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Good afternoon chaps and chapettes, here are a few woolies, sculpted by Tom Meier in his Sparkle and Savage range, when he had his own company Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures. These have been nowadays related at Ral Partha Legacy: and they come as a group as well: Imagine all the fanciful colors you could make these if you had a big group of them!

Here's another one I just finished, also from Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures, The Slug Eat Your Face, conceptualized by Theo Meier and sculpted by his dad Tom. Easy and quick miniature to paint once you decide on colors: The pupil in the big eye is a little weird as Mr. Meier basically just put a hole where he thought the pupil might be so that's the black part of his pupil and the other little eye was so deeply sculpted in, and also the pupil was sculpted inwards, that it was a little hard to reach, but a fun miniature to paint just the same!

Hi again all you Reaper cats and kittens! here's the other miniature I just finished a bit ago, another flying unicorn piloted by a fairy with an attitude. This is one of the miniatures that Tom Meier back in the day sculpted for his daughter, who had the actual concept for the miniature and then later sold them under his Thunderbolt Mountain label. Well, years after Thunderbolt Mountain has closed down, it's been resurrected at the Ral Partha Legacy site, where the fine folk there continue to make some high quality classic miniatures as well as some new sculpts as well. Seems a good moment to mention that they had a Kickstarter that is ending on July 14th with some groovy swell stuff, so might be worth checking out. In the meantime, back to our regularly scheduled program and the flying unicorn: Kind of awkward to photograph, and the pilot/driver/rider isn't in the greatest of focus, but hopefully you all get the idea. I'd done this miniature before, but was asked to do another one for a trio, so here she is. Anyways, hope you all enjoy, and don't forget to check out Ral Partha Legacy's Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ralparthalegacy/ral-parthas-chaos-wars-wave-4-thunderbolt-mountain Sorry guys, not too technically advanced, but here is a link to the Ral Partha Legacy's fourth Kickstarter, this time adding elves, dwarves, humans, orcs/goblins and some creatures to the mix. Check it out, you can buy in a wide variety of ways, be if from the individual figure to large armies in bundles and packages. The majority of this was sculpted by Tom Meier, and all the new pieces were sculpted by him as well. Lots of visual images and aid to help you decide what you'd might like to snag. I'm biased as a long time fan of both Partha and Meier, I'm definitely going to grab a good number of individual pieces on this one! EDIT: Added some photos of the new sculpts from Mr. Meier:

Hello and good evening all you Reaper Maniacs! So here's a few miniatures I've been meaning to paint but just haven't gotten around to them, you know, too many minis, not enough time. But I did finally get around to these, which are pretty fun, Squidmen with Goo Guns, sculpted by Tom Meier when he had the company Thunderbolt Mountains. These are miniatures that his son had designed. and here they are as the actual group/blister pack they come in: Anyhoos, quite enjoyable and reasonably simple to paint, hope you guys and gals all enjoy!

Good evening Reaperhoochagans! So I've already done a set of these, but was asked to do another one with another different color scheme, so here is round two of the Tom Meier Thunderbolt Mountain fairies: and here they are together: This time I was asked to do some different and darker skin tones, so did some tones using Dusky Skin, Terran Khaki, Redstone, Dark Skin Highlights So anyhoos, hope you all enjoy! EDIT: adding a link to the original set of fairies: https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/94511-thunderbolt-mountainral-partha-legacy-ballerina-fairies-by-tom-meier/#comment-1995386

Greetings to those of the Clan Reaper! I think this has got to be one of the quirkiest figures I've painted, a Chickinasaurus sculpted by Tom Meier from his Sparkle and Savage range, from Theoland! I was a bit confused as to what colors to make him, so thinking about chickens, I tried to imitate a nice brown chicken with a green tail, hopefully he turned out okay: a really nice and simple figure to actually paint!

So hello there all you Reaperlies! So here is Squidboy, a figure sculpted by Tom Meier originally for his Thunderbolt Mountain range and currently available out at Ral Partha Legacy. The hardest thing with this figure was to figure out what color are squids and eventually made him pink. Judging by his t-shirt, I have a feeling he is supposed to be the archenemy of Whaleboy, in a recent posting of mine. Anyways, please enjoy!

Hello Reaperlonians! Here's one I just finished, a pretty simple miniature, Whaleboy, from Tom Meier's Sparkle and Savage range with Thunderbolt Mountain, that he sculpted for his kids. There's a Squidboy too that I hope to get painted one of these days: A very enjoyable figure to paint!

