"Tiny" a Bloodbowl spectator and sometime unwelcome player.

 

A quick post of a model I have been working on for Duncan.

This is Tiny, a hardcore Blood Bowl supporter who follows whichever tram has the shiniest kit when he looks over.

Obviously he's a giant from GW, but Duncan converted him with the huge sign, made out of plasticard planks, distressed with a Dremel for woodgrain texture and then a layer of green stuff roughly flattened out for his sign.

The Beer-Hat was cobbled together with barrels, GW rope bits from the old Empire sprues and some stiff wire for the drinking straws.

I took the time to follow a skin tutorial off of eBay in order to get a bit more life to it, with a purple wash in there for Shadows rather hen using straight Fleshshade or such, it gives a different feel straight away.

As well as stippling the highlight colours on rather then drybrushing to get some more texture.

The tattoos started as freehand with Talassar Contrast Blue, and then stippled over with the main skin highlights to make them seem weathered and faded like real tattoos.

For the various rags which make up his trousers, I took various Empire trooper colours and some generic leather browns, and added in the blue-white stripes for some fun.

Washed down with Earthshade and layered back up messily to get a dirty, old feel to them.

So there he is.

The base and banner are purposely left blank, as Duncan can base him to match his team/giant army for AoS, and the banner can be added to when he settles on a design for it.

A fun project which was a good diversion from my main 40k grinds at the moment.

Until next time, have nice day...

The Lizardmen of Tlaxlan - part 1.

The Crimson Cohort, so named for their shields that were crafted from the hide of a rampaging feral Stegodon which threatened the sacred spawning pools of the Temple City of Tlaxlan.

They have fought together since they spawned from the pools and basked in the warmth of the sunlight for the first time. 

The units leader Ar'Trax leads with the authority of one born to it, only deferring to Tlaxloq, the Star Legion's Sunblood, as the albino marked warrior has taken to joining them in battle more frequently of recent years.

Tlaxloq, Sunblood of the Star Legion is the premier defender of the temple city of Tlaxlan, commander of the Saurus legions, death to the hated Skaven. Any raiding forces which try to steal artefacts from the sacred halls find themselves hunted without mercy through the jungle as Tlaxloq organises the forces to recover any artefacts which have been stolen.

+++++

My first ever army were the Lizardmen, way back in Warhammer Fantasy 5th edition, yes I was a "Dinosaur Kid" and so the dinosaur people were the natural first start way back when.

Equally, I bought an entire Lizardman Army second hand for my birthday in 2022 and haven't done anything with it as yet.

That all changes now though...

We begin with a unit of 14 Saurus Warriors finished for the end of March, they've been sat part painted throughout the entire month and I've nibbled away at painting them for half hour here and there as I got the spare time.

Glad that they are finished, I have a second unit of spear armed Saurus to paint, and have already started on the leader who will join them.

I decided to go for a more natural grey/blue-green colour scheme with them to be. Little more subtle and contrast nicely with the gold and stone detailing.

Tlaxloq is the Sunblood* of the army, in Old World terms he is simply a Scar-Veteran with the Burning Blade, he comes from the Warhammer Underworlds "Jaws of Itzl" box which was a must have, and I received for Christmas last year.

Originally he was going to be for a game of The Old World which was cancelled due to a hospital appointment, the problems of being an adult.

He was very fun to paint, especially in the Albino scheme I chose and the other three models from the Jaws of Itzl box are currently on the painting table, whilst the rest of the army is being built

"But how can you play The Old World? They're mount d on round bases!".

Well yes, this is true, but you see there are things called 'movement trays' and you.can line your models up and move them as one entire block!

Sarcasm over...

Yes, I intend to purchase some movement trays to allow me to field this army in The Old World**, I can also field them in Midgard, Dragon Rampant, One Page Rules and a host of mother rulesets which require round bases...

Sounds like a win all round to me!

Onto the challenge points, OPC up first:

160 points added to my OPC total.

470/6,000.

