Legion of Everblight (2): Ravagor and Shredders

After completing Super Dungeon Explore last week, it really threw me for a loop to come back to something as intricate as Hordes, but I was ready for a little detail work. Where SDE was about being cut loose to do your own thing with minimal interfere from the sculptors, painting Hordes is like being walked through an extensive, yet well made, tutorial. 

These Shredders looked just a little too happy to be on the table. It was a great choice in the design stage to remove the eyes from these dragon-spawn. There's something delightfully creepy about the whole affair. I worked with a brighter shade of green as was intended for the smaller warbeasts.

I had read a lot of negative comments concerning Privateer Press' plastic offerings, but I'm happy to report that I had no trouble when it came to painting the Ravagor. The paint applied smoothly with no curling/flaking, the cast was solid, and it was a fantastic change of pace to work with such a light model.

When it comes to working on the odd angles and underside pieces of the kit that are hard to reach, having a light, durable model is a game changer. I know that for miniature companies, plastic kits are a heavy investment of time and money that limits their availability, but from a hobbyist perspective, it's worth every penny.

And so we're a couple steps closer to that 35 point goal. Next week we're setting the beasties aside and going for some infantry to round out the ranks!

WIP Photo Fail/Win

A consequence to painting too much is you start to get a little loopy after a while.

On the other hand, creativity is known to be extremely high when in a loopy state.

Check back on Friday for the non-clown version of this warbeast.

Super Dungeon Explore!

Every now and then a project comes along that I simply have no choice but to accept. 

I had seen some of the early concept work for Super Dungeon Explore (SDE), but it fell off my radar. When I was contacted out of the blue by a client wanting his SDE heroes painted up, I went in search of some reference material, and was instantly blown away. When I rant and rave that sculptors aren't allowed to have fun with their work, this is why. This is the shining golden example of exactly what can be accomplished when the boss steps back and lets the artists do their work.

Every model in this box is a masterpiece. The characters measure roughly three-quarters the height of a space marine but they pack enough personality to match an entire squad. The smooth, flowing lines of the design give the sculpt a sense of movement that carries it right through the painting process. Sometimes I have to guess where the sculptor wanted me to place the details, here it was clear as day.

Speaking of clear instructions, one of the biggest things about this box that really impressed me was the sheer intelligence behind the casting design. Every model comes pinned as part of it's mold. But this isn't your typical GW fare, little pointy pieces of plastic that snap in half if you look at it funny. These pins are serious business, easily overkill for such small plastic models; perfection. The best part has to be the shape of the pins, not a cylinder like we're used to seeing, but an "L" shape, which pulls double duty as a guide. Every piece is at the right angle, orientation, and position. There is one glaring exception, the dragon, a train-wreck of a design next to his fellows, but beautiful when finally assembled (and green-stuffed). 

I only painted the heroes for my client, but I'm sure the baddies are just as fun to paint as these fellows. The evil models have just as much care and quirkyness in each sculpt, especially the club-wielding giants. But for my money, there is one model in this box that justifies the price tag alone, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the big angry bear:

Best. Model. Ever. 

Next week we're back with the Legion of Everblight, checking out the (in)famous Privateer Press plastic offerings as well as some little baddies to help flesh out the ranks.

Vampire Counts Battle Standard Bearer

I had a chance to paint the Vampire Counts BSB, one of the outstanding new designs from the Warhammer Forge (part of Forge World). I am a huge fan of the Warhammer Fantasy aesthetic, and there are several elements of this sculpt that exemplify what makes Fantasy so great. 

1. It's so blatantly morbid that it actually goes beyond the barriers of good taste into a strange dimension of parody where they are allowed to get away with far more than they would normally. 
2. GW/FW is known for slapping armor on almost anything and no where is this more apparent than this sculpt. What could have been an anemic offering is rendered in gloriously damaged detail. This not only gives the sculpt a visual weight, but a physical one as well. The wight holding the banner is a strong piece of resin, not nearly as damage prone as it's plastic skeleton counterparts.
3. The pose.

The pose, while static enough to fit the demands of the ranked units, still fits a lot of personality in. This is mainly thanks to the several gentlemen, or what's left of them, occupying the cross bar of the banner. It would be one thing if they had simply been impaled and left to rot, but the fact that their cold-dead-hands has been clasped around the banner itself is a testament to mad creativity at it's finest. While painting the glowing blue eyesockets of the Bearer himself, I decided to continue on and paint he eyesockets of the top-shelf gentlemen as well. After all, how much more fun would it be if they too were animated and throwing things at the enemy as the Vampires marched inexorably forward? 

The only misgiving about this sculpt is the tiny connection point just above where the hand is holding the banner. The resin is extremely weak at this point, and it's worth noting that while the sculpt did hold up, I would have liked to have seen Forge World work a little extra creativity into ensuring this mold was solid. 

Don't let that stop you though. This is a fantastic product, clean, artful, and simple. This is what every wargaming mini should be, and would be a fantastic addition to any Vampire Count army.

Crimson Fist Icon

One of my readers was saying that he was considering working on a Crimson Fist logo for an upcoming project. This immediately made me think of an illustration I had done a while back but never posted on this blog. So enjoy the day and enjoy your icon reference.