Good morning Reaperniks! So I've had this mini painted already about a week, but here in Omaha, it's been mostly kind of cloudy and rainy, so wasn't able to get a decent picture until this morning. This is Merlyon the Sorcerer, formerly of Thunderbolt Mountain and now being released by Ral Partha Legacy. Pretty fun figure to paint, and it's more akin to that 25 mm of yore: I still have a few more from this range I want to get around to painting. This one also had the eyeholes poked into the eyes, but they worked out this time pretty simply. Eyeholes in the owl too! Anyhoos, please enjoy responsibly!

So hello all you Reaperphonics! So finished this one recently. I'd done the other Flying Pink Unicorn, and wanted a slightly different version of pink, so here's what I came up with. This one, like the other fairy ballerinas, was sculpted by Tom Meier inspired by a design from his daughter with his company Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures and now sold by Ral Partha Legacy. Lots of different pictures because it's mini with basically lots angles, not just front and back, hope not too many photos: They are the last of my ballerina fairies that I had from Ral Partha Legacy, going to have to now move on to something different I guess, maybe some Reaper Bones.....

Hello all you Reaperoloques, anxiously waiting for your Kickstarter boxes to arrive at your doors! I got my notice and hopefully I'll be seeing a big, beautiful box of plastic joy this Wednesday! But in the meantime, just plugging away painting... So I just finished these two Thunderbolt Mountain minis, and if you recall last time, I took y last photos with my new iPhone. I considered doing this again with these two minis, but took photos with my camera and then with the iPhone, and the iPhone photos were too brash or stark, so I'm using the camera photos instead. First Morgan le Fay: and then the Lady in Waiting: Both of these are available again for sale on Ral Partha Legacy's site, and actually they both come in the foot and mounted versions, but way back when, when I bought these, I didn't get the mounted versions, just their standing forms. Enjoyed doing both of them very much. The only odd thing again were they had those eyes with recesses for the irises, which I don't really like, but at least in this case worked out I think okay. I actually did a base walnut brown cover for the eyes and then when I went over them in white, the recesses remained unpainted and brown, so they turned out okay. I think for the future though, with more of these recessed eyeballs I'll actually paint the color in that section and then go over them again with white. Another thing to mention is these are true 25 mm figures, when that used to mean something, so these are very small. Anyhoos, hope you enjoy and these can momentarily distract you whilst you wait for your boxes to arrive! Happy Independence Day for those gringos that celebrate it, and Happy Sunday for those that don't!

Hello all you mortals hanging from this Reaper coil! So tonight is another Tom Meier miniature, from his Arthurian range, which is now once again available at Ral Partha Legacy, the Lady of the Lake. I'm really starting to get into these figures even with their small sizes and petite little heads. These are true 25 mm figures. Got a few more kind of schedule to work on in the near future as well: and a close up of her face, which, with my new iPhone I can apparently get very close up: and a back view: The only bummer about this one was I made her what I thought was going to be a nice little base, because she doesn't come on a base. You can either glue her to a small square metal base or create something. So I did a base which had "water" at the edge. After I got it done and it dried though, I tried to get her on it, and her cloak was so long and straight across, I couldn't get it to accommodate itself to the base in a flat way to make it look good. So I just threw some putty on another base, let it dry, and then just painted if simple blues. Her color scheme itself is some pretty monotone colors, lots of blues, with just the flowers in her hair to have some bursts of color. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Good evening Reaper Hoppers and Poppers, So I just finished this miniature, who is a pretty small one. She's Gwenyvere, from Tom Meier's Arthurian line at Thunderbolt Mountain, currently being produced by Ral Partha Legacy. I just got a new iPhone, and I took the pictures with it. I think the pictures came out really nicely, and have done an automatically good job on the exposure and all. My concern is does the automization of the exposure make it any different than if I would have had to work a little bit with the exposure? To give a comparison, here is how my camera turned out: It's a lot darker. Anyhoos, looking for photographic opinions. And to give you an idea of how small this figure it is, here she is in comparison to a US quarter:

