Blog Gauntlet's Lizards

[Imrahil]

Shame about the round bases

You and your squares
(Don't be so edgy)

Grrr, Imrahil

 

[Gauntlet]

Oh I both regret and don't regret the round bases. I don't actually play any game system right now, so it was ultimately aesthetics. I feel I can still rank them as round bases in the right trays, so not a huge loss.

 

[Gauntlet]

Blue for the eyes would contrast nicely with the orange and yellows in the skin and gold and tie it in with the skin of your saurus. If you want you could also tuck some magenta into the recesses of the face which would contrast with the green and add a lot of life and richness to the shadows. Just a thought. It looks awesome as is though!

That is a excellent suggestion. I might be too scared of screwing it up (the model is totally finished now) to try it though... well the magenta... I'll do the eyes blue at some point soon!

 

[Tyranitar]

That is a excellent suggestion. I might be too scared of screwing it up (the model is totally finished now) to try it though... well the magenta... I'll do the eyes blue at some point soon!

Yeah if it's done it's done, move onto the next project. Maybe try out the magenta on the next big beastie

 

[kroxh]

Third up!

If you are looking for that "old skool Dino look" in your lizardmen, and looking for models that could work equally well with newer models or mixed with original Lizardmen models, I suspect that Raventwin Miniatures has you covered best.

https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Raven Twin Miniatures

You need Patreon to see their whole range, but eventually they dump things at Myminifactory. Their Pterradons are especially nostalgic. I think they also produce the best Razordons (see my Razordons for examples) and Salamanders (again Patreon only right now). But I digress... this is about Saurus.

View attachment 90945
View attachment 90946

So close... so far.

Pros: When presupported, they are the best I've found and it was super smooth to print their froggy Skinks. Designs are modular, good weapons, good shields, but not much variety. REALLY COOL TEMPLE GUARD HELMETS.

Cons: Models not sold with presupports on myminifactory, no method to buy past models on their Patreon with those supports. Scales are larger plates and the regular skin isn't very detailed, heads are relatively small, crests are basic, posing is not dynamic.
---


Finally, this brings me to the last great purveyor of 3d print proxies I'm aware of, One Page Miniatures.

View attachment 90947
View attachment 90948


By far these models seem to have taken their design ques from Total Warhammer II more than any other source. This explains the head, the softened arch of their crest, the hunched over physique and their whispy claw-tipped tails. They are, all in all, my favorites. But there are some cons here.

Pros: Great pre-supports, good value, good weapon and shield variety. Excellent heads, with eyes easily standing out for painting. Scale design is rugged and cool. Classic awesome temple guard heads.

Cons: The hunched over look is interesting, but the poses are very "Wide" making these very hard to rank. Temple Guard weapons are poorly designed, with staffs that the model cannot hold straight up (the pictures here are depicting club options, they have one handed staffs that are similar). Head to body ratio is surprisingly small. Lack of detail on the underbelly of tail. The art style is distinctly different and less realistic looking in someways to me.
---


With these little reviews in, I'll soon describe my personal solution. Obviously this has all been about my person taste lol, and I've really been loving each of these companies takes on different subject matters.




PS: I forgot Clay Beast Creations... they do a range of more-sci-fi-esque lizardmen that I think are great, but not meso-american or fantasy enough for me to seriously consider much of their range. I have printed some of their models, and the pre-supports were terrible (you don't put supports on faces unless you absolutely have to), if your comfortable doing your own supports all the time (I'm not) they are probably wonderful.

https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Clay Beast Creation

I am working on my saurus from raven twin. They are awsome... but i would love if the details on ther scales vas a bitt better

 

[Gauntlet]

Nice! I look forward to seeing them. I like their work a lot, but I just didn't feel any love for their Saurus heads. Otherwise they are very Crocodile like with their heavy scales and that's a cool look.

 

[Aginor]

Nice stuff in this thread! Very unique.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

 

[Gauntlet]

I'm still deeply mired in painting Saurus Warriors (I'll post when I've got 20+Scar Vet candidate painted... got 7 more to go).

But in the meantime, there was a sale on One Page Rules minis, and I grabbed some more of their lizard range. Specifically their Carnosaur, Ankylosaur, Geckos and Gators.

Firstly, let me say, I'm not a huge fan of their Carnosaur (proportions are not great), but it comes with another Saurus head I can use and some good bits from the "Chair" you'll see those being used here.

Furthermore, their Ankylosaur is... well... I hate it. I hate it a lot. BUT, I wanted the devices that sit on top of it, and the Skink crews (since I do like OPR-M's Skinks just fine and will probably use them for standard).

