And now for something completely different.

This is a medieval tower-themed dice roller. It's built out of my typical XPS foam bricks and built around a chipboard/cardboard/old pringles can core. It's not particularly fancy but you can tell that the brick work was pretty shoddy, kind of on purpose, but it kind of got out of hand. I spent extra time weathering it and going up and down the color scale and even spent time putting joint compound between the brick cracks in the hopes that it would look more authentic with light mortar than the usually darker "hit the thing with a wash" look which completely got painted over. Overall it sells OK on the tabletop and is a functional dice roller but if I had it to do again, I'd do a few things differently. It took something like ten hours all told and it will count as my one structure for the year. Next week we return to Propapalooza and maybe just maybe some better photographs.

Propapalooza, week 14 (2024 week 44)

Surprise! More props this week. I guess that's not a surprise. Anyway.

First up we have some perfectly normal hatches, grates, and ammo bins. These have a tiny bit more detail than a lot of the items in the last few weeks and thus they probably look a little more striking. I did slightly more with the grates than I might have because I thought they'd look better weathered a bit, hence the rust. The ammo bins have a green wash over the top that I don't think sells super well. Overall, they all still read reasonably and I'm not unhappy with them.

 

Next up we have a pair of emplaced guns. These make a lot more sense than some of the other turret-y looking bits (lookin' at you, weird walking turret guys from last week). I chose a military green-ish tone that ended up skewing a little too cool mostly because I had a too-thin mix in the airbrush when I basecoated them. I also took extra time putting some heat bloom on the barrel which sells better in person than in my lousy shots here (some day). Also of note, Vince always says you should drill barrels and I'm starting to get that. These look wrong without it but I am far too lazy to go back and drill them now.

Next up we have to very large props which are (hopefully) clearly bridges. There's a whole set of fantasy bridges to come but these are all sci-fi-ified. I didn't look closely enough at the details to see which ones might have been better picked out but I wanted them for a near-term session and rushed the last few steps. These are somewhat zenithaled in their metallics from the airbrush as part of a large batch and they look pretty striking on the table. And if you're wondering, they did get screen time.

Last up we have a...well...I have no idea what this is. It's clearly pretty Geiger-esque but I can only guess as to what it is. It's got a pretty obvious booby-looking structure at the bottom but it's mirrored on the other side which is clearly not boob-like. So, I have no idea what to do with it or if it'll ever get screen time. What I can say is that it's painted and it'll count toward the total.

2024 finished mini counter: 317/208

Propapalooza, week 13 (2024 week 43)

I swear we aren't finishing the year with props and now we're getting into the weird sci-fi props.

First up we have two legally distinct Pal Boxes (TM) and three...er...transporter pads? I have no idea what these are supposed to be. Maybe circular hatch covers? With no handles? These are pretty clearly boring metallics with a wash slapped on them but since I don't know that I'll ever use them (doubly bad for the Pal Boxes TM since they're not even magnetized) I didn't spend a lot of time on them. Clearly.

These are a pair of scale-model red rockets and what I can assume are less scale-model and more full-of-fissile-material atomic bomb looking devices. The red wash on the rockets doesn't really show and the dark wash on the bombs really just served to grunge them up inappropriately. Not sure if/when any of them will ever see screen time but they're the best color: painted.

 

Last up we have...things. The robot arm is sensical enough. The turret with bizarre legs? No clue. The turret-y thing with legs also no clue. They feel a little abstract IMO so I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about how to use them and also didn't spend a lot of time painting them.

2024 finished mini counter: 304/208

Propapalooza week 12 (2024 week 42)

 More props this week and probably for several weeks to come. 

These are barrels, the kind you'd see in your favorite vintage first person shooter. In my games they're either filled with gooey food-like goodness and/or they explode when shot. I could have spent more time weathering the dented barrels but clearly didn't. And, no, the two DnL Cola bottles weren't molded there--I glued them in for funsies. 

 

The two on the right are safes and the two on the left are satellites or comms relays or something. The guy in the middle is a...chest? Trunk? I dunno. I'm not sold on all the metallics to be honest but it did make them easier to paint so I got that goin' for me. The safes and trunk (or whatever) will probably get some screen time. PCs love to break into/carry off/blow up safes. The other bits...not so sure.

These last two are a mess. They're pipe segments but unless I really want to glue them down somewhere, there's no way they're ever standing up straight on a table. I suppose I could have used them as greebly bits on a diorama or something but I don't have one of those handy.


