Harry the Baby Hippo on steroids and A Tale of Two Ravens WiP

 Raging Heroes makes beautiful stuff!

Of course it is tiny... as a friend of mine recently said... "These things are smaller than your thumb!"

But that isn't always the case.

During the Toughest Girls in the Galaxy I (TGG1) Kickstarter several models, primarily the mascots and the freedom fighter, had larger versions available.

 Here is Harry the Baby Hippo!  Jailbirds mascot.

Shown here compared to Punky and to the Kurganova (KST) mascot Charlie.  Charlie is not intimidated... really!

 The model was pretty easy on cleaning, although that is not always the case with the larger models... I just think Harry is a forgiving sculpt in that regard.

The base was worked up with white pumice.  I think I prefer it to gray pumice because it seems to be more adhesive.  The gray stuff is difficult to place whereas the white was actually a bit sticky.

 In this scale the model really sings.  It already was cute and filled with a mischievous personality but now more details could be worked in... like the cans of ZoT!  in two sizes.. ZoT xxx and ZoT xXx Magnum!

In the small versions of Harry I saw these as beer cans being delivered but at this scale Harry seems to be collecting the cans for recycling... as they are all popped open...

In the field I think these are more likely to be energy drinks than beer so they are filled with a radioactive green color liquid!

 Harry is a favorite of the Lulus and can often be seen toting stuffed toys and colorful buttons or badges for their amusement.

In this scale the buttons have plenty of space for designs or even lettering.

 The base also sports an old pipe with some flowers growing out of it... the pipe being a bit of brass tube and the flowers from Army Painter Meadow Flowers.

 A fun bunch of buttons and toys and the ubiquitous ZoT xxx!

 Also in the larger scale, not the same larger scale, is Raven the Chainbreaker the Jailbirds Freedom Fighter.

I'm going to do these two at the same time in hope that the larger scale model will inspire me to do additional stuff with the regular size version.

More of that later!

Its going to be a busy couple of weeks so I'll see you sometime around the middle of the month!

Oh Rats! Rat adventurers and adversaries.

 More of the Oh Rats! section of the Reaper Bones II Kickstarter.  This is the same place I got the Gnome in Gimpsuit... and its equally odd.. Ok it's odd in its own... (slightly) less creepy way than Gimp Gnome...

Anyway!

The set of Adventure Rats!

 I suspect these are intended as adversaries for the Mouslings and I'll get round to digging those guys up eventually!

Here we have some henchrats... indispensable really and loaded down with backpacks, sacks, and various supplies for the trip.  The proverbial red shirts of the group.

These were painted while working on a pile of salvage Skaven but should be the end of things Ratty... until the Veermyn roll in from the Warpath Kickstarter.... Rats... IN... Spaaaaacccccceeeee....

The bases are worked up with gray pumice and give a nice weight, and stability, to the models.  

 The infamous Packrat!

Everyone needs a dungeon (or sewer... as the case may be...) capable beast of burden.  This one does all that and can fight to protect the loot to boot!

In truth this guy looks more like a mutant mouse than a mutant rat but that's not entirely unlikely.... right?

 Packrat has a full load of loot, including a huge ivory tusk, and a good big stick to keep pilferers at bay.

Lots of earth tones here and lots of washes.  I added a few points of actual color, like the pot and the lamp, to break up the oppression and draw the eye.

 A Red Shadow!  Fearsome Rat Assassin!

Looks like he has been hangin' with the Skaven a bit too long and has absorbed some of their symbols... as well as the glowing warp poison on his corrupted blade.

I seem to have returned to subsurface symbols on the robes of these and on several more projects that are currently on the table.  These symbols are painted on the base red of the robes and then washed with Secret Weapon Drying Blood, retouched with yellow in the vertices and ends, and rewashed with Drying Blood.

 I can't decide if this is a Rat Shaman manifesting a weasel totem or... a Weasel Shaman... or something completely different!

Ok... ok... NOT Gimp Suit different but still....


Worked up with the same subsurface symbols as the Red Shadow.

Weasel Necromancer....?

Next week is going to be hectic so I think I'll do another update before the weekend gets here I've got a Raging Heroes bit drying its pumice and a major WiP for the Mantic Abyssal Dwarf Army.

Cheers!

Rats old and new, undead musician discovery, and a basing a Kings of War Dwarf Host

 Since I really am a bit OCD about painting stuff that is out of the box before opening something new... I thought I'd better tune up these old Skaven Models, acquired in a partially painted state some time ago, while I was doing the Bones Ratmen.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of the Skaven was actually some sort of Undead Goblinoid Musician!  Worse still... it was originally painted goblin green as though the previous owner was conscripting the unlucky guy into a regular goblin unit!

 If anyone recognizes that fellow post a comment or send me a PM.  I haven't got round to researching him but I'm dead curious.

There was also an incomplete Skaven Warlord, or hero of some sort, that I touched up quite a lot.  I left the banner peg in place because I'm certain, at some point, a back banner will show up that is suitable for him.

 The bases are relatively neutral and void of fiddly bits because I'll want to make a coherent theme for them and haven't yet settled on one... although with a few weeds and bits of junk these might work out fine there is a small Skaven ally force around here somewhere and I'll want to combine them up with these fellows and rationalize the basing.

 The new rat!

This is from the Reaper Bones I Kickstarter.

Looks like it might actually be a ginormous Were-Rat.. 

I based it for use as a Rat Ogre.  This guy is actually a bit larger than the legacy Rat Ogres and will make a great 'Hero' for the unit. 

The Reaper Ratmen have very long snouts and, except for the tail, look rather more like wolves to me than rats.  I'm working on some Ratmen assassins and the wolfish look is very pronounced on them.

 Basing was Grey Pumice which gave a good heft to the figure and stabilized it.  The miniature is made of the light, soft plastic like, bones material and took some convincing to stand in all but the most ideal circumstances. 

 Size comparison with the Skaven and the Reaper model.  Its a good size for a Rat Ogre and much more dynamically posed than its legacy companions.









After a series of Kings of War games it became clear that King of War was written more for movement trays than for miniatures.  There are no pesky formation changes and its even recommended to mount you miniatures, in a visually appealing density, directly onto the movement tray.

With that in mind, and under the direction of Bevie to "Create a Dwarf Host for Bevie! STAT!", I decided that the best approach was to make an army of 17 movement trays painted up in a dwarf theme so she'll have a fun looking army of movement trays to keep her entertained while I get to work on the actual dwarfs!

These are made by Customeeple and are avilable through the Mantic Website.  Once the braziers (really good for holding a die showing the morale status and to provide a kind of handle to move the tray more easily) and any of the curbing is added the trays hold slightly fewer than a full unit number of models while still looking great which allows us to swipe a few minis here and there to generate an additional unit.






The prototype base is the one with the blue, orange, red, and gold.  After looking at this it seems a bit busy so the production bases will be this blue, mauve, and gold (not yet painted).  I think its less busy and the orange was kind of jarring for something on the floor. I will likely match the prototype to the new scheme but I'll wait till the end to see how the new one turns out.

Back to the bench!