Birds, part 1 – Archaeopteryx, raven, vulture, owl and a hawk

It’s been a rather slow couple of weeks when it comes to modelling. I’ve been busy with work, gaming with the toys I have (What a Tanker has hit the table a couple of times, and it is a very fun game), the garden need a lot of attention, our summer-place got a leaky roof that needs taking care of and weather here is amazingly good - we have had a month of excellent summer in spring. So it’s been slow.

Anyway here is a little something. I was inspired by a blog-post on animals the other day and rummaged around in the mountain for some birds that I had already prepped. Some internet searches for photos of said birds as inspiration and I started.

These are the first ones finished.

Archaeopteryx. Okay, not a bird and no photos for reference, but they got wings and will certainly be aggressive in some game in the future. They come from Tamiya’s excellent 1/35 scale Mesozoic Creatures set (you will see much more of that here) and are twins as I bought two boxes.

The owl is from Mantic. I’m not sure from which sprue, though, but probably some elves. It’s a nice but not great little bird. It sits on branch from a sprue of some sort of living tree-thingies GW had way back.

A vulture and a raven from Reaper. The raven is so-so and very large, and I painted it more like a crow. I rather like the vulture. Both come from the Familiar Pack VIII.

Finally a hawk from Otherworld’s Lesser Familiars pack. It’s just a great little model, as usual from Otherworld.

More birds to come shortly, and even more in a little while (I seem to have made a little purchasing-mistake…it's all Koen's fault!)

Happy gaming and modelling!

On the Painting Table and a Zombie Troll from Mantic

The painting table, rather clean and tidy for a change. Dust, pulp, fantasy and a Wild West gallows to be finished before any new major projects.

The side table full of more stuff to be finished. 3D-printed terrrain, more Wild West, submarines and a civilian airplane for pulp gaming.

I’ve decided to clean up on the painting table before I start any new projects, so you will see an assortment of different figures and buildings in the coming weeks. Seems I have started painting far too many minis and it’s time to just finish them.

I’ve also re-based all my Wild West figures on clear bases, readying them for Dead Man’s Hand at the club later this autumn. Before that I will finish all WIld West buildings I have, both the half-finished ones above and the 4Ground ones still unstarted.

Now to this mean undead, a zombie troll from Mantic. 

I got him from Thomas, who got him as part of the Dwarf King’s Quest kickstarter. He (the zombie troll, not Thomas) just stood there on the table, needing to get his nails painted, some tidying up here and there, and a wash (could actually apply to Thomas, too...). Easily done and another monster ready to battle unfortunate adventurers in Frostgrave/Open Combat/D&D/SoBH/Pulp Alley.

Adventurers from Blue Moon and some Mars Attacks!

I won a box of Blue Moon figures a year ago, and in my present pulp-fever I finally got them to the painting table. First up are the adventurers.

Paints used:

The female investigator

Shoes – Humbrol 62 Leather washed with Army Painter Strong Tone

Hat – Vallejo 989 Sky Grey

Skirt – 990 Light Grey

Coat – 991 Dark Sea Grey

All greys washed with AP Dark Tone

Scarf – Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red washed with Citadel Washes Baal Red

Male adventurer with rifle

Shoes – as above

Vest – 872 Chocholate Brown

Shirt – Iraqui Sand

Trousers – 977 Desert Yellow

Everything AP Strong Tone wash.

Male with Shotgun

Shirt – 912 Tan Yellow

Trousers – 874 Tan Earth

Boots – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Braces – 872 Chocolate Brown

Washed with AP Strong Tone

Hair  941 Burnt Umber washed with AP Dark Tone

Female with torch

Trousers – 874 Tan Earth

Boots – P3 Bootstrap Leather

Washed with AP Strong Tone

Shirt – 975 Military Green

Hair – 940 Saddle Brown

Washed with AP Dark Tone

Male with torch

Shirt – 837 Pale Sand

Coat – 874 Tan Earth

Trousers – 977 Desert Yellow

Boots – P3 Bootstrap Leather

Washed with AP Strong Tone

Hair – 940 Saddle Brown washed with AP Dark Tone

Welcome follower Kevin Holland. If you have a blog, then put a link in the comments below so I can link to it.

