More figs for Drake and some random Hordes games

I've been busy painting some more figs for AGM (Drake the Dragon Wargame!).  These bad boys are Cherek warriors (or possibly hunters?).  They serve the mighty Garrick - the largest dragons of Dara.  They are mostly a tribal people and as far as I know lack cities in proper but tend to gather in small villages in the mountains.  They are ab humans, tall and lanky and have a decent fighting skill that is matched at range as much as it is in melee.

 For these guys I somewhat followed a previous scheme that was used to paint other studio figures but decided to spice it up a bit with some interesting patterns on the cloth hanging at their waists.  I was originally thinking Zebra-like patterns but chickened out and went more of an antelope style instead with black lines in various spots.  The zebra idea may be something to try on a different batch.  Since these guys are somewhat primal it gives me an excuse to google animal skins etc to draw inspiration from. 

Another thing this project gave me an opportunity to practice is darker skin tones.  I pretty much followed a tutorial I saw a while back on Bell of Lost Souls found here.  However, I wanted to emphasize the darkness of their skin (is this sounding racist?!) and only applied highlights sparingly whereas in the tutorial the artist seems to have exaggerated the lighter colors more.  I really like how it turned out and plan on using this skin tone for various Circle of Orboros models (Tharn in particular) at a later date.

As for the models themselves, they are a work in progress.  There will, of course, be additional poses coming but this is the prototype for multipart infantry.  These 4, as opposed to their original renditions that are already painted and on AGM's website, videos, etc, are not a single piece; the arms are pose-able!  I tried to showcase this as best as possible, but it's still a relatively static pose.  Look forward to more variation in the future!  They are well sculpted though and I'm really digging the 'true scale.'  I like the ridges on their heads, and the definition of their lanky but muscular frame in particular.

 

I've been stepping up my Warmachine game lately, and trying to practice more at The Connections against good players.  Even though I'll most likely get stomped, I'm always learning from my mistakes.  I've had a couple frustrating losses lately where I was clearly in the winning position but either my dice failed me or I got assassinated in an 'all in' goofy matter.  All that aside, I have been winning against various opponents at Connections that I've constantly lost to in the past, so that's saying something about my skills improving.  I'm focusing on 2 lists in particular that I'll hopefully be taking to a tournament at Connections sometime.  They are as follows:

Archdomina Makeda (Makeda 1)
Molik Karn
Archidon
Bronzeback Titan
Titan Gladiator
Aptimus Marketh
Nihilators max
Paingiver Beasthandlers min
Agonizer
Extoller Soulward
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Dominar Rasheth (Tier 4 Chain Gang)
Titan Gladiator
Titan Gladiator
Titan Sentry
Bronzeback Titan
Gatorman Posse max
Venator Slingers max
Paingiver Beasthandlers min
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Agonizer
Paingiver Taskmaster

Here are some random pictures of some games I've played lately:

This game was at Strategies Games.  Practicing Makeda 1

This was a game I played (today actually) at The Connections.  This was an enjoyable game in large part due to my gracious opponent and his nicely painted army (a rarity at The Connections)

Now back to those Demigryph Knights...

Empire Army and WetCoast GT update!

For those 4 people that follow me (lol) you may have seen one of my first posts about an Empire army for warhammer fantasy that I had to work on for a tournament coming up... well that tournament is next month and I have actually signed up for an ADDITIONAL tournament even earlier (less than 2 weeks?) that also has a painting requirement.  Luckily it's not as many points therefore not requiring as many painted models, but still what a good inspiration to get my shit done.  I took a bunch of quick photos of the progress i've been getting, and it's coming together quite nicely although I haven't spent as much time on individual models as some of my privateer press stuff but thats to be expected of GW systems requiring tons of figs.  The pics are pretty bad and taken quickly but there will be better ones coming when everything is complete.

 I'm currently working on my demigryph knights.  these models are soooooooooo cool.  when the new empire stuff came out I bought 2 boxes of these guys directly.  I didnt see the rules for them until after the fact, but thankfully they are ridiculously good anyways, not to mention with the latest errata of the 8th ed fantasy rules, they are now T4!

A group shot of all the demigryphs.  I'm having fun painting the red armor.  These demigryphs dont follow the same scheme as the rest of my army as they are a detachment of the Knights Griffon knightly order (red and gold).

 I have 2 units of knightly orders, this one I've airbrushed the horses white with smokey extremities and muzzles.  I'm quite pleased with the result. 

