Kimangela

 I found this 15mm at the bottom of the pile. I have no idea who makes her, but folks on the 15mm fantasy Facebook page think it might be Battle Valor games. She was painted by committee, namely two of my colleagues at school, Kim and Angela, who decided on the colors including the hair color. 

For some reason, she has a mask on top of her head. It reminded me of the Loki mask from Jim Carey's movie The Mask. I painted it gold and then gave it a green wash. Hopefully, it will not have the same effect on Kimangela that it did on Jim Carey when he put it on over his face.

A Better Photograph?

 Just after posting the last one, I thought that at least lighting issues are due to the white table fooling the light meter. These camera phone have nowhere near the sophistication that even an old, film SLR camera did...at least that is my opinion. The only thing handy was the back of a paper pad. It seems like the Battlesystem Dwarf is still pretty dark. Its hard to say if its really any better, but at least it is a comparison of the three manufacturers.

L to R: Battle Valor, Ral Partha Battlesystem, and Demonworld

Fruits of My Labors: Dwarves

 After taking those awful pictures in my last post, I decided to give my office a try. It seems that for some reason, even though I have neon lighting, I seem to get better pictures here in my office. This time around are Dwarves. They are a combination of Ral Partha Europe (formerly Demonworld),  Battle Valor Games, and even an old, original Ral Partha Battlesystem figure. 

Dwarf guards (Demonworld)

Dwarf heavy infantry (Battle Valor and RP Battlesystem)

Battle Valor on left, Ral Partha Battlesystem on right

Ruger Ironblade

The photos still aren't that great, but they are better than the ones I took of the Orcs. I guess I am not much of a miniatures photographer but I don't have the time or money to buy fancy equipment to take better pictures. 

Comparing the three manufacturers, they really are not different in size. For some reason, my mind keeps thinking that the Battle Valor are taller. They just seem a little more portly than the other two. They just have to lay off the beer and sausages. Again, this is the results of continuing to  paint down the lead pile, and all of these are mounted singly so that I can theoretically game with my son.

Major Painting Burn Out

Ennui: a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction; boredom.

Robert Cordrey wrote about it on his blog a few weeks ago. I've read other bloggers discussing similar issues. For me, I though way back in March that I'd have lots of time for projects, and dare I say it, actual gaming. It seems, however, that the situation has magnified what I have been feeling for a while regarding my hobby. I paint a lot of stuff, make terrain, but never actually play a game. This came to a head the last two weeks. I mentioned back in April and early May that I have been making a lot of progress and multitasking. Things were chugging along. But then, I got caught up in a painting contest on a Facebook groups page. I started working on my entry, a unit of fantasy heavy cavalry. The more I worked on it, the more burned out I got on it. I wanted to make it as high quality a paint job as I could. It seemed endless tedium. I wanted to shelf the whole thing and forget about it, but at the same time, I just wanted to finish the damn thing. Finally, I finished last night. I took some pictures and posted them on the group site that is having the contest. I don't pretend to a great miniature photographer and I really don't have to time nor the wherewithal to take great shots. When I looked at the pictures (see below), I thought, "I spent all this *bleepity-bleep* time working on these things but the pictures don't show most of the detail I put into them!!!"

So, here's some pictures I took of very recent miniatures that I painted. I think these are going to be the last ones I paint for awhile. For now on, I'm going to redirect my efforts to playing games, even if they are board games.

First, a couple of dwarves from Battle Valor Games:

He plans to enter the Gandalf the Gray cosplay contest.

Queen Keona; King Ivan's sister:

Queen Keona is a kitbash. Originally, she was a Battle Valor vampire general. She looked perfect from the photos, and it would be easy to swap shields. However, when I got her, the upper torso was fine and the horse she rode on was fine, but her waist, legs and feet left something to be desired. It was mainly her foot attire. It looked like she was wearing Inuit mucklucks. I've worn them. Great for sub-zero temperatures and snow, silly for riding into battle. Unfortunately, Battle Valor's riders have their lower halves sculpted directly onto to the stead. So, there was no way I could get rid of the legs and use the horse. Fortunately, the proportions and size matched fairly well with Essex 15s. Some poor knight in full plate mail gave his life....legs for the queen. I used one of the many Essex horses I have accumulated over the years. Threw on a standard heater shield and there you go.