The Hobby Bingo card now looks like this and adds a other 10 points to that total:

Overall it's been a rather slow start to the year, hopefully things will begin to settle down into the usual rhythm at work and I can get some decent hobby done over the next few months.

Until next time, have nice day...

*Sunblood is a term which used to be given to a Saurus character, back in old Warhammer fantasy. With GW not updating the Legacy Factions, we're stuck with the generic Old blood and Scar-Veteran stats for the Saurus leaders.

**Even though they will stay with legacy army rules and never likely to be updated in anyway...

Monster March 7 - part 5; The Final Reveal.

 

Light glittered from every surface imaginable as the torch illuminated the treasury room.

The three thieves stood by the entrance, entranced by the scene infront of them, an entire kingdoms treasure in a vault which stretched far above them, so high that the light from their torch could not reach the ceiling.  No-one would notice if some went missing, as well as their target which was down here somewhere.

Gingerly, unbelieving that they had made it this far, they stepped off of the stone steps and moved amongst the treasure piles. Skittering piles of coins over causing a cascade of rolling bow wave as they moved.

"Wait, this was too easy. There should still be menials and clerical workers down here keeping tab on the tax levels and outgoings" one said as she stopped where she was.

"Who cares? Just fill your pack with gold and we'll find the Pitaxian Sceptre and be out of here" one of her companions replied, already filling his backpack with plundered gold pieces, a huge grim plotting his face.

The grin dropped as the huge doors clicked and locked shut. All three turned and began to scan their surroundings, the reflective light of the gold no-longer a thing of beauty but a distraction.

They lost sight of their companion in the dark.

"Gunter, Gunter, where are you mate?" 

There was a muffled cry and a thud in response, then the whisper of air over leathery skin, almost as if something was flying down here. 

Metal scraped as a sword was drawn, arrow was knocked onto bowstring and held ready, but the edge was upon them. The heist had been going so well, too well now they agreed, something was down here with them. A guardian perhaps, surely this kingdom wasn't insane enough to have monsters lurking in their undercroft?

Coins rippled in movement and both thieves jumped and turned at the sound. Weapons at the ready but the light from the torch was pitiful and they couldn't see anything.

"Marcus, get back up here, we need to find a way out" the woman said.

"Oh, I'm afraid it's too late for that my dear" a voice purred out from the dark, causing both to swing around again.

"Marcus, and...I don't believe I got your name..."

"Eva" she replied.

"Don't tell it you're name dummy" Marcus hissed.

"So, Marcus and Eva, I've already dealt with Gunter there, so you two won't be leaving I'm afraid. But I will know who set you upon the course to your doom and what they wanted".

"Show yourself Demon, I'll fight and die before I tell you anything" Marcus shouted hefting his bow manically left and right.

A huge thud, and a cut off scream announced the arrival of their nemesis.

Saerthaera dropped from the ceiling above, landing square on Marcus and squashing him flat, erupting a jet of blood in all directions from underneath her huge clawed foot.

She reared up, towering over the shocked Eva, eyes glinting in the meagre torchlight, red scales tinged orange.

"Now, let us talk, you and I"...

*****

You've gathered your friends around the table, snacks and character sheets at the ready. Player Handbooks are open on class and spell lists. The group note-taker has their notepad open and pencil at the ready.

Gradually as the Dungeon Masters screen is unfolded and blocks off the section of rulebooks, dice and other paraphernalia, the conversation about the table dies off and everyone looks expectantly at the Game Master.

"Greetings, when last we left our dragon..."

-----

Greetings, when last we left our dragon I mentioned that I had very little left to complete, mainly her base and some details.

I'm happy to report that the Matte Varnish stage worked as intended:

This was the rather undignified pose of waiting for the black base rim to dry as I always paint a section underneath the rim black as well. I find that it stops the inevitable flakes round the rim forming, especially once varnished.

My can of Army Painter varnish was used, warmed gently in a sink of warm water, and shaken thoroughly before a test application on a "volunteer" Grot I had lying around to ensure that there would be no cloudiness upon drying.

