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

Kamakura (G.I. Joe)

Kamakura is yet another G.I. Joe and Arashikage ninja - there sure are a lot of them! He was added to the canon in the early 2000's through the Devil's Due Productions comics, and later appeared in some G.I. Joe cartoons.

Kamakura is the son of a Crimson Guardsman who forms a bond with Snake Eyes, and in the DDP branch of the comics continuity and the action figure canon becomes Snake Eyes' apprentice. My main reason for adding him to my G.I. Joe Project was that I felt RAFM's Ronin mini was a good fit for the character.  Me and Brummie are constantly searching for options to fit G.I. Joe and Cobra characters, and successes in finding a mini which we can then match to a character drives additions to the project more than anything else.

In preparing the mini I trimmed the sword back a bit (it was incredibly long!), and swapped his head for a spare Pulp City Ninja head that I had. Unfortunately my green stuffing around the neck was a bit rough, but it will do. I decided to use a different green than that used on most of my Joes - Vallejo Model Color Flat Green. The primary painting was pretty straightforward allowing me to make quick progress with base colour, washes, dry-brush and highlights. The colours are an approximation of one of the many versions of the Kamakura action figure, but not a like for like copy on the model's details.

I am hoping to get some more Cobra done over the next few weeks, although with Zomtober coming that will be dependent on available time. I have quite a few minis part -painted for the project right now that I really need to start finishing off.

G.I. Joe Project - Minis Painted (18)
G.I. Joe: 13*
Cobra: 5**
Arashikage: 4*
Iron Grenadiers: 1**
Oktober Guard: 0
Red Shadows: 0

Helix (G.I. Joe)

Helix is the latest addition to my G.I. Joe forces, and one of the newer characters added to the canon. I first encountered her in the pages of the IDW comics and was immediately impressed with how she was pitched to readers. Apparently the character was developed for a video game which tied into the Rise of Cobra film, but I haven't played that.

Helix possesses an unusual capability called Total Organic Battlefield Awareness, essentially the capacity to perform complex calculations very rapidly, applying those calculations to anticipate what allies and enemies will do in battle. In the comics, the business-like Helix quickly forms a comradeship with the uber-cool Snake Eyes. There is a very cool sequence in the comics when the two of them take on a remote Cobra garrison and unleash hell on their enemy.

In sourcing the model I encountered a happy accident. Brummie and I have been looking up lots of options for G.I. Joe Project characters, yet while searching for another model which I thought I had unpainted in my collection, I stumbled across this Dionne from Hasslefree Miniatures. The hair and pose were an obvious perfect fit for what I wanted for Helix. I considered adding a webbing belt but opted against it as my green-stuff skills are simply not up to that kind of thing, so instead I concentrated on trying to convey an approximation of her colour scheme.

Naturally Helix will make her way into Squad Wars games where she will be a bad-ass on a par with the best of the best like Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.

G.I. Joe Project - Minis Painted (17)
G.I. Joe: 12*
Cobra: 5**
Arashikage: 3*
Iron Grenadiers: 1**
Oktober Guard: 0
Red Shadows: 0

The Dead Walk....Zomtober 2017 is Coming....

The dead lead (and resin and plastic!) shall walk again! Zomtober rises!

The sixth annual Zomtober is almost upon us - that time of year when bloggers like my buddies Rob (click here for his blog) and Simon (click for his blog here) and myself commit to getting some more Zeds or Survivors painted.

The rules
The Zomtober rules are simple.

To take part you just need to paint one Zombie or Survivor (or more!) each week, in any scale you like, posting it to your blog by that week's Sunday (we use Sunday's as the end of each Zomtober week). So that means posting one or more newly painted Zombie or Survivor minis each week on or before the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of October 2017. This year has a very tight start and there is nothing stopping bloggers starting that first mini early in readiness for the Sunday!

Anyone commenting on this post will get added to the blog list below (and feel free to do something similar on your own blogs - as the word spreads, more and more bloggers can be involved!). Last year we had around 15-20 bloggers involved, and it would be great to beat that this year. So welcome all to this year's Zomtober!

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

First 10 G.I. Joes

These are my first ten 'enlisted' G.I. Joes, although these are actually my first eleven G.I. Joe characters thanks to Timber. I think going forward I will try and do updates for every ten additional characters, and will count the animal companions into that, otherwise it will get confusing for me let alone for unfortunate readers!

Sgt. Slaughter was painted in 2016,  kicking things off, but the rest have been painted in the last few months as the project heats up.

Now on to the next ten! Yo Joe!

Grunt (G.I. Joe)

Grunt is my tenth 'enlisted' G.I. Joe (I have eleven characters so far including Timber), and the sixteenth character in all for my G.I. Joe Project. He is one of the original characters that formed the first wave of characters for the A Real American Hero line.

As one of the classic characters, Grunt was developed through story arcs outlined in the Marvel comics as well as file cards of updated versions. In many ways he is the quintessential G.I. Joe infantryman, as befits his name.

To help him stand out from any potential 'Greenshirts' I may paint, I opted to base his main colour on the tan re-paint of the action figure which was released a year or so after the first version.

I had a bit of a struggle shading the Medium Grey base colour, but a bit of a brainwave allowed me to correct that after being unsatisfied with the first shade colour. The painting isn't brilliant, but I am happy to have finished him after a bit of a slow month in August (although when I get my Vipers finished, that will add a bunch of minis in one hit).

G.I. Joe Project - Minis Painted (16)
G.I. Joe: 11*
Cobra: 5**
Arashikage: 3*
Iron Grenadiers: 1**
Oktober Guard: 0
Red Shadows: 0