# pogre's model and figure thread



## pogre

*pogre's model and figure thread - Tabaxi(2/28/2017)*

PMT 01
Pogre’s Model and Figures Thread
The Gate House

All of the pictures in this thread are thumbnails linked to larger pictures.

Some Story Hours have Rogues Gallery Threads to accompany them, but mine needed a model and figures thread! First up is the gatehouse I designed based on Wolfgang Baur’s adventure _Legacy of the Griffon_.

The gatehouse is made mostly of Hirst Blocks.





The middle section has a drawbridge that actually goes up and down. Note that this was not completed when the adventure was shot on disc.





This is a side view of the gate section and one of the towers. The doors in the towers were sculpted and the walkway above the gate tunnel is complete with murder holes!





This is a top down view of one of the upper stories of the towers. Lots of room for guards to move around in there.





The towers are composed of three sections: roof, upper story, and base story. This allows easy access for minis.





The model still needs a few things like trap doors, stairs, and ladders. However, overall I am very pleased with it. I will eventually build some walls with aprons that will attach to the towers and create an entire castle/keep.


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## D'karr

That is really cool.  The work you've put into the buildings looks great.

Some questions for you from those that are interested in doing something similar.

How long did it take to assemble and paint?

Overall, how hard was it to build?

How many molds did it require?  Which ones?

From start to finish (casting to building) how long did it take to construct?

What material did you use for the casting and how durable is it?

Have you found a good way to store these after they are built?  That is my main concern with these buildings.


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## pogre

D'karr said:
			
		

> *That is really cool.  The work you've put into the buildings looks great.*




Thanks!



> How long did it take to assemble and paint?




Hmmm, not positive - building it took a couple of evenings - I already had most of the blocks cast. Doors took another night to mold and paint. Painting the building was 90 minutes or so.



> Overall, how hard was it to build?




If you can build a Hirst Arts building you can build this - it is not that difficult.



> How many molds did it require?  Which ones?




I used a bunch of different molds, but it could really be built with just two:
The Dragon's Inn
Circular Tower



> From start to finish (casting to building) how long did it take to construct?




Wow! Hard to say. The casting would take a long time if done specifically for the project. I would guestimate you're talking about 18-20 castings (more if you are just using the two molds I mentioned) - That's going to be the big time eater. Construction can be accomplished in a couple of evenings work. Painting went fairly quickly - around an hour and a half. I made the doors and painted them in another evening.



> What material did you use for the casting and how durable is it?




I use Die-Keen green high impact dental plaster. It is very durable and great to cast with. It's durability is comparable to the resin used in master maze. Once I started using it I gave all the building I have made out of plaster of paris away to friends. It runs about $65.00 for 50 lbs. That's a lot of blocks and it is worth every penny.



> Have you found a good way to store these after they are built?  That is my main concern with these buildings.




I do have an advantage there, we game over at a friend's (hwoolsey on here). I put a group of large merchandise drawers in there and all of my buildings and dungeon pieces go in it. I store the pieces in a box segmented with cardboard dividers. I pad the dividers with a thin lair of foam or polystyrene.

Obviously, you know about the Hirst Arts Site , but I'll share this link with others.

Another site you might check out for a bit of inspiration is Skow's Medieval terrain. He has not updated for a long time, but his stuff is really cool.


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## Destan

I'm thinking of gathering some half-troll buddies, heading to Pogre's, and raiding his collection of awesome models and mini's.  They're simply top notch.  Pogie, you should have a vending booth at GenCon, brother.

D


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## pogre

*New Gjord*

PMT 02
Gjord

I need to get better at photographing these figures, because this figure is really much nicer than it looks here. Oh well, it gives you a sense of the paint job.





Front view:





Here is the old Gjord for comparison:


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## ThomasBJJ

For your story hour, do you take the pictures of the setups during the game or do you "recreate" the scene after?


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## pogre

Well, it has changed. I used to take pictures during the game, but I switched. Setting up the scenes is very quick - what takes time is snapping the pictures. For that reason, we have gone to taking the pictures immediately after the session is over. Usually we leave everything set up for the after-session photo shots. I think we like this method better.

The only recreation is placing the miniatures in the scene. A couple of players hang around and help me remember positioning and do lighting. Hank (Gerhardt) always helps because it is his house. The photo session for a long adventure with lots of action takes about 20 minutes.

My photography skills are improving, but are still bad. If you have suggestions from your experiences by all means share.


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## D'karr

pogre said:
			
		

> *
> [SNIP]
> My photography skills are improving, but are still bad. If you have suggestions from your experiences by all means share. *




Pogre.  I've been inspired by your models and your storyhour.  Totally fantastic.

Let me return the favor.

The following link leads to the articles section of the Coolminiornot Website.   Look down the page and you'll see a whole section comprised on articles about miniature photography.

Granted, not all the articles will apply to the type of photography you are doing but the techniques might help you to get sharper pictures of those fantastic minis and terrain models.  The articles that cover lighting are probably going to be very helpful.

Of course a lot of this is going to depend on how close you can get your camera to the action so the article that covers camera setup might be helpful.

Like I said not everything will apply but the techniques are sound.

Good luck.


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## pogre

D'karr said:
			
		

> Pogre.  I've been inspired by your models and your storyhour.  Totally fantastic.
> 
> Let me return the favor.
> <snip>
> Like I said not everything will apply but the techniques are sound.
> Good luck.




Thanks much - some of the articles look good. I need to come up with something because as you shall soon see my photos need help. I know everyone says it, but I promise these minis look better than the pictures below


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## pogre

PMT 03
Zombie

This zombie is wielding an unusual weapon . A Games Workshop figure – it was a lot of fun to paint. This posting anticipates the next story hour episode, but as the players have gone past it no harm done.


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## pogre

PMT 04
Zombie

Tried some different things with the flesh on this zombie. This guy is right out for a belly button piercing


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## pogre

PMT 05
Morgang

Here comes the evil spellcaster Morgang. Morgang is a Mordheim figure from Games Workshop.


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## pogre

PMT 06
Making a Dungeon Room Part One

All of the pictures in this tutorial are thumbnails that are linked to larger photos.

A few people had expressed interest in how I create dungeon rooms to integrate with my massive Dwarven Forge Master Maze collection. This tutorial talks about my style of creating rooms and what works for me. It’s not the only way, and Bruce Hirst   has his own tutorial for using his blocks for making dungeon tiles. I do things differently stylistically and for purposes of the dungeons and dragons game.

I created a number of blocks using Hirst Arts molds Fieldstone Wall Mold #70 and Flagstone Floor Tile Mold #260.

Here you can see I already have the bricks I need molded out of die keen dental plaster ready to go. I am going to make a generic 30 ft. by 30 ft. room. The needed materials have all been laid out on my cheap cutting board I use for modeling.





I first put the floor together. This is the first of many places that I depart from Bruce Hirst’s tutorial. I surround my 30 ft by 30 ft worth of tile with a layer of half tiles. This way when I put my walls down I will have nice full squares to works with – as opposed to the half squares you get with Master Maze or the Hirst method. The tiles are glued together side to side – not down to any surface. This helps to avoid warping, which can occur with bigger floor pieces.





I use Aleene’s Tacky Glue and a cheap brush to apply the glue to the tiles. 





I let the floor pieces dry completely before the next step of putting the floor tiles on a base. I like using self-adhesive linoleum floor tiles as a base. A 12” by 12” piece will run you about 90 cents at a DIY store like Lowe’s. The piece pictured here has been used for other projects, but has plenty left to use for this room.





I mark the tile for cutting for the room’s size. In this case I cut two pieces to cover.

Next, I apply some glue to the hirst arts tiles and stick the *non-adhesive* side of the linoleum to the hirst arts tiles. This helps reduce warping. I have tried using the adhesive side but it causes all kinds of problems: It warps your floor, it makes the project harder to paint, and you have to deal with the sticky adhesive that never dries. 





I flip this over and allow it to dry with a big heavy book on top.

Next, I start to build the room. I use Lego (tm) forms to keep my corners and walls true.





I finish up the corners and set the main room aside.





Honestly, I could be finished building here and have a nice room with four exits. Master Maze doors fit nicely into each of the exits. However, I want this room to be versatile as possible. I am going to create three insertable wall pieces in order to have a 30 ft. by 30 ft. room with 1 to 4 exits. I am also going to make some corridor entrances just for fun.

I will build the corridor entrances upside down.





The same is true for the movable walls.





I let these dry and then add a feature or two to the corridor pieces – torch holders and slanted pieces to the crowns.





Now, the pieces are built. All I have to do is let everything dry completely and then paint it. But wait, there’s more! I also have a couple more tricks to show you on how to make it even more compatible with your master maze. We’ll save that for Part Two of the tutorial.

I hope you find this helpful!


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## pogre

PMT 07
Making a Dungeon Room Part Two

All of the pictures in this tutorial are thumbnails that are linked to larger photos.

You will notice in this next photo I have already painted the basic grays on the dungeon room. I have sculpted a couple of flames and put them atop the torches.





Next I base the torch holders and the flames black.





I painted the bases brass and painted the flames. I was not crazy about how the flames turned out – so no close-ups. I took the whole thing out and gave it a few coats of matte over gloss. 

I could be done and have a very nice room.





Recall, I used self adhesive tile for a base. Now I measure some dark felt to put on the tile.





I cut it to fit and place it on the tiles adhesive. No glue application and thus no concerns about warping!





Some white spaces show on the side of the tile – so I use a permanent black marker to touch up.





Now, my dungeon room is done! Look how nicely it works with my Master Maze.





Watch for the new dungeon room to appear in a story hour near you!


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## alsih2o

first- major coolitude! thanks for sharing 

 second- what source are you using for dental plater? have you tried mold plaster? is it better?


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## pogre

alsih2o said:
			
		

> first- major coolitude! thanks for sharing
> 
> second- what source are you using for dental plater? have you tried mold plaster? is it better?




Thanks - I actually thought your name was Clay until I looked at your pottery gallery the other day (I know I'm an idiot).

I get the dental plaster from American Dental Supply. This stuff is super tough and way better than hydrocal and PoP. I have not used Art Mold plaster - do you mean like Vatican Art Stone? I have heard you can achieve some interesting results with it.

Bruce Hirst has a customer reviews page where customers have given him input about different materials. That may be of interest to you.

Take care,

Keith


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## Ed Cha

These are AWESOME!!! They make me want to restart my miniatures collection actually.

My brother's huge lead miniatures collection (mostly Ral Partha) was damaged during a move by my parents. He had some great pieces. I wasn't as big of a collecter as he was though because I can't paint well. I couldn't even paint an air elemental if I had to. Believe me, I tried! My brother could paint pretty well, but not quite as good as you.  

I'm kind of jealous though because I never had any of the dungeon pieces ever! I don't think I ever will because I just don't have any space in my Manhattan apartment. 

Where do you store all of this stuff anyhow?


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## pogre

PMT 08
Gaming Room
All of the pics are thumbs that are linked to larger images.

A number of folks have asked the question: How do you store all of this stuff?

I cheat, I use my friend’s gaming room, hwoolsey (Gerhardt in the SH).





This first picture shows a player’s view down towards my position. Right behind my chair is the main miniatures cabinet – where we keep the figures we use most.





To the left of the cabinet you can see the Drawers fullo’ Dungeon ™.

Here some shots of how I store the Dungeon room components in the drawers.

This first shot shows the drawer with a bunch of stuff I built.





Some regular Mastermaze to build rooms.





Some passage pieces:





Well, I won’t bore you with shots of every drawer, but it may give you some insight into how we play the game.


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## Scorch

Pogre,

I wish to tap your vast knowledge of Hirst Arts Blocks (as I tell my fellow gamers: "I have serious Pogre envy").  

I want to build some dungeon pieces that are compatable with Master Maze Dwarven Forge stuff.  Specifically I am looking for extra floor tiles that have a recognizable pattern on them for 1" grids, wall units, and passageways (both 2" across and 1" across for 10' and 5' wide corridors).

I was looking through their catalog and#45 and #210 look good along with #265, 260, and 212.  What do you use for walls and passages?

Can you recommend any molds that make pieces that could go with the MM cave sets?

Thanks,

Scorch


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## pogre

Scorch said:
			
		

> Pogre,
> 
> I wish to tap your vast knowledge of Hirst Arts Blocks (as I tell my fellow gamers: "I have serious Pogre envy").



Hey, thanks!


			
				Scorch said:
			
		

> I want to build some dungeon pieces that are compatable with Master Maze Dwarven Forge stuff.  Specifically I am looking for extra floor tiles that have a recognizable pattern on them for 1" grids, wall units, and passageways (both 2" across and 1" across for 10' and 5' wide corridors).
> 
> I was looking through their catalog and#45 and #210 look good along with #265, 260, and 212.  What do you use for walls and passages?
> 
> Can you recommend any molds that make pieces that could go with the MM cave sets?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Scorch




To match up with master maze you want molds #70 and #260. That's all I use for my halls and most of my rooms. Mold #71 looks like fun, but I have not had a chance to pick it up yet. Avoid #265 for D&D as they are 1.5 inches. I could see a use for the other molds in a dungeon, but I honestly rarely use them. I have #45, but I rarely use it.

As far as the cavern sets go - no not really. I have a floor piece I am working on - I just have to make an RTV of my model. The walls would be difficult to cast in rtv and have look "right." I would like to make a modular system to create mines and caverns, but I am stumped on the walls. 

BTW - I played with the cavern passage set for the first time the other night. It's outstanding and I recommend it to everyone. Well worth the money.


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## Scorch

Thanks!

I got the Dwarven Forge Big Box and a Passage Kit for Christmas two years ago and then WizarDru and myself picked up a ton more at ShoreCon this year at around 40% off.  I got the octagonal room set plus cavern pieces and he picked up a big box as well so we are well suited for square rooms and slanted passages.  I also dropped WAY too much money on the Mage Knight castle set.

What do you recommend for round rooms?

Thanks,

Scorch


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## Gnarlo

pogre: I have serious Gerhardt envy when I see that room  Mold 71 is a very fun and useful mold, btw, and is essential for making doors and door arches (see the pic below).

scorch: 265 is actually the floor mold for the 1.5" floor pieces (MageKnight  dungeon scale), 260 is the mold with the 1" flagstone floor pieces. The 1.5" pieces are useful for putting under walls and such, but will not give you a 1" grid to your dungeon if you are looking for that sort of thing (it's been my experience that the grid can be hard to see on the flagstone floor anyway, especially with my dark paint jobs). Mold 260 will also give you some smaller pieces to slot into those hard to fit spaces, though you could probably do the same cutting the larger floortiles down with a Dremel.

I held off on getting mold 45 a long time, as I was hard into a mastermaze dungeon-style phase. Since getting it though, I wish I had done so sooner  It adds a nice contrast in my opinion to the rough walls of the fieldstone molds. It was the mold I used for the golden brown "ruined chapel" section on the left side of my dungeon project here:







Bruce is coming out with 2 more gothic style molds this week, and another 2 within a week or so after that  Good time to be making gothic dungeons (they have a very dwarven feel to them imo).

Bruce has said that he is interested in making a cavern mold, he just hasn't figured out any practical way of doing so yet.

For round rooms, molds 72 and 73 are your choices in fieldstone. They are what I used to make the two rooms along the top edge of my dungeon with rounded walls. You'll notice if you look close that I "cheated" and expanded the diameter of the circles to 6" and 8" respectively by putting a straight wall piece in between the curved sections; it made the rooms more of a rounded octagon, but gave more space to play in and still looks just fine.


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## pogre

Wow Gnarlo!

Very cool stuff!

What is your dungeon stuff mounted on? polystyrene?

I guess I am still in the match mastermaze phase, but I may have to pick up mold #45 after seeing your stuff.

If you have anything else to show off, by all means share!


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## hwoolsey

Gnarlo said:
			
		

> pogre: I have serious Gerhardt envy when I see that room




Thanks. My darling, understanding (and I guess it helps that she games with us) wife was an absolute peach about the gaming room:

1. Never any assumption that the largest room in the house would be anything other than the game room.

2. Came up with the idea that we should buy and install base cabinets along one wall to store CCGs, terrain, puzzles, board games, and minis (in the drawers - helps keep them from getting dusty).

3. Helped build and stand up the ridiculously heavy 4' x 8' table for gaming.

4. Helped build and stand up the wall of bookshelves that is opposite the wall of cabinets.

Hank
(Gerhard in Pogre's New Story Hour [who also hopes this is one of the rare times his wife reads ENWorld])


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## Scorch

Thanks for the advice, guys!  I will look into those molds you recommended.  Right now I am checking with a dentist friend of the family to see if he can find me a good deal on Die Keen Green.

Scorch


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## pogre

PMT 09
The Elves

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

Finally finished painting our latest two additions to the party Ranin and E’lissar.

First, Ranin:









Now, E’lissar













Still working on the photography. I need two more lights, but I have come to the ugly conclusion I need a better digital camera.


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## GWMadMan

Nice elves!

 I recently upgraded from a Mavica FD to a Pentax Optio S. The Optio rocks!  and it fits in an Altoid tin.

 I plan on getting some pics up this weekend that I have taken with the Optio. I will post a link then.

 -GWMadMan
http://www.mactire..com/gwmadman


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## pogre

...


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## Gnarlo

Nice ones, pogre. I especially like Ranin, that is also the figure my brother uses for his elf ranger in our game.


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## Scorch

*Glue Recommendations*

Gentlemen,

What do you recommend for glue for constructing Master Maze compatible pieces?  I have started with Tacky Glue but was wondering if you had other recommendations for durability.

Thanks,

Scorch


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## pogre

Scorch said:
			
		

> What do you recommend for glue for constructing Master Maze compatible pieces?  I have started with Tacky Glue but was wondering if you had other recommendations for durability?




That's what I use.


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## paulewaug

Hey there pogre!
(This is my first visit "down" in the minis section )

I reall like Ranin, he looks great!

You did an excellent job on "E’lissar" too I just personally like the actual Ranin mini itself more.

The necromancer on the first page is is really nice too, I have been thinking about getting that figure for a while, now I will probably Have to pick it up!


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## ledded

Just wanted to drop in and say great stuff guys.

Pogre, we have a similar gaming room with multiple Hirst Arts geeks ourselves, and seeing your pics reminded me of our gaming basement at our friends house.

We've recently started taking more pics of our setups, though my camera sucks and we have no lighting other than some flourescent overheads (ugh) and one clip lamp.

We do have an obscene amount of minis, terrain, buildings (everything from GW cardstock to store-bought resin/stone stuff to homemade Hirst Arts) and a bunch of improvised/homemade terrain like our battlemat, trees, hills, etc.

We have a similar cabinet (actually 2 smaller ones, plus 2 shelves) for minis, plus shelves, drawers, and whatnot for everything.  We pretty much took over our buddies basement, got a bunch of stuff at an office sale, and remodelled

It's nice to see another group out there as insane as we are ;^)

Love your stuff, keep up the good work.


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## pogre

Thanks Ledded! If you ever get the chance to post some of your stuff or your gaming set-up consider this an open invitation to do so here.

I just completed my first minis article for our friends over at d20 Magazine Rack. The article is called Basic Bases. Check it out when you get a chance and let me know if there is a topic you would like to see me write about.

Take care,

pogre


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## Hairy Minotaur

pogre said:
			
		

> Thanks Ledded! If you ever get the chance to post some of your stuff or your gaming set-up consider this an open invitation to do so here.
> 
> I just completed my first minis article for our friends over at d20 Magazine Rack. The article is called Basic Bases. Check it out when you get a chance and let me know if there is a topic you would like to see me write about.
> 
> Take care,
> 
> pogre




That Dire Boar looks a little familiar.   

WOW! That is just awesome, wondereful job.


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## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Thanks Ledded! If you ever get the chance to post some of your stuff or your gaming set-up consider this an open invitation to do so here.
> 
> I just completed my first minis article for our friends over at d20 Magazine Rack. The article is called Basic Bases. Check it out when you get a chance and let me know if there is a topic you would like to see me write about.
> 
> Take care,
> 
> pogre




Thanks.  I enjoyed the article, and I have to admit I've been lazy about bases, which are an integral part of a mini's look.  I'll have to try a couple things you had in there.

Here are a couple old pics from a game or two, it shows some of our gaming setup at a much earlier stage.  I've got some newer, better ones (my camera sucks) that I can post up once I get done cleaning them up (and finding them, for that matter)

(1 of these is an old D&D game, and the others are from a Modern session a few months ago where we quickly improvised a large food court area.)


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## Toscadero

Pogre, I like the models.  Just got into the Hirst Arts molds about a month ago.  Found the site by accident while looking for a cheaper alternative to MasterMaze.  Since then, I've accumulated 9 molds and have been casting on average of 3-4 nights a week.  

I'm building a modular dungeon for D&D as well.  The linoleum and felt bases look like they work great.  I didn't want to get into a thick foam and have had some problems with warping using the cereal box method.  

I especially liked your large room with multiple exits (and walls that can be dropped in.  I'm using some of Bruce's suggestions for a modular dungeon, but did not want to spend a lot of time building multiple rooms.  

What I've done for my rooms is build lots of modular wall pieces (similiar to mastermaze) and several different size floor pieces to drop in the middle of the room.  

Thanks again for the pics.  They have given me some ideas on what direction to take my own dungeon.


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## pogre

Toscadero said:
			
		

> I'm building a modular dungeon for D&D as well.  The linoleum and felt bases look like they work great.  I didn't want to get into a thick foam and have had some problems with warping using the cereal box method.
> 
> Thanks again for the pics.  They have given me some ideas on what direction to take my own dungeon.




Hey, Thanks!

Post some pictures of some of your stuff when you get a chance.


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## pogre

PMT 10
Lich

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

Here is a lich I recently painted. I bought a new camera – I just need to get some more lights and an appropriate background. My players need not concern themselves, this lich was a commission from a friend.


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## Hairy Minotaur

pogre said:
			
		

> PMT 10
> Lich
> 
> Here is a lich I recently painted. I bought a new camera – I just need to get some more lights and an appropriate background. My players need not concern themselves, this lich was a commission from a friend.




Beautiful! All he needs now is some dry ice effects at the gaming table when I place this mini down.   

My players will run in fear and I can game alone.   

BTW are you taking any commissions?


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## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Here is a lich I recently painted. I bought a new camera – I just need to get some more lights and an appropriate background. My players need not concern themselves, this lich was a commission from a friend.




Nice work man! I especially like the detail on the robes, and how you provided distinct highlights/seperation between the ribcage/bone areas and the robes. Really makes it stand out.

Did you use any blending techniques on the robes, or is that careful drybrushing/washing?


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## pogre

ledded said:
			
		

> Did you use any blending techniques on the robes, or is that careful drybrushing/washing?




Thank you Ledded.

The robe was blended using vallejo extender. I was very happy with the results. Wet blending is the subject of my next miniature painting article on d20 Magazine Rack. I think my approach is easy enough for anyone to try and obtain excellent results quickly.


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## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Thank you Ledded.
> 
> The robe was blended using vallejo extender. I was very happy with the results. Wet blending is the subject of my next miniature painting article on d20 Magazine Rack. I think my approach is easy enough for anyone to try and obtain excellent results quickly.




Interesting.  I've tried some blending techiniques that worked well on large terrain, but never could get it to work like I liked on minis... the paint either got thinned too much or dried/stiffenned too quickly and was completely frustrating.  I've done OK with it a couple times but most of the time it was such a pain in the *** that I stopped trying.  But that was before I started using Vallejo too.  So you've had good results with vallejo extender?

I look forward to seeing your article.


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## ledded

dagnabbit double-posts


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## pogre

PMT 11
Contest Winner Paulewaug’s Figure
Progress Pics

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

I promised some step-by-step pictures of Paulewaug’s figure being painted. I thought since I am trying to do my best possible paint job on this figure I would track my time as well.

Here is the figure Paulewaug sent me. I removed a fair amount of flash and polished some rough bits down. Time 45 minutes.




Employing some green stuff I attach the figure to the base. Time 10 minutes.




The figure is hand primered white. Time 7 minutes.




Flesh base is painted on. Time 9 minutes.




Metal, leather, and armor bits are undercoated black. Time 14 minutes.




Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!


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## paulewaug

Wow pogre! That looks pretty great already!
I hadn't realised there was that much flash on the character...(sorry)

But man you got a lot done already!
I realize that you listed the painting done so far as being "flesh base" and "undercoated black" (leather etc.) but it is already looking pretty sweet!

woohoo!!  



Spoiler



besides not being able to wait and see it "in the flesh" I can hardly wait to see it show up on your story hour!


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## pogre

PMT 12
Contest Winner Paulewaug’s Figure 2
Progress Pics

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

More progress pics:

Flesh inked and base leather painted. Time 22 minutes.




Base hair color painted. Time 7 minutes.


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## Hairy Minotaur

I got my lich and dire boar yesterday Pogre and I must say those are the best painted minis I've ever owned or anyone in my group has ever seen. Jealousy abounds in my group now. Of course I told them all I would be using them every chance I get.   

Thanks for the awesome job!


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## pogre

Hairy Minotaur said:
			
		

> Thanks for the awesome job!



I'm so glad you are pleased! I look forward to reading about their respective exploits against the PCs.


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## pogre

PMT 13
Contest Winner Paulewaug’s Figure 3
Progress Pics

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

More progress pics:

Leather areas worked on, base coat on necklace and cape. I stopped keeping track of time. Next up – some flesh work.


----------



## Greg K

This stuff is awesome. I definitely need to show this to my friend.  He does all the minatures stuff for our group.


----------



## pogre

PMT 14
Contest Winner Paulewaug’s Figure 4
Progress Pics

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

More progress pics:

The figure is finally starting to shape up. I put a few more hours in and have completed the flesh and have started working on the cape.


----------



## pogre

PMT 15
Barbarian Commission

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

This character figure was completed as a commission piece for a friend. The photography washed out a bit of the subtle flesh highlights, but I think it’s a nice figure. The miniature was made by Grenadier I believe, and is long out of production.


----------



## pezagent

pogre said:
			
		

> Hey, thanks!
> 
> As far as the cavern sets go - no not really. I have a floor piece I am working on - I just have to make an RTV of my model. The walls would be difficult to cast in rtv and have look "right." I would like to make a modular system to create mines and caverns, but I am stumped on the walls.




