Red Box Games Kickstarter Shipping?

After having forgetten about Tre Manor's Red Box Games Kickstarter campaign for a little bit, I went to the KS page and noticed that he has said that he's already shipped around 100 packages of minis out to pledgers. Of course I have no idea where I stand in the list of shipments, but it sure is exciting news!

Holiday Lull

I've been unable to get any work done on anything miniature related thanks to Christmas and New Years. I guess it's a good thing that the New Years Eve party got cancelled, so I don't feel the pressure of needing to finish SDE in a rush.

For the time being, I have the Flingers sitting on the painting table, their skin painted and ready for the armor and weapons to be painted. But for now, I have no time to work on it and they will have to wait until after the Holidays for me to get back to them.

Relic Knights Kickstarter Order Confirmed.

After a ton of debating and changing my mind, I've finally confirmed my rewards for the Relic Knights Kickstarter campaign. Originally I was hooked on the idea of getting everything, but decided that it was too much money. Then I decided to get all but 2 factions, all their add ons and special edition minis. But finally I decided on 3 complete factions, 1 starter for the Noh Empire (I couldn't trade down to 3 factions and had to select a 4th) and all the special edition minis and a Cola Plushie (plus an extra Cola plushie for my sister). So here's what my Relic Knights list looks like.

SDE WIP: Painting the Flingers

Started painting the Flingers for SDE the other night and I have the skin tone almost finished. So far they are looking really nice, but man I don't like some of the details on them. I've found it hard to pick out where armor begins and ends, where the wraps on their heads are placed compared to skin and a few other things. I do like the way the skin is turning out though and am going with a Red/Brown mix on these guys. I wanted to give them a smokey/dirty appreance thanks to their smoke pots ability and I think it's working. But, I forgot to take an in progress picture of them. So, pics will have to wait for the next update.

Only 12 days left in December. I'm not sure if I'll have SDE ready for New Years Eve or not now, as I've been kinda busy lately. Of course, it doesn't really matter does it? I hear the world is ending on Friday.

SDE WIP: Dragon Priests Done!

I finished the Dragon Priests last night. I'm very happy with how they turned out. I decided that their staves should be made out of silver and a bit tarnished, not made of bronze and corroded like the Ironscale's shields. So in order to get it to look proper I just painted it Chainmail and Mithril Silver and then I wash it over with Badab Black. After this was done, I left it be and didn't pick out any bright highlights. The gems in the staves I painted 2 different colors, one green and one purple to match the Dragon's Clutch spawners. If there had been more than 2 Dragon Priests, I would have painted them to match the gemstone cave game boards instead.

SDE WIP: More Work on the Dragon Priests and.... CAVERNS OF ROXOR GET!!!!

I've been working on the Dragon Priests and as of last night I was able to paint the Robes all up. I decided to go with the dark teal for the cloth and the leather hood. At this point I'm not sure what the plan is going to be for the tunic's coloring, but I might just go grey. Of course, that's not the most exciting part of this post! The expansion pack, The Caverns of Roxor, finally came! And I was able to paw through it a bit and snap some pics. So far, I really like the look of all these models.

SDE WIP: Ironscales Done! On to the Dragon Priests!

A few days ago I was able to finish the Ironscales, complete with rusty armor and corroded bronze shields. I'm fairly pleased with how they turned out, though I still am slightly unsure about the copper oxide look on the shields. Of course everyone I've shown it to says that they look great, I can't help but self-critique. Now that the Ironscales are complete, I'm moving on to the Dragon Priests.  Mostly because there are only two of them and not being a wargamer, It'll seem like a nice break. Since I've never really had to marathon squad painting this much before.

SDE WIP: Working on the Ironscales

I've started work on the Kobold Ironscales. I was really leaning toward green lizardmen Kobolds but finally decided against it. The main reason is that I'm planning on painting the turtles in Roxor in skin colors akin to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with each "class" of turtle in the Rocktop Gang having skin color matching a different TMNT turtle. I figured that the amount of green possible on the board might look stupid and the Kobolds need to be able to stand out from other monster types. I then struggled with ideas on what colors to paint them and thought of maybe purples, blues, yellows, browns. I was trying to stay away from the "official" reds coloring, but finally I decided just to go with red and be done with it. This way I can continue working and not end up with setbacks.

SDE WIP: Wyrmlings, Hatchlings and Whelps Finished.

Work continues on Super Dungeon Explore's base set. Yesterday, while home from work sick, I finished up the Dragon's Clutch minis and some final details on Starfire (which I forgot to photograph). The little dragons where already "finished" at one point, but when I put the bone and horns on Starfire's head, I decided that the "children" need to look similar.

SDE: Caverns of Roxor Shipped?! YES!

Got an email confirmation that my copy of the first Super Dungeon Explore expansion, Caverns of Roxor, has shipped! Finally.

