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Mountain Troll The Skull Collector This Mountain Troll, sculpted by Ben Siens, is inspired by the Abomination from Marvel Comics as seen in the early years of the Incredible Hulk. The Abomination has an interesting overall look to his skin. It's scaly and leathery, and naturally, green for a gamma irradiated monster. The back muscles of the miniature immediately reminded me of the Abomination so I ran with it. You can see for yourself how the artists drew and colored him... copyright Marvel As per usual, Ub3r N3rd complained that there weren't enough SKULLZ on the last miniature I posted so this one's all about the SKULLZ! Using some loose skulls from Toad King Castings as well as a trio on a flat piece, I built a skull pile of freshly peeled human sized skulls. I placed one in the corner for the one that rolled away a bit. And in his hand, the Skull Collector has an ogre skull to add to his growing pile. I used paints from Reaper Miniatures, mainly the Moss Triad as his skin tones, my recently acquired Army Painter Warpaints, some Scale 75 metallic paints for the armor and axe and a few Vallejo paints. The troll is mounted on a piece of slate with his integral base merged with sand and ballast to bring the terrain level. The bush and vines are both created from moss. To see most everything done to him, check out his WIP. He's joining my Joten Horde for mashing the adventurers. Enjoy. Check him out in the Inspiration Gallery. (Approved) Added to Thrym's Index of Reaper Miniatures & Thrym's General Show Off List

This is another old mini that has been sitting on the shelf of shame for some time. Wizards of the Coast 40022 Fire Giant Picture from Minibase I removed the integral base. I liked his pose but not where he was looking. So I wanted to have him stalking someone while walking up a set of steps. This brings his sword parallel with the ground and has him looking forward instead of at his feet. He was primed black and his armor a Phthalo Blue when he was shelved. I cleaned off the dust in prep to resume work on him. Enjoy.

Ogre Mage Master Phthalo I picked up this guy a while ago. He's an actual lead miniature from the Reaper P-65 Heavy Metal line that was later discontinued. The Bones material is much cheaper and far easier cut and convert. Not long after I got him I based him on a cavalry length base to fit his stance and primed him with tan and did some basecoating using craft paints I had. I recently decided to pick him back up and put some effort into him. You can check out the WIP to see everything I did to get him here. Final Pics: Enjoy. I hope you enjoy him. Check him out in the Inspiration Gallery. (approved) Added to Thrym's Index of Reaper Miniatures & Thrym's General Show Off List

Last night was the first night in a while that I haven't HAD to go back to work. Not the first night I've not bothered to go back to work. There's a difference. I'm salaried, so when work needs to get done ... you go and do it ... unless you are physically exhausted, then you take a nap and then you go and do it. So, last night I delved back into my dungeon workshop and set to cleaning the clutter that occurs over time and setting the work space back to "cleared" and workable. The dungeon, or basement, suffered some flooding a while back so I had to move stuff off the floor and move stuff from soaked cardboard boxes to plastic tubs, etc. Clutter ensued and it's been a while since I had the time to make it right. In the midst of all this I see a mini I made a while ago ... sitting atop my brush stand ... he's an Illithid or Mindflayer from D&D (11-406 Mindflayer from Ral Partha). I painted the figure some time ago as a mindflayer lich. I gave him a bone white head with sickly tentacles (I know, they are already sickly looking but these are purply and dead looking though animated). As a more elaborate base I placed him on top of a "bowl of blood" which overflows to the ground below it and dubbed him a Blood Lich, whatever that means. Anyway, after looking at him for a few and then returning to working on clearing things I decided his "bowl" still looks to much like a bottle cap and needs more to make it look like an altar of blood. So I sit down and and consider the possibility of adding some clay/green stuff to the front of the "bowl" and making it more of an altar. After a moment, I clear a notch of the cap so that I can place a toothpick piece flat against the metal underneath and then dig out a notch in the sand/glue/paint below it and glue the first support in place. Then after a little fussing with matching angles, etc. I get a second strut in place on the opposite side. I have a conversation at this point, an internal monologue if you will, "What do I want to do with this as a miniature? Am I going to leave it a 'monster' for the players to chase and kill? Or do I want to do something more with it?' And after a period of internal debate I decided to make a full diorama for the figure ... perhaps with the Blood Lich still removable and playable as a game piece. Initial Layout I pull out a faux marble block, five inches square and nearly half an inch tall and start arranging slate pieces and the lich until I have him on a stone stair leading to an outcropping over the rest of the base. Looks cool. Play with the pieces until I have them just right and then mark the pieces against each other and number them from the ground up for reassembly later. Rearranged Selection on Black Faux Marble I think it has a lot of potential now. Just have to do some sculpting. I think I will mix a variety of sculpting materials to achieve the finished effect. So the next perplexing thing ... what is the Blood Lich doing on his altar of blood out over oblivion ... or a sea of fire or a lake of blood. Do I put a sacrificed corpse out on a rock below him? Do I use one of the Haunts from the Kickstarter Bones I got? Oh, I could do both and have the haunt coming from the chest of the victim. I have a few old demons the Lich could be summoning from below. Layout with the Bones Haunt in place Post thoughts on what I should do next. We'll see where this diorama leads. Follow along on my blog as well: WIP: Toying with the idea for a Diorama

So ... I have a few thin slabs of slate I thought might serve for basing some of the bigger Bones, maybe. One is about 6.5 inches long and 4 inches wide, two more are about 6 inches by 3. They all are rather irregularly shaped, but they are nice and flat with a smooth toothy texture and some pretty sparkly inclusions. Is this a sensible idea? I do not think I could drill them for pinning, but they are well cleaned and I suppose I could epoxy Bone figures down to them. One of the smaller slabs was a little thick and I could see three clear layers in it. I tried splitting it, but I don't have the proper tools, just a hammer and screwdriver and safety goggles. I knocked a few bites off of one layer or another, which actually made the slab more interesting looking and gave me some smaller pieces I think could be useful as scenery on little bases. Have people done things like this? Is there information somewhere so I don't have to reinvent the wheel?