2024 finished mini counter: 292/208

Propapalooza week 11 (2024 week 41)

This week we have dungeon tiles, still from Dungeons and Lasers, but like last year's dungeons tiles, don't count toward a fig count. I don't know why I decided that but I'm not getting points for not being consistent. No points for being consistent, either, so I got that goin' for me.

First up we  have a small number of these concrete-y tiles and I super wish I had more of these. I spent more time than normal on these to sell the texture and I think they came out well. The shot has a bunch of tiles behind there but in actuality I've only got a few of them. The ones behind them? Other tiles that didn't get pictures and I'm far too lazy to go back and take pictures of them. They're cool but not as cool as these concrete ones.

Next up we have these weird Geiger-esque guys that I also only have a few of. I base coated them in Golden High Flow black, mine of which is very glossy and otherwise doesn't get a lot of use. I did a light grey drybrush over them which sells better in person than it does in this super low angle shot. No clue if/when I might use them but they're painted now which vastly improves their chances of screen time.

The vast majority of this batch are these deck plate-y kinds of tiles. I certainly could have picked out more of the details but a) they're terrain, and b) doing so would be a very large investment given how many of them there are. The shot doesn't show it, but they're already a multi-step paint job starting with a dark Vallejo Metal Color basecoat followed by a wash, a drybrush, another wash and another couple drybrush layers. I keep an ancient pot of otherwise lousy Reaper Master Paint metallic for exactly this purpose. It smells funny and might be molding.

Propapalooza week 10 (2024 week 40)

More props this week and probably for a while yet. 

First up we have a coupla bear traps. That's it, just bear traps. I could have grunged them up with rust and dirt and whatnot given a) where they live, and b) what they do, but clearly I didn't. I suspect these will get quite a lot of game time.

Next up we have a couple of bone-y thrones. These had some godawful mold lines as one might expect and were in several different parts. I pseudo-handled them and spent more than the normal amount of time staining the bone parts but I forgot to vary the horns in black or whatever. I'm not sure if the flame bas-relief was intended to be painted but I chose not to and not just because I'm lazy.

Last up we have a chest and a skull candle because what arcane table doesn't have one? The chest is a dupe of one I painted way back in Week 49 of 2022 which feels like a lifetime ago. This one came out significantly better but mostly because I used a better metallic. The skull got the same treatment as the bones on the thrones since they were painted at the same time.

2024 finished mini counter: 279/208

Propapalooza week 9 (2024 week 39)

This week we're back to props. Most of these were painted a couple months ago to make space for my Lego endeavors so my memory is a little foggy on the details I'd wanted to note. I can say that they're mostly if not entirely speed paints and it probably shows.

First up we have two armor racks and a weapon rack. I stuck the weapon rack on one of my bases which was like 1000x easier to work with. I also realize that the camera angle I chose doesn't show the flagstone freehand I did on the base which is the best thing about it. The two armor racks were mostly painted with the airbrush and have a metallic zenithal because why wouldn't I?  These look pretty good on the table top but not in up-close shots.

Next up we have water hazards played by two metal fountains and two stone fountains. The metal fountains I painted in copper because that seemed right and I don't use that color super often. The stone basins are the typical grey wash/drybrush jobbie that I usually use. In both cases, one has blue water and one has red water in case I ever have to tell them apart for a puzzle or different effects or whatnot. More to the point, I find that when I do paint them in different colors, I find puzzles and whatnot to use them for. Function following form?! Seems weird IMO.

Last up we have whetstones, anvils, and chopping stumps. All three of them use a different contrast paint basecoat which you might think I chose for this shot, but really, it was the luck of the draw. The whetstone pedals are awfully spindly which really hampered my ability to drybrush them. IMO the leather tying down the anvils should have been painted in a different basecoat or otherwise differentiated in any way whatsoever but speedpaint. Similarly, the metal bands around the axe stumps should have gotten a wash or something to not look quite so shiny-new but also didn't. Ultimately, they're painted and that's what counts.

2024 finished mini counter: 273/208

A Brief Sci-Fi Interlude (2024 week 38)

And now for something completely different. Earlier this year I ran a couple sci-fi one shots as many folks were unavailable. That meant that I needed a new set of PCs and since the 3d printer was fired up, I took the opportunity to beef up my sci-fi bads roster. 

First up we have Dixie Duvall played by a Space Cowgirl from Zierzo Miniatura. If you're in need of Texas Ranger themed space marines, Zierzo's got you covered. Of the characters in this round-up this one took the most time. There are a lot of very soft details like the star on her hat and what not and her face was really difficult given the brim of her hat. I could have painted her in subassemblies but I was in a hurry and didn't do that. I'm not sold on the color scheme I chose but it worked out OK at the table. The freehand on the box is an in-universe joke.

