Agramon, Pit Fiend in Bones

This is Agramon, an $11.99 miniature in the 'Bones' material. I received him as part of the original Bones Kickstarter. He's pretty big. He's also an old sculpt by Gene Van Horne that I have in metal. Looking over at the figure in metal, he's now $33.49. Ouch. Hell of a difference there.

Clean up was pretty mild on the figure. There's a lot of detail here. I didn't break out my metal version to see what the comparison was because usually the larger Bones figures are okay. The feet always have that weird shrinkage problem though. Also not a big fan of the base, but too lazy to put him on another base because I already have him in metal on such a base.

I went with my 'standard' for red. The Vallejo Red-Brown primer, followed by GW's old foundation red, followed by one of the new GW's reds, and touched up with some Blood Red, which is one of GW's oldest reds no longer available. I threw an army wash red over all of that and just used a few grays and greens to paint the base.

I have a love-hate relationship with the figure.

On one hand, it's a great sculpt. The fire in the hand, the powerful musculature, the wings, the jaws, the massive tail. All great.

On the other, he's a bitch to store. The wings give him extra height and the tail gives him extra width.

In addition, because he's a pit fiend, the SRD puts him at a challenge rating, for 3rd and Pathfinder editions anyway, at 20. There will not be too many opportunities to use such a figure outside of the highest levels or the most powerful characters.

Still, as part of the first Bones Kickstarter, he's a nice figure to have. Because he doesn't have a lot of belts, buckles, skulls, straps, or other nonsense, he's a fairly quick one to paint. I've seen some other great paint jobs on this guy and those who want to push it past the simple reds I did can be well rewarded with it.

Brings the total up to 17 for 2014.

Reaper Kobolds Bones or Kobolds on a Stick

So in Chicago it's well below freezing. So much so mind you that work actually called me and said to stay home.

I'm not one of those people who are unable to entertain themselves for a day or thousand so I broke out some kobold miniatures made of the bones material from Reaper. There are six of them, each sprue having three. They're relatively small, like kobolds should be and instead of being on the dreaded broccoli bases common to the metal miniatures from Reaper, these are on carved stone bases.

In the photos the ease of using the sprue should be visible. I used some blue tack and a wooden block and painted them on there. I started with some Vallejo red-brown primer and gave most surfaces two layers up and then a sepia wash. As they're kobolds I wasn't too worried about it. They're also really cheap. I think Amazon has them for like $3.49, but the shipping is actually more expensive then the figures and it's not on prime.

So six and 10... sixteen miniatures so far? One of my friends is doing like thirty a month, and he's done it before and he'll do it again. No possible way I'll be keeping up with them. I'm usually happy if I get 52 done, which is why back in the day I was part of the 52 Minis in 52 Weeks blog.

Anyway, I think I might have to start actually looking over the miniature games I play and see if I can get some stuff done for them. There's a lot of things I want to try out this year or continue playing including Hordes and Warmachine.

Reaper Bones, Reaper Metal, Rackham Metal, and Spyglass even!

That's one of the Hellborn aka Tielfling Reaper Bones miniatures. Another example of me not being able to take a shot to save my life. The daggers are kind of deformed and funky. The paints are supposed to have openings or slits in the side but due to the lack of detail bone miniatures hold... The base is one I picked up from Adepticon as I hate the broccoli style bases many Reaper figures come on and figured I had the base, might as well use it.

Another example of not being able to take a photo. I've painted this half-orc twice now. I lost the original figure, which this one is, in a state of semi-painted status and found him and figured, finish it. Normally I would have lopped it off the base but her's actually metal. While my photo doesn't do him justice, he is sculpted in the musculature fantastic and a good painter could really make him pop.

This is the metal version of Reaper's Necropolis leader, Naomi. I have the Bones version. While it beats this one in price, the detail, like the flying bats out of her raised right hand? Yeah, Bones version ain't happening. I've had this one from the original Warlord boxed set that had Necropolis versus Crusaders and still haven't finished Lord Ironraven or Halbarad. Ugh.

