Servants of Ra Second Wave

I've been slowly working on a commission and haven't taken much time to work on my own stuff. Here's a photo of some Servants of Ra I did several weeks ago and just now got around to photographing.

The group is a mix of Eureka, Northstar, and Pulp Figures cultists.

Eclectic Steampunk Figures

I finished up a commission recently- a variety of VSF/steampunk figures. I'm not sure who makes them all, although the majority are Brigade Games and Midnight Workshop.

And an older pic of a previous batch, entered into the 2014 LPL.

Imperial Battle Robot

The first miniature I finished after the Lead Painter's League was an Imperial Battle Robot- the spitting image of this guy from the 40K Rogue Trader rulebook:

The robot was sculpted by a fellow on the 'Oldhammer Community' Facebook group (it may have actually been Oldhammer Trading) and was offered up for sale a couple months ago. I painted the Rogue Trader era Inquisitor a couple years back- the antennae on the robot's head reminded me of the peculiar backpack so I thought they'd make a good pair. I imagine the Inquisitor to be wearing a pre-crusade era powered armor that has been maintained in a stasis field when not in use, and the robot has seen some wear and tear over the millennia.

'People don't make 'em like they used to" he says to his acolytes. 

Lead Adventure League Round 10 - Geisha Gone Wild

Here's my final entry for this year's LPL, "Geisha Gone Wild", which is clearly a Ghost in the Shell homage. I managed to squeak in to third place overall- which was certainly better than last year's shutout!

 In the background were the Major (an out of production Antenociti's Workshop figure) and Batou (Hasslefree).

 Any fan of the GitS series knows that robotic geisha are prone to being hacked- resulting in all sorts of mayhem.

Geishabot bodies are 'Hong Kong Killer Fembots' from Statuesque Miniatures, with head swaps from a few other figures (Reaper, Kensei, and Morland Studios). The female in the center with the dual autopistols is an unmodified Mei-Lin 2.0 from Statuesque.

Last but not least was this resin monstrosity I picked up on eBay. I am always enthralled by the scene in the movie in which Kusanagi meets the R-3000 Light Tank in the museum scene. Poetic, brutal, and timed perfectly.

The kit itself was horrendous and I'm 99.99% sure it was a recast. I had to completely rebuild the cannons and bullet belts from styrene, reconstruct the rear, and make 12 new foot spikes because the casting was so bad. It took so much work I wasn't sure I'd be able to get it done in time :) As with many other projects I take on it was worth it in the end. I have some 'before' shots on a different camera, which I may add later.

Lead Adventure League Round 9 - Phantom Ace

Here's my Round 9 LPL entry, 'Phantom Ace'.

 

Phantom Ace is from Pulp Alley or Statuesque Miniatures, the cultists are a mix of Northstar 'In Her Majesties Name' Servants of Ra, Foundry arabs, and a Pulp Figures cultist.

A gigantic cobra I didn't end up using, unknown manufacturer.

The regular snake charmer (Eureka Miniatures)

I also bought a couple Mashrabiya screens from Ironheart Artisans, here they are with figures.

Market Tables part 2

I finished up the market stalls I showed several weeks ago. They've been done for a couple of weeks but I didn't get a chance to photograph them. Since I used them in my week 9 LPL entry (which I can't show just yet) I decided to get them up here. Without further ado:

 The tables are made of wood, followed by a dip in wood stain. The items are a mix of things, including Hirst Arts peices (molds 58, 59, and 85 primarily), green stuff, buttons, beads and some bread made from press molding a few items from other kits.
 
I also  bought a few things from Ironheart Artisans. They make some nice North African items and buildings. I picked up some market sets with tables and carts, as well as some balconies and screens.

This is a Modelbau Najewitz balcony with an Ironheart on each side. They size up quite well and will be good for variety. I haven't attached the balconies yet, so more pictures will be forthcoming.

Lead Adventure League Round 8 - Pulp Girl and the Jade Skull

This is my Round 8 entry for the Lead Painter's league on the Lead Adventure Forum.

 

The full scene had to be cropped quite a bit to get a good 800 x 800 pixel image. 

This was one of my favorite entries this season. Pulp Girl is an excellent figure, available from Pulp Alley and Statuesque Miniatures. She's one of the main protagonists of the Pulp Alley game, which I've not played yet, but looks cool upon a read-through. 

 This shady fellow is from the old Grenadier Miniatures 'Nightmare' range, from a pack called Vile Villains. He may still be available from Mirliton Miniatures.

These bats are also from the Nightmares range. 

 

This entry allowed me to finish up the last of the Amazon Indians that I had stashed away. Here's a possibly culturally insensitive mix of Tupi and Botocudo, from Copplestone Castings.

Lead Adventure League Round 7 - Cerci Speed Circuit

This was my round 7 entry in the LPL, which was ingloriously beaten by the excellent entry by Professor Witcheimer.

The 'Bride' is a conversion, using a Hell's Belle body and hoverbike with a lovely Statuesque Miniatures head and a katana from a Wargames Factory kit.

The green hoverbike is an out of production figure produced by Antenociti's Workshop.


The Relic Knights figures are not easy to work with. The plastic/resin they use is difficult to trim and the Cerci figures tend to have copious mold lines. In general the consensus is that the Cerci faction had the worst translation from the original figures into the new material- Princess Malya had almost no face detail and the Royal Wrecker's face was so bad that I swapped it out for a Statuesque head (which are very nice and fit the scale better anyway).

The Royal Wrecker in general may be the most difficult to build model I've dealt with, and that's saying a lot as I've been doing this stuff for decades.

I do like them when they're painted though- they're quite different from my usual output, fairly challenging, and the Relic Knights game is fun.

Lead Adventure League Round 6 - Forgotten Library

My entry for Round 6 of the LPL on the Lead Adventure Forum.

