Mordheim: Youngblood "Parasol"

Here's the second youngblood for my Mordheim Reiklander warband. Like Poppet, Parasol wears a mask and is named after her eccentric accessory. This kitbash takes a body and both arms from the Warlord Games Pike & Shotte Landsknects. The right hand is from the Frostgrave Soldiers sprue while the left hand and umbrella are from the Anvil Industry Secret Service pack. The head, with the weird pigtail/bun things, is from the Stargrave Mercenaries II sprue. I had to do some extensive surgery to get the hands and arms to be pretty much where I wanted; while I'm not as happy with this one as I am with Poppet, she still looks pretty good.

So, aside from Poppet and Parasol now being a pair of supercriminals, they also finish off my Mordheim warband. I did a bit more Mordheim work and put together four warpstone tokens. This picture shows the captain, the two new youngbloods, and the four new tokens.

Mordheim: Youngblood "Poppet"

Another round of possible Mordheim planning led me to build another youngblood for my Reikland mercenary warband. Mordheim has a long history of hand puppets, and when I saw a model with a puppet that someone built recently, I was inspired to put a hand puppet on my latest miniature. This is another extensive kitbash: the body is from the Warlord Games Pike & Shotte Landsknects, both arms (including the puppet) are from the Frostgrave Wizards II sprue, the head is from the Stargrave Troopers box, and the mace is from the Stargrave Mercenaries II sprue. (As an aside, good maces, clubs, and hammers are hard to come by.)

This is a great figure that should really stand out on the table—visually, not in terms of her abilities. Youngbloods are hero characters in Mordheim, but they start off very weak, with skills below even those of basic henchmen.

To stay on theme for the end of the year, Poppet can also be used as a superperson. She has a mask, see? Since this is also the color theme for the Retinue, I think Poppet might find a place there as a jester NPC as well.

Supervillain: Lychgate

White Hat shouldn't have attacked his target in the cemetery.

Technically, this wasn't originally going to be a supervillain, but I have a theme going for the end of the year here, so I'm going to roll with it. An actual lychgate is a covered gate leading into a cemetery, where vigil could be kept on a body until it was buried. This Lychgate is a bit more like a force of nature.

The legend of Lychgate is well known to the locals. Saint Anthony's Cemetery is the largest graveyard in the city, situated on the hills behind the cathedral, just outside the freeway. It was sprawling, even in the 18th century, when bodysnatchers and graverobbers were something of an epidemic. According to the legend, those disturbed spirits interred in St. Anthony's had enough. Ghost stories are common enough in the city, but in this case, it wasn't one ghost or a dozen; the spirit was of the cemetery itself. They say the Lychgate makes no sound—on the contrary, it is known for the utter silence and stillness that its very presence imparts. Appearing from nowhere, it is a creature created to guard those hallowed grounds, seemingly built of gravestones and monuments, with great bronze gates sprouting as wings from its back. Those who would rob the dead of Saint Anthony's face its unyielding wrath; they and any who spill violent blood in the cemetery are interred by the Lychgate among the graves. Not everyone believes the stories, of course, but it's said that criminals especially are a cowardly and superstitious lot. There are whispers that sometimes the Lychgate can be compelled to leave the cemetery, driven by manipulative forces to do their bidding.

The model is a Reaper Bones Graveyard Golem. I really like the figure. It's big and there's a lot of detail, but it can basically just be dry-brushed like stone. It originally had both arms down in a fairly static pose, but I repositioned the left arm to reach forward to make it slightly more dynamic. I originally planned to use this model as a mini-boss in my Dungeons and Dark Souls game, but it wasn't needed (and it wasn't done in time). I like the idea of a cemetery guardian creature, so I'll probably import it into a fantasy RPG campaign at some point.

Supervillain: Spectral Sword

Here's another old supervillain of mine that I've reimagined with the bits I had on hand. This model was a bit of an experiment, kitbashed together from all over the place. The head is from Anvil Industries, the body and left hand are from Frostgrave Wizards II, the arms are from Perry Agincourt sprues, and the swords are from any kit I could find that had spare swords.

Spectral Sword—who might need a rename at some point because that doesn't really off the tongue—has the power to summon... spectral swords. She can also fly, create spooky mists, and possibly do minor teleports within the mists. As a spooky villain, her powers aren't totally set in stone.

The swirling swords here were based with white, then painted with Citadel Technical "Nihilakh Oxide," which is really meant to be used to simulate verdigris on miniatures. But, in this case, it acted kind of like a contrast paint. The pictures don't really do the swords justice; they practically glow with a ghostly light, especially with the dark green and grey clothing. The blades are meant to look like they're swirling around her, not... glued to her robes, but there's only so much I can do.

To the right is the original version of this creation made on Fábrica de Heróis over a decade ago.

Supervillain: Redcoat (and the Chosen Men)

Here's Redcoat, a dashing supervillain dressed like a Napoleonic-era British officer in some slightly non-regulation colors. Aside from being "Sharpely" dressed, Richard Welles hides his identity with a blue half-face mask, which wasn't exactly standard issue in the 1800s. Of course, most Napoleonic soldiers didn't have an M4 carbine with a 100-round casket magazine either. (One imagines the course of the Napoleonic Wars would have been a bit different if they had.)

