Marshing On...

I didn't expect to paint the trolls so quickly, so I didn't really have any further plans for the Month of Marsh. So I'm going to jump ahead to something that has been way down low on my list of priorities but came to mind for several reasons...

Animated bog corpses. I've quickly assembled ten for a quick test paint.

I've seen something similar done before (see Mr. Saturday...) Mine will be a bit different in appearance and background.

They should be quick to paint. They can fit with my Fomorians and (possibly) with my undead. I've also realized that I could use more lightweight rank & file for the Fomorians, without resorting to the Shearl idea from the WFB Fimir. As much as I am looking forward to seeing my half-orcs on the gaming table (I've become fond of those minis!) I would have preferred a couple of small units of bog corpses for KoW this weekend.

So I think it will be bog corpses for the remainder of Marsh. Unless I decide to unleash the paint on... Goremaw!

Marsh '18 Trolls pt. 2

More progress. 5 of 6 trolls done.

End of Marsh '17

This may be the conclusion of my part in the Month of Marsh Challenge '17. I may still be able to get a little something else done before the end of the month... we'll see.

I also based up that oldschool Ral Partha warrior I used for my rust painting tutorial. Too wide a stance to fit on a smaller base, so he's on a 40x40.

In the Marsh - St. Patrick's Day?

Does it count as a St. Patrick's day thing to work on miniatures inspired by Irish myth? 

I finished the the Troll Outpost swamp mercenary/Fomorian/Fimir.

I've finished the sculpting work on the Reaper orc conversion. I happened to have one of my (very) few resin cast tails available, so I used that. The foot looks big in the photo, but I swear, it's not that far out of proportion IRL! Also prepped the four classic Citadel Fimir Fianna/Nobles. The guy on the left was originally mine back in the day, but had been converted to a champion of Slaanesh in the 3rd ed. RoC days, and had wings and a bright paintjob. At some point I gave it to a friend who was collecting Fimir because I figured that was a better use for it, and eventually it (along with the rest of his small but almost complete Fimir collection) made it's way back to me last year.

So that's what I will probably be working on next for the Month of Marsh!

March and April

Last year I partipated in Fimm McCool's "Month of Marsh" March painting challenge, which is sort of like Orctober, Deadcember, etc. for those of us who are partial to Fomorians, Fimir, and other marsh dwelling creeps.

I love these painting challenges, so that's my plan again. Theoretically. March is starting off a bit busy, but my plan is to finish up the 8 converted plastic Citadel orcs I started last summer, and, if possible, maybe paint the oldschool lead Citadel Fimir nobles/fianna (one each, four figures) that are still waiting in the bin.

After that I am looking forward to my own April Fool's errand, repeating my mostly one-man Big April Giant Challenge.

On the table this year is:

• The Warploque Giant, which I never got to last year. 
• The oldschool Tom Meier giant I recently acquired.
• The Citadel C28 giant that I apparently neglected to post photos of -- I got him minus a weapon, so I sculpted a club for him. Actually five clubs, because I had some scale problems.
• The Otherworld Giant. The last of my "priority" giants. I just finished a large/overdue commission, so I splurged and used some of the proceeds to buying one. I'm assuming it gets here in time.
• The last of the metal giants produced by Citadel before they switched to plastic & resin.
• Reaper's Svetlana, Frost Giant. (I was going to get this figure in metal eventually, but got a cheap Bones version for the moment.)

At least that's the pool from which I will paint. I only got 3 done last year, so completing all of those would be a bit over-optimistic. But, hey, I can dream.

That's it for now. Been writing up some more backstory for my campaign ideas. 

More More Moor (Hounds) and Morrighu

Still having trouble getting the focus & energy to sit down & do any real painting at night, so I've been continuing with other stuff. I went ahead and put together some movement trays, as I previously posted about.

I also touched up & rebased some more Moor Hounds (Citadel dire wolves.) As with the last batch, I just repainted the red eyes, highlighted the teeth & tongue, and touched up any chipped paint. Then I put them onto new bases to fit the rest of my figures.

