Review | Seraphon Lord Kroak

Yes, I know, this kit didn’t come out with the latest range refresh. However, it was the herald of things to come. As with a lot of what I do in this hobby, procrastination was involved (that’s been something of a theme lately). I did actually buy this kit when it came out. With life such as it is though, I’m finally focusing on getting all of my unbuilt kits done, so here goes on the big man himself, King of the Toads, Lord Kroak.

Hobby | Converted Saurus Warriors & Skink Alphas

After that first test model, I pressed on and got a unit of five Saurus Warriors converted from the Lizardmen Blood Bowl team. There's also a pair of sneaky Skinks that I've converted further down in the photos if that's more your speed. I enjoyed making these models, and I'm glad that the new Seraphon kits come with a decent amount of bits to make it all possible. 

WIP | Bloodbowl Lizardmen Conversions

As I settle into a new groove, I’ve been ramping up the construction of my Seraphon kits. There were quite a few boxes laying dormant, just waiting for their time in the sun. One of those boxes was the Lizardmen Bloodbowl team, the wonderfully named Gwaka’moli Crator Gators. 

Hobby | And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Aaaaaannd we're back. Whew. Let me tell you, moving all of that Warhammer was a bitch. Makes me realize how much I have, and that maybe, just maybe, I should stop buying new things. But. The Seraphon have got something of a range refresh going on, and seeing as this blog is literally named after these space-faring fantasy dinosaurs, it would be something of a shame if I didn't jump in on the fun.

Tutorial | Welcome to the Jungle, How to Make Some New Terrain

After plucking the lowest hanging fruit for a jungle terrain joke, the quality of the rest of this post can only get better. After a streak of painting miniatures, I wanted to pivot to making some good old fashioned terrain again. I'll be moving soon, and as part of that I've been taking inventory of what I have. I found some MDF bases lying around and some palm trees I bought an eternity ago, so I though why not make some jungle terrain. Throw in some bits from Archon Studios and Reaper Miniatures and I was ready to make it specifically into Lizardmen/Seraphon terrain, but it could just as easily be used for games of Dungeons & Dragons.  

Hobby | Skink Starseer and Working with Finecast

There's always those models that elude your grasp for too long a time. Whether it be because of the price or the rarity, we all have them. For me, it's always been the Skink Starseer. I find the price (at the time of this writing) at $50 for a single character to be too high, especially at this size and material choice. Because you see, this model used to be cast in metal. Which would be ok, but GW in the modern era has replaced the metal with their homebrew resin/plastic mix which they call Finecast. And I dislike Finecast. 

Review | Space Dinosaur Miniatures 2022 and a Look Forward to 2023

Another year gone by and here we are at the end, which means it's time for the annual Year In Review for the Space Dinosaur Miniatures. This has been a good year, with Covid waning allowing for more activities, but I still got a good amount of minis done. 

Hobby Table: Skink Chief on Terradon (Tiktaq'to)

Get your brushes and clippers, and welcome to the Space Dinosaur Hobby Table, where I cover what I've completed recently in the Age of Sigmar hobby, along with a mini-review of the sculpts, how easy they're to paint, and any tips or tricks I can pass on to make your life easier. Today I have a classic metal model, Tiktaq'to from the old Warhammer Fantasy days. 

Tutorial: Sneaking Into 2022 with How to Convert Chameleon Skinks

Curious as to to how I build some of my Age of Sigmar terrain pieces, convert models, or how I plan armies and paint schemes? Then welcome to the Space Dinosaur Tutorials, where I teach you how I do what I do. For the first post of 2022, I finished up a unit of 10 Chameleon Skinks that I converted from your average, everyday skink.

Review: Space Dinosaur Miniatures 2021 and a Look Forward to 2022

Now that we're nearing the end of 2021 and we can see 2022 just off the horizon, it's time for the Space Dinosaur Minis 2021 year in review. Obviously, 2021 was another Covid year, but unlike 2020 I wasn't locked in my house the entire time, so this year there's a little bit less accomplished, but still, I think I made a good run of the year. 

