Mimic (2) & Treasure Chest Markers

It feels good to get something finished, even simple stuff like these Treasure Chest Markers and another Mimic. They were started in December to try and get myself out of the rut that marked much of my 2018 hobby output, but they never got finished in that month as planned, so with a bit of time spare i decided to crack on with them.

I finished the metal-work on the last Treasure Chest this week which meant I could finally finish the basing on all of them collectively and get them cleared from my backlog.

The Mimic is from a Krakon Games Kickstarter (not sure if is on their store yet), and is my second Mimic (after this one from Reaper Bones).

I intend to eventually use it with my other Mimic and the Treasure Chest Markers in either some 28 mm dungeon-based Fantasy Gaming or Chibi Fantasy gaming.

Gerbil Fighter (Tooth & Sword)

The Gerbil Fighter from the Tooth & Sword range is the first Chibi Fantasy mini I have painted in a little over a year, and it made a nice change of pace from trying to get the Kitbash Games stuff ready for launch (enjoyable though that is - it creates its own pressure), and more importantly clears a part-painted mini from the dreaded painting queue!

In the past week or so I have been tinkering with some rules ideas for fantasy dungeon-bash skirmish game character progression, and that in turn motivated me to finish the Gerbil Fighter. This marks the twentieth mini for my Chibi Fantasy selection (two Adventurers and eighteen Monsters); the total number surprised me when I looked in the figure cabinet - more than I would have estimated.

I would like to get at least four more minis painted this month to at least exceed my second-worst annual painting total (24 in 2012, better than an estimated 18 in 2009); to that end I have a few other fantasy bits and bobs I may try and tackle such as Treasure Chests and another Mimic, and maybe another Adventurer.

Ghosts (Chibi Fantasy)

While recently working on my 28mm Fantasy Project, I have also been doing a bit of painting in parallel on my Chibi Fantasy Project, because, as I am sure many would agree, a hobbyist can never have too many concurrent and incomplete projects!

This group of Ghosts was painted really quickly, over a couple of hours, with the painting kept super-simple to help boost my overall outputs, and they have turned out pretty much as I wanted. I think they will work well with the other Chibi Fantasy stuff I am pulling together. The minis are from a booster pack for the Arcadia Quest board game.

I am hoping that getting these done will spur me to finish some more of the Tooth & Sword range, but as ever the hobby muse will take me where it takes me!

Shambling Zombies (Tooth & Sword)

This is simply a group shot of my ten Shambling Zombies from the Meridian Miniatures Tooth and Sword range. I wanted a picture of all of them together so I could link from the T&S page I have set up at the head of the blog.

Five were painted this year for Zomtober, while the original five were painted in 2015.

Coming up I hope to start painting some more Adventurers soon to battle against them!

Zomtober 2017 (Week 5)

My Week 5 Zomtober minis are done - another set of five Shambling Zombies from Meridian Miniatures' Tooth and Sword range. To be honest, I had planned to paint a contemporary Zombie too, but I have been feeling unwell for most of the week so decided to concentrate on these five alone which ultimately meant getting more minis painted overall - a 'good thing' in my book!

The painting is pretty simple and uses my usual Zombie flesh recipe, with Vallejo Model Color Green Grey as a base, some VMC Burnt Umber mixed in to shade, then highlights by adding VMC Basic Skin Tone. The eyes are graduated from VMC Sky Grey down to Silvergrey. To speed up the painting I used VMC Camo Black Brown mixed in to shade the various trouser colours.

With these done I hope to get some Tooth and Sword Adventurers and some Impact Minaitures chibi Monsters painted over the next couple of months (while also cracking on with my G.I. Joe Project again), but as ever my plans will probably change with a whim!

Finally, well done to every blogger who participated in this year's Zomtober, well done to everyone, and hopefully we will all sign up again next year!


Zomtober 2017 blog roll (click blog names for links):

1. Brummie's Wargaming Blog - Simon
2. Four Colour Super Minis - Rob
3. Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer - pulpcitizen
4. Fantorical - Blaxkleric
5. Mike's Random Wargaming Meanderings - Mike C
6. Saturday Mornings - Ivor Evans
7. 28mm Victorian Warfare - Michael Awdry
8. Miniature Mayhem - Terry Silverthorn
9. ANYTHING BUT A 1! - Clint
10. Cheaphammer!!! - Kieron
11. The Wargame Addict - Wargame Addict
12. Lead Reckoning - Fred Jackson
13. da Gobbo's Grotto - Wargaming blog - da Gobbo Grotto
14. Never Mind The Jankers - Roy Williamson
15. Paintbrush and Superglue - Matt
16. Dizbusters Gaming Ephemera - Phil Curran
17. Wargaming With Barks - Barks
18. Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist - Edwin King
19. EndTransmission's gaming stuff - Paul Smith
20. Colgar6 and the Infinite Legion of Toy Soldiers - Colgar6
21. dead lead project - myincubliss

Mummy (Chibi Fantasy)

This Mummy was painted up as a 'quick win', done in roughly two hours (which for me is very fast, although many hobbyists paint, and speed-paint, much more quickly than me!). I tackled this one to essentially to get me back on track with painting my Zomtober mini for Week 4. The figure is produced by Impact Miniatures as part of their Chibi Adventurers and Monsters range. I picked it up to complement my Tooth and Sword Shambling Zombies (since its fits with those as they cast humans as the unliving).