I must admit to still being very nervous, as it could very easily have ruined the entire project at this late stage (due to work shift schedule, I won't get anymore time to work on her this month).

Afterwards, it was just a matter of overbrushing the gold, picking out the cauldron on her base and painting in her eyes and teeth.

Below I present Saerthaera, in all her glory:

 I am happy to have her finished well in advance of the deadline and not to have been pushing it.

A little background behind her.

Saerthaera, was a player character in a Pathfinder kingdom builder campaign my friends played in*.

It was set in a region known as the Stolen Lands, which were split into a series of other smaller regions, each of which could be added to the players kingdom as play continued.

Saerthaera, was the daughter of an Ancient Red Dragon known as Choral the Conqueror, and who was actively working to return and conquer the region.

She had been sent out in human form to gather intelligence on the kingdoms, but took to human affairs and the running of the kingdom, so decided to betray her father** and work against him in the long run.

If memory serves, she ended up ruling a northern barbarian tribe and was working on becoming the ruler of the kingdom of Brevoy, by way of killing off the rest of the ruling family and taking over.

In honour of the game, Saerthaera was purchased and now thanks to Swordmaster, I have transformed her from bare grey primer, into the display piece she deserved to be all along!

Some detail photo's:

The focal point is obviously her head and face, I took extra time here to add highlights to the ridges and blend the purple into the red.

Finally I added her eyes.

With a "miniature" this size, her wings will draw a lot of attention, so I made sure to work towards the weathered, aged leathery look.

The "Butt shot"***, the bricks on the rear of her base are actually sculpted using Green Stuff, as the area was flat on the stock model.

Once again, with the ridge running down her tail, I took the time to work to blend the purple into the red to get a soft transition of colour.

Every Dragon loves treasure, and Saerthaera's base is liberally covered in the stuff. Gold and Silver coins, Rubies to keep the warm feel of the entire model. The half buried cauldron is spilling more rubies onto the floor. 

The ruined walls are in place because I imagine that she's turned the treasury room into her personal horde area and wanted to transform amongst the kingdom's wealth to relax.

Lastly, just to remind everyone about just how big this model actually is:

That is my converted Stormcast Eternal Knight Questor, not entirely a small miniature, and he is dwarfed by the Dragon.

Once again, thanks to Swordmaster of Hoeth for running Monster March, and I'm extremely happy to have taken part and finished in good time.

I'll have to start planning for next year's monster!

Until next time, have nice day...

*****

"What I want to know is who hired you, and what do they want" Saerthaera grumbled, "So?"

"Why would I tell a dragon anything?" Eva asked and swung her sword at the dragons face.

Contemptuously, Saerthaera swatted the sword aside, then with a surprising amount of grace and dexterity turned and pulled the sword from Eva's hand, throwing it out of reach into the treasure pile.

Eva scanned around eyes settling upon Marcus's bow and arrow.

"You'd never make it in time my dear" Saerthaera said, "I am Saerthaera, treasurer of the kingdom, daughter of the Conqueror and currently, I should be the sole object of your attention".

A growl snapped Eva's eyes back to the dragon.

She whimpered, "If I tell you, will you let me go?".

"Of course" Saerthaera said, although the reptilian face was much harder to read facial cues on then a regular humanoid.

Eva sighed deeply.

"Alright, a man named Calistrus hired us. He was after the Pitaxian Sceptre as it's a sign of office and one can rule the city-state of Pitax using it".

"Calistrus, I've never heard this name".

"Really, he works gathering relics and treasure for your father, Choral the Conqueror".

At the mention of her father's name, Saerthaera's eyes snapped back into sharp focus, stare boring down on the hapless adventurer.

A glow began to rise in her chest, visible between the chest scales, getting brighter as it worked it's way up her neck.

Eva panicked, having figured out what was about to happen and ran for the doors, even as Saerthaera pursed her lips and let forth a stream of fire, aimed directly at the running thief.