Similar to my demigryphs, these knights don't match the rest of my Nordland army because they are a detachment of the Knights Panther knightly order.  Ever since I was a child and looked at pictures of Empire knights, I always loved the Knights Panther the best.  Finally I get to have my own!  These will be the last things I complete probably.  With under a month to go, we'll see how I can do!!!

 I completed this last night actually.  My trusty BSB.  Carrying the standard of discipline, this guy will ensure (hopefully) that none of the Empire's brave soldiers flee in the wake of the enemy!  I decided to do something different with the grim reaper other than the typical black, and I wanted the colors to be different than my blue/bone scheme so I went with red, off red, and blue/black.  meh haha

 A small detachment of halberdiers to hide all my pathetic human characters in.. hopefully this unit will never see combat.  I used army painter's quickshade for these guys.  pretty simple and took barely any time at all.  I suggest a tricky method like this for any huge block of infantry.. in particular core infantry. you just base the model with a bright color for each different surface, dunk em in the quickshade, wipe off the excess quickshade, and matte varnish.

 Celestial Wizard. 

 I wanted to do a star pattern on the back of his cape, and I made it into a somewhat half assed constellation of the Heaven's Magic Lore symbol.  Maybe hard to visualize with this crappy picture.

 Bright Wizard. 

 I realized I did the flames backwards to what I had originally intended.  Usually I paint the brightest part of the flame in the recesses but i think it works this way as well.  I totally spaced on that.

 I've had this old faithful warrior priest painted for many years already.  At one point, I was even trying to sell him :O!! Good thing nobody wanted it.  This is my general, he does NOT have a great weapon.  Hopefully nobody is going to whine over him not being entirely WYSIWYG

 A tray of halberdiers.  this is a block of 40 (39) that will be the anvil.  actually I hope they will never see combat either hah

 I'm really happy with this steam tank.  I painted it in TWO days I was that excited while working on it.  it has been a LONG time since I've drybrushed any metallics, and I gotta say it was damn fun.  When drybrushing ANYTHING I try to paint in small, circular patterns.  This gives a weathered look and ensures all angles are hit with paint evenly, instead of just hitting it from one or two directions.   This guy is my true anvil and he will Bline it directly into the enemy's fightiest combat unit.

Some more halberds, cannon crew, archers, helblaster crew, etc.

And.. my trusty engineers.  These guys will be ensuring my artillery doesn't completely fail me.

NMM "old gold" or dark gold (crappy) tutorial!

While I was painting my Lock and Load entry, Molik Karn, I decided that I'd do a stage by stage tutorial  on how I do the darker gold non metallic metal shown on all my Skorne figures.  A few people on the Privateer Press forums ask me about it regularly when I update my Skorne thread, so here it is.

I start by base coating the entire area that will be gold with Citadel Dark Flesh.  This is an OOP paint, but an equivalent based on a quick google search is the currently produced Doombull Brown.  Sometimes this requires a couple coats, in fact almost always it requires a couple coats!

The next stage is simply applying a layer to the gold area with P3's Bloodstone.  Dark Flesh and Bloodstone have small enough of a difference between them that no blending in between is necessary; applying Bloodstone straight over top of Dark Flesh creates the first transition from light to dark.  Try to apply this while leaving the darkest areas Dark Flesh.  I almost exclusively use a technique called feathering which involves pushing and pulling the thinned down paint in a direction to achieve a smooth blend.  I suggest looking up a feathering tutorial on youtube or google to know exactly what I mean.

The next step is probably the most inconsistent step out of all of them and varies from project to project for me.  Usually I try to mix 50/50 portions of Bloodstone with Citadel Vomit Brown (again, OOP.  google search says the new equivalent is Tau Light Ochre).  You can see I'm always leaving behind a remnant of the previous shade.  This eventually will make a stark contrast between light and dark, selling the NMM effect due to the color choices and 'dots' of reflection that will come later.  When I'm deciding what areas to make dark or light, I try to imagine a halo of light coming from directly above the model.  Again, make sure your paints are watered down because thin paint is more forgiving when making mistakes (it can be wiped off without drying as easily) and creates a smoother blend when applied patiently in multiple layers.  If this stage is giving you problems, try dividing it into 2 steps instead: 1:2 Vomit Brown to Bloodstone followed by 2:1 Vomit Brown to Bloodstone.