Tutorial: Oversized freehand designs

About a month ago, I had a request to do a tutorial on large-scale freehand designs, and here it is!

For this project, I wanted to do a freehand design that was complex in nature, on a vehicle, and covered multiple surfaces with highly variable angles. No point in doing anything half-way in my way of thinking.

I started out with a Chaos Space Marine Rhino painted by my good friend Brian Coe. He is the proud owner of a chaos force that currently has thousands of points worth of models from every conceivable aspect of the army. To get all those marines around the board he has many APC's that have recieved a basic paint job. He was generous enough to donate one of his vehicles for the purpose of today's tutorial.

I chose the chaos star due to it's complexity, and to illustrate how to break that complexity down to a manageable level. When you're getting ready to lay out a large design, there are a few key points to bear in mind. 

1- Break it down. 

Even something as intimidating as the chaos star design is actually nothing more than a circle with a buch of rectangles poking out at 45 degree intervals. At the end of the short sides of the rectangles is a triangle, with a wider triangle on the outside of the circle. This works for any logo or icon you may want to use. 

If you're having trouble, trying printing out a black and white version of the logo and put some tracing paper over it. With some practice, you'll soon be able to spot the combination of basic shapes that make the more complex designs. 

2- Map out reference points

One of the major pitfalls when working with a large design like this is that it's very easy to get caught up in the details. This is fine, you want those details to look good after all, if you think ahead you can save yourself time and torture of having to redo a section. Before I even started the outlining process, I carefully placed reference points for all eight tips. That way, when I was distracted by other elements, I knew that the points would still line up. 

3- Take your time

I can't count the number of times I've been to a tournament and seen armies that hurt just to look at. It's not because they were bad, in fact, most of the "guilty" armies I saw were quite good. 

But they weren't great. 

This had nothing to do with the skill of the painter, the price tag of the brushes, the type of paint, or the manufacturer of the models. 99 times out of 100 its because he didn't take his time to push the model just that last painful step into something really special. I know it sucks and I know all too well the desire to just be done. 

Just think of it this way, an hour may be the only difference between goodness and greatness. That's not even a single game of 40k, and you'll have many such games to enjoy the results of your effort. Be strong, be patient, use the force, whatever you have to do, and you'll be unstoppable. 

Hordes: Legion of Everblight (1)

I've heard it said that Warma-hordes is where 40k players go when they grow up. I've been aware of the other mainstream choice for wargamers for quite some time, but never made the leap. I had painted a starter box of Troll Bloods a few years ago, which was fun. They ended up being ebayed off to the far corners of the earth, and it wasn't until I was contacted by a local player that I had occasion to go back and see what had transpired in the meantime. 

Wow.

The first figure I painted was Saeryn. It was refreshing to see a female that wasn't hyper-sexualized by the sculptor. She had a good balance between a feminine presence without giving up too much bulk thanks to her armored half. Speaking of armor, the intricacies of the detailing were mind boggling. It took several layers of washing and highlighting to get it just right. Saeryn was a treat, but she was nothing compared to the second warcaster...

Lylyth just blew me away. After painting hundred of static space marines waving chainswords over their heads and screaming at the top of their lungs, this model was a real eye opener. The sculpt conveyed a true sense of grace and movement. You could write volumes about her face, and she only has half of it showing. Such cold, calculated indifference is unique and intriguing; a blend of substance and subtlety. 

I painted the models in a different color scheme according to how the owner wanted, conveying a sense of extreme cold. He wanted the warcasters to have light green skin to reflect their semi-draconic nature, while the heavier warbeasts would be much darker...

Puns aside, the Carnivean was a beast to paint; I was not used to dealing with such a sophisticated position. Painting a Carnifex was a good warm-up for the Legion of Everblight, but that's all it was. 

For me this model sums up the main different between GW and Privateer. When you paint a GW model, you're working with a generally open stance, upward-facing angles, lots of plastics with lots of options; it's all very user-friendly and inviting. They give you lots of generic options and invite you to fill in the blanks with your own details. You become immediately invested in the product itself because of its personal aspect. 

Privateer Press stands in bold contrast, offering two options: their way or the highway. The sculptors of the Carnivean decided that this hunched, predatory position was best suited for this creature of war, and you know what? They were right. It didn't matter to them that the thing weighed a pound when fully assembled and the pose made it virtually impossible to paint some angles. Nothing was sacrificed in the name of the final product. 

In Warmachine/Hordes, every character has a name, and a story that has been predetermined by the creators at Privateer. They aren't so much inviting your input on the game so much as they are inviting you along for the ride. They're incredibly good at what they do, some might argue the best, and they know it. You're signing up for a very different experience when you invest in this system, and even though I had to spend extra time to conform to Privateer's standards, it was worth it. 

Is this game/hobby right for everyone? Definitely not. You have to be willing to give up some of the control that you've gotten used to with GW in order to make the leap. You won't be getting that custom force of plastic marines whose personal backstory you've written in google docs during work hours (you know you did). As I said before, this is a ride where you are the passenger, but man what a ride.

I have to say I'm intrigued to continue working with this force as it builds to 35 points. I have some Nyss troops lined up for the next slot in a few weeks. But that will come later, it's time to shift again with something (yet again) completely different!