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Ain't no party like a troll life party, 'cuz troll life regenerates! The more I look at these guys, the more I see them as an adventuring party...Rogue, Warrior, Barbarian, and Warlock. So much green. So much skin. The "rogue" (caught mid-backstab, just missing a victim in front of him) was one of the roughest. I didn't quite get enough difference between the Jade Green and the mix to bring out the highlights. He looks almost "cell shaded" because of that. I'm not sure if those spots on the side of his mouth were supposed to be tusks or jowls, but I painted them as tusks. The "warrior" probably could have used a bit of Grass Green mixed in with the Jade. The transition is a little more stark than I would prefer. I don't think there's much to say about the "barbarian" and "warlock." I used Black Green as the base, and there may not have been quite enough difference between that and the Forest Green. And, of course, I just noticed that I missed the barbarians belt decoration on his left side. I'll have to hit that with some metallics the next time I'm working--a two-minute fix. The Warlock's eyes are Fire Orange, Marigold Yellow, and Sun Yellow to give that "otherworldly"/"possessed" feel. I think the bases all came out well. I'm very grateful that Reaper has been experimenting with molded bases. It really helps tie them all together. Total time spent is about 12 hours done over four nights. Pretty good considering that when I started, I was sure that I had forgotten how to paint. I honestly had moments where I felt truly lost. Thanks for stopping by!

I've been trying to figure out how I want to set up my Bones V WIPs. Because, well, I got A Lot of stuff. I didn't want to do one thread for everything because again, A Lot of stuff. So this is the start of the Core Set WIP. I will try to give proper names to minis and at least use the number it is listed in the KS images. I will probably start listing each grouping of minis as found on the KS page and link to where it starts by updating this post to find things easier. I'd already finished this one by the time I thought to do this. Stained Glass Knight (1097):

Basilisk from the Bones 5 Core Set. I wanted to give him the classic green and gold coloring of the basilisks of lore, and I am happy with how he turned out. Learning how to blend and layer is a continuous process of improvement for me, so tips and advice are welcome!

Grim Reaper from the Bones 5 Core Set. First time trying a transparent glass effect (on the hourglass). The glow eyes didn't quite work out like I thought, and tips on how to fix those will be greatly appreciated. I also kinda meh'd my way through painting the integrated base, so I'd like to revisit him and give him a more complete base at some point.

