Reinforcements: Rothir the Psychopath

His big, he's bad, and he's completely out of his mind insane.  The Khorne Lord on Juggernaut is easily my favorite model in the entire Games-Workshop range.  It's brooding, it's menacing, it's beastly.  The model is everything I've imagined a warrior of Khorne (also my favorite of the four Chaos gods) should be.  When this model came out, I had to have it, and that need turned into an entire Warriors of Chaos force!  Of course, I'm still working on the army, but this landmark model makes me want to get more finished up so I can finally field him!

I approached this model knowing I wanted a good amount of contrast between the juggernaut and the lord.  To help push the brooding hardly restrained killer look, I wanted to make him much darker than how Games-Workshop presents their version of the model.  The clean look falls in line with the rest of the force and reinforces the pose which is almost regal. 

The base colors were done using an airbrush, then highlighted with with the airbrush as well.  To see the models airbrush breakdown, be sure to check out the WIP shot of him.  The lords armor caught a wash of Badab Black and just a touch in some spots for the juggernaut.  The armor was then glazed selectively on ground-ward facing plates and a few areas for shadows with Black.  The lord caught the majority of this to add a lot of depth.  The armor was highlighted back up a little in spots by brush.  Sorry about not having colors for you here.  I did this some months back!  Be sure to check out the WIP above for a better look at the initial colors, you might be able to reverse engineer it!

The metals were done with a simple metallic washed with Babab Black for the silvers and Gryphonne Sepia for gold/bronze.  The weapon was glazed with Black adding a sense of sky/earth. 

The cloak was painted with Bestial Brown, drybrushed with Snakebite Leather and final drybrush highlight of Bleached Bone.  This was all toned back down with a heavy Devlin Mud wash. 

Leathers followed the standard scheme for my Warriors of Chaos, Black, edge highlighted with Bestial Brown and a final, thinner edge of Snakebite Leather. 

I'm really quite happy with this model.  I had a lot of fun with the paint job, even if it was spread out a lot over a long period of time.  It's going to make a great centerpiece to my force once it's all finished up! 

If you want to see more of this force, be sure you check out the Warriors of Chaos tag.  I really love this army, if only as a diversion to my usual 40k armies from time to time.

Video: Painting Death Guard

Les comes back this week with another great video with yet more cool ideas for painting your models quickly and efficiently.  Those of you looking to do Death Guard would be well served checking this video out, though be forewarned that much of the paint work is done via an airbrush.




The big kicker for this video is the gloss varnish/alcohol clean up trick.  I really really really like that idea for tabletop model completion speed.  I've seen similar done with scale model tanks and oil washes before but never a 25mm infantry type model. I really feel like this could work on a variety of models with some practice. 

If you're not wise to the ways of the airbrush just yet, you really should consider picking one up if you've got a little extra hobby funding.  The time saved on something as simple as base color alone is worth a cheap rig.  If you're uncertain what you should be looking for in an airbrush, be sure to check out our series of airbrushing articles. 

The techniques used in this video could be used on a variety of different models, especially other Chaos Marines Legions, it just comes down to picking out a color recipe!  Any ideas for other models you might make good use of some of the things picked up from watching the video?

Reinforcements: Champion of Nurgle

I gave a quick sneak peek of this model last week with a quick On The Table update.  This past Friday, I found some time in the early hours of the morning to get some serious paint time in before I made my way to a friends for a weekend of drinks and gaming!   Overall I think I spent around 3-4 hours getting him painted up and for the time invested I can't help but be happy with the results. 

I used a black base coat for this one, as I knew I'd be working mostly with metallic paints and wanted to give a nice dark scheme overall.  No crazy bright colors were in the mix with this guy.  Instead, I went with a gritty hard feel from start to finish. 

The model started off by painting everything that was going to end up metallic with GW Chainmail.  I then washed it all down with a watered down GW Chaos Black (about a 1 to 8 dilution / paint to water).  This toned him down appropriately and added some quick shadows but without filling in the details.  I know some might ask why I didn't just use GW's Badab Black, but I've had issues when doing heavy washing with the wash creating an artificial surface over some of the finer details like in the pockets of chain mail. 

With the paint wash dried, I went back in with GW Devlin Mud wash on the armor plates.  I stayed away from the bits that would end up another tone of metal (the weapon and the bronze detailing) and did multiple passes to build the color of the armor up.  The armor was then 'scratched' when dry using GW Chainmail again along edges and cut details.  (Would you like to know more?)

The bronze details were painted with VMC Bronze.  For the weathering I mixed Secret Weapon Patina Weathering Pigment and Vallejo Matt Medium and painted it into the recesses, wiping away any that was on the raised areas.  When dry I touched the areas up again with VMC Bronze. 

The shoulder blade and the axe blade were painted using the 'true metallic' painting technique that was part of an Open Discussion.  This uses metallic paint and a lot of hard shading using regular paints to add a serious amount of contrast, running the full gamut from fully shiny metal to pitch black shadows.  Once the shading was done, I used a little GW Vermin Brown to add a touch of color and touched up a few edges with pure GW Chainmail. 

The inset detail of the axe blade was done by mixing dry pigment with water, applying it to the recesses liberally, allowed to dry and then with a slightly damp finger I wiped the surface clean leaving the pigment in the recessed detail.  The idea was that the bronze skull of has washed the inset with the patina coloring. 

The chain mail was given a very light wash of Vermin Brown in a few spots and touched up with GW Chainmail.  Paying attention to where you apply your touched up highlighting can help create much needed depth with what can otherwise end up a very flat looking area. 

The axe handle was painted GW Bestial Brown, highlighted with GW Snakebite Leather, given a final few lines of GW Bleached Bone and then washed down with GW Devlin Mud.

