Caravan Update 9 - More Okroi

The minis that sparked the whole Caravan Project (formerly known as "The Okroi Caravan") were the first two Okroi pack animals I painted. I had to order some more from Forge of Ice. They sat primed and partially painted for a couple of years before the recent Belan figure sparked a return to the Caravan Project. Now these wonderful dino-deer are done and joining the rest of the caravan.

...the (current) Okroi flock without the foal...

I should have left their baggage alone, but instead I did a little converting on one and a total replacement on another to add some variety. Next time... The easiest way that these new okroi were made different than the previous two was with their red stripes. I probably took way too much time working on the stripes, but I think they turned out pretty good, and it helps make each one an individual.

These first two have the unmodified baggage (we won't go into the mad tangent of possibly magnetizing the cargo- it's just madness). I've painted the fruit differently from the original one, because variety is good.

The 'barrels' on this one are also different from the original. I used some washes to help bring out the details.

This first modified baggage okroi apparently has some magical stuff in the containers. There is an upcoming member of the caravan who is likely the owner of this okroi.

Finally, my least favorite of these favorite minis. Were there barrels in Ægyptus? It matters not. The barrel and bag are both plastic bits from some Warhammer kits. Instead of a leg bone, I put some greenstuff on it to make it look like some vague ancient tool, sort of.

Could this be a use for tofu containers? I believe it could.

In the span of a few days, the caravan has grown significantly (I am no math guy, but I think it's gotten a 20% increase). The two little plastic tubs I've been keeping them in are now overflowing. I need to look into a better storage solution with room to grow. There are at least 5 non-pack animal members of the caravan that are primed and their painting has begun. Not to mention the upcoming pack animals and possible additional members of the group. All this sparked from those 2 weird and wonderful pack animals that Alex had sculpted...

Flesh Hulk for the Nekharu Warband

Long ago I didn't get an official Nekharu Torturer and Flesh Hulk, I decided to convert them both. They were okay but nothing special. I never really used them in any games. Recently, I got the actual figures (the Torturer was finished here) and now they're both finished.

Here's the olde Flesh Hulk with the new guy. My original was was a simple conversion by adding some GW plastic zombie parts to a metal Reaper mini.

The headswap on the official figure was a last minute decision. I had this extra head from some Heresy Miniatures figure that had been sitting in the bits box for a very long time. His mask was painted to slightly match the feathers on the torturer. The only other major change was to slightly reposition his left arm by gently bending it.

Painting his skin was a mess of slightly different browns and tans and pinks mixed together. I guess it turned out okay. The only really fancy painting part was using some pigment powder on his blade to get a sort of bloody/rusty look. That part felt like a nice accomplishment.

the Flesh hulk with his torturer

with the converted Scorpion Sorceress and Heru Spearman

with a couple awesome mummy conversions

Ankhara City of the Dead part 6 - Carrion Beast

While looking for something else, I came across the bits for this "carrion beast" (that's the working title, it may change) and decided it was time something be done with the headless undead body that I've had since last century.

The body is an ancient Grenadier miniature (a demon dog? maybe a blood dog? some kind of dog, I think). I needed to find a head and eventually settled on this Nurgle hero head from an Underworlds figure who got turned into a Hapi-folk Crypt Lord. It was that simple.

I pinned the head and there were really no glaring gaps to fill, so then I could focus on removing the accursed thick intergral base. I decided I would only remove part of it, leaving the rocks the back legs are standing on to help show this beast is in the ruins of Ankhara.

The final touch was to chop off part of a metal ankh bit from some unknown source to act as some more rubble to reinforce that this is Ankhara.

This beastie is the first of some number of things created by the Carrion Queen. I've been slowly working on various Eater of the Dead sub-factions controlling parts of Ankhara. The Carrion Queen is either going to be an Undead Beast Mistress who has unlocked some serious power in death (including control of most of the Ghouls throughout the City of the Dead); or, she's a Khemru Dark Harbinger who has begun experimenting with what abominable things she can create (plus the Ghoul thing). The Carrion Beast is the first of these to actually be built and painted. I have no concrete ideas about what sort of powers it has, but it will be something simple and weird. 

...witha Heru champion and the converted Scorpion Sorceress.

Here we have the Carrion Beast with various WarGods miniatures to show how well he fits in with them.

...with a couple of fancy Crypt Lord conversions.

...with the mummy lion from the undead beastmaster.

Treeman and Clockwork Owls

I picked up a Dungeons and Lasers Deuslair preview pack of multipart plastic miniatures last summer and promptly assembled two of the big miniatures in the box. The third is still waiting for glue and a base. I managed to finish one of the miniatures back in January. Now it was time for the treeman, or, according to the D&L lore, it's supposed to be a tree golem. More on that later.

For reasons that will be made clear below, I found my two Crocodile Games clockwork owls and decided to base the one on a tree branch to be a possible companion to whatever Olympus mini might need him.

 He can also act as an objective maker, that's why I used a 20mm round base. I decided to avoid metallic paints for both of these Owls (I previously painted one to use with sci-fi minis, so that one got metallic paints) and tried to do slightly NMM. I'm not sure how the NMM came out, but I think he looks okay. Here we've got the Clockwork Owl with Iomeda, Demigoddess of Hephaestus, and an Amazon Spearwoman.

This treeman came with little guys on his back. I primed everything up and then decided that I really didn't like them. Some chopping and careful cutting took the little guys off. I used some plastic bits from some Warhammer dryad kits and a couple plastic sprue lengths that were carved to look more like branches. 

He needed something more, that's when I decided on the clockwork owl. There was a flirtation with magnetizing the owl, but I decided it would be best to just glue the owl down. This addition made me think that the treeman could be used in Olympus games as a random monster, or maybe a Titan, or a servant for a Demigod.

The paiintjob was pretty straightforward, a mix of different browns and some greens for the leafy area on the back and for his tentacles. The cape holding the big rock on his back almost got a symbol on it, but I deeded to keep it simple.

This Clockwork Owl benefitted from the one on the branch. I used almost the same colors for it. Both the treeman and the owl got aqua blue eyes, because magic.

The treeman with a couple of Titans, I'm not sure he'll be able to rank up with the Titan Slaves.

Perhaps the Treeman could be part of my whimsical and illegal Satyr Warband.

Perhaps the Treeman could be a stand-in for a Minotaur.

Maybe the Treeman is a construct of a Demigoddess of Hecate.

...or, perhaps more appropriately, a servant of a Demigoddess of Artemis.