Best wishes for a happy birthday!

So I'm getting my ideas all rounded up for my RCon games. If I'm not painting at least I'm gathering up ideas at least. Anyways, I'm up to the sage in the crystal in Paizo's Pathfinder adventure "Hungry are the Dead"

The encounter is a robed figure encased in a clear green crystal. His hand has broken free & is skeletal but he is still human/flesh inside the crystal. What I'd like to do is take a existing mini, painted up & stick it inside.

Is there anything out there for this? I'm assuming some sorta clear resin & using molds. Just be a tad bit different with a mini inside. Possibly stick the mini in, pour one half. Let that sit, then pour the second half. It doesn't need to be perfect I'd just like something physical & similar to the artwork for the encounter.

I've picked out my minis, I think I'm gonna use the Bones or metal  Mystic Theurge for the pose & without acc like the scrolls & either one of the Bones Cultists or more likely 60136: Aglanda, Herald of Razmir for the head swap as the guy does have a hood on.

(Top it off he is also suspended from a chain.........sigh

Thanks for any help on this one.

This will be where I post my Frost Grave Terrain.

First up will probably be an improvised fountain, made from a leftover plastic container and the water weird (77310) mini

Also Dave Graffam's Tall Ruined Wall. I'll be doing that tomorrow with bristol board and going to the print shop to print some stuff in color.

There's no Glue Stick so only priming and dry-fitting of the fountain

Another modded player from my DnD5e group! The only modification is scraping of the cross from his shield and replacing it with the logo from Neverwinter Nights, but it's a modification none the less. I did this by first sculpting a stamp from green stuff and let it cure fully, and then "just" adding green stuff to the shield and stamping it (I put quotation marks around "just" because it took a bunch of tries before I got it straight). I am actually sort of surprised as to how nice the shield came out, especially after painting.

Jandar is his name... Looking a bit boring here but....

..BAM! The shield catches some attention!

I really like the pose from this angle, it looks very action-y.

And here's the back. I've tried to add as much colour as possible without making him silly, because it just felt super-boring to use the same colour over and over again.

I hope you like him!

I decided to open a thread for all to use to report your latest mini purchases so we might oooo and aaaah at your shrewd bargaining or clever haggling (assuming your FLGS allows such a thing).
 
Obviously, this means I made a purchase last night at my Not-so Local but Friendly enough Game Store.
 
 
 
Field Report :: Tuesday, June 4th, 2014 :: Millennium Games, Rochester, NY
 
I approached the wall of Bones with a smattering of DHL expecting to find little I didn't already have.  Immediately, I find the Ogre, Kagunk, Chieftain of his clan.  Unfortunately, I had to save money somewhere for the first kickstarter and passed on the Mind Your Manors ogre and crew.
 
As I pulled Kagunk from the wall I spot right behind him, as if hiding, was Mr. Bones.  Might be I will make a second Mr. Bones II from him.  Might not.  We'll see.
 
Then it was off to the clearance table at the back of the store.  I always find something.  Hmm, it was light on minis this trip.  I find the white box the minis are usually in and find little of interest until I find a troll.  A $20 troll from Privateer Press, a Pyre Troll, and he's half off.  WOOT!  Wait?  Pyre?  Like in fire?  Yup.  Interesting.  *points his finger at the troll in pieces in the blister*  You are a contradiction my friend.  *yoink*
 
I also needed an orange paint.  Sadly, these guys do not carry Reaper's paints but I did pick up Bright Orange from Vallejo.
 
 
 
Field Report Side Note :: Non-mini related :: Sort of because it has mini-ships in it
 
I found the recently released, and on my list of things to buy soon as money in hand, Firefly The Board Game expansion, Pirates and Bounty Hunters.
 
SCORE!
 
Now we can have 6 or 7 players on Friday game night.  YAY!
 
 
- Field Reporter Thrym, Dept. of Aquisitions

 A recent acquisition and discussion brought up the idea for this thread... (I'm on something of a life-long quest to acquire all the movies that warped my fragile little mind as a child growing up in the '70's and '80's...)

 So...

What are your favorite really cheesy movies?

Okie dokie, I have a new idea!

See, I love the SL Dark Sword sculpt The Lovers.  It's just so sweet.

