Mushroom King and Mushroom Men: Bones II Figures

     This week I also finished up the Mushroom King and Mushroom Men from the Bones II Expansion Set I.  I decided to paint them all at one time, since they all were getting the exact same paint scheme.
      I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued the figures to black-primed fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue; 1.5" for the King, 1.25" for the middle-sized mushroom, and 1" for the smallest.   When the glue was dry, I glued the figures to a tongue depressor with a couple drops each of the Elmer's glue.

     I began by painting the entire bodies of the figures with plain White. Next, I painted the caps with GW "Blood Red". I then painted the small shelf fungus growing down their sides with Apple Barrel "Apple Parchment".

       I then went back to the White, and painted the small dots on their caps.  On the King, I painted his staff with Americana "Mississippi Mud".  I also painted the stems of the mushrooms growing on his head, and the ones growing on his staff, with Americana "Buttermilk".  I painted the caps of the mushrooms growing on the King's head with Apple Barrel "Yellow".  The more granular growth growing on his cap I painted with Apple Barrel "Burnt Sienna".  I then painted some of the mushroom caps on his staff with Accent "Mustard Seed", and others with Americana "Tangerine".  I painted the small cluster mushrooms on the staff with Americana "Reindeer Moss Green".

     After the paint had time to dry, I gave all the figures a head to toe wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.

    When the wash was dry, I went back and  carefully drybrushed the bodies of the mushrooms, avoiding as best I could the red caps, and the shelf fungus on their backs. I then took a regular brush and did further highlights where needed, and highlighted the white dots on the caps.  I followed this with highlighting the caps themselves with the base "Blood Red".   I then used all the base colors I had used on the smaller mushroom caps to highlight them on the King's head and staff.  Next, I mixed a little of the "Yellow" and "Burnt Sienna" and used this mix to lightly drybrush the granular growth on the King's cap.  At this point I also realized that one of the things on the King's cap was a snail shell (I think!), so I painted it with Americana "Zinc" and then drybrushed it with Duncan "Slate Grey".
    Continuing,  I did highlights on the staff itself with the base "Mississippi Mud", and the shelf mushrooms on their backs with the base "Apple Parchment".  I finished off with adding tiny dots, using Apple Barrel "Apple Scotch Blue", to the mushrooms I had painted with the "Mustard Seed" on the Kings staff ; and then lastly, giving  each mushroom a set of beady Black eyes. I painted the figures' white integral bases with Ceramcoat "Walnut"
      I let the figures sit all day, and that evening I gave them a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  The next morning  I flocked the bases, and that afternoon I gave the figures a coat of Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

     I'm very pleased with how these little fellows turned out.  They certainly are something completely different! :)

NOVA Corp Soldiers: Figures 147 - 150 of 265

     This week I decided to finish up the NOVA Corp set that I had started two weeks ago; and set out to complete all four remaining figures at one time. The NOVA set now joins the list of completed sets over on the right, and I celebrate the milestone of now having completed 150 figures. The next goal will be when I hit the 100-remaining-figure mark.
     With the previous NOVA Corp figure I had worked on, I had tested my idea  to paint them in a sort of chameleon armor,  making it look the same as I paint my usual rocky desert-like bases.  In other words, painting the figure and base as one. I planned to do the same thing with these four figures
      I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued the figures to black-primed 1" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue,  When they were dry, I gave the washers and figures' bases a brush on coat of Elmer's white glue, and dunked them into a course sand mix.   When the sand mix had dried, I glued the figures to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue each.

      I began by painting the each figure, and the sand base, completely with Americana "Charcoal Grey".

       I then gave the figures and bases a drybrushing with GW Khemri Brown.

     When the "Khemri Brown" was dry, I followed up with a drybrushing the figures and bases with Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna".

     Lastly, I gave the four figures and bases a lighter drybrushing with Americana "Buttermilk". 