A female elf fighter also from Battle Valor:

The objects of my scorn, Battle Valor evil heavy cavalry:

Finally, an impromptu battle scene that includes some Goth slingers from Essex along with the spider warrior that I painted a couple of weeks ago:

They are supposed to be Battle Valor's version of dark elves, but you really cannot tell except some of them have pointed ears if you look close enough. The spiders on the shield were done with Sharpies. The flag was done using Adobe Illustrator.

Its time to box these, like I do so many others, clean off my workbench, start gaming. 

Spider + Man

What little time I have in the evening, I've been multitasking like crazy. In addition to experimenting and/or building lots of scenery for 3mm (making cultivated fields has become my new nemesis/obsession), I have been trying to paint down the 15mm fantasy lead pile. Below is the latest fruit of my labors. I think I spent a total of about 8 hours on this one over several days.

He is a general from Battle Valor Games. 

Moe, Larry, and Curly; and the Sensitive Pit Fighter Dude

I've been all over the place project-wise for the last two months. As a result, I have not had time to update my blog. I'm trying to expand and finish up my 15mm barbarian army. Way back in May, I posted on Copplestone Picts that I painted up. I just finish these guys below and am now working on a bunch of Demonworld barbarian humans. Then, I will start the Copplestone ones.

Copplestone Snow Trolls

Moe

Larry

Curly

These guys were a little daunting, but once I got going on them, they took off. I wasn't feeling all that original, so the overall paint scheme of hair and skin is pretty much like what is shown on the Copplestone website.

Sensitive Pit Fighter Dude

This guy is from Battle Valor Games. I think I got him as a bonus figure. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on between his armor shoulder pads and his "kilt." I finally decided that he was bare chested and painted accordingly.  His sword is a little thicker than I'd like it to be, but I'm pretty happy with him. 

Why a pit fighter; i.e., gladiator? I chalk that up to his light armor and brandishing two weapons. Why is he a sensitive dude? His beard and hair style reminds me of a fashion that's going on among men between the ages of 21-30. My colleagues and I coined it the "sensitive dude" style. I know, I'm mean. It probably sour grapes because I'm 57 years old and am loosing my hair.

Here below is an encounter between the pit fighter the awesome threesome:

Battle Valor Dwarves

Lately, I've been on a fantasy mini painting kick. You can only get so creative with 3mm figures. I also decided that I want to whittle down my boxes of unpainted fantasy miniatures.  I've previously showed off my work on some other Battle Valor figures, including the dwarf hero riding a bear. Here are some dwarves with hammers and axes. I even broke out the static grass applicator, which as usual, did a less than satisfying job.

15mm Triceratops

In today's mail, I got from Battle Valor Games 15mm model of a triceratops with howdah and orc (orcian) crew: 

You get a two-piece triceratops that consists of head and body, a howdah, and three orcs.

The body is made of resin. There is some flash, but not overwhelming. One of two horns that stick out of the anterior of the body did not get completely cast due to a bubble. I think a little two-part putty will take of that. I didn't notice any other bubbles.

One thing that will need work on is the feet. The right front foot has a big chunk of resin stuck on the bottom:

I will probably have to use a razor saw to get that off. 

The head is cast in metal:

Sorry about the poor picture, but the metal is very shiny. No seam lines are on it.

The hodah is also of metal:

It is cast in such a way that it will fit only in one spot on the back of the triceratops. 