Next up we have Derek Thorp played by Future Savior from Papsikels, rapidly becoming a go-to for sci-fi figs. Papsikels does a lot of legally-distinct homages to pop culture characters and I especially appreciate how he names them. This guy is painted to match his concept art and the player's assertion that "the only thing I know is that he has a shotgun." The character didn't end up with a shotgun, naturally. I specifically used Golden High Flow Acrylic Black on his coat since it's glossy and I could have spent a lot more time selling the leather and denim but clearly I didn't. You can see a bunch of fun printing defects on his back.

Keeping with Papsikels sculpts, we have Space Captain who was supposed to represent a character for a player who ended up not making it but was a good stand-in for one "Maple" Mac Gilleasbuig, a player who unexpectedly showed up. This guy has a surprising number of details and I super don't like all the folds on his coat. For a speed paint, they're far too hard to pick out and as a result I kind of phoned this one in. The contrast paint basecoat on his jeans is still pretty glossy (similarly on Derek's) which bothers me but not enough to hit it with a dullcoat after the fact.

The baddies were well-represented by these (many) Vanguard Droids by Hivemind Minis. This sculpt has the superpower of being a free download and pre-supported which is basically my catnip. These are better sculpts than my paint job shows, again, mostly because I was in a hurry. Turned out it didn't matter since several of us got sick the week we were supposed to play our first episode. I also glued their heads on backward the first time so had the fun of snapping them back off and re-gluing them. Also, if you see any weird graininess on them, that's less of the printing defects and more of using the trusty baking soda + cyanoacrylate trick to a) bond faster, and b) bond more strongly. One might wonder why I didn't do the same thing to texture their bases. I've wondered that, too!

Last up we have Bios Equalizer Bots from Hexy Studios and they are also a free download. Like the Vanguard Droids, these are also better sculpts than my paint job shows. All of these bots were primarily painted with the airbrush using the ever-wonderful Vallejo Metal Colors--accept no substitutes! The details were random colors that I already had on my palette which is why they're so muted (again: in a hurry). They're super back-heavy because I was extra-lazy and didn't prop up their feet like I'd planned to after deciding not to print their custom bases. Some day I'll learn.

2024 finished mini counter: 260/208

Propapalooza, week 8 (2024 week 37)

We're right around the middle of the props in this mega theme which is otherwise absolutely pumping my finished mini counter. I'm not going to feel guilty in any way about this--they needed paint! Today we have "things at an inn & tavern" and for reasons I don't fully understand, this one didn't publish despite being set so we have done so from the future!

First up we have four beds. Spoiler: there may be mimic version of these in the future. They're drybrushed, contrast-painted, and have very minimal drybrushing for highlights. The only really interesting thing going on here is the floors they're glued to. These are played by magnet stickers stuck to coffee sticks that were painted prior to glueing. There's a lousy curl on the magnet sticker that I couldn't 100% fix. 

These four are gooseneck stills. I was somewhat surprised to find that there were only two nozzles available across the four stills. I don't remember the sprues being different. Also possible I just plain missed them. The ones with the spigots were five (!) pieces! I stuck them to bases because they were slightly bigger than the magnets that I would have otherwise glued them to. And yes, they really did (do?) make stills out of copper. 

 

These two are hopefully obviously casks of some sort and I'm going to say that they're Dwarven casks since they have beardy runes on one side.These were also in far too many pieces and they were glued to the same magnet stickers as the beds. Like a lot of these, they're simply painted and look IMO, pretty good--high drama, low effort.

These guys are only arguably tavern-y things but I wasn't sure where else to put them. We've got two scroll piles, two book piles, and two taxidermied lectern beasts. Those poor, sad lectern beasts. The books are probably the ones I'm least happy with since I did almost no work on them. The yellow is pretty clearly a speed paint while the others are pretty clearly not. Overall they look painted. The lecterns sucked up the most time since they have the most details. Luckly the sculptor left some indented lettering so I didn't have to freehand that in.

 

2024 finished mini counter: 247/208

Propapalooza, week 7 (2024 week 36)

...and if you guessed more props this week then you're in luck! And in fact, we're continuing our "mining stuff" from last week.

First up we have four lanterns and three globey-pedestal-y things which aren't really mining relating at all. Three of the lanterns were painted at once and the darker one was painted all on its own which is why it looks so different. These were mainly speed paint with some washes and I note that I don't super like the golden speed paint that I used here. The lantern-y glow was basically a yellow speed paint over the white drybrush--about as low rent a solution as possible. The pedestals are different colors in case I ever need to use them in a puzzle which is likely.

