Fun-Sized Grab Bag

 One day is not much time, so let us rejoice in small things.

Here is this year's pumpkin. It is modelled after Skull Man from the Mega Man games, though I've never played any of them. I largely wanted to ape the album cover art from The Megas' album, Skulls:

That neon-gothic combination is really striking, and something I hope to emulate in miniature form one day. But my Halloween miniature took a different turn this year:

This week, I watched Aliens for the first time. I had seen Alien years and years ago, but never found the time to watch the sequel. Miraculously, I had managed to avoid major spoilers for all that time. Even though I accidentally watched the theater cut instead of the longer version, I still had an astounding time. Certain films hold an incredible visual power and Aliens ranks amongst the strongest contenders in that regards. The viewer can feel the world in every frame, it is borderline witchcraft. Fitting for the season I suppose. My only disappointment is that I had been putting it off until now. While watching the film I was working on the banshee figure, which was for the best as it only required attention every ten to twenty minutes after each layer was done drying. Any more effort and I would have thrown it away to focus wholesale on the film, which is one of the risks of watching and painting at the same time.

But what does any of this have to do with Conan?

Yesterday, I made this. In what is now technically a yearly tradition I have made yet another thematic but half-finished miniature for Halloween. This one was built off of Imperial Guard parts, mainly a Sentinel Crewman and a Catachan mortarman I had lying around from secondhand.  Instead of a longsword he rests next to a missile, and his throne is constructed of millitaria. When I can find the time to sculpt up the legs and give him a footrest, I think it will look better, although the biggest challenge is definitely finding appropriate arms for the figure. I am saving the head until last since I expect the pose and mood to change over time. It is largely inspired by Aliens, especially the constant appearance of techy equipment and weaponry. I expect the final figure to be dripping with guns and grenades; I am seriously considering stringing the latter like fairy lights above the throne.

Lastly, please watch Halloween is Grinch Night if you have never seen it. I would not rank it quite so high as a lot of the other family-styled specials like Charlie Brown or Nightmare Before, but it has a very distinct atmosphere and visual style. And The Paraphernalia Wagon, which I cannot expound upon.

Happy Halloween!

Cry of the Banshee

 Brocas Helm is a severely underrated band, in my opinion.

Yesterday marked a first for my painting journey. More of a second, really. I used a contrast paint. For about a month I had already been using extremely thinned Black Templar as a substitute for my old Nuln Oil which had run mostly dry, since the recipe had changed in the interim. It worked about as well, if a little darker. Last night I went further and used a contrast paint for its intended purpose. May God have mercy on my wretched soul.

For context, I hold what could be described as a stigma against contrast paints. When I got into the hobby in 2017 they had yet to be introduced. I bought my paints, slathered my Tempestus Scions, and grew dissatisfied after a month or so. When I returned to painting in 2021 I found that there were new paints for sale, and I felt both defensive over my previous purchase and afraid that the way I taught myself to paint was being replaced. Over time this has mellowed from a resentment into more of a general snobbish distaste. Contrast paints do, in my opinion, produce a higher baseline of figure quality but with a lower skill ceiling when used as intended. Using them as advanced washes or for arcane techniques is another matter entirely.

With all that said, I think I have found a good use for them. The Silver Bayonet has a scenario requiring two ghosts, so I decided to start with that in terms of supernatural units. I used Hexwraith Flame, functionally a contrast paint even though it is called a technical, and Ulthuan Grey for a drybrush. Details were cleaned up with a heavy Biel-Tan Green wash which was also applied to the hair. Overall painting time was an hour and a half maximum of extremely distracted fiddling and waiting for the paints to dry. I could probably run an assembly line of this style and be done with a force in a single night.

Despite this, I do not know if I would want to continue this monochromatic scheme precisely. I think some greater variation would be good in the future. I do not care for using physical looking weapons or clothing on an otherwise phantasmal figure, but perhaps a variation of shade in the eye sockets could work nicely? There are experiments to be done.

Here is a scale comparison. As you can see, our Frenchman is trying very hard to keep a brave face.

Report from the front

Scattered reports have trickled in from the front. Silver bayonets have been seen flashing in the moonlight.

 

My last post might have indicated that I was going to be making some sort of root-based figure. Fret not, I still fully intend to. But my thoughts on the matter are that if one is going to make a corruption of something one ought to get an idea of what is being corrupted in the first place. Thus, a common-or-garden Victrix Frenchman. Painting him took about a week of backburner effort, where I would spend half or more of each session on more British figures and the rest of the time on this single one. Research was probably the hardest part, and I know for a fact I have erred in places.

To start with, the white clothing and straps are Vallejo ivory, the straps are washed with extremely diluted Black Templar, and the clothing with a Black Templar and Agrax Earth mix diluted almost to invisibility. It is an astounding effect, and I am very pleased with the Goonhammer site for revealing it to me. Both were highlighted with a recoat of ivory. The skin was a Cadian->Reikland->Cadian->Kislev progression, with lips done up via a Kislev-Bugman's Glow mixture and the eyes in Ivory with corvus black lining and pupils. Hair was dryad bark, washed brown and highlighted with Catachan Flesh.

