Gnasher herd #8 – Make some noise!

It’s been a long time. But I got a new desk light and some new paints and got back a little bit into the hobby.

I completed this small squig herd unit for 9th Age, which has been waiting there on the work desk for the better part of… two years. For once, I have bases and all! I am a bit rusty and I didn’t have that much time to dedicate to the project, as usual, but it’s nice for me to complete something. Most of the models are from the new Gitz kit from GW, with one squig and one of the bagpipes being last generation GW metal and the weird goblin mutant with the gong classic Rackham.

I had forgotten how hard it is to fit the unit together on the small bases – these squigs and goblins keep squabbling, of course! Some still end up being obscured from most angles. The Orcs & Goblins I will manage to paint in the future will stay on the square bases, just because it was my very first army and I want to at least ideally try to complete it as it was meant to be years and years ago. But, in the future, I’ll probably switch to round bases.

The handlers all have instruments – I guess we can say the goblin in armour is screaming his head off and that the iron mask he wears is amplifying the sound. I have another possible unit, 30 strong, in which all the handlers will have long forks, and five more squigs to add to this unit, if I want… The new bagpipe model is really nice. The older one, though the sculpt and my paintjob are not as interesting, it had some character. The mutant is one of my favourite minis in its Confrontation faction.

The squigs from the new kit were very easy to assemble and paint. I followed a handy tutorial and I must reckon that it sped the process up immensely while keeping the results quite nice. Generally speaking, I realised it pays off to study and plan a little before starting to paint – still, I like experimenting as I go even if things can get a little messy.

I also started using some glaze medium, and it makes shading the smaller surfaces and handling nmm much easier.

I’m not sure if or what I will paint next, but I’m glad I managed to do this, and I still do my best to follow the wonderful work you all are sharing. A big cheers to everyone!

C

Resources and references:

Cave goblin spears #12 – Mad git

I stole some time from the desert of the real, and I have a simple goblin figure to share, a Rackham Goblin with Ball and Chain, to be used as a Mad Git in 9th Age, a Fanatic in Oldhammer or however GW now calls these crazed little chaps.

I’m really sorry I couldn’t find the time to read everybody’s posts lately – I have an impressive backlog to go through now. But I will, slowly.

The sculpt is nice, though a little messy here and there. And don’t ask how the goblin can spin… Chains were a pain to do nmm on and they didn’t turn out that well, plus the paint was chipping all the time no idea why. (Does anybody know a good tutorial on nmm chains or has advice on how to do them?)

I tried to improve my basing a little (hey! the model has a base, that’s an improvement already) and reorganised my basing material.

Handy, but I still need some brighter green grass…

Anyway, glad to be back, in some sort of way.

Wolfen #5 – Killyox

Almost four years ago, daggerandbrush recommended Killyox as the next expansion in this pretty much still starting Wolfen project. Well, it took some time, but I’m glad I eventually managed to get and paint this beast.

There seem to be different Killyox sculpts around. The one I found to buy at a reasonable price lacks the nice pendants attached to the belt in the front, has a toirtoise or drake texture on the leg armour instead of padded leather, and some other differences. But it’s still an imposing sculpt, and a hell of a pointer. See below for comparison.

I decided to paint the leg armour in somewhat iridescent colours, as if it were the hide or shell of a sea creature or something out of Final Fantasy VIII. In general, the miniature has more colours and a warmer palette than the other wolfen I painted so far.

The metallics are a bit more muted than those on the crossbow of the previous mini…

For some of the details and decorations, like the horn and the plate on the moon-shaped icon on his back, I tried yellow and teal with simple white edge highlighting. I must say I quite like it, maybe just a tad too cartoony.

The skin was perhaps the easiest part of the model – just a matter of building shadows carefully with very thin paint and then adding a little pop with some red and yellows. More than a wolf, I decided to paint Killyox as some sort of kitsune, a Japanese fox spirit, in this case with a double pointed tail. I think the white spot made the face more interesting and saved me a lot of trouble with blending.

Overall, I’m very happy with this mini, and it didn’t even take that long to paint, at least compared to my standards!

Next I’ll do an orc, but soon I’ll be back with another wolfen.

Wolfen #3 – a crossbow

How long did it take for a medieval weaponsmith to make a crossbow?

I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure it took less than it took me to paint this very tiny one…

Still, I wanted to share this because I tried and liked a set of browns for wood that blend quite well and easily together.

In case you are interested, these are from Lifecolor – Wood warm base, Wood light shade, Wood dark shade, and Portland stone.

Just for fun, here’s (the state of) my palette for the Wolfen so far. You can see it’s been a challenge!

Wolfen #2 – first warrior

I think I’ll count this as done. It will get some finishing touches and the base after after some of the other puppies will be painted.