 

Next up we have two big miner skulls, two pickaxes with stone piles and four boxes of dynamite. No clue what race the miner skulls are from--they're super big and lack tusks/horns/anything otherwise identifying. The dynamite boxes are also difficult for me since my fantasy world has no non-magical explosives. They're color coded for the same reasons the pedestals are.

2024 finished mini counter: 231/208

Propapalooza, week 6 (2024 week 35)

More props this week loosely gathered under "mining stuff" for better or worse and kicking off with broken half-walls. These are pretty thin and defied proper magnetization. Also, since they're so thin, they almost never stand properly. If I were smarter, I'd have glued them to actual bases and put some texture on them and all that but I clearly didn't. That doesn't mean I won't in the future, but that's a Future Me Problem (TM).

Next up we have some very dwarfy minecarts and shovels in piles of rocks. At the time of this writing, I've been revisiting Dwarf Fortress so these feel more familiar than they probably should. I painted the two shovel vignettes at different times and their very contrasting paint jobs really show that. Probably the one on the right is too dark.  Probably the minecarts could use some better highlights.

Next up we have a couple skulls with axes in them and boulder-squashy skeletons. You know, as you do. I have to think that if you have an axe and find a skull, there's a very short timer that goes off before you want to stick one into the other. None of these are quality paint jobs (obviously) but they are all painted. I rather expect the squashy skeletons to get more screen time than the axe skulls. I'll let you know.

 

Last up we have a couple wheel barrows, a tool that I desperately need in real life. This time they were painted at the same time but I wanted to vary the color so they got different contrast paint basecoats. Also note the extreme laziness on the bases which are only painted green. I couldn't be arsed to flock them. 

2024 finished mini counter: 216/208

Propapalooza, week 5 (2024 week 34)

Traps and torture devices, oh my! We continue our props mega-theme in style this week and we begin with guillotines! Not 100% sure if they'll ever get screen time but it's good to know that I have them if needed. They've got slightly more detail than many of the other props in this theme but they're painted very simply nonetheless. I could have done some weathering or staining or whatever and that would all be appropriate but I didn't and I'm not going to be sad about it.

 

The two things on the left are torture racks of some sort but I'm not sure what they're actually called. The two on the right are clearly iron maidens. The same comment applies here: I could have done more staining/weathering but I didn't. The iron maidens were mostly painted with the airbrush and in case I haven't noted it recently: Vallejo Metal Colors go through an airbrush really, really well. These are hands down my favorite metallic paints.

 

The top two of these are clearly spike traps--a perennial favorite. The rust effects aren't as good as it could have been (true for the iron maidens, too) but they're serviceable.

The last four are torture devices of some sort. I could have picked out a lot more of the details on these, particularly the pokey bits on the chairs, but I didn't. I don't know how often they'll get screen time but for now, they're painted an that's what matters.

2024 finished mini counter: 204/208

Propapalooza, week 4 (2024 week 33)

We continue the theme with "stuff I haven't posted yet from my first photo shoot." Srsly. There are a lot of these and I've had a rough time grouping them.These would be sci-fi kinds of props.

First up we have a Stargate-lookin' kind of portal. It's mainly airbrushed in metallics (zenithal, naturally) with the special effects played by a couple layers of contrast paint over the top. I tried to do some highlights of the swirly effects but it generally looked pretty crappy and I wasn't interested in spending the time to make it not suck. It's all covered with a wash of thinned down Badger Engine Discharge which I'm trying to use more so I don't have to keep paying the James Workshop (TM) tax on Nuln Oil. 

These two Christmas-y dudes I interpreted as holograms of some sort. Rather than do The Force-ghost-y thing, I gave them the Wildstar Caretaker treatment. I did a very heavy white drybrush prior to the coat of contrast paint. I did some minimal picking out of highlights but IMO it didn't work out super well. Probably what I needed was highlight undercoat in white then fluorescent then midtone but I didn't do that. The metallics were washed with the same Engine Discharge wash. They're OK.

 

Next up we have assorted office chairs. For reasons I don't fully understand, they were in like four parts per chair. They look big in these shots, but they really aren't and they like to gather up in weird orientations because of the magnets they're glued to. I did almost nothing beyond drybrushing, basecoating, and washing these which shows. 