This is a Molydeus, a 'powerful' demon type from the miniature company Center Stage Miniatures. This is another one from the Kickstarter. Good cast and not a lot of mold lines, but I did miss the one running on the top of the figure's arms between head and raised forearm. By the time I saw it paint was already over it so... no, that wasn't getting touched. He comes on a 40mm base I want to say. I based some of the colors on the appearance from the Codex of the lower planes or whatever it was during 3rd edition's run but didn't go red enough on the flesh tones.

This is a figure I've owned for years and decided screw it. I could never figure out how to paint him. The details are so intricate that it's hard to tell where rag ends and bone begins, where chain ends, and bandage starts. So I figured I was never going to be happy with it so get to it. It's a 'Ram' figure, like some type of death knight for the Confrontation game.

Spyglass did a lot of great simple figures. I miss them and was glad that Heresy picked up a lot of them. This is another one I've had in stages of completion for years trying to figure out what colors I was going to go with until I finally just decided to do it. Her base is a Micro Art Studio base.

And as the Beatles would sing, "All Together Now." The ram is very tall and wide shouldered and he's on a standard 25mm base. The molydeus is a huge figure, towering over even the archer on her downed tree.

So that's like... 10 ten for 2014 so far? Lot of Reaper here, but a pleasant surprise with a few of them being metal figures.

Beraded Devils by Center Stage Miniatures

The digital camera is a cruel mistress. I can see I'll have to go into those eye sockets a bit and mess around with them but hey, they're done. Basing is done with the very simple GW basing paint with a quick drybrush over it.

The bearded devils by Center Stage Miniatures came two to an order. They are three pieces, a main body, the glaive, and the base itself. The glaive isn't as terrible as I feared it would be as I tend to absolutely hate anything that needs to line up in two separate points off one other piece. I have an Anime figure that has swords crossing behind him and they never fit. I had two of them so the second one, which also didn't fit, I cut the swords up and assembled then reglued them after they were fixed.

If you have a really small pin drill bit, you could probably pin the hands. I myself went with the much easier and simple accelerator. Hold it down while the glue is there and give it a quick spray and bam, it's on! Now mind you I hear that isn't as strong as a regular glue bond but whatever, they're done.

So 4 miniatures down in 2014 so far.

Throbin Death-Eye and Bailey Silverbell

I am the proud owner of an incomplete Dwarf Lords of Legend. I LOVE the character that these old GW dwarves have. They have a very strong influence on how I think when I think of dwarves. It's one of the reasons I enjoyed Stoneheaven's first Kickstarter to produce dwarves. I thought those dwarves had a fairly good... 'nod' to the old style of Games Workshop.

Mind you I think that the dwarves that GW produce now still include a lot of fantastic characters. The thing I don't like about a lot of the modern figures though is they are over complex. Throbin Death-Eye for example? He doesn't have a whole lot going on. He is on a Micro Art Studio base.

On the other hand, the female dwarf is a Bones figure, one Bailey Silverbell. Her base is a Happy Seppuku base that I started off with the 'dirt' mound and then after that dried out, added some random steel plating that I chopped up and messed with. The lack of detail on her compared to a standard metal figure is telling when painting. It took me a while to figure out that was a crossbow she was holding for example. Still, the cost was right and she's done!

So for 2014, I'm off to a good start. Death-Eye I had started prior to 2014 but Silverbell? Primed her this morning with brush on black primer and finished her this evening. Most of it three layer with a wash.

For the other painters out there, what do you count as completed? Stuff that you just assembled in 2014? Stuff that was in various stages of completion? Something else?

2013 was a good year in miniatures

Over on my 'gaming' blog, http://modernappendixn.blogspot.com/2013/12/onward-to-2014.html, I talk about why I hated 2013. For gaming and well, life.

But miniature wise? There were some problems but those were relatively small.

For me, the biggest problem is Kickstarter. Companies being late, companies having crappy quality control, companies just being bad businesses.

