Santorc's nemesis

Orcmas just would not be orcmas without some uppity git trying to usurp the coveted title of "Santorc" (or whatever other clever name you can concoct.  The position has long been coveted by this sneaky gobbo.  Time and again he has been thwarted by bad luck, stupidity, or the business end of Santorc's bell.  Regardless, this rascal has managed (miraculously) to survive as a constant thorn in Santorc's side.

I present to you, Gobbo Clawz!

This cheeky fellow is the 2007 White Dwarf subscription model Night Goblin Boss.  I took the liberty of sculpting some more fur trim on his cloak, as well as adding pom poms to his hat.  I think they look swell.  Being smaller and simpler than the other figures, he painted up pretty quickly.  Now he just needs some minions, as he is somewhat outgunned at the moment, wouldn't you agree?

This seems to be the last figure I will get painted in 2014.  For my loyal readers, thanks for your readership!  I wish you all a very happy New Year full of miniature adventures!

Santorc's Guards

While Orcmas many officially be over, I am still plugging away at the few figures I wanted to complete this season.  As you saw last time, I had a teaser of two WIP figures - Santorc's festive guards.  I finally finished them, and I am quite happy with the results.  These are some of the Wargames Foundry Mercenary Ogres.  They were sculpted by Kev Adams.  Very challenging figures to paint, with all of the puff and slash, but it is a nice effect when it is finished.

The blacklining on the clothing for the guard on the left took me forever.  After roughing in the colours, I went over each patch with some vallejo black ink, watered to about 60% with water and some flow improver.  Afterwards I had to redo the highlights and brighten up the white, but I really like the use of blacklining in figures like this, as it makes a nice border between the colours.  The other fun part was the gem on the right of the right-hand orc.  It's always fun trying to paint gems.

Finally, I will leave you with a shot of the terrible triad.

Kinda makes you wonder whether you should have made such a long Orcmas list, eh?  I still have a few more figures on the painting table which will hopefully make it in before the New Year.  Namely, I have a couple guards to do, as well as Santorc's biggest rival! (cue menacing music...)

Merry Orcmas!

Well, the day of Orcmas is finally upon us.  My most anticipated piece from this little project shall now be revealed to you.  You might have been thinking that my Orcmas tree looked a tad barren, but like a wise grot you did not mention this to Santorc.  Good job.

Well, Santorc does not plan to disappoint!  You see, a few years ago I ordered a few of the lovely Scibor Christmas bulbs and they were the real inspiration for this whole project.  I have the dwarf bulb unpainted still, but lets leave that for another year.

Here they are, I will start with some pics of them hanging on a WIP tree for the rest of my scenery.  From this you can get a nicer closeup:

These guys were a blast to paint, the detailed bits are very well defined so they respond well to washes.  I started these with my airbrush, more for fun, and was able to get some cool highlighting effects with my limited skills.

Now, where do these critters fit into Orcmas?  Well, even the lowliest grot knows that Santorc stuffs dwarfs inside of the bulbs, then the Orcmas squigs  arrive and try to crack them out.  There is supposed to be a feast afterwards, but the squigs usually eat it all first.

Time for a shot of the lovely tree with Santorc and the bulbs:

Finally, to show you that I have not finished, here is Santorc with his two most loyal bodyguards.  They are still a WIP, so no closeups yet.  They are almost finished, so hopefully I can share them with you in the next day or two.

Until then, Merry Orcmas, and Merry Christmas!

Orcmas Part Too!

I hope you enjoyed Santorc as my first Orcmas entry.  If you didn't well, keep it quiet, as he does come visiting to uppity grots, and his big bell ain't made of pillows, hur! hur!

Moving right along, you might ask what good would Orcmas be without an Orcmas tree?  Well, Santorc would agree with you, so long as you don't ask too rudely :P

Of course, the Orcmas tree is the second piece I would like to share with you this season.  The Orcmas tree is a longstanding tradition - it is fought over year after year by ambitious greenskins looking to claim the title 'da Boss of Orcmas.  'Ol Santorc has defended his title for years uncounted (since orcs can't count!) and will be the Boss for who knows how long.  It is a massive, ancient growth.  Scarred from dozens of previous battles it always manages to sprout branches anew, even when it seems to be nothing more than a scorched ruin!  Santorc defends the tree proudly, ready to take on all comers as he rings his bell across their heads.

