Contrast and Chill - Episode 3

[jollyork]

All rightey, after that dalliance with a few random miniatures to test out colors and textures, I'm back into quest mode. This adventure: filling out my old (very old - recognize the theme in these posts?) Mordheim Witch Hunters warband. Back in the day, Mordheim was da bomb - the only way to play Fantasy without painting up blocks of 20 or 30 troops (or 50 goblins). I loved the game and we had a pretty regular campaign going until two things happened. One, I found out my vampire with a spear (always strike first) was pretty much unbeatable in melee, and thus made everyone else cry. Two, @Burk armed his entire warband (Reiklanders, I think?) with crossbows, and pretty much eliminated melee from being a factor in his games, and thus made me cry. Ahh, those were the halcyon days. 

So it's been a while since I took these chaps out of their figure case (side note: I realized that instead of playing games with these minis, I've transferred them from figure case to shiny new figure case dozens of times over the past two decades - anyone else find themselves doing that on boring Saturday afternoons?). As with the minotaur, I wanted to test using Contrast to match up new figures to my old paint jobs. Here's a pic of just the witch hunters, can you tell who I added? 

Of course you can! It's Van Hatling, the striking fella with the feathered cap and... the round base - clearly not a 90s WFB choice! He also happens to be a special edition Empire model that was released long after Mordheim disappeared from shelves, so if you used your Oldhammer knowledge, kudos to you, my aged brethren. 

But guess what? I'm really a tricksy hobbit when it comes to this game. There's another Contrast-painted witch hunter who is from the original line AND on a square base! Can you figure out which one it is if I narrow it down? The guy on the left or the right of Van Hatling? 

Times up! It's the dude on the left... just kidding. I said I was tricksy. It's the dude on the right, Gregor Greatsword. But it's damn hard to tell, isn't it?? 

Here's another group shot of all the witch hunter models together. Gregor Greatsword was always a burr under my saddle, sitting in my bitz box all unpainted and pewter-y. As I recall, the Mordheim rules only allowed me to field 4 of them, but they made 5 models, so it was a painful choice to leave him out for 20 years. Now in the Age of Contrast, it goes to show that if it only took another hour to paint him up, I would have done it and saved myself the emotional trauma of an incomplete collection all these years! 

(BTW, it might have been 5 witch hunters, but I used the Warhammer Quest Witch Hunter as my 5th - I just realized I forgot to include him in this photo). 

I didn't track my painting time as closely as the squigs, but I am confident each of these guys took less than an hour, which is crazy. It helps that they are mostly black and three shades of brown, but that's the advantage of a tight color scheme for a warband. 

Funny side note: remember what I said about Burk's crossbows? All of my old witch hunters have crossbows added to them. You can't tell from the photo above, so I'll include some closeups. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, you gotta join 'em. 

    

 

Coming up next time: More Minions for the Warband. I found some cool old minis (surprise) to breath some new life into the warband, and using Contrast, I've been adding them with almost no effort. 

 

 

[Ish]

3 hours ago, jollyork said:

Back in the day, Mordheim was da bomb[.]

One word, my jovial orcish brother: Frostgrave.

[Romans832]

They look fabulous!

[jollyork]

I  played Frostgrave a couple times back when it first came out and enjoyed it.  Good game, and it looks like it's grown substantially since then. 

[Ish]

1 hour ago, jollyork said:

I  played Frostgrave a couple times back when it first came out and enjoyed it.  Good game, and it looks like it's grown substantially since then. 

It has indeed. They released a bunch of “campaign” books that had new mission types and could be run as a series of linked scenarios to tell a story. Plus several supplements that expanded the game: Sellsword, which introduced rules for experience-gaining Captains (basically a Fighter instead of a Wizard) that could be added to your gangs; Dark Alchemy, which expanded the rules for potions, and Arcane Locations, which gives additional options for your gang’s headquarters.

