Moonglow Miniatures - RPG Terrain and Mini Painting

Mage Knight Last week I gave a bit of a look into converting Mage Knight minis for other RPG use.  For a more in depth look check out how I turned a Mending Priestess into an Ice Witch . If you didn't see last week's post, Mage Knight's are wonderfully cheap minis that can be pretty okay if you give them some love. You have to cut them off their clunky bases and attach them to something nicer.  I tend to use my tried and true method of baking soda and super glue with a few aquarium stones thrown in for variety.  When you've done that you're left with something a bit more workable. Underpainting So for these guys as well as the Ice Witch, I tried a new method of painting.  With underpainting, the idea is to add shadow and highlight in monochrome where it's easier to see.  Then you go in with thin layers of color to add over your underpainting.  This is similar to the idea behind Zenithal priming but can be achieved with brushes instead ...

Cheap Miniature Hunting When I first got into D&D about two years ago, my friends were using board game pieces and other various items to represent monsters and characters.  I raided my games and childhood toys and found a small collection of minis.  This started my obsession.  I spent the next summer avidly devouring as many miniatures as I could get my hand on.  My focus was on quantity over quality, with a focus on affordability.  This drive led me to buying lots of Mage Knight miniatures from Ebay. Mage Knight For those who are unfamiliar, Mage Knight is a now-defunct war-game from WizKids .  You might be more familiar with the current running HeroClix game and miniatures.  The point of Mage Knight was to contain all of the relevant character stats on the rotating base.  They also came pre-painted.  But most of all, they were cheap.  As a result, the painting isn't amazing, and the sculptures are sometimes lackin...

Last time we painted some wolves from the Castle Ravenloft Board Game.   This week I finally get around to showing off the Reaper Bones Learn to Paint Kit: Layer Up. A few weeks back I went through the Reaper Bones Learn to Paint Kit: Core Skills  and went beyond the figures included in the set as I painted skeletons , orcs , and a knight . With the Layer Up kit, I started by reading through the guide, but I quickly abandoned this in favor of my own ideas. When it's possible, I like to re-base my minis on Reaper Bases to save that game-like black edge. This time I didn't cut the minis from their molded base.  In the end I regretted this decision, especially with the pirate, as even with my usual superglue and baking powder trick, the smaller ring of his original base is still noticeable.  Once they were based, I primed them with a layer of grey craft paint. I started with  Anirion, Wood Elf Wizard .  I didn't like the guides suggestion...

Last time we painted up an Earth Elemental from the Temple of Elemental Evil Board Game.   This week the board game painting continues with a trio of wolves from the Castle Ravenloft Board Game. I continued my journey of painting miniatures with no guide by painting up these wolves.  In the weekly game I run, our party has a ranger with a wolf companion, and a druid who often wild-shapes into a wolf.  Because of this I felt that the wolves would make a great addition to the table. I started by searching images of painted wolf minis to see what others had done, but I was unsatisfied with a lot of the solid-colored wolves.  I quickly abandoned the mini search in favor of using reference images of actual wolves.  I really wanted to capture the shift of color from dark to light in the fur. I started with the lightest coat and slowly added darker shades near the top.  I also wanted to have one of the wolves stand out from the others and so I we...

Last time I posted I finished the Reaper Bones Learn to Paint Kit by finishing the knight, Mangu Timur .  I recently received the second kit, Layer Up , but I wanted to wait until I finished all of the minis before posting about that.  In the meantime, let's look at this Earth Elemental from the Temple of Elemental Evil Board Game . I actually quite like this guy.  He was technically the first miniature I painted without any color guide.  Not that his coloration is very difficult.  I did want to try to bring out a bit of warmth in him and mixed some tans into the grays.  He also was treated to a brown wash.  I really like how the wash sunk into the recesses and really gave this guy some depth. I had given the base the same baking powder and super glue treatment I used on the skeletons and knight, but I still felt like it was lacking something so I added some stones.  The stones are actually ornamental glass that you can find in the g...

Finishing the Kit - Knight The last two posts I followed through the Reaper Bones Learn to Paint Kit  and painted up some skeletons  and some orcs.  This time I'll finish the paint kit by tackling this knight. To be completely honest I'm not sure what he is.  He might just be a knight, but he could also make a great paladin.  His official name doesn't help solve anything either as it's listed as Mangu Timur, both unhelpful and unpronounceable.  Either way, the sculpt is pretty cool and it's helped me stave off my fear of painting realistic flesh tones a little longer. I tried something a bit new with this guy and I decided to rebase him.  I cut him from his plastic base and glued him to a 1 inch reaper base that I had purchased.  I textured the base with baking powder and super glue like I did with the Ravenloft Skeletons . Like before, I followed the guide to a degree, but often just followed my gut.  I played around with the yellow m...

The Painting Adventure Continues  - Orc Marauder Welcome back.  Last time I started my painting adventure by tapping in to the Reaper Bones Learn to Paint Kit and painting up some Skeletons . The second mini in the kit is and Orc Marauder.  There's a lot more happening on this mini than the skeleton.  There's fur, leather, chainmail, spikes, and more details in general. I followed the guide mostly, but like the skeleton, I took some liberties.  Apparently I just can't follow instructions. Learning from the skeleton, I used brown for the orc base, and later drybrushed green for a grass effect.  I also kept the green of the orc skin muted, using mixes of green and tan to keep it from looking so cartoonish. A word on skin tone.  I have some regrets on diving into the stereotypical green orc.  Namely, I like green goblins.  I would have liked a more dramatic differentiation between orcs and goblins but I like things to look unified and ...