Monster Lab Miniatures

This week I'm revisiting two projects, one from a year ago and another from only a few weeks back.

I'm excited to show off a revisit of the extreme Ghetorix conversion that I originally did for long-time customer Michael P. Kevin M. saw the conversion I did for Michael last December in the galleries and knew it was the next piece he wanted for his Circle or Orboros army. I really enjoyed working on Michael's E.G. and was eager to give it another shot. Let's take a look at the work!

The extreme warp wolf model is a full pewter piece, which brings a whole list of challenges when attempting to do even the simplest manipulations to the model. We live in a resin and plastic age, but there is something to say for a stout pewter model, it has a certain gravitas.

The E.G.'s right arm needed repositioning so that it could hold its axe with both hands. A move of 1/4" was needed to bring the arm back and away from its body. Since I was working with pewter there was only one thing that would do to get the job done, the bone saw. After cutting about a 1/8" into the top of the E.G.'s shoulder I brought out another heavy duty tool (one that I have only used in this conversion), a pair of adjustable Irwin toothed pliers. The teeth on the pliers do a moderate amount of damage to the arm, so a good amount of resculpting is necessary to bring the arm back to form.

Some expense was shaved off this piece by bending the extreme warp wolf's existing fingers to hold its axe instead of resculpting each finger for a perfect grip. The one I did for Michael was a complete resculpt of each finger, which is great, but this method is excellent when trying to keep costs low.

When all is said and done, this version of the extreme Ghetorix conversion takes seven hours and is a piece that I'm proud to put the Monster Lab stamp on. I even like the way the left hand is lightly gripping the axe haft, it's like the force behind the swing is so great he's having trouble holding on!

Last month I showed off my second original sculpt for casting, a dragon chariot base. I'd like to take one last look at the piece and a few castings that were made of it before it leaves for the Netherlands and becomes a part of the client's product line.

Jeremy G. over at Prairie House Miniatures did a fantastic job casting and resculpting the base, creating four test casts. I was really pleased with how the piece turned out, it looks even better as a single cohesive resin sculpt.

It was a proud moment packing the dragon base and its copies away for mailing to their owner, and another exciting step down my road as a professional sculptor. I can't wait to do more!

That's it for this week, come back next time to take a look at Michael P.'s Fimir themed army which contains two nasty demon princes and a custom Llamasu!

As promised I'm back this week to show off a chaos army you're probably not used to seeing on the table top. This project stretches all the way back to September when I received a commission from long-time customer Michael P. to do weapon-tail and helmet conversions on a squad of Fimir. The project kept rolling from there, and after Michael added two demon princes to the list and a lamassu, it was finally complete!

I put the finishing touches on the lamassu last week and it's time to show off the entire army, let's take a look!

The lamassu's head is a conversion bit from Raging Heroes. They call it a sphinx head, but it fits perfectly with the chaos dwarf look of Warhammer fantasy and the lamassus they employ.

The body of the beast comes from the chaos Manticore kit for Warhammer fantasy, and its tail is that of a Skaven Hell Pit Abomination.

By definition a lamassu is either a bull or lion with the head of a man and the wings of an eagle. Warhammer depicts theirs as the cloven type, so Michael was keen to have the rear feet converted to hooves (the kit comes stock with what can be roughly described as reptilian feet). A bit of grey stuff later, and voila! Full frontal lamassu.

Having already seen the pics of the rest of the models, you're probably wondering what the whole army looks like together...

What a great project to work on, it was truly a blast and I'm excited for Michael to wreak havoc with his models on the table top.

That's all for this time, come back next week to see what else is brewing at the Monster Lab!

It certainly is. Here in the Midwest temperatures have dropped down into the twenties and have hovered below freezing. I can't think of a more suitable force to be painting in the winter chill than Wyrd Miniatures's Malifaux box set: the Children of December.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the steampunk/fantasy/western skirmish game called Malifaux, it's what you might expect, but with a twist. When playing a game of Malifaux you can leave your dice bag at home, all "dice rolls" are determined by the flipping of cards from a poker deck (and a few you might cheat from a hand of six). There was some buzz around my local game store about the second edition of the game and its new plastic minis. I was pretty blown away by the Arcanist faction, and most specifically Rasputina's starter force.

Let's take a look at the painted models!

The Fist of December is one bad mamma-jamma. This was a model I was looking forward to painting and relished the opportunity to bust out the airbrush to build broad shading.

Secret Weapon's realistic water/crushed glass combo makes for a wonderful wet snow. IF YOU USE THIS PRODUCT BE SURE TO WEAR FACE PROTECTION AND A MASK! The glass dust is very unpleasant if inhaled..

A bit of cross-hatching to create a ice shine effect was done with Ice Blue, a 1:1 mix of Ice Blue and white, and a top highlight of pure white.

You might remember seeing this guy on the blog before, it's a model I converted from the GW Varghulf kit. The original concept was a "counts as" varghulf (which was awesome, it performed spectacularly each game). I never did put paint on the model when I used it in my Vampire Counts army, but now was the time since it was being added to my Malifaux force as a counts as Sabertooth Cerberus.

Almost seven years later Cerberus got the paint job he was due!

The leader of the crew is Rasputina, a woman in-tune with the chill of winter.

A bit of heavy eye-liner really made her frozen eyes pop against her alabster skin.

I really like the model's pose, the winter wind blowing through her parka, her stoically looking on as she ponders the next move in her dire strategy.

