Tag Archives: Hasslefree

Svala

First off, check out all the amazing entries for Old Man Paint’s #oldorcs challenge, over on his blog. There are some really talented painters that took part; some of their work is truly stunning! (You can also see my entry: it’s the one that looks like shit compared to all the others! 🙂 )

Another year, and another missed opportunity to again host Dwarvember. I keep telling myself I should bring it back each year, but I was kind of busy last month between #Oldorcs and The Vamp for Vampifan stuff, and I plumb forgot about it. Maybe I’ll bring back WizarDecember next month instead. Subconsciously, though, Dwarvember must have been working on me, because the first miniature I painted after the Red Duke was this one: Svala, from Hasslefree miniatures.

Regular visitors to this blog will be familiar with my love of all things Dwarvish; but for those who are popping over from Instagram or who happen to have come here accidentally, suffice it to say that I find two things coolest above all else: dwarves and bagpipers. And if you put both those things together, you may very well bring tears of joy to my eyes.

Anyway, I like Hasslefree miniatures a lot; but I usually purchase Kev’s Modern adventurers and martial artists rather than his Fantasy miniatures (even though they’re really good). That’s when I purchase Hasslefree at all; shipping rates are utter bullshit right now and have been for quite a while, so I don’t often “buy British” nowadays. That sucks for me, as there are some great miniatures to be had from companies like Crooked Dice and Heresy (not to mention Wargames Terrain Workshop, a company I just discovered I am powerless to resist, shipping be damned. Hi, Dave!). While looking for something fun to paint, I stumbled across Svala here. I must have tacked her on to an order somewhere and forgot. The last time I ordered from Hasslefree was at least four or five years ago.

Anyway, I decided to paint her up as an older, experienced Dwarf woman; someone who hung up her adventuring gear and now spends most days at the forge. Of course, she’s still a Dwarf; so her warhammer is never very far away.

She seemed like a good enough reason for a post as any. Hope you like her!

Insanity Pile Progress

Miniatures Purchased: +49

Miniatures Painted: +55

Total: +6 ( I went on a bit of a spree, as I usually do this time of year. Better make up some time!)

Zombtober 2018 Week 2: Felicity meets the zombies!

It’s Zombtober, and I’m getting a late start. I missed the first week. Therefore, I worked twice as hard this week to get my submissions in. I decided to do a bunch of zombies and a survivor to catch up.

These zombies are from Reaper’s Bones line. You get all 5 in a pack for 7 bucks! They’re all pretty good sculpts, I’m particularly fond of the second one from the left and the one all the way on the right. These were the first miniatures I ever underpainted after priming; meaning I gave them all a light drybrush of white over the black primer before adding the colors. It was a technique I was unfamiliar with, but now that I’ve tried it, I can say it works terrific at picking out the detail on models, allowing me to easily see where clothes end and skin begins. It even picked out the wounds and bite marks the zombies have, making painting them easier. I’ll be using it again. My eyes aren’t getting any better with age, so any help is a good thing.

What do you do when you’re outnumbered five to one? Have the right tool for the job. This minigun should be just what the doctor ordered… This is Felicity, from Hasslefree. She’s one of the “not-Mystery Machine crew”; basically she’s Daphne from Scooby-Doo with a minigun. As cool as that is, I decided to paint her differently and not stick to her regular colors.

Here’s a quick shot of Felicity in action.

Next Sunday is my next Zombtober submission. Hopefully I’ll get some other stuff done before then, though, so watch this space!

Insanity Pile Progress

Miniatures Painted Thus Far: 40

Miniatures Purchased: 1

Total: +39

Here’s the blogroll of all the participants in Zombtober 2018!

Brummie, our Zombtober Host!- Brummie’s Wargaming Blog
Pulp Citizen- Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer
Rob Bresnen- Four Colour Super Minis
Kieron-Cheaphammer!!!
Terry Silverthorn- Miniature Mayhem
Ivor Evan- Saturday Mornings
Bryan Scott aka Vampifan- Vampifan’s World of the Undead
Colgar6- Colgar6 and the Infinite Legion of Toy Soldiers
Clint- Anything But a One!
Phil Curran- Dizbusters Gaming Ephemera
Dai- The Lost and the Damned and the Stunted
The Wargames Addict- The Wargame Addict
Dick Garrison- Rantings from Under the Wargames table
myincubliss –Dead Lead Project

WizarDecember Week Three

This week was my birthday, and between that and the general holiday madness it was a challenge to be able to submit anything this time around. But WizarDecember stops for no one until the 31st! So, without further ado, here are the wizards!

