Asgard Barbarian + Alaric Mancleaver

Game on!

Another Painting Table Saturday. Another Asgard Barbarian! BP10 Alaric Mancleaver joins the tribe of barbarian personalities, sculpted by Jes Goodwin over 30 years ago, now ready for my gaming table.

Alaric has a certain Conan/Frazetta quality, like many barbarian miniatures. I was ten or eleven when I first saw the movie Conan the Barbarian. This lead to reading the comics, collecting art by Frank Frazetta and finally, reading the original stories by Robert E(rvin) Howard.

Apparently Charles Bronson and Sylvester Stallone both turned down the Conan role, which went to Arnie thanks to his personality in Pumping Iron. Conan certainly inspired the Fighting-Man class in Dungeons and Dragons way before the over-powered Barbarian class appeared in Dragon magazine (and later, Unearthed Arcana).

Thus far I have painted:

BP3 Kern the Reaver
BP7 Arflane the Archer
BP9 Skai Wolfbane
BP10 Alaric Mancleaver
BP11 Karl Two Cuts

I am also managing to keep up with (at least) one mini every week. This is a challenge given my current work load.

God bless and enjoy your week!

Kern the Reaver + Olga the Cruel + Wasteman

Wasteman.

Back to the painting table this Saturday with another Jes Goodwin mid eighties sculpt for Asgard. Originally released as a box set called Barbarian Personalities, they are now produced by Alternative Armies.

Kern the Reaver is just the sort of character you wouldn't want to cross or meet in a dark alley.

Also, last week I was invited by Lewis to play the new and wildly post apocalyptic Wasteman by J.L. Fairclough. He created everything from the rules to the artwork and even sculpted the miniatures!

Given that the game had only just arrived on his doorstep, I suggested to Lewis that we paint the miniatures first. They are amazingly cool sculpts. I am looking forward to the first game! Here is Olga the Cruel. I can imagine her in full song.

God bless and enjoy your week.

Skai Wolfbane + Asgard Barbarian

Skai Wolfbane. 

I am pressing on with the challenge to paint a mini each week in 2016 (thanks Nick). This Saturday I have finished a classic mid-eighties Asgard Barbarian, sculpted by the legendary Jes Goodwin, (BP9) Skai Wolfbane.

God bless you and have an awesome week!

Eomer + Lord of the Rings

Eomer was Third Marshall of the Mark. 

I have survived the first week in my new role as Bishop's Youth Ministry Coordinator for the Waikato Diocese. This has meant less painting time in the evenings, as I say goodbye to the summer holidays and hello to a year of learning.

However, it's Painting Table Saturday and with thanks to Nick and his challenge to paint a mini each week in 2016, I have another fighting man for the gaming table. 

I had a request for more Lord of the Rings miniatures, so here is Eomer, one of my favourite characters from the movies by Peter Jackson. Mainly because he is played by a kiwi I have sat down and chatted with, Karl Urban. We were both house dads in Auckland, looking after our kids between gigs. We talked about the balance between family and work. It was before Star Trek came out. Can you imagine a better Bones McCoy?

Of course, I read the books in my childhood. Back then I didn't notice Eomer as much as other characters. Even Eowyn stood out more than him. So I can reflect upon the movies as having opened my eyes in that respect.

Eomer was Third Marshall of the Mark. A faithful countryman and honoured leader of his people. Later he was called Eomer Eadig, "the Blessed". During his reign Rohan became a rich and fruitful land again, healed from the ravages of the War.

This one was on the painting table for a while and even required repair before finishing. A 1985 sculpt from Mirliton miniatures, the detail on his mail and belt is superb - in a way it's a shame that I had to give him a shield. Painted to tabletop standard, I decided to put extra time into the shield design. A great looking figure. He certainly wouldn't look out of place in a game of SAGA.

"Now is the hour! Riders of Rohan! Oaths you have taken, now fulfill them all, to lord and land!"

God bless. Enjoy your week!

Wood Elf Sentinal + Lord of the Rings Painting Challenge

Painting Challenge 2016. 

Here's this week's project for Painting Table Saturday. I have entered the '2016 FotM' Painting Challenge'. If you are up for the challenge click on the link and join the community.

This year it's a female character from Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. No monsters, original base size and no dioramas. So the epic battle where Shelob is blinded by the light of Galadriel's Phial will have to wait.

Here are some Work In Progress photos from my painting table. I am not sure if this will be the miniature I enter but I have done my best to think outside the box. I mean, there aren't that many female characters in the world of Middle Earth!

In choosing a Wood Elf Sentinal miniature I was trying to avoid the obvious and popular characters from the movies.

While arranging some stones I also decided to be creative with the base. Instead of the often used rocky outcrop underfoot, why not a giant skull?

The red was a bold choice and one I initially thought I might paint over. As I continued with more muted woodland tones the red made even more of a statement. She's dangerous and deadly, like latrodectus bishopi, the red widow spider.

Well, at least it's believed to be venomous like it's other relatives. There are no medical records of bites: the red widow is an endangered species from Florida that seldom encounters humans. Sounds like an elf to me.

I have more detail to paint, from her face to her raiment. I also need to flock the base. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome!

Final model submission is on March 31, followed by voting in April. So why not enter yourself?

God bless and enjoy your week!

Warhammer 40k Squat + Gimli the Dwarf

40k Squat with Lazer gun.

It's the end of another week and time for Painting Table Saturday. I finished a couple of old miniatures, both from the 1980's. The Squat is from Citadel Miniatures and was a gift from my friend Lewis Morgan. Unfortunately it came without a backpack.

Hen's Tooth.

These are rare as hens teeth, so I improvised with an ammunition trolley from a Warhammer Fantasy Battle sprue (Battle For Skull Pass). It looked somewhat like a rocketpack which made the conversion easy. It's bigger but looks awesome and captures that Rogue Trader feel. You might also notice a Star Wars theme going on!?

The other miniature is a gift from Mark Vuletich, a friend and fellow gamer that often finds treasures like this one hidden at garage sales and antique fairs. I have no idea of the manufacturer but it's definitely a classic figure, obviously a dwarf and probably Gimli. Any help identifying the manufacturer would be appreciated. He certainly has plenty of character.

Gimli?

God bless and enjoy your week!