Well what do you know?  Without remembering it seems I did exactly my last suggestion.  This is another layer done with mostly Vomit Brown in the mixture.  You can really see a transition starting to form.  This is when painting becomes extremely fun for me, when I begin to see my progress and know I've only got a couple layers left.  It's results like this that reward you for your patience and diligence in making a smooth blend with watered down paints over many layers.

Starting to apply things sparingly now, we go into straight Vomit Brown.  Wow, you see that sheen of what appears to be metal starting to form?  Don't overdo it with the lighter colors.  For every surface of NMM, with a few exceptions, I would always pick one edge/corner to be dark and one to be light.  Make your plan before you even apply the first highlight.  Map it out in your mind where you imagine the light to flow.  Of course there is a perfectly correct way to do it, but just because something is incorrect doesn't mean it doesn't look cool, know what I'm saying?  If something doesn't make sense in reality, it doesn't make it WRONG to paint on a miniature - this is a fun hobby and you should really in the end go for what looks cool!  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise...

This final highlight may be hard to come by.  It's Bronzed Flesh by Citadel, and it was OOP 2 generations of paint ago.  The only current, in production way to get this color is going with Vallejo GAME color's Bronze Flesh.  From my understanding Vallejo Game Color was originally made for Games Workshop so long story short all of their colors are more or less copies of the old Citadel colors.  Apply this layer extremely sparingly, it should only be in the most bright parts of the metal.

The last part is probably my least favorite and something I won't continue to do on other armies (though I'll do it for Skorne because thats what I've done on every model so far, for consistency's sake).  I think instead I would mix Bronzed Flesh with this color, Menoth White Highlight, for a further layer instead of applying dots of reflection, as shown here.  They may be hard to see, but thats the point.  You want to imagine areas where the glint of the sun/a light/ a muzzle flare would be hitting the shiny surface of the armor.  Sometimes I place this in the brightest parts of the armor, or sometimes I'll place it in a transition stage between light and dark.  Don't overdo it as always, and avoid putting dots too close to eachother.  I really have no good way of suggesting how it looks right/wrong... just fool around with it and see if you like it.  It's definitely not always easy to achieve.\



Once I get some professional photos, I'll post pics of this completed bad boy.  He deserves the best quality photos, that only the lovely Sherry could provide!  As soon as she's available I'll be borrowing her for some photo shoots.  Hopefully this tutorial will inspire people to try out NMM as in my opinion is much more fun than working with metallic paints (and it doesn't dirty your water and brushes nearly as much!).

Drake, the Dragon Wargame

Since all the projects I've been assigned for Drake are complete, it's about high time I talk about them! 

I only found out about Drake the Dragon Wargame (actiongamesminiatures.com/‎) the day after their Kickstarter project funded!  I didn't have a chance to order anything, but I found out that the creators are local (and later found out that they are basically my neighbor!) to Vancouver so I thought maybe they could use a hand painting some of their models.  One thing led to another and BAM I have a Dragon to paint along with a special Summon Chant and a couple infantry models.

Drake is a skirmish miniatures game, not so dissimilar to Warmachine and Hordes on the scale, maybe fitting somewhere between Malifaux and Warmachine.  The bases are similar, the models are sweet, and the game is ALL ABOUT my favorite fantasy monsters - dragons.  Drake incorporates a Magic the Gathering-like feel to a miniatures game by allowing the player to not only build their army but their Chant (spell) deck that their powerful dragons can conjure.  I have yet to try the game out, but hopefully I'll be able to get a demo in soon.  It looks super fun, and on Drake's Kickstarter page you can find a full battle report video of how the game is played (minus scenarios).  From my understanding, scenarios are quite unique in this game as well because you have to manage action points on interacting with objectives versus destroying your opponents versus defending your own models.  Clearly there will be some strategy involved.

The first model I was given (just last Friday at that!) was the clever and cunning Saan Dragon.  This dragon is a cross between a pterodactyl and dragon, kind of like the Skorne Archidon but different.  It's lanky and boasts scrawny limbs yet makes up for it's apparent lack of physical strength by being the best Chant(er?) of all the dragon races.  Saan dragons have adopted some traditions and culture of a people that worship them: the Kaymayuk.  The Kaymayuk are Aztec in design, hence the makeup on the Saan dragon.  Most of the themes around the Saan are water and Aztec related.  I wanted to make the dragon a cool grey with black hands and feet and a striking yellow accent to a black bar of makeup across the dragon's face. These ideas were gathered from looking at Aztec warpaint and armor.  It really suited the dragon, I was pleased.  After finishing painting the skin, I realized it was kind of flat and boring, so I broke up the monotony by speckling some spots in various areas to make things more interesting.  The base was done with an airbrush, probably the only decent way to achieve the water effect in a pinch.

