Sunday, May 18, 2014

One more dwarf

I decided today would be a good day to devote to painting another dwarf for my warband though I didn't anticipate multiple fights with spilled paint pots and a leaky ink bottle (luckily not too much paint/ink was lost and nothing was damaged.). Hopefully all the messy struggle was worth it. Here he is so far!



I'll probably go back after I'm done with the unit and do a bit of shading and highlighting and whatnot, but my goal right now is just to get a decent paint job on everyone. I used a few unusual color choices with the yellowish-brown spear, axe handle and crossbow which I may go over in a brown ink wash, and the very purple hat. The beard and gloves look very red in the photograph. They don't look quite so intense in person, but they could still use a bit of a wash.

There are quite a few noticeable spots where a bit of paint of another color got onto something, like on the crossbow, which should be covered up by a wash and some highlights. Still, I'm happy enough with him for now and I'm sure I can improve on him later on.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Dwarf Adventurer Warband Begins!

Hello! I mentioned in an earlier post I would be starting my journey into the world of Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd edition with a small unit of dwarf adventurers. (Right here). While I'm still working to get my Blood Bowl team finished, I am getting a little tired of it and I felt I needed to take a break and do something much different for a bit.

In my previous post I said I was able to find a bunch of old 80's citadel paints and inks and posted some pictures of the starter sets. The rest of the group arrived in the mail just the other day and I immediately went to work sorting the colors and which were dry, watery or just right. I wanted to give the dwarf adventurers an authentic 80's feel as I think the best way to start into an oldhammer army is to give it the essence of the 80's and what better way to do that than the original paints and inks?

Opening the box!
Dry paints on the left, watery in the middle, good to go on the right.
Once the sorting was done I was ready to try out the new old paints. There's quite an assortment of colors there, although I realized I don't have a black, the white is dried up and I don't have a good dark brown. I'll probably order a couple things off Black Hat Miniature's Coat d'arms range rather than hunting down the individual citadel paints. Aside from those however, I think I've got just about all I would need for these.

Anyways, I stayed up late last night and worked on the unit leader from start to finish. I did a lot of experimental things with the paint and used colors I wouldn't ordinarily have used but I think it's good to step outside of what's "right" and try some things. He was a quick job, only took about 3 hours or so, so it's nothing amazing but I think I was able to get an old style feeling out of it.


As my friend said he is "Very... green." Even his beard is green! Oh well. I think he's good for a first attempt using the old paints. He was really really experimental. I wasn't sure how most of the things I tried would work out. I kind of substituted the greens for browns in a lot of areas. 

Imperial Purple shirt, teal cloak with green ink wash, spearstaff brown crossbow and axe handle with brown ink washes, goblin green gloves with green ink wash. The inks were pretty fun to use but I feel like they make the model a bit too shiny. I wonder if a matte varnish would help with that? But maybe the old paints are just glossier than the newer paints.

He needs a name. Hmm....
Well, there's the first step to the start of my dwarf warband! Above is other four models I'll be starting with. 'tis a good start, aye?

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Back!

Hello! I've been busy the past few weeks with my trip to Las Vegas and lots of homework/essay writing/school stuff to finish so I haven't had that much time to paint sadly but now that is behind me and I should be painting and doing Warhammery things again!

I've not finished basecoating my team yet, but I'm nearly there! All that's left are masks and beards for the dwarfs, some trimming and hat coloring on the bull centaurs and the pants/gloves of the hobgoblins as well as the 6th Chaos Dwarf player who I've just started on.

 I don't have a photo of the team yet. I'm waiting until I've finished the full base coat on them for that, but here's a good example of how the majority of the team looks so far.
Hey!! Pass me the ball! I'm open!

I was lucky enough to get the old 80's citadel paint sets including the inks recently and I've been super excited to use them. Most of the paints are still good. Some are a little bit dry and a few have become very jiggly, but the majority of them are still good to go as they are which is impressive considering these paints are about 30 years old.

I really love the artwork on the boxes. They just don't make them like this anymore!

The inks are still good as new. Wet and inky, ready to go. 
One for all the basic colors!

I did a test with the green ink just to see how they'd work. I took an old blood bowl Troll I'd painted knarloc green and did a quick ink wash over the top.

Whurz da beef?


 I was really impressed with how smoothly it went over the model and I'm quite pleased with the look of it after it dried. I think it won't be too long 'til this guy is ready to throw some goblins across the field.

Excellent!

Comparison shot of the two trolls of the goblin team Wyld Stallyns. Bill on the left, painted in knarloc green with no ink wash, Ted on the right same base with ink wash.

I hope to get my chaos dwarfs base coated soon as I'm getting a little bit tired of working on them and I'm ready to try something else for a bit. My 3rd blood bowl match shouldn't be too far away and I'd like to get them ready for that as well.

I'm also going to start on my dwarf adventurers unit to begin my dwarf army soon and I'm thinking I'll just use the old paints for that to try and give it an authentic 80's look and to really see how well they work.