Paint along with Duncan: an experiment

Whilst watching some of WarhammerTV's Tip Of The Day videos, something occurred to me: I never actually learnt how to paint. When I first got into this hobby I got some basic tips from a friend about watering my paints and basing my colours (usually in brown, this was before base paints were a thing, I am old) but aside from that most of what I learnt was from written guides in White Dwarf.

The thing is, I am terrible at learning through reading, at least when it comes to practical things. The most recent set of painting guides have helped me a bit more since they have stage-by-stage pictures but even then the fact that what they call “layering” takes in about five different techniques is an issue, as is the fact that static pictures can't show you how to work the paint onto the miniature, just the effect you're meant to end up with.

So, over the next week or so, I am going to try to paint a miniature by following one of Duncan Rhodes' step-by-step videos. My chosen victim for this experiment?

My Lord Of Change. I bought this model the day it was released and after building it I just sort of got intimidated and he's been sitting on the side of my computer desk as a paperweight ever since. Not the most auspicious position for a master of fate, I'm sure you'll agree.

So, what am I hoping to learn? Well, I've never used these paper pallets before (I still use one of those bumpy plastic ones) and hopefully I'll get a smoother result out of it. I'm hoping to learn more patience with the “two thin coats” approach, as well as better watering my paints as I've never had a proper demonstration of how much water you're meant to use. My highlighting could definitely use a lot of work, which it looks like I'll be able to practice with the feathers.

This is thevideo I'll be using and, with luck, I'll be posting progress every couple of days. 

Completed Models: Judge Dread

Flesh Tearers Contemptor Dreadnought

I'm having a bit of trouble getting a good, consistent red on large areas. You can see I had to layer and layer and layer and it resulted in brushstrokes everywhere. I think it might be the black undercoat. It came out fine on all the man-sized models I've tried it on but for anything larger I might want to start from a red spray. I think GW do a Mephiston Red spray now. Also, whilst bashing my own paintjob, the brass on the shoulder armour came out a lot less well than the photo makes it look.

Plus, yay for actual sunlight! The model doesn't look pink! The photo came out not too bad and I only had to crop it.

Kairic Acolytes

… and then the sun went in.

I have to say, these fellows are very time consuming to build and paint. I can't claim they aren't worth the effort but I am thinking that I won't be painting more than this one unit. They look fantastic but what makes them look fantastic are all those fine details I'm painting in unforgiving gold.

I tried out Kantor Blue armour for the plate, just to test it out before doing anything in heavy armour. I wasn't fond of how the silver armour came out on the Sorcerer so I want to try a lacquered look on my Warriors and Knights.

I have to say, I really enjoyed painting the Scroll Of The Dark Arts, its one of my favourite parts of the whole kit.

Completed Models (2017)

Chaos (Tzeentch) : 6

Dwarfs: 5

Flesh Tearers: 7

Genestealer Cults: 5

Renegades & Heretics: 5

Sylvaneth: 5

TOTAL: 33

A third of the way to 100! Counting is fun! 

Completed Model: Chaos Sorcerer Lord

Yes, I've decided to keep score. It feels good, its content and it appeals to a deep part of me that likes making lists. Going through my hobby posts from the last two months tells me that this is the twenty-second model I've completed this year and that's a nice feeling, so anyway...

Angrelthir, Lord Herald of the Last Banetower

The first finished model for my Tzeentch Chaos army: the plastic Sorcerer Lord. I wanted to try a few things with this model, some of them worked, some of them didn't.

The flesh method worked. Its a base of Rakarth Flesh shaded with Carroburg Crimson and drybrushed Changeling Pink. Its not a method I think I'll use on the other “human” units and characters but it might bear keeping in mind for when I start painting up Tzaangor (the blue flesh GW uses on their exemplar models would look too much like the blue cloth I'm going to use to tie the human units together).

I painted the base in a method I saw on a WarhammerTV painting tutorial (for the Balefire Realmgate, incidentally). I like how the stone came out with a Karak Stone drybrush and now I have a new way of doing “mountain” bases for my Dwarf units. Also, it turns out that Steel Legion Drab comes out pretty well on a Mechanicus Standard Grey base which was a surprising solution to a problem I've been having since I started doing base rims in Steel Legion: it doesn't cover over black or brown very well.

Always nice when you solve a problem by accident.

The bright silver armour, however, just doesn't work. It isn't terrible here, the gold breaks up the brightness, but I imagine if I painted the Warriors' armour like this outlined by a Thousand Sons Blue cape it will lack contrast. Right now I'm thinking Kantor Blue armour, as I've used for the shoulder guards and such on the Kairic Acolytes, but we'll see how I feel when I get there.

