Jubilee

So I got talked into buying one of the Helldorado box sets at GenCon. When we got home, I unpacked and put everything either away, or in the room where it would eventually get put away - and now that I've finished with a big commission that has been consuming my time since then, I wanted to pull out the box set and take a good look at what I got - And I can't find the dratted thing anywhere! We've checked under beds, checked and doublechecked all the luggage we took, looked in every unlikely-but-possible place I could have put it, and it appears to be nowhere in the house! I even called the hotel today to see if housekeeping had found it left in our room (which it was not). I can't honestly remember whether I actually saw it when we got home (but I was so wasted from the trip home, that my brain was not really functioning properly when I unpacked, if I had it in my hand I may not have remembered). Maybe if we don't find it before December, my husband will get me one for Christmas.. *sigh* *grumble* /ali

I've been working on these since GenCon, and I finished Friday afternoon! I painted these for Ralph at Minitureland in Germany - he is the German distributor of Dark Sword Miniatures and needed them for the game show coming up in October (I've forgotten the name!). Last year I did the same, and had to overnight the figures to get them there on time - this year I had enough time to spare to send them priority, and had two more figures than last year to boot! Anyway, here they are: both pirates together From the box set: Overall I am pleased with how they turned out. I really ought to have taken a picture of the elmore pirates next to the other figures, they were markedly smaller - very petite - in comparison. I actually managed to get through it all with only having to strip a pirate lass (pre-gencon) and the fighter lass. I also painted the eyes on the Meier Pirates on the first try! Anyone who has painted something sculpted by that god among sculptors should know that's quite a feat.. My NMM skills continue to be weak. There's something about it that just doesn't click right with me. I feel like it only occasionally comes together and I can't really figure out how.. *sigh* Anyway, more angles are available at my website (http://www.jubilantcreations.com/gallerydsm.html) and you can find all of these to vote on at my CMON gallery, should you be so inspired (link in my signature). Questions and comments are more than welcome!

I love undead Don Quixote on his undead fiery horse demon!

I love that bronze-y skin tone. beautiful! /ali

Zgames is located in Vancouver, WA. There is not much of a warmachine playership there, however - most warmachine is played at Rainy Day Games. Zgames schedules a variety of game nights and has lots of room to play pickup games as well (typically 4-6 tables), although when there's a tournament on saturday it can get crowded. Zgames's website is www.zgamesonline.com. The owners are fantastic people - Sean is very enthusiastic about everything and quite knowledgeable. His wife, Kendra (& co-owner, and business sense behind the operation), is also a very nice and knowledgeable person. If you special order, it's best to do it through Kendra, because Sean is easily distracted. As to other game stores, Bridgetown hobbies and games doesn't have alot of gaming going on at the store, although they have a wide variety of minis and hobby stuff for sale. They stay open late on Thursday nights and I think some people play warhammer or maybe something clicky, I'm not sure. Check out http://www.ordofanaticus.com/modules.php?name=Forums, where you can meet and arrange games with many of the Portland area gamers (as well as a number of others). As a club, they rent space for gaming several times each week. I know Tuesday is a regular day, and I understand they've added other nights as well - but I have not kept track of what's a game night anymore. The club space is in Portland, sorta in the middle, but on the east side of the river (that's the not-down-town side of things). Ancient Wonders is in Tualatin, very near the i-5 freeway, and I've heard some people play warmachine there, although the last time I was in (this was several years ago), it was dark and seemed to mostly cater to the MtG crowd. Guardian Games is a fairly nice store, but they also focus more on the card games and also have computers and a big screen for the x-box or whatever game consol they are using these days. I know someone was trying to get the table-top things going there a while back; I don't know if he's had any success. I haven't been to Guardian Games much since their old space was nearly destroyed by a fallen tree in a windstorm last winter. The new location is not very convenient to me. There's a fairly new game store that's around SE Foster and 82nd, but I can't remember the name of it I'm afraid. I think someone mentions it in a thread on TMP where someone was asking for game stores near portland/vancouver, if you want to go do a search over there. The Brushthall who I know lives in the area is known as Dead Dogg, at least at Ordo Fanaticus, I don't know if that's also his name at Privateer Press - he did a painting demo last saturday at Rainy Day Games. Welcome to the area. Don't forget your umbrella, and don't trust the weatherman.. =) /ali ps. I can't find the thread with a quick search at TMP. Maybe it was somewhere else, I can't recall. =(

mmmm bloody oreos.. look nice, though, even without free cookies..

