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Base flocked, and model sealed with gloss varnish to protect it from the various dings, chips and rough handling of the gaming table.




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Now, following on from the disasters I have experienced with the matt varnishes from both Games Workshop and Army Painter, I decided to try something new with this model.

Rather than cover the gloss with a spray, I instead elected to go with the Anti-Shine varnish from Army Painter, which comes in a drop bottle for you to paint on to the miniature yourself with a good old fashioned brush. The stuff itself is water based, odourless and cleans off in water. And the finish is far, far better than I expected. I really recommend this stuff as a hassle free way of sealing and finishing your miniatures if you are stuck for a place to spray.



I asked a colleague of mine what I should have a bash at next from my 'to do' pile and he has selected....

The Old Witch of Khador and her faithful...thingie...Scrapjack. So here they both are, primed and ready to go.




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First up, the old boot and her iron chicken get a coat of Games Workshops Tin Bitz over all metal parts. Really loving those talons of hers...

Now, first post of the new year...let me talk a little about stripping. <Insert childish joke here!>

Following the disaster that was the white primer from Army Painter, I find myself needing to strip the paint from my Protectorate forces.



Now, back in the day, I used heavy duty paint stripper to remove paint from models. But that method is not kind on plastics and tended to remove detail or just melt the stuff outright.

After reading up on the various methods available for removing paint safely from plastic, I have elected to try the diluted Dettol method, as that particular product is easy to get hold of where I live. First up, I mixed up a 50/50 solution of Dettol and water. The next step was really rather complicated. I chucked in the models and put on the lid. Tightly. Dettol is not exactly one of my favourite smells.



I shall leave this concoction doing its thing for a week. Time will tell if it works or not!

Back to the dynamic duo. A quick light brush of P3 Pig Iron over the Tin Bitz base.




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And on goes a heavy application of my (not) patented rust wash.

Added a second rust wash.


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And now for something completely different! A Christmas present from my darling wife, a 1:35 scale bit of scenery from Italeri. This will look cracking as the centrepiece for my village game board.



Not exactly the most complicated kit on earth, but the sculpt is really rather nice. Looking forward to putting this together.



And in two shakes of a lambs tail, done and ready for undercoating.




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Just in case anyone was wondering about scale.

Next up, a few light coats of Khador Red Base on the armour plates.



This was toned down with a drybrush of a Pig Iron/Tin Bitz mix.




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On and on. There really is a lot of brown on these two! For the 'screaming souls' part of the Witch's staff, I mixed a little Arcane Blue and Cygnar Blue Base to form a first coat.

really like how this is going i recently got into the hordes side of things with circle have not put up any progress but im working on it.

And without much further ado...

The terrible twosome, all finished up, varnished, and ready for the battlefield.

Next up...Butcher. Mr Zoktavir is awesome. He looks good, his back story (such as it is) is mental...because so is the guy it revolves around. I am probably going to be running him as my main caster for a good long while...so I want to get his paint job right.

So lets get prepping. A quick watered down base coat for the metal parts. For the next batch of models I have been using the Army Painter black primer. I found the paint itself is a lot thicker than GW Chaos Black, but as the coverage is much better, you do not need multiple passes to basecoat the model. Most times, one will do. So the thickness is probably a plus.



As I will also be running Butcher with a faithful canine companion, I will also be getting on with 'The Butchers Hound' the Khador War Dog. Same starting point.




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Two light coats of Khardic Flesh for his big, bald, angry head.



And I am left puzzling over what colours to use for his coat. I am going for a Soviet military theme, a pale green with red flash here and there...so what would go well with green armour?

Next stage of Mr Grumpypants involves a watered down mix of Khadric Flesh and Midlund Flesh painted on, leaving the recessed areas the darker 'neat' Khardic Flesh tone.



As for his faithful landshark, I have decided to go for a Bullmastiff esque breed. With that in mind, the four legged fellow gets a base coat of Rucksack Tan. As ever, two light coats beats one thick coat.





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Over the raised areas, a watered down brush of neat Midlund Flesh, then a final highlight of Midlund Flesh mixed with Morrow White. A little bit of Menoth White Highlight finishes off the teeth and his gleaming bonce is done as far as I am concerned.

Clothing time.

Thornwood Green for his trousers, Ironhull Grey for his coat and Bastion Grey for the base layer of his pelt.

Today I took the Menoth out of the Dettol solution to clean them off and see how the stripping went.

Resounding success. The only issue was that the solution did melt and soften the bases and turn them into a sticky black goop in places...so if you are going to try this method, de base the models first.

Work on Butcher continues along nicely. I wanted to go with the 1980's Soviet theme I had in mind for Butcher and his Battlegroup, so I took the chance to take my first plunge with Vallejo paints. I went for the Russian uniform WWII shade from their range and...goodness me this stuff is thick! Took a lot of watering down, but that means you get more for your money and the level of pigmentation is incredible. Very, very good paint indeed.



Then on went the red trim and detailing...and here he is, ready for washing, base flocking and sealing.

Another day, another disaster with the Army Painter sprays. This time with their black primer and my Khador Widowmakers. I will be steering clear of their aerosols in the future I think. They do not seem to agree with me/my climate/my models.



But this does give me a chance to try out another stripping method. This time, car brake fluid.



I shall leave them soaking in it overnight and see what the morning brings.

Well, one day later and a quick scrub with a brush under hot water and...bingo!