Normally when I look at a sculpt I try to accentuate whatever emotion I imagine the artist trying to evoke and build on that with my paint choice, basing and composition.  This one reminds me of a wedding.    I get all teary-eyed just  thinking about the happiness.

Lately though, I'm in the process of killing off my main protagonist in a story I'm writing.  Don't hate me.  It's necessary to drive the character arcs for my 3 main supporting characters.  Plus, I feel like a story always means more when great sacrifice is involved.  So I've got this sad ending ticking in the back of my brain.  While pacifying my fitbit the other day I was struck by a bolt of figurative lighting!  Why not use the above sculpt for a bittersweet story of eternal love.  Meaning, I'll paint up the male as a spirit and the woman at the funeral remembering him.  Yeah, I know.  Depressing.  Sigh.  But, I betcha no one else has taken this tack, so at the very least it will be unique, the complete opposite of what the artist intended and it'll give me an excuse to play with Hard Colors.

Yeah.  That's when it hit me.  White.  Black.  Sigh.

I took the opportunity to try some experimentation while waiting for the primer to dry.  I grabbed a bunch of colors I thought of as potentially working well to depict a spirit, knowing I'd need to use something fairly warm in the woman's palette to offset.

I figured the warm white in the last pic wouldn't work, but I'd go ahead and paint up a bones victim in case I needed it another time.  So, here's the  result of my puttering.  It might as well be useful:

Now, before I painted them up, I'd have picked the green as being the most spirit-like and spooky.  Plus I could go pink fleshy on my lady and get some red-green plus warm-cool contrast (which is usually a win-win.)  As it turns out though, I like the blue example best.  Hooray for experimentation!

I'll add that these are very simple, done in about an hour overall (stupid paint-drying time) and usually with white it needs to be a bit more complex to look right.  Remember that white is essentially a color of pure reflection.  it's only highlights and shadows come from its surroundings.  That's why I painted myself a bit of intense color around each of the "white" cloaks- it gives my a "reflection" to paint into the cloak.  Normally, reflections are more complex, so it wouldn't be so one-note or flat.  I'd use other colors in the mini or the base to add some depth.

Then I chose my other colors:

I took a pic because lately I'm leaving a lot of time in between painting sessions, so I'll forget otherwise.  hah!

So, base coating, just to make sure I like it:

And painting!

I forget sometimes to take in progress.  Took about 3 hours or so.  I wanted to tear the opposite head of the one I was working on at least twice to get to a corner.  Sigh.

worked less on the back, but here it is:

Here's a closeup:

the hair is coming along nicely!

I'll try to get back to it soon! I'll be making a little vignette using the bones sarcophagus and some walls with fancy gothic-type windows.  the floor will be a simple mosaic and I want to put some swirlies coming from the sarcophagus to the man.  I'll try to figure out how much blue OSL to put on the walls and on the woman without it being too forceful and overwhelming her colors.

The Little Folk have FINALLY reached the head of the line. SO my next group will be the Goblins of Rapunzel's Twisted Tower & Goblin Village board...otherwise known as Rebel Minis' Dark Hold Goblins.
Knights, Henchmen, Pack Rat, & a Villager Volunteer:

 

 

 
The Adventures, Pack I:

 
The Adventures, Pack II:

 

 
The Militia:

 
AND the ones I've started on...naturally with all those minis based & primed, I've started painting the unbased & just now primed ones; The Villagers:

 
The Leader of The Rat:

 
The Thinker:

 
The Foil:

 
AND The Fink, front view then back:

 

 
The foil & The Fink are a team; i.e., the former takes the blame & the latter makes sure he does.
...& there you have What-I'll-Be-Doing-For-Awhile...with an occasional shiny break.

Here is the round 3 chatter/photo thread. As before, I'll edit this post with the coordinators and groups.

Round 2 is dead, long live round 3!!

Arrival/departure thread is now up:

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/64345-the-travels-of-sir-forscale-and-friends-box-of-goodwill-round-3-arrival-departure-thread-no-chatter/

And as promised, here are the coordinators and groups; if I missed anybody or otherwise goofed up somehow, let me know.

