Independent Painters

The Wizard

2012-01-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

This one was fun to paint though working on different shades of white proved a bit tedious. I tried to give each element (staff, inner and outer robes, hair and beard) a slightly different shade. It meant working on each element separately and using different colors as basecoat.

I think that this one will look great once it's put in the middle of the ranks of Warriors of Minas Tirith - he should stand out among them nicely.

More Gondor heroes coming soon so stay tuned. Not much to say here, so I'll just end this post with a song.

Just like that...

2012-01-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

...in the middle of winter a ladybug pays an unexpected visit.

I've kept silent on the blog recently but I have a few projects going on (one of which can be seen above. More pictures coming soon!

And by the way - I'm really impressed with the recently announced releases for the LotR miniature range. Maybe not all of them are great but hey, how many years it's been since the last release? You can check them out here. Gorgoth Beast - can't wait till I get a chance to paint it!!

2012: Year in review

2012-01-06T03:05:00.000-08:00

Some of the early WIPs for 2012

Time to make another one. I think that while the previous year had been a period of major changes and challenges, 2011 was a year of stabilization. I kept my job and started working extra hours in a language school. This meant less free time but it also forced me to organize my time better as working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or later does require that.
On a hobby level, I painted a total of 233 miniatures, which is an improvement compared to 179 in 2010. I also added more paints, brushes etc. to my workshop. I painted mainly LotR models but managed to work with a few from other systems. Malifaux was probably the best "discovery" I made last year - a great game with an amazing atmosphere and amazing miniatures. I also took (for the first time) part in a painting competition and ended up with a pretty decent result. My painting highlights would probably be the Death Marshals as painting these great models was particularly enjoyable and I'm quite pleased with the final effect. Another model that could be considered my painting highlight is the Cryx Helljack model as assembling it and thinking about the way to incorporate all the elements on this one was a lengthy, but an enjoyable process too. I should probably mention Darksword miniatures here as their miniatures are extremely well cast

Now, as far as resolutions for 2011 are concerned, here they are:
- expanding my Cryx force (at least one more unit, some solos and a few jacks)
I did paint a few more models but can't be to happy with the result.
- playing more (4 games in 6 months isn't a good result by any measure)
This one's no good - I completely failed here. In fact I'm even considering selling my WARMACHINE models but time will tell.
- writing more and more often on the blog
I guess I partly succeeded here as the overall number of posts has improved significantly. Still, I feel I could have done more here.
- buy a car :]
This one went well, I have a car and got used to it to such a degree that can't imagine life without it now.

Now, as for my hobby resolutions for 2012 (I'll try to be more realistic this time);

- keep on updating the blog as often as possible,
- paint more Malifaux models for my Lady Justice Crew and possibly start another crew (most likely the Dreamer),
- play at least one game of Malifaux,
- paint at least 200 miniatures :)
- prevent this little fellow from playing around with the minis I work on (which he seems keen on doing ;)

Born to die...

2011-12-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

...or already dead. The bandana hides the true image of one of Lady Justice's most loyal marshals - the Judge.

I entered it in the Rotten Harvest painting contest organised by Wyrd Games and it took 2nd place. This won me a 15$ voucher. The irony of it all is that the shipping cost is... you guessed it - 16$. Still, I can't complain as I was planning to make an order there anyway. Maelstromgames have been lousy with my Malifaux orders so far so I'll have to give the Wyrd store a go. If the pic is too small after clicking on it, try opening it in a new tab.

I stuck to the original color scheme while keeping the model tied to the contest Halloween theme. I added some dirt on the cloak using Vallejo dry pigments but I received many comments praising the bloody look of this element so I guess I unintentionally achieved another thing than I had originally planned. This may be due to the fact that this pigment looks more red than brown on a brighter surface.

I've started working on a few other Malifaux models so stick around to see some WIP shots. To finish things off, here's a nice song by one of the recent youtube sensations - I like the live version more than the studio one. I think it gave her a better chance to really show off how well she acts with her voice. Anyway, I'll leave you with the song and let you be the Judge.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all Independent Painters readers! We hope you had a great time with your dearest and got some nice presents - not only hobby-related!

It seems that GW has decided to give us a special treat - pics of new Vampire Counts models. Check these out over at BoLS.

And here's a touch of "Christmas Spirit" in a slightly twisted form.

Isengard once again

2011-12-20T10:10:00.000-08:00

Another update from Isengard project. Two sets of blisters, Uruk-Hai Scouts and Berserkers. Paintjob is consistent with what you saw in earlier Isengard post.

Scouts are done similar to Lurtz, cloaked in shades of brown-green with rusted shields and helmets.

Berserkers are pure and simple, just by the book mins with no extra fireworks.It's up to you how you see them. As far as I am concerned I really like how they turned out, dark and gloomy not so fairytaled.

Sd.Kfz 251/16 Flammpanzerwagen (II)

2011-12-19T00:18:00.000-08:00

One month later and I'm more than started on my Sf.Kfz. I managed to put him together in about 90%. The hardest part is the fact that whole interior has to be painted during glueing so it's kinda tricky, though I feel it went really good. There have been some problems with assembling correctly battle compartment due to inconsisten instructions which made it hard (mainly because of whole flamethrowing system).

With painting interior I decided to make it a bit scraped and rusted (as I imagine it would be with fire all over it for most time). So I used some good old salt techinque to create all the rust inside. Some Citadel washes have also been used on floor panels, plus drybrush with sponge. I finished whole with sime MIG pigments (though I feel I will require one more pas once model is complete.

As for painting I'm going for winter camo, so in order to achieve that I need to start with usual camo. I probably will use Dark Yellow with some brown and green patches. Then hair spray, salt, sugar, tape and masking fluid will come up to the line up to create washed and fatigued effect of winter camo.

The bad, the worse, the ugly

2011-12-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

Next batch of models related to Isengard pole. As title suggests it involves set of Uruk-Hai (Lurtz, Captain and standard ) being the bad ones, Saruman , being obviously the worse of whole Isengard bunch and additional feature by Gollum which is for sure the ugly one ;)

I had an opportunity to paint Saruman with the Palantir, which by far is my favourite of all of his poses. I decided to go with most movie like scheme of that character. So no great freehands of additional fireworks have been done. Well except maybe the base, which I decided to paint in manner of Orthanc floor - glossy with markings on it.

Pick of the Week

2011-12-11T02:15:00.000-08:00

Blizzard has always been great at making cinematics for their games and this one's no exception, can't wait til it's released!

I know the blog's been badly neglected in the recent weeks but I hope to work on that soon as I may have a bit more time:)

Forest Rangers II

2011-11-28T06:26:00.000-08:00

Rangers of Middle Earth are one of my favorite plastic models from the LotR range so I was glad I had another chance to paint these guys. The main challenge was to keep the various shades of brown diversified while still making them look like a coherent unit.
Another thing to bear in mind was that these are rangers, which means they usually travel and scout ahead of the army. That's why I went for the "deep forest old ruins" theme for the bases. To further mark them as those that travel a lot I added weathering to their cloaks and tunics. I also finally had a chance to try a product from the Army Painter - wilderness tuft. It's very easy to use and looks nice and realistic once glued on the base. I tried to use a few different types of flock to achieve a look of deep, humid forest where lots of different types of grass and moss can grow. Now I plan to work on a few Faramir's rangers and then the heroes I showed earlier on.

...and Justice for all

2011-11-19T01:12:00.000-08:00

Lady Justice's Crew was the first one that really drew my attention. First of all, there are the amazing Death Marshals, great sculpts and really interesting characters. Secondly, there's Lady Justice. Fluff is a really important part of Malifaux and I really enjoyed reading the parts which presented this character. Fluff aside, the model is great too. The overall quality of the sculpt is amazing with plenty of details. I like the "justice's blind" pun that's involved too.

I stuck to the original color scheme pretty closely as I simply like it and didn't want to change too much. I kept the colors dark and the highlights smooth. Painting her hair was the biggest challenge as they're very long and take up lots of space. In fact, if you look at her from the back that's the first, if not the only thing you notice. I guess when you look at her from the front, most notice also just one thing ;) Anyway, I knew that I'd need to pay extra attention to this element so here's how I did it. I started with basecoating the model black and spraying some brown paint over it for basic highlights. The whole hair area was painted using two thin layers of scorched brown. I followed it by applying a wash of badab black. Two colors were painted using drybrush then - once again scorched brown and bestial brown. After that I highlighted only using thin brush as drybrushing doesn't work well with highlighting small surfaces - the paint gets too evenly distributed over the whole area and all the shades are lost. The successive highlights were painted using: vermin brown, vermin brown mixed with some blazing orange, the same mix with a little bleached bone and pure bleached bone. The key was to keep the paints thinned down with water and apply two very thin layers rather than one thick.
I used a base insert with a tombstone from Wyrd Games in order to tie the model better with the competition I entered it in (The Rotten Harvest). I wasn't successful with this entry but I was with another one, which I will describe in my next post.
As for the choice of music - well, there simply can be no other for this one:

Rotten Harvest

2011-11-16T14:44:00.000-08:00

The title of this post may be misleading as there's nothing wrong with this harvest. In fact, it was quite fruitful.

I'm writing about the annual painting contest organized by Wyrd Games. This time I decided to give it a go and entered two pieces. I haven't taken part in any painting contest before so I was more than happy to find out that my entry placed second in one of the categories.
Congratulations to all the winners. There were many great entries so those that were chosen as best are really top notch works. I will write more about the pieces I entered soon so stay tunes. You can see all the entries here.

Sd.Kfz 251/16 Flammpanzerwagen

2011-11-13T02:07:00.001-08:00

That's funny name. Try saying it 3 times quickly :) Lately I've decided to take a journey back to my hobbisitc roots, time when I started fun with models overall. Before I was engaged into war games I was wasting my time with World War II's 1/35 models, mainly tanks and other armoured forces.

Now in depths of my I found room , kit I've bought couple years ago i.e Dragon's 1/35 German APC by name of Sd.Kfz 251/16 Flammpanzerwagen. It's one of many variations o this 251 type APC which was equipped with flamthrowers (2 of them and third one for use of infrantry mounted onto back doors. It's rather interesting one so it should be fun working with it.

Model itself is really well done (Dragon's standard for yers now). It came in series of models with additional photo-etched , brass and other various components, which are to make it more realistic. Whole moulds are top notch , withhout excesive mould lines , fitted tohether very well, with additional 3 crew members attached.

Especially those minis would be quite a shock to anyone ho's been dealing with wargames due to material they're made of. It's neither plastic, nor metal but tan vinyl, which makes them a bit more detailed but harder to work with in terms of fitting and cleaning. I guess other detailed alternative would be resin, but it would increase overall cost of set (in addition resin miniatures are domain of Verlinden which makes great one by the way). I decided to make that comeback to 1/35 scale modelling more interesing by trying to paint the model in winter camouflage.

