Sephea, Executrix Champion - Arena of Blood

Here's my last painted miniature of 2018, Raging Heroes' 'Sephea'. As has been the tradition for the last couple years, I try to get everything I have primed finished up by the 1st. I painted quite a lot of terrain and miniatures over the last month to meet my self-imposed deadline. I'll be posted more stuff soonish as time permits.

Honestly I wasn't super excited to paint this one since I don't like the resin Raging Heroes uses, it doesn't accept primer easily and I've tried quite a few brands, washed the resin, let it 'de-gas' for weeks, etc. etc. She was originally just a test mini for priming.

Anyway about a quarter of the way in I really began to like where she was headed and I really like how it turned out. Not sure what I'll use her for, but I based her to match my Wyches for the Arena of Blood. She may come out when a Wych avoids combat for two rounds or something.

Arena of Blood Dark Eldar (Drukhari) Wyches

I wanted a second set of Drukhari *cough Dark Eldar cough* Wyches for my Arena of Blood game, so that people can play as teams, or have some options if two people want the same type of gladiator.

These Wyches are from the Cult of Strife and are opposite sex from the previous set. Pretty much straight out of the box other than the Hydra Gauntlet Wych, who has an old 3rd edition torso, and a custom falchion sword since that's not an option anymore. The razorsnare might be from the Scourge kit.

The Beastmaster is a conversion that pays homage to the old 3rd edition Beastmaster look.

The head is a wacky one from 3rd edition- believe it or not, I shaved about 1/8 inch of hair off the end! He's got a greenstuff cape and fur stole as well.

The weird beast is a metal figure, I think it was from Mega Miniatures. I can't find any details on it. Looks like the sort of thing Dark Eldar would put in an arena battle.

 

My favorite of the bunch might be this Hellion. I used a 3rd edition head and torso, and matched the color scheme of the illustration on the counter for the Arena of Blood game included in White Dwarf.

I also knocked out a 'new version' Beastmaster on the skyboard. I may make a Razorwing Flock for the arena someday.

Arena of Blood Build

Arena of Blood Miniatures Set 1

Grimdark Book Servant

This is a conversion I made many months ago and got around to painting recently. He's meant to be a servant in a noble household, tasked with carrying the sacred books of the house matriarch in case she wants to read something on a whim.

He's based on a Bretonnian body, a Flagellant head, and a variety of greenstuff and plasticard. The books are from a Hirst Arts mold, the ornate one is from Wargames Exclusive.

Frateris Militia Recruits

A small group of five fresh recruits for the Frateris Militia band I'm working on.

Four of the figures are conversions based on the original Frateris bodies,  the woman is from the VOID/Urban War range. One of the laspistols is resin, from Mad Robot.

I recently read the 2nd edition 40K Sisters Codex again and saw that a Frateris band can have four special weapons if they number over ten figures, so I'll probably convert the next group to have two heavy stubbers and two hand flamers. I also need to add a standard bearer, then this unit will be done.

Santa Dolores

I finished painting this miniature ('Santa Dolores' from Raging Heroes) in October. She has a very creepy vibe befitting the season... but I just got around to photographing today. The plan is to use her as a Daemonhost in 40K or one of its spinoffs.

 

Creepy cherub face terrain in the background was also finished recently, that's cast plaster from a commercial mold.

Chaos Warrior

The Lead Adventure Forum was running a painting club with an old-school fantasy theme. I decided to jump in with one of my favorite Games Workshop/Marauder Miniatures chaos warriors from the olden days.

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 9 - Bring 'em Back Alive

 

The miniature on the top left is from Blind Beggar, I picked her up in a Kickstarter. This group is meant to be a ragtag group of alien creature hunters and I wanted several to have missing limbs, and she has two of them.

The guy with the heavy webber is a conversion, based on a figure from the old Alpha Forge 'Star Moguls' range. I'm not sure who owns the line now. The heavy webber is my own sculpt- I cast a few in resin. I planned to make all the Rogue Trader weapons that were never released as separates (so far I have a webber, heavy webber, and grenade launcher). The head is resin, from Mad Robot. They make a pack of heads that look like the old Van Saar.
https://madrobotminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_10&products_id=186

The woman with the autocannon (looks like a flamethrower to me) is an old GW 40K Rogue Trader era figure- she's stock.
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:IG_Autocannon.jpg

The man with the warpaint and pistol is from the 'Cobalt-1' line- he's stock as well. The corpulent man with the oddball gun is also from Cobalt, I think they might have been from the same pack, some sort of mercenaries or bounty hunters. He has a new bionic leg (resin, from MaxMini) and new hand (also MaxMini). The figure is cast missing a foot and a hand for some odd reason. The problem with Cobalt is that so many things are weird looking, rounded off, and straight up strange that the missing stuff appears to be on purpose, based off of pictures of the greens.
https://maxmini.eu/bionic-bits

The eldar hunter is a fan sculpt from the 'Collecting Citadel Miniatures' Yahoo group and was cast in limited numbers several years ago.

