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Hi all! Just recently finished painting my first Ral Partha figure: a heavy-armored warrior and a pretty dragon! Getting the pieces to fit together was a bit of a hassle (maybe it was a bad mould?), but after I got that sorted out I decided to go to with a classic blue dragon look. Look at those chompers!!! Used MSP Dragon Blue (29815) for the scales and wings, Sparkling Blue (09104) for the plate scales on the spine, and a mix of the Blonde Triad for the belly scales, horns, and wings. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this one. Certainly earned a display place on my desk.

Hi guys! So I've had a bit of time this week to do quite a bit of painting, so here is one of three figures I've finished recently. It's another one of the Hackmaster figures recently acquired by Partha, a Cleric sculpted by Jim Johnson back in 2003. As always, hardest thing to figure out was the color scheme, but I think it kind of worked out reasonably well. Chain mail is kind of a pain it seems, because as many times I gave them a coat and a wash, I can still see some little wholes. Oh well, must just accept it!

The second figure I painted this week, got quite a lot done. This is one of the Silver and Steel figures from the boxed sets based on Larry Elmore art. Once again, figuring out colors was a pain, especially it took forever for me to figure out what color I was going to paint the little dragon, and in the end, he just turns out to be green. Pale skin, dark hair, hopefully it was a good combination!

This sculpt is a lot of fun. I've been meaning to paint him for a long time. I tried to do a kind of swirling water effect on the base, using Woodland Scenics Water Effects. Not sure how well it shows in the photos. And of course, then I had to do this:

Good morning, so here's my last little painted piece of happiness, another Hackmaster figure that Ral Partha has gotten a hold of, a human thief. I actually kind of have begun liking these figures quite a lot, as they feel like prototypes of their classes so often, kind of generic, but very nicely done in that old school feel. I wanted dark colors for this one, but didn't want just black, so hopefully gave him a bit of variety with the colors.

Good evening all, so just finished this one, another really fun and adventurous Dwarf sculpted by Jim Johnson back in 2002-2003. Another piece from the Hackmaster line from Kenzer and Company, but was acquired by Ral Partha and now being cast by them. Hopefully dwarfy enough colors, started out with his skin as tanned highlights and gave him some nice black hair. I thought about doing something with the runes on his axe but then just figured I'd leave them as metal. Enjoy!

Hello all, just finished another Ral Partha Hackmaster figure, this time a male dwarf thief, dagger in one hand and crossbow in the other. It's another figure sculpted by the prolific Jim Johnson back in about 2003. For this one, I wanted darker colors, but really the hardest part on him was deciding the line at the edges of his leather jerkin. I had considered red and gold, but then for some reason purple ended up being the color I went with. Enjoy!

This is a 20 man (well, 17 with a unit filler) unit of skeletons that I'm working on for possible use in Kings of War. It's composed of figures by a lot of different manufacturers including Reaper, Ral Partha, GW, Grenadier, Mage Knight, and WOTC. I'm using all the different makers and scales to try and make an interesting looking unit composed of more than just human remains. I am an equal opportunity, non racially biased necromancer, after all. This will be kind of a slow burn project; I'm not in any major rush to finish these for a game any time soon. This will be something to work on in between other projects. There will be conversions, and different paint jobs for the skellies; again in an effort to make a more interesting looking group. Here's the unit all together: What would be more interesting; making individual show off threads as I finish 2 or 3 figures, or just putting the finished figures in here and then doing a show off for the whole unit once it's complete?

So here is one of the more interesting figures I've seen in a while, and a bit unusual. This is from the Hackmaster series that Ral Partha acquired and currently offers, sculpted by Bob Olley. She is a female dwarf cleric, and as was mentioned somewhere way back when in the Lord of the Rings if I recall originally, she is a bearded female dwarf. Now I'm not going to pretend that she is a beauty to behold, but I think she's an extremely cool little lady, who would probably shove that hammer up into where she sun no longer shines. I probably would have finished her sooner, but I always run into that issue of what colors to use. This started from the color of her beard all the way to virtually the end when I had to decide on a color for her mace haft. Do you give her "feminine" colors or do you just make her kind of generally grungy browns, blacks and greys? So I ended up going with colors, and couldn't resist throwing some pink in there. Not a new figure, sculpted I'm guessing around 2003. As I detached her from her temporary base and looked at the bottom, there wasn't a year on her, but I think most of t he Hackmaster pieces were done in the early 2000's. So anyways, enjoy!

So I recently posted Rozmina, the Half-Orc Pirate from Derek Schubert. Here is the other half-orc I was working on at the same time, but as this one had a lot more going on with armor and such, he took quite a while longer. Really cool mini sculpted by Bob Olley around 2003, large figure, good heft to him. the only frustrating part on this one was the chainmail and trying to get all the paint into all those little holes, and I can see some spots where it didn't work quite like I wanted it to. Also what color would you guys call his metals that aren't "steel" colored? Referring to the hilt, the belt buckle, and that heart looking thing protecting his manly parts?