But here... are the Gators as well as a new rider for my Dilophosaurus:




The Gators make really great Kroxigor figs... especially if you like the Total War game's version. I already have 4 huge Turtle Warriors for this purpose, but decided some Gators would be nice as well. Thing is though, the original scale is a bit off. These were printed at 110%, and might look perfect if you assume they are on the 50mm base.

They are not. They were too small to look right on a 50mm base and I used 45mm instead. (no one I play with will be overly concerned).

So I recommend printing them at 115 or even 120 if you want them to look great on 50mm... on default size, they probably fit well and rank okay on 40mm bases, but will look a bit short compared to other monstrous infantry figs. At 110% these guys are about the same height as my Saurus (who are bigger than standard for sure) but much wider and bulkier, and probably 2-3 times the mass.

I'm using rimmed bases, I filled the bottom with sand, added some rocks and islands and a log or two, and when painted I'll add some bushes, and fill the base with UV resin to create a river/swamp effect. Bottom of bases have magnetic sheet attached for storage options.

Additionally, two of the Gators use 80% scaled "Chair" I mentioned from the Carnosaur kit, and some spare bits, to create "Totems". These two represent unit leaders/champions as needed.


Other less noteworthy WIP, is that I printed another 20 bases for upcoming Temple-Guard.

Thanks for reading!

 

[kroxh]

Alrighty... to start with, I once had a project where I took some of my original ancient Skinks (from the old Bretonnians vs Lizards box set) and attached them to these husks I found at a Yankee Candle store to make canoes. It was a good idea, but my execution was faulty, and over the decade the poor things were broken down.

I decided I would revitalize them and replace the Skinks. I ended up choosing Raventwin Miniatures' Skinks as they are much more... froggy... than others. I'm not certain if they will be my standard Skink or not, but for the canoe project, frog Skinks made a lot of sense.

I did end up playing with scale a bit to try and lengthen the snouts on some of these guys, which largely failed to be noticeable. I should also note, that I was not very happy with the orange crests of the Skinks... I originally tried a flesh wash and even a red wash on them and I didn't like the effect... I did a lot of work to try and salvage them from there. I now own a few orange washes, include some "intensity inks" from Greenstuff World and I'll use that next time. The water effect here was originally just some gloss, but I also added some UV clear resin over it here and there... it's okay... but not great.

Though the canoes are barely decorated, and I want to add more things to them in time, I needed to get the Skinks on board before I went too crazy, and I'll be returning to these again some day. For now I'm quite happy with them.

View attachment 89826 View attachment 89827 View attachment 89828 View attachment 89829 View attachment 89830 View attachment 89831

Love the colors on thes guys

 

[lazycaptain35]

Total war's Kroxigors really set them apart from being just giant saurus, which Im a fan of, later down the line I hope they give kroxigors the long awaited spotlight they deserve

 

[Gauntlet]

Honestly, I kind of prefer the idea of bigger Saurus-like guys, but GW certainly never executed it well. The Bloodbowl Video Game version is probably my favorite. There are also nice versions from a few different vendors... but Crocodile guys are also cool and I got these files cheap, so why not!

That being said... if the decorations/iconography were different, I'd be all over the "Sun Bruisers" from Clay Beast Creations. As it stands, I'm thinking of printing one of these guys at a VERY large scale... and possibly mounting some interesting things and using it as a Engine of the Gods type unit.

 

[kroxh]

Honestly, I kind of prefer the idea of bigger Saurus-like guys, but GW certainly never executed it well. The Bloodbowl Video Game version is probably my favorite. There are also nice versions from a few different vendors... but Crocodile guys are also cool and I got these files cheap, so why not!

That being said... if the decorations/iconography were different, I'd be all over the "Sun Bruisers" from Clay Beast Creations. As it stands, I'm thinking of printing one of these guys at a VERY large scale... and possibly mounting some interesting things and using it as a Engine of the Gods type unit.

View attachment 92021

Totalt agred with you. Newer imagen kroxigors as walking crocoodiles

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Totalt agred with you. Newer imagen kroxigors as walking crocoodiles

+1 TBH

 

[kroxh]

+1 TBH

Tbh?

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Tbh?

"to be honest"

 

[MikkelangeloHD]

I love your 3d print file kitbashes my man! I did a pretty easy kitbash of the Lost Kingdom Carno and a Kroq Gar file uploaded by Emang on Cults3d. It's not that impressive compared to your epic work. Haven't printed it yet but I'm sure it will make for a menacing Carno on the table :3

 

[Gauntlet]

I'd love to see what you came up with!

I was working with the LK Dilophosaurus and the Carnosaurus upload on Thingiverse, but decided that for my overall look... it wasn't going to work... it was a close call though. Ultimately the scales of the head just would never have matched the Diloph's body. But the Carn from LK would certainly work. You should post a screen of the render if you get a chance!

