Mourningcloud

to answer many of your inquiries, it is as darkstar said, a new reaper sculpt. however, ask not who the sculptor is, but rather who the artist is. yep, you guessed it-its Trav's concept art. (okay okay, its gene van horn's sculpt; he consistently interprets travs stuff very well.)

(one of the perks of living in southern california) I have seen Pam Anderson in real life when i was working at Ozz Fest at Blockbuster Pavilion. And im not lying to you, she really is that dumb. I $#!t you not, when asked what she liked about being at Ozzfest she said, "You know, I just love the music, and being outside, and I love music that's outside and stuff, you know *giggle giggle*." She is about as sharp as a box of rocks. now back to melisande-great job as always darkstar, your grasp of curvylinear highlights humbles me.

your kidding, right? cause if not let me know. I live in Southern California, and if its acting you want, its here you want to BE. (Well okay, or New York. But who wants to go to New York?)

actually i liked the steel better at this stage than your new updated post; what colors did you use?

so where the heck are the july greens? i know you are busy with all of the conventions and such, but since you are not going to be at MY gen con you get no slack! i would like to see them at least by my birthday and thats july 31 so you better hurry your little green-coated fingers up! I DONT CARE IF THOSE GREENS ARE CHRISTMAS GREENS, MADE SO BY THE RED BLOOD YOUR WEARY, WORN-TO-THE-NUB FINGERS SMEARED ALL OVER THE THEM WHILE PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON THE NEXT COMMISSIONS OF TRAV'S CONCEPT ART!! JUST GET IT DONE! we now return to our regularly scheduled cup of DECAF. no more late night frappucinos.

im going to gen con..... Los angeles. some of us live in the smog capitol of the US., but they were kind enough to bring the convention to us! too bad reaper isnt going to have a boothe there

hasselfree's dwarfs (the best there are, if yo ask me) are waht i like to think of as the "right size" -they are comparable to DH minis, and maybe just a tad smaller than warlord dwarfs (a "tad" being a unit of measure exactly 3/5th's of a "skotche", and roughly 2 1/2 times a "hair") but remember that warlord elves are taller than DH human barbarians, so YMMV. (they can say all the C^@p they want to about comparable scales between the two mini lines, but why did everything warlord suddenly jump in size so my dwarfs are looking eye level with my dark heaven elves. they just HAD to make them that much more "herioc" for the tabletop.)

I SAID CONSUMATE V'S!!!

well trav has a cool concept for an elementalist dwarf wizard on his site... art of trav: Dwarf Mystic the pose is kinda bland, but i bet mr klock or mr jackson could spice that up a bit. and look at all those goodies hes carrying-why yes those are gauntlets of ogre power hes wearing . and you can only see the pommel/haft of the morningstar the size of a bowling ball hes carrying on his back.

hey and while your at it, you know the terrorism and war in Iraq? well i hear that it is caused by islamic anger due to the advent of third edition D&D, especially the transformation of the armor class system from one which revolves around a central armor class of 0. as you are possibly aware, the number 0-the absence of value, as well as its role as a place keeper in 2+ digit numbers, came to our culture from the middle east, along with algebra and other cultural and intellectual imports from the holy land during the crusades (during those middle ages of which you are so fond). well by updating to 3rd ed we have removed the 0 as the central number in our armor class system, and thereby thumbed our collective gaming noses at islamic culture, religion, and their contributions to modern mathematics. you are right, by removing the 0 as the place holder in our armor class system we have dumbed it down. and they are pissed. if you notice, 9/11 happened not too long after the advent 3rd ed and the d20 system..... so you go ahead and keep blaming d&d. it makes as much sense as several million muslims waging war based on your theories. the truth is out there. This has been another Mourningcloud dissertation; however this time i have NOT said too much. Not one bit.

wow-i dont suppose you are in the Southern California area. I think i would love/hate to play in your campaign, and i need a new dm/game. you are just wicked.

Hey are any of you reaper fans out there RPGA members? I just joined and am looking for a local Living Greyhawk game. my region is southern california. anyone out there?

oh yeah, and a mini id like to see: Taking a page from magnificent egos book, how about some representations of non-character/monster stuff we see in D&D (for you non gamers out there who are groaning, sorry but the majority of reapers repeat buyers are D&D players. and i think you might like this stuff too) For example: the three magical goat figurines that come to life (you could call them "The Three Ebony Goats", as opposed to Three Ivory Goats.) they would be three very different animals. the goats are: goat of travel: normal sized goat capable of being ridden like a heavy warhorse, goat of terror: a scary looking warhorse sized goat with one horn like a lance and one like a sword, and the dreaded goat of travail: an enormous goat larger than a bull with wicked impaling horns that gets up and kicks some booty. also would make great characters for a three-billy goats gruff diorama. now all we need is a troll....

