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I always find September a good time to sit back, relax, take stock of things. If you have kids they are back at school, the weather is getting cooler (I’m a winter person) and the trees are turning brown (which is great for me as all the plants aren’t producing pollen, boo to hayfever). Which all means it’s a good time to chill out and paint some models. I’ve finished a few and have a few more lined up, really trying to get rid of the sea of grey plastic. But while I tinker away, let’s see what our bloggers have been up to.
Clone Commander Ponds (Shatterpoint) by Sam de Smith
I'm still painting Shatterpoint. Woo. Actually, I'm nearly through the pile of shame, so I thought I'd mention my method for tackling Clone armour (and white armour generally) along with detailing, thanks to Clone Commander Ponds.
Honestly, it's pretty straightforward. Prime a light Grey - I'm a fan of colour forge - and then drybrush... yes, you guessed it, Vallejo Deck Tan. It is the most incredibly versatile paint there is, shading white and black equally well. Then, drybrush arctic white, which has a blue tinge, TWICE - so you build up layers of highlight. Next, I use model air black (though speed paint or contrast black would work just as well) for all the recesses and lightly wiped across the raised surfaces of the guns, back indents etc. Instant highlights! I then washed the black cloth with Nuln Oil to deepen it back down.
For the reds, which had to be freehand, I first marked everything out with Gore Red.
I then tidied up and brought the white edges with Dead White, which is both a bit purer as a white and also marginally thinner. I then went back and blocked in the red, before adding Scarlet red to the centre of each panel and a dot of orange flame as highlight. Finally, I used a 0.05 Sakura Micron Pigment pen for the aurabesh on the back of his helmet. Some guys have all the luck!
Apocalypse (MCP) by Northern Invasion Stu
He’s been a long time coming, but finally Apocalypse has made an appearance in Marvel Crisis Protocol. Indisputably one of the greatest foes the X-Men of ever faced, Apocalypse truly is iconic and the miniature does the character the justice he deserves.
Apocalypse is a hefty boy with a 65 mm sculpted base, which ties in with the associated scenery pieces and terrain packs that are now available. The model towers above the normal characters and is rivalled in scale within the game by only Dormamu, Thanos and Immortal Hulk.
In painting the model I tried to emulate the colour scheme from the original Age of Apocalypse comic run, which was itself closely reflected in the original X-Men animated series. I was quite happy with the overall results although the non-metallic metal technique that I employed didn’t quite come out how I would’ve hoped because in all honesty I was rushing to get him to the table. I may go back to touch up those areas in future if they continue to bother me…
For the bodysuit, I layered up various shades of purple. For the armour I used extreme edge highlighting to try and give a solid metallic look using only two shades of blue. The cloth was layered in three different blues from those used on the armour with a final blue wash to tie things together. Lastly the face was finished with just a couple of layers of ivory with red dots for the eyes. All of the colours were applied over a uniform grey colour primer from the Army Painter.
For the base, I simply dry brushed a couple of shades of pale stone and bone colours straight over the grey primer with a few splodges of staining in the form of Athonian Camoshade by Citadel / Games Workshop.
Prosecutors (AoS) by Ross Coulbeck
Ok ok, you saw this scheme last month. What can I say? I’m trying to finish painting up the Stormcast Spearhead. I will reiterate that it’s a simple yet great scheme. Stormcast do tend to turn into mindless soldiers eventually with enough reforges, so imagining them as walking bronze statues isn’t that far off. What is different this month though is the models in question. Just look at those beautiful Prosecutors! The wings are absolutely stunning and the red works so well with them, they are so nice I will forgive them for being a nightmare to transport anywhere. I really don’t want to break the wings. That said, GW’s plastic has come a long way, and even something like the tips on the wings isn’t easy to break.
So what is next in my plan? Well I have some Skaven staring daggers at me, and some Votann that need painting, but first let's talk a little about the future basing plans for these Stormcast. I’ve always liked the idea of doing a lava base, and have done some half-hearted attempts. GW does some fantastic technical paints which crack as they dry, so it’s easy to do an underlayer, then put the technical paint on top, wait for it to crack and the underlayer will shine through. That gives an excellent effect and one I’ve used on my Fyreslayers. For the Stormcast though I think I want to go a step further. More layers, a bit of mixing to get the lava looking right, and more cracking. Keep an eye out for future posts!
