2015 Year in Review!

The Brush Wizard's 2015 Year in Review!

For starters, I wrote up a to-do list of projects that have been floating around my head. Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I felt like I had some Project ADD going on and need to sort it all out. That being said, I was able to knock out 5 of the projects. Most of them didn't get past the idea stage and a few of them are more than likely going to be permanently canceled. It was nice to have a list of ideas to go off of, but it also felt constraining.

This year also saw the return of the WIP posts. Since I've been working on a lot of display pieces, with a lot of details and time between beginning and end it seemed like a good idea. Plus it lets me show the process off a bit. With the reintroduction of WIP posts, I've ended up posting more than I've ever done before (over 80 posts this year, that's double last year's total). That makes 2015 a great year for painting and projects!

In October I finally bit the bullet and submitted some of my work to Reaper Miniatures to see if I could get in to their freelance pool of painters. But as of yet, I haven't heard anything from them. Though I think because I use a mix of paints, rather than their paint line exclusively, that might have hurt my chances. They say you can re-submit ever 3 months or so, so I'll work on upping my skill level more and send them another email later on in 2016.

Either way, 2015 was an excellent year for The Brush Wizard. Without further ado here's a run down of everything that happened in 2015!

Sophie's Space Station

This project was originally intended to be an entry for the Finger Painter's November challenge, Winged Things. But due to my schedule, and my over active imagination, it ballooned into a much large project and I failed to get it finished in time.

It features the 2015 ReaperCon Sophie miniature, in a custom built space station corridor. I'm really pleased with how everything turned out on this. Especially since it was the first time I did a in-depth build using foamcore board (though I did build the Frostgrave fountain first).

Adventures in NMM - Learning Sky-Earth Non-Metallic Metal

It's time to up my game, thanks to Kickstarter Sophie. I really want to paint the pipes and engine of her bike in chrome, rather than metallic silver paint. But I have never attempted any time of Non-Metallic Metal painting before. So, armed with some paints, a slew of tutorials and some spare minis, it was time to get some practice time in.

Finger Painters - "2 Hour Challenge": Large Fire Elemental

After failing to make a showing for the November Finger Painters challenge, I was able to easily knock out an entry for this month's competition. The winner of last month's challenge offered up 3 options for the community to vote on. The choices were 2 Hour Challenge, Christmas Themed or Mystic Space Knights.

After a few days of voting, it was decided on a 2 hour challenge. Wherein the mini much be painted from primer to completion in 2 hours or less.

I chose the Large Fire Elemental from Reaper's Bones line.

WIP - Frostgrave Terrain: The Well of Dreams and Sorrows - Build Continues

 
I came to a stop on the Well of Dreams and Sorrows awhile back, when I started trying to figure out the proper way to make my waterfall basins. I really wanted them to be round, but I was having trouble making them from scratch and I couldn't find a part that would work instead.

But then, while I was at Hobby Lobby for something else, I discovered some 1" wide smooth foam balls. Instantly I knew that was the answer and I picked them up.

Warhammer 40k: Forbidden Stars

Earlier this year, Fantasy Flight Games released Forbidden Stars. A brand new board game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It has been on my radar for awhile and now that I'm back from U-Con and on a board game kick, I bit the bullet and snagged it.

Forbidden Stars is a space warfare game, for 2-4 players. It features four factions from the Warhammer 40,000 universe as they attempt to gain dominance over the newly discovered Herakon Cluster. The factions  included in the game are the Ultramarines Space Marine chapter, the World Eaters Chaos Space Marine warband, the Eldar of Craftworld Iyanden and the Evil Sunz Orks.

To U-Con!

Last weekend was the U-Con gaming convention! With Super Dungeon Explore finished and in tow, I headed south to Ann Arbor, MI for a busy weekend of board, miniature and card gaming! It ended up being a lot better than I expected, but there were still a few issues to be had.  I didn't get as many pictures as I had planned on, but here are a few.