I've tried being as patient as I could, but it proved to be really difficult. Eventually I just put Roxor out of my mind completely and it helped that all last month I was busy with my arcade cab project. So that kept my mind off of it for awhile. It seems like things were delayed and delayed and after missing two estimated shipment dates Soda Pop Miniatures finally got their shipments in and have been working since Friday to get everything shipped out to the folks who preordered it on their webstore.

SDE WIP: Starfire Emerges!

Started work on Super Dungeon Explore again. I had thought that I just needed to paint the kobolds and Starfire and I would be done. But I forgot about needing to do final details on the dragons. So I went through and finalized all of their claws, horns etc and got to work finishing Starfire.

New Years Gaming Party, Means SDE Painting Marathon!

Looks like we are having a New Years Eve board game party this year. Which means I really need to get my ass in gear and finish, at least, the main set for SDE. If Roxor gets here soon (which is supposed to be shipping "very soon"), I'll at least paint up the heroes for it so all the players have a painted character.

But today has consisted of cleaning the house. My arcade project caused 75% of the house to look like a warzone and I really need to get things back in order. Once the cleaning is done, I'll be setting the paint table up again and will get to work!

All that needs to be done for the base set are a few details on Starfire and then painting up the Kobolds. I'm really torn on what colors to paint the Kobolds... I want to paint them like lizardmen in greens, but Roxor comes with turtles and they will also be shades of green...

Built a Cheap Light Box

I've been wanting a better way to photograph minis and decided to look into a light tent. Of course, I wanted to be as cost effective (read: cheap) as possible. So, I did a little Google search and came upon this write up on Digital Photography School. Using a box, some paper and white fabric I made a low budget light tent for next to nothing.

KS Sophies Arrived! Now to Find Time to Paint Them!

Came home from work on Friday and I had a box from Reaper Miniatures waiting for me. Inside was the Liche level ReaperCon Sophie set and both the Urban Legends and Regular Kickstarter Sophie. The plan is to paint both of the motorcycles in metallic paint schemes. I've been testing how to do it with pearlescent acrylic medium mixed with my mini paints. I'm hoping they turn out as well as I think they will. But I need to order a few things before I get started.

Kickstarter Sophies Are On Their Way!

Got an email from Reaper last night that the Kickstarter exclusive Sophie models I ordered are on their way. I was slightly worried when I read the email that was sent out, since it only listed 1 model and I had ordered both versions of Sophie and the ReaperCon set, but the email only listed the regular KS Sophie model.

So I tossed an email back to Reaper asking about it and Kit quickly replied:

"An error in the mail routine truncated the extras. You'll be receiving the other things as well. My apologies for the confusion."

Well, that's a relief. Now I just need to find time to work on both of the Kickstarter models. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with the motorcycle. I just hope it turns out better than my original tests.

SDE Roxor Update

Soda Pop sent me a notice today they will be receiving Roxor next week and that they will be shipping it out as soon as it hits their warehouse. I love their product, but sometimes they test my patience.

The shipping of Roxor is good news and bad news. I still haven't been able to finish painting the base set. But as soon as I am done with this arcade cab I plan on polishing off the base set. All I need to do is finish Starfire and the Kobolds...

But I can't wait to paint up Roxor. Its all Fire Elementals and Turtles. And I already know how I want to paint them up!

Relic Knights Pledge Manager Launched!

Cool Mini or Not finally sent out the emails containing the link to their Pledge Manager for the Relic Knights Kickstarter. Of course, I have to wait a little bit in order to finalize my order though.

But, I'm planning on getting one of everything available mini wise. Both so I can paint them all up, and so I can lure my friends into playing. 

Waiting on Kickstarter Sophies

Reaper announced a few days ago that they hope to start shipping the Sophie Kickstarter minis soon. I really can't wait, I've been doing tests for a bit on how to make pearlescent paint for her motorcycle. Plus I have another idea on how to do a few other details on her. They offered up 2 different versions of her during the KS and of course I had to go with both of them.

These models caused me to do some major research on how to improve my technique on painting skin. Which lead me to this pretty awesome (and NSFW) tutorial on Skank Game. And that lead me to use those techniques on all my Super Dungeon Explore heroes and on this succubus... this is probably the best skin paint job I've ever done and I'm really pleased with how this whole figure turned out. (NSFW nekkid succubus after the break)

Silas WIP - Adding Water to the Swamp!

Instant Water? Lets hope so.

As I posted earlier I was planning on using Envoritex Lite for the water effects in the swamp base. Well today I decided to finally pull the trigger on using it. It's a 2 part system, and you need to mix an epoxy resin with a hardening agent. Then once mixed, you can just pour it on to whatever you are varnishing.

