Fallen Dwarf Reinforcements WIP

Time for some Fallen Dwarf reinforcements!

My first real use of super sculpey, here's a giant animated statue/stone Golem. Head and arms will be separate and are really just big versions of the Dwarf Legionnaires. The base is 35mm wide. Top of the head, when it's on, will put this about 48 mm tall.

Test for a cyclops: these guys inhabited the lands originally and as the Dwarves were driven east following a nasty dwarf civil war they defeated and enslaved the cyclops. The feet are based on elephants and I imagine the skin to be roughly the same texture, hence not going all out on ripped muscle. I'm going for a very plain look with them and lots of flat areas (good for conversions). Right hand will probably have a club. The mini separates at the waist and the arms will be separate, I'm working on a second pose so the torso's can be changed over, I'm using metal washers as my guide to ensure a uniform join. 53 mm to the top of the head.

(Cyclops helps me dovetail into greek mythology in the near future).

The might Karkadann! Yep, just a big rhino with a fictional head. Doing a rhino head destroyed the mystique for me so I went back and made this plain beaked face, kind of a throwback to a triceratops. This helps be keep the creature in the fantasy genre.

That base is the big 65 mm across one. The left legs pop off for ease of casting and I'm doing another pose to I'll have two in total. I think I'll sculpt reigns and a back cloth in place but the saddles will be joined to the riders.

These things will get a lot of use out of me and when I get them molded up I'll have a couple of rider options for them:

• Beast of burden for the Fallen Dwarves, perhaps a palanquin on the back for a giant crossbow or a sorcerer.
• Riden war beast mount for a desert dwelling tribe of red super orcs (more on these another day, but at least I'll get the riders made to go in the mold).
• Ridden war beast mount for the Sci-fi Desert insurgents. Painting them green would be cool...

A hero miniature, head and arms will be separate for conversions, along with two sorcerers. Unsure how they will go together, probable separate heads for conversions.

Dwarf Immortals – cloaks and two handed weapons (double ended short halberds all going to plan).

Techno Communion WIP

Some shots of the Techno Communion batch I'm working on, still lots to do here and plenty of bits to tidy up!

The concept behind these is some sort of AI controlled interplanetary corporation where it's been rationalised that machines are a lot more work to put together than humans are... so we get these cloned warriors and agents who interact with humankind on the behalf of a massive artilect consciousness.

Ala Blad Runner, short lifespans and existential crisis allow for some of these guys to go rogue and appear as interesting characters... with the Techno Communion simply writing them off.

These are the enforcer/warrior castes so look a bit more ragged and tech than the drones slaves and menial technicians.

All this nicely squares up against some good robots who oppose the Techno Communion...

Early work on the Scrap Droid Emissary:

Inspiration gather

My website is slowly being updated and I'm about to order in a lump of Desert Insurgent stock to place on sale. Low volume initially so give me a heads up if anyone wants a pre release set and I'll fast track it. I expect the price to be around £14 for the 9 miniatures. P&P still to be concluded, payment via paypal (or credit card without a pay pal a/c).

I've also managed to clear my schedule next week to get stuck into sculpting and designing again after a month of painting! Naturally I have a lot of Sci-Fi sculpts in progress that I'll be rounding off and completing.

Design work is about to start on a new project and I've taken a quick pic of the inspiration pile I'm going to be immersing myself in for the next few weeks. I stopped spending money on lots of miniatures years ago.... I never stopped buying books though. This lot will be front and centre on the bookcase for a while.

Desert Insurgents - shots of the parts

Tox Trooper – colour scheme test

Here's a quick and crude paint scheme for the Tox Troopers. Lots of drybrushing, washes, glazing and highlights.

I can't wait to get the tripod mech/walker finished and cast for these guys.

Desert Insurgent Prototypes

I've had these prototypes in my possession for a few weeks but it's been a tough slog to find time to organise things. This isn't probably news worthy but I'll get a real update in the coming weeks.

Overall I'm really happy with them! Here are my first passes at colour schemes and paint jobs... aherm, my enjoyment of painting far outweighs my ability. The desert guys speak for themselves really, white armour and gun casing to evoke SF Space Opera and the Peacekeepers are the Empires locally recruited militia, hence the red black and gold (colours of the Empire).

I know it's early days on this range but I'm planning on going more Byzantian on the Imperial forces and more Arabian on the desert insurgents (good guys).

It will be a few weeks before I order up a few lots and offer them for sale, I want to get some shots of the metals and a brief and brutal review article completed first. They will be very limited, drop me an email if you are interested in getting a few quickly: sales at miniaturesofthenorth.com

I wont lie, these were quite a trick to put together! No more so than usual metal miniatures but I did find myself going in with some putty to hide a couple of joins. I wouldn't want to assemble a huge amount of these so I will dissuade people from buying lots of them unless they insist. They are definitely for the experienced and patient modeller.

Unfortunately one of the Peacekeepers right arms was damaged in the molding process so it's not sale worthy, it took me less than a minute to fix it with putty and I've photographed the work here. More than likely I'll lower the price for the box but throw in the miniature anyway, we will see.

Here's what I'll be offering as a set – full contents of the mold:

Tox Troopers - initial colour scheme WIP

It's slow going on the hobby front for me.

Here are some shots of the Tox Troopers. Base colour blocking is in and I've given them a wash of green ink, I'm going for a dirty putrid appearance mixed in with muddy battlefield detritus.

As soon as I get the heavy weapon master back from Anvil Industries I'll be getting it cast up in metal.