Community Spotlight: Trolls, Sky Pirates & Returning To The Brush

Come and join us for another delve into the Projects to find the best of the best from the last week or so. We’ll be getting stuck into lots of great-looking miniature wargaming painting and hobbying this week…

…always let us know what YOU have been working on and share it across the site.

Trolls by ewokkebab

We start off with ewokkebab who was so taken by the new Trolls from Avatars of War that they couldn't put off painting some. So, they printed off some great-looking Trolls and started slapping some paint down on them.

The idea with the miniatures here and the paint scheme chosen was to go for a bit more of an earthy tone that would fit the vibe of Scandinavian Trolls but with plenty of pops of colour in there as well for the likes of the growths that you see across their backs. I think this provides the Trolls with a really nice contrast to them, really enhancing the magical nature of these Trolls and how they fit into ewokkebab's vision.

ewokkebab was really enjoying working on these Trolls as they ended up working through all of the rest of the miniatures in the collection, smashing through the painting and getting them all done for the wonderful scenes that you see here. I think the colour contrast ended up working very nicely indeed and they should be really fun to see clobbering their foes on the tabletop.

Not only was this a way for ewokkebab to scratch an itch that they had for Trolls, it was also a great excuse to try out some new techniques that they hadn't worked with before, namely, a bit of glazing and highlighting. I think it's great that they ended the process so much in the end and I can't wait to see how the Avatars of War Trolls look when they finally arrive to get painted up.

Sector AL-IX by denzien

Next up, we're turning to another game that seems to have caught the eye of a community member. Being a big fan of Bioshock Infinite and that vibe, denzien was quite taken by Sector AL-IX that we looked at in one of our XLBS episodes recently. So, they got to printing and painting up the various miniatures needed for the game.

The joy of the game is that it's very distinctly unique in its aesthetic and really gets you invested in what they're trying to do with the world and the vision for the game. It also helps that it's 12mm in scale so you can get loads of the crew, terrain, vehicles and more printed off very quickly and, as you can see here, paint applied to the miniatures!

Currently, the idea is that denzien will print and paint up all of the different bits and pieces that they need for the starter campaign for the game. What's nice is that all of that seems to fit (at least the forces) inside a Really Useful Box, which is, really useful. What's cool is that, as well as the crews and the flyers, denzien has also printed off and painted up loads of the modular terrain as well.

A word of warning from denzien if you're going to be diving into this game. All of the terrain is modular and slots together really nicely. So, make sure to leave it as such and don't glue the big sections together as you can then use it to set up lots of different scenarios in future adventures with Sector AL-IX. I can't wait to see where this goes and what denzien thinks of the game itself.

Returning to the Brush by ironnie

Last but not least, we're checking out ironnie who has returned to painting after quite a while away and wanted to work through their backlog of classic miniatures and see if they still had the skills after picking up the brush once more!

As per their project, ironnie is returning to the hobby and painting after a good twenty-eight years. They started back in the 1980s and enjoyed doing a bit of painting but as time rolled on, the same thing that happens to all of us cropped up and life meant that hobby took a bit of a backseat. However, as retirement has now beckoned, they broke out their old paintbrushes and wondered if they still had the skills to pay the bills. I think, as you can see, they still do!

One thing they were really struck by was that they remembered the calmness and mindfulness that comes when "you're hunched over a figure". I have to totally agree. Sitting down to do some painting can really help sort out the ol' scrambled noggin' and it's nice to see the process turn an unpainted miniature into something you can be proud of. Whilst ironnie has only uploaded one or two figures so far to the project, I hope that we're going to be seeing more from them in the future as they work through their pile of potential.

Also, I love the little diorama for Knight Maximus (top image) and I like that there's some storytelling from within the piece too. Being a painter and not a gamer, I also like that these will all end up going to a good home, it seems. Certainly does keep down the clutter.

What Are You Painting Right Now?

Every week, we’re absolutely blown away by the incredible topics that are put into the Projects; it’s getting more difficult to choose Community Spotlights! We love your work and we hope to see a lot more of it in the future!

If you fancy getting your hobby fingers out and showing off your newest paint job, terrain piece or even greatest gaming achievement, we want to know about it! We don’t mind if you’re a newcomer to painting or a veteran of the brush; everything you do inspires us to create more and more content together!

What do you think of the entries this week?