Rasputina's totem is a wendigo. The model came stock with a cowboy that he was strangling, but I didn't like it. Instead I went with a simple tree trunk and resculpted his foot and hand to fit.

I'm pleased with the finished look: nice, clean, and simple.

The Ice Gamin are a bit of mischievous comic relief for the crew, silly little buggers that will stab you in the back when you're attention is elsewhere.

The look of the gamin is perfect for their size, capricious.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my new Malifaux crew!

Until next time, good gaming and happy hobbying, and happy Thanksgiving!

This week I'm working on another Black Legion project for David D.'s 40k army. In October I did a twelve-hour paint on his Abaddon, the centerpiece for his army. David has a really great theme to his army, and wanted to have a squad that complemented his Abaddon. After doing some digging, he came up with the idea to use the story of the Oath-Broken, a group of Black Legionnaires who are trying to return to their master's favor. As the story goes, a member of the Oath-Broken failed Abaddon in some task or exhibited a lack of loyalty and was cast out for their crime. Being the kind-hearted and forgiving person he is, Abaddon is uncompromisingly unforgiving in his view towards them. No Oath-Broken receives any support from the Legion, but is allowed to act on the fringe, taking the most dangerous roles, desperately hoping to regain their master's favor. They probably won't, but that won't keep them from trying...

This was the fiction I was tasked with bringing to life, and with all due haste I dove right in!

Above is a member of the squad (who will ironically represent a unit of Chosen on the table top) about 95% completed. My goal with each completed model was to depict the iconic nature of the Oath-Broken: vicious, pragmatic, and on the ragged edge. Many of the members' armor is sparse, lacking lots of horns or trophies, but all are packing as much heat as possible for both ranged and melee combat.

You may be wondering what's going on with the armor of the model above, why is it green in some places? Each Oath-Broken still wears the original armor of their legion, The Sons of Horus. Chipped away by chainsword cuts, bullet wounds, and ricochets, the original sea-green paint of their birth legion can be seen beneath the more current layers of black and without legion support and fresh coats of paint their old colors are starting to show through!

There's still more painting to be done on the rest of the squd, and I'll go deeper into those details later, so in the meantime, let's take a look at the converted models!

The Squad is ten strong, led by a champion wielding a plasma pistol, power sword, and one heck of a bad attitude.

This guy is eager to regain Abaddon's favor and totes around a banner for the Black Legion wherever he goes. It makes sure his dark exploits are in full view of those he's trying to impress, but it also makes him one hell of a target on the battlefield. No guts, no chaos glory.

Three distinct kits went into the Oath-Broken conversions: chaos tactical marines, Necron warriors, and fantasy chaos warriors. The chaos warrior box kit is great for adding a rugged look to the space marines, where gauntlets were damaged they've been replaced with simple leather gloves and fur lined capes supplement for just a little more meager protection. The champion here has seen better days, and his bionic leg (from the Necron warrior kit) proves it.

Going back to the chaos warrior bitz box, I used the lower half of one to convert a cool striding pose on the model above left. Both of these guys are firing their bolters one-handed, and a simple weapon swap on a couple of pistol wielding arms gave me the extended arms I needed to pull it off.

Having the marines firing one-handed also allowed me to put a combat weapon in their off-hand. You can tell by the battle-scarring on this OB's chainsword above that he's not afraid to get in the thick of things!

Like all Oath-Broken, these two have taken some punishment on the battlefield. The marine on the left has fared a bit better than his counterpart on the right, only losing an exhaust vent from his backpack and having to salvage a basic steel helm in place of his ceramite one.

His buddy has done the best he could to bandage up his bum right leg, a bandage I'll be sure to paint as blood-soaked!

These three were all of the same shoot-from-the-hip style, a great look for marines laying down a hail of gunfire.

One member has the torso of a chaos warrior and a bionic right arm, his fellow on the far right has even fashioned a crude bayonet to his bolter.

Sometimes an Oath-Broken gets lucky and is able to scavenge from a fallen loyalist marine, as the one in the center certainly has, though the backpack he found is a little worse for wear.

These final two Oath-Broken are the hot headed members of the bunch, rushing headlong into the thick of melee combat. Obviously such rash tactics haven't served the one on the left so well, and he's paid the price with an eye!

The other one has some serious battle-scarring on his helmet, chest, and shoulders (not to mention a bionic leg), a testament that he's taken it as well as he's given it out!

That's it for this week and a look at what's on my desk. Come back next time to see the painted and finished members of David's Oath-Broken squad!

Until then, happy hobbying and good gaming!

The Oath-Broken have been unleashed! This week I finished painting a conversion commission I received from David. D., a unit of chosen for his Black Legion army. The Oath-Broken were a ton of fun to paint, each having his own unique personality, and all of them being rough-and-tumble misfits looking for redemption.

Let's dive in and take a look at the painted minis!

Marius Titus leads the band of Oath-Broken, a veteran of many campaigns, looking to regain his position of prominence within the Legion.

I wanted three contrast points to stand out on the finished model: his power swords, plasma pistol, and banner.

Once you get the hang of it, painting glow effects is a great way to add a visual "thrum" of power emanating from a weapon. Of course, his power sword and plasma pistol emit such a glow.. his helmet's eyepieces do too!

