New Additions to the Lead Pile

Before I get cracking on the next Lead Market Report, I thought I'd post a few pics of some recent additions to the lead family. Let's get things started by welcoming the newest member of my Giant family:


Time to slice & dice, frost-giant style.

This is Grenadier's Armored Norse Giant, #175 from Fantasy Lords (First Series). I dig his armor and bear-head helm/cloak look. I've never been crazy about his pose, although I like the fact he's about to go dual-wield on some poor adventurer.

These next two brutes came in the same lot as the giant, and they were slathered in thick coats of gooey enamel paint before they hit the Super Clean bath & spa. Now you can see them as they were sculpted! They are from Garrison's Sword&Sorcery line, and are known as SS6 Frost Giant with Mace and SS16 Two-Headed Troll Giant:


On second thought, let's NOT go after Conan.

According to the LMW, the Sword&Sorcery line represents Robert E. Howard's world of Conan. I think it's interesting that the giants are really just larger than average men - these two minis are only slightly taller than your average 25mm adventurer. Very cool old-school pieces, indeed. I'll be selling or trading them, as they are not something I collect.

Switching gears, we go to the far future where this is only war and large, stompy walking tanks. I picked up these next two pieces for the princely sum of $2.22:


Staring down the business end of an old-school combi-weapon.


They went that-a-way!

The first mini is an Inquisitor Terminator, circa 1991. The Citadel catalog calls him a Daemon Hunter with a combi-weapon arm and a force rod arm. I picked him up because I think he's a good fit in my Dark Angels army, even though he should probably be in the ranks of a Grey Knights army. Very ornate and gothic-looking iconography.

The second mini is unknown to me. He sure looks like a member of Ral Partha's Battletech line, but his base is devoid of any hallmarks and I haven't found his picture in any RP catalog or online database. If you know what it is and who makes it, please feel free to enlighten me.

Finally, I picked up a trio of siege equipment. They are from Warhammer Fantasy, and include a wheeled & covered battering ram, a catapult with a hand-shaped boulder holder (I don't know what the technical term for that part of a catapult is).


We're gonna huff and puff and batter your walls down.

And the wee little tower in the middle? The one with a pair of cannons and bristling with spikes? I thought I recognized it from a past LMR...yes, here it is. February 2011. It sure looks like the Chaos Dwarf Juggernaut, doesn't it? I'll take some more pics and give it a post of its own.

The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Prong Crown)

As previously mentioned, I decided to take a break from fantasy and paint up a Ral Partha BattleTech Atlas. I didn't originally plan on doing any sort of tutorial or step-by-step, but as I went along I found myself taking some WIP photos and work notes, so what the hell, without further ado, I present to you my "How I Stopped Worrying And Started To Paint My Atlas" step-by-step:

Hmm, so many colors, so many potential schemes, where does the BattleTech noob start??? The shot above shows my Atlas as it arrived in my mailbox. Should I paint the torso one color, the legs another? Or give the right side one color, the left another? Stripes? Camo? How about sticking with what I know? That will do in a pinch. I decided to go with GW Dark Angels Green for my main color, and since the head of the Atlas reminds me of a skull, GW Bleached Bone it is. BattleTech meets Warhammer 40K. Original? Not very. But it works for me, so we can now get to work.

After a couple of days had gone by, I fished him out of his Simple Green bath, and gave him a good scrubbing. Presto! Almost all of his old paint was gone, with just a couple of tiny stubborn spots clinging on for dear life. I gently scraped away most of them, and now have a clean slate to begin anew with.

First, the basing. I glued him into a RP hex base, and when that dried, I added the spackling paste to fill in the gaps. That was easy enough, because I was going for the level terrain look. The next day, I applied the Elmer's & water wash to the base, and dipped him into the fine-grain basing sand. Once that dried, I applied a second coat of glue wash to seal it. Later that day, I used super glue to attach the two small rocks you see, and that was that.

Next, the antennae. The first attempt looked OK, but I decided the wire was too thick. Hmm, I though about stretching a piece of plastic sprue over heat, but decided it would be too brittle, so what else could I use? How about a staple? This worked nicely, so we have a keeper. To finish the antennae, I dipped the ends in super glue about three times to form the smallest antenna end I could manage. Done.

After cleaning up a few stray mold lines and some stubborn flash, it was off to the garage, ending with a nice coat of GW Skull White primer. That dried at least a day and only then did I move on to Phase I of painting. I can hardly wait!

