Painting – Cthulhu: Death may Die #5 Chthonian

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Tarmor

Cthulhu: Death may Die – yet another monster…

I’ve seen a few different spellings of the name of this monster online, and had to get the card out of the box to check.

“Flowing tentacles and pulpy gray-black, elongated sack of a body … no distinguishable features at all other than the reaching, groping tentacles.” – The Burrowers Beneath, Brian Lumley.

In Call of Cthulhu this creature is typically pictured as a squid-like “head” on a worm-like body. This figure is more tentacles and less worm.

This had been painted black, and some of the smaller tentacles were a fleshy-pink. I went over all the black with a metallic purple and then a metallic blue. These are from my chameleon paints and give a nice shine, that also can look green, purple or blue when the light hits the right angles. I went over all the smaller tentacles with flesh, then a dark wash, and red on the upper parts, orange and yellow to highlight parts of them, and a magenta on the ends. The mouth tentacles were already red, and I tipped them with orange and yellow.

I brushed lightly over the uppermost protrusions with red and magenta. Then a dry-brush in grey over the protrusions on the main tentacles.

I think the end result is suitably unusual/disturbing and alien.

All of this Cthulhu stuff is making me want to write a couple of Call of Cthulhu one-shot adventures that could use a lot of the investigator and enemy figures! All of the investigators have a background and skills that I’d happily write up into characters. It wouldn’t be hard to expand the different C:DmD episodes into an short adventure.

Painting – Cthulhu: Death may Die #4 Shoggoth

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Tarmor

Cthulhu: Death may Die – another monster…

I’m back at work again, so painting progress has slowed. One Shoggoth, that was already mostly painted: pink/red underside, blue-black top and red eyes.

“The nightmare, plastic column of fetid, black iridescence oozed tightly onward… A shapeless congerie of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self luminous with myriads of temporary eyes forming and unforming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us.” – At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft.

My main work was with the underside (more pinks and reds) and a purple wash over the top. I had been going to do a grey and purple dry brush over the top. Then I read the shoggoth description while preparing this blog entry… and completely changed my colours to fit the idea of luminous and greenish light. I had fun with two greens and some fluro green to trace lines and depressions over the outside, and a smear across the back of the base.

White and flesh on teeth… and the hand/arm under the Shoggoth. (Thanks to Azazel having painted this some time ago – I would never have noticed this myself.)

I went over the eyes with some yellow and orange, and finally my chameleon gold paint. This really got the effect I’d hoped for. Some gloss vanish dabbed on after the matte spray. (The eyes had a really nice shine even before varnish.)

Next I might go back to Gloomhaven for a change. Then it’s likely a Cthonian and time I looked at Cultists.

Painting – Cthulhu: Death may Die #3 Hunting Horrors

Posted on April 12, 2026 by Tarmor

Cthulhu: Death may Die – more enemies to paint.

This pair of Hunting Horrors look more like what I’d expect the Byakhee to look like, though they are closer to the description in fiction. The original hunting horrors in CoC were pictured as huge worms with a single wing!

“great viperine creatures, which had curiously distorted heads, and great grotesquely clawed appendages, supporting themselves with ease by the aid of black rubbery wings.” – The Lurker at the Threshold, August Derleth.

These had been painted/sprayed black all over when I got them, with some grey on the wing membranes, and red eye-spots.

I’d already planned to repaint the wings in purple, and found a image where the main body was blue and purple. I really liked the look of the blue, so this became brushing blue lake over the black, but leaving black in the recesses. This is a bright blue, but dried darker over the black. My light purple didn’t want to stick to the wings, so this was done in a couple of coats which also were darker when dried. Insect green looked almost fluoro over black on the claws and mouth tendrils. The mouth parts got yellow and fluoro yellow to make them stand out a little more than the claws. Light blue was then used to highlight most of the body scales and other raised edges. Orange over the original red eye spots.

I spent rather more time on these two compared to the other figures simply because I was enjoying the painting and really liked the way it all looked.

Painting – Cthulhu: Death may Die #2 Byakhee

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Tarmor

Cthulhu: Death may Die – more enemies to paint.