That banner has seen some serious carnage, blood crusted to its front and back. I'm willing to bet Marius picked it up off a fallen standard bearer and strapped it to his back so that he would be more visible to those he wished to impress on the battlefield.

Here's the two in the squad shooting one-handed, fully painted! Where each O.B. has taken combat damage on his armor the recently painted (in the last 10,000 years or so) black has chipped away to show the original sea-green of the Sons of Horus.

You might have noticed that each of the two above has a lens that is not emitting a glow. Both have sustained damage to their helmets, disabling the higher uses of one eyepiece (I imagine they can still see through them, but they don't get battlefield specs, etc.).

When going full-auto on your bolter, only two hands will do, and that's exactly what these three are doing.

Now that they're painted, a lot of the cool conversions that went into each model are clearly visible; like the bionic right arm on the marine in the upper left.

The middle O.B. scavenged a backpack off of a loyalist marine... probably an Ultramarine by the looks of things.

And now for the close combat fanatics! These two are a couple of my favorites, especially the one with two axes.

The dual axe-wielder has had his eye put out, and it's still oozing. Check out the scars radiating out from his eye socket!

Judging by the weapons of these two, they've really been thrashing their opponents in melee combat.

Many of the O.B. have hastily patched up wounds, like the marine on the right.

Check out the rust marring the bare metal portions of this guy's face plate.

And with one last look at the whole squad, that's it! Thank you for stopping by and checking out my latest project here at the Monster Lab.

Come back next time to see more!

I took a break from commissions this weekend to give myself an early Christmas present. I bought the Viktorias starter, Hired Swords, and sat down to paint the relic hammer wielding, beer chugging, insult slinging mercenary warrioress Taelor. The Taelor mini comes in nine CAD rendered plastic cast pieces which are amazingly detailed. Her pose transmits ideas of playfulness, power, and the far end of post adolescent awkwardness. I love it.

Let's take a look at the finished painted piece!

Taelor is going to be a guest-star in my Rasputina force, and as such, she got the same wet snow basing that I really like. There's something attractive about the scantily clad Viktoria band questing through the winter snow, dealing out death with winks and smiles.

Taelor is one hard working gal, wearing her mechanic duds complete with dangling suspender straps.

Where Rasputina was painted with the Reaper fair skin triad, Taelor's skin was painted with the rosy flesh triad. She's definitely on the hot-blooded end of the personality spectrum and I imagine her becoming flush in the cold, steam rising off her while she swings away with her relic hammer, laying waste to her boss's enemies.

Each Malifaux model is CAD rendered from an illustrative artists concept, no hand sculpting is used. I both like this and loath this concept because the models are of superb quality, but the time-honored relationship between tabletop games and their sculptors is potentially going to the wayside. I have mixed feelings that the future of hobby lies with a computer mouse rather than sculpting tool. Still, if anything, the quality of the minis speak for themselves, and I'll admit I'm a fan.

I would have preferred Taelor's mouth to be open in a sneer or yell instead of stoically pursed. Still, her heart-shaped face is still wonderfully done, and has great potential for expression.

And that's it, Taelor is ready to battle it out for Rasputina's crew in my next Malifaux game! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work. From me and Taelor, Merry Christmas!

Last November I showcased Michael P.'s strange fimir themed warriors of chaos army. It was horrible, it was Lovecraftian, it was awesome. Since then, Michael has been hard at work getting his new army ready for AdeptiCon. To fill out his units he needed command models, so I got hard at work making three converted banner bearers and three musicians.

Let's take a look at the finished models!

I wanted to keep true to the original weapons the fimir came with, turning the staves into maces wherever possible; though one lucky fimir got a whole new cleaver to add some much needed choppy action to his unit!

The banner conversions took their inspiration from a Celtos banner topper showing a fertile woman. Michael wanted that woman converted into a fimir female, complete with one eye and beaky snout.

The banner pole was a simple brass pinning rod, accentuated with a little green stuff work.

I liked the eye as a prominent feature on the topper, hieroglyphic in its proportions.

This fellow has a snake running up his banner pole, its tongue reaching even further up its length.

I'm not sure where Michael got the horns for the musicians, but they made great bases for more elaborate and weirder designs. All three horse-head horns received more filigree and added ornamental horns.

Yet even more models are on the way for Michael's fimir army, soon to follow are chaos slugs pulling chariots! Come back next week to check out the magnetization projects that I'm working on for David D., and the additions he's making to his chaos space marine army!

Until then, good gaming and happy holidays!

This is a scenario that I believe many, if not all of us, can empathize with:

A wave of excitement washes over you just thinking about the next project in your 40k army. It's going to be the biggest, baddest, most killy addition to your force, paving the way to your enemies' inevitable destruction. With dreams of glory dancing in your head you race down to your local hobby store, a cool $74.25 (plus tax) burning a hole in your pocket. In a matter of mere hours your brand new Land Raider is assembled and painted, ready for that first triumphant dice roll.

I might be only within minutes of your pride and joy gracing the battlefield that you realize... I should have assembled it with hurricane bolters and a twin-linked assault cannon. But it's too late, your LR is fully painted, spray-sealed even, and only serious trauma will be enough tochange its weapons kit-out. Your heart breaks as your adversary guffaws at your tragic lack of insight.

Then, in a flash, you realize that you magnetized each of your Land Raider's twin-lascannons and its twin-heavy bolters. Hallelujah! Switching between weapon systems is an easy snap, and you no longer have to feel the sting of hobby regret (or the absence of another $74.25 in your pocket).

