Dr Boom

More than a little inspired by certain fungal TV series, I was glad when these were the next out of the Stoneskull box. I based these like they were emerging from a nice soft blanket of Russet Mold, Great detail on these ones, considering their size and the older Bones material. Time to dig some larger friends out of the Darkreach box I think . . .

Term time has played havoc with my painting schedule, however Easter "break" is up in a couple of weeks and once I'm through my marking I should be able to knock a few more off the roster. Next out of the KS5 Brinewind box are three friendly ladies and a bed, First, we have the Madam, pleased to make your acquaintance . . . . . . next is the Half-orc Doxy, somewhat shy and retiring . . . . . . and finally the Halfling Doxy, ready with a glass of The Drunken Mermaid's finest vintage and something special behind her back . . . To showcase the facilities at The Drunken Mermaid, here's a bed from one of their finest suites . . . (Pets are free!) Some detail on the bed head, angled to avoid potential compromising details . . . I tried to go for the same weathered painted wood on the carvings of the mermaid and Mr Bones that I did for the Drunken Mermaid Bar. It looks a little dusty but that's not entirely outside what I was aiming for. The greenish tint on the pillows was an attempt at a different colour white for these than the sheets, however I'd imagine an establishment on the docks might have a little problem with moisture getting in.

Great yellow highlights on that skin and a wonderful cranky expression on that face. I also love the counterpoint of the Huey, Dewey and Louie cloth underneath it.

That is one spooky looking tree man. It definitely has some classic Swamp Thing vibes. Great mix of colours makes it look like it just lifted itself out of the bayou. I think if Treebeard had looked like this, The Two Towers would have read a lot differently.

There's something going on with this model and you've managed to hit them all. The bone is top notch, particularly that vertebral column on the shield. I love the way it stands out against the tan.

They are great sculpts and deserving of the backstories. Nice rust effects too.

While these guys are close to the original Bones casting of the kobolds, they're not quite the same. As I can't seem to find a separate release for them on the website I'll just call them the "Stoneskull Kobolds" because I got them in the Stoneskull Expansion in Kickstarter 3. A fairly quick job with these relying mostly on contrast paints, although I did try to spend a bit of time putting detail on the skin and faces - not and easy job given the size. I have more Kobolds than I will every use, but these guys will do if I need to throw some low level mooks around. Sorry about the blurry faces on some - they're more difficult to photograph than they are to paint. Also - that static grass gets everywhere.

(For previous iterations, see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 and Part 11) My posting frequency has slowed down a touch since the holidays ended, however I still have a couple from last months roster to go. First up is Montague, the Cocker Spaniel Bard. A lot of detail here - Montague appears to be a multi-instrumentalist. Compared to the other Animal Adventures dogs, he seems a little larger than most cocker spaniels I've met - more in line with an English Setter or similar. I painted him as close to the game art as I could, and it turns out he bears a striking resemblance to our friends new rescue border collie, albeit with a slightly broader nose. Next, the very last of the Animal Adventures cats - more creations of the Necromastiff. I think the Siamese coat patter worked out the best for these, even if the shape of the cat doesn't match. That's it for the cats, but I still have a few dogs to go. From here on in I'll be matching the pups with some of the adversaries that Steamforged Games came up with (I can't wait for the Rataclysm)

Yep. The layering on that purple is sweet. Plus I love garish green / purple combo

I'll add my welcome and congrats on two great first minis. Good colour choices to differentiate them and some nice clean painting there

Great job bringing some definition to those plasticine limbs. I love the skin colour too.

Love to say that I did but it's a resin base from Back to Base-IX Started with a bright yellow, then orange, then a scarlet red and then Basilicanum Grey contrast over the top. Great effect for very little effort

(See here for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) Latest in the Blood Wars seems a little unmatched, however that's the order they were drawn out of the bag. First up is Avukavali, who just goes to show that you can be the general of a demonic army and not be encumbered by heavy armour (or clothes for that matter). Back view for modesty: Probably the best view - the NMM for the weapons turned out better on this side than the front. Shout out to the sculptor for coming up with the most disturbing fantasy weapon - the +5 War Secateurs Head shot - not the tidiest paint job, but it does the job. This is definitely tabletop quality as she does look pretty good from a distance. And lastly her tail. I tried to go for a leucistic boa colouration (based on some maralith art I found) however her spikey scales didn't really lend themseles to that. In future I would probably aim for a Keelback or Rough Scale Snake pattern. I'd forgotten about the skull on the base, so it's just highlighted along with the rest of the stones and gravel - it looks like it's been there a while, so I'm happy with the result. Next up, the original Bones Hellhound. Fairly standard paint job . . . . . . but I'm happiest with how the base turned out. Using a dark grey contrast paint (Basilicanum Grey) rather than my normal black allowed some of the red to shine through. Top view: I think I should be down to one more topless demoness in my unpainted pile.

You've really nailed the Harryhausen sepia tone to those bones - excellent work.

Delving deep into my Brinewind Box this month for a bunch of characters who should fit in nicely if I ever get my Skull and Shackles campaign moving again. Wonderful character sculpts these and I wanted to do them a bit of justice. The expressions on the faces are what make them for me and I do like the slightly cartoonish style. First up, the Quartermaster, who's doling out the dosh to those who've proved themselves deserving. Given the sneer on his face I would be counting those coins carefully. Not really happy with the whites on this, but I like the dark blue. Next we have the Pirate Rake. He's a charmer and he knows it. Might have rethunk the colour scheme on those pants - they look a little 4th of July for a pirate. Here's the Innkeeper. She'll serve you, but she's not happy to see you again, not after the trouble you caused last time. Tried some mermaid and sea serpent freehand on the apron and dress. The latter seems to blend into the green background a bit too much so I'd try a different colour if I did it again. Providing a few jaunty tunes is the squeezebox player. I realised once I looked in a little more detail at his hair that there's more beads than dreads in his hair, however I modelled him off that guy who always pulls his guitar out at parties (you know the one). And finally the drinking pirate. There's always one who can't wait for the grog to be doled out. Love the blue on this guy's pants. That's it for now. Next month we might head upstairs . . .

