My New Year's Resolution for this year was to paint more minis for myself. So, I want to paint and keep at least one miniature every week.

The last two years have been insane in that regard - over six hundred miniatures, and I kept fewer than thirty of them. I might as well have been running a painting service. (I used to do that, back in the day....)

So far this year:
Otyugh. CT
Dwarf Ghost. *
Queen Ileosa of Korvosa. *COMPLETED* CT

*ADDED* Troll by Stonehaven Miniatures. * Just kind of happened.

*LOST, SOLD, OR GIVEN AWAY* Dwarf Necromancer. * *GIVEN AWAY*

So far, averaging two per week. Sadly, that was three in the first week, and only one this week so far.

Week 3:
Trinia Sabor and Vencarlo Orisini CT

Week 4:
Priestess of Urgotha and Plague Doctors CT

Week 5: Vermina * and ?

* denotes miniatures done 'just for fun' - no clear plan.
CT denotes Crimson Throne

Sandwiching in there finishing a Hearse that I started months ago (Blue Moon Manufacturing) and Town Guards with crossbows and swords.

Currently no commissions - and not really looking for any. (They may happen anyway... just not actively seeking any.)

The Auld Grump

At first I thought, "Otyugh, Connecticut???" Where the heck is THAT????

Otyugh Connecticut has a very efficient waste water and sewage treatment program.

They are famous for it.

Not certain what it says about my thought, but the recent otyugh was a deep green - with the basic concept that it had recently been dragged from the jungle into Korvosa - that the otyugh are in fact slaves, that what could be a symbiotic relationship is instead tyranny.

Otyugh that have been there long enough have the more classic grey brown color. But the mortality rate is high enough that Korvosa still takes slaves from the jungle. They just don't think of it as slavery, because, you know, otyugh are monsters.

The miniature is the old Chainmail metal from WotC. I also have both the Reaper Dung Monster and the otyugh from one of the 4e boardgames.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* This illo from Eberron was the the inspiration.

This was so much easier when I was running my homebrew setting - I used the Germanies of the Thirty Years War as the basis, which meant that I could use Warhammer Empire figures, getting double service from them.

I haven't played Warhammer in years now. Maybe I should dust those figures off and use them in Kings of War.

The Auld Grump, been weeks since I played Kings of War for that matter....

Me plan to keep one miniature each week has met a small setback -

Megan tracked me down while I was painting miniatures over to Burger King.

She looked at the female dwarf necromancer that I was putting the finishing touches on - the miniature dressed in ancient rusting armor, with a barbed and eldrtich blade... and Megan laughed.

She laughed!

Or maybe it was the fact that dwarf had fuchsia hair, and was wearing a purple tabard emblazoned with a small round skull wearing a pink bow.

Hard to say.

When she stopped laughing she managed to say that was what she looked like four years ago. I am assuming without the armor and sword.

I do not remember ever seeing her with pink hair, but she tells me that she used to iron her hair, bleach it, and dye it all sorts of colors. And that she still has a tee shirt with that skull.

Now she wants to play that character in a game....

I didn't plan on painting the miniature that way -I had an image in my mind of a dread and darksome mistress of the necromantic arts... then I saw the concept sketch, which had a chain going from nostril to lip...

So I ended up painting it after the only girl that I have known with a chain like that. (Maria is married now, and her hair is snow white - she bleached and dyed it too many times, at a guess.)

Megan asked if she could have the miniature - turns out that I have a hard time saying 'no' to a pretty girl that has sat naked in my lap. Go figure... To quote Terry Pratchett's Death - 'GLANDS'.

Now Megan wants me to track down a naked or topless female dwarf wearing knee high socks, painted in matching colors - with stripes on the socks.... I am afraid to ask why...

I do not expect to succeed in that quest - nekkid female dwarf miniatures are rare - I have seen three that I can find, and two were just plain awful. (Double E breasts are not a good look on a dwarf - given that the name of the line was 'Boobarians' you can figure out what the target demographic was. )

The third is a topless female dwarf berserker - with Mohawk, Tastefully done, but definitely a dwarf berserker - I would need to do a head swap, an arm swap, and do something about her trousers. Meant to go with the bare chested Mohawked Troll Slayers by Games Workshop, at a guess.

That one is by Hasslefree.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Ah, well.... I will forward the site with the female berserker to her - let her decide.

The Auld Grump, I gotta tell you, Googling that led to some... odd places. Apparently there really are dwarf strippers....

Well, there was that lovely little lady in the original Total Recall...

After a few hours of off and on Googling,I have managed to widen my choices by one semi-topless dwarf pirate cheerleader.

Seriously.

The female troll slayer remains the most viable choice.

For a lark I went and Googled for topless female elves.

Several pages, many different companies. Space Gamer magazine apparently had a nekkid elf in every issue for a while.

Even Halflings turned up more hits.

Trolls, orcs, and ogres got the same number of results.

Oy!

The Auld Grump

Okay - Reaper has something that I can work from - the pose may not be what she wants, and I will need to lose the weapons, redo the hair, add socks, and trim off the clothing etc - but the basics are covered (at the moment at least):


I will need to do something about those hands - and will check them against the Avatars of War plastic berserkers for scale.

Her fighting stance will become a a dancing stance, I think.

Why do I attract weird requests like that?

The Auld Grump

I hope you'll post incremental pics. I'm not someone who tinkers with actual minis, so when you say things like "redo the hair" and "lose the weapons" I kinda scratch my head and think "huh - you can DO that?"

Snuck in the Stonehaven Miniatures Troll - bringing me back up to two per week average, after removing the necromancer.

More silliness on the skyclad dwarf, but proceeding on schedule for that. Silliness in this case translates to going out for a drink with Megan, and spending several hours just talking.

Feeling much relieved on that front. (Yes, she was flirting with me. And, yes, she plans on continuing to do so. No, she does not believe that I was flustered.... I gather that I do not blush when talking to her.)

The Auld Grump

Pics?

Hmmm, trying to make a decision for one of my own miniatures - the base figure is this succubus in chains:


The question is - do I keep the bat wings, or do I substitute something more angelic?


This figure will most likely be used in my Steampunk Gargoyles game - either way she is going to be an Eidolon, not a Grotesque.

Thoughts?

The Auld Grump

I like the bottom right faerie wings a lot. If you're fishing for opinions, I think they'd look good.

Ended up doing five Plague Doctors - four from Foundry, and one from Reaper. At some point I want to add Ratnik Plague Doctors as well.







I mounted the Foundry Plague Doctors on GW sized bases - they will double as Necromancers for my Kings of War Undead army, and likely in Mordheim as well. (I blame Tinracer on Beasts of War - his WHFB Vampire Counts army is brilliant - six year old vampire from a Brettonian plague town.)

Trinia Sabor and Vencarlo Orisini have been pushed back a week - I want to play my vampire army in KoW.

The Auld Grump