Hi pogre,

I was reading your thread and came across this part--I was wondering what you meant by having trouble with the walls... I'm sure you've thought about using RTV on an actual rock? Building molds like this is used in model railroading... you could make a wall modular by using a seemless tiling technique where you take a wall,  cut it in half and reverse the pieces, then resculpt the middle part. This way you have a wall that pretty much can be modular as the connecting pieces will always match.

I'm not sure if this was what you were talking about but maybe it will help.

Great stuff. Where's your story hour? I'd like to see this in action!

Happy holidays,

/johnny


----------



## pezagent

pogre said:
			
		

> PMT 14
> Contest Winner Paulewaug’s Figure 4
> Progress Pics




Hi pogre,

I hope you don't mind, but I just love your stuff, and I thought it deserved a more "dramatic" background. I hope you enjoy this pic as much as I enjoy your figures! Merry Xmas 

/johnny


----------



## pezagent

Sorry, the edit of the last post didn't take the picture (grumble)...

/johnny


----------



## pogre

pezagent said:
			
		

> Hi pogre,
> 
> I was reading your thread and came across this part--I was wondering what you meant by having trouble with the walls... I'm sure you've thought about using RTV on an actual rock? Building molds like this is used in model railroading... you could make a wall modular by using a seemless tiling technique where you take a wall,  cut it in half and reverse the pieces, then resculpt the middle part. This way you have a wall that pretty much can be modular as the connecting pieces will always match.




Good Thoughts! I have put the project on the backburner for some other things I am working on, but I will keep it mind.



			
				pezagent said:
			
		

> Great stuff. Where's your story hour? I'd like to see this in action!




Right here:pogre's new story hour. The great news is you can read the whole thing, because I pretty much killed the party off . 

A lot of the stuff I am working on is related to the new campaign. I especially have a few projects that are going to make the players gasp when they hit the table.   Needless to say I cannot post them here - just yet...

Thank you for the awesome background for the miniature! I certainly don't mind - it got me pumped. I appreciate your efforts very much.


----------



## pezagent

Hi Pogre,



			
				pogre said:
			
		

> The great news is you can read the whole thing, because I pretty much killed the party off .




Ha ha, that's awesome (in a funny sort of way)... 


> A lot of the stuff I am working on is related to the new campaign. I especially have a few projects that are going to make the players gasp when they hit the table.   Needless to say I cannot post them here - just yet...




Cool beans... love to see some more work. Stuff like this really gets me excited about the hobby... totally 


> Thank you for the awesome background for the miniature! I certainly don't mind - it got me pumped. I appreciate your efforts very much.




Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Not too much effort--I make comps for ad agencies for a living so all I do all day is work in Photoshop... I like putting these minitures against a dramatic backround--it's fun  Maybe if I can find more I can start a new thread for "fan art."

If you celebrate them--happy holidays!

/johnny


----------



## pogre

PMT 16
Squig Head

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

Well, I am going to have to splurge on those lights this week. It appears my commission for this bad boy has fallen through and so he is headed for ebay - which will require better photography to get a decent price. I do not use mind flayers in my game generally. Still, a very nice figure from Reaper.


----------



## pezagent

pogre said:
			
		

> Well, I am going to have to splurge on those lights this week.




Sweet! Dude! 

What do you mean by lights? What sort of setup are you using? :?

I couldn't resist the power of the Mind Flayer... he commanded me to make more fan art!

/johnny


----------



## pogre

pezagent said:
			
		

> I couldn't resist the power of the Mind Flayer... he commanded me to make more fan art!
> 
> /johnny




I'm glad you could not! Great job again!


----------



## Holy Bovine

You make me feel small and inadequate 

Seriously these are some fantastic paint jobs.  Very nice work (I love the Mind Flayer you have - I got the same one!  Course mine is still in Primer White )


----------



## hwoolsey

Holy Bovine said:
			
		

> You make me feel small and inadequate
> 
> Seriously these are some fantastic paint jobs.  Very nice work (I love the Mind Flayer you have - I got the same one!  Course mine is still in Primer White )




Yeah, he comes over to my house, knows I haven't touched a brush in years, looks at the bare metal all over my game room, pulls out these amazing figures, and asks when I'm going to start painting again.

Sheesh!

Talk about something that robs me of all interest in painting - comparing my pathetic efforts to Pogre's (me comparing them, not him - he's too nice a guy to do something that would so easily crush my spirits).

Hank Woolsey
(Gerhard, the only survivor of Pogre's New Story Hour)


----------



## pogre

Holy Bovine said:
			
		

> You make me feel small and inadequate
> 
> Seriously these are some fantastic paint jobs.  Very nice work (I love the Mind Flayer you have - I got the same one!  Course mine is still in Primer White )




Thank you for the compliment. You know everything looks better painted no matter how far you go. Making time for it can be tough - for instance I should be painting right now.



			
				hwoolsey said:
			
		

> Talk about something that robs me of all interest in painting - comparing my pathetic efforts to Pogre's (me comparing them, not him - he's too nice a guy to do something that would so easily crush my spirits).




Thanks for the compliments Hank. As Hank knows though, I am striving to catch up with another good friend of ours. His work is unbelievable, and the sad part is I am the one that got him into the hobby 

Now you two go grab your brushes and put some color to the pewter!


----------



## pogre

broken link


----------



## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Remember that article? It is finally posted over at
> 
> d20 Magazine Rack




Thanks for the reminder.  A very good article, I've used similar techniques doing washes and glazes, they would work better using an extender I bet.

On the flip side of that, have you (or anyone else) here ever used alchohol in your washes to do the opposite (get them to dry faster, allowing you to make a thinner wash that wont 'bleed out' as it drys on a fig)?  It's a trick I learned from a railroad modeler that works pretty cool sometimes.


----------



## pogre

ledded said:
			
		

> Thanks for the reminder.  A very good article, I've used similar techniques doing washes and glazes, they would work better using an extender I bet.
> 
> On the flip side of that, have you (or anyone else) here ever used alchohol in your washes to do the opposite (get them to dry faster, allowing you to make a thinner wash that wont 'bleed out' as it drys on a fig)?  It's a trick I learned from a railroad modeler that works pretty cool sometimes.




No, but you have me intrigued. I could foresee some interesting multi-glazing applications using that technique.  hmmm...


----------



## pogre

PMT 17
Beholder

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

Hey, a couple of pics to show you I’m still working on minis. I snapped these at my workbench – I’ll post better pictures later. I’m also painting a bunch of Grendel dungeon and tavern furniture. Very cool stuff – I’ll post some of it later as well.


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

Very cool! I've got the Hackmaster Beholder at home that I can't bring myself to paint yet, I don't want to ruin it. Your beholder makes me want to paint it even more. Thats the Reaper Beholder, isn't it?


----------



## pogre

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Thats the Reaper Beholder, isn't it?




Thanks! Yep it's the Reaper figure.


----------



## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Thanks! Yep it's the Reaper figure.



wow, Pogre, great work on that Beholder.  I've got the Hackmaster beholder painted at our game place; yours puts mine to shame


----------



## pogre

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Very cool! I've got the Hackmaster Beholder at home that I can't bring myself to paint yet, I don't want to ruin it. Your beholder makes me want to paint it even more. Thats the Reaper Beholder, isn't it?





			
				ledded said:
			
		

> wow, Pogre, great work on that Beholder. I've got the Hackmaster beholder painted at our game place; yours puts mine to shame




Thanks for the compliments - I appreciate it very much.

Can one of you fellows tell me if the Hackmaster Beholder is the "Lewd Eye Tyrant"?


----------



## kengar

Hey pogre, you've probably answered this before, but what method/equipment do you use when photographing your figs? I'm amazed at how sharp the close-up of that beholder is.

I have a digital camera that's 2-3 years old now and has no macro-mode (the closest focus is like 11 in.). It can take 2.3 megapixels, but I can't get a decent shot of my figs to save my life.


----------



## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Thanks for the compliments - I appreciate it very much.
> 
> Can one of you fellows tell me if the Hackmaster Beholder is the "Lewd Eye Tyrant"?



Yep, at least that's one of the 2 that Hackmaster makes.  It's not the one I have, but he was still fun to paint.   I'll grab a pic with my new camera next time we play if you want.


----------



## kengar

ledded said:
			
		

> Yep, at least that's one of the 2 that Hackmaster makes.  It's not the one I have, but he was still fun to paint.   I'll grab a pic with my new camera next time we play if you want.




The "regular" HM beholder mini is OOP, btw. I picked one up a few months back and had a lot of fun painting it. (Lots of eyeballs!)


----------



## ledded

kengar said:
			
		

> The "regular" HM beholder mini is OOP, btw. I picked one up a few months back and had a lot of fun painting it. (Lots of eyeballs!)



Yeah, I had heard that.  Loved painting him, and being able to glue-in and customize the eyestalks was a lot of fun for me.


----------



## pogre

kengar said:
			
		

> Hey pogre, you've probably answered this before, but what method/equipment do you use when photographing your figs? I'm amazed at how sharp the close-up of that beholder is.
> 
> I have a digital camera that's 2-3 years old now and has no macro-mode (the closest focus is like 11 in.). It can take 2.3 megapixels, but I can't get a decent shot of my figs to save my life.




LOL - If you read the whole thread you will notice I have really struggled with my photography. Early on in the thread a poster directed me to coolminiornot articles on how to take digital photography. It was a big help.

I am getting ready to take some mini pics for an auction. I bought a new Sony CDMavica a couple of months ago. I like the mini cds for convenience although you can certainly buy a better camera. It does do macros pretty well though.

I use cheap garage lights with full spectrum bulbs. It's not very fancy and I too continue to experiment with improving my photographs.

I'll tell you what - I'll post a pic of my set-up later today.


----------



## pogre

PMT 18
Latest Projects

Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.

First up a quick snap of my photo set-up. I am still not satisfied with my photos, but I am improving.





Here is a Grendel barkeep I recently painted. The tavern bar is a bit shiny from a wash – it will tone down a lot when I spray it with matte finish.





A bunch of Grendel tavern beds I painted.




A few more beholder pictures:


----------



## pogre

For those who like the Beholder miniature I painted - I just put it up for sale on ebay! 

Your purchase helps pay for numerous Grendel pieces to decorate my dungeons. You would not want me to have bare dungeons would you?


----------



## Hairy Minotaur

pogre said:
			
		

> For those who like the Beholder miniature I painted - I just put it up for sale on ebay!
> 
> Your purchase helps pay for numerous Grendel pieces to decorate my dungeons. You would not want me to have bare dungeons would you?




Some of us might not want you to decorate your dungeons  

Does Grendal sell cute and fuzzy dungeon peices? Like kidnapped princess, extravagant bedroom, traveling weaponsmith? I'd be all for those pieces   

That beholder is some nice work by Pogre, and I can personally vouch for his talent. Having had 3 minis painted by him, they're so well done I make sure I use them all the time. My group's getting tired of seeing the lich everywhere


----------



## Old One

Hairy Minotaur said:
			
		

> Some of us might not want you to decorate your dungeons
> 
> Does Grendal sell cute and fuzzy dungeon peices? Like kidnapped princess, extravagant bedroom, traveling weaponsmith? I'd be all for those pieces
> 
> That beholder is some nice work by Pogre, and I can personally vouch for his talent. Having had 3 minis painted by him, they're so well done I make sure I use them all the time. My group's getting tired of seeing the lich everywhere




No doubt...

If I had a couple of Pogre-Painted Minis (PPM (tm)), I would find a way to use them every session.  I already told him in my SH thread that if I win the lottery, I am going to hire him for a year to paint minis and create props !

~ Old One


----------



## pogre

Old One said:
			
		

> No doubt...
> 
> If I had a couple of Pogre-Painted Minis (PPM (tm)), I would find a way to use them every session.  I already told him in my SH thread that if I win the lottery, I am going to hire him for a year to paint minis and create props !
> 
> ~ Old One




Count me in - I already have a legion of Foundry Imperial Romans ready to go! 

I better order the Roman temple Mold from Hirst Arts just in case you win 



			
				Hairy Minotaur said:
			
		

> Some of us might not want you to decorate your dungeons
> 
> Does Grendal sell cute and fuzzy dungeon peices? Like kidnapped princess, extravagant bedroom, traveling weaponsmith? I'd be all for those pieces




In case you had not guessed - HM is playing in my current campaign... Actually most of the Grendel stuff I am painting is fairly mundane. However, the $14.00 blister I just got in from Reaper *should* be a cause for concern


----------



## pogre

I posted a new article at

d20 magazine Rack on Painting Inspiration. If you have not touched your brush for a few weeks, head over there and see if some of my ideas can get you jump started. Better yet, if you have an idea - do me a GREAT favor and post it on the comments to the article.

The article is not my best writing, but the ideas are good.

Thanks for looking.


----------



## ConnorSB

bump!


----------



## pogre

Hey Connor SB - thanks for the bump brother! I always enjoy stealing ideas from your threads over in Rogues!

All pictures posted here are thumbnails linked to larger images.

Here is the latest boy band I painted up:




I spent the entire weekend painting just one figure. It was not large at all. I will be posting it here in the near future and I will be anxious to hear from you if it was worth the effort. It is the subject of my next pair of d20 Magazine Rack articles as well.


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

pogre said:
			
		

> Here is the latest boy band I painted up:



 Nice! Are those the Reaper Bugbears, or a different set?


----------



## kengar

I think those bugbears are from Kenzer's -currently on production hiatus- HackMaster line.

EDIT: Nice pain job btw, pogre.


----------



## pogre

kengar said:
			
		

> I think those bugbears are from Kenzer's -currently on production hiatus- HackMaster line.
> 
> EDIT: Nice pain job btw, pogre.




Hey thanks - actually these are Reaper Bugbears. I think Jason Wiebe sculpted them. Have not seen the Kenzer stuff, although I would like to.


----------



## kengar

pogre said:
			
		

> Hey thanks - actually these are Reaper Bugbears. I think Jason Wiebe sculpted them. Have not seen the Kenzer stuff, although I would like to.




DUHHHH!!!   

I are not smart.

Actually, Kenzer doesn't make bugbear minis. I had them confused (mostly because of the colors and the layout of the shot) with these Kenzer Hobgoblins:


----------



## pogre

PMT 19
Angel Miniature

So I spent the entire weekend last week finishing up my entry for Sean K. Reynolds Anger of Angels mini painting contest. The result of which you see below:





This mini is rated <IMG SRC=http://www.coolminiornot.com/score.php?id=49851> at coolminiornot.

My next two articles on d20 Magazine Rack will detail step-by-step how I painted every part of the miniature (from the skin to the non-metallic metal gold armor). Now, I just cross my fingers and hope my entry is good enough...

The picture is a large thumbnail if you want to go closer up.


----------



## ledded

Dude, VERY nice work on the wings there.  Very subtle, but nicely contrasting and noticeable without looking like a hacked-up drybrush or something.  Nice, nice work.  I like the non-metal metallic armor, one of the guys in my group is experiementing with that technique and has me intruiged with it.

And thanks for stopping by my threads too.


----------



## pogre

Here is a link to the first part of my step-by-step guide to how I painted the Angel model on the d20 Magazine Rack site. Some of the in progress pictures are not the best, but you can certainly see what I was trying to do:

Step by step Angel Article.


----------



## Hairy Minotaur

pogre said:
			
		

> Here is a link to the first part of my step-by-step guide to how I painted the Angel model on the d20 Magazine Rack site. Some of the in progress pictures are not the best, but you can certainly see what I was trying to do:
> 
> Step by step Angel Article.




Having seen this mini in person, and hearing about how Pogre painted it. I have an increased admiration for the hours this must've taken to complete. I certainly hope you win.


----------



## ledded

Nice article.  I was interested to see the progression using the NMM.  After reading about how some of the Confrontation mini painters had done it, and how good it looked in their marketing stuff, I gave it a shot.

Now I know I shouldn't have given up halfway through;  I was doing armor and shield and it looked horrendous to me so I scrapped it before I finished.

Nice to see it in progress, good article and very good job on the mini.  Makes me want to drag out that mucho-big angel I've had sitting around primed and paint him up.


----------



## pogre

ledded said:
			
		

> Nice article.  I was interested to see the progression using the NMM.  After reading about how some of the Confrontation mini painters had done it, and how good it looked in their marketing stuff, I gave it a shot.
> 
> Now I know I shouldn't have given up halfway through;  I was doing armor and shield and it looked horrendous to me so I scrapped it before I finished.




You know, that's the thing about NMM, there is a stage where it does look BAD. I continue to work at it and I would give my effort on the angel a B+. Thanks for the comments.



			
				Hairy Minotaur said:
			
		

> Having seen this mini in person, and hearing about how Pogre painted it. I have an increased admiration for the hours this must've taken to complete. I certainly hope you win.




Thanks HM. Either way, I have no regrets. I tried a lot of new techniques and certainly invested time into the project. I'm not sure I am capable of a better angel right now. If I get beat by people with plain more artistic talent, well, that's life - I gave it all I had.


----------



## pogre

Inspired by many dungeon tiles I have been seeing around I went and ordered another 6 Hirst molds. It is by far easier to tell you which molds I do not have, as opposed to the ones I own.  

My name is pogre. I am an addict.


----------



## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> Inspired by many dungeon tiles I have been seeing around I went and ordered another 6 Hirst molds. It is by far easier to tell you which molds I do not have, as opposed to the ones I own.
> 
> My name is pogre. I am an addict.



You sound like 2 guys in my group, Fludogg and Pierce.  They have so many molds and tons of little bricks.

They keep asking me why I don't get into the Hirst Arts, and my answer is "seeing you two, I'm almost afraid to get into them..."


----------



## Valanthe the Sleepless

pogre said:
			
		

> Inspired by many dungeon tiles I have been seeing around I went and ordered another 6 Hirst molds. It is by far easier to tell you which molds I do not have, as opposed to the ones I own.
> 
> My name is pogre. I am an addict.




Ah, so you, sir, are the one who has turned our dear Scorch into the Hirst addict he is today. (of, course, if I had the space and more time, I'd most likely be one too  )

We Meepites are in awe of your work and your tips have been invaluable.

Keep up the great work


----------



## ConnorSB

Whoa... its all... angelic.

Oh, and just so you know, Pogre, your thread has got me really interested in painting models again. I am getting a set of Vallejo paints for my birthday, and i eagerly await some hardcore painting action.

Oh, and I posted the "evil thing" you wanted in my Rogues Gallery thread.


----------



## pogre

ConnorSB said:
			
		

> Whoa... its all... angelic.
> 
> Oh, and just so you know, Pogre, your thread has got me really interested in painting models again. I am getting a set of Vallejo paints for my birthday, and i eagerly await some hardcore painting action.
> 
> Oh, and I posted the "ogre mage" you wanted in my Rogues Gallery thread.




ATTENTION MY PLAYERS - Stay out of ConnorSB's Rogues' Gallery Thread please!


----------



## fourthmensch

pogre: I have read your articles and I very much like the minis I see there, but for some reason none of the thumbs in this thread load in my browser. Am I doing something wrong, maybe, or could there be some reason for this?

Pardon the silliness of the question, but based on your articles, I really want to see the rest of your stuff!


----------



## fourthmensch

Nevermind, I figured it out. Damn firewall...

 Wow, pogre. Just wow. The eye beast... and the angel... wow.


----------



## pogre

fourthmensch said:
			
		

> Wow, pogre. Just wow. The eye beast... and the angel... wow.




Thanks very much.

I just received the great news that my Angel was chosen one of the winners in Sean K. Reynolds' Angel painting contest! Man, I'm pretty darn excited


----------



## ledded

Congrat's man!


----------



## Old One

*Gratz!*

Good job, Pogre!

~ Old One


----------



## pogre

Thanks fellas. 

I will post when the second part of my entry step-by-step article is up on d20 Magazine Rack. 

I have been painting like mad over the last week (Spring Break). I'll post some new stuff in the near future.

BTW I posted the angel over at coolminiornot. Check it out and feel free to jack up my score!


----------



## pogre

The second part of the step-by-step painting articles is posted at d20 Magazine Rack. I asked about what folks would like to see next - feel free to comment here or over there. Thanks.


----------



## elvnsword

I just have to say, WOW
 I wish I had just a smidge of your painting talent Pogre, I jsut don't have the paitence, nor the steady hands, to manage it. I do love my mini's though. :-d and yours are plain wonderful... 

  G'luck with the red dragon btw, (saw the other thread)

Elvnsword


----------



## fourthmensch

pogre said:
			
		

> The second part of the step-by-step painting articles is posted at d20 Magazine Rack. I asked about what folks would like to see next - feel free to comment here or over there. Thanks.



I like the article very much. Its always nice to see step-by-step articles showing exactly how certain effects were achieved.


----------



## ConnorSB

Bump!

Hey Pogre, finished painting that thing from that other thread?


----------



## pogre

ConnorSB said:
			
		

> Bump!
> 
> Hey Pogre, finished painting that thing from that other thread?




The solution I came up with is, well, unconventional... My client loves it, but I do not know if I can get it done by the end of this Summer. That should give you an idea of the magnitude of my foolishness in biting off more than I can chew  Details as it becomes a reality.

Right now I am super busy with my track team  - so I apologize for the lack of updates. My painting has slowed as well 

I should start cranking again at the end of May.


----------



## ConnorSB

Ahh... I meant the thing from the other other thread, the one in my sig...


----------



## jgbrowning

Heya Pogre,

Now you've got me thinking about trying out some Hirst arts stuff. Cool thread.

joe b.


----------



## pogre

ConnorSB said:
			
		

> Ahh... I meant the thing from the other other thread, the one in my sig...




They are half painted. And no I have not sprung them yet 



			
				jgbrowning said:
			
		

> Heya Pogre,
> 
> Now you've got me thinking about trying out some Hirst arts stuff. Cool thread.
> 
> joe b.





Watch out joe b. - it's addicting! On second thought, back to the writing desk with you! Your stuff is too damn cool to distract you from it.


----------



## jgbrowning

pogre said:
			
		

> Watch out joe b. - it's addicting! On second thought, back to the writing desk with you! Your stuff is too damn cool to distract you from it.




Thanks!  I went to that site and literally looked at pretty much every single page. It's been a real long time since I've done that with anything. There's a real strong attraction to the idea of making a setting that I've never felt before. I'll have to weigh it for a while and see if it's an honest one, but I wouldn't be surprised if sometime in the future I'll pick up a mold or two and try my hand at it.

joe b.


----------



## pogre

My interview with one of the fastest rising stars in fantasy miniature painting Jenova! is up at d20 Magazine Rack. Check it out - her work is incredible!


----------



## Darmanicus

pogre said:
			
		

> PMT 10
> Lich
> 
> Remember all thumbs are links to larger pictures.
> 
> Here is a lich I recently painted. I bought a new camera – I just need to get some more lights and an appropriate background. My players need not concern themselves, this lich was a commission from a friend.




I really like this figure, where did you get it from?


----------



## pogre

Darmanicus said:
			
		

> I really like this figure, where did you get it from?




Thanks -

Reaper. Ruauga the Elder, Lich Sage 02614


----------



## pogre

*pogre.com launch!*

I have started a happy little gaming site on the web - pogre.com 

I have placed two free original PDF adventures and some links on there. The adventures include the first adventure for my Zandyrium story hour. The main prupose of the site is to serve as host for my miniature pictures for this thread and the soon to come Zandyrium story hour. 

I hope you like it!


----------



## pogre

Zandyrium Workshop One

Well, I debated about starting a new Model and figure thread for the new story hour but decided against it. I hope everyone does not mind if I continue using this one.

First up, is a down and dirty sewer tile with sparky the sewer rat.





This tile was constructed in my normal way using linoleum tile and hirst art blocks. I painted the effluent area first. I covered the painted surface with resin using an old paint brush.





I cut the Games Workshop rat in half and planted him right in the resin.


----------



## satori01

That looks absolutely awesome!!!!  I know you will paint the occasional minature as a commission, would you be favorably inclined to make some sewer hirst models on commission?

Drop me a word at satoridungeonanddragons@hotmail.com


----------



## Narfellus

*minis*

Wow pogre, there's something to be said for applied talent and patience.  Your sets are wonderful and the time you've put into it really shows. I'm sure your players are appreciative!!  Me, i keep my maps mostly 2D nowadays, just because it's easier and less time consuming.

narfellus


----------



## pogre

Thanks Narfellas! It's part of the hobby I enjoy very much. Now onto some mini pictures:

Zandyrium Workshop Two

Remember all of the photos below are thumbnail links to larger images.

Here is the Zandyrium party. There are eight characters in all, but it is a rare game night that all 8 make it to the table. Two of the guys are in retail so their frequent absence is expected.

This is Ginny the Rogue. She is of noble descent and it is rumored that her real name is Genevieve. Thus far she has been fairly tight-lipped about the rest of her family.




Thoren the fighter is a simple guy with a BA sword that does the talkin’. Holds the record for times down in a fight.




Morguhn is a misunderstood dwarf from Buldarvalt who came to Zandyrium to learn the arcane arts. I like this old GW dwarf so much I actually own three.




Heinrich Eisenfaust, cleric to Siegphorus, God of Law, Nobility, and Victory. Heinrich is lawful-good and serves as the cautious conscience of the party.




Githraldul, the sharp shooting ranger elf, always interested in the hunt, even if it means his prey ends up hunting him!




Wassabe, the loud-mouthed former sailor who is the cut-up of the group. Wassabe has a fascinating background that will come out further as the story unfolds.




Justinius, cleric of Gravitas Morte, the God of peaceful death. This servant of final rest is very unnerving to many of the party members, but he and Heinrich have established a bond due to their lawful natures. Rumors of some of Justinius’s earlier studies still haunt him around the temple.




Mercutio, the Saracen blooded Sorcerer of the desert. The mysterious spell caster has proven his worth to the party many times.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Excellent mini's as always Pogre.
Keep up the inspiration for the rest of us.
I've gotta practice that blending technique.  You make it look easy, but it certainly is not that.

(By the way the eyes on Justinius are creepy!  Did you paint the white inside a black ring?)


----------



## pogre

nyrfherdr said:
			
		

> Excellent mini's as always Pogre.
> Keep up the inspiration for the rest of us.
> I've gotta practice that blending technique.  You make it look easy, but it certainly is not that.
> 
> (By the way the eyes on Justinius are creepy!  Did you paint the white inside a black ring?)




Thanks. You got it on Justinius's eyes. Frankly, someone that into death is a bit creepy. At some point in the future I'll post the new Repose Domain for Gravitas Morte. When Last Rites are your specialty, folks tend to hope you do not get to perform your favorite job!


