Cyber Monday 2016

I went overboard on Cyber Monday. More on that later.

I've been painting the Reaper Barbarian lady for my sister-in-law for the upcoming annual holiday D&D game we'll be playing this weekend. In the last week, I've traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota where I visited her in the icy wonderland. It was beautiful, but incredibly cold at -2 degrees. The Reaper hunter on the right, is for my Secret Sophie painted miniature exchange. In both of the miniatures, I've painted several gems, and I've been improving in my technique:

 

Back to Cyber Monday– like I mentioned, I went overboard. I bought things from Secret Weapon, Raging Heroes, Reaper Miniatures (x2), Miniature Market and backed Soda Pop's most recent Kickstarter.

I bought the Pigment Fixer, Masterclass Water Effects and Crushed Glass from Secret Weapon miniatures for $21.79 including shipping. Not so bad, considering it will last me a long while for many icy miniature landscapes similar to the Minnesota landscape I experienced last week!

What else did I buy? Well, I bought a few things from the following manufacturers during their limited promotions:

Raging Heroes:
1x Drusilla and Trevor - Exclusive Limited Edition (free mini with orders over 99€)
1x Heroes Box KST 6: The Kurganov
1x WereSheWolf Zagrath (KST)
1x Skaarlys - Skaarlys
1x Sashenka, Yaga Soul-Weaver (KST) - Sashenka - White metal
1x Foxy Dynamite, Infiltration Specialist (JB) - Foxy - Resin
1x Asharah SF (28mm) - 28 mm

December 7: 01590 Naughty & Nice · Bob Ridolfi

01551: Christmas Knight (9.99) x1
01596: Winter Fairy (0.00) x1
03760: Adventuring Kids #1 (2) (7.49) x1
03764: Merrowyn Lightstar, Female Elf Paladin (7.29) x1
03765: Highlander Heroine (7.99) x1
60204: Aric of Halvon (7.29) x1

December 18: 01596 Joy, Winter Fairy · Bobby Jackson

01550: Christmas Eve (9.99) x1
01578: Carol, Christmas Bard (9.99) x1
01579: Sir Ulther, Christmas Knight (9.99) x1
74042: Graveyard Display Base (12.99) x1

Guild Ball: Brewer's Guild - Spigot (Thanksgiving Sale)  
Guild Ball: Mortician's Guild - Starter Set (Thanksgiving Sale)  
Guild Ball: Butcher's Guild - Tenderiser (Thanksgiving Sale)   
Guild Ball: Brewer's Guild - Scum (Thanksgiving Sale)    STFBBRE01003   
Guild Ball: Butcher's Guild - Truffles (Thanksgiving Sale)    STFGBBUT02003   
Guild Ball: Butcher's Guild - Starter Set    STFBBUT01001
Guild Ball: Brewer's Guild - Starter Set    STFBBRE01001  

I backed Way of the Fighter Kickstarter the other week and opted in for the "Super Dungeon Spectator" pledge plus the "Turbo Miniatures" pack. I didn't splurge for the Miniature pledge, since I wanted to paint the miniatures, but didn't think it likely that I'd play the actual game. It looks like a cool game, but I don't have a dedicated group that gets together for tabletop gaming (maybe one day!) Here are the details of what I backed:

Super Dungeon Spectator

This pledge is designed for the Super Dungeon fan who wants the Super Dungeon Cosplay models, and access to the pledge manager to be able to make optional purchases.

Includes:
Super Dungeon Cosplay: Blazing Soul Candy
All Free Super Dungeon Cosplay Stretch Goals

Now I need to go eat my meager ramen lunch because I spent all my money on Cyber Monday. Good grief.

Secret Sophie 2016 WIP #2

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We hosted family who came down in an RV (cue the National Lampoon Christmas Vacation jokes), we had 5 people, 5 dogs, 2 cats running about. It was a lot of fun, though it didn't leave much time for painting. I was able to get some work done Sunday night once I had some time to myself. I decided to work on Arthrand Nightblade for the Reaper forum's Secret Sophie 2016 painted mini exchange. He's almost done:

I'll need to clean up the chainmail and the bit of sword paint that managed to get on the tunic fold. I'm still working on the bracers. At first I painted them as leather since that's what an archer would usually have. However, as I painted them, they looked more & more like metal bracers in their perfect cylindrical shape with a rounded lip. I also figured this would be an opportunity to paint another piece of metal on the mini and visually balance out the metal on the sword hilt. I really should have done True Metallic Metals/Shaded Metallics here but oh well.
 
While there's more work to do on the metals but the real question is, what to do with his hair. Platinum blonde would look cool but I don't want it to look too much like the gold on his dagger. It's either blonde or warm brown. I think a blonde color would provide good contrast to the cloak but I'd risk muddying the cloak and having to repaint sections of it. Eh, I'm overthinking it.

In the meantime, I've based him with Oxide Paste and some tiny clay-based gravel and Army Painter battleground sand. This way, it looks like his boots will be sunk into the mud a bit. While it's risky to do this after he's been mostly painted, I'm up for the challenge! I'm going to let him sit overnight and then prime & paint the base (very carefully!).

Secret Sophie 2016 WIP

Once again, I entered the Secret Sophie exchange on the Reaper forum (more info here). Last year, I painted a fox archer for the gift exchange and sent it off to my mystery person on the other side of the country, which they were very pleased with when they received it ^_^ In turn, I received a beautiful winter witch, basing materials, and chocolate from my partner last year and it made my month! The painted mini exchange is a great way to share in the holiday spirit and keep painting during one of the busiest times of the year! 

I decided to send two painted miniatures this year. One of the minis I'll send is a Sandra Garrity sculpt that's been knocking around the bottom of one of my "Will Paint Someday" boxes. Since my Secret Sophie partner says he needs a paladin and ranger for upcoming campaigns, I decided to break out my metallic paints and paint some life into him!

Unfortunately, I had a hard time deciding on my second painted miniature, and I either thought of sending another paladin-type, Kale Nolan, or a hunter character, Arthrand Nightblade. So I let Twitter decide:

Arthrand Nightblade won by one vote and I wasted no time cleaning and priming him. I also looked up a few examples of how he's painted in the past. While there are many nicely painted examples of him already, I wanted to choose a different color scheme than the classic ranger greens and browns.

I chose a blue and cream color scheme for my main colors– the rest will be neutral browns. I'll paint lighter, worn leather (or maybe linen?) wraps around his quiver and darker browns for his boots and bow. I still haven't decided on his hair color though...

So far so good! I'll have more to show after the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope everyone has a wonderful extended weekend :) See you back here soon!