Random Space Weirdos

 Just a few weird space randos this week.

The crocodile man is a Mantic orc body with Frostgrave demon arms and a Stargrave head. The base model isn't great and I'm not sure why I've got it, but as ever, removing the head helps a lot.

The thug next to him is based on a Wargames Atlantic Boxer Rebellion body, with Games Workshop arms and a Ghost Archipelago head. Getting the arms and head to sit properly with the body was quite difficult. 

Then we've got a lady and robot, vaguely inspired by Jayne Cobb from Firefly and K2SO from Star Wars. "James" has a Bolt Action US marine body, with arms and head from Stargrave.

The robot is based on a model from the Warlord Games Terminator Genysis game. I know nothing about this game, except that the film was apparently awful, and that Warlord were virtually giving the game away. I've got a few sprues of these T-100 models, and they're pretty darn ropey. I gave it new arms, including one from a Perry armoured knight, and a GW Skitarri head. It's come out alright, really.

Nothing much else to report for now. I've got a couple of smaller projects on the go, and progress continues on the Bretonnians. They're looking quite decent so far!

Peasant Progress:

Men at Arms: 20

Archers: 18

Foot Knights: 15

Converting a Great Big Lizardman

 

"Across roaring rivers their warsong rang

'Skull, skull, skull, skull,' the Norsemen sang.

They looted Lustria, lizards they slew

Till the Slann sent soldiers to slice them in two.

The Norsemen fought fiercely but their gold-quest failed

When the thane Thag Thagssen on a tail was impaled."

- The Saga of Thag Thagssen.

Years ago - literally, it was at least a decade - I subscribed to the Kickstarter for the first wave of Reaper Bones models. This was, in retrospect, not my best purchase, as a lot of the models weren't much good. The bigger creatures were a little better, and among them was a "swamp troll". This thing looked weirdly like a stegosaurus, but with a troll's head.

I pulled this thing out of a long-forgotten box, washed off the dirt and fluff and decided to turn it into a kroxigor for the lizardmen warband I seem to be making (extremely slowly). I cut its head off and sculpted a new one, going for that slightly bovine, snake-shaped head that stegosaurs have.

I made a new tail, too. First, I made an rough armature out of a piece of twisted garden wire:

Then I sculpted over the tail, first in DAS clay to get the right shape, and then in green stuff for finer detail. I find it helps to put a thin layer of PVA glue over the clay once it's dried, to stop it flaking off onto the green stuff. 

I added tail-spikes from a wood elf plastic dryad and an ornamental tail-guard from a tyranid bit that was lying around. Other details were added from lizardmen leftovers, green stuff and random odds and ends.

Bright colours were called for, but I surprised myself by painting his skin a drab khaki. Still, blue armour and bright red back-plates set this off, along with gold ornaments. I added the skull of a conquistador to his base, along with a little snake made of green stuff. Invaders beware!

So that was my weekend (and most of my week)! All hail the serpent god!

Female Fighters for Mordheim

 I thought it would be nice to include a couple of female adventurers in the Mordheim warband. For one thing, it provides a bit of visual variety and for another you get some more opportunities for modelling random people.

The first one I made used a lower body from a very mangled Eldar warlock that I got a long time ago. The upper body was a Tempestus Scion breastplate, with some old Mordheim mercenary arms, and a head from Stargrave. She looks like a tough customer!

I kept with the usual colour scheme, but tried a more complex pattern on her skirts. This involved a "weaving" pattern, which I copied from a Bretonnian knight. I found this really difficult, and frankly it made my head hurt. It's done now, although I think it could be better. Maybe sometime I'll have another go, but for now I'll move on.

The second miniature is an archer to round off my small band of bowmen. I had previously made a "youngblood" (ie a novice fighter) with the lower half of a plastic flagellant, so I used this lower body to work as her skirt. I sculpted a torso around a piece of sprue, and added Frostgrave arms and a Stargrave head. Her magnificent hat was in my bits box. 

Here she is painted. I really like this model. My sculpting could be better, now I look at it, but I'm quite pleased with the results. I imagine that she might have been a professional archer, appearing in shows to entertain the people of Mordheim, before the comet struck and the city fell into chaos. Now she puts her skills to new uses, scouting in the ruins.

More Mordheim Mercenaries

 Hello again! Here are a few more foppish-but-violent mercenaries to venture into Mordheim, like carrion-crows dressed up as peacocks. That was unusually poetic of me! For similar high-quality prose, please buy my books. All of them.

