Bones 1 Miniatures: White

I wanted to paint white-themed miniatures for this batch, but instead of just using the primer on these miniatures and calling them done, I decided to go through the color wheel as pastels. Please imagine a paladin-led party of brave adventurers assaulting an awesome foe in a deadly environment. Most of these miniatures are from the Bones 1 Kickstarter. I also decided to choose models in boy-girl pairs; are they family? Fellow countrymen? 'Just good friends?' I continue to experiment with skin tones to add ethnic diversity.

Let's start in the back, with the adventurers' attendants; I imagine a grizzled chirurgeon and a dutiful nurse to bandage these warriors and tend their wounds when they are badly injured. These decent, hardworking folk are of common means, and their plain clothing reflects this.

• Bartender from Townsfolk I by Bobby Jackson (SKU 02583) (from Bones 1 "Townsfolk")
• "Townsfolk: Grandmother" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77088) (from Bones 1 "Townsfolk")

Next up are the noble financing this expedition; and a druid, perhaps newly called to the duties of a paladin--can she revere nature AND serve the demands of a Lawful Good deity?

• A bearded man (noble?) with a fluffy coat, cloak, and sword down (metal, probably Reaper, but I can't find it in their catalog)
• "Danra, Female Druid" Sandra Garrity (metal, SKU 02693)

And here we have the main force of paladins, and a cleric.

• "Halbarand, Cleric" by Todd Harris (SKU 77089) (from Bones 1 "Heroes")
• "Isabeau Laroche, Female Paladin" by Werner Klocke (SKU 07129) (from Bones 1 "Klocke Classics")
• Man with sword across and notched shield (I can't find it in the catalog) (from Bones 1 "Fighters")
• "Aviriel Tellerion, Female Elf" by Werner Klocke (SKU 77070) (possibly from Bones 1 "Heroes")

All of these pastel characters have thin coats of pearlescent particle paint on select weapons and clothing, representing a sheen effect of the holy enchantments on their equipment.

And scouting ahead, we have a large cat, and a Blink Dog puppy.

• Cat from Familiars 4 by Julie Guthrie (SKU 07088)
• "Sparky (Blink Puppy)" by Kraken Dice

The cat is actually a familiar for a player's character; I sketched the model, and asked my player to color the sketch with colored pencils. My paint job came pretty close to the colored drawing.

The blink puppy I painted with an undercoat of orange to represent the Arcane School of teleportation magic used by the supernatural Blink Dog.

We approach the boss monster's lair, and we find these animated skeletons. Perhaps to repel nuisances, perhaps a speed bump for incoming hazards, perhaps simply to make some noise as an early warning system for the Boss Monster.

• 2 Skeletal Archers by Ed Pugh (SKU 30024) (from Bones 1 "Skeletal Horde")
• Skeletal Swordsman by David Pugh (SKU 77017) (from Bones 1 "Skeletal Horde")

And finally we find this fearsome White Dragon, who lives in snowy climes and dispenses misery with deadly cold elemental magic.

• "Ebonwrath, Dragon" by Sandra Garrity (SKU 77102) (from Bones 1)

The dragon stands on a 4-inch "Gargantuan" base. I painted the dragon with a pearlescent craft paint to give its hide an mineral-like appearance of impenetrability.

I'm completing this batch shortly after Easter, and vanquishing this terrible icy dragon represents an end to this dreadful Winter season. May the pastel-painted paladins remind you of the colorful Easter eggs appropriate to the Holiday, reflecting the vibrant hues of blossoms emerging from the slumbering earth this Spring.

I confess I usually use the "Minwax Dip Method" wherein I apply a coat of polyurethane varnish with built-in pigment to the miniatures, which serves as an all-over clumsy brown wash, simulating dirt and skin-tone shadows. It's cheap, easy, and effective, but I fear this technique is holding me back, because I'd like to try other types of washes and shading techniques, and the brown varnish is somewhat oppressive. So I didn't use the brown varnish with this batch.

Bones 1 Miniatures: Black

The previous batch was purple and violet; we have come to the end of the rainbow. I have these minis and I thought to paint them black. Of course, lots of animals and fantastic creatures are colored black, and lots of people wear black, so I gave them their own batch. But pure black would be boring and hard to see, so I made most of them off-black.

