Five Parsecs from Catching Up

It's funny, I've been planning and painting and rolled two separate crews (1st ed. & 2nd ed.) but still haven't played! I've been thinking about the game a bit lately, and how there's a of off-table development involved and I think that's appealing to my currently limited time & space for gaming.

As a result, I've been looking at catching up with my plans and posting of my progress!

First off is this beast. I've been painting a lot of random creatures, personalities, and 'bots that aren't necessarily part of the Five Parsecs rules, but I plan on making some modifications to make it my own campaign after a bit. I just sometimes see (or accidentally obtain) figures and really want to paint them and use them! This was painted many months ago, but I realized I never posted it here.

Some but not all of these were posted here before. These are my "eternals". I have both fantasy and sci-fi versions of each figures (mostly just basing differences.) They are from left to right, a/the Geier, one of my own sculpts that was briefly in production at a small manufacturer; the avatar of Death, a figure of complex and interesting history but now available from Ral Partha Europe; the avatar of Life, an unassuming figure and perfect foil for Death, from Reaper Miniatures; and lastly, Kev, a self-portrait limited edition sculpt by Kev Adams from Wargames Foundry. Somehow I ended up with two Kev figures. One acted (appropriately) as a hero in my now-gone goblin army for many years. Since I had another, I recently figured I may as well paint him up find a role for him in some sci-fi games!

Lastly, some recent figures. I'll be using these as Abductors for Five Parsecs. I was going to leave them out of my games, but saw these Reaper Bones figures at very affordable prices. But I was underwhelmed by the bent poses (tried fixing them with heat & ice water several times), soft detail, and difficult mold lines. I ended up doing a fairly quick paint job on them just to get them over with because I couldn't muster any additional enthusiasm for them. The photo is a bit rough, they do look half decent other than three of them leaning at awkward/unnatural angles.

Almost forgot, I narrowly avoided the Orks in Alabama not long ago...

Families and Dragons

Last year I had a bit of eBay drama that left me with a headless dragon. I didn't want to let a classic sculpt go to waste, so I made do with a substitution. :) He looks so sad, I figured I'd give him a pet dog to help cheer him up. Not sure where I got the dog from.

Body & wings are old Tom Meier sculpt from Ral Partha. Head is a spare from the Satyr Art Studio trolls.

Speaking of dragons, I've been on a bit of a roll with them. Yet another old Tom Meier/Ral Partha dragon. Cold drake, more specifically. This one is a repaint of an old figure from my childhood.

I also finished the whole owlbear family. Mama had to go through some reconstructive surgery. I had to sculpt a new beak after dropping her and half of the original broke off. Owlbro & eggs are from Westfalia, the rest are 3d prints I received for Christmas, sculptor unknown.

Speaking of families, I've had these two Reaper half-orcs partially painted on my table for a couple of YEARS. I recently was inspired by the idea of them being a family of successful merchants dealing in exotic wares. Figured they also needed a kid (forget where I got them from). Pet and caravan coming soon. But right now I'm stuck on colors for dad's clothing!

A Little Bit in the New Year

Failed on my End of Year/New Year entry. I'll get back to that and do it right. I've been busy & stressed out.

For now, here's a few things I've worked on latelyish.

Chaos familiar. I didn't fully appreciate how well the face was sculpted until I painted it. The whole range of familiars is really great. I've got an incomplete (half-ish?) set. Maybe I should collect the rest...

Santa brought Owlbro a family. :D

I just couldn't leave the figure alone. Too much color on the scythe. This time I'm really done. No more touch-ups...

Random new development.... 'shrumans. These are the first four.

The 'shrumans will compliment Fried's Shroomhost. I also painted the two big bruisers in the front last week. Would like to get a couple more, as well as some more variety of 'shroomfolk.

Sneaky OWAC teaser. 

Raptors in Space

I painted some Reaper dinosaur figures that I picked up on eBay to fill the role of Carnivore Chasers & Razor Lizards in Five Parsecs. These were speed-painted, using Citadel contrast paints for the color. Dinosaurs in space? "Life, uh, finds a way." ;)

Five Parsecs February

The first half of the month I was mostly working on my OWAC5 figures plus "extras." Those are essentially finishes and that update will be coming soon.

 

So now that I have some breathing room, I've turned back to the sci-fi/Five Parsecs/Alt Trader project.

I forgot to show these previously! Last month I painted two more Wraithguard, so I now have one each of those and the Ghost Warriors.

 

I'm working in finishing figures for my crew, and completed two more. Plus a psi-weasel.

