the safe hΘle

several weeks ago i was reading some posts on Dave's Wargames Terrain Workshop blog page , and he was in the process of adding some terrifying Gnarloc Raiders for i assume is a Kroot army. but i noticed it was for a painting challenge that i did not know about. so i went over to Dead Dick's Tavern and checked out what this challenge was about. for the month of May, this challenge you had to paint a monstrous creature or something big. i thought this challenge would be cool, but unfortunately i didn't really have any big monsters to paint or whatnot. until i remembered i did have some things somewhere. last year i bought a terrain crate from Mantic Games called "the Haunted Manor". and in it was what they called a goliath monstrosity. which basically to me was a chunk of hard plastic in the shape of an eldritch monster of sorts. picking the color scheme for it i didn't want to go with the green i have been doing lately for these Lovecraft creatures. and what c...

after several weeks of freezing weather, crap work schedules and finally feeling a little bit better, i got what i could get done for the PWYG challenge. i do feel like i should have done more but real life took over. some time i will eventually get my last two MotU factions painted, but don't hold your breathe on it. towards the end of February i found a new game called Deth Wizards, which totally changed my decision on what to paint because i bought two boxes of Frostgrave miniatures. one box of soldiers and one of culstists. i did do a bit of kitbashing between the plastic sets. the female wizard on the left i want to use as a new necromancer for a new horde for Deth Wizards. she is from the Wildspire Miniature line. i clipped the top of her staff and added a scythe blade from a classic warhammer skeleton plastic sprue. the fellow on the right is an old metal figure that i am not sure about the manufacturer. some thieves and rogues from the Frostgrave cultist box set. a few rang...

 recently my D&D group was able to squeeze in a session on thanksgiving weekend and this past weekend. and through all the action and mischief that was taking place, i noticed one thing that has been a occurrence for sometime now and it's how much little i need to create an encounter for them to enjoy themselves. over time especially this year with our group we have been more role-playing than playing the game with large table set-ups.  with all the papers, books, and the DM area there isn't much room on the table to create an elaborate table display to game on. certainly if an encounter is created randomly out of the blue. like several weeks ago a group was sent to take down a raised skeletal dragon. and i wasn't even sure if we were going to get to that particular fight so i didn't make room for it, but somehow we got to it so i just put the essentials down on the table for that encounter, which was a crashed sky-boat, the adventure party, and a dragon.  and in th...

continuing painting some more from the Mantic Games Haunted Manor box set, these minions i figure are supposed to be the deep ones from H.P. Lovecraft's stories. but since they lack the fish characteristics i call them the muck people. and not too long ago i found out that these figures are from the Hellboy board game, so i might look on eBay for a few more to add to the group. i had my next Perilous Tales scenario figured out and sorted but in my head it didn't fit with the theme that i had started. so i pulled these out, painted them quickly and got them table-readied for the next installment of my western themed Perilous Tales. i didn't know how i was gonna use these originally for Dungeons and Dragons, but for a modern pulp or even a wild west, these would work nicely. as i am writing this post, i am definitely thinking of getting a few more for other table-top games i enjoy playing. the one muck man who seems like they are wearing pants i didn't feel like that is  ...

for sometime now i bought a few packs of core spawn crawlers from Wizkids through their Critical Role miniature line, but i really didn't know what color scheme i wanted to go with. and after some time of really getting tired of looking at them unpainted, i just threw some light brown and some green on them. what's nice about these is that three come in a pack of different poses so i got two packs. there is also a core spawn emissary and a core spawn seer i would love to also get and maybe a few more crawlers to create a nightmare for my D&D group. three different poses from one pack isn't that bad. i have to say the poses are all nicely animated. the ravenous brood of everything that is creepy and threatening.  little Posie Pocketfull stares down what could be just her imagination. to expand my collection of scatter pieces for my dungeon sessions, i purchased a box set of Mantic Games Haunted Manor plastic set. and in this set there are several different creatures that...

since my last vacation i got some painting done and mainly the odds and ends of whatever i had laying around. most of this is for an upcoming game of Perilous Tales. several headstones i painted up for mainly for Perilous Tales but can be used for almost anything. not sure where i got these but i think i got them from the last gaming convention. a few giant scorpions from Mantic Games some wolves from Next Level Miniatures. my little demonic black goat. not sure if i am pleased with how he came out. i wanted him to be black but not just the entire figure black, i tried to do shading on it but it just came out like one shade. when i went to photograph it the blue spots on it are from the television shining on to it. some werewolves. one on the left is from Wizkids and the other one is Mantic Games. not to thrilled about these i might just go and buy a plastic sprue of werewolves from Wargames Atlantic. a duodrone, prepainted from Wizkids, gave it a painted base.

i've been painting miniatures for the past few weeks but with work and weather, i haven't gotten around to posting anything. i did however buy a few new minis for my fantasy collection and also finally getting around to painting some plastic sprues that i got a while back. and of course continuing painting the Masters of the Universe figures. the recent Next Level Miniatures i got were a metal golem and i got another vampire. i originally got the golem to be a companion for an existing D&D character but decided against it.  iron golem. gave it a golden color instead of the usual silver metal feel. a nosferatu vampire. a few weeks ago i came across a plastic box set of miniatures from Wildspire Miniatures on Amazon was curious about what they were like in person. unfortunately there were a few from one set i bought i was interested in. in a future post i'll show more miniatures from the other box sets i got. mysterious female spellcaster. love how the hat comes down to c...

continuing painting the CMON Zombicide: Undead and Alive miniatures. this time around i got a few females done and started planning gangs for what maybe will be a campaign using the Wiley Games Fistful of Lead: Reloaded. i did manage to get some buildings ordered so hopefully by the time of writing this i will have them next week and built and painted by the end of the month. but in the meantime i'm just gonna keep cranking out painted mini's. few outlaws getting ready to open up what could be a nice payday.   some ladies of the Wild West, Molly, Lilith, and Hanna. underneath some earth and peeling from the sunlight some ghouls that has crossed paths with several gunslingers. eventually once i get my Cowboys vs. Aliens idea on the table, i want to do some supernatural themes like walking undead or werewolves. ideas along those lines especially when Halloween comes around. Mr. Eastwood and Earl. disagreements and tempers flare. more to come..

back in November '22 i did a handful of zombies for my pulp collection, this time around i figured i want a small horde of the walking dead for my D&D collection. using the zombie sprue from Mantic Games. i really like these even though you only get three on one plastic sprue, you still get a wide range of options on how you want to pose your new undead playthings. i had three painted and completed months ago but forgot how i painted them. when i got more recently i grab the previous three and gave them a green paint bath using Games Workshop contrast Ork Flesh, so they would of at least looked the same. on the plastic sprue there are options if you want a zombie coming out of the ground or have a walking legs with a spine. i couldn't resist and went with the walking legs. haha! too awesome! can't wait to have a D&D session and release these on my unsuspecting players.

recently i was able to get some more undead miniatures from the Mantic Games Undead Encounter plastic set. expanding my skeletons with ten more to giving me a nice small horde of flailing bones and armor. i have more zombies in queue to get painted and done. and with the ghouls instead of adding them to my D&D/fantasy collection, i glued them to 3mm MDF bases and will add them to my pulp collection. the expanded legion of skeletons. with most of the skeletons having fixed poses, i was able to make different dynamic poses with a few. a sword thrust into the air or even having an axe stuck in one's head, it was fun to be able to do this. spellcasters of the dark magic summoning the soldiers of days past, awaken once again to do their bidding.