Turhan

Greetings to all, Been away a while and while I was gone You all went and made some of the coolest additions to the mini world. Gonna take me a long while to catch up on all the posts, WIP, and new goodies from our favorite mini maker. So, Rastl, one thing I've done in the past is to find odd fonts and runes and foreign languages on the net and paste the tiny bits into a word document, then, if it is regular text, reduce the font to the smallest, and set it to half height where possible. Sometimes it comes out with a book sized 'image.' If the thing is not text, like a jpg or bitmap, I just paste into a text box, create the desired box fill color and shrink the box to tiny size and print. I've even found tiny images on the net of actual books from long ago and been able to print the image to paper and then glue the paper to balsa as you did. This doesn't help you with the random spine "titles" and whatnot, but it might give you some other tools to work with and add variety. By the way, your stuff is way better than mine, and I'll have to get back to work to limber up my fingers I can tell just to get back to 'average' for what I see on the boards these days.

Heck man, that's better than my first skeleton by 6.7 times. maybe more. I like it. Nice job on the skull/teeth. I like the shield too, it looks like it would really stand out on the tabletop.

Hmmm, a folding building that looks good. I think you've thrown down a gauntlet. I think it can be done: Printed card stock or foamcore as the basic stucture (with the walls "taped together" with fabric hinges), a pop off flat-roof, and no extending balconies. probably all flat roofed buildings, unless you want a very complicated bit of terrain. Durability would be an issue, but repairs would be possible if you used printed and glued on "exteriors." Got me thinking. yep you do.

The balsa walls and bits are all painted with thinned reaper paints. Also, I have little finials from old light fixtures (the odd shaped brass things that might look like vases, spitoons or trashcans)-- and if you ever go to Bath and Beyond or any DIY home store- look for tiny bits that cost less than a buck that you would never consider manufacturing at home. Oh yeah, and go to hobby stores that sell doll house stuff. Oh, and book stores that have super cool woven-cloth book marks-- I used one that looks like a Persian carpet in an Inn I built a while back... And stationery stores where they have those ornamental stick-on embossed "appliques" for sticking on the outside of fancy envelopes for wedding and funeral announcements. OOhh ooh, don't forget searches on the net for medieval manuscripts that have itty bitty thumbnails of old art, manuscript pages and cool stuff-- by the time you save that little 14k image and then paste it into Word and shrink it down to about 1/2 inch by 3/8 inch and print it off, man you have an old map, letter, treaty or document to glue onto a desk!! So, if you all have tricks and such for finding stuff, post em here too. I'm always looking for new ways to find fiddly bits.

Astoundingly good job. Now I have to go back and see if my mini has that lovely body... No, it doesn't. Great transparency on that top. The water from the nautilus is very good, maybe exceptional. The whole base takes the figure up and over. Yowsa. Folks should probably study this one.

Great to see some minis that will get some game play. Those works of art we see here so often are inspiring, envy-generating and pretty to look at, but I always come back to this: What will I do when the gang kills it in battle and it has to lie down on that scruffy game board? Will it still look good after collecting dust in the garage with the other minis? Will I cry if it dives to the concrete floor?? (Did you know dwarf minis almost always land on the top of their head? I have some flat headed dwarves to prove it.) Encore!

Here's one I found recently, the pic that is, and thought I'd share. I actually built it a couple years ago, but it is in regular play when I dm one particular campaign. The outer walls of the tower are styrene sheet with molded fieldstone texture. Two tone gray paint with light wash of blackish stuff. The Inner walls are the same; and the filler between is a bunch of balsa "spacers" to get a 5-6 ft thick wall and then capped with spackle. The floor is the press board back from a TV stand/center thing. I love this stuff for its cheap wood like look. Reaper bits abound, but I also cut up an extra, 2nd Ed dnd Players book for the pictures and some images in it. Other bits and magazine clippings plus a couple of the foil capsule tops from wine bottles (a couple on the walls and at least one on the floor...) Earlier I built a cut away three level tower in a very similar fashion with removable balsa floors for game play, but it was pretty basic. I may have even posted it already, so no need to see it now.

I agree with the others. Nice work. Looks like it can be printed on paper and glued to foam core easily enough too. Maybe even "buffed" up with some very light spackle texturing on the 'plain' wall areas. I like beefier construction as my game crew can be tough on scenery, so I look for Stout materials instead of just cardstock. Thanks for posting.

Ok, here is a request for LESS. Cut way back on the horned helms on dwarves. I know they are considered traditional ever since Bruenor Batlehammer on that book cover, but enough already. The Warlord dwarf king has nice wings. That was a very viking thing to do. Let's have a few with winged helms. Or just some different shaped brain buckets. The LoTR movie version of Gimli's helm had a nice stark look to it. Other historically based ideas for caps, pots and those close faced Greek helms are good too. I would like to see a normal leather cap or a bare head (bald or wooly), too. Thanks. Now back to the regular program already in progress.

As always your stuff is killer good. I really like the greens. all the themed shades of green work to a tee.

Nice, fun paint job, but I don't like purple. Never the less, the execution is good. I see purple as a royal color or a modern color, and out of place in a musketeer. The feather on the hat is a nice white, but I'd like to see it with an accent color that coordinates with the main colors-- in this case a purple, lavender or perhaps dark blue. -- Best case, w/different color scheme-- a red, brown or green stripe or two on the white base. I'd also recommend replacing the bendable rapier with a straight pin (nip off the sharpest bit of the point). A straight blade looks much cooler. I think the boots, gloves and scabbard are superb. Don't change them. As for a different hat color, you could match the hat to the boots instead of the pants and blouse..... I wish I could blend skin tones like you, but this figure is a musketeer and begging for abit of a tan. The eyes are very sharp, "Eye-catching" if you will.... but maybe just a bit too big... I hesitate to say that because I like the look on this figure, and it sort of goes with the modern anime style- which can have a place even in a musketeer. If you don't win, I'd really like to see the winner. Your work is very, very good.

Great face on that lil guy. He shows wisdom and patience. Kind of like Yoda, but Yoda never had the cool Stick of Mighty Thumping. The whole thing looks very good, but in a competition you likely were marked down for not having a fancy base.

I like that giant-- I think Ral Partha marketed him as a firbolg. One of our Players back then liked to use this figure so much when "enlarged" that we finally just said he could play a giant from then on. He was happy, happy happy. Your repaint is good, too. The more I look at my old minis and the crude paint jobs, the more I think I need to retire -- and then repaint all those little critters. By the way, that repaint on the dragon is gorgeous. That is one RP dragon I never bought. I have several of the others, luckily. keep painting and posting.

I finally finished these two. I'm not happy with the faces, even for tabletop grade, but they come pretty close to what I call good enough. I like the red robe on the conjuror. I did some wet blending on it and I'm starting to get a feel for that technique -- but it requires so much patience! His vest is a bit messy and my brush control needs some more practice.... again. And for Dain, well he is a bit rough around the edges, just like the player who calls him "Me." The metallic paint on the axe looks so much better on the game table than in a close up, but I refuse to do the NMM- I make it look like gooey plastic when I try. This is such a good sculpt that I like to keep a copy of the pro painted image from Reaper's gallery in my Mini Pics folder- just so I can admire it. thanks for looking.

Nice job-- I really like the rich browns of the cloak, cape garment.