The wraps and rope were painted with GW Bestial Brown, then Snakebite Leather and finally Bleached Bone.  Gryphonne Sepia Wash was then applied to the recesses. 

The pouches/straps/leathers were painted black and highlighted with Bestial Brown followed by Snakebite Leather. 

The trophy head was painted using GW Bestial Brown, then Snakebite Leather.  The skin side was painted with Elf Flesh and the bone was done using Bleached Bone.  The whole head was then washed with Devlin Mud and touched up with the previous colors. 

To finish the model off I painted the base with GW Chaos Black and drybrushed the top using GW Fortress Grey. 

All of the techniques used were quick and efficient, leading to a very fast paint session and a brutal looking model that stays from the usual nurgle color schemes but keeps himself firmly rooted in the grime.  This model fits nicely with the champion and models that have come before him as well.  Once I've got a good number finished, I plan to go back in on the basing and add some additional detailing after some goading by a few friends to punch them up a step beyond their current state!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the piece.  Anyone else working on any Fantasy models lately?  Any crazy Warriors of Chaos you've seen around the net?  Share those links!

Reinforcements: Champion of Chaos

Around the middle of last year, I decided I wanted to break into Fantasy.  One faction in particular fed my need for amazing models clad in armor with an air of bad ass.  Warriors of Chaos would become the army I would lead onto the battlefields of the Old World.  We will plunder and destroy, well once I have them painted that is.

I bought this guy from ebay late last year.  I knew I wanted to pick him up once I started the army.  It's such a strong sculpt I knew I had to have him, even if he didn't fit the original theme idea of an all cavalry warband.  When he arrived I got started. 

Having at him with metallic paints to start off I painted most of the model in GW Chainmail.  The armor was then washed with successive layers of Devlin Mud, the weapons and chainmail link armor with layers of Badab Black.  With the weapons I played with the idea of true metallics, as they're called, going to the extreme black where appropriate and using a gradient to give variation to the surfaces.  I then used a few small brush strokes of GW Chainmail to scratch the surfaces of the armor and weaponry. 

The browns and bones were done using Bestial Brown, Snakebite Leather, and Bleached Bone in various combinations.  The skulls caught a final highlight of skull white.  This is my standard method for tabletop. 

The fur was started with a black base color, highlighted with fortress grey and given a final highlight of skull white.  The end result is a very vibrant white that gives a stark contrast.

The chaos star was done by painting layers of Gryphonne Sepia over chainmail.  Scratching done the same as above. 

His cape was painted black and given a few line highlights of Bestial Brown, highlighted lightly with Snakebite Leather.  I really like this look and have used it before on other Warriors of Chaos models as a way to do black leathers. 

The base was drybrushed with Codex Grey and then Fortress Grey to highlight.

All in all, it's a very subtle paint scheme that really lets the models strong sculpt work shine through and not detract from what's been established with the pose and imposing look of the piece.  Overall I'm very happy with it and can't wait to see him taking skulls and slaughtering the weak. 

I'm working on hammering out a 500 point force for a few upcoming gaming events, so expect to see more chaotic happenings around TPC in the future!

On The Table: Khorne Lord on Juggernaut

This really seems to be the norm for me now.  I take an old model that I haven't found time for and do something with it for a tip, this in turn sparks my interest in the piece again and I continue the work on it soon after the tip goes live!

Field Report: Nurgle Lord on Mount

You'll never guess what I was searching for to come across this fantastic Nurgle Lord on mount by Mike at SCW, but I'm glad to see Nurgle get some love for this model.  As a bonus he includes a few good photography tips.

If you've got an article you'd like to get some publicity for that's modeling and painting related, we want to know about it!  Send along a link to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

Field Report: Chaos Guard

SonsofTaurus has started work on a great Chaos Guard army.  Bits are from Fantasy Chaos and IG Catachan parts, but I'm getting a strong Mad Max feel.  Hmm, what would make a good Master Blaster?

If you've got an article you'd like to get some publicity for that's modeling and painting related, we want to know about it!  Send along a link to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

Field Report: Pre-Heresy Monstrosity

I never really got into the whole "Pre-Heresy" thing, but this counts-as Summoned Greater Demon by BushidoRedPanda is just fantastic.  He fashioned the best from a Penitent Engine and the brown stuff is leather cord.  Interesting, I'll have to try that the next time I need some flexible tubing.

Links!  We want em!  Send your links for great articles around the web to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

Field Report: CSM Step by Step

All Things 40k has a nice little Step by Step Chaos Space Marine tutorial that is full of super simple techniques that end with a rather effective tabletop paint job.  If you're looking for a way to get some Chaos on the table quickly and looking good, check this tutorial out.

Have a tutorial, painting guide or maybe just some quick tips of your own you'd like to share with a larger readership?  Send us a link at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com and we'll help get your articles out to the community!

Field Report: KMB Defiler

Amaximus over at KMB has posted a fantastic Khorne flavored Defiler. The relocated head really makes a huge difference, making it a lot more aggressive looking.

Have you posted an article to your own site recently? Read something amazing you think others should check out? Have an old link in your Bookmarks that you've been saving for a rainy day? We want to see em! Send your suggestions to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com and we'll get the word out!

Field Report: Quick Nurgle with Solder

Paul's Basement League has a creative tip on how to quickly make some "Nurgle gurgle" using solder. I love it when arts and crafts means metal and fire. Even if the heat warps the plastic slightly, isn't that just more Nurgly?

Got a great link you'd like to see put up? Send it to us at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com. Just be sure it has something a bit more useful than a pretty picture! It's all about learning folks!