I’m getting into the larger partially painted monsters now. The Byakhee are winged creatures, that aren’t normally this humanoid. These make me think of huge winged ghouls, but they are fine in the game.

“trained, hybrid winged things … not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decopomposed human beings, but something I cannot and must not recall” – The Festival, H.P. Lovecraft.

These two were painted black, then the upper torso done in brown and wings in a reddish-brown. I painted the rest of the body in brown. Red wash over body, brown wash over wings, and yellow ochre dry-brush over most of the body and wing edges. Mouth finished with a dark red and then white, eyes (were painted red) touched up with fluoro red. A little sand and some tiny stones on the base and painted grey with a brown wash.

Hunting Horrors next!

Painting – Cthulhu: Death may Die #1 Ghouls & Deep Ones

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Tarmor

Cthulhu: Death may Die is a 2019 board game by CMON and Guillotine Games, for 1-5 players.

Each player is an investigator trying to defeat an Ancient Evil without either dying or going completely insane. It’s a co-operative game. Each investigator has three skills to help them in the game, and these increase as you lose Sanity. Opponents are a variety of Cultists, monsters… and the Elder One. The base game has both Cthulhu and Hastur.

Here’s where I started… Ghouls and Deep Ones.

The ghouls had their upper torso painted brown. I painted the rest of them brown, and gave them a very dark brown wash. Some dry-brushing in flesh and light grey to follow, then eyes. As basic board-game pieces that come and go from the board with regularity, I wasn’t going to fuss with detail.

The Deep Ones have a bit more detail. It’s a very different look to any images of these creatures I’ve ever come across in Call of Cthulhu. These were unpainted to start with.

They got a once over in a metallic green, then a blue-green mix on the head, and light olive highlights. Suntan flesh in mouths, and on the gills, etc, then a little more metallic green and finally white for teeth and protrusions.

A pair of Byahkee are next, and then either a Cythonian or two Hunting Horrors!

Lots to do…

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Tarmor

There’s been quite a bit on my computer table over the last few weeks, and it hasn’t all been paint and figures… though there’s a bunch of those!

After getting one BattleTech mini done, I completed one of the characters for Gloomhaven, started a second and also got out two sets of figures from Cthulhu: Death may Die.

With Easter holidays finishing today, I’m now on leave from work for the rest of the week! I expect to get more efficient with painting than usual, as well as play games, read and write.

1. My AD&D Revision. This was something I mostly focussed on for 4 months between Dec 2021 and April 2022, then went back to this year. While I thought I’d finished my latest revision to my AD&D rules, working through Non-Weapon Proficiencies, and then Character kits has led me to go back to some of the Classes, add some Pole-arms to Equipment, and a few other small additions or clarifications. Once I clear up NWP and properly list the 42 character kits I like, I’ll have to update my Resources page with these files.

2. Cthulhu: Death may Die. I have two boxes here – borrowed from my mate while he’s away on holidays. The original base game (2019), and the “Unknowable Box” (2019) – which is mostly 18 new Investigators, and two new Elder ones (Dagon and Yog-Sothoth). I could have borrowed the Season 2 box as well, but this is more than enough to paint.

One advantage here, is that my mate bought the base game second-hand. It’s in almost unplayed condition, except that the previous owner started painting figures, but didn’t finish. The Investigators have basic colours, but no detail… the monsters vary from no paint at all, to mostly base colours without detail, shading or highlighting. Being larger figures makes painting easier, and I don’t plan to strip them back and start again. I’ll simply finish them off.

The ghouls which I chose to start with had been painted brown on the upper torso, nothing else. They are pretty much complete, and tomorrow I’ll aim to finish the Deep ones. (They were completely unpainted.) Then I’ll probably go back and forth between the mostly painted investigators and monsters. If I have time I’ll also work on untouched Unknowables.

…and I have my helper back here again! He’s just standing on the dining room table with no particular reason… definitely not interested in the cashews.. no way!

Painting Descent #9 The Heroes

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Tarmor

At last we get to the eight Heroes in the base Descent 2 game.