The superheated flame caught Eva, who didn't have time to scream before she was immolated, a cloud of ash and a pair of charred boots all that was left.

*****

Half and hour later, Saerthaera, back in human form, walked the groggy Gunter out of the doors to the treasury, pointing out the remains of his compatriots as they passed.

"Now you know what to say when you return, don't you?" She asked.

"That the treasury is guarded by a red dragon, and that Mamzel Saerthaera will suffer no fools to attempt to steal from her".

"Good man, here's five gold pieces for your trouble" she said smiling broadly as she placed the coins into his hand.

"Thank you, um, who are you?"

Her smiled turned to ice as she looked at him again.

"Mamzel Saerthaera, now get out of my city!".

*****

* I've been invited to play in campaigns many times by this group, unfortunately working changing shift work as I do I can't commit to a regular game on a regular night at a regular time. Also I don't want to say I'll play, and then my character only turns up one out of three weeks or something, maybe longer if there is overtime shifts to cover!

I live vicariously through their reports and offer opinions about what they should try to do. I also sometimes give motivations to the higher up NPCs who need to make decisions regarding things in the game world, kind of make the world a little more real feeling behind the scenes.

** Because she's a RED Dragon, duh.

*** Oo-er, Butts!

Monster March 7 - part 4; Detailing.

 

"Explain to me again" Saerthaera growled and glared at the minister of the interior.

Minister Erid visibly shrunk under the withering gaze which seemed to bore into his head. He stammered, unwilling to speak until he forced himself.

"Whilst you were gone we detected two separate intrusions into the treasury. No clues about who the perpetrator's were or what they took have been found" he swallowed hard.

"And you, Ser Madalena, what have the Griffon Knights to say on the matter?" The yellow reptilian eyes swung to glare at the knight stood at the end of the table. Her polished steel armour, dark yellow Hauberk decorated with white griffons reflected in the polished hardwood tabletop.

"We were unable to apprehend the thieves" the fierce blonde woman replied, holding Saerthaera's stare unblinkingly.

Paperwork was flung across the room as the objects ontop of the table were flung aside and a full glass of wine shattered against the wall.

"Unbelievable! I take leave to visit Lord Inferno to seek aid against my father to defend the kingdom, and YOU LET SOMEONE STEAL FROM MY TREASURY?" her voice rose to a roar causing Erid to cower under the edge of the table.

"Our treasury" Madalena tried to correct.

"We are still searching..." He began in a high pitched voice.

"Oh shut up both of you, I will handle this myself" Saerthaera spat through clenched teeth, "now get out".

The two members of the government left the suite, one almost running, the other a warriors straight-backed march. She watched them leave and then checked the corridor outside her door to truly make sure they were gone, there had been an epidemic of spies before she left. Scanning the corridor, there was only the Griffon Knight guard left at the end and she summoned him to attend.

Two hours later, Saerthaera re-emerged to her sitting room and summoned her aide.

"Yes Mamzel?" she said, as she gingerly stepped around the ruined plate armour which dotted the room.

"Ah, Anaya, we have work to do. First though, get rid of that back to the barracks please" Saerthaera said, pointing to the sleeping knight in her bed chamber.

*****

It is the third week of Monster March, and the fourth installment of this series.

Once again I will go over the progress made on Saerthaera here, and how I've been painting her. I encourage anyone reading to go and visit Swordmaster of Hoeth's blog to take a look at the various monsters which the community is painting for the month.

When last we left our dragon, she had had the detailing of the bone plates and purple fin areas painted and detailed up.

We start this time with the basecoat on the wings, which was Tallarn sand, and then washed with Riekland Fleshshade, being careful to avoid pooling and tidemarks on the large membranous wing sections:

On the left is the basecoat only, and the right the washed sections I worked round all the areas of the wing like this until everything was washed.

