LE1 Space orc

LE1 Space Orc 

Just don't ask why but amongst all the colony 87 models I suddenly felt the urge to paint old soft lead with blurry details... I mean I'm finishing painting resin masters that are without a doubt the most crisp and neat models I've had to paint and for some reason, I had to get my brushes on something at the opposite of the spectre.

Colony 87 Priestess

That's 5 out of 6 now ! The new model for the coming Colony87 range by Jon/Axiom is a priestess, We've explored many types of characters so far so after those who work and those who study, here are those who pray (we already have plenty of those who fight).

Sketch by Will Beck

Priestesses are a concept we find in plenty of iconic sci-fi settings, think about the Bene-Gesserit in Dune or the Shabda-Ouds in the Metabarons, they're a sort of equivalent of the sorceress of fantasy but with a cosmic dimension !

Colony 87 Botanist

Dr. C.R Beachcomber, Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Botany

I guess it will come as a habit now,  here's another model from the coming Colony 87 range by Jon/Axiom. After the recordist last time, here's another character from the scientific field. Take a look at the splendid sketch by Will Beck :

Like the other models of the range, it's been sculpted by Michael Anderson and it's an absolute pleasure to paint. Painting a lot of models from a single sculptor really helps understand how he approaches things. I've always been familiar with the work of Jes Goodwin and have got used to Bob Olley's unique style these last few years but getting to work on Michael's work is proving just as pleasant. It's great to have model that bear the touch of their creator. Though I full y get the need for coherence in a model line, I do miss a little personnal touch in some modern productions. Here, you have something with a bit more soul. As always on the models from Michael, the face is absolutely great.

Colony 87 Recordist

Alright, here's another painted model from the excellent Colony 87 by Jon/Axiom that's coming our way in Febuary ! After having dealt with the working forces, let's have a go at those who study ! This model like the ones before was designed by Will beck (see sketch below) and sculpted by Michael Anderson.

I think this model is really cool as you can find plenty of uses for that kind of scientific/searcher/ administrative kind. I like that he's equipped with all sorts of devices for which you have absolutely no idea what the possible use might be ! The only device that might make sense is actually the recording device in his hands ! He probably needs the headlight to explore archives and old libraries, who knows !

Space Fleet Tyranid fleet

Space fleet... the final frontier... LA LAAAAAA LA LALALALAAAAAAAA...

Erm... sorry about that.

Today I'd like to tell you (again) about Space fleet yes. The reason for this is I've had the opportunity to get some rather unusual models from the excellent Chris Steadman lately.

You might know after confrontation, I have a slight obsession for Space Fleet as you can read here :

Part 1 about early designs and both imperial and Eldar fleet

Part 2 about how to adapt the game nowadays and the Tyranic fleet

Now take a look at this :

All models kindly labelled by Chris himself, this saved me a lot of time and trouble believe me...

I'm usually not the kind to display bare lead for the sake of it as I'm a painter at heart but those are not models you see that often and more importantly, I'm using this opportujity to think out loud about how to procede with them.

Let's take a look at what we have here  (all painted examples taken from Solegend):

Boyz n the scrapyard - Colony 87 Junker

After the mechanic from a couple of posts ago, let me introduce to the 2nd model from the 2nd wave of the colony87 range from Jon/Axiom. This model, like the previous one is based on sketches from Will Beck and sculpted by Michael Anderson. Like the previous models, this one will come in handy to represent a junker or rogue mechanic.

You can see below the model is very faithful to the sketch and I find nice to have models with a different bulk in this range. His broad chest and large head really give you the sense he's not here for fun...

Sure I feel like a HERO ! - A Fighting Fantasy

It's all Charles' fault... or maybe I should be a little more precise and say it's all his fault after Steve Jackson's and Ian Livingstone's.

Well it's all Charles' fault for mentioning to me that the sorcery  fighting fantasy books had been published again (at last !). Like my friend Iannick and many others, the fighting fantasy books have been the opening gates to the worlds of fantasy and stories.

Amongst those wonderful books, the sorcery undoubtedly have the stronger appeal. Because they were the first of course, but also because their setting and atmosphere is unrivaled in my view. They are like Jes Goodwin models, a sort of Pavlovian reflex, the bricks of my happy place.

Of course, I could use my old collection of FF books but let's face it, time and use have not been tender with them...

Giiirls just wanna have... work ? - Colony 87 Mechanic

Today's is a special model... what's so special about it ? Well this model hasn't been released yet ! You might remember the Colony87 range run by Jon/Axiom and the splendid miniatures released in the Colony87 Kickstarter last year ? Well, there's another wave due for Febuary and this model is part of it. I've been kindly given the opportunity to paint those in advance and I have to say it's both an honour and a pleasure to be able to get my brushes on those !

Imperial Assassin - better watch out !

(a little soundtrack is always welcome isn't it ?)

After my wizard and apprentice for Frostgrave I thought I'd paint something a little different for a change... a Jes Goodwin model... I actually had planned to finish something else before that but this one got finished earlier than I thought so why wait any longer to present it ?

This model is obviously the iconic assassin that defined the look of what stealthy killers ought to look like in 40k.

Apprentice and Wizard from Asgard !

Just a few days after finishing my wizard for Frostgrave/mordheim/WHFB, I realised I should strike the iron while hot and get my apprentice done in order to have the leading group finished.

This model is still from the exact same set as his predecessor and still from the excellent Jes Goodwin but he's sort of the only one of a kind in the group.

Frostgrave Wizard from Asgard !

2016 is 3 days old now so it's about time I got something painted ! Since yesterday was sunday, I felt it would be cool to make like I did for my champions of law and paint a single model, start to finish, for my frostgrave warband. 

Like I said in a previous post, I'm going to use Frostgrave as an excuse to get those wonderful Jes Goodwin barbarians done. Even though it is designed with Forstgrave in mind, I'm pretty confident the group will be just as cool with WHFB or even Mordheim so that's double win from where I stand.

Since everything in Frostgrave is based on the wizard I obviously has to begin with him to set the proper mood for my group.