The first part of that story is exactly the situation that David D. isn't going to have to worry about, now that his new Land Raider is fully magnetized. That's what I've been working on this week, so let's take a look at how the work on his project is going!

For the weapon magnetization I used 3/16" x 1/16" rare earth magnets by Primal Horizon I picked up at my local hobby store. To get the lascannons and heavy bolters to fit I removed the weapon mounting posts and placed magnets into ~1mm recesses on the guns and leaving ~1mm exposure on the mounts.

The weapon covers were split down the middle to allow each gun to be removed individually. It would take thinner magnets to keep the covers intact, so that recessing the magnets wouldn't be necessary.

Now when David wants to put the latest and greatest weapons onto his Land Raider, he'll be able to with a quick snap!

David didn't want to stop there, his latest squad of havocs is going to pull double duty being able to swap heresy era autocannons for heavy bolters. The plan is to glue a pair of hands to each gun and a pair of arms to each marine with the magnets joining at the wrists. If all goes well, David should be able to swap the two gun types freely between each model!

That's it for this week, if you have any questions or would like to add your experiences with magnetizing minis to the conversation, let me know by posting in the comments!

Come back next time for a look at a crew of badass Malifaux chicks called the Viktorias and their band of hired swords!

Until then, happy hobbying and good gaming!

A lantern glowed weakly, fighting for purchase against the gathering fog. A sentry stood watch, straining his eyes, seeking where a shadow had passed in the early morning gloom. It was probably nothing.

Shhnck. A piece of steel, brighter than the shrouded moon, glinted with reflected fire and blood, protruded from his chest where no object rightly should. He held his hands hovering about the blade, noncommittal, unbelieving. It withdrew with a similar sound, muffled by the wetness spreading through his cotton undershirt.

Viktoria whipped her blade, deftly cleaning it before issuing a curt nod to her "sister." Without a word five more shapes broke from the veil, continuing their deadly advance across the courtyard.

"Yeeeee Haaaa!! Come get some you lousy maggots!" Taelor. The sisters looked at one another with equal measures of exasperation and mirth. Taelor's voice rang out again and again as she shouted down her opponents, punctuated only by the sickening sounds of what could be described as wet sacks filled with tinder crunching under the trauma of her relic hammer and horrified screams.

The sisters smiled and moved ahead double-time. Their cover was blown, now the true slaughter could begin.

I'm proud to introduce the heroins of our little story... the Viktorias! From left back to front right they are: ronin #1, Viktoria of Ashes, ronin #2, Taelor, Student of Conflict, Viktoria of Blood, and ronin #3. These seven ladies make up the Hired Swords starter box set for the Malifaux Outcast faction. Viktoria (of Ashes) and her doppelganger "twin" sister Viktoria (of Blood) lead the crew, and are accompanied by their lieutenant, Taelor. The Viktorias are misfits, who don't quite fit in anywhere, so they recruit any female mercenary looking for work or safe harbor. Many freelance warriors have joined their ranks, including a trio of put-out ronins and even a young denizen of Malifaux looking to forge her own path in the Breach with blood and slaughter.

I picked up the Hired Swords boxed set as a supplement to my Arcanist force. Any Malifaux crew can hire up to two mercenary models to ally with their force, and I jumped at the chance to add one of my favorite characters to the spell-slinging power of Rasputina. Taelor has earned her keep over and over again each game, crushing her enemies with devastating sweeps of her relic hammer. With 3/4/6 damage and the fact that one of her attack triggers negates damage prevention, she can kill an enemy leader out of nowhere!

The leaders of the crew are the Viktorias, who share the "sister" type. The Student of Conflict also has the sister type, and synergizes fantastically well with her older role-models, buffing them or sling-shotting them into combat.

Where the ronin share a Japanese style, the Viktorias are punk rock all the way.

Viktoria of Ash's shaved head is wonderful, I love the look.

Viktoria of Blood's miniature is rather racey in comparison to the others, jacket wide and thong displayed. I believe Wyrd got the mix of edgy right for their 2nd Ed characters. For the first rendition of many characters the draw of busty and scantily clad usually won out to the detriment of any substantially original personality. With the new plastics, the raciness of the models doesn't feel unnecessarily trumped up, it is the best blend of dark, exotic, and dangerous.

A melancolic undercurrent of humor runs through the entire Malifaux universe, and the Student of Conflict is a perfect example. She contains a fantastic amount of preadolescence awkwardness (sandals probably aren't the best choice for combat footwear) and dire severity.

The ronin were a blast to paint. I love their great expressiveness, in pose and composition.

For each ronin I wanted to do something a little different, tweaking things here and there and seeing what worked well. Where the yellow ronin had solid hose, this ronin received fishnet, and the third got silk weave.

I HAD to paint a tattoo on one of the ronin, and this one was perfect. A true lover of dragons, what else would I paint on her arm?

I love painting red heads, and this ronin was perfect for flaming hair. I did cut off the large pigtails on either side of her doo, and I shortened the end of her ponytail to a neat point. These were all changes that I liked, toning down the extreme "baby doll" look of the model, as a complete piece I think it looks much better this way.

Look closely, this is a true red head, complete with freckles!

Like I said, all the ronin are such fantastic models and it's impossible to choose a favorite, each has qualities that I really like. I'm pleased with this ronin's mix of earthy yellow, orange, and cream tones for her wardrobe.

