The Time Has Come

     As many of my regular readers may have noticed over the last couple months, my posts have become less than regular.  I have found over the course of this past year, my interest in painting Bones figures has dropped considerably.  My attention has been grabbed by other projects, and my Fantasy based gaming has all but dwindled to nothing.  

     I'm not going to say a permanent goodbye, as I don't know if this is temporary; and somewhere down the line I might pick up a Bones figure again and be inspired, or get a new set of rules that spurs my interest and need to paint more of this sort of figure.  

My first completed Bones Kickstarter figures, posted June 27th 2013.

     

     I began this blog in June of 2013 as a means to spur me on to painting the entirety of my Bones 1 purchase, and over the past 9 years it has expanded so much further than what I could have imagined; I've painted figures from 5 Bones Kickstarters now (6 counting the first CAV Kickstarter.)   And it's hard to believe that Bones 6 just finished its campaign a couple months ago.  I haven't purchased much from that on, as even then I was beginning to feel Bones saturated.   

     I want to thank all the readers who have stopped by over the years, and especially those who would leave a comment or two.  It was your enthusiasm that spurred me on over the years.    So, farewell for now.  Hopefully, I'll see you all around the internet. 

 

Not Bones, But A Big Terrain Project!

     For the past three weeks, all my hobby time has been taken up with a big terrain project I am doing for a "Wars of Ozz" game I'll be helping run at Historicon in July:  making the walls for an Attack on the Emerald City" game.  

    Besides painting Reaper Bones, my other big figure painting effort is currently figures for the "Wars of Ozz" rules by Old Glory.  I was part of the playtest group that helped develop the rules, and now that in-person conventions are resuming I will be helping with the demo games as well.  

   So in the end, this means I didn't have time to complete any figures this past three weeks.  I thought that instead perhaps, I would show some photos of the wall project in progress. I know it's not Bones, but it's all I have to offer at the moment.

Over the course of two sessions, a group of us on the "Wars of Ozz" demo team got together and spend several hours cutting and gluing all the parts for the wall. 

We then assembled everything.

Then it was time to base coat everything with a paint and Mod-Podge mixture.

I then worked on painting the walls.  I have them completed now, so will be turning my attention to building and painting the towers. 

This is the info about the game.  

Suit of Armor: Bones 5 Figures

     This past week I continued to work on the Bones 5 Core Armory set and painted up a pair of the "Suit of Armor " figures.  I had one from the Core Set, and one from an additional Armory set I had pledged for from the Core break out offerings .  

     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 each of them to a 7/8" grey-primed metal washer with some Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the figures to a large craft stick with a couple drops of Elmer's glue. 

     I began by painting the figures entirely with Ceramcoat "White".  I let that dry, and then gave both pieces a complete coat of slightly thinned Citadel Contrast "Templar Black".

     When the "Templar Black was dry, I drybrushed them with Ceramcoat "Metallic Silver".  I then did follow-up drybrush coats with Reaper MSP "Polished Silver", and a lighter final drybrush with Reaper MSP "Sophie Silver"

     Next, I gave the support pole on the back of each figure a coat of Citadel Contrast "Snakebite Leather".  After that, I painted the belt on each one with Crafter's Acrylic "Cinnamon Brown", and the platform each stands on with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".

     I then gave the belts a wash with Citadel Shade "Agrax Earthshade", and the platforms a wash of Citadel Shade "Nuln Oil".  I let those washes dry, and then I highlighted the belts with Americana "Sable Brown", and I did a drybrush highlighting on each platform with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey".  I also added highlights to the support poles with DecoArt Dazzling Metallics "Bright Brass".  Lastly, I went back and did some spot highlights on some of the rivets with the "Sophie Silver".

     I let the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figures with Testor's "Dullcote". 

     I happy with how these turned out with a quick paint job on them.  Not perfect, but just right for some nice scenery.

Scale Armor Rack: Bones 5 Figure

     This past week I painted up a pair of the "Scale Armor Racks" from the Bones 5 Core Set Armory addition.  I had one from the Core Set, and one that I pledged for from the Core Set  break out Armory set.   Since I had just posted last week (due to Easter weekend putting me behind), I picked these simple figures to do. (And I barely managed that, finishing them only today!)