----------



## ledded

Great stuff man!  I loved the Hirst Arts sewer, I've forwarded a link to our group's Hirst Arts Nuts... er, ahem, "enthusiasts" to try to tempt them into something similar. 

How *do* you find the time?


----------



## hwoolsey

ledded said:
			
		

> How *do* you find the time?




He has two advantages:

1. He's a teacher. I'm not digging at teachers here, Pogre is quite willingto admit it means he gets free time the rest of us don't.

2. He needs no sleep. I've known the man 8 years, and I think he's slept a total of 49 hours in all that time. What a gift!

Hank


----------



## jgbrowning

Pogre, do you think you could do a book mock-up ala the covers for the PHB, DMG, and MM?

joe b.


----------



## pogre

Hank of course is being generous about my sleeping habits, but relative to my first occupation as an attorney being a teacher does afford considerably more free time. I have two real dry times for gaming/hobby time - in the Spring when I'm coaching Track and in Fall when I'm coaching football. During the Winter and Summer breaks I pretty much lift, fish, and work on hobbies  Not only is teaching a wonderful, fulfilling job that lets me work with young people, it also compensates me in a way I appreciate more than $ - time!

The habit I have formed in the last four or five years that really added to the time I spend on gaming is abandoning Television. I literally watch zero t.v. . Add up the hours you are spending in front of the tube and instead paint, read, and write. It is truly amazing what you can accomplish. I read three great history books this week for instance.

Now, I do have something worthwhile to contribute here aside from this goofy self-indulgent rant: I have posted the details on the deity Gravitas Morte and the Repose domain over on my website pogre.com.

I'll post some more pictures here Thursday night.


----------



## pogre

jgbrowning said:
			
		

> Pogre, do you think you could do a book mock-up ala the covers for the PHB, DMG, and MM?
> 
> joe b.




Help me out Joe - when you say a book mock-up what do you mean? A sculpture that resembles a book?

sometimes I'm a bit daft...


----------



## jgbrowning

pogre said:
			
		

> Help me out Joe - when you say a book mock-up what do you mean? A sculpture that resembles a book?
> 
> sometimes I'm a bit daft...





Yes. The 3 core book's covers are actually scuptures that were painted and photographed.

joe b.


----------



## pogre

jgbrowning said:
			
		

> Yes. The 3 core book's covers are actually scuptures that were painted and photographed.
> 
> joe b.




I did not know that...

I guess it would depend on the "look" you were going for - if you wanted gems and hinges I might be able to do that. If you wanted a more sci-fi look with sharp clean edges I would not do well with that. If you wanted something like an old style medieval German stamped leather look with a leering demon face on the lower half and an angel at the top - I could totally get into creating that. If you have a rough sketch or design in mind send it to me - I'll give you an honest assessment of whether it is something I am capable of.


----------



## jgbrowning

pogre said:
			
		

> I did not know that...
> 
> I guess it would depend on the "look" you were going for - if you wanted gems and hinges I might be able to do that. If you wanted a more sci-fi look with sharp clean edges I would not do well with that. If you wanted something like an old style medieval German stamped leather look with a leering demon face on the lower half and an angel at the top - I could totally get into creating that. If you have a rough sketch or design in mind send it to me - I'll give you an honest assessment of whether it is something I am capable of.
> 
> pogueclan AT yahoo DOT com




Cool. I actually don't have designs formed in my head solidly enough to work on concept sketches right now, but I just had a bolt-of-lighting idea for a great d20 product and thought about making a cover similar to the core books. Then I saw this thread again and thought, "Hrm, maybe pogre could do it?"

I'll probably contact you in a month or so with some idea and start the negotiation/idea phase once I have firmer desires.

joe b.


----------



## pogre

jgbrowning said:
			
		

> Cool. I actually don't have designs formed in my head solidly enough to work on concept sketches right now, but I just had a bolt-of-lighting idea for a great d20 product and thought about making a cover similar to the core books. Then I saw this thread again and thought, "Hrm, maybe pogre could do it?"
> 
> I'll probably contact you in a month or so with some idea and start the negotiation/idea phase once I have firmer desires.
> 
> joe b.




Sure. I'd love to take a shot at it! The timing works well for me as I am taking off for China for a couple of weeks Friday.


----------



## pogre

People in my D&D campaign please stay out of the link to Connor's Monster thread it will ruin some of our fun.

Folks interested in seeing a monster I painted last week can check it on Connor's Monster Thread. 

Please do not comment here about it - my players deserve the surprise!


----------



## pogre

Here's a 40K fella' I just painted for a friend. I used just my desk lamp - so the pic is a bit subpar, but it's not fantasy so who cares right?

Seriously, I like the flesh on this guy, but some of the other blending could use help.


----------



## ledded

Nice work man.

I especially like the armor and the detail work on the book;  at scale size it really, really makes the model stand out, and the close-up pic lets you see how you did it which looks very elegant.  

I finally got back into some recent painting myself and checking your thread today makes me inspired to post some pics back in my old and nearly dead thread.


----------



## pogre

A new speed painting article is up over at d20 Magazine Rack.

It's taken a while between Steve's move, my laziness this summer, and other factors in getting my painting column going, but I'll try to be a bit more regular/monthly from here on in.

If you try the speed painting technique let me know how it goes. I plan on putting up another speed painting technique in the near future.


----------



## pogre

All the pictures below are thumbnail links to larger pics.

Here are some shots of projects I have been painting. I’m pretty frustrated right now, because I thought I had been making progress on my photography and all of sudden these look pretty bad. Back to the drawing board…

First up is a really old ogre figure. This ogre was put on the market by Marauder, which was a subsidiary of Citadel minis. The old Marauder Imperial ogres are some of my favorites. Kind of sad I had this guy for fifteen years and just got around to re-painting him!









Next up is a monster I cranked out fairly quickly, but I really like how he turned out. Fear my favorite garbage eater the Otyugh!


----------



## kengar

Nice stuff! That's the Chainmail otyugh, right? I just painted that one myself last week, though I'm not done with the base. I like the green color scheme (I went with a greyish-brown and bruise purple for the tongue & mouth.)


----------



## WizarDru

pogre said:
			
		

> Next up is a monster I cranked out fairly quickly, but I really like how he turned out. Fear my favorite garbage eater the Otyugh!



 Ooooh.  Daddy LIKES!  Who puts that one out, or is it and older sculpt that's not available?  That one turned out real nice.


----------



## ledded

Great work as usual Pogre.  I love the Ogre, I've been searching for some of those minis for a while.  The Otyugh is done quite nicely also.  Keep it up!


----------



## pogre

kengar said:
			
		

> Nice stuff! That's the Chainmail otyugh, right? I just painted that one myself last week, though I'm not done with the base. I like the green color scheme (I went with a greyish-brown and bruise purple for the tongue & mouth.)




Indeed it is the Chainmail Otyugh. I'm embarrassed to admit how fast I painted it. About 25 minutes. But when I was done, I said, "heck that looks great" and just let it rest. Although the picture does not show it, I went back with gloss finish after matte spraying it and glossed up the mouth area for that slobbering wet look.




			
				Wizard Dru said:
			
		

> Ooooh. Daddy LIKES! Who puts that one out, or is it and older sculpt that's not available? That one turned out real nice.




Sadly, it is OOP - a chainmail figure from a couple of years ago. The good news is the Chainmail line is still readily available from a number of vendors, so you might be successful hunting him down.

BTW  - You should have Scorch throw up some of those dungeon pictures on here. I am so impressed by his Hirst Arts stuff. I really like the way he is painting it too!



> Great work as usual Pogre. I love the Ogre, I've been searching for some of those minis for a while. The Otyugh is done quite nicely also. Keep it up!




Thanks Ledded. Those old Marauder Ogres are the best! To be honest after posting the pictures, I decided I was not satisfied with him and began re-painting him. I am nearly done with the re-paint and I will post pictures when it is done. I think I have figured my photos out again - but we'll see 

I have a few more of those imperial ogres, but since I do not use gunpowder in my games they usually end up on ebay - as this one will in the near future.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I truly appreciate them!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
Nice work as always.  I like the Gloss work on some mini's too.  I did that with my Beholder. 
I really need to take some more pictures and get them up here....

How do you find the time for it all???

Anyway.  Keep posting.  Your stuff is always inspirational.

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

Thanks Nyrf!

All the pictures below are thumbnail links to larger pics.

Ogre take two. I have stopped painting on him for now…

He needs a nice coat of matte finish, but I think it is an improvement. Can you tell what I did?


----------



## Scorch

pogre said:
			
		

> BTW  - You should have Scorch throw up some of those dungeon pictures on here. I am so impressed by his Hirst Arts stuff. I really like the way he is painting it too!




You should see what I am working on now.  I decided to do a set piece and the Ruined Tower project on Hirst Arts (or Weathertop, as I like to call it) fit the bill nicely.  Spent all last week casting the parts and this week prepping it for painting.

Scorch


----------



## pogre

All the pictures below are thumbnail links to larger pics.

Another monster I cranked out very quickly. I like how the figure and base blend for a stony look. I think this guy would be tough to spot in a cave…





Check out my ebay auctions for the painted Marauder Ogre. The auction starts to day at 5:00 PM Pacific time. All proceeds go directly to financing my miniature and model dungeon habit .

I promise some more _involved_ models in the near future!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Nice roper...

The difference between your first and second ogre are the stripes on arms and legs.   You added a brown to separate the yellow and red (at least it looks brown.)

I've taken some photos, but I don't have a way to post.

Keep up the great work.
Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

nyrfherdr said:
			
		

> I've taken some photos, but I don't have a way to post.
> Nyrfherdr




Here's a post from Mitch of Terrainosaur that I stole from the Hirst Arts message board. Seems like a good way to post pics without shelling out cash for a website:



> Posting on Voidgamers
> ----------------------------
> Many people post pictures of their Castlemolds creations on Voidgamers.com, whether it's because they don't have their own webpage, they use a free site where they can't link directly to the pics, or it's a HADD contest entry. Here's some info on how to post links to Voidgamers pics on this board.
> 
> 1. You can link to a specific picture of yours on Voids. Just click the LINK button to the left and enter the picture page's URL. People can click on it and see the page. You may want to include the tag "newwindow". For example:
> 
> link=http://www.voidgamers.com/channel/HirstArts/b.100.r.3585.html/warlock6.jpg newwindow
> 
> 2. You can also show the picture here on this board by clicking on the IMAGE button to the left and entering the picture's URL from Voidgamers. You can get that URL by finding your picture on Voidgamers and clicking where it says "Image Only (Good for auctions)". For example:
> 
> 3. The way to refer people to all of your pics on Voidgamers is to refer them to your BIO page, which is the Voids address followed by "/bio/YOURUSERNAME". Again click the LINK button to the left and enter your BIO page. (This usually takes a while to download.) For example:
> 
> www.voidgamers.com/bio/TODD_GOSS
> 
> 4. To direct people to lots of your pics, just type the channel's URL and add "?author_name=YOURUSERNAME". For example:
> 
> www.voidgamers.com/channel/b.100.html?author_name=HIGHLAND_PIPER




Hopefully this will be a method that will work for you so we can see your work 
You're right about the ogre - I also worked on the skin.


----------



## pogre

All the pictures below are thumbnail links to larger pics.

A project I have been working on for a while is a complete ancient city. I finally completed the huge central temple. It was originally based on a historic model, but I removed one set of columns to make it a bit more miniature friendly.





I posed an old citadel dwarf crossbowman (from my repair pile) to give you a sense of just how large this temple is. Not quite sure why the camera shot is at such a jaunty angle :\ 




The roof is removable in case I want to use the temple as a ruin. For my D&D campaign it serves as the Temple to Siegphorus – Heinrich’s deity for you story hour fans at home


----------



## kengar

Jumpin' JEEEEEhosaphat!  

Correct me if Im wrong, but that temple looks to have a footprint of about 6" x 10". Just how much space will the entire _*city*_ take up, Pogre?


----------



## pogre

kengar said:
			
		

> Jumpin' JEEEEEhosaphat!
> 
> Correct me if Im wrong, but that temple looks to have a footprint of about 6" x 10". Just how much space will the entire _*city*_ take up, Pogre?




You're very close - 6.5" by 11.5".

The temple will be situated in a larger forum, which will be similar to this:
Virtual Roman Temple 

In the near term, the city will cover 4 feet by 6 feet. The long term plan calls for 6 feet by 8 feet.

I have most of the walls finished and have designed the sectional aquaduct that runs through the city. Currently, I am contemplating designs for the bath house. The city is roughly styled after ruins found in modern turkey.


----------



## kengar

pogre said:
			
		

> You're very close - 6.5" by 11.5".
> 
> The temple will be situated in a larger forum, which will be similar to this:
> Virtual Roman Temple
> 
> In the near term, the city will cover 4 feet by 6 feet. The long term plan calls for 6 feet by 8 feet.
> 
> I have most of the walls finished and have designed the sectional aquaduct that runs through the city. Currently, I am contemplating designs for the bath house. The city is roughly styled after ruins found in modern turkey.




 And my players think _I'm_ over the edge when it comes to terrain & minis! Most impressive.


----------



## hwoolsey

*I would never spill the beans...*

...but I would encourage any interested parties to ask Pogre *why* he's building the ancient city.

Hank


----------



## Hairy Minotaur

Never ask the motives of the obessively talented.......


----------



## kengar

hwoolsey said:
			
		

> ...but I would encourage any interested parties to ask Pogre *why* he's building the ancient city.
> 
> Hank





...nooo, I don't think I will (might force a SAN check).


----------



## pogre

Speaking of obsessive behavior... You have to check out this impressive effort by Scorch! Fantasy Senate by Scorch and others. 

Be sure to tell him how much it rocks - because it certainly does!


----------



## pogre

The picture below is a thumbnail link to a larger pic.

This was an experiment with using a light source. I think he turned out pretty fair. Blending is a bit rough, but I learned a lot.


----------



## Captain Howdy

pogre said:
			
		

> The picture below is a thumbnail link to a larger pic.
> 
> This was an experiment with using a light source. I think he turned out pretty fair. Blending is a bit rough, but I learned a lot.




WOW! I don't usually frequent this part of the boards, put I'm glad I wandered over here, even if just to see that one mini! Really, really awsome. I fancied myself a pretty good mini painter, but I cant even come close to light effects like that. Did you use some sort of visual aid, or did you just go by what you thought the areas should look like?


----------



## nyrfherdr

Hey Pogre.
Nice to see you back.  Very nicely done.
I think the lighting works very well.  
How does it look on the tabletop?

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

Captain Howdy said:
			
		

> Did you use some sort of visual aid, or did you just go by what you thought the areas should look like?




Thanks for the compliment Captain. I used a picture of a burning pinetree for reference.




			
				nyrfherdr said:
			
		

> How does it look on the tabletop?




O.K. The blending could have been smoother, but I like the effect. I'll try it again soon.


----------



## pogre

I'll tell you, it's a diabolical plot! No matter what I do my demons just do not turn out looking good. I am embarassed to tell you how much time I have in this Vrock, but blah. The pictures are not very good, but this fig does not deserve much more. A friend suggested posting it to show that I come up short sometimes. It's worthy of the gaming table and my players will be complimentary, but I won't be passing it around...

The pictures below are thumbnail links to a larger pics.


----------



## The Madhatter

*Static Grass*

Do you have an article explaining your technique on the lovely lush tufts of static grass I've seen on some of your minis? I have recenty begun using it since I've started expanding my base preparation, and I've only gotten anemic results with static grass. It looks better than fock, but it would never be mistaken for living grass. Thanks again for the cool pics!


----------



## pogre

The Madhatter said:
			
		

> Do you have an article explaining your technique on the lovely lush tufts of static grass I've seen on some of your minis? I have recenty begun using it since I've started expanding my base preparation, and I've only gotten anemic results with static grass. It looks better than fock, but it would never be mistaken for living grass. Thanks again for the cool pics!




The key is not to press the grass down. Pile the grass up with twezzer onto the glue and then wait a second. Shake the loose stuff off and blow on the grass to make it stand up. I use a dry brush to stand it up a bit more and paint it a bit.

I explained my simple basing method in this article. 

Thanks for stopping by and let me know how your bases turn out.


----------



## The Madhatter

Yes! Thank you! No more finely manicured lawns for my minis!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
You might want to get some good photos of bird wings.  There is a surprising range of colors and feather detail that you can incorporate to add the zing you are looking for.
You would probably want to use different vulture wings as a reference for your Vrock.

I'm not at my main computer, so I can't send the link, but there is a great web page from the University of Puget Sound with top and bottom photos of bird wings.

Anyway... I think it looks pretty good, if even.
By the way:  TAG

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## WizarDru

pogre said:
			
		

> I'll tell you, it's a diabolical plot! No matter what I do my demons just do not turn out looking good. I am embarassed to tell you how much time I have in this Vrock, but blah. The pictures are not very good, but this fig does not deserve much more. A friend suggested posting it to show that I come up short sometimes. It's worthy of the gaming table and my players will be complimentary, but I won't be passing it around...



 Boy, I _wish _I could suck that *good*.  I've painted a single mini in my life that I actually can look at it with anything resembling pride.

 Keep posting 'em, man.  We luv to see 'em.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Here's the website with the bird wing photos:

http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/wingphotos.html 

Game ON!
Nyrf


----------



## pogre

Wow nyrfherdr! That was practically a tagback 

Thanks for the site reference - I spent about 45 minutes there tonight. I'm calling the Vrock done and I'm going to buy another to try again.

I did some speed painting tonight for fun. When I have a miniature turn out poorly a little speed painting makes a great change of pace. I'll post the results when its done.

Thanks for the compliment WizarDru! The great thing is you do not need to paint well - just leave it to Scorch _et al_. You just keep crankin' out that twisted campaign of yours!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
You're welcome.  I'm always downloading photos of animals.  My wife bought me a photo reference book for my birthday.  I'll grab the title when I'm home.  Tons of different, high quality shots of animals for fur, feather, scales, pattern references etc.

I do the speed painting thing too.  Or I'll assemble and base up a bunch of models, or sculpt or something.   Break things up.

I'll post another of my mini's today.

Game ON!
Nyrf


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

pogre said:
			
		

> I did some speed painting tonight for fun. When I have a miniature turn out poorly a little speed painting makes a great change of pace. I'll post the results when its done.




Pogre, I've got 2 questions for you about speed painting. In your article over at d20zines.com, you say to use a mix of "thinned Vallejo Smoke with at least 50% water/Future Floorwax Acrylic". 

1. Which Vallejo Smoke paint are you talking about? Game Colors #68 Smokey Ink or Model Colors #181 Smoke? Are there any other brand and colors you can recommend in place of the smoke? I can't find Vallejo around here, and wanted to try some speed painting this weekend. All the stores around here carry either GW or Model Masters paints. 

2. And are you thinning it with a mix of water _and_ Future Floorwax, or _either_ water or Future Floorwax? I've read about using Future to thin paints, but have never tried it. 

Thanks!
Rich


----------



## pogre

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Pogre, I've got 2 questions for you about speed painting. In your article over at d20zines.com, you say to use a mix of "thinned Vallejo Smoke with at least 50% water/Future Floorwax Acrylic".
> 
> 1. Which Vallejo Smoke paint are you talking about? Game Colors #68 Smokey Ink or Model Colors #181 Smoke? Are there any other brand and colors you can recommend in place of the smoke? I can't find Vallejo around here, and wanted to try some speed painting this weekend. All the stores around here carry either GW or Model Masters paints.
> 
> 2. And are you thinning it with a mix of water _and_ Future Floorwax, or _either_ water or Future Floorwax? I've read about using Future to thin paints, but have never tried it.
> 
> Thanks!
> Rich




Hi Rich,

1. Model Colors #181 Smoke. I have also used Tamiya Color Smoke (X-19). One other alternative is to use some GW black ink suspended in the future floorwax mixture.

2. I thinned the model color with water and future floorwax.

Let me tell you about another great inking trick I learned since that article was published. I went to a seminar on painting by Joe Ortega. Joe is a multiple Golden Demon award winner and had a lot of cool ideas for fine tuning sculpting - but I digress. Take some Elmer's glue and add a small drop to your inks.

Now, I know it seems counter-intuitive, but it really works. What happens is the ink suspends in the crevices and recesses a little better, but still flows like a straight ink. It really looks fantastic when used in conjunction with armor washes. It seems to reduce bubbling that some inks do when used as washes. Try it and see what you think.

I also have adopted one of Joe's painting methods for achieving a highly layered look with less work. It takes a bit of explaining and so I'll try to whip up an article explaining the method. It is by no means a speed method, but gets pretty nice blended results with less effort.

Thanks for the questions Rich. Take care and enjoy the painting!


----------



## The Madhatter

I really like the Elmer's Glue Idea! I am definitely going to try that! I read somewhere about a drop of "washing up" liquid in your inks helps prevent pooling/splotching, but I haven't seen a lot of results. Maybe I put too little, but I was worried about foam when I shook the pot. I will study your articles intently Pogre.


----------



## Captain Howdy

Hey Pogre. I am wondering about that vrock... Is that an out of the package miniature, or did you do that custom? If it is a kit, who makes it? I am just wondering because it is a really cool design. Or, if you really think that paint job sucks, you could always just give that one to me   . Really though, I think it's a pretty decent job (although, I guess for you decent doesn't quite cut it...).


----------



## Breakstone

Pogre, you just continually amaze me with your professional-level work.

Good show!


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

Captain Howdy said:
			
		

> Hey Pogre. I am wondering about that vrock... Is that an out of the package miniature, or did you do that custom? If it is a kit, who makes it?




That's Reaper's Vulture Demon, stock #2532
http://www.reapermini.com/gallery/2500s/2532_G


----------



## pogre

Now, some speed painting:
A bit of camp "furniture" for fun. Grendel Resin.

The pictures below are thumbnail links to a larger pics.


----------



## pogre

A monster I did a while ago - not posted until my party confronted him 


This is a thumbnail that links to a larger picture -


----------



## The Madhatter

Awesome! I love the detail on his ale gut!


----------



## pogre

Tsunami said:
			
		

> Pogre, you just continually amaze me with your professional-level work.
> 
> Good show!




Thanks Tsunami! Hey, I just got done checking out Tsunami's Breakstone Clay - it totally kicks butt! Check it out


----------



## nyrfherdr

Nice work Pogre.
Keep posting.


----------



## BLACKDIRGE

pogre said:
			
		

> I'll tell you, it's a diabolical plot! No matter what I do my demons just do not turn out looking good. I am embarassed to tell you how much time I have in this Vrock, but blah. The pictures are not very good, but this fig does not deserve much more. A friend suggested posting it to show that I come up short sometimes. It's worthy of the gaming table and my players will be complimentary, but I won't be passing it around...
> 
> The pictures below are thumbnail links to a larger pics.




I think that vrock looks absolutely marvelous. Of course I do happen to be partial to vrocks with greatswords, and this one kind of reminds me of someone.   

Dirge


----------



## pogre

BLACKDIRGE said:
			
		

> I think that vrock looks absolutely marvelous. Of course I do happen to be partial to vrocks with greatswords, and this one kind of reminds me of someone.
> 
> Dirge




Ahh, he's no Pyrak! But thanks for the honor of stopping by - your story hour threads are truly the best!

In other news has anyone else taken advantage of this amazing sale on W&N #7s at ASWExpress ? That's the cheapest I have seen W&N Kolinsky Standard Brushes. If you don't own some - jump over there and grab a handful.


----------



## The Madhatter

pogre said:
			
		

> In other news has anyone else taken advantage of this amazing sale on W&N #7s at ASWExpress ? That's the cheapest I have seen W&N Kolinsky Standard Brushes. If you don't own some - jump over there and grab a handful.



Thank you for posting that! I am just a couple short of having a complete working set.


----------



## pogre

Next month I am running Dungeon! the original 1975 release boardgame by TSR at the Winter War Gaming Convention on Saturday, February 5th. 

Now you know I cannot just run a boardgame - so this entire game will be 3D! A massive dungeon with over 60 rooms. I'm working on many of the dungeon rooms and will post a few I have finished. They are all small, generally 20' x 20', but each is unique in some way.

If you are within decent driving distance of Champaign I encourage you to attend one of the best small cons around. Even if you do not play, come by and introduce yourself - I enjoy meeting other ENWorlders!


----------



## nyrfherdr

I can't wait for the photos.  
I would love to play in that game, but alas... I can't.

Game On!
Nyrf


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Nyrf, if for some reason you find yourself in the middle of God’s flatlands here in Illinois – you are always welcome at the pogre’s den. That is if you don’t mind a mess and three shorties running about 

Here are some of the dungeon rooms I am making for my convention game. Each room is fairly small, but unique. I am painting them to match my master maze components.









I’m working on a couple of fancier rooms now. I will post them as I finish.


----------



## The Madhatter

Hello Pogre!
I've got a question for you....
I'm interested in starting a mini thread of my own but I'm not familiar with how to link pics. Could you or Nyrf make a "How To" thread in this forum so other folks could give it a shot. We can petition a moderator to make it sticky so it's accessible to others. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants a little feed back from ENworld. 

I have a few pics ready to go (courtesy of a buddy's Xmas digital camera) and I'll get more. I've been terribly ill since Thursday otherwise I would have a ton more. A pox on those typhoid Mary middle schoolers! If you guys don't have the time, I will experiment more when I'm functional.

P.S. I'll edit this post out later so it doesn't clutter your Louvre!


----------



## The Madhatter

pogre said:
			
		

> Next month I am running Dungeon! the original 1975 release boardgame by TSR at the Winter War Gaming Convention on Saturday, February 5th.
> 
> Now you know I cannot just run a boardgame - so this entire game will be 3D! A massive dungeon with over 60 rooms. I'm working on many of the dungeon rooms and will post a few I have finished. They are all small, generally 20' x 20', but each is unique in some way.
> 
> If you are within decent driving distance of Champaign I encourage you to attend one of the best small cons around. Even if you do not play, come by and introduce yourself - I enjoy meeting other ENWorlders!




I loved that game! Your dungeon will be tons better than the dreaded white Sorry pawn! Are you going to use minis for the treasure i.e the magic sword?