DSmiles

DonTheDime

DogBL

Klarg1

Morihalda

Chris Palmer

Genghis Sean

Melkavar

OneBoot

Bonwirn

WyvernFire

UltraSquid

Talespinner

KangaroRex

BuckyBall

Kadence

Fanguad

Marvin

Ub3r_N3rd

BeowulfTheHunter

Pingo

Inarah

DavidBrawley

Wolfie907

IzzyLobo

Wargamer

Marineal

Chaos Wolf

FroggyTheGreat

Fishnjeeps

SGHawkins09

GenericFighter

FlameHawke

Matbar

Talae

Marsya

TiniestRhombus

ThesHunter

OneBoot

Robinh

Jasperthe 2nd

Loim

JCG

NomadZeke

HornedTurtle

Hibou

DSmiles

Marvin

Pcktlnt

DrBedlam

TGP

VonKrieger

Drusander

UlfHeathen

Tarsemina

Bonwirn

Chaos Wolf

SamuraiJack

Aryanun

RobDean

Arc724

MissMelons

RedAmbrosia

AlexGates

Dilvish the Deliverer

Ub3r_N3rd

Thes Hunter

Sirithiliel

HungerFan

RGTriplec

TerminalMancer

Keianna

Korimar

AardRinn

FroggyTheGreat

A couple minor changes; you'll notice that there are 2 coordinators in each group; 1 at the top, 1 at the bottom. That's because we're changing things up a little; instead of the last person in each group sending it back to the box starter (the name at the top), you'll be sending it to a different box starter (the name at the bottom).

The box starter/coordinator (name at the top of each list) is the person in charge; that's who you need to get a hold of if there are any issues. You can also get a hold of  Ub3rN3rd or myself since we're the ones in charge of this rodeo, but please try to work things out through your coordinator first; that's what they're there for.

If there are any questions, they should be covered in the first post here:

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/63922-random-box-of-goodwill-round-3-signup-thread/

Just a reminder:

The group paint figure is not mandatory, just a little something extra for those who are so inclined. Also, coordinators please note: we're changing up the way the boxes will end up; you won't be getting your group paint figure back, you'll be getting someone else's.

ETA--Also, quick reminder to double-bag or otherwise ensure that any basing materials you send don't end up breaking open and making a huge mess inside the box.

OK, after some searching, the last time we did a weight loss support thread was over five years ago.  It didn't seem to make sense to threadomancy that since it is long out of date.  Anyway, I need to lose weight.  I'm at my highest point since 2000, I'm out of shape, I'm struggling to do some of the things I love like fencing and backpacking, and I am unhappy about it.

My plan for losing weight it to track my calories using the Tap&Track app on my iPod. I also want to increase my aerobic exercise.  Now I know from experience that I do way better at this sort of thing, if I know that other's are holding me accountable, essentially I will disappoint myself but hate disappointing others, which is why I am starting this thread.  My intention will be to post my weekly progress or lack there-of in this post, editing it as I go.  If you wish, I'd like to invite you to start your own tracking post in this topic.  Maybe if we stand together, we can help each other succeed.  If you have no issues with weight, please through your support to those who need it.  I've been yo-yo'ing my whole life and i am sick of it.

My goal is to weigh 225 lb (102 Kg)* by ReaperCon 2015. That gives me 43 weeks to lose 51 pounds, which means I need to do between 1 and 1.5 pounds a week.  I haven't been that low since I was 24 years old.

* This is a weight that my doctor and I decided would be best for me given my barrel chest build.

So here goes:

Start date: June 20 (I already started but am just now having issues keeping it going alone)

Height: 6' 3"

Age: 43

Gender: Male

Goal Weight: 225 lb (102 Kg)

Initial Weight: 276 lb (125 Kg)

Progress:

- 6/30/2014: 274 lb (124.28 Kg) (-2 net lb)

- 7/8/2014: 272.5 lb (123.6 Kg) (-3.5 net lb)

- 7/22/2014: 276 lb (0 net lb)

- 729/2014: 274 lb (-2 net lb)

- 8/5/2014: 270 lb (-6 net lb)

I love the sculpt for this guy. So much fun stuff to work with. But in the end I got fed up with him and wanted him done - he's intended for tabletop use, and I decided that all the fiddly pouches & stuff hanging off his belts weren't going to get the time and attention they deserved, so they kinda got a brown splatted on there and I called it done. To be honest, I'll probably come back and touch this guy up later when I'm feeling ambitious, but for now... this works.

