Hell hath no fury...

Like a Woman Scorned

Agatha Fox (front)

As part of the Reaper Bone Kickstarters, I picked up hundreds of miniatures and many of those are still sitting around collecting dust. With my involvement with This Is Not A Test, I have found a new use for many of the miniatures. Originally I picked them up for all of the fantasy figures for use with on-going D&D campaigns. Well a couple of years later, some parts from the Bombshell Couterblast Kickstarter and inspiration strikes.

I started with the Agatha Fox Bones miniature ($2.49) and made a little modification. The original figure is a peaceable enough looking woman, but with a secret, she is a spy after all. Tucked up behind her purse is what appears to be a Walther PPK (think Bond, Jane Bond).

Now while this is a fine enough figure and has been painted by many rather good painters, I decided it needed more. I liked the pose overall, but there wasn't enough oomph in the gun and I didn't see a spy in this figure so much as I saw a woman scorned. Perhaps beaten and broken, she was seeking revenge in one final confrontation.

Agatha Fox (rear)

I selected a handgun from the Neiran Weapon sprue ($2.99) since it had a much more American six shooter look to it. I had to do a little surgery on Agatha, but since it is the Bones material that is a really simple task. The material is a sinch to cut and move around. For this, I had to slice where her right hand falls behind her purse and separate her purse from her body. I cut off what was the Walther and opened the hand so that I could add the Neiran gun into a position that keeps the profile and the gun can't be seen from the front. This is similar to the work I did for the Reaper Bones Strumpet (The road from lovely scrumpet to deadly vixen).

Once the conversion was completed, I selected one of the newer Dragon Forge Designs bases, a round lipped base from the Cobblestone Rubble 30 mm sets $10.00).

Painting

Agatha Fox (Front)

I tried to keep a rather domestic look to the figure to keep with the basic idea that she is meeting up with a lover/husband and exact her revenge. She has a very fair complexion, Reaper MSP Maiden Flesh. The hair is a base of Vallejo Mahogany Brown with highlights of of Reaper MSP Griffon Tan. A wash of Vallejo Flash Wash was used to mark the line from the hair to the skin. 

The coat is based with Vallejo Khaki Grey with the Flesh Wash to add depth. The lapels were painted with straight Khai Grey. To finish off the coat, the belt was painted Mahogany Brown with a Citadel Shining Gold buckle. 

The gold carries to the purse which also has gold buckles on a Vallejo Flat Blue base. This was mottled with a Vallejo Grey Blue after a Vallejo Blue wash to give it a color similar to a Coach purse my wife has. When originally done though, the blue was too predominant and drew attention away from the face of the model. I increased the layer of blue grey and that toned it down significantly. For some additional consistency, she was given Mahogany Brown boots to complete her outfit. My thanks to some friends in the Facebook #HobbyHangout group for helping with feedback and color choices for the belt and boots. 

Agatha Fox (Rear)

The base was coated with Reaper MSP Ash Grey then some color was added to a few of the cobblestones using the Grey Blue. The highlight color was Reaper Concrete Grey. The sewer grate was painted with a base of Citadel Boltgun Metal which was then covered/washed with Vallejo Black Grey. 

After finishing it up, there was still something missing that I felt was needed to give it a bit more life. Since her colors were fall in palette, I went to the Secret Weapon Miniatures Masterclass Scenics and added some Fallen Leaves to the base. These were added in a bit of a clumpy fashion but coming off of the base to give it some action, something like the leaves being blown in the wind. Something to add to the chill nature of the act about to occur. 

Take a second to breathe...then prepare for what's next

Preparing for the near future

Preparing for the near future...

Sometimes, you need to clean house and get ready for the next set of activities. In a few months, I am expecting to pack everything up and move from Maryland to Florida, the Orlando area specifically. In order to start the process for myself, I decided to take some time over the last few days to get a bit more organized and to prepare for the next few weeks. On top of that though, I have been working to prepare some items for play testing a set of scenarios that I wrote up for This Is Not A Test.

This Is Not A Test Playtest Preparations

After editing the Mutant Cannibals Supplement ($3.99) release for This Is Not A Test, I was inspired to create a set of scenarios for release. The original idea was a combination of my location, an offhanded comment someone made, and my upcoming move. While the materials are not ready for general discussion yet, I will be play testing them over the next couple/few weeks with Joey McGuire and a couple of other guys in our regular Wednesday night campaign games. There will be Marshal's Reports to come from those, so stay tuned and get a glimpse of releases. 

A Trip to Reaper Bones Crate and Barrel

Reaper Bones Barrel and Crate

In order to prepare for the releases though, I need to get some staging done for the scenarios. One will require a good number of barrels and crates. I immediately turned to the Reaper Bones Kickstarter sets to see what was available. I had these two and went right to work on them. The barrel ($2.29) was base coated with Reaper MSP HD Golden Brown followed by a wash of Vallejo European Dust. The two rings were painted with Citadel Tin Bitz. While that was a nice two tone, I had to make sure that the shadow from the rings was sufficient and give it a little more depth. An additional wash of Citadel Athonian Camoshade did the trick. I then touched up with some highlights of the Golden Brown. 