First up is Punkrabbitt’s Week TWO submissions, here a little late but welcome nonetheless. You can read all about his Frostgrave warbands over on his blog, Tumbahelada de Punkrabbitt, accessible through the sidebar if so inclined. Up top is the old Citadel wood elf Queen Alarielle, circa late 90’s. Below that is an old Citadel wood elf mage. Together they’re a wizard and apprentice for Frostgrave, respectively.

Punkrabbitt’s week three submission is a conversion of a Reaper Bones miniature. Using an Iron Wind Metals rabbit head, Punkrabbitt converted this wererat to be a bunny-headed wizard for yet another (bunny or Chaost-themed) Frostgrave warband! Awesome!

TMP’s 144artist submitted this Hasslefree female wizard, again for use in…you guessed it…Frostgrave! (I gotta get into this game.) 144artist combined some terrific brushwork with a Micro Arts Studio base and here is the result! I particularly like the blending on the crystal ball and the designs on the hem and back of her robe. Thanks again, 144artist!

These two are from TMP’s CBPill. Up top is an old Celtos Kev White Sculpt that is a new version of CBPill’s Necromancer from an old WarGods of Aegyptus world campaign. (His words, not mine.) And on the bottom is a “wizard-type from the Dark Fable line of Ancient Egyptian minis.” Both look great. I’m considering an Egyptian-themed pulp game in the future, and that guy on the bottom would fit right in. Thanks again, CBPill!!!

Lastly, here is my submission for the week: this RAFM Wizard with Wagon. I’ve always loved the opening scene in the Fellowship of the Ring, when Gandalf rides into Hobbiton in a wagon loaded with fireworks. So I guess it’s no surprise that I went for a Gandalf look when I painted him.

I now wish I painted the goat more of a whitish color. I painted him first, then decided on the Gandalf look, so by the time I painted the wizard it was too late to change the goat around and make my deadline. Although I used different colors, they look a little too similar for my liking. Also, it seems I need to rub off some of the static grass on the side of the base. Ooops.

This is one of those miniatures with a lot of character. I’m not sure what this fellow poking his head out the back is supposed to be, so I just went with a standard “red demon” look.

WizarDecember concludes next week, the day after Christmas! Happy Painting!

WizarDecember Week Two

Back for its second week is WizarDecember! We’re a little light on submissions this week, but I’ll be taking any new ones all throughout the weekend.

First up is TMP’s 144artist with this awesome Hasslefree witch, complete with a base by MicroArts Studio. 144artist plans on using her in a classic Dungeon Crawl. Great job! Very impressive shading on the abdomen!

I guess I should have specified it was NSFW, but if your work really gives you a hard time about this, you need a new job. Thanks for participating again, 144artist!

TMP’s CBPill submitted this odd-looking fellow from Reaper. In his words, he’s “some kind of Alien Cosmic Wizard, probably evil.” I like this miniature and I’ve never seen it before today, so I looked him up on the site to see if he’s part of a series. Sadly, I think he’s the only one of his kind so far. Reaper has him listed as the “Andromedan Vizier”, so maybe some more are on the way. I love the palette you chose for him. Bright colors on an evil guy aren’t the norm…but then again, he’s alien, right? Thanks CBPill!

My submissions for this week are a bit eclectic.

First up is this holdover from Dwarvember, a Reaper female dwarf wizard. One more reason I love dwarfs: even the wizards have hammers! For some reason I can’t explain, this miniature looks much better than the picture shows. I’m happy with the miniature, but not so much with the pictures. Hmm.

My second and third (!) submissions for this week are two versions of a classic Marvel hero: Dr. Strange!

