A thing a week 2023, week 48

I hope everyone who celebrates such things in the same week as I do had a wonderful turkey day, or, as I prefer, Thanksviking. 

First up we have Shardra Iconic Shaman, Enora Iconic Arcanist, and Taroya all from Bones 4. Shardra isn't a fig that I probably would have bought individually but I liked it more and more as I painted though her face seems way out of proportion. I also didn't realize that so much flock was stuck to her...cauldron? My dark teal was similarly not as dark as I needed and poor Enora is a mess as a result. I also messed up her eye detail and was too lazy to repaint. I don't like Taroya's sculpt and really struggled with mold lines going over armor details. She ultimately turned out better than the amount of effort I put in mostly because of the low rent ink wash over the top. Of particular note on these three, I insufficiently covered up their broccoli bases with flock. 

This is an Avatar of Courage from Reaper and we've seen him before, way back in week 12 of this year. I was hurt again by a limited brown palette (and laziness; not like I couldn't have mixed one) as his leather bits blend into his fur color pretty readily. The teal was a color theory choice since his fur is on the reddish/orangish/brown side. I like the darker take between the two and I spent extra time on rendering the volumes of his musculature. This one will hold a special place in my memory for personal reasons.

Next up we have human wizard and elf monk from blf1 and Talon, Human Ranger from the Temple of Elemental Evil board game. These were done at the end of my trip and I was about done painting in such poor conditions. I rather like the fat mage sculpt and should have done more to tone down the green of his cloak so he wouldn't look so Christmas-y. I didn't sell the yellow well enough on the monk despite it being in an otherwise dark color scheme. Talon's eyes were super hard to paint since her bow is in the dang way. You can also tell that I did not nearly enough with the softness of the sculpt or to sufficiently differentiate her green jerkin from her green cloak. Like I said, I was about done painting there. 

These are a pair of mirrored Knight 05 3d prints from Galaad, one of my favorite sculptors. I super like these figs despite having fantasy halberds and boob plate. They were mostly painted with the airbrush giving really nice two step shading on their armor. The rest of the details were done with brushwork. Despite using Army Painter Anti-Shine, the contrast basecoats are still fairly glossy. That sucks. Looking at these shots, about the only other two things I'd do to punch them up are better highlights on their plumes, cloaks, and hair. Do not be surprised if you see a bunch more of these in different colors in the future. 

Last up we have Hunter Oathenshard from Tiger Skull, Muriel, Druid of the Plains from Gloomy Kid Minis, and Lizardfolk Ranger from Master Forge. We've seen the good hunter in a very minor conversion way back in Week 36 of 2022. I spent a little more time with her this time around since I wasn't in a hurry but the last fig has already seen quite a lot of screen time as everybody's favorite Great Bear Shaman. Muriel has been sitting partially painted for like two years. Since then I've learned a lot about color composition and probably wouldn't have chosen to do brown on brown with brownish hair. The end result is better than I might have expected despite the fact that the damnable bird broke off like four times. Srsly, folks, don't make things that spindly. The lizardfolk ranger has a lot going for it and while the sculpt does a lot of the work, there's a lot to not like, too. Big chunks of the fig are in negative space under the cloak or his other flowy bits which took all the time I spared slapchopping his scales. The red highlights are pretty awful but otherwise I like the result.

2023 finished mini counter: 294/104

A thing a week 2023, week 47

This week we're getting completely out of order because my life is apparently not complicated enough. Many of these were painted far away from home while I was helping care for a sick family member so the quality and color palette are both limited.

First up we have Merowyn Lightstar from Reaper Bones 4, Woman Pirate by Vae Victis, Dame Teuta by Crippled God Foundry and Lucius the Templar also from Crippled God Foundry. These are speed paints which should be obvious since Lucius' shield has exactly zero heraldry on it despite the fact that the sculptor clearly gave me a large space to do so. Other than the pirate gal, they're mostly armor so most of the heavy lifting is done by Vallejo Metal Colors and a handful of hastily applied washes. I'm reminded (again) that the red contrast paint I'm using as a basecoat needs to be thinned down. I'm also reminded that I need to paint more dark fleshtones so don't be surprised if you see the right three again here some day.

