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.

Dwarven Archway: Bones 5 Figures

     Over the past few months, I have been working on pieces from the pair of Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Sets I have from the Bones 5 Kickstarter.  This past week I did the two "Archway" pieces.  

      I prepped these terrain pieces 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 a pair of 80mm x 40mm steel bases under each one to give an underside that would stick to a magnetic storage surface.  The cavities in the underside of the arches were just a couple millimeters too short in length, so I ended up having to cut a couple notches in the underside to get the bases to fit.   I had to use a stacked pair of the steel  bases under each one so they would have the required depth to end up flush with the bottom of the arch.

     I then glued each archway to the top of a weighted prescription bottle.  (I forgot to take a "Before" shot of the arches, so we'll get right into the painting. 

     I began by painting both ahces entirely with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".  When dry, I gave both of them complete washes with Citadel "Nuln Oil" Shade.

     I let the wash dry, and then drybrushed the arches with, first,  Americana "Zinc", then Crafters Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey".

     Lastly, I did a drybrush of both pieces with Americana "Grey Sky". The next day I gave both pieces a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   The weather has been too wintery to do any spraying, so I wasn't able to give these their final Testor's Dullcote" varnish yet.    

     I'm pleased with how these turned out.  I was tempted to do something fancy, like making some of the runes glowing, but in the end I really just wanted them for plain pieces of terrain.  I added one of the Dwarf Zombies for scale. 

Durman's Ledgers: Bones 5 Figures

      Over the past few weeks, as time permitted, I worked on painting the pair of "Durman's Ledgers" I had from ordering two of the Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Set from the Bones 5 Kickstarter.  This past week I finally finished them up. 

      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 them to 1.25" primed metal washers, using Aleene's Tacky Glue.  I glued the washers to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's School Glue.

     I began by painting the bases of the bookstands with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".  I then painted the top parts of the stands with Americana "Snow White".  When dry, I used Citadel Contrast "Templar Black" to make marble-like striations on the white tops, doing some with the paint straight from the bottle, and some thinned a little.

     Next, I painted the pages of the books with Ceramcoat "White".  I then painted the cover of the lefthand book with Reaper MSP "Auburn Shadow".  I then used this color to paint the bookmark of the righthand book.  Then, I painted the cover of the righthand book with Accent "Mustard Seed", and then used this color to paint the bookmark of the lefthand book.  There appeared to be some sort of clasp mechanisms on the edges of the covers, so I painted them with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".  I also used the "Brushed Bronze" to paint the metal plates on the bookmarks.

      I let everything dry for a while,  and then gave the bookstands a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" Shade.    Then, I painted the pages of the books with Citadel Contrast "Skeleton Horde".  I followed with using some Citadel "Agrax Earthsahde" Shade on the book covers and the bookmarks.

     I let all the washes dry, and then drybrushed the bottoms of the bookstands with Americana "Zinc", Crafters Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and Americana "Grey Sky".  I then carefully applied some highlights to the tops of the bookstands with the base "Snow White". 

     Next, I drybrushed the book pages with Americana "Bleached Sand".  I then painted in some text, using Reaper MSP "Heraldic Red" for the big letters, and the "Charcoal" for the small text.  After that, I highlighted the lefthand book cover with the base "Auburn Shadow", and the lefthand book cover with the base "Mustard Seed". I finished up by highlighting the metal parts with Ceramcoat "Metallic Bronze". 

      I then painted the bases with Americana "Neutral Grey"; and when dry, I went around the outline of the bookstand bottoms with some of the "Nuln Oil".

      The next day I gave both pieces a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   Another overnight dry, and I sprayed all the pieces with Testor's Dullcote".    

     I'm really happy with how these turned out.  One of the few times the end result matched the original vision I had had in my head.

     My next post will be in two weeks on December 20th.

Dwarf Statues: Bones 5 Figures, Part 2 (Completed)

      A couple weeks ago, I started work on the pair of "Dwarf Statue" models from the two The Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Sets that I got through the Bones 5 Kickstarter.   This past week I had time to complete them.  There wasn't much left to do.

     For Part 1, see: Dwarf Statues Part 1

     I let the painting I had done in Part 1 dry for a bit, and then I gave the top part of both statues a thinned coat of Folk Art "Patina".  I let this dry, and then went back and drybrushed it with Folk Art "Celadon Green".

      I let the Statues dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.  Then when the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to glue some sand onto the bases.  When this was dry I  painted it with Citadel Contrast "Black Templar".  When that was dry,  I drybrushed the sand with Folk Art "Rock Grey", and then a bit of Folk Art "Porcelain White".  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figures with Testor's Dullcote".       

  I'm happy with these terrain pieces, and glad I decided to go with the metal and rock scheme, rather than doing them as all rock.  I still haven't perfected my verdigris bronze look yet, but am pleased with how it turned out this time.

     

Dwarf Statues: Bones 5 Figures, Part 1

      For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on painting a pair of the "Dwarf Statue" models from the pair of The Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Sets that I got through the Bones 5 Kickstarter.   

     I've come to realize that life has gotten much busier for me this year, and I'm not finding the time to paint my Bones like I used to.  Therefore, going forward, I'm going to try changing my posting schedule to just the first and third Monday's each month rather than having to do these 2-part posts that I find myself doing more and more often. 

      I prepped the pair of figures in the usual way, soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then I gave them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsed and dried them.  I then glued the figures to 2" primed metal washers with some Aleene's Tacky glue.  When that glue was dry, I glued each one to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's glue. 

     While I believe these are intended to be all stone, that felt too drab to me, so I decided I would paint the base as stone, and the tops as bronze covered in verdigris.

