Super Dungeon Explore: Part 3

The above pic is the finished Druid and his alternate bear form.  This is probably my favorite character; due purely to the look and theme.  The most significant characteristic of the bear model is how it was painted, since this is the first model that I've used an airbrush on.  I borrowed Kenndog's new airbrush last week and did a little experimentation.  I decided to start conservatively and only used it for the base coat and the early stages of blending.  Results are in the picture below. Significant refinements to the blending had to be made with a brush and extra highlights and shadows were added.  Nevertheless, it provided an extremely smooth coat and a good indicator of shadow location.  Details were completed with a brush, as normal.  The Druid was only hand painted.

Super Dungeon Explore: Part 2

Unlike other dungeon crawling games like Descent or Warhammer Quest; Super Dungeon Explore uses large square dungeon tiles, that fit flush together along their edge, to represented the layout of the dungeon.  Descent and Quest use irregular shapes that often touch only a few neighboring pieces so the negative spaces between the tiles represent walls or null zones that the characters cannot move or see through.  On the SDE boards, the walls and such are drawn onto the map.Unfortunately, they are not always easy to see and determining line of sight and movement paths can be tricky.  I am not the first and only person to feel this way, nor the first person who thought it might be fun to fix that problem by adding 3 dimensional features on the board to represent the sight-blocking nature of the room's objects.  The following link shows one of the more extreme examples; where the maps have been completely recreated with painted plaster terrain: tabletopgeeks .

Although I thought it would be fun to explore the wonderful world of mass plaster production, I still have 30+ more models to paint and a host of other projects that also want my attention.  Therefore, I selected a solution somewhere in the middle.  I continue to use the colorful cardboard tiles, but I have recreated the 3-dimensional elements with carved and painted polystyrene foam.  The foam took about 26 hours to shape and 10 hours to paint. 

The pictures below show the hot wire cutter I used to cut the straight geometrical shapes.  A tinfoil ball rolled over the surface of the foam was used to create a stone-like texture.  The bricks and other shapes were made with a very sharp exaco knife.  Inexpensive acrylic craft paints were dry-brushed on for the color.  The other pictures show the final outcome of the more interesting map sections.  A picture of the map's art is given on the left side of each image for reference.  Recreating the illumination of the lava and crystals from the map onto the 3D parts was a lot of fun.  The final picture shows an example of each of the three wall connectors used between the map tiles to mark the dividing walls.  I left them modular to allow for variable shape combinations among the tiles.

Super Dungeon Explore. Part 1

The above pic shows the first 6 models (heroes) painted in my newest minature game, Super Dungeon Explore.  I was introduced to and purchased this game at Origins back in June.  Apprently, Sodapopminiatures had just released the second printing of the game and I got one of the first copies.  Changes in the new release include the replacement of the metal hero models with these fantastic plastic ones.  Other blogs show that the newer models are also a little bit larger.

I immediately fell in love with these minatures after seeing the display booth at Origins and examining the images on the box.  My miniature painting style had taken on a cartoony-ness over the past 5 years and these models would definatley accentuate that more than the "realistic" sci-fi models (40k) I had been working on.  I am very pleased with how these first six came out.  I think that my high contrast blends and hardlined boarders and edges replicate the techniques used by comicbook artists and makes these models look very similar to their fantastic art work.

The box came with 40 models; 9 of them heroes; and all of them gorgeous.  I can't wait to see how the rest turn out.
 

Ork Warboss with Power Klaw (from AoBR)

I finally got around to painting the Warboss from the Assault on Black Reach set. I think this is the best figure from the set! The Deff Kopta's are good, too. Amazingly, they even managed to pick decent wargear for the guy.

I like the pose a lot, and I tried to do some pretty sharp highlights. Jen asked me to repaint the tassel. The first attempt was a little too similar to the Power Klaw.

I kept the yellow theme, since his main job is to provide leadership to the Bad Moon Mega Nobz.

Ork Battlewagon

I finally finished the Battlewagon (with the Deff Rolla and Killkannon). It's overkill, I know, but I can't imagine not having both. I still have the optional gunners to paint, but they won't make a big difference to the overall effect.

I tried something different. I hard-lined the red panels with metallic silver, to make it look like the paint was wearing away from the edges. I think this could be improved in 2 ways: wider edge highlights, and darker/layered metallics.

Dark Eldar "Wracks"

The above picture features the first three of  ten Dark Eldar "Wracks" I'm adding to my army.  Once again, I've decided to use Privateer Press models (Hex Hunters) instead of the GW ones because they represent my pirate theme better.  The wracks described in the Dark Eldar codex and represented by the GW models are cyborg-mutant-abominations.  I wanted slightly-tainted scurvy sailor types.  These models come dang close.  I gave them the blue skin to show that they were not normal "space elves", the copper-ish armor to represent their diminished status, and the crystalline swords to represent the poison rules for their melee weapons.  This squad of ten + a small HQ will take my core 1850 point army up to 2000 when necessary.   

Chess Set Finished

I recently finished the last piece for my custom chess set--the White Knights. Below is the full complement of models.

King and Queen

Bishops

Knights

Castles

Pawns

King and Queen

Bishops

Knights

Castles

Pawns

Dark Eldar Pirate Display Base

Arrr! The pirate fleet is now complete--at least the 1850 point tournament standard is. The miniatures themselves were done a month and a half ago when the Razorwing Jetfighter (upper left on base) was finished. However, serious tournament goers are now expected to arrive with a suitably themed diorama-like movement tray and I finished mine yesterday (and spent today taking pictures of it). I learned this lesson the hard way when I showed up to the Baltimore Grand Tournament in 2008 with my Eldar army on well-used cookie sheet. I won second in "appearance" and I believe the absence of this unwritten requirement (I took them off the cookie sheet for judging :-) may have lost me a couple of points. I created a better display base for the Eldar in July 2009 for future tournaments (see blog posts at this time) but it was fairly plain and more function than form.

The design for this display base is intended to highlight the nautical theme I emphasized in the way I modified the stock models. The flying bases on the vehicles have specific spots in the water and their flying bases have had the same wave effect modeled. The rocky outcrop was made from 2" thick polystyrene foam cut with a hot wire (aka "wonder cutter") and the wave effects were added with Woodland Scenics (tm) Foam Putty. This foam putty is the same material I used to make the snow effects on the bases of my Eldar (also seen in July 2009 blog post) but laid on much thicker. With the right amount of water, this material gains the consistency of thick whipped cream and dries like Spackle. I simply spooned it onto the base and then used the same spoon to shape small white-caps.

Khymerae Substitute

The Dark Eldar Beastmaster unit has become a popular choice among players due to its hardiness, mass attacks, and relatively cheap cost. My unit contains 4 beastmasters, 6 razorwings, and 5 khymeraes. I've chosen to use the Flesh Hounds of Khorn instead of the actual Khymerae models and painted them in my purple and blue scheme. I wanted them to appear darker than normal so I left the majority of their flesh black or dark purple. Nevertheless, I made the highlights in light blue and white to maximize the contrast and reflect their mystical nature.

Ravager Battleship

The Ravager model is a simple modification of the Raider transport by adding two dark lances to each side. In the GW version, the center sail is insignificantly different. I wanted this ship to appear heavier and therefore added a second set of sails (as compared to my Raider model). This makes it stand out against the transports when combined with the whole army and I think it makes it look more like a battleship.