Finally, Thomas and I spent Tuesday evening eating Asian food, drinking beer and playing Mars Attacks! Pic from the second game, where my human soldiers just wiped out the Martian menace. First game wasn’t as fun as my Martians were equally wiped out. Second time we play, and it’s a fast and fun game. We have only played the first scenario, and I think we’re getting the hang of things, but we need more games to hopefully not make too many screw-ups. Everything will probably work better when minis and terrain are properly painted - that means you, Thomas :-)

Skeletons and Revenants from Mantic

Inspired by the Dungeon Saga Kickstarter I brought out some Mantic figures from the plastics and metal mountain. 

Ten of these skeletons come from the Skeleton Command sprue and five from the Undead Revenant sprue. The latter also have 10 figures on the sprue, but I’m not overly fond of some of them, so they stayed on the sprue for the time being.

Colours used: Citadel Scab Red, Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather, Humbrol 63 Leather, Vallejo 034 Bone White, 912 Tan Yellow, 894 Cam. Olive Green, 881 Yellow Green, 921 English Uniform, 886 Green grey, 885 Stone Grey, 863 Gunmetal Grey, 843 Cork Brown and 874 Tan Earth. Everything washed with Army Painter Strong Tone.

Comparison between Mantic and old GW skeleton 

Now I will focus more on 20mm WWII Early War. British troops are first in the painting queue.

Finally, the Heretic Kickstarter unlocked some more fabulous new minis.

Madame Ner’Gabba (work in progress)

Maggotmen (3 different for £6)

The Angel of Righteous Anger

B’Hakoth the Fallen One

Hurry, it closes on September 3.

Mantic PVC – a test

Mantic said that they will use PVC in their Dungeon Saga Kickstarter, the same PVC they used in their Loka game. I got a yellow pawn in a Mantic surprise-box of different figures I bought not too long ago (earlier this year or late last year, if I remember correctly). It went straight into the out-box as I really wasn’t interested in it.

But, as I would like to know more about their PVC, it was time to root it out. Said and done. It was easy to find, as it was made with a very yellow PVC.

Cleaning – no problems here, as long as you use a very sharp scalpel. This mini had no small fiddly parts, I guess those will be more difficult to clean. Spear shafts and bows might be problematic.

Painting – I washed it with detergent and hot water and then base-coated the figure with two coats of Vallejo 919 Foundation White. No problems here – the paint sticks well.

So, I’m satisfied that the PVC is at least okay to work with. I prefer hard plastic, but you can’t get everything.

I don’t know if I’m going to pledge on this kickstarter, but I’m at least confident that the PVC doesn’t suck.

I finished the mini as a statue. Fast J

Ghouls from Mantic in 28mm

Two ghouls from Mantic, to serve as foes in my D&D campaign. Very nice models, easy to assemble, clean and paint.

Colours used (Vallejo)

Skin – 971 Green Grey

Trousers – 882 Middle Stone / 987 Medium Grey

Shirts - 884 Stone Grey / Panzer Aces 310 Old Wood

A coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink over everything

28mm Veer-Myn from Mantic

I got this as an extra in the huge box of Mantic goodies I bought this summer. A nice little figure, that I don’t really have any use for, but I painted it anyway.

It got a basecoat of white with a wash of Citadel Devlan Mud.

Skin: Vallejo 835 Salmon Rose

Leather: Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Trousers: Vallejo 822 Middle Stone

Cloth on the arms: Vallejo 847 Dark Sand

Metal: Citadel Chainmail

Pipe: Citadel Blood Red

Everything got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink.

We have at least one relative of his in our garden at the moment; a rat was seen several times last week. We called for a Space Marine to take care of it, but was only sent an ordinary human exterminator. The traps are set. No heavy bolters…I’m soooo disappointed.

Oh, and welcome follower number 50 - András Szilvásy has his own blog, Random&Creative that looks interesting. A bit of this and that in modelling. 

28mm Zombie from Mantic

A very quick zombie from the huge box of Mantic stuff I bought this summer.

Nice plastic model that will be used both in a fantasy setting, and also modern zombie games.

Painted with Citadel Rotting Flesh and cloth with Vallejo 821 German Camouflage Beige, and given a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink. Eyes white and red, mouth red and pink. Hands, feet and wounds got a wash of Citadel Baal Red.

