Koyote in Frostheim (Frostgrave)

[Koyote]

Thanks Jim.

 

 

My order from Toad King Casting arrived today.  The medium toad is a tad smaller than I had hoped.  Nevertheless, there's a large enough difference in size between the Heresy Miniatures Demonic Toad Familiar (left) and the TKC Giant Toad Medium (center) that I shouldn't have to worry about my opponents distinguishing the Imp from the Minor Demon.  The different bases sizes will also help distinguish the two.

ALL BOW DOWN BEFORE THE CROAKING MIGHT OF THE TOAD DEMONS!


 

[Koyote]

Exiled Sylvanian Noble (counts-as Templar)

 

 

 

This surly gent is the first member of the Sylvanian contingent that will be joining my Summoner's warband. The red skull appears in some of the heraldry of Sylvania, so the crimson skull heraldry will be used to identify the other Sylvanian Soldiers.

 

I am fairly pleased with how the model turned out. I wish I had done a better job on the shaft of the great weapon. Another layer of highlight will improve the look of the wood grain.

 

I've been experimenting with some techniques to make my models' hands look a bit more realistic. I'm pleased with how this model's finger joints and fingernails turned out.

 

I still can't get my camera to capture the correct shades of red, which in person appear deeper and a bit darker than they appear in these photos. I need a new digital camera.

 

 

Time to get to work on a couple of Irish Curaidh.

[Koyote]

Someone on another message board asked me how I painted the wine bottle's label and the fingernails.  On the off chance that someone here may also be interested in my recipes for labels and hands, below is a copy of my reply.


LABEL

The writing on the label is nothing special, but it does require a sharp eye, steady hand, properly thinned paint and the proper brush load.  A sharp eye does little good without proper lighting, so I always paint under a couple of desk lamps, one on either side of my paint station. To steady my hand I typically rest both wrists against the table edge and and bottom two fingers of my painting hand, curled and resting against the curled fingers of the other hand. This way the only parts of my hands in motion are the 3 fingers manipulating the brush. The paint should be thinned on a palette with a little water. The paint should flow smoothly off the brush, but not so thin that mere contact with the mini makes all the paint flow off and pool up. Lastly, your brush is properly loaded for fine detail work when the very tip of the loaded brush is finely pointed, not rounded.

The label itself was painted with Reaper's Aged Bone. The red writing is GW's Scab Red and the rest of the text is GW's Rhinox Hide. For aged text I use a very dark brown paint for the ink, not black.  When painting text I make short, thin strokes, dots and small curves. Leave a tiny bit of white space between each letter or letter grouping and between each "word." If I smudge a letter or fail to leave enough white space between letters, I simply fix my error with a tiny dab of Aged Bone. To keep the letters on each line of text a fairly uniform height, once I'm done painting all the text, I paint a horizontal lines of Aged Bone between each line of text. This line covers up at portion of the text that is too tall or strayed into the white space between the lines of text.

When I am satisfied with the text, I "age the paper" by brushing on a coat of watered down Army Painter's Quickshade Soft Tone. It's important to dilute the wash/ink so that it looks almost clear. When first applied it won't look very dark, but when it dries it will darken up. If, after it dries, it's not dark enough, apply a second coat or simply dab recesses and small flat areas of the paper to create uneven shading and aging.




HAND

Painting finger joints and fingernails is quite easy. Once you have finished shading and highlighting the hand, use undiluted flesh wash (I use GW's Reikland Fleshshade), to paint thin lines on each finger where the finger joints should be. Also paint a small rectangle at the end of each finger where the fingernail should be. These rectangles should be a little bit larger than the fingernail.  Lastly, use a light flesh paint, like Elf Flesh to paint the fingernails. Each fingernail should be slightly smaller than the underlying rectangle of flesh ink/wash. This will leave you with fingernails outlined by narrow lines of ink.

Please note that this technique uses ink/wash more like a paint rather than a wash, so you should keep a few things in mind.  First, use a detail brush with a fine tip and don't overload it with ink/wash.  Second, inks and washes are designed to flow off of flat and raised areas, so when painting the finger joints and fingernail outlines you may have to apply 2 or 3 coats. Second, ink adheres to dry ink better than it does to dry paint so, if, after application, you can barely see your first coat of ink, that's ok. Once the first coat is dry you will find that each subsequent coat of ink goes on darker.


 

[Koyote]

Time to get to work on a couple of Irish Curaidh.

 

After finishing my two Curaidh, striped pants, tattoos and all, I got right to work on the latest addition to my Frostheim warband.

