New Year New...?

2023 ended not with a bang, but a whimper. But over the last week of the old year and the first week or so of the new year, I did get a little painting time in. 

I did some more painting and basing of "unaligned chaos daemons." I've been thinking about that idea since I received the Drachenfels figure a few years ago. It/he has long since been painted, and I even (finally) finished the novel! Lately my mind has turned back to the idea of chaos as chaotic, like in old Moorcock novels & early fantasy gaming. Not a bunch of organized, uniform creatures.

This will be a slow, ongoing project. I'll just keep adding any odd figures that seem like they belong as I continue to work on other projects.

Since I started this entry a week or so ago, I've added some more. Most are actually for a potential D&D campaign, but I feel they will fit the chaos vibe. The undead gnoll things I just got because I thought they looked cool. :)

The ochre jelly is homemade from some wire and melted hot glue, similar to some I did previously with different paint. The flameskull is just a plastic skull with some crudely sculpted flames. I liked the floating skull thing I did the same with a Bones cow skull painted blue. The rest are soft plastic D&D figurses

I also finally painted a pair of figures to represent our current two dogs. I had one but had been searching for the other for over a year before painting. On the left is Moji-Tater, our Corgi-Sheltie mix. He's the youngest. In the center is Cookie, a shelter rescue dog who we think may be a mix of Boxer & Border Collie. On the right is Sasha aka "Muffin Butt", another shelter dog who passed away almost 10 years ago. She was a German Shepherd-Husky mix. Cookie was the tough one to find, but since I was recently looking at D&D figures I found a pack of three dogs, one was a pointer with a pretty close body & head shape, but I had to cut off the ears and re-sculpt them to fit the real thing.

I've also painted a few sci-fi figures of mixed quality & complexity. The first is an Eru-Kin and jagual figure from Knightmare Games. I will be using Eru-Kin for K'Erin in Five Parsecs From Home. You can almost rearrange the the letters to shift between teh two names. Maybe the apostrophe is for the "u"? This one will be a member of my crew. 

I also finished the space goblins/Malig from Alternative Army's Ion Age range, which will serve as pirates in Five Parsecs. I painted a test figure earlier in 2023, but never got any further until December. One more faction down, and another month of "Five Months From Painted Factions" under my belt!

Lastly, my slacker painting from this week. First is Orbus, a sentient sphere of what appears to be some sort of plasma like matter. No one knows for sure. Orbus is literally a pearlescent bead on a stick. I didn't even paint it. Just drill a hole, make a base, and glue it on the stick. Next to that is the second of the two D&D nothics that came in the pack. One is for D&D, the other I thought would make a good sci-fi alien or mutant. Super quick paint job, mostly just abase coat, wash, then a few details. I almost want a whole squad of them now.

Merry Christmas

Last minute painting, part of my Five Months from Painted Factions personal challenge for painting figures I want to utilize for Five Parsecs From Home. Space goblin pirates.

Also...

Goblins in Space

Although mainstream Eldar society disregards it, and most of the the other races know little of or care even less for it, there is a theory that the minor race known as "Goblins" in the Traders's Tongue are actually an offshoot of the Eldar. The basis of this theory is that the Melkor Event on the remote, and some say cursed, moon Thangorodrim. The moon had been settled by a small group of Eldar explorers/entrepreneurs looking for mineral wealth. Although it is certain that *something* was found there, no one knows exactly what. The Event instantaneously transformed the moon into a dark mountainous, crystalline mass and presumably wiped out all life inhabiting it. The final coherent transmission from the last remaining Eldar mining station simply reported that it was, "something wonderful."

In the decades that followed, there was little interest in Thandgorodrim or any of the other planets in the system, as they had been evaluated as economically insignificant or barren. However, seemingly originating from this same abandoned system, the previously unheard of Goblin pirates emerged, already sharing certain technology with both Eldar and Imperial societies.

 

This is my first test paint of a group of figures from Alternative Armies, sculpted by Bob Olley. I had intended to paint the whole squad for Orctober, but got busy and never finished. The above blog entry was going to be finished once I had photos of the completed squad, but since that never happened I thought I would publish what little I had. Hopefully I finish them in the new year...

Half-Orc Skirmishers

I painted the 5 Cro's Goblin Raiders from Alternative Armies to go with the previously painted Hob-Goblin Raiders (also AA) for use as a small unit of half-orc skirmishers. They have a nice retro, motley look to them.

Half-Orctober '19 - Complete

Finished my Orctober (Half-Orctober) goal a week early. 24 Grenadier/Mirliton half-orcs, with an oldschool Ctiadel figure mixed in to round the regiment to 25.

Time for a group photo!

Along with the completion of my Orctober/Half-Orctober '19 goal, that also finishes the half-orc project. At least in terms of figures I already owned & planned (for several years now) to paint & form a small contingent for gaming. (Should I ever get the chance to play games again.) A really enjoyable project! As nice as it is to feel a sense of completion, I'm already thinking 10 more archers would be a good addition. And my eyes will be open for more/new opportunities to add to this. But for now I'm done. 😁

• 25 Warriors (mostly Grenadier)
• 16 Warriors (Old CItadel)
• 30 Warriors (Black Tree and a few Reaper Miniatures)
• 10 Archers (Grenadier/Mirliton)
• 5 Skirmishers (Alternative Armies)
• 1 General (Grenadier/Mirliton)
• 1 Shaman (Reaper)
• 1 Standard Bearer (Unknown - maybe Grenadier?)

Alternative Hob-Orcs

Finished all five half-orcs, from an Alternative Armies hobgoblins pack. Oldschool sculpts, and the casting was a little rough, but the minis are expressive and dynamic. I'm a big fan of three of the five, still like one of the remaining two, and the guy with the club...I guess he can tag along just because he's in good company.

I'm very curious about the vintage and history of these sculpts. I'd love more minis like these, but the AA orcs seem to be from a variety of sources, even just within the few hobgoblin packs.

Also, a pic of my basing material just so can share the image elsewhere...

Rowr

More half-orcs. I painted the mounted hero (Grenadier barbarian) and two of the Alternative Armies hobgoblins. I sense a little tension in this photo!

I admit that I'm not fond of the paint color on kitty and may try touching it up.



Also painted a bit of scenery for a friend's high elf army, that I've worked on over the years. Not sure who made it, but it's a pretty cool obelisk.

Half-Orc Arrival

I've put in a couple of really long weeks this month, which is part of the reason I didn't paint as many half-orcs as I would have liked this month. So I thought I deserved a few minis. Picked up a pack of minis to test for half-orciness.

They're Alternative Armies hobgoblin raiders. Shown here, from left to right... Mirliton hal-orc, Alt. Armies, Citadel RR15 hobgoblin, Alt. Armies, Black Tree Orc, Alt. Armies


Last night I was up to stupid o'clock working on one small detail for our office decorating contest...