     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 each of them to a 7/8" grey-primed metal washer with some Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the figures to a large craft stick with a couple drops of Elmer's glue. 

      I began painting by giving all the scale armor and the helmets a coat of Ceramcoat "Black".  When dry, I drybrushed it with Folk Art Metallic "Gunmetal Grey".  I then went over it lightly with a drybrush of Reaper MSP "Polished Silver". 

     Next, I painted the wood rack bases with Crafter's Acrylic "Cinnamon Brown", and the belts with Accent "Real Umber".  I let these dry, and then gave them a wash with Citadel Shade "Agrax Earthshade".   When the wash was dry, I painted the back of the shields with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".

     I then drybrushed the rack base with Americana "Sable Brown".    Next, I painted the shield faces with Americana "Snow White".  When the white was dry, I painted two of the rings on the left one with Americana "True Blue", and two of the rings on the righthand one with Speed Paint "Blood Red".    After that, I painted the riveted ring with the "Gunmetal Grey".  I let the shield faces dry, and then gave them a wash with Citadel Shade "Nuln Oil".   

     When the wash was dry, I highlighted the white with the base "Snow White", highlighted the blue with the base "True Blue", and highlighted the red with Reaper MSP "Fresh Blood".    Lastly, I went around and did spot highlighting on the metal with the "Polished Silver, and highlighted the belts with Folk Art "Teddybear Brown".  I finished by then painted the bases with Americana "Neutral Grey".  

     Since I was painting thee right up to the wire, I didn't have time to do a final brush on matte varnish, or spray.  Hopefully I can get to that in the next day or two.  Here, however are the finished paint jobs. 

    I'm generally pleased with how these turned out.  They're not perfect, but as minor terrain pieces, I don't think they have to be. 

     Bones 6 ended this past weekend.  Like others, I did not find this one to be as tempting as ones in the past.  I don't know if it's my overabundance of unpainted stuff from Bones 4 & 5, or the lack of a lot that interested me, but I went in at the beginning for a Core Set pledge and never raised it at all.   In the end, I don't think I'll even get the Core Set... there just wasn't enough in it that I thought I would have a use for, since my gaming is primarily wargaming, not RPGs.   I think I will get the Lighthouse,  the Owlbear Legendary Tale Encounter, the Phoenix Egg Legendary Tale Encounter, and one or two Orc Add-ons.    Not sure what else.  Possible the Storm Goddess simply because she's an exclusive. 

   So, what did you all pledge for, if anything? 

Random thoughts:

    1)  Interesting that Reaper is just going ahead and calling the bigger pieces "Exclusives", after a series of big pieces from past Kickstarters that never actually made it to retail. 

    2)   Where were all the Encounter sets?  One of the big hits of Bones 5 was the Encounter sets.  These sets had a handful of figures and some cool terrain.   There were only 3 this time, and two of them came very late in the game.

    3)  I'm not liking Reapers increasing tendency to produce cartoon-like figures.  So many of them have faces, and body proportions that look like they're straight from a Disney or Pixar movie.  I really perfer more realistic stuff.  I'm not a fan.

No Figure This Week. :(

     Over the past two weeks I've been working slowly on the "Andromedan Hunter" figure from the Bones 4 Chronoscope Expansion as a change of pace from doing the Dwarves last time.   Unfortunately, with the Easter Holiday this past weekend, and company staying into this week, I was not able to finish the figure, so I hope to get it posted next Monday.   Apologies for the delay.

New Posting Schedule Reminder: 1st & 3rd Mondays

     I just wanted to remind my readers, as I announced a couple weeks ago, I am changing my new figure posting schedule to now be only on the first and third Monday of each month.  So please tune back in on December 6th for my next post.  See you then!

No Post this Week

   I was out of town for a memorial service Friday through Sunday, so was unable to finish painting a figure, or even get a partial post written up.  Please stay tuned for next week, when hopefully regular Monday posts will resume.

 

Post Tomorrow

    Due to time constraints, I'm not going to be able to put my usual post up today.  I have the figure finished, just no time to edit the photos, and write it up.  So see you tomorrow! 