Models Completed (2017)

Chaos (Tzeentch): 1

Dwarfs: 5

Flesh Tearers: 6

Genestealer Cults: 5

Renegades & Heretics: 5

TOTAL: 22

The Lure of the Familiar (and Easy To Paint)

I'm enjoying painting my Kairic Acolytes and I look forward to diving into the Lord Of Change but I do feel the need for something more familiar. New models have a lot to recommend them: they're novel and interesting by default, its enormous fun to experiment with colour schemes and techniques, and there's the promise at the end of it of adding a new dynamic to your army.

Problem is that all that discovery and experimentation is a bit time-consuming. You're constantly finding little details you didn't notice before and sometimes the colour scheme doesn't work out and you have to go back to the drawing board. Fun, definitely, but after a while I know I get an urge to paint something simpler and more familiar.

Hence, me picking up some Chaos Warriors. Not only are they among my favourite kits of all time they're also very user-friendly in terms of painting. Plus, I definitely want at least one unit of them in the Tzeentch army so its also a functional purchase. I'll be building them basically straight out of the box aside from slapping a resin Tzeentchian banner on the standard bearer and, if I can find it, a head from the Chaos Marine upgrade sprue on the champion for extra flavour.

Beyond that the initial plan is to give them Thousand Sons Blue armour and Screamer Pink cloaks with pretty standard colours elsewhere. Quick and simple, I get to finish a key unit for the army whilst I chip away at the Acolytes and test out a few more techniques army-unifying before I head onto the daunting task of the Lord Of Change.

Simple plan, doomed to failure. 

Hobby Goal and a change of philosophy

Hobby Goal #4

Paint the Kairic Acolytes

GOAL FAILED

The Kairic Acolytes turned out to be more work than I anticipated. They looked so simple and then I got to the gold. All the bloody gold: the edging on the shields, the edging on the armour plates, the belt buckles, the hilts of the swords, the masks. There's just so much fine detail they're too damn hard to batch paint beyond the basic block colouring. So, right now, three quarters of the unit look like this...

… with another rank just starting to get all their gold edging halfway to done. Didn't help that I ended up wasting my first couple of painting sessions on a colour scheme that didn't work and had to start from scratch but I have learnt a valuable lesson:

Clearly I need a change in philosophy here.

The days when I had the time to finish a unit in a week, let alone a unit I've never painted before, are done so from now on there'll be no more “finish a unit” goals. I'll start this week with a simple, immediate goal and work my way up, see how far I can reasonably take this instead of making myself grumpy because I just don't have enough time.

Also, I like the method that's arisen here through practicality. I decided I'd go mad trying to do the gold edging as a twenty model block so I'm doing it a rank at a time. I might try this out with another unit: base coats as a block then do the detail work rank by rank. If it works I get to have that high of “I finished something” sooner and more frequently.

We'll see.

Hobby Goal #5

Build my Lord of Change

Well, it arrived in the pre-orders yesterday and I want to get some momentum behind this project. With any luck I can plug away at the Acolytes for the rest of the week and have them done by the time I've finished building the Greater Daemon. I also want to write some background for the army, work out who they are and what they're doing.

But also...

Hobby Goal #6

Finish a bunch of basing

I said this month would be about Dwarfs and a Lord Of Change is not a Dwarf. Where there are some Dwarfs is on the basing shelf. There's also a lot of other models dating back to just before Christmas who need their bases finishing. The shelf currently contains five Ironbreakers, five Flesh Tearers Tactical Marines and a Librarian, five Traitor Guardsmen and five Genestealer Metamorphs.

If I get these done I can put twenty-one models in the finished column. 

Hobby Goal #4

Hobby Goal #3

Build my Kairic Acolytes

GOAL COMPLETED

Unfortunately, with one thing and another, I didn't make any progress on the painting side of things but I did manage to get the Acolytes build to deadline.

They're a lovely looking kit but a bit of a nightmare to put together. There are a lot of very small components on the spure and not just optional extras, either, we're talking about tiny, tiny sections of arm for which there are no spares. This is definitely a kit to build in the cleanest environment with the least grey carpet you have available to you.

I don't foresee myself buying another of these kits but this is Warriors Of Chaos we're talking about, you don't really need more than one of anything.

For those wondering about the old school Fantasy-ness of it all, the Acolyte with the Scroll Of Dark Arts will be counting as a standard bearer and the Acolyte with the Vulcharc as a musician.

Hobby Goal #4

Paint my Kairic Acolytes

Nice and simple: I want these babies painted and sanded by the time my Lord Of Change arrives at the shop on Saturday. They're pretty complicated but I have a couple of days off this week and nothing really to do on them so here we go. 

Hobby Goal #3

Hobby Goal #2:

Finish my Dwarf Rangers

GOAL FAILED

Due to some unfortunate life-related business followed by crushing art block on how to paint the crossbows and axe hafts, I didn't get the Rangers finished, as you can see.

