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.

The Worms Have Turned

Fractured Dimensions' Larvae are done. While a bit tricky to base they were certainly enjoyable to paint. I aimed for sickly yellow, as described in the original Monster Manual but somehow wound up with sickly green; a curious occurrence as there was no green paint used. No worries. I like how they turned out and consider them as a success.

No green paint... honest

Awaiting final assembly

Simulates barren shale quite nicely

Yikes! Two per base gave me enough trouble, thank you very much.

The product of my labors, in all their sickly yellow (or green) glory:

Up and Running

Good news, campers...Fractured Dimensions Miniatures are now available through Mortal Arrow. This includes both FD's old catalog as well as the insanely good stuff from the IMotOP Kickstarter. Lots to see on the site; not least of all, painted minis by the likes of Martin Jones, Andrew Taylor and some joker named Finch.

Speaking of which, Finch needs to get it in gear. (Evidently, I've moved beyond simply using a pseudonym to referring to myself in the third person. Fascinating.) He has a lot of miniatures in need of paint.

Back in the land of first person narrative, I've got FD's larvae on the paint table. They suffered through a false start when I painted them black and attempted to base them in pairs. This ended badly with scuffed paint, basing materials in all the wrong places, and considerable swearing.

Off the bases and into the Simple Green they went. Stripped down to bare metal, they were ready for another attempt.

This time I applied mica gel to two 25mm bases, allowed them to dry, attached each of the lowermost larvae to its base, and pinned the uppermost larvae in such a way that they can be painted separately and added later.

This seems like a workable arrangement. I have my fingers crossed.

Zedvember 2015/1: Ghoul Power

* Zedvember being a chance to complete some not-quite-done undead...  the brainchild of Bob Kinnear at BZA Bob's Zombie Apocalypse in 28mm and Chris Hird at Chris's Miniature Woes.

By my estimation, the first installment of Zedvember equals the sixth of Zomtober. Loose ends have been tied and hatches battened, t's crossed and i's dotted. Translation: the red-ghouls are done. Many pictures to follow.

The whole red-ghoul pack is pictured up top. The last member completed was the boss, a Reaper miniature featuring the world's largest meat-tenderizing hammer and a lovely belt ensemble made of flayed skin, severed heads, and assorted viscera. Yum:

The ghoul-hag is, at long last, truly done:

 The boss with the hag & with the original Fractured Dimensions perribos:

The grunt-level ghouls by Otherworld as well as a side-by-side comparison with one of the same minis painted some years ago:

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Paul Muller can do no wrong. The sculptor did an especially good job on all the faces. Some yearbook photos to illustrate the point:

One final piece of good news: anyone wishing to get some perribos of their own is in luck. Fractured Dimensions miniatures are now available through Mortal Arrow. More on this next time.

Zomtober 2015/5: End of the Line

Not quite ready for his closeup

Officially, Zomtober 2015 ended last Sunday. That won't prevent one last bite of the apple.

In that spirit, here are some WIP shots of the Boss Red Ghoul, Reaper's Dreg Chieftain; a Paul Muller sculpt with some seriously crazy hair. That hair was key in showing that the clown ghoul theme could, nay should, be carried beyond FD's Perribos.

 

 

The washes are complete, establishing the shadows. For the flesh, the darkest of these went to the usual suspects (armpits, groin, and under the jaw). This guy also sports a goiter, pot-belly and man-boobs, all of which received similar treatment.

A fair amount still needs to be done to re-establish the midtones and highlights plus some detailing and the base.

There will be at least one more post featuring all five minis once they're all truly completed.

Thanks are due to Pulp Citizen of Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer, Simon Brummie Quinton of Brummie's Wargaming Blog and Rob Bresnen of Four Colour Super Minis, for organizing another successful Zomtober. Well done, one and all.