Anyhow, all of these are old models that I've spruced up. I tidied the painting generally, tried to make the leather look a bit more battered, and repainted the yellow fabric, now using a pink undercoat. I think it helps a lot. Also, I used a new technique on the faces, glazing them with heavily thinned Sigvald Burgundy to make them look ruddy and a bit unhealthy.

First up is a swordsman and a crossbowman. These guys are a mixture of Empire and Mordheim mercenary bits. The crossbowman has a head from a Bretonnian man at arms.

And here are two more crossbowmen. Again, they use Mordheim mercenary and Empire bits, particularly Empire cannon crew, who have the right sort of "casual" attire and rough clothing.

Here's a picture of some of the repainted guys. This isn't the whole warband - there are loads more, but these chaps are particularly fancy.

Next time, a bit of a change, as we take a trip to the neon streets of Necromunda...

Mordheim - Mercenaries and Monsters

 It's been a long time since I've done any fantasy models. In fact, the last fantasy model that I posted on this blog was in January. I certainly default to science fiction in modelling: the colours are more interesting (there's less brown to paint!) and there's more options for weird creatures and people. 

Anyway, this month I went back to Mordheim, and to finish off some models that I started a while ago and just abandoned.

First up, we've got two archers, painted in the black-and-yellow livery that I seem to have chosen for this warband. They use old Mordheim mercenary bodies and legs, with arms from the North Star Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago Crewmen sprue (catchy title). The first Frostgrave plastic soldiers were a little crude, to my mind, but these later models are really decent. The chap on the right has a Crewman head, too. 

Then we've got two oddballs. The little hobbit chap was an unconverted plastic miniature that came in a job lot of random models. He had a slotta tab, but it was blank. It seems that he was from either Talisman or Warhammer Quest (or possibly both). He actually looks like the man from the covers of Mad Magazine, so I painted him to resemble that guy. I'm generally not much of a hobbit fan, and it seems out of place that one of these tubby, barefoot yokel-children should be in the city of the damned, but what the heck.

The other fighter is a more complex conversion, designed to look like a tattered, weary veteran. He has a Mordheim left arm, the right arm of a Bretonnian knight, a Chaos marauder shield, a body and head from the Empire Pistoliers set (very good for bits), and legs from a 40k Chaos cultist. The bag attached to his belt is from Bolt Action. The weird fishy crest on his helmet came from an Empire cannon kit.

I really like the end result, although making him took ages. I like the idea of these guys wearing uniforms that were once flashy and ornate, and now are grubby and battered.

And that's not all! Here's a conversion that I did ages ago and never painted. It's a Chaos minion (unsurprisingly), based on an old metal sorcerer body. I gave him a genestealer head and a metal tentacle for a tail, as well as a right arm from a Necromunda Goliath bit. As I painted him, I was surprised by how detailed the basic metal body was. He's pretty manky.

I also found some counters for traps, that came in a Mantic terrain set many years ago. They were nice models, and easy to paint. 

Last and most definitely least, all the models in this post are standing on a base plate painted to resemble paving stones. This was a piece of MDF with lines scored into it. I've no idea who sold it. I painted it grey, with a few stones painted in brighter shades for variety. I painted the upper edge of each stone slightly lighter, to give the impression of light coming from one source and catching on the edge of the stones. I think this is called trompe d'oeil. A little bits of brown dirt and green moss was added on with thinned paint. It's not perfect, but it will work as an interesting base for photography.

I've got a few Mordheim warbands painted, but I did them a few years ago, and they'd be much better if I painted them now. I might try to tidy up my older painting and make a few improvements. We shall see!

Yet another troll, and a weird magic lady

 This week, I had a go at a couple of nice fantasy miniatures. First up is another troll, based on the Warhammer Stone Troggoths kit. Because you don't get enough legs, I used a cheap Reaper Bones troll to provide some legs, and then trimmed them and sculpted over them to fit the look I was going for. This terrible picture shows how much of the troll is GW's.

Because the Reaper legs are very rubbery, I added a resin barrel for extra support, pinned to his bum.

And here he is with paint. I really like these models. They've got lots of good details and great facial expressions. This guy looks both dim and suspicious, as if he thinks that something is up, but can't work out what.

And now for another weird model. Privateer Press have made some bad miniatures (mainly a long time ago), some great ones and quite a lot that I don't really find very interesting. One of their factions is the Grymkin, which seem to be Halloween-based and leave me very cold (as does most of Halloween).

