How to Build a Mountain - a Guest Post of Terrain Mastery.

by Keegan

The set piece of the fallen tree began as a collaboration between Paul and I to complement the story of Dragon Age: The Dalish Curse, and to make a more memorable experience for the players.  In previous RPGs our group has tried, including Serenity and Star Wars: Saga Edition, I tried to craft a story around three-dimensional elements (find the previous mega-picture posts for both Serenity and Star Wars posted earlier this week), including paper barns, houses, Reaver skiffs, and space ports.

After its release a year ago, Dragon Age: Origins quickly captivated me with its rich setting and deep story elements (not to mention a certain scantily-clad witch).  I wanted to bring the same epic sense that I evoked in Serenity and Star Wars to the Dragon Age setting, and so, after asking Paul if I could make a set piece for the first story, he sent me this picture (after the break) alongside a single specification:  the tree must be 8 inches in length across the ravine.

Rusted Heroes Dragon Knights, Painted!

Hail. hail, the gang's all here!

So these six minis technically only count as one for my NaMiPaMo goals (all but the Mercenary Assassin were done before November started), but I'm still happy to finally have the unit finished! This is the first time I've set out to paint a GROUP of minis (my attention span is usually limited to one or two at a time) - Paul's request to have each fighter be a different "dragon color" helped keep things interesting. Keep reading for close-ups and technique notes!

NaNoWriMo and NaMiPaMo - Creative November Gaming Style

Now that we've all survived Shocktober we've got a couple of new projects as we sprint towards Thanksgiving! If you haven't heard of it, there's this neat internet phenomenon known as "NaNoWriMo" a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write every day in November in order to complete a 50,000 word novel. No editing, no looking back, just forward progress to get words on to the page. Keep Reading to see what Andrea and I have up our sleeves to celebrate this month-long torture session!

Reaper Speed Paint

So my paint job is really rough on this one and will definitely be getting a major touch-up when we get home, buuut for the sake of showing off the sculpt... it's a DWARF Wereshark. And a pirate. And his name is Rumscratch (I swear I'm not making this up!)



Thanks to Reaper for providing this awesome mini!!!

Last Speed Paint practice before the real thing!

She's hanging out on a copy of bOOleO N-Edition, in case you're wondering:













First contest at 11 for me, wish me luck!!!

Road to Gencon: Speed Painting Prep

Did you know there's a FREE DICE contest going on this week?!? Click that link back there for more details!!!

Last year was my inaugural Gencon, and as a girl whose gaming interests are relatively limited to board games and RPGs, I found myself drawn to the artsy-craftsy side of things - specifically, Speed Painting. The concept is simple: throughout the Con, 12 participants at a time are given a mini and 45 minutes to work their magic. The top painters from each qualifying round then face off in the one-hour championship round on Sunday for a chance at fame and fortune (in the form of gift certificates from the sponsoring company).

I'd only done a little miniature painting prior, but with The Hopeless Gamer's encouragement, I decided to try my hand at the Privateer Press event. And somehow, by the grace of the Gaming Gods... I won the qualifier! This was a great victory for me over THG, who never lets me paint any of his minis pink.












My win was totally based on luck - Gul the Gobber Rogue (I decided he's a she) is a small mini with simple gear and not too many complex details (trying to interpret armor and fancy weaponry is my utter downfall). That said, I crashed and burned pretty hard on Hemrick Groot, Second-Story Man in the Championship round:












Maybe "crash and burn" is a little harsh - I mean, he's fine, tabletop quality at least, but compared to the other entries, not so much. I still have no idea what all the little gadgets on his backpack are (can't possibly be mushrooms... right?) and my panicked Hail Mary wash at the bitter end left the whole thing dark.

So this year, I decided to go in with a little more practice under my belt - at least as much as painting a few minis in the week leading up to the Con can be considered practice. I tasked THG with picking out a random mini for me to paint, got my primary colors and lone brush ready to go, and started the timer! And THG handed me Captain Allister Caine and the instructions "blue and gold."

I concluded 10 minutes in that this $20 mini was a little beyond the size and detail range they usually assign for a 45-minute speed paint, so I opted to consider it the championship round and allow myself a little longer. All said, I took an hour and a half, but I knew it was a mini THG was interested in seeing done well:












Even though I didn't force myself to feel as much pressure from the time clock on this one, it was still valuable prep in that I got to play around with different metal shades I can create with just silver and gold as bases. I combined silver with a little gold and a little red to create the bronzy color of his armor and I'm really happy with how it turned out - a nice, somewhat unexpected shade to have in my toolbelt for the real thing.

I rushed over the base as an afterthought at the end, and it wasn't until today that THG pointed out the emblem on it. Guess I'll be going back in to highlight that later. I'll also probably be going back in to re-do the face - painting believable faces is nearly impossible for me (and something I'll be reading up on asap!)

The next night, I tasked THG with finding a simpler model for me to do in 45 minutes. He handed me this guy from Rackham's Confrontation (exact name and faction unknown):











See what I mean with the faces?

I technically took 55 minutes for this guy, but I'm calling those extra 10 my "picky husband" minutes: I first painted the arm and exposed side silver (thinking it was armor - trouble seeing the details, like I said) before THG pointed out that this guy's a leather-wearer. If this had been actual competition, he would have been stuck in plate, but for THG, I went back and re-did it - but then the leather didn't stand out enough against the brownish-red cloak he was in, so we had to start over there, too.

The wash and dry-brush on the cloak was pretty frenzied at the end, but I don't hate how it turned out. And I attempted to add detail to the axe handle to make it look like real wood, but I think this is another skill I'll be reading up on.

Oh. And then when I finished, THG tentatively asked, "Did... did I mention he's half-orc for the game I want him for? His skin's supposed to be green?"

*facepalm*

To be totally fair, yes, he did mention. But he mentioned much earlier in the day and failed to re-mention once I actually started painting, or while I was commenting about mixing up a nice peach flesh tone.

Anyways, at least the face looks a little better now!

Stay tuned for photos from Gencon of my speed paints - and wish me luck!

Rusted heroes Painted

I finished painting my Knights of the Rose starter set along with the Monk mercenary. The Hopeless Gamer and I played a game last Friday and we will be posting a review of the game after a couple more skirmishes. Impressions so far are very good.

The Wife's 1st place speed painting gobber!