Aside from the gun and gun-arm (which are from the Warlord Games Project Z Spec Ops sprue), all parts are from the Wargames Atlantic Napoleonic British Riflemen box. This also means I have plenty of fodder for uniformed henchmen if desired.

So, here we have some of Redcoat's top henchmen, the Chosen Men. (According to Wikipedia: "Chosen man was a rank primarily found in the Rifle Brigade denoting a marksman and/or leadership material." I only know it from the Sharpe TV series with Sean Bean.) I don't suppose all of Redcoat's minions wear historical uniforms all the time, but surely his most loyal men do when on the job. Gangs have to have flair and pizzazz to hold their territory in a super-powered world. The fellow with his gun up in the air is The Sergeant, Redcoat's right-hand henchman with massive, red-orange sideburns.

The bodies and heads are from the Wargames Atlantic Napoleonic British Riflemen box, like Redcoat, but the arms are from the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder box. The guns are boxy, ugly, and somewhat ludicrous, but once the front quarter inch is removed, they're not too-badly sized. I imagine that (in-universe) these weapons are cheap, low quality, mass produced, and untraceable; they're manufactured to poor tolerances by the criminal underworld from a common blueprint. Classic disposable guns. (Also, I've got a box of these tiny guns and I need to start popping them onto miniatures.)

Villainous Thugs

In the ecosystem of superheroes and supervillains, the two-bit thug is an essential part of the circle of crime. Parasitic by nature, they latch onto stronger predators to survive. Here, we see four thugs that have attached themselves to Gingerbread (who got an accent highlight in her hair since her previous picture).

These models are from the Wargames Atlantic French Resistance 1940-45 box. They put me in mind of the classic henchmen from Batman: The Animated Series. Two of them have fedoras and M3 submachine guns. The other two have flat caps and pistols. Classic thugs. They'd also work well in general pulp games.

These guys are all done in browns and grays with no bright accent colors. They're not meant to stand out at all, so it makes sense. I wanted to put them on street bases (like Gingerbread), but the model feet are all on puddle bases, so I had to build up some Stirland Battlemire ground to hide them.

Supervillain: Gingerbread

Run, run, run, just as fast as you can!
You can't escape me, 'cause I'm Gingerbread, man!

I started the year with supers and I might as well end the year with supers. Here's Gingerbread, a crime boss. I came up with the concept when I saw the head on Anvil Industry's website. It's a great mask and looks perfect for a supervillain. She strikes me as a kind of Two-Face crime lord with a huge gang. In the most meta sense (in her non-existent comic book world), she probably started as a holiday-themed one-off comic and then her breakout popularity brought her back as a year-round member of someone's Rogues Gallery.

After the whole model was basecoated in black, the gingerbread-esque mottled brown suit started with a layer of FolkArt Matte Real Brown (231). I then dabbed on a layer of FolkArt Matte Coffee Bean (940), followed by a layer of Coffee Bean mixed with FolkArt Matte Coffee Latte (2559). I then did some highlights on the pleats, creases, mask, and lapels with very thin Coffee Latte. The hair, cuffs, and the red part of the wingtips are a basecoat of Vallejo Heavy Red (72.141) with a layer of FolkArt Imperial Red (4669). The white on the shirt, gloves, buttons, and wingtips are a base of Vallejo Heavy Bluegrey (72.144) with a layer of Vallejo Dead White (72.001). The gun has some Vallejo Heavy Charcoal (72.155) with some mixed layers of the charcoal with some greys. Here are all the bits that make up this model:

• Head: Anvil Industry Female Wasteland Heads 
• Body and left arm: Anvil Industry Secret Service Team
• Right arm: Female Fatigue Pistol-Grip Rifle Arms - Mixed
• Weapon: Anvil Industry Modern SMGs (I wanted a machine gun for this model, like a Thompson, but I didn't have any. This gun started life as a Tec-9, but since the actual Anvil Industry assault rifles and SMGs are huge, I put the little machine pistol onto the stock to make something that fit nicely.)

Scifi Corporate Security 3

Here is a hazardous-duty trooper with a special sealed suit with gas mask and personal air supply. He wields a breach-loading, single-shot 40mm grenade launcher, which probably has various gas grenade types, along with high explosives. He also has a pistol, because grenade launchers aren't fantastic at point blank range.

The body, backpack, and arms are from Stargrave sprues, but the head is from the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder sprue. I'm still not totally happy with the Cannon Fodder box (mostly because of the awful guns), but I'm getting plenty of mileage out of the heads.

The pictures don't show it, but the barrel of his grenade launcher has been drilled out, and it looks very nice.

Scifi Corporate Security 2

Here's a second batch of Corporate forces. These reinforcements really lean into the scifi side of things with three aliens out of four. There are two more agents with pistols (one Setla and one... grey fellow). There's another trooper with a rifle. And there's a sniper (who is another grey fellow). They turned out well, and I'll probably do another batch or two of models for this force in the near future.

As a side note, it looks like I can get better pictures of miniatures if I use my phone's "Portrait" mode instead of its "Photo" mode, so hopefully everything will look nicer going forward.

Scifi Corporate Security

My new phone gives pictures of worse quality than my old phone. I have no idea how to fix it.

On Thursday, I got the urge to put together some science fiction guys; by Sunday, they were finished. Going through my sprues, I picked out a few that I thought would work well together. These corporate security forces were the result.