However, I saw a few of their models in a sale, and one of them was this: Lady Karianna Rose, who seems to be a wizardly type who looks after a mob of small imp-like creatures. I thought it was a terrific model, full of detail, and immediately bought it.

I don't think I've painted such a lot of fiddly detail for a long time. She's an excellent sculpt but tricky to paint properly, and guaranteed to chip. I quickly took a picture before the paint fell off. It's quite hard to make out all the details, but basically she's wearing battered clothes and holding one imp while two others tug at her skirts.

It's nice to paint a model that I particularly like, and to try to do a good job of it, even if it doesn't photograph very well. 

Veskit Executioner Mark 2 - a skaven hero for Mordheim

Time for  another mangy skaven! A while ago I made a conversion of a Mordheim character called Veskit the Executioner, who is a hero that the skaven can hire. Veskit is a bionic skaven, with a lot of mechanical adaptations, who is as close to the Terminator as a giant medieval rat can get.

I thought it would be cool to make a(nother) miniature of this horrid creature. I decided to base him on one of the Vyrkos Blood-Born models from the Warhammer Quest game, who is crouching ominously on a ruined pillar (which sounds like the sort of thing people do in Mordheim). The basic model looks like this:

I removed the whole right arm and the head. I replaced the head with a skaven one (unsurprisingly!) and his left arm with one from a Necron warrior. I had an arm from a plastic arco-flagellant, and replaced a chunk of Veskit's left leg with an ornate mechanical bit from the arm. I expect it's a piece that Veskit's bosses just wanted to improve.

His tail was a resin bit that I've had for ages, with a Chaos Warrior's spike on the tip. It balances the model out and reminds me of the Alien. Then I added a lot of extra bits and bobs, to represent his many bionic "improvements". He got a bionic eye, a tube on his back that contains fuel, a wire running from his head to his back, and a plasticard brace on his lower left leg. Any messes were covered with fur sculpted from green stuff.

Suitably manky, I think. I painted him in a similar way to last week's rat ogre, using a red basecoat for the flesh and thinned crimson and purple washes. The metal was painted to look rusty and old. I painted the container on his back to look as if it's a glass tube containing some kind of nasty liquid, which presumably fuels him.

That's enough raw flesh for now. I think something different is called for!

Mordheim Rat Ogre

 Here's an old skaven rat ogre model that was released for Mordheim, sometime in the early 2000s. It's technically a Clan Eshin rat ogre, Eshin being the wing of the ratmen who produce scouts and assassins and dress like ninjas. Clan Eshin, in the background, sent its minions into Mordheim - hence this chap.

While I like the idea of rat ogres, I find many of the models to be too weird and too beefy. My mental image of a vicious rat is something thin and scrawny, and most of the rat ogres look too hefty for that. Also, they have that tendency of recent skaven models to look like fleshy mutant things, rather than actual rats, with extra arms, bionic weapons and all sorts of odd additions.

This guy, on the other hand, looks like a gigantic rat-person who rips people apart with his hands. He's lean and nasty, with a superb face and some nice subtle details, like the scars on his back and the skulls around his neck (actually, those aren't very subtle). Anyhow, after some hassle with pinning and gluing, I painted him to look old and mean, with greying fur. I like models of this size - not too big, but full of interesting bits.

The skin was basecoated red for an unwholesome feel. I painted it normally after that, although I used strong tone and thin brown washes, as well as a glaze of Sigvald Burgundy, whatever that is. I'm really pleased with the end result (and the unusually good photos!).

Big Hats For Mordheim

 Here are a few more explorers for the Mordheim Marienburg warband. 

This guy is the leader of the group. He's made of Empire militia and pistolier bits. His left leg was converted to make him run.

"Follow my feather!"

This chap is a sergeant. He's made of militia parts, with a pistolier head and a cannon loader's arm. 

"Rally around my hat!"

These are two youngbloods, scummy youths who fill up the ranks and get in the way of bullets meant for more important people.

The bloke has the lower legs of the running man in the Warhammer giant kit, and an upper body from a plastic flagellant. His arms are from the militia kit and a Stargrave head.

The girl has a lower body from the same flagellant, a breastplate from the pistoliers, arms from Frostgrave and a head left over from a Wrath of Kings kit. Quite a lot of green stuff was used to make her skirt and boots.