Behold, the Orcmas tree!

Initially, my plan was to shape it like a traditional Christmas tree.  That, however did not seem as interesting, and I am happy with the results.  Here it is with Santorc proudly defending it:

The more astute among you have noted that Santorc's base is snowy and the Orcmas tree has no snow.  I am still undecided on whether to make the tree snowy or not.  I have no other snow-covered terrain, so I think the tree might look out of place among the rest of my scenery and would not be suitable for multi-purpose use.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I hope you like the Orcmas tree.  Perhaps you even want to claim it.  I am sure Santorc would welcome the challenge!  Perhaps next I will describe how I made it...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

Orcmas!!

For the past couple years, I have had some Christmas-themed greenskin figures kicking around my storage room... some free figures, some intended purchases.  Every fall I seem to muse about assembling a nice little festive vignette.

Well, in my hobby-absence over the past couple months I have been plugging away at making the bespoke musings a reality.  While my ambitions have outpaced my production speed (as usual), I should have completed a few things I hope you will enjoy, which I will reveal over the next week or two of Christmas festivities.  Luckily the great festive occasion of Orcmas roughly coincides with the more popular Christmas season, and the two have some passing similarities.

For today's entry, I present to you 'da Boss of Orcmas himself, Santorc!

This is a Wargames Foundry figure, and if you place an order from them in the next two days, you will get him free (according to the website)!  I got him free a couple years ago and he has been patiently waiting, menacing me with his giant bell.  I even sculpted him a slightly squished gift out of greenstuff.

What's next, you ask?  Well, I would not think that Orcmas would be complete without the Orcmas tree, woudln't you agree?

Koth-Yan, Elephant Beastman

Here is my most recently finished miniature.  It was finished a couple weeks ago, but fall typically demands me to be out of doors much more often, and thus things like posting photos to the interwebs get delayed.

Back on topic, this is a model from the older Dragonblood line of miniatures from Shadowsea.  I picked up this gem in the previous Antimatter Kickstarter for Shadowsea 2.0.  Despite this figure being from an older range, it is still a gorgeous piece. 

The body is resin with the tusks and the flail being separate metal pieces.  Everything assembled nicely, and as with everything else made by Antimatter, the figure was a joy to paint!  I was a bit intimidated by the grey skin, but I think it turned out nicely.  I was also quite pleased with my verdigris weathering attempts on the bronze armour plates.

Being an older model, it was not designed to fit specifically on a round base like the newer figures are.  At this point I am not concerned about making it fit, as the base is pretty close to what it would be regardless.  If you were so inclined, it could pretty easily be put onto a DS round base.

Hope you like this guy, my Axibalan force is slowly coming together.  My eventual plans are a Tlactl, Ocelotl, and an Amazon leader.

Draconids Kickstarter - 48 hours left! Lots of terrain unlocked!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/524168246/rise-of-the-draconids

Just under 2 days left in the Rise of the Draconids kickstarter.  The pace has picked up a bit, and thanks to some rearranging of the stretch goals, we have passed a few today already.

Next up, and just a few hundred dollars away, is the fungal patch.  I think it will turn out spectacular with Eric's sculpting skills.  He does not have specific artwork yet, but he says it will be similar to some of the older D&D fungal forests, as in these pictures:

Should be great, lots of new unlocks to reach in the next couple of days.  Make sure to head on over to pledge for these great figures!

Shadowsea - Rise of the Draconids Kickstarter

This has been mentioned in my post a few days ago, but I thought I would highlight this specifically.

Antimatter Games is currently funding the production of some more lizardman figures for their draconid faction (along with a few other stretch goals).  The funding has unlocked the initially targeted figures, and with another 10 days to go, there is still lots of potential to unlock more!

