Caffeineforge

This week we present a collection of miniatures our painters worked on outside or behind the schedule. But be warned: This might be the longest Monday-Mini entry ever!

(posting by Antonia)

Do you know the phenomenon that, as soon as you are on holiday, you have even less time for things than normally? Dirk has taken some days off and suddenly, all we do is… other stuff. Not painting. I mean, we are also preparing our little one for daycare, so maybe there will be a time I won’t have to write blog posts a) instead of sleeping or b) behind the schedule… we’ll see.

Anyway, since we have a gazillion pictures to show, let’s get started! I’ll add all the pictures and (if available) info by the painter, later I might edit in the links to previous Mini Mondays were certain miniatures were presented before.

 

I present two converted minis who look quite different now:

The first one is Anval the Thricedamned (I think from Bones II, article here) which I re-modeled to represent a female hobgoblin who is a major NPC in one of our RPG campaigns. As you can see I replaced the head with one of a modified D&D orc, altered the silhouette by trimming the waist slightly and gave her some rough leather “bra” which still fits into the barbarian aesthetic. Since she is the “Strongman” (or -woman in this case) in a troupe of carnys I also swapped the soul-eating axe head for a massive hammer. She is quite ugly, I have to admit, but who knows what hobgoblins find attractive anyway? Note how a bit of trimming the waist led to a look that (simian) humanoids associate with femininity without taking away her jaw-breaking build.

The second mini wasn’t gender-swapped, instead I used a gnome to create the miniature of a human child! Since my PCs interact a lot with townsfolk and human “civilians” I wanted to use some street urchins too, only to find out that miniatures of children are quite rare. So I took the “only a child in your eyes” approach and modified a gnome, taking away the weapons and reducing the overall equipment. I also had to give her a sanded-down zombie hand because that was the only open version available. I like the result but it was still a lot of work, so does anybody know a source of ready-to-use children miniatures, anyway? Preferrably plastic or resin, since I do convert a lot (obviously).

Dirk finished a WIP minotaur:

He started painting this mini back in the day (article here) but never got around finishing this beast. Now he finally painted all the dirt and battle damage the minotaur got for being a gladiator, and Dirk even became inspired to do a whole team of gladiators around this mini. I like how much of a difference one extra day of time makes!

 

Arjen sent us two pieces from the add-ons (and in advance even, thanks!):

The ettin from Bones I (Add-on). He wrote that the mini was a joy to paint, and that he liked the collar of severed hands around the ettin’s neck. The devil’s in the details (literally, in this case)! I agree that this a very cool miniature, up to the ettin’s faces, and the ghastly pale color scheme looks great!

Here come some of the “Undying Lords” (Bones II expansion)

As he wrote the undead minotaur looks especially tall compared to the smaller skellies – especially the halfling looks tiny (and cute, if it wasn’t so horroble). I’m really looking forward to painting the range one day, non-human skeletons are still kind of rare and special! Do you plan to use them for something, or did you just paint them for fun?

 

Jim sent us some catch-ups and some extras:

First some mummies!

Jim: “First, we have my official catch-up minis: The mummies from the Bones 2 core set. In the middle is the metal version that I painted many years ago. On the new ones I used a darker starting tone and I’m pretty happy with it. Easy minis to paint! Expect to see these guys (and the ghouls/ghasts) with the skeletons next time around. One big undead horde!”

Narthrax, one of the Bones II add-ons:

“Second, I included a WIP pic of Narthrax as a blue dragon. I started him some time ago and still haven’t finished the base work, but you get the idea. He actually looked much more detailed before my wash coat, which I made much too dark. Oh, well, live and learn.” I still like him very much, did you highlight the scales one-by-one? Must have been a lot of work! And about the base: Where did you get that? I always wondered where painters get those wooden pieces, is there a source beside (certainly overpriced) miniature supply stores?

Lastly, some Oni! (recent article here)

“Finally, I threw in a pic of my Oni! Sort of a catch-up. I went with the 1e/2e D&D description of the ogre mage right down to the black irises and white pupils. I’m still not sure how that’s possible! Overall I’m pleased with the result, but I maybe should have done some shading on the skin in addition to the highlighting. Fun minis in any case.”

If there was a price for “Most miniature pics sent”, Michael would win it hands down! Enjoy not four, or six, but eight different entries this time!

“At the beginning of the year, I said my goal was to paint at least one mini not on the list for every one that was. I’ve done pretty well with that, though I haven’t been keeping perfect track (and I’ve definitely slowed my pace a bit lately…).”

Ice Troll (Bones II, extra, if I recall correctly), Michael painted it as a rock troll instead:

 

Beastmen (Bones II core, one of  in the article here)

Nice lava base and fiery axe! I like the color scheme of the middle one too!

 

Knight (who, in Michael’s words, “looks like Jamie Lannister” I agree, btw.)

 

A “dark, corrupted knight”:

There is an article on this blog, I’ll look for it.

A gorgon (previous article here)

He used it to practice doing an inner glow and a little object source lighting on the ground. Well don, the effect is subtle but visible!

After that, some PC character minis:

“There are two PCs from the 5th Edition game I am DM for – Garrett, the Halfling Sorcerer, who for some reason it was decided wears a gigantic backpack full of loads of stuff; and Iron Maw, the Half-Orc Warlock/Fighter, a former slave gladiator whose pact weapon is a giant hammer. I modded two Pathfinder Iconics with some green stuff, and for Garrett included a few more constructed props on him.”

And a colorful wizard! (I think that’s my favourite in the whole bunch)

“Finally, I painted one of the classic wizards that was included I think in the first Kickstarter (I could be wrong though). I had always found this guy intimidating to paint, but finally bit the bullet, and I’m really happy with how he turned out. I used gloss varnish on his rainbow cloak to make it look more like a magic item.” The cloak is really cool, and the books are awesome too! I always thought the mini was too cartoonish for my taste, but now I’d like to have a try too!

 

So, here comes the biggest gallery ever, just tell me if I forgot something, please!

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Coming next:

 

This entry was posted by Antonia & Dirk Vogel.