On The Table: Warhammer Fantasy

Over the weekend I finally got my first taste of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.  I've been collecting an army for some time now, and slowly but surely painting them up.  With more Fantasy games in my future, I'm really trying to settle in on getting an army 100% painted.  Since I've got so much done already with my Warriors of Chaos, I'm likely going to try and finish them up first. 

In the above you can see what I'm working with so far.  A lot of champion types and just a few core units.  When I originally started the army, it was all because of the champions, and just how amazing the models were.  So naturally, I've gone after those models and used them to get me excited about the force.  So far, it's worked!  After the weekend, I've only added to my collection of champions and heroes by picking up the lord model you see still in the box at the back of the army!  I still need another core choice or two to help flesh out the army a little.  I'll likely go with a nice block of Chaos Warriors after seeing how solid a choice they are this weekend.  I also have another set of Chaos Knights in bits and pieces waiting for me, but until I have enough points in core, it's going to be hard to take them!  But given how hard they are in game, I'll definitely be doing so.

This weekend also saw me winning an Island of Blood boxed set that was graciously given up as a prize for the friendly event by Empchild of Akers Minis.  I was tops for points on the weekend after my pairings went  4-0 on the day (it was a doubles set up with one player taking 1000 points and the other 500 points, with WHFB and 40k being played).  I snagged the box, which was just one of multiple prizes, as I'd been looking to get it sometime in the near future anyways!  I split the contents with a good friend of mine and took the Skaven for my own letting him have the High Elves.  I've always loved the Skaven, but have never really wanted to paint that many mini's for ANY army, but given how amazing these new plastics look, it's going to be hard to not paint them up...At the very least I have a lot of great models for my Mordheim Warband!

A special treat on the weekend was a box of these great little minis from our good friend Jakob Rune Nielson.  Jakob had been sculpting this piece for a month or two leading up to the weekend and had them cast just about two weeks prior, and sent them just in time to be used as prizes as well!  My friend Pesmerga was kind enough to hook me up with the one he picked up as a prize since he had already purchased two directly from Jakob earlier!  Jakob's minis are always so full of character and have a great storybook fantasy feel to them.  I can't wait to paint this one up and might have a go at creating a different (see: creepy) look for the model.

I've got a lot of things on my painting table right now, and not a ton of time to get them done!  But any progress is good progress right now, so hopefully the Warriors of Chaos find a few hours here and there in the coming weeks. 

Anyone else getting into a new game?  Starting a new army?  Just digging a newly released model?  What do you have on your table this month? 

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!

On The Table: Warriors of Chaos

It's been FAR too long since the last update and I've been fighting to get back to the hobby table since I unpacked things.  Unfortunately for me, art project deadlines, more unpacking, shopping for new additions, and social obligations have kept me from getting dug back in with things here on TPC as quickly as I would have liked to. 

But, I'm finally caught up with a lot of the things that have kept me from the table, and I've a big gaming weekend coming up with some good friends that promises to be an absolute blast.  With that I'm using this week to tear into some Warriors of Chaos!

Today I modeled the warhounds and the champion.  Overall though, I'm hoping to paint what you see here and the last three of my marauder horsemen. 

The champion was a simple head and weapon swap, but the change in look is far more menacing than the originals.  Both additions come from the Chaos Knights box set and were pretty easy to modify and set in place.  Just a few chops and clips, a little file work on the hand and it all came together nicely. 

My deepest apologies to everyone for such a long absence!  Let's get this conversation going again!

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: Beastman WIP

It's not much of an update for him, but I think it's appropriate considering the direction I've decided to take.  Don't pay much attention to anything but the base and the skin right now.  Everything else is just blocking out color to get an idea.  But the skin and the base are two major breaks from the norm for me. 

With the base I've gone with a much more elaborate set up and far more dramatic coloring than I've ever used in the past.  I've yet some more work to do still though, mainly in the variation in the vegetation that will be achieved with some paint washes.  There will also be some additional flora added to drive home the look I am going for. 

The skin is within keeping of the hues established with the basing.  I'm also making a concerted effort to keep away from black for shading, using various colors to add depth to the model.  In the case of the skin, I'm going with a very deep blue with some red mixed in for a dark violet that will contrast nicely.  In the finished model this will end up looking much darker along side of everything else, but right now it still feels very blue.  If that's the case later, I'll add a little brown to the depths to punch the contrast up even more.   All of this with an eye toward the lighting I've predetermined earlier in the paint!

It's going to be a long project I think.  Hopefully you all don't mind coming along for the ride!

On The Table: Beastmen Champion

After Gamesday I knew I'd have some new inspiration to work with.  So I decided to start a new project, one specifically for painting contests this time instead of doing double purposed gaming/high quality paint.  I hit up the hobby store, bought two blocks of wood and got to work on one with the dremel.  Added some green stuff and started pressing broken up rocks I found outside into it and molding the greenstuff down with my shapers and sculpting tools. 

The model was cleaned up for the pin, I've decided to just sacrifice a pin vice bit and drilled as far down into the block as I could while still keeping enough for the models foot, flipped the bit around and slid the smooth end into the models foot with a bit of super glue for it to adhere with.  Sliding the other end into the pin vice again, it makes a great hand hold that will be fantastic for painting. 

I primed the model with grey and gave it a quick source lighting with white spray paint.  The base is still drying but I'm already really happy with it. 

Lots to come for this one. Stay tuned.

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!