----------



## pogre

The Madhatter said:
			
		

> Hello Pogre!
> I've got a question for you....
> I'm interested in starting a mini thread of my own but I'm not familiar with how to link pics. Could you or Nyrf make a "How To" thread in this forum so other folks could give it a shot. We can petition a moderator to make it sticky so it's accessible to others. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants a little feed back from ENworld.
> 
> I have a few pics ready to go (courtesy of a buddy's Xmas digital camera) and I'll get more. I've been terribly ill since Thursday otherwise I would have a ton more. A pox on those typhoid Mary middle schoolers! If you guys don't have the time, I will experiment more when I'm functional.
> 
> P.S. I'll edit this post out later so it doesn't clutter your Louvre!




The best way to see how we make thumbnails is to quote one of my posts with a thumbnail and then copy it to your word processor. It's tough to do a tutorial and post it without the code screwing up the post - if that makes sense.

The thumbnail method does require you to host your own photos, but it does cut down on the bandwidth ENWorld has to crank up - so it's ENWorld friendly in that regard. I look forward to seeing your work!


----------



## pogre

The Madhatter said:
			
		

> I loved that game! Your dungeon will be tons better than the dreaded white Sorry pawn! Are you going to use minis for the treasure i.e the magic sword?




Right now I'm cranking on rooms. I have not given much thought to the rest, but I have lots of treasure so that's a real possibility.

edit: I just got a commission from a friend to paint some Iron Kingdoms stuff by Privateer. I'm all warjacked up!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre:  I can't wait to see your Warjacks!

Madhatter.  If Pogre will help, we can create a thread on picture taking and posting.
I'm actually not that great at either, but I can certainly offer advice.

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## The Madhatter

pogre said:
			
		

> The best way to see how we make thumbnails is to quote one of my posts with a thumbnail and then copy it to your word processor. It's tough to do a tutorial and post it without the code screwing up the post - if that makes sense.
> 
> The thumbnail method does require you to host your own photos, but it does cut down on the bandwidth ENWorld has to crank up - so it's ENWorld friendly in that regard. I look forward to seeing your work!



Are there alternate methods or could you do a quick rundown on thumbnails. Do you reccomend a certain webhosting? I'm not very familiar with creating web pages without a kit.


----------



## pogre

MH - check out the help thread Nyrf set up.

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Here is another dungeon room called Shrine of the Warrior Princess. I tried to paint a freehand mural quickly and it turned out OK. I really have to keep cranking to make my goal.









More rooms to come and a couple of speed painted monsters.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

The red brick floor room. Not a total success, but something different at least:


----------



## nyrfherdr

Nice work Pogre.  That's going to be one cool game!


Game ON!
Nyrf


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

How about a wee break from the dungeon rooms? Here is the old version of the Reaper Basilisk speed painted. I should say I like the new version quite a bit more, but have not got around to painting it yet.


----------



## pogre

pogre said:
			
		

> edit: I just got a commission from a friend to paint some Iron Kingdoms stuff by Privateer. I'm all warjacked up!




Let me just say - I am considerably less jacked up about these miniatures after putting them together! Not a line for beginners - get out your kneadatite!


----------



## D'karr

pogre said:
			
		

> Here is the old version of the Reaper Basilisk speed painted. I should say I like the new version quite a bit more, but have not got around to painting it yet.




Very nicely done.  I concur with you that the new sculpt for the basilisk is much better.  I even bought a couple of the WOTC ones and plan to add some additional color to them.  I happen to like that sculpt too.


----------



## pogre

Some older pictures of the BBEG from my current campaign, Boethricus din Woad -


----------



## nyrfherdr

Nice work, of course.
That's some long snake!!

What Warmachine mini's are you assembling?
Not all of them are that challenging.  Trust me    

Game ON!
Nyrf


----------



## pogre

Khador jacks so far I am not impressed. For the price they got together very poorly.


----------



## Breakstone

Pogre, these are just plum amazing. The details on those snake scales... whoa...

And whoa! You linked to my web page! Whoa!

Thanks for the compliments. 


And keep up the good work! These are just plum terrific!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
You would end up with Khador for your first mini's.   
They are very cool to look at and play, but those Warjacks are a challenge to assemble.  They are famous in the Warmachine circles for the "Khador Gap".
There's a website with tips on assembling and handling the particulars.  Let me know if you want me to 'hook you up'.
There are a couple of other mini's that have pieces that require a delicate hand.

I buy mini's from lots of different sources and multi-part metals are really tough all over.  I wouldn't say that Privateer is worse than anyone else.

Anyway... Sorry you had so much trouble.  The end result is worth it (according to Khador fans).  The warjacks I have purchased went together well and look good on the tabletop.  I haven't purchased those Jacks, so I can't say from personal experience how hard Khador is to deal with.  Those are also the first models they manufactured.  They've grown a lot since the beginning...

Keep up the great work and where the heck are those Dungeon rooms?

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

The Dungeon is mostly packed and I'm ready to head over to WinterWar for the premier of my Dungeon 3D game. Keeping it simple for this time around - I'll add to the madness as I go along.

Here's an older picture of one of Boethricus's minions.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

The Dungeon 3D! game went quite well. WinterWar 32 had a tremendous turnout with a lot of very well done games. The convention now has several folks from around the Midwest making the pilgrimage to C-U and enjoying the nine gaming slots. It’s a great little convention well worth your time.





I could not quite get the whole dungeon layout in one photograph, but my other photos are a bit out of focus.


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

Wow, very nice dungeon! Can I ask how long it took for you to build all that?

I've been tempted the past two years to pick up some of those molds at GenCon, but I keep getting cold feet and just drooling over what can be done with them. Which molds do you have, and which were used for this layout?


----------



## pogre

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Wow, very nice dungeon! Can I ask how long it took for you to build all that?




This is a combination of Hirst Arts and Dwarven Forge Mastermaze. I built a number of the 20' x 20' rooms over the last couple of weeks. The building and painting is not all that time consuming - it's the casting that takes time. Some of the other rooms I have built for various adventures over the last few years. One could easily build a room, like the one I have a step-by-step instructions for at the start of this thread, in a week - assuming about 40 minutes of work per night.



			
				Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> I've been tempted the past two years to pick up some of those molds at GenCon, but I keep getting cold feet and just drooling over what can be done with them. Which molds do you have, and which were used for this layout?



The better question is what molds don't I have! To better address your question though, you could do almost everything I do above with Fieldstone Wall Mold #70, Fieldstone Accessories Mold #71, and Flagstone Floor Tile Mold #260. To start cheaply you could skip #71.

I use the fieldstone because it better matches my massive master maze collection. I have seen some really impressive Gothic stone dungeons - so if you do not use master maze that might be a good choice.

You can see a lot of cool projectson thehirst arts page - in particular check out their message boards for cool ideas.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Love the Dungeon!  Sounds like it was a blast.
With the convention over with, you should be able to post some more stuff for us to drool over   

Keep up the great work Pogre.  An inspiration to us all!
Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Finally got some of those Privateer WarMachine figures done. Unfortunately, one of my lighting bulbs burned out and I have not had a chance to replace it and so the pictures may appear a little darker. For those familiar with the WarMachine line, my client wanted a deeper, darker red than the candy red the box shows. He also requested a more industrial darker look on the mechs. I think they are pretty good and I am calling them done


----------



## ledded

Nice warjacks, Pogre.  Did you white-prime those before painting, or did you try to do the black-prime-5000-layers-of-red-to-build-the-color-up method?  

Man, I was catching up here and realized that you live near Champaign, IL.  Wish I would have known that a year or so back, I used to have to travel to Champaign a good bit off-and-on to do consulting work at the Kraft plant there, and often had to spend weekends/holidays up there bored out of my skull and lamenting my lack of gaming while my regular game marched on without me back home.


----------



## pogre

ledded said:
			
		

> Nice warjacks, Pogre.  Did you white-prime those before painting, or did you try to do the black-prime-5000-layers-of-red-to-build-the-color-up method?




the 5,000 layers method - why yes, I do hate red.


			
				ledded said:
			
		

> Man, I was catching up here and realized that you live near Champaign, IL.  Wish I would have known that a year or so back, I used to have to travel to Champaign a good bit off-and-on to do consulting work at the Kraft plant there, and often had to spend weekends/holidays up there bored out of my skull and lamenting my lack of gaming while my regular game marched on without me back home.




We game about 3 miles from the Kraft plant :\  I wish I would have known!

One of my players (Space Hulkster) lives about 0.75 miles from the plant.

If you ever get this way again - let me know. I realize you have changed jobs since then...


----------



## hwoolsey

pogre said:
			
		

> the 5,000 layers method - why yes, I do hate red.




He mentioned that he was using this method and hated my figures. I offered to let him use the olive-drab color scheme for them, but he said he already had too much done to cover it.

I think they look great - I'll get to hold them in my grubby little mitts Wedensday night. Until then I just have to drool over the same pictures everyone else gets to see.



			
				pogre said:
			
		

> If you ever get this way again - let me know. I realize you have changed jobs since then...




Ditto - always fun to meet other gamers, even on a temporary basis.

Hank


----------



## nyrfherdr

Those turned out well Pogre.
Nice to see them finished.

Keep it up.
Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## WizarDru

Another awesome job.  I personally think the side-views show them off better than the head-on view...but I could be hooked on crack again.

Now, the important question (and understand, I directly blame you for the Hirst Arts fever the Meepites underwent in 2004)...what are the various colored post-its in the dungeon?  Notes?  Corpses?  'Fess up, man.


----------



## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> the 5,000 layers method - why yes, I do hate red.




Heh.  I thought I detected an organic blood-like quality to one of the shades.  Plus the tear-and-sweat-stains on the bases kinda gave it away .  

Would you believe the first time I found out about the red-over-black was by accident as a neophyte... I had some armored bad guys who I sprayed black and then tried to paint red on... over, and over, and over.  Actually tossed out a pot of red paint because I thought it was defective, and was about to toss another when I tried a third and it had the same issue.  A quick google later, and I was fishing in the trash for my red paint 

However, that all being said, it *does* look damn good when it's done, especially when you vary the shades between layers.



> We game about 3 miles from the Kraft plant :\ I wish I would have known!
> 
> One of my players (Space Hulkster) lives about 0.75 miles from the plant.
> 
> If you ever get this way again - let me know. I realize you have changed jobs since then...




Yeah, I actually liked that town... not too big but enough fun stuff to do because of the college and everything.  I *hated* doing work at the plant, because some of the people I had to work with were... difficult.  And that freakin' plant was *huge*, over a square mile under one roof, and of course the computer area was in the front, and my end-users were in the opposite corner.  And they wouldnt let us stoopid consultants use the little carts to drive over there because we weren't *trained* to... .  Got a lot of exercise though.

That company I worked with that had Kraft as a client has called me several times to come back to work, if I ever completely lose all hold on reality and go back to work with them I'll probably end up there eventually, and I'll drop ya'll a line.

So... just a few miles from the plant... ya'll dont happen to play at 'The Silver Bullet' over by the college, do ya?


----------



## pogre

WizarDru said:
			
		

> Another awesome job.  I personally think the side-views show them off better than the head-on view...but I could be hooked on crack again.
> 
> Now, the important question (and understand, I directly blame you for the Hirst Arts fever the Meepites underwent in 2004)...what are the various colored post-its in the dungeon?  Notes?  Corpses?  'Fess up, man.




Hey thanks!

Those colored cards are original vintage 1974 Dungeon! encounter cards my friend.


----------



## pogre

ledded said:
			
		

> So... just a few miles from the plant... ya'll dont happen to play at 'The Silver Bullet' over by the college, do ya?




No gaming there, but a few years ago - pre-marriage days, we used to have football meetings over there with our staff. I kind of miss coaching with those guys  My current football staff would be more likely to meet in a church - but that's cool too.


			
				Nyrfherdr said:
			
		

> Those turned out well Pogre.
> Nice to see them finished.




Thanks nyrf. The best thing I can say about them is - they're done.


----------



## ledded

pogre said:
			
		

> No gaming there, but a few years ago - pre-marriage days, we used to have football meetings over there with our staff. I kind of miss coaching with those guys




Yeah, I had a few business meetings at that place.  Seems to be a popular place for that.  Must have been the food.  



> My current football staff would be more likely to meet in a church - but that's cool too.




Oh yes, that is certainly cool too.  And it's probably better for you what with not having all that exposure to massive amounts of silicone (and I mean massive... )

Keep up the good work.  I'm going to try to finish up a few projects I've had on the burners if I can ever wrest control of my life back from Knights of the Old Republic II


----------



## hwoolsey

pogre said:
			
		

> All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.
> 
> Finally got some of those Privateer WarMachine figures done. Unfortunately, one of my lighting bulbs burned out and I have not had a chance to replace it and so the pictures may appear a little darker.





These turned out so much better than Pogre's pictures show (no dig intended about his photography skills - just a compliment on his painting ability). They are absolutely amazing.

I can not say enough good things about these figs. He did exactly what I wanted with the colors, based on my admittedly weak descriptions. (Somehow "You know, redder" doesn't seem like I'm being particularly helpful in my descriptions.)

I'm always torn - just when I start thinking I might want to paint again (after many years of a break) I look at the figures in Pogre's minis cabinet (which are always available - they live in the corner of my game room) and then think I'd much rather pay him than put my efforts next to things he's painted.

He's amazing.

Hank Woolsey


----------



## Hairy Minotaur

I concur! 

For a Christmas gift in '03 I gave a old gaming buddy of mine a Pogre commissioned mini. He's worth every penny.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Here’s a couple of examples of the extreme ends of my painting. The first figure is a character in my D&D campaign named Heinrich. He’s a cleric. Not sure how many hours I have in him as I did him in short spells over a number of weeks:





Those familiar with this Reaper figure can see that I did a major reworking of the shield. I call this a storm shield – it’s supposed to look like a dark thunderstorm around the lightning bolt. I think it looks a bit better in person.





The mummies below are some Crocodile figures I purchased on sale quite a while ago. They were completed fairly quickly – around 100 minutes for the whole lot. I like the results though – the rusty swords turned out very well.





edit: The Reaper figure is 2370: Luther Baldwin. I almost forgot he got a weapon change too.


----------



## WizarDru

Beautful work, as usual!  Only 100 minutes for all three?  Wow.  I'd be lucky if I could do one in twice that, I'd bet.  This may be why my players tell me to worry about running the game and writing the plot, they'll stock the dungeons. 

Did you do an ink wash on the mummies?  I like how the swords appear rusted, as if they were stored in the sarcophagi with them.

Oh, and I really like the grass and flocking on the cleric mini.  Really enhances it, I think.  (if you ever seen the opening movie to Warcraft 3, with the Paladin signalling the charge of the human army?  kinda evokes that sort of image).


----------



## pogre

WizarDru said:
			
		

> Beautful work, as usual!  Only 100 minutes for all three?  Wow.  I'd be lucky if I could do one in twice that, I'd bet.  This may be why my players tell me to worry about running the game and writing the plot, they'll stock the dungeons.



You certainly are blessed with some talented folks in your group. Between Zad's excellent story hour and Scorch's awesome models you definitely have the bases more than covered! Nevermind the fact your wife is a talented modeller when she decides to also - man the more I think about it, the more I realize how spoiled you truly are 


			
				WizarDru said:
			
		

> Did you do an ink wash on the mummies?  I like how the swords appear rusted, as if they were stored in the sarcophagi with them.



Ink washes are your friend when you are speed painting. The swords really look rusted in real life - a dab of chestnut ink with a bit of brown and a tiny drop of elmers glue for the wash. I'm not sure I could achieve a better result with layering.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
I like the Paladin. He turned out well.  The shield is pretty nice.  Does the photo do it justice?  I suspect it doesn't.

The mummies are good.  I always enjoy the undead.  I think the rust turned out fantastic.

Keep it up.
(I'll try and return the tag this weekend.)

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
One of these days you are going to catch me at a point that I can't return the TAG, but this week isn't it...

TAG!


Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## ledded

Nice work, man, nice work.


----------



## Narfellus

Fantastic stuff, pogre. I haven't checked out this thread in over 6 months and i'm glad i did! There were some great additions. And i agree with what you said early on about watching zilch TV. Cut that outta your life and all kinds of time is freed up! Say, what do you teach anyway, and do the kids know of your hobby? You could single-handedly wrangle a whole new generation of gamers if you just showed what you do at home!


----------



## pogre

Narfellus said:
			
		

> Fantastic stuff, pogre. I haven't checked out this thread in over 6 months and i'm glad i did!



Thanks much - I appreciate your stopping by!



			
				Narfellus said:
			
		

> Say, what do you teach anyway, and do the kids know of your hobby? You could single-handedly wrangle a whole new generation of gamers if you just showed what you do at home!




I teach social studies. It's funny you would mention bringing kids into the hobby - I teach World History. We are transitioning from Imperialism of the 19th century to WWI and I use the classic game _Diplomacy_ to illustrate the entangling alliances that helped lead to the war. It's a lot of fun and the kids learn something.

At lunch today a couple of our English teachers asked me 'when are you done with this _Diplomacy_ game?' When I asked why, they said they were sick of hearing about alliances with Germany and Turkey and moving their navies into this sea or that. Let's just say the kids totally get into it!

My gaming habits became public knowledge for some of my students when one of them noticed there was a guy with the same name as mine on the BadAxe Games' website. I came clean at that point. Several of them begged me to run a campaign, but with three kids at home, coaching, and my Wednesday night D&D campaign I had to say no.

My five-year old son and three year-old daughter love to play though. Our game is about a step above the complexity of Rel's game  with his daughter.

Thanks for the bump - I should have something worthy of checking out in the very near future!


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

What follows is a step-by-step recounting of preparing, modifying, and painting the largest metal figure I have ever painted. I have included lots of pictures at every step and descriptions of what I did. This is the first figure that actually caused my wife to exclaim in profanity (a very rare thing).

Many of the pictures were taken at my workbench and so the quality suffers slightly. This thing is a behemoth and really challenged me to get it all in one picture!

The base miniature for this project is Gauth from Reaper Miniatures. I bought him for a commissioned project sometime ago, but my “client” backed out and told me to just keep the figure. He paid for him, I kept him – my kind of commission .

I unpacked the figure and began the process of preparing it for assembly.




A figure this heavy was going to require some extra work to assemble. I decided on a brass wire gauge to use as pins and began the tedious process of pinning the pieces. Pictures below are a tail pin and a pin on the foot.




I formerly employed a two-part epoxy glue to join large pieces like this together. It’s inexpensive and works very well. However, lately I have changed to a faster method that saves me a step. I put a nice layer of kneadatite in the joint and apply a dab of glue to the other section. I press the joint together and hold it for a couple of minutes. After a few minutes I sculpt the putty in the seam and let it sit overnight. This saves me an extra step of having to put green stuff in the joint later as I did with the two-part epoxy. Thus far, I have had no problems with the pieces with which I have used this method.

This is a picture of the tail joint where I have put some of the kneadatite on:




The picture below shows the results of a couple of these joints after I pressed them together – a wing and a tail joint:




A figure of this size was going to require a fair-sized base. This dragon was going to be an old devil, so in game terms it would probably occupy a 6” by 6” area. But that was more space than I was willing to give up in my miniatures cabinet. I decided on a 4” by 4” space and figured it could step in for a most of the adult red dragon categories.

My wife bought me a cheap wooden base at Michael’s for 49 cents. I placed the dragon on this and began covering it in wood putty.





Like most of you, I cannot just put a figure and paint it most of the time. I need to make some modifications, and hopefully add some things that will make the model truly stand out. I decided a red dragon must breath fire, and so I was going to add fire breath. The first step was to fix a piece of brass into the mouth to build the fire onto:





I started the fire sculpting by winding some kneadatite around the brass wire. This serves two purposes – 1st it is a nice base for the rest of the green stuff to adhere to, and 2nd it gives the fire a little bit of bulk.





While sections of the fire sculpt were drying I began fitting the torso together. Man alive! This is going to be one BIG figure:





There were a few things about this excellent model I did not like. I thought the teeth were a little too small. Some I did some quick dental work on the top incisors.





The dragon fire is completed. I made it with a series of spiraling tubes that ended at the tip at various angles. I fitted the head on and put it on the torso:





Finally, after a bit more sanding and sculpting the dragon is ready for priming:





I knew I wanted to prime the figure black and decided to experiment with a new product. Now I hear you saying, “Are you crazy pogre – after all that time preparing the dragon!?” Well, yes, but I hedged my bet. This product was endorsed by one of the finest figure painters I know of – Mike McVey. I ran down to the NAPA auto-parts store and bought a can of Dupli-Color black Sandable Primer. I was very satisfied with the results and recommend it highly.





Three weeks after I had started the dragon I was now ready to start painting!

I decided to try a technique multiple Golden Demon winner Joe Orteza espoused at a clinic and dry brushed the figure white a few times. This is similar to a technique  JD Wiker apparently employs too.





Following the dry brush base came a dark ink wash and then the base color for the dragon scales.





I will not bore you with the painting details. I went for a classic red dragon look. If you have questions about painting let me know, but it was mostly rough layering. All I have left below is some highlighting.





This close up of the dragon’s head shows some of the dental work I performed to make those fangs a bit nastier!





Here are a couple of final shots. The thing is so big I could not really get a decent background behind it!









Hope you enjoy the dragon and my step-by-step descriptions. I have a really cool commission I am working on that will show up here in a couple of weeks and many other smaller projects. Special thanks to nyrf for inspiring me to do a little sculpting!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
Very impressive.  That is one cool dragon.  
The flame breath turned out very well.

I'll have to try your green stuff assembly method.  That looks like it would work very well for several of my projects too.

I'm glad my sculpting was inspiring.
Keep up the great work.
Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## frankthedm

That dragon rules! More monsters!


----------



## Breakstone

Absolutely awesome!


----------



## D'karr

Totally Fantastic.  Very well done!!!


----------



## Old One

Amazingly well done!

< Old One keeps praying he will win the lottery so he can hire Pogre to paint minatures for him full time >

~ OO


----------



## pogre

Much thanks all!

I'm working on some cool projects, but like the last one they are a bit more _involved_. I may get some speed painting in this week and if I do - I'll post the results.

I really appreciate everyone's comments.


----------



## Herremann the Wise

Hi Pogre,

I found my way over here and this would have to be the coolest thread on En World!!!
That Dragon looks so effective by the way - awesome skill to accomplish that!
We use some neat figures in our game - I'm particularly pleased with my efforts for Lucifus Cray - but this is nothing compared to what you have done here. Keep up the good work.   

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise


----------



## WizarDru

So NOW I know why Valanthe dragged me out to the auto parts store to buy some Duplicolor Black!  I have YOU to blame.  Again. 

I love this stuff, by the way.  Seeing the process you guys go through is both interesting and educational.  Love it, LOVE IT.


----------



## Narfellus

Frickin amazin. I don't see how you have time for anything OTHER than painting and sculpting! If you get a chance ever, can you post a pic with the Red Dragon next to a measly human, for scale?


----------



## pogre

A shot from tonight’s game:


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

pogre said:
			
		

> A shot from tonight’s game:




Wow. 

That's all that I can say. 

Wow.


----------



## WizarDru

pogre said:
			
		

> A shot from tonight’s game:




One word: Hellasweet.

I need more cave pieces.  Yes I do.


----------



## pogre

Thanks guys!

And Wizardru - I really dig the pic of your young DM!


----------



## alsih2o

Pogre, you just rock my whole world.


----------



## pogre

Thanks Mark - the feeling is mutual.

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Thought I would put up some works in progress pictures, since I have not posted for a time.

Don’t you love it when a player inspires you? Well, that’s exactly what happened with this project. One of my players (hwoolsey) started building a wonderful ship out of the world works stuff. I was so impressed I decided to build a primitive medieval cog out of balsa to represent the pcs’ ship _The Last Coin_.

The characters in my campaign have a small trading company called Fortune’s Favor and this represents their single ship – a trading cog with the early rudder design. I have been thinking about building the ship for some time and finally made some progress on it the last few weeks.

I still have a few things to do like creating a banner for the pcs’ trading company and a few other details, but for now it’s done and will make a very game-friendly piece. Not sure if or when it will be involved in the story hour so I thought I would go ahead and post it here.









You can see the GW dwarf hanging out by the mast for scale purposes – he is a sorry refugee from my repair pile. 

BTW – it’s important one of your players has a huge gaming room with plans for building an even bigger one before undertaking a large project such as this – right Heinrich (aka hwoolsey)?


----------



## hwoolsey

pogre said:
			
		

> BTW – it’s important one of your players has a huge gaming room with plans for building an even bigger one before undertaking a large project such as this – right Heinrich (aka hwoolsey)?




Oh yesssssss!!!

We wants our new garage.

Now, here's hoping the in-laws come through with the loverly cash gift that has been mentioned.

Hank


----------



## Mark

pogre said:
			
		

> Hope you enjoy the dragon




Excellent.  The dry-rushing white on the black primer is inspired.  Enjoyed the fire, fangs, and directly putting kneadite in the joint, too.  Thanks for the tips. 

Love the cog, too.  I've got what would be a row boat for, perhaps, 80mm figs (it's not really for minis, just a desktop thingy) that I was thinking about converting into some sort of useful 25-30mm scale watercraft.  It's been on the back burning for a while but it might be time to finish that up.

The next Chicago gameday is looking like it will be July 9th, so mark your calendar.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Here’s a project that took me WAY too long to complete. I made a trade with a gent online for some OOP miniatures in exchange for a dungeon room of his choice. I sent him a number of ideas including a photo of a Todd Goss designed two-level dungeon. That’s what he decided on and I confidently told him it would be ready in a couple of weeks. Sadly, that was three months ago…

Fortunately, my patron was a generous fellow and told me not to worry about it. The result is a dungeon piece I like so much I’ll be making one for myself next. (That should take about a year).

Here’s the whole dungeon piece with a little mastermaze - 




The piece can be taken apart so you can throw miniature prisoners in there – 




One of the obstacles I had to making the _roofs_ removable was how to give them enough support. Adding linoleum, card, or anything else might make the fit look odd. So I used crossbeams just like they would in the old dungeon. I think it was an elegant solution and they seem to hold up great.




Oddly enough, here is the thing I like most about this model. Let’s say you don’t need a two-story jail. You just need a cell or cage. Just take the top layer and plop it down on your mastermaze and you are good to go!




That extra versatility for the piece is what sold me on making another one!

So there you have it – a dungeon for your dungeon.


----------



## Old One

Dude,

I have a total man-crush on you!  Err...well, your minis work at least .  That is just too cool.  <Starts making plans to kidnap Pogre and chain him the basement for a year with unlimited model-making supplies>.

