Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (Rust Monster face reveal)

[Zaheer]

I think if Essex used photos of your figures to advertise them, then they'd sell a lot more. They look great!

There are so many ranges/websites with photos that really don't do their miniatures justice.

Just some decent pics of the bare casts given a black wash would be a huge step up.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, guys. Yes, the Essex range isn't much helped by the website. They used to use photos of ink-washed figures to advertise in White Dwarf, and those looked better than the current pics.

Here's a very quick yeti, who might work as a buggane or a (snow) troll in Oathmark. But he'll certainly see action as some sort of giant subterranean ape in our D&D campaign.

Bones miniatures of this size are extremely quick to paint, I find, because you just have to learn to live with the mouldlines and lack of detail and go for an 'OK on the table' approach.

[fred]

Nicely done, he looks good as a yeti, I went for a basic brown paint job on mine

[Dr. Kevin Moon III esq.]

He looks great

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks both!

Here are some 1/72 orcs. Early in lockdown, I bought all three of the Dark Alliance orc sets, with a view to making horde elements for Hordes of the Things. I've got half a dozen or so assembled and based, but have yet to paint them. These individually based ones are a bit of a dry run for the hordes, but I'm also planning to paint up all 32 of the different figures to use as orcs in 1/72 scale and kobolds in 28mm. And they'll work nicely as beefy monsters in 15mm too.

I really like the range; they're rather undersold by the knock-off LotR-film box illustration, as they're much more original and interesting.

[Hobgoblin]

Along with the Zargon I recently scratch-built for the denouement of The Lost City in our D&D campaign, I found myself needing a miniature version after an unfortunate elf PC read the cursed scroll in his lair. This is the result:

[Gibby]

Let's face it, we'd rather be that than a stinkin' elf!

Excellent work!

[hubbabubba]

I've been working my way through this thread over the last 6 months or so. I'd caught some of it when there were new posts and had made a mental note to go through the whole thing.
Fantastic stuff, truth be told I'm kinda sorry to have made it to the end.
Thank you.
Looking forward to some more.

[swiftnick]

Hi Justin, you have intrigued me with the idea of using 20mm plastics fir RPGs.
I guess it us reminiscent of the early days of gaming.
Not that I really do any Roleplaying but wondering about songs of blades and heroes based on Glorantha.
The only downside I can think off with the plastics is that you end up with 4 or so of the same figure.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, guys!

The only downside I can think off with the plastics is that you end up with 4 or so of the same figure.

Yes, that's true - but I'm using some of the sprues in each box for Hordes of the Things armies. Also, the duplicates are sometimes useful. I'm painting up the Dark Alliance half-orcs as D&D hobgoblins, and there's one crossbowman and one archer on each sprue. So all of those are going into the RPG box to give the PCs something to think about!

Also, I reckon that 1/72, like 15mm, is more forgiving of duplicates than 28mm.

For Glorantha, you can cover most of the human cultures very easily, and there are the Dark Alliance minotaurs and centaurs too. A mix of 15mm and 25mm lizardmen can probably cover dragonewts. Trolls and trollkin might be a bit harder, but the Caesar orcs could be converted into dark trolls easily enough - or just painted up as them.

Female characters might be a bit of a problem, but the Dark Alliance Amazon ranges give you a fair few options - and the basis of a bolo-lizard rider, perhaps.

Here's a scratch-built brain collector that featured in today's D&D game. He's made from tin foil, mince-pie trays and Fimo.

[DivisMal]

I missed a lot of cool stuff. I was very impressed with all those Nick Lund orcs/goblins/ogres. They have a special place in my heart since I started to play Fantasy Warriors as a teenage kid. I do like your painting of those really old skool things from Essex and co., too. Maybe even more...ach...let’s just say, it’s been a lot of great entries!

[Swaelg]

The brain collector looks cool! I would like to see WiP photos, too.

[Spinal Tap]

That Brain Collector is indeed awesome, it's encouraged me to spend a little time looking through all your stuff again.

[swiftnick]

That brain collector is horrible! In a good way.
Have bought a selection of plastic sets. Will see how I get on.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, guys!

The brain collector looks cool! I would like to see WiP photos, too.

Alas, I was in such a rush to take him that I didn't take any! The legs were folded/twisted mince-pie wrappers covered in Fimo, and the body/head was a big lump of tin foil covered in Fimo and then with some green-stuff details added afterwards. The tentacles were bits of wire covered in Fimo.

Have bought a selection of plastic sets. Will see how I get on.

Good luck! A hot wire or knife does wonders for dealing with the flash, which can be difficult to deal with otherwise.

Here are some 1/72 kobolds for my megadungeon project. They're 15mm and 10mm lizardmen that I had lying around; I'm hoping to get very large numbers of them done fairly soon. They scale nicely against goblins, orcs and humans, I reckon.