There are four archetypes in the game, and two heroes for each. Each character has slightly different stats, a Hero ability (a unique skill) and a Heroic Feat (use once/adventure.) In addition, you get to choose from two card decks for each archetype that give you starting equipment and skills/spells. This allows considerable customisation right from the start of the game.

The figures themselves are fairly standard size for fantasy miniatures at about 28mm scale, though they are a little thinner than say Game Workshop. Unlike the much larger monsters, they have considerable detail. This doesn’t work very well on some of them, especially when combined with mold lines. The figures almost exactly match the art on the character cards – which is nice, but sometimes art doesn’t translate well into a 3-dimensional figure. Some of these end up with soft detail (particularly faces – compare Jain and Tomble) and others with just too much happening in a very small space to be clear what’s visible. Tomble, for example, has a knife hilt visible above one boot in the artwork – which shouldn’t have been reproduced on the figure itself. You wouldn’t notice the minute protrusion unless you were looking for it.

Grisban the Thirsty (Warrior) – A dwarf berserker nick-named for his thirst of blood in battle, or beer… no one is sure which.

Syndrael (Warrior) – An exiled elf knight.

Ashrian (Healer) – An elvish shaman from the Whispering Forest. (Weapon is a staff.)

Avric Albright (Healer) – A former human soldier who became a war cleric to help those around him.

Jain Fairwood (Scout) – A human wildlander (ranger) who was wronged deemed a deserter from the army.

Tomble Burrowell (Scout) – A risk-taking gnome thief.

Widow Tarha (Mage) – An orc necromancer who practices in the dark arts.

Leoric of the Book (Mage) – A scholarly human wizard seeking long-forgotten knowledge.

I note that my painting of eyes has been getting worse recently – I’m having more trouble focusing on detail that small (with or without glasses) than previously. It’s more noticeable in the photos than with the actual figures thankfully. A few of the images above don’t look right to me, and I’m worried I clicked a setting that lowered the detail or I’m getting a slight blur off of the varnish. (I took the pictures in a bit of a rush.)

That’s all for Descent – next might be Battletech.

Painting Descent #8 Shadow Dragons

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Tarmor

Shadow Dragons! The last of the Descent monsters…

“Some fragmented records from the Dragon Wars speak of dragons that shrouded themselves in darkness, emerging from the blackness only to kindle their flames. The idea of such a large enemy moving with such stealth and secrecy is obviously terrifying. Fortunately, Shadow Dragons are nothing more than legend.”

In game, they breath fire in a line across four squares, and their shadow power makes them hard to hit in combat.

The figures themselves are a fair size, but fairly simple in terms of detail. Wing ribs and body spikes are the main features. No scale detail. These have some mould lines (in awkward places), and look to have been multi-part figures. Some of the joins aren’t smooth either. I did what I could with file and knife – this is one of the occasions where I really could have used some greenstuff. For a board game piece I feel I put in quite a bit of work. I could have done more, but I’m happy with the way they look and I’ve still got more figures to finish!

Right from the beginning I was thinking of a dark grey with a purple tint… this became a dark purple once I started painting. Blue on one and red on the other sounded like good secondary colours to set them apart from each other. A blue wash over one was disappointing. I mixed blue and fushia and got a nice mix that went on smoothly, then did the same on the other dragon with red and fushia. Highlights, particularly on the wings were almost straight blue and red. Black wing edging, and on most of the spikes.

Normally with bases, I glue sand and all stones on, sometimes adding moulding paste on top. This time I started with thick layers of the paste, and pushed stones into it. I left it in peaks and ripples hoping for an stone effect I’d seen a few other people do with these figures. Painted grey, then a good black wash over the top got almost exactly what I’d been wanting. A lighter grey dry-brush finished it off.

These count for Dave Stone’s ‘PAINT WHAT YOU GOT 2025/2026‘ Challenge. I have some almost complete heroes, but they won’t be done in the next few days!

Painting Descent #7 Elementals

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Tarmor

Not much painting over the last few weeks as it was hot and work has been flat out. Lots of reading instead. Nearly all Sci-Fi… Neal Asher, David Weber & John Ringo, Jeremy Szal.

Nearly all the Descent monsters are done now, with the two Elementals being the second last, and probably the craziest of the lot. Which elements? All of them – Fire, Earth, Water, and Air.In one creature.

