Tuesday 8 December 2015

XCIV. Anthroparions


Trio of Anthroparions can be called finished. I showed the first attempt a few posts ago. However, I decided to chop off his masked head and replace it with a human mug. That made him more akin to the little Morbid Homunculus. The other two follow the same pattern.
The bodies are from Skaven, arms from The Hobbit Goblins and heads from an Empire State Trooper and two Chaos Cultists. A bit of greenstuffing was needed to to blend the bits together or to repair the parts where I removed a tail or an arm.  I also converted the cultist heads a little because I didn't wish them to remain identical.






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And this is the newest conversion: a soldier in service of count Waywode. I wanted to give the Countess some human minions, this being the first. More about it when it gets painted.



Monday 16 November 2015

XCIII. Mór Vérzőfarkas

Rotten Harvest 2015 results are in and now I am allowed to break the silence about my entry. It ended up taking third place; thanks to all who voted. :)

I present to you Mór the Armour. A huge suit of plate armour possessed by the spirit of long dead lord Mór Vérzőfarkas, ancestor of our Countess:


The feathers are real jay feathers, added when the paintjob was done. Both heraldic shields and the wolf fur on the back are removable (mostly because I couldn't decide whether he was better with or without them).


Lord Mór was killed fighting off the Hassanag invasion. His red suit of armour, decorated with the family colours and crest - the bleeding wolf, was brought back to his province along with his remains. Mór was not buried in it, however, but it was kept on display at the seat of the Vérzőfarkas' to inspire his noble descendants. Now the Countess summoned his spirit to wear it once more...


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The goal was to make a "European" version of Malifaux's Izamu the Armor for the Countess. I like the idea of spirit-possessed plate mail walking around. 
Now that I look at it the miniature would easily fit into a Vampire Counts army...

An old sketch predicted a ruff and a helmet, and I even considered Kingdom Death Gold Smoke Knight for the base of the conversion rather than a Blightking. The design mutated with time.
The latest sketch looks a lot like the final product.
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The first mockup of the conversion from a year ago, when I first got the Blightkings kit.

Nurgle insignia removed, severed head replaced by wolf tail. I decided to give him a fur cap, so I picked a suitable head to use.
Conversion WiP.
The starting model was a Blightking, but I used bits from a number of different Citadel kits: Empire Huntsmen, State Troops, Free Company, Pistoliers; Vampire Counts Skeletons and Mortis Engine; Bretonnian Knights; Space Wolves, Chaos Marauders... This is the finished conversion (minus the wolf skin cape).
Late painting WiP.
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On an unrelated note, I've recently started feeling the need to paint in 2D again. This is the result of several evenings of maniacal painting:


Radogost, a knight.

The boots might need a bit more work. And if the urge to paint does not abandon me, I'll be making a series of similar paintings in an A6 format Moleskine. In case you were wondering, the character depicted comes from another setting I'm developing, separate from Gardens. 

Sunday 8 November 2015

XCII. November and Other Matters

On November 1st, a week ago exactly, this blog became three years old. This last year was very terrain-dominated here at the Gardens. The Cemetery Project resulted in a nice little collection of scenery, with more yet to come. A few miniatures got painted, too. Not bad, I dare say. Again, thanks to all of you who read the blog and take the time to comment. Your interest helps my motivation, and more than once you've given me new ideas and directed me to amazing sources of inspiration.

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This year I once again entered Wyrd's Halloween painting competition, which resulted in a very silent October here on the blog. According to the rules I am not allowed to tell you what I painted until the winners are announced, nor could I possibly show any sketches or WIP pictures while I was preparing it. Apparently the idea is that this way voters can't know who painted what and that stops them from voting for their friends or favourite painters instead of the best entry. I really don't think this is working, since some painters have very recognisable style or preferred subject matter; I'm sure anyone familiar with my work could identify my entry as soon as they saw the category gallery

If you feel like it take a look at all the galleries and possibly cast your votes (you need to be registered on the forum, though). The polls will remain open until midnight EST (MGT -5) on November 11th. Who knows, maybe you end up voting for my entry and help me win something. As soon I'm allowed, and that will be some time next week, I'll dedicate a blog post to my entry.