The bodies are Stargrave Troopers (except for the gunner and agent, who are both from the Stargrave Mercenaries box). I have plenty of these bodies because I use the weapons from that box for my Embers of Alexandria cultists. The weapons are all Stargrave pieces as well, but largely from the Mercenaries box. The heads with patrol hats are from Wargames Atlantic's Cannon Fodder. The hatless head is Anvil Industry, while the gunner's head is another Stargrave piece.

The green and purple color scheme was inspired by the Pre-Mor Corporate Security forces in Andor; their blue and orange color scheme was striking and, while not practical, believable. The final choice was made when I realized that I had a one-off paint scheme on a Battletech mech that would fit as well. (That Stalker mech, FYI, was painted last year but never posted on this blog.) The mech gives the team heavy support with its 32 missiles and two laser cannons.

6Gun Mercenaries 7: Sniper, Breacher, Soldier, Spy

I've started to put together some reinforcements for my 6Gun mercenary force, partly to offset the threat of the Embers of Alexandria cult. With my recent order from Anvil Industry for more of their costly but excellent resin bits, I bought some modular female pieces. They stand slightly taller, on average, than the males (as shown in the picture).

From left to right, these figures are:

• Green Headset: A sniper and another leader of 6Gun (as evidenced by her lack of a mask). I assume she sits back from a good overwatch position and coordinates the other mercenaries with her headset.
• Black Helmet: The first member of the crew with an actual helmet. This fellow is a tank, equipped with heavy armor and a ballistic shield. While a pump-action shotgun with the shield may seem odd, I do not regret this decision. The shield actually has a nice little cutout to poke the weapon barrel through.
• Brown Layered: (I already have a Brown Hair) A normal soldier with a regular gas mask and AK-107. She's a bog-standard trooper with a brown layered bob.
• 
  Grey Gaiter: No gas mask, but she has a neck gaiter pulled up over her face. Like all of the covert agents, she has a silenced weapon. Unlike the others (so far), she also carries a grenade on her belt. Sometimes you really wish you'd brought grenades.
  

There aren't many female gas mask parts available from Anvil that match, so there may be a few more unmasked or abnormally masked models coming up.

These four bring 6Gun up to nineteen human members.

• 13 Loud (5 assault rifle, 4 shotgun, 2 snipers, 1 LMG, 1 grenade launcher)
• 5 Covert (4 suppressed pistols, 1 suppressed machine pistol)
• 1 Other (Drone operator)
  

Dungeons and Dark Souls 5: The Red Dragon, Odds, and Ends

My literally largest miniature is this red dragon. It's another Reaper Miniature from the Bones 4 Kickstarter, called Gauth the Dragon. Most versions I've seen of this model have the wings vertical, but mine seems to have sagged heavily during some stage of transit. The head also drooped, only sitting at a reasonable height after I pinned and glued the tail to balance him. Not my favorite model, but it's impressive on the table.

This was originally going to be the second boss for Dungeons and Dark Souls (after the Colossal Skeleton), and I did the Dragonmen earlier this year to be his elite minions. He did not, however, see the table, as the lead up to the big skelly filled the time and space really well.

I also painted this mimic (from Reaper Miniatures) who served as the miniboss of a mini-sidequest. The pictures don't really do justice for some nice blending on the model. It's name on Reaper is the Mockingbeast.

I also painted up all of the treasure chests from the Bloodborne board game to serve as... treasure chests. 

Finally, because this was Dark Souls-based, I painted up an Invader; in Dark Souls, other players can show up in your world for PvP, appearing as red-shaded, semi-ghostly figures. So, I painted this figure up to mirror the effect, but it was not needed. This figure's name on Reaper is Taroya, Female Warrior.

That concludes the majority of what I did for Dungeons and Dark Souls. It was a huge project, but it was very fulfilling and a lot of fun at the table.

Dungeons and Dark Souls 4: Colossal Skeleton

Here is the massive skeleton who served as the final boss for Dungeons and Dark Souls. The model is a Colossal Skeleton from Reaper Miniatures. Because it didn't show the scale well by itself, I added a few more Wargames Atlantic skeletons to the base (including one crushed by the tombstone hammer). I based the whole thing on a 4" square piece of craft wood, then textured it up, painted it, and added the wasteland tufts to finish it off.

I love everything about this figure. It has great detail across the entire model. I love the tombstone turned into a hammer, I love the menacing pose, I love the little details like the normal-sized sword sticking out of his ribs--I could go on. With the little skeletons at his feet, this is almost a diorama. This big fella is definitely in the running for my Miniature of the Year.

While a phenomenal figure for D&D, I can also see this guy being the backbone for a skeleton army, as its "big monster" in whatever system (e.g., SAGA: Age of Magic, Dragon Rampant). 

Dungeons and Dark Souls 3: The Skeleton Horde

Skeletons are my favorite fantasy monster, bar none. They are also very quick and easy to paint. With these two points combined, it's easy to see why I've always wanted to paint up a whole ton of skeleton miniatures. Wargames Atlantic makes a box of 32 modular plastic skeletons that are pretty inexpensive, so I picked up two boxes

The painting was simple. Prime with black, then heavy drybrush brown, then light drybrush Vallejo Bonewhite (72.034). Do the weapons with Dense Red and Brass. Finally, heavily wash with Agrax Earthshade. Quick, easy, and it still looks great. This is literally the only type of miniature force that I can ever see myself painting an entire army for.

