Meet the PC: Bastian, Human Paladin

One of my favorite parts about tabletop roleplaying is finding, modeling, and painting the perfect miniatures for our party PCs. I've been doing this for years now, and thought I'd share some of these characters with you.

The third member of our party was played by my buddy Robotlich. He was fond of the dual-roled striker/defender build of paladin, so he built Bastian, a surly, but honorable Teutonic Knight.

There are plenty of greatsword-wielding platemail-wearing badass miniatures to choose from, so Robotlich had plenty of options. I think he chose this one because he looked the largest & angriest of the lot. The mini is Sir Thomas, Adventuring Knight by Reaper. I didn't have to convert him at all even. He just fit so well. We made his color red, but it ended up being silver for obvious reasons. What'cha gonna do?

~Muninn

More Daemon pics from White Dwarf

Even *more* shots from the upcoming Daemon release (thanks to Naftka).

I have to say though, I'm actually unhappy about the fact that Daemon Princes appear to have been made into HQ units (see the first entry in the WD Army list below). The last codex explicitly said that Princes were technically Daemons, but weren't considered leaders by other daemons because they started as mortals.

~Muninn

Leaked Daemons of Chaos Codex cover

Here's the codex cover for the 40k & Fantasy Daemon armies. Again, picked up from Faeit212.

I'm pretty jazzed about the 40k art, and I'm ready to buy this thing.  I'd have called my FLGS owner and ordered it, but he can be sensitive when others know about releases before he does. I'll just give him a ring Saturday.

Also, Here's the battleforce. The only units here that I don't already have at the nurglings and seekers, and I'm not particularly keen on picking those units up.

~Muninn

New Chaos Daemon photos

Finally!

I've only been playing Daemons for a few years now, but it's always needed an update (well, prior to the White Dwarf update, and that wasn't very balanced). So now there's real proof of the upcoming codex.

Here're the White Dwarf photos floating around the web (taken from Faeit 212). Hands down, my favorite mini from this batch is the Plaguebearer Hearld. It's just nasty and beautiful, and I want to paint it so very much. I don't even care if the units is trash.

What encourages me the most is that these minis represent heralds, chariots, and (I assume) a fast attack nurgle unit. We haven't even seen the rumored Greater Daemons, Furies, or Fiends. I'm excited to see what comes next.

 

 ~ Muninn

Meet the PC: Chandra, Human Sorcerer

One of my favorite parts about tabletop roleplaying is finding, modeling, and painting the perfect miniatures for our party PCs. I've been doing this for years now, and thought I'd share some of these characters with you.

Continuing with the party of our Castlevania game, I bring you the character played by my buddy Roshko: Chandra, an East Indian mystic who followed stars and portent to arrive in Europe in time to face against the denizens of Castlevania. 

For this, we used Reaper's a Halmar, Young Wizard mini. The robes and spellcasting look fit well, but still needed a bit of work. Yorrik converted a turban from a sprue of hats, and I added the goatee with greenstuff. His color was orange, since saffron is a stereotypical dye used for the robes of Indian holy men. I was worried He'd look like Jafar from Aladdin, but he turned out nicely.

~Muninn

Yorrik's Kaptin Badrukk

Hello all! While Brother Muninn loses his babies under couch cushions, forgets them on the bus, and all sorts of other new-dad comedic errors, I will be pitching in by contributing to the blog with minis from my own collection. Around here I am known as Yorrik (you can see a helpful button at the top of the screen that links to my other contributions) and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase my work. However, while Muninn enjoys painting skills, camera skills, and blogging skills, I alas only have numchuck skills, so my contributions will be of decidedly worse quality.

I live in the same college town as Muninn and have been painting miniatures for about 15 years. My interests overlap with Muninn's quite a bit, focusing quite a bit on nerdy activities like board games, roleplaying games, and other assorted time-sinks. Our local game store hosts a monthly painting contest wherein the entry fee is to buy a miniature from the store's stock and submit it. Feeling quite orky and flamboyant, I decided on Kaptin Badrukk, the overpriced squad-upgrade to what is probably the worst unit in the current ork codex:

I wasn't lying about the camera skills. At least my iPhone can make up for some of my incompetence. I had a blast painting this mini, and hope to do more ork pieces in the future. The skin tone was a fun adventure, as it involved building up layers of drab olive greens and ending with a purple wash. The Kaptin's Snazzgun is a favorite detail, I love how burly and nasty that thing looks. Hopefully I'll bag first place!

If Bible verses were Orders

It's Ash Wednesday today, so I thought I'd do something a little different today, namely some Sisters of Battle.

Warhammer & Warhammer 40k are rife with puns, homages, and word play, so I thought I'd create some of my own.  I can't think of many direct puns or bible references in 40k, but I thought it'd be a fun theme to play off of. The Emperor is basically space Jesus anyways, so I consider it fair game.

Here's what I came up with.