I wanted the crate ($2.79) to be a darker seaside looking object and not an ammo crate, so I went with a dark wood. The base is Army Painter Oak Brown. This was pretty dark, so I washed with the European Dust to lighten it a little. Over the top, I did a two layer dry brush. The first layer was the Reaper MSP HD Ash Grey. The main highlight was the dry brush of Vallejo Khaki. 

A Little Tectonic Craft Studios Swamp Shelter

Tectonic Craft Studios Swamp Shack

When you are in the swamp or the wastes, it is always wise to keep a shelter. Now it may not be much, but if it is all you have than there's no place like home. I turned to a piece I got from Tectonic Craft Studios during NOVA Open 2015. This was a piece that they offered at NOVA Open and a prime example of why you should get to conventions; there is always some exclusives that you can get which find a way of being useful. 

 The shack looks great, but it didn't have sufficient texture to look like a bunch of boards slapped together to make the shack. I gave it a base coat of Vallejo Mahogany Brown which I went over with Vallejo Oak Brown. This was done to break-up the overall flatness of the building and to give it some additional texture.

Rear View

To interior of the door, I had to make a door stop. I did this with some Magic Sculpt two-part resin epoxy. While the interior is playable, I didn't want to do too much as it would be ruined with repeated play. To the front of the door, I used a little spot of the resin epoxy to make a rope handle for the door. I painted up the rope with Vallejo Leather Brown.

Since this is a swamp shack, I decided it had to have some foliage around it. I picked up some Army Painter Swamp Tuft and added that sporadically, but it wasn't enough. I wanted to add some height as well and went with the Army Painter Poison Ivy to be growing up and around the shack. The  base had been painted with a solid grey color, one of the Reaper MSP HD options which didn't look anything like a swamp.

Front View

I received a BrokenToad Fresh Mud pigment bottle ($5.00) from Ironheart Artisans a while back. This is a great color and this was the perfect test case for the material. It is every bit as good as the stuff released by Secret Weapon Miniatures, so I recommend you check them out. I mixed the pigment with the Secret Weapon pigment fixer that I had so I could use the subtractive method and effectively paint the bottom. I think the final look on the mud is fantastic and look forward to more opportunities to use this pigment.

Medic! Dragon Forge Designs Medical Supply Objective

Lots of scenarios require objective markers. Many are designed to that you have to control the objective and defend it to gain the victory points. For me, I was less interested in making characters hold something that I was finding ways to ensure the battle is quick and deadly.

Dragon Forge Designs Medical Crate

The Dragon Forge Designs Medical Supply Objective ($5.00) was perfect. I got this from a promotion that was run where if you spent $40 the marker was included. The box was base coated with Army Painter Oak Brown. A wash of Vallejo Brown Wash was added then highlights of Reaper MSP HD Concrete Grey were added by dry brushing. The skull was painted with Reaper MSP HD Splitered Bone which was washed with the Vallejo Brown Wash. The stones were painted with Citadel Chadaron Granite followed by a dry brush of the Concrete Grey. The base was painted with Reaper MSP HD Woodland brown. When the entire thing was done, it all received a wash of the European Dust. The cross on top was painted simply with Vallejo Deep Red. After the washes, I touched this up so that it was clearly red. This is a perfect objective marker and one that will be a perfect for the upcoming play tests.

One more thing!

I decided to grow what I do and created a Layfield Paints Facebook page called. If you are interested in seeing additional photos, please click the link and give it a like. It will have in process shots and some other things as I progress through things.

Reaper Miniatures Halloween Tricks and Treats!

Reaper Miniatures Halloween Haul

Reaper Halloween Package

As I posted in the "It's Jack, My Little Pumpkin Pal by Bombshell Miniatures" post, Reaper Miniatures offers a Halloween special every year. I decided again this year to take advantage. So to meet the criteria for Reaper deal, I had to spend $40. Not hard for a miniature gamer or painter, I know.  I have been looking for additional K-9 units for the Gardia for This Is Not A Test and that led me to more eventual fun.

Ghoulie Back Contents

So first, let's review the deals. There are actually two deals that occur during October. The first is automatic for all purchases adn last for the entire month of October. When you make an order to Reaper in October, you will automatically get a bottle of the Reaper Breast Cancer Pink paint. If you want to see the color of this paint, check out the NOVA Open Seminar - Sculpting with Raffaele Picca of Massive Voodoo! post. I used it for the skull plates carved into the Reaper BONES Chaos Well.

Ghoulie Bag BONES

If you place a $40 order after October 4 and before midnight on October 31, you may also get a Ghoulie bag. This is a while supplies last, but I made my order one week prior to Halloween and received a Ghoulie bag.

Each Ghoulie bag contains four bottles of Reaper MSP HD paint. This year it was Spectral White, Pumpkin Orange, and Mouldy Skin. Somehow there was a mix-up in packing, because I ended up with the first bonus, an extra Spectral White. The second part of the Ghoulie bag is something a little nostalgic for Halloween, candy! I got a piece of double bubble, a banana Laffy Taffy, and a Tootsie pop. But best of all, there is the trick or treat part.

