Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (Frostgrave undead and construct)

[Hobgoblin]

Four more trogs join the throng. The soft plastics don't look good under artificial light, but I'm pleased with this batch; three of the four are converted.

[Hobgoblin]

This year's Halloween efforts - a chupacabra and a hydra:

[Vladimir Raukov]

Great work on both the trogs and the costumes!

[boneio]

A Hydra of Vulcan no less 

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

Here's a new project. I acquired a batch of EM4 orcs on a whim and started painting some and converting others. I've been aiming for an almost "Dogme" style of speed painting: base colour and one highlight only on most areas (one more highlight permissable on skin); no drybrushing and washes only on skin and armour. I enjoyed this approach so much that I dug out the Fantasy Warriors metal orcs that were languishing in the leadpile.

Here are the first few. They're unapologetically tabletop standard, but I've got a good few more based up. I used square bases so that the metals more or less match the plastics; the lower base combined with the thick integral metal bases mean that these orcs are actually level with my slottabased miniatures. I'm not going to mix in Chronicle slottabased orcs with these, as I'm keeping those to be blue-skinned "winter orcs" - but I might make an exception for a couple of duplicates.

[Hobgoblin]

Three more quick 'n' dirty orcs, including the first EM4 conversion.

[Dr Mathias]

Those look fantastic. Some of the first orcs I painted back in the 80s!!!

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

Many more are on the way - the next batch just need their shields done.

In the meantime, here are a pair of Reaper Bones deep ones. These were done with extreme vitesse (and little consideration for mouldlines): just basecoat, a silver-grey drybrush and some washes. They'll see action in our next D&D stint, I think.

[beefcake]

On a whim, I ordered some 54mm orc toy soldiers from Russia. They arrived today, so I thought I'd better paint one up. The kids already have painting designs on two of the four that arrived, but I've earmarked one other for myself. These were very cheap - less than four quid before postage, so a pound each. I think they'll work very nicely as giants or ogres or trolls.

Mine arrived today. They really are very nice. bendy but not bendy...

[Daeothar]

In the meantime, here are a pair of Reaper Bones deep ones. These were done with extreme vitesse (and little consideration for mouldlines): just basecoat, a silver-grey drybrush and some washes. They'll see action in our next D&D stint, I think.

They look really good in the pictures, and I'm sure a bit more care went into the painting than you are letting us on. But they are ace no matter what...

Mine arrived today. They really are very nice. bendy but not bendy...

Aren't they? I ended up ordering the Orks, Minotaurs and Centaurs, and they are very impressive for the price. Good sculpts and the material, whilst a bit bendy, is absolutely hard enough to be painted well.

[beefcake]

Very nice deep ones (sorry too excited about my arrival you put me on to) The colours work very well.

Aren't they? I ended up ordering the Orks, Minotaurs and Centaurs, and they are very impressive for the price. Good sculpts and the material, whilst a bit bendy, is absolutely hard enough to be painted well.

How are the others. Are the centaurs any good?

[Daeothar]

How are the others. Are the centaurs any good?

They're all perfectly suited for the purpose I bought them for; three of the Orks will be Olog Hai (one doesn't quite fit the aesthetic I am going for, and converting would too much of a hassle; my daughter will probably end up painting him), the Minotaurs will be incorporated as is into my Chaos Dwarf army.

And the Centaurs, as suggested in this thread pages ago, will be converted into Dragon Ogres for my Warriors of Chaos army.

I liked that idea so much, as no currently available Dragon Ogre is to my liking (except for the one special character, but he's just one pose, metal and very expensive. Also, he's twice the size of 'normal ones', so would not represent a bog-standard Dragon Ogre well), and for the price, it really was a no-brainer.

Conversion will be very easy too I reckon; replace tail with a thin, whippy one with a triangle at the tip, remove some of the sculpted hair on the front legs, possibly replaced with some sculpted scales, and they should be ready to go!

[Hobgoblin]

They're all perfectly suited for the purpose I bought them for; three of the Orks will be Olog Hai (one doesn't quite fit the aesthetic I am going for, and converting would too much of a hassle; my daughter will probably end up painting him), the Minotaurs will be incorporated as is into my Chaos Dwarf army.

And the Centaurs, as suggested in this thread pages ago, will be converted into Dragon Ogres for my Warriors of Chaos army.

I'lld be very interested to see how these turn out.

They look really good in the pictures, and I'm sure a bit more care went into the painting than you are letting us on. But they are ace no matter what...

Thanks! But no, really: two hours from start to finish last night (I had based them earlier). Here's all I did: black gesso undercoat, medium-sea grey for the bodies and buff for the underbellies. Then a drybrush with silver-grey and a glaze of thinned Nightshade GW wash mixed with a bit of GW Camoshade wash. I washed some thinned GW Crimson over the underbellies, put undiluted Nightshade over the spinal scales and in the eye sockets, and sloshed some Camoshade here and there in the recesses. Then it was just a matter of painting the eyes and teeth.

The initial Nightshade/Camoshade wash - more of a glaze, really, as it was thinned heavily with glaze medium, did almost all of the work and produced a nicely mottled effect because of the texture on the figures. The other washes were just slopped on into crevices here and there.

I bought a big batch of Bones figures last week, so I'm trying to crack through them to have some surprising opponents for the kids in D&D. Speed's of the essence, as we'll probably play this weekend!

[Daeothar]

Sounds almost too easy, but I believe you

Still; your almost prolific production rate never seizes to amaze me, especially at the level of quality. No matter how simple the process; they always seem to come out just right.

I'm afraid mine will not see a brush for some time to come though. I will first want to have my nine walkers complete before I tackle the forces of darkness. So far, I have the four hobbits, Gandalf and Boromir (who requires some slight converting), so just a ranger, elf and dwarf to source. And then it will first be a large batch of orks, for which the trolls will be reinforcements.

And I've recently started reading The Hobbit to my little girl (a couple of pages before bedtime each day), so I might very well have to do up 13 dwarfs and another hobbit (without handkerchief) before that time as well...

[Hobgoblin]

And I've recently started reading The Hobbit to my little girl (a couple of pages before bedtime each day), so I might very well have to do up 13 dwarfs and another hobbit (without handkerchief) before that time as well...

It makes a great bedtime story - I've read it to both of mine in the past few years.