Those wings are amazing - they really look like aged leather.

Great work! I love the dark green tone going up to the yellow highlight. Nice touch with the pink scar tissue as well.

Diving deep into my Brinewind Expansion from Bones V, I pulled out a pair of nautical catfolk types. First up is the buccaneer, who I saw as a bit of a grizzled tomcat veteran who's travelled far and wide. I live in a part of town with a lot of Chinese expats, so the Lunar New Year decorations which have already hit the shops were an inspiration for his vest. Next up is someone with a bit more style and pizazz - Lady Mauve, or the Lilac Pimpernel. Her fur pattern is based off a mate's cat who likes to think of herself as a bit of a bandit.

Oh that looks great. You've really nailed the carapace colour. I like that you've given the octopus blue rings too.

Gon'Tarr was probably the easiest one to do - not much NMM, a nice open pose which allows you to get at everything and some really crisp detail, particularly with the muscle definition. All I did to paint the skin was a thin coat of Deathguard Green over a white base and then a shade with Reikland Flesh shade, however the detail so good it would look even better with some careful layering.

(See here for Part 1 and Part 2) Next out of the early Bones demons & devils bag were Trollslayer Sophie and the Frost devil - Finally a female demon with a sense of decorum. While I'm not convinced Sophie's outfit here would be all that practical in slaying trolls, at least I can show you her front side. Spent a bit of time working on my steel NMM for her armour - still not as good as I'd like it, but getting there. I love that look on her face, however it is help by the fact that the bendy Bones has a bit of a forward lean which wasn't fixed by boiling. The Frost Devil turned out a little rough. I tried for a crystalline look to the spear, but I'm not entirely convince I carried it off. Still, it can join my collection of Ice devil stand ins.

A mate is finishing off the year by bringing together his various D&D groups and inflicting Tomb of Horrors on us as an end of year treat (I believe it's because he hasn't managed to kill anyone in his normal campaigns yet). Taking the general advice for this adventure, I prepared three characters to play and that meant these three jumped the painting queue. A quick paintjob on all of them, but I don't expect them to last all that long. Character generation involved deciding what the party needed based on the other players' choices (there is a distinct lack of tanks and healers), followed by going through my Bones boxes to find interesting minis and then creating a character to suit. First up is King Axehelm of Kragmarr, who will be playing the part of Sven Bjornvenn, Dwarven Barbarian with a Vicious Battleaxe. I've recently bought myself the Vallejo Non-metal Metallics set and have been trying to develop my skills, particularly with the steel. I like the new gold method better than my old one, mostly because there are fewer layers and it comes out looking a little less blobby. The best show of this is on the rune on the shield in the rear view. Still working on the steel though. next up is Gon'Tarr, Orc Shaman, who will be playing the part of Gnal Irdronoch, Half-orc Cleric of Ilmater. I figure by the time Sven leaves us, the party will be needing some healing. I'm happy with the orcish skin tone for this one, although I don't normally do greenskin for half-orcs. That's a Staff of Withering he's holding - Bring the pain! Finally, we have Hanrik, Dwarven Pugilist, who will be playing Dwarven Monk Brother Blodbad. In possession of a dragonskin Cloak of Protection and a Belt of Hill Giant Strength, my goal is to try to come up with the most damage dealt by a single character for the adventure. Let's see how long they last. That'll be me for a couple of days. Time to be social and put the paintbrushes away for a little while. Best wishes for the season to all out there and I hope you spend it doing what you love to do with those special to you.

(For previous iterations, see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 & Part 10) Finally a slightly larger dog than I have been painting. This is Freya the German Shepherd Druid. I thought I'd paint the vegetation on her as mistletoe to add a slightly season touch as well as its significance to Druids. And I may have been a bit hasty in my claim that I'd run out of cats to paint. I'd forgotten about these creations of the perfidious Necromastiff . . .

An interesting piece this one - it sets up a bit of story with a few extra details. The skeleton is definitely not to the same scale as other Reaper skellies - is it a halfling's skeleton, or a child's. How is it that the skeleton is still wearing a bunch of gold chains around its neck despite being out in the open? Might this be because of the musket and the rusty sword it's holding? I really didn't see half of these details until I started painting it. I'm happy with how the glass fishing float turned out. While I understand these are a dime a dozen now online, I can always remember them being an exotic thing when I was growing up. I used to spend holidays at my grandparents place in a beachside town on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. These floats were fairly common pieces of household and yard decor, however they were all examples of flotsam picked up by beachcombing rather than purchased items - many of the ones I can remember seeing had dried out barnacles from their months or even years drifting out at sea. I was told they were "Japanese Floats", although I imagine that they were also used by a lot of the fishing boats that came down from Indonesia and other nearby countries.

Next out of the Stoneskull Expansion (Bones III) is the Flesh Golem. A nice sculpt this one, even in the original soft Bonesium. Lots of technological implants and details and the expression is pure tantrum which befits the flesh golem going into berserk mode. The bruised flesh colour was the happy accident I found on the way to the flesh tone for the Sons of Barty. It's just a thin coat of Deathguard Green over a white base coast, followed by a Druchii Violet shade and a light highlight of Karak Stone. Scars were then picked out with Carroburg Crimson shade. I have, by now, lost count of the number of flesh golem I have in my collection.