Figure Delayed This Week

      Just a quick post to let you all know that I didn't get a figure finished in time to post this week.  The weekend turned out to be really busy, and I didn't get my usual painting time in.  Also, the figure I'm working on, the Fish Seller, from the Dreadmere Expansion, turned out to be much more difficult to work on than anticipated.

     There's a couple problems with this figure that have really been slowing me down.  First, this is a figure that should not come pre-glued.  The cart, hands, arms, and front of the bent-over woman are just all too close and cramped, and it is really difficult to get in there to paint any of it.  Second, the cart is designed so there is a lot of areas that should be open that are sculpted solid; for example, the area between the woman and cart is solid plastic, and the area under the cart between the wheels is solid plastic.  Likewise, the cubby hole where the tentacles are solid.  This means a lot of weird optical issues to try and hide.  And thirdly,  the sculpting of the cart is problematic.  The net areas are sculpted with the net cut into the model, not raised.  This means simply dry brushing, or carefully painting, the lines of the net is not an option.  You have to somehow paint the cuts, either before or after painting the what one would assume is the dark shadowed interior of whatever is behind the nets.  Also, the relief of everything sculpted on the cart, the knives, wheels, etc. is very thin, so painting these thin or narrow pieces and staying in the lines is hard, and there is lots of having to go back and paint over mistakes.  

    At this point it  looks like I will be posting it next Monday.  So please stay tuned!

No New Bones Today!

    Just a note to let you all know that I was unable to get a figure ready for today.  A carton of bad milk laid me low on Tuesday, and it took me a bit to bounce back.   Here's a work-in-progress shot to tide you over until next week!  

    So who all backed the Bones 5 Kickstarter, and is excited for its arrival in April?  What sets are you most looking forward to?  For me it's the Dwarf King's Crypt, and Dark Depths.  I got 2 of each! 

No Figures For the Rest of 2020

   I just wanted to let folks know, that with the holidays squarely upon us now, I will not be posting any more Bones painting projects today, and the two weeks following.  Things have just gotten really busy, and I haven't found enough time to paint in order to get stuff completed.  The plan is to have my next post ready for Monday January 4th.    

     See you all in 2021, and please have a safe and happy holiday!

A Social Isolation Painting Hiatus

   As my regular readers my have noticed, I haven't posted any figures the past couple of weeks.   I've found that as the Covid crisis continues and this period of home quarantine goes on, I have increasingly lost my ability to concentrate on the level of detail that painting figures requires.  It is a little frustrating, as I see others using this opportunity to greatly reduce their unpainted mini piles.  However, I find some comfort in seeing that I'm not alone, as here and there I see comments in different fora from others who find concentrating in this time of crisis a difficult thing to achieve.
     This is not to say I've been creatively inactive. I've found I can still focus on working on bigger painting projects, and building things.  In that vein, I have been working slowly, as my ability permits, on an assortment of Leonardo DaVinci style landship vehicles for a club project to do a  Leonardo themed "tank" battle at Historicon using modified version of the  "What a Tanker!" rules.
   Here are some of things I've been working on:

     I've also entered into the world of long-distance wargaming using FaceTime and Discord, to continue playtest work on the "Wars of Ozz" project being done by Old Glory/Blue Moon and rules author Buck Surdu. You can find a number of those battle reports over on my One More Gaming Project blog.

    Hopefully, as time goes on I will find my concentration again, and get back to painting figures.  For the time being I'm just going to continue to move at my own pace creatively, and wait for the muse to strike again.  So please check back every week or so, hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back to posting more Bones!

No New Bones Again This Week

    Just a note to let readers know, that once again my painting time was taken up with getting Ozz figures ready for Cold Wars.  That's pretty much going to be the drill until after the con, so I will not by posting again until March 23, when I will be back to regular posting with new Bones.  My apologies for the break in regular posts.
 For those who are interested in learning more about the Wars of Ozz rules and figure lines, you can check out the website:  WarsofOzz or Facebook Group: WarsofOzzFacebook

No Figure Today. :(

     Just wanted to let my readers know that I didn't get a Bones figure completed for this week.  I was busy painting figures for demo games we're going to be doing at the upcoming Cold Wars convention of a new rules set and figure line that Old Glory/Blue Moon is going to be releasing soon called "Wars of Ozz".  Here's some shots of the Wizard Zoraster, some of the Munchkin figures I've been working on, and one from a playtest we did Friday.