Here, 2 stout felines bravely accompany a pair of magic users on a mission.

• "Slynx the Cat" (metal) by Bombshell Miniatures 
• Bones 1 "30 New Bones" cloaked human caster from "Satheras, Male Warlock" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77040)
• Bones 1 "Heroes" elf caster with polearm from "Elquin the Daring" by Werner Klocke (SKU 30158)

I once had a pair of clever and fierce and loving black Maine Coon mix kitties, Hansel & Pretzel. They crossed the rainbow bridge many years ago, and I still miss them. I bought and painted these cat miniatures to honor them, thus the Rolling Stones video link above is doubly appropriate. The worst thing about black cats is that they shed dark fur on your pale carpet. The second-worst thing is that they are hard to photograph. If you're superstitious, I had a Friday the 13th during this batch!

They come upon a powerful party of Dark Elves, but these are NOT their objective! With careful negotiation, these elves COULD provide valuable assistance...

• Bones 1 "Dark Elves" cleric from "Tierdeleira, Dark Elf Cleric" by Werner Klocke (SKU 77122)
• Bones 1 "Dark Elves" ranger from "Dark Elf Warrior" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77124)
• Bones 1 "Arachnid Archer" by Gene Van Horne (SKU 77182)
• Bones 1 "Shaerileth, Spider Demoness" by Patrick Keith (SKU 77180)
• "Many Eyes (Spider)" from Kraken Dice

The cleric is tinted with yellow/gold, the ranger is tinted with orange/copper, the archer is tinted with red/red metallic, the spider demoness is tinted with violet, and the spider is tinted with blue (inspired by the metallic blue tarantula).

Finally, our adventurers approach the lair of the big, bad, evil guy (BBEG); including these stealthy dire black rats. A friendly skeleton promises that he is just an employee of the BBEG, and will not resist. "It's an unliving," he meekly offers in his own defense. 

• Bones 1 "Dungeon Attack" Dire Rats, based on "Dire Rats" by Sandra Garrity (SKU: 07036).
• Bones 1 "Mr. Bones" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77195)

Dire black rats inspired by the black rat.

Mr. Bones was the mascot from the original Bones Kickstarter! I imagined him as a menial grave- or ditch-digger, so I painted him with a black robe heavily dusted with dirt.

And the BBEG is... a vampire. I hate vampires. I think this miniature was a freebie.

• Reaper's "Kaspar Von Mondstein, Vampire" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 07073)

The vampire is in black, tinted with red for blood. I also put some glitter on his skin, because recent documentaries have revealed that vampires sparkle.

My spray primer came out spattery and thin this time and clogged my original nozzle (last time) and replacement nozzle (this time). I of course don't need a lot of primer per batch of minis; so I own these cans for a long time, and because the paints are composed of (I assume) organic compounds, I suspect the spray acrylic just went bad in the can, and/or obstructed the parts inside the can. Still, the minis got enough primer on them to accept paint, and the surfaces were not bumpy with blobs of congealed paint, so it all worked out. I bought a new can, anyway.

Bones 1 Miniatures: Purple & Violet

It's another miniatures adventure, with a purple & violet theme! 2 magic users on a journey to spooky Dark Elf territory. All of these are cast by Reaper Miniatures, and most are part of the Bones 1 Kickstarter, which started soliciting pledges way back in the time before COVID: July 2012.

We open with our pair of surface-dwelling spellcasters and their familiars:

• Bones 1 "30 New Bones" Wizard in a floppy hat from "Galladon, Male Wizard" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77054)
• Bones 1 "Familiars" Bat from Familiars 1 (02018) by various (SKU 07048)
• Bones 1 "30 New Bones" Lady caster in a big dress from "Devona, Female Wizard" by Werner Klocke (SKU 77036)
• Bones 1 "Familiars" Fairy from Familiars 4 by Julie Guthrie (SKU 07088)

They stop to get directions, supplies, and perhaps to enjoy a rustic meal with a household of country folk and their farm cats:

• Bones 1 "Townsfolk II" Pitchfork man from "Townsfolk: Village Rioter" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77140)
• Bones 1 "Townsfolk" Mom with 2 kids from "Townsfolk: Mom & Kids" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77087)
• 2 Cat familiars (metal) from Familiar Pack I by Julie Guthrie, Richard Kerr (SKU 02018)

I imagined that these hardworking farmers would wear clothes in faded pinkish and lavender colors; unlike our wealthy eldritch travelers in rich, deep (perhaps illusory!) colors.

