Hirst Arts Test Fitting and.. I love it

I test fit some of the cavern molds I poured the last few days, and as ususal, this stuff is just too much fun. I got out some of 15mm guys. and voila! Instant 15mm dngeon that scales right and seems big and intimate at the same time.

Bruce Hirst at Hirst Arts doesn'tget enough credit for the work he does on his molds and the ability to let all of us build amazing things at a very reasonable cost. Thanks Bruce!

Only problem is, I need to do some transition pieces from these to my finished dungeon. (or get rid of my dungeon and do an all Hirst Arts one). 

Interwebs Notes, News and Praise

Couple of quick nots from the internets this AM:

Khurusan is hinting at a series of longa awaited releases these next few weeks. Story on Dropship Horizon:
http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/2012/04/khurasan-releases-caiman-apc.html

One of my favorite and most prolific rules writers, Scott Pyle of the Goalsystem(Supersystem, Blasters & Bulkheads, Labor of the Gods, Robofire, etc) has announced a long awaited Goalsystem game for Dungeon Bashing, with character advancement and some light roleplaying. Glad to see this moving forward. Hopefully the BAsement Generals will be in the slot for playtesting again. I do have all those dungeon tiles. Maybe I can paint some dungeon parties at lunch. Story on Scotts blog: http://four-color-figures.blogspot.com/2012/04/announcing-goalsystem-dungeon-delve.html

And at some point coming up, our favorite 15mm artist, SpaceJacker is packing up and moving to Australia. So that means, a little bit before he gets back in the groove blogging and painting. Lets hope not too long. So enjoy his work before he scoots off. Note his workshop pics on the sidebar. If I actually was a prolific phot taker, this would be great. Thanks for the glimpse of whats on your table jacker!:
http://tinysolitarysoldiers.blogspot.com/

Just a slight toot for myself. I have revamped the Roll 2 Hit! site. Its my RPG blog that died off last april as I got focused on my mini work. I have a real hankering to RPG lately. So I thought I would reboot, add some tabs and use it as an idea journal for games I want to run. Not much on there now, but stop by if you have an interest in old TSR games (BAsic D&D, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Villains and Vigilantes(not TSR I know)) or the retro clones(Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future) or new games, some based on older mechanics, some just new(Stars Without Number, Icons). http://roll2hit.blogspot.com/

And although I am sure you all know, I thought I would give props to the 4 work horses in the Miniature Gaming World. These 4 site I look at multiple times a day, and so do hundreds of gamers and painters and hobbyists around the world. If you want to know something or reach out to the gaming community, you better reach out here. If you don't follow these blogs or sites, what are looking at?:
The Miniatures Page: http://theminiaturespage.com/
Miniature Review: http://www.miniaturereview.blogspot.com/
Tabletop Gaming News: http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/
Lead Adventure Forum: http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php

And a guilty pleasure of sorts. The Mech Dude's blog is one man's quest to get Macross gaming to the table for everyone. I applaud this and many a saturday afternoon was spent by Ze Baron and myself playig the Robotech RPG by palladium, and trying to scavenge anything Macross related. So I would love to see him succeed in breaking through the Harmony Gold mess and getting Valkyries, Tomahawks, Regults, and Zentradei to our tabletops. I would buy a whole bunch if he did.: http://www.mechdudesblog.blogspot.com/

Follow up Pics of 15mm Dungeon Project - Undead

Here's the follow up pics of the 15mm Dungeon Undead I promised.

As ususal, I wish my photography skills were better.

The Necromancer Lord

rear shot

Necromancer's Captain/Champion

rear shot

Master and faithful servant

  

Human acolytes of the undead

blowup

rear shot

 


group shot

Group shot with reanimated skeleton servants

wider shot

 

Orange skinned Ogre

front shot



rear shot





Quick Update 2-20-12

I finished up the first phase of the monsters for my dungeon project over the weekend.

I have added:

Human cultists of the undead
Undead Necromancer
Necromancers Bodyguard
An orange skinned Ogre

I will do a couple of adventurer warbands to help develop rules for.

Pics tomorrow.

I got  serious hankering to do some Black Powder and to finish one of my great loves, my 28mm Peninsular British Army. I have joked about Nappy Fever before on this blog. What this really means is once I start painting Napoleonics, I usually get obsessed about it and it takes me a while to get it out of my system. So right now, that feels ok. I don't have anything that's driving me to paint it right now other than the Nappies, and while I am ruminating on getting a bunch of new Khurasan figs to continue my collection for Post Apoc and Sci Fi, this is a good time to concentrate.

So I think the Spring/Summer 2012 list looks something like this:

28mm British Peninsular
28mm French Peninsular
15mm Dungeon Crawl
15mm Sci Fi/Post Apoc

A potential new contender may be a group project for Dystopian Wars. We shall see.

I'll be posting progress pics of the Brits as I go along.

Thought I would throw up some pics of the progress pf the Army as it sits now.

Infantry Units. I will be adding 2 stands to each of these so I can have a 24 man 6 stand unit for Black Powder

Brigade Commander

Hvy Dragoons

Royal Artillery

Commanders

New 15mm dungeon Pics

New Pics of 3 new rooms, and some new monsters. Zombies, Skeletons, Wights, Undead Wolves, Rat Swarms, and Giant Lizards.



New water pit tile. For spawning monsters, drinking, or hiding things in.



Throne Room tile. Cehckerboard tiles and Dais.



zombies emerge form the spawning pool



Zombies!



Emerging for brains!



close ups



more close ups



one more close up



zombie wolves



close up



Close up



Wights



Skeleton Horde




closeup




rat swarm




close up




Giant Lizards.

 All figs from the great Khurusan, excpet the lizards which are GW.

15mm Dungeon Denizens I

OK, so as promised, here are some pics of the first dungeon denizens.

All of these were primered white(i don't know why) so I decided to use a technique my Bro-In-Law used to use with great effect. All washes. all bases colors are washes on white primer so the wash actually highlights and shadows all in one coat. Its quick and effective if done right. That's a big IF. So I like some of the results. I have always been a fan of fluid dynamics and the random realism it provides. Sometimes it just gets muddy or isnt intense enough. I am certain to go back to my old black primer, english triad system, but you always gotta flex the muscles.

Old School D&D long-nosed Trolls:

GW (really)giant rats from WHQuest:

GW (really, really) giant bats WHQuest:

And a bunch of action shots:

And the next batch of dungeon denizens on the table.

An old rat swarm and an ogre who will be getting a black undercoat:

Demonworld Thain Werewolves: 

GW lizard swarm becoming giant lizards:

Demonworld Minotaurs:

And my new Khurasan skeletons. Man these are deleicate and well sculpted:

After these I will do the zombies, zombie wolves, vampire, and an old liche. I may sculpt a couple of ghosts as well. I need some ghouls to add some power to the zombies. And some skelton archers(which I have).

After that, a warband of heroes. After that, who knows. let's hope I get that far.

Happy Painting.
Ken