Woodland Base Inserts (WIP)

I have been looking at some basing ideas for upcoming projects, and came across one on a blog for some woodland basses.  I have a couple of half-lings and wood elves that I thought would look good on a base themed that way.  I pulled out my putty turned on Jurassic Park and started sculpting a couple of logs and stumps.

I sculpted the stumps on little plastic discs I made that slip into the lipped style bases.  Its just a nice way of doing it to make sure that the material is flush the with disc.  The way I made them is just old plastic packaging.  I apologize now for the poor photos, it was late at night when I did these and didn't feel like setting up to take good pics.

#5 Daring Dwarf

This week I thought I would do another little dwarf.  This mostly because I based him the same time as the other dwarf that I did.  I was also excited to do this dwarf because of his fiery beard.  I don't think a lot of miniatures out there pull off red hair very well, but with dwarves it just seems to fit them.   This little guy was fun to paint. Someone commented on one of my earlier posts that they liked their dwarves in blue, so I thought this would be a good color for him. One thing about this figure I didn't like to much was the was the way his cape was sculpted.  It has a weird flow to it. I thought the helmet came out particularly well on this figure, and something I could do better was the boots.  I need to learn how to paint black leather better.  Thanks for checking this figure out +1 it if you like it.

Links: 

Dwarf Crossbowmen

Critical Hit, Epic Book Score

I had a really good find the other day after searching kijiji for Dungeons and Dragons stuff. One person had an add for some 4th edition D&D books listed. For $15 I picked up the Adventurer's Vault, Martial Power, Manual of the Plains, DM Screen and character sheets. The character sheets had a 4 sheets on card stock, and 4 sets of unused blank power cards, and the books were all in mint condition. All said and done I was pretty pleased with myself and am looking forward to delving into my new reading material.

#4 Another Blood Sucking Vampire

I know I did a vampire miniature last week, but wanted to do the other one I had for this week.  I think it turned out better than the last one did anyway. This miniature was a real challenge for me.  There is a lot of detail on the figure that I wanted to capture and really express with different colors, one was the imp. I had completely finished the vampire but hadn't painted that little devil gripping his leg.  I thought that a fire imp theme would look really cool and cause him to pop out in the figure. It almost makes you wonder why they are together when clearly the two are so different.  This figure is again done by Reaper Miniatures and I will include the link for him below.  There are two sculpts for this guy, and honestly if I had seen the other figure first I would have bought it instead. Something I liked about this pant job besides the imp was his robe.  It came out really nicely and contrasts well with the red shirt.  I think I could have done better work on the writing of the book.  I touched up a place where t     he black lines were pretty thick, but I could have spent more time in the area doing some really cool detail.  

 One last thing.  I am using a Cannon Rebel t3 12mp camera to take my photos, but I was wondering if anyone had some tips for helping me improve my photos.  I know lighting is a big issue for me because I am taking my photos in the basement where I paint, but I was wondering if someone out there has seen tutorials for photographing miniatures that have worked for them? Again thanks for checking out my blog, and post your comments below.

This picture has no flash.

Links:

Reaper Miniature: Morrdha Vampire Lord

Epic Morrdha Vampire Lord Sculpt

#3 Damien Mundo

The Vampire Lord Damien Mundo

One of my favorite creatures to throw at my friends when playing dungeons and dragons is a vampire. I think they are one of the best villains you can put in a campaign. They allow your cleric characters feel powerful when they hold them at bay with their religious symbol. They cause your fighter absolute horror when they become dominated. But my favorite thing is when your PC's are just about to finish the fight, they turn into a gaseous form allowing them to escape only to turn up later for revenge. The main vampire we have used in our adventures I named Damien Mundo. I bought this miniature specifically for this character, and every time I put him on the table for game night it has always been a memorable experience. That being said, the thing I liked about this mini was how his armor turned out. I haven't done a lot of non metal colored armor and I should try to do it more. Something that could have been better was his cape, I feel like I kinda rushed it and maybe I will go back and fix it a bit. Overall this was a good mini except for a bad mold line that ran right though the left side of his face. All in all I am glad I finally put some color on this figure.

Links:
Reaper Miniature Vampire Gabriel Darkblood

Cauldron Conversion

Art Ross (left) Stanley Cup (Center)

A few years ago McDonald's put out a line of hockey trophies to sell more hamburgers in Canada, as a result today these babies can be found at most Canadian thrift stores from time to time (not sure if they had this promotion anywhere else).  I was able to round up 3 of them, to convert into dungeon pieces. 2 Art Ross trophies and 1 Stanley Cup.  All I had to do was pull off the cup by twisting until the bottom part snapped off the large base. Once I had them off there was a plastic lip left on the bottem wich was shaved with a hobby knife, and then the base was sanded level. I then primed them black, and base coated with chaos black. I dry brushed the raised detail with Vallejo model color old gold, and then highlighted with a brass. Overall a pretty fast paint job and easy conversion. Even though they are plastic I definitely recommend hitting them with a matte coat sealer just to help them hold up against heavy handling since I just primed right over the glossy silver paint job they had before.  Thanks for checking out this post, and feel free to leave any comments you might have below. 

#2 J27-F2 RAFM Dwarf

The miniature I chose for this week was one that I've had for a while now.  This is a dwarf from RAFM Miniatures fantasy line.  He came in a pack of 3 called the trench pounders (see down below for a link). I have to say they are decent little sculpts, but that I didn't much care for the little base that he came on and I wanted to change that. There is a video done by Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic that teaches his technique for making stone bases (link below). I think the results speak for itself, I definitely will be basing other figures this same way in future posts. I would like to give a shout out to secret weapon washes, I used the stone wash for this base and was really happy with out how it turned out. Something that I really liked about this miniature was the way that his studded leather armor turned out. I mixed a red wash with scorched brown paint to get the color the way I wanted. Something to work on for next time was the shield. I think the red looks good, but it doesn't have a lot of depth to the color. I also could have sculpted something onto the shield to add some flare to it.

You can see how nice the wash worked on the base.

Links:

RAFM Miniatures Trench Pounders

How to Make Stone, Rock, & Tile Miniature Bases

Secret Weapon Washes