A Little More D&D: Painting

A couple of weeks ago, our little group played our first session of Dungeons and Dragons. Two players dropped out so we are six, including the DM. My ranger's paint job must have been good enough, three of the other players asked me to do theirs. So I'm posting the finished paint jobs here, in order of completion. All miniatures were provided by the DM and they are all from the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line.

The three newly painted adventurers (and my ranger in the back).

The male half-orc barbarian. 

I dry-brushed silver on the leather scale coat hoping for a bit of the effect of some metal scale also attached to the armour.

The female Aasimar paladin.

The female tiefling rogue. But, the DM only had male tiefling rogues available, so after seeing if it was ok with the player, I performed a little plastic surgery to the one she chose to make the sculpt a bit more feminine-looking.

The before

The changes made:

- cut off some chin that kind of looked like a goatee,

- thinned down the torso from waist to shoulders,

- used some green stuff to widen hips, fill out the bust, and add hair. 

The player gave me a character picture she liked for use as a reference for paint color, so I fashioned new upper body clothing and cape to resemble what's in the picture.

Tried to get the face visible, kind of got it here.

Steampunked: Dr. Light

I may not have written anything to do with steampunk yet. (Does dieselpunk count?)

As I have looked through my box of Heroclix awaiting modification, there was a figure that just kept on telling me how much it wanted a steampunk make over. It happened to be Dr. Light. Like many of the figures in the box, I had never heard of this character. Apparently, this one is a villain. Must be the goatee that clinches it, I'm pretty sure it was the main inspiration for a steampunk look.

The Before:

Image from coleka.com

The Afters:

He's got a light-coloured goatee and moustache that aren't so visible here.

This doctor is more geared toward controlling electricity. The right hand holds an energy collection staff, the purpose of which is to attract electrical energy from his surroundings (the air, the ground, whatever) and channel it through the heavy wire to the energy amplification device on his back. The left hand is a kind of power glove used to project the electrical energy.

Other notable parts of this mod are the removal of the original cape which is replaced by the vest, which appears to be a tailed jacket with the sleeves removed, and the amplifier. Did quite a bit of shaving down of the original's arms and legs. Cut off the top half of the original's head, to be replaced by goggles and bowler hat, also adding bumpies on the back of the head for hair.

Paints, of course, were the paint-by-numbers left-overs on top of Army Painter black primer.

A fighter from the North

Another Heroclix mod to present. Nothing really special about it, basically a generic northern fighter (maybe a Norseman). The original sculpt was a Captain America type, but it wasn't actually the Captain, I don't remember the name. An axe and a hairy vest came to mind as the thing the sculpt needed. I decided on adding a helmet a little later on.

The axe is a piece of paper clip heated and pushed through the figure's fist and the axe-head shaped on the business end. Shaping the helmet was pretty fun, maybe looks a little like an old pilot's helmet, but hey, not too bad.

Primed with Army Painter black. Paint used was all acrylic leftovers from my mom-in-law's paint-by-number sets. I thinned it down with Liquitex Slow-Dri and Flow Aid. Clear coat with Pledge Floor Care.

As a side note, just wanting to emphasize that one doesn't need to spend a whole bunch to paint a mini to table-ready condition. The paints were free. I got the two bottles of medium for a total of about $16 (with a special Michael's coupon), but they will treat a lot of these little paint pots. And the $8 bottle of Pledge is still 5/6 full after all the models I've treated with it and the experiments of mixing it in paint. I bought the Army Painter primer ($18), but I know people use Krylon spray cans to prime for less.

It's all about experimenting and having fun right? These are for playing with, not for sitting around to be admired.

A Little D&D

A neighbour and I have been trying for a while to do some gaming. I think he might have come to one of the game nights I was more or less in charge of planning a few years ago. Last year we considered trying Edge of Empire, but that didn't really go anywhere. This time, he got a group together to play Dungeons and Dragons and invited me to join.

He's played before, but this time he is trying his hand at DM for the game. As I have no clue how comfortable the players are with their names being published online, I will refer my neighbour as DM from now on.

I might have said before, I have never played D&D. There are two others in the group who are noobs like me, a father and son duo. I believe the DM's daughter and nephew, who are also joining, have played before. And there is possibly a sixth player whom I don't know anything about. In any future posts, I will refer to these people as their characters.

My character is a human ranger (so imaginative). The DM thought I was going to pick a wizard. I guess I tricked him!