The 28 little skeletons are:

• One skeleton captain with a sweet plumed helmet, spear, and shield
  
• Seven skeletons with spears
• Seven skeletons with bows
• Four skeletons with swords and shields
• Six misshapen skeletons with daggers
  
• One skeleton with a big brass ribcage-on-a-stick called a Tetsubōne
• One dooter, dooting his horn. He has no lungs, so how does he doot? He just doots. DOOT.
• One skeleton dinosaur. It was a cheap toy that my kids got at some point. I glued it on a base, did the normal skeleton paintjob, and it's done. It's ridiculous. I love it.

Dungeons and Dark Souls 2: The Player Characters

The D&DS game was set up for up to six players, each with a color-coded miniature for easy identification. Each figure is built from a Warlord Games Landsknecht body with a Citadels Skulls box head. The arms are mostly Landsknecht as well, but a few are from the Frostgrave Wizards II sprue. I'm very happy with how these models turned out. Each it unique, but they all work well together.

I also painted up a few skull markers from Reaper (meant to be decoration on top of fence posts), to mark where each character died. We didn't end up using them much, which is probably good since it's hard to tell them apart without strong lighting.

The six models each represent an archetype (more or less):

• Purple: Dual-wielder with a sword and dagger.
• Red: Carries a greatsword over his shoulder. (This is probably my favorite of the bunch).
• Orange: Axe and shield tank.
• Yellow: Staff and summoning bell.
• Green: Crossbow!
• Blue: Magic staff

And each of these items was available in the game. Even the Starbrand Staff and the summoning bell (which summoned Sir Siegtruh, the Mimic Knight!).

Dungeons and Dark Souls 1: The Board

The board in situ at the con.

For a couple of months, I've been working on a secret project called Dungeons and Dark Souls, based on a scenario that a friend ran with modified Dungeons and Dragons rules. I finally got to run the game at a mini-convention, and it was phenomenal.

To the right, you'll see the map. Made primarily out of foam, the main portion began life as packaging for a flatscreen monitor (seen in the lower picture). The different elevations were pretty inspiring. Later, I decided to expand it and used insulation foam sheets to expand the map some more. Currently, it covers a 1/4" plywood sheet that's two feet by four feet (so I can also use it for Mordheim).

Most of the fittings (such as the fences, the mausoleum, the tombstones, the cart, and the statue) are from Reaper Miniatures. The trees (and flocking) are from Woodland Scenics. The chests are from the Bloodborne board game. The wooden planks, the little doors, and the other wooden stuff is built from coffee stirrers and little craft wood stuff.

The ground is textured with Vallejo "Dark Earth" earth texture gel. Two 200ml bottles were enough for the whole thing, with some left over (which I will use to finish a couple of spots). I then painted it up over a black primer with a layer of FolkArt Matte "Real Brown," then a drybrush of "Coffee Bean," and finally a light drybrush of "Coffee Latte."

I attached the flocking and clump foliage with Mod Podge Ultra matte spray-on glue and sealer. This also sealed the board and made it much more resilient. (As a side note, the sprayer top on the bottle was absolute trash, so I just poured what I needed in to my Woodland Scenics spray bottle and it worked really well.)

An early photo, laying everything out on the styrofoam.

Some of the walls were covered with 1/4" corkboard sheets. Others were textured with the same Vallejo earth texture gel as the ground. The walls were layered up and drybrushed with whatever grey paints I had lying around.

All of that said, it was a ton of fun to run this game and the players all enjoyed it. There will be a few more posts about other parts of this project, like the player models and the skeleton horde. There's a lot to go over!

Mordheim: Captain, Blunderbuss Marksman, and Warriors

More characters for Mordheim! This first picture is my captain and a marksman with a blunderbuss.

The man on the left is the captain. He's a figure from Reaper Miniatures called "Jakob Knochengard, Human Ranger." I got the figure in the Dreadmere expansion box from the Bones 4 Kickstarter. It's a great model that I've wanted to paint up for a while, and this project gave me a good reason to do so. I filed off a few of the bits that made him more "vampire hunter" and added some feathers to his hat to make him more Mordheim. He's armed with a sword and a brace of pistols. He's also a bit taller than the rest of the warband, since Reaper Heroic Scale is taller than the Perry Miniatures or, especially, the Warlord Landknechts.

Case in point, the marksman body is from the Warlord Games Landsknecht Missile Troops box. The main weapon (a nock gun standing in for a blunderbuss), arms, backpack, and head are from a Wargames Atlantic British Riflemen sprue. It took a little doing to get the head to work with the body, but it turned out nicely. I also included a bow (wrapped up to protect it against the weather) so that the Marksman isn't literally a one-shot threat.

Every warband needs a few cheap bodies to get stuff done, so here are three Warriors armed with a club/mace/hammer in one hand and a knife in the other. They're not pretty, but they'll get the job done (hopefully). The bodies and heads are Perry Miniatures Agincourt. The weapons are mostly based on that sprue as well, but with beads for mace-heads and a few knife-hands from Frostgrave boxes.

I'm still not 100% on my warband composition, but there's a good chance that most of these guys will be included. The only one that's really iffy is the blunderbuss marksman, since he's extremely expensive... but I do like the model.