Hello all you reaperlaiset! So since the beginning of the year, I've been working on a little project to get all of these Thunderbolt Mountain fairies painted. It's actually taken extra long because I painted two sets of these, and the duplicates were all the same colors, but it logically takes twice as long. It was hard to decide on colors for these guys, but I did want to do a unique skin color for each one and a unique leotard color as well for each one. I ended up doing the tutus the same color because I I would have done each one a different color, it would have take so much longer and as they are kind of a unit, I wanted something that would kind of bring them together. These all belong to a set of Ballerina Fairies, sculpted by Tom Meier, inspired by an idea from his daughter. They were originally from his company Thunderbolt Mountain, and are now available again through Ral Partha Legacy. There's six of them so lots of photos to follow: and here they are together: So these are some pretty small figures, and I'm going to eventually put them on some simple bases. I wouldn't almost mind leaving them like this, but I don't want them to tip over too easily. I might work on the bases this weekend. So anyhoos, enjoy! I had quite a lot of fun painting these. They are very delicate and detailed figures, but didn't take too long to really paint ultimately because they aren't overly laden with all those dingly danglies you find on lots of more modern figures. I've got a few more of these to do with some Pegasi, will do those some day in the not too far-flung future.

And good evening to all towards the end of the year of 2020! So I just finished this one this morning, another Wood Elf sculpted by Tom Meier for Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures and recently re-released by Ral Partha Legacy. His eyes are very small, and I tried to stay "in the lines" but they may have slightly gotten out of their orbits. My only other problem here was trying to figure out the colors, but hopefully what I eventually chosen doesn't clash. Anyhoos, enjoy!

Hello guys! I'm not sure if this is the place to put this and I don't think it's permissible to put links to other web sites, but just as some general information, Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures, that was a company that Tom Meier had founded quite a many years ago after leaving Ral Partha, are once again available, and being cast through a subsidiary company of Ral Partha, called Ral Partha Legacy. They are working on releasing some classic Partha for their Chaos Wars game, other miniatures that were previously out of production, and of special note, miniatures from Thunderbolt Mountain. At the moment on their site they have all their 32 mm elves, orcs and goblins, as well as their smaller 25mm Arthurians and a variety of other historical and fantasy miniatures. Worth checking out, some very nice pieces out there!

Winter Salutations to you cold weather Reaper ptarmigans! So I'd mentioned in a previous post how Ral Partha Legacy, a sister company of Iron Wind Metals, has recently opened up and one of their ranges they have acquired is Tom Meier's Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures. So here is one of them a Wood Elf Lady: I really love these miniatures. I'm used to painting Ral Partha stuff, but these are quite a bit different, as the detail is so fine and detailed. The eyes and some of the jewelry is so small and hard to paint. Even though they are 30 mm, they are quite realistically proportioned so lots of the details aren't exaggerated. Anyhoos, hope you enjoy, and if you've got a few moments check out the Ral Partha Legacy page!

So here is one I've recently finished, a Thunderbolt Mountain Elf maiden miniature. I really love Tom Meier's miniatures, but they have such fine detail and such small eyes it's hard to get in there even with a small pointy brush. I wanted to give her light clear colors, so hopefully that worked out. The one other item on this was being she was blonde and her face is so small and delicate I didn't give her eyebrows, which I normally would do. Anyhoos, have a look, hope you enjoy:

So here's the accompanying elf guy that was in the same set that the female elf that I painted a few days ago came from. They both actually had a little sprue of extra items you could put in their hands, but of course I didn't put anything in their hands. Why, you ask? No idea, I think it was the fact that I would have to choose one of them. and here they are together: Just like the maiden, I couldn't bring myself to paint eyebrows on the guys, because the faces are so small and delicate, I didn't want to put some huge unibrows on them. So, if I don't get anything else painted before the yuletide, Merry Christmas everybody, and Happy New Year if I still don't get anything else finished by the end of the year! Mark

Malak breathed the cold air and smiled. This day had been long coming. The journey to the Frozen City had been difficult, wizards of his like had difficulty procuring supplies in the so called civilized lands, even in the rough towns near Felstad. Still, goblins could adapt to any situation and this one was no different. The eclectic band he had managed to scrape together stood with him now on the outskirts of the ancient ruin, ready to stake their claim at the riches that lie within. His first in command was his apprentice Grubb a Weiben goblin from the Reaping lands to the south. After him was Murdo an infantrygoblin of the Heartstabber tribe of Impact Crater in the Oldhammer Mountains, and a likely candidate for leadership over the rest should it be required. Polg and Mog were Manorheim goblins from just north of the Reaping lands and reasonably useful with a bow and axe, respectively. Gik and Moosh were from a nearby Bighead tribe. While both were foolish creatures, Gik was good with his bow and Moosh was quick with his feet and his dagger. They were also good with animals. Fearful and mistrusting of dogs they had brought with them giant rat creature they had tamed and named Squeaker. His final member was a brute of a goblin named Malg from the Thunderbolt Mountains. Louts and fool’s the lot of them, but competence cost gold, and that was coming soon. Besides if they die, at least he'll be able to buy better help on the next excursion. Unfortunately, Murdo had been less competent than hoped, dying shortly after impaling the "mouse wizard" on his spear. The Manorhiem goblins suggested calling in a trap expert from their village by the name of Grinner. Hopefully this one will prove more useful.

