Something Wicked this Way Comes

I'm a little behind on my posting, so here's a collection of some of the sinister and nefarious minis I've been painting recently!

Abha the Blade and Glomdurk Elfblood

Why should the "good guys" have all the fun?  These two goblins chafed under the cruel hand of an evil overlord.  So they deserted to seek adventure and fortune in the wider world.  Far from the safety of their home villages, they face danger fro monsters and aspiring heroes alike.

 

The Three

 

Who are they? WHAT are they? Where this sinister trio comes from, nobody knows. What they'll do, nobody can predict... They have their own agenda, and their methods can be as bizarre and frightening as their appearance.

These three complete weirdos are 3D prints from Knucklebones Miniatures, via MyMiniFactory.

 

Tomb Guardians

 

Are they even wicked?  Created from the mummified remains of loyal servants and the heads of sacred animals, they're certainly creepy.  Still, they do have an important job to do: protecting the resting dead and the temple priests from interlopers and intruders.

Cyber Mechanic

Cyberpunk Chopper and repair bots

28mm 

"The future is already here, it's just distributed unequally"

This skilled mechanic and his AI assistants can fix weapons, vehicles, and any high-tech gear you need for your next combat run or burgling Arasaka's core facility or some other near-suicidal heist.  Just don't ask him to fix your cyber implants... he draws the line at anything interfacing with human meat.  

All Reaper miniatures. 

The Common Folk

Medieval Peasants

28 mm

"The courage of those who work the land is born of long days of labor in the hot summer sun and the cold winter wind. It is the courage of the Earth itself." - MTG 'Yoked Ox' card

 

I've long wanted some ordinary European peasant type figures, and I saw these "Agricola" board game figures at the store I knew they were perfect!

There's a man carrying gourds, a woman with grain and a baby, a boy chopping wood, a woman feeding ducks (my favorite!), and a brewer or cider maker carrying a barrel.  All salt of the earth types suitable to be bystanders or helpful NPCs in a fantasy game.

I actually speed painted these, they were finished in about six hours after I came home from the shop.  The simple quality reflects this, but it suits them.

Welcome to Dark Souls

Dark Souls Fighters

28mm

I picked up a deeply discounted set of "Dark Souls" boardgame figures a while back, and they're FUN.  Interesting designs, and easy to paint.  I know almost nothing about the game, so I've been painting these with few preconceptions.

"The Deprived"

This is one of the starting classes in the game.  Initially weak, but able to use almost any equipment they find.  I imagined him as a Spartacus-like escaped slave rebelling against his former masters.

 

"Knight of Catarina"

This is an NPC character you can rescue in the game, and also a cool set of armour you can use yourself.  I like the unique bulbous look!

"Adventurer Armour"

I don't know what the weird crystals are, but they were fun to paint as a vivid contrast to the rest of the figure.  The weird helmet is based on one given to Henry VIII by... some real weirdo?

"Black Iron Armour"

A stalwart figure.  I sponge-painted the purple on the shield and really like it!

"Vulture Knight" 

This one's actually a minor conversion of the Black Knight Armor using a GW bird skull since I didn't like the original helmet.  I also added a matching skull boss on the shield.

Now, only eleven more miniatures in the set, to work on at my convenience 😄

Wizarding Lookout

Town Wizard's Tower

28mm scale

"Knock, loudly."

Not every student of the magic arts dwells in a cryptic spire the mountains, or a guarded dungeon lair.  The town wizard occupies a converted watchtower or station house, secure from unwanted interruptions, but able to conduct business serving the magical needs of urban dwellers.  Magic doesn't come cheap but, for the right client, modest spells can be exchanged for clean laundry or a roasted pig.

This terrain piece (slash fantasy dollhouse 😁) is an original design by me, using printed terrain resources mostly from Crooked Staff Publishing and Dave Graffam Games.  The rugs are from a Wayfair ad 😄.  I had a lot of fun putting this together, adapting parts which were intended for completely different buildings.

I can't recommend Crooked Staff Publishing enough. He's absolutely brilliant, this is someone who can design a paper kit for almost anything, and thoroughly encourages people to branch out and use his kits in ways that are creative and unique.  The bookcases, table, and stools here are all his paper designs.

A local courtesan stops by the wizard's office for a contraceptive cantrip and a sympathetic ear.

Mess with the honk, you get the bonk

Goose Hydra

28mm scale

"I do not like the cobra chicken"

A friend had this fun, deranged model printed for me as a birthday gift.  It's from Yasashii Kyojin Studio on My Mini Factory.

Stately Strumpets

Brinewind Doxies

28 mm

Brinewind... a bustling port city where traders, mariners, and adventurers arrive, weary of the road and with gold in their pockets. Many professions, including the oldest, flourish by catering to their needs, and lightening those purses.

Colorful umbrellas, a traditional gift from favored regulars, are the trade symbol of the Strumpets' Guild.

I had a lot of fun painting these figures, "Brinewind Doxies" from Reaper. Between the skin tones, the hair, and the sumptuous, folded dress fabric, there's a lot to work on, and the sculpts imply some interesting personalities.

The building is "The Widow's House" from Dave Graffam models.  I added the balcony for the strumpets to lure patrons.

The dead rise again!

The Headless Horseman!

28mm scale

In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black, and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller.

The ghostly Hessian rides through Sleepy Hollow again, seeking a replacement for his head, shot off in battle!

This was painted as a gift for a horror- and Halloween-loving friend.  I don't do mounted figures very often, but this was a pleasure.  The dark, glossy black coat of the horse came together surprisingly easily, and it's just such a dramatic figure overall.  Dark undercoating did a lot of work towards the mood here too.  

