This year we decided to go towards ReaperCon a day earlier. We arrived in Dallas late Wednesday morning, got unpacked and then took a trip out to the Dallas Zoo… nice zoo, but the cost is too high. After a couple of hours under the hot Dallas sun, we were off to the Reaper headquarters for some Hickory Creek BBQ Tredway's BBQ (Great stuff, Thanks!)

The following morning we headed over to ReaperCon and had some home made pancakes before the con started (Again, great stuff, Thanks!). Once the doors opened we took our 211 ounces of scrap metal to trade to the back and spent most of the day in the bits bin. (Next year there should be a lot less trade bait, as I cleaned out most of the minis I had no desire to paint)

The Classes were very informative, with all of the instructors for the classes we took handing out notes for the class. We took classes on Army Painting by Kris Marquardt (I really could have used this info a couple of armies ago), Non Metallic Metals by Laszlo Jakusovszky, Faces & Flesh by Rhonda Bender, and Blending by Angela Imrie (who threatened to hurt me). Talked a bit with Jason Wiebe about upcoming projects and got to see his new sabertooth tiger green (I can’t wait!)

Overall I think the con was an improvement over last year, with two notable exceptions, the first being issues with the AC with some parts of the building were too warm, and others were too cold. The other was the absence of the “paint and take”… not so much that it was missing, but that I didn’t bring any minis with me to paint on the premises as I was going to rely on the ones that would have been available if there would have been such an event.  One other minor disappointment was that there wasn't a Sophie says this year (we had been practicing our singing!)
 

got to play with my new tripod, finally got some pictures of these guys I like:

 

quote from a friend when I misspoke about the name of Reaper's Black Knife Tom model...

Here is the begining of my Razig army, if this model is any indication, the army is going to be fun to paint, but more time consuming than the lizardmen were.

Here is my entry into Reaper Miniatures Halloween contest

and here is a crypt I made out of leftover blocks from building the Lizardman Pyramid

over the course of the last 40 days or so I painted up a 43 figure lizardman army to go with my Mayan Pyramid I built in August. Once the Reptus figures started arriving, I noticed that they had more of an Asian feel to them, so I ended up going with Reapers Dark Heaven lizardmen that have been around for about 10 years.

The army consists of 8 archers, 8 spearmen, 3 tyrants, one shaman (and his giant spider familiar), a musician, 2 leaders, 2 spikeshell warriors (turtles), 16 warriors and the recently released Dire Crocodile.

So I present to you my Reptus Army cleverly disguised as Savage Lizardmen!

Dire Crocodile (3422)


Lizardman Tyrant (2404)

for some reason I managed to end up with three each of these old Heritage Minis "Dungeon Dwellers" figures. for their age they are really nice sculpts... One of the knights, I have had for a long time and already painted up, the other two must have come out of a bargain bin someplace.

I wonder if I can "legally" use them in a Warlord tournament under their proxy rules since at one time Reaper used to produce them :D

I also have one of these guys, but he has seen better days...

Heres a list of items I use when painting miniatures, the list is sure to change as I find better products.

Primer: Dupli-color sandable primer (white)
5 minute epoxy: Hammer Head Ultrafast Crystal Clear Epoxy Cement
Paints: Reaper Pro Paints, Reaper Master Series Paints
Flocking: Woodland Scenics: Blended Turf, (green blend, earth blend), Fine Ballast (brown, gray blend), Coarse Ballast (gray blend)
.

 

First up, Captain America, WWII style, he's a combination of:
50082: Cobra, Modern Ninja
02738: Helena Female Gladiator
37007: American Infantry
50026: Modern Weapons Pack 
(all Reaper)

Next is Pulp Adventure Hero Jake Ryan (Reaper, Chronoscope 50032)

Max Carr, sculptor of minis with Heritage games, and author of the generic wargame Warlord looks to be getting back in the business!

All indications is that the "new" game is a retread of the mid 80s "Warlord", which is fine by me since my copy is starting to get a bit ragged. 

after looking at his catalog, I'm going to have to get me some revolting peasants!

