Tale of Warmaster Painters... [SEPTEMBER THREAD]

[Meister.Petz]

@Pugwash: No, this week I try some Empire Knights.

@all: Thanks for your feedback.

@Stomm:  great, I very like them and am looking forward to more pics.
Greetings from Austria
Peter

[Pugwash]

I am still using old washes and inks (incredible they can be used after so many years) but what is different about the new ones? I might try them on the second unit of Phoenix Guard I plan to paint.

Assuming you're using the old blue-lid Armour Wash on weapons an armour, then no, I don't imagine the new washes are going to be much of a revelation.  I detail my own use of washes etc. on a step-by-step guid on my blog; beyond that I don't have much advice to offer.

[pw]

I rather like the new GW washes. From my experience they seem to be aimed at the tabletop painter and seem to have the potential to work a little like Army Painter type dips. They're very matt and dull paint quite a bit which is both a good and a bad thing. They're also pretty thick and tend to find the recesses nicely. One downside for speed-painting (or speed of painting) is that they dry rather slowly. As glazes they're pretty poor compared to the older inks but I don't think they're intended for that purpose really.

I think that the Black wash is superb over metals for a quick and realistic effect although it does dull the shine a little.

[Swordmaster]

Assuming you're using the old blue-lid Armour Wash on weapons an armour, then no, I don't imagine the new washes are going to be much of a revelation.

Indeed these are the washes I still use. I read your blog for some advice in "wash-ing". Thanks!

I must admit I rushed a little with Phoenix Guard, hence quite flat looking halberds and a little dirty cloaks. But as I said, I have another unit of them so I will definitely try to correct the mistakes I have made so far.

Cheers!

P.S. I cannot see Stomm's pictures.

[azrael71]

A new week and a cracking start.
Managed to undercoat and drybrush 16 units of BOFA goblins and 4 units of Spider Riders.
Then ran out of undercoat
So no boar riders this week.

Here are the spider riders.








I don't know if any GW staff with any sway view these forums, but here is a heartfelt plea.

Please re-release these ALT models (same goes for most of the ALTS). I had to buy them from the other side of the planet. They are some of the best models I have ever painted in 10mm (and I have painted a few). Even released on a order before we commit type deal would do. I would definitely use these over goblin wolf riders.

I have a feeling that that will be a waste of time but nothing ventured nothing gained.

[Stomm]

P.S. I cannot see Stomm's pictures.

Really? Do you need to have a Flickr account to be able to view photos on Flickr? If so then I'll need to look at getting them uploaded somewhere else...

[Stomm]

BTW, nice work everyone, for one thing its really good to see plenty of nicely painted Empire Halberdiers. If I were a betting man, or at least if I hadn't promised the wife that I'd stop playing Blackjack, then I'd give you each maybe two units of them before your will to live gets sapped. They look really nice when painted well, but to paint them well takes an age...

[pw]

I'd give you each maybe two units of them before your will to live gets sapped.

That's one more than needed for me! 

I'd planned to try to get a couple out of the way in the first few weeks but I just can't bring myself to do them yet. Hence the move to Crossbows, which turned into a move to knights, which eventually turned into a move to a pair of cannons... If it weren't for this thread I have a feeling I'd be starting a lot of stuff and finishing very little. As it is I'm mildly optimistic.

@azrael71: How on earth are you doing this  I couldn't have basecoated those guys in three weeks let alone painted and based them. It's insania!

[jchaos79]

To all: beatuiful staff!

Azrael and swordmaster: it is great to see painted those discontinued units!! I wait ages to see them close and it is delightfull to see them painted as well.

Stomm: Welcome! When I accept the challenge I though to start a persian sasanid (1000 pts) army that I have bought, but finally I was trapped to the undeads enchant. I look forward to see more units of WMA. Which manufacture are your roman figures? Steve barber? they look awsome, and the shield scheme is a great idea, not use the common red/yellow. It is very strong.

[Stomm]

Stomm: Welcome! When I accept the challenge I though to start a persian sasanid (1000 pts) army that I have bought, but finally I was trapped to the undeads enchant. I look forward to see more units of WMA. Which manufacture are your roman figures? Steve barber? they look awsome, and the shield scheme is a great idea, not use the common red/yellow. It is very strong.

The figures are indeed Steve Barber, I didn't see the point in buying more lesser quality figures when the extra that I'd get would only end up sitting in their zip-lock bags for years...