Then there was the spin-off game, Ghost Archipelago, which moves the action to a tropical island and replaces the Wizards with Inheritors – basically Fighters with superpowers. It sounds weird, but it works.

There’s a Frostgrave Second Edition due out this August. According to the author, it’s not going to be a radical shift, mostly it will add in a lot of the supplemental material, rebalance some of the spells, and cleanup ambiguities. Ghost Archipelago is apparently not being added... 

[jollyork]

Minions - Part 1

As promised, it's time to flesh out the Witch Hunters warband with some new faces. While it may seem like I'm simply adding random models from my collection, rather than following the prescribed rules from Mordheim, that's because... I am. What the heck, we're all waiting for the next official edition to come out someday and who knows what will be in it. My real plan is to use all these models for Warcry in the interim, and since they're all proxies, they can be whatever I say they are. So there. 

First up, Johan the Dim and his loyal bear Wojtek. Who doesn't love a bear model? I figure they can represent an ogre (or ogroid now) and bite and claw some heads. It won't be surprising when I say this dual model took almost no time at all. Johan is pretty simple in detail, and Wojtek even more so. I mean, he's a walking carpet! 

Next to them is a loot cart, also painted during this session. It's a morbid bit of fun, full of bones and stitched dolls. This model is from the old Rackham range... I think. A long time ago I put together a Malifaux crew full of scarecrows and puppet-themed models and picked this up as part of that scouring. I think it went with an awesome scarecrow model from Rackham, but I can't find an image of it. In any case, it fits the Mordheim aesthetic perfectly. 

Here they are hanging out with other models from my Witch Hunters warband. It's like they were painted the same day (or decade)! 

Coming up next: Even More New Minions! 

 

 

[Ish]

37 minutes ago, jollyork said:

What the heck, we're all waiting for the next official edition to come out someday[.]

Cough August 18th Cough

[jollyork]

Minions, Part 2 - though this is probably more in the Mercenaries category. 

I decided to add a model completely out of context with the dark and dirty Mordheim range. Looks like the Witch Hunters have brought along a bit of sorcery to help them purge heretics. Granted, Witch Hunters aren't particularly keen on witchcraft, but I figure there's at least a few who operate like Radical Inquisitors, using the enemies' own sorcerous weapons against them. Besides, who could turn down the company of a fair Bretonnian damsel when you're normally surrounded by smelly, grimey dudes, mostly-insane sycophants, and the occasional bear? 

Besides that flimsy backstory, adding Meegan the Fragrant gave me the opportunity to break out of the grays and browns of the Contrast range and use some more colors like the blues. It was also the first time I used the Contrast Medium to thin some of the colors, notably on Meegan's dress to create a sheer effect. I've seen this technique on a lot of pro-painted minis, which involves many ultra-thin coats of blended colors, and I figured Contrast would be a simple way to try it out, given the thin nature of the paints to begin with. Turned out pretty good, considering this represents about 5 minutes of work. 

The horse caparison is the sort of large, flat areas not ideal for Contrast. I did a little bit of extra work to smooth out the blue as it settled into the folds, but not much. As tempting as it was to tweak and try with the Medium, I made myself stick to the first objective of this Adventure, which is putting as little time as possible into each model and gauging the results. I think Meegan the Fragrant, and her fair horse, turned out pretty good for under an hour of effort. 

Here are some pics of them with the rest of the warband. 

 

Coming up next time: a classic Mordheim Mercenary updated to the modern version of his tribe! 

 

[Romans832]

STunning

 

[VonVilkee]

About what ratio medium to color did you use for that sheer look?

 

I've got some Malifaux rotten belles I've built but I'm afraid to paint due to visions of dresses matching stockings and this could be a super simple way... Paint dress no medium then add medium paint over already dry skin tones...

[jollyork]

On 5/25/2020 at 10:51 AM, Romans832 said:

STunning

 

Thanks!!