He had some minis for us to use and I painted mine as soon as I could get the time. So here I post it now, all painted and ready for questing.

I tried a new idea I had for basing. Using my "circle cut from fake plastic rocks" I attempted to melt the figure base to my homemade one. It didn't work. What did work was melting the 'rock' base and moving the molten plastic into the figure base. Makes for an interesting sort of surface. I may do something to spruce it up, but I also kind of like it how it is. I should probably do some kind of wash to it. Maybe when he has a bit more experience under his belt...

Ha!

Anyway, just wanted to post after so long a drought. Cheers!

Edit: In case some reader likes this guy, he's available at The Dragon's Lair in a 2-pack (here).

Painting MtG: Elf Rangers

The next instalment in my painting practise is the group of elven rangers or archers from Arena of the Planeswalkers.

Part of this particular project was to experiment with some new-to-me paints I received a while ago. My mom in law had done some paint by number pictures and had a bag of leftover paints; those small plastic pots that come in the sets. They were acrylic so I thought it couldn't hurt to try them for painting minis. It was an interesting experience.

I may have mentioned before, but I may not have, that there's a little rule about free stuff: it's not free. You may not have to pay money for it, but more than likely you'll have to spend time

First off, the paints were very thick. It took quite a bit to thin them, for which I used water and Future Shine. It worked well enough, except for one pot where the paint acted like I was trying to apply it to a grease splattered area. It really took a lot of mixing, adding small amount of water or Future, mixing, adding, mixing... So, unless you enjoy mixing paints to the consistency you like, I guess I wouldn't recommend buying these ones if you have access to something else. It has also made me wonder if I should get a mixing medium as well.

The paints also seemed to stay tacky longer. I happened to touch one of the archers as I was transporting them to a shelf to dry and it was a bit sticky, even after sitting on the table for about 10 minutes. I wonder if it is an effect of the paints or of the Future I added.

The really nice thing about these paints is that there was a large variety in the bag. I'd guess she gave me about a hundred of these little pots and I don't think any two of them contain the same colour. I could pick three greens from about ten and two browns from seven as well as a good colour to use for fair skin. So, I guess at least part of the time I used for thinning the paints was made up by not having to mix colours.

Also experimenting with sticking moss to the bases. The glue I tried will probably not work out, but it's Testor's plastic cement, a liquid glue that looks and acts just like water, and I'm sticking moss to primer.

The finished paint jobs came out pretty well though and I'm pleased the effort didn't just go to waste like the wasteland cars I took a stab at (they look like someone drove them through a septic lagoon, of course, maybe someone did). I may still add an all-over wash just to pick out some detail, but here they are:

Organization is key!

I've decided I want to clean up and organize the games shelf a little bit. It's a floor to ceiling affair that's just over 8 feet wide. I've been placing random minis and sculpting/painting tools and materials all over amongst the board games and I think at least one shelf could be cleared of the present clutter if I modify the space to maximize the storage area. My first move is the installation of some drawers.

This bottom drawer houses my entire WH40K collection, consisting of Imperial Guards and Tyranids purchased at a thrift store, and a few Heroclix that I have rebased. The middle drawer is the Heroclix to Star Wars mods and some other minis. Top drawer is Pirates of the Spanish Main ships.

You can see the process at my Instructibles posting: www.instructables.com/id/Old-Drawers-Relocated/

Marrying Mr. Darcy (AAR, Solo Play)

A few days ago I wanted to get a solo game of something played, but my table is currently holding some Arena of the Planeswalkers figures all primed and ready to paint as well as a half-built Chickenhawk drop ship I printed from toposolitario.com. Thus, the game needed to be short enough to finish and clean up. We had brought up a number of games for our game night on Sunday and we played Space Beans, which the two oldest picked up on how to play quite quickly and Jeanette won.

One of the other games brought up, but not played at that time, was Marrying Mr. Darcy. The box caught my eye as I was contemplating what to try solo. Since it's mainly pick a card and do what it says, solo play is not that hard.

Intro

I laid out the Suitors. For the uninitiated, the suitors are Mr. Wickham, Mr. Collins, Mr. Denny, Col. Fitzwilliam, Mr. Bingley, and Mr Darcy. I randomly picked six of the eligible bachelorettes. They were: Lydia, Mary, Georgiana, Jane, Elizabeth, and Caroline.

