Relic Knights NMM

So I finally tried some NMM on a fun mini from Relic Knights, the Iron Chef (part of the Star Nebular Corsair faction).  Perhaps a mini with a thin sword and more curved armor would have been a better choice, but it was time to try it.  Also, this guy has a pretty limited palette, mainly grays and browns but there is the odd splash of color here and there.  I have not worked with black or white before, so there were many challenges here.

My blending is not quite up to the job, but I think it's close.  The pictures are little "posterized" - you can see the transitions pretty clearly.  As everyone says, the mini is a little better in real life.  I kept the white jacket a little grey, so that there was some room for the whites on the steel to pop.

He was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.  On the whole, I am pretty pleased with the result.

I'm pleased with the shading on the fry pan and the leather knife scabbard on his back.

    

I'll call him Marmod Ramsay.  His attacks are:

Back to Cerci Speed Circuit next ... or maybe some scenery for the game.

Ready for a Game of Relic Knights

So the Star Nebula Corsairs are ready!  With the completion of these Blowhards, we have two 35 point Relic Knights forces - enough for a fully panted game.  We have played already and it is really good fun.  I might do some scenery or objectives next.

With this pair of minions, I was really focusing on increased contrast and good separation of the colours. Not quite black lining, but enough of the really dark shade left at the edge of the blocks to be close.  I'm quite pleased with the result, but I think those lines could be a little thinner.

And here is the force, all together.

Hope you like them.

Relic Knights Mini-Update

Did you see what I did there?

Just a quick update to show the Suicide Queen, a Questing Knight from my Cerci Speed Circuit battle force.  She's like a mini-boss for this biker gang.  I don't think this mini is for sale yet - I got it on Kickstarter and I have not seen it in there e-Shop.

As normal, not enough contrast!  I'll chant that 10 times before the next paint job.

Now I have a fully painted Cerci crew and I am one unit short for a Corsair force ... guess what I am painting next?

Relic Knights - First Knight

Well, I've managed to do a little more on my Relic Knights forces.  The miniatures are not wonderful, so the goal was to clean and paint them quickly, and not to get too obsessed with getting everything perfect.  Well, I managed the "not being perfect" part ;-).  Blowing them up this large really shows the mistakes.

First, we have Betty, who is partnered with Lug in the previous post.  These pictures are really bright, a little more saturated than real life, but the wonky eye is all my own work.  They are from the Cerci Speed Circuit, whose faction colour is green, hence the base, and she is green Creation Esper Initiate, hence the little green crystal.

Calico Kate is the largest figure I have painted from this line, my first Relic Knight.  She's part of the pirate Star Nebula Corsairs faction.  She is similarly colour coded.

This is quite a large figure, it is on an 80mm base.  I painted a few Games Workshop Titans a long time ago, they were also this size.  I loved the eye patch - just one eye to paint for Kate ;-)

Anyway, we are just a few minis away from playing a fully painted game!

A Few Nights of Relic Knights Painting

Here are a couple more Relic Knights minis, from Soda Pop Miniatures.

Lug is large, and to be honest, not well cast.  I had trouble cleaning him up, which shows.  The large smooth surfaces need to be blended carefully.  My yellows has poor coverage and I needed several coats ... and for some reason the paint went really gritty.  Enough whining, take a look.

The small yellow crystal is a reminder that he is an Essence Initiate- the yellow power source in the game.  I like this pose.

The shading is not bad but he's a bit bland.  Anyway, he is another miniature painted.

Rollo was fun to do, but he is tiny.  The large multicoloured crystal shows he's an Esper Master.  Both Rollo and Lug are part of the Cerci Speed Circuit faction, hence the green bases.

Equally small was Skully, also an Esper Master.  He's part of the Star Nebula Corsairs, hence the egg yolk yellow base.

The game is fun and you do not need a lot of minis.  I might have two small forces soon.

First Brush - Relic Knights

I have just completed my first Relic Knights figure and I am really pleased with the result.

The game is rooted in anime, so it presented me with the chance to use some really bright colours, something I have not done for a while.  My plan was to paint them up quickly and play the game - they are not the best quality minis and this seemed like a chance to have just have some fun.

Well, I did the clean up faster than normal, meaning the mini was covered in mold lines, but I still really enjoyed the painting.  This an alternate version of Isabeau Durand, dressed as Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bepop.  I copied the colour scheme as closely as possible, using red gloves instead of the signature red jacket.  My Isabeau died her hair for this role but did not get her hair bobbed.

So this is my first big-eyed anime miniature, also my first go at stockings.  Generally, I'm pleased with the result but wish I spent more time on the cleanup.

There's a really nasty mark on the base that will need to be repainted.  I did not see it until I looked at the photo!  Funny how that always happens.

Thanks to Dais and EsperWatkins - I had a good look at their versions before I started work.

Hope you like her, any feedback appreciated.

Relic Knights Bases

We have just played our first game of Relic Knights and it was really good fun.  But like every other “first game”, the rules were a little tricky to follow.  One problem was that each unit has many unique skills and we are not totally familiar with each of the little guys yet.  I had an idea that means we might not have to remember so much stuff.

One of these skills tells you which colour cards generate the power for generic powers, and also how many of those powers can be used.  For example an Essence Master use yellow cards and a Creation Initiate uses green cards.  Masters have more abilities than Initiates. 

To help remember this, I thought of placing correctly coloured crystals on the bases, larger crystals for the Masters, smaller crystals for the Initiates.  I’m also planning to paint the edges of the bases in the faction colours.  Here are a few work in progress shots to show how it looks.

Here's a Creation Initiate - small green crystal.

And an Essence Initiate - small yellow crystal.

Suicide Queen gets two.  Her insert is on the base already and has the faction shading.  I'll find a better shade of green before I count this as finished.

There are skills that are more generic and don't apply to any particular colour - Esper Initiate and Master.  I was not sure which colour to use, perhaps grey/white but I went with two colours per crystal in the end.

I've made a start on some Corsair bases too, and actually finished one mini:

I have not seen this idea mentioned elsewhere, and I hope other people find it useful.

Back At It!

I have really let my blog get behind.  I have not been painting as much as I’d like, but at least I have a small backlog of minis to show.

Here are some Fortune Hunters from DeepWars, an underwater skirmish game from Antimatter Games.  I really like the copper helmet, deep sea diving gear and I could not resist getting some of these minis from their Kickstarter campaign. 

There is a lot metal on these guys and I did not feel up to NMMs.  However, all the metallic paints are shaded with 3-4 different shades and then washed.  It’s really hard to get good pictures; I’ve tried a few times and this is the best I can do.

Sea Dog:

Heavy Support Trooper:

Templar Shadow Slayer:

Big Game Hunter:

Warband:

I think the Sea Dog is my favorite, with the Big Game Hunter a close second.

All these minis can be seen on CMON, please vote!