~ OO


----------



## WizarDru

Another insanely awesome piece.  I don't even know if I have a use for such a piece, but I'd sorely like to get Scorch or Valanthe to make one.  I could definitely find a use for an actual cell like that, somewhere.  Bravo, sir, bravo.

But Scorch has been talking 'Lake of Fire' lately....and I'd really LOVE a lake of fire.  I mean, _who wouldn't?_


----------



## Cthulhu's Librarian

OK, I'm going to have to stop saying "Wow" every time you post something.   

I think I finally need to pick those molds up at GenCon this year.  I've put them off the past 2 years.


----------



## The_Universe

This is super awesome. Between this and the other Hirst-Arts threads, I'm dying to start trying my own.  But I'd need so much money...and so much room...and so much time...


----------



## nyrfherdr

Hey Pogre,
Very nice.  Nice to see you back doing what really matters.    

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

Old One said:
			
		

> Dude,
> 
> I have a total man-crush on you!  Err...well, your minis work at least .  That is just too cool.  <Starts making plans to kidnap Pogre and chain him the basement for a year with unlimited model-making supplies>.
> 
> ~ OO




Thanks, but I like the winning the lottery plan much better!



			
				Wizardru said:
			
		

> Another insanely awesome piece. I don't even know if I have a use for such a piece, but I'd sorely like to get Scorch or Valanthe to make one. I could definitely find a use for an actual cell like that, somewhere. Bravo, sir, bravo.




Thanks, I thought the same thing as I started, but using the top piece as cells seals the deal for me too.



			
				Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> OK, I'm going to have to stop saying "Wow" every time you post something.
> 
> I think I finally need to pick those molds up at GenCon this year. I've put them off the past 2 years.




Thanks Rich,

You will not regret the purchase of molds. It is time consuming, but it's a lot of fun.



			
				The Universe said:
			
		

> This is super awesome. Between this and the other Hirst-Arts threads, I'm dying to start trying my own. But I'd need so much money...and so much room...and so much time...




<subliminal message>Do it, do it, do it.</subliminal message>
The buy in cost is not cheap, but once you start it's pretty reasonable. The nice thing is you can cast bricks while you are doing other things - like posting on a message board.



			
				Nyrfherdr said:
			
		

> Hey Pogre,
> Very nice. Nice to see you back doing what really matters.
> 
> Game ON!
> Nyrfherdr




Thanks - you were tagging me to death there!

The gent who made the trade with me likes the pictures too. Perhaps he will post some pictures of it in play at some point.

I really appreciate your comments - they mean a lot to me.


----------



## Ruined

Awesome work as always, Pogre. Just saw the dragon too. Wow!


----------



## kengar

Very nice!

Question about the molds; how long does the dental plaster take to finish drying if you don't stick it in the oven, etc. and just let the bricks air dry?


----------



## pogre

kengar said:
			
		

> Very nice!
> 
> Question about the molds; how long does the dental plaster take to finish drying if you don't stick it in the oven, etc. and just let the bricks air dry?




I have no idea - I use a cheap food dehydrator. It takes about an hour in that.


----------



## pogre

Some of you may recall I wrote an article for d20 Magazine Rack on Painting Inspiration that advocated:


> Thousands of Unpainted Figures
> You have tons of miniatures just waiting for a layer of paint. As a matter of fact your enthusiasm for buying miniatures really has not waned, but you just do not have time to paint much anymore. Strangely, your passion for purchasing miniatures may be killing off your passion to paint. A huge miniature collection can make taking up the brush too large a task. You need to change gears and give your self a chance. Here is a formula I have used and many others to jump start folks with giant unpainted miniature collections and no will to paint.
> 
> Sort your miniatures into piles labeled: games I am now playing, games I know I will be playing in the next month, games I love, but have not played in years but still love, and games I am no longer interested in.
> 
> Start selling/giving those piles away in reverse order until you have less than 20 models. It will be painful, but it is necessary.
> 
> Buy the best paints and brushes you can afford. Use the profits of your miniature sales to buy those new paints. Throw away or sell most of your old stuff.
> 
> Paint ONE figure at a time. Having a limited selection and a light at the end of the tunnel is often enough to get folks going again.




I am in the process of doing just that. I need to clear my workspace - it's driving me crazy! So take a look in the marketplace section for links to my auctions or search for pogre on ebay. Remember every penny goes to support dungeon design workshop!


----------



## kengar

pogre said:
			
		

> Some of you may recall I wrote an article for d20 Magazine Rack on Painting Inspiration that advocated:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thousands of Unpainted Figures
> You have tons of miniatures just waiting for a layer of paint. As a matter of fact your enthusiasm for buying miniatures really has not waned, but you just do not have time to paint much anymore. Strangely, your passion for purchasing miniatures may be killing off your passion to paint. A huge miniature collection can make taking up the brush too large a task. You need to change gears and give your self a chance. Here is a formula I have used and many others to jump start folks with giant unpainted miniature collections and no will to paint.
> 
> Sort your miniatures into piles labeled: games I am now playing, games I know I will be playing in the next month, games I love, but have not played in years but still love, and games I am no longer interested in.
> 
> Start selling/giving those piles away in reverse order until you have less than 20 models. It will be painful, but it is necessary.
> 
> Buy the best paints and brushes you can afford. Use the profits of your miniature sales to buy those new paints. Throw away or sell most of your old stuff.
> 
> Paint ONE figure at a time. Having a limited selection and a light at the end of the tunnel is often enough to get folks going again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am in the process of doing just that. I need to clear my workspace - it's driving me crazy! So take a look in the marketplace section for links to my auctions or search for pogre on ebay. Remember every penny goes to support dungeon design workshop!
Click to expand...



Well, my wife LOVES this idea! 

I'll have to ponder this. Many of my unpainteds are out of the box and some are even primed. There's a handful of sculpts I dearly want to paint myself, regardless of use in play. You're probably right though that many of the rank & file could go to eBay and find better homes.


----------



## pogre

Painting a little bit in between gaming sessions and fishing. One of the characters in my campaign, Justinius (played by Hairy Minotaur), picked up some _figurines of wondrous power _ that turned into two adult male lions. I had picked up some lions from the Steve Barber collection and decided this was a great excuse to paint them up. If you have the Tokens song going through your head - my apologies!


----------



## nyrfherdr

Very well done.  I love your attention to detail on the lions' coats.

top notch as usual.

Game ON!
Nyrf


----------



## pogre

Cryx Warband done for commission. Client was very pleased and says the pictures do not do them justice. Now, how many times have you heard that on Coolminiornot?  





Another angle:


----------



## pogre

As always, all pictures are thumbnail links to larger pictures.

Some more paint jobs I squeezed out between larger projects. First up is a city guard from Zandyrium (a city in my D&D campaign). This is a very old Marauder figure.





Although the picture is a tad blurry I really like how his face turned out.





Here she is the Erinyes everybody loves to summon - Naja Nivyah. Note her _hellish_ base.





And a shot from what some might consider her good side


----------



## D'karr

Fantastic stuff.  Really good work on the Cryx Warband.

A good friend of mine introduced me to Warmachine several months ago.  Fun game all around.  I've decided to stay clear of it simply because I need to control the spending.

Too many hobbies, not enough time or money.  LOL


----------



## nyrfherdr

Those wings are incredible!

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Greetings,

I finished a pair of miniatures for my TOUGHEST critics – my son and daughter. We sometimes play Talisman and they were particularly displeased that I had not painted the pieces yet. So I volunteered to paint their favorite two characters – they chose the minotaur and the goblin. {Both evil creatures BTW – should I be worried?}

I asked them how they would like them painted and they both said *exactly* like the card Daddy. I knew that was trouble, but did the best I could. My son was especially harsh, pointing out I had the skin tone all wrong and the checks on the gloves were incorrect. I did repaint it some, but finally I said, ‘this is a mini that will be abused by a 5-year-old on a regular basis. I hereby pronounce it done!’

Well check them out for yourself and see how I did:


----------



## D'karr

They look very good.  

My 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter are always coming up to me and asking me if they can do "battle".  That means play with miniatures.  We spend at least two evenings a week in the basement as they adventure with miniatures.

My son has told me that when he grows up he wants to be a miniature sculptor, besides a Jedi and a gladiator...  He cracks me up.


----------



## WizarDru

The only real difference I can see is that the Minotaur is shiny. 

That goblin is Awesome, with a capital Awe.  How old are the wee ones, btw?


----------



## pogre

WizarDru said:
			
		

> The only real difference I can see is that the Minotaur is shiny.
> 
> That goblin is Awesome, with a capital Awe.  How old are the wee ones, btw?




Not sure why the minotaur looks shiny in the photo - it's pretty matte in real life. I will be coating both of them in massive amounts of gloss so they both will be shiny in short order anyway 

My son is 5, my daughter is 4, I have another son who is 21 months, and a son due on September 2.



			
				D'karr said:
			
		

> My 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter are always coming up to me and asking me if they can do "battle".  That means play with miniatures.  We spend at least two evenings a week in the basement as they adventure with miniatures.




We play a lot of Heroscape, Talisman, and D&D. The D&D is basically a hackfest using the basic rules, but they enjoy rolling the dice.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Here is the figure I mostly painted at the ENWorld Game Day Chicago.


----------



## Hairy Minotaur

It's Mercucio!

Only handsomer and more buff.


----------



## pogre

Hairy Minotaur said:
			
		

> It's Mercucio!
> 
> Only handsomer and more buff.




Actually, I will have to ask Mercutio's player if he wants to use it for his character figure! His Charisma is something like 19 or 20 so I doubt this guy is more handsome...


----------



## The Madhatter

Wow! How did you do the flesh? I went for a well tanned barbarian and my friends now call him "Red Man".


----------



## pogre

The Madhatter said:
			
		

> Wow! How did you do the flesh? I went for a well tanned barbarian and my friends now call him "Red Man".




Hey Madhatter,

I am going to refer to Vallejo Game Color names, but you can check out a reference chart with comparisons between Game Color, Model Color, and Citadel paints.

The undercoat was a mixture of Charred Brown and Dark Fleshtone. I came up from this with straight Dark Fleshtone. I then went to Dark Fleshtone and Scrofulous Brown mixture.

Remember with dark complexions the lighter tones have gold as the lighter hue as opposed to caucasians, which has lighter tones in pinks.

I added Elfskintone gradually to the mix and came up to straight Elf skintone - I used a touch of ivory at the later stages.


----------



## The Madhatter

Thanks Pogre. I reallly like the smooth blending of highlights. I will try out a lighter tone for a backup character.


----------



## pogre

Hi folks,

I just started creating a new gallery for my painted miniatures over at my website pogre.com. I started with pictures I already have so there is nothing new for those of you who have followed this thread, but I will post some "how tos" and "step-by-steps" over there in the near future.


----------



## Shape D.

Wow, the detail on some of these is amazing, especially the eyes.

I'm trying to teach myself how to paint decently, still working on staying in the lines. But your stuff is awesome.


----------



## pogre

Shape D. -

Thanks for your comment - I appreciate it very much!

Welcome to ENWorld!


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Greetings!

I have some pictures of minis to share with you and to scare the hell out of my players! 

First up is everybody’s favorite multi-armed demoness – a Marilith.





Next, is a big nasty Nalfeshnee – note the properly sized 3” base.





Hopping on up is our next demon – a Hezrou.





Our last evildoer is a bone devil. My first cork base and I learned a lot, but still not a bad first effort.





Finally, a khador infantry guy from WarMachine. Not a particularly fascinating figure, but my first snow base. I was especially pleased with how it turned out.


----------



## The Madhatter

Wow! I really like the way the Bone Demon's horns complement his fleshtone and the flesh on the Marilith!! Did you use Flex Paste on the Khador's base? Thank you for posting these awesome figs!


----------



## ledded

*awesome*

Simply awesome, man.  Great work once again.


----------



## derbacher

My gawd, those are great! 

I just primed a dozen figures for painting, but after looking at these, I just want to throw away my brushes.

Bows in the presence of the master....


----------



## pogre

Thank you for all of your kind praise. It is very much appreciated!



			
				The Madhatter said:
			
		

> Did you use Flex Paste on the Khador's base? Thank you for posting these awesome figs!




I used a product called DecoArt SnowTex and glazed it with gloss mixed with a bit of Woodland Scenics snow. The SnowTex by itself looks pretty good and I think I may just gloss a bit of it next time without hassling with the Woodland scenics stuff.


----------



## The Madhatter

pogre said:
			
		

> Thank you for all of your kind praise. It is very much appreciated!
> 
> 
> 
> I used a product called DecoArt SnowTex and glazed it with gloss mixed with a bit of Woodland Scenics snow. The SnowTex by itself looks pretty good and I think I may just gloss a bit of it next time without hassling with the Woodland scenics stuff.




That's a great idea. I've used the woodland scenics snow and my current character leaves dandruff on the battlemat every session. Was it gloss acrylic(Vallejo, badger, etc.) or was it Future?


----------



## pogre

The Madhatter said:
			
		

> That's a great idea. I've used the woodland scenics snow and my current character leaves dandruff on the battlemat every session. Was it gloss acrylic(Vallejo, badger, etc.) or was it Future?




Gloss acrylic. 

I don't use future much - it has its place, but it seems to chip on my figs.


----------



## pogre

Had to do this guy again - he's a lot of fun to paint and I had another one lying around. I tried another background on the advice of a tutorial over at Privateer Press's minis boards. I wish minis were not such a pain to photograph - I still don't have the _formula_ down, but now I'm writing everything down to try and make progress.

There are no beholders in my campaign world so this guy will go up on ebay this week to fund my crack miniatures habit. Bid high and bid often - I must kill my PCs!



​


----------



## derbacher

pogre said:
			
		

> There are no beholders in my campaign world so this guy will go up on ebay this week to fund my crack miniatures habit. Bid high and bid often - I must kill my PCs!



You. Must. Post. An. Auction. Link.

Whenever you get it up there, please! I will bid early and often, I promise!


----------



## pogre

derbacher said:
			
		

> You. Must. Post. An. Auction. Link.
> 
> Whenever you get it up there, please! I will bid early and often, I promise!




But, of course - 
here is the auction 

I have a special deal for my fellow ENWorlders - please check out this thread. 

Thanks for your support and my players officially hate you for increasing my monster supply!


----------



## The Madhatter

Well, I thought MY eyebeast was cool.... Thanks for the pic Pogre. I am setting up the Foundry in my new basement and I'm using some of your articles for inspiration.


----------



## pogre

The Madhatter said:
			
		

> Well, I thought MY eyebeast was cool.... Thanks for the pic Pogre. I am setting up the Foundry in my new basement and I'm using some of your articles for inspiration.




Hey thanks.

If you get a chance post a pic or two of your basement foundry - I love looking at folks' hobby areas.


----------



## pogre

*Making Pewter Miniatures From RTV Molds (Part One)*

Greetings and salutations after an extended absence. Tonight I started creating the RTF rubber molds for the ENWorld sculpting project. I thought I might share a few insights as to how I produce an RTV mold and prove that I am finally moving on this project.

First up is the materials required. You can see some original greens: a nasty looking spell template from yours truly (more on that later) and nyrf’s incredible steampunk wizard. You can see the wizard is armless – I had to cut them off to ensure no mold undercuts and hopefully a better pouring mold.

You can also see my RTV rubber parts A & B, Jeweler’s mold separation cream, A measuring cup and small scale, A piece of ceramic tile, Synthetic modeling clay, and toy building blocks (legos). Not pictured are a bunch of paper towels, two old spoons, and an old butter knife.







My first task is to create a frame and bed for each of the molds. I make the frame from building blocks and then lay down a bunch of the synthetic clay on the bottom. You can see I am doing this all on a ceramic tile. The ceramic will not react with the RTV. I then place the models down about half way into the clay. This is where the mold line will appear when I pour the figures.






Doesn’t nyrf’s wizard look so sad without arms? Couldn’t be helped. Take cheer nyrf – my wife was very impressed with your sculpt. She’s brutally honest so that it is high praise indeed. 

Next, I’m going to measure the frames to calculate the cc of RTV I will need to fill each mold frame half.






Sadly, there are not a lot of pictures for the next part as it is time sensitive and I have to move quickly. Next time if the wife is up I will have her take some shots. I measure part “A” of RTV into my cup. Note that this stuff will stain anything and will absolutely ruin clothes – be very careful and clean up messes with dry paper towels as quickly as possible. I place the cup on the scale and use a straw to put 1/10 th of the weight of  part “B” into the cup. I stir the RTV very well with my old butter knife.

I use an old paint brush and brush some of the RTV directly onto the figures. This helps avoid air pockets next to the figures. Throw the brush away after this because it is ruined. Next, slowly pour the RTV into the mold halves.






Now, we just have to wait 8-hours to see how the first half came out.

In Part 2 I will cover making the second half of the molds…


----------



## nyrfherdr

Very cool Pogre.  Thanks for the tutorial.
And thank your wife for the kind words.  

Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

*Making Pewter Miniatures From RTV Molds (Part Two)*

Welcome to part 2 of creating RTV molds wherein pogre curses a great deal.

My first task was to break the mold frames apart to check out how things went. You can see in the picture below where the RTV rubber met the synthetic clay.





Buried somewhere in that odd sandwich is our figure. So I need to peel the clay off. Ahhh, there he is our happy nyrf’s wizard. He still has some clay stuck to him, but the mold looks very good.





I use a very soft bristled toothbrush to clean the clay and stray rtv off of the model. Now this is pretty dull work, but it is critical to getting a clean mold.





I finish peeling the clay off of the other molds and gather up the clay for use on the next set of molds.





Of the three molds, I was most pleased with nyrf’s wizard’s body mold – it looks very clean. The arms were so-so. Something used in the wrench arm reacted to the rtv in an odd way – I’m not sure what happened. It looks like I may have lost a small wire off of the arm or something. The other arm and the wizard’s helper arm look fine. We will see how they cast.

The next step is to reseat the figures in the half molds and coat them with mold release. The blurry picture of this below is due to one handed camera shooting 





Next up is a process I described in part one, but this time I have a picture or two thans to the wife. First coating the figures with rtv using a brush.





Then slowly pouring the molds.





Now I just have to wait until tomorrow to start working on the whole mold.

In part three I will cover cutting and preparing the molds for casting.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre:  I'm not sure what could have reacted.  I didn't use any glue (I don't think), just the lead armature, some wire, green stuff and 'brown' stuff.  I hope it comes out ok...

Just some ramblings of the nyrfherdr
Game ON!


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

pogre said:
			
		

> Cryx Warband done for commission.




So, what, commissioned figs don't deserve to have the flash filed off their tusks?

Lazy.


----------



## pogre

Perfectly
Reasonable and
Insightful
Comment
Kudos to you Wulf!


----------



## Pielorinho

*Moderator's Notes*:

*Wulf*, if you're going to sit next to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, it's a good idea to use your inside voice.  

Or, at least, a smiley.
(Edit:  the smiley may be for the benefit of other folks, so that they don't report it to me--if both of y'all are okay with rough humor, then that'll keep me from having to get involved)

Daniel


----------



## pogre

Folks,

Wulf and I are old friends. Believe me when I say - don't sweat it at all. I guarantee you neither I nor he took offense at our respective comments. 

The fact is he made a gotcha on me in pure terms - I plain missed those flash marks when I painted that privateer stuff. He's just sticking it to a friend a bit. I've seen his painting - he's seen mine. Believe me when I say I'm not worried 

On the other hand, I wish I had half of his writing talent.


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

I was confident that pogre would take the busting of his balls in the spirit intended without the need for the   .

I think the really amazing thing here is that somebody actually reported that post.



			
				pogre said:
			
		

> I've seen his painting - he's seen mine. Believe me when I say I'm not worried.




True.



> On the other hand, I wish I had half of his writing talent.




When you have talent like mine, you realize that including a semi-ecliptical construct like _So, what, ..._ imparts through writing the necessary tone of voice to convey the intended snark, which is far preferable to something as philistine as   .

To put it another way, using    is like using WonderWash and a white drybrush to cop out of having to actually do all your highlights and shadows by hand.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Enough with the derailment from Wulf.  

Pogre... let's see the next RTV step.  You've got us on pins and needles here.  I want to see the final molds...

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

I separated the first molds this morning. The new jeweler's cream I used as a mold separator is not as good as the old stuff I used to employ. The molds look a little rough. The wizard's body looks very good, but the arms sprue mold is a mess. Further, as I pulled the arms' sprue mold apart both of the wizard's arms came apart. I saved the pieces, but I don't know if they will cast very well. I'll certainly try. My apologies to nyrf - hopefully the casts will look good.

I started work on the other molds and will start cutting and prepping them when I finish them all. I could be pouring pewter by mid-week or so.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Oh well.  

I still can't wait to see the final results.
Thanks Pogre.

Nyrfherdr


----------



## D'karr

These look fantastic.

Great work Pogre.  Can't wait to see the actual pewter minis.  Keep posting pics, this adds a lot of depth to the total sculpting challenge.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

A quick update: I just poured the first half of the molds for D'karr and Shape D.  Below is the six molds set in clay first:





I did take some liberties with D'karr's creations. First their shape necessitated full molds as opposed to longer sprues to get a full pour. That meant a lot more RTV so I picked out what I thought were the most interesting pieces for the molds. I left the table out and a few other pieces. We should still have lots of accessories for the wizard's lab.

I think I have just enough RTV left to finish these molds. At least that's the plan for tomorrow night.





The yellow arrow is pointing to the stack of three molds I have finished already. I already cut them and they are ready for casting.

We're getting closer! I do not know if I will be able to cast them early this week or not. We are adding onto our house and I have to paint the addition this week after work. The addition is about 1200 square feet and includes a vaulted ceiling. Not a small job :\


----------



## frankthedm

The project is moving smoothly, I can't wait to see the results.


----------



## D'karr

These are looking fantastic.  Mold casting looks like a hard task.  I really appreciate you taking the time to do this.



			
				pogre said:
			
		

> I did take some liberties with D'karr's creations. First their shape necessitated full molds as opposed to longer sprues to get a full pour. That meant a lot more RTV so I picked out what I thought were the most interesting pieces for the molds. I left the table out and a few other pieces. We should still have lots of accessories for the wizard's lab.




So how would you recommend to sculpt small bits like I had?  Should they be sculpted directly into the frame of a sprue?  Should they be glued to a sprue for casting?

I noticed that you're building the molds directly on the sculpts, how do you pour the pewter into them?  Do you build pouring canals after the mold dries or do you put a placeholder for the pouring canal that gets removed?

This is really fascinating stuff.


----------



## pogre

frankthedm said:
			
		

> The project is moving smoothly, I can't wait to see the results.



Thanks Frank!



			
				D'karr said:
			
		

> These are looking fantastic.  Mold casting looks like a hard task.  I really appreciate you taking the time to do this.




It's not that hard, but my ineptness is catching up to me a bit.



			
				D'karr said:
			
		

> So how would you recommend to sculpt small bits like I had?  Should they be sculpted directly into the frame of a sprue?  Should they be glued to a sprue for casting?




I could have forced a sprue, but I decided against it for two main reasons:

1. If one mold does not cast well I still have the other four;

2. I'm not sure I could make a mold that would fill all the way without the pewter cooling before it got to the end of a long sprue. Not a concern with a spincaster obviously, but I'm working with good old gravity here.

As to how to sculpt them - I think you did a tremendous job - I cannot recommend any improvements at all. I may have a better idea after I cast these pieces.



			
				D'karr said:
			
		

> I noticed that you're building the molds directly on the sculpts, how do you pour the pewter into them?  Do you build pouring canals after the mold dries or do you put a placeholder for the pouring canal that gets removed?




Every method of mold building does so directly onto the sculpts. Vulcanizing methods usually destroy the originals for spincasting methods. You can build the pouring canals either way to a point. You have to cut at least some of the breathing channels to make sure the cavity is filled completely.

Well, I'm trying to get some youngsters to bed and then maybe I can finish up the second half of the molds


----------



## pogre

Second halves of molds poured tonight. I had just enough RTV to make it. The molds took just over a quart of RTV to make. When I was pouring one of the molds for the tiny wizard tools I think the skull might have floated a little out of place. I've never had that happen before, but I've never tried to mold something this small before either. We'll see how the molds come out tomorrow.

In any case its time to crank up the hotpot, throw in some pewter, and start casting tomorrow night! I'm sorry the project has not gone as smoothly or quickly as I would have liked. I do think everyone will get some decent pieces by the time I'm done though.


----------



## pogre

Just got home from church and opened up the second batch of molds. They look excellent!

I have a football banquet this afternoon and a dinner at the VFW tonight. I may get a chance to pour some pewter late tonight. I will keep you updated.


----------



## nyrfherdr

THanks Pogre.  No worries.  Looking forward to see the final pieces.

Game ON!
Nyrf


----------



## D'karr

Looks like everything is on track.  Thanks for the update Pogre.


----------



## frankthedm

pogre said:
			
		

> I may get a chance to pour some pewter late tonight. I will keep you updated.




It has been 24 hours, you O.K. Pogre? "Late tonight" & hot pewter kinda sounds like an accident waiting to happen.


----------



## pogre

frankthedm said:
			
		

> It has been 24 hours, you O.K. Pogre? "Late tonight" & hot pewter kinda sounds like an accident waiting to happen.




LOL - I did not pour any last night, but the pewter is cookin' right now!


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

*Making Pewter Miniatures From RTV Molds (Part Three)*

Welcome to part 3 of creating RTV molds cutting molds and casting the pewter

All the molds are set. Now I get out a new hobby blade and start cutting v-channels in the molds to create paths for the pewter.





As I cast the figures I will continue to cut the molds to get the best flow possible. The next step is to cut a pour funnel. This proved to be very difficult with the smaller molds – more on that later.





Each mold has talc powder brushed in it to help separate the molds when the pewter is poured.





The next step is where my wife calls me a fool. I do not own a mold box or mold clamps. Instead, I cut bass wood to match each mold and then clamp the molds with old fashioned rubberbands. Why does my wife call me a fool? Well, if I miss pour the pewter the bands will snap and I could get a lap full of pewter. In other words, don’t do what I do – buy a mold box and some proper clamps 





Here’s the work area. I have a nice big piece of ceramic tile on top a huge piece of oak. The hotpot is full of scraps from previous projects and the molds are ready to go.





Now the hotpot is plugged in and the pewter melts. There will be some impurities floating around the top. I scoop these off with an old stainless steel spoon.