I painted these cats to honor my own beloved brown & orange tabby cats.

The magicians are sure they're on the right track when they encounter lots of big purple spiders! Purple spiders actually exist, including the Avicularia purpurea "Purple Pink Toe" spider. As with other domestic pets, I imagine that these spiders have been selectively bred (by Dark Elves) to maximize their attractive pigmentation. 

• 2 Bones 1 "Vermin" Spiders from Vermin: Spiders by Kevin Williams (SKU 77126)
• 2 Bones 1 "Vermin" Spider swarms from Vermin: Spider Swarm by Shannon Stiltz (SKU 77128)

You may notice some skulls littering the bases under these (and other) minis. I put these skulls under some minis to remind you that these monsters are deadly, kind of like a skull & crossbones "poison" symbol. The skulls are from Games Workshop. 

And finally they arrive at their objective, meeting with a pair of Dark Elves.

• Bones 1 "Dark Elves" assassin from "Zalash, Dark Elf Assassin" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77123)
• Bones 1 "Dark Elves" caster from "Liela, Dark Elf Wizard" by Werner Klocke (SKU 77121)

Although the D&D Drow Elves are described with 'obsidian' skin, I was inspired by the purple theme and painted these as World of Warcraft Night Elves with purplish skin. Humans have different skin color variants, why not Dark Elves? 

I try to paint these miniatures for about an hour each evening. Each batch takes about 2 weeks to complete. During these 2 weeks, I bought a blind bag of mystery D&D dice, and inside each transparent die in the bag was a blue plastic spider (COOL!). Then I finished reading a dreadful nonfiction book, and I was looking for a fun novel to start on. I remembered this ONE book in my queue; I was painting spiders, I randomly got spider dice, it was the perfect time to start reading "This Book is Full of Spiders" by Jason Pargin, originally published the year the Bones 1 Kickstarter started, bringing it all back to 2012. 

Bones 1 Miniatures: Blue

Here we see 4 elven heroes approaching an adventure's complement of monsters. This batch of miniatures represents a bite into the last ~100 miniatures I plan to paint from the Reaper Miniatures' Bones 1 Kickstarter, which started soliciting pledges back in July 2012. 

My color theme with this batch is "blue", so I imagined these as blue-oriented characters. Please imagine a rocky, mountainous setting...

Let's meet our heroes! I didn't have many Elves in blue, so I decided to fill in that gap with these 4: 

Bones 1 "Elves" woman with staff, based on "Autumn Bronzeleaf" by Jeff Grace (SKU 77069).

Bones 1 "Klocke Classics" woman with sword & staff, based on "Lysette, Elven Mage" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 30001).

Bones 1 "30 New Bones" Elf sword to sky, based on "Turanil, Male Elf Paladin" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 77044).

Bones 1 "Elves" (Probably? In the Kickstarter, they only had concept drawings, and the sculpt changed a bit) man 2 swords, based on "Elladan, Elf Ranger" by Werner Klocke (SKU 77071). 

First, they pay their respects to the deceased this fine sarcophagus. I tried to make this crypt look like some kind of expensive blue granite. It's part of Bones 1 "Dungeon Dressing", based on "Sarcophagus" by Bob Ridolfi (SKU 77137).

They encounter these Bones 1 "Dungeon Attack" kobolds, based on the "Bloodscale Kobolds" by Ben Siens (SKU 77010).

Slightly more challenging are the 3 gray hobgoblins, like in the Pathfinder 1e Bestiary; gray also seems to go with the blue color theme. These are Bones 1 "Dungeon Attack" goblins, based on the "Goblins" by Ben Siens (SKU 30096)

Finally, they must deal with these Bones 1 Storm Giants, based on "Male Storm Giant" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77163) and "Yephima, Female Cloud Giant" by Patrick Keith (SKU 77162). I decided to paint these Storm Giants blue, like the sky, with blue storm cloud clothing, etc.

