Hand Spell Effects: Bones 5 Figures

     This past couple weeks I painted the 3 translucent Hand Spell Effects from the Spell Effects 2 set in the Bones 5 Kickstarter Core Set. 

       I prepped these figures in the usual way, soaking the pieces 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.  Once dry, I glued the parts together (hand and base) using Gorilla Gel superglue.   I then glued them to 2" primed metal washers, using the superglue again.  I then glued each washer to a pill bottle with a couple drops of Elmer's School Glue.   

     I painted these all basically in the exact same way, so only took photos of the first one.

     I began by painting the entire hand, and the swirl of magic vapor it sits on with Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish to give the paint a better surface to stick too.  When dry, I painted the grasping hand with Citadel Contrast "Iyanden Yellow", the pushing hand with Citadel Contrast "Magos Purple", and the punching hand with Citadel Contrast "Blood Angels Red".  I let these colors dry, and then painted the vapor clouds with Citadel Contrast "Aethermatic Blue".

     When the Contrast paint was dry, I painted the stonework bases with Americana "Neutral Grey".  When dry, I gave the bases a  wash with Citadel Shade "Nuln Oil". I let the "Nuln Oil" dry, and then drybrushed the bases with, first, Folk Art "Gray Green" , and then, secondly, some Americana "Dove Grey".   After the drybrushing, I went back and added a little thinned Citadel Contrast "Militarum Green" to a couple of the stones on each base; followed by doing the same with a little thinned Citadel Contrast "Aggaros Dunes" on a couple other stones, to add some visual interest.

        The next day I gave all three pieces a complete coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. 

     I think these are really cool figures, but in my opinion Reaper made them twice as big as they should have been.  With their big 2" bases they are simply huge.  I would have preferred 1" bases, with the hands likewise scaled down to about half size.  That being said, these were fun to paint, and I think really look great with just a little effort.  

Reaper Bones 6 Kickstarter Name and Date Announced!

     This week, Reaper announced the kick-off date, March 24th 2022, and theme name, "Tales From the Green Griffin",  of their upcoming Bones 6 Kickstarter.  If you'd like to  see a handful of photos of figures that are expected to be included, head over to the Bones 6 Re-Launch Hype thread on the Reaper Forums:  Bones 6 Pre-Launch Hype.

Boran Bronzebeard (A): Bones 5 Figure

     This week I finished up the first of the two "Boran Bronzebeard" figures I have. He is one of the Dwarf warrior models from the two The Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Sets that I got through the Bones 5 Kickstarter.  Between the two sets, I have 12 of the Dwarf warriors (2 each of the 6 that came in each set.  

       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 decided I would do them up as a unit for use in various wargames, so I wanted to do one of the figures up as a distinct leader, and one up as a distinct assistant leader.  So, I needed to make some conversions to the figures to make them more distinct.  

      For the one that would be the leader, I decided I would swap out his axe for a war-hammer, since all the other warriors are axe-armed, it would make him more unique.  For the second figure, I decided to take the spare axe I now had, and put it in his left hand so he would be dual-wielding. 

They were easy conversions to do. I first sliced the axe off the first figure's hand, then drilled through the raised hand on that figure. Next,I drill a hole in the lowered left hand on the second figure. I then cut the war-hammer handle into two sections, and glued each into one end of the hand.  After that, I glued the spare axe into the left hand of the second figure.  (For the completed second figure, see: Boran Bronzebeard (B).

     I then trimmed down the bases of the figures, and glued them to 1" primed metal washers, using Aleene's Tacky Glue.   I then stuck the first one  on  pill bottle with a bit of blue-tac.

      I began painting by giving all the chainmail armor 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 his face, arms, and hands with a mix of Reaper MSP "Rosy Shadow", and Reaper MSP "Bronzed Shadow".

     Next, I painted his tunic sleeves with Reaper MSP "Dreidel Blue", and his cape with Reaper MSP "Void Blue".  After that, I painted the fur on his cape with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and his shoes, belt and pouch with Reaper MSP "Noir Black".

     Then I painted his boot tops, and all the parts I planned to eventually paint metallic gold, with Accent "Mustard Seed".  I followed this with painting his beard with Reaper MSP "Auburn Shadow", his hammer handle with Reaper MSP "Chocolate Bar", and the hammer head and handle base with Americana "Zinc". 

          I noticed at that point that I had't painted the soles of his boots, so I quickly did those with Reaper MSP "Blackened Brown".  I then painted the beard holders and bracelets  with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze", and the hammer head and handle base with the "Gunmetal Grey" that I had used earlier on the chainmail. 

     I let the figure dry for a while, and then gave his face, arms, and hands a coat of Reaper MSP "Flesh Wash". I let that dry, and then gave his beard and the bracelets a wash with Citadel Shade "Agrax Earthshade".  Another drying period, and I gave a coat of Citadel Shade "Nuln Oil" to his clothing, cape, fur, hammer, and boots. 

     Once more I let all the washes dry for a while, and then began on the highlighting.  First I painted his eyes, and then highlighted his skin with the base "Rosy Shadow", mixed with varying amounts of "Reaper MSP "Rosy Skin". I then highlighted his beard with first Crafter's Acrylic "Orange Spice", and then Accent "Golden Oxide". 

   Next, I highlighted his tunic with the base "Dreidel Blue", and some Reaper MSP Bones "Tropical Blue".  I then highlighted his cape with the base "Void Blue", and some Reaper MSP "Ultramarine Blue", with some final highlight touches with a little of the "Dreidel Blue".  After that, I highlighted his boot tops with the base "mustard Seed", and highlighted the boots, belt and pouch with the base "Noir Black" with  little of the "Tropical Blue" mixed in. 

       I then highlighted the fur on the cap with the base "Storm Cloud Grey", and some Americana "Grey Sky", and then did the highlights on the war-hammer handle with some Reaper MSP "Shield Brown".  After that, I highlighted his bracelets and beard rings with some Folk Art Metallic "Pure Gold", and some Ceramcoat "Wedding Gold". I wrapped up the painting by highlighting the war-hammer with the base "Gunmetal Grey", and a little of the "Polished Silver".

      I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave him 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 "Wyldwood".  When that was dry,  I drybrushed the sand with Americana "Neutral Grey", and then a bit of Folk Art "Barn Wood".  Due to the weather, I was not able to give the figure a final spray varnish.

      In other news, way back in August of last year, I got in my head the idea to keep a couple of the figures from the Bones V Townsfolk Add-On at hand while painting, and made such and announcement when I posted about the Anchor of Damnation when I painted it: Here

   My thought was that as I had extra color dispensed from various dropper bottle paints I could use some of it to gradually apply colors to the Townsfolk.  This was a good idea, as I got base colors applied to both the figures; but the problem was I never had a time set aside to do the final finishing washes and highlights.

    Well this past week I set some time aside and finally finished those first two Townsfolk that had been languishing on my paint table in a half-completed state for a few months now.