My second and third models were Kaymayuk Priests of Zerex.  As of yet, I don't know much about what Zerex is, but I'm assuming these priests are mainly responsible for overseeing worship of the Saan dragons, perhaps even being the few that are allowed to converse with the dragons themselves.  These guys I painted in a DAY! WOW. I was very proud of myself for how well they turned out given the time I had.  I generally kept in theme with the Aztec design, noticing that Aztecs seemed to sport primary colors in abundance; red, yellows, and to a lesser extent blues are all present.  I added some black zigzag patterns (another common theme on Aztec apparel) to the cloth worn on the bottom of these figs.  I think the yellow could stand to be a stage darker, but thems the breaks.

The pictures below are actually not the most recent pictures of the progress.  Although the model is essentially complete in these photos, I changed the base a bit to add a black rim to match the other dragons as well as repainting the water and tail because when I was speckling the brown patches onv the dragons skin, some paint inevitably found its way onto the base -.-

Without further ado,

Messing around with Badger Minitaire Ghost Tints

My complete set of Badger Minitaire Ghost Tints came in the other day, and I pretty much got started testing them out right away.  I have a retribution of scyrah army kind of sitting around and I want to see how fast I can get it together and make it look decent. 

I started with priming this model black, and then on a 45 degree angle spraying it with some grey primer.  Finally, i used an airbrush to hit certain key points of the model where I figured light would pool and would create interesting contrast.

Tints basically leave any solid colors underneath where they are applied in tact, but change the tint (hence the name) to the desired color.  I used Fresh Blood Ghost Tint and covered the entire model except areas around the 'nodes' or 'spheres' of energy, the sword, and the arc node.  These areas I airbrushed with the Plasma Fluid Ghost Tint, and then after that dried I went over the spheres themselves with a small spray of white with the airbrush, creating a glow effect in a pinch.

The model isnt done yet, but I've got the majority of it done and spent about 40 min tops on it.  At this point I'll go in and pick out some metal bits and paint the base.  This is a quick, cheating way to create something to a table top standard or possibly better?  I won't claim to have invented this method however; I got this idea from Les Burley of AwesomePaintJob.

As for rating the Ghost Tints, I have yet to figure out any other great use for them.  I think their main application will be in easy to achieve, basic OSL.  I'll have to try out the other colors (already had a fail attempt on something so far that we won't go in to!) before I give a solid rating.

And heres a smile from baby

Lock and Load 2013

This was my first time at Lock and Load Gamefest and man I achieved basically everything I wanted to.  I entered the p3 Grandmaster Painting competition and won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal, with 1 of the gold medals taking the trophy for Best Group Entry and a $200 USD cash prize!  I will be posting pics of my entries once I get my friend to take some pro pics with her camera.  I also got to meet Trevor, Jay, and Scott from my favorite podcast to listen to while painting: Chain Attack!.  I felt like a giddy fanboy but its always cool and personable meeting someone you listen to on your computer practically every day.  I got to shake hands and talk to Ron Kruzie and Meg Maples of Privateer Press which was also a nice experience, and must thank all Ron, Meg, and Matt for voting my entries so well.  I also got the pleasure of meeting a friend from Idaho that I had done a painting commission for and got to shake his hand for the first time.  I saw many of the 'pro' gamers hanging about on the tournament floor including Keith Christianson, Will Pagani, Jake Van Meter, Chad Skonwilker, etc which was kinda cool since I study their gameplay extensively on Matt Kotovsky's youtube channel.

Without further rambling, here's a huge photodump of some pics I took at L&L, which may or may not be of good quality.

Brian Dougas sculpting the soon to be plastic Gnarlhorn/Shadowhorn/Riphorn Satyr kit!!! Looks so effin good

Me and ChainAttack Jay after he stomped his opponent with Haley2 no less

 ???

Night Troll

 Fennblade Kithkar

Trollkin Warders

 Me and ChainAttack Trevor and ChainAttack Jay!

Me and ChainAttack Scott!

The Epic Thagrosh won Best Overall!

 My Skorne Entry

Todd's Kraken won the trophy for Best Large!