Wolf Riders WIP

These models take ages to paint. Here is what I have managed since last week. The wolves are done but the riders are not. It took me an hour on each wolf to do the skin tones. Each one has a different colour so this didn't help. They came out nicely though and whilethe tones are all different there are only two that are strongly varied. The grey wolf was an experiment and he came out okay. I shaded him with brown rather than darker grey. While it isn't perfect I can see now how it can work. So if I come to paint grey like this again I will know how I should do it.

I am not going to have much time this week but I am still hoping I can get these done. I have to get my Chariot done for the Tale of Three Gamers. It is just getting undercoated now. I finally finished the sculpting last night. I hope I can manage to get both done!

Friday Showcase - Baldur the Stonecleaver

With all the Wolds on the blog this week I thought I would put up Baldur the Stonecleaver as the Friday Showcase. He is most definitely my favourite 'lock and he is a great miniature too. While he is very static he is nicely detailed, not too detailed though. He has a nice balance of everything. I painted him in my usual Circle colours though the jacket was highlighted differently than I normally would do it. It is Scorched Brown highlighted with Snakebite Leather. That makes a really nice colour and is one I have used a lot since. Once again, like last weeks Tharn, I did a really strange skintone. Its most noticable on the hands as the face is barely visible. This tone has really made for problems as I really don't want to copy it and I am going really different, well normal skintones for humans, on my Tharn Wolfriders.

I also really liked the colours on the robe under the jacket. That was some of GW's foundation paints. I think Khemri Brown highlighted with Denheb Stone. I used the same colour on panel on the hood. I am looking forward to the new Baldur the Soulstone model. Having heard the Lost Hemisphere preview from Domination he really sounds great! I wish that my copy of Domination would be here a little bit quicker. Sadly there are no new Wolds coming out, at least that I am aware of. Though the new Griffon is excellent, I can't wait to see the model.

A Tale of Three Gamers - Week Three

I am on a solo run this week again! Gar managed to fall in work and hurt his wrist badly. So he has been ordered not to paint for a few weeks. Al is once again off on holidays, this time to New York. It is good for some eh? So its just lonely old me for the third week of the Tale of Three Gamers. Hopefully this won't be a continuous problem, but I suppose nobody can stay motivated all the time. I think Skyrim is very much a reason for these delays too!

So this is the beginning of the chariot. Pretty much everything has been sculpted on. I wanted to add some detail to the plain body of the chariot. So I added a pelt on one side and a shield on the other. I felt that the quiver of arrows would suit so I put that on too. That makes the model look much better. I didn't do much of a conversion to the riders, a simple weapon swap for the Ungor is all. The hounds got some of my standard treatment. You can see finished versions at this link. I think I will keep their paint scheme the same.I just need to attach the chains to the hounds so it looks like they are pulling the chariot and I am all set to go.

Month's Targets:
Al: Five Tzeentchian Chaos Knights
Phil: A Giant and a Chariot
Gar: Twenty Five Dwarven Clansmen


Tale of Three Gamers:
Test Colours
The Beginning
Week One
Week Two

All Singing, All Dancing Wolds!

So here is my Wold Dance Ensemble! I inadvertently collected three of these guys since they came out. The first was a must for my Baldur list when Hordes first came out. The second I picked up as I had nothing to paint once and it was the only Circle Orboros model in the local game stre at the time. The third I picked up and painted recently. It was part of a second hand bundle. I really like the model so its not a problem having three. I did try to make an effort to have each in a different pose. When I lined them up for the shot my girlfriend was wondering why they were dancing. Since that comment I haven't been able to take the Wolds quite as seriously!

These models are fairly easy to paint which is great. While it is still a six or so hour job to get them done its better than with the other beasts. The stone I keep warm by highlighting it with bleached bone rather than white. I gives it a more natural stone colour as white makes the highlight really stark. Its a painting theme I kept throughout the Circle force. Keeping everything highlighted with bleached bone keeps the tones on the various colours united across the whole varied army. I am tempted in the future to use a different colour on a different force to really see what other effects can be made.

So I have almost finished the base coats on the Tharn Wolfriders. Its really time consuming, especially as I did each wolf in a different colour. That really cuts down on the amount of brown shades I have for other things such as the cloth on the riders. I am hoping that the mix of colours makes the unit look a little better. I will wash them tonight so that they are dry and ready for more paint tomorrow.

Can't see the Wood for the Wolds

Pokemon is a terrible game. I have been playing it instead of painting... damn but I have to catch them all! So yesterday I made no progress on my Wolfriders. I had intended to start with them but I was so close to catching Pikachu I couldn't put the DS down. So here is the Wold Guardian I finished on Sunday. He came out nicely in the end. I finally had my old Wolds here in Germany so I could copy the scheme from them. With some hours to kill and some Lost Hemisphere in the background I was able to get him done in one session. I was also doing a Wold Warden at the same time but I will put some pictures of him up tomorrow. Today I will be working on the Wolfriders and I will be adding some details to a beastman chariot too. I am eager to get the base coat on at least but with five large models I am guessing thats going to take a little longer than I would like. Hopefully I won't get tempted by the DS too much!