Oh what a saga...

So I had a week off last week, and while doing jobs around the house and playing my new addiction, War Thunder, on the PC I got some painting done!  First up is a Hearthguard/Hirdman/Huscarl for Saga.  After seeing the fantastic looking Saga battle board at Colours this year, some of the group have been bitten by the Saga bug, so it looks a lot like we'll be getting into it...

This chap is one of the very old Norseman from GW (which have been recast as Vikings by Wargames Foundry, so you can still buy them) and he was a blast to paint.  I had a load of these miniatures lying about unused, so I have around 1/3 to 1/2 a Viking Saga force.  He was undercoated with black spray, so that the chainmail was a simple dry-brush of Army Painter Gun Metal, followed by Army Painter Shining Silver, then a little Nuln Oil in places to accentuate the "folds" in the chainmail.  

The sword, helmet and the metal on the shield used the same paints, I just painted them on carefully with a detail brush.  At this point, I washed the whole model with very diluted Army Painter Strong Tone ink, to give the metal work a slight sepia tone.

The red on the shield and clothing was a base coat of GW Rhinox Hide blended in to the black of the undercoat, then highlighted with GW Khorne Red, and a mix of Khorne Red and GW Balor Brown.  This gives a nice earthy red, that seems to fit a viking model better.  The green is GW Death World Forest, shaded with a little diluted GW Abbadon Black, and highlighted with more and more GW Ogryn Camo.

The beard is a base of old GW Tausept Ochre and the skin was based with old GW Tallarn Flesh.  Both were washed with GW Gryphonne Sepia, then the beard was dry-brushed with the Ochre and GW Karak Stone, and the skin was neatly highlighted with the base flesh colour and P3 Ryn Flesh.

The inside of the shield was based with GW Dryad Bark, then stripes of 1:2 mix of Dryad Bark and GW Steel Legion Drab, which was then highlighted with the Drab and Karak Stone, I did this in a rough "flicky" way to emulate a little wood grain.

I'm really pleased with him, and I have more based up ready for undercoating:

In the top row are three more Hearthguard to finish up the first unit. The two identical warriors will have shields on their backs, it will just be easier to paint them without them on.  Bottom left is a Bondi (unarmoured warrior), and bottom right is the leader of the warband (name to be decided).  I've also got 4 berserkers and another Bondi in a bath of Fairy Power spray, ready to be based up and undercoated.

However it wasn't just Vikings last week.  On our last visit to Firestorm Games, I picked up the Avatars of War "Lord of Pestilence".  He's the first Avatars of War model I've purchased, and I'm really impressed.  There were mould lines, but they were easily removed, and the model went together really nicely.  There's plenty of detail, without going overboard, and the "corruption" was restricted to holes in the armour and a few exposed entrails.  I'm not a big fan of all the pus-filled boils and grunge that most people do on Nurgle miniatures, so this model really fit the bill for me.

This miniature was a joy to paint, lots of small surfaces and clearly defined edges that made blending the highlights in a particularly pleasant experience.  I decided to try something new for the green, where usually I would have gone for a GW Charadon Granite base coat, this time I base coated the entire model with GW Dryad Bark.  This was washed with diluted Nuln Oil - I made sure I covered the miniature, but avoided flooding it, which tends to leave a chalky residue if you're not careful.  For the first highlight I mixed in a little Death World Forest to the base colour and blended it in to all but the deepest recesses.  I then mixed in more and more of the Forest, blending the highlights in until the upper facing surfaces were almost pure green.  From there I mixed in more and more P3 Thrall Flesh and blended this in to the top edges.  Job done and a new(ish) way of doing green, bonus!

The skirt didn't turn out quite as well as the green did, but it's not bad, and not very well shown off by the ropey photograph.  I did a similar thing here as for the green, but used Steel Legion Drab and Rakarth Flesh instead.  For the metallics, I made sure I kept them dull and rusty, using GW Lahmian Medium (which is brilliant I have to say) mixed in with the metallic paints before application, then using some (very) old GW Chestnut Ink and dry-brushing on some of the later highlights.

The symbol on the shield is apparently a corrupted obelisk, although it looks a little like a warped cactus to me.  It was painted in the same way as the skirt first of all, before painting the chain and the hanging trophies.  I've found GW Stormvermin Fur, shaded with Agrax Earthshade and highlighted with Thrall Flesh is a good way of doing dead flesh/zombie hide, I'm going to dig out some old GW zombies to test how it works on a complete figure.  I would definitely recommend Avatars of War miniatures as alternatives to GW character models, they're around the same price, and fantastic figures.  I'll be picking up the "Champion of Pestilence" model next.

