Not My Idea Of Fun

It's been some time since I was a kid but I think I can still remember "having fun."  Playing kickball or wiffle ball on the street with friends after school was fun.  Going swimming and riding bikes was fun.  Playing with Hot Wheels was fun.  Going to a parade or carnival was fun.  But my very favorite thing to do for fun was Trick or Treat.

October would roll around and I would start getting into the spirit (pun intended).  Deciding what to wear/be.  Heading out into the cool crisp autumn night with friends.  Running through the piles of leaves to get to the next house.  Checking out all the other cool costumes.  And of course getting back to the house  at the end to see what an incredible bounty of candy that had been collected. 

Hershey Bars, Reece Cups, Kit Kat Bars, Pay Days, were among my most treasured finds.  Rooting out the dreaded Good & Plenty Boxes, Black Liquorish, or even worse...apples.  And then, if you were lucky, maybe go to a Halloween Party.  That, my friends, was fun.

We just had Halloween Trick or Treat here last Friday.  It was two hours long and we had about 120 kids come by.  When all was said and done, there was still around 50 pieces of candy left in the bowl.  As I have gotten older, my love of sweets has diminished quite a bit. (I'll take "real food" instead any day.)  Tonight however, I decided I "needed" a little sugar.  I went over to the bowl and pulled out these (see picture).  I was blown away when I saw the words "Fun Size" on them.  What the hell is fun about those????  Opening them there is only 4 or 5 pieces in each.  FUN!!!  NO FUN!!!  NO FUN AT ALL!!!!  Whoever is the marketing jerk that thought up that genius idea needs to be terminated right now!!!  Okay, okay,...I'll calm down now.

Seriously though, thank you for following me down memory lane for a minute and then allowing me to vent my less than candy-coated frustration.  I'm glad you dropped by to check out my humble little blog.  Stay safe out there and be kind to one another. Until next time.

  

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Happy Halloween to all you creepy ghoulish wonderful folks out there!  In the spirit of the season, I've been working on this vile little creature.  This is the Kallaguk Troll King from Reaper Bones Miniatures.  The hardest part about painting this monstrous monarch was deciding on a color scheme.  I have a bunch of trolls in my collection and didn't want to mimic anything I had already done.

As you can see I went with tans and browns.  I'm pretty pleased with the final result.  I think he (it??) looks pretty bad @$$ and ready to do some mean skull busting.

I'm considering having a Troll versus Orcs throw down. If/when I do, I'll post some pics.  Have a BOOtiful day, friends (fiends???)!!!

Universally Scary

'Tis the season.  Witches, Warlocks, and Werewolves.  All the things that go bump in the night.  When I was a kid I would get all geared up when it was Halloween.  In the spirit of the occasion, I have these frightening little miniatures to share.  Collectively these iconic creatures are referred to as the "Universal Monsters" because Universal Studies produced black and white movies featuring them starting in the 1920s thru the 1950s. I've loved watching those movies over the years.  For their time, they were quite scary. I also built plastic model kits (made by Revell) of most of them back in the day.

Included in the cast of characters here are:  The Frankenstein Monster, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.  These are all 3D prints from Pop Minis.  I ordered them on Etsy.  I think I did pretty decently on the paint job.   Have a gander.  I hope you like them.  TTFN.  Stay safe out there this Halloween. 

Bad to the Bone

 

My latest edition to the collection is a Kharn Brute.  I got this figure at the Dollar Tree.  It is from their Final Faction Line.  According to the fluff, the Kharn are an alien race determined to plunder the Earth of its resources.  I have modified several Kharn figures already and couldn't resist adding this one to the fold.

I made a multitude of modifications to the figure as well as giving it a repaint.  I first took the figure apart so I could remove the arms.  I then reassembled it and glued the head and legs into place.  Crayola Model Magic was added to where the arms were attached so that I could change the angle of the arms from the torso.  Once the arms were glued into their new positions, I was ready to add weapons.

The bone club on the right was made from a pack of 36 bones from the Dollar Tree's Halloween accessories. The bones are made from foam so I coated it with multiple layers of PVA glue and Modge Podge to harden it before a painted it.  I then sealed it.

The sword is a modified Chaos Sword from Warhammer.  I replaced the grip of the sword and the pummel (now a skull).  I had a bunch of spare parts left over from the set of Vargheists I've been working on. I added bone-pierced flesh to the upper arms of the beast, a set of tusks to the mouth, and 4 boney spikes along the spine on the back.  The top spike has an impaled upper human torso on it.

The entire creature was painted coal black.  I went back and highlighted the raised areas with a metallic purple.  When everything was dry, I clear-coated the entire figure.

The pic is not the best (sorry).  I like the way the figure turned out.  It looks like it is pissed and on a rampage.  Because of this, I have renamed the creature a Kharn Rampager.

You Can Count On It!

It's been a while since I took on a Reaper Bones Miniature.  Going through my bins, I came across these two figs which I actually started about a year ago and then abandoned.  With Halloween just around the corner, I figured I'd give 'em another go.  I like the way these two little suckers turned out.  

While I was on the Reaper craze, I pulled out this guy.  I haven't painted a troll in some time and this bad boy looked super cool.  I wanted him to look a little toadish but not too toadish.  I kinda think that's just what I got. Enjoy the pics!

Goblins, Witches, and Demons...

...and more scary stuff,,,and they are all in the new book from the Writers 3, Blood & Steel.  The Writers 3 are some writers from my neck of the woods, Western PA.  I've been reading their stuff for the past few years and it's pretty darn good!  This new book is a collection of fantasy stories that they have done over the years.  You can get it for FREE on October 31st  on  Amazon.com.  It's a nice little treat for Halloween!

They also have stories in a new book that will be out soon called, Tales from the Grimacing Goblin, which is a follow up book to last year's The Forging of the Ring,  You can check out their website for details:  The Writers 3

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

Check out this smokin' hot Fire Giant Miniature from Reaper.  Great sculpt!  Active pose!  Very expressive!  I really enjoyed painting this one.  The base is from Reaper's new Base Boss line.  It's really great. It's well made and very sturdy.

Next project:  I'm planning to get 13 of the creepiest little minis done by Halloween.  Hopefully it will be devilishly fun!

Trick or TREAT!!!!

I'm gonna give it to ya straight....Dino's Restaurant in Greensburg.....EAT THERE!  DO IT!!!!
Went there on Halloween.  Not disappointed in the least!!!

Food - awesome!  Five of us ate and not a bad word to say about any of the meals.

Portions - HUGE!!!!!

Price - decent...for the amount of food....more than acceptable!

Service - A bit slow but still OK.  (It helped that the waitresses were dressed up for Halloween!  Just say'n.)

Atmosphere - typical sports bar

I'd go there again in a heartbeat!  I'd been to the Dino's in Latrobe a few years back and thought it was decent.  The Greensburg location is much better in my humble opinion.  Great food, great time!

Side note:  I didn't see any Bronto Burgers on the menu...Does that seem right to you?

Big thank you to Miniature Market for helping me out with a problem (my fault) with a recent order.

The folks there really went the extra mile.  THANKS ALL!!!!!  I have been ordering from Miniature Market since 2012 and have never had a single issue.  If you are looking to buy miniatures online, I HIGHLY recomend them!!!!!  You'll love their great selection and excellent prices.