 

Not much is known of the elusive psi-weasel. Their planet of origin is a mystery, and so far no one has even been able to narrow it down to any particular part of the galaxy. They seem to appear and vanish with equal abruptness. Each specimen that has been observed has exhibited unique psychic abilities, and it has been theorized that some sort of psionic teleportation may be responsible for their surprise comings and goings. But that is speculation, almost nothing is known for certain about these creatures among Imperial out Outland researchers. There are rumors, however, that the notorious Spaven naturalist/mutologist David Rattenborough has captured one and utilized it in developing a "rodent psy-bombs" that have recently been spotted in several incidents in the fringe of the galactic north.

 

Here's the crew in-progress. Almost done! I've updated the Crew Page too.

 

I decided that Kev is one of at least three Immortals that will appear in both fantasy games (he previously appeared leading WFB goblin armies in 6th/7th ed.) as well as sci-fi games. The fantasy Kev was painted +/-20 years ago. It's sad how much my painting has declined in the intervening years, at least on this figure. Space Kev looks like a cartoon version of the original. My eyesight isn't what it used to be.

On a personal, non gaming note, we've had a crazy winter, even for typical Cleveland weather. It's not that it's been particularly cold or snowy. In fact, we had a couple of "polar vortex" years where it was far far colder.  It's the fact that within a single week, we will go from 7 degrees (F) to 53 degrees (F) with everything from torrential rainstorms, to the world turning to a solid block of ice, then getting buried in 12" of snow, and then all melting two days later... and the cycle starts again the following week.

But today's break in the weather, warm (compared to 7 degrees) & sunny ON A WEEKEND... Hell yeah, grilling season has started! ;)

Race to the Finish Line 2021

It seems like I've got more painting in the past few weeks than all the rest of the second half of 2021. I'm continuing to enjoy painting figures for a Five Parsecs From Home campaign starting early in 2022. I've even started organizing the progress here. Take a look at the menu at the top of the page for the Five Parsecs painting progress and my crew's page. Both are works in progress.

My holiday progress consists of...

Weird little Spaven mutant/familiar.

Gangers from Grenadier and Bad Squiddo.

And another from Grenadier, plus the fourth Reaper (Bones) worm.

Two more worms painted & join in for a family photo.

Apparently I missed one more figure, another from Grenadier.

I've also painted a few fantasy figures. Like this old Ral Partha hydra that I received as a Christmas gift four years ago and finally painted!

Also a couple of minions for the envoy of Death I painted earlier this year. Suitable Deadcember fare, I suppose.

 

Squad Challenge, Deadcember Pt. 1, and OWAC5 Intro

After the mid-year slack, I'm back. It seems.

 

 

For as long as I've been participating in the Old World Army Challenge (since the second one) I have also participated in a smaller challenge at the end of the year. I'm not sure of the origin. A warm-up for the January start of the OWAC? Something to keep our skills honed in the "off season"? A chance to fill in a small gap from the challenge army? Paint a small group that isn't large enough to fit the full army challenge? Not sure. I suppose I could just ask.

At any rate, the Squad Challenge is a challenge to get a squad/regiment/team of 10 figures painted in two months. Last year I painted dwarfs. I don't even remember if I completed the challenge. The year before it was half-orcs since it coincided with Orctober. This year I painted a group of sci-fi "supporting characters" in hope of further building my pool of figures for some Five Parsecs and/or other gaming. (Hopefully soon.)

These are my ten challenge figures, plus two wurms that got added along the way.

Four miscellaneous characters, three bots, two spaven, and on Fimm-In-Spaaaaace. And the space wurms.

Additionally, I painted two super simple/fast groups of antagonists. Spiders From Mars (cheap and easy until I get some actual alien "bugs") and Astro-Zombies. The former want to break up the band, while the latter want to exterminate the whole human race. ;)

A good bit of progress after a few slow months!

 

Overlapping the Squad Challenge is Deadcember -- The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. The Astro-Zombies sort of fit that theme. 

 

On to the deadicated Deadcember painting, however, I painted these wraiths that I had intended to work on last December. They're Reaper Bones figures with most of the bendy-weapons replaced.

 

I also just painted my first test figure for a potential sidequest project I've been thinking about -- Althammer skirmishes in the New World. If I can muster the patience to assemble the remaining five skeletons from Warlord, I will paint those and the big bad guy (figure from Lucid Eye.)

Looking forward to 2022, I will once again be participating in the Old World Army Challenge! For OWAV5 I will be painting.... more undead! My Introduction Post is up on the site, with more details and photos.

