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A return to the cult of the PIPER IN THE WOODS! The cult has developed organically from a simple witch-cult as I add minis to it, and now we have a whole theme of masks, horns, purple, and miasmas. As such, the Deathclaw from Nolzur's seemed to fit in, in the same way the froghemoth fits in with the cultists of THE HUNGER IN THE GULF. First, though, let's meet the cult leader! Definitely similar to the other female cultist from Crooked Dice, but this one has a fancy staff! Procession through the dark woods: And awful supplications before this lesser servant of the Horned Lord, the Masked Master! He of the scything claws and empurpled hands! He, the famished, rampant beneath the moon! He of the green ichor! And yet this terror is but a lesser servitor of the Power he adumbrates. Note: I modified the Deathclaw with a demon skull from GW's box of skulls, because the original sculpt, while horned and bone-masked, wasn't quite horned and bone-masked ENOUGH for my tastes.

I'm not sure if these are supposed to be Reaper minis only, but this mini is such a good sculpt and just a great looking model, I wanted to show her off. This is a commission for a friend and this is the first one of the pre-primed Nolzur's minis I've worked with. She's very detailed! She just needs the details worked a little bit more: NolzursNightHag.bmp

A while ago I was on a Beast-People kick, and promised more beast-fellas! But I don't remember delivering until now. Behold, the mighty Sabertooth Tiger man, 02785. He is enormous! (The lynx is a Bombshell Companion) Here's a comparison with S'kara, last seen here. You can see the tusky boy is huge! A more gracile feline is this Rogue from Nolzur's. She's accompanied by two rat-bastards, Ver-Men from Blacktree. One of them is clearly a magic-user, the other some sort of violence specialist. The ratties had minor appearances in Boren Backslap's tale, but not a good front-and-center showoff if I recall. I really need to run a Feywild game to get some of these on the table.

The Fisherman's Rest. You know the place. The smell of stale beer, sea salt, rum, and fish scales. "Evenin,' Old Billy! How be ye these days?" "Oh, I be well enough, exceptin' as how me fishin' trip t'other day went. Now listen, lads. 'Twere a fine calm sunny day and I were far from shore, a-castin line for snapper..." "Wow!" "Nay, lad, there's none in town who can catch a minnow and sell a grouper like Old Billy." "Nay, swear on me old mum's grave it happened! But if ye find that hard to swallow, ye might be ill-prepared for what came after..." *urp* "no, now I think on it, twere more like this, aye, that sounds better." "...but the long and the short of it, I never DID catch that snapper." "Okay, Bill, time for ye to get some cold water in you." *** Chronoscope Pulp Ship's Captain and Ship Hand. Had them painted up, and the shark, but didn't have a good story until a friend gave me one of the Juvenile Kraken mini. Between the shark's integral splash-base, the squid's splash-stand, and the Water Elemental, we got some good scenery! I had a lot of fun making the Fisherman's Rest backdrop, too. Old Barkeep has heard all of these yarns before.

I've had Garzuhl, the Mantis Man Ranger, painted up since 2015 or so, and just knew she was going to be the core of an insectile faction at some point. Then Nolzur's put out some Thri-Keen, and Reaper's Umber Hulk Burrowing Behemoth came out, and things fell into place. From the sweltering hive-cities of Mercury Terminus to the windswept ice-plains of Ganymede, the Kithkthix (for that is as close to their name as we can pronounce without pheromone glands) dig in and build their mounds anywhere they can get a foothold. Their societies are termite-like, with castes for every position. Intensive artificial selection is used to form new castes as necessary--a barbaric practice to humans, but the communal Kithkthix identify as a collective rather than as individuals. The only pronoun in their language more specific than smaller than We[caste] is Queen. Here are a few representatives of the hunter/gatherer caste (Nolzur Thri-Keen and a grab-bag D&D Thri-Keen), on the search for organic matter that can be used to grow the spores of the fungus that is their sole sustenance. and a more mature member of the caste (03850, Garzuhl) with her domesticated seeker trilobites. A member of the Warrior Caste, ready to rip and rend any threats to the colony: And a member of the Excavator caste, earthmovers par excellence. This specimen appears to have sustained an injury--but what could cut through that zinc/iridium-reinforced carapace? Group shot: BONUS: The Manna-mold contains all the amino acids, lipids, and vitamins needed for human survival, plus digestible carbohydrates. Nevertheless, it is not recommended for human consumption, especially not the ROYAL SOMA strain, as there can be adverse metabolic consequences: (...annnnnnd THERE's the last of the Pinnacle mutants.)

