My Random stuff

[ManicMan]

Well.. probebly not gonna post that often but want to and it'll help me with my camera work and probebly some advice and tips on painting and stuff..

First up: Part of a side project (I got a few of these.. cause.. of course I do ^_^). Back in the 80s, there was a great computer game released for the Atari ST desktop computer line, later ported to other systems.. It was called 'Dungeon Master'. VERY loosley based on DnD (in that one member of the staff had played it and they got some ideas for character stats and classes), with a tiny bit of Tolkien for some names, and a bunch of other stuff thrown in by the character designers, It was a great game and i played it alot as a child.. though I find it.. a little bit dated now it's still a good game.. I decided i wanted miniatures for atleast all the Enemies in the first two games (Dungeon Master and Dungeon Master: Chaos Strikes back). Some of these monsters are pretty generic and easy-ish to find figures, others much harder and more unique.

Anyway.. the First up was something pretty simple with bits i had to hand. The Skeleton.

The top image is the Miniature (of course) and the bottom is a scaled up copy of the in-game sprite. While it does look like it, in game the Skeleton has a wooden shield and Falchion. So to reproduce this figure, I still have a bunch of bits from the old Skeleton Army boxsets from 1989.. boy, that was pretty good set. Anyway.. Put together one from bits, had the Falchion from the set so that was good, and I added a woodern shield from some bits i got some G4 Skaven Clanrats and I think fits the bill. Basically 39 enemies (though a couple of them are minor tweaks and atleast one is.. gonna be extremely tricky.

 

[Fimm McCool]

Nice work. I love these 'computer games come to life' projects, especially old side scrollers and puzzle adventures which offer so much scope in the miniature realm. Looking forward to your postings.

 

[twisted moon]

you've managed much better definition than the source material!
i'm not familiar with the game, so looking forward to learning more as your project progresses.

 

[ManicMan]

Thanks.

I think i could have done a bit better on some of the paint on the skeleton but.. didn't want the bones too dark or off-white, so choices of shading and highlighting were a bit limited. Normally, I would have probebly used a bit more of a yellow/sandy bone colour as a base but.. they are white as bleached bones, so limited more. There are a couple of real pain creatures later on i need to figure out.. a 'Rive' which is.. well, mostly a few random pixels before it attacks as a large kinda outline.. which is a bit like the ghost, which is mostly an outline.. If i'm really lazy, a sheet of transparent plastic with the outline on but.. don't want to do that.. Also, i'm basing things on the Original version, not the snes, which had some times had quite different designs (for example, the Demon in the original was kinda a .. monsterly thing with whip/tenticles for arms, where as the Snes was.. a flaming Minotaur skeleton.. which is pretty cool but not the same thing at all..

The original game released date was 1987 for the Atari ST, before it was ported to the Apple II, the Amiga, PC, SNES, X68000, PC-9801, FM-Towns. a HUGE hit in Japan, which is why the FM-Towns, PC-9801 and X68000 which are japanese only machines, and the SNES port was japanese only I believe. Popular to a point where the Japanese made there own follow ups, Dungeon Master II (which is the third game.. so... go figure), Theron's Quest and Dungeon Master Nexus.. but really, there first two are the main attraction.

 

[twisted moon]

The original game released date was 1987 for the Atari ST, before it was ported to the Apple II, the Amiga, PC, SNES, X68000, PC-9801, FM-Towns...

that explains why i don't know it; i had a spectrum zx+.

 

[ManicMan]

I got a z80 ^_^.. well, techinally parents and still got the HP documents with it I think. My Uncle owned a Atari ST and later i got it from him before his death, though has to kinda sit in the loft now due to space and lack of really doing too much with it as most of the games I got can be equally (and sometimes a bit easily) played via PC emulation these days. (helpful that I have a working Floppy drive on an old PC)

 

[Fimm McCool]

I had an Amiga but I don't remember this one.

 

[ManicMan]

Not the best of photos (i'm still working on getting things right) but.

First, this is.. well, if you want you can CALL it painting.. but I think it was done by me around 98 of one of the Blood Bowl 'Champions of Death' team by Gary Morley. This is one of the two Ghoul sculpts, which are both different but both 'Catchers'

like i said, bit of a joke to call that painting..

anyway.. just finished my now painting of the team's other Ghoul catcher. I think the number has come out a bit faint but i wanted to try a more 'scratched' style which i felt suited the undead more.

I think there might be a slight improvement.
I went for Oranges and yellows for the boils and the wound.. I was debating grey which was sugguested but felt it wouldn't stand out enough though it's debatable how much it should stand out. Kinda in two minds about it but I think it works fine.

 

[twisted moon]

he's turned out nicely.

 

[ManicMan]

Thanks. Seams like the next in the team to get painted will be a wight.. which it seaming like a mistake as it's alot of various types of metal which is going to be fun cause i'm never that happy with my metal effect painting and gonna have to figure out some colours to stop all the bits kinda merging into one

 

[ManicMan]

While nothing against them, Ral Partha Europe are a bit slow at dealing with orders.. but like i said, nothing against them, I've had much slower stuff, But it means i now have a giant Scorpion for my Dungeon Master set. The 'Screamer' (based on the DnD 'Shriek' is almost kinda done.. had to sculpt it myself cause i couldn't find a decent model for sale.

