What I've been doing recently, a painting and modelling log...

[Raven Morpheus]

OK, so, moving on...

Probably against my better judgment, and at the expense of anything else I want to collect, and probably my sanity, I have decided, for the moment to continue concentrating on collecting and painting models for Warhammer Queat '95s Catacombs of Terror expansion.


In Catacombs of Terror GW gave you 3 Tomb Guardian models in the box set...

...I and my regular gaming buddy use the card deck system to play WHQ '95, rather than the monster tables, and it's what I'm basing my model collecting on. So, the game actually requires 4 Tomb Guardian models if you assume, however unlikely it may be, that you'll draw both Tomb Guardian cards in the expansion at roughly the same time, (1 card of 1D3 and 1 card of a single), and roll 3 on a D3.

With that in mind, I would want to buy 4 of the OG GW Tomb Guardian models. Yeah, not going to happen, let's just say they are typically priced on ebay...

So, today, I bought 5 (i.e. half a box, 1 set of sprues) of a current GW range alternative - Grave Guard.

These are they, they come with a two handed large sword type blade option, so that's how they'll get built. A couple of the helmets also aren't a million miles off the Catacombs of Terror box cover artwork. I may see if I can build one with a halberd in a position similar to the OG Tomb Guardian models or the artwork from the box cover -

This is the box cover artwork, although it's also the cover of WD #189, the box cover art actually slightly obscures the Tomb Guardian on the left -

These are the OG GW Tomb Guardian models. This is a fairly high resolution image (from WD #191), so, for a change, I actually have a decent quality reference, typical considering I don't need a high res reference as I only need general colour references, not details, because I'm not painting the same models...

As we can see, from the artwork and the 'Eavy Metal studio examples, the OG Tomb Guardian's are predominantly green, bone, gold and "steel" metal coloured.

So, as I like that look, I'll replicate it on the Grave Guard. Nice and easy, and I have all the paints already. Should be a quick paint for just 4 models.


I would start on stuff I've already got while I wait for the Grave Guard to arrive, but nothing is enthusing me at this time.



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

So, I got bored today, having been up since 02:30ish, and mother looking out for herself a little bit more at the moment...

Many moons ago I think I opened a thread up here looking for advice on highlighting black with blue, however I can't find the thread (?).

Basically I love this style of artwork from the cover of the Blood Bowl 3rd edition Deathzone rulebook, and I have 4 Reaper Bones Minotaurs to use as paint mules -

So, since opening that thread, I've been trying on and off to achieve a sort of comic book blue highlight look on a black Minotaur like in that artwork. I think I started out before I obtained Vallejo Glaze Medium and before I started (re)learning how to glaze highlights on (back in October of last year when I did the Stone Trolls). It's safe to say my initial attempts were complete failures - mostly a product of insomnia fuelled madness!

Did I mention I got bored today?

My photos don't quite do justice to the overall look, it looks better to the mk1 eyeball.

The object of the exercise was to try to achieve a blue highlighted look to the black skin and hair (what there is of the hair, these Bones Minotaurs are poorly moulded) - so, the rest of the model was just a quick paint and shade wash affair, I didn't really take much time on the rest of the model, and there's some minor details I've not painted.

The blue highlights are Vallejo Game Air Black with successive increasing amounts of Vallejo Game Air Magic Blue mixed in and thinned with a couple of drops of Vallejo Glaze Medium. I ended up with two shades after mixing, I didn't go mad and use several. One slight problem is that I don't know what ratios I used as I eyeballed it and got lucky, the two patches of mixed paint have dried on my cutting mat though, so I should be able to eyeball a match when/if I want to...

I can't wait to get a Mierce Miniatures Minotaur and try this on it, now that I know I can do it...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Ben_S]

Many moons ago I think I opened a thread up here looking for advice on highlighting black with blue, however I can't find the thread (?).

Achieving coloured highlights using Contrast Paint?