Silas WIP - Painting the Mini

Found some time to start painting the mini for Silas, since I was stuck at a roadblock while working on the big project. Like I said before, he's a half-drow and a rogue for my player character in Pathfinder. With being a stealther in mind, I wanted to keep with toned down colors, since bright colors don't aid in hiding. I finally decided on Purple and Dark Teal as the main colors. Normally I like to paint my rogues with dark armor, but considering his skin is dark and the other colors are dark I went with standard brown leather. Plus his bow is darkwood and that adds to the overall darkness of the mini, so lighter armor color will give it some kind of balance.

Silas WIP - Adding Cattails

I've been wanting to add some kind of cattail to the swamp base for awhile. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I was a kid, the swamp across the tracks from my house always had them. Thus I associate cattail with swamps and wetlands more than over grown weeds. So I found some down time while working on my big project to make up some cattails for the swamp base and here's the results.

Silas WIP - It's Log!

Been awhile since I posted. I've been super busy this last week and have a major project going on that needs to be done by the 24th of next month. This means that my miniatures projects have to take a little bit of a back seat for the moment while I bust my ass to get this other project done. But, I do have a minor update to share, so here goes.

Silas WIP - Painting the Reeds and Adding Grass

Work continues on the swamp base and tonight I added the static grass and painted the reeds. I started by watering down the dark green I used for the moss and washed it over the reeds. Then I washed them again with GW Gryphonne Sepia and Thraka Green. This was followed another wash of Reaper Pine Green and another wash of Sepia.

Silas WIP - Mossy Ground Added and Envirotex GET!

Today I came home to a package in the mail, and it was my Envirotex Lite! So once I get done with the rest of the base I can take a crash course in mixing resin based varnish, yay... I'm really hoping it will give it the look others have achieved with it. Because, if not, I'll have wasted countless hours crafting this base for nothing.

Instant Water Effects!

Silas WIP - More Reeds

Still slowly working on the base for Silas. I added the rest of the reeds to the water and am drying out a twig to use as a log. The Envirotex hasn't shown up yet, so I have plenty of time to decide on things before I pull the trigger and pour the varnish over it all.

WIP SDE Dragons and Quick Update on the Swamp Base.

Finally got some more progress done of the SDE dragons. I've been working on doing their spines and claws and decided to go with a bone color for them. Tonight I did the base coat on all but Starfire and tomorrow I'll prolly start working up to the bone white color of them. Once that's done, all that'll be left is to paint the bases and we'll be good to move on to the Kobolds! woot!

Whelp, Wyrmling and Hatchlings.

Slow Going

Been a little bit since I've posted anything. That's because I've been working on the Dragon's Clutch to Super Dungeon Explore. It's taking awhile, because I'm painting them all in the same color scheme. Which means I'm painting 13 dragons, one color at a time.

I have the skin painted, but may need to do a few more successive highlights. The problem is they are Black Dragons, so it's hard to see the highlights that are already there. The eyes and under bellies are done, and once the skin is done I just need to paint the insides of their mouths and any horns/spines left.

Pics coming soon.

Relic Knights - Princess Malya and Kisa GET!

Today I got two new minis from Soda Pop! Both are current releases of their Relic Knights line, and made of pewter. These models don't have any rules attached to them, since they were produced before the final game has been completed. But, I didn't get them for playing, I got them for painting and displaying.

Relic Knight Princess Malya & Mr Tomn on the left & Questing Knight Kisa & Scratch on the left

Silas WIP - More Scenic Base Work

The plan for tonight was to clean my living room, but today was super busy and hectic at work, so I vegged on the couch for a bit. Eventually that lead to sliding the painting table over and working on things SDE and Silas related... needless to say the cleaning never happened.

Silas WIP - Scenic Base Work

I came home and started working on a layout for the SDE contest, but ended up frustrating myself with it for a bit. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something for it soonish, but for now I'm taking a minor break from it while I attempt to wrap my head around a major terrain project. Instead, after dinner I continued work on the display mini for my Pathfinder character Silas.

Super Dungeon Explore Build Off?

Soda Pop announced that they are having a board build off for Super Dungeon Explore this month! I still don't have all the figures painted, but it could be a sweet project and I was half ass thinking about building custom 3D boards for the game anyway.
The object of the contest is to make at least 2 boards, themed after the new Caverns of Roxor expansion. I've already drawn up some plans and perhaps tonight I'll lay it out on graph paper. The only problem is, I lack practice with modeling terrain. But this could be a fun way to start out.

Well, Let's Hop Right Into This...

Well, lets hop right into this and I'll get the layout rolling later. Where to begin... this isn't the first blog I've made over the years, but I think this IS the first time I've had any good reason to actually make one. I'm surprised I never thought about setting this up before, really. This blog is dedicated to my second longest life-long hobby, miniature painting and conversions.