I don't mind telling you guys, some days it felt like I would never complete the core set. In part, no doubt, to my haphazard manner of deciding what to paint...When I first started playing, the Imperial player had his favored units and he seldom deviated from them. He kept winning, so it's not like he really needed to... Again, I don't have my stuff together enough to do a little story and diorama. It's time to make some calculations for the jump to hyperspace! Jynn Odan and Fenn Signis. Jynn is a smuggler of no small repute who specializes in not standing still. Fenn is a veteran of many battles who specializes in "boom!" Jynn is pretty much straight off the character card. I went with a grey "urban" outfit for Fenn instead of the classic brown. Gideon Argus and Mak Esh'karay. Gideon is a Rebel Officer and tactical genius. Mak is a Bothan sharpshooter. Gaarkhan and Chewbacca (what a wookiee!). Gaarkhan specializes (in my limited experience) in getting trashed before the halfway point of the game. He's supposed to specialize in beating things to an icky pulp. I could have done a little better with Chewie, hopefully he won't pull my arms out of the sockets because I need them to paint! I should have base coated his fur a little differently instead of just drybrushing up from the base black coat. When I was looking at some of the animated shorts on Disney+, I noticed that his fur had a light/dark pattern that I tried to replicate instead of just hitting it with "whatever." From the animated short, Chewie has what I call a hat, bolero, and shorts where the fur is darker leaving the sides of his face, the forearms and lower legs lighter. Dialla Pasilla. This is an old picture (cropped to cut out Davith Elso from The Bespin Gambit). She's one of my favorite heroes to play. Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. I'm actually pretty happy with Solo. I even got a half-way decent blood stripe even though you can't see it in this picture. I do wish they had used Luke's costume from the end of ANH (yellow jacket, brown pants, black shirt) as that would have been more fun to paint than white, off-white, slightly-darker off-white, and light khaki. Rebel Saboteurs. I went with a more uniform look to these two Duros. It just seemed right that they should be Rebel regulars. I had forgotten that they had visors when I was planning colors and was disappointed when I realized I wouldn't be painting the glowing red eyes that Duros are known for. Rebel Troopers. Not much to say about them, really. They hang out with Gideon a lot. Nexu. Originally brought to us in Attack of the Clones, Nexu are ferocious feline-like creatures. The black variety is supposed to be more rare, and even more vicious. I was originally planning on altering their coloration to be more like the cats Mrs. Strawhat brought into the relationship (the black is our 20+ year old tortie, the white a Siamese mix), but I think I will do that with the Lothcats in Tyrants of Lothal. Which means I should tiger-stripe these Nexu when I feel like it. The pictures were taken before I ringed the bases in green. Trandoshan Hunters. It really stinks being the Rebel player on the receiving end of these guys. When I first started painting all these, I planned on painting the figures to match the colors on the ID tokens (blue, red, purple, black). IG-88! This blasted assassin droid really knows how to bring pain. The paint is pretty simple, though: metallics, red for eye sensors, and a couple yellow wires. Stormtroopers! Stormtroopers! More Stormtroopers! I've been asked a couple different times how I get my troopers so white. I start with Rainy Grey, follow it with Ghost White, and finish with Pure White. It's also why I'm not looking forward to the last eight (the last 25% for the game). Imperial Officers. Some people use the fleet grey scheme, but I went with Stormtrooper officer black for the regular officers. The white tunic is the elite...it just made sense for the elite to be part of the Imperial Security Bureau. You can spot the occasional ISB representative in the Death Star (I) and high ranking ISB officers in the conference room with Vader and Tarkin. E-Web Engineers. Scout Troopers are manning the cannons. The Scout Trooper armor actually is slightly a mix of hard armor and some soft-armor pieces. I varied the recipe a little, using Leather or Linen White (I don't remember which), for the soft armor to give a little different look. It doesn't really show in the pictures, though. Imperial Probe Droids. I had them done to a standard I was happy with, and then decided to add a wash. Which I then had to go back and fix. If you look carefully, you might notice that the elite IPD has a red reflection in one of the lenses, the blue IPD has a blue reflection, and the white marked droid has a grey/white reflection. The original intent was to use the reflections to ID them, but that's just too hard to see (and darn near impossible if you have some beer to "help" you game). Royal Guard. I think these guys are some of my favorite work from all that I've done, and they're also some of the first! Too bad we never really got to see them in action in Return of the Jedi. I have seen part of a deleted scene, though. The ID dots (visible just in front of the guards) have been painted over. They were ready to throw down against Vader.... Darth Vader! Not much to say here, either. Black, Nightmare Black, Shadowed Stone/Stormy Grey, more black... The Royal Guard Champion was done mostly the same way as the RGs, with a slightly altered scheme from the art. I guess the armor would normally be black, but went with brown to match the gloves and because brown is more in line with the red (in my opinion). His base has since been fixed and is now ringed in black. Which brings us to: The regular AT-ST and General Weiss. The general's AT-ST is an experimental model and a much lighter shade than the standard. Now that they're done, they'll probably never hit the table. But they're done! And that brings us to a close on what we usually use. There are still two sets to go: Twin Shadows (which is partially complete (25-30%) and Tyrants of Lothal. I will now be taking a brief, and well-earned, break from Star Wars.

Hello all, I'm stuck at home the next couple of months like the rest of the world and thought I'd finally try again after my only failed attempt at painting minis thirty-five years ago. I got one of the Reaper Core Essentials kits and did my first one today. Honestly I just can't believe it came out at all. When I was a kid I didn't have anyone to give me advice like the awesome Reaper booklet did (washes, base coating, etc.) and I seriously have to say thanks for putting out such a well designed tutorial. I just bought the Layer kit and I look forward to learning from all the expert artists here.

Couple of baddies from the Demons & Devils "core set extras" in the last KS. Tried to get them to hold still, but they just did NOT want to be photographed.

So, I've finished a mini for once. Yay! I guess since he is a villager I didn't feel pressure to get him right, and somehow he came out amazing! Further away shot.