If you're missing close-ups of Taelor, check out my December post!

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest painting project! Come back next time to see what I'm working on here at the Monster Lab!

A couple of weeks back I hypothesized a potential situation, one that many of us have found ourselves within: being short $75 and feeling a lack of completion. I also posed a solution to the problem. It's not a new solution, but for those of you who haven't tried magnetizing your minis I offered a look at how it's done. For those who already have, maybe you found a little inspiration for your next project.

This week I'm proud to say that the work is done on the magnetized land raider project, and now it's time to show off the painted model!

David D. has some really great fiction for his Black Legion force, and part of that is their unique relationship with the fourth legion, the Iron Warriors. I love that David's legionnaires have teamed up with the Iron Warriors, they were the first army I ever collected and played, nearly a decade ago.

David wanted a simple paint scheme, so I opted for the classic silver and black. While I was playing Iron Warriors, I never quite took to the danger chevrons painted on weapons. It probably had to do with the fact that my hand wasn't steady enough to paint them! Ha ha. Now that my hand has steadied, I decided to freehand the iconic black and yellow bars on all the weapon housings. You know what? I really like how it looks.

Vents got the ol' rust-where-it-drips treatment, adding just a little more character to the overall piece.

Of course, anywhere there is an Aquila, it has been unceremoniously "X'd" out with bright red blood. Death to the false emperor!

And that's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed dropping by and checking out the latest project that I've been working on here at the Monster Lab. Until next week, good gaming and happy hobbying!

This week's post is about a hobby topic for which I am very passionate; great gaming accessories. It's one thing to have a wonderfully painted army on the table top with beautiful terrain, it's yet another even better thing to have well done and painted objective/scheme/corpse/scrap/wreck (whatever your chosen games system uses) markers to accent your battle. Why spend so much time laboring over your troops and then have them fight and die for a pog on the table top?

I've got a set of three objective markers that would do any game of 40k justice to show you this week, let's take a look!

This is yet another project for David D. and his Black Legion army. Each marker is tinged with malice and choasy goodness.

David had specific direction for each marker. For this one he said, "I want a downed marine reaching for a chaos banner amidst severed Emperor's Children's heads." I was happy to oblige.

My favorite part of this piece is the legionnaire's hand, reaching so longingly for the banner and coming up just short.

And now for the painted piece with all its guts and gore resplendent under a gloss coat.

There they are, his intestines leaking out onto the battlefield. If you look very closely you can see a vertebra peeking out from underneath his bisected torso.

This is what I consider a very classic take on an objective marker, let's call it "capture the flag."

Nothing special, just some architectural bitz to represent a demolished city.

Here's where the piece comes alive. There's a brass spire complete with patina, a broken toxic pipeline, and of course, an icon dedicated to chaos undivided.

Some hapless marine even managed to lose their bolter. For their sake, I hope they're dead.

David was particular about wanting a "pile of helmets resembling a pile of skulls" for the last marker.

A simple pile would be ok, but let's snazz if up with broken architecture, pipe, and gangway.

For the five loyalist helmets there is only one Black Legion.

There's a good assortment of chapters represented in the pile: Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Imperial Fists.

Blood leaks out from under the helmets... probably from the severed heads still inside!

The Imperial Fist's helmet received a singularly nasty shot to the forehead...

In case you couldn't see the rust well from the level shots, here's one from further above. A little rust goes a long way in bringing a piece together, as my buddy Cameron knows very well.

Here they are, pre and post-paint!

I hope you enjoyed checking out my latest project for David's Black Legion, there's sure to be more coming soon and more projects from the Monster Lab!

Have a great hobby!

It's another snow day today in north-west Kansas. Twelve inches of snow have fallen since yesterday and everyone has spent their morning digging out (my street wasn't fortunate enough to be plowed). Now that we've cleared a path down our driveway and street and Harley was able to make it into work I'm back to the hobby desk. In the spirit of snow days everywhere, I'm putting down my paintbrush today in favor of taking a day off to do some IT work (it's still working, but hey).

Before I move onto coding and html, I'd like to share a group that I finished yesterday. Some of the minis might look familiar to you, it's because they're Ron N.'s models that I painted up for him last fall and can be seen in the fantasy model gallery at the top of the page. There's three new models he's adding to his roleplaying group's collection as well. Let's take a look!

Ron's elf mage has progressed in his adventures, electing to take a darker path. I got a brand new model from Ron to paint up and represent his character's delving into the arts of a shadow mage. I jumped at the chance to a palette of dark greys, purples, and blues. I also wanted to do something a little more different.

I have had an idea for some time to do star field in the place of shadows on a model. As it happened, Wizards of the Coast beat me to it. I haven't seen a shadow mage with anything like that represented, so I knew that this was the guy to be sporting a celestial cloak.

And here are the two models representing the same character back-to-back. His attitude definitely has changed with his more esoteric delvings!

The next model I received from Ron was a lot more wide open for artistic interpretation. It was a "teen wolf" werewolf, wearing blue jeans and a letterman's jacket.

Ron wanted the wolf to be a kitsune (traditional name for a Japanese fox spirit) cleric with a magical bow. The first thing I did was carve the big "W" off of his right breast, and then set to sculpting a few armor pieces. A right pauldron, two greaves, and a sash around his waist brought the model from 50's noir to the land of Pathfinder.

