LittleBluberry

That article is written by a Reaper Forum alumnist Fieldarchy. I still think Vallejo Metalics are better. Are you talking about the special alcohol-based Vallejo metallics, or the regular ones? I've been getting bad results with the regular ones on Bones (fine on metal) but I haven't tried the alcohol-based 'better' ones. And the one FLGS who carried anything other than P3 just closed.

I thought I'd echo the advice given to emphasize metallics with a very, very thin wash of a very dark color. This is something I've done a lot with metal miniatures, especially on things like chainmail. Unfortunately when I tried to do it with Sir Forscale I realized that the trick doesn't work quite as well with Bones. I don't know if it's that the detail is shallower or softer or what, but my son got much better results drybrushing a metallic color over a dark base coat. For that nice shiny gun, a tiny hint of a dark wash in the crevices would do the trick, but it almost looks like you've got a bit of that going on already. (I guess I should add that it's possible I just applied too much steel paint first, because unlike most of my paints it didn't want to stick to bare Bones.) And now I've got to go buy a few P3 metallics, because wow does it look amazing!

Honestly my hope for Kickstarter #2 is dedicated staff. Maybe not a lot, but it's obvious that they can't keep up with their regular metal release schedule while doing a massive Bones push. If this is increasing their sales as much as has been hinted then more staff would be the best thing they could do for everyone. And while I can't commit to participating until I see what's going to be included, chances are good that I'll be in at some level.

It has no war hammer. I'm going to be forced to cut the hammer off of Halbarand to put onto Trista for my freshly created paladin of Thor. A weapons sprue would solve so many problems for so many people. Especially if they made it out of the stiffer plastic for all those people who hate floppy spears.

My daughters have been painting their unicorns that we bought Friday at PAX. Hubby is working on his pirate dude that he got at the paint & take. Poor ReaperBryan seemed a little confused when I got all excited and said loudly, "Look, it's ReaperBryan!!" It was an awesome presence at PAX, I was happy to see all the goodies that I didn't opt in for during the Kickstarter.

Thanks for the tutorial on the stencil, that's a neat trick for us less-talented types.

I was quite anxious to see this in it's final form. You didn't disappoint, it's amazing. :)

Did you freehand the treasure map? I like how the three work well together as a diorama. :)

So now that Kickstarter #1 is winding down/done and there's talk of Kickstarter #2, what happened to the idea of Bones LTPKs? I've got tween/teen/adult kids who are getting into painting my Kickstarter Bones, and I wanted to look into some LTPKs for Christmas gifts. (Hint, hint.)

That is just lovely. Very nice satin effect on the cloth and I particularly love the color choices. :)

Oooo, owlbear! I actually used my owlbear in a 3.5 encounter right after my vampire box arrived. (Dungeon Crawl Classics module, they're awesome!) They had classified the owlbear as large, which means 50mm base size. That seems to fit very nicely with the actual size of the mini.

I agree with changing the color on the gloves. They are a classic example of "one of these things just doesn't belong here." If it was my mini I'd also darken the eyepatch a little, or perhaps lighten the flesh tone. Right now that eyepatch just sort of disappears into the face.

You gave him a facelift! It was quite striking how much younger your version looked compared to the art you linked to. What I really love about this piece is how you made him look so much like a young adventurer, just starting out. Although reading the description again it sounds like you were aiming for more of a pure-hearted quester not encumbered by earthly possessions. Either way, he looks very striking and has a lot of personality without cluttering it up with a ton of belt-buckles and do-dads. I need to practice more.

In general I won't buy more than one of a specific miniature that's intended for use as PC. This is partly because PCs are supposed to be unique and special pieces on the board. I will happily buy multiple Flits, multiple Griffons, multiple Owlbears, etc. Because in the end I just want a monster of type XYZ, not a personality. It's also fun thinking of various ways to paint those basic monsters. (Pink Flit, anyone?) So if I'm going to stretch my budget, yeah the monsters make more sense as Bones, the PCs tend to get chosen from metal. Now my son, on the other hand, is starting a Pathfinder campaign and only wants to buy Bones for everything. He's also not that picky about his PCs look. (Yet.) He would happily have stolen my Vampire box and called it a day.