But one of the big wins was also some late delivered Kickstarters. For example, Stone Heaven Miniatures came out of no where and kicked ass multiple times. They haven't been afraid to listen to customer feedback and haven't been afraid to switch things up.

But overall, it was more a feeling of awesome things coming out.

Games Workshop for example, man they get punched in the face all the time. I'm sure it's in part for being the big dog but in part its because of crappy products. When Privateer Press decided to jump on the 'restic' bandwagon, yeah, the quality of things took a huge crap in the customer service dumper and there has been a lot of flak flying back their way, rightfully so because of it.

But those were, for me at least, small things. Games Workshop coming out with 'technical paints' for different special effects? Yes, a lot of people can achieve those effects already, sometimes just with some thinning agents or careful color selection. But for those who don't care about that and just want to dip a brush into the paint and go? Right on.

Vallejo came out with several new products this year. Right on for them.

Scale 75 came out with a boxed set and several themed painting sets. Excellent work.

There were a ton of great figures that also came out. This doesn't count the delivery of Kickstarter products to the retail channel like some of the Bombshell Sidekicks or Reaper Bones or Center Stage Miniatures Demons and Devils.

There were a lot of efforts at new products like double ended paint brushes. For me, the quality of them was terrible but the price wasn't bad, and they were on time. Neutral.

For others, who were smart enough to get in on them, Miercer miniatures delivered the goods in a huge way with their Kickstarter.

It seemed that for miniatures, Kickstarter was the way to go for a lot of things.

For me, I've cut way back on supporting them. It's not that there isn't some awesome things going on, but look at Redbox. This guy is a fantastic sculptor, but his first Kickstarter, from his last post, sounds like the death knell of the company. Innovation is not necessarily paved on the path of the best and brightest and most enthusiastic, but the bones of those who went before it would appear.

Speaking of Bones, I'm waiting for an announcement that some company is licensing the material. Let me be clear, I'm not starting a rumor, I don't know any company currently doing it, but the price point is too sweet and the potential benefit of using an already established partner too clear as opposed to trying to use say, Trollcast as a viable alternative to metal.

And it's not that I love Bones. The price is good, but I'm not impressed with the detail of the figures. This doesn't mean there aren't many positives. For example, you can easily cut and modify Bones as opposed to say, metal. You don't feel, well, I don't feel terrible if I mess up a paint job on a Bones figure. And of course again, the affordability. The price of metals and resins has quickly escaped the industry.

While 2013 sucked in a lot of ways for me personally, painting wise it was great and I hope that 2014 brings even better times.

Amon and Winter Wolf

Amon, a Duke of Hell in the old Dungeons and Dragons mythology, and his Winter Wolf companion are relatively simple miniatures sculpted by the talented Jason Wiebe whose done work for Reaper and other miniature companies. The 'official' paint job on Amon seemed more Oriental Adventurers to me, but I figure he's got a Winter Wolf companion so I didn't think the black would be appropriate and for some reason, I quickly made up a bad story in my head about Amon being one of the fiercest hunters in his tribe but not for noble reasons. Not as a protector. He did it for the thrill, for the challenge of the hunt and it lead to the destruction of his own people so when the opportunity came to become something more, he took it and joined those things in the outer planes as something more than human.

Both pieces are resin and very light weight. Both are on 40mm bases.The wolf for the most part is mold line free. Amon on the other hand has a few bits here and there and I would recommend after giving him a base primer coat, that you go over him with a fine tooth nail because the mold lines were so fine, I didn't catch them until I had thrown a few coats on, and if you've read my blog before, you may realize that I'm lazy so those mold lines are still there for those who look carefully.

The sculpting detail on both is great and the Winter Wolf, much like the Cheese, can stand alone. On the other hand, I don't see it being sold separately and I don't think anyone wants to pay $29.95 just for the wolf. Amon's wolf headed hammer could probably be straightened out too as it's resin and an application of some hot water would probably allow me to do that. However, I like the idea of a weapon where the haft is bending due to the weight of the weapon so didn't correct that.