Moving Pictures Vs. The Artist

So here is a Photo blog of a bunch of crap D&D wise, enjoy...

 This one is a group shot of some stuff I did all in one shot.  The front 'Fancy' mini was Brian's old PC in my original 4E group, Phalen.  He was an Eladrin Wizard with his own agenda, which sounds virtually like every PC in any group ever.  The base is from the pre-painted Rakham Confrontation Ragnrarok starter set, which you can get now for like $20.00.  That's a steal for the minis you get in that box.

 At the time I was quiet proud of the Carrion Crawlers I painted, the minis were from the D&D Fantasy Adventure Board Game.  It's a great little game that did big business in Europe and nada here in the States.  The minis are pretty solid, if not a little 'gummy' in texture.  I like Carrion Crawlers visually, and have always wanted to use them in my games as a swarm.  Having a handful of smaller painted versions will allow me to do that at some point.  I wish I had a better handle on drybrushing when I painted these as they are a tad flat.

Goblins on Worgs, who doesn't love that?  Oh and that symbol on the shield is the Symbol Of Torog, who I like to use frequently as a Gawd you don't want to trifle with.  The bases have a small gravel/sand mixture on them to cover up sloppy paint.  I really feel that using the Army Painter D.I.P. method vastly improved the way most of the minis I've painted turned out. 

This is just a slightly odd angle.  It's not bad, it's just I have no Earthly idea what your looking at beyond a Barbarian and a Cultist in the background.  I think what this says is, as bad as I am at painting I'm 10 times worse at photography.

This Mummy is from Heroquest, I think.  Either way I'm simultaneously in love with the way it turned out, and I hate it.  The wraps look solid; grimy, old, tattered.  However I wish I would have done a better job on exposed skin.  Perhaps started with a brown, then dry brushed on a green, and finally a very light highlight of bone white.  In the visible background is a sweet Cultist.  If you've ever seen my painting table or my mini's collection you'll know I love(s) me some Cultists.

Here is our body painted dark skinned Barbarian friend again.  This time at an even worse angle to show off his paint job.  Oh and if you look closely he has a buddy getting ready to lop of someone's head with a sweet axe.

Here's a big bad Chaos Warrior, or as I refer to them 'The Chosen' in my home campaign.  He's decked out in some dinged up red armor with a lot of bronze.  In fact his swords are bronze as well.  I think this is a good example of how the D.I.P. really makes a 'meh' paint job look a LOT better.  Check out his fur cape, that's all the D.I.P. baby!  He's a good looking mini, and has seen the battlefields in my basement numerous times.  Oh and if you look over his shoulders, CULTISTS!

"That is one solid looking Cultist you've got there Ben."  Why thank you Invisible Friend, it's damn fine of you to notice these things.  If you'll notice he's swinging a bell.  I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's kinda cool.  Most of these cultists were cobbled together from WH Flagellent models, bits and pieces from Wargames Factory, and other assorted odds and ends.

Two REALLY shiny shirtless dudes are about to throw down!  I wish I could get some of the 'Shine' off of them, but otherwise I'm very happy with my rank and file Barbarians.  I think these were again cobbled together from Wargames Factory sets, with perhaps some WH bits in the mix.  The fetching red head has some Pict inspired body paint as well.

 Two more Cultists, except this time you get a crazy Ghost Rider looking dude as well!  If the glare didn't hit 'Blondie' so hard you'd be able to tell that his face looks pretty good, but he's not near as cool looking as his flaming Undead pal.  That is one of my favorite things I put together and painted thus far.

So a blind Archer and a spear throwing Barbarian walk into a bar...  Actually I like both of these miniatures quiet a bit, although the C.C. Beck 'dot eyes' that the Barbarian has are slightly off putting.  The colors and textures on the Archer really stand out, and the miniature itself has a lot of 'character' simply because it's a blindfolded/blind Archer.

These two could have benefited from a better picture angle.  The Archer has a really cool Tom Selleck 'stache going on and I like the almost drab colors I chose.  As for the Knight, I'm seeing a pattern in my painting of Red & Silver a LOT!  I've got to make an effort to cut back on that.  Otherwise though I like the pose, the mish-mash of armor, and the kitbashed sword arm.

So here are a series, and by series I mean a 'CRAP TON' of photos showing off Terraclips.  I was so excited by this product as an idea that I was afraid when I recieved mine, after the year delay, that it wouldn't live up to the bar I'd set in my mind.  I was wrong.  It's one of the finest gaming materials I own, and building it is a blast.

You have some Heroes holed up in a dead end waiting for the on-rush of the Orcs in the hall.  The dude in the middle with the big ass sword and eye patch I painted.  He's red and green, I know AGAIN with the red, so he's got a strange Pirate Santa vibe to him.

Here's another shot of Pirate Santa, from behind, getting ready to face the Orcs. I like that the scale of the Orcs makes the archways look cool, as if they would have to duck as they came charging through.

 



All the minis in this shot are pre-paints. The Orcs are various DDM pieces, as well as the Halfling in the bottom right hand corner. The two exceptionally cool Heroes are again Rakham pre-paints. As you can see there is dimensions at work here, as the Heroes are trying to hold a walkway. That's the beauty of Terraclips, I can build out as well as up.







This another angle of the above shot.  I really like Rakham's pre-paints.  My only real beef is that the plastic is very brittle.  You have to handle with care.  Oh and the cost, while they are cheaper than metals or resin and they are painted, they are NOT cheap.







The adjoining room sees some more DDM Orcs and a really fun looking Ogre with a cleaver menacing a re-based Heroclix, Wulf Sternhammer from 2000 AD fame.  I like to litter my builds with these larger rooms with a lot of doors to give PC's a chance to find more advantageous choke points.








