My Latest Craft Project: My Noble Squire Becomes a Dark Angel

Folks who've been watching my feed for the past little while know that I've been dabbling in the grim darkness of the far future since the pandemic got started a year and a half or so ago. Hell, the last three additions to my Character Conversions page were Pathfinder guides for an Imperial Commissar, the Death Korps of Krieg, and the Catachan Jungle Fighters. And for those who didn't see it recently, I even penned a piece of game tie-in fiction with my short story Waking Dogs- A World Eaters Tale.

Incidentally, I have had a tough time getting reads on that, so if you're a fan of watching what happens when one of these berserkers has a moment of clarity, I'd urge you to take a look!

But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, as the saying goes. And while I do have fun writing up articles and stories like that, it is still work. So I thought that I'd try to do something that I hadn't really tried my hand at yet. Something that I kept seeing a lot of progress photos and such about... miniature painting.

Only problem was that I didn't have a miniature... but I did have a squire.

So rather than attempt to replace my companion Sir Pencival, I decided to do my best to give him an upgrade. So now after watching a lot of videos, making a couple of mistake, and redoing a couple of layers until I was satisfied, I present to you Brother Pencival of the Dark Angels!

Your weapon, my lord.

An Extra Large "Mini," and a Very Long, Terrible Joke

This little craft project occurred to me because I don't have the cash to purchase an army of my own, but when the pandemic hit I often joked that it was finally time to get into learning how to paint. Rather than buy expensive minis to practice on, though, it was my stalwart companion Sir Pencival who caught my eye. I acquired him years ago from Amazon, and he's traveled to many signings and conventions at my side to keep my pen at the ready should someone request a signature on one of my books. And it was because of Pencival's knightly look that my mind went to the Dark Angels, and I remembered the tales of old when Caliban was young, and many of the knights were raised up by augmentation and surgical alteration even if they were too old to become true space marines.

While I was warming to the idea (having a story behind any craft project always makes me that much more interested in where it's going) there was one question I couldn't quite figure out. Why would a space marine, especially once from the proud and noble first legion, be charged with caring for my pen in between when I was wielding it?

When the answer came to me, I knew I was going to have to complete the project... because I realized that as a professional author that makes me a legitimate CHAPTER MASTER!

Thank you for reading along with me this far. And yes, for those who are wondering, I am proud of myself for this truly awful pun.

Only in death does service end.

For Folks Who'd Like More, Check These Out!

If you didn't click away in disgust after that awful joke, there is some more amusing stuff of mine you might be interested in on this topic!

Firstly, if you're into game comparison articles, then you might want to check out Which Space Marine Chapters Best Represent The Garou Tribes of Werewolf: The Apocalypse? I've found that using another grimdark property as a point of reference allows me to more easily help people I talk to find their bearings, and I had a couple of laughs while I was putting this together.

Also, if you need more 9-foot-tall bioweapons in your life, but you wish we got to see them deal with things like PTSD, civilian re-integration, and coming to grips with the damage that's done to a child soldier over the term of their careers, then you should definitely check out my latest novel Old Soldiers as well!

Recently re-released with a new cover, and extra content!

Lastly, if you're one of the folks out there who enjoys your 40K stories being performed by someone who puts a lot of heart and soul into their videos, you should definitely check out A Vox in The Void. He's certainly no slouch in the field, and he's done dramatic readings of two of my tales, linked below!

First is the dramatic reading of "Waking Dogs," listed above:

And if you're more of a fan of the Imperial Guard, then you should definitely check out "Almost":

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Affordable Metal Minis? Nano MetalFigs Has You Covered!

It's been a while since I've talked about my weekly craft night projects on here, but I started one recently that I'm pretty pleased with. Partly because it's my first ever miniature project, but also because it involves something I picked up at a local Dollar Tree. Because I was just grabbing some necessities one day, and I decided to swing by the toy aisle to see what they had on-hand... when I noticed they had a diecast figure of the Undertaker! At just over an inch and a half tall, and for about $1.50, there was no way I wasn't going to take him home. I was barely out the door before I was scrolling through my mental archive, and trying to decide which character I was going to use him for.

After making sure I had a very small brush (which got trimmed even smaller to get into the nooks and crannies), and borrowing some green paint, I got to work on modifying this figure to show up at my table. While it might not be much, I'm still pretty pleased with how it's turned out so far.

Never talk shit about a greenskin inquisitor, my friend.

While the photo isn't great (sadly, all I have on-hand for taking them is my phone), all I did was paint the face, neck, and chest the virulent green we tend to associate with orcs. A few coats of that paint, and then a sealer, and bam, I had a shiny, metal mini all my own to bring to the battle.

There was, however, one more modification I needed to make. The bases for these figures are pretty wide, and tend to stick out past the single square we're used to using. However, if you have a dremel tool in your work space you can quickly shave those sides down with no real trouble. As long as you keep them even, you're good to go in maybe twenty minutes or so (less if you're used to this kind of mod).

Turns Out, There's More of These Figures On The Market

I kept poking my head in at the store for a few weeks after, seeing if any more of these figures had come in, but it seemed I grabbed one of the last ones. However, since I was curious, I popped onto Amazon to see what models were around, and how much work they'd take to get them ready for some action at a game of mine.

Ask and ye shall receive, I suppose...

Turns out that not only are there a lot more figures like the one I found out there, but they're not really all that expensive if you're looking to get your hands on them (particularly considering what metal minis tend to run, if that's your jam). A full set of WWE diecast figures goes for just over $25, coming out to about what I paid for my one individual mini. Of course, if wrestlers aren't your jam, then you might find the Marvel hero figures or the X-Men figures to be more up your alley.

One problem you'll run into with some of these figures is that the wide base is really needed to accommodate their pose, so you won't be able to just shave down the base to make it fit. However, plenty of figures don't need such a wide surface to stand on, and they hold up just fine with a quarter of an inch or so ground off either side. While you might need to rough up the finish on the figure if you want to do a more extensive paint re-touching, if you just want to add a splash of color here, or change a detail there, it's surprisingly easy.

And, for my two cents, it's a lot less intimidating than getting a totally blank mini and trying to do a ground-up paint job on your first try. Might just be the way my brain works, but making small alterations to a mostly complete piece gave me a lot more confidence than trying to do a full figure on my first try.

Though I might still try that out in the future. More on that later if I decide to dive down that rabbit hole!

Interested in More Gaming DIY?

If you're interested in more tabletop DIY (or just finding cheap ways to get a lot of figures, dice, etc. for your table), then you might want to take a look at some of the following posts:

- Want Cheap Minis? Wizards of The Coast and 5 Below Are Here To Help!

- 4 Tools To Help You Control Your Dice at The Table

- Towering Defenses Against My Chronic Bad Rolls (Dice Tower DIY)

- Need Cheap Minis? SCS Direct Has You Covered!

- Organize Your Spell Cards With a Portable Spellbook!

And, of course, if there's a topic I haven't covered yet that you'd like to see show up, feel free to leave a comment below!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!