Trick or Treating isn't over though, because there is one additional part of bonus. For most people you will get a treat, but for an unlucky one, well you might get a rock. I mean literally a rock, though it is a rock in a special blister pack. I was lucky enough to get a treat, because the bonus Spectral White wasn't enough.  There was a blister pack that contained a maiden, let's call her Miss Muffett, and a giant spider. I didn't see any curds and whey, but these will be fun to paint up. So let's see what got me to the $40 threshold.

My Purchase

Pug Dog

Here is what I decided to get, mostly to supplement all of the This Is Not A Test playing. First up are a set of additional dogs for the Gardia (Peacekeepers). I already have two that are K-9 Units, Dawg and Cagney, from the BONES Kickstarters, but with the potential to add more K-9 units and another K-9 Handler, I could use more.

Of the three dogs that I purchased, I'm not sure that all are directly usable as K-9 units. The first is a great little Pug Dog ($2.44) which was irresitable. My mother has a pug, so when I saw this I had to get it, Now this little pug is half the size of my mother's but I will name her Abby all the same. I am not sure the Pug would be a legal miniature for use in This Is Not A Test. It is adorable, but really diminutive. Make sure your opponent(s) is okay with the use of this figure before fielding.

The next up is a prime war dog and one that will look imposing on the board. Garr the War Dog ($6.49) is large and demands attention. Garr is quite the opposite of the pug dog, since he is an English mastiff and incredibly large. The figure looks great and English mastiffs are well known for attacking an intruder and pinning them down until back-up arrives to dispatch the intruder. The only issue that I see with this miniature is with the base. The metal bottom does not quite fit into the base cut-outs. I don't see this as a true issue since I am more than likely not going to use the blank base and will remove the metal tabs.

Death Dog

The last is a real beast and large. This will be a great addition either as a Wild Dog mutant beast or some sort of K-9 mutant. Either way, it won't be nice to encounter. The two-headed Death Dog ($12.95) will get them coming and going. Larger than Garr with twice as many teeth. The pose is one of either lunging or jumping and the snarling jaws are ready to snap an opponent's arm (or neck) in two.

While I love the Gardia, having options to play a different warband would give us more options for game play, gives me additional ways to run stories, and allows me other options for painting and development. I think for the most part, these will make a great starter either for Preservationists or Caravanners. The final three miniatures I purchased will be the perfect start to a new warband. First is the Deadlands Noir Patent Scientist ($5.99). Equipped with what could be a ray gun, heat gun, or maybe a radar gun, this has all the hallmarks of a preservationist with the desire to find relics and use them. Next up is a more versatile and seeming made for the wastes, Post Apocalyptic Hunter ($6.29). He is well armed and prepared to take on whatever the wastes may throw at him. Evie, Post Apocalyptic Survivor ($5.99) is packed and ready for a move, which is why I see her clearly as a potential for either the Caravanners or Preservationists. She carries what she needs and what she doesn't have, she takes with her sub-machine gun. Because the bonus for Breast Cancer Awareness, the Ghoulie bag, and mistaken packing wasn't enough, I also got an extra Deadlands Noir Patent Scientist in the package.

Time to take out the Trash

Modifying the Dumpster

Dumpster Components

The last thing I got was a piece that I have been thinking about for some time and finally decided to add this as a piece of scatter terrain for This Is Not A Test, the Reaper Dumpster ($4.99). This is considered part of the BONES line, but is not made of the same BONES material. The plastic is a hard plastic that is much more like the plastic in most of the toy soldiers we are love to collect, paint, and play. This piece takes primer with no problem. This is a great looking piece, though I do have one issue with it.

Holding Dumpster Lid Open

The has a great look and the lid opens, but does not open fully. The piece is playable inside, but the design of the lid does not stay open. To me all terrain should be playable, but if the lid doesn't stay open the usefulness is limited. You can have someone go into the dumpster and hide, but you can't have someone jump into it and fire out of it. So I decided it needed some alter altercations.

Closed Dumpster

The dumpster is large enough to easily contain two 28 mm figures. I tested it out with Evie and the Post Apocalyptic Hunter with no problem.

Grab your trusty utility knife, it is time for some surgery. The first part to tackle is the line of hinges at the top of the lid. I have a wide array of blades for my hobby knife and for this task, I used a large chisel blade. You can see the size in the Final Modified Dumpster with Lid Open picture. I started by marking out where the lid hinges came into contact with the cover/lid piece. I then used the chisel blade to add a notch to the cover piece. The notch pretty much has to run the entire expanse of the cover piece and almost to the full depth. Be sure not to go to the full depth as the little shelf build into the lid would be removed. That accounts for the hinges.

Hinge Cut in Dumpster Top

Now that the lid can open to a fuller range, it is time to make it stay open. In order to accomplish this, you will need to make one additional set of cuts. The lid extends further than the hinges and those little extensions need to go someplace and to keep it up, need to stay there. Just beyond and below the notch we made previously, we now need to cut a space for the sides of the lid. This is just a small square notch so that when the lid open, it catches and then will stick in place. Now you have a dumpster that you can open, climb into, and then hide or fire.

