Linus Van Pelt never expected this.......

 ......The Great Pumpkin Arises !!!!!!!!

Well, not actually. This is the Pumpkin King. Hallowe'en will never be the same again. Trick or Treat? It doesn't really matter to this being. He's coming to get you. Just leave the tub of sweets outside the front door, turn all the lights off and hide under your bed until dawn.

I had a lot of fun painting this one. He's a lovely resin piece from Bad Squiddo.  I've had him for quite a while but now I'm going through the unpainted mountain I'm picking out things I just want to paint rather than things aimed at specific rules. He's a big guy too, around 7cm tall, so over twice the height of an average 28mm figure. The backdrop is, once again from one of Jon Hodgson's background books, available from Bad SQuiddo and Handiwork Games.

A big gribbly thing

This thing is from Fenris Games, it is called an Otyugh and is a Dungeons and Dragons monster.

It (he/she/they/it?) is a resin model that comes in seven pieces and, which assembled is around 7cm tall and 10cm from the end of one arm to the other. Assembly is relatively simple and the pieces fit well with only a small amount of trimming and smoothing required

I've wanted to get this one painted up since I first got it, but holidays and life in general got in the way, also a loss of my Painter's Mojo. Still, I thought that this was a great way to get back into the groove.

I've painted it in a fairly similar colour scheme to the one on the Fenris website, mainly because I think that the green is the best way to go. The actual painting was pretty straightforward, the bulk of the heavy lifting was done by using Halfords' Dark Green matt camouflage spray paint and lots of drybrushing with lighter shades of green, although I sprayed an off-white matt primer into the mouth before using the colours you see now. I washed the thing with two different Citadel shades, Reikland flesh in the mouth and Mortarion Grime elsewhere. I kept the base simple, AK Terrains Dark Earth drybrushed with Vallejo Iraqi Sand.

The photograph uses a Jon Hodgdon backdrop from the Fantasy Ruins and Tunnels book.

I think that apart from D&D (I seriously hope this thing doesn't end up in our club's current D&D campaign), this is the kind of Gribbly Horror that could be useful in anything from Victorian Pulp Horror and Cthulhu to skirmishes in far-away planets in the distant future.

A very odd miniature....

...... from Bad Squiddo.

He is called Turkey Man on the Bad Squiddo website and, if you click the link I've pretty much stuck to how he was painted there (by Warpfiend Studios). He is, I think you'll agree a rather disturbing figure, standing about 45mm high. 

He is definitely a creature of nightmares and therefore highly suitable for all manner of Pulp, Horror, Victorian Science Fiction and other associated Weird wargames. One can only speculate how such a being came into being.

Bad Squiddo Undead Things

Well, I've been busy today! I was up before 7 a.m because the dogs were being loud and excitable and I've been at home all day waiting for a parcel delivery, so I thought I'd paint some things that have been lying around for ages. 

All four are Bad Squiddo 28mm figures, and I have to say that they are terrific figures to paint.

First, there are two renaissance skeletons; a Landsknecht Doppelsöldner and a fine gentlewoman, maybe a countess or duchess.

I really love these. They are so animated and full of character.

I decided to try and get a few hints of rust on the Landsknecht's armour and double-handed sword and I think that it has worked pretty well.

Both figures were undercoated in black and given a top-down zenithal blast with Army Painter Skeleton Bone spray. I then used a combination of paints and drawing inks to build up the colours. I am really happy with the end results.

The other two figures are Mummies.

These were given the same black undercoat and skeleton bone zenithal treatment and I then built up the finished effects with dry-brushing and dark brown drawing ink. They were pretty quick to complete but I think that they will work well on the table.

These will be good for all sorts of horror and pulp games, as well as 7TV Fantasy and Pulp. I cannot recommend these figures highly enough. They are excellent.

Anyway, even after all the painting, basing, spray varnishing and photography, my parcel still hasn't arrived.

Bah!

 

Some more resin scenic bits and bobs.

Following on from the Fenris Games resin scenic items, here are a few more pieces for Horror and Pulp games. These are all from Crooked Dice. Once again, the intrepid archaeologist is only there for scale.

Here is the complete set; three monoliths, a statue of Cthulhu and a pile of skulls.

