Parting is such sweet sorrow...

...farewell to Ryle and the Hunter.

I have been fighting the urge to do Ray and Fran's '20 Questions' over the weekend in a bid to get some more work done on the challenge and so here we are, what might prove to be my last post for 'A Tale of 3 Painters' and I have to confess that I have rather mixed feelings about the whole thing.  

Buoyed with the success of the metallic work on the Hunter model I approached it very much in the same manner here, using 'Tin Bitz' as a base and reaching for the 'Vallejo Matt Medium' to help with building up of the washes.  Blue has become the colour of choice for all power circuits and has remained so on Ryle's huge metallic hand and helmet.  Once again in a bid to paint something other than metal his knee support was done as a leather and canvas contraption.  Final touches included a wooden handle on the crank operated gatling gun and blood stains on the bandages (a mix of magenta ink and sepia wash).

As my contribution to 'A Tale of 3 Painters' comes to an end I can honestly say that it has been a wonderful experience as well as a steep learning curve!  There have been times of self doubt  along the way, but although we have all been woking on different miniatures it has felt very much a collaboration; without the hints and tips that I picked up from both Andy and Mike I would never have been able to have completed these two to the standard that I have achieved.   

Having invested a considerable amount of time into both Ryle and the Hunter, I feel loathed to hand them back, but return them I must and I hope to have them packed and shipped by the end of the week.  What happens next is very much up to YOU.  Mike 'The Dark Templar' has been woking tirelessly behind the scenes, promoting the project but also amassing a considerable amount of goodies from some very prominent, not to mention generous, companies.  If you are interested in getting your hands on this bundle of joy, then keep following the progress of Andy and Mike, who will be releasing more details on the project as it progresses to its inevitable climax - the auction.

I would just like to thank you all for your continued support and especially those that posted such encouraging comments, it really did help to keep me going.

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As always don't forget to keep up to date with the others, Andy Walker at 'The Lair of the Breviks' and  'The Dark Templar' himself, Mike Reynolds.

What is 'A Tale of 3 Painters' all about?

Here, Kitty Kitty...

a 'Tale of 3 Painters' update.

For someone whose use of metallic paint is normally restricted to the cold, steel tip of a bayonet or the occasional flashing sabre of a cavalry officer, to suddenly be faced with a miniature that is completely made up of metal elements was a tad overwhelming.  I have to confess that on more than one occasion I started to think that I was well and truly out of my depth with this beastie.   

Then along came the revelation that was, Vallejo Matt Medium; Mike, 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds had made reference to this wonderproduct in his earlier post 'A Tale of 3 Painters… Week 1 Summary'.  What it allowed me to do was to successfully add washes without them being repelled by the shiny, metallic surface that I had laid down; I can't tell you what a boon this was to someone with limited experience in this area!  

The concept of repeatedly layering on washes, building the depth of the paint was another technique that I don't tend to use on a regular basis, but when I saw the breathtaking work done by Andy Walker over at his 'Lair of the Breviks' I knew I had to raise my game a little; the metalwork on the Watcher  miniature that he is currently working on really has been an inspiration.  

With this in mind I excavated some aged Games Workshop 'Tin Bitz', which helped to create the tabby cat stripes that I was looking to achieve, then set about layering black ink, then a lighter tone of paint and then another wash of 'Devlan Mud'.  Trying to incorporate 'Guild' red into the miniature I painted a shoulder plate on either side of the Hunter, (think, "these aren't the droids we're looking for" Stormtroopers) these armbands with a liberal scattering of red autumnal leaves should give a subtle nod to the 'Guild'.

Mike had suggested that he was going to be using greys for his base so it seemed to make sense to do the same, picking out he odd cobble here and there and then washing with 'Devlan Mud'.  Aping Mike again, blue was used for the power source and the tube linking the neck to the head was painted to replicate rubberised canvas, any excuse to avoid painting metal!

I'm sure that I could continue to work up areas and there may yet be an opportunity to tidy up one or two mistakes, but overall I'm pretty pleased with what I've achieved to date.

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As always don't forget to keep up to date with the others, Andy Walker at 'The Lair of the Breviks' and  'The Dark Templar' himself, Mike Reynolds.

What is 'A Tale of 3 Painters' all about?