[jollyork]

On 5/25/2020 at 11:53 AM, VonVilkee said:

About what ratio medium to color did you use for that sheer look?

 

I've got some Malifaux rotten belles I've built but I'm afraid to paint due to visions of dresses matching stockings and this could be a super simple way... Paint dress no medium then add medium paint over already dry skin tones...

I did her flesh first, then I made a drop of Aethermatic Blue and a drop of Contrast Medium on a palette (just a piece of plastic). I made a mixing line between them so at one end was 100% of each and in between were different combos, like 25/75 50/50 75/25. I started applying the 75% Medium and worked my way towards the 25%, being sure not to cover the sheerest parts as I worked outward. Hopefully that sounds as simple as it was. 😄

 

 

[VonVilkee]

On 5/26/2020 at 7:52 PM, jollyork said:

I did her flesh first, then I made a drop of Aethermatic Blue and a drop of Contrast Medium on a palette (just a piece of plastic). I made a mixing line between them so at one end was 100% of each and in between were different combos, like 25/75 50/50 75/25. I started applying the 75% Medium and worked my way towards the 25%, being sure not to cover the sheerest parts as I worked outward. Hopefully that sounds as simple as it was. 😄

 

Hadn't considered varying the ratio depending on how stretched the sheer stuff was... <Slaps forehead> sounds kinda duh now that you typed it!

 

That actually does sound very doable, simple and useful! Appreciation to you sir.

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[jollyork]

21 hours ago, VonVilkee said:

 <Slaps forehead> send kinda duh now that you typed it!

😀

[jollyork]

Minions, Part 3 - Return of the Jolly Ogre(oid)! 

As I teased in the last post, my final addition to the warband is a classic from the original Mordheim range: the mercenary ogre. Warhammer has come a long way since Mordheim - well, come and gone and come back again - and now they are ogroids running around with gnoblars, so I decided to update the model with modern trappings (or trappers, get it?). Hold your breath from his own foul meat-drenched halitosis, as here comes Horkdor, the Wandering Beast of Mordheim. 

The original miniature came with a wicker backpack full of loot and victims. I swapped that for a banner topping from the ogre range featuring a crow's nest for a gnoblar. While this was an excellent opportunity for conversion and enhancing the story of Horkdor, the truth is I had also lost the original backpack at some point over the last 20 years (a hole in me bitz box!). Since he was losing his backpack full of loot, but still being a wandering, looting ogre..oid, I knew I would have to replace that to represent his pillaging through the streets of the city of the damned. I continued my own looting of the contemporary ogre sprues for a beer keg, some meat hooks, and a sidekick - another gnoblar to carry all the rest of the booty. (the gnoblars have names, too, but Horkdor can't be bothered to remember them).

All these additions, plus the model's original appearance of scrappy rags of other people's uniforms stitched together whenever they were needed and found (usually still being worn by those other people), gave me the opportunity to continue my Contrast color exploration that began with Meegan the Fragrant. I knew I would need to use the now-familiar browns for the various wood pieces on the model, so I banned myself from using any browns on the rest of the model. The result is a colorful panoply that successfully draws attention to Horkdor as a separate entity (nay, force) from the rest of the Witch Hunters warband. 

All the Minions together, ready to supplement the Witch Hunters or future warbands...

In the mix with the Witch Hunters. 

The whole gang together and ready for rampaging! Here you can really see Meegan and Horkdor stand out. 

That's a wrap for the Witch Hunters warband. My next few models recovered from bitz box purgatory are picked out for exploring more advanced techniques. As Contrast has proliferated, all those fancy pro painters on the interwebs have posted ways to (quickly) use them to replicate techniques like NMM, so I think I'll give them a whirl. Stay tuned! 

 

[Ish]

15 minutes ago, jollyork said:

[T]he gnoblars have names, too, but Horkdor can't be bothered to remember them.

To be fair, the gnoblars themselves probably don’t have the intelligence to remember them.