       I now painted the head of the officer with Americana "Mocha". I painted his hair with DecoArt "Cinnamon Brown", and his headset with Ceramcoat "Walnut".  When these had dried, I gave the head a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.  When the wash had dried, I went back and added eyes, with Black sockets, White whites, and  Black pupils.  I then did highlights on his head with the base "Mocha".
      I then moved on to paint their goggles with Accent "Real Umber", and added some small reflective light highlights to the goggles with White paint.  I then painted some of the assorted straps, breathing tubes, and ammo magazine with Folk Art "Butter Pecan".  Lastly I painted the guns' muzzles black, and a small insignia on their right shoulders with Folk Art "Tomato Red".

   I'm pleased with how this group came out. (I added the Female soldier I did two weeks ago back in to the photo above.)  Not sure what I'm going to do with them though... Do I really need to start a whole 28mm Sci-Fi project just to find a home for the handful of Sci-Fi soldiers that came with the Kickstarter?? :)

Figures 147 - 150: Complete

Logrim, Dwarf Captain: Bones II Figure

     This week I also completed the Bones II figure Logrim, Dwarf Captain, from the Core Set.    I had been wanting to add some more "good guy" figures to my winter themed collection, since I had a number of suitable baddies and monsters finished already; and this little guy looked like he'd be a good candidate.  There was something about the grille on his helmet that to me gave him the look of a little coal stove, and I could just picture his hot breath puffing out of the slits in his face plate.
       So, I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.

      I began by painting the figure entirely black.

      I then gave the entire figure a drybrushing with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter". I then went over this with a lighter drybrushing of Folk Art "Silver Sterling".

     Next, I went back and painted his beard black, followed with painting the grip on his sword with Americana "Asphaltum".   I then painted his skirts with Folk Art "Metallic Blue Sapphire".  Also, I used Ceramcoat "Bronze" to paint decorative parts of his helmet, armor and sword hilt.

      Now, I lightly drybrushing his beard with Duncan "Slate Blue" to give it some highlights.  I then painted the tie on his beard with Anita's "Burnt Sienna", and then gave it some highlights with Folk Art "Barnyard Red".   Next, I added highlights to his skirts with Folk Art Pearl "Aqua Moire", and highlights with Ceramcoat "14K Gold" to the areas I had previously painted "Bronze". Lastly, I went back and added specific highlights to his armor and sword with the "Silver Sterling".
    I painted his base white, and when everything had overnight to dry, I gave the figure a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  The next morning I flocked the base with Woodland Scenics "Snow" flock, and added a little bit of dried grasses made from a bit of unraveled twine.  Late that afternoon I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote.

     I'm pleased with how this little guy turned out.  It was a quick and easy paint job, and makes for character with  a lot of personality.

Another SoBaH Game Day

     Saturday, my friend Buck found himself with a few hours to kill in the morning while he was up in my area, so we made some last minute arrangements with Rob and Greg to throw together a four-player "Song of Blades and Heroes" battle.  I hosted, and set up a table featuring a crossroads with a couple farm buildings and a ruined chapel and accompanying ruined graveyard.
    For my warband I selected a typical multi-race adventuring party.  Buck was teamed with me, and he borrowed the same Human warband from Rob with which Rob had won a couple games against me in the past.  Rob selected an Undead themed warband, and Greg, who ended up being paired with Rob,  had conveniently brought some of his own Undead figures to use.  We chose to just have a standard kill-the-enemy type battle.

My warband, left to right: Human Leader, Dwarf Warrior, Human Magic User, Hafling Thief, Lizardman Warrior, Dwarf Elite Crossbow, Elf Archer 

     As Rob and Greg slogged forward with their less than ambitious zombies and skeletons; Buck and I, without prior discussion, both decided to make our way to the center of town; and a bit of a traffic jam formed on the road leading into town as we both maneuvered down the narrow street.   Buck's female magic user, Juliette, recruited two willing bodyguards, and headed out first to meet Rob's approaching Undead horde.

Juliette and her bodyguard advance as my guys watch from the safety of the wall.

      Meanwhile, I tried to move my team around the ruined chapel to take advantage of it's cover while placing my force on Rob's flank.  As usual, I was plagued with bad activation dice.

An overview of the table

  Soon, Rob's first skeleton warriors were moving into contact, as Juliette attempted to transfix them.  Her warrior bodyguards found them easy to deal with.

