Fighting the Gray Tide (Miniature Painting)

[Aellic Mornbringer]

I know there have been reviews of how the monster artwork has changed over the years. It would be really cool to see a side-by-side comparison of the respective miniatures and their evolution. I have a pair of current WizKids bugbears I'm working on that obviously very different from those almost "cute until they rip your arms off" Ral Partha versions.

And are those spiders or mindflayers on their shields?

 

[Sacrosanct]

That roper looks obscene! I thought about hitting the report button!!

It's a good thing I didn't paint it like it was made from pink quartz...

 

[Sacrosanct]

I know there have been reviews of how the monster artwork has changed over the years. It would be really cool to see a side-by-side comparison of the respective miniatures and their evolution. I have a pair of current WizKids bugbears I'm working on that obviously very different from those almost "cute until they rip your arms off" Ral Partha versions.

And are those spiders or mindflayers on their shields?

octopi.

for bugbears timeline, I think this is pretty accurate to my recollection.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

octopi

What an interesting pairing.

 

[MGibster]

I’m basically done, I just need to find a plinth. Pretty happy with how this turned out.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

Nice! Of the bugbears, I have the Reaper 2000s era and the 2nd & 3rd (they come paired) of the WizKids pack.

 

[Mad_Jack]

octopi.

for bugbears timeline, I think this is pretty accurate to my recollection.

View attachment 438638

TSR 5306 D&D Basic Figure Set 1984)

(TSR did their own miniatures (cast by Ral Partha) for a couple years before licensing them to Grenadier, then gave Ral Partha the licence)

WotC Silver Anniversary Miniatures 40007 (1999) / Chainmail 882280 (2000)

 

[MGibster]

I don’t really talk a whole lot about what I paint. I talk about colors and how I paint, but rarely about the models themselves. Let’s talk about this!

This is the Pirate Goblin produced by Rogue Hobbies for their Rascal Town line which features cutesy, colorful goblins just living their best lives. Rogue Hobbies is run by a lovely young woman who used to work for Games Workshop, she used to assist Guy from Midwinter Miniatures on YouTube, before finally starting her own YouTube channel and producing her own miniatures. She has some good videos, painting in a style that is colorful and bright compared to the style predominant among most war gamers. I purchased this one at Gamehole Con last October and got around to finally painting it earlier this week. I'm pretty sure I spent about $50 on this model which I feel is reasonable given it's a boutique miniature produced in small batches.


It is incredibly detailed and when I took it out of the box earlier this week I was a bit overwhelmed. How much time do I want to spend making this thing look halfway decent? Will I get bored? I even got a bit disallusioned when I started paying down the base colors because it was at that ugly stage that most miniatures reach at some point. But to my surprise, I haven't gotten bored yet. Despite frequently having to go back and retouch areas I had finished, I haven't gotten bored. There are so many different textures that it's hard to get bored.

Knowing this is a unique model helps keep me from getting bored or feeling the need to rush through painting. If I'm painting a squad for Star Wars: Legion, I know I'm going to have many more models that are very much alike to paint, so I want to rush through it as much as possible and still end up with something different.

What probable helps the most is why I'm painting this. For Legion, Warhammer 40k, or even D&D, I'm painting because I want to have something on the game table. For this model, I'm painting simply for the love of painting. I might very well use this miniature for gaming in the future, but that's not why I'm painting it. I just feel like I can really take my time with this rather than churn something out in short order.