Games Workshop Plaguebearer

Over the last couple of days I've been working on two more figures for my upcoming Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition game.  If you haven't had a look at the new version I highly recommend it, they have managed to capture the feeling of adventure with some straightforward rules that encourage role-play and simplify combat without making it boring.  Anyway enough about that.

For my players, STOP READING NOW!!!

For the rest of you, this miniature is a plastic Games Workshop Plaguebearer, now I don't like Games Workshop much for various reasons but sometimes they have the miniature that fits the role I need filled and this is one of those occasions.  I needed a new one eyed monster called a Nothic and the choices were very limited.  

I could have bought one of the D&D Miniatures but they are difficult to find and expensive compared to the cheap Plaguebearer.  Its also much more scary I think and for the encounter it'll be used for that's going to be important.

I used Citadels Technical paint, Nurgle Rot for the first time on this model and like all the other Technical paints I've tried this was excellent.  In fact these technical paints are the best thing Games Workshop have done in the last ten years in my opinion. 

I used Rotting Flesh as a base with a Blood Red wash over the boils and intestines which were painted a light pink.  The Nurgle Rot was then layered over the open wounds and boils to build up a real gloopy mess.  It dries slightly translucent and very shiny and looks extremely unhealthy.  I love it.

The sword I wanted to look like chipped Obsidian so a black base with a sharp white highlight seemed to do the trick, I might gloss varnish the sword to make it look more glassy.

Overall I think he looks like you might catch something nasty just by looking at him.

Reaper Bones Orc Chieftan and Scibor Mad Dayn

This week I decided to get my act together and do some painting, to kickstart it I treated myself to a resin miniature from Scibor and while I was working on that I finished off the Reaper Orc Chieftan that had been stalled for ages.

  

I'm pretty sure this is a problem common to many painters, a long line of miniatures that have been started and not finished, in some cases just primed and based and in others close to finished.  I have far too many of them to be comfortable with and have decided to make a concerted effort to get them finished.  We'll see how well that works!

Ok first the Scibor Dwarf.  This is the first Scibor miniature i've painted and one of the few resins  i've ever bought.  The sculpting is very clean although not as imaginative as I had thought, a few more details like a belt knife or some more detailed boots would have been nice but the pose is fun and I can't complain about the quality.

I tried some free hand tartan on the trousers which sort of worked but they came out a lot darker than I think they should have.  The problem was of my own making, I made the shirt too dark and lighter trousers looked weird so I had to darken them.  I also tried out the Citadel technical paints 'Ryza Rust' which I love.  The trick is to use a stiff stipple or old dry brush, wipe most of the paint off onto a tissue then dab the area that should be rusted until a deep enough layer has formed.  The edge is then picked out with Runefang Silver to make it look like that's the only part that gets any action.  

The Reaper Bones Orc Chief had been sitting staring at me from among his half painted friends for quite a long time.  Long enough to have hatched numerous evil plans for my demise from the look on his face!  However, those Technical paints came to the rescue again and motivated me to use the 'Typhus Corrosion' 'Ryza Rust' and 'Blood for the Blood God' versions to make him look really grungy.  The Typhus goes on first which makes the metal look really grimy like the inside of an oily engine, over this patches of rust are allied then  the same Runefang treatment to sharpen the edges.  On the axe the Blood for the Blood God is then applied, its pretty gloopy but not as good as the other technical paints I don't think.

  

Egyptian Bones Stone Golem & Legionary 2014 Show

Its a three day weekend here in the UK so I took the chance to visit a Gaming Show in Exeter called Legionary 2014 run by the Exmouth ImperialWargames Club and to finish my latest Bones miniature.

There were a around half a dozen different Egyptian style miniatures in the Bones Kickstarter I backed and i've been looking forward to painting them for a while now.

I thought i'd start with the Stone Golem, its a really iconic miniature and will no doubt see some action in plenty of dungeons.  It also fills a gap in my collection for a Golem so even if we don't run a game in a middle eastern setting it'll fit in for most generic settings too.  