My choice went to the 116th Panzer Division, also known as the "Greyhound 'Windhund' Division" which took part , among other operations, in Battle of the Bulge in 1944 (also know as battle for Ardens). I think it's project that will take me some time (mainly because I decided to work on it on weekend while at home so I guess 2-3 months will be the lowest estimate time in which I can complete it).

So now only glueing and painting is left to be done :) Don't worry next post will be traditionaly occupied by wargaming minis ;)

All pictures are borrowed from http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/dragon/dr6202.htm where you can find entire review of set.

Justice is done, this time for good

2011-11-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yes! Today I received something I ordered on ebay last week - Dead Justice set. I already have the original set but I liked this one so much I simply had to get it. It cost me an arm and a leg but it was worth it (and yes, I now it's available now at maelstromgames but I paid a similar price anyway).

The first thing that strikes me is that Lady J (aka Dead Doxy) is much smaller that the original sculpt which towers above the rest of the Crew. That's a big change, maybe she somehow shrunk in the process of resurrection? ;) Other than that, the (Dead?) Death Marshals look amazing and I'm really looking forward to painting them. The sculpts are very dynamic and full of character. The Judge is also top-notch and we finally get to see what he's hiding under the bandanna.
I'm really excited about this project and plan to paint it... this year. I'm currently working on a large number of models from Gondor but that's OK as I like most of those too (the Rangers in particular).

Elves and Horses

2011-11-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you by One Ring's monthly painting challenge. It did indeed challenge me a bit to come up with something new. Especially since I saw some great entries there.
Kudos guys your minis are top notch. Also due to a fact that I had Arwen (mtd) waiting for her brush time I wanted to make her special. I decided to leave standard purple scheme I used with foot version a while ago. So I asked myself "What's my second favourite GW colour?".

Dark Angels Green was the anwser. So I build the scheme around that. Also I wanted the mount to be some kind of unique , hence the idea of dots. I think it presents istself rather good though there's always room for improvments. Only thing I'm not totaly found of is the sword. I've choosen to go with metallics this time, it'll be great but I think I rushed it a bit due to approaching deadline forentries in challenge :D Maybe I'll change it someday :)

Now it's the time to wait and see. I hope it will do good in poll.

For music corner I picked piece that I accidentally found a week ago and been listening to it ever since (yep 7 days...). It's magical :)

Scavenger

2011-11-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the last WM mini I painted a while ago but haven't had time to show it here yet. It's another character jack called Scavenger. Nice model that has all that I like about WM models - exaggerated features so characteristic for the tongue-in-cheek approach to sculpting that the guys from Privateer Press have.

I placed this one on a much taller base. I thought it would suit this one and add to the slightly comical effect of thin-legged robot with torn wings. I also paid more attention to the bone parts, using two different colors for its jaws and teeth, trying to make them look ancient. I also worked a little more with washes and glazes on the metallic parts. I finished the mini off with more colorful types of flock that will keep this one in the theme I chose for the army.

As for the choice of music, there's only one song that comes to my mind:

Forest Rangers

2011-10-31T04:08:00.001-07:00

I put some of the Gondor heroes on the new forest bases. I needed to slightly alter them so that these guys fit better but overall I'm really pleased with the effect.

They look more dynamic and will definitely pop out among the rest of rangers.
I put some of the LotR heroes on the forest-themed bas Here's a quick pic to show them next to regular rangers. I used pieces from old LotR ruin set (not sure if it's still available. I plan on adding more static grass and different types of forest flock to make it look as it they were scouting in the forest among some old ruins.
I also finally had a chance to use GW tools from the new Cleanup kit. I really like the mouldline scraping tool. It's got blunt edges and removes the mold lines easily both from plastic and metal models. The fact that it's blunt is a big advantage as I cannot even recall how many times I've managed to cut myself while working with Citadel hobby knife. The handle is made of rubber so it's comfortable to hold too. The other one, a flash brush, is something that I still have to find good use for. So far it seems like a really unnecessary tool. I've also tried the Liquid GS and it seems very promising but I'll write more once I've worked with it a bit more.

Forest bases and a dead troll

2011-10-29T03:37:00.001-07:00

I've recently bought a few 25 mm round forest bases produced by Micro Art Studio. |I've worked with their products before but never mentioned them on the blog. I thought I'd take this opportunity and write a few words. First of all, the quality is amazing. I've used many other resin bases and in each case I had to deal with numerous bubbles (the ones that are left in a resin base/model after casting) that needed to be removed. Here there are just a few tiny ones, as you can see in the picture below.

Apart from the quality of cast, the level of detail is amazing. The texture of these trunks looks really great and the shape of each one is different. I plan to use them for Gondor characters (such as Faramir, Arathorn, etc.) so you can expect an update soon.
I bought mine at maelstromgames but if anyone's interested in MAS's products, you can check out their website. And to finish this post off, here's an example of a MAS base that I painted a while ago. The scales on the back were sculpted (not by myself, I bought this one slightly converted) and the snow flock was added after painting.
With long weekend ahead (four days off in total) I plan to do some painting and catch up with blog backlog so you can expect a new post tomorrow. For now that's all and I'll leave you with a nice song.

Dwarves again

2011-10-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of LotR dwarves I painted a while ago that haven't been posted yet. First off, Gimli - version in cloak. Very nice mini with lots of details. His face is particularly well sculpted which is an achievement given the scale. I followed the classic red color scheme. I also wanted the cloak to look worn and dirty and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The axe looks bad in the pics but I worked on it later on to smooth out the highlights. Of course, I forgot to take the pics.

And here's another one - dwarven captain. I really like the "come get some" pose of this model. I positioned it differently that it normally is as I thought it gives him more dynamism. I use Andrea red set so often that it's hard for me to imagine working with this color using different paints now.

And finally, a quick shot of the Iron Guard. The pic is really bad as the lighting was very uneven but it gives a very general idea of how they look like. Maybe I'll have better pictures in the future ;)

SM Terminators Painting Day 1: Armor

2011-10-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

I've started as usual with main parts of mini , which in this case is armor. Only difference is that this time I decided to use airbrush to do whole thing. I must say that I'm really pleased with the effect. Of course there are some parts that are in need of remaking and I think that I should take now some dark colours like Regal Blue to emphasis shades even more but in the end...4-5 h of painting instead of two weeks.
Who wouldn't like that deal, plus transitions are far smoother than any I could create with standard brush. Now to finishing touches on armor like creating shades on plates and in deepest parts which couldn't be done with airbrush. I must say that it would be shame to damage those pieces with scratches and rust but all in all that's what's supposed to be done to them so It's not my call :) I'm sure that they will look amazing. Also I must decide which parts will be repainted as metal plates, I think I'll choose them randomly for each model to add some more personal feel to it. Also squad and individual numbers will be given to each one to customise them even more (as usual). In the end it has been very, very productive day. I leave the results up to your judgment. As always any comments and critisism is deeply apprecieted.

And for music corner (yep our little tradition), music piece by Kaisers Orchestra , very dark and full of climax, and with history that's really adequate. I'm posting live version since it's a lot better plus mentioned background of that composition is explained. I think it suits Terminators theme very well.

Elven Royalty

2011-10-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, you're right if you think that title of this post is a reference to Viruk's earlier Dwarven Royalty. On my part I was working on set of heroes containing mainly of elven heroes such as Rumil, Gil-Galad, Gildor and Stormcaller (Elrond and Cirdan still in progress ;) ). These are made similar to codex painting as you may see. Only unsual thing is look of "Aiglos" i.e Gil-Galad's spear. Friend asked me to fix it with part he supported so no decision on my part here, just plain old "do what you're told to". Definitely it looks...different :D

Stay tuned for more updates involving mentioned heroes and some wolf-releted hero (feel free to guess who ;) )

To top that some lovely music that accompanied me for duration of work on this set.

Sir, yes sir !

2011-10-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I submitted some pics of Terminator squad. As we all know what's a unit without a leader. Now it's time to present 3 Sergeants for each equippment variant, so we have one with Power Claws, one with Thunder Hammer and one with Storm Bolter and Power Sword. In my opinion the best is the one with Thunder Hammer, really badass looks reminds me of Chapter Master ;) But it's up to you to decide which, if any, you like the most.

Some energetic music piece that accompanied me during assembling those bad boys , it's Polish band , hot debeut of 2011 ;)

Malifaux!

2011-10-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

I've already mentioned Malifaux earlier on to show some awesome models released for this game. There are quite a few articles about Malifaux spread around the blogosphere. I became interested in the game after reading Kerrys' entry at his blog - check it out here. Great models, amazing atmosphere and a quite interesting approach to playing the game (flipping cards instead of rolling dice) are some of the most interesting features of Malifaux. Another great thing is that it's a skirmish-based game, which means you only need a few models to play it. The rules are quite interesting and you can actually download them for free.
My main criterion in choosing models to paint and play is how they appeal to me. It wasn't an easy choice but in the end I decided to start with the Guild and Lady Justice crew. I was particularly impressed with Death Marshals so I had to start with them - definitely one of the most original minis I've seen so far.
Death Marshals are basically men who have been exposed to necromancy to such a degree that they've pretty much became undead. All of this for the greater good as it made them better suited for hunting... the undead. They use special pistols and... coffins (no kidding!) as their weapons.
Painting them was very enjoyable as the quality of the sculpt is great. Just a few mold lines, excellent quality of details (especially their grim, undead faces that are full of character at the same time).
I decided to use a color scheme that's slightly different to the one used in the Wyrd Games catalogue. Instead of brown cloaks I went for slightly darker colors. Since the coffins are the biggest part of each mini, I paid extra attention to painting the wood, making sure it looks more realistic. Resigning from the drybrush technique was the key here. It helps with quickly getting the basic highlights but if you want to have a more detailed surface, traditional highlights are more effective. Their skin was another important detail. I needed it to look like not-quite-dead-but-still-pretty-much-undead. I started with two thin layers of dheneb stone, followed by ogryn flesh wash. After that I added some highlights using a 50/50 white and dheneb stone mix and a pure white highlights. At this point they looked a bit too pale so I started adding glazes (leviathan purple and baal red) to add more depth. In the end I added another very light highlight of pure white to the most protruding elements. I also left dark surface around their eyes, which were paintet using only bright yellow (I aimed for the "evil eye" look). So, there you go, my first Malifaux models are here. I still have Lady Justice and the Judge to paint from this set but I'll definitely buy more minis (and at least one more crew) from this range, they're really fun to paint.
Alright, that's it for now and I'll leave you with a song that I thought was suitable:

Cheers,
Viruk

100 and counting!

