From the painting desk #64 – An eclectic mix
May 11, 2019I’ve been on a bit of a painting kick lately, so I’ve got a grand total of five new minis to show you! Funnily enough they’re from five different companies too, which goes to show that I don’t mind mixing ranges and manufacturers in my project. It’s been good having some painting mojo back – painting has felt really fun and I’m pleased with the results I’m getting. As for the minis, here we go!
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First up is an African lady by CP Models that I picked up in a Bad Squiddo sale. I kept the palette super simple and tried a tone I hadn’t really used before in the pale green. I think it turned out really nice and I’ll be sure to use that tone later on as well. A neat, simple model, she’ll work well as a generic civilian in the West Indies.
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Next up is a pirate queen from Black Cat Bases. Nice and characterful, she was a joy to paint. To go for much bolder colours, I drew inspiration from one of my favourite pro wrestlers, the pirate princess Kairi Sane, and went with an almost white overcoat with blue cuffs, and a blue tricorne with gold trim and a white feather. While I tried to keep it from going too over the top, I think the end result is a suitably ostentatious pirate lady.
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The next mini I completed is a recent Salute purchase, a Freebooter’s Fate mini by the name of Tiradora (which is just Spanish for “female shooter”, so not really a name at all). This was the first Freebooter’s Fate mini I’ve painted, and I’m quite impressed! Crisp detail and nice smooth surfaces made this a joy to paint. While the catalogue mini was painted white, to me the mini looked obviously African, so I went with a dark brown skintone. Another mini I’m happy with!
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Sometimes you end up painting old stuff, and that makes me feel warm inside. This model is an old Citadel one from the 1987 Travelling Players set. When this model was released, I was five years old and Emmi wasn’t even born yet. There’s something really cool about that. I’ve actually had this mini for a while, as he used to be a part of my WHFB Empire army. One day I just figured that he might fit in well with my pirates, so I stripped him of his old paintjob and did a quick repaint. As his facial features sort of suggested it and I had been painting brown-skinned minis, I figured I’d paint him with darker skin too, and I think it looks good! You may notice that his basing with the flowers suggests that he isn’t a part of the pirates or the maroons faction, but rather a member of my townsfolk. I’m thinking that he maybe works on the docks (and now I’ve got Bon Jovi stuck in my head, it’s tough) or is the bouncer for the local tavern.
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My last entry in this post is a mini I’ve wanted to paint a long time. As I’ve been thinking about the various characters that inhabit Tyburn Island, one that has been firmly lodged in my head is a hired sword nicknamed “The Razor of Nassau”. Don’t ask me where it came from, but it’s this guy. I love this mini, he just oozes menace and has that gunslinger vibe about him. To go with this, I painted him in full but worn black, with a red sash for some visual contrast.
I’m happy with this lot for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s nice to get stuff painted as it’s been quite a thin year so far. Secondly, this batch turned out quite diverse – a couple of females and not everyone’s white. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s fun on both a visual level and out of principle too. I’ve got more stuff lined up too, so..yeah, cool!
Dawn of the Lead 
Some lovely stuff there Mikko. I particularly like your Freebooter’s Fate Tiradora. Looking forward to seeing the rest of that particular haul. And civilians always go a long way to add flavor and interest. Generally looks like a great batch of miniatures for some high seas shenanigans round about the Caribbean.
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Thanks SP! The Freebooter’s Fate stuff has long been out of my reach purely because of the frankly ridiculous prices, but with the new stuff I bought at Salute, definitely expect to see more of those! I think my project currently stands at roughly 60:40 pirates to civilians ratio – it’s very much a doll house (doll island?) project!
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Oh . . . I understand. My own pirates and civilians are in space, but they too are dolls in a large and hopefully humorous house. If you’ve gotten to 60:40 my hat is off to you!
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Cheers! Those are relative numbers of course….:D
Anyway, I definitely think it’s very much the civilians that make this project. I mean, what good are pirates with no one to raid? The civilians really help me visualize the whole setting, plus they’re often fun models to paint too!
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What a good variety of minis to get painted! All very nice indeed!
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Much appreciated, John!
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Very cool mate – they’re all brilliant of course, but the pale green on that first lady is particularly lovely!
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Cheers Alex! I really like it too, better use it in the future as well.
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Agree very much with John and Alex. In fact, I know you’re a pirate aficionado, but these are even top-notch for what you excel in. Great colors and shading.
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Thanks for the very kind works Mark!
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SISU!
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Sorry I’m late to the party mate. Great work all round but I think the Pirate Queen is my favourite. Lovely bold colours.Nice to see your painting mojo is back.
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Thanks! It’s good to be back in the saddle again 🙂
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