Been doing some butchery, some Frankensteining lately. Particularly for my sci-fi setting. And has it produced results! First, the ingredients. A while ago, I ordered a Reaper Burrowing Behemoth (44058) and it was a fantastic sculpt. But I got two left feet, to match my own. Customer service quickly replaced it, because Reaper is THE BEST--but now I had some leftover insectile CLAWS! Then, Nolzur's came out with an Ankheg. Segmented, metameric abdomen, mantid-like foreclaws, two pairs of limbs, shield-like, many-eyed spiky head. And also with a set of hideous ...Quori? Never heard of, maybe a Pathfinder thing apparently an Eberron aberration. One of them is a grotesque tailed many-limbed squirmer with big ol' pincers. And with an Alhoon with many spell-effect tentacles. Now, I have a few factions of spacemonsters. One is insectile, and I gave a Burrowing Horror a third set of ankheg limbs to bring us to six total... ...while giving the burly Horror claws to an Umber Hulk: Now everyone has six limbs and I can rest easy! BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE Another faction is the horrid Crawlers. These I have posted before, and are mostly Bathalians. Shield-like heads, mouth tentacles, squirmy bodies, appendages made to mutilate and maul. The Tsucora Quori are warty and rugose and squirmy and pincered, but lack the characteristic head and tentacles. But a Chronoscope Hound of Tindalos (50289) has just the right kind of head on a lean and easily repurposed body! A little green stuff to fill in the Quori's unmistakable eyes and nostrils, and a little work with some wire cutters, and behold! Oh yeah, that's a Bathalian! I also snipped some tentacles from the Nolzur's Alhoon to give our Craboid Black Cat Alien (see link to Crawlers, above) the mouth-tendrils it deserves. Wait, but what of the mutilated Ankheg? Oh, it fits in with the Crawlers just fine now. Happy crafting, folks!

A barren, frozen planet. A pristine icefield, burnished and cleared by constant katabatic gales. Graven in elegant Old High Martian glyphs a meter deep in the never-thawing ice, a mathematical proof of such beauty and elegance as to make a genius weep...and a series of universal planetary coordinates. No advanced species could forbear to investigate further! These are the work of the Neh-Thalggu, more commonly known as the Braincrabs. Know them. Fear them. Do not trust them. Rugose and four-limbed, the first instar is little more than a brain-shaped crustacean beast. (Little Nolzur's Intellect Devourers, came with the Alhoon or Illithilich.) They are shed when the parent has a surfeit of brains and wishes to jettison lesser ones to make room for greater. Most perish, being less clever than their prey. But if one can bring down a sentient creature through luck and stealth and devour its central ganglion or brain...it begins to grow, absorbing the knowledge and cunning of its prey, much as some sea slugs repurpose the stinging cells of their prey and make them their own. After absorbing a few brains, the instar grows into a juvenile. This involves generating more frontal eyes and a pair of brutal skull-cracking pincers. Recently-added brains are sequestered into thin-shelled bubbles, an adaptation to make sure other, stronger Braincrabs do not kill them when marauding. The juveniles are very dangerous, acting as psionic predators with the strength of a tiger and the intelligence of three or four sentient creatures, all brought to bear on the problem of obtaining more brains. Depending on its previous history, it is very likely to outwit the average sentient being. A Braincrab that has assimilated more than eight brains again metamorphoses, this time into a mountainous, many-limbed hulk, a spiny rugose colossus with a first-class think tank worth of neural tissue working for it. Psionic power abounds, and the elder Braincrab can create immersive illusions at-will or psychically dominate lesser wills. The really unpleasant bit is the way it will out-argue you and succeed. It can make an excellent claim to being a Utility Monster, better at experiencing both reality and pleasure in the cosmos than us single-brained chumps. And what gives it the most pleasure, on the level you and I could never experience? (for so it claims, and has data to back it up--is the data faked? if so, it's too good for us to be able to tell!)? Why, devouring and assimilating more sentient brains! Do you have inconvenient brains in your society? Antisocial or sociopathic ones? It can redirect those energies! Oh, it's a persuasive monstrosity! The Martians fear and detest them, of course, having as they do great juicy brains practically dripping psionic energy. But hunting something that is hunting you, while your strongest weapon is their favorite prey--it's not easy! A Martian High Intelligencer can outwit all but the eldest Braincrabs, but the gamble is a perilous one indeed. You do NOT want a braincrab with the powers of a High Intelligencer. That's how you get a planet converted to a brain farm, which in turn leads to Great Old Ones. Not even once! Oddly, the best defense against the Braincrab is a hive of the insectoid Mandibulate Commonweal. One has the intelligence of a beast, two of a slightly smarter beast, five of an average human...and a whole hive can rival a supercomputer. Their individual brains are not worth a Braincrab's attention, and yet the hivemind can outmaneuver it intellectually as easily as the workers can swarm and savage it physically. The Commonweal will not gain knowledge from the reclaimed brains, though. Only nourishment. Below, how to make a juvenile Braincrab.