2011-10-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

First hundred followers are the hardest but here they are! Yesterday we reached this nice number. I'd like to take this opportunity and express our thanks (mine an Haldir) to everyone who subscribed to the blog as well as to all of you people who visit, read and leave comments on our blog. All of this keeps us motivated and encourages us to paint, take pics of our works and share our ideas and thoughts.
We decided to celebrate this fact by starting a FB fan page. You can find the "like me" on the left upper part of the main menu of the blog or you can simply visit the page here. We'll be using it more frequently than the blog so if you want to stay in touch with Independent Painters, feel invited to join us there :)

And to finish off this post, here's a nice little song :)

Another batch of Terminators

2011-10-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

Close up on Heavy Flamer Twins

Guess I should start my newest post as almost each and everyone so far this year...but I won't ;) Though truth be said I finally managed to steal some time to reintroduce myself to paints and brushes. My newest project is revolving around 40k (suprising heh? :) ). Up on the agenda are three sets of Space Marines Terminators: Assault Team with Power Claws, Assult Team with Thunder Hammers and plain old Squad with Storm Bolters each squad in power of 10. Idea is to achieve more machine like look than the usual Space Marines. Hence more plasticard will be involved :) As you can see on attached pictures, even some ripped limbs (so far only one that still needs some cosmetics so it would look more natural, I'm thinking some GS and PE foil should do the trick.

Whole happy family

Gatling Twins

Also I've decided to add some multipart function to some of the fellas. As a result we get squad of 10 Terminators with Storm Bolters and Power Fists that can be equipped just as that or we can do some switiching and have 1:1 ratio of Heavy Flamer and Multicannon, also we can decide to use either one of them in count of 2. Also Two additional Termies have some magnets in top part of Armour in order to allow attachment of Cyclone Missile Launcher systems ;) Pretty usefull I guess. No I just can't wait to lay my brush on them as Terminators are pretty much my favourite mini of 40k universum :)

Caulties of war

Cyclone System focus

And for the finishing touches music piece that should suit climax of such "cheerful" team. (I know for sure Viruk would love this pick ;) )

Pick of the Week

2011-10-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Taking good pictures of models isn't easy so it's always great to find some good advice. I've recently come across this blog and found a really great tutorial on taking pics there. Not only the author shows how to set things up for taking photos using artificial lighting but he also gives some good hints about post-editing the pictures. Check this out, it's definitely worth reading!

Click this link to see the whole thing.

Dwarven Royalty

2011-10-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

As promised in my previous entry, I'm catching up with my blog backlog. There are quite a few pictures I haven't posted yet. So, here we go. I described my impressions of finecast in one of the earlier entries. They were rather positive and painting these guys hasn't changed them. Paints flow really well on this kind of resin and the fine details (they both have eyes, though it's hard to tell by the pictures - you have to take my word for it) are a little better than on the metal versions. I used resin bases and more vivid colors to mark them as royalty (see the warriors color scheme for comparison).

Durin and Mardin is another due that is used together. Durin was one of the greatest dwarf kings and Mardin served as his personal bodyguard. He uses a trident - the same type of weapon that is common for Vault Warden Team as he is a veteran of this unit. Here I also tried to keep the colors richer than on the regular soldiers. I also painted the metallics using brighter shades. And that's pretty much it as far as dwarven royalty is concerned. There will be one more here, a captain and some elites so stay tuned.

Hobby news

2011-10-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend in the hospital and had a knee surgery. It went well and I'm already back home, recovering quickly. Now, having this surgery meant a compulsory two week sick leave. I need some time to fully recover before I start walking normally again.
This situation has some undeniable advantages. The most obvious one is that I basically have two week long holidays now and can spend more time on hobby - you can expect the effects soon. I still have a few pics of dwarves I haven't uploaded to the blog yet. I also want to finally catch up with my painting backlog - one jack from WARMACHINE and a crew for Malifaux.
Now, back to the main topic of this entry. GW has recently released some information on the new hobby supplies. I'm particularly happy about this one. Liquid GS that is water soluble and can be applied with a brush? I'm taking two!

Other than that, there are a few other new items:
- Citadel cleanup kit: Contains a flash brush with right rigid bristles for removing flash from resin and a mouldline scraping tool, ideal for metal, resin and plastic.
- Citadel Emery boards: Pack contains three emery boards that are great for smoothing resin surfaces. Contains two fine-grade and one super-duper-extra-fine-grade board.
- Revamped Citadel tool kit: Contains all previous tools along with the new clean up kit.

Looks to me like GW's trying to make up for the first batch of finecast minis that wasn't received very well by many of the customers. Still, GW makes really good hobby tools (hobby drill and hobby knife are top-notch). Even though it may seem like GW's trying to rip us off by introducing new tool that aren't really that necessary, the quality of this stuff is the key factor.

Joy of Painting. Encore.

2011-09-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've recently taken part in an event organised by GW Poland (you can read about it here). It was a very positive experience so when I had a chance to do it again, I couldn't refuse. Last Saturday, I had a chance to participate in a similar event.
This time it was organised at the Warsaw University of Technology. Staying indoors meant that we had a chance to maintain better control of the whole thing.
Once again, the turnout was really good. It was particularly nice to see people who were at the previous event with their kids and came back wanting more. The atmosphere was great too. Once again, I was struck by how quickly kids learn the basics. A matter of a few minutes and most of them were able to paint a Space Marine, High Elf or a member of the Fellowship of the Ring as if it was part and parcel of their everyday school life.
Painting miniatures was only part of the larger event devoted to various types of Board Games. Everyone who took part had a chance to try out many games in the game room. Obviously, guys from WFB and WH 40K were there too with painted minis set up on a gameboard.
All in all, it was another great experience. Thumbs up for GW Poland for taking the initiative.
I was quite busy during the event so here are just a few pics that I took.

If you want to read more about the event and anything else connected with GW P{oland, check out their FB profile, some nice stuff going on there.

Blast from the Past

2011-09-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to start another series of posts (actually, it the second one after "Pick of the Wee" which is published every...now and then). This time it's going to be called "Blast from the Past" and I will be showing new pictures of my older works.
The reason I'm doing this is simple - an extremely talented and professional photographer (and a graphic designer as well) agreed to have his pictures of my works posted on the blog. If you wish to contact him or see some of his works, you can check them out here.
I'd like to begin with a set of pictures that I find particularly impressive - the Nazgul. It's really difficult to take decent pictures of models painted mainly using dark colors. I've never been able to set everything (background, lighting) right and take pictures that show the all the highlights really accurately. Not to mention the post-editing (increasing/decreasing the brightness, saturation, contrast, etc.). Well, it turned out it's possible and the pictures below show it very well.

This one has already appeared on the blog but I can't think of a more suitable song so here it is again:

Floi Stonehand

2011-09-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

One of the nicest dwarf models in the LotR range that I've painted so far. All the details - staff, face, book, cloak, everything is really nicely sculpted on this one. I followed the color scheme that GW proposed on their website and I think it suits this model really well. Rich colors stress his high rank as the Loremaster and makes him look nice next to other elites that use similar color scheme (King's Champion, Dain and Balin). OK, enough writing, here are the pictures:

I wasn't able to think of any piece of music that would fit this blog entry so I'll just add this one from the latest Ulver album - my personal favorite.

Little Men...

2011-09-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

I painted these guys a while ago but haven't found time tio upload all of the pictures and write about them. Nothing to write home about. I aimed for a solid, coherent look throughout the whole unit. I wanted to make sure I don't have the "army of clones" effect so I used different type of bases and slightly different color schemes for the identical poses. I generally followed GW's color scheme with some minor changes. And that's pretty much it, here are the pictures:

More coming soon so stay tuned :)

King's Champion

2011-09-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

The beginning of a school year is always a busy time, especially if you're a teacher. Still, I managed to find some time for painting and finished up a couple of dwarf lords/heroes. I will be showing all of them at the blog in the nearest future. I thought I'd start with my favorite so far - King's Champion.

Pretty much all of the metal miniatures of dwarves from the LotR range are great sculpts and this one's no exception. Each one from these three is nicely detailed, some of the elements are particularly well sculpted (the shields, helmets, armor). I also like them as they don't resemble any other previously released models too closely (which happens sometimes in LotR).

These guys are used separately in Lotr and function as a single unit in WotR. I decided to take advantage of it and create a kind of small diorama. I used a plastic statue from old ruins of Middle-Eerth set and some cork. I also added some GS to make sure that the spaces where bases go are round and even.

GW's snow flock and some scorched grass were used to finish it off. More dwarves coming soon so stay tuned :)

Joy of Painting

2011-09-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took part in an event organized by GW Poland (Haldir was there too). It was part of a larger festival of games (various types but mainly board games). It took place in the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw. The scenery was very nice as we were set up next to the Palace on the Water. Weather was also perfect - warm and sunny.

The atmosphere was very nice too with whole families taking part in the event. Small kids were the most frequent guests but their parents/grandparents were also eager to have a crack at painting miniatures.

Everyone who sat down to paint could take the model he/she worked on home. We had lots of plastic minis from GW started sets (High Elves from The Island of Blood, The Fellowship of the Ring from The Mines of Moria and dozens of Space Marines from Assault at the Black Reach).

It's amazing how little guidance kids need to start painting. A brush, some paints, a miniature and some creative energy, that's pretty much everything.

Other Guys from Mitril.pl (the biggest Polish website related to Lotr SBG/WotR) had their stands next to ours and spent the day teaching how to play War of the Ring and LotR SBG.

I really enjoyed taking part in this event. I think that this this the best way to promote the hobby, reaching out and showing it to everyone. Kudos to GW Poland for organizing everything and many thanks to everyone who took part in it.

You can see both of the Independent Painters in the pics below. I'm, the one wearing a checked shirt, Haldir's the one in blue sweater (second picture) and there's also my younger brother (black sweatshirt, first picture) who helped a lot during the event.

And here's probably the best song that summarizes the mood of the event:

Hit the Road

2011-08-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

I guess everyone who has a blog finds himself or herself beginning an entry by "I haven't been writing much lately" or anything that has the same meaning. So instead of going with the flow I'll just briefly mention what has been taking much of my free time - preparing for my driving licence test. I took it today and I passes (my first attempt, yay!). It wasn't easy and it was very stressful too but somehow I managed to complete it. Now only 3-4- weeks of waiting and I'll finally be able to hit the road !

Now back to hobby stuff. I finished this one a while ago but haven't got round to uploading pics to the blog.

I painted Mouth of Sauron using pretty much the same techniques I used for the Nazgul earlier on. The main difference is that I used Dry Pigments (Vallejo) for Rust effect. I wanted him to look a little different and I thought this kind of effect might suit the model well.