Hobby Table: A Dinosaur Riding Another Slightly Larger Dinosaur or a Scar Veteran on Cold One

Get your brushes and clippers, and welcome to the Space Dinosaur Hobby Table, where I cover what I've completed recently in the Age of Sigmar hobby, along with my thoughts on the sculpts, how easy they're to paint, and any tips or tricks I can pass on to make your life easier. Today's model is an example of why the Seraphon are the best and every other army wishes it was Seraphon: dinosaurs riding dinosaurs. 

Gaming Table: D&D Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign (Part 2)

Pull up a chair and roll some dice, welcome to the Space Dinosaur Gaming Table, where I cover Age of Sigmar battle reports to list building ideas and everything in between. In this episode, our brave Dungeons and Dragons adventurers are tackling the next two missions of the excellent Dragon of Icespire Peak starter campaign: Butterskull Ranch and Moutain's Toe Gold Mine. 

Review: Space Dinosaur Miniatures 2020 and a Look Forward to 2021

While 2020 has been a wild year, what with the pandemic and wildfires and elections and all, but here on the Space Dinosaur Miniatures I've been having a great time. A large part of this has been the working from home, which has resulted in an explosion of hobby work. The blog has grown from 3 to 8 posts a year to breaking 50 posts in 2020. I've added a new army to the bunch, and several armies have grown a bit in size. So lets take a look back at 2020 to see what I got done, and then we'll look to 2021 and what I have in store for you dear reader. 

 

Hobby/Gaming Table: Seraphon Salamanders and Skirmish Continued

 The Seraphon hobby continues, this time with more fire-belching lizards. Salamanders are older sculpts, so much so that mine are metal. With a decent paint job they look all right, although I will say that they aren't my favorite. They were recently buffed to quite an extent in the newest Seraphon battletome, but as my group is playing skirmish at the moment I haven't been able to field them yet. 

Hobby Table: Ravenack's Gnashing Jaws and Suffocating Gravetide

Since I've been focusing on my Seraphon recently for gaming purposes now that things are ramping back up, I've done a bit more work on the endless spells since my favorite dinos can take them in "bound" forms. Plus it's just nice to knock out a model in an afternoon. 

Gaming Table: Skirmish and Seraphon

Although Covid-19 isn't completely through, my gaming group has decided that we are comfortable playing some games at home (not at any game stores). With the new General's Handbook releasing recently, we decided to give the Anvil of Apotheosis a try, with each of us designing a hero to use in the old Skirmish rules that GW released a ways back. 

Paint Recipe: How to Paint Seraphon Ripperdactyls

My ripper dactyls have been sitting half finished for an inordinate amount of time, so I pulled them up from the depths of that hobby backlog and voila they are finished! The kit is a multi-build, giving you the option to create either Ripperdactyls or Terradons. I have multiple of the kit, so I made both variations. The Rippers are a much more vicious looking animal, but they are paired with the adorable bloat toad, which also gets some coverage in today's post. 

Hobby Table: Seraphon Astrolith Bearer

This weekend's output saw the completion of a Seraphon Astrolith Bearer, a useful unit in the army that comes as a Finecast kit from Games Workshop. I like the look of the official sculpt, but I didn't feel like forking over the cash for the one model. I had some spare metal Temple Guard Command models from way back when, and I also recently purchased the excellent Lizardmen Blood Bowl kit for the new Saurus warrior sculpts. The kit also comes with turn markers that would work perfectly for what I had in mind.

Hobby Table: Dire Wolves, Necromancer, and Skink Starpriest

The last couple of days have seen 7 new models completed. For the first round we have some Legions of Nagash models, or, in my little corner of the universe, these troops hail from the ruins of Ravenmarch. This is the eastern half of Heldenmarch, and the two were once a whole country until the folly of the Amethyst Cult drove the kingdom in two. This lore is reflected in my necromancer, whose robes of purple, which once were a symbol of the Amethyst Cult, are hidden beneath tattered robes.

A necromancer wills his dire wolves to attack. 

Tutorial: Bastilodon Solar Engine

I magnetized my Bastilodon a long time ago so that I could swap out between the Ark of Sotek and the Solar Engine, and while I managed to paint the dino and the Ark of Sotek, I left the Solar Engine to languish for some time. Part of it was that I was intimidated by the crystal. I wanted it to look like all of those photos that can be seen on Instagram or Reddit. But no more! I decided to just go for it, and I don't know why I was putting this off for so long.

Read on for details of how I painted it.