Dr Boom

I needed a shadowy Derro alchemist and female Derro are a bit thin on the ground. Luckily the Bones IV Darkreach expansion had this little deep gnome who would pass with the right colour scheme. A quick paint job, but she should serve the purpose.

Along with the Pug Monk I painted up for my wife, I also got a bunch of other anthropomorphic pugs (from the Barkonian range from Broken Anvil Miniatures) which I will be using as Shoonies in Life's Long Shadow (#3 in the Extinction Curse adventure path for Pathfinder). While they are a little large for Shoonies, they do have a lot of character. Here's the latest two . . . Firstly the Ranger. Nothing really special in the painting department, however it's a nice dynamic pose and those huge eyes create plenty of room to create an attitude. I also tried a different coat colouration - the chocolate brown. Some printing artefact a little apparent, however I didn't pick this up until they were primed and I didn't want to sand back and respray in case I overdid it. Looks fine from the tabletop and can even be explained away as fur or fabric texture. Next up is the wizard. Went for a purple tunic rather than dark blue, but he still has a touch of the Dr Strange about him. I thought I'd go for the pug version of the stereotyped greybeard wizard. Three more to go - all fightery types who are in my next painting line-up

So Life's Long Shadow (adventure #3 in the Extinction Agenda adventure path for Pathfinder) needs a few golem. While I have a reasonable collection already, my need to make room for Bones 6 in a couple of years means I need to shift some of my pile of shame up the painting queue - any excuse is a good one. First up, the Clay Golem from Bones V - a fairly quick paint job befitting the shapeless lump of river mud it represents. Next up is the smaller Bones Stone Golem from Bones 3 I think - based on the metal version (02751), of which I already have two. A fairly basic stone pattern with some shading for variety. For the big unit from Bones V, I thought I'd try something a little more challenging. It's supposed to be an elite Stone Golem, so I figured they wouldn't scrimp on the building materials. I tried to go for a pale marble streaked with red and gold (inspired by the marble in the "Bagel Room" in Everything Everywhere All at Once). Not entirely happy with the end result, but I learnt some techniques for next time. I figure this one's going to be a bit of a terminator for the party, so I went with the red glowing eyes.

This pair were taken out of the box as my player was trying to get the perfect fit for Lt. Borf, and then made it into the paint queue for this month. These are small miniatures (not looking forward to doing the cats) with level of pouches, straps and gear that would do a Pathfinder miniature proud. However being small sometimes means you can get away with a bit more, at least until the extreme close-up of the photo comes along. It's a lot of fin getting coat patterns right - it's a shame that most of Brianna's is covered up with plate mail. There are some cute details as well, like bone shaped toggles on some of the packs, the bone shaped crossguards on Brianna's sword, the spare bones Chantilly has stashed away and the dog's paw stamp on the swords (just visible in the photo of Brianna. Meet Brianna, Boxer paladin . . . . . . and Chantilly, battle-scarred Labrador veteran fighter

Sneaked this into the pile because I needed a mini to represent a mass of bones from many different animals assembled together. A fairly quick job with my tried and tested Skeleton Horde followed by three successive lighter dry brushes. Horns and claws picked out slightly differently and a blue glowing eyes to finish things off (why this is moulded with only one eye socket of six containing an eyeball is beyond me). The very definition of a speed paint, but it'll do.

One of the variant troglodytes that turns up in Pathfinder's Extinction Curse adventure path is a Xulgath Stone Liege, a creature melded with elemental earth through a series of painful arcane and alchemical processes. The adventure art is a dead ringer for this little guy, so I couldn't resist painting it up in my tried and tested pink and spotty xulgath colour scheme. Fairly happy with the results, although the detail is a little soft.

Well, it has two eyes, no horns and appears largely confined to the ground, however it is purple and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't pass up a meal of people. This is the Stone Lurker that came with the Darkreach expansion of Bones IV, making it the third Reaper not-Roper I've painted, including the classic "waving man" format of 02658 and the more "biologically correct" (if that term can be used for aberrations) form of 03602 - I also have the latter in Bones but it languishes in the Bones box due to a surfeit of Stone Lurkers. My justification for buying all of these miniatures is that soon I will have enough that I should be able to randomly pick any monster form the various bestiaries or manuals and find it in my boxes somewhere. This doesn't explain why I have four copies of a critter who rarely appears in adventures in groups of more than one. Still, I love this new sculpt. While it doesn't have the alien-ness of 03602, it has its own goofy charm which is pure 50s B movie. Having seen a purple tinted version online, I decided to paint the teeth and spikes as amethyst crystals (although that doesn't come out too strong in the photo - too many tentacles spoiling the focus. They're often described as being very well camouflaged until they open their baleful red eye, so I figured this one was smart enough to hang around a cave with patches of bright red lichen to blend in a bit more.