     So, I began by painting the bases the same way I had painted the bases of the "Everliving Flames" that belong to this set back in September.   To start, I painted the bases with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".  When dry, I  drybrushed them with, first, Americana "Zinc", and then Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey".

     Next, I did some final highlights with a bit of Americana "Grey Sky".   Then, I painted the statues with Accent "Mustard Seed"   to give a good base color; and when dry, repainted the statues with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".

     When the "Brushed Bronze was dry, I gave the top statue portions a wash with Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" Shade.   When that was dry, I drybrushed the statues with, first, Ceramcoat "Metallic Bronze", and then a little Deco Art Dazzling Metallic "Bright Brass".

    And that's as far as I've progressed.    Please tune in next Monday for the conclusion.

  

Durman's Tomb and Queen's Tomb: Bones 5 Figures.

     This past week I painted the "Durman's Tomb" model from the Bones 5 The Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Set; and I also painted the Queens Tomb conversion I did from my second "Durman's Tomb" model that I had worked on back in the beginning of the month.

    This model is actually in three parts; the lid of the tomb, the base of the tomb, and a corpse insert that fits within the tomb.  I deiced to paint each part separately, since the way the tomb is constructed required that I paint both insides and undersides of the parts.  

     I decided I wanted to paint the tombs like marble, as I figured the Dwarf royalty deserved something a little more fancy than plain carved stone. I then needed to decide on a color of marble.  Black and Red both seemed to indicate more of an evil tomb in my mind, where as white seemed to holy, and green seemed more Elvish.  This left me with blue, which I felt was a worthy color for the Dwarf King and Queen.

    The other decision I made was to not do any conversion work on the second corpse insert to make it more Queen-looking.  In practical game terms the times that the appearance of the inner corpse would matter would be so few and far between (if ever!) it did not warrant the effort it would take to do the conversion.

     I began with the pair of corpses; having pre-washed and dried them, I used a bit of blue-tac to secure them to a tongue depressor.

     I egan by painting the piece entirely with Ceramcoat "White".  When dry, I gave the floor of the tomb a coat of Citadel Contrast "Ultramarines Blue".  When this was dry, I used some Americana "Snow White" to make thin striations on the floor to make it look like marble.

     Next, Next, I painted both the bodies entirely with Citadel Contrast "Basilicanum Grey".  When dry, I went over the armor areas with Citadel Contrast "Templar Black".  Antoehr drying period, and then I drybrushed the amor with Reaper MSP "Scorched Metal".  next I did some dabbing on the metal with, first, Americana "Terra Cotta", and then, Americana "Tangerine" to give a rusty appearance.  Afterwards, I painted the heads, arms, and hands with Reaper MSP "Alien Flesh". 

     I then painted the boots with Americana "Charcoal Grey", and the soles with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".  Next, I painted the beards and hair with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and their teeth with Americana "Bleached Sand".  After that, I painted the tunics wit Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet", the belt with Americana "Asphaltum", and the boot tops with Americana "Sable Brown".

     Next, I painted the crowns with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".  I then let everything dry for a while, and afterwards gave both corpses, but specifically not the floor, a wash of Citadel Shade "Nuln Oil". 

     When the "Nuln Oil" was dry, I painted the eyes with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon", and then gave them pupils with Americana "Zinc".  Next, I highlighted the teeth with a little of the "White", and then drybrushed a little Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Gmay" over the armor.  After that, I highlighted the face, arms, and hands, with the base "Alien Skin", and added in a little Americana "Dove Grey" for lighter highlights. 

     I then highlighted the beards and hair with the base "Storm Cloud Grey", and did lighter highlights with some Americana "Grey Sky". Next, I highlighted he boots and belt with some Nicole's 'Brown", and the boot tops with the "Terra Cotta".  Lastly, I highlighted the tunics with Crafter's Edition "Purple Passion", and I highlighted the crowns with some Folk Art Metallics "Pure Gold". 

       I let the corpse inserts dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   When these were dry, I pulled them off the tongue depressor,  turned them over, and painted the undersides with the "White".  When this was dry, I applied a coat of the "Ultramarines Blue" to the underside of the inserts.  I let the inserts dry overnight again, and the next day I gave the undersides a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish as well. 

   I put those pieces aside, and began work on the tombs themselves.  The lids I affixed to a tongue depressor with blue-tac like I had done with the corpse inserts.  The tomb bottoms I glued to 2" grey primed washers, and attached these to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmers glue each. 

     Like with the inserts, I began by giving these pieces complete coats of the Ceramcoat "White".  When dry, I gave the lids and bottoms complete coats of the Citadel Contrast "Ultramarines Blue".  I let this dry, and then drybrushed the pieces with some Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue"

     I didn't feel the highlights were light enough, so I mixed some Americana "Snow White' into the "Cool Blue", and did some more drybrushing for lighter highlights.  Afterwards, I used the "Snow White" to add thin striations all over the pieces to help give the marble look.

     I then painted the bases on the tomb bottoms with Americana "Neutral Grey"; and when dry, I went around the outline of the tomb bottoms with some of the Citadel Shade "Nuln Oil".

      I let the tomb lids and bases dry overnight and the next day I gave them all a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   When this was dry, I pulled the lids off the tongue depressor,  turned them over, and painted the undersides with the "White".  When this was dry, I applied a coat of the "Ultramarines Blue" to the underside of the lids.  I let the lids dry overnight again, and the next day I gave the undersides a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish as well.   

 Another overnight dry, and I sprayed all the pieces with Testor's Dullcote".    

     I'm really happy with how these turned out.  The splotchy results the Contrast paint usually gives on flat surfaces really served well here to help give the marble look.