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 I do have a little something to show now after all. A new unit type for the Plague Doctor's crew: an Anthroparion. This is the first of three, and I got him done from start to finish in two evenings last week. The conversion is based on a Skaven Clanrat minus a tail, with the Hobbit Goblin arms and a new, bemasked head. To complete the conversion I added a few pouches on its belt. The other two will get a similar treatment.





Just like the Morbid Homunculus, the Anthroparions are alchemical creatures diminutive in size - results of Plague Doctor's experimentation. They are, however, rather more successful - with all their limbs in place and way more brains than the Homunculus. When properly trained and equipped they can prove to be useful minions.



Two more graveyard walls got done. To be honest, they are getting increasingly more tedious to make. But the result is worth it.






Tuesday 29 September 2015

XCI. Crews

New members for four of the factions. A painting spree.

The Fairy faction got more little blue fairies. These are a mix of GW Wood Elf sprites and Nurglings converted using sprite parts. Some are new and some I'd made before (those were just rebased from 30mm to 25mm bases). Nasty little buggers.
Another Brute for the Troglodytes. I transplanted a goblin head on a Plaguebearer and completed the conversion with Horror arms. Here he is, hanging out with the first Brute.
Orderly #2 for the Plague Doctor's team. I used the same base model as for the original
Orderly - a 40K Chaos Cultist. While #1 is armed with a poison smoke thrower, the new arrival wields a blunderbuss.
And finally, a completely new unit type for the Countess. I knew I was going to add the plastic Spirit Host to the crew as soon as they got released.There are nine single spirits in the box, so there are still more to paint.

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Group shots of the crews:

Troglodytes

Plague Doctor

Fae*

Countess**
*The tainted Rats and Rat Kings also belong in here, but there is just too many of the vermin.
**I had difficulties fitting all the spirits in the picture, so this time I had to leave out some of them.


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As per request, a photo of my graveyard terrain built so far. Download to see in full size.

Friday 18 September 2015

XC: The Cemetery Project vol.9


Finally got my hands on a set of Renedra plastic gravestones. Affordable kit and also nice sculpts. Most of the stones in there are generic enough to fit into any setting. For starters I used them to make two smaller and two larger area terrain pieces and three lines of tombstones. Something you'll probably notice in the pictures is that I also obtained some miniature ivy; it's from MiniNatur. I went back and added it to some of the already finished terrain pieces as well.






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Right after that I felt ready to tackle the two lamp posts I planned on making. The metal lamps are from Wyrd (sadly, now out of print), and their stone bases were assembled from plaster copies of various bits. The techniques and the procedure have already been explained in previous posts, so I won't ramble about that.

Work in progress shot. Moulds and freshly cast parts.

Lamp post right before painting.
Lamp #1.
Lamp #2.

Next on the list for the graveyard are the stone walls from Garden of Morr. Those are swarming with skulls... But since I miss painting miniatures I might do some of those again. We shall see.

Wednesday 12 August 2015

LXXXIX. The Ogre

Being busy with the Cemetery Project and several commissions, it's been a long while since I last painted a miniature for my own pleasure.  But after the Black Queen painting competition last month I got really inspired and I couldn't resist the urge. The result of one whole day of manic painting is this Ogre, whom I intended for the Fairy faction in Gardens of Hecate.

 The 30mm resin miniature is produced by Mannikin Studios and it's based on an illustration by Arthur Rackham.

I put him on a 30mm base. He's quite slim, but he stands more than a head taller than a human.

The colour scheme is the same as with the other members of the Fairy faction.



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Apart from Black Queen, my club also organised an international Malifaux tournament the week after. I must say it was two great and busy weekends. I met new people, had a lot of fun. Won some prizes. :)

And this is the loot.  I must point out that these came with prizes in form of miniatures, supplies and  store credit from the tournament's many sponsors.

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Then my brother and I made a trip to the city of Prague for a few days. We saw lots of fantastic architecture and I had plenty of good beer. Sadly, we didn't get the chance to visit the famous Old Jewish Cemetery.

St. Nicholas Church. Dome interior.

St. Nicholas Church. Main entrance.

St. Vitus Cathedral.

St. Vitus Cathedral.

One very fancy lamp post.


While I was traveling, a package arrived for me containing Renedra gravestones and MiniNatur ivy. The work on the graveyard terrain continues... 

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