I wanted a sandy style finish so mixed a base coat of Citadel Bubonic Brown with a touch of pure white, washed with Reikland Fleshshade and Nuln Oil and highlighted with a 50/50 Bubonic Brown & Pure White mix.

I considered painting the skirt as white linen but it has cracks which suggests its really part of the sculpture, I was going to paint the crown and bracers in white and dark red like the double crown of Egypt but decided against it.  In the end I just painted the eyes a glowing Scorpion Green which I think adds an air of drama as the only other colour on the model.

I hope you like it, i'd love to hear your opinions on whether I should have painted the crown, skirt & bracers in other colours though so please leave a comment.

More Golem photos at the bottom but first....

The 2014 Legionary show at Exeter was a lot of fun, I took my youngest son along and we toured the various trade stalls where everything from Copplestone Castings, Artizan, Games Workshop and Bolt Action were on sale along with Games systems, modelling and painting supplies and weird stuff beyond counting.

There were around a dozen large tables with wargames ongoing from Ancient to modern periods, and the quality of the painting was excellent and we were made to feel very welcome by everyone we spoke to.

None more so that the boys from the 'Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher' group who let my son play a game of Pulp City.  He really enjoyed the game and I enjoyed watching, the chap who showed us the game (I think his name was Ross) was enthusiastic and explained the game well and told us quite a bit about how the game is developing and their role in being playtesters for it.

The core rules only cost £20 from their website but is currently out of stock, hopefully this will change soon as i'm very keen to get it and start building some scenery and painting some of their excellent miniatures.

Thanks to Hendy Badger and (possibly) Ross for showing us the game and infecting us with their enthusiasm!

Games Workshop, Overprice much?

£8.00 for 4 figures

During my recent visit to Clifton Road Games I picked up a set of four Resin Undead Pirates from Black Scorpion Miniatures, they cost me £8.00 which is in my opinion excellent value for money.

£45.00 for 4 figures

So you can understand perhaps why I had a bit of a jaw dropping moment when I went into Games Workshop the same day and saw the White Council set.  Four Resin Miniatures for £45.00!

So are the Games Workshop miniatures worth nearly six times as much as the Black Scorpion ones?  Are they made from the Resin of the legendary Tree of Life?  No, guess again? Then perhaps they were hand sculpted by Leonardo Davinci, hidden in a secret vault for 500 years and finally unearthed by Games Workshop Archaeologists? Nope wrong again. Well at least they must be in dynamic poses and have complex levels of detail.  Um...not so much.

So in fact, they are reasonably well sculpted but simple miniatures in very prosaic poses priced at £11.25 each but not sold separately (in those poses/outfits).

Well the Black Scorpion miniatures must therefore be in comparison really badly sculpted? Nope, they're really well sculpted actually.  Well maybe they're made of the toxic death poison known as lead? 'fraid not, they're high quality resin too. 

So why do they cost £2 each then, there must be a reason they cost nearly 6 times less than Games Workshop miniatures?

Anyone?   

-crickets-

Anyone?

  

We all started somewhere (most of us with Games Workshop)

An early Burge from his 'Incompetent' period

I've just been inspired by another Blog.  Tommie at The Rainy City Painter Blog has had the courage to put up some photos of his earliest painting examples and I thought I should emulate his example and do the same.

I'm not in the same class as Tommie (who is a fantasticly talented artist) but I think it would be interesting to put up some of my earliest crimes against painting.  Please mock gently.

I was pretty pleased with this one at the time, I tried to get this Ratskin (from Necromunda) to resemble a North American Indian and wanted a natural buckskin colour for the trousers which worked quite well and the war paint was ok.   

The gun was just base coated and black washed.

These Van Saar Gangers were another of my favourites, Brown Ink washed with watered down black ink, no highlights except solid gold on the raised panels.  I remember being quite proud of the green Plasma Cannon and the Chainsword but the painting is ruined by the horrible faces I did.