Mordheim: Mercenary Halberd Champion and Marksmen

Mordheim. Now there's a blog label I didn't expect to use again. There's been interest in starting up some Mordheim games, so here we are, over a decade since I last played.

With my Noble Retinue, I already have a number of options to start a warband, but I need a few more stout fellows to fill things out. So, here we are.

First, the halberdier is a good choice for a champion. This guy looks like he's going "Oy, you!" He's got a big plume on his helmet and a bottle of rotgut on his belt. I like this guy. He's a mix of:

• Pike & Shotte Landsknect Zweihander plastic body and right arm, and metal halberd arm
• Perry Light Cavalry (1450-1500) plastic head
• Anvil Industry resin pointing hand
• Frostgrave Wizards II plastic bottle

The other three lads are marksmen built entirely from the Perry Agincourt (English and French Infantry) boxes. I've had them built for a while (to supplement the Retinue), but now they're painted up and looking good.

Several faces and hands to paint on these lads. The champion has actual pupils, but the marksmen just have the blank white eyes. They've seen some things. (Edit: The marksmen later got pupils because they were too creepy.)

Leland's Fusiliers: Orion & Catapult

Two big, iconic mechs join the Fusiliers.The Orion (left) is basically a scaled-down Atlas; it's a solid all-rounder weapons platform. The Catapult (right) is a long range missile boat, backing up the LRMs with four medium lasers. I love missile boats, and I love this mech.

• Orion (75 tons, BV 1,429)
  
• Catapult (65 tons, BV 1,399)

Leland's Fusiliers Stats
Total mechs: 16
Total tons: 950
Total battle value: 18,972

The Embers of Alexandria: Part Four

The Embers are once again burning brighter, as thirteen new recruits join their ranks.

Six of these were originally meant for a Frostgrave warband, painted up in purple. I never finished painting them, which is just as well, since now they're in the red and grey livery of the Embers. There are five in this batch that could be used in Frostgrave (the ones with archaic weapons), but I did add a shotgun to the hand-axe wielder, so he'll probably have to stay in modern times.

Four more were newly built and painted alongside the six. I put together two more light machine-gunners to provide heavy fire, since I feel like they would be the most common support weapon. There's one more pistoleer, because I wanted to see if a shaved-down SMG would look like a pistol. Finally, there's another Ash with an assault rifle, so that I can do three squads of three; each squad could also include an LMG Coal and a shotgun Ash. Nice little evil fireteams.

And then I built three more, because I was kind of on a roll. Another Ash with an assault rifle, another Coal with an RPG, and another Coal with a sniper rifle. The sniper got the "hero face" treatment. I haven't done an actual miniature face since February; everything's been robots, masks, skeletons, or aliens. So, since I liked the pose and wanted to do a nice face, I gave him good eyes, good skin blend, some redness on the nose, and the overall glow up treatment.

With these thirteen added, here's where the Embers of Alexandria stand in total:

• Ashes x25 (Assault Rifle x10, Pistol x7, Shotgun/Axe x4, Sword x2, Crossbow x2)
  
• Coals x11 (LMG x3, RPG x2, Sniper Rifle x2, Flamethrower, Hacker, Stalker, Executioner)
  
• Sparks x2
• Summoner x1
  
• Aliens x2 (Hybrid, Maw-nstrosity)

Total: 41

That's an insane number of cultists. The Embers' primary opponent, the 6Gun mercenaries, only have fifteen (human) soldiers; maybe it's time to start thinking about reinforcements. You know, to keep the cultist threat in check.

Leland's Fusiliers: Commando & Spider

These two light mechs add some much needed recon support to the Fusiliers. The Commando (left) is a non-jumping little fella that specializes in exploiting holes in enemy armor by launching a fusillade of short-range missiles. The Spider (right) specializes in speed and insane jump-jet range, at the expense of any weapons beyond two medium lasers. They're light, they're fast, and they're cheap.

• Commando (25 tons, BV 556)
  
• Spider (30 tons, BV 622)

Leland's Fusiliers Stats
Total mechs: 14
Total tons: 810
Total battle value: 16,144

While I didn't mention it in the previous post, the Fusiliers now have enough mechs to fill three Lances (of four mechs each). That makes them Company-strength! Still not as powerful as my Aka-Oni Irregulars, but close to the BV of my Clan Ghost Bear forces.

Leland's Fusiliers: Atlas

Finally, I have painted up the face of Battletech: the 100-ton Atlas. This is probably the most recognizable Inner Sphere battlemech in the game. Here, it's shown next to the Urbanmech to give a sense of scale. It's big.

Along with my Fusilier livery, I've given the Atlas the traditional white skull-head. The paint job turned out pretty well.

Leland's Fusiliers Stats
Total mechs: 12
Total tons: 755
Total battle value: 14,966

Scifi Droid, Bounty Hunters, and Drones

In light of a new RPG campaign, I've been in a bit of a scifi modeling mood lately. This led to the folks in the picture.

On the left is a green droid from the Core Space miniature game. In that game, he's a crew character named Hopper. I'm using him for a Starfinder campaign* where he represents my player character, SAT-R9. The physical details on the figure were a little muddy, but he painted up well.