Hey all I've had something knocking around my head for a while now (one of several painting conundrums in my head I need to get straight before putting paint to model(s)), but I can't find a definitive example of someone having done it, so I thought I'd see if you guys have any insight. This...

yaktribe.games

Randomly, I think I mentioned this thread recently - though can't remember where...

 

[Raven Morpheus]

I need to stop buying stuff...

So, whilst I am continuing with concentrating on buying and painting stuff for Warhammer Quest 95's Catacombs of Terror expansion, I also have an eye on expanding the greenskins I've got for the game, one reason I bought the Squigs and herders recently, and eventually (read, at some point in the next few years) I will obtain more Skaven (you get 1 unit of 12 Clanrats in the core game) and add some Chaos (Beastmen, Chaos Warriors etc.) for the game.

In the other expansion, Lair of the Orc Lord, there is a card for 1D6 black orcs (sorry, images seem to come out bigger than I want here on this site) -

In the rules book for that expansion there is also this model of a Black Orc shown -

And in the core game's roleplay book there is the same model (painted differently) as shown on the card -

I highly doubt I can get the single wield Black Orc style models for a reasonable price, especially as they're metal afaik...

I would use the current AoS 'Ardboyz models (which were Black Orcs in WFB 8th), but I think they're a little too big for WHQ '95, I don't think they'd fit nicely on a 25mm round base, 30mm round sculpted dungeon style bases seem to be non-existent, and unlike some current GW AoS models, I don't think they fit the WHQ aesthetic particularly well (they're mostly armour for a start).

These are the aforementioned, although these days GW paint them predominantly yellow and put them on 32mm round bases -

However, occasionally on ebay you come across something that might just be a decent deal, or even a bargain, and today I bought 5 of the dual wielding style plastic Black Orcs, for less than £10. Technically I need 6 but I can buy another at some point down the line when I spot one for a decent price...

So, this is what's coming, as well as the Grave Guard -

No idea when I'll paint these but at least I have some now, this thread seems however to be turning into "wot I bought"...



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Greenthumb]

Lair of the orc lord.. I really love this thread. I almost paid super scalpers money for bog off the snotling but resisted. A part of me still wants to pay 20 quid for a snotling as he is so funny.
If you kit kitbash or proxy one well I might steal your idea.

 

[Ben_S]

30mm round sculpted dungeon style bases seem to be non-existent,

I assume these are flat, rather than GW-style, but they do exist:

30mm Diameter Paved Effect Bases - Renedra Ltd

30mm Diameter Paved Effect Bases…

www.renedra.co.uk

 

[Raven Morpheus]

I assume these are flat, rather than GW-style, but they do exist:

30mm Diameter Paved Effect Bases - Renedra Ltd

30mm Diameter Paved Effect Bases…

www.renedra.co.uk

They're more for a paved street look than a dungeon though. Could be used as base toppers for Mordheim though. Will keep those in mind if I get back to doing Mordheim stuff.

 

[Mr. M]

I used to have a box of those plastic black orcs from back in the '90s (when I was under the misconception that my teenage allowance could fund a WFB orc & goblin army). The axes are very fragile - handle with care!!!

 

[Greenthumb]

Get a greenstuff world textured rolling pin and dont look back
I also melt my sprue bits in acetone leaving a goo that can be rolled flat on silicone paper, g9ve it half hour and roll the texture on it. That way plastic glue sticks it all together. I did it for my cursed city set. I'll find a picture

 

[Greenthumb]

Found photos

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[Greenthumb]

Can also be cut with scissors if thin.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

@Greenthumb - thanks, that's an interesting idea, sadly I don't have enough sprue or any stuff to melt large amounts of sprue. Will keep that in mind going forwards though. I know I can do similar with green stuff, milliput or (if I bake it) scuply. It's just a matter of summoning the enthusiasm to do it, for me though.



So, whilst mother convalesces she is spending an hour or two dozing in the morning and afternoon, so despite being her "day carer/supervisor" I'm actually getting more time at the table than I expected...

...and today I've been on a bit of a roll, but oddly haven't really achieved much.