I started out this miniature without a clue as to what I was going to do with it. I had NO idea what it was, and so the first thing I did was create a WIP to get some guidance as I progressed through painting the mini. I was absolutely clueless. In a short time of working on it, the Meier touch came through and the pure humor, and skill of Tom was guiding my hands (if not my chuckles). Ideas came along with encouragement of our friends on the Forum. So rather than keep filling an already full bucket, here is my painted interpretation of Tom Meiers "LITTLE WOOLLY". Your comments, and opinions are greatly appreciated. You can find the WIP in the Works in Progress session. The base is made from a very old piece of Oak Bark. Jason

These gorgeous wolves (Thunderbolt Mountain 8560) are the nicest giant wolf sculpts I have ever seen. They are by the legendary Tom Meier. IMPORTANT: TOM MEIER IS CLOSING HIS THUNDERBOLT MOUNTAIN STORE DEC. 25 OF THIS YEAR, SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, GO THERE NOW! They are pretty big. I mounted them on 1.5" fender washers for extra stability. Tom Meier sells optional goblin riders for them. WIP thread with extensive color notes, painting details, and comparison to other wolf figures here.

Here's something I have been meaning to do for a while, since apparently I have had Tom Meier's Thunderbolt Mountain pack of three giant wolves (Thunderbolt Mountain #8560) and RAFM's three dire wolves so long I can't even remember when I got them or how on earth I got an RAFM product I can't seem to find mention of on the internet. I also nabbed a set of Reaper's #02830 Wolf Pack, which contains three smaller wolves, still impressively sized next to humans. Here they are, cleaned and glued to bases (all nine wolves were more prone to tipping over sideways than I like). Reaper, on one-inch fender washers: Thunderbolt Mountain, on 1.25-inch fender washers: RAFM, on 1.25-inch fender washers: And here they are together for a size comparison, from left to right: A Reaper wolf from the set, the Bones wolf from the Familiar Set #77176, Reaper's Willow Greenivy #03682, a Tom Meier giant wolf and an RAFM dire wolf. I would say the Reaper wolves are the most classically wolf-shaped. They are a bit large for wolves (see the picture above for scale). They are realistic and look well posed for various purposes. The two larger sets of wolves are almost the size of small ponies and look like they are begging for goblin riders. The Thunderbolt Mountain giant wolves have the elegant long, thin legs Tom Meier gives a lot of his creatures (I have also seen some astonishingly elegant wolfhounds and impossibly graceful insect-like horses from his hand). Here they look maybe almost a little too long and thin, but they are certainly beautifully sculpted, as are the ranks of fur sliding along the animals' forms. Their poses are realistic and expressive. The RAFM dire wolves, as large as the Thunderbolt Mountain ones, are a lot more cartoony. Their faces are kind of pushed-in and piggy and their anatomy doesn't make as much sense. They move oddly, although melodramatically. They definitely have a mood of menace to them. Something was a little off with the casting of the Thunderbolt Mountain wolves. Two of them had little pits along their spines, as though there were just not quite enough pewter in the mold or something. I filled them in with epoxy and tried to smooth it out to match the surface. At the moment the figures are glued but not yet primed. When I paint these, I am thinking of painting them mostly as realistic grey wolves, white arctic wolves, and perhaps some black wolves.

Here is a cool little diorama I got to do for a client. Most of the time, religious art in miniatures is more akin to painting a Menoth force, so this is a bit of a departure. The three figures are from Thunderbolt Mountain- sculpted by the fantastic Tom Meier. I completely endorse grabbing stuff from Thunderbolt Mountain- the faces he sculpts are amazing. This set is larger than usual gaming scale, but since they're also pretty much true to life scale, so their eyes and details were pretty tricky. Quite different from the old Inquisitor minis I've done. I based them on an 80mm mini CD and created the cave from green stuff, and the objects around it are a combination of things I pulled out of my bits box and things I sculpted. The donkey started out as a 28mm horse that was standing up, and the jars are from a Reaper Bones spru. I think the bird might have been from the Old Witch of Khador kit. I posted them up to Coolmini for anyone who cares to see more angles. Anyway, here they are: Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Io Saturnalia and have a good whatever holiday you care to celebrate.