The ambull is an 'Insectoid Crawler' from Knightmare Miniatures. I had another (the old one from GW) primed but I didn't get it done in time. I picked it up in a Kickstarter as well and it's still available.

The large creature container is made from Mantic's plastic Deadzone terrain- I added some bars and made a new door to fit. The smaller cages are made from pieces from a terrain Kickstarter ran by Maki Games a few years ago. The tops of the cages are also from Mantic Deadzone, magnetized to be removable so I can put critters inside. I've been wanting to make the cages for quite a long time and wasn't quite sure how to do it until this entry forced me to think about an Ambull cage and I had all the components laid out.

This was my final entry of the 2018 LPL, and would determine if I placed third or fourth. I decided to go all in on this one, and it took quite a bit of time. I had the figures set aside for quite a while, and I wanted to make cages for quite some time as well so I ended up using this project for the LPL. I think I completed everything within five days. I also photographed the figures more close up, which seems to me to have been the deciding factor on most of the matches this year.

And that's it for the 2018 LPL. Phew!

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 8 - Hunters or Hunted?

This is the Round 8 entry for this year's LPL, "Hunters or Hunted?"

 

 The orcs are from the new Northstar Oathmark Goblins plastic box set, one is a metal leader and one has a head from the old Wargames Factory orc box. The spiders are from Reaper. The castle is s little resin sculpture I found in a Dollar General store.

That's shot of my setup, showing how I arranged the scenic elements to get the 'forced perspective' look.

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 7 - Meeting the Maasai

This is my LPL round 7 image, "Meeting the Maasai". The figures are all Copplestone Castings- the flag carrier is a conversion based on a standard DOAG askari with a brass rod and freehand painted foil flag.

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 6 - Bakemono Banzai

Round 6 of the 2018 LPL was more Bob Olley orcs and goblins with a samurai vibe. I think I've been working on these since my first LPL (roughly 2011).

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 5 - Upside Down

This LPL entry was inspired by the Netflix series 'Stranger Things' (which I enjoyed very much).

 

The Hazmat troopers are Copplestone Castings, the monster of course is the epic Demogorgon originally made by Grenadier (now Mirlton).

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 4 - Enemy Sighted!

Round 4 was a themed round, which was to include a support weapon and crew. I had a couple options for crew and artillery, and settled on the Hinterland crew I'd had on the burner for a while. The gun and limber (made by Askari) had been assembled a few years ago. I prepped and based the horses along with the women, primed the lot and painted them to match my Leibhusaren No. 2 force.

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 3 - Planet of the Worm Men

This is my round 3 entry for the LPL. "Planet of the Worm Men". Another loser- I'm getting spanked this year!

The Worm Men are stock from Hydra Miniatures, the woman is a 'Valkeeri Leader' but I swapped her head for one from Statuesque Miniatures. The skimmer is from Pulp Alley.

 

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 2 - Oasis of Death

LPL Round 2 entry, comprised of undead camel riders. Formerly offered by Obelisk, they're now available from Badger Games.

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 1 - Pig Tickler

This is my first entry for the 2018 LPL.

This is a full set of miniatures for the game 'Pig Tickler' produced by Eureka Miniatures, plus two extra stokers from the first variant of the game. The pennons are thin foil from a wine bottle, painted different colors so that players can identify their piece. I stole that idea from Matakishi. I've had these minis for years, and they probably wouldn't have gotten done at all if not for the 'British' theme on round 1.

Haven't played it yet, but it's a game of mayhem as players try to maneuver around scoring points for 'tickling' the steam powered pig, all the while dodging stokers and the pig itself.

Lead Painter's League 2017, Round 10 - D is for Deep Ones

My entry for the Lead Painter League 2017, Round 10 (which I neglected to post).

A collection of small Deep Ones from Grenadier and RAFM and a big guy from the Strange Aeons game. The little girl is from Statuesque and was shown on the blog about a year ago.

Lead Painter's League 2017, Round 9 - Imperial Agents

My entry for the Lead Painter League Round 9, 2017 (which I apparently never posted).

These miniatures are from a variety of sources.

The nuns are conversions. I'm using them as Order Famulous novices.
EMP Games

The 'Adeptus Painticus" guy is a fan sculpt from the Collecting Citadel Miniatures group.
Collecting Citadel Miniatures

The guard are Empire bodies, Cadian Arms, Bretonnian helmets, and I think the leader has a Cadian face.