I think I actually had the lighting turned up a little too much for the photo... He's got fairly noticeable highlighting in real life, but it mostly washed out on here. Oh well, at least you can see his fire hair, and the silly lava base I made for him. This is my Frostgrave apprentice, an elementalist focusing primarily on fire (shockingly!). The actual wizard is still a WIP; she'll be along probably towards the end of February, at the rate I've been going on her. In the meantime, I have this guy looking menacing on the battlefield.

This is one of the last figures from my year-end Conga Line of finishing up half-done minis, Reaper's 60079: Lyrie Akenja, a Pathfinder miniature sculpted by Julie Guthrie.

She's a special figure to me.

Lyrie Akenja is the first figure I bought after a twenty-year hiatus from minis.  I spotted her somewhere, thought "Wow, an African wizard!  Things sure have changed," and bought her, along with a few other minis.

I then proceeded to give her the worst paint job I had ever given a mini in my life.

I hadn't realized that I needed glasses nowadays, and I was too nervous to focus properly.

So after some angst, I soaked her paint off and started again.

And set her aside for a couple of years while I developed a new skill set.

And then picked her up again to finish with the Conga Line.

I like her little pushing the hood up with the wand gesture.

I started this one 7 long years ago, then it was put in a box, in a garage, and recently found and resurrected.

So, while working on painting my Yvette sculpt, I figured I might as well work on the other aspects of the Valkyria Chronicles-inspired fantasy not-WW2 story I've been meaning to sit down and write for a while.

Namely, they have a tank. Or rather, an assault gun (turretless tank).

I don't think it'd do to just have a WW2 tank, dressed up a bit, though. For one thing, only two countries really fielded them, and they're quite distinctive, at least to history buffs and tank lovers.

So, I decided to scratch-build a custom one. How hard can it be? (cough, cough).

The first step was to search for a donor tank model kit. It had to be cheap, relatively simple, but not too advanced in terms of era. WW2 tanks, designed, built, and fielded under total war conditions, have a certain brute simplicity to them. I ended up picking up a Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog. A couple pluses:
- Cheap! It's an old 70s kit, so picked it up for $15.
- Designed just after WW2, so with some scratch-building it ought to look crude enough to fit in the era.
- Simple! Only three sprue trees. One of them is crew, the second is roadwheels.
- Though I didn't realize it at the time... the top of the hull comes off and also locks in place! Meaning I can just scratchbuild the top and not worry about the undercarriage.

So I opened it up, and assembled the bottom half more or less to instructions... and then started mutilating the top half.

 


The back engine grilles were pretty low. Standard for a modern tank, not inefficient-looking enough for my taste. So I sawed them off, to be remounted higher later... or broken into bitz. Not sure which yet. But to get there, I had to saw off almost the entirety of the sponsons, leaving only the front fenders. That turret ring ever so slightly protrudes over the sponsons, too, meaning I can't just weld a strip of stryene flush along the sides. Might end up making something like the side hatches on an M3 Lee.
 

The front of an M41 has very sloped armor. Again, too advanced looking. Also I was converting it into an assault gun, which meant that the slope was too severe to mount a cannon. So I sawed away the driver's hatch and mounted some styrene to cover it all up. I hope it'll pass for applique armor.

I kind of want to evoke a knight's jousting helm with this design, so an angled superstructure will go where the driver's hatch used to be. The cannon is made from some telescoping metal tubes; a short section at the base for the barrel mount, and a short section at the muzzle to thicken the appearance of the barrel. I sand it flush on a whetstone, and mount it on a section of PVC pipe, which will form the structure for the gun mantlet.

For Secret Sophie this year I got Klarg1 and he was looking for something Sci-Fi. 

I'd had an IMEF Bulldog that I'd been eager to paint since it first came out (Big Stompy Robots!!) but never gotten to.

So I ordered myself another one and started in on it.  I decided early on to go with battle damaged, so I could use both the pilot and the hatch, and so I could try out painting some damage.

Then after Christmas I needed something to paint at work (and had just received a bunch of new military triads from the 12 days of Reaper) so I grabbed a couple of IMEF troopers to work on there while I was finishing the Bulldog at home.

I'm pretty happy with how everything came out and I'm pretty sure the rest of my IMEF are going to get painted in a very similar fashion.