So with these guys done, I have plenty more on my plate, including the Vikings above, a group of very old Wood Elves to finish off for a friend (it's kind of a "commission", but I hate that word, so its a "painting job for a friend"), some more Britannian troopers for Dystopian Legions, Dwarves from the Hobbit boxed set, Adora Belle Dearheart for Mrs Walker, more Dropzone Commander stuff, and Empire Greatswords for a funky little Warhammer project new group member Russ Veal has planned for us.

Plus whatever distracts me next.

So not a lot then...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Bones and a Beastman

In the last ever issue of the Ancible, I wrote an article reviewing a Reaper Bones miniature.  For those unaware, Reaper are reissuing large swathes of their range in white plastic, making them much cheaper and supposedly easier to work with.  In the article I expressed the concern that this new material was a softer plastic than we've come to expect from GW, Privateer or Mantic, and is prone to bending.  On a recent trip to London, I popped into Orc's Nest and they had a good range of the new Bones line - so I picked up an Ogre (one of their original, pre-kickstarter Bones figures), and Michelle the Human Ranger character.

At £2.50 each they seem good value, especially for the ogre - he's a little flexible but nothing much to worry about.  Pinned to a 40mm base, he'll be sturdy enough.  I guess Michelle is still good value for £2.50, but the arms and sword blades would have been enough to make me balk at buying her in plastic form had I known previously.

In the first picture you can see there's a little bend in the sword blade anyway, but as demonstrated inexpertly in the second picture, even a little pressure causes everything (sword blade and arm) to bend alarmingly.  I'm not convinced that the paint will bend as much without some cracking, but I'll put some paint on her this weekend and we'll see how it goes.  I'm tempted to replace the swords with some old Empire swords, but that won't stop the arms flexing.

The Bones kickstarter was really successful, hitting quite a few stretch goals - were people aware of what the miniatures were made of before they pledged?  This would have been an absolute deal breaker for me, and I'm a HUGE fan of Reaper miniatures...

In other news...

I've given myself a new rule - I'm not allowed to buy a new miniature until I've painted one I already have.  Therefore my lead/resin/plastic mountain doesn't actually increase, and it's some extra motivation to get stuff painted.  One of these completed miniatures is an old Marauder Beastman:

"Garg" is not the most dynamic of figures, and he's quite obviously a Marauder sculpt rather than a Citadel one.  He's on a round base, as he'll be another member of a Nurgle(ish) warband for whatever skirmish game I might end up playing. If this plan falls by the way side, it will be relatively easy to transfer him to a square base if needed.  

It's a quick and dirty paint job, with P3 Beast Hide, Stormvermin Fur, Dryad Bark and Deathworld Forest providing the majority of the base coat.  The metals were dry-brushed onto the Dryad Bark, splotched with Chestnut Ink, and then dry-brushed again.

The shield is another Marauder product (Marauder shields were the business back in the day), specifically an Undead shield, but I think it works well for a Nurgle Beastman.  The green was shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and then highlighted with the base coat, and then mixing in more and more Karak Stone.

The skin was washed with Seraphim Sepia, and then highlighted with the Beast Hide, and mixing in more and more Rakarth Flesh. Across the model I glazed on a little Druchii Violet in places to mix up the colour a little, and then gave the whole model a very, very light dry-brush of white, just to pick out the top edges.

His brother Harg (another Marauder sculpt) will be started soon, alongside the first two of my Salute haul.  I'm well behind on my plan to paint up everything I bought at Salute, so I need to pick up the pace...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Going a bit "old-school"

Sometimes the old ones are the best.  That's a statement not usually applicable to jokes, but I really do think it applies to GW Chaos Miniatures (see the Realm of Chaos section here).  I do like some of the newer Chaos stuff, but it all seems too regular - a unit of the new Chaos Warriors is a regiment of almost identical looking, similarly armed soldiers that appear to be marching in unison - where's the "Chaos" in that?  Surely that look of the unit would be more suited to "Lawful Evil"?  Why are Daemons and Beastmen separate armies now?

Just needed to get that off my chest...