I pour the first batch of molds and it becomes obvious the small molds have a problem. I can tell the pewter is not really going into the molds. Looks like some more cutting is in order…





I pop open the nyrf armless wizard mold and things look pretty good. Forgive the heavy flash, it was in a poorly lit area.





Next, I open the D’karr wizard and immediately notice a small tear in the mold due to an undercut on the figure. The figure looks pretty good though.





Shape D.’s mold was next and the entire length of it ripped – an undercut on the cape pulled the whole thing apart. Damn… Well, I got one mediocre figure out of it – the mold really was not hot enough, but it will have to do. 

RTV can be a catch-22, use a flexible mold that can handle more undercuts and it cannot handle high temperatures – use a high temperature RTV and it cannot handle many undercuts. I have to use a fairly high temp RTV, because I use lead-free metals - Too many kids about the house to do otherwise.

Here’s the final figures I selected for shipping. The strange looking orbs at the bottom are supposed to be my Flaming Sphere markers. It looks more like – in the immortal words of my wife ‘A mutant bowling ball.’





So I packed the figures up and shipped out the boxes today. I decided to throw in the molds so you folks could check them out. I think the best cast figures of the bunch by far was Nyrf’s wizard’s assistant robotic arm.  I cut and cut the small molds, but I could not get the pewter to flow down them. I finally gave up around 2:30 AM. I think for pieces that small you have to have a spincaster.

So here’s what is heading your way via priority mail:
1.	Your original green – or what’s left of it.
2.	The molds I made from your figures. D’Karr’s wizard mold is badly ripped as is Shape D.’s, but nyrf’s molds are good to go for more casts.
3.	Everyone received an armless nyrf wizard and robotic arm assistant, a D’Karr wizard, and a mutant pogre flaming sphere marker. Shape D. also received the only cast I got out of his figure’s mold.

I hope you are not too disappointed in the results. I think next time I will set up a guide for sculpting to allow more successful casts. I did not consider all of the undercuts figures’ might have before the project started. I also learned small/tiny pieces just do not seem to gravity cast very well.


----------



## Conaill

Looks pretty cool, pogre!

Do you think the small pieces would have worked better if they had been integrated as a "table full of small pieces"? I'm thinking the table slab might have allowed the pewter to fill the whole piece better. You'd have to worry about lots of small undercuts, of course...


----------



## pogre

Conaill said:
			
		

> Looks pretty cool, pogre!
> 
> Do you think the small pieces would have worked better if they had been integrated as a "table full of small pieces"? I'm thinking the table slab might have allowed the pewter to fill the whole piece better. You'd have to worry about lots of small undercuts, of course...




In hindsight, I think you are probably right. I could have gone with a one piece mold with just a table top with the pieces fixed to it I think. I would cast it in resin instead of pewter.


----------



## D'karr

Pogre, I received the molds and minis today.  Color me impressed.

First off let me say that you, sir, are a class act.  I received 5 molds.  One of the Warforged wizard and 4 for the other bits, pieces and accesories.  You went all out on this one and it is greatly appreciated.

I must say that I'm truly sorry that the bits and pieces molds were not good for gravity casting, because you did an awesome job creating those molds.

I'm also sorry that my sculpts created so much trouble.  After looking at the mold for the warforged wizard I could clearly see what you meant by an undercut.  That damn hand holding the crystal ball was too far off.  Well, live and learn.

Next step for me is to get these things painted.

Nyrfherdr, I was very impressed with the wizard and the mechanical "familiar" very good sculpt.  Now I just have to sculpt him some arms.

Pogre the mutant flaming sphere is still getting painted.  I have a player playing a sorcerer that really loves to cast all those fire spells.  I'm pretty sure she'll appreciate the sculpt instead of having to use a penny or dice for a flaming sphere...   LOL

Once again thanks to you and Nyrfherdr for organizing this challenge it was an awesome experience.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Pogre,
Got my stuff in the mail yesterday too.  Thanks for everything.  The wizard did turn out very nice.  I should have had you create more for me since I don't have a hotpot or lead or anything.
The arms look salvagable, so I'll be able to put them together and do some putty repair.

I wanted the green, a metal unpainted and then a painted one complete.  Oh well.  I'll ask for that next time.

D'Karr:  I love your warforged wizard.  He's sweet.

Thanks again Pogre.
Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

Thanks guys. I'm back painting some figures these days - trying to get some commission work done that I have neglected.   Now, what I really need is a spincaster!


----------



## willofgod

Try water casting on the smaller bits


----------



## pogre

willofgod said:
			
		

> Try water casting on the smaller bits





How could you water cast them? I must have a different understanding of water casting than what you are suggesting. My understanding of water casting is a primitive casting techinique used by jewelers with silver. You drop molten silver into whirling water to create interesting and unpredictable shapes.

That's what I know from my jewelry background - I assume you mean something different - I'd love to hear it!


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

*Finally, A Decent Fiend!*

Those who know me and my painting trials over the years also know that I have not painted a decent fiend for some time. I picked up a new game for me called Confrontation 3rd ed. and began painting some demons. This particular demon is called Balkor and although he is far from perfect, I am satisfied with my results:















​
I also finished a unit of Widowmakers for a commission. Same scheme as the one pictured before and I am now working Greylord Ternion for the same customer. Lots of snow!



​
I know these pictures are a little washed out, but I’m making progress on the photo front. I took extensive notes on my settings and adjusted the lighting. I’m also working on a simple diffusion box. My New Year’s resolution will be to deliver even better mini pics in the future!


----------



## frankthedm

I love that spine whip.


----------



## Ferret

*Gawp* 


Wow.


Sweeeeeet.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Very cool!  How long did it take to do Balkor?
I love many of the Confrontation mini's.  I've never played the game though.

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

Thank you for the kind words.

As far as how long he took - well, I'm not sure. I probably have a couple of hours in prepping the miniature and putting it together alone. Painting went fairly quickly, so maybe 6 or 7 hours painting - but that's definitely a WAG.


----------



## WizarDru

You've outdone yourself, sir.  That is an outstanding piece.

[applause]


----------



## pogre

Attention miniature painters!

I have no affiliation with this company, but check out this amazing sale on W&N #7s miniature brushes at ASWExpress ! They ran this sale last year and the miniature style brushes sold out very quickly.

If you have not tried these before, you owe it to yourself to buy a couple. There are no better brushes in the world.


----------



## ledded

Wow.  Fabulous fiend man.  Holy farkin' A, that's nice work.


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Howdy,

Back in the saddle! Here’s a couple of updates. Note that I had my light source to close so the photos are a little washed out, but they’re the first in a long while. Some commissioned privateer press work first – one you have seen and one you have not: 

















Base Close-up:




And another base close-up:





A heavily armored dude named Kovnik:


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Now for a look at my Confrontation Drune army that is 1-0 against well-painted armies and was 1-2 in a tournament this past weekend. Um yeah, a lot of Confrontation players do not paint – they apparently play the game to get better instead. The Heathens!

One you’ve seen – Balkron:




Another couple you have seen – The Formors:




Last of the repeats – Drune Archers:




Soul Snatcher front view:




Soul Snatcher with a fun backpack accessory:




Drune Wraiths:




I’m working on some other really cool Confrontation figures. Undoubtedly they too will be getting stomped by ugly, unpainted figs in the near future


----------



## pogre

All pictures are thumbnail link to larger photos.

Better pictures this time and a happy little story. So a few months ago on a local gaming message board I tell folks I’m starting into a new game called _Confrontation_. One of my friends on the board says that’s cool I have one of Rackham’s older figures, La Lionne Rousse, and asks would I like it. I said sure, and promised to show it to him when it was painted. Here’s the card from the miniature, which depicts it with their paintjob:







Now, keep in mind this is one of Rackham’s very first minis and their paintjobs have made quantum leaps. So anyway, the figure sits in a drawer for a few months. I’m not doing a Lion army. But, I finally got around to painting her and here’s a head shot:






So to make the figure fit into my current army I had to make a _slight_ modification:




I know – I’m a bad person. This nasty beast is part of the Drune army. He is called a Hound of Scathach:




Note the flying blood and entrails from the squish!:




A back shot:




Not that the beast was evil enough looking with the other dead guy strapped to his back!:




One more blood and guts shot:




Somehow I do not think I will be receiving more miniatures as gifts in the near future.


----------



## Meloncov

I don't want to play in your game anymore.


----------



## pogre

Meloncov said:
			
		

> I don't want to play in your game anymore.



Ha! Sadly, he got whipped in my WFRP campaign last night!


----------



## pogre

Here's some pictures of a Ranger from my new campaign. The pictures are subpar - I guess I'm out of practice...

I like the base - he is standing on a log I created out of greenstuff. The fall leaves are Hudson & Allen.






And his back cape - with highlights washed out  :\


----------



## ledded

Well, the picture may be sub-par, but I can still tell that the work is good... as usual.

Just wanted to check in and see what you've been up to, I havent been around in a while.  Looking at your stuff is getting me antsy to get back into my painting.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Nice work Pogre.
Nice to see some more recent work.

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

Thanks guys!

I'm indulging in some speed painting for my game tomorrow. Post pics of my results later. Don't expect too much though - let's just say 8 miniatures in one night.


----------



## pogre

OK - first, I used the minis in the D&D game I ran last Sunday and left them over in the gameroom. I'll post my speed-painted figs in the near future.

Next up is a thumbnail link of a Female Dwarven fighter PC from the campaign. I actually rushed this picture, but it turned out a little better. :\  I'm still not sure why my photo-fu went backwards, but I obviously need to go back and brush up on some photography articles.

I really like how her hair turned out. The flesh is not as smooth as it should be. I hate how metallics look better in real life, but NMM photographs better. So far I am sticking with metallics for my D&D stuff and NMM for the Confrontation figs.

Female Dwarven Fighter:


----------



## nyrfherdr

Nice little mini.  Keep up the inspiring work.
Game ON!


----------



## pogre

Here's the speed-painted lizardmen. 8 figures in about two hours, including basing. I enjoy cranking out some minis like this from time-to-time. The picture was taken with a friend's camera in the game room with flash, but I think you can still tell pretty much tell what's going on.

The picture is a thumbnail link:


----------



## pogre

Have not been around much - RL and all that. Just wanted to share a cool little webcast many of you probably already know about. Over on youtube there's a fellow who does a review of minis in the form of a top ten. Well done even though he's a Brit 

Colonel Marble's Miniature Review

EDIT: Many folks have written me to let me know this weekly series died last year. It's too bad as it was well done. Still, there are 19 episodes well sorth a look.


----------



## nyrfherdr

Colonel Marbles is back after a long hiatus.  He just posted a new webcast and promises to be back weekly.

Game ON!


----------



## pogre

Greetings,

I have not a done of miniature painting this summer, but I did finish a pretty fun project. I painted a dragon mural on my son's bedroom wall. Originally, he wanted a red dragon, but changed his mind to blue. I suggested that a D&D blue dragon would breath lightning, but Steve said, “Not my blue dragon – he breathes fire!”

The dragon has been named ferocious by my son:


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

He looks to be ready for some serious burninatin' of the countryside.


----------



## pogre

Greetings!

It’s football season, which means I don’t have a lot of painting time, but I did manage to work on some cavern tiles. I was enchanted by Dwarven Forge’s Cavern River and Lake sets, and with the release of Hirst Arts’ new cavern molds figured I could make my own.

A lot of these pictures were taken on the fly, but I think you can tell what I was doing.

I started with some black-marbled self-adhesive floor tile I picked up from Lowe’s for 88 cents each. I cut the 12 inch square tile into 4 inch square tiles.






I unpacked my recently purchased Hirst Arts molds. These run $65 or so for the pair.






I also picked up some acrylic paint from Michael’s. I got it on one of their many 40% off sales, otherwise I might have gone with cheaper craft paint.






I painted the tiles with the dark green-blue paint. Notice how the marbling gives some natural highlights in the water.






Naturally, I had a lot of casting to do. I use a super-hard dental plaster for my molds. It’s every bit as tough as resins and not as hard on molds.






Following a lot of casting and gluing I had my tiles built. I used Dwarven Forge’s sets as my model.






The river pieces needed some rocks and gravel along the edge. I put down a line of glue next to each “shoreline.”






I used sand and covered the glue and allowed these to dry completely before shaking of the excess.






I finished up making a few walls.






I painted all of the stone a dark gray.






I dry brushed the stones with successively lighter shades of paint. If I were to make more I would not go quite as light on the floor tiles. Following painting I sprayed it all with gloss and brushed even more gloss on the water.

I removed the adhesive backing from the tiles and placed felt on each tile.

Here is a set-up using some of the tiles. I built the equivalent of two sets of master maze cavern river sets and two sets of cavern lake sets.






Here’s a closer shot of some of the river tiles.






Coincidentally,  I needed an underground lake in one of my adventures. Here is a shot of that encounter.






Thanks for looking and let me know if you have any questions.

- pogre


----------



## Kris

In all honesty I was really looking forward to the new set of cavern moulds from H.A. - but I have to admit that I'm not too keen of the look of wall pieces (just a personal preference I guess).

Anyway, back on topic... I really like the simple way you have achieved the water effect on the cavern river  ...that's now got me thinking that I might actually have a go at a simple sewer system using a similar effect (so I guess I have you to thank/blame for that  ).

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, have you been following the posts by Bruce on the H.A. boards regarding a dungeon accessories mould or two? Those definitely look like something I'll be picking up


----------



## pogre

Kris said:
			
		

> In all honesty I was really looking forward to the new set of cavern moulds from H.A. - but I have to admit that I'm not too keen of the look of wall pieces (just a personal preference I guess).




I agree, the walls are just OK IMO too.



			
				Kris said:
			
		

> Also, on a slightly unrelated note, have you been following the posts by Bruce on the H.A. boards regarding a dungeon accessories mould or two? Those definitely look like something I'll be picking up




No, I have not - thanks for the heads up. [sound of pogre scampering over to the hirst arts site]


----------



## The_Universe

These are great...I picked up the cave molds at Gen Con this year, and I've now been inspired to try to do something like this with them. 

Awesome!


----------



## Trevalon Moonleirion

O.O

Amazing work.  Now I'm getting the bug to start painting again.

This needs a bump back to a front page immediately.


----------



## naloomi

Kris said:
			
		

> Also, on a slightly unrelated note, have you been following the posts by Bruce on the H.A. boards regarding a dungeon accessories mould or two? Those definitely look like something I'll be picking up




He's had the dungeon accesory for a couple weeks now. It's mold #85. 

The pieces it can make can be seen here: http://hirstarts.com/molds/p85L.jpg

A preview of them in use: http://www.hirstarts.com/cavern/cave066.jpg

I hope you like.

Naloomi


----------



## pogre

Thanks for the heads-up. I happen to be working on a massive dungeon right now.

I also think the folks at DF made a good move getting rid of the bowties


----------



## pogre

There is a pretty cool new terrain company out there called Zuzzy Miniatures Terrain . They sell gaming mats made out of latex that one can paint. They also sell some resin accessories for the mats. I have to say I'm very impressed with the website. Might have to pick up a couple of these.

Thanks to Wulf Ratbane for the heads up!


----------



## naloomi

Bruce has just updated hus site with 'Water Cavern' instructions. You can seee them at http://hirstarts.com/cavern/watercavern.html

naloomi


----------



## pogre

naloomi said:
			
		

> Bruce has just updated hus site with 'Water Cavern' instructions. You can seee them at http://hirstarts.com/cavern/watercavern.html
> 
> naloomi




Very nice. A lot more work and expense, but they look great. I may have to try that some time.

The reason I do not use pink board foam is the pieces will not line up with Master Maze and I have a ton of master maze.


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

pogre said:
			
		

> There is a pretty cool new terrain company out there called Zuzzy Miniatures Terrain . They sell gaming mats made out of latex that one can paint. They also sell some resin accessories for the mats. I have to say I'm very impressed with the website. Might have to pick up a couple of these.
> 
> Thanks to Wulf Ratbane for the heads up!




Well you know what they say: 

Nothing says thank you like a buxom dwarven chick with an axe.


----------



## pogre

Some pictures off of my workbench from this week. A little dark, but they are more or less to show I'm still painting! First up is some commission pieces for a Cryx player:















Finally, I have painted a ton of tavern stuff. Here is a corner booth to give you a taste of it.





I promise to grab another light next time


----------



## V3ndettaX

Pogue...Your Awesome


----------



## pogre

Here are a few troops I recently did for a friend. I’m really pleased with how these turned out.

Example One:





Example Two:





Example Three – tough to tell from the pic, but I gave him a bit of a rosy nose:





Example Four:





Example Five – the boss I believe:





All ten of the winterguard:





I’m also working on some cool dungeon pieces for a Con in February. It’s a reverse dungeon type thing where the players run the bad guys. Should be a lot of fun. I’ll post pics of the dungeon later – I’m running a playtest in a few days.


----------



## pogre

I recently playtested my massive reverse dungeon convention game. Here are a few pics of the layout. I’ll post more from the actual event at WinterWar.

The Whole thing:





The magma fountain:





A Hirst Arts fountain, a crevice piece from DF, and the room behind is from the Hirst Arts tutorial I did chronicled near the beginning of this thread:





Naturally, I had to get some Den of Evil pieces in:





Every dungeon needs a tavern!





The dreaded summoning circle:





Every dungeon needs a dungeon! The hallway connecting this chamber is a recently created Hirst Arts piece. If you look closely you may be able to see the light effects on the floor:


----------



## Kris

Tavern area looks nice... that the stuff you mentioned a few posts up?

Close up pic's of those pieces and the statue would be cool if you ever have the time


----------



## NarlethDrider

awesome stuff as usual
can u share anything on the reverse dungeon?


----------



## pogre

NarlethDrider said:
			
		

> awesome stuff as usual
> can u share anything on the reverse dungeon?




Thanks much!

Here are the play rules - all ONE page of them 

Dungeon Lord play sheet 

If you are interested in the minion cards and/or the dungeon environment cards let me know - I can try to put those up too.



			
				Kris said:
			
		

> Close up pic's of those pieces and the statue would be cool if you ever have the time




Sure. I'll try to get those close ups next time we play (February 9th at WinterWar). I would do it sooner, but it is already packed for the con and I am exceedingly lazy!


----------



## pogre

Some of my latest stuff - including some 15mm painted for BattleLore. I was going for decent tabletop level and am selling them on ebay.


----------



## pogre

Here is a little experiment I did called black and white only. The picture did not come out great, but this gargoyle was painted almost completely with a bottle of black and a bottle of white paint. I did throw a little red for eyes.


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

YO POGRE!

I saw these linked from Chris Pramas' blog-- I know you'll love them.

http://www.otherworld.me.uk/home.html

Old school, 1e AD&D sculpts-- pig-faced orcs are all great (check that sow!) and check the coming soon section. The troll is spot-on.

I'm also tempted to buy that resin "DEMON IDOL" for nostalgia sake alone.


----------



## pogre

Wulf Ratbane said:
			
		

> Old school, 1e AD&D sculpts-- pig-faced orcs are all great (check that sow!) and check the coming soon section. The troll is spot-on.
> 
> I'm also tempted to buy that resin "DEMON IDOL" for nostalgia sake alone.




Those are fantastic! Man, that brings back memories. I have some pig-faced orcs from Grenadier around here somewhere.

I'll check into shipping, but if they are anything like most UK shops it probably is prohibitive.


----------



## Shape D.

pogre said:
			
		

> I'll check into shipping, but if they are anything like most UK shops it probably is prohibitive.



Actually based of this quote:

"Shipping costs are very reasonable, they are calculated automatically by the Paypal checkout system, and they are the same no matter where you live! This is what you can expect to pay"
and
"Order value over £75.00 - Shipping cost is £5.00"

I  don't think it would be too bad. (my pound to us $ isn't up to date though)

The Troll in the coming soon section looks awesome too.......


----------



## pogre

Shape D. said:
			
		

> Actually based of this quote:
> 
> "Shipping costs are very reasonable, they are calculated automatically by the Paypal checkout system, and they are the same no matter where you live! This is what you can expect to pay"
> and
> "Order value over £75.00 - Shipping cost is £5.00"
> 
> I  don't think it would be too bad. (my pound to us $ isn't up to date though)
> 
> The Troll in the coming soon section looks awesome too.......




I just e-mailed them for a quote. I need to go to OZ to ask for Will Power.


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

pogre said:
			
		

> I just e-mailed them for a quote. I need to go to OZ to ask for Will Power.




Let me know if you decide to place an order, maybe we can double up and split the shipping.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

That gargoyle is teh awesome.


----------



## pogre

Wulf Ratbane said:
			
		

> Let me know if you decide to place an order, maybe we can double up and split the shipping.




No need - shipping for the orc set is only 4 lbs.! Very reasonable shipping - Shape D. was absolutely right.



			
				Reveille said:
			
		

> That gargoyle is teh awesome.



Thanks! I unleashed it on the PCs this afternoon.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

pogre said:
			
		

> Thanks! I unleashed it on the PCs this afternoon.



How did the encounter go?


----------



## Wulf Ratbane

pogre said:
			
		

> No need - shipping for the orc set is only 4 lbs.! Very reasonable shipping - Shape D. was absolutely right.




I'm going to wait until the troll is available in mid-Feb, then get the troll, the orcs boxed set, and the big demon idol all at once.

Personally I just love that the orc set includes a little orc baby ripe for the slaughter. Here's hoping my next group of PCs includes a paladin. (I'm sick, I know.)


----------



## pogre

Reveille said:
			
		

> How did the encounter go?




The Gargoyle got away - I cannot comment more than that except to say it is a pretty special gargoyle. 




			
				Wulf Ratbane said:
			
		

> Personally I just love that the orc set includes a little orc baby ripe for the slaughter. Here's hoping my next group of PCs includes a paladin. (I'm sick, I know.)



I remember a line from somewhere along the lines of "nits make lice." I think I have heard of a certain dwarf who would have no moral quandry.

I just finished up some commissions, so I really will post some more picture on here soon


----------



## pogre

Here are some skeletal minis I did on commission for privateer press's WarMachine game. First up is a Champion I did all kinds of experimenting on:





Here's a close-up I did of the sword. Although you cannot see it perfectly, when you tilt the sword to one side you can see a greenish tinge to the blade. It's an effect I'll do again if I can reproduce it:





I added a bit of mud and grit to the base of this guy's cape. the blend could be smoother, but I like how it turned out:





Here's a bunch of what I call ghouldroids. A lot of funky washes on these fellas.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

pogre said:
			
		

> Here are some skeletal minis I did on commission for privateer press's WarMachine game. First up is a Champion I did all kinds of experimenting on:



Terrific!  Absolutely beautiful!


----------



## frankthedm

pogre said:
			
		

> First up is a Champion I did all kinds of experimenting on:



I'd say the experiment was successful. The green tinge to the blade makes me expect something BAD is in store for the Champion’s victims. Great job.

Well, one caveat; the grass on their bases ought to be withering away in a green to grey-white gradation. Granted that might take a lot of work, but they look like the type to ruin any land they pass over.


----------



## pogre

Thanks Frank! And great suggestion on the basing too.


----------



## Ravenknight

Nice work. As usual.!


----------



## Angel Tarragon

_*demands to see more minis*_

Can't wait to see whats next.


----------



## pogre

Reveille said:
			
		

> _*demands to see more minis*_
> 
> Can't wait to see whats next.



You're too kind. I'm currently working on a commission that involves significant sculpting. I also have a few figures getting some paint - including a monster, which should also make Frank happy!


----------



## pogre

Had a chance to use my gargoyle in my game tonight. He very nearly was able to get a kill after hiding in the party's room. I love how camoflauged he looks in this shot:


----------



## WhatGravitas

pogre said:
			
		

> You're too kind. I'm currently working on a commission that involves significant sculpting. I also have a few figures getting some paint - including a monster, which should also make Frank happy!



Hey, pogre, how is it going?

*shameless bump to see more of your work*

Cheers, LT.


----------



## pogre

Thanks for the bump!

I have been painting - just not photographing. I sent out a bunch of commissions last month and I am wrapping up another bunch this week. I'll try to get some pictures taken of those. I plan on doing a step-by-step on a dwarf figure I need to paint.


----------



## pogre

Some commissions I finished last month. Privateer Press pieces. The orb was a custom re-sculpt:





The blurry witch from another pic:


----------



## pogre

.....


----------



## pogre

.....


----------



## Lalato

On the camera, it depends on how much you can spend.  You can get a pretty decent camera for macro shots for around $500 or less.  If you're looking for something cheaper...  I've had pretty good luck with the Canon SD series.

--sam


----------



## pogre

.....


----------



## JoeGKushner

Es muy bueno!


----------



## pogre

Inspired by JoeGKushner's post about Mike Merle's blog on 52 minis in a year I decided to post all of the minis I paint this year. I hope keeping track will get me motivated to paint more this year!

So far, I'm slightly ahead I present my first 11 miniatures. 10 Privateer Press pirates and a Reaper Ettercap.





























Two of the pirates had three of the same pose - so ten pirates, including the two sets of triplets.

And now, for the ever-inspirational FrankDM - a monster! The Ettercap.


----------



## JoeGKushner

Great job on the stripes.

I love the P figures but hate that they almost all have guns. Useful for some campaigns, even some D&D ones, but it's a very specific piece of equpiment.


----------



## JoeGKushner

StumpyGivens said:


> ==You don't know me!==
> You have been banned for the following reason:
> Tyler Starke
> 
> Date the ban will be lifted: Never




Please share your drugs. I am always in need of new and exciting mental stimulation.


----------



## ledded

Nice work on the Pirates, particularly the clothes.  It's been a while since I've seen your stuff.


----------



## pogre

ledded said:


> Nice work on the Pirates, particularly the clothes.  It's been a while since I've seen your stuff.



Ledded!
How are you my friend?

I'm back in painting mode - I'm going to post every figure I paint this year. I already have another group of figures posing and ready for the camera. We'll see how many I end up with, but I'm fairly enthused thus far.


----------



## pogre

*#12 for 2009*

A quick zombie for today's D&D game:


----------



## pogre

*#13 for 2009*

A Privateer Goblin Spy. Part of the pic is a little out of focus, but you can mostly see what I was doing here.


----------



## pogre

*#14 for 2009*

A Tiefling for our 4th edition campaign. Miniature is from Reaper.


----------



## pogre

*#15 for 2009*

A Halfling Rogue for our 4th edition campaign. Miniature is from Reaper.


----------



## JoeGKushner

Smooth reds on the tielfling.