“Beings comprised of all four primal elements are dangerous and impossible to control. Their warring primal natures make these elementals lethal to all around them.”

They have special actions that effect all figures/heroes adjacent to them. Fire is an attack, the others sound like debuffs.

I found many images of people painting all four sections as the different elements, and I feel they look like a chaotic mess. I had one image where the style used was air/water for one and the earth/fire on the other. This looked much better and I’ve done my own version of that…

A couple of fluid coats of gray & blue on one, and browns on the other, to get the colour to sit in all those lines, then lots of dry-brushing.Then finally some base decoration.

Air/Water: Light blue, light gray (mostly on the lower bits), some green, lighter blue and white.

Earth/Fire: Light grey, light brown. Then carefully applied yellow, orange, and red for flames. (The red is brighter IRL than in the images.)

I really enjoyed working on these. Large, fairly simple, not complicated to paint.

These count for Dave Stone’s ‘PAINT WHAT YOU GOT 2025/2026‘ Challenge.

2025 – 2026: Looking both ways…

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Tarmor

In painting terms, 2025 was really good for me. I got 111 figures completed, compared to 99 in 2024.In terms of views, visitors, likes, etc – they were all better than 2024. I’m impressed to know that there has been growth, and I can’t really comprehend that the site had over 5000 visitors.

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog. I started mostly to catalogue what I was painting, and as a way for my RPG players to keep track of what they had done in our campaigns. It’s been incredible to get to know a host of other painters through their blogs, and I’m sorry that so many of them are in other countries. It would be really great to be able to meet you in person!

I find it quite amusing that everything I painted was for a board game – Eclipse (Second Dawn for the Galaxy), Zombicide Green Horde, Nemesis and Descent (Journeys in the Dark) – and only one of those (Zombicide) is mine. In 2024, 96% of my painting total was for Eclipse, and remainder was 4 figures that I think was the very last of my own unpainted miniatures. I should do another search through all my figure trays to see if I’ve missed any.

In terms of blog posts, I’m also surprised to see that the most viewed post through the year (The Witcher Old World board game), and the second (the first Paranoia game I ran) are both from 2023. Only Eclipse in the list of the top 10 is from 2025.

One thing I considered from this is that it’s worth adding the Paranioa adventure to the files on my blog. If people keep looking at the post, there should be some interest in playing (or using parts of) it. I spent some time during the week tiding up the files, and adding some GM notes, so it should be possible to run the adventure even without any of the actual Paranioa rules. (This should be done today.)

So, looking forward…

It rather looks like 2026 will be similar in painting terms as I’m still working on Descent, and I know there’s Cthulhu to work on afterwards. There’s always the mass of standard zombies and orcs for Zombicide if I ever get bored.

I should write proper reviews of the different games I play, as they seem to be popular posts too – whether board games or RPGs.

I want to get back to the novel I’ve been writing… 24000 words so far! When I’m in the right mood, I can just type for hours. While I have a bunch of typed/writen notes, there are some plot points that have been sitting in my head for a year.

I’ve also been considering retirement for a number of years but I still enjoy my admin work (and like the staff there), and having the regular salary is still a good idea… and the bosses don’t want me to leave! Since I have plenty of leave, I’m aiming to have a Friday off work at least once every three weeks this year and be able to paint more, play more games, and relax a bit more.

So again, thanks for reading about my hobbies!

Lastly, in the spirit of blogging, I’ll also promote a Community Blogging Challenge started by Roger from Rantings from under the Wargames table. In Roger’s words – “What I’m asking you to do is, if you look below you’ll see a list of blogs that I follow (or should follow!), some are great painters (actually all of them are) 3D printers, game writers, DM’s, Sculptors, Convertors etc.. The one thing they all have in common is they are all entertaining writers! So if you can I’d like you to follow each of the links and take a look around, now some of these have not had new posts added for a while, but don’t let that put you off, have a look around check out some older posts, you never know there might be something you like or find useful, if so make a comment, follow (or if you have too “like”), let’s give these people some love and hopefully get them posting again!”

Fawcett Avenue Conscripts