One of our local game stores had all their confrontation on sale - more than 50% off (things were marked down and then everything was another $3 off today). I got the cynwall dragon for $34, for example, and the goblin ninjas blisters 1 & 2 for $3 each.. of course, we ended up spending $90 on minis we don't need.. but we saved like $110 doing it! That counts, right? Now if I can just get that unicorn and emissary of light, I'll be fine with them going away.. /ali

Those griffons remind me of the crummy "gencon special" prepaint they had at the booth in Indy this year. It was ugly. Why don't we get cool stuff like in Paris? ;P /ali

I asked the people at Fantization if they knew if Helldorado would ever sell those box models as individuals, but they said they didn't really know but thought not.. 'course, they may have added that last part to encourage me to buy the dratted box I was holding (the "everything in the booth is 5% off!" didn't help). /ali

Thanks everyone for the help! Here's a finished picture:

Don't worry, Thyrth - I didn't like the wand before you asked what it was, so it's not your fault if I change it.. Actually, I think a shiney black-gray will really suit the model better than the red-brown I decided to go with red for the top & trim, plus added more red to her lips and started the jewelry, which I decided should be a pale gold for contrast reasons, even though I think Drow are more likely to wear silver (don't ask me why). Thanks for the help! Tell me what you think =) I think I will end up adding more yellow to the red, but I need to finish the purple first to see how it will look together. /ali

It's a Dark Sword - from Elmore #8 /ali

She's holding a wand. I tried a brownish-black with red highlights and it didn't come out very well, I'll probably repaint it with a neutral woodgrain, or possibly shiney black/gray. That conversion by Cyril is extremely weird! But I see what you mean about the color.. Maybe I'll go with green for the top and trim and put a little more red into the purple.. *sigh* This model should not be this hard!! /ali

I don't know what to paint the shirt & trim on the skirt for this figure, any ideas? /ali

I wish someone would come over to my house and clean.. I hope you can repair it without the owner noticing.. =(

Soo.. if I wrote you to say that I got an ice witch who was missing her kitty, and could I please have three more, would that work? >: ) /ali

I think Anne told me Cadmium can absorb through your skin, although it might have been one of the other things they found in the paint. She told me there were small amounts of mercury in some of them! bleh. /ali

Since I've started mixing my paints together alot more in the last several months, I've noticed that I tend to keep using a few colors from model to model until I become satisfied with how the color turned out and then I'll move onto another. RMS Ashen Brown and Dark Elf/Dark Elf Highlight mixed with various colors have been showing up alot lately for me. I guess that's kindof like a phase.. /ali

Or if you're putting dullcote on - it is notorious for washing out highlights =) /ali ps. With my last few minis, I have gotten the mini to a point I feel is "finished" and then put it on my workbench shelf for a day or two and then gone back and added another shadow and highlight. I think it has helped me improve from my subtle ways a bit..

What's the blue thing under the rock in the front view picture? A frog? Nice effect on the gem and lovely browns there. /ali

The face is off to a good start, I think, and the lips look nice. You just need to smooth out the blends a bit more and up the contrast. I also think the freehand is good - much more ambitious than anything I've dared try. Composition wise, I think that grass is WAAAY too bright compared to the muted colorscheme you've got going on. It's quite distracting and pulls the eye away from the model. I would go for a different colored static grass, or a more stoney/rocky terrain instead of that bright green grass. Also, adding more depth/texture/variety to the base would be a good thing. I also would suggest a touch of reddish-brown somewhere on the model, perhaps the laces or the buttons on her coat, to contrast with the green sash and boots. You don't want bright red, because that'll look christmassy, just a rusty brown. /ali

I was going to try to play an arcade game the other day but kept getting messages about needing to post more, so I went back to lurking instead.. /ali

The "special edition" plastic prepaint Confrontation model for GenCon was UGLY! Why is it the Europeans get cool metal minis, and we get some cruddy plastic piece of junk????? The wolfen studio paint jobs do look pretty cool, but I don't have high hopes for the production copies.

The Ice Witch's kitty followed by Misaki

I very cleverly avoided most cameras over gencon weekend. =) (I lurk as well IRL as I do on forums!)