I have no idea where the figure itself is from, I received it in an exchange many years ago.

Skeleton Warband

28mm

 Do this rattling squad of undead freebooters obey the foul will of some evil overlord?  Or do they roam of their own accord, seeking to pillage and kill?  They may be "lowly skeletons" but don't ever underestimate their menace...

A fun assortment of Reaper figures, led by Rictus the Undying.  The three mooks were modified for character with the addition of various items, and a weapon swap.  I especially like the axeman with the afro, he's inspired by "Brook" from the anime One Piece 😁

Happy little trees

Bob Ross

28mm

"There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend."

"Everyone sees nature through different eyes."

The almighty Bob Ross; TV painter heir to Bill Alexander and the man who taught millions of viewers that art should be enjoyable, and that there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.

I put Bob Ross videos on very often when I'm painting. His calm, soothing, encouraging presence helps me overcome anxieties I have of my own creations, and keeps reminding me that I should be having fun, not stressing about details.

Bob was one of those people who epitomized kindness and compassion. His interest in helping foster animals was one of those things that epitomized this. "Peapod the pocket squirrel" showed up in season 22, but he introduced us to so many little birds and creatures on his show.

This figure is a resin 3D print made from a HeroForge STL I put together.

Rural horrors

Karl Greever was in town a while back, talking about some meteor that fell out on his property. Said he bet it was full of gold an' diamonds and he was going to get rich.  We laughed, 'cause he was always full of big ideas that went nowhere.  Nobody saw him around for a while then, so Pastor sent his boy up there with some food.  He ran back saying old Greever looked green an' half-rotten, an' attacked him with a shovel!  Even left his bicycle, but nobody wanted to go fetch it...

Heaven only knows what Cindy Jane got herself into.  Maybe she touched somethin' unsavory out in the back woods, and got 'fected.  Or maybe she got to readin' one of her great-grandpa's queer old books up in the attic.  Whatever it was, she just ain't herself lately. Used to be such a chatterbox, an' now all she seems to do is gurgle.  An' that arm of hers - never seen anything like it.  Hope I never do again.

Both of these ghastly individuals are 28 mm "Mansions of Madness" figures.

Lovecraftian Creepers and Crawlers

Chthonian and Mi-Go

28mm scale

Drain you of your sanity
Face the thing that should not be

These two Mansions of Madness game figures depict a few of the sanity-draining horrors of the Lovecraftian mythos.  

Chthonians are huge creatures that live deep in the Earth's crust, burrowing through rock and communicating telepathically.  When they (rarely) emerge above ground, they resemble thick segmented worms with squid-like tentacled heads.  They can control humans and other beings telepathically.

Mi-Go are fungal-insectoid alien beings, interstellar travelers that have established a base on the planet Pluto (which they call Yuggoth) to explore our solar system.  They are scientifically advanced and are expert bioengineers and surgeons.  The Mi-Go abduct and transport humans through space by removing their brain and placing it into a "brain cylinder", a device that maintains its life and consciousness and can be attached to sensors to allow sight, hearing and speech.

Cthulhu Swamp Cult Party Shack

15mm scale

I got me a car, it's as big as a Shoggoth
And we're headin' on down to the Cthulhu shack!
I got me a Chrysler, it can carry a ton
So hurry up and bring your Great Old One!

What are those tentacled weirdos up to in their sinister wetlands hideout? A dimensional portal? A colour out of space? They're chanting up a storm!

Time to crash this party!

The Party Shack is made of coffee stir sticks and corrugated cardboard (and a spare LED)... great results!  All miniatures are from Khurasan.

Life and Death on the Nekroplanet

"Nekroplanet Grob" is an incredible, spooky, and grimly whimsical sci-fi setting created by Ana Polanšćak, also known as Gardens of Hecate.  It's a tomb world of red sand and mysterious ruins, protected by terrifying skeletal automatons and bizarre phenomena.  Nevertheless, raiders travel from off-planet to risk everything in search of the treasures of the long-ago tomb-builders...

Tomb Raider 

28mm

Raiders arrive on the necroplanet with heavy weaponry, power armor, and advanced scanners, in the hopes of uncovering mysterious and valuable artifacts, and detecting the planet's defenders before they arrive.  It's always a deadly game of chance, as weapons and sensor technologies you don't always work the way you expect, and the planet has defenses that even the most skilled adventurers have never encountered before...

An EM4 miniature.

Traveling Hexahedron and Hedral Pillars  

Traveling Hexahedrons are black cubes of unknown composition and apparent indestructible nature, which slide across the planet's surface seemingly at random.  As they move, they will indiscriminately crush any creatures in their path.

Hedral Pillars exist in sporadic clusters on the planet's surface. They seem to attract traveling hexahedrons, but a space in between at least three pillars is the only place on the surface a creature cannot be crushed by the Hexahedrons' movements.

(The Traveling Hexahedron concept is created by Ana Polanšćak.  The Pillars are my idea.  Both are created from cheap puzzle toys.)

Nekroplanet Blitzer

The Nekroplanet's Grobnik infantry are lethal and resilient in their own regard, but their heavier support can be truly terrifying.  Although Annihilators are more heavily armed, Blitzers move across the treacherous nekrolith at high speed, seeking intruders on their own or rapidly arriving to reinforce Grobniks in battle.

The Blitzer is made from a dollar store Halloween decoration and the wheels for a toy car.  And it's definitely inspired by the band Megadeth's mascot "Vic Rattlehead"...