The Tools for the Job - Kingdom Death Lion Knight, Butcher, and Survivors

 While I feel particularly with Kingdom Death I've more often been doing models on the gloomier side, more recently I've been interested in more vibrant paint jobs, even when the midtones or general sentiment has been darker. With this set where my client asked that I do something that I felt fit each piece, the unifying characteristic is a general reference point in more classic fantasy book covers and movie posters, or just an older sensibility of miniatures painting.

Noblesse Oblige - Kingdom Death Lion God modification

This was a salvage operation, and I don't think I would have done it if the Lion God weren't scheduled to be variously upgraded by new content, such as the Silver City which I'm anticipating even if the kickstarter has dragged so long "excited" is far too strong a word.

Bovine Brawlers - Blood Bowl Beastmen

A quick post on some conversion work. My client wanted an all-Beastmen team, so rather than clone poses I tweaked the human models, with their new heads (the simpler and more dynamic part: I feel like a good head swap and positioning is always the most efficient way of altering a model), and by pretty much recreating their legs, only using some core sticks of the originals to keep them a bit sturdier.

The minotaur below was a much more minor conversion, just an attempt to make the mane more consistent with the Beastmen aesthetic.

Three tons of him. - Kingdom Death Sunstalker review

As I sometimes do, this is a hybrid hobby article and review. 

In short, I have a love/...meh relationship with this expansion.

Compulsion to Repeat - Kingdom Death White Lion set

This guy is practically where it all started, for me and KD: the White Lion is the first monster I painted, and one of the earliest KD models I painted.

He was also the first that I converted, I believe the first base I cast, and one of the first I later revised, all of which I've done a lot in the years since.

Feed Me! - Kingdom Death Lonely Tree

The Lonely Tree is both the last expansion I've painted for a client or myself, and the last I personally bought. It's... a difficult model, but I'm pretty happy with how this one came out, even though it took way longer than I intended.

The Halls of the Past - Silver Tower collected, complete painted box

I realized recently that I've actually completed my Silver Tower collection, but never remembered to consolidate them into one big, snazzy post, so, here's a little trip down memory lane.

In Fearful Day, In Raging Night - Kingdom Death Nemeses and Gorm set in blue

I think I used all of my better "blue" references up in earlier titles. This one is a bit obscure. (Nerd cred if you get it.)

Om Nom Nom - 1.5 edition Screaming Antelope & Friends

There's a special place in my heart for the fleshy, gross monster that is the Screaming Antelope, and it was the first of my Kingdom Death monsters that I was really pleased with, but that doesn't mean that I couldn't improve on it, too. While it's been slow progress, with 1.5's release, I've taken the opportunity to tune and update my own collection, too.

Flame and Shadow - Pious Vorne and Ur-ghuls

Pious Vorne is one of my favorite recent models.

I will wander through the pines and make my way to nature's shrines - Abyssal Woods set, Part 0

So, this was a lot of fun: with the Abyssal Woods campaign coming... uh... some time in the future, I was happy that my client went with my suggestion that all his expansions that would integrate into the campaign be a single palette.

Getting into the Holiday Spirit - Modified Spidicules Expansion, and Scenery

So, I'd been considering modifying my Spidicules for ages but, before I'd become frustrated with its design, I already built and painted mine, so there wasn't much to do with that.

Before & After - Kingdom Death First Story and Lion Armor Survivors

These were a pretty fun set to work with; rather than WYSIWYG, my client wanted to have a generally rougher look for them, so I played around with more narrative poses, gear, etc.

Stampede! - Variations on Kingdom Death's Screaming Antelope

So, I've worked on a few Screaming Antelopes recently, with different approaches.

Hunters/Hunted - Kingdom Death Core Quarries

Because the first portion of this set of blue guys got a few requests, I'm starting off with a photo of how they look on the table.

Heavy Hitters - Converting Aleguzzler Gargants

Or, "giants," in the non-trademarked vernacular.

Fire in the Belly - Kingdom Death Phoenix

Despite it being extremely frustrating to build, I think the phoenix just looks so cool when it's done.

I've played around with this model a lot over the years, and think that on this one I've hit a very nice balance of spectacle and darkness on this one. While the lighting is a bit artificial in how broadly it hits the model, I'm really happy with its core, and how the light accentuates the feather texture.

By the way, blending between teal and orange is... pretty rough. Don't try this at home, kids. It took a lot of tricks to make that one feel at all natural.

A Squall in the Dark - Kingdom Death Homebrew scenario (also, First Story + Antelope + Butcher)

With the first set of Kingdom Death expansions on the horizon, this seemed like a nice time to try introducing the first of some rules I've been developing for them.

Boris the Spider! (bwowww!) - Kingdom Death Spidicules expansion

I've gone back and forth a lot on the Spidicules expansion.

The Hunter-Hunter Hunter - Kingdom Death early survivors and monsters.

...which would be the Butcher, I guess.

Either way, I think these guys look pretty snazzy together. The Butcher and Screaming Antelope have a bit more pop than I've given them in the past, but are pretty similar to ones I've done before. I feel that I've gotten the Survivors and White Lion notably better tuned, specifically in lightening up their shadows a lot and giving the Lion some stronger texture.