Lord Ulthrak Hasslefree Chaos Champion

Lord Ulthrak, Champion of Chaos.

I must admit, Kev White (from Hasslefree Miniatures) is one of my favourite sculptors. It's a love/hate relationship. His miniatures are incredibly detailed 25m scale masterpieces that demand the utmost skill and care while painting. A lapse in concentration often leaves me with extra work to fix my error. Which takes more time. Finishing a Kev White miniature is a reward in itself.

This is Ulthrak, Warlord of the Kran'duin Horde. Armed with an impressive battleaxe, his armour is a masterclass in Uber Cool Dark Knight Platemail. Seriously. This guy is Heavy Metal! He even has a horned great helm and a bear skin cloak engraved with the eight pointed star of Chaos. Frank Frazetta meets Michael Morecock. Mean as.

Ulthrak came in 5 parts; body, left leg, head, axe hand and scenic base. I used a slightly larger 30mm rounded-edge base instead of the standard 25m plastic slotted base it came with. It was a better fit for the metal rock he stands upon.

I began by assembling most of the miniature, glued with pins for added strength. Then I started with the armour. Thin layers of paint, washes and delicate dry brushing. Cloak, boots and leather glove followed. The snow was a mix of paint and white flock. After painting I gave the whole miniature a good protective clear matt spray coat. Finally a splatter of blood on the axe head with Tamiya Clear Red.

It has been a long while since I have posted for Painting Table Saturday. I hope to share more of my work during 2016.

God bless you and have a great week! 

PTS 97-99 + Hero Quest + Space Crusade

A distinguished gentleman + Ducati.

At last, Painting Table Saturday episode 97 (98 and 99). It has been a month to remember, with struggles and triumphs. There hasn't been a lot of painting though!

As an ambassador for Blue September, I have been to various fundraising events as a speaker, mc or performing with my blues band. This year's campaign was amazing. I am always inspired by the people I meet during Blue September.

Marti Wong with Sagittarius. 

Yet another inspiration was seeing my friend Marti prepare for an art exhibition. It opens on the 1st of October and he was working long hours to make the deadline. Marti is a keen gamer (mainly Warhammer 40k) and a fine musician.

Marti's workbench.

His exhibition of metal sculptures is called Mythologica and is much like a D&D monster manual, with fantastic creatures. There is a centaur and a minotaur, even a dragon! Steel work is exhausting and I am sure October will include a well deserved rest.

Karl and I used to 'hurry up and wait'
on film sets back in the day. 

A first time life experience was the Crossfit Masters at Dynamite Onehunga. It was a day of personal bests! Mainly because I had never competed in anything like it. A day of unexpected pain and joy. An awesome event. The atmosphere was that of a music festival but with healthy food. I met a few old friends and made some new ones.

Training for the Crossfit Masters was made more difficult because I was also battling the flu. I'm not sure if I have ever been so sick for so long. This made my day job (teaching music) hard also. Around four weeks with three different phases of sickness. I felt for my family and many in the local community, as they came down with the flu too. I am happy to be in good health again!

After a great gig at MOTAT for the Distinguished Gentlemen's Ride I caught up with my cousin Aaron during his sound check at The Kings Arms, the last date of his Nation of the State Aotearoa Tour 2015. If you haven't heard of AHORIBUZZ then do a Google and get your freak on.

So what of my painting table? For the last few weeks it has mostly been gathering dust. This partial neglect hasn't been all bad. After all, it's not as though my life is lacking creative expression. I do enjoy the quiet peace that comes with painting though, so expect some photos for Painting Table 100.

However, it wouldn't be a Painting Table Saturday post without some miniatures to look at, so here are a few photos from the last few weeks. Oh, thanks also go to Lewis for the gift of Space Crusade. More miniatures to paint!

God bless you and have an awesome day!

PTS 81 + Fighting Men of Rohan + Vikings + Orcs

Fighting Men of Rohan + Classic Citadel Vikings

Plenty of action on this Painting Table Saturday (edition 81) with the classic 1980's Citadel Vikings almost finished, along side some Lord of the Rings fighting men of Rohan.
Háma and Gamling to be precise. These miniatures have benefited from some fantastic shields courtesy of my good friend Lewis.