First contact, as two of Rob's skeletons move into contact.

    About this time I had a series of unfortunate event's befall my team.  First, my Halfling thief, who was moving around the chapel, suddenly found himself face to face with Greg's Wraith who had a burst of successful activations combined with his Flying skill.  The thief, with his Combat skill of 1, was no match for the Wraith's skill of 4 and my bad die rolling, and was quickly dispatched by a Gruesome kill.  This was too much for my human magic user, Julia (Juliette's twin sister),  and she promptly fled the field.

I attempt to move around the ruined chapel with some of my force, as my leader charges forth into contact with a skeleton.  Greg's wraith can be seen in the upper center of the shot, ready to pounce on my poor Halfling, who is hidden from the camera by the far corner of the chapel.

     At this same time, my  human leader moved forward to help Buck battle Rob skeleton's.  No sooner had me moved into contact with the closest skellie, than Rob charged me with his Spectre and his Terror ability.  This caused my Leader to panic and run, allowing the skeleton he was in contact with to get a free hack. The skeleton was successful, and killed my leader.
    Rob's Spectre now moved to to charge Buck's magic user, Julliette, and though she was brave enough to stand her ground, her 1 Combat rating left her dead on the field.

Juliette attmepts to karate chop the Spectre only to be struck down by his mighty sword.

     It now looked as if Rob's Spectre was going to cut an unstoppable path of destruction through our ranks.  We truly need a miracle, ...and got one.  In a true Lord of the Rings "I am no Man!"  moment, my female Elf archer attempted a desperate long range shot at the Spectre, and rolled a 6!  Rob rolled a 1, and his Spectre fell and disintegrated into a cloud of black smoke.  This caused Rob's force to drop below 50% and his remaining zombie warriors melted into piles of dust. Only one of his skeletons stayed on the table and he was soon reduced to a pile of bones by Buck's barbarian.

"I am no man!" My female elf archer takes aim at Rob's Spectre.

  We now turned to Greg's force, and the remnants of our forces desperately battled his skeletons and zombies.  My Dwarf warrior was knocked down, and before he could stand up, Greg's twitcher (christened "The Head", as he was a skeleton model of just a head, shoulders, and arms ) raced over and used his Opportunistic skill to kill the fallen dwarf.  
     Eventually, we were able to wear Greg's force down to it's below 50% level, and the majority of his zombies, like Rob's turned to dust and blew away.  At that point we called it a day.

As Buck sends his archers and remaining warrior into battle two of Greg's zombie, another zombie pushes my Dwarf down as "The Head" moves up to break his neck. 

   It was a really fun game for a spur-of-the-moment event and we all had a good time.  It stayed exciting until near the end, as fortunes swung back and forth.  And best of all, some of my Bones figures got to get on the table and take part in a game.

For Buck's report on the battle, see here: Song of Blades and Heroes

Strumpet: Figure 146 of 265

    This week I painted the Strumpet from the Townsfolk  Set.  She was the last figure from this set that I had left to do, so it joins the list of completed sets over on the right.
      I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.

      I began by painting her skirt with Americana "Cranberry Wine". I then painted her corset black, and, when dry, gave it a light drybrush with Duncan "Slate Blue".  Next, I painted her blouse and  underskirt with White.

I then moved on to paint her skin with Americana "Mocha", and her hair with Folk Art "Golden Harvest".  I used the black again to paint her shoe, and then used Ceramcoat "14K Gold" to paint her jewelry.

  After everything had a while to dry, I gave her skin, hair, blouse, underskirt and jewelry a wash with Winsor-Newton "Peat Brown" ink using a very wet brush.

