Goblin Treasure Bearer

I bought this miniature as soon as I saw it. Generally, I'm more patient, but this one I just couldn't resist. Which is funny, as it's such a simple figure. Just a goblin carrying a treasure chest... and yet, there is so much potential story to it. He looks rather mournful, so I gather it's not his treasure chest. Probably he's been bullied into carrying it by a party of adventurers. Possibly as an underpaid hireling, but more likely in exchange for his own life after an ambush gone wrong or something.

It's another Reaper Bones figure from Bobby Jackson. Bones USA to be precise, and it makes a difference. I have not been a big fan of either the original Bones or Bones Black material, but the new Bones USA ones are fantastic, with a level of detail at least the equal of metal.

I painted his skin with the Orc Skin speed paint from Army Painter. While it sometimes feel like cheating, and while I did touch it up a bit, I don't think I could paint orc skin much better than this using any of my traditional methods. On a figure with good detail, it just looks fantastic. The rest of the figure I painted with washes and layers. The whole thing is the product of a delightfully lazy Saturday morning.

Alien Crew 2...

 

Two more player characters for the Aliens game mentioned in the previous post. This time we've got a security agent and a corporate type. It was a bit of a challenge assembling a business person from Stargrave/Frostgrave bits, but I think she came out okay. The body is from the Stargrave Crew II set, while the arms and head are from the Frostgrave Wizards II sprue. I cut off a wand to give her a kind of PA device. I then used a book turned sideways to be a little briefcase. I think its the paint job that will cause her to stand out though, as she'll be the only one wearing a bright colour, where everyone else will be in muted tones.

Alien Crew...

Next month, I'm playing in a one-shot Alien role-playing game, and I agreed to paint figures for all of the Player Characters. These are the first two, the security chief and the android mechanic. They are both constructed from various Stargrave plastic kids.

It's generally against my nature to paint miniatures with no flock on their base, but considering how much grass is seen in the Alien films (none?) it didn't seem appropriate. What did seem appropriate were a few bloods spatters...

I'm Detecting Movement...

 

Orc

 

Some days, you just feel like painting an orc, or at least I do. And I did, a few days ago. I was looking through my collection of orcs and realized I wasn't really happy with them. There was nothing wrong with the models, just my paint jobs. I had painted all my orcs very dark and very grubby. This might be perfectly appropriate for the Tolkien style of orcs I want, but it just doesn't look that great on the tabletop. So, I wanted to paint one using a bit more colour, and more importantly, a bit more contrast to the colours. 

To start, I went with a white undercoat, which I've never used for orcs before. This made a big difference on the brightness of the chainmail, which ended up contrasting very nicely with the black leather breastplate. I then used a dark yellow for the tunic - its not a nice or overly bright colour, but I think it found that happy medium of colour and grunge at the same time. I added a bit of purple, which gives it some more colour, but still keeps it dark overall. Finally, I gave it some real brightness on the shield, drawing a meaningless rune and giving it a little fire effect. I wanted it to sort/kinda/maybe give the impression of the Eye of Sauron without an actual eye.

Yup, very happy with how this guy came out. I might have to slowly replace my old orc force with this new, slightly more colourful variety.

Hythe Community Games Day!

I'm not technically a boardgame designer, but I will be at the Hythe Community Games Day on Saturday 9 November taking place inside St. Leonard's Church in Kent. I'll mainly be hanging out by the Frostgrave table run by some friends. I expect it to be a small, local affair, but it should be fun, and when else do you get to game above a crypt with an ossuary? So if you'd like to come by and say hi, or get a book signed, or maybe even throw some dice, it should be fun!

 

Cockatrice!

 

Earlier this year, I wrote a set of rules for using cockatrices in all of my games and released it to my Patreon supporters (where you can still get it). At the time though, I didn't own a cockatrice miniature. I just wasn't that fussed with any that I had seen. Then someone pointed out this one, which comes from Anno Domini 1666, a board wargame from Poland. I actually ended up buying the whole game after demoing it a Pyrkon, but I also picked up the little expansion box that had the cockatrice. This doom-chicken is the plastic version, but it painted up really nice. I can definitely see this guy landing in a game of The Silver Bayonet, Frostgrave, and Rangers of Shadow Deep. When you've got a cool model like that - you've got to use it!

(The other figure is also from the Anno Domini 1666 game, though it is metal).