Moving

For the time being, I've moved my blogging here: https://strangevistas.wordpress.com/

Getting the numbers right

So I'm really hoping to get back to this painting project, and I felt like having some sort of meaningful recording keeping would help.  So I went online and found that others had carefully categorized all the Reaper Bones Kickstarters.  In my case, that would be I and II, and the odd add-on.

In the process I discovered a couple of things.  First, I had WAY underestimated the number of miniatures I had.  Second, I had miscalculated how many I had painted, overstating the number by one (in case you're curious, I counted too many bugbears).  So I only have 56 painted Bones miniatures, out of a total of 480.

I've made the changes to the sidebar, and am slowly getting the titles to the blog posts corrected.  Turns out not only do I have much more to do than I thought, I'm actually not as far along as I thought either.

Give up?  Never!

Beastman Warrior 2 (56 of 400)

Apologies for the lousy photograph, but it has literally been 17 months since I last posted.  Things have been incredibly busy and crazy the last year or so, but I'm trying to get back into the painting thing.  So, a pretty simple paint job, and the first miniature I've finished in a long while.

If you're still following this blog, welcome back.

Holy Vindicator (55 of 400)

Well, it's the first miniature of 2017.  One of many paladin-esque figures in the Bones series.  This guy has a lot of use as a fighter/cleric/paladin/noble.  I liked the look of his armor a lot, even as the cape is a bit much.

It's time to really get to work knocking these guys out.  Maybe 2017 will be my year for that.

Plague Rat (54 of 400)

Another month, and another miniature done.  At this rate I'll be painting them for another thirty years!  I definitely need to get on the stick here.  But at least this little fellow turned out okay, although I was thinking maybe I ought to have made him all one color, like a naked mole rat.  But this looks appropriately gross enough, and I'm pretty sure there's another one running around in there if I want to do something different next time.

P.S. Merry Christmas!

Hellhound (53 of 400)

It has been months since I posted to this blog, not because I haven't been painting miniatures, but I haven't been painting Reaper Bones miniatures from my various Kickstarters.  Well, that ends today with this Hellhound.

He turned out pretty well, although I think the bone spikes in the middle of the flames are a weird sculpting decision (I noticed some people just painted them as flames instead). Hellhounds are such good brutes to back up a major villain that this figure will likely see plenty of action.

Happy Thanksgiving, by the way, and thanks for looking!

Halbarand (52 of 400)

Another very useful "PC" miniature, this time a cleric wielding a hammer and some sort of holy tome chained to his neck.  Not the most complex paint job--I didn't bother doing up the armor really fancy aside from adding some jewels to the designs on the shoulders and thighs.

Comments welcome!

Trista, the White Wolf (51 of 400)

I'm continuing with my painting up figures that could serve players for their characters.  Here's a fighter or paladin or something similar.  It's a good looking suit of armor and shield with the wolf motif used throughout.

Definitely need to add some guys to the roster...

Alistrilee, elf archer (50 of 400)

I've done other "ranger" figures, even female ranger figures, but they are handy (and easy to paint).  This one, Alistrilee, is a nice figure except that she has a really weird face.  That is, unless elves have pronounced Saturnine features.  But all that aside, I think the paint job turned out okay, and for a change I actually painted in the eyes, which are not my strong suit.

I'm going to try to pad out the number of "PC" miniatures I have just so they can be available to players down the line.

Spiders (45-49 of 400)

I got a little time this holiday weekend to paint so I banged out these spiders. I used the color scheme of the brown recluse spider with a high contrast base color. 

It is always good to stock up on standard dungeon vermin I think!

Skeleton Guardsman and Swordsmen (42-44 of 400)

I'm getting more of these skeletons finished, specifically three more. Now that these guys are finished, I'm feeling like something different. But first, a group shot:

Gauntfield (41 of 400)

With all these skeletons I'm painting, I thought I needed a "boss monster" of some kind.  "Gauntfield" is some kind of undead scarecrow.  I have to say, I'm truly pleased with how this paint job turned out.  For these bones it has great detail, and a good ink wash really helps a lot.

I'm almost done with the skellies with just a few more to go.  Then maybe some kind of graveyard adventure?

Skeleton Axeman and Archers (38-40 of 400)

Three pretty straightforward paint jobs on these guys. I like the extra sculpting detail on the guy on the right. 

I have done quite a few skeletons now. I think they need to start battling adventurers!

Goldar, Male Barbarian (37 of 400)

So I've got from running a D&D game to being a player in the same campaign under a different GM.  I am playing a barbarian, so of course I needed a good PC miniature.  This is Goldar (what's with that name), an easy-to-paint mini that looks good without too much trouble.

Almost at the 10% mark, perhaps by the next post.

Barnabus Frost, Pirate Captain (36 of 400)

Cruising right along with some new paint jobs.  This is Barnabus Frost, the pirate captain from their Pirates collection in the Bones I Kickstarter.

This was the first Bones miniature I painted that wasn't primed.  A lot of people have been saying it is unnecessary and maybe even a bad idea.  I'm not sure--it's hard to get the paint to coat evenly.  Thoughts appreciated.

Bronzeheart, Minotaur Hero (35 of 400)

Wow, another one.  It's like I've gone crazy painting or something. This is Bronzeheart, a Minotaur hero.  He's a solid figure, and not too complicated.  I had a player with a Minotaur barbarian PC and this guy would have been a perfect miniature for him.

Lizardman Warrior (34 of 400)

A quick glance says I haven't updated this blog since September.  Yikes!

Not my greatest work, but some times you have to just get a win easy ones in before you can get back up to steam.  Not a bad figure, but I'm impressed at how much detail some painters can get out of these things.

Anyways, we are back underway on this task, at least for now.

Damien, Hellborn Wizard (33 of 400)

I painted this figure for a friend of mine.  He represents a tiefling warlock in the D&D campaign I'm running.  I think he turned out pretty well. 

Goblins (30-32 of 400)

Back to work in hope of clearing 10-20% of the total haul by the end of the year.

These are four of the generic Reapers goblins, in comparison to the Pathfinder goblins I've done before. I painted them to roughly match the Pathfinder ones. There is some really vague detail on these guys, but for essentially grunt troops they look fine.

Next up, something for a friend.

Bugbear Warriors (27-29 of 400)

First of all, I had to update my count when it comes to how many Bones miniatures I have because I hadn't included the ones from the second Kickstarter.  With those, the count is up to 400.

So that means I need to get to work!

Last time, I painted a Bugbear Warrior from the Kickstarter 2, not realizing there were four.  So now I needed to paint up the other three.

And of course, I had to find a way to make them all different.  Of particular effort was the left foot shin guard/right arm guard.  It obviously is supposed to be studded leather, but honestly my eyesight and hand-eye coordination isn't that good any more.  So I just made them look like bumpy leather or dragon skin.

Well, I'm back to having only gotten about 5% done.  Time to keep painting!