Merry Christmas!

Well, a big Merry Christmas to all my readers!  Thanks for following my Blog this year and for all the comments.

I have just not been able to crank out the paint jobs I wanted this month, but its been for a great reason.  My miniature company Bederken is taking up a lot of my time right now- with a Christmas rush and solid days of sculpting for my January product release.


My new years resolution.  Finish that monster starter set, and paint my existing leadpile to within an inch of its life.  Yes sir, the pledge is every damned figure is going DOWN next year, or my names not Gertrude McPoppinflaps.

I wish all of you a great new year!

HotT upgrade

Last night I managed a marathon session and got four stands converted and based up.  Grabbed some before and after pictures, but a dinner party is cutting into my time right now, so have to just type.

Its been great digging through my reaper lead pile for this- even if I dont get to play, having completed a converted custom army is giving me good vibes.  My love of Reaper battlenuns (I posted previously on my 40k conversions of these) had surfaced again, this time their are being all sexied up as Corrupted Sisters of Seduction!   Slannesh has nothing on these gals.

The fun thing about this army, I am discovering is just how many figures are a slight modification to take their absurb fantasy costumes into dark seducers.  :)   Later!

HotT Succubus army

Adding some Green stuff to I-KORE celts and Classic Citadel Chaos Thugette

HotT demoness blades stand.  One slap of paint later...

So I have been messing around with a succubus infested Hordes of The Things Army as you may well know, and I have just wrapped up my first stand to try out the look.  After spending some time staring at it, I will then know if I want to go ahead and make a whole army to match.

I don't usually use flock on my bases, as I find its a dust trap and looks tired quickly, but for HotT I liked the idea of little dioramas making up an army.

Now the figure to the right is a Chaos Thug (aka chaos Marauder) from the 1980's Realm of Chaos era.  As you can see from the picture of the green stuff sculpt, I gave her a more feminine look by building up her lips, adding a John Blance-esque bow and extended her hair to hide the eye patch.  I also sculpted on a skull onto her shoulder guard to give her another focal point.  For this conversion I did not to trim back the metal, so the model is unharmed by the process.  Later I can peel off the green stuff and restore her.  I do this to quite a few of my citadel classics if I need them for, say, an AD&D game.

Hordes of the Things!  One of Blue Moons zombie boxed sets

Until I get the chance to build up a succubus force properly, I decided to re-base some Blue Moon zombies for my hordes units.  I speed painted these months ago for an AD&D game.  God Bless Tamiya Clear Red!
I had doubts buying the boxed set- the packaging is so garish and cheap and the sample paint jobs do not really do the figures justice.  I was very pleased when I got them out.  The integral bases are soft and clip away easily, they assemble in interesting ways, and I had the whole lot put together in one night.  I only had to do a little filling, and was happy with the results.  Since then I have picked up a lot more blue moon figures- their villagers are very handy!  I hope some day they shift to slotted bases and better packaging art one day though.  Clashing bright Red on Blue- uhg.

Reaper Bone Caller, Blue Moon Zombies

Summoning my zombies into battle is my sorceress (Reaper Bone Caller)- a wonderful figure that slots right in to my theme.  Here she is just undercoated and given a badab black wash.

I am tempted, since I am putting a bit of effort into making a HotT army, to perhaps sculpt a few succubus chaosettes for my Bederken range!  Semi-Naked demon girls... what's not to like?

A couple of stands made up of Hasslefree Kalee's converted would do great things to the eyeballs too.

Monster Starter Set Dark Elf and warrior maiden

C01 warrior maiden and BC2 Evil Dark Elf Captain (monster starter set)

Two citadel minis tonight.  On the left is the C01- yes, C01warrior maiden- from the very first 'C' series.  Looking at the sketches in the catalog (no photos sadly) the warrior maidens where a seriously nice range of the early citadel figures and I now look forward to hunting them all down.  Of course, now I have pointed you lot at them, I probably have driven bidding up haven't I?
  I forget who the trader was on E-Bay, but he used the line 'yes, you didnt know you had to have her until you saw her'.  He was right.
Like all early citadel she is true 25mm scale, making her look like a little naked teenager next to the later Amazon models.  The fine strap holding on the underwear is missing on one side, I do not know if its a casting fault or a previous owner has tried to trim it off, but for archive sake I left it missing and painted on the line.  Its always a juggling act how much you repair or trim away things on vintage stuff... quite often I leave on some flash in order to preserve the figure.  I am guessing its a perry sculpt, as back then they where the only employees.