Final Modified Dumpster with Lid Open

Painting the Dumpster

Around me, we have a company called Waste Management. They are an incredibly large company that provides dumpsters of every size for commercial, industrial, and residential needs. Since it is ubiquitous to this area and I plan on using this for This Is Not A Test, it seemed a natural fit for the dumpster. The first part of achieving this was to paint up the dumpster to match the Waste Management colors. The dumpsters they have are green. Now being colorblind, I am not able to exactly match colors, but hopefully I got something pretty close. I chose to go with the Vallejo U.S. Dark Green for the color. The lid was painted with Vallejo Black. I also used the black as the base for the interior bottom of the dumpster.

Base Colors on Dumpster

Making the dumpster appropriately weathered as it had survived nuclear fallout and an additional hundred years required a great deal more work. I immediately thought of my stockpile of Secret Weapon Miniatures pigments. I got the entire line in exchange for the work I provided them during AdeptiCon 2014. It was a given since after taking the Weathering Pigments class with Mr. Justin, I knew I needed them. You can read about those experiences in the Weathering Pigments blog post.

Steps to perform the weathering and creating materials to fill or supplement the dumpster will come in a follow-up blog post. I expect that post to come in a week after the dumpster is finished and used in some game play. It will be at the bottom of the next Marshal's report.

Jupiter City's Newest S.E.n.T.R.I. Response Team

Sunday, September 18, 2046 

Jupiter Gazetteer

Jupiter City's superfits S.E.n.T.R.I. RaReTe in Glasston 

Hardesich Enterprises protecting tomorrow

By: SANDRA THOMPSON and MARTIN FALLSWAY

Captain

Yesterday, at the entry gate to the Hardesich Enterprises complex, Mayor Mason presented the latest in the S.E.n.T.R.I. defense system for Jupiter City. A new S.E.n.T.R.I Rapid Response Team (RaReTe) to provide a more advanced tactical response and force protection was activated in Jupiter City's Glasston area. The team is loaded with the latest technologies from Hardesich Enterprises.

According to Mayor Mason, "This team will bring merge the latest in defense capabilities from Hardesich and communications integration by NexTek to ensure rapid, focused, integrated response to any emergency." While it was clear that the unit is part of S.E.n.T.R.I., Commissioner Browning indicated that his staff were fully integrated into the response system and would have access to this team as a new resource to better protect the city and greater metropolitan area. S.E.n.T.R.I staff did not make comments or take any questions at the event.   Following the announcement, RaReTe loaded into a set of custom trucks and departed for the S.E.n.T.R.I. operations center.

CONTINUED AFTER THE BREAK


Jupiter City Sparks Sign A Prospect  - The Sparks offered a development deal to baseball superstar, Noah Layfield, this week signing him right after his 2015 Fall season debut with Lake Shore Blue Bombers. Noah skills were on display as he went 2-2 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Not a one-sided player and definitely a sign of confidence, he excelled at multiple positions on the Sunday afternoon game. He started at center field, played catcher, and finished up as the game's closer. The Blue Bombers played the Blue Blast in what turned out to be a hitters duel ending in a 30-30 tie after five innings.

READ MORE IN SPORTS C-2.

Making of RaReTe  

Sergeant

The RaReTe team is composed of a six-man strike force, that will be supplemented and grown to meet the current needs of Jupiter City. So let's talk about how this team was assembled. I previously provided the base model information in the Defending the Pacific Northwest from Jupiter City...S.E.n.T.R.I forces article. These figures have also been used for almost all of the This Is Not A Test games as my Gardia force.

All of the models wear a base uniform, which was painted up with Reaper MSP HD Military Grey. These tactical uniforms are designed to keep the body cool with a composite polymer which includes a Kevlar-like fabric to protect against bullets and blades. All of the officers are equipped with some amount of armor. For the standard officers, the armor is a lighter body armor, suitable for most engagements. The tactical officer equipped with the flamethrower has some armor which is supplemented by sets of flame retardant pads to protect against heat and fire. The sergeant of team is equipped with similar light weight gear, but has his helmet clipped to his belt. The last of the unit, is the Captain, who is geared up completely with heavy tactical armor. The armor base is a Vallejo Model Color Black Grey. This armor was washed with Secret Weapon Soft Body Black to add depth.

Flamethrower

All of the weapons had a base coat of Reaper MSP HD Midnight Black which has a purplish color to it. This works well with the black weapons. I went back over them with some Vallejo Gunmetal Grey to add some weathering. For the flamethrower, some Vallejo Model Color Gunmetal Blue was also dry brushed onto the ends to give it the look of metal that has reached very high temperatures.

The helmets were painted up with Reaper MSP HD Ash Grey.
These were washed with Vallejo Dark Grey Wash.The googles/visors of the helmets were painted first with Vallejo Grey Blue then hit with a highlight of Reaper MSP HD Concrete Grey. The trim on the lenses and other trim was painted with the Gunmetal Grey to give a metallic look.

Officer

The Captain and Officers have backpacks with some equipment. The air canisters were painted up with Citadel Chainmail as were the badges on the chests. The main part of the backpack was painted with Reaper MSP HD Field Grey as were the ties on what look to be sleeping bags or something similar. These were painted Reaper MSP HD Woodland Brown.

