Frostgrave Table Finished

So I had a bit of extra time over the Christmas holidays and managed to finish off the Frostgrave table that was sitting around, begging to be finished.  Since the last time I posted I moved one of the roads to make the board more nicely spaced, added the sand and some rubble to the gutters.  Finally, I applied paint!

The cobbles were painted dark grey up to white with drybrushing, and the show started as a medium grey and was painted up to white.  The gutters were first painted dark grey, then brown, then dark blue, light blue, and white.  They were given a gloss coat to simulate the shiny ice and water that fills them.

I hope you like the table, I am eager to try it out as a finished, rather that WIP, piece soon!

Pleasant Surprise 2015

Once again this year I participated in the Pleasant Surprise exchange over on the Warhammer Empire forum.  Every year it seems harder for me to find the time to create a nice surprise with my growing list of adult responsibilities, but I managed to paint up a figure this year nonetheless.  My recipient received his figure this past week, so I figured it was a good enough time to post some photos here.

I chose one of my favourite Empire figures from the 90's - a hero with sword and pistol.  I remember seeing him painted up in the army book when I was a kid, and I always wanted one.  Well, as a grown-up collector, I have managed to find one and even had a spare who is now with his new owner.

My recipient did not have many posted pictures of an army, so I got creative and chose this bold purple and green scheme.  I was quite happy with the results.  Every year it is a bittersweet tradition... I tend to paint figures I wanted to paint for myself, only to send them away for someone else.  I guess it is better to give than to receive, is it not?

I hope my recipient likes this figure as much as I did, and that he finds a memorable place in his collection!

The Halfmen of Westfalia

A few months back, I was following the design and sculpting of some stellar fantasy halflings by Westfalia Miniatures when I was given the opportunity to obtain some sample casts.  Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity and a few weeks later I had the figures in my hands.

Westfalia has decided to go with resin for these figures, and while I am typically partial to pewter, I was quite impressed with these.  The detail was crisp, there seemed to be just enough bend to the material without it being either flimsy or brittle, and mold lines were very minimal. My young kids even managed to grab a hold of the figures and were playing with them for a while without my knowledge, and nothing managed to get broken. I gave the figures a good wash, primed them, and finally finished them this past weekend.

These really are lovely little figures, and they paint up quite easily.  The leader with the hammer seems a shoe-in (or should I say shoeless-in?) Tyrion Lannister.  If only there was an unhelmeted version bearing the likeness of Richard Dinklage...

In homage to the halfman, I painted these guys in typical Lannister colours.  I hope you enjoy them, I even got creative with my background! Westfalia is planning a Kickstarter to fund the production of a large range of these little guys, and it is set to start around Dec 16, or so I am told.

Here are a couple more shots for your enjoyment: