Tuesday 4 August 2020

"Local Villagers Whisper Of A Mysterious Place Deep In The Marsh..."

"...A place shroud in mist and dotted with barrow mounds, ruined columns, and standing stones."
These two 28mm scale metal Barrow Guardians were manufactured by "Otherworld Miniatures" as part of their "Official Barrowmaze Miniatures" range. However, these days they seem to be 'Out of Production' on their website, unless you purchase The Monsters of Barrowmaze Boxed Set (Code BMB1), which contains the custodian stood upon a plinth.

Luckily for me, "Otherworld Miniatures" very generously sent me a free copy of the Barrow Guardians with my most recent purchase, so I am now able to populate my dungeon with up to four of the enchanted stone constructs if the need arises. Both figures are sculpted by Andrew May, and were produced back in January 2014, as part of the successful Barrowmaze Complete campaign on "Indiegogo".
"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - Astronauts Taylor, Dodge and Landon
The figures are multi-part pieces and needed to have their shields pinned/super-glued in place before I could prime them with a double helping of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey. As the statues have supposedly stood buried deep within the confines of a water-laden barrow I decided to simply replicate the slimy grey/green colour scheme I have previously used on my other two Greater Barrow Guardians.

I've also managed to complete the first of twelve dedicated painting sessions for my twenty-four hour 'Paint An Entire Project" Challenge using "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" models. I initially planned to purely focus upon the three Albion Rocket Corporation (ARC) astronauts I aim to use as proxies for Taylor, Landon and Dodge from the "Planet Of The Apes" 1968 movie. But soon ended up doing some straightforward groundwork on the bases of four characterful Simian Minions whilst I was waiting for my "Vallejo" White to dry.
Simian Minions WIPS - The four apes have been primed and had their footwear 'boxed off'
In addition, I badly underestimated just how long it takes to paint a predominantly all white cosmonaut. I've actually painted several of these sculpts before in the exact same colour scheme, but back then kept the hands gloved. This time round just the simple addition of having to 'box off' the wrists with "Citadel" Abaddon Black before laying down a coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone really took its toll, especially around where I'd swapped out the original hand for a new one holding a firearm.

To compensate and save some significant time I did consider leaving the human's chest panels pure white. However, having dug out my previously-painted figures where I pigmented in some of the device's buttons, I soon realised I was missing an opportunity to provide them with a splash of colour, so carefully went in with a "One Happy Choice" 00 brush and roughly 'drew around' the relevant areas with a little thinned "Citadel" Abaddon Black... 

16 comments:

  1. Lovely job Simon and great to see the Planet of the Apes work underway.

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    1. Thanks Michael. The Barrow Guardian on the plinth is probably my fave sculpt from "Otherworld Miniatures". I'm not sure why they're now OOP though. Hopefully the first of my PotA minis will be finished by the end of my second/third session, and I cans start ticking them off my To Do list.

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  2. Te statues look great, though bronzed statues would have given a very different look,
    Well done btw keeping to your painting regime, mine has completely collapsed atm.

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    1. Cheers Joe. I did consider bronze when I looked at painting my first pair of Barrow Guardians, but the fluff made it clear they were stone figures hence the palette I went with. I have seen some nice clay-coloured ones though, as well as simple stone - but I wanted to add the green as they apparently reside in a marsh.

      The painting regime has already started paying dividends as I'm much more focused on the minis in front of me rather than what else is lurking about.

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  3. Nice work on the statues Simon, I have been dancing arounds Otherworlds site a few times now, I even asked my wife if she would like the "Thelwell" style Unicorn as a gift so I could geta few figures myself, but to no avail. Ho hum....

    Glad to hear you are still sticking to your painting regime, I know how easily distracted you can be, fortunately I on the other hand have a will of iron! ;-)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Roger. "Otherworld Miniatures" are definitely at the higher end of d&d mini quality, but that also comes with a price. However, I have found them to be extremely generous with freebies with my orders, so they have a customer for life in me.

      Whilst I didn't get as far with the first PoA session as I'd hoped, I still made some healthy progress and hope to post up some finished PoA minis soon.

      Speaking of your will of iron, I have pulled out my HotT armies and rule-book, and am patiently awaiting your agreement to a HotT'ember Challenge ;-)

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    2. Right I don't know if I want to be your friend anymore! As you seem to be costing me money ;)

      I didn't have any more Hott armies to paint (though there were a couple I'd still like to own, and now I will soon! I have ordered another army this morning so baring it not arriving Hott'ember is a go if you are still up for it.

      Also I'm pleased to tell you that I'm going to post out your comic today! (remember them?), this will be the first time I have entered a building that isn't my house since March! (gosh it's been a strange year hasn't it!

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. ROFL Roger. I thought from the sound of things you already had a dozen unpainted HotT armies to choose from!!! Which one have you gone for? Great news to hear you're out and about again, and I look forward to receiving the comics. Take very good care of yourself :-)

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    4. A dozen! This isn't your house you know Simon! Will of iron here you know, I only buy something new once I've completed the last figures I bought (which luckily I have :)

      You are most welcome to the comic's, shall be going to the post office just before it closes so hopefully it will be less busy then.

      Oh and to what I've ordered, you'll have to wait and see now won't you....

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    5. I look forward to seeing what you've bought then, Roger, and won't reveal mine until we get started either. This definitely looks set to be a busy part of the year if you're planning on Zomtober and Mo'Vember too? Plenty of postings for our Top Ten, LOL!!!

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  4. Great work on the statues Simon, the green tone adds to the age of them well.
    Off to a good start with this new project, and hope you make your target

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    1. Cheers Dave. Good to get those statues finished as they've been sat on my tabletop since the end of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Fingers crossed for PoA project. I've a lot of minis to get through...

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  5. Nice statues, they'd work well with Frostgrave as well.

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  6. The Barrow Guardians look great, but haven't you painted these before? I am sure I have seen them in a previous post. They look nice nevertheless and has been said have loads of uses. The apes and astronauts are coming along nicely too.

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. Yes I've painted a pair before, which is why I mention I can now field four of the brutes if need be :-) I was planning on getting a couple more of the sculpt simply standing on the plinth - as they can easily double as scenic statues too, but now they're OOP I've shelved that plan.

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