The bow was made from a brass rod, bent to shape, and the quiver/arrows was grey stuff and pinning rods as well. This was my first kitsune, and I'm excited to try my hand at another, possibly with a golden fur coat!

I can't take total credit for the final paint. Ron gave me this previously painted model with the request that I "spruce it up."

The flames had a traditional highlight paint scheme, so I inversed the color of the magical fire to bring it closer to true flame shading. Some heavy highlights on hair, face, and shoulders and it looks like the fire is really emitting a brilliant purple glow!

And that's it for this week. Thanks for dropping by the Monster Lab and checking out my latest project. There's more to come and some exciting developments on the horizon. Check back next week and I'll start previewing a special project that has been shaping the face and future of the newly renamed Monster Lab Miniatures!

Hope to see you then!

When I came up with the name Monster Lab, I stuck with it because it was a fun metaphor for the work I was doing: creating hobby horrors to rampage across the table top. In the early days my work was all burly space elf abominations, undead three-headed dogs, and dark lords of the underworld. Ok, not much has really changed. I love table top hobby, just like you undoubtedly do, and the past decade has been a great journey. I've met a lot of great people and had more fun than I ever thought 28mm minis could supply. I opened up the Midwest Monster Lab commissioned painting and modeling services in the spring of 2012, and after working with some truly wonderful people I've decided it's time to take the next step. As far as announcements go, this is good as any: I'm proud to announce the creation of Monster Lab Miniatures!

You may have noticed some banner changes here and there around this site and the nod I made last week to a project that is helping to fuel the changes. I'm going into the miniatures market and I'd love to show you what's new, and what's on the very close horizon!

Let's take a look.

My first line of product (wave 1 if you will) is resin cast bases/markers. Bases/markers? Right. They are designed primarily as markers (objective, scheme, scrap, corpse, wreck, you name it), but as you can see above, most work well as awesome scenic basing!

Let's take a closer look at the full line of first release bases and markers!

Here are the five scrap markers seen above. There's tons of great little bitz on the bases: gears, tesla coils, severed robot heads, crystal energy cores... I'm really looking forward to showing you the painted product when I have them done next week. Until then, here they are in unpainted resin.

Scheme markers are great for skirmish level games like Malifaux, Mordheim, and the like, to represent objectives, loot, and resources. The treasure chest is a favorite of my play group, but let's not forget the dynamite, map & dagger, money bags, and tool box!

Unfortunately, all things must die. This is as true in hobby gaming as in life. Luckily we have a brand new set of corpse markers to represent these causalities! That's not to say they can't be used as objectives or bases. Nothing says, "this is my badass-axe-wielding-head-chopping-champion," like standing with a foot propped up on a pile of skulls!

Next week I'm going to show you the painted versions of these new markers, unveil a new marketplace site, and tell you where you can find them! Until then, have a great hobby!

Last week I gave a preview of the new line of scenic bases/gaming markers that I'm producing in collaboration with Prairie House Miniatures. All the miniatures featured here are available at the brand new monsterlabminis.com site in the web store. Be sure to check out the promo for 15-50% off your next Monster Lab purchase at the bottom of the page. If you've been kicking around the idea of commissioning a project, this is the time to do it! (15% off promo also applies to web store purchases)

I promised pictures of the painted pieces I showed you last week and I'm excited to show them off to you here today!

Let's take a look...

This is the Crystal Marker 5 Pack, a simple design that works well with games ranging from Warhammer 40k to Warmachine and Malifaux to Wild West Exodus. I had a blast painting the mysterious glow on each crystal.

There's a lot of room for creative interpretation with these crystal markers, I'm excited to paint up a few for my Rasputina Malifaux crew.

Plots and schemes take many forms, be they money laundered for bribes or dynamite at the ready for a devastating explosion. This Scheme Marker 5 Pack gives you as many markers ready to represent objectives that any gunslinging desperado or conniving bureaucrat would maneuver to achieve.

Check out all the individual gold coins littering the ground around these money bags!

What's in the trunk? That's for you to decide! Will it be a venerable old redwood lock box or a dark vestibule emanating a creepy glow?...

This scheme marker pulls double duty as a Scrap Marker and works well as a base too!

Complete with map, dagger, and compass, this map leads to treasure, or maybe it plots the path of enemy movements...

When the fate of machines turns for the worse, they live on as scrap markers. This Scrap Marker 5 Pack contains as many beautifully sculpted markers representing the mechanical spoils of war.

A personal favorite of mine, this marker represents the remains of a construct that was powered by arcane crystals.

Ramos, Joss, and three Steam Arachnids from Wyrd Miniature's Malifaux

Scrap Markers also work incredibly well as bases for the mechanophiles in your force... I'm thinking of you tech priest.

Whether you're reanimating them as undead fighting corpses or claiming them as objectives, this Corpse Marker 5 Pack is great for gaming and model basing alike!

To help us celebrate the launch of Monster Lab Miniatures, I'd like to offer you 15% off your web store purchases and even up to 50% off you next commissioned project. Check out the promo poster below for full details!

Monster Lab Mini's bases and markers are hitting store shelves and are starting to get some buzz. A good friend of mine made an excellent review of February's wave 1 releases. Check it out below or on his youtube channel!

I've been hard at work not only sculpting up new bases, but painting a few of my own for use in my Malifaux play group.

