Well, another Monster May(hem) has come and gone; and once again, I am so happy to welcome everyone who participated, both out here in the blogosphere and on Instagram! After a glacial start to the month, I managed to crowbar in a few more monsters at the eleventh hour. Not the way I like to work, but it’s what life dealt me this month…
It was a Nolzur’s kinda year for me, as 75% of my submissions this year came from that exceptional (as far as monsters are concerned, anywway) line of miniatures. I posted my Manticore previously; but since then, I’ve completed three more miniatures, starting with this Cave Bear.
What’s that? Not a monster, you say? Merely an animal? Well, my Lamentations of the Flame Princess players might disagree with you, as they recently came face-to-slobbering-face with one of these, which happened to be rabid, to boot! That could have ended in a very different way, but they managed to drive it off in a hail of black powder and lead bullets!
I used mostly Citadel paints on this. The bear was primed black, then painted Mournfang Brown,, highlighted with Deathclaw Brown, then washed in a 50/50 mix of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil, then drybrushed with Vallejo Ivory. A final wash in the recesses with some straight Nuln Oil and it was done. I used some Woodland Scenics leaves on the base and I think he looks ok (although not as fierce as the one in my game, perhaps).
Up next, this Venom Troll; the submission of which I have the most pictures, but the least to say. I actually bought this months ago because I thought it would look good as a boss zombie. I was going to paint her (?) with mottled, zombie-like flesh; but I decided to go with a standard-looking greenish troll instead.
Her skin tone was achieved by using two types of Vallejo greens washed in old GW yellow wash, then the recesses were done in Athonian Camoshade. Her gross pustules are dripping GW’s Nurgle Rot, but you can’t really see it against the skin. Oh, well.
Finally, I repainted a Wizkids factory paint job on perhaps my favorite Lovecraftian monster: The Great Race of Yith. Why should Matt hog all the Mythos monsters?
Here is what it looks like out of the box. (Of course I didn’t take a picture of my actual miniature first; but this is what they ALL look like.) Big surprise: the miniature is great, the paint job sucks. Pretty bland, and a far cry from Lovecraft’s description, which is: They seemed to be enormous iridescent cones, about ten feet high and ten feet wide at the base, and made up of some ridgy, scaly, semi-elastic matter. From their apexes projected four flexible, cylindrical members, each a foot thick, and of a ridgy substance like that of the cones themselves. These members were sometimes contracted almost to nothing, and sometimes extended to any distance up to about ten feet. Terminating two of them were enormous claws or nippers. At the end of a third were four red, trumpet-like appendages. The fourth terminated in an irregular yellowish globe some two feet in diameter and having three great dark eyes ranged along its central circumference. Surmounting this head were four slender grey stalks bearing flower-like appendages, whilst from its nether side dangled eight greenish antennae or tentacles. The great base of the central cone was fringed with a rubbery, grey substance which moved the whole entity through expansion and contraction.
I didn’t have the time to do much about the four slender stalks surmounting the head, but I could sure do a better paint job. Here it is, with a Pulp Figures reporter (a.k.a. hapless Mythos investigator) for scale.
I fell back on my old-school Tyranid scheme for the body. For the snakelike appendages, all I had to do was give him a thorough wash of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil. The head was colored with Yellow Wash and the eyes painted black and given a coat of gloss varnish. I painted the claws black and drybrushed them crimson, and added some highlights to the pink trumpet thingy.
This is technically a repaint, but I’m calling this a submission, because it’s my challenge, so nyah nyah.
Here are the wonderful hobbyists who took part this year, along with a list of their impressive achievements. I will update this list over the course of the next week or so as the inevitable straggling entries make their way onto the web.
Jeremy, aka Carrion Crow; from Carrion Crow’s Buffet, has finished his Straw God from Crooked Dice miniatures! It looks smashing and boasts some impressive base work. Jeremy is hosting his own challenge this month, one I look forward to every year: Forgotten Heroes! Drop by his blog to check it out and join up! It’s a blast!
Roger from Rantings From Under the Wargames Table, sculpted Jason Voorhees from scratch; then did an amazing job and lavished much attention on the bony growths of a “Generation 1 Mutation” from Deadzone. I was unaware of this figure, but it’s awesome. I don’t play Deadzone, but I’m already thinking of a ton of uses for this beast in Supers or Scifi games. Well done, Roger!
As usual, I found it impossible to keep up with Matt from PM Painting. The guy never stops painting monsters (at least not in May). In order, Matt completed a Queen of Hell, an avatar of Hastur, some Hell Hounds, a Tomb Tapper, a Rock Troll, a swarm of Muccins, a Chaos Dragon Ogre, a Reaper Bathalian Centurian, an old-school Chaos Slaanesh rider and a Keeper of Secrets. I can’t say enough good things about them here, so I’ll just point you in the direction of Matt’s blog. Trust me, every one of them is worth a look. And a hearty thanks to Matt for really rolling up his sleeves (as he does every year).
Edit: Not content with letting his impressive tally stand, Matt also completed another submission after zero hour: a possessed Chaos Dreadnought for Warhammer 40K. It’s both a paint job and a conversion; Matt turned an old-school Space Marine Dreadnought (and I mean OLD SCHOOL, i.e. Rogue Trader-era) into a demonic war machine. It looks so cool!!!!
Azazel from Azazel’s Bitz Box is another inspiring overachiever; he started with a Burrowing Horror; then moved on to a Byakhee, some Earth Elementals, a Spawn of Ungoliant ( I love this one), a couple of Yetis and some Citadel ogres from one of my favorite sculptors, Bob Olley! He also managed to find time for a Chaos Minotaur and a Mordor Troll; but not before he did some incredible work on some Ghostbusters stuff: Gozer, Slimer, the Demon Dogs and yes, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. (Jeremy, if you haven’t checked this out yet you’ll love it!) Thanks, Azazel; for showing up again this year and for really bringing it!
“Mr. Star Wars”; a.k.a. Dave from Wargames Terrain Workshop (I think that might stick, Dave) once again displayed his sculpting skills to great effect this year. Last year’s Krayt dragon was so incredible it deserves another mention here; but this year Dave scratch-built a TON Star Wars monsters (not in order): a purrgil (space whale); a blurrg, a sand ape and a sand bat, all from Tattooine; and a krykna (giant space-spider) that I think I saw on The Mandalorian. He also scratch-built and painted Ziro the Hutt, Jabba’s somewhat effeminate cousin who sounds like he’s from Louisiana. (I hear it, anyway.) And that’s just what he sculpted himself. He still found time to paint a pair of Wampas, gibbering horde and a chaos spawn. Dave: as always, lovely and inspirational work.
Tom from over on Instagram was back for a second year, contributing several monsters from various miniatures games: a “corrupted were-deer”, a werewolf, a gibbering mouther, and a (really disturbing) bug person. Check out Tom’s Instagram account; he’s another guy who never stops posting miniatures!
Thanks to all the newcomers this year! Jon from Jon’s Hobby Desk painted a big, gross Nurgle-thing called a Glottkin, and surprised us with a half-dozen giant spiders! That’s NINE monsters for Monster May(hem)! Think my math is wrong? Go visit Jon’s blog!
Simon, aka Blax the Kleric, from Fantorical Wargaming, completed a bevy of cool Crooked Dice miniatures, further rubbing my nose in how unfortunate I am to live in a country with no Crooked Dice stockist! In between various other projects, Simon painted a massive Mighty Simian, the popular-with-good-reason Straw God, and two Harryhausen-esque Bronze Titans! Lovely work, Simon! please come back next year!
And finally, Malcolm, also from Instagram, painted a Reaper basilisk and a Nolzur’s wyvern. Malcolm is a gaming buddy of mine who lives in far-away lands (i.e. the Midwest). I have a feeling we’ll see him around these parts again…
Please support these hobbyists by visiting their sites (or IG accounts; you don’t need an account to have a look) and leaving a comment or two. I count myself fortunate to know so many talented and welcoming people in our hobby!
