Holiday 'jacks

I had a tournament last week that essentially had the requirement of doing up a 'jack or 'beast in a winter holiday theme. I went through a bunch of ideas, and eventually settled on a few non-offensive, labor-light ones -- a Santa hat for the Deathjack, the Ghost of Christmas Past for the Harrower (to guide the ghost shot cannon) and the reindeer horn that Max from "the Grinch" wore for the Leviathan. It didn't all turn out quite that way, as you'll see, but I'm happy with what I ended up with.


First off -- this is the Ghost of Christmas Past. It's an old Necromunda model; I never played the game, so I don't know what it's supposed to represent. All I know is I saw it used for 99 cents about 10 years ago, loved it, and grabbed it. I haven't found a good use for it since, but it was perfect in this role. If I find another use for it -- and I may, if the newly spoiled merc requires extra goons to represent his zombers -- this paint job will get stripped.

Speaking of the paint job, it was super-simple. Citadel's gray paint-on primer, followed by a mix of ComArt Colour's "Transparent Forest Green" with P3's "Turquoise Ink"; I then drybrushed layers of Citadel gray paint-on primer (typically a no-no, it's really thick) and "Skull White." Finally, I went over the deep recesses like his eyes with a very, very light black wash made from Citadel's "Chaos Black."


And here's Max's sad reindeer horn, tailor-made for the Leviathan! So, why's it on the Harrower? Because I'm an idiot. I was doing the final touches the night before the tournament, got enamored of the Harrower, and just forgot what I was doing. In my defense, the two 'jacks share a chassis.


The brass wire is the worst part of the actual modeling I did. I felt rushed and couldn't make it look nice; it was also incredibly awkward. If I spent another 45 minutes on it, I could have made it look nicer; as it was, I was up too late, so called it square after getting it on. The antler turned out really nicely, though. By this time, I wasn't in any mood to paint the guy -- I really shoulda done more work earlier in the week -- so this is how I went to the tourney. (This was also the worst angle to see it.)


This is the final Harrower. It looks really decent for a slap-together job, if I do say so myself. The wreath is made of pipe cleaner, obviously, which I bought for 99 cents 'special for the occasion.


Oh, poor Leviathan. He was demoted from Santa-Grinch's special reindeer-dog-'jack to "here, hold this wreath" guy. It's OK, though -- he blew chunks for me in the tourney. (That wasn't entirely his fault -- the one game I played with him, I botched two really, really important dice rolls that I needed to make to protect him. There's literally nothing you can do about it when you're rolling 4s vs. a 5+ on 3d6.)


This is the Santa hat, in the "ugly stage."


And here's the final Santa hat, on the final thing most troops ever see. "I bring the gift -- of death!" Yeah, we get it Deathjack. It's in your name, too, we know. Showboat.

I've been working, I promise

It's been a busy week. Between "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" and a surprise extra shift at work, I've been less than productive on the miniatures front. That doesn't mean I haven't been working -- I'm just not painting or modeling at a rate that I'd like.

So I'll round up what I've been playing with and working on.


This is that Bog Trog featured in the last Bog Trog post. I've been looking at him all week, angry that I haven't had a wakeful moment to knock him out and simultaneously daunted by all the white on him. I finally just bucked up and got some color on a lot of the unpainted areas today.


Clearly, there's more to be done. I've got to highlight his reds, his talons need to be blackened, the brass isn't applied yet, his eyes aren't done, and there's a handful of highlights and yellows that need to be added to his skin and scales. Still, it almost looks done now!


On Safiya's urging, I bought a glaze medium for my acrylics. (Anthony had suggested something similar.) As usual, advice from real artists trumps my bullheaded approach; the glazes it makes are wonderful. It's like painting with washes, but the glazes have a heavier consistency, making them easier to control.


I assembled my Bloodgorgers. They're easy to put together -- two pieces for grunts, three for commander -- and don't need much green stuff. I plan to field them at the upcoming tournament; they might even have primer on them by then! I also put together my Thrullg; I'll get a picture of him up later. (He's the squid-man that makes my gator army a thing of beauty.)


These wooden puzzle toys were a buck each at Michael's. They're big and tantalizing -- I want to make terrain featuring them sometime. The dragon in the foreground will get some green stuff and be added as a fossil to a rock outcropping.


The snake has fewer problems, from a modeling standpoint, than the dragon; after some green stuff, he'll be turned into part of an evil altar. (Those seem to pop up repeatedly in my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, so I'll get a fair bit of mileage out of it.)


That tournament I mentioned earlier? It's got a holidays theme to it. Players get a slight bonus for decorating their 'jacks or warbeasts; I've settled on three different, temporary additions. The first is this elf hat.


