Geeky Hobbies: More mini painting

It has been awhile since I’ve taken some pics of finished miniatures, but this is what I do to relax. Those of you who aren’t familiar with this hobby, just keep in mind that the round bases on these are about the size of a quarter.

First up are some units for Warmachine.

Croes Cutthroats. These were an attempt at doing camo patterns. Minis are so small that free handing a camo pattern usually looks terrible.

Croes

Here’s a detail on the pattern. Basically it is using little bits of sponge as a brush.

Croe camo

And details. I put a little extra work into the leader’s face.

Croe detail

Legionaires. This unit was an experiment in speed painting. Total elapsed time, not counting spray priming and letting that set, was about 5 hours for 14 figs. I zenithal primed, then painted light grey base coats and used lots of washes. I went for a very monchromatic look.

Legion

Recently I got an air brush and started experimenting with it. These next two warjacks were air brushed green and shaded, then I just went back and did some simple details and rust effect. I’m liking this air brush thing. 🙂

The big guy.

Laborjack 2

The little guy.

Laborjack 1

The next individual figs are either for Warmachine the game, or for the upcoming next Writer Nerd Game Night Iron Kingdoms RPG campaign.

Lynissa

For my merc army, Lynissa

For the WNGN for Tony, this is from Hell Dorado, and I’m really really happy with how this one came out. My iPhone camera doesn’t do it justice. This is one of the best I’ve ever done.

Paladin alt

And the back

Paladin 2

Painting white and making it actually look good is a challenge, and takes a lot of layers, though I cheated and started over a tan base coat to make it look weathered.

Khador & Cygnar 1

Then these two are for WNGN. The red and green one is actually a sci-fi Infinity model, but I sculpted the tricorn hat and mask out of green stuff to make him a proper steampunk highwayman. The other fig is brighter than my normal tastes, but Pat requested festive. 🙂

Khador & Cygnar 2

Other side.

Then this one is for Steve. And it was tough finding a steampunk gunslinger magical Raylan Givens, but we did. The fig is from Malifaux.

Raylan

Then here are some other misc. figs I’ve painted over the last couple of months. The IKRPG knight was my Sir Chuck Finley for the charity game I ran last weekend.

Knight

These guys weren’t for anything in particular, but just looked badass. Figs are Hell Dorado and Malifaux.  The colors on the knight really pop in person.

Minis

And this big dude with the hammer was fun to paint.

Augustinius 1

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15 thoughts on “Geeky Hobbies: More mini painting”

  1. Where do you find items to customize the bases of your minis? I was searching online, and I can’t seem to get the search terms right. Mini decorations seems to bring up items for a dollhouse. Mini customiztions seems to bring up sites that make entire custom minis.

    Advice?

    1. Go to places like FRP Games or Miniatures Market or The Warstore, then search for “bits”. Secret Weapon makes a line of custom bases also.

      1. Thanks! I’m going on a trip for my b-day. We’re going to have some quality tabletop time, so I’m pretty excited to make an excellent mini.

    2. I would run a search along the lines of “28mm basing materials”, substituing whichever scale you’re using as appropriate. The stuff that I use on my own minis is a combination of the flocking materials that my local store carries (Gale Force 9 brand, iirc), and some molding gel that I picked up from my local art supply store.

  2. Niiiiiice work. 🙂 I haven’t painted for awhile, but this summer, I might pick up some Mantic Forgefather figures and swap out the Warhammer Fantasy Dwarf figs in my proxied “Space Dwarf” 40K army.

  3. Very impressive Larry. My chosen poison is Warhammer 40k, but I appreciate all good minis. Malifaux minis are excellent and provide a wide range.

    1. I started playing 40K back in ’87 and I’ve stuck with because of how much time and money I’ve invested and because I don’t want to learn a new gaming system. I still haven’t decided if 6th Edition 40K is awesome or a trainwreck. Or just an awesome trainwreck.

  4. As someone who’s done my fair share of action figure customization and painting over the years (I did a whole slew (stopped counting at 100) of DC characters (mostly Legion of Superheroes) utilizing the old marvel 5″ figures), I’ve got to say that your attention to detail is amazing. The grass and pebbles at their feet look so real that they distract from the rest of the figure. Kudos on the eyes too… I had enough trouble getting them right at my scale, and you’re about 2/3 to half the scale I worked at… I know that takes some patience and practice. It’s almost enough to turn a stress reliever into a stress inducer. These are done very well.

    I think work in progress pics would be interesting to see as well. What are you using as your primer coat? As your sealer? What paints are you using?

    1. I use Krylon spray primer. First I spray totally black. Then I come back and hit it from directly above with a bit of white. That makes the under coat on the parts that would be getting light a little bit brighter for shading later.

      I seal using Krylong matt finish.

      Paints are primarily Reaper brand.

      1. I always used a base of Krylon grey, and to make lighter colors pop, come back with a full coat of white. Your way makes sense with a top down light scheme. Never really dug the black or brown Krylon primers. Even with white over the top of those, I had problems getting lighter colors looking right.

        Every once in a while I tried to get tricky with a masking scheme for a two tone primer approach. Worked very well sometimes, but at your scale, you’d have to have more patience than I could ever generate.

        Used testors matte for my seal coat… never found anything better in my opinion. Not sure Krylon had a matte when I was active.

        Started experimenting with pastel chalks and a dry bush technique with multiple seal coats… I liked the effect, but that was a lot of work. It will turn a flesh colored leg into a tan colored leg with the right amount of patience. Repairing scratches and wear on those types of paint schemes can be a bummer though.

        Might just have to break out my gear again and see if the creative flames are still there.

  5. I mentioned a couple of months ago that Warmahordes was suffering at my local store. So I figured I ought to mention that the game seems to be doing better now. During the last few weeks, there have typically been roughly a dozen games running on Thursday nights (the designated Warmahordes night).

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