Brawl

Drink with the Living Dead

Hunter Orcs #1

I've painted a few orcs as samples to test the color scheme before I move to the rest of them.

I've said that before but I want to stress it again - these miniatures are really great. Very dynamic sculpts with faces full of negative (these are evil orcs after all) emotions.

I tested three different skin tones (choosing them according to the codex look). The main challenge was to keep the color scheme in the browns without making them look too dull and uniform. 

I also wanted to put them on a bases that would resemble at least slightly the terrain from the movie. I painted the edges of bases and movement trays using the same colors I did for goblins to tie them better to the "Hobbit" miniatures. After painting them I remembered that some of them had some kind of warpaint on their faces so I'm now considering adding that too. I'm hesitating as their faces are relatively small and I fear that adding more there would take the attention away from the details there.

Mounted orcs were also fun to paint. I think the new wargs are a big improvement compared to the old versions. They look more three dimensional and have a much fiercer look. I painted these two using two different dark shades of brown. I plan to use even darker shades (closer to black than brown) for the leaders (Yazneg, Fimbul and a white one for Azog).

Escape from Goblintown showcase #1

Here's the first part of studio pictures of miniatures from Hobbit starter box that I painted a while ago. All were taken by reagsy. I really enjoyed working on this batch of minis. Those are some of the best sculpt that GW has ever released for LotR/Hobbit range. They are twisted, dynamic and full of character. I placed them on bases that vary in height to play with the dynamism a bit more.

Check the blog back soon for pics of Thorin's company as I'm going to upload them over the weekend.

EBO bonus minis - a quick review

Thought I'd share with you some pics of the bonus minis from the Evil Baby Orphanage Kickstarter extras. I really like them as they are designed  in a style that matches artwork from the card game, i.e. small bodies and large heads with exaggerated features. Think Stewie Griffin and you can easily understand what I mean. The street lamp (Wyrd accessories kit), resin cask and chest are not part of the box - I just added them to bring out the character from the minis.
They all come with transparent bases (three color versions). I don't really care for them much so I used the regular black ones. I may use the transparent ones for objective markers later on.

Jack the Ripper has to be my favorite from this set. His facial expression does make him look like an evil baby. I added cobbled street texture to the base along with the street lamp as I thought it would go well with the gruesome story of a man who killed female prostitutes in the slums of London in the late 19th century. This mini can be used as Copycat Killer or Baby Kade in a game of Malifaux.

Lizzie Borden is another evil baby that portrays a twisted individual from the dark past. The real Lizzie became infamous for killing her father and stepmother with an axe. There's even a folklore rhyme about her:

Lizzie Borden took an axe 

And gave her mother forty whacks. 

When she saw what she had done 

She gave her father forty-one.

The mini will be a bit of a challenge to paint. Her oversized head lacks any texture. It's basically one large flat surface that will require plenty of layers of thinned down paint to get it right. I placed her on a cask and plan to add some gore effects to the axe with blood trickling down the cask onto the cobblestones. In Malifaux she can be used as Candy or Student of Conflict.

Eric the Red is the last miniature presenting an evil baby included in the box. This medieval explorer (and a killer of course) is portrayed with a miniature that is all smiles. It can be used as a Desperate Mercenary in game. While I like the mini, I have to admit it would look more complete with some kind of a weapon.

And here are the new minis with some older ones to show the scale.

Figure Art from MASSIVE VOODOO

What a great week. First I picked up the EBO bonuses on Monday and then the long awaited artbook from an Indiegogo campaign came in the post yesterday.

The artbook looks great and the quality of print is top-notch. The pictures look fantastic too. What I really like about it though are the descriptions written by Roman and Raffa. Very personal thoughts as well as unique insights into the creative process behind these works are what elements that make this artbook truly unique.  

The documentary book is very nice too as it gives even more information on the process of creating these fantastic works. The other bonuses (stickers and bookmark) are a nice touch too. As you can see in the picture, they've already found a proper place in my workspace.

Once again, congratulations to guys from MASSIVE VOODOO team. They've created something truly unique and it was definitely worth all the wait.

EBO Kickstarter extras

I picked up the bonuses for Kickstarter Evil Baby Orphanage today from my local PO. I was actually surprised that they reached me so quickly. The first impressions are very positive. New cards are in the same aesthetics and look like a lot of extra fun for the game. Other things are pretty cool too. The plushie looks... somehow cheap and I don't really care for it much but then it was a bonus so  can't complain. What I'm really happy about are the three plastic minis. I'll write more about them once they're put together and at least basecoated.