The coat is Vallejo Imperial Blue, washed with Nightshade and rehighlighted first with Imperial and then with Vallejo Ultramarine blue on the top, which I found too bright until I reshaded it with more Nightshade. The red is a simple Mephiston->Carroburg->Wild Rider progression similar to what I use on the British. The black is Corvus->Black Templar->Eshin. Gold is Retributor->Black Templar-Reikland->Auric Armour. The Black Templar wash is largely incidental to the gold, and is fine to skip.

The bedroll and brown straps are Zandri-Agrax-Zandri. The pouch is XV-88, the backpack liner is Mournfang and the backpack interior is either Baneblade or Gorthor brown, I forget. I did not want to attempt the cowhide pattern seen on many of Napoleon's troops. The Pom-Pom is Vallejo Flat green, then Biel-Tan wash, then Vallejo Park green. Steel is leadbelcher, Black Templar, and Ironbreaker. The rifle wood is Mournfang washed with Black Templar.

I am extremely pleased with this figure. The inaccuracies, being chiefly the lack of a white strap on the bayonet holder and the potential absence of gold buttons on the rear of the coat, are not significant enough to bother me. I intend the figure as a member of the Second Corps in 1813, stationed in French-held Corfu. This is largely due to the region's connection to Veruzia, which means I can in theory say that this is also someone who might have been involved in the establishment of the Verussian empire in one way or another. My goal is to use it as part of a French Adriatic force for the Silver Bayonet. Other units I will want to paint in more niche uniform styles, like the Septinsular Battalion. I might even try to scrounge up a figure for a member of the French Albanian regiment. Against them will be pitted Austrians, who I have an actual Silver Bayonet kit for from a local store. And of course, being that this is the Silver bayonet there will be a share of supernatural creatures too. Hopefully before Halloween if I can paint quickly enough.

As a final word for the moment, here is a base I attempted to make for the figure. I sculpted large paver stones out of milliput based on images of the city of Corfu, but I was impatient with painting and turned what should have been a drybrush into more of a smearing as I drybrushed over wet paint. The effect is not entirely unpleasant, so I am filing it away for experimentation later. With stronger shading it might even have potential. It was primed white, then based in XV-88 and Zandri Dust 50/50, then drybrushed while drying with Ushabti bone and again once dry with Karak Stone.

Declaration of War, and the Carmín Corsario

 Red reckoning beckons.

First, pirates. This is the dreaded Carmín Corsario I intend to use for Blood and Plunder. His figure is from Reaper miniatures instead of Firelock games. I am fairly pleased so far, though I do not consider him finished. The shirt lace around the neck and cuffs needs to be whitened up, and the coat could do with a final layer of highlights. Still, I managed the skin quite well at least. This figure was an attempt to feel out a paint recipe instead of researching one. What I normally do is find an online recipe for each section of a figure and stick to it. This takes time, but helps me stay confident with colour choices. This time, I just went straight to the painting, feeling out which paints and combinations to use. XV-88 is a very good vest colour, and it matches the colours of the crown of Aragon, which would be reused in the modern Spanish flag, although that design was not present in the golden age of Piracy.

Where was I? Improvising a recipe, yes. This was more tenuous than my normal style of painting, as evidenced by the difference in style between him and the earlier B&P figures I've toyed with. But this is more authentically mine, in a sense. Except the odd shine which I cannot really explain. My best guess is that I mixed too much thinner into the washes. Once I have gone back and fixed a few last details I can try using a matte varnish, I am told it might help.

And eyes! This image is proof that I can now paint two pairs of eyes on a figure and have them be roughly the same size. I cannot yet make guarantees regarding the pupil shape staying consistent, but this represents progress nonetheless.

Now, onto more serious matters. This year has been the final straw on a long and maddening road. For practically the whole of this decade I have been barred, no, robbed of a proper Halloween season. Wretched mundanities have conspired to take from me any time to appreciate the atmosphere, to watch films, assemble a costume, or even paint more than a handful of figures. No more! I have just vanquished a mighty business trip, and having returned rich with a bounty of hotel soap and airline earbuds I may now cast aside any vestiges of normalcy in favor of unrelenting horror. I have not just missed out on two weeks worth of October, but two weeks and five years. This must be rectified!

Now, I declare war on three dread foes:

-My schedule, for binding me like so many chains of dark iron

-My pile of shame, for holding so many deliciously twisted figures out of reach upon the sprue

-My own laziness, for bringing ruin to this place and dust to my miniatures

I prefer not to speak much of future projects, for fear that I will overpromise. But in that fear can be found motivation. I thus declare, freely, that I purchased on sale a bag of Victrix Napoleonics, a box of Perry knights, and some wood filler.

There are those of you who will know what this means, and those who will not. Both parties should prepare accordingly.