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

[Bloggard]

yep, more great results.

I'm actually going to try and paint one figure quickly with the darn things today 

[Jagannath]

Really nice - you’ve definitely got the swing of these.

I’m slowly embarking on a multibasing 15mm project and I want an armoured force (marines, power armour - something like that) that I think will be a contrast project. We’ll see.

[thenamelessdead]

The HoTT lizzies look superb and those dwarves are fantastic. Some of the Essex stuff looks a bit 'tired' from their website images but those dwarves are anything but tired. Might have to investigate.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, all!

Jagannath - i look forward to seeing that. Are you looking at Alien Squad Leader, rules-wise?

thenamelessdead - the Essex stuff is very undersung on their website. The 15mm orcs, dwarves and halflings are really good. I presume they're by Bob Olley, as they're miniature versions of his 28mm stuff for the same company and have the same intricacy of design. I'd say the dwarves hold up better than most 15mm dwarves, though they are quite wicked-looking (They make me think of the dwarves mentioned in The Hobbit as allying with goblins).

Here's a quick win - ogres (Blood Dawn orcs) rebased from 15mm basing to 28mm. I might tart then up with some silver highlights on the metal.

Also, here's a troll I painted tonight, entirely with contrast paints except the eyes and teeth. I had orginally based him on a tuppence for 15mm RPGs, but never got round to painting him. Although he's a 28/25mm Ral Partha figure, he's a great size for 15mm.

But troll and ogre-sized creatures pose a conundrum in Hordes of the Things. The obvious role for them is "behemoth". The problem, though, is that only really big trolls and giants fit the rules properly; creatures so big that they would destroy their own troops if pushed back into them.

The conventional alternative is to base them as warbands or blades, and just balance their greater size with the smaller number that you can fit on the base. That's what I've done with the ogres (and the Dracci on the previous page), who will be "blades", with three to a base where there would be five or six men or dwarves.

Then there's the unofficial "brutes" rule, where you have, effectively, a double-ranked warband as a single element. I really like that, and if I had a whole group of these trolls, I'd probably go for that (conveniently, a doubled-up warband is the same size as a behemoth element, so you have options if you base them this way). But I plan to base my CP bugbears that way, so don't really need more.

So, what I'm doing here is "embedding" the troll in a warband unit: specifically the general's element. I'm painting up some orc command to go with him. That'll work nicely - the troll champion will make the element more distinctive and provides a nice visual representation of its extra punch in combat (+1 for being the general).

On one of my rebased orc warbands, I used a Ral Partha goblin as a lesser version of the same thing; he fits in quite well as an extremely outsized orc:



And I'm going to do more of this with various old-school/25mm orcs that don't get used much in our 28mm games. If nothing else, they'll keep the orc warbands looking more menacing than the horde elements, even when they share some of the same figures.

[cameosis]

is the ral partha goblin the one in the middle with the two-hand weapon? if yes, would you know the catalog number? that's a sweet sculpt (possibly enhanced by your paintjob), reminds me of paul muller!

also, trolls -- the unsung and misunderstood heroes of fantasy! 

[Hobgoblin]

is the ral partha goblin the one in the middle with the two-hand weapon? if yes, would you know the catalog number? that's a sweet sculpt (possibly enhanced by your paintjob), reminds me of paul muller!

I think he's long "out of print" - at least he doesn't seem to be produced by Iron Wind or Ral Partha Europe. He was one of this range (in fact, I think that listing mixes up two ranges - the classic giant goblins ("half-orcs" here) and their smaller kin, and a slightly older range, of which this guy is one:



BUT I see he's on ebay as a "buy it now" option!

also, troll -- the unsung and misunderstood heroes of fantasy! 

Indeed - thanks!

[Jagannath]

Thanks, all!

Jagannath - i look forward to seeing that. Are you looking at Alien Squad Leader, rules-wise?

For sci fi I almost exclusively play Squad Hammer now (with a few tweaks of mine) - you should check it out if you haven’t, seems like it would be up your street. It will fail your ‘time to table’ test a little though - I’ve been working up stat cards to keep.