Additionally, there will be a published painting guide by Eric Louchard, showcasing his painting technique using washes and glazes to bring out the best detail for these figures.  I have followed many of his tutorials, and am always amazed by the skill he possesses.  It should be a great resource to have in my quest to improve my painting skills.

Eric will also be sculpting the lizards, as he has sculpted most of what is currently available in the range.  He has already started on the draconid Royal Guard:

As with previous Antimatter KS projects, you can order figures from the existing range as pledge rewards, and they can typically be shipped within a few weeks.  I am looking forward to complete part of my collection of their figures - they are always a pleasure to paint!

You can check out the KS here.

Gorkamorka! (More distractions...)

Inspired by some of my local gaming buddies, I have started to put together a trukk to play a few games of Gorkamorka.  After getting interested in assembling a force, I went about collecting a bunch of things impulsively.  One thing that was noticed was the small size and somewhat uninteresting design of the classic Gorkamorka vehicles.  So, to that effect I decided to try my hand at some converting and kitbashing.

Now, this trukk is still very much a WIP, but it has the back end of a Gorkamorka trukk, the body of a plastic Ork Deffkopta as the cab, it will have the dozer blade from a tank as a ram and will have bits from the current plastic trukk along with some scratchbuilt stuff to make it interesting.  Hopefully you like it so far.  As with all of my projects, it may or may not be completed sometime in the near future.

Enjoy!

Shadowsea Axibalan Coyotl Warriors

Time for some more Antimatter goodness, this time from some land-based Shadowsea figures.  These two sculpts were part of the original Cavalcade line of Dragonblood miniatures which were purchased by Antimatter last year when Cavalcade closed its doors.  Sculpted by the ever-talented Kev Adams, when I first saw these minis I knew I had to have them!  They are definitely some of my favourites from the Shadowsea line.  Just really great detail and character, and very fun to paint.  I made some heavier use of inks and washes on these, particularly with the feathers and the cloth.  The bronze and gold were painted using washes over a light primer which were then drybrushed with the appropriate metallic colour to help differentiate it.  I think ti worked out quite well.

In case you had not noticed, Antimatter is currently running a Kickstarter campaign, titled Rise of the Draconids.  If you had not figured it out, this one is primarily to fund the production of more lizard/draconid figures.  It is going quite well, with all of the Draconid starter set now funded and further figures as stretch goals.  There is a little less than two weeks to go, so feel free to stop by and pitch in!  The bespoke Coytol are available as rewards, so you can definitely pick up these beasties at a nice discount.  Check it out here.

Painted Fortune Hunters

Finally getting around to posting my next warband, the Fortune Hunteres.  Some really nice human models here, and they take quite well to washes for the general painting - the metal dive suits can be painted to look really nice without the need for hours and hours of detail work.  I have the standard deluxe starter with the Sea Dog captain added in for good measure.

I think the Sea Dog Captain was my favourite figure out of this lot.  Though I did have to patch up a slight miscast on his left shoulder.  Nothing a little greenstuff couldn't fix!  The scattergun really looks deadly at close range (and dangerous for the shooter too!).  Yep, I also missed a small spot on the back of his base.

Next up, Marie du Chatelet, the scientist, and the Heavy trooper.  Initially I was not too fond of the female model, but this one grew on me as I painted her.  A very nice esthetic, with a few small details to make the figure pop.  That and she is fully clothed, which marks it approve for family use.

Finally the big Mech and the Recon trooper.  The Recon trooper is a really cool sculpt, but it seems to be a different sculptor than the rest, and the scale is a bit off.  Not a huge deal, as you can't really notice from a tabletop distance.  I think the cool propulsion system makes up for it.

One thing I tried to do with the armour plating in this warband was to have a gradient of brownish/orange hues up to blue from the ground up, to reflect the colour of the ground on the lower extremities of the metal models.  You can see it a bit more in person, but it was a fun experiment.  I kinda used that to combine NMM-type elements with metallics.  I don't have the patience (or time) to go full NMM at this stage in life.  Maybe that's a good thing :)

Hope you like 'em!