Memory lane and the Obligatory Halloween post

That's right, the obligatory Halloween post, a Halloween themed Memory lane and of course, the naughty trick or treater pic that assuredly brought most of you here.(Shame, shame)

Tis the season for all things undead and nasty, so I thought I'd post up some Memory lane pics of a few of the grosser Cryx things I have painted.
Of course the Grossest of all would have to be the Bloat thrall(don't think privateer makes a nastier fig)
My wife wouldn't even pick this one up when I brought it for her to look at after painting. I thought that was a fantastic accomplishment at the time! :)

                                         HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Cygnaran Poster Boy

I really cant tell you what possessed me to pick this guy up after years of sitting partially painted. I rarely play my Cygnar. So rare in fact that I haven't even picked up a MKII Card set for them.
Regardless though, something made me pull this guy out of the drawer of shame and start working on him.
I'm glad I did though,  as I think he turned out fairly well. The base may be a bit fruity, but I thought he needed a little color and visual appeal to help with all the dark metals and blue up top.
Perhaps having a "new" caster all finished for Cygnar will give me the push I need to finally get around to that awesome Thunderhead which has been sitting, only primed for nearly as long as Stryker had been!

And a WIP from earlier.

 

Red Box games Diorama

I have had a diorama in my head for quite sometime now, and I've been tossing around ideas for different figure manufacturers to meet my vision for the diorama. My plan is to have a small band of elves on a wooded trail that are ambushed by goblins.
Perhaps a little unimaginative but it will be my first endeavor into dioramas, so I wanted to try something that I could easily picture and find the right figures for.
The Diorama is intended as a gift for this Christmas, so I am on a pretty strict timetable to get a lot of painting done. 

Well, I got an email from redbox games the other day that Tre Manor(the owner) is liquidating his metal stock to start casting his line in plastic. So everything left in the shop was 40% off, woohoo! After looking pretty extensively over the entire range, I found the figs that seemed to fit just right.
Unfortunately, I went back just yesterday to order a few more and they are all basically gone. Yikes!

The ones I did order came in the mail yesterday, and man, they are awesome! I knew they were on the small side being that they are true 28mm scale, but they are even smaller than I had first thought, which I think, adds a different and cool feeling to them.
the goblins I ordered are by far the smallest of the bunch but now that I see them, it seems much more fitting to have them be tiny. Goblins in general have been getting bigger and bigger over the years, and I think that really goes against the original vision of what they were supposed to be. In my mind, I imagine goblins barely reaching a mans waist.
So, needless to say, I am pleased with the figs.....although, I may have to buy a magnifying glass to paint them.

Heres a few pics to show you what they look like and I went ahead and put a Privateer press man sized fig in there to give you an idea of how tiny they really are.

Hers the whole group of figs that will be present in the scene. I think I will have to find a replacement part for the far left elves sword. Was bent pretty bad in shipping and doesn't seem to be salvageable.

Extreme Ivan!

Well, after paint night, I powered through and got this big bugger finished. Really had a good time painting him, that is.....after my fingers un-kinked from their seemingly permanent, claw like position!
This is another commission to go with all the other Khador stuff I've been doing.
I think its pretty fitting to have Ivan based on an Extreme jack chassis, as it makes him very imposing.
When he was finished I sat him on the shelf next to the rest of my own Khadorans, and he made them look pretty small and pitiful. :(
Now Ive just got to make it through extreme Beast 09, and this part of the commission will be completed.

EndZone paint night and IKRPG start

Well, after a bit of a break for the end of summer activities that always seem to zap everyone's time, we were able to get together and have another very enjoyable paint night.
Lots of painting going on of course, but a lot of people were there to get help on setting up a character for an Iron Kingdoms RPG session that will start early next month.
As of right now, I will be playing a Dwarven Ranger/Arcane mechanic.
That could change as I get more familiar with the rules though. Really just going for what sounds cool at the moment. My good buddy grim will be playing a Dwarven Military officer(retired)/bounty hunter.
Our Dwarves will be brothers that were booted out of the Rhulic military for some unknown reason, and moved to Northern Khador to open up a mechanics shop.
My dwarf does the work in the shop and Grims dwarf hunts down those that don't pay up.
That's how our back-story sits as of right now anyway.  More as things progress over the next few weeks!
I really only ended up painting for a small portion of the night, but I did get some good progress done on the Extreme Black Ivan I'm working on. as soon as I get some decent pics snapped, you'll be able to see him in all of his beat up, rusted glory. :)

 The table where most of the paint was happening.

 And, the character building table.

Weekend WIP's

Well, I found a few more minutes this weekend to put some paint on a few figs.
Black Ivan and Janissa are both commissions for locals. This is the first Troll I've ever worked on (barring Boomhowler that is) and so far it has been pretty enjoyable. All the large, exaggerated features really make painting a breeze.
The owner of the figure asked for an orangey-brown skin tone along with purple cloth as the base colors. Hopefully she is looking Orange enough.
Black Ivan is just base coats for now, but by the end he will be severely beat up and battle damaged. Oh, and if you couldn't tell....yup, he's an extreme jack. Oh, the hand cramps in store for me. :(

I also busted out my alt Stryker fig to work on. I'm finding it very difficult since he is primed black, but I did add a few glazes here and there and get some paint on that wild hair!
He was one of the few dozen figs that I had already primed when I decided to make the transition from black to white primer.
Most of those figs are sitting in partially finished states as I really just dont enjoy painting over black any longer.
I know i could strip all of them back to bare metal, and I probably will someday, but that never seems to be top priority when I find some hobby time.

Thanks for lookin!

Confrontation: Tir-Na-Bor Khor warrior

Decided I needed to power through painting a fig just to try and get myself out of this no-hobby funk.
The Khor warrior from my weekend WIP's was the lucky winner.
I'm still bummed that hes such a crappy cast but other than that, I like the way he turned out.
I may try to incorporate more Orange into the next one as the silver did get a tad overpowering on this one.
Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking.

Also, since reading seems to be the thing that is taking up most of my hobby time lately I thought I'd turn you on to the series I'm working on.                                                                                             

After finishing up the most recent Dresden files novel by Jim Butcher, I was scrambling for more Urban fantasy Novels. 

M.L.N Hanover's  "The Black Suns Daughter" series has fit the bill nicely.  After burning through the first one in just a few days, I'm well into the second one and I have to say they are a very good, action heavy read.

Weekend WIP's

Actually found some time this weekend to sit and paint for a bit. Got a little work done on a bunch of figures, so I thought I'd show you the WIP's.
If you are wondering why the Khor Warrior looks so pitted and nasty.....that's because he is! Geesh, what a joke. It has definitely made him a lot more difficult to paint. Hopefully he turns out and looks just fine after all said and done.
I also threw in a pic from a challenge over on my other collaborative  blog the Geek Garage. We were supposed to be finished with our entries at the end of August, so needless to say, I have been slacking all around.