----------



## pogre

*Aurlok Starter Set from Alkemy (figs 16-20)*

Thanks Joe!

Pictures a bit out of focus, but here are the figures from the Aurlok starter box.

Tecum'Seh Crow Sachem






Toad Medicine Shaman (this guy is nowhere near this green in real life...)





Crow Thunder Warrior





Auroch Totem-Warrior





Wolf Thunder-Warrior


----------



## pogre

Wow! This thread is nearly six years old!

The funny thing is I am working right now on the project that _started_ this thread! I have done some painting and a few hirst arts pieces, but I am having issues with my website. Once it is accessible again, expect a few new posts/pictures.


----------



## pogre

Now that the site is up and zipping I have some catching up to do!

Here are some shots of a multi-purpose (D&D, WFRP, Dark Heresy, 40K) building I made last month. Sorry about the photo quality.
















I'm currently working on the very first project I started this thread with 6 years ago! Pictures to come!


----------



## Olaf the Stout

Is that building made from Hirst Arts Molds pogre?

Olaf the Stout


----------



## pogre

Olaf the Stout said:


> Is that building made from Hirst Arts Molds pogre?
> 
> Olaf the Stout




Yep. I did it Mordheim style for my Dark Heresy game. I was going to add more sci-fi and gothic elements to it, but decided to use it for fantasy too. 

I've been casting and drying bricks all day to try and complete a project for this weekend. It's a really big project.


----------



## crazzycat

pogre said:


> Thanks Joe!
> 
> Pictures a bit out of focus, but here are the figures from the Aurlok starter box.



So cute and realistic models, i imagine the game with them


----------



## Trevalon Moonleirion

You, sir, do impressive work!

I sent you an email to the address you have in your profile, but not sure if that's one that you check.  Let me know if it isn't!


----------



## pogre

Greetings!

I finished up the massive castle keep that started this thread 6 years ago. It needs more painting, doors, and a few other things, but the basic structure is done! 















There is a complete battle report of a massive siege battle we fought on the castle keep last week on my website. There are some decent pictures of a ton of nicely painted figs involved in the battle. 

Here is a direct link to the battle report:
Fantasy Siege Battle Report


----------



## Mark

Congrats! 


Been following this on and off for a while and I am glad to see this particular project come to fruition!  _I'll bet they haven't heard the end of those spider riders!_


----------



## pogre

*Talisman Figures*

*Talisman Figures*

Painting the Talisman figures is a project I started back in the Summer of '05. This must be the Winter of cleaning up old projects!

Below is my re-post of the cards and mini pictures I painted way back then:

















I finally finished the last one during a snow day from school. No points for originality, my kids wanted them all to look exactly like the originals.
So here are all the rest. I forgot to adjust the lighting, but what the heck I'm pretty rusty at photographing these days!




























































































BTW - I stopped posting my pictures as thumbnails because I figured nobody really wanted to bother to click through to the larger pics. 
If you would like to see a return to the thumbnail format let me know. I don't really care - and this easier for me anyway.


----------



## pogre

Pictures taken with someone else's camera. Paizo Sorceress with alternate poses. This figure is a pain to put together.


----------



## Knightfall

Excellent!!!


----------



## pogre

Thanks Knightfall.

Another Paizo figure - same borrowed camera. Cranked this Wizard out, but I like him.


----------



## pogre

A War Machine mercenary commission:


----------



## pogre

I like how this one came out. The face is much better in person


----------



## pogre

Another Malifaux figure


----------



## pogre

More Malifaux - these guys are called witchlings:


----------



## Steve Jung

I like the witchlings. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## pogre

Another Malifaux figure - this one is called Lady Justice. She is mostly hair and cleavage. Not that there is anything wrong with that! I think I took her to prom in the '80s!
















Thanks for looking!


----------



## pogre

The Judge - his coat in real life is off-white, not light blue.


----------



## pogre

This is Perdita Ortega, the first of several from the Ortega posse. More cleavage and big hair! Man, that takes me back to the good ole' days!


----------



## dogoftheunderworld

Nice work, as always, Pogre.

(Man, I need to find a painting project... and set aside some time.)


----------



## pogre

dogoftheunderworld said:


> Nice work, as always, Pogre.




Thanks very much.



dogoftheunderworld said:


> (Man, I need to find a painting project... and set aside some time.)




Good lord! Let me send you about 50 of my projects I have sitting around here!


----------



## pogre

Back from Vacation. Onward with the rest of the Ortega gang. Here is Santiago Ortega.


----------



## pogre

Next up: Nino Ortega with a dynamic pose & a BFG!


----------



## pogre

Francisco Ortega with a pastel frilly shirt and a BAD attitude.


----------



## pogre

These fine fellows are called Death Marshals and they have something nasty in the coffins!


----------



## pogre

After painting up three boxes of Guild faction Malifaux for a commission I am finally painting some of my own stuff again.

Every winter we have a mini-convention with old friends between Christmas and New Years. This year I plan on running a modified Mordheim campaign.

I am going to paint up a number of the warbands. Each player then will pull tokens to determine what warband they will play. Everyone will get a quickstart sheet and a reserve of gold to buy their warband members.

All of the miniatures will have a card. I am making the cards using Magic Set Editor. Each card will have the price, stats, special abilities, etc. for the figure.

Once the players have selected their respective warbands, we will have three or four sessions of duels. We will have four 4' x 4' tables set-up. The day will conclude with a big city battle on a 4' x 8' table.

So, I have a lot of painting ahead of me. 

The first band I'm painting up are Skaven. I already have a fair number of skaven a friend of mine and I began painting a few years ago. 

Without further delay here is the first figure in the Skaven Warband- the Assassin Adept. This figure was painted by my friend as a wererat for my D&D campaign years ago. I decided against rebasing this figure as I did most of the old stuff. I just did a little touch-up.


----------



## pogre

Converted this old guy into a Skaven Eshin sorcerer:


----------



## pogre

Using this old school Skaven slave as a rank & file rat:


----------



## ExploderWizard

Nice looking rats!  The new 8th edition will finally bring us some good quality plastic skaven slaves. It always seemed wrong that the most worthless units in the skaven army were the most expensive to purchase because they only came in metal.


----------



## pogre

Thanks Explorer Wizard!

Another old school Skaven slave converted:

Using this old school Skaven slave as a rank & file rat:


----------



## nyrfherdr

Hey Pogre,
Nice to see you still painting and finding time for your own projects.  I've been away from the boards for awhile.  It's great to see some of your recent work.

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr


----------



## pogre

More from the vermintide!


----------



## JoeGKushner

I like the rocky base. Sculpted?


----------



## pogre

JoeGKushner said:


> I like the rocky base. Sculpted?




Thanks - yep a bit of greenstuff. Here's another one:


----------



## Morkul

amazing stuff.  very intricate.  heads off to you, sir...


----------



## Morkul




----------



## pogre

Some pictures of new terrain boards I created for a fantasy skirmish game.


----------



## Kris

That's pretty darn awesome!


----------



## pogre

Kris said:


> That's pretty darn awesome!




Thanks Kris!

Here are some pics from this year's fantasy siege. This is the same scenario as last year's, but we made a lot of upgrades to the siege equipment. You can read a battle report of last year's game on my gaming site - pogre.com.

The result was much different this year with the green horde winning in convincing fashion!






A new siege tower!





New Dwarven siege defense equipment.





My son Davy smiling with delight at the prospect of feasting on Stuntie flesh!





Here comes the horde!





New spiked battering ram.





Orc welcoming party.





More party gifts for the orcs.





The anxious Dwarven Princess looks on.





A breach in the wall early in the engagement. Not good for the Dwarves!





Orc boar boyz riding in to the breach.





Ladders up! Trolls forward!





Orcs going up the ladders.





Here comes the siege tower!





Dwarves rush to the breach.





Orcs pour onto the wall.





Orcs taking the wall. The gate is about to crash too!





The Dwarven Loremaster and General die with their boots on!


----------



## pogre

*New and improved Reverse Dungeon miniatures convention game pictures*

Some may recall that I designed and ran a reverse dungeon style game a couple of years ago (see this post) at a GREAT local gaming convention called Winter War.

I revised the game and made new terrain boards for the dungeon. Not onlys did the new boards make it much easier for me to transport the dungeon, I think it really added a lot to the appearance of the game. 











The game was a big hit and I'm certainly going to run it again!


----------



## Lalato

I miss playing at your table, sir.


----------



## pogre

Hey Folks,

Thanks for all of the kind comments!

I got sidetracked the last couple of weeks building Genestealers and Necrons for my sons. They got bit by the 40K bug and so Dad got drafted into building models. I'm not painting those guys though!

So I'm back to work on a project I started at the end of WinterWar - painting some Uncharted Seas fleets. I have not played the game yet, but of course I cannot try it out with unpainted minis! I got a Dwarf fleet done, a Elf fleet almost done, and an Imperial Human fleet started.

Photos coming soon!


----------



## frankthedm

The castle rocks! 

Got any higher res image of the dungeon?

How modular is the dungeon BTW? Could it be arranged in 3"x3" sections or is it locked in 2"x2"? I ask because of this eye opening post I saw on 1E scale. 







Eye of the Beholder said:


> Quoting the original AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, regarding the use of miniatures in the game:
> 
> "Figure bases are necessarily broad in order to assure that the figure will stand... Because of this, it is usually necessary to use a ground scale twice that of the actual scale... squares of about one actual inch per side are suggested. Each ground scale inch can then be used to equal 3 1/2 linear feet, so a 10' wide scale corridor is three actual inches in width and shown as 3 separate squares. This allows depiction of the typical array of three figures abreast, and also enables easy handling of such figures when they are moved."​
> In short, the corridors were drawn ten feet wide, but with the assumption that ten feet was enough for three people fighting side by side (three squares), not two.





Spoiler



Did I just hear screaming?


----------



## pogre

Hi Frank,

Sadly I took the dungeon pics with a phone - they are about as good as it gets. Next year at the convention I'll try to get better pictures. I'm due for a new camera anyway.

That was a fascinating bit about the 1e scale. It makes all kinds of sense. I think just from an ascetic point of view I wish they would have just converted the whole thing to yards. One square = one yard. I find the 10-feet equals three squares a little awkward. Still I like the idea of three inch wide corridors.

The dungeon pieces are pretty modular, but I would have to redesign all of my passage pieces. Most of the dungeon pieces I create from Hirst Arts are designed to match my Master Maze collection. I would also have to recut all of the foam - so for this game at least, I am pretty locked into one square = five feet.


----------



## Olli

You, Sir, ROCK!!

i have just yesterday discovered this thread, and it blew me away!
Makes me miss gaming even more...

Olli


----------



## H.M.Gimlord

I just discovered this thread too, and it's given me a bunch of ideas.  I've only recently started.  Here's what I've got so far.


----------



## H.M.Gimlord

@pogre <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->:  You seem to be well versed in this stuff, and I have an idea to  bring to life an encounter based on an L4E game I've been DMing for  about a year and a half now, called Hey! That's Not Wayne's Basement.  The idea is the cellar of an inn with enormous wine casks, one of which is actually a secret door leading to a den of thieves.   Problem is, Burce Hirst only has a 1" wide cask, and I would be looking  for a cask of at least 2" in diameter and 3" long. Here's a link to "The Cask" in Heidelberg, Germany that served as an inspiration for the idea.


----------



## pogre

H.M.Gimlord said:


> @pogre <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->:  You seem to be well versed in this stuff, and I have an idea to  bring to life an encounter based on an L4E game I've been DMing for  about a year and a half now, called Hey! That's Not Wayne's Basement.  The idea is the cellar of an inn with enormous wine casks, one of which is actually a secret door leading to a den of thieves.   Problem is, Burce Hirst only has a 1" wide cask, and I would be looking  for a cask of at least 2" in diameter and 3" long. Here's a link to "The Cask" in Heidelberg, Germany that served as an inspiration for the idea.




I've been super busy and not on here much - are you still seeking modelling ideas on the cask?

Cool idea BTW.


----------



## H.M.Gimlord

Yes actually.  I've got a couple, but they amount to no more than gluing some cast planks around a cylinder.  Any advice would be helpful.


----------



## naloomi

Let me start by saying I am a licensed seller of Hirst Arts casts, kits, and builds, as well as custom sculpts by other people. I too have been working on a larger cask than the one Bruce offers on mold 85. Bruce's has a diameter at it's widest of 1.2" (30mm) and is 1.4" long (36mm). The one I've been attempting to sculpt is 2" wide at it's widest, and about 3" long. I've been having some problems making it look 'good' though. 

Pogre, I keep meaning to contact you about offering some of your designs to customers through my store. Let me know if you are okay with it. Thanks.

Naloomi
Owner / Operator of Naloomi's Workshop


----------



## pogre

Howdy,

I know it's been a while...

I am currently working on the largest, most expensive, most ridiculous, and certainly the stupidest gaming project of my goofy gaming life.

A common reaction of my friends when I describe the project is:

"That's going to be so cool, but you're an idiot for trying to do it!"

or

"Better you than me!"

I have been working on gathering the parts for this project for the past two years. Now, I am putting it together. There will be pictures in the near future. Prepare to laugh your respective butts off at the outrageous depths of my idiocy!


----------



## Kris

There is a fine line between genius and madman ...and if this new project includes cladding the outside of your house with Hirst Arts blocks ...then you may have just crossed that line 

Seriously though, I'm looking forward to the big reveal.


----------



## pogre

I've put my gigantic project of madness on the backburner. It will be worked on again in the summer of 2012. I had to put it away for a while, it was just casting a pall over my entire work area 

I got a new Nikon camera. The S.O.B. is so fancy I cannot figure it out. I was hoping for great pictures, but it has not happened...

Below is the tribe of pig-faced orcs I painted. Not great, but fun figures. I painted them purely for the sake of nostalgia. The sculpts are great - I'm a big Kev Adams fan. The miniatures had a lot of problems - misformed tusks, seam lines from hell, etc. They're not cheap either. Still, great to have for old school dungeony goodness!


----------



## pogre

*Malifaux Executioner*

This big ugly is a Malifaux Executioner who works for the Guild faction. He is one of number of figures I painted for a commission.


----------



## pogre

This nasty looking fellow is another Guild guy called Ryle. He is some sort of cyborg-zombie:


----------



## pogre

Some speed painting: WW II Germans by Warlord miniatures. The uniforms are not quite this blue in real life, but they are a bit too blue. First historical figures in a long time! I'll be painting up some more for a Point Blank! scenario.






That makes 23 figures painted for 2012.


----------



## pogre

I have been working on a fantasy skirmish game I call War Chant and I needed a hydra. This guys was primed this morning and I just finished him a few minutes ago. I was really struggling getting a pic, it's a fairly large figure:





Yeah, I know, I'm not sure I am crazy about the multi-colored heads either. Well, at least it's different...





That makes 24 figures in 2012.


----------



## Mark CMG

Looks good to me.  I like the different color heads.  Who makes that hydra mini?


----------



## pogre

Mark CMG said:


> Who makes that hydra mini?



Fenryll.


----------



## pogre

A mounted knight I have been working on for a while:

















25 in 2012.


----------



## pogre

U.S. W.W.II G.I.s - Riflemen and Bazooka teams. Painted up quickly for Point Blank skirmish game.






43 figures painted in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Hirst Arts City Guard Building*

I finally completed the city guard building I have been working on. It is not an original design, but based on Ryan Skow's excellent work. It's a fun piece, it comes completely apart, has interior stairs, ladders, and doors. 






If you want to see the original with a few suggestions for building it - check out Ryan Skow's version.

I know it's a building, but I'm counting it in my mini count!
44 in 2012.


----------



## Dannyalcatraz

> Vernon374
> has no status.
> 
> Registered User
> 
> Join Date: Jul 2012
> Posts: 10
> Novice (Lvl 1)



Reported


----------



## pogre

My boys enjoy playing 40K and "recruited" me to paint up a force to play with them. My goal is to create the cheapest force possible and let the guys beat the tar out of me. I'm just going for decent tabletop and was pretty pleased with how this group came out. All of the figures came out of a 5th edition starter box. They were supposed to be Ultra Marines, but I painted them up as Blood Angels because thats how my terminator marines from my Space Hulk game are painted up.











55 figures painted in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Enslaved Nephilim*

A Malifaux commission called an Enslaved Nephilim. Not sure what it is, but it is part of the Guild Faction.





A shot with the card it came with:





56 figures painted in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Blood Angel Dreadnaught*

Where did my summer go? As many of you know, in real life I am a head football coach and teacher, football camp starts tonight - officially ending my summer. In the past that has meant pretty much an end to my painting production as well, but I am resolved to paint at least twenty minutes a night. It's a great relaxing and stress-reducing hobby and it will be good for me this fall.

Here's a look at the Blood Angel Dreadnaught I painted to match the SM above. Solid tabletop quality for me. He was swarmed over by some of my sons Necron scarabs the other day...
















57 miniatures painted in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*scales of justice*

Another Malifaux commission - bad picture, but it turned out great:





I promise I'll put up some fantasy-based figures next time.

58 miniatures painted in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Centaur*

I picked this figure up in an auction lot a few months ago. It was already assembled and primed so I thought I would paint it up. I learned a couple of things:
1. In the future, make sure all miniatures I have purchased assembled are put together correctly - this miniature was a mess; and
2. Reprime - some folks use pretty gritty primer.











I would like to paint this figure again, because it is a neat miniature. However, I could not bear to put too much time into it once I started because of the poor construction.

59 models painted in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Centaur 2 and Malifaux Austringers*

I apologize for the picture quality. I just wanted to document my progress. I'm really starting to hate taking pictures. I need to set up my lighting box again to do it properly.
















62 models finished in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Rise of the Runelords Project*




I have recently purchased the Anniversary Edition of the Rise of the Runelords by Paizo. I wanted to give you a heads up because there will undoubtedly be small spoilers in the coming weeks as I post things to this thread. 

I have nearly all of the Reaper miniatures associated with the adventures and have begun painting them up.

I also plan on doing some custom terrain for the adventures - no 2d flipmats for us.

The campaign starts in late fall following the conclusion of my football season. 

When I post something associated with the campaign I will have Runelords in the title - so folks wishing to avoid spoilers can do so. If I post major spoilers - I will attempt to put them in spoiler tags.

I am looking forward to this campaign and I hope I can make it as visually spectacular as possible!


----------



## frankthedm

pogre said:


>



_"At him!" he cried, raising his arm. 

And David flew like a silent brown bullet, stubby wings pumping once, twice, three times, before crashing into Cort's face, talons searching, beak digging. Red drops flew up into the hot air.  _

The centigor is coming along nicely.


----------



## pogre

Came home from a long day of football practices and found my two youngest sons had created a minis game out of nothing but craft sticks and paper. It is a pretty awesome set-up.





They drew pictures of troops and monsters and propped them up with parts of craft sticks.





They made a bunker out of craft sticks.





The boys played for hours. Great entertainment for an 8-year old and a 6-year old!





Each troop had a separate character sheet. I watched for a while and heard things like:
"Does he have cover?"

"My demon did max damage!"

"Should this guy do one or two dice to hit?"

Finally, after I watched for a while, Stevie, the older boy said, "Dad, we still have a lot of work to do. We're just playtesting."

My sons made my day - as they often do.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

A Paizo goblin from Reaper. A humble beginning for my Rise of the Runelords project:










I'll hopefully be posting a bunch of these critters over the next few days.

It's amazing how tiny these gobbos are!

63 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

Another Paizo goblin from Reaper:










64 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

Another Paizo goblin from Reaper:










65 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

Another Paizo goblin from Reaper:










66 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

A Paizo Goblin War Chanter from Reaper:










67 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

A Paizo Goblin Commando on a Goblin Dog from Reaper:











68 models in 2012.


----------



## Mark CMG

Can you discuss the shading and inking you might do on a mount like that with a smoother coat?  What might be your particular techniques? Thanks in advance for any insights!


----------



## pogre

Mark CMG said:


> Can you discuss the shading and inking you might do on a mount like that with a smoother coat?  What might be your particular techniques? Thanks in advance for any insights!




I plan on doing a step-by-step after football season wraps up. We made the playoffs for the 11th straight year - I know, I know I'm a great coach

The basics on this guy were - 
base coat
ink (brown+orange+yellow)
base coat color again
Feather up highlights (very little pigment on the brush for these stages)

I promise more as time allows!


----------



## Mark CMG

pogre said:


> I plan on doing a step-by-step after football season wraps up. We made the playoffs for the 11th straight year - I know, I know I'm a great coach





Well done! 




pogre said:


> The basics on this guy were -
> base coat
> ink (brown+orange+yellow)
> base coat color again
> Feather up highlights (very little pigment on the brush for these stages)
> 
> I promise more as time allows!





Thanks, I look forward to the tutorial.  It's always good to pick up new techniques.


----------



## pogre

Malifaux Figures

A Malifaux Sergeant:





A Malifaux Captain





70 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

*Rise of the Runelords Project*

Rise of the Runelords

A Paizo Pyro-Goblin  from Reaper:





71 models in 2012.

BTW - If you want to see some of these figures and terrain in action check out my new story hour.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

A Paizo Pyro-Goblin  from Reaper:





72 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

A Paizo Pyro-Goblin  from Reaper:





73 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

Shalelu Andosana from Reaper:
She is found on page 26 of the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords:












74 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

Ameiko Kajitsu from Reaper:
She is found on page 22 of the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords:






Not a great pic...


75 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords

Erylium from Reaper:
She is found on page 38 of the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords:











A picture of her in action from the SH.








76 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Malifaux - the Lawyer
Another commission piece - this nasty fellow is a member of the Guild faction. What could be scarier than a lawyer? I should know, because I used to be one...








77 models in 2012.


----------



## smiteworks

Hey Pogre, did you get in on the Reaper Bones kickstarter when it was running?  If so, I'm hoping we can see some of these in 2013 and it will be interesting to see which ones grab your attention to paint first.  I'm hoping that much new material will get me back into painting more often again.

Great work, as always.  

-Doug


----------



## pogre

smiteworks said:


> Hey Pogre, did you get in on the Reaper Bones kickstarter when it was running?  If so, I'm hoping we can see some of these in 2013 and it will be interesting to see which ones grab your attention to paint first.  I'm hoping that much new material will get me back into painting more often again.
> 
> Great work, as always.
> 
> -Doug




Hi Doug, I did get in on the Reaper deal albeit as add-ons through a friend. I have already done some of the figures in the past (in metal obviously) including my recently painted Paizo goblins. They are tiny, but fun to paint. I'm guessing my first Bones projects will be the giants. Really looking forward to it!

I also know I'm going to do some step-by-step in the nearish future. The first one will be during my Christmas break. However, I hope to do some step-by-steps on the Bones next year to help people get fired up on painting. If for no other reason than to blow my stuff out of the water!


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Sinspawn












78 models in 2012.


----------



## Mark CMG

A couple of Reaper Familiar blisters and a bag of converted dollar store rats and you can coast through the New Year! 

(We're all rooting for you and your goal.  )


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Lyrie Akenja found on page 58 of the Anniversary Edition:





Nualia found on page 61 of the Anniversary Edition:









One of the PCs - a female catfolk rogue - this figure is from the game Alkemy:









A group of skinsaw cultists. Not the most interesting figures to paint, but the illustration in the book (page 115) is not that interesting either:






85 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Scarecrow Flesh Golem
Found on page 121 of the Anniversary Edition












86 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Hook Mountain Ogre
Found on page 155 of the Anniversary Edition












87 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Xanesha 
Found on page 123 of the Anniversary Edition












88 models in 2012.


----------



## Mark CMG

pogre said:


> 88 models in 2012.





You're closing in!


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
The Skinsaw Man
Found on page 107 of the Anniversary Edition













89 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Ogre Fighter - Harlock "Hookmaw" Kreeg
Found on page 156 of the Anniversary Edition












90 models in 2012.


----------



## Morrus

Hey [MENTION=6588]pogre[/MENTION], I'm gonna slip this awesome thread over to Tabletop and reassign it to Miniatures as a prefix.  I think that's a better fit for the current forum setup!  Oh - and wow; just noticed this thread is closing in on a decade!


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Ogre Spell Caster - Dorella Kreeg
Found on page 156 of the Anniversary Edition















91 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
The Scribbler
Found on page 241 of the Anniversary Edition











92 models in 2012.

Helped my son work on his 40K Ork Battlewagon tonight and I may have put my goal of 100minis by the end of the year in jeopardy. The good news is I am on break and hopefully can get some hours of painting in.


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Khalib Runelord Apprentice
Found on page 357 of the Anniversary Edition











93 models in 2012.


----------



## Teflonknight

Woo hoo finally caught up...I found your thread yesterday and made it all the way from 2003 in a couple of days.

i just have to say that your painting and modelling skills are very impressive.

I also wanted to pick your brain considering the amount of miniature experience that you have had. I am looking for a female human ranger for my wife to represent her favourite character type. One with a long bow. Have you come across any minis that would be a good match.


----------



## pogre

I'm a big fan of 02909: Nienna, Elf Ranger sculpted by Werner Klocke over at Reaper.




Painted by Marike Reimer

You can find a ton of figures that match your description over at Reaper


----------



## pogre

Malifaux Figures
First - another set of witchlings. Slightly different color scheme to differentiate them from the first crew I painted. This is a commission for the same customer:













Next up is a GenCon sculpt the folks over at Wyrd put out. It's my understanding that this guy is an undead version of one of their previous Guild sculpts and may be used in the Guild army or one of their undead dominated factions:




Not my best picture, but I think you can see this is a pretty cool figure!

97 models in 2012.


----------



## Teflonknight

That figure finder at Reaper is cool. Thanks for help and keep putting out great painted models.


----------



## pogre

You are so welcome. Good luck with the mini!


----------



## pogre

Rise of the Runelords
Justice Ironbriar
This miniature does not resemble the illustration in the Anniversary Edition at all. I can only assume the sculpt was based on an earlier illustration. I did a lot of funky things with this mini, and it was fun to paint.











98 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Malifaux
Abuela Ortega





This mean grandma is another Malifaux commission.


99 models in 2012.


----------



## pogre

Miniature 100 in 2012 is the apex villain of the Rise of the Runelord Adventure Path - the runelord Karzoug. I have pretty much non-stop gaming scheduled for the next couple of days, so it is unlikely I will get any more done this year. 100 is a very good output for me and I will be pleased if I can match it or better it in 2013!