To tackle the main body, I started with two thin coats of GW Dark Angels Green (thinned with water). Next, I mixed a 50/50 blend of DA Green and GC Scruffy Green, and drybrushed the hell out of Atlas. I was hoping to mostly catch panel lines, hard edges, and other parts subject to wear and tear. In hindsight, I probably could have added another lighter drybrush to really pick out the edges, but since this was my first 'mech, I didn't want to overdo it.

The wrist-mounted weapons were classic GW - paint black, drybrush MC Gunmetal Grey, drybrush GC Silver to pick out highlights. For the feet, I gently drybrushed some MC Flat Earth to simulate mud, and a few highlights of GC Silver for random scuffs that expose metal.

The last step was to tackle the skull-like head. I REALLY wanted this to stand out and look menacing and grim. A uniform coat of GW Bleached Bone went on, followed by a wash of 40/40/20 GC Smokey Ink/Water/Future. Next I drybrushed with GC Bone White and then GC Dead White. The eyes next, starting with Black, then GW Red Gore, 50/50 Red Gore+GC Sun Yellow, a highlight of Sun Yellow near the bottom, and a small dot of GC Dead White in each corner. After I sealed the entire model, I went back and used some GC Gloss Varnish to coat the eyes, and hopefully give them a nice sheen.

The base was a simple affair: a thin coat of watered-down MC Flat Earth, drybrushed with MC Dark Yellow, drybrushed with GC Dead Flesh, and washed with some thinned black. The rocks were drybrushed with GC Sombre Grey and then GC Stonewall Grey. The edge of the base was last, and I went with GC Filthy Brown.

I had a blast painting up my Atlas! It was a fun departure from my normal menu of D&D fare, with the added bonus of firing me up to continue work on my Dark Angels army. If you are looking for a great diversion, I would tell you to paint a BattleTech or CAV 'mech for the fun of it. And if you are a BattleTech player who has yet to paint any of your own 'mechs, stop stalling and pick up a brush! You don't need to field an award-winning lance, just one that you personally painted and are satisfied with.

I Have a Little Project...

I received a package in the mail today:

No, it's not an iron golem...it's an Atlas! Or more specifically, an AS7-D Atlas assault mech for FASA's BattleTech by Ral Partha.

Back in the day, my brother and I played a variety of games. One day I picked up a copy of BattleTech, and we gave it a try. I thought it was a fun game, easy to play, and had a fairly high replay value.

I ended up buying a few other supplements, including the BattleTech Technical Readout 3025. It's a neat book, containing drawings and detailed info on the various mechs in the game. While reading through it, I happened upon what would instantly become my favorite mech of all time...Mr. Atlas.

On page 122, under the heading Notable 'Mechs And MechWarriors there is a bit of flavor text that for whatever reason has stuck with me to this very day:

MechWarrior Rodney Van Kleven

A member of the elite 6th Syrtis Fusiliers, Rodney Van Kleven is an aristocrat with the instincts of a democrat. Extremely personable, he is well-liked by everyone from fellow MechWarriors to the lowliest ship's cook.

On the battlefield, Van Kleven uses his Atlas, which he calls the Boar's Head, like a 100-ton scout. He stomps all over the field, creating general terror in the enemy lines and almost always overheating his 'Mech. He has won several land grants, but quickly loses the titles when his 'Mech overheats and shuts down on the battlefield.

I have a few ideas floating around in my melon on how to paint my Atlas, but for now, it's off to the workshop for a nice bath in Simple Green. I even have a couple of spare RP hex bases floating around, so I'll be able to properly base it.

This will be one of my first museum pieces, because I haven't played the pen & paper version of BattleTech at all since my brother and I played over 20 years ago. I'm gonna paint this bad boy up and let him sit on my desk or shelf, looking at me with his grim, unchanging expression. For me, this is purely a nostalgia project. It is highly unlikely this Atlas will ever see any tabletop action, but it was just one of those purchases that I was compelled to make.

Lastly, I need to give credit where credit is due. I cannot help but think of Edgar Martinez and his Eagle commercials, back when Gar was still playing ball for my Seattle Mariners. "I have a little project..." is his tagline, and it always seemed like Gar had a lot of little projects going on, much like I do with my various endeavors in miniature-land. So the title of this entry is dedicated to Edgar Martinez, pretty much the nicest guy to ever play the game. Oh, and he could hit, too.