Frostgrave Terrain: Statue of Sir Greycastle

The Frostgrave terrain train keeps steaming forward! This time I made a statue of a horseman, which I mentioned in my earlier post about starting in on Frostgrave. As soon as I saw this mini, I knew he needed to be made into a statue for Frostgrave. The pose is dynamic and looks like something you'd see in a memorial too. It was perfect for a city themed game table.

WIP - Frostgrave Terrain: The Well of Dreams and Sorrows

It's time to start on my first major terrain piece for Frostgrave. Inspired by the Well of Dreams and Sorrows scenario, I decided to make a fountain using a Reaper miniature as the center piece. The goal is to have it look like it's thawing out and mix the water effects with some crackle paint in places to make it look like the ice is breaking up and floating.

Frostgrave: Delving into Another Wargame.

Lately, a lot of folks that I follow on Twitter have been talking about this new war game called Frostgrave. From what I could pull from the conversations, its a skirmish game based in an ancient fantasy city, and you can use any minis you want to create your warband. It sounded kind of cool and piqued my interest. I had to find out more.

Digging through websites and reviews, I found myself really interested in it, especially the fact that it's not a "collectible" miniatures game. This means, maybe, I can get my group to play it.

Or at least I'm hopeful.

But who doesn't like Wizards blasting spells and fighting each other, while searching for lost treasure in the ruins? 

Finger Painters - "Halloween": Colossal Skeleton Battle, Finished!

20 days after the announcement of the new Finger Painters competition, my entry is now complete! It turned out really well too, even though I couldn't get my vision to be fully realized. After playing with both steel wool and green stuff for an hour and a half, I gave up in frustration and decided to call it finished.

SDE: Von Drakk Manor: 100% Complete!

It's taken awhile (the expansion released on 4/17/13), but Super Dungeon Explore's Von Drakk Manor is now fully painted and ready for the game table! My main hold back in painting them all was due to the Forgotten King kickstarter and the need to paint the Pumpkin Patch and Rattlebones all at the same time. But now the 2nd expansion pack for SDE is finished and it's time to move on to Forgotten King loots and new projects! Hype!

WIP - Finger Painters "Halloween": Skeleton, Sorcerer and Barbarian Painted!

The skeleton has been finished along with two of the heroes, the Barbarian and Sorcerer. I'm super pleased with all three of them, the skeleton especially, he looks nice and rotten. I've also reworked the layout one final time, and started preplanning how I want it to end up looking.

WIP - SDE: U-Con Set - Witches and Thundervale Huntress Finished!

More work has been done on the U-Con set of Super Dungeon Explore stuff. Mainly the Witches and and Thundervale Huntress, but I also started spraying them with matte finish. Which lead to a problem...

WIP - The Finger Painters "Halloween" - Giant Skeleton

The new Finger Painters challenge has started and since it's October, that means super ghouly goodness! That gave me a reason to finally assemble and paint the Skeleton Giant from Reaper's first Bones kickstarter. But, thanks to the way my mind dreams up dioramas, I couldn't leave it at just the lone skeleton...

WIP - SDE: U-Con Set - More Progress

I'm making steady progress on the U-Con set of Super Dungeon Explore stuff. Its actually going along a lot faster than I expected. As of my last update post, I've finished the Pumpkin Patch and Shallow Grave spawning points, Princess Emerald, Fae Alchemist, the Crypt Spiders, Dust Coven Necromancer and Death Spectre. With work in progress now focused on the Witches.

WIP - SDE: U-Con Set- Progress So Far

U-Con is now 8 weeks away. I still have a lot of Super Dungeon Explore stuffs to paint up, but have been making a decent amount of progress on it.

So far, Von Drakk & his shapeshift form Nocturne are done, along with the Skullbats, Dust Mages, Bone Heads and Dread Knights. I've also painted up the Questing Knight and Royal Warden Heroes. Joining them now are the Miserable Toads and very very soon, 15 more Rattlebones.

U-Con 2015 - Schedule and Registration

As of  yesterday, I received my notice that the events are now up for preview this morning and that pre-registration has opened. Well with that I am now able to announce when I'll be running Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King.