If you want to follow his progress, just go to his website

Not sure how long these bases have been available, but they are perfect for mobster & urban style miniatures...

Chicago Sewer Lid (1"x1/8")

NYC Sewer Lid (1-1/16" x 1/8")

There are also London & plain Sewer Lids. personally, I got mine through www.FRPGames.com

Just got back from ReaperCon in Dallas Tx, and had a blast. learned new stuff, met new folks, painted some stuff, traded in a bunch of old metal for new, and got in contact with a long lost friend.

One of my classes was Conversions, which was supposed to be taught by Bob Ridolfi, but he was unable to attend for personal reasons. However all was not lost as I still learned a bunch from the "sub" (Froggy the Great on the reaper boards).

The other class showed how to make urban bases, and by urban they meant 40k(ish), still learned a lot that I can apply towards the pulp figures I am working on, I will just have to tone it down a bit.

There were a few issues at the con that I could see, there didn't seem to be enough seating if you wanted to paint, and paint and take was always full. I would like to see more tables for next year as the convention seems to get bigger. Also on the subject of paint and take, as someone mentioned, the figured seemed like they were primed with talcum powder. The other issue was I could never seem to get the times for a speed paint or Sophie says event. Last year they had sign ups for all of those and the table was always hopping, and this year it seemed as they only had one event a day. Yes I could have asked, but luckily(?) I was busy enough that I forgot/didn't think about it.

Outside of ReaperCon we went by Fry's electronics, and ate at some really good restaurants: (this is more of a note to myself for next time)
Angry Dog - 2726 Commerce St, Dallas
Sonny Brian's BBQ -  West End, Dallas
Two Rows - 17225 Dallas Pkwy, Addison
Best Thai - 4135 Belt Line Rd Addison

a couple of gangsters are attacked by some nazis outside of a diner... kinda sounds like a set up for a joke...

left to right: Superfigs, Copplestone, Steve Barber & Privateer Press. in front of a Plasticville diner

A few of the Lledo cars that I have been waiting on have arrived in the mail over the last couple of days, and I can say they are a better match for 25-28mm gaming that Matchbox MoY cars from the previous entry. The last vehicle to come in the mail also came with Lledo's plastic people, so I have shot one of them with the various figs from other lines for a sze comparison.

 From left to right: Copplestone Ganglands, RAFM Call of Cthulhu, Copplestone High Adventures, Lledo, TSR, Artizan, Steve Barber and  AE-WWII

 

Matchbox Packard vs. Lledo Rolls Royce

ERTL Chevy Panel Van vs. Lledo Model A Panel Van

RANT MODE ON:

I have been purchasing quite a few minis online lately, sight unseen, mainly because my FLGS does not carry that particular line of minis.

A lot of those minis will now sit in a drawer, probably never to be looked upon again, or only to be used as a reminder to how much I hate assembling certain minis.

I have a vague understanding of how minis are made and cast, so I understand that some assembly may be required, and a lot of the time that is fine but then you get the pieces like the "Gypsy Witch" from Black Orc where the skirt comes in two pieces… is it really that difficult to either a) find a better joining point or b) cast the thing in one piece?. Another example is the AE-WWII's German Female Officer/NCO where you have a less than a 1/16" width arm that you are somehow supposed to secure to the torso. Is it so hard to do a peg/hole setup on the figure itself? After a game or so that arm, even with pinning will find a way to fall off! I understand, she is "customizable" I would rather have one solid figure.

From my experience, "The joy of painting" does not include holding two pieces of tin together for 5 minutes hoping that the end result lines up the way they are supposed to.

Reaper, Artizan, and Black Scorpion have some wonderful figs, most or which have very little to glue on, and they will continue to get my business. I will be steering clear of any figure that I have not seen in person that says "multi-part", "interchangeable" or "customizable".

 

These are a couple I have finished up the last couple of weekends, there are a few more that Im workign on that are close to being finished as well.