Thank you!

 

[Gauntlet]

Bit of an update... I'm still finishing painting the first 20 Saurus Warriors and a Scar Vet on foot. But in the meantime, I've also gotten a lot of printing and construction done.

Firstly, as I've posted elsewhere, we have the custom Carnosaur/Tyrannosaur



Torso from Lost Kingdom Dilophosaurus, as well as the arms, but the feet and head are from a T-Rex 3d model I found on CGTrader.com (an excellent secondary source to compliment My Mini Factory (and Thingiverse being a tertiary). The tail is scaled up from a Raptor from One Page Rules minis. (I have gotten so much use out of this tail lol)

Rider is the usual combo for my Saurus, (though he uses the OPR-M Temple Guard head, with a feather crest taken from their Gecko Priest attached).

The base ruins/plants also were 3d printed. In fact the only thing that wasn't was the base... which while printed bases often have issues, I'm disappointed how flimsy the plastic GW base is as well. I had to put in some mounds of green stuff underneath to try reinforce it from bending/drooping.



Moving on... 20 printed and primed Temple Guard are now ready.



These guys were all done at 110% of my Saurus Warriors scale. Technically I think that means the Lost Kingdom torsos were printed at 115.5% scale lol. Anywho, they use Raventwin Mini's Temple Guard Weapons, shields, and helmets (with a OPM head inserted into it). I gave a smattering of them spears for fun, I'll probably print another 15-20 one day and have 20 with Maces and 20 with spears. We'll see.



Alrighty and last but not least, I've begun testing a Terradon.





Now this guy is predominantly a Lost Kingdom Miniatures Pterradon. The body is printed at 100%, the head at 90% (except width, which I did at 110% which gives you much more depth to the eyes/face for painting).

Meanwhile, I don't like the Quadro-Wing impossible-to-land nature of the LKM model, so I took the back wings, scaled them to 130% and used them in front. I then used Dilosphosaurus arms at 60% for feet. The tail is a Saurus Warrior from One Page Rules.

I'm not certain about the feet... they are not "footy" enough lol. The rider's legs are actually a possible better fit and more closely resemble GW legs for a Terrdon, I'll try them next. I'm also still wondering who to use for riders.

Ultimately, I think this guy might be a one-off for a mounted Skink Priest or such, whilst I may actually shell out for GW Terradons. Overall, I think they are still the best available model. The dynamic flaming bolas are unique, the proportions are great... the heads are solid and cool... it works. Whereas, these guys have a lot of weirdness that I need to custom build away... and while I very much like Raventwins take on the models, they falter by having full-blown thrones on top of them and not offering Pre-Supports for purchase (you can only get presupports through their patreon and only the month of a release, if you are a current subscriber you get a discount on old stuff, but can't purchase presupports which is... ter-rib-bley).



Anywho, that is my update... I have to resolve the Great Skink debate and would love your opinion on what would work best for this particular army:

1) GW Skinks are not an option.
2) Could double down on Frog Skinks (see Canoes above)
3) Could use One Page Rules (lack some facial details, but overall solid, and they come with crew for things like Stegs)
4) Lost Kingdom (No presupports for rank and file)
5) Something else?

 

[Gauntlet]

WIP on my new "Big Chonky Boy"

the custom howdah I'm constructing is magnetized (though dangerous, because it can't hold the weight of the model if you try to pick him up by the Howdah), and I've pre-ordered the new Lord Kroak who will be designed to sit on top of this boy as well.

He might be too big lol.

Printed from LKM, -15% length, -25% height... still too big lol

 

[Gauntlet]

The Howdah Chronicles continues lol

Had to buy this guy, in order to get components for the Howdah to work right.



I'm using the staircase platform at the rear of my Howdah, and not using the giant arch that holds the first ring. Instead, the ring will be attached classic stargate style, and the inner workings from there. They also need to printed at 70%ish to fit. This guy is (at default sizes) even larger than the LKM Triceratops... truly ridiculously large lol. Ultimately, I'm not a huge fan of the dino, but I might use the body at some point... we'll see. In the meantime, the mechanism on top will help with my project and could always be used in other terrain projects as well.




The skinks are not permanently attached, and I need a few more... Ultimately I might fit up to 8 on this bad boy. And these are not very small skinks... they are still larger than standard GW skirmishing skink models.

The four side Skinks are armed with blowpipes, while there will be two armed with proper bows at the front (behind the center horn/structure is 3 bushels of arrows stacked together).

The middle of the platform will have 1-2 operators who tend to the device that will eventually be added. I'm going to see if I can magnetize the rings and such, so they can all be moved on the fly

Since the Howdah can come off, it's going to be interesting which design I prefer on top when displaying, the giant howdah or Lord Kroak!