One thing I've allways wanted to see is a warrior that has just survived a harsh battle and has a sort of relieved "Phew, we survived this time to" smile in his face. Also I'd love to see more warriors (or other characters) expressing the horror of war. Sort of "E.M Remarque meets fantasy" but maybe that's just me. All in all a greater variety of expressions would be nice. Maybe a griefstricken character? A panicking character? A slightly deranged character? A slightly fearful character? There are a wide wide range of expressions out there. the only sculptors ive seen who regularly achieve this are bobby jackson and jim johnson. especially bobby's newer stuff-check out thora necromancer, ansel paladin of laris and kasadya demon, all in the 2900 series. they all have very expressive faces, from thoras wicked just-animated-your-mother's-corpse grin and the kasadyas smile of genuine demonic mischieviousness to ansels frown of stern disapproval at some evil doers evildoingness. coincidence that they are all representations of trav's concepts? (talins gonna think i hate him they way i tout trav's art so much, but truth is talin doesn't need much "touting"-his work has enough history and stunning representation to speak for itself. trav's the new guy, and i like the way he is pushing the limits of our beloved sculptors) this has been another mourningcloud dissertation wherein i have said, as usual, too much.

oh hell yes!!! and his main character, Torrik; the badaxx (well, bad-hammer actually) dwarf dragonslayer with the huge maul made from a dragon horn/bone that adorns his website. cjeck it out, and all of his concept art. youll recognize some as recently (or soon to be) released miniatures. youve been warned. ps: www.artoftrav.com

my personal preference for this dilemma would be to just not get married, but thats just me hoping all the ladies on this board stay single

hey, how bout some Crow/humaoid fighter-thiefly types? yes, I mean Kenku. but we can call em CROW-minids, or maybe CROW-magnon. THe plastic wotc one is pretty good, but i want some different character classes. p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pleasse?

ooh ooh ooh, thats a great idea!! and not a standard bob ridolfi bat-thing looking gargoyle. you know-the kind that can double as generic demons and devils if you dont paint them. instead how bout some real medieval style grotesque gargoyles, that looked like they just jumped down off of a cathedral buttress? this is one monster you can really go all out on. perhaps even one inspired by the picture in the 3.5 monster manual, whichis definitely a good example of a non-standard looking gargoyle. persoinally id like to see Jim Johnson do one with either a grotesque medieval style face, or a Japanese demon-mask (from Noh theatre, i believe) style face. and as stated, do one in both statue pose, and I'm-gonna-scratch-your-eyes-out-and-gnaw-on-your-skull pose. and remember these are horrid things inspired by horrid sculptures from real life-dont be afraid to go over the top with them!!

as always very nice Darkstar; however, i had just one problem: you filed off the pommel detail!! it has this cool wavy wire thing going on and you removed it! Your a Filer! FILER! ......filer.

dude, frosch, your there man. for the love of pete do some NMM! NOT because it looks better than metallic, NOT because it means you have finally "arrived" at the level of "quite a good mimiature painter", BUT because it will make you a better painter. it will force you to advance your layering techniques beyond where you thought they could go. you have the shading highlighting thing down, your washes and shades are excellent, now you just need a little work on your layering highlights and you will be the shizznit. and trying to paint NMM will force these changes upon you. I can only show you the door, Neo.

dude, im going to shamelessly plug you for info. what color did you use on the armor of the new duke gerard? it almost has a kind of brown-silver tint to it. tell us a secret smeagol... P.S. it looks amazing!!

okay man, give over. what colors did you use for her skin (and dont tell me you dont remember...) im dying to know. Overall the best drow skin i have ever seen anywhere!!

hey fuzzy, iff'n you end up doing any conversions, post em so's we can see how they turned out. id particularly like to see the svala, if you go that route. and for gods' sake, keep some hair on that dwarf girl!!

well hasslefree has severel unarmored female dwarves, and they're every bit as good as reapers. Svala, female dwarf comes to mind to fit your needs-she's got a hammer, but it will easily be removed, and her fist (very large, gloved, meaty dwarven fist) looks cocked to throw a mean punch. the no hair part... your on your own for that one. you'll never find a mini to fit that exact Description. anyway it seems to me that a female dwarf's hair would be like her male counterpart's hair-a matter of pride that would never be cut (whether or not your DM subscribes to the female-dwarfs-have-beards theory), even for entry into an esoteric order of martial monks... Female orc or 1/2 cleric-thats easy!! the new kiakara female warlord mini-just remove the funky bat-winged thingy and place your hammer/mace at your discretion. or alternately neroli, the new DHL female 1/2 orc due out this month. sure shes got a sword, but theres plenty of ways around that-either convert, or make her worship a god of war, such as Tyr, from the Fgttn Realms, whose favored weapon is long sword. problem solved. as for a gnome mage, your best bet is A) balto (sorry) or B) nebbin, gnome illusionist from wotc. the metal version of this extremely hard to find (even on ebay), well concieved mini, from back when wotc first launched 3.0 and was still in the metal mini business, is quite honestly a poorer sculpt than the more recnt plactic one they put out (i have seen the metal one, and own the plastic, and the plastic is just a superior mini) as part on the D&D minis game (you can get them on ebay for like $1.00) as for the easy one, male orc with hammer, use the hammer you just cut of svala, female dwarf, and glue it to any orc which catches your fancy!! hope this helps. me, i do it the easy way-i let the beauty and artistry of the miniature inspire me to create a character for that particular mini. i feel this often boost rather than (as im sure some of you are screaming,) hampers my creativity. and i never have the trouble of finding that "perfect miniature" for my cool new character. (course the fact that i'm an uber-wiz at conversions doesnt hurt either!)

wow! OOOOLLLLD Grenadier! part of the fantasy lords line (from early 80's just after they lost the license to do official D&D minis), one of a very well done for its time set called fantasy knights. I still have this set. its a good'un.