The Year Ahead

Happy New Year to one and all! My gratitude to those who visited Minis by Finch last year and especially to those who left comments. Knowing that others, however few, take interest in this secluded backwater of the internet is a great motivator. Thank you so much.

The Holidays took their toll as my paint table was pressed into service as a Christmas wrapping-staging-area. No space = no prep = no paint = no posts. Happily things have returned to normal and while the painting machine is spooling back up it seems appropriate to lay out a mission-statement for the coming year.

• The blog goes straight to Hell: A boatload of Fractured Dimensions stuff on hand and a commitment to paint for Mike at Mortal Arrow means we'll be spending some time on the lower planes in 2016. Pack your fire-retardant underwear.
• It's a Wyrd, Wyrd, Wyrd world: Wyrd miniatures' new plastic stuff isn't half bad. That said, their sadly discontinued metals are much better. In 2015 I added a new range of foothills to Lead Mountain while gobbling up as many first edition minis as I could lay my grubby mitts on. Some of these will work their way into the rotation in 2016.
• The bloom is off the rose: I've largely lost my taste for Kickstarters. Mr. Solarz at Center Stage Miniatures saw to that. I may, however, make an exception for Cauldron Born Miniatures' campaign if and when it goes live. 
• The Muller-Man-Crush continues: It bears mentioning that much of the aforementioned Fractured Dimensions, Wyrd, and Cauldron Born stuff was sculpted by Paul Muller. What can I say? I'm a fan. 
• Zombtober rocks!!: It's never too early to plan.
• Lest we forget: Reaper's excellent Peryton (sculpted by someone not named Paul Muller, oddly enough) remains fully prepped but unpainted. That needs to change.
• Fantasy Staples: I've painted some giants in the past but strangely no dragons. Can I paint one or both in 2016?
• Outside the box: I really can paint non-fantasy subjects. Honest. Something to prove the point may be in order.
• Conversions anyone?: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been a while since my last serious conversion project.
• The Prime Directive: Have fun. This is a hobby, after all. 
• Same time next year: The ramblings above are starting to look suspiciously like New Year's resolutions. Whatever they are, a re-visitation of the list next New Years Eve seems in order. 

So ends the stream of consciousness/blather portion of the program. I conclude with two pics; one of the overflow from last Zombtober's Red Ghoul Project, the other, a first look at Bael, Duke of Hell and his retinue. They barely qualify as work in progress pics but I need to start the new year somewhere.

One can never have too many red ghouls.

Lady devil arrived New Years Eve.  Went straight onto workbench.

Fiend Folio Update

The Fiend Folio Project rolls on with the completion of two Fenris gorilla bears.

Painting their faces was thoroughly enjoyable but concerns over whether their fur looked too bland caused some agita for me. Ultimately I convinced myself that the fur looked fine and moved on.

 A verdant forest/jungle look was the goal so everything but the kitchen sink (including some scavenged aquarium plant bits) went onto the bases. The purple flower is from a model railroad store. 

Elsewhere, Center Stage miniatures revealed the first of two Dire Corby greens as part of their Tome of Horrors Kickstarter. Sculptor Drew Williams did an outstanding job. As a project backer I'm in line for this and other forgotten FF classics. (Sadly, the flumph is still under wraps.)

Because my lead-pile isn't nearly vast enough (yeah, right), I picked up a couple items with Fiend Folio potential. Chief among these is a Wyrd jackalope with "al'miraj" written all over it. I ask you, what miniature collection could be called complete without at least one  killer-unicorn-bunny?

Crunch Time

I have pledged on the Otherworld Miniatures forums to paint at least one OW miniature per month throughout 2013. I haven't missed a month yet but my on-time performance has been nothing to write home about.

Punctuality is not one of my virtues it seems (at least within the realm of miniature painting).

Pictured above are some minis intended for May & June (hoping to get a jump on next month). From left to right they are: a cleric/monk from Gamezone, a gnome from Center Stage, A medusa from OW, a demon from OW, and a cyclops from Heresy. The cleric/monk & demon will be paired up for May while the medusa and cyclops are meant for June. 

The gnome is the odd-man-out. (or is that odd-gnome-out?)

A great little Patrick Keith sculpt from the recently concluded Torn World Kickstarter. I removed his integral base and sculpted a replacement. A lot of detail in a confined space on this one. Should be fun.

Center Stage's current Tome of Horrors Complete campaign is picking up steam as it nears its end. The work of sculptor Drew Williams has been especially impressive. Check out these WIPs.

Nice. They may call them tsathars but they look like bullywugs to me. Hopefully CSM gives Mr Williams as much work as he can handle.