I've run low on round shields and have been improvising with scratch built replacements made from plastic and putty.

Also on the slow burn are some old 1980s Orcs and some new Hassle Free miniatures, plus a few more Lord of the Rings Uruk-Hai for my growing band of Morgul Orcs.

Old School Citadel Orcs

New School HassleFree Warriors

A few more Lord of the Rings Orcs

God bless you and have a great week!

PTS 62 + Sheila the Thief + Mordheim Terrain + Dark Elves

Sheila the Thief.

Welcome to Painting Table Saturday #62. This week I finished painting Sheila the Thief, aka Lenore from Hasslefree Miniatures. A fitting tribute to the Dungeons & Dragons 80s animated cartoon series, sculpted by the master Kev White.

My collection of painted Dark Elves continues to grow. These took a while due to experiments with lighting: the green fungus on the dungeon floor illuminates from below. Lots of washes (brown, black, green, blue, purple), drybrushing and wet upstrokes with white and fluro green. I decided to go with a purple flesh tone and blue rinse hair to create a focal point, the results of which I'm not overly satisfied with. Perhaps I will add some subtle green highlights and enhance the hue of the fungus which looks pale in this photo.

Citadel Dark Elves.

A gift from Lewis down the road, this terrain was made by our good friend Mark Vuletich for games in Mordheim. It was passed on to me in the hope it would get painted. That was a few years ago. So...

Mordheim Terrain.

I find as I grow older my eyes are not so sharp when it comes to painting facial details. I find it's best not to compare my work with others on sites like Cool Mini or Not, because let's face it: there will always be those better or worse than you! I admire the painting of others and do the best I can.

Colours matched to the D&D cartoon character.

Subtle washes and wet-brushing techniques.

So much fine detail!

And that's all for another week. Happy painting and gaming everyone. God bless you and see you next Saturday.

Painting Table Saturday 60 + Sheila the Thief

Lenore, the Enchantress of Evermore.

Painting Table Saturday #60. Hasslefree miniatures have brought back memories of my youth once again. Here is Shiela the Thief from the 80s animated series Dungeons and Dragons. When I was a child this was one of my favourite cartoons.

A co-production of Marvel Productions and TSR, it was based on the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It came on TV around the same time as the fabled D&D Red Box hit the stores here in New Zealand. 

Sheila the Thief.

A group of six kids are transported into a magic realm and have many adventures as they try to find a way home. They are joined by a baby unicorn and occasionally guided by an unhelpful cryptic fellow called the Dungeon Master.

The cautious and reserved Sheila would find courage when her friends needed her and was protective of her younger brother Bobby the Barbarian. Sheila has a magical cloak of invisibility, which reminds me of another burglar that I was fond of in my younger days.

Apparently Sheila wasn't a thief in the Spanish version of Dungeons & Dragons. She was a mage or illusionist. This makes the Hasslefree renaming of her as Lenore, a mysterious sorceress, a fitting tribute.

This is my last PTS post of 2014. God bless you and Happy New Year! 

Painting Table Saturday 40 + Cohen + Theophilus

Wow! Well done Sofie! Painting Table Saturday is has turned 40! This week I completed a couple more miniatures, making the pile of unpainted lead slightly less daunting.

Theophilus has been on the painting bench for a while... with a 4th of July inspired paint job. He's a classic 1980's Citadel Lord of Battle and given his name, I also added a cross to his shoulder plate.

Ghenghiz Cohen the Barbarian will be no stranger to fans of Terry Pratchett. This sculpt (HFH032) is by Kev White from the most excellent HassleFree. They call him Conran the Octogenarian (but still a 'lean mean fighting machine') and both are obvious echoes of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian.

Volk, Conran and a Frazetta inspired Norseman.

Conran gets his axe.

Basing Kalyna from Hasslefree.

Sudden change of plan.

ROCK added for more EPIC look.

Dejah Thoris and John Carter for upcoming action on Mars.

Conran (aka Cohen) and Theophilus.

Close up. Check out the belt buckle!

Tight hamstrings.

Without flash to show off back muscles.

To my fellow painters, enjoy your weekend and God bless you!