The Order Pronatus is a converted 'Hussar Girl in Winter Garb':
Hussar Girl


Blue Hair gunslinger is the Ordic Pistolier from the Warmachine game.

Mr. Servo Skull is also converted, using a vox piece from a Imperial Guard backpack. 

Frateris Milita Recruits

I added two new recruits to my small Frateris Militia band. The woman is from the Void/Urban Mammoth range, the man is a militia miniature from the old 2nd edition 40K days, with some weapon swaps from Mad Robot.

Tau Kill Team Worm Warrior

I added a member to my Tau Kill Team for Shadow War: Armageddon. The original model is a 'Worm Man' from Hydra Miniatures' Retro Raygun range. After removing his original gun, I added a Tau carbine, a greenstuff helmet, and some new greenstuff arms.

Shadow War Armageddon - Sister Ignatia and Sister Repentia - Final Battle

About a week and a half ago, I played the penultimate game of the Shadow War: Armageddon campaign my friend and I had been running. After winning it, I had acquired sixteen 'Promethium Caches' and therefore needed one more win to end the campaign victoriously.

I decided to switch out my flamer for a second storm bolter. I wanted to do a conversion, since the flamer gunner, Sister Ignatia, had a badass mask and the storm bolter model doesn't. I sculpted the mask out of greenstuff- I was pretty happy with it because it's one of the more detailed things I've sculpted and seems to match the original pretty well.
 

I also wanted to paint a Sister Repentia, a special character option. I had an extra promethium cache anyway, so I wanted to use her in the (assumed) final game. Her stats are pretty terrible compared to the Celestian, but I wanted to add her anyway. I decided to paint an unofficial model from Wargames Exclusive. She's on the cheesecake/pinup side, which I guess was good since she spent the majority of the game face down, ass up, after getting shot in the back by an ork with a big shoota.

 

One other little addition was a small shrine marker with no specific purpose, made from a broken Hirst Arts gothic bit and an extra piece from the Immolator frame.

  

My good luck held out for the final game which my friend and I squeezed in today. My opponent had elected to play the 'Rescue' mission, as I had captured one of his ork warriors in the previous game, and I'd hit the required fifteen Promethium caches and needed to win one more game.

The game might have gone either way really, but he had a very unfortunate roll on the 'promethium sprawl' table. There was a corrosive slick on the battlefield that made running and charging into combat very dangerous. As it turned out, he took the risk of running several times (what ork wouldn't) and his boss and another warrior went down after slipping on the slick.

The Repentia sentry spotted a raider and was immediately sprayed with bullets from behind. I failed my first attempt to bring on reinforcements, so there were some scary moments. The Sister Superior took a bunch of hits from the big shoota, knocking her flat. Praise the Emperor, her armor kept her safe, and after that the battle started heading south for my opponent as I brought reinforcements into the fray and started gunning down greenskins left and right.

This is my final Kill Team composition, including the optional special characters and extra little things like the shrine and cherub. I like this Kill Team quite a lot and got pretty attached to their narrative. They performed extremely well, although I have to admit there was a lot of luck considering I never rolled a death on the recovery table.

Space Hulk - Laboratorium Malum Plantae

Now that the 'Build Something' contest on the Lead Adventure Forum has run its course, I have some detail pictures to add to this thread. My entry, fitting the 'Ill Advised' theme of this year's contest, was a ship board repository for dangerous plants which would build onto my existing Space Hulk layout- the Laboratorium Malum Plantae. The backstory is that the section was administered by Adeptus Mechanicus seeking a more virulent form of bio-wire (which some may recall from the olden days of Rogue Trader). Naturally, things got out of hand somehow...

My goal was to create some mini-narratives on this rather large section. The first was a locked cabinet containing anti-plant spray, along with a poor unfortunate adept who was targeted by the bio-wire as it broke free. Why was it locked?

 

Another point of interest would be a carnivorous plant, probably from Catachan. It was made with some lily pods for mouths, wire for stalks, and plastic leaves. This piece is removable, so that it can be used for death world terrain, or removed if it is destroyed so that it can be passed safely.   

  

 

There are two large doors into the section, integrated into the layout. This one closed off in time, snipping a vine that had tried to snake its way down the corridor when the 'accident' happened.

The middle section contains long-dead plants- at some point the automated feeding and watering mechanism must have failed. This dome was never breached.

Some plant life attempting to establish itself in the corner, over a nice vent with warm humid air.

The second large door wasn't sealed fully; plant life has made its way past. The plan is that some further sections will have this sort of mossy mildew look.

 

 

Overall a pretty fun build to make, and one I'd been wanting to get to for a long time.