The Snail, the Crane and the Frog

Hi All!

I've made the sub-light hop from Caprica to land on picturesque Arda, the planet of high fantasy and all this LotR. I've been looking forward to this as I've been in a sort of all-things-fantasy mood this past year, being quite taken by the game 'Moonstone', and preparing several 10mm Warhammer Fantasy forces for 'Monsters and Magic' (M2), the fantasy version of 'To the Strongest'.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was cruising around on MyMinFactory and came across this brilliant digital sculptor who goes by the handle 'CobraMode'. His/Her designs are incredible, exhibiting such a unique and whimsical vision. The overall aesthetic is a mystical medieval Asia, but with the twist of having anthropomorphic creatures as the primary characters - I find it's all very cool. Suitable impressed, I plumped down for several of the print files (okay, a lot of the print files). 

This little tryptic sets the scene of a Feixian sword-for-hire, travelling with his loyal pack-snail (squire?). They have made it to the outskirts of the Great Mushroom Forest when they are met on the road by a Hikiga swordsman baring their way. The Crane swordsman, sensing this is no simple highwayman, leaps from his faithful steed to attack. The Fog Ogre (Fogre?) takes up his 'stone pose', his petal-blade poised to meet the Feixian's aggressive approach...

I had a lot of fun working on all of these models as they're so characterful. Being a fantastical creatures, I just opened up a bunch of paint pots and sort of went wild.

The Pack-Snail is a hoot and is absolutely festooned with adventuring gear. 

If you look closely, in amongst all the baggage, you can see a sock drying on a line, a pot of soup being rudely jostled, and a rooster(?!) precariously teetering on his nest. 

I used various blends of contrast paint for his shell (btw Contrast Medium is awesome for colourshift blending) and, thinking him as a helpful creature, I added a Moorish target shield to his 'hand' (propodium?) which he's offering to his liege. 

I did up the Fexian swordsman in colourful layered robes that you would see in any Chinatown festival. As his pose is quite busy, I had to paint him while in his individual parts and assemble later. 

He's such a delicate figure that I'm rather dubious of his survivability on the tabletop. Oh well, such is the life of a Crane swordsman.

The huge Hikiga swordsman looks like a cross between a Maori warrior and a salamander. I decided to make him largely turquoise with trippy sigil-tattoos across his belly and circling his biceps. 

I had fun painting on the flower petals on his 'uge honkin' blade and doing his doo in a pink to azure blue fade. Kids these days.

All of these models are fairly large at around 54mm. The Snail and the Hikiga were one-piece prints, but the Feixian swordsman comes as five pieces and is quite complex to arrange in his leaping pose. I had to carefully drill out one of his legs to pin it to the base for stability (which I later camouflaged with the flowering shrub). 

Hmm. Not sure what I'm doing next, so we'll see where the star lanes take us...

Thanks for dropping in for a look - have a great day!

- Curt

More1812 Russian Retreat French

I decided to add a few more figures my slowly growing 1812 Retreat collection.

These are all Perry metals. In my opinion, this range is some of the best work they've every done. They do a brilliant job of capturing the utter desolation and despair of these men trudging their way out of frozen Russia. The poses and postures of these figures do a brilliant job of conveying the brutal, numbing, and unrelenting cold of the environment. Brrr! 

I have to apologize as my iPhone camera struggles with the high-contrast grey and white of my snow bases. I finally had to shrug and give up.

Hmm, I'm thinking that these fellow would be perfect for a Silver Bayonet scenario - perhaps a story built around icy Ithaqua pursuing a group of cut off French and Russian infantry... Excuse me as I get my notepad!

Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

Felicity Foxcroft, Femme Fatale

I present to you Felicity Foxcroft, dilettante, freelance spy and all-around heart-breaker.

I've had this figure in my stores for quite a while, and for the life of me I can't remember where I got her from. She looks like a Hasslefree, Statuesque, or a Pulp Miniature sculpt. Hmm, I dunno. No matter, I think she's quite the dish with her slinky evening gown, long silk gloves, and, the ultimate accessory for a lady-about-town: a .38 snub nose revolver.

Felicity will be a welcome addition to our Pulp collection. I know for certain she'll charm the socks off of the next Shoggoth we happen across. 

- Curt

Opening Entry for the 12th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - Marvin the Martian

Hello All!

Well here we are. After weeks of journeying we find ourselves on the outskirts of the Challenge XII Quadrant. 

I've decided to land on the planet of Klendathu, and discovered I was not alone in my explorations. A hostile alien, calling himself Marvin, is bound and determined on invasion and subjugation. Knowing the history of this planet, I tried to talk sense into the little fella, but he will have none of it, being bound and determined to claim this world for Mars.  I think it will all end in tears (if not disintegration), so I decided to beat a hasty retreat to my lander.

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For our first entry I thought it apropos to start with the character featured on this year's Challenge poster, the persistently pugnacious 'Marvin the Martian'.

Marvin is a 3D print I came across while browsing through Thingiverse (thank you Amandasubic). Since he's sort of a wee chap, I scaled him up to around 40mm so he'll be noticed in the display cabinet. As you can see, I've kept it fairly simple for his paintjob. I wanted to keep true to how he was depicted in Looney Tunes, so I stuck to blocky, vibrant colours, with just a bit of edge highlighting. 

Next up: A Femme Fatale

- Curt