For those who haven't played, players take the role of one of the eligible ladies from the Pride and Prejudice story. They use cards to build up their character's traits in the areas of Beauty, Wit, Friendliness, and Reputation, in order to attract one (or more) of the suitors. The suitors each have different trait combinations that they are attracted to (for example: Mr. Darcy likes witty women, but Mr. Wickham will take anyone with a bit of money). Some cards also allow the player to increase their Dowry (some of the guys want to know you have money). Others allow them to increase their Cunning (helps increase chance of first pick at suitors) or decrease a trait of one of the competition.

Each woman's card has a list on the back that gives end game point values for marrying certain suitors. Each lady's list is different.

Players draw event cards and follow the instructions on them to drive the game.

The Play

Lydia was doing quite well in her character building, but couldn't bag the money needed to attract Wickham. It suddenly didn't matter any more when one of the cards and required dice roll saw Mr. Wickham elope, permanently removing him from the line-up of suitors.

Mary, Georgiana, and Caroline really upped the competition as all were able to rack up enough of their stats to attract Mr. Denny and Mr. Collins.

Elizabeth had a really hard time getting the necessary level of Wit to attract Mr. Darcy. It just didn't seem to be in the cards and about half way through she had traits enough for some of the others as a back-up. Very late in the game, she finally got the Wit level needed and started adding to Cunning to ensure she gets first shot at Darcy.

Early in the game, Jane had received a card that would have given her 10 points just to end the game a spinster. It was so early in the game I thought there was still plenty of time for her to build up for Bingly. Should have kept the card because Jane was quite unlucky and quite unable to build up enough character for any of the guys.

Late in the game, Lydia scored the "Visit Pemberly" card, which lets you choose Darcy, regardless of your stats, and gives you crazy good points. So on her last turn, knowing Elizabeth would beat her in Cunning, Lydia drew a card to remove Wit from someone! Played it on Elizabeth, stealing any chance Elizabeth had with Darcy! Three cheers for sibling rivalry!

"Lady Catherine was extremely indignant on the marriage of her nephew"

Elizabeth did have first pick of suitors, and a re-roll on a proposal. With Darcy suddenly out of the picture, she turned to Col. Fitzwilliam (12 points) and found a very agreeable union with many happy days. Final score: 20

Next pick was Mary. While she had become a very well rounded and accomplished young woman, the suitors were wont to remember their first impressions of her and thus, withheld any proposal. Her kind and wealthy family take her in and she takes to spinsterhood in good spirits, becoming a famous author (Old Maid score: 10 points). Final score: 22

Georgiana and Caroline were tied with Cunning points, so preference goes to highest Dowry, which Georgiana won. She accepted the proposal of Mr. Denny (8 points). A pleasant enough arrangement, but overshadowed by a feeling that something wasn't quite right. Final score: 19

Caroline was left with only Mr. Collins as a suitor, since her personality did not lend itself to Wit enough to attract the glances of Mr. Darcy. Her pride and station must not have been agreeable to Mr. Collins as no proposal was made. Caroline went on to become a governess to a wealthy family (Old Maid score: 4 points). Final score: 15

With her introduction to Mr. Darcy at Pemberly behind her and Wickham's influence out of the picture, Lydia stocked up in the Friendliness and Wit departments. Mr. Darcy proposes (16 points, as per card) and she accepts. They lead a full and happy life. Final score: 30

Finally, perhaps due to her shyness, Jane catches the eye of no-one. She is taken in by a resentful uncle. But his children are not of his negative disposition and they ensure that Jane leads a happy enough life (Old Maid score: 8). Final score: 18

I'll include the end of game picture, despite the fact you can't read anything on it.

Painting practice

So a little bit of a break from any work on minis. In the summer I found a cheap-ish box of Magic the Gathering: Arena of the Planeswalkers. I bought it solely for painting the minis and finally got around to doing a couple of them. I chose the zombie ogre things (officially called blighted reavers). And here they are. Well, two of them, I seem to have misplaced one.

"Hey Blorg, you seen Blarg lately?"
"No Blerg, it's been a while. Maybe we should check out that new diner down by the theater, he was tellin' me about it the other day. I could use bite anyway!"

Cheers!

Wooden Bookmarks

Made for my sister-in-law, who happens to like sharks. All wood pieces cut/shaved from an oak (I think) piece of a discarded crib.

Very simple one on the left, just carved her first initial, very light wood stain, and attached shark with a leather strip. On the right I got a bit more creative: applying a blue wash and painting the boat over top.  Used an actual fish hook and line to attach the shark, which I just painted gray. Both treated with a spray-on varnish.