Sunday 19 May 2013

Cast a Deadly Spell

Day two of the bachelor weekend ends up with a ton of painting and some yummy taquitos while watching Cast a Deadly Spell.  This is another one of those movies that I've been meaning to watch forever but never felt in the mood/got around to it.



Packed with stars, this Lovecraft-inspired movie really brought across a 40's noir.  In this world, magic exists and the protagonist (Lovecraft) is the only private detective that has not taken up using magic.  An interesting story ensues, the Necronomicon turns up and David Warner (love that guy!) gets eaten by an Old One.

Now that I've finished it, I realize that I did see the very end of the movie on TV a long time ago.  Overall, it was good and I enjoyed it - especially the casting the runes part (being an M.R. James fan, this part really sttod out).  It's not really my type of movie, but I'm glad I watched it as it does really stand out and the Lovecrafty goodness was better than some of the "Lovecraft" movies that I've seen!  :-)

Iron Sky

My wife is off for a girls' weekend in Spokane, so myself and the dog (Rocky) got to have some quality bachelor-time....we watched Iron Sky.  This is a movie that I've been meaning to watch for quite a while.  It's about what I thought it would be, a funny and over-the-top movie about space Nazis.



If you like those silly pulp movies and have an open mind to Nazis existing on the dark side of the moon, you'll enjoy this show.  I found it funny that most of their technology hadn't changed since 1945.  Space zeppelins, flying saucers, and a swastica base on the moon - good stuff!  Check it out!



Saturday 18 May 2013

Jekyll and Hyde

I've had these West Wind miniatures for a long time, sitting primed in my ready-to-paint drawer for years! 




I'm not a huge fan of the West Wind sculpts, but they are very easy to paint.  I wanted to try out a new fluorescent yellow paint that I picked up, and this was a good opportunity to do just that!  As the bases on the miniatures are so bulky, I couldn't clip them off and put them on a resin base (I would have liked to put them on cobblestone bases).  Instead, I just filled in a lipped base with white putty and added some static grass and tufts.

On the workbench are all of those Fallschirmjager that I posted last time.  I've been churning them out quite quickly, and am just waiting for the helmet decals to come from Warlord Games to post them on here.

Saturday 11 May 2013

Fallschirmjager Primed

I have all of my 28mm Artizan/Bolt Action Fallschirmjager miniatures primed and based.  I have started on four of them to test out the colours and camo.



I also took a quick picture of my painting table for your amusement!  :-)



And one of my display cabinet...


Urban War Viridians

Okay, so it is time for something a little different....Viridians by Urban Mammoth for their Urban War game.  I've had these sitting around for years, and was a little bit intimidated by them (you know how it is).  After thinking a little bit about what was bothering me, I was intimidated by the camo issue.  So....no camo.  It was that easy!  ;-)




The special forces troops were pretty easy to paint actually.  When I saw all the grenades and detail on them I was a bit put off, but once I got going I didn't really care.  I did a little bit of edge highlighting on the armour bits, which I think turned out well.



After the special forces guys I thought I'd mix it up by doing this sergeant character.  She was super easy to paint, surprisingly.  I like how her hair and face came out.



I really like the pose on the guy with the bazooka, and kept the green colour theme with the rocket heads.




This HMG is pretty cool.  The Viridians have a definite German feel to their weapons, and you really get that vibe with this heavy machine gun.  I had to add a few little bricks to the base to support the front leg of the tripod.  The bottom part of the tripod was a little fiddly to put on to the model, but I persevered and got it on okay.


This is the spotter for the HMG above.  He was easy to do, as the face is covered.

All of the bases are new-ish 30mm Industrial Rubble ones from Model Display Products.  I must say that they did have some bubbles in them, but since it is supposed to be rubble it kind of mixes in.

Next week are some West Wind gothic horror miniatures, but I'm also working on some Artizan and Bolt Action Fallschirmjager miniatures for an upcoming game of Bolt Action...

Sunday 5 May 2013

Vidocq

I painted up one of my own models, Vidocq.  Based on the movie of the same name (which is awesome!), this miniature has a bit of a Lovecraftian twist to it.



I went with yellow for the face mask, which I thought the colour of which turned out quite well!  I tried a new way of doing the metal on the blade, by mixing some grey to the metal paint to cut down on the metallic-ness of the paint.

The base is a 40mm one from Model Display Products, which are great to paint.

If you haven't seen the movie, check it out!





Next week I'll have a big update of Urban War Viridians!

Friday 3 May 2013

Karna Cultists and Demoness on Altar

When I was rooting around my box of unpainted miniatures, I found a pack of the LOTR Watchers of Karna - I totally forgot I had them!  I thought they'd make some great Kali Cultists.  I didn't paint the one figure with the bow as it didn't seem like it belonged.



I don't know if the yellow "skirt" seems a bit too much, but I wanted to limit the colours I was using.  I didn't paint the eyes as they were rather hard to get to.  The bases are the same ones I used with the other Kali cultists, from Fenris Games.

Here's another miniature I knew I had, but had the hardest time finding where I put it.  However, as a result I found the Karna miniatures posted above in addition to this one:




The demoness is from Hasslefree, and the Altar and Candles are from Reaper.  I was inspired by this miniature painted by Amon Chakai on Cool Mini or Not.  I wanted to challenge myself with some serious skin tones, and this miniature fits the bill!  I did not pin the miniature to the altar, so I can sit her on the altar she came with (which I haven't painted yet), or anything else she can fit on.

I just realized I haven't painted her horns...ooops!  I'll have to fix that.  I like how the reds came out for her hair and the blood on her feet.  I put some gloss varnish on the feet to make the blood look shiny. 

I've had the altar and candles half-painted on my painting table for a few months.  I finally got sick of seeing them sitting there mocking me and just got them done.  :-)  I really like how they all came out so I'm happy I sucked it up and got them completed.

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Explorers

I have this week off from work, so I've been getting a lot of painting done.  Sometimes a "stay-cation" is just what you need!

I finished the majority of a Pulp Figures pack called Rugged Archaeologists.  All of them were great to paint.






I went with a different "feel" for the bases this time, thinking of an expedition into the jungle or some other out of the way location.  The bases are from Fenris Games, which make some great bases!

I've been painting up a storm, so I will probably have a few more updates this week.