Now I'm going to work on some dwarves. In fact, I've already painted quite a few of them and I'm working on some more at the moment so you can expect pictures soon :)

Winged Migration

2011-08-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post something that's not hobby related this time. Here's some great music from one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, the Winged Migration.

Check out the whole playlist, truly magnificent music.

#9 The Witch King

2011-08-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last but definitely not least, the Witch King. Once again, kudos to whoever sculpted these two. Really great models and painting them was a lot of fun. Not much to say about this one as I used pretty much the same techniques as before and focused mainly on keeping the highlights on the robes as smooth as possible.

The foot version is a bit tricky as the chain of the flail is very fragile. In order to make it stronger, I glued it to the top of WK's helmet.

And that's almost it as far as Mordor is concerned, at least for the time being. I'll post some pics of a final miniature later this week and then I'll start working on another army. To finish off, here's a nice version of a classic Metallica's song.

Walls and Terminators

2011-08-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

Finally ! After 3 weeks of wandering around many,many places around I'm allowed back to my aparment. Enough to say that I had summer flat renovation done. As per usual workers had slight delay with it and presented their part of work week later that agreed. Then I had to do some work with wallpapers and electric instalation ;) A little break from working with 28 mm stuff. It was strange to do everything i real size :) I couldn't resist to take some "before" shots of walls in my room. As you can see they are striped naked of everything.

I decided to go with some subtle yet contrast choice of colours. So in GW's nomenclature I've choosen Liche Purple and somewhat of Fortress Gray with couple of borders.

Now to more interesting subject. I'm starting (soon I guess) a 40k project which includes Terinators. Lots and lots of them. There's gonna be 3 squads of them; 10 Assault Termies with Thunder Hammers, 10 with Lightning Claws and 10 Standard Terminators with range weapons. I also bought box of Grey Knights to use parts of that box to mix in with rest and make more customised set of "mech-look' units. I also intend to make some parts from scratch , like artificial limbs for example to enchance mechanical feel of group. Some painting tricks also ought to do their part (more metal parts, some different types of metal). Anyway I hope to get on the way slow and steady ;)

To finish my comback a pice that phonetically relates to my area of expertise for last days ;) Great piece by Offspring (and a bit of my beloved hockey with it :) )

#8 The Shadow Lord

2011-08-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

I didn't really like this model at first. I guess it can be partly explained by the fact that it used to be the most popular Nazgul among gamers in Poland and I've seen dozens of poor renditions of this model. I'm not a gamer myself but I noticed that at some point The Shadow Lord was a must in pretty much any Mordor army. In such cases it's hard to look past painting.

When I got the model I wasn't too impressed at first. It seemed too pompous with arms extended above its head. My initial opinion changed as i started working on this one. It's another great Nazgul sculpt with very high level of detail. It seems a little thinner (especially the foot version) compared to other ones but that's probably because it's sculpted this way and the cloak isn't too heavily folded.

I spent a little more time on the runes. I googles for Mordor runes and came up with a picture that showed how "Mordor" should be written in runes (not sure how "real" was it but I liked it anyway). I used the picture for reference and wrote the word several times along the edges of the robe of both foot and mounted version. While they add a lot to the miniature in terms of overall impression, i's easy to overdo with them. I noticed that in the codex version, the sheath of his sword is also covered with runes but I thought that painting them there would make this one look like a Christmas tree so I left this element out.
I'm not sure but I guess I could say this one's my favorite Nazgul so far. Nest one that will be shown here is the Witch King so stick around and I'll ;eave you with a song that is generally associated with the Matrix movie even though it had been used in a much better movie ;)

#7 The Betrayer

2011-08-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

Another nice Nazgul model. This one has a few features that make him easily distinguishable from the other Dark Riders; the scarf-like extension of his cloak, something that looks a little like a turban and last but not least, the gems.

Painting him was quite enjoyable and it was easy to add more character to this one - I simply painted these elements using different, more vivid colors (well, apart from the turban - I left it black). I think that gems are the element that makes the difference here. Adding some shine to them gives the impression of richness and creates a bright focal point on a dark miniature.

Now, onto the Shadow Lord. I changed my mind about this model but more about it tomorrow. I'll leave you with one from my favourite contemporary guitar virtuoso. Maybe not his best, but I'm trying to keep the 'black' present in the titles of songs I attach while writing about the Nazgul.

#6 Khamul the Easterling

2011-07-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Another of the Nine that allows an addition of red. I think that it shows pretty well that even a slight touch of different color gives much more life to these models. Here there's also the golden armor which goes well with red too.

I initially wanted the mount to look as if it was standing on its hind legs. I thought it would give it more dynamism. It did that but it also made the model very unstable. In the end I bend it so that it looks like it's at a gallop.

OK, three more to go and all should be ready next week. I'll leave you with another "black" song that also reflects the weather here pretty well.

#5 The Dark Marshal

2011-07-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Definitely the most heavily armored of the nine. Lots of armor adds some nice contrast to the robes. Also, the way it's sculpted makes painting easier as the parts are very clearly defined. My favorite part is his helm as the large gap reveals only dark and empty space. Adds a lot to the character.

Following the codex painting scheme, I added a touch of blue to the armor. I didn't like the effect very much as it made him look too bright for so I toned it down to better match the dark color scheme.
I had one small problem with the model as the mount is glued to the base in only one place. There was also something that looked remotely like grass sticking from below one of the front hooves. I used it to glue the horse to the base in the second place and added some static grass over the element to hide it as it looked a bit unnatural.

Alright, five down, four more to go. I'll leave you with another nice song that features a motif of the black color. It's also one of mu favorite music videos.

#4 The Tainted

2011-07-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

This one has got to be my favorite Nazgul sculpt so far. It makes me think of WFB Lurgle Lords with its frame twisted in such a way. Also, the snail-like look that he has adds a lot of character to the model.

I still wanted to add something more to the model. While painting the Nazgul I generally stick to the codex color scheme. The final effect is always slightly different as I use other types of painting techniques (mainly smooth vs. extreme highlights).
This one was no exception as I tried to add the sort of lighting on the lower parts of the Nazgul. In GW's version it's done a bit too clumsily for my liking - the greenish/blueish highlights are lost among extreme highlights of the robe. I wanted to add a bit more contrast here, while still maintaining the glow effect.

I didn't do it on the mount's robe as it would make the whole model look extremely bright. I also left the parts of the robe of the foot version painted black so that it blends better with the other Nazgul. These are Dark Riders after all ;)
Now since there is some variety in the color scheme, the song should also reflect that.

Viruk

#3 The Undying

2011-07-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here's another one from the Nine - the Undying. I really like the sculpt, especially the robes. A pretty menacing figure compared to the rest of Dark Riders.

Adding some red helps this mini a lot. It breaks the dark color scheme and makes it look a bit more interesting. I kept the rest dark so that it would match the other Nazgul well. The other thing that works pretty well in my opinion is the addition of red on the inner robes of the hood. It kind sort of gives more shape to this part.
I also like the mount on this one a lot/ In order to make it look a bit more demonic I carefully picked out every single tooth and painted the eyes red, highlighting them with orange and a very light touch of white to make them look like they're glowing.

Just like the last time, here's another song to go with the 'black' theme. Ulver's one of my favorite bands - their concerts are really amazing (I had a chance to go to one two years ago).

Viruk

#2 The Knight of Umbar

2011-07-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the second one of the Nazgul - the Knight of Umbar. As I said earlier, since these are basically GW-designed characters (they were nameless in "The Lord of The Rings", apart from the Witch King of course and I guess Khamul was also named at some point).

I basically followed codex's color scheme with some minor changes. The only elements that distinguish him from the other Black Riders are his armor (which was treated with some some green glazes to give it an even more distinct look), belt and all the leather straps.

Alright, another evil character painted up, time for an equally EVIL intermission, enjoy.

Now, onto the next one.
Viruk

Pick of the Week

2011-07-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

`Malifaux - I'm sure that some of you have heard the name. It's a character-driven, skirmish game produced by Wyrd Games. I will write more about it in the future but for now I just wanted to show you guys some of the latest releases. Thesre are already lots of great models in the range but I'm blown away by these.

And my favourite, a resculpt of Seamus and his avatar version:

Amazing stuff. As I said, I'll get to Malifaux later, probably somewhere in August ;)
Viruk

Work in Progress

2011-07-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Just some WIP pics of the minis I started working on a while ago. Three more Nazgul (including the Witch King) and Mouth of Sauron, all basecoated and ready for painting. Here's a little sneak peek:

I also started working on movement trays for these and for the dwarves that will be painted next. I used some Concrete Rubble Mix to fit nicely with the bases I will use for the little guys.

And that's about it for now, as you can see I'm still busy as a bee with Lotr work. Stick around as I will post at least one more update with pictures of another painted Nazgul this week.
Viruk

#1 The Dwimmerlaik

2011-07-20T01:08:00.001-07:00

The Nazgul are probably my favorites among Tolkien's creations. In the book they are described as wraiths who were powerful men in the past but succumbed to Sauron's power and become forever bound to his will. They were body less creatures that inspired fear in their enemies who called them "the Dark Riders" or even preferred not to mention their names. Really great fluff :)
Painting them isn't easy though. I find it challenging to find the right balance while highlighting their robes. The trick is to avoid making them grey and keeping them black, while still adding enough highlights to make them look three dimensional. Andrea Black set is great help here.

I will be painting all of the Nine in the nearest future. The first one I finished is the Dwimmerlaik. As far as I remember they were not given names in Tolkien's work (with the exception of Witch King). My guess is that GW designers gave them names that highlight their unique features as characters in the game.
I enjoyed working on the Dwimmerlaik. It's a great sculpt with the robe seeming to fly around him in all directions. I followed the codex's painting (hence the brighter highlights on the inner robe) but tried to keep the highlights smoother. I also used different shades of black for the cloth on the mount and for the rider - something that I want to stick to while working on the remaining eight.

Taking pictures of dark models is very difficult as you want to get perfect lighting first. I took the pics in pretty much the same way as usual, only I added a while sheet of paper over the model to dull down the light. Without it the light hit the model too strongly and it looked as if it was covered with gloss varnish.
Choosing music for the next blog entries will be challenging since Haldir's already used some of the great classics that have 'black' in their title but I'll try to find some more. To begin with, here's one of my favorite songs by Type O Negative.

