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Dark Tide - An Ongoing Painting Project Starting another WIP thread for my other major ongoing project - Dark Tide: a nautical 5e campaign. While my other project, Frostrun, at least got a few sessions in before pandemic put a stop to in-person games, Dark Tide is my pet project that's been in the works for going on three years. I have pages of world building notes and have been collecting a ridiculous amount of minis to populate the islands and port towns of the world. Here is where I will document some WIP as I start painting through the minis and build myself a fleet of ships to accompany them. I would love to hear feedback or hear tales of your own nautical adventures. And feel free to share photos of your own maritime miniatures! The Ships A major part of this project is building a fleet of ships. I have attempted this in the past and abandoned the project when I became unsatisfied. I have recently restarted this project, building on my knowledge from the first attempt. You can follow my progress here: Moonglow Builds a Boat Troubled Waters - an Introduction to the Seas For centuries, the kingdoms of Cellion and Aridia have warred over the seas that separate them. For the last 100 years, a shaky truce has kept war from the water. But rumors have surfaced that the Aridian Emperor is dead, and tension once again brews over the waters between. To the east of the mainland lies the Great Sea Wall, a vast expanse of jagged rocks, stretching high up out of the ocean. Beyond this wall are the Wild Seas. The waters are violent and dangerous, and terrible creatures inhabit the depths. Few have reason to travel these forsaken waters, and fewer still are brave enough to attempt it. It is said that long ago, Chrona, the goddess of death, forsook the seas. Drowned souls are doomed to swim the waters for eternity, never able to rest. Because of this, sailors have a healthy fear of the seas they travel, and go out of their way to rescue the bodies of any who die at sea. Only proper burial on land can carry their souls to the other side. Yet for all the danger and risk inherent in sea travel, many find its call alluring. The open ocean, the promise of new land, and the rumor of lost treasures from times long ago. But for those attracted by treasure, nothing is more alluring than the lost treasures of Captain Dread. The legendary and fearsome pirate king was rumored to have hidden an immeasurable horde of treasure on the island of Istishia. And yet the island's location remains a mystery. And as for Captain Dread? He vanished, along with his ship, and the knowledge of the Istishia's whereabouts. Captain Ulysses Ashe Captain Ulysses Ashe is said to have sailed alongside the infamous Captain Dread. Word around Port Venture is that he's looking for a crew to man The Bloodhawk. And rumors say he's going after the lost treasure. Frost? Who is this Frost guy? This is Captain Ashe! Every crew needs its captain. In the role of Captain Ashe, we have Barnabus Frost, Pirate Captain 77132 But our captain here needs a proper base, and he's missing something pretty important... ... ahh much better! A base as symmetrical as his needed some green stuff to blend it out. I'm not the greatest at it but it works. Also made a hat for the first time! Found a guide on the interwebs of someone making pirate orcs and the hat seemed pretty simple. Just flatten out a small circle of green stuff, press it on your minis head, fold up the back flap, then fold the front two sides. Easy peasy! Just need to let that Green Stuff cure before i can prime and paint. Ghosts of the Drowned Souls With the seas forsaken by the goddess of death, the drowned souls are doomed to swim for eternity. Here they are easily picked up by all manner of dark being promising them an escape from their eternal suffering. "You best start believing in ghost stories." No pirate campaign would be complete without some ghost pirates! I was painting up a demi-lich recently and loved the ethereal wisps i ended up painting on it. So i felt inspired to paint up some other ghostly minis. Finally decided to put some paint on the Ghost Pirates from Bones 4. I started by gluing them to bases and blending the edges in with some super glue and baking soda. I have started trying to think about what i'm going to paint before priming and choosing a primer based on that. I typically prime grey but figured it'd be useful to prime these ghosts with white so i'm giving that a try. Going to paint up the ethereal wisps with a bluish-green color and transition to a more traditional physical paintjob on their clothes and bodies. Also, if it wasn't obvious, I decided to paint over the translucent. I've avoided the translucent minis so far because I wasn't sure how to handle them, but I think I might end up being in the camp of painting over them. I think i can both control the paint better that way, and will enjoy the end result better.

Hey all, I thought I'd share a little guide on how I converted two Weapons and Warriors pirate ships for gaming. These guys are usually for sale at a reasonable price ($25-30) on ebay as part of the W&W Pirate Battle game. They have the added bonus of coming with two smaller boats and lots of good extras like cannons and palm trees. Here is the unmodified ship. First I clipped the little extra bits that are for the W&W game, and then I puttied over any gaps. Then I gave the whole ship a couple of coats of brown primer. For terrain and other projects like this, I usually use Krylon primer. It does just fine when there is not a lot of small details to obscure. I primed the sails white. The main mast, mizzen mast, and bowsprit all detach. I picked out some detail colors and painted the decks a lighter color. The ships turned out like this: The two small ships and the two boats in the foreground are from W&W. The big ship in the back is a resin model. If you are looking for some ships for your games, this might be the way to go!