Sometimes happy accidents of design work out great! Wizkids/Nolzur's put out a two-pack of constructs recently, including this little Stone Defender. The box art has a lot of wooden components, but the overall shape is pure pulp robot, from the cycloptic lens to the bulbous lower legs to the weird backpack doohickeys. Looked a lot like a flashing strobe or siren light above some wind-up keys, and the tubes on its 'ankles' might be the same. So here it is, a sentry-bot, on lone vigil at the spaceport. and with some colleagues from Hydra's Robot Legion! C&C welcome: I know there are a heck of a lot of mold lines and I feel the OSL could be better, especially on the red flasher. Also featured: 72611, the Power Generator from CAV, and 72612, Small Storage Tank. Great sci-fi set dressing.

Just a simple pair of horrible spacebeasts frolicking in their native hellworld! I'll have to gloss up the molten bits of the base at some point. Any tips on lava bases I should be aware of? In retrospect, I think the glowing mouths were inspired by the "gorilla-wolf motherbroccolers" from Attack the Block. I do not know if the designers intended this, but the pair of them are in a perfect pose for Magma Wrasslin.'

The ritual has done its work. From a distance, an eerie light shines through the trees. The ground quakes under the tread of colossal hooves. There is a rushing wind, the sound of snapping branches. An indescribable tune, notes in a strange scale and meter, music from beyond the stars, builds to a skirling crescendo. HE is come. The PIPER IN THE WOODS is here. Burning with potassium flame, attended by HIS servants. Behold! The Horned Lord approaches! Deception and concealment among HIS sacraments! The Masked Messenger, the False-Faced! IA! IA! The power of a God, called to earth! HIS votaries rejoice, even as they cower! WHAT. HAVE. WE. BROUGHT. FORTH (This is a Nolzur's Nightwalker, given a little bit mote pizazz than the all-black example. I knew immediately that with the bone-mask face and the horns, it was the perfect avatar for the cultists. GW contrasts and good setting sunlight on the translucent flames; a GW demon skull from their Skullz set manifested in the upraised hand.) Featuring Dulkathar, Gromtar, Dark Creeper, a couple of Crooked Dice cultists, and Dark Young from RAFM and Reaper. (Reaper's 77516 is the big one in green).

He of the Gurgling Belly! The Famished Giant! The Gluttonous Prince! He of the Single Eye! The Horned Trampler! Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens! He is a big beefy boy. It's difficult to get him all in one shot! Here are a few representative close-ups, and a couple of full shots, ish. More partials: I tried something new and basecoated him in a GW green contrast (much of which is still the hair and beard) and painted Caucasian flesh tones over that. Ultimately didn't give the Frazetta look I was hoping for, but definitely worked better than my usual straight-out-of-the-bottle approach. The little (regular-sized?) fellows dancing around his big stompy feet are some Eureka fauns I've posted earlier, and an older, metal version of S'kara the Skoli (99869). I love the detail on this pointy lady. I gather the skoli are a Hellborn/Tiefling alternative, but all those extra knee- and elbow-spikes got me thinking a Fey Lady of Thorns would be a good scheme. That's why her glaive and armor are bronze rather than iron. Genuinely forget if I've posted this paint-job on her before, but a quick search didn't bring her up. So here she is now, perhaps again.