Check for more soon, I'll post an update or two more this week ;)
Viruk

Finecast - first impressions

2011-07-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

I got my first blister with minis produced using GW's new technique yesterday so I'm finally able to write something about Finecast.
First of all, I really like the packaging. The transparent plastic is pretty neat and it lets you see the minis. Good thing, especially for those who buy personally at a store as it allows you to see if there's anything wrong with the contents. Another good thing is the printed picture of painted versions that you get. It makes sense, in particular for those who like to stay true to codex's color scheme. For those who don't do that, well, I guess it still helps with painting.
The first thing you notice after taking the minis out of the blister pack is their weight. They're very light and they feel completely different than the metal ones in hand.
The overall quality of the cast is very good. The details on the clothes, cloaks and weapons look very nice and I was pleased to notice that these two actually have eyes (something I wasn't able to say about metal versions I've encountered so far). There are practically no mold lines and the small bits that need removing can be scrubbed off easily with fine sandpaper. So basically, preparing these for painting is easier than metal ones.
And that's it for the good things. The bad things now. Fortunately, there aren't too many of these. First of all, you might have notice in the pictures that Balin's index finger is one joint too short. Also, the blade of his axe will need some work with Green Stuff. Other than that, there are tine holes left after bubbles of air that got caught in the form during casting. They are spread randomly in several places. It's hard to say at this point whether they will cause any problems but my hope is that they are small enough to disappear after basecoating.
I was initially put off by very negative reviews of Finecast I read online but having seen one in person, I am hopeful that despite a few issues with it, GW will improve the casting process. I'm now looking forward to painting these guys but this will have to wait until August as I have a few other things to deal with first.
Viruk

Master of Puppets

2011-07-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

I've been into the hobby for a while now but I've never had a chance to paint this model (calling it a "mini" somehow doesn't seem appropriate). It's one of the first from the Lotr range to be released by GW and by far one of the best, at least in my humble opinion.
At first glance it might seem like an easy model to paint, just a simple drybrush on the armor, some highlights on the cloak and it's ready. Well, it's not really that simple. Even though the way the armor is sculpted makes painting it and choosing where to place highlights much easier, there's still some more work involved.
I started by covering the whole armor surface with a layer of Scorched Metal from Reaper range. It's pretty similar to GW's Tin Bitz, only the consistency is better as it's not so think so it was my best choice for a base color. I began working up the highlights from there with silver paints. Boltgun metal was followed by Chainmail. This caused the contrast to stand pretty strong so I decided to start doing some washes. Ogryn Flesh and Boltgun metal were the first, followed by one more highlight, this time of Mithril silver but limiting it only to the most protruding elements of the armor.
After that I started with glazes. The main difference between a wash and a glaze is that the former is used to cover a larger surface and is usually applied more generously, while the latter almost always consists of very heavily watered down paint/wash. I really like using glazes as they're great for adding more definition to the metal surfaces. Glazes work best when applied in at least several layers.
I realize that the pictures don't show this well but the armor was given a few gryphonne sepia glazes, while the chainmail received some asurmen blue glazes. I also used glazes of baal red and leviathan purple on the mace.
I also tried to make the ring somehow stand out so I chose to add a touch pf red and yellow to it. Painting it silver or gold would also work but it would be next to impossible to notice that it's there. Here it's probably only visible in the last picture as the angle is right.
The cloak was painted with (surprise, surprise!) Andrea Black set which has become indispensable for me while working with Mordor miniatures.
Elendil (the dead one) and Isildur (the one with raised broken sword) were also fun to work with. I used much more varied colors here (brighter shades of silver and gold to begin with), while still keeping them toned down.
In the end I put everything into a themed cavalry movement tray.
Hope you like the final effect. Now I have six Nazgul to paint and I'm going to start with the Dark Marshal. And that about wraps up this blog entry. Just to finish off, here's a song you may have heard before ;)
Cheers,
Viruk

Taking pictures of minis

2011-07-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's a pretty important aspect of this hobby. I've tried different methods, various types of lighting and backgrounds and after lots of experimenting I'm now more or less happy with how my pictures look in the end.
Since I have my work space set up in the attic, lighting is a key issue. As you can see in the picture below, the main source of light comes from a roof window.

It's really a great thing as it allows me to maximize the time I work in daylight. On the other hand, the sun rays hit it directly so during the day it gets a bit too bright for taking pictures. In broad daylight light seems to be bouncing off the models that are photographed and as a result the photos show minis very inaccurately.
Using the old fashioned trial and error method I found that pictures look much better when they're taken early in the evening/late in the afternoon during a sunny day. Still, even then I need to use a white sheet of paper so that the light doesn't hit the photographed minis too strongly. This primitive blende helps distribute the light better.
Now let's have a close look at the photo setup.

As some of you may instantly recognize, I use a photo background from Massive Voodo (here's a direct link). I also usually use a tripod as even the slightest move of hand can ruin a photo. That, combined with using self-timer means that the pics are hardly ever blurred.
I use a Sony DSC-HX1 digital camera. It has a resolution of 9.1 megapixel and a pretty decent lens. As far as options are concerned, everything's very automatized and the camera automatically switches to macro (it sometimes even switches to a face recognition mode when I do close ups ;). The only option I always keep switched off is the flash light as once it hits a mini when a photo is being taken, only the most protruding elements are clearly visible.
I also have a small light box (30cm) but after several unsuccessful attempts I basically gave up on it. Maybe if I placed it on the desk right under the source of light it would work better but I don't really feel encouraged to try, especially taking into account the fact that the backgrounds I have printed are too large and don't fit inside.
I think I get pretty good results when I take pics when the daylight is just fine. Doing it at night is something that I've tried several times but never got good results.
So there you have it, this is how I take the pictures you see in my posts on this blog. If you have any comments/suggestions, feel free to write them in the comments section.

Flight of the Nazgul

2011-07-14T11:09:00.001-07:00

Let me start this post by a piece of 'music'. A very crude black metal song by Summoning that I still find particularly suitable for this post. In general, even though I don't listen to Summoning as much as I used to in the past (tastes in music change), I still think that music created by this band fits Tolkien's world well (especially the shadowy parts).

Now onto the model itself. First of all, a really well-sculpted and cast one. All the parts fit nicely and putting them together wasn't nearly as difficult as I had expected. There way quite a few mold lines to be removed but that's nothing new.
I tried to keep to the codex version while painting it, though my style is significantly different. As you can see here,the painted version from GW's online store is painted using extreme highlights. De gustibus non est disputandum but I still prefer smooth highlights to this style. In my opinion it makes a model look too flat as basically only 2-3 colors are visible (especially when the painting's not top notch as in this case...).
While highlighting I also like to use some washes and glazes in the final stage to make sure the highlights look extra smooth. Working on this beast and the Witch King was no different. I'm particularly pleased with the wings. I started off with several basic highlights, followed by a devlan mud wash. In the final stage, I gave them some glazes with lighter brown washes and a purple one. As a result I got a nice solid color that doesn't look too uniform. The only departures from dark color scheme were the beast's tongue (finished off with a glossy varnish) and fire of WK's sword.
I struggled with the pics as due to the size and heavy use of dark colors it wasn't easy to take decent ones. I switched back to a blue gradient as a background as I thought it might show dark colors on the model more precisely. The only problem were the close-ups as each time I tried to take some, the pics became too grainy. In the end I chose some that don't look that bad.
Hope you like this one, now I'm going to work on the Dark Lord. Check back soon to see the final effect!
Cheers,
Viruk

Nazgul(s)?

2011-07-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Just wondering if there's a regular plural to it or maybe it's always Nazgul? Anyway, I'm working on a bunch of them now. Since GW released all of them, I ordered the nine but from different stores (MO is a pain in the back, but that's a different story). I currently have six of them; The Dark Marshal, Dwimmerlaik, Khamul, Knight of Umbar, Tainted and Undying. All of them are very nice sculpts and it can be clearly seen that GW's sculptors put a lot of effort into customizing these guys so that there's no chance to confuse one with another.
My favourite has to be the Tainted. Hunchbacked and manacing figure with really nicely sculpted robe. Sort of reminds me of one of the renditions of Nurgle lord from WFB.

As I said, each of them is different. Let's have a look at Khamul the Easterling. Much more dynamic pose with its mount leaping forward. I glued the beast to the base in this way as I thought it makes the model look more dynamic. The mount's position is not the same in the catalogue. I liked it too but I thought I'd do it in a different way.

The Dwimmerlaik is a different story. Probably the heaviest of them all (especially the mounted version) as there's so much metal on this model. I needed to use quite a lot of green stuff to fill in all the gaps left after putting it together. The sculpt is really nice too with the way its clothes seem to reflect movement.

I also put together Sauron (forgot to put the base with Elendil and Isildur next to it for the pic). Very nice model too. I had one problem with it though. It arrived with one small element missing. One of the blades of the mace to be specific. I solved the problem by making one from GS. It took some work by the final effect is almost identical and I'm pretty sure the difference won't be noticeable after painting. Even now it doesn't look much different.

Last but not least, I also put together the Witch King on an armored fellbeast. Took me a while to get it all right as there are quite a few elements. The good thing is that they're really well cast and fit nicely, which makes working with them much easier. I magnetized the tail as otherwise it would be extremely hard to fit it in a carton box for shipping. I put some GS where the tail joins the body to make the gap as small as possible. I guess it will work out well in the end as the whole thing will be very dark. I'm going to start with painting this one.

So as you can see, there are quite a few nice models that I'm currently working on. All of them are now basecoated with Chaos Black. Painting them will take a while as building nice and smooth highlights of black takes some time. I should be ready with the Witch King by the end of the week so check back soon.

Alright, to finish off this entry, here's a song from a Polish gothic metal band "Artrosis". Not bad but not my cup of tea too. Still, the title and content are perfectly suitable. There's also an English version if anyone cares to check.

Skarlock

2011-07-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

It felt nice to paint something non-Lotr after a longer time. I decided to paint at least one model for my Cryx army since I was waiting for the black primer I ordere to arrive anyway.
Skarlock is a mini that originally got me interested in WARMACHINE. I absolutely love the sculpt, it seems to be completely out of control. Putting it together wasn't so easy though, especially fixing the gaps on the soul token left after gluing it.
It was a fairly quick paintjob as it took me one evening and one morning to complete it. I kept the colors dark with the addition of very light green on the soul token. I used similar technique to the one I employed while working on Tartarus, only with smaller amount of blue and much more green. I also used some purple as a base color for the skin, working it up with white.
And that's pretty much it. I have only one more model in my WM backlog but I'll get to it a bit later. I have a few (nine to be precise) Nazgul to deal with. I'm still waiting for the remaining three but the rest is now ready for priming after being filled with quite a lot of GS but I'll write more about it tomorrow.