These encounters may seem vastly out of proportion, until you realize that blue is the color of the United States Postal Service, and our heroes are delivering the mail. Go Postal Unions!

Bones Miniatures: Green (paint, not epoxy*)

Here we see 3 fierce protagonists approaching a fully stocked dungeon's complement of monsters.  Almost all of these miniatures are from the Reaper Miniatures' Bones 1 Kickstarter, which started soliciting pledges back in July 2012. I've painted lots of these, but I still have dozens left. I'm now trying to concentrate on my remaining Bones 1 miniatures before I move on to the many other miniatures I hope to paint well into my golden years.

I've basically painted most of the Bones 1 miniatures I really wanted to paint, and now I've got miniatures I am not so excited by, don't anticipate a use for, or were intimidated by. Ghosts and dragons are not that much fun to fight, because it's hard to hit a ghost, and dragons are so devastating. 

I also added skulls to the terrain under some monsters to add menace and warn the players, kind of like the skull-and-crossbone 'poison' logo. Without the skull, maybe that big green dragon is friendly; but the castoff demon skull tells you that the green dragon killed a demon, and the dragon considers murder too inconsequential to dispose of evidence, and the fearsome demon too inconsequential to keep as a trophy.

My theme for this batch is "green," so I picked out mostly green-oriented characters, creatures, and monsters; and I used some UV-reactive paint for extra grooviness. Please imagine our adventure in a lush, mossy swamp or forest setting...

Let's start with the monsters:

3 kobolds guard the entrance. These are Bones 1 "Dungeon Attack" kobolds, based on the "Bloodscale Kobolds" by Ben Siens (SKU 77010).

Get past the kobolds, and our heroes face 2 lizard men. These are Bones 1 "Swamp Things" Lizardmen, based on the "Lizardman Spearman" by Gene Van Horne (SKU 77154) and "Marsh Troll" by Jason Wiebe (SKU 77152).

 

But others have died before you here, and their spirits do not rest easy. These are Bones 1 "Haunts" cast in fluorescent green translucent plastic, which I have emphasized with glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent paint. From left to right: a curtain of ghost-animated skeletons form "Nightspectre" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77099), the cloaked "Grave Wraith" by Bob Ridolfi (SKU 77097), "Spirit" by Jason Wiebe (SKU 77098), tragic "Labella DeMornay, Banshee" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77096), and a seductive "Ghostly Summons" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77095). 

As if my camera's poor focus isn't problematic enough, I tried to emphasize an ethereal effect with the paint, and the translucent material just doesn't facilitate high-contrast photos. At least you can really see the green glow of the material and paint in the UV photo.

The boss monster of this domain is a fierce green dragon: the Bones 1 "Fire Dragon" by Sandra Garrity (SKU 77109), on a 3-inch base. 

Now let's look at our protagonists; I painted all of these for my wife's use. She constantly inspires me, lightens my burden, and is the color in my life. And they're done in time for St. Valentine's Day, with reddish elements. (I also used some UV-reactive paints for fun.) From left to right: 

A bearded druid in a purple coat with a friendly raccoon on his shoulder is Bones 5 "Dreadmere Hero" 1100, based on "Aurelio Endrino, Bonehenge Warlock" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 03843).

More in keeping with the green theme, 2 green-skinned female half-orc druids 3D printed by online sellers; I got 2 of them so my wife can have a choice of avatars: 

"Female Orc Shaman" by Cast n Play has a curvy hourglass physique: features of more traditional female beauty; with dancer-like attire.

"Female Orc Druid" by Andrea Tarabella's Artisan Guild has a blocky, bodybuilder's physique: little body fat, revealing bulging muscles; with stone-age attire.

It occurs to me that these different powerful green-skinned heroic figures parallel a pair of different powerful green-skinned comic book superheroes "The Savage She-Hulk" and her cousin "The Incredible Hulk;" in that one appears 'athletic' whereas the other appears 'muscle-bound.' 

I didn't plan this, but all 3 of these protagonists' miniatures have wide stances. However, the cast miniature (the bearded druid in the purple coat) 'cheats' by concealing its legs with a long overcoat, stabilizing the figure and making it easier to de-mold; whereas the 3D printed figures do not, exposing their legs and making for a much more dramatic pose.

