Showing posts with label Ninja Division. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ninja Division. Show all posts

Friday, August 7, 2015

Bubblegum Grunge! And here are the girls of the Cerci Speed Circuit.


As someone who has painted thousands of grim dark miniatures over the years, and hundreds of WW2 models in their varying shades of desaturated green and brown, it has been a real experience switching up to the bright and vibrant colors of these Relic Knight models. There is a definite "over the top" feel to their color schemes, which only adds to the dynamic approach these characters take in the game. The Cerci Speed Circuit have certainly been a lot of fun : )


Relic Knight Princess Malya and her cypher, Mr Tomn.


Questing Knight Suicide Queen (on her jet bike) and her cypher Rollo.


Massive robot Lug and his handler, Betty.


Hell's Belles - dangerous Cerci racers!


The Pacer robot.


The Pit Crew - find yourself a good crew and stick with them!


The Royal Wrecker.


And finally, while at GenCon I had the opportunity to have my photo taken with cosplayers (from left to right) Stella Chu, Kitty von Brune, and Marie-Claude Bourbonnais, and the models I painted of the characters they are all cosplaying (Princess Malya, Suicide Queen, and Betty). The 13-foot tall Lug behind us was created by Marie-Claude for the Ninja Division crew and was not only an excellent talking point through the show, but was a great landmark for folks meeting up. : )

Cheers
Dave

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Bubblegum Grunge! First up, the Star Nebula Corsairs.


I'm working on a couple of articles for the Ninja Division website on how I planned, built, and painted the Relic Knights table that debuted at GenCon. While I'm getting those together, I thought I'd show you some of the miniatures I painted to go with the table.

First up, the Star Nebula Corsairs.


Relic Knight Calico Kate with her cypher Skully. This cool model is actually supplied with an alternately-posed Calico Kate and alternate arms for her Relic Knight, a truly excellent idea!


Questing Knight Captain Harker with his cypher Caesar.


Star Nebula Corsairs minion squad.


Blowhards - demolition experts.


The Broadside cannon!


The Iron Chef - a must for keeping an unruly crew in line with excellent food.


And Kenobo - a Noh mystic with a checkered past. Best not to ask ; )

Next up: the Cerci Speed Circuit

Cheers
Dave

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Why so quiet?


Well, I've been hard at work wrapping up the display/demo table for Relic Knights that will make its debut at GenCon next week. I talked a lot with John Cadice (Creative Director at Ninja Division) and we decided on a lovely mix of bubblegum pop and edgy grunge - imagine a Cerci hab-district assembled from pre-fab components fifty years ago, and then left to decay, with inhabitants that don't really give a damn about upkeep. Unsavory characters have moved in and the area has drawn some Star Nebula Corsairs, ready to plunder.


I then went to work with Alex Landing from Ironheart Artisans, designing the pre-fab parts that would make up the district, and generally looking for ways to add layers of detail and character to the board. It's taken a while to get it to this point, including quite a few late nights (cutting into my regular hobby time).


I hope you like these pics. I'll post a few more teasers on the Dave Taylor Miniatures FB page over the next week, but if you'd like to see it in person be sure to head to Booth 1943 at GenCon to check it (and the game of Relic Knights) out.

Cheers
Dave

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Back from AdeptiCon - Loads of Crowdfunding!

Well, AdeptiCon 2015 was fantastic! Such a massive and exhausting weekend that I am still getting settled back into the swing of things after returning home on Sunday night. I'll post a few photos later in the week, as well as a review and some information from my painting classes.

Until then, however, I thought I'd take a few minutes to show you a handful of crowdfunding projects that friends of mine have running at the moment. They're all for different genres of games/toy soldiers, and all seem like a lot of fun.