Back in Mordor (XIII)

2011-07-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Lucky 13... or so it would seem. My painting journey back to Mordor is nearing its end as I've completed the last unit, only solos (using WM terminology ;) remain now. As I've written earlier, I'm not a big fan of these minis.
They had great potential that was'n used fully by the designers. Their helms and chainmail look really too simplistic and much potential was wasted there. The wicked-looking swords, nice cloaks, and large shields are better but still the overall impression isn't very good. Anyway, I'm glad that's behind me and from now on I can focus on more interesting miniatures.
I will be painting Lotr minis mainly but I also want to finally paint some of my own miniatures. After painting models from one range only I feel I need to paint something in a different scale for a change so stay tuned for more :)
And to finish off, here's a piece of music that I find suitable as the title fits well here and the style is pretty crude and dark.

Cheers,
Viruk

Just... music

2011-07-04T03:44:00.001-07:00

During days like these music can either cheer you up or go along with nature. I chose the latter http://www.stereomood.com/activity/it%2527s%2braining

I'm not complaining though as the rain keeps me inside and helps me focus on painting. As a result, progress is faster. I'll probably post an update with pics of finished minis tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the music.

White City (IV)

2011-07-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

Back to lotr stuff. After finishing commanders set I moved on to another member of HQ sensu largo. Rather quick and painless mini with very well casted rider. Yes, yes , it's Minas Tirith banner bearer, mounted version to be exact. I always liked Knights of Minas Tirith (the old metal ones) , those minis vere extremely well sculpted and casted that working on them was (and still is) a pleasure. I'm not saying that new plastic ones are bad, because when it comes to plastic minis the new ones like KoMT or KoDA are on completely new level compared to old ones. Still I have warmer feelings when it comes to old-school metals . Who knows, maybe it's just some sort of sentiment reminding the beginning of hobby. Anyway standard is yet another codes scheme mini in MT army.

Regarding music piec. There's one that comes to my mid when we talk about banners. Maybe it's because I watched Pirates of the Caribbean last week :D

Bikes and Banners

2011-07-01T02:23:00.000-07:00

To jump away from Lotr minis I took up delayed project from 40k universum. Last 3 Attack Bikes and Segrant of Ultramarines. It has been long journey with this part of army (vide Land Raiders and Rhinos). Now it's finally over with satysfing effect :)

And Since it's July there's only one piece of music that is suitable ;)

Pick of the Week

2011-07-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

What's more to be said? Very cool promo of the best tv show, it just whets my appetite for more. If you haven't seen any episodes yet, there's still time to do some catching up.

Back in Mordor (XII)

2011-06-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

I've painted these guys before. One of the worst sculpts in the entire Lotr range. Yet, put together on a movement tray they don't look so bad.

Painting them won't be too complicated as I will be sticking to the color scheme from the codex. It won't take long too, so I should be ready with these after the weekend.

Back in Mordor (XI)

2011-06-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

I had a great "long weekend" (4 days off thanks to national holiday) and spent it in Mazury (an area in northeastern Poland famous for its beautiful lakes and forests). Even though the weather wasn't great we (me and my wife) enjoyed ourselves very much and recharged batteries. Just to give you an idea of how it looks like, see the pic.

Well, the weekend is over. I'm not complaining though as I still have two months off (probably the best part of being a teacher). Right after coming back I sat down and had two long painting sessions to wrap up the current unfinished minis. The Morannon orcs are pretty cool models, definitely much better sculpted than the regular Mordor orcs. The sculpts are not all great though. There are some parts that look very nice (some of the faces, dynamic poses, weapons) but there are also some weaker spots. In order to add some variety I made a few minor conversions and added some shields from the Army of the Dead.
A few of them look like they were too hastily finished and look a bit misshapen.
Anyway, I'm glad this part is finished and I can start working on a next bunch of ugly orcs, this time from Barad Dur. After that, I will start working on more interesting models (the Nazgul).
Alright, that would be it for now. Just to wrap thing up, here's a video created by one of my favourite conteporary artists (I don't hesitate to use this word as I regard Don Hertzfeldt very highly).

Cheers,
Viruk

White City (III)

2011-06-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

I've finished another prject that was long in WiP section. To be honest I hade couple of them and now I'll succesively add them here as they see sunlight at last.

Yesterday I added some Heroes to command Minas Tirith force. Today we'll give them lessr field commanders...and a banner :D

Music piece that was essential in painting this lot s a track from One Tree Hill (I guess so :D anyway I like it very much since I've heard it in it's previous ).

White City (II)

2011-06-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

Viruk's been pretty busy with his part of War of the ring so it's time for my to anwser on that load of Mordor updates.

From across the river leading army of Minas Tirith come two Brothers. Both Faramir and Boromir are painted in foot as well as mounted version. No special "fireworks" here, just simple conservative codex painting, unified with their soldiers.

Only thing I tried to introduce is a bit different base for Boromir including a little creek.

And a little (well maybe not little , in fact quite long) music piece that accompanied me during moments spent on those guys :

Back in Mordor (X)

2011-06-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on the Morannon orcs but I thought I'd show some pics of the orcs that I've painted recently in action. All photos courtesy of Mr R. from the Land Down Under ;)

That's it for the time being. Now, after a few very busy days I can only say one thing - long live the weekend!

Pick of the Week

2011-06-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted anything as my pick of the week in a while so here's a little trailer.

At first glance it may look like "just-another-300-movie" created in the heroic over the top style but one thing drew my attention - the director. Tarsem Singh delivers movies that are a true feast to the eyes. Maybe "Cell" wasn't that good but the visuals, the scenography and the twisted ideas he showed there were quite interesting. Another of his movies, "The Fall" was even better.
I'm looking forward to watching the "Immortals". Preferably on a large screen, preferably not in 3D.

Viruk

Back in Mordor (IX)

2011-06-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy with work recently so I haven't made much progress on the Morannon orcs. I basecoated the whole box of warriors together with captains and command so that now I can work on all of them simultaneously.
I used some simple conversions and small changes to the poses. I've found that simply by placing two identical miniatures on slightly different base (and painting them in a different way, e.g. two various skin colors). This can work well with captains/hereos as well. Here are some examples.

Not much to see at this point but it should give a general idea of what I mean. Once they're painted it'll be easier to see the differences.

Another way to introduce some variety in a unit that I often use is doing simple conversions such as head or weapon swaps. Once again, here are some examples:

I also painted one of them as a test model to try a color scheme. I kept the colors dark and the armor slightly darker than the kind I painted on the Mordor orcs.

I've already started working on the reds but the progress isn't very fast as I'm working on all of the remaining Morannon orcs at the same time. I'll post an update once I've finished working on them.
Viruk

Back in Mordor (VIII)

2011-06-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Finished up the first character for the Mordor army - Gothmog. To be honest, I liked the older version better. The amount and level of details was pretty much the same, only the pose was much more dynamic. The base of this one kind of makes up for it (I do like the the new mounted version though) but overall I liked the older sculpt better.
Anyway, the pics are here and I';; be moving to work on some Morannon orcs.

Back in Mordor (VII)

2011-06-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

I had a bit more time during the weekend so I was able to finish all the minis I've been working on recently. Troll Chieftain is the first of them.
I've already painted quite a few trolls in the past. In my opinion they're one of the best sculpts in the range. I particularly like the way their skin is sculpted. It has two distinct areas, each one full of folds/scales that make shading and highlighting so much easier. In case of this one, there's also a nice looking armor and a weapon that looks big and a bit cumbersome - perfect for a troll.
I added more rubble than normally to the base. I figured that since trolls are much bigger, they'd feel comfortable enough walking on larger stones/rocks. I finished it off with the same types of static grass I'd used on the orcs previously.

More uglies from Mordor coming soon! From Morannon to be precise. Stay tuned for more :)
Viruk

Trouble in the Land of GW

2011-06-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm just reposting an "open letter"from the owner of MiniWarGaming that neatly summarizes all the problems with GW these days. Even though I feel like he's being overtly polite when he should get right down to the point, the guy has many good paints.

I'm not sure if it's enough to make GW reconsider their marketing strategy (they probably need to start noticing serious financial losses first) but it's pretty solid portion of food for thought nonetheless.

Back in Mordor (VI)

2011-06-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

The skin is pretty much ready. I tried to keep it slightly brighter than I normally do while painting this kind of sickly looking skin on orcs. This was done to create more contrast between large skin surface and the dark armor.
His skin has two distinct areas; the front, which is smoother and the back area (some kind of scales), so I made sure that the painting shows where one area ends and another starts.
By writing "sickly looking" I mean much darker colors in the recesses and the overall look of the skin. That's why the transitions from darker colors to brighter shades are not so smooth and the darker/brighter spots are not placed cohesively throughout the whole area.
Hopefully I'll get this one painted by the end of the week, so stay tuned for an update soon :)

Also, speaking of big guys,my all-time favourite NBA player has just announced his retirement. Kudos to Shaq O'Neal for 19 years of great career, both on the court and away from it. He's got such a magnetic personality that it's hard for me to imaging the league without him. The only thing that would make up for it is if he created yet another power duo with Charles Barkley on the commentary ;) So, once again, big cheers to the man and to finish off this post in style, here's one of my favourite Shaq moments.

Back in Mordor (VI)

2011-05-29T13:44:00.001-07:00

Another step into the land of Sauron. This time I'll be working on a bigger fella - troll chieftain. Initially I planned to magnetize it but doing it in metal would require more specialist tools so I gave up after a while and ended up using two pins for each arm and one for the head.I also used some GS to fill in all the gaps lest after putting the troll together (shame on GW as its arms and torso didn't really fit very well and it took some time and GS to ameliorate it.

I didn't glue it to the base as it will be much easier to pack and ship the whole thing separately. So, not much to show at this point but more will follow soon.

White Council or Pinball Wizard

2011-05-27T03:09:00.000-07:00

Other than Minas Trith's force I had some wizards on my desk lately. To be exact Saruman the White, Gandalf the White and Galadriel (white council version). I chose to experiment a bit and give them some mystical , enchanted even looks.

Bearing that in mind I thought that best option would be to paint Saruman as not "as quite white as he would wan to be perceived". I used some beige colours to create illusion that his white is tainted with betrayal, also I used some Black Speech markings on the bottom of his robes. To top things of I put him on black glossy base resambling Orthanc.

With Galadriel I used variety of blues and purples, highlighted up to pure white to give her more transcendent feeling. I finished her with glossy green base to keep with her wood elves climax ;)

Hope you like them.

And since we're in the wizard theme I think that this yet another classic rock anthem will blend in just swell ;)

White City

2011-05-26T01:06:00.001-07:00

After troubles with move and stuff I can finally update my part of blog :) As a result I present to you my efforts on WoMT force which is my next project. 24 Warriors of Minas Tirith (just to counter part Viruk's Mordor ;) ), painted as seen in Games-Workshop catalogue. That traditional scheme is quite challanging due to large amount of black that is needed and it's tricky to use different hues in order not to create dull and homogeneous feeling ;)

As well as mentioned WoMT I'd finished , well maybe not quite yet, Boromir and Faramir (both foot version). They still need a bit altering like making some changes to rocks on bases (they're to blue in hue) or changing their hair colour.