No damage to the the base or model and the glue is left intact as well. Fantastic stuff. If you are thinking of using this technique, a few things woth mentioning. Wear gloves, and take care when disposing of it. Do it properly. This stuff is not exactly eco friendly, but it can be re-used again and again. I have it sealed in a jar for the next time I need it and if I do need to chuck it, it will be at a recycling depot. Don't just chuck it down the sink.

Next on the agenda is Butcher. A wash of strong tone and a bit of flock - et-voila!



Same for the hound.



And the Widowmakers & Widowmaker Marksman. I had another go with the Army Painter Spray (might as well use it up and give it another go, now I know it can be stripped in an emergency) Not too bad the second time around. I followed the same colour scheme for Butcher.



So, next up for Mr Butcher and his Battlegroup - Another Juggernaut. On goes the Tin Bitz basecoat.




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Next up, a coat of my rust wash, a drybrush of Pig Iron, a light coat in the middle of the armour plates (to simulate where it has been chipped and worn away at the edges) of Vallejo Russian Uniform WWII, and Khador Red Base for the trim.



After that, a further rust wash and a final coat of strong tone and a dab of yellow ink in the visor...and this is one evenings work.

And now...for something completely different! A friend of my wife has begun to run a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and my wife tasked me with finding miniatures to use as our characters. She is playing an elven ranger, so I began casting about for a suitable figure.

In the end I settled on the Shalelu, Elf Ranger figure from the Reaper Miniatures Pathfinder range. I am stunned by the quality of this cheap little figure.



My wife was keen to make sure she was not the usual green clad, tree hugging elf, and has asked for her to be a red headed ranger with a mountain theme. So, greys, blues and a shock of red hair it is. To that end...I had another go at undercoating with white primer.



About flaming time it came out right. Shake the can for ten minutes, warm it under the tap, then spray in short sharp bursts from exactly 20cm.



On goes the first lick of paint. P3 Midlund Flesh as the base coat for her flesh.

And to go with the elf, here is the model that will be representing my character, who is a Warforged fighter. I was so impressed with Reaper that I went with them again, this time there Dark Haven Legends range. The model is called a Battle Guard Golem and will do nicely as my arcane, ambulatory bulldozer.

Rumbling on, more warmachine!

Here is Karchev the Terrible. He was hacked to bits and left to die. He didn't. Instead he was stuffed into a Warjack chassis. I like that malevolent tenacity. So here we go.

Step one...the usual base coat of Pig Iron.

Next up, the first coat of watered down Khador Red Base.

A few more coats of watered down Khador Red and the tone is nice and even.



Next to go on is a highlight of the strangely name Khador Red Highlight.

Next up was a wash of Games Workshops Baal Red. I find this blends and tones the red nicely.

Touched up with black on the areas where I have gone over with red and painted his flesh. Started with Midlund Flesh, then added highlights of Midlund Flesh mixed with Menoth Highlight, working up to a final highlight of neat Menoth Highlight.

And there we have it. A brush of Pig Iron on metal parts, a highlight of Cold Steel, brass and copper got Rhulic Gold and Molten Bronze - a few washes here and there of Strong and Dark tone...and voilà!



One very evil person.


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Ever onwards. Next up, the Bash Brothers, the two Berserkers for my Khador forces.

On goes the Tin Bitz drybrush

For my two Berserkers, I want them to look like they have been around for a long while (in keeping with their fluff) and are a bit on the worn-out side of things, so I have borrowed from the techniques I tried on the Old Witch and Scrapjack, and given them a tweak.

A quick drybrush of Pig Iron over the Tin Bitz basecoat,



A good few coats of Khador Red on the armour plates. Now, normally I water these down - but for the purposes of making this model look worn and battered, I did not. This allows a pain build-up and a little texture here and there, so long as you make sure that the coats are even.



Once the red was dry, I scratched and chipped the paint with my fingernail (this is why I wanted it nice and thick, so you get the impression of rust creeping under damaged paintwork) to leave little areas of black.



Next up, a heavy coat of DIY rust wash



On top of that wash, a quick highlight of Pig Iron, and a few streaks here and there to simulate scratches and wear



Then a wash of Strong Tone and painting on identifier numbers (Soviet Style) freehand.

Based, varnished, the two Berserkers are now ready for action!



And that brings an end to my current Khador efforts. I will be expanding with some other units in the future, but for now I am moving on to the next faction. The Protectorate of Menoth.

As these guys are religious nut-jobs, I wanted to hark back to history and use the crusade armies as inspiration. With that in mind - the first figure on my to-do list is High Exemplar Kreoss - a Menoth Warcaster.

I started out with a white basecoat



On top of that, I painted the metal areas with Pig Iron

You're work is fantastic, I'm playing a hordes faction right now and very jealous of your warjacks!

 BlueBlitz wrote:
You're work is fantastic, I'm playing a hordes faction right now and very jealous of your warjacks!

Why thank you! Which faction are you playing?


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Moving swiftly on - Molten Bronze on the brass parts, Khardic Red on the Menite symbol



A wash of Dark Tone on all the metal bits, and Strong Tone into the recesses in the fabric



A dab of Heartfire for his eyes, then a wash of Menoth Wite Base on the fabric. Then highlighting up with Menoth White Highlight, and finally Morrow White




And there you have it. Finished off with a layer sand on the base.

Exemplar Cinerators are up next.

Step 1 - Base coat

On goes a little (Ok, a lot) of Pig Iron

Onwards, ever onwards. On goes the Rhulic Gold and Khador Red