Here's another one I just finished, a human general from Ral Partha/Iron Wind Metals' Fantasy Armies. I don't really know who the sculptor is, but I've always thought this was a fun figure. With the whispy little moustache and beard I think he gives of an Asian vibe so tried to paint him with Asian skin tones. With his big heavy cloak I figured he was probably somewhere chilly, so did a snowy base. Anyway, enjoy!

This mini is circa 1992 Ral Partha. I wanted the floor to be glowing but couldn’t pull it off. So, just plain white lines.

So, I was recently asked to curate a collection of old minis given to my FLGS on consignment... There are somewhere north of two hundred pieces altogether. Most of it is old Ral Partha, Grenadier, Heritage and Citadel. The first three companies I know well. Citadel not so much, but I've already identified some of them from the Lost Minis Wiki. And then there are some that I don't recognize and have no marking on them. So I'll be posting pics in this thread over the next couple of days to see if anybody knows what they are. I'll also be editing the posts to update them as more things are identified. So eventually there will be a complete (ish) record of the entire collection. First up, we have some dwarves... EDIT: In the first pic the first four are from Alternative Armies - DH9-04 Dwarven Adventurer w/ Dagger, RM013 Auchan the Spiker, RM015 Colvin the Disturbed, and RM014 Luckburn the Iron Fist. The 5th one is Citadel FA-15, v2 and the last one is Asgard's DA7.v2 Dwarf King. In the second pic, the first figure is from Grenadier's 2008 Thieves box set - the Dwarf Thief. The second is a Citadel C06 Northern Dwarves pirate. The third is from Metal Magic's C1008 Dwarves set and the last is Grenadier's 1129 Dwarf Flamethrower. I'll be posting more as I come across things I can't find myself...

Good morning all, so here's a Halfling rogue sculpted by Jim Johnson that was put out by Kenzer and Co., and rereleased by Ral Partha recently. A nice little Hackmaster figure, enjoy him quite a lot, because he's pretty straight forward, kind of iconic-looking Halfling thief. And I've been doing so many greens and such, it was a departure from my woodsy colors, so went for a cloak the color of the Dutch flag and some purple pants. Enjoy!

So finally finished this one from my two-week vacation. I meant to finish the female mage to in my WIP, but that's still essentially a WIP to be finished once I get the time. Tomorrow it's back to work, so might take longer than I thought, but that's the way it goes. Enjoy!

Tom Meier Ral Partha 1981 Celestial Dragon 01-129. This is one of those miniatures that you see and are in awe, and then when you get it home you can't bear to put paint over the beautiful sculpt. And then you do, and it looks really bad so you strip it and try again, and again. This miniature originally came with a gold paste you were supposed to rub on it to give it gold highlights. That didn't work out too well, as I waited too long and it dried up. Anyway, with the basing I was trying to give the impression that he is slowly flying along dipping his toes in the water. It has given me ideas for some future projects. It's been more than 30 years, but he is finally off of my shelf of shame. 37 projects left to go...

So I went away on vacation a week ago, and I had almost finished this one before I left, but I ran out of time and didn't seal him or put him on a base. Got him done last night though. A great Jim Johnson figure sculpted for Hackmaster around 2003 and then last year Ral Partha bought the molds and started producing them again. Anyhoos, fun figure. I've been painting up a bunch of these Hackmaster minis, using only the finest Reaper paints to bring them to life! As always having metal issues, my constant struggle, but they seem to be coming out pretty okay these days and I think the metal actually looks better in photo than in person.

Ok, so with the Ogre nearing completion I've decided for my next magic trick I'll turn my attention to my limited edition Ral Partha Takhisis. But, I don't like Takhisis. So I'm painting this as Tiamat. The head order is different between the two, but I'm going to paint the colored heads same as given for Takhisis. Basically all I'm doing is painting her black parts red, except for the black dragon head. Now, usually I start a WIP thread at the beginning, but this one was already under way before I started WIPing around here. So instead I'm going to post pics of my progress, run you through what I did and what I have to fix, and then document the (possibly very slow) attempt to bring this Dragon Goddess to full frightful fruition. I wasn't going to document this, but since I'm not the only one with a Takky to wrassle then I decided I should. Problems I run into, and especially mistakes I will make, may save somebody else a pile of hardship when they go to do theirs. Make no mistake, this kit is as evil as she is beautiful. Also, normally when I do a WIP thread I don't ask for advice. That doesn't apply here - here I'm tackling something quite a bit more challenging than the usual fare. If you've got something to say, I'm all ears. I'm going to divide the pics over multiple posts so I'm not just creating one giant wall of text. So first here's a picture of the work done so far, minus her heads: (Ogre for scale): I didn't want to assemble this much before starting to paint, but with this beast I didn't see a way around that. The fit is atrociously bad. Mine is Takhisis Local 2406 out of 5000, which is middle of the run. If you have an earlier number, it may be better. If later, especially in the late 4000's? May god have mercy on your soul.