Next up we have Blacklist Fantasy Series 1 dwarf barbarian, dwarf bard, and dwarf ranger. These were the first ones I painted away from home and that setup was nowhere near ideal. On top of bad and inconsistent lighting, I was in a really arid place and my paints frequently dried on my wet palette. Also, I didn't have my nice brushes or nice paints because I had no idea what would make it through airport security (note: I shouldn't have worried). As I've said for many of the blf1 figs, their sculpts are generally OK but their molds are lousy. I also didn't know my dark blue basecoat (Vallejo Air Color Steel Blue if you care) would dry quite so glossy. Note the lousy metallics. 

Next up we have two more blf1 dwarf druid and gnome cleric joined by Blink Berenwicket from Bones 4. All three of these probably needed more work than they actually got, particularly poor Blink who was not well served by ProAcryl metallics and the lousy raw umber ink wash I stuck over the top. I did some minimal non-wash-assisted blacklining that pseudo-sells but I was really hurting for another purple tone for the cleric. There were certainly better paint jobs on the table for all three but that clearly didn't happen and it looks like I glued Blink's arm on wrong so I got that goin' for me.

Last up, also from blf1 we have halfing bard, dwarf fighter, and dwarf wizard who I thought for sure was a monk (he's not; that guy'll arrive later). These are pretty good sculpts that I prepped not nearly well enough. The mold lines on the blf1 figs are pretty awful and the hard plastic makes it even less convenient to deal with. The wizard would have benefitted from some darker brown leather parts if not a completely different color scheme entirely especially given how dark my dark purple wasn't. Ultimately they were never going to be great paint jobs done far away from home. 

2023 finished mini counter: 282/104

A thing a week 2023, week 46

This week we have more bads because that's where we're at. First up we have giant rats from Vae Victis, some of my favorite sculptors. Giant rats make frequent showing in my games as is tradition so when I saw these guys on sale, I didn't think too hard about it. Astute readers may note that there are four distinct sculpts there and only seven painted rats. That's because my new printer decided to eat one of them. Dunno why, but it does that sometimes. These are not good paint jobs but they work fine on the table. 

Next up we have a batch of Monolith Bots from Oshounaminis. I use lots of these kinds of guys in my sci-fi games and some day I may want to run another sci-fi game in person. Hence, when I found these guys for free I knew what I had to do. It also helps my cost per print ratios in addition to my painted fig count so it's doubly good. These are not painted well and I didn't even use metallics that I like (usually Vallejo Metal Color). The colors on what I assume is their backsides seem fairly insufficient to tell them apart at the table but I'm far too lazy at the moment to put color bases on them though they would be easier to handle if I did. Maybe someday.

Last up we have this enormous, nay Giant Scorpion by Crippled God Foundry. It is also not a sophisticated paint job consisting mainly of a zenithal (as usual), a wash, and a drybrush. Seriously, the base got more attention than the mini. I also dropped some red in its eyes which doesn't read like at all. I certainly could have done more with it (and I might in the future) but I didn't feel the necessity this time along. 

2023 finished mini counter: 269/104

A thing a week 2023, week 45

This week we have some bads and one player character. First up we have Black List Fantasy Series 1 bandits. These are better sculpts than the time I put into painting them; maybe 4 hours for the lot of them in a batch. I could have painted their pop color bandanas in different colors and I could have spent more time on their details but I clearly did neither of those. Neither did I super effectively handle their mold lines. Then again, the molding didn't help me at all with lots of mold lines hiding in grooves which is my second least favorite place for mold lines. Colored bases also in full effect here so I can tell them apart in play. Probably these guys will see some screen time as bandits are regularly lurking right around the corner.

This guy is Jaxius, a weasel mage and ex-Stormking torturer turned player character. He was prominent in a previous online-only campaign but got screen time in our in-person game since his player was in town. He's part of an otter folk multipart kit by Duncan Shadow. He's got a super magical super powerful staff which I didn't have a part for so I clipped the top of a harpoon off instead. This isn't a super good paint job mostly done with contrast paints but it got the point across. Also notably, Jaxius is a weasle more than an otter but I don't have a "build-a-weasel" kit.

2023 finished mini counter: 249/104