More figs for Drake and some random Hordes games

I've been busy painting some more figs for AGM (Drake the Dragon Wargame!).  These bad boys are Cherek warriors (or possibly hunters?).  They serve the mighty Garrick - the largest dragons of Dara.  They are mostly a tribal people and as far as I know lack cities in proper but tend to gather in small villages in the mountains.  They are ab humans, tall and lanky and have a decent fighting skill that is matched at range as much as it is in melee.

 For these guys I somewhat followed a previous scheme that was used to paint other studio figures but decided to spice it up a bit with some interesting patterns on the cloth hanging at their waists.  I was originally thinking Zebra-like patterns but chickened out and went more of an antelope style instead with black lines in various spots.  The zebra idea may be something to try on a different batch.  Since these guys are somewhat primal it gives me an excuse to google animal skins etc to draw inspiration from. 

Another thing this project gave me an opportunity to practice is darker skin tones.  I pretty much followed a tutorial I saw a while back on Bell of Lost Souls found here.  However, I wanted to emphasize the darkness of their skin (is this sounding racist?!) and only applied highlights sparingly whereas in the tutorial the artist seems to have exaggerated the lighter colors more.  I really like how it turned out and plan on using this skin tone for various Circle of Orboros models (Tharn in particular) at a later date.

As for the models themselves, they are a work in progress.  There will, of course, be additional poses coming but this is the prototype for multipart infantry.  These 4, as opposed to their original renditions that are already painted and on AGM's website, videos, etc, are not a single piece; the arms are pose-able!  I tried to showcase this as best as possible, but it's still a relatively static pose.  Look forward to more variation in the future!  They are well sculpted though and I'm really digging the 'true scale.'  I like the ridges on their heads, and the definition of their lanky but muscular frame in particular.

 

I've been stepping up my Warmachine game lately, and trying to practice more at The Connections against good players.  Even though I'll most likely get stomped, I'm always learning from my mistakes.  I've had a couple frustrating losses lately where I was clearly in the winning position but either my dice failed me or I got assassinated in an 'all in' goofy matter.  All that aside, I have been winning against various opponents at Connections that I've constantly lost to in the past, so that's saying something about my skills improving.  I'm focusing on 2 lists in particular that I'll hopefully be taking to a tournament at Connections sometime.  They are as follows:

Archdomina Makeda (Makeda 1)
Molik Karn
Archidon
Bronzeback Titan
Titan Gladiator
Aptimus Marketh
Nihilators max
Paingiver Beasthandlers min
Agonizer
Extoller Soulward
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Dominar Rasheth (Tier 4 Chain Gang)
Titan Gladiator
Titan Gladiator
Titan Sentry
Bronzeback Titan
Gatorman Posse max
Venator Slingers max
Paingiver Beasthandlers min
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Agonizer
Paingiver Taskmaster

Here are some random pictures of some games I've played lately:

This game was at Strategies Games.  Practicing Makeda 1

This was a game I played (today actually) at The Connections.  This was an enjoyable game in large part due to my gracious opponent and his nicely painted army (a rarity at The Connections)

Now back to those Demigryph Knights...