A new miniature based on an OLD game book

As I've gone through my recent nostalgia phase I've spoken a few times about my fondness for Fighting Fantasy game books.  I absolutely loved these books growing up and recently started combing used bookstores looking for them as a way to reconnect with some of my fun early gaming memories.

The most well known of the Fighting Fantasy books is still the first which was The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain.  Warlock is a fun book and set the tone for the whole series but for me personally my favourite of the original series was Citadel Of Chaos.  Citadel Of Chaos was a relatively short linear adventure but it did a really great job of building up it's antagonist Balthus Dire as a truly menacing adversary who was both a skilled warrior and powerful sorcerer.  In addition the art for Balthus Dire cast him as a sinister imposing figure.

In the U.K. Fighting Fantasy has waxed an waned but has never truly gone away.  In recent years this has given rise to a convention known as Fighting Fantasy-fest.  This con has authors and artists and other fun activities and this year Otherworld Miniatures designed a Balthus Dire miniature as a limited edition convention exclusive.  Once the con had come and gone Otherworld made their remaining stock available through their online store, they did the same thing a couple of years ago with Zagor (THE Warlock Of Firetop Mountain) and I always regretted I never got one so this year I decided to take the plunge and get myself a Balthus Dire figure.

This guy is everything that made old school Fighting Fantasy (and by extension old school Games Workshop) art cool.  He's foreign and exotic looking with patchwork armour and a wicked looking curved scimitar.  He looks faintly elven without actually being an elf which adds to his mystique.

I'm extremely happy with how this figure turned out and I used a colour image of Balthus Dire from an Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG book as a reference which kept me from using my usual palette of blacks and reds for my villains.

I hope I'm not the only one who appreciates this throwback to what was for me a golden era of game writing and art.

-Jay

A new cleric in an old style

Tonight I got to try Dungeon Crawl Classics (the game system, not the OGL modules) for the first time and I have to say I was super impressed.

To be perfectly honest I'm not generally a big fan of "retro" game systems because along with the nostalgia I can remember all the headaches with old school game mechanics.  But having said that Dungeon Crawl Classics does a great job of using a current modern framework for their game but just dropping a lot of extraneous nonsense that bogs the game down.

For tonight's game I was playing a cleric and I had the perfect figure from Otherworld miniatures to fit the mood of the game.  The figure has a retro aesthetic but is sculpted and cast to the standards we expect from our miniatures today.

Zenithar had a very bi-polar night.  He made a few important rolls and came through on a couple of big occasions for the party but he also bombed quite a few easy checks and had severely incurred the displeasure of his Deity before the session was over.

Lots of fun and I think I'd really like to play again!

-Jay

Orc Characters

These are the 2 pig-faced Orc characters I have done so far.

Not much to say here, obviously one is a fighter type and one is a shaman/wizard.

I think I'll be starting something a little different tomorrow.

-Jay

Pig Faced Orcs...better late than never....

Well my plan to enter Strategies Games & Hobbies painting contest was foiled by what is fast becoming one of my main adversaries...going to the post office.

Two of three projects got finished but never actually got packed and sent so boo to me.  They are however hosting their Secret Santa event again this year and that was so much fun that I'm definitely doing it again.  I express shipped my entry last year but an event like that is too good to pass up.

Anyhow today I'm showing off 4 of the pig-faced Orcs from Otherworld.  These guys were painted alongside a more heavily armoured leader-type but I'm holding him back to show alongside the  Orc wizard figure I also got.

Hopefully I'll get my first dozen agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. done today!

-Jay

Flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp, therefore....

Back to the D&D "classics" today.  I got my 2 Rust Monsters from Otherworld Miniatures finished.

When I first got into role-playing I started with the old D&D Basic Set 'Red Box'.  The player's guide in there kicked off with a solo adventure where the big baddy towards the end was a Rust Monster.  Ever since then I've felt that the Rust Monster was a fairly iconic D&D Monster even though I don't recall it making a single appearance in any other published TSR novels or adventures.

After looking at the D&D pre-paints I had on hand of the Rust Monsters (which were WAY too small to use) and consulting the Monster Manual I found that Rust Monsters are meant to be a mostly tan colour, honestly that look just didn't work for me.  Instead I decided that if Rust Monsters eat rust (basically) they should be more rust-coloured.

I started off by coating the entire model in a thin coat of Mephiston Red (mostly so it would settle in the crevices) and then dry-brushed the entire model Mournfang Brown.  After that a wash of Agrax Earthsahde and once that was dry I went back and applied a second wash of Baal Red on just the torso.  Picked out the details and then they're done!

-Jay

Hobby Grab Bag: It's all about roleplaying

This week in the grab bag I'll show a bunch of the next batch of RPG figs I'll be working on for both my Pathfinder game and Strategies Games & Hobbies painting contest.

First up my Alexia Ciannor figure.  This is one of those things that will be doing double duty because she is both the central character in The Witchfire Trilogy and she is a unit leader (sort of) for Warmachine's Mercenary faction.  Although the Privateer Press model for Alexia is pretty cool I've had this great Confrontation figure for years (probably more than 10 years at this point) that I knew I wanted to use for something and she's a perfect fit for Alexia.  I can't remember her name (package is LONG gone) but she was a variant of a named character for the Griffin faction for Confrontation.

Next up 2 more Thralls for Alexia.  As much as I swore I'd get away from doing undead for RPGs for awhile Alexia has some power and control over them so when it comes to gaming The Witchfire Trilogy I will need a bunch of undead figures that fit with the look of the Iron Kingdoms and I'm trying not to have them look all piratey.

And last but not least, the start of my pig-faced-orcs.  I have the day off tomorrow so if all goes to plan these will get finished tomorrow and then I might, emphasis on 'might' have enough time to do a third entry for the Immortal Brush Competition.  I just started these guys but much like my gnolls the figures are so crisp and well textured that they are super easy to paint.

That's it for now, got to put a rush on the orcs but those other figs probably won't resurface again for several weeks, I've also got some more Blood Angels waiting for my attention around here somewhere.....

-Jay