subjects (do I?), I recently picked up a pack of Copplestone's 15mm "Barbarica" figures I've had my eye on for a while.  And they're great!  Classic characterful sculpts just over-the-top enough to qualify squarely as non-historical...  The "Northlander Characters" pack has a mix of burly warriors and primeval shaman types, so I started with one of each.

"You can take him!  I've seen much bigger ones around here..."

(Wolf monster courtesy of @winnipegmichael)

Wee Free Men 2

Fantasy Characters 
10 mm

I just finished up the 10mm fantasy project I've been working on.  It's been a lot of fun, and I really burned through these compared to even 15mm stuff!  Although really, the fell beast and rider are pretty much the equivalent of a small 25mm figure...  Anyway I'm very satisfied with the results, and I think the recipient will be too.

The whole gang!

Wee Free Men

Fantasy Characters
10 mm

One of my Instagram contacts recently asked me to paint some 10 mm stuff for him... I don't normally do "commissions", but I was convinced to do a favour in return for some new figures :)  These are the first four models I completed, from Copplestone Castings' 10mm fantasy range.  Still to go are a dwarf, an archer, a ranger, and a spectral fiend riding a winged beast.

There's something special about very small models, you really have to distill their essence into so little space.  These are exceptional sculpts and a real pleasure to paint.  Also, I can get each one done quite quickly, which is satisfying!

28mm, 15mm, 10mm... *rubs eyes*

Fearless Forest Fighters

Ikwen heroes
15 mm

"The gods of my tribe have spoken, they have said 'do not trust the pilgrims'... and for all these reasons I have decided to scalp you, and burn your village to the ground."

The persecuted Ikwen return!  Hounded in their own lands by resource-hungry humans, they take up arms to strike back!  Larger and tougher than the average Ikwen, these fighters have distinguished themselves as fearless and cunning foes of the militarily superior Earthers.  While their traditional meteorite-steel kukri blades slice lethally through armour and flesh, they don't shun the powerful blasters provided by their new off-world allies.

These strikingly dynamic figures are (half of) the "Ikwen Hardened Fighters" set, sculpted of course by Eli Arndt of Loud Ninja Games.  They definitely stand out among regular Ikwen, and provide a bit of close quarters mayhem...

The most dangerous game...

The Great Khanate Returns

Shia Khan Troopers and Armored Vehicle
15 mm

Sentinel of destiny
Enemy engaged
Numbered with the dead
Take your glory to the grave

On the smoky, chaotic battlefield, cris-crossed with lethal energy beams and pounding projectiles, the soldiers of the Shia Khan receive support from numerous tanks and armored transports.  Specialized for steady advance into withering fire, they help their soldiers inch towards yet another objective...

It's been a hot, slow painting month, but I've revisited the Shia Khan, the grinding trench warriors of my SF universe.  Their transport is Alternative Armies' Charger APC, a nicely high/low-tech model which I've up-armored with some sort of force field emitters or cage armour.  I have no idea what that long pole device the one guy is carrying is... a weapon?  Teleport beacon?  Reverse-phase matter depolarizer?  Anyway, it looks cool.