And there's the big man himself, ol' Deathjack, in his happy hat. Dangly ball at the hat's tip is incoming.


Finally, here's that Skarre conversion. These are out-of-date photos, but they've been languishing on my hard drive and I'm not taking any more photos until I get that sword just right. Hint: that may be a while yet.


Those gaps have been filled in, but it's still looking goofy. It's been difficult getting the sword thin enough; I've been scraping and scraping. I have a feeling that, eventually, the whole sword's just going to come off and I'll pin on a replacement.


And here's Skarre with her little crabby friend. This base is definitely getting an overhaul; if I'm really ambitious, I'm also going to clip off her horns and re-pin them to her forehead. It's going to be rough work, but dear lord are her horns hideous the way they are now.

Not a lizard

Been a while since my last update. I've actually been playing Warmachine (gasp, I know), burned through the seven hours of a StarCraft II trial (kinda meh, kinda fun) and took a long look at my Cryx lists. Eight weeks of goofing around with different casters and lists, and it's time to buckle down with a serious army so I know what I'll be painting.

Anyway, further Skarre work:

This is the final dagger. I'd curled what was going to be a snake ornament around the blade, but couldn't get it to look right, so this is the final. The rope is a tiny homage to the whips that Satyxis Raiders use.

My apologies for the fuzzy photo, but every one of them came out of focus. This is the hatch for coal that powers warcaster armor.

And this little guy will be on Skarre's base. He's small -- his body is just a little larger than the hatch on the above photo. I'm patiently waiting for the "Skarre has crabs" jokes from opponents as they point at my Leviathan and Harrower; my witty response will be POW 13, POW 13, POW 13, Sacrificial Strike. Who's laughing now, sucker? Me and my parasites, that's who.

The final treatment -- maybe -- will be an extension on Takaryx, Skarre's sword. It's a little -- anemic, maybe, next to her dagger. Perhaps emasculated.

I'm also considering a cape, but that's going to involve a lot of forethought which I simply may not be capable of. Seriously, I'd have to measure out her warcaster armor, cut a cape that would go around it, green stuff in inevitable gaps and oh my god I'm bleeding from the thought of the work bleeding.

By the way, Nerima Daikon Brothers is on Hulu. It's hilarious, and you should be watching. Warning: it's racy.

Not a lizard

One of my favorite Cryx warcasters -- perhaps my favorite after Goreshade -- is Skarre Ravenmane. In the original version of the game, she was not only a kick-ass lady, but her "Skarre bomb," as her Sacrificial Strike became known, was one of the early game's signature powerful abilities. However, there was one problem -- her model was terrible.

(Stolen from Privateer Press)

It's very awkward and 2-dimensional. Even that gorgeous paint job and picture taken from the miniature's "good side" can't hide how bad the design is. I sucked it up because Skarre was my go-to girl, but kept my eye out for a replacement miniature. I'd get my chance soon enough.

(Also stolen from Privateer Press)

A few years down the line, Privateer Press released a series of Iron Kingdom role-playing game minis. I ignored most of them, but one of the models in the set was a gun-toting, sword-wielding Satyxis. Color me sold. There were a few immediate problems: that gun and holster on her left hip would have to go -- Skarre wouldn't learn to use a gun until "Superiority"; she'd need a ritual dagger in her left hand; and I'd need warcaster armor on her back.

This is the first go. The gun was clipped off and the area sanded down. In a fit of impatience that I'm going to regret later, I didn't green stuff in the missing portions of her holster's belt, as you can see. I then clipped off a scythe head from an ancient Warhammer Fantasy skeleton arm and pinned it on a paperclip. Next, I twisted her arm out with a pair of pliers and then glued the scythe blade into her hand.

Yes, it's a large blade. It's a miniature game and it's a ritual implement, so you'll have to forgive me.

The base, as you can see, is miserable. It's going to need a major overhaul. Just what I'm going to do, though, I'm not sure yet.

This is the warcaster armor. It's an old Space Marine backpack -- possibly Chaos flavor, but don't quote me on that -- with the vents clipped off and the top trimmed back and sanded down. Green stuff replaced some of the trimmed areas. The vents are skulls from the same Warhammer Fantasy skeleton set. Some green stuff was used to cover up the paperclips.

That's the warcaster armor on the back now. I also put a few green stuff bindings on the dagger, but it's not done yet -- not by a long shot. That blade is way too long to not get some kind of ornamentation; it's also the source of Skarre's signature ability, so it needs to stick out.

I didn't get a good shot of the back. Here's more of the front.

Finally, here's the work I've done so far on the dagger. I'm forcing myself to experiment with green stuff, including different levels of cures; the bindings were sculpted from green stuff that was near the end of its workability. They're not perfect; next time I do something like that, I'm going to make sure the green stuff still has some tack.