The next character is a kitbashed bounty hunter (of the same species as my dragonmen). The body and head are from the Stargrave box, as are the side rocket parts of the jetpack. The rockets are attached to a pouch from the Wargames Atlantic Einherjar sprue; it's a pretty nice-looking jetpack. The arms and guns are from a Dead Man's Hand Gunfighters sprue, giving a classic space-western look. Topping off that look, the hat is actually from a Pike & Shotte Thirty Years War sprue; it looks enough like a cowboy hat to complete the ensemble. This guy oozes that Star Wars bounty hunter feel and he's probably my favorite from this batch.

Finally, on the right we have a high-tech, drone-controlling mercenary with a big gun. The design concept is that he controls a drone swarm to track down the targets and harry them while he opens up with his machine gun (if necessary). The whole figure is from the Stargrave boxes except for the backpack, which is a trimmed-down version from an Einherjar sprue. The three drones are from a "Beyond the Gates of Antares" starter box called "Strike on Kar'a Nine" that I got free with a purchase from Warlord Games. They're Algoryn Spotter Drones. For easy identification, they each have a different accent color (green, blue, or purple).

*As always, it's a digital campaign, so painting up a figure for my character is totally superfluous.

Aka-Oni Irregulars: Raven, Blackjack, Grasshopper, Thug, Annihilator

Some more Battletech mechs have rolled off the assembly line. Decked out in the red and yellow livery of the Aka-Oni Irregulars we have a light, a medium, a heavy, and two assault classes.

• Raven (35 tons, BV 887)
• Blackjack (45 tons, BV 1011)
• Grasshopper (70 tons, BV 1417)
• Thug (80 tons, BV 1502)
• Annihilator (100 tons, BV 1625)

Total mechs: 21
Total tons: 1155
Total battle value: 23,044

Dragonmen

Here are six dragonmen. Five have spiky mauls while the sixth has a rifle. The five melee guys can be used in fantasy games. Throw in the rifleman and they can be used in scifi games. Flexibility!

The heads are from the Stargrave Mercenaries sprue. There are two per sprue (one with open mouth, one with closed mouth). As there are four sprues in the box, I have two of the heads left. The bodies for the melee guys come from the Frostgrave Soldiers box; the rifleman's body is from the Stargrave Crew box.

The two-handed mauls are from the Frostgrave Cultists sprue. After I built three as-is, I wanted to change things up. One dragonman has a one-hander made by removing an axehead and replacing it with a maulhead; the other has a maul mounted on a spear shaft. It adds some variety.

The painting was fast and a little sloppy. The skin and bone (basically the head) got a wash of Agrax Earthshade. The rest (grey, blue, brown, and metal) got a wash of Nuln Oil.

Siegtruh, the Mimic Knight

Here is Sir Siegtruh of Sotric, the Mimic Knight. He's a wonderfully jovial and friendly fellow. While ponderous and deliberative (not wanting to act too hastily), he'll leap in at a moment's notice to help anyone who finds themselves in a bit of a pickle.

The figure is comprised of the following:

• A chest from the Bloodborne board game
• Arms from the Frostgrave Soldiers box
• Legs from a detruncated Frostgrave Soldier body
• A jaunty hat from a Warlord Games' Pike and Shotte sprue

I am in love with this delightful little kitbash! This character will appear in an upcoming D&D campaign (which is, again, played entirely online, so he doesn't really need a physical model, but I also have other plans for the figure).

Gunslinger: Doc Muldoon

Here's a wild west gunslinger by the name of Dr. Chauncy Muldoon. Armed with a dashing derby and a pair of Colt Single Action Army revolvers, Doc Muldoon is a steel-nerved surgeon on and off the battlefield. Like White Hat in the previous post, Doc Muldoon is built entirely from the Dead Man's Hand Gunfighter sprue. Doing his entire outfit in brown may have been my mistake, but he turned out pretty nice anyway. 

This year has been odd for my mini-painting so far. Everything I've done has been either a superperson or, now, a gunslinger.

Supervillain: White Hat

Most of the supervillains I've been building and painting have been "all-new," based on the miniatures I had available. This fella, on the other hand, is at least 14 years old; his original picture is in a document last modified in 2008. Below is the original version I made of White Hat, in a now-seemingly-defunct version of Fábrica de Heróis (an online, Flash-based superhero designer that originally created characters in the style of Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series, etc.)). I've wanted to make this guy for a while, but I only recently got the parts needed. I think he turned out really well, especially given the color scheme.

White Hat is a cowboy-themed supervillian who started out his career by pretending to be a hero (a white hat). He's a sharpshooter and has been known to take jobs as an sniper and assassin on the side. During his time masquerading as a hero, he utilized a number of trick bullets, but as a villain he's just as likely to use normal bullets.

The model is entirely built from Great Escape Games' "Dead Man's Hand: Gunfighters" box of plastic, multi-part models. There are only enough parts to make ten models in the box, but the quality is pretty good, and it looks like the bits could easily be used with a lot of other kits. There is a head in the box with a bandana covering the face, but it didn't look great, so I switched to a Lone Ranger-style domino mask; the contours molded into the face really made it easy.

White is a difficult color to paint, but I did my best. Paired with the orange, grey, and black, it's a striking color theme.

The model is based with desert crackle paint because (a.) it looks more appropriate, (b.) it hides the integral puddle base the model stands on, and (c.) he can be used in Wild West genre games now.