I'd been wanting to make this scene for a year or two (I picked up the dwarves about three years ago) and finally managed to get the books cast after working on them on and off for several weeks. The books are cast in Merlin's Magic from a Hirst Arts mold, and I made a second mold to speed up the process. The bookshelves are foamcore. After that I painted the dwarves and finished up the rats just in time to submit a photo.
 

The dwarves are from Lead Adventure Miniatures, along with five of the larger rats. Another rat is from GW's Necrmunda range, and a few others that are clearly GW and are likely from the Skaven lineup. The little rats I bought second hand and I have no idea where they're from.

Lead Adventure League Round 5 - Defend the Herd

Here is my Round 5 LPL entry. Foundry African cattle and some herdsmen warriors from the excellent Darkest Africa range.

The shields were sculpted by me and then cast in resin. There were a few tribes in Northeast Africa that used variations on this distinctive shape, such as the Acholi, Dodinga, and Lango. I have about 15 more figures to complete for this little group. 

Lead Adventure League Round 4 - Ambush in Algiers

This is my Lead Painter's League round 4 entry, 'Ambush in Algiers'. The scene includes a mixture of figures, from Wargames Foundry (baggage carriers), Eureka (woman in burkha, market stall), Pulp Figures (nefarious Arab and monkey) , and Hinterland Miniatures (Camel and boy guide). The building is by Modelbau Najewitz.

Lead Adventure League Round 3 - Leibhusaren

Here is my Round 3 entry to the Lead Painter's League. I knew this was the weaker of my three initial entries due to a lack of color and variety- naturally I went up against Captain Blood, who is arguably the hardest to beat in the League. Defeat!

This group adds to my Hinterland Miniatures imagi-nation female hussar force. The kneeling riflewomen will be part of my machine gun units- they weren't available when I painted the maxim teams. Viktoria Luise is a conversion, I added a waving sword arm and a pelisse. The fallen horses are from Northstar.

Here's a couple older pictures prior to including the new additions.

Lead Adventure League Round 2 - Valkeeri

Now that Round 2 of the LPL is over with, I can show the entry for that week. This group will finish out the Valkeeri models I own- another beastmistress Controller, some Stygian Panthers and the last two jetsleds. The beast's color scheme is probably due to all the episodes of He-Man I've been watching with my five-year-old.

I received the 'Retro Raygun' rules designed for the Hydra Miniatures figures a few days ago- it's a great looking book with high production values and some nice pulp sci-fi artwork. If you are into the genre it is definitely worth picking up.

 

 

Hydra Miniatures Webstore

Lead Adventure League Round 1 - Samurai

My first entry in the 2015 ten week 'Lead Painter's League' was a group of Samurai from Kingsford Miniatures. They've been primed and shuffled around my desks for over a year now,  and because Round 1 was 'armor' theme for bonus points, it seemed obvious to do them. Samurai are all about the armor :)

Market Tables

I started the third and final phase of the North African terrain project, the market. After considering using some laser cut tables from a variety of manufacturers I decided to go old school and make my own. They're a little rough but once stained and covered in goods and trinkets they should be fine. 

 

... More Mud Brick

I completed several more East African mud brick buildings over the last two weeks and finally managed to get them photographed. A mission house, guard tower, and a few huts. This pretty much finishes up the mission station for Darkest Africa gaming, and huts can be used for slaver villages in the lakes region as well.

The figures are mostly from Eureka Miniatures 'Pax Limpopo' range. The pedestrian version is a converted British figure from London War Room, which is no longer in business. I'm not sure who makes him now, if anyone. I imagine this guy to be a Kurtz-esque madman with some sort of mysterious pheromones that give him an unlikely advantage with the native gals. They were painted several years ago so please don't judge the wonky eyes too harshly ;)


I've also been painting in my rare moments of free time, but I can't show those images because they're intended for the 2015 Lead Painters League and I'm a stickler for the rules :)

African Chapel

The roof for the chapel has been finished. I had some warping problems and had to keep it under some carefully stacked books to maintain the shape. This building is intended for Darkest Africa games and represents the fruits of missionary activity, and a building the slavers will want to burn down...

I still need to make a little crucifix or cross to hang on the wall but this little side project is more or less done. 

I started a mud brick watchtower as well. I intend for it to have a magnetized door, and a thatched roof that slopes on four sides. I figure I'll need about eight more buildings of various types to finish out the "Arab" slaver villages and the mission stations. 

North African Buildings Part 4

Two weeks ago my wife broke an ankle at Roller Derby practice. Naturally this reduced my free time to almost zero, which explains my recent lack of posts.

I have however managed to complete phase two of the North African terrain, as well as the mud walls. The latter took a lot more time than I expected, considering that I intended them to be a side project.

I decided that I wanted doors that could open or be removed, so I imbedded a magnet in the wall and the base, and drilled a hole to accept a nail  in the door.

I used a thick plastic-like cardstock material for the bases. 

After painting the walls with a thin coat of wood filler, I painted them a dark brown gray. 

The bases were painted with another gritty wood filler, then painted brown. I drybrushed them with a mud color, then stained them with a MinWax wood stain. The walls were painted/drybrushed with a layer of Martha Stewart crackle specialty finish ("Sandbar") I bought years ago.

I also started a chapel for the African village. The roof has been very problematic so it isn't finished yet. 

Walls, planters, and the chapel after staining, but before the final whitewash.

Finished walls and planters.

After all the planters were complete I glued in the trees and cycads. These are eBay palms with some airbrushing to give them a more natural color and a little depth. The fountain received some clear resin to mimic water after it was painted and the decorative tile (a printed border) glued in place.

Next up for this project is a market, which will be a few buildings with 'storefronts' and some free standing stalls.