Improving my mini handling - magnets the easy way

So for a long time now I have been hearing the advantages of using magnets to store and hold your minis.

I have a huge mini painting project I am about to start, and decided to give it a try in a way that is just a small step, and I thought I would share.

Rather than going all in and getting magnets embedded in dowel or custom magnetised holders, I am doing the following.

First I have some 12mmx1mm strong magnets. They were about 10c each on eBay.

I paint using disposable shot glasses as my holders, and I really like them, so I wanted to keep that.

Magnets are of course polarised, so I have a single old figure which I have used as a template and then put it on a shot glass and dropped another magnet it. Then I put a second shot glass into the first which means the magnet can't flip, so this is a solid magnetic figure base I can disassemble that cost me about 15c.

Now for putting the magnets on the figures. When I was using putty to attach figures to the shot glasses I would need to use a lot of it, and it wouldn't hold very well. As you can see in the photos below, I am using a very small amount of putty to attach the magnets.

All in all, I am getting enough putty to attach 10-15 magnets from the putty I used to use on a single figure from my last project, because I am reusing the putty.

One this is done, I can just attach or remove the figure from the holder at a whim. I can also attach the figures to a cheap baking tray for transport, out to my airbrush station outside, or remove them for putting into a metal based storage container if I am not going to be getting to them for a while (not pictured as I haven't constructed this yet).

So then we have the picture I opened this with.

Of course at this stage as long as I don't remove the figure I could remove the bottom shot glass as the magnet on the figure is holding the magnet into the single shot glass.

It used to be that all I could have on my table and in my "In Progress" rack was about 20 figures because the size of the shot glasses was the limiting factor. Now I can store the 60 I am working on easily because I am storing them off the bases and only putting them onto the bases when I need to work.

There will be some logistics to sort out such as how I will do my priming and everything, but I think this will be a good step forward.

I do plan on making it more professional, maybe. But I thought I would share this shortcut that allowed me to move towards magnetisation without massive overhead or outlay.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue. Because everyone loves fire-persons.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue is probably my favourite introductory co-op game. It's also the one that I think is the most thematic game because everyone gets what is going on. You can play it with 6 year olds, or 80 year olds. And I have. If there was any game I wanted to give a good treatment to it was this one.

It has taken me over half a year to finish this project, though the last half has only taken me three weeks. It's amazing what you can do when you just sit down and focus. Even painting only 30 minutes every other day, I finished the last seven pretty quickly.

Each of the roles in Flash Point brings their own feel to the board, and I wanted to try to reflect that in their paint jobs. The trick is the figures don't match the art on the cards, not remotely. To the point there was some argument as to what figure represented which card. I have come up with my own colour schemes to try to make it work for me. Some of them are too simple, others too complex. But I think they will look great on the table.

Each figure has a tank colour that tries to represent their basic role. FIghting fire, support, leadership. I changed it a few times in order to stay closer to the art, or for artistic purposes. It's my game, and I can do what I want. None of these figures are going to have to actually meet a uniform code.

So there is my team, ready to face whatever challenge that comes. Ready to rush into the flames and rescue the helpless (and often stupid) Points of Interest that reside in the dangerous situations they find themselves in. All hail the heroes.

One final touch I had to add, though I had a lot of trouble taking a photo of it. For some of the figures where the uniform matched. The artwork for many of them shows them wearing Hi-Vis with reflector strips. So I had to paint them on. It's not really visible under normal light, and I can't imagine ever playing under UV light, but if my heroes ever find themselves in a situation where they need that extra visibility in low light conditions, they are ready.

As always I hope you like the figures.

Nemesis Base Game Aliens

It took me months to "Speedpaint" these because I tried several different techniques, and I lost my motivation part way through.

I didn't spent too long on each figure. Overall about 2-3 hours on each, with most of the effort on the large ones; I just didn't paint much while I was doing them.

Overall, I am pretty happy with them, and think they look a lot better than the sundrop effect that I could have paid $100 for.

First off, all the figures together. On the box they showed the Queen with a blue colour, but I wanted to do something interesting so I did an effect where they started off green and turned more blue as they aged, keeping the plating green. I think it worked well overall and makes the figures more interesting.

I decided to make the bases a metallic dark blue because that was what the board was, and the damaged protruding metal because it looked a little like construction metal, it would contrast the figures, and mostly because I like orange and don't use it as often as I would like.

Here is the Queen and her new hatchlings.

 The next level of growth for the aliens, a little less green, a little more scary.

Now they are fully gown adults, ready to do serious damage to the ship's crew.

In the background is one of the larger aliens. Didn't get many good photos of these, but they were the least interesting figures. Scary on the table though.

This was supposed to be a more artistic shot with some blurring effects done deliberately. It's okay.

As always, I hope you like the photos and the painting.

Mostly these are now going to live in the game box and be unseen for the next year or so. That's the way it seems to work. Most of the figures I have painted haven't seen light for years,

Bones Griffin and a Rebase

This is the Griffin (I keep wanting to type Gryphon) from Bones 1.
It was mostly done with a speed wet blend and some shades.

I had to rebase it after it was painted because the base was too small and it kept falling over, so the base was added after the paint was completed. This is the first time I have done this. The base was done in several steps as it's quite a large mini.
First I used two metal pins screwed and glued into the figure, then glued those into holes screwed into the new base. Then I used Green Stuff to form a more solid bond between the mini base and the new base. Then I used a basing texture to match the existing base to the new base, then I repainted the basing texture to match and gave it a new wash. I think it came out quite well.

The main figure took about 2-3 hours, the rebase took about 2 hours.

I hope you like it.

Stuffed Fables - A Speedpainting Project

It's actually been a busy year for my painting, I just haven't been posting much.

Here is the results of a month long speedpainting project. About 40 hours work all up.

Stuffed Fables.

I hope you like it.

Hoth is not a friendly place

What do we have here? The Rebels will face many challenges on the planet Hoth, time to see some of them.

This post has been a long time coming for a couple of reasons. Firstly it includes the figures I actually hated painting, and the one that I have been most nervous about for over a year, the SC2-M Repulsor Tank. I did the preparation to paint it, which took a few hours, late last year and then it sat waiting to be painted for ages, mostly because I had hated painting the Snowtroopers so much. Then I started and got it done in a day.

Anyway, time to see the enemies of Hoth.

Two squads of Snowtroopers and the SC2-M Repulsor Tank.

First lets look at these evil Snowtroopers.

But the true terror would be having the SC2-M coming your way.

If it get close enough, maybe you could see some of the details.

A true terror of the snowfields.

But wait, what's that?

Even the Imperial Forces have to be cautious about a pair of Wampas coming out of the snow.

Do you really want one of these charging at you?

I hope you like these. They have been a huge source of anxiety and stress for me, but it's good to finally have them done, and the Return to Hoth expansion to Imperial Assault now fully painted. Now just a couple of addon figures to finish and the campaign is fully painted.

Imperial Assault - HK Assassin Droids

While I haven't been posting for quite a while, I have been painting.

Here is the first in a series of entries of stuff I painted over the last six to nine months that I haven't posted about.

I think I finished these last November, but it might have been December.

The HK Assassin Droids from Imperial Assault, the Return to Hoth expansion.

The grey ones are the regular units, the coloured ones are the Elites.

As with all my Imperial Assault minis, I am following the Sorastro guides as they are helping me learn new techniques that I am using when painting other stuff like Reign of Cthulhu, or Drakon.

I hope you like them.

Full set of HK Assassin Droids

The Elite HK Assassin Droids in Orange and Red

Elite HK Assassin Droids facing the other way, far safer this way

As always, I would love feedback.