Mantic skeletons

More figures from Mantic, this time skeletons, a dog and a skeleton bursting from the ground.

Painted with Vallejo Game Colour Bone White, washed with Devlan Mud, and drybrushed with Bone White again. Dog collar: Citadel Chainmail washed with Devlan Mud.

Quick and easy, and will soon see action in the D&D campaign.

Mantic Orx vs Games Workshop Ork

I got some orx in the box from Mantic, and I’ve just painted the first, a figure from the orx command sprue.

Paints used (Vallejo unless otherwise noted)

Undercoated white with a black wash

Coat – 988 Khaki

Kilt – 882 Middle Stone

Trousers – 977 Desert Yellow

Skin – 971 Green Grey

Leather – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Metal – Citadel Chainmail

Face on breastplate – Citadel Blood Red

Washed with Army Painter’s new Quickshade Ink Strong Tone. A really nice water-based ink/wash, that is a worthy successor to Devlan Mud.

So how does it compare to GW orks, then?

Well, the orx is obviously somewhat different, as it must be to avoid infringing on GW:s IP. Anyway I like the orx, it feels more alive than the ork. Detailing is comparable, the body is a bit less beefy and it has a smaller head (not really seen on this fig). And it actually looks as if it walks/runs, and not as if it just had an...accident.

All in all, the orx is a much more price-worthy alternative, from a company that has great service, and seem to actually like their customers.

Recommended

10 000 hits and a nice postman

The postman has been nice to me the last week and a half:

Got a lot of magazines: Latest issues of Miniature Wargames, Wargames Soldiers and Stategy and Battlegames, and also a back-issue of WSS I wanted and more Knights of the Dinner Table (KotDT). I have laughed so much at the adventures of the Knights my wife has wondered what was the matter with me. Great fun for everyone who has ever role-played. If you haven’t seen them, then it is time. I bought my collections, Bundles of Trouble, from Leisure Games. Great service.

Got a few new fantasy minis that will be seen here, sooner or later, from Maelstrom Games and their latest sale. I can really recommend Maelstrom. I got a faulty mini in a previous shipment, and I was sent a replacement promptly. That is really what differentiates an ordinary company from a good one. Highly recommended.

Also a bunch of new paints in the Maelstrom shipment. New washes from Army Painter and some paints from Coat d’Arms. It will be interesting to try them out.

Today I collected a package from Mantic Games. They had a sale, Mantic Crazy Bundle, where you got 20 random plastic sprues for £20+P&P. I couldn’t resist, as I’ve been rather tempted by their figures, and I bought a skeleton command-pack a while ago and they were nice.

So what did I get?

Orx (space orcs, will go well with my 40K orks)

3x2  orx Marauders Command (i.e. three 2-man sprues)

1x3 orx marauders Troop

Elves (looks a bit like Warhammer high elves)

1x10 elves bowmen troop

1x10 elves spearmen command

1x1 elves bolt thrower

1x2 elves bolt thrower crew

1x2 elves scouts

Dwarfs (fantasy)

1x5 dwarfs Ironclad troops

1x1 dwarfs Iron Belcher (a gun)

1x2 dwarfs Iron Belcher crew

Orcs (fantasy)

2x3 orc ax troop

Undead (fantasy)

1x3 zombies

1x2 undead ghouls

1x10 undead revenant troop

1x10 undead skeleton command (the one sprue I already had)

Forge Fathers (space dwarves)

1x2 Forge Fathers steel warriors

Veer-Myn (space rats)

1 night crawler (one extra free figure)

Ooops, that was actually 19 sprues, and not 20... they missed one

So, am I satisfied?

Oh, yes! I will find use for it all, except the Forge Fathers, the lone extra Veer-Myn and probably the heavy weapons, but otherwise it was all just what I wanted. A little of everything. On the down-side… I have massively overbought myself. My idea is to paint more than I buy, and I have probably screwed that up for 2012…

And also, I celebrated 40 followers and 10 000 hits a couple of days ago. Great fun.

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The nice people at Mantic sent me the missing sprue, another 3-zombie sprue. Excellent, as you can never have to many zombies.