I then used a large drybrush and proceeded to drybrush/stipple Tallarn Sand in the center of the membrane and about 3/4 on the length towards her arm:

I purposely did this in a rough fashion in order to try to get some texture into the paint and some "weathering" to her wings so that they didn't look like new skin. I plan to replicate this effect once or twice more and halfway up the wing and maybe then the bottom 1/4 to give a gradient effect to the colour.

Whilst waiting for things to dry, I took the opportunity to get the stone work on her base painted grey, washed with Earthshade and drybrushed again with Mechanicus Standard Grey and then a very light drybrush of Ulthuan Grey:

I plan on adding the other details to the base and painting the rim black, before giving her a coat of Matte Varnish, then going back in with the gold and silver to make the treasure pile vibrant again.

Then it will just be a matter of picking out a few details like her eyes and some detail on her teeth as I'm not happy with the effect so far.

Overall, I'm happy with how she's turning out and progressing on schedule so far.

I estimate that she's taken maybe five hours of work so far, most of which has been drying time for shades.

In the next and final installment of this series, I'll give her a proper showcase of finished photo's, as well as give some text about who she is and where the model came from, as well as finishing her short story I started here.

Until next time, have nice day...

Monster March 7 - part 3; Basecoating Progress.

 

Soaring through the air, yellow reptilian eyes scanned the changing ground as she flew.

Beneath her the scorched, burnt land near the volcano changed as she moved further and further from the mountain she had smashed asunder returning to this plane from the plane of fire.

Black ground became a dry brown and slowly a healthy green, covered with grass. Kindling became bare, leaf stripped t uprunks and onwards to healthy copse' of trees as she flew onwards 

Signs of other life began to appear, with surprised groups of deer fleeing into the woods as the great leathery wings passed overhead.

Dry stone walls began to thread the landscape sectioning off field and pasture, with cottages and barns dotting the farmlands around.

With a sudden movement, she dove towards a farm, a glowing firey light showing through her skin between the protective scales.

Jaws lined with teeth opened and a stream of fire burst from the back of her throat, roasting an unfortunate cow in the field, before she snatched up the burnt carcass as she passed and ripped a hunk of meat free.

A contented growl formed at the back of her throat as she flew onwards, her hunger eased. The great red dragon flew over the city limits.

Wings darkening the sky over the rooftops as she made her way further towards the center and the government buildings, swooping towards a balcony.

She landed with a grace which belied the size and nature of what she was. Daintily landing and skipping forwards a few steps to bleed momentum.

With a whispered incantation a bright glow surrounded her as her form shrunk, massively loosing size and mass as the dragon transformed into a humanoid creature, she could pass as human, but still had dragon features if you knew what to look for.

A billowing red and black dress formed around her body and a tricorne hat appeared atop her head, resting on long, spooling hair which she ran a lithe long fingered hand through.

She had summoned her aide before she had landed and the woman was waiting for her in the sitting room of the suite they were in.

"Mamzel Saerthaera. I trust your visit to Lord Inferno was of assistance to your cause?" She asked.

"Hello Anaya, Lord Inferno was... non-committal so I took my leave, I will have to look towards pulling my resources instead. Has there been any news from my father?" Saerthaera replied. "Oh before we discuss further, please fill out a compensation form for the Baggard farm folk, I ate on the way home".

"At once Mamzel" and the aide scurried off to find the forms to send five gold crowns to the farm in question.

'Such an efficient government' Saerthaera thought and poured herself a glass of dark wine.

*****

Week two of painting the dragon for Monster March continues, and we're starting to get into the little details of her main body.

The purple fins and spine's on her back were washed with Druchii Violet, then stippled with Xerus Purple, then stippled with Genestealer Purple and finally had a little Evil Sunz Scarlet drybrushed onto the lower end to blend them into her body colour:

I have gotten the scaled underbelly and forearms finished off.

If you remember last week they were basecoated with Mournfang Brown.