The Skaven Blood Bowl players were a big step forward and were probably the last figures I painted before my very long (about 15 years) break.  I ut more effort into the bases, there was blending and shading and a better understanding of colour theory.

And we're back to artistic atrocities!  This was another Necromunda miniature, will you just look at the freaky eyes on that poor thing.  I think I knew what I wanted him to look like but didn't have a clue how to make it all work together.  I suppose the leather trousers and boots looked ok but the rest is pretty terrible.

And as for the Vindicare Assasin, all I can say is i'm deeply sorry to the original sculptor for doing this to his work.  This is obviously where I thought a clever idea was a good alternative to actually painting properly.

I am on the other hand very happy with these Goblins.  I was, and still am very satisfied with how the Moon Standard worked out and with the exception of the pink lips and a lack of skin highlighting I wouldn't do all that much differently these days, especially for a really large unit like these ones were in.

Finally, we have my Blood Angels army.  Dreadfull really.  I used to just paint them Blood Red and Gold and wash with black ink.  The plasma gun was pretty decent though.  The Apothecary on the left was the first Space Marine I ever painted.

Games Workshop Blood Angel Terminators

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As I mentioned in an earlier post some of the painting i've done recently has been as presents so I couldn't share them.

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Well those presents have been given and now i'm free to post pictures without spoiling my nephew's surprise.  Here for your enjoyment are the Terminator squad I painted for him.

I attempted my first go at OSL (Object Source Lighting) on these miniatures, if you look at the green eyes you'll see the lights in the eyes also appear to light up the raised surfaces around them.  The same goes for the light given off by the Lightning Claws.  

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Unfortunately the photos didn't come out that well and they look a bit washed out.  The claws are quite a bit brighter in real life.  

OSL is quite hard to get right, the idea is to only have the light show on the surfaces it would hit if it was coming from the source.  I'm pleased that these came out well but I think I need some more practice to get the effect I want.

Spotlight on....Black Scorpion Miniatures

Sorry there haven’t been many posts recently but this is a busy season for work and the painting projects I’ve been working on are destined to be Christmas presents so I can’t share them until after the holidays.

But what I can do is introduce you to some new miniatures suppliers.  I think its pretty apparent that I’m a big fan of Reaper, especially what they are doing for the hobby with their Bones line but I’ve spoken about them on many occasions (and will no doubt speak about them in the future a lot too). So this post will be all about…..BlackScorpion Miniatures.

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

I want to have a look at four of their lines, Pirates, Old West Tombstone, and their modern day US Marines and Iraqi Militia.  Please be aware that none of these miniatures were painted by me.

Pirates

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

Now I really like the direction Black Scorpion has taken with these miniatures.  Its fairly easy to find Pirate leaders from the better miniature suppliers out there but the rank and file models are quite a bit harder to get your hands on in my experience, especially in the quality you get from Black Scorpion.  Each model has real character, both in the face and in the overall look but still looks realistic.    

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

There is a tendancy for sculpters to make models on a ‘heroic’ scale,  28mm miniatures that look great but are about as realistic as a cartoon character.  They have their place and I’ve painted a lot of them but for some games a realistic look is more appropriate. 

They do make models with a full complement of parrots, wooden legs and eye patches but they still look like real people and not like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a tricorn hat. Their weapons are realistically sized and the proportions are very accurate. 

Tombstone

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

Now these are a treat, especially the bearded model on the left which I am just going to have to paint at some point.  Overall they look great and the models available would contribute well to a Deadlands or generic Old West game.  

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

The only obstacle to me is I couldn’t reuse any of my existing models for this kind of game and there isn’t an easy (read cheap!) way to bulk out your collection of Old West models.  I’d have to buy something like 50 models to run my first Old West game (Cavalry, Indians, Cowboys & Townsfolk) and get all the scenery made.  

Despite all that, I suspect that an Old West campaign may be on the horizon in the future, these are just too good to pass up.

US Marines

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

My regular DM has run some really successful modern games, mainly D20 Modern and Stargate games and if I’d known about these models I would have snapped them up.  My only criticism of these models is they lack character.  

