From KeithS: To Dungeons Deep and Caverns Cold... (225 pts)

I had no idea what I was getting into by joining this painting challenge.  I had a plan, more or less, for what I intended to accomplish.  This entry was not part of that plan.  However, as is often the case, it proved to be both the most challenging and the most fun for me.  That said, I present Keith's descent into the hell of old lead.

I've mentioned a few times that I have a lot of old, unpainted figures dating back to the 80s.  While rummaging through it for previous work, I kept coming back to the unpainted adventurers that make up the bulk of them.  Feeling a bit cocky of late, I decided to paint up a few I liked.  After sorting, I lost my mind and settled on 45 or so I thought looked the best.  Most all are Ral Partha or Grenadier.  My thought was that 45 25mm figures would be comparable in effort to 32 or so 28mm Vikings and Saxons.  Wrong, of course!  It's really difficult to production-line so many figures with so many different features and color palettes.  But, getting in over my head is what I do best.

To add to the fun, I decided to base them for dungeon delving rather than my usual flocking.  I experimented with spackle (too brittle, though I beefed it up with a good brushing of watered-down white glue), then went with Milliput sculpted by hand to look like a dungeon floor.  That whole process, including trial and error, was pretty slow, but I do like the results.



The group:

A random close-up:

 Another close-up group shot:

Below are a few highlights.


For whatever reason, I really am drawn to this one.  I guess its all the silver detail on her attire.

The only evil humanoid of the lot.  He looks angry:

Another sorceress type:

Female cleric.  I had two of this figure, but like the colors on this one better:

Male cleric:

 Another wizard with scroll.

I like how this one turned out, especially his shield which sort of matches his axe.  Squiggly dragons - my specialty:

Gandalf type.  Can't see it in this photo but his staff is topped by a crystal (this guy was a pewter figure):

I like the implied action of this one:"

A somewhat Middle Eastern look:

Swordsy:

Another swordsy chap:

This one is actually a 32mm Dwarf by Mithril.  I liked the figure but have no use for 32mm figures, but I thought he made a good Viking-type and scaled well with the 25mm humans.  The shield is a leftover from my Vikings -- not sure where the original one is:

Another cleric:

A female elf archer:

That's it.  The fire is lit, though.  I just bought nearly 100 old figures on eBay for eventual painting.  The dam has burst.  All is lost for me...

Oh i feel the pain , batch painting 45 figures with different colours - your are truly mad! - and then doing dungeon basing - now that is dedication! Another very colourful entry - and over the 1000 points mark - new target time?