The black and white colour scheme is actually something of a joke at my own expense. I always seem to field armies that have more models either in bare metal or undercoat than painted, so I thought why not just paint them black anyway? Besides, I think that red Romans has been seriously overdone, and its nice to be able to call my army: "The Black Legion" and confuse any 40K players that are listening... Oh and I do eventually intend on reversing the colour scheme for the Veteran Legion units, which will make them stand out all the more on the table-top. I haven't quite decided what colour to go for with the Auxillia yet, although I am tempted to stick with black...


BTW the different colours on the shields and plumes, etc... are to help differentiate the units on the table. When painting a WM scale army that doesn't have something handy like the option of painting units in alternating half and quartered designs to differentiate units. I always ensure that as well as the primary colour scheme, I use a two-colour unit identification scheme on the details. This generally entails a brigade colour, and then a unit colour. In the case of my first unit it happens to be white and white... The unit I'm working on has a brigade colour of red, with a unit colour of yellow. The next unit after that will be red and white, then I will probably do the other two legion units in blue and white and blue and yellow. With the final 'well painted' unit earmarked for a white and yellow identification scheme.


I would be tempted to keep the entire army in black and white, merely altering the shield design details, were it not for the fact that it would then be impossible to differentiate units from the rear. I am painting the sword scabbards in the brigade and unit ID colours, seperated by a black line.


Actually what do you guys think? Should I stick with B&W throughout, but have different shield designs, possibly sticking with the bi-colour id system on the sword scabards? It might help to give the army as a whole a much more uniform visual look from the front...

[Pugwash]

Okay; time for my weekly contribution.  More spears this week.  The good news is that I've now got the scheme down pretty well, so I'm going into factory production mode for the next two units, and hope to knock them out shortly.

Spearmen 2/4


And, just to prove that I haven't recycled the other stands - the two together;



Finally, an experiment in basing.  I originally painted the bases to resemble desert sands, but perhaps adding a little flock might make them look stronger.  It has been suggested, using some light-brown scrub, but as I don't have any on hand, I thought I'd try some basic green scatter grass first. So, what do you think?  Should I go with this, try darker flock, or go with lighter scrub?
Light Green Flock alongside control stand:

[Lex]

Finally, an experiment in basing.  I originally painted the bases to resemble desert sands, but perhaps adding a little flock might make them look stronger.  It has been suggested, using some light-brown scrub, but as I don't have any on hand, I thought I'd try some basic green scatter grass first. So, what do you think?  Should I go with this, try darker flock, or go with lighter scrub?

I would add some "stones" and possibly cacti !

[jchaos79]

That looks pretty good, pugwash!

Pugwash: The basing: I personally like the plain sand. Or if you going into grass go for a darker one.

Stomm: The colour: Going into the same scheme to the whole army is a great temptation. But in my opinion I would go to differenciate the units with the colour shield scheme because it makes the game more easy.

[azrael71]

Love the araby banners.
Very neat!

[Stomm]

Pugwash:

I actually had the same sort of dilema with some 40K Praetorian Guard that I was and still am painting (my armies take decades to form...). I had originally based them with plain sand, no 'lumpy bits', and then painted it to look like sand or very dry earth. This made the base, and therefore the model look rather dull an uninteresting, so I added a bit of IIRC GW static grass, and then drybrushed it very lightly with bleached bone to dull it down a bit. Worked a treat, but any others that I put together and base up I will add more detail to the bases, the odd discarded lasgun cell, arm bone sticking out of the sand and so on...


I know that the sparcity of a 28-30mm base is much more apparent than on a 10mm or 6mm base, especially as there is just much less of the base itself on display. But even just a bit of static grass really helps to lift a base up a bit, just compare my unflocked flagellants, Nuln Halberdiers and KotBS to the rest of my WM army. They just don't look 'finished'...



jchaos79: It would be the same colours from the front, but the shield designs would be different enough to tell the units apart from the front. I would most likely stick with the bi-colour system for the sword scabards though, to aid rear identification. I think that I might try out a couple of different shield schemes on some of the individual models just to see what they look like, then paint them over or prep-up some more figures to replace them. I might also just paint the rest of the army without shield designs and then decide on what to do once its all finished. This will also allow me to get more units 'finished' for the sake of this exercise that much more quickly...