So, what’s next here? Well, if all goes as planned, June will include a return to Star Trek to find out the fate of Lieutenant Barclay, as well as more Pop Culture. Oh, yeah…and there’s one more thing…
Forgotten Fucking Heroes.
I’m giddy. Giddy, I say!
What a wonderful bear! And the Yith looks super!!!
Thanks, Tom. And thanks again for taking part and painting such creepy minis this year. Join us for Forgotten Heroes!
Well I for one think you’ve been holding out on us, as you never painted those mini’s in less than a week! Smashing work on all your entries mate, though I think the troll is my favourite (it’s disgusting of course, but in a good way!), I also want to mention the ruined base with skeleton warrior you had the Troll on for the photo’s, I love that!
Some superb stuff has been produced this year (and I’m willing to include others in this not just myself ), Seriously the standard is so high for this challenge! and the credit for that has to go to you mate, it was you terrific idea, that forms the bedrock our imaginations can build upon. (all it needed was a decent name!!
Cheers Roger.
I did so, Roger! I swear! The bear took almost no time at all (it was a simple paint job); and I had a whole day to myself to do the troll. The Yithian actually took the longest. I originally painted the purple parts green; but I didn’t like it so I switched to my tried and true Tyranid scheme of 30 years ago. 🙂 It was down to the wire with that, and if I’m being honest, I added the gloss varnish to its eyes on June 1st as a final touch. So I went over a little bit. Sue me!
Monster May(hem) started as a self-challenge to get some of my big miniatures done. I’m so happy others want to take part nowadays; it’s really awesome to see what people can do and how much they get into the challenge. Of course, participation really ramped up once I got correct name. I forget who suggested it to me, but it was a great idea…
Excellent, excellent job on that Yithian, Keith! They’ve always been one of HPL’s more out-there creatures (and that’s saying something) and you’ve done a superb job of it. It’s beautifully painted and the yellow head and black eyes are just spot on.
I love the Venom Troll too, the skin tone is just wonderfully revolting and really gives the impression of damp, slimy flesh. Yuck! The bear looks great, and reminds me that I finally saw my first real bear last week running across the 7!
Thanks again for hosting Monster May(hem), it was my third and as usual was a total blast. It gave me the impetus to clear some minis from my backlog and I had fun painting them. I also managed to do one of the best paintjobs I’ve ever done on the Queen of Hell 🙂
All the contributions this year were amazing as usual and I cannot wait for next year!
Thank you, Matt! That Queen is really something to be proud of, Matt; as is everything else (both quality and quantity) you’ve accomplished this month. I’m happy with what I put out, I just wish I had the time to do more this year. Oh, well.
Bears? Pfui! I live in the Bridgewater Triangle. We have puckwudgies in my backyard!
Oh crap, I forgot, there’s one more Monster May(hem) model to come which I’m hoping to finish and get online by the end of the week.
I’ll add it to the post!
Thanks for letting me join a fantastic month’s challenge. Love the bear, but that Yith is the stand-out mini for me. I’ll be keeping an eye out for that model in the bargain bins. Looking forward to next year’s challenge, already. 🙂
Happy to have you, Simon! Thanks for the kind words. That Yithian model is pretty easily obtained on eBay, at least here in the States. It shouldn’t break the bank. It’s a Wizkids D&D model, and not a rare one.
These all look great – and that Yith is surprisingly huge! I also like the subtle colours on the Bear’s coat, but the standout for me is that Venon Troll Hag – I really like the work on her face in particular!
Thanks again for running the challenge this year – it’s been a great bit of motivation to get some large models painted and completed – and also really cool to be able to check out some other people’s work as well!
Cheers!
Thank you, Azazel! Your stuff is awesome and you’re always welcome here at Dead Dick’s Tavern. Come back next year…but be sure to visit before then!
Sorry I missed this year’s challenge Keith, but looks like you had some amazing submissions by all. Kudos!
There’s always next year, Mark…in the meantime, you should check out Dave’s Summer of Scenery, beginning in July! Sounds right up your alley!