Paint Hammer #paintchallenge - Araloth

Araloth's base has been fixed and he is now 100% finished! This was a super fun project to work on and the WIP posts seem to have been extremely popular too. This project also helped me realize where my niche is in this hobby; scenic bases, terrain and display pieces.

Anyway, enough talk, here's Araloth!

WIP - Araloth: Paint Hammer #paintchallenge - Nearing Completion

I haven't done much in the way of WIP posts on Araloth, but he's very nearly finished. As of last night he was done being painted and I peeled the tape off of the base. Unfortunately there was a set back with the resin and I ended up with a leak in the tape.

Well, last night I discovered just how bad that leak was.

Hosting SDE at U-Con 2015

Looks like my love of Super Dungeon Explore is paying off. I received a text from a friend of mine a few days ago asking me if I'd be interested in demoing Super Dungeon Explore in a convention setting. Apparently he's good friend with the guy that puts the whole gig on and they are looking for Game Masters to bring things to it and run events.

The Finger Painters "Flag Flapper" - Deathwing Banner Bearer

It's time for another Finger Painters paint compeition and this month's theme is "Flag Flapper". It would be a flag carrying miniature, an objective or a marker of some kind. I chose to use the Deathwing Banner Carrier from the Deathwing Command kit.

Boo Booty USB Drive and Super Dungeon: Tactics

Gen-Con rolled past recently and with it, Soda Pop usually releases a new miniature for Super Dungeon Explore. This year though, there was no new mini, most likely due to the release of Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King being so close. Instead, Soda Pop released a limited edition USB drive shaped like the Boo Booty monster chest from SDE and on it an alpha version of a new SDE video game, Super Dungeon: Tactics.

But, good news for me and my fellow Gen-Can'ts, Soda Pop decided to sell them not only at Gen-Con, but also on their online store and PAX. In limited quantities of 150 each.

As soon as they released it on their store for order I hopped on it, not even realizing it had a game on it until after I visited the store page. Well, after waiting a month for it to ship out, I finally have it in hand and am here to show it off and give my thoughts on the video game itself.

The Finger Painters "Leader of the Pack" - Black Diamond Corps Squad Leader

I don't do Facebook. Not any more. It's maybe once a year I log into it. But even when I do, I don't ever post anything or read status updates or play games. It just sits there idle and accepting Happy Birthdays from my Facebook Friends every year.

Well, thanks to Vidpui Markes and Twitter, I have now joined a Facebook group called The Finger Painters. Its a group for miniature painters and every month they have a friendly competition.

WIP - Araloth: Paint Hammer #paintchallenge - Starting on the Base

 

A few months ago I noticed a friendly competition happening on Twitter, it's called the Paint Hammer Painting Challenge and it's hosted by @paint_hammer. The premise if friendly competition with a single model, chosen by the previous winner.

It seems like a good time, and the deadline is usually a full month. Conversions and scenic bases are welcome too. So I figured, why not?

Tutorial: How to Paint Urban Camouflage

How to Paint Urban Camouflage

Painting camouflage can be a daunting task. When you look at real world camo it seems like it would be very difficult to pull off properly on the small scale that we miniature painters deal with. The most important thing to remember is, you are just trying to give look of camouflage but you don't need to be 100% accurate. The viewer's brain will recognize it as camouflage without each brushstroke needing to be photo realistic.

For this tutorial, we will be painting grey urban camouflage. You can use this technique to paint any color camouflage you want, even purple! You'll just need to adjust your colors accordingly.

WIP - SDE: Von Drakk's Manor - Painting Continues

Paint continues to flow on SDE: Von Drakk Manor. I've gotten a decent bit done since my last update on it as well. But due to reworking my living room, things slowed down slightly. Anyway, I now have all the Skullbats done, as well as the Skeleton warriors, a single Rattlebones and Von Drakk himself.

Tutorial: How to Paint Chibi Eyes

How to Paint Chibi Eyes

If there's one thing I love the most about Super Dungeon Explore, its the eyes of all the minis (well most of them, but we won't get into the sculpted pupils war again). With a slight change of placement you can have two exact same characters will seemingly different expressions.