First up, I zenithal primed and started painting the 4 remaining Squigs from the 8 I bought recently, they need a 4th and final layer of Vallejo Red Ink and a couple of other stages doing on the red before moving onto the details -

At the same time I zentithal primed the Squigs I also zenithal primed the 12 Skaven Clanrats you get in the core set of Warhammer Quest 1995, as I plan on starting those in the not too distant future (I was going to make a start on them this weekend, and may still, as I needed something to do whilst I waited for other models to arrive. I know, I know, I've got 10 Steel Legion troopers and Yarrick to paint!), this is 6 of the Clanrats -

Then the Grave Guard dropped through the letterbox so I had a go at assembling them. Talk about non-trivial! Some of the joins are so flimsy I'll be surprised if they don't break apart in due course!

I tried assembling one in a pose similar to one of the two metal models GW made back in the day, it kind of looks a tiny bit like one, maybe -

With a view to painting the Grave Guard, whilst I was waiting for ink layers to dry on the Squigs, I tried out (on the 1 skeleton I already had) a paint recipe for bronze, using Vallejo Metal Colors, posted a year ago by Vince Ventruella on his youtube channel (titled Hobby Cheating 270), the skeleton is the one I painted last May, way back on page 2 of this thread, I just went over my poor attempt at bronze -

It's not the deep rich brown bronze you see on statues and stuff, but it turned out OK, I think I will use it on the Grave Guard for their blades, and perhaps their chest/back armour. I can make it the deep rich brown bronze though (I know because I darkened it a bit for the shadows towards the bottom of the sword and shield) by following the recipe but changing up one of the paints used and the amount used.

Doing so works and looks better than going the normal Citadel Warplock Bronze>Gold highlight route. Because Vallejo Metal Colors are, well, just far more metal looking.

The "verdigris" is just Citadel Nihilakh Oxide, applied quickly where I thought it should go. Vince V has a tutorial for "verdigris" that may look better (if I do it right) if I decide to paint the Grave Guard's chest/back armour in bronze.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Finished off the Squigs today. Nothing special, didn't spend as much time/effort on them as the other 3, and I don't have any fancy resin bases currently so I just painted the bases they're on black and left it at that...

One of them is supposed to have a horn on it's head, but the carpet monster managed to eat that...

Quick photos taken with my mobile, not sure why, but they look in focus on my mobile's screen when I take the shot, then look blurry (to me?) after uploading to t'interwebz!

These are nothing special, just finishing up so I can move onto something else, i.e. the Skaven or Grave Guard, probably bits of both.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Punktaku]

You’ll find the horn sometime when you’re walking around barefoot.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

So, spent just over an hour this morning at the table and made a start on the Skaven Clanrats and Grave Guard...

Not much to report on the Grave Guard, so no photos, I just gave them a liberal airbrushed on primer with Citadel Wraithbone, concentrating on getting it on the bone areas, for obvious reasons. I'll go back and re-undercoat the rest of the areas with a hairy stick, and black paint for the green/non-gold metals and a brown for the gold, to finish their undercoat.

The Skaven however got an exemplar model...

...Vince Ventruella has a "speed painting Skaven" video in his Hobby Cheating series, HC #177.

So I tried following that, but switched out the colour for the cloth to something else (partly because I don't have the paint he used for the cloth and because I wanted to use a different colour anyhow). The cloth has turned out a bit shiny, possibly because I was drying the glaze layers and Citadel Agrax Earthshade with a hairdryer to speed things up, a layer of matte varnish will cure that and I should have done that before taking photos, doh!

And my mobile photos seem to have come out OK today, yay!

Literally all the paints I used -

I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out, although I got some turquoise in places I shouldn't, but I wasn't exactly being as neat and tidy as I can be. Obviously they are a unit so I can't spend as much time on each one as I would a character model.

Airbrushing the Grave Guard took about 5 minutes, so I'd say the Clanrat took just under an hour. 11 more to do. Thankfully I can batch paint them so they shouldn't take as long as 11 hours!