There is definitely an element of bad timing here, but it seems like they intend to appeal to those with basing experience by having a higher-end product. Plus this might be a better deal for people in Europe. Being a complete basing newbie, and having Happy Seppuku practically in my back yard, I think I made the better choice for myself. But I like some of these basing plates, so once I've got some experience I might be interested.

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/Bones/a-z/77110 (no image on it, which I guess may well mean a painted one will go up soon) Thanks! My visual scan skipped over all those insignificant word-things.

Does anyone know where Deathsleet is??? I didn't order any of the big dragon add-ons and I had hoped to order Deathsleet in particular.

Like all your work, this is amazing. (Especially the beard, I never would have known it wasn't originally part of the piece.) I think the reason why the stained glass doesn't quite work is because there is no corresponding beam of light or other lighting effect to give the related visual cues. If you had a wall or something you could add those elements in, but it's cursedly hard to paint air. Still a strikingly lifelike miniature.

For someone figuring it out on your own, you're improving quickly, I think! It was also a wise move to try some monsters, I find that I'm much less critical of results when I paint a monster and it's a great way to build up skill and technique. You'll soon notice that the fiddly details are easier than they were before. Eyes, well, I don't think I'll ever find them easy. Even just painting a bit of an eyelid over a solid black dot will look more natural, especially from a distance. Cameras can be much more unforgiving than my own eyes.

You came up with a much simpler and easier technique than I envisioned, and given the slight curve to the lines you shouldn't need fray-check unless, well, something starts fraying. Using a couched thread technique gives you the advantages of a zig-zag stitch with a much prettier end result. I am *so* stealing this idea someday. Thank you for sharing the sewing steps!

I started off in awe of your artistic skill, now I'm giddy about your overall epic mastery of craftiness. If I was making that sail out of organza there would be liberal use of my spool of 1/4" fusible webbing - fancy fabrics & I don't get along. (Well, that plus I tend to engineer my sewing for extreme use. Which it usually gets.) I am so excited to see how this looks when all the pieces come together.

If you're looking for something simple & cheap that you can do your own basing with, someone mentioned Proxie Models in another thread. These are a decent size and very affordable: http://www.proxiemodels.com/store2/index.php?route=product/product&path=20_26&product_id=90 Unfortunately the 120mm round seems to be the biggest they have, so no much good for Kaladrax. Edit: Another option I'm shamelessly passing along without properly giving credit is the door handle guards you can get at most hardware stores, they are plastic and about 5". Or the plastic plates used to make tiered cakes. This thread has a lot of good ideas for larger bases. http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/50567-larger-base-suggestions/

I'm starting to think that they're running into a manpower problem. After pushing shipments out with an aggressive overtime schedule at the start of summer, employees are probably wanting to take scheduled vacations. And apparently Undertaker orders have the option of requesting that their minis are blister-packed, which adds a lot more labour to their shipments. (That info is direct from a local store that pledged and wanted the spiffy packaging.) Then there are also apparently some new Monte Cook miniatures due to be released, so someone has to be manning the metal production process. An update stating, "We've got too much to do and our staff are all really tired, we're not sure when we'll be done everything," sounds really bad and isn't any more helpful than, "We're still working on fulfillment, don't worry!" In a worst-case possible scenario, if they haven't shipped everything by PAX Prime, I'll go and give them heck on your guys' behalf. But I suspect they will be done by then.

You did such an amazing paint job, but the base stole my heart and reminded me of all the rocky coastlines I've ever seen. I'm going to save this guy until I'm ready to give him a proper base.

My owlbear was find out of the bag, although I did use a tiny bit of glue to fill the seam a little around the arm. It also does tend to fall down on that one arm, but when I looked at the metal one it seemed the same, so I didn't worry about it. I plan to pick up a second, perhaps I'll try modifying the pose slightly. What Osprey71 did looks pretty neat.