It revolves around the idea of a ‘standard’ squad, with everything else modifying around them. So for me that’s 5 grunts on a base, no particular armour with rifles and an SAW.

[Hobgoblin]

Ah, yes - I bought it on your recommendation a while back. I think we did play a couple of games, but then bought An Orc Too Far from the same company and got distracted with that. But I recall enjoying it; I'll give it another look.

I've had Alien Squad Leader for a while, but haven't managed to play it. I was painting up the forces, but then FUBAR provided a convenient distraction ...

[Jagannath]

I’m increasingly more of a fan of multibasing - I like the level of abstraction Squad Hammer offers in particular. Having said that, I think I found ALSQ too abstract, a bit like DBA. I play Squad Hammer like a skirmish where minis are grouped by base, with cover abstracted. A hodgepodge. Suspect it would fit your needs nicely.

[Hobgoblin]

I’m increasingly more of a fan of multibasing - I like the level of abstraction Squad Hammer offers in particular. Having said that, I think I found ALSQ too abstract, a bit like DBA. I play Squad Hammer like a skirmish where minis are grouped by base, with cover abstracted. A hodgepodge. Suspect it would fit your needs nicely.

Yeah, there's something oddly satisfying about a game with multi-based figures. I use my 28mm HotT units mixed in with single-based figures a lot in various games. I'll give Squad Hammer another read-through shortly.

Here's a contrast-painted giant for HotT (15mm on 28mm bases - he'll be one of three to a behemoth element). He's the first more or less finished out of nine, although the others are just about there. I've built them out of GW ork, orc, ogre and savage-orc parts, but this chap is the only one to be built "straight" from the savage-orc kit. Like them all, he's fast and sloppy, but I'm quite pleased with how he looks next to his 15mm foes.

When all nine are done, they'll also work nicely in 28mm HotT as the unofficial "brute" (double-warband) elements that have been designed to fill the large-humanoid hole between warband and behemoth.

[beefcake]

I like that a lot  .  Do you thin your Contrasts?

My daughters were watching and wanted me to put in a few extra smileys because they liked the look of them.  Kids right?!

[Hobgoblin]

I like that a lot  .  Do you thin your Contrasts?

Thanks! No, this is all straight from the pot, with a light dab of highlights afterwards (with Vallejo Silver Grey). I've only used the medium once so far, I think.

My daughters were watching and wanted me to put in a few extra smileys because they liked the look of them.  Kids right?!

No higher endorsement!  My own kids are fascinated by the "Frankenstein" smileys on this site!

[Bloggard]

looking good.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, Bloggard.

I found these unassuming semi-painted goblins lurking in a cupboard and decided to see how the contrast paints would work to finish them off. They turned out to be quite handy in this role, because they're thick enough to create pools of darkness where you need them - and do this a bit better than washes. Also, they're great for lining features, because they're easier to control than conventional washes. So, with a few dabs of contrast and a few quick highlights, I got these fellows to a stage where they'll "do".

[andyskinner]

 Hob, I've had mixed results so far.  I tried to do GW Middle Earth Giant Eagles with contrast paints.  Lots of texture, not much other detail, seemed a good fit.

I used Templar Black, thinned with contrast medium, for the flight feathers (the ones extending out past the wing).  They look pretty good, though want something brown on top to make look more natural.

But I used Cygor Brown on the rest, and got something pretty muddy.  I tried to thin this, too, because it is such a dark color.  (I should have been patient until I could get a lighter brown, but the store hasn't gotten many colors.)

It also felt like it was really hard on my brush.  Did you experience that?  So I started putting some water on the brush, and that seemed to help it.  But I didn't pay enough attention to see whether that was the part that looked better, or whether that was the muddy part.

Since then I've been trying to wash off and try again, using some hot water and Simple Green.   But I'm not sure if I'm going to try more medium, and not sure if I'm going to stay away from the water.

Have you tried such a dark color and still gotten good effects?

andy