I've gotten a 'Grekwood Miniatures' (who are a fairly new company from Walese) 'French Maid' zombie which, the face is a little flat but that's fine for a zombie, and would be a good base for one cheerleader (oh come on.. French Maid! that's pretty good for a cheer leader surely?) and a box of plastic 'Zombie Vixens' from 'Wargame factory' (which funnily, seamed to have done under around the time when Grekwood started) which are a bit modern but easy to kit-bash.. a whole bunch of female zombies with various heads, arms, bodies to mix and match from.. size is a little tall but not too bad and kinda fits in, so i can hopefully get one or two cheerleaders from that.

Also.. would anyone know where i can get Giant Rats? and by Giant, i mean "You could ride these things into battle" giant. Seams there aren't many around...

 

[Ti Pouchon]

Also.. would anyone know where i can get Giant Rats? and by Giant, i mean "You could ride these things into battle" giant. Seams there aren't many around...

I think that the '93 plastic Wolf with all paws on the ground might be an option. Replace the Wolf tail with a wire-and-putty rat tail, add some rat's ears and big teeth, maybe whittle the sides of the head down a bit and hey presto, rat pony! it would be easy enough to take a bit of length off the legs too to make it even more rat-like as it already is anyway.

 

[ManicMan]

possible.. not to be ridden but that size. though the body is a bit thin for a ratty but it's a possible. thanks

 

[EricF]

There are a few large rat STLs from Titan Forge up on My Mini Factory https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d ... ats-230832 for ones kitted out and ridden by goblins (bit over armoured I think) and https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d ... ats-230832 which are just rats (50% off in their Black Friday sale - code for TitanForge minis is TITANBLACKFRIDAY right now)

 

[twisted moon]

if you can find them, the wolf rats from forgeworld would do the trick.

 

[ManicMan]

Well, Number 2 of the 39 or so, Giant Scorpion.

two angle shots and the sprite underneath. mostly yellow, which was a pain. Didn't have any cavalry bases spare and didn't really feel like doing much fancy, so i just glued two normal 25mm square bases together and use some putty. The Giant Scorpion is from Ral Patha Europe. Since it fell off my table, i need to touch up a couple of bits where it came off the bench but that's after this was taken. Bit of an interest scheme being Yellow and Blue but works well. Wasn't quite sure if i should paint a ring just before the stinger so decided not too.. not 100% sure but.. i think that works for the best..

 

[julien]

Oh, thank you ManicMan, it's a great idea to bring these characters to life.
Personally, I spent a lot of time on this game, especially constantly re-killing the howling mushrooms of the first level to gain experience
and I'm glad you're bringing us back. This scorpion is beautiful.

 

[ManicMan]

Ah the Screamers are fairly major ones in the game, atleast for the upper (earlier) levels.. based on the DnD 'Shrieker' i thought it wouldn't be too hard to source a good model.. not one that matchs well enough.. So i've had to sculpt one.. and i'm not very good at sculpting.. I leave that to much better people, but try to improve my skills to be a basic level.. It's mostly painted, but even with some tweaking i'll never be fully happy with it.. but it's not BAD.. i've seen worse.. I just need to get around to finishin it off. And maybe making slicers of Screamer to eat ^_^

 

[symphonicpoet]

Scary! Love the model choices. You're doing a great job making that video game come to life. And the colors really pop, too.

 

[ManicMan]

Okay, two here.. One is a Skaven from.. I think they might have released these ones for 3rd Edition but 100% sure they were around 4th.. so.. Anyway, These were the ones which were pretty much retooling of the Advanced HeroQuest Skaven. I have a few ones i painted up badly years ago and some unpainted of mostly these and the 2nd Edition Fantasty Regiment Skaven (i've got one i've half painted right now) as well as some of the slightly more weasel looking ones which i might modifer to be weaseals.. (just need to change the tails really).

Anyway, that ones up first

really need to work on my photographing..i tried to put a little 'pack' face mark or something on one side.. looks a bit more like i accidently hit it with a brush.. oh well.

Next is part of my Dungeon Master set.. Wonder if i'm gonna have to do a few repeats sometime.. not to hard to get them for use in a game of Hero quest or something ^_^
This is the Pain Rat. A Huge Rat with cut over it.. I tried to copy the locations of each of the marks as well as could be.. I also added a spare Resin Skull i had cause.. It's a giant rat, I felt it needed some dinner (it is possible to see the odd skull laying around so that's fine.. or maybe a prevouse hero now Rat food. (I have thought about doing som of the Heroes at some point and I can easily do some of them but you mostly just have head shots and item layouts)

Big fans to EricF for helping me out for the Rats. So hard to find a good huge Rat these days. Hell, some of my Skaven could ride them into battle at the size.