I'm glad for 3D printing, because it allows for more expressive poses and features than with casting and traditional sculpting tools, and because it allows digital sculptors to work independently of capital-intensive casting factories, thereby somewhat democratizing the means of production. Put another way, I can't find female half-orc miniatures from Reaper which look like these, and yet there is clearly a market for these views of what an orcish female could look like, and how players want their game characters to be represented. 

However, there is unfortunately an element of 'buyer beware' in this developing market: 

• The wide stances of both orcish ladies wouldn't easily fit on a 1" circular base, even at only 28mm scale (no smaller scale was available, and the measure of their stances was not specified by the seller).
• More frustrating was that one of the figures' 3D-printed layers separated at an elbow and knee, requiring tedious re-gluing. Modern 3D printing typically involves depositing layers of plastic from the bottom up, like a stack of hundreds of irregular pancakes. This layer-separation issue is a problem not exhibited by cast miniatures (for obvious reasons), and I question the minature's resilience during tabletop play. 

If you're reading this, please feel free to comment. As per my color wheel cycle system, I actually painted a batch of orange and a batch of yellow miniatures between the red batch I posted about previously and this green batch, but I didn't bother to post an article about them, because I feel like nobody reads them.

* "Green" in the world of miniatures typically refers to original uncasted miniature sculpts, often constructed by hand in green epoxy putty; you might find this putty sold in stores as "Kneadatite" or "Green Stuff." Similarly, "greens" are these miniatures themselves. Also similarly (but perhaps more confusingly) "greenware" can refer to unfired clay sculptures or pottery. 

Bones Miniatures: Embrace the Rainbow

There's no color scheme this time.  I'm embracing the rainbow and loving it!

At the left, we have a large adventure group:

Viola, the Aracokra Bard (Reaper's "Kobzar Soloveiko, Nightingale Bard," Sculpted by Jason Wiebe, #30167);

Carmela, the Human Fighter (Reaper's "Finari, Female Paladin," Sculpted by Werner Klocke, #77077, in Bones 1);

Himberra, the Elf Sorceress (Reaper's "Juliette, Female Sorceress, Human Sorcerer," Sculpted by Bobby Jackson, #77057, in Bones 1);

Jam, the Wolf animal companion (Reaper's "Familiars," Sculpted by Various, #77176; in Bones 1);

Margarina, the Human Monk (Reaper's "Xiao Liu, Female Half-Elf Monk," Sculpted by James Van Schaik, #77418; Bones 3 #124);

Espressa, the Tiefling Rogue (Reaper's "Fillyjonk, Hellborn Rogue," Sculpted by Bobby Jackson, #30009); and 

Flapjackie, the Dwarf Cleric (Reaper's "Dwarf Forge Priestess, Dwarf Cleric," Sculpted by Jason Wiebe, #77571; Bones 3 #548).

I'll write more about these brave heroes later.  They're just here to clean up in case a smaller adventuring group doesn't make it...

This is the smaller adventuring group:

Bluebell the Halfling cleric (Bones 4 #144, "Enora, Iconic Arcanist, Halfling Wizard," Sculpted by Bobby Jackson, #60178");

Molotov the Wizard (Bones 4 #11; "Kelainen Darkmantle," Human Evil Wizard, Sculpted by Bobby Jackson, #03847);

Hunkendor the Ranger (Bones 4 #9; "Aravir, Elf Ranger," Sculpted by Bobby Jackson, #03763); and

Brandon the Rogue (Reaper's "Damiel, Iconic Alchemist," Sculpted by Bobby Jackson, #60044).

A fish monger (Reaper's "Dreadmere Townsfolk: Fishwife," Sculpted by Bob Ridolfi, #44033; Bones 4 #409 & #410) first spotted the this giant terrifying monster creeping around.  She told this story until finally some adventurer groups looking for action decided to investigate.  