It's been some time since I last posted here, but I recently got and painted this WizKid beholder! Comment, criticisms and advice will be gratefully received! The mini in the background I am not quite ready to post as I have not based it properly yet!

I had a burst of mini painting and finished a bunch of minis this month - my first time painting I think since December 2020? Terraincrate (WIP) Crystal Peaks Campsite Peaceful Park Monster (WIP) Bones Pygmy Mammoth (WIP) with toddler Nolzurs Treant (WIP) Bones graveyard terrain (WIP) Bones High Rollers (WIP) Not all of these have been sealed, some have not had matte coats yet. The "fire" from the Crystal Peaks set got lost during priming. Links to come when not in my phone. Surprised myself with this.

The conclusion of this https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/90309-ashana-female-genie-44012-or-the-reversal-of-fortune/ and this https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/95842-nolzurs-efreeti-and-zayafid-60154-the-reversal-of-fortune-part-2/ ...But! While Ahmad had been stripped of his wealth by his enemies, and his wives scattered, and he himself cast to the utmost depths of the sea, even the efreet conjured against him could not make his wives less faithful or kind, nor had they forgotten what they had learned. Straightaway they endeavored to find one another again, and set out into the desert where they had hidden another treasure as a safeguard against this day. A spirit of intellect, given knowledge less than Allah, yet knowing anything that He would permit to be known by man or djinn. For when one is granted wisdom, do they not also thirst for true knowledge as one thirsts for water? Upon his elevation, Ahmad had taken steps to seek out such against the day it would be needed, and told his wives of the same, knowing he could trust them. And so they enquired of the spirit whither Ahmad had gone, and if he could be found and restored (for while they were faithful, his wives would much prefer to be married to a wealthy man than a destitute beggar, be he never so insightful). "INDEED," spake the spirit in a tremendous voice that made the dunes echo, "WHILE YOUR HUSBAND WAS REMOVED BY AN IFREET TO THE DEEPEST DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN, KNOW YE THAT ALLAH IS MERCIFUL, AND SURELY DOES NOT FORSAKE THOSE WHO BELIEVE! THE MOST HIGH HAS SENT A GREAT FISH TO SWALLOW HIM AND BRING HIM BACK TO SHORE UNHARMED, AND EVEN NOW IT SWIMS TO THE CITY OF SHIPS, WHERE IT WILL DISGORGE HIM IN A DAY'S TIME." "MOREOVER, LOOK YE AT THE INMOST ROW OF ITS TEETH, THIRTIETH TOOTH FROM THE LEFT SIDE. THERE YE MAY FIND A RING CONTAINING ONE OF MY GREATER BRETHREN, CAST INTO THE DEPTHS MANY YEARS BACK. HE IS GREAT IN POWER. TWICE MORE MAY YE CALL UPON ME, THEN I AM RELEASED." And so saying, he withdrew into the vessel appointed for him. Even so did it take place, and you may inquire at the City of Ships if it be not so. The great fish fed the entire city for three weeks, and behind its thirtieth tooth inmost on the left side, there was a brass arm-ring, which Ahmad's wives were quick to remove. Returning to Zayafid's palace, they rubbed the ring. Of that we may be sure, but Allah alone knows what came next, for in a conflict between djinns and sorcerors astonishing things transpire, and the order of the world is written and rewritten, such that mortals differ in their memories of the events. Some say the city is shaped differently now, others that the city is unchanged but that the mountain it sits on was altered, others that the rivers changed course, and many others deny all these and attest to other miraculous transformations. But all agree that Zayafid the Sorceror-Prince walks its streets no more. And it is said that in Ahmad's treasure room--for he was soon restored to his former exalted state--is an orb of crystal no bigger than a quail's egg, containing a perfect replica of a certain perfumed pleasure-garden, frozen in an instant of time. And while treasures flow from his hands to the people, this he has kept--along with a certain brass arm-ring, tarnished as with years in salt water. Thus is the marvelous tale of Ahmad the thrice-fortunate. May the hearer be inspired to virtue thereby! *** These genies were a delight to paint. I'm happy with the dawn coloring on the big one. Notice that it originally came with the smoke emanating from a lamp, but a) so many do, while so few sculpts use the equally-canonical rings and jars, and b) scale creep made it about the size of a man's torso in 28/32mm. Here's a turnaround with more angles. Used more colorshift paints on his space-vest. Olivia (77396) is also a great sculpt, especially for starkly contrasting colors. I don't believe I featured her earlier. Jazmine Silverveil, Almaya, and Qadira got their own show-off posts elsewhere. I guess for the purposes of this fiction Nemesra changed her style between Parts 1 and 2? And here are all the extraplanar entities that aren't as holy as angels and aren't quite devils:

