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