From 40k Inquisitor to Fantasy Vampire

 

A while ago, the local gaming shop was getting rid of some back-issues of that Warhammer magazine where you slowly built an army. On the front was the Inquisitor Kyria Draxus model, for "only" £10. I bought it, not really knowing what I'd do with the miniature. 

I think it's one of those models that has lots of cool details and doesn't really come together as a whole very well. The little dragon, the cloak, the smooth armour and the skull on her shoulder all look nice, but it's a bit "bitty" and the position is a tad odd. So, I chopped it up. The head, skull and arms were replaced.

The new arms are very old plastic Mordheim bits. The new head came from a Sister of Battle that I used as the leader of my Sisters of Sigmar warband a while ago. It's got a strange, old-fashioned look. I filed down and covered some of the sci-fi bits of her armour. I felt that it needed a bit to balance out the big halberd, so I added a screaming head from some kind of chaos warrior. Having long hair in Warhammerland is a really bad idea, because people will inevitably use it to hold up your severed head.

And then I added paint. A dark red and purple scheme felt suitably vampiric, but that can look a bit bland, so I tried to incorporate a few bits of lighter colour.

Most of the undead are not very picky about who or what they drain of blood. However, the smarter ones tend to know not to get high on their own supply of peasants. In fact, some vampire nobles are quite protective of their flocks. Here we see Katerina von Augen, displaying the severed head of the chaos warlord Gruffwulf Ruffguff at the third battle of the River Plog.

I also painted a Supernatural Veteran for the good people of Silver Bayonet. This guy started off as an explorer from their Egyptian supplement, which is why he had an odd head-dress under his top hat - presumably to keep the sun off. That looked a bit weird in a rainy hellhole like Blognia, so I sculpted long hair over the top of it. And then the hair looked like dreadlocks, so I gave him darker skin. 

While fighting the living dead is not a very appealing prospect for most people, fighting the living dead for money is very appealing to a few. As a result, men of learning - some of it pretty arcane - have flocked to Blognia in search of revenants and cash. One such traveller is Jean le Beaucourt, swordsman, occultist and millinery connoisseur. 

Vampire Ship

 Here's another project that I've been working on gradually. Since I've made some docks for my fantasy town, I thought it would be cool to have a ship docked at them. It would look nice, and would provide a bit more space for characters to fight. I bought a "Strigoi Schooner" from TT Combat: a kit made from laser-cut MDF.

I always think that the TT Combat terrain kits are good for basic shapes, but aren't very detailed. The pieces of detailing that are provided in the kits tend not to be all that good. As a result, I decided to leave off or replace some of the fancy bits. I also decided not to use the coffins that the ship is meant to be pulling, which looked a bit crude.

Once I'd assembled the basic model, I felt that the hull wasn't very smooth. It was made out of progressively narrower pieces of MDF, and looked too basic. Therefore, I got out the DAS clay and smoothed it over the hull. I filed the hull down with a piece of sandpaper, then gave it a coat of watered-down PVA glue. I find that this helps seal the clay and provides a smooth surface to paint. At this point, it looked like this:

Because the meeting of the clay and the MDF was a bit rough, I added a strip of thin plasticard to mark them apart.

Then it was time to add some details. The rear of the raised deck of the ship was a flat bit of wood, so I added some plasticard details.

The lower deck got some details from the bits box. I replaced the basic MDF door with a resin one that I got at an event and stuck a head from a Frostgrave demon over it, to look sinister. An old lamp was mounted it on a bit of plasticard and stuck onto the wall. I found an old resin ladder and trimmed it down to make some stairs up.

I thought it would be cool to make a sinister figurehead for this ship. This came from a plastic ghost model that I'd had for ages. I think it's from the Coven Throne Warhammer kit. It reminds me of the spirit/angel type creatures from Raiders of the Lost Ark. A bit of sprue stuck to her back helped to attach her to the prow of the boat. I added some "wings" that I think were originally bits of tattered cloth. I'm not sure where they came from.

I thought it would be cool to have a lookout on top of the mast. I found a "Vykros blood-born" model from the Warhammer Quest game, which would work perfectly. It was clinging to a ruined pillar. With a bit of trimming, the pillar looked like the top of a mast. 

Time to paint the rest of it. I went for a gothic purple, red and black colour scheme. It looks like the sort of ship that might carry a vampire, or at least somewhere you might buy an Alchemy T-shirt. I named the ship "Demeter" in homage to the ship that carries Dracula to England in the old novel.

And here it is, sliding into port on a sinister mission!