Over the years, I've noticed a lot of new Super Dungeon Explore players wonder about how to or have trouble painting pupils for Chibi characters. With that I thought it'd be a good idea to share how I paint the eyes for my Super Dungeon Explore minis.

Tutorial: How to Paint Bones

How to Paint Bones

While painting up the skeletons for Super Dungeon Explore: Von Drakk Manor, a lot of folks have complimented me on my recipe for bone color. That gave me the idea to try my hand at writing up a tutorial on the subject. So welcome to my first ever tutorial! 

I originally developed this mix when I started on Super Dungeon Explore in 2012 using old line Games Workshop paints, but with the change of color range I needed to rework it. luckily with the new line of paints, I was able to recreate it fairly accurately.

WIP - SDE: Von Drakk Manor - Painting the Skeleton's Bones

After painting the armor all rusty, I took a break from Von Drakk Manor and did a new display piece. But now that that's done, I can get back to work on these fellas. I started out with the eyes and then moved on to the bone color. So far things are moving along nicely.

Pinned Down, Taking Fire! - Complete!

Pinned Down, Taking Fire! is now done! I had a lot of fun with this one. I got to shoot it with a bb gun, I learned how to paint camouflage and best of all I finally got to paint up some Hasslefree Miniatures figures! The whole process has been a blast to work on and I really got a lot of energy from folks complementing the project while it was in the WIP stages.

WIP: Pinned Down, Taking Fire! - Painting Urban Camouflauge

With the base painted and done (for the time being), it was time to get Woody and Badger painted! As I mentioned in the previous post I struggled with the camouflage pattern and coloring. Finally after a bunch of great suggestions from the folks on Twitter I decided on grey Urban camo.

Painting camouflage boggled my mind though. I've never attempted camo before, because I was always worried that it'd come out looking like I had just slapped random splotches of color all over it. But thanks to the internets and especially Kujo Painting's Painting Camo video, I felt confident enough to get started on Woody and Badger.

I knew I didn't want to mix paint. With the heat over the last few days it would dry out too quick. Plus if I had to stop, I didn't want to worry about mixing paint and color matching later. So I went with a palette of Vallejo's grey Model Color paints. These and their layers are:

• Base Coat: Neutral Grey
• Layer 1: White
• Layer 2: Grey Green
• Layer 3: German Grey

While Urban camo has black in it, I decided to go with German Grey instead. This was because I am using Black for the other pieces of clothing and didn't want the camo pattern to blend into it.

I followed the steps in Kujo's video, but with some minor changes. My process was like this:

Base Coat: Neutral Grey
Wash #1: Wash crevasses with thinned Gray Green
Layer #1: Paint random splotches of White on all Neutral Grey surfaces
Layer #2: Paint random splotches of Grey Green, slighly overlapping and connecting between white splotches.
Layer #3: Paint random splotches of German Grey on top of white and grey splotches, trying to go along the edge of the grey splotches and keeping lines thinner than the others.
Wash #2: Wash all areas with thinned GW Nuln Oil.

 

The camo turned out great! I surprised myself with it and have gotten a ton of compliments from everyone

that sees it. Not bad for my first ever attempt at it. But I do think I'll follow up with another wash of Nuln Oil in the creases, just to help give the fabric a bit more dimension.
 
Next up are the black sections of clothing. I'll need to simulate leather on the gloves and boots, while the straps, masks and other bits need to look like fabric. Also, the guns need to look like painted metal, which means edge highlighting. Other than that, it's details, details, details.

I should have it finished up soon. But, as always, you can watch it progress in a more up-to-date fashion via Twitter. Hopefully it will be done this week, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be.

WIP: Pinned Down, Taking Fire! - Painting the Wall

The wall is built and exploded, the minis are assembled and ready for battle. It's time for paint y'all!

I came to an impasse for most of the day after the wall was assembled. I needed to decide on the ground, wall and camo colors. I spent a lot of time looking at camo patterns, trying to decide on what to go with. I made it especially difficult on myself, because I originally planned on a red brick wall.