Taan#3 DSM1203 by Clint Staples combined with face and tail of Ral Partha Animals Puma from Ral Partha Wild Animals Blister Pack. A player character litorian for a game set in Monte Cook's Diamond Throne Campaign Setting.

I painted these not long before moving to Austin. Originally they came with thin metal rods and seperate spearheads some of which had gotten lost over the years. (I'd found them on sale at the FLGS in Plainfield IL around 1999.) So I added some bits from various Reaper weapon packs and some GW sprues I had handy. Ok, my photo-fu isn't on point today it seems. Other than maybe touching up the bases, I'm going to leave them be. Now to find a somewhat scale Mr. McGregor for them to terrorize.

Under the Repaint & Rebuild column, we have the Ral Partha Frost Giant, 11-436. A classic version of the Frost Giant for Ral Partha's AD&D line back in the day. Amusingly, I was rather proud of this paint job back in the day. I cut the base out of thick clear plastic and then edged it with a rotary tool. Mixed snow, sand painted white and such to cover the large integral base and painted him up. However, on his way to an early days Finger Lakes Paint Day, he and a few other minis got unceremoniously dropped on the floor in their container. They weren't individually contained. They were just pulled from the shelf, loosely wrapped in paper towels to keep them bouncing off each other and taken in to show off. However, I didn't get out the door before my elbow bumped something and wham, down they went. The Frost Giant comes apart at the waist and the shield comes off. Naturally he came apart at the waist and in my heart sunk condition I shelved the whole box and didn't touch it again until recently. So, I dipped him, cleaned him and re-based him yesterday at paint day. With one distinct difference in the base ... The ice sheet of his old base is now the ice sheet sitting on top of water on top of his new base. The base is one of the 2-inch tile squares I use a lot with a 1-inch plastic tile holding up the old base: I used Golden Heavy Gel with no coloring as the water between the top and the bottom bases after painting the lower base with an aqua/sea blue I mixed from Warpaint Hydra Blue and Reaper Ultramarine Blue. I added a skull floating/hanging in the ice/water near the front of the base to add SKULLZ for my buddy @ub3r_n3rd because ... SKULLZ!! I painted that up on a stick beforehand and used part of the stick to help plant the skull in the gel after I had "cooked" it to set a bit. Speaking of cooking it. I improvised a low-heat method to "bake" the mini all day after assembly: All lights are energy efficient but still generate a lot of heat using the metal shades and the direct contact of the bulb under him. Last night when the gel had contracted a lot, I added more gel to fill the gaps back to the edges of the tile. Here's a close up of the skull. I also sprayed the giant later last night after masking off the base. I am back in the office today to do a little work and paint. So he's back on the lamps "baking" the gel. Upcoming: Ice ... I am going to use the crackle effect I got from Ub3r to create a cragged, icy appearance on the plastic base and bring it level with the integral base to a degree. The plastic base will be painted an icy blue to show through the cracks. Gloves and Sleeves ... I painted his hands as gloves last time to avoid messing with full blue skin. However, this time I plan to add more blue to him. Whether the blue will be in the form of bare hands or bare arms I am unsure. More Water ... as the latest gel contracts I will likely have to add more gel to get it level again towards the edges. I expect should give me some nice edges within the water to look through. Shield ... gonna put some more effort into the shield this time and paint a device on it. Part of the reason I left it off. Stay tuned and Enjoy!

Hi all and happy new year! Here are two figures I recently finished that Ral Partha has re-released, a ranger and a female fighter. The ranger was sculpted by Jim Johnson and the fighter was Bob Olley. Fun figures to paint, kind of bulky and a larger scale than the old Partha stuff I'm usually working on. and just for fun, I took a close up of the lady's face, because it always seems to happen that when a character has something raised over his head, the detail becomes smaller because your picture is so much higher: Anyhow, really enjoyed painting these figures, loads of fun, full of personality and a good hefty size. And they're metal, which is another plus for me!

So I finished this one a while ago, which was part of a three -piece Partha set that was based on a painting of Larry Elmore, Bones of the Past. I already finished the two ladies in the painting, so this was the last one. I tried to keep him relatively faithful to the original painting as far as the color scheme, but there are always going to be a few slight differences. Here then is the painting this one came from: and the two links to the other figures: So all three of them are finished, let's see what I can work on next!

Alright, boys and girls! Due to some acquisitions during Christmas, I've come into possession of some older figures. While I could probably slog through all the internets to figure out what they are, I believe it to be far faster to harness your collective smartiness to ID them: Here are the figures in question: What we have here is a 1979 Ral Partha, one unknown, and one 1984 Grenadier. I have absolute faith that the lot of you will be able to identify them. Feel free to ask questions about them if it'll help you. Time starts....*clicks stopwatch*....Now.

Hi guys, So here's a figure I got done a few days ago, a female human ranger that was made by Hackmaster I think around 2003-2004 and now is being cast by Ral Partha/Iron Wind Metals. I really like this figure, she's gritty and not a raging beauty.