The tentacle brain ("Hivewarden," Sculpted by C. Lewis, #44023; Bones 4 #425) is the boss monster for this scene; I don't know what the ecology of this thing is, but I decided to make it glossy, because the thought of a dry brain just makes me feel gross.  Just imagine getting eczema on your brain; EWWW!  I assume this is a relative of a monster called a "Grell", but a Grell has a beak, and this monster does NOT; so if you tell me that Grells are SUPPOSED TO BE purple, I can tell you that this is NOT a Grell, and it is supposed to be this pinky color.

And the tentacle brain has a pet Dire Skunk.  I was running Goodman Games' D&D module "Dungeon Crawl Classics #0: Legends are Made, not Born" and (SPOILER ALERT!) there's a Dire Skunk in it.  I couldn't find a decent Dire Skunk miniature anywhere at a reasonable price, so I made this one out of polymer clay (it has glow-in-the-dark eyes!). It's a Medium animal, so as a mini it's about 1" long.  Of course it has a Musk spray attack, but it can also bite, so I gave it prominent teeth.  I made all my miniatures out of polymer clay before the Bones Kickstarters gave me enough minis to paint for the rest of my life... but no Dire Skunks.  

My big plan was to paint the large adventure group at the left.  The other miniatures just kind of came along for the ride.  While painting these, the improved detail was obvious between the old "Bones white" miniatures and the new "Bones black" miniatures; I don't know if the Bones white molds were based on cruder models, or the transfer wasn't so precise, but Reaper claims the harder Bones black material holds fine detail better.

Some of these miniatures are from the ORIGINAL Reaper Bones Kickstarter, which ran back in 2012 (over 12 years ago!).  I'm ashamed to admit I still have many of these miniatures left to paint, especially because I have participated in many Bones Kickstarters since, and the miniatures are really piling up.  It's a common problem among miniatures painters, but I have been revitalized by my absence, and I plan to prioritize my Bones (2012) minis until I have painted through all of them.

Bones Miniatures: Resurrection in Red

Hey, I'm painting miniatures again!  I gave up on painting miniatures shortly after COVID-19 quarantine lockdown.    

But now I'm back.  Sadly, I gave up painting WHILE several miniatures were half-painted.  "Red" was the theme.  First step was to sponge 4 years of dust off my batch of red minis, repair any damage, and finish the paint job.  It wasn't that onerous!

Here we see a landscape with some civilians and (anti-)heroes, some thugs, and a red dragon.  All of these miniatures were rewards from Reaper's "Bones" Kickstarter campaigns.  If you want a big pile of miniatures, these Kickstarters will deliver--eventually.

A close-up on the left,  shows Reaper mascot Sophie working hard as a waitress (Bones 4 #160); yes, she has devilish wings, but unless she's tempting us with Gluttony, she doesn't seem TOO scary.  Because of the season as I write this, I can only think of her as "Oktoberfest Sophie."  

Next to Sophie is an elegant lady (Bones 4 #146).  Is she hiring our adventurers to loot a dungeon for her?

And next, we see the adventurers: a troop of somewhat comical subterranean "Bloodstone Gnomes" (Bones 4 #505~).  I don't know what the inspiration for these was, nor what their deal is.  I tried to paint their armor like green bronze with bright red ("bloodstone") insets; I MAY have been channeling my desire for pimiento-stuffed olives.  

In the dungeon, we encounter some dangerous characters, like a Gladiatrix (Bones 4 #92), a Bandit (Bones 4 #102), and Vatanis the charismatic Tiefling (Bones 4 #424).  Are they working together to defeat that evil female Efreeti (Bones 4 #735)?

Finally, plotting evil deep in the dungeon is a Red (fire-breathing) Dragon (Bones 1 "Here there be dragons" option).

You'd think I would be painting dragons all the time, for the Dungeons & DRAGONS game, but dragons are TOUGH for players to fight, and tough for game masters to play--most of them are pretty smart.  I don't know how to make them interesting or fun.  So I tend to NOT use them in the game; and because I don't need them, I don't paint them.  But this was bugging me; the dragons were piling up, so I decided to bite the bullet and paint a dragon.  And why not the classic fire-breathing red dragon?

But after finishing them, I remembered that I have a Linguist friend who is hard at work studying Welsh right now.  So I was inspired to recreate the Welsh flag with this scene.

All this is an attempt to "clear the pipeline" so I can paint OTHER miniatures in the immediate future.