By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth! It’s a Heroclix repaint! The miniature on the left shows more or less how he looked when painted by underpaid Chinese factory workers. On the right is my repaint. I also rebased him on an old RAFM base of skulls from one of their weird death angel miniatures. I think the flight stand kinda takes away from the miniature a little, but it’s the best way to hold him “aloft”.

This last one is an old TSR Marvel Superheroes version of the Doc. Looks like he’s in the midst of firing off his legendary eldritch bolts of bedevilment! Either that or he’s walking like an Egyptian. You decide. While painting this miniature, I was reminded how bad the sculpts on the TSR miniatures were. Also, I’m no metallurgist, but these miniatures never seemed to hold paint very well, even after priming. Perhaps something in the composition of the metal itself?

Week Three on the 19th! Happy Painting!

A Fistful of Kung Fu: First Wave

A couple of months back I picked up a copy of Osprey’s A Fistful of Kung-Fu in the hopes that I would one day play it. Lord knows I have enough miniatures to jump right in (they just needed to be painted first), and whatever I didn’t have would give me an excuse to order more of Hasslefree’s Martial Artists.

After perusing the rulebook, I have to say I’m left with a definite “meh” feeling about the rules. The fluff and concept is terrific, the official miniatures by Northstar rock, but mechanics-wise it seems to be a very chart-heavy game. In other words, it seems like you’ll be spending a lot of time looking shit up as opposed to playing. Note that I haven’t actually PLAYED the game yet. These are only my first impressions.

Anyway, I don’t own any of the Northstar miniatures, but I have more than a few others can can serve well for this game. Above are Shaolin Monks by Rattrap/Brigade Games. These guys are for use in their .45 Adventure game (and in fact will be used for that purpose on this very blog, coming soon!). The sculpts on these suffer from some obvious proportion issues, but who cares? Even though I’m happy with the results, I found them difficult to paint. Orange is one bitch of a color to shade well. At least for me. The figure in the foreground is Osato, from Hasslefree. The Asian-themed terrain was a cheap find at Petco: clearance terrarium pieces!

Up next are some of my old miniatures. I painted these about two years ago, and I notice some obvious flaws. In fact, I’m thinking of repainting them but I have too much to do. On the left is Hasslfree’s Tanshiro, facing off against Golgo Island’s White Tiger. You can get both from Hasslefree nowadays.

I’ve found that some of the best miniatures for AFOKF come from the Clix lines. Above on the left is a repainted IndyClix Boon Sai Hong, facing off against a Marvel Clix Shang-Chi. I should note that Clix and some of the Hasslefree martial artists have a wide stance, so basing them requires a 30mm base as opposed to 25mm. So if you play with rules lawyers, beware. As a lifelong Master of Kung-Fu fan, I really enjoyed repainting and repurposing Shang-Chi.

Reaper’s Chan Li (50190) from their Chronoscope Line, bears more than a passing resemblance to the late, great Bruce Lee. I painted him in homage to Enter the Dragon, complete with gashes.

HA-DO-KEN!!!!! I couldn’t resist picking up a starter pack of Street Fighter Heroclix just for Ryu, on the left. I’m not a huge fan of the clear plastic energy effects so common on Clix miniatures, but this is an exception. I repainted and rebased him and he’s currently my favorite miniature I have painted for AFOKF. Facing off against him is Hasslefree’s Tetsuhara. I painted him to look like everyone’s favorite sumo wrestler, E. Honda. You can see the difference in base size above (Tetsuhara’s got a pretty wide stance). Ryu is on a 25mm base, Honda (Tetsuhara) is on a 30mm base.

Another shot of Honda.

And one more of Ryu.

Last in this wave of miniatures is a familiar face: Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China. To be more accurate, this is RAFM’s Burt Jackson, Trucker from their USX Modern Day Heroes line. Northstar made their own limited edition not-Jack Burton, and it was great, but it was only available if you ordered all the starters and doesn’t seem to be available anymore. I had RAFM’s version for a while, so I recently painted him up and posed him next to the cab of his Pork Chop Express. Hope you like him.

Maybe someday I’ll get around to actually playing A Fistful of Kung-Fu, and then I can more accurately give a review. In the meantime, it gives me an excuse to paint more martial artists!

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The Angry Piper's miniatures and gaming blog.