Supervillain: Devil Mayfair

These 360° shots are the very devil to make.

There are many rumors about Mayfair, most of which are contradictory. He or she may have been a talented West End actor, cursed for their hubris to forever stalk the shadows. Or perhaps Mayfair was a petty criminal, sentenced to death in Newgate Prison over a century ago, who made a dark pact by selling a soul (possibly someone else's) for power. Perhaps Mayfair is nothing more than a trickster, a gifted illusionist who only simulates the terrifying abilities attributed to the legend. Maybe Mayfair really is the devil. If anyone knows the truth, it's Devil Mayfair, and they don't seem keen to share.

With tremendous powers of illusion and a devil-may-fair-care attitude, Mayfair is a manipulative villain. The closest analogue I can think of might be Mysterio crossed with Scarecrow, but with a more magical twist. While I think of Mayfair as a solo act, if a plot needs minions, my robed cultists match pretty well.

This figure was kitbashed with no preparation, just going through my bits to get some ideas. The body is from a Bolt Action Soviet Winter Infantry sprue. I went to that sprue to find a longcoat body, but ended up with this one instead. Originally, I planned to do alternating vertical stripes, but ultimately I chose to do a solid color with a bright accent color on the straps and accessories. The arms are from the Frostgrave Wizards II sprue, which is a kitbasher's dream. I picked matching arms that give a sense of showy menace (and/or jazz hands). Finally, the head is a demon skull from the Citadel Skulls box; there are 340 skulls in that box! I originally went in there for just a normal human skull, but the demon skull really stood out and provides a unique silhouette. I used some putty to fill out the back of the skull and turn it into either a helmet or an actual head (who knows?), and it turned out great.

And, as a side note, the horns may just be illusory, since standard doorways would otherwise become Mayfair's nemeses.

Henchmen

Every self-respecting supervillain needs a few minions to help carry out their plans. I speed-painted these five henchmen to fill that void.

The bodies are from Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder sprues. I really wanted to like these bodies, but they're not as cool as I'd hoped. The high collar also really limits what heads can be easily applied.

The arms are from Warlord Z Male Survivor sprues. There are four pistol guys and one AK-47 guy (clearly the leader). The Cannon Fodder guns are just ludicrous and ugly, so I used what I had instead.

The heads are from... Saxon Fyrds, maybe? I painted on domino masks because, again, any head with a domino mask is instantly converted into super-something.

These guys aren't that great, but they look good enough to try and rob a bank--before subsequently being knocked unconscious by a hero in the first two pages of the comic (before the real story starts).

Supervillain: The Draugr

Here we have two versions of The Draugr, both on foot and riding in his Gorva mechsuit. It isn't often that I make two miniatures for the same character (various The Wardens notwithstanding), but I wanted armored and less-armored versions of this guy, either for different difficulties or to allow for a two-stage battle.

Draugr, Val Wyman, is a tough-as-nails supermercenary. Apart from tactical and combat skills developed as a special operations soldier, he also has the power of runic magic, stolen from his brother. Beyond merely enhancing his weapons and abilities, the energy of the runes powers his mechsuit, the Gorva. (The Gorva heavy battle armor was previously mothballed since its energy requirements were impossible for the designers to meet.)

I really love the way these miniatures came out. Both use the same head from Wargames Atlantic Einherjar sprues. It's a tech-viking look that's pretty hard to find. The Gorva mechsuit is a plastic "IMEF Bulldog I" from Reaper Miniatures. The on-foot version is a Stargrave body with Einherjar arms and shield. The carbine on his back is from Anvil Industry. The paint scheme wouldn't look out of place with my Stargrave crew, so he could serve as a Veteran captain or first mate.

The bases are painted up like roads, though the mechsuit has clearly already destroyed a lot of stuff. There's also a bike lane on the mechsuit's road, because I thought it would look interesting.

Draugr is not a street-level villain like most of the ones I've done up recently. He's definitely a medium to heavy-weight. If someone can afford his services, he'll get the job done—top tier heroic intervention notwithstanding.

Supervillain: Claire Volante

Claire Volante was born with tremendous psionic abilities. At a young age, she was kidnapped by possibly-rogue government scientists, whose experiments increased her powers tenfold. Since her escape, she's enacted revenge on those who she believes wronged her and turned into a destructive force leading an army of like-minded minions; they're like-minded because of all the mind control.

This is a metal Stargrave miniature, one of the two in the Psionicists pack. I got it free with the Stargrave Nickstarter. To make her more human, I shaved off a ridge that ran back across her head and trimmed down her pointy ears. I like the pose of this figure and it works well for a superperson.

As for the colors, she's got a purple jumpsuit with black coat and boots. Black is a hard color for me to paint, since I prime with black and it just looks unfinished. But overall, I think she turned out well. I also used some crackle paint on the base, to make it look like the street is damaged; I'll probably do some more of this in the future, just to break up the bases.

Supervillain: The Augur

Another supervillain (slash Frostgrave wizard). The Augur bears many mystical fortune-telling artifacts, like a deck of cards, a crystal ball, a planchette, and more! He uses his powers of foresight for evil, planning crimes for the most auspicious times.

The figure is a Reaper Bones miniature from the Bones IV Kickstarter. It was originally a Pathfinder Iconic character, but now the website has it renamed as "Erasmus, Human Bard." Sure, Reaper, he's just a bard; collecting all those divination tools is just a hobby.