Rise of the Runelords
Runelord Karzoug
An illustration of Karzoug is found on page 363 of the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary edition.









100 models in 2012.


----------



## Mark CMG

Huzzah and Congrats!


----------



## megamania

You have nailed the art of dry brushing on cloaks and fabric.    I'm envious.     Keep up the good work.


----------



## pogre

megamania said:


> You have nailed the art of dry brushing on cloaks and fabric.    I'm envious.     Keep up the good work.




I wish it was dry brush. The photos just reveal every stinking brush stroke. I don't use dry brushing, just layering. My blending needs a lot of work to get smoother.

Thanks for the compliments!


----------



## pogre

Some pictures from this New Year's Day Fantasy Siege. It featured the Dwarfs defending two sides against Undead and Chaos!


----------



## pogre

Reaper Townsfolk Bar Maid
Step-by-step
PART ONE
==========================
As promised here is a step-by-step on how I approach painting. Even after all of these years I'm still learning, but maybe you can pick up something you want to try.

I selected this miniature because it is something I have been meaning to paint for some time. Also, as many of you have picked up the Reaper Bones Kickstarter - it is one of the townsfolk sculpts included in your package.

Prior to painting I decide what level of paint job I am going to give a figure. For this figure, I am going for high tabletop standard. Far superior to any pre-paint you could purchase, but easily accomplished in an evening's work. It will take me longer because I am going step-by-step. Remember, those show quality miniatures take hours and hours - for example Alexi Z. takes around 30 hours per miniature. We don't want to put in that kind of time - we want to play with our minis!

I will cover some speed painting techniques later this year and some other short-cuts, but this figure's step-by-step will give you a base sense of how I paint.

==========================

PREPARATION
This is a metal miniature, so keep in mind your bones will be slightly different. 

I quickly scrape and file down mold lines, etc. I cut away the broccoli base and remount the figure. For this model I created 

some boards out of greenstuff that will represent the floor of a tavern when I'm done. If you were working for showpiece quality you would take much longer with this process - including using some miliputty paste to fill in flaws on the figure.

I wash the figure with an old toothbrush and a bit of soap.

I prime it black with dupli-color sandable primer. You can pick it up at any auto parts store.

I mount the figure on a large cork using double sided poster mount tape. This is the last time my hands will touch the actual miniature until I am done painting. Your hands and skin oil can do a lot of damage to your paint. That's why you should consider mounting your figures. Plus, it's a heck of a lot easier to paint.






I dry brush the figure with a bit of white primer to help the details stand out.






I use a wet palette when I paint. I use a small Sta-Wet Handy Palette. You can buy the palette and refill sheets at Michael's or Hobby Lobby and any number of art stores. Make sure you a grab a 40-50% off coupon before you buy one - both of these stores regularly offer these coupons.






Here is what my palette looks like after a bit of painting the last couple of days:






The advantage of a wet palette is it is so easy to mix and keep your paint wet while you are painting. I can often come back to a paint after a couple of days and with a touch of water, re-use any mixes I have made.

==========================

FLESH
I paint inside - out on almost all of my figures. I nearly complete an area, but save the last highlights for near the end of the project. I like starting with flesh and I spend a bit of time on faces.

For this lass I am going to use Reaper Master Series (RMS) Burnt Orange, RMS Palomino Gold, RMS Mahogany, Vallejo Game Color (VGC) Charred Brown, and RMS Pure White.






You can see I use a very wet palette - here are the colors on a fresh palette sheet:






RMS Palomino Gold is my base. I added a bit of Mahogany and a bit of RMS Pure White. I measure in brush strokes on my palette so I can keep mixing until I like it. I lay down the base fairly heavy always using a lightly different mix for different areas. I'm doing a little mixing of various shades with almost every brushstroke. I really like the variations in skin tones this gives. It's a real mess when I start:






I keep working the base and start using thinner paint to work up some high lights. I also threw some red down on the palette to work into the flesh color for the cheeks and lips. 

I blacked in the eyes and I will come back to finish those up when I do final highlights. For my purposes, the face is largely done except for some highlights.






==========================
NEXT TIME
Part Two will start with the hair and start with the clothes.

If you have any questions or suggestions as I go along please fire away!


----------



## pogre

Reaper Townsfolk Bar Maid
Step-by-step
PART TWO
==========================
A couple of quick reflections:
1. Taking pictures really slows me down; and
2. Creating close-ups of every step is very humbling in revealing every error. I probably should do it more often.

==========================

HAIR
I painted the hair a base of RMS Mahogany Brown with a touch of VGC Charred Brown.








Next, I created a wash using RMS Russet Brown with about one-third VGC Charred Brown.







I highlighted the hair with RMS Oiled Leather + RMS Palomino Gold + VGC Cobra Leather + VGC Off White.







A wash of Mahogany Brown went over this. I went back and added a touch of VGC Off White to my highlight mix. A wash of Mahogany Brown followed. I continued this process of highlighting followed by a wash until I took the highest highlights almost all the way up to pure VGC Off White.






==========================

DRESS
The dress received a base of RMS Olive Green.










The recessed areas of the dress received a wash of RMS Olive Green + a touch of RMS Russet Brown.










The same shadow mix was used as a straight paint (not a wash) and placed into the deepest recesses.










RMS Olive Green was reapplied to neaten the figure up.










VGC Off-White was added to the mix to create a lighter color and applied to highlights.










More VGC Off-White was added to the mix to go to the lightest highlights.










This is where I left the dress, but looking at the pictures I will probably add some Olive Green washes to tone down the harshest highlights.


==========================
NEXT TIME
Part Three will finish with the clothes and start getting into details.

If you have any questions or suggestions as I go along please fire away!


----------



## beill

Some questions for you from those that are interested in doing something similar.

How long did it take to assemble and paint?

Overall, how hard was it to build?

How many molds did it require?  Which ones?


----------



## pogre

beill said:


> Some questions for you from those that are interested in doing something similar.
> 
> How long did it take to assemble and paint?
> 
> Overall, how hard was it to build?
> 
> How many molds did it require?  Which ones?



 [MENTION=6704473]beill[/MENTION] - O.K. - I think you are talking about one of my Hirst Arts projects, not the step-by-step miniatures painting I have put up in the last couple of posts. Let me know which Hirst Arts project you are interested in (post # would be fine) and I can give you more info.


----------



## pogre

Reaper Townsfolk Bar Maid
Step-by-step
PART THREE
==========================
A quick reflection: I'm sorry about not giving exact portions on my mixes. I just don't paint that way. I grab some color with my brush and mix as I go. I just mix paint until I like the color. 
Let's dive back in on this figure. 

==========================

UNDER CORSET
I painted this piece a little differently. I started with the darkest color and worked my way up to highlights.
I started with RMS Ruddy Leather.









This was highlighted with RMS Oiled Leather.









I added some off-white to the mix and continued to highlight the leather.









A couple of notes on leather - although I did this leather piece with traditional layers there are a couple of speed painting methods that give wonderful results:
1. Paint a base of orange and cover this with a brown + orange + mixed ink with a touch of white glue.
2. Paint a base of fairly dark leather, like RMS Russet Brown + VGC Charred Brown. Create a thin wash of light brown + orange ink. This is a reverse wash where you actually push the ink up to the highlights. It creates a really interesting effect.
I'll try to include some pictures with one or both of these techniques in the future.

==========================

APRON
Similar to the leather under corset, I started with the darkest color and layered up to highlights.
The base color for the apron was mostly VGC Khaki + some VGC Off White.





Highlight layers were built up by adding VGC Off White to the mix.





==========================
NEXT TIME
You may have noticed somewhere along the process I painted the interior of the dark eye sockets white. Not sure when I did that - probably just grabbed some off-white from the palette when I was working on the apron.
Next time we'll do the beer mugs and the tavern floor. 

If you have any questions or suggestions as I go along please fire away!


----------



## pogre

Reaper Townsfolk Bar Maid
Step-by-step
PART FOUR
==========================

MUGS
The mugs were painted with a base of VGC Gunmetal Metal highlighted with VGC chainmail. The suds were painted with VGC off-white with a touch VGC khaki and  highlighted with RMS pure white.









==========================

THE FLOOR
I based the floor in RMS leather





I then washed it with Games Workshop Devlan Mud.





I created grain in the wood first with highlight lines painted with the base mixed with white and then created grooves painting the same color darkened with VGC Charred Brown





==========================

SKIN TOUCH-UP
I went back to the face and smoothed the skin highlights a bit and dotted the eyes. The eyes are a little crooked, but oh well, it adds to our maids charm!





You will notice I did a couple of washes with the original green on the dress to tone down the highlights.

==========================

CONCLUSION
The miniature is pretty much done. I'm pleased withy the effort and it only took a couple of hours of effort. I hope you found something helpful. I'll be doing more step-by-steps in the future with some of the Reaper Bones. Stay tuned!

I'll post complete pictures of the maid with some other completed miniatures in the near future.


----------



## dogoftheunderworld

Thanks for the step-by-step Pogre, it's always interesting to see the different paint steps.  

Also, congrats on your 100 mini year!  Work has been a bear this past year, but I've got my Bones coming in March, so I hope to get back to it!

(Must spread XP around...)


----------



## pogre

Thanks Dog!

I think part of what helped me was forcing myself to paint at least 20 minutes a day, even in my busiest, toughest time of the year. If I managed to get one figure done every other week or so I was pleased. Since I was painting every day it made it less difficult to jump in with a deeper time commitment to painting when work eased up.

I am cranking on some speed painting right now to get ready for a con next weekend. They won't be pretty, but I'll get 'em done! I'll post pictures of their glorious sloppiness when they're done.

I stopped taking my really decent paint jobs to cons for the most part a few years ago. I love having lots of new people play in my games, but they just are not aware of the effort that goes into painting some figures. I don't think they are being purposefully disrespectful at all, but they just are not careful with models. 

That's a long way of saying if you play in one of my con games - I don't apologize for the terrain, but the figs will probably be plastic and the paint jobs will not inspire you.


----------



## pogre

I am way behind on posting some painted minis. I also have some pictures from our local gaming convention: Winter War. Here is a local news story about Winter War:

http://www.wicd15.com/news/top-stories/stories/wicd_vid_6439.shtml

You can see my Dungeon Lord game in the lead off picture and also at :13 - :21 of the video. I'm the guy standing and leaning over the table.

I'll try to get some more pics up here this weekend, including a shot or two of Frank Chadwick's massive Mars Needs Steam game.


----------



## apprentice

pogre,
i found this thread after googling for "Hirstarts sewer". glad i found it and i really appreciate your work.
are you planning on doing any more sewer tiles?
i'm facinated by the Ptolus campaign setting and am currently getting setup as a DM for a new game.
i believe i'll be starting it in the sewers.
i currently own most of the Hirstarts Fieldstone molds, and would appreciate any help you could offer on painting and water effects, etc. 
thanks
apprentice.


----------



## pogre

apprentice said:


> pogre,
> i found this thread after googling for "Hirstarts sewer". glad i found it and i really appreciate your work.
> are you planning on doing any more sewer tiles?
> i'm facinated by the Ptolus campaign setting and am currently getting setup as a DM for a new game.
> i believe i'll be starting it in the sewers.
> i currently own most of the Hirstarts Fieldstone molds, and would appreciate any help you could offer on painting and water effects, etc.
> thanks
> apprentice.



The water in my sewer tiles were undercoated with paint the color I wanted the water to be and then I "painted" over it with two-part clear epoxy.

Painting the stone work:
Undercoat black
Paint dark gray
Dry brush over gray with light yellow-ochre
Create a dark greay wash and paint the lines between the stones
Mix gray, light yellow ochre, and a touch of white. Very lightly dry brush this over the edges.
Where water comes close to the stones work paint over is with a coat of gloss after you matte spray the piece.

If you have other questions let me know.


----------



## pogre

A decent-sized update of the few figures I've managed to paint in the last couple of months.

First up is a paladin character I painted for my campaign that I attempted to use NMM on:









The bar wench I did the step-by-step on up thread:









Another bar wench:









The burly barkeep:









A Reaper Stone Giant for my Rise of the Runelords campaign:









A close up of the slate I made for the base:


----------



## pogre

Yet another bar wench:









A Reaper Anti-Palidin:









Rise of the Runelords High Lady Athroxis found on page 294 of the Anniversary Edition:









Rise of the Runelords Viorian Dekanti found on page 349 of the Anniversary Edition:









Sorry the pictures are a bit dark. Need to adjust my lighting set-up.

These last two figures finally finish my Rise of the Runelords Reaper project. I have painted every miniature Reaper offers related to the campaign. These last two were a bit rushed, but I am happy to get done. Later, I will post a picture of all the Rise of the Runelords miniatures together.


----------



## pogre

This week I have been working on more scenery than miniatures. Here is a fireplace I made to go with my Dwarven Forge Master Maze from some of the new Hirst Arts molds.





I have been meaning to make a bunch of extra floor cavern pieces and finally got around to it:





Here they are put together:


----------



## pogre

Some friends and I are working on a miniatures scenario:

The game is set in the Appalachians in West Virginia in 1938. A group of aliens have come to earth to abduct test subjects. A group of hillpeople are cooking up some whiskey in an illegal still. Some angry coal miners are emerging from the dark depths. The U.S. Army has sent out recon missions to the area. G-Men have come to the area due to strange activity. To top it all off, a zombie plague has hit the area and the swarming brain eaters are crawling through the hills! 

My assignment was a West Virginia coal mine entrance, the miners, and the horde of zombies. I got the mine entrance done - here it is more or less step-by-step:






















































Working on the miners and zombie horde now.


----------



## Tamlyn

Wow!


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## teitan

Hey that loos like home! I'm from Point Pleasant, WV. LOL


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## Olaf the Stout

Awesome job Pogre.  Looks fantastic.

Olaf the Stout


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## pogre

*Mierce Miniatures Manticore*

I got this massive miniature from my in-laws for Christmas. When they bought it they called my wife and asked, "Are you sure this is what he wants?" She reassured them that this is indeed what her odd husband wanted.

This behemoth is Ungefelic a legendary manticore. It is a beautiful sculpt and a lot of fun to paint. I hope your enjoy the pics:






Lots of pics - hard to get this big boy in focus in my normal set-up!





















I'll try to post a picture of this monster next to a man-sized 28 in the near future. He is massive!

Miniature #1 for 2014. I am shooting for at least 200 miniatures painted this year. My sons and I are enjoying Warhammer Fantasy Battle - so I have plenty to paint!


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## pogre

*Avatar of War Orc Shaman*

Not great photos, but here is an orc shaman I recently finished:





















2014 Miniatures count = 2


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## Scorpio616

pogre said:


> I'll try to post a picture of this monster next to a man-sized 28 in the near future. He is massive!



For 50 pounds, he better be! Is that a 100mm x 50mm base? And what did you use for water effects?


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## pogre

Scorpio616 said:


> For 50 pounds, he better be!



True! Which is why I had the inlaws buy it for me for Christmas.


Scorpio616 said:


> Is that a 100mm x 50mm base?



Roughly. The figure does not come with a base. I cut one out of bass wood.


Scorpio616 said:


> And what did you use for water effects?



Layers of two-part epoxy over a textured streambed.


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## Scorpio616

pogre said:


> Layers of two-part epoxy over a textured streambed.



Ah, cool. I've been experimenting with floor finishes for water effects trying to find a balance between cost, easy of use, cost, durability and cost.

Here is a recent experiment with a pathfinder prepainted gug. Popped off the base, flipped the base, dremeled some texture on, painted some colour contrasts and then good ol' Future Floor finish.




Edit: 


pogre said:


> A Reaper Anti-Palidin:
> pogre.com/2013_monique_02.jpg



Got any suggestions for covering that boob window? Reaper bits, jewelry findings, etc.?


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## pogre

Scorpio616 said:


> Edit:
> Got any suggestions for covering that boob window? Reaper bits, jewelry findings, etc.?




I've thought about this and I do not have a brilliant suggestion. I probably would just paint it as a blouse as there is clear separation between this area and the armor.

I am still painting. Struggling through with a large group of crossbowmen right now. Once I finish those I'll paint something more interesting.


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## pogre

My 10-year old son Stevie has been running some of the retro-clone Labyrinth Lord. He was asking if I could get hime some Master Maze. I said I would make him some. So I grabbed some Hirst Arts blocks and whipped him up a small set. A good small project for one of our many snow days here in the midwest of the U.S.





I also finally finished the 32 crossbowmen I was working on. I made some custom movement trays for the figures too.





Next up are a couple of night goblin fanatics and a group of Mercs for a commission.

Miniature Count for 2014: 34


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## Mark CMG

Thanks for continuing with all the great posts and pics! 

Did you scratch build those trays or customize some from a regular manufacturer?  When you get the chance, an you add some details on your process either way?  Thanks in advance!


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## pogre

Mark CMG said:


> Thanks for continuing with all the great posts and pics!
> 
> Did you scratch build those trays or customize some from a regular manufacturer?  When you get the chance, an you add some details on your process either way?  Thanks in advance!




Thanks!

These are GW trays. I customized it by priming it black and then I put white glue on the edges and covered it in sand. I then inked the sand dark brown and drybrushed with a couple of lighter browns. I superglued a bit of turf on the edges and that's it. Super easy - just like basing figures.


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## pogre

A lame update:

I am hip-deep in football season right now, but I have a cool project to share with you this winter. I also purchased a lot of new paints and models over the summer that I plan to bust out after the playoffs in late November. 

I finished up those mercs some time ago - but I have a couple more squads to paint.

It's amazing how old this thread is - when I started it my oldest was a toddler - now he is playing for me. Wow!


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## Klataubarada

So I just went through this entire thread. It's interesting to see the progression in your quality of work.

What an awesome idea for a thread!


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## pogre

*January 3, 2015*

I have been mostly working on some mundane terrain, but I have managed to paint a few figures. First up are a couple of gobbos:










Next up is a Reaper Bone figure that I painted for my son's old school D&D campaign - it's my cleric, Herodotus:





Finally, I hesitated to show you this last figure, because frankly it is a disaster. The paint is too thick, and it is a great example of how even a solid painter can really screw up a nice figure. I don't ever strip figures - I just finish it and throw it in the gaming cabinet. I may purchase it again in the future and try again. Oh well, at least it has paint on it...


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## pogre

I started posting a new story hour for the first time in many years:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...rers-on-the-Loose-(a-pogre-storyhour)(1-27-15)

The story hour includes lots of pictures of terrain and pictures.


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## Flexor the Mighty!

Awesome work as always!  

p.s. How did the Bulldogs do last year?


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## pogre

Flexor the Mighty! said:


> Awesome work as always!
> 
> p.s. How did the Bulldogs do last year?




We had a solid year. We were 7-2 in the regular season (we lost in overtime by one point to the conference champs). We qualified for the playoffs for the 13th year in a row. We moved up in classification and our new classification includes Joliet Catholic, Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin, Montini Catholic, etc. and is widely considered the most competitive playoff class in football in Illinois. We beat Washington High School (near Peoria) in the first round and lost a close second round game - ended up 8-3.

Thanks for asking!

PS - Kids still freak out when they discover the Head Football coach is a D&D geek in the off-season!


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## Flexor the Mighty!

pogre said:


> We had a solid year. We were 7-2 in the regular season (we lost in overtime by one point to the conference champs). We qualified for the playoffs for the 13th year in a row. We moved up in classification and our new classification includes Joliet Catholic, Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin, Montini Catholic, etc. and is widely considered the most competitive playoff class in football in Illinois. We beat Washington High School (near Peoria) in the first round and lost a close second round game - ended up 8-3.
> 
> Thanks for asking!
> 
> 
> 
> PS - Kids still freak out when they discover the Head Football coach is a D&D geek in the off-season!




I bet.  I've been working a bit on my best friend's kids who are all jocks, almost had one interested in borrowing the 3e PHB but he didn't.  Though I did get them into better boardgames like Catan.  You sent me a Bulldogs t-shirt a few years back due to the thread on Circvs Maximvs about the bulldogs season. I remember you had one kid who ran for like 300 yards a game but ended up going into wrestling in college or something like that. 

Anyway congrats on another strong season and hopefully more success in the future!


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## pogre

Painted up a bunch of Reaper Bones to serve as Deep Ones in my D&D campaign. One of my players calls the miniatures the _koi of terror_. The figures were a lot of fun to paint, and since they were Bones, I really cranked them out:


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## smiteworks

Those look nice.

With the bones figures, what sort of prep did you need to do? I have a bunch of those from the first KS, but I haven't painted any yet. Did you still have to primer them?


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## pogre

I undercoated the figures with straight black paint. I have painted straight on bones in the past with some success. I am just accustomed to painting over black.


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## Bearking87

we killed those, plan to fry them up next session lol


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## pogre

Picture of a Reaper dwarf I recently finished for a PC in my 5th edition campaign. Picture was taken at the gaming table with flash - so not the best, but you get the idea.


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## Bearking87

He is indeed super cool, thanks again Pogre


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## tgmoore

Great thread Pogre. You are a prolific painter at a high quality too. Any tips on removing "broccoli" bases from Reaper Bones miniatures? Are you just sawing them off in one pass with a fine tooth saw?


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## pogre

tgmoore said:


> Great thread Pogre. You are a prolific painter at a high quality too. Any tips on removing "broccoli" bases from Reaper Bones miniatures? Are you just sawing them off in one pass with a fine tooth saw?




First, thank you.

The Reaper bases drive me crazy. I usually snip around them with nippers. Then I saw the rest off and sand the remainder. If you have a better method - I would sure love to read it! A lot of times I will cut the base down and just incorporate it into my base with green stuff.

Here's an example, albeit a sloppy one, of an incorporated base:


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## tgmoore

Belt sander w/ 100 grit upside down in a vice makes short work of reaper broccoli bases. Just take your time. Or you could get an el cheapo dedicated setup from Harbor Freight like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/1-in-x-30-in-belt-sander-60543.html

Some guys use dremel cut off wheels and the sanding attachments but there is nothing better for getting a nice flat bottom of the feet then a belt sander. I first heard about it from this guy on the Reaper forums: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/47423-removing-bases-tutorial/


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## pogre

I'm hip-deep in football right now, but I have been doing a touch of painting to relax. I will have some stuff to put up in November for sure if not before. I am no longer taking commissions - I cannot even get my own stuff painted these days


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## Bearking87

Yeah november needs to get here already, I need a game bad lol


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## pogre

A little section of city I put together for a fantasy skirmish game we are playing this weekend:


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## Bearking87

Are these from the kickstarter?


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## pogre

A lot of it is from the kickstarter.


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## pogre

My web service is down for the foreseeable future. I may put it up at some point. However, I have started a new blog with lots of pictures of what I am working on:
Pogre's Gaming Stop


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## pogre

Tabaxi PC


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## pogre

I finally finished the blacksmith shop model I have had for a while. The blacksmith model was made by Novus Design and was a decent model to paint. Forgive the quality of the pictures – I could not get the lighting correct.


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## Flexor the Mighty!

Amazing as always.  Still coaching the Bulldogs?


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## pogre

Flexor the Mighty! said:


> Amazing as always.  Still coaching the Bulldogs?




Yes indeed! Had a nice year, although we were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Young team though - so pretty excited for the future.


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## Flexor the Mighty!

In sports hope springs eternal!


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## pogre

Look at the nice new kitchen table I put together:


Let's have another look at this beauty - aren't you overcome with excitement!?


I know what you are saying - "Dear Lord, I knew pogre was getting old, but if he is excited about a kitchen table - he is beyond saving."

But, Behold friends this is no ordinary kitchen table!


This is my new duchess gaming table. The gaming mat will ship later, but I am super excited to get this thing put together and ready for some gaming!


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## wicked cool

I'm looking into picking up the unpainted D&D ghouls and also painting some zombies in the same greyish color. Looking for a easy color scheme (grey?).


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## pogre

wicked cool said:


> I'm looking into picking up the unpainted D&D ghouls and also painting some zombies in the same greyish color. Looking for a easy color scheme (grey?).




If you are looking for an easy method that looks great on the table top - I suggest a look at dipping. There are a couple of ways to do this:
1. Old School Minwax Polyshades "Antique Walnut Satin." Sean K. Reynold's blog entry on the dip method.

2. New School with the Army Painter line Army Painter Guide (pdf)

I hope that helps - good luck!


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## pogre

This is the picture I sent to my players for an upcoming adventure with the caption "Guess who is coming to Bruckburg?":


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## pogre

Another shot of the raiding Norsemen:


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## Flexor the Mighty!

Amazing work as always.


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## pogre

If you want to see a few shots from the gaming action from the Norse invasion you can see them over here:
https://pogreblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/17/norse-invasion/


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## pogre

*Sunless Citadel Dungeon Pieces*

I have run the Sunless Citadel by Bruce R. Cordell a few times. It was the module that launched 3rd edition D&D and was recently converted to 5th edition in Tales from the Yawning Portal. It is fun dungeon crawl and I recommend it highly. However, there are a few parts of the dungeon that are difficult to represent with Master Maze. I decided to use my Hirst Arts molds to create some practical pieces to fill a few voids in the Dwarven Forge stuff.

Here is one of the problematic rooms (#20):



Sorry, for the blurry map picture, but it gives you an idea of the problem. That big semi-circular part of the room is tough to represent. I have used the older resin cavern curve pieces in the past, but this really was not satisfactory. So using Bruce Hirst’s 8″ circular tower field stone mold, I made these:



Here is room 20 using these new tiles:



The paint scheme is much darker than the old Master Maze, but it is much closer to the newer Dwarvenite. The picture below is a comparison with the newer stuff:



Not perfect, but there is a wide variation in the Dwarven Forge paint schemes too, and it certainly looks decent on the table. The piece was built on a piece of cheap vinyl tile and I gave it a felt backing:



The room’s dimension’s do not exactly match my build. My build is 40 scale feet across and the map depicts a room 45 scale feet across. I could insert a few 5 feet pieces to match, but I wanted a practical piece I could use in lots of dungeons.

These pieces will also serve as the basis for building some of those darn circular rooms that dungeon designers seem to insist on using.


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## pogre

*The Forge of Fury Scenes*

A few scenes from our Forge of Fury session today at The Mountain Door. Cool planked bridge is by the Miniature Building Authority. Rest of terrain is largely a mix of old and new Dwarven Forge with a smattering of Hirst Arts tiles. Pig Faced Orcs are from Other World miniatures – Character figures are mostly Reaper – the Dwarf is an old Citadel model.


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