The tanks on the flamethrower's back were painted with Citadel Fiery Red. These tanks have highlights of Citadel Chainmail. All of the backpacks has some little lighted screens/buttons which were painted Citadel Mechrite Red or Citadel Enchanted Blue. Touches of ammunition and other things were painted up with various

All of the models were based on the Techtonic Craft Studios TekDech base crowns. I wrote up how these were painted and give a review of these base crowns in the I'm all about that base, bout that base, it's Techtonic article.

Officer

For This Is Not A Test, these officers represent Road Marshal O'Halihan's Gardia, a Peacekeeper warband. What is labeled as Captain above is Road Marshal O'Halihan who is a rough and tumble character, but with all the best intentions. He is motivated as a protector and one who wants to get back to the ancient times. In other circumstances, he would have been a Preservationist. But when the need was greatest he stepped up and to protect those who needed it most.

The Sergeant figure is what I use as my K-9 Handler, Mutt. This is a great figure and gives the appropriate look of a specialist for the police. Mutt is in charge of two K-9 units, Dawg and Cagney. Dawg is a Reaper BONES miniature which was previously discussed in the Marshal's Report: The Night Has Eyes. I have a slew of additional dogs from various manufacturers that will be added to the unit as I can get them painted, but the first to get done is a representation of Cagney.

Officer

The last three that are used are regularly are the officers. These are the Rank & File Officers of This Is Not A Test. These officers are your typical group and I have a cadres, named Flynn, Murphy, O'Brien. I usually use the flamethrower officer for Officer Scullin, but this won't work much longer. Officer Scullin uses a shotgun, but recently I picked up a flamethrower and will be adding a tactical officer to the mix soon.

New BONES will be painted up soon to grow the Gardia/RaReTe units. Protecting the wasteland or future Marvel city take tenacity and guns and these guys have both.

It's Jack! My Pumpkin Pal by Bombshell Miniatures

Pumpkin Pal by Bombshell Miniatures 

Pumpkin Pal

No visit to the pumpkin patch is complete without bringing home a pumpkin to carve a Jack O'Lantern, but what happens when the Jack O' Lantern carves you first? Bombshell Miniatures has a great little sidekick Pumpkin Pal for your gaming needs. I plan on using this as a sidekick to my Reaper BONES Gauntfield miniature.

Bombshell Miniatures, as the name indicates, is best known for the Bombshell Babes line, but there are a slew of other miniatures that they now create including the Counterblast game. I have a bunch of pieces from the Counterblast Kickstarter which I'll be painting up in due time. I'll also have some posts coming that include the addition of a couple of Rottweilers that I'll be adding to my This Is Not A Test peacekeepers, the Gardia. I will also be using Delta the Wastelander either to lead up a new warband or as a freelancer.

Though Jack and Gauntfield are my Halloween offerings this week and I am kicking myself for not starting more Halloween stuff and a larger project, I wanted to direct folks over to Rob Hawkins' Halloween: Cornfield blog post where he covers creating a rowed field of corn with a block wall surround. This is great stuff and inspiring to create some terrain in the near future.

Carving up Jack, my Pumpkin Pal

Thankfully it is Halloween and with three small kids, I get to go to the pumpkin patch to do the hay ride out to the field and pick a pumpkin. I also get to do some real world research on pumpkin vines, flowers, and of course pumpkins.

Jack and Secret Weapon base

The first step was to give Jack a more substantial base. I was originally going to stick with a basic blank base, but after rummaging through some stuff, I found another of the Secret Weapons Field of Screams round lipped bases which is perfect since it matches Gauntfield.

Jack mounted on base and base litter

Since Jack is metal and the base is pretty small, I decided it was easier to modify the base than modify the miniature. I also wanted to be sure to maintain the roots/legs of Jack on the base. Using a chisel blade on my cutting tool, I removed the surface texture of the base until I had a nice flat location to mount Jack with Kragl. The base of the miniature was then painted with the Citadel Blackfire Earth technical paint to give it the same base texture/look as Gauntfield.

Finished Jack

As I did with pumpkin on Gauntfield's base, I painted the head of Jack with Reaper MSP HD Pumpkin Orange and then gave a wash with Vallejo Brown Wash.

For the eyes and the mouth, I wanted to get the feel of an internal fire. I mean this is a Jack O'Lantern after all. To achieve this look, I went with a mix of the Pumpkin Orange and a Vallejo Flat Yellow. I started with a small spot of yellow then added layers of the orange mixed with yellow to get the dulling of the flame as it moved outwards. I then mixed in some Reaper White to bring the yellow up lighter and added a small touch of nearly pure white to the brightest flame. After this was set, I went back over the jacks to highlight the oranges.

Finished Jack

The vines that make up his arms, body, and roots were painted first with Vallejo German Camo Bright Green. To add some depth, I used a very little of the Vallejo brown wash on the main section of the body. Now most pumpkin vines are brighter than this, so I went over the top parts with Vallejo Golden Olive. This game the vines more of a natural look.

The leaves were painted with Vallejo U.S. Dark green as the base. These are pretty well clustered and at all sorts of angles, so be sure to use a watered down paint to get to all of the recesses. I went over the leaf tops with the German Camo Bright Green to make them pop a bit more and because the leaves do get darker through the season, there is still a lot of life left in these.