This left me with a limited number of camo choices and it was brought to my attention that Urban Camo against red bricks might look off. So, after a bit of debating I finally decided on grey bricks for the wall and a blacktop ground with the soldiers clad in grey urban camo.

Project Announcement: Pinned Down, Taking Fire! - Building the Wall, and then Exploding it.

It's time to start a new project and that project is something I've been looking forward to for a while now. This new project is titled "Pinned Down, Taking Fire!" and it's a departure from my usual fantasy based pieces, instead being modern military.

WIP: SDE: Von Drakk Manor - Rusting Armor

Now that The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! is finished, I was able to get started on the Super Dungeon Explore: Von Drakk Manor expansion pack. I've been looking forward to starting on this set for awhile now, but I wasn't sure how to get started on them. After priming them, I base coated all of their eyes. But then I realized that the armor was going to be a messy endeavor , so I started on that first.

Special thanks to @3dgreg, @OPwizardbeard and @40kChris for helping me out with the rust technique.

Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King Arrives! - Wave 2

Wave 2 of Super Dungeon Explore has finally arrived! Wave 1 came in back in April, and I did an unboxing write up on the set. Now, three months later and with the rest of it in hand, it's time to go around again! It's been a long week, I got my tracking number on Saturday and have been madly refreshing it for the last 5 days.

The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Complete!

It took awhile, but I can finally say that The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! is finished! There were lots of ups and downs and starts and stops to this project and at one point it looked like it was never going to get done.

I couldn't have done this without the support of @minisbytree and @paintsandstuff on Twitter. Both of them helped to push me to make this project better. Especially when it came to the painting in the background. Also, this project would never have been drempt up if it wasn't for @blue_cadet and his LED tea candle Warhammer 40k objective markers.

So now, I give you, The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist!, complete with a video of the eye in action!

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Heist! - Reworking the Base

This project stalled for a bit, mainly because I grew tired of copying the Ravenloft painting and after I cut the base down I decided that I didn't like the originally flooring I put on it. I knew I'd need to rebuild the base, but didn't feel up to working on it, so I distracted myself with Space Hulk and Super Dungeon Explore until I was ready to start up again. But now, with some 1/2" MDF in hand it was time to work on this again, and rebuild the new base!

SDE: Caverns of Roxor - Completed!

It was a long road, but I have finally escaped the firey domain of Roxor and his minions. Originally purchased when it first released in 2012, Caverns of Roxor was left unpainted thanks to SDE painting burnout and the long process of painting the base set. But it is now complete and I can move on to Von Drakk Manor (before dying under a tidal wave of Forgotten King plastic).

WIP: SDE: Caverns of Roxor - Heroes, Fire Gels, Burning Gels and Blaze Beetles

I started working on the Caverns of Roxor expansion again and if you've been following me on Twitter you've seen the Fireflow Denizens taking shape over the last week. Once the base game was finished and I knocked out the single releases, I started painting the Caverns of Roxor set with the Rocktop Gang turtles. It was kind of a long process and after I was finished with them I needed a break from SDE painting, so I moved on to a couple other projects.

Space Hulk 4th Edition, Completed!

When the newest edition of Space Hulk was announced, I missed it. But thanks to the folks on Twitter I started realizing that a lot of people were suddenly working on painting their sets up, which lead me to search for prices on Space Hulk 3rd Edition again and that's when I found out that a new edition had just came out. Needless to say, I was hyped at the chance to pick up one of my grail games and jumped at the opportunity.

Yrsa, Witch of the Wilds - Complete!

The Yrsa, Witch of the Wilds piece is now finished! I couldn't keep myself from working on it and it was so much fun to do. It was an interesting challenge using natural materials such as the twigs and moss. The moss was especially hard to work with and messy to paint, I hope it holds up for years... it should, there's a crap ton of paint and glue holding it all together.

But now, presented without comment, my latest complete display piece:

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Reworking the Base & Framing the Painting.

Mini-update on the Museum piece.