These two are (hopefully obviously) piles of eggs. Maybe they're alien eggs. Maybe they're lizard eggs. I dunno, but they're not normal and that's wot's wot. They were deceptively difficult to paint. The green bits got multiple coats of speed paints and highlights and the eggshells got multiple layers of mostly-transparent eggshell paint and highlights. It was super hard to cover errors in the very dark, very saturated green bits on the egg bits. These are the opposite of what I like: low drama, high effort.
 

Last up we have a pair of concrete barriers. As many of these as show up in my games, I was surprised that prior to these I had none. I'm helped by the fact that my Sci-Fi games tend to happen online. I did quite a lot of work weathering and shading these but otherwise they're a wash over a drybrush as one might expect. IMO these look good even though there wasn't a ton of effort put into them. If I had a FDM printer (and I might get one) this is the kind of thing that I'd print a lot more of.

2024 finished mini counter: 192/208

Propapalooza, week 3 (2024 week 32)

We continue with our soon-to-be-long-running theme with a bunch of wooden stuff. I'm having to group these to retain my sanity. Also, because I super failed to set the auto-post on this one, I'm having to post-date this one. 

These are a set of cabinets and chairs. I don't think we see this kind of cabinet super often in the west but I have it on good authority that they're common elsewhere. Across the chairs you can probably tell that I varied the undercoat which was played by two different shades of contrast paints followed by a couple washes and a couple drybrushes and no, I don't remember the particular colors. The only annoying thing about them was gluing them to their tiny magnet bases and maybe picking out the metal bits.

Next up we have a couple tables and wide benches both of which might be found in a park or a tavern or anywhere else you might need to find such furniture. They're the same kind of deal with a contrast paint base followed by washes and drybrushings. These are exactly the kind of painting that are great for breaking out a rut: high drama with low effort.

2024 finished mini counter: 179/208

Propapalooza, week 2 (2024 week 31)

This week we continue plumbing the depths of the ever-so-voluminous Dungeons and Lasers kickstarters, at least the first two I backed. I super love the terrain tiles even though I only use the flooring (walls just plain get in folks' way at the table) and the props are super fun. In retrospect I don't think I needed quite so many of them but for right now they're rescuing my finished mini counter so that's a bonus. 

First up we have a pair of mystical portals. They're not that interesting sans the contrast paint coloring and (very) light OSL-like drybrushing over the top.

Next up we have 3x melty statues and 2x really creepy smaller ones. The first melty statue was featured in week 4 of this year though laziness kept me from prepping and painting the rest of them at that same time. The creepy ones are just...creepy...I guess? Not super sure what they're supposed to be beyond that and as a result I struggle to imagine a scenario that would call for them.

Next up we have 3x dragon pillars which also featured in a previous post from way back in week 46 of 2022. The same disclaimer applies. If I'd been more attentive I would have painted the green-y one a different color to better distinguish between it and the turquoise one I've already got. Unlike the previous one, these are just painted in colors rather than any explicit marble patterning.

 

 

These last two are hearths of some sort. I'm going to go with Dwarven given the funky patterns on them. The details aren't all that interesting or well painted but they're at the right scale for my buildings so I got that goin' for me.

2024 finished mini counter: 169/208

Propapalloza, week 1 (2024 week 30)

This week we start a not-terribly-exiting theme that will likely save my desire for cranking out at least 365 painted figs by the end of the year. I didn't intend to crank through all of my many prop boxes, mostly from Dungeons & Lasers kickstarters over the years but I did. Unfortunately, their accounting isn't worked into my "to do" count but they were part of my Pile of Potential(TM) and they're now mostly painted. Also of note, I'm still mucking with my photography setup so we have dumpy shots of dumpy paint jobs. Enjoy!

These are a chunk of the stone props in the collection. If you've never painted stone-like items, they're pretty easy. As per usual I primed with the airbrush and then did a quick drybrush with golden heavy body titanium white. 

After that they all got a heavy dark wash and another drybrush of a neutral dark grey. I could have stopped there but I didn't. I followed that up with a lighter neutral grey drybrush and a final very light titanium white drybrush.  

The thrones got a (very) brief pop color in case I ever need to tell them apart but otherwise were done more or less the same.

Also of note: I did experiment with one of these varying washes with a coat of Speed Paint 2.0 Gravelord Grey which was way easier to control and way less splotchy. Probably not worth it to do on big terrain pieces, but that's a good thing to know.

From this point until I get 100% caught up with my posts, my mini counter is going to be extra sus but I guarantee it'll all line up in the end.

2024 finished mini counter: 167/208

edit> through the magic of the internet, I've backdated this post because I was dumb and forgot to post it on the correct day.