 

You've already met Sven, the Norse Dwarf Berserker (counts-as Barbarian).  Below is my second counts-as Barbarian, Sven's Dad.

 

Dwarf Berserker (counts-as Barbarian)

 

 

 

And like many father-son Berserker teams, the two don't always get along.

 

[Koyote]

I've taken a short break from the paint brush to prepare two more minis for my Summoner's warband, a Captain and a Ranger.

 

 

 

My Captain is GW's newest Witch Hunter model. It's one of GW's Finecast models, which means that I had to do quite a bit of flash removal, patching and filling. I also had to entirely rebuild both pistols' barrels, parts of the belt and a section of cloak edge. This model can be assembled with either a two-handed sword or a saber & pistol strapped to its back. My Captain will be armed with sword, dagger and crossbow so chose the latter configuration (the brace of pistols will serve as a counts-as crossbow). The only real bit of conversion work that I performed on this model was to replace the saber (which came out of the mold deformed) with a larger sword.

 

My Ranger is the classic Mordheim Kislev Ranger. I really like this model, but I've always thought it a bit odd. First, the model's boobs and cleavage are ridiculous. She looks like she has a pair of bad implants. Also, nothing aside from the fur fringed boots and perhaps the shape of her sword, nothing connects this model to Kislev. And while the sword's curved blade does hint at Kislev its blade is ridiculously long and clunky. Finally, this model is supposed to be from frigid Kislev yet she's wearing a tiny halter top? I suppose that compared to Kislev, Mordheim feels like the balmy tropics so she stopped by Old Navy and bought some summer apparel.

 

I used GS to cover up the halter top with something a bit less revealing. This let me widen her waist so her measurements aren't quite so Barbie. I also extended the top of her cloak and added a circular broach. She's still big on top, but out of respect for this classic model I didn't change that much. Besides, big chested women can be warriors too.

 

Lastly, I strung the bow with some fine copper wire and replaced her ridiculous sword with a proper Kislev weapon, an axe. The axe is a bit fancy for a Kislevite, but I wanted a weapon a bit more proportional to the model's height and build. Even so, the axe haft is still a bit too long.

 

I may lower the model's hairline in order to soften her visage some.

[Romans832]

Welcome back, you're doing amazing

[Prophecy]

Agreed I love both models.

[Koyote]

Sylvanian Foot Sergeant (counts-as Marksman)

 

 

 

 

Not my best work, but he'll do.

 

I'm sure that my exiled Sylvanian Noble will feel more secure with one of his fellow countrymen watching his back.

 

It's funny, I keep telling myself that it's time to wind down work on my Summoner's warband and to get to work on my Cultist warband, then I spot another model that I want to add to my Summoner's warband and the cultists get pushed back a little further. Poor neglected cultists. :(

 

It's time to turn my paintbrush back onto my Dark Age Irish for a short while. My timing couldn't be better. Season 4 of Vikings premiered tonight here in the US and that show always gets me jazzed for SAGA. :)

[Koyote]

Ceril Stormbringer, Dark Elf Exile (counts-as Treasure Hunter)

 

 

 

[Koyote]

Karina, Kislev Ranger (counts-as Ranger)

 

 

[Koyote]

Below are WIP pics of 300 gc of Soldiers for my starting Cultist Warband. The doggie is a Malifaux model and the two Thugs are WFB Gnoblars with FG Cultist heads (I stole this idea). Aside from those three models and a few doodads here and there, everything else came from the FG Cultist and FG Soldiers box sets. Most of the FG bits are straight off the sprue, but a few of the bits have been modified.

 

I used GS here and there to fill joints, bulk up some of the models' shoulders. You can't see it in the photo, but the Treasure Hunter is wearing a backpack. I used GS to make straps for the backpack. The Archer's right arm looked really short compared to the outstretched left arm so I cut the hand off the bit and extended both the upper and lower portions of the arm. I used GS to pretty it up.

 

I don't care for the Thief's hood so I'm going to use GS to make the top of it taller and conical like the hood on my archer.

 

Warhound, Thug, Thief & Thug

 

 

 

Treasure Hunter, Crossbowman, Infantryman & Archer

 

[PourSpelur]

I really dig those cultists, can't wait to see what you do to them!

[Koyote]

I really like the dynamic pose of the CMON Sorceress, but the crouched pose looks odd when the model is mounted on a flat surface. So, like model in the official CMON photo, I've mounted my Sorceress on an inclined plane.

I was worried that the added height would make the 32mm scaled Sorceress look much larger than the 28mm FG minis (which are on the small side of the 28mm scale), but now that I look at them side by side, it isn't too bad. The crouch helps with this.  The Sorceress is taller than the cultist models, but not by too much and it looks like this is mostly due to the rock she's standing on.