So as you can see, after last nights discussion about how to do the darned dark elf, I went with an albino look and kept him white and blue.  I love the monster starter set, and will shortly have them all done and ready to display.  Looking at the squeezed face I would guess its an Aly or Trish Morrison sculpt- purely because its reminiscent of the Talisman elf faces.

Twas Brillig...

 Hey folks, welcome to another instalment of Julie/Julia.  This week we take a break from cooking french cuisine and instead focus on old miniature painting.
  Since I started this blog I have fallen in love with restoring these really old figures- the uglier the better.  I have an Asgard she-ogre on the go which is probably the ugliest model ever made- and I am having a lovely time trying to make the paint job sell her as art.  Tough job, as you may see soon.  But kicking off this episode is...

FS6-3 Dungeon Torturess variant

Yes, the brilliantly politically incorrect FS Torture set by citadel featured naked women wot are being tortured like.  Lots of proud giggling tweens in the eighties had these.  Pre-internet we had to get our boobie fix elsewhere.  I think it was either Lee Chinnery or Gareth Parrys elder brother (hello!)  who showed me his 'naked girl on a cross' model back in 1989, and I was instantly hooked on the idea.  Sadly, I missed the boat, as by then Citadel where more politically correct and the figures impossible to find.  I had to wait till I had grey hair to start buying them up- they are very expensive and highly sought collectors items now.  Dammit.

   Less collectable and far less rare seems to be this variant of the whip mistress- from the Fantasy Specials line.  You can frequently snap her up for a couple of bucks from evil-bay.
  One word of advice, with all miniatures from this era you will find the surface very uneven.  A couple of brushes full of watered down Milliput grey-green and a quick sand makes all the difference.  I left the weapon and shield pitted for effect, but you can see just how rough the surface was all over.
  She got a lick of Vallejo model colour paints using thinned layers of model color matte medium tinted with the highlight colors of red, purple and flesh.  I gave her a more Mediterranean skin tone, as she seemed to step straight out of a harem in some Conan adventure.  I glazed a little green into the recesses too.
  Its hard to make out in the photo, but I sculpted a snake slithering on her base between her legs-  this gave an element of Orientalism and danger.  Of course, the between the legs thing is also a metaphor.  I too was an adolescent boy once.

Now, burbling as it came, is the C29 Jabberwock with eyes aflame.  This Lewis Carol homage hailed from the Spring 1985 Citadel Journal.  I have wondered about this figure since I saw his head poking out a moat, devouring zombies in John Blanches fantastic undead diorama.  Getting hold of one was an exciting day for me.  I know, I know.  Sad bastards, line on the left.  Owners of the original Warhammer Fantasy Role Play can find this chap in the bestiary section.  He seemed to be discontinued by the time the 1989 catalog appeared.  I hear rumour there is a standing one too, but have not encountered it.  Probably the Ral Partha one.


I had an hour to spare last night, so knocked this guy out really quickly- simple yellow-green matte medium tinted glazes over a catachan green base, followed by really thin red and turquoise glazes for variety.  The photo doesnt catch the contrast in the yellows sadly- he really pops in real life.  I may sculpt some stuff on his base later on... such as a sign pointing to Tulgey woods or a few gilliam-esque severed limbs.

C29 Young Dragon 'Jabberwock'

Now a confession.  I know I have been promising to finish that monster starter set, but I have been dragging my heels over the Dark Elf.  I don't know why, but I just dislike citadel Dark Elves- especially when they are painted purples and blues.  GURPS Illustrator and awesome Artist Simon Lissaman painted me a great dark elf female for my 21st birthday, and he went with a pale flesh skin tone and green clothes- it looked great- sort of an edgy elf.  However I am torn- since its a classic set, should I go with the classic look... hmmm?

Answers on a postcard... or alternatively, in the comments section below.

Next episode...  more stuff.