The monoliths have a lot of detail and therefore, here is a view of them from behind. Are those green things creepers growing from a crevice in the rocks, or might they be tentacles? Just don't get close enough to find out!

Next up, everyone's favourite tentacled abomination from the stars;

Now, here is a statue of some obscure amphibian deity on a blood-stained plinth;

Or is it just a statue? Might it be some kind of unknown inhabitant of the reefs and caves near one of those fishing villages where the locals have an odd, vaguely batrachian appearance? 

Here it is again, off of its plinth, showing the nice carved effects on the surface. This could be used stand-alone as a sacrificial altar.

My Last Sunrise - The Vampire Hunters

The only upside of having an elderly Westie with a bad cruciate ligament (although she is on the mend now) is that, because I need to keep an eye on her and carry her around a fair bit, I can spend a lot of time painting.

So, thanks to Maisie's gammy leg, I've managed to finish off the rest of the My Last Sunrise figures. There are six of these in total. First, here are two fighters who place their trust in sharp blades;

Next, a couple of stout fellows who use faith, chemical warfare (a.k.a. holy water) and pointy things to send the Undead to their doom;

Next, courtesy of two fearless females, ranged attacks;

The figure on the left is a witch called Clara on the Bad Squiddo website and she has a small McGuffin that looks like a gold scorpion in her hand. I wanted to give her a more obvious magical attack and decided that a ball of magical fire would work quite nicely. After all, vampires don't really care for that sort of thing, do they?

Anyway, here is the assembled Scooby Gang (Buffy fans will know what I mean);

Now, I have cleared enough space to get some Shieldmaidens prepped for painting.

Anyway, here is Maisie, being totally unfazed by her knee ligament. Her sister Daisy is doing her own thing out in the garden. I expect I'll have to carry Maisie outside fairly soon. Of course, once she's out there, she will make her own way back into the house. I think she's having me on a bit.

My Last Sunrise - The Vampires

As promised, I've been working on the Vampires from the Bad Squiddo "My Last Sunrise" Kickstarter. It is worth mentioning that all these figures are now available from Annie's website, here.

Vampire lore tells us that all vampires are "made" by an existing vampire, the most famous being Bram Stoker's Dracula. Here is the leader of this particular vampire "family", a somewhat dramatic and Byronic-looking figure. He's clearly just nipped out for a bite, but is a bit of a messy eater.

Of course, vampire lords have to have brides, and here is the Count's trio of lovelies. Their arcane powers of seduction have lured many an unsuspecting victim to their doom. Male or female, it doesn't matter to these ladies. They are equal opportunity blood-drinkers.

And here is the Count with his backing singers. They literally knock 'em dead wherever they appear.

The Count has also recruited some muscle. First, a terrifying psychopathic Revenant, who may or may not be a vampire, but who certainly likes a bit of blood-letting. I think she likes her meat very rare.

The Count also has two fearsome ladies of the night whose skills with a blade are legendary. Tangle with these beauties at your peril.

Here are all the Count's bodyguards together. What a delightful trio they are!

My Last Sunrise - finally making a start

Last year, Bad Squiddo launched a small Kickstarter called My Last Sunrise. The theme was vampires and vampire hunters, plus a couple of other rather nice figures. I backed the KS and I've had the figures around for a year now, undercoated but nothing else done. I am currently trying to reduce my lead and plastic mountain, ready to really get into my Swordmaidens, so I decided that now was the time to unleash some Gothic Horrors onto my painting table.

I've blocked in some basic colours on the vampires, which I'll be finishing off next, and I've also completed two figures, a Golem and a Werewolf, who I think will have a dual use as random monsters in Frostgrave.

Anyway, here they are. First a rear view;

And now the front;

I particularly like the Golem. I think he is a rather menacing and characterful model. I wanted to see if I could take the figures off of the slotta bases, of which I am not a fan, and it worked fine for him, but looking at the rest of the range, I realised that some of the figures would need pinning to give them strength on a simple MDF base. Therefore, I cut down the MDF base I'd stuck the golem on and glued him onto a slotta. This has had the effect of making him even taller and more impressive, I think, so not really a problem.

Anyway, I'm thinking that the other figures won't take too long to complete, so hopefully I'll get them out of the way over the next couple of weeks.