I've also added a rock to the base of my Apprentice, Mîm the Twisted, but this time for the opposite reason. I want him taller. The added height makes him look a bit more imposing and allows the model to draw LOS over low obstacles.


 

 

 

[Gorgosaurusrex]

Looking good!

[Koyote]

I've assembled more models for my cultist warband. I very much like the cultist metal models, but their heads, feet and sometimes their hands are a bit small. As such, I used GS, and in the case of the Tracker a head swap, to c this. I also revisited the cultist Thief pictured in my earlier post. I used GS to increase the size of the Thief's hood and replaced his puny knife with a wavy kris dagger. I'm still not 100% sold on hood. I may have to give it another go.

 

Not even in death does service to the Great Draak end, so I put together a couple of zombies to represent reanimated cult members. My Witch will begin the campaign with the Raise Zombie spell.

 

 

Barbarian, Thief, Zombie and Zombie

 

 

 

Tracker, Man-at-Arms, Knight, Marksman and Ranger

 

 

 

 

As for bases, I've decided to go with Micro Art Studio's 20mm square Ancient Bases.

 

[Koyote]

I finally got around to finishing the two giant toads that have been sitting on my paint table, half painted, for over a month. Two more Demonic Toad Imps and one really big demonic toad and I'll have all of my Summoner's Demons painted.

 

Demonic Toads (counts as Minor Demons)

 

 

 

I've also assembled my last few cultists. For this fellow I used the two handed sword arms from the GW Empire Militia kit and swapped the original sword blade for a blade that looks more wicked.

 

Cultist Infantry

 

 

 

 

I have two ideas for a cultist Captain. The first is villainous mercenary who is more assassin than fighter. He's a killer and a clever tactician, but he's not at all heroic. His preferred tactics are ambush and his preferred fighting style is striking from the shadows or shooting his victim from a safe distance.

 

For this Captain I'm going to use a Rackham Cadwe Assassin. Rackham models are 32mm scale, so to better match this model to the height of the FG Cultist I will shorten the model by removing the sections of his legs that run from the top of the feet to the bottom of the cloak.

 

 

My second idea is an anti-paladin. A fearsome fighter and megalomaniac who considers himself to be the human avatar of the Great Drakk.

 

For this Captain I will use Rackham's Cadwallon Noble. The weapon bearer will accompany the Captain on the table but for all intents and purposes the model will be treated as if it's not there. If it gets in the way, I'll simple move it or remove the model from the table.

 

[Koyote]

While waiting for my Hearthguards' bases to dry I took a long overdue group shot of my Summoner's warband. I left out the Averlander models that fill in as Infantry and Archers.

[PumpkinHead]

Looks AWESOME!

[PourSpelur]

Hot Damn! That's art. They are all so individual but cohesive as a group.

[Gorgosaurusrex]

Your warband looks fantastic!

[JMGraham]

Gorgeous!

[Romans832]

Stunning!

[Raindog]

Great stuff. It has been great to follow along on your progress.

[Koyote]

I've made some good progress on my SAGA Irish warband so now it's time to change gears and work on some Frostheim minis.

 

Before I begin painting my Cultist warband (aka the 'Bad Guys'), I want to paint a number of Wizard & Apprentice teams for my non-Cultist warband (aka the 'Good Guys'). This plan let's me play around with different types of wizards and tactics, but really it's just an excuse to paint some wizard models that I'm fond of.

 

The first new duo both come from Spellcrow Miniatures's Umbra Turis model line.The Wizard is Spellcrow's 'Gnome with Book' and the Apprentice is their 'Halfling with Pig' (minus the pig).

 

 

Dwarf Sigilist & Apprentice

 

 

 

[Koyote]

The Mordheim Witch has long been one of my favorite models from GW's Mordheim line, so I am very pleased to have finally gotten around to painting her. This is the third Mordheim Witch model that I've owned. The other two were purchased and later sold unpainted.

 

The Apprentice is Stonehaven Miniatures' Dwarven Witch model. For my purposes she's not a Dwarf, but rather an orphaned girl adopted (or stolen) by the Witch and trained in 'the craft'.

 

The Apprentice's cauldron is also made by Stonehaven. It's difficult to see in the photos, but I painted the interior of the cauldron bright green (GW's Putrid Green that is almost 20 years old and still perfectly usable -gotta love those old hexagon bottles), and poured in some Magic Water to create a water effect.

 

Witch and Apprentice