Pumpkin flowers are usually a dull yellow this time of year. For these I used a Vallejo Flat Yellow and created one location for the flower on the right arm. There are no molded flowers on the piece, but after the trip to the pumpkin patch, you see them all over and I felt that he needed to have one. I would consider on the next one to attempt to sculpt out a flower for him. The flowers are longer and kind of limp semi-tubular things.

Gauntfield and Jack

I think I will have to get a bunch of these little guys to put together an interesting game and build out a corn field maze to go along with it. I think some special rules and another player and you end up with an interesting This Is Not A Test board. For a great tutorial on how to build the corn field, check out the Hobby Terrain: Cornfield post by Rob Hawkins.


As a bonus, Bombshell is running a Halloween special sale through midnight on the 31st. So get to the pumpkin patch and load up on some treats and save 20% off a selection of some of the most frightening miniatures.

Bombshell Miniatures Sale

This Is Not A Test Halloween Release

This Halloween get a bonus treat for yourself from This Is Not A Test and you won't even need a costume. There will be a new warband released on Halloween! I had the pleasure of being the editor for this release. Be warned though, if this group shows up at your door, the trick is you are the treat. The Mutant Cannibals are widely feared and rarely seen, mostly the stuff of legend and scary stories around campfires, unless you are in a small isolated community or running a caravan through remote territories. The Mutant Cannibals are familial units, most frequently lead by the matron, Mamaw, or patron, Pa. There are a nasty mix of familial relations and mutants made by interbreeding, exposure, and kidnapping. Many have become dinner guests of the Mutant Cannibals, but rarely do they take home a doggy bag. Book mark this site for the Mutant Cannibals ($3.99), it is now available! For more on the modules, check out Marshal's Report: The night has eyes and Marshal's Report: Caravanner raid. 

Trick or teat or your head HAHAHAHALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Halloween Special - Reaper Bones Gauntfield

To celebrate Halloween or All Hallow's Eve, whichever you prefer, I decided to paint up a figure I've had sitting around for some time. Let's take a look at the Reaper Bones Gauntfield ($2.99) which I decided to base on one of Secret Weapon's Field of Screams base sculpted by davetaylorminiatures.

Gauntfield bare bones

To start of course, make sure you give the figure a good wash with warm soap and detergent. I typically use  whatever dish soap I have at the sink.  As with all of the BONES that I have painted, my first paint choice is Reaper MSP HSD paints, but I don't have them all and so readily reach to my Vallejo Game Color and Army Painter paints. I apply the first layer of paint directly without a primer coat first and without watering down. There have been lots of discussions of other techniques on the Reaper forum, so check that out and find the method that will work best for you.

Base colors

I started with some basic colors to the figure because I seem to now be obsessed with Gotham and happened to be watching the mid-season Dr. Crane/Scarecrow episodes in season one and got inspired. The skeleton of the figure got a base coat of Reaper MSP Tusk Ivory. The face and straw were initially painted with Vallejo Game Color Khaki. The eyes of were first painted with Vallejo Model Ink Red. To this a pupil of Citadel Undercoat Black. The entire face was given a wash of Citadel Athonian Camoshade.

You may have noticed that the base also was not primed, which is unusual for a resin base. I decided to attach the figure directly to the base, which was done with a combination of green stuff and Kragl (Krazy Glue). The pumpkin is painted with Reaper MSP HSD Pumpkin Orange then washed with the Vallejo Brown Wash. highlights with Pumpkin Orange was added. To make it look like a Jack O'Lantern, I painted the inside with Vallejo Red Ink, then mixed up some of the Flou Yellow with the Pumpkin Orange to add depth until the area of the candle was with the pure yellow. I kept this small and muted so the focus stayed at the top of the miniature.

Starting highlights

The sack was base coated with Army Painter Leather Brown. After painting up the skeleton in the sack and the pumpkin, I washed them with Vallejo Brown Wash to quickly give some depth to those parts. I followed the same color pattern for the rest of Guantfield's bones. After the wash was set, I used a layer of Citadel Bleached Bone as the highlight.

The pants were painted with Vallejo Game Color Grey Blue. This was then washed with Vallejo Model Color Blue Wash. The belt was painted up with Army Painted Leather Brown and small skull buckle was painted using the Citadel Nihilakh Oxide. Typically you would use this on top of a silver to make it look aged, but the small size of the skull and the fact that most of my paint got spilled once so it was thicker than normal, made it perfect for this.

The boots were painted with Vallejo Game Color Grey Black, then washes with Vallejo Dark Grey Wash. I went back over the boots with a highlight of mixed Vallejo Grey Black mixed with Reaper MSP HSD Concrete Grey at about a 1:1 ratio. The shirt started with a base of Reaper MSP HD Off White, then a wash of watered down Reaper MSP HD Woodland Brown.

The cloak was first painted up with Army Painter Color Oak Brown. This was a bit darker than I had originally anticipated. To tone it down, I created a wash out of the Oak Brown with the Vallejo Dark Grey Wash. I wanted to give it a weathered and beaten look, like it had been out hanging for a long time. To bring the highlights up, I used a mix of the Oak Brown with Reaper MSP HD Ash Grey. I added a base highlight to the ridges of the coat, but it didn't bring up the color enough for the weathering. I added a little of the Reaper MSP HD Concrete Grey to the previous mix and again this was added to the highest parts of the coat.