I also received Stuff! In the Mail! "Morrighu," a resin cast of a sculpt from Ross Whitehorn of the Fimir Facebook group. I cleaned her up, took a comparison pic and primed her and... it's a bit of the dreaded "fuzzy primer." Figures it would be on a unique figure like this. I'm going to clean her up & see if I can recover from that. I don't want to strip the figure because I'm not really sure what type of resin this is, nor how various strippers might affect the material. The resin is interesting -- it's slightly soft & flexible, but nothing near Reaper's bones or other "soft plastic" figures. It cleaned up super easy with just a blade, and drilling for pinning the pieces together was also easy. Both the sculpting and the casting on this figure are great. Nice and crisp, very little cleanup. My only (minor) criticism is that I'm not fond of the way the eye appears to be sculpted.

At any rate, here is a pic next to one of my converted Reaper figures, and an oldschool Citadel Fimir Dirach, for scale. Pretty good!

Waterrain

We had some nice weather this week, so I went outside to cut up a piece of hardboard I've had waiting around for years.

I have separate bases with reeds & other greenery -- and will need to make some more -- that will go on top of these. Similar concept to having woods with separate, movable trees to accommodate troops moving through the terrain. 

I would also like to make some more river sections. I've been dying to make decent river terrain for... decades. These turned out pretty good. But I ran out of hardboard. The new problem I am facing is that none of the hardware stores carries it in the same thickness anymore! I could only find 1/8" and this appears to be 1/4" (maybe nominal 3/16"?)

Maybe I can get some better photos when it's daylight.

Forced Marsh

The end of the month was a bit of a forced march marsh, but I think I pulled off a respectable little group of figures for a month of work. I did cheat a little, as some of it was started before March, and some of it wasn't painted by me. Not a terribly good photo, I'm afraid.

One Dirach, four Fianna, four Fimm warriors, one bog demon, one giant centipede, and eight moor hounds.

Here are the four old Citadel Fimm warriors I'ev got. Two have scratch built tails.

I had a request for a comparison photo, so here it is. Obvious style differences, but I had never planned on getting any of the old Citadel figures (nor is it likely that I will get more than the last few I have yet to paint. But I'm OK with how they look together.

My concept of the Fomorians/Fimir (I need to settle on just one name...) leans toward the warrior & raid culture, as hinted at. I don't see the Shearl as being included in raids or any sort of fighting at all, so I don't want to include them as some lists/armies do. So I would like to emphasize the difference between the Fimm warriors and the Fianna. I imagine the latter being the the larger & more dominant group, while the latter are the lower class warriors, or the young & experienced out to prove themselves. 

Lastly, the first batch of moor hounds. Old Citadel plastic & metal dire wolves. They were painted when I got them, so I just gave them some minor touch-ups and re-based them. A bit of cheating, but I did put some work into it. These aren't included in old GW Fimir lists, but similar options pop up in most fan lists/material, and I like the relation to myth & literature.

They will also see use with the Undeadish, where they will fit into a division based on the Wild Hunt of Herne, or Kerenos of Moorcock's "Fhoi Myore" from the Corum books. I had considered painting them as described by Moorcock, but I think the black hounds are a better choice.


So that's my Month of Marsh! Well, that plus the 'shrooms posted yesterday. I may get a chance to base them up, but that's unlikely, and I'm going to be busy and probably not get anything else done the next few days.

Looking forward to April, I'm still thinking about some giants. But I'd also like to continue working on the cyclopian bog raiders. And undead. And Marienburg mercenaries. So... really I'm not sure. Other than the giants -- definitely one or two of those.

From Out of the Mists...

Quick update... Finished two old Citadel Fimir and the unpainted 'shrooms sent to me by Deafnala. (Now I just need to figure out how I want to base the latter!)

Lost in the Marsh

Well, my plans for the Month of Marsh have gotten bogged down as I've been swamped with other obligations.

I am still making one last valiant push for the theme/challenge before the month ends. Plans for more of my converted Reaper Fomorians/Fimir really fell through. However, I have had the unexpected good (to say the least) fortune of coming into an almost complete collection of original Citadel Fimir thanks to a friend.

So after some paint stripping and tail replacing, I've started a few...

My last minute goal for the Month of Marsh includes the Dirach (left) and the test Fimm (right) as well as some other stuff. Both are still unfinished, obviously.

Experimenting with many washes again. I wanted to keep the Dirach darker than the rest. And dirty. They are daemonologists, and I imagine him as being something like Kreacher in the Harry Potter films (haven't read the books,) muttering darkly to himself as he goes about his business, with little regard for others. The lowly Fimm was more of an experiment, and I wanted to give it a bit of a less healthy, jaundiced look than the armoured (Fianna) Fimm I've previously worked on (the Reaper conversions.) As I layered washes, it started to take on a look that reminded me of oldschool, washed out fantasy illustrations. So I kept going with that and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Unfortunately, none of that detail nor texture nor color comes out well in digital photos with my phone. So you'll have to take my word for it. ;)

So for the remainder of the "Month of Marsh" challenge, my hope is to finish the Dirach, the test warrior, plus his three colleagues, and the remainder of my 'shrooms from Deafnala (which I have also already started -- sorry, no pics yet.) That's more than a little optimistic.