Reaper Miniatures Bones 5 Kickstarter Announced!

Stop the presses!   Last night on their Reaper Live video show, the folks at Reaper announced their new Bones 5 Kickstarter, which will be launching on or near September 5th 2019!   Stay tuned for details!
    To check out the video for yourself, see: Reaper Live Ep. 38

Reaper Nativity Set (Metal)

   Happy New Year's Eve everybody.  It's been a hectic week here this past week between Christmas Day and today, so, though I got a Bones figure all ready to paint, I never got a chance to work on it.  Instead, I thought I'd show off the Reaper Nativity set I painted for my wife for Christmas, even though it's metal.  Unfortunately, due to time again, I didn't get it totally done yet.

    I decided I wanted to set the nativity in the more historical cave setting, than in the traditional wooden stable; so I set about using broken up cork tiles to make the cave.  I used hot glue to stack them on a tree cross-section I got at the local big box craft store.

This is the kind of tile I used to make the cave.

Back view.

     I added a little hidden compartment in the top that I could place a small tea-light in order to illuminate the interior.

Top view.

     I first painted Mary, Joseph, and the Baby.

   And then as time allowed, I painted the Sheep and Shepherd, since they were quick and simple figures.

    And this is how it looked all put together.  There is a Donkey yet, and the three Wise Men, that will be added.  I eventually would like to add an appropriate Angel, and perhaps a Cow as well, though they are not included in the kit.

See you all in 2019!   It's hard to believe, but the arrival of the Bones 4 Kickstarter could be in less than two months!

No Figure Again, Sorry!

   Well, last week's under-the-weather turned into a serious electrolyte problem this week, and I've spent the last few days in the hospital while the doctors sorted out what was causing it, and came up with a solution for fixing it.  In fact, I just got home this afternoon.   So needless to say, I was unable to finish the figure I had been working on.    I may be able to squeeze in finishing it in the next couple days, but this weekend is the Fall-In convention; so I can't make any promises that I'll have it for next Monday. 
   In the meantime, here's a preview! 

No Figure Today

     Hey, readers.  I've been a bit under the weather the past few days, and so wasn't able to get a figure finished to post today.   Fingers crossed I'll have one ready for next Monday!

Project Avalanche!

   I wasn't able to get a figure completed this week, as I found myself a bit buried in a number of different projects.
    A couple weeks ago, I recived my shipment from Secret Weapon's "Tablescape Dungeons: Mines" Kickstarter, and as rain and  humidity cooperated, I got them all spray primed.  This past week, I have been giving them their initial drybrush of Base Grey.  I'm using Dwarven Forge paints, based on their "How to Paint Dungeon Tiles tutorial, so hopefully they'll fit in a little better with my existing DF stuff.

   At the same time, I got a box of Perry's plastic War of the Roses troops, and since I got back from Historicon I have been busy assembling them in preparation for priming and painting; because (fool that I am!) I signed up to run a game with them at our club's regional con, BARRAGE, in two months!   So 40 of them need to get painted in 60 days!

   Even with these projects going on, I have been duly working on my next Bones post, having made good headway on my next figure, Ingrid, Female Viking; from the Bones 2, Heroes I set.

     I also got Goremaw, from Bones 3 Optional Rewards all washed, assembled, based, and ready to go.  I even got a first coat of purple slapped on him.   

      So I'm going to head back to the paint table now, and I will see you next Monday with my finished (finders crossed!) Ingrid!

No Figure This Week: A Painter Disarmed

    Sorry, folks, I wasn't able to paint a figure this week.  Last Monday I had some surgery on my arm, that has put me out of commission for a while.   Hopefully, in a few days, I may be functional enough to start painting again, and if possible, get something done for the next week.   It all depends on how quickly the healing goes.  See you next Monday!