This time I've brushed then with Baneblade Brown:

Then a slightly less overbrush with Ushabti Bone, both of which had been done in small downward strokes to try to paint a little texture into the colours:

I then washed them with Seraphim Sepia and then touched the edges with Flayed One Flesh:

Her mouth was rebased with Ulthuan Grey, then the flesh of her mouth and tongue were given a wash with Carroburg Crimson. Her teeth were then picked out with Baneblade Brown, Ushabti Bone, Seraphim Sepia and Flayed One Flesh, like the bone plates:

Because of a heavy week at work this week, I am slightly behind where I wanted to be by this point, but I have a few days off coming so should be able to make a start on the wings, which is going to take a while as they need four or five coats and washes to get the leathery look I want in the end.

Hopefully I'm going to find the time to bring the project to completion within the month, or it'll just be final little details to pick out if I'm lucky.

Until next time, have nice day...

Monster March 7 - part 2; Painting Begins.

 

Scalding heat shimmered the air as the caldera of the volcano violently erupted with full force. The blast wave ripping down the mountainside uprooting the last few trees and turning them to cinders blown along.

Lava splashed in waves as the tectonic forces finally found an outlet and the inners of the earth were exposed to the atmosphere. Rivers of molten rock flowed freely as smoke gathered and hung in palls above vents.

No living creature could live here...

With a rippling bow wave, a huge red clawed foot reached up from the pooling lava. Strings of the superheated liquid rock flowed from bone plates and red scales, glowing with heat transfer.

A second hand slammed into the rock splintering the tormented sheet, finding purchase and grinding the surface away. More red scaled appendages slowly emerged from the lake, clawed fingers joined by skin forming two huge glowing wings, raised inch by inch.

Then with a bunching of muscles, the glowing, molten-heated creature tore itself free of the lava.

Landing with a thud which made the earth shake, the dragon stood for a moment taking a deep breath, before shaking herself to clear the last stringy lava rivulets from her body.

Red scaled, covered with boney plates protecting her throat, underbelly and forearms, she stood surveying the ruination of the land around her, a small side effect of travel between the elemental plane of fire and this kingdom.

Blinking reptilian eyes, she once again bunched her muscles and flexed her wings before launching herself into the air. Circling on the thermal vents twice before heading towards the nearby city of Lotharis... 

*****

Welcome to the second post of Monster March, and the first post dealing with painting the dragon.

So in detailing the dragons origins in the last post, she obviously a classic red dragon, but given her provenance as a hard to get out-of-production model now* I decided that I definitely needed a plan to work to. So sat for about ten minutes working out a step by step for each part of her.

The different skintone lists, were to give her a bit of variation, but in practice it was going to be too much red overall, so I decided to just use the skin scheme for her overall.

The blue Face/Feet was from a tutorial I had seen and didn't want her to be full "Fire and Brimstone" so I wanted to try to glaze on some blue for her magical aspect.

So I had primed her grey years ago and left her, so after a dust off, she got the main coat of Khorne Red:

Then a wash with the Earthshade and Medium mixture, I kind of liked this effect, however it had darkened her skin far too much, so I carried on:

Next I started on the stripling, with Mephiston Red:

Next with Evil Sunz Scarlet, and I started to get that lovely red finish like in the artwork.

Finally, a light drybrush of Troll Slayer Orange for the last few highlights for her skin:

At this point, I realised that the Mephiston Red for the spines would have made her too red. After a few suggestions from A Cardboard Fortress we hit upon the idea of changing to purple to match with the blue glazes I had planned.

This is after a basecoat of Genestealer Purple washed with Druchii Violet, and her bone scales and horns basecoated with Mournfang Brown:

After some deliberation I decided to forego the blue glazes, as there was already enough going on with the various horns, scales and fins.

This coming week I plan of working up a little more purple to the fins and getting all the bone details completed at least. Then move onto the big areas of the wings.

Until next time, have nice day...

*So I said that she had become a sort of harder to get hold of "miniature" now, and after sharing the start to this project on the Benji's Hobbies Facebook group.

He went and snatched one up for a very decent price, lucky sod.

I've just got to find the assembly guide I used as she's a bit of a pain to get the wings together and bent to shape.