Stalled in the Marsh

Well, my March/Marsh conversions have stalled out a bit. I need some more of the Bones orcs, and was considering a few other figures (marsh trolls, etc.) and went to the local game store (Warzone-Matrix, in Cleveland) to pick some up. But all of their Bones figures seem to be marked anywhere from 180% - 250% of regular retail price.

I asked about the pricing and was told that I must have been looking at the "online price". Nowadays, most of the world calls that "the price." I realize it's up to each retailer to pick the final price they sell at, but when everyone else is selling at what used to be called "suggested retail price" (or lower if it's a discounter or someone is having a sale,) then it may not be a good idea to mark things up so much. If I pick up enough figures, I can have them shipped for free from a number of sources, including direct from Reaper.

I'l like to support local game stores, but not at double the price.

The only other stores I can think of that sell Reaper are a few hours away. So it looks like mail-order for me, which means it may be another week before I see the figures.

Marching On - Further Progress

Further progress...

Once I finish four figures, I've hit the first goal for gaming building blocks.


I think I have a couple of tails that I will clean up and cast. After a bunch of rejects, I've decided I like the tails leaner and simpler. Figure shown for scale. He's one of the two metal (rather than Bones) figures I will be converting. I foresee a rough time dealing with the metal. I've been spoiled by how easy the Bones material is to hack up -- though it takes a bit of work to get it clean of little bits of plastic, smooth finish, etc. 

Continuing to work on some commission figures as well.

Brief Progress

Fomorian the Second

Finished a second Fomorian/Fimir. This one uses another "reject" club tail sculpt. I did end up sculpting the feet on this one, too. The flesh turned out a little too green for my preference. But I would like to have a bit of subtle variation in flesh tones, so I can live with it on this one figure.

I have started chopping up a third. Here's the start. My plans are to replace the weapon, replace the feet, cut the spikes off of the pauldrons (my one complaint about these orcs is that half of them have pauldrons -- I would prefer my Fimm without any,) most likely cut the spikes off of the shield face as well, carve out the middle third of the lower armour in the back to accommodate a tale, and, of course, add a tail. May be one more one-off tail.

I continue to procrastinate in regard to sculpting some decent, castable tails. But it needs done. Soon. Besides, sculpting individual tails is even worse.

Hitting the Marsh Running

I've been prepping with various aspects of the project, so I've decided to hit the Month of Marsh theme pretty heavy. So here's my start!

Bog Demon done.

Started working on my second Fomorian. (Fimir. Whatever you'd like to call it.) Reaper Bones orc with spear (unless otherwise noted, they're all Tre Manor sculpts.) I cut the spear, feet, and head off. Replaced the spear with a less, er, flaccid one (a bit of heavy florist wire and a plastic spear head from some old Citadel kit.) The head is one of my recent castings, and the tail -- which isn't really visible -- is one that I sculpted but don't have an inclination to cast. I still need to sculpt the feet, and do a bit of sculpting to blend the head with the body a bit. 

And lastly, I dug out some old boggy themed figures (already painted) to find a home with the Fomorian raiders. I have two more of the smaller mud elementals (old Crucible figures from Ral Partha) that I've already base coated. I can't recall where the "Swamp Thing" looking guy in the middle came from. At some point these may get rebased.

Month of Marsh

Inspired by Fimm McCool's "Month of Marsh," I'm going to follow suit and focus on my own bog dwelling miscreants in March as well. Hopefully it goes over much better than "Deadcember," in which I painted pretty much nothing at all.

My list of possible goals for this month of misty malefactors...

1. Finish the Bog Demon
2. Cast at least three different tail sculpts
3. Complete five more converted Fomorians
4. Paint one more marsh monster (still need to decide which one)
5. Compose Fomorian army list for Shadow Storm/Hail Caesar
6. Build a few larger swamp/bog terrain pieces
7. Sculpt top secret monster (idea I've wanted to work on for a quite a while)
8. Get out and hike around some of our own local wetlands