A sequel of sorts to this story here: https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/90309-ashana-female-genie-44012-or-the-reversal-of-fortune/ ...But while Ahmad rose in prominence through his wealth and his wisdom in buying and selling, and gained favor with the people through his generosity in alms, Zayafid the sorceror-prince in his perfumed garden became envious of his elevated status. "Is it not proper that I, who have worked hard all my life and studied abstruse arts lost since the time of Sulimein, should be exalted above this beggar, who got all he has from luck? And is it not proper that, having tasted and drank of greatness, Ahmad be returned to his former station?" "Therefore, let us draw the Circles of Greater Power to adjure and contain a spirit of calamity to bring about his undoing!" And taking ink and engraving tool, and burning certain rare herbs and flowers, chanting the while songs the Most High forbade to men (save for Sulimein-bin-Daoud) he did so. At once a great and sulfurous Efreet, monstrous of aspect, with brass fingernails and toenails, appeared bearing a great sword like the night sky. Immediately it flung itself at Zayafid and would have torn him to pieces, but his sorceries were strong to constrain it. And after threatening it with divers torments and miseries (for Zayafid was very learned in the lore of the djinni and efreeti) if it would not obey him, Zayafid bent the spirit to his will. And forthwith, it summoned Ahmad and his wives with supernatural speed. "Woe and thrice woe upon thee, O Ahmad! for your enemies have brought against you the very east wind of calamity! Now art thou surely brocced!" And so saying, it stripped Ahmad of his wealth and beard, and returned his wives to their countries of origin, and, parting space and distance with his blade (for that power was given to him) transported Ahmad himself into the deepest part of the sea. And Zayafid dismissed the efreet, and laughed and laughed to himself even as the fountains in his perfumed garden gurgled and trickled. But despair not, traveler! for the Compassionate One sees what is done in secret, and is no friend to evil men, but rather to those who revere Him. And in His mercy he sent--but, that is another tale. *** Zayafid, 60154, is a fine sculpt--dignified and haughty. I painted him many years ago, which might be obvious. The efreeti was recent, though, and I got to play with colorshift paints for his Void Blade.

Lots of pics here, a story's worth. Turnaround pics in spoiler areas. You should imagine Ennio Morricone playing the soundtrack, slow-paced to start with. Diegetic horse noises, hooves plodding. Scraping, dragging sound. A glow of a cigarillo and a long inhale as we slowly zoom in on the horse's master. The smoke exhales out of his nostrils, and the camera pans down to show it jetting from multiple holes in the Revenant's torso as well. The rendezvous at hand, the Revenant knocks on the coffin once or twice. It is the only sound besides the horse breathing. Panning the camera around to the other side of the tree we see a couple boys from the Red Hand posse. "Two against one, fella. You might be too stubborn to die, but you ain't gotten any better at counting." He retreats. Hoofbeats recede behind the mesa. (music gets tenser, speeds up) "Boss! Good to have you back." "Thought we'd lost you! Now let's get back to San Cascarion and drain those vatos dry!" "<untranslatable screech>" Other, different hoofbeats make the Red Hand thugs stop celebrating. They look around, This, they did not expect. (Morricone music just goes bananas here) [fight choreography ensues, guns shot and whipped out of undead hands, etc,] Camera zooms in on the Revenant again holding a cigarillo to withered lips. He holds up first one cracked and flaking finger, then another, then a third and finally a fourth. The barest hint of a smile crinkles his mummified cheek. Counts just fine. Roll credits. *** Ooowee these were fun to do! The Revenant, an undead Man with No Name, is from Artizan, as are Brothers Thomas and Martin and Fra Benedict, the Holy Inquisitors 3-pack. I used a pin vise to drill a few extra holes in the Revenant. The bad hombres in red and the Nosferatu are from Dracula's America, the Red Hand coven 3-pack. Horses are from Nolzur's Adventurer's Campsite. They've been on my Shelf of Shame for too long. The Coffin and Skeleton are Reaper, 77633. The Tree of Despair and the signpost from Western Sophie make an appearance as well. Here's Part 1, from a WHILE back. Hope you enjoy!