I went with a super simple approach, base-coating with a mix of Vallejo Tan Earth and Ivory, then dry-brushing with additional Ivory, then highlighting with the same mix to tidy up, working up to near Ivory. The skin was painted with Green-Grey, mixing in a very dark brown for shadows, then highlighting up with Green Grey mixed in, and a dab of the Tan Brown-Ivory mix. The eye was done with a near-black mix with a red iris slightly lighter in colour to its outer edge. I still have a bit of work to improve on how I do chibi eyes, but I reckon that will come with time.

My plan is to get some fantasy gaming in in the next few months, basically as soon as I have a couple of parties and plenty of Monsters painted up.

Bat Spell Caster (Tooth & Sword)

A change of pace on the minis painting front with this post. I needed something of a 'palette cleanser' (for me, doing something very different) to avoid sliding into another painting lull. I was rummaging around the hobby room yesterday and though again about Tooth & Sword (a Kickstarter I backed in 2014, and minis are available from the Meridian Miniatures web-site - click for link). My G.I. Joe Project will be carrying on, but doing this mini was simply a way of getting back on track with painting minis.

I was instantly captivated by the designs, old-school D&D realised in minis form via anthropomorphic chibi adventurers! Unfortunately my capacity to buy minis exceeds my capacity to paint them! While I know the style is not to everyone's tastes, it certainly grabbed by attention. 

In 2015 I painted the Shambling Zombies, and now three years on from the original Kickstarter I have finally got around to finishing one of the adventurers. 

I picked up the Bat Spell Caster from the painting queue yesterday and figured out how I wanted to approach it. There are some big smooth surfaces which means a different feel for painting those, and I have more to learn there, and unlike the Shambling Zombies I had to properly tackle the eyes this time around. I think I will learn as I go with the Tooth & Sword adventurers.

In part painting the Bat Spell Caster was prompted by some rules tinkering I was doing yesterday, but all in all, I am pleased to have added to the painted minis tally for this year, and added some more variation to my recent outputs.

Tooth & Sword

Minis owned/painted: 24/6 (25%)

Good painted: 0

Neutral painted: 0

Wicked painted: 1

Monsters painted: 5

Zomtober 2015 (Week 4)

The final week for me (barring a 'bonus mini' after this post like I managed after Week 4 last year!), and thankfully I have met my original goals for Zomtober - one Zombie per week plus getting related stuff done for Pulp City, Anima Tactics and BMG), and also getting four Tooth & Sword Shambling Zombie minis painted. All in all, I feel this has been my most successful Zomtober on a personal level both in terms of output, and in breadth of ranges tackled.

This week I finished Sharsha 'Fiedegunde' first (over on on my Anima Tactician blog), spurred on by painting Zombies (she isn't Undead, but I used my Zombie flesh recipe for her).

After that I finished my fourth Zombie kid (this year's accidental theme!; this mini is from the Tiny Terrors pack from Studio Miniatures), then I finally managed to complete the painting of the last two of my five Tooth & Sword Shambling Zombies.

With these additions I have managed to paint 11 minis in total so far this month, and with a few days left, there is the chance I may yet manage one or two more.

Zomtober 2015 (Week 1)

Well, Week 1 is done, and already a number of great entries have been posted. My own contribution was a little rushed (having spent yesterday at the Derby wargames show), but I am pleased to have made the deadline with 3 minis!

I was determined to use this Zomtober momentum to get not only some regular Zeds painted, but also some more of my Tooth & Sword Shambling Zombies, and possibly some other minis that are not quite Zombies but which tie in loosely (more on those as Zomtober progresses I hope!).

I am not sure about the manufacturer of the Zombie child, and atypically for me it is not based on a Fenris base (jn stead a Dragon Forge base). It has been under-coated for at least a couple of years, possibly longer, and the clean-up was poor on my part (I noticed mold lines while painting), but to be honest, getting it painted was key and so I can claim that it is done.

The Tooth & Sword Zombies are helping me get to grips with a simplified approach to my painting, and I am happy to have painted two more.

For the weeks ahead, I have some regular contemporary Zombies part-painted to finish off, as well as two more Tooth & Sword Shambling Zombiesand possibly the secret-for-now 'other stuff'.

Shambling Zombie (Tooth & Sword)

A first for me - painting a Chibi-style mini!

I backed the Tooth & Sword Kickstarter by Meridian Miniatures last year, completely enchanted by the style of the range. After quite some time, I have now finally found some to start tackling the minis with some tickling of the hairy sticks. Consequently, I decided to start down the 'easier' (in my own mind) path of painting a Shambling Zombie, using my usual Zombie skin recipe. The various other characters will follow after painting the first few Shambling Zombies.

Painting wise this was easier than I though, all I had to do was simplify what I do to suit the appropriate raised surfaces. The eyes are a little more complex than my usual zeds (who get flat VMC Silvergrey) - here I worked down from a more grey colour to the Silvergrey to create a slight sense of depth across the flat surface of the eye. The Chibi style will take a little getting used to in terms of technique. I think I will tackle more Shambling Zombies first just to get me in the right mode of thinking for painting for Tooth & Sword!

The base is by Fenris, and was chosen as round shoulder is my preference over slotta-style chamfered edge. These are 25 mm round shoulders to fit in the design for the Tooth & Sword game (more on that in a future post...).

On a side note, finishing this mini means that in July and August I have matched my painting output for January to March and April to June. :)