Scheme Markers

To date I have four crews: Rasputina, Ramos, Marcus, and the Viktorias. Three are Arcanists, and that is the faction I enjoy playing the most. Rasputina works well with Joss, armoring him up and launching him into combat; all the ice constructs drop scrap for Ramos's shenanigans; and Marcus's beasts pair well with anyone needing some close combat punch added to their force. Considering that, I decided to have my scheme markers draw heavily on those masters' shadowy machinations.

I showed you the crystal 5 pack last week, and here's another take on one bunch of crystals based with my favorite crushed glass snow.

Ice Gamin and Golems are constructs, and when they die they drop scrap markers. A bunch of cogs or wiring simply won't due, but luckily this crystal base doubles excellently as a scheme or scrap marker!

Ice Golem and Ice Crystal Scrap Marker

The dynamite scheme marker is a definite fan favorite so far and is great for basing, I'm looking at you Papa Loco...

I knew I wanted to do a chest that was a bit out of the ordinary, and landed on the idea to do a glow emanating from the crack between lid and trunk. Simply done, it makes it that much more Arcanisty.

It also works incredibly well as a "cursed object!"

Someone has gotten out their tools and is definitely up to no good. I wonder who that could be...

At the heart of any good scheme is likely to be a pile of cash, in this case a literal pile of gold coins.

And now one of my personal favorites, the map that is going to be essential to carrying out the plot! For my mini, I went with a world map and a clean dagger (it's yet to do its dirty work).

One of the other projects I've been working on is painting up my M&SU starter. I have Joss on the painting table now, and after four hours in I've made some decent progress. He's based on a scrap marker as are the rest of the crew!

And now for a sneak peek in the spirit of all good spoilers.. taken from a camera phone and a bit grainy. (My buddy took it on his Android phone because I forgot my camera at home, ha ha)

On the left are two 50mm "wreck" bases slated for release early next month, and on the right, three 40mm wreck bases slated for the same. These are designed to function exceptionally as bases, but can also be used as markers when your mechanical constructs go boom!

That's it for this week, come back next time to see what I'm working on here at the Lab!

There's one tough cookie in the Malifaux universe, and his name is Joss. With armor two, henchmen status, and 'hard to kill', he's exactly that. Many an opponent has been witness to his aggravating health kiting, courtesy of Ramos and his Combat Mechanic upgrade. Swing after swing against him has most of its power mitigated, and when finally his health drops low enough for a killing blow, he instead remains at a single wound and reactivates. All the while Joss chops enemies into scrap markers, giving Ramos fuel to heal him yet again. RRRarrgggg!!!

I'm proud to present you this morning with the face of aggravation...

Ok, ok. Joss can be a nuisance, but you have to admit, he looks really badass! A member of my Malifaux playgroup, Jeff K., has remarked that resembles someone straight out of the Borderlands universe. I'd have to agree.

Joss takes a lot of abuse and keeps on trucking. To represent that I put pink scars on his head, face, shoulders, chest, and back. You can even see where scars aren't allowing his hair to grow back!

Ramos has hooked up a massive pneumatic fist for his right-hand man, but it looks like his body isn't liking the metal intrusion of cold steel, especially around the brass pipe fittings.

I based Joss on a scrap base that I'm producing in collaboration with the casting house Prairie House Miniatures.

Lightning crackles around Joss's arc axe and helps him easily cut through armor and a plethora of defensive special rules his adversaries might employ.

Getting choke slammed by his pneumatic fist will leave an opponent paralyzed for an activation, in addition to doing 5/8/10 damage!

That's it for this week, thanks for checking out my latest project. Until next time, good hobbying!

The March new releases are finally here! This month I've got two 50mm wreck bases for $6 and three 40mm round lip wreck bases for $5.25 in the webstore that multipurpose nicely as wreck markers. Let's take a look at the painted product!

I really wanted to do a big badass weapon piece on one of the bases and a warhammer was just too good to pass up. Some unlucky war construct lost their weapon... and their arm, but now you can use it as an awesome scenic base, wreck marker, or characterful objective in your next game!

The second base is a mechanical spine with associated ribs, gears, and power core. Mechanical carrion, if you will.

The gears that whirred and rotated inside this construct's shell now lay piled about its corpse.

I painted its cracked power core, glowing with the last remnants of power, but I can see it completely powered down and dark.

There's even a bit of its torso clinging to the ribs...

This mighty warhammer would do some serious harm on the battlefield, all the more reason for your troops to try to claim it before your enemy's do!

The arm-guard plating definitely shows the abuse the owner was facing while in battle. I wonder what happened to the rest of him...

And here are the 40mm wreck bases...

One isn't really a wreck at all, but a lack thereof, it's a mere crater!

Whatever construct was occupying this part of the universe is now survived only by a hunk of a cog and a few scraps of metal.

There's more left of this guy, though he lost his head and most of his appendages.

This base has a good assortment of bitz on it: plating, cogs, pipes and bars, and even an energy core.

There's a ton of creative room on this piece. I liked the metal plating to be gashed to all hell and back.

Mixing brasses, coppers, and steel metallics give a nice variety on a wreck base.

And what would life be like without an Easter Egg? I think we finally found who lost their arm...

That's it for this week and this month's new releases. Stay tuned for April's new releases I'm planning some goodies for 40k!

This week I'm excited to finally have my third complete Malifaux starter painted and ready for the table top! This is the M&SU, led by Ramos, a mad scientist with a knack for all things robotic. His starter has a wonderfully diverse array of models included within it, allowing a hobbyist plenty of room to use a number of color palettes. Let's take a look at the models up close!