A Tale of 3 Painters... an update

The glorious British summer deemed fit to make a brief appearance this weekend on the 'Sunshine Coast', at least long enough to finally get a undercoat on my allotted miniatures for 'A Tale of 3 Painters'.  Slowly but surely I am starting to get my head around the crazy, mixed up alternative world that is Malifaux and more importantly the characters that I have to paint.

To say I have been apprehensive about the challenge would be an understatement, especially given the exulted company that I find myself in, but in the end I have taken Mike 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds' words to heart and just paint as I would normally.

The obvious place to start seemed to be the skin on the Ryle character and I've just used my normal palette that I employ on my standard 28mm miniatures.  The usual 'Pseudo-Impressionistic' style had to be tidied up a bit on this slightly larger miniature, but we got there in the end.  

One of the only restrictions was that we had to include 'Guild' red somewhere on the characters and I had been racking my brain as to how to do this.  The obvious thing to do was to paint the trousers red, but I thought that would be too dominating a colour for the rest of the miniature and in the end created the striped effect on his trousers softening the glare of the red with an ochre; well I was told to interpret the miniatures as I saw fit!  

I've yet to start the 'Hunter' character, but I'm considering building this stipe motif into that miniature; a sort of terrifying, techno tabby!  Who knows where this will end up!

As always don't forget to keep up to date with the others, Andy Walker at 'The Lair of the Breviks' and  'The Dark Templar' himself, Mike Reynolds.

What is 'A Tale of 3 Painters' all about?

And we're off...

The Tale of 3 Painters begins.

Just the briefest of posts to 'kick off' my leg of 'A Tale of 3 Painters' charity challenge.  Yesterday I received my allocated miniatures in the post form 'The Dark Templar', the evil mastermind behind the project!  Already assembled and based by Mike, all I need to do is clean up a few lines and get on and paint the beasties!

So what did I get?  

Ryle and a Hunter!  This means almost nothing to me, so before I get much further I need to get my head around what exactly the 'Malifaux' universe is all about.  

Based in an alternate Earth, Malifaux uses gothic, steampunk, Victorian horror with a dose of the wild west to inject fun and depth into the magical lawlessness of a world rife with monsters, necropunks, man-machine hybrids, gunslingers, and power-hungry politicos. Actively using character-driven stories to define the world of Malifaux, seek your fortune in this fast-paced and brutal 32mm tabletop miniature skirmish game. Assemble your crew and stake your claim! 

The Malifaux Record 

Well that all sounds encouraging enough and includes a few themes that I'm familiar with and plenty more that I will thoroughly enjoy researching into, but who on earth are Ryle and the Hunter?

Ryle is Hoffman's brother, (Hoffman heads up the new 'Flesh-Construct Grafting Illegality Division'; keep up everybody!) and has gone through some severe changes since arriving in Malifaux.  Ryle, desperate for a treatment for his polio, was left helpless when Breach Psychosis grabbed hold and ravaged his body. Only through the quick intervention of Dr. Viktor Ramos did Ryle survive - but as more machine than man, armed with a Gatling Gun to vaporise the enemy, peachy! 

"The Hunter stalks its prey like a feline predator from the wilds. It has a penchant to wait in ambush and pounce on its unwary prey. With a vicious chain spear, it can pull its reluctant targets into its eager, flurrying claws."  That is one cat you don't want to meet in a dark alley then!

Mike has given us a free reign to interpret the miniatures as we see fit (he may live to regret that decision!) with the only consideration that we try and incorporate 'Guild' red, but who on earth were the Guild again?  The idea is that we try to post progress reports to keep the momentum rolling so please continue to lend your support to the project.  Don't forget to keep up to date with the others as well, Andy Walker at 'The Lair of the Breviks' and of course 'The Dark Templar' himself, Mike Reynolds.

What is 'A Tale of 3 Painters' all about?

The Conundrum Carriage

In 1906 Rolls Royce produced four chassis to be shown at the Olympia Car Show; one of which 40/50h.p. would go on to become the 'Silver Ghost' - "the best car in the world" according to AutoCar in 1907.  Unknown to all Charles Stewart Rolls, a good friend of Holmes, had been working on several secret prototypes one of which was to travel with the esteemed Consulting Detective to the United States America.   