I decided to do the big treant today to have something that I could do quickly. Here's today in a few pics. They got a bit out of order. Green beard, orange mushrooms, black + browning shadows, brown + light brown in highlights. not sure what more I'll do. May not get to paint until the weekend.

My cousin came over to paint a Bones mini I had laying around to be his new (temporary?) character, as he was slain at the end of the last session. I decided to pull out the Nolzur’s Grick pack to paint something easy while half entertaining him. I just used two colors so far, Vallejo Green Brown for the belly and sucker “underside” of its face tentacles, and Reaper Troll Hide, both thinned 1:1 with Vallejo Thinner Medium, and a damp brush. Both colors went onto the smaller Grick like butter, and produced a wonderfully highlighted and shaded effect on their own. Sadly I got interrupted by life, and the paint was drying well out by the time I got back (I had put my palette in a ziplock bag, but still...) so I just used the VMC Green Brown that remained to touch up the smaller one, and start on the large one. I also mixed up a small bit of the Troll Hide again, to touch up a few remaining spots on the smaller aberration. But I’m beat, so enough painting for tonight. Going forward I plan to do the beak with Reaper Coal Black, which I’ve not had opportunity to make use of, yet. Plus I’ll put some Citadel Screamer Pink in for the mucosa of the mouth. Since the paint was acting so wonderfully as a wash, any spots I had to touch back up that resulted in darker splotches, I just mirrored on the opposite side, making that part of his skin pattern. I’m quite pleased with how it’s turning out, and it was ridiculously easy for a great tabletop standard. I need to do more monsters like this.

So i've got that trio of spiders from nolzur's. They do not come with sculpted bases - unlike most of the nolzur's line. This isn't a huge issue, except that these suckers have a bunch of tiny spindly legs. I am worried about getting a good hold. So I have a few questions: 1: how to fasten these guys to a base? Just glue the legs and hope, or pin them through the body like a flightstand? 2: how to sculpt/or assemble, suitable bases to compliment their spindly nature and ensure a better hold. 3: how to attach the spider in a way that I can paint underneath it OR should I find a way to glue it down after both parts are painted? So the webbed victim shown in the photo above I have decided to leave out as a piece of scatter. There is a stone base (not pictured) that I have already glued to a reaper base for one of the spiders. Each of the spiders has a slightly different pose with their legs - which is made worse by them being bent out of shape. I'm hoping to use this as an advantage though, and pose each spider differently. One is rearing back with front legs up (this one I plan to glue to the supplied rocky base with the abdomen glued to the ground for extra support. Another spider has one side of legs kind of bent under a bit. I'm thinking this would look good mounted sideways, crawling up the side of a fallen log (not sure if I should try to sculpt this, or find a twig to glue to the base). The last spider is pretty neutral, but I was thinking of posing it climbing down something just for variety. Any advice about sculpting the bases vs gluing organic material or mounting something with narrow points of contact would be tremendously helpful. My indecision has lead to two weeks of no painting.

The Froghemoth first appeared as part of an extraterrestrial biome in "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" if memory serves, so a spacefuture setting is, if anything, returning it to its roots. Twisted, coiling, poisonous roots, in the fungal swamps of a jungle hellworld such as Retro-Venus! I went for an unwholesome, etiolated color scheme--which blends in pretty well with the rest of the terrain. More angles: This is a big miniature! Here it is towering over some tentacle-faced Cult Beasts from Midlam. They are about hound-sized in scale. The deep scars and tatters on the throat pouch indicate some sort of scarring from combat with others of its species, as rutting sea lions do. This is a beast too much even for the Beastmasters of the Venerian Amazons to handle alone! While we're at it, here's another view of the Cultist Beasts And a Venerian menagerie: I plan on getting Mudgullet and making a mate for this one at some point.