First up, my friends at Soda Pop Miniatures have launched a Kickstarter for their new chibi-style ninja board game, Ninja All Stars! In the game you get to play rival ninja clans that are sneaking around outside a Japanese cast in the middle of the night. It's a simple KS, with only a single pledge level and lots of scope for masses of models as stretch goals are crushed. As I type, it is about 160% funded and still has 27 days to go.


The next one to show off is much smaller in scope, and is from a regular reader of this blog. Nick Baran is taking some of his first steps towards building a miniatures line for a game he has been developing over the last couple of years, Broken Contract. He has developed the rules for the small-scale, underground mining, skirmish game and has those available now as a free download on his Broken Contract blog. Nick's Kickstarter is to fund the first eight miniatures from the range (enough for the initial game), and at the time of typing he's at 75% funding with 18 days to go. Nick is also pushing to build his Facebook presence, so if you are on the Facebooks, I suggest you go show him some love (and help unlock a few models along the way).


Another old colleague of mine, Joe Krone, and his Watchful I Studio have launched a Kickstarter for their first miniatures range, the Chinese Warring States. The primary goal is to get a line of historical miniatures into production, with stretch goals looking to add some more "fantastic" elements into the mix, such as Terracotta Soldiers and Temple Dogs. Where were these guys when I was building my Cathay army back in the day? At the time of typing, the Chinese Warring States project is 65% funded with 29 days to go.


And finally, my friends over at Mantic are running their next Kickstarter in order to help expand their range of miniatures for the Deadzone game/Warpath world. With essentially two simple pledge levels, you can start to get your hands on not only the elite of the Pathfinders and the hordes of chittering Veer-myn, but some of the cool new industrial sector scenery from their Battlezones range. I'll be putting some of the standard range together in the coming weeks for my work on a host of Relic Knights articles. Should be fun : ) At the time of typing, this one is 360% funded, with 13 days to go.

Cheers
Dave

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

A little Chibi before the show...


I was chatting with my friend John from Soda Pop Miniatures a few weeks back, and the conversation turned to AdeptiCon. John pointed out the Crystal Brush had a Chibi category this year. I thought it was only right that I painted up a model from Soda Pop's Super Dungeon Explore board Game to enter. After looking through the box I settled on this dynamic barbarian leaping forward with her enormous axe.

I must say that the Chibi genre isn't really my thing, so it was interesting to see what I needed to adjust in my painting approach to achieve a reasonably "proper" look. I harbor absolutely no illusions, this isn't my best work and I'm sure she'll really just be filling out the cabinet. I'm quite curious to see what my friend Drew Drescher brings along for this category. His painting is great and he loves his Chibi : )



Twenty-four long hours until I board my flight to AdeptiCon : )

Cheers
Dave

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Mechanicum - Knights, and more...


While I've been waiting on the custom decals for my Heresy-era House Taranis, I've taken my Knight Paladin a little further. Of course, once I reach a certain stage with him I'll use the same custom decals, and then just need to build his power blade replacement for his Reaper chainblade. The base is the Knight base from the Tech Deck range by Dragon Forge Design.


A few folks have asked me about my metallics recently, in particular the base metals for my Knights' super-structure. Well the basic approach is this:

• Prime GW Chaos Black spray
• Heavy dry brush (with "Tank Brush"-sized brush) with Vallejo Game Color Tinny Tin
• Drybrush (with "Tank Brush"-sized brush) with Army Painter Gun Metal
• Wash with Army Painter Dark Tone
• Selectively shade with thinned washes of Vallejo Game Color Charred Brown
mixed with Army Painter Matt Black
• Highlight edges (as appropriate) with Amy Painter Gun Metal
• Highlight edges (as appropriate) with Army Painter Shining Silver

I hope that helps : )

For those who would like to get a closer look at how I do my metallics, I've been coerced into running two classes at AdeptiCon 2015. More details to come!


Another work project I've had on my painting table are a bunch of the fantastic Hell Dorado models from Cipher Studios. Much more information to come as this project nears completion : )

Cheers
Dave