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

Although the proportions are great and the attention to detail is impressive they lack the individualism that would make them great player character models.  

Now I’m pretty sure these were designed with Skirmish games in mind so its not really fair for me to be too critical about them but I’d just have loved them to have the same individuality that is such a highlight of the Pirates or Old West models.  Black Scorpion does however do an army deal of 32 US Marines for £50 which is real value for money!

Iraqi Militia

'Copyright Black Scorpion Miniatures'

These are my least favourite of Black Scorpion’s models.  As generic Iraqi bad guys they are good enough but not quite what I was looking for. 

The proportions are as consistently accurate as the other lines with the minor exception of the white shirted insurgent with the blue headband who seems to have a pistol that’s almost as long as his whole arm.  That's not really a big deal though and I do understand that pistols tend to look too small if they're scaled accurately.

The faces are obscured by masks or beards which limits their expression and for some obscure reason they’re all barefoot and or wearing ripped off shorts.    

I’m not sure if this is a deliberate choice to represent the Iraqi Militia as  faceless and desperate but it just makes them look less threatening than they should be.  I’d have liked to have seen some sinister looking     paramilitaries wearing body armour, they could have then been used as terrorists as well as desert dwelling madmen.

Conclusion

Overall I’m hugely impressed with the Black Skorpion miniatures and can’t wait to get my hands on some.  The quality of sculpting is excellent and the character that they show will make them a favourite around our games table.  

At just £3.50 for a single resin figure and £8 for four they represent incredible value.  Resin miniatures from Hasslefree , which I think are pretty good value, are generally between £10 and £20 each.

Bear in mind you can get a single plastic "Finecast" figure from Games Workshop for the same price.  But talking about "Finecast" is a whole different post, one hopefully you'll see soon. 

Mantic Elves, Dicarus Darksword & Warhammer Dwarf Cannon Crew

I've been pretty busy with work and family stuff the last few days so sorry for the lack of posts.  I thought you might like to see the model I have painted since the Space Marine Librarian and some better photos of some I painted for the last D&D campaign I played. 

The first set is some Mantic Elves I painted as Dark Elves.  In the campaign the heroes have to face loads of Elves and Dark Dwarfs and I just couldn't find any models that worked as D&D dark elves, Games Workshop's are terrible and I wanted a set that would look like a professional army rather than a mismatched set of individuals.  I also needed a lot of them so I speed painted 30, first step was to paint the whole model (except the face and hair) with dark grey, then I washed with watered down black.  Details were picked out in light silver.  The Officers and shields were painted Blood Red and also washed with black.  The faces I painted blue (my preferred skin tone for dark elves) and blended lighter blue as the highlight. 

Dicarus Darksword is a Reaper miniature and he is tiny, really small in fact and that presents certain challenges when your painting that you don't get quite so much with larger models.  There is very little metal to paint and he's basically all cloak.  However, Bobby Jackson the sculptor is a rather talented chap and he still managed to pack some real character into him.  We don't have a player character with a Halfling Thief at the moment so I thought i'd paint him as a Ranger instead.  I also tried using some real plants to give him a more natural setting which worked out better than I had expected.  

The last set in today's post is the Warhammer Dwarf Organ Gun & Crew.  This was bought for my son by my nephew as a birthday present and I painted it for him.  They came out a bit shiny so i'll use the Anti Shine spray from Army Painter.  I think they came out rather well, especially the leather of their clothes.

Space Marine Librarian painted

I managed to get the Space Marine Librarian finished tonight.  If you read the previous posts you'll know this model was a test subject for Fairy Power Spray to see how well it worked for getting paint off old models.

Well the answer was really well. It was so efficient that I actually decided to repaint the old Games Workshop figure.  Originally it was painted in a dodgy Blood Angels red and I wanted to see if I could do better and opted to folllow the standard Space Marine blue colour scheme that Librarians are supposed to wear.

I spent a little bit more time blending on this one and I think it shows, I still need to put some unit markings on so i'll dig out my transfers and do that tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! 

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