ALWAYS.

BE.

PAINTING.

Turning the corner on any painting project is a great feeling. If you're anything like me, you never really feel accomplished until you start to see the end of the project in the distance. Well, I had that moment this week with @Ziggens' Gnomes. After finishing a few sample models, a Blitzer and Longbeard, I focused my attention on completing the contraptions first. This included the remaining Blitzer and two Troll Slayers. I'm not including the Star Players that Ziggens gave me; those will be covered in a future blog post.

This entry is labeled 'Time Bandits' as that is the name of Ziggens' team in the current Ordo Blood Bowl League Super League. Time Bandits are a Dwarf team, and as a result, most of my references to the Gnomes are in Dwarf terms. In this post I will cover painting the Blitzers, Troll Slayers, Runners, Longbeards and the head coach.

First, we have the completed Blitzers:

The Blitzers are identified by the red color located on the base mushroom, the color added to each side of the number, as well as the gloss red boiler in the center of the torso. The overall scheme for all the contraptions, including the Star Players and the Troll Slayers, was to spray paint with the satin olive green paint; next, the model was washed liberally with Citadel Nuln Oil wash. Next, the model was washed with a mix I made of Vallejo Model Color Turquoise, Nuln Oil, water and Citadel Lahmian Medium. Don't ask me to give you recipe, it's always different and really mixed by sight. The turquoise wash is difficult to see in the Blitzers pic above. The Blitzers were then stipled with Citadel Ironbreaker, and Citadel Typhus Corrosion was added to the crevices to create dirt and wear.  A small amount of Citadel Dry Ryza Rust was added in places to give another textural element. 

With the extensive use of the green across the majority of the model, I wanted to break the monotony with the area beneath the Gnome's controllers. That is why I painted the area red, with a blended effect to imply glass, or any other substance that would look like a gem. However, the actual gloss is really there, I covered the area with clear nail polish to make the areas pop. This was done post sealant. The Gnome 'driver' was painted the same as the other gnome, except blue was used for his tunic. This was done to again to break up the green monotony. 

Below, you will see a pot of my precious turquoise wash, and a little detail from the legs of a Star Player:

While the satin paint has it's disadvantages, the unintentional crackling effect is a welcome addition to weathered look. The picture above shows more of the blue tone, which helps to give the contraption's paint depth. I've become a big fan recently of using micro washed to create texture on flat surfaces. The turquoise wash is an example, and I'll post a few additional examples in the Art of War forum soon. 

The Troll Slayers were completed at the same time as the Blitzers. I followed the same recipe for the armor, the only significant exceptions being the different beard color and a color change to denote the different position. First, here are the Troll Slayers:

Much like the Blitzers, I have used a color, in this case blue, to denote the position. In this case, blue was used as blue is the unofficial color of special basic (not Star) players. Blue was used in several places; there is a blue indicator on both sides of the number, the blue and orange mushroom on the base, and the blue shield protecting the Gnome driver. Lastly, while not blue, what real Troll Slayer doesn't have an orange beard? I've painted the Troll Slayer beards orange to match this familiar look.

The Troll Slayer models include a large stone hammer to smash opponents, representing the player's frenzy. After sealant application, I added Citadel Blood For The Blood God to the hammers, as these Gnomes would clearly be causing major damage to Ziggens' opponents. 

When Ziggens and I were discussing his team originally, and how they would look, we didn't really discuss the Runners. In the lot of Gnomes provided, two models stood out as the Runners. These little guys are holding, or rather, cherishing the ball they are holding. Short (get it?) of the ball and the white indicators on the base, nothing else denotes these guys as Runners. The Runners were painted at the same time as the Longbeards with the same recipe. As a reminder, that recipe was simply the satin Olive spray, P3 Midland Flesh, Vallejo Game Color Scarlett Red, Citadel Ironbreaker, Citadel Administratum Grey, and P3 Greatcoat Grey. The ball was painted with P3 Bootstrap Leather, P3 Hammerfall Khaki, and a quick highlight of Vallejo Game Color Elven Flesh. Like the rest, the model has a liberal wash of Nuln Oil, before a single highlight of the base coat. Runners:

The Longbeards are next, and like the Runners, they followed the basic recipe for the non-contraptions. Ziggens has one ST4 Dwarf Longbeard, so I made sure to number the meanest looking Gnome to match that player. He's more heavily armored and ready to destroy opponents tall and short.

The eyes were a small challenge; I'm not terrific with eyes to begin with, but the smaller stature of the models made picking out the eyes a little difficult. I have tried a new technique for a while, and I do prefer it; I used to paint the eye black, then add a white to the middle, then a black dot in the middle. This was not very easy, as I often had the white covering a portion of the black border. What I do now is simply paint the eye area black, then add a white dot on the right and left side of the black. Much easier!

The head coach looks like a tinkerer, fixing and innovating the contraption's abilities. This model was very simple, following the same recipe as the Longbeards. The one difference being the addition of the khaki work belt.

The last picture for this post is the Time Bandits team. This picture represents the players that were active on Ziggens' roster as of 4/3/2018:

The next blog post will feature the Star Players and the Deathroller! That will be the final post in the blog.