Last, but not least are the orcs:

I'm the least happy with these. First, they don't seem to have the detail compared to other Battle Valor miniatures that I have purchased. Second, they don't really fit with my idea of what an orc looks like. I guess it's all personal preference, but I actually prefer the more Games Workshop, cartoony-looking orcs. I guess I was inspired by the Hildebrandt brothers artwork that they did for their Lord of the Rings calendars. These calendars came out in the 1970s right when I was reading LotR (probably for the third or fourth time):

These Battle Valor guys are what I would call monkey orcs. I have some Essex 15mm orcs that are in the same vane. Instead of orcs, I might either use this triceratops for either barbarians, or more likely my lizardman army. 

Battle Valor Miniatures

I've been painting some 15mm fantasy figures. Here are some from Battle Valor Games. I posted on them awhile ago, but these are the first that I've painted up. As I've said before, they are very nicely sculpted.

I guess I'm a sucker for dwarves. I have a huge army of them already, but I ordered a bunch more from Battle Valor. I need to compare them with some of the other makers of dwarves. I think they might be a little larger than the old Ral Partha ones, or the Grenadier (now Mirliton) ones that make up the bulk of my dwarf army.

Dwarf Hero Riding Bear

Usually, I paint bears a little darker using a burnt Sienna, but I wanted a lighter, more yellow brown after looking at a bunch of bear pictures on the internet. I remade the rein that the dwarf was holding out of thin paper. The original looked funny. This is before I flocked the base.

Necromancer

If you place an order of any size, you get a free, special edition figure for that month. I thought I was getting a different wizard, but this is the guy I got. That's fine because I don't have any bad guy magic users except for an orc shaman. Being lazy, when I sprayed my Northern Chalupistan AFVs a khaki camo, I also sprayed the fantasy figures the same color, too. This spray paint works well as a primer. The khaki color seemed to fit well for this guy's tunic. I then painted his weird hoodie-scarf gray.

He had this semi-undead, mummy vibe going on, so I mix a pale caucasian skin tone with a light gray. It worked well. I used one of my wife's metallic nail polish for his sword. I have no clue what is on top of his staff. It sort of reminded me of a misshapen asparagus head, so I painted it green. I did my usual wash using black mixed with clear Future floor finish, but I didn't bother to put any highlights on other than on the face and fingers.  I haven't decided what to do about his base yet.

Necromancer vs. Dwarf Hero

Battle Valor Games Miniatures

Battle Valor Games is a new company in the world of 15mm fantasy. They have a number of lines that have yet to be produced. I was not overly impressed by the photos of them, but they are the only company I know of that makes peasants in 15mm. I thought, why not, lets gets some and maybe use them for my upcoming Fantasy Rampant game at my school's Nerd Fest. To justify postage, I also ordered a Frigian Character pack.

This isn't meant to be a review (OK, maybe it is), but this is some quick impressions. I just got them, so all these pictures were taken right out of the box in my office. Also, being a little pressed for time, I didn't photograph all of them. First, I have to say that they are much better looking than the photos I've seen! They are on par with Splintered Light Miniatures.

Human Peasants

Some Frigian Characters

More Frigian Characters

Frigian Character Rider

Many groups ("Dwarves," "Elves," etc.; the names of their various races and peoples are altered so fit their fantasy universe) have a background story to them; the Frigians do not. Based on the pictures on the website, they look sort of Dark Age-ish (Anglo-Danes/Viking). The figures in the character packs would work well in any dungeon crawl game. Included are two mounted characters with corresponding foot figures. One is on a horse; the other rides a pegasus (not photographed).   Both riders come with round shields.

The peasants also look very nice. There does not appear to be any duplicates. There are both men and women who are going about their business. Many of the men hold farm implements.

There will be a rules system that is supposed to go with them, it seems to be a work in progress.

Will I buy more? Maybe. I have so much unpainted lead in the fantasy category, I don't know if I'll ever whittle the pile down. I like their "Dwarves" but I've got so many painted units already, plus I am sure there a bunch still waiting to be painted that is silly to buy more. I think I will wait until more of the lines become available and then decide.