Here's another shot, in this one you can see the DDM Orc Wardrummer as well as the Shaman.  Again I'm a huge fan of how the archways make the board feel big and open.

This is an overhead, as if you didn't know, of the whole structure I built.  This was my very first Terraclips build, I added the minis for effect.

This is a really bad shot of a doorway.  There's a mini, your going to have to trust me on that, on the other side.  I have yet to really get good at building the walkways around the rooms on upper floors.  I think my layouts lack some sound architecture, or rhyme and reason.  The more I build the more I enjoy it though.  It makes me think of the 'whys and wherefores' of a particular setting.

Here we have some more of those pesky DDM Orcs having it out with a Rakham piece in the bottom left corner and a blurry Halfling on the stairs crouching to attack.  The Terraclips stairs are solid in build, but slightly annoying to place, and even more frustrating to have stay where you put them.  Luckily my games have yet to have a serious battle in a stairwell.

Some companions look down the hall to their enemies.  I painted all four of these dudes.  Let's go left to right.  First up is a WH Elf body with a human head, so it's basically a Half-Elf.  you can't tell from this angle, but this mini turned out rather well.  Next up is the Guy with that tits staff.  He's a drunken Cleric of Pelor whose seen better days.  He also turned out solid in terms of painting.  Next would be the armored gentlemen in the front, who has that same damn red paint I'm growing to loath.  He and the Half-Orc jester Archer turned out really well.  The D.I.P. did it's magic on both of these guys.

The minis here are all pre-paints, including a re-based Mage Knight Minotaur Warrior.  I think what really stands out is the amound of doors, so the options one has.  I can count 9 doors/archways in shot.  7 of which are in a very close proximity to one another.  I think when you can add this to a game you can give it scale as well as that clausterphobic feel that an old keep or dungeon or castle or wherever your PC's have stumbled onto should have.

I'll be honest beyond the two DDM Orcs here, I have no earthly idea what's going on in this picture.

Another shot of scope and scale.  This is the second story of the build and as you can see it's full of room, and minis and ACTION! 

Here's another shot from the outside looking in as an Orc Archer sits on a walkways and plinks adventures from a distance. 

Blurry stuff.

This is just another angle of a previous shot.

 Top down shot of the whole build.  Take note of the middle bottom of the picture.  You can see the two levels beneath which is pretty cool.

I think this is the bottom level and it's a sewer! 

Here's a better shot of a great Rakham pre-painted Mage

Our Ogre friend from the previous level has made his way into the Sewers and is leading his Orc minions across a bridge where a Warforged Wizard awaits.

Another sweet Rakham Wizard attacks some Orcs in a run-off room.

A decent shot of the stairs in action.

We have a Rakham prepaint in the foreground, a re-based Mage Knight piece in the background, and a guy I painted in-between. 

This is another angle of a previous shot.

Same thing here, as we get to see the Ogre cross the bridge again.

Another shot of that beautifully painted Rakham wizard.  I wish I could blend paints that well to get effects like that.  Look at the bottom of his robes and how they seemlessly fade into the blue.  It's just fantastic to look at it.

Here's a top down of the sewers themselves.  As you can see there are a lot of options when it comes to 'waste management' fluids.  I'm looking forward to the three new Terraclips sets so I don't have to have every lower level of a Dungeon Complex be a sewer though.

Mighty Mike & Joltin' Joe strategize.  It's always strange to see myself in pictures, because it gives me a referrence point for my size.  My arm is like five of Mike's.  Not to mention that massive thing I call a head.  This is from one of our first sessions with this group, back when it was just Mighty Mike, Dark Dave, Joltin' Joe, and my lovely wife Cassandra.  She's the shutterbug who's taking the pictures here.

"Ummm, no Joe you CAN'T do that."  Ah the book keeping of D&D.  As you can see in the background I have more structure built.  This, if memory serves me right was the PC's stopping a Drahjar Cadre from successfully starting up a Creation Forge. 

Mighty Mike contemplates his next move, while Dark Dave stares longingly and moustache-less into the camera.  Oh and the PBR isn't mine.  I swear.  Joltin' Joe pounds that stuff like it's going out of style, and not in an Ironic Hipster way.

Here's a top down of the second story of that structure.  As you can see Terraclips builds small stuff just as well as the BIG stuff.  There is some old Heroquest furniture being put to good use here as well.

This was Saturday night.  A group of 'Chosen' were in mid-assault on the Monastery Of Erathis upon the PC's arrival.  I want to build things for the minis to ride in on top of my Michaels and Target bought pachyderms.  You can see the red 'Chosen' on the Elephant's base if you look carefully. 

 This one was taken by Joltin' Joe on his phone because he's a pal that way.  I was using more World Works Games, makers of Terraclips, stuff here.  This was stuff I had to print and build with my gorgeous wife however.  The risers really do add a LOT to the games.

Here's a little bit clearer shot of the similar scene.  The big Ettin, two headed giant, in the foreground is from the last Pathfinder minis set.  It's also one of my favorite minis that I own. 

Another shot of the 'Chosen' pushing across the battlefield with their trebuchet in tow.  All the guys beyond the elephants and the trebuchet were painted by your's truly.  I'm sure you can tell because they are all red.  GAH!

Shot from further away.  You can see the Monastery opening from here!  The PC's attacked this group of 'Chosen' from behind and with some inventive tactics and great rolling caused them to flee the battle.  The Monastery is made up of some pre-painted Mage Knight Castle stuff.  Hopefully this gives the games we play some scope for the rest of you who dont' spend a Saturday night every month in my basement screaming and laughing over imaginary fights and bad dice rolls.

This one is for the LADIES!  That's right I'm looking all suave with that remote on my face, under that hideous blanket, cuddling with M.M.&C.'s dog Cosmo who was visiting.  Drink it in Ladies...And Dave...