    When the wash was thoroughly dry, I began to add the highlights.  First I drybrushed her hair with Americana "Moon Yellow", and then Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon".  I then used a fine brush with these colors to do highlights around the edges of the hair, where I wasn't able to drybrush.  Next, I painted the eye; with a black socket, white white and a black pupil.  I then did the lips with a mix of Folk At "Burgundy" and the "Mocha", then added a little white to do a fine highlight.  Then I used the base "Mocha" to highlight the skin, then added a little white to it to do smaller lighter highlights. I then used the white to highlight her blouse and underskirt. Next, I used the "Burgundy" to highlight the skirt, and lastly the "14K Gold" to highlight the jewelry.  I finished up by painting the base with GW "Khemri Brown".
       I let the figure sit all day, and that evening I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  The next afternoon I gave the figure a coat of Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

     I'm really pleased with how this figure turned out. For a character that is not an adventurer type, it is a very dynamic sculpt.  It will make a nice addition to my townsfolk.
    I got to play a game of  Song of Blade and Heroes on Saturday, so look for a bonus Bones battle report to be posted tomorrow.

  Figure 146 of 265: Complete

Savage Worlds "Desert Thing", Bones II Figure

This week I also completed the "Desert Thing" monster from the Bones II Savage Worlds set.  My plan is to use it with my Mars figures (A mash-up of Space 1889 style stuff and Edgar Rice Burroughs) so I wanted to paint it in a reddish scheme.  I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I wanted to work on this more like a terrain piece, so instead of  a washer, I cut down  one of the large plastic bases that came with the Kickstarter to use as the base.  I traced the figure's mouth part onto the base, and masked  it off with some masking tape.

     I then sprayed the base with flat black spray paint; and when it was dry I pulled off the masking tape, and then glued the mouth piece on with some superglue.

When that step was dry, I glued the tentacles into he mouth with superglue and let them dry .  I made a mistake at this point. I painted the creature black, then remembered that I had wanted the base to be rocky, and that would need to be painted black too. So, I should have glued my course sand mix on before I painted the creature black.  Without thinking, I immediately went and brushed Elmer's white glue all over the base to dunk it in my sand mix, not bothering to check to see if the black paint I had just applied to the creature was fully dry (it wasn't); so, when I dunked the glue-covered base in the sand mix, a bunch of sand stuck to part of the creature (See the photo below)  I tried to brush it off as best I could, but  a lot was still stuck.  I hoped that it wouldn't be noticeable once everything was painted.

     So, after the sand mix was dry, I painted everything black.

After the black was dry, I gave the base and outer mouth a heavy drybrushing with Folk Art "Barnyard Red".

     After the "Barnyard Red" was dry, I gave the base and outer mouth a further drybrushing with Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna", and then Americana "Buttermilk"

     Next, I painted the immediate mouth area and interior gums with Americana "Shading Flesh", and I kind of did a feathering on the edges so it blended into the outer mouth/base of the monster.  I then painted the teeth with the "Buttermilk", and the tentacles with the Raw Sienna"

When that step had had time to dry, I then gave the mouth area and tentacles a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.

     When the wash was dry, I did some highlighting. First, I drybrushed the tentacles with Ceramcoat "Maple Sugar Tan".  Then I added highlights to the teeth with the "Buttermilk".  I let the piece dry overnight, then the next morning I gave the figure a coat of  Ceramcoat "Matt Varnish".  That afternoon I sprayed it with "Testor's Dullcote".  After the Dullcote had time to dry overnight, I went back and painted the inner gums and teeth with Americana "DuraClear Gloss Varnish". 

    I'm pleased with how this turned out. I'm thinking about making just a plain rocky base to match this, so I can casually set it on the table during a game.  Then, players will think it's just a piece of rough terrain, and will get a surprise if they move their figures too close.

NOVA Corp, Female: Figure 145 of 265

     This past week I was still recovering from my cold, which decided to morph into bronchitis just when I thought I was getting better, so there were only a couple days that I felt really up to painting.  I decided to do a quick sci-fi figure to test out an idea I'd been thinking about, so I grabbed the female NOVA Corp figure.  I had been considering painting these NOVA figures in some sort of chameleon armor, so wanted to try painting them the same as I paint my usual rocky desert-like bases.  In other words, painting the figure and base as one.
      I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue; and when that was dry, I gave the washer and figure's base a brush on coat of Elmer's white glue, and dunked it into a course sand mix.  My original idea was to spray the figure with Krylon Dark Brown Camouflage with Fusion spray paint, so that is why I didn't prime the washer beforehand.  I decided against the spraying, so in the future I think I will used black-primed washers for these.   When the sand mix had dried, I glued the figure to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's.