Garr the Wardog came out of the box while my player was trying to pick a min for Lt. Borf and it's one of the rules of this house that once you're out of the Bones Box you go in the painting queue. Some good detail on this guy, given that it's the old Bonesium - plenty of texture which made a quick and easy paint. I'm sure he will come in handy in the Dungeons and Doggos game.

Well, my phriend with a photon came through with the goods for printing up my wife's pug monk quicker than I thought, so I guess Hartley won't need to step in to play the part. More of an anthropomorphic dog than the usual animal adventurers (and way out of scale), but it's such an endearing sculpt. The sculpt is from Broken Anvil Miniatures and is part of their Barkonians line. I've also gotten half a dozen more designs printed up to play the roles of the Shoony in an upcoming Extinction Curse adventure. I really like this mini. I though the face would be the clincher, however given how hard it is to get orange to work right, I think the robes really make this for me. I used Gryphhound Orange (Citadel contrast) to do the heavy lifting, but it still looked a little flat afterwards, so I hit it with a few extra highlights (Trollslayer Orange + Tau Light Ochre, followed by Tau Light Ochre on its own) and I'm glad I did. May I present to you, in all his glory, Brother Snarf: Do a twirl, sir . . . There's some print artefact which seems to show up more in the photos than in real life, but in places it gives the appearance of fur or cloth texture. More Barkonians to come . . .

Short update today again. A shade of Magos Purple on the tentacles (probably a bit too strong a colour, so that'll need to be toned back again) . . . . . . and some highlighting on the yellow bits. Mostly light drybrushing with Ushabti Bone. I may go an even lighter shade to finish it off

It's been a while, but holidays have crept around again, so I should get a little more done on the Great Old One. For the time being, just a couple of shades to provide some contrast. First up, some Seraphim Sepia for the yellowish bits . . . . . . and some Drakenhof Nightshade for the greenish bits . Now I have to decide: Do I go back to the airbrush to pick up the highlights, or settle to the more controlled tried and true method of a brush?

So I've been getting a bit obsessed about these lately. Current events mean running and playing in my RPG campaigns can be a bit of a trial, given that they all tend toward the Grimdark / Overwhelming Conspiracy / Pawns in a Bigger Game style. I needed a circuit breaker and the inhabitants of Gullet Cove (Steam Forged Games) have provided that. I've just started a new campaign which is going to focus on the light and whimsical. I normally don't post non-reaper, but I'm happy with how these are coming out, so I thought I'd share as I went along. Here's the party: This is Cerysse the St Bernard Cleric, playing the part of Borf the Newfie Fighter. Borf is an ageing veteran who was among the first generation of awakened dogs in town. He's a bit grey around the muzzle and creaky around the joints, but he can still hold his own in a fight. I've added a glaive/halberd and a warhammer to match the player's specs for the character. Next up is Tobias the Corgi Warlock playing the part of the as yet unnamed Corgi Cleric. The player wanted a tri-colour, so I based the colour scheme on old photos of my wife's childhood dog. Speaking of the wife, this is Hartley the French Bulldog Fighter, who will be stepping in for her Pug Monk while we get a suitable mini printed up. I'll keep you all posted on future developments - I have three boxes of dogs to get through and two of cats, not to mention the Necromastiff and his legions of Skelly Cats and the Rat King's Rataclysm.

Nothing really special here - I needed a Pathfinder 2E Goliath Spider and while this is about half the size, it should do the trick. I tried to mimic the book art with the odd blue and brown colour scheme an Aethermatic Blue base followed by Cygor Brown and a few light drybrush highlights and it's ready for the tabletop. Looks a bit dark, however I have a new camera so it might take me a bit to finesse the settings. This sat on my painting desk for quite a while before I bit the bullet and finished it. I get bored painting multiples of the one mini (one reason why I can't paint and play mass combat games) and when it comes to spiders (or cephalopods for that matter) once I paint two or three legs/tentacles it's a bit of a chore to complete the rest.

That is just superb. There’s something about the hair and the white eyes that reminds me of a Boulet Brothers creation.

So, a once in a century rain event put paid to any work with the airbrush last weekend, but things seem to have dried out a bit now. I laid down some bone for the undersides and the sand on the base, white for the ruins and rubble, some flesh for the tentacles and a coat of dark green for the green bits. Just a round first coat to begin with: Quite a bit of overspray there. I then highlighted with three shades of lighter greens and then fixed up the flesh and bone. I'm happy with the highlighting there, however there are some bits that'll need some detailing with a brush (I'm looking at you, shorter tentacles and wing membranes). After that, I'll see what a wash does for the contrast.