If you get close, everything looks still a bit messy. But I have made some bold choices here and there and in the end I am satisfied with how it turned out. I used to be scared to paint these Rackham models and now I’m feeling more confident.

The skin (or really short fur) is painted and highlighted with greys, with just a little purples in the highlights. For the next wolfen, I’ll try to add some colour variation. From some angles the pads on the thighs look rough, but you liked them so much I didn’t change them.

The blonde hair is… questionable. I don’t remember how I came up with the idea, but probably from one of the reference pictures on the Confrontation cards. Then I chose to stick with it. After all, there can be blonde werewolves, right?

This last picture is blurry, but it’s there just so you have all the main angles, and it works in a small format. The sculpt clearly focuses on the front: there isn’t a lot here that draws attention.

One lonely wolf howling at Ylia. Next, I think I’ll go with one of the iconic crossbow sculpts…

Wolfen warrior #1 – in progress

On to some Rackham wolfen, which are very dear models to me and among those who really made me want to learn how to paint. Unfortunately I sold the first few wolfen I painted years ago, but now I got quite a few from the old range and I’m going to spend some time on them.

This is an old warrior, with the typical sword design and just a basic leg and head swap.

The nmm on the blade took time: I found it much easier to do a good effect on the two blades pointing downwards than on the large surface of the main blade.

The skin is still not done, but I have started to work some purple tones in the gray, to see if it’s true that it would make the model look more lifelike.

The metal on the two pads on his thighs is very blue and meant to be more reflective and bright. I still have to tone it down and add some shadows on the side, but what do you think so far? Does it look strange?

Clearly I should add more color variation in the skin, especially here in the back. And I have to find a nice pop shade of blond for the tail and hair.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to paint much during the holiday season. Best wishes to everybody and catch you in January!

Goblin knight #2 – (almost) done

I did not have much time for painting lately and I had somewhat lost interest in this miniature. In part I think it was because of the nmm armour. I’ve definitively learned never to try to do it with pure gradations of grey: it’s difficult, boring and at that point it would probably be better to use metallic paints.

I will keep the model on the painting table for a while longer and maybe touch it up from time to time.

I’m also trying to solve a problem with my wet palette getting moldy… It almost looks like mushrooms are about to sprout from it. Appropriate for cave goblins and such, but terrible for painting.

Even taking into consideration the fact that he’s a character, it will be hard to mix this knight together with the old plastic wolf models. The dynamism and the scale are just too different. I will have to get into newer gw or different ranges to complete the wolf riding section of the army.

On to another kind of oversized wolves next…

Goblin knight #1 – Sketching

It appears that this goblin was able to run ahead and get on my painting table before the others.

The rider is a lovely Rackham sculpt with some clear Froud-esque influences. I love the shape of the lance, the flowing lines of the helmet and the ace of spades decoration.

I love what seems to have been the standard design for the goblin’s armoured feet a little less, as it is rather a pain to do nmm on.

This guy was supposed to ride a giant rat, but he looked dynamic and “knightly” enough to mount a giant wolf instead – an arguably nobler mount, and also one that would make more sense for a regular goblin. I will be saving the rat for a night / cave goblin character.

He still has a rat on his helmet, though. Will it be scurrying off, I wonder, to rat out to its Skaven masters?

Now for the mount… I’m not used to painting fur, or animals. The last wolves I painted were the tiny rigid old plastic sculpts for the Goblin wolf riders, and the Fenrisian wolf I chose as a mount for this model comes packed with the new GW flair, calling for a whole new style. This is the picture I’m using as a reference – the GW model looks like the angry, famished, threatening, meth-addicted version of this lovely animal, but still…

The colours in the pictures below are just sketched in. I’ll probably add some black tips and work some more white in the recesses as I go about refining the sketch. Wish me luck, and if you have any tips or tutorials to share they’ll be very welcome! (Azazel, you know I’ll be scouting your blog for inspiration, right?)

Orc Warlord #3 – Ready to roll

I have finally completed the warlord.

As usual, one could go on smoothing and adding more detail and texture, but I’m satisfied with how the model looks at the moment. I think it’s a solid improvement over the orcs in the big unit I painted two years ago and that he will stand out enough, once he joins it, to be accepted as a leader.

The back looked more or less right already in the last work-in-progress pictures, so I have worked more on the front and smoothed the transitions on the axe a little.

Following your approval, I have painted the knight’s head as old but not quite rotting. I can see him throwing it to invite a horde of squids / gnashers to a game of fetch, and hopefully directing them towards the enemy in the process.

As the warlord walks away clunking in search of a suitable base (I can tell you it’s going to take a while), new green twisted heroes are squabbling to get into the limelight…