The madness that is the 'secret project' continues apace with the introduction of the 'Conundrum Carriage'.  More often than not it was the breaking down of the Mystery Machine, whilst the gang was returning from some worthy youth festival or the like, that led to 'those meddling kids' solving yet another supernatural mystery.  It seemed logical then, that Holmes, 'Shaggy' Watson and Baskerville would also need some form of transport to get them to and from their own adventures, thus the 'Conundrum Carriage' was conceived.

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I wanted to convey the idea that the 'gang' had been on the road for a while, constantly having to adapt their carriage as they went along.  Given that this was at the earliest onset of automotive development it was also clear that running repairs would have to be undertaken by nonspecialists, often relying on the skills of the local blacksmith.

A quick scout around 'fleabay' turned up an old Matchbox model of an early Rolls Royce 'Silver Ghost' for a couple of pounds, but try as I might I couldn't dislodge images of the Clampetts' Oldsmobile truck from the Bevely Hillbillies or the Arkansas Chuggabug from the Wacky Races and soon the project descended into utter folly.

A tow chain was attached to the front along with evidence of bumped and damaged bodywork roughly repaired with plates and rivets.  The 'gang's' worldly possessions and souvenirs were now been carried snail like on the back including a hurriedly constructed kennel for Baskerville, who had started the tour as a puppy but was growing so fast that his new accommodation had to fashioned across the back seats. 

A good rummage around the bits box led to all manner detritus been offered up and if it fitted it went in!  Balsa wood was used for Baskerville's kennel with a 'Renedra Plastics' picket fence, 'Empress Miniatures' Zulu shield, weapons, packs and ammo box, some 'Ainsty Castings' barrels and boxes and a rack of ribs to give Baskerville a tasty snack for the journey!

Once all was literally roped together and glued to a base it was given a generous spray with black undercoat and the fun really started!  As a homage to the original series I wanted the colours to match those of the original Mystery Machine and so the ludicrously bright paint job is now attributed to  'Shaggy' Watson's late night experiments with moonshine as a possible alternative to petrol!  The whole thing was such a wonderful diversion from everything else that was on the table that I would constantly find myself returning to it to add a few bits here and there, examples being the oil lamp, doctor's bag and top hat, all from 'Black Cat Bases', that I came across whilst looking for something completely different!  

Now all I need to do is find something for the gang to investigate!

Completed Boer Commando

With these seated charters from the 'Empress Miniatures' Anglo-Zulu war collection the Boer Commando is finally complete.  An interesting pose this one where you can just imagine them hidden amongst the rocky outcrops ready to pour a lethal fire onto a unsuspecting foe.

At the outset of the project the aim was to use a unifying colour palette that allowed individuality of the miniatures' character to come through, but when seen as a unit tied them together.  With the exception of the artillery and the police, no official uniforms were worn, the Boer fighters preferring drab everyday clothes.  To this end I used a muted palette consisting of blue, brown and khaki with tones thereof.  A similar idea was employed with the beard and hair colour, taking into account their Dutch extract.

The versatility of the separate heads means that the whole unit could be repeated again and again without the need of exact duplication of poses, but I think that will be enough for the moment.  Their versatility also extends to their deployment on the table with the Anglo-Zulu war and Boer Wars been the obvious use they could also lend themselves as settlers a little further West perhaps.

Defenders of the Kop

Are we Boer'd yet?

Not me; far too busy!

Not content in dreaming up my own 'secret project' to distract me from my usual fodder, I've gone and got myself involved in another little sideline!  I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have been invited to take part in a painting challenge for charity; the whole thing has been dreamt up and organised by Mike 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds and also involves the hugely talented Andy Walker of 'Lair of the Breviks' fame.  I encourage you all to take the time to read all about 'A Tale of 3 Painters'.  It has to be said that I'm a little apprehensive about the whole project, but who doesn't like a challenge and particularly one that is all in aid of a good cause? 

In a bid to frantically clear the decks before the charity event commences I've managed to complete another three of the 'Empress Miniatures' Anglo-Zulu wars Boers.  Another pretty useful pose and I see very little reason why they couldn't be employed in other theatres.  

I have to confess that whilst doing these I kept catching myself looking longingly at all the lovely 'shiny' things in the paint queue, but as is often the case the longing soon passed as I was to give them my undivided attention - in-between wondering what exactly was Malifaux and which miniature was I going to get to paint - all very exciting!