Wight King (Showcase)

 

Really wanted to be an opera singer.

This model was very fun to paint. Lots of character, not too difficult, detailed enough to stand out, and can fit nicely within my Hero Quest side project.

Models such as this are where Contrast paints really come into their own. The usual black primer was followed by a kind of zenithal coat of Wraithbone spray from above. It was perhaps heavier than I intended, but worked well enough.

The cloak is just Nighthaunt Gloom. The red clothing is Blood Angels Red, with a little bit of Wraithbone mixed into a red on the palette for additional highlighting purposes. The fur is Gore-Grunta Fur, with a little Agrax Earthshade in a few places, and a bit of Skag Brown mixed with Wraithbone to drybrush over the top.

The chainmail is a mix of browns, blacks, reds, whatever was hanging about to give some non-uniform appearance, then drybrushed with Iron Warriors, and a bit of Stormhost Silver after the usual varnish step.

The armour plates started off with Runelord Brass, and then shaded or highlighted as necessary with Iron Warriors in a kind of dabbing motion with an old brush. This was followed by Ironbreaker in some areas, with edges given over to Canoptek Alloy. A few dots of Skeleton Horde Contrast (which of course was also used on the skeletal areas) for rust, and pretty much done.

The sword, which isn't very well seen in the photo, started as a base of Iron Warriors, with some Leadbelcher over that to help define shape. Typhus Corrosion was then dabbed on, followed by Leadbelcher (again in a dabbing motion), and finally Stormhost Silver using the same technique. By making the dabbing random and overlapping it gives a worn, rusted appearance. This particular effect is something I very much want to explore further - it was incredibly simple to do, but gives an impressive result in this case.

Side note: Aethermatic Blue over Runelord Brass looks very similar to Nihilakh Oxide following the varnish step. A bit of the Canoptek Alloy over the top in a few places restores the metallic look. This was used on the sword hilt.

Last mention for this post is actually something else for stone. On the base, after a zenithal highlight, Basilicanum Grey and then drybrushed with Longbeard Grey. It may be another case of simply the small size of the area on which this was done, but for darker stone carvings I'd like to explore this further as well.

-- silly painter.

Skeletons

Possibly one used to be an adventurer, before he took an arrow to the head.

 

These skeletons are the beginning of a side project that I've been planning for some time, which is to build stand-in models for the Hero Quest board game. The ultimate goal is to recreate the entire game, including the board and furniture, so the models are meant to be played with. For that reason they are not in any way intended to be up to my normal standard: I'm expecting these models to be roughly handled and occasionally damaged.

 The skeletons are done mostly with contrast and metallic paints. The actual bone was rather simple:

• Black primer, just because it's excellent as a primer.
• Wraithbone spray, two coats to try get good coverage.
• Skeleton Horde from the Contrast range.
• Morghast Bone to fix any areas that don't look quite right. This is mostly to highlight something, or smooth over where Skeleton Horde didn't quite dry nicely enough. It's virtually identical to the raised areas after the Contrast paint stage, which is a nice piece of information to remember.

The eyes were simply Corax White and Aethermatic Blue. It didn't quite give the appearance I wanted; a more purple colour would have fit better.

Most cloth was covered in Nighthaunt Gloom, wood was covered in Wyldwood, and metals are a combination of various paints - there's no real recipe there, it's just play with them and try get some rust effects with washes and different metal tones.

For a lazy approach to wood grain, particularly on the shields, a hack is to first prime the shield black like usual, and then use one coat of Wraithbone base paint, applied by keeping brush strokes in one direction and making it very uneven and streaky. When Wyldwood is applied over the top, the streaks of the base paint will come through. With a little practice it can be fast and doesn't just look like a sloppy paint job.

The bases were Astrogranite, thinned with water Wyldwood, and some Hoeth Blue drybrushed around the out edge. I'm not actually sure if I won't be later using clear bases anyway, so no thought went into this process - it was mostly that I wanted to see how it would look (result: it looks bad, but at least I know that now).

The varnish spray at the end has also muted the colours quite a lot. Too much actually, though at least with undead skeleton warriors this is somewhat fitting.

Painting these models did allow me to experiment with Contrast paints some more, and basically play around without caring to be neat or paint to a high standard. Even so, the Tyranids were simpler to paint, and came out looking better, in that sense these skeletons were a bit of a failure.

-- silly painter.