Spoiler: I painted the Overlord Offering for Iannick. :)

Life and Death, pt. 2

I finished the second half of my "Life and Death" duo. The concept was a priest serving each cause. As it turned out, a liche and a healer.

This started as an excuse to paint the liche. So I had to look for a suitable counterpart and found this healer from Reaper. I obviously inverted some of the major colors black/white and crimson/turquoise. But I stuck with gold baubles & accessories and matched the liche's red orb with a similar feature in the healer's staff. In hindsight, I'm wondering if I should repaint the brown "wrap" on her staff turquoise, both to add some more color and to mimic the red on the sword grip.

The healer is hard to photograph, the colors get washed out. I'm very happy with the way this pair turned out. I'm contemplating whether they each need followers or minions. I've already got plenty of generic undead. Maybe a sidekick/henchman? What to do for the healer? I do have the old Citadel Life and Death Elementals for them each to summon as well.

Worms and HOrcs in spaaaace!

 Me: Half way through March and I've almost finished half my OWAC goals for the month. I can do this! I just need to stay on track, make sure to finish the first squad over the weekend!

Also Me: Those Eldar really want to watch a space-half-orc battle with a space-purple worm. They'd like that. I'd better get on that right away!

Also: New terrain for the photo background (and hopefully small skirmish games coming soon).

 

Reaper half-orc converted with some old GW bits. Not sure who manufactured the worm, it came from my friend Rich's collection. It's a soft vinyl figure and looks like it was torn from some other base. I'm guessing from some sort of collectible or "Clix" game figure? Some quick and sloppy paint & a thick coat of gloss varnish and I think it looks good! I have a few more to paint up, I think I'll follow the same technique.

New Year, Old Dwarf

Kandos, recently deceased dwarven master brewer, come to enact his doom on the kinslayers.

"Beers unnumbered ye shall spill; and the dead shall assail you to the last, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the Company of Dozens lieth the wrath of Kandos, from the West unto the uttermost East. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well. Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the ancient brewhalls. For blood ye shall render blood and perfidiously bought ale, and beyond the brewery ye shall nevermore dwell."

- The Doom of Kandos

Half-Orc Bruiser & Stuff! In the Mail!

I need more (half-) orc bruisers for my Sellswords & Spellslingers games. I have a small stash of Reaper Bones orcs that were slated for conversion to Fomorians. But since that project has taken a back seat lately, I figured it wouldn't hurt to paint a couple of them up to add to the horc force.

I've got a second one on the painting table, and I'm considering trying a few conversions for variety.



Stuff! In the Mail!

I got a small batch of Cauldron Born Miniatures figures from the Rise of the Powrie KS. Awesome looking figures. Along with the Midlam hobgoblins I've been painting recently (and there are more of those already started on the painting table...) these are some of my favorite recent figures - and I haven't even started painting them. Yet.

I love the painted examples on the KS page, and I'm tempted to try to paint them in similar colors. However, I'm also thinking of red instead. My thought is to use them as an alternate/generic pre-RoC oldhammer/althammer daemon regiment. I will probably paint a single test figure first.

A Tale of Two Hobbits

Second hobbit of the new year. A contrasting counterpart to the first. One a member of civilized and courtly society, the other a spirit of wild nature. This one from Reaper Miniatures.

Undead Lemmy

Difficult figure to photograph! Mostly painted with multiple varieties (hues?) of black. Figure from Diehard Miniatures.

And here he is in the magnetized spot with the big skeletal dragon (from Reaper Miniatuers) posted previously. I'll need to come up with a name for the dragon... likely lift one from a song lyric of title!

Huge Skeletal Dragon

Gravestone is on a magnetized 20mm base, and can be switched out with other figures... Like the Undead Lemmy I'm working on next.

O

Prepping Bones

Probably not going to paint much in the next month -- but who knows. But I did get to start prepping some Bones. Some Bones bones, in fact. First was just a dry fit of the two large dragons from the last Reaper Bones KS. They still need to be cleaned and glued.

I did actually clean and glue the skeletal beasts set.

I got the set of 6 wraiths, but haven't started cleaning them yet. I think I'm going to cut off the bendy weapons and replace them with hard plastic.

And lastly... after posting the pic of the mycomancer, I got the urge to look on eBay for the Fungal Queen, which was part of a larger set that I didn't want to buy into on the KS. But I did want to get this figure (and maybe one or two others) when it became available individually. This one also happens to be cast in Bones Black, which -- I know now -- is not actually black.