Back in Mordor (V)

2011-05-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Finished up these guys that will go with the rest of the Mordor orcs. I like to work on character models separately - it gives me a chance to give them a little more details, be it the color scheme, special base or any other details that make them stand out in the crowd. While doing that, I also try no to move away from the color scheme I set for the ordinary units. I want them to both stand out and blend in nicely with the rest.
I guess the way I put it makes it seem more complicated than it really is. Anyway, here they are and I'm off to deal with some more, bigger guy from Mordor - check back soon as I'll be posting some WIP shots.

Back in Mordor (IV)

2011-05-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

Took me a while but the orcs are finally finished. I've already mentioned in my earlier posts that I'm not a big fan of these sculpts but I tried to put some life into them nevertheless.

I did some minor conversions, a few headswaps and I also used different types of bases for minis that have identical pose. Another thing I did to aviod the 'army of clones' look was using different colors on twins while maintaining a coherent color scheme throughout the whole unit. While painting, I'm all about smooth highlights and avoid big contrasts. You can see it on the skins in particuar, though they might look a bit flatter than in real life in the pictures.
Initially I wanted to use only scorched grass for the bases but in the end I decided to use another one. I think it worked out well in the end and made everything look a bit brighter. Scorched grass on its own seemed barely visible with the dark colors of the orcs and rocks on the bases.

To finish things off I used Vallejo's dry pigments for rust effect and fixed them with MIG pigment fixer before giving everything two solid layers of purity seal matt varnish.
I took one pic of the whole group and a few more of some random orcs to give a better idea of how the details look like. I will take more pictures once I've finished the captains and other special characters and put them in themed movement trays.

Erebus

2011-05-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

PP has finally released pics of Scaverous's helljack - Erebus. Looks pretty cool, especially for an upgrade kit. The only potential problem I see with it would be incorporating new elements into my jack.

The way it's put together makes adding new elements (removable of course) pretty tricky. Also, it would be nice to make Erebus stand out a little bit more (just like in the PP's version - those runes or whatever it is on its armor look pretty cool). I guess I'll simply end up buying the upgrade kit and getting hold of another plastic set or a metal Slayer/Reaper and work on this one separately.

Back in Mordor (III)

2011-05-04T13:57:00.001-07:00

A bit more progress on the nasty orcsss from Mordor. I've painted their clothes. I used various shades of black, brown/white and red. I had a chance to try my latest purchase - Andrea Red set. I'm extremely happy with it. The consistency of paints is perfect, the coverage is very good (two thin layers and you get a solid color). I've often struggled with red but this pain set makes life so much easier and I'm definitely going to stick to it in the future.

So, yes - another recommendation of Andrea products from me and no - they're not paying me for it and I'm not employed by the company. I'm simply sharing my impressions of a great product. I can't wait until the new green set is available from a Polish store where I always order these paints - JAMA, I cannot recommend it enough.
Now, back to the orcs. They're slowly beginning to look like an army. I still need to do a lot to finish them. Boots and all the leather straps (plenty of them on these guys) are next in line. I'll follow with painting the wooden elements and the skin (I plan to use 3-4 different skin tones). I'll be happy if I manage to deal with that by the end of the week. If I manage to do it, the rest is a a piece of cake.

I know the pic isn't good but I want to show the overall progress rather than focus on the details. I'll take better pictures once they're finished. The Mordor-like look that I'm striving for will be achieved in the final stage when I start working with dry pigments and until then what I'm presenting is simply an early work in progress.

Wheels

2011-05-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

And second Rhino is now finished. I choose a little more damaged version than the first one. Still I like how pigments and scratches worked out, really gives some spirit into the model.

Strong arm of the law

2011-04-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

It's time to publish something juicy after my month long absence here :D I've finally finished second Land Raider with which I've been dealing for some time. The longer I've painted the more annoying it became. Fortunately it's gone now :) Also I've made some progress on next Rhino. Thank God for the airbrush, it makes painting those monsters a lot easier.

Also I've tried some different approach on battle damage, you can compare it with previous one. Still I've been holding back on "destroying" those poor suckers :D

Now I'm moving back to Lotr stuff for long, long time. Next on the agenda Warriors of Minas Tirith and Army of Dead.

And music that suits those babies very well. Saxon- Strong arm of the law, because come on... how else Ultramarines can execute law :)

Back in Mordor (II)

2011-04-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've made some progress on the orcs. They were primed with Chaos Black spray. I then painted over the recesses where the base coat didn't catch well. Once I had a solid layer of black, I lightly sprayed brown over it. It helped in bringing out the details and it should making painting a bit faster since some paints (e.g. red) don't work well on a purely black basecoat.

The bases should look like a scorched Mordor battleground once they're finished. I used two different types of basing grit and some sand to create what is supposed to look like random rubble. I will add scorched grass in the final stage as it tends to get flattened by varnish applied in spray.
Painting a larger number of similar miniatures can be a bit tiresome as it seems that the progress is virtually non existent. Still, even doing a little on several models in one painting session is a step ahead. Now, onto the armors and clothes...

Back in Mordor (I)

2011-04-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

I've started working on a batch of Lotr minis again. Once again, I have a chance to work on Mordor orcs. I don't like these models too much - some of the sculpts are very crude and it's really hard to say where does one element end and another begin.

The level of detail varies too. Some parts look great and really Mordor-like, some are just too clumsy. Still, they overall have a random and worn look to them, which one would normally associate with these guys.

I've put together 24 plastic models. I added small chances to them (head and weapon swaps/putting the same sculpts on slightly different bases, etc.). Additionally, minis that have the same poses will be painted using slightly different colors, while still maintaining the army dark color scheme.

I've also prepared some metal orcs (leaders/special models) to go with them but I'll probably start painting them once I've dealt with the plastic ones.
The pics aren't good as it's already dark here and I'm using artificial light. Besides, there isn't really much to look at at the moment. I plan to get them primed tomorrow and start with the bases. More pictures coming soon so stay tuned.

Happy Easter

2011-04-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to wish you all happy Easter. May this be an enjoyable time spent with family and friends as well as an opportunity to relax and recharge batteries.
Cheers,
Viruk & Haldir

Lord Exhumator Scaverous

2011-04-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm lost for words so just to keep it short, here's the pic of Lord Exhumator Scaverous in his full undead glory:

A few more words from his description:
A specialist in the acquisition of lore from the dead, Lord Exhumator Scaverous is one of the most potent and intelligent servants of the Nightmare Empire. Souls are both ammunition and fuel for Scaverous. Those he slays and casts aside are fortunate compared to any possessed of special lore, whose skulls and souls he preserves for horrific necromantic interrogation.
Make sure to check out the PP website for a 3D view.

I love the sculpt, great that PP released an entirely new model that does not bear striking resemblance to any other Cryxian casters/jacks.

New Bane Thralls

2011-04-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

At this point I'm glad I started with buying Bane Knights as Privateer Press has just revealed the version of these minis. My guess is that they're plastic. Should look great on the battlefield, especially with the unit attachment.
I'll probably get them sooner or later. Anyway, here's a pic.

More (including a 3D rotation view) can be found here.

Leader of the rats

2011-04-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm able to quickly find a suitable song to match the mini/minis presented here. The one below is a good example, so let me start by putting it here:

I painted this model a while ago.
I bought it along with some hobby supplies just to paint something from WFB mini range. The model itself is quite nice. I really liked the idea of a Skaven hero squatting on an old ruined column.
The painting took about two evenings. I tried to avoid using only drybrush on the base and gave the column several glazes of brown washes and a green one.
Tretch Craventail is a here from the Skaven army whose speciality is assassination and disappearing. I think that the choice of weapons and small bits like the skull or dwarven hair are great additions to this model. They seem to add him a lot of character. Not to mention a skull and a small rat on the base, which are also pretty cool.
I enjoyed painting this mini, it was a nice break from WM/Lotr minis I've been working on recently and a good opportunity to practice using dry pigments to achieve realistic rust effects. I think I'll put this one on ebay soon, will post a not here when I do that.

Pistol Grip Pump

2011-04-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm currently waiting for a batch of minis I ordered a while ago at Maelstrom games (a Skarlock, new jack and some minis from a new skirmish system that I want to get into - more on that soon ;).I should get them somewhere around next week. Until then, I'm idle as far as hobby is concerned. No commissions and no backlog - feels a bit weird. Still, I haven't posted any pictures of the second Pistol Wraith.
I love the idea of dead gunslingers who roam the battlefield. They aren't powerful but combined with Denny's debuffs and the ability to ignore obstacles in their way can make them annoying.
I've already painted the second version of Pistol Wraith and wanted to use a different color scheme on this one. I wasn't happy at all with the cloak (which in fact constitutes most of the mini) until I've highlighted the edges using much brighter colors. It's definitely not my best work but still I guess it looks OK.

I wasn't able to find a song that would suit the character of the model but so this one will have to do.

Winter is Coming (4)

2011-04-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

I've thoroughly enjoyed painting these minis. As I wrote in the previous posts, the quality of the sculpts is absolutely amazing.

Since I'm also enjoying reading the book, here's some background info on these two. They are members of the Night's Watch, which means that they are permanently stationed in a fortress that oversees the northern border of the kingdom. It's an 'edge-of-the-world kind of place. The Watch consists of criminals and exiles who swear fealty to the Crown. Desertion or misconduct is punished by death.The harsh climate combined with rigorous, rough training makes this a sink or swim situation for the young members of the Watch.

I used very dark palette on this minis as I tried to stay true to the book in which these guys were often referred to as "black brothers".
Jon Snow (the mini of the younger one) is one of the youngest people there. The other guy doesn't play an important part in the story (at least so far). He's probably some kind of background character. Still, the miniature is pretty cool.

Overall I'm quite pleased with how they turned out, I'm particularly satisfied with the face of the Raven keeper. I used a few very thin washes of flesh paint (a fairly bright shade) mixed with Vallejo model color neutral grey to create the stubble.
Now I plan to paint one WFB mini (haven't painted anything from this range for a looong while). I chose one of the new Skaven characters but that will be shown in another post.