I began by painting the whole thing with Americana "Charcoal Grey".

  I then gave the whole figure and base a drybrushing with GW Khemri Brown, followed with a drybrushing with Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna".

     Lastly, I gave the entire figure and base a lighter drybrushing with Americana "Buttermilk".  I then worked on a little detail I had planned to add.  I planned to glue some purple alien-looking grasses to the base; so to help with the chameleon armor illusion, I gave a light drybrushing to her lower right leg, with a 50/50 mix of Anita's "Violet" and Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender", to look like the armor was changing to match the nearby grass.  I then moved on to paint her goggles with Accent "Real Umber", and added some small reflective light highlights with the "Buttermilk".  I then painted some of the assorted straps, breathing tubes, and ammo magazine with Folk Art "Butter Pecan".  Lastly I painted the gun's muzzle black, and a small insignia on her right shoulder with Folk Art "Tomato Red".

        I let the figure sit overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".    Later that afternoon I glued on the small bunch of purple grass.  The next morning I sprayed the figure with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

    I'm really pleased with how this figure turned out.  I think the experiment worked, and I plan to paint the rest of the fireteam to match.

Figure 145 of 265: Complete

Gauntfield, Necropolis Hero: Bones II Figure

This week I finished up Gauntfield the giant scarecrow figure from the Bones II Core Set.    I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1.5" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.  The washer was big enough to hold in my hand that I didn't feel I needed to glue it to a tongue depressor to make handling any easier.

I began by painting the entire figure Black.

     After the Black basecoat had dried, I began by heavily drybrushing all the figure's visible bones with Americana "Buttermilk", trying as best I could to keep it off his coat which I planned to leave black.  I then went back over the bones and gave them a lighter White drybrushing,   I then went back and carefully touched up anywhere the "Buttermilk" or White had gotten on the coat.   Now I brybrushed the coat using Duncan "Slate Blue", trying to be careful not to get any on the bones.  I had to hand paint the "Slate Blue" highlights, rather than drybrush them, when they were right next to any exposed bones.  I finished up by touching up any areas of bone that had accidentally gotten the "Slate Blue" on it.
   I next painted his shirt with Folk Art "Tomato Red", and his pants with Americana "Asphaltum".  His head I painted with Americana "Dove Grey", and his straw hair with Folk Art "Golden Harvest".

   I realized at this point that I had forgotten to paint the bones in his sack, so I painted those at this point using the "Buttermilk" and White.  I then painted the sack with Americana "Butter Pecan".  I painted his hat with GW "Khemri Brown", and the handle of his scythe with Americana "Mississippi Mud".  His left boot I painted with Accent "Real Umber", and his right boot  with Anita's "Burnt Sienna".  I painted the rock between his feet with Folk Art "Medium grey"

     At his point I painted his teeth White.  Then, after everything had time to dry, I gave the entire figure a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" using a wet brush.

        Once the wash was good and dry, I began working on highlights.  I first did highlights on his head with the base "Dove Grey"  then I painted his eyes with Americana "Olive Green". I then used the "Olive Green" to add some light highlights to his eyebrows, cheeks, and upper lip to give the impression of a green glow.  Next, I did highlights on his hair with Americana "Moon Yellow".
    I  realized I hadn't painted his neck cord, or hat band, so I painted those in with Americana "Khaki Tan". I then highlighted the hat with the base "Khemri Brown".   I did highlights on his shirt, pants, and boots with the base colors as well.  I did highlights on his sack with the base "Butter Pecan", and then painted the stitching on the side with Accent "Mustard Seed".  The scythe handle was highlighted with the base "Mississippi Mud".  I finished up by painting the scythe blade with Accent "Princely Pewter", then going along the edges with Folk Art "Silver Sterling" to add  highlights.
      I let the figure sit overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Later that afternoon I flocked the base, using some plain green flock mixed with some of the tiny roof grit and leaf debris that had gathered in the splash guard at the base of our house's downspouts.   The next day I sprayed the figure with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

     I'm really pleased with how this fellow turned out.  Particularly the glowing eyes, which I usually find hard to do .