Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith

Completed in 2015. My West End Games Star Wars project is a slow, slow burn. I recall rushing this mini at the time, and I am not entirely happy with the OSL, but it was a valuable learning experience at the time. I do think the lightsaber came out really well, though. The WEG range has a few Vaders, so I will have an opportunity to revisit him at some point.  This one is model number SW11.

The old school style of these WEG SW minis is instant nostalgia for me, and I am happy to dedicate time in the painting rotation to this expansive range of classic star wars characters.

Join me on the old-school side!

 

Shadow assassins (4)

 This set of models was completed in 2016, and was the start of my obsession with the AEG Clan War line of miniatures for the L5R universe. Since this time I have collected nearly every SKU ever released (and some that were not), and I have grand ambitions to paint them all. having 4 unique models for each blister of troops and many unique characters as well gives the line depth in the range that cant really be found anywhere else, even in the modern era of digital sculpting. I have a few more WIPs for the scorpion clan, so they should be a well rounded battle group before long.

Giant leech (2)- painted!

 

Not sure how I missed cross-posting these here - they are a special set for me. this is my copy of the leeches I sculpted for reapers bones line. While not complex, I think their simplicity makes them among my favorite sculpts of mine to have ever been produced. The sculpts themselves were not perfect, but I personally love the end result. Just as I modeled these inspired by actual leech anatomy, I also painted them based of of some of the more striking colors I found in my research. 

I have a third incomplete leech that I never submitted floating around in my WIP drawer that I may have to dust off this year.

Spectator

 

My fourth mini of 2022! I have been a painting machine lately, but I have been worse than ever at sharing my work. I completed 52 minis in 2021, making the first year since 2013 (gasp!) that I have actually achieved my annual painting goal of averaging one mini per week. I think part of my success came from giving myself a non-arbitrary goal.

 I have been steadily painting every miniature needed to run The Lost mines of Phandelver. At first it seemed pretty easy to do, but there are a surprising number of different pieces needed, especially when I consider descriptions that are unique (such as demihuman undead and villagers). The spectator is, of course, one of the apex encounters in that module, and easily the most monstrous creature to be found. 

This sculpt was a 3D print from MZ4250's collection, painted quickly with his monthly contest in mind. It is my second beholder kin from him, and each has been super fun. There will be more beholders in my future.

I wanted to try something unique with the basing here - I really wanted it to be flying but I have been overusing the conveniently close pillar for flying creatures quite a bit. Ultimately I opted for something I hadn't done before, smoke! I thought it would be action movie-esq to have him swooping through the smoke from a prior destructive eye ray blast. The smoke effect actually lends a ton of flexibility for attachment points, and though you cant really see it in these pictures, I think it pulled off the floating effect well. For those interested in the craft, the smoke was made bake clay and wire for strength.

 Death from above!