Shading on the cloth could have been better - I may go back and redo it, as I have a couple of ideas for that. Using a normal paint as a glaze over the zenithal priming and some highlights/shading failed, again!

Vince V seems to get a good coverage with his first layer of glaze on the cloth, then puts highlights/shading down, and re-glazes again, and still achieves a good coverage but preserves the zenithal priming and the highlights/shading! So obviously I need to work out what I'm doing wrong when it comes to thinning paint for a glaze and applying it!?!

If all the Skaven turn out like that one though I'll be happy.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

So, as per usual, I couldn't leave well enough alone...

I went back and tidied up the shading a bit on the Clanrat's clothing. Pretty much 10 minutes extra work, if that, and it's probably what I should have done in the first place instead of trying to use Agrax Earthshade to shade the cloth. I also put a satin clear coat over everything not metal or cloth, and a matt clear coat over the cloth, those are still drying in these photos -

I watered down some Citadel Stegadon Scale Green and went over the folds in the cloth with it. I could have watered it down some more for more of a glaze to achieve more of a a gradient look to the shading, particularly round the back, but it looks much better than it did before.

Happy with that, the skin/fur/tail/face/teeth/claws was done as per Vince Ventruella's video, and very quick and simple, although I slightly overdid the highlights on the feet/hands. Glazing the main colour on the cloth over zenithal priming, highlights and shading was the only problem I had - it'll probably take me years to work out why so I'll just plod on with the other 11 as best I can on the cloth...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Spent about 90 minutes this afternoon/evening doing one of the Grave Guard. Nice and quick and simple, the other 4 shouldn't take too long as I can line them up and batch paint them...

Still needs a little work, such as highlights on the top edges of the sword, and I also want to try glowing eyes again...

Although, I was finding it a bit awkward earlier getting the brush into the skull area, so I may forgo the eyes. I shouldn't have glued the arms on...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Monday night at the table.

Spent about 2.5 hours on the Skaven tonight and completed another 5. The original example is on the left. Varnish and the bases were still drying in these photos -

Front -

Back. Apologies for the blur on this photo - just when you think your mobile's camera is playing ball...

I think I kind of worked out a little better how to do the glaze of the turquoise. It would seem I was being too impatient, not allowing enough drying time, not wicking enough off my brush, and not going back in with another glaze layer after the first to solidify the colour. The first pass worked better this time, and so did the second pass (3rd glaze layer (or 4th depending on how the 3rd turned out)) after highlighting/shading. I didn't have to go back in and do the shading/highlighting again and to the mk1 eyeball there is some zenithal priming effect still visible!

Batch painting didn't quite work as well as it could, I kept getting to model 4 and finding washes still wet...

I had an idea about the bases, as I don't currently have any fancy resin ones. I just used the zenithal priming that caught on the bases as an undercoat and slapped some Citadel Seraphim Sepia on them. Looks OK, kind of like a sandstone floor, and will suffice until I buy some resin bases or I make my own, whichever happens first...

Only 6 to go...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Midweek at the table, kind of...

So, had the paramedics out on Wednesday AM at 01:00ish. Mother hadn't been well (or as well as she was given her heart op) since Monday, had a fall whilst using her walking frame on Tuesday evening about 22:00, and couldn't stand due to being too weak. Paramedics couldn't even get her to stand up! So they admitted her to my nearest local hospital, and she's now being treated for what they think is a water infection.

One step forward...


I tried finishing off the Skaven Clanrats for WHQ '95 last night, but I was too tired and only spent about an hour at the table. I tried to pick up where I left off, this evening, but abandoned it after about 20 minutes, for reasons. About an hour or two later I started watching Babylon 5 season 4, and decided to sit at the table with it on my tablet and I managed to plough through and finish the Clanrats.

It's funny what gives you the energy to finish something...

Somewhat neatly lined up, front and back -

Slightly less neat "skirmish" formation, front and back -

Worked out pretty well, probably the fastest, but reasonable looking, "unit" I've ever painted.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Punktaku]

Here’s to a speedy recovery!