We have a green coat with a yellow scarf, so mainly a secondary color with a splash of primary. Villainous. Fear the Augur!

Supervillain: Boomtown

Boomtown, an explosives-themed villain. He's got a detonator in hand (with red button) and four grenades on his belt. He's also dropped a grenade, but the pin is still in, so he should be safe. Overall, I get the vibe of an average Joe who's not too bright but good with explosives. Maybe he got kicked out of the army and spent some time on a demolition crew? He's a B-list villain at best.

The figure is built with a Stargrave body and Frostgrave cultist head and arms. I cut off the right hand and added a hand from Anvil Industry. The grenades are old; I think they're from Games Workshop Catachan Imperial Guard.

He's got that villainous secondary color palette. Interestingly, while green and purple are often combined (Joker, Lex Luthor, Green Goblin, Mysterio, Riddler), green and orange aren't very common. There's Kobra and... that's all I can come up with quickly.

This fellow's codename, Boomtown, may be temporary if I can find a better one. Ideas: Short Fuze, Demolitionist, Detonator, Detonathan, Bombardier, Green Grenadier, Flashpoint, Shockwave, Mr. Munition, Pyrotech, Shrapnel, Shrapnelson... I could go on.

Supervillain: The Racketeer

This is The Racketeer, another supervillain based entirely around a pun (which was itself based entirely around what I had on hand).

This is another figure constructed from bits of the Project Z female survivors sprue. She's wearing comfortable athletic clothes because villainy tends to involve a lot of running and exercise. The only thing I specifically did to make her a super-person was to paint a domino mask on her face. My working theory is that any miniature can be superpowered simply by painting the domino mask. And this way, you don't have to paint pupils on the eyes!

I painted blue hair because she needed another color. It's a wig, to further obscure her identity. Her shorts will be less shiny when it warms up outside and I can apply a matte spray varnish. I painted the road lines on the base by using very, very thin strips of painter's tape as a stencil; it's very simple basing, but I didn't think she would look right standing in either mud or a desert like I normally do these days.

2021 in Review

The books have closed on 2021, so here's a look back at what I've painted this year. My goal was to paint at least 52 miniatures, but I ended up finishing a whopping 127. Goodness. That seems excessive. Anyway, let's take a gander. (Also take a gander at my sweet new display case to the right.)

• Leland's Fusiliers (11)
• Wolfhound
• Blackjack
• Hunchback
• Wolverine
• Trebuchet
• Zeus
• Longbow
• Cyclops
• Archer
• Centurion
• Hatchetman
  
• Generic Mechs (4)
• Cicada
• Vulcan
• Shogun
• Stalker
  
• Aka-Oni Irregulars (18)
• Flea
• Locust
• Commando
• Urbanmech
• Panther
• Jenner
• Shadow Hawk
• Wolverine
• Griffin
• Dragon
• Quickdraw
  
• Thunderbolt
• Catapult
• Marauder
• Awesome
• BattleMaster
• Scorpion Light Tank (2)
  
• Clan Ghost Bear (9)
• Executioner
• Ice Ferret (2)
  
• Nova
• Timber Wolf
• Adder
• Grendel
• Elementals (2)
  
• Embers of Alexandria (28)
  
• Ashes with Assault Rifles (8)
• 
  Ashes with Pistols (6)
• Ashes with Shotguns and Axes (3)
  
• Coal with Flamethrower
• Coal with LMG
• Coal with RPG
• Coal with Sniper Rifle
• Coal Hacker
• Coal Stalker
  
• Sparks with Assault Rifle (2)
  
• Alien Hybrid
• Gaping Maw-nstrosity 
• Summoner
  
• 
  Noble Retinue (22)
  
• Pikemen (2)
• Greatswords (2)
• Swordsmen with Shields (2)
• Arquebusiers (6)
• Marksman with Long Rifle
• Cavalry Pistolier
• Cavalry Lancer (2)
• Dwarf Cleric
• Wizard
• Apprentice
• Skeleton Swordsmen (2) 
• Musician/Herald
  
• Hivewarden
  
• Giant Frogs (4)
  
• Beastmen (4)
  
• Scavengers (5)
  
• 
  Stargrave Crew (11)
• Dwarf Engineer (Captain)
• Dwarf Gunner (First Mate)
  
• Dwarf Scout (Pathfinder)
  
• Dwarf Driller (Burner)
• Dwarf Sentry
• Dwarf Trooper
• Human Trooper
• Setla Chisler
• Setla Hacker
• Rudulian Runner
  
• Engineer's Turret (Drone)
  
• 6Gun Mercenary Aliens (4)
• 
  Setla Psion
• Setla Soldier
• Setla Technician
• Rudulian Axeman
• Unaffiliated Aliens (4)
• Rudulian Businessman
• Rudulian Sheriff
• Setla Stillsuit
• Setla "Tilly"
• 15mm Epic Battles: ACW Stands (2)
• Union Infantry stand
• Confederate Infantry stand

I noted at the start of this year that I might focus on scifi miniatures, and that more or less happened. Between the Stargrave crew, assorted aliens, and especially all the Battletech miniatures, there's a lot of scifi. I'm not going to try and pick a project to focus on for the new year. Who knows what 2022 holds?