Greetings Terrans, how goes it? Welcome back & good news – we are on the home stretch with the Conan kickstarter! Ironically, I’m finishing with the models that got me hooked on this project in the first place – the Monsters!!
Let me explain – I’d been looking for creatures with potential to crop up in games like Frostgrave & Ghost Archipelago, and there are a good few in the Conan KS that suited. Me being me, I knew I had to eat (i.e. paint) the vegetables (shit minis) before I could get on to the meat (good minis)… ok, so the metaphor is a bit weak, but you get my drift & so here we are, 5 months later and I’m finally getting stuck in to the Monster minis I wanted to paint all along. Let’s get started.
First up isn’t technically a monster (though having ridden one, I’m not convinced!):
The camel was included in the game as a bit of a joke I think, thanks to the infamous ‘Camel Punch’ scene in the Conan movie. It was a lovely thing to paint, with Contrasts making short work of the basecoating & ‘normal’ highlighting and shading doing the rest.
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Next we have a beefy man/beast called ‘Thak’:
He’s a funny mini – the proportions are a bit iffy, but he is true to the book so we’ll let him off I think… Difficult to see what use he might be, but he was a nice paint & I’m glad to have him done.
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Next up is this ‘Swamp Demon’:
I really like this mini – it was a doddle to paint with Contrasts & wet blending straight on the mini, followed by a quick drybrush & some tidy up… I honestly thing that it took about 15 minutes (not including drying time) – talk about low effort/high return!
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Next we have this ‘Dark Demon’:
I’m not too pleased with how this fella came out – it’s a funny, lumpy thing & I tried for a ‘dark fate to purple’ vibe with it. I also experimented with the GW Gloss Nuln Oil, and I’m not hugely pleased with how it came tbh… that said, I don’t care enough to fix it either, so it is what it is.
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Lastly, we have this imaginatively named ‘Gray Man-Ape’
He was good fun to paint – similar to the Swamp Demon, I wet blended on the mini, did some normal highlights on the black skin & drybrushed the rest… really simple and effective!
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Here’s a final shot of all five together:
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And that’s all for now – more monster madness to follow next week 😊
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
I really like that swamp deamon. Also the camel has come out really well I think the fabrics are wonderful
Cheers mate, I was pleased with the camel too as it goes – I found a usable reference photo & just copied it really! 😁
Great work on all your monsters and camel Alex, Thak has a similar vibe to the sorcerer in Conan the Destroyer, except fur instead of scales.
Cheers mate, yeah, poor old Thak is the fall-guy in one of the short stories – poor thing is dragged out of a jungle & trained to be more human before turning on & killing his master… Conan & obligatory female shag interest then have the misfortune to break into the masters house that very night… (cue steely-thewed fights and lusty passions)…
All in a day’s work for our Cimmerian friend 😁
Cracking job Alex. I particulalry like the Gray Man-Ape and that camel is really great! It may have been put if for a laugh as you suggest but you’ve done an excellent job on it. 🙂
Cheers mate, I did enjoy this batch – the gray man-ape was so much fun, he spawned a separate side project (to be revealed at a later date 😉)
Interesting, I’ll look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve. 🙂
Great work on all of those. Really like the gray man ape- although I did smile when I saw the camel.
Cheers,
Pete.
Cheers mate, certainly two of my faves 😊
I’m torn between the swamp demon and dark demon as my fave, but all of ’em look bloody awesome. Nicely done, sir!
Cheers mate, very kind of you & yay for the Dark Demon!
Like the group shot! These look like the perfect miniatures for GW contrast painting techniques!
Cheers, they sure are mate! I’ve found this whole range to be brilliant for learning how to get the most out of Contrast paints… got some real beauties in the to-do pile 😊
Awesome, I love these. They’ll see some use in all sorts of skirmish games and RPGs. Perhaps slightly ironically, my favourite monster is the camel.
Cheers mate, they’ll all come in handy for sure, but yeah, the camel is pretty neat 😂
These are just brilliant! :-) Nice camel (can’t believe I actually wrote that)!
😊 Cheers dude – now you mention it, there was actually a point where I thought ‘shit, I’m painting a camel toe’ 😂
🤣
Really nice work on all of them mate, the Camel looks fantastic in my opinion as does the swamp creature, I like the purple on the Demon, he looks like a Gremlin on steroids to me 😁.
Cheers Roger.
Cheers mate, they were all great fun to paint, I’m glad you like ‘em 😊
Great colour choices on the camel. I want to know why they didn’t include the infamous, and not as well known of, llama sex scene? Haha. Thak is my favourite. You’re right about the proportions but it kinda works. Nice work all round matey. 👍🏼👍🏼
Cheers bro, Conan bumming a llama is an image that’ll take some shaking 😂
Hahaha it wasn’t Conan it was some villager. It’s one of those scenes where if you blink you’ll miss it haha. Crazy. Are you a fan of Destroyer at all? Funnily enough I saw that one first. Barbarian is sooooo much better. There’s rumours there might be a “Conan the King” on the cards.
😂 I thought you were pulling my leg mate! I’ll have to go watch it again now!
I’ve seen ‘em all, and Barbarian is a way better film, no two ways about that. I did hear the trilogy rumour – sounds ace but we’ll see I guess!
It’s in one of the scenes when they’re walking into one of the towns. It’s brief but Arnie sees it and laughs.
Here you go. It’s just before the camel haha. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vcZt8ejQw_8
😂
These look really nice, great use of Contrast paints Alex!
Cheers dude, I’m getting pretty comfortable with them now 😊
Well, a camel is basically just a lumpy horse isn’t it (and I’m speaking as a professional biologist here) and judging by the number of times I’ve been bitten, charged at and generally menaced by horses they’re definitely monsters so by extension a camel must be also. Anyway, great work all round, the monstrous camel and Thak are particularly nice :-)
Thanks mate, I reckon you’re right there fella! Daft buggers the lot of ‘em 😂
Great work all round mate! the camel certainly caused a stir, I had to laugh at IRO’s little contribution, I certainly missed it when I saw the movie.
Cheers mate & likewise! Trust an Aussie to spot the main chance eh? 😂
Ha HA!