Here's Ramos himself, clad in the khakis and browns of a tenured professor.

I based all of the M&SU models on Scrap Bases, 40mm Wreck Bases, and 50mm Wreck Bases, which are awesome for basing, and can also act as markers when they don't have a model placed on them!

Here's a perfect example of just that; the Steam Arachnids are based on Scrap Bases and the bases seen pictured by themselves are Scrap Markers. You could even paint the Arachnids and the bases without gluing the two together and when an Arachnid dies you simply remove it from the base and then it's a scrap marker!

I showed you Joss a few weeks back, but he's just too cool, so here he is again!

The Brass Arachnid is Ramos's totem and acts like a support unit, reactivating allies to give them two full activations in one turn.

With Ramos's help Howard Langston survived his brush with death... well sort of. Ramos was kind enough to turn him into a cyborg and equip him with a nasty array of shears and pincers... nevermind the part about being a mindless automaton.

I wanted Howard to be closer to the undead end of the cyborg spectrum, looking as if he was truly holding on to life thanks to his mechanical enhancements. A few glowing relays across his skin and a baleful eye did the trick nicely.

That's it for this week, be sure to stop by the Monster Lab Web Store to check out the bases I featured here today, and the rest of our complete line! There's more new releases coming soon and I'm excited to feature them here. If you like what you've seen here and have any question about the game of Malifaux or would like to commission a painted crew, feel free to message me at monsterlabminis@gmail.com!

Until I see you again next time, good hobbying!

I just finished up an original sculpt project for the fine folks over at KantCon for their convention this year. The Character's name is Massive Defender, a personality concocted by their organizer/founder Ethan P. and the talented illustrator Jay C. I did their convention mini, Help! the Gnome, last year and was excited to do another one and be a part of a great local hobby gathering.

Let's take a look at the completed sculpt!

Massive is described as a Canadian gamer who lucked into super powers, granting him bulging muscles and a desire to do good in the world. Check out the great illustration below, courtesy of Jay Carter III.

Those attending the Con will be able to purchase their very own Massive mini for $3-4. They'll also be available at a later date through the official KantCon site.

KantCon was a blast last year, and this year promises to be even better. I'll be hosting a booth at the Con, where I'll be doing small painting/modelling clinics and displaying my wares. There's also plans to get a TON of table top gaming going, from: Warhammer to Warmachine, Malifaux to Infinity, there's going to be TT gaming for everyone.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work, I hope to see you again next time, and maybe even at KantCon in July!

It's almost new release time for this month! This week I'm giving you a first look at the 40k bases I've put together for April. These bases have been dubbed 'Relic' bases for their strong ties to archea and the Necrons. Each base is a hand-sculpted cracked earth dirt with a combination of crystals and/or fragments of monolithic architecture. Pieces of architecture have hieroglyphics inscribed on them that echo those seen in the Necron civilization, but can easily be used for any representation of any ancient big-ass-structure-building-long-lost-race (ABASBLLR for short). I'm doing 25mm 10 packs for $10, 40mm 5 packs for $8, and 60mm 2 packs for the cool price of $6. Relic bases will be ready for release in about two weeks, and they'll be available in the webstore, on ebay, and at KC metro hobby stores like Table Top Game and Hobby and Collector's Cache (which has recently begun carrying table top miniatures games)!

Let's take a closer look at this month's offerings...

I really liked the Crystal Bases that I made for scheme markers in Malifaux and wanted to do another take on them for 40k. Something Necron sounded like a fine idea, so I added ancient architecture with undecipherable hieroglyphics for added awesomeness. When in doubt I do my best to follow the formula (cool + badass = total awesome sauce). It usually turns out pretty well.

Cracked earth works great for a desert/dead world dwelling race like the Necrons, and it looks great with crystals and chunks of rock too!

I'm saying these are 'Necron' bases, but I could definitely see space marine terminators trudging across these 40mm rounds looking completely hardcore in an alien landscape.

I had a lot of fun painting the last batch of crystals, and I'm looking forward to doing more!

Here's the 40's and 25's side-by-side. I don't have pics of the 60's here, but that has mostly to do with the fact that they're only about 25% done. They'll be ready by release, so never fear!

That's it for this week and the preview of this month's new base release from the Lab. Be sure to come back next time and check out the female inquisitor I've done for a good friend of mine, Aaron J.!

What's on My Desk: Another Look at Two Favorite Projects

Showcase: One Strange Warriors of Chaos Army

December is Coming: A Malifaux Showcase

What's on My Desk: Black Legion Oath-Broken

Showcase: Black Legion Oath-Broken

A Malifaux Showcase: Taelor

A Fimir Showcase: Command Model Conversions

What's on My Desk: Magnetized Land Raider & Havocs

A Malifaux Showcase: Hired Swords

Showcase: Magnetized Iron Warriors Land Raider

Showcase: Black Legion Objective Markers

The Band's Back Together, and There's Some New Faces

Monster Lab Miniatures New Releases!

February Monster Lab New Releases!

Plots, Schemes, and a Look at March's New Releases!

A Shot of Joss with Your Morning Coffee

March New Releases: Wreck Bases & Markers!

A Malifaux Showcase: the M&SU

A KantCon 2014 Showcase: Massive Defender!

Sneak Peek: April's Relic Bases