 

did up a couple of old Grenadier dogs and a Reaper townfolk. He's been modded a bit, he was originally holding a sythe.

 

Old models, "new" casts from MegaMinis.com

originally produced by Hobby Products out of Germany.   The sculptor was probably Josef Ochmann. Werner Klocke also got his start at that company.



 

 

Last weekend was the annual ReaperCon convention held in Reaper Miniatures production facilities in Denton, Tx. The weather was perfect, and since we left out on a Thursday morning the traffic wasnt to bad on the 4 and 1/2 hour trip.

The Four day con featured classes by various industry personnel, of which I took two classes. One was beginning Sculpting by Werner Klocke and "Good fast painting by Derik Schubert. both were founts of information and in a class of 5 people it was easy to get in close to see what was being done and ask questions, which they didnt seem to mind answering during the class or any time else.

We had a chance to play with the new Pro Paints that should be available at the first of June. Im ditching my old Liquitex for these paints at that time.

I also scored a bunch of neat dungeon dressings in the bits bins. next year I should have a bit of unwanted "lead" to turn in for more bits.

Outside of the con we hit Angry Dog in downtown Dallas, which had the best hotdog I have ever had and a pretty warm side of hotwings, then we spent another evening in Dave and Busters.

 

The fella in the long brown coat is the Illuminated one from Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press), I wanted to do some modding to him, but I ran out of time, the guy with two pistols is an old Grenadier Gunslinger figure on his second paint job.

 
Another Pinnacle Deadlands/Rail Wars figure, and a Ral Partha Gunslinger

Two more Pinnacle Deadland's figures

 

these figs are from Pinnalces Deadlands/Railwars series.He supposed to be a Mexican bandit of sorts but after painting the big sideburns everyone agreed he looked a bit like the bloated, drugged up Vegas Elvis, so I painted the same figure (I had two) up to make the Vegas Kid!

 

Witchtown Tales - Old West minis
Back of Beyond Times - Pulp Adventure miniatures magazine

Plus Black Scorpion Miniatures has two new Tombstone sets: #5 & #6

 

Mummy: warlord figure from Reaper, Mountain Man from Pinniacle, and discontinued archer from Target games

A little bit of everything here, the saloon girl is from Deadlands, the limited edition Alan Quartermaine by RLBPS and the long out of print "Figure with no Name" by Grenadier... who was suffering from a case of "lead rot"

Some Crucible Elementals, they were marketed as Mud and Smoke elementals, one is obviously not mud anymore

A couple more really neat figures, both by Reaper

Artizan Gunmen 1

Reaper Mummy Tomb Guardians infront of my Christmas present!

Im going back to some western minis for the time being, found some from Artizan Designs while in Colorado earlier this month.

the two below are older models from Grenadier and from Ral Partha

Here are some figures I got on discount, all are out of print.
The top two (Nisroc & Lidropos) come from the Inferno Miniature game line by Global Games, the creator (?) has stated that there is a d20 game in the works based off of their RPG called the Abyss.

The bottom two minis are also out of print. on the right is another Inferno Mini (Malabor) and on the left is a Goblin Dungeon Scout by ZN Games

Hotel from the ERTL Cowtown set mentioned below. Double faced tape was used to re-apply the original stickers (The glue was destroyed when I used lighter fluid to remove them). On a side note I have always had trouble mixing fleshtones, especially if I needed to go back and do touchup. Liquitex Burnt Sienna mixed with Titanium White or Unbleached Titanium, produces a very nice flesh tone. The Barbarian above has been sitting in a drawer for over 3 years being half done, I finally decided to give him another go.

(left) Reaper Minis Female Necromancer by Bob Ridolfi (2986)
(right) Mage Knight limited edition Slasher (by Ral Partha)

Kinda short for an orc, arent ya?

 

Some from my latest batch, Im  painting every Tuesday now, so this category should get updated more often

 I took these while playing with my digital camera a while back, the first ones are from Deadlands, the second from Necromunda