Good Monday, all!

Well, I’m still trying to digest all of the 4E info from DDXP.  I’m hoping later in the week to offer some reflections…

Also, I’m steadily progressing on the campaign, and think I’m to the point where one to two posts a week should keep me on schedule for GenCon.  Look for those on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Anyways, I wanted to write a little something about painting minis.  I know that, with the D&D miniatures line, there is little need for most folks to paint their own minis.  I enjoy it, however;  I find it relaxing, and I love to look at a job well done.

 At any rate, I’m not the best painter.  I do well enough for my group of friends, and that’s just fine with me.  But even to get to the point where I am took some time.  Today’s minis feature shows just how much your painting can improve.  I painted these two sets of identical minis right around 4 months apart from one another.  I’m sure you can tell which ones were the older ones.  Take a look:

This one was cool.

A few years ago, I bout a mini on eBay.  The ad said, simply, “Orc on Dragon, painted.”

It was an orc on a wyvern, painted poorly.  Actually, it was the Warhammer character Azhag the Slaughterer, painted very poorly.  So, I fixed him:

This is Boskan.  You can read all about him here.

For the Flowers and Unicorns campaign, I painted a mini for everyone’s character, and gave them out as Christmas gifts.  Unfortunately, I don’t have pics of all of them;  I’m hoping to get them all in the same room again one day. 

At any rate, Boskan is a converted Mage Knight figure, with a Reaper pseudodragon familiar companion.  Take a look:

He even looks like a jerk

I’ve mentioned before how hard it is to get detail into a plastic miniature, and why I prefer pewter.  This face pic illustrates just how bad plastic molds can be:

Just like me when I played him, I think Boskan needs to show his ass:

Shake your moneymaker, Boskan.

This is another Reaper Mini that I painted around five years ago.  Reaper makes the best minis on the market.  D&D Minis are fine, but you just don’t get the detail with plastic that you get with pewter.  Other brands have come close, but none have had the consistent quality, in terms of detailed molds, that Reaper has.

I’ve always liked this one, until today.  My wife’s new camera shows all of the mistakes, and I’m not good enough with Photoshop to touch them up yet!

 Anyways, enjoy these:

COME TO ME, MY SERVANT!

Looking at this one now, I’m wishing I’d have done more with the eyes.  Still, I LOVE the texture on the wings. 

You can tell he’s evil ‘cuz his ax has a skull.

Again with the wing textures.  Very cool stuff. 

Some people have been bugging me to put up some pics of some of the minis I’ve painted over the years.  I’m not a pro, by any means, but I do enjoy the painting side of the hobby.

Here’s the one I get the most compliments on: