Lead Painters League: Abudul Alhazred and his Minions

In my Conanesque world Abdul Alhazred, the so called "Mad Arab" is a dark sorcerer, who has dedicated his life to studying the dark and forbidden knowledge. He travels the lands in search of vile mysteries and powerful artefacts, accompanied by his faithful body guards, his panther and his own Djinn.

Its been a while since I painted anything for my Conan range, as the Conan campaign is long completed, but this weeks Lead Painters League round had a theme of 'Realms of Fantasy' and so I thought I would have a rummage through the lead mountain and I found these. They are Hell Dorado figures (except the Djinn which his a Reaper Dust Devil).

The Lead Painters League is an annual competition on Lead Adventure forum. Members have to paint five figures a week for ten weeks,and then photograph them and post them to be judged. some of the weeks- like this one- have a theme. 

Creatures in the Sewers!

There are many dangers to the brave heroes who venture into the depth of the sewers and catacombs...



I am not sure where I got this figure from. It's resin, and on a 50mm base, but other than that I am not sure. It's going to be a useful piece, in My supers campaign it can be a lurker in the sewers, but it could just as easily be a Conan demon, or a native beast in my SciFi or Pulp campaigns. I love stuff I can paint for lots of setting.

Old School Citadel Miniature Adventure

Many years ago, when I was a small boy of 10 or 11, a misguided but well meaning chum introduced me to Citadel Miniatures. I am, of course, going back somewhere around about 1983, so the very earliest days of the hobby. I have, since then, been irrevocably hooked on little pieces of lead.

Some of the earliest Citadel Miniatures I can remember owning were part of a box set of adventures which I had got as my 'main' Christmas present one year, entitled 'Dungeon Adventurers Starter Set'. I have no idea what happened to those figures- I can remember painting a few of them, and no doubt they got used in various games of Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons.

A few months ago I was browsing on Miniature Heroes website- looking for old Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper miniatures for my SciFi collection, when I spotted the same box set that I had received for Christmas all those years ago. Talk about a trip down memory lane!

I bought them at a very good price, and when they arrived in the post I was delighted to find that they were in fantastic condition, and that the box was intact too!

Given the age of the miniatures the sculpting and the casting was of a very high standard- much better than I was expecting. My plan is to paint them, as a occasional range, as well as I can manage- after that, who knows? I guess I could use some of them for Conan or Lord of The Rings, but given their venerable age and sentimental value, I will probably just sit them on a special spot in my display cabinet and revere them.

This Elven mage is, according to the box, called Andriel. The pit marks are, unfortunately, on the figure, and not because I mixed my paint to thick- in real life it doesn't look half as bad as when it is blown up to this size. You have to remember that this figure is at least 25 years old.

Miniature Heroes is a great website, and they sell a wide rand of miniatures, both old and new- including Reapers Chronoscope range, and a cracking collection of vintage Citadel stuff. You can find them by following this link. Just don't mix them up with the chocolates.

The Barbarians Gather

Just another quick one, to show off another barbarian panted for my Conanesque campaign and/or my Conforntation Kelt warband. I dropped this one, and broke his axe in two places. I had the devil of a job putting it back together, and now one axe handle is shorter than the other. I don't think you could tell unless I pointed it out to you, so I am not too worried. I hope you like it.

This figure is another out of production Kelt, made by the defunct French company Rackham for their confrontation. It is a great shame they no longer make these, as they are beautiful models.

Pictish Warriors

The Picts are a savage race to who dwell in the forested lands west of Hyboria. They are a cruel and debased race, and the soldiers of the civilised lands have to be constantly vigilant or these barbaric tribesmen will sweep across the Border Lands to destroy and consume all that civilised men hold dear.

These figures are Confrontation Kelts and represent the start of a warband for that game, which explains their 25mm bases. I have painted them with black hair so that they can also represent the savage Pictish warriors in my Conan campaign.

Originally I had planed to get these fellows quickly painted so that I can get them into use, and to spend a longer time painting my Griffin Warband really well. Once I started though, I found that they were such lovely models that it seemed a shame not to spend the time painting them as well as I can.
I think it is a great pity that Rackham no longer make these wonderful minis, and instead I have to hunt around for them on Ebay an the likes.

Confrontation War Band Begins

Lead painters league, the annual painting competition on Lead Adventure Forum, is always a good excuse to paint some projects that have been half-finished for some time. This latest lot is a perfect example of that. Me Old Pal, Leon, encouraged me to buy these guys, which are now out of production. I had to source them on Ebay, which is all part of the fun. Leon's idea was that we would each build up out war bands and duke it out as an alternative to warhammer etc.
That said, I didn't need much encouragement, as these are lovely miniatures, as all of the Confrontation minis are. It's a pity they are no longer being made.
With these five finished, I have the beginning of a war band. I think I will need about 15 models in total. As yet, as far as I know, Leon hasn't even started his yet, so perhaps this will serve as some encouragement to him.

These miniatures are produced by the now defunct French gaming company Rackham, for their game Confrontation. This faction is a human faction known Griffins. They are stunning models, and a joy to paint.
When painting them, I chose a tight pallet, drawing on the ecclesiastical purple to reinforce the idea that these guys are holy warriors. Following a style I ready about in an old White Dwarf 'Eavy Metal article I added the same purple, in tiny amounts, to all the other colours on the model, including the metallics, leather and even the flesh. This adds to a cohesive pallet that makes the models very eye catching. In addition I deliberately chose the same highlight colour (Bleached Bone) for the entire model.
I think that these might be the best figures I have ever painted.

This snake pit is another example of some of the scenery added to my growing collection of half-completed-things-that-have finally-been-finished-off. I bought this on a whim ages ago, and have only just got round to finishing it off.

What is it? Well its a sacrificial snake pit of course. What is it for? No idea.

It's could be used in a pulp game, or Conan, I suppose. I could even get away with using it in a supers adventure, with mad cultists and the like, or a even voodoo villain. For now it is an on the shelf in the cupboard in my gaming room, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Dead lines can be a terrible thing, adding pressure and stress to an already hectic life, but they can also be great for getting things done that you might otherwise put off for another day.

I am thinking about a competition I am entering on the Lead Adventure Forum, called the Lead Painters League. As past of the rules of the LPL, competitors must paint five or more miniatures, that fit together in a certain theme. These must be previously unseen, so I can't just pick the five best heroes of my Blog, for example. There are also a number of bonus rounds, when competitors win extra points for entering five minis that match a certain theme determined by the organisers.

I have been busy preparing my first entry, five space pirates for my SciFi campaign. Unfortunate I cant show the picks here until the competition has started, or I invalidate my own entry. I also plan to do some more cowboys, a team of London based super heroes, and some evil zombie minions. Stay tuned.

I have been painting to another sort of deadline too, as our gaming group has started the Conan RPG campaign last week. Today I have been finishing off a villain for tonight's adventure, Amil-Abrack, a living Ka mummy. Here he is in all his dusty grave-good splendor!

This is a Reaper miniature- very nice to paint! I love the fact that he's all muscly and not dessicated like your usual mummy. I hope he gives the heroes a hard time!

Genetically modified carnivorous gorillas! Doctor Otto's callous disregard for human life has now extended to animal life too. What madness could have lead him to create such monstrosities! Intelligent, immensely Strong and deadly: this new threat might bring Doctor Otto one step closer to perfecting his warped dream- the ultimate super soldier.

These minis are actually Copplestone Castings yeti, just painted black instead of white. I based them on the green base so I can used them in my Conan Campaign too.

Three deadly female adventurers from my Conan-esque range. The first is a borderer or thief, while the other two could be pirates, or perhaps thieves.
You can click on the image for a bigger picture. It's not the best photograph (I took it with the old camera), but I hope you can make out the details. These ladies are all by reaper, which is a bit surprising, given the obvious difference in scale. Reaper has a vast range of figure on sale, and many of them were sculpted more than a decade ago. It shoes how tastes and styles have changed over the years. It's not a major problem for me, as I will only use them for my Thursday night role-plating, but I know that 'scale-creep' is a real bone of contention for some collectors.

A few more of my Conan inspired adventurers, painted a few weeks ago, but freshly based for photography. Please forgive the fact they are not four colour- I have more heroes and Christmas madness in the pipelines (teaser- Evil Snowmen, Wicked Penguins and Heroic Father Christmas Adventurer, to name a few)

Three Shemite (or Iranistanian?) adventurers. The man in the middle is a noble (or perhaps a successful pirate or thief) by Reaper, and his companions are his burly henchmen, by Hell Dorado.

Just because you can't only have good guys, some demonic snakemen, no doubt conjured by some evil sorcerer dabbling in dark-things-man-was-not-meant-to-know. These ones are by Reaper. They could also, conceivably, make it as super villain henchmen.

Here are some pictures of some of the models I have been working on or the last few months- they are a side project for a Conan Role Playing Game campaign I am planning. My plan is to have at least one male and one female model for each character class, but obviously some will be suitable for more than one class.
The Idea was to try to capture some of the classic Conan imagery as portrayed in the wonderful art of Frank Frazetta and in the Dark Horse comics.

A barbarian (or soldier) by Heresy and a thief (or pirate) by Hasslefree. I kind of envisage these guys as brothers.
A Vanir barbarian girl by Reaper, a short, portly scholar by Crusader Miniatures and a Stygian thief (or perhaps a scholar) by Crocodile Games.

Another Vanir Barbarian, by Crusader Miniatures, a beautiful Aquilonian noble (or perhaps a rare female scholar) by Games Workshop, and a Asgard Soldier (no doubt serving as a mercenary in one of the more 'civilised' lands) by Artizan Designs

This is very much an aside form the theme of the blog, that is to say "Four Colour Super Heroes" But I thought I would take an opportunity to showcase some other figures I have been working on recently. Inspired by the Dark Horse Conan graphic novels, of which I am a huge fan, I began painting some suitable minis, with a view to starting a Conan RPG with my mates. It also made me up my game a lot when it comes to painting skin tones as many of them are semi-clad at best. I am also experimenting with None-Metallic-Metallics too, with mixed success. I hope you like them, and don't mind indulging me. I promise there are some more super heroes (well, super villainess's)coming very very soon, so keep checking.

The Nubian girl, the Semi-clad blond barbarian male, the girl with the shield and the "Strumpet" in the brown skirt are all Hasslefree figures.

http://hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/index.php

The big barbarian with the cloak and armour is made by heresy. http://www.heresyminiatures.com/heroes_main.htm

finally, the dark haired girl in white is from Spyglass mini's. Spyglass is sadly a victim of the credit crunch, and is no longer making mini's, but you might be ables to still get hold of one if you try at http://www.spyglassminiatures.com/