Hi all! With the year nearly at its end, this seemed like a great time to share a comparison project to reflect on this past year's growth. A little over a year ago a painted up my first Beholder, and last month I painted another. I was particularly proud of the first so it's interesting to see a side-by-side a year apart. More Below the Spoiler: It's always fun to compare two similar models that have been painted with time in between. I'm always impressed by how much I can grow in this hobby in such a short amount of time. I only painted my first skeleton a little over two years ago. My confidence in layering has improved and it is now my go-to method of painting. Drybrushing and Washes are now reserved for specific effects and textures. My speed has increased, and I feel more comfortable adding freehanded details. I'm proud of the growth I've had this past year and look forward to the improvements next year brings. And these guys will be looking forward as well. And backwards. And sideways. Always watching. How have you improved this year?

Brothers Roberto (03561) and Louis IV (02087) are excellent sculpts suitable for multiple time periods. I've painted a couple of Nuns With Guns and a couple of priests, but not a bishop or a cardinal! "Your Exellency, I apologize for the short notice. It's worse than we had thought." "You are forgiven, Bishop. Is it the old Priory at St. Wulfstan's?" "Indeed. The Creature has at last gotten loose from the bindings put down in 947 and broken through the 16th-century salt rings." "God in Heaven. I had prayed those wards would outlast me. We knew this day would come." "Mercifully, we have one of our best men on the scene. God willing he can contain the beast until the rest of the team arrives." Father Sweeny, again from Artizan's 'Thrilling Tales' line, had better be a man of strong faith and iron will. The Beast, ornery after centuries of durance : Hold the line... (Guest appearances by Fr. Thomas, Sr. Maria, Order of St. George Nun, and Fra Ximenez from Black Cat.)

Extraplanar beings are diverse. I've painted several red fiends, and some green, blue, and purple spirits. When I came across this sculpt in the FLGS, I decided to try a new unnatural complexion for this devilish-looking entity, without any red whatsoever. It was fun! Only regret is that there were some great exposed back muscles that are harder to see now because I decided he needed wings (graciously donated by 039988, Bomber Sophie). More angles: The garment was a good opportunity for gradients, but I can't help but feel there was a missed opportunity for a pattern. I'm open to suggestions! Fair warning: while this mini looks rad, there are areas underneath the skirt that are almost impossible to reach with a straight brush. Hard to notice from most angles, fortunately, but another instance of a common oversight on the company's part. Appropriately dramatic glamor shot: A surprise guest appearance from Big Sister:

Tried to paint the Griffon to look like Buckbeak (a hippogriff I could not locate) for a friend’s HP diorama.

Hi folks. I've got plenty of minis painted from the last two years to slowly share with you all. Here we have the D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Human Druid 73390. I was in need of a Firbolg Monk for my party, and Nolzur's had yet to release any of their firbolg models. Since the character would be traversing a frigid wasteland, I also wanted to find a character who was properly clothed - no sleeveless/shirtless monks for me. I settled on this character because he was properly rangery and most importantly - bearded. I chopped off his sword and the antlers on his back, glued a toothpick to his empty hand, sculpted some acceptable ears using green stuff and gave him some paint. I really like how it turned out and it managed to feel like the perfect blend between monk and naturalist. Though i must admit, his face is a bit muppety. More Photos Below the Spoiler: Pau, is a Firbolg from the tribes of Frostrun. He set out on a pilgrimage like many Firbolg do, and found himself at a monastery to the south, at the edge of the Frost. The monastery, besides providing shelter to the wary traveler, depicted a statue of Firbolg. Pau took this as a sign and spent several years training in the way of the Four Elements. Armed with this new power, Pau has set back out to the North to return home and restore order to Frostrun. Check out the rest of the Frostrun project HERE. What kind of conversions have you done to make the perfect character?