The handle of the scythe was painted with Valley Model Color Mahogany Brown. I had considered adding a wash to the handle, then coming back over it with a grayish brown (probably Reaper MSP Ashen Brown), but it is 2:50 am and I don't have it in me to do any more work. The blade of the scythe was painted with Citadel Leadbelcher. To dull this down toward the bottom and by the handle, I went over it lightly with Vallejo Grey Metal. Then to give it the rust look, I applied the Citadel Dry Technical Paint, Ryza Rust. I am not sure if the depth of the color is sufficient or if it may need some additional rusting effect.

Odds and ends...the mouth was painted a base of Reaper MSP HD Golden Olive. This was touched up with a mix of the golden olive with Vallejo Yellow then touched up with just the yellow. The ropes were painted with a mix of Khaki and the Yellow. I think this covers most of it, but there may be more but for now, check out this information on Reaper's sale and Secret Weapons' sale and a big announcement from Reaper!

HALLOWEEN TREATS

Reaper Halloween Special

Reaper Miniatures always runs a great Halloween special, which I took advantage of last year. If you order before October 31 and spend tt least $40 you will receive four Reaper MSP Paints (Pumpkin Orange, Spectral White, Mouldy Skin, Breast Cancer Pink), one surprise miniature, and a bag of candy! This is a while supplies last, so get acting on it now! There is a huge stock of materials available including the new Bonesylvanians, plenty to get you to $40.

Secret Weapon Sack o' Corpses

Secret Weapon is running a sale for Halloween (through November 1) and this is your last week to take advantage. Take advantage of a 20% discount on sacks of pumpkins, corpses, and skulls and 20% off all Field of Screams beveled bases and Field of Screams round lipped bases. You can't go wrong with the corpses and skulls, I mean who can't use more skulls and take a look at the incredible details on the corpse parts.


BONUS MATERIAL!!! Reaper has just announced an entire line of BONES MSP HD PAINTS!!! The announcement was made yesterday on the Reaper Miniatures Facebook page. That's right an entire line of paints specifically designed to work with the BONES material. Many people have worked at getting the right paints or the right lots of paints that would work well, but now there is a better way. There will be 54 paints in the line and will be available in early 2016!

NOVA Open Seminar - Scultping with Raffaele Picca of Massive Voodoo!

Scultping with Raffaele Picca

At NOVA Open, while I spent most of my time running demos and talking up This Is Not A Test, I did take the opportunity to attend a seminar with Raffaele Picca of Massive Voodoo. Raffa is a very approachable guy and it was a real honor to get to chat about sculpting and conversions generally. If you want to see more of Raffa's work, check him out on Putty & Paint or on Deviant Art.

Raffa and me

NOVA Open - Green Stuff Sculpting Seminar

 The seminar was quite small, I seem to recall there being six of us in the class. Since this was a seminar, we didn't get to do any hands on work. Looking back at it, I wish I had asked Raffa for the demo model that he used. The model was a ogre of some sort and during the class, we added a cape with a fur cowl. Raffa then added a chainmaille coif and showed us how to create some additions to shields, armor pieces, natural looking purity seals, scroll, and pouches. We played a bit with a chin strap, but that took what was already silly to a level none of us could sustain.

Raffa at work

We spent some time going through the process of creating a realistic looking skull including a discussion of the anatomy of an actual skull which is something many people don't consider when sculpting skulls. Raffa took some time to detail out a skull with a quick drawing to go through the most important areas of focus and put together a skull that is attached to the belly plate/armor on the ogre.

So here are my notes from the seminar....hope these are handy and encourage you to take on sculpting as well. This is not exhaustive of everything we covered and additional posts will be created to go through the various aspects of the seminar. If you weren't able to get to NOVA Open this year and aren't in Germany, be sure to make the trip next year. Massive Voodoo is lined up to once again do the seminars.

Wasteland Hulk

Sculpting Putty Comparison

I had only made one attempt at sculpting previously which was my Wasteland Hulk for This Is Not A Test. What I discovered with this attempt was later confirmed by Raffa and others in the seminar. Green stuff has a use, but generally speaking sculpting is not it. For the Wasteland Beast, I used the Gale Force Nine Green Stuff.

Final demo piece

The typical green stuff is very tacky/sticky and when you attempt to smooth it out, it stretches out. I had a lot of trouble with the green stuff on that sculpt because of these traits. While the end result was pretty good, when I attempted to pull out the torn pants of the orange jumpsuit the green stuff kept pulling and pulling. This ended with a nice torn/ripped pants, but getting to this point was frustrating. Raffa and others indicated that this is a normal experience. There are other "stuffs" available, but mostly they have the same properties. The differences come in the level of the tackiness and stiffness. Green stuff is good for fur and fires. The material can be pulled sharply or nicked to get the texture/shape necessary to represent the final product.

Magic Sculpt two-part resin

Raffa spent most of the time demonstrating with an alternate two part resin material, Magic Sculpt (Amazon ~$13). Magic Sculpt has a lot of advantages over the green stuff, but also has some limitations. Magic sculpt is also quite tacky when it is first mixed, but with some time, the material will lose some of the tackiness an become quite manageable. This is one of the drawbacks though, you have to mix the materials and then let sit. The material will stay pliable for some time, but doesn't get to the consistency that you want until it has set-up for about 1.5 hours. Magic sculpt is water soluble which means when you need to work it some, a brush or your fingers with some water and you can smooth or blend the material together.

