Imperial Guard, Russian Style

I actually made a little bit of progress this weekend!  There's plenty of stuff in a just-started or half-finished state, which I'm trying to whittle down, but I'm pleased to say I've finished Kapitan Ivanka from Raging Heroes.  The gun sword thing is more than a little ridiculous, and feels like it's been ripped straight out of one of the Final Fantasy games I played in the late 90s (Lord knows which one).  I would like to have used the alternative sword, but with it the balance of the model was screwed up, and it didn't fit with the very large scabbard on the model.  Having painted it I like it a whole lot more now, so I'm pretty pleased I went "all-out" ridiculous in the end...

I'm not overly happy with the finished paint job to be honest, and she wasn't actually a huge amount of fun to paint.  I had originally intended to paint her up as a Commissar, but after recently finishing Yarrick, I didn't want to do another black and red colour scheme.  So I went for a World War 2 Russian Army uniform, with some red chucked in, and plenty of gold.  The green was a base of P3 Cryx Base, washed with Army Painter Strong Tone, then highlighted with Castellan Green, Death World Forest, and then a little Ogryn Camo mixed in for the final highlight.  The skin was Rakarth Flesh washed with Seraphim Sepia, then highlighted with the base plus more and more white.  I've since bought Pallid Wych Flesh which I'll be using in the future for pale skin tones.

The gold (this is for GrimKlaw) is started with a base coat of Dryad Bark, then to highlight I mix in more and more Auric Armour Gold, and blend it in until I get to pure gold.  I haven't been at all impressed with the new range of GW metallics so far, and Auric Armour Gold feels like I've been transported back to the bad old days of the late 80s and Brazen Brass, with its inconsistent texture and naff coverage.  Mixing in the Dryad Bark helps with a more solid colour, and once I got to pure gold, I then mixed in some Mithril Silver, which does the same job as the Dryad Bark.

The steel is a base of Army Painter Gun Metal, shaded with Nuln Oil initially, then highlighted up by mixing in increasing amounts of Mithril Silver.  In amongst the highlight stages I blended in a little more shading where required.  My attempt as heat discolouration (I should have done some research first, but I got impatient to finish the model) was a Guilliman Blue glaze followed Seraphim Sepia and Agrax Earthshade.  It kind of works...

With the good Kapitan finished, I'm on to Goblins from the Hobbit boxed set, some more Dark Vengeance good(evil)ness, and getting started on my Kingdom of Britannia army for Dystopian Legions.  Plus a load of other stuff.

As always, comments and criticism welcome! 

Alas, poor Yarrick! I knew him Horatio...

The next of my backlog of unfinished miniatures is done.  Like the dragon in the last post, I had to get myself over the ridiculous mental block I had over finishing him and yet again I'm glad I did, as he's come out really well.

Still not totally happy with the red on the claw, but I figured that as an old Ork weapon, it's likely to look a little patchy.  The yellow is my normal method, which I really need to get away from as my pot of Tausept Ochre is on its way out, and my stocks of Gryphonne Sepia are running low.

I went for a paler skin tone, using a base coat of P3 Beast Hide, shaded with GW Ogryn Flesh, and then highlighted with the base coat and increasing amounts of P3 Ryn Flesh, until it was pure Ryn Flesh as an edge/point highlight.  The gold is a base of GW Dryad Bark, which is then highlighted with increasing amounts of GW Burnished Gold mixed into the base, then some GW Mithril Silver added in for a final highlight.  I'll admit now, I'm damned if I can remember how I painted the green leaves...

The black areas are a base of plain black, with the highlights built up using Vallejo German Grey, the old GW Adeptus Battlegrey, and old GW Codex Grey.  If you recognise the miniature, you'll have noticed I clipped off the back banner from the skull ammo hopper.  I'm not a big fan of back banners on Sci Fi miniatures anyway, but on this chap it really didn't work for me. 

I love this old miniature, it brings back memories of my childhood, when I first really got in to the hobby, it's a typical, static posed, one piece(ish) miniature, that really typifies that period at GW

So with two miniatures finished in the last week or so, I've got a few new projects to start (along with future articles, Cultists, Nurgle Marines, etc, etc).  The Commissar theme continues with Kapitan Ivanka Kurganova from Raging Heroes.

I've gone for the big crazy gun-sword thing rather than the delicate alternative, partly because it looks cool, and partly because the scabbard doesn't fit the smaller sword at all and would have looked weird.  I also left off the gas mask option, because I wanted to paint the face.  As her feet are spread wider apart than a 25mm base can comfortably fit, I used a piece of etched brass from the old GW WH40K basing kit to give her something to stand on, then added a couple of pieces of chopped up sprue with metal in the ends to look like steel reinforced concrete pillars that had been broken off.

Next up is one of the Space Marine Chapter Masters (minus his shiled which I'm painting seperately).  I'm not entirely sure about the chapter yet, but I'm veering towards Hawk Lords.

I bought the boxed set with all four in a long while back.  I got motivated to paint him when I picked up an alternative head from Anvil Industry's head range - I've got to say these are pretty damn good, they're sharp, with minimal flash or mould lines, and I think it really works well with this miniature.  Their hooded and grill ranges of heads would be good for converted guard/cultists too.

Last, but most definitely not least is a Griffin Inquisitor from Confrontation:

Si and Jez (who very generously gave me this miniature) from the Ancible team wax lyrical about Rackham miniatures, and it's not hard to see why.  This chap is fantastic, a beautiful sculpt, hardly any flash or mould lines, and in bone coloured armour, with dark clothing and a dark metal sword, I think he's going to look pretty damn good.  I have some other Rackham stuff to paint too, Si (also very generously) has given me possibly one of the best miniatures I have ever seen, but that's for another time...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!