There are a few "Oldhammer" blogs (and a forum) out there at the moment, and I love both the idea and the nostalgia.  While I'll never have enough old miniatures to create a valid army, this time last year I thought it would be cool to create some warbands for games like Skulldred and Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies, using some lovely old miniatures, and maybe mixing in a few newer figures that "fit".  My first warband was a group of Barbarians, but I got bogged down with other projects, and never did much more.  The bug bit again, Easter came around, and I spotted this miniature sat around in a box:

He had a ropey old paint job that was probably 20 years old, so I stripped him and started again.  It's a quick paint job, so it has a few rough edges, but I'm pleased with the result.  The "old-school" (I don't like the term old-school very much, but I couldn't think of anything else, and it's at least better than "retro") in the title should give you an idea of the look I was going for, and although the green is possibly a little too jade green for Nurgle, I think it works.  It's a base coat of Caliban Green, washed with Agrax Earthshade, then highlighted with the green and then mixing in a bit of Steel Legion Drab, and then some Rakarth Flesh to finish up.

The leather bits are a base coat of Rhinox Hide, again washed with Agrax Earthshade, and then highlighted with Rhinox Hide and then mixing in more and more Snakebite Leather.  The axe handle is the same, but with Dryad Bark and Steel Legion Drab instead.  The metallic parts are simply Army Painter Gun Metal base, washed with Nuln Oil, Chestnut Ink and a little watered down Dryad Bark.  This was then highlighted with the Gun Metal and Chainmail, with a combination of blending and dry-brushing.

The shield is my favourite bit of the model.  I've never really done a lot of freehand work, so this was a little trial and error.  I tried to combine a lot of Orlygg's tutorial here with a bit of Realm of Chaos/John Blanche style.  It's possibly a little too "regular" (it should have been a little more "swirly"), and the eyes aren't great, but I'm really pleased with it.

So with Krull N'Garth completed, I've been digging out other old miniatures to fit in to the "Soul Hunters" warband.  I have a Sorcerer (a hooded chap with a scythe), a couple of old Marauder beastmen and a couple of old armoured zombies that will make "nice" plague victims.  One thing missing so far is toadstools,  a must-have in all old Warhamme,r so I will get the greenstuff out and get creating them.

How this will all work out as a warband I have no idea, or even if I'll ever get to play with them, but  painting them will be a whole lot of fun.  :-) 

In other news, the Ancible team had a grand old time at Firestorm Games in Cardiff, playing Star Wars X-Wing, shopping and hurling abuse at one another.  My win record in X-Wing has dropped to 25%, which is probably a lot better than most other games I've played, but even in my losses we've had some fantastic games.

It was also really great to meet up with Jeff from Pirate Viking Painting, who I haven't seen for a few years, and just ramble on about life, painting and gaming for a while.  :-)

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Hawk Lord and Broom Lady

Not much to report this week, a little purple on the head and right shoulder, but the main thing is the crest, which I think has come out pretty well:

As I'm slowly migrating to the new GW paint range, so Breviccus Flavus is evolving.  The yellows are the same (Tausept Ochre and Iyanden Darksun), but now the shade is Seraphim Sepia, and the top highlights include Rakarth Flesh, and then some white to finish off.  While I've found Nuln Oil, and to a lesser extent Agrax Earthshade, to be a regression from Badab Black and Devlan Mud, Seraphim Sepia is a definite improvement.  It covers better, and it's a stronger colour in my opinion.

The purple is coming on nicely, it's a base coat of the new Xereus Purple, shaded with Druchii Violet, then highlighted up through Xereus Purple and Genestealer Purple, with the final highlight a 1:1 mix of Genestealer Purple and the old Astronomican Grey.  It's not the Hawk Lords purple of the Codex, but it's a colour I'm happy with.  Since these pictures, I've started to work on the gold on the "started" shoulder pad.

Another miniature in my "to be finished" group has been completed:

This lady was a present for one of my best friends, someone who through her hard work, experience and knowledge literally keeps the department she works for going.  There's a bit of an "in joke" between us about brooms, so this miniature seemed very appropriate.  :)

She'd actually had a bit of a mishap (mantelpieces are dangerous places), so I was repairing her, and decided that re-basing would be a good idea too.  She's a very old miniature, made by Marauder (remember them?) way back in the late 80s - I finally found her on Stuff of Legends.  To give her a bit more stability, she's pinned and glued to one of Dark Templar's Malcontent bases.  Painting wise, the yellow and red are my usual way of doing things, but I can't remember how I did the green, so it was just as well I didn't have to repair the skirt at all...

She's now back with her owner, who is very happy to have her back and has a safer place to display her!