However, in random spare moments I have been able to make some progress on clearing the painting table.

Other Progress

A model I really want to be a production number, the Deathwatch Watch-Master nears completion with only some final metallic details and the Inquisitorial seals on his cape left to do. I rather like how to the drybrushing on the Guardian spear blade came out, which is good since I ruined a perfectly good drybrush that I can now only use for Sotek Green.

Sanded and moving to the basing shelf are five Flesh Tearers Tactical Marines including Sergeant, meltagun and heavy flamer, plus a kitbashed Librarian. The white on the chapter heraldry is still not as flat as I'd like but I feel I'm making progress.

I also can't help but feel that no matter what I do with inks, that blue on the Librarian is too flat. Still, I like how the conversion came out with the warding hand.

Finally, a test model for my Tzeentch Chaos Warriors. A lot of work to do on this one but I like how the Thousand Sons Blue looks on the cloth. I think the silver armour is going to have some sort of glaze over it to give it a “magical” sheen, probably blue but I'll decide once I have the gold layered up to Auric. Also, I need to look up a good stone method for that base from the How To Paint Dwarfs book.

Hobby Goal #3

Build my Kairic Acolytes

This might seem a little weak sauce and, honestly, it is. For one thing I do want to finish those Rangers and don't want to add anything large to the painting table but I do want to fiddle around with the models I just bought. That said, building them will be a little less than straightforward as they're for an old school Fantasy army so I have to get models designed for round 32mm bases to rank up on square 25mm bases.

Hopefully not too much of an ask as the scales don't seem too different but it might take me some time and fiddling about.

Facing the test (model) of Tzeentch

Or, James Doles Out Fashion Advice To An Apocalyptic Sorcerer

I did want to get the actually Tzeentchian sorcerer model but he's out of production! Presumably temporarily pending a repackaging for the Disciples Of Tzeentch release but, still, for the moment the generic plastic Chaos Sorcerer will have to do...

image from GW webstore

So, how to paint this fine and handsome fellow. Now, the GW example above is absolutely rocking that Archaon's Horde bare metal and black cloth look. Now, that's very Chaos Undivided and I'm going for a Tzeentch theme but I am feeling the bare metal. Maybe I could try a blue ink or glaze to make it look a bit more magicky? I did something similar on the gromril plate of my Dwarf Ironbreakers and its a good effect. Part of me wants to go for a lacquered armour effect but none of the obviously Tzeentchian options really grab me as a colour I'd want on every bit of plate armour in my horde. Definitely keeping the gold trim, though.

As for the cloth? A medium blue, I think. Maybe the new Thousand Sons Blue or the Lizardmen skin palette.

Actually, talking of skin, how to do that head bothers me. I'm not sure about the stark white used here but I absolutely don't want to go with the vibrant blue skintones 'Eavy Metal have been using on the new Tzaangors. Certainly not in ordinary skin tones, it wouldn't suit the look of someone so mutated. Something to think on, certainly. 

Just... As... Planned...

There's a plastic Lord Of Change on the Warhammer Community site.

Its actually really nice. I like how the stave is made out of coruscating energy. I like how the plastic construction means they could make the body and neck more sinuous and hunched forward than the old metal model. I like that it has loads of eyes. I like the detailing on the wings.

I love that, unlike the Bloodthirster, its standing solidly on its base and won't snap when you try and pack it away.

I'm getting a Tzeentchian Chaos army, aren't I?

The Tzeentchian Temptation Continues...

The new army temptation comes less often now. Over the years the instant attraction to the latest thing has lessened. There are armies I know aren't to my play style (Eldar) or where I simply don't like the aesthetics (Khorne Daemons) and, of course, I just don't play Age Of Sigmar so by and large those releases just pass me by.

That said, every now and again AoS brings out something I can use for classic Fantasy, in this case the Disciples of Tzeentch miniatures coming out this month.

One real complaint I had against the Fantasy version of Chaos was a lack of marked units. Now, I like the basic Chaos Warrior as much as the next man but given the wild variety of 40k's Chaos models they were a bit samey.

Yet here we are with GW finally making more god-specific Chaos miniatures. The Gaunt Summoners, especially the one on a Disc of Tzeentch, would make fantastic Sorcerer Lords, the Kairic Acolytes would be fantastic Tzeentchian Marauders (they're a bit too bare chested to be Warriors) and hopefully theyll have parts left over you could use to customise Warriors and Knights. Throw in a warherd of Tzaangor, that lovely Tzeentchian Sorcerer from a few years back and a few mutated looking monsters, maybe some daemons and you're got yourself an old-fashioned Hordes of Chaos Tzeentch army.

Finally.

Like I say, I'm tempted. A few cheap square bases, some Darksphere discount to offset the expense and... maybe? I don't know, I'm in that “new year, new project” headspace right now.