Winter is Coming (3)

2011-03-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

Told ya! Well. At least that's what it looked like yesterday. We sometimes get this kind off weather here, warm spring on Friday, a single morning of winter on Saturday and back to spring the next day.
I've been pretty busy recently so there isn't much to show at this point. Still, I managed to finish painting Jaimie Lannister from the Darksword "A Game of Thrones" range. In the book he's a rather nasty guy. Known as Kingslayer, he's a twisted, cunning guy with an insatiable lust for power.
The sculpt is absolutely amazing with all the small details like the lion on the armor or the smirk on the face. Painting him was a very enjoyable experience.
I've finally had a chance to take full advantage of the Andrea gold set I got for last Christmas. The set consists of three shades of gold (base, light, shadow) and three washes (golden yellow, chestnut and black). It's really great as the paints have excellent coverage and mix nicely with the washes that really help when used as glazes as well as creating nice shades. For some reason I wasn't able to take a decent pic of the back of this mini. Each time it looked like it was shiny (irl it's finished off with a matt anti-shine varnish). The one I chose for this post is my best effort, a poor one but at least it's better than nothing.

Winter has come

2011-03-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

Just like Viruk I've been working on couple of DarkSword minis related to "Game of Thrones". I had a blast painting those pieces. Each and everyone is a masterpiece. The detail level is simply amazing, especially when it comes to faces, they are so lifelike. Anyway I had to paint 2 different parties, one consisting of 4 characters (which I'm not able to identify, guess it's time to brush up on those books) and the other includes 3 Night Guardsmen.

Winter is Coming (2)

2011-03-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

I briefly talked about the outstanding quality of Dark Sword minis in my previous entry. This time I'd like to write a bit more and show some more detailed pictures of these models.
The first word that comes to my mind when I think of these models is 'realistic'. The proportions, facial features, everything is lifelike. It's a nice change after painting WARMACHINE and Warhammer models (and I'm not saying that those models are worse, it's simply a different approach to sculpting miniatures).
Darksword miniatures are also extremely well detailed. Little things like a scar or a sneer are clearly visible on the facial features. Other small bits like belt buckles or armor ornaments also look great.
The quality of the cast is superb - there are just a few mold lines to get rid off. Some of the minis from the range are multipart (hands with weapons or heads need to be glued). Much to my surprise, the model of Raven Keeper (the fat guy with a raven) is cast in one piece. How they managed to get such a great sculpt cast in one piece is beyond my understanding.
There is only one thing that bothers me about these models - the weapons. The metal from which the minis are cast is very soft (compared to other miniatures, for example Citadel or Privateer Press that seem to be using a heavier and tougher material). It causes some problems while working on the weapons. Let's take a sword as an example - it's quite long and it has small mold lines along the blade. You need to be extremely careful while removing them as the metal is very soft and bends easily. This king of material will bend only a limited number of times after which it breaks. Still, if you're careful enough you shouldn't have big problems here.
well, that would be all as far as my short review of Darksword miniatures is concerned. Check out the pictures I attached in this post, I think they show the quality of the sculpts pretty well. Also, make sure to have a look at the official website. I've already started painting one of them and will be posting pics of a finished mini soon. Until then, keep the paint flowing.
Cheers,
Viruk

CMON & eBay update

2011-03-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

I've been kind of slacking lately update-wise, so today I'm jumping in with huge mass of pictures. I've finished both Sanguinary Guard and Assault Squad and now I'll be moving back to Ultramarines.

I've also listed effects of my last Blood Angels stretch on eBay so if that's your army , please be welcome to bid on them ;)

Links :

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Standard Bearer: CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard (A): CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard (B): CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard (C): CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Assault Squad: eBay

Arwen: CMON & eBay

And now picture time :

Winter is Coming

2011-03-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

I know, the title of this post may be misleading to say the least. Still, I cannot think of a more suitable one that I can think while writing about anything connected with R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones". Anyone who read it should agree.
I friend of mine has recently asked me to paint a couple of minis for him and his buddy. They turned out to be three models from Darksword's Masterworks - a range of minis inspired by Martin's work. I read the first tome about ten years ago. Now I felt more inspired to return to his work and immediately ordered first three books from the series. Needless to say, I'm having a blast reading them in the original language.
Now, as far as the minis are concerned, all I can say is wow. The overall quality of the sculpt is great and level of detail is simply amazing. I don't think I've ever seen faces that would be sculpted better than these ones, they're so full of character!

I will write more about the models with better pictures after the weekend. For now I'll leave you with this picture as a snek peek for the things to come.

Wraith Engine is here!

2011-03-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, finally, PP has released pics of a painted version. Sheer awesomeness if you asked me. I totally dig the model, it has an eerie alien look to it, while still being "cryxian" enough. Great job PP, can't wait to lay my hands on this one!

Make sure to check out the official PP website for a 3D Rotation.

And here's a nice little song to get you in the groove, feel the wrath :]

Gorman Di Wulfe

2011-03-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Had a solid painting session with my younger brother yesterday. I managed to paint one complete mini during a late afternoon/late evening sit-down. Gorman should make a very helpful addition to my slowly (but steadily) growing Cryx force. He should add some firepower with his grenades and the his Smoke Bombs should provide some cover for my caster.
It's so much more enjoyable to work on one mini at a time instead of painting a larger batch of models simultaneously. It allows you to plan better and focus more closely on highlighting everything in a more coherent way.
I started by preparing a base. I used wine cork for the stone. Putting Gorman on it gave the model a little more dynamic pose. I also usually start painting the base first as I do it mostly using the good 'ol drybrush technique, which makes getting unwanted traces of paint on the model all to easy. Still, at this stage it's not a problem.
I wanted to paint him using mainly dark shades of brown and gray with some blues and greens to add a little variety. Only the lenses on his mask were painted with red highlighted to yellow as I thought a little bit of a warmer color should fit in nicely (the frontal silver piece looks much brighter in the pic than irl). I also wanted a color scheme that would match my other painted Cryx units.
Overall I'm pleased with the effects though I didn't manage to take a picture that would show everything well. Probably too much light today and that's why the model seems to be a bit too shiny (even though I used an anti-shine matt varnish).
As you can see I also painted the marks for front and back arc on the rim of the base. I've seen different approaches to it, some that I didn't like too much (like painting half of the rim in a different color). I went for a quick and easy solution ans simply added two thin vertical lines on the sides of the base. I highlighted them so that they are clearly visible but at the same time don't affect the overall look of the model.
And as a bonus, a mini that my brother started painting. It's still a work in progress but I really like what he's done so far. His Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain is coming along nicely so far.

Now back to the brush, since I am currently on a sick leave, I plan to deal with my backlog (only one WM model remaining !!).

Angelic Host Day 6: Blood Brothers

2011-03-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

Last days I was less active hobbywise, due to some uni problems, plus some negative energy from my failure to get job at academic radio....well that's behind me now. On weekend I started work on BA Assault Marines Squad, just to rest from Sanguinary Guard. I decided to use most of my airbrush and try to paint with it as much as I can.

That was day one of that project. Next step wasn't taken until today. I sat in the afternoon and I painted before long session with brand new Dragon Age 2 :):)

And as for the music bit, I've choosen probably the most suitable piece for Blood Angels. Blood Brothers by Papa Roach.

Disappointed

2011-03-09T04:18:00.000-08:00

I got a few GW paints in these new pots and I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed.
First of all, the lids lack the element that Foundation paints and washes have, i.e. this piece of plastic that keeps them open (have a look at the picture above). I know that most of painters (myself included)do not take paint straight from the pots but this is pretty annoying even if you open them only for a moment to take some paint on the palette. I don't understand why GW would give up a fairly good design in favor of more cumbersome design. It's just a little thing but still, devil is in the details.
Another thing that surprised me was the actual amount of paint in a pot.
I don't know whether I was just unlucky or it's a common trend but instead of 12 ml, there were about 8 ml inside. Tough luck probably but all of the three paints I got were not full.
Other than that the containers look OK. I like the fact that they are transparent so that you can see the color of paint when you look at it from the top.
I've used GW paints since I got into the hobby and even now when there are so many other similar products, I stick to some of my favorite colors (Scorched Brown and Bleached Bone are a must for me). I will probably continue to do so but I can only hope that GW improves in this field.
OK, enough rambling about paints. I've been pretty lazy with painting recently and managed to finish only 8 minis.

Half trolls painted for a buddy of mine who is very much into the War of the Ring. The quality is not top-notch as I simply speed painted these, trying to maintain a table-top level.

Pick of the Week

2011-03-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

For this Pick of the Week, Viruk and I, both agreed that we should introduce you all to Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time. Epic bunch of guys turning regular cooking into something that can only be found in WH40k or WFB ;)

Here's a sample, but be sure to check their whole channel on Youtube :)

Angelic Host Day 5: Golden Brown

2011-03-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did some work on remaining Sanguinary Guard. I decided that I'll paint them as one batch, hopefully It won't affect the quality much ;)

So far I only did half of their armour in NMM, hence the title. That's a lot of work with brown and yellow ;)

Angelic Host Day 4 : Say Hello to the Angels

2011-03-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Standard Bearer almost done, just the matter of picking the flock on base, but I'll wait with that for the rest of the squad.

Some alternative piece to match that disturbing guy with wings ;)

Jack in the Box part III

2011-03-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

I've recently completed my biggest WARMACHINE hobby project - fully magnetized Cryx helljack. I posted a few WIP pics a while ago. Painting it was very enjoyable, though a bit tiresome at times. Working on several similar models (or rather parts in this case) can be a bit tiresome.
I can't really say which one I like the most as they all turned out OK (at least in my humble opinion). I guess Slayer has to be my favorite here. I am quite happy with the dynamic pose I managed to put this one into. You can see him in the pictures compared to the metal version I painted a few months ago.
Painting these guys assembled would be a pain in the neck. Their weapons have so many details placed at weird angles that reaching them with brush would be virtually impossible. The sculpts are pretty much out of control and Corruptor is a good example with his Necrojector and Sludge Cannon.
I have to admit that I didn't really do my best with the painting on these guys. Not my best effort as I was rushing things a bit. Still, I just wanted to get a solid 'tabletop' look without cutting corners too much while painting.
The Reaper looks a bit like some kind of beetle. At least this was my first thought when I put him together. I left Malices' addition to the harpoon glued permanently as making this part detachable would be pretty tricky.
Malice was the hardest one to work with as it took me a while to come up with an idea to incorporate all the elements. Magnetizing the soul tokens and placing the magnets randomly on the main body did the trick. I wanted the soul tokens to be very bright and stand out against the dark color of armor. I did it this way to make sure they are distinct enough and easy to notice while gaming (it's so easy to forget little details like extra tokens in the middle of a challenging game).
I used Vallejo pigments for the rust effect. They are very easy to use and they give a pretty realistic rust effect. Combined with a pigment fixer (definitely a must while working with natural pigments), they don't chip off easily.
So, here it is, once again in its full unholy glory:

Thanks for reading and watching. Any kind of feedback is appreciated :)