First Sculpting Attempts

Cape addition

For my first sculpting attempt, I decided to do something very simple. I had previously started work on the Reaper Bones Well of Chaos ($3.29). I stopped at some point because of other projects and I was waiting to determine what my finish to it would be. The fountain is a fine sculpt, but I felt something was missing. At one time I had decided that a skeleton or something similar climbing out of the fountain would be interesting, but I have yet to find the right figure for the work. After the sculpting seminar, I decided it was time to get back to the piece, but to sculpt some simple tentacles coming out of the fountain.

Chaos Well base color + tentacles

I had painted up the fountain with Citadel Charadon Granite and given it a dry brush of Citadel Elf Grey. The engraved runes on the back of the fountain were painted Citadel Malachite Red. I gave the entire fountain a wash of Citadel Brown Wash.  This is where it sat for a long time...an embarrassing long time.

I knew I wanted the fountain to be alive in some manner and to have some liquid within the fountain, but I wasn't sure what or how to approach. At AdeptiCon, I picked up the Mud & Water Scenic Kit ($21.50) from Secret Weapon which I have planned for some Imperial Guard units with the Trench Works Bases. This kit also contains a bottle of Realistic Scenic Water (0.5 oz for $2.99), which was part of the solution. I had originally considered using a skeleton or something similar emerging from the fountain and I may go back to that for a different version, but after the sculpting class decided to play around with the Magic Sculpt to get a feel for the material, so I went with tentacles.

Chaos well in progress

There are some metal touches on the fountain which I painted with Game Color Tinny Tin for the internal components and Citadel Leadbelcher or the surround. The raised runes were painted with Citadel Beaten Copper. The interior of the well was painted Citadel Crimson Gore. To add some additional depth to the many cracks in the well Citadel Nuln Oil was applied to the cracks as a liner to deepen the color.

I sculpted up five tentacles to use for the interior of the well to provide the life to the well. These tentacles were just rolled out from the Magic Sculpt and though warned by Raffa, I indeed put twice as much as I thought needed together. Part of this was because I wasn't sure how many tentacles or how long I needed them and the other part was inexperience. So after the tentacles were rolled out, I used the rest of the magic sculpt to make some rocks which will be used to adorn the Reaper Bones piece that is in process. This was a process just to get familiar with how the Magic Sculpt feels and how to mix correctly, tackiness, and trying out the 1.5 hour pre-set before using.

Scenic water before curing

After the tentacles were painted, Realistic Scenic Water was added to fill the well and add some texture to the piece. This gave the piece the real look of a filled well. I definitely recommend to anyone working with this well to include some Scenic Water to finish off the piece. I wanted to add some layers to the water, so I added some of the Scenic Water and let set-up for a day. Then I added some Reaper Broken Bone paint in some streaks and with a sculpting tool spread it around a bit. I then added more Scenic Water to the well to bring the volume up again and then let it set-up for a day.

The tentacles on the sculpted head of the chaos fountain were painted Goblin Green and given a wash with Vallejo Model Color Brown Wash. I came back to the tentacles and painted the tip half with Vallejo Game Color US Dark Green. I then added some little splotches with Vallejo Game Color German Camo Green. I used the Citadel Goblin Green on the tentacles on the sculpted demon of the fountain. These were then given a Vallejo Model Color Brown Wash so they would match the tentacled menace emerging from the fountain.

Blood for the Blood God

The face was painted with Reaper Maiden Flesh and the eyes with Reaper Twilight Purple. I gave the face a wash of a mix of the Vallejo Brown Wash and the Maiden Flesh to highlight the nose and mouth. I then came back over with the Maiden flesh to highlight the cheeks. To keep the metal consistent, the headband was painted with the Vallejo Tinny Tin, but her armor was painted with Citadel Boltgun Metal. The armor was washed with Citadel Nuln Oil, but a heavy layer was added to the crease so it would stay like an ink. What appears to be a skeletal breast plate leading to a humanoid skull of some kind was painted with Citadel Broken Bone then washed with the Vallejo Model Color Brown Wash.

Fountain side view

The scull plates were painted with Reaper's Breast Cancer Awareness Pink. You can get this color free from Reaper with a $40 order during October. I washed the skull with Citadel Brie Tan-Green wash to add some depth and then came back with a light touch of the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink again.

All of the gems on the fountain were painted with Reaper Gem Purple. These will get a gloss coating to make them shiny.  There are a few gems and I am not sure if the eyes will also get the gloss coat.

Chaos Well final

Because this is a Chaos Well, I decided to try out the Citadel Blood for the Blood God technical paint. This has a great blood color and the consistency is a bit thicker than the typical paints. I added some streaks of blood trailing down from the corners of the eyes and the corners of the mouth which then continue down into the pool of the well.

This finished piece will make a nice addition to any dungeon and can act as a critical component during a campaign story line. I do think that I will need to get at least one to paint up without the tentacles and with calm water. There are lots of possibilities with this fountain, so have a little fun.