...all out of bubblegum. Lord Commander Stryker charity paint job

Lord Commander Coleman Stryker (or "Strykey," to his friends), here, is the first mini I've been asked to do as a charity auction piece, and has a fair amount of story behind him.

I was approached by one of the organizers for The Battle for Hope, and was happy to get involved even before I knew the details.

The Battle for Hope is a gaming/charity event in Fort Worth, Texas, that's fund raising for Autism Speaks and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The latter was personally important to my wife and I, because my wife has struggled with suicide off and on: once I saw that part, I knew I wanted to do something special.

With the theme of Warmachine, the choice was obvious; that both charities featured blue was just a happy coincidence.

Easily 90% of the time, when my wife plays Warmachine, she fields epic Stryker. He was also probably the nerdiest part of our wedding, mostly untouched by geekitude, as my wife's hidden "something blue."

This old photo, from around the time I started this blog, shows the non-traditional paint scheme I had on him, highlighting him as unusual and in an unfinished test suit, as per the fluff of him taking his still-under-construction suit from his mentor.

I think my miniatures photography and painting skills have improved quite a bit in the interim, so there's quite a difference between the original and the one I recently sent off to Battle for Hope.

The conversion was relatively minor, just changing the position of his arms and his neck, making his face more visible and making the pose a bit more desperate and aggressive, looking for the next target after wrecking the light 'jack, instead of an in-control overhead swing.

I wanted his colors to be pretty traditional, so it would fit in with standard armies, but also wanted to give him something unique. I decided to go with a stylized high-gloss look, with a sense of illustration, to both go with both a sleek tech-y sensibility and so the model would really stand out on the table.

Here's hoping it stands out at the event, too, and garners some funds for some great causes.


PS. Special thanks to Khadorian83 for donating the mini for painting.