In other news, several of the Ancible team got together at Firestorm Games in Cardiff - we had a very pleasant day, and Firestorm is a great place.  Unfortunately, my Crimson Fists got their arses handed to them on a plate...twice.  After a lengthy period of reflection (I was a little grumpy with myself I'll confess) I have a reasonable idea why, so steps are in place to get them a bit more competitive.

I hope.

As always comments and criticism welcome - I've been out of the loop a bit recently, but hopefully will be back in the loop over the next few weeks.

Mercs, you can't trust them...

Not done a huge amount of painting this week so far, what with work, and finally getting round to playing Munchkin Quest, which the wife and I have been learning to play.  I've got a little done on the Guild Guard Captain and I'm working on my second warband for "Get the Girl, Kill the Baddies" - the Shadow Company Mercenaries.  I'm still fleshing out the background, but there's some (i.e. a lot of) bad blood between the mercenaries and Brevik's Marauders due to some (literal) backstabbing of Brevik and Ifil's previous comrades, the Greywolves.

First up is the leader of the Shadow Company, Albrecht Von Krull:

The wolf pelt he wears was formerly in the possession of Fenrir Greywolf before Albrecht betrayed him at the siege of Belloch - he wears it only to taunt the Marauders, hoping that some day it will enrage Brevik enough to confront him.  He wears the signature black armour of the Shadow Company, and wields the formidable war hammer known as "Skullcrusher".  He calls himself a noble, but no-one knows his origins, and no king in the land claims him as family.

The black armour is painted using built up greys and a Badab Black wash (see the boots on the Seneschal last post), and the boots are done in a similar way, just using a Charadon Granite base.

The second member of the Shadow Company completed is Murtz the Brazen Eagle:

The "Brazen Eagles" were a mercenary company from the far west of which Murtz is the last survivor, some say because he turned tail and ran while his comrades stood and fought at the massacre at Sil Valley.

But they never say it to his face... 

Murtz is scum, pure and simple, delighting in causing pain to others and completely untrustworthy.

The eagle head on the shield was Tin Bitz, highlighted with Burnished Gold, and then washed with Badab Black.  The grass is from Gale Force 9, but I can't remember the exact name for it - I used this as just another little way of distinguishing them from the Marauders.

Drago and a halberdier named Boris are up next for the Shadow Company, while I finish the Malifaux Guard Captain and work on the Freebooter Assassin, plus whatever I pick up from Salute...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Breggan and Juggo finished

I had a fairly productive weekend, and the first two of my barbarian warband for "Get the Girl, Kill the Baddies" are finished.  I didn't spend a huge amount of time on them, so they're not great works of art, but I'm really pleased with them, and they have tons of character.  After a bit of practice I've finally got the colour balance malarkey sorted out on my camera, next it's time to work on the focusing... 

Breggan and Juggo

So, here is a little classic (i.e. cliched) barbarian back story:

In the dense pine forests of the North, in a village in the shadow of the Shadow Mountains, twin boys were born.  The first to arrive, Breggan, was born healthy and strong and survived his first winters with little ill health.  Juggo however was born stunted and sickly and barely survived his first four seasons.  Much to his parents surprise he did survive, but as he grew, they realised he would forever be "deformed", stocky in build, but short in stature.  Mother and father counted their blessings though, for so few children survived the cold of the north.


In the exceptionally harsh winter of the boys eighth year, their village was attacked by mercenaries thirsting for revenge after being defeated in the Iron wars.  A few villagers fled into the forest, but the boys parents were cut down trying to defend their home, and alongside a few other children, they were captured  as slaves.  Like most slaves at the time, the children were taken to the great quarries, the source of rock for the new fortress in the mountains. The hard work made them strong and robust, and in their seventeenth year, the brothers were bought by a local lord, to fight in the gladiatorial arenas.


Here they learned to fight with swords and axes, and they formed a formidable partnership.  "The Bear and the Dwarf", were first laughed at, but became feared in the Black Colosseum and Arenas of the North and South.  It was in the Colosseum that they met Mad Ulf, and from there the story will continue...

OK, so not a great work of fiction by any stretch of the imagination, but it's fun to write some back story.  There's a couple of good "campaign hooks" in there, with some real cause for revenge, and several reasons for them to go off rescuing people.

I've nearly finished Ifil Ironwolf (just needs grass on the base), and I've made a good start on both Ulf and Brevik.  Hopefully I'll have them all finished by the weekend.  I'm in crazy new project mode at the moment, where my head suddenly fills up with ideas, so I need to get some stuff finished...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!