Order of the Eternal Word
Bible Verse: Psalm 119:89 "Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens."
Colors: Black, Pink, and Gold
Concept: An offshoot of the Order of the Martyred Lady, these Sororitas rely more heavily on fast-moving Seraphim than other orders. Their cooly efficient battle style has garnered them many new recruits, and they have sent a good many novices to their Mother-Order to recoup their losses at Armageddon.

Order of the Pure Faith
Bible Verse: James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."
Colors: Sage Green, Dark Green, and White
Concept: Fully embracing the ideal that purity is gained through hardship, these Battle Sisters throw themselves into every righteous conflict within their ability. Their mortality rates are some of the highest among the Orders, but their Celestians are among the finest, most pious warriors in the Imperium.

Order of the Patient Sword
Bible Verse: Judges 3:21 "Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly."
Colors: Silver and Sky Blue with Black trim
Concept: These Sisters have close ties to members of the Orders Famulous, and are usually the first called in when an advisor finds evidence of heresy within the nobility. For this reason they are sometimes known as the "Kingkillers."

Order of the Silent Bones
Bible Verse: Psalms 32:3 "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long."
Colors: Bone and Burgundy
Concept: Emphasizing the purifying qualities of fire, these sisters eschew most all other special weapons in favor of the flamer. Three worlds dedicate their entire production of promethium to feed this Order's needs.

Order of the Righteous Song
Bible Verse: Psalms 33:1 "Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright"
Colors: Red and White
Concept: These sisters take their moniker to heart. : They are organized into units called "choirs," and loudly sing songs and hymns to the Emperor as they fall into battle. Their melodious chants bolster their allies to acts of great courage, and are frequently invited to fight alongside the Imperial Guard.

Meet the PC: Jibral al-Rashid, Human Invoker

One of my favorite parts about tabletop roleplaying is finding, modeling, and painting the perfect miniatures for our party PCs. I've been doing this for years now, and thought I'd share some of these characters with you.

A few years ago Yorrik pitched a 4th edition D&D campaign set in Castlevania in the 13th century. Needless to say we were all on board. We all came up with good quasi-historic characters and played for the better part of a year. Better yet, this is one of the few games where I managed to paint all of the characters before game's end.

Here was mine: 

 Admittedly, the name above is shortened. The full name is Jibral al-Rashid ibn Kareem aal-Sayaad.

He was an Arabian sage sent to Europe put down a great darkness or die trying. I liked the movie "the 13th Warrior" (based on Eaters of the Dead), so I wanted to explore the idea of an Islamic man of God fighting evil in Europe.

The mini itself is a slightly converted Reaper Cleric of Ishnar from their Warlords line. I added a complete turban, and greenstuffed a full beard for him. We also color coordinated colors for the minis so they'd be easier to identify on the board. I chose green for my guy because 1. green is my favorite color, and 2. it's a significant color in Islam. Seemed to fit perfectly.

I liked this character, although the Invoker's powers had a lot of out of sequence effects, so you had to pay close attention to what was happening. One bit of fun I had is that I assigned particular Quran verses for each power, and would sometimes say them to announce my attacks. I liked the flavor it added to the game, and it was interesting to read a bit of the Quran.

~Muninn

Meet the PC: Nadaar, Dragonborn Sorcerer

One of my favorite parts about tabletop roleplaying is finding, modeling, and painting the perfect miniatures for our party PCs. I've been doing this for years now, and thought I'd share some of these characters with you.

The only other miniature that was finished for the Planescape game was Nadaar, our mentally unhinged Dragonborn Sorcerer (played by my friend, Havok).

While looking for suitable minis for a really good Dragonborn in robes you'll find that *There really aren't any.* This is unfortunate, since they were a standout race, and they made great sorcerers. This mini here is a conversion of a Games Workshop Wizard, and a head from Reaper's Dragonman conversion kit. I also modeled a hood from greenstuff to make it look natural.

I didn't do any modeling or converting to the hands, I just painted the tips of the fingers as though they were claws, and added some scale-like details to the skin. Paint is a powerful tool, and a great paintjod can sell all sorts of things you might not expect. You might be able to guess that this is another one of my favorite PC minis.

Next week: A series of minis from a campaign in Castlevania.

~Muninn

40k Giveaway: Winner, What a Twist!

Sorry I've been negligent of my blogging responsibilities. I had a feeling this might happen.

Without further ado, the winner, of their choice of two minis, is pchappel of Chappell's Wolfden. As per his preference he will be receiving the Space Wolf Scout, and Scorpion Clan Samurai. Shoot me your email, and I'll send you your minis as soon as I can.









Funny story regarding my first Giveaway, the Emperor's Champion. After I made arrangements to send skywatcher his replacement minis the Champion mini arrived in my mailbox.

So in the spirit of M. Night Shyamalan, I'm re-rolling for a winner! The *new* owner of the Emperor's Champion is Kyle! I'll get your info, or get him to you the next time you make it to my neck of the woods.

Congratulations all, and I'll be posting another Giveaway in the near future!

Good luck,

~Muninn