While working on the Ravenloft painting, I kept looking at the base for the Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist and thinking that it was too large. I blocked it off to look smaller and knew that I needed to cut it down.

WIP: Yrsa, Witch of the Wilds - Adding More Details to the Base

Base work continues! Old Scott would have stopped at the red bushes and called it "done". But I knew I needed the forest floor to have more of a wilderness feel to it and it just didn't have that feeling yet. A trip to Hobby Lobby fixed that, and I picked up a couple different sets of train scenery flowers. Also, I began blocking in the colors for Yrsa's equipment and painting it.

WIP: Yrsa, Witch of the WIlds - Continuing Base Work

Lots of progress has happened since my last post. I've been focusing on the base and leaving the minis for later. But I now have the ground, rocks and trees (including the leaves) all painted.Static Grass has been added to the ground as well as a bit more moss for ground cover. Also, I started painting the skin tones on Yrsa herself.

WIP: Yrsa, Witch of the Wilds

Yes, this project wasn't on my to-do list. Yes, I still have to finish the Museum as well. Yes, this project is stopping my progress on the Ravenloft painting. But, lady inspiration is fickle and when she decides to come out for dinner you make sure the romance the hell out of her.

Skitarii Battle Maniple Fully Assembled!

This last week I was able to assemble the entire set of Adeptus Mechanicus miniatures that I've bought so far. It was a whirlwind of razorblades and super glue, but I'm happy to say that I'm now finished building them. Originally I was going to hold off, but thanks to painting the Onager Commander I decided that I couldn't wait.

If you've been following, you know that I picked up 2 boxes of Skitarii, 3 Boxes of Sicarians, 2 Ironstriders and an Onager Dunecrawler. I wasn't sure how I was going to assemble them all, but finally decided to go with the standard Skitarii Maniple formation. Here's how it all breaks down.

Warhammer 40k: Onager Dunecrawler Gunner Conversion

This idea came to me after I realized that the Icarus Array doesn't allow for a gunner to be added to the Onager Dunecrawler's load out. And since the kit doesn't come with enough parts to create all 3 options for the main weapon, I didn't really have a use for the gunner wielding a heavy stubber. So, it was time for my AdMech army's first conversion!

The State of Brush Wizard 2015

Now seems like as a good a time as any to go over the state of my little blog and what I I'm planning for the future. This past year has been going really well for projects and I have no sign of crafter's block coming anytime soon. In fact, the complete opposite has happened and I'm drowning in ideas currently and have a bunch of projects ongoing. That said, I made up a bit of a to-do list of the projects, with no set order I'm hoping to complete them in. Some of these have been mentioned before, others haven't.

#WAAC Ironclad Dreadnought Complete!

It's actually been done for a few days now, but I've been fighting my camera/lighting set up. I had planned on taking photos outside in the natural light, but that went south when the weather turned from nice 60s to frigid 30s out of nowhere. But, the battle was won and I'm now happy with my picture taking endeavors. Without further ado, here is my contribution to the #WAAC 40k Army Raffle, the Ironclad Dreadnought!

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Painting #2

It's back to work on the Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist and I'm currently drawing out the second painting.

My First Ever Warhammer 40k Army - Adeptus Mechanicus

It's happened.

The pull of Warhammer 40k has gone from playing video games and a once in awhile need to paint or convert a mini and melded into a full on army build... And I blame the new Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii faction and Adepticon. These guys are just so cool and have a really neat steampunk vibe going.

Because of them, I have ordered a bunch of the new models, along with the new Codex for the faction. I even went to a local game store and picked up the Warhammer 40k rule book and have been reading up on the rules.

WIP: #WAAC Ironclad Dreadnought - Green Finished and Starting Final Details

 

Since the last post, I've gotten more done on the WAAC Ironclad. The greens are all finished and the details are starting!

WIP: #WAAC Ironclad Dreadnought - Laying Down Some Color

Progress continues on the WAAC Ironclad Dreadnought. I now have all of the weaponry painted with metallics and the first 3 steps of the Green color scheme have been done. Its been pretty steady work, though I am working with really thin paint to try and keep the armor plating smooth, that means I have to wait for dry time a bit more.

Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King Arrives! - Wave 1

It's been just over a year since the Kickstarter campaign for Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King launched and now I have part of my rewards! Because of the way Chinese New Year landed, Soda Pop decided that it was in the best interest of everyone to ship in two waves, rather than one. A decision I am very glad that they went with!

Joining the Battle Against the Darkspace Calamity!

If you have been reading for awhile, last year I did a week long marathon of posts that I dubbed the Week of Relic Knights. Within, I went over each faction that I had gotten in the Kickstarter, which were Cerci Speed Circuit, Black Diamond, Doctrine and Noh Empire. I added in my thoughts and pictures of each model, post assembly as well.

WIP: #WAAC Salamanders Ironclad Dreadnought - Arrival and Assembly

The #WAAC raffle is gaining a ton of steam! As of this writing, there are 18 different people from across the world volunteering to paint minis for the Salamander Space Marines, with an army list pushing a total of 3500 points!

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Painting #1

Alright, Star Wars is finished, Genestealers are done for now and I worked out a little of my Super Dungeon Explore bug and now I can get back to painting The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist. Actually, I'd already painted a lot of Painting #1 before I started working on the Genestealers, but got the mid-project blues for it and needed a break.

But I am happy to report that Painting #1 is finished and I have the pictures to prove it!

Project Announcement: #WAAC Salamanders Ironclad Dreadnought

So this morning started like any regular Monday. I awoke slightly annoyed at my need to be awake, and too tired to properly function. Groggily, shuffling around the house, getting ready for work and then finally leaving. The morning progressed as my usual work day does, until I started checking Twitter for #minaturemonday images. That's when I stumbled across a post by @evilkipper, aka Warboss Rob.

Question 1, #Warmongers! Would you be willing to donate and/or paint 40K units for a #WAAC army raffle? Probably Salamanders.
— Warboss Rob (@evilkipper) March 23, 2015

Star Wars: Imperial Assault 100% Painted!

If you've been reading, or following me on Twitter, you know I've been working on Star Wars: Imperial Assault as a commission and making a solid amount of progress on it. Now, I am proud to announce the project is 100% complete!

WIP: Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Fenn Signis, Mak Eshka'rey, Gaarkhan and AT-ST

Star Wars: Imperial Assault is very nearly finished. I've just finished painting the models and last night I painted their bases and got them all ready for matte spray. That means, tonight I can spray them and then glue on the tufts of grass and we'll be all set to go!

For now, here are the last of the minis. Fenn Signis, Mak Eshka'rey, Gaarkhan and the AT-ST.

WIP: Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Darth Vader, Jyn Odan, Diala Passil and Gideon Argus

Enter the Sith lord himself, along with heroes Jyn Odan, Diala Passil and Gideon Argus. All of which have been completed within the last few days. The progress train keeps steaming ahead and we are getting closer and closer to completion every day.

WIP: Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Probe Droids, Nexu and Luke

Work continues on the Star Wars: Imperial Assault set. Progress keeps moving forward and I am happy to report that I am done with the squad minis and am now onto the single models! The last two sets of groups to be finished were the Nexu and the Imperial Probe Droids. I've also finished Luke and gotten some solid progress on Darth Vader (though he isn't pictured this update).

WIP: Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Finished Royal Guard, Imperial Officers & Trandoshan Hunters

I've had Star Wars: Imperial Assault on the paint table for a week now and have make some more progress. Last weekend was a bust, as far as painting time goes , that's when I usually get the most work done. But, I was stuck at work overseeing the new furnace installation and didn't have a lot of free time. That said, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but progress was made and I can now say that the Emperor's Royal Guard, Imperial Officers and Trandoshan Hunters are all set and ready to go.

Throwback Thursday: Karados, Elven Druid

It's Thursday! That means we jump into the time-stream and go back to revisit some of my older miniatures and projects. It's Throwback Thursday! This week, we're talk about Karados and elven druid that was a cohort for a character of mine in 3.5e Dungeons and Dragons.

Project Announcement: Warhammer 40k Chess Set - Blood Angels v. Tyranids

Chess. It's not my game, I've only dabbled with it, but I do dig fancy chess sets. Especially ones that are handmade or themed. I once saw a set that was themed with fantasy heroes vs monsters, that was cool. There was another set that was angels and demons too, which was pretty awesome. But, I've never really thought about doing anything similar, until I was talking to my buddy, Matt, about Imperial Assault and he asked if it was a chess set. That planted the seed.

WIP: Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Stormtroopers and Royal Guard

About a 2 weeks ago I got a message from my friend Jeremy about possibly doing a commission for a guy. The job in question was painting up a copy of Star Wars: Imperial Assault for a guy he met at a local gaming store, who was asking if anyone knew mini painters. After a little bit of back and forth, I told Jeremy to give the guy my email address and we'd talk it all over.

Painting Space Hulk Genestealers, the Brawlerguts Way. *Updated*

As you no doubt know, if you've been following my painting adventures, I picked up the re-release of Space Hulk back in December. It was a choice that was an unquestionable yes, even if it could have been looked on by some as a unwise decision. But, it's freaking Space Hulk, a Grail game I missed out on in 2009 and had been plotting for years a way to obtain it.

Custom Super Dungeon Explore Token Box

Super Dungeon Explore is one of my favorite board games ever. But man is it token heavy! There are tokens for Hearts, Potions, Loot Tracking, Dungeon Level Tracking, Bonus Skulls for Spawning and a myriad of Status Effects. It comes out to something like 18 tokens for different things and it's kind of a pain to store them. Enter the Plano 3600 series storage box!

Throwback Thursday: Games Day 2009 Chaos Lord

It's Thursday! That means we jump into the time-stream and go back to revisit some of my older miniatures and projects. It's Throwback Thursday! This week we're taking a look at the Games Workshop Games Day 2009 Chaos Lord.

Tentacle Bento Minis & Tough Cookie Club Painted

A few years ago, back in May, 2012 , Soda Pop Minis started a Kickstarter campaign for Tentacle Bento. It managed to raise $30,701 dollars before the lords of Kickstarter pulled the plug on the project, due to the subject matter. You see, Tentacle Bento is a suit matching card game where you take the role of a Tentacle Monster and must use all of your skills to capture more girls than your fellow Tentacle Monsters. Soda Pop bounced back and managed to self crowd fund it afterwards.

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Painting the Wall

With the base and wall all built, was time to start painting the wall. The goal was to paint the upper section in a sponged paint technique and the lower section in a faux-stone look. Then the bottom trim would be black and the middle and upper trim, white.

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Base Assembly

Work continues on The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist. The base is mostly all set to go now. It's mostly all built and the light is mounted into it.  But that's not all, I was able to get the thieves painted as well! Prepare yourself for to be inundated with pictures, 'cause this project is a-rollin'!

Throwback Thursday: Initiate of Humakt

It's Thursday! That means we jump into the time-stream and go back to revisit some of my older miniatures and projects. It's Throwback Thursday! This week we are going to take a look at another RuneQuest mini. This time it's an Initiate of Humakt.

WIP: The Great Cyclopean Gemstone Heist! - Making the busts.

Alright, alright. We're back to the WIP posts... But its only because, thanks to Twitter, I've gotten a great deal of inspiration in the diorama department. And since these projects are intricate and take a lot of time, we're going back to WIP posts. If you've been following on Twitter, you already know that I've started a new project, and you'll have seen a great deal of progress shots already.

Throwback Thursday: Space Marine Terminator Captain

It's Thursday! That means we jump into the time-stream and go back to revisit some of my older miniatures and projects. It's Throwback Thursday! This week we're going to take a look at another Warhammer 40,000 model, a Space Marine Terminator Captain!

The Keeper and His Zombie Horde

After weeks of work The Keeper and His Zombie Horde is complete! I learned a lot of new tricks and I think I've even been able to develop some new skills too. I'm really pleased with the final product and it was completely worth all of the tedious steps that were involved in it.